26 Oct 2020
[An online satsaṅga took place among devotees on October 10, 2020. Following is a discourse given by Swamiji based on the points discussed by the devotees in the satsaṅga.]
Swāmi said: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Śrī Ganesh was saying in the satsaṅga that he told a lie to his higher officer that some work assigned to him had already been completed, because he wanted to spend time in spiritual study. Later on, he found that the task was actually completed. Ganesh wanted to know whether his lie was a sin or not. The answer is that one can only tell a lie in order to establish justice over injustice. Except for this one occasion, lies are sins. God is above justice and He is the protector of justice. By obeying God, the highest justice is automatically followed. For that, a lower justice, such a speaking the truth, may be violated. In fact, choosing the lower justice, such as speaking the truth, instead of following God is a sin. For instance, Dharmarāja went to hell for not telling a lie, when God Kṛṣṇa specifically told him to tell a lie. God Kṛṣṇa wanted Dharmarāja to falsely tell Droṇa that his son Aśvatthāmā had been killed.
Ganesh said that Datta Swami had done the miracle of completing the task assigned to him. Actually, Lord Datta existing in Datta Swami performs all miracles. Datta Swami is the human being-component, whereas, Lord Datta is the God-component. Datta Swami should not feel that He has done the miracle. If He feels like that, God Datta will quit Him, as in the case of Paraśurāma, who developed an ego that He had killed all the wicked kings. On the other hand, the devotees of the Human Incarnation should always stick to the concept of monism (oneness) between the God-component and the human being-component in the Incarnation. This is because the unimaginable God, who alone can perform miracles, is merged with the medium in order to express Himself to devotees. Hence, devotees should not find dualism (separateness) between God Datta and Datta Swami. If they find dualism, they are lost. If Datta Swami finds monism between Himself and God, Datta Swami is lost. The unimaginable God, called Parabrahman merged with the first energetic form, called Datta for the sake of energetic beings of upper worlds. This God Datta further merged with Datta Swami to become a Human Incarnation for the sake of propagating true spiritual knowledge on this earth.
A debate took place on whether spiritual knowledge should be propagated even to atheists or not. One devotee (Śrī Anjaneya Sharma) said that an atheist requires the experience of miracles initially. Without them, there is no use in propagating spiritual knowledge to him since he is like a stone immersed in water; no water can ever enter him. The devotee also said that if God’s grace is on the atheist, the atheist will himself approach the preacher. Two other devotees (Dr. Nikhil and Śrī Phani) argued that we do not know whether somebody is a stone that will not allow any water to enter or whether the person is a pot that will allow water to enter. In other words, we do not know whether a person is an adamant atheist or an atheist who is open to logic or a theist. Hence, we must argue with him using logic and if he does not change, we can leave him to God.
The conclusion given by Datta Swami is that God is the divine Father of all the souls (Ahaṃ bījapradaḥ pitā…–Gītā) and has a lot of affection towards souls. In fact, God’s grace is more on atheists than on theists because the doctor’s attention more necessary for a patient than healthy people. God will never leave any soul, even if he is an atheist! Even if the soul is left by all other souls, who are its brothers and sisters, God, who is the parent, will never leave the atheistic soul. Even if the atheistic soul is thrown by God in to the liquid fire of hell, it is not with vengeance, but only with love, so that the soul may improve (Tānahaṃ dviṣataḥ…—Gītā). Also, the soul is not thrown in to liquid fire forever. It is thrown in to it only until it becomes porous enough to allow the water of spiritual knowledge to enter into it. The word ‘forever’ only means a very long time. If an employee is given a letter which states that he has been made permanent, it means that he is ‘permanent’ only up to the retirement age.
When the soul, losing its rigidity (ego) becomes porous to spiritual learning, the soul is again granted a human rebirth. The liquid fire in hell is the only miracle that can change the atheist making him lose his rigidity. Other miracles will not work with such rigid stones. God Kṛṣṇa exhibited the cosmic vision, but Duryodhana did not change at all. God will exhibit miracles provided God has some hope that the soul will change, be it a theist or an atheist. Miracles are also used by God to help theists or atheists provided there is some hope of their spiritual development. When there is no such hope, the unimaginable God does not exhibit any miracles simply to prove His existence. God is not bothered about proving His existence. He is only bothered about the spiritual development of souls.
When you approach an atheist and try to change the person through logic, leave the atheist to God, after presenting the final logic, which is that there is a 50-50 probability of the existence or non-existence of God. You should say the following to the atheist:
“This space is infinite and neither you nor I can find its boundary. I cannot show you the existence of hell, heaven or God in this infinite space. But you too cannot show me their absence in this infinite space by taking me up to the boundary of space. Hence, hell may exist or it may not exist. Here is where a 50-50 probability has to be accepted. Suppose, I believe in the existence of hell and hence, I do not commit sins. Even if, after my death, I find out that there is no hell, there is no loss for me. While I am still alive, I have already enjoyed the benefit of living a tension-free life and not having to bother about the police and courts, since I have not committed any sins. On the other hand, if you commit sins believing that hell does not exist and after your death, if you find out that unfortunately, hell does exist, you are totally lost!
So, whenever there is a 50-50 probability, a wise man always errs on the safe side. One must always choose the side with a lower risk. Let us say there is a blind person walking on the road. One person tells him that there is a fire ahead in his path and another person tells him that there is no fire ahead. Whom should the blind man choose to follow? Certainly, if he is a wise blind man, he will turn back because even if the fire is absent, there would be no loss to him. But if the blind man is foolish, he will choose to disregard the warning and take the risk of going forward. If unfortunately, there is actually a fire ahead, he will get burnt!
Therefore, choose the side of lower risk given the 50-50 probability and believe in the existence of the unimaginable God, heaven and hell. Worship God with devotion and do meritorious deeds without committing any sins. Even if God, heaven and hell are absent, you will get enough benefit of believing in God, heaven and hell, which is a life of happiness, peace and freedom from even a trace of tension of the police and the courts. After all, whether a person is a theist or an atheist, all the efforts the person makes in life is only to get this benefit of a peaceful and happy life. Apart from this benefit in this world, there is also the possibility of you getting a huge benefit in the upper worlds after your death, which is very clearly stated by several Godmen and divine scriptures.”
If the atheist leads a worldly life following justice and avoids sins (pravṛtti), it is more than sufficient. Devotional life (nivṛtti) is not mandatory for him. But accepting at least the existence of the unimaginable God is essential for everybody because it controls sins by instilling the fear of punishment from God. God and His ways of punishment being unimaginable, one can never escape from them, even though one might be able to escape from the police and the courts in this world. The concept of the Human Incarnation is not necessary for an atheist. The atheist should also have open mind to observe the genuine miracles in this world. The observed genuine miracles are essentially unimaginable events and they prove the existence of their source, who is the unimaginable God. The concept of the Human Incarnation is only essential for nivṛtti, which is the path chosen by devotees who aspire for the extreme grace of God.
Another devotee (Śrī Anil) touched upon another topic that is controversial for atheists, which is the boundary of the universe or space. If the atheistic scientist says that he will show the boundary of the universe through his research tomorrow, you can also tell him that you too will show the existence of the unimaginable God, heaven and hell, the day after tomorrow!
Space must have a boundary because, if space has no boundary, the boundary of space becomes unknown, even to the omniscient God. Then, God cannot be omniscient due to His ignorance about the boundary of space. Therefore, from the view-point of God, the boundary of space does exist. Beyond that boundary, the unimaginable God alone exists and He is without spatial co-ordinates and hence, without volume. An item without volume cannot be imagined by anybody even after concentrating on it for millions of births and therefore, the God beyond space is unimaginable.
From the view-point of the soul, the existing boundary of the universe can never be reached by the soul because if the soul touches the boundary of space, it touches the unimaginable God existing beyond the boundary of space. Since the unimaginable God can never be touched even by the imagination of the soul, the boundary of the universe or space can never be touched by the soul. If a ship reaches the boundary of the ocean, it means that it has reached the shore or the land, which exists beyond the boundary of the ocean. Hence, the boundary of the infinite space is untouchable in the sense that it can never be reached by the soul. Assuming that the soul is running to touch the boundary of the universe, the universe appears to continuously expand, so that the soul can never touch the boundary of space. This can be correlated with the scientific concept of the constantly expanding universe. In the Gītā, God Kṛṣṇa has said that His creation is endless, which means that the boundary of His creation can never be touched by the human being or even by the angel (Nā'ntosti mama divyānām…—Gītā). Both the human being and the angel (energetic being) are only souls. God Kṛṣṇa was preaching to Arjuna about the endless creation created by Him (God). So, the universe was said to be endless from the view-point of Arjuna, a human being.
Keywords:
| Shri Datta Swami | Divine Satsanga | Krishna Ashvatthaama Parashuraama Aham biijapradah pitaa Taanaham dvishatah Gita Giita pravrutti nivrutti Na'ntosti mama divyanam
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