This is the first shloka from the first chapter and is Janaka's question to Ashtavakra. Here is the translation. 'My lord! How can knowledge be obtained? How can emancipation occur? How does one get detachment? Please tell me this.' ज्ञान (jnana) is knowledge. However, it has a sense of awareness and higher knowledge, not ordinary learning by rote. There is also the word विज्ञान (vijnana). Today, this is translated as science. But vijnana also means knowledge or wisdom. In some interpretations, a distinction is drawn between jnana and vijnana. Jnana is what one picks up from external sources, from texts and preceptors.Vijnana is what is gleaned internally, through inward contemplation and reflection. However, in this shloka, there is no such distinction. Understanding मुक्तिः (mukti) is trickier. That word means salvation, liberation, release, emancipation. But the purport is release from this cycle of birth, death and rebirth, known as संसार (samsara). वैराग्य (vairagya) characterises a person who has obtained the state of विराग (viraga). Raga means attached. Thus, viraga means detached, indifferent, dispassionate. Vairagya is detachment. It does not mean asceticism. One does not have to resort to the forest to become detached. One can be detached while engaged in worldly pursuits too. That indeed is the point. King Janaka wasn't going to retire to the forest. Knowledge, emancipation and detachment – each of these words has layers of meaning. At some point in our lives, we should begin to ask similar questions. Rather intriguingly, this questioning will lead to a counter question. Who is doing the asking? Once one begins to probe that, one is on the path towards knowledge, emancipation and detachment.

Ashtavakra

The Theology of Liberation

Janaka’s Questions