AVG 10.4

Chapter 10 (A sense of repose through the renunciation of craving) Verse 4
तृष्णामात्रात्मको बन्धस्तन्नाशो मोक्ष उच्यते ।
भवासंसक्तिमात्रेण प्राप्तितुष्टिर्मुहुर्मुहुः ॥ १०-४॥

PURPORT:
Attachment is to be yoked solely
to desires borne within the mind.
Emancipation is the severance of the same.
It is only by dispassion to the world of
change and circumstance that one can
recognize the serenity of self-awareness
time and time again.

TRANSLITERATION:
तृष्णामात्रात्मकः बन्धः तन्नाशः मोक्षः उच्यते ।
tṛṣṇāmātrātmakaḥ bandhaḥ tannāśaḥ mokṣaḥ ucyate ।
भवासंसक्तिमात्रेण प्राप्तितुष्टिः  मुहुः मुहुः ॥ १०-४॥
bhavāsaṃsaktimātreṇa prāptituṣṭiḥ muhuḥ muhuḥ ॥ 10-4॥

MEANING:
tṛṣṇāmātrātmakaḥ (तृष्णामात्रात्मकः) = consisting solely of craving/desire (compound of tṛṣṇā (तृष्णा) meaning 'desire/craving/yearning' and mātra (मात्र) meaning 'simply or merely/being nothing but' and atmakaḥ (अत्मकः) meaning 'of itself')
bandhaḥ (बन्धः) = attachment/bondage/fettered
tannāśaḥ (तन्नाशः) =  destruction of that (the reference to 'that' is as in 'of desire')
mokṣaḥ (मोक्षः) = emancipation/deliverance/liberation
ucyate (उच्यते) = is said to be ।
bhavāsaṃsaktimātreṇa (भवासंसक्तिमात्रेण) = solely by non-attachment to the phenomenal world (compound of bhava (भव)  meaning 'world/that phenomenal domain of circumstance and change' asaṃsakti (असंसक्ति)  meaning 'not joined/not attached/state of being detached' and mātreṇa (मात्रेण)  meaning 'only by/solely by')
prāptituṣṭiḥ (प्राप्तितुष्टिः) = happiness from accomplishing/satisfaction from attaining (compound of prāpti (प्राप्ति) meaning 'obtainment/achievement/attained' and tuṣṭiḥ (तुष्टिः)  meaning 'satisfaction/joy')
muhuḥ muhuḥ (मुहुः मुहुः) = time and time again/continually/regularly ॥ 10-4॥

COMMENT:
The import behind the previous verse and this remains the same; the themes of dispassion, the manacles of desire that muddle our thoughts and our thoughts themselves being drawn towards sense objects mediated by our conditioning. Of course, the awareness that results from the clarity that comes from a dispassionate understanding of entities while being grounded within the present moment is the focus of the seeker.
Repetition is a common theme across spiritual traditions especially when the writer wants to convey the importance of a concept  and these verses are no different. Rather than comment on similar themes, I wanted to take this opportunity to dwell a bit on the following that seem to make my nascent understanding clearer. In addition, this also summarizes some themes that have crossed my mind while working on the first nine chapters. Again, these are paths that have been useful for me, and, of course, to each their own.

Our bodies are no different from any other entity out there - like a clod of dust or an incandescent electric bulb, all we are is just fortuitous (albeit temporal) collections of atoms and molecules with an emergent condition that we call consciousness or cognition.

To never feel absolutely certain of anything is fundamental to understanding humility and a reminder that there is much more unknown, uncertain and unclear than the known. On the same theme of humility, one’s undertaking to overwhelm opposition cannot be accomplished by force or fiat; the perceived satisfaction that one seemingly obtains by overcoming resistance through fiat is illusory.

Awareness results when one strives to overcome resistance by reasoned and logical arguments that is rooted within compassion and empathy for the other's station in the world.

No entity arises from itself, from another, from both itself and another, or from neither itself nor another.

All existent entities, ideas and phenomena are 'empty'; meaning they don't cause or define themselves, but arise and cease due to underlying conditions that are themselves dependently linked to further substratal conditions. That said, under analysis, incongruity and unreasonableness can be found within even the most analytically balanced and meticulously constructed positions - these positions and systems are there just to guide us - ultimately, one just have to find themselves.

All thinking assumes groupings that ultimately channel to defining 'name-and-form' and 'difference', but one understands that such groupings have no foundational referent as an essence within any such 'name-and-form' entities or opposing aberrations thereof. That said, if one is forced to choose between objections that are deemed rational and perceptive and concessions that are uninvolved and yielding, choose on the side of the former as the former signifies a deeper level of engagement and understanding with the other.

Linguistic expression, vocabulary and associated concepts do not refer to actual existent things. All languages that we have refined over the course of evolution recursively refers to conceptual formulations of itself.

We cannot help but live within the cultural conditioning that we have been imprinted with - if we step outside of the conditioned channels, we will either be labelled impractical or will find ourselves to be non-functioning members of society. That said, never contrive to show obeisance nor tribute to dogma or doctrine nor to preceptors who mention that their tenets and canons are the only way forward, for, there will always be a new tenet, a new gospel and a new preceptor who will have an alternative.

Thoughts within our minds are just electrical signals correlated with the manifestational equivalents of name-and-form representations that have been ingrained within us as a result of cultural conditioning. Consciousness is our process of regurgitation and presentation of information from a repository of ‘world-thought’ that keeps getting passed down.

All of our experiential problems in dealing with the phenomenal world stem from our innate need to latch onto our conditioned beliefs, conjecture and suppositions. Envy in any way, shape or form is an accelerant to the fire of desire and only serves to concretize the prejudicial conditioning that we have been culturally subjected to. Be devotedly truthful even if that path is unwieldy, embarrassing or cumbersome; for, obscuring the same by design or by accident only makes the path to awareness prejudicial, and in the long run, unmanageable.