NON-EXISTENCE IN THE BEGINNING, MIDDLE & END

That which was non-existent in the beginning, and that which shall cease to be in the end, is not real in the middle (in the present) either. That which exists in the beginning, and in the end, is the reality in the present too.

See that 'all this is unreal, including myself' and there will be no sorrow in you: or, see that 'all this is real, including myself' and sorrow will not touch you either.

Knowing that the entire universe, including one's wealth, wife, son, etc., are nothing but the creation of the jugglery of the mind, one does not grieve when they are lost, nor does one feel elated when they prosper.

If an unreal appearance has vanished, what does one lose? If it is utterly unreal, then how can it even be destroyed?

On the other hand, it may be proper to feel unhappy when they prosper, for such prosperity may intensify one's ignorance.

Hence, that which generates attachment and craving in the fool, generates detachment and cool indifference in the wise. The nature of the wise person is not to desire those experiences which one does not effortlessly obtain, and to experience those which have already arrived.

If one is able to wean the mind away from craving for sense-pleasure by whatever means, one is saved from being drowned in the ocean of delusion.

He who has realized his oneness with the entire universe, and who has thus risen above both desire 'for' and desire 'against', is never defeated.

Therefore, realize the Self or infinite consciousness which permeates and therefore transcends both the unreal and the real; and then, neither grasp nor give up whatever is inside or outside.

The wise sage who is established in such self-knowledge is free from any sort of coloring or mental conditioning or self-limitation: he is like the sky or space which is totally free from being tainted by anything that happens within it.

In this ocean of ignorant mental conditioning, he who has found the raft of self-knowledge is saved from drowning; he who has not found that raft is surely drowned.

Therefore, examine the nature of the Self (consciousness) with an intelligence as sharp as the razor's edge, and then rest established in self-knowledge.

All the powers that are inherent in the mind and by which the world has been brought into being are found in infinite consciousness. Hence the sages have declared that the mind is omnipotent.

Live as the sages of self-knowledge live. They know infinite consciousness and the world appearance: hence, they neither relish nor renoune activity in this world.

(Concise Yoga Vasistha pg 146 to 147 - ISBN: 087395954X)