16. Maya enshrouds, and Vidya uncovers and manifests, all things. It is indeed Pratyabhijna, the all-witnessing Consciousness, which underlies all pramanas, all sources of right knowledge.

That is to say, Vidya, though a state of the mind which is in itself insentient, can dispel

[paragraph continues] Maya by the power of the all-witnessing Consciousness underlying it. Or, it may mean that the consciousness--in the form "I have known this"--which accompanies every act of cognition, shows that Vidya can remove the veil which conceals an object. Or, it may even mean that Vidya is Pratyabhijna itself which dispels ignorance and unfolds the true nature of all things, and which is none other than the very Pratyagatman, the all-witnessing Consciousness illumining all things.

17. It (pratyabhijna) is the consciousness that I am Isvara, arising on the removal, by wisdom (Vidya), of the veil of Maya which causes the (idea of) separation that "the Isvara is one and I am another."

18. Screened by the curtain of Maya, Isvara emitted but little light. The curtain fully removed, like the sun may He shine.

19. Not from the operation of causes nor of the organs of perception (does this recognition (come). To cause recognition is only to remove ignorance.

20. Whatever pramanas (organs of knowledge) there are whereby to guide our conduct in life, they all operate in no wise other than by removing ignorance.

Accordingly, the teaching of the Upanishads constitutes a pramana or source of knowledge as to the true nature of Atman, as doing no more than removing the veil of ignorance which has concealed the true nature of Atman, and thus bringing about the cessation of the bondage caused by that ignorance.

Adhyasa or Illusion.

Now the Vartikakara proceeds to show that the bondage of samsara is not real, as arising from an illusion caused by the confounding of Atman and the body with one another.

21-22. By ignorance, the attributes of he insentient, unreal, and finite body are ascribed to the conscious Atman; as also the reality, consciousness and bliss (of Atman) are ascribed to the body; just as the mother-o'-pearl is mistaken for silver which is quite a different thing.

22. If the silver which here presents itself to be really existent, then how, according to thy theory, can it be reduced to nothing (by knowledge)?

23. Again what is altogether nonexistent can never present itself to consciousness, any more than a man's horn.

That is to say, the silver which here presents itself to consciousness cannot be altogether nonexistent.

If illusion be a case of memory, then the silver would present itself to consciousness as that seen on the hand of a woman or so.