Ashtavakra Gita 8.1
Ashtavakra Gita 8.1 is a verse from chapter 8 (Bondage and freedom). The sage Ashtavakra speaks it to King Janaka. In plain English it says: "It is bondage when the mind wants something or grieves over something, lets go of something or grabs something, is pleased by something or angry at something."
Ashtavakra, to King Janaka
तदा बन्धो यदा चित्तं किञ्चिद् वाञ्छति शोचति ।किञ्चिन् मुञ्चति गृण्हाति किञ्चिद् दृष्यति कुप्यति ॥
tadā bandho yadā cittaṃ kiñcid vāñchati śocati |kiñcin muñcati gṛṇhāti kiñcid dṛṣyati kupyati ||
It is bondage when the mind wants something or grieves over something, lets go of something or grabs something, is pleased by something or angry at something.
What to notice
Six movements of the mind are listed, and each one is called bondage.
Word by word
- tadā
- then
- bandhaḥ
- bondage
- yadā
- when
- cittam
- the mind
- kiñcit
- something
- vāñchati
- wants
- śocati
- grieves
- muñcati
- lets go
- gṛhṇāti
- grabs
- hṛṣyati
- is delighted
- kupyati
- is angry
Reading the verse
Chapter 8 is four verses long and gives the clearest definition of bondage and freedom in the text. This first verse lists six movements: wanting, grieving, letting go, grabbing, delight and anger. The word kiñcit, something, repeats through the line. Bondage happens when the mind does any of these about something. Notice that letting go is on the list. Even renouncing something, if the mind grips the act of renouncing, is bondage. The Advaita commentators read the verse as a description of where bondage lives. Objects are neutral and the Self is free, so bondage can only live in the mind's reaching and recoiling. That makes the verse usable. The next time you feel pulled by a want or a grievance, you can name it: this is the movement Ashtavakra called bondage. Naming it will not end it. It does show you where it lives. The following verse gives the mirror image, the same six movements absent, and calls that freedom.
Same thread in the Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavad Gita 2.62Krishna traces how dwelling on objects breeds attachment, then desire, then anger.Chapter 8, Bondage and freedom: Four verses that define bondage as the mind wanting and grieving, and freedom as its rest.
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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.