With the close of the fourth chapter, a profound silence descends, as if the teachings themselves have merged into the infinite sky. What has been spoken is vast and subtle, transcending all notions of higher or lower, beyond even the utterance of the imperishable syllable, for when all play and non-play are negated, what remains to be said? Through the teachings that begin with “That Thou Art,” the truth has been firmly established in the Self. You are that—free from every limitation, equal to all. O mind, why do you grieve, when you are the very essence of equality? There is no above or below, no inside or outside, nothing singular to cling to. All is equal—so why this sorrow, O mind, when you are all-equal? There is no inquiry into imagined concepts, no search for cause and effect. Words themselves fall away, and in this equality, what remains to trouble you? There is no samadhi of knowledge or ignorance, no samadhi of place or non-place, no samadhi of time or its absence. All these dissolutions reveal the same truth: why grieve, O mind, when all is equal? There is no pot-space, nor any pot; no embodied soul, nor any separate soul; no division of cause and effect. Why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? Liberation is ever-present here, untouched by distinctions of short or long, circle or angle. Why this sorrow when all is equal? Here, emptiness and non-emptiness vanish; purity and impurity are gone; all and not-all are transcended. All is equal—why grieve, O mind? There is no consideration of difference or non-difference, no inquiry into inner or outer connections. Free from enemy and friend, everything stands equal. Why do you grieve? There is no essence of disciple or teacher, no inquiry into the distinction between the moving and the unmoving. Liberation is uninterrupted, everywhere. Why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? There is neither form nor formlessness, neither difference nor non-difference, neither creation nor dissolution. All is equal—why grieve? There is no bondage by virtue or vice; how could actions of the living or the dead bind you? Pure and stainless, all is equal—why grieve, O mind? Here, there is neither state nor non-state, neither desire nor absence of desire. Consciousness and darkness are equally liberation. Why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? Essence is uninterrupted here, with no absence of connection or disconnection. All is free, all is equal—why grieve? Whether homeless or in a hut, all companions are equal. The highest is free from attachment and non-attachment, from knowledge and ignorance. Why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? There is neither change nor changelessness, neither distinction nor non-distinction—both are unreal. Truth abides only in the Self. Why grieve, O mind, when all is equal? Here, all beings are truly equal, uninterrupted, unmoving. Why grieve, O mind, when all is equal? Discrimination and non-discrimination are ignorance, as are imagination and its absence. Only uninterrupted knowledge remains. Why grieve? There is no state of liberation, no state of bondage, no state of merit or sin, no fullness or emptiness. Why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? If equality is free from color and non-color, cause and effect, difference and non-difference, why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? All consciousness here is uninterrupted, unmoving, and free from duality. Why grieve? All-pervading, utterly pure, unmoving, and beyond day and night—why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? There is no meeting of bondage and liberation, union and separation, reasoning and non-reasoning. Why grieve? Time and timelessness are negated; even the smallest atom and the subtlest are negated. Only pure truth remains. Why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? Here, there is neither body nor bodilessness; the highest is free from dream and deep sleep, free from expression and its absence. Why grieve, O mind, when all is equal? Like the sky—pure, vast, equal to all, utterly free from distinction, the same in all—devoid of essence, expansion, or change: why do you grieve, O mind, when all is equal? Here, virtue and vice are transcended, substance and non-substance surpassed, desire and its absence left behind. Why grieve, O mind, when all is equal? Pleasure and pain are absent, sorrow and its absence transcended; teacher and disciple are left behind—the truth is supreme. Why grieve, O mind, when all is equal? There is neither sprout nor essence nor expansion; neither movement nor stillness, sameness nor difference; neither inquiry nor absence of inquiry. Why grieve, O mind, when all is equal? Here, the essence is the collection of all essences, said to be the differentiation of one’s own nature. The functioning of the senses in objects is unreal. Why grieve, O mind, when all is equal? The scriptures declare in many ways that this world, beginning with space, is like a mirage. But if all is one, uninterrupted, and equal, why grieve, O mind, when all is equal? He attains, he attains—not at all, not at all—where there is no mark or sign, not at all, not at all. Absorbed in the taste of sameness, purified by contemplation, the supreme Avadhuta speaks the truth. Thus ends the fifth chapter. Again, the scriptures proclaim in many ways that we and this world, beginning with space, are like a mirage. But if all is one, uninterrupted, supremely auspicious and incomparable, how can there be any comparison? If the supreme is beyond distinction and non-distinction, beyond action and non-action, and all is one, uninterrupted, and supremely auspicious, then how can there be worship or austerity? The mind itself is uninterrupted and all-pervading, beyond limitation and vastness, supremely auspicious. How can it be grasped by mind or speech? When the distinction between day and night dissolves, when what is arisen and unarisen dissolves—if all is one, uninterrupted, and supremely auspicious, then how can there be sun, moon, or fire? When the distinction between desire and its absence, action and inaction, dissolves—if all is one, uninterrupted, and supremely auspicious, how can there be inner or outer difference in the mind? If there is no essence or non-essence, no emptiness or non-emptiness, and all is one, uninterrupted, and supremely auspicious, how can there be a first or a last? Thus, the teaching resounds: all is one, all is equal, uninterrupted, and supremely auspicious. O mind, why do you grieve?