Ashtavakra Gita

The all-pervading self dwells equally in every being; do not shatter it into fragments by thinking it divided

This states directly what earlier images only implied: individuality is a boundary drawn within one substance, not evidence that separate substances exist.

This verse states in direct terms what earlier images, the boundless sky containing many pots, one water taking the form of many waves, had only implied: the appearance of many distinct beings does not mean many distinct selves exist. "Shatter into fragments" names the specific error the verse warns against, treating individuality as if it marked a real division within consciousness rather than a variation of form within one undivided field. The word "equally" carries ethical as well as metaphysical weight — if the same self is present without difference in every being, no basis remains for regarding any being's presence as more or less than another's. Coming early in chapter 3, this verse sets up the sharper corrections that follow, since fragmenting the self into mine and not-mine, or pure and impure, is exactly the mistake the next verses target.

Ashtavakra Gita