Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 7 - Chapter 1 - Verse 5


Sanskrit:

सुप्तिप्रबोधयो: सन्धावात्मनो गतिमात्मद‍ृक् ।पश्यन्बन्धं च मोक्षं च मायामात्रं न वस्तुत: ॥ ५ ॥

ITRANS:

supti-prabodhayoḥ sandhāvātmano gatim ātma-dṛkpaśyan bandhaṁ ca mokṣaṁ camāyā-mātraṁ na vastutaḥ

Translation:

During unconsciousness and consciousness, and between the two, he should try to understand the self and be fully situated in the self. In this way, he should realize that the conditional and liberated stages of life are only illusory and not actually factual. With such a higher understanding, he should see only the Absolute Truth pervading everything.

Purport:

The unconscious state is nothing but ignorance, darkness or material existence, and in the conscious state one is awake. The marginal state, between consciousness and unconsciousness, has no permanent existence. Therefore one who is advanced in understanding the self should understand that unconsciousness and consciousness are but illusions, for they fundamentally do not exist. Only the Supreme Absolute Truth exists. As confirmed by the Lord in Bhagavad-gītā (9.4): “By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them.” Everything exists on the basis of Kṛṣṇa’s impersonal feature; nothing can exist without Kṛṣṇa. Therefore the advanced devotee of Kṛṣṇa can see the Lord everywhere, without illusion.