13 Nov 2023
O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,
[Shri PVNM Sarma asked:- Swami, You told that the address of God is in two places:- 1) Incarnation and 2) Climax devotee. Does this mean that God merged with the soul in both the cases?]
Swami replied:- While forming the incarnation, God merges with the devoted human being component so that the result is the incarnation through Monism (Advaita) between God and Soul. This process is called Kaivalyam, which means that the result is one item even though two items merged. The human being-component is clear whereas the unimaginable God-component is not only invisible but also unimaginable. When God Datta merges with a medium to become the incarnation, the body and soul of God Datta are energy only, which can merge with the energetic body and soul of energetic being to form energetic incarnation. In the case of the human incarnation, the energetic body and energetic soul of God Datta merge with the energy part of the human being so that in both cases, there are only two components (unimaginable God and energy in energetic incarnation and unimaginable God and energy with matter in the human incarnation).
In the case of a climax devotee, God does not merge with the devotee because dualism is the aspiration of the devotee and this process is called Saayujyam, which means that the result is two items. Even though two items exist separately, their association is very very close. Both behave like one item as we see Ardhanaadhiishwara (God Shiva is half body and Goddess Parvati is the other half of body, but still the identity of both exists.). In the case of Saayujyam, the soul and mediated God are the two separate components. When two persons are always close to each other, we can give the address of the second person as the address of the first person. In this view, the climax devotee is given as the indirect address for God. The incarnation is the direct address of God whereas the climax devotee is the indirect address of God. Both serve the same purpose of address. In the case of Saayujyam (very close association), the Narada Bhakti Sutram says that the devotee is concentrated with God’s devotion (Tanmayā hi te). The word ‘Tanmaya’ indicates dualism only (Tat+mayaṭ). Mayaṭ is in the sense of modification (vikaara) and in the sense of excess (praacurya). The first sense is not possible because God cannot be modified and only the second sense is applicable. Shankara gave an example for the second sense “the village is concentrated with dirt (malamayo grāmaḥ)”. Therefore, the word Tanmaya means that the devotee is fully concentrated with God and there is no monism here. When Rama is constantly associated with Lakshmana, the address of Lakshmana will be the address of Rama. God saying that He always stays with devotees singing about Him is the authority for this (Madbhaktā yatra gāyanti, tatra tiṣṭhāmi Nārada).
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