10 Feb 2006
[Mr Anil Antony came to Vijayawada from Mumbai to meet Shri Swami and asked some questions. Following is Shri Swami’s discourse which answers those questions. Maha Satsanga]
Non-retaliation
You have to live in this world according to the instructions of the Lord. Regarding your life in this world, the essence of His instructions is:
One cannot attain God by doing penance even for centuries. But there is one easiest way to attain God. When you are deceived by others, harmed by others, insulted by others or when you are abused by others, the Lord comes to your side. It means you have attained God. Therefore, you should thank the people who have deceived, harmed, insulted or abused you. They have helped you in attaining God by the easiest way. You should not deceive, harm, insult or even scold such people in return. What they did to you might have been the punishment for your sins by the will of God. In that case also, they have cleared your sins at an early stage so that your punishment does not grow due to interest. Thus even in that case you should thank them.
How good are the good?
Some people criticize God saying that even good people are unnecessarily harmed. You cannot be sure that a person who appears to be good is necessarily good. Did you observe him every minute from his birth? You also think of yourself as a good person. Are you aware of all your sins done in your childhood? You might have harmed an innocent insect in your childhood. Do you remember that? Even mental feelings are sins that are not expressed in words and actions. The feelings of the mind are the source of words and actions. Therefore the feeling may not hurt others today. But tomorrow it will hurt others when it comes out in words and actions. In fact, intention is given more importance in a crime according to law. The judge gives more importance to the intention in giving the punishment. Suppose you are walking on the road and an ant is killed by your foot, without any intention. There is no punishment for such sins. But when you kill the same ant with an intention to kill, you are punished by God. Therefore mind is the source of action.
Even if somebody harms a really good person, it is better to leave it to God. You should not seek revenge. Why? The reason is that you cannot judge the exact nature and facts of the case. You do not even remember your own sins. Sometimes you commit a sin thinking that you are doing good. You cannot be the standard in judging your own sins. Only the Lord can decide. Therefore, if somebody has harmed a person who is really good even in the view of the Lord, then the Lord Himself will punish the person who harmed him. You cannot take the law and order in to your own hands. You have to refer the case to the court. Let the judge decide and punish the criminal. Therefore the Lord said, “The revenge is Mine”. If revenge is justified, the Lord will certainly punish. The Lord will not punish just because you pray to Him to do so. The Lord, will not excuse a criminal even if you recommend an unjust case.
Punishment
Neither do you have the power to punish nor do you have the power to excuse anybody. The reason for this is that you are not omniscient. If a sinner realizes his sin and repents, the punishment is reduced. After repentance if you do not repeat the sins, the punishment is cancelled. If the sinner does not repent, he will repeat the sin again and again. Such a sinner can be controlled only by punishment. If this were not true, the police department would have no use. There are some sinners, who can be controlled only by third degree treatment (severe beating and physical punishment). If such punishment and revenge were not necessary, and if everybody could be transformed only by preaching, then what is the necessity of the existence of hell and ‘liquid fire’? If there was a possibility of transformation only by love and knowledge, why would the Lord mention the word ‘revenge’ at all? Therefore it is clear that there are some sinners who cannot be transformed by love and knowledge.
Some clever people criticize Lord Rama and Lord Krishna, who resorted to punishing sinners. Such clever people should explain the meaning of word ‘revenge’ uttered by the Lord and also should explain the mention of the liquid fire in the scriptures. If all sinners could be transformed through love and knowledge alone, such words should not have been mentioned in their scriptures.
The Lord is the Father of all the souls. Your love for another human being is only brotherly love. The love of the Father is far greater than your brotherly love. You are criticizing your Father for punishing your brother! The father tries His best to transform His son. On the first day of the war Ravana was defeated by Rama. Rama could have killed him on the very first day. But Rama, asked Ravana to go back and think that night. The Lord punishes any one only as the last resort. Even then, the Lord does not have anger or hatred. The punishment is only the last method attempted for transformation. There also the aim is only transformation. But when you punish your enemy you do not have such an aim. Therefore the punishment by the Lord also reflects His divine love and kindness for the soul. Due to such a sacred aim, the Lord is authorized to punish the soul. He is just like a teacher who punishes the student for his misbehavior. The teacher does not get any sin in such punishment. The reason again is that the intention decides nature of the action.
Therefore when you live in the world, according to the instructions given by the Lord, the Lord is pleased with you. The Lord will make you happy in this world. Your happiness in this world is an indication of His grace. Therefore you will be happy in the upper world also. He is the only one Lord for both the worlds. So if you are unhappy in your worldly affairs in this world, you will be unhappy in the spiritual matters in the upper world also. If you are blessed in this world you are also blessed in the upper world. Hence, follow His commandments and be happy in this world. When you are serving the Lord, you should be happy in the sacrifice. You should not sacrifice to the Lord with unhappiness. The sacrifice with unhappiness will make the Lord unhappy. The result of such service is unhappiness in the upper world. Therefore it is better not to sacrifice if you are not happy. Why should you purchase unhappiness with such sacrifice? Are you unhappy when you sacrifice for your family members? Therefore sacrifice for the Lord with force or unhappiness is not only a waste but it also brings negative results.
Even in the case of your family members, if you sacrifice with unhappiness it is a waste. Therefore the intention is very important for the Lord. You should not do any sacrifice aspiring for something in return. Such a sacrifice is only a business. Business done in the case of your family members may bring a benefit or loss. But in the case of the Lord, business always brings loss. Therefore live in this world according to the instructions of the Lord given to you with regard to other human beings. With regard to the Lord, do sacrifice and service to the Lord only to the extent that there is no force, pain or sense of doing business with Him.
Some people say that the Lord preaches with love and kindness in this world for transformation. If the soul is not transformed, it will be thrown to hell permanently at the end of this life. They say that the Lord should not punish the soul in this world. This is exactly similar to saying that you should teach the student and if the student fails, he should be hanged to death permanently at the end of the period. You do not allow punishing the student with a cane during the period. Therefore even before the final punishment, temporary punishment must be also given to the soul. Before the final examination, interim examinations are also conducted. If the student fails in the interim examinations, there will be a chance for the student to correct himself before the final examination. Therefore interim punishments are part and parcel of the coaching before the final examination.
How different religions formed?
The Lord adopts different procedures of coaching in different regions based on the psychology and attitude of the human beings. You should not criticize the procedure of the Lord which may be different in some other religion and region. The Lord is universal but the human beings in the universe differ in their attitudes. The same single Lord adopts a different procedure in a different region and such a different procedure appears as a different religion. A few people criticize the Lord of other religions. You do not criticize the Lord of your own religion. The external behavior of the Lord differs due to different internal and external behaviors of the human beings in this universe. The external form, dress, language, food habits and culture of human beings differ from one region to the other. Accordingly the external form, dress, food habits, language and culture of the Lord also differ to suit that particular region. The internal Lord and the internal essence of the same Lord is one and the same in His different human incarnations which have come in different regions or religions.
Cycle of Deeds
The human being is entangled in the cycle of deeds called as karma charka. The thought in the mind is the seed, which grows and generates action. The action certainly gives its result. Even if you escape the result of your action in this world you cannot escape from it in the upper world. In fact the result in the upper world is very severe due to the compounded interest due to the delay in getting the result. Therefore blessed are those who are punished in this world itself. Jesus says “It is better to punish yourself for your sin in this world itself than to fall into eternal hell”.
The punishment reduces the thought (which caused the deed) to the state of a tiny seedling. However the punishment cannot destroy the thought completely. The thought exists in a very minute state called subconsciousness. Even you are not aware of your subconscious thoughts. When the soul comes from hell to the earth and enters a new human body, the child contains all the qualities or thoughts of previous births, hidden in the subconscious state. Therefore the child is unaware of anything and appears to be the most innocent and sacred. In the child the thoughts are like seeds that have not germinated. Whatever may be the external atmosphere in which the child grows, those strong thoughts will certainly germinate and grow up to be tender plants if not strong trees. But if the external atmosphere is favorable, the strong thoughts become trees, and weak thoughts will become plants. These germinated thoughts will result in corresponding actions. The actions will give their own fruits whether here or there.
The fruits are the punishments, which will again reduce the thoughts to seeds. This is the cycle of the deeds. When it is said that you are enjoying the fruit of the action of your previous birth, it has to be understood in the context of this cycle. The action of your previous birth was punished in hell and has reduced your thought to the form of a seed. In this birth the seed grows and results in its corresponding action. Such action can give you its result in this world if you are captured here itself. The judicial system in this world also functions under the direction of the Lord only. If you have escaped the judicial system in this world, it too is by the will of Lord alone. The Lord might have judged your case and might have given you a chance of transformation. Sometimes you are punished wrongly in a case. Do not abuse the court or God. Perhaps you are punished for some other sin. Do not think that you have escaped a punishment that you deserve just because the courts find you ‘not guilty’. Perhaps God is directing you for a severe punishment in hell, which cannot be provided by the court here. Therefore do not think that you have fooled the court or that the deity of justice is blind with a cloth tied on her eyes. Even this court is functioning according to the will of the Lord because the Lord governs everybody and everything in this world. Therefore do not blame God or do not say that God does not exist if some criminal escapes punishment of human courts.
Destroying the Seed
Now the main point is how to escape from this cycle? You cannot escape from this cycle by preventing the deed or punishment. If you are tied with a rope, you will not do the deed as long as you are tied. You will do the deed as soon as you are released from the rope. You may escape the result of your deed here by someone’s recommendations, but you cannot escape from it in hell. The only way to stop this cycle is to destroy the thought which is the initiating seed of this cycle. How to destroy it?
The seed is a thought which is a living property (sentient property) or a property of life. If it were an inert property like light or heat, it could be prevented by physical methods. Only knowledge, which is another living property, can destroy this thought. Only a diamond can cut another diamond. The wrong knowledge, which generates this sin, is dangerous. Ignorance, which is zero, is better than wrong knowledge, which is minus (negative). Therefore only righteous knowledge can destroy wrong thoughts. You can differentiate the right knowledge from the wrong knowledge through careful, patient analysis and discrimination. The knowledge of God alone can create devotion in your mind and develop it. Thus by knowledge alone can you get rid of this cycle and attain and please God. Shankara says “Jnanat eva tu kaivalyam”, which means that knowledge alone can give salvation. Jesus preached the same spiritual knowledge throughout His life.
The atheist is always rigid and does not accept God even if a miracle is performed by God physically. He will attribute it to hypnotism and magic. When Lord Krishna showed the vision of His cosmic form in the court, Duryodhana fell unconscious, but he attributed it to an illusion and hypnotism. Therefore a rigid foolish atheist can never be transformed and he shall be condemned forever like a student debarred by the university. One must have an open mind to recognize the truth and must have the courage to come out of one’s conservative rigid circle. The atheist blames the devotees regarding their foolish conservative limits, but he himself is trapped by such limits! For a wise person even a subtle experience in small incidents taking place in his life is sufficient proof to realize the existence of God. God gives proof of His existence even in very small incidents that take place in every walk of your life. If you sit and analyze your past life with careful, shrewd analysis, you can see the existence of God at every step and how He is trying to help you always.
Some say that God loves only His devotees and thus He is partial. This is meaningless. If all people in the world loved Him equally and if He still loved only a select few, then alone can it be called partiality.
God and Three Qualities
A devotee said that God has all the good qualities only and they are called Sattvam (knowledge, goodness). There should not be Rajas (activity, passion) and Tamas (ignorance, rigidity) in His qualities since they constitute bad qualities. The answer for this doubt is that you should not say that God is associated with good qualities. You should say that whatever quality is associated with God is good. Any quality directed towards God is good and any quality which is directed towards the creation (world) is bad.
Sattvam is knowledge. Rajas is work. Tamas is rigid determination. The knowledge of an atheist which opposes the existence of God is a bad quality even though it is sattvam. The work done by a devotee in the divine service (Rajas) and his rigid determination or faith in God (Tamas), are good qualities. The very process of knowledge is the work of the mind and thus knowledge itself is basically Rajas. When you believe your knowledge to be true, such belief is Tamas. Thus you cannot separate the three qualities in their pure states. The scriptures (Shastras) say this. The three qualities are always in the state of an inseparable equilibrium when the pure awareness (Mula Prakriti or Holy Spirit) was created by God. When the equilibrium is disturbed, one of these three qualities predominates and we call it by the name of the predominant quality.
The spiritual effort to attain and please God must contain all the three qualities. The quality is neither in God nor is God in the quality. Any quality must be associated with God alone for its very existence. Any quality is created, maintained and is destroyed by God alone. Creating is said to be Rajas. Maintenance is Sattvam. Destruction is Tamas. This entire universe, which is the asylum for all the qualities is created and maintained by God. In such a case how can you say that God is associated only with some qualities and not with some other qualities? Nothing can exist without His association. He is beyond this universe and therefore He is beyond all the qualities. He uses all the three qualities for His divine play.
Then people ask from where Satan came and from what source he got his power? The answer is that the same producer and director of the movie, who appointed one actor as hero has appointed another as the villain. The villain is also remunerated like the hero. Sometimes the producer-cum-director can enter the movie in the role of a hero and such a role is called as the human incarnation of the Lord. The villain opposes the hero in the cinema. The hero wins over the villain, giving a good message to the spectators. But remember that the hero, who is the producer, has remunerated the villain and also directed every action of the villain as the director of the whole picture.
No Human Incarnations of God in Other Religions?
[Mr. Anil Antony asked that Shri Swami came as a human incarnation in Hinduism. Why have human incarnations not similarly appeared in other religions?]
The answer for this question is very crucial and has to be digested by different people in different angles. First of all you have to find out whether I am the human incarnation or not. I cannot say so because I should not say it. To whether I actually am the human incarnation or not; let us assume that I am a human incarnation from the angle of My sincere devotee. Whether My sincere devotee is right or wrong cannot be decided by any other person, who is also a human being like My devotee. I cannot be a standard to My devotee, which others cannot accept. Therefore My answer to this question is completely limited to My sincere devotee only, because others cannot accept Me as the human incarnation. Therefore My answer given to My sincere devotee only shall be the following:
The fundamental point in your question is that Buddhism is silent about God Himself and so the topic of human incarnation cannot arise. Islam also does not believe in the human incarnation and treats even Mohammed as only a messenger of God. Islam says that since He is the last messenger, there is no place for another messenger. Holy Christianity accepts the concept of human incarnation as God-in-flesh but limits it only to Jesus and leaves no place for another human incarnation. Of course they accept the second coming of Jesus. But they say that the second coming is only in the stage of the final destruction of the world. Since the world exists now and is not facing the final destruction, I cannot fit Myself in the place of the second Jesus.
But in Hinduism the Gita says “Yada Yada Hi…”, which means that God will come in human form whenever it is necessary. Therefore I can have a place only in Hinduism. Of course, this provision in Hinduism can be exploited by human beings who are not real incarnations. But for the fear of exploitation, the entire system cannot be rejected. For the fear of cheating, the entire examination system cannot be abolished from the school. For the fear of accident, train journey cannot be avoided. Therefore every system contains the possibility of both genuine and fraud cases. We have to carefully analyze and eliminate fraud cases. Because of the fear of rats the house cannot be burnt.
Even if I want to come in other religions their doors are closed. Therefore the only possibility is to come in Hinduism and establish the Universality of God. When the Universality of God in all the human incarnations of all religions is established, then it means that I have come in human form in all the religions simultaneously. Except this one way there is no other way. I have no objection in coming in human form in other religions also separately, provided you get the doors of the other religions opened for My entry.
[Mr Anil Antony told Swami that this answer was the cream of the light of the day. Everybody in the satsang (discussion, discourse), including Mr Antony said, “No one other than the Lord can answer this question in such a wonderful way!” Mr Antony said that his trip to meet Shri Swami had become very fruitful. Shri Swami told him that even a trip to Kashmir cannot give such eternal bliss].
What about Minor Religions?
[Mr Anil Antony asked that Shri Swami mentioned major religions only and not other minor religions.]
Other religions, whether major or minor are on the lines of the major religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and science (atheism). Science is mentioned as a religion because atheism is mentioned as a religion in our scriptures under the title ‘Nastika Matam’. Religion means a line of thinking (Matam). Jainism is almost similar to Buddhism. Their argument about the seven-fold existence is discussed separately in different branches of Hinduism. The Persian religion concentrates on the worship of fire which is similar to the branch of Hinduism called ‘Soura Matam’ in which the natural object, sun, is worshiped as God. This concept is discussed in the topic of representative worship (Pratika- Puja).
Generous Atheist or Selfish Theist
[Mr Anil Antony asked Shri Swami about the greatness of a generous atheist over a selfish theist.]
The Gita says that the bad theist is greater than a generous atheist (Apichet Su Duracharah…). The reason for this is that the negation of God is a score of -100. All the other good qualities are only +99. Therefore a good atheist’s score is –1. The gratefulness to God is a score of +100. All the other bad qualities are only -99. Therefore a bad theist’s score is +1. Of course a good theist’s score is +199 and a bad atheist scores -199. You should aim at +199 and not just +1.
Cause of Fear
[Mr Anil Antony asked Shri Swami about the cause of the fear.]
The cause of fear is only the ignorance about God. The complete knowledge about God removes fear completely. You can neither protect yourself nor others. No item in the creation can protect any other item in the creation. The reason is that every item is subject to creation and destruction. Even the human form of the Lord (in His incarnation) has birth and death, but He has no fear. Jesus knew about His future crucifixion. He never feared about it before or during the crucifixion. He never feared the soldiers who came to arrest Him. He never argued about His case in the court, because He knew that the crucifixion had to take place by the will of God. Therefore when you have the knowledge of God and the knowledge of His will, you will not fear even death. Death proves that everything and everybody other than God gets destroyed. Therefore Jesus asked people to fear for themselves and their children and not for His death. Lord Rama jumped into the river with a smiling face, Lord Krishna was smiling while leaving His body. Shri Padavallabha and Shri Narasimha Saraswati merged in the Krishna River with a smile[1]. Therefore one will not fear even death if the divine knowledge is attained. The Gita says that death is only the changing of one’s old shirt. Where divine knowledge exists like sunlight, fear vanishes like darkness. Even in the last statement of Jesus, no trace of fear appears as He said that He is surrendering His soul to the hands of God. The Veda says that the limited knowledge is cause of fear (Atha Tasya Bhayam…).
Worldly Talents
[Mr Anil Antony asked Shri Swami whether a person who is brilliant in the worldly affairs is blessed by God and whether his brilliance indicates his higher spiritual level or the exceptional grace of God on him.]
Suppose there is a person talented in running but he is running in the wrong direction. In that case the talent is harming him more because by that exceptional talent he is running fast and is going away from the goal in a very short time. The person who is not talented is walking slowly. The absence of talent in his case is very good because he does not go too far away from the goal even after a long time. Even a country, for its welfare, needs people with a good character, who are not corrupt. Even though their talent may be less, the public will be really benefited by non-corrupt officials. The public will not receive any benefit from corrupt officials even though they may be more talented. Their talent is applied only in their own selfish growth. Ravana was a great scholar with exceptional talents. But the world suffered due to him. A devotee with good character and lesser talent will always be better to give good results. God will bless him with exceptional talent wherever and whenever it is needed. If the direction is towards God, exceptional talent is definitely due to the grace of God. Talent without divine knowledge only results in destruction at the end.
Divine Knowledge
[Mr Anil Antony asked Swami “What is divine knowledge?”]
Shri Swami replied that the knowledge given by the Lord in human form like the Bible, Gita etc., is divine knowledge. If the concept of human incarnation is realized, the divine knowledge is recognized. If people can believe in Krishna, Jesus etc., as the Lord in human form, the Gita, Bible etc., are recognized as the divine knowledge. But the problem is that there are several interpretations of such divine scriptures. These interpretations are contradicting each other. These interpretations are given by different human beings and no human being can decide the correct interpretation. You yourself cannot decide the correct interpretation because you are also a human being. Therefore the original author of that sacred scripture alone can convince you with the correct interpretation. Such correct interpretation is called as the real divine knowledge. For this you have to recognize the human form of the Lord present in your generation. The identity of such recognition is revealed to your inner self, which gets convinced by such real interpretation. The identification must be aided by your careful and patient analytical faculty of the intelligence called as buddhi. Even an illiterate person has this inner self and the analytical faculty even in the absence of language.
Loving God above Family
[Mr Antony said that one of his friends asked the following question, “Lord Jesus stated that unless one hates his parents, and children, he cannot be the dear disciple of the Lord”. Is this not cruel on the part of God to ask people to hate their old parents and just born babies?]
The old parents look very pure because the qualities in them are just sleeping, due to their weakness. Similarly in just-born babies the qualities are in a dormant stage, which are ready for germination and therefore the baby looks pure. Even an old demon or a devil’s baby looks pure and innocent because the qualities or thoughts, which are precipitated in those souls for the past millions of lives, are weak. Due to the weak external atmosphere, which is their physical body, the qualities are just sleeping even though the souls are not really pure. Can you love a sleeping snake? The real purity lies only in Lord Jesus or any other human incarnation of the Lord. Other than the Lord and the liberated souls, who are the highest devotees, all other souls are impure in their qualities. Do you love your son only when he is a baby? Do you not continue your love when he grows? Therefore your love is for your son and not for his babyhood.
Do you love all babies and all old people in the world equally? Therefore Jesus (human incarnation) asks you to cut your bonds with your parents and not your bond with their old age. Similarly you have to cut your bond with your son and not your bond with their childhood. Actually you have no bonds with old age or childhood. If you really had bonds with old age and child hood, you would love all the old people and children in the world with equal intensity. Old age and childhood are only pretexts to cover your blind bonds with your parents and children.
You do not love your parents and children based on their good qualities or devotion. Even if they have bad qualities and even if they are not devoted to God, you love them blindly because they are related to you by the blood of your body. The blood along with the body is buried or burnt after death. Your body merges with the five elements of nature after your death. Thus matter of your body enters some other body. Now analyze the meaning of your blood relationship. Jesus gave more importance to devotees than His mother. He said that devotees are greater than His mother.
Shankara left His mother for the sake of God. Prahlada allowed his father to be killed for the sake of the Lord. Buddha left His wife and one-year-old child for the sake of God. Actually God created you, and the only parental relationship that is real is in the case of God. The bliss you derive from the Lord is far superior to the momentary happiness you derive from your wife. These relatives cannot protect you but the Lord can. If you analyze, these relationships are proved meaningless and illusionary. These bonds are dramatic and are not real. These bonds did not exist before your birth and will not exist after your death. That which did not exist in the past and that which will not exist in the future, does not exist in the present as well.
Two actors act as father and son in a drama. Before and after the drama the father-son bond is unreal. Therefore during the time of the drama also they are not really father and son. However all the actors were, are and will be the employees of the manager of the drama. This employer-employee relationship with the manager is real and permanent in the case of any actor. Thus the bond with the Creator alone is real. Jesus always remembered the Creator as His Father. At the age of 16 He left all His people for the sake of God for a period of 14 years. Your relationship with God is the reality and your relationship with your family members is false. Based on this analysis and knowledge you must vote for God, leaving your family. Thus the love for God is based on reason and not on blind love. Your family members are just equal to any other fellow human being. The dramatic father or dramatic son is as good as any other actor in the drama. Thus you can love your family members as your fellow human beings. You can serve them because they serve you; that is just business. From this angle your family members are different from outsiders. But your real love must be for the Lord in human form like Jesus and for other devotees, who will help you to improve your divine love.
Does God Need Material Possessions?
[Mr Antony said that some of his friends asked “Why does God need a website? Why does God need money? Can He not do without these things?”]
When the work is possible through a process that follows the laws of nature, the supernatural power of God is not used. Only demons exhibit supernatural powers, even if there is no necessity. They want to draw the attention of people and attract them in order to get name and fame. Their aim is not uplifting humanity. Display of supernatural powers creates attention in the people. But it simultaneously creates tension. The realization of knowledge and natural love (devotion) cannot be created in the excited state of tension. Devotion should be spontaneous and should be developed only in the ground (normal) state; only then is it sweet. This entire universe is created by the Lord only for tasting such real natural sweet devotion of devotees. The exhibition of miracles always creates fear and tension and a natural flexible state is not possible, in which alone the sweet devotion can be tasted.
Fear and tension will block your mind and you will not dare to clear your doubts. It is not congenial for the free growth and expansion of divine knowledge. Unless there is a severe necessity, the Lord will not perform miracles. When the work is not possible through the natural way, then only does the Lord use the supernatural power. Even if a miracle is performed the Lord will try to hide it so that the natural state is balanced. When Lord Krishna covered the sun with His divine wheel, He made it appear as if a cloud had covered it. The intention of the Lord is not self-exhibition like a demon. The same supernatural miracle performed by a demon is used for his self-projection. The Lord likes to be loved by the devotees without exhibiting His supernatural wealth.
A prince, who is good and humble, likes to win the heart of a girl without revealing his identity as the prince of that land. He does not like to exhibit his wealth in order to win her heart. Similarly God likes to attract the hearts of devotees by His divine knowledge which is His eternal divine beauty. If the prince has no merit, he tries to attract her by cheap exhibition of his identity and wealth. Thus a demon like Satan, tries to attract human beings by cheap exhibition of supernatural powers and tries to convert them into his followers. Satan tried to attract Jesus by showing his kingdom. Jesus attracted people by His divine knowledge. When it becomes inevitable to do a miracle and when the performed miracle cannot be hidden, the Lord tries to neutralize the tension by exhibiting strongly negative qualities.
Lord Krishna lifted the mountain and protected the villagers from the heavy rain. Such miracles cannot remain hidden or cannot be made to appear as a natural phenomenon. [People are bound to get fear and excitement on seeing them]. In order to bring them to normal state, the Lord exhibited very strong Rajas and Tamas like stealing butter and dancing with girls. In the case of Lord Rama there was no necessity of exhibition of miracles. Hence there was no need for Him to show the negative qualities. Thus the Lord is associated with all the three qualities to be used wherever and whenever necessary.
All the discoveries of science are only due to the grace of God. Computer technology is the gift from God to humanity. Some people are earning their livelihood through this technology. Livelihood is essential and is the basis of sustaining the body, which is the instrument of all spiritual efforts. Now this same computer technology is being used for spiritual service. Are you objecting to the Creator of this technology using it for His own work? You must be grateful to the Lord. You can use it for your worldly purpose but you should at least express your gratefulness by using it for His service also. Every scientific benefit is granted by God to humanity with the primary purpose of using it in the spiritual line only. Majority of top scientists believe in God and accept their discoveries as the results of grace of God only. A discovery is always experienced as an accidental incident like a flash. It is not the result of the continuous hard work. During the hard work, a flash strikes the brain of the scientist. The scientist gets disgusted during his hard work and suddenly a flash in the brain results in a new discovery. If the discovery were the fruit of hard work, it would come naturally at the end of the hard work without any flash. Such a flash is due to the grace of the Lord. Almost all top scientists agree to this truth. Only a few egoistic scientists do not agree to this.
Science is very helpful in the analysis of this creation, which helps one realize that no item of this creation is the Creator. However, science does not help us understand anything about the Creator. In fact even philosophers and sages have not understood anything about the Creator. The philosopher also analyses the entire creation. In this aspect there is no difference between the philosopher and the scientist. The only difference between them is that the scientist does not accept the existence of the unknown Creator who is beyond creation, whereas the philosopher accepts Him.
For a philosopher, miracles are not necessary. He is very sensitive and recognizes the existence of God through deep analysis of various incidents in his life. The scientist is not so sensitive. He needs physical proof through miracles. Most scientists turn into devotees through such miracles, which are visible to the naked eye. Such scientists have an open mind and courage to accept the truth due to their wise flexibility. But a few scientists have a very rigid mind and do not accept even the physical miracles attributing them to magic and illusion. Such people should not be called as scientists. Science means rational flexibility; leaving old disproved concepts and accepting the new proved concepts. People who are rigid in their old fixed concepts are called as conservatives. Such people mock the devotees as conservatives and the joke is that they are the original raw conservatives!
The bonds with wife, children, and money are the strongest bonds and are called as the three ‘Eshanas’, which are like steel chains. The Lord competes with these three to test your love for Him. It is not the question of requirement. It is the question of identifying your love. Your son may be well settled and may not require money. But you still give your wealth to him alone. It shows your love for him which is not related with his requirement. You are covering your absence of love for God with this pretext of non-requirement (saying that God does not need our money). By such a cover, you want favor from God even though you do not love him truly. You can deceive a human being by such an intelligent cover, but can you deceive the Lord who is omniscient? Instead of such tricks, God will be pleased with you, if you say frankly that you do not want to give Him money since you do not have love for Him. Truth is always better than trickery.
A lady was applying perfume to the feet of Jesus. A disciple of Jesus told her that it was waste, since Jesus did not require it. But Jesus objected to the disciple and accepted the perfume which signifies her immense love for Lord Jesus. It indicates the divine love of the lady and there is no question of requirement here.
Can Man Become God?
[Mr Antony said that some of his friends say that if a human being is created by cloning, man could become the Creator or God.]
God created space, matter and energy just by His will as you create a dream of your imagination by your will. The dream qualitatively resembles the universe. But the magnitude or power is infinitely large in the creation of the universe by God. Therefore your dream is not as real as the universe. But you are talking about the creation of items of the universe. Certainly you are not going to create the human beings which are the items of this universe by your will. You cannot create even a real atom by your will. Therefore the comparison with God is absolutely meaningless. Assuming that you have created the human being, you are creating the human being with the help of some living matter and energy supplied to you. Even there, you are creating a living item from another living tissue only and not from inert materials and inert energy. Parents also create a baby from living tissue like sperm and ovum. In what way is your new process of creation (by cloning) different from the conventional reproduction as far as the basic point is concerned? Therefore, you are far from your dream of becoming God by millions and millions of miles.
You can represent the creator and the process of creation as a representative model when you generate an imaginary world by your will in a daydream and control that day dream by your will. The Lord gave this ability to you as a representative model so that you will understand the concept of creation of the universe by the Lord, when He preaches the divine knowledge in His human form. A model only indicates the actual concept and should not be considered as another duplicate concept at a micro-level. Through this concept of dream, people have misunderstood that a soul is a spark of God since the human dream can be considered as the same concept on the micro-level. A diagram of power station on a sheet is only a model to explain the original concept. The diagram itself is not a micro power station and it cannot generate even one milivolt of electricity.
Dangers in Spiritual Journey
[Mr Antony asked Swami of the dangers in the spiritual journey.]
The only basic danger in the spiritual journey is ignorance. Ignorance generates certain decisions. Based on these decisions you slip from the path. Ignorance does not like analysis by reasoning which is called as ‘Buddhi’. When the analysis is done ignorance become weak and the wrong decisions are cracked. If this process of analysis is repeatedly done, it is called as memorization. Such memorization generates continuous knowledge, which is like the light. Then the ignorance and its decisions are crushed and vanish like darkness. You never slip from the path as long as this light persists. I give an example here. Suppose you are acting as a king in a drama. Your son in the drama is killed on the stage. You are weeping on the stage. You are ignorant that he is your son only in the drama. Such ignorance creates a wrong decision in your mind and you feel that he is really your son. That decision gives you real pain. Now if you analyze that it is only a drama, your ignorance disappears and subsequently your dramatic decisions and dramatic pain vanish. But after a few minutes you forget the analysis and so the ignorance, its decision and its pain continue. The ignorance is mainly created by the wrong interpretations of the scriptures given by demons, who are born as some human beings.
Similarly if you analyze yourself and identify that you are the soul and not the body, all the worldly bonds disappear. This is called as salvation. Now you are qualified to attain and please God. With the help of the analysis of the scriptural knowledge you can identify the Lord in human form. Here also you must remove your ignorance that He is the human body. As you have recognized yourself in the human body by analysis, you must recognize the Superself or the Lord in a human body. Again by analysis you must recognize that you (Pursha), who are an item of the creation, are totally different from the Superself (Purushottama). Such knowledge will keep you always in His divine service. Therefore the only danger is ignorance as mentioned by Sanat Sujata in the Mahabharata (Pramadakhyo Mrutyuh…). Lord Krishna started the Gita with Buddhi Yoga, which is the analysis leading to divine knowledge. Shankara also emphasized on the removal of ignorance by the analysis called as Jnana Yoga. Then only can you understand the statement of Jesus about leaving the worldly bonds for the sake of serving the mission of the Lord.
Easiest Way to Please God
What is the easiest method to pass the I.A.S. examination and to become the district collector? If corruption and copying do not exist, can there be any easy method for this? The fruit of pleasing God is very high and eternal. You can please the selection committee for the post of a peon easily because the standard of questions and answers is very low. But to please the selection committee for a very high post requires a lot of hard work and sacrifice of pleasures in studies. Therefore pleasing God is at one extreme end and the easiest method is the other extreme. Love alone can please the Lord. But the love must not be only in a theoretical stage, it should be proved practically. If somebody comes and pretends to love you, do you not test him? The beggar praises you, but you shout at him. Your father shouts at you. But you are submissive to him because you know that he really loves you and his shouting is only for your welfare. Therefore love expressed in words and mental feelings can also be false. Your wife expresses her love through words and feelings. But it is real because it stands your test. When the situation demands she serves you day and night. Therefore service is the proof of love. The theoretical love (words and mental feelings) must be associated with practical love which is service. When the guest comes, you give him a glass of water. That is theoretical love. Water is freely available. Similarly the words and mental feelings are freely available and have been given by God to all human beings. After giving the glass of water if you offer the guest a plate of food, that plate indicates practical love. The food in that plate is your hard earned money. Therefore prayer and devotion must be associated with service. A plate of food without water indicates your foolishness.
Therefore prayer by words, devotion by mind and discussions by intelligence are like a glass of water and it must be followed by service, which essentially is the sacrifice of the fruit of your hard work (Karma Phala Tyaga). The work done in such service is sacrifice of work (karma samnyasa). Thus sacrifice of words, mind, intelligence, money and work constitutes the five parts of the total sacrifice. If you carefully analyze and if you are frank enough to accept the naked truth, then you agree that sacrifice of hard-earned money is the most difficult item. If money is absent, even the body leaves your soul; it has to be maintained by money (food etc. bought by money) and there is no need to say the same about relatives. Therefore this glaring truth is stated in the Veda as “Dhanena Tyagena Ekena…”, which means that you can please the Lord by sacrificing your hard earned money. People who are unable to do this mock at this statement or misinterpret it. You have to realize the truth in yourself; there is no need of others. It is the fire test, which is called as the flame test in chemical analysis. But this does not mean that you throw some money and purchase the Lord. If the most difficult sacrifice can be done it is foolish in not sacrificing easy items like words, mind, intelligence and work.
After this stage the Lord competes even with your life. The Gopikas jumped into the fire when Krishna left His body. Jesus told His disciples that they must be prepared to carry their own crosses for the sake of the Lord. He sacrificed His body, life and finally sacrificed the final item called the soul by submitting it in the hands of the Lord. Thus total sacrifice is required to please the Lord and Jesus is the best example for such total sacrifice. Hanuman tore His heart with His finger nails for the sake of the Lord. Prahlada did not leave the name of the Lord even though the demons tried to kill him in several ways. You can understand the path by these examples and this is the meaning of the statement of Jesus that He is the path. It means that He proved the path practically through His life. This statement does not mean that Jesus is the path. It means that whatever practiced by Jesus is the path. If you catch Jesus you cannot reach the Lord. If you catch His practice and if you can practice that, you can reach and please God. This is the correct interpretation of His statement. Simply chanting the name of Jesus and crying for His crucifixion is not the path. He showed the path by practicing it. Similar is the case of Hanuman and Prahlada.
Was Jesus God?
[Mr Antony said that one of his friends argued that since Jesus submitted His soul to God, He cannot be God.]
You are giving value to one statement of Jesus and you are not giving value to another statement of the same Jesus. Jesus also said that He and His Father are one and the same. This statement of Jesus is also equally valid. Every human incarnation is a two-in-one system. When you say God-in-flesh, the word flesh means a living human being and not the mere inert human body. Krishna said in the Gita that He enters the human body (Manusheem Tanum…). Here too the word human body means the living human being and not the mere inert human body. The word human body means the composite of the three human bodies and such a composite is called as a living human being. This means that the Lord enters the human being. The three bodies in the composite of the human being are:
The outermost gross body, which is alive due to the awareness that pervades all over it.
The inner subtle body which is a bundle of qualities or feelings, which are alive because these qualities are the vibrations in the pure awareness.
The innermost causal body which is the pure awareness itself.
The gross body is crucified. All the statements (speech) of Jesus were given by the subtle body only through the mouth of the gross body. This subtle body of Jesus stated that His ‘body’ was not prepared for crucifixion. Here the ‘body’ refers to the gross body which is different from the subtle body. In the end the subtle body stated that it was submitting its soul to God. The word soul refers to the causal body. This composite of three bodies stands as the meaning of the word Jesus. This composite is the meaning of the word ‘flesh’. This composite is called as the human being or jiva.
Strictly speaking, the word jiva means the subtle body only. The soul is called as Atman. God entered Jesus and therefore God is in flesh. God is the fourth item and is called as the Supersoul. It is this Supersoul or God, who said the statements such as “I and My Father are one and the same” or “I am the truth”. Therefore you should not confuse between the statements of subtle body and those of the Supersoul. An ordinary human being is just a composite of these three bodies without the Supersoul.
If this is not understood correctly, there will be a glaring contradiction between such statements. The purpose of the aspect of the human being in Jesus was to stand as a practical example for all human beings. The purpose of the aspect of God in Jesus was to practically explain the divine nature of God. Any human incarnation consists of these two aspects; a mixture of a human being (Nara) and God (Narayana). If you take any sweet, it is prepared by mixing sugar and flour. But the item is called as ‘sweet’ referring to the property of sugar only, since it is more important. Similarly any human incarnation is divine referring to the nature of God only, since He is more important. An electric wire consists of electricity and non-electric wire. But it is called as electric current referring only to the more important electricity. You call a lamp (oil-lamp) as light since it consists of a flame and other materials like iron, sand, glass, a cotton wick and oil. It is called as light referring to the more important flame, neglecting the other non-luminous materials. Therefore when you call Jesus as God, it really means that God is in Jesus. Similarly Hanuman was the incarnation of Lord Shiva. As a human being he acted as a servant of Lord Rama. As Lord Shiva, He jumped over the sea and killed several demons. Similarly Lord Rama learnt spiritual knowledge from Sage Vashishta. This is the aspect of His human body. But as Lord Narayana a stone was converted into the lady, Ahalya by the touch of His divine foot. Similarly Krishna was a driver of the chariot of Arjuna from the point of His human body. As Lord Narayana He preached the Gita to Arjuna and gave a divine vision to him. The purpose of the aspect of God is to teach human beings about God. The purpose of the aspect of the human being is to freely mix with human beings and stand as an example for them.
Even the Prophet Mohammed was a human incarnation of the Lord. He did not reveal His divine aspect because it was not required in those circumstances. Thus you have to realize the program of the human incarnation according to the requirement suitability to the surroundings. If Lord Krishna, had been born in the West instead of Jesus, people might have got more spoiled. The people there were very cruel because historically nowhere else in the world was a human incarnation of the Lord killed in such a brutal way. It shows the cruel nature of people in that time and place. For people of such nature only love and kindness can bring realization.
If Krishna had been born there, they could have very easily accepted the negative qualities shown by Krishna like stealing etc. but they would never understand their significance and the significance of the human incarnation. Therefore a suitable program was adopted by the Lord. You should not criticize Jesus about His incapability in protecting Himself because you would be joining the cruel people who criticized and condemned Him. Similarly you should not criticize Krishna, for stealing butter since it was done only to cut their bond with their hard earned wealth. Similarly Lord Krishna’s attracting the Gopikas by dance was only to cut their bonds with their husbands. The Gopikas were sages in their previous births and had prayed to the Lord for salvation from the bonds. Hindus in India believe in previous births (reincarnation) and therefore they can digest this background. If this had happened in the West, Christians do not believe in previous births and therefore would certainly misinterpret these concepts. Therefore the divine program can be understood in the context of the background of a particular region only.
Therefore we have to understand the statements in the light of God as well as in the light of flesh accordingly, since both aspects are required for the devotees. The human aspect shows the path and the divine aspect shows the nature of the goal. Similarly the nature of the program of the human incarnation depends on the level and the psychology of the people living in a particular region in a particular time. With the help of such parameters alone can you appreciate the total behavior of the personality of the human incarnation.
Significance of the Present human incarnation
[Mr Antony asked about the significance of the present human incarnation (Swami)]
When you read the scriptures, which are the discourses of past human incarnations, you will get so many doubts demanding clarification. If the original Lord is not available, we have to depend on other fellow human beings for clarifications. Suppose you are studying a correspondence course. When you get a doubt, you have to depend on your classmate, who is studying the course similarly. He is not competent to clarify your doubts and you will be poisoned by his wrong interpretations. Suppose you are studying the same course in a college and the lecturer is explaining in the class. Whenever you get a doubt, you can ask him then and there and you will surely get the correct interpretation at the correct moment. The clarification is important at the correct moment because without clarification the latter part of the lecture may not be understood or may be misunderstood. Such a facility does not exist with past human incarnations and past scriptures. In this light alone, Jesus modified the Old Testament and gave the correct interpretation as and when people asked Him questions and doubts. If Jesus is not in the present generation, He must be blamed for being partial towards that generation alone. However God is impartial and therefore comes in every generation.
The present generation is very much blessed because of the facility of computer technology. You can clarify your doubts through this computer system without any strain of traveling to the human incarnation in person. All the divine preachers in this world are in contact with God and are doing the divine preaching to various levels of devotees. Their preachings may be mixed with some ignorance and it is not their fault because such mixing with ignorance in various proportions is required for various lower levels of human beings. The complete and pure knowledge without any trace of ignorance can be grasped only by a very few highest devotees. The number of advanced research students studying under a professor is always very small. Therefore the direct human incarnation is recognized by a very few top level devotees only.
The number of elementary school students are always many and the number of elementary school teachers are also many. As you rise in spiritual level, the number of students and the number of professors become lesser and lesser. Therefore you should not aspire for a large number of followers. For the direct human incarnation, there will be only a very few deserving devotees of such a top level. But such top devotees are spread here and there all over the world. Therefore there is a necessity for propagating the top most divine knowledge of the top most human incarnation, all over the world. But the number of followers will not be high and will be the very least. Jesus said that His path is very narrow and that only very few people travel on it. Lord Krishna has told in the Gita that only one in millions can perfectly understand Him (Kashchit Mam Vetti…). Therefore the aim of the topmost human incarnation is not to have a large number of followers, since it is impossible. The aim is only to see that the topmost knowledge reaches the few deserving devotees, who are spread all over the world here and there. If you wish to have a large number of followers, then the divine knowledge has to be adulterated with ignorance. The naked truth should not be exposed in such a case. Diamonds are always few in numbers whereas gravel stones are many.
The lower level devotees and the lower level school teachers should not be criticized. The levels of school, college and university are obviously required due to the existence of human beings in the corresponding levels. Therefore you should not criticize the students in schools and colleges. Today you are a student of a university. But one day you were in the school and in the college. Without the guidance of the school teacher and the college lecturer you could not have entered the university. The direct human incarnation of the Lord is the topmost professor, who has a few post graduate and research level students. God, being the head of the university level in spirituality, the schools and colleges are affiliated to the university and work under His leadership. It is the huge system of divine preachers. The school teachers and the college lecturers are working under the guidance and will of that Professor alone. The system is split to suit the various levels but there is no split in the preachers. The whole system of divine preachers is perfectly working due to the grace of that Supreme Preacher. There is no split in the preachers. Mixing up ignorance with knowledge is inevitable and is done according to the level of the students.
There is only one Supreme Preacher in a generation and He will be covering all the preachers and religions under the concept of Universal Spirituality. Some lower preachers may oppose this concept and it is not the fault of those preachers. Since the students of some lower levels do not agree to this concept, those preachers have to proceed according to their psychology. The Supreme Preacher knows this fact and only smiles, if any preacher of a lower level opposes this concept. It is by the internal wish of the Supreme Preacher only, that preacher opposes Him so that he can have a grip on his students who are of a lower level and do not like this concept. It is a very long journey to transform the entire Universe and make it realize this concept of Universal Spirituality. But one day or other this divine goal will be achieved and the entire world will be like one family with one Divine Father. The various cultures and religions need not disappear. But the innermost single continuous thread of the garland of gems with various colors will be realized by every human being of this universe. Such a state is called as World Peace.
Please remember that the divine preachers in this entire Universe are not at all split. They appear as if they are split in order to have a grip on their corresponding students, who are really split. All these divine preachers are connected by their innermost souls and are working by the grace of that Supreme Preacher, who is the Lord in human form. The difference in the preachers is only apparent to satisfy the different psychologies of the followers. One preacher may criticize another preacher in order to satisfy his followers but all these divine preachers are internally united and are working on the single program of transforming this entire world to realize the Universal Spirituality, which is the Absolute Truth like the one Absolute God.
All the original preachers like Krishna, Jesus, Buddha, Mohammad etc. are brilliant diamonds and all their followers are like black pieces of charcoal. The diamond and charcoal are made of the same carbon atoms. Similarly the preacher and the follower are human beings. In the diamond there is a regular crystal structure. The charcoal is amorphous, without any crystal structure. Thus the correct logical interpretation makes the scripture shine like a brilliant diamond. The same scripture without regular logical interpretation becomes a black charcoal.
(To be Continued...)
★ ★ ★ ★ ★