Posted on: 10 Apr 2020
Shri Phani asked: How to overcome such calamities as all the world is facing now due to the present horrible virus?
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! A king passed a rule in his kingdom which was to be followed by all citizens. The citizens who failed to follow the rule were to be punished. Some citizens violated the rule and were punished by the court of law (dharmāsanam) present in the kingdom. Now, suppose these punished violators praise the king a lot and pray to him, will the king cancel their punishment using his supreme power? The other citizens who followed his rule were not punished, even though they never praised the king. Hence, the main point here is to follow the rule of the king. Whether citizens praise the king or not is immaterial.
If you replace the king with God and the kingdom with this entire world, you will be able to relate the above story to the present context. God has given the divine constitution called the Dharma Śāstra, to humanity through ancient sages. Every soul is expected to follow that divine constitution of God. The constitution recommends doing certain meritorious deeds and prohibits sinful deeds. If one does not do the meritorious deeds, one only misses some benefit like going to heaven. But if one commits sin, one faces inevitable punishment. The punishment includes being sent to hell after death and undergoing suffering there. But it also includes hell-like punishment here on earth, when the sin committed is highly intense (Atyutkaṭaiḥ pāpa puṇyaiḥ, ihaiva phalamaśnute). The present calamity is punishment given by God to souls here on earth. Hence, it is indeed the result of the intense sins done by the souls in this world.
Following justice, doing meritorious deeds and not committing sin is the path of pravṛtti or worldly life. Devotion to God, which includes praising God, is the path of nivṛtti or spiritual life. A soul’s efforts in nivṛtti do not save the soul from the punishment of violating pravṛtti. Hence, praying to God will not stop this calamity, since it is the punishment for the sins committed by souls in worldly life (pravṛtti). Pravṛtti and nivṛtti are independent fields and nivṛtti never interferes with pravṛtti. Even if a soul is an atheist, but if he or she follows pravṛtti (worldly justice) strictly, the soul will not face any punishment. By avoiding sin, one certainly avoids the punishment of sin. Such a person will escape the infection even in the present epidemic.
The three main sins mentioned in the Gita “Kāmaḥ krodhaḥ tathā lobhaḥ…” are given below and briefly explained:
These three main sins are to be strictly avoided by all people. Being ethical, following justice and strictly avoiding sin is the minimum and maximum expectation of God from any soul, be it a theist or an atheist. If the people of a country can pray to God in the following manner, this calamity can be avoided in that country. Even people who do not believe in God can make the following resolve and abide by it. They too shall be protected. The prayer or resolve is as follows:
Let me propagate the message of doing meritorious deeds and not doing sins, extensively in society. By repeatedly propagating this message of living ethically in society, not only do I imbibe it fully, but the public also imbibes it fully. It brings reformation in me as well as in the society around me. At the very least, it reduces the intensity of sin. All souls including me will, at least, sincerely try to reduce the intensity of their sin.
Even atheistic countries and atheists within different countries can make this resolve because it makes no reference to God. However, atheists must accept the inevitable force with which the sins of mankind get punished by nature. This mere invisible virus has brought the whole world to a halt and left even the world leaders trembling in fear. At the time of the final destruction, the final Incarnation of God called Kalki, using the electric sword (vidyut khadga) given by Lord Śiva, will destroy almost all the souls in the world with unimaginable speed. It will be a million times faster than the spread of the present virus!
[It is our collective responsibility to make sure it reaches to each and every person in the world so that we come out of this crisis. Forward this message to all your contacts and spread it across all your social media networks. Not only will this pandemic end, but you will also earn the unimaginable grace of God.]
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|Shri Datta Swami| Dharmaasanam Dharma Shaastra Atyutkataih paapa punyaih, ihaiva phalamashnute Kaamah krodhah tathaa lobhah Vidyut Khadga pravrutti nivrutti Shiva