Obscure Religious Cults as Background of Bengali Literature c8.25

c8.25

In another place Lui-pāda says,—"Existence does not come, neither is there non-existence;—who does understand the truth in this way? Incomprehensible indeed is the nature of pure consciousness,—says Lui, in the three elements it sports but it itself is not known. How can the Āgamas and the Vedas explain that, whose colour, sign and form are not known? By speaking of what, should I give an exposition of truth? Just like the moon in water it is neither real nor unreal. How should it be thought of?—says Lui,—I do not see any magnitude or locality of what I am now (i.e., *mahā-sukha*).’¹ Here also the phenomenal world is described as neither existent, as we do not find any reality anywhere by analysing it,—nor is it non-existent, as non-existence itself is unreal (*asad-rūpatvāt*); it is not real as it has no ultimate nature (*paramārtha-satya*) neither is it unreal as it has got its provisional truth (*saṃvṛti-satya*);—it is just like the moon in the water. The ultimate truth, however, can never be explained,—for, there is no knower, no knowable—no knowledge in it,² the *citta* being perfectly tranquil there. It has been said,—‘ When one practises yoga with one’s mind fixed with pure wisdom, none can ascertain where the *citta* goes and where it remains.’³ It has also been said by Āryadeva,—‘ When the mind, the senses and the vital wind are all destroyed, I do not know where the self goes and enters. . . . . . As the moon manifests itself as the rays (so also the *citta* manifests itself in the various illusory constructions, *i.e., vikalpa*); but as the moon having set, all the rays vanish, so also when the *citta* is destroyed