14 Jan 2006
Discourse Podcast
[Makara Sankranti] Today the sun is entering the zodiac sign, Capricorn. The sun represents the knowledge of the intelligence, which is in the final form called decision or determination. The Veda says that the sun initiates the intelligence (Dhiyo Yo Nah). Capricorn is famous for rigidity; when it catches something it will not leave it under any circumstances. Therefore, this whole physical model represents the rigid decision of divine knowledge. From this time onwards, for the next six months, the sun makes its northward journey [from winter solstice to summer solstice]. Indians consider the north as auspicious and divine, because the pure white, sacred snow-capped Himalayas and the sacred white river Ganga are present in the north. In the south is a huge ocean of salt-water. This ocean represents the world. Thus, the north represents God and the south represents the world. This whole model now gives the following conclusion. The decision of knowledge should finally be diverted towards God and it must be rigid under all circumstances. This is the concept of the whole physical model of Sankranti. Once you understand the concept, the physical model has no importance. When a student of science looks at a diagram or a physical model in a laboratory and understands the concept behind it, there is no need of the diagram or the model for him anymore.
In this month all the crops yield grains and the food reaches home. Till this month people are worried due to the problems and uncertainties of agriculture. From today onwards all the problems of agriculture are over and the food for the whole year has reached home. There is peace and settlement of the mind. Therefore, from this month onwards till the rains start, a person can completely divert his mind towards God. Again in the rainy season the person is involved in the problems of agriculture, which is essential for procuring one’s food. Without food the body cannot stand and cannot be involved in the worship of God.
But from this month onwards, six months (January to June) are left for complete concentration on God. The six months after the start of the rainy season (July to December) are meant for the work essential in procuring one’s food. The first six months are sacred because one can spend them in the concentration on God. The other six months are not sacred because one has to involve in the worldly affairs to procure one’s food. Thus, the first six months are called as ‘Uttarayanam’ (northward path), ‘Jnana Marga’ (path of Knowledge), or ‘Devayanam’ (path of angels). The other six months are called as ‘Dakshinayanam’ (southward path), Karma Marga (path of work), or ‘Pitruyanam’ (path of family affairs). These two paths are explained in the Gita (Shukla Krishna Gatee…).
Now, if this concept is understood, there is no meaning in the time or in the festival. For a job-holder in a city this concept remains as it is but the plan of time is completely different. Each day consists of ‘Uttarayanam’ and ‘Dakshinayanam’. When he goes for work at 10 am and returns at 4 pm, the time between 10 am and 4 pm, is Dakshinayanam for him. The rest of the time is ‘Uttarayanam’. This means that in the time after returning from work and until one goes for work the next day, one has to concentrate completely on God. But people are not doing this and are converting the Uttarayanam also into Dakshinayanam. When a person is at home, he is only involved in his family affairs. Even if he finds some leisure time, he goes to a cinema or watches television, which again is related only to family affairs. Thus the whole day is spent only in work and family affairs. Today even villagers are similarly involved in group politics in these six months of Uttarayanam. Thus they are making the whole year as the path of work, family and the world (Dakshinayanam). Thus, Uttarayanam or sacred time is the time whenever you are involved with God. The unholy Dakshinayanam is the time whenever you are involved in the affairs of the family or the world.
This concept will enlighten a scholar regarding the internal significance of this festival called as ‘Sankranti’, which means transformation or transition. Whenever you transit from worldly affairs into the affairs of the Lord, such a transition is called as ‘Sankranti’. Unless this internal meaning is recognized and practiced, there is no use of the celebration of this festival by wearing new clothes or by drawing diagrams on the floor with white flour or by preparing ‘pongal’ and other sweets. All these things that are done to celebrate the festival are a foolish waste and have no significance to divinity. People call this day as ‘Pongal’, which indicates the sweet rice that is prepared on this day. Thus, the external physical significance of this festival is only stressed by this word. But the word ‘Sankranti’ reveals the internal spiritual significance.
Transformation of Swami
On the occasion of this festival of Sankranti I am also following its significance by transforming Myself into the third stage called as ‘Dhyanam’ or involution. This third stage is related to Lord Shiva and is called as ‘Pratyahara’ or the part of the conclusion. I am withdrawing Myself from all the items of the world and I am going to remain with the innermost source. In this stage I am not going to catch any devotee as a cat catches its kitten in its mouth (Marjala Kishora Nyaya). I am leaving My hold on all the devotees and there is no need of saying that I am withdrawing My hold on all worldly items. In this stage those devotees, who have complete faith in Me have to catch Me and have to keep their hold on Me like the baby of a monkey (Markata Kishora Nyaya). Till now I was holding on to My devotees with My grip like the mother cat catching its offspring in its mouth. But from today onwards the devotee has to catch Me with his or her own grip like the offspring of a monkey, which catches its mother by itself. Therefore, My grip will now be transformed into the grip of the devotee. Thus only those who have very strong faith can have a strong grip on Me and will follow Me to the eternal divine abode.
There is a point up to which the teacher catches the student. In the elementary class the teacher catches the student by force and makes him sit in the class with the threat of a cane. But after some time in the higher classes the grip is reversed. The student has to catch the teacher and there is no need of the cane in the higher class. Therefore, those devotees who have firm faith in Me alone will come along with Me. The devotees who have weak faith will fall on the way and I cannot care for them because it is against the principle of the divine schedule. In the higher classes the teacher will not care for the student if he remains absent from the class. The student has grown up and need not be forced or caned. Thus from now onwards the journey depends on your grip and not on My grip. If I have to carry you upto the goal with My grip, then I would have to carry all the souls similarly. The teacher teaches the subject for the whole year but in the time of examination the teacher has no grip. Everything depends on the student only in the time of examination.
Till now My life has passed through the two earlier stages called ‘Jnanam’ (Knowledge) which is related to Lord Brahma. The second stage was ‘Gaanam’ (devotional songs or devotion), which is related to Lord Vishnu. During the first stage I cleared the concept. During the second stage I was catching My devotees who have faith in Me and I was dragging them towards Me. By these two stages the academic year is over. Now this third stage belongs to the time of examination in which the teacher will not interact with the student in any way from His side. The preaching and guidance is stopped. If there is any doubt, the student himself has to approach the teacher for clarification during the preparatory leave. In this time the student has to approach the teacher and the teacher will not approach any student. The teacher is prepared to clarify the doubts provided the student approaches with interest. When this third stage is also over there will be the examination, which is the enquiry of the soul in the upper world. After that the result is given to the soul. All this information about My involution is strictly limited to the circle of My devotees only and not to the general public. Therefore, this need not be misunderstood by others.
Deviation from the Worldly Path
People are always under the illusion that whatever is done by the majority is always good. They expect their son to study, get a job, marry and have children. The sons of the majority do this; therefore, people think that it is the good path. They expect their sons to follow the same ‘good path’. If anyone’s son tries to deviate from this path his parents are worried. Of course the deviation from this path may be towards the positive or negative side. If one is leaving the earth, he may fly to the sky or may fall downward into the pit called ‘Patala’ (hell, netherworld). Both are deviations. Similarly, if the son deviates from the normal path and becomes lazy and gets into bad habits, the deviation is negative. In such a case the son should be forced back to the normal path. He should be brought to the ground from the pit.
But if the son deviates from the normal path and turns towards God by becoming a monk, the parents should encourage and appreciate it. If somebody leaves the ground and flies to the sky, it should be appreciated. Therefore, negative deviation should be condemned and positive deviation should be appreciated.
The scriptures say that if a couple does not have a son, they will go to the hell called ‘Put’ (Punnama Naraka). Does this mean that great saints and incarnations such as Shankara and Ramakrishna Parahamsa, who did not have sons have gone to hell? Does this mean that demons, who had sons have not gone to the hell? This statement of the scripture has to be understood with reference to the negative deviation. The statement says that one should marry and get a son by leading a disciplined regular family life and that one should not remain unmarried and get into bad habits like going to prostitutes. Thus only with reference to this negative deviation is the normal path appreciated. This means that you should at least be on the ground and not fall into the pit. It does not mean that you should remain on the ground and not fly to the sky. The statement is not said with reference to the positive deviation. Therefore, producing a son is appreciated with reference to a debaucherous life. But it should not be appreciated with reference to the life of a monk. Earning one rupee is appreciated with reference to losing money. But it need not be appreciated with reference to earning 100 rupees.
The thinking of the majority is capturing the minds of even spiritual people. The spiritual preacher feels encouraged to deliver his knowledge when a large gathering appears. When Krishna preached the Gita there were lakhs of soldiers there. But He preached the Gita only to Arjuna because Arjuna was the only deserving devotee present. If any other spiritual preacher were in the place of Krishna, he would have requested for a microphone so that he could preach the Gita to all the people on the battlefield!
Society, Family and the Human Incarnation
Lord Datta is surrounded only by very few deserving disciples like Pingala, Naga, Alarka, Parashurama, Skanda etc. Lord Shankara preached His commentary only to the four deserving disciples. A professor is surrounded by a very few research scholars engaged in discussions. If you visit a school teacher he is surrounded by a hundred children who are not listening to anything.
The love towards one’s family is more important than love towards society. But love towards the Lord is more important than love towards family. Love towards society should be concentrated to the limited family and the love for the family should be further concentrated to a particular human being, who is the human incarnation. This is explained in the Ramayana. Lord Rama neglected the welfare of the society with reference to the love towards His wife. He told Ravana to return Sita to Him and that if Sita were returned, Lord Rama would go back to Ayodhya along with His wife. In that case Ravana would have continued to torture the world and Rama would not have punished him. Rama behaved like an ordinary human being. Every human being should follow the life of Rama, which is exemplary. One should care for his wife, children, brothers, parents i.e., his family, more than the society. Family is more important than society. The family loves you more than the society and therefore, you should love your family more than the society. To teach this, Rama behaved in that way on the first day of the war. Some people sacrifice their families for the sake of the welfare of society. The family is also a part of society. In fact the family is the best part of the society for an individual.
The Ramayana preaches the importance of family bonds, which should be more important than society. Sita stressed on the importance of love towards one’s husband. Lakshmana and Bharata stressed on the importance of the love towards their eldest bother. Rama stressed the importance of love towards wife, brothers and parents. Dasharatha stressed the importance of love of a father towards his son. Love in these family bonds is demonstrated to the climax in Ramayana. Lakshmana went without food, drink and sleep for the sake of his elder brother for fourteen years. Such brotherly love is unimaginable and impossible in this world because Lakshmana left even his newly married wife for fourteen years for the sake of his elder brother. Can such brotherly love be possible in this world? It cannot be. But why then is such a climax of brotherly love demonstrated? The idea is that when you show the climax, people will follow it at least to some extent. But if you show only a little of it, then people will not follow it at all.
Here one must remember that all these family bonds are sacred and important with reference to other bonds with the society and not with reference to the bond with the Lord. All this is only within the limits of ‘Pravritti’ (the path of worldly matters). Now to show such climax of love in the family bonds, the ordinary love in the family bonds cannot be sufficient. In other words the bond between two brothers is not sufficient to show the climax of brotherly love as was seen between Rama and Lakshmana. If Rama and Lakshmana were simply brothers, such climax of brotherly love would not be possible.
In reality, Rama was the Lord and Lakshmana was His devotee called Adishesha. The bond between Rama and Lakshmana was not a simple brotherly bond. It was the bond of a real devotee towards the Lord. That divine bond in the disguise of a brotherly bond alone could show the climax of brotherly love. Lakshmana was aware that he was Adishesha and was also aware that Rama was Lord Narayana. His love towards the Lord is understood only as brotherly love by the world. His love towards the Lord was hidden from the world, but was not hidden from Rama or Lakshmana. The proof of Lakshmana’s recognition of Rama as the Lord is that Lakshmana was not astonished when he saw Rama converting the stone into a lady (Ahalya) by merely touching it with His foot. If Lakshmana were not aware that Rama was the Lord, Lakshmana would have shouted with surprise and advertised that incident after returning to Ayodhya. But he watched that miracle in peace and silence. It means that Lakshmana was aware of Rama as the Lord. Lakshmana was able to show such climax of love towards Rama knowing that He was the Lord and not simply his brother. But he never opened the secret and treated Rama only as a brother because the purpose of his life was only establishing the ideal of brotherly love in the world and not establishing the ideal of love towards the Lord.
The external color of his love for Rama was that of ‘Pravritti’ (worldly relationships such as brotherly love) for the sake of the world, but internally it was ‘Nivritti’ (love for God). It was the same case with Bharata, Sita and others. Thus Dasharatha, Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Sita played the Pravritti part of the drama. The essence of Pravritti is to give love and importance to the all living beings in the world. Among the living beings you must give more love and more importance to humanity. Among human beings (society), you must give more importance and more love to your family. This is the field of Pravritti. Neglecting the family for the sake of society is foolishness. This is proved by Rama when He neglected the welfare of society for the sake of His beloved wife, by asking Ravana to return Sita. Similarly, neglecting humanity for the sake of other living beings is also foolishness. The love should get more and more concentrated as you proceed from the world of living beings to humanity and to your own family. Here ends the path of Pravritti. The family of Rama played this part and preached Dharma or justice. But while preaching Pravritti in all their family bonds, actually Nivritti (love for God) was present in a hidden form. Due to this hidden Nivritti alone could the bonds of Pravritti reach the climax.
The second part of the drama is Nivritti in which the Lord comes in a human form, who is not your family member. He is an outsider. Hanuman was not related to Rama through any family bond. His mother told him that the Lord would come in human form and that he should wait on the mountain, Kishkindha, to meet the Lord. Thus, the recognition of the Lord in human form is an open secret in Nivritti. Hanuman left His family for the sake of the Lord in human form, who was an outsider and was not His family member. Thus, the essence of Nivritti is that you should leave even your family for the sake of the Lord, when you recognize Him in the human form. You should leave the society for the sake of the family and you should leave the family for the sake of the Lord in human form. This is conveyed by the service of Hanuman to Rama. This is how love reaches its climax; when it is concentrated at the single point called the human incarnation.
Jesus said that one should leave all the family members and must even be prepared to carry on his own cross for the sake of Jesus i.e., the human incarnation. He left His parents for the mission of the Lord. He never cared for His mother who came to see Him. When a woman shouted that His mother was sacred because she gave birth to the Lord, Jesus said that the statement was not correct. He told her that the people who follow the word of the Lord are really sacred and not His mother, who just delivered the child like any other woman. This shows the importance of the Lord over family. Jesus gave importance to the Lord who is in an energetic form called as the Father in Heaven. The reason is that He could not give importance to the human incarnation because He Himself was the human incarnation.
But the Gopikas, the devoted sages, proved the same truth in the case of the human form of Lord. For the sake of Lord Krishna they left their families and wealth. When Krishna left His body, they jumped into fire and ended their lives. When Krishna left Vrindavanam, they roamed around like madcaps. It is easy and palatable to show the climax of love on the formless aspect of God but it becomes very difficult to show the same when God is in human form. Even when Meera showed the highest love for a statue of God that gave her a lot of trouble[1]. Imagine the trouble faced by the Gopikas who showed love directly for the human form of God after leaving their families. Hanuman possessed all the supernatural powers and in fact He helped Lord Rama by using those powers. But Hanuman never got egotistic even though Lord Rama did not exhibit any supernatural powers. This shows that you should not recognize the Lord simply by supernatural powers. It also indicates that you should not think of yourself as the Lord just by getting some supernatural powers.
Hanuman recognized Rama as the Lord even though Lord Rama did not show any supernatural powers. Hanuman never claimed to be the Lord even though He possessed all the supernatural powers. Here the point is that even a devotee can attain supernatural powers as in the case of Hanuman. The Lord in human form may exhibit supernatural powers as in the case of Lord Krishna or He may not use them as in the case of Lord Rama. These powers can also be attained by a demon like Ravana. These points must be well noticed when you are trying to recognize the human incarnation with the help of superpowers. Hanuman never worshipped the all-pervading formless aspect of God. He also did not worship any statue or even energetic forms like Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva etc. Such forms are the most inconvenient media to approach God. When the same Lord is present in the most convenient medium called as the human body, it is ignorance and rigid foolishness to worship Him through the other inconvenient forms. These points must be understood from Hanuman and such a devotee can be called as the real devotee of Hanuman.
Hanuman did not recognize Lord Krishna for some time but finally He recognized Lord Krishna also as the same Lord and worshipped Lord Krishna. In this incident, Hanuman acted in an ignorant role for the sake of others. The message of such an act of Hanuman is that even great scholars and devotees do not realize the most important point that the Lord comes in human form in every generation. Nobody can live as long as Hanuman to be present in the time of Lord Rama as well as in the time of Lord Krishna. Hanuman was associated with the two subsequent human incarnations. Sometimes you may have two human incarnations in the same generation and this point is conveyed by Hanuman through the above incident. Shirdi Sai Baba and Akkalkot Maharaj existed side by side in the same human generation and both were human incarnations of Lord Datta. Similarly, Lord Rama and Parashurama co-existed; Balarama and Lord Krishna co-existed.
Ravana was similar to Hanuman in possessing all the supernatural powers. He is an example of a devotee, who recognizes the Lord only by supernatural powers. He accepted Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva (God in energetic forms) who gave him supernatural powers. He worshipped only the energetic forms like Brahma and Shiva. He neglected the human form while asking for the boons from Lord Brahma[2]. This itself shows that Ravana could never believe that the Lord comes in human form. The Gita states that the Lord comes in human form and it never stated that the Lord comes in any another form (Manusheem Tanumasritam). This means that the Lord comes in human form to preach the divine knowledge and other forms are not convenient for spiritual guidance. When the Lord came in the forms of fish etc., such forms were limited only to kill demons and not for any spiritual preaching.
Ravana could not recognize the human form of God. There are people like Ravana who do not believe that God comes in human form. Such people are egoistic and jealous like Ravana and do not accept any human incarnation present in their time. They worship God only in the formless aspect or energetic forms of God or statues. They may even claim to be the Lord or Brahman themselves. When Lord Rama did not show any supernatural powers, the negligence of Ravana towards Him was reinforced. Ravana was an outsider like Hanuman and did not have any family bond with Lord Rama. Ravana could neither follow Pravritti nor Nivritti. He neglected his wife Mandodari and went after Sita who was an outsider. Sita was the wife of an outsider. Ravana craved for the love of Sita and loved Sita more than Mandodari. He neglected his family for the sake of outsiders. Thus he violated Pravritti. He could not recognize the human form of the Lord and opposed the human incarnation. Thus he violated Nivritti also. Therefore, he was completely ruined.
Thus, if you compare Lakshmana, Hanuman and Ravana the whole spiritual knowledge can be understood. Lakshmana stands for Pravritti who cared for his family. Hanuman stands for Nivritti who cared for the Lord in human form and loved Him more than His family. Ravana neither loved his family nor loved the human form of the Lord. He thought of himself as the Lord and got ruined. Thus, Ramayana is the essence of all the Upanishads and the Gita (Vedah Prachetasaat…). It is the practical conducted in the laboratory, which conveys the theory explained in the Gita. Therefore, Hanuman acted in Ramayana and heard the Gita. Whatever way He acted was found to be correct when He heard the Gita. Hanuman was on the flag of the chariot and Lord Krishna and Arjuna were in the chariot during the preaching of the Gita. This means that the practice of the spiritual knowledge is always at a higher plane than the theoretical preaching.
Don’t Utter Anything Before Lord Unless Determined To Practice
Whenever, you pray to the Lord, be careful about the meaning of the prayer. You must utter with your mouth only that which you can really practice. In your prayers you say that the Lord is everything for you. But you cannot practice this. You cannot prove this as long as the Lord remains formless or in an energetic form or as a statue. But when the Lord comes in human form and asks you to sacrifice a little for His sake, you will go back on your word. You deny the human form only due to this inconvenience. You like the statue or the formless aspect of God or energetic forms of God because they cannot ask you to practically prove what you said in your prayers. You want that God should believe whatever you claim in your prayer and blindly sanction whatever you ask. You think that God is innocent and should believe whatever you say without any practical proof or test. This is the main reason for the denial of the human form of God. When you offer food to the Lord, the formless God, the energetic form of God or the statue will not take even a single particle of your offered food. But if you offer the same food to the human form, you will not get back a single particle to eat because He will eat it. This is the reason for denying the human form of the Lord.
First you must be sure of the extent of the value you give to God. Then, you must be sure of the extent of your faith when you meet the human incarnation and your ability to recognize and believe Him as the Lord. If you have the full value for the Lord and if you recognize the human incarnation, the full value to God must be proved practically in the case of that human incarnation. If you have full value for God but do not recognize the human incarnation, then there is no opportunity for you to prove your full faith to God. In such a case your full value to God is false and you are a hypocrite. Jesus gave full value to God and sacrificed His life for the sake of God. In the end He told the Lord that His will should be done. When He accepted the will of God to be done, He did not feel adversely in the crucifixion. Since the crucifixion was the will of the Lord He followed it sincerely because Jesus told the Lord that His will must be done. Therefore, whatever is told must be practiced. During the crucifixion He never asked the Lord to protect Him and stop the crucifixion. If He had asked for it, it would have been stopped immediately by the miraculous power of God.
Therefore, unless you have the determination of practice you should not utter anything before the Lord. Once you utter you must follow it at least in the case of the Lord. Most of our prayers are only lies and we cannot practice even one percent of what we say. By such false prayers one only invokes the anger of the Lord and not His grace. Whatever value you have for God should be proven in practice and such value alone should be mentioned in your words while praying to the Lord. Whatever, little love you have for God, mention only that much in words. God will not be displeased for your little love. In fact He will be more pleased because you are telling the truth before Him. There are some people who call every human being who is greater than them in power or wealth as the Lord. The purpose of saying that is only to get some benefit from that human being. Thus, the word Lord has become a means in the hands of clever materialistic people to achieve their selfish ends. False human incarnations may be trapped by such clever people. But the real human incarnation will never get fooled.
A devotee asked about the washing of sins by taking bath in the River Ganga because Shankara said that sipping even a drop of Ganga water will wash away all the sins (Gangajalalavakanika…). People think that by taking bath in the Ganga their sins are washed off. This is true but the process of washing is not recognized. Sin is punished in hell and the punishment is more due to the interest accumulated for the whole lifetime of the human being. But the Ganga gives immediate punishment for your sin so that the punishment does not grow as if by interest. Thus, the sin is washed away by the exact proportional punishment without gathering interest. People think that the sins are washed away without any punishment. This is against the divine administration and the scriptures say that the fruit of the action must be received by the soul (Avashyam anubhoktavyam). Thus any statement of the scripture should be carefully analyzed and understood. A hasty conclusion will lead to a misinterpretation and will mislead people. Following such misinterpretations, people will commit a large number of sins and take a dip in the Ganga at the end. Therefore, the correct interpretation, reconciling other doctrines and spiritual statements must be done.
[1] Meera’s devotion
[2] Boons of Ravana
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