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[Dr. Nikhil asked Swami that several participants in a spiritual meeting quoted the Veda and other scriptures, which speak in favor of non-vegetarian food. They asked him about Swami speaking against non-vegetarian food. Swami gave the following message in reply.]
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...
Guru means the preacher, who removes the ignorance so that we can see the truth clearly and differentiate the right from wrong. The ignorance is like darkness in which you cannot find the existence of an item and also you cannot differentiate the different items. Gayatri mantra says that the Guru is like the Sun, who removes the ignorance–darkness by knowledge-light that initiates the intelligence. The word Guru Purnima also indicates that Guru removes the darkness-ignorance like the full Moon in the night. Thus, Guru is compared to Sun...
The development of any limb of a human being is desirable as it grows from the childhood onwards. But, the growth of any limb should be within the proper limits. The growth of the finger should not be equal to the growth of the leg. Similarly, the development of science should not cross the proper limits so that there is no harm to the global environment and the health of humanity. In ancient India, sages also developed sciences. But, the sages were strong devotees of God and hence, the development of the research in science and technology did not cross the limits of danger by the grace of God...
The modern world thinks that the ancient people have wasted lot of time in the analysis about the unimaginable God. This is the first foolishness because these people do not know that the realization of the existence of God in the mind of a citizen is directly linked to the resistance towards crime and corruption that establish the peaceful social balance. The concept of God is the tremendous basis of the self control of every human being to reject crime and corruption in the society...
In ancient times, the total education was concentrated on the establishment of the existence of God, heaven and hell. If justice is followed, God rewards you with heaven and if injustice is done, God punishes you in hell. If you say that God exists, people may not believe and may commit sins by which the balance of the society gets disturbed. The existence of God is to be proved through very deep logical analysis and discussions. All the seminars and conferences in ancient India ran on single subject, which is about the existence...
The over attachment to worldly bonds is the source of sin. Every human being exists in this stage of over attachment to world. Pravrutti is the reduction of this over attachment so that limited proper attachment to the worldly bonds is reached and thereby, the balance of this society is achieved. Over attachment to worldly bonds is injustice and pravrutti is the justice. Nivrutti is total detachment from these worldly bonds so that total attachment to God results. The human being is inherently associated with the characteristic of attachment...
Whenever you want to do some donation, there are two important aspects, which should be well understood so that you can get good fruit for your good sacrifice. The first aspect is to detect the most deserving receiver and the second aspect is about the nature of your donation. What should be donated and to whom it should be donated are the two important enquiries. The Veda gives answers for these two enquiries. The Veda says that the most deserving person should be the scholar of divine knowledge, who shall not aspire anything...
The case of the present politicians, officials, contractors, businessmen etc., can be compared to the case of Kuchela as far as the sin is concerned. You cannot compare Kuchela with these people as far as the nature of the soul is concerned. Regarding the nature of the sin, the comparison is that all these people snatch away the wealth of others in spite of their stabilized life. God has given you sufficient wealth to maintain your health. But, you steal others wealth in doing the corruption, which develops tension that spoils your health...
The reformation of human being, which is indicated by repentance, takes place in the human being even before the implementation of punishment. As soon as the human being hears the punishment from the mouth of the judge, the repentance is expressed, which indicates the reformation of the soul. There is no scientific instrument to test the reformation of the soul, except the expression of repentance. The punishment of the prisoner is reduced by the observation of the repentance and practical behavior of the human being...
Pravrutti is the balance of the society by maintaining justice in the context of worldly bonds. Nivrutti is exceptional record break by sacrificing the worldly bonds for the sake of love to God. God never aims at Nivrutti since it is somebody loving Him personally. Nivrutti deals with a single individual called as God. Pravrutti is the subject dealing with all the living beings in the society to maintain the balance of the world. God never aims at Nivrutti because it is the case of an individual and more over that individual is Himself. Generally, a human being encourages...
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...
The incidents in human life and the results of the actions of the human being are the constituents of the cycle of deeds (karma chakra). This cycle is very complicated and is a multi-dimensional network as said in the Gita (gahanaa karmano gatihi…). The basic concept of this cycle is only preaching the soul for its reformation. God alone is the preacher as said ‘Guruh sakshaat parabrahma’. The unimaginable God is expressed in human form in this world of humanity. Such human incarnation is called as Datta, which means...
This world of humanity is based on full freedom and absence of any forcible destiny. Here, you are free to do any type of work and no destiny forces you to do any specific work as said in the Gita (Na kartrutvam...). The concept of destiny exists only in the link of the specific work and the specific fruit. You have full freedom to put your finger in fire or water. No destiny forces you to put your finger in fire or water. The destiny lies only in the link between a specific work and corresponding specific fruit. It is destined that the fire burns your finger...
Unreal Thought for God; Material Reality for Man: The Veda says ‘God alone could not enjoy. Hence, He thought of the second item, which is the creation. He created this entire universe. After creation, He entered this universe. After entering this universe, He maintained Himself as the absolute truth and also became the medium, which is the relative truth’ (Ekaaki na ramate sa dvitiyamaichchat sa idam sarvamasrujata tat srushtvaa tadevaanupraavishat tadanu pravishya satcha tyatchaabhavat…). If you analyze this...
[Evening message] The Gita says ‘svalpa mapyasya dharmasya…’. It means that something is better than nothing. Based on this point, our traditional customs are built up, which should not be mocked as illogical and blind. Our tradition says that you should offer any food or drink to God before you enjoy it. Offering to God is theoretical and not practical. You should not say that the theoretical step is useless. Offering to God develops your theoretical devotion to God...
Serve Incarnation, Devotees or the Poor in God’s Name: Worship to God in human form can be digested only by human beings, who have completely conquered their ego and jealousy. Devotees of highest level can only reach this level of maturity of divine knowledge. Most of the human beings cannot reach this level and therefore, only energetic forms of God are prescribed for them. But, energetic forms are not available on the earth to receive the service of the devotees because such forms are prescribed only for the upper worlds in which souls in energetic bodies live. Therefore, only inert photos...
The Veda says that one alone cannot enjoy (Ekaki na ramate…). This statement is quite logical also. Enjoyment is a verbal noun, which indicates the verb or work done. Unless there is an interaction between two different items, work can never be done. Enjoyment is work. Therefore, the work or enjoyment cannot exist with the existence of only one item. The eating work cannot take place without the existence of the eater and eatable food. Therefore, the Veda says that in the absence...
Equal Enjoyment Leads to Lack of Aspiration: The Gita is called as Yoga Shastra, which means the subject of yoga. Yoga is the basis for spiritual development. The effect of yoga is not to aspire any fruit from God. Generally, people pray and love God to remove the misery and get happiness. But, if you can enjoy both misery and happiness equally, there is no need of praying or loving God for the removal of misery. Yoga means equal enjoyment of both misery and happiness. In such case, you need not pray God...
Neutrality Towards Happy and Misery is Not Yoga: The bliss of God is said to be continuous without any interruption. This means that God is in continuous state of joy derived from continuous enjoyment. The Veda says that God created this universe for the sake of enjoyment through entertainment. This creation contains both happiness and misery altering continuously. The creation is completely in the hand of God. If God enjoys only the happy scenes, God could have created this creation with continuous happy scenes only. Anything continuous leads to boring, which is the misery. Therefore, misery is...
[Telugu New Year Day] God created this world and controls it. The soul can neither create nor control the world. God also destroys this world and the soul cannot do it. Therefore, the creation, ruling and destruction of the world can be done by God only and the soul is a total failure in these three aspects. The soul wants to become equal to God and such an ambition is called as Monism or Advaita. But, the soul is not equal to God in any aspect. God created this world for His entertainment...
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