Mandukya Karika, verse 4.73

Sanskrit text, IAST transliteration and English translation

योऽस्ति कल्पितसंवृत्या परमार्थेन नास्त्यसौ ।
परतन्त्राभिसंवृत्या स्यान्नास्ति परमार्थतः ॥ ७३ ॥

yo'sti kalpitasaṃvṛtyā paramārthena nāstyasau |
paratantrābhisaṃvṛtyā syānnāsti paramārthataḥ || 73 ||

73. That which exists on the strength of the illusory experiences does not, really speaking, exist. That which, again, is said to exist on the strength of the views supported by the other schools of thought, does not, really speaking, exist.

Shankara Bhashya (commentary)

(Objection)—It has been said that the mind is free from the relation with any objects, as such objects do not exist. But this non-attachment regarding the mind cannot be maintained inasmuch as objects in the forms of the teacher, the Scripture and the pupil exist.

(Reply)—There is no such defect in our contention.

(Objection)—How?

(Reply)—The¹ existence of such objects as Scripture, etc., is due to the empirical experience which is illusory. The empirical knowledge in respect of Scripture, teacher and taught is illusory and imagined only as a means to the realisation of the Ultimate Reality. Therefore Scripture, etc., which exist only on the strength of illusory empirical experiences, have no real existence. It has already been said that duality vanishes when the Ultimate Reality is known. Again, the² objects (which appear to come into existence through the illusory experiences), supported by other schools of thought as existent, do not, when analysed from the standpoint of the Ultimate Reality, verily exist. Hence it has been rightly said in the previous Kārikā that the mind is unattached.

Anandagiri Tika (glossary)

¹ The existence, etc.—That is to say, the Scripture, the teacher and the taught have meaning only in the state of ignorance. The purpose of these ideas is to help the ignorant person to realize Truth. Compare with the Kārikā 28 in the Āgama Prakaraṇa.

² The objects, etc.—The Vaiśeṣika school of thought maintains the existence of Six Categories. But these Categories are nonexistent from the standpoint of the Ultimate Reality. These are perceived to exist only in the plane of our empirical experiences.