As all of you, rather, most of you, know, Parama Puruśa is the starting-point of everything, be it animate, be it inanimate. He is the supreme source; everything emanates from Him. So each and every living being belongs to the same tribe, and the tribal chief is Parama Puruśa. They are moving on round Parama Puruśa,⁽¹⁾ and their final goal, the final terminus, is also Parama Puruśa – that is, each and every living being belongs to the same village, and same nation, and same group of living beings.

Now, their goal is Parama Puruśa, the desideratum is Parama Puruśa. While moving towards Parama Puruśa, while running towards the supreme goal, they should have an idea in their mind as to why they are moving towards Parama Puruśa – with what an attitude they are moving towards Parama Puruśa. So far as the question of faculty is concerned, it is either actional, or knowledge (that is, intellectual), or devotional.⁽²⁾ But they are actually not spirituality, they are actually dogma, a mechanical way of futile expression. Standing like this, sitting like this, saying like this, singing like this – and doing everything with so many gestures and postures. These things – rather, the framework created by the combination of these⁽³⁾ gestures and postures, is the abode of dogma.

Even in the realm of the actional faculty or the intellectual faculty, or even the so-called devotional faculty, everything is not dharma, everything is not a perfect approach. There are also colours of dogma in them. So those who are spiritual aspirants should very carefully keep themselves away, rather keep themselves aloof, from these so-called approaches of spirituality, rather, from these dogmas. In the past there was dogma; in the Middle Ages it reached its zenith; and in the Middle Ages of the human era, of human history, there was a revolt against dogma. That first revolt against dogma was a psychic approach, a psycho-spiritual approach, of devotionalism. And that we find in certain Bhágavata shástras [scriptures], where they say that no physical show is required for the devotional approach.⁽⁴⁾ For the devotional approach, nothing external is required; nothing external is required to be done.⁽⁵⁾ And because it is the supreme pinnacle of devotional approach, you should remember that it is yours, because Parama Puruśa is cent per cent yours.

Footnotes

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

(2) A sentence here was not clearly audible on the tape. The audible phrases were: “But you know… in human existence may be treated in the name of spirituality.” –Eds.

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

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

(5) The next sentence here began: “And the supreme apex of this true spirituality is…” The rest was not clearly audible on the tape. –Eds.