25 Aug 2024
1. Please comment on the specialty of Naaradiiya bhakti.
[Smt. Chhanda asked:- Paadanamaskaram Swami. Please enlighten us for the following doubts: Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa often said that in Kaliyuga Naaradiiya bhakti is required. Please comment on the specialty of this Naaradiiya bhakti.]
Swami replied:- The only authority in bhakti (devotion) is the Bhakti Suutram written by sage Naarada. What Paramahamsa told is that the bhakti established by sage Naarada is essential in this Kali Yuga. This does not mean that there are some more authorities in bhakti other than sage Narada. If I say that the equation E=mc2 of Einstein is very important, it does not mean that there are alternative equations of some other scientists and that we have to give importance only to the equation of Einstein on this concept.
2. Are the following texts true?
[Swami, in internet forum, I found the following text and they are saying it is from Shiva Purana. The text follows like this. “Brahma’s both outer and inner attributes are Rajasik. Vishnu's outer attribute is sattvik and inner attribute is tamasik. Shiva’s outer attribute is tamasik and inner attribute is sattvik”. Please comment on this.]
Swami replied:- There is no confusion in the case of Brahma, who created this world with Rajas or energy. His inner will is the nervous energy, which is also Rajas or energy. In the case of Vishnu, the ruler, His implemented external decisions are Sattvikas based on the analysis of impartial knowledge. His inner will to implement these decisions must be rigid or Tamas. In the case of Shiva, the external destruction of the world must be Tamas, which is to destroy the whole world without discriminating good or bad (ignorance), but, His internal state is full of knowledge or Sattvam (since He is sitting in penance only all the time) and it is said that one can get knowledge from God Shiva only (Jñānaṃ Maheśvarāt icchet). In this way, God Vishnu (Sattvam) and God Shiva (Tamas) exchanged their qualities to some extent so that the white Sattvam (Vishnu) became black and the black Tamas (Shiva) became white externally.
3a. Is crossing justice applicable when Gopikas sacrificed butter or only when they danced with Lord Krishna?
[In our everyday discussion, following confusions came out. Please clarify them. In the joint tests of Gopikas, can we say that they have crossed the justice for the sake of Lord? Or is this crossing of justice applicable only when they crossed the bond with their husbands? Similarly in case of Sudaama and Saktuprastha, can we say that they also had crossed justice for the sake of God? Please elaborate this crossing of justice in a little more detailed way.]
Swami replied:- Everywhere worldly justice competes with love to God. In all grades of education, the syllabus is qualitatively the same in superficial level, increasing in depth as we pass on from one grade to the higher grade. A Gopika thinking that sacrifice of butter to God is better justice than preserving butter for her issues is facing injustice to a certain level. But, when the same Gopika dancing with God Krishna neglecting her husband is facing injustice at a higher level. In this case of dancing with God Krishna, a very tough fight against justice is to be done. That tough fight is that the same Gopika had promised on the same God (God is only one) in her marriage that she would not neglect her husband for the sake of any other male person. This is the climax fight against justice coming under Mahaa Nivrutti. In this case, Gopikas, the most brilliant sages in the past births must have come to the correct justified decision only. Gopikas danced with God Krishna neglecting their promise on the same God. How is this justified? This is justified because their promise on God does not involve the aspect of love to God. In the marriage, the priest is advising to do that promise and the husband is also doing the promise. This cannot be linked with the true love of the individual to God Krishna because the promise was done as a formality under some external social force of tradition in the presence of all relatives in the function. Even if such break of promise leads the soul to hell, the soul is prepared for that because such promise was done by force without free will in love, in which case she would have selected God Krishna. Now, all your arguments based on the scriptures and logic can be only thrown into Bay of Bengal! In this way, whether the case belongs to Nivrutti or Mahaa Nivrutti shall be decided by deep and sharp analysis.
b. When Arjuna killed his grandfather and guru, was it a crossing of justice for the sake of God? In fact, killing is a more severe sin.
[In the case of Arjuna, when Lord Krishna asked Arjuna to kill his grandfather and guru, he finally did it after hearing and analysing the Gita. Can this case be considered as crossing of justice for the sake of God? In this case, it is even more severe as it involves killing. Please clarify.]
Swami replied:- In every test, crossing justice is involved in various intensities from one test to the other. It is always a competition between justice and love to God. In the competition between injustice and justice, Lord need not participate in the competition because it is a well established fact that at the lower level of Pravrutti also even an ordinary theist will vote for justice due to the fear for hell. In this lower test, even without the concept of God, every theist will vote for justice only because of the fear to hell in case injustice is voted. Of course, high level devotees vote for justice because of their devotion to God since God likes justice. In this way, in the case of high-level devotees, God is indirectly involved even in this lower test. Even in the case of higher-level devotees, fear for hell also may be acting side by side. Whatever may be the analysis, the result, which is voting for justice is finally important. In this way, whether the test is in lower Pravrutti (justice versus injustice) or in higher Nivrutti (justice versus God), justice is involved everywhere in every test. The only difference is the intensity of justice varying in different tests. In Pravrutti-tests apart from love to God, fear for hell is also mixed and becomes an interfering parameter. But in the tests of Nivrutti, only devotion to God is purely involved.
In this case referred by you, it is a mixture of Pravrutti and Nivrutti. It is Pravrutti because the Kauravas not only insulted Draupadi, but also are not giving the justified share of the kingdom to the Pandavas. It is Nivrutti because God Krishna is involved in this war. Arjuna came to fight with the Kauravas from the angle of Pravrutti only. But, he was not doing his duty due to his blind love to his grandfather and teacher. Arjuna could have fought and killed Bhishma and Drona if both were not his grandfather and teacher respectively. Hence, partiality to the worldly bonds was hindering Arjuna to support justice against injustice. God Krishna raised this point scolding Arjuna for his failure even in lower Pravrutti. Had Arjuna been a saint not killing anybody for anything, God Krishna would not have scolded Arjuna. But, Arjuna was bringing the concept of non-violence because of his blood relationship with his grandfather. Arjuna being a Kshatriya should kill anybody to protect justice in Pravrutti. But, Arjuna’s arguments based on false sainthood due to hidden fascination to his grandfather made him a failure even in the context of lower Pravrutti. God Krishna condemns Arjuna at this lower level of Pravrutti in the beginning. Later on, God Krishna opens Nivrutti also by saying that He is God and Arjuna is His devotee. Assuming that killing one’s grandfather is injustice, a devotee shall vote for God against justice with any level of high intensity. We should not mistake that God Krishna has failed in Pravrutti and opened Nivrutti in order to cover His failure in Pravrutti (This is not the fact but a wrong assumption only.). The fact is that Arjuna failed in Pravrutti and the failure of Arjuna was rectified by God Krishna without entering into Nivrutti. Further, He entered Nivrutti (by saying that the war was the will of God to destroy injustice and Arjuna as a devotee must serve God in His mission irrespective of benefit or loss in Pravrutti) also to give full courage to Arjuna since Nivrutti is far greater than Pravrutti.
c. When a devotee is asked by the human incarnation, it becomes a test. Is this true? What about the suicide of Gopikas?
[When a devotee is asked for some test by human incarnation, then only it is considered as a test. Is it true? Or if a devotee is doing something on his/her own will like the suicide of the Gopikas for Lord Krishna, can it be considered as test?]
Swami replied:- A devotee is never asked by God for the test because the test should be conducted without the knowledge of the devotee. If the test is informed by giving some preparation holidays also, every devotee will certainly pass the test since the devotee imbibes an artificial nature for the sake of the test. A test is meant to examine the inherent and natural behavior of the devotee. When a student prepares well during the preparation holidays, the subject is temporarily superimposed on the brain for the sake of passing the examination. Later on, the subject evaporates away. But, if a slip-test is conducted suddenly without prior intimation, the real digested subject projects out. God’s tests are always slip tests only without any prior indication. The Gopikas jumping into the fire show their climax devotion to God Krishna because they can’t live without God Krishna. They knew that committing suicide would lead them to horrible hell (Asūryā nāma… Veda), but, the then present suffering was far far greater than the future suffering in hell (Of course, God Krishna took the punishment of this suicide-sin onto Him and suffered for the sake of Gopikas. Hence, no devotee shall commit suicide if a human incarnation leaves the gross body. A true love of the devotee to the human incarnation will be to propagate the true and complete spiritual knowledge preached by the human incarnation.). Based on this point, they jumped into the fire after God Krishna left His gross body. This is the climax test since the bond with the very life is tested. Since Krishna is God, He took that punishment onto Him and saved Gopikas from hell. Even Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa jumped on a knife when the Divine Mother was not appearing to Him. These cases of devotees are very special and very high and hence, devotees of ordinary level should not imitate them. An ordinary devotee imitating climax devotees will die in the fire or on the knife and will go to hell since suicide is a very serious sin.
d. When money is sacrificed, can we say that all bonds are dropped as it is the root of everything?
[‘Once a devotee crosses the bond with money, he/she has crossed all the bonds as it is the root cause of everything’. Is this statement correct Swami? Or are there some other bonds existing that is not related with money?]
Swami replied:- It depends from one human being to the other since the natures of human beings widely differ from each other. You cannot generalize this statement to the entire humanity. The general statement is that whichever is the highest worldly bond, God competes with it so that God is proved to be the highest bond than any other worldly bond. The Veda says that nothing and nobody are equal to God and hence, where is the question of more than God? (Na tat samaḥ…. - Veda ).
e. Referring question (b), is there any difference in the severity between these tests?
[At Your divine lotus feet always Chhanda]
Swami replied:- There is difference in the severity among various tests conducted by God Datta to the devotees based on their level of devotion. Even in the education system, such a policy exists. The severity of the test increases as the standard of the syllabus increases from lower grades to higher grades.
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