Who Are You Really?

Janaka: "O Sage, I have studied the scriptures, performed rituals, and ruled my kingdom with dharma. Yet a restlessness remains. Tell me—how is knowledge truly attained?"

Ashtavakra: "If you wish for liberation, shun sense objects as poison and embrace forgiveness, sincerity, compassion, and contentment as nectar. You are not earth, water, fire, air, or space. To be liberated, know yourself as the witness of all these—as pure Awareness itself."

Janaka: "Your words strike something deep. But how then is liberation attained? What practice, what sadhana leads there?"

Ashtavakra: "There is no practice. You are already free. If you detach yourself from the body and rest in Awareness, you will at once be happy, peaceful, and free from bondage. You are not a Brahmin or any other caste. You are not at any stage of life. You are not anything the eye can see. Unattached and formless, you are the witness of the entire universe. Know this and be happy."

Janaka: "Then what of detachment? How does one attain vairagya when the world pulls so strongly?"

Ashtavakra: "Detachment is not attained—it is recognized. Right and wrong, pleasure and pain, exist only in the mind. You are not the doer or the enjoyer. In truth, you have always been free. Your bondage is this: that you see yourself as the seer rather than seeing. The moment you recognize that you are pure Awareness—boundless, unchanging, free—where is the question of attachment or detachment? You were never bound."

Janaka: "(sitting in stunned silence) I thought I came seeking answers. But you have removed the very questions."