Listen, O noble one, to the wondrous way by which this world is cast into darkness. There exists a force—formless, without shape, lacking in pure awareness, and perishing swiftly like the unreal—that envelops the world in shadow. It is that which perishes without light, flickering only within darkness, possessing the nature of an owl’s vision, unable to see in the day’s clarity. By this, too, the world is veiled in obscurity. This same force acts only in evil ways, shuns being seen, and does not even recognize the very body it inhabits. Thus, the world is cast into darkness. Even when it mimics the conduct of the wise and is adorned with a natural beauty, it is continually setting, never enduring, and so the darkness remains. The world is strangely blinded by one always afflicted with endless suffering, guided by misguided resolve, and lacking in true understanding. It is further blinded by one whose body is insentient, whose speech spreads darkness, and whose heart is dense with desire and anger. The darkness deepens for one who dwells at the threshold of the dark well of the self, dulled by inertia, aged by apathy, and who endlessly laments in sorrow. Relationships are shattered, disease and unbroken illusion afflict the being, and intentions are ever-changing—by such a one, the world is strangely blinded. A man who cannot endure even the sight of her, who is unprotected by such a woman, is also blinded. Likewise, a man is blinded by a woman who has no awareness, who perishes though she is not destroyed. O Lord, what is this force that endlessly indulges in difficult passions, bringing both pleasure and pain through rise and decline, and is dissolved by which tendency, bound as it is by the impressions dwelling in the cave of the mind? O Brahman, how does this great blindness—arising from the power of ignorance in the world or in man—come to an end? Just as a lotus covered with frost perishes instantly when sunlight appears, so too does this ignorance vanish upon the vision of the Self. While it endures, this ignorance agitates the embodied being, tossing him among the waves of worldly existence, in the thickets of suffering and pain. Until the desire for Self-realization arises—a desire that brings about the destruction of delusion—this ignorance does not begin to be destroyed. When one begins to see beyond this ignorance, its dissolution commences, just as a shadow disappears when sunlight touches it, O Raghava. When the all-pervading divine is seen, the shadow itself dissolves, just as all shadows vanish when the twelve-rayed sun rises in the sky. Here, ignorance is nothing but mere imagination. Its destruction is called liberation, and this is accomplished, O Raghava, by the mere cessation of thought-construction. Even the slightest wound in the darkness of latent tendencies within the sky of the mind causes its blackness to become thin as the sun of consciousness rises. Just as darkness disappears somewhere when the sun rises, so too does ignorance dissolve somewhere when discernment arises. Bondage arises in the mind through strong latent tendencies, but fickle thoughts subside as a child’s playfulness fades at dusk. As long as this visible world appears, that is ignorance, which gradually diminishes. By contemplating the Self, O Brahman, what is that Self considered to be? That which is the essence of consciousness, untouched by objects, universally present, and indescribable—that alone is the Self, the Supreme Lord. From Brahma down to a blade of grass, whatever exists in this world is always the Self alone; O sinless one, ignorance does not truly exist. Indeed, all this is Brahman—eternal, solid consciousness, imperishable. There is no other imagination called 'mind' at all. Nothing is born, nor does anything die in these three worlds; nor does the existence of modifications occur anywhere. Here, there exists only pure consciousness—unmixed, unbroken, universal, untouched by objects, and undisturbed. In this eternal, pure, peaceful, and equally pervasive pure consciousness, the Self arises without change. This, having arisen by its own nature, rushes forth by its own imagining; consciousness, as the object of consciousness, withers on its own, and when it is withered, that is remembered as the mind. From the one, all-pervading, divine, all-powerful, great Self, the power of division and calculation arises, like a wave from water. In the one, expansive, peaceful reality where nothing exists, whatever departs by mere thought attains perfection in the Supreme Self. Therefore, this accomplishment through thought is destroyed by thought alone; just as it arose, so it perishes, like a flame extinguished by wind. Having attained the form of enjoyment through the accomplishment of effort, this ignorance is dissolved by mere absence of thought. By the firm thought 'I am not Brahman,' the mind is bound; by the firm thought 'All is Brahman,' it is again liberated. Thought is the highest bondage; absence of thought is liberation. Having conquered thought within, act as you wish. I have seen, here in the sky, a lotus of golden petals, with restless bees of beryl, fragrant, and adorned by the directions as its garment. She laughs, her arms like lotus stalks, openly displaying her proud curves, as if mocking the circle of rays from the shining moon. In the same way, the web of imagination, though unreal, appears real. It is conjured by the mind, like a child inventing things, only to disturb its own peace. Just so, here in this world, ignorance is imagined by the restless child-mind, binding itself with thoughts of existence and nonexistence, and bringing only suffering. Thinking, 'I am thin, I am greatly afflicted, I am bound, I possess hands and feet,' one is bound according to the nature of such thoughts and actions. Thus, the world is cast into darkness and suffering by its own imagining, until the light of the Self is seen and ignorance dissolves like frost before the rising sun.