Blessed immortal souls, beloved children of the Divine!
I am greatly blessed to spend this evening hour with you and to share my thoughts on this subject pertaining to all of us.
When we speak of the destiny of man we don't speak of a special human being or a historical person, but we speak very much of ourselves-today-here-in this world of the fourth quarter of our very troubled yet eventful 20th century. What is our destiny? Man wants to know and scans the newspapers, he listens to the radio, he views occurrences all over the globe on the television screen. He wants to know what is going on in this world, what is happening to man, what man is doing to man and where this world is heading. He tries to look ahead and to have a glimpse of what is in stall for man.
But our concern today is not so much to know this in a superficial way, for what is happening upon the surface soon every schoolboy comes to know. A few years ago what was man's destiny? Was it to remain bound to the earth or was it to fly into outer space? They said: "We can even reach the moon!" "Can we or can we not?"-"Is it possible?"-All these speculations came to an end when man actually landed on the moon. The question was no more there-it had become a fact, a scientific truth. So scientifically the destiny of man may be to conquer outer space, land on the Mars or some other planet. But what he achieves from this is not known.
So it is in a deeper sense that we want to know man's destiny or perhaps as it has been conceived by a cosmic mind, by a supreme intelligence and power that is imponderable, that is far beyond the furthest comprehension of the human intellect, that transcends reason-that mastermind that has brought about this amazing cosmos where heavenly bodies move about in an absolutely correct, precise, systematical manner, keeping to their courses, maintaining the same rate of speed in outer space and demonstrating an incredibly predictable behaviour. Those who are masters of astrophysics and astronomy can say exactly what the movements of certain planets will be, how many years hence will Haley's comet appear next? They are able to chart its course, calculate its speed and predict its appearance. See, from within the sight of man on earth this is not an ordinary achievement. But it is possible. Because there is a system working there with absolute precision and accuracy that makes it possible for man to predict certain things. It is not a chaos, it is an orderly system. To manufacture even a small simple machine, a watch, a timepiece, a little timer, man has to make so many calculations, he has to make the wheels of exact dimension and shape with the exact number of teeth, he has to bring all his intelligence and observation, his concentrated attention, his skillful action. And when it is old, it is discarded and one buys another one... To produce such a small machinery so much of intelligence, calculations, skill is necessary. And this vast, imponderable, amazing thing which we call cosmos, our solar system, sun, moon and the terrestrial world, the innumerable stars, the mind-blowing distances, staggering in their magnitude-do you think it came about without the combination of some great incomprehensible master intelligence and master power and master skill? The cosmic intelligence, the universal mind is that which we call-we don't know what ...
Kant, the great German philosopher, had no name for it. He called it "the thing in itself". For when nothing was, IT only was. And IT itself knew what IT was. There was no other, no second one to know it. Therefore he called it "THE THING IN ITSELF". Thousands of years ago, long before the time of even Jesus Christ, the great mystic and prophet Moses went into the wilderness, prayed, did penance and tried to attune himself to the Invisible, to the Infinite. Humbly he tried to know IT, sought ITS guidance, ITS help. And a strange power made itself manifest in response to Moses' quest. He felt it, it guided him. And he wanted to know by what name he could refer to it, by what name he could call it. And that being said: "I AM THAT I AM". I am that I am. What else can I say? I am that being existing by itself. I alone know what I am. I exist-I know that I exist. I am that cosmic intelligence self-cognising, for in that state of absoluteness I am alone. There is no other, no second. I pervade all. I exist by myself, supremely independent, supremely non-dual. I am that I am.
Great Indian sages like the Buddha went to the depth of thought and attained illumination-they said: "The only way you can describe or define or state that thing is to be silent. "SILENCE". If you say anything you say wrongly. You cannot define it. To say anything is to limit it, for human expression, human language is limited, is finite. Therefore silence is the one and only way in which you can express the inexpressible. SILENCE.
The philosopher Plotinus observed all things in this world and found them wanting. He found that they were all limited and finite, finite in time and space, limited by name and form. Nothing was full, nothing complete, something was there, something else was not there. He found that all things here were fragmentary, partial, wanting. Therefore he called the ultimate reality, that imponderable, absolute, transcendental reality "THE SUPREME PLENUM". The only thing which is all full, all perfect, not limited, not bound by anything.
Thus great philosophers, great mystics, those who have entered into the transcendental experience of that supreme cosmic power-intelligence, they were silent about it. But they knew that it existed beyond the least shadow of a doubt, because this cosmos is proof positive of that great intelligence and power of the Universal Being. No other proof is necessary. This universe itself bears witness of something beyond, something imponderable. That then is the Being that can tell you something about the destiny of man. For it is your source and origin, that is your invisible support and ultimate fulfilment. In that you have come into being, in that you exist, in that you ultimately have to merge. Man-whence-where-whither? It is the Cosmic Mind that knows it. Because having come into this phenomenal existence, we are also bound by its limitations. We can only think in categories, in an objectivised way. The mind cannot think without an object, a name, a form. By its very nature absolute thought is only a concept, because the mind is conditioned. It can only move within the field of relative thinking. Everything is known in comparison to some other thing that is also previously known in relation to some other thing. Whether a thing is high or low, short or tall, all this is known in relation to something else. All thought processes are limited by the very nature of the mind.
The most rudimentary thing on earth requires a maker, a certain intelligence and power. Even a crude broom to sweep the floor in some settlement of an aboriginal tribe who lives in mud huts with thatched roofs. The people pick up dry twigs and plants, gather them together and tie them with string made out of the bark of some tree. They will not take reeds or twigs that have no strength, they will not tie the thinner end, but tie the thicker end and keep the thinner end free to sweep the floor. Even for this elementary thing the principle of thought is there-what to say of this amazing cosmos which is the wonder of the greatest masterminds, the physicists, astronomers and scientists of today... it is a marvel... they stand aghast, Einstein and all these people. Therefore the secret of man, his ultimate destiny is hidden in this mysterious all-knowing cosmic mind.
But then, there has been in human history the phenomenon of individuals like you and me, but endowed with some special genius, with a hunger to know, with a keen desire to unravel the mystery of life, to see the unseen, to cognise that which is hidden behind the mere appearances. These individuals have come into the human society at different periods, and they beheld the phenomenal process of this universe, these multifarious, innumerable names and forms, all these things which come, exist for a while and vanish. Seeing this they were filled with great curiosity and thirst to know from where these things came and where they went-what was the origin and ultimate destiny of things. They wanted to see that which is hidden behind the scene. They brought to bear all their intelligence, their logic, their thought-power, their discrimination, their reasoning, their analytical force in order to grasp what seemed to elude their ordinary thought. They put to work their concentrated mind, they pondered over it, they contemplated it, they reflected upon it, they thought deeply about it, they entered into a state of absolute, one-pointed meditation about it, and it is to their eternal credit that they did not give up their quest until they got what they were searching for. And we have to congratulate ourselves for the sacrifice of these great souls who were explorers upon the inner dimension of man, the dimension of the spirit, and we have to congratulate ourselves for their persistence, perseverance, their refusal to take a no and come back without achieving their objective. They were willing to sacrifice their entire life, the last drop of blood for this quest. And with this perseverance, with this determination to get what they wanted to the exclusion of everything else, they entered into a state of atunement with the cosmic mind, they entered into an experience of the universal being, and in that state of vast expanded consciousness they broke all the barriers of limitation, they broke the fetters and jails of mere objective perception through the senses and went beyond the senses into a state of transcendental consciousness-there in that state of cosmic consciousness all their questions vanished. There was no more doubt, nothing hidden anymore-everything became revealed, everything became instantly known, past and future blended into the present, the timeless present. They came into direct experience with the heart of existence, they became one with the Cosmic Mind... Some of these great seers (they are called seers because they saw what was unseen), some of these great sages of illumined wisdom have tried to bring to us some glimpses of what they had experienced. They have tried to share with us their insights, their wisdom, their experience-what they knew with certainty. And there we can find some idea about the destiny of man.
There is a great cycle. In this cosmic existence there is a great cycle. The sun shines upon the oceans, upon the seas, upon huge lakes, upon all collections of water. And when the heat of the sun intensifies, the water begins to evaporate, it gives up its substance, its thickness and rises up as vapour and ascends into the skies, and upward winds help its ascent. Raising from oceans and seas and lakes millions of tons of water become vapour through the heat of the sun and they rise up into the higher atmosphere until they reach a level where the cold is intense and they cannot retain their vaporous nature. Once again they become form and amass themselves in dense rain-bearing clouds. And then starts the most interesting phenomena. The upper winds begin to push these clouds and make them sail towards the land. And moving across the land these dense rain-bearing clouds become heavier and heavier and descend lower and lower until they meet an obstruction like the mountains and there they release their waters. They release their waters, they fall in torrents, descend in heavy rains. And the moment they hit the earth, they begin to flow, they become tiny rivulets, little streams, mountain streams, then they join bigger streams, they join rivers and they keep flowing, they keep flowing from the higher to the lower, overcome all obstacles, they twist and turn and bypass all obstacles-then ultimately where do they end? What is the destiny of rainwater? What is the destiny of rivers, what is the destiny of streams? Ultimately? They all join the ocean, they all join the sea. The cycle is completed. From where they came into being, from where they arose as vapour into the high skies, completing the cycle, they once again join and become one with their origin and source, the ocean. Ponder this cycle!
Have you ever asked yourself in all your life, sitting quietly, turning away from all your occupations and preoccupations, have you ever asked, becoming silent, becoming introspective and serious: "From where have I come to this earth-plane?"-I am intelligent enough to know that my father and mother fashioned my physical body upon the pattern of their own species, even as every father and mother, whether a bird, reptile, beast or insect, also fashion a biological gross body upon the pattern of their own species. This is within their genes, within their biological make-up. They are capable of manufacturing only a prototype of their own species. Every unit of the biological world, every plant, every flower, every fruit tree, has this capacity of duplicating, reproducing, multiplying and bringing about a prototype of their own. So upon the physical, material level the body has been fashioned.
But what is that within you which says "I am"? You are not merely existence, you are conscious existence, distinct from the existence of a piece of metal or stone or mountain. You are existence qualified by self-awareness which makes you assert: "Yes, I exist." What is this principle? It is not a biological principle. Your father and mother did not give you this principle. They gave you the means through which this consciousness can express itself and can make itself felt by other such units of consciousness. And that means is the human brain and the central nervous system. The brain and the central nervous system are not the mind. The mind is something beyond, it is a different tattwa, a different principle altogether. If a person with the most perfectly fashioned brain and nervous system-perfect according to medical tests, scanning and X-ray-is struck with grief, overcome by anxiety, he suddenly becomes unhinged and is incapable of making use of that perfectly fashioned brain and nervous system. The mind therefore is not a part of this biological unit brought about by our parents, which is only a medium, a channel for something higher to operate. What the mind is, what the origin and the seat of its movements are, how thought comes into being, how a desire comes into being, this has been the special field of study of the great scientists of the mind, the yogis of the ancient East. They have made a tremendous contribution through their science of the mind called Raja Yoga and Vedanta.
Vedanta and Raja Yoga reveal the secrets and mysteries of this thing called mind and the consciousness that is beyond the mind. Before I can think I have to exist. Descartes discovered and cried aloud: "Cognito ergo sum." "I think therefore I am." But I think he put the cart before the horse. You are, therefore you are able to think. If you did not exist, how would the thought process be possible? Is the thinking process first or the thinker? The thinker is first, therefore he is able to think. But Descartes was not filled with that self-awareness and stumbled upon it. The thing he was doing always, day in and day out, suddenly he took a new look at it: "Oh gosh, I am thinking-that proves I am existing." He had been thinking always, but had never thought about this thinking process. That day he suddenly thought about thinking. But the ancients discovered first the existence of being, the existence of consciousness. Then they said: "That alone makes possible all other phenomena. I exist, therefore thought is possible, feeling is possible, reasoning is possible, everything is possible." And they attained to a state of Self-realization. And as I was saying, these great ones transcended the objective mind, the objective world and objectifying, limiting and finite thinking process of the mind-they went into a state of deep meditation and attained oneness with the cosmic consciousness. Everything became revealed to them, past and future were in the eternal Now, all things became instantly cognised. There was no more process, only direct instant experience of all things-they had a glimpse of omniscience. From these heights of their realization they brought us certain insights and they have something to tell us about man's destiny. One of the things is the existence of this cycle.
The destiny of man as seen by these mystics is to be a similar process of going back to his source and origin. And that source and origin is a supreme state of independence, supreme state of consciousness, transcending all vexing limitations, infinite, boundless, eternal, beyond time and space. That is the source and origin of each one of you sitting and listening to me. Within this confined, limited body house you are an immortal spark of the cosmic spirit. You are the radiant ray of this light of lights beyond all darkness. You are ever a wave of this ocean of infinite eternal existence, never apart from it, inseparable from it, always one with it, but not aware of it. You are ever a wave, a dancing blissful wave upon the bosom of this vast, infinite ocean of eternal existence. And from that state, loosing the awareness of your essential nature, you have come down to a lesser level of consciousness, what made you loose the awareness of your essential nature? It is an unfortunate identification with some aspects of your present human nature which constitutes not your essential Self, but a temporary added factor being part of your temporary human personality. Before your father and mother married what were your features? What was your face? What was your name? Were you a Malay or a Chinese or an Indian or a Christian or a Jew or a Buddhist or a Hindu or an atheist? Were you male or female, short or tall, dark or fair? What were you? You were nothing. All these qualifications which now bind you to a little unit of human consciousness, where you identify yourself with the date of birth, height, age, the weight on the bathroom scale, what a great fault! You a shining center of consciousness beyond time and space, ever free, without limitations, now you are held prisoner by a little confined unit of consciousness, characterized by identification with a body, a name, a form, all these vexing qualifications and limitations. Can there be a greater bondage? You are at the mercy of the appetites of the senses, you are at the mercy of the limitations of this physical body, hunger, thirst, heat and cold, and you have to provide for all these factors. And because you have become habituated to this bondage you don't even feel it. If a person is born a slave, he is not aware of his state. It is only father and mother who were once free and then sold into slavery, they only know, they feel the bondage, the chains, and they long to get back into that state of freedom. The child who is born into that state is quite content because he knows of no other experience. But rousing us from this state of complacency our great sages and saints called to us from the tremendous heights of their divine experience and they said: "What is it you are doing, you mortals wailing and weeping? Why are you prolonging this bondage? Do you not realize that this is not your natural state? You have come here and allowed yourself to be bound into this little, abnormal, unnatural state. This is a disease. Come, come, wake up from this state, break the fetters of this limited human consciousness and claim your birthright. Come back again into that shining state of divine consciousness beyond time and space, beyond all limitations, where sorrow cannot approach you, where pain cannot touch you-into that state of absolute bliss, indescribable peace, total satisfaction, fearlessness, deathlessness!
And all the great systems of religious thoughts have at their origin this divine freedom, this divine insight, this wisdom. All the great prophets, be it Mohammed, be it Jesus the Christ, Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, be it anyone, they came with this knowledge of man's destiny. They called man back to his original state, to perfection and freedom. "Be ye also perfect even as your father in heaven is perfect." In this way Jesus called man back to his supreme destiny. Every prophet said the same thing. You are not what you are now. This is a fallen state. Yours is the state of immaculate purity, and this birth of yours as a human being with feeling, thinking, reasoning is a chance given to you to ponder your own life and once again regain this lost state of divinity. Paradise lost is the state of man-paradise regained is the fate of man.
All the great religions came into being to show man the other half of the cycle. You are now in one half of the circle. You have been born into this state of identification with the gross physical body which is perishable, which is subject to so many imperfections, change, disease, old age, infirmities and one day it has to pass. Now you are involved with that which is not your real identity, your real Self-it is non-self. It is something which is part of created phenomena, whereas you are an uncreated principle, eternal, beginningless, timeless, for you are one with the cosmic principle. Temporarily you have forgotten your eternal oneness with that. It is a state where you have wandered away and have become alienated from your source and origin, and that has started all your problems. All your weeping and wailing, all your present human pains and sorrows and sufferings are to be directly attributed to your having separated yourself in consciousness from that great reality which is the very quintessence of peace and joy. So from this state where only half the cycle has taken place you have to start the journey back home and complete the cycle and rest once again in that pristine state of divine perfection and freedom. This is the destiny of man as cognised by seers of transcendental divine insight. They saw man not as a weeping, wailing, fighting, quarrelling, laughing little earth creature. They saw within this earth creature potential for God-consciousness, potential for cosmic consciousness, potential for divine experience. And until and unless that is attained man has not fulfilled his destiny. This is the vision of man and his destiny of the illumined sages and saints, the Mahapurushas.
But then as all man-made institutions they are perfect when they come into being and gradually the limitations and defects of human nature corrupt them. And when the spirit is lost overemphasis is given to form and man clings to the outer shell. So the spirit of the quest and the attainment of once again recapturing that glorious divine state, that spirit is lost. Man becomes satisfied in fulfilling only the outer form of religion, in performing ceremonies and rituals and does not know that he deprives himself of the greatest experience. The real essence of religion, the heart of religion is God-realization. Within the context of the great religion of the Vedas and the Upanishads the one insistence is upon realization and direct experience, not merely secondhand experience and outer form, but direct realization. The outer forms may help if intelligently pursued. They may bring about a gradual upward rise of the consciousness, day by day, if you are genuine about them. Otherwise they can become serious obstacles holding you bound forever to a lesser plane of consciousness.
In one word, as experienced and envisioned and declared by your great ancestors, great philosophers of divine experience and wisdom, in one word it is evolution. Evolution means a steady upward movement into perfection, gradually transcending all limitations, all defects and ultimately finishing your ascent in a state of absolute perfection. It is called evolution and it is inbuilt into cosmic nature also, even into this physical nature. Take anything, any living thing in this universe. Ponder it, observe it, what do you see? Somewhere in a bush, in the branches of a tree a little bird has built a nest, an empty nest. After some time you see a tiny inert pebble-like object, maybe with delicate designs and colours. You are looking at this little inert object which you call egg, but you are not seeing it-seeing it, yet you are not seeing it. For within that delicate shell a tremendous cosmic dynamism is taking place. Some wonderful, marvellous thing is happening. The life principle is moving in the contents of the egg, ever progressively, ever ascending. And that life principle, that tremendous movement that is going on and is not seen by you, ultimately brings into being a perfect prototype of the bird which brought into being the egg. Held within that delicate shell is therefore the beautiful melody of birdsong, there is dormant, latent the colour of the plumage, the wonderful sweetness of the bird's flight into the blue skies, the grace of its movement through the air, the descending, all these, sweetness, grace, colour, melody, beauty, everything is there-the fullest potential for it is there. And this law of evolution, this tremendous activity is going on unceasingly, day and night, even when you are sleeping. Ultimately what happens? Though it contained nothing of this when the egg was laid, the egg hatches and out comes a living thing. Not very beautiful, immediately no one will make a marriage proposal to it-no feathers, no proper wings, all beak and all tummy-but then the same process is going on. The tremendous process of making an incomplete into a complete thing, an imperfect thing into a thing of perfection, a partial thing into a whole thing. Taking all powers around it, the nourishment of the mother-bird, the warmth of the sunlight, the wind and then the day comes when it spreads its wings and out of the nest flies into the sky another bird.
Take a little bud on the branch of a flower plant. It looks very insignificant and you don't know what is hidden in it. But if only you had some other eyes, you would be able to see the tremendous dynamism and the principle of evolution at work-forming the softness of the petals, the delicate colours, the power of attraction, the fragrance, day and night it is going on. The bud grows and slowly the inner beauty begins to make itself felt. If only someone would take a video of the entire life of a bud until it becomes a fully unfolded flower, what a marvel it would be! It would be the answer to your question "What is the destiny of this thing?" The destiny is to reach a stage where it shines as a complete perfect unit of its own species, filled with beauty, filled with fragrance, filled with the power of attraction-attracting man, woman, child, bee and bird, everything around it, wafting its fragrance, shining with colour, softness of velvety and silky petals-a thing of beauty, of joy. And a little while ago it was just a bud.
Take an unripe fruit on a fruit tree appearing like a hard button. You bite in it and you make a face. But give it some time. Here also the same life principle is going on. It makes use of all things, sunshine, rain, water and nourishment from the earth and gradually it grows, develops, changes colour and inside that dry button juice comes to be, and then taste, sweetness, fragrance, the power to satisfy, to give joy. Then it is a ripe, mellow, juicy, tasty delicious fruit upon that selfsame tree upon which was a green, sour, tasteless bud. So you see everywhere in nature is this movement towards becoming a perfect unit of the same species. An apple will be a perfect apple, a mango a perfect mango, a vegetable will be a perfect vegetable, a bird's egg will become a perfect bird, a caterpillar becomes a chrysalis and afterwards it bursts out into a butterfly with amazing colours and design. When a butterfly spreads its four wings, no human artist can ever fashion these colours and that delicate texture. They were not there in the caterpillar climbing the stem of a plant where it makes itself into a chrysalis, and goes into a cocoon and there I think it meditates itself into a butterfly, and when it bursts there is this beautiful butterfly-children dance with joy when they look at it. It flits from flower to flower, beauty meeting beauty!
So we see that in the whole of nature there is this process of evolution, which is the law of life moving towards a state of fullness and perfection of its own species. But then there is something wonderful about you-there is something wonderful about the destiny of man. And here we come to the heart of the theme.
Each species of the plants and animals has this evolutionary process upon one level only. Whereas you, you are a citizen of two worlds simultaneously. Having been born into this universe, man sits on the threshold of two universes. The outer universe is this gross material world. But he knows "I have not been here some time ago, and after some time I will not be here. I do not belong here." And all the sages, mystics, the men of broad vision confirm: "Oh man, you are but a pilgrim on this earth, move along to the divine realm of perfection and fullness, where death cannot reach you, where there is no time, no decay. There is the Kingdom of God." Every religion has this concept of a great realm transcending the mundane plane of gross materialistic existence, where everything is perfect. They give it different names, but the sages of the Upanishadic religion went further and brought specific data based upon the authority of their own deepest experiences. They said: "We tell you. This is thus. We know it. And if you fulfil the conditions which we fulfilled, you will also know it by experience. It is for all mankind. This state of perfection and divine consciousness is the birthright of every human individual." Because man is made in the image of God. The light of Allah shines in every human individual, the breath of God in every being. Therefore you have another dimension. It is the unseen dimension of your spirit-you are a dweller of the spiritual universe as well. With your body and mind you are dwelling in this physical universe, but with your consciousness you are ever in the spiritual universe. You are a citizen of two worlds. And therefore in your case evolution means a dual process.
As a human being your destiny here is to make use of all the factors that surround you and utilize them wisely and try to make yourself a perfect unit of the human species. What does that mean? Observe the laws of health. Control the senses, master your passions, be moderate in eating, drinking, sex, pleasures and everything. Develop for yourself a perfect physique, high standard of health, strength and energy. But then you are endowed with a mind and an intellect. They must also evolve. They want some knowledge. Guide your powers of reasoning into the right channels. Let your mind be purified of the dross of mere greed, desire, ambition, craving. Make it pure and think nobly. Have sublime sentiments. Rise above yourself and ask yourself, "While I am here on this earth what can I do for others? In what way can I make myself a source of benefit, happiness and help to others?" You alone of all created living beings are capable of thinking on these lines. Let not this intelligence think crookedly, let it think straight. Intelligence can be prostituted to desire and passion and make you a crude, crooked, cunning, diplomatic, manoeuvring individual, a danger to others. The intellect must be given higher thinking, Have an ideal. Ponder the lives of great men, make them your ideal. Let your intellect think great-how can I become like these people, how can I shine like them? What one man has become, all men can become. And therefore I must strive. Even if I strive all my life and do not completely rise up to the level of my ideal, it does not matter. I have not failed, I have succeeded in my life because I never gave up this idealism. That is success in life. And therefore man's destiny is to become an ideal human individual, in humaneness, in feeling and consideration for others. As you wish others to behave towards yourself, so behave always towards them. Shine as an ideal human individual, as an asset and a blessing to your contemporary society, be a center of good and benefit to all others and a character with ethical principles and moral standard. You become a jewel, a priceless diamond and you enrich the society for living and acting in it. This is the destiny of man for which he has to intelligently work.
And upon the inner realm of the spirit your destiny is to regain the lost divine perfection which is your eternal state, for you have your origin from that supreme cosmic being, that tremendous imponderable cosmic being, the cosmic power and intelligence which is the sum totality of all that is auspicious, beautiful, good, pure and holy. That is the Supreme Being. You are part of it. You are rooted in that. You live, move and have your being in that Supreme Being, whether you know it or not. For that Supreme Being is not located at any point in space or time-He is all-pervading. He is immanent in all these billions of universes that He has created, and because He is infinite all these created things are within Himself. And He inter-penetrates, permeates and fills everything He has created. Therefore He is without and within. And you-whether you know it or not-live, move and have your being in this divine perfection, in this divine bliss, in this divine sanctity and holiness and sacredness. This is your element, like a fish in the vast Pacific Ocean has its origin in the waters of the immeasurable, limitless Pacific Ocean, it dwells in the Pacific Ocean and ultimately it ends its existence in the Pacific Ocean. Even so your life is in that supreme divine principle. Therefore within the inner dimension of spiritual consciousness the destiny of man is total divinity. Upon the outer plane the destiny of man is to try his/her best to shine as an ideal unit of the human species in human society in this human world. That is the human destiny.
As regards the prophets of doom who say: "Will humanity survive in the 21st century? Will the earth through an atomic explosion of a third holocaust be blown into a nuclear cloud? Maybe the earth and all life will cease to be because of radiation and the planet will become a frozen ball through the nuclear winter which is feared by scientists ..." those who say that about the destiny of man, whatever their predictions and fears-I have come here to give you the vision of the ancients regarding the ultimate destiny of man, not the immediate destiny. If this planet earth is completely destroyed due to a nuclear war and all life ceases here, nothing will happen to you! You will not be touched. You will not be affected. Your destiny will not be altered. You'll migrate and take rebirth on some other planet that will be fashioned for you. And there you'll start where you left off here and continue this relentless irresistible process of evolution until you shine as a God! You are sleeping Gods. And so, if this world is lost, what will happen? It is only one little college. If a college is destroyed by fire, your educational career does not come to an end, you don't have to stay put in 6th class. You can go to another college and finish your degree, your M.A., your PhD and go to the top of your career. For your evolution this planet earth is not the only place, there are millions of places. Therefore if anything happens, nothing happens. For whatever happens, happens only to the physical things, to matter. And what are you? You are that immortal radiant divine spirit which weapons cannot injure, fire cannot burn, water cannot wet and wind cannot dry-unborn, eternal, permanent-you are beyond time, and death has no meaning for you. You are imperishable, immortal, indestructible, deathless and birthless. Whatever happens, happens only to this mortal body, to this cage of flesh and bones. It does not need a nuclear war to destroy it. When it becomes old, it will anyway be destroyed by a heart-attack or an accident. There are a hundred different ways for this body to come to an end, it does not require a nuclear war.
It is a folly of our ignorant leaders, ignorant heads of state, who have no knowledge of the real man and his destiny. They think all their subjects in their countries are just earth creatures who have to be given some little education in colleges and universities and have to be fed and clothed. Therefore various social and political philosophies have sprung up in order to keep man well clothed, well fed, with medical aid, housing, schooling and all these things. They have but touched the outermost edge of the real human being. They do not know man. Man is still the unknown quantity for these secular rulers who are themselves blind and in deep darkness of their ignorance. They have no knowledge, no wisdom, no real perception. They have crammed their brains only with book-knowledge and are no better than computers. For a computer can also be given a lot of knowledge if you feed enough data into its computer-brain. And immediately it will tell you everything you want to know, and also what you don't want to know. When man gets old his memory goes and he forgets whatever he has learnt. So this is not the real man. A great doctor and scientist Alexis Carrel, has written a book "Man the Unknown", that man whom man himself does not know.
So our secular heads of state, with their bodybound consciousness, who are slaves of their senses and passions, who don't know themselves and the real destiny of man, what can they provide for this inner process of evolution? It is only the wisdom teaching of the sages and seers, of the great mystics of the ancient times, the medieval times and the modern times who can give you solid directions and light upon the path of man's great destiny to divine perfection. Place and time, background and culture do not matter-their ultimate absolute experiences were all identical. Therefore my beloved brethren, the destiny of man is not what the limited vision of social or political theoreticians may give. They can only talk about the terrestrial level. It is the mystics who can tell you: "You are more than man. And therefore your destiny is more than a human destiny-it is a divine destiny!" This human status is a wonderful opportunity and chance given to you to be utilized in an intelligent manner for working through this present state of bodybound and gross material consciousness into a higher state of free spiritual and divine consciousness. It is the ultimate goal of life. This is your true destiny. You have come here to work out that DIVINE DESTINY!
