Thursday, April 21, 2011

Message on Shri Satya Sai baba: NEITHER SOUL NOR GOD SUFFERS WHEN BODY SUFFERS IN INCARNATION

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,
[Posted from Discourse of H H Shri Dattaswami] A pseudo-scientist will present irrelevant arguments like the inability of Shri Satya Sai Baba to cure His own health, who performed several miracles and cured the illness of several devotees. By this, he wants to establish that all the miracles performed by Baba were not genuine. He wants us to realize the truth about His miracles. Actually, he should realize the truth in the silence of Baba to cure His illness. Baba wants us to understand that the soul is totally different from body and is not connected with the issues and bonds of the body. The soul is energy and is eternal with respect to the body. In the body of Baba, both soul and God are present. God is absolutely eternal and is also totally disconnected with soul and body. In the Gita, Krishna says that He is the third entity other than body and soul (Yesmaat ksharamateetoham…). We are unable to differentiate even soul and body and not to speak of differentiating God from soul and body. Whether you take Baba as God or soul, the points related to the body are disconnected to Him. The body is the shirt of the soul and the soul is the underneath banian for God. The shirt is disconnected from the banian and the banian is disconnected from the human being. Here, the human being is the comparison for God. A human being consists of two items only:
1) The external body, shirt and
2) The internal soul, banian
The human incarnation consist of three components:
1) The external shirt, the body,
2) The internal soul, banian and
3) Innermost God, the human being
In this comparison, the soul is inert energy. Even if you take the soul as a specific work form of energy, it is inert only. Inert means the item that is controlled and the Veda says that the soul is controlled by God (Atmeshwaram). Hence, the body and soul are compared to the two inert items, shirt and banian. Infact, the awareness of God alone is eternal, which is generated by His unimaginable power and hence, God is compared to the non-inert living human being here. The body and soul are two different phases of the same component, which are inert matter and inert energy respectively. By understanding that God is disconnected to matter and energy, we should understand that the energy is disconnected to matter. Hence, the soul is not touched by the problems of the body. The Gita differentiates the soul and body in the beginning so that you will slowly differentiate God from body and soul. Even in the human incarnation, the soul is disconnected from the problems of the body as in the case of a realized human being. Since we identify the soul as body and God as the human being, which is understood as both soul and body, we misunderstand the concept. We think that the soul suffers when the body suffers. We think that God suffers when the body suffers and we assume that the soul is also suffering since our souls suffer identifying themselves with our bodies. Neither the soul nor God suffers while the body suffers in the case of human incarnation. Due to lack of this realization, we mistake Baba as His body and soul and therefore, we think that He is suffering. If the shirt is cut by a blade, the underline banian is not cut and not to speak of the innermost human being. If we understand this, we will realize that Jesus did not suffer on the cross and Krishna did not suffer while the bleeding continued on His foot.

We have superimposed the body and the soul with God and talk that Baba is unable to do anything for Himself. The soldiers also mocked at Jesus that He was unable to do anything for Himself on the cross. Even the devotees feel much and their feeling is also based on the ignorance of the realization. But, in the case of devotees, at least their feeling has a positive side, which is their love to Baba. This positive side will be appreciated by God. But, the atheists are not only ignorant but also lack the positive side. Therefore, the message of Baba is that we should identify ourselves with the soul and not with the body. We must maintain this realization even at the time of the death (sthitvasyaamantakaalepi… Gita). The Gita says that the death is a happy occasion, in which the soul leaves the damaged dress and takes up a new dress. The damaged dress is the old body and the new dress is the energetic body, which is entered by the soul. Ignorance is the source of reverse behavior. The atheists always have half knowledge of science but pose as if they have realized the essence of science. The essence of any branch of knowledge is the philosophy. Hence, we find the word philosophy in the highest degree awarded even in science i.e., a doctor of philosophy. Philosophy is only the deep-most analysis of the subject and therefore, there is no opposition between science and philosophy.

At the lotus feet of Shri Dattaswami
Prasad

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Knowledge-Fire only Burns all sins

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,

[April 04, 2011 Ugadi] Generally, people greet others wishing the happy festival or wishing the happy birthday etc. We must analyze every word and action of us to find out the truth. The first question you have to put to yourself is “Are you, just a general soul, competent of wishing something good or bad for other souls?” You cannot wish anything good or bad even for yourself. Therefore, there is no use of cursing or wishing good for others. The good or bad in your case or in the case of others happens according to the results of the previous deeds. Your wish cannot change the established mechanism of the divine system of deeds and fruits. Only God is competent to change this divine system. Some people are aware of this fact and therefore, greet “May God bless you”. This statement is also wrong on analysis. Are you dictating God or instructing God to bless somebody or even yourself?

In fact, God never harms or blesses anyone as per the Gita (Naadatte kasyachit…). God has created the divine system of deeds and fruits and the system acts in mechanical way under the instruction of God only. The rule maker will never break the rule. In fact, God subjected Himself to the rule to show that the rule is absolute and inevitable (Evam pravartitam... Gita). The result of killing Vali by hiding Himself behind a tree was enjoyed by the Lord in the next birth. Even if you say that you pray God to help somebody, it is also wrong. Does this mean that you request God to help some undeserving human being? That means, you try to influence God to do a wrong thing. If the human being is deserving, God will help him even without your wish. If you are aware of this fact, you need not wish. The last possibility of your wish is that some soul is deserving and God is either ignorant or cruel in not helping it and therefore, you make God aware of the forgotten point or you are softening the cruel heart of God. Both these options are totally wrong because God is never ignorant and is never cruel. Therefore, the meaning of your statement becomes zero. If you state something, which does not mean anything, you must be mad.

If you are interested in the welfare of somebody, the only way is to state “Please pray God on this occasion so that He will change your mind through divine knowledge and get rid of you from all the results of sins or all deeds.” By such statement, you do not expect the violation of the divine system in any way. The reason for all sins is absence of divine knowledge or the firm realization of it to implement it in practice. If you realize your sins and do not repeat them, all your past and present sins get cancelled. Mere knowing of divine knowledge is not sufficient to give this wonderful result. After knowing, you should memorize it again and again so that you will implement it in practice. Such state of knowledge is called as ‘Realization’. Only realization can cancel the sins. Realization is the knowledge with deep intensity and is called as knowledge-fire. The Gita says that the knowledge-fire can burn all the previous deeds. The Bible also says that Jesus will come to sprinkle fire on the people in the place of water. Here, water means the process of mere knowledge. Fire means the intensified knowledge so that practical implementation of it takes place.

Knowledge can be given by any preacher. But, God in human form like Krishna or Jesus can alone give the knowledge-fire. Therefore, a better statement will be “Please find out the contemporary human incarnation and get divine knowledge from Him. You memorize such divine knowledge so that it becomes knowledge-fire and burn all your sins so that you will be happy in this world, or let it burn all your deeds so that you will get salvation.” In fact, the Gita says that the knowledge-fire should burn all the deeds, which are good and bad. Such stage indicates the absence of any selfish ambition for happiness. All the actions of the soul in such state are meant for God only and there is no selfishness. Such state gives salvation not only in this world, but also in the upper world. The burning of sins only gives happiness in this world only.
At the lotus feet of Shri Dattaswami
-Prasad