dattaswami

There is no existence of a second item other than God Shankara told that God has no Vijatiya bheda also, which means that there is no existence of a second item other than God. If you take this in the absolute sense, then there is no entertainment for God, since He remains alone always (Ekaki Naramate…Veda). You should take this in relative sense. The world exists as relatively real item. The imagination of any person is relatively real. The awareness in the form of mind is the absolute reality in him. The imaginary world is relatively real which does not exist at all if absolute reality is absent. This means that this world is under the full control of God like the imaginary world existing under the control of the mind of a person. Now, this is also possible in the case of Krishna ( or any human incarnation), who can control this world, as He likes. But, this aspect is not at all seen in the case of any other human being. Therefore, the world is almost unreal or unreal for God only and hence there is no Vijatiya bheda for God or Krishna charged by God. For any other human being, the world is more real and stronger and hence you cannot say that Vijatiya bheda is absent in the case of individual soul being treated as God.

Brahma Vidya (Knowledge about God) is the most difficult The Brahma Vidya is most difficult because you have to recognize co-human form as God and this is possible only if you conquer your ego and jealousy. As training, you start with removing your ego and jealousy towards other co-human beings. Do not be jealous with any human being and do not show ego towards any human being. By this training, you will conquer ego and jealousy towards co-human forms and shortly you will recognize God in human form. In the training period you can treat every human being as God to avoid ego and jealousy. But, this is not truth and hence you need not worship a bad person without discrimination. You can worship all the good people and especially all the devotees. God treats His devotee more than Himself. God will bless you shortly by giving His identification if you complete the training successfully. The Advaita philosopher is treating every human being (living being) as God not to love all as God, but to treat himself as God only. The intention is not to train himself to remove the ego and jealousy but to increase the ego by becoming God! If you think that the Prime Minister in Delhi means that the Prime Minister is in every house in Delhi, it is foolishness. You have to recognize his particular residence. If you think that he is in some house, though he is not actually in that house, at least you are better, because at least your concept is improved because at least you know that he lives in one house and not in every house! Therefore, it is better to worship some deserving person like a poor devotee as God instead of treating every body as God. Treating a statue or a photo as God is like treating a vacant inert house as the living Prime Minister himself! To day is Guru Purnima. If you recognize Guru as a particular human form of God, the Guru Purnima is meaningful and it becomes complete by this full moon. If your recognition is correct, the full moon is spotless. But the full moon shows black spots, which are your defects of ego and jealousy towards co-human form and this is main black spot, though your spiritual effort is full by devotion. The lack of perfect logical analysis is the black spot in this full moon like full devotion of your spiritual effort.

How can one recognize a devotee? Ans. A devotee is like a student. A student varies in his level of study starting from LKG to PG level. The level is important. The knowledge generates devotion and devotion generates practical service. The intensity in the practical service indicates the intensity of the devotion, which in turn indicates the level of the knowledge. The extent of sacrifice in the practical service indicates the extent of real love on God. The real love on your child is indicated by your practical service to the child done through sacrifice of work and sacrifice of fruit of work. Hanuman is considered to be the real and best devotee of God. Throughout the Valmiki Ramayana, there is no single mention of chanting the name of God or singing devotional songs etc. which constitute the theoretical devotion. Sundara Kanda elaborates the practical service done by Hanuman in the work of God. The most important point is that Hanuman did all the practical service to his contemporary human incarnation, which was Rama. He did not serve the statues and photos of the past human incarnations like Vamana, Parashurama etc. or the statues and photos of the energetic forms of the upper world like Vishnu, Shiva etc. Gopikas also served Krishna who was their contemporary human incarnation and did not serve the statue or photo of the past human incarnation like Rama. Gopikas served Krishna by sacrificing the fruit of their work, which was butter. They buttered Krishna through the real butter and not through words and feelings (theoretical devotion)! The practical service becomes meaningful in the case of live human form of God only. It is meaningless in the case of inert statues and photos because the fruit of the practical service goes to the priest and not to the God directly. Hence the devotee of the contemporary human incarnation alone is devoid of ego and jealousy towards the co-human form and such a devotee alone can be recognized as the real devotee. Devotion is to be judged by the logical basic knowledge and not by the extent of ignorant emotion.

How to know that I am in the right spiritual path? Ans. Your inner conscience aided by logical analysis of scriptures given by the Sadguru gives you the correct green signal of the right spiritual path. The Sadguru is the helper only but the inner conscience alone is the final judge to give the conclusion through its full satisfaction. Mere conscience cannot be the judge without the help of Sadguru because the conscience of Ravana (a demon) always gave its judgment that whatever Ravana did was correct. Krishna told Arjuna (a devotee) to act according to his conscience after analyzing His preaching (Vimrushyaitadasheshena… Gita). Both are equally important. Unless your conscience is satisfied, you should not yield to anyone including the Sadguru. At the same time, you should not be over confident about the capability of yourself alone.

Can I expect some visions from God to know that I am in the right path? Ans. Visions are miracles done by God to rectify the defective students. Visions are not necessary for the souls of perfect spiritual level. Krishna never showed the cosmic vision(Vishwarupam) to Gopikas, who were the perfect sages. He showed this vision to sage Udanka who was rectified permanently. Again He showed this vision to Arjuna who was rectified temporarily upto the 18th day of war. On that last day, Arjuna refused to get down from the chariot for the sake of his prestige before the soldiers even though Krishna ordered him to do so. Again Krishna showed the same vision to Kauravas, who did not change at all. Jesus told that the devotees who believe without proof are really blessed. Hence miracles like Visions are not important at all in the case of real devotees.

How to understand the words like Dharma (justice) and Adharma (injustice) in the spiritual effort? Ans. In Pravrutti (social behavior) the justice should be voted against the injustice. In the spiritual field or Nivrutti (subject related to God), God should be voted even against the justice because God is the ultimate justice (Paramadharma). Shankara (a previous human incarnation) cheated His mother to do the work of God and that was not a sin. He did not cheat her to marry a girl and go away! Ramanuja left his newly married wife for the sake of God and not to marry another girl again! You should not mix Pravrutti and Nivrutti and get confused.

Is it not better to earn more and sacrifice more for God’s work? Ans. One should not be lazy and one should put his maximum effort in doing any work. But if one earns a little only in spite of his best effort, one need not be discouraged because God looks at the percentage of sacrifice and not the magnitude of the sacrifice. Suppose one is in India and earned 100 Rs and donates 20 Rs to God. Another person is in USA and earned 100 $ and donated 10 $ which are equal to 400 Rs. Which is greater sacrifice? 20 Rs are greater than 400 Rs because the former is 20 % and the latter is 10 % only. Dharmaraja sacrificed 3 crores of rupees (just an assumption) to priests in Ashwamedha sacrifice and as a result went up to the heaven which is the 3rd upper world. Saktuprastha sacrificed flour of 3 rupees to the hungry guest during a draught and he sacrificed entirely, everything possessed by him. He went to Brahma Loka, which is the 7th upper world. A railway ticket given based on the distance proportional to the magnitude of the payment is quite opposite to this concept of God.

I asked a spiritual preacher to show me Sadguru. The preacher smiled and kept silent. What is the meaning of that smile? Ans. Recognizing the Sadguru is the essence of the whole spiritual effort. In the chemistry practical exam, you are given a salt for analysis. If you ask examiner for the name of the salt, he will just smile. Even if you get the name, you will not get marks for just writing the name unless the clear procedure is mentioned. Your knowledge of the procedure is important. If somebody gives the name of the Sadguru, you may follow Him for sometime. When the Sadguru tests your faith, you will run away from Him because your selection of the Sadguru is not based on your logical analysis, aided by scripture. Therefore the recognition of Sadguru by logical analysis is important because the logical analysis will clarify all your doubts and your faith in Him will be doubtless and firm. The knowledge of the Sadguru is always confined to your next higher level so that you can climb the next subsequent step. The knowledge of the ultimate level is not expressed by the Sadguru immediately till you complete the lower levels. Even a liberated soul assisting God (Sadguru) may serve your immediate requirement, but you have to constantly change the preacher as you rise to the higher levels. Sometimes there is a risk of meeting the preacher of lower level, who will drag you down. If you meet the Sadguru once in your life, it is sufficient, because He gives you the total knowledge analyzed in all angles. This total knowledge exists in the self qualitatively in complete sense. It may be defeated due to its lack of quantitative strength by the ignorance that is coming from several births due to its quantitative strength. But the qualitative concept of the total knowledge is never lost and in course of time it gains quantitative strength and you are sure to defeat the ignorance and reach the goal one day or other. This is the greatest fortune of meeting the Sadguru once in several millions of births (Bahunaam Janmanaamante…Gita). The human birth is rare. Interest to reach God is still rare. Meeting Sadguru is very very rare.(Mahapurusha Samshrayah…Shankara).

Why God keeps silent to somebody even after intensive cry? Ans. A diabetic patient cries before a doctor to get a sweet for eating. The doctor has infinite number of sweets and he does not worry at all for giving a sweet to the patient. You are crying before God, who is the divine father (creator of all the souls) to give some wealth or to solve some problem. If He helps you, there is not even a trace of any personal loss to Him. Neither His wealth nor His power is finite and nor His love to souls is limited. The only factor that guides Him is to see the future position after the help. If your eyes are to climb the roof of your head after the help, God will keep silent. After the help you will fall down even from your present level and then you will cry again before the same God to lift you up. If the doctor gives you the sweet, the level of sugar may go up and the emergent treatment is also the responsibility of the same doctor. Hence the doctor will not give you the sweet. If the doctor is confident of your health, he may give the sweet. Sometimes the doctor gives the sweet and conducts the emergent treatment to show you the truth, if you are scolding the doctor to be unkind. The response of the doctor lies on his analysis of the situation and it is not the subject of the patient at all. You must have the faith in the doctor (God) that any response is for your good only and you must know that the patient is ignorant of his own real welfare.

Why are people indulged in killing each other in the name of God? Ans. The original founders of the religions were the human incarnations of the same God like Krishna, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha etc. Every religion says that their God only created this entire earth or this entire humanity. Unfortunately, there is only one earth and this proves that there is only one God mentioned by all the religions. Since God is one and the same, there cannot be contradicting concepts between the religions. But we find some contradictions and people are divided based on these contradictions. This division is leading to quarrels and finally killing each other. These contradictions cannot be from God because there is only one God as said above. These contradictions were introduced into the religions by some misinterpretations of the followers only in the name of God. Hence the killing is also done in the name of God only. Q`ran says that you should protect even the follower of other religion and convey the message of Allah to him. It is left to him to follow or not. Hiranyakashipu worshipped Lord Shiva and his son Prahlada ( a great devotee) worshipped Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu killed Hiranyakashipu not because he is worshipping Lord Shiva but because he tortured Prahlada to change his religion of worshipping Vishnu. In fact Shiva is Vishnu (Shivashcha Naarayanah…Veda). The conclusion of this is that God will punish you if you torture the devotee of any religion obstructing the freedom of his religion. Prahlada did not force his father to worship Vishnu. The same God exists in different forms in different religions. Hinduism is a mini model of unity in diversity that should exist in the universe as universal spirituality.

For what type of service to God I am suited for? Ans. Any soul suits to the type of the service of God in which it is having the spontaneous talent. You should serve God in any way you like spontaneously without any force or fear or ambition for any fruit in return. God is pleased with such spontaneous service only and the fruit of your service is in the same phase only (Ye yathamam… Gita). If your spontaneous service is theoretical, the fruit is also theoretical. If you praise God, God will also praise you in return. He will grant you good voice and good language. If you show theoretical devotion through good emotions, He will grant you good mind. If you serve Him through knowledge, He will grant you good intelligence. If you serve Him practically, He will help you practically. If you do practical service with aspiration for some fruit in return, He will grant you the practical fruit, which is temporary like heaven. If you do practical service without aspiring any fruit in return like Hanuman, you will be granted the eternal practical fruit.

During the propagation of God’s knowledge in the world, sometimes opposition comes up. How should we respond to this? Ans. Even God keeps silent to such opposition and therefore you need not bother about that issue. The teacher knows that a particular student will not pass even if he is taught. But the student will blame the teacher that he failed only because the teacher did not teach him. To avoid this unnecessary blame only, the teacher teaches all the students in the class. Similarly God likes to propagate His divine knowledge to the entire humanity so that no soul should blame Him in the final enquiry. You are serving God in the propagation of the divine knowledge so that no soul blames Him later on. Your responsibility ends with the propagation and in fact the responsibility of God also ends with that. The propagation of divine knowledge of Jesus is a failure if you limit the program to the span of His life only. It became tremendously successful if you consider the period extended to the present day. Therefore the failure and success cannot be decided by a short span of time.

Vaishnavas say that Narayana alone should be worshipped and Shaivas say that Shiva alone should be worshipped. Is it correct? Ans) If this means that God alone should be worshipped and no concentration should be on the world, it is correct opinion of the original founder of any religion. But unfortunately, this statement is twisted by the followers to mean that you should not worship the form of God of other religion. The original statement recommends to you to hate the world so that your devotion to Narayana or Shiva is a single concentration or Eka Bhakati (Refer to Jesus in Bible, who says to hate the worldly bonds). Unable to do this, people twisted this statement to hate Shiva or Narayana, which is convenient. Hatred is inherent quality of the soul, but hatred to the worldly bonds is impossible. Now, the misinterpretation satisfies the souls to implement the inherent quality conveniently diverted to other item like Narayana or Shiva. The energetic form of upper world like Narayana or Shiva is made a scapegoat for hatred because there is no worldly item, which can be hated by all forever. If you cannot break the walls of rooms in your house to make it a big hall, how can you break the walls between houses to make the biggest hall? If you cannot achieve the unity in diversity in the sub-religions of Hinduism, how can you achieve the Universal Spirituality in this world to achieve world peace? Narayana and Shiva are the energetic forms of God in the upper worlds meant for the departed souls existing in energetic bodies. For the souls existing in materialized bodies on this earth, God in human form is relevant. God enters the common medium of the souls for their convenience. Hanuman and Gopikas worshipped their contemporary human forms of God (Rama and Krishna). Are you wiser than Hanuman and Gopikas to worship the irrelevant energetic forms of God? You cannot deny this fact of history of scriptures and you cannot show a single instance where they left Rama and Krishna and worshipped Narayana. In fact, Veda says that Shiva and Narayana are the same one God (Shivashcha Narayanah.., Ekohavai Narayanah…., Eko Rudronadvitiyaya…. Veda). In fact, Narayana means the source of spiritual knowledge and Shiva means sacred. The contemporary human incarnation (Sadguru) is the source of spiritual knowledge and hence is Narayana (Naara= knowledge; Ayana= source). A Sadguru is associated with the three qualities (good Sattvam, bad Rajas and Tamas). But still He is beyond all these three qualities and is sacred and hence He is called as Shiva.

Why I become angry in propagation of knowledge when some one opposes it? Ans) You need not become angry with the opponents who argue with you because the opponent approaches you by the will of God to open a new dimension through arguments. You must always thank the opponent in the name of God. Even if a person refused your knowledge and goes away due to injected rigid conservative tradition of blind elders, you should pity him since he is abandoned as a condemned soul forever. The doctor should pity on the patient whose disease could not be cured by his long intensive treatment. But, remember one point, if your knowledge contains absolute truth, it has entered his soul and will grind the ignorance of the soul like a rat drilling even a mountain. The drilling may be slow but the mountain is going to be powdered one day or other. That is the power of the truth. When all the ignorance of the soul is powdered, he cannot bare the rat anymore and will transfer the rat in to other souls. Hence, the truth has the tremendous power of propagation by virtue of itself. You are only taking the opportunity to serve the mission of God and get His grace on you by doing the propagation of this divine knowledge. Even without all of you, this divine knowledge of God will spread by itself. Monkeys ( who helped Lord Rama) were given opportunity to participate in the service of Lord for their divine benefit only. Even without the monkeys, the work of Rama could have been completed.

God cruel to create this world for entertainment? People often blame God stating that they are troubled since God created this world for His entertainment. They say that God is a sadist because He is entertained by their suffering. This is shear non-sense. God created this entire world consisting of the souls. Souls constitute Para Prakruti, which is a part of the creation. He gave complete freedom to the souls and gave the intelligence (Buddhi), which is the powerful faculty of discriminating good and bad. God propagated His constitution, which contains clearly the subjects of good and bad. The prophets propagated this constitution on this earth. Now if God is deriving entertainment on observing the creation, how can you call Him as sadist? He is not responsible for your desires and selection of good and bad for which you have the full freedom. He is not responsible even for a trace of your desire and even for a trace of your subsequent action. The constitution gives only information and does not encourage you in anyway. A hotel is exhibiting a board listing the various items available for the food. The board is only for your information. According to your taste, capacity of digestion and problems of health, you have to select the suitable item of food. You cannot blame the hotel saying that the hotel is responsible for your indigestion, since it exhibited a particular item by which you are attracted! A person is standing in the balcony of his residence and is observing the traffic to get entertainment. Suppose an accident took place on the road, you cannot blame the observer to be responsible for the accident. You are well aware of the traffic rules and your over look of the rules is responsible for the accident. The observation and entertainment of any spectator is not at all connected with the accident. The divine constitution consists of two parts. The first part is the Pravrutti, which is the social behavior to live in this world with peace and harmony. This Pravrutti is based on heaven, earth and hell, which are plus, zero and minus signs respectively. If you do social service helping the poor people, you will get heaven, which is a temporary pleasure proportional to the extent of your sacrifice in the social service. For this, you will receive the result on the earth also either partially or totally. If the result is not seen on the earth, you will receive the total result in the heaven after death. However, the result is not permanent (Kshenepunye…Gita) because your social service is not blended with divine mission. If you do the service to your self and your family only, you will be living on this earth with happiness and peace provided you are not harming others with corruption and torture. For this also, the result is temporary because the result is confined to this temporary human life only. Anyway, in both the cases the result is temporary only. If you are confined to your self and your family only, there is no result after death and you will not enter the heaven for serving your family and your self. You will enter the heaven partially or totally for serving the weaker sections in the society but the stay in heaven is temporary. In doing social service, you may confine to your village, District, State, Country, Religion and Earth but you should not harm any living being in this service. You must avoid corruption and torture of any living being on this earth in doing the service. If you are indulged in corruption and torture of any living being, the court here will punish you. If you escape the punishment here, God will punish you here partially and in the hell after the death partially or totally. The punishment of God is based on the transformation of the soul and not the revenge as observed in the terrorism. Terrorism wants revenge without aiming at the transformation of the soul. It does not understand the whole divine system and denies even God due to emotion. Emotion kills the analysis and patience will give happiness and permanent solution. Do not take law and order in to your hands. If the court or Government fails in implementing the justice, God will punish even the court and Government because human beings only constitute the court and Government, which can err. All this comes under Pravrutti. If you avoid the hell after death and punishments here by limiting your self to the service of your family and the society, God is pleased with you.

God and His constitution are giving information of the path desired by you God and His constitution are giving information of the path desired by you and do not compel you to choose any path (Jnapakam natu karakam…Shankara). The Railway authorities prepare the Railway guide. It gives the route to Bombay and other cities. It does not create desire in your mind to go to Bombay. If you desire to go to Bombay, it explains the route and it does not insist you to take up the journey to Bombay. Neither the guide nor the authorities are responsible for your benefit or loss in Bombay. Shankara argued with the Purvamimamsakas, who said that one should perform the sacrifice to reach the heaven. Shankara said that Veda is like the guide and God is like the authority in the above simile.

About Angels The upper worlds contain fully realized souls called angels. The top most world contains liberated souls in the inner circle of God. The lower worlds contain demons, who are rigid atheists. There is no necessity to teach the realized souls and to teach the rigid ignorant souls. Liberated souls are far superior than even the realized souls called angels. Indra etc., are realized souls whereas Adishesha, Garuda, Narada etc., are liberated souls. The angels are affected by ignorance very rarely and hence preaching is almost unnecessary in the upper worlds. Therefore, there is no need of incarnation in the upper world. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are the constant energetic forms of God in the upper worlds. Similarly, there is no need of any incarnation in the lower worlds because there is no use of any preaching to rigid demons. This earth contains human beings, which are neither fully realized nor fully ignorant. These human beings become realized after hearing the preaching and become human beings again, which are mild demons and mild angels integrated together in one form. Therefore, God comes again and again to preach and uplift them. This story of uplift and subsequent fall repeats again and again and hence earth is a constant stage of continuous engagement for entertainment of God. The liberated souls always accompany God as the constant troop of actors and receive the entertainment along with God. It is said that angels also request God to give chance for participation in this entertainment. Arjuna is called as Nara, who represents the human being (Nara). Arjuna was always having a mixed feeling towards Krishna to accept Him as God. Even Dharmaraja, a better human being failed to accept Krishna as God in crossing justice on His order. But Bhima is said to be the middle liberated soul in the chain of Madhva cult consisting Hanuman, Bhima and Madhva, the three sons of Vayu as the sincere servants of God. Bhima represents Tamas, which is famous for rigid nature. Tamas diverted to God brings the soul to the stage of liberated souls and the same tamas diverted to world brings the soul to the state of demons. Brahma represents Sattvam, the state of Knowledge, though stands for Rajas is involved in knowledge, which is Sattvam. The process of analysis is action and action is Rajas. The analysis of knowledge should end in the practical implementation, which is action. Vishnu who stands for Sattvam but is always dynamic indicates this second state of action of knowledge. Rajas is action. Vishnu is the administrator with action but is with knowledge of discrimination in the background. Sattvam and Rajas are integrated in both the cases. Finally the determination, which is Tamas representing Shiva, is important for constancy in the implementation. Thus, Bhima is a liberated soul, who maintained constancy in implementation. Arjuna and Dharmaraja slipped in the service of Krishna but Bhima never slipped and did whatever Krishna ordered. When Krishna told to kill the elephant by naming it as Asvatthama and order to Bhima to kill it to cheat Drona, Bhima implemented it at once. Madhva is the final preacher who preached the service. Vayu is said to be very strong and the best angel in Veda (Vatat Vishnoh Balam…., Vayurvai Kshepishtah….). The knowledge (Sattvam) associated with Rajas is analysis and the knowledge associated with Tamas is determination. The determination leads to constancy in practical implementation. The three qualities are always integrated and inseparable in every stage of spiritual effort and similarly you cannot separate the three divine forms of God (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) who descended as the three spiritual preachers (Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhva) who are integrated in every stage of guidance.

The three essential components of the spiritual effort Complete faith, complete devotion proved through practical sacrifice and complete absence of aspiration for fruit in return are the three essential components of the spiritual effort. The faith in the existence of God is the fundamental. Regarding the address of God, the contemporary human incarnation is the convenient path for doing practical service. The practical service cannot be done for the formless God and for statues of energetic forms of the upper worlds like Vishnu and of past human incarnations (In the case of statues the priests enjoy your service indirectly). Direct and meaningful practical service is possible only in the case of contemporary human incarnation as done by Hanuman and Gopikas.

People have no faith in the existence of the very upper world! Shankara told that one should not aspire the fruit either in this world or in the upper world for divine service done (Ihamutra Phalaviragah….). Today people have no faith in the existence of the very upper world! There is no point of fruit after death. There is no hell from which God can protect us. There is no heaven to receive any happiness after death. There is no Brahma Loka at all. Hence, people want fruits in this world itself. Some people are not sure of the fruit in this world also after doing the service. Hence, they say that if the fruit is given first, the service will be rendered after receiving the fruit. This shows the lack of confidence in God even in the business. For some, the existence of God itself is doubtful and hence they require the fruit first and then only do some thing in return. Some say that if the fruit is given first, then they will favor God by believing Him. They feel that God wants to increase the percentage of believers in this world. They feel that if the percentage of believers is not maintained, God will loose His Supreme post! In spite of such mean and meaningless mentalities, God is responding to every trend because God is the divine Father and is always anxious of the eternal uplift of the souls. Except for this point, God has no other reason to respond to every attitude of such low levels.

If God blessed you, you will be blessed here as well as there simultaneously When the aspiration is absent, the fruit will be the best. When God is pleased, the fruit is seen here as well as there. If God is pleased with you, you will receive the fruit here as well as there because God is the Lord of both the worlds simultaneously. If His grace exists in the upper world, it must also exist here also. Some people say that their welfare in the upper world is protected even though their welfare here is damaged. This concept is meaningless. If God blessed you, you will be blessed here as well as there simultaneously. If you are well here, you will be well there also. God will not show anger on you here and show grace in the upper world. Either grace or anger is shown simultaneously here as well as there. You may be troubled for some time here for the sake of divine test but that is not permanent. If you are permanently suffering in this world, it means, you are the sinner forever. The anger of God on you is constitutional only. You are punished for your sins only according to the computerized divine constitution and personally God does not favor or does not curse you (Nadatte kasyachit papam….Gita). Therefore, such eternal sinners need very much the spiritual knowledge, so that they get a permanent solution. Hence, while serving them externally for temporary relief, you should preach the spiritual knowledge and turn them in to devotees. Today some are doing the social service to the downtrodden people, but that is not a permanent solution. Social service with divine background is very much required. People who concentrate on the social service only will get temporary heaven and the people who receive such social service also get a temporary solution only. It is a temporary concept on both sides. Today the Government is concentrating on social service without touching the element of God in the name of secularism. In the ancient times, kings were also doing social service but they were combining it with divine mission so that both the donor and receiver get permanent solution. The ancient kings went to the permanent abode of God and the served beggars also became devotees and got permanent solution. The present Government of secular policy will go to the temporary heaven and the present poor people served by this Government also get the temporary relief limited to this life and to this earth only.

God never gives any value for the magnitude of the potentiality Let us take the scene of Ramayana in which the monkeys are trying to jump over the ocean in the service of Rama. The monkeys expressed their abilities to jump in terms of miles of the distance that can be covered by them in jump. Hanuman could jump all the distance and finished the work of Rama. The devotion (Bhakti) is equal in Hanuman and monkeys. Every monkey is ready to sacrifice its total effort. But the monkeys could not do the work only due to inadequate potentiality (Shakti) and not due to inadequate devotion. God sees only the total surrender of your potentiality in His work, which is a practical proof for the total devotion. The magnitude of your potentiality is not a point for God. Here in this case, since every monkey is ready to surrender its total potentiality, each monkey is equal to Hanuman in the eyes of God. There is no difference in the surrender of total effort. Hanuman could do the work only due to the adequate potentiality and is not greater in devotion than any monkey. Therefore, the fruit from God should be equal to Hanuman and also the monkeys. The Lord gave a place for all the monkeys in His Brahma Loka (called as Vaikuntha in the case of Narayana) but He made Hanuman as Brahma Himself, who is the Lord of Brahma Loka. Does this mean that God favors the magnitude of potentiality also as the measure of devotion? (Swami posed this question to all the devotees and there was suspense with lot of anxiety in the devotees for the answer. No devotee could give the answer even after a long time! Finally Swami gave the answer by which devotees felt very happy). The answer for this is that God never gives any value for the magnitude of the potentiality. God gives value only to the surrender of total potentiality possessed by the devotee. Then, what is the answer to the above question? The answer is that though God treated Hanuman and monkeys equal in the above scene due to equal extent of maximum devotion, there is a difference between Hanuman and the monkeys. After the war, Rama rewarded all the monkeys with golden ornaments for their service. All the monkeys took the jewels and wore them. This indicates the aspiration of fruit in return for the service, which is hidden in their sub-consciousness without their knowledge. Rama did not reward Hanuman and Hanuman never felt anything for this. Sita felt for this and rewarded Hanuman with a chain of pearls. Sita could not understand Rama. She should have kept silent because the actions of God are unimaginable. By rewarding Hanuman, Sita insulted the Lord indirectly before all. The drama continued further by the will of the Lord who was silent with a smile. Hanuman took the chain and started cutting the pearls with teeth and threw them away after observing each pearl. Sages and monkeys objected this and asked Hanuman for the reason. Hanuman told that He was searching for Rama in pearls and anything without Rama is useless for Him. By this Hanuman is establishing the fact that God does not exist in the creation (Neti Neti…Veda). Then, the sages told that His body also must be useless since Rama is not in that body. Then Hanuman tore His heart and showed Rama in His heart. This shows that God as Narayana (Rama) is present in Him because Shiva is Narayana and He is the incarnation of Shiva. Hence, devotees should not attempt to do this! This clearly proved that the servant of the Lord should not aspire anything other than the Lord as the fruit of service. By this Hanuman excels all the monkeys and His special fruit is justified. Let us come to Sita who bent her head after this. What is the reason in it? You think that Rama insulted Sita in return. It is not so. The reason is that she joined the list of monkeys since she was also wearing the ornaments, which do not contain Rama. She is lesser than Hanuman. This is also justified because Sita is a liberated soul and Hanuman is God. Therefore, do the service to God without aspiring any fruit in return. Aspiration for fruit gives lesser fruit and service without aspiration for fruit gives the highest fruit in the case of God. This point is valid in the case of God (Nivrutti) only and one should not be foolish to follow this in Pravrutti because people will exploit you! Of course, you can implement this concept in serving the poor people and deserving devotees and such service is a training for you for Nivrutti. But you should not implement this through out the Pravrutti because exploiters are many in this world especially in this Kali Yuga!

Foolishness of Advaita Philosopher The human being is like a tape recorder and the current in it is like the awareness (Soul). The recorded cassette in it is Jeeva. A recorded cassette without current and the current without recorded cassette is useless. The cassette may contain a good song or a bad song. You have to replace the bad song by a good song in the cassette. Similarly, you have to replace the worldly qualities by the divine qualities in your mind. You are trying to destroy the cassette and tape recorder to remove the bad song and you are not prepared to enjoy any song. This is the state of the Advaita Philosopher. First, he is removing the song from the cassette by erasing it and maintains the current in the tape recorder, which does not generate any song. Similarly, he is erasing all the qualities from the mind and the awareness without any quality is like the current with a blank cassette. After erasing the bad song, you have to record a good song in the cassette. Similarly, after erasing the worldly qualities in the mind, you have to fill the mind with devotion to the God. Instead of doing this, you are keeping silent with the pure awareness (clean mind) after removing the worldly qualities from mind. Your spiritual effort stopped in the middle stage only. First, you have to erase the worldly attachment from the mind. First, you have to clean your house by removing the waste, which produces bad odor. Such removal of waste is work (Karma) and this is the first step in the spiritual path (Arurukshoh Muneryogam Karma Karanamuchyate…Gita). Now the house is clean without any bad odor and in this state even the good scent is absent. This is the intermediate state of pure mind, which is devoid of both bad and good qualities, which is termed as perfect peace (Shama). This intermediate state is the pure awareness without any quality and is called as Nirguna Brahman or pure Atman. Here the word Brahman does not mean God. Any greatest item in a category can be called as Brahman. Veda, the greatest among the scriptures is called as Brahman in Gita. Awareness (Soul or Atman) is the greatest item in this world due to its special quality of knowledge and hence is called as Brahman. This possibility of calling any soul as Brahman was exploited by Shankara to attract the atheists towards spiritual path. Remember that Shankara was surrounded by lot of atheists in His time. Shankara called this intermediate state as Chitta Shudhi or purity of mind, which is a pre-requisite for the knowledge and attachment to God. The cleanliness of the house is a pre-requisite to sprinkle scent in the house. If the scent is sprinkled in a dirty house, there is no use of it, because the good odor of scent cannot be enjoyed by any one in the house in the presence of bad odor created by the dirt. Removal of every thing in the house refers to the removal of bad material only. When Shankara used the word Nirgunam, it means only removal of worldly qualities from the mind. If the ultimate aim of Shankara is only Nirguna Atman or Pure awareness without any quality, He should have stopped His message with the commentaries only. Shankara composed several prayers on God, which represent the good scents to be sprinkled in the house after complete cleaning. You must take the total personality of Shankara and should not confine to His partial activity of writing commentaries only. You cannot confine yourself only to His composition of commentaries and neglect His composition of prayers on God. The God referred in His prayers was with qualities (Saguna Brahman) and this proves that the God associated with world for entertainment is a better-advanced state than the primary attribute less God (Nirguna Brahman). The commentaries represent the process of cleaning the mind and attaining pure awareness by removing the worldly attachment. The prayers represent the next process of filling the clean mind with devotion. You cannot enjoy the devotion when the mind is contaminated with the worldly attachment, as you cannot enjoy the scent in the presence of bad odor produced by the dirt. Therefore, the reason for your enjoyment of devotion is only the cleanliness of the house as stated in Gita (Yogarudhasya tasyaiva shamah karanamuchyate…). The perfect peace of the mind after removing the dirty attachment to the world is responsible for the bliss that is enjoyed in the devotion. Shankara, in His commentaries referred to the primary state of God before creation, which is the perfect peace without any quality or thought. His commentary was aimed at the atheists (Buddhists and Purvamimamsakas) who were attached to the world denying God other than themselves. First, Shankara wanted to remove the attachment to the world from their minds due to which only they were not interested in God. If you want to change the ignorant fellow in one aspect, you must accept to his other ignorant aspects. This is the psychology of ordinary human beings. For any teacher, the psychology is very important which gives the tactful plan of removal of ignorance in a gradual way. You have to remove the layers of ignorance one by one only. When you are removing one layer, you must accept to all the other layers. Then only the ignorant student will come in to your grip. For a preacher (Guru), the ultimate aim is not to establish the total truth in the beginning itself, by which there is no use in any way. His ultimate aim is to uplift the soul and for that, He follows the gradual process of removing the layers of ignorance one by one and in every stage He accepts to the other layers. Shankara, being the incarnation of God is the real Guru (Satguru) and His aim is only to uplift the souls, which are His issues. Therefore, Shankara accepted to one point i.e., the soul is God and there is no God other than the soul. Even here, Shankara being the top most genius used the word Brahman, which stands for God as well as the greatest item in any category. Shankara told that the soul is Brahman. Atheists took the word in the sense of God and were satisfied. They became friends to Shankara and liked Him. This brings the grip of the teacher on the students. Now Shankara proposed the primary state of God, which is devoid of all qualities. It is obvious that God is having no quality or thought before creation. Therefore, to become God, one has to clean himself from all the qualities. Since, all the qualities in the atheists are worldly items only, all the qualities mean worldly qualities only in the context of atheists. Therefore, the word Nirgunam (devoid of any quality) means removal of worldly qualities only since in the context of atheists, all the qualities were of world only. After Shankara, this word Nirgunam is misunderstood for removal of all good and bad qualities because the context of atheists disappeared. Therefore, you can understand Shankara only if you can understand the context in which He existed.

Shankara and His meeting with Chandala In the street of Benaras — Shankara saw Me once Followed by four dogs – He ordered Me to give side. I asked Him “O king of preachers -- All the bodies are five elements only Awareness or soul is one in all -- As said by you in your commentary. Tell Me which shall give you side —The soul or the five elements?” Then Shanakra was thunderstruck — Fell on My feet totally flat Praised Me as the only preacher — Know Me as preacher of preachers. I opened the eye of knowledge — Removed the curtain from Him. I covered the World Preacher — By My powerful divine illusion. Know that in this entire creation – None can know Me. Shankara requested Me then--To preach the spiritual knowledge. Shankara is the Lord Shiva — I am Shiva, this is My drama. I composed this divine drama — I am the preacher and the student. This drama is played by Me in double role – To uplift the souls here. This is the Gita that transmitted -- From Me, Datta, to Shankara. The spiritual knowledge given by Me – To Shankara was aimed at His followers at that time – But let Me reveal the same Suitable to the present society – The old wine in new bottle! Brahman is the greatest — Among all objects of a category. Gita says that Veda is Brahman — Being the greatest among scriptures. Brahman also means the God — Being greater than any greatest. Philosophy means using the word Brahman — In the related context. Among all items of the creation — Soul is greatest due to its knowledge. Except this once specialty of Knowledge — It is the weakest form of Energy. As and when you here the word Brahman – It may be for God or Soul. Decide the meaning based on the context — That is the scholastic talent. Shastras are the supporting scriptures —They decide the correct context. If you know the clue of the context — No quarrel in Hindu sub-religions. Spiritual knowledge is based on Shastras — So state Brahma Sutra and Gita

To uplift the humanity here, God enters any soul of His family Soul can become God — But effort and God’s grace are needed for this. By effort you enter God’s family — This is the first essential step. When God incarnates in human form —To uplift the humanity here, God enters any soul of His family — The human incarnation results. By chance you may be that soul — Selected by God for incarnation, Now you are treated as God — Like the live wire treated as current. Son of Vasudeva, Vaasudeva — Being a soul is selected to be God. The live wire is spoken as current — By the scientists of Electricity. Monism or Advaitia is limited only —To the human incarnation. Not every soul in this world can be – The human incarnation, But every soul has equal possibility—To become human incarnation. Every metallic wire is eligible to be – The live wire, carrying current. If current realizes that itself is — The current and not the wire, It is the Advaita of Shankara — Specific to human incarnation only. Shankara being human incarnation — Spoke this concept about Himself. Every wire need not be the live wire — Since current is not in every wire. There is no chance to treat every wire — As the current, similar to live wire. Even in the live wire, if the current leaves it – It becomes just wire only. Even the divine body of Vaasudeva (Krishna)was — Cremated by Arjuna at the end. It is live wire as long as current flows — In the wire and not before or after. “Soul is God”, the statement of Shankara – Relates to soul charged by God. God is not power like the current – Current is only a simile to God.

God is beyond even imagination God is beyond even imagination – As per several Vedic statements. The divine preacher, Lord Yama – Preached Nachiketa in Katha, That even angles and sages – Finally concluded in divine seminars, The only conclusion is that – Brahman is unimaginable in any way. You could know something – If Brahman is said to be unknown Since, at least you could know – The unknowable nature of Brahman. If you say that Brahman is known – Brahman is not known at all, Because you could not know even – That Brahman is unknown. Awareness has two properties – Knowing self and knowing others. If you are that awareness – Awareness cannot be unknown. It is a knowable item only – Not the unknowable Brahman. You may doubt that unknown – May mean as non-existing. Hence, preachers say that – Brahman is a knowable item. Brahman becomes knowable – When it charges knowable medium. Preachers introduce Brahman or God – Through a known medium. Isolated God is not introduced – Only mediated God is mentioned. Shankara introduced God – Through awareness, a medium, only. Datta (God) is the dynamic equilibrium – Between the three qualities (Sattvam, Rajas, Tamas) Ramanuja and Madhva introduced God — Through Energetic body, It is called as Narayana – The human Energetic form of God. Such Energetic form of God – Can be seen only in the upper world. Vaasudeva is a materialized form – Made of all the five elements. Energy is called as Agni – It is one of the five elements only. Gross body of Vaasudeva consists – All the five elements, Gross body of Narayana consists – One element only, Agni. In both, subtle bodies consist – The three basic qualities, But in both predominating quality – Being the Sattvam. Sattvam is main quality of Narayana – Naara means the knowledge. Knowledge is inherent of Sattvam – So Sattva-soul is selected. Similarly, Shiva selects a soul – Predominating with Tamas. Brahma selects soul of Rajas – Pure Rajas and Tamas are good. Pure Rajas stands for dynamism – Pure Tamas for determination. Knowledge without action and – Determination is useless. The three qualities are inseparable – Hence the three divine forms. In Brahma, Narayana and Shiva - Datta exists in each form. Datta is the dynamic equilibrium – Between the three qualities. In both Vaasudeva and Narayana - Causal bodies are pure awareness. In Narayana the fourth extra item – Is the God or Brahman. Now the three bodies of both – Merge with each other fully, Agni of gross body of Narayana – With Agni of gross body of Vaasudeva. Now Vaasudeva, the individual soul, – The family member of God, Becomes divinized soul due to – This homogeneous mixing of both. Now there is one set of three bodies – In the divinized Vaasudeva. The fourth extra item of Narayana, - Brahman, pervades Vaasudeva. This is how Lord Narayana comes down – As the human incarnation. Materialized body is meant for – The materialized bodies on the earth, Energetic body is meant for – The energetic bodies in the upper world. In both cases, the repulsion works – Between the common media. Neither here nor there for the soul – God given is recognized at all! If the repulsion between common media – Gets removed from the souls The soul recognizes the given God – Here as well as in the upper world.