18 May 2012
The punishment for the sin is to reform the mental setup of the soul so that the balance of the society is maintained. The reformation is not to develop devotion to God. God does not wish a soul to be devoted to Him. The devotion should be from the side of the devotee and God does not encourage it. In fact, God discourages the devotion. The soul has to surpass the hurdle created by such discouragement. Therefore, the aim of God is only Pravrutti (social justice) and not Nivrutti (devotion to God). God undergoes the punishment of some sins of some devotees due to their intense devotion to Him. This is quite natural even in the worldly bonds. Somebody, who loves some other soul, prays to God to give punishment to him or her instead of punishing that soul. This is found in the worldly bonds. Lord Narasimha Saraswati, who is the incarnation of God Dattatreya, adjusts the longevity of the wife by transferring a portion of it to her husband on the prayer of that devoted wife [1]. Such transfer of punishments is seen even in the worldly bonds. But, in such transfer, the blind love is only the basis and not the reformation of the soul. The wife wanted to transfer the sin of her husband on to her, by reducing her longevity, only due to her blind love towards her husband. The reformation of the mental setup of her husband is not in her aim.
But, when God transfers the punishment of the sin of His devotee on to Him, the basis is not mere blind love towards His devotee. The basis is the reformation of the mental setup of the devotee for the welfare of the social justice. If such possibility for the reformation exists, then only, God transfers the punishment of the sin of His devotee. Raavana was a strong devotee of Lord Shiva. The punishment of Raavana was not transferred by God on to Him because, by such act, Raavana will not be reformed. Therefore, God does not transfer the sin of every devotee on to Him.
Lord Krishna transferred the punishment of the sin of Kuchela (Sudama) on to Him because there is a possibility of reformation of Kuchela by such transfer. Kuchela stole the food of Krishna. Such stealing affects the social justice. If Kuchela is not punished, he will steal the food of several human beings in the future. Therefore, he was punished with poverty. There is a difference between Raavana and Kuchela. Raavana did not change after suffering some punishment. Even though several family members of Raavana were killed, there was no change in the mental setup of Raavana. He fought with Rama till he died. Therefore, there will be no use by the transfer of partial punishment in the case of Raavana. Hence, the punishment was completely given to Raavana. In the case of Kuchela, the poverty has changed his mental setup and he never stole the food of anybody even though he and his family suffered with severe hunger. The punishment can be withdrawn after sometime and there is no need of complete punishment. Even though Kuchela became rich, he did not become proud and did not commit any sin. Hence, there is possibility of total reformation in the rest of his life. Hence, Lord transferred the sin on to Him and became partially poor. The wealth of Kuchela was drawn from the wealth of Krishna. Therefore, Krishna underwent the partial punishment.
Hence, the transfer of punishments of sins of certain selected devotees is only for the reformation of their mental setup helping the Pravrutti and such transfer has nothing to do with Nivrutti. Therefore, there is no blind love in the case of God when He transfers the sins on to Him. This is the thought in the verse “Kshipram Bhavati Dharmaatmaa…” said in the Gita. Hence, the reformation of mental setup for the sake of Pravrutti is maintained even in the transfer of the sins of certain selected devotees by God. In the Bible also, it is said that God comes to save His people (Emmanuel). It does not mean that God saves all the people or all the devotees by undergoing their punishments.
[1] Reference to incident
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