Four Ways to Dissolution (Ashtavakra Gita 5.1-5.4) - 31st October 2016

So, we are in the fifth chapter which says 'Four Ways to Dissolution' and this is Ashtavakra speaking. So, Ashtavakra said: 'You are the immaculate, touched by nothing. What is there to renounce? The mind is complex. Let it go. Know the peace of dissolution. You are the immaculate, touched by nothing. What is there to renounce? The mind is complex. Let it go. Know the peace of dissolution.'

Second verse is: 'The universe rises from you like foam from the sea. Know yourself as one. Enter the peace of dissolution. The universe arises from you like foam from the sea. Know yourself as one. Enter the peace of dissolution.'

Third verse: 'Like an imagined snake in a rope, the universe appears to exist in the immaculate Self but does not. Seeing this, you know there is nothing to dissolve. Like an imagined snake in a rope, the universe appears to exist in the immaculate Self but does not. Seeing this, you know there is nothing to dissolve.'

Fourth: 'You are perfect, changeless through misery and happiness, hope and despair, life and death. This is the state of dissolution. You are perfect, changeless through misery and happiness, hope and despair, life and death. This is the state of dissolution.'

So these are the four verses. And sometimes what can happen is, because we hear so much Advaita, it can seem like, 'Yes, nice set of words, nice things to say.' So many times it can be that the enormity, the magnificence of what is being pointed to can actually get missed. I feel like if there is a set of verses which are so directly pointing to the truth of who I am, who you are, it will be difficult to find verses which are more potent, more direct than these.