संत साहित्य · Aṣṭāvakra · Verse by verse
Chapter 16 — Beyond All Effort
Verse by verse
अष्टावक्र उवाच॥
आचक्ष्व शृणु वा तात नानाशास्त्राण्यनेकशः।
तथापि न तव स्वास्थ्यं सर्वविस्मरणाद् ऋते॥१६- १॥
aṣṭāvakra uvāca||
ācakṣva śṛṇu vā tāta nānāśāstrāṇyanekaśaḥ|
tathāpi na tava svāsthyam sarvavismaraṇād ṛte||16- 1||
Ashtavakra said: My son, whether you teach or listen to countless scriptures again and again, still you will not find rest — except through forgetting everything.
No amount of accumulating or repeating śāstra (scripture) substitutes for sarva-vismaraṇa (forgetting everything) — meaning letting go of the whole apparatus of concepts, including the ones just learned.
If you've read every self-help book and still feel restless, the next step isn't another book — it's putting all of them down for a while.
भोगं कर्म समाधिं वा कुरु विज्ञ तथापि ते।
चित्तं निरस्तसर्वाशमत्यर्थं रोचयिष्यति॥१६- २॥
bhogam karma samādhim vā kuru vijña tathāpi te|
cittam nirastasarvāśamatyartham rocayiṣyati||16- 2||
O wise one, whether you engage in enjoyment, action, or meditative absorption, your mind — once it has cast off every craving — will find its true delight only in that.
Enjoyment, work, and formal meditation are simply different outer activities; what actually determines your peace is whether citta (mind) underneath any of them has let go of sarvāśā (all craving), not which activity you picked.
Stop asking whether you should meditate more or work more to find peace — ask instead whether you're still quietly craving a particular outcome underneath either one.
आयासात्सकलो दुःखी नैनं जानाति कश्चन।
अनेनैवोपदेशेन धन्यः प्राप्नोति निर्वृतिम्॥१६- ३॥
āyāsātsakalo duḥkhī nainam jānāti kaścana|
anenaivopadeśena dhanyaḥ prāpnoti nirvṛtim||16- 3||
Everyone suffers from their own exertion, yet almost no one recognizes this. By this teaching alone, the fortunate one attains supreme rest.
The suffering people attribute to circumstances is often really the wear of constant āyāsa (effort, striving) itself; simply seeing that clearly, without a further technique, is enough to bring nirvṛti (deep rest).
Before adding one more strategy to fix your exhaustion, ask honestly whether the striving itself — not the problem you're striving over — is what's actually tiring you.
व्यापारे खिद्यते यस्तु निमेषोन्मेषयोरपि।
तस्यालस्य धुरीणस्य सुखं नन्यस्य कस्यचित्॥१६- ४॥
vyāpāre khidyate yastu nimeṣonmeṣayorapi|
tasyālasya dhurīṇasya sukham nanyasya kasyacit||16- 4||
One who is wearied even by the effort of a blink of the eyes — for that supremely idle one alone is there happiness, and for no one else.
This is deliberately extreme: the state being pointed to is so free of striving that even the tiniest voluntary effort feels like too much — happiness belongs to that complete cessation of trying, not to anyone still working at something, even at rest.
Notice how much of your relaxing is actually still effortful — true rest tonight might mean not even trying to relax.
इदं कृतमिदं नेति द्वंद्वैर्मुक्तं यदा मनः।
धर्मार्थकाममोक्षेषु निरपेक्षं तदा भवेत्॥१६- ५॥
idam kṛtamidam neti dvamdvairmuktam yadā manaḥ|
dharmārthakāmamokṣeṣu nirapekṣam tadā bhavet||16- 5||
When the mind is freed from the pairs 'this is done' and 'this is not done,' it becomes indifferent to duty, wealth, pleasure, and even liberation.
Once the mind stops scorekeeping in terms of tasks completed or left undone, it naturally loses its grip on all four traditional life-goals — including the goal of liberation itself, which turns out to be one more item on the same scorecard.
Try, for one evening, not mentally tallying what you did or didn't get done — see how much quieter the mind gets without the scoreboard.
विरक्तो विषयद्वेष्टा रागी विषयलोलुपः।
ग्रहमोक्षविहीनस्तु न विरक्तो न रागवान्॥१६- ६॥
virakto viṣayadveṣṭā rāgī viṣayalolupaḥ|
grahamokṣavihīnastu na virakto na rāgavān||16- 6||
The dispassionate person hates sense-objects; the passionate person craves them. But one free of both grasping and rejecting is neither dispassionate nor passionate.
Virakti (renunciation) that still hates the world and rāga (craving) that still wants it are actually mirror images of the same attachment; real freedom is a third position that has simply stopped relating to objects through either pull.
Check whether your 'I don't care about that anymore' is genuine indifference or just aversion wearing a calmer mask.
हेयोपादेयता तावत्संसारविटपांकुरः।
स्पृहा जीवति यावद् वै निर्विचारदशास्पदम्॥१६- ७॥
heyopādeyatā tāvatsamsāraviṭapāmkuraḥ|
spṛhā jīvati yāvad vai nirvicāradaśāspadam||16- 7||
The habit of accepting and rejecting is the sprouting shoot of the tree of the world, as long as craving lives — that is the very seat of the state lacking true reflection.
Spṛhā (craving) is the root that keeps sprouting new preferences, and each fresh preference regrows the tree of saṃsāra (worldly entanglement) one more time — the cycle survives precisely where genuine inquiry hasn't yet looked.
Before acting on your next strong preference, pause and actually look at the craving behind it instead of automatically feeding it.
प्रवृत्तौ जायते रागो निर्वृत्तौ द्वेष एव हि।
निर्द्वन्द्वो बालवद् धीमान् एवमेव व्यवस्थितः॥१६- ८॥
pravṛttau jāyate rāgo nirvṛttau dveṣa eva hi|
nirdvandvo bālavad dhīmān evameva vyavasthitaḥ||16- 8||
In engagement, attachment arises; in withdrawal, aversion arises. The wise one, free of both, remains established simply, like a child.
Both 'doing more' and 'doing less' quietly generate their own emotional residue — attachment on one side, resentment on the other — while the wise person stays as unattached to either extreme as a child who hasn't yet learned to keep score.
Notice that quitting something out of frustration is still a form of attachment — try stepping back with a child's simple lack of grudge instead.
हातुमिच्छति संसारं रागी दुःखजिहासया।
वीतरागो हि निर्दुःखस्तस्मिन्नपि न खिद्यति॥१६- ९॥
hātumicchati samsāram rāgī duḥkhajihāsayā|
vītarāgo hi nirduḥkhastasminnapi na khidyati||16- 9||
The passionate one wishes to abandon the world out of a desire to escape suffering; but one free of passion, being free of suffering, is not troubled even while remaining in it.
Wanting to escape the world is still a craving — just craving in reverse — while genuine vītarāga (freedom from passion) removes the suffering itself, so there's nothing left needing an exit.
If you're fantasizing about escaping your whole life rather than fixing what's actually painful in it, notice that the fantasy of escape is itself still a craving.
यस्याभिमानो मोक्षेऽपि देहेऽपि ममता तथा।
न च ज्ञानी न वा योगी केवलं दुःखभागसौ॥१६- १०॥
yasyābhimāno mokṣe'pi dehe'pi mamatā tathā|
na ca jñānī na vā yogī kevalam duḥkhabhāgasau||16- 10||
One who takes pride even in liberation, and still feels possessiveness even about the body — such a person is neither a knower nor a yogi, but merely one more sufferer.
Claiming 'I am liberated' as a personal achievement, while still clinging to the body as 'mine,' shows the ego simply relocated itself into spiritual identity — genuine jñāna (knowledge) has no one left standing to be proud of it.
Be suspicious of your own pride in how spiritually advanced or calm you've become — that pride is the same old attachment in new clothing.
हरो यद्युपदेष्टा ते हरिः कमलजोऽपि वा।
तथापि न तव स्वाथ्यं सर्वविस्मरणादृते॥१६- ११॥
haro yadyupadeṣṭā te hariḥ kamalajo'pi vā|
tathāpi na tava svāthyam sarvavismaraṇādṛte||16- 11||
Even if Śiva himself, or Viṣṇu, or Brahmā were your teacher, still you would find no true rest — except through forgetting everything.
No teacher's authority, however exalted, can substitute for the direct act of sarva-vismaraṇa (forgetting everything, i.e., dropping the entire conceptual overlay) — the teaching points there, but only your own letting-go arrives there.
Stop hoping the next teacher, book, or guide will finally hand you peace — at some point you have to actually put everything down yourself.