10 Jan 2003
Vedas and Shlokas: Shlokas are verses in Sanskrit, which can be composed by any Sanskrit scholar and cannot be the authority. The present Hindu is unable to distinguish between the Veda and a shloka. Anything read in Sanskrit is the Veda for him! Anything read in English is not the Holy Bible!
Merchants and Sanskrit scholars got together and constructed this bad tradition. Merchants of flowers, coconuts, oil and camphor are doing the business in the temple. A devotee gives Rs. 10/- to these merchants and Re. 1/- to the priest. The priest is not doing his duty of preaching about God to the devotees. He just recites some Sanskrit verses as a labourer and gets his one rupee. His place is taken by ‘Agarbatti’! [incense stick], which is now declared to be the coordinator between God and the devotee! Since the priest is not doing his duty, this is also correct. Since the dog is not barking when a thief enters the house, the donkey has started to bark. In reality, the priest should take all the eleven rupees after performing his duties perfectly.
The duties of priests are as follows:
This procedure brings the real grace of God to the devotee and the priest. Let the priest become a qualified doctor, take Rs 100/- as fees and give the correct medicine, which costs only two rupees. The present priest is an unqualified doctor, who takes ten rupees as fees and wastes 100 rupees in purchasing the wrong medicines. [When the priest becomes a giver of true divine knowledge,] The ultimate beneficiary will be the public. They will be really benefited even if they have to spend.
All the Gods represent a particular quality. Brahma represents the quality of greatness. Narayana (Vishnu) represents the quality of knowledge (naara = knowledge, ayana = source). Shiva represents the quality of peace and piousness. Ganapati represents leadership. Like this, all Gods represent different qualities. Sage Jaimini also told the same in his sutras. When God comes in human from, He possesses all these divine qualities. Such a human form is Datta (Datta = He who is given) because He was given to the world in that human form. When you worship Datta (in His human form), you leave worshipping all the other Gods. The statues of all the Gods are only imaginary forms representing those divine qualities. Only a top-level realized soul can understand this. Datta suffers the punishments of His devotees. He gave Himself for this purpose. That is His very nature. Devotees need not sympathize with Him for that. You need not sympathize with fire for burning, because burning is the very nature of fire.
Datta means that form of God, which is given to you in your lifetime. Suppose somebody presents you a cloth. You call it as ‘dattam’, which means that the cloth is given to you now. Suppose somebody presented a cloth to your grandfather. It was dattam (given) to your grandfather [not to you]. You can call something as dattam, only if it is given to you now. Of course if a house was given to your grandfather, who is present even now and you are residing in the house, then you can call the house as dattam. Similarly, if the Incarnation of God, which was present in the past generation, still continues to be present even today, then it can be called as Datta to you also.
Hanuman never worshipped Vamana, Narasimha etc., (previous Incarnations) because those Incarnations did not continue to live during the lifetime of Hanuman. Hanuman worshipped Rama, who was the Incarnation of his time. After sometime, Rama disappeared. Lord Krishna came. Hanuman did not disappear but continued living even in the time of Lord Krishna [since Hanuman was blessed with longevity]. At first, Hanuman did not worship Krishna, who came in the Dwapara Yuga (Dwapara era). He worshipped only Lord Rama, who lived in the previous Treta Yuga (Treta era). But Hanuman continued worshipping Lord Rama alone even in Dwapara Yuga. Of course, he did not worship Vamana when Rama was available. Based on the same logic, Hanuman should worship only Lord Krishna in Dwapara Yuga and not Rama. Therefore, Krishna taught him that he should worship Krishna alone. Krishna, the Incarnation of that time, showed all the previous Incarnations in Himself and told Hanuman that the same God takes different Human Incarnations. Hanuman realized and worshipped Lord Krishna along with Radha just as he had worshipped Lord Rama. Radha worshipped only Lord Krishna and not the previous Incarnation, Rama.
Why is it useless to worship the previous Incarnations and also the invisible forms like Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva etc.,? The simple reason, which is the answer for this question, is that they are not directly and fully available to us to see, to talk, to touch and to live continuously along with them. Why do you keep the statues of those forms [in your home and temples]? The aim is that you can see and touch the statues [even though the previous Incarnation or invisible form of God is unreachable]. But the human form is available to fully satisfy you, just as Rama was available to Hanuman and Krishna was available to Radha. You can see, touch, talk and live with that form (Human Incarnation of God). Then, why are you so particular about worshipping past forms and invisible forms, which cannot give you full satisfaction? This is the reason why Hanuman never worshipped statues of the previous forms like Vamana or statues of invisible forms like Vishnu. When he started worshipping Krishna, he did not even worship the statue of Rama.
The whole essence is one simple point. You cannot see God. You cannot talk with God. You cannot touch the God. You cannot live with God. The Vedas emphatically say this (Na chakshusha; Yato vachah; Na medhaya; Naisha tarkena etc.,) That God has three main qualities i.e., Knowledge, Love and Bliss. God without these three qualities is called ‘Nirguna’. God with these three qualities is called ‘Saguna’. You cannot enjoy the three qualities of God directly. If the fire comes to you directly, you cannot tolerate its intense heat directly. Similarly, you cannot bear the intensity of these three qualities directly. Neither can you withstand God nor His qualities directly. So the fire is covered by ash and you are receiving a little heat, which is bearable for you. The ash acts as an insulator. Similarly, the human body in the Human Incarnation, acts as an insulator and you are receiving knowledge, love and bliss of God in controlled quantities to the extent of your tolerance. If God comes directly to you, the world disappears along with you. So there is no other way except the Human Incarnation. The Veda says the same ‘Nanyah panthah’. The Gita says that God comes only in human form (Maanusheem…).
Therefore, Datta means the present Human Incarnation, which is given to you in your lifetime as a gift from God in order to give you full satisfaction and to enable you to perform a complete worship of God. Datta is the human form of God, who came in different parts of the world like Krishna, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha etc. In fact, every human generation is blessed with such divine Human Incarnations. But people do not recognize them due to jealousy. When such Human Incarnations leave the world, then alone do people recognize those Human Incarnations, who are not present before their eyes anymore. If ego and jealousy, the two curtains covering your eyes are removed, you also can see the divine Human Incarnations; God expressed in different human forms, in several places at the same time. Different Human Incarnations are meant for different levels of the people. Such Incarnations are called partial Incarnations (Amsha Avataras). But one fully expressed Human Incarnation (Datta in the original form) comes down to preach the true divine infinite knowledge to the people of the highest level. This Human Incarnation reveals that He is the original Datta (God). Knowledge is the only main identity mark to recognize this original Datta (God). Miracles are not proper identity marks, since miracles are performed even by demons and devils.
The mere presence of the Human Incarnation before one’s eyes brings negligence. If there is a long and continuous association, with Him, it brings more negligence. Arjuna neglected Lord Krishna, during the incident when Arjuna gave protection to Gaya. The reason for this was the long association of Arjuna (sage Nara) with the Lord (Narayana) during the previous 1000 lives. The Gopikas too were the sages living with Datta in their previous births. But Datta went into a lake and disappeared for a thousand years. Thus, there was a long separation from the sages. Hence, the Gopikas never neglected Lord Krishna. One should be careful about such points. Or else you will develop negligence towards the Human Incarnation of God.
The Lord gives the results of your service. He is just like the college principal presenting the certificate and gold medal to the top student. The student studied for two years in a post graduation programme, wrote examinations and topped the class. There is no need of begging, weeping or praising the principal for the gold medal. Similarly, Hanuman got the gold medal i.e., the position of the future Creator (Brahma) by the selfless service that he rendered in the mission of the Human Incarnation (Lord Rama), who was present during Hanuman’s time. He never praised, begged or wept for that fruit before Rama. The fruit was not in his mind at all. His mind was always full of the work of the Lord alone. Be a hero like Hanuman and get the highest fruit by participating in the service of the Lord in human form, who is present in your generation. This is the only royal path. Without the sacrifice of work and money in His service, merely trying to get the fruit by praying with your words and loving with your mind, is only trying to fool God, which is impossible. In whatever way you approach Him, He gives the result to you in the same way. He will merely praise you in return for your prayers and merely love you in return for your love. But He will act for your benefit in return for your practical sacrifice.
When the Incarnation leaves the body, Narayana goes to the uppermost world (Satya Loka) and his body and the pure consciousness that was present in the body, merge in this world. When a servant of God leaves his body, the body dissolves here. But the soul (consciousness with divine thoughts) accompanies Narayana. The servant follows Narayana again, when He comes to earth. Both take human bodies. But the births and deaths of these two do not have any agony. During their lifetime also, the servant enjoys with the Lord here. The servant will never leave the Lord either here or there (Sayujyam or Kaivalym). Whatever are the facilities for God, the same will be available for the servant.
So service is the real path.
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