The Veiling Effect...

The veiling effect only disappears

with full experience of Reality,

and the elimination of false knowledge

leads to the end of suffering

caused by that distraction.



There is no such thing as ignorance

beyond the thinking mind.

Thought itself is ignorance,

the cause of the bondage of becoming.

When thought is eliminated,

everything else is eliminated.

When thought increases everything else increases.



While the scholar does not overcome

his sense of `I am this' in the body and its faculties,

there is no liberation for him,

however much he may be learned in religion and philosophy.



Reality can be experienced

only with the eye of understanding,

not just by a scholar.

What the moon is like must be seen with one's own eyes.

How can others do it for you?


Speech alone, even a deluge of words,

with scholarship and skill in commenting on the scriptures,

may achieve some personal satisfaction but not liberation.



The tangle of words is a great forest

which leads the mind off wandering about,

so wise men should strive to get to know the truth

about their own nature.

....................



The above Sri Sankara quotes are from the book

The Seven Steps to Awakening.