21 May 2021
[An online spiritual discussion was conducted on May 15, 2021, in which several devotees participated. Devotees’ questions answered by Swāmi are given below.]
[Śrī Bharath Krishna asked: Pādanamaskāraṃ Swāmi! You have said that there are chances of even a Human Incarnation of God developing ego. You have given the example of Paraśurāma. Of course, You have also clarified that Paraśurāma only acted as if He had developed ego, only to teach us how cautious we should be to avoid ego. If a Human Incarnation of God develops an ego, Lord Datta will leave His human body, as explained by You. But the devotees, who have seen the divine qualities of that particular Human Incarnation earlier, might continue to follow Him. They might feel that their Guru is exhibiting egotistic behaviour only to test them. Is this a possibility or I am just thinking stupid? In a discussion with Dr. Nikhil, he said that whenever God is going to test a devotee, He often gives some hint to the devotee in advance. Perhaps, that hint would help the devotees find out whether their Guru is exhibiting egotistic behaviour just to test them or he has actually developed an ego and God has left His body. Also, is there a possibility of an Energetic Incarnation of God also developing an ego, like Human Incarnations? At Your Lotus Feet, Bharath Krishna.]
Swāmi replied: Whatever may be the incarnation, be it energetic or human, there is always a danger of ego entering the medium, which is not God, before it is merged by God. But, when the God is so close to the medium, there is no chance of ego entering the real human (or energetic) incarnation. The possibility of the entry of ego always lies only in a fraud incarnation, which claims to be the real incarnation. Such fraud incarnation gets insulted by the true incarnation. This concept is preached by the two true incarnations called Rāma and Paraśurāma. Paraśurāma is only the actor in true sense and not the role in real sense. This concept is meant for a fraud incarnation only. Sometimes, a devotee may feel that he has become the incarnation of God by attaining some miraculous powers by the grace of God. In such false incarnation, ego will certainly develop and such false incarnation gets insulted by God. Demons have met this unfortunate result. This is a warning given by true incarnation to false incarnation. Indra (an energetic being) thought that he was true energetic incarnation of God due to ego increased by certain attained miraculous powers and wanted to beat God Śiva, the true incarnation of God, with his diamond weapon (Vajrāyudha). When he raised that weapon with his hand, he became motionless like a statue by a stare of God Śiva. A true incarnation may test any devotee through any method of test. Certainly, God will give a hint of His true divinity and if the devotee is alert, the devotee will pass the test of God Datta. If the devotee is blind with ego and worldly fascination, the devotee will fail in the divine test. When God came as a guest to Saktuprastha, the guest was asking all the food prepared for the entire family in a severe drought time. No human being will ask like that and this is the hint understood by Saktuprastha and he donated the entire food to the divine guest. This is an example for this concept.
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