346. The knowledge of the identity of the Jiva and Brahman entirely consumes the impenetrable forest of Avidya or Nescience. For
one who has realised the state of Oneness, is there any seed left for future transmigration ?
347. The veil that hides Truth vanishes only when the Reality is fully realised. (Thence follow) the destruction of false knowledge and
the cessation of misery brought about by its distracting influence.
348. These three are observed in the case of a rope when its real nature is fully known. Therefore the wise man should know the real
nature of things for the breaking of his bonds.
349-350. Like iron manifesting as sparks through contact with fire, the Buddhi manifests itself as knower and known through the
inherence of Brahman. As these two (knower and known), the effects of the Buddhi, are observed to be unreal in the case of
delusion, dream and fancy, similarly, the modifications of the Prakriti, from egoism down to the body and all sense-objects are also
unreal. Their unreality is verily due to their being subject to change every moment. But the Atman never changes.
351. The Supreme Self is ever of the nature of eternal, indivisible knowledge, one without a second, the Witness of the Buddhi and
the rest, distinct from the gross and subtle, the implied meaning of the term and idea “I”, the embodiment of inward, eternal bliss.
352. The wise man, discriminating thus the real and the unreal, ascertaining the Truth through his illuminative insight, and realising
his own Self which is Knowledge Absolute, gets rid of the obstructions and directly attains Peace.
353. When the Atman, the One without a second, is realised by means of the Nirvikalpa Samadhi, then the heart’s knot of ignorance
is totally destroyed.
354. Such imaginations as “thou”, “I” or “this” take place through the defects of the Buddhi. But when the Paramatman, the
Absolute, the One without a second, manifests Itself in Samadhi, all such imaginations are dissolved for the aspirant, through the
realisation of the truth of Brahman.
355. The Sannyasin, calm, self-controlled, perfectly retiring from the sense-world, forbearing, and devoting himself to the practice of
Samadhi, always reflects on his own self being the Self of the whole universe. Destroying completely by this means the
imaginations which are due to the gloom of ignorance, he lives blissfully as Brahman, free from action and the oscillations of the
mind.
356. Those alone are free from the bondage of transmigration who, attaining Samadhi, have merged the objective world, the
sense-organs, the mind, nay, the very ego, in the Atman, the Knowledge Absolute – and none else, who but dabble in second-hand
talks.
357. Through the diversity of the supervening conditions (Upadhis), a man is apt to think of himself as also full of diversity; but with
the removal of these he is again his own Self, the immutable. Therefore the wise man should ever devote himself to the practice of
Nirvikalpa Samadhi, for the dissolution of the Upadhis.
358. The man who is attached to the Real becomes Real, through his one-pointed devotion. Just as the cockroach thinking intently
on the Bhramara is transformed into a Bhramara.
359. Just as the cockroach, giving up the attachment to all other actions, thinks intently on the Bhramara and becomes transformed
into that worm, exactly in the same manner the Yogi, meditating on the truth of the Paramatman, attains to It through his
one-pointed devotion to that.
360. The truth of the Paramatman is extremely subtle, and cannot be reached by the gross outgoing tendency of the mind. It is only
accessible to noble souls with perfectly pure minds, by means of Samadhi brought on by an extraordinary fineness of the mental
state.
361. As gold purified by thorough heating on the fire gives up its impurities and attains to its own lustre, so the mind, through
meditation, gives up its impurities of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, and attains to the reality of Brahman.
362. When the mind, thus purified by constant practice, is merged in Brahman, then Samadhi passes on from the Savikalpa to the
Nirvikalpa stage, and leads directly to the realisation of the Bliss of Brahman, the One without a second.
363. By this Samadhi are destroyed all desires which are like knots, all work is at an end, and inside and out there takes place
everywhere and always the spontaneous manifestation of one’s real nature.
364. Reflection should be considered a hundred times superior to hearing, and meditation a hundred thousand times superior even
to reflection, but the Nirvikalpa Samadhi is infinite in its results.
365. By the Nirvikalpa Samadhi the truth of Brahman is clearly and definitely realised, but not otherwise, for then the mind, being
unstable by nature, is apt to be mixed up with other perceptions.
