Chapter-20, Verse 11

Ashtavakra Gita Verse 20.11

क्व माया क्व च संसारः क्व प्रीतिर्विरतिः क्व वा ।
क्व जीवः क्व च तद्-ब्रह्म सर्वदा विमलस्य मे ॥११॥

Where is illusion (maya), and where is the world (samsara)? Where is attachment (priti) and detachment (virati)? Where is the individual being (jiva) and where is That Brahman, ever Pure, of me? 

This verse from the Ashtavakra Gita points towards the Absolute Nature of Brahman, the Ultimate Reality. The speaker, who is already identified with Brahman, questions the existence of concepts like illusion (maya), the world (samsara), attachment (priti), detachment (virati), and even the individual being (jiva).

Here's a deeper look:

• Maya, Samsara, Priti, Virati: These concepts are all part of the phenomenal world, which is ultimately an illusion from the perspective of Brahman. Attachment and detachment are mental states that arise within the duality of the world.


• Jiva: The individual being is a product of maya, a limited sense of Self separate from Brahman.

The verse emphasizes that from the standpoint of the Realized Self, which is one with Brahman, these distinctions and limitations dissolve. All that remains is the ever-pure Brahman, the unchanging Reality underlying all existence. 

In ‘Vivekacūḍāmaṇi’ Śaṅkarācārya elaborately proves and asserts, there is no māyā nor ‘ignorance’ other than our own mind; the mind is nothing but a grosser and, therefore, a more perceptible expression of avidyā: ‘Apart from the mind there is no ignorance (avidyā). The mind itself is the ‘ignorance’ which is the cause for the bondage of rebirth. When the mind is destroyed, everything else is destroyed. When mind manifests, everything else manifests’. 

The macrocosmic expression of ‘ignorance’ (avidyā) is the concept of māyā, which maintains the illusion of the entire universe. On transcending the mind, the vision and the experience change and then viewed from the Self where is illusion, where is the world of change?

Similar Verses from Vedic Texts

1. Bhagavad Gita:

नेह माया कृतं ना मे कर्मफले स्पृहा ।
इच्छामद्वेषसमुत्थेने सर्वकर्माणि करोमि ॥४०॥

Nor have I any concern in the creation of the world, nor in actions or the fruits of actions. I am free from all attachment, aversion, and the promptings of these (gunas).

Both verses highlight the non-dual nature of Brahman. They emphasize that the Ultimate Reality is not involved in the play of maya or the world.

2. Isha Upanishad, Verse 1

ईशावास्यमिदं सर्वं यत्किञ्च जगत्यां जगत् ।
तं कर्मणि नियोजय यच्छेज्ज्ञासा तपश्चर ॥१॥

All this that is moving in the world is enveloped by the Lord. Renounce attachment and do your work; do not covet (the possessions of) others. Let this be your law of work. (as translated by Swami Vivekananda)

Both verses emphasize the all-encompassing nature of Brahman. The Isha Upanishad instructs one to perform actions as an offering to the divine, detaching from the fruits of those actions.

3. Yoga Vashishtha, Vairagya Viveka (Dispassion), Verse 1

न मे मतिर्न देहस्तन् न मे प्राणो न मे मनः ।
न मे सुखं न दुःखं न मे चिन्तेहमेव न ॥१॥

I have neither mind nor body, nor life force nor intellect. Neither pleasure nor pain, nor even this thought of “I am” is mine. 

Both verses describe the state of Realization, where the sense of individual Self dissolves into the Universal Self.