Prose-section 16
In plain words
There is a wondrous power of the supreme Lord, of Brahman, called “the unmanifest,” “ignorance,” “maya” and other names. It has three qualities, is inferred from its effects, stands above everything seen and gives rise to the whole world. It cannot be conclusively classified as real or unreal, different or non-different, with parts or without them—or as both members of any pair. Beginningless yet removable, it ends through knowledge of non-dual Brahman, just as the imagined snake disappears when the rope is known. Rajas is its active, projecting power. It impels outward involvement and gives rise to attachment, distress, desire, anger, greed, pretension, envy, egoism, jealousy and rivalry. Through this agitation it sustains bondage. Tamas conceals: it makes reality appear otherwise. Joined with projection, it sustains samsara. Intelligence, scholarship and practical skill alone do not remove this concealment. A person may repeatedly hear clear instruction yet continue to prefer what ignorance has projected. Non-understanding, inability to accept what is taught, doubt and contrary conviction persist; projection keeps the mind agitated. Ignorance, laziness, dullness, sleep and neglect of the needed undertaking express tamas. The resulting insensibility is compared to sleep or to an unmoving post.
Word for word
There is a greatly wondrous power of the supreme Lord, Brahman, bearing the names unmanifest, ignorance, maya and the like. It consists of the three qualities, is inferred by the discerning from its effects, is beyond all seen objects, and produces the entire world. It is none of the nine alternatives—real, unreal, both; different, non-different, both; with parts, without parts, both—and is therefore indeterminable, not describable as this or that. It is beginningless and perishes through knowledge of pure non-dual Brahman, as the delusion of a snake perishes through knowledge of the rope. Of this power’s three qualities, sattva, rajas and tamas, known through effects familiar to everyone, the active power of rajas is called projecting power and causes all outward activity. Through it arise all mental modifications such as attachment and suffering. Desire, anger, greed, pretension, fault-finding envy, egoism, jealousy, rivalry and similar mental changes are its attributes. Its fault of impelling people into activity makes projecting power a cause of bondage. The power of tamas is called concealing power. Through it reality appears otherwise. Associated with projecting power, it is the primary cause of a person’s samsara. Someone covered by it may be intelligent, learned, skilful, versed in subtle meanings and capable in everything; yet, though the teacher and others explain the Self clearly in many ways, this concealment prevents understanding. That person considers things superimposed through ignorant delusion to be good and pursues them. Non-apprehension, inability to recognise even when told, doubt and contrary understanding do not leave one subject to this immensely powerful and hard-to-remove concealment. Projecting power also continually drags and agitates that person. Ignorance, laziness, dullness, sleep, negligence of what should be done, and delusion are modifications of tamas. One subject to them knows nothing and remains insensible like someone asleep or like a post.