AVG 1.7

Chapter 1 (Guidance on self-realization):Verse 7

एको द्रष्टासि सर्वस्य मुक्तप्रायोऽसि सर्वदा ।
अयमेव हि ते बन्धो द्रष्टारं पश्यसीतरम् ॥ १-७॥

Transliteration:

एकः द्रष्टा असि सर्वस्य मुक्तप्रायः असि सर्वदा ।
ekaḥ draṣṭā asi sarvasya muktaprāyaḥ asi sarvadā ।
अयम् एवं हि ते बन्धः द्रष्टारं पश्यसि इतरम् ॥ १-७॥
ayam evaṃ hi te bandhaḥ draṣṭāraṃ paśyasi itaram ॥ 1-7॥

Meaning:

एकः (one) द्रष्टा (the one who sees/the one with vision) असि (is) सर्वस्य (with all things) मुक्तप्रायः (really free/ultimately free) असि (you are) सर्वदा (at all times) ।
अयम् (this) एवं (alone) हि (surely) ते (your) बन्धः (imprisonment/bondage) द्रष्टारं (the seer/the witness) पश्यसि (the act of seeing or the act of witnessing) इतरम् (the other/in this verse will mean 'other than such') ॥ १-७॥

Purport:

At all times, in unity with all things,
you are the undifferentiated observer;
surely, this alone is your impediment
that you see the observer
as other than such.

Comments: While the verses might seem a bit cryptic at first, on probing a little deeper, one starts to see the import. To start with, there is the conventional reality that we encounter in our daily lives - the reality of manifest entities that surround us. This reality is shaped, perceived and interacted-with based upon our prior impressions and assumptions that we bring to bear upon such reality. We are conditioned to treat such manifest reality in a particular manner because we have been trained to do so for the majority of our lives. Even the cultural imprints we leave on artifacts that we encounter as well as the designations that we assign to such artifacts are also products of our shared collective understanding. While the idea of conventional reality and the markers that we assign to such reality are important for our daily existence, it is just as important to note that manifest reality is just so and nothing more. The perceptions, predilections, emotions that we bring to bear are just our own specific ways of interacting with reality. There is nothing more here - however hard one may try, one does not find a stabilizing essence that underlies any of the entities that we encounter within our realities. People, places, animals, even seemingly indestructible base elements - they are all short lived temporal interactions that come together to form a unit that we classify based upon our cultures and then after a certain time, those self-same units naturally falls apart to transform into various other temporal manifestations. Knowing that there is no essence within the heart of any entity that we encounter makes one a witness or a seer as Ashtavakra points out in this verse. Ashtavakra also goes on to point out wisely that the bondage we experience as a witness to the nature of reality as outlined above is the bondage of not seeing that reality. Given that you as well as all of the existents that you perceive are part of the same interactional dance that was a part of the original big bang, it is difficult for one to see any 'otherness' from the reality around you. You are it. You are also part of this dance - right from the quarks inside the sub-atomic particles to the atoms to the molecules there really is no difference between you and the cosmos at large. It is you and you in-turn is it.