Final Teaching on Liberation

(Ashtavakra rises from his seat, his movements slow and deliberate.)

Ashtavakra: "Janaka, we have spoken of many things. Now I offer my final words. After this, there is nothing more to teach."

Janaka: "(bowing deeply) I receive them with an open heart."

Ashtavakra: "Liberation cannot be achieved. This is the first truth. All achievement belongs to the realm of doing, and the Self is beyond doing. You cannot do your way to freedom because you are already free."

Janaka: "Then why does the seeker continue to seek?"

Ashtavakra: "Because he imagines he is not free. This imagination is the only bondage. It has no substance, no reality, yet it seems to bind him. But look closely—can an imagination actually bind anything?"

Janaka: "(admitting) No. It only seems to."

Ashtavakra: "The second truth: liberation cannot be known. All knowledge is knowledge of objects. You can know things, but you cannot know that which knows. The Self is the knower, not the known. When people speak of 'knowing the Self,' they speak poetically. The Self cannot be made into an object of knowledge."

Janaka: "Then how does awakening occur?"

Ashtavakra: "It does not occur. Nothing happens. There is simply a seeing through of the illusion of bondage. Like waking from a dream—nothing is gained, only the dream is seen as dream. You do not acquire wakefulness; you recognize that you were never actually asleep."

Janaka: "And the third truth, master?"

Ashtavakra: "Liberation cannot be transmitted. No teacher can give it to you. No scripture can contain it. No practice can produce it. All these are appearances in awareness, pointing to awareness, but they are not awareness itself. If I could give you liberation, it would be something you do not have—and you have always been free."

(Janaka sits in silence, absorbing these words.)

Janaka: "Then what is your role, O sage? What have you done for me?"

Ashtavakra: "I have done nothing. The Self, playing as Ashtavakra, has spoken words. The Self, playing as Janaka, has heard. In the hearing, the Self has recognized itself. This recognition was not caused by the words, but the words created a pause, a gap in the usual noise, and in that gap, what was always true became obvious."

Janaka: "Is there any practice you recommend?"

Ashtavakra: "No practice. Practice implies a practitioner, and there is no one separate from the Self to practice. If practice happens through the body-mind, let it happen. If it does not, let that be. You are not improved by practice nor harmed by its absence."

Janaka: "And what of devotion? Of love for the divine?"

Ashtavakra: "Love the Self as the Self. See the divine in all forms, because all forms are That. But do not imagine devotion will get you somewhere. There is nowhere to go. You are already the beloved you seek. When lover and beloved merge, only love remains."

Janaka: "(voice steady) Your teaching destroys all supports."

Ashtavakra: "Yes. No support is needed. You are the ground itself. How can the ground fall? How can awareness lose itself? All supports were crutches for an imaginary cripple. Let them fall away. You will not collapse—you will discover you were never standing on them."

Janaka: "This is your final teaching?"

Ashtavakra: "My final teaching is to forget all teaching. Not in the sense of amnesia, but in the sense of no longer needing. The bird uses the nest to hatch, but it does not carry the nest when it flies. You have hatched, Janaka. Fly. Be free. And know that you have always been flying, always been free. The cage was drawn in air."