With her husband's body lying before her, the devoted wife asks Ambika, “With this body, must I, the wife of the hero, go? Tell me, Ambika, how shall we reach that place where both of us must go?” Ambika responds, her wisdom unfolding gently, “Even when a great undertaking begins—be it a battle or the upheaval of a nation—though it appears to be happening, though it is loudly announced, its wondrous beginnings are slow to reveal themselves.” She continues, “Nothing is truly accomplished; neither the kingdom nor the earth remain as they seem. All of this is but a dream, fleeting and insubstantial. Here, within this pavilion, beside the corpse, in the space near it, O sinless one, the kingdom of the earth appears as the domain bound to your husband’s life. Your inner chamber is this house, its belly joined to the kingdom; within the house of sage Vasiṣṭha, within the house of corpses, the world itself abides.” Ambika reveals the nature of reality: “This vast undertaking is but a delusion woven from the three worlds. You, I, and this vehicle are united with the oceanic earth. Within the mountain village house, in the midst of the sky-vessel, the self of space moves about openly, or does not move at all. Even in the dense halls of these two pavilions, within their belly, only empty space exists; there is no delusion of the world.” She explains further, “For, in the absence of the one who perceives wandering, what wandering can there be? There is truly no existence of delusion; what exists is the unborn state. In delusion, the visible is unreal; so how can there be a state of the seer? Because the sequence of seer and seen is absent, what is innate here is simply that.” Ambika urges her to know the supreme state: “Know that supreme state, free from destruction and origination; it moves as its own, unmanifest, peaceful, primordial, and free from affliction. Indeed, within the pavilion-house, people dwell in their own nature-arisen self, abiding in their own house by their own arrangement. There is no world there, nor is any creation experienced by them; therefore, I say to you that this world is like space, unborn.” “All is consciousness of the nature of emptiness. The mountain ranges from Meru onward are not made of walls, just as a great city in a dream is not. Even within a space the size of a thumb, mountain ranges and other such things, though thought to be hard as diamond, arise only as empty forms in each tiny atom. Just as the layers of a plantain’s leaf are arranged one within another, so too, within each atomic consciousness of the three worlds, there exists a dream-city.” Ambika describes how, “Within that, by further division, world after world arises in succession; in one such world, Padma, the king, lies as a corpse. O auspicious one, your co-wife Lila reached there before you; at the very moment this Lila, your counterpart, entered into unconsciousness before you, she stood near the corpse of her husband Padma.” The wife asks, “How did she, O goddess, go there and become embodied? How did she attain and remain in the state of being his wife? What form do those women see or speak of there? Tell me briefly about the chief residents of that house.” Ambika replies, “Listen, I will tell you everything concisely, just as I have seen it—the story of Lila’s play, which ends with the vision of what is seen and unseen. Just as the lotus is lord of its pond, so he spreads this illusion; thus, he perceives the world, woven into himself, within his own abode.” “This battle is a battle of delusion; these people are born of delusion; in this world, death itself is through delusion, and this is indeed the nature of confusion. Through this very sequence of confusion, Lila’s beloved remains; you and she, O beautiful one, are nothing but a dream, O lovely-limbed woman. In the same way, this lord exists for both of you, and so do I myself; the splendor of the world is seen in samsara, and thus it is spoken here.” “This alone is understood, and the meaning of the word ‘seen’ is abandoned; thus, she is as you are, and the king is accomplished in the same way. I too, established in the truth of the Self, am the Self of all; we here are mutually accomplished, as if self-arisen. Thus, in the state of being the essence of all, established in the mass of supreme consciousness, the queen remains, radiant with enchanting laughter.” Ambika paints a vivid picture: “Her eyes playfully glance, she is adorned with fresh youth; her conduct is graceful, her speech sweet and noble. Her voice resembles the song of the cuckoo, she moves languidly with the intoxication of love; her eyes are like the petals of a dark lotus, her breasts full and rounded. Her limbs are golden and lovely, her lips ripe as bimba fruit; she is, by your thought, just as the image in the mind of her husband.” “Then, taking on a form like yours, she stood amazed in consciousness; and immediately upon the death of her husband, she too perished at once. She was seen before her husband, who was a particle of your own thought; whatever the mind experiences as physical reality, it perceives by itself. It knows that this is not real, but a projection of the subtle body; whatever the mind perceives as physical, it knows this is not truly real.” Ambika continues, “The projection of the subtle body arises then in another; thus, through the awareness of death, there is again the illusion of rebirth. For you are the knower of this, and by you this has been understood; thus, he saw you, and you saw him as well. You are established in this Self, for consciousness is all-pervading; since Brahman is everywhere, whatever arises, wherever and however, is that.” “There, it quickly becomes so; by its own power, it perceives thus. Being all-powerful everywhere, it manifests whatever power it raises, wherever. It abides there and shines thus, due to the force of intense impulse; in the very moment of death and delusion, that pair—husband and wife—remained. Then, for both of them, this understanding arose in the heart, by the force of appearance: ‘These are our fathers, and these too are our mothers.’” Thus, Ambika gently reveals the profound truth: all that is perceived—worlds, bodies, relationships—is woven of consciousness, arising and dissolving like a dream within the vast emptiness, with each being abiding in their own nature, and all existence but a play of the supreme, undivided Self.