Note: I read the version from ashtavakragita.dhrma.org so that I could double-check specific words and phrases for accuracy with a Sanskrit dictionary. Pretty good, except for the one-line introductions at the beginning of each of the 20 chapters… skip those entirely and go straight to the dialogues between Ashtavakra and Janaka. Just wonderful.
Selected shloka translations:
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“A yogi feels no joy even after attaining a state for which Indra and all other deities yearn.”
“First I developed indifference towards actions performed by body then I became indifferent to actions performed by speech. Now, I have become indifferent to all sorts of anxieties and stay as I am.”
“Unattached to sound and other senses and knowing that Self is not an object of sight, I remain free of disturbances and focused as I am.”
“Seeing the transitions between abnormal states of incorrect perception and the meditative states as a (natural) rule, I stay as I am.”
“Actually, there exist no pain due to body, no pain due to speech, no pain due to mind. Abandoning all the efforts, I exist pleasantly in all situations.”
“No action is ever committed, in reality. Understanding thus I exist pleasantly in all situations by just doing what is to be done.”
“I lose nothing by sleeping and gain nothing by action or inaction. Hence I exist pleasantly in all situations abandoning the feelings of joy and sorrow.”
“Indifference in sense objects is liberation and interest in them is bondage. Knowing thus, do as you like.”
“Liking and disliking are traits of mind and you are not mind in any case, or the subject of choices. You are of the form of Knowledge and flawless so stay blissfully.”
“ ‘This is me and that is not me’ ; give up all such dualities. Decide that as a soul, you are everything, have no other resolutions and stay blissfully.”
“Happiness is there only for an extremely lazy person who considers the blinking of eyes also a task. Nobody else is happy.”
“Neither he is averse to senses or is attached to them but he is definitely indifferent to their acceptance and rejection.”
“ A person who is attached to senses wants to leave this world to avoid the problems. But the one who is indifferent to these problems does not feel pain.”
“He has attained the fruits of Knowledge and Yoga both, who is content, is of purified senses, and always enjoys his solitude.”
“ The knower of truth is never troubled by anything in this world, for the whole world is completely pervaded by the Universe alone.”
“He neither desires end of this world, nor despise its continued existence. He lives the life as it is, feeling content and grateful.”
“Always established in Self, with stainless intent everywhere, free from all desires, such a liberated man always shines.”
“In a person free from attachment for this world, there is neither aggression nor submissiveness, neither pride nor lowliness, neither surprise nor agitation.”
“Beyond doubts and solutions, good and bad, a person with still mind remains established in Self.”
“Having attained a state of mind which is devoid of delusion, dream and inertia and full of light, one should discard all mental desires.”
“Knowing everything as just imagination, and himself as eternally free, how can the wise man behave like a fool?”
“Considerations like 'I am this' or 'I am not this' are finished for the yogi who has gone silent realizing 'Everything is myself' .”
“For the yogi who has found peace, there is no distraction or single-pointed focus, no higher knowledge or ignorance, no pleasure and no pain.”
“The dominion of heaven or beggary, gain or loss, life among men or in the forest, these make no difference to a yogi whose nature it is to be free from distinctions.”
“The wise man who just goes on doing what presents itself for him to do, encounters no difficulty in either activity or inactivity.”
“There is neither joy nor sorrow for one who has transcended life’s cycles. He lives always with a peaceful mind and as if without a body.”
“The mind of the liberated man is not upset or pleased. It shines unmoving, desireless, and free from doubt.”
“How can there be self knowledge for him whose knowledge depends on what he sees? The wise do not see this and that, but see themselves as unending.”
“When one sees oneself as neither the doer nor the reaper of the consequences, then all mind waves come to an end.”
“ The spontaneous unassumed behaviour of the wise is noteworthy, but not the deliberate, intentional stillness of the fool.”
“The wise who are rid of illusion, unbound and with unfettered awareness, may enjoy themselves in great wealth, or alternatively go off to mountain caves.”
“Even when pleased he is not pleased, not suffering even when in pain. Only those like him can know the wonderful state of such a man.”
“It is the sense of responsibility which makes life’s cycles. The wise who are of the form of emptiness, formless, unchanging and spotless see no such thing.”
“Even when doing nothing the fool is agitated by restlessness, while a skillful man remains undisturbed even when doing what there is to do.”
“Happy he stands, happy he sits, happy he sleeps and happy he comes and goes. Happy he speaks, and happy he eats. Such is the life of a man at peace.”
“Even abstention from action leads to action in a fool, while even the action of the wise man brings the fruits of inaction.”
“Blessed is he who knows himself and is the same in all states, with a mind free from craving whether he is seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling or tasting.”
“For the wise man who is always unchanging and fearless there is neither darkness nor light nor destruction, nor anything.”
“There is neither fortitude, prudence nor courage for the yogi whose nature is beyond description and free of individuality.”
“He neither longs for possessions nor grieves at their absence. The calm mind of the sage is full of the nectar of immortality.”
“The wise man does not dislike life’s cycles or seek to know himself. Free from pleasure and impatience, he is not dead and he is not alive.”
“A man at peace does not run off to popular resorts or to the forest. Wherever he remains in whatever condition he exists with a tranquil mind.”
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