In the sacred dialogue of Ashtavakra, a profound exploration unfolds regarding the nature of desire, detachment, and liberation. The detached person turns away from sense objects, while the passionate one pursues them with longing. Yet, there exists one who transcends both grasping and releasing—neither detached nor passionate—free from the duality of acceptance and rejection. This duality persists so long as desire remains, the seed of worldly existence, until the seeker attains the state of pure inquiry. Attachment arises when one is active, aversion when one is inactive; but the wise, who are free from such opposites, remain established in their innocence, like a child. The passionate seek to abandon the world to escape suffering, but the truly dispassionate, untouched by sorrow, remain untroubled even within it. If one clings to pride in liberation or identifies the body as 'mine,' such a person is neither a knower nor a yogi, but merely continues to share in suffering. Even if Shiva, Vishnu, or Brahma themselves were to teach, true ease cannot be found except by letting go of all attachments. Ashtavakra declares: the one who has tasted the fruits of knowledge and yoga, whose senses are pure and satisfied, finds delight in solitude. The knower of truth never grieves in this world, for through him alone the universe finds fulfillment. Sense objects do not please one who delights in himself, just as bitter neem leaves do not satisfy an elephant who prefers sallaki shoots. Rare indeed is the one who, while enjoying pleasures, remains unaffected, and who, when pleasures are absent, does not long for them. In this world, some desire enjoyment and others liberation; but rare is the great soul who is free from longing for either. For such a noble mind, there is no notion of accepting or rejecting—whether in righteousness, wealth, pleasure, liberation, life, or death. He has no desire at the dissolution of the universe, nor aversion at its existence; he lives content and blessed, just as he is. Fulfilled by knowledge, with all thoughts dissolved, the accomplished one abides content in all his activities—seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating. His vision is empty, his actions futile, his senses impaired; longing and detachment have vanished, for his ocean of worldly existence has dried up. He neither wakes nor sleeps, neither opens nor closes his eyes; what a wondrous state—somewhere abides the one whose mind is liberated. Everywhere he is seen as self-possessed, everywhere with pure intention; freed from all desires, liberated, he shines wherever he is. In every act—seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, taking, speaking, walking—the great-souled one, freed from both action and inaction, is truly liberated. He neither criticizes nor praises, neither rejoices nor gets angry; he neither gives nor takes—liberated, he is indifferent everywhere. Whether greeted by affection or confronted by death, his mind remains undisturbed, self-possessed—such is the liberated great soul. In pleasure and pain, in man and woman, in fortune and misfortune, there is no distinction for the wise one who sees equally everywhere. There is no violence, no compassion, no arrogance, nor dejection; no wonder, nor agitation—such is the person whose wandering has ended. The liberated one is neither an enemy of sense objects nor attached to them; with a mind always unattached, he enjoys whatever comes or does not. Thoughts of concentration, non-concentration, good, and bad—his mind is empty; he knows nothing, established as if in absolute aloneness. Without possessiveness, without ego, firmly convinced that nothing is his, with all hopes dissolved within, even while acting, he does nothing. Free from the illumination and confusion of mind, from the dullness of dream, whatever state he attains, he is one whose mind has dissolved. Ashtavakra bows to the one whose nature is pure bliss, peaceful and radiant, for until awakening arises, delusion is like a dream. Even if one acquires all wealth and enjoys abundant pleasures, true happiness cannot be found without complete renunciation. For one whose inner self is burned by the suffering of duty, happiness is impossible without the nectar-stream of peace. This existence is mere imagination, nothing in reality; for those who discern the distinction between being and non-being, their own nature is never absent. The state of the Self is neither distant nor contracted; it is attained effortlessly, unchanging, and pure, free of distinctions. When confusion ceases and one's true nature is simply accepted, those whose vision is unobstructed shine, free from sorrow. The entire world is mere imagination; the Self is liberated and eternal. Knowing this, why would the wise practice like a child? Having determined that the Self is Brahman, and that existence and non-existence are imagined, the desireless one has nothing to know, say, or do. When the thought 'I am this, I am not this' has faded, and all is known as the Self, the yogi becomes silent. For the peaceful yogi, there is neither distraction nor concentration, neither excessive understanding nor ignorance, neither pleasure nor pain. Whether in sovereignty or the life of a mendicant, in gain or loss, among people or in the forest, for the yogi whose nature is free of distinctions, there is no difference. Where is righteousness, where is desire, where is wealth, where is discrimination? For the yogi freed from dualities, there is no sense of 'this is done, this is not.' There is nothing to be done, nor any delight in the heart; for the yogi liberated while living, life here is simply as it is. Where is delusion, where is the world, where is meditation, where is liberation? For the great soul resting at the limit of all thought, none of these remain.