12 Sep 2021
[Ms. Laxmi Thrylokya asked: Swami, I just develop hate towards people when they talk about God insultingly. It happens involuntarily. I don't like to even look at their face although they are my family. I used to think that it is right be like that because Lord Jesus also told to hate our family to in order to reach God. But, when I was discussing this topic with Smt. Devi Garu, she said that a true devotee of God cannot hate anyone. A true devotee of God loves all souls just like children. Best example is AMMA (Māta Amritanandamayi) who is a great devotee of Lord Krishna and she hugs everyone with love without any discrimination. Please correlate this example with the statement of Lord Jesus.]
Swami replied:-
i) As a true climax devotee of God, you are correct to hate even your family members if they scold God. This shows that your bond with God has replaced all the worldly bonds. I appreciate you for this.
ii) What Jesus told is in the following sense. You told that one can’t be His disciple unless one hates his/her family members. This does not mean that a devotee shall hate the family members directly for which sin only is the result. This means actually that the bond with God has reached such advanced climax state of madness (Unmāda) that even all the worldly bonds are hated with reference to the bond with God. When the devotion is in normal beginning state of interest (Śraddhā), the worldly bonds are dropped and get neglected by the devotee. The fact in this normal state is true because negligence is a true effect. But, this negligence must be also kept in heart and shall not be expressed to hurt the worldly bonds. The devotee in this state also must express artificial love to the worldly bonds in order to avoid clash with them and to avoid hurting them. In the advanced state also the hatred shall not be expressed at all for the same reason.
But, there is a difference between initial and advanced states. In the initial state, the negligence developed in the heart is true as absolute reality though not expressed. In the advanced state, the hatred is not developed in the heart as absolute reality, but, developed in the heart as relative reality. This means the hatred in the heart is not actually true, but, is true based on the absolute real love to God. You can understand this if you know the theory of relativity. I will give an example to enlighten the theory of relativity in a similar angle. We say that all the Vedas became the four dogs around the feet of God Datta. This should not be taken in the absolute sense of reality. The Vedas are always sacred and will never become unholy dogs. Before the holiness of God Datta, the holiness of the Vedas is so low that even the holiness of the Vedas looks like unholiness which is the relative reality. Both negligence and hatred shall be hidden in heart only and shall not be expressed at any cost to the worldly bonds to enter in to unnecessary problems by which the precious time of devotee in the right direction (love to God) is wasted.
iii) The love expressed by Amma is also external only. Otherwise, loving everybody denotes lack of discrimination between good and bad or merit and sin. The external love to be expressed is essential in the initial stage especially in the case of sinners like the chocolates given to the children to send them to school. The sinner gets attracted by the initial and external love so that the sinner will also develop love to the preacher and may get reformed shortly. Such a technology exists in the expression of love for all. This shall not be misunderstood as real love for all without discrimination between merit and sin. The word ‘Emmanuel’ is misunderstood as saviour of all people. It is not so. It means saviour of His climax devotees having real devotion to God. If you say that the human incarnation or Emmanuel means saviour of all people by taking all the punishments of all the sinners, it means that God has no power of discrimination. The love of God towards devotees is not blind, but, is illuminated with the knowledge of discrimination.
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