Narada says that this is the nature of realization: When the subject-object consciousness is transcended, Brahman flashes forth. There is an impression that Brahman is realized by this transcendental consciousness. But actually it is not so. Brahman is your real nature, and what is already there merely shines forth. When the clouds covering the sun go away, we get the impression that the sun shines because the clouds are removed. But the removal of the clouds did not create the sun, it was already there shining.
When a hypnotized person is de-hypnotized, nothing new happens; only the mistaken identity goes away. But we say, ‘He became himself again.’ When the bhrama or mistake goes away, what is already there remains. So there is nothing like: ‘by this’ one ‘shall realize God’. The sadhaka should know that neither ‘by’ knowledge nor ‘by’ jnana and bhakti combined can one realize God. Ignorance is not an object, though we get the impression of the ignorance going away and realization dawning. Hence realization appears to be an ‘effect’.
But there is neither cause nor effect in this. Bhakti is like a fruit in itself, svayamphalarupa. It is itself the cause and itself the effect. It is really our own Self. This Self appears as the sadhaka, the sadhana, and also as siddhi, realization. The whole process is nothing but lila — the dance of Brahman. So Gaudapada says in the Mandukya Karika: ‘There is neither bondage nor liberation.’ It is all lila. He manifests himself.