As the mirage of water is seen in the desert, so shines the world in the Ātman of consciousness.

The marīci-jala—the desert mirage—stands as the quintessential Vedāntic metaphor for māyā. The thirsty traveler perceives water where there is naught but refracted light; similarly, we perceive a world where there is only cit, pure consciousness. The Haṭha Pradīpikā (IV.61) employs this very analogy: brahmaiva kevalaṃ sarvam iti vedānta-ḍiṇḍimaḥ. The drum of Vedānta resounds with this singular truth. What is remarkable is that the mirage is not sheer nothingness: it is genuine light, merely misinterpreted. Consequently, the world is not pure negation (asat), but rather mithyā: apparently real, dependently real, akin to the illusion of silver in mother-of-pearl. Vāsiṣṭha does not invite contempt for the world, but urges us to apprehend it as vivarta,