Ashtavakra Gita

Whatever appears, appears in me, the ocean; let it appear or disappear as it will, I neither increase nor diminish by it

This generalizes the ocean image beyond "the world" to "whatever appears" at all, extending the same claim inward to thoughts and feelings, not just outer events.

Earlier ocean-and-wave verses tend to specify their subject, the universe, the world, individual beings, a ship, but this verse generalizes to "whatever appears," broad enough to include thoughts, moods, and inner experience alongside external events, extending the same non-attachment inward rather than confining it to the outer world. The repeated formula "I neither increase nor diminish" restates the completeness (purnatva) claim already made in chapter 6 regarding the body, now applied comprehensively to the entire field of possible appearance, whatever its content or source. "Let it appear or disappear as it will" carries a notable permissiveness, since the verse does not instruct suppressing, managing, or curating what arises, as managing appearances would itself presuppose they were capable of affecting the ocean they arise within. Positioned within chapter 7's more settled, reflective tone, this verse functions almost as a summary formula for the entire teaching: nothing that shows up, of whatever kind, changes what the self fundamentally is.

Ashtavakra Gita