The Heart of Awareness

a translation of The Ashtavakra Gita

by Thomas Byrom

1: The Self 6
Right or wrong,
Joy and sorrow,
1
These are of the mind only.
O Master,
They are not yours.
Tell me how to find
Detachment, wisdom, and freedom!
It is not really you
Who acts or enjoys.
2
Child,
You are everywhere,
If you wish to be free,
Forever free.
Shun the poison of the senses.

7
Seek the nectar of truth,
Forever and truly free,
Of love and forgiveness,
The single witness of all things.
Simplicity and happiness.

But if you see yourself as separate,

3
Then you are bound.
Earth, fire and water,
The wind and the sky -
8
You are none of these.
"I do this. I do that,
The big black snake of selfishness
If you wish to be free,
Has bitten you!
Know you are the Self,
The witness of all these,
"I do nothing."
The heart of awareness.
This is the nectar of faith,
So drink and be happy!
4
Set your body aside,
9
Sit in your own awareness.
Know you are one,
Pure awareness.
You will at once be happy,
With the fire of this conviction,
Forever still,
Burn down the forest of ignorance.
Forever free.

Free yourself from sorrow,

5
And be happy.
You have no caste,
No duties bind you.
10
Be happy!
Formless and free,
For you are joy, unbounded joy.
Beyond the reach of the senses,
The witness of all things.
You are awareness itself.

So be happy!
Just as a coil of rope

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Is mistaken for a snake, Cut through your chains.
So you are mistaken for the world. And be happy!

11 15
If you think you are free, For you are already free,
You are free. Without action or flaw,
Luminous and bright.
If you think you are bound,
You are bound. You are bound
Only by the habit of meditation.
For the saying is true:
You are what you think. 16
[On this see Dhammapada 1:1-4.] Your nature is pure awareness,

12 You are flowing in all things,

The Self looks like the world, And all things are flowing in you.
But this is just an illusion.
But beware
The Self is everywhere. The narrowness of the mind!

One. 17
Still. You are always the same,
Free. Unfathomable awareness,
Perfect. Limitless and free,
Serene and unperturbed.
The witness of all things,
Awareness Desire only your own awareness.
Without action, clinging or desire.
18
13 Whatever takes form is false.
Meditate on the Self. Only the formless endures.
One without two,
Exalted awareness. When you understand
The truth of this teaching,
Give up the illusion You will not be born again.
Of the separate self.
19
Give up the feeling, For God is infinite,
Within or without, Within the body and without,
That you are this or that. Like a mirror,
And the image in a mirror.
14
My child, 20
Because you think you are the body, As the air is everywhere,
For a long time you have been bound. Flowing around a pot
And filling it,
Know you are pure awareness. So God is everywhere,
Filling all things
With this knowledge as your sword And flowing through them forever.

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2: Awareness 7
When the Self is unknown
The world arises,
1
Not when it is known.
Yesterday
I lived bewildered,
But you mistake
In illusion.
The rope for the snake.

But now I am awake,

When you see the rope,
Flawless and serene,
The snake vanishes.
Beyond the world.

8
2
My nature is light,
From my light
Nothing but light.
The body and the world arise.

When the world arises

So all things are mine,
I alone am shining.
Or nothing is.

9
3
When the world arises in me,
Now I have given up
It is just an illusion:
The body and the world,
Water shimmering in the sun,
I have a special gift.
A vein of silver in mother-of-pearl,
A serpent in a strand of rope.
I see the infinite Self.

10
4
From me the world streams out
As a wave,
And in me it dissolves,
Seething and foaming,
As a bracelet melts into gold,
Is only water
A pot crumbles into clay,
A wave subsides into water.
So all creation,
Streaming out of the Self,
11
Is only the Self.
I adore myself,
How wonderful I am!
5
Consider a piece of cloth,
I can never die.
It is only threads!

The whole world may perish,

So all creation,
From Brahma to a blade of grass,
When you look closely,
But I am still here.
Is only the Self.

12
6
Indeed how wonderful!
Like the sugar
I adore myself.
In the juice of the sugarcane,
I am the sweetness
For I have taken form
In everything I have made.
But I am still one.

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Neither coming or going, 18
Yet I am still everywhere. Indeed,
I am neither bound nor free.
13
How wonderful, An end to illusion!
And how great my powers! It is all groundless.

For I am without form, For the whole of creation,

Yet till the end of time Though it rests in me,
I uphold the universe. Is without foundation.

14 19
Wonderful! The body is nothing,
The world is nothing.
For nothing is mine,
Yet it is all mine, When you understand this fully,
Whatever is thought or spoken. How can they be invented?

15 For the Self is pure awareness,

I am not the knower, Nothing less.
Nor the known,
Nor the knowing. 20
The body is false,
These three are not real. And so are its fears,
They only seem to be Heaven and hell, freedom and bondage.
When I am not known.
It is all invention.
For I am flawless.
What can they matter to me?
16
Two from one! I am awareness itself.
This is the root of suffering.
21
Only perceive I see only one.
That I am one without two,
Pure awareness, pure joy, Many men,
And all the world is false. One wilderness.

There is no other remedy! Then to what may I cling?

17 22
Through ignorance I am not the body,
I once imagined I was bound. Nor is the body mine.

But I am pure awareness. I am not separate.

I live beyond all distinctions, I am awareness itself,

In unbroken meditation. Bound only by my thirst for life.

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23 Why do you run about so wretchedly?
I am the infinite ocean,
4
When thoughts spring up, For have you not heard?
The wind freshens, and like waves
A thousand worlds arise. You are pure awareness,
And your beauty is infinite!
24
But when the wind falls, So why let lust mislead you?
The trader sinks with his ship.
5
On the boundless ocean of my being The man who is wise
He founders, Knows himself in all things
And all the worlds with him. And all things in himself.

25 Yet how strange!

But O how wonderful! He still says, "This is mine."

I am the unbounded deep 6

In whom all living things Determined to be free,
Naturally arise, He abides in the oneness
Rush against each other playfully, Beyond all things.
And then subside.
Yet how strange!
Indulging in passion, he weakens,
3: Wisdom
And lust overwhelms him.

1
7
You know the Self,
Feeble with age,
By nature one
Still he is filled with desire,
Without end.
When without doubt he knows
That lust is the enemy of awareness.
You know the Self,
And you are serene.
Indeed how strange!

How can you still desire riches?

8
He longs to be free . . .
2
When from ignorance
He has no care for this world
You see silver in mother-of-pearl,
Or the next,
Greed arises.
And he knows what is passing
Or forever.
From ignorance of the Self
Desire arises
And yet how strange!
For the world where the senses whirl.
He is still afraid of freedom.

3
9
Knowing yourself as That
But he who is truly wise
In which the worlds rise and fall
Always sees the absolute Self.
Like waves in the ocean,

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Celebrated, he is not delighted. 4: The True Seeker
Spurned, he is not angry.

1
10
The wise man knows the Self,
Pure of heart,
And he plays the game of life.
He watches his own actions
As if they were another's.
But the fool lives in the world
Like a beast of burden.
How can praise or blame disturb him?
[On this see Shinn, The Game of Life.]

11
2
With clear and steady insight
The true seeker feels no elation,
He sees this world is a mirage,
Even in that exalted state
And he no longer wonders about it.
Which Indra and all the gods
Unhappily long for.
How can he fear the approach of death?

3
12
He understands the nature of things,
Pure of heart,
He desires nothing,
His heart is not smudged
Even in despair.
By right or wrong,
As the sky is not smudged by smoke.
He is content
In the knowledge of the Self.
4
He is pure of heart,
With whom may I compare him?
He knows the whole world is only the Self.

13
So who can stop him
With clear and steady insight
From doing as he wishes?
He knows that whatever he sees
Is by its very nature nothing.
5
Of the four kinds of being,
How can he prefer one thing to another?
From Brahma to a blade of grass,
Only the wise man is strong enough
14
To give up desire and aversion.
He is beyond all duality,

6
Free from desire,
How rare he is!
He has driven from his mind
All longing for the world.
Knowing he is the Self,
He acts accordingly
Come what may,
And is never fearful.
Joy or sorrow,
Nothing moves him.
For he knows he is the Self,
One without two,
The Lord of all creation.

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