Chapter I: Instruction on Self-Realization

#	Sanskrit Original	Translation by Bart Marshall	Translation by John Richards	Translation by Swami Nityaswarupananda
1.1	जनक उवाच। कथं ज्ञानमवाप्नोति कथं मुक्तिर्भविष्यति। वैराग्यं च कथं प्राप्तं एतद् ब्रूहि मम प्रभो॥	Janaka said: Master, how is Knowledge to be achieved, detachment acquired, liberation attained?	Janaka: How is knowledge to be acquired? How is liberation to be attained? And how is dispassion to be reached? Tell me this, sir.	Janaka asked: How can knowledge be acquired? How can liberation be attained? How is renunciation possible? - Tell me this, O Lord.
1.2	अष्टावक्र उवाच। मुक्तिमिच्छसि चेत्तात विषयान् विषवत्त्यज। क्षमार्जवदयातोषसत्यं पीयूषवद्भज॥	Ashtavakra said: To be free, shun the experiences of the senses like poison. Turn your attention to forgiveness, sincerity, kindness, simplicity, truth.	Ashtavakra: If you are seeking liberation, my son, shun the objects of the senses like poison. Practise tolerance, sincerity, compassion, contentment and truthfulness like nectar.	Ashtavakra replied: If you aspire after liberation, my child, shun the objects of the senses as poison and seek forgiveness, sincerity, kindness, contentment and truth as nectar.
1.3	न पृथ्वी न जलं नाग्निर्न वायुद्यौर्न वा भवान्। एषां साक्षिणमात्मानं चिद्रूपं विद्धि मुक्तये॥	You are not earth, water, fire or air. Nor are you empty space. Liberation is to know yourself as Awareness alone - the Witness of these.	You do not consist of the elements - earth, water, fire, air or even ether. To be liberated, know yourself as consisting of consciousness, the witness of these.	You are neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air, nor ether. In order to attain liberation, know the Self as the witness of all these and Consciousness itself.
1.4	यदि देहं पृथक्कृत्य चिति विश्राम्य तिष्ठसि। अधुनैव सुखी शान्तो बन्धमुक्तो भविष्यसि॥	Abide in Awareness with no illusion of person. You will be instantly free and at peace.	If only you will remain resting in consciousness, seeing yourself as distinct from the body, then even now you will become happy, peaceful and free from bonds.	If you detach (yourself from) the body and rest in Intelligence, you will at once be happy, peaceful and free from bondage.
1.5	न त्वं विप्रादिको वर्णो नाश्रमी नाक्षगोचरः। असङ्गोऽसि निराकारो विश्वसाक्षी सुखी भव॥	You have no caste or duties. You are invisible, unattached, formless. You are the Witness of all things. Be happy.	You do not belong to the brahmin or any other caste, you are not at any stage, nor are you anything that the eye can see. You are unattached and formless, the witness of everything - so be happy.	You do not belong to the Brahmana or any other caste or to any Ashrama. You are not perceived by the eyes. Unattached, formless and witness of all are you. Be happy.
1.6	धर्माधर्मौ सुखं दुःखं मानसानि न ते विभो। न कर्तासि न भोक्तासि मुक्त एवासि सर्वदा॥	Right and wrong, pleasure and pain, exist in mind only. They are not your concern. You neither do nor enjoy. You are free.	Righteousness and unrighteousness, pleasure and pain are purely of the mind and are no concern of yours. You are neither the doer nor the reaper of the consequences, so you are always free.	Virtue and vice, pleasure and pain, are of the mind, not of you, O all-pervading one. You are neither doer nor enjoyer. Verily you are ever free.
1.7	एको द्रष्टासि सर्वस्य मुक्तप्रायोऽसि सर्वदा। अयमेव हि ते बन्धो द्रष्टारं पश्यसीतरम्॥	You are the Solitary Witness of All That Is, forever free. Your only bondage is not seeing This.	You are the one witness of everything, and are always completely free. The cause of your bondage is that you see the witness as something other than this.	You are the one seer of all and really ever free. Verily this alone is your bondage that you see the seer as other than such.
1.8	अहं कर्तेत्यहंमानमहाकृष्णाहिदंशितः। नाहं कर्तेति विश्वासामृतं पीत्वा सुखी भव॥	The thought: "I am the doer" is the bite of a poisonous snake. To know: "I do nothing" is the wisdom of faith. Be happy.	Since you have been bitten by the black snake, the opinion about yourself that "I am the doer", drink the antidote of faith in the fact that "I am not the doer", and be happy.	Do you who have been bitten by the great black serpent of the egoism "I am the doer", drink the nectar of the faith "I am not the doer", and be happy.
1.9	एको विशुद्धबोधोऽहमिति निश्चयवह्निना। प्रज्वाल्याज्ञानगहनं वीतशोकः सुखी भव॥	A single understanding: "I am the One Awareness", consumes all suffering in the fire of an instant. Be happy.	Burn down the forest of ignorance with the fire of the understanding that "I am the one pure awareness", and be happy and free from distress.	Burn down the forest of ignorance with the fire of conviction, "I am the One, and Pure Consciousness", and be free from grief and be happy.
1.10	यत्र विश्वमिदं भाति कल्पितं रज्जुसर्पवत्। आनन्दपरमानन्दः स बोधस्त्वं सुखं भव॥	You are unbounded Awareness - Bliss, Supreme Bliss - in which the universe appears like the mirage of a snake in a rope. Be happy.	That in which all this appears - imagined like the snake in a rope, that joy, supreme joy and awareness is what you are, so be happy.	You are that Consciousness, Bliss - Supreme Bliss, in and upon which this universe appears superimposed, like a snake on a rope. Live happily.
1.11	मुक्ताभिमानी मुक्तो हि बद्धो बद्धाभिमान्यपि। किंवदन्तीह सत्येयं या मतिः सा गतिर्भवेत्॥	It is true what they say: "You are what you think." If you think you are bound you are bound. If you think you are free you are free.	If one thinks of oneself as free, one is free, and if one thinks of oneself as bound, one is bound. Here this saying is true, "Thinking makes it so".	One who considers oneself free is free indeed and one who considers oneself bound remains bound. "As one thinks, so one becomes", is a popular saying in this world, which is too true.
1.12	आत्मा साक्षी विभुः पूर्ण एको मुक्तश्चिदक्रियः। असङ्गो निस्पृहः शान्तो भ्रमात् संसारवानिव॥	You are Self - the Solitary Witness. You are perfect, all-pervading, One. You are free, desireless, forever still. The universe is but a seeming in You.	Your real nature is as the one perfect, free, and actionless consciousness, the all-pervading witness - unattached to anything, desireless and at peace. It is from illusion that you seem to be involved in samsara.	The Self is witness, all-pervading, perfect, One, free, Intelligence, actionless, unattached, desireless and quiet. Through illusion it appears as if of the world.
1.13	कूटस्थं बोधमद्वैतमात्मानं परिभावय। आभासोऽहं भ्रमं मुक्त्वा भावं बाह्यमथान्तरम्॥	Meditate on this: "I am Awareness alone - Unity itself." Give up the idea that you are separate, a person, that there is within and without.	Meditate on yourself as motionless awareness, free from any dualism, giving up the mistaken idea that you are just a derivative consciousness, or anything external or internal.	Meditate on the Atman as immovable, Intelligence and non-dual, having given up external and internal self-modifications and the illusion "I am the reflected self (individual soul)".
1.14	देहाभिमानपाशेन चिरं बद्धोऽसि पुत्रक। बोधोऽहं ज्ञानखड्गेन तन्निकृत्य सुखी भव॥	You have long been bound thinking: "I am a person." Let the knowledge: "I am Awareness alone" be the sword that frees you.	You have long been trapped in the snare of identification with the body. Sever it with the knife of knowledge that "I am awareness", and be happy, my son.	My child, you have long been in the noose of body-consciousness. Sever it with the sword of the knowledge "I am Intelligence" and be happy.
1.15	निःसङ्गो निष्क्रियोऽसि त्वं स्वप्रकाशो निरञ्जनः। अयमेव हि ते बन्धः समाधिमनुतिष्ठसि॥	You are now and forever free, luminous, transparent, still. The practice of meditation keeps one in bondage.	You are really unbound and actionless, self-illuminating and spotless already. The cause of your bondage is that you are still resorting to stilling the mind.	You are unattached, actionless, self-effulgent and without any blemish. This indeed is your bondage that you practise Samadhi.
1.16	त्वया व्याप्तमिदं विश्वं त्वयि प्रोतं यथार्थतः। शुद्धबुद्धस्वरुपस्त्वं मा गमः क्षुद्रचित्तताम्॥	You are pure Consciousness - the substance of the universe. The universe exists within you. Don't be small-minded.	All of this is really filled by you and strung out in you, for what you consist of is pure awareness - so don't be small-minded.	You pervade this universe and this universe exists in you. You are really Pure Consciousness by nature. Do not be small-minded.
1.17	निरपेक्षो निर्विकारो निर्भरः शीतलाशयः। अगाधबुद्धिरक्षुब्धो भव चिन्मात्रवासनः॥	You are unconditioned, changeless, formless. You are solid, unfathomable, cool. Desire nothing. You are Consciousness.	You are unconditioned and changeless, formless and immovable, unfathomable awareness and unperturbable, so hold to nothing but consciousness.	You are unconditioned, immutable, formless, unimpassioned, of unfathomable intelligence and unperturbed. Desire for Chit alone.
1.18	साकारमनृतं विद्धि निराकारं तु निश्चलम्। एतत्तत्त्वोपदेशेन न पुनर्भवसम्भवः॥	That which has form is not real. Only the formless is permanent. Once this is known, you will not return to illusion.	Recognise that the apparent is unreal, while the unmanifest is abiding. Through this initiation into truth you will escape falling into unreality again.	Know that which has form to be unreal and the formless to be permanent. Through this spiritual instruction you will escape the possibility of rebirth.
1.19	यथैवादर्शमध्यस्थे रुपेऽन्तः परितस्तु सः। तथैवास्मिन् शरीरेऽन्तः परितः परमेश्वरः॥	Just as a mirror exists both within and without the image reflected, the Supreme Self exists both within and without the body.	Just as a mirror exists everywhere both within and apart from its reflected images, so the Supreme Lord exists everywhere within and apart from this body.	Just as a mirror exists within and without the image reflected in it, even so the Supreme Lord exists inside and outside this body.
1.20	एकं सर्वगतं व्योम बहिरन्तर्यथा घटे। नित्यं निरन्तरं ब्रह्म सर्वभूतगणे तथा॥	Just as the same space exists both within and without a jar, the timeless, all-pervasive One exists as Totality.	Just as one and the same all-pervading space exists within and without a jar, so the eternal, everlasting God exists in the totality of things.	As the same all-pervading ether is inside and outside a jar, even so the eternal, all-pervasive Brahman exists in all things.