Janaka's Final Realization

(Janaka stands before Ashtavakra, his presence radiant with stillness. When he speaks, his voice carries the weight of absolute certainty.)

Janaka: "Master, let me tell you what I have seen."

(Ashtavakra nods, his eyes soft with recognition.)

Janaka: "I am beyond time. Birth and death are stories told about a character, but I am the one to whom stories are told. I was not born with this body, and I will not die when it falls. I am the witness of birth and death, unchanged by either."

Ashtavakra: "Go on."

Janaka: "I am beyond space. People speak of 'here' and 'there,' but I am the awareness in which all locations appear. I am not in my palace or outside it. The palace is in me—all places are in me, as images in a mirror."

Ashtavakra: "And what of action?"

Janaka: "I am beyond action. The body acts; I do not act. The mind thinks; I do not think. I am the stillness in which all movement appears. When the king makes decisions, it is the play of consciousness—I am the consciousness in which the play unfolds."

Ashtavakra: "What of knowledge and ignorance?"

Janaka: "Both appear in me. The learned man and the fool are equally my expressions. Knowledge cannot add to me; ignorance cannot subtract from me. I am prior to both, the light in which they are seen."

Ashtavakra: "(smile widening) You speak as one who has arrived."

Janaka: "There is no arrival. There was no journey. The destination was the starting point. I sought myself everywhere and found I had never moved. The seeker was the sought, pretending to search."

Ashtavakra: "And suffering?"

Janaka: "Suffering arises when the Self imagines itself to be limited. But limitation is imagination, and imagination is appearance, and appearance is the Self playing with itself. Even suffering is made of consciousness—how can consciousness be harmed by its own play?"

Ashtavakra: "What of your kingdom now?"

Janaka: "It is a dream within awareness. A beautiful dream, perhaps, but a dream nonetheless. I rule it as the Self expressing through form. If it prospers, I am unaffected. If it crumbles, I am unaffected. I am the space in which all events—pleasant and unpleasant—arise and dissolve."

Ashtavakra: "And your teacher?"

Janaka: "(laughing) My teacher is myself wearing the form of Ashtavakra. I bow to you as I bow to the sun, to the trees, to the very ground—for all is That, and That is what I am. Teacher and student were always one, playing the game of transmission."

(Ashtavakra stands and embraces Janaka.)

Ashtavakra: "The teaching is complete. Not because you have learned it, but because you have recognized that there was never anything to learn. The Self has awakened to itself, using these two forms as instruments. Now, go forth—not as a king who happens to be enlightened, but as the Self that plays at being king."

Janaka: "I go nowhere. For I am everywhere. I leave nothing, for I am everything. But this body will continue its dance, and this mouth will speak what needs to be spoken. If seekers come, words will emerge. If none come, silence will remain. Either way, I am at peace."

Ashtavakra: "This is the final realization. No more questions, no more answers. Only what is—boundless, timeless, perfect. You are That. I am That. All is That. And beyond even 'That,' there is only... this."

(They stand in silence, two bodies, one awareness, the ancient teaching complete.)