Posted on: 12 Dec 2020
[This discourse is part of the satsaṅga that took place on 21/11/2020, 8:00–10:00 p.m. Shri Bharath Krishna asked: Our friends, who are devotees of Amma (Mātā Amṛtānandamayī), felt pained when we conveyed to them that it is better for male devotees to recite the names of God Viṣṇu instead of the names of Goddess Lalitā. We also gave them the reason for the suggestion, as elaborately explained by You, that some names of Lalitā describe the physical beauty of the divine mother and the tongue of the son is not supposed to utter such descriptions. They were not convinced, but we were afraid of bringing them directly in contact with You because we felt that they might misunderstand us further on knowing the concept of the sacrifice of the fruit of work (karma phala tyāga) which has been emphasized by You in Your spiritual knowledge.]
Swāmi replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Even if you bring them into contact with Me, the topic of discussion will only be confined to the discussion of the Lalitā Sahasranāma. There is no context of connecting it to the concept of the sacrifice of the fruit of work, in any way. As regards the Lalitā Sahasranāma, I have only warned about the possibility of a male devotee slipping due to the awakening of the devilish nature that exists in human beings. If this warning is kept in mind, whenever such a situation arises, the male devotee will at least be cautious and control his mind with firm devotion towards the Divine Mother. One good thing is that most readers of the names of any divine form do not understand the meaning of the names, which are in Sanskrit. Ignorance is bliss! But a rare devotee may try to understand the meanings of the names which are in Sanskrit and for such a devotee, My warning stands to protect him from the slip of his mind.
As far as the topic of sacrifice of the fruit of one’s work (sacrifice of wealth) to the Human Incarnation of God is concerned, I would Iike to analyze it from two angles. The first is from the angle of the human-being component of the Human Incarnation of God and the second is from the angle of the God-component of the Human Incarnation. Let us look at each of these two angles.
a. Angle of the human being-component of the Incarnation
A human being may have an idea of earning money from devotees by claiming to be an Incarnation of God. It is quite possible for such a person to stress on this concept of the sacrifice of the fruit of work to God. But the point here is that this concept existed in the Veda and it has also been emphasized everywhere in the Gītā by God Kṛṣṇa, even before the birth of this human being-component (Datta Swami). This concept was neither created nor emphasized for the first time by this human being-component. This concept was created by the Veda and was sharpened and emphasized by Kṛṣṇa in the Gītā. Since Kṛṣṇa emphasized this concept and since Kṛṣṇa Himself was also a Human Incarnation of God, people should have misunderstood Kṛṣṇa to be a false Human Incarnation aspiring for the fruit of the work (wealth) of devotees. But such a misunderstanding never occurred in the Dvāpara Age, as far as the story of Kṛṣṇa goes. But this doubt has now arisen about the Human Incarnation in this Kali Age for re-emphasizing that same concept. The blame for it can certainly not be thrown on the Human Incarnation of this Kali age because the concept was created by God in the Veda and it was emphasized by Kṛṣṇa in the Gītā, even before the birth of any Human Incarnation of the Kali age. This Datta Swāmi has re-emphasized this concept because it was already emphasized by the Veda and by the Gītā and since it is a very important concept. It must be stressed because practical devotion (service and the sacrifice of wealth) done towards the contemporary Human Incarnation of God alone gives real practical fruits to the devotee. Fearing the misunderstanding of devotees, Datta Swāmi cannot keep silent about this crucial concept otherwise, every real devotee will lose the real practical fruit. If this concept comes to the notice of the devotees of Amma, let them learn this concept from Datta Swāmi, but let them perform the sacrifice of the fruit of their work to Amma Herself. Amma is also an Incarnation of God Datta alone. Ultimately, the sacrifice should be done to the one God Datta, who alone is the goal of the sacrifice. The sacrifice done to Amma will be the sacrifice done to Datta Swāmi also since God Datta is common in both the Human Incarnations. This removes the unnecessary doubt about any Human Incarnation in this Kali age. There can be more than one Incarnation of God Datta in any given time. In the recent past, three Incarnations, namely, Śrī Akkalkot Maharāj, Shirdi Sai Bāba and Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa Paramahaṃsa existed at the same time. God Datta was common in all the three Incarnations. A devotee was once worried because he wished to give a gift to Akkalkot Maharāj, but was unable to visit Him. He got a dream in which Akkalkot Maharāj appeared to Him stating that since He also existed in Shirdi Sai Bāba, the gift promised to Him should be given to Shirdi Sai Bāba.
b. Angle of the God-component of the Incarnation
God is also responsible for answering this question from His angle, as to why He created this concept in the Veda and also emphasized it in the Gītā, again and again. The root responsibility lies with God. God says that, in this world, true love is proved only by the sacrifice of the fruit of one’s work. This is also true in worldly life (pravṛtti). If a person like a saint is incapable of sacrificing the fruit of his work, he should sacrifice his work i.e., he should offer his service to God. Practical devotion consists of the sacrifice of work (service) and the sacrifice of the fruit of one’s work (donation of wealth). It is only this practical devotion that proves the love or theoretical devotion to be true. We see that this concept is very much true in the case of the love shown by parents towards their children. The parents sacrifice work to their children in their childhood. In the end, they also sacrifice the fruit of their work (wealth), which they have saved, to their children. This proves that their love for their children is true. These two practical steps of service and sacrifice put together are called karma yoga and it alone yields the divine fruit.
God Kṛṣṇa has said in the Gītā that God responds to a devotee in the same way as the devotee approached Him. If the devotee worships God by learning spiritual knowledge, God blesses the devotee with a sharper intelligence which is helpful in the analysis of the knowledge. If the devotee worships God by singing sweet songs and expressing emotional feelings, God blesses the devotee with a stronger mind since emotions are qualities of the mind and with a sweeter voice to sing the divine songs more pleasantly. Sudāma was very poor and had neither money nor any food at home. Yet he borrowed a few handfuls of flattened rice and gave it as a gift to God Kṛṣṇa. This is practical devotion. Hence, God Kṛṣṇa granted him immense wealth. Therefore, practical devotion alone proves the truth of a person’s theoretical devotion or love. Hence, it is justified to keep practical devotion in the topmost place in the spiritual effort (Tyāgāt śāntiranantaram…—Gītā). Through the case of parents serving their children and sacrificing their wealth to their children, it is human beings alone who have proved that the sacrifice of work and the fruit of one’s work is the topmost proof of real love. Hence, this concept has been established by human beings themselves, even before God mentioned it in the Veda and the Gītā. Therefore, human beings cannot even blame God for being the author of this concept. In the world of human devotees, the real proof of true love is only the sacrifice of the fruit of one’s work and the sacrifice of work, as exhibited by human parents towards their issues.