The people of ancient times used to employ all their energy for the gratification of their gross propensities (vrttis). But eventually they noticed that even through the persistent application of their individual and collective forces, their propensities were not fully fulfilled. It appeared that some unseen and greater force was playing with them every moment, thwarting all their efforts. Gradually they understood that, no matter how strongly they tried to impose their individual and collective might, their capacity was limited for their field of action was confined to the relative factors of time, space and person. What is that entity to whose inviolable decree they were ultimately compelled to submit? What are His characteristics? Who is He? No matter how developed the intellect or how pervasive its force, it is so difficult for us to fathom the immeasurable vastness of that Entity.

People unable to attain their objects of desire, bang their heads against the wall in utter frustration. Yet sometimes desired objects come to them whether they had wished for them or not. They accept this as their fate. But fate does not depend on anyone’s whim, for if whim were everything, the seed of the microcosmic longings would have withered, but it has not. Thus people began to think that fate is nothing more than the reactions to their past actions. But as they cannot see their or understand their original actions, they call it their adrśt́a (destiny). But in spite of human beings having attained a certain amount of freedom from the Supreme Controller (who allots the reactions to actions) even then they are at His total mercy. They are like footballs which can be kicked in any direction according to the desire of the players. This dependence on Parama Puruśa is essential for movement and inspiration. While seeking the original source (Praeti) of this inspiration, the thoughtful people of the distant past cultivated intuitional science (Brahmatattva). The subtlety of thought of those contemplative, progressive people lead them gradually from the world of matter to the world of ideas, and from the world of ideas to the world of consciousness. In the world of wisdom they were the first rśis, the first torch-bearers of the illuminating flame of knowledge. They eventually succeeded in using their intellectual faculties to penetrate the sphere of Consciousness. As a result of the constant churning of their intellect human beings learned Brahma-vijiṋána or intuitional science.

Lay people went to those rśis to illuminate the dark recesses of their minds with their bright light. And those wise people, in this process of answering each complex or simple question, eventually became masters of the intuitional sciences.

The questions of the lay people were:

Kiḿ kárańaḿ Brahma kutah sma játá
Jiiváma kena kva ca sampratisthah;
Adhiśt́hitáh kena sukhetareśu
Vartámahe Brahmavido vyavasthám.

“What is Brahma? What is the fundamental cause of our existence? What sustains our life? On what foundation does our existence stand? What is our base? Why is life a passing experience of pleasure and pain? O knower of Brahma, provide us with proper answers to these questions”.

Kálah svabhávo niyatiryadrcchá
Bhutáni yonih puruśa iti cintya
Saḿyoga eśáḿ na tvátmabhávád
Atmápyaniishah sukhadukha hetoh.

There is an unending number of questions in the human mind. “Do the solutions of the above problems lie in the time factor? Is time the final answer? Is it the absolute truth? It appears that the first cause of creation is hidden in the womb of time. So time must be the original cause, the absolute factor? Is this not so? Whatever took place, whatever is taking place and whatever will take place is within the periphery of time, is it not? It must be the temporal factor (kála shakti) which has been giving birth to the universe as the Universal Mother (Vishvajananii); which has been preserving everything in its rhythmic and cyclical movement; and which, with its frantic dance, raucous laughter, and gnashing teeth has been destroying the world with its formidable power. The inscrutable play of light is nothing but a momentary flash upon its features. Belching darkness out of darkness time alone is the sole, well-established entity. O rśi tell us, is not time alone the Absolute Entity?”

The knower of Brahma replies, “No, time is not the Absolute Entity.” Time is only a relative factor, which is entirely dependent on the mutual relationship of place and person. Time is but the mind’s measurement of the motivity of action. When there is no motivity of action, or when there is motivity of action but no mind to measure it, there is no time. To say that time is beginningless and endless is also incorrect. How can I accept that the universe was created in the womb of beginningless time, and that in the womb of endless time the universe will disappear? The mind (pátra-mana⁽¹⁾) in which measurement exists did not exist before the creation, and thus there existed no imagination to measure time. The place and person upon which time depend are also relative factors. This evolutionary panorama revolves around the relative interdependence of the three relative factors time, place and person.

Thus time, which is entirely dependent on place and person, can never be the Absolute Factor. During sleep or in a senseless state the relation between place and person is not properly manifest, and so time becomes non-existent for that period. In order to realize that a period of time has lapsed between going to sleep and waking up, one has to study the environmental changes. We have formulated the solar year, solar month and solar day on the basis of the earth’s rotation around the sun. Similarly, the lunar year, lunar month and lunar day have been determined on the basis of the rotation of the moon around the earth. If the earth has not moved around the sun, or the moon around the earth, or if the stars and planets had not followed their respective movements, time would never have existed. Unlike Tom, Dick and Harry; or citta, ahamtattva and mahatattva; or Puruśa, time is not a well manifest factor; it is neither non-matter nor is it totally independent of matter. Even if we were to call time non-matter, we would still have to admit that time is dependent on objects. The symbolization of time is impossible because it is non-material. Moreover, it is impossible to form an idea of time without thinking of objects as its existence is dependent on objects. If we say “a hundred thousand years ago” at once we indirectly think within ourselves that this incident occurred after an object like the earth rotated around an object like the sun a hundred thousand times. So no matter how we measure time, backward or forward, we have to bring it within the count of kalpas (mythologically, one day and night of Brahma – a period of 432 solar years of the mortals) or yugas (era), years or months, and these kalpas, yugas and months are solely and wholly dependent on objects. In the absence of objects these concepts of time would have been non-existent. I have already told you that the objects upon which time depend are also not the ultimate factor.

Direction (such as east, west, north, south) is not the absolute factor either. From afar the moon looks like a small dish but nearer it looks like a continent. Thus space too is not a stable entity. By the shortest route Bhagalpur is to the east of Monghyr but by the long route, which takes one around the whole world, it is to the west of Monghyr. So direction is also not an absolute factor. The person factor is also far from absolute – people’s nature and characteristics are so different. Time is not a fixed concept because it is dependent on changing entities. The news of the world of yesterday is “ past” to us, “ present” to some other planet, and “future” to yet another planet. Past, present and future, upon which the expansion of time depends, are imagined according to the differences in place and person. So in reply to this natural question of the human mind, the rśis or seers of those days said, “Time can never be accepted as the primordial cause of creation.”

“Is nature (svabháva) the fundamental cause of the universe?” The rśi says, “No, nature does not have original authorship.” Nature is only the flow of the three immanent principles (sattva, rajah and tama) of Prakrti. It is an evolutionary flow and thus on seeing just one stage of it we can infer its previous and subsequent stages. Being aware of the trends of nature, we can study the tendencies and behaviour of living beings, plants and inanimate objects: what their individual characteristics are, how they evolved, what their potentialities are, how they will develop, etc. This study is what is called science. When this study is concerned with the material world, we call it physical science.

Nature is not the original authority or doer-entity, but is the dynamic waves of the centrifugal and centripetal movements (Saiṋcara and Pratisaiṋcara) of Prakrti. It can at best be the determinant of the intrinsic characteristics of objects, but not their primary cause. Nature is a certain law, a certain procedure, but not the creating force. Nature cannot be accepted as the supreme authority.

So what is the primary cause of the world? Is it destiny (niyati)? The rśi says, “No, not even that.” Niyati is derived from the root ni – yam + ktin, and means that which controls the subsequent actions. As one sows, so shall one reap. The amount of reactions to be undergone by the unit entity is equal to the total actions previously performed. Destiny is the totality of unrequited reactions of actions performed. Its reactive momenta are called saḿskáras. In this observable world the saḿskára-ridden unit entities cannot go beyond destiny’s influence. Destiny keeps them so tightly in its grip that they think it is the controller of their fate (bhágya-niyanta), as though it had already determined their path of progress. But destiny cannot be the absolute factor, for if you do not exist, if you do not act, destiny cannot exist either. Being dependent upon your doership for its existence, it cannot be the supreme controller.

Now another question arises: Is this cosmic creation accidental? The rśi says, “No,” there is no such thing as an accident. Behind every event that takes place in the universe there is the law of causation. Kárańabhávát káryabháva – there is no effect without a cause. Truly speaking, whatever we take to be an accident is nothing but an incident whose preceding cause we are unable to see or understand properly. So the word “accident” is meaningless and to call this universe an accidental creation is simply to camouflage one’s ignorance.

“Are the five fundamental factors the primary cause of this universe? Has consciousness evolved out of matter?” “No”, says the rśi, “Matter or the five fundamental factors cannot be the absolute authority.” None of them has the power or capacity of self determination – each one of them has to proceed through clashes and conflicts at the behest of some unseen power. Even in the very crude sphere these five elements have to proceed according to individual or collective human intellect. A little analysis will reveal that the five elements have no authority or doership in any of their conditions. They are always preoccupied with activities. An entity with functional obligations can on no account be the primary cause or absolute controller.“

“Is jiivátman then the supreme factor?” “No”, says the rśi, “not even that.” Jiivátmá is only a cognitive force (jiṋátrshakti), not an authority. Cognizance is possible of a cognitive force, not of the creation. Since the attributes of a knowing entity ( jiṋátr sattá) are absent, it can never be the creator. The Átman is the knowing entity, not the creating force, and so jiivátman also is not the absolute authority.

“Is creation accomplished through the union and mutual cooperation of two or more of the factors like time, nature, destiny, accident, elements or jiivátman?” The rśi says, “No”. With the exception of svabháva or the Operative Prakrti none has any direct contact with Puruśa. Cosmic creation is not possible as the result of the union of nature (svabháva) or Prakrti, or actional force (karma shakti) with the Puruśa, or jiivátman or cognitive force. The expression of the Karma-shakti (actional flow) in the jiṋánashakti (cognitive force) of the jiivátman no doubt gives rise to the “I” feeling or the manifestation of the mind, but that petty ego, due to the smallness of its sphere of activity, does not have the capacity of creating the universe, nor is it able to contact the creative cosmic force. The microcosmic subjectivity (jiivátmabháva) cannot accept the world of objectivity with complete indifference. Thus the contact of matter with jiivátman cannot be accepted as the absolute factor. The conjunction of matter with jiivátman merely transforms objects into vehicles of enjoyment. And the result of this enjoyment is invariably addiction. Jiivátman is aniisha ( one having no controlling power) and so it has to take shelter in others. This is why the microcosmic subjectivity (jiivátmabháva) becomes partially or fully attached to different entities. This attachment is the greatest characteristic of an entity having no controlling power. Jiivátman is not iisha but aniisha – not the controller but the controlled entity, and thus cannot be the cause of creation. It is because of this aniisha that unit beings have to undergo the mental distortions of pleasure and pain, and become assailed by virtue and vice as a result of environmental influences and struggles. That which is constantly being buffeted and battered every moment cannot discover the absolute factor. The rśi says that you cannot discover the primordial factor in this way. In order to find it you will have to reach the Cause of all causes (Adikarańa) – the Supreme Cause which itself has no cause. This causeless factor is the final answer to all queries - the culminating point of all contemplation and deliberation. Theoretically, this Supreme factor is certainly difficult for the common people to know for they have to proceed backwards along the path of causation. But if sádhakas evolve their intellects from crudity to subtlety it will be possible for them to reach the non-causal Factor. The rśi says,

Te dhyánayogánugatá apashyan devátmashaktiḿ svaguńaernigúd́hám
Yah kárańáni nikhláni táni kálátmayuktányadhi t́ishatyekah.

The rśis have realized this Supreme truth through the practical cult of dhyana (meditation). By withdrawing the vrttis to their causes and by moving from crudity to subtlety, they have realized the Supreme Puruśa and His emanent power, Paramá Prakrti. They have realized that the quintessence of all essence, the knowledge of all knowledge, is that Supreme Puruśa Himself. After attaining Him the necessity to look for any cause disappears. Moving towards subtlety only on the strength of their manifest power they have realized the Supreme Force (Paramá Shakti) the Supreme Operative Principle (Paramá Prakrti Tattva). The Supreme Puruśa that they have realized in their meditation and the Paramá Prakrti that they have attained in their contemplative vision are indeed identical and inseparable. Parama Puruśa through the medium of His Prakrti or Operative Principle is the Primordial Cause of the creation of the world. Truly speaking, had it not been for His Operative Principle He would not have been able to evolve the universe. Puruśa permits Himself to be influenced by this Attributional Force (Prakrti) and appears in the role of Saguńa (Qualified Puruśa) but when this Attributional Force does not find expression, Puruśa cannot be qualified. The Supreme Consciousness (Puruśa), together with the Supreme Operative Principle (Prakrti) is the Absolute Authority of the manifested universe.

Time, nature, destiny and accident are born in Him and sheltered in Him. He alone is the Supreme Creator, the Supreme Shelter of all. The apparent cause of the factors we call relative truths (time, space and person) is the jiivamánas (the unit mind) and the cause of this jiivamánas is the Qualified Consciousness (Saguńa Brahma) in conjunction with Paramá Prakrti.

Sarvájiive sarvasaḿsthe brhante
Tasmin haḿso bhrámyate brhmacakre
Prthagátmánaḿ preritáraiṋca matvá
Juśtastatastenámrtatvameti.

No matter what the entities may be, and no matter what the mainstay of their lives, crude or subtle, all are created within Him and within Him all are destroyed. The flow of relativities goes on unabated through the media of creation, preservation and destruction. Where there is no such flow of relativities the question of life and death does not arise. Unit beings in quest of a support for the fulfilment of their wishes and desires, run after one or the other of these relative truths. They move practically within the vast Cosmic circle without recognizing its fundamental nucleus. In their limitless pursuit they lose all their mental resources immediately after attaining them. They are unable to recognize Puruśottama, the nucleus of Eternal Peace. Drunk with desire for material objects they do not even attempt to recognize Him. In the hypnotic spell of their pursuit they remain smugly oblivious of the fact that on a certain auspicious dawn in the past they emerged from the original source with which they still have an unknown, yet intimate relationship today; that they still have the same Átman as the Supreme Creator. Nevertheless, His limitless mercy continues to be showered upon them incessantly and indiscriminately. Only when they run to Him, attracted by His divine grace, enchanted by His sweetness and benevolence, will they attain real deathlessness. Whatever the unit can or cannot imagine He holds in His Macrocosmic mind ( Bhúmámánas).

Udgiitametat paramaḿ tu brahma
Tasmiḿstrayaḿ supratiś thákśaraiṋca
Atrántaraḿ brahmavido viditvá liiná
Brahmańi tatpará yonimuktáh.

The Supreme Truth that the rśi’s realized through their contemplation could not be confined within a specific name. He is Great – enormously Great. His vastness is immeasurable, having no length or breadth. He is Brahma. If one has to define Him, one cannot use other word except this. That is the why the rsi’s called Him Brahma.

Jiiva (microcosm), jagat (world) and Iishvara (Lord) are established within Him. As microcosm (jiivabháva) He is being controlled, as Iishvara He is controlling and as jagat He is providing the link between jiiva and Iishvara. It is not that jiiva, jagat and Iishvara alone comprise His bearing. Transcendentally He abides as the Akśara (intransmutable), and as the Nirakśara (perfect placidity, perfect objectlessness). The Brahmavid, knowing this Brahma loses his identity in Brahma, and merging in Him becomes Brahma Himself, and attains eternal emancipation from the shackles of life and death.

Saḿyuktametat kśaramakśaraiṋca vyaktávyaktaḿ bharate vishvamiishah;
Aniishascátmá vadhyate bhoktrbhávát jiṋátvá devaḿ mucyate sarvapáshaeh.

This Brahma comprises the joint bearing of Kśara and Akśara (perishability and imperishability). The manifest bearing metamorphosed through His psychic action, is called His Kśarabháva, and the non-manifest bearing that remains as the witness of all psychic metamorphoses is His Akśarabháva. The word Akśara means that which does not undergo any metamorphosis. In these two bearings of Kśara and Akśara consistency and coordination between both the subjective and objective realities is being maintained. Brahmic or Cosmic manifestation is the accomplishment of that coordination by the Supreme Being. But where there is no manifestation, there is no question of subjectivity or objectivity – there He is Nirakśara. Nirakśara is identical with Avyakta (unmanifest). But where kśara and akśara exists in combination, there the akśara, in His witness-ship of kśara, can remain in both bearings – one bearing (kśara) in the unit mind (khańd́a-mánas) and the other (Akśara) in the Cosmic Mind (Púrńá mánas). The central point or the nucleus of the Cosmic Mind, the Akśara, which is vaster than the endless sea, is known as Puruśottama. Puruśottama is the Supreme Master (Parama Bhartá – Bhartá means feeder) of this kśaŕakśaratmaka or changeable and unchangeable world-entity. All the manifest objects (vyakta) look unto Him for their expressions. The expressible potentials of the unexpressed entities (avyakta) also get opportunities for their manifestation through His generosity. It is with the cooperation of the vyakta and avyakta and kśara and akśara that this Brahma Cakra or Cosmic Cycle is comprised of manifest and unmanifest, perishable and unperishable entities. And since Brahma Cakra is dependent on the Supreme Puruśa, we may say He is the sustaining force of the unchangeable character of Akśara, the Supreme Witness of individual minds. When His Supreme Stance is modified Akśara undergoes a slight qualification, but Puruśottama as the witness of the individual minds remains unaffected. When the pleasure-seeking unit mind blindly runs after unit-objects, Puruśa also gets smitten by the same mental attributes. He appears to be as if in bondage. But when the unit mind shuns its attraction for mundane objects and accepts that Supreme Puruśa as its only pabulum, it gets an opportunity to become one with the Cosmic Mind, giving up its finitude. With the attainment of the witness-ship of the Integral Mind it becomes one with the Puruśottama. In the absence of bondage of enjoyership (Bhoktábhava) the unit mind attains emancipation from all kinds of fetters.

Jiṋájiṋao dvávajá viishaniishávajá hyeká bhoktrbhogyárthayuktá;
Anantashcátmá vishvarúpo hyakartá trayaḿ yadá vindate brahmametat.

Although both jiivabháva and Shivabháva (microcosm and Macrocosm) are but the entitative variations of the Unborn Consciousness, the microcosm has no knowledge of its characteristic Self, unlike the Macrocosm which is all-knowing. The microcosm is the shadow entity of the Macrocosm and so it is assailed by bondages of limitation. It is deprived of the bliss of freedom, for power abides in the original, not in the shadow, and is thus compelled to emulate what the original entity does. So one is Iisha (Controller) and the other aniisha (controlled). Both of them imbibe a dynamic self-created force which is Prakrti. Prakrti creates the bearing as bhoktrtva (enjoyership) and bhogyatva (enjoyability) in the microcosms. It is through Her grace that the microcosm preserves its finite existence. But the Macrocosm, the Blissful Entity, is not subject to this Prakrti, to the waves of Her binding principles (Prákrtabháva). Saguńa Brahma is the composite of these three: microcosm, Macrocosm and Binding Principle. And Puruśottama who abides as the witness of all three is not Himself the doer, although this heteromorphic universe is evolved out of Him.

Kśaraḿ pradhánaḿ amrtákśaraḿ harah kśarátmanáviishate deva ekah
Tasyábhidhyánád yojanát tattvabhávád bhúyashcánte vishvamáyánivrttih.

The kśara-akśara distinctions are present in the body of this vast Brahma. Kśara is evolved by the influence of Prakrti; Akśara (or Hara) is not transmuted by Prakrti but is conjoined with Prakrti the Knowing Entity. Apart from these two (Kśara and Hara) there is another Conscious Entity, Puruśottama, who transmutes Himself within His own imagination, who continues His imaginative flow through Kśara and Akśara. (which is beyond the domain of Kśara). In His imaginative flow Kśara changes its names and forms at every moment but the Akśarabháva, although constantly assailed by Kśara, undergoes no change and remains as the witness of kśara. Puruśottama, however, remains unassailed by the combined flow of Kśara and Akśara. When sádhakas, in quest of Him, channelize all their propensities towards Puruśottama, they become united with Him and attain His greatness. At that time all the bondages of finitude are ripped apart and the charms and illusions of the world lose their power of allurement. They then attain liberation.

Jiṋátva devaḿ sarvapáshápahánih kśiińaeh kleshaerjanmamrtyupraháńih;
Tasyábhidhyánat trtiiyaḿ dehabhede vishvaeshvaryaḿ kevala áptakámah.

What happens when sádhakas succeed in the quest to know Puruśottama and gets united with Him? All bondages are snapped. When one loses all attachment for pettiness the bondages which create pettiness also perish. With the dissolution of the unit-mind, that is, with the attainment of mental expansion, suffering also gradually wanes – even the bondage of life and death is broken, for life and death belong to the finite, and so does the fear of them. The Great Brahma is beyond the scope of life and death and so the one who becomes completely identified with Him also remains unassailed by their ceaseless play.

The occult power that Sádhakas first attain on the spiritual path after understanding Him a little is not the ultimate goal. Still higher than that, surmounting even that barrier, when sádhakas become free of attachment to occult powers, when even the residue of their existential feeling disappears is the state of excellence when one becomes Him after knowing Him. This state is called savikalpa samádhi or the determinate trance of absorption. In such a state the ego becomes infinitely pervasive. But the next stage, which is the absolute bearing, where the existential I-feeling is compelled to lose itself in His extraordinary radiance, is called nirvikalpa samádhi (state of total absorption) or Kaevalya (oneness). The word kevala means “only”. So the state in which there remains only one sentiment, only one bearing, when the pure Conscious Entity is beyond knowledge, knowable, and knower, is called Kaevalya or absolute identity with the Divine Essence. Only when sádhakas are absorbed in the state of total absorption in Him (Brahmabháva) and lose themselves in ecstasy, do they attain Kaevalyasthiti (ensconcement in Oneness). So the poet said,

Rúpa nirakhiyá nayana bhulila cinite nárinu ke

[Seeing His endlessly beautiful Form, I was charmed But my mind could not fathom His depths.]

There being neither duality nor any existential feeling the three aspects of seer, seeable and seen also merge in the Characteristic Cognition.

Etajjiṋáyaḿ nityamevátmasaḿsthaḿ
Nátah paraḿ veditavyaḿ hi kiiṋcit.
Bhoktá bhogyaḿ preritáraiṋca matvá
Sarvaḿ proktaḿ trividhaḿ Brahmametat.⁽²⁾

Parama Puruśa is the only knowable entity for unit beings. If anything is be known at all, it is He, and He alone; if anybody is to be ideated upon, it is He, and He alone. He is the only immutable entity. There is nothing at all to know beyond Him - knowing Him is knowing everything. The seed of whatever is manifest or unmanifest in the universe is embedded in Him. He is the panacea for all ailments.

Philosophically, Brahma has three bearings: Bhoktrbháva (microcosmic bearing), Bhogyabháva (object of enjoyment), and Prerayitrbháva (Controlling Authority). Wise people say that Brahma is the composite of these three bearings. Claiming its own authority the microcosm wants to enjoy the quinquelemental objects (which it forgets are the Macro-psychic creation) with the help of its unit-mind. The Controlling Authority is the coordinating link between the subjectivity and the objectivity. Its inspiration the microcosmic to dissipate its finitude. With the strength derived from sádhaná the microcosms accelerate towards the Supreme Controller. When they attain oneness with Him, their quinquelemental objects of enjoyment become non-existent. In the absence of the enjoyer-microcosm and the enjoyable, the Controlling Authority merges in the non-attributional Brahma. Human beings should always remember that their entire existential faculty depends on the grace of this Supreme Controlling Authority. It is due to His grace alone that they get the opportunity to continue spiritual practice. They could never know Paramártha without His divine grace.

Tvameva mátá ca pitá tvameva
Tvameva bandhushca sakhá tvameva
Tvameva vidyáshca draviińaḿ tvameva
Tvameva sarvaḿ mama devadeva.

Know that Puruśottama, that Supreme Controlling Authority. Try to attain Him alone. He has not delegated His absolute authority, His formidable power, to anyone else, for He has to carry the burden of the collectivity of the universe – He has to bear the seal of qualification even though He is non-attributional. Know that Supreme Father. Extort His kindness through your strength and devotion. What is the secret of receiving His kindness? Do what pleases Him, abide by His wishes rigidly, float your life on the actional waves of His choice, and He is bound to smile on you – He will be compelled to. Snatch away His kindness on the strength of your devotion. He will put a garland of victory around your neck with His own hands if you go on performing your deeds like a hero.

Svadehaḿ arańiḿ krtvá prańavaincottarárańim
Dhyánanirmathanábhyásád devaḿ pashyennigúrhavat

How should you carry on with your work? You must make proper use of the human body, mind and soul that you possess through His grace. Make cent per cent use of the treasures – however meagre you think they may be – that He has bestowed upon you. Do not avoid work out of fear, do not misuse your body, mind and soul or allow your capabilities to lose their power. Use your own body as one woodflint (arańi) and the cosmic sound (oṋḿkára) as the other woodflint (uttarárańi). The cosmic sound is emanating every moment from the actional waves of the Cosmic Mind and thus finds expression in every action. Just as friction between two flints to produce fire, similarly, the friction between your body (as one flint) and your intuitional practice (as the other flint) enables you to visualize that divine effulgence and become unified with Paramátmá in the form of oṋḿkára. In other words this divine effulgence was lying latent in both the body and oṋḿkára, and through the constant friction of the intuitional practice bursts into blazing brilliance. He lies hidden in you and in you every minute particle of this universe in both His individual and pervasive associations. Cherishing a strong desire to know and understand Him, think of Him, ideate on Him, meditate on Him – You will certainly attain Him.

Tileśu taelaḿ dadhiniiva sarpirápah srotahsvarańiiśu cágnih
Evamátmátmani grhyate’sao satyenaenaḿ tapasá yo’nupashyati.

Do you know how He remains hidden in everything? Just as oil remains hidden in a sesame seed. If you look at the sesame seed you will see only the seed and not the oil, but crush it and the oil will emerge. He abides in everything, but you cannot see Him, for you look with a superficial vision. Do sádhaná, meditate, powder down your mind, and He will appear. Ghee (clarified butter) exist in milk, but can you see it? Churn the milk and the ghee will appear before your eyes. Look at the dry mountainous river and you will see nothing but sand. Is there no water in it? Take a little trouble, remove the sand, and you will find its bosom full of sweet water. Look at a piece of wood. You can’t see any fire in it, can you? But the fire-potential is latent within it. Take a little trouble, rub two pieces of wood together and the fire will ignite. Similarly, you are unable to see that Great Puruśa within you; you cannot understand that He permeates every secret core of your molecules and atoms. Churn your self with truth and meditation and He will blossom forth within you.

Sarvavyápinamátmánaḿ kśiire sarpirivárpitam
Átmavidyátapomúlaḿ tad brahmopaniśat param.

He is all-pervading. Do not think that He abides in a number of particular entities only. He exists equally in everything. Ghee exists in milk, but is it restricted to any particular region of the milk? No, the ghee permeates throughout all of the milk. The so-called high and low, rich and poor, Brahmin and untouchable, man and woman, old and young, Russian and American are all His manifestations – He abides equally in all of them. Do not look down upon any of them – none is an object of your contempt or hatred. If you despise even the smallest or meanest entity, remember that you are despising Parama Brahma Himself.

Can human beings claim any credit for the attainment of the Supreme Entity? Sádhakas can be likened to businessmen who conduct their affairs with others’ capital. They have acquired the epithet sádhaka, but actually the power of sádhaná has been bestowed upon them by Parama Puruśa. Probe deeply into all spiritual knowledge and you will see only Him. It is He who provides you with the intellect and strength to do sádhaná. Surrender yourself to His will. Shake off your load of self-conceit. Lighten the burden of your life and float yourself on the waves of His will. It is He who is teaching you the sádhaná in the guise of a Guru (preceptor); it is He who is strengthening your knowledge and faith in the guise of a philosopher. You are plundering His mercy in everything day and night. Go on working as a machine, leaving the doership to Him. How little can your poor intellect comprehend or analyse His unfathomable sport (liilá)! So, instead of trying to comprehend or analyse keep the bearing of that inscrutable juggler aglow before your eyes.

Sáp haeyá kát́are bándá
Rojhá haeyá jhád́o
Kata kerámat jána re bándá
Kata kerámat jána
Tumi májh dariyáy
Jál pheláiya
Dángáy baesyá t́áno

[As a snake you bite someone
And as a snake charmer you cure the snake bite.
How many tricks do you know?
You throw your fishing net in the river
And draw it in sitting on the bank.]

So I repeat, do not try to analyse that Supreme Entity with the pride of your petty intellect. Do the Sádhaná of attaining Him with the ardent devotion of your heart and all your discrepancies and limitations will end. Remember, where “you” is “He” is not and where “He” is, small “you” is not. He is your final destination. Don’t let your desires and propensities go astray except towards Him. Let all your longings float on the waves of His grace.

Bhanai vidyápati sheśa shamana bhaye
Tuyá vinu gati náhi árá
Ádi-anádika nátha kaháyasi
Ava tárańa-bhára tohára.

All the Vedas describe Parama Puruśa. Make Him the goal of your life. He is your Supreme Terminus. He is the Supreme Authority.

Footnotes

(1) Mind of a person. –Trans.

(2) The word Brahmametat used in the sloka is grammatically incorrect. It should have been “Brahma etat”. Maybe the rśi used Brahmametat for the sake of metre.