O Rama, listen closely as the wise sage reveals the true nature of the world and its arising. Imagine, if you will, a tree conjured in the sky by the son of a barren woman—a mere notion, never born, never destroyed. In the same way, this world exists only in thought, without true origin or end. Try, if you can, to braid the wind with the hair of a blossoming flower. Just as such an act is an empty fancy, so too is the existence of this world—mere words without substance. When you see a golden bracelet, you recognize only gold; there is no real entity called 'bracelet' apart from the gold itself. In the same way, all that you perceive as 'world' is nothing but the Supreme alone. Consider space: there is no separate emptiness within it. Similarly, in Brahman, there is no real 'world-ness,' even for one who perceives it. Just as blackness is not truly born from lampblack, nor coldness from snow, so too, when seen rightly, the world does not exist in the Supreme State. The coolness of the moon is not apart from the moon; likewise, creation does not stand apart from Brahman. There is no water in a mirage, nor moonlight in a phantom second moon. Even when it appears, this world has no true existence in the pure Self. The light of awareness shines as the eye of consciousness in the vast sky of awareness. In the pure space called 'the world,' it appears like a string of pearls revealed to sight. In this space of consciousness, that which shines as consciousness 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 now—how could it ever be destroyed? How could inertness, which arises from non-origination, become the cause of inert objects like earth and so on? It is as if sunlight were the cause of a shadow. Where there is no cause, no effect has ever been declared; whatever is the cause alone exists, and remains in that way. Whatever appears as unborn is but the radiance of consciousness; whatever world is seen in a dream is nothing but the shining of consciousness. The shining of consciousness within is like the illusion of a dream-world; at the beginning of creation, in Brahman, the shining of the world spreads out in just this way. Whatever is seen is truly established in the Self; the world neither sets nor rises at any time. As liquidity belongs to water, motion to wind, and radiance to light, so Brahman alone is the essence of the three worlds. Just as a city appears within, or a deity in the awareness of a dream, so the world seems to shine forth—it is only your own Self in the Supreme Self. But you may wonder, O Brahman, how is it that people are so convinced of the world's reality? This visible world has arisen like an unreal experience in a dream. When there is something seen, there is a seer; when there is a seer, there is something seen. Bondage arises from the existence of both; liberation comes when either one ceases. As long as the object is not wholly impossible and the mind does not abandon it, the state of non-seership in the seer cannot arise, nor can it grant liberation. If the object first arises and later perishes, then, due to memory, the bondage—being nothing but useless recollection—does not cease. Wherever the mind is established, like its own reflection in a mirror, a reflection arises; this is the memory of creation. In the beginning, the perceived world does not arise. If it does not exist by itself, then, with the absence of the illusion of seer and seen, liberation is attained. Therefore, O best among knowers of the Self, dispel for me, through reasoning, the notion of impossible liberation, and speak of the utter impossibility of the perceived world. Just as the world of creation appears though it is unreal, so too, O Rama, listen as I explain this to you at length. Until this is fully described by words of decisive teaching, the dust in your heart will not settle, just as silt does not settle in a lake. When you realize the absolute nonexistence of this illusion of world-creation, you will act in the world established in the one-pointedness of meditation. The appearances of existence and nonexistence, grasping and letting go, gross and subtle, moving and unmoving, will strike at you but will not pierce you, just as arrows cannot pierce a great mountain. There is indeed only this one Self; there is no second, not even as a notion. I will explain to you, O Raghava, how this world appears here. Therefore, O dear one, that great Self alone manifests all these things. Being the abode of the light of perception, thought, and mind, it itself arises and subsides in all forms. From that supreme, tranquil, and most pure state, listen with your highest understanding to how this universe has arisen. Just as deep sleep appears like a dream, so too does only Brahman shine forth as creation; all is one and peaceful—now hear the sequence. Of that infinite, self-luminous essence, the jewel of pure consciousness, there is, by its very nature, a mere existence that is continuous. In that Self, something seems to become an object of awareness, though nothing is truly grasped; this is the first sign of the stir of consciousness, a subtle cognition. Through imagined formations of future objects, it takes on a slight conceptual form—subtler than space, pure, and the revealer of all that will be. From that, the supreme existence, transcending being, turns toward consciousness; by that, it becomes fit for awareness, as it becomes slightly accessible. Then, through dense awareness, it receives the name of the future individual soul and others—this is the Self’s own conception, as it descends from the supreme state. When it is poised only in the notion of its own singular being, ready for manifestation, then, by the very nature of reality, these subtle bodies abide in it. Immediately after this, the emptiness of space arises. It is the seed of qualities such as sound and will give rise to future objects of expression. Then, the sense of 'I' emerges, together with the existence of time; these are the primary seeds for the sustenance of the world and its future expressions. Thus, O Rama, the universe appears to arise—yet all is only the radiance of the Self, the Supreme Brahman, pure and undivided.