Question and answer 17

Disciple: The world may be false, but it causes the sorrow of birth and the rest. A false and frightening dream stops appearing through japa and the like; by what will the world stop appearing?

Guru: Whatever appears through ignorance of something is removed only by knowledge of that very thing. The snake and the silver, which appear when rope and shell are not known, go only through knowledge of them; so the world, which appears because your Self is not known, will go only when the Self is known. 'Brahman is undivided, of one essence, unattached, without birth and the rest, unseen, free of name and form. Ignorance imagined in it, with its effects, jīva, Īśvara and the world, never exist in any of the three times; they are false. All that is seen is only the play of the intellect, an effect of that ignorance. Brahman, unmoving, gives light to the intellect. This intellect displays its false play in waking and dream, and merges into ignorance in deep sleep. As the water of a mirage does not wet the desert, this false thing does no harm to me, who am its substratum. I am Brahman, whose nature is being, consciousness and bliss.' This conviction is knowledge. This alone is the means to liberation. I have told you so already. Darkness is not removed by any means except light; so this darkness is not removed by karma, upāsanā or anything else. In whatever heart the light of knowledge dawns, the darkness of ignorance, with all its effects, leaves that heart. Such a one remains always the Self, which is Brahman, unattached and of one essence. Nothing came into being before. Nothing is now. Nothing will come into being hereafter. Since there is nothing seen to be known, there is not even the name 'witness' or 'seer'; with no bondage, no liberation; with no ignorance, no knowledge either. The one who has known this and has nothing left to do is a jñānī. He desires nothing; whether his senses go out to their objects or turn back from them, he remains unattached, and so, whatever he may be seen to do, he does nothing at all.

Disciple: Though the world is false, since it causes the sorrow of birth and the rest, as a false frightening dream does not appear by japa and the like, by what will it not appear?

Guru: Whatever appears through ignorance of whatever, that is removed by knowledge of that alone. As the snake and the silver, appearing through not knowing rope and shell, go by knowledge of them alone, so the world too, appearing because your Self is unknown to you, will go by knowledge of the Self alone. 'Brahman is undivided, of one essence, unattached, without birth and the rest, unseen, free of name and form. The ignorance imagined in it, with its effects, jīva, Īśvara and the world, not existing in the three times, are false. All that is seen is the intellect's play, the effect of that ignorance. Brahman, unmoving, illumines the intellect. This intellect, showing its false play in waking and dream, merges in ignorance in deep sleep. As the water of a mirage does not wet the desert, this false thing does no harm to me, the substratum. I am by nature Brahman, being, consciousness and bliss': this conviction alone is knowledge. This alone is the means of liberation. This I have told before. As darkness does not go by any means, goes by light alone, it does not go by karma, upāsanā or anything else; in whose heart knowledge's light dawns, leaving his heart the darkness of ignorance with its effects goes away. He is always the Self, Brahman, unattached, of one essence. Before, nothing came into being. Now too there is nothing. Hereafter too nothing will come into being. Since there is no seen to be known, the names witness and seer, since there is no bondage, liberation, since there is no ignorance, knowledge, are not. One who has known this and given up what is to be done is a jñānī. He, without desire for anything, whether the senses engage in their objects or withdraw, since he remains unattached, whatever he may be seen as doing, is one who does nothing.