Chapter-5, Verse 3

Ashtavakra Gita Verse 5.3

प्रत्यक्षमप्यवस्तुत्वाद्विश्वं नास्त्यमले त्वयि। रज्जुसर्प इव व्यक्तमेवमेव लयं व्रज॥३॥

3. The universe even though visible, because it is unreal, like the snake in the rope, does not exist in you, who are pure. Thus, in this way, enter into ‘laya’ – the state of dissolution. 

Ordinarily, when we perceive a thing, we take it for granted that the thing exists, but there are examples wherein perception is not a sure guarantee for the actual existence of the thing perceived. The ‘snake in the rope’, the ‘silver in the seashell,’ the ‘ghost in the post’ are all illusions. 

Employing the above familiar analogies of the Upaniṣads, Aṣṭāvakra points out that even though the universe is manifested and is available for our direct perception, in moments of Self-unfoldment, in the higher plane of Consciousness, it has no existence at all. Thus having known the universe to be a mere illusion, superimposed upon the Self, negate the universe of names and forms and ‘in this way enter into ‘laya’ – the state of dissolution’.

This is the third stage in ‘laya’, where the universe is negated and dissolved into the Consciousness of the meditator. Annapūrṇopaniṣad applauds this technique and says that: 

yathā vipaṇagā lokā viharanto' pyasatsamāḥ, asambandhāt tathā jñasya grāmo'pi vipinopamaḥ.  Annapūrṇopaniṣad-1.33

‘One who has accomplished this dissolution is ever in the aloneness of the Infinitude; even in a crowded city his aloneness is not disturbed.’

Gauḍapāda in his Kārikā also recommends the practice of ‘laya’ by completely withdrawing the mind from all sense objects through single pointed contemplation upon the Self. 

In Aparokṣānubhūti, Śaṅkara indicates three stages of ‘laya’ through contemplation: 

1. Disassociation from the body and the world; 

2. Identification with the Self and

3. Forgetting to remember even the knowledge of the Self. 

The process of ‘laya’ should not be misunderstood as a path of mere negation. Neither Aṣṭāvakra nor the Bhagavad-gītā recommends this technique of mere negation; this is a negative path and can get the student only into a dark pit of ‘non-existence’ (śūnya). The process recommended by the Riṣhis of Upaniṣads is to flush out the egocentric mind of all its thoughts of the pluralistic world with a continuous flood of contemplation upon the non-dual Self (Constant Remembrance).