The third chapter, ‘The Non-dual Self,’ tightens the case for non-duality. ‘Advaya’ means ‘not two,’ which is to say not even one, since ‘one’ can be recognized only against ‘two.’ This subtle philosophical position connects directly to Gaudapada’s Mandukya Karika, where the doctrine of ‘ajati-vada’ (that nothing was ever born at all) is set out. In modern times, Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950) quoted this chapter of Ashtavakra again and again at Arunachala, and named it as the philosophical ground of his famous self-inquiry, ‘Who am I?’ The reference appears in a conversation with Ramana recorded in Paul Brunton’s 1934 book ‘A Search in Secret India.’Textual context
The Non-dual Self
The Self is non-dual · 14 shlokas
Janaka had only just recovered from his astonishment when Ashtavakra set a sharp question before him. Once you have truly recognized the one, indestructible Self, why does your mind still tangle itself in small things? This chapter belongs to that riddle, the riddle of old habits that linger on after knowledge has arrived.
In this third chapter Ashtavakra bears down harder on the principle of non-duality. Advaya means “that in which there is no second,” and it is the forerunner of Shankaracharya’s eighth-century vocabulary of “Advaita.” In his “Vivekachudamani,” Adi Shankara echoes the Ashtavakra Gita in many places without ever quoting it directly.
So far
After Janaka’s “astonishment,” Ashtavakra explains that this Self is non-dual (one). It is the natural next step from the two chapters before it.
Ashtavakra looks toward Janaka and lays his hand straight on the heart of it. You have known, in its very essence, that Self which never perishes and which is one alone. Then, O steadfast one, how does a knower of the Self like you keep any craving to earn wealth? And this pull that still remains, where does it come from? Ashtavakra says it comes simply from ignorance of the Self. Out of that unknowing the mind binds itself in love to the false world of the senses, exactly as a man who fails to recognize a seashell sees silver in it and falls into greed.
Shlokas 1 · 2
अविनाशिनमात्मानमेकं विज्ञाय तत्त्वतः।
तवात्मज्ञानस्य धीरस्य कथमर्थार्जने रतिः॥
आत्माज्ञानादहो प्रीतिर्विषयभ्रमगोचरे।
शुक्तेरज्ञानतो लोभो यथा रजतविभ्रमे॥
Then Ashtavakra points toward the ocean. This whole universe, in which everything rises like waves, is you. Even after knowing “I am that,” why do you run here and there like some poor, stricken creature? When you yourself are the ocean, no wave is a stranger to you, and there is nothing left to lose. But he adds a warning too. Even after hearing of that supremely beautiful, pure conscious Self, whoever stays drowned in bodily pleasure has his awareness stained, and the clarity of knowledge is lost. What matters is the bondage to pleasure, the clinging itself.
Shlokas 3 · 4
विश्वं स्फुरति यत्रेदं तरङ्गा इव सागरे।
सोऽहमस्मीति विज्ञाय किं दीन इव धावसि॥
श्रुत्वापि शुद्धचैतन्यमात्मानमतिसुन्दरम्।
उपस्थेऽत्यन्तसंसक्तो मालिन्यमधिगच्छति॥
Now a light bewilderment enters Ashtavakra’s voice. The sage who has known the Self in all beings and all beings in the Self, and in whom a sense of “mine” still runs on, this is a wonder. A seeker settled in the supreme non-dual, engaged in the discipline of moksha, who then falls under the power of desire and staggers toward amusements and shows, this too is a wonder. And one who has already known desire as the greatest enemy of knowledge, whose body has grown weak and whose final hour stands near, and who still longs for that same desire, what greater wonder could there be?
Shlokas 5 · 6 · 7
सर्वभूतेषु चात्मानं सर्वभूतानि चात्मनि।
मुनेर्जानत आश्चर्यं ममत्वमनुवर्तते॥
आस्थितः परमाद्वैतं मोक्षार्थेऽपि व्यवस्थितः।
आश्चर्यं कामवशगो विकलः केलिशिक्षया॥
उद्भूतं ज्ञानदुर्मित्रमवधार्यातिदुर्बलः।
आश्चर्यं काममाकाङ्क्षेत् कालमन्तमनुश्रितः॥
Ashtavakra counts one last wonder, the subtlest of all. A seeker detached from both this world and the next, who tells the eternal apart from the fleeting, who longs for moksha, and who then begins to fear moksha itself, this is the deepest riddle. After everything has been let go, the one who lets go will also be let go, and that fear is the final obstacle. Then Ashtavakra turns from critique to description. The steadfast man is such that whether pleasures are heaped on him or pain is inflicted, he always sees the Self alone, neither gratified nor angered.
Shlokas 8 · 9
इहामुत्र विरक्तस्य नित्यानित्यविवेकिनः।
आश्चर्यं मोक्षकामस्य मोक्षाद् एव विभीषिका॥
धीरस्तु भोज्यमानोऽपि पीड्यमानोऽपि सर्वदा।
आत्मानं केवलं पश्यन्न तुष्यति न कुप्यति॥
He watches his own moving, acting body as though it were someone else’s body. So whether praise comes or blame, why would such a great soul be shaken? When even his body feels foreign to him, whom does any taunt thrown at it touch? And seeing that this whole universe is maya alone, his curiosity has grown quiet, so why would that steady-minded one tremble even as death draws near? Maya means that what shows itself is not what it truly is. The world still stands; it simply wears a false face. Death too, for him, is only one episode among the many that come and go.
Shlokas 10 · 11
चेष्टमानं शरीरं स्वं पश्यत्यन्यशरीरवत्।
संस्तवे चापि निन्दायां कथं क्षुभ्येत् महाशयः॥
मायामात्रमिदं विश्वं पश्यन् विगतकौतुकः।
अपि सन्निहिते मृत्यौ कथं त्रस्यति धीरधीः॥
Then Ashtavakra leads toward a height where no comparison can stand. The great soul whose mind is free of longing, who stays desireless even in despair, who is content in the knowledge of the Self, with whom could he be compared? Ordinarily despair springs from deep desire, yet one who never had desire does not waver even in despair. And one who has known by his very nature that this whole spectacle is nothing at all, that steady-minded, steadfast one, where would he see a difference between “this is worth taking, this is worth leaving”? Once the line between taking and leaving has been erased, let what comes come, let what goes go.
Shlokas 12 · 13
निःस्पृहं मानसं यस्य नैराश्येऽपि महात्मनः।
तस्यात्मज्ञानतृप्तस्य तुलना केन जायते॥
स्वभावादेव जानानो दृश्यमेतन्न किञ्चन।
इदं ग्राह्यमिदं त्याज्यं स किं पश्यति धीरधीः॥
And at the end Ashtavakra gathers the whole chapter into one quiet image. For the one who has released from within all impurities, all the stains of passion, who stands beyond the pairs of opposites and in whom no desire remains, when some pleasure comes to him on its own, without being pulled, it brings him neither pain nor joy. The knower neither spurns pleasure nor runs after it. What comes of itself, he takes, yet the feeling “I am the enjoyer of this” never rises in him. This is the gist of the chapter: keep deepening your knowledge, and the habits will grow quiet on their own.
Shloka 14
अन्तस्त्यक्तकषायस्य निर्द्वन्द्वस्य निराशिषः।
यदृच्छयागतो भोगो न दुःखाय न तुष्टये॥