Adi Shankara
The Nondual Sage
The most salient aspect of this account is the individual's direct, albeit chaotic, confrontation with the distinction between the phenomenal self and the ultimate Self. The visions of cosmic warfare are a dramatic display of the mind's projective power (maya), while the final realization of non-judgment and unity reveals a genuine glimpse of non-dual truth. The entire episode serves as a powerful, if perilous, lesson in discriminating the Real from the apparent.