AVG 3.12

Chapter 3 (Challenging The Seekers Understanding): Verse 12
निःस्पृहं मानसं यस्य नैराश्येऽपि महात्मनः ।
तस्यात्मज्ञ्नानतृप्तस्य तुलना केन जायते ॥३-१२॥

PURPORT:
With whom can we compare that one?
That one with great self-awareness, who,
content in the knowledge that comes with
impartial awareness and choiceless action,
is free of desire even in disappointment.

TRANSLITERATION:
निःस्पृहम् मानसम् यस्य नैराश्ये अपि महात्मनः ।
niḥspṛham mānasam yasya nairāśye api mahātmanaḥ ।
तस्य आत्मज्ञ्नानतृप्तस्य तुलना केन जायते ॥३-१२॥
tasya ātmajñnānatṛptasya tulanā kena jāyate ॥3-12॥

MEANING:
niḥspṛham (निःस्पृहम्) = free of longing and desire/indifferent
mānasam (मानसम्) = mind
yasya (यस्य) = whose
nairāśye (नैराश्ये) = in disappointment/in hopelessness/in non-expectancy
api (अपि) = even
mahātmanaḥ (महात्मनः) = of the one with a great self-awareness (literally mahātmanaḥ is Sanskrit for "Great Soul" (महात्मा mahātmā: महा mahā (great) + आत्मं or आत्मन ātman [soul]). mahātmanaḥ is similar in usage to the modern English term saint and can be translated to "ascended master".)।
tasya (तस्य) = their (translated literally as masculine 'his' in Sanskrit, but I prefer to use their or they)
ātmajñnānatṛptasya (आत्मज्ञ्नानतृप्तस्य) = of them who is satisfied with self-knowledge and awareness (compound of ātmajñnāna (आत्मज्ञ्नान) meaning 'self-knowledge and self-awareness' and tṛptasya (नतृप्तस्य) meaning 'belonging to contentment/fulfillment/satisfaction')
tulanā (तुलना) = comparing/on par with
kena (केन) = with whom
jāyate (जायते) = can be/happen/become ॥3-12॥

COMMENTS:
The key lines here is the idea of being desireless even within disappointment. Those of us who are seekers might have a tendency to further pursue our desires and aspirations with renewed vigor in the face of disappointment as it might serve as a temporary salve to ward off the crushing pessimism of disappointment. Modern culture even encourages the insidious concept of engaging in 'binge consumerism to ward off the blues'. Ashtavakra reasons that the precept understands that gain and loss, praise and blame, pleasure and pain, happiness and unhappiness are only two sides of the same coin. One of these cannot exist without the other - in fact, any one of gain, praise, pleasure, or happiness cannot be characterized as such without implicitly or explicitly referencing the flip side of each of these factors. We tend to cling to our desires for the productive and forward looking while naturally being filled with revulsion to the concomitant pessimism that such positivity accompanies. Despite all of one's efforts, one does not get many of the things that one wants, or, even if one has managed to obtain the things they so desire, they do not continue to offer up the level of happiness that accrued when one first obtained the thing. In this sense, Ashtavakra gently informs that the precept understands these fundamental truths and thus works through their disappointment.

AVG 3.11

Chapter 3 (Challenging The Seekers Understanding): Verse 11
मायामात्रमिदं विश्वं पश्यन् विगतकौतुकः ।
अपि सन्निहिते मृत्यौ कथं त्रस्यति धीरधीः ॥ ३-११॥

PURPORT:
Discerning this universe as an active
hallucination, the precept's search and
seeking ceases; thus, how can the resolute
mind of the perseverant be in angst
even about their own approaching demise?

TRANSLITERATION:
मायामात्रम् इदम् विश्वम् पश्यन् विगतकौतुकः ।
māyāmātram idam viśvam paśyan vigatakautukaḥ ।
अपि सन्निहिते मृत्यौ कथम् त्रस्यति धीरधीः ॥ ३-११॥
api sannihite mṛtyau katham trasyati dhīradhīḥ ॥ 3-11॥

MEANING:
māyāmātram* (मायामात्रम्) = mere illusion*
idam (इदम्) = this
viśvam (विश्वम्) = universe
paśyan (पश्यन्) = seeing
vigatakautukaḥ (विगतकौतुकः) = destitute of an intense desire to know and understand (compound of vigata (विगत) meaning 'destitute of/apart from' and kautukaḥ (कौतुकः) meaning 'curiosity/an inquiring nature')।
api (अपि) = even
sannihite (सन्निहिते) = approaching/imminent/impending
mṛtyau (मृत्यौ) = death/cessation/demise
katham (कथम्) = how
trasyati (त्रस्यति) = fear/angst/unease
dhīradhīḥ (धीरधीः) = resolute/perseverant/unwavering ॥ 3-11॥

COMMENTS:
Ashtavakra points out here that the precept on clearly discerning that all of the universe is but an active hallucination, puts an end to their searching and seeking and understands their own demise in an manner that is free of angst, worry or fear. The fundamental inter-relationship between death and the latent impermanence of all sentient beings is a common factor that binds many traditions. In this sense, death and cessation is part of every arising and is the very fulcrum upon which the concept of impermanence of all entities within the universe pivots. The precept being clear in the awareness of the fact that any one of us could die at any moment allows for the precept to prepare and enjoy every moment for exactly what that moment offers to the fullest. Extending this line of thinking. the practice of being within the present moment as it applies to ones impending demise also applies to the past. While a choiceless observance of events past as well as an impartial anticipation of the events that might unfold will need to come with practice, the clarity arises when one does not get to be occupied with either the observance of the past not the anticipation of the future. This way, the mind is free to examine and choose, but, not is bound by that choice or designations.

NOTES:
*"The truth is that all perceptions are acts of interpretation. They're acts of informed guesswork that the brain applies when it encounters sensory data. I think the way I can think of this is that there is no light in the skull, and there's no sounds. All that's going on in the brain are electrical impulses whizzing around in complex patterns. And out of all this - all this pattern-making in the brain, a world appears. And in some sense, we've known this for a long time. So since Newton, it's been pretty clear that colors - red, yellow, green, et cetera - colors are not objective properties of objects in the world. They are attributes of reflected light. And the brain - the visual system will make inferences based on wavelengths of light about what color something is. So something as basic as color is not something that we just passively receive from the world. We actively attribute it to things out there in the world. And the idea of controlled hallucination is just that, well, this applies to everything. I mean, this applies to everything that we perceive, and not just perceptions of things out there in the world, but also, it applies to our perceptions of our self, of our body, of our memories, of our sense of agency, of our sense of volition - that everything that we perceive is a construction. But it's not a random construction. It's construction - it's a best guess that is reined in by the sensory data at all times, which is why most of us agree, when we look at a table, that we will say, yeah, I see a table, you see a table and we both see the same thing. And that's because these aren't just random constructions. They're constrained by the sensory data that we get. And that's why, I think, the term, controlled hallucination, is very appropriate." - Anil Seth

AVG 3.10

Chapter 3 (Challenging The Seekers Understanding): Verse 10
चेष्टमानं शरीरं स्वं पश्यत्यन्यशरीरवत् ।
संस्तवे चापि निन्दायां कथं क्षुभ्येन्महाशयः॥ ३-१०॥

PURPORT:
The one with the broad awareness observes;
witnessing their own body acting as if it were
another's. As such, how can such a one be
disturbed or agitated by common praise or
reproach or disapproval?

TRANSLITERATION:
चेष्टमानम् शरीरम् स्वम् पश्यति अन्यशरीरवत् ।
ceṣṭamānam śarīram svam paśyati anyaśarīravat ।
संस्तवे च अपि निन्दायाम् कथम् क्षुभ्येत् महाशयः ॥ ३-१०॥
saṃstave ca api nindāyām katham kṣubhyet mahāśayaḥ ॥ 3-10॥

MEANING:
ceṣṭamānam (चेष्टमानम्) = performing/behaving/acting
śarīram (शरीरम्) = body
svam (स्वम्) = own/intrinsic
paśyati (पश्यति) = sees
anyaśarīravat (अन्यशरीरवत्) = like another's body (anya (अन्य) meaning other/another and śarīra (शरीर) body) ।
saṃstave (संस्तवे) = in common or simultaneous praise
ca (च) = and
api (अपि) = even
nindāyām (निन्दायाम्) = reproach/defamation/disapproval
katham (कथम्) = how
kṣubhyet (क्षुभ्येत्) = should be disturbed or agitated
mahāśayaḥ (महाशयः) = one having a magnanimous and broad disposition ॥ 3-10॥

COMMENT:
The seeking of awareness, the understanding of reality and the core quietude that we yearn can only come when self-identification is absolved thoroughly from ones thought processes. That is the basic message contained within this beautiful verse.
The process begins with the freeing of oneself from mores, cultures, upbringings, superstition and dogma - those commonly ascribed cultural touchpoints by which we measure and score each other. The process continues with discarding the idea that one is a man or a woman or a transgender - just the fact that one is part of a multifarious ocean of sentient creatures each of whom have their own unique forms of conscious experience and individual specialized umwelts** should be enough and internalized. The next step in this process is the casting away of the identity - the fact that one is this, that or the other. All of such made-up appellations should be discarded; such appellations are creations of our collective sub-culture that had considered humans to be at the apex of the chain*, when, in reality, we are links within the chain that has been causally balanced via evolution. The next step in the process is the abandonment of self-concern and the overriding urge within us to accumulate, collect and amass - whether in the form of material goods, wealth, fame, pleasures or other forms of entities that seem to be culturally imputed with value.
All of this does not in any way, shape or form mean that one needs to be imprudent and irresponsible. No, it does not mean that. Pure awareness begins to seep into the mind when the mind is free of thoughts of the self and ones aim centers towards divesting one's material and spiritual baggage to a level where one is not consumed by the thoughts, worries or problems that such baggage might bring into ones mind. The stilling of thoughts is the objective and the results of such a stilling is beautifully portrayed in these lines when Ashtavakra mentions that the mind of a stilled one does not differentiate their own body as separate from another's; the imputation is that one who sees this way has ceased to self-identify with emotions, feelings or other thought fluctuations. The ideas of fear, blame, praise, anger, respect and other like cultural signifiers always have their locus with respect to bodily actions that one performs. Ashtavakra mentions that the moment one stops to self-identify with any of these cultural signifiers, it is equivalent to not identifying with your own body. This does not mean that Ashtavakra is insinuating the discarding of our bodies and elevating the mind (and the self) as the most unique entity. On the contrary, it is further clarification that we are just that - organic collections of cells that constitute sentience along with the ocean of other sentient beings that populate this universe.

NOTES:
*Anthropocentrism is that philosophical viewpoint that argues that human beings are at the apex of all creatures and are the single most significant entities in the world. This is a fundamental acceptance embedded within many non-Eastern religions and philosophies. Anthropocentrism regards humans as separate from and superior to nature and holds that human life has intrinsic value while other entities (including animals, plants, mineral resources, and so on). As such, such resources may justifiably be exploited for the benefit of humankind to the detriment of all other sentient beings on earth. I would consider that we are in an advanced state of chauvinistic anthropocentrism.

**I described umwelt and the concept thereof in verse 1.18. Since the concept of umwelt is critical to the understanding of the Ashtavakra Gita, I have excerpted the following writeup that defines the concept by David M. Eagleman Neuroscientist, Stanford University (Author, Incognito, Sum, The Brain): "In 1909, the biologist Jakob von Uexküll introduced the concept of the umwelt. He wanted a word to express a simple (but often overlooked) observation: different animals in the same ecosystem pick up on different environmental signals. In the blind and deaf world of the tick, the important signals are temperature and the odor of butyric acid. For the black ghost knifefish, it's electrical fields. For the echolocating bat, it's air-compression waves. The small subset of the world that an animal is able to detect is its umwelt. The bigger reality, whatever that might mean, is called the umgebung.
The interesting part is that each organism presumably assumes its umwelt to be the entire objective reality "out there." Why would any of us stop to think that there is more beyond what we can sense? In the movie The Truman Show, the eponymous Truman lives in a world completely constructed around him by an intrepid television producer. At one point an interviewer asks the producer, "Why do you think Truman has never come close to discovering the true nature of his world?" The producer replies, "We accept the reality of the world with which we're presented." We accept our umwelt and stop there.
To appreciate the amount that goes undetected in our lives, imagine you're a bloodhound dog. Your long nose houses two hundred million scent receptors. On the outside, your wet nostrils attract and trap scent molecules. The slits at the corners of each nostril flare out to allow more air flow as you sniff. Even your floppy ears drag along the ground and kick up scent molecules. Your world is all about olfaction. One afternoon, as you're following your master, you stop in your tracks with a revelation. What is it like to have the pitiful, impoverished nose of a human being? What can humans possibly detect when they take in a feeble little noseful of air? Do they suffer a hole where smell is supposed to be?
Obviously, we suffer no absence of smell because we accept reality as it's presented to us. Without the olfactory capabilities of a bloodhound, it rarely strikes us that things could be different. Similarly, until a child learns in school that honeybees enjoy ultraviolet signals and rattlesnakes employ infrared, it does not strike her that plenty of information is riding on channels to which we have no natural access. From my informal surveys, it is very uncommon knowledge that the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to us is less than a ten-trillionth of it.
Our unawareness of the limits of our umwelt can be seen with color blind people: until they learn that others can see hues they cannot, the thought of extra colors does not hit their radar screen. And the same goes for the congenitally blind: being sightless is not like experiencing "blackness" or "a dark hole" where vision should be. As a human is to a bloodhound dog, a blind person does not miss vision. They do not conceive of it. Electromagnetic radiation is simply not part of their umwelt.
The more science taps into these hidden channels, the more it becomes clear that our brains are tuned to detect a shockingly small fraction of the surrounding reality. Our sensorium is enough to get by in our ecosystem, but is does not approximate the larger picture.
I think it would be useful if the concept of the umwelt were embedded in the public lexicon. It neatly captures the idea of limited knowledge, of unobtainable information, and of unimagined possibilities. Consider the criticisms of policy, the assertions of dogma, the declarations of fact that you hear every day — and just imagine if all of these could be infused with the proper intellectual humility that comes from appreciating the amount unseen."

AVG 3.9

Chapter 3 (Challenging The Seekers Understanding): Verse 9
धीरस्तु भोज्यमानोऽपि पीड्यमानोऽपि सर्वदा ।
आत्मानं केवलं पश्यन्न तुष्यति न कुप्यति ॥ ३-९॥

PURPORT:
Whereas entertained, feted, celebrated
or even tormented, the steadfast individual
unconditionally observes their own true awareness,
and is thus neither gratified nor agitated.

TRANSLITERATION:
धीरः तु भोज्यमानः अपि पीड्यमानः अपि सर्वदा ।
dhīraḥ tu bhojyamānaḥ api pīḍyamānaḥ api sarvadā ।
आत्मानम् केवलम् पश्यन् न तुष्यति न कुप्यति ॥ ३-९॥
ātmānam kevalam paśyan na tuṣyati na kupyati ॥ 3-9॥
MEANING:
dhīraḥ (धीरः) = perseverant/steadfast individual/a serene person
tu (तु) = but/whereas
bhojyamānaḥ (भोज्यमानः) = feasted, feted and enjoyed by the senses
api (अपि) = even
pīḍyamānaḥ (पीड्यमानः) = afflicted/tormented
api (अपि) = even
sarvadā (सर्वदा) = at all times ।
ātmānam (आत्मानम्) = your self/one's substantive individualization (through choiceless awareness)
kevalam (केवलम्) = absolutely/unconditionally
paśyan (पश्यन्) = seeing
na (न) = not
tuṣyati (तुष्यति) = to be pleased/is gratified/become calm and satisfied
na (न) = not
kupyati (कुप्यति) = be moved or excited or agitated/be angry and filled with rage ॥ 3-9॥

COMMENT:
It is seen that from verse 1 through to verse 8 of this chapter, the incongruous and slightly eccentric nature of an irresolute seeker has been chronicled, pointing out the conflicts and inconsistencies within the seekers path to awareness and the material distractions along the path. Verses 1-8 indicate that true awareness may elude the seekers grasp so long as the seeker continues to experience the contradictions and inconsistencies indicated in those verses. From this verse onward, the judgement, habit and method of a true preceptor is explained. Nevertheless, the journey remains beautiful, the language gentle and brims with wisdom.

This particular verse is a distillation of the sense of liberation that a precept with a clear understanding of the nature of awareness will experience. Ashtavakra tells Janaka that when a precept has managed to understand and channel all of the desires and fears of the mind and moves towards finding a state of being where there is neither elation nor irritation (as both elation and irritation are dependent and one cannot be characterized as such without the other), then the precept is a choiceless observer - neither anger nor disappointment nor extreme elation can overly tilt this equanimity. Of course, the state of awareness itself as potentially experienced by a precept does not care nor is bothered by whether (or not) the individual experiences a sense of dichotomy within their thoughts or a sense of non-duality within their thoughts. Similarly, the state of awareness does not care whether the individual experiences the world as a singular entity or as an entity as part of an undifferentiated whole. Choiceless awareness is not affected by the content of the individuals experience. The precept understands this and Ashtavakra informs us so.

The beginning seeker sees glimpses of this choiceless state as they read, meditate or work. It is thought that a constant practice of such channeling will allow for the seeker in expanding these moments of choiceless clarity. In addition, it should be understood by the seeker that the moment the seeker sets out to reach this state of choiceless awareness as some kind of an idyllic goal from whence the seeker hopes to find peace, realize that the seeker is lost and needs to restart. There are no goals, no idols on high, no ever-shining luminosity that one needs to use as a goal. There are no goals. Choiceless awareness is just that - awareness without thought, emotion, predilections or preconceptions - impartial observance leading to profound peace and insight. The awareness will follow.

AVG 3.8

Chapter 3 (Challenging The Seekers Understanding): Verse 8
इहामुत्र विरक्तस्य नित्यानित्यविवेकिनः ।
आश्चर्यं मोक्षकामस्य मोक्षाद् एव विभीषिका ॥ ३-८॥

PURPORT:
It is surprising that the one who is unattached
to phenomena of this world or to other worlds,
the one who can judiciously discern between
the perpetual and the intermittent, the one who
hankers for a transcendence of desires and fears,
that same one, fears such a transcendence.

TRANSLITERATION:
इहामुत्र विरक्तस्य नित्यानित्यविवेकिनः ।
ihāmutra viraktasya nityānityavivekinaḥ ।
आश्चर्यम् मोक्षकामस्य मोक्षात् एव विभीषिका ॥ ३-८॥
āścaryam mokṣakāmasya mokṣāt eva vibhīṣikā ॥ 3-8॥

MEANING:
ihāmutra (इहामुत्र) = in this world and the next (broken up as iha (इह) meaning 'this/here' and amutra (अमुत्र) meaning 'in the next world' or 'in the next life'; combining to form ihāmutra (इहामुत्र) to mean 'in this world and the next' or 'in this life and the next')
viraktasya (विरक्तस्य) = of one who is unattached
nityānityavivekinaḥ (नित्यानित्यविवेकिनः) = of one who judiciously discerns between the perpetual and the intermittent (compound of nityā (नित्य) meaning 'perpetual/eternal/everlasting' and anitya (अनित्य) meaning 'ephemeral/intermittent/terminable/transient' and vivekinaḥ (विवेकिनः) meaning 'one who employs judicious reasoning allowing for a clear discrimination of concepts')।
āścaryam (आश्चर्यम्) = surprise/astonishment
mokṣakāmasya (मोक्षकामस्य) = of the one who hankers for emancipation resulting from a transcendence of desires and fears
mokṣāt (मोक्षात्) = from emancipation
eva (एव) = even
vibhīṣikā (विभीषिका) = terror/fear ॥ 3-8॥

COMMENT:
These sublime lines from Ashtavakra immaculately encapsulates an ironical dilemma faced by many seekers - the dilemma where the seeker wants to transcend, yet, is held back in the process by an innate fear propagated by the seekers imaginary ego that does not want to let the seeker free to reach that transcended space.
Ashtavakra states that it is rather surprising that a seeker who is unattached to mental or corporeal phenomena and creations of this world (or other worlds envisaged), a seeker who has learned to judiciously discern between what can potentially be construed as eternal processes or transient processes (within their own frames of reference), a seeker who longs for a transcendence of desires and fears is indeed terrified of such a transcendence. The ego (and the self-model thereof) resorts to various tricks within the mind - tricks that combine gratification, fear, loss of control, greed, hope and power - a combination of some or all of these allow for the ego to pull the seeker back into ego-centric territory.
The use of the word moksha* here merits a little detail - the Sanskrit word itself generally means to be liberated from the cycles of birth and death (construed more generally as a state where an individual is never again born into this material world). Different Indian scriptural traditions understand the attainment of the same in many different ways. The realization that the self-model is immanent and pervades all of cosmos is one interpretation, the pure bliss emanating from the fact that one has experienced that immortal soul that lives within each of us and is part of a larger soul is another interpretation. Yet another interpretation holds that moksha is the final liberation from cycles of rebirths and deaths within this material creation.
As seekers, one understands that moksha, soul, afterlife, spirit and variations thereof are concepts that we have developed to help ourselves. That is all. Moksha is what we make out to be as we strive to attain (and maybe maintain, at least for some period of time), a state of transcendence where we are perfectly free of desires and fears, a state of pure observation without choices, prejudices or partial leanings, a state where thought, action, reaction and teaching cannot intrude. That would be moksha for me as a seeker - albeit fleeting such a moment might be.

*In fact, the ancients considered moksha as one of the four goals or 'purushaartha's' desired by seekers (the other three being 'dharma' or righteousness, 'artha' or wealth and 'kaama' or fulfilling of desires). The 'purushaartha' system is yet another facet of the Dharma concept in Hinduism. Knowledge of this is really not necessary to understand the message behind the Ashtavakra. I included this here just in case you were wondering what this might reference.

AVG 3.7

Chapter 3 (Challenging The Seekers Understanding): Verse 7
उद्भूतं ज्ञानदुर्मित्रमवधार्यातिदुर्बलः ।
आश्चर्यं काममाकाङ्क्षेत् कालमन्तमनुश्रितः ॥ ३-७॥

PURPORT:
It is indeed bewildering that knowing
desire to be contrary to awareness,
one who is extremely feeble and
approaching the end of one’s days,
should still pine for physical possessions.

TRANSLITERATION:
उद्भूतम् ज्ञानदुर्मित्रम् अवधार्य अतिदुर्बलः ।
udbhūtam jñānadurmitram avadhārya atidurbalaḥ ।
आश्चर्यम् कामम् अकाङ्क्षेत् कालम् अन्तम् अनुश्रितः ॥ ३-७॥
āścaryam kāmam akāṅkṣet kālam antam anuśritaḥ ॥ 3-7॥

MEANING:
udbhūtam (उद्भूतम्) = produced/come forth
jñānadurmitram  (ज्ञानदुर्मित्रम्) = antagonistic to knowledge/not a friend of learning and intelligence
avadhārya  (अवधार्य) = to be ascertained or known/knowing for certain
atidurbalaḥ  (अतिदुर्बलः) = extremely feeble/acutely weak।
āścaryam (आश्चर्यम्) = astonishment/surprise/bewilderment
kāmam  (कामम्) = sensual gratification (in this context, I want to read this word more as one’s attachment to physical possessions and not just from a sexual perspective as the word is commonly connoted within Sanskrit)
akāṅkṣet  (अकाङ्क्षेत्) = should desire with longing/pining for
kālam  (कालम्) = days/time
antam  (अन्तम्) = last/end
anuśritaḥ  (अनुश्रितः) = impending/approaching/imminent॥ 3-7॥

COMMENT:
These beautiful lines talk about that juncture where a seeker fully cognizant that s(he) will pass on from this universe, possessively clings to objects of attachments and selfdom thoughts that allow for the seekers ego to continue to consolidate and dominate. While death to the ancients came on suddenly and without warning, the prospect of death in most cases to prevailing generations is a factor that is clear and present within their lives - just that most of us choose to ignore the same as the ego will still continue to dominate until the very end (in a certain sense, the prevailing generations have a better chance at planning for the dissolution of the ego before the oncoming end than our erstwhile generations).
There seems to be two distinct spiritual directions a seeker approaching their end-days might take - the way of ego transcendence or the way of ego preponderance. To briefly expand, the latter is what Ashtavakra directly refers to within these verses - where the force of the ego and the thoughts and actions thereof is so all-empowering that even with the distinct knowledge that the end is near, one refuses to give up those modes of attachments and diversions that have always proven to fuel and prop the ego. As an extension, Ashtavakra might indirectly be leading us down the alternate path that the seeker may strive to cultivate – the path of ego transcendence - where the seeker lives out life in a manner where the deeds, actions, legacies and work of the seeker serve as a path forward to the people left behind with little regard for the signature of the seekers ego to be overlayed on such deeds, actions, work and thoughts. As someone once wisely said: we do not really possess anything that is called an ‘ego’, we are only possessed by the idea that we have one.

AVG 3.6

Chapter 3 (Challenging The Seekers Understanding): Verse 6
आस्थितः परमाद्वैतं मोक्षार्थेऽपि व्यवस्थितः ।
आश्चर्यं कामवशगो विकलः केलिशिक्षया ॥ ३-६॥

PURPORT:
Enduring in a profound state of non-duality
with an intent and focus towards liberation,
it is surprising that one should yet, be in thrall
to the power of attachment and the practice
of clinging to impassioned endeavors.

TRANSLITERATION:
आस्थितः परमाद्वैतम् मोक्षार्थे अपि व्यवस्थितः ।
āsthitaḥ paramādvaitam mokṣārthe api vyavasthitaḥ ।
आश्चर्यम् कामवशगः विकलः केलिशिक्षया ॥ ३-६॥
āścaryam kāmavaśagaḥ vikalaḥ keliśikṣayā ॥ 3-6॥

MEANING:
āsthitaḥ (आस्थितः) = existing/abiding/enduring
paramādvaitam (परमाद्वैतम्) =  in supreme non-duality (compound of param (परम) meaning 'absolute/profound/supreme' and ādvaitam (अद्वैतम्) meaning 'to be in a state that is destitute of dichotomy' or 'to be in a state of non-duality')
mokṣārthe (मोक्षार्थे) = with an intent towards and a focus on redemption (compound of mokṣa (मोक्ष) meaning 'absolution/redemption/liberation' and arthe (अर्थे) meaning 'on the account of/with an intent towards')
api (अपि) = even
vyavasthitaḥ (व्यवस्थितः) = persevering/established/settled/fixed।
āścaryam (आश्चर्यम्) = astonished/miracle/surprise
kāmavaśagaḥ (कामवशगः) = being held in the power of attachment/lust (compound of kāma (काम) meaning 'desire/lust/pleasure' and vaśagaḥ (वशगः) meaning 'being in the power of/subjected to/subjugated to')
vikalaḥ (विकलः) = weakened/crippled/exhausted/maimed
keliśikṣayā (केलिशिक्षया) = by the learning and practice of impassioned endeavors (compound of keli (केलि) meaning 'amorous and sportive pleasures' or impassioned activities' and śikṣayā (शिक्षया) meaning 'by the learning' of or 'by the practice of') ॥ 3-6॥

COMMENT:
In reading this verse as well as the previous verses, the concept of attachment, lust, desire and like emotions keeps surfacing (previously in 3.4 and 3.5). These verses should not be construed as a condemnation against love or desire or lust; also, the verses should not be read as espousing a life of strict, celibate non-attachment. These lines are far from such narrow sedentary interpretations. Within my limited understanding of these lines, I humbly submit that the import of these verses boil down to the following simple message: love and desire for the other person is the most positively uplifting selfless act one can bring oneself to accomplish as long as such love for the other does not become a place from which the innate self-awareness of the other stops shining and fades – where attachment happens to the exclusion of all else and the other is subsumed in this process. Kahlil Gibran espoused the same sentiments when he wrote the following lines in the poem ‘On Marriage’ that seemed to better express the thinking that I had on reading these verses.

“Love one another, but make not a bond
of love:
  Let it rather be a moving sea between
the shores of your souls.
  Fill each other’s cup but drink not from
one cup.
  Give one another of your bread but eat
not from the same loaf.
  Sing and dance together and be joyous,
but let each one of you be alone,
  Even as the strings of a lute are alone
though they quiver with the same music.”

AVG 3.5

Chapter 3 (Challenging The Seekers Understanding): Verse 5
सर्वभूतेषु चात्मानं सर्वभूतानि चात्मनि ।
मुनेर्जानत आश्चर्यं ममत्वमनुवर्तते ॥३-५॥

PURPORT:
It is astonishing that the sense of ownership
and narcissism should continue even in the sage
who has actualized the understanding
that the self is in all and all is in the self.

TRANSLITERATION:
सर्वभूतेषु च आत्मानम् सर्वभूतानि च आत्मनि ।
sarvabhūteṣu ca ātmānam sarvabhūtāni ca ātmani ।
मुनेः जानतः आश्चर्यम् ममत्वम् अनुवर्तते ॥३-५॥
muneḥ jānataḥ āścaryam mamatvam anuvartate ॥3-5॥

MEANING:
sarvabhūteṣu (सर्वभूतेषु) = in all beings/in all things
ca (च) = and
ātmānam (आत्मानम्) = your self/one’s substantive individualization
sarvabhūtāni (सर्वभूतानि) = all things/all beings
ca (च) = and
ātmani (आत्मनि) = in the self/within one’s substantive individualization ।
muneḥ (मुनेः) = of the sage/of the guide
jānataḥ (जानतः) = knowing
āścaryam (आश्चर्यम्) = astonishment/surprise
mamatvam (ममत्वम्) = self-conceit/narcissism/egotism
anuvartate (अनुवर्तते) = continue/run after ॥3-5॥

COMMENT:
The key to understanding these lines (as has been talked about earlier) is in the realization that just about everything changes and all entities are in a state of constant flux. Every second of every hour of our sentient existence, the one overriding surety that we could bring to ourselves is the fact that there is no underlying essence that has a constant and everlasting presence which defines any material or immaterial object – that flower, the mountain, the birds, that earthworm, our bodies, thoughts, emotions – every single object is in a state of flux. This does not mean that you or I or those mountains or those birds are not real; on the contrary, they are very much real, but to see their 'realness' with the lens that shows that each and every one of these entities lack an intrinsic identity that is separate and distinct from the other is the lens we can strive to cultivate.
This is also the main import of the first line when Ashtavakra mentions that one sees one’s own substantive individualization when they interact with manifested entities and similarly, an aspect of awareness and impermanence is reciprocally reflected back from such manifested entities. Thus, Ashtavakra asks Janaka (in a surprised tone), how Janaka could find the concept of attachment or egotism towards any of such manifested entities (as Janaka claims to have clearly understood these concepts in the previous chapter).
On a side note, even the concept of identity and self is only constructed within the situational context that is present in that moment. That moment conditioned by the layers of conscious absorption of tenets, customs and values impinged upon us by society as well as the affirmation one receives when one has responded in ways that align to such tenets, customs and values. Clinging to the fiction that one has an enduring, important and overriding essence called self and reifying the concept so is the recipe for craving - a craving that manifests in the accumulation of wealth, power, platitudes, adoration and other like riches.

AVG 3.4

Chapter 3 (Challenging The Seekers Understanding): Verse 4
श्रुत्वाऽपि शुद्धचैतन्यमात्मानमतिसुन्दरम् ।
उपस्थेऽत्यन्तसंसक्तो मालिन्यमधिगच्छति ॥ ३-४॥

PURPORT:
Having discerned your nature of pure awareness
and your innately beautiful self-ideation,
how can you still be infatuated and covetous
and thus be afflicted with dissonance?

TRANSLITERATION:
श्रुत्वा अपि शुद्धचैतन्यम् आत्मानम् अतिसुन्दरम् ।
śrutvā api śuddhacaitanyam ātmānam atisundaram ।
उपस्थे अत्यन्तसंसक्तः मालिन्यम् अधिगच्छति ॥ ३-४॥
upasthe atyantasaṃsaktaḥ mālinyam adhigacchati ॥ 3-4॥

MEANING:
śrutvā (श्रुत्वा) = having heard/on hearing (in this context the use can construed to be more like ‘having thus understood’)
api (अपि) = even
śuddhacaitanyam* (शुद्धचैतन्यम्) = pure self-awareness/unadulterated consciousness (compound of śuddha (शुद्ध) meaning pure/unadulterated/unqualified/cleansed and caitanyam* (चैतन्यम्) meaning awareness/consciousness/intelligence);
ātmānam (आत्मानम्) = your self/one’s substantive individualization
atisundaram (अतिसुन्दरम्) = exceedingly beautiful (compound of ati (अति) meaning exceedingly/outperforming everything else and sundaram (सुन्दरम्) meaning loveliness/beauty/beautiful)।
upasthe (उपस्थे) = generative organs/procreative agency (reference to lust and lustful infatuation)
atyantasaṃsaktaḥ (अत्यन्तसंसक्तः) = very deeply attached (compound of atyanta (अत्यन्त) meaning excessive/absolute/perpetual and saṃsaktaḥ (संसक्तः) meaning closely connected/adhered or stuck together)
mālinyam (मालिन्यम्) = impurity/contamination/adulteration (as in to be afflicted with an impurity or adulteration)
adhigacchati (अधिगच्छति) = go towards/accomplish/obtain॥ 3-4॥

COMMENT:
Balanced gently on that narrow ledge straddling benign chiding and tender reminding, Ashtavakra talks about that singular issue that confronts the beginning seeker – how is it that the seeker continues to covet and lust even after knowing and understanding aspects of awareness that is liberating to their minds? This is Ashtavakra's way of reminding Janaka that lust and the feelings thereof is just like every other learned and conditioned emotional concept fabricated from our thoughts. The experiences garnered as a result of applying conceptual designations and the resultant names and forms used in describing feelings of lust as well as the object of ones lust do not innately spring forth from the distilled self-awareness of a discerning seeker, but instead, such behavior and designations are learned, conditioned and habituated culturally.

In an extrapolation of the thoughts that Ashtavakra references, one can almost say that the object of ones lust is not an object at all. The confusion and the latent sense of ownership arises from the fact that one starts to recognize the object of ones lust as an objective entity in the first place. One seems to think that one has subjective experiences (desire, possession, ownership) of an objective entity (the target of ones lust) when in reality there might be none at all on closer scrutiny. But, Ashtavakra wants us to understand that ultimately, there is nothing out there other than ones relative truth that is conditioned by the trappings of societal and cultural forces. There is no objective, independent truth out there and, by extension, on deeper analysis, one will not be able to find (with any clarity) the existence of anything "outside" or "external" to ourselves. Nothing exists independent of our minds and the fluctuations of thought that seem to percept such an externality.

* caitanyam is from the from the Sanskrit root “cit” (“चित्”); a form of pure consciousness where the reference is to just an awareness that is choiceless and impartial and is not awareness of this particular entity or awareness of that specific object accompanied by its own attendant subjective interpretations.
Interesting relevant tidbit: the actual meaning of the word “citra” (“चित्र”) is also not ‘picture’ but ‘perception of multiplicity’ or ‘manifold’ – thus, the world can also be construed as being a “citra” (illusion/picture).
Additional tidbit: Satchitananda (सच्चिदानन्द) is a compounded Sanskrit word consisting of "sat", "cit" and "ananda", all three considered as inseparable and a nature of ultimate reality where sat (सत्): means "being, existence", "real, actual", "true, good, right", or "that which really is, existence, essence, true being, really existent, good, true"; cit (चित्): means "consciousness" or "choiceless awareness" (as referenced above) and ānanda (आनन्द): means "happiness, joy, enjoyment, bliss"; taken together, satchitananda is therefore translated as "Being;Choiceless Awareness;Bliss".

AVG 3.3

Chapter 3 (Challenging The Seekers Understanding): Verse 3
विश्वं स्फुरति यत्रेदं तरङ्गा इव सागरे ।
सोऽहमस्मीति विज्ञाय किं दीन इव धावसि ॥ ३-३॥

PURPORT:
The perceived universe manifested
in apparent diversity all around us, is,
just as waves manifest within the ocean.
With the discernment of the truth
‘I am That’, why do you bustle and flee
like someone suffering and afflicted?


TRANSLITERATION:
विश्वम् स्फुरति यत्र इदम् तरङ्गाः इव सागरे ।
viśvam sphurati yatra idam taraṅgāḥ iva sāgare ।
सः अहम् अस्मि इति विज्ञाय किम् दीनः इव धावसि ॥ ३-३॥
saḥ aham asmi iti vijñāya kim dīnaḥ iva dhāvasi ॥ 3-3॥

MEANING:
viśvam (विश्वम्) = universe (as in perceived universe or the worlds of perception)
sphurati (स्फुरति) = to be evident or manifest/appears so
yatra (यत्र) = wherein/on occasion where
idam (इदम्) = this
taraṅgāḥ (तरङ्गाः) = waves
iva (इव) = like
sāgare (सागरे) = in the ocean ।
saḥ (सः) = that
aham (अहम्) = I
asmi (अस्मि) = am
iti (इति) = thus/this
vijñāya (विज्ञाय) = knowing/recognizable/discerned
kim (किम्) = why
dīnaḥ (दीनः) = helpless/afflicted/poor
iva (इव) = like
dhāvasi (धावसि) = run around/flee/bustle॥ 3-3॥

COMMENT:
The key message that Ashtavakra artfully delivers here is on the nature of the awareness that results from choiceless observation and introspection; Ashtavakra does this by comparing the multifarious manifestations within the perceived world (Vishvam) to the waves that seem to arise and abate within the ocean – yet seems to be subsumed by the ocean at the end of the process. The objects thus perceived and classified by our minds are purely based upon concepts and knowledge accrued by us previously allowing us to categorize (such) Vishvam into culturally appropriated into cubby-holes that we artificially create within our minds.

In extending the words, I want to say that one tends to forget that everything that we perceive, interact and act-upon is a creation of thought. One is born from thoughts and many seekers tend to pass-on from this world sheathed within the close (and somewhat comforting) confines of these same thoughts. Without thought, it can be said that one would not be here at all (in a subjective manner); one would not be here perceiving, judging, lusting, owning and thus imparting a sense of permanency on things; things that really arise, abide and dissipate all around us only exhibiting a characteristic of pure impermanence.
Of course, I concede that thought has value in the sense that it allows us to participate as members of a shared culture and species within society and allows us to plan our steps and actions in response to stimuli, but it is also the single thing that will destroy the pure awareness that constitutes insight.

AVG 3.2

Chapter 3 (Challenging The Seekers Understanding): Verse 2
आत्माज्ञानादहो प्रीतिर्विषयभ्रमगोचरे ।
शुक्तेरज्ञानतो लोभो यथा रजतविभ्रमे ॥ ३-२॥

PURPORT:
Alas, just as greed arises from the
illusion that mother-of-pearl
appears as silver to an inexperienced seeker;
so too arises the attachment to objects
of illusory perception from a
paucity of self-awareness.

TRANSLITERATION:
आत्माज्ञानात् अहो प्रीतिः विषय भ्रमगोचरे ।
ātmājñānāt aho prītiḥ viṣaya bhramagocare ।
शुक्तेः अज्ञानतः लोभः यथा रजतविभ्रमे ॥ ३-२॥
śukteḥ ajñānataḥ lobhaḥ yathā rajatavibhrame ॥ 3-2॥

MEANING:
ātmājñānāt (आत्माज्ञानात्) = from inexperience of self-awareness (compound of ātmā (आत्म) meaning self-awareness and ājñānāt (अज्ञानात्) meaning ignorance/inexperience)
aho (अहो) = Alas!
prītiḥ (प्रीतिः) = attachment/affinity
viṣaya (विषय) = theme/subject/domain
bhramagocare (भ्रमगोचरे) = perplexity and confusion in the objects of sense perception (compound of bhrama (भ्रम) meaning confusion/perplexity/hallucination and gocare (गोचरे) meaning object of sense perceptions)।
śukteḥ (शुक्तेः) = of the pearl oyster/of nacre (can be mistaken for silver - nacre is an organic-inorganic composite material produced by some mollusks as an inner shell layer)
ajñānataḥ (अज्ञानतः) = from inexperience and ignorance
lobhaḥ (लोभः) = avarice/greed
yathā (यथा) = as
rajatavibhrame (रजतविभ्रमे) = the illusion of silver compound of rajata (रजत) meaning silver and vibhrame (विभ्रमे) meaning perplexity arising out of an illusory phenomenon॥ 3-2॥

COMMENT:
Janaka (and by extension the seeker within all of us) ignores the truths offered up by our own inherently luminous self-awareness which on closer introspection will doubtless reveal that objects of desire lack any underlying fundamental essence. The emptiness of existent entities have various facets - an inner emptiness where objects lack any underlying fundamental essence; an outer emptiness as the form that objects assume is the form-name that we assign and designate; an emptiness of emptiness where we counteract the tendency of our minds to give the contingently designated term ‘emptiness’ any more importance than is needed and thus not mistakenly assign belief in that term to connote any overall ground-truth; emptiness of compounds and commixtures where we mistakenly tend to identify a fundamental essence either to the smallest parts that make up the whole or to the whole that is made up of smaller moieties; emptiness of concepts and phenomena supposedly having no beginning nor an end where we tend to mistakenly identify conceptual ideas like god, creator, ego, spirit, soul, universe, atoms, etc with an undying essence when all of such phenomena are manifestations of processes that are interdependent and are multifariously linked by trillions upon trillions of causal conditions.
Ashtavakra explains that once Janaka starts to understand phenomena around him as manifest in a perpetual dance of arising, enduring and ceasing based upon appropriate dependencies and conditions, then Janaka will start to see objects of his desire in a different light. A light that combines the impermanence associated with such entities with the dependently arisen aspects of the same entity.

AVG 3.1

Chapter 3 (Challenging The Seekers Understanding): Verse 1
अष्टावक्र उवाच ॥
अविनाशिनमात्मानं एकं विज्ञाय तत्त्वतः ।
तवात्मज्ञनस्य धीरस्य कथमर्थार्जने रतिः ॥ ३-१॥

PURPORT:
Ashtavakra said:
Having known your self-awareness
as akin to a non-differentiated state
of experience, how is that you,
that steadfast knower of being,
harbor this affinity towards
the accumulation of affluence?

TRANSLITERATION:
aṣṭāvakra uvāca ॥
अविनाशिनम् आत्मानम् एकम् विज्ञाय तत्त्वतः ।
avināśinam ātmānam ekam vijñāya tattvataḥ ।
तव आत्मज्ञस्य धीरस्य कथम् अर्थार्जने रतिः ॥ ३-१॥
tava ātmajñasya dhīrasya kathama arthārjane ratiḥ ॥ 3-1॥

MEANING:
avināśinam (अविनाशिनम्) = that which cannot be destroyed/indestructible
ātmānam (आत्मानम्) = that which is self-awareness/self-model
ekam (एकम्) = one/non-differentiated
vijñāya (विज्ञाय) = knowing/discerned/having recognized
tattvataḥ (तत्त्वतः) = of its true nature ।
tava (तव) = your
ātmajñasya (आत्मज्ञस्य) = of the self-aware knower
dhīrasya (धीरस्य) = of the one who is steadfast and resolute/of the unwavering one
katham (कथम्) = how
arthārjane (अर्थार्जने) = in the accumulation of affluence
ratiḥ (रतिः) = attachment/affinity॥ 3-1॥

COMMENT:
The chapter previous to this was a description and celebration of the joy that Janaka feels as he seems to understand the equanimity that comes with the awareness of an examined life without the cultural overlays of choice, doctrine or dogma. A life that seems to transcend the plane that Janaka existed up until then. However, Ashtavakra understands that while Janaka might be able to describe selflessness and the resultant freedom that comes from a deeper understanding of the illusory nature of the self (and in-turn the ego that is always for the rise), Ashtavakra is unsure how ingrained the understanding might be in Janaka’s mind. Therefore, in this chapter, the import is that of a teacher who seeks to challenge the seeker to look for inconsistencies within the seekers understanding of a particular concept and thus guide the seeker to a better overall understanding of the broader landscape of the lesson. The questions and the concerns that Ashtavakra has of Janaka range from mundane objects like the accumulation material wealth to immaterial aspects of attachment that include desire for objects, lust and a mindset that tends to hoarding of sense objects and forms. The concern that Ashtavakra brings to the fore is succinctly expressed when he mentions that even after Janaka realizes that the truth that shines within us all is to be found within oneself and takes the form of a mind that is rooted in an awareness without choices, and even after Janaka has identified with that essential mode of understanding through practice and introspection and have courageously come out to express the joy behind such a liberating mindset, why would Janaka still show any inclination towards the acquirement of worldly riches of any sort? This is how Ashtavakra begins this chapter. The question is a deep one - if one proclaims a deeper understanding of being and reality, does it make any sense in staying rooted to the routine motions that we have inculcated over our lives as it applies to hoarding and collecting and accumulation?

AVG 2.25

Chapter 2 (The Seekers Joy at Self-Cognizance): Verse 25
मय्यनन्तमहाम्भोधावाश्चर्यं जीववीचयः ।
उद्यन्ति घ्नन्ति खेलन्ति प्रविशन्ति स्वभावतः ॥ २-२५॥

PURPORT:
This revelation is astonishing!
Within me, a limitless ocean sans shore,
pulsations of disparate thoughts arise;
they pummel, cavort and collide
and then calmly dissipate to naught,
each according to its nature.

TRANSLITERATION:
मयि अनन्तमहाम्भोधौ आश्चर्यं जीववीचयः ।
mayi anantamahāmbhodhau āścaryaṃ jīvavīcayaḥ ।
उद्यन्ति घ्नन्ति खेलन्ति प्रविशन्ति स्वभावतः ॥ २-२५॥
udyanti ghnanti khelanti praviśanti svabhāvataḥ ॥ 2-25॥

MEANING:
mayi (मयि) = in me
anantamahāmbhodhau (अनन्तमहाम्भोधौ) = within the boundless ocean
āścaryaṃ (आश्चर्यं) = wonderful surprise/miracle/astonishment
jīvavīcayaḥ (जीववीचयः) = multiple waves that arise in the form of individual selves ।
udyanti (उद्यन्ति) = arise/surge/advance/progress
ghnanti (घ्नन्ति) = collide/clash/strike/pummel (with each other)
khelanti (खेलन्ति) = play/cavort/caper/frolic
praviśanti (प्रविशन्ति) = cadence/tempo/rhythm/pulse/pattern
svabhāvataḥ (स्वभावतः) = according to their own specific nature॥ 2-25॥

COMMENT:
In the final verse of this chapter, Janaka closes out by extending the allegory of the limitless ocean to inform that the multiple versions of names-and-forms that collide and cavort within him eventually dissipate to nothingness as his understanding of self and reality is clarified. In closing my neophyte commentary for the chapter, I have to say that I tend to see the plane of awareness described by Janaka in these lines to be akin to a non-differentiated state of experience, intuition and being.
Non-differentiated in terms of experience where one stops to discretize objects of enquiry into moieties of distinction and separateness and like dualities.
Non-differentiated in terms of intuition where one instinctively approaches phenomena with that innate non-dual sense where one understands that s(he) is part of the glorious whole and isolation of phenomena into names and forms does not allow for any peaceful synthesis.
Non-differentiated in terms of being where the entire physical and mental aspects of existence fold into a state of continuous amalgamation with the understanding that all phenomena are inherently essenceless and the arising of phenomena is due to appropriate causes and conditional artifacts working in co-dependent harmony. Entities arise, endure and fall away in accordance with the shifting landscape of causes and conditions.
In addition, the non-differentiated understanding that reality can be construed as having two levels of truth – firstly, a conventional level where things seem to appear as they are and align with our assigned names and forms and allows for a harmonious co-existence (this is the commonly encountered reality that allows us to interact culturally) and secondly, at a fundamental level where reality is a state of continuous origination, flux, accommodation and destruction that does not entail any fixed enduring essence.
Therefore, this also allows us to see the distinction between appearance and reality - where appearances belies the true nature of reality; while appearances might vary and be subjective to each one of us, the fundamental reality remains the same - one where the search for an undiluted essence will be fruitless – leading one to further appreciate the latent illusoriness of the world, the incommensurability of any fundamental truth and overarching indescribability of real itself.

AVG 2.24

Chapter 2 (The Seekers Joy at Self-Cognizance): Verse 24
मय्यनंतमहाम्भोधौ चित्तवाते प्रशाम्यति ।
अभाग्याज्जीववणिजो जगत्पोतो विनश्वरः ॥ २-२४॥

PURPORT:
With the calming of the winds of knowledge
blowing over the limitless expanse
of the thought-ocean within my mind,
that sailing ark of name-and-form
owned and retailed by the self,
unfortunately meets devastation.

TRANSLITERATION:
मयि अनंत महाम्भोधौ चित्तवाते प्रशाम्यति ।
mayi anaṃta mahāmbhodhau cittavāte praśāmyati ।
अभाग्यात् जीववणिजः जगत्पोतः विनश्वरः ॥ २-२४॥
abhāgyāt jīvavaṇijaḥ jagatpotaḥ vinaśvaraḥ ॥ 2-24॥

MEANING:
mayi (मयि) = in me/within me
anaṃta (अनंत) = eternal/limitless
mahāmbhodhau (महाम्भोधौ) = in the form of the large expanse of the ocean3
cittavāte (चित्तवाते) = the wind of thought and knowledge (compound of citta (चित्त) meaning mind/knowledge and vāte (वाते) meaning wind
praśāmyati (प्रशाम्यति) = become calm and tranquil/be allayed or extinguished/be pacified or soothed।
abhāgyāt (अभाग्यात्) = through unfortunate circumstances/through misfortune
jīvavaṇijaḥ (जीववणिजः) = of Jiva the merchant-trader where Jiva is the finite self/life (compound of jīva (जीव) the finite self/life and vaṇijaḥ (वणिजः) meaning trader/merchant/dealer/retailer)
jagatpotaḥ (जगत्पोतः) = the ark of the universe* (compound of jagat (जगत) meaning universe and potaḥ (पोत) meaning ark/boat/ship)
vinaśvaraḥ (विनश्वरः) = apt to be devastated/ravaged/destroyed॥ 2-24॥

COMMENT:
As we near the end of this fascinating chapter, these beautiful verses convey a sense of tranquility that gently descends over Janaka's mind. A state of serene understanding where the roiling fluctuations of thought does not have the latent power to occupy Janaka's waking hours. A state of peace where the limitless ocean of the mind is stilled not by the willful expulsion of the ever-arising automatic wellspring of thoughts, but by the realization that a mind that is free of thought and unencumbered by conditioning (offered by a panoply of names and forms that we are constantly subjected to) can be achieved. The visual imagery in these lines are indeed stunning and seamlessly follows the imagery introduced in the previous verse. Firstly, the mind is compared to a limitless ocean that has the infinite potential to accommodate for thought-constructions of various varieties; secondly, the knowledge that comes from interacting with the name-and-form based culture we are subjected to is compared to winds that disturb the smooth surface of such a mind-ocean and thus produces waves of thought over the ocean; and thirdly, the various thought manifestations that arise in our interactions with the phenomenal world takes the form of an ark that sails on such an ocean. Finally, the stilling that happens within Janaka's mind as a result of his ability to understand his mind within impartial, choiceless awareness allows for that ark of name-and-form to sink and dissipate within the waters of such an ocean.

NOTES:
The universe here is taken to be the phenomenal universe that we conventionally interact with; a universe that nominally consists of names, forms and sundry appellations.

AVG 2.23

Chapter 2 (The Seekers Joy at Self-Cognizance): Verse 23
अहो भुवनकल्लोलैर्विचित्रैर्द्राक् समुत्थितम् ।
मय्यनंतमहाम्भोधौ चित्तवाते समुद्यते ॥ २-२३॥

PURPORT:
Ah!, I am an immeasurable ocean; but,
when the winds of thought and knowledge
blow, disparate forms of tempestuous waves
of perceived world phenomena
arise forthright from within my being.

TRANSLITERATION:
अहो भुवनकल्लोलैः  विचित्रः द्राक् समुत्थितम् ।
aho bhuvanakallolaiḥ vicitraḥ drāk samutthitam ।
मयि अनंतमहाम्भोधौ चित्तवाते समुद्यते ॥ २-२३॥
mayi anaṃtamahāmbhodhau cittavāte samudyate ॥ 2-23॥

MEANING:
aho (अहो) = Ahhh! (as in a happy exclamation)
bhuvanakallolaiḥ (भुवनकल्लोलैः) = waves and gambols of the worlds (compound of bhuvana (भुवन) meaning place of being/world/earth/globe and kallolaiḥ (कल्लोलैः) meaning waves/surges/gambol)
vicitraḥ (विचित्रः) = diversified/entertaining/manifold/variegated
drāk (द्राक्) = speedily/immediately/speedily/forthwith
samutthitam (समुत्थितम्) = was produced/has originated/had arisen।
mayi (मयि) = in me/within me
anaṃtamahāmbhodhau (अनंतमहाम्भोधौ) = like the form of a limitless ocean (Ambu (अम्बु) is an ancient word of Sanskrit origin which literally means water and mahāmbho (महाम्भो) can literally translate to 'great water' as mahā (महा) means great or limitless)
cittavāte (चित्तवाते) = the wind of thought and knowledge (compound of citta (चित्त) meaning mind/knowledge and vāte (वाते) meaning wind
samudyate (समुद्यते) =  soaring/rising/arise ॥ 2-23॥

COMMENT:
These lines implicitly inform us about the world of names and forms arising within the mind of Janaka and the fact that his awareness (while originally conditioned around external sense stimuli that tends to sample, assign and objectify phenomena) is now on a path where it strives to overcome the complex web of names and forms that we have bestowed on the world around us. Janaka here mentions that the turbulent winds of knowledge that churns the endless ocean – that is his mind – is replete with waves of name and forms that he associates with perceived phenomenological states in the universe.
The words ‘name’ and ‘form’ have a lot of import and go deep into the sense of duality that we experience with the universe. The word ‘name’ itself allows us to define the entity (being named) and by the process of definition, allows for us to objectify the entity to make the entity discrete from other entities. The word ‘form’ is the way we perceive our sensory interactions with the shape and structure of the entity that, in turn, allows us to distinguish the entity from other entity-forms. By the very nature of these words, they signify separation and a sense of ‘otherness’. When we start to objectify entities by referring to them as 'here is this entity_1 and it has name_1 and has a shape called form_1 whereas here is this entity_2 referred to by name_2 and having form_2', we explicitly distinguish and separate one entity from another by the patterns, structure and sensory appropriations that emanate from that entity allowing us to confer a certain individuality or a sense of self upon that entity. This individuality or self conferred upon that entity implicitly allows for us to infer that the individuality assigned to the entity is different from the individuality appropriated for ourselves setting up the implicit biases and choices within and without. A duality is born forthwith. It is this sense of duality that Janaka aims to banish by understanding the true nature of names and forms.
Existent entities in and of themselves have no names. The names have been assigned by humans based upon convention, culture and patterns of regularity incident upon the entity using language and the semantic structures thereof. While useful as a conventional tool that allows us to function as normal interacting humans within society, disorientation arises when we try to assign a permanent and inherent essence to that entity (when we use the name that we have congenially and conventionally assigned to that entity). In the same token, the forms perceived by us and imparted to existent entities are again products of our shared culture and the conditioning that such a shared culture imparts. A so-called square in two-dimensional space is an entity whose co-equal sides intersect at right angles to form a closed two dimensional form only because we have conferred a square to be thus formed. There is no shape called a ‘square’ in the universe that has any undying inherent essence. This is the kind of conditioned knowledge that Janaka talks about when he mentions that the world of shapes and forms roils the waves of thoughts within his mind. The fact that shapes, names and forms that are conventionally assigned by cultural conditioning tends to take on a bigger and a more inherently enduring aspect within ourselves rather than serving it for what it is - conventional designations that allow to interact harmoniously – is the heart of the matter here. Once Janaka realizes the underlying truths behind names and forms, his mind starts to feel at ease.
All of this said, it is clear that at this point, amongst all of the sentients in the universe, the human is the only species capable of abstractly representing phenomena using  written and spoken language. Language is a mechanism that allows for us to 'identify and meet' thoughts as they automatically arise from our minds. The thoughts themselves allows us to abstract reality and plan for a future and discretize the past. Thoughts rooted within the framework of names and forms give rise to fear, trepidation, anxiousness and suffering because the thoughts are products of has-been pasta that are trying to extrapolate abstracted futures to distract us and produce suffering.

AVG 2.22

Chapter 2 (The Seekers Joy at Self-Cognizance): Verse 22
नाहं देहो न मे देहो जीवो नाहमहं हि चित् ।
अयमेव हि मे बन्ध आसीद्या जीविते स्पृहा ॥ २-२२॥

PURPORT:
Neither am I a physical body,
nor am I embodied in my mind,
nor am I the finite self that
identifies with ego. I am awareness.
My appetite for amassing knowledge
had indeed enslaved me upto now.

TRANSLITERATION:
न अहम् देहः न मे देहः जीवः न अहम् अहम् हि चित् ।
na aham dehaḥ na me dehaḥ jīvaḥ na aham aham hi cit ।
अयम् एव हि मे बन्धः आसीत् या जीविते स्पृहा ॥ २-२२॥
ayam eva hi me bandhaḥ āsīt yā jīvite spṛhā ॥ 2-22॥

MEANING:
na (न) = not
aham (अहम्) = I
dehaḥ (देहः) = corporeal body/physical body
na (न) = not
me (मे) = my
dehaḥ (देहः) = body (as in my body or embodied)
jīvaḥ (जीवः) = finite self/life (the self-model that identifies itself with the ego is jīvaḥ)
na (न) = not
aham (अहम्) = I
aham (अहम्) = I
hi (हि) = surely
cit (चित्) = awareness ।
ayam (अयम्) = this
eva (एव) = alone
hi (हि) = surely
me (मे) = my
bandhaḥ (बन्धः) = bondage/enslavement
āsīt (आसीत्) = was (used as in she/he/it was)
yā (या) = that
jīvite (जीविते) = for life
spṛhā (स्पृहा) = wish/longing for/aspiration ॥ 2-22॥

COMMENT:
Some fascinating lines here as Janaka makes it clear that he now has inferred his awareness as a force that allows him to transcend corporeal physicality as well as mental constructs of self. The reference to the body here is a direct reference to his deeper appreciation for the truth behind conventional reality and dualities (as explained in the verse previous to this). The attribution to the word embodiment* refers to the mental fabrications in connection with the self that over time gets itself so ingrained within our psyche that the fabricated entity that we refer to as the ‘self’ starts to feel like a physical appendage that has an embedded separate existence over and apart from all else. After discounting the embodied self, Janaka also discounts the fact that he does not identify with that part of the self-model that establishes itself purely with the ego. At this point, all Janaka identifies with is the awareness that permeates him - an awareness that allows him to understand the illusory nature of the self, the slow evaporation of that part of the self that identifies with ego and a deeper understanding of conventional reality (as evidenced by the manifestation presented by his material body).
Janaka also discerns a paradoxical fact - that the amassing of more knowledge, concepts, ideas and doctrines itself is detrimental to awareness and being. He strives to attain a form of conscious alertness that is free of thought-movements, not aligned to any prevailing mores of wisdom, knowledge, rituals or practices. An alert awareness that arises from a place where he has managed to quell the ever-rising and falling waves of thought fluctuations that manifest within his mind and obtain within himself a place that is radiant without the paraphernalia of culture nor conditioning. It is this aspect that he  alludes to in his last line here when he understands that his appetite for amassing the trappings that come with life (with its attendant cultural overlays) has indeed enslaved him up until now.

NOTE:
*A short and a useful note on embodiment from the article "Reply to Gallagher: Different conceptions of embodiment" by Thomas Metzinger (Philosophisches Seminar Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz D-55099 Mainz) © Thomas Metzinger

“Embodiment,” unfortunately, has long become a trendy buzzword. Probably precisely because of its implicit Cartesian connotations in an explicitly anti-Cartesian approach, its semantic vagueness, and the spatial-mental imagery it evokes, it is now used by many different authors in many different ways. For some, “embodiment” is something that has to do with robotics, for others, it is something that has to do with “existing under the gaze of the other”. .. Let me try to quickly develop a minimal conceptual platform. We need at least some conceptual clarification. Therefore, before we go on, let me introduce three new working concepts: “first-order embodiment,” “second-order embodiment,” and “third-order embodiment.” 
“First-order embodiment” is aimed at and can be found, for instance, in biorobotics and in all “bottom-up approaches” to artificial intelligence. The basic idea is to investigate how intelligent behavior and other complex system properties, termed “mental,” can naturally evolve out of the dynamical, self-organizing interactions between the environment and a purely physical, reactive system that does not possess anything like a central processor or “software” and no explicit computation. For researchers, the relevant questions are: How could the very first forms of prerational intelligence emerge in a physical universe? How could we acquire a flexible, evolvable, and coherent behavioral profile in the course of natural evolution? How is it possible to generate intelligent behavior without explicit computation?
“Second-order embodiment” can develop in a system that satisfies the following three conditions: (a) we can successfully understand the intelligence of its behavior and other “mental” properties by describing it as a representational system, (b) this system has a single, explicit and coherent self-representation of itself as being an embodied agent, and (c) the way in which this system uses this explicit internal model of itself as an entity possessing and controlling a body helps us understand its intelligence and its psychology in functional terms. Some advanced robots, many primitive animals on our planet, and possibly sleepwalking human beings or patients during certain epileptic absence seizures could be examples of Second-order embodiment.
“Third-order embodiment” is the special case (indeed the very special case) in which a physical system not only explicitly models itself as an embodied being, but also maps some of the representational content generated in this process directly onto conscious experience. That is, Third-order embodiment means that in addition, you consciously experience yourself as embodied, that you possess a specific type of what, I call a “phenomenal self-model”. Human beings in ordinary wake states, but also orangutans swinging from branch to branch at great height, could be examples of this: they have an online model of their own body as a whole that has been elevated to the level of global availability and integrated within a virtual window of presence. They are consciously present as bodily selves.  Example: Out-of-body experiences (OBEs) are clearly cases of Third-order embodiment, because, at least in a majority of cases, they include some sort of ethereal double, a conscious self-model of a spatially extended and perceiving agent.
The general framework emerging from this threefold distinction is that human beings permanently possess First-order embodiment and Second-order embodiment: a considerable part of our own behavioral intelligence is achieved without explicit computation and results directly from physical properties of our bodies, such as the genetically determined elasticity of muscles and tendons, or the degrees of freedom realized by the special shape of our joints. Moreover, certain parts of our unconscious self-model, such as the immune system and the elementary bioregulatory processes in the upper brain stem and the hypothalamus, are continuously active. Another candidate for an important aspect of the unconscious selfmodel, a representation of global properties of the body, is the body schema. Having an unconscious body schema is clearly a new, biological form of intelligence: having a body schema means having Second-order embodiment. Only episodically, during wakefulness and in the dream state, do human beings realize Third-order embodiment.

AVG 2.21

Chapter 2 (The Seekers Joy at Self-Cognizance): Verse 21
अहो जनसमूहेऽपि न द्वैतं पश्यतो मम ।
अरण्यमिव संवृत्तं क्व रतिं करवाण्यहम् ॥ २-२१॥

PURPORT:
Oh!, even in the assemblage of multitudes,
I see not any conspicuous duality or dichotomy.
This is comparable to being unconditionally
alone, amidst pristine primeval woods.
What yearning can I have for anything at all?

TRANSLITERATION:
अहो जनसमूहे अपि न द्वैतम् पश्यतः मम ।
aho janasamūhe api na dvaitam paśyataḥ mama ।
अरण्यम् इव संवृत्तम् क्व रतिम् करवाणि अहम् ॥ २-२१॥
araṇyam iva saṃvṛttam kva ratim karavāṇi aham ॥ 2-21॥

MEANING:
aho (अहो) = Ahhh! (as in a happy exclamation)
janasamūhe (जनसमूहे) = within the throngs of people (compound of jana (जन) meaning people/public/tribe and samūhe (समूहे) assemblage/throng/horde/multitude)
api (अपि) = even
na (न) = not
dvaitam (द्वैतम्) = duality/dichotomy
paśyataḥ (पश्यतः) = visible/see/conspicuous
mama (मम) = my ।
araṇyam (अरण्यम्) = being in or relating to a forest/primeval wilderness/woods
iva (इव) = as if/just like
saṃvṛttam (संवृत्तम्) = having become
kva (क्व) = where/what (as in ‘to what do I attach myself’)
ratim (रतिम्) = desires/passion/craving/yearning
karavāṇi (करवाणि) = should do
aham (अहम्) = I ॥ 2-21॥

COMMENTS:
In these verses, full of vigor at his newfound understanding of his own awareness, Janaka ponders on the liberating aspects of freeing himself from a mindset that was perceptively dichotomous and his happiness in achieving a state of non-dual choiceless awareness. It occurs to Janaka that if duality is to be conceived as the designation of a self-nature to any existent entity that one encounters, then non-duality (or the absence of any dichotomy thereof) as a corollary is really the lack of any inhering essence or self underpinning that same existent entity. To better understand the underlying concepts, it might be useful to analyze the nature of an entity from three distinct standpoints of perceiving that entity – the first is from a standpoint that deals with the fabricated nature of the entity or the “how-it-appears-to-the-onlooker” aspect – where the definition and explanation of the entity happens within a linguistic and an ontological framework that is supported by our conventional understanding of such a framework derived over countless depositions of culture, mores, tradition, protocols, rites and formalities – with the added stipulation that such an understanding is only conventional and is fabricated; the second nature is from the standpoint of the entities dependent nature or the “what-arises-and-appears-to-the-onlooker-as-a-result-of-latent-preconditions”  aspect – that aspect of the underlying-contingently-linked causal and conditional narrative that brings about the entities conceptual construction; the third nature is from the standpoint of non-duality, something more fundamental, something more deeper or the “eternal non-existence-of-the-appearance-as-the-entity-appears-to-the-onlooker” aspect – that non-dual aspect that deals with the emptiness of all apparent entities that we conceptually encounter.
In summary, the first nature is the apparent appearance of the entity, the second nature is the conditionally causal process by which that entity makes that apparent appearance and the third nature is the lack of any inhering substrate or essence underlying that apparent entity. In this sense, anything fabricated is said to have a dual-self, whereas, the nature of reality itself is non-dual.
Janaka here also appears to be free of the two kinds of dualities that bedevil the best of us – conceptual duality and perceptual duality. The duality of the conceptual kind is that where we instinctively assign conceptual labels, forms and names upon an object as soon as we interact with any object by using our stored subset of conditioned categories that learning and knowledge has imparted to us. The corollary of the process of assigning a name to any entity automatically means that there is something else that is not-that-name. A quick example of conceptual dualism by using the example of a wooden chair: As soon as we see  a three dimensional spatial assemblage that consists of a wooden seat with four wooden legs and a back-board, we are apt to name it ‘chair’ and all other three-dimensional wooden assemblages that do not fall into this pre-defined category become ‘not-a-chair’. A duality is immediately created within our minds and our actions, reactions and our perceptions align themselves within this established conceptual duality the instant we categorize and name. We assign a ‘self’ to that object. We assign some sort of a permanence that is attached to that object (a ‘chairness’ for lack of a better word). This process continues to be the same for any other entity, be it a heap of diamonds or a pile of bird-poop. Given that the world and the larger universe is in a constant state of causal fluctuations and the world does not obtain via measurements nor determinations via conceptual constructs like chair, diamonds or bird-poop, every time we impose a version of our conditioning (and thereby duality upon this world), we automatically impose a fabricated construct upon the world.
Closely related to the idea of conceptual duality is the idea of perceptual duality – where we perceive an otherness between the ‘perceived object’ and our selves. Let us say that I open the door on a cold snowy morning, reach out and feel the snowflakes that softly fall from the sky. My skin feels the sudden onset of a cold sensation as the tiny bit of snow melts against the skin of my fingers. The instantaneous consequence of such an event is that I tend to see a separation and a distinction between my skin that ‘feels the snowflake’ and the snowflake itself that I see as sovereign from the skin (which clearly is a ‘part of me’). Therefore there is an instinctual duality built into this process at the time of perception itself – the ‘otherness’ imputed to the snowflake and the sense of oneness that is intuited when it comes to my skin (a sense of ‘mine’ verses the ‘other’). This applies to all our sense organs – smell, sight, sound and taste. The essence of the constructed sense of duality lies between the perceptual and the conceptual senses of duality where one strengthens the other and our sense of being separate and dissociated from the world around us thus accumulates.
Janaka compares his state of non-dual identity thus obtained by stating that he no longer has a yearning for things and even amongst the multitudes, he feels as serene as if he is within pristine primeval woods.

NOTES:
Nisargadatta Maharaj: "The mind ceased producing events. The ancient and ceaseless search stopped—I wanted nothing, expected nothing, accepted nothing as my own. There was no "me" left to strive for. Even the bare "I am" faded away. The other thing I noticed was I lost all my habitual certainties. Earlier I was sure of so many things, now I am sure of nothing. But I feel I have lost nothing by not knowing, because all my knowledge was false. My not knowing was in itself knowledge of the fact that all knowledge is ignorance, that "I do not know" is the only true statement the mind can make.
By looking tirelessly, I became quite empty, and with that emptiness all came back to me except the mind. I find I have lost the mind irretrievably. I am neither conscious nor unconscious, I am beyond the mind and its various states and conditions. Distinctions are created by the mind and apply to the mind only. I am pure Consciousness itself, unbroken awareness of all that is.
I am in a more real state than yours. I am undistracted by the distinctions and separations which constitute a person. As long as the body lasts, it has its needs like any other, but my mental process has come to an end. My thinking, like my digestion, is unconscious and purposeful.
I am not a person in your sense of the word, though I may appear a person to you. I am that infinite ocean of consciousness in which all happens. I am also beyond all existence and cognition, pure bliss of being. There is nothing I feel separate from, hence I am all. No thing is me, so I am nothing. Life will escape, the body will die, but it will not affect me in the least. Beyond space and time I am, uncaused, uncausing, yet the very matrix of existence.
Having realized that I am with, and yet beyond the world, I became free from all desire and fear. I did not reason out that I should be free, I found myself free, unexpectedly, without the least effort. This freedom from desire and fear remained with me since then. Another thing I noticed was that I do not need to make an effort; the deed follows the thought, without delay and friction. I have also found that thoughts become self-fulfilling; things would fall in place smoothly and rightly. The main change was in the mind; it became motionless and silent, responding quickly, but not perpetuating the response. Spontaneity became a way of life, the real became natural and the natural became real. And above all, infinite affection, love, dark and quiet, radiating in all directions, embracing all, making all interesting and beautiful, significant and auspicious.
The person is what I appear to be to other persons. To myself, I am the infinite expanse of consciousness in which innumerable persons emerge and disappear in endless succession.
The person, the "I am this body, this mind, this chain of memories, this bundle of desires and fears" disappears, but something you may call identity remains. It enables me to become a person when required.
Nothing troubles me. I offer no resistance to trouble—therefore it does not stay with me. On your side there is so much trouble. On mine there is no trouble at all. Come to my side.
What is added to memory cannot be erased easily. But it can surely be done, and in fact I am doing it all the time. Like a bird on its wings, I leave no footprints.
The world is like a sheet of paper on which something is typed. The reading and the meaning will vary with the reader, but the paper is the common factor, always present, rarely perceived. When the ribbon is removed, typing leaves no trace on the paper. So is my mind—the impressions keep on coming, but no trace is left.
Your world is transient, changeful. My world is perfect, changeless. You can tell me what you like about your world—I shall listen carefully, even with interest, yet not for a moment shall I forget that your world is not, that you are dreaming. In mine, the words and their contents have no being. In your world nothing stays, in mine nothing changes. My world is real, while yours is made of dreams. My world has no characteristics by which it can be identified. You can say nothing about it. My silence sings, my emptiness is full, I lack nothing. In your world I appear to have a name and shape, displaying consciousness and activity. In mine I have being only. Nothing else. I am my world. My world is myself. It is complete and perfect. I need nothing, not even myself, for myself I cannot lose. In your world I would be most miserable. To wake up, to eat, to talk, to sleep again—what a bother!
To me nothing ever happens. There is something changeless, motionless, immovable, rock-like, unassailable; a solid mass of pure being-consciousness-bliss. I am never out of it. Nothing can take me out of it, no torture, no calamity.
My condition is absolutely steady. Whatever I may do, it stays like a rock—motionless. Once you have awakened into reality, you stay in it. It is self-evident and yet beyond description.
All the three states (waking, sleeping, dreaming) are sleep to me. My waking state is beyond them. As I look at you, you all seem asleep, dreaming up worlds of your own. I am aware, for I imagine nothing. It is not samadhi, which is but a kind of sleep. It is just a state unaffected by the mind, free from the past and future. In your case it is distorted by desire and fear, by memories and hopes; in mine it is as it is—normal. To be a person is to be asleep.
The world of mind and matter, of names and shapes, continues, but it does not matter to me at all. It is like having a shadow. It is there, following me wherever I go, but not hindering me in any way. It remains a world of experiences, but not of names and forms related to me by desires and fears. The experiences are quality-less, pure experiences, if I may say so. I call them experiences for the lack of a better word. They are like the waves on the surface of the ocean, the ever-present, but not affecting its peaceful power.
I can see with the utmost clarity that you have never been, nor are, nor will be estranged from reality, that you are the fullness of perfection here and now, and that nothing can deprive you of your heritage, of what you are. You are in no way different from me, only you do not know it. Be fully aware of your own being, and you will be in bliss consciously. Because you take your mind off yourself and make it dwell on what you are not, you lose your sense of well-being, of being well.
You people do not know how much you miss by not knowing your own true self.
The moment you know your real being, you are afraid of nothing. Death gives freedom and power. To be free in the world, you must die to the world. Then the universe is your own, it becomes your body, an expression and a tool. The happiness of being absolutely free is beyond description.
The ordinary man is personally concerned, he counts his risks and chances, while the Jnaane remains aloof, sure that all will happen as it must; and it does not matter much what happens, for ultimately the return to balance and harmony is inevitable. The heart of things is at peace.
The particular is born and reborn, changing name and shape, the Jnaane is the Changeless Reality, which makes the changeful possible. The entire universe is his body, all life is his life. As in a city of lights, when one bulb burns out, it does not affect the network, so the death of a body does not affect the whole. With me, all is one, all is equal.
The Guru is basically without desire. He sees what happens, but feels no urge to interfere. He makes no choices, takes no decisions. As pure witness, he watches what is going on and remains unaffected. Victory is always his, in the end. He knows that if the disciples do not learn from his words, they will learn from their own mistakes. Inwardly he remains quiet and silent. He has no sense of being a separate person. The entire universe is his own, including his disciples with their petty plans.
Nothing in particular affects him, or, which comes to the same, the entire universe affects him in equal measure. In reality, the disciple is not different from the Guru. He is the same dimensionless centre of perception and love in action. It is only his imagination that encloses him and converts him into a person.
He is alone, but he is all. He is not even a being. He is the being-ness of beings. Not even that. No words apply. He is what he is, the ground from which all grows.
A Jnaane commands a mode of spontaneous, non-sensory perception, which makes him know things directly, without intermediary of the senses.
He is beyond the perceptual and the conceptual, beyond the categories of time and space, name and shape. He is neither the perceived nor the perceiver, but the simple and the universal factor that makes perceiving possible.
His state tastes of the pure, uncaused, undiluted bliss. He is happy and fully aware that happiness is his very nature and that he need not do anything, nor strive for anything to secure it. It follows him, more real than the body, nearer than the mind itself. To me, dependence on anything for happiness is utter misery. Pleasure and pain have causes, while my state is my own, totally uncaused, independent, unassailable.
As he gets older, he grows more and more happy and peaceful. After all, he is going home. Like a traveler nearing his destination and collecting his luggage, he leaves the train without regret. The reel of destiny is coming to its end—the mind is happy. The mist of bodily existence is lifting—the burden of the body is growing less from day to day."

REFERENCES:
Madhyamaka and Yogacara: Allies or Rivals? by Jay L. Garfield (Editor), Jan Westerhoff (Editor)

AVG 2.20

Chapter 2 (The Seekers Joy at Self-Cognizance): Verse 20

शरीरं स्वर्गनरकौ बन्धमोक्षौ भयं तथा ।

कल्पनामात्रमेवैतत्किंमे कार्यं चिदात्मनः ॥ २-२०॥

PURPORT:

The corporeal body, immortality, purgatory

enslavement and emancipation, as also trepidation;

all of these, are mere reveries. What do I have to do 

with all of these? I, whose essence is pure awareness.

TRANSLITERATION:

शरीरम् स्वर्गनरकौ बन्धमोक्षौ भयम् तथा ।

śarīram svarganarakau bandhamokṣau bhayam tathā ।

कल्पनामात्रम् एव एतत् किम् मे कार्यम् चिदात्मनः ॥ २-२०॥

kalpanāmātram eva etat kim me kāryam cidātmanaḥ ॥ 2-20॥

MEANING:

śarīram (शरीरम्) = corporeal body/physical person

svarganarakau (स्वर्गनरकौ) = immortality and purgatory/also translated informally as heaven and hell (compound of svarga (स्वर्ग) meaning heaven and narakau (नरकौ) meaning hell)

bandhamokṣau (बन्धमोक्षौ) = enslavement and emancipation/also translated as bondage and freedom (compound of bandha (बन्ध) meaning bondage and mokṣau (मोक्षौ) meaning freedom/absolution/deliverance)

bhayam (भयम्) = trepidation/alarm/fear 

tathā (तथा) = as also ।
kalpanāmātram (कल्पनामात्रम्)  = sheer fantasy/mere illusion/just a reverie (compound of kalpanā (कल्पना) meaning imagination/illusion and mātram (मात्रम्) meaning merely)

eva (एव) = assuredly/surely

etat (एतत्) = all this (‘this’ as in all of body, heaven, hell, bondage, freedom and fear)

kim (किम्) = what

me (मे) = my

kāryam (कार्यम्) = to be done/deserving to be done

cidātmanaḥ (चिदात्मनः) = whose nature is intrinsic awareness (compound of cit (चित्) meaning awareness or consciousness and ātmanaḥ (आत्मनः) meaning essence/nature/character/soul) ॥ 2-20॥

COMMENT:

In these verses, Janaka is primarily focussed on explicit physical entities like his corporeal body and implicit mental constructions like immortality, purgatory, bondage, freedom and fear and comes to understand these concepts for what they merely are - conceptual creations within ones mind whose imprints ossify over time (as recurring thought-movements that align with such mental constructions). The thought-movements themselves are a self-perpetuating cycle that bounces around the triad of experience, memory and knowledge. The individuals past experiences (colored by conditioning via external stimuli) is stored within the mind as memories and the sum of such memories inter-linked to experience is the knowledge possessed by the individual. Thought-movements can be envisaged as a resiliently elastic bouncing ball that constantly knocks, bumps and jounces within this triad. The triad of experience, memory and knowledge itself is constantly measured, equilibrated and modulated via the perception of what-is-all-around-us. Such perceptions themselves arise as a result of phenomena interacting with our sense organs resulting in contact and leading to the representational sensation of what-is-all-around-us. One should understand that even if all of the above is described in a relational manner and can mistakenly be construed as a cause and effect, the relational alliances between perception, contact and sensation and its subsequent feeding of such perceptional output to the triad of experience, memory and knowledge is co-dependent upon an ultimately indefinite range of causes and conditions and is accordingly a function neither of the subject (like an experiencer of perceptions like Janaka) nor of the world alone. Thus, Janaka sees that his self, his conceptual worlds like heaven, hell, enslavement, emancipation and his resultant thought-movements can be understood profoundly if he starts to see them not as autonomous entities that exist and prevail apart from each other (and only subsequently come together), but, in a certain degree, as expressions of intermittent arrangements of interaction that contemporaneously arise. He joyously proclaims thus within these beautiful verses.

AVG 2.19

Chapter 2 (The Seekers Joy at Self-Cognizance): Verse 19 

सशरीरमिदं विश्वं न किंचिदिति निश्चितम् ।

शुद्धचिन्मात्र आत्मा च तत्कस्मिन् कल्पनाधुना ॥ २-१९॥

PURPORT:

I have known, for certain, that this universe,

along with this body, is unalloyed emptiness.

I am that unconditioned, non-dual essence of awareness;

now therefore, why would I hypothesize the presence

of something, when it is really nothing?

TRANSLITERATION:

सशरीरम् इदम् विश्वम् न किञ्चित् इति निश्चितम् ।

saśarīram idam viśvam na kiñcit iti niścitam ।

शुद्धचिन्मात्रः आत्मा च तत् कस्मिन् कल्पना अधुना ॥ २-१९॥

śuddhacinmātraḥ ātmā ca tat kasmin kalpanā adhunā ॥ 2-19॥

MEANING:

saśarīram (सशरीरम्) = along with the body

idam (इदम्) = this

viśvam (विश्वम्) = universe

na (न) = not

kiñcit (किञ्चित्) = something/some bit/a little bit

iti (इति) = this (as in ‘this’ understood by me)

niścitam (निश्चितम्) = determined/ascertained/known for certain ।

śuddhacinmātraḥ (शुद्धचिन्मात्रः) = pure and unconditional non-dual essence of awareness (compound of śuddha (शुद्ध) meaning unqualified/absolute/pure and cinmātraḥ (चिन्मात्रः) meaning just that specific indivisible non-dual essence; can also be taken to mean just that indivisible moiety of pure awareness)

ātmā (आत्मा) = innate nature/self

ca (च) = and

tat (तत्) = therefore/so

kasmin (कस्मिन्) = upon which/in what

kalpanā (कल्पना) = idea/concept/hypothesis/imagination

adhunā (अधुना) = at present/at this time/now ॥ 2-19॥

COMMENTS:

From my reading and understanding of these lines, the critical message that Janaka passes on to us here is the concept of the original mind. A state of mind as if it were empty of concepts and devoid of conceptual clutter as one would envisage a clean stretch of a sandy beach before the summer crowds arrive. Let me explain a tiny bit more to expand this idea using the metaphor of the beach itself. The original mind is always in equilibrium with the body - taking care of the primary functions in an unsullied manner; firstly homeostasis - ensuring the continued survival of the sentient being moment to moment and secondly, transmission of genetic material to ensure generational persistence of the sentient being itself. This is accomplished in relative equilibrium with the rest of the beings with whom we share this universe. The waves that wash upon such a beach as this is akin to the slow gradual changes that are temporally perpetuated and punctuated by the natural adjustments and transitions inherent in the shifting dynamics towards various equilibria within the universe.

Now, think of the summer crowds arriving at such a beach and covering the beach with billboards, letters, numbers, signs and other paraphernalia derived from common parlance – jargon and lingo that we have advanced as a culture over millennia. Such is the nature of intellect and learning upon the original mind. Intellect and conditioned learning as a tumbling mélange of clutter and chaos upon the minds blank slate ensuring the steady and incessant supply of emergent thoughts to keep us occupied, distracted and engrossed – the same way that graffiti, doodles, scribbles and associated signage work at the beach. The beach thus is no longer that clean, sandy stretch, but, is now defined, appropriated and cordoned off using the subjective specifications that idiosyncratic summer crowds instinctively impose using a group-herd mentality.

Now imagine that the same set of people visiting the stretch of beach overlay their subjective interactions mentioned above with their own partisan opinions, biased judgements, tendentious fears, partial prejudices and irrational choices. Add to this the tendency within our species to impose these subjective ethics and morals by the majority-in-numbers upon the beach and people at the beach. I would compare the set of opinions, judgements, fears, prejudices and choices brought into the beach as analogous to the garbage and trash that is leftover daily at the beach at the end of a summer day if the beach is left uncleaned.

If left untended, the rubbish piles will grow into evermore greater quantities as the summer season progresses. Our culturally defined identities are similar to a neglected beach at the end of the summer season, piled sky high with the detritus of culture that includes names, shapes, forms, practices, religions, cults, gods, goddesses and other similar cultural rubble cluttering the otherwise empty and pristine nature of our minds.

Janaka, on understanding the truer nature of being as well as reality remarks that he starts to see and understand that his true unconditioned, non-dual essence of awareness is similar to the pristine beach. On seeing thus, Janaka asks “now therefore, why would I hypothesize the presence of something, when it is really nothing”?