11 Dec 2021
Ms. Laxmi Thrylokya asked: In Nivritti, in climax of devotion, does God see at the negative qualities of the soul as we see the nature of the hunter devoted to God Shiva?
Swami replied:- If the negative qualities are confined to God only, there is no problem for God from the devotee. But, if the negative qualities harm the world, the devotion will change the devotee to become a good person devoid of those negative qualities that harm the world. The hunter is the greatest devotee of God Shiva and there is no trace of doubt in this as told by Shankara (Vanacaro Bhaktāvataṃsāyate), but his negative quality, which is hunting is harming the world and hence, it shall be rectified before salvation is granted. The hunter was Arjuna in the previous birth and both Arjuna and hunter are non-vegetarians only. The next birth of hunter was Swami Vivekananda, who was reported to have taken non-veg. food and Paramahamsa told that He is beyond sin. Even Paramahamsa ate fish. The reason is that the divine incarnation follows certain strong sinful habits of the devotees of that region so that it can mix up with those people and rectify other sins first so that at a later date the incarnation will come again to rectify that one non-rectified sin. Even though Buddha preached strictly about vegetarian food only, even in His time, some disciples were eating non-veg. food secretly! Jains followed very strictly the vegetarian food. Even Buddha was a non-vegetarian before taking up the sainthood. Rama was also a non-vegetarian like Paramahamsa. The Gita says that the negative qualities of a devotee are shortly rectified by the grace of God (Kṣipraṃ bhavati dharmātmā…). Hence, the conclusion is that any negative quality confined to God is neglected by God before the infinite ocean of devotion of devotee, but, the negative quality that harms the society is not neglected by God, which will be very shortly rectified before giving salvation.
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