AVG - Part III

quiet fire — clarity that burns cleanly, leaving kindness and precision, not ashes

What Part III explores (Chs. 9–12)

• When the witness is obvious, clarity warms action without scorching it.
• How the sense of “mine” thins until belonging is everywhere.
• Why virtue becomes spontaneous when ownership fades.
• Solitude in the crowd: inner quiet that doesn’t avoid life.

If Part I recognized the witness, and Part II lightened gravity, Part III shows the heatless flame—seeing that purifies by presence alone.

Chapter 9 — The still axis (rest without withdrawal)

Core pointer: Stillness is not a pose; it is the axis around which experience spins. The axis doesn’t resist the spinning; it allows it.

Dialogue

Janaka: “If I sit still, life piles up.”
Aṣṭāvakra: “Be still in the midst. Let the feet move; let the axis stay.”
Janaka: “How do I know I’m resting rightly?”
Aṣṭāvakra: “When rest includes movement, not only the cushion.”

Try this: Witness walk (3 minutes)
Walk normally. While walking, keep half your attention on the sense of knowing the steps. Don’t slow down; don’t fix posture. Notice: movement in stillness, stillness in movement.

Deepen: axis / allowing / movement-inside-rest

Chapter 10 — The vanishing of “mine”

Core pointer: “Mine” is a flavor the mind sprinkles on neutral facts. When the flavor fades, belonging widens: the hand is not less loved because it is not “owned.”

Dialogue

Janaka: “Is renunciation required?”
Aṣṭāvakra: “Renounce claiming, not function. Keep the tools; drop the title deed.”
Janaka: “If nothing is mine, who cares for it?”
Aṣṭāvakra: “Care is cleaner without ownership—like a gardener who serves the whole field.”

Zero‑heat correction
When you notice “mine”: breathe once, soften the belly, and restate the sentence without ownership.

• “My team failed” → “A plan we tried didn’t work.”
• “My child must win” → “A child I love is learning.”

Deepen: function kept / ownership thinned / care cleaner

Chapter 11 — Virtue without effort (spontaneous alignment)

Core pointer: When the inner knot loosens, virtue appears as default: honesty because lying scratches, generosity because tightness hurts, patience because hurry burns.

Dialogue

Janaka: “How do I practice the virtues?”
Aṣṭāvakra: “Let clarity remove the reason to be vicious.”
Janaka: “So goodness is a side‑effect?”
Aṣṭāvakra: “Like fragrance from a flower—you don’t strap it on.”

Micro‑tests in the day

• Friction test: After a half‑truth, feel the inner grit. Correct gently, now.
• Tightness test: If giving feels like tearing, give smaller, more often, until it’s smooth.
• Tempo test: When rushing, ask: “What if I moved at true speed?” Adjust one notch.

Deepen: fragrant / default‑virtue / true‑speed

Chapter 12 — Solitude in the crowd (intimacy without noise)

Core pointer: Real solitude is interior. You can be alone while surrounded; you can be lonely on a mountain. The sage’s quiet is contact without capture.

Dialogue

Janaka: “How do I keep quiet while leading?”
Aṣṭāvakra: “Listen from the whole room, speak from the quiet center.”
Janaka: “What about praise and blame?”
Aṣṭāvakra: “Hear both as weather. Dress for it; don’t become it.”

Practice: Meeting from the center (1 minute before talks)

1. Feel feet + breath. 2) Sense the room as one field. 3) Let words come after contact.
   Result: fewer extra sentences; more real ones.

Deepen: interior‑alone / whole‑room listening / contact‑without‑capture

Parables for Quiet Fire

• Lamp & moths: A steady lamp does not chase moths away; it doesn’t wobble when they circle. Let clarity be lamp‑steady.
• Salt in water: The “person” dissolves like salt; the water isn’t less itself—just evenly seasoned.
• Flute: Notes flow because the flute has open holes. Keep a few holes open: honesty, kindness, rest.

How this arc reshapes living (short, bare claims)

• Stillness is the axis, not an activity.
• “Mine” fades; belonging widens.
• Virtue is frictionless when the owner relaxes.
• Solitude is portable—crowd or cave.
• Clarity brings warmth; heat is optional.

Line to carry: “Let seeing do the cleaning.”

Life Q&A — Quiet Fire edition

Can I be ambitious without heat?
Yes. Aim sharply, move at true speed, and let results be shapes. Keep excellence; drop self‑story maintenance.

How to love without losing myself?
Love from the axis. Offer warmth, set clean boundaries, and return to the center often. Love expands when clinging thins.

What to do with recurring anger?
Meet it as tight heat in the body; cool it with breath and space first. Speak after cooling. Repair quickly; don’t rehearse the scene.

How to rest properly?
Rest is not collapse. It is conscious off‑duty. Mark ends to tasks, include unstructured time, and sleep like it’s sacred.

What is the sign I’m forcing spirituality?
You become brittle and others feel managed. Switch to basic decency: eat, sleep, tell the truth, move, help someone quietly.

How to stay quiet in success?
Receive praise as weather; share credit, keep rhythm, return to the lamp. Success should make you simpler, not louder.

Protocols (tiny, repeatable moves)

• Cut the second arrow: Pain comes; skip the story.
• One clean act: Do one thing each day ownerlessly.
• Name & soften: “Tightness present” → soften jaw, brow, belly.
• Sahaja check: “Could this be easier and truer right now?”
• Return word: Pick a word (e.g., clear). Whisper it when you notice drift.

Closing dialogue

Janaka: “If nothing sticks, what remains to guide me?”
Aṣṭāvakra: “The quiet fire—it illumines and warms without burning.”
Janaka: “And if I forget?”
Aṣṭāvakra: “Forgetfulness is a cloud. Be the sky; let it pass.”

Deepen: illumine / warm / do‑not‑burn

What Part IV will open

The Vanishing Doer (Chs. 13–16): looking directly at action without an actor—how work, speech, and choice proceed weightlessly when authorship is seen as a useful fiction.

“When the axis is found, the wheel may spin as it likes.”