Self appears as if modified into the ego

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ADVAITA BODHA DEEPIKA[LAMP OF NON-DUAL KNOWLEDGE][Originally

Sri Shankaracharya and other great Sages hadwritten several works like the commentary on the Vedanta Sutrasand thus furnished the methods for those engaged in Self enquiryto accomplish their purpose.From those, Sri Karapatra Swami later condensed thesalient

points

into

Sanskrit

verse

in

a

work

of twelve chapters,called Sri Advaita

Bodha Deepika.Still later, some great man seems to have translated thisinto Tamil prose. For some unknown reasons only some eightchapters

of

the

same

are

found

published.]ON SUPERIMPOSITION54. Disciple: How can the unchanging witness mistake itself forthe changing ego?Master: Like a man in delirium feeling himself lifted in air, ora drunken man beside himself, or a madman ravingincoherently, or a dreamer going on dream-journeys, or a manpossessed behaving in strange ways, the witness though itselfuntainted and unchanged, yet under the malicious influence ofthe phantom ego, appears changed as "I".55. D.: Does the I-mode of mind present the witness alteredas the ego, or itself appear modified as the ego in the witness?56-57. M.: Now this question cannot arise, for having noexistence apart from the Self, it cannot manifest of itself.Therefore it must present the Self as if modified into the ego.D.: Please explain it more.M.: Just as the ignorance factor in the rope cannot projectitself as snake but must make the rope look like a snake; that inwater unable to manifest itself, makes the water manifest asfoam, bubbles and waves; that in fire, itself unable, makes thefire display itself as sparks; that in clay cannot present itself butpresents the clay as a pot, so also the power in the witness cannotmanifest itself but presents the witness as the ego.