What shines forth, this is conditioned, the unconditioned does not shine forth,
What is conditioned this is non-existence, then the unconditioned, that is then existence.
Commentary
What the sage has been telling us in this chapter is neatly summed up in the Prasna Upanishad (VI. 35), "The Real's face is covered over with a glowing disc." The conditioned is what shines forth as a glowing disc, just as the pure crystal is conditioned by the red cloth imposed on it. The relative world is here before us in all its brightness, but we need not be conditioned by it. As the Spanda Sastra declares, "He who perceives the object received in the three states of consciousness, as well as the subject thereof, although participating in it, yet remains unstained."
Sankaracharya devotes a whole section of the Vivekachudamani (verse 268 ff) to conditioning or superimposition, advising us that it is a mistake to identify the Self with what is fleeting and illusive. The Maha Upanishad (VI. 35) also advises us to "Relinquish seeing this (world) if the mind is to be free."
What shines forth may be termed real or unreal, existence or non-existence, but what is truly meant is that conditioning is impressed on the mind, whereas in truth the mind to be free must become one with the Self-Absolute. It is like looking at one's image in a mirror; when the mirror is smashed there is no longer an image, yet the individual remains. As Narayana Guru declares, "then the unconditioned, that is then existence." In the words of the Suta Samhita (IV. 2.8-9):
"The end of artificial entities means their basis only remains. For the end is the 'non-existence of the existing', and the existence of the non-existing. The basis is different from these two which are existence and non-existence. The basis is not destroyed because it is ever real."
The "basis" is the Absolute which is imperishable, because it cannot be destroyed. It is only when the mind is infected with spiritual fog that the Absolute is forgotten and the individual becomes immersed in the illusive and fleeting. Although the Absolute may be forgotten, It still is, and always will be so. The wise yogi always remains in the Absolute, and does not get carried away when conceptual name and perceptual form shine forth. In the words of the Devi Kavacham (verse 61), "Obtaining the Supreme Abode he goes with equanimity to Siva (the Absolute)."