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

God takes Devotee’s Sin when Reformation Possible

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,[May 18, 2012] The punishment for the sin is to reform the mental setup of the soul so that the balance of the society is maintained. The reformation is not to develop devotion to God. God does not wish a soul to be devoted to Him. The devotion should be from the side of the devotee and God does not encourage it. In fact, God discourages the devotion. The soul has to surpass the hurdle created by such discouragement. Therefore, the aim of God is only Pravrutti (social justice) and not Nivrutti (devotion to God). God undergoes the punishment of some sins of some devotees due to their intense devotion to Him. This is quite natural even in the worldly bonds. Somebody, who loves some other soul, prays to God to give punishment to him or her instead of punishing that soul. This is found in the worldly bonds. Lord Narasimha Saraswati, who is the incarnation of God Dattatreya, adjusts the longevity of the wife by transferring a portion of it to her husband on the prayer of that devoted wife. Such transfer of punishments is seen even in the worldly bonds. But, in such transfer, the blind love is only the basis and not the reformation of the soul. The wife wanted to transfer the sin of her husband on to her, by reducing her longevity, only due to her blind love towards her husband. The reformation of the mental setup of her husband is not in her aim.

 

But, when God transfers the punishment of the sin of His devotee on to Him, the basis is not mere blind love towards His devotee. The basis is the reformation of the mental setup of the devotee for the welfare of the social justice. If such possibility for the reformation exists, then only, God transfers the punishment of the sin of His devotee. Raavana was a strong devotee of Lord Shiva. The punishment of Raavana was not transferred by God on to Him because, by such act, Raavana will not be reformed. Therefore, God does not transfer the sin of every devotee on to Him.

Lord Krishna transferred the punishment of the sin of Kuchela (Sudama) on to Him because there is a possibility of reformation of Kuchela by such transfer. Kuchela stole the food of Krishna. Such stealing affects the social justice. If Kuchela is not punished, he will steal the food of several human beings in the future. Therefore, he was punished with poverty. There is a difference between Raavana and Kuchela. Raavana did not change after suffering some punishment. Even though several family members of Raavana were killed, there was no change in the mental setup of Raavana. He fought with Rama till he died. Therefore, there will be no use by the transfer of partial punishment in the case of Raavana. Hence, the punishment was completely given to Raavana. In the case of Kuchela, the poverty has changed his mental setup and he never stole the food of anybody even though he and his family suffered with severe hunger. The punishment can be withdrawn after sometime and there is no need of complete punishment. Even though Kuchela became rich, he did not become proud and did not commit any sin. Hence, there is possibility of total reformation in the rest of his life. Hence, Lord transferred the sin on to Him and became partially poor. The wealth of Kuchela was drawn from the wealth of Krishna. Therefore, Krishna underwent the partial punishment.

Hence, the transfer of punishments of sins of certain selected devotees is only for the reformation of their mental setup helping the Pravrutti and such transfer has nothing to do with Nivrutti. Therefore, there is no blind love in the case of God when He transfers the sins on to Him. This is the thought in the verse “Kshitram Bhavati Dharmaatmaa…” said in the Gita. Hence, the reformation of mental setup for the sake of Pravrutti is maintained even in the transfer of the sins of certain selected devotees by God. In the Bible also, it is said that God comes to save His people (Emmanuel). It does not mean that God saves all the people or all the devotees by undergoing their punishments.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-prasad

Rituals in right direction

Avoid Sin in the Wastage of Food

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God, [August 4, 2012 Evening-2] You think that a ritual should be performed with a specific procedure and specific materials involving the recitation of the specific Vedic hymns, which alone becomes fruitful. You think that the specific procedure and specific hymns alone can protect you, giving the desired results. People fear that the specific rituals should be strictly performed involving the recitation of specific hymns using specific materials in a specific procedure. The priest takes lot of unnecessary advantage about this concept and earns huge money and respect and due to this, sometimes poor people suffer. The fear existing in the heart about the negative results in the absence of such ritual is tremendous and hence, the innocent people suffer a lot.

The main objection to this concept is about the universality of rituals performed in various countries. The procedures of the rituals and the involved recitation of hymns and usage of the materials differ from religion to religion all over the world. In such case, God becomes partial to a specific region of the world in which only the so called correct hymns, procedures and materials are given by God. If you say that the ritual of a specific religion practiced in a specific region only is correct, God becomes partial in giving the correct hymns, procedure and materials to a specific region only. The partiality of God is not justified since He is the divine Father of the entire humanity. If you observe the essence of all these rituals performed in various religions, you can easily understand that the basic essence consists of two points only in the rituals of every religion:

1)          The ritual of every religion mainly consists of prayers in mother tongue to God that should be understood by the priest and everyone attending the ritual.

2)          The next essence is the donation of food, clothes and money to deserving devotees of God.

Since the ritual of every religion performed in any region satisfies these two essential points, no favour is done to any specific religion existing in any specific region. Hence, God becomes impartial Divine Father of the entire humanity. Unfortunately, the only religion that misses this essence is Hinduism! In ancient India, these essential points were fully satisfied and by way of the depth of the spiritual knowledge of the scripture, Hinduism was considered to be the greatest religion in the world. Today, the same religion came to the lowest level due to the missing essence. The hymns are recited in Sanskrit and nobody including the priest knows the meaning of even a single word of recitation. Due to the absence of the knowledge of the prayer, the devotion exists neither in the priest nor in others. By this, the priest becomes the most undeserving fellow. Donation to such priests is not only waste but actually a sin. In ancient India, this problem was not there because Sanskrit was the mother tongue in that time. Therefore, [you] either recite the prayers in your mother tongue or at least, the priest should explain the Sanskrit hymns to others. Alternatively, every Hindu should learn the Sanskrit language. In such case, the priest becomes a real devotee and the donation to the deserving priest becomes fruitful. Then only, the Hindu religion will rise from the present lowest level to the highest level, which existed once upon a time in ancient India. Fortunately, other religions do not have this problem because even today, the hymns recited from their scriptures, are in their mother tongues only.

While serving the food, you should request the guests to observe the served items before they start eating so that if any item is allergic, it can be removed from the plate. Nobody should leave any food item after eating, which is greatest sin. The cook should prepare the food in a careful way so that the items are properly prepared. After cooking or during the process of cooking, a spoon of the item can be removed separately and tasted for addition of anything deficient. Tasting the food in this way is not wrong since there is no contamination with the hand that touches the mouth during tasting. If the food is not properly prepared and is thrown away by the people, the sin goes to the cook. Anyway utmost care should be taken in not wasting the food.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad

Karma Chakra: Sanchitam, Prarabdham and Aagami

Q) Can You explain about the system of recording the actions of a soul in the life so that corresponding fruits are delivered here or there?

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God, [July 23, 2012]

Ans) The system of recording the actions and corresponding fruits is very simple. The individual soul (jeeva) made of awareness is a bundle of thoughts or qualities. The awareness without any thought is inert energy (atman) only. A specific work form of atman in a specific system, called brain and nerves, is called as jeeva. In deep sleep, the awareness disappears and only its basic inert energy remains. Atman exists as jeeva in the states of awakening and dream. Atman remains as atman in the state of deep sleep. People think that in meditation all the thoughts disappear and hence, only atman remains. This is not correct because there is slight difference between deep sleep and meditation. In meditation, jeeva remains, who is aware of himself. An impression of jeeva as pure thoughtless awareness is created as a pulse (sphota) or signal in the brain. This jeeva is aware of that signal only. The awareness of all other signals vanishes. Every thought is a pulse stored in the brain. In deep sleep, the awareness disappears. But, after waking up, all the thoughts are remembered again. This is because every thought is recorded as a signal in the particular part of faculty of the brain, called chittam. The connection of awareness to these recorded signals is called as smruti or memory. The record of all the signals in brain and nerves is physically available in the human body during the human life. Hence, during the life time, the jeeva is a bundle of several thoughts. But, during the time of death, all the effects of these pulses are simplified in to three groups, which are the principle qualities, called sattvam, represented by white color, rajas, represented by red color and tamas, represented by black color. When jeeva leaves the body, he is a simple bundle of these three main qualities represented by the three colors. 

Depending upon the strengthening of each quality by the corresponding actions, the intensities of these three colors vary. Rewards in heaven or here are given by God based on the intensity of white color. Punishments in hell or here are given by God based on the intensities of red and black colors. The details of each action need not follow the jeeva after death. All the details are buried here only with the brain and nerves along with dead body. The essence of every action comes into one of these three colors helping the intensity of the corresponding color. This is the reason for the jeeva to forget all the details of the life after death in the next birth. Sattvam stands for good, rajas and tamas stand for bad. The rajas is provoked by krodha (anger), lobha (greedy), mada (pride) and maatsarya (jealousy). Similarly, tamas is provoked by kama (lust) and moha (intensive attachment). The white color contains other colors in it. These six qualities in right modes become good and in wrong modes become bad. The lust is good existing on wife and the same lust becomes bad when it exists on other women, the anger is good diverted to evil people and is bad diverted to good people. The greedy (not to be charitable) involved in undeserving people is good and the same involved in deserving people is bad. The intensive attachment to God and devotees is good and to ungrateful people is bad. The pride involved in God (that you are a devotee of God and need not fear at all) is good and the same involved in worldly matters is bad. The jealousy involved in the progress of high devotees with competitive spirit (so that you can intensify your spiritual effort more) is good and the same involved in harming others due to their progress is bad. Like this, the detection of good and bad of a soul and granting corresponding fruits is based on simple system of identification of the intensities of these three colors only.

In the upper worlds (heaven and hell) these intensities of colors get reduced due to the enjoyment of corresponding fruits. The jeeva comes down with least intensities of these colors and hence is mild in the childhood. However, you can see these colors from the trends of their behavior. The jeeva coming down with these colors in least intensities is granted a particular birth with a specific corresponding atmosphere, which depends on the overall study of these least intensities of these three colors. Such fruit, which is the new birth attained by the jeeva in this world is called as Prarabdham. These births due to Prarabdham vary because though the intensities of these colors are least, yet, there is variation even in the least intensities from one individual to the other. To be more clear, when the intensities of these colors are reduced to the least level, there is still difference in the intensities even in the least level. The higher intensities may be in the level of 90 to 100. The least intensities may be in the level of 1 to 10. Hence, the variation in the composition of these three colors is there and hence according to this variation, the births related to Prarabdham also vary. The individual is born here in a specific birth along with a box of these three colors in the least intensities. This box is called as Sanchitam. This Sanchitam will influence the future actions of individuals in the life according to the variation in the intensities of these three colors. The future actions done by the influence of this Sanchitam are called as Aagami. Thus the whole system of deeds is classified into three steps called as Sanchitam, Prarabdham and Aagami. The atmosphere of the future life supplies more strength to the intensities of these colors based on the merits and defects of the actions guided by the already existing box. Therefore, the actions in the present life are guided by the intensities of the three colors existing in the box and these actions in turn intensify those colors again in a circular fashion. This circular motion of the three colors is called as karma chakra consisting of the three principle qualities (trigunas) represented by the three colors. The concept of this karma chakra involves a complicated analysis as said in Gita (gahanaa karmano gatih).

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad

Interpretation of Scripture on Non-vegetarian Food

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God, [July 15, 2012 Dr. Nikhil asked Swami that several participants in a spiritual meeting quoted the Veda and the other scriptures, which speak in favor of non-vegetarian food. They asked him about Swami speaking against the non-vegetarian food. Dr. Nikhil asked Swami about this. Swami gave the following message in reply to that.]

Reply of Swami: Eating the non-vegetarian food is one issue and killing a living being, to collect the flesh out of it, is another issue. The first issue does not involve any sin because the non-vegetarian food or flesh or meat contains the same ingredients as those of a vegetarian item. The same carbohydrates, the same proteins, the same vitamins, the same minerals etc., exist in both meat and vegetables. Therefore, to eat the flesh of a living being, which died naturally through old age, is not a sin. Kapalikas (a sect of Hinduism), eat the dead bodies and therefore, they are not considered as sinners since this sect of religion is respected. But, the flesh of the living being, which dies due to old age, is not recommended because generally the death of an old living being happens due to some disease. Then, the flesh of such a living being is not good for the reasons of health. But, the living being might have been killed through some accident or by some cruel animal and the flesh left over may be hygienic. In such case, the non-vegetarian food need not be rejected on the ground of sin because the eater of such flesh neither killed it nor had any intention to kill it. In any case, there is no sin in eating the non-vegetarian food provided you neither kill the living being nor you should be responsible for killing it.

You may say that you eat the meat but you did not kill the living being directly with your hands. Since you eat the meat, you have become the consumer of the meat. The butcher, who kills the animals or birds, kills these animals or birds only for the sake of consumers in his business. Therefore, even though you did not kill the living being directly with your hands, you have become the indirect supporter of it by eating the meat. Hence, you have to share the sin. If you finding the killed living being through an accident and if you collect its flesh, you do not share the sin. But, beware that your taste of such accidental meat may increase slowly and you may kill the animal directly or indirectly in course of time for the meat! Hence, it is better to avoid the meat from the beginning itself.

The sin comes only if you kill the living being directly or become responsible for its killing indirectly and you have to face the punishment of such a sin. You may find the Veda or the scriptures speaking about the non-vegetarian food and killing of a living being in sacrifice. By this, you should not think that the Veda or the scripture provokes you to kill the animal. In fact, the scripture controls you to kill the animal by suggesting the sacrifice to be done in a specified season like spring only (VasanteVasantejyotishaayajeta…). The sacrifice called ‘Jyotishtoma’ should be performed only in spring season. By this, you control the killing of animal in other seasons. You cannot totally oppose the killing of animal in the beginning itself. Instead of killing the animal every day or every week, you can allow the killing of animal once in a year only. This reduces the killing of the animal gradually and finally, you can avoid the killing forever. This is just like running along a running bull for some distance before you control it. We cannot control the running bull in the very first step itself. You have to run along with it for sometime before you control it. Such running of a person should not be misunderstood as encouragement of running. Even if the person does not run, the bull will run. Even if the scripture does not advise the killing of animal in the sacrifice to be performed once in a year, the killing of the animal for the meat will not be stopped. In fact, the killing of the animal in the absence of such instruction will take place more frequently. Shankara had clarified this point in His commentary by saying that the defective nature of the human being (Pravrutti) is not encouraged by the Veda. Following the defective nature of the human being, the Veda suggests the sacrifice. This does not mean that the Veda initiates the defective nature in the human being. Shankara said, ‘Shastramjnapakamnatukarakam’. This means that the scripture gives the advice based on the naturally existing defective nature in the human being and that the scripture is not the initiator of the defective nature.

 Scripture Aims in Total Eradication of Defective Nature with Time

In fact, if you analyze carefully, the advice given by the scripture is also in the direction of total eradication of the defective nature in course of time. The scripture says that the fisherman should not catch fish in the river Ganga. By this, the scripture controls the catching of fish in one place at least. The scripture further says that the fisherman should not catch the fish on the days of Divine festivals at least. By this, the scripture is controlling the killing of fish on some days at least. Finally, the scripture says that you should not kill the fish at any place on any day and such stage is called as ‘Mahavratam’, which is irrespective of place and time. You should not mistake that the scripture encourages the killing of fish on other days and in other rivers. This is the wrong side of the conclusion and this is said to be the misunderstanding of the scripture. The correct side is that the scripture tries to control the sin gradually by restricting in one place and on some days at least. Allowing the sin on other days does not mean encouraging the sin. Control brings the reduction of sin and slowly the sin can be completely eradicated.

Bhavabhooti says in Uttararamacharitam that the cow is killed when the guest comes (Eshagowhmatamatayate…). This is the indication of reduction of sin, which means that you should not kill the cow for your sake on other days. This avoids killing the cow frequently for the sake of your food. The complete control of the sin can be found in the Veda that the person killing a cow should be shot dead (Goghnamseesenaviddhyamah…). Therefore, the scripture always tries to control the sin and never encourages the sin. Eating the meat is not a sin if you limit the vision to the process of eating and the eaten material. But, you indirectly encourage the killing of animal by eating the meat since the animals are only killed for the sake of consumers. The meaning of the ‘Maamsa’ (meat) is that you will become the animal and the presently killed animal will become the butcher in the next birth (Maamsahyathaahinastipashchaatjanmanitathaaaham tam hanishyaami…). The animal during the process of killing thinks that the butcher should become the animal and it should become the butcher in the next life so that the butcher should understand the pain in the process of killing. The medical science has already investigated that the proteins in the meat are secondary and therefore, the flesh is not a healthy food. The proteins in the vegetables are primary and are good for health. If all the humanity is confined to vegetarian food only, there is no dearth of food on this earth because the omnipotent God is capable of supplying the vegetarian food to all the living beings.

Of course, there will be very little pain even to the plants while cutting the vegetables and leaves. But, this pain is extremely negligible compared to the pain experienced by the animals and birds in the process of killing. The plants and trees also should not be cut. Only the fruits and leaves can be plucked. Parvati was called Aparna since She did penance eating the leaves, which fell from the trees and She never even plucked those leaves. This is the extreme step of non-violence. However, the negligible sin can be overlooked like the minor error in scientific experiments. Somebody has beaten a person. That is also pain. But, killing the same person gives extreme pain. There is quantitative difference in the sin. By qualitative similarity, you should not say that beating is equal to killing. The non-vegetarians argue that the plants also experience pain in the process of plucking the leaves and hence, killing the animal is equal sin. Both are sins, but, both are not quantitatively equal. The extremely minor sin can be overlooked and neglected. Therefore, such argument is not valid.

You should carefully understand the scripture before you quote it. If you do not properly understand it, it becomes misquotation. Hence, the analysis is important. The scripture, analysis and experience are the three sides of the authority. The analysis is the most important. The experience of a defective person may be wrong and cannot be an authority. The scripture also may be wrong due to the interpolation of some mischievous person. Only the analysis can decide the truth. When Swami Vivekananda was speaking some point, somebody pointed out that Shankara said the same point in opposing way. Then, Vivekananda told that Shankara may be wrong. What is the meaning of this? Shankara can never be wrong. But, some ignorant person might have introduced a wrong statement in the commentary of Shankara and that statement may be the opposing point. Therefore, every statement of the commentary of Shankara should be analyzed with perfect sharp logic and scientific analysis. We find often people saying that ‘so and so’ told in a different way. You should not care for anybody except for your sharp logical analysis. Sometimes, you might have misunderstood the scripture as said above. Scripture like the Veda was never interpolated by anybody since it was preserved through recitation from the beginning. In such case, misunderstanding of the scripture is possible. Such misunderstanding also vanishes by the sharp analysis. Therefore, accept anything only when it is filtered through the perfect scientific analysis.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad

Discovery is Fundamental Particle of Matter but not God Particle

Q. Recently, scientists say that God-particle is discovered, which is the cause for Universe. Does this not eliminate God?

Message taken from Discourses of Shri Datta Swami) Research Deals with generation of Second Item, Matter

Scientists are investigating the cause for mass of the fundamental particle of matter. This is only the research pertaining to the conversion of energy into matter. The word Universe used by scientists is the materialized phase. Before the production of such Universe, the cosmic energy exists. Therefore, it is related only to the materialization of the particles of matter from the energy. The word Universe in the spiritual knowledge means the very cosmic energy itself associated with the subsequent materialized part of the Universe. In fact, even the space is the first subtle form of energy. Therefore, the word Universe in philosophy means the space or energy and the subsequent materialized energy. In philosophy, the production of Universe means the generation of space or energy. This requires the enquiry about the cause of space or energy and the mechanism of process of generation of space or energy from that cause. Here, in science, the cause is space or energy and the process of generation of matter from the space or energy is the generation of Universe. Our Universe means space or energy and matter. The Universe referred by scientists in this research is only matter. The research of scientists does not touch the cause of space or energy. We are not much interested in this research because it does not touch the cause of the first item of the Universe, which is space or energy. The present research deals only with the generation of the second item, which is matter.

 Discovery is Fundamental Particle of Matter but not God Particle

The scientists think that the energy itself is the root cause or God. The scientists stop at the imaginable cause only. They do not agree with the existence of the unimaginable cause, which is the generator of space or energy. The generator of anything should be beyond its boundary. If you are in a cloud of gas and if you travel to the boundary of the cloud, you will find the generator of that cloud of gas. Similarly, if you travel up to the boundary of the Universe, you will certainly find the cause or generator of this Universe. The boundary of the Universe is infinite, which is unimaginable. The unimaginable boundary of the Universe suggests that the generator of the Universe must be also unimaginable. The characteristic property of the space is volume, which is the product of length, width and height. These three are the spatial dimensions. Space means the spatial dimensions only. The generator of the space must not have space in it. If space exists in the generator, the pre-existence of space is to be accepted before the generation of space itself. This is impossible. Hence, the generator of space should not have any space or spatial dimensions in it. It means the cause of space is beyond space or spatial dimensions. ‘Beyond space’ means that the cause exists after the boundary of space. Our intelligence can imagine only anything which has spatial dimensions. Our intelligence can never imagine anything, which is beyond space and which does not have spatial dimensions. This experience proves that the generator of space is beyond our imagination. When the cause is unimaginable, the process of generation of imaginable space or energy from the unimaginable cause must be also unimaginable. In this world, the process of an imaginable item from another imaginable cause can be imaginable and hence, can be explained. The cause (God) and the process of generation of this Universe are unimaginable and only the product (Universe) is imaginable.

The big bang theory is an imaginable process because it deals with the process of generation of imaginable matter from the imaginable energy. But, the process of generation of imaginable energy from the unimaginable God is unimaginable unlike the big bang theory. The logic, which I have exposed here, is purely scientific and cannot be denied by anyone. Therefore, the God-particle must be in God only. It means that the God-particle must be also unimaginable. This name given to the fundamental particle of the matter as God-particle is absolutely wrong. It can be called as the first or fundamental particle of matter, which is the cause of the materialized Universe.

At lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad