Brahman is formless. Its nature is similar to that of space, yet Brahman is flawless, while there are flaws in space.

What is Brahman? Brahman is the spontaneous and natural state, which remains when the four bodies reach their end. The causal body, the third body, is called ignorance (causal as it is the source of the world). After having given up this ignorance, the one who does so, remains in the form of "Knowledge," the Supracausal body (Consciousness). Even this Knowledge should be given up. Knowledge is called AUM, which means Aham or "I." A person who realizes up to this point is termed as Self-Realized (Atmadnyani), or God. Beyond this lies the shapeless, qualityless, and unchangeable Brahman. There is no activity, no movement, no entry and no exit in Brahman. The Inner-Self is ever-changing and unsteady. It is conscious of the mind, the concept, and the object. The seer, the Self, is conscious of all, even while you sit quietly, or even if you are unconscious.

The mind, the intellect, speech etc. do not exist in Brahman. By way of example, it is told that a woman’s nose ring fell into a well. She asked a man to help her look for it. He entered the well, and the woman asked him to let her know as soon as the ring was found. He agreed to do so, yet he could not tell her the moment that he found the ring, because he was under the water. In order to let the woman know about the ring he would have to use speech, but he was under the water. The deity of speech is fire and as fire does not get along with water, it did not come to the aid of the man when he was under the water. As long as the man was under water, he could not convey the message to her.

The point of this is that we cannot recall or reproduce work that is done without applying our mind. For whom would "Samadhi," or spiritual ecstasy work, if you had no existence. This is how the Inner-Self is. He is referred to as the seer, the witness. That Self, by nature is the original animating factor. The Self dwells in the hearts of all and looks after everything and everyone. Therefore, it called the Inner-Self. Everything turns inert in its absence. All prosperity and all grandeur exists because of the Self. The "Supreme Truth" (Paramartha) is attained only by virtue of the Inner-Self. If that Inner-Self were absent, who would even acquaint us with the concepts of sins and merits?

The Inner-Self alone composed the Vedas. The one, who worries over worldly concepts such as earning a living, is the individual (Jiva), and the one who builds the concept of the Ultimate Truth is the Shiva. Parabrahman (Supreme Reality) is apart from all this. The "God" in the heavens is the God beyond space. God is nothing but the Knowledge beyond the void of ignorance. It is the Inner-Self, alone, that is worshipped by the entire world. The Lord is called Keshava. What does Keshava mean? Keshava is He who lives in this corpse (the body) purely in the form of one's "True Nature" (Swaroopa). Though people employ various methods to worship this one God, who resides in every heart, they are not conscious of Him. Worship of the Lord with complete understanding brings about one's true welfare.

The Sages recognize this "God," as one who walks and talks. People set up images of Gods and worship the true God through them, without being aware of the fact that images cannot be a substitute for God. The true God possesses "Life-Energy," Consciousness, etc. Those who have not been shown the "Knowledge of the Ultimate Truth," act foolishly, and continue to visit many different temples and worship idols. There are millions of such temples built in order to worship so many deities, yet indirectly they unknowingly worship none other than the Inner-Self.

What is "Knowledge"? Knowledge is to recognize the one Lord who is symbolized by all of the idols. Followers of Vedanta refer to the Inner-Self as "Satchidananda," while Shri Shankaracharya regards the Inner-Self as Maya. The various paths leading to Self-Realization, those of actions (karma yoga), and that of devotion (bhakta yoga), exist only by virtue of this Inner-Self. The Supreme God (Parameshwara) can be understood with the help of the Inner-Self (Ishwara) that resides within. The Self is born in order to accomplish something.

There are four powers; 1) The power of action, 2) the power of will, 3) the power of wealth, and 4) the power of knowledge. He who possesses all the four powers is omnipotent. To incarnate (avatar) means to rise. The ten senses represent the ten incarnations. When you forget your Self, you turn into Rudra (the oblivion aspect of Shiva). When you are in the state of "Knowledge," you turn into Lord Vishnu, and when you form various concepts, you create this universe, and then you become Lord Brahma. The "Supreme Self" (Paramatman) always remains steady. The bridge between the "Ever-changing" and "The Steady" is Knowledge. In the "Supreme Reality" (Parabrahman), the Knowledge derived even from the Vedanta also falls short. People make the mistake of becoming entangled in "Knowledge."

People gain some understanding of "Knowledge" (Self-knowledge) and become convinced about following the path of actions (karma). It is true that Consciousness is the root of everything, but Paramatman has neither root nor branches. The Inner-Self vanishes as soon as one's "True Nature" (Swaroopa) is realized. It is the "Ever-changing Self" who carries out all worldly affairs. Finally, it must be seen that the Inner-Self is also perishable. The Inner-Self brings about so many various transformations. There are many people who say that the changeful and the changeless are one and the same, but this is ignorant talk. This is because they have not come across anyone who could endow them with Knowledge.

What is Parabrahman? That natural, spontaneous (stateless) state, which remains, after the inspiration "I Am" is cast off, is called Parabrahman. Whatever may be called Consciousness ultimately has to be given up. This is because Consciousness and Oblivion are both concepts. Only the one who practices this with determination, understands Parabrahman. The basis of arriving at the "Supreme Truth" (Paramartha) is the understanding of the Spiritual Science of the Five Elements (Panchikarana science), and the fundamental principle behind all this science , which is "You are That." Parabrahman has been proved again, and again, by adopting many skillful measures.

- Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj from a talk on Dasbodh (date not given)