Containing 8 sacred Sanskrit shlokas with multi-author commentaries and translations.
अष्टावक्र उवाच
विहाय वैरिणं कामम-
र्थं चानर्थसंकुलं ।
धर्ममप्येतयोर्हेतुं
सर्वत्रानादरं कुरु ॥
"Ashtavakra said: Abandon desire, the enemy, along with gain, itself so full of loss, and the good deeds which are the cause of the other two — practice indifference to everything."
स्वप्नेन्द्रजालवत् पश्य
दिनानि त्रीणि पंच वा ।
मित्रक्षेत्रधनागार-
दारदायादिसंपदः ॥
"Look on such things as land, friends, money, property, wife, and bequests as nothing but a dream or a magician’s show lasting three or five days."
यत्र यत्र भवेत्तृष्णा
संसारं विद्धि तत्र वै ।
प्रौढवैराग्यमाश्रित्य
वीततृष्णः सुखी भव ॥
"Wherever a desire occurs, see samsara in it. Establishing yourself in firm dispassion, be free of passion and happy."
तृष्णामात्रात्मको बन्धस्-
तन्नाशो मोक्ष उच्यते ।
भवासंसक्तिमात्रेण प्राप्तितुष्टिर्मुहुर्मुहुः ॥
"The essential nature of bondage is nothing other than desire, and its elimination is known as liberation. It is simply by not being attached to changing things that the everlasting joy of attainment is reached."
त्वमेकश्चेतनः शुद्धो
जडं विश्वमसत्तथा ।
अविद्यापि न किंचित्सा
का बुभुत्सा तथापि ते ॥
"You are one, conscious and pure, while all this is inert non-being. Ignorance itself is nothing, so what is the point of wanting to understand?"
राज्यं सुताः कलत्राणि
शरीराणि सुखानि च ।
संसक्तस्यापि नष्टानि
तव जन्मनि जन्मनि ॥
"Kingdoms, children, wives, bodies, pleasures — these have all been lost to you life after life, attached to them though you were."
अलमर्थेन कामेन
सुकृतेनापि कर्मणा ।
एभ्यः संसारकान्तारे
न विश्रान्तमभून् मनः ॥
"Enough of wealth, sensuality, and good deeds. In the forest of samsara the mind has never found satisfaction in these."
कृतं न कति जन्मानि
कायेन मनसा गिरा ।
दुःखमायासदं कर्म
तदद्याप्युपरम्यताम् ॥
"How many births have you not done hard and painful labour with body, mind, and speech. Now at last, stop!"