From very ancient times, human beings slowly started to realize that behind whatever they know and whatever they obtain behind every action – there is a very powerful force working as the cause. From then on human beings started to nurse a desire to reach or master that great force. Through this craving, this longing to know and to obtain – out of this hankering – the dharmabuddhi (intellect of dharma) of human beings has grown and developed in their minds. It can be said that form that very day that this dharmabuddhi arose in their minds, human beings became truly human. Before that the condition of humans was the same as that of other animals and birds. In those days the human intellect was not as widely developed as it is today. Rather than striving to attain the Supreme Goal, humans directed their thought and endeavour towards winning and realizing various objectives from that Supreme Being: “Give me this”, “Destroy my enemies”, etc.

“Make me handsome, give me victory, shower me with honours, give me this, give me that, kill my enemy” – these were people’s dharmacakra (practice of dharma) from prehistoric times. Thereafter humans came to understand and asked the question: “Whatever I am longing for – is that my real necessity? Do I fully understand what I really need? Do I know more than that entity who is a thousand times more intelligent than me – and is my dearest bandhu?”

What is the capacity of the human brain? And how much of that capacity has been within human grasp? And humanity’s Iśt́a – not only their Iśt́a, but the One who is also the source of everything, from whom humans have emerged and to whom they will one day return – is not His shakti. His intellect is more powerful than humanity’s? Parama Puruśa is witnessing everything; He keeps a sharp watch and will keep everything under His observation constantly. “What more could I ask from Him? What I actually need He knows better than me.”

A two- or three-month-old boy does not know what his actual needs are. His mother knows best, knows everything. The child only cries and reminds his mother to do her duty. What is the duty of his mother? The child does not know. But he wants his mother to attend to her duties. The child only feels discomfiture – discontent. He feels something is required by him. Then his mother comes rushing to him and examines him. She observes that her child has caught a chill. Quickly the mother wraps him up in a quilt and the child stops crying. Or she observes that the child is hungry and needs milk. And he is given milk. For all of these, the child need only remind the mother by crying once; that is all.

Parama Puruśa is the Father of this universe. He understands perfectly the needs of all. Even when one does not cry to Him, He will attend to His job. It is only for the satisfaction of one’s own mind that one reminds him by crying a bit, there is nothing else in the matter. Humans have come with their limited capacity to stay in this world. If due to their ego and pride, they think that they have enough intellect, that they are powerful, then they will certainly commit a blunder, for in that case Parama Puruśa may think, “If you are such a capable person, if you have that much intellect, then why not attend to your own affairs and manage them by yourself?”

A man gave his word to somebody: “Yes, you may come tomorrow morning at eight o’clock. I am a man of my word. Please do come at 8 o’clock.” But then he expired at seven o’clock; so eight o’clock never came in his life again. So a clever person should say, “God willing, if Parama Puruśa so wishes, then I will meet you at eight o’clock tomorrow morning.” If one says it in this way, then at least he or she stays true to his or her word. And if a person finds it difficult to utter such things then one may utter those words silently in one’s mind. “Yes come tomorrow at eight o’clock if God so wishes.” Have you not heard of “soliloquy” – as in the theatre and in drama? So the capacity of human beings is too small, too meagre. And Parama Puruśa is:

Sahasrashiirśá Puruśah sahasrákśah sahasrapát;
Sa bhúmiḿ vishvato vrtvá’tyatiśt́haddasháuṋgulam.

Puruśa evedaḿ sarvaḿ yadbhútaḿ yacca bhavyam;
Utámrtatvasyesháno yadannenátirohati.⁽¹⁾

What is the nature of Parama Puruśa? You should know that in laokika Saḿskrta the word “sahasra” means a thousand. “Házára” is a Persian word but in vaedika Saḿskrta “sahasra” means endless, innumerable, that which cannot be counted. In the early age human beings were not proficient in counting figures above a thousand. They understood “sahasra” to mean too many, countless or innumerable. For example, to some of the original tribes, the figure 20 was the highest digit. Why? Because people used to show one finger to count “one”, then used two fingers to indicate “two”, a hand for showing five denoted the digit “five”, which is pánjá or paiṋca; in the Persian language “páiṋjá” means five. And what did they do when the figure was ten? They would show both hands. To denote fifteen, two hands and a foot were shown. And twenty means both hands and both feet, that is, the whole body. In the Austric language, the word “kud” means the whole of a human being; thus, “kuri” means the entire body of a person also. The Bengali word “vish” is derived from the Saḿskrta word “Viḿsah”. The word “kuri” is from a non-Aryan dialect – a pure Bengali wording. Even now among some lesser-developed groups of people traders will count “one kuri, two kuri” when buying and selling. Similarly, in the old age people used to take the meaning of “sahasra” as countless or innumerable. So, what does “Sahasra shriśáh puruśa” mean? It means that Parama Puruśa has innumerable brains, not one or two or a few. He has innumerable brains. On the other hand, humans have only one small brain in a small cranium. Yet people boast, “I am this. I am that, I am such a vastly learned fellow – a pandit.” The clever ones never boast; they think themselves so only in their minds. But those who are a bit foolish, they boast out loud; they declare that they are pandits.

“Saharsa shrśáh puruśah.” That means, “Pure sheteyah sah puruśah” or, “Purashi shete yah puruśah”. That is, Parama Puruśa is lying in front of you. Here “lying down” means He is doing something. What is He doing? He is watching what you are engaged in. What your are doing He is only witnessing – He Himself is not engaged in anything. When the time comes He will say His piece. So this is “Sahasra shrśáh puruśah.” He possesses innumerable brains. What can you achieve with your one brain? The time is running out; you should say to Him, “You have so many brains. O Lord; so please think of me. What can I do with my single brain?” It is as if one is reminding Him by shedding tears.

“Saharsa shrsá puruśah sahasrákśa sahasrapád”. Parama Puruśa has countless eyes. What can a person see with one pair of eyes? Such a person cannot see far enough. But Parama Puruśa has innumerable eyes: He is sahasrákśa. He is witnessing everything. There is no scope to conceal anything from Him. Why? Because He is watching everything. This jagata has been emerging from His thought-wave. Therefore all the created beings – all the created objects – are floating in His thought or moving out from Him in his thought-flow. His orbit is surrounded by so many waves of so many lengths, so many vibrations and vibrational expressions. So there remains nothing to conceal. Concealing is not at all possible. If Parama Puruśa desires not to witness or hear anything, He will be unable to do it. If people do not want to see anything through their crude eyes they can simply shut their eyes. But the images in the mental eyes will remain in the mind and flutter. So to try not to see anything will do no good in this case for the mental eyes have no eyelids that you can shut as you wish.

“Sahasrapáda”. Countless legs. Suppose I have to go to Patna. I have to think and plan the trip – how shall I go? When shall I start from home? When shall I reach there? And so on. And there is so much paraphernalia. From Dhaka comes the news that no, nothing can be arranged; so, other arrangements for passport, visa, train or plane fare, etc., may have to be made. All this because you have legs at Calcutta only. If you want to reach Tejgaon (in Bangladesh) you shall have to cover a certain distance in between – a considerable distance between two points. But for those who have one of their legs at Dumdum and the other at Tejgaon there is no separate need for them to go to Dhaka from Calcutta; the inhabitants of Dhaka will declare that they are in Dhaka because they have one leg in Dhaka, while the people in Calcutta will say they are in Calcutta. “Sahasrapáda” means countless legs. Hence, for Him there is no question of travelling from one place to another.

Apánipádo yavano grahitá pashyatyacakśuh sa shrnotyakarńah,
Sá vetti vedyaḿ na ca tasyásti vettá tamáhuragryaḿ puruśa mahántam.

“Páńi” means that front side of the hand called the palm in English. The pronunciation for [[“ńa”]] of “viińápáńi” is [[cerebral]]. In Bengali it is being wrongly pronounced. Apánipáda means no hands – no palms. If one offers something to you in reverence you accept by stretching your hand. But that Entity who does not possess any hand or palm or leg, yet is always roaming everywhere, stretches out no hand – yet He accepts. He is the receiver of everything. “Pashatyacakśuh” means what is known as laokika cakśu – laokik eyes, the crude eyes. He does not possess that kind of eyes. Yet He is watching everything. He witnesses everything through His mental eyes. His inner eyes. He can do so because all dwell in His mind. He does not have any need for laokik eyes.

Similarly, He hears through His inner ears all that people have been thinking and contemplating in their minds. What is the mental thought-wave? When people think, what is that “thinking”? “Cintá” or thinking is nothing but conversing mentally. Just think and see, you will observe that you are mentally talking to yourself. “I will go to the house of my maternal uncle”; “I will tell something to my cousin”. When you are thinking such things you will observe that you are talking mentally to yourself. And the One who is sitting in the inner core of your mind has heard all these mental conversations of yours.

“Sa shrnotya karńah”. With the help of one’s crude ears one cannot hear anything; at best only nearby sounds can be heard. “Sa vetti vedyaḿ na ca tasyásti vettá.” He knows everything but there is no second entity to know Him because He is not in your mind – you are in His mind. So how will you know Him? He is called Agra Puruśa or Parama Puruśa. “Sahasrapáda” means He is everywhere. Everything is sheltered in His mind. Suppose you are thinking about Tarakeshvara. You will find that the temple of Tarakeshvara and the Tarakeshvara railway station are both in your mind. Neither is outside. Similarly nothing is outside of His mind. Hence, He is everywhere.

Sa bhúmiḿ vishvato vrtvá’tyatiśt́haddasháuṋgulam.

He is everywhere; He is present in every object. But is that enough? Does it close the chapter? Is He not more? Yes, He is more than that. For this crude, this created world, is also sheltered in Him because He is the causal entity of this created world. This created world was not manifested in a day. It has a cause behind it; it has its causal form. And He knows that causal form.

Suppose you want to make an earthen toy – a doll. Before molding you will arrange for clay, you will obtain dyes and colours. You will have to secure all that is necessary in order to make a doll. So that idea, that conception of the earthen doll first blossomed in you. The doll was also there in the form of clay – in those materials from which the doll took its shape and form. In other words, there is a causal factor for everything, and that causal factor is the effect factor of the previous causal form. Everything we observe in the practical world, in this crude world, is a “cause/effect” factor. The “actional” factor is the effect and the causal entity is the form which acts behind the effect. That is due to that cause, an action is being performed – like the seed, the tree and its fruit. Therefore, if we trace back by the cause and effect formula we will find the causal factor at every end. And if we go further back we discover that causal factor again. If we try to find the causal factor behind “A”, we find its parent, “B”. Behind “B” we will find “C” as “B’s” parent. That is, if we proceed toward the cause, we discover that the cause is an “action” too, having a “cause” behind it. So what is the causal factor of this created universe? If we trace back, we find a causal factor behind every action. The causal factor of luci (puffed, paper-thin bread) is flour. And the causal factor of flour is wheat. Wheat has its plant as its causal factor and the causal factor of the plant is the soil. Similarly, if we retrace our steps we will find that whatever is there, Parama Puruśa is the causal factor. That is, under no circumstances can you escape from His presence. Wherever you go you find you are caught. That day I told you that the poet Rabindranath in one of his songs said:

Vishvajoŕá pháṋd petecha, kemane di-i pháṋki
Ádhek dhará paŕechi go, ádhek áche báki.

[You have set a world-wide trap, how can I evade it?
Half of me is already trapped, half still remains.]

I would say, no, you have not been half-[[trapped]]. You have been trapped fully and squarely.

“Sa bhúmirvishvato vrttvá atyatiśt́hadasháuṋgulam.” Beyond the reach of the causal factor, there is also a world of ideas – a causal world – all of which is also sheltered in Him. That is why He has been described, “Atyatiśt́ha dasháungulam.” The ájiṋá cakra or pituitary gland controls the mind – the conscious and sub-conscious mind directly and the unconscious mind indirectly; it is the seat of the mind, the place where the mind dwells. But above that factor there is a causal factor. From where has the mind emerged? It emerged from átma tattva. Here also He is present and that form of Parama Puruśa is called “atyatiśt́ha dasháungulam”. In other words, He is present just ten fingers above the psychic world. That means He is present in the átmika jagata too.

What is the sahasrára cakra? Sahasrára cakra is the place or point where Átma and Paramátma both reside. It is situated ten fingers above the pineal gland. That is why it has been called “atyatiśt́ha dasháungulam”. In other words, ten fingers above the pineal gland He is present – He has His abode. That is, in both paramatattva and átmika jagata, He is present. Nobody remains outside of Him.

From the hoary past, humans have been moving forward step by step to attain Him, and in so doing they have reached this advanced age of today. For most of that time people pursued the path of jiṋána and the path of karma. Finally, when the advancement of intellect and wisdom reached their supreme height, humans saw that jiṋána is nothing but a product of the brain and karma originates from the hands and feet. How much shakti can a person have to pursue such a path? If people exert their brain with too much thinking they become bewildered. At the time of examinations many students’ heads spin. So this is the capacity of humans. And if by chance one comes out successful in the examination, he or she wants and earns a rest – and relaxes or goes to a cinema show. And to, what has been learned, is forgotten within a day or two. What students have laboured for three months to master is altogether forgotten within two days after the examination is over. Such things are natural. So how far can jiṋána and karma take one? But what does the bhakta say? He or she declares, “No, I have no worry. For I am moving towards You. You pull me up and I shall run.”

Chot́e ye jan báṋshiir t́áne,
Se ki tákáy pather páne?

[Those who run after the flute, do they watch the path?]

They run after the sweet music of the flute. They do not suffer from any individual ego. They have their devotion as the best course to follow. They pursue the path of bhakti. The greatest man of wisdom and jiṋána who ever took birth in India that great Shankaracharya who was acclaimed and worshipped as Bhagaván – also admitted in clear-cut language about 1300 years ago:

Mokśakárańa samagryám bhaktireva gariyasaii.

Of all the avenues there are to attain salvation, the path of bhakti is the best. And people reaching the highest peaks of intellect and wisdom have discovered this ultimate truth. Prior to that they failed to do so. That is why I said in a general darshan in Bombay that the jiṋána márgiis of this world are class three people in their intelligence and wisdom. And the karma márgiis are the second class people. And those who are bhakti márgiis – they are the superior type of people with respect to intelligence and wisdom, because they are the very people who are utilizing their short lifespan fully and properly.

Footnotes

(1) Rgveda Puruśasúktam. –Trans.