Sarvájiive sarvasaḿsthe brhante
Tasmin haḿso bhrámyate Brahmacakre;
Prthagátmánaḿ preritáraiṋca matvá
Juśt́astataste namrtatvameti.

–Yajurveda

[All unit entities, all unit structures, revolve around the Nucleus Consciousness in the Cosmic Cycle of creation. This rotation of theirs will continue as long as they think that they are separate from their Creator. When they become one with the Nucleus, they will attain immortality.]

All living beings in the universe – animals, birds and humans, all living entities – have different saḿskáras [mental reactive momenta]. Therefore, no two things are of the same type. Neither will two [plants] be of the same category, nor two birds or animals, nor two humans. Both the physical body and the mental body will be different. No two persons have identical faces. Actions are not the same either. Even saḿskáras are not the same.

Humans are divided into groups on a psychological or an anthropological basis. We say, “These people belong to this group” or “to that group.” Among these people some are Austric, some Dravidian, some Negroid, and some Caucasian. But if we observe, there are sub-branches and offshoots of these groups of humans. There are so many branches and sub-branches, that finally we have to accept that each human being belongs to a special group. In each group there can only be one person. Thus there are so many groups. It is not possible to say that so many persons belong to this group or that. (This will be the conclusion from a position of subtler thinking. We can divide humans [into groups] only from a position of crude thinking.)

Not only that, the ájiiva, or occupation, of every person is different. These occupations are also of two types, crude and subtle – that is, physical and mental. For example, a person may be a doctor or a lawyer. This is the person’s crude occupation. Like crude occupations, mental occupations are different. Mental occupations, mental ájiivas, are known in the shástras [scriptures] as ábhogas.

Suppose fifty persons are travelling together. They are travelling together, but the ábhoga of all of them is not the same. One person is thinking that he has to reach his shop as early as possible. Another person is thinking that she has to reach the court early. In her mind the thought is that of the court. Another person wants to reach a sweet shop to buy rasagollá. In that person’s mind the thought is that of rasagollá. Thus everyone has a different ábhoga and a different ájiiva. No two persons can be found having the same ájiiva. In other words, crude bodies are different, and similarly the mind and mental feelings. If there is a cowardly man in a village, you cannot say that all the people in the village are cowards. Or if there is a person who is brave, you cannot say that all the people in the village are brave. Everybody has his or her saḿskáras, is moving with these saḿskáras. With their saḿskáras humans will reach the Parágati [Supreme Desideratum, “where the journey of finite entities ends”].

These different persons also have different structures. Each will get a structure suitable to his or her occupation. Therefore, no two persons have the same structure. Why? Because each needs a different structure for the expression of his or her saḿskáras. If some being has to fly, it will get wings. If some being has to run, it will get legs. Its structure will be like [its saḿskáras]. One who has to do a lot of reading and writing will get a cranium suitable to his or her requirement. That is why it has been said, Sarvájiive sarvasaḿsthe [“all unit entities, all unit structures”].

If somebody wants to bring all under one pattern on the basis of some arithmetic or some social rules, or if all are stamped in the same way, the result will not be good. If we say that the rules for Ram, Shyam, Sohan, and others are all the same, it will not be proper. Why? Because each has a different ájiiva and a different structure. How can we bring them all into one class?

What will then be our duty? We will have to make the kind of arrangement that they need or that should be provided to them. From the point of structure the living beings need a classification which will be given. But from the point of the special ájiiva and the special characteristic of the structure, they will have to be given a special status. This is our social dharma.

Every human being, every animal, every plant, moves on with its different ájiiva and different structure. Moves towards what? Towards the ultimate aim, towards the central point, towards the Vishva Nábhi, the Cakra Nábhi, the Supreme Nucleus. So they are marching from electronic imperfection towards nuclear perfection. No one can avoid this movement. That is why it is called Parágati. They are moving towards the centre, consciously or unconsciously. And who is in the centre? Parama Puruśa. You cannot live without Him. Some may be angry with Him, unhappy with Him, but no one can live without Him. Why? There is no one who is your own except Him. Parama Puruśa is more dear to you than you are to yourself. Parama Puruśa belongs to you more than your hands and legs belong to you. Why? Because you will leave your hands and legs one day, but you cannot leave Parama Puruśa and go anywhere. Why? Because in this universe there is nothing beyond Him. Where can you go? You will remain within His circle.

Assume for a moment that a cow is tied to a stake with a thong or a strip. The thong may be short or long. If it is long, the cow will move relatively far away from the stake; whereas if it is short, she will not be able to go far away as she circles the stake. But in either case she has to go around the stake, considering it as a centre.

Similarly, a person (who is sometimes called haḿso⁽¹⁾) is moving around [in] Brahma Cakra [the Cosmic Cycle]. The radius of Brahma Cakra is very big, though it is not infinite. People are moving around without knowing who is at the centre. They go around without knowing that they are tethered to a stake. They think that they are everything, that they know so much. They think so much. Each person thinks that he or she is not an ordinary person. This creates pride in a person. One does not know that he or she can be pulled towards the stake.

Thus a person moves around the stake. While moving, a question suddenly comes into his or her mind. The person asks where he or she is going. When this saḿvid, this realization, comes into the mind, then the person realizes that he or she is moving around a stake. The person asks where he or she is going, from which point to which point. Is the line simple and straight, or is it [vrttá, a circle]? What is this line? From where comes the inspiration to move around? When this question arises in the mind, the radius starts to be reduced. The person begins to realize that he or she has to go towards the centre, the nucleus, towards the práńakendra. The day this realization comes, the person becomes a sádhaka, a spiritual aspirant. The person now knows that the more he or she moves, the more the radius will be reduced. When the radius becomes nil, when there is no vrttá, then the person will merge in Parama Puruśa.

The person will continue moving around the stake as long as the person thinks that he or she, and Parama Puruśa at the centre, are two different entities. The person will have to go around as long as that person has the feeling that he or she, and the Entity which has sent him/her, are different. When the person realizes suddenly, upon nearly reaching the stake, that he or she, and the Entity which has sent him or her, are not different, the distance between the two will disappear and the two will become one.

But what must happen first before this union takes place? There His grace, His krpá, is needed. When it is available, the oneness will be achieved. People may reduce the radius by constantly moving around, but they will not be able to achieve oneness if His krpá is not available. When it is available, a person will merge in Amrta Puruśa. This is the ultimate aim of all animals, plants, or anything which has a life. Thus a person is unknowingly moving, and will have to move till he or she becomes one with Him. This is the truth. Therefore, the person who comes onto the path of sádhaná early is a wise person and also lucky.

Footnotes

(1) The word haḿso has been used in the shloka quoted above to mean a jiiva – a person or unit being. It has sometimes been use this way in Sanskrit, Hindi, etc., especially in poetry. –Eds.