dattaswami

God's Management of deeds of a soul God acts as Father as well as the teacher (Guru) in the case of any soul. Since God created the soul, He is the Father. But at the same time He is the teacher who trains every soul to come up in the spiritual path. Generally in the world the father is different since teacher is separate. But here in the case of any soul the real Father and the real teacher is only one and that is God. Therefore, God is always kind as Father and is strict and harsh as teacher. But the harshness of the teacher is apparent only and in reality the harshness is kindness only. Hence, basically God is always kind. God appears harsh as the teacher and appears kind as Father. Since, the teacher is basically kind even in his harsh attitude also, God is always kind in reality or in the basic sense. The souls have done continuous sins and continuous good deeds and if the results are to be given based on the same sequence and span of time, there will be continuous punishments for long time and continuous happiness for another span of long time. Then it will be summer for one year and winter for one year. But the kindest God has re-arranged our results in such manner so that our human life is made with alternative good and bad results so that there will be summer for two months and winter for two months so that the two years are made with alternative couple of months of summer and winter. Neither summer nor winter bores with continuity and both summer and winter with the span of one year each gets exhausted. The punishments are used to remove the ignorance and happiness is given as an interval between punishments. The punishments are also selected in such a way so that their intensity is suitable to the frequency of requirement for the transformation in the life again and again. This means that a particular soul requires a particular punishment of a specified intensity suitable to the degree of ignorance of the soul and based on the same, the duration of the punishment also varies from one soul to the other. According to the requirement, a suitable portion from the result of the sin is cut like a piece from a large cake. The size of the piece depends on the requirement of the nature of the soul. The sizes of the pieces of the salt (bad result) and sweet (Good result) cakes depend upon the duration of treatment and interval required by the nature of the soul. The salt cake is a medicine for the ignorance and the sweet cake is the food during the treatment for the patient-soul. The left over cakes are used for the external hell and heaven in the upper world. Whatever may be the place (hell or heaven or earth), the punishments are given for the treatment of ignorance only. In the earth the punishments are used as medicines but in the hell the punishments are used as the final surgery for removing the ignorance. In any case only the kindness of God is always reflected. Thus, God can be seen as Father or Teacher or Doctor giving medicines or surgeon doing operation and in all angles only the kindness is reflected always. He is always working constantly to uplift every soul. God works as Teacher, Doctor and Surgeon and at the same time the God with an attitude of the Father also observes the possible limit up to which the soul can withstand the treatment. Once the limit is reached, God will regain the attitude of Father withdrawing Himself from the attitude of Teacher or Doctor or Surgeon and as a Father He starts giving the food of happiness for some time. Remember that He is using the bad and good results of the deeds of the soul only in every action to uplift the soul. The deeds are done by the soul in a free atmosphere and God has no trace of interference and the same time all this treatment and food arranged alternatively makes the life cycle quite interesting to the soul without boring since continuity of anything is absent. Otherwise the soul would have got bored and the Samskara (strong feeling) of boring should have followed the soul and the soul must have developed repulsion to this world as soon as it is born in this world.

Why human incarnation generally hesitant to perform miracles? It is very difficult to accept the human incarnation while alive. Only very few blessed souls who are already liberated and accompanied the Lord to help Him in His mission can recognize and serve the living human form of God. The repulsion to accept a co-human being even as a greater person is very difficult. Then you can never imagine any human being to accept another human being as greatest God. The human form of God is just similar to any human being. If any specialty is exhibited, people fear and run away. To become close to the human beings, no specialty should be exhibited. If the closeness is achieved, the recognition is lost. To get recognition if some super natural aspect is exhibited, the closeness is lost. Between closeness and recognition, which is better to be retained at the cost of the other? The recognition destroys the freedom to discuss with the Lord and clarify the doubts. When Krishna was looking as an ordinary human being, Arjuna bombarded Him with all questions and clarified His doubts. However, when Krishna was in the state of cosmic form (Viswarupam), Arjuna shivered with fear and no question could come out. The brain was blocked with shock and even the doubts did not arise. When the doubts remain un-cleared, the ignorance continues. Therefore closeness is better than recognition. The husband hears the advices from the wife in close association. Therefore through closeness, even if the identification is not there, the soul can be guided into the right path through convincing the soul by preaching. Instead of convincing the soul by exhibiting the super power, which induces the conviction though fear, it is better to induce the conviction through the super talent exhibited in preaching. Even if you think of the human incarnation as a preacher (Guru), there is nothing wrong. If you do not recognize Him as God, His crown has not fallen on the ground. I will just give an example. One woman was a very close devotee. She even used to argue and fight with Me on the points of the spiritual knowledge. One day, she quarreled with Me for not showing any divine vision. The Lord in Me gave a shocking vision of God Dattatreya. She became unconscious for one hour and even got a mild heart attack. From that day onwards, whenever she comes to Me, she is always with terrible fear. She simply accepts whatever I preach. The recognition has come but the closeness is lost. Therefore Jesus said, “Those who believed Me without proof are really blessed”. This means that the devotees who recognized the Lord through the knowledge always have close freedom and clarify all their doubts and hence they are blessed. They gain the complete devotion. If the proof is shown, the closeness is lost and the gap appears. The doubts are not cleared due to fear. Neither the devotee nor the God enjoys the close association. The realization will never come because the ignorance remains due to un-cleared doubts. Therefore the theoretical recognition arrived through the knowledge is always the best. The practical proof develops not only fear but also the attitude to fulfill the desires and solve the problems using the divine power. The attention is diverted from the path of realization. The real bond of love can never be formed. If the power is recognized, the whole situation is diverted. The mentality is always towards tapping the powers towards personal solutions. The commercial bond grows. The friendship becomes more and more intensive if the qualities of the human form of God become more and more similar. I heard some people telling that Sri Satya Sai was printing notes and smuggling the foreign goods! I told them that this allegation is false in the case of Sri Satya Sai, but I told them that in future God has to come in human form with such talents also so that the smugglers approach Him closely and slowly get salvation.

Bliss obtained in the social work A devotee asked about the bliss that can be derived in the fame obtained by doing the social work. Swami replied: When the social work is done, people will praise you. Such praise will enter your brain and causes intensive happiness. Suppose, a person is imagining the same social work done by him and consequent praise, such imagination can also generate the same intensive happiness. The feeling gives happiness. In the first case hearing the praise generates the feeling. In the second case imagining the praise from the people can also generate the same feeling. Once feeling is same, the result of the feeling (happiness) is also the same. You are in no way greater than the second case. If you consider the eternal fame even after your death, you are in no way connected with it to derive happiness in the next birth. Therefore, do not fall in the illusion of fame, which is also Maya. If you serve the God and do the social service under the guidance of God, God is pleased with you. The pleasure of God is real and is not illusory as in the above case of the fame. At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami Anil Antony www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace antonyanil@universal-spirituality.org

Defects and merits of Christianity , Hinduism, Islam Hinduism has two defects. The first is that all the rituals are not conducted in the mother tongue. The rituals involve hymns in Sanskrit. In the ancient days, Sanskrit was the mother tongue of the sages. They understood the meaning of the rituals and were very much interested in God. Every ritual explains about God only directly are indirectly. Today the rituals are like the dead bodies without life. Their real aim and purpose is lost. Not even a trace of devotion is developed through any ritual. At least the priest should translate the hymns and should create interest in the ritual. If you observe the other religions, this defect does not exist because all their rituals are performed in their mother tongue. This is the reason for the sincere devotion in Christianity and Islam. Added to this, like Ghee for fire, the concept of only one present human birth in the other religions has developed tremendous interest in God due to fear. In Hinduism the belief of several future human births brought lenience towards spiritual field. If you allow the candidate to pass the examinations in several attempts, no serious view can be developed. If you say that one has to pass the examination in single attempt, the education system will be perfect. Observing the other religions must rectify these two defects. Christianity and Islam have their own defects. They should also rectify their defects by observing Hinduism. Selfishness, pathetic scenes and fear develop their belief in God. If you want to develop interest in God by saying that Jesus suffered for your sins and by showing the pathetic scene of crucifixion, it is not real and pure love. When you get interest in Jesus since He suffered for your sins, your love to Him is only based on selfishness. Your love to Jesus should be based on His divine personality and knowledge without any trace of selfishness. Similarly, these two religions try to create fear in the minds of human beings by mentioning the permanent hell. Fear should not be the basis for the love to God. The love should be spontaneous and without any selfishness in a free atmosphere. The reason for this deficiency in the foreign religions is due to absence of metaphysics in the scriptures. Those scriptures mainly deal with the development of proper human behavior to balance the society. Such scriptures are mainly dealing with ethics only and not with the philosophy of God like the nature of God, path to please God etc. The analytical development in the spiritual knowledge is not much in these scriptures. They have confined God to the path of Pravrutti only and God is simply an administrator bound by His own rules. He is just a judge to deliver the judgment and a jailer who jails the sinners. He is just a mechanical examiner without any freedom or love to devotees. He cannot go beyond the rules of justice. Of course, all this is good for the initial development of the human beings. Mere happy life in a society is not sufficient because such life is not eternal. The life after death should be also analyzed. Mere judicial procedure is not the ultimate of God. The love towards God, the sacrifice for the sake of God, the concept of contemporary human incarnation for the sake of most beloved devotees etc., are points of higher importance than mere limitation to the petty family only. The view is at the best generalized to the service to the society. Society is only a large family of your colleague souls only. God is beyond society. You must transit from the service to family to the service to the society and finally to the service to God. These three are the subsequent steps in ascending order. The foreign religions are mainly confining to the first two steps only and not to the third step. In the name of the third step they are only staying in the second step (social service) only. The basis for this deficiency is lack of the concept of contemporary human incarnation. They criticize the idol worship of Hinduism. But they are doing the same in another form in their churches and Mosques. The exploitation of the devotees by priests is common to their religions also because the concept of the contemporary human incarnation is completely eradicated from the root in these religions because the selfish priests do not allow this. The same thing happened in the case of Holy Jesus. Hence, Holy Mohammad did not allow this concept for the fear of such horrible jealousy towards the contemporary human incarnation. In Hinduism also the selfish priests oppose the contemporary human incarnation. However in Hinduism, this concept is at least partially alive since Gita says that God will come again and again (Yada Yada hi…) and that God will come in human form (Manusheem tanumashritam…). At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

The essence of all the religions is one and the same The essence of all the religions is one and the same since the Universal God gives it. The religions are different from each other because the religious leaders who are the human beings create the material that surrounds the essence. The skeleton is one and the same and there is no difference in the skeletons of the human beings. The difference lies only in the external materials covering the skeletons, which are flesh, skin etc., in these external materials differences arose due to deficiencies. Suppose there are two students. One is weak in physics and the other is weak in chemistry. Each student mocks the other for the deficiency. Therefore, the deficiency is the root of difference and quarrels in the religions. The reason for the deficiency is the human brain that developed the external body of the spiritual knowledge. Therefore, the spiritual knowledge is the skeleton and the religion is its body. The deficiency in a religion can be removed by taking the merits of the other religions. Every religion has deficiency and the rectification of that deficiency should be from other religion without any ego and jealousy. Do not think that you are without defects. Do not think that your parents have no defects. Do not think that your teachers and preachers do not have defects. Therefore, observe others and take the merits from anybody without prejudice. The blind thinking that your nation, your state, your district, your town or village, your caste, your family, your parents, etc., is the best or highest should be eradicated from your brain. Always base your self on your analysis and commonsense that is observed from the examples in the world. Your elders might have polluted the scriptures but this world is the best scripture written by God. This world-scripture is Universal without any color of any religion. You can develop the entire spiritual knowledge by observing this world and the scientific knowledge existing in the various examples or items of the world. Any human being cannot pollute these. You must be scientific and analytical in your belief. The ignorant and clever religious elders always exploit blind belief.

The Lord does not need your service in anyway for His work. The Lord does not need your service in anyway for His work. He is only testing your attitude of your sincerity in His work by taking help from you in His work. You should not think that He really needs your help. You should not also think that you need not help Him because He does not need your help. Both these are the two branches of ignorance. He is actually testing your extent of sacrifice towards Him and thus He does not need your help in reality. But based on this reality you should not withdraw your help to Him because He is testing your attitude and extent to work for Him. When the examiner asks a question, the student should not think that the examiner is really ignorant about the answer and is in search of the answer from the student. The student should not also keep silent thinking that there is no need of giving answer to the examiner since the examiner knows the answer. Both these views of the student are wrong regarding the examiner. Neither Rama needed the help of monkeys in reality nor the monkeys kept silent without helping Rama since Rama does not require any help in reality. The reality is that Rama does not require any help and that the monkeys helped Rama to their best ability to prove their real interest in God.

Renunciation (Sanyasa) cannot come by emotions The renunciation (Sanyasa) cannot come by emotions if the cause is quarrel in the family and cannot be real if the aim is to earn the lively hood. Arjuna ( a devotee of God) wanted to take Sanyasa based on emotion developed in killing his grandfather. Sanyasa means detachment from the bonds of family. But Arjuna wanted to take Sanyasa due to attachment to the bonds of his family members like grandfather etc. Sanyasa is a natural consequence of the intensive attachment (devotion) to God. The emotion should be in the devotion and should not be in the detachment from the family. The emotion in the devotion will spontaneously detach you from the family. Shankara(Human Incarnation of God) did not leave His mother just based on emotion or some family problems like poverty etc. He left the house to go to the Satguru called as Shri Govinda Bhagavat Pada and to proceed further for the propagation of the correct divine knowledge in the world. Sanyasa should come as natural and spontaneous consequence of your intensive interest on God. If one asks whether he should take Sanyasa or not, such Sanyasa is not real because sanyasa happens naturally and spontaneously without any enquiry or doubt about it. Shankara never had any debate about His Sanyasa from the house. It is just like a mad fellow naturally getting detached from the worldly matters. Will he discuss with any body that whether he should be detached from the worldly matters or not?

Anything that comes as a hindrance in the spiritual path should be cut down mercilessly Once Sri Rama Krishna Parama Hamsa was killing the bed bugs present in a cot. The devotees were surprised at that. He told that anything that comes as a hindrance in the spiritual path should be cut down mercilessly. But He took such extreme step because the bed bugs will not realize the truth even if He preaches the bed bugs. Similarly, when the family members stand in the level of animals without realization, in spite of your best efforts, then only you have to discard them to save yourself from drowning in the world. A swimmer tries to help the person who is drowning. But in such effort, if he finds that he is also getting drowned, he will leave that person and will save at least his life instead of drowning of two persons. The word samsara means only the strong family bonds, which are constantly penetrating into the mind day by day (Samsarati iti Samsarah). You have to cross this samsara and not this physical world, since samsara does not mean this physical world. If you mean this physical world, you can cross samsara by death and for that no effort is needed.

Should we not ask god for help? If you are ordinary person you should follow the rules of your deeds and nature. If you are a devotee, even then, you should not ask God for help. Your devotion must not aspire any result. You are asking God for help means that you want God to violate his own natural rules. The impression of millions of angles and sages is disturbed if God violates his own rules. That will give a poor impression on God. You are putting God to inconvenience by forcing him to use his supernatural power. Whether you are a devotee or not, you must always try to solve your problems by putting your best effort. If you fail, even then, do not ask God to help you. Then, you think that it is your fate and worship God as usual. Arjuna was fighting with his grandfather, Bhishma. Arjuna was not putting up his best effort to kill Bhishma. He was having sympathy to Bhishma, who has brought up Arjuna. Noting this, Krishna took His Sudarshana chakra and ran to kill Bhishma. That means the Lord tried to solve the problem of Arjuna through His divine power. Arjuna did not agree to this and forced Krishna to stop, because Arjuna knew about his inadequate effort. But when Sindhava was to be killed, Arjuna tried his best, because Arjuna took an oath to kill Sindhava before sunset and otherwise he promised that he would enter the fire. Since the sunset took place apparently due to the Maya of Krishna, Arjuna stopped fighting and wanted to enter the fire. He was just going to jump into the fire but he never asked for help. He thought that was his fate. Therefore, the Lord helped him secretly. Therefore, if you put your best effort, still fail because it is beyond your limits, if you happen to be a real devotee and do not ask for the help from God, then you will be helped by the super power secretly. The secrecy is due to preservation of the sacredness of his administration in the eyes of others.

The human happiness Vs Bliss Bliss (Brahma Ananda) is defined as the continuous human-happiness (Maanusha Ananda) multiplied by infinity. As per Veda, the human happiness is that of a king of this entire earth with full strength and health (Saeko Manusha-Ananndah…). But the king also is not having this happiness continuously because several troubles often interrupt this. Hence this human happiness must be made continuous and Veda does not mention this continuity while describing the human happiness. The continuity of human happiness can be attained by the clue of enjoying the sweet and hot dishes in meals or comedy and tragedy in a cinema. This divine clue is inherent to the state of God and its successful application continuously depends on the divine knowledge given by God along with His grace. By further unlimited grace of God, this human happiness gets multiplied by infinity and then such human happiness is converted into bliss (Saeko Brahmana Ananndah…Veda). The final test of such final stage is that one shall be happy and enjoy the death also, which is the most serious problem (Sthitvaasyaamantakalepi… Gita). At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami Anil Antony www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace antonyanil@universal-spirituality.org

Analyzing God’s attitude to wards souls God created all the souls and has the attitude of father towards His children. The father sometimes may have partiality in showing the love equally to his children. But God is always having infinite love for all the souls in equal manner. Even the punishments in the hell are meant for transformation of the souls from lower level to the higher level. God always tries to help the soul even if a trace of possibility exists in the cycle of the deeds. One soul need not recommend about the other soul to God to show the grace. If somebody recommends to his father regarding the welfare of his brother, how foolish it looks! No soul should recommend to the God about other soul for protection or for showing the grace. If any soul recommends like that it is only insulting the infinite love of God. It is only the climax of the ignorance and the emotional love on the other soul, which lacks even the basic analysis of spiritual knowledge. At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami Anil Antony www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace antonyanil@universal-spirituality.org

Never criticize any one in the world Never criticize any one in the world. If you do not like to praise somebody, keep silent. If you scold somebody and suppose God is hidden in that person, it will lead to immediate punishment. Worship of God and insulting God will have immediate results in this world because both are powerful (Atyutkataih Papapunyaih……). The help and insult to the colleague souls will have results in the upper world in heaven and hell. But the service and insult to God in human form and devotees will have immediate results here itself. Generally it is very difficult to identify God in human form who will try to hide Himself by looking like an ordinary person or some times looking like even a negative person. God in human form acts according to the role taken on the stage of the world. The role is according to the divine program drawn by God Himself. The role generally does not contain the supernatural behavior, which will create problems of free mixing of God with the souls. The role consists of mainly normal behavior and sometimes subnormal behavior to test the devotees or to drive away the undeserving devotees who will try to exploit God. In such case there is every possibility of misunderstanding God as a normal human being or some times as a bad human being. If you neglect God assuming Him as a normal human being, there is nothing wrong in it and you will not be in loss even though you may not have the benefit. But if you insult Him assuming a bad fellow, that is the greatest sin and will have immediate negative effect. Since, we cannot trace out God easily, it is better not to criticize even a bad fellow. Leave him to his fate. Who are you to criticize anybody? You have lot of bad points shown by your bulky thumb, when you point out others with your lean finger. The constitution of God running the divine cycle of deeds will take care of everything in the world. Why do you unnecessarily take the risk of insulting the hidden God? At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami Anil Antony www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace antonyanil@universal-spirituality.org

All the actions of God are correct and justified In the sacrifice, Dharma Raja wanted to worship some eligible person in the beginning. Bhishma told that Lord Krishna is the best. But Shishupala started scolding Krishna unnecessarily and got punished. He was furious towards Krishna for taking away the bride (Rukmini) fixed for him. The fixation was against the will of Rukmini and Shishupala knows this. Rukmini sent a secret message to Krishna that if Krishna does not turn, she will commit suicide. Life is the most important item to be protected according to justice (Ahimsa Paramo Dharmah…). There was no trace of injustice on the side of Krishna in this event. The mother of Shishupala prayed Krishna to save her son. The Lord prolonged for some time and the punishment was given. Shishupala is the gatekeeper of the Lord and that was the last birth to reach God after the curse and he was very anxious to reach the Lord. His mother does not know all this background and her recommendation to the Lord was against the welfare of Shishupala. If you take the case of Abhimanyu, the Lord got him killed even though he was His beloved relative. People misunderstand this and may think that Krishna is very cruel. Abhimanyu is the incarnation of a demon in disguise. The Lord knows the internal back ground. The doctor knows the internal system and operates the patient for headache. The ordinary observers think that the headache can be cured easily by applying some ointment. But the doctor only knows the reality through the scanning. Therefore, all the actions of God are correct and justified. You should not mistake God for any trace of cruelty. Even if there is a trace of possibility, God will act even before you recommend. He is the father of all the souls and you are only a brother. The love of father is far superior to the love of brother. Moreover, you misunderstand His action of punishment as revenge. The action of God is only for the welfare of the soul and not for revenge. When Krishna killed Shishupala, his soul in the form of a light merged in Krishna. It means the gatekeeper has reached the abode of God after three births as enemy. You misunderstand Krishna as cruel for punishing him just for some abuses. But you do not know the background that Shishupala was His gatekeeper and was very anxious to reach God. Since, your knowledge about a soul is just limited to the present birth only, your conclusions are always wrong regarding God. At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami Anil Antony www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace antonyanil@universal-spirituality.org

God’s Bank account When you serve God, you expect a clear expression of the grace of God and this is not good. Suppose you are given a cash award of one lakh rupees (1 billion $) for your service, you will spend it lavishly and suffer after some time. If you do not expect the cash award, that amount is invested in the bank of God and you are constantly getting one thousand rupees (1000 $) as interest in every month. Your principle is safe and will be spent by God whenever there is an emergent need. When you do not expect any clear fruit from God, God implements this system. In this system the result of your service is not clear because there is no emergency. But if you do not aspire for any trace of fruit from God even in the deeper plane of your heart, the system is completely different, in which there is no account like between the father and his son. Without any account the father will naturally spend for the requirement. When Droupadi ( a female devotee at the time of Lord Krishna) tore a peace of cloth from her sari for the sake of bleeding wound of Krishna, there is no account in this bond because Droupadi never aspired for even a trace of fruit in return. She did not even recollect this incident when Duhssaana dragged her sari in the court. Do not link your service to any fruit from God. Link the fruits to your own actions. Some times the actions fail and unexpected negative results appear. People think that a good deed has given a bad result and bad deed has given good result. Based on this, people doubt the existence of the divine system of cycle of deeds. Every action has its corresponding result after some time. The time gap may be even after this life. Some actions give results at once. If you put finger in the fire, it will burn immediately. But generally the actions are enquired by the divine system under the supervision of the God and the result of the action may be after the some time in this life or may be even after this life. The time gap is a decision of the judge and not yourself. You might have done some good deed and its result may be received after ten days on a particular day at 10.30 am. You might have done a bad deed on that day at 10.29am and its results will be received at a particular time after some days. Now the observers think that the good result at 10.30am is the effect of the bad deed done at the 10.29am. The observers criticize the divine system of God. This cycle of deeds is a very complicated multidimensional network system with so many parameters of time and place correlated with each other (Gahanaa Karmano Gathih….Gita). The superimpositions and coincidence of some actions and some other fruits mislead you to understand the intricate system. Except God no body can analyze this system of network. The deep analysis of all the parameters is impossible for a human brain. Therefore, never criticize the administration of God and unnecessarily earn the sin. At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami Anil Antony www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace antonyanil@universal-spirituality.org

The punishment purifies you from all bad effects and the boon will pollute you with ego and ignorance Generally, one worships God through practical devotion (service) in order to avoid the negative results. Such attitude is a failure to achieve the real love and permanent grace of God. You must learn to enjoy the negative results also like hot dishes in the meal. In fact, due to the divine knowledge attained by the grace of God, try to find out more benefit in the negative result so that at least the negative result can be enjoyed equally with the positive result. Whenever, you start to do a work, you pray for the blessings of the Lord to get victory and benefit. The defeat and loss are never expected even in the mind. The elders always bless you to succeed and get the profit. They will never bless you to enjoy even the negative result, if attained. They feel inauspicious even to utter the possibility of negative result even as the next alternative. But Lord Krishna says to Arjuna in Gita “If you die in the war you will enjoy the heavenly pleasures and if you win you will enjoy the pleasures on this earth” (Hatovaa Prapsyase Swargam …..Gita). The Lord is giving blessings with the negative result in the beginning and the positive result is mentioned as the next alternative only. The Lord is showing more happiness in the negative result than the positive result because the heavenly pleasures are more superior to the pleasures on the earth. It is just like saying that if you are defeated in a work you will get a treat in the five star hotel and if you win you will get a treat in ordinary hotel. The Lord says that He is giving the analytical faculty to laugh at results of the deeds (Buddhyaa Yukto…..Gita). The ignorant fellow may laugh at the statement of Krishna, but a scholar will laugh at the ignorance in analyzing the welfare in the positive and negative results. Actually the negative result giving you misery is for your welfare only to become near to God. The positive result is for your loss by which you are far from God. The punishment purifies you from all bad effects and the boon will pollute you with ego and ignorance. You must have faith in God that He is always doing everything for your welfare only. In such case, you are never upset in the life and hence there is no need of linking your devotion to the favor from God. You are mistaking the favor of God as His anger and the anger of God as His favor. The divine knowledge, which is harsh to you, is always in your welfare and Satguru who gives such divine knowledge is the human form of God. Majority likes the sweet, which harms in long run and welcomes the knowledge preached by the preachers who are the human forms of Satan. At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami Anil Antony www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace antonyanil@universal-spirituality.org

Levels of divine knowledge In the lower level, the divine knowledge is also sweet but such divine knowledge is only a sugar coated bitter medicine. The knowledge of the messengers of Satan is totally sugar, which is sweet causing the diabetes. The lower divine knowledge is like a sugar coated bitter medicine to cure the disease and such sugar coating is needed for the children. An adult eating sweets is different from a child, which is given a sugar coated medicinal pill. The ignorance of the adult cannot be excused like the ignorance of the child. Therefore, the beginners in the spiritual path are excused for their ignorance and God favors them by certain boons appearing as if violating the cycle of deeds. In fact it is not violation and it is only an adjustment without any violation hoping for the growth of the soul in the spiritual line. But the soul should not sit in this level only and in course of time should progress and respect the rigid cycle of deeds without any aspiration of fruit from God. When Rama turned the stone into Ahalya, a lower devotee will think that Rama did a miracle and favored Ahalya by canceling the curse. But the higher-level devotees will see the same incident in another angle. The same sage Goutama who gave the curse limited his curse till that day only. Therefore, when the duration of punishment is over, Ahalya came back in to her original state and in this incident there is no violation of the cycle of deeds that gives the punishment and also fixes the duration of punishment. In fact, Rama followed the divine administration strictly because the curse has to end through Him only. Thus, the lower level devotees take God as capable as well as violating the divine administration if He likes. But the higher-level devotees take even the violation as a part of the divine administration itself. At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami Anil Antony www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace antonyanil@universal-spirituality.org

Theoretical devotion Vs Practical devotion to God, the right meaning of selfless service to God Knowledge, devotion and service are the three subsequent steps in the spiritual effort. But devotion and service can be considered as one step only, which is the love to God. Devotion generally means only theoretical devotion, which is related to words and mind. But the devotion confined to words and mind only without action is unreal and is considered to be the attitude of a prostitute who shows love only through feelings (mind) and words. Similarly, the theoretical devotion aspiring for some fruit from God is the devotion of prostitute (Veshya Bhakti). But the same theoretical devotion without aspiration for any fruit from God is good and without the theoretical devotion, service (Practical devotion) cannot be born. Even the practical devotion with aspiration for fruit from God is like the devotion of a merchant (Vyshya Bhakti). Therefore, either in the theoretical devotion or practical devotion, the absence of aspiration for any fruit in return is very very important. The devotion both theoretical and practical with desire is Sakama Bhakti and Sakama Karma (Kamya Karma) respectively. The same theoretical and practical devotion without any desire is Nishkama Bhakti and Niskhkama Karma Yoga respectively. The service or practical devotion consists of action or work and hence it is called as Karma. If the Karma is without desire it is called as Karma Yoga and with desire is called as Kamya Karma. The word Yoga here means the association with human form of God and Karma Yoga means the work or service done to that human form of God. In both cases of Kamya Karma and Karma Yoga, if the practical devotion exists, it means the existence of theoretical devotion in the mind. Without seed (theoretical devotion) the plant (service) cannot be born. But without the plant, the seed can exist. You can get fruit from the plant only but not from the seed. Therefore, there is no fruit for mere theoretical devotion without its subsequent expression of service whether it is done with aspiration for fruit or not. If the seed is unable to develop into plant, such seed is a false or useless seed for a farmer. We are seeing now the problems of the farmers with false and useless seeds, which do not grow into plants and give fruits. Hence, the theoretical devotion without desire for fruit is good but useless since no fruit can be achieved. You may say that since you are not interested in the fruit, you are satisfied with such fruit less theoretical devotion only. Such argument is only a misinterpretation of the truth to hide your selfishness. The aspiration for the fruit means the aspiration for the fruit that has come out on the plant. You must take a good seed and grow it into a plant, which should give a good fruit, and now in this stage if you are not aspiring for the fruit, then only it is Nishkama Karma Yoga. Hence, you must do the service without aspiration for the fruit that has appeared for your service. You should not avoid the service saying that you are not interested in the fruit of the service and hence you are not interested in the service itself. Hence, Gita is stressing on the Karma or work and also on the absence of aspiration for the fruit. Both are equally important and one without the other is useless. Veda is also stressing on the work (Kurvanneveha….), sacrifice of the fruit of work (Tyaktena….) and the minimum enjoyment essential for the maintenance of your body and family (Bhunjedhah…). You can have the corresponding quotations in Gita also (Kurukarma….., Phalam Tyaktva….., Sareera Yatrapicha te……). All these three aspects are the components of the total Yoga. People have misunderstood this total Yoga and have become lazy by leaving work or service, which is essential for God and self also on the pretext that they are detached from the fruit of work. It is like not cultivating the field and not sowing the seeds in the field stating that you are not interested in the crop (fruit). This is not sacrifice of fruit because the fruit is not seen at all. This is not the sacrifice for the aspiration of the fruit because when the fruit is absent, where is the point of aspiration for the fruit? If the fruit exists before your eyes and if you sacrifice the aspiration for the fruit, then only it is the sacrifice of aspiration for fruit. Then, if your sacrifice of aspiration for fruit is real, it should be proved by actual sacrifice of fruit. Hence Gita mentions the sacrifice of fruit as the real proof for the sacrifice of aspiration for the fruit (Phalam Tyaktva…., Sarva Karma Phala tyagi….). People have misinterpreted this concept in two ways. One way is to sacrifice the work itself and becoming lazy under the Hippocratic sanyasa. The other way is to sacrifice the aspiration for the fruit without the actual sacrifice of the fruit saying that Gita means only the sacrifice of aspiration for the fruit without sacrificing the actual fruit. If that is so how Gita mentions the actual sacrifice of fruit? (Phalam Tyaktva…). Veda also mentions the sacrifice of fruit (Dhanena Tyagena..). The misinterpretation is only to cheat one’s own self because by such cunning misinterpretation, nothing happens in the right way and something certainly happens in the wrong way, which is going to hell for such misinterpretation that misleads other souls also. At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami Anil Antony www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace antonyanil@universal-spirituality.org

God is the permanently unknowable region even for the intelligence enriched with science and logic. The Universe is infinite with unimaginable beginning and unimaginable end. This means the cause from which the Universe started and the same cause in which the Universe ends on dissolution is the unimaginable God. Mud is the beginning stage of the pot and also the end stage since the pot ends in the mud on destruction. The Universe exhibits the unimaginable God by its unimaginable limits of beginning and end. The space is generated from God and the dissolution of space can only show the real nature of its cause (God). When the chain is dissolved in fire, then only the gold lump, which is the cause of the chain, appears in its original form. But even if you imagine for millions of years, you can never imagine the dissolution of space and therefore you can never imagine the original nature of God. God is beyond space and God is the permanently unknowable region even for the intelligence enriched with science and logic. Hence, God is a permanent wonder and the creation consists of some knowable regions of knowledge without any wonder and also some temporarily unimaginable regions with temporary wonder. Now the word Maya can be used for the wonder, which is both permanent (God) and which is temporary also (the deeper layers of the world up to the space). At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami Anil Antony www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace antonyanil@universal-spirituality.org

Logic is used to reject and imaginable item claimed to be an unimaginable item Adi Shankara ( a previous human incarnation of God) made certain assumptions, which are hypothetical to preach the spiritual knowledge to the devotees at various levels. Generally the devotees are trained in the logic pertaining to the imaginable items in the world. The development of a concept by them is from a worldly example and also its application is to another worldly example. For example since the black color of the mud (cause) is entering into pot (its effect), the conclusion is that the nature of cause enters its effect. This conclusion is applied to another worldly example and they say that the bright color of the gold lump (cause) must also enter the chain (its effect). Here, mud, pot, gold lump and chain are imaginable items and are worldly examples. Hence, all their logic is limited to the imaginable items only and that cannot be extended to the unimaginable God and His link with creation is also unimaginable because it is a link between unimaginable God and imaginable creation. This does not mean that logic is useless. It is useful in denying an imaginable item claimed to be unimaginable. For example in the ancient time the awareness is thought to be independent energy like a free electromagnetic wave in space. But today due to advancement of science and analytical faculty it is clearly proved that awareness is not an independent item but it is completely dependent on the co-existence of functioning nervous system and the inert heat energy produced by the oxidation of food. It is only a special work form of energy appearing through a complicated special technology of brain and nervous system. It is not independent even like the electromagnetic radiation traveling in the space. That which was wonderful yesterday is clear today. It was unimaginable but now is imaginable. Therefore, there is a knowable region extending up to space in the creation. In this knowable region there are certain layers of attained knowledge and certain layers of unimaginable nature. But the layers of unimaginable nature will certainly be analyzed by logic and science in the course of time. But there is a dead limit of this logic and analysis of science, which is the space beyond which the region of eternal unimaginable nature exists. Therefore, by conquering the unimaginable layers within the knowable region, it does not mean that one day or other the logic or science will cross the dead limit of space also and capture the unimaginable God existing beyond space. That is impossible. You may try and try and one day you may touch the roof of your house by the constant practice of high jumps. But this does not mean that one day or other you will also touch the sky by the continuous practice of high jumps. Today the unimaginable layers within the knowable region may appear wonderful and these layers can be called as Maya. The word Maya comes from root meaning “wonder” (Maya vaichitrye). The word wonder does not mean that it will be always unimaginable. The temporarily unimaginable systems also look wonderful before the analysis. The magic show looks wonderful but it can be analyzed and the wonder may disappear after analysis. Hence, wonder need not mean the permanently unimaginable item only. The deeper layers of this universe are wonderful without analysis but may be realized in future. These layers are temporarily unimaginable and the word wonder is used in the case of these also. Therefore, Gita says that you will find the universe as wonderful (Mayamtu Prakrutim…..). At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami Anil Antony www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace antonyanil@universal-spirituality.org

Difference between God & God’s power (the process of generation of world from God is unimaginable) When God is wonderful, we can call the power of God also as wonderful and thus the first sense of Maya (the power of God) can also stand for the power of God. In such case, there is no need of the second meaning of Maya which means that the power of God does not exist at all. The sun is like God and the sunlight or solar energy is like the power of God. Both exist separately and we can say that the power cannot be isolated from the source. Since, the power cannot be isolated from God, the modification of the power or the world cannot be also isolated from God. Therefore, Ramanuja said that God and world couldn’t be separated like the property (Dharma or Visheshana) and the substratum (Dharmi or Visheshya). The problem of changes in the world effecting God is answered by Shankara through the power of God being modified into world instead of God directly. In such case the power of God is the material cause and not the God. Since the power cannot be isolated from God, we can treat God to be the material cause indirectly. In such case the significance of the power becomes more than God and this leads to the evolution of the cult of Shakteya, which says that God is just a rubber stamp like the president in India. The power of God is the real material cause through direct modification and is also the real designer also since the power is also awareness (Jnana Shakti), according to Shakteya philosophy. This means that we can do away with God completely and if at all we give a place for God, it is only on the simple consideration that the power needs a source. This leads the suppression of Vedanta, which gives complete importance to God. At this point, Shankara told that the power cannot exist without source and cannot be isolated from God in any way. That single point cannot give the absolute and complete importance to God. The second meaning of Maya is applied in this sense only i.e., the power does not exist by itself without God. A child could not have been born without parents but all the subsequent greatness of the child cannot be attributed to parents based on this single point. Without Hiranyakashipu (father of Prahlada), Prahlada could not be produced. Based on this single point you cannot say that all the credit of the devotion of Prahlada should go to his father. For this reason only i.e., to give importance to God, Ramanuja and Madhva treated this power or material as inert and the power or the material is only the material cause but not the designer. Even then at least the power or material gets half importance. If you want to give complete importance to God only, there is only one way i.e., to say that the power does not exist at all. The second meaning of Maya is now applied to the power in its full sense. In such case, all the above objections come into picture (direct modification of God, changes in the world effecting God etc.) since God is the direct material cause. All these objections can be simply ruled out by one stroke i.e., the unimaginable God creates the world in unimaginable way. This point is already indicated by Shankara by the word “Anirvachaniyata Khyati” which means that the process of generation of world from God is unimaginable. This is the absolute truth and Shankara knows this very well. This point can be supported by simple argument i.e., there cannot be two unimaginable items like God and His power. When you say that you do not know what is present in a locked room, will anybody ask you “Whether one unknown item is present or two unknown items are present in the room?”. When what is present is unknown, how can you say that it is one or two or several? In such case why Shankara did not say this straightly through out His theory? The reason is a practical point. At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami Anil Antony www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace antonyanil@universal-spirituality.org

Miracle Vs divine knowledge By miracles the existence of God is indicated and the miraculous knowledge gives the address of God (Jnanitvatmaiva…Gita, Prajnanam Brahma…Veda). Among the knowledge, love and bliss, knowledge is the most important sign since only knowledge can guide the soul to the goal. Expression of mere love or bliss or both cannot indicate God like the miracles. Without the proper realization, determination and practice will not materialize and without practice no fruit exists. Mere love can be seen even in a prostitute or a beloved darling who even sacrifices life for your sake. Such love does not guide you to the goal in the spiritual path and it dips you more in worldly bonds. Similarly, you can see bliss in drunkard or similar persons smoking and taking drugs. They cannot guide you in the spiritual path because mere love and mere bliss cannot give you any realization and determination to practice. Hence, persons who are simply performing miracles and persons who are simply expressing reasonless love and bliss without clearing your doubts and without showing the correct path through perfect analysis are not the real human incarnations. Sometimes God incarnates only exhibiting the miraculous power to destroy evil forces and such incarnations (Matsya, Narasimha, Vamana etc.,) disappear immediately as soon as the purpose is over. At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami Anil Antony www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace antonyanil@universal-spirituality.org

Miracles of dattaswami Miracles indicate the unimaginable nature of God, which indicates the existence of unimaginable God. God exhibits the super power of the miracle for a particular deserving devotee only like the cosmic vision to give support to a concept in the spiritual knowledge given to Arjuna (a devotee) during the discourse of Gita. It is also used to protect deserving devotees like lifting Govardhana hill and it is also used to punish the evil forces like killing demons sent by Kamsa demon. Such protection and punishment through exhibition of miracles indicate the proof that God does the protection and punishment always even in the absence of such exhibition. The miracles in general indicate the basic existence of God and hence they are exhibited starting from demons to the human incarnation as police uniform starting from a constable to the top most official. Krishna performed a series of miracles in a selected place of Brundavanam for a selected group of devotees called Gopikas who were the most deserving sages. Later on, Krishna performed the miracles very rarely whenever there was a bare necessity in His view. Through out the Kurukshetra war He performed only one miracle that is hiding the Sun by His Chakra. The series of miracles was performed in His childhood as the introduction card, without which no body can identify God. Similarly, God in this human body of this Datta Swami performed a series of miracles within a period of two years before He started the mission spreading divine knowledge exactly 16 yrs back. Latter on the stress on miracles was reduced and stress was given on knowledge and devotion. Krishna limited the spiritual discussion (Gita) only to a particular devotee like Arjuna and also limited His divine love only to a limited set of deserving devotees like Gopikas, Sudama etc. Therefore, the deservingness of the devotee limits the number of devotees. At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami Anil Antony www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace antonyanil@universal-spirituality.org

Four stages of the soul according to Veda (Meditation and Deep Sleep) Veda says that there are four stages of the soul. 1. the awakened state in which the soul is called as the Vishwa where the soul is superimposed on the materialized gross body. 2. the dream state in which the soul is called as the Taijasa where the soul is superimposed on the subtle body which is a bundle of feelings and each feeling is awareness associated with kinetic energy. 3. the meditation state in which the soul is called as Prajna where the soul is in awareness of itself as pure awareness enjoying the bliss and 4. the deep sleep state in which the soul is called as the Turiya where the soul is beyond the above three states of awareness i.e. the soul is in its original raw state of inert energy with full of ignorance about God. If you say that the fourth state is beyond deep sleep (by treating the third state as the deep sleep eliminating the meditation), such fourth state is not in the experience of the soul directly or indirectly. The deep sleep is indirectly experienced as full ignorance by inference after rising from the deep sleep. When you awaken from the deep sleep, you are saying that you did not know anything during the deep sleep. This does not mean that you were experiencing the ignorance during the state of deep sleep also. The ignorance during the deep sleep was indirectly experienced through inference only after awakening from the deep sleep. Hence the deep sleep is also experienced indirectly through inference but even such indirect experience is not there for the fourth state because after the deep sleep you are entering into the first state immediately. In absence of any authority like perception or inference for the fourth state of the soul, such a state is not acceptable to direct or indirect experience and logic. The fourth state is related to the soul and hence you cannot say that it is beyond logic. If we take the deep sleep as the fourth state it represents the ignorance of the soul regarding God and therefore it is the state of soul towards and not the state of God. Therefore, the meditation state is third which is almost considered as deep sleep. If you take the soul as prajna or pure awareness in the deep sleep, it becomes absurd because in deep sleep the awareness is totally disappearing. In deep sleep there is no experience of bliss during that state. But in the state of meditation there is experience of bliss during that state. After deep sleep, the bliss is enjoyed due to conservation of energy since the nervous system was not working in deep sleep. But the bliss due to such conservation of energy is not enjoyed during the state of deep sleep. During the deep sleep the energy is stored and the stored energy is suddenly experienced as bliss when you awake from the deep sleep. When you take food the extra energy is supplied and in that case also you are experiencing the same bliss. Similarly in the deep sleep the energy becomes excess due to absence of its expenditure. Both the states of meditation and deep sleep are almost one and the same in the sense of excess energy, which alone is giving more happiness or freshness for which the word bliss is used. If you take the state of meditation, here also all the thoughts are arrested and the excess energy is stored. In this meditation state very little energy is spent in the awareness of itself. Thus the deep sleep is hundred percent storage of energy and the meditation is ninety nine percent storage of energy. Hence the enjoyment of bliss is almost same except the difference that the bliss is enjoyed during meditation whereas the bliss is enjoyed after the deep sleep. The merit of the meditation state is that the soul can be called as pure awareness in this state since it is enjoying the bliss directly during this state. In deep sleep the soul is not awareness because it is transformed into inert energy and there the word prajna meaning pure awareness cannot be applied. Moreover during the deep sleep the bliss is not directly enjoyed. Due to these points, the meditation state should be considered as the third state (sushupti) and the actual deep sleep can be considered as the fourth state (turiya), which represents the ignorance of soul towards God. The deep sleep indicates the unknowable God due to complete absence of knowledge of the soul. Before God the soul becomes inert item and hence cannot know even a trace of the real nature of God. In the deep sleep the soul disappears since the causal body dissolves into its basic form of inert energy called as primary energy. This primary energy is the ultimate item of the universe and the soul in the awakened state can recognize the existence of this primary energy only at the maximum. Therefore the primary energy is the ultimate existence (sat) with respect to the knowledge of the soul. Hence Veda says that the soul dissolves in sat in the deep sleep and does not know about anything because the primary energy is inert (sati sampatsya na viduh…….). This primary energy is the basic homogenous material cause of this entire universe and can be called as Brahman in the sense that it is the greatest in the world or in the imaginable items. Now there is no objection if you say that the soul dissolves in the primary energy (sat), which is inert and the soul is in the state of full ignorance of anything including itself and God and the soul thus becomes the Brahman, which is the primary energy. The entire argument of advaita is correlated in this way and yet God is not touched by the soul because God is beyond such Brahman and is called as Parabrahman. The word Brahman is not fixed to any particular item as it is clear from the usage of this word Brahman in the sense of Veda, which is greatest among all the scriptures. Therefore, the whole misunderstanding comes from the usage of the word Brahman. Gita says that the Parabrahman or God is beyond sat also (na sat tat ….). God is indicated by the word asat (asadvaa….Veda), which means that the God is not sat or primary energy i.e God is beyond the primary energy (Mula Maya). However, the word asat also has another sense of non-existence and this sense is removed by the Gita because God is existent (naasaduchyate…). At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami Anil Antony www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace antonyanil@universal-spirituality.org

Do not worry about the concept of Lord coming in Human form You need not be discouraged that a specific human being has become God and that you have no opportunity to become like that in this very human life. The analysis of human incarnation shows the coexistence of unimaginable God and a selected soul suitable for the specific purpose of the divine mission of the God (Dvaasuparnaa….). When the divine program needs different angles of various suitable talents, God can simultaneously enter into the human bodies and make simultaneously existing human incarnations. Therefore if you make yourself suitable to the divine mission of God, God can certainly enter your human body and do a specific work needed for the divine mission through yourself. In such case you are also the human incarnation acting in a specific direction of the program. Datta Swami is a selected soul for the purpose of generation of divine knowledge because He has the talent of the knowledge of scriptures and science suitable for that line of work. All the devotees who are working in this divine mission have different lines of talents and God has entered their human bodies also and is working in their lines of the program. Therefore, all the devotees who are already working in this mission are already the simultaneous human incarnations of God. That is how Datta Swami views His devotees. The devotees of Datta Swami do not accept themselves as simultaneous human incarnations and this shows their submissiveness, which is the basic characteristic of Lord Datta. Datta Swami, sometimes declares Himself as the human incarnation of Lord Datta and therefore only Datta Swami has to be doubted! Therefore, the devotees who are going to join this mission in the divine service are the future human incarnations. The cosmic vision of the Lord (viswarupam) shows several heads and several hands. This means that the human incarnation is a complex of several divine brains planning in the mission and several divine hands working in the mission. Hence, the concept of Shankara is now concentrated to some extent only so that it is neither a single human incarnation nor that every useless human being is also the human incarnation. This is the middle golden path avoiding both the extreme ends. This divine mission is teamwork of a selected number of simultaneous human incarnations working in different channels like fans, lights, TV screens, etc., in a hall. The same current is working in different channels through all these electronic instruments. You cannot say that an insulator into which current can never enter is also an electronic instrument. At the same time you cannot say that a specific light in the hall alone is electronic instrument. Therefore, let us join together to carry on the propagation of this divine knowledge using our various talents in the service of the Lord without any feelings of difference like superiority or inferiority. The difference in the channels of talents has nothing to do with the superiority or inferiority. You cannot say that the light is superior and the fan is inferior. In Gita the Lord mentions that He is the best talent among each category. If all this best talents are grouped together, such best group of talents, which is a team of best divine personalities, forms the total picture of the Lord. The Lord says that He is Adishesha among serpents, Garuda among the birds and Arjuna among Pandavas. Adishesha, Garuda and Arjuna are sincerely involved in His divine service in all the times. Hence, His total personality is a composite of all these best souls. He is Krishna among Yadavas, as told by Him in Gita. Therefore, He did not specify Himself to be Krishna alone, even though Krishna is generating the divine knowledge (Gita). Krishna is also one of this composite. At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami Anil Antony www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace antonyanil@universal-spirituality.org

God takes different roles to preach Shankara is the incarnation of God and Advaita is the angle of God. God only can explain the angle of God. Ramanuja is the incarnation of Adishesha who is one of the closest circle of God called as a liberated soul. The angle of a liberated soul can be best explained by the liberated soul only. Madhva is the incarnation of Vayu and claims himself to be the son of Vayu and as younger brother of Hanuman and Bheema. Among Dharmaraja, Bheema and Arjuna, Bheema is the best servant with full blind faith. After recognizing the Lord through thorough analysis, the logic must be stopped before the Lord because God is beyond logic. Logic helps only to eliminate the false forms of God. When the Lord decided the war, Bheema ( a devotee of God) simply jumped into the war. But Arjuna asked for lot explanations from the Lord. When the Lord asked Dharmaraja, to tell a lie, he refused. Bheema told the same lie on the order of the Lord, even though it did not click. Vayu is an angel and one of the five elements and is only a soul. The angle of the soul can be best explained by a soul only. Therefore, if you understand the background of the personalities of three Acharayas, the theories in their respective angles are well understood. The whole spiritual knowledge from the angle of God, from the angle of the liberated soul and from the angle of an ordinary soul are explained and thus there cannot be any contradiction between these three philosophies since the angles of explanation are quite different but mutually coexist in the same time. The unimaginable God is like the invisible management of a college, which is not seen in the campus. The visible principal is only one and represents the invisible management as the final authority in the college. The management and the principal are quite different but the principal must be treated as the management for all practical purposes. Similarly, the human incarnation stands for the unimaginable God and such God is experienced through a specific human incarnation like Shankara or Krishna. There will be a few vice principals like vice principal for administration, vice principal for academic affairs and vice principal for student affairs. These three vice principals constitute the total composite of the post of the principal. The vice principal can stand as a partial representative for the principal. Similarly, the liberated soul like Adishesha (Shesha means part) stands for the God as a part of the composite, who is incarnated as Ramanuja. Ramanuja stated that the soul is a part of God. The vice principal is not the total principal actually. Thus the difference is maintained and at the same time the closeness as a part is also maintained. This is the case of a liberated soul, which stands between ordinary soul and God. The third state of Madhva is a lecturer working in the college as an employee without any power except doing service. Similarly Madhva represented Vayu who is an ordinary soul as a servant of God and established the complete difference between the master and servant. Therefore, the angles of principal, vice principal and lecturer exist simultaneously in the same college with mutual correlation and there is no trace of any contradiction, since principal, vice-principals and lecturers coexist in the college with mutual cooperation without any contradictions. Then I do not understand why the followers of these three philosophies are quarrelling with each other? You have to decide about yourself whether you are the principal or vice principal or lecturer and you speak and behave as per the corresponding angle without any contradiction with the other posts simultaneously in the same college and in the same time. If you are God in human form, behave like Shankara. If you are a liberated soul behave like Ramanuja as a part of God. If you are an ordinary soul behave like Madhva as a sincere servant of God. At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami Anil Antony www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace antonyanil@universal-spirituality.org