09 Nov 2008
Each limb of the elephant in its figure is contributing to the totality of the diagram. But at the same time, the limb has limitations of its size and should be in its proper place. Both the aspects of contribution and limitation are equally important. You cannot increase the size of the limb enormously to occupy the whole page and say that the limb itself is the elephant. No doubt, the elephant is incomplete without the limb and hence, it is contributory. The proper place of legs is below the body of the elephant. Due to attraction and over appreciation of the legs, you should not draw the four legs above the body. The whole problem lies with the person, who can draw the leg only, because he draws only the leg and declares it as elephant.
The concept of the above example is that practice of rituals and traditions is good since they contribute for the achievement of grace of God. But, you cannot increase their size without knowing their limitations and say that if certain traditions are practiced; you can get the grace of God. This is a very important point since most of the people are affected by this misunderstanding. Hence, I give another example to stress this point. Suppose you are an employee working in an office. When you reach the office, you must be fresh so that you can do the work effectively and get the salary. To achieve this freshness, you must sleep well at night, you must take bath and you must eat energetic food. After doing these three, you achieve freshness. With this freshness, if you remain in the house or go and enjoy a cinema, you cannot draw the salary from the office. Neither is the salary linked with good sleep, bath and eating nor is it linked with the freshness that is attained after these three steps. You must apply this freshness to the work in the office and then only the salary is paid to you because it is linked with your efficient work done in the office. Similarly, the grace of God is neither linked with rituals and traditions nor is it linked with the energy gained by such rituals and traditions. The grace of God is linked to the application of energy in doing His work for the spiritual welfare of the society. Though the materialistic welfare is the basis for such spiritual welfare, the grace of God is linked finally to your contribution for the spiritual welfare only. You can serve the society for its materialistic welfare also but if you simply stop at that level only, you get temporary heaven for doing Dharma. Therefore, the materialistic social service should always be linked with spiritual service. Remember, Mother Theresa served the society in the name of God as a part of the spiritual mission only. Without spiritual service, if you stop at the basic materialistic service only, you are a good politician eligible for a post of Minister here or Heaven after death. Both are temporary fruits only.
Gain from Traditional Practices
Coming to our main concept, all the traditional practices give you good physical and mental health. If you take cold water bath in the early morning, it gives you resistance to attack of cold. This is the point of your physical health. If you take only one meal in a day, it is good for your health since you give some rest to the digestive system. If you do Aasanas (Physical Exercises), it is good to develop a sound body. If you practice Pranayama, it is good, since, you allow more oxygen to enter the blood by retaining air in the lungs for a longer time (Kumbhaka). All these traditional practices and course of yoga give you good physical health. In pyramid meditation, they say that you should concentrate on respiration. It is also a good practice to develop concentration on a single point. The Pratyahara in yoga preaches you detachment from thinking the worldly matters, which reduces your anxiety and tension. All these contribute to mental health. In fact, body and mind are inter-related and if one is affected, the other is also affected. Therefore, all these things contribute to good physical and mental health. If you have perfect health, you will be efficient in doing the work of God like Hanuman. The grace of God is linked to the effective work done by you for the sake of God (Madarthamapi… Gita). Rama made Hanuman to become the future Creator (Brahma) for the work done by Hanuman in His case. The participation of Hanuman in the work of Rama is the most important aspect to get His grace and this is significance of Sundara Kanda. Even if you are not efficient, your participation in His service brings His grace to you. The squirrel carrying some sand particles for the construction of the bridge was also blessed by Rama. Therefore, participation in His work is important and is linked to the divine fruit and not the efficiency gained or the steps taken to gain such efficiency. You might have become strong through physical exercises, breathing exercises etc., like Hanuman. But, unless you participate in the work of God, God cannot bless you. The steps taken to achieve the energy end since the fruit, which is gain of energy is already achieved. Those steps cannot give another fruit, which is the grace of God. The energy also will not get the grace of God because a fruit cannot yield another fruit. This energy may also be utilized in the worldly affairs and in such case, you will get the worldly fruits only and not the grace of God.
Misconceptions Blown-Out
Hence, people should not misunderstand that you will get the Grace of God by taking cold water bath in the morning or by foregoing one meal in the day. By doing these two, you will become fresh and active so that you can participate in the worship, which is the service to God. In this month of Kartika, people do these traditional practices and think that God will bless them for their mere traditional practices. Similarly, the training centers and workshops on yoga are nothing but good hospitals to give you the benefit of good health. You apply this good health in earning the wealth by saying that health is wealth. God is not at all linked with your health or wealth unless it is diverted to His work. The work should be practical and not theoretical. Vibhishana asked Hanuman “Both of us chant the name of Rama day and night. Why Rama blessed you alone and not me?” Hanuman replied, “The difference between you and Me is Sundarakanda, which is practical participation of the devotee in the work”. The selfish worldly work is called karma. The work done for the sake of God is called as karma yoga. Yoga means the recognition of contemporary human incarnation, and participation in His mission is karma yoga. Arjuna came to fight in Kurukshethra war thinking it as karma. He thought that killing the enemies is to get his property. Since the karma is selfish, you have the freedom to do or leave it. Hence, Arjuna thought of dropping from the war. But after hearing the Gita, he came to understand that the war is karma yoga, which is the work of God to kill evil and uplift justice. There is no freedom in karma yoga because it is not your case since it is the case of God. Hence, Arjuna participated in the war sacrificing the selfish blind love to relatives. This karma yoga is also called as karma samnyasa. The word samnyasa indicates that the work is not selfish since it is to be done for the sake of God.
Depending on the need of the mission of God, you may have to do karma phala tyaga, which means sacrifice of the fruit of your work for the sake of God. Gopikas sacrificed the butter, which is the fruit of their work since that was needed for the physical growth of the Lord. Bhagavatam stands for karma phala tyaga. Ramayana and Mahabharatha stand for karma samnyasa. In all the three, God was the contemporary human incarnation. Remember that Hanuman did not worship the statue of Lord Narasimha or Vamana and Gopikas did not worship the statue of Rama, which were past human incarnations. They also did not worship the statues of Vishnu or Shiva, which are the energetic forms of God existing for the sake of the departed souls, which are also in energetic forms. Therefore, first you must practice all the traditional steps and exercises of yoga to become efficient for work. Then, you must identify the contemporary human incarnation and participate in His work through karma samnyasa and/or karma phala tyaga as per the divine requirement. Then only you are eligible for the divine grace of the Lord.
How Advaita Helps A Beginner
Even the concept of Advaita is a psychological method in maintaining good health. If you are under the constant imagination that you are God (Aham Brahmasmi), it is a good psychological trick to avoid tensions and preserve mental strength. It gives courage and confidence to have detachment. Another psychological trick associated with this is to think that this creation is just a mental illusion. By this concept, no tension can disturb you. The concept is a total lie because neither are you God nor is the world your illusion. But, you get a good benefit through this false concept. You can use this concept temporarily for the situation like a sweater in winter. But, you should not continue this concept forever and waste your entire life without worshipping the Lord. It is just like a pain killer tablet before undergoing a surgery, which is a long time process. You should not use the pain killer continuously and avoid the surgery. Similarly, you can use the concept of Advaita in getting temporary relief from tensions. But, you should throw away that concept as soon as you meet the Lord. You must throw away the sweater in summer. If you continue yourself in the same false concept and really think that you are the God, you lose the golden chance of really becoming God. If you serve the Lord, you will become one in His close circle and there is a rapid chance for you to become a real human incarnation. God enters a devotee and the soul of the devotee merged with God in the gross body is like the electric wire embedded in the plastic cover. The Veda says that the two birds stay on one tree (Dvasuparna…). The two birds are God (current) and soul (wire) covered by the gross body of the devotee (Plastic cover). Due to continuous false Advaita, you lose the chance of real Advaita. This is said to be the greatest loss by the Veda (Mahateevinashtih…).
If you see, there are only two items i.e., wire and plastic cover only. But, there is invisible current hidden in the wire, which is different from these two. While writing commentary on the Gita, Shankara stressed on Purusha (wire) and Prakruti (Plastic cover) only, since the current is invisible and is identified with the wire itself. The wire and current are inseparable and this is the main concept of Vishishtaadvaita of Ramanuja. The Purusha (soul or wire) is completely different from the Purushottama (God or current) and this is stressed by Dvaita of Madhva. All the three are simultaneously correct from the simultaneous angles of the three observers. Therefore, the Purusha Suktha in the Veda describes Purushottama only, since both are inseparable and identified as a single item only as per the Advaita concept of Shankara. This is perfectly correct provided you restrict this concept to human incarnation only. If you extend this concept to every human being, every soul becomes God and the total collapse takes place.
In an electrified wire only, the wire indicates current. In a non-electrified wire, the wire cannot indicate current by extending the previous concept. While writing commentary on the Vedic hymn (Dvasuparna…), Shankara referred to two components of the soul (Jiva and Atman) because He was surrounded by atheists, who do not like to hear the word ‘God’. By the time of Ramanuja and Madhva, the foundation of Shankara grew well and hence, the birds were referred as God and soul in the human incarnation. Whenever Shankara referred soul as God, it is the case of human incarnation only because the debate arises there only i.e., whether He is God or Soul only. There is no debate in absolute God or a human soul because God is God and soul is soul.
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