Smoke, thick with flickering sparks, swirled in restless circles and gathered high in the sky, appearing like a heap of precious jewels scattered across the firmament. The heavens themselves glowed pale, illuminated by the crests of flames tinged with saffron, as if adorned for a grim festival—a sign of imminent destruction. Amidst this devastation, the horror and injustice of enmity became painfully clear. Virtue had vanished, and noble kings fell under the blows of mighty warriors wielding excellent weapons. The once-celebrated women of the royal paths, garlands and ornaments loosened, flowers scattered, now wandered with their garments half-burnt, their chests and breasts streaked with ash. Their hips and loins became exposed as their tattered garments slipped away, jeweled bracelets sliding off their arms to the earth, their bodies bending low in sorrow. Necklaces and strings of pearls broke and scattered, while the golden radiance of their bodies—sometimes revealed, sometimes hidden—shone amid the chaos. The din of battle faded, replaced by the harsh cries of vultures circling above, while the wounded, pierced by arrows and bleeding, lay senseless on the ground. Their clothes were soaked with tears, blood, and mud. Some leaned on the shoulders of companions as soldiers led them away. Eyes brimming with distress, as if silently pleading, “Who will save us now?”, the soldiers wept, their tears falling like a shower of lotus petals. The women, with thighs as soft as lotus stalks, adorned with pure anklets and crystal-clear garments, seemed like lotuses blooming in the sky. Disheveled garlands, tangled ornaments, and smudged cosmetics marked their faces, which were agitated with jealousy and trembling curls, as if they had emerged from the ocean of desire churned by the wild rod of beauty. Meanwhile, the queen herself, radiant in her youth, entered the palace like Lakshmi gracing the heart of a lotus. Her garlands and garments were in disarray, her necklace of creepers broken and tangled. Surrounded by her friends and maidservants, she was overwhelmed by fear. Her face shone like the moon, her limbs spotless, her breath anxious and her heaving chest betraying her distress. Her teeth sparkled like stars, and she stood there, a celestial beauty, embodying the very sky. One of her companions rushed to inform the king, much as an apsara might bring word to Indra in the midst of battle with Vritra. “O lord,” she cried, “the queen has come with us, fleeing from the inner chambers, seeking your protection—like a creeper tossed by the wind seeking refuge with a tree. The women of the royal household have been seized by powerful, well-armed thieves, like creepers on the shore caught in a net of waves. The chiefs of the inner apartments have been struck down by bold enemies who attacked unexpectedly, like forest trees felled by sudden winds. Our city has been overwhelmed by outsiders who arrived like torrents of floodwaters in the rainy night. Enemy warriors, fierce and numerous, have overrun our streets, their blazing fires roaring, their flames brandishing sharp, licking tongues. The noble ladies, their hair disheveled, were seized and carried away, wailing, by the enemy—like cranes snatched by fishermen. This calamity has spread its branches over us, and only the power of the deity can save us from such disaster.” Hearing and seeing this, the king declared, “I go forth to battle, O goddess; forgive me, for my wife is like a bee at your lotus feet.” With these words, his mind agitated with anger, the king strode out like a lion emerging from his cave after the forest has been shattered by a rampaging elephant. At that moment, Lila beheld a vision: she saw herself—another Lila—standing before her, identical in every way, like a beautiful reflection in a mirror. Astonished, she asked, “Tell me, goddess, what is this? Why do I stand here as this one? How is it that I, who once existed elsewhere, am now present here as this? The ministers, citizens, warriors with their armies and vehicles—all these are exactly the same as those established in that other place. How is it that here too, goddess, all these are present? Are they conscious, both outwardly and inwardly, like reflections in a mirror?” The goddess replied, “Just as awareness arises within, so it is experienced in an instant. Consciousness takes the form of the object of cognition, just as the mind assumes the shape of its own content. Whatever kind of imagination arises within, that very awareness extends memory; in that very instant, a world of corresponding objects appears in that same place. There is no external extension of space or time, nor any diversity arising from objects; what appears as outside is actually within—dream objects serve as an illustration here. Whatever is constructed within, like a city imagined in a dream by consciousness, that very thing stands out clearly here, merely by repeated habit, under the name of ‘external.’ “Whatever was the state of your husband at the time of his death in that city, that very state has come to that same object right here. These servants are indeed different from those, even if they appear similar; they are only forms of this one’s imagination, like the armies conjured in a dream. That which is experienced as unfailing and of the nature of all things—how could there be unreality in it, or what sort of unreality could there be? Or else, in the later moment, due to its perishability, it is not a true substance; thus, all of this is just like that—what place is there for denial in this matter? “A dream is unreal in waking, and waking is unreal in a dream; death is unreal in birth, and birth is unreal in death. Because of the subtlety of inquiry and the nature of experience, O beautiful one, this neither exists nor does not exist—it merely appears as delusion. Even at the end of a great aeon, or today, or in another age, that which never perishes is Brahman alone—that is the world. In the midst of that, these delusions called creation seem to move, like hairs or balls in space, but in truth they do not move at all.” Thus, amid the destruction and sorrow, the deeper mystery of existence was gently revealed.