27 Dec 2022
[Smt. Sudha Rani asked: Paada Namaskaaram Swami. Thank You for Your enormous grace, Swami. Shirdi Sai is worshipped as Baba and Satya Sai is worshipped as Sai Maa. In every avatar, You enjoy the devotion of ample of climax devotees. Could You please reveal the way of devotion of those devotees who worshipped Shirdi Sai or Satya Sai or any of the recent Naraavataraas with Madhura Bhava, which can be a compass for us. Thank You Swami for enlightening us. Ananta koti Padabhivandanamulu Swami.]
Swami replied:- It is not a rule that every human incarnation of God must have devotees of sweet devotion (Madhura Bhakti). When such devotees are available on the earth, God takes a suitable human form and descends to earth. The sweet devotion is one of the forms of love to God and this alone need not be treated as the monarch of all the devotional bonds. There are instances where the bond of sweet devotion is defeated by other bonds of love. For example, Draupadi as sister of Krishna defeated all the sweet devotional bonds by immediately tearing a piece of cloth from her new sari to be used as bandage for the finger of Krishna. All the sweet bonds ran in all directions to fetch a small piece of cloth to be used for that bandage. The sweet devotion of Gopikas gave them Goloka, which is higher than the highest abode of God. This is not because of the specific form of devotion (called sweet devotion), but, because of the weight of true love present in such bond. The most important factor of the sweet devotion is that this type of bond is based on the devotion to God and not to the hormonal lust towards the body of the incarnation. Narada Bhakti Sutras say that even the lust of Gopikas towards Krishna while dancing in Brundavanam was purely based on the continuous awareness that Krishna was God and not an ordinary human being (Tatrāpi na māhātmyajñāna vismṛti apavādaḥ). Narada warned that if Gopikas had forgotten this essential point, Gopikas should have been prostitutes (Tadvihīnaṃ jārāṇāmiva). Therefore, this topic shall not be taken as the subject of romance or applied sex-education of Kaama Shaastra of Sage Vaatsaayana. This is not at all the subject of sex that is used for getting children. Unless the correct angle in this subject is perfectly understood, one can’t explain this book called as Bhaagavatam. There is a saying, which is that the explanation of Bhaagavatam is an acid test for the scholars (Vidyāvatāṃ Bhāgavate parīkṣā).
The life histories of incarnations of God were many and were written by sage Vyaasa. Only in the case of the incarnation of Krishna, Krishna is called as Bhagavaan or God. The life history of Krishna is called as the story of God or Bhaagavatam. Even the preaching of Krishna is called as the song of God (Bhagavat Gita). Why such special attention is given to Krishna? The reason is that the life history and preaching of Krishna contain very dangerous angles by which we will slip very easily to misunderstand Krishna as a worst human being. Hence, He is called as God or Bhagavan every minute to enlighten our minds that Krishna is not an ordinary human being, but Krishna is the ultimate God.
This topic is very much misunderstood by even devotees. Much more than misunderstanding, misinterpretation has taken place, which is exploited by characterless sinful devotees and fraud incarnations. Sometimes, misunderstanding may be the cause of the misinterpretation and sometimes, even though properly understood, misinterpretation might have been done due to purposeful sinful intentions. Hence, this topic is most dangerous and can very easily disturb the balance of justified Pravrutti or worldly life. Unless one understands the genuine value of the devotees like the Gopikas who were sages reborn and the genuine value of human incarnation like God Krishna, this topic can be very easily misunderstood and has been misinterpreted to such an extent that other religions have made this topic as their weapons to attack Hinduism. Even the marriage of Jesus with a prostitute and the multi-marriages of Prophet Mohammad must be understood in a correct angle as we understand Krishna in Bhagavatam. You should not decide and draw conclusions by looking merely at current accounts of devotees. Who were the Gopikas? Look at their fixed deposits. They were the most holy sages, who did burning penance for God through past millions of births. Even the word lust cannot stand before them and not to speak of illegal lust! Even the most beautiful heavenly dancers, who were trying to spoil the penance of those sages ran away once the sages opened their eyes! Krishna is said to be the root original God Datta straight, who is the common God present in all the ten incarnations of God (Kṛṣṇaastu Bhagavān svayam, Paripūrṇaa tamaḥ sākṣāt…, etc.). Both the God and devotee are the rarest Kohinoor diamonds. If any wrong idea is thought by anybody, such a soul is thrown in to the eternal liquid fire of hell.
Just after the story of the Gopikas, the Dvaapara age ended immediately and there was a good deep communication gap between the story of the Bhagavatam and the present Kali Age. Due to this strong communication gap, the story of the Bhagavatam could not be much misinterpreted and exploited in this Kali Age. But now, the Kali age is continuing and this age is the climax of sin. Even though Miira worshipped just the statue of Krishna, her husband gave a cup of poison to Miira! The discipline of Pravrutti will be very much disturbed due to the maximum possibility of misinterpretation of sweet devotion. Hence, in the Kali age, even if genuine cases of sweet devotion exist, they are kept secret by God for the sake of protection of Pravrutti or worldly life.
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