Mandukya Karika, verse 4.56


Text


यावद्धेतुफलावेशः संसारस्तावदायतः ।
क्षीणे हेतुफलावेशे संसारं न प्रपद्यते ॥ ५६ ॥

yāvaddhetuphalāveśaḥ saṃsārastāvadāyataḥ |
kṣīṇe hetuphalāveśe saṃsāraṃ na prapadyate || 56 ||

56. As long as there is faith in causality, the (endless) chain of birth and death will be there. When that faith is destroyed (by knowledge) birth and death become nonexistent.

Shankara Bhashya (commentary)

What is the harm if the law of cause and effect continues to operate? In reply we say:—As long as faith in causality is not destroyed by right knowledge, our course (of birth and death) in this world will continue. But when that faith is destroyed (by right knowledge) the world also ceases to exist for want of any other cause for its existence.