# The Worship of the Formless: IV The eye that sees form is not the eye that perceives the formless. They are two different instruments of sight, two separate faculties of knowing. One looks outward at the world of shapes and surfaces; the other turns inward, searching for what has no contour, no boundary, no name. Most of us have trained only the first eye. We know the visible world intimately—its textures, its colors, its countless distinctions. But the second eye lies dormant within us, untouched, almost forgotten. To worship the formless is to awaken this dormant sight. It is not an escape from the world of forms; rather, it is a deepening of vision itself. The mystics and philosophers have always known this: that beyond the multiplicity of things lies a unity that does not negate particularity but embraces it, transforms it, gives it meaning. When we speak of the formless, we do not speak of emptiness or void. The formless is not the absence of form; it is the presence of something so vast, so comprehensive, that all forms arise within it and return to it. Like the sky in relation to clouds—the sky is not made less by the clouds it contains. The formless consciousness is not diminished by the forms it manifests. The mistake we make is to think of the visible and the invisible as enemies, as competitors for our attention and allegiance. But they are not. The formless gives rise to form; form returns to the formless. It is a rhythm, an eternal dance of becoming and unbecoming. To see truly, one must learn to perceive both—to hold them together in a single, unified awareness. This is the real meaning of worship: not the supplication of a small, frightened self before an external deity, but the recognition of one's own deepest nature, which is boundless, eternal, and free.

Fifteen.

Humanity has no caste, just as the Absolute Self, Brahman, or God has none. Caste belongs only to action; according to the qualities of action, humans are classified as sattvic, rajasic, and tamasic. It is through action that qualities arise. Within humanity exists such a power of action that through its proper practice, one can become possessed of lasting knowledge, devotion, and love. For the human body is the complete body of nature, and through it alone can nature achieve its fullest expression.

In human society, one observes three kinds of workers—

1) The tamasic: those forever immersed in petty concerns—eating, dwelling, sexual union, and the like.
2) The rajasic: those occupied with gaining honor, reputation, wealth, and prosperity.
3) The sattvic: those who perceive the transient nature of such things and remain absorbed in matters of the self.

In truth, all three qualities exist within every human being, but whichever quality the course of one's action relies upon becomes the dominant quality expressed in that person. Yet those who stand above these three qualities—they alone are the truly virtuous human or the natural human. They are the ideal for all mankind, and the right to become such a human belongs to everyone. So long as one remains bound by the three qualities, one cannot think disinterestedly of another's welfare.

People grow fearful at the mere mention of yoga and spiritual practice—they imagine it concerns only the spiritual or religious realm. But in truth, without practice and yoga, not even the smallest task is completed. The effort to master any action is itself practice, and the connection of necessary means to fulfill that action is yoga. Therefore, practice and yoga are indispensable in every sphere of life.

The spiritual world is constituted of three realms—the gross, the subtle, and the causal. Omit any one of them and the spiritual world cannot be understood; yet the material world cannot be understood by excluding the spiritual either. They are interconnected, inseparably woven together—one cannot prove the completeness of the other by omitting it. And yet humanity has long believed the spiritual and material worlds to be opposed to each other, while none has wished to delve deeply into their true significance.

In fact, it is a dreadful misconception to regard the material world and the spiritual world as separate. Nothing can be proved to exist without matter. Where life itself depends on the connection of atoms and molecules, and death comes only from their disconnection—there, no action can be completed without yoga.

Humans unite through action, custom, and conduct to form a nation. But where human perfection is bound to national perfection, one must reach the deepest levels of duty and thought to analyze the completeness of national life. Yet until now, no one has attempted to enter that deepest realm.

Sixteen.

Everywhere and always, there plays out a peculiar game of chance regarding national life.

Can merely meeting the external needs of people truly contribute to the path of national life's perfection? If one cannot attain true humanity, how will one determine one's duty? If one lacks humanity, how can one perceive the deprivation of all mankind as one's own want?

Today, not a single leader can be found who genuinely thinks of the welfare of all humanity. All are doctrinaires confined within their own narrow boundaries. Each person thinks only of the people of the land where one dwells—and even that, only insofar as it serves one's own interests. No one cares about building national life and humanity. The state's efforts remain restricted to how people can survive and become capable—that alone. Yet no one pays attention to how people grow ever more dehumanized, ever more consumed by self-interest.

The responsibility of shaping humans into true humans rests upon the leaders of human society and the state. But the state pays no heed to this whatsoever.

Rather, those ancient, beautiful, and salutary constructive pathways that once existed have been forgotten by people for want of state support. And from the realm of ascetics and the spiritual world, no enduring constructive path has yet been discovered for humanity; they too have grown indifferent.

Consequently, through the negligence of the custodians of the material and spiritual worlds, and through conflicting teachings, religions, ideals, truths, and notions of justice, common people have become bewildered and wounded. They can no longer find trust or shelter anywhere.

Thus, quite naturally, people have strayed from their native ideals, their inherent dharma, and their spontaneous sense of nationality. And for this very reason, people find peace neither in the material world nor in the spiritual—nowhere at all.

As a direct consequence of this condition, we see across the entire world today—discontent, non-cooperation, disorder, rebellion, and ever-growing resistance against prevailing customs and discipline.

Seventeen.

The leaders of the spiritual and material worlds cry out today for world peace and world brotherhood. Yet the doctrines and paths they have prescribed have failed in the past, repeatedly foundered upon the currents of time, and no desirable outcome shall ever come from them in the future either.

For any religion, any society, any sense of nationality rooted in the seeds of division—its teachings can never bring world peace, world friendship, world brotherhood, or equality. It is as impossible as it is unnatural.

On the other hand, that feeling, that understanding, that ideal, that sense of nationality and that religion which is eternal truth, simple and straightforward—by merely contemplating and experiencing which all doubt and all separation vanishes—humanity has remained ignorant and inattentive to this truth all along.

This is utterly simple, utterly straightforward, eternally true—because it is natural. And this feeling, understanding, ideal, and sense of nationality lies solely in the nature of human beings themselves.

Eighteen.

All humanity is one people—there is no doubt about this. Yet to this fundamental truth, this self-evident human nationality, people remain indifferent today. This great truth, which proves itself, we know yet refuse to understand; we teach it yet refuse to learn it.

The partial, place-denoting nationality of humans—such as Bengaliness, Frenchness, Germanness—contains within it humanity as the essential element. Similarly, the religion-denoting nationality—such as Hinduness, Muslimness, Christianness—all are built upon the foundation of humanity itself. Had people not been born human, they could not have been Bengali or English, Muslim or Christian—anything at all. In primordial human society, was there any distinction of Hindu, Muslim, Christian? Or division between Asian and European? No, these are all creations of humanity’s fragmentary mind and divided consciousness.

People have grown accustomed to seeing humans in the narrow confines of partial religion and partial nationality. Yet to non-human creatures, there is no difference among people. To a tiger, a human is a human—whether English or Russian, theist or atheist—there is no distinction. Similarly, to the human race itself, surely this partial nationality defined by land and place holds no significance.

People were not born with greater consciousness than non-human creatures for the purpose of creating division and inequality. Yet throughout history they have done precisely that—from the age of awakened knowledge to this very day, in struggling to preserve their own existence, they have destroyed the existence of others. In the name of peace, they have devised weapons of self-annihilation; in the name of establishing religion, they have proclaimed struggle. But peace has not been established, nor has religion. If it had, the leaders of the world would not cry out for peace today, nor would they raise such clamor everywhere about religion-religion.

When natural nationalism—that all humanity is one people—awakens within people, then unity and equality shall be fully established in human society without any effort whatsoever.

Nineteen.

All humanity is one in humanity. The life that inherently sustains it—to sustain that life is its sole dharma. And human nationality is its only natural nationality.

This understanding, this thought, this feeling must remain ever awakened in the heart of every human being on earth—so that all of humanity becomes kin to one another. For this is the desire, the aim, and the capacity of humankind.

And the awakening of this distinct and natural sense of human kinship is humanity’s first step toward completeness.

When mankind can break free from the narrow confines of conventional, fragmented nations, eras, and nationalities, then—and only then—all that vast knowledge, intellect, strength, and talent now squandered on preserving today’s limited territorial, national, and religious particularities will be unified and channeled toward the welfare of all humanity and the spiritual elevation of the individual human being.

Yet mankind has forgotten this natural sense of human kinship, entrapped for ages in the delusion of division. Bound within the limits of fractional nationalism, it has sunk into self-conflict and crippled its own power.

And yet this natural sense of human kinship shall be established in humanity—whether we strive for it or not. The present world’s chaos and confusion are, in truth, mere signs pointing toward that longed-for day.

And since man is the highest creature, he cannot remain idle with his faculties and strength. He must—inevitably—become active. He will hasten the establishment of his natural sense of human kinship.

When humanity’s sense of kinship is truly established, another great truth will dawn upon it—and that is religion. Only then will mankind understand that Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist—these are mere human conventions. They are not religion. Religion is that which is eternal, that which is true, that which is immutable, that which is natural—that which no age, no era, no limited human knowledge can alter or diminish.