28 Jan 2025
O Learned and Devoted Servants of God
(This Satsanga with His Holiness Shri Datta Swami is attended by many local devotees in Hyderabad.)
1. Swami, should we take our Pravrutti (Worldly Life) seriously or playfully?
Swami replied:- When you are stressed in your worldly work, then think that this world is just a play of God and everything is just temporary. When you are not stressed, take Pravrutti seriously because it is the base for your Nivrutti or spiritual life, which is the purpose of human birth. Working seriously means working in a focused way so that no mistake occurs. Working seriously doesn’t mean doing the work with attachment. When you work with detachment, no stress can occur. If it is worldly work, we should do it seriously along with detachment. If it is God’s work, we should do it seriously with attachment.
2. Can I quit the present job to find a new job?
[My boss is scolding me in front of everyone and I don't find this IT job interesting anymore. Can I quit this and find a new job, where my interest lies?]
Swami replied:- First, try to improve yourself and put the best efforts while doing your job. Any manager will not complain if you meet the expectations of your role. Your career interest may be in singing or dancing or writing poetry. But, it will not bring food onto your plate in the long run. You need a standard job that gives you a monthly salary. Now a days, the cost of living has increased so much that both husband and wife must do jobs to run a family. If your current place of work is not good, then get a job in another company before quitting this job. Do you know how many people are struggling to get a salary job? Learn to thank God for what He has given you. Look at the world around you and see which skills are in demand to get a good job. Improve your interest in learning that skill because a strong worldly life is needed to develop a strong spiritual life.
3. Swami, I don't like to do this job and any other IT job.
Swami replied:- Only demons think that everything should happen according to their liking. Your likes and dislikes are based on your ego only. Don't support the stupid ideas of your mind (manas). Use your intellect (buddhi) to reject the bad ideas and follow the good ideas for your own welfare. After doing a standard salary job, you can do whatever you like in free time. If you were either a very rich person or a poor beggar, I wouldn't recommend you to do a salary job. If you were already very rich, you can live without earning. If you were a poor beggar, you can continue to beg for a living. But, you are a middle-class person, who wants to live with peace and dignity in society. So, you must do a salary job.
4. Swami, I tried to study for interviews but I can’t remember anything at all. I don't know what to do.
Swami replied:- Your negative thinking is the problem and nothing else. Why are you thinking that you can’t remember? God has given the remembering capacity to everyone. Take vitamin supplements along with good food and apply coconut oil to the hair regularly. Improve your brain health and put constant efforts in studies. Failing to remember is not a problem, but, giving up the efforts is the problem. Trying constantly will certainly bring success in achieving the goal (Abhyāsena tu kaunteya... Gītā).
5. Please guide me with my problem.
[Swami, my husband was having an affair with another woman and left me. That woman cheated him and he came back to me again. But, I want to divorce him now [The devotee started crying].
Swami replied:- This is not Satya Yuga and it is Kali Yuga. You cannot expect anyone to behave like God Rama. Instead of crying like this, you have a little affair with someone! [She wiped her tears and laughed quietly]. See, nobody will punish you in hell if your husband has illegal affairs. Only your husband will be punished in hell. The punishment in hell is that the sinner will be forced to hug the red-hot copper statue of the illegal partner. He will suffer for his actions because no injustice can happen in the administration of God. You stick to justice and do your duties properly. God is standing with you since God always supports justice. If justice fails, it is a black mark on His administration and many sages are watching Him continuously. There cannot be darkness in the sun and the sunlight. Similarly, injustice (darkness) cannot be tolerated by God (like the sun) and cannot exist in God's administration (like the sunlight). Have faith in God.
6. Swami, I feel tortured when my husband says "I always wanted to marry a beautiful woman. But instead, I got you".
Swami replied:- You reply to him saying, "I also wanted a caring and faithful husband. But, what to do? I got you instead. Everything in life happens by our own past deeds only. It is my destiny (result of past actions) that I got you and it is your destiny that you got me. If we finish this punishment in this life, at least in the next life, I might get a good husband and you might get your dream wife". This reply will be like a nice slap on his face. When two people are put in jail, it is better to finish the punishment so that they will be free in course of time. If you escape the jail, more punishment will be added. Similarly, it is better to finish the bad karma in this life.
7. My family members are telling me to divorce him and marry again. It is not even an year we got married.
Swami replied:- What is the guarantee that the new husband will not cheat you? A known ghost is always better than an unknown ghost. A known ghost can do good to you once in a while due to the previous bonding. But, an unknown ghost is always dangerous. Write to your husband that marriage is the promise on God and God is watching all his actions. Nothing is more powerful than the fear of God. God alone is omnipotent and has the capacity to punish any soul in unimaginable ways. Even if you talk about Police or Court, it will not create much fear because both Police and Advocates can be bribed with money. Nobody can bribe God, who always supports justice. Fear for God alone can make anyone to overcome their attraction for doing sin and forces them to follow justice in the world. Have the conversation with your husband in writing and not orally. You may forget to speak some points due to unnecessary emotions. Therefore, do the conversation in writing only. One day, change will come in him surely with your continuous efforts in reminding him the path of justice.
8. What is the message of God from the following incident?
[According to the Bhagavatam, the final rites of God Krishna did not happen correctly. His body was found after 3 days of demise and it was burnt with dried leaves and sticks in the forest without traditional rituals. What is the message of God by this incident?]
Swami replied:- Krishna is God in human form and His body was possessed by God as long as He was alive. After death, both the God-component and the soul-component had left the body of Krishna. Truly speaking, the body of God Krishna was the real temple since God stayed in it. But, after death, it became inert. God is giving us the message that the dead body is inert without awareness and hence, it becomes insignificant like any other inert worldly item such as stone, soil, etc.
After leaving the body, Krishna went to His abode (Vaikuntha) to merge with God Vishnu, the energetic incarnation that is permanent. Human body is temporary having birth and death and hence, we should also not give much significance to our body or the worldly bonds based on our body. We are related to our biological parents because they give birth to our body. We are related to wife and issues because they are related to our body. Hence, every worldly bond is related to the body only. If a human being realizes that he/she is not its body and just a soul (awareness with bundle of qualities), then the soul learns that it has only one relationship and that is with God, the master and owner. When we are alive in the human body, we should love and sacrifice to God, who is our true parent, true guardian, true friend and true well-wisher. But, on the contrary, we waste all the time in loving and serving the worldly bonds, who are temporary upto this birth and which also love us selfishly for their own happiness. By the incident of His death, God Krishna is teaching us that we should leave the fascination towards our body and the temporary worldly bonds related to our body so that we can focus on God and show practical love towards God. Had God Krishna wished, He would have had grand funeral rites for His dead body. But, God deliberately did like this to tell us the truth that even the body of God has value only when it is alive. Once God leaves the body, even the body of the human incarnation of God becomes inert and insignificant. It is only foolishness to attribute value and attach to the things that were used by the incarnation when it was alive.
9. Why do You say that God is present only in the contemporary human incarnation?
[God Krishna said in the Bhagavad Gita that He is present in every iota of this creation. Why do You say that God is present only in contemporary human incarnation?]
Swami replied:- God Krishna told in the Gita that the entire creation is based on Him (Mayi sarvam idaṃ protaṃ…). This means that He is the source of this creation. He also said in the Gita that the entire creation is in Him, but He is beyond the creation (Na tvahaṃ teṣu te mayi). This means that the unmediated-unimaginable God is beyond our thoughts, mind and intellect since He is beyond the three-dimensional space in which the entire creation is manifested. He also clearly told in the Gita that all living beings dwell in Him, but He does not dwell in them (Mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni na cāhaṃ teṣvavasthitaḥ). Like this, God Krishna told several times in the Gita that He is not present in even an iota of the creation.
In the same Gita, He says that God comes only in human form to receive our direct worship (Mānuṣīṃ tanu māśritam…) and that God is not modified into the human body (Avyaktaṃ vyaktim āpannaṃ…). Therefore, God is not present in all living beings, but, is mediated through a specific human form called human incarnation of God.
God said in the Gita that He will be coming to the earth in every Yuga to uplift the justice (Dharma saṃsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge…). The word ‘Yuga’ could mean a year or even a human generation. If the Lord came in one human generation only, then He would become partial. The benevolent God cannot show partiality to one generation since every generation contains both good and bad people. God comes in every generation to guide the souls through true spiritual knowledge. Hence, God is always available to the souls as their contemporary human incarnation.
10. Can we use God’s name while doing worldly business activities?
Swami replied:- Do not use God’s name for cheating others. If you do so, you will incur huge sin. But, you can use God’s name to protect yourself from getting cheated by others. You can say that you are doing God’s work so that the other person will be afraid to cheat you. God’s name is the most powerful fear-factor in the society that can control sin because God is omnipotent. You can exploit the name of God in order not to get cheated by others, but you should not exploit the name of God to cheat others.
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