aṣṭāvakra gītā is a 20-chapter dialogue of direct advaita that aims to dissolve the habit of living as a separate, anxious person. It does not offer a new belief system so much as a new center: awareness itself. When that center is recognized, the ordinary pressures of life - gain and loss, praise and blame, fear and desire - lose much of their authority.
In the previous chapter (18), the teacher described freedom from many angles: the end of craving, the end of doership, the naturalness of inner rest, and the way the wise can live in any setting without being bound. It repeatedly emphasized that liberation is not a costume or a special state, but a change of identity from personality to awareness.
Seen as a whole, Chapter 19 shows what knowledge looks like when it becomes lived. The removal of doubt produces a kind of inner spaciousness where the mind stops compulsively categorizing reality. The verses are not telling you to deny daily responsibilities; they are pointing to the inner place where responsibilities are handled without being carried as identity.
janaka uvācha ॥
tattvavijñānasandaṃśamādāya hṛdayōdarāt ।
nānāvidhaparāmarśaśalyōddhāraḥ kṛtō mayā ॥ 19-1॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Janaka said: Using the forceps of clear truth-knowledge, I have pulled out from the depth of my heart the thorn of many kinds of anxious doubts.
kva dharmaḥ kva cha vā kāmaḥ kva chārthaḥ kva vivēkitā ।
kva dvaitaṃ kva cha vā'dvaitaṃ svamahimni sthitasya mē ॥ 19-2॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Where are duty, desire, gain, and even conceptual discernment? Where are duality and even "non-duality"? For me, established in my own Self-glory, these categories cannot bind.
kva bhūtaṃ kva bhaviṣyad vā vartamānamapi kva vā ।
kva dēśaḥ kva cha vā nityaṃ svamahimni sthitasya mē ॥ 19-3॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Where are past, future, and even the present? Where are place and even the sense of time, for me established in my own Self-glory?
kva chātmā kva cha vānātmā kva śubhaṃ kvāśubhaṃ yathā ।
kva chintā kva cha vāchintā svamahimni sthitasya mē ॥ 19-4॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Where are the old divisions of Self and not-Self, good and bad? Where are worry and worrylessness, for me established in my own Self-glory?
kva svapnaḥ kva suṣuptirvā kva cha jāgaraṇaṃ tathā ।
kva turīyaṃ bhayaṃ vāpi svamahimni sthitasya mē ॥ 19-5॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Where are dream, deep sleep, and waking - and where is even the concept of turīya? Where is fear, for me established in Self-glory?
kva dūraṃ kva samīpaṃ vā bāhyaṃ kvābhyantaraṃ kva vā ।
kva sthūlaṃ kva cha vā sūkṣmaṃ svamahimni sthitasya mē ॥ 19-6॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Where are far and near, outer and inner, gross and subtle, for me established in my own Self-glory?
kva mṛtyurjīvitaṃ vā kva lōkāḥ kvāsya kva laukikam ।
kva layaḥ kva samādhirvā svamahimni sthitasya mē ॥ 19-7॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Where are life and death, worlds and worldly affairs, dissolution and samadhi, for me established in Self-glory?
alaṃ trivargakathayā yōgasya kathayāpyalam ।
alaṃ vijñānakathayā viśrāntasya mamātmani ॥ 19-8॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Enough of talk about worldly aims, and enough even of talk about Yoga. Enough of talk about knowledge too - for I rest in the Self.
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