Ashtavakra Samhita
Chapter 2
at Home2b.nl
The Asthavakra Samhita chapter 2.
The goal is to
have the Sanskrit text,
the word by
word translation and
the english translation in one document.
English translation
by John Richards (2nd. version)
Public Domain
jhr@elidor.demon.co.uk
The complete
texts are downloadable at the
Ashtavakra Samhita index page.
Here begins chapter 2.
JANAKA
Truly I am
spotless and at peace, the awareness beyond natural causality. All this time I
have been afflicted by delusion. 2.1
As I alone give
light to this body, so I do to the world, As a result the whole world is mine,
or alternatively nothing is. 2.2
So now
abandoning the body and everything else, by some good fortune or other my true
self becomes apparent. 2.3
Just as waves,
foam and bubbles are not different from water, so all this which has emanated
from oneself, is no other than oneself. 2.4
In the same way
that cloth is found to be just thread when analysed, so when all this is
analysed it is found to be no other than oneself. 2.5
Just as the
sugar produced from the juice of the sugarcane is permeated with the same
taste, so all this, produced out of me, is completely permeated with me. 2.6
From ignorance
of oneself, the world appears, and by knowledge of oneself it appears no
longer. From ignorance of the rope a snake appears, and by knowledge of it, it
appears no longer. 2.7
Shining is my
essential nature, and I am nothing over and beyond that. When the world shines
forth, it is simply me that is shining forth. 2.8
All this
appears in me imagined due to ignorance, just as a snake appears in the rope, the
mirage of water in the sunlight, and silver in mother of pearl. 2.9
All this, which
has originated out of me, is resolved back into me too, like a jug back into
clay, a wave into water, and a bracelet into gold. 2.10
How wonderful I
am! Glory be to me, for whom there is no destruction, remaining even beyond the
destruction of the world from Brahma down to the last clump of grass. 2.11
How wonderful I
am! Glory be to me, solitary even though with a body, neither going or coming anywhere,
I who abide forever, filling all that is. 2.12
How wonderful I
am! Glory be to me! There is no one so clever as me! I who have borne all that
is forever, without even touching it with my body! 2.13
How wonderful I
am! Glory be to me! I who possess nothing at all, or alternatively possess
everything that speech and mind can refer to. 2.14
Knowledge, what
is to be known, and the knower - these three do not exist in reality. I am the
spotless reality in which they appear because of ignorance. 2.15
Truly dualism
is the root of suffering. There is no other remedy for it than the realisation
that all this that we see is unreal, and that I am the one stainless reality,
consisting of consciousness. 2.16
I am pure
awareness though through ignorance I have imagined myself to have additional
attributes. By continually reflecting like this, my dwelling place is in the
Unimagined. 2.17
For me there is
neither bondage nor liberation. The illusion has lost its basis and ceased.
Truly all this exists in me, though ultimately it does not even exist in me.
2.18
I have
recognised that all this and my body are nothing, While my true self is nothing
but pure consciousness, so what can the imagination work on now? 2.19
The body,
heaven and hell, bondage and liberation, and fear too, All this is pure
imagination. What is there left to do for me whose very nature is
consciousness? 2.20
Truly I do not
see dualism even in a crowd of people. What pleasure should I have when it has
turned into a wilderness? 2.21
I am not the
body, nor is the body mine. I am not a living being. I am consciousness. It was
my thirst for living that was my bondage. 2.22
Truly it is in
the limitless ocean of myself, that stimulated by the colourful waves of the
worlds everything suddenly arises in the wind of consciousness. 2.23
It is in the
limitless ocean of myself, that the wind of thought subsides, and the
trader-like living beings' world bark is wrecked by lack of goods. 2.24
How wonderful
it is that in the limitless ocean of myself the waves of living beings arise,
collide, play and disappear, according to their natures. 2.25
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.7
2.8
2.9
2.10
2.11
2.12
2.13
2.14
2.15
2.16
2.17
2.18
2.19
2.20
2.21
2.22
2.23
2.24
2.25
Here ends
Ashtavakra chapter 2
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November 08, 2006
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