Ashtavakra Gita 17.18Chapter 17, Verse 18
Ashtavakra Gita 17.18 is a verse from chapter 17 (The one who knows). The sage Ashtavakra speaks it to King Janaka. In plain English it says: "Gathered or scattered, good or bad: one whose mind is empty does not know these choices. He stays as if in final freedom."
समाधानसमाधानहिताहितविकल्पनाः ।शून्यचित्तो न जानाति कैवल्यमिव संस्थितः ॥
samādhānasamādhānahitāhitavikalpanāḥ |śūnyacitto na jānāti kaivalyamiva saṃsthitaḥ ||
Gathered or scattered, good or bad: one whose mind is empty does not know these choices. He stays as if in final freedom.
Ashtavakra, to King Janaka
Word meanings and a note for this verse are still being written. Read it in context on the chapter 17 page, or start with the verses in where to begin.
Chapter 17, The one who knows: A portrait of the free person, who wants neither pleasure nor freedom and lives at ease seeing, hearing and eating.
Read all 20 verses in this chapter →Seven mornings of short readings from the Bhagavad Gita, chosen for what you're going through, by email.
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