Chapter-7, Verse 4

Ashtavakra Gita Verse 7.4

नात्मा भावेषु नो भावस्तत्रानन्ते निरञ्जने। इत्यसक्तोऽस्पृहः शान्त एतदेवाहमास्थितः॥४॥

4. The Self is not in the object, nor is the object in this Self, which is Infinite and Taintless. Hence, it is free from attachment and desire; it is tranquil. In this Knowledge alone I abide. 

The post is not in the ghost; the ghost is illusory; nor is the ghost at anytime in the post. Similarly, the objects of the world being imaginations of the mind, are not in the Self which is the substratum of the world perceived; nor can the Self be in the illusory objects! 

Naturally, the Infinite and the Taintless, the Self is free from any attachment to anything; nor can It entertain any desires for anything. Nothing can ever remain as other than the Self: ātmā ekameva idaṁ sarvam. ‘The one Self alone is all these’ says the Upaniṣad. 

Attachment and desires are delusions of the mind. When these two are transcended, the mind is also transcended. Where the mind is not, there is nothing to disturb the Consciousness and, therefore, it is ever tranquil. In this firm Knowledge, born out of his direct experience Janaka confesses, ‘I abide’.