11 Aug 2014
Shri Anil asked “the Gita says that the knowledge burns all the past sins and hence, no need of any punishment. Can you achieve this by simply hearing and understanding the knowledge? Is it not sufficient if one hears this statement and follows it?”
Swami replied: If the knowledge is perfect and complete and if the receiver of the knowledge is also devoid of any defect, this concept is true because in such case since such knowledge brings real transformation in the soul. Once the real and permanent transformation is achieved, there is no need of any punishment further since the aim of the punishment is only to bring the real and permanent transformation in the soul. Past is past and past cannot be undone. The damage cannot be rectified in many cases. In such case, the punishment can be only in the angle of revenge. Revenge itself is a bad quality and a form of sin. Therefore, the punishment of one sin should not be in the angle of another sin. Hence, the punishment should be always in the angle of good action only. Such good action is the real and permanent transformation of the sinner so that there will not be further damage to the society. Of course, if there is possibility of rectifying the damage, it should be done. For example, if one steals the money of the other, the stolen money can be recovered and can be paid to the looser. Even then, the thief should be punished so that he will not repeat the same sin once again and damage someone else. Sometimes, rectification of damage is not possible as in the case of a thief, who has spent all the stolen money and is leftover alone without the ownership of any property. Even in this case, the punishment is only for avoiding the further damage to the society. It is clearly experienced that mere punishment is not the permanent solution without real change in the soul. The real change can be achieved only by one way, which is the perfect and complete spiritual knowledge.
The punishment for the sin of a murder need not be always execution. Generally, the execution is avoided and the life imprisonment is given instead of execution expecting that the life imprisonment brings real transformation of the soul of the criminal. Sometimes, execution is insisted depending on the intensity of the crime in damaging the society instead an individual and the execution in such case is only to threaten others in doing such sin of large damage. The punishment becomes unnecessary once the real transformation is achieved resulting in no repetition of sin. Only the real and complete knowledge can convince mind and intelligence of the sinner to bring this transformation. In the punishment, the sinner is only threatened and not convinced. Threat can only give temporary solution. Convincing the soul completely through logical knowledge brings the real transformation by which only further damage to the society can be totally avoided. To achieve this goal, there should not be any defect in the knowledge as well as in the receiver of it. The electrical heater should be perfect and the material of the vessel heated must be a conductor. If there is short circuit in the electrical heater and the vessel is made of insulating material, the heating does not take place. Similarly, if the knowledge is wrong or the receiver of it hears and understands it without assimilation, there is no practical transformation, which alone can avoid the damage to the society. The transformation is automatic consequence of the real knowledge. The result of the transformation, which is burning of sins through cancelling the punishments, is also an automatic consequence of the transformation. Therefore, the statement that real knowledge burns the sins is like mentioning the direct chemical reaction representing reactants on the left side and the products on the right side. The unstable intermediate complex in the chemical reaction is not mentioned since the complex is an automatic sequence of the reactants and the products are the automatic consequence of the complex. In this way, the real transformation of the soul is not mentioned as it is like the unstable intermediate complex in a chemical reaction. Since it is not mentioned, you should not say that the intermediate complex does not exist at all. All the conditions for the chemical reaction should be perfect without any poison to achieve the products. Similarly, the knowledge and the receiver are expected to be perfect, in which case only the burning of sins by the knowledge is true.
If you tell a sinner simply that all his sins are burnt in case he does not repeat the sins, this will not work out. He will immediately doubt about the authenticity of your statement and your authority to implement the statement. The constitution and court can say like that so that the sinner will get at least some confidence as far as this world is concerned. But, the court or the constitution does not say like that since it is impossible to have a machinery that can be associated with every sinner to check the repetition of the sin in each case. You may say that if the omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent God appears and says this statement, the sinner will be convinced since God has the unimaginable power to check the repetition of sin. Even if God appears and disappears after stating this, the sinner doubts about such vision taking it as illusion of his eye or as some magic. Even after the divine vision given by the Lord, Arjuna continued asking the doubts. Arjuna was prepared to fight only after getting fully convinced by the knowledge given by the Lord. Nothing can replace the real knowledge to convince any human being forever. The attraction towards the benefit of burning all the sins, in case sin is not repeated, cannot be a permanent solution. In such attraction, the soul is not fully convinced due to lack of the logical knowledge. This is the main reason for God to become the human incarnation through which only the perfect spiritual knowledge can be preached, which brings the real transformation and also gives the right direction further in the spiritual path of any soul.
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