Chapter-12, Verse 5

Ashtavakra Gita Verse 12.5

आश्रमानाश्रमं ध्यानं चित्तस्वीकृतवर्जनम्। विकल्पं मम वीक्ष्यैतैरेवमेवाहमास्थितः॥५॥

5. A particular stage of life, or negation of it, meditation, control of mind, recognising these as cause of distractions in me, thus do I, indeed, abide in myself. 

‘A particular stage of life’ here refers to the traditional divisions of the Hindu life into four stages. These four stages in life have each its own distinct duties and disciplines.

Each stage in life has its encumbrances of duties and anxieties, which are to Janaka distractions in his abiding experience of the infinite Self. These various stages have a meaning only with reference to the individual's spiritual ‘ignorance’ and his consequent identification with his body and the world around. 

Similarly, ‘meditation’ to a Man of Perfection, whose mind is at rest, is a wasteful exertion. How can he control his mind from wandering into sense objects, when from his vision there is nothing but the Self everywhere (Constant Remembrance)? Thus, from his eminence in meditation, he finds all these as distractions and, therefore, he drops them all. And Janaka says, ‘Thus, do I, indeed, abide in myself.’ 

The state Janaka indicates now is beyond all the four stages in life called in Hindu textbooks as the āśramas. This trans āśrama state is called as ativarṇāśrami. One who is in this state of super āśrama has been defined in our śāstras very precisely as follows, ‘He who has come to realise that he is the ‘Witness entirely separate from the body and the sense organs, the Supreme Self, blissful and self-effulgent, he becomes, beyond all castes and creeds living the super state, ativarṇāśrami.