THE THEORY OF SELF - Yoga Vashishta, - 1

The wise men are to be approached even if they do not teach. Even their talks in a light vein contain wisdom
The truth of life cannot be seen with the help of the sacred texts or the Guru. The self is seen by the Self alone with the pure intellect. All the arts acquired by men are lost by lack of practice, but this art of wisdom grows steadily once it rises. He is a happy man whose mind is inwardly cool and free from attachment and hatred and who looks upon this (world) like a mere spectator.
When pots, etc. are broken the space within them becomes unlimited. So also when bodies cease to exist the Self remains eternal and unattached. Nothing whatever is born or dies anywhere at any time. It is Brahman alone appearing illusorily in the form of the world.
 The Self is more extensive than space; it is pure, subtle, undecaying and auspicious. As such how could it be born and how can it die?  All this is the tranquil, One without beginning, middle or end, which cannot be said to be existent or non-existent. Know this and be happy.
 This creation, which is a mere play of consciousness, rises up, like the delusion of a snake in a rope (when there is ignorance) and comes to an end when there is right knowledge. Even though bondage does not really exist, it becomes strong through desire for worldly enjoyments; when this desire subsides bondage becomes weak.
 Like waves rising up from the ocean the unstable mind rises out of the vast and stable expanse of the Supreme Self. It is because of that which always, of its own accord, imagines (everything) quickly and freely that this magical show (of the world) is projected in the waking state.This world, though unreal, appears to exist
and is the cause of life-long suffering to an ignorant. One who has no idea of gold sees only the bracelet.
He does not at all have the idea that it is merely gold. Similarly towns, houses, mountains, serpents, etc. are all in the eyes of the ignorant man, separate objects. From the absolute point of view; this objective (world) is the subject (the Self ) itself; it is not separate (from the Self ).
The world is full of misery to an ignorant man and full of bliss to a wise man. The world is dark to a blind man and bright to one who has eyes.
 Just as the foam, the waves, the dew and the bubbles are not different from water, even so this world which has come out of the Self is not different from the Self. Just as a tree consisting of fruits, leaves, creepers, flowers, branches, twigs and roots, exists in the seed of the tree, even so this manifest world exists in Brahman.
 Just as the pot (ultimately) goes back to mud, waves into water and ornaments into gold, so also this world which has come out of the Self (ultimately) goes back to the Self.
The snake appears when one does not recognize the rope; it disappears when one recognizes the rope. Even so this world appears when the Self is not recognized; it disappears when the Self is recognized. It is only our forgetfulness of the invisible Self which causes the world to appear just as (the ignorance of the) rope (causes the) snake to appear.
 Just as the dream becomes unreal in the waking state and the waking state in the dream, so also death becomes unreal in birth and birth in death.