AVG 12.1

Chapter 12 (The Seekers Understanding of Abiding in Awareness): Verse 1
जनक उवाच ॥
कायकृत्यासहः पूर्वं ततो वाग्विस्तरासहः ।
अथ चिन्तासहस्तस्मादेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥ १२-१॥

PURPORT:
Janaka said:
First I became detached from physical
activities of the conditioned world; then
I became detached of discursive and
rambling speech; and then, I became
detached from thought fluctuations.
Thus, truly, do I abide in still tranquility.

TRANSLITERATION:
जनक उवाच ॥
janaka uvāca ॥
कायकृत्यासहः पूर्वम् ततः वाग्विस्तरासहः ।
kāyakṛtyāsahaḥ pūrvam tataḥ vāgvistarāsahaḥ ।
अथ चिन्तासहः तस्मात् एवम् एव अहम् आस्थितः ॥ १२-१॥
atha cintāsahaḥ tasmāt evam eva aham āsthitaḥ ॥ 12-1॥

MEANING:
janaka (जनक) = Janaka
uvāca (उवाच) = said ॥
kāyakṛtyāsahaḥ (कायकृत्यासहः) = detached from physical action/activities (compound of kāya (काय)  meaning 'related to corporeal body' and kṛtyā (कृत्या)  meaning 'action' and asahaḥ (असहः)  meaning 'intolerant - but here taken to mean as detached'). Detached as in the mind having choicelessly turned away from action, activities, forms, names and other designations of the conditioned phenomenal world.
pūrvam (पूर्वम्) = at first
tataḥ (ततः) = then
vāgvistarāsahaḥ (वाग्विस्तरासहः) = detached of discursive and rambling dialogue/speech (compound of vāg (वाग्) meaning 'dialogue/speech' and vistarā (विस्तरा) meaning 'discursive and rambling' and asahaḥ (असहः) meaning 'intolerant - again taken to mean as detached')।
atha (अथ) = then
cintāsahaḥ (चिन्तासहः) = detached of thought fluctuations (compound of cintāsahaḥ (चिन्तासहः)  meaning '' and (असहः) meaning 'intolerant - but, here again taken to mean as choicelessly detached')
tasmāt (तस्मात्) = from that
evam (एवम्) = thus
eva (एव) = indeed
aham (अहम्) = I
āsthitaḥ (आस्थितः) = abide/exist ॥ 12-1॥

COMMENT:
This chapter is a meditation by Janaka on the process and the steps by which they slowly divest themselves of the various swaddlings that seem to envelop their minds and arrive at the sense of awareness that lies within. One understands that in the search for awareness and the tranquility offered by truth, one has to start with themselves - what they really and truly are. In this sense, the awareness that we sense that we will ultimately experience takes a form of timelessness (where the perceptual quality of time has been extinguished) and formlessness (where again, the perceptual sense of shape and form and definition disappear) combined with a state of flow that can only be described as being one with all material aspects of the universe.

Janaka talks about identifications and superpositions in this chapter; where the seeker within each one of ourselves will slowly understand that stilling the gross actions of our bodies is the first step towards the realization of this awareness. The strength that one gradually develops to not only look at those actions in a dispassionate manner, but also not to overly identify oneself with those actions and not overtly superimpose biases, fears, concepts and dogma onto our gross bodily actions is paramount.

In this sense, practicing the observance and witnessing of the functioning of one’s body and watching the beautiful flow of events that happen as we go through the process of living - the slow rise and fall of our breathing, the way the air fills up within our lungs, closing one’s eyes and sensing that deepest shade of red when sunbeams filter through the thin membranes of our eyelids, the horripilation that one senses on touching cold water, the feel of moss on the underside of one’s foot when one walks out on a cold winter morning and many many more such palpable ones are discernable physical sensations that are wonderfully direct examples of our bodies working within its homeostatic imperative. The fact that we can mindfully observe such actions and gloriously revel in the understanding and appreciation of such actions is the first step that Janaka talks about here.
Witnessing this glory and understanding that you are not the doer of the action - the actions themselves are an autonomous response to one’s environment that our bodies are a part of is a key element of such seeking.

The attempt to mindfully unite our organic selves and our environmental interactions is considered important to appreciating our life processes. Our affect - that cauldron which comprises of our feelings, motives, emotions and driving incentives that autonomously proclaims itself within our organic selves were part of our ancient gut-based enteric nervous system (in fact, marine invertebrates that include starfish, brittle stars, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, sand dollars, and crinoids still function using their gut-based brains) that then slowly evolved to form our brains. One is here reminded of that wisdom that accurately states that our bodies came first and then out of our bodies evolved our brains (and the associated feeling, emotions, thinking and discrimination thereof). The brains and thinking did not come first - this is very true when one considers these affective factors in light of our body's homeostatic obligations - and this is the reason why Janaka starts off with the body and understanding the affective states of the body and the mindfulness that accompanies when one has clarity of the same.