Ashtavakra Gita

The mind of the liberated is like a still lake at the bottom of a mountain, undisturbed by whatever winds pass across its surface

The lake image specifies exactly what changes and what doesn't in a liberated mind — surface activity continues, but nothing beneath it is stirred anymore.

The comparison is precise rather than merely poetic: a lake at a mountain's base can show ripples, reflections, and surface motion driven by passing winds, while its depth stays entirely undisturbed by any of it. Chapter eighteen uses this to describe how thoughts, sensations, and even emotional reactions can still arise and pass across the liberated mind's surface without touching what the person actually is at their core. This distinguishes the Ashtavakra Gita's picture of enlightenment from one that requires a permanently blank or thoughtless mind — activity on the surface is fully compatible with untouched depth underneath. It's an image aimed at reassuring practitioners that ordinary mental weather doesn't disprove realization.

Ashtavakra Gita