അഷ്ടാവക്ര ഗീതാ is a 20-chapter dialogue of direct അദ്വൈത 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 (സ്വാസ്ഥ്യ) 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 - ധര്മ and അധര്മ, പ്രവൃത്തി and നിവൃത്തി, "world" and "liberation" - stop being battlefields.
അഷ്ടാവക്ര ഉവാച ॥
ആചക്ഷ്വ ശൃണു വാ താത നാനാശാസ്ത്രാണ്യനേകശഃ ।
തഥാപി ന തവ സ്വാസ്ഥ്യം സർവവിസ്മരണാദൃതേ ॥ 16-1॥
Translation (ഭാവാര്ഥ):
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.
ഭോഗം കര്മ സമാധിം വാ കുരു വിജ്ഞ തഥാപി തേ ।
ചിത്തം നിരസ്തസർവാശമത്യര്ഥം രോചയിഷ്യതി ॥ 16-2॥
Translation (ഭാവാര്ഥ):
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.
ആയാസാത്സകലോ ദുഃഖീ നൈനം ജാനാതി കശ്ചന ।
അനേനൈവോപദേശേന ധന്യഃ പ്രാപ്നോതി നിർവൃതിമ് ॥ 16-3॥
Translation (ഭാവാര്ഥ):
Everyone suffers from strain, yet almost no one recognizes this. By this very instruction alone, the blessed one attains deep repose.
വ്യാപാരേ ഖിദ്യതേ യസ്തു നിമേഷോന്മേഷയോരപി ।
തസ്യാലസ്യ ധുരീണസ്യ സുഖം നാന്യസ്യ കസ്യചിത് ॥ 16-4॥
Translation (ഭാവാര്ഥ):
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.
ഇദം കൃതമിദം നേതി ദ്വംദ്വൈര്മുക്തം യദാ മനഃ ।
ധര്മാര്ഥകാമമോക്ഷേഷു നിരപേക്ഷം തദാ ഭവേത് ॥ 16-5॥
Translation (ഭാവാര്ഥ):
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.
വിരക്തോ വിഷയദ്വേഷ്ടാ രാഗീ വിഷയലോലുപഃ ।
ഗ്രഹമോക്ഷവിഹീനസ്തു ന വിരക്തോ ന രാഗവാന് ॥ 16-6॥
Translation (ഭാവാര്ഥ):
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."
ഹേയോപാദേയതാ താവത്സംസാരവിടപാംകുരഃ ।
സ്പൃഹാ ജീവതി യാവദ് വൈ നിർവിചാരദശാസ്പദമ് ॥ 16-7॥
Translation (ഭാവാര്ഥ):
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.
പ്രവൃത്തൌ ജായതേ രാഗോ നിർവൃത്തൌ ദ്വേഷ ഏവ ഹി ।
നിര്ദ്വംദ്വോ ബാലവദ് ധീമാന് ഏവമേവ വ്യവസ്ഥിതഃ ॥ 16-8॥
Translation (ഭാവാര്ഥ):
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.
ഹാതുമിച്ഛതി സംസാരം രാഗീ ദുഃഖജിഹാസയാ ।
വീതരാഗോ ഹി നിര്ദുഃഖസ്തസ്മിന്നപി ന ഖിദ്യതി ॥ 16-9॥
Translation (ഭാവാര്ഥ):
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.
യസ്യാഭിമാനോ മോക്ഷേഽപി ദേഹേഽപി മമതാ തഥാ ।
ന ച ജ്ഞാനീ ന വാ യോഗീ കേവലം ദുഃഖഭാഗസൌ ॥ 16-10॥
Translation (ഭാവാര്ഥ):
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.
ഹരോ യദ്യുപദേഷ്ടാ തേ ഹരിഃ കമലജോഽപി വാ ।
തഥാപി ന തവ സ്വാസ്ഥ്യം സർവവിസ്മരണാദൃതേ ॥ 16-11॥
Translation (ഭാവാര്ഥ):
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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