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Ashtavakra Gita Chapter 10 aṣṭāvakra gītā is a 20-chapter dialogue of direct advaita that keeps cutting through the same illusion: taking the body-mind to be the Self. It does not try to decorate life with new beliefs; it tries to remove the deeper misunderstanding that makes life feel like a constant struggle for security. The teacher's method is simple: return again and again to the witness standpoint (sākṣī) until craving, fear, and identity stories lose their grip. So far the dialogue has moved through a clear arc. Chapter 1 answers janaka's questions about jñāna, mukti, and vairāgya by warning against compulsive attachment to viṣayas while pointing to the witness. Chapters 2-4 express recognition and then mature it into lived freedom. Chapters 5-9 keep tightening the insight: laya (dissolution of false identification), "no giving up and no grasping," a crisp definition of bondage as mind-movement, and finally nirvēda (mature disillusionment) and dropping vāsanās as the heart of peace. Chapter 10 continues that disillusionment, but it does so with a sharp, almost ascetic honesty. aṣṭāvakra asks you to look directly at what keeps the mind hooked: kāma (compulsive desire) and artha (wealth/power as identity). He even warns about using dharma as a tool for those ends. Then he applies a strong lens of impermanence: friendships, property, and social arrangements are like a dream or a magic show. The purpose is not to make you cynical; it is to free you from confusing temporary arrangements with lasting refuge. The chapters ahead keep deepening the same freedom in different keys. Chapter 11 shows how a stable inner conviction (niśchaya) dissolves suffering by removing doubt and mental argument. Chapters 12-14 describe janaka's settled stance where effort and inner agitation fall away. Then the text builds toward its longest section (Chapter 18), where freedom is described from many angles until it becomes unmistakably practical and natural. Seen as a whole, Chapter 10 is a chapter of "enough." It repeats a single medicine: recognize what has never truly satisfied, stop fueling it, and let the mind rest. tṛṣṇā (craving-thirst) is named as the essence of bondage, and the chapter says that rest comes not by rearranging the world again, but by ending the compulsion that keeps you rearranging. The summary is simple: drop the enemy of craving, see worldly supports as dreamlike, and let painful, restless action finally come to an end. aṣṭāvakra uvācha ॥ Meaning (padārtha): Translation (bhāvārtha): Commentary (anusandhāna): This is not a rejection of dharma; it is a purification of motive. The tradition recognizes a ladder of aims (puruṣārthas): dharma, artha, kāma, and mōkṣa. When the higher aim is mōkṣa, the lower aims must be held in the right place. If you practice ethics only because it gets you praise, power, or pleasure, the mind stays outward-facing and anxious. When ethics becomes inner alignment, it supports freedom. This is close to the gItA's warning about getting stuck in reward-seeking religion (traiguṇya-viṣayā vēdāḥ ... nistrai-guṇyō bhava): not "throw away the Vedas," but "do not reduce spirituality to transaction." Practice by doing a motive-audit for one week. Pick one area: work, relationships, or spiritual practice. Ask honestly: "Am I doing this for clarity, or for kāma/artha?" Then choose one small act of anādara (non-importance) toward reward: do one good action without announcing it, refuse one manipulative shortcut, or keep one boundary even if it costs praise. At the same time, strengthen inner dharma: truthfulness, non-harm, and simplicity. The point is not to stop functioning; it is to stop being bought. When the mind sees that it can live without constant reward, it becomes freer, and mōkṣa stops feeling like a distant theory. svapnēndrajālavat paśya dināni trīṇi pañcha vā । Meaning (padārtha): Translation (bhāvārtha): Commentary (anusandhāna): This lens changes how you relate to prosperity. It becomes less possessive and more grateful. You can care for friends and family without turning them into insurance against loneliness. You can build a home without treating it as a fortress against change. This is also why dispassion is compatible with love: dispassion is not coldness; it is freedom from clinging. The gItA makes the same point when it calls the world anityaṃ asukhaṃ lōkam - impermanent and unable to be a final refuge - not to produce despair, but to redirect the heart toward what is stable. Practice by choosing one "support" you cling to and relating to it differently for a week. For example: if it is money, practice gratitude and restraint rather than anxiety and hoarding; if it is reputation, practice one act of quiet sincerity without performance; if it is relationship-security, practice one honest conversation without manipulation. Each day, do a short reflection: "This is a dreamlike arrangement; what truly matters is how I show up." Then take one action that reflects maturity: a kind message, a responsible plan, or a simple letting-go of needless worry. This trains the mind to enjoy life without demanding that life be permanent. yatra yatra bhavēttṛṣṇā saṃsāraṃ viddhi tatra vai । Meaning (padārtha): Translation (bhāvārtha): Commentary (anusandhāna): The verse also distinguishes shallow and mature dispassion. Shallow dispassion is mood-based: you feel disillusioned after a disappointment, and then the craving returns. prauḍha-vairāgya is stable: it arises from understanding. You see the mechanism clearly: craving promises completion, delivers a brief relief, and then returns stronger. When you see that, you stop feeding it. This is why the tradition pairs vairāgya with vivēka: discernment makes dispassion intelligent rather than bitter. It also explains why Chapter 9 ended with "tendencies alone are the cycle" - vāsanā and tṛṣṇā are two sides of the same engine. Practice by learning to recognize tṛṣṇā in the body, not just in thoughts. Often it shows up as urgency, tightness, bargaining, or restlessness. When you notice it, pause and name it: "tṛṣṇā." Then do a two-minute experiment: do not obey the craving and do not fight it; just watch it. Feel how it rises, peaks, and changes. After two minutes, choose a wise action: sometimes you do the thing (eat, rest, speak), but you do it deliberately, not compulsively. Sometimes you let it pass. Over time, this builds prauḍha-vairāgya: the mind learns that peace is possible without feeding every urge. tṛṣṇāmātrātmakō bandhastannāśō mōkṣa uchyatē । Meaning (padārtha): Translation (bhāvārtha): Commentary (anusandhāna): The second line adds a practical marker: contentment (tuṣṭi) becomes natural when you loosen bhava-asaṃsakti - attachment to the whole project of "becoming someone." Many people seek contentment by improving circumstances, but contentment is mainly blocked by inner demand. When demand relaxes, you can receive what comes (prāpti) without turning it into an identity-project. This is why freedom can appear "again and again" (muhuḥ muhuḥ): every time you release demand, you taste a clean, simple satisfaction. Practice by training the difference between need and preference. Make a small list of three things you chase as needs: approval, comfort, control, certainty, romance, success. Then, when one of those is threatened, notice the inner sentence: "I cannot be okay without it." Challenge that sentence gently. Do one breath of witness-remembering: the fear is known, therefore it is not the knower. Then convert one need into a preference: "I would like this, but I can be okay without it." Act from preference: communicate, plan, work - but without desperation. Over time, that simple conversion dissolves the felt bondage, and contentment starts to appear more often and with less effort. tvamēkaśchētanaḥ śuddhō jaḍaṃ viśvamasattathā । Meaning (padārtha): Translation (bhāvārtha): Commentary (anusandhāna): This is also why Advaita repeatedly emphasizes that the Self is self-evident. You do not "reach" awareness; you notice that awareness is already present, prior to every thought. The Kena Upanishad asks, in effect, "By whom is the mind moved?" and then points beyond the mind to the knower of mind. Here too the urge to know (bubhutsā) must turn inward: not toward more information, but toward direct recognition. Otherwise, the mind turns spirituality into endless reading and debating, and the heart remains unchanged. Practice by turning curiosity into recognition. The next time the mind feels, "I need to understand this fully," pause and ask: "What is aware of this need to understand?" Do not answer with another thought. Rest for two breaths in the simple knowing. Then do one practical thing that expresses understanding: drop one craving, forgive one resentment, or simplify one choice. This transforms knowledge from "concept collection" into lived freedom. If you do study, study in a lighter way: read one verse, sit quietly, and look for how it points to the witness you already are. That is how bubhutsā matures into peace. rājyaṃ sutāḥ kalatrāṇi śarīrāṇi sukhāni cha । Meaning (padārtha): Translation (bhāvārtha): Commentary (anusandhāna): This is a key step toward vairāgya that is not bitter. Bitter dispassion says, "Nothing matters." Mature dispassion says, "Many things matter, but they cannot be my final refuge." That shift makes life healthier. You can love family deeply without turning them into a substitute for inner stability. You can enjoy comfort without building your worth on it. You can care for the body without being terrified of aging. Advaita invites you to locate stability in the Self as witness, not in the changing display. Practice by reflecting on one "lost kingdom" from your own life: an old identity you outgrew, a relationship that changed, a job phase that ended, a version of health that passed. Notice how attached you were then, and notice how life continued anyway. Let that teach you where to place your weight now. Then choose one act of "loving without clinging" today: be present with a person without demanding they fix your mood, take care of health without panic, or enjoy a pleasure without excess. This trains the heart to be soft without being dependent, which is the lived meaning of this verse. alamarthēna kāmēna sukṛtēnāpi karmaṇā । Meaning (padārtha): Translation (bhāvārtha): Commentary (anusandhāna): Advaita is not against action; it is against the belief that action can manufacture inner wholeness. When the mind tries to become whole through doing, it becomes exhausted. The gItA offers a medicine here: act without clinging to fruits (phala), and let action be offered rather than used. aṣṭāvakra goes even further: he hints that the mind's deepest rest comes from recognizing the Self as already complete. From that recognition, action may continue, but it is not fueled by desperation. Practice by noticing the difference between wholesome action and restless action. Wholesome action is quiet and specific; restless action is hurried and endless. For one week, pick one area where you overdo: productivity, helping, socializing, spiritual consumption. Each day, stop one unnecessary action and sit in silence for five minutes. Watch what the mind does when it is not allowed to "earn" peace. Then do one action that is truly needed and do it slowly, without multitasking. This trains viśrānti (rest) not as laziness, but as freedom from compulsive doing. kṛtaṃ na kati janmāni kāyēna manasā girā । Meaning (padārtha): Translation (bhāvārtha): Commentary (anusandhāna): This is also a pointer toward the witness. When you recognize yourself as awareness, you begin to see that action is happening in the body-mind, but the Self is not a doer in the same way. That recognition softens guilt, pride, and burnout. You can still act responsibly, but you stop carrying the world as an existential burden. In the Advaitic vocabulary, you move from kartṛtva (doer-identity) toward simple functioning without inner claim. Practice by making one clear experiment with uparama. Choose one habitual strain: arguing in your head, rehearsing future conversations, justifying yourself, or pushing productivity beyond what is sane. For one day, every time the strain appears, pause for one breath and say inwardly, "uparamyatAm" - let it stop. Then return to the immediate task: one email, one kind sentence, one simple step. If action is needed, do it; if rumination is happening, stop it. Also add one "rest in awareness" practice: sit for five minutes, notice thoughts, and remember you are the knower of them. Over time, this retrains the nervous system: you can live and act, but you do not have to suffer by compulsively carrying it all.
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