Sankaracharya

Of the tree of Samsara ignorance is the seed, the identification with the body is its sprout, attachment its tender leaves, work its water, the body its trunk, the vital forces its branches, the organs its twigs, the sense-objects its flowers, various miseries due to diverse works are its fruits, and the individual soul is the bird on it.

This bondage of the non-Self springs from ignorance, is self caused, and is described as without beginning and end. It subjects one to the long train of miseries such as birth, death, disease, and decrepitude.

This bondage can be destroyed neither by weapons nor by wind, nor by fire, nor by millions of acts - by nothing except the wonderful sword of knowledge that comes of discrimination, sharpened by the grace of the Lord.

One who is passionately devoted to the authority of the Srutis acquires steadiness in his Svadharma, which alone conduces to the purity of his mind. The man of pure mind realizes the Supreme Self, and by this alone Samsara with its root is destroyed.

Sankaracharya, Vivekacudamani