Ashtavakra Gita Verse 10.6
राज्यं सुताः कलत्राणि शरीराणि सुखानि च। संसक्तस्यापि नष्टानि तव जन्मनि जन्मनि॥६॥
6. Kingdoms, sons, wives, bodies and pleasures have all been lost to you, life after life, even though you were attached to them.
In the previous verse a highly metaphysical and philosophical argument was given. The student was shown that he is essentially nothing but the Self, the Ᾱtman. ‘Other than the gross, subtle and causal bodies, the Witness of the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep, of the nature of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss this, which remains in our personality, that is the Self, the Ᾱtman.’ This has been the exhaustive definition of the spiritual centre in man as given out by Masters of Vedānta. (sthūlasūkṣmakāraṇaśarīrād-vyatirikto'vasthātrayasākṣī saccidānandasvarūpo yastiṣṭhati saḥ ātmā. ~Tattvabodha)
Therefore, what has he to do with the inert and unreal world and with the non-existent ‘ignorance’? Here, however, Aṣṭāvakra gives us a very rational reason which even a common man can understand. ‘Life after life, we must have sought to acquire, to possess and to enjoy kingdoms, sons, wives, bodies and pleasure’; yet, in every life we had ultimately lost whatever we had. So, it is intelligence not to get ourselves entrapped by the fascinations for these things, because in spite of our attachment, it is their very nature that they must perish. An intelligent man should not therefore, fall a ready victim to such a repeated hallucination.
End of Chapter-10
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