Ashtavakra Gita 1.4
Ashtavakra Gita 1.4 is a verse from chapter 1 (The witness). The sage Ashtavakra speaks it to King Janaka. In plain English it says: "If you set the body apart and rest in awareness, you will be happy, at peace and free of bondage this very moment."
Ashtavakra, to King Janaka
यदि देहं पृथक् कृत्य चिति विश्राम्य तिष्ठसि ।अधुनैव सुखी शान्तो बन्धमुक्तो भविष्यसि ॥
yadi dehaṃ pṛthak kṛtya citi viśrāmya tiṣṭhasi |adhunaiva sukhī śānto bandhamukto bhaviṣyasi ||
If you set the body apart and rest in awareness, you will be happy, at peace and free of bondage this very moment.
What to notice
The verse promises freedom now, adhunā eva, with no waiting period.
Word by word
- yadi
- if
- deham
- the body
- pṛthak kṛtya
- setting apart
- citi
- in awareness
- viśrāmya
- resting
- tiṣṭhasi
- you remain
- adhunā eva
- right now
- sukhī
- happy
- śāntaḥ
- at peace
- bandhamuktaḥ
- free of bondage
- bhaviṣyasi
- you will be
Reading the verse
Two actions are named: set the body apart, and rest in awareness. Neither is a physical act. Setting the body apart means seeing it as something you have and use, the way you have a coat, instead of the thing you are. Resting in awareness means letting attention settle on the fact of being aware instead of running after each object. Then comes the startling phrase adhunā eva, right now. Most paths in the tradition speak of gradual purification over years or lifetimes. The Ashtavakra Gita, read by the Advaita teachers, says that freedom is the nature of the Self and so it cannot arrive later. It can only be recognised. The three results listed, happy, peaceful and unbound, are the same three things Janaka asked about in 1.1, in a different order. A reader trying this does not need a retreat. It can be done in a waiting room. Notice the body sitting there, notice that you are aware of it, and stay with the noticing for a few breaths.
Same thread in the Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavad Gita 5.21Krishna describes the happiness found within by one who is not attached to outer contacts.Chapter 1, The witness: Janaka asks how to know, how to be free and how to let go, and Ashtavakra answers that he is already the free witness of everything.
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Sources and method
Sanskrit from the common text of the Ashtavakra Gita, also called the Ashtavakra Samhita. Where our source had obvious typing errors we restored the standard reading and listed each change in our review notes. IAST is generated from the Devanagari. The English, the word meanings and the notes are Wisdom's own, written in the Advaita tradition of Shankara's school, the line followed by commentators such as Swami Nityaswarupananda and Swami Chinmayananda, with Lala Baij Nath's public-domain translation of 1907 as a reference.
Wisdom translation, edited by Ankur Shukla. Commentary AI-drafted, human review pending.