When the mind is neglected, its distractions and weaknesses give rise to ever-mounting sorrows, piling up like towering mountains. But when the mind is brought under control, all these sufferings dissolve, just as snow vanishes before the warm rays of the sun. Throughout one’s life, the mind must be vigilantly guarded—by noble resolve, born from deep understanding of the scriptures, and by restraining one’s passions, as the sages do through the discipline of silence. In this way, one attains the pure, cool, and unborn state of being. Once established in this state, a person is shielded even in the midst of great calamities, untouched by sorrow. When the mind reaches this supreme state, it merges with Brahman, the infinite reality, just as a wave subsides and becomes one with the ocean. For those who are awakened, O Rama, the mind is nothing but Brahman itself—there is no other. Just as for those with clear understanding, a wave is not seen as different from the ocean, so too the mind and Brahman are not separate. But for those who have not awakened, the mind becomes the cause of wandering through worldly existence, just as one who does not recognize the true nature of water sees each wave as separate from the ocean. For those still unawakened, distinctions—such as those between word and meaning—are imagined only for the sake of their eventual awakening. In truth, the supreme Brahman is all-powerful, eternal, complete, and imperishable. Nothing exists apart from That, and within That all is the all-pervading Self. Whatever power the all-pervading Lord wishes to manifest, He reveals that very power, spreading it everywhere. The consciousness-power of Brahman is seen in living bodies, the power of vibration in the winds, and inert power in stones. The liquidity of water, the heat of fire, the openness of space, and the very existence of things—all are expressions of Brahman’s power. In every direction, this power is manifest: as destruction in perishable things, sorrow in those who grieve, bliss in the joyful, strength in the mighty, creation in all beings, and, at the end of an age, the power that absorbs all back into itself. Just as a tree, with all its fruits, flowers, branches, and leaves, is contained within its seed, so too does this entire world abide within Brahman. By the force of appearance alone, the mind—called the individual soul—seems to exist within Brahman, appearing between consciousness and inertness. Just as various creepers, thickets, and shoots dwell within a tree, so too do the powers of the individual soul reside within Brahman. And just as the earth brings forth different flowers according to time and place, so do minds create their own worlds, with certain powers arising at particular times and places, just as rice plants sprout from the earth. This alone is Brahman—pure, undifferentiated consciousness, free from imagined concepts. This is you, I, the world, and all directions, O Raghava. The Self pervades all, manifesting as the great form. Whatever power of thought it assumes, that is called the mind. Just as the movement of a feather appears in the sky, or a whirlpool forms in water, so too is the mind and individual soul merely a glimmer of appearance within the Self. The mind, arising as the faculty of thought, is the divine power itself—verily, it is Brahman. The notion “this is I,” the sense of division, arises only from appearance. The idea that mind and Brahman are different is the supreme cause of delusion. Whatever is of the nature of thought—existent or nonexistent, whatever is named—all powers are that one power; know that power to be Brahman. The existence of the mind is produced by appearance and ceases by that very same appearance, not by any other means. All distinctions—opposition, limitation, number, and form—imagined by the word “mind,” are nothing but Brahman, O knower of Brahman. As the mind appears, so it becomes; the example is that of the moon, whose waxing and waning are but appearances. Just as a ripple arises by itself in the pure, undisturbed water, so the individual soul is the cause of worldly existence in the Supreme Self. For the knower, all consciousness is always Brahman alone, just as waves, surges, and ripples are nothing but water in the ocean. There is no second existence; only being itself, which appears as name, form, and activity—just as the diversity of waves is imagined as different from water. All that is born, perishes, moves, or remains still—this is all Brahman within Brahman, merely transformations of Brahman itself. Just as intense heat appears in a mirage within itself, so too does the Self, though undivided, manifest in various ways within itself. Cause, action, agent, birth, death, and existence—all are only Brahman. There is nothing apart from it; whatever appears as apart is only for the sake of conceptualization. There is no greed, no delusion, no craving; all is pure. How can there be greed, craving, or delusion within the Self, or from where could they arise? This entire world is only the Self; all conceptualization is only the Self. Just as a golden bracelet is nothing but gold, so too the Self appears as mind. O Rama, that which is Brahman, when unaware, is called mind or individual soul. When not recognized as such, it quickly assumes bondage; when recognized, it is freed. The Self, pure consciousness but ignorant of itself, imagines individuality, just as space reveals emptiness. Here, the Self shines forth in the world as the individual, appearing as if it were not the Self—just as, to one with impaired vision, two moons seem to arise, both real and unreal. Because of this delusion, even the perception of word and meaning in these two is impossible. Since the Self is all-pervading, where could it be bound, and where could it be liberated? The notion that there is bondage, when bondage is eternally impossible, is a false imagination. For one whose bondage is imagined, liberation too is illusory, not real. Whatever determination the mind arrives at, that alone comes to be, and not otherwise. Therefore, O Lord, since bondage is only imagined, how could it truly exist?