You Are Already Free

Janaka: "Master, tell me then - what practices must I undertake? What disciplines will lead me to liberation?"

Ashtavakra: "Practices? Disciplines? These are for those who believe themselves bound. But you were never bound! How can you practice your way into what you already are?"

Janaka: "Yet I feel limited, constrained by this body, by circumstances, by my own mind..."

Ashtavakra: "Feelings come and go like clouds across the sky. Does the sky become cloudy? You feel limitation - but who is aware of this feeling? That awareness is boundless. You have simply mistaken yourself for the contents of experience rather than the space in which experience occurs."

Janaka: "But surely some effort is needed to realize this?"

Ashtavakra: "Effort to become what you are? This is like water making effort to become wet! The very effort reinforces the illusion that you are not already free. Right now, this very moment, you are the infinite Self. There is nothing to attain. Drop the seeking and see what remains."

Janaka: "It seems too simple. All the scriptures speak of paths, of stages, of spiritual progress..."

Ashtavakra: "Those scriptures address those who are dreaming. For one who is awake, what need is there of instructions on how to wake up? I am speaking to you as the Self speaking to the Self. Recognize yourself! You are already free - you have only imagined bondage."