The subject of today’s discourse is “Parama Puruśa the Great”. In Sanskrit we say, Brhattvád Brahma, brḿhanattvád Brahma [“One who is great and has the capacity to make others great also”]. He is great. Why is He great? Because He is the biggest Entity. And not only for that is He called Brahma. Brahma means “great”. He is called Brahma not only because He is great, but because He makes others great.

It is the characteristic of the mind that it gets the form and wonts and attributions of its object of meditation, of its object of ideation. It is by the grace of that Parama Puruśa, that Brahma, that when one accepts Him as the only object of adoration, as the only object of meditation, he also, the meditator also, becomes like Brahma – and that’s why He is called Brahma.

In Sanskrit brhat means “great”. There are many other words in Sanskrit whose meaning is “great”, but the word brhat and other words are not the same. Brhat means “great, but that cannot be measured”. And the meanings of all other words are “great, but that can be measured”. The Himalayas are also great, but they can be measured. The word brhat can be used only for Parama Puruśa, because He is the only entity in the universe which cannot be measured. And when a spiritual aspirant accepts Him as the only object of adoration, as the only object of meditation, that aspirant also becomes great like the Object.

You should remember that He’s not only the Supreme Subjectivity, but He’s also the Supreme Positivity. You may say that positivity and negativity are two different projections of the mental faculty. Then why should we use the word “positivity” for Him, and why not “negativity”? Yes, positivity and negativity are two expressions of the same Supreme Entity. When He creates something, when the sprout comes out from one of the unbalanced triangles of His attributions, that starting-point is the point of supreme positivity; and in the course of creation when so many waves of so many lengths of so many inferences come out from Him, then the last point, the culminating point, of creation is the point of supreme negativity. The crudest form of human existence is the point of supreme negativity, and the march of the spiritual aspirant starts from that point of supreme negativity and goes towards the Parama Puruśa, towards the nucleus of the Universe, who is the point of supreme positivity. So this point, this object of adoration, is the Supreme Positivity as well as the Supreme Subjectivity. An object moving towards the subject. It is a peculiar position. Yes, the object is moving towards the subject by being attracted by the subject. And because He is the attractive faculty, that’s why Parama Puruśa is Krśńa. “Krśńa” means the Supreme Attractive Faculty, the Supreme Subjectivity.

He is also known as Shiva, because the meaning of the word Shiva is “the supreme balanced position”, “the Supreme Non-Attributional Entity”.

Now, He’s great because He’s immeasurable, because He has got the faculty to make the aspirants great. But He’s a singular entity. Why a singular entity? When the aspirant meditates on Him, that aspirant also becomes one with Him, as great as He is. So His identity always remains a singular entity.

It is said that our Parama Puruśa is omniscient, He is omnipotent, He is the accumulation of all attributions, but He cannot do two things. He cannot create a second Parama Puruśa. Because if a second Parama Puruśa is created, then the hub of that second Parama Puruśa will coincide with the hub of the original Parama Puruśa, and they will become one. So He cannot create a second Parama Puruśa. And another thing that He cannot do is, He cannot hate anybody. He’s the All-Attractive Entity. And when that attraction is the primary factor, how can there be hatred in Him? Hatred means repulsion, but He’s the Attractive Entity; so He cannot hate anybody. Even if He tries to hate anybody, He cannot do so. He has got these two imperfections. [laughter]

He is a singular entity. And He is the supreme factor behind all creations. You know, existence, all attributions, all movements, all are different expressions of faculties having crores of different waves, waves of different lengths.

Now, from a particular nucleus of any object, so many waves emanate; but those objects from which so many waves emanate are nothing but emanated expressions of that Supreme Nucleus. So He is the Supreme Creator of all created beings, all emanated entities. These waves of different lengths creating so many inferences in the universe are known as deva in Sanskrit. Deva means “faculties personified”. But as these unique emanating entities are emanated beings of the Supreme Entity, that’s why the Parama Puruśa, the Supreme Entity, is known as Mahádeva. And we find this Mahádeva in three stages, in three phases, in three objective subjects of ideation.

Three Phases

Common men, ordinary created beings, feel that there is some controller, some controlling entity. They also feel that they are ordinary beings, but that controlling entity controls those ordinary beings; so that controlling entity is not at all a heavenly body, but something of the physical world, something very near, something having a close proximity to their existence. Ordinary created beings are just like animals, eating, drinking, sleeping, dying. They say, “O Creator, O Controller, we are just like animals, we are just like pashu; You are our Lord. You just liberate us from the bondage of crudity. You are Pashupati, we are pashu; You are Pashupati. You just elevate our standard and lead us to the stance of supreme humanity, supreme divinity.”

In the second phase, man becomes more a psychic entity than a physical one. He feels that there are innumerable waves of different lengths, creating so many physical and psychic objects and creating so many inferences. They feel that their physical existence is not everything. In the case of humans, the psychic entity is more important than the physical entity. They feel that the source of psychic inspiration is that Supreme Controller. And they are to fight against all depraving, all degenerating, forces with the help of that Supreme Entity. These spiritual aspirants are spiritual heroes, spiritual soldiers. They are brave. In Sanskrit they are called viira, and their lord is called Viireshvara.

In the third phase, the aspirant realizes the fact that the human entity is more a spiritual one than a psychic entity. And in this third phase they feel that the lord of all emanating vibrations or emanated vibrations is the supreme Mahádeva. He is the only goal, He is the only desideratum of human beings, and especially of intellectual beings.

So the spiritual march starts from the point of supreme negativity and moves towards the supreme positivity. The great Parama Puruśa, He is great, and because of his greatness He is all-pervading. Everybody, every entity, every thought, every attributional or non-attributional spiritual entity or entities, are within His fold.

He is all-pervading. In Sanskrit “all” is called sarva. In sarva there are three sounds: sa, ra, va. Sa is the acoustic root of sentient principle. Sentient principle means “that gives pleasure, that helps an aspirant enjoy the spiritual bliss”. Now in the word sarva we use the sound sa, because all these entities came from the Supreme Puruśa, who is just touching the extremity of sentient principle. I said “just touching the extremity of sentient principle”, because He is above the scope of the sentient principle. The sentient principle can touch Him, but cannot reach within His vast periphery.

Then comes the sound ra. You know, when there is an entity, when there is a movement, a sound is created. And that sound is called the acoustic root of that entity or of that movement. You are moving. A sound khat́-khat́-khat́-khat́ is created. So that sound khat́-khat́ is the acoustic root of your actional movement. Similarly, not only is there an acoustic root, but there is colour also. For each and every existence there is colour; that colour may or may not be visible; there is sound; that sound may or may not be [audible]; but there is sound and colour. For energy, you know fundamentally all energies are one. And that’s why one energy can be converted into another. And the acoustic root of energy is the sound ra.

And each and every created being has got its particular characteristics. For characteristics, or dharma – the Sanskrit term for “characteristics” is dharma – the acoustic root is va.

So the starting point is in sentient sa; and everything moves with the help of energy, and its acoustic root is ra; and everything has got its peculiar characteristics, so everything has got the sound – acoustic root – va. Sarva means “everything”.

Parama Puruśa lies coverted within the scope of sarva. He lies coverted. You see the light; you see the bulb. And due to the electrical energy, you see this light. And due to the electrical energy, you can see its effect, but the original entity is not seen. Similarly, Parama Puruśa lying coverted within the jurisdiction of each and everything motivates everything, but He remains unseen. That’s why it is said He is the Supreme Reflecting Plate. When your organs see something, or, say, hear something, those waves of hearing or seeing get reflected on your mental plate, and the reflection portion is your perception, and the reflected portion is your memorized portion. But this reflecting plate, the unit mind, exists because each existence is witnessed, that is, reflected, by the unit consciousness, the unit cognition. Similarly, the unit cognition gets its existence recognized because of the existence of the Supreme Reflecting Cognitive Entity, that is, Parama Puruśa. And that is why unit cognition is called átman in Sanskrit, and the Supreme Cognition, that is, Parama Puruśa, is called Paramátman.

Now, people who are guided by, who are propelled by, the actional faculties, feel that they are doing something: “I’ve done this; I’ve done that.” But how can a man do anything without the help of vital energy? That vital energy, wherefrom does that vital energy come? It comes from water, air, food, light. Wherefrom do those things, that is, air, light, water, come? They come from the Supreme Operative Principle getting the scope to create something according to the wish of Parama Puruśa. So a man can do only when he is helped by Parama Puruśa and gets vital energy from Parama Puruśa. Without vital energy a man cannot do anything. So the supreme doer of each and every work is that Supreme Entity, and not an ordinary human being.

And the last thing that one should remember is that this great Parama Puruśa is the supreme shelter of everything. In a small atom, electrons have got the shelter of the nucleus. In our town of Kingston, Kingston is our shelter. But Kingston’s shelter is the country of Jamaica. And Jamaica’s shelter is the continent of America; and America’s shelter is this globe; this globe’s shelter is the solar world, solar system; and the solar system’s shelter is Parama Puruśa. So Parama Puruśa the Great is the supreme shelter. We are sheltered by Him, we are sheltered in Him, and finally we will be sheltered in His Supreme Nucleus. There is no alternative. The sooner a man realizes the fact, the better it is. So it is said that the spiritual path, the movement from the supreme negativity to the Supreme Subjectivity, is a path for intellectuals, for intelligent people, for cunning people, for clever people. So it is said that the devotees are the cleverest people in the universe. You should always remember this fact.