22 Nov 2024
O Learned and Devoted Servants of God
Śrī Phani said:- Today, we are celebrating Guru Purnima, the birthday of Sage Veda Vyaasa. A Guru removes our ignorance. God Datta is also called as Guru Datta, who always incarnates on earth to remove our ignorance. Our beloved Sadguru, His Holiness Shri Datta Swami, is the contemporary incarnation of God Datta. He came down in human form to give us the excellent spiritual knowledge and remove our ignorance. He is showing the right path and taking us in the right direction. We all have a lot of questions in spirituality and a lot of twisted knowledge is also there in the world to confuse us. Our Swami has correlated all the Vedantic philosophies, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, Prasthānatrayam and other religious philosophies along with modern science. His Holiness Shri Datta Swami is none other than Lord Datta Himself since none other than Lord Datta can give such true and complete spiritual knowledge that correlates all philosophies and brings unity among all the religions in the world. We are very fortunate that we are directly seeing, talking and meeting Swami, the contemporary human incarnation of Lord Datta. We are getting the rarest opportunity to directly get all the clarifications of our doubts from Lord Datta Himself. Swami will clear all our doubts and everybody can ask whatever questions or doubts they have. I pray Swami to please remove our ignorance and give His divine blessings to all of us.
1. Why does it take a lot of lifetimes to please God?
[Śrī Bharath Krishna asked:- Paadanamaskaaram Swami! Generally, it is said that it will take millions of janmas to achieve the spiritual goal, which is to please the human incarnation of God. Why it takes so much time, Swami?]
Śrī Swami replied:- In the Bhagavad Gita, there is a verse, which says that the individual soul dies in the night in deep sleep and it is reborn in the morning when you wake up (Athacainam…). Therefore, one day itself can be considered equal to one life. So, many births mean many days and not many years or not many lives. If you take the right interpretation, it only means that you can get the salvation after many days.
2. How to work without expecting any fruit?
[Śrī Ganesh asked:- Paadanamaskaaram Swamiji! You told that we should work without having any expectation of the fruit of work so that mental tension can be avoided. But, I am not able to understand how can a work be done without having an intention of doing it for a particular fruit?]
Śrī Swami replied:- You can have the intention to get some fruit for which you are working. To achieve the fruit, you are doing the work — that much initial intention is alright. But, during the entire course of work, if you always think about the fruit only, then all your energy will be exhausted in thinking about the fruit. Since energy is always limited and that limited energy is spent in excitation and worry only, there will be no energy left to complete the work. You will certainly stop doing work in the middle itself and if the work is not completed, you will not get the fruit. Therefore, you should not worry about the fruit. Initially, you can fix your mind on the fruit to start the work. But once you start the work, you should not think about the fruit.
3. What to do if someone cheats us?
[Ms. Aarati asked:- Paadanamaskaaram Swamiji! If someone cheated us without any mistake from our side, how should we take it? Is it our own past bad karma, which came through that person to teach us some lesson?]
Śrī Swami replied:- If you want to escape from getting cheated, you should take precautions and remember that prevention is always better than cure. If somebody has cheated you and you already underwent some loss, now the next better thing is to be careful in the future by taking it as a lesson. Past is the lesson for the future. Of course, if you go to the background, it may be due to your past karma. You might have cheated that fellow in the past birth and now, he is cheating you as a retort case. If it is a retort case, you cannot do anything against that. Even if you take action against him, it doesn’t work. It may also be a fresh case, which means that you have not cheated him in the previous birth and he has cheated you now in this birth. If it is a fresh case, God will certainly punish him. Remember that even if he is punished, your loss will not be compensated. Loss is loss and you will get nothing in return even if he is punished. In that case, you leave it to God and do not have any revenge-attitude. Pray to God, be silent and don’t show vengeance. God will not only punish him but also compensate you if you are silent. You should not think about his punishment and should leave it to God completely. Punishment is given by God only to reform the sinner, but not for revenge.
When you think with the attitude of revenge and vengeance, your health is spoiled. This is an additional loss for you along with the previous loss. Therefore, keep silent and don’t develop any revenge-attitude. Pray to God and leave the result to Him. God will certainly take action because the case is now in the court of God. God is the ruler of this entire world on any day. Suppose the revenge is not taken and if that sinner is not punished, it becomes a black mark on the administration of God. He is more worried about His administration than anybody. Why should you worry about it? Anyway, your loss is not compensated even if he is punished. Moreover, if you show revenge-attitude on that fellow, do you know what happens? You will also be punished by God for your revenge-attitude. God will punish him for the sin and punish you for your revenge-attitude. The best example is Draupadi, who was victimized by the injustice done by the Kauravas. The Kauravas dragged her sari and tried to make her naked in the court. The Kauravas are sinners and Draupadi is a victim. God Krishna has decided to punish the Kauravas. But, in the meantime, Draupadi showed a lot of revenge-attitude towards the Kauravas. She was always weeping and provoking her husbands to take revenge. She said that unless they kill Dushaasana and bring his blood, she would not braid her hair. Due to the sins done by the Kauravas, they were killed by God Krishna even though Arjuna and the other Pandavas nominally participated in the war. Due to the revenge-attitude shown by Draupadi, all the five sons of Draupadi were also killed on the last day of the war. What is the use of winning the war now? Draupadi would have enjoyed the victory only if her sons had become the kings.
Winning the kingdom would mean nothing to her since no son of Draupadi became the king. Therefore, if it is a retort case, which means that you have cheated him in the previous birth and he has cheated you now, no punishment will be given for the criminal. If it is a non-retort fresh case, which means that you have not cheated him in the previous birth but he has cheated you now, then also, you don’t show any revenge-attitude towards your enemy. You just pray God asking Him to do whatever He feels as justice and leave everything to God. Then, God will give you compensation for your loss and God will also punish them. But, God will punish them not for revenge, but for their reformation only. The aim of punishment is only the reformation of the soul. Moreover, if he is punished and if God is not compensating your loss, what is the use of punishing the criminals? What is the compensation you got? Nothing. So, by punishing your enemy, you will not get any compensation. Therefore, don’t think of punishing your enemy and leave everything to God. God will punish your enemy and will also compensate your loss because you did not show any revenge-attitude. That is the real benefit.
Wise people never have any revengeful attitude and keep silent leaving everything to the hands of God saying “This is Your administration. You do whatever You want to do”. This is the real wisdom. It is God’s administration that is running everywhere, not the administration of these governments. All these are superficial governments, but the actual final judgment is given by God. Even the governments are controlled by God’s judgement only. If God decides a case as retort case, no government can catch that criminal and put him in jail. If God decides a case as fresh case and orders to punish the criminal, even if the criminal escapes the government, he will be punished severely. God’s judgement is the best and that alone prevails. In the Bible, God Jesus also said the same “The kingdom of God is coming and that it is already among us”, which means that the government of God is always stable and based on God’s will only justice prevails in this world. If you leave everything to God, then God will punish the sinner for his reformation only, but not for vengeance. If you don’t interfere in God’s administration, then the sinner will have the punishment. But, if you scold and cry with vengeance, the sinner will not get the punishment and his punishment will be cancelled by God based on your scoldings and interference. If you don’t interfere, God will handle the case completely. But, there will be a delay in God’s punishment since the kindest God always gives some time to the sinner to change his/her attitude of doing that sin. If he/she does not change, then God will punish to change the soul.
In Drona Parvam, Arjuna asks Vyaasa “O Grandfather! While I was fighting the war, I shot the arrows towards the enemies but even before my arrows had reached the enemies, they were already falling dead. I saw a great personality with Trishul killing my enemies before me. Once the enemy dies, then my arrow hits the dead body of the enemy. I want to know who this great personality is?”. Then, Vyaasa says “The great personality is none other than God Shiva. Since you did penance for Pāśupatāstram, He blessed you with the Pāśupatāstram and also killed your enemies on a daily basis since He is Rudra”. Therefore, God always punishes the sinners and we shouldn’t feel happy that God has punished them.
4. What are Your sixteen incarnations?
[Śrī Satti Reddy asked:- Mee paada padmalaku namaskaram Swamiji!
Gururbrahmā gururviṣṇur gururdevo maheśvaraḥ।
Guruḥ sākṣāt parabrahma tasmai śrīgurave namaḥ॥
Guru Datta Shri Datta Prabhu Datta!
Swami, question is that You have incarnated as Śoḍaśāvatārālu. What are they?]
Swami replied:- I did not incarnate and God Datta, who is within Me, took those incarnations. I just incarnated in these saffron clothes. Before that, I wore a pant and shirt while working as a professor in an engineering college. After that, I am wearing these saffron clothes and took this incarnation now.
5. Can a prostitute be compared to sugar like incarnation of God?
[Swamiji, the human incarnation of God is compared as sugar and devotee is compared as ant - as said by Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. In another context, even a prostitute also can be compared to sugar?]
Swami replied:- How can a prostitute be sugar? If ants eat the prostitute, which is sugar, then even the ants will get sex related diseases like syphilis, gonorrhea, etc!
6. Can a prostitute be liberated by practically sacrificing her earned money to God?
[The Gopikas, who were Sages in their previous lives, surrendered their body to God Krishna and this is Nivrutti. A prostitute also sings songs, talks nice words and surrenders her body to the customer. If the prostitute stays in worldly prostitution and gives the money earned through prostitution to God as practical sacrifice (karma Phala Tyaaga), will she be liberated staying in the path of prostitution?]
Swami replied:- There is an old proverb “A person killed an Ox and felt that he did a mistake. So, he peeled the skin of the Ox, stitched sandals with that skin and donated it to a Brahmana”. Will the sin get cancelled? No. Prostitution is injustice and sin. You cannot earn wealth by doing sins and escape from the sin by donating that sinful wealth to God in the name of ‘Karma Phala Tyaaga’. Is God a ‘Paapaala Bhairava’? Earning through sinful ways and doing practical sacrifice to God for liberation — It does not work like that. In Pravritti or worldly life, we have to earn money through justice without doing sins. Earning money by following justice will help in uplifting the next generations of the family also and all the descendants will also flourish in life by the grace of God.
The money received from injustice will destroy the future generations of the family (Anyāyārjitaṃ vittaṃ saha mūlaṃ vinaśyati). Suppose you have earned Rs. 10/- through legal manner and Rs. 0.25/- through illegal means. Now, this unjustified 25 paisa will link to the justified 10 rupees like a railway engine linking to the compartments on the railway platform. Just like the engine drags all the compartments, the unjustified wealth will drag the justified wealth as well towards destruction. The illegally earned money, 25 paisa, will add up to the legally earned money, 10 rupees and you will lose the total of Rs. 10.25/-. Because of this illegally earned 25 paisa (Anyāyārjitaṃ vittaṃ), the legally earned money of 10 rupees will be lost (saha mūlaṃ vinaśyati).
Why do you earn money? Just to save your children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. You want to see them settled in life and live happily. Everybody earns wealth for their future generations only. But since the illegally earned money is saved and used by their children and grandchildren, it will destroy all the future generations. As long as this illegally earned wealth exists with the family and is passed onto future generations, all the future generations will be destroyed until then. This will not happen when the money is earned legally in a justified way. When justice is followed by the family, God will bless their future generations with good talents and they will flourish in life. The illegally earned money is just like an attraction towards a beautiful prostitute. After interacting, you will get diseases. In the same way, the illegally earned money will attract you. But when you try to enjoy it, it will destroy you. Not only you, but also your children and all future generations will be destroyed because they will also enjoy that illegally earned money. Everyone, who enjoys the illegal money will be destroyed. Hence, you should not earn wealth illegally. In case you have already earned in illegal way, then, there is only one way to get protection from God. First, you donate all the sinful wealth to God, repent for your sins and never repeat the sin again in the rest of your life.
Complete reformation comes when the three steps of realization, repentance and non-repetition of the sin are clubbed together. When you have learnt that this is sin — it is called realization. When you felt sad for doing this sin — it is called repentance. When you do not repeat this sin — it is called non-repetition of the sin. Then, this sin along with all types of sins related to illegal earnings will be cancelled. Some people will only follow the first two steps of realization and repentance, but will not follow the non-repetition of the sin. In the morning, they will say sorry to God and confess for the mistakes done on the previous day. Again, they repeat the same mistakes during day time. In the evening, they will repent again and will say sorry to God. This doesn’t work and this is like cleaning the kitchen on a daily basis, but it is always a mess after cooking. They assume that they became sinless by repenting in front of God and repeat the mistakes again on a daily basis. They think that they are fooling God, but actually they are fooling themselves. Without following the 3rd important step of ‘non-repetition of the sin’, God will not cancel the punishments of the sin. All the three steps of realization, repentance and non-repetition of the sin must be followed. Learning about sin is Jñāna Yoga. Feeling guilty and sad for doing the sin is Bhakti Yoga. Not repeating the sin again in the future is Karma Yoga. Remember that only one type of sins will be cancelled by this, which means that all the sins related to the sinful earning (one type), which were done previously will be cancelled following these three steps. This is the best method that God has provided to the human beings.
A note to be mentioned here is that not all sins will be cancelled, but only that type of sin (illegal earning) will be cancelled by following the three steps of realization, repentance and non-repetition of sin. Suppose you did theft and you learnt that it is a mistake. If you don’t repeat this mistake again in the future, then God will cancel all the sins related to theft from all future births as well. But, other types of mistakes will not be cancelled. You should realize, repent and not repeat all types of sins to avoid the punishment for all types of sins (Jñānāgniḥ sarva-karmāṇi bhasma-sāt kurute tathā – Gita). When you follow the non-repetition of sin again in life, then only the whole process will be completed. But, most people realize, repent and confess in front of the God, but do not follow the important step of non-repetition of the sin. The only aim of God for giving punishment for any type of sin is for the reformation of the soul, which is not to repeat the sin again. This is the logic behind these three steps of realization, repentance and non-repetition of sin. Punishment is only for reformation and punishment is not for vengeance. Even in the world, if one person killed another person, life sentence is given to him as per justice so that he doesn’t kill anyone else. Suppose if this person confessed and doesn’t repeat the sin of killing again, then the life sentence is not required. Therefore, the logic for punishment is only for reformation.
7. Please explain about the strain that I need to face while working for God.
[Śrī Soumyadip Mondal asked:- Paadanamaskaaram Swamiji! On this auspicious Guru Purnima Day, I offer my sincere gratitude and total prostrated pranam to Your divine lotus feet. To my appeal, regarding my weak and unrest mind, You have said that “I assure you that you will succeed in getting your problem cured”. Your words came true in all aspects of my mental health. Later recently, regarding my query on my better health condition, You have said “You will get My guidance as You proceed in the work”. But, I also wanted to go in the direction of God, which is a permanent solution and there, You have also said “you will have to face a lot of strain in working for God”. Kindly elaborate further on this as I am ready to go to any extent to prove that I could come closer to You - Swamiji in my life.]
Swami replied:- Very good! You are blessed by God Datta. You will get proper guidance and you need not do too much work. You can do as per your health permits. Serve God as per your capacity and limit of energy and that is sufficient to please God. God is not in need of any work from us and your interest in doing the practical work for Swami is only the test of Swami. If there is any need, then the person in need will make you work more for his benefit and support you. But, Swami is not in need and so, He creates some hurdles to see if you are interested enough to complete the work. God is only testing whether you are only in theoretical devotion or practical devotion. Also, practice is the proof of theory, be it in the worldly life or spiritual life. Practical devotion is the proof for theoretical devotion. Theoretical devotion without practical devotion is false love and not true love. Unless you sacrifice something practically and do some service practically, your devotion remains as false only. Service means the sacrifice of physical energy called Karma Samnyasa and sacrifice means the sacrifice of fruit of work called Karma Phala Tyaaga. Both these together are called as Karma Yoga and this Karma Yoga is the proof for Bhakti Yoga.
Bhakti Yoga is theoretical devotion and Karma Yoga is practical devotion. Practical devotion is the proof for the truth of theoretical devotion. Karma Yoga or practical devotion decides whether your Bhakti is real or false. You may sing so many songs and shed tears for God. As response, God will also sing songs on you and He will shed tears for you. He will also grant a boon that you get more sweeter voice and get more tears from your eyes. God grants theoretical boons for theoretical devotion and practical boons for practical devotion. In India, we are very high experts in theoretical devotion. Once, Swami Vivekananda looked at the sky and asked God “Why my country, India, is so poor in spite of having so much devotion and so much spiritual knowledge?”. Some devotee directed this question to Me and I replied “Yes, our India is very great in spiritual knowledge (Jnaana Yoga). Our Indians are experts in theoretical devotion (Bhakti Yoga) since we sing so many songs and chant so many mantras and stotras. But, we will not give a single rupee to a poor fellow and hence, Indians are zero in practical devotion. In foreign countries, they have the least Jnaana Yoga and the very least Bhakti Yoga. But, they do a lot of charity in the name of God. This is called practical devotion towards God. That is why they became rich countries and our country is still a poor country”. Since we are expressing theoretical devotion to God through mind and words, God is giving us only theoretical boons like intellect, sweet voice, etc. God said in the Gita that in whatever way we approach Him, He will approach us in the same way (Ye yathā māṃ prapadyante tāṃ stathaiva bhajāmyaham). Even in the Veda, God told that He is just our mirror reflection (Rūpaṃ rūpaṃ pratirūpo babhūva). If you show intelligence, He will also show a lot of intelligence in giving the fruit. If you show innocence, He will also be innocent.
Demon Hiranyakashipu asked that he should not be killed in any condition such as - either day or night, inside or outside, weapons with awareness or without awareness, etc. God as Narasimha killed Hiranyakashipu without breaking any condition. Such is the greatest intelligence of God. According to the boon, the demon cannot be killed by anyone belonging to any race such as man or animal or deva or asura or gandharva, etc. God came as Narasimha, who is neither man nor animal. The demon cannot be killed either inside nor outside. God killed him at the center of the gate, which is neither outside not inside. The demon cannot be killed either on the floor or in the sky. God put his body on His lap, which is neither floor nor sky. Can you imagine how intelligent God is? You can show your intelligence to other human beings, but never show it before God. When you come before God, kindly shut up your intelligence. If He enters into the game, your address will not be found anywhere! So, don’t play games with Him. Be innocent, frank and sincere with Him. If you are truthful, then you will get some blessings from Him. If you show intelligence, you’ll be finished. See the innocence of Sudaama, who gave three handful of parched rice to God while he was in poverty and did not ask anything in return. When he went back to his house, his house became a palace and God Krishna gave unimaginable wealth to him. Actually, Sudaama was suffering with poverty and his wife sent him to God Krishna to get something. But, Sudaama did not ask anything from God Krishna. In fact, God Krishna asked him to stay in His palace for four days. Sudaama stayed there for four days and returned back. God Krishna even washed his feet.
When Krishna was washing Sudaama’s feet, all His eight wives poured water. While washing his feet, Krishna saw that there was a thorn struck in his feet and Sudaama had no sense of it. God Krishna plucked out the thorn and started weeping for Sudaama. From that time onwards, pouring water was not necessary because Krishna’s tears were enough to wash his feet (Nainoṃ ke jal se pag dhoye). Such Krishna did not give even a penny or even sandals to Sudaama when Sudaama left His palace. Sudaama started walking back home with bare feet only. Being omnipotent, God Krishna was observing the mind of Sudaama throughout his journey whether he thinks like “This Krishna, such a dirty fellow! He wept seeing my feet, but did not give even one rupee”. But, Sudaama never had a single bad thought about God Krishna. Until he reached his house, the house remained like that only. God Krishna waited until the last moment till he reached his house. When God Krishna was sure that Sudaama will not scold Him, He blessed Sudaama with unimaginable wealth and changed his house into a big palace.
8. When someone does injustice to us, should we file a complaint in the police station or leave it to God?
[Śrī Kishore asked:- Paadanamaskaaram Swami! A few minutes back, You have answered about the revengeful attitude when someone cheats us. Suppose someone cheats me by stealing some money and I file a complaint in a police station. Is that also a revengeful attitude?]
Swami replied:- Filing a complaint in police station is not considered as having revengeful attitude because you don’t know whether it is a retort case or a fresh case. If you are unable to take any action against injustice since the person doing injustice is more powerful than you, then you should leave it to God. When I took the case of Draupadi, that situation was completely different. She cannot fight by filing a case in the court because Duryodhana himself was the king. Duryodhana is very powerful and she is a lady, who cannot fight. In such circumstances, I told that we should leave it to God without having any revengeful attitude. If there is anything you can do, you should do it. Sometimes, that opponent may be a very big rowdy and he may actually kill you if you go to police station or court. In such a case, you cannot do anything. So, leave it to God.
9. How to handle the situation when injustice is done to us?
[Ms. Arati Satavekar asked:- Swami, we feel pained that the person has done some unjustified things with me. We only suffer from those pains and not that person, who has done the cheating or injustice. How to handle that situation?]
Swami replied:- If you can fight, you fight it out. If you are cheated by somebody and if there is a provision for you to fight, then you fight and there is nothing wrong in it. Suppose there is no provision to fight since that fellow is very powerful. He may threaten to kill you if you fight and on enquiry, you also found that he is capable of doing that. In those circumstances, we cannot fight. We should surrender to God and leave it in the hands of God without any revengeful attitude. But, if you are able to fight and you are not fighting like Arjuna in the Kurukshetra war, God recommends you to fight. Arjuna was a warrior and capable of fighting. He has got an army with him to fight the war. God Krishna did not tell Arjuna to leave everything in the hands of God and keep silent. God Krishna encouraged him to fight the war with all his efforts and leave the result to Him. If you have the provision to fight against injustice, you must fight without escaping. If there is no provision, then leave it to God.
10. What to do if close people cheat us?
[Paadanamaskaaram Swami! In continuation to the above question, what if the issue is with close relationships with whom we can’t fight? What if our close people did cheat us?]
Swami replied:- What do you mean by close relationships? When the person cheated you, what type of relationship will you have with him? You should cut all your relations at once. When he has cheated you and if you maintain the relation again, he will again cheat you. When you are cooking rice, you take one grain and press it to check if it is cooked completely or not. One grain represents the entire vessel. Similarly, one instance is sufficient to judge how the rest of the life happens with that person.
11. How should we approach God?
[Śrī Ramakanth asked:- Paadanamaskaaram Swami! Wanting liberation is an act of aspiration, although it's not worldly aspiration. As long as God is the fruit at the end, we would be aspiring to reach Him. So, how should we approach God, Swami?]
Swami replied:- You are talking about liberation and reaching God. Is it not? Attachment to God and detachment from the world are very much related. Liberation means detachment from worldly bonds only. Unless you attach to God, you cannot liberate yourself from the world. If you want to have some detachment from something, you must first attach yourself to some other thing. Then only, the detachment will be spontaneous. Suppose you are sitting in a cinema hall and seeing the cinema. You are very much absorbed in the cinema and very much attached to the cinema story. Now, mosquitoes are biting you and blood bugs in the seat are also biting you. You need not put efforts to liberate yourself from the mosquitoes and blood bugs if you are absorbed in that cinema. You will not mind these bites and you will be automatically liberated. Similarly, the attachment to God must be the cause for your detachment from the world. Without attachment to God, if you liberate yourself from the world, it is the biggest foolishness. If I am drinking and enjoying the divine nectar or amrutam, then, automatically I won’t drink coffee. Before the taste of amrutam, this coffee is nothing. I don’t take it because I don’t like it anymore after tasting amrutam. If you neither drink the divine nectar nor drink coffee, you are a fool. If the divine nectar is not available, you should at least enjoy drinking coffee.
We have to drink something because that drinking habit is there for this tongue. Our mind has to be attached to something and it cannot remain unattached. That is the nature of the mind. Now, if you are not attaching yourself to God and also not attaching yourself to the world, will your mind keep silent? In 2 or 3 days, you will have double attachment to the world. You should understand that it is not a prerequisite to stop drinking coffee to get the taste of divine nectar. If you drink the divine nectar, due to that taste, you automatically leave drinking coffee. Without drinking the divine nectar, if you leave coffee, you will be able to stay for 2 to 3 days. But, on the 4th day, you will drink a bucket of coffee. Therefore, it is impossible and also useless to have detachment from the world without attachment to God. Moksha or liberation is defined as the detachment from worldly bonds due to the strong attachment to God. Some people leave the house and go to forest for doing meditation. Since their mind is not attached to God, they think about worldly things only. After sometime, they run back to their home with double attachment to the world. Therefore, it is very important that you must put all efforts in attachment to God only and should not try for liberation from worldly bonds, which automatically takes place as a spontaneous byproduct like a natural phenomenon.
12. Please clarify the significance of burning or throwing food in rituals.
[Shri Ganesh asked:- Paadanamaskaaram Swamiji! I have a question regarding the burning of food in the rituals. I personally saw three rituals that I want to explain, Swamiji. One is in the death ritual, where they put some raw rice in a mud pot and add some cow dung in it. They take the dead body along with that pot and cremate the dead body. The second one is tarpaṇam, especially pitṛ tarpaṇam, where they will mix black sesame seeds with raw rice to put in water. When we do tarpanam, the rice and seeds should be thrown in a place, where it can’t be grown back and this instruction has been given by elders at my home. The third one is havan for samitha danam. The brahmacharis, who have completed the upanayanam are instructed to do samitha danam after every sandhyavandanam. Swamiji, could You please clarify the significance of these three rituals.]
Swami replied:- There is a shloka in the Dharma Śāstra (Śṛti smṛtyoḥ virodhe tu, śṛti reva garīyasī), which says that when there is a contradiction between Smriti (secondary scriptures or Puraanas) and Shruti (Veda), you should take only Shruti (Veda) as the authority and not Smriti. These traditions, which are suggested do not have any authority from Shruti and Smriti. They just say that our forefathers did like this only (Pūrvaīḥ pūrvataraiḥ kṛtam… Gita). Their strength is only that the tradition was practiced by their ancestors. There are three types of authorities. i) the Veda, ii) the Dharma Śāstra, iii) Ācāra. This Ācāra authority has the least strength among the three authorities. Shruti is greater than Smriti and Smriti is greater than Ācāra. Shruti, the greatest of the three authorities says that we should not waste food under any circumstances (Annaṃ na paricakṣīta, Tad vratam - Veda). It is a Vratam, which means that it is a very hard and fast rule (serious rule). Even if you bring some authority from the Smritis (secondary scriptures) like the Dharma Śāstra, it cannot stand because it is contradicting the Shruti (Veda). Now, you are bringing authority from Ācāra (tradition), which says that our forefathers and fathers did like that and hence, we will follow the same. This has the least and weakest authority.
Prahlaada was born in the family of demons and their Ācāra (tradition) was to abuse God Vishnu and worship only God Shiva. But, Prahlaada did not follow that Ācāra because somebody in the past might have made an error and that error might have been carried forward by several generations. Therefore, all your three examples are contradicting the Shruti and hence, ruled out. Shruti or the Veda says that food should not be destroyed (Annaṃ na paricakṣīta, Tad vratam). Here, the word ‘pari’ means completely and ‘cakṣīta’ means destroyed. We shall not destroy even a trace of food. Even while you eat food every day, the plate from which you ate should be as clean as it was before serving the meals. Before serving the meals, the plate is already cleaned. Similarly, the plate should be clean after your eating also. This is the meaning of the Vedic statement and the Veda cannot be contradicted even by the Dharma Śāstras or Smritis or Ācāras. Hence, all the traditions mentioned by you are wasting food and must not be practiced at any cost. Priests say that after eating in annual ceremonies, some food must be leftover on the plate, which indicates that they have eaten a full stomach and for them, the authority is only tradition, which should be rejected since it opposes Shruti (Veda). But, I advise you not to quarrel with your parents and relatives at least until your marriage is over. Otherwise, you will enter into problems.
To be continued...
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