Dissolution of the Mind

Ashtavakra: "Many speak of dissolving the mind. What is your understanding?"

Janaka: "The mind was never as solid as it seemed. It is like asking how to dissolve a mirage—the mirage was never really there. When you stop believing in its reality, what is there to dissolve?"

Ashtavakra: "Yet thoughts continue to arise?"

Janaka: "Let them arise! The sun does not fight the clouds that pass before it. Thoughts arise, exist briefly, and dissolve—all within the vast space of awareness. I am that space, not the passing clouds."

Ashtavakra: "The seeker tries so hard to empty the mind."

Janaka: "And in the trying, creates more disturbance. It is like trying to calm ripples in water by slapping the surface. The effort creates the very thing it seeks to end."

Ashtavakra: "So what then?"

Janaka: "Simply see what is. The mind is not the enemy—it is just another appearance. When you stop fighting it, when you stop trying to control or destroy it, it naturally settles. Not because you made it settle, but because the agitation was always the result of fighting."

Ashtavakra: "And in that stillness?"

Janaka: "You discover the stillness was always here—it never went away. The mind moves on the surface while the depths remain forever quiet. I am those depths. The surface can ripple or be calm—either way, I am unmoved."

Ashtavakra: "This is the highest understanding."

Janaka: "It is simply the truth. Not attained, not achieved—just seen."