Two truths are stated with absolute directness: you are the one and only witness (eko draṣṭā) of everything, and your nature is already free (mukta-prāya). The word mukta-prāya is crucial — it does not say you will be free, or you can become free, but that you are essentially free. Bondage, then, is not a real condition but an appearance. The sole cause of the appearance of bondage is the mind itself — which is why Aṣṭāvakra expresses compassion for Janaka’s predicament. The teacher grieves not because bondage is real, but because the student suffers under an illusion that a single insight could dissolve.