Posted on: 07 Feb 2005
[My parents are objecting to my sacrifice of Guru Dakshina to Sadguru or God. They say that God does not need money. Shall I respect my parents or shall I follow my spiritual path?]
The concept of Guru Dakshina comes as the sacrifice of the fruit of your work to Sadguru or God. This is the path and actually it is the only path as said in the Veda “Dhanena Tyagenaikena….” This is a big bomb for all the intellectual selfish people, who tried to misinterpret this text in opposite sense by inserting the word ‘na’ before the word ‘Dhanena’. But, the same concept was repeatedly stressed in the Gita as sacrifice of the fruit of work (Karma phala tyaga). These intellectuals could not misinterpret the Gita because the concept was repeated.
The main point is that the sacrifice of the fruit is the real expression or sign of spontaneous true love. You are sacrificing all your wealth, which is the accumulated fruit of your work to your children. If you are not a householder or if you are a poor householder, at least you will sacrifice work (Karma sanyasa). In such case, your work, (a form of energy) is equivalent to the fruit, (matter) since matter and energy are inter-convertible forms. You do not sacrifice your words, mental feelings for your children or carry out intellectual discussions on them. Therefore, you yourself are giving the proof of what real love is and hence you cannot contradict it. You are also sure that your love for your children is true and is not false. Therefore, I am extending your own concept to God.
Only the sacrifice of work and fruit of work can prove your true love on God. Now, you cannot contradict your own concept and say that sacrifice of words, mind and intelligence to God is real love. You cannot say that since children need money, it is given to them and since God does not need money, it need not be given to God. Even if your son is well settled and is the owner of ten self-earned houses, you still sacrifice your house to your son alone even though he is not in need of it. You do not sacrifice your house to an outsider even though he is in need of it. Therefore, need is not the criterion. Your sacrifice of your house is a spontaneous expression of your love towards your son. Similarly, in case of the Sadguru or God, the same concept is applied. If your wife or son opposes such a sacrifice, there is some meaning because they are younger to you and are ignorant. But your old parents should not contradict your sacrifice to God because they have come to the end of their lives. They should sacrifice to God more than you. But, you must clarify with your parents whether they oppose the sacrifice to God or the sacrifice to the Sadguru, who may not really be God.
Before you do the sacrifice you must analyse the Sadguru and you must know what the real signs of God from the scriptures are. If God is in that Sadguru, the Sadguru must show those real signs of God. You must refuse your parents if they oppose sacrifice to God, because parents are not greater than God. As long as God is not in the competition, parents are highest within the boundaries of the world. Therefore, if that Sadguru is not God, he is only a man. Then, to sacrifice to a man you must take the permission of your parents. Therefore, the whole point lies in whether the Sadguru you have selected is really God or not. You must concentrate on this point because any error in the analysis will result in you getting cheated. I have already given a very detailed procedure for analysing the Sadguru.
Your path, which is the sacrifice of work and fruit of work, is perfectly correct, but your goal must also be correct. You want to reach the Taj Mahal, which is in Agra. If you think that the Taj Mahal is in Chennai, and even if your path to Chennai is correct, you cannot achieve the goal, due to error in the address of the goal. Similarly, you must believe that God comes in human form and that a particular human form must be identified. If you think that God is all pervading like space or that God is in the body of radiation or that God is in a statue or that God is in every human being, you have lost the address of the goal. It will be just like thinking that Taj Mahal is in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai or Bangalore.
In another case, you may be correct about the address of the goal but if the path is not correct, then also you have lost the goal. It is just like knowing that Taj Mahal is in Agra, but not identifying the path to reach Agra correctly. You may recognise the Sadguru, who is the real goal. But, if you only sacrifice words, mind and intelligence to Him, you cannot achieve the grace of God. You must not only recognise God hidden in a particular human form but you must also serve Him by sacrificing work and the fruit of work. Once you sacrifice work and the fruit of work, your sacrifice is ninety nine percent. In such a case, you must sacrifice that one percent also to make it a hundred percent. When you sacrifice food, which is your hard-earned money, why should you hesitate to sacrifice a jug of water, which is freely supplied by the municipal water supply? That one percent sacrifice is the sacrifice of words, mind and intelligence.
Your parents were your enemies in the previous birth. They will be your enemies in the future birth. Your bond with them neither existed before this birth and nor will it exist after this birth. Gaudapada, who was the Guru of Shankara’s Guru, said that that which did not exist before and that which will not be after, cannot exist now as well (Adaa vanthecha…). Shankara also told the same in His commentary (Yadanityam…). He stated that that which is temporary is always unreal. A father and a son in a drama are not really father and son even during the time of drama. But the producer of all the dramas is always the owner and the bond with him is permanent and real. All the souls in this world are just your colleagues. Within the drama, the co-actors acting as parents may be regarded but the owner of the drama is permanent employer and should be regarded always. Therefore as long as God or Sadguru is not identified, parents must be regarded within the limits of this world called as Pravritti. But once God in human form is identified, the entire Pravritti should be rejected (this rejection is called as Nivritti) and only one bond with that God should remain as said in the Gita (Eka bhaktih…).