# The Worship of the Formless: 5 The questions that torment us are often those we have not yet learned to ask properly. We move through life collecting answers—to problems we never posed, to riddles we never whispered to ourselves in the dark. And so we accumulate, year after year, the responses of others: our mothers, our teachers, the books we read at an age when we believed words were doors to truth. Only later, if we are fortunate and cursed in equal measure, do we begin to suspect that the real questions have been waiting all along, patient and invisible, like stones beneath water. Consider the man who asks, "What is the purpose of life?" He has asked nothing yet. He has merely repeated a question so ancient and so worn that it has become smooth as a river stone, offering no grip for genuine inquiry. The true question—the one that might actually lacerate us, might actually demand something of us—emerges only when we have learned to listen to our own silence. When we have sat long enough with our own bewilderment that bewilderment itself becomes a language. The formless—that which the philosophers call *nirakara*, that toward which all the mystics have pointed—is not an answer waiting to be discovered. It is, rather, the space in which answers lose their solidity. It is what remains when all our certainties have been stripped away, when we have finally consented to be ignorant in the deepest sense: not lacking knowledge, but standing naked before the known world and confessing that we do not know it. This is why the worship of the formless is also a kind of unlearning. Every image we have ever held of the divine—every father in the clouds, every judge behind the veil, every abstract principle rendered neat and nameable—must be released, like breath released into the winter air, visible for one moment and then dissolved into vastness.

Twenty.

If the prevalent religious customs and practices were true and eternal dharma, then people could not convert from Hindu to Muslim, from Muslim to Christian, and so on, at will.

Dharma means that which sustains, that which of its own accord sustains man. Whether man grasps it or not, from dharma alone does man arise. And this inviolable dharma is life itself. Life is the eternal dharma possessed of boundless power. So long as there is life, man remains man. As long as life sustains him, he adorns himself as king or emperor, becomes Hindu or Muslim, learned or ignorant, English or Russian. But the moment life abandons him, all his identities—his Hinduness, his Muslimness, his Frenchness, his Germanness—vanish utterly. He becomes a corpse. The corpse bears no characteristic, no nationality. Then, as corpse or Shiva, he takes on the form of the supreme swan.

Within this dharma of life lies concealed the equality and unity of man—with the whole living world. The nature of the tiger, the nature of the mouse, the nature of the bird, the nature of the tree, the nature of man—each living being's dharma or nature manifests only so long as life endures. Apart from life, all are corpses, and there is no difference between the corpse of one nation and the corpse of another.

As there is one life in human existence, so too is there one life in the corpse—one at the beginning, one at the end. Yet to this most obvious and magnificent truth, man remains indifferent, shrouded beneath the veil of conditioning. Forgetting this eternal and true dharma, man has busied himself with fragmented religious customs, engaging in conflict and strife among themselves.

And yet this is certain and irrevocable—the time for the establishment of this natural dharma draws near. The moment when innate national consciousness is established, that very moment will natural dharma too be established.

The question arises: this has always been, is now, and will always be—so why speak of establishment again?
The answer is this: though it exists eternally, its awakening in human consciousness is the true establishment. Sooner or later, man must accept this truth.

Humanity alone is man's only nationality, and life alone is man's only dharma. This is man's inborn nationality and his natural dharma.

Man has fallen from this natural nationality only because from the beginning he has not followed the path of nature, but has instead ventured along the path of mind and conditioning. Following the tastes of a mind bound by custom, he has erred everywhere and always. Therefore, today there is need to return, with childlike simplicity, to the refuge of nature and to engage in work according to nature. Only through work aligned with nature is it possible to build a lasting and complete formation of body, mind, vitality, and consciousness.

Yet by deviating from this natural dharma, human society has wandered astray for ages. Therefore, in no sphere—whether education, nationality, discipline, religion, or work—has mankind achieved proper formation or lasting welfare.

Twenty-one.

Truth and Nature

What is true manifests always in its own way. It needs no one's help to be revealed. Looking at human nature and conduct in this age, it seems that nothing short of great destruction can solve society's problems. This appears to be the final hour of the false education and systems of governance that man has created.
Birth, death, and nature—in these, man is entirely subject to the hand of nature. At birth, he does not follow the path of man-made knowledge and intellect, but moves by the pull of nature. Death too occurs according to that natural law, which lies beyond human knowledge. Man cannot arrest death by any force whatsoever.

In the span between birth and death, man, pursuing his own will, loses the natural course. Yet when birth, creation, and death all lie hidden within nature, how can the incomplete knowledge and intellect of incomplete man create a complete path? In nature's way alone lies the reconciliation of all views and paths, nowhere else.

Man and the Limits of Education

Man has still not found the true foundation of education.

# The Failure of Conventional Learning

Where alphabet comes from, what the true purpose of education is—knowledge cannot answer such questions. What value has learning that cannot instill confidence in a person? Thus humanity has lost morality, become unruly, irresponsible, selfish, and mistrustful. Now the real aim of life for people is earning money—because money is the only measure by which society judges worth. Yet this too must be remembered: wherever error exists, there too lies the opportunity to correct it.

## The Bankruptcy of Established Knowledge

Historians, scientists, scholars of literature and philosophy have composed countless volumes. Their aim was to impart knowledge and serve human welfare. But has lasting good truly been achieved? Has humanity been truly illuminated by the light of genuine wisdom? Had it been so, ignorance’s terrible darkness would not spread as it does today. It seems much of their labor has been wasted effort in the end.

## Some Fundamental Questions

Then comes the question—who has the right to write literature, history, science, or philosophy? Who will read these works, and why? When we ourselves do not know how essential these truly are for human welfare, how can such writings possibly benefit society?

## Conclusion

Humanity is the worshipper of humanity itself. To attain that humanity, one must proceed through action, dedication, and spiritual discipline. Both the individual body and society have a natural need for this development of humanity. Therefore, true welfare lies embedded within nature itself, not in fragmented knowledge and intellect created by human hands.

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## Twenty-Two

## Man and Discipline

To see man as Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jain, or defined nationally as Bengali, Madrasi, and so forth requires nothing special—mere imitation suffices. But to truly make a human being fully human, one must seek the natural path that lies within. On an unnatural path, man stands with a fractured identity—confined within the limits of Hindu, Muslim, Bengali, or some other tribe.

## Man’s Identity

“Man” naturally refers to all humanity. But “Hindu,” “Muslim,” “Christian,” or “English,” “Bengali,” “Madrasi”—these do not mean humanity. They mean only a fragment. Had humanity long believed that these identities too point to all humanity, surely they would have found living harmony and natural solutions within existing religions. But they have lost the truth that knowledge has neither beginning nor end.

## Man’s Decline

It is a sorrow that though the solutions to all problems lie naturally within man himself, he cannot find them. Today man is a beggar to himself—without character, without self-confidence, without honesty, without the proper address of humanity, without firm resolve toward truth. Rather, man has sold himself to the very wealth and property he created—willingly signed the covenant of eternal slavery.

## Servitude to Wealth and Matter

The very wealth and riches that once served social welfare have now made man their own slave. The money-loving human, devoid of knowledge and conscience, behaves like inert matter. Learning, instead of liberating man, has mesmerized him and dragged him down as a worm in hell—only the sufferer can understand this torment.

## The Turning Point of Ages

In this age, the glory of matter is supreme. In earlier times humanity pursued the discipline of consciousness; now it pursues the discipline of matter. This is the climax of matter-worship. Yet it is simultaneously the confluence of two pursuits—consciousness and matter. For where the extreme is reached, there the infinite makes itself felt.

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## Twenty-Three

## The Face of the Future

The near future of humanity is like a double-edged sword. On one side, man advances toward complete destruction; on the other, the preparation for a new creation has begun. Thus this time may be called the turning point of ages. Over the coming twenty years, a terrible game of destruction will play across human life.

## Inhuman Behavior

Man will behave like something less than man. Man will devour man. Man himself will become man’s greatest enemy.

Cruelty, savagery, and inhumanity will flood the fabric of life and society. Remorse and sorrow will find no home in anyone’s heart. Nearly all people will sink into licentiousness, depravity, falsehood, and disorder. This will be the apocalyptic hour of destruction.

The Collapse of Society

All distinctions of rank and lowliness, caste and creed, honor and dignity will be erased. Having lost the faculty to discern good from evil, people will behave like the mad. Society will know no order; the state itself will cease to exist. Transportation, roads by land, by water, by air—all will grind to a halt in a moment. Not merely one nation, but mighty powers across the globe will totter on the brink of ruin. People will set about destroying every institution, every law, every project that human hands have built.

Leadership Without Responsibility

In such times, one class of people will stand mute as witnesses, another will search for causes, but those upon whose shoulders rests the burden of governance will be consumed by internal strife. Self-interest alone will be the root of every conflict. Thus every stratum of society will be swept away in the torrent of chaos.

The Dawn of an Unprecedented Age

Perhaps today humanity cannot even imagine such things. But when this spectacle unfolds before our eyes in the near days ahead, it will become clear that human history is about to take an entirely new form. In this age of corruption, just as falsehood, licentiousness, barbarism, and inhumanity will reach their uttermost extreme, so too will there emerge, from another quarter, signs of genuine, enduring construction and whispers of awakening. Therefore this age may be called unprecedented—an age the world has never known before.

The Shape of Destruction

People will witness what they ought not to witness, hear what they ought not to hear, do what they ought never to do. Having lost all discrimination between benefit and harm, humanity will forget nationality, unity, and heritage. The glorious deeds of ancestors will fade from memory; temples will crumble, sanctuaries will fall, shrines will turn to dust. Across the world will resound the clamor of discord; from the human heart will vanish compassion, affection, love, devotion, and wisdom.

Nature’s Terrible Blows

This destructive drama has already begun. Irresponsibility and the loss of duty spread everywhere. To this will be added nature’s terrible onslaught—torrential rains and floods will drown the land, molten lava will flow like rivers, countless plagues, poisoned air, conflagrations, and tempests will bewilder mankind. One death after another will be swallowed by time’s devouring jaws.

Conclusion

Merely to imagine this future vision makes the body shudder, makes the heart tremble. Truly, the fate of humanity seems to be crystallizing into a strange and terrible mingling of apocalyptic destruction and genuine awakening.