The cosmos shines forth in Self increasing like a forest in the sky,
Like a puppet to a child is the reverse of non-truth.
Commentary
In this verse Narayana Guru once again shows the cosmos in its hazy relativity, comparing it to a forest in the sky. It is only when a person looks within, withdrawing from this dazzling, giddy world, that the peace of spiritual enlightenment dawns. The Amritabindu Upanishad (verse 5) goes straight to mark when it says: "Then this obstructing, trembling (cosmos) should go into the heart and perish; this is wisdom and meditation, and the remainder is logical argument and amplification." The Prasna Upanishad (I.16) describes what happens to the enlightened individual: "To them belong the stainless world of the Absolute, in whom there is no deceit, no non-good, no illusive relativity."
In the second line the sage says that a puppet seems real to a child which is the "reverse of non-truth" due to the ignorance of the child. If we show the puppet to the child and let him examine it closely he will see what it really is. Likewise, in this verse the sage is showing us that the cosmos is only relative reality grounded in non-truth. It is the Self-Absolute which is truth.