Sat-darshana Bhashya (translation)

Verse 39.

द्वैतं विचारे परमार्थबोधे
त्वद्वैतमित्येष न साधुवादः।
गवेषणात्प्राग्दशमे विनष्टे
पश्चाच्च लब्धे दशमत्वमेकम् ॥

“In the wakening, non-duality (Advaita) is the Truth. Prior to it duality (Dvaita) is true. To reason thus is to reason wrong. For truth is truth, whether known or not. Uncounted in the parable the tenth man was. Was he then lost and was the number nine ?

Whether one is aware of the Truth or not, it remains the Truth. The One without a second, advaita is the ultimate truth even before it is manifest to me. To say that the truth is dvaita in my state of ignorance and advaita in a state of realisation is not valid. For, the state of ignorance that gives me a sense of duality affects only me—the egoistic consciousness, but does not affect the Truth. The truth is lost to me but is not lost to itself. I have to discover it and not to create it. At best, after discovering it I can relate it to my consiousness, the ego-self (what is called the surface being), as long as ’I’, the ego persists or is allowed to have its play in keeping with the truth of the deeper being. But this is no creation of a previously non-existent Advaita or non-dual state of the Self. By the external being it may be considered as a gain, but this gain is no addition to or alteration in the Truth itself.

This is the parable of the lost tenth man, which is quoted to describe the discovery of the truth of advaita.

Ten men got into the river and crossed it. On reaching the other side and counting only nine, the counter missed the tenth. At last he found that the tenth man thought lost was none other than the counter himself whom he forgot to count.

Only the renouncing of the ego-sense that I do the work destroys the effects of karma (and this is called Karma nasha). The abandoning of work itself is not Karma-nasha.