Chapter-17, Verse 19

Ashtavakra Gita Verse 17.19:

निर्ममो निरहङ्कारो न किञ्चिदिति निश्चितः। अन्तर्ग लितसर्वाशः कुर्वन्नपि करोति न॥१९॥

Devoid of the feelings of 'I-ness' and 'my-ness', knowing for certain that nothing is and with all his inner desires melted away, the wise man does not act, though he may appear to be acting.

The liberated man is one in whom the ego has ended. The ego functions in two ways – 

(a) Ego sense, which is experienced as the ‘I-ness’, and 

(b) The ego feeling experienced as ‘my-ness’.

When these two are ended, the ego is lifted. The very source of ego is the surge of desires. In the Man of Perfection, the ego is ended along with its roots and so Aṣṭāvakra clarifies, ‘With all his inner desires melted away’. 

Egoless activities are no more actions. Impulse for action is desire. The actor is the ego. When there is no actor, nor the impulses of desire, there are only movements of the equipment and not ‘action’. They can produce no result to the Man of Liberation, there is no ego to claim it. An equipment in which this ego has ended, is the empty reed through which the Lord sings His Song Divine for the benefit of mankind and for the welfare of the world. No more does the individual mind act through him; the total mind expresses through him as Its chosen Equipment Divine. In this sense, one Realized in life is to be considered as God in action.