When the roots of worldly existence are finally uprooted, the seeker’s establishment in the serene, non-conceptual samadhi becomes unwavering. Freed from the stains of thought and imagination, the mind becomes spotless, clear as the open sky. Yet, by the momentum of a few remaining sensory actions and their causes, one continues in this world for a little while longer. Just as, upon recognizing the nature of a dream, one understands the dream body to be unreal, so too, even though the waking body is experienced, it is not truly real. When the impressions that sustain the dream are exhausted, the dream body ceases; in the same way, when the impressions underlying waking life are thinned out, the waking body also ceases. At the end of the dream body, which is shaped by imagination, the waking body is seen in the same manner; and when the waking imagination comes to an end, another, subtler body arises. In dreams, when the seeds of impression are absent, deep sleep occurs; in waking, when these seeds are absent, liberation dawns. The impressions that persist in the liberated while living are not truly impressions at all; rather, this is called pure existence—the common substratum of all being. The impression that remains in sleep is called deep sleep, while that which remains in waking is termed dense delusion. The sleep in which impressions are fully exhausted is described as ‘the fourth’—the turiya state—and this can also arise during waking, when the supreme state is realized. This state of living with exhausted impressions is not recognized by those who are not liberated; it is known as liberation while living. When the mind, freed from impurities and cut off from latent tendencies, attains the subtle body, it is like water heated by fire, which becomes vapor. The mind, having reached the subtle body through inner awakening, meets with perfected beings who dwell in other worlds and cycles of creation, but not with ordinary beings. When the sense of ‘I’ has come to rest through repeated practice, then, before your very eyes, the vastness of pure awareness arises of itself. When the state of the subtle body is realized, one attains an eternal condition; then, by the light of another’s thought, one’s nature is purified. Therefore, O blameless one, strive to attenuate the latent impressions; when this becomes firm, you will attain liberation while still living. Until this pure moon of awareness is fully risen, remain in the body and observe other worlds. A body of flesh can only unite with another body of flesh, not with the mental body, in dealings and actions. This has been stated according to direct experience and as it truly is; it is accomplished from childhood, and is not like a boon or a curse. Through repeated practice of deep awareness, this very body develops a distaste for worldly tendencies, and truly, the mind itself becomes the body. When this state arises, it is not perceived by others; people see only the body as dying. But in truth, this body neither dies nor truly lives; who indeed experiences death or life, which are but illusions of dream and imagination? Life and death, in this person of imagination, are equally unreal; they only appear so, my child, within this body. This pure knowledge has been imparted to me by you, O goddess; when it is heard, the fever of worldly existence comes to rest. Here, who is there to assist, what kind of practice is there, and how does it occur? How does it gain strength, and what happens when it is perfected? Whatever is done, by whomever, whenever and however—without practice, it never attains success here. Contemplating that, speaking of that, awakening one another to that, and meditating with one’s breath absorbed in that—this, the wise know as the practice of Brahman. Those whose sins have ended, who perform virtuous deeds, and who are free from the delusion of duality, are known as servants of Brahman. Those who spend their nights in contemplation of spiritual scriptures, whose latent tendencies have become thin, are established in the practice of Brahman. Great souls who are dispassionate, whose inclination toward enjoyment has diminished, and who contemplate the state beyond becoming, are the blessed ones who triumph on earth. Those whose minds are adorned with the rising qualities of generosity and beauty, colored by the flavor of detachment and overflowing with bliss—these are the supreme practitioners. Those who strive, through reasoning and scripture, to know the complete absence of the knowable object, are established in the practice of Brahman. The wise know the practice of awareness as this: “The visible world was not produced at the beginning of creation, nor does it ever exist; this world and ‘I’ are only notions.” The delight which arises from the knowledge of the non-existence of the visible world, and from the thinning of attachment, aversion, and the like, is called the practice of Brahman. The thinning of attachment, aversion, and the like, through the knowledge of the non-existence of the visible, is called austerity in the world; but the error of seeing reality in the visible is the cause of suffering. When the impossibility of the perceived is realized, knowledge of the knowable is said to arise; through practice of that, liberation is attained—such practice is of great consequence. The long night of worldly existence, thick with the sleep of delusion, is gradually dissolved by the constant showers of discerning awareness, just as a great autumnal frost melts away under cool, gentle rains. Thus, when the sage had spoken, the day came to its evening close and the sun set; the assembly, having offered their salutations, departed to bathe, and the rays of the sun faded away into the darkening sky. After this discourse, during that night, in the inner chambers where the noble lady lay, while all attendants slept, surely within the palace hall—with all doors, bolts, and windows firmly secured, in a mind alert and steady, filled with the rich fragrance of abundant flowers—she sat beside a couch adorned with unfading garlands, in a place illuminated by the radiant faces of women as flawless as the full moon.