Several vivid images keep popping up in the Ashtavakra Gita, each one driving home that there’s really only one unbroken reality beneath our everyday clatter:

1. Ocean and Waves

   • Individual “selves” are like waves riding one infinite sea of consciousness. You can’t scoop out a wave without the ocean, just as no “little me” can float free of pure awareness.

2. Space in a Pot

   • The space inside a clay pot is exactly the same as the vast sky outside—pots come and go, but space remains unchanged. Bodies and minds are just temporary vessels; the Self, like space, is limitless and ever-present.

3. Mirror and Reflections

   • The mind is likened to a dusty mirror that shows reflections (thoughts, sensations), but the mirror’s surface—pure awareness—stays spotless once the grime of identification is wiped clean.

4. Clouds and Sky

   • Thoughts and emotions drift by like clouds, but the sky of consciousness never dims or alters. Even after the storm, the blue remains plain as day.

5. Lamp Without Wick

   • Consciousness doesn’t need a medium (mind, senses) to shine. Imagine a lamp glowing in total darkness without any wick—its light simply is.

6. Salt Dissolved in Water

   • Just as dissolved salt can’t be retrieved from water, the individual “I” dissolves into the ocean of Self. There’s no separation to rescue.

7. Dream and Waking States

   • Both dreams and waking life are portrayed as ripples on the same pond. What’s real is the water itself, not its ever-changing surface.

These timeless metaphors still resonate—think of NASA’s recent deep-space images or the way modern meditation apps coach letting thoughts drift by like clouds. At the end of the day, the Ashtavakra Gita nudges straight toward a simple, non-dualist punchline: the world of form dances on the stage of formless awareness, but the play and the stage are never two separate things.