Oneness-reality and perfection-divinity⁴

Oneness-reality and perfection-divinity are two paths to the Supreme. A seeker can accept either the way of oneness-reality or the way of perfection-divinity, or he can try both; for they both lead to the self-same Goal.

When the seeker wants to walk along the road of oneness-reality, he starts with simplicity. He tries to simplify his life. Then there comes a time when he feels that his simplicity is not enough. For in spite of his simplicity, he may make mistakes. Again, although he commits Himalayan blunders, he will still make progress. But if he is not sincere, then he will not be able to make any progress. Therefore, he has to become sincere. With his sincerity he makes considerable progress and gets joy from both the inner world and the outer world.

Then there comes a time when the seeker sees and feels that even his sincerity is not enough. In spite of his sincerity, he can still make mistakes, and he may not have the necessary determination to rectify his mistakes. So in addition to his sincerity, what he needs is determination. With his determination he will always try to stop doing the wrong thing, start doing the right thing and continue doing the right thing. Simplicity is not enough. Sincerity is not enough. What the seeker needs at this stage of his evolving consciousness is determination. Determination is of paramount importance.

The seeker makes satisfactory progress with his determination. But there comes a time when he sees that his determination is mainly in the vital plane. It is principally in the domain of the dynamic vital, if not the aggressive vital. Sometimes with his determination he builds something; then in no time he breaks it. So the seeker feels that determination is not enough. Inside his determination something else has to loom large, and that thing is purity. If he has purity, then his heart will be able to receive the message from above. He will be able to act like a divine child. A child is a flower that is blossoming petal by petal in the heart of his parents. A childlike purity always obeys the inner voice, and if one obeys the inner voice, then one can never commit mistakes. So determination is not enough. Purity is of paramount importance for the seeker to make considerable progress. If his heart is pure, if his very existence is pure, then he is able to make most satisfactory progress.

But, at times, purity is not used properly, divinely and supremely. At times, a pure person may be afraid of the world. He sees the animal creation all around, so he is frightened to death. He feels that these human animals will devour him; therefore a pure person at times wants to enter into the Himalayan caves. He does not want to remain in society, for he fears that the society-tiger will devour him. Again, a pure person, unless and until he is perfect, may cherish a sense of superiority. He may look down upon those who are impure, and he may not want to be in the company of impure people. He may want to shun society as such in order to maintain his own purity. So purity is not enough. He needs something more than purity. He needs oneness.

Oneness can be limited or complete. If oneness is limited, then satisfaction is also limited. If oneness is partial, then naturally satisfaction will be partial. Oneness can be conditional or unconditional. The seeker can establish his oneness with the Lord Supreme on the strength of their mutual give and take. He will give his aspiration cry, the inner mounting flame, and in return he will expect something infinitely more meaningful, fruitful and valuable from above-that is, God's infinite Bounty, infinite Light and infinite Delight. When the seeker has his conditional oneness, he cannot be truly happy. He can be truly happy only when he establishes his complete and unconditional oneness. Only when he establishes his oneness with the Inner Pilot soulfully, devotedly, unreservedly and unconditionally does he become truly happy. And happiness is satisfaction. The road of unconditional oneness eventually leads the seeker to the world of Delight, boundless Delight, where the seeker-lover becomes inseparably one with the Beloved, the Source.

The other road that the seeker may follow is the road of perfection-divinity. When the seeker wants to walk along the road of perfection-divinity, he starts with imagination. He imagines God's Reality. He imagines God with attributes and without attributes, God with form and God without form. But sometimes he may fall prey to false mental fascination. He may be assailed at times by doubts and think that he is building castles in the air. Therefore, he feels that his imagination is not enough. What he needs is inspiration. With his inspiration he will dive deep within. He will fly above. He will march and run forward. He is inspired to do something, to become something.

Inspiration has very limited capacity. In order to do something or become something divinely and supremely, inspiration is not enough. One must needs have aspiration. When the seeker aspires, he feels that he has to climb up or reach a certain destination. He sees that now he is at the starting point, whereas the goal is somewhere else. He feels that there is a yawning gulf between his present existence-reality and the ultimate Goal which he is aiming at. So he climbs up the aspiration-tree, which is tall, taller, tallest. When he aspires sincerely, soulfully and unconditionally, he reaches a lofty height.

But his aspiration is not enough. He knows that he has to go through aspiration, but aspiration is not enough. He feels that he must have realisation. He feels that realisation will be able to solve all his problems, because wherever realisation is, the Ultimate Truth is also there. Once he realises the Ultimate Truth, there will be no starting point and no final Goal. It will all be one. Realisation and the Ultimate Truth cannot be separated from each other or from the one who has realised the Truth. The realisation and the seeker who has realised are inseparably one. Therefore, the seeker longs for realisation. Only realisation, his self-discovery, will be able to solve his life's problems, that have caused so much suffering for him from time immemorial.

At last the seeker realises God. He is happy. His progress has been unimaginable. But there comes a time when he feels the insufficiency of his own realisation. As an individual, he is one with God. But when he looks around, he sees that there are millions and billions of his fellow beings – brothers and sisters of his – who are not yet realised. He sees clearly that he is eating most delicious food while these others are starving. In the inner world they are poverty-stricken. His heart of oneness-realisation feels miserable. So he wants to go one step farther. He wants to reveal to the hungry humanity the truth, the light and the delight that he embodies. This is not a desire to display his achievements but a supreme necessity, an inner urge. His Inner Pilot compels him to bring forward what he has within in order to show the world that, like him, each individual is entitled to realise the Highest. He does not want to eat the realisation-fruit alone. This realisation-fruit has to be eaten by all those who sincerely long for it. So realisation is not enough. Revelation is also a supreme necessity.

The God-realised soul reveals what he has so that others can get inspiration, aspiration and realisation. He reveals without what he has within. He feels that his divinity can be revealed on any plane – on a higher plane, on a lower plane, anywhere. But unless it has its proper roots, it cannot last for long; it cannot be the achievement of Mother-Earth for Eternity. Therefore, his revelation is not enough. He needs manifestation. Once something is manifested here on earth, it becomes the permanent possession of Mother-Earth. Once divinity, reality or any divine qualities are properly manifested, then they are permanent. They become part and parcel of Mother-Earth. They become the possession of humanity's aspiration. So the God-realised seeker tries to manifest. And when he manifests, he feels his complete oneness with the Absolute Pilot and becomes the perfect instrument of Divinity's Perfection. Being a perfect instrument of his Beloved Supreme, the seeker tries to manifest the divinity with which he has been entrusted.

Here the oneness-reality becomes one with the perfection-divinity. When one becomes perfect, one automatically becomes one with the supreme Reality, the Source. When one has established one's inseparable, unconditional oneness with the Source, then one is bound to become perfect. These are the two roads, the road of oneness and the road of perfection. Eventually they join, and at that time the seeker reaches the highest Height and the deepest Depth, and becomes the perfect instrument of the Supreme Pilot here on earth and there in Heaven.