संत साहित्य · Aṣṭāvakra · Verse by verse
Chapter 20 — Liberation While Living
Verse by verse
जनक उवाच॥
क्व भूतानि क्व देहो वा क्वेन्द्रियाणि क्व वा मनः।
क्व शून्यं क्व च नैराश्यं मत्स्वरूपे निरंजने॥२०- १॥
janaka uvāca||
kva bhūtāni kva deho vā kvendriyāṇi kva vā manaḥ|
kva śūnyam kva ca nairāśyam matsvarūpe niramjane||20- 1||
Janaka said: Where are the elements, where is the body, where are the senses, where is the mind? Where is emptiness, where is despair — in my own stainless nature?
Chapter 20 opens with Janaka surveying the whole apparatus of embodied existence — elements, body, senses, mind — plus even the philosophical endpoints of voidness and despair, and finding none of it present in his own unstained (niranjana) essential nature.
When body aches or your mind races, pause and ask what in you is untouched by either — and rest there instead of trying to fix the noise.
क्व शास्त्रं क्वात्मविज्ञानं क्व वा निर्विषयं मनः।
क्व तृप्तिः क्व वितृष्णात्वं गतद्वन्द्वस्य मे सदा॥२०- २॥
kva śāstram kvātmavijñānam kva vā nirviṣayam manaḥ|
kva tṛptiḥ kva vitṛṣṇātvam gatadvandvasya me sadā||20- 2||
Where is scripture, where is self-knowledge, where is the mind free of objects? Where is satisfaction, where is desirelessness — for me, always beyond the pairs of opposites?
Even scripture and formal 'self-knowledge' as a possession, along with contentment and its opposite craving, are dualities (dvandva) that don't touch one who has already gone beyond every pair of opposites.
Don't wait to feel satisfied enough before you can be at peace — notice the peace is available underneath both the craving and its satisfaction.
क्व विद्या क्व च वाविद्या क्वाहं क्वेदं मम क्व वा।
क्व बन्ध क्व च वा मोक्षः स्वरूपस्य क्व रूपिता॥२०- ३॥
kva vidyā kva ca vāvidyā kvāham kvedam mama kva vā|
kva bandha kva ca vā mokṣaḥ svarūpasya kva rūpitā||20- 3||
Where is knowledge, where is ignorance? Where is 'I,' where is 'this,' where is 'mine'? Where is bondage, where is liberation? Where is any form for the formless self?
Knowledge and ignorance, I and this and mine, even bondage and liberation, all presuppose something that could be shaped or defined; but one's true nature (svarūpa, literally 'own-form') is formless, so no such categories attach to it.
Stop trying to pin down 'who you are' with a fixed label — try going one whole day without needing a defining description of yourself.
क्व प्रारब्धानि कर्माणि जीवन्मुक्तिरपि क्व वा।
क्व तद् विदेहकैवल्यं निर्विशेषस्य सर्वदा॥२०- ४॥
kva prārabdhāni karmāṇi jīvanmuktirapi kva vā|
kva tad videhakaivalyam nirviśeṣasya sarvadā||20- 4||
Where are the karmas already set in motion, where even is liberation-while-living (jīvanmukti)? Where is that disembodied absolute aloneness — for the one always without particular qualities?
Even the technical categories of liberation itself — karma ripening in this life, liberation while still embodied, liberation after death — are distinctions that only mean something to a particular someone; the featureless (nirviśeṣa) self has no such particulars to be liberated from.
Instead of asking whether you've earned enough spiritual progress to be free, notice that freedom isn't a finish line you cross — it's what's already looking for the finish line.
क्व कर्ता क्व च वा भोक्ता निष्क्रियं स्फुरणं क्व वा।
क्वापरोक्षं फलं वा क्व निःस्वभावस्य मे सदा॥२०- ५॥
kva kartā kva ca vā bhoktā niṣkriyam sphuraṇam kva vā|
kvāparokṣam phalam vā kva niḥsvabhāvasya me sadā||20- 5||
Where is the doer, where is the enjoyer? Where is actionless flashing-forth? Where is direct fruit or result — for me, always without any nature of my own?
The doer, the experiencer, even the subtle notion of consciousness 'flashing forth' inactively, and the fruits of spiritual effort — none of these apply to one who is niḥsvabhāva, without any fixed nature to be described at all.
Next time you take credit or blame for an outcome, ask who exactly is claiming to be the doer, and see if that claim survives a close look.
क्व लोकं क्व मुमुक्षुर्वा क्व योगी ज्ञानवान् क्व वा।
क्व बद्धः क्व च वा मुक्तः स्वस्वरूपेऽहमद्वये॥२०- ६॥
kva lokam kva mumukṣurvā kva yogī jñānavān kva vā|
kva baddhaḥ kva ca vā muktaḥ svasvarūpe'hamadvaye||20- 6||
Where is the world, where is the seeker of liberation? Where is the yogi, where is the knower? Where is the bound one, where is the liberated one — in my own non-dual self-nature?
The whole cast of spiritual characters — world, aspirant, yogi, sage, bound soul, freed soul — are roles that appear only within duality; in one's own non-dual (advaya) self-nature there is no stage for them to play on.
Drop the self-image of 'spiritual seeker' or 'still struggling' for five minutes and just notice what's present without a role attached to it.
क्व सृष्टिः क्व च संहारः क्व साध्यं क्व च साधनं।
क्व साधकः क्व सिद्धिर्वा स्वस्वरूपेऽहमद्वये॥२०- ७॥
kva sṛṣṭiḥ kva ca samhāraḥ kva sādhyam kva ca sādhanam|
kva sādhakaḥ kva siddhirvā svasvarūpe'hamadvaye||20- 7||
Where is creation, where is dissolution? Where is the goal, where is the means? Where is the practitioner, where is attainment — in my own non-dual self-nature?
Cosmology (creation and dissolution) and the entire spiritual project (goal, method, practitioner, attainment) are also just more content appearing within duality — absent in the non-dual ground itself.
When you're anxious about achieving a goal, notice that the awareness watching the striving was never actually missing anything to begin with.
क्व प्रमाता प्रमाणं वा क्व प्रमेयं क्व च प्रमा।
क्व किंचित् क्व न किंचिद् वा सर्वदा विमलस्य मे॥२०- ८॥
kva pramātā pramāṇam vā kva prameyam kva ca pramā|
kva kimcit kva na kimcid vā sarvadā vimalasya me||20- 8||
Where is the knower, the means of knowledge? Where is the object known, where is knowledge itself? Where is something, where is nothing — for me, always stainless?
The entire apparatus of knowing — knower, instrument of knowledge, known object, and resulting knowledge — along with the basic categories 'something' and 'nothing,' don't touch the ever-unstained (vimala) self.
Try looking at an ordinary object, a cup or a tree, and notice the seeing itself, prior to labeling it known or unknown.
क्व विक्षेपः क्व चैकाग्र्यं क्व निर्बोधः क्व मूढता।
क्व हर्षः क्व विषादो वा सर्वदा निष्क्रियस्य मे॥२०- ९॥
kva vikṣepaḥ kva caikāgryam kva nirbodhaḥ kva mūḍhatā|
kva harṣaḥ kva viṣādo vā sarvadā niṣkriyasya me||20- 9||
Where is distraction, where is one-pointed concentration? Where is lack of understanding, where is delusion? Where is joy, where is sorrow — for me, always actionless?
Meditation's own vocabulary — distraction versus concentration, dullness versus insight, elation versus grief — names activities and states; none of it can arise in one who is essentially niṣkriya, entirely without action.
The next time your mood swings from elated to low, remember both are passing weather in the same unmoved sky — don't chase the sky away with either one.
क्व चैष व्यवहारो वा क्व च सा परमार्थता।
क्व सुखं क्व च वा दुखं निर्विमर्शस्य मे सदा॥२०- १०॥
kva caiṣa vyavahāro vā kva ca sā paramārthatā|
kva sukham kva ca vā dukham nirvimarśasya me sadā||20- 10||
Where is this everyday transactional reality, where is that ultimate truth? Where is pleasure, where is pain — for me, always beyond deliberation?
Even the two-tiered framework of conventional truth (vyavahāra) versus absolute truth (paramārtha), along with pleasure and pain, are thought-constructs; the one beyond all deliberation (nirvimarśa) has no need to sort experience into such tiers.
Stop treating ordinary life and spiritual truth as two separate zones — wash the dishes as the same awareness that meditates.
क्व माया क्व च संसारः क्व प्रीतिर्विरतिः क्व वा।
क्व जीवः क्व च तद्ब्रह्म सर्वदा विमलस्य मे॥२०- ११॥
kva māyā kva ca samsāraḥ kva prītirviratiḥ kva vā|
kva jīvaḥ kva ca tadbrahma sarvadā vimalasya me||20- 11||
Where is illusion (māyā), where is the cycle of rebirth (samsāra)? Where is attachment, where is detachment? Where is the individual soul, where is that Brahman — for me, always stainless?
Even the grandest metaphysical pair — the individual self (jīva) and ultimate reality (Brahman) — along with illusion, worldly bondage, attachment, and renunciation, are relational terms that don't survive contact with the ever-unstained self.
When you feel like a small, separate self cut off from something greater, notice that the very distinction between small self and greater whole is a thought, not a wall.
क्व प्रवृत्तिर्निर्वृत्तिर्वा क्व मुक्तिः क्व च बन्धनं।
कूटस्थनिर्विभागस्य स्वस्थस्य मम सर्वदा॥२०- १२॥
kva pravṛttirnirvṛttirvā kva muktiḥ kva ca bandhanam|
kūṭasthanirvibhāgasya svasthasya mama sarvadā||20- 12||
Where is engagement in action, where is withdrawal from it? Where is liberation, where is bondage — for me, always unmoving, undivided, self-abiding?
Activity and its renunciation, bondage and liberation, all presume change and division; one who is kūṭastha (unmoving, like an anvil) and undivided has nothing in them for such pairs to happen to.
In an argument, notice the part of you that doesn't actually move no matter what's said, and return to that steadiness before you respond.
क्वोपदेशः क्व वा शास्त्रं क्व शिष्यः क्व च वा गुरुः।
क्व चास्ति पुरुषार्थो वा निरुपाधेः शिवस्य मे॥२०- १३॥
kvopadeśaḥ kva vā śāstram kva śiṣyaḥ kva ca vā guruḥ|
kva cāsti puruṣārtho vā nirupādheḥ śivasya me||20- 13||
Where is teaching, where is scripture? Where is the disciple, where is the guru? Where is even the goal of human life — for me, auspicious and free of any limiting attribute?
The whole edifice of spiritual instruction — teaching, text, student, teacher — and even the traditional goals of human life dissolve for one who is nirupādhi (without any limiting condition or label at all), simply the auspicious ground itself.
Eventually stop needing a teacher, book, or authority to confirm your own being, and trust what you directly know about your own presence.
क्व चास्ति क्व च वा नास्ति क्वास्ति चैकं क्व च द्वयं।
बहुनात्र किमुक्तेन किंचिन्नोत्तिष्ठते मम॥२०- १४॥
kva cāsti kva ca vā nāsti kvāsti caikam kva ca dvayam|
bahunātra kimuktena kimcinnottiṣṭhate mama||20- 14||
Where is existence, where is non-existence? Where is oneness, where is duality? What use is saying much here — nothing at all arises for me.
Janaka's closing verse dispenses even with existence and non-existence, one and two, the most fundamental categories thought can produce, declaring simply that nothing whatsoever now arises in him, ending all further discourse.
The next time your mind spins up another question about who you are, notice you can just stop mid-question and rest, unanswered.