24 Dec 2017
Shri Kartik asked:
1) [The following is an argument based on Your teachings in a forum - “Whenever a soul wants to attract other souls it is only out of a desire for fame, which has its root in egoism. If one makes himself a zero, he will become the hero, since the grace or power of God enters into him.”
Argument from opponent: "Someone is outraged at something. They have a good and worthwhile cause but realize that alone it will be impossible to realize it and together with others there might just be a chance to achieve it over time.
BUT, they should wait until the rather nebulous event of God entering into him has occurred, because we wouldn't want our leaders to be egoistic, no matter what they are workings towards?]
Is that not a call for inaction?" Please explain how can I reasonably refute this argument?
Swami replied:- My comment means the attitude to be present in the theoretical phase, which provokes anybody to do its related action. Of course, when you do an action for fame, the root of which is always ego, such action may have the required force of intention in the duration of its practical implementation, but, at the end, it will certainly fail. The reason is that you are interested in projecting yourself and not the God, who is the main supporter of your action done for the welfare of the world. This is the meaning of saying “Man proposes and God disposes”. If you dispose your attitude of ego as doer and ambition for your personal fame, then, God proposes it to end in success! Idea of doership certainly strengthens ego and its main projection is attachment to worldly aspects like fame, blind fascination etc. Inactivity is better than sinful negative activity. We neither recommend for inactivity nor recommend for negative activity. We always strongly recommend for the positive activity that ends in success, useful for the welfare of world and clean by avoiding ego, personal projection and personal attachment. The inactivity is never recommended. Only the total transformation of your activity into positive side deviating from negative side (sinful activity) and crossing the middle zero point (inactivity) also is recommended. Such activity is called as karma yoga, which is better than inactivity (karmasamnyaasaat karmayogo vishishyate… Gita).
2) [My argument on a forum - "All of us (humans) have an innate ability to think critically; a faculty to discriminate. This is the main thing that differentiates us from other sentient creatures on this planet. While animals can feel and think in a basic way, they do not have the kind of discrimination we do.
Some of us use this faculty more than others. In some, it's more developed than in others. But each one of us, with the right direction and constant effort, can undoubtedly learn to develop our faculty to discriminate between right and wrong, truth and illusion.”
Argument from opponent: "Actually, as a species we're exceptionally bad at detecting illusions/things that aren't true. We're limited to our level of experience, the level of perception that our brains and senses work at an everyday level. When you go beyond our everyday understanding, our instinct/common sense/even critical thinking fails us constantly.
That's why we build predictive models that function in a much more objective sense than we do."]
Please explain how whether my argument is correct and how I should tackle the opponent's argument.
Swami Replied:- In the arguments of both of you, the common point is that both of you are based on the analysis of human intelligence, which is more developed than in animals. Somebody told that man is an animal with two legs. Science says that man is evolved from animal. The main difference between animal and human being is that animal doesn’t discriminate good from bad. The common points between animal and man are food with drink, sleep, fear and sex (Aahaara Nidraa bhaya maidhunaani). If the human being is limited to these four items only throughout the life, the human being is called as animal with two legs instead of four legs. Such human being is thrown into the lifecycles of animals and birds forever because these only four items are available in animals so that the human soul in the body of animal can fully concentrate on these four items only throughout the life. The liking of the soul is fulfilled by the divine father and this should not be treated as anger of God.
The main aim of human life starts with the recognition of God and in fixing the main aim of human life as attainment of the grace of God before this rarest human life ends. The analysis of human faculties and human behavior etc., involves various concepts of mere living of a person in this world. When the spectrum is limited to the worldly life only without touching the divine life, what is the use since the main aim is not touched at all? A student admitted in the college for studies is also admitted in the hostel. The academic life in the college is far better than the hostel life since attaining the degree is the main aim. Of course, absence of all hostel problems gives peace that helps the academic studies. If this peace is not used for the main academic studies and is used to have good health, which is useful in enjoying the luxuries, such peace is useless and solutions for hostel problems are also insignificant. The direction of the worldly life is important in deciding good or bad.
3) God is omniscient, so there is no chance of Him not knowing anything. Whether the soul goes on this direction or that, He already knows. So free will exists only from the angle of the soul and never from the angle of God. So free will is only a relative concept and not an absolute one - Is this the correct way of reasoning Swami?
Swami replied:- In the relative plane of this world, every concept is relative, which belongs to imaginable souls only as these are controlled by so many other relative factors appearing as absolute factors. In such context of the soul only, the concept of free will of the soul exists. Since God is always the absolute controller, there is no meaning for the word ‘free will’ with reference to God. If you fix the absolute God as the only ultimate reality and as ultimate controller, you have full free will with reference to the absolute God. In absence of the recognition of such ultimate God, the concept of free will gets foolish sense with reference to relative factors appearing as ultimate factors in every step of life. The ultimate fixed in one step of life becomes secondary or even totally negligible in other step of the life so that you will be realizing the new truth in every step of life repenting for your foolishness in the previous step of life. Such fluctuation is absent in the entire life if you fix God as the ultimate step.
4) There is a famous saying in politics - ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer’. Does this apply to wrong subconscious thoughts/feelings, which are the real enemies in the spiritual path?
Swami replied:- This is perfectly correct in worldly path as well as in spiritual path because you will know the true position of yourself from the criticism coming from your enemies only whereas from the praise coming from your friends, your ego will grow to cover the sight of your self-analysis. Kabir says that you should always be thankful to your enemies, who are your real friends.
5) In today’s society, divorce rates have increased drastically. Swami, please enlighten us about divorce and its ethical implications.
Swami Replied:- In the marriage, the couple takes oath in the name of God to be together throughout life. Apart from ethics and other worldly factors, the importance given to God stands as top most criterion. Apart from this, fear for sin must be established in the mind (if not love to God) regarding the punishments to be given by God in unimaginable ways even if the sinner escapes the law here. This must be the fundamental impression for all the problems in the world. Without fear for sin, perfect administration can’t be guaranteed.
6) How to reconcile the entertainment and unconditional love aspect of God. On one hand, He enjoys due to creation. Which means He needs creation for His enjoyment. On the other hand, His love is unconditional. He gives without expecting anything in return.
Swami Replied:- Entertainment is the primary reason for creation. But, once the world is created, establishment of justice is made as the primary criterion and entertainment became secondary. Primary is not sacrificed for the sake of secondary. Hence, there is no problem at all by the factor of entertainment. Certainly, He is the divine father and always gives anything to His issues (souls) and doesn’t require anything personally. But, anything shall be donated only to the deserving soul. Donation to undeserving soul is not only foolishness of donor, but also, spoils the receiver. Hence, testing is very essential to know the deservingness before the donation. Love is also theoretical and practical. Former without latter is false. In testing, the latter is tested. Even though the grandfather presented the packet of biscuits to his grandson (in fact packet is given to his mother without the knowledge of the child), he requests his grandson for a piece of biscuit while eaten by the child. If the child gives a piece of biscuit to the grandfather (without knowing that the biscuits were given by grandfather only), that is the real love. Real love and false love must be tested in perfect way before the donation. This knowledge of real deservingness is called as samvit, which must be achieved by the donor through proper tests as said in the Veda (Samvidaa deyam). Donation to poor people is totally different in which there is no context of testing. If donation is done to undeserving, it is sin, even if the receiver is your issue.
7) Swami, how should I tackle laziness. I know that I can do better, whether it be professionally or spiritually. But I'm just not able to. My laziness is simply overwhelming at times. Please suggest a remedy Swami!
Swami replied:- Laziness comes due to starting problem. If you are attached to the fruit, you postpone the work fearing loss of fruit. If you are detached to the fruit and take up the work for the sake of entertainment (for passing time), you will never be lazy because you have no fear for tension in the work coming due to attachment to fruit. The idea of loss only brings laziness to start the work. If you develop the attitude to work for entertainment without the attachment to profit and loss, you will never be lazy. This is the clue given by God in the Gita (Maa phaleshu kadaachana).
8) All human incarnations of God are male. When a human incarnation is a lady, we refer to Her as the incarnation of the Divine Mother. Can You please explain the significance behind this.
Swami replied:- There is no difference of gender for God. God can enter and merge with any human being to become incarnation. Divine Mother is also incarnation of God only. Generally, the incarnation is represented in male form only since in our tradition importance to males was given, if you take husband and wife. But, if you take mother and son, female is given importance. The main idea is about the importance of God over ordinary souls and in this concept, there is no place of gender. Goddess Parvati became Mahaakaali to dance above Shiva placing Him under her feet! Here, even though soul is in Mahaakaali, the soul becomes master whereas God Shiva becomes servant. In fact, God is male (Purusha) and any soul is female (prakruti). This is the real classification mentioned by the Veda (Striyah satih pumsah… Veda). The Veda says that God is husband (Bhartaa) and any soul is His wife (Bhaaryaa). The sense here is that Bhartaa means maintainer (bibharti iti) and Bhaaryaa means maintained (bhriyate iti).
9) Many youngsters in my generation feel that one should only do a worldly job that one is passionate about. For example, such people (including me at times) feel that it is unreasonable to consider only conventional engineering or medicine or government jobs when you are more interested in unconventional careers like film-making, adventure tourism, entrepreneurship, genetics, etc. Please provide some clarification on this subject Swami.
Swami replied:- Interest is one aspect and necessity is another aspect. Job is for livelihood and hence, necessity plays important role. If livelihood is assured by the grace of God, interest plays an important role. If the interest is in God, the livelihood will be certainly provided by God provided the faith is strong. Regarding variation in the world interests, I don’t find much difference. How does it matter whether you drink a cup of water or Gold spot drink in dream?
10) Please enlighten us about the implications of premarital sex. In the West, there is a very liberal attitude towards sex whereas in India and many other Asian as well as Islamic countries, it is almost the opposite. This leads to some kind of problems. In certain cases, sexuality is suppressed to such an extreme extent that it is expressed in a violent way. Sexuality needs to be expressed in a healthy manner. Can You please tell us how this is possible?
Also, in a country like ours where people are usually shy to even utter the word ‘sex’, many problems (like STDs, unwanted pregnancies, etc.) can be averted by sex education. However, this is opposed by conservative religious groups in the country with the reason that it is ‘untraditional’. Please give us some clarification on this matter.
Swami replied:- God says in the Gita that sex is not wrong provided justice is not violated (Dharmaaviruddhaah Kaamosmi). Intensity of sex is not wrong provided it is in the line of justice and not illegal. Interest and intensity of sex depends on food and the concepts with which you are constantly associated. Sex is not wrong at all, which is a biological need like hunger, thrust etc. It is, in fact, a divine program meant by God for the extension of living beings. It is depicted on the walls of temples in our ancient tradition. Anything in right track is not wrong. As long as the train is on the track, its speed is not a problem.
11) According to Gurdjieff, an influential 20th-century philosopher and teacher, the spiritual progress of a soul is never static. That is to say, one is either ascending to the goal or slipping from the path and going downwards. When it comes to material life, one may inherit vast wealth and remain in the same wealthy position without working for a lifetime, but in spirituality, everyone needs to make an effort, without which one will definitely fall. Can you please clarify this concept?
Swami replied:- The goal of material life ends when you have earned or acquired money from forefathers, which is sufficient for your minimum standards of life. But, the ambition in defining the minimum must be also controlled. Money earned more than minimum requirement is not only useless, but also, harmful as said by Shankara (Arthamanartham…). Excess money gives also ego, which is the fast path for downfall in the worldly life itself. Once required minimum is achieved, it is always better to concentrate on spiritual path. In doing so, God will certainly protect your minimum achieved by you and will see that no problems of wealth and health generate requiring more than that minimum. If God’s grace is obtained, not only worldly life here and not only further life in the above world (hell) are protected, but also, your permanent spiritual life that continues throughout your future lives is also protected. In the spiritual effort, sacrifice of money is said (by the Veda) to be very important step to identify real love through practical devotion, but not earning the money in unjust ways.
12) Previously, You have told how constant recollection (manana) is essential after receiving the true knowledge (sravana). With diligent manana, niddhidhyasa automatically arises.
[In the 20th century, there was an American psychiatrist named Milton Erickson who specialized in medical hypnosis. Using certain therapeutical techniques, Dr. Erickson was able to change the rigid subconscious patterns of his patients. But his techniques were used only for achieving greater worldly success.
My question - since ultimately, manana is only meant to replace the existing subconscious thoughts (samskaras) within, is it justified to use the proven techniques of Dr. Erickson for the same end goal? I feel that one can potentially use these hypnotic techniques to replace existing subconscious worldly attractions with Your teachings in an effective manner.]
Swami replied:- Truth in the concept is the infinite strength in making you hear, memorize and getting fixed for practice. The truth lies very deep in some corner in the bottom of the concept. You have to go very deep from all downward directions to catch the truth by very sharp and broad analysis. The Veda says that everything is in truth and knowledge preached must be true. The force in the concept disappears due to loss of truth in it. Preachers fear to present the truth to hurt the receivers of the knowledge since they either want fame and publicity or some offerings from the pleased receivers. Of course, even genuine preachers twist the truth in order to attract the receivers in the initial stage and such preachers are not ambitious for any benefit or gift except the initial pickup needed to avoid the starting problem of receiver. On estimating the quality and quantity of ignorance (like diagnosis of disease) only, the mode of preaching must be decided (like treatment). The technique you mentioned must be also on this line only.
13) Please explain the importance of intuition in the spiritual path as opposed to conscious reasoning.
Swami replied:- Intuition is the preaching given by the absolute unimaginable God to you. Sometimes, even your own consciousness gives you suggestion, which is generally liked by you since it is as per your nature. You shall not give importance to the intuition unless you analyze it and decide its origin.
14) ‘Alakh Niranjan’ is a phrase used by many Nath sadhus. Can You please explain its meaning?
[“Aatmetu paramaatmeti jiivatmeti vicaarane
Trayaanaam aikya-samshutir asdes’s iti kiirtitah”
The same sadhus also claim that the above verse is from the great Yogi Gorakhnath. Lord Dattatreya Himself is said to be the original Nath. Please explain.]
Swami replied:- Alak=completely separate from this imaginable world, Niranjan= since it does not have any nature that can be detected by us to be useful for its identification. Alak is Hindi word. Niranjanam is Sanskrit word meaning not having any nature for identification. Anjanam means mark of identification (Lakshanam). Since the statement shows perfect Vedic knowledge (Yo buddheh paratah… etc) and the Gita (Maam tu veda na), it must be from the mouth of God Datta only. The original absolute unimaginable God (Parabrahma) is beyond space being the generator of space existing beyond even imagination and hence, you cannot catch any quality of Its nature for identification. You must decide any statement claimed to be spoken by God through systematic sharp analysis only, be it even from the divine scripture (the Veda). If it is from God, it will very easily pass through the test just like pure gold through acid test. You shall not blindly accept any claim in the name of God, which many a time, is manipulated for exploiting innocent devotees. People presenting false statement in the name of God (trying to exploit you), object your analysis! Person having adulterated gold objects the acid test claiming such test is below the dignity of pure gold!
★ ★ ★ ★ ★