અષ્ટાવક્ર ગીતા is a 20-chapter dialogue of direct અદ્વૈત that keeps cutting through the same illusion: taking the body-mind to be the Self. It does not try to decorate life with new beliefs; it tries to remove the deeper misunderstanding that makes life feel like a constant struggle for security.
So far the dialogue has moved through a clear arc. Chapter 1 answers જનક's questions about જ્ઞાન, મુક્તિ, and વૈરાગ્ય by warning against compulsive attachment to વિષયs while pointing to the witness. Chapters 2-4 express recognition and then mature it into lived freedom.
Seen as a whole, Chapter 10 is a chapter of "enough." It repeats a single medicine: recognize what has never truly satisfied, stop fueling it, and let the mind rest. તૃષ્ણા (craving-thirst) is named as the essence of bondage, and the chapter says that rest comes not by rearranging the world again, but by ending the compulsion that keeps you rearranging.
અષ્ટાવક્ર ઉવાચ ॥
વિહાય વૈરિણં કામમર્થં ચાનર્થસંકુલમ્ ।
ધર્મમપ્યેતયોર્હેતું સર્વત્રાનાદરં કુરુ ॥ 10-1॥
Translation (ભાવાર્થ):
Ashtavakra said: Abandon craving, the enemy, and abandon wealth that is entangled with harm. Even ધર્મ, when treated as a means for craving and wealth, do not treat as your ultimate. Practice non-importance toward these everywhere.
સ્વપ્નેંદ્રજાલવત્ પશ્ય દિનાનિ ત્રીણિ પંચ વા ।
મિત્રક્ષેત્રધનાગારદારદાયાદિસંપદઃ ॥ 10-2॥
Translation (ભાવાર્થ):
See possessions and supports as dreamlike or like a magic show - lasting only a few days (three, five, or so). Friends, land, wealth, houses, spouses, heirs, and related prosperities are not lasting refuges.
યત્ર યત્ર ભવેત્તૃષ્ણા સંસારં વિદ્ધિ તત્ર વૈ ।
પ્રૌઢવૈરાગ્યમાશ્રિત્ય વીતતૃષ્ણઃ સુખી ભવ ॥ 10-3॥
Translation (ભાવાર્થ):
Wherever craving arises, know that bondage is there. Taking refuge in mature dispassion, be free of craving and be at ease.
તૃષ્ણામાત્રાત્મકો બંધસ્તન્નાશો મોક્ષ ઉચ્યતે ।
ભવાસંસક્તિમાત્રેણ પ્રાપ્તિતુષ્ટિર્મુહુર્મુહુઃ ॥ 10-4॥
Translation (ભાવાર્થ):
Bondage is nothing but craving; the ending of that craving is called liberation. Merely by non-attachment to worldly becoming, contentment with what comes arises again and again.
ત્વમેકશ્ચેતનઃ શુદ્ધો જડં વિશ્વમસત્તથા ।
અવિદ્યાપિ ન કિંચિત્સા કા બુભુત્સા તથાપિ તે ॥ 10-5॥
Translation (ભાવાર્થ):
You alone are pure consciousness; the world is inert and has no independent reality. Even ignorance is nothing - then what is there to know? Yet even so, you still have the urge to know.
રાજ્યં સુતાઃ કલત્રાણિ શરીરાણિ સુખાનિ ચ ।
સંસક્તસ્યાપિ નષ્ટાનિ તવ જન્મનિ જન્મનિ ॥ 10-6॥
Translation (ભાવાર્થ):
Kingdoms, children, spouses, bodies, and pleasures - even when you were attached to them - have been lost by you, birth after birth.
અલમર્થેન કામેન સુકૃતેનાપિ કર્મણા ।
એભ્યઃ સંસારકાંતારે ન વિશ્રાંતમભૂન્ મનઃ ॥ 10-7॥
Translation (ભાવાર્થ):
Enough of wealth and pleasure, and even of merit-making action. In this wilderness of saMsAra, the mind has found no rest from these.
કૃતં ન કતિ જન્માનિ કાયેન મનસા ગિરા ।
દુઃખમાયાસદં કર્મ તદદ્યાપ્યુપરમ્યતામ્ ॥ 10-8॥
Translation (ભાવાર્થ):
In how many lifetimes have you not done exhausting, pain-giving actions by body, mind, and speech? Let that compulsive labor stop, even now.
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