17 Sep 2016
Shri Kishore Ram asked: The point of family bonds against God may be kindly elaborated more since it is a delicate topic.
Swami replied: Bond means love. Love means the feeling or mind. Mind means the nervous energy or awareness. This nervous energy or love has a finite value in every human being. Hence, when this finite quantity of nervous energy or love or mind is dedicated to a specific goal, it is said that your total love or bond is with that specific goal alone. The love or bond can have the units of energy. The units of inert energy can be expressed as the units of this non-inert awareness (love) because awareness is only a specific work form of inert energy functioning in a specific system called nervous system. Therefore, we can say that the total love or bond in a human being can have certain limited specific value of the units of inert energy like calories. Matter is also a form of inert energy and hence you can express a piece of matter also in the units of energy. Let us say that the maximum love or bond of a human being is 10 calories. If all the 10 calories are dedicated to God only without any variation in the span of time, we can say that the single goal of that human being is God only. The Gita says that in such state all the energy of the bond has only one goal called as God (Ekabhaktihvishishyate…) and that this single goal should continue as single goal only throughout the life time (Teshaamsatatayuktanaam…). If this energy of love is divided by several goals, such bond is said to be partial. Even though in a particular span of time the bond with God is having total value of 10 calories, in another span of time this total love-bond may be diverted totally to other worldly goals or may be diverted to other worldly goals partially. In any case, such bond with God is not total and permanent.
The total and permanent bond results only in Nivrutti where selfishness disappears completely throughout the life. When selfishness exists, the bond with God is partial only because love to selfish goals also exists. Even if a demon performs penance for 100 years maintaining always 10 calories of bond towards God only, you cannot say that the demon is in the path of Nivrutti at least for those 100 years. The reason is that the basis of a demon’s penance is only selfishness to achieve personal boons and therefore from the point of selfishness there is no trace of Nivrutti in such penance at any time. Therefore, in Nivrutti the bond with God satisfies all the three conditions, which are 1) dedication of total love energy (10 calories), 2) the goal of God alone is maintained throughout the life without any other goal and 3) lack of even trace of selfishness because no goal other than God is touched. In such state of Nivrutti, all other goals disappear except God. The work of such a person is always work of God, which is always for the welfare of the world. Shankara roamed all over the country and propagated spiritual knowledge for the welfare of the world. Hanuman always did the work of God. Love is theoretical and work is practical. Theory is the mother of practice. Therefore, when pure Nivrutti-bond exists, you can see only the work of God in the case of such devotee as external visible proof of internal invisible love to God. Arjuna came to the war to do fighting work for selfish benefit. But, he withdrew from the work not based on love to God but based on love to his grandfather. Hence, such sacrifice of worldly work based on worldly love cannot be treated as sacrifice of worldly work for the sake of God. After listening the Gita, he performed the work of war not for selfish benefit of wealth (Karma), but, to serve God by assisting Him (Karma yoga) in destroying injustice, in which he killed even his own grandfather. He did work of God for all the 18 days blindly participating as a servant to the master. Of course, such blind participation is the result of sharp analysis of the Gita in which his eyes had very bright vision. Without analysis through bright vision, practicing every tradition blindly is the first lowest state (Abhyasa). The second higher stage is to realize every tradition with bright vision and analysis to get correct conclusions (Jnaana). The next higher state is to blindly believe such correct conclusions (Dhyaana). The last highest state is to practice such correct conclusions through sacrifice of work and fruit of work (Karmaphalatyaaga). This is said in the Gita (Shreyohi…). The same Arjuna slipped from God’s work when his son Abhimanyu was killed in the war, which is strongest of all the three main worldly bonds (life partner, issues and money) by saying that he will discontinue from the war!
The above said Nivrutti will give anybody the greatest fruit of total surrender of God to such devotee like a servant. In every step such devotee is protected by God and there is no trace of risk in any effort of such devotee (Yoga kshemam…). In this case, the devotee is travelling in the spiritual path like a child caught by the mouth of the mother cat (Maarjaala kishora nyaaya). This is the highest achievement and nothing is more than this (Nivruttistu mahaaphalaa). The effort for such fruit will be naturally the most difficult. If you want to become district collector, you have to pass the most difficult IAS examination. You cannot aspire such powerful post by passing group IV examination! As the quantity of the flour, so is the size of the bread! How to achieve such Nivrutti-bond? Can we achieve it by withdrawing ourselves from the worldly bonds? Not at all! If you resign from the present job, does it mean invariably that you are joining a new job? You may resign the present job just to sit idle in the house. Hence, resignation from the present job doesn’t mean that invariably you are selected for another new job. Similarly, if you withdraw from the worldly bonds (Vairaagya), it doesn’t mean that you are attached to God (Bhakti). But, if you are selected for a new job and if you are willing to join it, invariably, you have to resign from the present job. Hence, if you are attached to God, invariably, worldly bonds become weak and one day may even disappear if your bond to God is total and permanent. Hence, what is the way to withdraw from the worldly bonds? The way is not certainly to put effort to cut these worldly bonds. The only way is to develop devotion to God so that all these worldly bonds become weak and disappear gradually as natural consequence. If you tasted divine nectar, naturally, you will refuse coffee. It is meaningless and also impossible to reject coffee without tasting the divine nectar because you have to drink something or the other. The mind cannot be inert and is always trying to develop bond with some goal.
Below this Nivrutti level exists the stage of Aasurivrutti level in which the total and permanent goal is the group of selfish worldly bonds. This is just opposite to Nivrutti and the single goal is only selfish benefit, which means the welfare of few family bonds including self. In this level, devotion to God also appears externally. But, such devotion is totally false because the internal goal is only selfishness. Absence of selfishness alone is the starting point of Nivrutti level. As long as selfishness exists as the internal goal, all the external devotion is just a zero. Hence, we told that a demon exhibiting total and permanent bond on God in penance is not having even a trace of Nivrutti since the total and permanent internal goal is only selfishness. Therefore, whether a soul belongs to Nivrutti level or Aasurivrutti level should be decided only by detecting the virus of selfishness in the soul. The Gita says that Aasurivrutti is below Nivrutti as well as Pravrutti (Janaanaviduraasuraah…)
Between these two extreme levels of Aasurivrutti and Nivrutti exists the Pravrutti level in which the bond with God is partial and (or) part time. Pravrutti is a steady journey from Aasurivrutti to Nivrutti in which various sub-levels exist due to variations in the strength and time span of the worldly bonds. This Pravrutti level is characterized by various levels of the concentration of selfishness and is not based on the various levels of concentration of external devotion. In Pravrutti, the worldly bonds become weak gradually as the devotion to God increases, which is nothing but dilution of selfishness. However, in Pravrutti you have full freedom of self and at the same time full risk to fall from your grip to God since you are catching God like the baby monkey catching the womb of its mother (Markata Kishora Nyaaya). The nature of monkey is slowly transforming into the nature of cat as your selfishness decreases in terms of increase of your real devotion to God.
No Social Service Pure & Effective Without Spiritual Background
Today, the service to society is considered to be very important subject by the ruling politicians. Unless selfishness is lowered, the social service cannot be pure. The selfishness can be lowered only when your attachment to your few family bonds becomes weak. As long as these family bonds are strong, you are a puppet in the hands of selfishness and your impure social service is only fraud cheating the public. You are amassing the public wealth due to your selfishness based on your few family bonds. You are harming the society since such public money is for the welfare of the society. Unless your worldly bonds become weak, your selfishness cannot become weak. Stealing the public wealth in the name of corruption is the result of selfishness, which is the greatest sin. Doing the duties and taking salary is not a sin at all. Hence, the root of corruption is selfishness and the root of selfishness is your blind passion on your few family bonds. The family bonds will not become weak by themselves unless there is a stronger bond to God. Concentration of love on God makes the family bonds weak. If the family bonds are weak, you will be satisfied with your salary. If the family bonds are strong you will become a sinner of corruption. Hence, the weakness of family bonds is done only by the strength of your bond to God. In such case of another stronger attraction, the family bonds become weak as a natural consequence without any effort. Therefore, no social service can be pure and effective without spiritual background. Gandhiji was a pure worker of social service because he was bonded more to God Rama always. Today we find every politician lifting up his/her issues and relatives only. The issues of Gandhiji were never lifted up by him! Hence, social service without God is hypocrisy only because one day or other the politician will do corruption for the sake of these selfish family bonds since other stronger attraction to God is absent. Every atheist in the social service comes under this category only. In the case of social service without reference to God, only temporary heaven is awarded and not the eternal abode of God due to lack of spiritual scent. Mother Theresa was also a strong devotee of God to do such pure social service. Therefore, from the angle of pure social service that is needed for the development of nation also, faith and devotion to God stand as fundamental foundation-pillars. Beware of one point in this context! Some people try to say that the concept of non-existing God is created for such good purpose of pure social work and hence even a lie should be honored if it gives good results. This is again the atheism covered by the false mask of appreciation for theism! Such false concepts must be condemned due to the existence of genuine miracles performed by God in human form, which clearly prove the existence of unimaginable God (since miracles are also unimaginable events). Hence, the concept of God and spirituality is the absolute truth and in fact this world is unreal or relatively real with respect to the creator. Hence, there is a possibility of the creation to be proved as the false concept in context of reference to the absolute reality of God and no such possibility exists with the creator in any angle under any circumstances. The pure social service is only a secondary advantage (Pravrutti) and the primary subject is only Nivrutti.
The weakening of family bonds helps to give pure social service to world (Pravrutti). The dissolution of these family bonds results in reaching the climax of Nivrutti or eternal protection by the divine level. This is the reason why Jesus told that unless you hate your family bonds, you cannot be His disciple. Of course, the hatred is the extreme level to be fixed as goal so that at least over passion on family bonds can be reduced. Ashtavakra says that these family bonds are totally unreal and change from one life to the other like the bonds between the roles from one cinema to the other. We see that a heroine acting as the wife of a hero becomes old shortly and acts as the mother of the same hero in another cinema! This is what exactly Ashtavakra told King Janaka. Shankara analyzed this concept and told that whatever is temporary must be also simultaneously unreal (Yatkritakamtadanityam…). The husband-wife bond between two roles of the two actors is temporary as long as the cinema-shooting continues because such bond neither existed before the shooting nor will exist after the shooting. Such temporary bond is also unreal during the shooting time also because the shooting-bond itself is unreal. Real is real in all the times and unreal is also unreal in all the times (Trikaalaabaadhyasattaa). Hence, Shankara questions “Who is your wife? Who is your issue? (Kaatekaantaa kasteputrah)”. The mere absence of family bonds is not a proof for the existence of devotion to God. A stone has no family bonds and by that we cannot say that the stone is the highest Nivrutti-devotee! But reverse is true. The existence of internal devotion to God is measured by the external visible detachment from the worldly bonds since the natural consequence of devotion to God is the decrease of strength or dissolution of the worldly bonds.
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