** Ashtavakra said:**
** 17.1 One has attained Knowledge and reaped the fruits of yoga who is content, purified of attachments and at home in solitude. **
KNOWER OF TRUTH. Purified senses: See everything but without any desire of possession.
**17.2 The knower of Truth is never miserable in the world, for the whole universe is filled with Himself alone. **
In this world…Whole universe: Not the universe of the yogi seen by shutting one’s eyes, but this wide world of joys and sorrows.
17.3 As the foliage of the neem tree does not please an elephant who delights in sallaki leaves, so do sense objects not please he who delights in Self.
**17.4 Rare in the world is one who does not relish past enjoyments, nor yearn for enjoyments to come. **
Sense of duality should go. That payasam [rice pudding] came that day alright – that was good, I enjoyed it. Today this thing has come – alright this is also Brahman. This should be the attitude.
**17.5 Those who desire pleasure and those who desire liberation are both common in the world. Rare is the great soul who desires neither enjoyment nor liberation. **
17.6 Rare is the right-minded person who neither covets nor shuns religion, wealth, pleasure, life or death.
Broad-minded: So broad as to cover the whole. Dharma, artha…death: These are mere ideas.
**17.7 The man of Knowledge neither cares for the universe nor desires its dissolution. He lives happily on whatever comes his way. He is blessed. **
Sri Ramakrishna never went to Badarikashrama [an ancient Vishnu temple, one of the four sacred Himalayan pilgrimage spots. The other three being Kedarnath (ancient Shiva temple), Gangotri (the source of the river Ganga), Yamunotri (the source of the river Yamuna)].
The illumined man does not want the world to disappear because its presence is no source of disturbance to his mind. He lives as he is given to live, blessed and contented.
**17.8 Knowing Self, mind empty and at peace, the sage lives happily, seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating. **
The Jnani does not wear any external peculiar dress. Absolutely no distinction between a Jnani and an ordinary man [in their external dress or clothes].
17.9 There is no attachment or non-attachment for one in whom the ocean of the world has dried up. His look is vacant, senses still. His actions have no purpose.
Objectless: He does not see a second object as reality. The meaning is his mind does not make him think that the objects and actions are real. Nonattachment is the medicine for attachment. But if you do not see a second thing– non-attachment also has no meaning.
** 17.10 The sage is neither asleep nor awake. He neither closes nor opens his eyes. Thus, for the liberated soul, everywhere there is only This. **
Awake has meaning with reference to sleep. To the Jnani waking and sleep both are Brahman. He always thinks of oneness. Anywhere: So the Jnani will not run away from the world.
**17.11 The liberated soul abides in Self alone and is pure of heart. He lives always and everywhere, free of desire. **
[B] Him I consider free, whose bonds of desire are broken; wherever he stays or eats, he abides in himself, his heart pure.
17.12 Seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, taking, speaking, walking, the great soul exerts neither effort nor non-effort. He is truly free.
The Jnani is like every other person [from the outside].
17.13 The liberated soul does not blame or praise, give or take, rejoice or become angry. He is everywhere unattached and free.
** 17.14 The great soul remains poised and undisturbed, whether in the presence of a passionate woman or observing the approach of his death. He is truly free. **
.[B]His mind is unperturbed by an infatuated woman, and on impending death; he remains immersed in his own true nature, the joy of liberation, the great knower of truth remains calm.
**17.15 The sage sees no difference between happiness and misery, man and woman, adversity and success. Everything is seen to be the same. **
**17.16 In the sage there is neither violence nor mercy, arrogance nor humility, anxiety nor wonder. His worldly life is exhausted. He has transcended his role as a person. **
**17.17 The liberated one neither avoids experience nor craves it. He enjoys what comes and what does not. **
17.18 The sage is not conflicted by states of stillness and thought. His mind is empty. His home is the Absolute.
17.19 Though he may perform actions, the man of Knowledge does not act. Desires extinguished, free of thoughts of “I” and “mine,” he knows with absolute certainty that nothing exists.
17.20 The sage is free. His empty mind no longer projects delusion, dreaming, dullness. This state is indescribabl