Mud alone is real. The pot-consciousness is born of ignorance regarding mud; mud is the basis, the substance of the pot. How can a pot exist without mud? How can effect exist apart from the cause? The world appears as multiplicity only to the ignorant. To a Jnani, Brahmam alone, Brahmam upon which all else is superimposed, exists. The Atman alone is cognised by him; there is nothing else. That is the Adwaithic experience.

If the world is real, it must be cognised even during the stage of dreamless deep sleep; but we are not conscious of it at all. So the visible world is as unreal as the dream world. Just as through illusion, a snake is imposed on a rope, the world too is imposed on Brahmam. The snake and the rope are not seen at the same time; the entire rope is the snake. So too, Brahmam is all this world, all this vast variety of name and form. But, this imaginatively conceived variety is fundamentally false, Brahmam alone is true.

The sky might be reflected in a pot of toddy, but the toddy does not defile it. Similarly, in this vehicle, the body, the Atman dwells pure and undefiled. The fruits of action, good or bad, fair or foul, adhere to the vehicle, not to the Indweller, the Seer.

When such Jnana dawns, the dark shadows of the three types of Karma - the Agaami, the Samchitha, the Praarabdha - flee before it. Yes; even Praarabdha Karma can be overcome. For, the will of God is omnipotent and for omnipotence there can be no limit or exception. When through Sadhana, you win the Sankalpa of the Lord, you can with that Sankalpa achieve victory over Praarabdha also. Do not be discouraged on any score.

The sufferings and travails of this world are illusory and transitory. Fix your mind firmly on this great fact and set out bravely on the path of Sadhana, the Sadhana of Devotion.