13 Nov 2006
The generation and propagation of the divine knowledge is not a waste. Certainly, all will not change. A few will partially change. One or two in this minority will change completely (Manushyanam…Gita). Majority remains as it is. They are always concentrating on the worldly bonds only. Their goal is money, family, comforts, fame etc., only. At the maximum they may attend some work shops to get relief from the stress because they are tired with the stress by the problems to attain their goals. For them work is worship. Their ultimate and utmost spiritual effort is only the participation in a work shop on stress relief so that they can be reactivated for fresh efforts to achieve the worldly goals by improving their professional skills. It is just a commercial advertisement! The spiritual preachers also changed according to the public because the tendency of today is that the ruler should go according to the needs of public in democracy. A king may do like that who is a politician aspiring for position, power and wealth. But a spiritual preacher should not come down to such level. He should guide the people to the right path without any compromise of the truth. The people should follow the knowledge. But today the knowledge is following people. The people need only fresh strength in the worldly work. The spiritual preacher limited himself to that particular lowest level only which is needed for the public. All the other higher levels are just mentioned as a formality. Here the spiritual preacher should impress on the life after death. He should preach about the unimaginable stress which is to be faced by the people after death in the hell. Islam and Christianity speak about the permanent hell. There is only one enquiry at the end of this only one human life. After that enquiry, either permanent place in the abode of God or permanent hell will be the result of the divine judgment. Such concept is absolutely correct and is also universal.
The law of God is one and the same in any religion. God uses His special power in the case of exceptionally deserving devotees to grant the human rebirth and this cannot be generalized. In Hinduism this exceptional facility is extended to every human being and this caused a careless lenient view about the spiritual effort to concentrate on God. The president of the country can cancel the death punishment in the case of a deserving candidate using his special power. If this is generalized and if every human being is granted this facility, there is no fear for anyone to do a murder! Due to this reason only, we can find most of the Christians and Muslims in Churches and Mosques to worship God and they are not found in the stress-relief workshops. We can find mainly Hindus in these workshops. Hindus feel that a number of chances of human birth will be available in future and going to hell is only a temporary visit. One must note an important point here. By concentrating on God through devotion, you will get the stress relief also, which is included in the devotion. Then why to spend time for mere stress relief from these temporary worldly problems? In the school all the subjects are taught. If you go to a single teacher, you can learn one subject only. Which is better? School or Tuition teacher? By the divine knowledge and devotion, you are getting stress relief in this world as well as in the upper world. In the workshop you can get stress relief from the problems in this world only. I am not criticizing these workshops because I am not in the competition with those preachers for fame or wealth. I am also not jealous with those preachers for their fame. I am only pained by the fate of the followers and those preachers also in the future. The Veda says that blind lead blind and fall in the well (Andhenaiva…). Some preachers say that they know the truth, but they are doing like this for initial attraction. But the initial attraction is always continuing through out the human life. What is the difference between such work shops and cinema theaters, since both give stress relief? What is the difference between these work shops and hospitals since both give relief from illness?
Order of the Present-Day Yoga
It has become the fashion of the day to use the word Yoga for every activity. Yoga means simply attainment. But attainment of what is important? The Yoga shastra of Patanjali uses this word strictly in the attainment of Ishwara (Lord). To render service (practical devotion) to the Lord, mental and physical health is needed. The early five stages (Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama and Pratyahara) concentrate on this attainment of physical and mental health. Afterwards the other three stages (Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi) deal with the main subject of attainment of the Lord. The preachers are stopping with the early five steps only and limiting their efforts by turning their spiritual workshops in to gymnasiums, hospitals and recreation centers. By this you are preaching the art of peaceful and happy living on this earth. If you stop here, the main goal of Patanjali Yoga is totally lost. A boy who is admitted to the school, is given fees and good food. He is expected to go to the school and study. But, he goes to the cinema theatre and uses the fees to purchase the ticket for cinema. This is the fate of Yoga today. The Yoga centre teaches all the steps to attain physical health by the first four steps and mental health by the fifth step. The person becomes fully healthy and attains mental peace by the control of thoughts (Chittavrutti Nirodhah…Yoga Sutra). The thought is controlled so that it is diverted from the world to use it in the direction of devotion (Vyavasayatmika…Gita). A horse is controlled by the owner so that it will not have freedom to go as it likes in the wrong directions. Therefore, controlling thoughts to divert the mind to the right path is Pratyahara. It is withdrawal of mind (Kurmonganiva…Gita) but not destruction of mind (Manolaya Yoga). The preachers are talking about the dissolution of thoughts which is equal to killing the horse. By doing so the horse cannot be used in any direction. The purpose is lost. One medicine to cure the tooth pain was advertised like this: by using this medicine you will never get pain for any tooth because this medicine will remove all the teeth from your mouth! Similarly, if you kill the mind, the problems and all worries have ended once for all. By killing the horse, the problem in controlling it is solved forever! Such a state in which the thoughts are dissolved and the mind is destroyed results in the state of a stone in human form. You will become the statue of the human being carved in a stone!
The mother, father and preacher represent Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma. The mother is concentrating on the physical health by giving proper food. The father is concentrating on the development of mental health by giving proper education to earn wealth and fame. The preacher (Guru) concentrates on the development of spiritual line of the soul, which is eternal. The mother is on one extreme end with blind love and the preacher is on another extreme end with true knowledge. The father is in between these two with world oriented knowledge. Lord Vishnu stands with Lakshmi, to give you worldly pleasures. Lord Shiva stands with Parvati, to give you longevity and fame by granting power. Brahma stands with Sarswati and the Vedas, to preach you the spiritual divine knowledge. Brahma is the actual form of Guru Datta. People like the mother to a large extent as you see the rush in Tirupati (Temple of Vishnu). A lesser crowd is seen before the temple of Shiva who saves you from death and gives you the materialistic prosperity also along with knowledge. Brahma has no temple. Datta was not famous at all. The reason is that people are interested in the temporary worldly affairs which are visible here. They are not interested in the permanent invisible life after death in the everlasting fire of the hell.
O Preachers, Keep Datta as Your Guide!
Every spiritual preacher should keep Guru Datta as the guide. People should follow the preacher but should not be the reverse. In this Kali Yuga the system is reversed. The husband follows wife. The father follows the son. The teacher follows the students. The preacher follows the devotees. The aim of the teacher in the present colleges is to please his students so that his job will be safe with better salary. The teacher is evaluated with the extent of happiness of the students. The teacher is not bothered about inducing the knowledge into students. You must evaluate a teacher by the performance of the students in the final examinations. Similarly, the spiritual preacher should be evaluated by the extent of devotion and sacrifice for the sake of God that is developed in the devotees, which alone is going to give the divine fruit. The teacher should be congratulated even if one student passes in the class but that one student gets gold medal from the University. In the present system of spiritual preachers all the students are temporarily happy throughout the academic year but all are failing in the final examinations. The preacher is giving mental and physical health so that one can enjoy the world with full vigor. The Gita condemns such life of enjoyment of worldly pleasures, which are temporary and have to be left in the death. Even the heaven is temporary (Kamatmanah…, Kshene Punye …Gita). Such people are atheists and were called as the followers of Purvamimamsa. All the Vedas and rituals are meant only for the temporary heavenly pleasures in this line. Shankara condemned this line by defeating Mandana [Mishra]. He diverted the same line towards the achievement of the grace of God. Similarly, the present spiritual preachers should continue their work shops but should extend the same towards devotion to attain the grace of God. The stress relief in the present workshop is only a sedative tablet to sleep and forget the problems. But the devotion to God will solve the problems forever. The former is preliminary anesthesia (sedative) to be given in the beginning and the latter is the actual surgery done to remove the problem of illness permanently.
Does Yoga Mean Doing Physical Exercises?
In Pravrutti today the dignified statement is that one is working in U.S.A. But, if you go and really see him there, he will be working as a labor! Similarly, in Nivrutti the dignified statement is that one is practicing Yoga. But if you go and really see him in the Yoga centre, he will be doing certain exercises to attain mental and physical health. He has no connection with spiritual field. Yoga is purely spiritual field. Mental and physical health is needed not only for spiritual field but also needed for materialism. It is a general basic requirement of the life of even an atheist.
Hanuman is the top most star in Yoga in all the steps. His physical and mental health is in climax. He did not open a workshop to guide the professional carrier of people on the earth. After attaining the best physical and mental health and after completing the studies of both Pravrutti and Nivrutti from Sun, He realized that meeting the then human incarnation was the real Yoga. He was waiting on the hill of Kishkindha to meet Lord Rama. All His mental and physical health was used completely in the service of Lord Rama. He did not use it in His professional carrier. We will be astonished to see that He dedicated all His vigor in the personal service of Rama to search and get back His [Rama’s] wife. He did not use it in His personal service. Just this is the difference between the present people in Yoga centre, who use the results of the preliminary Yoga (Mental and Physical health) for their personal work and Hanuman, who used the same results for the personal work of Rama. In this preliminary Yoga, you have to replace yourself and your family by God. There is no sin in using the strength of mental and physical health obtained by preliminary Yoga up to the work needed to maintain yourself and your family, which is needed to serve the mission of God. But it is a sin to use for unlimited ambition with selfishness. For such sinners, the only way to enter the spiritual field is to shell down the excess [money] earned by sin in the mission of God on this earth (karma phala tyaga). When a rich man approached Jesus, He suggested such total sacrifice of the sinful money as a pre-requisite to enter the spiritual field.
People want the Yoga up to first five stages only which is just helpful to their materialism. This much is desired even by an atheist. There is no difference between a devotee and an atheist up to this point. If we show the higher three steps related to God, the devotees become certainly interested. But their interest is again to strengthen their materialism (Pravrutti) only by the upper three steps (Nivrutti). In Nivrutti, the first point of a devotee is about the superpower that can do miracles. Such enquiry about miracles is not for recognition of God and not for doing service to God. In the first stage they say that they need the proof of miracles just only for recognition of God to develop in the spiritual field. God is trapped by them due to His infinite kindness and shows the proof hoping that they will turn to the spiritual line. After seeing the proof, they become very strong devotees and God is again trapped by their talented devotion. They show the climax of theoretical devotion. They do sacrifice of work and fruit of work also to prove that they have achieved the final step of divine service and that they have been really transformed. After sometime, when they are sure that God is fully trapped by them, the hidden desire to use His super powers for personal problems comes up in a very sweet coated manner. They plead that the problem is disturbing them from doing the divine service. For the third time, God is again trapped. God solves their problem with His super power, behind which the secret technology exists. He uses the fruits of their own good deeds to solve the problem because their devotion is doubtful. Now they start using the superpower of God for every problem in chain. There is no end to this chain. God refuses to solve the problems. Suddenly they discard this human form of God and search for another human form of God repeating the same procedure. They think that they have fooled the previous God and could solve atleast a few problems by their talent of filmi action. But they have not fooled God because no one can fool God. God has spent from their own bank by withdrawing the fruits of their own good deeds as pre-matured deposits with reduced value. When they approach the new God, history repeats. Even if the new God is not genuine and is a demon, even then, the superpower working through that demon is also from the same God, who is present in the previous discarded God only. You may go to another human form of God or a demon, there is no use because the same God exists in another human form and the power of the same God works through that demon. You have changed only the external forms but not the internal God who is one only. If there were several Gods, your trick becomes fruitful.
Even if you run to temples, priests, astrologers etc., there is no use because your problem can be solved only by that one God. The priests have to use the same power of the same God. Planets are the executive powers of the same God. Therefore, there is no use of changing the God. You must change yourself. There is no other way than this even in the infinite span of time. If you stick to the previous real human form of God, you can change yourself because He will guide you by preaching the most powerful divine knowledge and brings determination in you by clearing all your doubts. Therefore, if you have caught the real human form of God, use Him to uplift your soul (Uddhare datmana… Gita). A rabbit took some money from goddess earth. It wanted to avoid the payment of loan to the earth. Therefore, it started running away to avoid the earth. After a very long run, it became tired and stood. Immediately the earth below its legs asked for the payment of the loan!
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