Passage 3

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In plain words

Moses dwelt on God all the time, and that alone is why his face blossomed, shone out and glowed with the splendour of God, with the radiance of God. This is what the Bible declares. A man called Darwin, while he was a student, studied under a teacher called Henslow. That teacher had a heart that was supremely pure. He loved selflessness. He was without Ahaṅkāra. His mind was steady. Darwin, who had taken refuge in such a teacher, kept up the good thought all the time: "Like my teacher, I too must experience this state." Yadbhāvaṃ tadbhavati. The fruits, too, depend on a man's feelings and follow from them alone. In the end Darwin was able to fulfil his long-cherished wish. Darwin too, steady of mind, selfless and without Ahaṅkāra, shone with this kind of radiance before the people; at last he came to recognise this truth too, that God is One. So, thinking of God as standing before him, he said, "Without me You are not." Neither can the devotee be without God nor God without the devotee. The devotee and God are one, held in a bond in which neither can be without the other, each resting on the other. When the devotee is drunk with Prema, when he is lost in God and has come to feel at one with Him, he can attain oneness.

Such a one was Prahlāda, the great devotee. His lineage was the lineage of the rākṣasas. His form was the human form. His citta was the citta of God. Prahlāda was the holy one who brought these three into oneness. Prahlāda kept to the culture of Bhārata all his life, followed it to the letter and offered it to the people as an example. The puruṣārthas are four: Dharma, artha, kāma and Mokṣa. Prahlāda was the true devotee who did not leave Dharma as Dharma alone, but took it from where Dharma stands into the realm of artha and made artha full of Dharma. He was the one who made Dharma and artha one, and from that place guided kāma as well. When he had made both artha and kāma full of Dharma and was himself at peace, Mokṣa itself came and chose him. There were only three great and holy souls who, though born in the line of the dānavas, fulfilled Dharma, artha, kāma and Mokṣa. Bali Cakravarti, Prahlāda and Vibhīṣaṇa. There are many who, though born as men, forget Dharma and Mokṣa, spend their lives in artha and kāma alone, and waste their lives.