June 21, 2026
ahaṁbhāvaṁ vinā dehasthitistajjñājñayoriha
ādheyasya nirādhārā na saṁsthehopapadyate (2)
RĀMA asked:
O sage, how is it that even in the case of a person who is established in nirvāṇa, the egosense could thus arise?
VASIṢṬHA replied:
Whether one is a knower of the truth or ignorant of it, without the egosense the body cannot exist. That which needs to be sustained cannot exist without a support. But there is a vital difference which I shall presently explain to you.
The little boy known as ignorance has created this goblin known as egosense which seems to exist within oneself unperceived. This ignorance is a non-entity, too, because it is not seen to exist when investigated; darkness does not exist when it is seen with the help of a lamp. When one looks for this goblin known as ignorance it does not exist. But in the absence of such investigation when it is taken for granted and when one is under its influence, it expands and gets established. This world is created by that ignorance which is real only to the ignorant; it is not real. That (infinite consciousness or Brahman) which is beyond the mind and the senses cannot be the seed nor the cause for the coming into being of that which is the object of the mind and the senses. When there is no seed, how can there be a sprout?
In this infinite consciousness it is a mere fancy that appears to be the created universe. This consciousness alone is known as īśvara or god and also as this creation. It is like one’s own dream-creation which is everybody’s daily experience. Because the dreamer is a conscious being, the dream-objects appear to have an intelligence and a mind of their own; even so this non-creation known as the universe seems to possess independent existence and intelligence as if it had been created. There is no creation as such: the one Brahman exists as Brahman. Whatever notion arises in this Brahman is experienced by Brahman as if it were an object of experience. That Brahman itself fancies that all this is “creation”. But then the experiencer, experiencing and experience are one and indivisible: even so Brahman, the notion of creation and creation are only Brahman. Such being the case, how can egosense or the false notion of “I” arise?
Thus have I told you how to lay this ghost of egosense which vanishes on being rightly understood. The egosense has thus been clearly understood by me. Hence, even though the egosense seems to arise in me, it is inoperative, like a painting of fire. Thus have I abandoned the egosense. I exist in space as if outside it, in creation as if out of it. I do not belong to the egosense nor does it belong to me or exist in me. I am not nor is there another in my vision; all is and nothing is.