Sankara

 

Feeling, while going about, that he is a wave of the ocean of Self: 

while sitting, that he is a bead strung on the thread of universal 

consciousness: while perceiving objects of sense, that he is realizing 

himself by perceiving the Self: and, while sleeping, that he is drowned 

in the ocean of bliss; – he who, inwardly constant, spends his whole life 

thus is, among all men, the real seeker of liberation.

All this world, consisting of name and form, is only the particular 

manifestation (vyashti) of the universal Substance (viraj); it moves and 

knows all objects by virtue of the primal life (mukhya-prana) that inspires 

it. This Self like the sun, is neither the doer nor the enjoyer. Thus, 

directly realizing, does he that is full of knowledge and realization 

live his life, through incessant contemplation of the Supreme Self.

Just as the one sun, independent of other objects, yet, by virtue of 

reflection in several waters, becomes many and has the same stability 

or motion as the medium reflecting it; so does the Supreme Self seem 

to be affected by properties by virtue of its reflection of all beings, 

high and low, but, when clearly realized, shines unaffected by those 

properties.

The Supreme Self has three aspects, namely, the full, the self and 

the not-self, the first being the unconditioned Self, the second being 

that which is conditioned by the consciousness, and the third being a 

mere reflection, in the same way as space has three aspects in respect 

of water, namely, that which is inside and outside of the water, that 

which is conterminous with water, and that which is reflected therein. 

When the conditioned self is merged in the unconditioned, then the 

condition together with its consequences vanishes altogether.

Shankaracharya