अष्टावक्र गीता is a 20-chapter dialogue of direct अद्वैत, moving from inquiry to recognition to effortless stabilization. Again and again it points to the same correction: you are the awareness that knows experience, not the body-mind bundle that is experienced. When this is seen clearly, the inner compulsion to seek completion through objects, roles, and achievements begins to dissolve.
In the previous chapter (Chapter 12), जनक repeatedly says एवमेव अहमास्थितः - "thus I abide" - describing a mind that has grown weary of needless busyness and has stopped turning states and practices into identity. That chapter shows the settling that follows conviction: distraction and forced concentration both lose their grip, the constant "accept/reject" reflex fades, and even the urge to grasp the ungraspable Self through thought is abandoned.
Seen as a whole, Chapter 13 is a chapter of ordinary-looking freedom. It shows how realization expresses itself as simplicity: less mental bargaining, less self-punishment, less obsession with achievement, and more natural ease. The refrain यथासुखम् is not indulgence; it is the absence of inner resistance.
जनक उवाच ॥
अकिञ्चनभवं स्वास्थ्यं कौपीनत्वेऽपि दुर्लभम् ।
त्यागादाने विहायास्मादहमासे यथासुखम् ॥ 13-1॥
Translation (भावार्थ):
Janaka said: The well-being of non-possessiveness is rare, even for one living in utter simplicity. Abandoning the inner habit of taking and rejecting, I remain at ease.
कुत्रापि खेदः कायस्य जिह्वा कुत्रापि खिद्यते ।
मनः कुत्रापि तत्त्यक्त्वा पुरुषार्थे स्थितः सुखम् ॥ 13-2॥
Translation (भावार्थ):
The body may be weary somewhere, the tongue may be tired somewhere, and the mind may wander somewhere. Leaving that as it is, established in the true human purpose, I remain at ease.
कृतं किमपि नैव स्याद् इति सञ्चिन्त्य तत्त्वतः ।
यदा यत्कर्तुमायाति तत् कृत्वासे यथासुखम् ॥ 13-3॥
Translation (भावार्थ):
Reflecting truly that nothing is really "done" (by the Self), whatever arises to be done, I do it, and then I remain at ease.
कर्मनैष्कर्म्यनिर्बन्धभावा देहस्थयोगिनः ।
संयोगायोगविरहादहमासे यथासुखम् ॥ 13-4॥
Translation (भावार्थ):
For the embodied yogi, rigid insistence on "action" or "non-action" falls away. Free of the notions of union and non-union, I abide at ease.
अर्थानर्थौ न मे स्थित्या गत्या न शयनेन वा ।
तिष्ठन् गच्छन् स्वपन् तस्मादहमासे यथासुखम् ॥ 13-5॥
Translation (भावार्थ):
For me, gain and loss do not depend on standing, moving, or sleeping. Therefore, whether standing, going, or sleeping, I abide at ease.
स्वपतो नास्ति मे हानिः सिद्धिर्यत्नवतो न वा ।
नाशोल्लासौ विहायास्मादहमासे यथासुखम् ॥ 13-6॥
Translation (भावार्थ):
For me there is no loss in sleeping, and success does not necessarily come from effort. Abandoning both despair and excitement, I remain at ease.
सुखादिरूपा नियमं भावेष्वालोक्य भूरिशः ।
शुभाशुभे विहायास्मादहमासे यथासुखम् ॥ 13-7॥
Translation (भावार्थ):
Having repeatedly observed the regular pattern of pleasure and the rest in experiences, and leaving aside the obsession with good and bad, I remain at ease.
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