Random Verses From Ashtavakra Gita : 17.9

 शून्या दृष्टिर्वृथा चेष्टा  विकलानीन्द्रियाणि च।

न स्पृहा न विरक्तिर्वा क्षीणसंसारसागरे॥१७- ९॥

Sunyaa : empty, vacant

drushtihi : look

vruthaa: purposeless

cheshta : actions

vikalaani: inoperative

indriyanni : senses

ca: and

na: not 

spruhaa : attachment

na : not

viraktih : aversion

va or

kshina samsara sagare = for one whom the ocean of world as dried down

There is no attachment or aversion for one in whom the ocean of the world has dried up. His gaze becomes vacant.his bodily actions are purposeless and his senses inoperative.

                                       --> Translation taken from Swami Chinmayananda's 

                                              Ashtavakra Gita 

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The body has no purpose or destination in this life. The senses also are the same. Its the mind which drives the body towards a destination. When a person understands one's True nature, one no more seeks fulfillment through the objects of the world. Such a person is not "seeking" anything from the world for his own fulfillment. He is ever reveling in total satisfaction. This verse explains the life of a  person when he experiences total satisfaction and fulfillment and therefore stops looking at the world as a means to make himself happy. 

Even while acting in the world , there is no attachment or aversion. Money, pleasures, name and fame etc can at best give us comforts. Ill health may cause discomfort while a healthy body gives comfort but a Jnani clearly sees that discomfort cannot take away his happiness and comforts cannot add to it. There is total acceptance and so what ever IS, is totally accommodated. Just as space accommodates various objects but is neither attached to an object nor is averse to anything. 

You are not the mind !

OM!

 

Realization of Truth does not take place until one stops believing that manas is me. Unless one starts to look at the manas as a shadow ... it continues to appear real! It is like a shadow taken to be a ghost. The shadow continues to lurk in the darkness as a ghost unless i decide to stop believing that it is a ghost.

Annamalai Swami, a direct disciple of Ramana, says :

Quote:

How to give up this false idea that mind is real ? Annamalai Swami Answers: the same way that you give up any wrong idea. you simply stop believing in it. if this does not happen spontaneously when u hear the truth from a teacher, keep telling yourself "i am not the mind, i am not the mind. There is no mind; there is no mind. consciousness alone exists". if you have firm conviction that this is the truth, one day this firm conviction will mature to the point where it becomes your direct experience.

We perpetuate the idea that world is real, mind is real by believing it. They thrive upon over interest and attention. I give them the reality on the one hand and i myself want to see it as unreal! On the one hand i tell myself that i am mind and on the other hand i look for a way to "Transcend mind" !!
Do we see this please ?

When there are thoughts of agitation ... we say I am agitated.
when there is a relative calm in mind ... we say I am calm.
And we want to keep mind calm always ...
or kill the mind , as if its something Real.

and since we believe it to be so, it appears to be so. If you believe that the shadow is a ghost and see it as a ghost ... it appears like a ghost. if one stops believing its a ghost ... it eventually would be seen as a shadow. There is no ghost.

Mind is not you ... mind is "Witnessed By You" ... Leave it alone ... give it no attention ... it is helpless !! To withdraw attention its helpful to divert the attention to "I AM" and "Dissolve there"! Not identifying with the mind made notion of "I"

You are Purna (Complete)

 OM ! 

Vedanta teaches us that we are of the nature of Ananda, that we are ever Purna, Complete. We have to realize this in our day to day lives. There is a beautiful Slokha in Ashtavakra Gita:

सुखमास्ते सुखं शेते

सुखमायाति याति च।

सुखं वक्ति सुखं भुंक्ते

व्यवहारेऽपि शान्तधीः॥१८- ५९॥

Happy [Fully Satisfied] he stands, happy he sits, happy sleeps and happy he comes and goes. Happy he speaks, and happy he eats. Such is the life of a man at peace.॥18.59॥

We need to live this revel thus 24 7. But what stops us from realizing this Truth ? Why is it that we suffer and feel that we are incomplete despite the fact that we have studied in the shastras that we are Complete? One of the reasons for our not being successful in making this a reality in our lives is our attitude towards this teaching. The shastras are not saying "you shall be Purna" or "you can achieve purnatvam". They are clearly stating that you are purnaha here and now. You are ananda-svarupa here and now. This is what the Shastras are saying and yet, somehow we seem to be avoiding it (postponing it). We seem to be telling ourselves the reverse story: "Though the shastras claim that I am complete, this cannot be True or it does not apply to me ...". We have a tendency to find reasons to judge ourselves as "incomplete, insufficient etc" ! 
Lets take an example, Suppose I get angry. What this means is that in my own mind i have somehow taken myself to be an incomplete person. My anger stems out of an unfulfilled desire - a desire which can make me complete. This is the source of my anger. Ideally, I am supposed to take the scriptural teaching (with all its logic) within and correct this flaw. I am supposed to use the knowledge provided by vedanta to correct the mistake I have committed. Instead of doing this, I would tell myself that since I got angry I am incomplete and unfulfilled. My own inner dialogue is "How can I be purna when i get angry ?" Please see the problem here: I am angry because I think I am unfulfilled (and a desired object will make me complete) and since I am angry I declare myself as incomplete". This is precisely our problem. We seem to feed the wrong idea (that I am incomplete) instead of using the understanding from vedanta to correct it. So Vedantic knowledge is not used , or it does not "seep into me". If the vedantic knowledge is like a torch, I am not switching it on and perpetuating the darkness. Somewhere this links to lack of mumukshatvam. 
Annamalai Swamiji says it beautifully:
Q.: It is all very clear but I feel I need some help. I am not sure that i can generate this conviction by myself.
AS.: The desire for assistance is part of your problem. Don't make the mistake of imagining that there is a goal to be reached or attained. If you think like this you will start looking for methods to practice and people to help you. This just perpetuates the problem you are trying to end. Instead, cultivate the strong awareness, 'I am the Self. I am That. I am Brahman. I am everything.'.. The best way to (stop believing the wrong ideas about yourself) is to replace them with ideas which more accurately reflect the real state of affairs. ...
The Self is always attained, it is always realized; it is not something that you have to seek, reach or discover. Your vasanas and all the wrong ideas you have about yourself are blocking and hiding the experience of the real Self. If you don't identify with these wrong ideas, your Self-nature will not be hidden from you.
 
Here is one more:

Giving up the identity with the body and the mind is tapas, samadhi, dhyana and nishta.
Spiritual seekers have a very strange habit: they are always looking for a way to reach, attain,discover,experience, or realize the Self. They try many things because they cannot comprehend that they are already the Self. This is like running around looking for one's eyes with one's own eyes.
Why should you imagine that it is some new experience to be discovered or found ? You are the Self right now, and you are aware of it right now. Do you need a new experience to prove that you exist? The feeling "I am existing" is the Self. You pretend that you are not experiencing it, or cover it up with all kinds of false ideas, and then you run around looking for it as if it were something external to be reached or found. There is a story about someone like thus.
Once a king imagined that he was a poverty-striken peasant. He thought , "if I go and meet the king he may be able to help me by giving some money"
He searched for the king in many places but he could not find him anywhere. Ultimately he became very depressed because his search was not yeilding any results. One day he met a man on the road who asked him why he was so depressed.
He answered, " I am searching for the king. I think that he can solve all my problems and make me happy but I cant find him anywhere".
The man, who already recognized him, said with some astonishment, "But you yourself as the king!"
The king came to his senses and remembered who he was. His problems all ended the moment he remembered his real identity.
You may think that the king was fairly stupid but he had at least enough sense to recognize the truth when it was told to him.
The guru may tell his disciples a thousand times "You are the self, you are not what you imagine youself ot be", they all keep asking the guru for methods and routes to reach the place they are already are.

 
 The problem really is this: we are running after the objects of the world because we think they will make us complete. Since we are running after the objects of the world we consider ourselves incomplete. We also have some standards we have set for ourselves. A friend once told me "I shall consider myself liberated when neem leaves and ice cream taste the same to me" and thus he has condemned himself to incompleteness for ever ! We need to differentiate bodily conditions and mental states from our true nature. Discomfort need not mean unhappiness, when acceptance is complete. On a hot day a glass of cold water is comfortable and not getting water to drink is uncomfortable. When tired if we can not sleep that is discomfort. But discomfort need not mean unhappiness. When discomfort is not accepted and when we fight with it, we create unhappiness. We fight with an uncomfortable situation because we feel that the discomfort is going to make us incomplete. Its not discomfort but dissatisfaction with ourselves that is a problem. Thus we suffer. The solution is really to understand the upanishads and "Relax into our own being". Stop Running. We do not need to make any efforts for making ourselves fulfilled. We can be totally satisfied with ourselves as we are

Ashtavakra Gita says: 

मुक्ताभिमानी मुक्तो हि
बद्धो बद्धाभिमान्यपि।
किवदन्तीह सत्येयं
या मतिः सा गतिर्भवे त् ॥१-१ १ ॥
The one who considers himself to be free is free, and the one who considers himself bound is bound. The popular saying "one becomes what one believes" is true indeed.