29 Oct 2015
Shri P V N M Sharma asked: Surdas sang about Lord Krishna telling his mother that He did not eat the butter (mai nahi khaaya) and subsequently telling that He alone ate the butter (mai ne hi khaaya). I enjoyed the beauty of similarity in the words in both statements.
Shri Swami Replied: The enjoyment you got from the words is very little compared to the bliss you receive on knowing the inner meaning. The serpents licked the grass on which the vessel of divine nectar was kept. The angels licked the drops of the divine nectar directly. The difference existing between serpents and the angels will be the same as the difference between the enjoyment from words of poetry and the enjoyment derived from the divine knowledge.
Lord Krishna is the human incarnation. Generally, people think that God directly dwells in the human body of Krishna. This is wrong. God enters the human being and not mere human body. The human body possessing the individual soul as its owner is the human being. Hence, in the human incarnation three entities exist: human body, human soul and unimaginable God. The Veda tells the same about the human incarnation that two birds are on a tree. The two birds are human soul and God. The tree is the human body (Dvaa suparnaa...). In the Gita, God says that He enters the human body (Manusheem tanum...). The Gita is not contradicting the Veda because both the human soul and human body are taken as one entity called as the human body. The human soul becomes part and parcel of human body. The human soul (Para Prakruti) and human body (Apara Prakruti) are the two components of the body (Prakruti). In the absence of God, the alive human soul predominates behaving as owner of the body. But, in the presence of God, the human soul is dumb stuck folding hands and behaves like an inert statue only. He becomes inert as good as the inert house. Hence, the human body said in the Gita means both the almost inert human soul and inert human body.
In a human being, the human soul and human body only exist. In this context, the human soul predominates as the alive entity whereas the human body behaves as an inert entity. This difference between these two items gets very much reduced in the presence of the most powerful God. The above referred Vedic statement further says that the human soul (individual soul or Jeeva) enjoys the fruit by eating it and the associated God derives its enjoyment and becomes happy (Tayorekah...). God gets associated Himself with a human being to enjoy the creation to the full extent by identifying Himself with the human being so that He can have the advantage of full ignorance of the human being so that the enjoyment is highest.
Lord Krishna being the human incarnation contains both God and human soul. The two statements given by God refer God and the human soul respectively. God does not eat (mai nahi khaaya) and the human soul eats (mai ne hi khaaya). This indicates that the human incarnation is a two component system of God and individual soul. Hence, both the statements are correct. You must recognize the human soul and God existing in human body and give food, water etc., for the human soul present in the human incarnation. Based on the wrong concept that God alone exists in the human body, if you do not give food and water, the human soul suffers for your ignorance. Of course, finally, God will take care of that soul. But, the suffering of human soul will be witnessed by you so that you will understand your ignorance of the right concept. Bhagavan Shri Satya Sai Baba is the human incarnation. One lady broke a coconut fruit on His leg suddenly due to this wrong concept. Baba could have saved His leg by His supernatural power. But, Baba did not do so. The leg was swollen and Baba suffered for several days. The idea in this suffering is to preach the world that God exists in the human body along with the human soul. All the three entities co-exist with their individual properties in isolated way. The human body and human soul constitute the medium. God is in that medium. The properties of God and medium are separate and do not interfere with each other. The electricity flowing in the wire does not change the properties of the metallic wire (like lean length and metallic properties). Hence, the medium of the human incarnation has birth, death, hunger, thirst, illness etc., as its properties, which should not be mistaken as the properties of God. Hence, when you serve the human incarnation, you should have this knowledge and your service should be full as if it is a human being. Both the God and human being are inter-mixed having their own individual properties separately. Even in the case of a human being, the human soul as awareness exists throughout the body. The scent applied to the skin of the body is received by the awareness (individual soul) existing in the nervous system below the skin and thus, you are pleasing the individual soul through this service to the body. You will not peel of the skin and cut the nerves to apply the scent directly to the awareness flowing in the nerves. If you do so, it is utter foolishness. When the awareness can grasp your service through the body, what is your problem? If the awareness does not grasp your service through such process, you can think of the other process. Hence, this song means that you should give butter to Lord Krishna so that the human soul component eats it and enjoys (mai ne hi khaaya). The joy of the human soul is derived by the associated God, who equally enjoys even though He does not eat it directly (mai nahi khaaya). This song explains you not only the concept of the human incarnation but also the concept of your service to the human incarnation.
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