REJUVENATION OF EDUCATION SYSTEM

Duty of the Government:
 [Taken from Discourses of Shri Datta Swami] O Learned and Devoted Servants of God, [June 10, 2012] The modern world thinks that the ancient people have wasted lot of time in the analysis about the unimaginable God. This is the first foolishness because these people do not know that the realization of the existence of God in the mind of a citizen is directly linked to the resistance towards crime and corruption that establish the peaceful social balance. The concept of God is the tremendous basis of the self control of every human being to reject crime and corruption in the society. Without this inbuilt realization in the human being, thousands of police stations, courts and lokpals become totally waste since all these institutions are filled with the human beings only and not with the angels from heaven. Realizing this wonderful system of control, helping the balance of the society, kings have concentrated totally on the propagation of spiritual knowledge in temples, which were the present universities of highest learning.

The second foolishness of the modern people is to think that the ancient scholars were unable to investigate towards the development of science and technology. The ancient sages know all these sciences and technologies to such extent, which is not reached by scientists even today. In such case, what is the reason for their silence in propagating this scientific knowledge? The only answer is the fear of global destruction, finally resulting due to environmental pollution and also the other reason is that development of amenities will spoil the health of the human beings, leading to several physical and mental diseases. If one studies the subject of environmental science, all the scientific developments result in the pollution, finally leading to global destruction. The scientific development resulted in the discovery of several machines and techniques, which made the human beings lazy without hard work. The ancient women ground the paddy grains to prepare rice and flour from rice, but, today the electrical grinders do all this work. The ancient women washed the household vessels and clothes regularly. The present lazy women due to the machines do not do these works and are appointing servants. All these modern developments make the women to become fatty and finally become the victims of several diseases. The food grains were multiplied to a large extent due to application of chemical manures, which enter the human body as toxins leading to several incurable diseases. The present farmers have become ambitious to earn more and more for more and more amenities. They feel that the increase in amenities is a rise in their standards of life. They feel that their ancestors were ignorant and lived simple life with hard work, leading to low standards of life. They do not know that their ancestors were very wise and the present mentalities only travel from health to illness. These people think that they are wise and their ancestors were ignorant. Actually it is reverse.

The Veda says that you should not take food more than twice in 24 hours. If you take food more than twice, you should work like the animal (dvirahnaah manushyaah trirahnaah pashavah… Veda). But, you are taking the food three times and not working like the bull in agriculture. Due to this, the sugar levels rise in the blood leading to several calamities of the health. When you become rich, you like to eat oily foods and sweets, which are fast vehicles to death. Poverty controls all the desires and gives best health and best happiness in the life. Hence, Shankara told that the poor man is the most fortunate fellow (Kaupeenavantah khalu bhagyavantah). If you realize this wonderful truth, your ambition to become more and more rich even through corruption and crime disappears. Such realization comes only through spiritual knowledge and not through the study of science and management of business administration. Hence, the education system must be thoroughly rejuvenated to fill more with spiritual knowledge and less with materialistic line of learning. If this is done by the Government, there need not be any effort to bring balance in the society with peace and happiness in the humanity.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad

Ancient spiritual education system can only remove corruption, Not the LOKPAL

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God, [June 05, 2012, Divine message of Shri Datta Swami] In ancient times, the total education was concentrated on the establishment of the existence of God, heaven and hell. If justice is followed, God rewards you with heaven and if injustice is done, God punishes you in the hell. If you say that God exists, people may not believe and may commit sins by which the balance of the society gets disturbed. The existence of God is to be proved through very deep logical analysis and discussions. All the seminars and conferences in ancient India ran on single subject, which is about the existence and nature of God. Today, people think that the ancient scholars in India wasted lot of time on this useless subject. Today, scholars spend lot of time on seminars and debates dealing with developments of new materials, machines and applications of energy. In fact, the ancient scholars were highly wise and the modern scholars are highly foolish. The results of the present research in Science are leading to the improvement of several amenities of the humanity. But, these amenities are now realized to be the ways of destruction of the environment leading to global calamity in a very short period of time. Our ancient scholars did not encourage such research in science since the advanced knowledge of energy and materials will lead to the destruction of humanity. Moreover, they concentrated on the logical understanding of the existence of God so that the resulting balanced society without corruption and chaos will give immense happiness to the life of the humanity. We now realize that the ancient materials and technologies were far better for health and environmental balance of the world. Added to this happiness, a strong fear for God and hell were well established in the mind of every human being through long period of spiritual education.

Little knowledge of materials and technologies was sufficient for the happiness of humanity and to maintain the ecological balance. This aspect is at the external physical level. Regarding the internal intellectual level, intensified realization resulted in every human being regarding the existence of God. After a long period of learning, the human being came out of the ancient university with thorough realization of the existence of God, hell and heaven so that in the practical life, the human being perfectly followed the justice rejecting the injustice at any cost. People did not know even the word ‘corruption’ because everybody was afraid of God and hell. Today, after a long period of learning, the person coming out of the modern university is not at all in touch with the subject of God. Moreover, the person is well versed in the technologies of energy and materials and is dedicating the total life for increasing amenities, which ultimately lead to environmental pollution and global destruction. The present human being is well versed in the concepts of profit and loss and is a master of business administration. Everybody wants to improve the personal amenities even through corruption. Corruption has become a spontaneous global phenomenon. Metals undergo corrosion and the human beings undergo the process of corruption. The government has become corrupt. The government officials are corrupt. Even the judiciary system has become corrupt. In such atmosphere of powerful corruption and corrupt human beings, can you expect a system like lokpal to work perfectly to control the corruption? When all the human beings are corrupt, the members of the lokpal also become corrupt. You cannot bring the angels from heaven to appoint them as members of lokpal. After sometime, you will have to bring another control in the system to control the lokpals! There will be no end to this and the desired aim can never be fulfilled.

Only Solution for Present Day Corruption

The only solution for this is to revert back to the ancient system and concentrate on spiritual education. Today, the government does not spend a single rupee on the propagation of spiritual education. Only a few persons in private and personal sector like saints are taking interest in propagating the spiritual education. Atleast, the huge funds of very important temples like Tirupati should be spent on the propagation of spiritual education. You are starting colleges and universities with the funds of such temple, in which again the materialistic education is propagated. Kings used to construct huge temples and spend lot of money on temples. In fact, these temples were the universities in which learned professors of the spiritual education propagated the spiritual knowledge in the humanity. Lot of encouragement was given by kings to this spiritual knowledge, which controls crime and corruption from the basic level itself. Even if you spend 1/10th of what you spend on the control of crime and corruption for the sake of the propagation of spiritual knowledge, the crime and corruption will disappear from the root itself. The government should open its eyes on this basic issue and reform the education system in the light of this concept. The negligence of the present blind government on spiritual education is the main reason for the present crime and corruption in the society. The present system of education stressing mainly on science and technology for improving the amenities of humanity is the reason for the environmental pollution and the future untimely global destruction. If you revert back to the ancient education system, every human being will come out as a citizen with in-built aversion to corruption and crime. Such ancient education, concentrated on God, will also reduce the over attachment to amenities and this will lead to ecological balance and global safety.

For the sake of control of crime and corruption, the existence of God need not be accepted. Such acceptance will be based on falsehood and such realization is not real. Moreover, the result of such false realization will not be true also. It means that the control of crime and corruption cannot be achieved by forcing you to accept the existence of God for the sake of control of corruption and crime. The realization of existence of God should be independent and should not be for any purpose. Whether the crime and corruption are controlled or not, the existence of God should be realized on its own merit and truth. What I mean to say is that the ancient scholars did not create the concept of God for the sake of control of crime and corruption to achieve the balance of society. The existence of God was realized as the independent concept on the credit of its own merit.

The ancient education system is composed of several schools like logic (Tarka), grammer (Vyakaranam), analysis of sacred scriptures (Mimmamsa), etc. and all the schools aimed at the subject of God (philosophy) only. The student, after realizing the existence of God with the help of all the schools of education (Shaastras), comes out as a citizen fearing for crime and corruption. Therefore, the existence of God is primary basis and the control of corruption and crime is the secondary consequence. Hence, it is wrong, as some people say, that the concept of God by itself is not true, but, should be respected and maintained for the sake of control of crime and corruption. In such a way, the crime and corruption can never be controlled because one knows that the basic concept is only created story for control in crime and corruption.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Durgaprasad

GURU DAKSHINA

Most Deserving Person is Scholar of Divine Knowledge
 

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God, [June 02, 2012 2nd Message] Whenever you want to do some donation, there are two important aspects, which should be well understood so that you can get good fruit for your good sacrifice. The first aspect is to detect the most deserving receiver and the second aspect is about the nature of your donation. What should be donated and to whom it should be donated are the two important enquiries. The Veda gives answers for these two enquiries. The Veda says that the most deserving person should be the scholar of divine knowledge, who shall not aspire anything from you (shrotriyasyachaakaama hatasya…). The concept behind this is that the scholar of the divine knowledge will have full faith in God and hence, does not aspire anything from any human being. The only ultimate donor is God and all the human beings here are His beggars only. A beggar need not aspire anything from another beggar. He can beg directly the ultimate donor from whom all the other beggars are benefited. Such a person is a real devotee and the most deserving for your donation. Kuchela did not beg and always remembered God only. Hence, Kuchela was the most deserving person for donation. Hence, Krishna donated the maximum to Kuchela. Krishna felt that the only real donation done by Him in His entire life was that only. Such a deserving person is very rare.

Today, the priests are fixing the rates of the donation in the beginning itself! Hence, they are the most undeserving for the donation. When you want to perform a ritual, the priest should come without aspiring anything from you. After all, the ritual is the worship of God only. This can be understood if you examine the meanings of the Vedic prayers recited in the ritual. The priest himself does not know the meaning of the prayers recited by him in the ritual! The priest should thank you for inviting him to the ritual because it is an opportunity created by you to participate in the worship of God. If the priests know the meanings of the Vedic prayers, the priest will have full faith in God that God will take care of all his needs. Therefore, the priest should not beg another beggar. He should accept whatever you donate. Certainly, you will donate your maximum for such deserving priest. If you donate to undeserving person, it will bring punishment to you since it is a sin. The present Hindu system should be totally transformed in the light of this truth.

 Regarding the nature of the donation, it should be always money and not any other material you desire. Donation should be based on the need of the receiver and not your desire. Money is the source of all materials. Hence, money will serve all the present and future needs of the priest and you will get the good fruit since you are helping the priest in providing the needs. You have given food to a deserving priest. You have purchased some clothes or some other material by spending say hundred rupees and you are donating the clothes to the priest after his meals. The priest may be having sufficient number of clothes in his house. Tomorrow, he may be in need of some food or some medicine etc. Now, he is selling the clothes donated by you for half rate to a local businessman. Your donation to the priest is only fifty rupees and not hundred rupees. You are getting half of the good fruit only though your donation is full. Therefore, it is better to donate hundred rupees to the priest instead of the clothes. Hence, the Veda says that the nature of the donation should be money (dhanena tyagenaikena…). Shiridi Saibaba used to collect money only and used to donate that money to the devotees.

The Guru Dakshnna means the donation in the form of money to be offered to your divine preacher. In every sacrifice (yajna), dakshna is the essence. Dakshina means the donation in the form of money. When Koutsa pressed his preacher for [accepting] the donation, his preacher, the sage called Varatantu, asked dakshina in the form of money only as fourteen crores for the fourteen subjects preached by him. If the receiver is a scholar, he will not misuse the money given by you. The ignorant person may misuse the money for some bad habits and hence, in such case, it is better to donate useful material to him. If you give money to a beggar, he may misuse it for some bad habits. Donate food to him and force him to eat it in your presence. The reason is that, even the food is sold. While donating the food to a hungry person, do not apply the above logic that he is aspiring [money] from you. It is an exceptional context since you are saving the life of a hungry person and it is the situation of emergency.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Durgaprasad

Lack of spiritual knowledge for present day corruption

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God, [May 27, 2012] The case of the present politicians, officials, contractors, businessmen etc., can be compared to the case of Kuchela as far as the sin is concerned. You cannot compare Kuchela with these people as far as the nature of the soul is concerned. Regarding the nature of the sin, the comparison is that all these people snatch away the wealth of others in spite of their stabilized life. God has given you sufficient wealth to maintain your health. But, you steal others wealth in doing the corruption, which develops tension that spoils your health. All these people will be severely punished like Kuchela, who suffered with poverty for a long time. The sin of these people is common to the sin of Kuchela. But, there is difference between the sinners. Kuchela is a good soul devoted to God. It is the spur of the moment in which Kuchela slipped. The wife of the preacher gave two parts of food, one for him and the other for Krishna. The part of the food given to Kuchela is sufficient to pacify his hunger. But, due to over ambition, he stole the food of Krishna and ate it also. In this way, the nature of the sin is similar to the nature of the present people because they steal others’ wealth through corruption in spite of the sufficient wealth given to them. But, the nature of the sinners is different because Kuchela repented a lot for doing sin especially in the case of God. When the sin happened, Kuchela did not know that Krishna was God. Later on, when Krishna brought the dead son of the preacher alive, he recognized that Krishna was God. His repentance was extreme and he became a very strong devotee of Lord Krishna. He never bothered about the poverty because he knows that it is the punishment given to him committed towards God. He went to Krishna only due to the pressure of his wife but, did not ask any help since he realized the background of his punishment.
You may think that corruption in the case of God is only serious and the corruption in the case of human beings is not that much serious. In fact, this point is totally reverse. God is not affected by the corruption of Kuchela since He is omnipotent. But, the human beings are with limited energy and limited wealth. God becomes more furious towards the corruption done to the human beings. This will spoil the balance of the society and God becomes extremely furious. Even though God did not affect by the stealing of the Kuchela, God punished him because such behavior of Kuchela may be extended to the human beings in course of time. You should not steal the money from the temple thinking that it will not affect God. The money of the temple is used in the service of the human beings only. The jewels of God are also important to attract the human beings to come to the temple and see God. The sin of Kuchela was his first sin, which also was the last sin. The punishment of Kuchela in this world itself is to preach the world. If all the sins are punished in the hell only, there will be no practical proof to realize here the inevitable punishment of a sin. The protection of Kuchela was also for preaching the world. If you do not repeat any sin, all the record of your punishments and sins is destroyed. The realization that brings the reformation is the fire of divine knowledge that burns all the sins (jnaangnih… Gita ).
The punishment can only reduce the magnitude of the sin. The reduced sin in the form of a tiny seed can never be burnt by punishment. But, reduction of the sin is also useful to the world. The sinner takes lot of time to do the sin just like the seed takes lot of time to become a huge tree. The childhood is this time of growth. When the sin becomes a huge tree, the human being becomes a demon. Then again, the cycle of punishments repeats. If the soul enters this world like a demon in the beginning itself, this world is always severely disturbed. Hence, the hell, where the punishments are given, is useful in the divine administration. Only the divine knowledge and subsequent divine devotion can burn the seed of the sin.
In ancient India, the education system was mainly concentrated on divine knowledge and development of devotion. There were no courts, police department and anti corruption-department. Only the king used to deal all the cases with the help of a board of judges because the number of sins was very little. The education system contained little concentration on the earning of money needed for food, cloth and shelter. Only little money is sufficient for the basic needs and hence, much concentration on professional education was not done. The ethics of the society was the most predominant field of education, which can be achieved only by knowledge and devotion. Temples were many than universities and colleges. The scholars in the temple used to preach the spiritual knowledge to develop ethics in public. Hence, such huge temples are seen. They were learning centers of spiritual education. Now, the temples have also become centers of business because here the devotees come and bargain with the Lord. They offer money to God for some favour in return. Even God is dragged into corruption! Today, the centers of professional education are everywhere and the spiritual knowledge disappeared. This is the reason for the present corruption, which is going to disturb the society finally leading to chaos.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Durgaprasad

ASTROLOGY AND CYCLE OF DEEDS

O Learned And Devoted Servants of God, Jyotisham (astrology) is the subject, which relates to Jyoti or planet. The actual meaning of Jyoti is only God. According to the Veda (Param Jyotirupasampadyate) and the Brahma Sutras (refer Sutra Jyotiradhikaranam). Jyoti means light. The planet is like the jailor guiding you to the jail where you will suffer the misery or is like a guide who guides you to a bar, like heaven, where you will drink and sleep. The planet guides you to the fruit of your deed. It is called as a Graha, which means that it will capture you wherever you are present to deliver the fruit of your deed to you at the exact fraction of a second. It is a computerized system of deeds and fruits. This computer does all the calculations and is called as Chitra Gupta. Chitra Gupta means the protector of the witness [evidence] through an advanced audio and video system. All your thoughts, words and deeds are recorded and will be exhibited as evidence in the upper world. The judge does not require any other type of witness. There is no need of an advocate and therefore such provision does not exist. You will just see and hear your thoughts, words and deeds in the audio and video system (Chitra Gupta) and an automatic judgment is delivered by another system called as Yama. There is no possibility of doing any ritual there since it is only a place of enjoyment [or suffering] of fruits (Bhoga Loka).

All the heavenly pleasures and punishments in hell are given according to the periods of another horoscope that is prepared based on the time of death. Thus the wheel of the planets is the executive system of the soul in this world as well as in the upper world. Yama is the son of Sun [Sun-god] like Saturn, is also a powerful controlling planet in the upper world. The Lord is all in all and is the employer of all the planets. The planets function due to the fear of the Lord. The Veda says the same (Bhishodeti Suryah).

Astrologers are like elementary school teachers. They should become spiritual Gurus, who are like professors. Priests and astrologers should rise in their standards and guide people to the spiritual path. Instead of doing so, both have colluded and are doing business by exploiting the public. The astrologer takes some money for studying the horoscope and recommends the Japam [repetition of the name] of a planet. The priest does the Japam on behalf of the person and gives a commission to the astrologers. It is like a doctor referring the patient to the laboratory for diagnosis and getting commission. The whole spirit is lost and the spiritual path is lost long back in this Kali Yuga. The priests and the astrologers tell a story that even Lord Shiva suffered due to the effect of Saturn. The story is only a creation for promoting their business. Even if you believe the story, you can take it in a positive sense. You can understand that even the Lord respects the cycle of deeds. What sin did Lord Shiva do to undergo the affect of Saturn? The story is foolish even at the root. Let us even assume that Lord Shiva has to suffer the effect of Saturn for a bad deed. If that is so, how can an ordinary human being escape the same type of effect with the help of this petty priest and petty astrologer? Astrology is the elementary level of spiritual knowledge, which introduces the supernatural power that is beyond science. This should finally lead to the acceptance of the existence of the unimaginable God who is beyond logic and science. Astrology is not allowed to grow to become philosophy by these commercial intellectuals. Its growth is arrested and is limited so that the exploitation of devotees can take place. Astrology should be allowed to become philosophy. The school education should grow to become of the university level. The priests and astrologers should develop to become spiritual gurus. Otherwise they are doing sin in the name of God, which will affect them here and there [after world]

The astrologers have developed a wrong concept in astrology by which the people think that they are receiving good or bad affects accidentally by the movement of planets without any reference to their deeds. It is just like saying that one is arrested by the policeman on a road because while he was standing on the road, the policeman incidentally came there and captured him. The man feels that his arrest was due to the incidental meeting with the policeman on the road and the arrest happened without any reason. Similarly people think that the incidental movement of the planets and their periods achieves the bad results. This is complete nonsense. The planets are very disciplined and regular in their movements. Since you are proved as a thief and the court ordered your arrest, the police have arrested you on fair grounds. You pose as if you are innocent and that your arrest is simply incidental due to the movement of policeman and due to his meeting you accidentally. You may escape the police for sometime even after the order from the court, but the planet catches you exactly in the same fraction of a second as soon as the order from the divine court is released.

 Enjoying Fruits of Deeds Mainly in Upper Worlds

Infact the results of deeds of any human being are mainly postponed after the death to the upper world. The results of all your deeds are not given in this world especially when you are in the human life, which is very rare to get. The main aim of this very rare human life is that you should recognize God and obtain His grace before the end of this human life. This human life is mainly meant for such effort (sadhana) and therefore this world is called as a Karma Loka [world of action]. You will not be continuously disturbed with the enjoyment of the fruits of your deeds in this world because the main purpose of this life will not be served in this precious little time of human life. When the student is occupied in studies in the period of preparation for the examination, the principal will not disturb him either by punishments or by encouraging cultural activities. Once the examinations are over, there is a long vacation in which these activities can be taken up. Similarly there is a lot of time after death and therefore the fruits of the deeds are mainly given after death in a separate world called as Bhoga Loka [world of enjoyment]. The earth is meant for the karma to be done to recognize the human form of the Lord and get His guidance and practice it to please God. Therefore a separate time and separate worlds (hell and heaven) are given for this purpose. People who do not know the main aim of human life and the significance of this Karma Loka are worried for not seeing the results here itself immediately. This is the main aim of creation of hell and heaven separately as the upper worlds.

However the results of some deeds are released here itself in case they can activate the soul in the spiritual line. With this aim, certain effects of misery to divert the soul to the God and certain effects of happiness as alternative intervals for encouragement are released. Without understanding the significance of these effects, people either sleep and become lazy in happiness or get worried and feel tension in misery. When such effects have no use for the spiritual effort [one refuse to respond positively to these effects], the soul is released from the gross body and is pushed to the Bhoga Loka and further cycles of animals and birds in a condemned state. Thus the ultimate aim of human life and the ultimate aim of the good and bad results must be realized in the light of the spiritual divine path. This human life is not just meant for mechanical deeds and their corresponding results like a routine machine.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datt Swami,

-Durgaprasad

How to change destiny?

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God, [April 29, 2012] This world of humanity is based on full freedom and absence of any forcible destiny. Here, you are free to do any type of work and no destiny forces you to do any specific work as said in the Gita (Na kartrutvam...). The concept of destiny exists only in the link of the specific work and the specific fruit. You have full freedom to put your finger in fire or water. No destiny forces you to put your finger in fire or water. The destiny lies only in the link between a specific work and corresponding specific fruit. It is destined that the fire burns your finger and the water keeps your finger cool. The destiny is not in the selection of the work. You have put your finger in the fire due to ignorance or ego. After burning the finger, you may say that you have put the finger in the fire due to the destiny. God has destined the specific system, which links every action with a specific fruit. After putting your finger, God is not ordering the fire to burn it. The subsequent fruit for a specific work is already destined. God or the destiny does not interfere with the choice of your selection of a specific work. Even the so called past destiny does not interfere with your works. The composition of your psychology is fixed based on your past deeds. Thus, work is responsible for the will and the will is the generator of the work. Since the composition of your psychology is already based on your past deeds and is fixed, you can treat that as destiny and in such case, destiny is guiding everything.

The psychology is a specific pattern of ideas generated by the past deeds and it is called as ‘Samskara’. An idea can be changed by knowledge. Samskara is a fixed concept and the right knowledge is a group of right concepts. You have the opportunity of hearing the right knowledge since God comes to this world quite often in human form. You have the freedom to hear such divine knowledge or not to hear. You have also freedom to practice the knowledge or leave it without practice. At every step, the basic freedom is given. This human world is also the right place for testing the devotees and here also, the full freedom is protected. You are totally free to sacrifice anything or not to sacrifice anything even if God desires for it. God does not force you or threaten you or wash your brain in your sacrifice since such sacrifice is not real. God is pleased only with the real sacrifice done by the soul in the atmosphere of total freedom. In the examination hall, you are totally free to answer the question paper to any extent or even to return the white paper without writing even a word. God preaches the total concept and in the stage of implementation of it, God does not influence your mind in any way. After teaching all the right knowledge through the Gita, Krishna said that the decision to fight or not is totally left to Arjuna (yathechchasi…). The basic reason is that God is not in need of anything from anybody. The sacrifice is not to satisfy God but only to uplift you. The sacrifice proves your real attachment to God and such real attachment is not in the benefit of God but it is only in your benefit. Krishna asked for the special gem from Satrajit, the father of Satyabhama. Krishna is not in need of that gem. He is the creator of that gem. Even without the help of that gem, He can create wealth. He can even stop the power of the gem to create the wealth. Krishna asked the gem from Satrajit because Satrajit cannot maintain it and will fall in trouble. Only for the welfare of Satrajit, He asked him for that gem. But, Satrajit thought that Krishna asked that gem for His personal benefit and thereby, for His personal satisfaction. Such misunderstanding made Satrajit to refuse the gem.

Astrology says that the happening of good or bad incidents is due to the planets. This misunderstanding again leads the people to think that their actions are destined by the planets. Here, your actions are not destined by the planets. Your actions are only destined by your psychological set up, which is destined by your past deeds. The planet links the specific fruit for the specific action. You do something based on your Samskara. The planet gives its correspondent fruit immediately. You blame the planet for guiding you to do a specific work and this is totally wrong. A planet is only destined to give the specific result linked with your specific action. The specific work is based on your specific psychological pattern only. The horoscope gives the composition of your specific psychological pattern. Since your future actions also depend on the same pattern, future prediction can be easily given. A specific psychological pattern is always linked with a specific composition of planets representing your qualities or ideas. Therefore, there is no external destiny here other than yourself regarding your future. If the Samskara is modified with the help of the divine knowledge, the whole destiny is changed, which means your horoscope totally disappears. Every period is divided into sub periods, every sub period is again divided into further sub periods and every division involves the revolution of all the nine planets again and again. This means that human being is a mixture of both good and bad always in every step of the time.

Astrology is Introduction to Philosophy
Actually, the basic concept of astrology indicates that there is the existence of some unimaginable supernatural force that guides this world. Hence, astrology is an introduction for the philosophy. Without taking this basic reality, you misuse the astrology to justify yourself by linking your wrong actions to the planets. The worship of the supernatural and unimaginable planets introduces the worship of unimaginable God. But, this is again misused as the worship of the planet for not giving the bad result for the bad action done by you. If you worship God, He will preach you the right knowledge, which changes the total destiny. By your worship, God will not protect you from your sins. Therefore, in this world, the destiny is also in your hands only. There is full freedom for you to change your destiny through the right knowledge. Hence, this world of humanity is called as ‘Karma Loka’, which means that your actions decide everything and that your action is based on your psychological pattern only and not by any pre-determined external destiny. The upper worlds are called as ‘Bhoga Lokas’ because there is no freedom to perform any new action and you have no freedom at all, but for enjoying the destined results for your already recorded actions.

‘Pravrutti’ means attachment to worldly bonds. ‘Nivrutti’ is detachment of your worldly bonds for the sake of God. This world is the stage for both pravrutti and nivrutti. Full freedom up to the level of changing your destiny exists here. Your destiny is only your fixed psychological pattern generated from the past deeds and not any other external force. This pattern can be changed by the right knowledge received from God in the form of preacher. Therefore, there is every chance for changing your destiny in this world. Generally, people blame the reason for their bad actions to be some external force called as destiny in which there is no trace of their personal psychological involvement. People say, ‘People say so’. The people cannot be the authority unless the whole subject is perfectly analyzed. Even there are several misinterpretations in books written by ancestral scholars. You should not blindly take the people or the ancient books as authority without analyzing them perfectly. The Gita says that you will laugh at such authorities if you analyze the subject with sharp scientific intelligence (Buddhyaayukto…).

Even if the implementation is impossible, it is better to have the right knowledge, which follows the soul to the next birth so that the practical implementation can be done sometime in the future. This point looks quite good, but there is the practical danger. Just like the cooked food can be attacked by the bacteria in the atmosphere, the right knowledge is also attacked by the worldly attractions and sometimes, the right knowledge may become weaker and weaker and even may finally disappear even in the later part of this life. Therefore, it is better to implement the realized concept as early as possible like eating the cooked food immediately.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Durgaprasad

Traditional Customs: from theory to practice

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God, [April 27, 2012 Evening] The Gita says ‘svalpa mapyasya dharmasya…’. It means that something is better than nothing. Based on this point, our traditional customs are built up, which should not be mocked as illogical and blind. Our tradition says that you should offer any food or drink to God before you enjoy it. Offering to God is theoretical and not practical. You should not say that the theoretical step is useless. Offering to God develops your theoretical devotion to God. Of course, theory does not yield any fruit. But, theory on constant theoretical practice of offering in long time at least has a chance of generating the practical offering. The theory follows the soul even after death, which may result in practice in the next birth. Practical devotion yields real fruits, but theoretical devotion leads to practical devotion in course of time. Without theory, there is no practical. The practical sacrifice is very difficult for the ordinary human beings without the ripening of spiritual knowledge. The offering of food to the statues and photos generates the theoretical devotion, which in course of time results in the practical offering of food to some deserving person in the name of God.

God exists in the human incarnation. God also identifies Himself with the devotees and therefore, there is no difference between God and God’s devotee. God is also pleased when you offer the food to hungry poor people in the name of God. The offering of the food to the statue may look like cheating because the food is not really taken by God. But, it has its own good side. It develops the devotion to God in the mind of devotee. It is the beginning stage of devotion. Any action in the beginning stage is associated with defects as said in the Gita (sarvaarambhaahi…). In spite of the defects, there is the good angle that every development has to come from its beginning stage only. Beginning is inevitable for the development. Therefore, the beginning should not be criticized and mocked, which may give negative effect. The devotee may be discouraged and the development of his devotion may be arrested. At the same time, if the devotee sits in the beginning stage only for a long time, constructive criticism can be given so that the devotee enters the practical devotion without further delay. Your criticism should uplift the devotee. It should not degrade the devotee from the beginning stage itself.

The devotee may not practically sacrifice the food, but, such devotee is better than an atheist, who neither sacrifices nor at least offers the food to God. The atheist may practically offer the food to some hungry poor person without the name of the God. He is rewarded with a temporary stay in the heaven. A devotee may not practically sacrifice the food, but offering it to the God is certainly a beginning step for the permanent upliftment. Therefore, a devotee with theoretical devotion is better than the atheist with the practical sacrifice. Certainly, by the grace of the God, the devotee also will enter into the stage of practical sacrifice as said in the Gita (kshipram bhavati dharmaatmaa …).

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Durgaprasad

DO NOT WASTE USEFUL MATERIALS IN IDOL WORSHIP

Serve Incarnation or Devotee or Poor in God’s Name
O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,[April 25, 2012] Worship to God in human form can be digested only by human beings, who have completely conquered their ego and jealousy. Devotees of highest level can only reach this level of maturity of divine knowledge. Most of the human beings cannot reach this level and therefore, only energetic forms of God are prescribed for them. But, energetic forms are not available on the earth to receive the service of the devotees because such forms are prescribed only for the upper worlds in which souls in energetic bodies live. Therefore, only inert photos and statues of such energetic forms are served by most of the devotees in this world. Even photos and statues of past human incarnations are not inconvenient because such photos and statues are not alive human forms. As far as the inert statue or photo is concerned, it is immaterial whether it represents the energetic form of God like Vishnu or past human incarnation like Rama. In any case, only the non-living material is being served. Service of such inert materials is waste because the service rendered by the devotee is not received and experienced by the inert material. But, there is no other way to develop the devotion to God in the case of ordinary human devotees.

The alive human form is not acceptable and the alive energetic form is not available. Only inert photos and statues representing the alive energetic forms or past human forms are the inevitable way left over. Serving such inert statues and photos is not to be condemned because such service develops the devotion of the devotee. But, one should be careful to see that there is no wastage of useful materials in serving such photos and statues. You can wash such photos and statues by water since plenty of water is available. You can use flowers to decorate the photos and statues since such decoration develops the attraction of the devotee towards God. You can put a light before the statue or photo provided there is darkness. It is not wastage since light is required in the darkness even otherwise in the absence of statue or photo. But, burning the oil for the lights in the day time is condemned. The oil is also food material, which can be used to pacify the hunger of hungry living beings. You can use perfumes because such perfumes create a pleasant atmosphere, which can be enjoyed by the people sitting near the photo or statue.

Wastage of milk, etc. in bathing the statue is not necessary. Instead, you can offer the milk to the statue and use it to pacify the hunger of hungry living beings. Ignorant people pour the milk in the abode of the snake, which becomes waste. You can donate anything to the poor people in the name of God so that the donation is associated with the development of devotion. When you save the life of a hungry person or remove the tensions by donations, you are saving the life and giving peace so that the poor person may worship God in future. Therefore, donation to a poor person in the name of God is always appreciable. Donation to a devotee is also good because God lives in the devotees as per the Bhakti Sutra of Sage Narada (Tanmayaahite). God lives in the human incarnation and also lives in the devotees. Therefore, service to devotees, is as good as service to human incarnation. Service to poor people in the name of God also pleases God because you are helping them to develop their devotion in their future stabilized lifetimes. Hence, service to human incarnation, service to devotees and service to poor in the name of God are appreciable since God is pleased by such service.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Durgaprasad

Neutrality to Happy & Misery is not Yoga, but enjoying Happiness & Misery is Yoga

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God, [April 14, 2012] The bliss of God is said to be continuous without any interruption. This means that God is in continuous state of joy derived from continuous enjoyment. The Veda says that God created this universe for the sake of enjoyment through entertainment. This creation contains both happiness and misery altering continuously. The creation is completely in the hand of God. If God enjoys only the happy scenes, God could have created this creation with continuous happy scenes only. Anything continuous leads to boring, which is the misery. Therefore, misery is inevitable even if the happiness is continuous. Hence, the creation contains alternating happiness and misery. Hence, the deduced concept is that God enjoys both happiness and misery and therefore, His joy is continuous.

People pray God to remove misery and give happiness. People do not know that the continuous happiness bores and becomes misery. Lack of the true knowledge in this concept is the only reason for such prayers. This is the path of majority. The path of the so called scholars is Yoga, which means the path of forced neutrality in happiness and misery. If you say that the equality of neutrality in both happiness and misery is Yoga, which is the state of God, it is wrong. God need not create happiness and misery and try to be neutral in both without enjoying anything. In such case, God could have created only the neutral scenes continuously without happiness and misery. In such continuous neutral scenes, God can be neutral without any effort. Unnecessary effort is required to be neutral in happy and miserable scenes. For the soul, the creation is not in its hand. Hence, the soul has to put the effort to be neutral in both misery and happiness. But, in the case of God, He need not be neutral by putting effort since God can create the continuous neutral scenes only.
 

 Enjoying Happiness & Misery is Yoga

Lord Krishna enjoyed the praise of Dharmaraja and His enjoyment is indicated by the smile on His face. Immediately, Shishupala scolded Him continuously. Lord Krishna kept the same smiling face indicating that He enjoys the misery also equally. Therefore, the equality of enjoyment in both happiness and misery is Yoga. Yoga does not mean the equality of forced neutrality in both happiness and misery. If neutrality is Yoga, the Lord could have kept neutral with silent peaceful face indicating His detachment from both happiness and misery. Therefore, the Yoga preached in the Gita as the equality is the equality in enjoyment in both and not the equality in neutrality in both. The Gita is generated by the Lord Krishna. The real interpretation of the Gita can be found out from the practical life of Lord Krishna. Without verifying the theory of the Gita in the practical life of the Lord, scholars are fighting with their theoretical interpretations of the Gita.

If you can enjoy equally happiness and misery, you can attribute yourself to be God, which is the Advaita as preached by Shankara. You need not worry about the power of creation, rule and destruction of the creation in intervals by God in this context because it becomes irrelevant. The reason is that the ultimate aim of creation, control and destruction in the interval is only the process of enjoyment of the creation. The Veda says that God created this universe because He was bored. Hence, the ultimate goal of God is only to enjoy the creation and not to exhibit His power of creation, control and destruction of the universe. A person harvested sugarcane and mirch. He crushed the sugarcane and prepared the juice. Similarly, he crushed the mirch and created the hot dish called chutney. There are two cups of sweet juice and two plates of hot chutney. One cup and one plate are enjoyed by that person. He is drinking the sweet juice and tasting the hot chutney now and then in the intervals. He is enjoying both continuously. Any single dish bores if enjoyed continuously. That person offered another cup of juice and another plate of chutney to you. If you can enjoy the sweet cup and the hot plate similar to that person, you are totally equal to that person. The labor put by that person in harvesting sugarcane and mirch and the labor put by that person in preparing juice and chutney are irrelevant in this context. All the labor is aiming only at the final enjoyment of the juice and chutney. Since the ultimate aim is equal in both the persons, both are equal. Similarly, the labor put by God in creating, controlling and destroying this creation now and then, is ultimately aimed at the final continuous enjoyment of the creation only. If you enjoy the creation continuously like God, you have totally become God and the power of creation etc., goes into the labor only, which is irrelevant. The Gita says that we should enjoy even the death, which is the climax of the misery and this is found in the practical life of the Lord. He was with smiling face even though the blood was flowing continuously when His foot was hit by the arrow.
 

Human Being takes Hidden Negative Side
You must realize the positive side of everything to enjoy it. Everything has positive and negative side. The greediness has both positive and negative sides. Due to greediness if you eat less, your health is maintained. This is the positive side. The negative side of the same greediness is not giving food to a deserving person. Similarly, charity has both positive and negative sides. The positive side of charity is to donate to a deserving person. The negative side of the charity is not to donate to a deserving person. God created everything with the positive side only. You are taking the hidden negative side of everything and blaming God for creating negative items in this world.

Ego is the most dangerous disease, which can spoil even the human incarnation. Both Parashurama and Rama were human incarnations. You can treat the human incarnation as God and this is Advaita (Monism). In fact, God lives in the human being and therefore, the reality is Dwaita (Dualism) only. As long as human incarnation realizes the Dwaita, God maintains Advaita. Rama always told that He is an ordinary human being and thus, maintained Dwaita throughout His life. Hence, Rama was always treated as God and Advaita was maintained by God throughout His life. When Parashurama thought that he has killed all the devils, God separated from him and he was insulted in the hands of Rama, which is the exhibition of Dwaita by God. Therefore, ego can spoil even the human incarnation and hence, one should be very careful about the ego till the last minute of his life.

At lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Durgaprasad

Ambition to become GOD?

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,
[March 23, 2012 Telugu New Year Day] God created this world and controls it. The soul can neither create nor control the world. God also destroys this world and the soul cannot do it. Therefore, the creation, ruling and destruction of the world can be done by God only and the soul is a total failure in these three aspects. The soul wants to become equal to God and such an ambition is called as Monism or Advaita. But, the soul is not equal to God in any aspect. God created this world for His entertainment. This world contains both happiness and misery. This means that God is enjoying both happiness and misery. Both happiness and misery give entertainment to God. The Veda says that God created this world for His entertainment. If the soul can also enjoy happiness and misery like God, at least in the aspect of entertainment, the soul can become equal to God and Monism can be achieved at least in this one aspect of entertainment. But alas!, the soul fails even this aspect. The soul does not want misery and tension. The soul wants continuous happiness throughout the life. But, the poor soul does not know that anything continuous including happiness bores. Boring is also misery. Therefore, misery is inevitable. I do not understand, how the soul aspires for Advaita, when it fails even in the aspect of entertainment.

You can neither procure the food material nor cook the food. At least if you are equal to the person in eating the cooked food, you can be equal to him at least in the aspect of eating the food. The person cooked both sweet and hot dishes and is eating both the dishes with full joy and entertainment. You are eating only sweet dishes and refusing the hot dishes. How can you be equal to Him if you are not equal to Him at least in eating the food? Some people doubt the point of enjoyment in misery. They argue that misery gives pain and how to get joy in it? It is not impossible. You only lack the art of enjoying the misery. When a beautiful young lady embraces a small boy, the boy feels uncomfortable and is pained. It is misery for him. But, a young man gets immense pleasure in the same embracement. The lady and embracement are one and the same in both the cases. The boy does not know the taste of enjoying the embracement of the beautiful young lady. The young man has the taste of enjoyment of the same embracement. Therefore, the lack of talent in tasting the enjoyment of misery is the reason. God and the realized soul have the taste of enjoyment of misery. An ignorant person does not have the taste of enjoyment of the misery like the child.

Some people develop the philosophy of becoming immune to both happiness and misery. This is utter foolishness. In such case, God could have created this world with routine situations only without happiness and misery. The temperature of the world must have been maintained at the room temperature throughout the year. There is no need of summer and winter. Therefore, God is enjoying both summer and winter and hence, God created both summer and winter. Therefore, such philosophy to become immune to both happiness and misery is wrong. The prasadam (offering to God) of this Telugu New Year day preaches this concept. It is made of sweet and sour materials. It represents the creation and the human life. Both creation and human life are mixtures of happiness and misery. God enjoys the creation and you must enjoy the human life. If you enjoy happiness and misery in equal level, such equal level is called as Yoga. Equality lies in the enjoyment of both different dishes. Equality does not lie in the common immunity to both dishes. If you refuse the misery and appreciate only happiness, you are insulting God.

You have gone to some house for taking food. Suppose the house lady serves both sweet and hot dishes in the meals. If you like sweet dishes only and refuse the hot dishes, the house lady is insulted. If you enjoy both the dishes, the house lady is pleased. Similarly, if you refuse misery, you are insulting God because God is the creator of the misery in this world. If you enjoy both happiness and misery, God is pleased with you. He treats you equal to Him because you are enjoying both like Him.

At lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Durgaprasad