In the earlier span, while explaining the root meaning of the word “Bhárata”,⁽¹⁾ I said the root verb tan means “to expand”. Now, the practical approach, that is, the actual spiritual endeavour, actual spiritual practice, is called Tantra. Here also the root verb is tan. Tan means “to expand”, and tra means “liberator”. The cult that liberates the spiritual aspirant by helping him in expanding his mind and spirit is Tantra, “liberation through expansion”. Unless and until the mind becomes great, one cannot get liberation, one cannot attain spiritual salvation. That’s why the spiritual cult is called Tantra.

Now, this expansion, this expansion of mind, expansion of ideas, expansion of human spirit, is the⁽²⁾ only sádhaná. And when a sádhaka, a spiritual aspirant, tries to enlarge his mind, naturally debasing forces become very active. The depraving forces, debasing forces, become very active, and the sádhaka is to enlarge his mind and spirit by fighting at each and every step, each and every stage of life. In his mind there will be those two belligerent forces; that is, the spiritual force and the debasing material force will start fighting amongst each other in the mind. In family life also,⁽³⁾ in social life, in national life, in each and every stratum of life, there will be fight. That is, those two fundamental belligerent forces will become active. One force will try to exalt you towards the Supreme Self, another force will want to degrade you, goad you towards crude materialism.

Now, a Tantric is called, a sádhaka is called, a soldier. [Sádhanásamara] [“the battle of sádhaná”]. Samara means “war”, “battle”, “fight”. The sádhaka is engaged in fight. It is for the brave, it is for courageous people. Sádhanásamara. And this cult is the cult of Tantra. He who wants to keep himself away from fight is unknowingly committing suicide, mental and spiritual suicide. Each and every man should be ready for fight – fight in the mental stratum, fight in the family stratum, fight in each and every stratum of life. This is Tantra.

Now, in the realm of spirituality there is little scope for theoreticians. It is ninety-nine per cent practical. Sádhaka means a practical man. Sádhaná is a cult, not a theory. Now, what is this cult? Now, this cult is subjective movement through objective adjustment. Here we see regarding your indriyas, that is, the motor and sensory organs, that this world is the object and they are the subjects. But when the relationship between the indriyas and the citta [objective mind, mind-stuff] is concerned, the indriyas are the objects and the citta is the subject. And when the relationship of citta and⁽⁴⁾ the ego, or aham, is concerned, the citta is the object, and the aham is the subject. Now in the case of aham and mahat (aham means doer “I” and mahat means pure “I”, “I exist”), the aham is the object and the mahat – “I am,” “I exist,” aham asmi – is the subject. And in case of this pure “I” and the átman [soul], this “I” – “I exist,” “I am” – is the object and the átman is the subject.

“I exist” – this feeling exists within each and every living being. In every being there is an “I exist” – “I am Narayanaswami, I belong to Salem, I exist.” So this “I”, this “I-exist” “I”, is the mahat. And you know – you know – that there is a feeling of “I exist” in you. And I know that there is a feeling of “I exist” in me. This “I know” – “I” of “I know” – is the átman. The “I” of “I know” is the átman, and the “I” of “I exist” is the mahat, the mahattattva, the pure mental “I”, the supreme mental “I”, the subtlest part of the mind. But “I know I exist” – the “I” of “I know” – is the átman. It is not mind, it is the knower of mind, knower of – what? The feeling that “I exist.” So the átman is the subject within your structure, within your existence. Within the realm of the microcosm, the átman is the subject, and all other objects are either its direct object or its indirect objects.

Now regarding the relationship of átman and Paramátman, the átman is the object and the Paramátman is the subject. So Paramátman is the Supreme Subjectivity. He is the Supreme Subject of all other subjects. He is the supreme multiple of all other expressed multiplicities. Because He is the supreme – in Sanskrit “supreme” is parama – He is known as Paramátmá. He is the Supreme Subject.

I said: “What is cult?” It is subjective approach, that is, your movement is towards that Supreme Subject, not towards bookish knowledge. Not to aggrandize yourself, but to goad yourself unto the path of beatitude, towards the Supreme Subject. Hence the approach of cult is a subjective approach. Yours is a subjective approach. But while moving towards the Supreme Subject, while moving towards the Terminus of your life, while moving towards the culminating point of your life, you have to pass through the world of objectivities. You are born; the things of this physical earth are all objectivities; but your march is towards the Supreme Subjectivity. So in you there must be an equilibrium, a balance, an equipoise, between subjective approach and objective adjustment. You must pass through this world of objects keeping a close contact and a balance⁽⁵⁾ with this objective world; you must not ignore this world.

You must not neglect this world, you must not cheat yourself by saying that everything is illusory, it is nothing. No, it is not nothing, it is something. When you are speaking these words with the help of physical energy, then that physical energy is also nothing, and when you say, “It is nothing,” then that “It is nothing” is also nothing. Because you are speaking with the help of energy. But energy is nothing, vocal cord is nothing, sound is nothing, so your utterance is also nothing. So a sádhaka must not cheat himself by saying this. A sádhaka must not engage in a self-cheating business. His should be a clear-cut approach, a subjective approach through objective adjustment. So this is the supreme path. It is the proper path. It is the path. You have got nothing to do with the intellectual extravaganza of so-called logicians and philosophers.

Yudhisthira said:

Shrutayo vibhinnáh smrtayo vibhinnáh naekamuniryasya mataḿ na bhinnam;
Dharmasya tattvaḿ nihitaḿ guháyáḿ mahájano yena gatah sa pantháh.

[The scriptures differ, the social codes differ; each sage has a different opinion. The essence of dharma lies deep in the mind; the path followed by realized persons is the true path.]

“It is the path.”

He said: Shrut[ayo] vibhinnáh. What is shruti? Shruti means “spiritual book” – the Vedas. Why shruti? Because in ancient times the Aryans who came here to India from central Asia were illiterate, they couldn’t write. Their language, the Vedic language, was a spoken language, not a written language. There was no script.⁽⁶⁾ The Vedic language had no script. When they came here they learned how to write.⁽⁷⁾ And finally so many Indian scripts have developed.⁽⁸⁾

Those who composed Vedic hymns were called rśis. Whatever the rśis uttered, the disciple, the student, learned through the ear. The ear was called shruti in Sanskrit. That’s why the Vedas are known as shruti.

Now, Shrut[ayo] vibhinnáh. Yudhisthira, wise Yudhisthira, said: Shrut[ayo] vibhinnáh – “These shrutis – the Rgveda, the Yajurveda, the Atharvaveda and so many other spiritual scriptures – differ from each other, differ from one another.”⁽⁹⁾ They differ from one another. The common man is to follow – whom? Whom to follow?

Shrut[ayo] vibhinnáh smrtayo vibhinnáh. Smrti means “social code”. Shruti means “spiritual code” and smrti means “social code”. So social codes also vary from one another. In ancient times there was Vyása Saḿhitá.⁽¹⁰⁾ There was the Nárada Saḿhitá. There was the Manu Saḿhitá. In the Manu Saḿhitá, there are two main schools, Dáyabhága and Mitákśará: Dáyabhága for Bengal, Mitákśará for the rest of India.⁽¹¹⁾ Somewhere there is patrilineal order – that is, the father’s property will be inherited by the son – and somewhere there is matrilineal order.⁽¹²⁾ Somewhere there is a mixture of patrilineal order⁽¹³⁾ and matrilineal order.⁽¹⁴⁾ And somewhere there is a blending of patrilineal and matrilineal order.⁽¹⁵⁾ So social codes vary from one another. Whom to follow? Even in Mitákśará there are five or six schools⁽¹⁶⁾ – at least five schools. Whom to follow? Smrtáyo vibhinnáh.⁽¹⁷⁾ Whom to follow?

Naekamuniryasya mataḿ na bhinnam – “and each and every muni varies from other munis.” Muni means “intellectual”. In the realm of spiritual sádhaná, Na munirdughdabálakah munih saḿliinamánasah [“A muni is not a small child at his mother’s breast, a muni is one who has merged his mind (in the Supreme)”]. If a particular man says, “I am a muni,” he is not a muni. Muni means “he who has ensconced his personality, ensconced his everything, in the supreme stance.” That is, he who has merged himself in the Supreme Puruśa is a muni. Munih saḿliinamánasah – “He who has merged his mind in the Supreme Puruśa is a muni.” Naekamuniryasya mataḿ na bhinnam.

So whom to follow? What is to be done by common people? What is to be done by spiritual aspirants? Whom to follow? It is a very difficult problem.

Now, Yudhisthira says: Dharmasya tattvaḿ nihitaḿ guháyám – “The spirit of dharma, the essence of dharma” – [nihitaḿ] – “lies covert in” – nihitaḿ guháyám. In Sanskrit the word guhá has got two imports, two meanings.⁽¹⁸⁾ One is “cave” – caves of the Himalayas where the rśis used to sit in meditation. Another meaning of guhá, which I just now mentioned, is mahattattva, “I exist”, “I am.” This feeling of “I am” is called guhá. Now, [Yudhisthira] says: “The essence of dharma, the supreme spirit of dharma, lies covert in your own ‘I’ feeling.” You have not to go to the caves of the Himalayas and to so many tiirthas [places of pilgrimage] in search of your own inner spirit. It lies covert within yourself. Your heart is the best tiirtha. It is the supreme tiirtha. Lord Shiva said:

Idaḿ tiirtham idaḿ tiirthaḿ bhramanti támasáh janáh;
Átmatiirthaḿ na jánanti kathaḿ mokśa varánane.

[Here is one place of pilgrimage, there is another place. People of static nature wander from the one place to the other place. But without finding the real place of pilgrimage within themselves, how can they attain salvation?]

“Oh, Párvatii! People, spiritual aspirants, move in search of God in so many tiirthas, but they do not know the self-tiirtha where the Lord lies covert.” So Dharmasya tattvaḿ nihitaḿ guháyám – “The essence of dharma lies covert in your ‘I’ feeling within yourself.”

And mahájano yena gatah sa pantháh [“the path followed by realized persons is the true path”]. Mahájana means a practical man, that is, not a theoretician, but he who actually tried to materalize, or rather, did materialize, knowledge into action.⁽¹⁹⁾ Such people are called mahájanas. A sádhaka, a spiritual aspirant, must not try to come in contact with theoreticians, must not try to follow theoreticians. They are to follow the practical people, they are to follow the mahájanas who have experienced the supreme Self, the supreme stance, in their practical life. You are to be a practical man, and you have to follow the practical aspirants.

You have to follow the mahájanas, and⁽²⁰⁾ these mahájanas are the vanguard of spirituality, they are the pioneers of spirituality. You have to move along their path. This path is the subjective approach. In this approach, while moving along the path of supreme subjectivity, you must not neglect the world. You have to serve each and every object of this universe by ascribing Náráyańa-hood to them. You are in the midst of so many minute expressions of Náráyańa. Each and every expression is Náráyańa in a particular form, Náráyańa in a particular shape, Náráyańa in a particular style. You are to serve them, and this serving of Náráyańa in human form is your objective adjustment, and your movement towards the Non-Attributional Supreme Puruśa is your subjective approach.

Footnotes

(1) A popular name for India; also a name of Krśńa, as a king of India. –Eds.

(2) A word here was inaudible on the tape. –Eds.

(3) A few words here were inaudible on the tape. –Eds.

(4) A word here was inaudible on the tape. –Eds.

(5) A few words here were inaudible on the tape. –Eds.

(6) Several words here were inaudible on the tape. –Eds.

(7) Several sentences here were inaudible on the tape. –Eds.

(8) Several sentences here were inaudible on the tape. –Eds.

(9) Several sentences here, though not fully audible, clearly give examples of discrepancies among the scriptures. –Eds.

(10) Some of the next sentence was inaudible on the tape. The words “… times… Parasara Saḿhitá” can be distinguished. –Eds.

(11) The next sentence was not clearly audible on the tape. The words “Nayara for Kerala, Khasia… for Khasia… matrilineal order” can be distinguished. –Eds.

(12) The rest of this sentence was not clearly audible on the tape, but mentions “Khasia” and “Assam” (Khasia was formerly in Assam). –Eds.

(13) A word here was inaudible on the tape. –Eds.

(14) A few words here were inaudible on the tape. –Eds.

(15) A few words here were inaudible on the tape. –Eds.

(16) A sentence here, though not fully audible, is clearly a list of the different schools. –Eds.

(17) A few words here were inaudible on the tape. –Eds.

(18) Another synonym here was inaudible on the tape. –Eds.

(19) A sentence here, though not fully audible, seems to say that this materialization of knowledge into action should not be taken to mean occult power. –Eds.

(20) A few words here were inaudible on the tape. –Eds.