Chapter-18, Verse 14

Ashtavakra Gita Verse 18.14:

क्व मोहः क्व च वा विश्वं क्व तद्ध्यानं क्व मुक्तता । सर्वसंकल्पसीमायां विश्रान्तस्य महात्मनः ॥ १४ ॥

Where is delusion, where is the world, where is meditation, where is liberation, for the great-souled one who rests in the limit of all imagination. || 14 ||

The verse is addressed to the one who has Realized the Supreme Self, the Pure Awareness that is the Witness of all phenomena. Such a one is called a mahatman, or the great-souled one, who has transcended the ego and the sense of doership.

The verse questions the existence of four concepts that are usually considered important in the spiritual path: moha (delusion), vishvam (world), taddhyana (meditation on that), and muktata (liberation). The verse implies that these concepts are irrelevant and illusory for the one who has attained the highest state of Consciousness.

The verse states that the great-souled one rests in the limit of all imagination, which means that he or she has gone beyond the realm of the mind and its projections. The mind is the source of all sankalpas, or thoughts, desires, and intentions, that create the appearance of the world and its diversity. The great-souled one has realized that the world is nothing but a mirage, and that there is nothing to be attained or renounced, nothing to be meditated upon or liberated from. He or she abides in the peace and bliss of the Self, which is the only Reality.

Similar verses from other Vedic texts are:

- From the Yogavashishta (6.2.34):

यत्र नास्ति मनो यत्र नास्ति चाक्षुषी दृश्यम् । तत्र को वा किमाकाङ्क्षते किं वा तत्र विलोकयेत् ॥

Where there is no mind, where there is no visible object for the eye; There who would desire what, and what would one see there? ||

- From the Mandukya Upanishad (7):

नान्तःप्रज्ञं न बहिष्प्रज्ञं नोभयतःप्रज्ञं न प्रज्ञानघनं न प्रज्ञं नाप्रज्ञम् ।

अदृष्टमव्यवहार्यमग्राह्यमलक्षणं अचिन्त्यमव्यपदेश्यमेकात्मप्रत्ययसारं प्रपञ्चोपशमं शान्तं शिवमद्वैतं चतुर्थं मन्यन्ते स आत्मा स विज्ञेयः ॥

Not inwardly conscious, not outwardly conscious, not both-wise conscious; not a mass of consciousness, not conscious, not unconscious; unseen, with which there can be no dealing; ungraspable, having no distinctive mark, unthinkable, that cannot be designated; the essence of the assurance of which is the state of being one with the Self; the cessation of development, tranquil, benign, without a second; such they think is the Fourth State (Turiya). That is the Self. That should be discerned. ||

- From the Bhagavad Gita (2.16):

नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः ।

उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः ॥

The unreal has no existence, the Real never ceases to be. The truth about both has been seen by the Seers of the essence. ||