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Ashtavakra Gita Chapter 7 aṣṭāvakra gītā is a 20-chapter dialogue of direct advaita, alternating between aṣṭāvakra's sharp pointers and janaka's deepening recognition. Its method is not to decorate life with beliefs, but to correct the central mistake that produces bondage: taking the body-mind to be the Self. Again and again it points to the witness (sākṣī) - awareness itself - as what you are, and shows how freedom becomes natural when identification loosens. The previous chapters have already established the core vision. Chapter 1 combines ethical stabilizers with direct inquiry into the witness. Chapter 2 speaks the afterglow of recognition through metaphors like wave-water and rope-snake, loosening fear and ownership. Chapter 3 exposes the subtle ways desire and ego can survive after insight, and Chapter 4 describes the lived texture of freedom where compulsion drops. Chapter 5 urges laya - the dissolution of false identification - and Chapter 6 has janaka reply that for one who is established in truth there is "no giving up and no grasping" because the Self is untouched. Chapter 7 takes the ocean metaphor and turns it into a lived stance. janaka describes himself as an infinite ocean (ananta-mahāmbhōdhi) in which the world is a boat and a wave. The key point is not poetry but psychology: the rise and fall of experiences does not produce inner gain or loss for the Self. When awareness is recognized as the stable "ocean", the mind does not become impatient with changing conditions. The chapter also makes a strong Advaita claim: the world as "world" is vikalpanā (imagination) - not in the sense that nothing appears, but in the sense that separateness and binding-importance are imagined. The chapters that follow will make the same insight even more practical. Chapter 8 gives crisp definitions of bondage and liberation as movements of mind: desire, sorrow, grasping, and anger are bondage; their absence is freedom. Chapter 9 begins the turn toward nirvēda (mature disillusionment) and the dropping of vāsanās (latent tendencies) as the heart of peace, and later chapters keep widening the perspective until effort relaxes into natural ease. Seen as a whole, Chapter 7 is a chapter of unshakable inner balance. It says: let the world-boat drift; let the world-wave rise and fall; none of this adds to or subtracts from awareness. The result is not coldness but spaciousness: janaka remains śānta (peaceful), asakta (unattached), and aspṛha (without hungry craving). He even says that when the world is seen as a kind of magic show (indrajāla), the usual compulsions of "must accept" and "must reject" lose their force. The summary of this chapter is simple: when you abide as consciousness, the waves of experience may continue, but they cannot produce inner increase or loss. janaka uvācha ॥ Meaning (padārtha): Translation (bhāvārtha): Commentary (anusandhāna): This is one of the most practical gifts of Advaita. Much suffering is not created by events but by the demand that events must match our story. The demand appears as a tight body, a hurried breath, and a mind that argues with reality. The verse points to a deeper strength: when the Self is recognized as the stable witness, the mind can respond without being internally violent. The gItA points to a similar maturity in the idea of prasāda (clarity and grace): you do what you can, and you accept what is beyond your control without collapsing into bitterness. The ocean metaphor makes that maturity vivid. Practice by training "no impatience" in small situations first. When you face a delay, an unexpected message, or a small plan-change, notice the first inner tightening. Name it: "impatience." Then take one breath to remember the ocean: awareness is present before the irritation, during it, and after it. Let the irritation be a wave in that awareness. After that breath, choose one intelligent action: adjust the plan, communicate clearly, or simply wait. The goal is not to eliminate problems; it is to stop adding inner friction. Over time, this becomes a spiritual practice with real-life benefits: you remain more stable in relationships, less reactive at work, and more capable of meeting difficulty without losing dignity. mayyanantamahāmbhōdhau jagadvīchiḥ svabhāvataḥ । Meaning (padārtha): Translation (bhāvārtha): Commentary (anusandhāna): The phrase na mē vṛddhiḥ na cha kṣatiḥ is also a key for emotional regulation. When the mind believes something is an existential loss, it becomes reactive and defensive. When it believes something is an existential gain, it becomes greedy and anxious about losing it. Both are bondage. Many traditions speak about equanimity, but Advaita offers a very specific reason: awareness is the constant, and experiences are variable. The gItA's steadiness in praise and blame, heat and cold, pleasure and pain becomes possible because your identity is relocated from the changing to the changeless. Practice by working with one "gain/loss" story at a time. Pick an area where you swing: money, approval, productivity, romance, health. When you feel a spike - elation or panic - ask: "What is the wave claiming right now?" Often it claims, "This makes me someone" or "This makes me nothing." Then return to the ocean for two breaths: notice awareness is present even in the spike. After that, take one grounded action: budget, rest, communicate, or do the next task. Also train with small deliberate exposures: allow a minor loss (skip a small comfort, accept a small imperfection) and watch that you remain intact; allow a small gain (praise, a treat) and practice enjoying without clinging. This teaches the nervous system what janaka is describing: waves change, but you are not diminished. mayyanantamahāmbhōdhau viśvaṃ nāma vikalpanā । Meaning (padārtha): Translation (bhāvārtha): Commentary (anusandhāna): This verse also clarifies the difference between calmness and peace. Calmness can be fragile - dependent on the world behaving. Peace (śānti) here is atiśānti - deep quietness - because it rests on the recognition of the Self as the background of all experience. This is close to the Upanishadic vision of the Self as śāntaṃ śivaṃ advaitaṃ - peace, auspiciousness, non-dual. When this is seen, even strong life events are held within a wider stillness. The mind can still plan and respond, but it does so without the extra pressure of existential identity. Practice by noticing where you live inside vikalpa (conceptual loops). Choose one recurring loop: comparison ("I should be ahead"), rehearsal ("what if they reject me"), or labeling ("I am this kind of person"). When it starts, pause and say: "This is a construction." Then bring attention to something immediate: breath, sound, sensation. Notice that awareness is present before the thought and after it. That awareness is the nirākāra ground. After two breaths, return to the situation with practical intelligence: make the call, take the step, rest if needed. Over time, this reduces the grip of conceptual stress and allows the deeper peace of the witness to become more accessible in daily life. nātmā bhāvēṣu nō bhāvastatrānantē nirañjanē । Meaning (padārtha): Translation (bhāvārtha): Commentary (anusandhāna): The qualities named here are worth slowing down for. asakta is not avoidance; it is non-sticking. aspṛha is not depression; it is the absence of hungry craving. Together they describe a mind that can engage without clutching. This aligns with the gItA's vision of one who is niḥspṛhaḥ - free of craving - and therefore steady. In relationships and work, this is transformative: you can care, but you are not possessed; you can pursue, but you are not desperate; you can let go, but you are not bitter. Peace becomes less of a mood and more of a baseline. Practice by translating asakti and aspṛhā into one daily experiment. Choose one place you usually cling: a person, a result, an image of yourself. Then practice caring without demanding. For example: do the work carefully, but release the demand for applause; love a person, but release the demand that they must soothe your insecurity; pursue health, but release the demand that the body must never change. When craving arises, do not shame it; simply notice it as a movement and ask, "What am I trying to get from this object that the Self already is?" Rest for a breath in awareness, and then return to action. Over weeks, this trains the nervous system to experience security without constant external confirmation, which is the lived meaning of this verse. ahō chinmātramēvāhamindrajālōpamaṃ jagat । Meaning (padārtha): Translation (bhāvārtha): Commentary (anusandhāna): This verse is also an antidote to constant inner commentary. The mind often narrates life with judgment: "This should not be happening," "I must get that," "This is unbearable," "This is not enough." These judgments are the glue of bondage. When the display is seen as a display, the judgments lose gravity. This is why Advaita often sounds like "freedom now": the moment the knower is recognized, the world is re-read. The gItA's attitude of samatva - evenness - becomes possible not by force, but by perspective: the Self is not at stake in every event. Practice by noticing one hēya-upādēya loop each day. It might be a person you "must avoid," a result you "must secure," or an emotion you "must not feel." When it appears, pause and ask, "Is this the voice of discernment, or the voice of fear?" Discernment is quiet and specific; fear is loud and absolute. Then rest for two breaths as the knower and let the loop be a display in awareness. After that, make the sensible choice: speak, step back, take action, or rest. Over time, the magic-show perspective grows: you still navigate life intelligently, but you stop turning every wave into a referendum on your worth. That is the lived meaning of "how and where can there be rejecting and grasping?"
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