# The Worship of the Formless: III There is a peculiar contradiction embedded in human consciousness—we yearn for the infinite, yet we can only grasp what is bounded. The formless calls to us from across the threshold of perception, but we are forever constructing forms to house it, like children building sand castles against the tide. This is not a flaw in our nature so much as its defining condition. Language itself is a form imposed upon the formless. Every word is a cage, and yet without it, we cannot speak of freedom. The divine, when we dare to name it, becomes diminished by the very utterance. Yet silence, too, is a kind of lie—a refusal to engage with the yearning that defines us. In worship, this contradiction becomes palpable. The ritual, with its precise movements and prescribed utterances, attempts to channel something that cannot be channeled. The flame flickers according to the physics of combustion, but we read in it the dance of the eternal. The bells ring with metallic certainty, yet we listen for an echo that transcends sound itself. Perhaps this is why the formless never fully satisfies us in its abstract purity. Philosophy in its most rarefied state can feel sterile, a mere scaffolding of logic where the heart finds no rest. We are creatures who need an altar, a focal point—even if we intellectually acknowledge that what we worship exists nowhere and everywhere at once. The deepest wisdom may lie not in resolving this paradox but in dwelling within it consciously. To light the lamp knowing it cannot illuminate the infinite, yet lighting it anyway. To sing knowing the song cannot capture what is sung. To live in the space between form and formlessness, neither clinging to one nor rejecting the other. This is the narrow path of genuine devotion.

Eleven.

From the ancient dawn of creation to this very day, countless doctrines concerning religion have held sway. Yet not a single one among them has established religion in its true, natural sense. Each doctrine is merely an assemblage of precepts and rituals—a lifeless framework severed from the vital force of existence. This predicament afflicts all religious creeds alike. They possess no independent power of their own; they are religion only insofar as people accept them, nothing whatsoever if they do not. That which a person can accept or reject at will cannot possibly contain the spontaneous flowering of life. Had these doctrines been naturally autonomous and potent, it would be impossible to compel anyone to renounce or embrace them according to their whim.

All religious doctrines are fundamentally dependent upon dharma-dhátu—the root substance of religion, or the vital force of life. Where life does not exist, the very question of religion does not arise. As long as life persists in the human body, so too persist the notions of dharma and adharma, of the righteous and the unrighteous.

What is life?—Life originates from the union of atoms and molecules.

Where does life reside?—Life is concealed within the generative essence of humankind, within the vital fluid itself. This is why the sacred texts of all traditions call human generative essence the dharma-dhátu, the root substance of religion. From this dharma-dhátu springs all of humanity.

Therefore, all human beings possess an equal, natural, and innate right to dharma. When someone, lacking understanding, declares "I do not follow religion" or "I do not believe"—they deny the very truth of their own life. For those who harbor such sentiments, these words are especially worthy of study and deep comprehension.

Never has there been, nor shall there ever be, a single rational being—believer or non-believer—born into this world from past to future, who denies this foundation of dharma. Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Zoroastrian and other doctrines any person may accept or abandon at any moment; no system can prevent them from doing so. Yet is there anyone who, having once embraced life and the vital force, could afterwards renounce it?—No, never.

Therefore, the sole living and natural foundation of all religious doctrines is life itself, the vital force—that which all sacred texts endorse. Yet the common person remains unaware of this dharma; they have merely learned to call prevailing doctrines by the name of religion. In truth, human dharma is never twofold—it is singular and unique, living and inseparably bound to the human body. Without life, a person cannot even understand their own existence.

Many perhaps believe—the Supreme Self, the individual soul, Brahman, established doctrines, knowledge, devotion, love—these are religion. But have they paused to consider: where there is no life, how can consciousness arise? And without consciousness, who will recognize or know what is dharma? All that we understand or embrace comes through life itself, through consciousness. There is no other path to understanding save through consciousness. Even if a fully sentient Supreme Being pervades all existence, without consciousness, who shall recognize or experience it? The unfolding of consciousness within the human body is inconceivable without life.

To deny and seek to reject the dharma that exists living within a person from birth itself is as unnatural as it is inhuman. Dharma means nature—as earth's dharma means earth's nature, water's dharma means water's nature, fire's dharma means fire's nature, air's and sky's dharma mean their respective natures. Just so, the dharma intrinsic to all five elements—their common, natural dharma—is their very nature. Therefore, there is no doubt whatsoever that the true dharma of all humankind is one.

Only when all humanity is awakened to this single dharma and to one consciousness of complete humanhood will the divisions, hatred, animosity, and cruelty among people be erased. Without this awakening to singular consciousness, humankind cannot unite and advance together upon the path to perfection.

It is around life that the capacity to sustain emerges—for in life itself lie all sustaining powers. Life at once upholds body, mind, vital breath, and consciousness. Dharma means nature—the nature of life is to sustain body, mind, vital breath, and consciousness.

Just so, the natural dharma of human beings is to sustain life. Yet humanity has not yet fully realized this intrinsic nature. If, through the power of discipline, yoga, and austerity, one could sustain life completely, then one would be liberated from death’s grip.

Life continues to fulfill its nature, but humanity has yet to discover the means of fulfilling its duty. It is not credible that a nature which holds within itself the world and birth-death eternally and immortally would not contain within it the path to immortality. The path to immortality is not hidden in nature, but in essence itself—for it is this very essence that has bestowed upon us body, mind, life-force, consciousness, and the whole of human nature.

Twelve.

Life at once sustains within itself body, mind, life-force, consciousness, knowledge, devotion, and love, and continues to teach this sustaining power—its own dharma—to all. Yet there is no such student of this natural teaching who receives the lesson. We cling to life itself to exist—where life is, there we are; where life is not, we are not. Where life is absent, there is no I, no you, no god, no God, no knowledge, no devotion, no love—nothing at all. Life alone, age after age, time after time, dwells as the living dharma within all beings.

Life naturally fulfills its own dharma, yet humanity has not yet pierced the infinite and mysterious fortress of that law to discover the path to immortality. Despite fulfilling countless dharmas, humanity has not replenished the lack of dharma within itself.

Life goes on performing its duty, but humanity has yet to find even the means of performing that duty. How can it be credible that a nature which holds within itself the world and birth-death, eternally alive and immortal in this very place—how can it lack the path to immortality?

Humanity has searched for the path to immortality in nature, yet why does it seek there what lies hidden in essence itself? That path must be sought within essence—the essence that has given humanity body, mind, life-force, consciousness, and the whole of human nature.

This essence alone is the sole root of what is called the eternal path of dharma. There is no change in life.

Dharma is actual truth, not a collection of imaginings. If the dharma of all humanity is not one and the same, then neither can the action of all humanity be one and the same. Therefore, first we must see—is the dharma of all humanity one?

Thirteen.

Life exists distinctly in each body, and each body is sustained by life. Yet humanity has not yet become capable of fully grasping life within its own form. Because we, having found life within ourselves, cannot truly hold it fast, we do not even have the right to call it truly “our own.” And yet life is the very root of the sustaining power of all things—this even the wise and ignorant alike can easily understand.

The sequential manifestation of life is body, mind, life-force, and consciousness. Therefore, if life can truly be sustained, then all things can be sustained. In humanity, dharma exists as a living presence, yet though animated by it, humanity cannot hold it fast. Everything humanity does is for the sake of life. This life, endlessly, under infinite names and infinite natures, transforms itself and sustains the world. Therefore, life alone is the complete dharma, in which all sustaining power is contained.

Life has three forms—
1) Fragmented, that is, the individual body
2) Whole, that is, the world-nature
3) Distinct or essential, that is, the perfect point

In any one of these three lies hidden the identical form of all three, which can be perceived only through consciousness. So long as humanity cannot acquire the capacity to sustain life, so long will human embodied action remain incomplete. When one day it is seen that just as life sustains humanity, so too humanity can sustain life, then we must understand that humanity’s duty in life has been fulfilled.

Then there would be no question of abandoning one another.

What you cannot make your own nor keep as your own can never truly be called yours. Therefore, sustaining life within the human body is man’s foremost and primary duty.

Throughout the ages, countless saints, yogis, sages, and ascetics have appeared—some to spread love, some knowledge, some devotion, some action. Yet all of them departed in an incomplete state. The reason is simple: they failed to acquire the capacity to fully sustain life within their own bodies.

This proves that the first duty is to acquire the capacity to sustain life in the body. Only then, through this immortal body, if knowledge, devotion, and love are propagated, will they achieve true immortality. But as long as knowledge, devotion, and love are proclaimed as immortal through a mortal body, their immortality remains unproven.

For man has not yet acquired a body in which knowledge, devotion, and love can find complete and successful expression. Until the human body fulfills its complete function, all such questions are beside the point. A body does not become immortal unless it performs its complete function. And without an immortal body, the proclamation of immortality is mere falsehood.

Therefore, one must first seek the shelter of a true teacher and strive to fulfill the complete function of the human body. This alone is man’s sole religion. Everything else comes after.

Fourteen.

Man needs education; but if the purpose of education is merely to meet man’s external needs, then such education can never be true education. For need-based education cannot develop the inherent humanity within man.

Yet our prevailing system of education has been built entirely with an eye toward meeting man’s needs. Though present-day educational methods pay some attention to human qualities, they completely ignore man’s fundamental nature. Education aimed at meeting needs is merely utilitarian education—it can never form man in his completeness. Through such education, the physical, moral, and spiritual development of man is impossible. Any education that cannot develop these three together is never true education. Yet it is the harmonious development of these three that constitutes a complete and natural human being.

Man requires natural education, for man’s very constitution springs from nature itself. Harmonious development across the three levels—gross, subtle, and causal—is what forms a human being. And the foundation of natural education is moral character. Therefore, it is essential to awaken a sense of duty from childhood itself. The first step in the development of duty is to establish oneself in truth and cultivate good character.

What is truth?

To speak rightly what one has seen rightly; to express correctly what one has heard accurately; and to articulate truly what one has thought properly. In other words, seeing, hearing, knowing, thinking, and acting—when all of these are expressed correctly, without excess or deficiency, then that is truth. If from childhood, seeing, hearing, thinking, and acting are expressed correctly, then in later life there remains no possibility of their opposite.

Man’s field of education extends from understanding to life, and again from life to understanding—a complete circle. Just as man himself is living, so too is his dharma living. Therefore, his education must also be living—that is, life-based. And the method for this should be scientific.