In plain words
The man called consciousness is the Ātma. The body without the Ātma, the Ātma without the body: neither can be recognised. The inert means just the body. This very body is woman. What enters into it and gives movement to the inert body is the power of consciousness. The close bond and kinship of these two is itself humanness. Taking this very thing as the basis, they said, ‘The Lord of all beings’. They said that the Lord who dwells in all is Ardhanārīśvara. The body is the nārī. The Ātma is consciousness. So the close bond and kinship of this woman and man is itself the principle of Ardhanārīśvara. ‘Puruṣa’ relates only to the Ātma, to consciousness. To recognise this power of consciousness, they have long used four words on the worldly path. These are what they called the puruṣārthas, namely Dharma, artha, kāma and Mokṣa. We have long believed that in physical life, in the world of Prakṛti, these four are the basis of this impermanent life.
Dharma Is the Experience of What Is Eternal and True!
What does Dharma mean? Giving gifts and alms and the like, caring for the poor, supporting the destitute: things such as these we have long believed to be Dharma. They have also spoken of the Dharma of brahmacarya, the householder's Dharma, the Dharma of vānaprastha, the Dharma of sannyāsa. None of these meanings is the right meaning of Dharma. Dharma is just the experience of what is eternal and true! Every person who has taken a body must inquire what his own Dharma is. Rāmarāju, too, said, ‘Come, let us go, O parrot.’ Where to? ‘Going back to where you came from is the nature of all living beings.’ Go back to the place you came from! That itself is our true Dharma. Human life came forth from the level of the Ātma; the effort fit to bring it back to the level of the Ātma is true Dharma. Some people ask, ‘Swami! Show us some path by which to cross over,’ they keep saying. You need not ask for a path to cross over. Asking for a path to cross over is itself a great Ajñāna. Go back to where you came from.