Aṣṭāvakra addresses Janaka with piercing irony: bound by the rope (pāśa) of identification with the body (dehābhimāna), do you really think you flourish in happiness? The question is rhetorical — identification with the body is inherently a state of limitation, and limitation cannot produce lasting joy. Aṣṭāvakra then contrasts this with Janaka’s true nature: the Supreme Self (parama-ātman), pure and infinite as ākāśa (space/ether). The metaphor of the beggar is devastating — a king who takes himself to be a beggar suffers unnecessarily, not because of any real poverty but because of a mistaken identity.