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.