Thirty-Four.
The Teaching of the Material World and the Spiritual World
Those who have been the spokesmen of the material world—kings, rulers, leaders of nations and states—they taught mankind the path of physical, worldly, and material advancement. And those who have been the leaders of the spiritual world—they strove to guide people along the path of spiritual, moral, and mental improvement. All of them wrote countless sacred texts and, according to their own understanding, established various laws and rules for humanity.
But these two currents run counter to each other. Thus, from the very beginning of human life came the absence of harmony. In childhood itself, the child was taught: "Man is mortal." This bred in the mind devotion and fear; and at the same time, a mark of doubt was cast upon the very foundation of one's boundless inner strength.
Education in Childhood
The child learned: "Father is heaven, father is dharma; in the satisfaction of the father lies the satisfaction of the gods." Yet also learned: "Mother and motherland are greater even than heaven." Thus a conflict arose in the mind—who deserves greater honor, the father or the mother? Some leaned more toward the mother, others toward the father. Yet in this way the child learned its duty toward both parents.
The Conflict of Youth
Coming to youth, the child faced a new form of collision. The scriptures declared: for the wife, the husband is the supreme guru, and yet the husband too has duties toward the wife. Boys and girls alike—all thoughtful young men and women—became bewildered by this contradictory teaching of the scriptures. What had seemed the primary duty in childhood became secondary in youth.
Upon entering household life, one understood: in childhood, mother and father were the refuge, but now marriage itself became the primary shelter. Later, when children were born, the mother's attention turned entirely toward them. The nurture and upbringing of children became her paramount duty. The father too devoted himself to the shaping and education of the child. Thus the mutual attraction between husband and wife diminished.
The Loneliness of Old Age
Slowly, with advancing years came disease and ailment in the body, weariness in the mind. Then one understood: in the household, one was no longer truly needed. Everyone neglected one; there was no light around, no hope. Then one became utterly unwanted. No one had any duty toward one; one too was unable to do anything for anyone. Then the only path left was to sit in solitude, remember an unknown God, and shed tears.
The Final End
Thus life went on—until came the cessation of consciousness, the ending of awareness, the extinction of breath. In the end, mankind had to spend its last days waiting for death amid loneliness and helplessness.
Thirty-Five.
The Conflict of Human Life
From life to death, man sees only conflict—conflict in ideals, conflict in education, conflict in duty. The leaders of the material world give one kind of direction; the leaders of the spiritual world give another. Matter says, "Take shelter in me"; dharma says, "Take shelter in me." Thus the common person becomes confused.
In childhood, youth, middle age—at each stage of life, man is taught a particular duty. But in old age, one comes to understand that whatever one has done all this time was not a duty at all, was all in vain. One never knew or fulfilled any duty toward oneself. It is with this failure and this lamentation that one must bid farewell to the world.
The Directionlessness of Human Society
Today mankind is adrift. Within has been born despair, sorrow, confusion, anger, and bitterness. The discipline of religion has become for him empty words, and the governance, teaching, and protection of the material world too seem meaningless. Under the pitiless rule of religious leaders and worldly leaders alike, man is tormented. Even the religious leaders themselves now perceive the hollowness of their long-held beliefs. On the other hand, kings, rulers, emperors, and statesmen too have become paralyzed by their own failure, not knowing what to do.
The Natural Leader of Humanity
In this moment of supreme crisis, all cry out in anguish—let there come a true leader, one who will be a real benefactor. At this hour, embodied in human form, there appeared the natural man, the natural leader. He came to end all want and establish mankind in perfect humanity.
It is in the extreme moment that the supreme begins. Thus at this threshold hour, he was revealed—he whom mankind, without knowing, without recognizing, without understanding, has been crying out for all along.
The Declaration of the Natural Leader
He called all to him and said:
"Fear no more. Your crisis has passed.
# On the Natural Way: Philosophy of Self and Society
For so long you have failed—managing yourselves and society through incomplete knowledge, half-formed education, and fragmented thought. You have never truly understood ideals, foundations, methods, or duties. And so no ideal you have preached, no method you have prescribed, no duty you have imposed has felt natural to human beings. Instead, scarcity has multiplied a hundredfold.
The rooted and the mobile, insects and creeping plants—all are Nature’s creation. Their scarcities too arise from Nature, and their remedies lie within Nature itself. In the perfection of one, the perfection of all is contained.
If your small household—mother, father, and child—is guided along the path of natural fulfillment, then countless households across the entire world will likewise advance on that path of completeness.
## Duties Before Entering Household Life
Before embarking on married life, the first duty of the future mother and father is to cultivate their own character. Character-building does not mean imposed or artificial celibacy, but rather establishing oneself in natural celibacy. When this natural celibacy becomes firm, then feeling, ideal, and action—all converge toward a single aim.
## The Passage from Ego to Service
Where the fragmented ego, following Nature’s way, dissolves into “I am That” (*Soham*), there the sense of “I am the doer” ceases. Then comes the ideal of service. Mother and father in the household are no longer rulers; they are merely “servants.” From this perspective alone is right duty toward the household possible.
## The Ideal Mother and Father
If mother and father enter household life educated in Nature’s teaching, they alone can become ideal parents.
The mother’s ideal shall be to establish the natural foundation of her child’s life.
The father’s ideal shall be to provide right guidance along her child’s path.
The child is the living expression of the mother and father’s united being. Therefore, the child shall be the perfect fulfiller of the parents’ ideals.
## Complete Humanity and Lasting Peace
The path of realizing this ideal is the natural way, whose aim is the attainment of complete humanity. Once established in complete humanity, lasting peace will naturally come to the household.
If one small household reaches the completeness of Nature’s way, then the entire world-household will likewise be established in perfection. Then mother, father, and child will have no fault in their duties.
## The Unity of Matter and Spirit
When the world of material existence and the world of spiritual truth become one, then a person is established in a single feeling, a single ideal, a single aim. For each realm is the complement of the other—completeness can never be achieved by excluding either.
## Thirty-Six
### Humanity Requires Noble Understanding
If noble understanding does not arise in the human heart, no good work will be accomplished in this world. As human want and complaint multiply, common people sink further toward animal instinct. Politics can never free humanity from want and complaint.
### The Natural Way of Humanity
Humanity has its own course of conduct—called the natural way. This is not made by human beings; even before birth, humans are part of this current. No law made by humans can ever free humanity from want and complaint; rather, complaint will only increase.
The result of today’s world politics is this: from the human heart it has stolen simplicity, gentleness, affection, compassion, loving care, fellow-feeling in suffering, peace, joy, and trust. In place of these, the emptiness fills with poisonous vapor. Yet no one loses sleep over it.
### Religious Confusion
From the religious sphere comes the instruction: “Come this way, and you will find peace.” Yet they themselves do not truly trust one another. Divided by different doctrines, all are busy praising their own communities. The result is that complete humanity has not yet awakened in people. How then can divinity or godhood become real in such soil?
Avatars of knowledge, devotion, and love have come; they have proclaimed that knowledge, devotion, and love are immortal. Yet they could not prove their own mortal bodies immortal. All of them were consumed by time. So why should people believe without seeing living proof? And to force belief upon them is itself an injustice.
### Complete Humanity as the True Goal
There is only one aim worthy of humanity: the awakening of complete humanity. Within it lies the natural expression of all that is—animal nature, divinity, godhood, and Brahman-consciousness. Therein lies the very essence of being human.
And here lies the ultimate threshold of the mind’s full flowering.
Humanity has tasted both good and evil in their extremes. It has sought from God both the bliss of heaven and utter suffering, and experienced them both; yet nowhere has it found peace or contentment. Now, at last, a single question will awaken in the human heart—”On what shall I rely?”
Humanity has exhausted all its learning and intellect, and so it no longer trusts in itself. The day approaches when everything created by human hands will seem to it mere illusion, mere phantom. Only then will it turn its trust toward God.
**Nature as the Ultimate Refuge**
That very nature will liberate humanity from all joy and sorrow, placing it forever upon the throne of perfect humanity. Forgetting the divisions of doctrine, we must think only of humanity itself—the natural inheritance of every person. That universal name of humanity is nature.
Humanity worships only this nature. Nature alone fulfills every want. The material world and the spiritual world are complementary to each other. Without harmony between these two, all preaching of religion is in vain.
**Thirty-seven.**
I am Nature—I have come seeking to give you a living, immortal body. All this time I have let you do whatever your hearts desired, good or evil, pleasant or unpleasant, right or wrong. I have placed no obstacle in the path of your hopes and desires. I thought you would see the consequences of your deeds and learn your errors yourselves. So from the beginning of creation until now I have waited.
All this time I have dwelt within you like the brute, only to free you from brutishness. Yet when I look at you, it seems you do not truly wish to escape that brutishness. As I exist within you in the form of the smallest atom, so too am I present as the vast cosmos. And yet you are so intoxicated with consumption that you never pause to ask—for whom do you consume, what are you consuming, and what will be the final end of it all?
I have given you body, mind, vitality, intellect, knowledge, thought, feeling, and the power of action—all of it. Yet you have never learned to use it rightly. Until you can recognize, grasp, and feel me as body, mind, vital force, and soul, your true selfhood will never be established. And without that true selfhood, the fountain of genuine love can never flow.
Do you know what my nature is?
In my nature there is no lack. Those who have separated themselves from me—they alone have fallen prey to endless want. You are the living proof. You struggle to fill one want, and another swoops down to surround you. Yet still you do not seek my refuge.
You have worshipped God, the divine, gods and goddesses, Lakshmi, Narayan, Kubera—yet want remains unfulfilled. Now, driven mad by deprivation, some among you take your own lives. I know that when humanity strays far from me and falls into the snare of want, it turns to gods and goddesses. But when those doors close, one day—inevitably—humanity will return to me. For I am that nature, and without me there is no one else who can satisfy want.
Who am I—this I reveal gradually. I am Nature. My full living form is humanity. In humanity lies the first and final form of all creation. Humanity is the complete manifestation of nature. Beyond this, there is no further creation. Whatever seems supernatural—that too is only the supernatural form of humanity, nothing else.
Within me, action happens of itself—I need no one to inspire me. Therefore, within me, knowledge, devotion, love, and action are all the same thing, without division. See one, and you have seen them all.
My complete identity: I always give through the medium of the manifest, the material, in living form. Within me there is no question of time or timelessness. The subtle, the cause, and the great cause—all are expressed through my material body.