Ashtavakra Gita

Whoever is disgusted with the endless round of birth and rebirth should follow this one path: renounce all desire and rest as the witness

Frames dispassion toward the endless cycle of birth and rebirth not as escape but as a simple redirection of attention toward the witnessing self already present.

Chapter 9 addresses itself to anyone weary of samsara, the repeating cycle of birth, action, and consequence that classical Indian thought treats as the default condition of an unliberated mind. Ashtavakra's prescription is uncharacteristically simple for a text usually associated with pure metaphysics: give up desire, and rest as the witness rather than as the actor caught inside the drama. Desire is what keeps consciousness identified with a particular body and its unfinished business, generating the momentum for another birth; letting go of it is less an ethical discipline than a change of vantage point. The witness was never absent — the teaching only asks that attention stop overlooking it in favor of its passing contents.

Samsara, the cycle of birth, action, and consequence, is a premise shared across nearly all classical Indian philosophical schools, though the Gita's prescribed response to it — rest as witness, not ritual or yogic practice — is distinctively minimal.

Ashtavakra Gita