25 Jun 2006
Love and Sex: [Replies to some phone calls from USA:]
Getting the grace of the Lord is more important than pleasing yourself with worldly pleasures here, which includes getting fame. Pleasing the Lord is more important than getting the grace of the Lord. The sages tried to get the grace of the Lord through penance, to save themselves from hell. But the same sages in the form of Gopikas tried to please the Lord even at the cost of going to hell by offering the dust of their feet to Lord Krishna. Therefore, the Gopikas are treated higher than the Lord by the Lord Himself and the life of the Gopikas is more sacred than penance. Bhagavatam, which explains the life of the Gopikas, should be the highest aim of this human life. All the greatness of Bhagavatam is due to the Gopikas. Radha, who even became mad in the love of God, stands as the queen of the Gopikas. The grace of the Lord indicates the selfishness in us, whereas the pleasure of the Lord indicates the sacrifice in us. Thus the final stage of sadhana is only to end selfishness and reach the climax of sacrifice for the Lord. Some ignorant people reach the climax of sacrifice for society, which is foolishness. Sacrifice to please your body and your family is more important than pleasing the society and this is Pravritti or justice. But the Lord is more important than your body and family and this is Nivritti or the spiritual field. You must know both Pravritti and Nivritti and act according to the context. Fully ignorant people, who are of the Tamas quality, cannot know the significance of both these fields as said in the Gita (pravrittimcha nivrittimcha).
Some people are asking Me about their problems of sex and even homosexuality. They are all problems limited to Pravritti. Some have told Me that they are having suicidal thoughts. A young fellow asked Me for advice since he was suspecting the character of his wife, and it was leading to a lot of tension. One should not hide the problem of one’s body before a doctor and should not hide the problem of the mind before the spiritual preacher. Body and mind are interrelated and affect each other. If a wound happens to the body, one feels unhappy. Thus body affects mind. If the mind is with stress, a number of chronic diseases of the body come up. Thus mind affects the body.
First of all, one should know that the concept of sex should not be magnified or given over-attention. Sex is a biological need of the body like hunger and thirst. It is a biological issue at the physical level because, when food is taken, a part of it is supplied to the reproductive system, by which, it gives signals in the form of sexual desire for the growth of the human race on this earth. It is created by God for this purpose so that the souls [from the upper worlds] come down to the earth through the bodies created by sexual union. Thus, sex is a factor involved in the divine mission, which functions in a cyclic way by bringing down souls to the earth and taking them away from the earth. Disease is another biological need for the body to disintegrate and liberate the soul for its journey to the upper world. This is the cycle of creation called as ‘karma chakra’, which involves taking the souls to the upper world for treatment and bringing down the souls after treatment. Birth is a vehicle in one direction running with the petrol called sex. Death is the same vehicle running in reverse direction with the petrol called illness. Petrol is one and the same and therefore sex is a type of illness, which is in the divine service of God and should not be looked down upon or hated. Sex is divine and its deity is Manmatha or Kamadeva, who is the son of Lord Narayana. He is doing the divine duty following the path of Pravritti or justice. In the Gita, the Lord said that He is ‘kama’, following justice (Dharmaaviruddhah...). There is no need for shyness in feeling hungry, thirsty, sleepy, spitting, urination, excretion etc. which are just simple biological, universal and routine activities. Sex is also in the same list, about which you should not think so much.
If you have understood the divine purpose of sex, there is no meaning in homosexuality. It can be taken as a peculiar type of the biological need, which has no divine purpose. Satisfaction of hunger by eating food is not the divine aim. Maintaining the body for doing sadhana is the divine purpose and hunger is a signal indicating the same point. Without knowing this aim, some people say, “What is this eating, sleeping, living etc?” It shows their ignorance about the main aim of human life. According to many, the aim of the human life is to enjoy life with the family and get name and fame in the society as a rich man, as a scholar or as a capable person. Many feel that they have lifted the Govardhana hill by earning money and by bringing up their children. They feel that their lives are fulfilled when their circle of their friends and relatives appreciate them as a very disciplined person by since he brought up his children. He wants appreciation from friends and relatives by words like “How well educated and rich he is! Yet, see his humility and simplicity!” The poor fellow becomes unconscious by this hypnotic drug and helps them; their real aim is only getting some help from him. When the help is over, their suppressed jealousy comes out and they will abuse him. Thus, his life is neither fulfilled in this world, nor in the upper world.
The sages saw Rama and wanted to embrace Him. Is it not homosexuality? No. They will not have such a feeling, which is unjust and even unnatural. It is unjust because, it does not serve the purpose of reproduction, which is divine justice. It is also not a natural path of satisfying the sex-hunger. The sages had beautiful wives and produced children. Thus they also served the divine mission of the Lord. Moreover, they did not want to embrace Lord Rama in their same male forms. They wanted to embrace Him after transforming themselves into females. This does not come under Pravritti, because they had wives and children already. This comes under Nivritti in which the climax of love towards God called as devotion, which crosses all the limits of nature and justice. It is infinite love towards God, which is unimaginable. The context of such feeling is neither reproduction, which is the divine mission nor the pacification of the sex-hunger, which is a biological need. It is the unimaginable attraction of the heart of the devotee towards the Lord. This attraction is not simply based on the physical beauty of the Lord, which is meaningless, if analysed. It is the attraction of the heart of the devotee towards the total personality of the Lord. There is no distinction between male and female in Nivritti.
It is a matter between God and soul. The same soul can exist in a body of male or female. The attraction between the soul and God cannot be compared to the attraction between two souls. Thus, there is a fundamental difference irrespective of biological sex, which is related to the bodies. “Pumsaam mohna rupaaya” means that the sages were attracted by the divine personality [of Lord Rama]. Moha means attraction and not sex. Kama is sex.
The husband wants his wife to not be attracted to other males, but he is attracted to other females. Similar is the case with the wife. Shri Rajaneesh attacked this issue in this way and such approach is only partial [Rajneesh allowed free sex. So both partners in this case, could have sex with any other persons of their choice]. What about the case in which one partner is attracted to a third person while the other partner remains chaste? You cannot generalise the case of some people to all. Here is a person, who is very loyal to his wife but she is attracted to somebody else. Shri Rajneesh liberalized the concept by finding fault with the other side also. In general, he may be correct. But what about a specific case? Of course, this case may be both ways, because tomorrow I may find a problem from a chaste wife complaining about her husband for his side attraction. Therefore, one should not misunderstand Me siding only chaste wives or only chaste husbands. The issue is, if one side is chaste and the other side is not chaste, what should be the solution?
The solution for this is again multi-dimensional and multi-stepped. First of all, I should question whether the marriage took place by the full consent of both the man and the woman. Sometimes the consent is given by the man or the woman as a mere ‘no objection certificate’. But that is not sufficient for a marriage. There should be a positive certificate of intense attraction towards each other. The attraction becomes permanent and real if it is based on the total personality. Mere physical appearance is only one factor. If physical appearance alone is the basis, then love would reduce as the old age comes or if the appearance is spoiled by some illness or accident. Buddha was attracted to Amrapali in her old age to serve her!
The husband or wife gets attracted by a better ‘total personality’ of opposite sex, whom he or she meets in life. Mental attraction is hidden by several people by controlling their words. Words and actions of the body are inert and do not participate in the sin. When this body, which spoke or did some wrong activity is left over here [death], the soul is taken to hell in some other energetic body and is punished. If the body is a participant of the sin, it should be directly taken to hell and be punished. Therefore, in hell, the mind is punished through another new body. Therefore, the sin is in the mind and not in the body. Once mental attraction is there, the sin is recorded. The words and actions of the body are works of the inert energy and matter and have no sin. When Sita was carried by Ravana, the body of Sita was fully touched by Ravana by force as per the Valmiki Ramayana. This was referred by Sita, herself, (yadyaham gatra samsparsham…). But there was no attraction in her mind and therefore she was declared pure by the Fire-god (Agni). Renuka had mental attraction towards a king on the banks of River Narmada and she did not touch him even by a finger. But she was declared as a sinner and her head was cut by her son, Parashurama. Therefore, after marriage, getting attracted to another person is a sin and the soul is punished in hell. If the other side is also not chaste, will the sin get mutually cancelled leading to no punishment to either person? No. Both will be punished in hell. Therefore, the philosophy of Shri Rajneesh in this point does not save the soul in any way.
To get rid of such sin and the consequent hell, control of mind cannot be the true path, which is impossible. Some control food [to reduce sexual desire], but it is not a permanent solution because such feelings (samskaras) are precipitated in the soul from several millions of births. You cannot control the mind through the body, when the mind (samskara) is controlling your body. Such precipitated samskara, called as prakriti or nature acquired from millions of births, finally decides the course of action as said in the Gita (prakritistvaam niyokshyati…, Prakritim yanti…). The only permanent and real solution for this is to realize the real aim of human life and turn to God. The attraction towards God is like a mega-tsunami in which the side attraction towards another person disappears like the flood of river. No other side attraction can exist, when the divine personality of God appears. This attraction is totally different since it is the bond between God and the soul and not a bond between souls. There is no aspect of male or female here.
Rama went after the golden deer [for the sake of Sita], even though Lakshmana tried to stop him. Here it appears as if Rama was more attracted by the female devotee [His wife, Sita] compared to a male devotee [His brother Lakshman]. No. It is the climax of His love for the soul of Sita and not for her body. The same Rama said to stop the war and was prepared to leave His own life when Lakshmana became unconscious in the war. Here Rama neglected Sita before Lakshmana. This context shows the love of the Lord on the soul of Lakshmana, irrespective of the external body. In this tsunami of love for the Lord, both justice and injustice disappear. If one realises this divine knowledge he attains the Lord and crosses both good and bad (Buddhiyogam tam yenamaaam, Buddhyaa yukto, Buddhiyukto jahatiha ubhe—Gita). Both the hell and heaven are thrown out when you approach the Divine Lord as said in the Veda (Punyapaape vidhuya…).
The divine knowledge will make you realize that though this world is real for the soul, the bonds between souls are unreal and dramatic. Sage Ashtavakra preaches to King Janaka through the ‘Ashtavakra Samhita’, in which, the sage says that the mother and son of this life become husband and wife in the next life! It is like a hero and heroine acting in two different roles in different movies. We have two movies running side by side in two theatres in which the same couple of actors acting as husband and wife in one movie also act as mother and son in another movie! This bond [husband-wife or son-mother] did not exist in the past birth and will not exist in the future birth. That which was unreal in the past and will be unreal in the future is also unreal in the present according to Shankara (Yadanityam Tat Kritakam…). It is just a dramatic bond.
Realize the main aim of human life and concentrate on that. You are unnecessarily worried in about the side activity [family life], which is given just for a change or recreation. Let her or him [unchaste partner] go to hell. Do not bother about it. There should be no tension in a game for a player. The game is just a recreation arranged for a change. Do not be jealous of a classmate in a game. Be jealous of the same classmate in studies, because study is the main aim of your college life. Attractions are spontaneous, which can neither be created nor suppressed by force. A forced attraction by fear is not real and what is the use of such faith and love? In the spiritual path too, the attraction to God should be spontaneous and natural without fear or force. Urge to fulfill the desires is the force. The fear is of hell. The Gopikas were prepared to go to hell in the love of the Lord and no force on earth could deviate them from it. The attraction should be spontaneously generated in a free atmosphere without any attraction to boons and without any fear of hell.
In the human incarnation, the human form of God, masks the real nature of the Lord so that a free atmosphere is created in which a devotee is without fear and [temptation to] fulfill desires by using His super powers. Such love is really sweet. God created this universe and His main aim is to taste such real sweet love of His devotees. When the Lord showed His mega-energetic form (Vishwarupam), Arjuna shivered with great tension. In this state can you even think of love? The love of Prahlada for Vishnu was spontaneous. His father tried to resist it and divert it to Lord Shiva. The resistance increased the devotion more and more. Therefore, the realization of the main aim of human life, the realization of family life as a side activity for the recreation of the soul and the realization of the unreal dramatic family bonds will remove all the tensions. The ignorance of the real aim of this life and the ignorance of the unreality of these bonds are responsible for these great tensions. A realized soul will laugh at such problems (karma bandham prahasyasi—Gita).
This human life is very rare. Getting the next human birth is even rarer. The ignorance of real aim of life leads to thoughts of suicide due to tensions created in this unreal drama. Will any body actually kill himself or herself on the stage while acting in a drama? Is he or she not a fool? Is he or she not mad? Suppose a student is defeated in a cricket game and commits suicide, is he or she not mad? Suppose a student is defeated in cricket game and commits suicide. Is he not a fool? The game itself is a side activity meant for a change. This worldly life is just a side activity for a change and one should not even get any tension in this worldly life, what to speak of suicide!
Even the bond with your child is unreal because the blood from your body entered into the body of other soul. This external gross body is destroyed here [in the is world; at the time of death] and the bond with that gross body is destroyed too. The soul of Abhimanyu in heaven did not recognise his father, Arjuna, for the same reason. The bond with the wife is more unreal and is formed only due to touch between two gross bodies, which are like external clothes. The bond of the child perishes with the death. The bond with wife may die at any moment with divorce even within the span of this lifetime. The Gita says the same (Ye hi samsparsajaa bhogah…). A realised soul will not entertain himself in such unreal bonds (Na teshu ramate budhah—Gita).
A king in Shrirangam was attracted to the beauty of the eyes of his wife. Shri Ramanuja showed the eyes of the Lord, which were radiating with divine knowledge and the king was attracted to the Lord leaving his wife. The physical appearance of the gross body is the external personality, which is temporary. The qualities of the internal subtle body (along with the causal body) constitute the internal personality. When the wonderful God charges the human form by entering into the human incarnation, generally He charges the internal subtle and causal bodies too, so that the qualities of that individual become divine and wonderful. The qualities of co-human beings may be good but are not the best and wonderful. Sometimes God charges even the external gross body [of the incarnation] according to the requirement as in the case of Krishna. In that case the body of the incanration may become wonderfully beautiful or even radiating, giving divine visions such as the Vishwarupam. Shirdi Sai Baba was not externally beautiful, but His internal personality was divine, charged by God. God withdrew Himself even in the case of Krishna from the external gross body at the end. The internal body (subtle and causal) can be called as Brahma, Vishnu or Shiva according to the predominating quality of the subtle body. Various qualities arise due to various mixtures of these three qualities giving rise to various deities. In the Vishwarupam, all these deities were shown with the central three qualities. Whenever the wonder (Maya) is mixed with the medium (Prakriti), the attraction becomes highest. Wonder (Maya) indicates the presence of God (Mayinamtu—Gita).
Do not worry about the sins of your close family members. Tell them once and help them in the analysis. Do not hate them and resist their side attractions. Resistance will only increase the attraction. You are promoting it indirectly. Help them in analysis and if they still do not change, neglect them. In this world, the souls and five elements are real but the attractions or feelings, which are called as bonds are unreal. The actors, stage, dress, lights etc., are real but the story and dialogues, which together called as the drama, are unreal. God, the absolute reality, is the source of both the reality and unreality of this world. When I say that the world is a dream, you should not mistake it and get confused by thinking that everything in the world is a dream. If you analyse your wife and child, their souls and gross bodies are real. But their subtle bodies which are made up of feelings (gunas) are unreal. The vessel (gross body) and the water (causal body) are real. But the waves in the water (subtle body) are unreal, They constitute the whole drama-dream. All the actors and the materials used in the movie-shooting are real. Only the story, dialogues and the feelings expressed like attraction and hate are unreal. The Advaita scholars misunderstand here and say that the entire world is unreal.
You are admitted to the college and your main aim is to get the degree. If you fail in the exams, your main aim is upset. Therefore, you should get tension. Similarly you should have tension if the main aim of the human life i.e., achieving the grace of God, fails. Other than that, all the things like family life and relationships are only extra curricular activities. In your college life, a participating in a game is an extra curricular activity. Suppose you are defeated in it. You should take it sportingly and not seriously, because that is not the main aim. Therefore take everything in life sportingly, because, this life is not the ultimate aim. If family life alone were the goal [of human life], even animals and birds have their family lives. The speciality of human life is to think about God and achieve the grace of God.
Attraction should be spontaneous and natural. You can get real bliss only in such love. You are already attracted to the greatest Lord. Why do you wish that you should attract some other soul by your personality? If there is any merit in your personality, it is due to God and not you. Pass on the credit to God. Advise even the soul attracted to you to get attracted by the greatest Lord. That will protect you both here and as well as in the upper world. The Gita says that if any greatness is seen in any person it is coming from the Lord alone (Mama Tejomsa Sambhavam). Sita was always attracted only to Rama and Ravana could not divert her. Rama never expected or compelled Sita to be chaste for Him. In fact, after the war, Rama told Sita to go freely and select Lakshmana, Bharata or Vibhishana as her husband. But Sita felt so bad [that Rama doubted her love] that she jumped into the fire. Rama did not jump into fire, doubting Sita! [He was not upset that she was touched by Ravana. Neither was He worried that she may choose someone else as her husband. None of these reasons enough to want to commit suicide]. The inert body cannot be a partner of the sin. Only the live subtle body, made of qualities, is responsible for the sin. Even though the body of Sita touched the body of Ravana, Sita was not a sinner since it was against her will. Stating this, Sita refused to sit on the shoulder of Hanuman, because she would not touch anybody except Rama consciously (Yadyaham gatra samsparsam—Ramayana).
Therefore attraction should be spontaneous and not be compelled. Prahlada was spontaneously attracted to Vishnu. His father forced him to love Shiva instead of Vishnu. This does not mean that there is no devotee of Shiva, if Prahlada was not attracted to Shiva. Markandaya was as much attracted to Shiva as Prahlada to Vishnu. Love or attraction should be spontaneous and reasonless. God wants such love from the devotee. The attraction, which is not based on benefits in return, is the real love. Just because somebody is benefited by you, you should not expect love from that soul. You can expect gratitude. Love is beyond reason. Your love for God should not be based on the benefits you received from Him. You can be grateful for the help from God. But love is generated based on the personality. Sita loved Rama like that. The Gopikas loved Krishna similarly. The weight of love is important and not the form of love. People think that the eight wives of Krishna really loved Him. But when His finger was cut, it was Draupadi who tore her new silk sari as a bandage and not the wives of Krishna. Here the brother-sister love proved to be more than the husband-wife form of love. God sees the weight of love and not form of love. The cost of one-kilo sugar donkeys [sugar blocks in the shape of donkeys] is more than half kilo sugar horses. The cost is based on the weight of sugar and not on the form. The bond between Rama and Hanuman was only Master and servant which is not a family relation in our terms. But the love in that bond was the highest and Hanuman was rewarded with the post of the future Creator—God Himself.
The mentality to attract other souls is egoism. The mentality to be attracted to God is divinity. When you never aspire to attract any soul, you will attract all the souls by the grace of God. When you like fame, you will be defamed as in the case of demons. If you ask, it shall not be given. If you knock, the doors will be closed. This is Nivritti. The reverse of this is true in Pravritti for initial encouragement. For the initial attraction towards God, some boons are granted, but it is only temporary. In the permanent advanced stage, love without aspiring for any benefit in return is valid. Hanuman wanted to always be a servant. His devotion of this kind was famous (Dasa Bhakti). But He was made the Lord of the world! Therefore love without any aspiration for benefit and that which is based on the divine personality alone is the real love. This divine personality is only God. Always be attracted to Him. All will be attracted to you, because His grace will fall on you. Even then, let your attraction to God continue without egoism. You will rise and rise and God will keep you on His head. Not only the world, but even God gets attracted to you. That is the love of Radha or Hanuman for God. There is no concept of male and female here. It is the concept of soul and God. Any soul is like a glass lens. It shines by the light of that Sun alone.
Whenever a soul wants to attract other souls it is only a desire for fame, which has its root in egoism. If one makes himself zero, he will become the hero, since the grace or power of God enters into him. Arjuna without Krishna was defeated even by some ordinary hunters from the forest. When he was associated with Krishna, he defeated all the great warriors and became the topmost hero. Hanuman is the greatest hero in every aspect because, He always thinks Himself as zero. He quietly sat on a stone like a schoolboy, when other monkeys were boasting about their capacities to jump over the sea. Other monkeys were posing as heroes. He sat silently making Himself zero. But He became the real hero by the grace of God and crossed the sea just by one short jump! He declared Himself as the weakest monkey (Mattah pratyavarah Kashcit—Ramayana). Therefore learn to be attracted to God and not to attract others. Desire for fame is also a wine which induces egoism. When Vivekananda was roaming in the streets of America, nobody cared for him. Even when he stood on the stage [at the World Parliament of Religions], nobody was attracted to him. But when he surrendered himself to his Guru, the power entered him and he attracted crowds by the showers of divine knowledge! If you become the absolute zero, you will be made the infinite hero by God.
The gross body is inert and is like a cloth of the soul. Sex is momentary happiness that is experienced by the physical touch of the two inert gross bodies. People use the word ‘love’ for sex. Love is a quality of subtle body (the inner item), which is made of qualities. Sex is the physical action of the gross body, like hunger, thirst etc., which is a biological function. Sex (kama) is related to body and love (Prema) is related to the mind. Body and mind are mutually linked. Both sex and love are created by God for the divine work of reproduction of souls (dharma) which is the essential basis of His divine drama. All this is only an issue between two souls. After death, both sex and love disappear because even the recognition of the other soul does not exist any more. The love towards God is called as Bhakti, which is eternal, because the bond with God is eternal. Love is not eternal as it is limited to this birth only.
The Veda shows the two ways. One is Pravritti and the other is Nivritti. In Pravritti, the Veda advises the soul to marry for reproduction (prajatantum…), which is also a divine mission. In Nivritti, the Veda asks the soul to do the work of God without marriage (yadahareva virajet…) because the soul is not interested in anything except God. Of course, marriage and reproduction to bring the souls from the upper world to earth, and training them with good devotion to God is also divine work. The momentary selfish happiness present in sex is not considered, because it does not persist afterwards. Thus it is the participation of two souls [in divine work] like two colleagues on a job. A third soul takes a body out of this association [the child born to the two] and appears in this world with its own line of destiny. The third soul is like a new trainee-employee for the divine mission. Even the Lord needs parents when He comes in human form to uplift the humanity. If the divine purpose of reproduction were absent, God would have not created sex and love between two souls. Without realising this divine mission, if the three employees forget the job and the employer, and only develop liking to each other, which intensifies, it is called blind foolishness or ‘Moha’. In Jaimini Bharatam, there is a story that tells of the kingdom of Babhruvahana, where people used to think of Lord even during their copulation at night. This means that they are remembering the purpose of the sex in the service of God. If this divine goal is realised, one need not feel shy and hide the feeling of sex as if it is a sin.
This divine purpose is reminded by the sculpture that shows the union of couples on the walls of sacred temples. The present westerners and ancient Indians do not feel shy about sex and are frank, without hiding their feelings regarding it. One need not magnify it and keep it secret like divine knowledge (Brahma Jnanam). When you are doing some work in the office, you forget it and go home peacefully. Shankara had to indulge in sex to defeat the wife of Mandana Mishra in the knowledge of Kama Shastra. He forgot it and never carried on the feelings about it, because His mind was not on it. He replied to Goddess Saraswati with the same point when she stopped Him from climbing the throne of ‘Sarvajna Peetha’ [Seat of Omniscience]. [She alleged that He was not pure since He had had sex. He told her that His mind was free from deisre in the act]. When some devotees asked Me about the sex affair of a great saint, I asked them “Why don’t you see the great work done by him? Do these silly things need any mention, since are just biological functions? Why do you magnify them, which are not even worth thinking? When you see a movie, do you see the excretion of the hero in the lavatory? Why are such scenes not shot? Only the great works done by the hero are mentioned on the screen. A Nobel prize is not given to a person who has controlled sex, and is not denied to a great person just because he could not control sex”.
The grace of God is also not related to sex for a householder, who is involved in sex just for a few moments as in any biological function and involves himself in God’s work without caring for it. It is the mind that is related in this issue and not the gross body which is inert. Scholars say “Enaivaalingita kanta Tenaivalingita suta” which means that the same gross body embraces wife and also daughter. The physical action is same. But the mind is different. The mind is responsible for the sin. Actually, here mind means the intelligence (Buddhi) that decides everything. Buddhi is the driver of this body-chariot. The driver is guided by his knowledge in driving. Therefore, Buddhi or the driver means the knowledge or jnana yoga that ultimately decides the sin. Only analysis can decide the sin (Buddhiyukto…—Gita). This knowledge that comes from God alone is correct. Therefore God decides sin.
Brahma created the first soul i.e. Saraswati and married her. All other souls are generated from that divine couple. This story is mocked at by people saying, that the Father married His own daughter. You are saying that all of us are created by God and that He is our divine Father. Then all of us are brothers and sisters of each other. In that case, how can any marriage take place in the creation? Now the mockers should mock at themselves. The rules are created by us in course of time, but they are valuable only after framing. There is no question of sin if you realise that Brahma, Saraswati and all other souls are involved in sex to help this drama which entertains God by bringing down the souls from the upper world and provides them external gross bodies like the dresses in a drama. If we realise that the very process of sex is only for this divine purpose and that it is a divine process created by God Himself, there is no question of sin. When the Creator is forgotten and when the purpose of our creation and existence for the sake of the entertainment of God is also forgotten, even a life without sex is a sin.
This world is ‘Mithya’, which means that it is almost unreal because its reality is negligible. When the existence of a tiny cut on your shirt is negligible, you will not count its existence. This entire world is almost unreal for God and is like a daydream. All the five elements viz. matter and energy are almost unreal in the view of God. The soul is made of the tender and the weakest energy called as awareness (chit), which is nervous energy flowing in the most delicate matter i.e. brain and nerves. This nervous energy is almost negligible before the physical matter and inert energy. Physical matter and energy are in turn negligible before God. Thus, the soul is twice negligible for God. The most negligible item of this world is the soul. The qualities or feelings (gunas) are like waves of the soul. They are negligible before the existence of soul. Water associated with some kinetic energy induced in it, becomes a wave. The wave represents that kinetic energy. The physical existence in terms of visibility of that energy is negligible before the matter. Thus the wave representing energy is also not completely unreal and can be called as ‘Mithya’. The subtle body made of these qualities is Mithya before the soul. Thus a dream made of feelings is Mithya for a soul. What are these bonds like parents, wife, children etc? These bonds are just feelings, which are waves of the nervous energy. A father and daughter or a brother and sister separated from the beginning met in a foreign country and got married. Later on they realised and could not continue as a couple. In some cultures, one can marry the daughter of a sister but the daughter of a brother is treated as one’s own daughter. In some other region and religion, this system is reversed! It is the wave of mind or feeling that is the essence of a bond. Therefore all these bonds are almost unreal (Mithya) for a soul. Why then should there be tensions, murders and suicides for the sake of these almost unreal bonds? Why should there be corruption for the sake of these almost unreal bonds and why should one have to go to hell for the sin of corruption? It is these bonds that form the meaning of the word ‘world’ for the soul when the world is said to be Mithya and not the physical world. This is the essence of the preaching of Shankara, which is misunderstood and the soul treats the physical world as unreal! Only an ignorant soul thinks that these bonds are real and undergoes tensions.
A paper and pen are sufficient to give a certificate. Similarly knowledge and devotion, which are also made of nervous energy, are sufficient to attain the grace of God. The attachment to wealth is also a bond like the bonds with your family members. You are sacrificing your attachment to wealth and family members for the sake of God. Already the wealth and your family members are the immovable and movable properties of the Lord. For the sake of God, Shankara sacrificed the attachment to His mother and did not sacrifice the mother because she is already a part of the movable property of the Lord. Similarly Gopikas sacrificed their families and butter (wealth) for the sake of the Lord and here also, sacrifice of their bonds is the point. The whole game is only with these feelings (bonds) which are almost unreal, and not with real things. Therefore there need not be any tension regarding the bonds. Your bonds with other souls are unreal compared with the bond with God, just like the bonds in the drama are unreal compared with the bond with the owner of the drama. The dramatic bonds change from one drama to the other. Similarly the bonds with other souls change from one birth to the other. The bond with God is real and eternal because, even in Maha Pralaya (the final dissolution of the creation) the souls exist in God, and are always controlled by Him. The Master-servant bond always exists [between God and the soul], and is also the essence of any other bond.
I have come down to preach to and reach each one of you here. I am impartial from My side. Your attachments depend on your own merits and defects. I am controlling My fame as long as I am alive, which will rise like a tsunami after My exit. There is a reason for this. Accepting the human incarnation itself creates the seed of egoism and jealousy. If the human form of God becomes famous while He is alive, the seed of egoism and jealousy will grow into a huge tree even in the heart of the closest devotee. Priests accepted the past human prophets. But to accept Jesus as a prophet in living form, jealousy entered them as a seed. Jesus was drawing crowds by His divine knowledge and the growing fame of Jesus developed the jealousy more and more, which lead to His crucifixion. Even His closest devotee betrayed Him due to jealousy and egoism. God is not fond of fame because He is bored with fame in the upper world. Only human beings are fond of fame. God enjoys bad fame, which is not available in the upper world. Crucification was bad fame and the Lord enjoyed it well here.
For a long time, I was keeping silent about issues of Pravritti such as these questions and problems related to sex. But recently I got a phone from one person from USA and the person said to Me, “Swami, I read your messages through emails. I am newly married. My wife is attracted to someone else. I am chaste and want to commit suicide. Please advise me through Your spiritual knowledge.” I told him to wait and see My message on such issues. The story of Shaktuprastha is a train from earth to heaven (I mean Brahma Loka). This message is a train from hell (Patala loka) to heaven, so that anyone can get into it and reach the other terminus. The Gita says “Apichetasi papebhyah…”, which means that even the greatest sinner will reach the Lord by following the divine message i.e. the Gita. Similarly Jesus showed the path of divinity even to a condemned prostitute.
I once again tell you to realize the main aim of this human life and forget the insults in the side activities. For a student, education is the main activity and he should be upset if he fails in the exams. But, he should not be worried, if he fails in a game conducted as an extra-curricular activity in the college. All this worldly life is only a game or an extra-curricular activity. If you fail in your efforts to achieve the grace of the Lord, you should get tension because the spiritual effort is the main activity and aim of this human life. Othello killed Desidimona and ended his life too doubting her character and his doubt was actually unreal. But I assuredly tell you that this entire worldly life made of these unreal dramatic bonds is actually unreal and even if Desdimona were actually in the wrong, and if Othello were a realized soul, he would neglect the whole issue as an extra-curricular activity. Love in a free atmosphere alone is worthy and in a compelled atmosphere, it is hypocritical love which is useless. Before matter, energy is negligible because energy in a condensed form is matter. Before energy, awareness (soul) is negligible, since it is the weakest form of energy. Before awareness, feeling is negligible, since it is only a wave of awareness. Qualitatively matter and energy are one and the same energy. But the quantitative difference brings in the negligibility and hence, it is treated as almost unreal (Mithya). These bonds are just feelings and you can laugh at these bonds as said in the Gita (karmabandham prahasyasi).
Meaningless Pursuits
[Phones from USA]: Whether it is homosexuality or heterosexuality, do not give much attention to it. Try to control the homosexuality, because it is unjust since there is no reproduction involved and it is an unnatural way of pacification of the sex-hunger, which is as good as any biological function. In any case do not give much time and energy in thinking about that momentary extra-curricular activity. Let that moment be spent as a moment spent in excretion etc., which is inevitable to the body. That point is not a problem of even Pravritti since you are not disturbing the society in any way like corruption or communal war. It does not stand as an objection to the spiritual path in any way. It is only a laughable extra-curricular activity. Suppose a college student is playing with a small child. People watching will laugh at it. But that has no connection with the main activity of the student like attending the classes and writing the unit tests. Therefore do not waste much time for such meaningless things. I assure you that your spiritual life has no link with that in any way. God simply smiles at it but will not be angry on it.
Regarding the issue of heterosexuality and suicide the same argument holds good. Try to preach to your wife regarding the justice in Pravritti especially when you are loyal to her. Attract her mind to God so that all attractions including the attraction to you too are diverted to God. The grace of God on her will not only protect her everywhere but will also protect her husband and children. It is hence a meaningful and useful diversion. Do not wish that her side attraction should disappear and that her attraction to you alone should remain. Such a wish is selfishness and egoism mixed with ignorance. If such a thing is to happen [that she should be attracted to you], it should happen spontaneously in a free atmosphere and not by force, economic necessity or fear of hell. There is no real taste in such unreal apparent love. In fact, Rama encouraged side attraction in Sita after war! But Sita refused and jumped into fire even for hearing it! That is the real spontaneous love, which is really enjoyable. Rama did not commit suicide doubting Sita. He did not try to attract her but He was spontaneously attracted by her. In any way all this is a momentary extra-curricular activity, which has no significance at all. Therefore neglect that point after a certain level and concentrate on the main activity.
When Jesus was carrying the cross, people were weeping about Him. He asked them to weep for themselves and for their children. What does this mean? Even the death is a momentary side activity like changing the old dress as per the Gita and that point is inevitable to anyone. Whatever may be way of death, it is inevitable like any biological function. Therefore, one need not concentrate on that point. Whether you are killed or you die naturally, death is one and the same, and is inevitable. Why should you bother about it and waste time thinking about it? Jesus did the work of God successfully and His life became fruitful. He is going to sit on the right side of God forever after the suffering of death for a few hours. Suffering sometimes exists even for months and years in the case of some illness that attacks before death. But other people are going to hell forever after this little human life for which too, the suffering before death is inevitable. If you analyse this, who should weep for whom? One need not weep for Jesus but should weep for himself or herself or for their children in view of the permanent hell after death. This is the meaning of the statement of Jesus.
Krishna was shot dead. Rama jumped into the river at the end. Shankara suffered with blood motions at the end. But they never cared about death which is inevitable. Before the problem of death, no other problem is more serious and therefore should not be thought about. I did not answer such issues for a long time only due to this reason. But the negligibility [of these problems] is from My angle. Now I am answering from the angle of those affected persons by ignorance and illusions and I want to uplift those people also towards the spiritual path. I have extended the train of this divine knowledge to the last terminus so that any person can get into this train from any point. Even the worst sinner can get into this train since the starting point is now extended to the extreme terminus.
Now, let every human being become brave and not be discouraged by any problem. Realisation of the absolute Truth through divine knowledge is the only permanent solution. Doing some exercises of yoga is only a sedative, which does not solve the problem in a permanent way. Money is also another meaningless problem like sex. Money is needed and is inevitable for the basic biological needs. But too much concentration on the endless earning of money and getting tensions due to it, is meaningless. God provides the necessary money even to atheist. Even a thief in the jail is provided with the basic needs. All right, you can put efforts to that level or a little higher level than that [minimum savings], foreseeing some unexpected needs in the future. But it is meaningless to go intensively into the issues of money (Artha) and sex (kama) and get tensions and think of even committing suicide! The real aim is lost and the real person to be cared for is forgotten. The side activities are taken as the main activity. The unreal bonds are assumed as real. The useless colleague-souls are felt as useful. These are the real illusions. All these illusions form the illusory world.
The physical world consisting of matter and energy is real and in fact it is more real than the soul because of the greatness in quantity. Matter, which is the condensed form of energy, is real. The basic energy is real. The awareness, which is a form of energy, is real since it is also basically energy. All these are the basic items, which are real. But the qualities are unreal because they are just waves of the weakest form of energy, which is a very high dilution. Strictly speaking it is real but it can be assumed as unreal by its low quantity due to high dilution as it becomes negligible in its existence. Strictly speaking nothing is unreal. Even the space is a form of energy and thus vacuum is also energy and is ‘something’. You are think that vacuum is ‘nothing’ (Akasam gaganam shunyam), which is indicated by the word ‘shunyam’. There is nothing such as ‘nothing’. The electromagnetic spectrum is infinite and you have waves of even shorter wavelength than cosmic rays. You could grasp only up to cosmic rays. Even though the entire world is made of the same energy, different properties of matter arise due to the different quantitative arrangements of drops of energy called as sub-atomic particles. This is the explanation given by science, which is correct. Such properties are unreal in the view of God like the qualities of awareness are unreal in view of the soul. But the properties of matter are not unreal for the soul. The different properties of matter and energy are like different feelings for God. As you go into deeper levels of this nature (Prakriti), the super arrangement (Maya) is revealed but cannot be grasped beyond some level of depth (Mayam tu prakritim—Gita). Only divine liberated souls can understand the Maya at the deeper level compared to the ordinary human beings (Mayametam taranti te). But a still deeper level or deepest level exists because Maya is endless (Mama maya duratyayaa—Gita).
Essence of Divine Knowledge
The essence of My divine knowledge is condensed into a Sanskrit verse by Me as:
Avateernanaro Brahma,
Margah Karma phalaarpanam,
Jivah Srushti Kanah Srustih,
Mithyaa tasyaiva naatmanah.
The human incarnation is God for human beings. The path to please Him is only sacrifice of work and fruit of work in His divine mission. The soul is an iota of the creation. The creation is almost unreal (Mithya) for God alone and not for the soul.
Propagate this verse as the essence of all My theory. All the divine knowledge is only the elaboration of this divine verse and the clarification of doubts arising on this theory. I shall be pleased and bless you all if you propagate this knowledge, whether you consider Me as the human incarnation or a devotee of God. In both ways, My blessings are useful to all of you.
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