appear without churning, so the lamp of wisdom does not arise without the abhyāsa yoga (or practice of yoga). The fire placed in a vessel does not give light outside. When the vessel is broken, its light appears without. One's body is spoken of as the vessel, and the seat of "That" is the fire (or light) within; and when it (the body) is broken through the words of a guru, the light of brahmajñāna becomes resplendent. With the guru as the helmsman, one crosses the subtle body and the ocean of samsāra through the affinities of practice. That vāk 1 (power of speech) which sprouts in parā, gives forth two leaves in paśyanṭī, buds forth in maḍhyamā and blossoms in vaikharī—that vāk which has before been described, reaches the stage of the absorption of sound, reversing the above order (viz., beginning with vaikharī, etc). Whoever thinks that He who is the great lord of that vāk, who is the undifferentiated and who is the illuminator of that vāk is Self; whoever thinks over thus, is never affected by words, high or low (or good or bad). The three (aspects 2 of consciousness), viśva, ṭaijasa, and prājña (in man), the three Virat, Hiraṇyagarbha, and Īśvara in the universe, the egg of the universe, the egg of man 3 and the seven worlds—all these in turn are absorbed in Praṭyagāṭma through the absorption of their respective upāḍhis (vehicles). The egg being heated by the fire of jñāna is absorbed with its kāraṇa (cause) into Paramāṭmā (Universal Self). Then it becomes one with Parabrahman. It is then neither steadiness nor depth, neither light nor darkness, neither describable nor distinguishable. Saṭ (Be-ness) alone remains. One should think of Āṭmā as being within the body like a light in a vessel. Āṭmā is of the dimensions of a thumb, is a light without smoke and without form, is shining within (the body) and is undifferentiated and immutable.

The Vijñāna Āṭmā that dwells in this body is deluded by māyā during the states of waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep; but after many births, owing to the effect of good karma, it wishes to attain its own state. Who am I? How has this stain of mundane existence accrued to me? What becomes in the dreamless sleep of me who am engaged in business in the waking and dreaming states? Just as a bale of cotton is burnt by fire, so the Chiḍābhāsa 1 which is the result of non-wisdom, is burnt by the (wise) thoughts like the above and by its own supreme illumination. The outer burning (of body as done in the world) is no burning at all. When the wordly wisdom is destroyed, Praṭyagāṭma that is in the ḍahara (ākāś or ether of the heart) obtains vijñāna, diffusing itself everywhere and burns in an instant jñānamaya and manomaya (sheaths). After this, He himself shines always within, like a light within a vessel.