O Lord, a question arises about the nature of the mind and its bondage: This being, endlessly caught in the pursuit of difficult passions, creates both pleasure and pain through cycles of rise and fall. By which inherent tendency does such a one dissolve these patterns, being bound by the deep-seated impressions that dwell in the cave of the mind? O Brahman, how does this great blindness—this ignorance that arises from the power of delusion, whether in the world or in man—come to an end? Just as a lotus covered with frost perishes in an instant when touched by the sun’s rays, so too does ignorance vanish upon the dawning vision of the Self. While it persists, this ignorance agitates the embodied soul, tossing him about on the waves of worldly existence, and entangling him in thickets of suffering and pain. Ignorance does not begin to be destroyed until the desire for Self-realization—capable of dissolving delusion—arises within. When one begins to see beyond ignorance, the dissolution of self-ignorance commences, just as a shadow starts to disappear when exposed to sunlight, O Raghava. When the all-pervading Divine is truly seen, the shadow of ignorance is wholly dissolved, just as all shadows vanish when the twelve-rayed sun ascends the sky. Ignorance, here, 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 thins its blackness, as the sun of consciousness rises. Just as darkness disappears somewhere when the sun rises, so too does ignorance dissolve when discernment arises. Bondage arises in the mind through strong latent tendencies, but fickle thoughts subside, just 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 truly considered to be? The Self is the very essence of consciousness, untouched by objects, universally present, and beyond description—the Supreme Lord. From Brahma down to a blade of grass, whatever this world is, all of it is always the Self alone. O sinless one, ignorance in truth does not exist. All this is Brahman—eternal, solid consciousness, imperishable. There is no other imagination called ‘mind’ at all. Nothing is ever born or dies in these three worlds, nor does any real modification or change ever occur anywhere. Only pure consciousness exists here—unmixed, unbroken, universal, untouched by objects, and undisturbed. In this eternal, pure, peaceful, and equally pervasive 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 what is remembered as the mind. From the one, all-pervading, divine, and all-powerful Self, the power of division and calculation arises, like a wave from water. In the one, expansive, peaceful reality where nothing else truly 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 the 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 liberated again. 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 with golden petals, restless bees of beryl around it, fragrant, and adorned by the directions as its garment. She laughs, her arms like lotus stalks, proudly displaying her 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, 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. But thinking, “I am not afflicted, I have no body, what bondage can there be for this conscious self?”—one is freed, in accordance with such thoughts and actions. He who is firmly convinced within, “I am not flesh, nor bones; I am other than the body, I am the supreme,” is said here to have destroyed ignorance within. Just as the brilliance atop a lofty mountain of sapphire, or the radiance above, difficult to pierce even by the sun’s rays, stands above the splendor of darkness—so too, as darkness in the sky is imagined by someone on earth, due to his own nature and conception—this ignorance, the notion of self in what is not the self, is merely imagined by one who is not awakened, not by one who is awakened, O Raghava. This is not the luster of a sapphire from Mount Meru, nor is it the glow of darkness; so tell me, O Brahman, what causes the blueness of the sky? O Rama, the blueness of the sky does not exist as a quality in the void; it is not due to the radiance of any other gem, nor is it the luster of the Meru sapphire. Because the cosmic egg is made of light, because of the brilliance of the perfected ones, and because of the luminosity beyond the cosmic shell, darkness cannot arise here. This is merely emptiness, O fortunate one, though it appears in many ways; it is like the ignorance that fits each age, not composed of reality. When one’s own vision is lost, only nonexistence arises as darkness; thus, the blackness seen in the sky is due to the very nature of the object. Thus, O Raghava, the mind’s bondage and liberation, the nature of ignorance and its dissolution, the reality of the Self, and the mystery of the world’s appearance—all are but the play of consciousness, to be understood and transcended by the wise.