AVG 9.3

Chapter 9 (On Detachment and Equanimity) Verse 3
अनित्यं सर्वमेवेदं तापत्रितयदूषितम् ।
असारं निन्दितं हेयमिति निश्चित्य शाम्यति ॥ ९-३॥

PURPORT:
The wise one comes to a state of
peaceful awareness from the realization
that all manifest phenomena is
rendered into eventual decrepitude
by the threefold factors of misfortune
and thus understands phenomena to be
insubstantial, impermanent and insignificant.

TRANSLITERATION:
अनित्यम् सर्वम् एव इदम् तापत्रितयदूषितम् ।
anityam sarvam eva idam tāpatritayadūṣitam ।
असारम् निन्दितम् हेयम् इति निश्चित्य शाम्यति ॥ ९-३॥
asāram ninditam heyam iti niścitya śāmyati ॥ 9-3॥

MEANING:
anityam (अनित्यम्) = ephemeral/transitory/transient/impermanent
sarvam (सर्वम्) = all/everything /entirety
eva (एव) = indeed
idam (इदम्) = this
tāpatritayadūṣitam* (तापत्रितयदूषितम्) = । spoil or impair the quality or efficiency by the threefold adversity (compound of tāpa (ताप) meaning 'adversity/anguish/misfortune' and tritaya (त्रितय) meaning 'ternery/threefold/trinal' and dūṣitam (दूषितम्) meaning 'devalued and deteriorated')
asāram (असारम्) = insubstantial/uncomplicated
ninditam (निन्दितम्) = despicable/contemptible/shameful
heyam (हेयम्) = that which is subtractable/that which is reducible/worthy of rejection
iti (इति) = thus
niścitya (निश्चित्य) = having known for certain/having ascertained
śāmyati (शाम्यति) = comes to a peaceful awareness ॥ 9-3॥

COMMENT:
It is indeed interesting that we find this particular verse that talks about affliction and anguish within a chapter that Ashtavakra devotes to understanding detachment. But, on closer reading, one instinctively understands that sorrow and suffering are an undeniable and an unavoidable portion of life and a measure of detachment and equanimity cannot be attained by the seeking mortal unless one has a clear understanding of their types, origins and potential causes as it pertains to suffering. Clarity in this will help the seeker to better understand the origins, causes and the motivations of thoughts triggered as a result of suffering/unhappiness.
This understanding helps with the witnessing of thoughts rather than the individual dwelling within the thoughts. The moment one transforms oneself from an attitude where thoughts are not granted tenancy within the mind, but, instead allows oneself the luxury for the choiceless observance of the flow of thoughts entering and exiting the subconscious, a measure of peace is obtained. In the larger reckoning, sorrow stems from one source and one source only: our latent misunderstanding of who we truly are, a symptom of not knowing or not seeing our true awareness; an awareness that was once pure and present when we were much younger, but, slowly drowned out by the cacophony that accompanies the process of acculturation (adjustment to culture which was partly forced upon us and partly imbibed non-volitionally as we grow and interact with our peers and society in general). In that sense, our younger selves were limitless in terms of time, space, and knowledge, but, the process of living immersed within culture gradually limits our horizons and stunts our capacities to perceive our inexhaustible joyful awareness (which is oftentimes just hidden beneath each one of us waiting to be discovered by oneself). This stunting causes enormous distress, both conscious and unconscious. The seeker often fails to notice that the end of such suffering comes from the removal of not-knowing and basking within our legitimate identity - a journey that cannot be engendered by anyone else other than the one person - you.

NOTE:
*The word used by Ashtavakra in the analysis of the slow and eventual decrepitude of all manifest phenomena is tapatritayadusitam: split up as 'tapa' meaning adversity/anguish/misfortune, 'tritaya' meaning threefold and 'dusitam' meaning devalued and deteriorated. The original Sanskrit literature called them ‘tāpatraya’ or ‘the three miseries’ and categorized them into ādhyātmika, ādhidaivika and adhibhautika. While these classifications are by no means prescriptory in any manner, it is nevertheless interesting to study and understand the categories to appreciate the timeless wisdom of erstwhile seers who seem to have observed nature around them and then gleaned teachings that later formed our great spiritual traditions. The first pertains to factors of the body and mind (ādhyātmika duhkha - related to ātma or the body/mind complex) caused by bodily suffering and mental anguish; said to be precipitated by hereditary diseases, disabilities and maladies caused by wanton negligence to ones own health; in addition, the mental anguish generated as a result of attachment and aversion are also said to come under ādhyātmika duhkha. The second category pertains to factors of randomness found within the cycles of nature or ādhidaivika duhka (pertaining to fate and unforeseen forces); includes the decay provoked by the power of time, nature and the unseen hand or fate; also includes the infirmities visited upon the individual by diseases and misery caused by the elemental forces like floods/fire and natural tribulations. The third category is ādhibhautika duhkha and this pertains to the misery that can potentially be induced by other sentient beings (examples include transmitted diseases spread by bugs like mosquitoes, communicable diseases caused by organisms, maladies that render the immune system deficient in fighting off affliction spread by viruses etc.).