The works of Ādi Śaṅkarācārya

Aparokṣānubhūtiḥ

Verse 44

रज्ज्वज्ञानात्क्षणेनैव यद्वद्रज्जुर्हि सर्पिणी ।भाति तद्वच्चितिः साक्षाद्विश्वाकारेण केवला ॥ ४४ ॥

In plain words

Miss the rope, and in that same instant a snake is there — and the snake is the rope. In exactly that way Consciousness, alone, with nothing else beside it, appears directly as this whole universe.

Close to the Sanskrit

Just as, from ignorance of the rope, in an instant the rope itself indeed appears as a snake, so too Consciousness, alone and unmixed, appears directly in the form of the universe.