Ashtavakra Gita 18.4Chapter 18, Verse 4
Ashtavakra Gita 18.4 is a verse from chapter 18 (Peace in a hundred verses). The sage Ashtavakra speaks it to King Janaka. In plain English it says: "This world is only a thought. In the highest truth it is nothing. That which is real by nature, and which lights up both being and not-being, never stops being."
भवोऽयं भावनामात्रो न किञ्चित् परमर्थतः ।नास्त्यभावः स्वभावानां भावाभावविभाविनाम् ॥
bhavo'yaṃ bhāvanāmātro na kiñcit paramarthataḥ |nāstyabhāvaḥ svabhāvānāṃ bhāvābhāvavibhāvinām ||
This world is only a thought. In the highest truth it is nothing. That which is real by nature, and which lights up both being and not-being, never stops being.
Ashtavakra, to King Janaka
Word meanings and a note for this verse are still being written. Read it in context on the chapter 18 page, or start with the verses in where to begin.
Chapter 18, Peace in a hundred verses: The longest chapter, a third of the text, contrasting the confused who strive with the steady who are already at rest.
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