Avatarika
अथ हैनमुषस्तश्चाक्रायणः पप्रच्छ ।पुण्यपापप्रयुक्तैर्महा-तिग्रहैर्र्गृहीतः पुनः पुनः ग्रहातिग्रहान् त्यजन् उपाददत् संस-रतीत्युक्तम् ; पुण्यस्य च पर उत्कर्षो व्याख्यातः व्याकृत-विषयः समष्टिव्यष्टिरूपः द्वैतैकत्वात्मप्राप्तिः ।यस्तु ग्रहाति-ग्रहैर्र्ग्रस्तः संसरति, सः अस्ति वा, न अस्ति ; अस्तित्वे चकिंलक्षणः— इति आत्मन एव विवेकाधिगमाय उषस्तप्रश्नआरभ्यते ।तस्य च निरुपाधिस्वरूपस्य क्रियाकारकविनि-र्मुक्तस्वभावस्य अधिगमात् यथोक्ताद्वन्धनात् विमुच्यते स-प्रयोजकात् आख्यायिकासंबन्धस्तु प्रसिद्धः ॥
In plain words
Then Uṣasta, Cakra's descendant, put his question to Yājñavalkya. We have already heard that a person gripped by the great graspers born of his own merit and demerit goes round and round, forever dropping one grip only to pick up another. And we have already heard of merit's highest reward too -- the self reached where the collective and the individual, duality and oneness, come together. But what about the one still caught in that grip, still transmigrating -- does he even exist, or not? And if he exists, what marks him out? It is to settle exactly this, to discriminate the true self, that Uṣasta now asks his question. Once you grasp that self as it actually is -- free of every limiting condition, untouched by action or agency -- you are released from the very bondage just described, cause and all. The story behind this exchange, though, is simply well known.
Close to the Sanskrit
Then indeed Uṣasta Cākrāyaṇa questioned him. It has been said that one seized by the great over-graspers driven by merit and demerit transmigrates, again and again releasing and taking up graspers and over-graspers; and the supreme excellence of merit has also been explained -- the topic already set forth, having the form of the collective and the individual, the attainment of the self that is the oneness of duality. But he who, seized by graspers and over-graspers, transmigrates -- does he exist, or does he not exist? And if he exists, what is he characterized by? -- with this aim, for the sake of discriminating the self itself, Uṣasta's question now begins. And from the attainment of that self, whose own nature is free of limiting conditions, whose essential nature is utterly free of action and agency, one is released from the bondage described before, together with its very cause. The narrative connection, however, is well known.