Context
Janaka describes his understanding of the world as a mirage - appearing real but having no independent existence apart from awareness.
The Dialogue
Janaka: "The world I once took so seriously now appears like a mirage. I see it, but I know it has no substance apart from the seeing itself."
Ashtavakra: "Yet you still act in the world?"
Janaka: "Yes, but without the fever of believing it to be absolutely real. A man walking in the desert may see water in the distance. If he knows it is a mirage, does he run toward it desperately? He may walk that direction for other reasons, but without delusion."
Ashtavakra: "So you rule your kingdom..."
Janaka: "As one might move through a dream knowing it is a dream. The dream continues, but the dreamer is no longer lost in it. I make decisions, but without the desperate clinging of one who believes everything hangs in the balance."
Ashtavakra: "And other people?"
Janaka: "They too are waves in this ocean of awareness. I see the Self in all beings - not as a philosophy I believe, but as direct perception. What I am, they are also. There are not many selves - there is one Self appearing as many."
Ashtavakra: "Does compassion arise?"
Janaka: "Naturally, without effort. When you see yourself in another, how can indifference remain? But it is not the anxious compassion of one trying to save separate beings. It is the natural response of wholeness recognizing itself everywhere."
✨ Key Lesson
Seeing the world as a mirage does not lead to indifference but to effortless engagement without delusion or desperate clinging.