Like [the mirage of] water into which the deer falls dissolves when approached, so [the world].

Vāsiṣṭha resumes the metaphor of mṛgatṛṣṇā —the thirst of the deer— from a processual angle. The mirage is not eradicated through external action; rather, it dissolves (vilīyate) by the mere proximity of correct knowledge. Such is the principle of āropa-nivṛtti, the removal of superimposition: nothing is destroyed, one merely ceases to project. While contemporary yoga speaks of “letting go of attachments,” a far more subtle reality is at play here: there is nothing to release, for nothing was ever firmly established to begin with. Bālya, the childhood or immature condition of the seeker, denotes that state wherein one chases illusions. Spiritual maturity (paripakva) consists in recognizing that the sought-after object never existed as such. The deer does not need to “overcome” its thirst for illusory water; upon drawing near, it simply perceives the absence of water. Thus is the mature yogi: rather than struggling against the world, upon approaching non-dual knowledge, the world reveals itself as harmless vivarta.