Chapter-20, Verse 14

Ashtavakra Gita Verse 20.14

क्व चास्ति क्व च वा नास्ति क्वास्ति चैकं क्व च द्वयम्।
बहुनाऽत्र किमुक्तेन किञ्चिन्नोत्तिष्ठते मम ॥१४॥

Where is Being and where is non-being? Where is one and where is two? What is the use of speaking much here? Nothing arises out of me. 

In this concluding verse of the Saṁhitā, Sage Aṣṭāvakra talks to the world from the Self, as the Self. There is neither existence nor non-existence. These two are the interpretations of the intellect. The Self is the Consciousness that illumines our experiences. This Consciousness can neither be called as ‘dual’ or ‘non-dual’ as these concepts are true only in the relative world. These two are again judgements of the intellect. 

Having thus indicated, through a double process of denial and assertion, the state of Selfhood all through the fourteen verses of this chapter, Janaka feels exhausted and declares: ‘What need is there to say anything more?’ He is concluding all his frail and ineffectual explanations so far given in reporting to his Teacher his inner experience of the Supreme State. In a crescendo of despair, in an apparent hysterical screaming, Janaka roars with a spontaneity of an Riṣi of Upaniṣad: ‘Nothing indeed emanates from me’. This statement is, no doubt repeatedly endorsed by many many solid passages in the entire literature relating to Upaniṣads but nowhere is this brutal truth so vividly expressed and so courageously declared, ever before, as we read it in the Aṣṭāvakra Gita. Hence the special historical value for this little known, but very important, mystic textbook. 

As a mystic philosopher, Aṣṭāvakra is to be recognised, if not as the father, certainly as the archangel and the guardian spirit of the supreme advaitik theory of ‘Non-origination’ (ajāta-vāda). Later on Śrī Gauḍapāda elaborated this theory in his Kārikā to Māṇḍūkya-Upaniṣad.

This verse in the Ashtavakra Gita cuts to the core of the Advaita Vedanta philosophy – the Ultimate Reality is Brahman, a singular, all-encompassing Oneness. Here's a breakdown of the key concepts:

• Being and Non-Being: These are dualistic concepts that dissolve from the perspective of Brahman. Brahman is neither existence nor non-existence, but the ultimate ground of all that is and is not.


• One and Two: Duality, including the concept of one and two, is a product of the phenomenal world. From the standpoint of Brahman, there is only the Absolute Oneness. Brahman never originated our will end. The dualistic experience of the phenomenal world is just a mayavic illusion maintained by the combined thoughts of all its inhabitants dwelling in their avidya driven maze.


• Speaking Much: Elaborate explanations about existence, non-existence, Oneness, and duality are ultimately unnecessary.

The verse emphasizes that from the Realized Self (Atman) which is one with Brahman, nothing arises. There are no distinctions or limitations, only the ever-existing, singular Reality of Brahman.

Similar Verses from Vedic Texts

1. Mandukya Upanishad, Verse 2 

द्वैतं चिवमेव सविपक्षं चित्तं च ।
एकमेवाद्वितीयं ब्रह्म ॥२॥

The perceiving mind is duality, with differentiation and limitation. But Brahman is one without a second. 

Both verses highlight the contrast between the dualistic world perceived by the mind and the ultimate oneness of Brahman.

2. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Verse 4.4.19 

सर्वं खल्विदं ब्रह्म तज्जलानिति शान्त उपासीत ।
एकोऽहं बहुस्यां प्रजायेय इति ॥१९॥

All this verily is Brahman. From It alone have all these beings come forth. By worshipping It as the calm (Atman), one should meditate on It. (He thinks), "May I become many, may I multiply, may I grow." 

Both verses emphasize the all-encompassing nature of Brahman, from which everything arises.

3. Yoga Vashishtha, Vairagya Viveka (Dispassion), Verse 61 

न स द्वैतो न चैकत्वं न स भवति न चाभवत्।
न स सर्वं न किञ्चित् तत्त्वं निर्विकल्पकम् ॥६१॥

Reality is neither duality nor oneness, neither existent nor non-existent, neither all nor nothing. It is the unalterable Truth. 

This verse from Yoga Vashishtha echoes the sentiment of the Ashtavakra Gita verse, going beyond even the concepts of Oneness and duality to describe the Ultimate Reality as beyond all conceptualization.

Om Shanti Shanti

The end of Ashtavakra Gita