What caste are you that you are cast out by His command? What obligation will you fulfill if, by fulfilling it, you are distant from Him? You cannot uphold dharma if in your actions you have rejected Him or if by your actions He has rejected you. There is no dharma except that you must obey Him. If you turn away from His command, you have strayed from dharma, though you may be the author of every righteous act and the father of every virtue. O doer, surrender the fruits of what you have done. Give it in the way of charity, but do not be proud in your liberality, for this is not submission. If they accuse you of idolatry, they are right, for by accepting the rewards of your actions, you have achieved your ends and not His. There can be no “you” remaining; you cannot offer what you have also consumed; such an offering is pollution itself. O widower, cast yourself into the pyre as the moth to the lantern. Let yourself be consumed in fire. Give up all hope for yourself and cast away worthless ambition. Do not seek His pleasure for some mean reward; serving Him is sufficient reward for you.
Remember the names of Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva and see that they are in truth One word, One voice, the One unalterable as He alters, invisible as He invests every atom of creation with His command, unknowable even as He is the source of all knowledge. From the lotus of His navel, He has created the universe. By the ceremony of cord, see how your actions are connected to Him. Perform your duty, honor the righteous who came before you, even as you seek a path like theirs; forgive the unrighteous, even as you repudiate them. Be careful that the cord not wrap around your neck. It is better to break the cord of duty than to be stillborn. It is better to cut the thread of tradition than to be bound to tradition’s corpse. Do not imagine that you are always aware of your duty or that your father’s obligations are necessarily yours. This is the first law of dharma: seek Him out in the world. Purify your heart and with the eye of detachment, find your way not on the basis of what your fathers’ have done, but according to His will and His command. This is the first law of dharma: seek Him out in the world. You will find Him if you but look to Rama, Krishna, and the Buddha and discover that they are in truth One word, One voice, the One unalterable as He alters, invisible as He invests every atom of creation with His command, unknowable even as He is the source of all knowledge.
After the river Ganges flowed over Shiva’s locks, it reached the three worlds. This sacred river flowed at once among gods, among men, among demons. Though they have called this river by a thousand names, still it is One, it is the Ganges. Likewise, though He has walked among us with different names, performing different duties, teaching different lessons, consider that He has always performed only His will. The teacher does not teach a single lesson to his students, but teaches them differently every day according to their capacity and according to His goal. Why do you squabble and chatter among yourselves and vaunt one lesson over another? Do you not see the source of those lessons? Honor the source of the Ganges, not the little part you have found or the first tributary in which you have been cleansed, as though no other tributary existed. The river extends far beyond the grasp of your vision. By His work, men perceive the illusion of the many, but He is and has been and always will be One. Do not doubt this.
Remember the names of Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva and see that they are in truth One word, One voice, the One unalterable as He alters, invisible as He invests every atom of creation with His command, unknowable even as He is the source of all knowledge. From the lotus of His navel, He has created the universe. By the ceremony of cord, see how your actions are connected to Him. Perform your duty, honor the righteous who came before you, even as you seek a path like theirs; forgive the unrighteous, even as you repudiate them. Be careful that the cord not wrap around your neck. It is better to break the cord of duty than to be stillborn. It is better to cut the thread of tradition than to be bound to tradition’s corpse. Do not imagine that you are always aware of your duty or that your father’s obligations are necessarily yours. This is the first law of dharma: seek Him out in the world. Purify your heart and with the eye of detachment, find your way not on the basis of what your fathers’ have done, but according to His will and His command. This is the first law of dharma: seek Him out in the world. You will find Him if you but look to Rama, Krishna, and the Buddha and discover that they are in truth One word, One voice, the One unalterable as He alters, invisible as He invests every atom of creation with His command, unknowable even as He is the source of all knowledge.
After the river Ganges flowed over Shiva’s locks, it reached the three worlds. This sacred river flowed at once among gods, among men, among demons. Though they have called this river by a thousand names, still it is One, it is the Ganges. Likewise, though He has walked among us with different names, performing different duties, teaching different lessons, consider that He has always performed only His will. The teacher does not teach a single lesson to his students, but teaches them differently every day according to their capacity and according to His goal. Why do you squabble and chatter among yourselves and vaunt one lesson over another? Do you not see the source of those lessons? Honor the source of the Ganges, not the little part you have found or the first tributary in which you have been cleansed, as though no other tributary existed. The river extends far beyond the grasp of your vision. By His work, men perceive the illusion of the many, but He is and has been and always will be One. Do not doubt this.
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