In plain words
What is like that, beginningless, Satya and eternal, remains eternal for ever. To recognise the truth of these two is the very duty of our life. All this is Māyā. As for this Māyā, Śaṅkara said, ‘Yamāsa māyā.’ That is, ‘What is not, that itself is Māyā,’ he said. We may question this. What is not may be called Māyā; but when this vast world is appearing to us in visible form, how is it possible to say it is not! To say that what is, is not! ‘Surely this is not Māyā; when we experience it with every kind of sound, form, taste, smell and the rest, it is not possible to say this is Māyā’: so we may inquire, up to a point. Śaṅkara himself gave a fine example for this. The mansions and terraced houses seen in a dream are not there once the eyes open, are they! That very moment, where are those enjoyments? In the same way, in this waking state you experience things with sound, sight, form, taste, smell and the rest. Then again, these are not there in the state of sleep, are they. So this is a daytime dream, that a night-time dream. Both are just two dreams. ‘Dreams are all nothing but lies,’ he said. So of what we call our life, we cannot say, ‘This is real, that is false.’ As long as our life holds some experiences, to take it as real indeed, and to set about the effort to recognise that Satya, satyasya satyam, the Satya within Satya: that itself is the main effort we must make today. So, as long as there are ties of the body or any other kind of attachment, we must set about only the effort to carry out our duty; but to build up the delusion that they are some special bond, and so fall prey to sorrow, is not the right path for humanness.
“No mother is there, no father is there, there is no kin or brother, no wealth is there, no house is there; so awake, awake!”
So Śaṅkara warned once again.