06 Sep 2017
Shri Karthik asked: We hear the penance done for years together by an individual sitting in one place and closing the eyes. How do You correlate this with Your idea that penance means logical analysis of spiritual concepts?
Swami replied: The Veda says ‘analyze the concepts...that is penance’ (tat vijijnaasasva...taddhi tapah). The Gita also gives stress on any ritual to be done as propagation of knowledge that generates devotion and the last word of the Gita is also logical analysis (vimrushyaitat...). Unless you yourself analyze the concepts with sharp analysis, if necessary, taking the help of debates with other scholars, you will not have total satisfaction of the truth without any doubt, which can alone result in implementation. In this way, knowledge is most precious being the fundamental, but, it is of no use if you are not implementing it in practice. I am praising the knowledge since it is the root of spiritual effort, but, I am criticizing you for stopping yourself or confining yourself to the stage of theory only. Even devotion is theoretical like knowledge, which is generated by knowledge. I am always giving appreciation to knowledge and devotion because knowledge generates devotion and devotion is the force by which the knowledge is implemented in practice. I am only criticizing you for confining yourself to knowledge and devotion without stepping into the final stage of its implementation in practice and this criticism is not related to knowledge and devotion. I am not criticizing LKG class in which fundamental alphabets are taught, which are the basis of the entire future education. I am only criticizing you for confining yourself to the LKG class throughout your life!
Hence, knowledge is the most important fundamental, which alone gives right direction. If the knowledge is defective, whatever may be the intensity of your devotion, wrong direction results, resulting in wrong practice yielding wrong fruits. How to know whether the knowledge given by books or preachers is right or wrong? It can be decided only by your logical analysis. Till that is done, your inner consciousness will always have the doubt about its reality. Implementation of read or heard knowledge is impossible without self-satisfaction. The implementation may be done if some false materialistic attractions are preached as the fruits of such implementation. Using this trick, false preachers are not preaching true knowledge even if they know it! If the true knowledge is preached, it is becoming inconvenient to yourself and your family. For example, the strong worldly bonds of family are responsible to earn illegal money as we see the case of politicians and many job holders. Corruption of money is the greatest sin since money is said to be the root of this world (Dhanamulamidam jagat...). If the preacher advises to restrict the fascination to the family bonds, which can control the corruption-sin, the preacher will be opposed by the family and may lose some benefits to be obtained by a preacher. If the preacher preaches the knowledge to develop the materialistic welfare of the family, he is indirectly strengthening the worldly bonds that promote the corruption-sin. In such case, the preacher is promoted by extra benefits recommended by the family! Any soul is really benefited by true knowledge and is really harmed by wrong knowledge. How to know whether the knowledge delivered by the selfish preacher is right or wrong? It is only by the logical analysis. Hence, real penance is only finding out the truth through sharp logical analysis involving debates. All the sages have done such penance only in the isolated and non-polluted atmosphere of forests. Sitting in a place, closing eyes, repeating a divine name again and again without food and sleep is only the worst penance done by demons for attaining some miraculous powers due to ego and selfishness. Such penance done by giving suffering to the soul and headache to God is bitterly condemned (karshayantah... Gita).
Jesus was also reported for doing penance for forty days on the hill without taking food. Such penance was also the analysis of concepts to be preached to the world, which are revealed by God to Him. If He delivered the concepts along with all that analysis, Holy Bible would have been in thousand volumes. He gave the concluded concepts only, which are very powerful and shine like original diamonds. His interest and concentration on the program of God was so high that He naturally forgot thirst and hunger. In such case, God supplied all the energy to the body and this was revealed by Him that a person does not live merely on bread but also lives on the statements of God. Shri Balayogi, who sat in such state for several years, was immersed in the infinite ocean of divine nectar-devotion of God and in his case also, God supplied the required energy, which is unimaginable miracle giving the proof of existence of unimaginable God. Generally penance refers knowledge, but sometimes devotion also called as samadhi in Yoga, but never refers the egoistic selfishness for attaining miraculous powers from God through rigidity as shown by an ignorant son towards father for getting some money by fasting, etc.
Shri Dr. K. Sudarshan Rao asked: In the wars, innocent soldiers are killed. Is it not the greatest sin since You said that non-violence is the highest justice?
Swami replied: It is perfectly true. Based on this point only, Arjuna dropped bow and arrows declaring that he will not kill other good and innocent people for the sake of bad Kauravas. This is the essence of the first chapter of the Gita (Arjuna Vishaadayoga). The logic in this is that the doer and supporter of injustice share equally the sin. Hence, killing the soldiers as supporters of injustice is justified. But, the soldiers are fighting on the side of Kauravas not to support their injustice, but, are fighting on their side because they were paid salaries by Kauravas. Therefore, only those soldiers, who supported the injustice of Kauravas, also went to hell. The other soldiers, who fought based on the gratefulness for the payment of salaries only, went to heaven. Even Drona went to heaven since the fight was only for the paid salaries. The soldier has perfectly agreed to sacrifice his life on behalf of the King, if necessary. Hence, death of such a soldier is a pre-agreed contract. Since Arjuna went back even from this justified killing, Arjuna was considered to be the best among all the Pandavas and only the issue related to his blood (Parikshit) was made the ultimate King of the entire Kingdom by God. The background of this first chapter is that before punishing somebody else for a crime, especially death, one should always put his steps towards backside based on reasons:-
Dharma Raja has already made sufficient attempts in the line of above second reason and due to this only, Dharma Raja did not go to hell. The effort failed and war is ready to start. Arjuna felt that innocent soldiers and good elders are killed and since killing is the highest sin, he dropped himself from the war. This shows the careful analysis at every step since killing is highest sin. Arjuna says that the wives and children of innocents will weep after the war and hence, he withdrew himself from such unjust killing of innocents for the sake of bad people. Hence, he handed over the analysis and judgment to the third party, who is God Krishna. Since God Krishna told that all those including soldiers are killed by Him only based on His analysis of justice and injustice, Arjuna proceeded. Therefore, the conclusion is that killing a bad person and killing an innocent person supporting the bad person are to be carefully analyzed by a third impartial party and no affected party shall become the judge to decide justice and injustice. Arjuna is actually a sage called Nara, who is closely associated with the sage Narayana or Krishna and hence behaved in such careful way. By withdrawing from war, he is prepared even to lose his justified wealth since killing a living being is the highest sin for which even shame of defeat and loss of wealth can be tolerated. For this reason only, the death punishment to be given to even a criminal is highly debated based on the reason that if you have no power to give life, you have no right to take away the life. Even such worst criminal should be judged carefully to see whether there is any trace of possibility of transformation in him so that killing another person is as far as possible avoided. Death punishment is given only in the case of no possibility of transformation so that the criminal will not kill another person in the society in future after release from prison. Lifelong imprisonment is another way to see that the criminal never enters the society in his lifetime to repeat the sin of killing. But, today, the lifelong imprisonment is not to be in the prison till the death. Hence, in giving death punishment, one should take very long time to analyze the attitude of the criminal regarding the possibility of non-repetition of sin. Killing a soldier in war, who came prepared for sacrificing the life for his country, is not equal to killing an innocent person going in his own way. There is some substantial difference between these two cases. The head of the country, who has taken the decision for war based on unjust reasons, shall be the main criminal in the hell for severe punishment. Hence, it is told that a King will certainly go to hell after death (rajyaante narakam dhruvam). Before the war starts, Dharma Raja announced that anybody, who feels that Kauravas are wrong, can come to his side. One fellow from Kauravas came to the side of Pandavas. Since the soldier fighting on the side of injustice is prepared for such sacrifice, there is no sin in killing him in the war even though he does not support the injustice on his side. Since he was prepared for his death based on the gratitude of salary, it's not a sin to kill him in the war and this is not equal to killing an unprepared innocent person. Such soldier will go to heaven since he fought only on the basis of gratitude and not on the basis of justice and injustice. The innocent soldiers from any side are also ready to kill the innocent soldiers of opposite side without considering them as innocent! However, throwing bombs on the innocent public in the cities in war is totally unjust since such public is not involved in the war by fighting prepared for death like soldiers. Hence, God Krishna ordered Arjuna to fight the war involving inevitable killing of soldiers also to establish justice and condemn the injustice.
In spite of such careful step by withdrawing from the war by even sacrificing selfish benefit of wealth, Arjuna went to hell since Arjuna took a vow in haste that he will kill Karna in the future war. Before taking such vow, he did not give time for sufficient careful analysis in deciding justice and injustice. On careful analysis, there is injustice on the side of Pandavas also since Dharma Raja played gambling, which is one of the five horrible sins (panchamaha paapas). For this sin, all Pandavas suffered in the forest and sons of all Pandavas were killed, who were born from the womb of Draupadi. The reason was that Draupadi was always revengeful against the enemies and always was provoking Pandavas to kill Kauravas. The womb of Uttara was protected since she was not revengeful. The point is that one should hate the sin of the sinner in punishment and not the sinner directly with revenge. Revenge is always the part of God since He gives the punishment after finishing full analysis and making all the trials to change the criminal. Dharma Raja alone went to heaven since he was the only person, who tried to avoid the war by negotiation through Krishna. Justice and injustice will give separate results to any soul and there is no mutual cancelling of injustice by any justice. The priests are false in propagating that certain rituals will cancel the sins since they are benefited by performing such rituals. The sins can be cancelled only by one way that is to realize through knowledge and repent resulting in non-repetition of sins in future.
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