aṣṭāvakra gītā is a 20-chapter dialogue of direct advaita that keeps pointing to the same fact: awareness is already free, and bondage is mostly the mind's habit of claiming experiences as "me" and "mine". The verses are brief but sharp; they do not try to decorate life with new beliefs so much as undo the reflex to live from anxiety, craving, and self-image.
Chapter 16 gives a particularly strong medicine: "forget everything." Not in the sense of becoming careless or blank, but in the sense of releasing the mind's compulsion to hold positions - "this is right", "this is mine", "I must become someone", "I must reach a future state." The chapter warns about two subtle traps: (1) turning renunciation into aversion (hating life), and (2) turning liberation into ego (being proud of being "spiritual").
Seen as a whole, Chapter 16 insists that peace is not proportional to how much you have studied, achieved, or practiced. Inner wellbeing (svāsthya) comes from dropping the inner project of becoming. When the mind is no longer trying to grasp or reject life, even the big spiritual opposites - dharma and adharma, pravṛtti and nivṛtti, "world" and "liberation" - stop being battlefields.
aṣṭāvakra uvācha ॥
āchakṣva śṛṇu vā tāta nānāśāstrāṇyanēkaśaḥ ।
tathāpi na tava svāsthyaṃ sarvavismaraṇādṛtē ॥ 16-1॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Ashtavakra said: Speak and listen to countless teachings in many ways, dear one. Even then, you will not find inner wellbeing, except by letting everything be forgotten.
bhōgaṃ karma samādhiṃ vā kuru vijña tathāpi tē ।
chittaṃ nirastasarvāśamatyarthaṃ rōchayiṣyati ॥ 16-2॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Whether you pursue enjoyment, action, or meditation - and even if you come to understand many things - your mind will truly relish peace only when all expectation has been let go.
āyāsātsakalō duḥkhī nainaṃ jānāti kaśchana ।
anēnaivōpadēśēna dhanyaḥ prāpnōti nirvṛtim ॥ 16-3॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Everyone suffers from strain, yet almost no one recognizes this. By this very instruction alone, the blessed one attains deep repose.
vyāpārē khidyatē yastu nimēṣōnmēṣayōrapi ।
tasyālasya dhurīṇasya sukhaṃ nānyasya kasyachit ॥ 16-4॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Even the smallest activity - like blinking - feels tiring to the one who is weary of busyness. Such a master of non-striving alone knows ease; it is not found by anyone else.
idaṃ kṛtamidaṃ nēti dvandvairmuktaṃ yadā manaḥ ।
dharmārthakāmamōkṣēṣu nirapēkṣaṃ tadā bhavēt ॥ 16-5॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
When the mind is freed from the duality of "this is done / this is not done" and similar opposites, it becomes independent of the usual aims - duty, gain, pleasure, and even liberation.
viraktō viṣayadvēṣṭā rāgī viṣayalōlupaḥ ।
grahamōkṣavihīnastu na viraktō na rāgavān ॥ 16-6॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
The one who calls himself dispassionate often ends up hating objects; the attached person runs after them. But the one free of both grasping and pushing away is neither "dispassionate" nor "attached."
hēyōpādēyatā tāvatsaṃsāraviṭapāṅkuraḥ ।
spṛhā jīvati yāvad vai nirvichāradaśāspadam ॥ 16-7॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
The whole tree of worldly bondage sprouts from the habit of "reject this / take that." That habit lives as long as craving lives. When craving is gone, the mind rests beyond compulsive thinking.
pravṛttau jāyatē rāgō nirvṛttau dvēṣa ēva hi ।
nirdvandvō bālavad dhīmān ēvamēva vyavasthitaḥ ॥ 16-8॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
When you throw yourself into engagement, attachment arises; when you throw yourself into withdrawal, aversion arises. The wise one stays free of opposites, simple like a child, established in natural steadiness.
hātumichChati saṃsāraṃ rāgī duḥkhajihāsayā ।
vītarāgō hi nirduḥkhastasminnapi na khidyati ॥ 16-9॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
The attachment-driven person wants to abandon the world to escape suffering. But the one free from attachment is already without inner suffering, and is not troubled even if the world continues.
yasyābhimānō mōkṣē'pi dēhē'pi mamatā tathā ।
na cha jñānī na vā yōgī kēvalaṃ duḥkhabhāgasau ॥ 16-10॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
One who feels pride about liberation, and also feels possessive about the body, is neither a true knower nor a true yogi - only a participant in suffering.
harō yadyupadēṣṭā tē hariḥ kamalajō'pi vā ।
tathāpi na tava svāsthyaṃ sarvavismaraṇādṛtē ॥ 16-11॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Even if Shiva instructs you, or Vishnu, or even Brahma, you will not find inner wellbeing except by letting everything be forgotten.
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