QUIETUDE

Quietude

Ashtavakra said:
10.1
Give up desire,
which is the enemy.
Give up prosperity,
which is born of mischief and good works.
Be indifferent.
10.2
Look upon
friends, lands, wealth, houses, wives, gifts--
and all apparent good fortune--
as a passing show,
as a dream lasting three to five days.
10.3
Where there is desire, there is the world.
Be firm in non-attachment.
Be free of desire.
Be happy.
10.4
Bondage and desire are the same.
Destroy desire and be free.
Only by detaching from the world
does one joyfully realize Self.
10.5
You are One—
Awareness itself.
The universe is neither aware
nor does it exist.
Even ignorance is unreal.
What is left to know?
10.6
Attached as you have been to
kingdoms, sons, wives, bodies, pleasures—
life after life—
still they are now lost forever.
10.7
Prosperity, pleasure, pious deeds…
Enough!
In the dreary forest of the world
the mind finds no rest.
10.8
For how many lifetimes
have you done hard and painful labor
with body, mind and speech?
It is time to stop.