aṣṭāvakra gītā closes with a final, uncompromising pointer: reality is non-dual, and the Self cannot be confined to any category the mind can invent. Across the whole dialogue, the teacher has kept repeating the same medicine in different forms: stop identifying with the body-mind and recognize yourself as the awareness in which all experience appears.
In the previous chapter (19), janaka spoke from the relief of clarity. He described doubt as a thorn removed from the heart by the forceps of truth-knowledge, and then he declared that familiar categories - time, place, duality, even spiritual states - could no longer bind him once he rested in Self-glory.
Seen as a whole, Chapter 20 is a final summary of the entire gItA in one mood: nothing that the mind points to as "me" can stand, and therefore the old questions lose meaning. The chapter ends by declaring the teaching complete. It leaves you with a simple invitation: stop searching in objects and concepts, and rest as the non-dual awareness that is already present.
janaka uvācha ॥
kva bhūtāni kva dēhō vā kvēndriyāṇi kva vā manaḥ ।
kva śūnyaṃ kva cha nairāśyaṃ matsvarūpē nirañjanē ॥ 20-1॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Where are elements, body, senses, and mind? Where are notions of void or despair? In my stainless true nature, these cannot define me.
kva śāstraṃ kvātmavijñānaṃ kva vā nirviṣayaṃ manaḥ ।
kva tṛptiḥ kva vitṛṣṇātvaṃ gatadvandvasya mē sadā ॥ 20-2॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Where are scripture and even the concept of Self-knowledge, where is a mind without objects, where are satisfaction and thirstlessness - for me, always beyond opposites?
kva vidyā kva cha vāvidyā kvāhaṃ kvēdaṃ mama kva vā ।
kva bandha kva cha vā mōkṣaḥ svarūpasya kva rūpitā ॥ 20-3॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Where are knowledge and ignorance, "I" and "this," "mine," bondage and liberation? How can the true nature of the Self be turned into a defined "thing" at all?
kva prārabdhāni karmāṇi jīvanmuktirapi kva vā ।
kva tad vidēhakaivalyaṃ nirviśēṣasya sarvadā ॥ 20-4॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Where are prarabdha karmas, where is "liberation while living" or "bodiless liberation"? For the always attributeless, distinctionless Self, these categories cannot bind.
kva kartā kva cha vā bhōktā niṣkriyaṃ sphuraṇaṃ kva vā ।
kvāparōkṣaṃ phalaṃ vā kva niḥsvabhāvasya mē sadā ॥ 20-5॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Where are the doer and enjoyer, where is action and actionlessness, where is even a "direct result"? For me, always beyond fixed ego-nature, these categories cannot bind.
kva lōkaṃ kva mumukṣurvā kva yōgī jñānavān kva vā ।
kva baddhaḥ kva cha vā muktaḥ svasvarūpē'hamadvayē ॥ 20-6॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Where is world, seeker, yogi, knower - where is bound or liberated? In my own true nature, I am non-dual.
kva sṛṣṭiḥ kva cha saṃhāraḥ kva sādhyaṃ kva cha sādhanam ।
kva sādhakaḥ kva siddhirvā svasvarūpē'hamadvayē ॥ 20-7॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Where are creation and dissolution, goal and means, practitioner and attainment? In my own nature, I am non-dual.
kva pramātā pramāṇaṃ vā kva pramēyaṃ kva cha pramā ।
kva kiñchit kva na kiñchid vā sarvadā vimalasya mē ॥ 20-8॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Where are knower, means of knowing, known object, and knowledge itself? Where are "something" and "nothing"? For me, always pure, these divisions cannot bind.
kva vikṣēpaḥ kva chaikāgryaṃ kva nirbōdhaḥ kva mūḍhatā ।
kva harṣaḥ kva viṣādō vā sarvadā niṣkriyasya mē ॥ 20-9॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Where are distraction and concentration, confusion and wisdom, joy and sorrow - for me, always actionless in my true nature?
kva chaiṣa vyavahārō vā kva cha sā paramārthatā ।
kva sukhaṃ kva cha vā dukhaṃ nirvimarśasya mē sadā ॥ 20-10॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Where are worldly dealings and "highest truth," where are happiness and sorrow, for me who is always free of anxious conceptualizing?
kva māyā kva cha saṃsāraḥ kva prītirviratiḥ kva vā ।
kva jīvaḥ kva cha tadbrahma sarvadā vimalasya mē ॥ 20-11॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Where are illusion and bondage, attachment and withdrawal, the individual and the absolute? For me, always pure, these divisions cannot bind.
kva pravṛttirnirvṛttirvā kva muktiḥ kva cha bandhanam ।
kūṭasthanirvibhāgasya svasthasya mama sarvadā ॥ 20-12॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Where are action and withdrawal, liberation and bondage, for me - the unchanging, undivided Self, steady and at home in itself always?
kvōpadēśaḥ kva vā śāstraṃ kva śiṣyaḥ kva cha vā guruḥ ।
kva chāsti puruṣārthō vā nirupādhēḥ śivasya mē ॥ 20-13॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Where are instruction and scripture, disciple and teacher, and even the very idea of human goals - for me, the Self without limitation, pure auspiciousness?
kva chāsti kva cha vā nāsti kvāsti chaikaṃ kva cha dvayam ।
bahunātra kimuktēna kiñchinnōttiṣṭhatē mama ॥ 20-14॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Where are "exists" and "does not exist," one and two? What is the use of many words? Nothing at all arises as a separate reality in me.
iti aṣṭāvakragītā samāptā ।
॥ ōṃ tatsat ॥
Translation (bhāvārtha):
Thus concludes the Ashtavakra Gita. ōṃ tat sat - the sacred closing invocation.
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