04 Aug 2023
[Smt. Chhanda Chandra asked:- Swami, I asked a question on Guru Puurnima about the change of one type of bond with another type of bond. You answered well. But, I want more clarification on that point so that my confusion can be completely removed.]
Swami replied:- There are two types of bonds:- i) Non-romantic bonds. E.g.: father, son, brother, preacher, master, etc. ii) Romantic bonds. E.g.: husband, darling, etc. Within one type of bonds, change is possible. The devotee shall not change one type of bond into another type of bond. It is against justice and God is the protector of justice and will not be happy for such a change.
Gopikas while praying Krishna told “You are our Father, Mother, Brother, Preacher, Master, Husband, Darling and the Ultimate”. Here, this may look as a contradiction to the above concept. But, if you analyze deeply, there is no chance to change one bond into another bond because Krishna is all the bonds. This means all the worldly bonds were destroyed and Krishna is the only bond. All the love distributed in various worldly bonds is withdrawn and is made a single lump of love. All that lump of love exists now in the only bond with Krishna. Hence, there is no possibility of changing from one bond to another bond because all the worldly bonds are dry without any trace of love. Changing from one bond to another bond requires some amount of love to be present in both bonds. When the love in the second bond becomes greater than the love in the first bond, a change is proposed from the first bond to the second bond. Here, in the case of the Gopikas, the climax devotees, only one bond with Krishna (God-devotee) exists and all other bonds are either destroyed completely or are nominally existing without an atom of love in any worldly bond.
When the devotees are not climax level devotees like Gopikas and when these devotees are ordinary human beings having all the worldly bonds alive and the bond with God also exists as one of these bonds, My first clarification becomes relevant. In such a situation, the above said two types of bonds exist and the devotee shall not change her bond with God from one type to another type. I am treating devotees, who are souls, as females only since the Veda said so (Striyaḥ satīḥ puṃsaḥ). Even though all souls are said to be females and wives of God, here we shall take the meaning of wife as maintained soul by God and God is told as husband in the sense of maintainer. Hence, the point of romance should not be taken between the words of ‘wife’ and ‘husband’ told here because wife means maintained by the maintainer (Bhriyate iti bhāryā). Similarly, the word husband here simply means the maintainer of the maintained and not in a romantic sense (Bibharti iti bhartā). In the case of the Gopikas, you must note that there is no possibility of changing one type of bond into another type of bond because all the worldly bonds are destroyed and one and only one bond exists with Krishna and you can give any name or no name to that bond with God. The choice of selecting a specific type of bond with God lies purely with the devotee and not with God.
Any type of bond is one and the same for God. God has no specific preference for any type of bond. The weight of true love present in any type of bond is given consideration by God. Generally, several forms of sweets prepared by sugar are sold in sweet shops. One sweet may be in the form of swan and another type of sweet may be in the form of donkey. If you ask the seller to give sweets in donkey form for a lesser rate than swans, the seller will refuse by saying that the weight of the sugar decides the rate. He will say that any form of sweets is sold at the rate of Rs.100 per kilo. The value of the sweet depends upon the weight of the sugar but not on the form of sweet. Similarly, the value of the bond depends upon the weight of practical true love involving service and sacrifice but not on the form of the type of the bond. Draupadi as sister of Krishna excelled all the romantic bonds of wives and Gopikas in the case of God Krishna. When the finger of God Krishna was cut, all the wives and the Gopikas ran in all directions in the search of a piece of cloth to be used as bandage for that wounded finger of Krishna. Draupadi tore her saree and banded the finger immediately and excelled all the wives and the Gopikas of Krishna in true love. When there is only one God and no second God, you can call the God by any name or by all names. Similarly, when there is only one bond with God, such bond can be called by any name or by all names.
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