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As such : as described above. Its form as such is perceived by nobody here : for it is very much like a dream, a mirage a gandharva-nagara (an imaginary city in the sky) produced by a juggler’s art; indeed, it appears and disappears.* It has therefore no finality, no end †. Neither has it a beginning : nobody knows’It has proceeded from this point.’ Its existence—i.e., its nature between the origin and the end—is perceived by nobody. Dispassion: freedom from attachment to children, to wealth, and to the world. Strong: strengthened by a resolute bent of mind towards the Supreme Self and sharpened again and again on the whetstone of the practice of true discrimination. Cut asunder: uprooted the Tree of samsara with its seed.
One may suppose that the Tree of Samsara, constantly kept up as it is by attachment etc., has no beginning and is not liable to destruction in itself, and that it is not even possible for one to cut it asunder. To remove this idea, the Lord says that the Tree of Samsara described above, though not perceived through our sense-organs, should be inferred to be as described above from the teachings of the sastra (scripture). So it is possible for one to cut it asunder by means of knowledge.—A.
In the absence of knowledge, samsara has no end, inasmuch as illusion, vasanas (latent tendencies acquired in the past) and works give rise to one another, by action and reaction. Samsara is firmrooted : and one should therefore put forth a very-strong effort to uproot it, by resorting to renunciation through practice of indifference.—A.
Then the aspirant should seek for and know the abode of Viṣṇu beyond that Tree. Those who have reached this Goal never return to samsara.—How is that Goal to be sought after?—It is sought after thus: “I seek refuge in Him, the Primeval Puruṣa,” who is spoken of as the Goal; i.e., He is to be sought for by way of seeking refuge in Him.—Who is this Puruṣa?—It is that Puruṣa from whom the emanation of the Tree of the illusory Saṃsāra streamed forth, just as illusory sights (maya) issue from out of a juggler.
The Path to the Goal.
What sort of persons reach that Goal?—Listen :