Posted on: 29 May 2021
[A spiritual discussion was conducted on Shivarātri on March 11, 2021, in which several devotees participated. The questions of devotees answered by Swāmi are given below.]
[Śrī Hrushikesh asked: You have said that God’s command is necessary for propagating spiritual knowledge. Does it mean that all of us should not propagate spiritual knowledge?]
Swami replied: The word propagation has two senses. (1) In one sense, it means propagating the knowledge as it is—as preached by the Sadguru. (2) In the second sense, it means propagating the knowledge preached by the Sadguru, giving one’s own additional examples and interpretations. If propagation is to be done in the first sense, there is no problem and the permission of the Sadguru or God is not necessary. If the propagation is to be done in the second sense, the permission from the Sadguru is necessary. This is because, your own examples and your own interpretations might not be accurate. It might mislead the public and take them in a different direction, instead of taking them to the original concept preached by the Sadguru. If your interpretations and examples actually support the original concept, which is propagation in the second sense, that also is fine. But it needs to be verified by your Sadguru and not by you yourself. The reason is that you will always support your own interpretations and examples, just as parents always support their own children blindly.
When it is said that the command of God required for propagating spiritual knowledge, it means the command of the Sadguru, who originally preached the spiritual knowledge. It does not mean the command of the unimaginable God or Energetic Incarnations of God like Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva etc. The Sadguru is the Human Incarnation of God and hence, permission from Him means permission from God Himself. Sat means the unimaginable God and guru means the human medium. An ordinary human being preaching spiritual knowledge is only a guru and not a Sadguru. A guru should always follow the concepts of the Sadguru and should never deviate from them, even a little. He should be just like a train running on fixed iron tracks. But generally, gurus behave like a bus on the road, deviating a little towards this side or that side. Such deviations mislead the receivers of the knowledge.