Chapter-2, Verse 18

Ashtavakra Gita Verse 2.18

न मे बन्धोऽस्ति मोक्षो वा भ्रान्तिः शान्ता निराश्रया। अहो मयि स्थितं विश्वं वस्तुतो न मयि स्थितम्॥१८॥

18. I have neither bondage nor freedom. The 'illusion,' having lost its support, has ended. O! The universe, though it abides in Me, does not in fact exist in Me. 

Early students of Vedānta, who live in poignant awareness of their imperfections and are acutely sensitive to their slavishness to the incessant demands of their equipments, are told how they can realise their freedom from all their bondages. When the student, through meditation, awakes to the Reality, in the state of Pure Consciousness, there is no meaning to the term 'freedom'; for the Self is eternally free. 

In a dream I may experience that I was suffering confinement in a prison. On waking up, can I congratulate myself that I have been released? In the same way, having realised the Self, Janaka declares, ‘I have neither bondages nor freedom.’ The illusory ego has ceased to function in his bosom, because the sense of ego stems forth from the ignorance of the Self. How can the ‘ignorance’ continue when the ‘wisdom’ of the Self has dawned? Last night’s dream, no doubt, played out itself in me, but I, the waker, is untouched by the experiences of my dreams. In the same way, Janaka here declares that the universe ‘though it abides in Me, does not in fact exist in Me.’ From the relative standpoint, when the Man of Wisdom chooses to look out through his body, mind and intellect, the world of objects, emotions and thoughts are there for his experiences; but he ever abides in the Self. When the Man of Wisdom is in his own pure Self, in the absolute viewpoint, there are neither the equipments of experiences nor are the fields of experiences.