01 Feb 2021
[An online spiritual discussion was conducted on January 17, 2021, in which several devotees participated. Some of the questions of devotees answered by Swāmi are given below.]
[Kum. Laxmi Thrylokya asked: Padanamaskaram Swami! Priests in different religions claim that they can help devotees get rid of their sins by performing some rituals for them. Some say that the sins will be transferred upon themselves (priests), which they will later get rid of by doing additional rituals at home. By studying your discourses, I understood that the karma of any soul cannot be transferred to other souls, but I am unable to disprove the above claim being made by priests. Please tell me how to do disprove their claims.]
Swāmi replied: Logic used to carry out sharp analysis which is supported by the scriptures is the only path to disprove any wrong claim. The scripture says that the fruit of the deed must be enjoyed by a soul and that, unless the fruit is enjoyed, it will not vanish even after millions of births (Avaśyamanubhoktavyam…, kalpakotiśatairapi...). God has clearly said in the Gītā that He will neither cancel the good fruits nor the bad fruits of the deeds of any soul (Nādatte kasyachitpāpaṃ, nacaiva sukṛtaṃ vibhuḥ...). He also said in the Gītā that ignorant people claim otherwise and exploit innocent public (Ajñānenāvṛtaṃ jñānaṃ, tena muhyanti jantavaḥ…).
God has given only one path to burn the fruits of sins, which is the realization by spiritual knowledge leading to repentance and the non-repetition of the sin (Jñāngniḥ sarva karmāṇi, bhasmasāt kurute…). Even a sinner can be reformed by long serious and sincere devotion. By the grace of God, such a sinner being a strong devotee will come in contact with a divine preacher and get reformed (Kṣipraṃ bhavati dharmātmā…). In this way, in the long run, there is a possibility of burning one’s sins. But it is not possible immediately, without the person’s reformation. The false theory of the immediate cancellation of sins is propagated by the priests so that they can earn their livelihood. They charge fees from innocent people to carry out different forms of worship, which are claimed to cancel the fruits of their sins immediately, even without their reformation. No reformation is possible by reading some hymns in Sanskrit, which are not understood by anybody doing the worship. The actual way is that while doing the worship, the priest must explain to the person what he is reciting and help the person get realization through the spiritual knowledge preached through the Sanskrit hymns. The present way of performing the rituals accompanied by the blind recitation of the Veda does not help the person doing worship in any way.
Therefore, if a ritual is not helping in conveying spiritual knowledge and devotion to the public, it is a waste. This important fact should be preached to the priests who conduct these rituals for the public. Only upon getting realization through spiritual knowledge, will there be repentance and only after repentance, will the non-repetition of sin result. Hence, preaching spiritual knowledge through the ritual is the most important aspect of the ritual. You think that God will be pleased with your ritual worship done without spiritual knowledge. You think that He will cancel the fruits of the sins done by you and that He will grant you the good fruits of the meritorious deeds that you never did. This is totally wrong! For such worship and prayers done by you, He will only rearrange the fruits of your deeds. He will postpone the fruits of your sins due to which you are suffering in the present. But in this rearrangement, interest will be added. So, the postponed punishment, which is the fruit of your sin, will grow and you will have to suffer more in the future. He will also prepone the fruits of some meritorious deeds, which you were supposed to enjoy in the future and bring them into the present. In this preponement, there will be a reduction in the value of the fruit enjoyed by you. Even this rearrangement is done by God provided God has some hope about the devotee’s future reformation. If He has no such hope in the case of a devotee, even this facility or rearrangement of the fruits of deeds is not extended to the devotee.
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