It is by the knowledge of this transcendent Supreme Spirit and God of gods that one may become an adept, and not by the rigor of religious austerities and practices. ² Here nothing else is needed than the culture and practice of divine knowledge, and thereby the truth being known, one views the errors of the world like a satisfied traveler looks at a mirage in a clear light.

³ God is not far from or too near us. He is not obtainable by what He is not (such as adoration of images and ritual acts). He is the image of light and joy and is perceivable in ourselves. ⁴ Here austerities and charities, religious vows and observances are of no good whatever. It is only the calm peacefulness of one's own nature that is of value fort a person to serve God.

⁵ The best means to attain divine knowledge are fondness for the society of the righteous and devotion to the study of good books. Ritual services and practices serve only to strengthen the trap of our inborn delusions, which only true knowledge can sever. ⁶ As soon as one knows one's own inner light to be God, one gets rid of his miseries and becomes liberated in his living state.

- YVIII.6.1-6

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Incident to the universal dissolution, when all things are reduced to nothing, this infinity of visible objects remains in a state of calm and quiet before their creation. ⁴ There is only great God in existence, who is uncreated and without decay, who is the creator of all at all times, who is all in all and Supreme Soul of all, and who resembles the sun that never sets. ⁵ He whom language fails to describe, and who is known only to the liberated, who is termed the soul only by fiction and not by his real nature (which is unknowable). ⁶ He is the Cosmic Man (purusha) of the Samkhya philosophers, the Brahman of Vedanta followers, the Intelligence of Gnostics, wholly pure and apart from all. ⁷ He is known as Vacuum by vacuists, and the One who gives the sun its light. He is truth itself, the power of speech and thought and vision, and all action and passion forever.

⁸ He is who, though ever existent everywhere, appears as nonexistent to the world, and though situated in all bodies, seems to be far from them. He is the Enlightener of our understanding, like the light of the sun to the world. ⁹ It is He from whom the gods Vishnu and others are produced, like solar rays from the sun, and from whom infinite worlds have come into existence like bubbles of the sea.

¹⁰ It is He to whom these multitudes of visible creations return, like the waters of the earth to the sea, and who enlightens all souls and bodies like a lamp. ¹¹ He is present alike in heaven, in earth, and in the nether worlds, who abides equally in all bodies whether of the mineral, vegetable or animal. He resides alike in each particle of dust as in the high and huge mountain ranges, and He rides as swiftly on the wings of winds as He sleeps in the depths of the earth. ¹² He appoints the eight internal and external organs of sense and action to their several functions, and He has made dull and dumb creatures as inert as stones and mute as if they sitting in meditation. ¹³ He has filled the skies with emptiness and the rocks with solidity. He has dissolved waters to fluidity and has concentrated all light and heat in the sun. ¹⁴ He has spread these wonderful scenes of the world like clouds sprinkle charming showers of rain, both as endless and constant as they are charming and sweet to sight.

¹⁵ It is He who causes the appearance and disappearance of worlds in the sphere of His infinity, like waves in the ocean, and in whom these phenomena rise and set like the running sands of the desert. ¹⁶ His spirit is the indestructible soul that resides as the germ of decay and destruction inside animals. It is so minute as to lie hidden within the body, and so huge as to fill all existence.

¹⁷ His nature (prakriti) spreads Herself like a magic vine throughout the space of emptiness and produces the fair fruit in the form of the cosmic egg (brahmanda), while the outward organs of bodies, resembling the branches of this plant, keep dancing about the stem (the intelligent soul), shaken by the breeze of life which is ever fleeting. ¹⁸ It is He who shines as the gem of intelligence in the heart of the human body, and it is He from whom the luminous orbs constituting the universe continually derive their luster.

¹⁹ It is that colossus of intelligence which like a cloud sheds ambrosial draughts of delight to soothe our souls and showers forth innumerable beings everywhere like raindrops. It bursts into constant flashes showing the prospects of repeated creations which are as momentary as flashes of lightening. ²⁰ It is His wonderful light that displays the worlds to our wondering sight, and it is from His being that both real and unreal derive their reality and unreality.

²¹ The unconscious and ungodly soul turns to the attractions of others against its own purpose, while the tranquil soul rests in itself.

²² It is He who transcends all existences, and by whom all existent beings are bound, in their proper times and places, to their destined actions, as they are also bound to their free actions, motions and efforts of all kinds. ²³ It is He who from His personality of pure consciousness (cit, cosmic consciousness), became of the form of emptiness, then by means of His empty mind and empty thoughts filled it with substances, wherein His soul was to reside, and whereon His spirit had to preside.

²⁴ Having thus made the infinite hosts of worlds in the immense sphere of the universe, He is yet neither the agent of any action nor the author of any act in it, but remains ever the same as the sole One alone, in His unchangeable and unimpaired state of self-consciousness, and without any fluctuation, evolution or adhesion of Himself, as He is quite unconcerned with the world.

- YVIII.5.3-24

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Whatever the mind (chitta) wills regarding the creation of the world, the same immediately appears before it, whether producing something nonexistent to view, annihilating something that once existed, or the representing one as another. ² The mind is said to be subject to the vital breath (prana, subtle energy, life force) whenever it fancies itself as the vital breath, and can neither exist nor do anything without it being moved by the air of respiration. ³ It thinks it cannot live long without the association of respiration, and it must come back to its life and its living action of thinking with the return of breathing.

⁴ Again, as the mind fancies that it is accompanied by vital breath in some living body, it finds itself instantly joined with such breath. It beholds the world rising to view like an enchanted city. ⁵ The mind thinks of the convenience of its union with the vital breath and body. With this thinking it is pleased to remain forever as a triple being, combining intellectuality, vitality and materiality.

⁶ Know that false knowledge keeps the mind in suspense and is the cause of great sorrow to mankind. There is no way of getting rid of it except by the true knowledge of the Self. ⁷ He who thinks there is a distinction between his self and another can have no correction from his error except by spiritual knowledge of the only spirit. ⁸ There is no way to true knowledge except by inquiry into liberation. Therefore be employed with all diligence to inquire into the means of liberation. ⁹ Truly the very conceptions of individual ego and “I” and another are false and proceed from utter ignorance. There is no other means to remove them except through liberation.

¹⁰ Hence any thought which is habitual to the mind comes to be firmly impressed upon it in time. Therefore the idea that the vital breath is one’s life and all makes his mind dependent upon the breath. ¹¹ So also, when the body is in a healthy state with its vitality, the mind is dependent on it and has its free play. But being in bad health, it feels its life embittered and forgets to know itself in its true nature. ¹² When the respiration is quick in discharging the duties of the body and the mind is engaged in its busy thoughts; then neither is capable of meditation unless they are repressed in the heart. ¹³ These two, mind and respiration, are related to one another like car and driver. What living being is there who is not driven along by them?

¹⁴ The Supreme Spirit ordained the mind and vital breath in this way at the very beginning of creation. Therefore, this law of their cooperation continues unaltered to this day.¹⁵ Hence the mind and vital airs act in concert in all living bodies, conducting them at all times in all places in their stated course of action. ¹⁶ The equal course of both serves the regular conduct of the functions of life. But their unequal course produces dissimilar effects, like that of dreaming when the mind alone is active. The inactivity of both causes the inertness of the body and soul in the state of sound sleep.

¹⁷ When the intestines are blocked or controlled by the digestive juices of food taken into them and the breathing becomes dull and slow, then the mind also becomes calm and quiet. Then follows the blissful state of sound sleep. ¹⁸ When the stomach is filled with food and the lungs are weak with weariness, then breathing remains shallow, bringing on a state of sweet state of deep sleep (sushupti). ¹⁹ Again when the intestinal parts are cool and phlegmatic, or exhausted by loss of blood owing to some sore or wound, and breathing is stopped in the body, there comes the state of numbness of sleep.

- YV.6.2.139.1-19

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We are shining here as created beings by the previous birth of Brahma, but in fact, the reflection of soul shines forever as nothing else.

⁴ Owing to the omnipresence of consciousness, all beings exist as reality everywhere, and if consciousness rises from unreal knowledge, consciousness as real knowledge destroys the unreal one. ⁵ Therefore whatever comes from these five elements is only transitory, but owing to the firm belief of ego, we enjoy a firm faith that it is real.

⁶ In a dream, we see a good many things as reality, but as soon the dream is over, we do not find the things we had dreamed of. As long we remain in ignorance, we see the reality of the world in the same way. ⁷ O Rama, the dreaming man thinks his dream is reality because he has faith in it. In the same way, this world appears as reality to the supreme God who has no beginning or end. ⁸ That which is created by a dreaming man is said to be his own, just as we can say that what is in the seed is in the fruit. ⁹ Whatever comes from non-entity is to be called non-entity. Though the unreal can be workable, it is not reasonable to think that what is unreal is good.

¹⁰ As the thinking result of unreality is to be given up, so the firm faith which arises in the dreaming man that the dream is real must also be given up. ¹¹ Whatever the soul creates in a dream is our firm belief, but that remains only for a short time. ¹² Brahman’s long drawn dream is this world, hence we also think this world is long drawn, but in fact, this world is a moment to Brahman.

¹³ Consciousness is the creator of all elements. She creates everything according to her model, hence creator and creation are one and the same. ¹⁴ As the backward and forward whirling motion of water makes a deep swell, and as a fairy appears in a dream, so all these nothings are in reality. ¹⁵ This entity with its change is nothing. In whatever manner we look at an object, it will appear in the same manner. ¹⁶ The rule of the false dream is not to reproduce because the production is not in the world, but owing to ignorance, it appears so.

¹⁷ In the three worlds we see wonderful objects, such as undersea fire burning in the water. ¹⁸ A good many cities exist in emptiness, and birds and stars remain in the sky. We find a lotus in stone, like trees growing without earth. ¹⁹ One country gives every kind of object to the seeker, like a wish-fulfilling tree that gives all objects to the seeker. We see a stone or rows of jewels like fruit from a fruitful tree. ²⁰ Life like frogs exists within a stone. A moonstone gives water. ²¹ In a dream, many things are made and unmade within a minute, all of which, in fact, are as unreal as one’s death in a dream. ²² The natural water of the elements is suspended in the sky (cloud) when the heavenly Mandakini River remains in emptiness.

²³ A heavy stone or a winged mountain flies in the air. Everything can be obtained through a stone when everything can be secured from the philosopher’s stone. ²⁴ In Indra’s garden of bliss, every desired object can be obtained, but when one is liberated, such kind of desire for objects is lacking. ²⁵ Even dull matter acts like a machine, hence every object acts like wonderful false magic. ²⁶ By magical art we see even impossible objects such as two moons, headless trunks (kavandhas), mantras, drugs, and pisacha ghosts. All these are the works of wonderful false magic and are, in fact, nothing.

-BOOKVI.1.61.3-31

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