a talk by Heart-Master Da, July 12, 1976 Heart-Master Da: Devotees submit themselves to the God-form through one another, through ordinary relations, all the while remembering the Divine, in some cases the Divine in this appearance, this human gesture, with legs and trunk and arms and head, with face, with all perception, with all knowledge, above and below. Such fortunate people are the intimates of such a one. It is not necessary to be intimate with that form to engage in such a practice of Truth, but it is fortunate. And so these intimates of this necessity, particularly the lovers of this one, become the expressions, by intimacy, of this birth, become the only appearance, become the only figurement, the only argument, of its necessity or form, and seem to be it without self-consciousness, and therefore serve others without argument of an ordinary kind. The Ashram as a whole, the church of this enjoyment of my intimacy, becomes the aura, embodied, of this unnecessary and actual non-birth, so that the only birth of this one, who is not one in concentration or in fact but one in you, becomes knowable and factual in devotees. It is only in the next generation beyond this body that the factuality of this circumstance becomes apparent. There is therefore no gesture, no accomplishment, no fulfillment, of this expression in this life. This life becomes a sacrifice to its own expression. Having no center in itself, it becomes many, centered nowhere but expressed in everywhere. And so devotees, or those intimate with this birth, which is apparent only, become the form, or the body, in many without a center, without a single one. If they all stood in a circle looking to the center, they would see nothing except someone on the other side. And yet to those who view them, who live with them compassionately, they are, for the first time, the bodily expression, the incarnation, of God, without a center. The incarnation of devotees is the birth. The gesture of the God-man in human form is sexual, is an instigation, a suggestion, an intrusion, in the midst of human life that produces the birth, in the form of those already born, of his own domination. You see how it occurs? Probably not. But that is the way it occurs. And it never is fully expressed, never acknowledged, until the complete disappearance of the apparent bodily form of the born one, or the God-man. The birth, the expression, the appearance, of the God-man implies its, his, her own death, sacrifice, before there is any feeling at large for the Divine. Because as long as this apparently born one continues to exist, the eyes turn inward, turning toward the center, toward the cultic object or to some withinness that has a focus. It is only when the God-man is dissolved in his or her appearance, is completely gone, has no longer any focus even in devotees in a place, it is only then that expression that is knowable to men and women at large communicates itself, becomes knowable, only when the reflection turns outward and becomes Radiant. And so you can see that the birth of the God-man implies sacrifice, or death, of the God-man, and it must occur quickly. Such a one cannot live to be an old, old man or woman. Such a one can live only as long as it takes to prepare the being of devotees, of lovers. Oh, perhaps before that occurs, such a one may begin to look old, to accumulate years, and those who desire that objective person may resist their knowledge long enough that he or she may become old in years, and only begin to become sensitive to the Teaching, to the transforming Influence, when it seems that, well, he's lived long enough, and suddenly they begin to become Enlightened, and he hurries, or she hurries, to be dead. This hurrying can begin very early in the life of such a one. It can occur in the middle of life, it can occur in the middling of life, fifties, sixties, or seventies of years, or it can occur very late in life. Its persistence depends entirely on the response of devotion. But when that preparation is sufficient---and this is not knowable to devotees---it is then that this appearance is vanished, like a magic object given to you in a devotional afternoon. The disappearance of the God-man is therefore sudden---whenever it occurs it is sudden. Its significance is that the aura of his or her communication moves through his or her lovers, only through them. And the entire process depends entirely, then, without a center, on the process of the community, on the process of the gathering of devotees, who no longer have a center in the case of the death of the God-man, but who have a burden of Light, who suffer or enjoy a speed in them that they could not recollect or engage while that one lived. So---all the time that I appear to be with you, even though there isn't really a center among you except your own face, I continually realize that center in your faces that moves in the sphere, unrecollected, of your appearance, and play upon it, so that you seem to find in me a center, a one, an individual, a case of Enlightenment, and continue to play upon you in your bodies until that face in you is sublimed beyond your hairs, being the only thing changing. Perhaps this is the time for my disappearance---it is not a threat---perhaps this is the time. Perhaps there is another time, but you will not know it, and I will not prophesy it, because it is not effective upon any single one. It is effective upon you. The event is not my disappearance, but your revelation. Taking that into account, this is obviously not the moment! (Laughter.) But it could come any time. I'm always hopeful for it. These extremities below the throat are not desirable to me. This face is not visible to me. You cannot see your own head, except by reflection. All the time you are arms and legs and trunk, breathing and beating and desiring and moving, but no face, except to others, from time to time reflected in a mirror, in imagery, in dreams, in recollection, in the mind, but never really, always a medium between yourself and your own face, never your own face directly. None of you has ever seen your own face, only imaged it. Has anyone seen it? Never. And you never will. You may see yourself shoulders and below. You may see all of this bodily life. You may see everything below the throat. But you may never see your face, except by mediumship, except by reflection in others or in some device like a mirror, which is not your own face but only an interpretation, an illusion that suggests your own objectification. Release yourself from this objectification, from this knowledge by suggestion that you exist independently. Do not believe your own face. Only be seen by others. Don't desire to be seen, but be seen in spite of the desire. Then you may be known radiantly, only when you forget it, when you give up all reflections by knowledge, by understanding, and become faceless, with only this body receding from it, knowing all beings not from face but from the heart, which is without perception, reflected in the face, but not known by you. In that case, you may become Divine in your agency and known Godly to ordinary people, without self-consciousness. This is the function of the Guru. It is the function of his devotees, or his lovers, after death, after preparation. Know that that preparation is not complete until the God-man dies in his body, and the implication of the birth of the God-man is his death, not to be regretted like an event that is over, but it be known as the sign that his or her birth has finally occurred. The life of the God-man is like the interim in the womb of an ordinary man or woman. The death of the God-man is like the birth of an ordinary man or woman, in which the case the God-man finally achieves form without self-consciousness in the bodies, head, arms, trunk, and legs of devotees, true devotees. Spurious individuals will make claims for themselves, become self-conscious, trying to replace the center. But those who are the lovers of that one, who have known that one truly, will be completely free of self-consciousness, free of strategy, will live that proces in relationship, communicated in person by the God-man without person, will live that in relationship to one another without face, without consulting the mirrors of consciousness or this world. In that case they may become the media, the gesture, the argument, that is the service of God-Realization in ordinary beings.

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"The perfect among the sages is identical with Me. There is absolutely no difference between us"
Tripura Rahasya, Chap XX, 128-133