02 Jul 2024
[Shri PVNM Sarma asked:- While chanting the name of God, if a devotional song from Bhakti Ganga composed by You is heard, I become unable to chant the name of God. Is it a mistake?]
Swami replied:- Singularity or plurality in spiritual line is good and singularity or plurality in worldly line is bad. The main point is that whether you are in spiritual line or worldly line, people often mistake singularity to be better than plurality. Several sweet dishes prepared from the same sugar and flour will taste sweet only. Several hot dishes prepared from the same chilly powder and flour will taste hot only. When the material of preparation is one and the same, you need not differentiate various forms of the same material. You are changing from one type of vegetable-curry to another type of vegetable-curry only and you are a vegetarian only. If you change from one type of mutton-curry to another type of mutton-curry, you are a non-vegetarian only. Vegetarian line here represents spiritual line and non-vegetarian line represents worldly line. If you change from one type of vegetable-curry to a mutton-curry, you are treated as non-vegetarian only.
Hence, different forms of God and different ways of worship do not bring any difference and all are counted as spiritual worship of single God only. Similarly, different items of the world and different ways of enjoyment of worldly items do not make any difference and you are counted as a fascinated soul towards the world only. Plurality in spiritual line (worshipping different forms of God through different ways of devotion) is good because such worship suits to the mind that is not constant on one form and in one way. Such worship is very much convenient to the nature of mind so that you will not face any problem with the revolutionary attitude of the unstable mind. In the Datta Vedam, it is told that whether you take one liter of milk in one vessel or ¼ liter of milk in each vessel of four vessels, the final quantity is one and the same and there is no difference between these two cases. You have deposited some money as cash, some money by cheque and some money by phone transfer in your account number. The total amount deposited in your account will be simply addition of these three types of amounts only. The fruit depends on the point, which is that whether you are in the field of world or in the field of spirituality, as long as you stand in one field only, there is no difference between singularity and plurality and the final fruit is linked only to the nature of the field (spiritual or worldly) and does not depend on the singularity or plurality of that field. In the Gita, it is told that you shall stick to singularity and plurality is not good (Vyavasāyātmikā…). Here, the singularity means single God and plurality means the world with different items. It means that it is better if you remain in the permanent spiritual field than to enter the temporary worldly field.
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