Having accomplished the highest purpose, the sage spoke: “Now I am born anew—free from all doubt, at peace, utterly extinguished, and resting in pure contentment.” He explained, “This great delusion of yours, so restless and filled with countless pursuits and pleasures, has wandered through many worlds and become deeply extended. “In the very moment you once approached death, at that instant, a profound insight spontaneously arose in your heart. Just as a stream of water, leaving one whirlpool, swiftly enters another, so too does the current of consciousness quickly assume another cycle after leaving the previous one behind. And as a whirlpool, mingled with other eddies, continues to revolve, so does the glory of creation—sometimes increasing, sometimes mixed or unmixed, always in motion. “At that moment of your death, insight arose for you. Yet this web of delusion, though unreal in its very nature, appears to reside in a portion of consciousness as if it were real. Consider: in a single instant of a dream, a hundred years may pass; in the creations of the imagination, life and death repeat over and over. In the city of the Gandharvas, there seem to be walls, halls, and chambers; on a boat journey, the commotion makes trees and mountains appear to move. When the humors of the body are disturbed, the city and mountains seem to dance; in a dream, one might even see oneself severing one’s own head. “In all these ways, this powerful delusion takes many forms, but is entirely false. In truth, you have never been born, nor have you ever died. Your true nature is pure consciousness, abiding in peace within yourself. Though you appear to see all this, in reality, you see nothing at all. By your very nature, you always shine forth as the Self within the Self—like a great, noble jewel or radiant light. “In reality, this ‘earth-seat’ does not exist, nor do you exist as this body. These mountains and villages are not truly here, nor are we ourselves. For the mountain-village brahmin, seated in the open space of the pavilion, this world appears as a splendid play of royal sovereignty. There, the royal pavilion of play shines, adorned in many forms; and within its inner space, your entire world is spread out. “In whatever world, in whatever house we now stand, for those pavilions, the space within is pure space alone. In those pavilions, there is neither earth nor city, no forests, clusters of mountains, clouds, rivers, or oceans. Only people dwell there, in emptiness, within their homes; they do not see the world, nor earthly beings, nor mountains. “If this is so, O Devi, then how is it that these attendants of mine are here with me? Are they established in themselves, or do they depend on the Self? The world appears there like a dream; but in a dream, there are no new mountains. How can what is true in the Self be real, and what is untrue not be? Tell me. “O King, among those who know what is to be known, whose nature is pure awareness, nothing in this world has a form like the consciousness-space Self. For one whose Self is pure awareness, how can the illusion of the world arise? When the illusion of a snake in a rope is pacified, how can the snake appear again? When the unreal is recognized as such, how can the illusion of the world persist? Once a mirage is known, how can the mind again believe there is water? When one’s own dream is recognized as a dream, how can the death within the dream frighten? In one’s own dream, fear of dream-death arises only for what is immortal. “Whatever remains—apart from the words ‘I’ and ‘world’—in the pure, awakened, stainless, clear, and immaculate mind, that alone is truly indicated by the wise.” As the sage concluded these words, the day drew to its evening close. The sun set, and the assembly, offering their salutations, departed to bathe, accompanied by the fading rays of the sun. The next day, the teaching continued: “For one whose mind is unawakened, deluded, and fixed in ignorance, this world—though truly insubstantial—appears as real and solid as adamant. Just as a goblin brings only suffering and death to a child, so too, for the deluded mind, the unreal world appears in the form of reality. As a mirage causes thirst in deer, so for those of confused intellect, the unreal world seems real. Just as death in a dream appears real to a living being but has no actual effect, so too, this world seems real to the ignorant but brings about no true result. “For one unskilled in gold, seeing a gold bracelet, there is only the notion of ‘bracelet’ and not even a trace of awareness of gold itself. Just as an ignorant person, seeing a city, mountain, or palace, perceives only the visible forms and not their true essence, so too is the perception of the world. Strings of pearls, peacock feathers, and balls may appear in the sky, seeming real though they are not; so too does this world of illusions seem real. “Know that this universe, joined with notions of ‘I’ and so forth, is a long dream; and within it, the dream-people seem real—listen to how this is so. There exists everywhere, peaceful, pure, and dense with ultimate reality, a vast expanse whose nature is only consciousness, untouched by thought. That which is all-pervading, all-powerful, all, and the essence of all, abides wherever and however it arises. “In the city of dreams, the dreamer perceives its inhabitants; and as he recognizes them as men, they instantly become men for him. The nature of the dreamer’s consciousness is situated within the inner space of the dream; thinking ‘I am this dream-space consciousness, I am a man,’ it is conceived so. Because of the unity between consciousness and the imagined side, the state of being a man is realized; thus, in the Self, through the dual directions, both attain reality. “O sage, if the dream-people in the dream are not real, then tell me, what fault could there be in one whose body is merely made of illusion?