Context
In Chapter 2, Janaka responds to Ashtavakra's teaching with spontaneous recognition and expresses his awakening.
The Dialogue
Janaka: "Ah! I am spotless, tranquil, pure consciousness beyond nature! All this time I have been cheated by illusion!"
Ashtavakra: "What do you see now?"
Janaka: "Just as I illumine this body, I illumine the entire world! Either this whole universe is mine, or nothing is mine at all. Now, abandoning the body and everything else, by some skill I see only the Self."
Ashtavakra: "And what of all your possessions, your kingdom, your responsibilities?"
Janaka: "Wonderful! Just as waves, foam, and bubbles are not different from water, so the universe arising from the Self is not different from the Self. I neither reject them nor cling to them—they are simply appearances in what I am."
Ashtavakra: "And your sense of being a separate person?"
Janaka: "Just as cloth when analyzed is found to be nothing but thread, so this universe when analyzed is found to be nothing but the Self. Who is there to be separate? There is only this—vast, still, unchanging awareness wearing the costume of a king."
Ashtavakra: "Now you speak from your own direct experience. This is not belief or understanding—this is seeing."
Janaka: "Yes, Master. The sugar cannot taste its own sweetness, yet when the tongue touches it, sweetness is known. I was always this sweetness, but took myself to be the tongue searching for something outside."
✨ Key Lesson
True awakening is not learning something new but recognizing what was always present - the Self discovers it was never lost.