20 Jul 2006
Devotion is of two types. The first type is called simply as Bhakti and it consists of prayers or songs through words and emotional feelings through mind. This Bhakti gives only temporary happiness. Knowledge is related to intelligence, which is the discrimination between the real and unreal through logical analysis. By such discrimination, you can realize that all the forms of matter and all the feelings of awareness are unreal. When you have realized that all the forms (rupa) and feelings (guna) are unreal even before the level of yourself, which is pure awareness, your life completely becomes an entertainment in both happy and unhappy situations. Self realization makes you a spectator of the world-cinema, which consists of both happy and unhappy scenes. You will reach the state of an actor who is entertained in all the scenes of the drama while acting on the stage. Thus this knowledge gives you permanent happiness which is called as bliss. Therefore, knowledge (Jnana) is greater than devotion (Bhakti). Here, you must note that the Bhakti, we are taling about, is related to words and mind whereas Jnana is related to the intelligence. Hence, both devotion and knowledge belong only to theoretical phase, which is limited to words, mind and intelligence.
The second type of devotion is called as Para Bhakti, which is related to practice or sacrifice of service. This divine devotion (Para Bhakti) consists of divine service by sacrificing work (karma samnyasa) and by sacrificing the fruit of work (karma phala tyaga). This second type of devotion is far superior to the knowledge. Bhakti and Jnana are selfish because in both, your aim is the attainment of bliss for yourself. Divine devotion or divine service is completely different since it has no selfish aim. In this divine service, your aim is to please God and not to please yourself. You have to receive continuous loss and displeasure in divine service. In this stage, you are achieving the nature of God. God always enjoys the fruits of the sins of His devotees and is thus subjected to continuous misery. His aim is to make His devotees happy. God is always serving His devotees. Service always means sacrifice to make others happy at the cost of self-happiness.
Continuous Happiness
The Veda says that God is bliss (Anando Brahma). The Veda reveals the meaning of this statement by further saying “Eshahyeva Anandayati” which means that God makes His devotees happy. Therefore, when we say that God is bliss, it does not mean that God is continuously enjoying the happiness Himself. It only means that God is making others happy continuously. In fact only this definition is the proof of God being bliss. How do you say that fire is hot? Since the fire makes others experience its heat, people say that fire is hot. Similarly, only if you make others happy, are you the embodiment of that happiness. Now the point is whether God is continuously unhappy by such sacrifice, which is His service to His devotees. The answer is that God is continuously happy through such sacrifice. He is deriving happiness continuously by enjoying the misery of His devotees. He is not unhappy to enjoy the sins of His devotees. Therefore He is always happy and is making His devotees happy too.
In the first level of ignorance, the soul derives happiness only from happy situations, which are like sweets. In the second level of realization, the soul derives happiness both from happy and unhappy situations which are like sweets and hot dishes in the meals. In the final level, which is the state of God, if the soul derives continuous happiness from only the hot dishes, such a soul has become almost God (Mama Sadharmyamagatah—Gita). Such a soul is almost equal to God. Such a devotee also attracts the sins of deserving devotees and makes them happy. Such an attraction of sins is always kept secret because the deserving devotee will never agree to such transfer of sins. A devotee who had reached this highest level came to see Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa who was suffering from cancer. The devotee sat near Shri Paramahamsa and was trying to attract the cancer onto himself. Shri Paramahamsa, who was the human incarnation of God, immediately recognized this and pushed the devotee away from Him. Therefore the devotee can attain all the powers of God and the divine nature of God, which consists of continuous sacrifice for the sake of devotees.
Master of God
Why is the devotee not called as God in the full sense? Except for one point, the devotee can become God in all aspects and that one point is the creation, maintenance and destruction of this universe. You immediately misunderstand God through various doubts like, “Perhaps God does not want anyone to become equal to Him and therefore is not granting this special power”. You are mistaking God due to the ignorance of the truth and the lack of analysis on this point. God is ready to give this power to any soul. The creation, maintenance and destruction of the world, is a big responsibility. Who will not be willing to give up this responsibility? One may hesitate to sacrifice the fruit of work but not the responsibility and work. Work and responsibility are just headaches. If you analyze, you will clearly understand that it is impossible to transfer this responsibility to any soul. The soul is made of awareness which is basically the primal energy. The creation starts with the creation of this primary energy (Mula Maya). Before the creation of this primary energy, this primary energy cannot exist. When the primary energy does not exist, the soul (awareness) which is a form of this primary energy also cannot exist. Then how can the soul create this primary energy? If the soul created this primary energy, then what is the material of the soul? The material cannot be awareness because awareness is only a modification of the primary energy. If food is not given to a person, the supply of energy stops. The person becomes unconscious where the awareness disappears as in the deep sleep. The stored energy in the body in its basic form of inert energy maintains the heat of the body for sometime. This is a clear proof of the concept that awareness is only a modification of the inert energy. Therefore it is impossible to make any soul the Creator and therefore this point always differentiates God from any soul. Only due to this impossibility is God not giving this power to any soul. Even if there were even a trace of possibility, God would be happiest to get rid of this headache and responsibility.
God has given this power of creation to His best devotee called as Hanuman. This shows His willingness to give away this responsibility. But if we analyze, Hanuman was the incarnation of Lord Shiva and Shiva is another name of God (Shivascha Narayanah—Veda). Therefore, God Himself in the form of a soul could take up this responsibility. Radha is said to be the incarnation of His power of happiness called as ‘Hladini Kala’. The creation is a form of His power. The soul is a part and parcel of the creation. Therefore, Radha is really a soul. But Radha (the soul) is made the queen of Goloka, which is a world above God’s own abode (Brahma Loka). Hanuman could only enter Brahma Loka. It is logical because Hanuman being God, can enter only God’s abode. The final conclusion of all this is that a soul can be given an even higher position than God but the soul cannot become God, especially with regard to taking up the impossible responsibility of the creation of the universe. You can get the power of creating matter and awareness from the already existing primary energy. The position of a soul is exactly the position of the wife and the position of God is exactly the position of the husband. The husband can give the salary to His wife which is the fruit of His work. The husband can keep the wife on His head and act as her servant. But the wife cannot do the work of the husband. When the wife can get all the fruit of the work into her hand and can make her husband as her servant, is she not foolish to be adamant in insisting to do his work, which is impossible for her? The Veda says that even male human beings in this world are only women and wives of God (Striyah satih tam u me pumsa ahuh)[1]. This means all the souls irrespective of gender, which is a characteristic of only the external gross body, can attain the position of master of God but cannot become God. It is foolishness to aspire to become God due to the impossible responsibility, when an even higher position than God is made available to the soul.
Eligibility and Suitability
When God becomes the human incarnation, He enters into a human body as said in the Gita (Manusheem Tanumashritam). The word ‘ashritam’ means the entrance of God into the human body. Another verse in the Gita clearly states that God is not modified into the human body which means that God has not become the human body (Avyaktam vyakti mapannam). The electric current entered the wire but the current is not modified into the wire. The current has not become the wire. If God became the human body, God would also perish when the human body perished. When the divine work is over, God exits the human body. When the Lord left the body of Krishna, it was cremated by Arjuna as told in the Bhagavatam. Therefore, you should not think that a particular human being is God. God has not become that human being. God only entered that human being. God can enter any human being provided the human being is eligible for His entrance and is suitable for doing His work.
God can even enter two human bodies at a time for two different works. The fan is moving and at the same time the electric bulb is also glowing. The same current has entered the fan to give air and the bulb to give light simultaneously. God entered Rama and Hanuman simultaneously. Through Rama, God wanted to show the path of an ideal human being (Pravritti) and through Hanuman, God wanted to show the path of practical devotion (Nivritti). The first criterion for His entrance is eligibility, which can be achieved through practical devotion. The proof of love is only service as said in the Veda (Sayuja Sakhaya, Kurvanneveha). The second criterion is the suitable efficiency for the specified divine work. The fan is suitable to give the air but is not suitable to give light. The bulb is suitable to give the light and not to give air. Between these two, eligibility is more important than suitability. If you want to select a person for a job in your office, you must give importance to eligibility first and only then to suitability. If the candidate has good character and is free of corruption, he is eligible for your service. The talent required for your service can be developed in him by giving a short training. Even if the candidate is suitable and has already acquired talent, he should not be selected if he is corrupt. He is suitable but not eligible. Therefore God selects the human body of a devotee, which is eligible by practical devotion. In such case even if talent is absent, God will grant the talent in a moment by His grace. Therefore to reach the divine knowledge, God selects a particular eligible human being. Such a selected human being becomes a scholar in no time by His grace. Even though several scholars exist, who are suitable for His divine work, he will not select them because such corrupt scholars are not eligible.
Jesus selected the eligible fishermen to propagate His knowledge but not the corrupt priests who were suitable for the work. Any country develops by selecting eligible candidates and by giving them suitable training for the profession. Therefore, education must give eligibility and the specific department should give the required training. Eligibility comes only by spiritual knowledge. Today, education is only giving suitability from the beginning and is forgetting to impart real eligibility at any stage. This mistake in the education system is responsible for the fall of India. The fruits of the programmes of the government are not reaching the needy people due to corrupt officials, who are selected by the only criterion of suitability that is imparted from their childhood.
Truth of Truths
The awareness is the most subtle form of energy. When you say that God is awareness, it means that God entered the medium, which is awareness. In case God has not entered the awareness, you are taking the awareness as a representative item for God for the sake of worship or meditation. To retain the awareness even by imagination, it is very difficult as said in the Gita (Avyaktahi Gatih…). Among imaginable items in creation, the most difficult to imagine item is awareness and therefore it is the best representative model for God who is completely unimaginable. Thus, awareness is only a representative model for God. Neither is awareness God and nor has God entered the awareness due to the absence of any proof for such an entry. The Advaita scholars have completely misunderstood the concept and have gone into extreme ignorance by taking awareness directly as God. Through the most difficult item, an impossible item can be indicated. The star Arundhati is invisible [extremely dim] and it is indicated by the nearest visible star, Vashishtha (Arundhati-Vashishtha nyaya). Since awareness happens to be the material of the soul, Shankara preferred to use awareness to represent God. By this concept, He could attract the atheists of His time, and turn them into theists. Since awareness is both God and soul, the atheists easily accepted themselves as God. Such concept will satisfy them because by this concept, there is no external God other than themselves. It is a very subtle diversion made for the sake of the atheists. Later on, Ramanuja introduced Narayana, who is the energetic body possessed by God. The awareness is only a representative item for God, where as Narayana is the energetic incarnation of God. A possessed item is better than a representative item. The energetic form can be retained by imagination and thus the convenience is increased. At last, Madhva introduced Lord Krishna and Lord Rama, who represent the human body possessed by God. The human form of God is more convenient than the energetic body not only for directly experiencing your worship but also to preach divine knowledge to you.
Today Datta Swami reveals the sense of the concept of Madhva in a clearer way, which is the most convenient. The human incarnation like Rama and Krishna does not exist today. Their statutes and photos can neither experience your worship nor can they preach divine knowledge to clear your doubts. Therefore, the present living human incarnation is the final essence of all the spiritual knowledge. Lord Shiva entered Shankara. Lord Vishnu entered Ramanuja and Lord Brahma entered Madhva. Datta, who is all those three in one, entered this Datta Swami. Therefore, Datta Swami alone can give the total essence of all those three divine preachers. Some may misunderstand Me treating this as egoism but I cannot help them in any way because this is the absolute truth of truths. But I can pacify their jealousy to some extent by stating that I am not Datta and that Datta only entered Me. I can further release their tension by stating that Datta can enter any human body provided that human is first eligible. I declare that Datta has entered the human bodies of all My devotees who are participating in this divine mission of propagation of divine knowledge. Their devotion to Me is only external according to the divine drama and essentially all of them are equal to Me. Hanuman is the servant of Rama as per the divine drama but essentially He was equal to Rama because the same God existed in both those roles.
[1] Rigveda Samhita 1.164.16
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