Tripura Rahasya

Sage Dattatreya

The sage's son said,

O King! It shines in the manifest conscious Self within. Therefore what looks like the external world is really an image on the screen of the mind. Consciousness is thus the screen and the image, and so yogis are enabled to see long distances of space and realize long intervals of time. They can traverse all distance in a moment and can perceive everything readily as a gooseberry in the hollow of one's palm. Therefore recognize the fact that the world is simply an image on the mirror of consciousness and cultivate the contemplation of 'I am', abide as pure being and thus give up this delusion of the reality of the world. Then you will become like myself, one in being, self-sufficient.

Dattatreya continued:

On hearing this discourse of the sage's son, the king (Mahasena) overcame his delusion; his intellect became purified and he understood the ultimate goal. Then he practised samadhi, and became self-contained, without depending on any external agency, and led a long and happy life. He ceased to identify himself with the body, and became absolute as transcendental space until he was finally liberated. So you see, Bhargava, that the universe is only a mental image, just as firm as one's willpower, and no more. It is not independent of the Self. Investigate the matter yourself, and your delusion will gradually lose hold of you and pass off.

Thus ends the chapter on The Story of the Hill City in Tripura Rahasya.