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The wise sages have declared the attributes, nature, essence, and quality of the Puruṣa—what Puruṣa is, what Ātman is. This was accepted and established through the sūtras, and the Śrutis, Śāstras, and all saints gave their approval. How, then, can we still believe that the body could also be the Puruṣa? The body is not the breath. The body is not the highest Self. The body is changeable. As it is said: sarvam puruṣa eveti, śukte puruṣasaṃgyate apyucate yathā śrutya katam syādeyaka pumaḥ. When the Śrutis, even without the Puruṣasūkta, declare that everything that exists is Puruṣa—meaning that which always exists is Puruṣa—then how can this be the kārpapuruṣa (the bodily person)? This karpapuruṣa is not the Puruṣa; it is changeable. This body is a bundle of several elements: fire, air, water, earth. The body is full of vikāras (modifications). The body is born, grows, ages, becomes ill, and will die. But the Ātman is not born, does not grow old, does not become ill, and does not die. The effort and the path to our liberation from all suffering and problems is to realize this reality. One meditates on certain things and thereby realizes them. As one wishes, so one receives—not always, but most of the time. It is our inner concentration, the power that brings things together. It is good to take this body as a tool, an instrument with which we can work for a while, but the goal of our existence is entirely different. We live in a house; we are not the house. The house belongs to us, and it is not eternal. We only reside there. Similarly, the karpa (body) is also a home; we live there. Everything is indeed Puruṣa, as the sūkta says; even when it is described, it is called Puruṣa. From what is heard and spoken, see the example. When everything has been declared as Puruṣa—the truth, the reality, the eternity, the unchangeability—then how can the body be Puruṣa? This is a body that does not compare itself to itself as a body. Asaṅga means the Only One. Puruṣa is not accompanied by a second. It is perfect and complete. There is no need for a second; there is nothing alongside it. The Puruṣa is also very difficult to find or realize. In reality, there is solitude. Separation is a solitude, a returning to unity. Coming together is a duality. So, if one is separated now, it is good; there is no problem. You are happy again, one in unity. The problem arises when you come together and then suddenly separate, or become one and then look for a second again—but there is no second. Two cannot go together; the path is too narrow. One must go through alone. The karpa is anantamala—endless, unlimited impurity. The karpa consists of unlimited impurity. No matter how one imagines purity and impurity, the karpa is sick, the karpa ends, the karpa suffers, the karpa has pain—everything. It is a full sack of misery, hollow inside. But Ātman is completely pure, without any of that. How can this endless, impure body be Puruṣa? It cannot be. Give up your attachment to this matter and finally awaken. When one has realized all of this, one has no problem overcoming anything; it is already automatically transcended. Your body truly becomes a burden, and then you unnecessarily add something on top. It is like this: you have beautiful, clean hands, and something must fall onto them. It always disturbs you, so you blow it away and cleanse them. Does it not bother you if your beard is a bit untidy? You look in the mirror, see it is loose, and you take it and clean it away. Similarly, at the moment one attains Ātma-jñāna, realization, all those problems one sees in worldly matters are no longer problems. Sometimes, when someone says, "I have this problem," one may say, "It is not a problem. Just accept it." It is easy for those who say, "Just take it easy," but the one who has the problem finds it difficult because they have a different state of consciousness and a different relationship to the issue. Yet, you can also achieve a completely different relationship with your problem. It was also said that Puruṣa swims, that Puruṣa itself is the light—Prakāśapuñja. Puruṣa itself is the light; the light is Puruṣa; knowledge is light. Then how can this body, which can only be illuminated and has no light of its own, be Puruṣa? Enlightenment means it is enlightened. This is the Ātman, which itself is the light. The body is illuminated because it needs light. Light needs no light. So it is with the body. Ātman is Prakāśa (light) itself. How, then, can you compare this Ātman and this matter, or karpaṭa? You should not. Do you know what Karmakāṇḍa is? There are different philosophies, different paths, different ways. Among them is one called Karmakāṇḍa. Karmakāṇḍa refers to all kinds of ceremonies, rituals, performing prayers, preparing prayers, lighting candles, lighting incense sticks, arranging the altar, conducting fire ceremonies, performing wedding ceremonies, birth ceremonies, name day ceremonies, cutting hair, baptizing—all of this. All matters of initiation are Karmakāṇḍa. According to Karmakāṇḍa, the Ātman is different; Ātman is separate from all of that. Śaṅkarācārya brought the knowledge and teachings of Non-Dualism. From that perspective, he was strictly against performing Mūrti-Pūjā—worshipping a statue or an image. Reality is not in the form, but the form is important for your concentration, to focus, to receive something. From time to time, he also accepted these ceremonies and Karmakāṇḍa because it was necessary. But Karmakāṇḍa also says that the breath is completely different from all of this. There is Mūrti-Pūjā. Certain religions believe in it—Mūrti being a statue, image, or altar. Some do not believe in Mūrti-Pūjā; they only believe in their Guṇas. For example, Judaism does not have a mūrti, no statue or images. Islam also does not have Mūrti-Pūjā; Islam developed from the Nirākāra (formless) path of the Vedas. Mūrti Pūjā belongs to Bhakti-Yoga and naturally helps a seeker, as Kṛṣṇa says in the 12th chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā: Impersonal God, Nirguṇa and Saguṇa Bhakti. Both are good, but Nirguṇa Bhakti is difficult for everyone; Saguṇa Bhakti is easier. Therefore, the path is accepted and adopted where one can understand more easily and walk more easily. One needs a point of reference. A mother who is alive is quite different from one who has passed away. Even now, she is there for you as a mother, but she does not live in the body. So it is with God: God is there, but you have no foothold anywhere. Reality is completely different from form, but form is only your point of reference. As long as you have not realized anything to identify with, you somehow need a shoulder to lean on, inwardly. Karmakāṇḍa also says the Ātman is something entirely different. Karmakāṇḍa also says the Ātman is eternal, everlasting. It is this body that experiences all sin, all suffering and pain—the fruits of our karmas, of our actions. Only the body suffers. The body goes through all this suffering because the body has caused it. Everything you have spoken, done, will do, and think is through your body. Your indriyas (senses), your qualities, your desires—all of this has been given to you by the body, and the body will continue to be responsible. Nothing of the Ātman. Ātman has no sin. Ātman is not a sinner. Ātman is always Ātman—the pure, the holiest, the highest, the purest. Impurity, sin, suffering—all of it resides in the body. So, these are two clear paths, two clear things. What do you want, this or that? You can take your time and decide calmly. We walk the path of self-realization; then you must think in this way. When you follow this path of breath, the path of Jñāna, then you need not ask any questions. No matter what difficulties come into your life, you will solve them, you will understand, you will say, "Okay, it is like this and it is like that; I don’t need to ask anyone." It is only a matter of time. In time, it will change; in time, it will be different. Therefore, when you have realized this knowledge within yourself, perhaps you will resolve your problems more quickly. If you give to no one, then you must go yourself; it may happen slowly, but you must reach your destination. When a child is there and a little tired and starts to cry and stays seated, saying, "I don’t want to go," then the parents must carry him. But when a parent is not there and the child is crying and tired, still, we walk in the direction of home. And when he comes home, he collapses, saying that he is tired. He has his vital energy, and so it is. If you keep whining about your little problems, it will only bring more complication. When you say, "Okay, it is natural; it belongs to this karmic path," then the problems will quickly dissolve. It is important that you do not lose your trust, your path, your goal from your sight. Then everything comes, then everything resolves the problems. When you return very much to attachment in this world, many states arise. Then the mind does not have such a state where it can no longer create anything. Nervousness, depression, sadness, insomnia, fears—all arise. That is only because you are so deeply anchored in this body, so attached to something. So no one can help you, only you yourself. There is a click, and everything is okay. These are the two paths: either suffer or move forward. Syāt-upamānaṁ—this is the liṅga, the sukṣma-śarīra (subtle body), both sthūla (gross) and sukṣma. Sthūla is the physical kāya, and sukṣma is the astral kāya, the subtle body. By this, liṅgaṁ ca anekṣa-yuktam: the sukṣma-śarīra and sthūla-śarīra. Śaṅkarācārya even said that the subtle body also possesses the anekatattva-saṅghāta (a bundle of many tattvas). Your astral body is also a bundle of many, many tattvas. The physical body has the physical tattva elements; the astral body also has its astral elements. This astral body and our body, both bound by many qualities, are movable, are changeable. It is only an object, an object to be seen. If you want to see something in the sky, you simply cannot see it. You only see what exists there as matter, and this matter is many things coming together; then you see it. This is only a dṛśya (the seen). Dṛśya and draṣṭā (the seer). You are a draṣṭā; you are not a dṛśya. Dṛśya is an image, an object. And draṣṭā is the Seer. You are here; you are not the object. When the object is present, it is a bundle of many qualities. The Ātman is free from all these qualities and therefore has no form. So the astral body is also a changeable body; it is not eternal either. When the karmas and all prārabdhas (destined results), all vāsanās (desires) are freed, then you no longer have them. Then the astral body is dissolved. When Mokṣa, Samādhi is present, then no astral body exists anymore. Therefore, this subtle body, the liṅga śarīra, the body of destiny, is also a bundle of many tattvas. It is changeable, it is only an object. It is also vikārī, subject to vikāras—what we call mental pollution, negative thoughts, negative feelings, jealousy, hatred, greed, anger, attachment. All of these are the vikāras in your astral energy, in your astral body. So, it is vikārī and it is avyāpaka (not all-pervading). It is not everywhere. It is limited. It exists as an individual, limited. Asat-svarūpa—of the nature of unreality. It is nothingness reality; it will change again. Then please tell me, how could even your subtle śarīra be a puruṣa? No, it is not the Puruṣa. It is not the Ātman. If you are seeking, then do not try to reach the astral body and then believe that you are now in the highest state of Samādhi. No, it is like waking up from the dream into this world, and then going back from this world into the dream world. That is all. The present will soon become a dream, and the dream will soon become reality again. All of this is dṛśya. Dṛśya mātra jagataḥ. This Saṃsāra is only a dṛśya. And when dṛśya is present, then all states arise. All feelings arise because the dṛśya is present. Thus he says, the entire world is nothing but a glance. An eye-catcher, one might say? No, not a moment—an eye-catcher. When you close your eyes, the world has disappeared. No more dṛśya, finished. You open your eyes, and everything is there again. That is how it is. So do not suffer with dṛśya. Change your feelings with dṛśya. You see something, then you feel stronger. You see something, then you feel elevated. So, as I said, let us say, dṛśyamaya jagata. Brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. The visible world. Thus, in the body, Dayānanda, the Ātman, Puruṣa, Īśvara, sarvātman, sarvarūpa, and sarvātīta are present; similarly, so too are the Ātman or Puruṣa and Īśvara. The gross and subtle bodies, physical and sukṣma bodies, both are different. And so, Ātman and śarīra are not the same. Sukṣma-Śarīra or Īśvara is not the same; it is entirely different. That means, Śaṅkarācārya says in his Jñānopadeśa: at the end, he says, think: "I am sarvātman; I am the Ātman of all, the Ātman of all. Akhil viśvaka—from the entire world or entire universe—that is the Ātman of the entire universe. And the same Ātman is the Ātman of all living beings. And I am the same. I am this Ātman." That is called unity, realization in unity. I am the Ātman of all. I am the form of all forms. I am the form of all. And which form of all? Only one, the true Self. One form of God, one form of humans, one form of animals, and one form of all beings is but a single form. Eko'ham—I am only the one, the breath. You should contemplate this in meditation: formless, avināśī (indestructible), immortal, eternal, infinite, indestructible, eternal, unperishable, beyond decay, deathless. As the Śāstra says: it neither ignites fire, nor extinguishes it; neither water, nor death can destroy it. That is the imperishable amarātman, the embodiment of sat-cit-ānanda, in Me. No weapon can kill, take life. These śastrakāṭe—no weapon can cut through them. The fire does not burn; fire cannot burn anything. These śastrakāṭe neither ignite fire nor extinguish it; water cannot dissolve or moisten them either. Na mṛtyu mitave—death can take nothing away from him either. Death exists within him, not the death of harvest. His mouth is so large, even Death does not have a mouth big enough to swallow him. And therefore Mahāprabhujī said in his bhajan: "Kāl vi nedone asake, kare wo kāl ko āhar." Death cannot come any closer, because its nourishment is death. Such is infinity. Only in infinity. That is the Ātman. Abhināśī, a sabse pare and above all. I belong to no one. I am like the wind; no one can hold me. I am like the sky; no one can possess me. I belong to no one. Yet, I exist in every heart. I will not leave you alone. And so this Ātman, sabse pare, is above all—above all this duality and illusions, above all suffering and pain, sadness and happiness, birth and rebirth, death—thus above everything, the most beautiful bliss, the divine Self. That is I, Ātman. Jñānopadeśaḥ śrī śaṅkarācārya. The primal guru Bhagavān Śaṅkarācārya Jī Mahārāj, the lamp of Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān, the lord of gods Mahādeva, the Madhava Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān, the eternal truth of Sanātana Dharma, the bliss of today’s age.