November 14, 2026
ñānasya jñeyatā nāsti kevalaṁ jñanamavyayaṁ
avācyamiti bodho ‘ntaḥ saṁyajñānamiti smṛtaṁ (5)
VASIṢṬHA continued: When knowledge becomes the object of knowing it is known as bondage. Liberation is when knowledge ceases to be such an object of knowing.
RĀMA asked: How does the firm conviction that knowledge is the object of knowing come to an end?
VASIṢṬHA said: When there is full awakening, the dullness of intelligence comes to an end. Then liberation which is formless, peaceful and real comes into being.
RĀMA said: What is that perfect awakening which is perfect knowledge and by which a living being here is freed from bondage?
VASIṢṬHA said: Knowledge does not have an object to know. Knowledge is independent and eternal; it is beyond description and definition. When this truth is directly realised there is perfect knowledge.
RĀMA said: What is the division that arises between knowledge and the object of knowing? In what sense do we use the word “knowledge”?
VASIṢṬHA said: Full awakening or enlightenment is f or knowledge. Its contemplation is the means to such awakening. There is in reality no division between knowledge and the object of knowing.
RĀMA said: If that is so, how has this deluded vision of knowledge and the object of knowing arisen in the first place and become firmly rooted?
VASIṢṬHA said: It is on account of the deluded belief that there is something other than knowledge, something outside of itself that the division has arisen. In fact, there is nothing either inside or outside.
RĀMA said: All this that seems to be obvious – I, you, etc., and all these elements and the diverse beings that we surely experience – how can it be accepted that they do not exist?
VASIṢṬHA said: The cosmic person or virāṭ and the cosmos, etc., did not in fact come into being at the very beginning of creation. Hence, there has never been an “object of seeing” at any time whatsoever.