It was as though the forest goddesses themselves had smiled upon us, for now the household, once troubled by sorrow, stood firmly anchored in supreme merit and peace. Within the open, luminous pavilion, Sarasvati, radiant and playful, addressed her companion, who bore a form as subtle and vast as the sky. The sky-like one, smiling gently, listened in silence, her presence serene and expansive. Their conversation turned to the nature of actions—how deeds performed in dreams and imagination are ultimately futile, unlike those in the waking world, which are undertaken for real purposes. Yet, even in the absence of earth, bodily channels, or vital airs, their discourse arose effortlessly. The awareness of their conversation was itself no different from the awareness found in dreams or the workings of imagination. All that is to be known has been fully known; the seer’s awareness has beheld all that there is to see. Such is the reality of Brahman—what more could be asked? Then arose a question: “The life-force of my departed husband, now ruling another kingdom—why am I not seen there by them, and why do I appear here to my son?” The reply came gently: “Without spiritual practice, dear one, your deep-seated conviction in duality did not dissolve at that time—just as a season does not abruptly end at the turning point between two seasons. One who has not realized nonduality cannot act from the state of nonduality. For one established in asceticism, there is no experience of shadow or limbs. Without practice, O Lila, dissolution did not occur then; and when the state did arise, the power of true resolve was not yours to wield.” “Yet even now, through the experience of truth, your intentions have reached fulfillment. Your wish, O beautiful one, for direct perception, has now come to fruition. If you go near your husband, your interactions with him will proceed just as before.” Lila reflected: “Here itself, within the palace, my husband became a brahmin; here itself, after his death, he became a lord of the earth. Here itself, in his worldly existence, in another region of the earth, in the capital city, I am established as the queen. Here itself, in the inner chambers, my lord the king died; and here itself, in the same space, he again became a king. He attained the throne of the earth and became lord of many lands—all of this, in but an instant, is established here itself.” “In this very house-space, all the worlds of the cosmos are contained, just as countless mustard seeds may be held in a small box. I feel that place is not distant at all—it is my husband’s domain. Sometimes it seems to appear right beside me, just as I see it now—do likewise.” “O daughter of Arundhati of the earth,” Sarasvati continued, “your husbands at present are three by name—or perhaps even many, even hundreds. Of the three who are nearest, one, a twice-born, has been reduced to ashes; the king, adorned with garlands and fine garments, lies as a corpse in the inner chambers. In this theater of worldly existence, the third, a lord of the earth, has fallen into the vast ocean of transmigration and wanders lost. His mind is agitated by the waves and whirlpools of enjoyment; his conduct dulled and worn by inertia, he is like a tortoise drifting in the ocean of worldly existence.” “Though he performs various royal duties, even those most demanding, he sleeps—fixed in his own radiance—and does not awaken from the delusion of worldly existence. Thinking, ‘I am the lord, I am the enjoyer, I am accomplished, strong, and happy,’ he is bound by the endless, great rope of attachment and has come under its control.” “So tell me, O beautiful one, which husband draws you near, as the wind carries a streak of fragrance from the forest into the woods?” “This world, dear child, is truly something else—a hall within the cosmic egg; and all these chains of worldly dealings belong to a different order altogether. These circles of worldly existence, though they may seem close at hand, are in truth separated by countless millions of leagues. Behold, before you, their forms are nothing but pure space; within them stand countless millions of Merus and Mandaras. Within each atom, whole groups of creations arise unhindered; at the edge of the great consciousness, they shimmer like tiny motes of light.” “Yet even these mighty cosmic eggs, vast as their beginnings may be, do not amount to even the weight of a single sesame seed on a scale. Just as the sky shines with the radiance of many jeweled mountains and forests, so too does consciousness shine, appearing as the world, though it is devoid of earth, water, and other elements. It is only cognition that shines forth here, under names such as ‘world’ and so on; at the beginning of creation, nothing composed of earth and the like truly exists. Just as a wave rises again and again in a river, so too do the varied forms and arrangements of this world come into being.” “Thus, O mother of the world, I have now died here; my birth was of the passionate type, neither of darkness nor of purity. Since the descent of Brahman, I have passed through eight hundred births; I now see before me the many wombs I have traversed. Within the cycle of worldly existence, O goddess, I was once a bee in the lotus of another world, and a foremost maiden among the Vidyādharas. Tainted by evil tendencies, I then became a human woman; in another realm, I was the beloved of the lord of Tāṅgaṇa.” “I dwelled in groves of karañja, kuñja, jambīra, and kadamba trees, wearing garments of leaves, dark-complexioned—I became Śabarī. Living in the forest, made simple by forest life, I became a creeper; with eyes like guluccha fruits, holding leaves in my hands, I lived in the woods. I was that creeper of the holy hermitage, purified by the company of sages; burned by the forest fire, I became the daughter of that great sage. And by actions that yield the fruits of womanhood, I became a glorious king in Suraṣṭra for a hundred years.” Thus, in the gentle exchange between Sarasvati and Lila, the subtle nature of existence, the cycles of birth and death, and the vastness contained within the smallest space were revealed, all shining forth in the light of pure awareness.