Prose-section 25
In plain words
Then the disciple said to the teacher: “Teacher, if the supreme Self has taken on a beginningless individuality, whether through delusion or through anything else, then that beginningless adjunct can have no end either. And if it has no end, individuality is eternal and the bondage of samsara never goes. How then can there be liberation? Please be gracious and explain.” The teacher said: “Learned disciple, you have asked well. Hear my answer with attention. Examine carefully, with sound means of knowledge, whatever error and delusion have imagined. The snake appears in the rope while the mistake lasts and is gone when the mistake is gone; in the same way, whatever appears only while the error lasts is no real thing, and when the error ends it vanishes as unreal. The Self is unattached, actionless, without qualities, changeless, formless, being-awareness-bliss, the inward witness. Like blue on the sky, it is touched by nothing at all except in error. Its individuality is unreal, imagined like the water of a mirage, through its being bound up with the intellect, a false beginningless adjunct born of mistaken knowledge. Beginningless, yes, but not a real thing. “Muddy water, once the mud is taken out, looks clear. In the same way, when discrimination of Self and non-Self says ‘not this’ to beginningless ignorance and its effects, ego and the other unreal adjuncts, and removes them, the true knowledge that Brahman and the Self are one, which scripture affirms, shines clear by itself. By that knowledge the error dies, and with it individuality perishes root and all, ignorance and the adjuncts together, just as the beginningless prior absence of a thing comes to an end, and as the dream’s delusion is gone on waking. Only true knowledge born of discriminating Self from non-Self frees one from the bondage of an unreal individuality; nothing else does. So you too, discriminate, and put away the ego and every other unreal thing. This intellect sheath, too, changes, is inert, limited, seen and never the same from one moment to the next; so it cannot be the Self, which is the highest. Can the impermanent become the eternal?”
Word for word
The disciple asked: “Revered teacher, if beginningless individuality has appeared for the supreme Self through delusion or something else, would the beginningless adjunct not also have no end? If it has no end, individuality would be eternal and samsara’s bondage would never cease. How then can liberation occur? Please explain this graciously.” The teacher replied: “Learned disciple, you have asked well. Listen attentively. When things imagined through delusion are carefully examined with valid means of knowledge, they prove to appear only while the error lasts and to vanish as unreal when it ends, like a snake appearing in a rope during error and disappearing when error is destroyed. The Self is unattached, actionless, qualityless, changeless, formless, being-awareness-bliss and the inward witness. It has no relation to an object except through error, like blueness attributed to space. Its unreal individuality is imagined like mirage water through identification with the intellect, a beginningless apparent adjunct arising through mistaken knowledge. “Though beginningless, that individuality is not reality. As water appears clear when its dirt is removed, true knowledge of Brahman–Self identity affirmed by revelation shines clearly when discrimination negates beginningless ignorance and its effects, the unreal adjuncts such as ego. When this knowledge destroys the error, individuality perishes with its root, including ignorance and the adjuncts, just as beginningless prior non-existence comes to an end or dream delusion disappears in waking. Nothing other than true knowledge arising from discrimination releases the bondage of unreal individuality. Therefore you too discriminate and remove unreal things such as ego. The intellectual sheath also cannot be the supreme Self, since it changes, is insentient, limited, seen and inconstant. Can the impermanent be eternal?”