The Ashtavakra Gita

The Ashtavakra Gita is what is referred to as a nididhyāsana text in the tradition of Advaita Vedanta. After hearing the truth from the mouth of a living teacher, and meditating on it by reading introductory texts and removing doubts, the seeker of liberation then rests in the experiential realization they have gained through continual and effortless meditation.

Texts like this one facilitate that meditation by providing prompts for sinking deeply into the ocean of contemplation that is our own self-knowledge.

Transcript

The Ashtavakra Gita.

Translation by Thomas Byram.

Section 7.

The Boundless Ocean.

I am the boundless ocean.

This way and that,

The wind,

Blowing where it will,

Drives the ship of the world.

But I am not shaken.

I am the unbounded deep,

In whom the waves of all the worlds naturally arise and fall away.

But I do not rise,

Nor do I fall.

I am the infinite deep,

In whom all the worlds appear to rise.

Beyond all form,

Forever still,

Even so am I.

I am not in the world,

And the world is not in me.

I am pure.

I am unbounded.

Free from attachment.

Free from desire.

How wonderful.

I am awareness itself.

No less.

The world is a magic show.

But in me,

There is nothing to embrace,

And nothing from which to turn away.

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