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".