Ashtavakra Gita 18.15 -

Before making any effort to prove or deny the world, one has to admit its existence, as a fact. But, if the existence and its perception are gone into deeply, the finding will be quite different.

What is meant by existence of anything? How does it come to be known to us? Is not the whole process of perception dependent and conditional? If so, how can it be accepted as an undeniable fact? This is the crux of the whole matter.

We see the world first as gross, external and solid. Earth, water, air, fire and space are there before us. All are so vast and huge. But our instruments to perceive them are nevertheless small. Think of the eyes with which huge distances are glimpsed. How small are our eyes! Where then and by what are such huge magnitudes and number seen?

Is the eye seeing, or the mind within? Body is small, how can the mind inside it be big then? Yet the pañca-bhūtas are clearly perceived. Where? Are the senses catching them, or the whole perception is inner, in the mind? If so, where is the objectivity, grossness, of what we see? Can solid objects be within our body?

On what ground do we say that the world and its objects are gross, huge and infinitely various? Certainly, there is an illusion working here. We are led to think of objectivity solely on the basis of our sensory perception itself. Until the knowing process is confirmed by the intelligence beyond doubt, is it in order to pronounce any verdict in the matter?

The jñānī, Knower, is always given to knowing, and hence he goes into the subtlety of the very process. While he sees the gross world and its countless objects, with their forms and names, he also realizes that the whole process is inner, a handiwork of the mind and intelligence themselves.

How can the inner mind perceive something gross within itself? If anything gross were to be inside, will not the body break into pieces? He sees the world as a fact, but only tentatively. Going into it, in terms of his own experience, he finds that it is fallacious, as the whole process and outcome transpire inside his body, in the mind. The mind is not part of the body, though associated with it. Mind alone feels the presence of the body. That here is a body, it is mine, is itself a notion the inner mind produces.

As the gross extensive world cannot be contained within the body in the mind, the Knower feels the existence and perception are not a physical fact. It is at best a superimposition on the Self. None can desire anything that is superimposed! It is like extracting or possessing the shadow.

This does not mean that the senses do not interact. All interactions are within the world, between the superimposed products.

While they go on as usual, the understanding remains that all are illusory and have no factuality or truth in them. It is like Krishna explaining action and inaction to Arjuna in his Gita dialogue (4.18 ).

Every day we see the sun rises and sets on the west. If you gaze at sun, it will be seen to be steadily moving up and down. But does it verily move, or it is the earth that moves? Here the senses see movement, but inwardly the intelligence knows the movement is not true, factual. Knower’s vision is also likewise.