Chapter 17 takes up the theme of the sage’s renunciation, and Aṣṭāvakra opens by pointing out the impossibility of ordinary renunciation for the Self. If you are pure knowledge, pure and unlimited like space, what could you possibly renounce, and who would renounce it? The very idea of giving up the world depends on accepting that the world is real and other than the Self. This opening verse dismisses that premise in advance.