In the course of a profound teaching, the sage begins to reveal the nature of ultimate reality. He explains that when there are no objects to perceive, neither the visible world nor the seer remain; all dissolves into pure illumination. This shining presence, untouched by duality, is the very form of reality itself. He continues, saying that when the living being’s awareness is oriented toward objects, it identifies with the body. But what is pure, peaceful consciousness alone—that is the true cause behind all causes. He offers an analogy: when a thumb or finger is untouched by wind or any external influence, what remains is the living mind’s form, which is the supreme Self. After long contemplation, the form that endures is without sleep, infinite, never inert, and firmly established. This, he assures, is what remains for the one who is sinless. He describes the supreme Self as the heart of space, or of a stone, or of wind—an ungraspable consciousness-space, elusive yet real. The sage then points to the state of the ungraspable, mindless, living one who acts—that peaceful, supreme existence is the being of the primordial substance. The center of consciousness-light, or of dense radiance, or the center of perception—all these are forms of the supreme Self. Awareness, beginningless and endless, exists within sensation, light, the visible, and darkness; this, too, is the supreme Self’s form. From this consciousness, the world appears to arise, though it never truly comes into being; it seems divided but remains undivided—this is the supreme Self. Even for one engaged in worldly affairs, the seat that is like a stone—space within non-space—is the form of the supreme Self. This triad—the known, the knowing, and the knower—wherever it arises and wherever it subsides, that alone is the supreme and highest. That in which the known, the knowing, and the knower are reflected, in the great mirror of non-mind, is called the supreme form. Whatever form of great consciousness is free from mind, the six senses, and their tendencies, whether in the moving or unmoving, that alone remains at the end of creation. If the form of unmoving beings is made of consciousness, free from mind, intellect, and the rest, then it is equal to the supreme. In the peace of Brahma, the sun, Vishnu, Hara, Indra, Sadashiva, and others, only one supreme Shiva abides; the rest are designated, indestructible, untroubled, desired, mixed or unmixed, subtle, the support of the supported. At this point, a disciple asks: “This visible world, so radiant, with such form and name—O Brahman, where does it go when the great dissolution arrives? From where does it come, and of what kind is it? Where does the son of a barren woman go? Where does the sky-forest go, and from where does it arise? Tell me.” The sage answers: “The son of a barren woman and the sky-forest never exist, nor will they ever exist; what kind of visibility do they have, and what kind of non-existence is theirs? Just as in the sky of a barren woman's son there are never any forests, so too, the entire visible world never truly exists.” He continues: “That which never existed at the beginning is neither produced nor destroyed; how can there be talk of origin or destruction for such a thing? The imagined tree in the sky of a barren woman's son exists only as a notion; just as it has no birth or destruction, so too is this world.” He offers another analogy: “Try to braid the wind with the hair of a blossoming flower—just as such speech is without substance, so too is the existence of the world. Just as a golden bracelet is clearly seen, yet there is no ‘bracelet-ness’ apart from the gold, so too is ‘world-ness’ in the Supreme.” Just as there is no distinct emptiness in space, so in Brahman there is no real ‘world-ness,’ even for one who perceives it. Blackness does not come from lampblack, nor coldness from snow—so too, when rightly understood, the world does not exist in the Supreme State. The coolness of the moon is not separate from the moon itself; so creation does not exist as something distinct from Brahman. There is no water in a mirage, nor moonlight in a second moon; so too, this world does not truly exist, even when it appears, in the pure Self. The light of awareness, as the eye of consciousness, shines in the sky of awareness; in the pure space called ‘the world,’ it appears like a string of pearls released to sight. In the space of consciousness, that which shines as consciousness itself, by its own nature, is perceived by itself as its own form, and is understood as ‘the world.’ That which does not exist at the beginning, due to the absence of a cause, does not exist even in the present; how could destruction occur for something like that? How could inertness, arising from non-origination, become the cause of inert objects like earth and so on? It is like sunlight being the cause of a shadow. Because of the absence of a cause, no effect has ever been declared here; whatever is the cause alone exists, and remains established in that way. Whatever appears as unborn is only the radiance of consciousness; whatever world is seen in a dream is nothing but the shining of consciousness. The shining of consciousness within is just like the illusion of a dream-world; in the beginning of creation, in Brahman, the shining of the world is spread out in the same way. Whatever is seen here is truly established in the Self; the world never sets nor rises at any time. Just as liquidity belongs to water, motion to wind, and radiance to light, so Brahman alone is the essence of the three worlds. As a city appears within, like a deity in the awareness of a dream, so the world seems to shine forth, but it is one’s own Self in the Supreme Self. The disciple asks again: “If it is so, then how, O Brahman, can you explain the firm conviction of reality? This visible world has arisen like an unreal experience in a dream.” The sage replies: “When the seen exists, there is a seer; when the seer exists, there is something seen. Bondage arises from the existence of both; liberation comes when either one ceases. As long as the object is not utterly impossible and the mind does not abandon it, the state of non-seership in the seer cannot arise, nor can it grant liberation.” Thus, the sage gently guides the disciple to understand that the world, though appearing radiant and real, is but the shining of pure consciousness. It has no independent existence; it is neither born nor destroyed, neither truly arising nor subsiding. In the supreme Self alone, all forms and names are dissolved, and only pure awareness remains.