Having arrived at this conclusion, the problem may be solved by learning how to avoid existence. But, let us consider what the term "existence" means. The common acceptance of the word, as used in the English, seems to include being; but if we will consider the word in its literal meaning, when analyzed, we find that it comes from "est" (to be), and the prefix "ex," meaning actually "not-being."
The word Being, is a synonym for eternal life—for Deity. It does not savor of anything that has been created, or that will terminate. Being is, therefore, to cease to ex-ist, is to cease to live under the spell of the illusory and changing quality of maya, or externality.
Far from meaning to be "wiped out," or absorbed into The Absolute, in the sense of complete loss of consciousness, it means the eternal retention of consciousness, unhampered by the delusion of sense as a reality.
To escape from this chain of illusory ideas, and their consequences, the obvious necessity is to claim the soul's right to Being. This is done by dispelling ignorance (A-vidya) by vidya (knowledge). Thus karma ceases:
"On the cessation of karma ceases consciousness of self;
"On the cessation of this consciousness of self, cease name and form;
"On the cessation of name and form, cease the organs of sense;
"On the cessation of sense, ceases contact;
"On the cessation of contact, ceases sensation;
"On the cessation of sensation, ceases desire;