he has come down in duality for his universal work, he is not aloof from God even for a second. In his normal state as man, he has to be on the level of all and eat, drink and suffer like others; but since he retains his God-hood even while he does all these things, he has the constant experience of peace, bliss and power. For example, Christ did suffer on the cross; but He was not affected by it because of the continuous knowledge which His conscious God-hood gave Him. He at the same time knew that everything in the world of duality is illusion, and was sustained by the bliss of Union with God.

As God, the God-man sees all souls as his own; he sees himself in everything and his universal mind includes all the minds in its scope. The God-man knows himself to be one with all the other souls in bondage. Although he knows himself to be identical with God and is thus eternally free, he also knows himself to be one with the other souls in bondage and is thus vicariously bound: and though he constantly experiences the eternal Bliss of God-realization, he also vicariously experiences suffering, owing to the bondage of other souls, whom he knows to be his own forms. This is the meaning of Christ's crucifixion. The God-man is, as it were, continuously being crucified: and he is continuously taking birth. In the God-man, the purpose of creation has been completely realized; and he has nothing to obtain for himself by remaining in the world: yet he retains his bodies and continues to use them for emancipating other souls from bondage and helping them to attain God-consciousness.

Even while working in the world of duality, the God-man is in no way limited by duality. In his God-state, the duality of "I" and "you" is swallowed up in the all-embracing Divine Love. The state of perfection in which the God-man dwells is beyond all forms of duality and opposites; it is a state of unlimited freedom and unimpaired completeness, immortal sweetness and undying happiness, untarnished divinity and unhampered creativity. The God-man is inseparably united with God forever and dwells in a state of non-duality in the very midst of duality: and he not only knows himself to be one with all, but also knows himself to be the Only One. He consciously descended from the state of seeing nothing but God, to the state of seeing God in everything: and therefore, his dealings in the world of duality, not only do not bind him, but reflect the pristine glory of the sole Reality, which is God, and contribute towards the freeing of others from their state of bondage.