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The wise sages have declared the nature, essence, and quality of the Puruṣa—what the Puruṣa is, what the Ātman is. This truth was then accepted and proclaimed through the Śrutis. Subsequently, the Śāstras and saints all gave their approval. How, then, can we still believe that the body could also be the Puruṣa? The body is not the Ātman. The body is not the highest Self. The body is something changeable. Thus it is said: Sarvam puruṣa eveti, śukte puruṣa-saṅkhyāte, apy ucyate yathā śrutyā, katamaḥ syād ekaḥ pumān. When the Śruti, in the Puruṣasūkta, has declared that everything that exists is Puruṣa—that what eternally exists is Puruṣa—how can this body be the Puruṣa? This body is not the Puruṣa. This body 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 will not die. Therefore, the effort and the path to our liberation from all suffering and problems is that we must realize reality. When one meditates on certain things, one realizes certain things. As one wishes, so one receives—not always, but most of the time. So it is our inner concentration, the power that brings things together. It would be good if we take this body as a means, an instrument, through 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 the house is not eternal. We only reside there. Similarly, the kāya (body) is not a house either; we dwell there. Everything is called Puruṣa in the Vedic hymn; it is named Puruṣa because, as the Śruti states, it is the lamp, the truth, the reality, the eternal, the unchanging—it is Puruṣa. Then how can it be the kharpa puruṣa (the perishable person)? This kharpa cannot be compared with itself as kharpa. The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, spoken of by the detached Puruṣa—the infinite, free from impurities, the one who has seen the story of the perfected being—this Upaniṣad has also been mentioned. It is said: Puruṣa is asaṅga. Saṅga and asaṅga. Saṅga means to be with someone. Asaṅga means the only one. Thus, Puruṣa is nothing accompanied by a second part. It is a part that is complete. It does not need a second part. There is no second alongside it. The Puruṣa is also very difficult to find or realize. So in truth, there is solitude. Separation is a solitude, returning again to unity. And coming together is a dualism. That is true; it is so. So if one is separated now, then it is good, no problem. You are happy again, one, in unity. The problem is when you come together and then suddenly separate, or become one and then you look for a second again—there is no second. Two cannot go together; the path is too narrow, one must go through alone. The kāya is anantamala—endless, boundless impurity. The kāya faces unlimited impurity, no matter what one says or imagines about purity or impurity. So the kāya is sick, the kāya is dying, the kāya is suffering, the kāya has pain, the kāya has everything. So this is a full sack of muscle and bones. Everything, the entire Mūlādhāra inside. But Ātman is completely pure without all of that. So how can this endless, impure body be Puruṣa? It cannot be. Therefore, let go of your attachment to this matter and finally awaken. When one has realized all this, then one has no problem overcoming anything. It is already automatically transcended. Your body truly becomes a burden. Then you unnecessarily carry something on top of it. It is like this: you have beautiful, clean hands, and something falls on them. It always bothers you. You blow it away and cleanse them. Does it not bother you when something hangs in the bath? You rush to the mirror and say, "Oh, something is happening here." You take it and cleanse it away. So it is at the moment of Ātma-Jñāna realization. All these problems that one sees in the world are not problems. Sometimes, when someone asks, "I have this problem," I say, that is not a problem. Take it easy. It's easy for those who say, "Take it easy." But whoever has this problem finds it not easy because they have a different state of consciousness than you. They have a different relationship to this particular problem than you do. But you can also achieve having a different relationship with your problem. It was also said that Puruṣa shines; Puruṣa itself is the light, prakāśapūrṇa. 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 is that the enlightened one is the Ātman, which itself is such a light. And the illuminated one is the body, because it needs the light. Light needs no light. So the body is that, and Ātman is prakāśa, light itself. So how can you compare this Ātman and this matter or body? You should not do that. Do you know what Karmakāṇḍa is? There are different philosophies, different paths, different ways. Among them, there is one called the Karmakāṇḍa. The crux is that all kinds of ceremonies—performing prayers, preparing prayers, lighting candles, lighting incense sticks, arranging the altar, conducting fire ceremonies, wedding ceremonies, birth ceremonies, name day ceremonies, cutting hair, or baptizing—all of this is called Karmakāṇḍa. All matters of initiation, all of that is Karmakāṇḍa. Initiation and immersion, all of this is Karmakāṇḍa. In the Karmakāṇḍa, it is also said that the Ātman is different. Ātman is Ātman; Ātman is separate from everything. Śaṅkarācārya brings the knowledge and teaching of non-dualism. Therefore, Śaṅkarācārya was also strict with us against performing Mūrti-Pūjā. Mūrti-Pūjā means worshipping a statue, worshipping an image, and so on. Reality is not in form. But form is important for your concentration, to focus on something. From time to time, he also accepted these ceremonies and Karmakāṇḍas because he is supposed to. But the Karmakāṇḍa also says that the Ātman is completely different from all of that. There is Mūrti-Pūjā; certain religions believe in Mūrti-Pūjā, where mūrti is the statue or images or altar. Some do not believe in Mūrti-Pūjā at all, believing only in their guṇas. For example, in Judaism, they do not have a mūrti, no statue, no images. Islam also does not have Mūrti-Pūjā. Islam developed from this 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 was accepted where one can understand more easily and walk more easily. One needs a point of reference for that. One is the mother, who is alive, who lives. It is quite different from what people say; I have a mother, but she has already passed away. So even now, she is there for you as a mother, but she does not live in the body. So it is: God is there, but you have no foothold anywhere. So reality is completely different from this form. But form is only your point of reference. As long as you have not realized anything to identify with, somehow you need a shoulder to lean on, inwardly. The supreme doer of actions is the Self, distinct from the body. Karmakāṇḍa also says the Ātman is something entirely different. Karmakāṇḍa also says that the Ātman is eternal, everlasting. It is this body that suffers all sins, 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 speak, do, and think is carried out 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, the holiest. Impurity, sin, suffering—all of it resides in the body. So there are two clear paths. These are two clear things. What do you want? This or that? You can take your time calmly and decide. We walk the path of self-realization; then you must think in this way. When you walk on this kind of path, the path of joy, then you need not ask any questions. No matter what difficulties come into your life, you will resolve them. You will understand, you will say, "Okay, it is like this and it is like that; I don’t need to ask anyone for that." 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 your problem resolves more quickly. If you give to no one, then you yourself must go; it must happen. Maybe go 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 the parents are not there and he is crying and tired, still, he walks towards home. When he comes home, he collapses, saying that he is tired again. He has his vital energy, and so it is. If you keep whining about your little trivial problems, it only creates more complications. When you say, "Okay, it is natural; it belongs to this karmic path," then it 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 engage, returning very much into attachment, into this world, then 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 much so that you are attached to something. No one can help you, only you yourself. There is a click, and everything is okay. These are the two paths: either to suffer or to move forward. Liṅgaṁ ca anekasaṁyuktaṁ calaṁ draṣṭuṁ vikāri ca, avyāpakaṁ sadṛśaṁ ca tat kathaṁ syāt upamānam. This is the liṅga, the subtle body, the subtle form, both gross and subtle. Sthūla is the physical kāya and sūkṣma is the astral kāya, the subtle body. Both, liṅgaṁ ca anekasaṁyuktaṁ: the subtle body and the gross body. Śaṅkarācārya even said that the liṅga śarīra too is a confluence of many tattvas; your astral body is also a bundle of many, many tattvas. The physical body has physical tattva elements; the astral body also has its astral elements. This astral body and our body, both of which are associated with many qualities, are movable, are changeable. They are merely objects. To see an object: you want to see something in the sky, but you simply cannot see it. You only see what exists there as matter. This matter, many things come 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. Dṛśya is an object. And the rest, there is the Seer. You see. 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. Therefore, Ātman has no form. So the astral body is also a mutable body. That is not eternal either. When the karmas and all prārabdhas, all vāsanās (desires) become free, then you no longer have them. Then the light body is released. When Mokṣa, the Samādhi is present, then no subtle body exists anymore. Therefore, this subtle body, the Liṅga Śarīra, the sūkṣma body, is also a bundle of many tattvas. It is changeable; it is only an object. It is also vikārī, vikāra. It has the vikāras: what we call mental pollution, negative thoughts, negative feelings, jealousy, hatred, greed, anger, attachment. So all of these are the vikāras in your astral energy, your astral body. So it is vikārī and it is avyāpaka. There is nothing everywhere. It is limited. It exists as an individual. Limited. Asat-svarūpa: as unreality. It is unreality. It will change again. Then please tell me, how could even your liṅga śarīra be a Puruṣa? No, it is not the Puruṣa. It is not the Ātman. So when you seek, do not try to attain your radiant 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. Dṛśyamātraṁ jagataḥ. Dṛśyamātraṁ jagataḥ. This Saṁsāra is only a dṛśya. When dṛśya is present, then all states arise. All feelings arise because the dṛśya is present. So he says, the whole world is nothing but a glance—a visual attraction, one might say? No, not a moment. An eye-catcher. The world is only visible. When you close your eyes, the world has disappeared. Nothing is visible anymore, finished. When you open your eyes, everything is there again. So it is. So do not suffer with dṛśya. Feelings end with dṛśyas. You see something, your feeling intensifies. You see something, your feelings subside. Everything is so. As said, let us say dṛśyamātraṁ jagataḥ. Brahman is truth; the world is illusion. The world is seen as illusory; so too the body. The compassionate Self, the Puruṣa, the Lord, the All-Self, the all-forms, beyond all, the ego—this is the same nature. Ātman or Puruṣa and Īśvara, the subtle and gross bodies, the subtle and gross senses—both have a difference; Ātman and Śarīra are not the same. The sūkṣma śarīra or Īśvara is not the same; it is entirely different. That means, Śaṅkarācārya says in his Jñāna Upadeśa, the essence of his Jñāna Upadeśa; at the end he says: I am the Ātman of all... I am the form of Sacchidānanda, I am Śiva, I am Śiva. I am the immortal soul within. The eighth. Akhilaviśvaka, who is Paramātmā. The individual soul is the same as the supreme Self. The supreme Self is sat-cit-ānanda. Akhilaviśvaka: from the entire world or entire universe, that is the Ātman of the entire universe. The same Ātman is present in all beings, and that very Ātman is the Ātman of all living creatures. I am that Self, and I am the same. I am this Self. That is called unity, realization in unity. I am the Ātman of all. I am the form of all. And which form of all? Only one. The true Self. One form of God, one form of human, one form of animal, and one form of all beings is but one form. I am one; I am only the one, the Ātman. Otherwise, think as you would in meditation: I am the imperishable, indestructible, eternal being. Indestructible, unperishable; no one can destroy it. What the scriptures say: no fire can burn it, no water can extinguish it, no death can destroy it—that immortal, eternal Ātman, Sacchidānanda. No weapon can kill it, no weapon can cut through its fortress, no fire can burn it. The scripture says: fire cannot be extinguished, nor can water quench it; death cannot take anything away from it either. Death exists within him, not the death of reaping. His mouth is so large, death does not have a mouth big enough to swallow him. Therefore, Mahāprabhujī said in his bhajan: Death cannot come any closer because its nourishment is death. That is infinity. That is the Ātman, avināśī, sabse pare and beyond 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. But still, 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. Jñāna Upadeśa. Śrī Śaṅkarācārya. Ādiguru Bhagavān Śaṅkarācārya. Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān. Devāśvara Mahādeva. Mādhava Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān. Satya Sanātana Dharma. Āj ke ānanda.