AVG 8.1

Chapter 8 (Reflections on Bondage and Liberation) Verse 1
अष्टावक्र उवाच ॥
तदा बन्धो यदा चित्तं किञ्चिद्वाञ्छति शोचति ।
किञ्चिन्मुञ्चति गृह्णाति किञ्चिद्धृष्यति कुप्यति ॥ ८-१॥

PURPORT:
Aṣṭāvakra said:
That is the state of bondage when the mind
hankers after or laments about something,
repudiates or complies with something,
exults about or is resentful of something.

TRANSLITERATION:
अष्टावक्र उवाच ॥
aṣṭāvakra uvāca ॥
तदा बन्धः यदा चित्तम् किञ्चित् वाञ्छति शोचति ।
tadā bandhaḥ yadā cittam kiñcit vāñchati śocati ।
किञ्चित् मुञ्चति गृह्णाति किञ्चित् हृष्यति कुप्यति ॥ ८-१॥
kiñcit muñcati gṛhṇāti kiñcit hṛṣyati kupyati ॥ 8-1॥

MEANING:
aṣṭāvakra (अष्टावक्र) = Aṣṭāvakra
uvāca (उवाच) = said ॥
tadā (तदा) = then
bandhaḥ (बन्धः) = bondage/restrained/imprisoned
yadā (यदा) = then
cittam (चित्तम्) = mind
kiñcit (किञ्चित्) = something
vāñchati (वाञ्छति) = strive after/desire/wish/hanker
śocati (शोचति) = lament/mourn/grieves।
kiñcit (किञ्चित्) = something
muñcati (मुञ्चति) = reject/renounce/repudiate
gṛhṇāti (गृह्णाति) = accept/allow/comply
kiñcit (किञ्चित्) = something
hṛṣyati (हृष्यति) = exult/thrilled/rejoice
kupyati (कुप्यति) = is resentful of/is angry at/is offended with॥ 8-1॥

COMMENT:
This chapter is a beautifully written meditation on the nature of attachment and its antithesis - liberation. After listening to Janaka explain his own state of self-realization in the previous chapter, Ashtavakra comes to the understanding that while Janaka's perception of awareness obtains the necessary clarity, Janaka's recognition of the same can use some additional polish.
A deeper survey into states of the mind hankering after an object of attachment, the disappointment of the mind in not obtaining the same, rejection and the eventual acceptance based upon preconceived assumptions and the attendant feelings of hatred or irritation or elation that accompanies these mental states is the theme of this verse.
One of the keys to gradually disabusing oneself of these states comes with the purity of understanding that all objects, existents, emotions, perceptions and manifest phenomena are presented to us via an extensively intricate scaffolding of causes and conditions that allows for the manifestation of said phenomena. Even without a detailed analysis, we infer that the manifest phenomena that our senses are confronted with (and comforted mostly) is always in a state of change (sentient beings age, things fall into decrepitude, seasons morph - the list goes on). The fact that the manifest phenomena in front of us is dynamic allows us to infer that the underlying scaffolding also follows this state of flux and change. This will mean that not a single one of the objects, existents, emotions, perceptions and manifest phenomena encountered have anything approaching an inherent unitary self that abides forever. All of the manifested phenomena are thus empty insofar as discovering an undying essentiality. Searching for inherently empty phenomena will come up empty.
Things fall apart with the advent of time is the best way to condense the above. A deeper analysis of this simple fact allows for one to infer that all manifestations of the phenomenal world is impermanent. The arising, enduring and ceasing of not only phenomena but also the causal scaffolding allows us to understand the impermanence behind the manifested.
Attachment and its close cousins bondage and clinging stems from our natural inclination to assign permanence and apply our own imputation of an essence or a self to the object of our attachment. We are not lesser creatures because of this - it is a natural by-product of society, culture and evolution. The imputation of a self-essence to objects happened in our distant past and must have begun with neural patterns within our brains rearranging themselves in such a way so as to allow for our proto-human ancestors to stitch together a semblance of continuity to their lives in the face of various threats (perceived or otherwise) from nature and its forces. The mechanism of stitching together of this continuity of the self-model from moment to moment allowed for our proto-ancestors to quell the overwhelming existential anxieties connected with their bodies eventual disintegration and instead, the illusion of the continuity engendered by the self-model must have allowed for them to plan their next forage. This presumably evolved over time to slowly metastasize into an enduring model of the self and its attendant ego. 
Ashtavakra informs that understanding of the reasons behind attachment and the mental states stimulated as a result of the same allows for us to transcend our natural state to one where the seeker becomes a dispassionate witness to the unfolding events and stays within the equilibrium established by understanding.