02 Dec 2005
My dear Christians and Hindus
Jesus Christ came to India and He was honoured by Indians. He wandered all over India and several Indians were attracted to His shrewd preaching given with excellent analysis. He lived up to 85 years of age and was buried in Kashmir with all the spiritual honour. Hindus treated Him as their own preacher. Similarly, Christians honoured Swami Vivekananada and His preaching was appreciated. Christians loved Him from the bottom of their hearts. They treated Him as their beloved preacher. No two religions can mix so fast and so homogeneously as Christianity and Hinduism. The reason for this is that the spiritual skeleton of both religions is one and the same. When the skeleton is similar, the flesh and the skin cannot make much difference between two bodies. Any two living beings belonging to the same category [species] may differ by the quantity of flesh and colour of the skin but the skeleton is the same. The common spiritual framework of the two religions is the concept of the human incarnation.
The Gita says “Manusheem Tanumaasritam”, which means that God enters a human body. Similarly, the Christian scripture says “God in flesh”. The God who is mentioned in both the religions is one and the same. The flesh may differ qualitatively and quantitatively. The Christian flesh may be richer in proteins and the Hindu flesh may be richer in vitamins. The composition of flesh may differ a little. The Christian skin may be white and the Hindu skin may be black. These differences are only external. Both Christians and Hindus should understand the same concept. Both may have external differences but the internal casual body or Karana Sharira which is called as Atman or soul is one and the same. The gross bodies may differ in flesh and skin. The inner subtle body may also differ due to different proportions of the qualities. But the souls are one and the same. Thus, both of you [Hindus and Christians] should find the homogeneity in the souls of each other. If you cannot appreciate the uniformity at this basic level itself, how can you find the uniformity between Krishna and Jesus?
In both these human incarnations, God is one and the same. In both incarnations, God is surrounded by the casual body, which is the pure awareness. This casual body is also one and the same in both cases. The difference may be in the subtle and gross bodies. The gross bodies of Jesus and Krishna might differ in colour. The composition of their flesh also may be different. When you compare the subtle bodies of Jesus and Krishna there is a difference. In fact, any subtle body is made of three qualities called Sattvam (good qualities), Rajas (qualities of ego) and Tamas (qualities of ignorance). In fact, all these three are equal in proportions and exist in equilibrium. But the equilibrium appears to have been disturbed. The inequality is only in expression or vision. In the case of Jesus, Sattvam was fully expressed. The other two were hidden. An exactly similar human incarnation in Hinduism is Lord Rama who is the embodiment of all good qualities alone.
A branch in Hinduism called as the Vaishnava cult, worships Lord Vishnu alone as God. Lord Vishnu is representative of Sattvam. Lord Brahma represents Rajas and Lord Shiva represents Tamas. They [The Vaishnavas] do not consider Brahma and Shiva as God. Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism and Islam can be treated similar to the Vaishnava cult. The impression about God in general is that He is the embodiment of all the auspicious and good qualities only. It is easy to love God associated with good qualities. All parents love their sons if they are good. Such love is great. But a greater love is that in which one loves the son having both good and bad qualities. Such an expression of the mixture of the three qualities, is seen in Lord Krishna. The greatest love is that in which one loves the son even though he has only bad qualities. Such an expression of bad qualities is seen in Lord Datta.
Bad Qualitites in God
The introduction of a bad quality in God cannot be generally digested by the majority of people. God created this universe. In that case, God alone created all the qualities [good and bad]. God created even Satan. The Gita says that God created all the three qualities (Ye Chaiva…). The writer of the story of a movie creates the role of a villain in the story. The producer of the film gives remuneration to the actor who does the role of the villain as well as the hero. The audience will be bored without the role of the villain in the cinema. A person who eats food is also bored if the food is just sweet and there are no salty and spicy dishes in the food along with the sweet. Day has no meaning without night. Summer is boring without winter. Goodness itself cannot be recognised without the bad. Therefore, the creation of contrast is essential.
If one realises this concept, no hatred or anger can rise in his heart. Anger or hatred is generally towards the bad qualities. If you consider the Lord as the creator and maintainer of the entire universe and if you treat the universe as the body of the cosmic Lord, you have to accept that both bad and good qualities are in the body of the Lord. If you say that the body of the Lord contains only good qualities, then only a little part of the cosmos would have been created and maintained by the Lord because good qualities are very few compared to the bad qualities in this universe. The region occupied by good qualities is very less compared to the region occupied by bad qualities.
There is a difference between the bad qualities in the Lord and the bad qualities in a demon. A demon uses the bad qualities to trouble devotees and good people, which lead to the disturbance of world peace. But the bad qualities in the Lord are used to test hypocritical devotees who boast that they are the topmost devotees. By such hypocrisy, ego develops in them and they fall. To prevent such fall, the Lord conducts tests so that they will realise their true positions. For such tests, bad qualities are utilised. Thus, the bad qualities of the Lord are the means for delivering this spiritual preaching. When a stone falls on you, it is not your fault. But if you jump on the stone [and get injured], you are responsible. Similarly, when a demon comes to you and shows his bad qualities and disturbs you, you are not responsible. But when you go to Lord Datta and want to develop in the spiritual line, you have to be constantly tested and in such occasions, Lord Datta exhibits bad qualities to test your faith in Him. You can find fault with the demon but not with Lord Datta.
When somebody throws a stone on you, you can find fault with him. But when you yourself jump on the stone and break your limbs, you cannot find fault with anybody. Lord Datta did not come to you. You have gone to Datta. In fact, when you approach Datta, He threatens you in the beginning itself and tries to throw you out. But you have clung to Him and have constantly pestered Him for salvation. The sages pestered the Lord for salvation. The Lord agreed and gave them the birth of Gopikas in Vrindavanam. He stole their hard earned wealth, which was butter. By this He broke their bond with wealth. For us it appears as if the Lord cheated them and stole their wealth. But if you analyse their previous birth and their request, this act is perfectly justified. In fact, this act is done due to extensive grace of the Lord. The Lord is criticised as a thief and acquired bad name for the sake of the Gopikas. He tolerated all this negative criticism for the sake of the sages [Gopikas]. The Lord had not even a trace of need to steal their wealth.
The Lord attracted their children and played with them, doing a lot of mischief. This cuts the bonds of the Gopikas with their children. Again this brings a bad name to the Lord because it appears that the Lord spoiled their children. In fact, the Lord does not spoil anybody. Thus again this act is the extreme grace of the Lord alone. The Lord danced with the Gopikas at midnight without the knowledge of their husbands. This is the climax of sin. The Lord is criticised extensively for this act and is called as the greatest sinner. People blame the Lord for this. In fact, He has no desire even to look at any lady. The Lord is the Infinite Ocean of bliss. He does not require any external object to gain happiness. The Veda says that the Lord has no desire, which is not fulfilled (Apta Kamah…). Such a Lord got eternally defamed in this world. Several devotees doubted the divinity of Lord Krishna due to this. Even the greatest devotee like Hanuman criticised Krishna for such an act. The actual reason for the Lord to act in this way is that the Lord broke the bonds of the Gopikas with their husbands. When the bonds with wealth, children and husbands or wives are fully broken, salvation is complete.
For the sake of salvation of the sages, Lord Krishna sacrificed even His name and fame. This shows the unimaginable love of God towards His devotees. Without understanding this background, ignorant people criticise Lord Krishna. Even Lord Jesus patiently suffered all the negative criticism and all sorts of insults to protect His devotees. This shows the divine love of Jesus. Jesus kept silent in the court when He was charged with so many crimes. The silence shows His deep love towards His devotees. Due to such silence alone did the judge order crucifixion. Unless the crucifixion was implemented, He could not have suffered for the sins of His devotees. Thus, the Lord tolerates anything, even things which damage His personality for the sake of His devotees. Due to the crucifixion, devotees misunderstood Jesus and criticised Him as incapable. Here, the firm faith of the devotees was tested.
Testing Devotees
Similarly, Lord Krishna or Datta tests devotees by exhibiting bad qualities. Several devotees misunderstood Krishna for this dance and thus the depth of their faith was exhibited. Lord Datta came as a human incarnation in Punjab by the name Ramlal. Ramlal stayed in a village and attracted all the devotees by His divine knowledge and miracles. When He was finally leaving the village, all the villagers followed Him stating that they could not live without Him. They said that Ramlal was their very life and entire love. Then Ramlal stood for some time and smiled. He asked the villagers whether they could accept Him as the husband of their wives. Ninty percent of the villagers scolded Him and returned. Only ten percent accepted the statement of Ramlal and followed Him sincerely. Ramlal was extremely pleased with them and gave them full divine knowledge and assured them that He would protect them always.
The word ‘husband’ in Sanskrit is translated as ‘Bharta’ which actually means the maintainer and protector. Ramlal used the word in that sense. But people took the word in another sense and were misled. The ego of the husbands was touched. They boasted of their extreme love for Ramlal and that they could sacrifice anything or anybody for the sake of Lord Ramlal. Ramlal knew exactly the item, which they could never sacrifice—their bond with their wives. Thus, Ramlal exposed the hypocrisy in devotion. He used the word in different sense and tested their faith and sacrifice. The only protector and maintainer is the Lord. Thus, the Lord is the only husband for all the souls in this world. The difference between a male and female is only in the external gross body. The soul is the same in the gross body of a male or female.
[Some devotee from USA asked Me to analyse the philosophy of Osho.]
I think that Osho pleads for freedom in the love of even married human beings. He pleads that secret contacts are wrong. He says that even illegal contacts should be frankly spoken out. This concept is wrong in two stages. In the first stage the illegal contact itself is wrong. In the second stage, when the other partner [whose partner has cheated him or her] comes to know of the illegal contact, the other partner undergoes unimaginable agony. To do a sin is one mistake. To hurt the heart of any human being is another mistake. It is a double sin and such a soul, whether male or female will be punished twice in hell. According to the old ethical scripture of Hinduism, a red-hot copper statue of the person with whom the illegal contact was done is placed before the sinner and he or she will be forced to embrace it.
The attitude differs from one culture to another. The villain stole Helen of Troy. Helen led a family life with the villain. When Helen returned, she again had a normal family life with the hero. But when Ravana stole Sita, Sita did not even look at Ravana. Therefore, there is a vast difference in the cultures of the East and the West in the root itself. I do not criticise or praise any culture. But even Jesus did not agree to any such illegal contacts of any married human being. He criticised even prostitution. Thus, the field of Pravritti is one and the same in view of God, whether it is East or West. Therefore, this again proves that God is one and the same.
Now the point of Lord Krishna comes for analysis. The field of Nivritti is completely different. As analysed above, the background was completely different. The meaning of the act was totally different. The act was done by the request of the soul. The act means the breakage of bonds and the complete liberation of the soul. The act does not mean any secret dealing to pacify blind lust. The Lord has no trace of such a necessity. The Lord did this act only in Vrindavanam and only in the case of the Gopikas. After leaving the Vrindavanam, He never repeated this with any other soul.
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