Ashtavakra said:
1. Duties discharged and undischarged, or the pairs of opposites, when do these cease, and for whom? Realizing this, cultivate inner renunciation and passionlessness.
2. O My Child! That blessed one is indeed rare who has extinguished the passion for life, enjoyment, and even learning, by observing the ways of men.
3. The wise become tranquil on realizing that all objects of the world are subject to the threefold misery, that they are transient and of no actual (positive) reality, and should be rejected at all times.
4. There is no time and no age in which men are free from the pairs of opposites. He who disregards them, content with whatever comes, obtains perfection.
5. What man is there, who, having observed the diversity of opinion among the great Sages, Saints, and Yogis, does not become indifferent to learning and attaining peace?
6. He is a true spiritual Guide who has obtained Knowledge of the nature of Reality through indifference to the world, equanimity, and reasoning, and who is animated by a desire to enlighten others.
7. In the modification of the elements, see nothing but matter itself. Thus attain freedom from bondage, and rest in thine own nature.
8. Renounce desire through inherent detachment. Renounce the objects of the world, and renunciation of desire will follow. Thereafter live wherever thou pleasest.