Chapter-3, Verse 3

Ashtavakra Gita Verse 3.3

विश्वं स्फुरति यत्रेदं तरङ्गा इव सागरे। सोऽहमस्मीति विज्ञाय किं दीन इव धावसि॥३॥

3. Having realised, ‘I am That’, from which the universe arises, like waves from the sea, why do you run about like a wretched creature? 

An individualised ego in its own sense of imperfection generally desires for the acquisition, possession and enjoyment of other objects that it perceives in a world of multiplicity that lies spread out in all directions around it. 

But having realised that you are essentially nothing but the Pure Source of all – Consciousness, the Self in you, the Infinite Self – from which the universes rise, play about and die away like waves in the ocean, why do you sweat and toil, work and exert, plan and execute programmes for the service of the world? Like any other wretched creature drowned in his ignorance, if Janaka also is driven to feel committed to the activities of the world of plurality, is there, then, any true ‘wisdom’ in him?

Remember, Aṣṭāvakra is deliberately teasing his disciple to get out of the student a confirmation of his deepest Realisation.