15 Nov 2010
Datta means God available for souls. He is available in the human form with materialized body since human beings are with materialized bodies. The same God is available in energetic body to angels and to the departed souls from the earth, since both angels and the departed souls are in energetic bodies. The angels are the souls in permanent energetic bodies, whereas the departed souls exist in the energetic bodies till they take re-birth. The present alive human form of God is most relevant to the present alive human generation. Therefore, energetic forms of God and also the past human forms of God are irrelevant to the present human beings. Hence, the fruits of devotion are given by the contemporary human incarnation only to any present alive human being. Before getting the fruit, you will be tested on two aspects.
The first aspect is called as Devotion (bhakti yoga) and the second aspect is called as Knowledge (jnana yoga). Of course, each of these two aspects always pervades the other aspect. The basis of establishment and development of Devotion is analysis or Knowledge. Similarly, the result of analysis or knowledge is always establishment and development of devotion. Both Devotion and Knowledge are essential for your success in the examination conducted by Datta or contemporary human incarnation. Without examination, the fruit cannot be given. You cannot get the certificate of the degree without the final written examination. Devotion and Knowledge are essential requirements for the test conducted by Datta as paper and pen are essential requirements for the written examination.
The analysis to fix and develop devotion should be done. All your family bonds are only dramatic bonds, which are unreal as seen in a cinema shooting. The bond with your wealth is also unreal like the bond of the actor with the material of settings in the shooting. The bond with your body is also unreal, which is the bond of the actor with his dress of the role. The Gita says that as the body changes the dress, the soul also changes the body (Vasamsi Jirnani…). The bond with your life is also unreal like the bond of the actor with his role. When the bonds of the actor with the dress and role are unreal, we cannot imagine the extent of unreality of the bonds existing between the roles in the drama. Ashtavakra mentioned the same point in his preaching to king Janaka. He established this point through a very sarcastic remark. He said that the bond between mother and son in this life is going to be the bond between husband and wife during the next birth. If this point is not explained properly, the audience will throw stones on the speaker! This can be explained through a beautiful simile. In one drama two actors acted like mother and son. In the next drama the same actors acted in the roles of husband and wife. The actors are neither husband and wife nor son and mother in reality. Even the gender is unreal as it is related to the external dress only. A male actor can act in the female role and vice versa. The soul is the actor, which is the pure awareness and it is untouched by the body, gender and the relationships with other roles. Shankara also told that that which is temporary must be unreal (Yadanityam tat krutakam…). Since all these bonds are confined to this birth only, these bonds become temporary and hence, unreal. Therefore, all these bonds are unreal except the bond with God. Even though the bonds with his own role, other roles, settings and dress are unreal, the bond of the actor with the Producer and Director is always permanent and real. The drama may change, but the Producer and the Director is only one. The relationship between the actor and him is employee–employer relationship. Similarly, the bond with God is permanent and real and therefore, should be given the top most position. All the souls are servants of God and God is always the Master of souls (Aatmeshwaram… Veda). Since the relevant God is the contemporary human incarnation, the bond with the contemporary human incarnation must be the top most. Hanuman and Gopikas maintained top most bonds with their contemporary human incarnations viz. Rama and Krishna only. The top most bond with irrelevant energetic incarnations and past human incarnations become meaningless. The photos and statues represent these energetic incarnations and past human incarnations and therefore, the bonds with such photos and statues are not only meaningless but also foolish. Of course, if the human being has not reached the stage of maturity to have bond with contemporary human form of God, the bond with photos, statues, energetic forms and past human forms should be respected, which serves the purpose of development of theoretical devotion to God. Such theoretical devotion on ripening becomes practical devotion to the contemporary human incarnation. You should always remember that the practical devotion to the contemporary human incarnation alone gives the divine fruit, which is clearly seen in the case of Hanuman and Gopikas.
When the first aspect is fully achieved, the second aspect becomes necessary. The second aspect is recognition of contemporary human incarnation. This second aspect becomes important since you are ready with the first aspect i.e., you are ready to do practical devotion or service to the contemporary human incarnation. The only path to recognize the present human form of God is the merit of His knowledge. You have to analyze the preachings of various preachers and select the best. For such selection, you require the faculty of sharp analysis in deciding the true knowledge. The examiner must have sharp analysis to recognize the correct answer while evaluating the scripts. In this aspect only, the analysis will help you. Let us take the example of the lady, who is blessed to have God as son, the mother of Sripada Vallabha. The ritual of ancestors was going on in her house. A saint entered the house through the back door and asked for food. Unless the priests of the ceremony finish their meals, nobody should eat before they eat. The scripture says that it is a great sin to give food to anyone before the priests eat. She analyzed the saint and recognized Him as the human form of God. The saint is always a top scholar and knows that prior eating in such ceremony is a sin. In fact, not only the donor of the food but also the receiver of the food will get the punishment for such sin. The saint can go to another house and can get the same food in which such ceremony is not performed. When the choice of serving the purpose without sin is available, will any fool opt the other choice? She did all this analysis and decided that the saint is God. She served the food to the saint and the saint appeared as God. God gave her the boon of becoming her son. Therefore, she recognized the contemporary human incarnation through analysis only. If the analysis is not done, you will be exploited by several false human incarnations. Since this aspect is of pure analysis, this aspect can be treated as jnana yoga. Giving top most priority to God is bhakti yoga and recognizing the alive human form of God is jnana yoga. Both are essential for your success when Datta tests you.
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