September 2, 2026
kalpanaṁ tatparaṁ brahma paraṁ brahmaiva kalpanaṁ
cidrūpaṁ nā ‘nayorbhedaḥ śūnyatvākāśayoriva (20)
VIŚVĀMITRA said:
Even so, O king, there are very many people who wander in this saṁsāra because they have not gained the best knowledge or enlightenment. There is a king who has wandered in this saṁsāra for the past one million and seven hundred thousand years. These ignorant people are interested in investigating the nature of worldly objects; and they continually flow in this saṁsāra without ever turning away from it.
This creation exists in the infinite space as a mere notion in the mind of the creator Brahmā. Just as little ants move here and there on the surface of a ball, people move about on the surface of this earth. In space there is no “below” and there is no “above”. The direction in which an object falls is known as “below”, and the direction in which birds rise to fly is called “above”.
In this world there is a place known as Vaṭadhānā. In that kingdom there were three princes. They resolved to go to the very limits of this world to investigate all that it contains. For some time they examined the objects of the earth, and then they examined the objects in the oceans. They took birth after birth and continued to pursue their goal of gaining a complete knowledge of this earth. They could not go to the “ends” of the earth, because like ants moving on a ball, they were only going from one part of the earth to another all the time. They are thus wandering on the earth even today.
Thus, there is no end to the illusion in this saṁsāra. Since this illusion arises as a notion in the infinite consciousness, it also seems to be infinite. The essence (reality or substance) of the notion is the supreme Brahman and vice versa. They are both pure consciousness and there is no difference or division in consciousness, just as there is no distinction between space and emptiness. The currents and whirlpools that appear on the surface of water are only water. Since there can be nothing other than consciousness, how can there be something other than consciousness? The infinite consciousness alone shines of its own accord as this world without even intending to do so. Wherever the infinite consciousness wishes to appear in whatever form, it does so and experiences its own nature in that form for as long as it pleases.
Within the smallest atom of the infinite consciousness exists the potentiality of all experiences, just as there are stones and rocks within the mountain. All these experiences exist constantly experiencing their own particular modes of experience everywhere. In reality, of course, they do not exist as experiences but only as the infinite consciousness. These manifold experiences are collectively known as the world which is the shining appearance of Brahman. But this indeed is a great wonder that this infinite consciousness, without ever abandoning its reality, thinks of itself “I am a jīva”. Now, O king Bhāsa, tell us of your past experiences.