08 Jun 2014
[Shri Guna Darsana, (Bali, Indonesia) asked: “Good evening. On Wednesday (May 21st), Hindus in Indonesia will celebrate ‘Galungan’ day (the victory of dharma over Adharma). Could I request Swami to give us His discourse please? According to old story, long long ago there was a bad king, who had height of power in Bali. The king is called as Maya Danawa. He considered Himself as a God. So, he did not permit the people to pray to God and Goddess in temple. So, the people were very fearful and then God Indra comes to earth to protect devotees and kill King Maya danawa. The victory of God Indra over Maya Danawa is celebrated as the win of Dharma over Adharma. Galungan day is also considered as a thank giving day of Balinese to God for giving this universe so that Hindu people can do Yadnya or offering to God.” Given below is Shri Swami’s response.]
I am happy to note the background of the festival Galungan, which is the victory of justice over the injustice. This concept is pictorially represented as the success of Indra over the destruction of the demon called as Maya. The meaning of the root word ‘Indra’ in Sanskrit denotes the ruler of this creation or God. ‘Maya’ denotes the wonderful misinterpretation of injustice to appear as justice to escape the punishment. The ethical scriptures given by God to this world say that the non-violence is the highest justice (Ahimsaa Paramo Dharmah) and naturally, the violence is the highest injustice. Generally, this is interpreted as the principle that you should not hurt any living being in this world. This interpretation is supported by another concept that every living being is God. Both these concepts are twisted due to misinterpretation. The concept that you should not hurt any living being is totally wrong and the concept that every living being is God since awareness is God is also wrong. Awareness is a property existing in certain created items called as living beings. God also has this property since all the properties of creation basically belong to God only. Hence, awareness is not at all God. If you do not hurt any living being, you are like an inert stone. You have to differentiate good and bad unlike the inert object. Then, you should encourage and help the good and discourage and even hurt the bad to control the bad. This differentiation of good and bad and different activities related to good and bad are followed by God also as said in the Gita that protection of good and destruction of bad are the divine duties of God (Paritranaaya saadhunaam). Sometimes, you have to hurt even your own children to inculcate the discipline. If you become inactive by not hurting anyone, bad grows without control, hurting the good people more and more. In such case, you are indirectly hurting the good people and your basic concept that you should not hurt anyone is failing. Apart from the human beings, you should extend this interpretation to the other living beings also. The soft natured animals like cow should be respected and wild cruel animals should be hunted.
The above concept that you should hurt bad people should not be misused especially for your selfishness. There may be a rich man, who looted the innocent poor people in a region. You can cheat him and steal away his wealth. But, such wealth should not be stored in your house for your selfish advantage. In such case, you are hurting the bad but the result is for your selfishness. You should distribute that wealth to all the poor innocent people in that region. You can also share with them if you are also a poor man. Sometimes, you become angry towards a rich man on some other personal reason. Now, you interpret him as a sinner in amassing the wealth of the poor people and follow the above procedure. You are superimposing the sin on him for your personal grudge. It is like saying that if you want to beat a person, call him as dog and then beat him! Therefore, the justice and injustice should not be concluded in a hasty way. You should take the help of the ethical scriptures and the help of proper scholars before any conclusion (Atha Yadi te… Dharma vichikitsaa… Veda).
Whenever, any unjust situation taking place in the world comes to your notice, you should stop there and be involved in condemning the injustice as far as possible. You should not go in your own way avoiding the risk in it. If everybody follows this principle, you are not alone to fight against the injustice. You have the support of several such people and hence, you need not fear. God will be pleased with you by such practical involvement since you are doing the duty of God. All your worships, rituals and devotional prayers cannot please God. This is the real way to please the God. God is the deity of justice (Dharmasya Prabhurachyutah). God is honored if the justice is honored. God is insulted if injustice is honored.
If the justice is protected (Pravritti), the society runs with smooth functioning. Then, the spiritual effort (Nivritti) can also take place on smooth basis. The stage should be safe for the drama to run in peaceful way. God is not much bothered about the Nivritti, which is your personal relationship with God. God is highly bothered about Pravritti, which is your behavior to the society. God said that He incarnates on the earth only to protect Pravritti (Dharma Samsthaapanaarthaya – Gita) and not to protect Nivritti. The scriptures of other religions totally deal with this Pravritti only.
Shankara told that you are God (Tattvamasi) even though the reality is that yourself, an imaginable item of creation, cannot be God, the unimaginable creator. Shankara is not ignorant of this truth. The main aim is that you will develop noble divine qualities of God when you think that you are that very God. In such case, Pravritti is tremendously protected since everybody becomes extremely good assuming himself or herself as God. Selfishness vanishes away completely since all this creation is already the property of God i.e., yourself. You need not steal your own property and corruption disappears. Such tremendous wonderful results are seen as the development of a single lie that you are God. A lie is not a sin and in fact is auspicious act when it gives good results. The mother says to the child that the moon will come down if it eats the food offered by her hand for the good result that the child grows well by eating the food. She is not punished in the hell for that lie. In fact, she is honored in the heaven for that good act. People see Shankara as the Divine Preacher of Nivrutti. He is in the disguise of Nivritti and should be treated as the excellent preacher of Pravritti. Shankara is the incarnation of God and hence, the basic nature of God to protect Pravritti (justice) can be clearly identified in Him in a hidden way. Shankara exploited the ambition of every human being to become the highest God for achieving the best peaceful society.
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