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Ashtavakra Gita · 9 of 20
Chapter 9: Detachment
Ashtavakra said:
9.1. Knowing when the dualism of things done and undone has been put to rest, or the person for whom they occur has, then you can here and now go beyond renunciation and obligations by indifference to such things.
9.2. Rare indeed, my son, is the lucky man whose observation of the world’s behaviour has led to the extinction of his thirst for living, thirst for pleasure, and thirst for knowledge.
9.3. All this is transient and spoiled by the three sorts of pain. Knowing it to be insubstantial, ignoble, and fit only for rejection, one attains peace.
9.4. When was that age or time of life when the dualism of extremes did not exist for men? Abandoning them, a person who is happy to take whatever comes attains perfection.
9.5. Who does not end up with indifference to such things and attain peace when he has seen the differences of opinions among the great sages, saints, and yogis?
9.6. Is he not a guru who, endowed with dispassion and equanimity, achieves full knowledge of the nature of consciousness, and leads others out of samsara?
9.7. If you would just see the transformations of the elements as nothing more than the elements, then you would immediately be freed from all bonds and established in your own nature.
9.8. One’s desires are samsara. Knowing this, abandon them. The renunciation of them is the renunciation of it. Now you can remain as you are.
Asked of Guide
Why does Ashtavakra say abandoning desires is the same as renouncing samsara?
Ashtavakra describes desire as the engine of repeated becoming: “One’s desires are samsara. Knowing this, abandon them.” He argues that when you see impulses as merely transient elements and cease to cling, the chain that spins birth and rebirth falls away and you remain simply as you are.
The chapter ties inner indifference to complete freedom: dispassion and equanimity make one a guru who “leads others out of samsara.” This matches the Crest-Jewel of Wisdom, which claims purification of mind uproots desire and brings liberation like ripe fruit into the hand.
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