Question and answer 9

Disciple: Please explain the difference between support and substratum.

Guru: In the false snake there also appears the 'this' that belongs to the rope, its general aspect, mixed in with the snake. In the same way, in the false world there appears, mixed in, the 'is' that belongs to the Self: the Self's general form, its aspect of being. That is what supports the world. The rope also has a particular aspect, its being a rope, which does not appear while the delusion lasts and which ends the delusion when it does. Like that, the Self has its particular form: unattached, immutable, ever free, all-pervading and the rest. That is the substratum of the world.

Disciple: The distinction of support and substratum, separating them, please tell.

Guru: Like the general aspect of the rope called 'this', which appears mixed in as 'this' even in the false snake, the aspect of being, which is the Self's general form and appears mixed in as 'it is' even in the false world, is the world's support. Like the particular aspect of the rope called 'rope', the Self's particular form, unattached, immutable, ever free, all-pervading and the rest, which does not appear at the time of delusion and which, when it appears, makes the delusion go, is the world's substratum.