O mind, why do you grieve when all is equal? If there is a state where equality is untouched by color or absence of color, where it is free from both cause and effect, and where neither difference nor non-difference holds sway—what reason is there for sorrow? In this reality, consciousness is everywhere, uninterrupted, unmoving, and utterly free from duality. All-pervading and pure, it stands beyond the divisions of day and night, filling all with its presence. Here, the notions of bondage and liberation do not meet; union and separation do not arise; reasoning and its absence have no place. In such perfect equality, what cause remains for your lament, O mind? Time and timelessness dissolve, the smallest and the subtlest are negated, and only pure truth remains unnegated. There is neither body nor bodilessness; the highest reality is untouched by dream or deep sleep, beyond all expression and non-expression. Like the sky—vast, pure, and equal to all, utterly free from every distinction, the same in every being—this truth has no essence, no expansion, no change. Here, virtue and vice, substance and non-substance, desire and its absence—all are transcended. Pleasure and pain, sorrow and its absence, teacher and disciple—these too are surpassed, leaving only the supreme truth. There is no sprout, essence, or expansion; no movement or stillness, no sameness or difference, no inquiry or its absence. The very essence here is the collection of all essences, manifesting as the differentiation of one’s own nature; the operation of the senses upon objects is but a play of unreality. The scriptures, in many ways, declare this world—beginning with space—to be like a mirage. When all is one, uninterrupted and equal, what reason remains for grief? Attainment and non-attainment vanish where there is no mark or sign; absorbed in the taste of sameness, purified by contemplation, the supreme Avadhuta speaks truth. Thus ends the fifth chapter. Again, the scriptures proclaim that both we and this world—beginning with space—are like a mirage. When all is one, uninterrupted, supremely auspicious, and beyond compare, 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, how could there be worship or austerity? The mind itself is uninterrupted, all-pervading, beyond limitation and vastness, supremely auspicious—how can mind or speech grasp it? When the distinction of day and night dissolves, when what is arisen and unarisen dissolves, and all is one and supremely auspicious, how could there be sun, moon, or fire? When desire and its absence, action and inaction dissolve, and all is one, how could inner or outer differences arise in the mind? If there is neither essence nor non-essence, neither emptiness nor non-emptiness, and all is one, how could there be a first or last? When distinction and non-distinction, knower and known dissolve, what room remains for the third or fourth state? What is spoken or unspoken, known or unknown, is not true; when all is one, how can there be objects, senses, intellect, or mind? Sky and wind, earth and fire—none are true; when all is one, how can cloud or water remain? When the imagined world and imagined gods dissolve, how can the mind judge qualities and faults? Death and birth, action and inaction, are negated; when only the one, all-pervading Shiva remains, how can one speak of coming and going? Prakriti and Purusha are not truly separate, nor is there real cause and effect. When only the one Shiva pervades all, how can one speak of Purusha and non-Purusha? There is no third thing to bring suffering, nor does the second arise from qualities; when only Shiva remains, how can there be old age, youth, or childhood? This reality is beyond ashrama and caste, beyond cause and doer; when only Shiva is, how can there be the thought of destruction or indestructibility? The notions of eater and uneaten, born and unborn, are false; when only Shiva is, how can there be perishable or imperishable? The idea of the perishing of man or non-man, woman or non-woman, is false; when only Shiva is, how can there be pleasure or its absence? If all is beyond delusion and sorrow, doubt and grief, and only Shiva pervades, how can the notions of “I” and “mine” arise? The destruction of dharma and adharma, bondage and liberation, is spoken of; when only Shiva is, how can there be thoughts of pain or its absence? There is truly no distinction between sacrificer and sacrifice, fire and offering; when only Shiva is, how could there be results of action? Free from sorrow and its absence, pride and its absence, when only Shiva is, how could there be thoughts of attachment or detachment? There is no transformation of delusion or its absence, greed or its absence; when only Shiva is, how could there be discrimination or non-discrimination? You and I—there is never truly a killer; family and birth are unreal. If I alone am Shiva, the highest reality, how could there be any greeting or salutation? The distinction of teacher and disciple, of instruction itself, is dissolved. If I alone am Shiva, the highest reality, how could there be any greeting or salutation? There is no imagined division of bodies or worlds; if I alone am Shiva, the highest reality, how could there be any greeting or salutation? There is never any with or without passion; it is pure, unmoving, spotless. If I alone am Shiva, the highest reality, how could there be any greeting or salutation? There is no distinction of body and bodilessness; conduct is not real. If I alone am Shiva, the highest reality, how could there be any greeting or salutation here?