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.