Tripura Rahasya

Sage Dattatreya

The supreme being is always the sum total of all the egos. Just as you fill the body and identify yourself with different senses and organs without deviating from the Ego, so does the transcendental Pure Intelligence similarly identify itself with all, beginning with sadasiva and ending with the minutest protoplasm, and yet remains single. 

Again, just as you cannot taste anything without the aid of the tongue, nor apprehend other things without the aid of other senses or organs, so also the supreme being (sadasiva) acts and knows through the agency of brahma etc., and even of worms. Just as your conscious Self remains pure and unqualified, although it forms the basis of all the activities of limbs, organs and senses, so also the Supreme Intelligence is unaffected though holding all the Egos within Herself. She is not aware of any distinctions in the vastness of the cosmos, nor does She make difference among the Egos. In this manner, the Cosmos shines in Her like images in a mirror. The shining of the Cosmos is due to Her reflection. 

In the same way, the individuals in the world, namely, you, I and other seers are all flashes of Her consciousness. Since all are only phases of Supreme Intelligence, that alone will shine in purity which is bereft of taints or impediments in the shape of objects. Just as the shining mirror is clear when images no longer appear in it, and the same mirror remains untainted even when the images are reflected in it, so also Pure Intelligence subsists pure and untainted whether the world is seen or not.