Janaka's Awakening

Janaka: "Ah! I am spotless, I am at peace, I am awareness beyond all nature. For so long I have been deceived by illusion!"

Ashtavakra: "Speak."

Janaka: "As I alone give light to this body, so I give light to the universe. Therefore, the whole universe is mine—or nothing is."

Ashtavakra: "Continue."

Janaka: "Now that I have abandoned the body and the world, by skill in practice I see only the Self. I see the Supreme Self."

Ashtavakra: "No."

Janaka: "No?"

Ashtavakra: "Not by skill in practice. Not by abandoning. Look again."

Janaka: "I... see. As waves, foam, and bubbles are not different from water, so the universe emanating from the Self is not different from the Self."

Ashtavakra: "Better."

Janaka: "It was never abandoned because it was never separate. The world is not an obstacle—it is the Self appearing as world. The body is not a prison—it is the Self appearing as body."

Ashtavakra: "And the one who sees this?"

Janaka: "Is also the Self. There is no seer separate from the seen. There is only seeing, and even that word is too much."

Ashtavakra: "Now you speak from truth."

Janaka: "Wonder of wonders! As a piece of cloth is nothing but threads, so all this universe is nothing but the Self, the Self alone. Knowing this, how can there be any delusion?"

Ashtavakra: "For whom would there be delusion? That one too is the Self. Even delusion is the Self appearing as delusion. There is nowhere that is not the Self."

Janaka: "Then I was never lost."

Ashtavakra: "You were never lost. You were never found. There was never a journey because there was never anyone separate who could travel. This is the end of seeking, Janaka. Not the attainment of anything, but the recognition that nothing was ever missing."