Rama, now is not the time to ask the question that has arisen in your heart. When the teaching reaches its conclusion, then your inquiry will be addressed. At that moment, you should bring forth your question, and the answer will be revealed to you as clearly as an amalaki fruit resting in the palm of your hand. Your question shines most brightly at the proper time, just as the cuckoo’s song is most fitting in the rains, and the swan’s call in autumn. The sky’s natural blueness is most beautiful after the rains have passed, but during the rainy season, its hue arises from the mass of dense, formless clouds. Now, listen closely, noble Rama, as we begin this excellent inquiry into the mind. Hear how, by its power, all beings come into existence. This very nature, which is the activity of the mind, is called ‘action’ by all seekers of liberation. Through differences in understanding, eloquent teachers have described it in various ways, each expressing their views through different scriptural perspectives. Whatever state the restless mind adopts, it becomes that, just as the wind, passing through fragrant clouds, takes on their scent. When one determines and imagines a thing, one colors one’s own sense of self inwardly with that coloring. Taking up that conviction, one experiences its flavor right there, and then, even in the body, intellect, and senses, one becomes identified with it. For, O Rama, the body is indeed formed by the mind; it follows and is subject to the mind, just as wind, entering into fragrance, takes on the scent. When the organs of knowledge are active, the organs of action also stir on their own, like dust moving restlessly in the wind. When the organs of action are agitated, they fully manifest their power, and action is accomplished extensively, like a cloud of dust raised by the wind. Thus, action arises from the mind; the mind is said to be the seed of action. Their existence is inseparable, like fragrance and the flower. Whatever disposition the mind adopts through steady practice, its movement—called action—proceeds and branches out in that very way. In this manner, the mind diligently performs the action that yields its result, and quickly, experiencing that very taste, becomes bound to it. Whatever state the mind assumes, it perceives that as the true object and forms the conviction that this alone is the highest good. Minds that are firmly established by their own understanding always strive for righteousness, wealth, pleasure, or liberation. The Kapila philosophers, through their minds, establish and determine their doctrines, constructing their views as found in their scriptures. Believing that liberation cannot be attained otherwise, they expound their own perspective, steadfast in their chosen disciplines and convictions. The Vedānta teachers, with their intellect firmly established in the idea that ‘all this is Brahman,’ construct their doctrine, supported by reasoning and the practices of tranquility and self-control. They too, believing that liberation cannot be attained otherwise, expound their own perspective with unwavering conviction. The followers of the doctrine of consciousness, with intellect manifesting in the form of their own concepts, also expound their perspectives, each according to their chosen disciplines and convictions. Others, such as the Ārhatas and various groups, according to their own preferences and desires, construct diverse doctrines and practices, each with their own distinctive ways. Just as clusters of bubbles arise from calm, causeless water, so too do the various doctrines—each firmly held—arise in many forms from individual convictions. O mighty-armed one, the mind is the single source of all these doctrines, just as the ocean is the source of all jewels. In truth, neither are neem fruits inherently bitter, nor are heat and cold, nor moon and fire as they are in themselves; whatever is perceived is exactly as the mind conceives it. One should strive for that uncontrived bliss, leading the mind to become absorbed in it, for thus it is attained. Abandon the mind’s attachment to the insubstantial world of appearances, for through pleasure and pain arising from it, one is helplessly dragged along. Do not regard the visible world as impure, unreal, delusive, or a cause of fear; do not imagine bondage in these mere appearances, O sinless one. This is māyā, this is ignorance, this is imagination, and it brings fear; what the wise call action is the mind’s identification with it. Know that the merging of seer and seen is the mind’s delusion; it is false and brings only confusion, like a child playing with earth. This absorption in the seen is experienced as the very nature of the self; this is the intoxicating liquor of worldly existence, which the wise call ignorance. The world afflicted by this does not attain auspiciousness, just as one with blinded eyes cannot perceive the radiant light of the sun. It arises by itself from imagination, like a tree appearing in the sky; and with the mere absence of imagination, it ceases by itself. O wise one, when imagination is weakened by non-conceptualization—through one’s own clarity and discriminating awareness—it dissolves. When there is detachment from all objects and steadfastness is attained, when true perception is clear and the unreal has come to an end, then the pure consciousness that is without distinctions—that is the Self—is attained. In that state, there is neither non-existence nor existence, neither pleasure nor pain. That state, in which only pure being is experienced within—not through imagination, nor by the perceptions of mind or senses—is untouched even by endless tendencies that are not other than oneself, just as space is untouched by masses of clouds.