අෂ්ටාවක්ර ගීතා is a 20-chapter dialogue of uncompromising අද්වෛත, where අෂ්ටාවක්ර's terse instructions and ජනක's responses repeatedly circle one liberation: you are the awareness that knows experience, not the body-mind that is experienced. The text is famous for its directness - it often speaks from the standpoint of freedom and then asks you to notice, again and again, how bondage is only the habit of identification.
In the previous chapters, the foundation and the first recognition are laid. Chapter 1 begins with ජනක's questions about ජ්ඤාන, මුක්ති, and වෛරාග්ය, and අෂ්ටාවක්ර responds by pairing ethical steadiness with direct inquiry into the witness (සාක්ෂී). Chapter 2 then becomes ජනක's "afterglow" chapter: he declares the non-dual vision through metaphors (wave-water, pot-clay, rope-snake) and loosens ownership and fear by seeing the world as appearance in awareness rather than a second reality.
Seen as a whole, Chapter 3 is a diagnostic chapter meant to convert insight into character. It asks, repeatedly, why the mind still runs as if poor after knowing the imperishable Self; it points to projection and superimposition as the hidden engine of craving; and it insists that freedom includes වාසනා-weakening, not merely philosophical agreement.
අෂ්ටාවක්ර උවාච ॥
අවිනාශිනමාත්මානමේකං විජ්ඤාය තත්ත්වතඃ ।
තවාත්මජ්ඤානස්ය ධීරස්ය කථමර්ථාර්ජනේ රතිඃ ॥ 3-1॥
Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Ashtavakra said: If you have truly known the one, imperishable Self, how can a steady, Self-knowing person still delight in acquiring wealth?
ආත්මාජ්ඤානාදහෝ ප්රීතිර්විෂයභ්රමගෝචරේ ।
ශුක්තේරජ්ඤානතෝ ලෝභෝ යථා රජතවිභ්රමේ ॥ 3-2॥
Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Ah! From ignorance of the Self arises attachment to the world of sense-objects and their illusions - just as greed arises from not knowing nacre and mistaking it for silver.
විශ්වං ස්ඵුරති යත්රේදං තරංගා ඉව සාගරේ ।
සෝऽහමස්මීති විජ්ඤාය කිං දීන ඉව ධාවසි ॥ 3-3॥
Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
In you the world appears like waves in the ocean. Knowing "I am That", why do you still run about as if you were helpless and poor?
ශ්රුත්වාපි ශුද්ධචෛතන්ය ආත්මානමතිසුංදරම් ।
උපස්ථේऽත්යංතසංසක්තෝ මාලින්යමධිගච්ඡති ॥ 3-4॥
Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Even after hearing that the Self is pure consciousness and supremely beautiful, one who becomes intensely attached to lust falls into impurity.
සර්වභූතේෂු චාත්මානං සර්වභූතානි චාත්මනි ।
මුනේර්ජානත ආශ්චර්යං මමත්වමනුවර්තතේ ॥ 3-5॥
Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Even for one who knows the Self in all beings and all beings in the Self, it is strange that possessiveness - the sense of "mine" - can still continue.
ආස්ථිතඃ පරමාද්වෛතං මෝක්ෂාර්ථේऽපි ව්යවස්ථිතඃ ।
ආශ්චර්යං කාමවශගෝ විකලඃ කේලිශික්ෂයා ॥ 3-6॥
Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Even one established in the highest non-duality and committed to liberation - it is strange if such a person is still overpowered by desire and weakened by habitual pleasure-seeking.
උද්භූතං ජ්ඤානදුර්මිත්රමවධාර්යාතිදුර්බලඃ ।
ආශ්චර්යං කාමමාකාංක්ෂේත් කාලමංතමනුශ්රිතඃ ॥ 3-7॥
Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Having understood that desire is the enemy of knowledge, it is strange that even one who is extremely weak and near the end of life would still long for desire.
ඉහාමුත්ර විරක්තස්ය නිත්යානිත්යවිවේකිනඃ ।
ආශ්චර්යං මෝක්ෂකාමස්ය මෝක්ෂාද් ඒව විභීෂිකා ॥ 3-8॥
Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
For one who is dispassionate here and hereafter, and who discerns the eternal from the non-eternal, it is strange if the very one who seeks liberation still feels fear of liberation.
ධීරස්තු භෝජ්යමානෝऽපි පීඩ්යමානෝऽපි සර්වදා ।
ආත්මානං කේවලං පශ්යන් න තුෂ්යති න කුප්යති ॥ 3-9॥
Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
The wise person, whether treated well or badly, always sees only the Self. Such a person is neither inflated with pleasure nor provoked into anger.
චේෂ්ටමානං ශරීරං ස්වං පශ්යත්යන්යශරීරවත් ।
සංස්තවේ චාපි නිංදායාං කථං ක්ෂුභ්යේත් මහාශයඃ ॥ 3-10॥
Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Seeing one's own body acting as if it were another's body, how could the great-souled person be disturbed by praise or blame?
මායාමාත්රමිදං විශ්වං පශ්යන් විගතකෞතුකඃ ।
අපි සන්නිහිතේ මෘත්යෞ කථං ත්රස්යති ධීරධීඃ ॥ 3-11॥
Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Seeing this universe as mere appearance and free of fascination, how could the steady-minded person fear even when death is near?
නිඃස්පෘහං මානසං යස්ය නෛරාශ්යේऽපි මහාත්මනඃ ।
තස්යාත්මජ්ඤානතෘප්තස්ය තුලනා කේන ජායතේ ॥ 3-12॥
Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
For the great-souled one whose mind is free from craving even without hope, and who is satisfied through Self-knowledge, with whom could such a person be compared?
ස්වභාවාද් ඒව ජානානෝ දෘශ්යමේතන්න කිංචන ।
ඉදං ග්රාහ්යමිදං ත්යාජ්යං ස කිං පශ්යති ධීරධීඃ ॥ 3-13॥
Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Knowing naturally that what is perceived is not ultimate, what does the steady-minded person see as something to grasp or to reject?
අංතස්ත්යක්තකෂායස්ය නිර්ද්වංද්වස්ය නිරාශිෂඃ ।
යදෘච්ඡයාගතෝ භෝගෝ න දුඃඛාය න තුෂ්ටයේ ॥ 3-14॥
Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
For one who has dropped inner taints, is free from opposites, and has no demands, the enjoyment that comes by chance is neither a cause of sorrow nor a cause of egoic elation.
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