Context
Nidagha approaches his guru Ribhu on Mount Kedara, seeking instruction on the nature of ultimate reality. Ribhu begins the core teaching of the Ribhu Gita.
The Dialogue
Nidagha: "Master, I have practiced meditation for years, yet peace eludes me. What is the supreme truth?"
Ribhu: "Listen carefully, Nidagha. There is only Brahman. Nothing else exists, has ever existed, or will ever exist."
Nidagha: "But I see this mountain, these trees, my own body. How can you say nothing exists?"
Ribhu: "What you call mountain is Brahman. What you call tree is Brahman. What you call body is Brahman. The seer is Brahman. The seen is Brahman. The seeing itself is Brahman. There is no second thing."
Nidagha: "Then what of my thoughts, my doubts, my seeking?"
Ribhu: "The thought is Brahman. The doubt is Brahman. The seeker is Brahman. Even the seeking is Brahman appearing as seeking. Can water be wet to itself? Can space be distant from itself?"
Nidagha: "If all is Brahman, why do I not know this?"
Ribhu: "The not-knowing is also Brahman. The ignorance you speak of has no reality apart from Brahman. You are not someone who must realize Brahman—you ARE Brahman pretending to seek itself."
Nidagha: "This is too vast to grasp."
Ribhu: "The vastness is Brahman. The grasping is Brahman. The one who cannot grasp is Brahman. Rest in this: there is only Brahman. Not Brahman and something else. Not Brahman plus the world. Only Brahman. Ever. Always. Now."
✨ Key Lesson
Reality is not divided into the spiritual and material—there is only one seamless Brahman appearing as everything, including the apparent seeker and the apparent search.