AVG 13.5

Chapter 13 (The Seekers Sense of Well-Being): Verse 5
अर्थानर्थौ न मे स्थित्या गत्या न शयनेन वा ।
तिष्ठन् गच्छन् स्वपंस्मादहमासे यथासुखम् ॥ १३-५॥

PURPORT:
No good or wickedness accumulates
within me. I do not gain nor do I lose
by staying put, going off someplace
else or in dormant slumber. Therefore,
I live in serenity whether I am staying
still or in movement and migration
or in the depths of dreamless sleep.

TRANSLITERATION:
अर्थानर्थौ न मे स्थित्या गत्या न शयनेन वा ।
arthānarthau na me sthityā gatyā na śayanena vā ।
तिष्ठन् गच्छन् स्वपन् तस्मात् अहम आसे यथासुखम् ॥ १३-५॥
tiṣṭhan gacchan svapan tasmāt ahama āse yathāsukham ॥ 13-5॥

MEANING:
arthānarthau (अर्थानर्थौ) = merit or ill-repute/good or wickedness
na (न) = not
me (मे) = mine
sthityā (स्थित्या) = by staying
gatyā (गत्या) = by going
na (न) = not
śayanena (शयनेन) = by sleeping
vā (वा) = or ।
tiṣṭhan (तिष्ठन्) = staying
gacchan (गच्छन्) = going
svapan (स्वपन्) = sleeping
tasmāt (तस्मात्) = therefore/so
ahama (अहम) = I
āse (आसे) = live
yathāsukham (यथासुखम्) = thus happily  ॥ 13-5॥

COMMENT:
The import of this verse is very simple and very profound; it talks about the consummation of the experience of being aware within the present moment of reality into all aspects of our waking lives - sitting, eating, staying, waking, sleeping - all of the activities that we undertake over the course of our days and the necessity to be integrated and subsumed with mindful awareness (which, even if initially fleeting when one starts the search, gradually, becomes second nature within all interactions as one progresses). In this sense, Janaka does not intend to use any techniques that invoke activities like 'concentration' or 'focus' or 'achievement through single-pointedness' or any other such goal-setting performances; leading the seeker away from milestones and getting to a place where one is easy and gentle with oneself is a path that can be followed. Being gentle with oneself paves for the way for gentleness to flow out from oneself out to the environment that we inhabit, to the sentients that we interact with and to the sentiments that one brings to bear upon both of the above.

Awareness of this nature is not about entering another dimension of time and space where the one who is aware is sacrosanct, untouched and beyond the ken of the common human; awareness is simply a celebration of life as it happens and coming slowly to understand, empathize and observe 'things as they really are'.