Ashtavakra Gita chapter 6: Space, ocean, shell

Chapter 6 of the Ashtavakra Gita, "Space, ocean, shell", has 4 verses. King Janaka speaks. Janaka answers that there is nothing to give up, take or dissolve, because the world was never apart from him. Every verse is below in Sanskrit and in Wisdom's plain English.

All 4 verses

  1. 6.1

    आकाशवदनन्तोऽहं घटवत् प्राकृतं जगत् ।इति ज्ञानं तथैतस्य न त्यागो न ग्रहो लयः ॥

    ākāśavadananto'haṃ ghaṭavat prākṛtaṃ jagat |iti jñānaṃ tathaitasya na tyāgo na graho layaḥ ||

    I am endless like space. The world of nature is like a pot. Knowing this, there is nothing to give up, nothing to take and nothing to dissolve.

  2. 6.2Word meanings and notes

    महोदधिरिवाहं स प्रपञ्चो वीचिसन्निभः ।इति ज्ञानं तथैतस्य न त्यागो न ग्रहो लयः ॥

    mahodadhirivāhaṃ sa prapañco vīcisannibhaḥ |iti jñānaṃ tathaitasya na tyāgo na graho layaḥ ||

    I am like the great ocean. The world of many things is like a wave. Knowing this, there is nothing to give up, nothing to take and nothing to dissolve.

  3. 6.3

    अहं स शुक्तिसङ्काशो रूप्यवद् विश्वकल्पना ।इति ज्ञानं तथैतस्य न त्यागो न ग्रहो लयः ॥

    ahaṃ sa śuktisaṅkāśo rūpyavad viśvakalpanā |iti jñānaṃ tathaitasya na tyāgo na graho layaḥ ||

    I am like the shell. The world is imagined, like the silver. Knowing this, there is nothing to give up, nothing to take and nothing to dissolve.

  4. 6.4

    अहं वा सर्वभूतेषु सर्वभूतान्यथो मयि ।इति ज्ञानं तथैतस्य न त्यागो न ग्रहो लयः ॥

    ahaṃ vā sarvabhūteṣu sarvabhūtānyatho mayi |iti jñānaṃ tathaitasya na tyāgo na graho layaḥ ||

    I am in every being, and every being is in me. Knowing this, there is nothing to give up, nothing to take and nothing to dissolve.

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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.