What is real Sanyasa?

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,[April 18, 2010] Sage Parashara banned the Sanyasa (leaving the family wearing saffron cloth) in this Kali Yuga, since the mentalities of all the people is changed. The saint is cheating the public after teaching the spiritual knowledge. The public is also very much interested to investigate the real color of a false saint than to hear the spiritual knowledge. The devotee approaches the saint after hearing one speech, addressing him as God. The devotee does not stand on this opinion for a long time and changes very shortly. The devotee should take long time to observe the saint through analysis before addressing as God (Swami ji). Therefore, the standards are not maintained on both sides and hence the sage banned the saffron cloth.

    Sanyasa means both attachment and detachment. It means both attachment to God and detachment from the world. The internal attachment to God is important, which is indirectly measured by the external detachment from the world.  You are not eating the food since you are engaged deeply in your studies. Your absorption in your studies is indicated by your fast. But, you may fast even if your stomach is suffering with some problem. You may also fast due to absorption in reading a novel. Therefore, your fast cannot exactly specify your studies. The fast can indicate various reasons. Arjuna wanted to leave the battle due to blind love on his grandfather and not due to detachment from kingdom. Therefore, Krishna advised him to fight the battle because his mind was not attached to God resulting in detachment from kingdom. In these days, the detachment of several saints is due to several reasons and cannot be attributed to real absorption in God. There is nothing wrong in marrying a girl for the sake of association, which helps in several aspects. If your wife is also spiritual interested and if you are engaged in thinking about God with the help of discussions with your wife, such a married life is real sanyasa. In sanyasa also, you have to be in association with several devotees to discuss about God. If you are wearing saffron cloth to achieve money, fame etc., such a state is worse than the state of householder. If you are engaged in worldly affairs always through the discussions with your wife, you will be born again and again in this world only and this is the normal middle level. Therefore, turning your family into devotees is the first step in the spiritual path. If your wife and children become devotees to God and participate in spiritual debates with you, you will reach the goal of a true saint.

    The main duty of a saint is to propagate the spiritual knowledge in this world and for this purpose sanyasa is taken. In olden days, the person has to travel by feet from one place to the other and therefore the family-life became inconvenient to take up such long tedious journey. Today there is no such need because you can travel to far places within very short time. You can convey your arguments through computer and receive the counter arguments from the other people through the same computer within no time. Such facilities made the propagation of knowledge very easy task and hence today there is no need of leaving the family for the sake of propagation of knowledge. Even from this angle also, you can be a saint in doing the duties of a saint while remaining with your family. You need not leave the family in physical sense. When God competes with your family to test your devotion, you can prove your real attachment to God and subsequent detachment from the family. Sanyasa means internal attachment to God and internal detachment from the world including your family, which can be proved externally in the time of test. Saktuprasta was a householder and passed the test of God. He reached the abode of God (Brahmaloka) along with his family and such fortune was not seen even in the case of several saints. All his family members were strong devotees to God and co-operated with him to succeed in the divine test. It is always better to become a householder and mould the family to the spiritual side. Then you will get the advantages from all sides. Doubting your ability to mould the family, if you avoid marriage, it is just like burning the house for the fear of rats. God Brahma told Narada that Krishna was the real sanyasin. Krishna was always fond of ladies and Narada was surprised about this statement. You can see the true color of Krishna, who watched the mutual assassination of all his family members without any interference. He was after Gopikas only to test the attachment to their families. Gopikas recognized Him as God and this point is revealed in their songs (Gopika Geetha) in Bhagavatam. Hence, God competed with their family bonds and those who failed in test complained to His mother with anger. Gopikas were sages in the previous life and all those lives were the study time of the academic year. The present life of Gopikas was just the time of three hour examination. Even in the past lives of sages, they were householders only and developed in association with their wives and children. In no life they were sanyasins leaving the family life. As sages their family members co-operated with them in spiritual development. But, during the time of examination, their family members opposed them because examination needs such environment. You can be tested only in the opposing circumstances.

     You need not approach only a saint for the spiritual knowledge. Krishna gave Bhagavat Gita, which is the top most spiritual knowledge and Krishna was a householder only and not a saint. Shankara was a saint and wrote commentary on Gita told by a householder! Shankara avoided the family because there were no facilities in those days in taking long travels for the propagation of spiritual knowledge. In your old age, you can limit yourself to the association of your wife only, so that both of you can participate in spiritual discussions due to old age of both of you. If you stay with your children, you will be associated with their worldly problems. This state is called as Vanaprastha. Today, people are avoiding the children due to the probable quarrel between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law or lack of freedom with the son-in-law! The old couple stays separately and thinks always about the worldly problems only. If the old wife is not co-operating with you spiritually due to her worldly attachment, you can leave her with the children and live in association with true devotees and this is the state of sanyasa. This state can happen if your old wife, who was a spiritual friend, passes away before you. This is called as Krama Mukti, which is the gradual sequential order of the life. In the present time, there is no need of leaving the family in the beginning itself like Shankara. If you cannot change your family into spiritual path, you are not competent to change the society into spiritual side. In spite of your trails to change your family in to spiritual side and if you feel the hindrance of your family in your spiritual development, you can still lead the married life taking its advantages and spend more time in association with true devotees than in the house. Of course, in extreme case of serious hindrance from your family, you can think of sanyasa as an exceptional extreme step and generally this does not happen unless it is a divine test.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad

Why God is After Money?

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,[May 19, 2006] People say that God is in money. It is correct because money is Goddess Lakshmi. Lord Narayana is always in her heart. Money is also in the heart of God because Goddess Lakshmi is in His heart. Whatever is in the heart of Lord, the same came out in His word which is the Veda. The Veda says that sacrifice of money alone can please the Lord (Dhanena Tyagenaikena). The Lord came down in human form as Lord Krishna who also told the same point with the highest intensity. The Gita, the word of Lord Krishna, says that one should sacrifice the entire money possessed by one, to please the Lord (Sarva karmaphala tyagam). Jesus told a rich man to sacrifice all the wealth possessed by him. Lord Vishnu said the same in the Vishnu Puranam “Yasyaanugrahamichchami Tasya Vittam Haraamyaham”, which means that the Lord is pleased by taking away money from the devotee. The Lord is the Sadguru and one point is appreciable with Him. That is, whatever is in His heart He speaks it out. The present gurus aspire for money in the heart but speak against money in in their words. It is said that great people think, speak and do the same thing (Karmanyekam, vachasyekam, manasyekam mahaatmanaam). Whatever the Lord told, was also done by Him. The Lord came as a guest to Shaktuprastha and took all the flour from him for eating. This was when Shaktuprastha was about to eat the same, since he was suffering from starvation for the last ten days due to a drought.

Sage Vashistha asked Rama to submit Guru Dakshina (money) before preaching Jnana Vaashistham (Dhanamarjaya kakutstha) to Him. A sacrifice is useless if Dakshina is not offered (Adakshina hato yajnaha). All rituals involve the sacrifice of food and Dakshina (money). Sai Baba used to ask for Dakshina everytime [people visited Him]. Yoga Vaashistham says that money is the root of the world (dhanamoolamidam jagat). Shri Yantram [Shri Chakra] which is based on Shri (money) speaks about the importance of money. Everybody should frankly accept that everything is revolving around money. If money is not there, all the family members will leave you. Even the body leaves the soul if food (which is a form of money) is not provided. The proof of real love is only the sacrifice of hard earned money. Your real love is only for your children because all the wealth is given to them alone finally. Therefore if you say that you have real love for God, God will catch your money and will ask you to give it to Him. Your real colour will then come out. Therefore sacrifice of the fruit of work (money) is the real proof of devotion as praised in the Gita.

What is the difference between the Lord and ordinary human beings if money is only the criterion? No doubt, money is the criterion because real love is tested only by the sacrifice of money. But there is a difference between the account of God and the account of human beings. If you go to a [railway] booking clerk, he will give you a ticket for a 100 miles-distance by charging Rs. 100 and he will not ask you about the money left over in your pocket after paying the hundred rupees. He will give you a ticket for ten miles if you pay Rs. 10 and will not ask about the balance in your pocket. This is the account of human beings. But if the Lord sits in the same ticket booking window, His account is totally different. Suppose you have asked for a 100 miles-ticket. He will not tell you the fare of the ticket. He will ask you about the total amount present in your pocket. If you have only Rs 10 and pay Him all the ten rupees, He will give you a 100 mile-ticket. Suppose you have Rs. 1000 in your pocket and give Him Rs. 100, He will give you only a ten mile-ticket because you have paid 1/10th of the total money present in your pocket. This is the difference between human beings and God. God sees the extent of sacrifice but not the extent of sacrificed item.

Dharmaraja performed the Ashwamedha-sacrifice and donated a lot of wealth to the sages. Let us assume the worth of his entire wealth as 7 crores [1 crore = 10 million] in view of the value of rupee at that time. He donated wealth worth 3 crores. The Lord gave him the ticket only up to the third world which is called heaven or Swarga Loka. The Swargarohana Parva [chapter] of Mahabharatam says that Dharmaraja went only up to heaven. The top most Brahma Loka is the seventh world from earth. Therefore we would expect that the cost of the ticket for Brahma Loka is Rs 7 crores according to the account of human beings, since Brahma Loka is the seventh world from the earth. But when the Lord came in disguise of a poor hungry Brahmin to Shaktuprastha, he offered the Lord a flour-meal which was only worth of 7 rupees. According to the above account of human beings, the Lord can give a ticket for only 7 miles on earth. But the Lord gave him the ticket to Brahma Loka for the Rs. 7! Shaktuprastha sacrificed everything and nothing was left over with him [after donating the flour worth Rs. 7]. This happened to be the total sacrifice of the fruit of work which is Sarva karmaphala tyaga as mentioned in the Gita.

Shankara went to the house of a poor householder. They gave a little food from their quantum of food that was prepared at that time. He gave blessings to them. Then Shankara went to another house of a poor lady. She searched the whole house and all she found was a small dry fruit. She immediately offered that to Shankara. Other than that fruit there was nothing to eat in the house. She could have kept that for herself or her family to pacify at least a trace of their hunger. Such sacrifice is Sarva karmaphala tyaga stated in the Gita. All these donors sacrificed without expecting anything in return from the Lord and hence, the sacrifice of all these people is very pure. But the sacrifice of Shaktuprastha and that lady was not only pure but also a total sacrifice as mentioned in the Gita. Shankara recited a prayer spontaneously called as Kanaka Dhara and gold was rained in her house immediately.

Similar was the sacrifice of Sudama to whom the Lord gave immense wealth. Sudama gave a handful of parched rice to the Lord even though his family was suffering with hunger for several days. The same Sudama in childhood had stolen a handful parched rice, which was the share of the Lord and hence was hit by poverty. This shows that enjoying the wealth of others, especially the wealth of the Lord, by cheating like corruption or a business-minded attitude, will lead to severe punishment. Therefore sacrifice should be without aspiring for anything and also should be total to please the Lord. For the same reason, Jesus praised the sacrifice of one rupee of a widow, as the greatest among all the other heavy donations from rich people.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad

1st World Parliament on Spirituality: details

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,
1st world parliament on Spirituality  is being held in Hyderabad during 17-21, Dec 2012. Shri Datta Swami is delivering talks on Universal spirituality and the contemporary Human incarnation of God in this parliament as per following schedule:
1) 19 Dec, 2012: During 10.00-11.30: Hall-1
2) 21 Dec, 2012: During 10.00-11.00: Hall-3

For more details visit the webpage: http://www.wpsconnect.org/home.php

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami
-Prasad

EVERY SPIRITUAL ASPIRANT MUST BE A HOUSE HOLDER

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God, [December 12, 2012] In the spiritual path, the aspirant should be in the stage of a householder (Grihastha). Then only, God can test him or her whether the human being can practically sacrifice these three strong bonds (Eeshanatrayam), which are
1)    Dhaneshana: Bond with money and wealth
2)    Daareshana: Bond with wife or husband
3)    Putreshana: Bond with issues.

When the human being is in the atmosphere of these three bonds, then only, the testing can be done by God. For this purpose, you should be a householder and not a saint, who is far from these bonds. You can evaluate a student, who has appeared for the examination and submitted the answer script. Such a student is like the householder. A saint, who avoids these bonds, is completely out of the context of testing like a student, who does not attend the examination at all. Therefore, such a saint is not greater than the householder. The student not attending the examination is not greater than even the student, who has failed after attending the examination.

Therefore, even the householder, who failed in the test of God, is greater than the saint. The saint, who thinks that he is greatest among the human beings, is totally false. There is a famous joke. One circus master is passing through burning rings by jump. He is gradually reducing the size of the burning ring and as the size decreased, more risk is faced. Hence, the public seeing this feat gave more and more claps as the size of the ring is reduced. One fellow, seeing this feat, thought that the greatness of the jumper increases as the radius of the burning ring decreases. The person thought that if the radius is zero, the jump will be greatest because the radius is in the stage of least reduction. Therefore, he made a jump without the ring at all and expected claps from the public in greatest level. But, unfortunately, not even a single person clapped! The state of such person is the state of the saint.

Gopikas were householders and reached the highest place called Goloka by sacrificing these three strong bonds for the sake of Lord Krishna. Even Hanuman married Suvarchala, the daughter of the Sun. He got a son called ‘Matsyavallabha’. This means that even Hanuman became the householder. This indicates that even Hanuman appeared for the examination. Therefore, no saint should think that the householder is lower than his or her status since the fact is that the status of the saint is lower than the status of the householder. Shankara remained as saint since He has to walk to all places in India for the propagation of spiritual knowledge and becoming a householder disturbs this Divine program. They are exceptional since they are Incarnations of God and not the normal spiritual aspirants. Every spiritual aspirant must become a householder, face the testing done by God and pass the examination.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad

Types of Yajnas and Right way of performing Yajnas

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God, [November 27, 2012 A Vedic Scholar, who presided over a meeting called as ‘Veda Vidvat Sabha’, stated that the reason for draught and floods is the non-performance of sacrifices in these days in which the ghee is poured in the fire. Swami ridiculed this and gave the following message.]

Burning ghee in the fire leads to environmental pollution, which causes the draught and flood. These ignorant people state that the cause and promoter of a disease itself is the remedial medicine. If you eat the sweet, the blood sugar will raise causing damage to heart and kidneys. The patient is already in serious condition due to damage of heart and kidneys. A foolish doctor says that more sweets should be eaten to save the patient. Perhaps, the doctor is correct in the sense that the patient will die soon and he will get relief from the suffering of the disease! The climax of the joke is that the above conclusion is drawn in the Veda Vidvat Sabha. The Veda means Knowledge. Vidvat means the Scholar of such divine knowledge of the scripture. Here, the Knowledge is stressed twice by the two words ‘Veda’ and ‘Vidvat’. The conclusion shows total ignorance of the Veda since the fundamental concept is missing. An error in the foundation will pervade into all the floors of the building and the whole building gets cracked.

The fundamental concept of the Veda is to serve the food to the Divine Preacher, who is the incarnation of God (Agnou karana), to the devoted human beings (Brahmana Bhojana) and finally, to other livings beings like birds and animals (Pinda pradana). The food is prepared by God from the five inert elements for the sake of living beings. If you throw such food into inert elements like fire, earth etc., you are insulting God. Pouring milk into pores of the earth is also foolish. In such case, all the effort of God to synthesize food from the inert materials becomes waste. Food is essential for life since it generates energy in the living being with the help of which only one preaches the knowledge and the other hears the knowledge to practice it. The total essence of the sacrifice is serving food to the Divine Preacher followed by serving food to devotees, elder people like parents and other invited guests and finally serving food to birds and animals. Serving food to the Divine Preacher is called ‘Brahma Yajna’. Serving food to Scholars is called ‘Rushi Yajna’. Serving food to devotees is called ‘Deva Yajna’. Serving food to old people is called ‘Pitru Yajna’. Serving food to other invited guests is called ‘Manushya Yajna’. Serving food to birds and animals is called ‘Bhoota Yajna’. Finally, eating to maintain the self is called ‘Atma Yajna’.

The first is ‘Brahma Yajna’ in which the Divine Preacher or the human incarnation is served. He is the Director of your practice in the entire life by which you are benefited here and there. This is the reason why the post of Director is the top most position in any institution. Once the correct direction is given, the employees work in correct lines and the institution succeeds. Such greatest Divine Preacher should be served with the best food in the beginning itself. Since He is to be served first He is called ‘Agni’. The word ‘Agni’ comes from the word ‘Agri’, which means the first to be served. Therefore, such Divine Preacher is the meaning of the word ‘Agni’ and not the physical fire. Brahma means God and service to Him is service to God and therefore, such service is called as ‘Brahma Yajna’. The best food is the food prepared using excess of ghee. Ghee does not mean pure ghee and it means only the food prepared with excess of ghee. People have slipped in taking the meaning of these two words ‘Agni’ and ‘Ghrutam’. Ignorant people have taken the ‘Agni’ for physical fire and ‘Ghrutam’ for pure ghee and they have started pouring the ghee in the Fire.

Serve Bhokta by food liked by him in ceremonies
Even in the ceremonies of departed souls, you must satisfy the person eating the food (Bhokta) and serve him with the items liked by him. If he is satisfied, the effect of such satisfaction called as ‘Apoorvam’ or ‘Punyam’ saves the departed souls. You need not force the eater to eat the items liked by the departed soul. It is foolish ignorance since there is no connection between the eater and the departed soul. In the sacrifice performed by the followers of Rigveda, there is no physical fire. The food is placed in the palm of the eater (Pani Homa) and burning the food in the fire is only developed later on due to ignorance of the Scripture.

If you understand the meaning of the first hymn of the first Veda (Rigveda), you have understood the meaning of all the four Vedas. The first Veda introduced the main concept in the first hymn itself, attacking the fundamental ignorance. The first hymn is ‘Agni Meele Purohitam, Yajnasya Devamrutvijam, Hotaaram Ratna Dhaatamam’. The translation of this hymn is: I praise the Agni, who is ‘Purohita’, the deity to be worshipped in the sacrifice, the priest, the performer of the sacrifice and the possessor of the greatest gem. If you analyze this verse, you can easily understand that the meaning of the word Agni is only a living human being and not the inert fire. All the adjectives of the Agni stress again and again that Agni means only a specific special human being. One important adjective is that Agni is said to be the performer of pouring the ghee in the fire. The inert fire cannot pour the ghee in it by itself. The ghee is poured only by a living being. You may argue that by this explanation, the pouring of ghee in inert fire is not contradicted. This argument is rejected because the human being can pour the ghee (eat the food prepared by ghee) in the hunger fire called ‘Vaisvanara’ existing in his own stomach. Burning the ghee in fire is objected by another Vedic statement that food should not be wasted or destroyed (Annam Naparichekshita). The Divine Preacher Himself can be compared to the fire, Who burns the ignorance and in the comparison through metaphor, you can say that the Preacher is Fire. This is stated in the Veda also (Aagneyovai Brahmanah).

From all angles, the Preacher eating the ghee-food in the beginning is the most correct interpretation. He is called as Purohita, since He helps you here itself before your death. After the death, you will go to the upper world called as Bhoga Loka where you cannot practice anything. Only here, in this Karma Loka, you can do any practice. For practice, right direction is essential, which comes only from the true knowledge of the Divine Preacher. He is the God of your sacrifice or service, since He is the human form of God. He is the Priest since He directs you in the right path. He is the possessor of the true knowledge, which is the most valuable gem helping you here and there. The essence of this first hymn is only to say that ‘Agni’ means the present alive Human Incarnation and not the inert fire. The inert fire is lit in the beginning only to cook the food. Fire is only the helping instrument (Saadhanam) but not the goal of worship (Upaasya) in the sacrifice. This fire ignited in the beginning for cooking is misunderstood as the deity of the worship since there was no separate kitchen in the ancient hut (Aashrama). The fire is lit in the east-south corner of the single room and hot cooked food was served then and there itself. The fire was continuously burning to avoid the entry of cruel animals from the forest and the continuous smoke always repelled the mosquitoes.

In the Bhagavatam, Kapila, the incarnation of God, says that only fool pours ghee in the physical fire. Lord Krishna also disturbed the blind practice of burning the food in the fire by asking it to satisfy the hunger. As per the Veda (Yaavateervai…) all the deities dwell in the body of the Divine Preacher, who are satisfied by the food eaten by the Divine Preacher and give rains in the proper time to the world. In this way the sacrifice is really the reason for the rain (Yajnaath bhavati… Gita). In the misunderstood sense, the ghee burnt in the fire producing smoke pollutes the environment and stops the rain!

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad

Human Incarnation

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God, [November 23, 2012 Abstract of Shri Datta Swami’s Speech in Hall-1 on ‘Pure Spirituality’ to be held on December 17-21, Hyderabad. Swamiji’s Message will be webcast through their website (http://www.wpsconnect.org/home.php) on December 19, 2012 between 10-11.30 am IST.]
God is said to be the generator of space (Aakasha) by the Vedas. It means that space does not exist in God before its generation. This finally means that God is beyond spatial dimensions. Since you cannot imagine anything beyond space, God must be accepted as unimaginable.
The unimaginable God enters a medium and gets identified with it to express Himself to the imaginable human beings. The human form itself is the best medium, which consists of two components as we see in any human being:
1) Visible – imaginable materialized human body for vision and
2) Invisible – imaginable energetic form called soul or awareness for preaching knowledge to the humanity.
Such human form charged by the third component, which is invisible – unimaginable God, is called as human incarnation and this alone is relevant to humanity for direct service and for receiving the spiritual knowledge. The energetic form like Vishnu or Father of heaven is relevant to the departed souls existing in energetic bodies in the upper world. Hanuman and Gopikas worshipped their contemporary human incarnations called Rama and Krishna respectively, but not energetic forms like Vishnu etc.
The human beings neglect the human incarnation due to repulsion between common media, which are the human being and the human form of God. The same human being, departed as soul existing in energetic body in the upper world, also repels with the energetic incarnation there due to same principle of repulsion between common media. Finally, this results in the loss of God here and there for the human being! The ego and jealousy towards the co-human form are responsible for such repulsion, which should be eradicated by spiritual effort (Saadhana). Mohammad being the human incarnation, deleted the concept of human incarnation since His preceding human incarnation, Jesus was crucified by the co-human beings due to extreme ego and jealousy. The silence of Buddha on God should not be misunderstood as negation of the existence of God, which means only that God beyond words is unimaginable.
God comes in human form in every generation to give right spiritual knowledge to humanity so that He is devoid of partiality to one previous generation only. You are searching God everywhere while He exists before your eyes in every generation and this is like search for the Kohinoor diamond, which is used as the paper weight on your table only! Yoga means recognition and association with contemporary human incarnation for service as we see the case of Hanuman. Yoga is not mere improvement of physical and mental health, which of course are necessary for the effective service.

At lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami
-Prasad

Deep analysis of Lord Rama's actions prove God should never be criticized

People criticize God due to misunderstanding. God can never be criticized because whatever God does is the perfect justice. You are criticizing God with your limited knowledge. Let us take the case of Lord Rama. People criticized Him mainly in two points.

1) After the battle, Sita was brought to Lord Rama. Rama said to her, “Go and marry Bharata to become the queen of Ayodhya or marry Vibhishana to become the queen of Lanka”. People criticize Rama for such harsh words. If you refer to Valmiki Ramayana (Sundara kanda), Sita said “Piturnidesam...” i.e., “O Rama, after two months you will go to Ayodhya, marry several ladies and enjoy the kingdom. I will die here always thinking about You”. Sita blamed the Lord by such words and therefore, the Lord retorted with the same harsh words.

2)  Even though Sita was proved to be chaste by entering the fire, a washer man in Rama’s kingdom blamed her. Based on that blame, Rama sent her to the forest (exile). For this point, the answer is as follows: When Rama was chasing the golden deer, Sita asked Lakshmana to go and help Rama but he refused since he wanted to stay and protect her as per the orders of Rama. Angry at his refusal, Sita said to Lakshmana “You have come to forest along with your brother with a motive to enjoy me in the absence of your brother”. This sin is more severe than the previous sin because abusing a devotee (Bhaagavat apachara) will make God more furious, than abusing Himself (Bhagavat apachara). So the Lord created an equivalent blame through the washer man and also sent Sita to forest.

In the first sin, her words were punished by words. But, in the second sin, which was more serious, her words were punished by words and action. Now, why should Rama punish Sita in her life itself? Sita was the incarnation of Maha Lakshmi. She had to go to Vaikuntha Loka (heaven) directly from earth and was not supposed to go to hell. For this purpose, Lord Rama cleared her file (of Karma) containing these two sins here itself.

The analysis should be always beyond any sentiment. Since we see Sita shocked by grief in weeping state, we conclude that Rama is cruel and Sita is punished without her mistake. Even the men are moved by such situation and not to speak of women, who always support Sita in favor of their own gender. If you analyze this case with shrewd brain rising above all the sentiments, the truth is totally different. For such situation, the reason is that Ravana stole away Sita in the forest. What is the reason for such stealing of Ravana? The reason is the unimaginable cruel words of Sita to Lakshmana, who protected her on the order of Rama.

While going away, Rama told clearly that the demons will play several tricks and that Lakshmana should not leave Sita under any circumstances. In spite of such serious message of Rama, Sita scolded him. Lakshmana also told her that Rama is incarnation of God and nothing will happen to Him. Sita created a false angle, blaming Lakshmana for his unjust attraction towards Sita. Lakshmana said that he never looked at her above her feet. What is the reply of the so called ‘Associations of Women’ for this unimaginable foolish behavior of Sita? Because of such behavior only, Lakshmana left her and Ravana stole her and due to this only, the statement of washer man is generated. Is not Sita responsible for this whole episode?

Therefore, everybody concludes himself as good and others as bad when he is the part of the case. In such situation, everybody should immediately think in the reverse way and see the possibility of himself being wrong and others being right. In fact, the analysis of God in the upper world regarding your case is going to be always reverse. All your proposals generally get disposed by God since your analysis is generally wrong. Try to always think the reverse of your way of thinking. Then only, you can understand the truth. Then only, the Pravrutti (path of justice) gets established with perfect love and peace. This leads to the peace and harmony of the world.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad

Comprehensive Spirituality: must read for all

[Taken from discourses by Shri Datta Swami] Hinduism is a mini representative model of the unity among various religions in the world. There are different philosophies within Hinduism as there are different religions in the world. Unity within Hinduism represents the removal of different walls in the house to make all the rooms united—as one big hall. Unity among religions in the world is like uniting all such big halls to make the one biggest hall.

In Hinduism, the Advaita philosophy of Shankara stands for the monism of God and the soul. The Vishishta Advaita philosophy of Ramanuja speaks of the soul as an inseparable part of God. The Dvaita philosophy of Madhva speaks about the total difference between God and the soul. The basic point here is that these three philosophies apply only to the Human Incarnation of God, in which the unimaginable God has charged the imaginable soul in that human body. These philosophies do not refer the case of an ordinary soul and God. When the invisible current charges the visible metallic wire, both can be treated as one and also as different. This basic point has been forgotten and the quarrels started.

Similarly, the unity among all the religions of the world can be achieved by understanding that there is only one unimaginable God charging different visible and imaginable human forms like Krishna, Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed etc. Since God is basically unimaginable, there can be only one God; the existence of two unimaginable is absurd. Imaginable items can be many, but such imaginable (visible) items can be only different media for the entry of God. They cannot be God Himself.

Rigid conservatism can be refuted by a powerful argument in this way: If Jesus alone is the Savior, His message, the Bible, should have been propagated to all countries simultaneously. India was discovered only in the 17th century by the West and so 17 generations passed away without the fortune of coming in contact with the Holy Bible.  The poor souls have gone to hell for no fault of theirs. Had the opportunity been given to them, at least some of them might have been saved. This clearly shows the partiality of God for confining His message of only to Jerusalem for 1700 years. God is only one since every religion says that only one God created this entire Earth and there is only one Earth. The one God, Father of all humanity, should not be partial. Rigid conservatives of any religion have no answer for this absurd conclusion. This reasoning applies equally to every conservative religion. But there is answer from our side, which is: The same God came to all countries in different human forms giving the same message in different languages. Hence, God cannot be blamed for being partial.

You cannot say that an unimaginable item cannot exist. The boundary of the universe is unimaginable. Even scientists accept it. Hence, there is no objection for the existence of the unimaginable God. Similarly, the existence of hell need not be rejected just because I cannot show you the exact location of hell in space. You too have not shown Me the absence of hell in this infinite space! Therefore, a 50–50 probability of the existence of hell must be admitted. In that case, it is better to assume the existence of hell and avoid sin. A wise blind man will err on the safe side and turn back immediately, if hears two contradictory statements: one saying that there is a fire ahead in his path and the other that there is no fire in his path.

Today, powerful logical knowledge is required in philosophy since the analytical faculty of the public is well developed due to the growth of science. Lord Dattatreya, the Universal Preacher, is always ready with such knowledge to face the need of the time.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad

Worshipping of releavant direct form of GOD

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God, [November 4, 2012] Relevant worship in this world means worship of the form of God, which is relevant to this world of humanity. Such a relevant form is only the human form of God. Irrelevant worship means worship of the irrelevant form of God for this humanity. Worship of energetic forms of God like Vishnu, Shiva etc. is irrelevant for the humanity. Such energetic forms are relevant to the upper worlds in which the souls existing in energetic forms stay. The angels and the departed souls from this world are the energetic bodies containing the souls. The energetic form of God is relevant to the upper world and is irrelevant to this world of humanity. Direct worship means the worship of the alive human form of God in this world by the human beings or the worship of alive energetic form of God in the upper world by the souls existing in energetic bodies. Indirect worship here or in the upper world means the worship of statues and photos representing the energetic forms or human forms of God.

1) Relevant–direct worship means the worship of human form of God by human beings in this world or the worship of energetic form of God by the souls existing in energetic bodies in the upper worlds.
2) Relevant–indirect worship means the worship of statues and photos of human incarnations in this world or the worship of statues and photos of energetic forms of God in the upper world.
3) Irrelevant–direct worship means the worship of the energetic form of God that appears in this world at the end of long penance. Such worship can be for very short period only.
4) Irrelevant–indirect worship means the worship of statues and photos of the energetic forms of God in this world or worship of statues and photos of human incarnations in the upper world.

Out of all these four types of worship, relevant–direct worship is the best. The next best here is irrelevant-direct worship, which can be for very short period only. The next best here is relevant–indirect worship in which the merit is that at least the relevant form is selected. Worship of statue of Krishna in this world comes under this category. The merit is that a human form of God is selected instead of the irrelevant energetic form of God. The devotees of ISKCON society come in this group. The merit is that they have identified the importance of the relevant human form of God instead of the irrelevant energetic form like Vishnu. The defect in them is that they are worshipping the statue of Krishna only, which does not receive the worship. Lord Krishna clearly said in the Gita that He will come in human form to this world again and again (Yadaa yadaahi …). They should search for the human form of God in this generation, which has different name and different form. The same unimaginable God (Parabramha), who charged the form of Krishna, also charges the present alive human form in this generation. These devotees have 50% merit and 50% defect. The ISKCON devotees stand on their statement of the Gita, which says that Krishna asks the devotees to worship Him only. But, they forget one important point here, which is that this statement refers to the devotees present in the time of Krishna. The devotees alive at the time of Krishna can worship Krishna only so that their worship becomes relevant-direct worship. This important point is missing and hence, the ISKCON devotees are misled to worship the statue of Krishna. The devotees here, worshipping the statue of Lord Vishnu, come under the last category of irrelevant-indirect worship. Such devotees have 100% defect. The devotees coming under the category of irrelevant–direct worship are also 50% meritorious and 50% defective like ISKCON devotees. The 50% merit in these devotees is that they worship directly but the 50% defect is that they worship the irrelevant form of God, which appears after long strenuous penance for a very short period only. Therefore, such worship can be only temporary.

As already told, the best worship in this world is the worship of the present alive relevant human form directly. The identification of such human incarnation is by its wonderful knowledge only. The reason is that the true knowledge alone can lead you to the goal in the spiritual path. Miracles should not be taken as the identification because miracles only mislead you in the wrong direction since you are always tempted to use the miraculous power to solve your selfish problems. Moreover, miracles are exhibited even by demons and evil people having black magic also by attaining the power of God. The power of God is transferrable but not the knowledge of God. Hence, the Vedas say that knowledge alone is the identification mark of God (Satyam Jnanam…, Prajnanam…). Knowledge is said to be the characteristic of Sattvam. This does not mean that the incarnations of the deity of Sattvam, Lord Vishnu, alone preach knowledge. Even the incarnations of Bramha and Shiva preach knowledge. No incarnation is without preaching the knowledge. Mandana Mishra, the incarnation of Bramha, was a great scholar in philosophy. Shankara, the incarnation of Shiva was another great scholar in philosophy. Bramha is the deity of Rajas and Shiva is the deity of Tamas. Every quality of these three qualities contains the other two qualities also and there cannot be a single quality without the other two qualities. The scriptures say this point. Preaching this spiritual knowledge is the main characteristic of human incarnation of God. Based on this reason only, Ravana was rejected to be the human incarnation of God due to absence of preaching the spiritual knowledge even though the exhibition of miracles existed in him. Rajas is the source of ego, which is the projection of self. Tamas is the source of jealousy, which is the denial of the greatness of others. The ego and jealousy are the covering layers of the two eyes with the help of which only you can see and identify the present human incarnation. Absence of ignorance is Sattvam, which only represents the pure devotion to God in which the self is completely forgotten and the greatness of the human incarnation alone prevails in the mind. Almost all the human beings are affected by the ego and jealousy and as a result they are unable to recognize the alive human incarnation. Even if they recognize, in no time the infection of ego and jealousy affects the two eyes and hence, based on the intensity of infection, the negligence and in course of time even the enmity result. The human form of God also is not much bothered about this infection because such a situation of infection favors Him to lead undisturbed role in this world. If everybody recognizes the human incarnation as God, the play of God acting as a normal person gets disturbed. Of course, the human incarnation reveals the whole truth in preaching the spiritual knowledge. Apart from this preaching, God in human form will not put any supernatural effort to protect the devotee from this infection of Maya. God derives more and more enjoyment only when He leads a normal life in this world without His identification. Due to this, only one in millions succeeds in identifying the alive human incarnation and in retaining the faith in It without the infection. You can count such successful devotees on fingers like Lakshmana, Hanuman, Sita, Radha etc.

Bramhavidya or Bramhajnanam means only the identification of the alive human form of God present before your eyes. The whole difficulty in this identification lies in the point that the alive human incarnation is just before your eyes, talking and moving with you like your friend. You are searching for the Kohinoor diamond everywhere but it is just present on your table acting as a paper weight! You are neglecting the paper weight and searching for the diamond everywhere in the sky. If it is hidden somewhere, the search and research become meaningful. Krishna was present before Arjuna from the childhood. Arjuna asked Krishna about the possibility of Krishna preaching the Sun in the beginning of the world since Krishna was recently born. Arjuna went to Himalayas to do long penance for Lord Shiva for the future victory in the war. He was unable to know the value of Krishna present before his eyes. He was unable to know that Krishna Himself was Shiva. Therefore, the whole problem in finding out God does not lie in finding out some specific special place of God. It lies only in the point that you are searching for that specific and special place of God while God is standing before your eyes!

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad

VICTORY OF KNOWLEDGE OVER IGNORANCE: Remembering the greatest devotees on Vijaya Dashami day

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God, [October 24, 2012 Vijaya Dashami Day] Vijaya Dashami is the festival indicating the victory of Knowledge over the ignorance. If the sinner is punished, the attitude of sin is suppressed temporarily only because the punishment is external and not internal. We find this in the world that the thief is punished again and again in the police station. The real transformation of the soul takes place only when the internal ignorance is destroyed by the knowledge. Therefore, such internal victory only is real and permanent. The word ‘Durga’ also means that the Knowledge protects you from the attack of ignorant thoughts like the fort protecting you from the attack of wild enemies. The word ignorance can be used in any context. You may be ignorant of Mathematics. Somebody may be ignorant of the required address. In spiritual knowledge, the real context of the word ignorance should be analyzed because it relates to the permanent fate of the soul. This word ‘Ignorance’ is mentioned in the Gita in the context of Human Incarnation (Avajaananti maam…). This context is very important because it is concerned about the recognition of God, who came down in human form standing before you. What more important context can be than this in the life of a human being? The meaning of this verse is like this – “Whenever I come down in the human form, people insult Me due to the ignorance of the absolute God existing in Me”. People worship God when He is not before them and insult the same God whenever He appears before them. You are craving for Him in His absence and rejecting Him when He appears before you. The reason for this is the ignorance in the identification while seeing Him with the eyes due to the effect of ego and jealousy. There cannot be stronger ignorance than this situation. This is the most wonderful aspect of human psychology and hence, such scene can be really called as ‘Maya’. The meaning of the word ‘Maya’ is that which is wonderful. The Lord says in the Gita that nobody can cross this ‘Maya’ (Mama Mayaa duratyayaa…) except very few souls, who surrender totally to God (Mayaametaam taranti te…).

People refused to give some oil to Saibaba to lit the lamps. But, the same people are maintaining lakhs of lights in the temples in the world when Baba disappeared! People criticized Sita and were responsible for the continuous agony of Rama while He was alive. But, today when Rama left this world, people dance and sing songs in praise of Sita and Rama! People quarrelled with complaints when Krishna stole some milk while He was alive. But, today people pour down pots of milk on the statues of Lord Krishna when the Lord has gone away from this world! This peculiar disease is the most wonderful one by which you refuse a person in person and praise in his absence. The Veda says that even angels are not an exception to this disease (Parokshapriyaah…). If this ignorance is overcome by the power of Knowledge, the soul is saved forever. Such victory of Knowledge over the ignorance saves you permanently and ‘Vijaya Dashami’ becomes meaningful if you try for such real victory.

We can remember some names of such victorious devotees. Lakshmana, Sita, Hanuman and Gopikas must be remembered in this context. Lakshmana was younger to Rama and got married on the same day. While Rama enjoyed with Sita inside the cottage, Lakshmana wandered around it as a watchman for fourteen years. On no moment Lakshmana thought about his wife. The attachment of the Lord to Lakshmana was highest, which surpassed even Sita. When Lakshmana became unconscious, the Lord asked to stop the war stating that Sita was not required when Lakshmana was lost. But, the wonderful test appears as if Rama was attracted to Sita ignoring the same family life of Lakshmana. The Lord sang beautiful song on Lakshmana in this context, which is not known so far to anybody. The song runs like this -

Harimeva sevase he Adishesha!
(Oh! Adishesha! You are always serving the Lord only).
Swaartham Kimapi Naastivaa pannagesha!
(Oh! King of serpents! Don’t you have any single work, which is selfish?)
Deyam kimavashishtam te soumithre!
(Oh! Son of Sumithra! What is left over, which I did not give you?)
Atmaanameva Arpayaami Ahinayaka!
(Oh! Leader of serpents! Only I am left over and hence, I am dedicating Myself to you).
Apadamastakavapuriva Bhava Vasuke!
(Oh! Vasuki! From top to bottom I am in constant association with your body just like My soul is in constant association with this body. Hence, you are also like My body).

This excellent devotion was shown by Lakshmana while Rama is alive present before Him. This is the essential point that should be noted by all the devotees. We show such excellent devotion only in the absence of the Lord. While the Lord is present, we show either negligence or sometimes even enmity. Full recognition and the consequent excellent devotion are the characteristics of Sattvam - quality. Negligence is the characteristic of Rajas – quality, which is the result of concentrated ignorance. Enmity is the characteristic of Tamas – quality, which is the result of solidified ignorance.

Sita was proved to be pure through the fire test. But, still, Rama left her in the forest due to rumor from public. This is really the climax of injustice. Any other wife in such situation will either go to court of law or protest with the help of the members of associations of women! On hearing the news that Rama abandoned her, Sita sends the following message through Lakshmana “Oh! Rama! I am not committing suicide since your children in my womb stand as an obstacle. After the delivery, I will perform severe penance with the sole desire that You alone should be My husband without separation in my future life also” (Kimvaa tavatyanta viyogamoghe…., Saaham tapah…). Sita showed such extreme love in the life of Rama only and not in His absence from the world!

Hanuman approached the Lord without marriage. But, the Lord always weept for His lost wife and engaged Hanuman always in the service of searching His wife. Anybody in the place of Hanuman will think about his foolishness in not performing his own marriage to search the wife of somebody else. But, Hanuman never thought like that and remained unmarried for the service of the Lord while the Lord was alive in front of His eyes!

Gopikas became mad when Krishna left Brindavanam and committed suicide by jumping into fire on hearing the death of Lord. They were unable to continue their lives in the absence of God, but we are unable to express the devotion when the Lord is alive!!

Such type of pure devotion is possible only when your life is devoid of selfishness through total surrender, which is called as Prapatti (Maamevaye Prapadyante… Gita). Selfishness disappears only when self disappears or forgotten. Bilhana was totally surrendered to his darling while walking in a forest and hit a sage unconsciously by his foot. The sage became angry to curse him. Bilhana asked that how the sage was conscious about the touch of his foot. In the memory of his darling, Bilhana forgot himself and hence, the leg belonging to himself was also forgotten. Similarly, selfishness belonging to self disappears only when the self is forgotten. Crossing the ‘I’ is said to be the crucifixion of self. In the work of God, Jesus forgot Himself and hence, underwent crucifixion. These are standing examples of total surrender by which the crucifixion of self takes place. These devotees should be remembered on this day to get the inspiration for achieving the real victory of knowledge over the ignorance in the context of our spiritual journey.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad

ATTAIN YOGA TO ACHIEVE REAL DEVOTION

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God, [October 06, 2012] A Devotee asked: You are preaching the equal enjoyment of happiness and unhappiness so that there is no need of devotion to God. When such state is achieved, really, there is no need of God. When there is no need, the reason for devotion disappears. Nothing can be generated without reason. Hence, devotion is not generated. In the absence of devotion, where is the need of the practical sacrifice in service to God. The Veda says that the sacrifice of money alone can lead to God (Dhanena Tyagena …). Hence, the Vedic statement also becomes meaningless in the present context.

Reply of Swami: There is lot of confusion of the concepts in the argument projected by you. The real ground of devotion and the false ground of devotion should be separately differentiated. The equality in enjoyment of happiness and unhappiness is related to the removal of false ground of devotion. This does not mean that the real ground of devotion is also removed. The practical sacrifice is a point related to real ground of devotion. This point is related by you to the false ground and by removal of false ground, this point is also removed by you. Let Me explain this more clearly. The false ground of devotion is the link between selfish desire and the power of God. In false devotion, you always try to exploit the power of God in removing your difficulties and getting happiness. The difficulties are the fruits of your sins and happiness is the fruit of your good deeds. By exploiting the power of God, you want to avoid the fruits of your sins and want to get the happiness without the good deeds. Both are wrong. You want that God should commit these two blunders, soaped by your false devotion. The devotion is false because your love to God is based on business. You want this undue favor from God for which you expose your artificial love to God through worship and prayers. All this is false ground of devotion. You want to sacrifice money to God again based on this false ground only. You donate some money to God to get this undue favor. It is just like the corruption practiced by citizens in the offices of government. You bribe the official to do some undue favor. Therefore, such sacrifice of money is also not the real sacrifice as said in the Veda. If you develop equality in enjoying the happiness and unhappiness like the sweet and hot dishes in meals, you will not require this undue favor from host in requesting him to serve only sweets and not hot dishes. When the Yoga of equality in enjoyment of happiness and unhappiness is developed, the false devotion and false sacrifice of money also disappears. Therefore, this Yoga leads to the final disappearance of false ground of devotion and subsequently false devotion and false sacrifice. Today, if this false ground of devotion disappears, there will be no single devotee on this earth! The entire devotion in the present devotion is totally false and the only remedy for this is to develop Yoga. Lord Datta is called as Yogiraja, standing for the meaning that He alone is the preacher of the Yoga.

When Yoga destroys the false ground, false devotion and false sacrifice, this does not mean that there is no real ground, real devotion and real sacrifice. By attaining Yoga, you are expected to enter the real ground of devotion where real devotion and real sacrifice exist. The end of Yoga is not simple enjoyment of happiness and unhappiness continuously without the concept of God. When you have attained the Yoga completely, you have to put a question to yourself. What is the basis of this enjoyment of happiness and unhappiness? The basis is this creation including yourself. In the absence of creation, the enjoyment of happiness and unhappiness also does not exist. You are advised to enjoy both sweet and hot dishes equally. Here, the advice does not end only with the ultimate aim of development of psychology of equal enjoyment of sweet and hot dishes. The advice continues to remind you to express your gratefulness to the host, who served you the food containing both the dishes. Similarly, the creator of this creation must be always thanked for providing the basis of this very enjoyment. God is the creator of yourself and rest of the creation. You are not expected to finish the meals by enjoying the sweet and hot dishes equally and go away without thanking the host. You may raise the doubt that this expression of gratefulness is again based on the business between donor and acceptor. But, in this context, you are expressing your gratefulness for the past favor done by God even without your request. Therefore, this will not be a false ground of devotion. When your request is related to the present and the future, then only, the false ground of devotion appears. Therefore, the real ground of devotion starts with this expression of gratefulness to the past favor done by God even without your desire. Now, the real devotion starts. This real devotion can be further flavored by your attraction towards the divine qualities and diving personality of God in which also there is no selfish desire. In such attraction also, there is no false ground. When this real ground and the real devotion are established, the real proof of your practical sacrifice is required, which is your bond with money. Money is the root of all the worldly bonds (Dhanamoolamidam jagat…). All the worldly bonds are alive only when money exists. All these worldly bonds are like the branches of the tree of your family and root of such tree is money. Therefore, the test at the root will be the test of the entire tree. Hence, the Veda said that the sacrifice of money means the sacrifice of all the other bonds.

Therefore, the false ground and real ground of devotion are separate. The sacrifice of money in the false ground is only a part of the business. The sacrifice of money in the real ground stands as the acid proof for the real devotion. The Yoga, which is the talent of enjoying both happiness and unhappiness equally, is to be developed only to destroy the false ground of devotion. When this false ground is destroyed, the false devotion and the false sacrifice are also simultaneously destroyed. This does not mean the real ground does not exist. In fact, after attaining the Yoga, the real ground of devotion should start. After eating the meals, you are expected to thank the host. This thanking the host is the real ground of devotion. Enjoyment of sweet and hot dishes in the meals has nothing to do with this process of thanking the host. If you enjoy both the dishes equally in the meals, it does not mean that you can go away without thanking the host. Hence, the discrimination between truth and false should be carefully done through shrewd analysis. Hence, Shankara told that this shrewd analysis is one of the four eligible qualities of a spiritual aspirant (Sadasat vivekah…).

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad

Fate of human beings …Realization of Spiritual knowledge

[Taken from Discourse of Shri Datta Swami] Human beings generally blind to the realization of truth, concentrate only on worldly education and are completely neglecting spiritual knowledge. Such people may not do sins but they do not understand that such actions will result in their useless future births of birds and animals. Such births are also considered as another form of hell on earth.

The human birth is a chance of getting a huge profit. A birth as an animal or bird is neither profit nor loss. The neutral state is relatively minus with respect to the plus. Therefore, such a neutral birth is also considered as hell with respect to the state of salvation. This neutral state generally tends to minus. People first think of earning their livelihood for themselves and their families.

Up to this stage there is no problem because God arranges for the basic needs for every living being in this world. But after sometime, since the concept of God is not realized through spiritual knowledge, these people extend their desires for more and more facilities (Bhoga). Then they start earning wealth by doing sins.

Even after attaining the highest facilities, their earning through sin does not stop because they become addicted to the process of earning. A drunkard cannot stop drinking after sometime. Such people are thrown into permanent hell. Such work, which started off as earning one’s livelihood but got extended to earning endlessly for pleasure and luxury through sinful means, is called as Vikarma.

Generally every body works to maintain his family. In the name of maintenance, several luxuries are introduced, which look like essential needs and thus there is no end for your work to earn the money for the sake of your body and your family. Your blindness increases and you will be putting more and more efforts to work and earn money for the sake of the family bonds. In such a case you can never even see the human form of God.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad

God looks for true devotion

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God, [September 23, 2012] The atheism, which does not accept the existence of God, has the two stages. In the lower stage, the negation of God is associated with sin and injustice. In the higher stage, the negation of God is associated with good deeds and social justice. Even the atheist in the higher stage will be awarded with the temporary heaven since there is no reference of God. Similarly, the theism, which is the acceptance of God, has also two stages. In the lower stage, the devotee is reluctant to unhappiness and is attracted towards happiness. In this lower stage, the devotee has reason for his devotion. In order to get rid of difficulties and to get happiness, God is worshipped. Such devotion is not true devotion to God. All the devotion is selfish and the love of devotee to God is only for his happiness. Such devotion is the result of general human psychology in the world. The same psychology exists even in the worldly bonds as said in the Veda (Atmanah kamaya…). The husband loves his wife since she gives happiness to him. The wife loves the husband since she is also gets the same happiness from him. The children love the parents for their financial support. The parents love their children aspiring future service in their old age. Therefore, all the worldly bonds are selfish only. In the same way, the love towards God is also like any worldly bond. In this devotion, the psychology of the human being is not changed.

Nivrutti, the field related to God, is only an extension of Pravrutti, the field related to the world. In the higher stage of Nivrutti, the devotee enjoys both happiness and unhappiness equally. In this higher stage, the devotee is not reluctant to unhappiness and is not attracted to the happiness. For him, both are one and the same like sweet and hot dishes in the meals. He enjoys both equally. In this higher stage, absolutely there is no need for the devotion to God. In this stage, there is nothing to aspire and there is nothing to reject. The help of God is not needed at all. Therefore, the devotion to God becomes meaningless and useless. But, in such stage also if there is devotion to God, such devotion is real and God is thrilled towards such devotion. Therefore, you have to achieve the stage of Yogi, in which you can enjoy the situations of happiness and unhappiness equally (Samatvam yoga uchyate... Gita). When you achieve this stage, you are said to be in the final goal of Pravrutti. After this stage only, the real devotion starts. The Lord asked Arjuna first to become Yogi (Tasmaat yogi bhavaarjuna…). To achieve the goal of this Yoga, practice is essential (Karma karanamuchyate… Gita). Once this stage of Yoga is attained, all the desires are pacified because there is nothing to reject since everything is enjoyable. When all the desire is subsided in this way, the final stage of Yoga is achieved (Shamah karanamuchyate… Gita). When there is nothing to be achieved, the reason for devotion disappears. Therefore, the devotion also must disappear. But, if the devotion does not disappear in this stage, such reasonless devotion is the true devotion. The eyes of God are turned towards such a devotee. Till then, God does not look at you. You are thinking that God favors you by giving happiness and removes the difficulties by your devotional prayers and worship. It is only your illusion. Your difficulties, which are the fruits of your sins, are only postponed with compounded interest. The happiness, which is the fruit of your good deeds, is given to you by dragging the fruits of your good deeds fixed in the future life cycles with reduced interest like premature deposits. All this is just an arranged mechanical system and God does not even look at this mechanism. You think that God does all this. You think that God created happiness without your good deeds. You also think that God destroyed your unhappiness. All this illusion is due to lack of your insight towards the background of the mechanism (Nadatte kasyachit paapam… Gita). The Lord openly clarified this by stating that such thinking is due to illusion based on the ignorance of the background mechanism (Tena muhyanti jantavah… Gita).

The lower stage of devotion is better than the higher stage of atheism. The reason is that at least the acceptance of God exists in the lower stage of the devotion. There is always a chance of transformation from the lower stage to the higher stage in the devotion. Therefore, the lower stage of devotion should not be discouraged, which is the stage of almost 99% of the devotees. In course of time, the devotee in the lower stage climbs to the higher stage after receiving the divine knowledge from Satguru. Without Yoga, you cannot come into the looks of God. After attaining the Yoga completely, your false devotion becomes true devotion and the gracious glance of God falls on you. Then only, you have started the real spiritual journey. The devotee in such stage is called as Yogarudha in the Gita (Yogarudhasya tasyaiva…). Therefore, you must understand the real meaning of Yoga. Yoga is misunderstood as performance of some physical exercises or breathing exercise. Of course, such exercises are also good for maintaining good health. Such health is the basis of Yoga, which should not be directly called as Yoga. Yoga also should not be misunderstood as developing inertia towards happiness and unhappiness. This type of misunderstanding is horrible since it is quite opposite to the process of Yoga. The first misunderstanding is at least appreciable since it happens to be the basis of Yoga. Attainment of Yoga is achieving the partial stage of God, which is equal enjoyment of happiness and unhappiness in the creation. By this, you have not become God, who is called as Yogishwara. Yogishwara means the Lord of Yogis. This partial achievement is through the divine knowledge and this is the partial monism (Advaita). Shankara taught this stage in the beginning to the atheists. Next, Ramanuja came and taught the real devotion. Finally, Madhva came and taught that the real devotion is always proved by practical sacrifice, which is the practical service without aspiring any fruit in turn.

Hanuman served Rama practically without aspiring anything in return. In the Ramayana, you will find no occasion in which Hanuman praised Rama through any prayer. His devotion was always in terms of service, which is the practical sacrifice. Hanuman did not differentiate the service to Rama from the service to world. Hanuman was completely dedicated in the personal work of Rama, which was search of His wife and the war to get back His wife. Hanuman did not misunderstand Rama when Rama told that He will go back if Sita is returned. This is a test to Hanuman to see whether Hanuman gets displeased since Ravana will not be killed in such option. If Ravana is killed, it is service to the world. The personal service to Rama was not differentiated from the service to the world. This shows that the human form called as Rama is not differentiated from the unimaginable God. Identification of Rama as God especially when Rama behaved like an ordinary human being is one acid test. Involvement in purely personal service, which is of no use to the world, is another acid test. Hanuman passed both these acid tests because He did not differentiate the human incarnation from the absolute God and did not differentiate the work of Rama from the work of God.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad

Bonds hindering the spiritual progress & overcoming them

[Taken from Discourses of His Holiness Shri Datta Swami]  There are four strong bonds, which hinder the spiritual progress. 1) Bond with wife 2) Bond with money 3) Bond with child 4) The bond with one’s body and life.

Avadhuta can only be the soul who has cut all these four bonds. A Sanyasi could cut the first three bonds but not the fourth bond. A Sanyasi takes food, drinks water, sleeps and leaks the sperm periodically. The Sanyasi avoided the wife but not the desire for the sex. The eating, drinking, sleep and sex are the four biological needs of the body. The Avadhoota lives maintaining his body without these four needs and his body is beyond the rules of the nature. His body is a divine body maintained by the super power (Maya) of the Lord.

The state of Avadhoota is complete liberation and such complete salvation is possible only by the complete grace of the Lord. Avadhoota is just an inert house of the Lord. There is no soul in that body. The soul also is a part of the nature and so the soul becomes a part of the inert house of the Lord. The Avadhoota thinks talks or does anything only by the will of the Lord. It is one system and not two in one. Avadhoota is one hundred percent Lord. It is the state of the goal and there is no journey further. He is called as Siddha and not Sadhaka.

Even the Sanyasi is a Sadhaka who is still travelling towards that state. However, a stone can be also equated to Avadhoota because it also has complete salvation but the Lord is not dwelling in it. The Salvation must be attained through the devotion of the Lord, which will lead to the state of Avadhoota. If simple salvation is attained without devotion it will lead to the state of a stone.

Among the three bonds the strongest bond is the bond with the children. The wife can help in the spiritual effort (Sadhana) and therefore she is called as ‘Saha Dharma Charini’. The sex, which is a biological need, is a matter of attraction of few minutes or at the maximum few hours. This little time is negligible compared to the long lifetime and the energy dedicated to the Lord.

But the bond with the children persists in all the times and requires the expenditure of the energy continuously. The Bond with the money also increases due to this bond with children. For the sake of the children people become corrupt and try to rob others. In such process, they do lot of injustice. The strength of this bond is reduced by realization and with this not only the individual salvation in the upper world is achieved, but also the justice in this world can be easily established. This is the reason why the Lord spoke about the detachment of worldly bonds for the establishment of the justice. He says that He is born to establish the Justice, but He does not speak about the rules of the Justice.

The Government, Police and even the courts quote the rules of Justice, which cannot establish the Justice. People try to misinterpret these rules and win the case. In Gita, the Lord attempted for the detachment of these bonds, which are responsible for the injustice. He attacked the problem at the basic level. Therefore, the strength of the bond with the children is proportional to the injustice in the world. This bond also hinders the spiritual elevation. Unless the strongest bond is cut, salvation is impossible. Without the salvation, the single bond with the Lord is impossible.

You can analyze Vyasa, Arjuna and Dhritaraashtra who represent the three above average, average and below average levels. Vyasa is the highest Guru and his birthday is celebrated as Guru Purnima. The divine prostitutes who are of the lowest level mocked such a highest Guru due to this strongest bond. Vyasa was running after his son and was mocked. He was not mocked for his bond with the divine lady called ‘Gritaachi’ because it was just a temporary bond for few minutes. She gave birth to ‘Suka’ through whom Vyasa had permanent bond for twenty years. For the sake of wife he wasted only few minutes but for the sake of son he wasted twenty years.

Arjuna was also bound by this strongest bond. He was killing all his relatives on the order of the Lord. He was prepared to leave the kingdom, but when his son Abhimanyu died, he stopped the war. The war is the work of the Lord to punish the evil people. Therefore, the bond with the Lord is not stronger than the bond with his son. The Lord performed the surgery and broke this strongest bond by killing even the other children (Upa Pandavas). The Lord wanted to lift Arjuna. Bhagavatgita was the medicine, which could not work to break the strongest bond. Therefore, the Lord performed the surgery and lifted Arjuna and other Pandavas also as they surrendered to Him.

The Lord lifted Vyasa by preaching him through the divine prostitutes. For Vyasa, the medicine was sufficient but for Arjuna surgery was required. Since Vyasa and Pandavas are His devotees, the Lord did everything for their upliftment. Dhritarashtra is not a devotee. He knows that Krishna is the Lord. He saw the Viswarupam. He advised his sons to arrange a feast and attract the Lord to help them. He tried to grab the wealth of his own brother Pandu who only conquered the whole kingdom.

When Pandu went to the forest, Dhritaraashtra was made the representative of the king. He became blind with this strongest bond and did not mind to do injustice to the son’s of his own brother. The whole wealth actually belongs to his brother. If he passes an order as a king, his son cannot hinder it. He has the support of Bhishma. Bhishma took an oath that he will protect the king. Therefore he need not fear for his son. His wife Gandhari found fault always with her husband and her sons, but at the last when her children were killed she gave the curse to Lord Krishna forgetting that He is the Lord. Such is the strength of this illusory bond!

Today Dhritaraashtra represents people. People are trying to earn the money for the sake of their children and they are prepared to do injustice to any extent for this. Like Dhritaraashtra they want to please the Lord by worship to help their children. Therefore, if the Sadhaka can cut this strongest bond all the other two bonds can be easily cut.

At the lotus feet of Swami

-Prasad

Essence of Prayers: Acknowledge God for Past favors

[September 09, 2012 Mr. Anil asked about the essence of the messages of Jesus to this world.]

Swami replied: After rigorous penance for about 40 days on a hill, Jesus presented the essence of all His future messages through the prayer followed by a miracle. Thousands of people gathered, who became very hungry in the hot mid-day. There were only four pieces of bread in the basket. Jesus uplifted the basket and did not pray God to provide more pieces of bread for the sake of hungry devotees. He prayed God, expressing the gratefulness for providing those four pieces of bread and asked the disciples to serve those four pieces. Jesus thanked God looking at the past and was not worried about the problem of present and future. There is no need of any suggestion to the omniscient and omnipotent God. Sometimes, you may have to remind your superior officer regarding some suggestions related to the situations in the present and in the future. The reason is that your officer is a human being with a limited brain and limited capacity. But, in the case of God, such requirement does not arise. Since Jesus did not ask for the provision of more pieces of bread, it is quite possible that God might have kept silent. Even if Jesus asked for more pieces of bread, God might have kept silent. The reason for such silence may be to test the devotees regarding their interest in the divine knowledge in spite of the hunger. Jesus will think in this way only if the miracle was not done. He would have not uttered a single word of blame if the miracle was not performed. That is the real devotion to God. Jesus wanted to preach such devotion to the public.

You should always pray God with full gratefulness looking at your past. God has already granted 100 favours, giving you this human birth, which itself is the first favour. Health, wife, children, money, education, devotion etc., are the 100 favours already done to you by God. Your prayer never touches any of these favours already done to you in the past. Jesus explained that even the problems are also favours, which stimulate you to come near to God. His idea was that you should thank God even for the problems, which help you to develop the devotion to God. In the worldly affairs, you should be reverse to this concept. You should never think past and concentrate only on present and future in your worldly duties. Hence, God is reverse to the world.

Today, the prayers concentrate on the problems of the present, expecting the happiness of their relief in the future. According to Jesus, your prayer should be mere acknowledgement of the past favours done by God to you. Since this direction is absent, you have become the most ungrateful devil forgetting the long list of favours already done to you by God. Nobody mentions even a single favour already granted by God. From the beginning to the end, the prayer concentrates on the present and future only assuming that the favours already done were due to the results of good deeds performed by the individual. In such case, continue with the good deeds and naturally your present and future will be good. Where is the need of prayer to God?

[Mr. Anil asked for the reason of the absence of the enlightenment of this angle by the preachers of Bible and Jesus.]

Swami replied: The reason is that this angle will never be liked by the public. People want God to solve the present problems for the happiness in the future. Expressing gratefulness for the past, which is already achieved, is of no use. If God is confined to the past only, nobody will waste the time in the unnecessary activity of expression of gratefulness for the past. The preacher is always to the tune of the people only like a politician. The preacher is also one of the public and will have the same attitude only. This is the reason for the closure of this angle.

It is easy to understand the preaching of Jesus, but, the most difficult part is to understand Jesus as the human incarnation of the unimaginable God in which both the human being and God co-exist like current and wire. This concept is not digested by the majority of the public, which crucified Him due to ego and jealousy. The majority always likes Jesus to be one among them and the existence of God in Him can never be tolerated. Of course, people do not mind much to give a little specialty as the Messenger of God. Some people, who are filled with ego and jealousy from top to bottom, will not agree even to this little specialty and such people are almost atheists or demons. The Messenger means a human being existing in the kingdom of God like any other human being, selected by God for service. This reflects the first statement ‘I am in the light’. This corresponds to the Dvaita philosophy of Madhva. This is dualism insisting on the total difference between God and human being even though the human being is possessed by God. This is correct in the sense that God is unimaginable and the human being is imaginable. But, this difference is not opposing the truth that such a human being is possessed by God. Current is the stream of electrons and the wire is the chain of metallic particles. Both are totally different. But, this difference does not oppose the truth that a specific metallic wire is possessed by current. Every wire need not have the current and hence, every human being is not possessed by God. Again, this point provokes the jealousy of the people. The second statement ‘the light is in Me’ is that a specific devoted human being selected by God is possessed by God. This corresponds to the Son of God in whom only the blood of the Father is flowing. Everybody is not the Son and so every human being is not possessed by God. Even though Father and Son are different individuals, the Son cannot be isolated from the Father due to the blood. The separable and inseparable concepts co-exist and this is the Vishishta Advaita of Ramanuja, which is a bridge between Madhva and Shankara. The Advaita belongs to Shankara, which is the oneness of the two inseparable items like current and wire during the period of flow of current in the wire. Hence, the human being possessed by God is treated as God for all practical purposes. This is reflected by the statement ‘I am the light’. This is supported by other statements like ‘I am the truth’ and ‘I and My Father are one and the same’.

The human being possessed by God is also an ordinary human being like anybody else before the possession. This human being is selected by God to spread His message and is called as Messenger. The jealousy in others starts here itself since others are not selected. This is zero level of people. Such people, who could not tolerate Jesus even as Messenger, shocked to hear second and third levels crucified Him. The jealousy further grows if the Messenger is possessed by God and becomes Son of God. Mohammad, the next Prophet stopped at the level of Messenger itself, to avoid the further growth of the jealousy and opposed the concept of human incarnation. The second stage, which is the entry of God into a specific human being and the third stage, which is treating the specific human being as God, are more and more provoking to the zero level and are dangerous. Mohammad avoided the second and third stages and hence, was saved from crucifixion. Jesus announced the three stages separately to the three levels of people. The problem is that the zero level people also hear the statements of the first, second and third levels. The zero level people, who cannot tolerate even the first level, will be upset more and more to the higher and highest levels. People of different levels are not isolated by walls. The small cat will also enter the big hole of Newton! Therefore, Mohammad thought that it is better to stand on the first level itself. The first level is inevitable because the message of God should be spread standing as the Messenger. The zero level people will be hurt by the first level also, but, there is no much danger in absence of the second and third levels. The reaction will reach climax when the zero level receives the statement of third level!

At the lotus feet of Shri Dattaswami

-Prasad

Try to enjoy unhappy scenes

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God, [August 25, 2012] Several devotees are posing a problem on the concept of equally enjoying the happy and unhappy scenes in the life like the sweet and hot dishes in the meals or like the happy and unhappy scenes in a cinema. The enjoyment of the scenes in the cinema may be different from the enjoyment of the sweet and hot dishes in the meals. In the cinema, the happy and unhappy scenes roll alternatively, but, those are related to the story of somebody else. In the case of meals, you are directly eating the sweet and hot dishes. The enjoyment of sweet and hot dishes can be the exact simile to the enjoyment of happy and unhappy scenes in one’s own life. The reason is that in both these cases, the enjoyer is directly involved. In the case of cinema, the enjoyer is not directly involved because the scenes are related to somebody else in the story. Therefore, as you have grown, you have become capable of enjoying sweet and hot dishes in the meals. In the childhood, which is the beginning stage of the life, you might have felt difficulty in enjoying the hot dishes and you enjoyed the sweet dishes only. The elders start giving hot dishes to the child in the childhood itself so that the child will not be bored by sweets in course of time if only sweets are continued. In the case of continuing the sweets, the child will never like any sweet in its life even after becoming adult. In course of time, you have started tasting the hot dishes introduced by elders with great reluctance and inconvenience. But, as time proceeded, you have overcome the reluctance and inconvenience in tasting the hot dishes. After sometime, you have developed the taste for hot dishes also and slowly you have started enjoying the hot dishes like the sweets.

The concept in our issue arises from this simile itself. The concept is that you may develop reluctance and inconvenience to the unhappy scenes in the beginning, but, in course of time, this reluctance turned into liking and the inconvenience turned into attraction. Not only the hot dishes, any worst material like the sour tobacco, sour wine etc., also develop reluctance and inconvenience in the beginning. But, after sometime, people become addicted to these materials to such extent that they cannot live without tasting these materials! Therefore, coming to the actual concept, you may have reluctance and inconvenience to the unhappy scenes in the beginning for sometime as you had the same to hot dishes in your childhood. But, after sometime, you will enjoy the unhappy scenes also in the life. The continuous happy scenes will certainly bore you and lead to permanent unhappiness. If you eat the sweets continuously for sometime, you will never taste the sweet again in your life time! Without tasting anything, you will get bored and such state itself is the state of unhappiness. Hence, the unhappiness is inevitable. Instead of developing reluctance to the inevitable situations, it is better to enjoy the inevitable situation. By avoiding the unhappy scene always, you cannot get rid of it since continuous happiness also results in unhappiness only. Since the unhappiness is inevitable, better to enjoy it so that you can maintain the state of continuous happiness in the life. This continuous happiness is called as bliss, which is the divine state of God. In fact, God is continuously enjoying the unhappy and happy scenes by involving Himself directly by coming to this world as human incarnations continuously.

The Gita says that you can achieve anything by practice (Abhyasena tu…). This practice can be implemented in the beginning stage of facing the unhappy scenes so that in course of time, you will start enjoying the unhappy scenes also. Anyway, you have to start tasting the unhappy scene one day or other. In such case, why to postpone? If you face the unhappy scene now itself, start facing it and try to enjoy it, instead of trying to avoid it by praying God. Realized souls never pray God to avoid the problems and difficulties in the life. The unhappy scene acts as interval between two happy scenes. An unhappy scene is like tasting the sour pickle between two sweets. The sour pickle tasted in the interval gives you the real taste of the sweet once again. If you taste the second sweet after the first sweet, the second sweet cannot be enjoyed. This is the reason for the elder people eating the sweet and hot items alternatively in the meals. After facing some unhappy scenes in your lifetime, you will certainly develop the taste of enjoying the unhappy scenes so that you will enjoy both the sweet and hot scenes in the life alternatively without any inconvenience and reluctance.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad