Ashtavakra Gita chapter 4: The knower at play
Chapter 4 of the Ashtavakra Gita, "The knower at play", has 6 verses. King Janaka speaks. The one who knows the Self lives freely, untouched by merit and sin as space is untouched by smoke. Every verse is below in Sanskrit and in Wisdom's plain English.
All 6 verses
हन्तात्मज्ञानस्य धीरस्य खेलतो भोगलीलया ।न हि संसारवाहीकैर्मूढैः सह समानता ॥
hantātmajñānasya dhīrasya khelato bhogalīlayā |na hi saṃsāravāhīkairmūḍhaiḥ saha samānatā ||
The steady one who knows the Self plays the game of experience. He has nothing in common with the confused, who carry the world like beasts of burden.
यत् पदं प्रेप्सवो दीनाः शक्राद्याः सर्वदेवताः ।अहो तत्र स्थितो योगी न हर्षमुपगच्छति ॥
yat padaṃ prepsavo dīnāḥ śakrādyāḥ sarvadevatāḥ |aho tatra sthito yogī na harṣamupagacchati ||
The state that Indra and all the gods long for, poor in their longing: the yogi stands there and does not grow excited.
तज्ज्ञस्य पुण्यपापाभ्यां स्पर्शो ह्यन्तर्न जायते ।न ह्याकाशस्य धूमेन दृश्यमानापि सङ्गतिः ॥
tajjñasya puṇyapāpābhyāṃ sparśo hyantarna jāyate |na hyākāśasya dhūmena dṛśyamānāpi saṅgatiḥ ||
Inwardly, one who knows That is not touched by merit or sin, as space is not touched by smoke, though smoke seems to fill it.
आत्मैवेदं जगत्सर्वं ज्ञातं येन महात्मना ।यदृच्छया वर्तमानं तं निषेद्धुं क्षमेत कः ॥
ātmaivedaṃ jagatsarvaṃ jñātaṃ yena mahātmanā |yadṛcchayā vartamānaṃ taṃ niṣeddhuṃ kṣameta kaḥ ||
The great one has known this whole world as the Self. He lives as things come. Who could stop him?
आब्रह्मस्तम्बपर्यन्ते भूतग्रामे चतुर्विधे ।विज्ञस्यैव हि सामर्थ्यमिच्छानिच्छाविवर्जने ॥
ābrahmastambaparyante bhūtagrāme caturvidhe |vijñasyaiva hi sāmarthyamicchānicchāvivarjane ||
Among the four kinds of beings, from Brahma down to a clump of grass, only the wise have the strength to give up both wanting and not wanting.
आत्मानमद्वयं कश्चिज्जानाति जगदीश्वरम् ।यद् वेत्ति तत्स कुरुते न भयं तस्य कुत्रचित् ॥
ātmānamadvayaṃ kaścijjānāti jagadīśvaram |yad vetti tatsa kurute na bhayaṃ tasya kutracit ||
Rare is the one who knows the Self as one without a second, the Lord of the world. He does what he knows, and has no fear from anywhere.
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.