dattaswami

Is the experience of the world useful in spiritual knowledge? [Reply to a question by Shri Balaji] Swami replied: The answer to this question is a full yes. For every concept in spiritual knowledge, there is an excellent example in the world. This means that from worldly experience itself, the entire spiritual knowledge can be built up. We have seen that issue-devotion (love for one’s children) is the strongest and that one’s devotion to God stands in competition against it. The final success lies in conquering the love for one’s children with the devotion that one has for God. We realize that we should love God, even if God gives us negative results, just like our unshakable love for our issues does not diminish, even if they turn against us! Our worldly experience tells us that the love or service of the highest value is that in which the desire for selfish benefit is absent. When a father comes to know that his son is serving him without aspiriing for anything in return, he is highly pleased. Similarly, when our devotion is free of the aspiration for any fruit in return from God, God is highly pleased with us. Such aspiration-free devotion is of the highest value. A fan of a political leader who commits suicide on the death of the leader, stands as the best example for the climax of devotion to God. God has created this world in which various examples exist. On proper analysis, they can be used as correct similes or analogies to understand spiritual knowledge. They make the understanding of the spiritual concepts most effective. Worldly knowledge thus helps the soul understand spiritual knowledge. When worldly examples are given as comparisons, they bring full clarity to our understanding of subtle spiritual concepts. =============== -By Shri Datta Swami (Visit our website: Universal Spirituality for World Peace) Universal Spirituality for World Peace

What are the five sacrifices (pancha yajnaas)? Shri Balaji asked: What are the five sacrifices (pañca yajñas)? If a person misses the Satguru, who is to be worshipped in the first Brahma yajña? Should he perform it or not? If the real Satguru is not available, will the performance of these five sacrifices take the soul to the highest step? Swami replied: In fact, there are seven sacrifices (sapta yajñas) in which seven different entities are worshipped by offering food to them. They are as follows: 1) Brahma yajña, in which the contemporary Human Incarnation of God or the Satguru is to be worshipped. 2) Deva yajña, in which devotees are to be worshipped. 3) Ṛṣi yajña, in which scholars preaching deep spiritual knowledge are to be worshipped. 4) Pitṛ yajña, in which the elders in the family are to be worshipped. 5) Manuṣya yajña, in which ordinary human guests are to be worshipped. 6) Bhūta yajña, in which hungry soft-natured animals and birds are to be worshipped. 7) Ātma yajña, in which one’s own life is to be protected and maintained by consuming food. This list of seven sacrifices is shortened to five by clubbing Ṛṣi yajña with Deva yajña and by neglecting the last sacrifice to oneself, since a person will naturally do it, in any case. You have asked if one can neglect the performance of the first sacrifice, if the Satguru is not available. It is alright provided the person is sure of the non-availability of the Satguru. But note that a Human Incarnation of God comes in every generation since He is not partial to any generation and wants to grant the fortune of His physical presence to each generation. If one is not sure whether the Satguru is available or not and thinks that some Guru himself is a Satguru, one can perform the first sacrifice by worshipping that selected Guru. The highest step is the achievement of full grace of God. The performance of these five sacrifices is certainly a very high step. But only when the first sacrifice is done to the actual Satguru, is the highest step achieved. The Satguru is not only your Guide, but also the very Goal of your effort. The recognition of the Satguru itself is very difficult and the worship of such a Satguru is very very difficult. The main reason for the difficulty is the repulsion between the common human media of God and the soul. The recognition of the Satguru with real theoretical love that is proved in practice through service and sacrifice is the highest step, required to attain His full grace. =============== -By Shri Datta Swami (Visit our website: Universal Spirituality for World Peace) Universal Spirituality for World Peace

Are Human Incarnations of God possible in atheistic or communist countries? Swami replied: God said in the Gita that He incarnates in human form for only one purpose, which is the establishment of justice and the destruction of injustice (Dharma saṃsthāpanārthāya…—Gita). He never said that He would incarnate for the sake of establishing His existence or for destroying atheism. God is not worried about the spiritual path (nivṛtti). He is not interested in establishing theism, spiritual knowledge, devotion, service to Him or sacrifice to Him. He has no desire to destroy atheism and establish theism or any aspect of spirituality. The only reason for His incarnation mentioned by Him, is the destruction of injustice and the establishment of justice in worldly life (pravṛtti). Hence, even in an atheistic country, He comes as a Human Incarnation, whenever injustice is trying to suppress justice. As soon as justice is established, God quits the human being with whom He had merged for that specific purpose. Such a Human Incarnation is called an Āveśa Avatāra. It is a temporary Incarnation that is only meant for the specific puprpose of establishing justice in that situation. Whenever injustice has suppressed justice, even in atheistic countries, God has merged with a suitable atheist, fought against the injustice and re-established justice. =============== -By Shri Datta Swami (Visit our website: Universal Spirituality for World Peace) Universal Spirituality for World Peace

Can one's love for God miraculously cancel one's sins? Shri Anil asked: Jesus said that the sins of the devotee will be excused in proportion to the love possessed by the devotee for God. Does this mean that the love for God has such miraculous power to cancel sins? Swami replied: The love for God does not have any miraculous power. Even if it had any miraculous power, that miraculous power is not used to cancel the sins. Due to the devotee’s love for God, God comes down in human form to preach to the devotee about the path of reformation. It is only upon reformation that sins are cancelled. There are three steps in the reformation of the soul. The first is realization. It means the recognition of the sin. The person should confess that he or she has committed a sin and not try to use false and twisted arguments to defend the sin or prove that it was not a sin but a good deed. The second step is repentance for the committed sin. The third and final step is the practical non-repetition of the sin for the rest of one’s life. This step is the most essential step. Mere confession of the sin is not sufficient to cancel the sins. Confession, repentance and non-repetition of sin together complete the process of reformation of the soul. When God finds that the soul has been fully refomed through these three steps, He cancels the sins. Without the final practical step of non-repetition of the sins, sins are never cancelled. Both realization and repentance are theoretical steps. So, by merely realizing and repenting, the sins are not practically cancelled. If the person continues to repeat the sin practically, the person has not really reformed. In that case, the person’s apparent theoretical reformation is meaningless. So, God too, will only cancel the sin only theoretically and not practically. In other words, it will appear that the sin has been cancelled, but in reality, it will not be canelled. God’s behavior with us is just a reflection of our behavior towards Him (Pratirūpo babhūva—Veda). When Mary Magdelena worshiped Jesus with expensive perfumes, one devotee commented that the money used to purchase the perfumes could instead have been used to feed beggars. Jesus told the devotee to let her worship Him to her satisfaction, saying that there would always be beggars in the world to feed. Actually, the devotee who passed that comment was not eligible to do so. The immediate question to him would have been “Have you stopped spending money on all pleasures and started using it only to feed beggars?” One should comment on others’ practice only after perfectly practicing it oneself. Jesus also told the devotee that her sins will be cancelled in proportion to her love for Him. This means that even if God preaches the total concept of reformation to a soul, the soul will digest it only in proportion to his or her devotion. If the devotee’s devotion is complete, the concept of reformation will also be completely digested. If the devotion is partial, the digestion of the concept will be also partial. If the concept is only partially digested, the person’s reformation will also be partial. When the reformation is not complete, ideally, sins cannot be cancelled. This would mean that unless one has full devotion to God, who preaches this concept of reformation, the sins would not be cancelled. In other words, unless the devotee has full devotion, has fully digested the concept of reformation and has practically been fully reformed, the devotee’s sins would not be cancelled at all. But Jesus said that partial cancellation of sins does take place when the devotee digests the concept partially, as a result of his or her partial devotion. This clearly means that partial devotion results in the partial reformation of the soul. Reformation happens in the context of some lighter sins. As a result, some sins committed by the soul earlier are cancelled by God, even though not all sins are cancelled. The more serious sins require a deeper reformation, which takes a longer time. Some say that Jesus married this lady and even had children with her. Whether Jesus got married or not, how does it matter to us? What matters to us, is only His valuable preaching, which alone is going to benefit us. If you go to a teacher to study a subject, you are only concerned with the teacher’s teaching of the subject. You need not bother about the personal life of the teacher. Moreover, Jesus got legally married to her and then had children. There is nothing unjust or illegitimate in it and there is absolutely no cause for criticism. In a Human Incarnation, even though God exists in the human medium, the human medium retains its own natural characteristics and needs including hunger, thirst, sleep and legitimate sex. All these are the inevitable biological needs of the human body. I do not understand why people make a big issue out of sex alone. Nobody is bothered if the Human Incarnation eats food, drinks water or sleeps to get rest! Why then, should the Human Incarnation or God-man be looked down upon, if He is involved in legitimate sex? In that case, the God-man eating food, drinking water and sleeping, must also be looked down upon for not having conquered those biological needs of the body! The Human Incarnation could be criticized only if He has been involved in illegitimate sex. But even in that case, careful analysis is necessary before any such criticism. Krishna was misunderstood for His involvement with the Gopikās. The negative qualities of rajas (desire and activity) and tamas (ignorance and inertia) are sometimes, deliberately exhibited by God-in-human-form. Exhibiting these negative qualities is helpful in repelling selfish souls who have positive qualities. Such selfish people come to the Incarnation to exploit His miraculous powers for their selfish benefits. In order to avoid their exploitation, He exhibits negative qualities, which repel them. Sometimes, negative qualities are also exhibited by God, to test the firmness of the faith of devotees. Deep analysis shows that the negative qualities shown by the Incarnation are only superficial and were meant to severely test certain devotees. The Gopikās, who possessed the topmost level of devotion, were tested by God Krishna for their ability to overcome all their worldly bonds for His sake. The Gopikās, were cowherd ladies and Krishna stole their butter, which was the wealth of the cowherds. They had stored the butter for the sake of their children. By stealing their butter, He was simultaneously testing their bond with wealth (dhaneṣanā) and their bond with their children (putreṣaṇā). He was competing with their wealth and children combined, forcing them to choose between their bond with Him and their bond with wealth and children. Similarly, Krishna danced with the Gopikās at midnight, on the banks of the Yamuna, to test the strength of their bond with their life-partners (dāreṣaṇā), forcing them to choose between Him and their life-partners. When Krishna died, the Gopikās jumped into fire and ended their lives, proving that their bond with Krishna was stronger than their bond with their own lives (prāṇeṣaṇā). Upon deep analysis, one can find that Krishna did not do these activities with any selfish motive. Once His tests were completed, Krishna never returned to Bṛndāvanam and He never repeated such tests elsewhere in His life. Similarly, Shirdi Sai Baba appeared to be a smoker, but it was not His weakness. It was meant to test the faith of orthodox devotees in Him. Hence, we should not jump to hasty conclusions in the case of God-men. Of course, false God-men appear before us as unmarried bachelors, pretending to have conquered the desire for sex, but in reality, they are involved in illegitimate sex secretly! Universal Spirituality for World Peace

Why do You try to correlate the eternal Hindu religion (Sanaatana Dharma) with others who eat the flesh of a cow? [Reply to a question by Shri Bhavesh, Chennai] Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! You mean to say that cow-eaters should not be excused, whereas, goat-eaters can be excused! Both cows and goats are soft-natured animals. The real concept is that a soft-natured animal or human being should not be killed. A cow represents all soft-natured animals. When it is said that you should not kill a cow, it means that you should not kill any soft-natured animal or bird. Similarly, when it is said that you should not kill a Brāhmaṇa, it means that you should not kill any soft-natured human being. A Brāhmaṇa, does not mean any person born in the Brahmin caste, but it means a Brāhmaṇa by qualities and deeds. The Brāhmaṇa represents every soft-natured human being. If you reject other religions because their followers eat non-vegetarian food, several Hindus too eat non-vegetarian food. You should not go by your fascination towards the name of any religion. Instead, you should analyze the scripture of any religion, without any bias. Then, you will find that the essence of the scriptures of all religions is one and the same. This is because, the same unimaginable God has ultimately revealed the scriptures of all religions through the medium of different Human Incarnations of God. The same unimaginable God is found mediated in the different human media of the various Incarnations. Is there a scripture of any religion, which says that God does not exist or that one should commit sin and avoid good deeds? We must find the basic unity in all world religions and through it, we should find the basic unity in the entire humanity. This is essential for achieving world-peace, which alone pleases God to the climax-level. Some say that the Islamic scripture orders Muslims to kill non-Muslims! In that case, how can the same scripture say that a Muslim should help any person in trouble, preach to the person about Islam and then leave the person to choose freely, without any force? Both these statements are mutually contradicting! Hence, we should think about the probability of insertions made by some bad followers in the scriptures of the various religions, in the course of time. =============== -By Shri Datta Swami (Visit our website: www.universal-spirituality.org) Universal Spirituality for World Peace

DESTINY CHANGES WITH TRUE KNOWLEDGE FROM SATGURU This world of humanity is based on full freedom and absence of any forcible destiny. Here, you are free to do any type of work and no destiny forces you to do any specific work as said in the Gita (Na kartrutvam...). The concept of destiny exists only in the link of the specific work and the specific fruit. You have full freedom to put your finger in fire or water. No destiny forces you to put your finger in fire or water. The destiny lies only in the link between a specific work and corresponding specific fruit. It is destined that the fire burns your finger and the water keeps your finger cool. The destiny is not in the selection of the work. You have put your finger in the fire due to ignorance or ego. After burning the finger, you may say that you have put the finger in the fire due to the destiny. God has destined the specific system, which links every action with a specific fruit. After putting your finger, God is not ordering the fire to burn it. The subsequent fruit for a specific work is already destined. God or the destiny does not interfere with the choice of your selection of a specific work. Even the so called past destiny does not interfere with your works. The composition of your psychology is fixed based on your past deeds. Thus, work is responsible for the will and the will is the generator of the work. Since the composition of your psychology is already based on your past deeds and is fixed, you can treat that as destiny and in such case, destiny is guiding everything. The psychology is a specific pattern of ideas generated by the past deeds and it is called as ‘Samskara’. An idea can be changed by knowledge. Samskara is a fixed concept and the right knowledge is a group of right concepts. You have the opportunity of hearing the right knowledge since God comes to this world quite often in human form. You have the freedom to hear such divine knowledge or not to hear. You have also freedom to practice the knowledge or leave it without practice. At every step, the basic freedom is given. This human world is also the right place for testing the devotees and here also, the full freedom is protected. You are totally free to sacrifice anything or not to sacrifice anything even if God desires for it. God does not force you or threaten you or wash your brain in your sacrifice since such sacrifice is not real. God is pleased only with the real sacrifice done by the soul in the atmosphere of total freedom. In the examination hall, you are totally free to answer the question paper to any extent or even to return the white paper without writing even a word. God preaches the total concept and in the stage of implementation of it, God does not influence your mind in any way. After teaching all the right knowledge through the Gita, Krishna said that the decision to fight or not is totally left to Arjuna (yathechchasi…). The basic reason is that God is not in need of anything from anybody. The sacrifice is not to satisfy God but only to uplift you. The sacrifice proves your real attachment to God and such real attachment is not in the benefit of God but it is only in your benefit. Krishna asked for the special gem from Satrajit, the father of Satyabhama. Krishna is not in need of that gem. He is the creator of that gem. Even without the help of that gem, He can create wealth. He can even stop the power of the gem to create the wealth. Krishna asked the gem from Satrajit because Satrajit cannot maintain it and will fall in trouble. Only for the welfare of Satrajit, He asked him for that gem. But, Satrajit thought that Krishna asked that gem for His personal benefit and thereby, for His personal satisfaction. Such misunderstanding made Satrajit to refuse the gem. Astrology says that the happening of good or bad incidents is due to the planets. This misunderstanding again leads the people to think that their actions are destined by the planets. Here, your actions are not destined by the planets. Your actions are only destined by your psychological set up, which is destined by your past deeds. The planet links the specific fruit for the specific action. You do something based on your Samskara. The planet gives its correspondent fruit immediately. You blame the planet for guiding you to do a specific work and this is totally wrong. A planet is only destined to give the specific result linked with your specific action. The specific work is based on your specific psychological pattern only. The horoscope gives the composition of your specific psychological pattern. Since your future actions also depend on the same pattern, future prediction can be easily given. A specific psychological pattern is always linked with a specific composition of planets representing your qualities or ideas. Therefore, there is no external destiny here other than yourself regarding your future. If the samskara is modified with the help of the divine knowledge, the whole destiny is changed, which means your horoscope totally disappears. Every period is divided into sub-periods, every sub-period is again divided into further sub-periods and every division involves the revolution of all the nine planets again and again. This means that human being is a mixture of both good and bad always in every step of the time. Astrology is an Introduction to Philosophy Actually, the basic concept of astrology indicates that there is the existence of some unimaginable supernatural force that guides this world. Hence, astrology is an introduction for the philosophy. Without taking this basic reality, you misuse astrology to justify yourself by linking your wrong actions to the planets. The worship of the supernatural and unimaginable planets introduces the worship of unimaginable God. But, this is again misused as the worship of the planet for not giving the bad result for the bad action done by you. If you worship God, He will preach you the right knowledge, which changes the total destiny. By your worship, God will not protect you from your sins. Therefore, in this world, the destiny is also in your hands only. There is full freedom for you to change your destiny through the right knowledge. Hence, this world of humanity is called as ‘Karma Loka’, which means that your actions decide everything and that your action is based on your psychological pattern only and not by any pre-determined external destiny. The upper worlds are called as ‘Bhoga Lokas’ because there is no freedom to perform any new action and you have no freedom at all, but for enjoying the destined results for your already recorded actions. ‘Pravrutti’ means attachment to worldly bonds. ‘Nivrutti’ is detachment of your worldly bonds for the sake of God. This world is the stage for both pravrutti and nivrutti. Full freedom up to the level of changing your destiny exists here. Your destiny is only your fixed psychological pattern generated from the past deeds and not any other external force. This pattern can be changed by the right knowledge received from God in the form of preacher. Therefore, there is every chance for changing your destiny in this world. Generally, people blame the reason for their bad actions to be some external force called as destiny in which there is no trace of their personal psychological involvement. People say, ‘People say so’. The people cannot be the authority unless the whole subject is perfectly analyzed. Even there are several misinterpretations in books written by ancestral scholars. You should not blindly take the people or the ancient books as authority without analyzing them perfectly. The Gita says that you will laugh at such authorities if you analyze the subject with sharp scientific intelligence (Buddhyaayukto…). Even if the implementation is impossible, it is better to have the right knowledge, which follows the soul to the next birth so that the practical implementation can be done sometime in the future. This point looks quite good, but there is the practical danger. Just like the cooked food can be attacked by the bacteria in the atmosphere, the right knowledge is also attacked by the worldly attractions and sometimes, the right knowledge may become weaker and weaker and even may finally disappear even in the later part of this life. Therefore, it is better to implement the realized concept as early as possible like eating the cooked food immediately.

MONEY IS THE ROOT KNOT It catches your throat. Therefore the Veda says “Dhanena tyagenaike …” which means that money alone decides your love on God. Real love can be expressed only by money and work (karma sanyasa and karma phala tyaga). Without these two, other ways are only hypocritic. If these two also exist, then, other ways get life. Otherwise, they are dead items only. ‘Guna’ is theory. ‘Karma’ is practice. Theory should lead to practice. Otherwise, mere theory is only hypocrisy. The four castes in spiritual path are decided by theory and practice only (guna karma vibhagasah – the Gita). Saktuprastha is the real Brahmana (or Brahma Jnani), who sacrificed all the fruit of his work for God. Dharma raja is kshatriya, who could only do partial sacrifice of wealth in doing Asvamedha. Dhritarastra is Vysya, who has good theory but zero in practice. He recognized the Lord Krishna but did not give even five villages, even though the Lord is asking. He has full power to give but escaped nicely by pleading his false incapability in going against his son. Duryodhana is a sudra, who did not even recognise the Lord and was greedy for wealth of even his own brothers. Thus caste is not by birth, but it is by the qualities and practice (guna karma). Swami Dayananda, who is also human incarnation preached about this valuable concept. Every great preacher is incarnation of God because the Gita says the same (Yadyat vibhutimat…). The goal of material life ends when you have earned or acquired money from forefathers, which is sufficient for your minimum standards of life. But, the ambition in defining the minimum must be also controlled. Money earned more than minimum requirement is not only useless, but also, harmful as said by Shankara (Arthamanartham…). Excess money gives also ego, which is the fast path for downfall in the worldly life itself. Once required minimum is achieved, it is always better to concentrate on spiritual path. In doing so, God will certainly protect your minimum achieved by you and will see that no problems of wealth and health generate requiring more than that minimum. If God’s grace is obtained, not only worldly life here and not only further life in the above world (hell) are protected, but also, your permanent spiritual life that continues throughout your future lives is also protected. In the spiritual effort, sacrifice of money is said (by the Veda) to be very important step to identify real love through practical devotion, but not earning the money in unjust ways. Real love is proved only in money and this is the truth in the worldly domain also. The Gita makes lot of stress again and again on the sacrifice of fruit of work or Karma phala tyaaga. The Veda says that sacrifice of money alone proves the real devotion. The Yogavaashistha also says the same. We should not hesitate in projecting the unclothed truth fearing that somebody will misunderstand us. We shall not alter the basic truth. Rich and poor are not differentiated because the sacrifice of percentage of total possessed is the criterion in giving value and not the magnitude of the sacrifice. The practical philosophy is important than theoretical devotion. Rich shall donate to the poor without analyzing deservingness as emergent justice. The poor need not be discouraged in this setup since poor is benefitted by the donation from rich. You can’t alter the practical truth. You can alter the theoretical concepts that side and this side. Rising of Sun on East can’t be altered based on likes and dislikes. A poor person is also doing the sacrifice of fruit of work (karmaphalatyaga) to his issues in his own level of earned money or wealth. Hence, you cannot restrict this concept to rich people only. In fact, greediness increases as the wealth increases. Hence, Jesus told that even a camel may pass through the eye of the needle, but a rich man can’t get salvation. When all the devotees were sacrificing money for God in a Church, a poor widow sacrificed just one coin whereas several other rich people sacrificed coins in hundreds and thousands. Jesus told that the poor widow is the highest donor to God! Hence, the magnitude of the sacrificed wealth is not at all the criterion whereas the percentage of the sacrificed money in the total possessed wealth is the criterion. The poor lady has one coin only and she sacrificed that resulting in 100% sacrifice whereas, the sacrificed money by rich people is not even 1%. Lord Krishna also blessed Kuchela with infinite wealth since that poor person gave a handful parched rice brought from neighbor as loan. When he was returning, Lord did not give a single paisa to him to test whether the sacrifice was done with an aspiration for any fruit in return or not. Both these examples show that God honored only the poorest soul and not a rich person. The attitude to sacrifice is proportional to theoretical attitude, which is nothing but digested spiritual knowledge and not possessed spiritual knowledge or possessed wealth. One eats a lot but digests very little of it. One eats very little and digests it fully. Both these examples apply to east and west respectively. The reason for poverty in our country is due to more possessed knowledge and least digested knowledge, which alone results in practical sacrifice. The fruit of any sacrifice to God must be only to please God and not to aspire even the grace of God. One rupee of a poor person earning 10 rupees is equal to 10 rupees of a rich person earning 100 rupees. Service and Sacrifice Benefit the Soul; not God Your friend has made God out to be a helpless person requesting the help of others to do His work. As if God cannot do His own work! Why would the omnipotent God need the help of powerless human beings? Your friend’s wrong thinking is the result of his ignorance of God’s omnipotence. In fact, God never asks anybody to help Him in His work. Even if He advises devotees to participate in His work of propagation of spiritual knowledge in this world, it is only for their spiritual welfare. The propagation of His spiritual knowledge strengthens the concepts in the devotee’s mind due to repeated revision. It leads to the reformation of the devotee who is propagating the knowledge. By advising certain blessed souls to participate in His work, God is only providing an opportunity for them to rise higher on the spiritual path. This progress on the spiritual path is a permanent attainment that follows the soul in every birth. On the other hand, pravṛtti is the work related to one’s worldly bonds and is confined only to this birth. In fact, God never advises souls to proceed on the path of nivṛtti, which is establishing a strong personal bond with God. Nivṛtti is the path discovered by the devoted souls themselves. It was not introduced by God. In fact, God discourages the path of nivṛtti by creating several difficult hurdles which serve as acid tests to prove the deservingness of the soul. The only path introduced and encouraged by God is pravṛtti. It is the path of protection of justice and the rejection of injustice in worldly life. His entire focus is only on pravṛtti. He introduced worldly and heavenly benefits for following justice. To discourage sins and injustice, He also introduced punishments in this world and in the upper world. God descends into this world in the form of Incarnations for this very purpose of establishing pravṛtii. In that case, how can anybody blame God for supporting nivṛtti at the cost of pravṛtti? In fact, God created this world having all the souls and gave them the commandments to strictly follow pravṛtti. Souls are supposed to strictly follow justice and avoid injustice in their worldly life. God remained as the unimaginable domain, aloof from this world, which is the imaginable domain. It is just like parents staying aloof from their grown-up children after helping them settle down in life and giving them proper instructions on leading a happy life through discipline. Had these souls followed the instructions of God and maintained the balance of society perfectly, God would never have had to visit creation. He would have been happy simply to see all souls living together happily. This point answers the question of atheists, who ask why it is even necessary for human beings to think about God in their worldly life. If souls could have lived happily following the discipline necessary to maintain the balance of the society, there would have been no need for souls to think about God. Old parents, staying aloof from their grown-up children, are not interested in unnecessarily visiting the homes of their children as long as the children are leading a disciplined and happy life. When the children break the discipline and create havoc in their own lives and in society, the parents rush to their homes to set things right. They come to the homes of their children to solve the crisis created by the children and not to get free food or service from their children. Now, human parents are ignorant and they are not omnipotent either. In fact, they themselves might be in need of financial and other help from their children. So, it is possible that they might visit the homes of their grown-up children expecting some help. But God is omnipotent and does not require any help from souls either in terms of service or in terms of money. The service rendered by a devotee to God is called karma saṁnyāsa and his hard-earned money offered or sacrificed to God is called karma phala tyaga. Both service and the sacrifice of hard-earned money together are called karma yoga. Karma yoga or service and sacrifice of money are not needed by God at all! In the case that the parents are strong and healthy and are also financially well-off, they need neither service nor money from their children. In spite of that, if the children serve the parents and give money to them, it is due to the children’s love for their parents. The service and the money given are the practical proof of the mental love they have for their parents. God is like these strong and rich parents who do not need anything from their children. Unfortunately, some clever children exploit this point, saying that they do not serve their parents or give them any money since the rich and strong parents do not need any of it. These grown-up children are missing the point. The service rendered to the parents and the money offered to them is not because of the need of the parents. It is the proof of the real love that the children have for their parents. Many people in the world also think in the same manner about God. They too must understand that service rendered to God and the money sacrificed to Him is only the proof of one’s real love for God. Your friend’s comment is like that of a son, who says to his poor and dependent parents living with him in his home “If I serve you and spend my money on you, how can I look after my family towards which I am duty-bound?” The comment is completely out of place for the context of God and souls. The case of God and a soul is similar to that of rich and strong parents who have been caring for and financially supporting the son and his family from the beginning. So, whatever service the son renders to such rich and strong parents and whatever money he sacrifices to them, is not because they need it. It is only the practical proof of his real love for them. Thus, your friend’s thinking, which is also the thinking of a lot of other people, is based on an illusion and ignorance. It is God who has been helping and supporting the devotee in all possible ways. He needs nothing from souls! The love that the devotee has for God is in the mind. It is theoretical. It cannot be seen. A person may falsely claim that he loves God. Therefore, proof becomes necessary. Service and sacrifice of one’s hard-earned money to God are the practical proof of real love for God. They are called karma saṁnyāsa and karma phala tyaga respectively, and they are the proof of devotion. They can be said to be practical devotion. Of course, the devotee can practically prove his theoretical devotion either through service or through the sacrifice of money. Service is work done for God. It is the sacrifice of one’s energy for God. Money is said to be the fruit of one’s work since we earn money in return for our work. Offering money to God is the sacrifice of the fruit of one’s work to God. Service or karma saṁnyāsa represents the sacrifice of energy. Karma phala tyāga represents the sacrifice of matter since money stands for matter. Since both energy and matter are mutually interconvertible, service and sacrifice both constitute karma yoga. Both are equivalent and a person can do any one or a combination of both as per one’s convenience. Service is convenient for a renounced saint who does not earn or possess money. For a householder, a combination of the two is usually convenient. Since he earns and possesses money, he can sacrifice some money. In addition, he also has some spare time in which he can serve God. The extent to which a devotee should do this karma yoga is told as “yathā śaktiḥ, yathā bhaktiḥ”. This means that it can be done as per one’s capacity and as per the depth of one’s devotion. In this regard, it is very important to realize this essential truth and keep it permanently in one’s mind: God never needs any service or from souls, He never forces anyone to sacrifice anything to Him and He never has any intention to cheat any soul. The service and sacrifice are entirely voluntary from the side of the devotee who is totally free to choose. www.universal-spirituality[.]org Universal Spirituality for World Peace

THE FIRST COUPLE-ADAM AND EVE God created human beings in the beginning of the first phase of creation (Kruta Yuga), in which all the human beings were just following the instructions of God like the robots following the programme fed in to the machine heads. In such stage, there is no freedom of soul. All the instructions from God were always exceptionally good and there is no bad information. There is no need of knowing good and bad when the brain is totally surrendered to God (Tameva sharanam gachcha... Gita). Once you have full faith in God, your idea will be that whatever is said by God must be good. You will not verify the word of God through your analysis and examine whether it is good or bad. God takes the total responsibility of soul in such total surrender (Yogakshemam... Gita). This Adam and Eve represent the males and females of the humanity existing in Kruta yuga, in which total surrender from one side and total responsibility from the other side exists. They must abide to the word of God whatever it may be. The concept of God here is that a totally surrendered soul need not have the knowledge of good and bad when the soul is simply following the word of God without any trace of freedom. When freedom is given to the soul, then, there is a need of exposure of good and bad through exposure of scripture and the soul has freedom to decide to choose good or bad. When this situation comes, the responsibility of God goes away and this is said by God to them. The tree of knowledge of good and bad was created by God since the time has come to give freedom to the soul. Adam and Eve violated the word of God based on the freedom of soul only. Change from continuous trend is inevitable in the nature. The change from the trend of continuous total surrender has already come in the minds of the souls and hence God wants to give freedom to the souls to relieve them from the stress of continuous specific trend. It is the will of the divine Father only to give freedom to His children on one side and on the other side is also warning them to be careful about the bad. Giving freedom is inevitable and at the same time, the warning of God withdrawing His responsibility to protect them is also paining the heart of the divine Father. Do not forget that such tension also gives entertainment to God and do not misunderstand God as the unfortunate victim of the tension! Full freedom and total responsibility of protection do not go hand in hand. Since freedom is decided by God, the warning is given so that human beings read the ethical scripture of God and be careful in selecting good. In the stage of freedom, the additional problem is the pollution of scripture and deep analysis is to be done to isolate the word of God from the insertions done by human beings affected by Satan. Adam and Eve were also affected by Satan. Satan appeared as sweet and good like the insertion in the divine scripture. They followed the advice of Satan as the word of God due to incapability in the analysis. The divine Father is very much concerned for the happiness of souls created by Him. Hence, He gave freedom to souls, which was misused by the souls to get punishments of their sins. Even though the sins were done continuously, the punishments were not arranged continuously following strictly the sequence of deeds. The punishments (tensions) were arranged alternatively with fruits of good deeds (happiness) so that the boredom of continuous happiness disappears. By this, the problem of boredom was removed. But, some people are seen with continuous tensions and so they criticise God for not doing such above said arrangement. The reason for a specific situation like this is that the souls worshipped God to solve their problems and get happiness. God was forced to do this. But, the basic principle of His constitution is that no fruit of good deed can be given without doing good deed and the punishment of a bad deed can never be cancelled unless the soul is reformed. Based on this, God postponed the present punishment to future life cycles with interest added so that the present punishment disappears. He brought the good fruits arranged with increased values from the future life cycles with lesser values to the present birth and gave happiness. The ignorant soul is thinking that the punishment is cancelled and good fruit is given by God even though it did not do any good deed. Due to this, the future life cycles are leftover with punishments only without good fruits in the intervals. Hence, we shall never worship God for getting any benefit and our true love to God must be without aspiration for any fruit like removing the tension or granting benefit. Without understanding this background, we criticize God unnecessarily. Actually, we must criticize ourselves only. While clarifying your doubt, we must carefully understand the comparison of a human being with a robot. If God had not given any freedom to human beings, there would hardly be any difference between a human being and a robot. For some time, let us think that God did not give any freedom to human beings, which was actually the condition during the Kṛta age. In the Kṛta age, human beings were exactly like robots in the sense that both act as per the information available to them. But there is a slight difference between the Kṛta Age-humans and robots. The Kṛta Age-humans got information directly from the external world. Robots, on the other hand, get information only from the information-chip inserted into them by the scientist who designed them. The scientist, after all, draws information only from the external world. So, the information fed to the robot is indirectly from the same external world. Thus, at this point, the difference between Kṛta Age-humans and robots disappears. In the case of the Kṛta Age-humans, no scientist inserted any information-chip into them; they themselves filled it with the information directly grasped by them from the external world. The robot, however, is dependent on the scientist to feed information into its information-chip. Leaving aside this matter of detail, the Kṛta Age-human, who did not possess freedom, is exactly like a robot in the aspect of acting as per the information available. As time passed, the Kṛta Age humans felt bored. Robots, of course, never get bored and can go on working mechanically as per the program in their information-chip. This again is another difference between a human being and a robot. A robot plays a game of chess using the ‘intelligence’ programmed in its chip by the scientist. It merely executes actions based on the various possibilities of moves in the game. The Kṛta Age-human being was also just like the robot playing chess. Based on these similarities, it was stated that human beings in the Kṛta Age were just robots. Considering the large number of similarities, it was stated that human beings in the Kṛta Age were robots in the sense of a metaphor. Saying that a person is like a lion is a simile, while saying that the person is a lion is a metaphor. Both the simile and the metaphor indicate similarity between two items, while also acknowledging their differences. Neither the simile nor the metaphor suggests an identity between the two items compared. But in the case of a simile, the differences between the two items compared are larger than in the case of a metaphor. Once God gave freedom to human beings, after the Kṛta Age, the differences between human beings and a robot increased. The robot continues to play chess based on the program in its information-chip whereas the free human being does not play as per any fixed program or policy. The freedom given, allows the human being to freely choose to follow its information-chip or not follow it. This freedom creates a huge difference between a free human being and a robot which never has any freedom. It is due to this freedom given by God to humans that God can never be blamed for the wrong choices made by human beings. Human beings alone are responsible for their own choices. If human beings had continued to be like robots, which never have any freedom, then God, who is like the scientist, would be held responsible for the behavior of human beings. Also, there is no need to blame this freedom given by God. In spite of giving this freedom, there are some human beings who still continue to follow their information-chips like robots. All human beings have not exercised their freedom. All have not deviated from the policy of behaving as per the information chip. Had all human beings deviated, it would be correct to blame the freedom and its Giver. But after granting this freedom, some human beings deviated from their programmed behavior while others did not. Hence, you cannot file a damage suit against God for granting this freedom. If upon granting freedom to human beings, all human beings had universally deviated from the programmed behavior, your advocate could have argued your case. But due to the absence of any such uniform behavior, you cannot support your case with arguments. In that case, your damage suit will be disposed with no costs! ---------------------------------- - By Shri Datta Swami (Universal Spirituality for World Peace)

SECRET OF LIFE ENJOY MISERY ALSO THE SAME WAY LIKE HAPPINESS WHOLE LIFE & CREATION IS ALTERNATE HAPPINESS & MISERY O Learned and Devoted Servants of God, The human being is reluctant to miseries and enjoys the happy situation. The human being can be compared to an ignorant child, who enjoys the sweets only and is reluctant to chillies. Hence, such a human being is ignorant. The grown up adult enjoys both sweets and chillies in the meals. Similarly, a realized soul enjoys both happy situation and miseries in the life. Therefore, it is only ignorance, which is the inability of art of enjoyment. God created this world with happiness and misery. People enjoy the cinema, which contains both pleasant scenes and tragic scenes. Similarly, people enjoy both sweet dishes and hot dishes in the meals. People enjoy the day and night. People enjoy the hot summer and the cold winter. The whole life and creation is full of alternating happiness and misery. If a person can enjoy both happy times and miseries in the life, he is equal to God. You may say that God enjoys the creation from outside. God also enters the creation in the form of human incarnation and enjoys both pleasant times and miseries in the life span. We see this truth in the life history of Rama and Krishna. Therefore, if you always crave for happiness only and reject miseries, it is unnatural and also ignorance of a child. The knowledge of the Gita preaches that you should enjoy even a top most misery, which is the time of death. If you enjoy both miseries and happy situations, you are in a continuous state of enjoyment. You think that continuous enjoyment comes only through continuous times of happiness in the life. It is not correct. You get bored if you are served only with sweet dishes in the meals. Boring is misery. Therefore, misery is inevitable like summer after winter and winter after summer. The Indians denote happiness through cooling. The foreigners represent happiness through warming, which is heat. Therefore, the happiness to one is misery to the other. What is the reason? The foreigner is mainly exposed to winter, which bores him. Therefore, for a foreigner, the heat is happiness. The Indian is mainly exposed to summer and therefore, cool atmosphere is happiness to him. This is a practical proof that the enjoyment is not confined to happy scene or tragic scene only. This also proves that you can enjoy both happiness and misery. Therefore, it is ignorance to ask God for removal of misery and sanction of continuous happiness. Happiness should lie in the process of enjoyment. Whether it is misery or happiness, you will find real happiness in the process of enjoyment of both. The happiness neither lies in the sweet dish nor in the hot dish. The happiness lies in the process of eating the dish, which may be hot or sweet. If this secret of life is known, you will never pray God for removal of problems and tensions. You will enjoy the problems and tensions and hence, there is nothing to pray God for something. Your prayer to God must be due to your attraction to Him for His excellent personality. Your praise of God must be based on your love for His divine personality. But, today we find most of the people praying God for sanction of continuous sweet dishes. Therefore, the desire for something gets smashed if you know the secret of this concept. Hence, there is no meaning in wishing somebody for a happy new year because continuous happiness bores and leads to misery only. The aspiration for continuous happiness through out the year is based on foolishness and ignorance. On the New Year, you must pray God thinking His divine personality and get attracted for His divine quality. You must at least achieve one of His basic qualities, which is enjoying both happy scenes and tragic scenes in the creation. On the Telugu New Year day, people generally take sweets and sour items mixed as offering of God (Prasadam), which shows the same concept of enjoyment of both happy and tragic movements in the life. This is the divine knowledge in nutshell present in all the divine scriptures of all religions. This is essence of the Gita preached by Lord. He enjoyed continuously in His life and even in the last situation, when He was shot dead by a hunter. This is essence to be learnt and practiced by every human being in this world. By Shri Datta Swami www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace

WHY DID GOD EXPRESS HIMSELF IN DIFFERENT FORMS IN A SINGLE HINDU RELIGION IN INDIA? Why did God express Himself in different forms in a single Hindu religion in India? In the universe, God expressed Himself in a single form in every religion. In Christianity, there is only one expressed form i.e. Jesus. In Islam, there is only one expressed form i.e. Allah or Mohammad. But in Hindu religion, there are different expressed forms of God like Vishnu, Shiva etc. Diversity in the forms of God is only the first point in Hindu religion. The next point is the unity in all these forms that also exists in Hindu religion. People are criticizing the Hindu religion showing only the first point. Why don’t they see the second point? The concept is not complete by the first point. Now, the question comes, “Why should there be diversity at all and make the unnecessary effort to bring the unity? Why Hinduism is not having a single form of God as in Christianity or Islam?” All right [Agreed]. Let us assume that there is a single form in Hindu religion and let us assume that Vishnu is that single form. Then, does this solve the problem when you take the entire world? Now, there are three forms of God i.e. Jesus, Allah or Mohammad and Vishnu. Now, if you take the world as your system for studying, is there a single form of God for the entire world? Even if we solve the problem at micro level i.e. Hinduism, but the same problem is appearing at the macro level i.e. the world. The solution at macro level is very important than at the micro level because in India, wars never took place between the followers of Vishnu and the followers of Shiva. But in the world, wars have taken place and are still taking place between the followers of Islam, Christianity, Hinduism etc. The problem at the micro level never disturbed the peace. But, the problem at macro level always disturbed the peace of the world. To use a medicine on human beings at macro level, it is first tested in the laboratory on a micro system like a rabbit. When the medicine is proved in the case of the rabbit, it is administered to all the human beings. Similarly, the concept developed in the unity of various forms of God in Hinduism should be taken totally by all religions in the world. As the medicine cured the disease of the rabbit, it cures the same disease in all the human beings. Similarly, the knowledge of unity of various sub-religions in the Hindu religion should be applied as it is to the case of all the universal religions. This knowledge is the medicine. The fanatic is the disease. This knowledge not only cures various fanatics in the Hindu religion, but also cures the various fanatics of religions in the world. Infact, there is only one God in Hinduism i.e. Lord Datta who appears in various forms like Vishnu, Shiva etc. Actually, God Datta purposely created the diversity in the forms of God in Hinduism to teach the unity in diversity in all the religions in the world. This is just like a mini model prepared to represent the entire world. The same design in the mini model appears as a huge building when constructed. Similarly, the concept in Hinduism is the message for the entire universe. Lord Datta is the teacher for the world. A teacher praises his student in one subject and praises another student in another subject. He will ask them to help each other. Similarly, India should learn the sacrifice from abroad and the rest of the world should learn about unity in diversity from India. One has to take the good aspect from every religion. I do not belong to any religion but belong equally to all the religions. I do not support or condemn any religion blindly. I pick up the pearls from all the oceans. I criticize Hinduism for several points like not doing the sacrifice of money or work for God, caste system etc. As per the point of unity in diversity is concerned, I praise Indians. I criticize the rest of the world. So, irrespective of the name of the religion, one has to pick up the good points from every religion. Are you rejecting the diamond from a foreign country? Diamond is a diamond anywhere in the world. You cannot differentiate an Indian diamond and a foreign diamond. The logic in the unity of Hinduism is based on the same God appearing in various forms and qualities to satisfy the tastes of different people when He comes in human form. The nature of Vishnu is ‘Sattvam’ i.e. soft nature. So, soft people are attracted to Vishnu. The nature of Shiva is ‘Tamas’ i.e. emotional nature. People of such nature like Shiva. When there is synchrony in nature of the devotee and the human form of God, the attraction and adaptability is more. Then the message of God to that human form reaches the devotee easily. The message is same but the forms of God are different. The same milk is given in different types of cups. Somebody likes a ceramic cup and somebody likes a glass cup. The form of God is as per your liking, but the divine message preached by all forms of God is the same. It is just like the same syllabus present in different language mediums. The unity in diversity in Hinduism is actually practiced by almost all the people. In every house, people celebrate the festival of Vishnu and the festival of Shiva. In every house, the photos of almost all the forms of Hindu God are worshipped in India. “Worship of any divine form in any mode counts to the total. Since mind is having the nature of change, such type of worship of single God in different forms through different modes will be very much suitable to the wavering nature of the mind. Difference for sometime and unity for sometime is very much suitable to the unstable nature of mind. In the time of difference also, unity must be maintained as the underlying thread. This type of worship does not need any forcible effort since it is according to the unstable nature of human mind. Food given to any of My three faces shall go into the same one stomach only! You have to increase the quality and quantity of food (devotion) given to God and you need not worry about the number of faces to which the food is given! You have to increase the time and energy of your worship to God and you need not worry about which form of God is worshipped by you. You cannot separate any feeling or its action from a person and in this way, you cannot separate any divine form or worship from the same one God. For example, anger in the destruction of the world is God Rudra (Shiva). Datta is the person having that quality and doing that work. Hence, you can’t separate God Shiva (quality and action) from God Datta (person). Similarly, Brahma (intelligence in the planning of creation) and Vishnu (patience in administration) can’t be separated from God Datta”. Hinduism, a micro-world that represents this macro-world. This is because, Hinduism itself is made of several sub-religions, which resemble the different religions in the world. This macro-world is one unit created by God. Within it, Hinduism is one sub-unit followed by some people. So, you cannot look at the world and Hinduism as separate units. After all, Hinduism, other religions and the whole world are created by only one single Entity called God. The original absolute God is unimaginable since He is beyond space and time. He constitutes the unimaginable domain. For the sake of understanding, it can be said that the unimaginable domain includes the unimaginable God and His unimaginable power. But in reality, both the unimaginable God and His unimaginable power are one and the same. This is because, once we say that an item is beyond our imagination, we cannot say whether it is one or two. So, even if we speak of many unimaginable items, they all refer to the single unimaginable item or domain, which is God. When the Veda declares the monism of God. i.e. when it says that there is only one God, and when it rejects the plurality of God, it is referring to this single unimaginable domain. Statements like “Ekamevādvitīyam Brahma” and “Neha nānāsti kiñcana” are examples of the above. The unimaginable God and His unimaginable power (māyā) are one and the same, whereas God’s imaginable power is different from Him. It has undergone modification to become creation (prakṛti) or it appears to be creation. How the unimaginable God possesses an imaginable power, which is different from Him, is unimaginable. Such a wonder is possible only due to His unimaginable power! Our logical analysis and entire knowledge are limited only to this creation, which is the imaginable domain. Hence, it is a waste of time to think about any aspect of the unimaginable domain. This world, which is the imaginable domain, has plurality. The plurality supplies different media for the unimaginable God for His expression. It enables Him to enter into various selected human devotees in order to become Human Incarnations of God. The human devotee becomes a medium for the entry of the unimaginable God. Thus, God has incarnated in this world in different regions in different times to establish the different religions in the world. Of course, the unimaginable God does not directly enter any medium. At the very beginning of creation, the unimaginable God first created subtle energy or space. He created the first form or body out of that subtle energy and entered into it to become the first Energetic Incarnation. This first energetic form became the first medium of God. This first mediated form of God or the first Energetic Incarnation is called as Datta or Īśvara in Hinduism and Father of heaven in other religions. There is no trace of difference between the unimaginable God and the first Energetic Incarnation, except that the former is unimaginable while the latter is imaginable. The energetic form of Datta is visible to energetic beings in the upper worlds. For humans on earth, Datta is invisible but still imaginable. The first Energetic Incarnation, Datta, is also eternal like the unimaginable God; i.e. both have no end. The only difference is that Datta had a beginning from the point of view of His energetic medium, while the unimaginable God has no beginning. It is this Datta that enters a selected human devotee to become a Human Incarnation. The unimaginable God is permanently present in the energetic medium of Datta. That Datta, containing the unimaginable God, enters into the physical medium of a human devotee. Thus, the unimaginable God is equally present in the Human Incarnation. God incarnates in human form on earth in every human generation. The human media into which God Datta enters each time is different as a result of the plurality that is inherent in the imaginable domain. In other words, one Incarnation looks different from another Incarnation. One Incarnation may appear in a place where people follow say Hinduism, while another Incarnation may appear in a place where people follow a different religion. The Incarnation’s external dress, language, and manners will naturally be according to the culture of the place where He has appeared. This enables Him to mix freely with the people He has come to preach and uplift. But these differences are only external. From the point of view of the first Energetic Incarnation, Datta or Father of heaven, present in each of them, all Incarnations are one and same. From the point of view of the unimaginable God present in all the Incarnations too, they are one and the same. Thus, all these different mediated Gods are actually one in essence. If you look at the medium, which is part of the imaginable domain, there is plurality. If you look at the internal God Datta or the unimaginable God present in all of them, then there is only one. This truth applies equally to the sub-religions within Hinduism or the different world religions. This analysis is the fundamental basis for bringing unity among the sub-religions of Hinduism and among the various religions in the world. www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace

Is it not justified to convert to another religion if one’s own religion has many defects? People convert to another religion because they cannot tolerate the defects and blind traditions in their own religion. These defects that have existed in their religion for a very long time make it very difficult to follow the religion. So, they prefer to convert to another religion that does not have such defects. Swami replied: You see many uneven edges and surfaces on the hill that is close to you. But the hill that is far away seems to be smooth and even. The reality is that you will see a lot of unevenness on the surface of every hill, if you get close enough to it. In every religion, you always find three types of concepts: The original excellent concepts established by the Human Incarnations of God born in that religion. The good concepts introduced by good people in support of the above excellent concepts. The misunderstood and misinterpreted concepts introduced by bad people. Every religion has excellent Human Incarnations of God, very good followers of the Human Incarnations and bad people who twist the original concepts. Hence, all religions are one and the same in their composition, as stated above. In this Kali age, the proportion of good and bad followers everywhere is also a constant 10:90. If you only consider the concepts of the Human Incarnations and the supporting concepts of good followers in all religions, you will find that all religions have high uniformity. After all, all religions believe in the existence of the omniscient and omnipotent God, who punishes sinners even if they mange to escape the law of the land. This much commonality in the concepts preached by different religions is sufficient to establish a peaceful society all over the world. As far as this common concept is concerned, there need not be any contradiction between world religions. This commonality is the basis for establishing Universal Spirituality and Universal Religion. Therefore, there is no need whatsoever for converting to another religion. You can follow your own religion till the end of your life to get the grace of the same unimaginable God. It is this same God who is worshipped in various specific forms in the various world religions. Let us accept the defects in our own religion with full frankness and full courage. Let us try to rectify our mistakes with all boldness. Let us not try to bury our defects and become a bad example for other religions. Let us stand as an example for every religion by openly admitting our blind traditions and making sincere efforts to rectify those blind traditions. When we follow our religion and its ancient culture, it does not mean that we blindly support our blind traditions, even if they are proved wrong by impartial logical analysis. Previously, one religion might have been the straight path to God and another religion might have been a curved path to reach the same God. The reason for this is the specific psychologies of the different sets of people living in two different regions. In olden days, people in each region had a uniform psychology. So, one religion was given to one set of people living in a certain region, while a different religion was given to another set of people living in another region as per their different psychologies. But today, all types of people exist in every region. Hence, every religion has both good and bad followers. God is the common goal for all religions. Different religions are placed around the same common center, God. In whichever religion the followers stand, there is one straight path to the common goal at the center (God) for the good people. Similarly, there is also a curved path to the same center for the bad people in each religion. The curved path is superimposed on the straight path. The good people of every religion travel along the straight path towards the center and the bad people of every religion travel along the superimposed curved path. Hence, you cannot say that one religion is the short and straight path to reach God whereas other religion is a long and curved path to Him. You cannot use such logic to support conversions. In every religion, at the topmost level of God, there is not even a trace of any defect. For example, in Hinduism, God has said in the Gita that a person’s caste is based on the person’s qualities and deeds, and not on the family in which the person was born. God Rāma refused to grant salvation to the sages after their death, even though they too, like Rāma, belonged to the upper castes. In fact, Rāma even killed Rāvaṇa, who was born in the caste of sages due to his wicked deeds. When sages praised Rāma as God, He did not accept it. Instead, He denied it saying that He was only a human being, called Rāma, the son of Daśaratha (Atmānaṃ mānuṣaṃ...). The same Rāma granted salvation to the old lady, Śabarī, who belong to a scheduled caste, even while she was alive! The sages aspired for some fruit in return for their worship to Rāma, whereas, Śabarī did not aspire for any fruit in return. She lovingly served Rāma by offering Him wild fruits, which she tasted to ensure that they were sweet! Do you find any consideration of caste by God in Hinduism? - By Shri Datta Swami www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace

SIGNIFICANCE OF UPANAYANAM Can You please explain the significance of the practices related to the holy thread ceremony? Shri Sai Ram Kiran asked: During the holy thread ceremony, why is the young boy’s head shaven except for a small portion of hair on the head? Also, why are the boy’s ears pierced for wearing ear-rings? What is the significance of the holy thread consisting of three strands? Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! The holy thread ceremony of a young boy is known as upanayanam and it marks the beginning of the boy’s education. After this ritual, the boy is supposed to go and live with the teacher and learn knowledge. At the teacher’s place, he is not to expect comfort. Every day, he is expected to take a cold water bath over the head. If he has hair on the head, he might easily catch a cold. At the same time, the head should not be completely shaven either because only saints (monks) are supposed to shave their head completely. So, some hair at the top of the head is left growing. It usually grows somewhat long, hanging behind the head and is known as the śikhā. It stands for the rest of the hair that was shaven for practical reasons. The śikhā is usually never shaven, except on certain occasions. One such occasion is when a person visits a certain temple and offers all his hair to the deity. The complete shaving of one’s head at such temples, indicates that the person has almost become a saint. It indicates the detachment from worldly bonds as a result of one’s devotion. The ear-piercing to wear earrings increases nervous activity in the ears, which enables patient hearing of the knowledge given by God. The three strands of the holy thread represent nature (prakṛti), consisting of the three fundamental qualities, sattvam (awareness), rajas (inert energy) and tamas (inert matter). It also represents the human body, which too, consists of the same three components. It means that you should learn knowledge from a human preacher and that finally, you should only worship the human form of God. You are advised to hold the three holy threads and recite the hymn related to the spiritual preacher (Tat savituḥ…pracodayāt). The essence of the hymn is that the preacher may enlighten your intellect. It means that you should surrender to the human spiritual preacher. Girls and children of parents belonging to the fourth caste (śūdras) are not supposed to do this ritual. This is good, especially for girls, since they do not have to face the inconvenience of having to shave their heads and have a cold water bath every day. Neither girls nor the children of the fourth caste lose anything as a result of not doing this ritual. This is because, the real meaning of upanayanam is not some specific ritual, but getting close to God. Similarly, the gāyatri, which is to be performed by the boy thrice each day after this ritual, does not mean the recitation of a specific hymn. It means worshipping God through devotional songs. So, in this actual sense, nobody is forbidden from the real upanayanam and the real gāyatri. No one is forbidden from walking on the spiritual path. In fact, all girls and the children of the fourth caste have an advantage, because owing to their exclusion from the traditional ritual, they practice upanayanam and gāyatri in the actual sense! =============== -By Shri Datta Swami www.universal-spirituality[.]org Universal Spirituality for World Peace

ADMINISTRATION OF GOD IS BLAMELESS God is omniscient. He knows what is to be given to whom and what is not to be given. When we pose such questions, they reflect our doubts about the fairness of the divine administration of God. If we have firm faith in God, we must have firmer faith in His capable divine administration also. Such faith will prevent us from doubting the administration of God. The Divine Father is taking the best care of each soul. Even the punishments given by God here on earth and hereafter in hell, only indicate His anxiety to reform the sinful soul, which is His child. Hell is the reflection of God’s highest kindness, which helps in reforming souls. Hell is not the reflection of His anger or desire for revenge. If we understand this very subtle point, we will be very peaceful about things taking place in this world. There is no error taking place in the divine administration. Everything taking place in this world is the result of the most perfect working of God’s wonderful administration. No soul can even dream of running the world in a better way than the way it is being run. It is our utter ignorance that causes us to misunderstand God and stray (stay) away from the path of self-purification. We are ignorant of the deeds of other souls. We are ignorant of the most wonderful divine administration working in the background. We are ignorant of God’s supreme talents and capabilities in administering and reforming souls. Above all, we are ignorant of the supreme kindness of God towards all souls. We are worried about things, about which we need not be worried at all! People were worried about Jesus when He was carrying the cross. He told them not to worry about Him. He was under the direct supervision of the kindest Lord. Instead, He told them to worry about themselves and their children. He might have suffered for a few hours, but He was going to sit forever on the right lap of the Divine Father! These people, who were worried about Him, might be living happily on earth for a little while, but they were going to be thrown into the liquid fire forever along with their future generations! So, who should be worried? The spectators or Jesus? A person may finish off the punishment of his or her sin by suffering for it here. The person may then get a wonderful new divine birth in the immediate future. Another person, who is wasting his time in sympathizing with this suffering person, instead of focusing on his own reformation, may finally get thrown into the liquid fire forever! Hence, it is always advisable to focus on self-rectification than unnecessarily wasting time in investigating and judging God’s administration of this world. All we need to understand is that God is the best judge and the best administrator. He always helps each and every soul in the best-possible way. Only when the administrator is a human being, is there a need for analyzing the person’s way of administration. The person might err in his or her way of administration, in which case, we could suggest a better way. That is why even a country’s constitution, which is framed by human beings, often gets amended. Through such amendments, errors get rectified. But there is not the slightest possibility of even a trace of error in the divine constitution. So, there is no point in breaking our heads on these issues, which are being administered in the most meritorious way. God is not only omnipotent and omniscient, but He is also an infinite ocean of kindness. He is the divine Father of all souls. He must have chosen the kindest-possible way to save any soul. All of us are mere brothers or sisters to our neighboring souls but God is the Father of all souls (Ahaṁ bījapradaḥ pitā—Gita). A father is always far kinder to his child than the brothers and sisters of the child. From all these angles, it is far far better to leave the administration and reformation of other souls to God. Instead, we need to concentrate on our own reformation. This is an extremely important point which every soul in this world should understand. Our focus should be on recognizing our own defects and reforming ourselves. This is the best and wisest path. Actually, God’s divine administration maintains a perfect balance in humanity. No special favors are done for any one gender and equity and justice are always maintained. This matter appears to be a minor issue. Some people might even call this a silly matter. But are you not surprised to see the equity and justice of God even in such minor matters of life? So, we should never doubt the fairness of God’s administration. We should maintain a strong faith in God. Such strong faith will prevent any such budding doubts on the capability and justice of God. If you criticize the administration of God, you are indirectly criticizing God. It will spoil the purity of your devotion to God. It is always better to focus on developing devotion to God instead of allowing our twisted brains to develop such useless doubts about the administration of God. Such doubts arise in our minds because we have not developed an unshakable faith in God. Of course, I know that you have asked this doubt for the benefit of the ignorant public so that they may get clarity on the impartial administration of God. They must realize that God’s administration always delivers justice to all souls, irrespective of religion, region, caste, age, or gender. Your intention is right. But some people want to criticize God. They take some aspect of the divine administration and try to prove that it is unjust in some way or the other. I am only criticizing such critics, who think that they are cleverer than God. I have given full freedom to souls and the direction of any action is totally left to them only. This entire creation works with My power only. But, I am not responsible for the direction of an action using My power. The direction is given by the soul and hence the soul is doer (Kartaa). The direction decides fruit and hence the soul is the enjoyer of that fruit (Bhoktaa). I am also doer and enjoyer of the fruit for the direction given by Me in the action of creation. According to My direction only, this universe is created and is also running in this way. Hence, due to such direction given by Me I am the doer of this process of creation. My such direction is giving Me enjoyment of the fruit also, which is the entertainment for which this creation is done. Both of us (God and soul) are doers as well as enjoyers. But, our doer-ships are different and enjoyments of fruits are also different. Without understanding this, ignorant people blame Me for creating this world as a sadist and say that the tension of the soul is My enjoyment! Department of electricity completed wirings of all houses and gave current to all. It also told that you can enjoy fan, light, T.V. etc., by using the switches and warned that if any one touches the wire in meter will receive shock. Several people enjoyed using the switches, whereas one fellow committed suicide by touching the electrified wire. The parents of that killed person are blaming the department of electricity for that suicide! All didn’t commit suicide so that you can blame the department. Similarly, in this creation, God has given all instructions following which several are happy. Why don’t you talk about these happy people? We always talk about the people, who neglected instructions of God (scriptures) and got punished! A rich man established the college and setup everything (teachers, laboratories etc.) as per the standards of University. Several students passed exams, got degrees and flourished in life. One fellow never cared about classes and went on seeing pictures to waste all the time, failed in the examination and committed suicide. The parents are filing a criminal case on that rich man saying that their son died since the rich man started the college!! The rich man is certainly enjoying in passing time in the administration of the college. But, at the same time, the establishment is fully justified because very good teachers took classes, examinations were conducted with perfect discipline without any injustice in valuation etc. In such justified system, several passed. Only one fellow failed for not caring for the system. Is the entertainment of rich man in the establishment and running of the college to be blamed as the cause for his suicide? www.universal-spirituality[.]org Universal Spirituality for World Peace

Authorities for Knowing God This mahā satsaṅga is meant for intellectuals who are familiar with logic. Dr. Nikhil asked: Once, in a discussion on the use of logic in spirituality, You used the word ‘deduction’ to refer to direct knowledge obtained through perception. You also used the word ‘induction’ to refer to indirect knowledge obtained through inference. But, as per western philosophy, the meanings of the two terms are somewhat different. Deduction involves going from general rules or laws to specific conclusions as in the following example: Premise1: All men are mortal (general). Premise 2: Socrates is a man (specific case). Conclusion: Socrates is mortal. Induction can, in a sense, be thought of as the reverse of deduction. It usually involves going from specific observations to general conclusions as in the following example: Premise 1: John goes for a walk on Monday. Premise 2: John goes for a walk on Tuesday. Premise 3: John goes for a walk on Wednesday. Conclusion: John goes for a walk everyday. Could you please explain how Your interpretations of the terms deduction and induction can be correlated with the usual interpretation of these terms in Western philosophy. Dr. J.S.R. Prasad (Prof. of Sanskrit, specialized in tarka or logic): As per Western philosophy, both deduction and induction are types of inference and not direct perception. Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Firstly, you must understand that perception exists even in inference. In fact, perception exists in all the six authorities (pramāṇas) of knowledge discussed in Indian philosophy. This includes even the authority called ‘non-recognition’ (anupalabdhi). For instance, the statement that no pot exists here, is based on the lack of perception of the pot. This shows that ‘non-recognition’ is based on perception (or the lack of it). However, such an interpretation of the authority of non-recognition has a defect. Your non-recognition of the absence of a pot, was equally the non-recognition of the absence of a cloth, stick and so on. So, the non-recognition was general and not specific. For non-recognition to be called an authority of knowledge, it must be specific, as far as possible. So, the Indian philosopher, Vācaspati Miśra interpreted this authority of non-recognition differently. According to him, non-recognition, as an authority of knowledge, means, not being able to perceive the presence of a specific item that exists, but is too subtle to be grasped. This way, non-recognition is not general, but is specific to that particular item. It can, therefore, be an authority providing conclusive knowledge. So, it is better to understand the non-recognition authority in this sense of the non-perception of a specific subtle item. Of course, that knowledge of the absence of that specific item is not ultimately correct since the item actually exists there, in a subtle form. For example, we do not perceive X-rays with our eyes. Our eyes perceive the absence of X-rays, even though someone informs us that X-rays are present around us. Here, X-rays actually exist and hence, our perception of their absence is specific knowledge. Our non-perception of the X-rays is not the same as the non-perception of a pot or a cloth. The pot or cloth does not actually exist in a subtle unseen form around us. Thus, the non-recognition or non-perception of X-rays is a specific knowledge. Unfortunately, that knowledge is ultimately false since the X-rays do exist around us and can be detected using powerful instruments. Hence, the existence of that specific subtle item is the ultimate true knowledge and not its absence as perceived by the eye. However, the intention here is only to establish that perception by the eye (indriyārtha sannikarṣaḥ) exists in all the six authorities including the authority, of non-recognition. Nikhil and J.S.R. Prasad: We agree that perception is the basis of all the authorities. We also appreciate Your interpretation of non-recognition as the non-recognition of a specific subtle item. Swami: Alright! So, let us come to the main discussion about deduction and induction. In your example of deduction, the truth of the premises is doubtful. So, instead of artificially assuming the premises to be true, in an ideal sense, we must assess their truth realistically. There is actually no guarantee that all men in the world are mortal. All men in the world have not even been perceived by us, let alone perceiving all of them to be mortal. There might be a few men who are immortal. The second premise that Socrates is a man is perceived by us and can be regarded as certainly true. But we are not sure whether Socrates belongs to the majority of mortal men or the possible minority of immortal men. So, the conclusion that Socrates is mortal cannot be drawn with full certainty unless we perceive his death. Of course, the probability that he belongs to the majority of mortal men is very high. On the other hand, the probability that he belongs to the minority category of immortal men is very low. In fact, this category of immortals, is not only a minority, but we have not seen even a single immortal man so far. Many men have been perceived to be mortal, while none has been perceived to be immortal. So, the probability of Socrates being immortal is extremely low. Thus, on the whole, deduction provides a very high level of certainty, even though it cannot provide complete certainty. Out of all the authorities, direct perception provides the highest level of certainty. But even perception cannot provide absolute certainty. We might perceive that a person has been living for a very long time. But we cannot conclude that he is immortal since he might just be a person with a very long life. Nevertheless, perception provides maximum certainty, followed by deduction. In the above example of deduction, if we wait to see the death of Socrates, we can make the conclusion that he was mortal, with certainty. In that case, all the three statements in the deduction-example are related to perception. We have perceived at least some men to be mortal (Premise 1). We have perceived that Socrates is a man (Premise 2). Finally, on perceiving his death, we have concluded that he was mortal (Conclusion). Since deduction is so heavily based on perception, I linked it to the authority of perception (pratyakṣa), which gives direct knowledge. Induction appears to be closer to the authority called anumāna (inference), in Indian philosophy because its conclusion is always doubtful. The fact that John went for a walk on three days was perceived with full certainty. But the conclusion that John goes for a walk everyday is highly uncertain. John might not have gone for a walk before those three days and he may not go for a walk from the fourth day onwards. Further, the inferred conclusion has no authority of perception since we have not perceived that he walks everyday. Thus, there is a great amount of uncertainty in the conclusion. Especially since the conclusion has not been perceived with full certainty through perception, but is only logically inferred, I linked the word ‘induction’ to indirect knowledge, which is the authority of inference (anumāna), as per Indian philosophy. Thus, the Indian authority of perception (pratyakṣa) and the western deduction, which is closely dependent on perception, have a high degree of certainty. Comparatively, the Indian authority of inference (anumāna) and the similar western induction, which are more distantly related to perception, have a lower degree of certainty. The two terms deduction and induction might be used as described by you and I am not opposing it. But the same words can also be used in a different sense, such that deduction is more related to perception and induction is more related to inference. I am not contradicting the statement that both deduction and induction are basically forms of inference. But perception is always present even in inference. Inference consists of two parts. The first part involving the premises is based on perception. The second part, which is the conclusion drawn from the premises, is the pure inference. Let us see this more clearly from the following example, in which the conclusion is stated first (1) and the premises on which it is based, are stated later (2a, 2b). 1. There is fire on the top of this mountain (Agnimānayaṃ parvataḥ). This conclusion is the pure inference since there is no perception of the fire on the mountain at all. 2a. Smoke is seen (dhūmatvāt) to be rising from the top of the mountain (perception-part). 2b. Wherever there is smoke, there must be fire, as seen in the kitchen (Yatra yatra dhūmaḥ tatra tatra vahniḥ, yathā mahānase) (perception-part). In this example of inference, the perception-part includes both the smoke seen rising from the mountain and the generalization of the link between smoke and fire, as seen in the kitchen. Hence, there is no ambiguity if I say that deduction belongs to perception (perception-part of inference) and induction belongs to the conclusion, which is the pure inference-part. Nikhil: Could You please explain again how this discussion on logic is related to spirituality? Swami: The above discussion on logic was in the context of the spiritual concept that the unimaginable God is inferred from unimaginable miracles. Sometimes, a miracle takes place without the performer of the miracle being seen. In that case, the conclusion that we can draw is that the unimaginable God must have performed that miracle. The unimaginable God is inferred as the Source of the unimaginable miracles. He is the unseen performer of the miracles. Since the performer of the miracles is not seen directly, it is a case of pure inference, in which there is some uncertainty. Even this pure inference is based on perception since the miracles were first seen or perceived before we could draw the inference. In case the performer of the miracle is directly seen, it completely becomes a case of perception. This is the case of the Human Incarnation performing a miracle. The Human Incarnation is mediated God. The unimaginable God expresses Himself through the medium of a devoted human being. In this case, the performer, the performance of the miracles and the performed miracles are all seen by our eyes. Thus, in the case of the Human Incarnation performing miracles before our eyes, God is identified by us completely on the basis of the authority of perception. In the Human Incarnation, the visible human medium and the unimaginable God are in a state of perfect monism. Hence, seeing the Incarnation means directly seeing God. The Veda too says that the perception of such a Performer of miracles is the perception of the unimaginable God Himself (Kaścit dhīraḥ pratyagātmānamaikṣat). Just because we are able to see the unimaginable God in this way, it does not mean that the unimaginablity of God is disturbed in any way. God’s unimaginable nature is only seen, but it is not understood. In the Gita, God says that one blessed devotee will see the Human Incarnation as the unimaginable God. Here, it is said that such a lucky devotee knows the unimaginable God (Kaścit māṃ vetti tattvataḥ). Here, the word ‘knows’ means that the devotee recognizes. For instance, a devotee can recognize that Krishna is the unimaginable God. It does not mean that the devotee has understood the unimaginable nature of God. The knowledge that the devotee has is that Krishna is not an ordinary human being, but that He is the unimaginable God or Parabrahman Himself. J.S.R. Prasad: Is there not a possibility of fallacies (wrong reasoning) in using inference to identify God? Swami: The conclusion that there is fire on the mountain is based on the generalization that smoke is always caused by fire. The generalization is based on prior perception. But such a conclusion can also fail at times. What looks like smoke on the mountain, might not necessarily be smoke; it might even be fog (bāṣpa). So, the conclusion that there must be fire on the mountain becomes false. The reason for the wrong conclusion is that the smoke was not real smoke but was an illusion which appeared like smoke. So, it is a fallacy (hetvābhāsa). A similar false conclusion can also be made regarding the spiritual concept of miracles. On perceiving genuine miracles, one can infer that the performer of the miracles must be a Human Incarnation. But if the miracles are not genuine, i.e., they are mere magic tricks which appear to be miracles; the inference becomes invalid. It means that the performer of the magic tricks which appear to be miracles, is not a genuine Human Incarnation. Thus, fallacies are indeed possible in trying to identify God. Nikhil: So far, You have explained about two authorities, namely, perception and inference in obtaining knowledge about God. Could You also explain the use of the other authorities? Swami: The third authority for obtaining knowledge about God is analogy (upamānam). A magician doing magic can be taken as an analogy for the genuine Human Incarnation performing a miracle. Śaṅkara gave this analogy (Māyāvīva vijṛmbhayatyapi mahā yogīva yassvecchayā). Actually, in that verse, He gave two analogies. One is that of a magician and the other is that of a yogi performing miracles, by his will. Here, the first analogy is proper because the magic of a magician is similar to the miracle, but it is not actually a miracle. The miracle merely resembles the magic seen during the magic show. In any magic, there is some secret trick or technology. The ignorant person who does not know that secret technology, might treat the magic as a miracle. But once, the secret technology of the magic is known, he will no longer treat it as a miracle. But in the case of a genuine miracle, the background secret technology is never known. The miracle occurs with the unimaginable power of God, which can never be known or even imagined by us. Thus, there is a difference between magic and a miracle. In an analogy, the comparison or similarity between the two items is only partial. The two items are not identical to have complete similarity. When a beautiful person’s face is compared to the moon, the comparison is only in the quality of pleasantness and not in other aspects like the moon having black spots, or undergoing an eclipse and so on. The second analogy given by Śaṅkara is that of the yogi performing a genuine miracle. The yogi’s miracle too is genuine. It is not a magic trick. So, there is not much point in comparing the yogi’s genuine miracle with the genuine miracle performed by God because both are one and the same. God alone can perform a genuine miracle and no second genuine miracle-performer can exist. But Śaṅkara took the yogi also as another performer of a miracle because, even though there is similarity in the genuine miracles performed by God and the yogi, God is different from the yogi. The genuine miracle performed by the yogi is indeed performed by the power of God alone since the yogi has attained God’s grace. Even though the performed miracle might be the same in both cases, there is a difference between God and the yogi. Thus, there is partial similarity along with a partial difference and so, the yogi can stand as an analogy for God. In the case of the Human Incarnation, God is completely merged with the selected human devotee. One Human Incarnation performing a miracle cannot stand as an analogy for another Human Incarnation performing a miracle. So, Śaṅkara mentioned a yogi in the analogy. Even in the case of the yogi, the miracle is actually performed by God alone through the yogi. Hence, sage Vyāsa says in the Brahma Sūtras that no exact analogy for God can be given in this created world (Dṛṣṭāntabhāvāt). J.S.R. Prasad: The scriptures are also an important authority in spirituality, right? Swami: Correct! The Veda itself is the next authority. It is considered to be verbal testimony (śabda). The Brahma Sūtra (Śāstrayonitvāt) says that the Veda is the verbal authority for the existence of the unimaginable God. The Veda clearly says that God is unimaginable and that He does unimaginable miracles (Yo buddheḥ parataḥ.., Na medhayā.., Indro māyabhiḥ... etc.). The Gita also says the same (Māṃ tu veda na kaścana, Yadyat vibhūtimat sattvaṃ...). God is the Author of the Veda as said by the Veda itself (Niśśvasitamevaitat…). You need not doubt how the Veda can stand as the authority for the existence of God when God Himself is the Author of the Veda. It is obvious. No author says in his book that he does not exist! We should also understand that no soul can be the authority for proving the existence of God since God is unimaginable to all souls. So, God alone is the authority for proving His own existence (Svataḥ pramāṇaṃ). Nikhil: What exactly is the authority known as arthāpatti? It seems to be similar to abductive reasoning in western philosophy. Could You please confirm it? Swami: Arthāpatti is the fifth authority and it means ‘implication’. It is almost the same as abduction or abductive reasoning. Given below is an example of abductive reasoning: 1. John has a running nose and fever. 2. A running nose and fever are symptoms of influenza. 3. His room-mate has influenza. 4. Influenza spreads by air. 5. Hence, John must be affected by influenza. The example given for arthāpatti is “Pīno devadatto divā na bhuṅkte, rātrau bhuṅkte”, which means: 1. Devadatta is not seen eating during the day. 2. He is not lean (He is fat). 3. He must be eating during the night. The same logic can be applied to the present spiritual concept. Even though Krishna is a human being, as far as we can see, He lifted a mountain on His tender finger. Hence, the Krishna who appears to be an ordinary human being, is actually the unimaginable God in human form. Here is the analysis of the same in more detail: 1. Krishna appears to be a normal human being. 2. No normal human being can lift a mountain. 3. But Krishna lifted Mount Govardhana on His little finger. 4. A Human Incarnation of God is capable of performing any miracle since the unimaginable God who has merged with Him, performs the miracles using His unimaginable power. 5. Hence, Krishna must be a Human Incarnation of God. Nikhil: Vedantins also speak of the sixth authority of non-recognition or anupalabdhi, which You were explaining earlier. Swami: Right, the sixth authority is ‘non-recognition’ (anupalabdhi). Here, the main point is that the person, who is searching for a pot, grasps the absence of the pot in an empty room, even though he also grasps the absence of every other item. A person who is not searching for the pot grasps only the absence of every item, in general. This idea is reflected in the commentaries of Kumarila Bhaṭṭa and Prabhākara Bhaṭṭa. But the absence of every item cannot be taken to be the absence of a specific item, unless the person in search of it enters the room. Vācaspati Miśra says that non-recognition means that a subtle item is not grasped by us while the existence of the subtle item has been proved in some other way. This is a better understanding of non-recognition as an authority of knowledge. Here, a particular item is specified and it is not a general recognition of the absence of all items. As mentioned earlier, the knowledge given by an authority should be specific, as far as possible. Hence, we support the interpretation of Vācaspati Miśra. This too can be applied to the present spiritual concept. The unimaginable God is beyond our imagination since He is beyond space and so, He does not have any spatial dimensions. But He is imaginable to Himself. Otherwise, if He were unimaginable to us as well as to Himself, there would be no authority to prove the existence of such an unimaginable God. Our intelligence is too crude to grasp the extreme subtle nature of the unimaginable God. The intelligence of God is not crude and hence, is able to grasp His own nature. So, the unimaginable God Himself is the authority for knowing the existence of God. This reminds us of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. The crudeness of the instrument used to detect the position and the momentum of the electron simultaneously, makes it impossible to calculate both at the same instant of time. The beam of light or electrons used in the instrument collides with the electron in an atom, changing its position as well as momentum. Actually, the electron has a specific momentum at a specific position, which could possibly be calculated. But it cannot be calculated because of the crudeness of the equipment used for making the measurements. This serves as an analogy for the unimaginability of God. The nature of God is unimaginable only to us (created souls) and not to the unimaginable God Himself. This entire discussion proves that perception is the basis of all the six authorities which are used to get valid knowledge. The most significant outcome of this analysis is that the direct perception of God is indeed possible. It is possible in the case of the contemporary Human Incarnation of God performing visible miracles. For the people of Bṛndāvanam, Krishna was their contemporary Human Incarnation who performed miracles before them. The Performer of miracles (Krishna), the performance of the miracles and the performed miracles were all seen by the people directly with their eyes. Even today, the Incarnations of God Datta are performing miracles right before the eyes of their devotees and other people present around them. Hence, the existence of God is proved by the perception alone. Knowing this is especially important for scientists and atheists who only believe in perception as the authority of valid knowledge. This article is meant for intellectuals only - By Shri Datta Swami www.universal-spirituality[.]org Universal Spirituality for World Peace

REBIRTH Hinduism believes in rebirth of the soul. Christianity and Islam do not believe in rebirth. Thus, both these are extreme contradicting concepts without the Aristotle’s middle golden path. This means that there are three possibilities: 1) Every soul has rebirth, 2) Every soul has no rebirth, 3) Some souls have rebirth and some souls do no have rebirth. The third possibility is the actual fact that correlates all the three religions. Everything depends upon the judgment of God regarding any soul to sanction human rebirth. This judgment depends upon the merits and defects of a soul that decide the probability in favor of uplift of the soul. A soul may have the possibility of spiritual uplift if one more or even some more rebirths are allotted. Such soul will be given the chance of rebirth for doing further spiritual effort. Some soul may be full of defects and there may be no chance of spiritual uplift even if one more rebirth is sanctioned. Such condemned soul will not have rebirth and will be thrown into hell forever. Sometimes, depending upon the case of the soul, it may be given rebirth to be born in the birds and animals or even trees or even inert stones. Birds and animals are engaged in the activities of securing food for that specific time only. Such births are given to the human souls having unlimited ambition of earning and storing wealth. Such rebirth as bird or animal brings limitation to the ambition in the case of the soul. After some births as birds and animal, the ambition may be reduced in earning and storing the wealth. Such soul will be brought to the human birth again in which the soul is born with least ambition for earning and storing. Some soul may have the defect of not donating the stored wealth for the sake of God. Such defect is removed when the soul is born as a tree. The stored food as fruits by the tree is in the service of human beings only. By the long period of life of a tree, the soul will develop the quality of charity of stored wealth and thus, it can be brought to human rebirth. Some soul may have very intensive ambition and such soul is given the birth of an inert stone so that the intensive negative quality comes to zero during the long deep sleep of the life of stone. Then, again the soul may be brought to the human birth from the birth of a stone. Let us take the example of Ahalya, the wife of Sage Gautama. She was raped by Indra, the King of Heaven, who came in disguise appearing as Sage Gautama. Several people think that Ahalya was cheated by Indra and the curse given by Sage Gautama to her to become a stone is not justified. This version is not correct. Ahalya identified Indra before meeting with him (Devarajam tu vijnaaya…Ramayana). She was not cheated since she identified Indra, who came in disguise. Such intensive negative quality of passion for illegal sex was punished by Sage Gautama. For a long time she remained as a stone, which is equal to deep sleep. During such long period, the negative quality is subsided. Then God as Rama gave her the rebirth as human being. Since the soul became pure, she was accepted by Sage Gautama again. Jesus also accepted the concept of rebirth in some special cases and this point was suppressed! (The Father of heaven or Lord Datta present in Jesus is also existing in this Datta Swami and hence, Lord Datta knows the fact. There may be defect in recording or this point might have been suppressed in the revised scripture.) If you see the above statement of Prophet Mohammed, infinite number of rebirths for the pure soul in the service of God (in the service of Allah) are stated.This means that the soul involved in the divine service will be taking rebirths forever in order to assist God in propagating the divine knowledge. For this purpose, even God is taking rebirths again and again. The servant of God involved in the divine service always accompanies the God through several human births as long as God wishes. Some people think that cancellation of the rebirth in this world is salvation! This is climax of ignorance. When God Himself is taking rebirths for the benefit of humanity (Sambhavaami yuge yuge, janma karmacha Me divyam… Gita), is the soul greater than God to avoid rebirth? Cancellation of rebirth means only avoiding the rebirth as worldly bonded soul again without involving in the divine service. It does not mean cancellation of rebirth as servant of God to assist Him in the divine service. All this explanation reveals the hidden truth in the background clearly in elaborated way so that we can understand the truth and avoid inter-religious conflicts regarding the spiritual truth, which is the same in every religion. If you say that even God cannot sanction rebirth to a soul, God’s omnipotence becomes false! Telling that there is no rebirth and this birth alone is final shows a practical merit. If you say that if a student fails in the year end March-examination, such student will not have opportunity to appear for the examination again in September, the student will be very careful in studies to pass the examination in March itself. Similarly, if rebirth is denied, the soul will be very careful for the spiritual path since there is no chance of rebirth to continue the spiritual effort. The concept of rebirth has the main defect that the soul feels relaxed and is not serious about spiritual progress in this birth since there are continuous opportunities in future to finish the effort. The decision of rebirth is in the hands of God and hence the soul should better think that there is no chance of rebirth (at least human birth) again to continue the effort. Based on this concept of absence of rebirth, if the soul puts hectic efforts in spiritual path and by chance (which is beyond the capacity of human being) the spiritual progress is not completed, God will certainly consider the soul for human rebirth. The soul sleeping leisurely thinking that human rebirth is a continuous facility, God will not grant the human rebirth to such a lazy soul. In fact, God says in the Gita (nitya jaatam…) that every day is a rebirth after the deep sleep (death). The soul should not postpone the spiritual effort to the old age because any day untimely death may swallow the soul. Hence, every soul should think that the present day is the last birth for spiritual effort to please God. Some religions speak of the rebirth of the soul while other religions say that there is no rebirth for the soul. If a soul is a condemned soul and does not show even a trace of hope of reformation, it is either thrown into a permanent hell or it is thrown into an endless cycle of the births of worms on earth. In that case, there is rebirth, but there is no human rebirth. Human rebirth is not automatically granted for any soul. Hence, the soul must strive to complete its spiritual effort within this human birth. Expecting God to compulsorily grant repeated human rebirths to every soul is foolishness. Human rebirth is given by God only in the exceptional case when the soul could not complete its spiritual efforts, in spite of its hectic efforts. Why in Bible rebirth is not mentioned? The concept of rebirth has both positive and negative sides. If rebirth is accepted for every soul infinitely, the disadvantage is that every soul becomes lazy in the spiritual path postponing the spiritual effort to old age and the old man postpones to the next birth! In view of this negative disadvantage of humanity, the honourable scholars of Christianity (called as Fathers) suppressed this point in view of the welfare of humanity only and not with any other ill intention. Such suppression is good for the spiritual aspirants. On the other hand, if you make it as a rule that no soul can have the opportunity for rebirth, it results in the lack of power of omnipotent God to sanction rebirth to even a deserving soul, which is unable to complete the effort in this birth, in spite of utmost sincerity. This results in saying that God is not omnipotent since He cannot change the rule of inevitable absence of rebirth. As the middle golden path of Aristotle, the truth is that God is omnipotent to sanction rebirth to a deserving soul as a special case to continue and complete its spiritual effort. By this, you cannot also generalize that every soul gets the opportunity of rebirth infinitely. Both extremities are wrong. In Hinduism, rebirth to every soul infinitely is spoken, which is wrong. In Christianity and Islam, “no rebirth to any soul and even the omnipotent God cannot sanction rebirth to any deserving soul also” is spoken and this is also wrong. Jesus told the truth that exists between these two extremities, which is the ultimate truth and also the real heart of the spiritual knowledge of Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. Why one is going to get the animal birth If you are limiting yourself to worldly affairs only like earning food, eating, drinking, sleep, sex etc., you will get the births of birds and animals only after this birth since these are common to both human birth and birth of animals or birds. The human birth is very very rare and if you are not using this birth for spiritual line, there is no need of human birth for you again. When you are born as animal or bird, at least you will decrease the quality of storing wealth through unlawful earnings because the bird or animal works just to earn food for that day only. After some births in animals and birds, you are again given birth in humanity to see whether your selfish nature is reduced or not. If there is no effect on your selfish nature even after repeating these life cycles for some more time, you are thrown in to the cycle of births of animals and birds forever and human rebirth will not be granted to you again. I praise the foreign religions, which say that this is the last human birth and that there is no rebirth. The human being becomes very alert in the spiritual line feeling this life as the last chance, failing which it will be thrown into liquid-fire of hell forever! The young human being postpones spiritual life to the old age and the old person postpones this to future human births! This human psychology is forcibly arrested by the above concept. In spite of such serious effort (due to absence of rebirth), if a soul concentrating on the process of continuous effort needs another human birth, it is certainly sanctioned by the omnipotent God and Hinduism speaks about this special case only, which is diluted by generalization resulting in misinterpretation. Hence, the real spirit of Hinduism is complementing the foreign religions and actually there is no interreligious split. The generalization of a specific concept is not new in Hinduism as you see that if human incarnation is God, every human being is God! : Souls present in a human body commit several sins due to their fascination for selfish desires without even remembering God. Such souls are given the birth of birds, animals, trees, stones etc., (tiryak-sthāvara). In these births, their selfishness gets reduced. If you see any bird or animal, it does not store its food for tomorrow. But the present human being is not satisfied even upon storing wealth for a hundred future generations! After the birth of birds and animals, if the soul’s selfish fascination has not been sufficiently exhausted, it is given the birth of a tree. As a tree, even if somebody takes its fruits (wealth), the tree will not feel any loss due to the absence of intelligence and a mind. If the fascination still remains in traces, the soul is given the birth of a stone in which the awareness is totally absent. It is a state like a long deep coma, in which the soul can forget the concept of selfishness. All these punishments are not given with an idea of revenge but are only meant for the reformation of the soul. Once the soul is perfectly reformed, the human birth is sanctioned again, where the soul acquires awareness, knowledge and a mind. In the birth of the bird or animal, full knowledge may be absent, but a mind and awareness are present. In trees, even the mind is absent even though very basic awareness is present. In stones, even the awareness is absent. In your question, you mention about the inability to introduce full knowledge to the soul while it is in the birth of a bird or animal (tiryak). But our concept is broad in dealing with the rebirth of the soul as a human being, after passing through the births of animals or birds for a long time. Path of soul after death 1) When the food is taken, it is assimilated to form the blood representing Rajas due to its energy. The rejected food forms the excretion representing Tamas. The inert energy supplied by blood is converted into awareness in the nervous system. The basic ego called as ‘I’ is maintained continuously by the activation of corresponding pulse in awaken and dream states. In awaken state, the ‘I’ is connected to the external world and in dream state, the awareness as ‘I’ is connected with strong thoughts stored in the brain as pulses called as ‘sphotas’ (sphota siddhaanta). 2) Chittam contains general awareness that takes information, stores the information temporarily and deletes if it is not important. The most liked information is maintained continuously by this, which is sent into its part of storage in the form of a pulse. The general awareness is like an ocean in which this storage part with important informations solidified as pulses looks like island. 3) The general awareness is modified into subtle body in the time of death dragging out the individual soul (storage part of chittam) and surrounds the soul. If the soul is to go to hell, it is called as yatanaa shariram. If the soul is to go to heaven, it is called as bhoga shariram. If the soul is to go to the abode of God, it is called as divya shariram. This subtle body is made of awareness and is called as living body or prana shariram. The inner individual soul is full of strong thoughts and is made of mind, which is the source of thoughts. The Veda says that the individual soul made of mind goes to the upper worlds dragging his alive body (manomayah praanashareera netaa). This body is very far sensitive than inert gross body since it is made of awareness or nervous energy. Even in the absence of materialised nervous system in the body of inert energy, the awareness exists by a super technology. It receives the pain in hell and happiness in heaven with million times more sensitivity than the gross body. The pain received by this body is million times more than the gross body receiving the pain from the same beating! The individual soul enjoys results of intensive sins and good deeds in this world to give witness to others regarding hell and heaven. God always follows the progress of the soul here as well as in the upper world and has full freedom to give fruit of good or bad deed to the soul at any time and at any place in view of the reformation of soul, which is the main aim of all this divine administration. 4) The real punishment is always severe and is given secretly. A thief is dragged on the road by police giving slight punishment so that people witness it. After dragging the criminal to the jail, severe punishments are given for the same crime. For any intensive sin, slight punishment is only given here for the witness of people and the rest severe punishment is given in the hell. This is to save the false prestige of the sinner before public. 5) Chittam is the individual soul in which strong worldly fascinations are solidified like diamonds. Around this soul, general awareness spreads as a circle just like intensive sunlight spreads around the sun. This soul is dragged by the general awareness from the body in the death by My will. The soul doesn’t come out by itself due to strong bond with its body. After coming out, this soul drags awareness-body to the upper worlds as per My will. Dragging is reversed here. 6) The gross body (sthula) is inert. The subtle body (sukshma) is energy as awareness, which does not require materialized brain and nervous system. This is sophisticated technology in the case of energetic bodies of angels also since the material of the energetic body is awareness itself. The causal body (kaarana) is the bundle of fascinations. The root causal body (mahaa kaarana) of the soul is the basic ignorance created by maayaa. Soul is the pure awareness (binding material) entangled by thoughts in the chittam. This pure awareness along with the thoughts is called as individual soul. 7) After death, the soul in energetic body (awareness is a form of energy) goes to upper sub-world, called as Preta loka and stays there for ten days. Below Pretaloka exists Martyaloka, which is this earth. Above Pretaloka exits Narakaloka or hell. Above Narakaloka exists Pitruloka. These four are the four sub-worlds of world Bhuuloka. Above Bhuuloka, Bhuvarloka world exists, which is the world of planets and stars. Above Bhuvarloka lies Suvarloka-world, which is the heaven. The soul goes to hell for its sins. It goes to heaven for its good deeds. A neutral soul with neither good nor bad deeds or with mixed deeds goes to Pitruloka. For ten days after death, I enquire about the soul in Preta loka and give final judgment based on which the soul goes to hell (sub-world) or Pitruloka (sub-world) or heaven (third world). My devotee will come straight to My abode, which is the seventh top most Brahmaloka or Satyaloka. During the time of My enquiry, the deity of justice argues against the soul like the public prosecutor. Some hopeless souls are sent to the births of birds and animals. These hopeless souls led their entire lives in worldly matters only without caring for the God. For such souls, human birth is unnecessary. They are given births of birds and animals, which are always engaged in eating food, drinking water, sex and sleep. I gave that only in which they are totally interested and hence, this is My favour to My issues and not anger. If You don’t care for God, intelligence or human birth is unnecessary for You. Birds and animals have mind only and are always involved in worldly activates. Only I am pushing the soul into womb of its mother for next birth through cloud, rain, plants, food and sperm of its father step by step. 😎 When I send My servants into this earth for propagation of spiritual knowledge, sometimes I push the soul directly into the womb of the mother without sperm. In the womb of the mother, the body of baby is alive with life and pure awareness without any fascination. In every case, only this individual soul (causal) enters its corresponding body (gross or subtle), which stands in the middle of that pure general awareness, as told above. 9) The souls in this world are calling Me as Datta-Father. Datta-Father means the father, who has taken a child in adoption. The adopted child will not have real love towards the adopted father. It shows external love towards adopted father for the sake of his wealth only. Similarly, all My devotees show unreal devotion to Me for the sake of selfish boons from Me! In fact, I have sent the soul into the sperm of its father and I am the real father where as its biological father is actually adopted father. The soul is reversing the truth! 10) The soul or awareness is a specific work form of inert energy only generated by a specific functioning nervous system on the entry of this inert energy. When current enters a specific functioning grinding machine, the current is converted into a specific grinding work. The awareness or nervous energy is basically inert energy only in which the quanta (neurons) of the nervous energy (like photons) propagate in the nerves. The body in which awareness is present also contains the sub-atomic particles, which are dynamic. Hence, soul is a form of dynamic or kinetic energy only. The living being is just the form of work only. The Gita says that a living being can never exist even for a moment without work (nahi kashchit kshanamapi...). The soul is a part of world only being specific work form of inert energy. The soul can’t create an atom of matter or a ray of energy and hence, can’t be God. God created this world containing infinite quantities of matter and energy! This one practical point is sufficient to differentiate God from soul. www.universal-spirituality[.]org Universal Spirituality for World Peace

How can atheistic evolutionary science clarify creation-related matters in scriptures? Dr. Nikhil asked: In a question answered by You on August 27, 2019, about how Allah created living beings as stated in the Quran, You suggested that the devotee should refer to Darwin’s theory of evolution. But Darwin’s theory of evolution and biology in general, does not include God to explain how life evolved. Darwin’s original theory of evolution, which is based on natural selection, later gave way to the ‘modern evolutionary synthesis’, which unified Darwin’s evolution with the genetics of Gregor Mendel. Even this modern evolutionary synthesis is also mainly based on natural selection. Personally, Darwin was most probably a theist. It is said that he lost his faith in traditional Christianity, later in life. But it is claimed that he returned to the Christian faith on deathbed. In any case, he did not explicitly deny God. However, the theory of evolution, be it the original Darwinian evolution or the modern synthesis, is one of the major pieces of evidence that atheists depend on, to claim that life does not need God to evolve. This atheistic view of the origin of life is against the philosophies of all religions including, Islam, Christianity and Hinduism. So, how can the devotee get more clarity about Quranic references related to the creation of life by God from the atheistic evolutionary science?] Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! I am not criticizing the theory of evolution or any other discovery of science because I am also a scientist. I fully believe in the value of science, which is based on experimental validation and not on mere theoretical imagination. Let us understand the respective roles of science and spirituality through the example of making coffee. I agree with the scientific procedure involved in the preparation of a cup of coffee. I am not denying the scientific laws of heat transfer in heating the water and milk. I also agree with the scientific laws related to the solubility of sugar and coffee powder in the hot mixture. I am only giving additional information about why the coffee was prepared in the first place. This is the role of spirituality. I am telling you that a person had a headache and wanted to drink coffee. So, he went to the kitchen, prepared the coffee and drank it. The person is the intellectual cause of the coffee (nimittam). The details about all the inert materials and processes like water, milk, heating, sugar and coffee powder are the material cause of the coffee (upādānam). The scientist only describes the material cause. I am not opposing that part at all. I am only adding the remaining part of the explanation, which makes the scientist’s part meaningful. The scientist cannot say that the milk got a headache and wished to become a cup of coffee! As you (Dr. Nikhil) are well-aware, this example of preparing coffee has been given by a wise western philosopher. There are some philosophies, who treat God only as intellectual cause of creation and the basic inert energy as the material cause. I have completed the story of creation only as per such philosophies. Of course, the main philosophy says that God is omnipotent and so, He acts as both the intellectual cause as well as the material cause (abhinna nimittopādānam). There is no worldly example to explain this main philosophy since there is no omnipotent entity in this imaginable world. The magical creation of an object by a magician can be given as an example, but with certain limitations. The main limitation is the magic is not true, it is a trick. It is just that we, as spectators, are unable to know the hidden techniques used by the magician. But if we assume that the magical creation of the object by the magician is a true creation, it can be treated to be the perfect example of God creating the world. Actually, if you want an exact example, it is also available in this world. It is the case of a genuine miracle performed by the mere will of a God-man (Human Incarnation of God). The God-man Himself is both the intellectual and material cause of the miracle. The point to be noted here is that this example is not different from the original concept. The original concept is the unimaginable God creating the world. The case of the God-man performing the miracle is the mediated God creating an item miraculously. In both cases, God alone is both the intellectual and material cause of the created item. This is an advanced concept in the spiritual knowledge and I am not getting into its details to avoid confusion, at this initial state. So, in this matter, I prefer to stick to the basic philosophy mentioned by Me initially, according to which, God is the intellectual cause and some primary inert material is the material cause of creation (world). As per this philosophy, God is like the potter who creates the pot out of mud. At this stage, the establishment of the existence of God is important and this basic philosophy is sufficient for the purpose. =============== -By Shri Datta Swami (Visit our website: www.universal-spirituality.org) Universal Spirituality for World Peace

ESSENCE OF BHAGAVATAM If the goal is highest, there will be highest complication in the path. If the goal is at certain achievable height, the path to it will not have so much complication. Therefore, the intensity of complication increases as the height of the goal increases. Pravrutti is at normal height (social justice) and is selected by majority of humanity. Here, you have to vote for justice against injustice in this path of pravrutti. You are protected by God in this path as long as you follow justice avoiding injustice. God also encourages this path of pravrutti in many ways by granting several rewards. If you do not want highest complication, avoid the goal of nivrutti (complete surrender and love to God) and confine yourself with the path of pravrutti, which is followed by majority. In pravrutti employer-employee relationship exists between God and devotee. As long as the employee works well following the rules and conduct, God is pleased and grants several boons to encourage such right behavior of the employee. In this pravrutti path, the soul should be alert and careful always like an employee in the office so that slip from justice and bending towards injustice are totally avoided, which lead to punishments. You work in the office of God like any other employee. As long as you follow justice and avoid injustice, you will be always in heaven here and there and you will not even see the hell here and there. The ultimate goal of God to come in human form to this world is pravrutti only, which is applicable to every human being so that the world-drama continues peacefully without any disturbance. Nivrutti is totally different. An employee in God's office creates good impression in the mind of the Boss (God) as usual similar to any other good employee. But, one mental employee with over extracurricular activity gets attracted with the boss and likes the boss terribly to such extent by which the employee tries to enter the family of God as a family member. Ofcourse, the advantage here is that God takes total responsibility of the employee succeeding in nivrutti. Actually the employee is called as the close family member of God and is no more employee. This employee enters the board of administration of the office and attains the status of employer by becoming part and parcel of the Boss. This path of nivrutti is beyond normal procedures involving lot of complication. The Boss gives employment in the office very easily to any candidate interested to do the job. But, if the employee desires to become the personal family member of the Boss, the scope of selection is very tedious and highly discouraging involving severe tests and very high complications. The selection in pravrutti is very easy, though discharging the duties of pravrutti after appointment is some what difficult, but one can do it. The selection in nivrutti is very very rare involving lot of confusion in the path and hardly one may succeed after severe efforts put in millions of births (bahuunaam janmanaam..., kaschitmaam... Gita). Therefore, selection of nivrutti-path is done by you and God is not at all responsible and the total responsibility lies with you. If one is really interested in nivrutti, he/she should not be worried about the path except about the ultimate goal. If one is determined to achieve the goal, the complication of the path to any extent is immaterial. A soul suitable for pravrutti also enquirers about nivrutti to see whether it is possible to proceed in it. Such person, sometimes, points out at high difficulties and criticizes that the path is not in the welfare of all. A candidate, incapable of preparation of I.A.S. examination, criticizes the standards of the syllabuses and even appeals to dilute the standards so that all can become I.A.S. officers! There is no need of criticism of nivrutti from a pravrutti-follower. A nivrutti determined soul will never criticize the path of nivrutti. Who is asking you to come to the path of nivrutti and succeed in it, especially when God Himself is discouraging it! Ofcourse God is compelling every soul to follow the path of pravrutti using the attraction to rewards and fear for punishments. The complication in nivrutti is beyond the scope of the follower of pravrutti. Same complication in nivrutti is not threatening the follower of nivrutti. In such case where is the scope of complaint from any corner regarding the complication of nivrutti? However, once again, I am presenting the entire subject of nivrutti through reshuffling of analysis in the context of presenting a few songs from Gopi Gita into English language. Language is not a barrier for communicating the subject and its inspiration. Dress cannot affect the natural personality of a human being. Nivrutti should also be known to every human being because one can achieve high result or at least normal result if the goal is highest. Another point is that if you understand nivrutti well, now itself, the subject is present with the individual soul as memory (samskara), which may be carried on to the next birth provided the soul gets human birth as immediate follow-up. However, if the next birth is the life of animal, this memory is lost. After attaining this memory in theory, if you make trials to practice it, you may get next birth as human being. However, the soul seriously interested in nivrutti does not take risk of all these factors of next birth and tries to succeed in this human birth itself. However, if the goal is nivrutti, the soul will certainly succeed in pravrutti. The Bhagavatam is the most confusing part of spiritual knowledge especially in the context of stealing butter or dancing with married Gopikas in the midnight, which is the most complicated side of Lord Krishna. No other religion contains such shocking complication. Suppose we say that we can neglect this complicated side of Lord Krishna and proceed with the rest part of life of Krishna and also the total life of Rama, one can proceed easily in pravrutti provided there is no interest in nivrutti. I am shouting again and again regarding one point that a specific soul only is interested in nivrutti, which is also discouraged by God always. You can keep nivrutti as theoretical goal to achieve practical success in pravrutti. Nivrutti, being the highest, naturally, attracts every soul. Every soul is very anxious to have the unique personal relationship with God. In nivrutti, there is no danger of slip since God takes the personal responsibility of the close family member. Pravrutti is totally different, which depends upon your grip to justice and power of resistance to injustice. Pravrutti is like the child catching the womb of the mother as in the case of the monkey (markata kishora nyaya). In nivrutti, the soul is in the grip of God like the child caught by the mouth of mother in journey as in the case of cat (marjala kishora nyaya). Apart from this aspect of fruit oriented attraction, which is not recommended in nivrutti, the attraction to the divine personality without any reason and without aspiration for any fruit is the main essence of nivrutti. Pravrutti involves the aspiration for fruit, which is not minded by God. Boss will not mind to give you salary and even rewards as long as you work well in the office. But, in nivrutti, the aspiration for fruit is totally absent as in the case of the wife of the Boss working in the office like supervision without any aspiration for the salary or rewards. Nivrutti comes to the front place in view of these unique advantages even though fruit oriented aspect is totally forbidden. Due to the above mentioned confusion and complication, why not we set aside this earlier part of the life of Krishna or for that matter, even to close the Bhagavatam to avoid this since a part of the book cannot be neglected. The Bharatam also involves the life of Krishna, which is similar to the life of Rama. Except those incidents in Brindavanam, there is no difference between the lives of Rama and Krishna. But, the Bharatam and the Ramayanam mainly stand for pravrutti. Hence, the Bhagavatam cannot be closed in nivrutti. Once the Bhagavatam is opened, we cannot neglect the earlier life of Lord Krishna in it, which is a part of it. The problem becomes more serious when we hear that the Bhagavatam alone was recommended to give salvation to king Pariskshit in 7 days! This brings the blowing of air on fir e. Added to this, another point is that the spiritual knowledge of a preacher shall be tested from his capability in understanding the Bhagavatam, which is called as real knowledge or Vidya (Vidyavatam bhagavate pariksha). This is like pouring petrol in the fire which is already blown by air!! None Will Have Jealousy & None Will Doubt Partiality After Tests The Bhagavatam is said to give salvation in the case of Parikshit. In the above mentioned verse, the Bhagavatam is said to be vidya. Vidya means knowledge for salvation as stated by scripture “yaa vidya saa vimuktaye”. Both these points show that the Bhagavatam explains the salvation, which is liberation of soul from worldly bonds. Liberation from world is an indirect measure of the intensity of association with God. The cause of liberation must be association with God. Other than this reason of God, any other reason is useless. A student is not seeing cinemas and this is indirectly based on the reason that he is studying well. There may be other reasons like sleeping, drinking, playing etc. Hence, the understood and expected reason is studying class books. Hence, the conclusion is that salvation means liberation from worldly bonds due to the unidirectional bond with God. The strongest bonds (Eshanas) are said to be bond with life partner, bond with issues and bond with money. If you analyze this complicated path, God Krishna tested the sages born as Gopikas in the liberation of these three strongest bonds. Dance with married Gopikas shows the test of the strength of the bond with life partner. Stealing butter from house saved to feed the issues indicates the test of the intensity of the bond with issues. Asking the butter in the path, which is taken by Gopikas to Madhura city to convert into money needed for provisions is the test of strength of bond with the money. All these activities understood in the light of breaking these three strongest bonds gives the purity of the background. Especially, when Krishna has lot of butter in His house this stealing shows the real color of test. Test is inevitable before giving the result. Then only none will have jealousy and none will doubt about the partiality of giving result to undeserving. Even if the teacher says that a student is good in the subject, the university conducts the open examination to all and then only the result is declared. The word of the teacher can't be taken into confidence to avoid the doubt of partiality. Rama is born only for pravrutti and behaved like normal human being without showing any miracle. Krishna is mainly for nivrutti to give salvation to the sages born as Gopikas. They tried to embrace Rama by becoming females since they realized that God alone is male. Shri Paramahamsa also belongs to the level of those sages and stayed in Brindavanam for one month in the dress of female. Creation or prakruti is female. Creator or purusha is masculine. The individual soul is para prakruti and the body is apara-prakruti. Therefore, a human being, being the combination of the individual soul and body is totally prakruti or female. The Veda also says that the male souls also are females and wives of God (Striyah satih pumsah). Meera questioned her preacher Tulasidas “Is there a male in souls also?” In another type of classification based on superficial names, in the Gita, the body (Apara) is said to be prakruti, individual soul (para) is said to be purusha and God is said to be purushottama. Both these classifications mean the same. Creator is purusha or purushottama. The body is apara-prakruti or simply prakruti. The individual soul is said to be para prakruti or purusha. Though the individual soul is also prakruti (since para and apara constitute prakruti), the individual soul is also called as purusha due to little freedom exhibited by the individual soul on the body. Hence, the human being stands for creation and God in human form stands for creator. First, miracles were exhibited by Lord Krishna to establish Himself as God and this is first filtration, which filters Him from majority of humanity. The second filtration is filtering Krishna from demons, who are also capable of miracles. The demons attempted to kill Krishna through miraculous powers and killing of demons by Krishna in reverse, filters Krishna from demons. Apart from knowledge and love, miracle is also a characteristic of God (satya kamah— Veda). Demons have that one characteristic only, which was also obtained from God only. Krishna lifted hill and Ravana also lifted hill. But, Krishna preached the Gita where as Ravana can never do it. The reason for the exhibition of several miracles in the childhood by Krishna is to distinguish Himself as God from other human beings. The reason is that Krishna is going to test the sages by stealing and dancing. Both these may be imitated by the other human beings since He has to exhibit pravrutti and nivrutti in the same place, the earth. If nivrutti is done in upper world (Goloka) and pravrutti is done here (Bhuloka), this problem will not be there. To avoid this false imitation by extension of nivrutti into pravrutti due to the common place (earth), He separated the two subjects of pravrutti and nivrutti. By miracles, He isolated Himself from other human beings as God to say that nivrutti belongs to God only and not to ordinary souls. He finished Nivrutti in the very first stroke of His life and then proceeded to pravrutti. Even though separation of these two subjects was done by Lord in this way, God has taken some extra precautions also to distinguish Himself from ordinary souls of Pravrutti in order to arrest the extension of nivrutti into pravrutti. These precautions are: 1) He did not have any selfish intention of eating butter since He gave the butter to the children of those houses only by rotation. A soul in Pravrutti steals only with selfishness. 2) Krishna did not run to the houses of Gopikas for secret affair as we see the case of ordinary souls. He stayed only in Brindavanam and Gopikas only ran to Him from village. 3) He asked Gopikas to return threatening them that the consequence will be hell for that sin. Gopikas refused and threatened Him to commit suicide in the absence of dance. 4) He selected the midnight as the time so that the families are not hurt being in deep sleep. 5) Full moon season was selected so that Gopikas can easily reach Brindavanam. 6) Stealing the butter was preferred so that Gopikas are not scolded by their elders. 7) Krishna was after Gopikas for butter and romance in their paths so that their family members are not hurt. 😎 All this secrecy was maintained in the time of Krishna to save the social prestige of Gopikas and not to hurt their families. After the generation of Krishna only, Vyasa revealed this secrecy to show its importance in the Bhagavatam. Love Between Krishna & Gopikas Not Based on Thirst for Sex Once the program of nivrutti was finished at Brindavanam, Krishna left it to proceed for the establishment of pravrutti. Krishna never repeated this elsewhere throughout His life and was just like Rama in establishing the justice. Non-repetition of the sin is a proof of absence of wrong selfish intention like illegal sex and accumulating personal wealth by stealing. Vyasa met with the widow-wives of His brothers to generate issues on the order of His mother. Shankara also entered the body of King Amaruka and enjoyed with the wives of the King to learn sex education for a debate with Ubhaya Bharati. Both Vyasa and Shankara did not repeat this sin again in their lives like Krishna and hence non-repetition of sin proves that they were not sinners due to their some other pure intention. In these three cases non-repetition of sin is the common factor, but there is a difference. There was love in the hearts of both Krishna and Gopikas. In the case of Vyasa and Shankara, there is no such love on either side. But, the point here is that the love between Krishna and Gopikas was not based on the thirst for physical sex. The reason is that Gopikas were married and there is no such need for them. Krishna is God and does not have thirst for anything being the boundless ocean of bliss. There is nothing to be attained or not attained by God and hence there is no need of any desire in the case of God (aapthkamasya… Veda, naanavaaptam… Gita). This love is very pure, which is between God and soul purely based on the attraction to divine personality of God existing in the minds of sages for past millions of births. In these past births also, never there was any possibility of sex since all the sages are males only. In the previous birth before taking birth of Gopikas, sages developed the desire to become females not because of thirst for sex, but because they realized that all souls are females and wives of God. Husband means the maintaining person. Wife means the maintained person. All souls are maintained by God only. It is because of this pure love based on pure spiritual knowledge, such idea came to their minds. This love can't be compared to the love between two souls differing in gender. Such love between souls is purely based on the thirst for sex only. You cannot bring such pure love of sages to God existing for millions of births to the case of two souls. The reason is that no two souls have such constant association for several births since the souls change their associations like the actors in roles from one cinema to other cinema. But, in this case the same love of sages to God continued for millions of births and thus the present love of Krishna and Gopikas has very long pure background. Such long background is impossible between any two souls. Hence, the case of Krishna and Gopikas becomes totally different from the case of any pair of souls differing in gender meeting as a couple. When the love between Krishna and Gopikas was not based on physical sex as in the case of ordinary souls, how the illegal sex between Krishna and Gopikas was referred in the Bhagavatam by Vyasa? Does this mean that there was external sex like kissing, embracing etc., only and not the internal sex (copulation)? The scholar, Shridhara, a great commentator on the Bhagavatam, wrote that there is no leakage of sperm (retah skhalanam). Does this mean that the entire internal sex was avoided or does this mean that though internal sex was done, the leakage of sperm by Krishna did not take place due to His miraculous power? The second option is ruled out because the internal sex without leakage of sperm is like the same using a condom. Then, this means that if condom is used, it is not a sin! Hence, this should mean that the very act of internal sex is not done. In such case, how the word 'internal sex' (surata) was used by Vyasa in the Bhagavatam? Did the Lord avoid leakage of sperm to avoid pregnancy? If the Lord has miraculous powers, He can avoid pregnancy even if the leakage of sperm took place. In the three cases of Vyasa, Shankara and Krishna all the points become common: 1) Non-repetition of sin elsewhere at any time after this incident. 2) No love in the cases of Vyasa and Shankara and love exists in the case of Krishna as reciprocating love towards the love of Gopikas to Krishna. But, this love is not the ordinary physical thirst (as there was no such need on both sides) and it is pure love of male sages to God accumulated continuously from several births. Therefore, all these three cases are one and the same in all aspects. Sacrifice Becomes Total If Same Specific Total Bond Expressed in God Now the question comes that why the internal sex in physical sense has taken place between Krishna and Gopikas? The reason is that such internal sex was the desire from the side of Gopikas only since God never develops such thirst for external or internal sex. Gopikas also do not have such need because they were married leading a good family life. If there is no need on the side of Gopikas, what is the reason for their desire for internal or external sex? The reason is that the complete breakage of bond with the life partner is not proved if there is such deficiency. It cannot be a total sacrifice of a specific bond unless the same specific total bond is expressed in the case of God. You need not bother about the internal sex separately because even external sex is a sin equal to internal sex. If you try to eliminate the internal sex, the problem is not solved because even the external sex is a sin. At every stage of this discussion, a warning bell should be frequently given that no point of nivrutti should be extended to pravrutti because 1) nivrutti is the subject of God and soul. Pravrutti is the subject between souls. 2) Non-repetition of sin elsewhere proves lack of bad selfish intention. 3) God is filtered from majority of souls due to possession of unimaginable powers and this is the first filtration of God from majority of humanity. Demons performing miracles can be filtered by second filtration of unimaginable knowledge and unimaginable love to souls. Ravana also may lift hill but cannot deliver the Gita. Dealing of Krishna with Gopikas is also based on absence of cheating or force and in fact based in even discouraging Gopikas from sin and hell. Ravana forced other ladies and cheated Sita in stealing Her. Though Lord stole butter, it was given to their children coming as His friends only on rotation. Ravana stole others wealth for self only. If you make all ordinary souls also as God through propagation of philosophy of monism (Advaita), the fantastic danger that attacks pravrutti immediately is that why not an ordinary soul also behave like Krishna since both are the same God? Now, the first filtration is to be applied to say that no human soul is God and the second filtration is to be applied to say that no demon/angel performing miracles is also God. This clearly establishes the dualism between God and soul. Ofcourse, the monism is also true if you see the case of a human being, son of Vasudeva, is God. Similarly the energetic form like sage Narayana is God. There are three fundamental qualities called as Sattvam, Rajas and Tamas. No single quality like 100% sattvam can ever exist. Pure sattvam means only 99% sattvam. The residual 1% is rajas and tamas. Vishnu is predominating sattvam and hence Rama is also the same. When the three qualities exist in equal ratio, such energetic incarnation is called as Datta. Rama is incarnation of Vishnu and Krishna is incarnation of Datta. Hence, you can find the activities of rajas and tamas also in Krishna, which were essential for His program. The total sacrifice of Gopikas explains the dance in Brindavanam with Lord Krishna. If you omit even a little (1%) from the total sacrifice (100%) and say that the 99% sacrifice is also a total sacrifice, souls unable to do that 1% sacrifice will exploit and take the advantage of total sacrifice! All Gopikas could not pass in all subjects. Some Gopikas complained to Yashoda regarding stealing and dance and such Gopikas are the candidates not appearing for the examination. Some Gopikas gave butter to Krishna but did not go to dance due to fear to sin and hell. Some Gopikas attended the dance but objected Krishna in stealing butter and complained to Yashoda due to greediness. On hearing the flute from Brindavanam, some awoke but did not move from beds. Some arose and just sat on beds. Some got down from cots and stood only. Some went up to the doors only, but could not come out. Some opened the doors but due to lack of talent in opening doors, family members awoke and stopped them. Some Gopikas pushed away the family members and ran to the Lord. Only some Gopikas opened the doors with high talent and ran to Lord while their family members are in deep sleep. This last set of Gopikas, who also gave butter to Lord with full willingness were declared as successful candidates for Goloka. The Gita says that the devotion, which does not exist for any inert item or for any non-inert item alone, will make you achieve God. The Gita says that with such devotion only God is attained (Bhaktyaa tvananyayaa…). For such unique and unidirectional devotion only, God takes the responsibility of protecting the soul here (Kshema) and there (Yoga). Conquering Different Types of Ego Gopikas were salvated in their last birth. Last birth means the birth in which examination by Lord was conducted. The sages conquered all types of ego through several births. In the last but previous birth, the sages conquered all the ego including gender and hence liked to become females and embrace the Lord. In the last birth as Gopikas, they were examined about their victories over various types of ego. They conquered ego of caste by taking birth in low caste, conquered ego of gender by becoming females, conquered ego of knowledge by becoming uneducated, conquered ego of beauty by becoming normal looking, conquered ego of colour by becoming black, conquered ego of wealth by becoming poor, conquered ego of age of youth being elder than Krishna, conquered bond with life-partner by dance with God, conquered bond with issues by giving saved butter to the Lord, conquered bond with money by giving butter to the Lord in the way to Madhura city. Very few Gopikas conquered all the bonds and attained the highest stage of devotion in which nothing and nobody was leftover which or who was not sacrificed for the sake of God. This is the final stage in which firm decision of sacrifice was taken without any further analysis. This final stage is full tamas quality representing the final state of Lord Shiva, the destroyer of everything and everybody without discrimination. Lord Shiva destroys both good and bad people in the final dissolution without any difference. Similarly, in this final stage, both injustice and justice were sacrificed for the sake of God without any discrimination. Before this final stage, the sages existed in the state of Lord Vishnu, embodiment of sattvam quality or full analysis of right and wrong. For several births, these sages debated and debated to come to this final stage through very long period. Before such births of analysis, these sages existed in some births with rajas in the state of Lord Brahma in which scriptures were deeply studied. The three stages are studying the scripture through hard work, analyzing the scriptures to find out the true concept and finally implementation of true concept without any trace of analysis having very firm decision. Truth is harsh. If the analysis giving full clarity joins with the truth, it is like the blown air joining the fire resulting in intolerable state of fire. Therefore, in view of the tolerable state of the world, truth is always associated with least clarity. There may be one receiver, who needs the explanation of truth with full clarity and such rarest soul should be also provided with truth explained with full clarity. Alternatively, false can be associated with full clarity like air without fire. Some hide the truth directly. Some give misinterpretation of the truth so that the truth is hidden indirectly. Both these are not correct ways. The correct way is to reveal the truth with full clarity by giving proper explanation so that there will be no chance of misinterpreting and misunderstanding the truth. Some say that Krishna stole butter and danced with Gopikas simply as a play (Leela). Some say that Krishna was only aged 5 years, who was very ignorant and thus stealing of butter can be neglected. Even the dance with Gopikas cannot have a different colour in that age. All these are misrepresentations of truth. Let us accept the crime and present the circumstances in which the crime was done. In certain specific circumstances, the crime is not treated as a crime at all. We believe in this way. You do not accept the crime or give a misrepresentation of the crime. If the total background of the Bhagavatam in the context of these incidents is understood well, it becomes the greatest spiritual knowledge of highest level. Without doing the total analysis, some religions point out at Hinduism based on misunderstood and misrepresented truth. God of any religion is one and the same and criticism of God of other religion is only criticism of God of your religion since in all religions the same God exists in different forms and His behavior is different in different contexts. Different contexts exist in different religions. () ---------------------------------- -By Shri Datta Swami www.universal-spirituality[.]org Universal Spirituality for World Peace -------------------

Your sincere effort and God's grace in worldly matters The fundamental slip is to think that the fruits are achieved by sincere and continuous efforts only done with full self confidence. This is fundamentally wrong and hence we fail to achieve the fruits by sincere efforts and self-confidence in our lives on several occasions. These failures bring tensions and spoil the health. This fundamental concept should be rectified by the correct fundamental concept. The fruit is given by God and not by the effort or the self-confidence you maintain in such effort. This does not mean that God will give you the fruit without effort. Your effort must be sincere and continuous as in the case of others. But, you should know that the generator of the fruit is neither your effort nor your self-confidence. You must do the effort with all sincerity in continuous way. You must replace the self-confidence by the confidence in God and know that the fruit is always given by God. Now, the failure of your effort does not bring any tension in you because the effort is not the generator of the fruit. Such right knowledge removes your wrong impression that the generator of the fruit is your sincere and continuous effort. If you maintain this concept continuously, never tension comes due to the failure of your effort. You will think that God did not give the fruit since some better fruit is going to be given by Him in course of time. Attraction for Fruit Makes Even Devotee to Think That He alone can Do Sin The background of this whole story is your attachment and attraction for the fruit. This attraction for the fruit itself is the cause for your failure. This attachment gives anxiety, which consumes your energy and there is no energy leftover to do the work with concentration. This can be understood from thermodynamics in which it is stated that Q = rise in the internal energy + work done. Q is the energy achieved and associated with you. The anxiety will raise your internal energy and all the energy associated with you is spent in such rise of internal energy. Now there is no energy leftover for the work. If the anxiety is absent, there is no raise in the internal energy. All the energy present in you is fully diverted to the work. This generates the success provided you have the confidence in God and know that the giver of the fruit is God only. The self-confidence is essentially self-ego only. God does not give fruit often so that this ego in yourself is crashed and you will develop the confidence in God, which is the basis of devotion. God is Father and teacher also for every human being. This is a continuous training given to you by God. This concept exists in the statement that “Man Proposes and God Disposes”. The proposal of man, which is normally associated with self-confidence, brings the failure. The same proposal with sincere and continuous efforts associated with the confidence in God leads to success. Even in this case, if the fruit is not achieved, you should not be worried because God will certainly give a better fruit in future. The present fruit is harmful to you about which you do not know. Hence, the desire generating the attachment for fruit should be destroyed (Maa Phaleshu..., Samkalpa Prabhavaan... Gita). Buddha also preached that the desire, which is the seed for the attraction for the fruit should be avoided. This attraction for the fruit makes even a devotee to think that he alone can do the sin (not knowing that everybody thinks like this only) secretly to achieve the fruit. Naturally, the effort fails and the fruit is not given by God since, your sin is not desirable to God. This sin is not only disturbing the balance of society but also disturbs your health by tension due to non-achievement of fruit. Yoga does not mean avoiding the tension by doing physical exercises and exercises in breathing. Of course, these exercises bring some good health in the body so that your health can resist the damage caused by tension to some extent. This is a solution from the backside of the problem. The solution from the front side of the problem is to avoid the tension itself by using this right knowledge. The first is a defensive method and the second is offensive method. The second is always better than the first. The practical problem here is also that you don't remember this concept immediately on the attack of the tension. The failure of the effort brings anger and tension, which leads to loss of memory and finally the self-destruction becomes the final fruit (Dhyayato Vishayaan... Gita). Of course, after some time after the attack of tension, you will remember this concept provided you know it and think about it. The propagation of any concept to others helps not only others but also yourself because the concept becomes strong in your mind by the process of preaching. Hence, sacrificial work for the sake of others gives you also the benefit in both ways. If you confine the concept (knowledge) in your mind only, it never becomes strong because you will not memorize it since you get bored. The interest comes in preaching the concept to others, which leads to strengthening the concept. Shankara told that the discussion of divine knowledge (Satsanga) gives you the detachment from fruits (Nissanga) and the final fruit is the liberation from all worries (Jeevan Mukti). If your discussion is related to God also, that will increase your devotion and confidence in God by which you achieve the fruits also. Hence, detachment from the desires and fruits and attachment to God will bring you the happiest life in which you are relieved from all the worries and also blessed with all the good fruits. This is a double benefit scheme in which loss is avoided and benefit is gained. This is the essence of the Gita preached by the Lord. For a common man, achievement of fruit is essential to get happiness, which can be achieved only by the devotion to God. Detachment from the tensions relieves you from all the worries, which is the liberation from tension and this is also required for the common man. This will gradually lead to higher state in which you will be attached to God and get happiness from God only, which is associated with liberation from the worries of the world. For some time, God gives the fruits like initial chocolates to a child so that you will enter into the higher state. But, most of the people always remain in the first state only!! -By Shri Datta Swami (Visit our website: www.universal-spirituality.org) Universal Spirituality for World Peace

OVERCOMING LAZINESS Laziness is the most dangerous disease because it not only spoils one’s mental health, but also one’s physical health. Even if you stop mental work, you should never stop physical work, which is doing some physical exercises, at least. The body must have perfect health and you must give top most priority to this point. A sound mind always needs a sound body. Only a sound mind can understand the real spiritual knowledge, which is helpful for the welfare of the soul forever. Solution for tension and anxiety I have not made any serious plan to create this world. I created this world just as a play only. I am not touched by any fruit of any soul. I didn’t spend any energy for this creation since I am beyond the worldly logic. I have created this world, which can’t even touch Me since it is totally unreal and I am totally real as per My absolute plane. From Me, the soul shall learn that it must also do any work without attaching itself to the work or to its fruit(result), in which case, such soul is also not touched by any work or fruit. The anxiety possessed by the soul in doing the work for getting the fruit makes the soul very weak and tortures the soul with high stress and tension. The soul is spending lot of energy in serious thinking before doing a work. The soul is also tortured very much by the attachment to fruit(result/outcome). If the soul does work without attaching itself to the fruit, the energy required for the work is very little and the soul will not become weak after the work. The energy supplied to a system is partly spent for the work and partly spent for the tension due to attachment to fruit. Lot of energy is spent in the excitement by the excessive attachment to the fruit and sometimes, no energy is available for the work. In such case, the work fails. Sattvam means the essence of inert energy that is transformed into awareness. Expenditure of awareness in the process of anxiety and tension through attachment to the fruit is the highest loss since awareness is very precious energy than inert energy and inert matter. The soul must learn to do every work without anxiety and tension by detaching itself to the fruit. The soul shall stay always in the balanced state treating both gain and loss of fruit to be equal. The souls shall do the work thinking that the fruit belongs to somebody else and not to itself, in which case, the soul is not disturbed by any tension. Selfishness is the main reason of all tensions. If the soul develops selflessness, even while doing selfish works, the soul remains undisturbed. The Veda says that the soul develops fear by which tension is created due to selfishness that draws limited boundaries of self and its family (Atha tasya bhayam bhavati ya etadudaramantaram kurute). Some people think that self is God for whom this entire world stands as family. For the sake of good spiritual progress, the concept of monism can be exploited about which God will never mind and in fact, gets pleased also. God becomes furious only when monism is exploited to do sins. The physical works need little energy only. The effect of physical work is very much beneficial for the health. The mental work needs lot of energy. If the mental work is in the form of tension, very enormous amount of energy is spent. The soul need not worry about physical and mental work if tension is absent. Desire is the root source of attachment to fruit, which leads the soul to commit sins. Hence, God Buddha advised us to eradicate selfish desire, which is the root cause of all sins and subsequent miseries. Yoga means several concepts. The first main concept is association with Satguru or human incarnation(God in human form). Yoga comes from the root verb ‘yuj’, which means meeting. It also means the preservation of energy without wasting it so that the soul becomes highly energetic, which is the needed basis for all the three steps (knowledge, devotion and service with sacrifice). I am doing very huge works like creation, ruling and destruction of the world with full detachment and without any selfishness. I have infinite treasure of energy with Me just because I am detached from everything and selfless always. If this clue is followed, the soul becomes very efficient in doing responsibilities and also in doing spiritual efforts. Yoga means association of the self with balanced state (Sthitaprajna) in which, there is no attachment to fruit so that its gain doesn’t make the soul to be excited or its loss doesn’t make the soul to get depressed. Maintaining this balanced state with continuous association with it is called as Yoga as said in the Gita (Samatvam yoga uchyate). If this Yoga is used to succeed in worldly works to gain the fruits, which are enjoyed with selfishness only later on, in course of time, such yoga disappears because the selfishness still remains with the soul. Hence, the sacrifice of fruit (donation of result to God, like money to God) to some extent at least in the beginning resists the soul from more attachment to selfishness. Even though attachment to fruit shall be destroyed for doing the work more effectively, if the fruit is not sacrificed at all, such Yoga will be destroyed soon. As the sacrifice of fruit increases, the selfishness decreases so that yoga is protected from total destruction. Even Patanjali, the founder of Yoga says that preservation of energy by controlling the mind from the desire to fruits and thereby avoiding tension is the Yoga. Sacrifice of work and fruit of work without selfishness makes the Yoga to become more and more powerful day-by-day. That yoga is exploited for the success of work and attaining the fruit. Without sacrifice of fruit, the selfishness gets more and more strong to destroy the yoga. However much, water may be pumped into the water tank, if the pipe line connected to the tank is leaking water through several holes, there is no use of pumping the water into tank. Similarly, if You don’t resist tensions, which are the leakage holes, there is no use of yoga, which is storage of energy and increase of pumping the energy into tank like soul. Unless You are energetic, You can neither win in this world nor can become fruitful in spiritual efforts. A person following the path of yoga doesn’t lose energy even on becoming emotional since the detachment exists in basic level. An ordinary human being looses lot of energy by becoming emotional since basically the attachment exists. The emotion spends very little energy due to basic detachment. The same emotion spends lot of energy due to the basic attachment. If You follow Yoga, You will succeed to attain the fruit and if You come back to the selfishness again in the enjoyment of fruit without any practical sacrifice(donation to God part of the money etc), such yoga will disappear forever. If You earn the fruit and save it, You have a chance of becoming fruitful in future since there is a possibility of sacrifice of the fruit in the future at least. If You waste the energy in unnecessary works, such chance in the future doesn’t exist in Your case. Don’t waste energy in any unnecessary activity, which is another form of heavenly dancer to spoil Your penance for God. If the discussions are about Me, it is spiritual effort. Similarly, seeing the devotional cinemas. Similarly, reading devotional books. The direction is important and not the material of the path. Same lock and same key, but, if the key is in one direction the lock gets unlocked. If the key is in opposite direction, unlocked lock gets locked. Even if one is interested in discussions, cinemas and novels related to worldly issues, You can get the spiritual benefit if You are concentrating on the victory of justice and thereby victory of God, in which is no wastage of time and energy. You can convert a robber into Your watchman, if You can change the direction of his mentality! Detachment means detachment from work and its fruit and this is My state (Na Me Paarthaastikartavyam, Na maam karmaani..., Na Me karmaphale...). Detachment from fruit (resul/outcome) is proved by its sacrifice and not by selfish enjoyment, which is selfishness. People become selfless by getting detachment from fruit till the fruit is attained. Now, the attachment to fruit comes resulting in self-enjoyment of the fruit without sacrifice. Such detachment up to attainment of fruit and again attachment to fruit for selfish enjoyment is the exploitation of concept done for the success of work in attaining the fruit! This fails because once You are attached to fruit, in the next work, the attachment to fruit appears disturbing You with tension. Hence, You must put effort in sacrificing (donate) the excess fruit(money) at least. By this, sin is also avoided, which always appears in earning excess fruit only. Arjuna was always with tension throughout the war whereas Krishna was with smile throughout the war. You may say that the war is connected to Arjuna and not to Krishna since Arjuna is fighting for his property. This is not correct because even the army of Krishna involved in the war is destroyed. If You take the internal war of all the relatives of Krishna killing each other, in such case also, Krishna remained with smile even though His relatives and even His issues were killed! Yoga means resisting the expenditure of energy to preserve it. This does not mean that the expenditure should be totally restricted. Money and energy shall be spent only in proper way and not in unnecessary ways. Greedy person stores money even without spending for necessary purpose and the stored money is finally stolen by thieves. Similarly, the stored energy without expenditure for proper purpose is stolen by death in the end. Proper purpose means the essential worldly responsibilities and spiritual activities. If You are unable to resist the unnecessary ways, try to find Me in those unnecessary ways so that it becomes the spiritual activity. The direction towards Me makes such unnecessary activity also as useful spiritual activity. For example, if You are seeing a social movie, feel that while the hero in that picture is trying to oppose injustice and to support justice, he becomes successful due to My grace and My power only. In every scene, whenever injustice is defeated remember that it happened due to My will only. By doing so, You are turning the social movie into devotional picture by changing the direction everywhere towards Me. If the soul is enjoying the social movie for just entertainment only, it has wasted its valuable time and energy. Such soul will go into the cycle of births of birds and animals, which simply enjoy the creation without thinking about Me at least in such enjoyment. The soul got that in which it is interested and hence, such cycles of births are not punishments since whatever is desired by the soul, it is given by its divine Father, who will never act in the line of revenge towards His issues. One can worship Me at any time in any place through any method. His interest and love in Me are the most important factors, which alone attract Me towards him/ her. A person, who has no real love on Me, is particular of time, place and method. This is covering the lack of love of the soul on God and deceiving itself. Such person likes to save energy and time for worldly issues using this pretext! Yoga is for every soul irrespective of caste, gender and religion. Gayatri means praying the Lord through songs and not reciting a Vedic hymn, which is in a meter called as Gayatri. God Shiva is having white Ganga river on the head, which means that one should have the white pure spiritual knowledge in the head. This Ganga river comes out from the foot of God Vishnu, which means that one should be filled with spiritual knowledge from top head to bottom feet indicating assimilation of knowledge becoming blood throughout the body. Some fools treat Shiva as low for keeping Ganga river born from the foot of great Vishnu on His head! They forget that such interpretation is impossible since the Veda says that Shiva and Vishnu are one and the same (Shivashcha Naaraayanah) and hence, the first interpretation is correct. The inhaled (Puuraka) air rich in oxygen is retained (kumbhaka) for some time inside the body so that the purification of blood takes place fully by using all the available oxygen in one inhalation. Expelling the inhaled air (rechaka) is equally important because the air containing impure gases must be also expelled out. This is the mechanism created by God and giving much importance to one step only is foolishness. Expelling bad gasses generated by indigestion and hyper acidity etc., is as important as the other two steps. The generation of bad gasses must be controlled by taking proper care in the quality and quantity of food taken based on the knowledge of medical science. This bad gas is called as vaata, which is said to be the root of all diseases (vaatokhilarogamuulam). If the desire of the tongue is controlled, most of the diseases are controlled. Prevention of disease is far better than its cure by medicines. There are three important factors in deciding the activities of soul in this world:- i) The influence of the thoughts of sub-conscious state on the soul, which is very powerful and this can be controlled or even totally avoided through true spiritual knowledge only. ii) The food taken by mouth and this can be controlled by spiritual knowledge only, which controls or even totally destroys the fascination of tongue and iii) the input of information into mind and this is also rectified by spiritual knowledge only through association with spiritual people. The above said three factors are responsible for all the activities of the soul that decide its fate. Spiritual knowledge is the most important fundamental medicine that gives the right direction to the soul to reach the right goal in right path. The knowledge given by human incarnation (God in human form) is unadulterated medicine, which is very powerful. I don’t need any fruit or any favour from any soul since I am fully contented with My infinite wealth, which is this creation. There is nothing, which is not attained or to be attained by Me as said in the Gita. I aspire for the fruit (wealth, money etc) from the souls only to test their real devotion to Me and this is the basis of Krishna stealing butter from the houses of Gopikas. It was done to test their reaction. Some felt very happy and gave butter even secretly to Krishna in the way while going to Madhura city! Some complained to His mother asking that why He should steal butter when plenty of butter is in His house. The former went to Goloka and the latter were robbed by robbers when they were taken by Arjuna to his city! This means that storage of fruit for self-enjoyment only without some sacrifice at least, will result in total loss only in the end. This truth was preached by Krishna through stealing. Some say that they are not attached by the worldly issues even though they are surrounded by such issues like the lotus flower in water as said in the Gita. This is possible only for God entering this world and any soul will be affected by the surrounding external atmosphere. Hence, sage Vashishta told while preaching Rama that staying far from the worldly issues as far as possible is always the safest way for any ordinary soul. For a soul, except the responsible duties, it is better to avoid the worldly issue and be in spiritual association. Minimisation of worldly association is always a better path for ordinary soul aspiring spiritual progress. Worldly issues other than basic responsibilities will be also proved as unnecessary, if verified by analysis. You must realize internal meaning of the path of Yoga without being carried away by the external representations. The first five wheels (Chakras) represent the attractions to the five elements of world. The sixth wheel represents the initial state of awareness or mind placed between eye-brows, which is to be controlled by strong concentration of vision or observation. This is the meaning of concentration of both eyes in the centre of eye-brows .The seventh wheel on the top of the head represents intelligence or faculty of analysis with the help of which alone You can attain God. God is present in the centre of this wheel. Kundalini or serpent indicates the awareness or nervous energy travelling as waves. Scholars only can understand the concepts represented by this pictorial system. Fools are carried away by the external pictures. The kundalini sleeps in the first wheel representing solidified ignorance or Tamas in the first wheel containing solid earth. The awakening of this awareness is spiritual realization that makes it to travel crossing all the six hurdles to reach the top most God. The curved journey of the awareness indicates that You can proceed towards God by handling the obstructions tactfully without hurting them. This tactful procedure is not a sin in Nivrutti and same becomes sin in Pravrutti. If You cheat the worldly bonds to go to God, it is not sin. If You cheat the worldly bonds to go to a prostitute, it is sin. If the awareness goes in straight way, the rotating wheels will cut it in to pieces and further journey is stopped. The wheel representing mind contains a lotus flower with two petals representing name and form (Naama ruupa), which is this world attracting Your mind. This wheel is called as Ajnaa, which means the order of Your preacher expressed as spiritual preaching. You must concentrate Your vision on such order so that You can cross the attraction of this world. The Seventh wheel contains a lotus flower with thousand (many) petals indicating that You should analyze every concept in many directions to find out the ultimate truth that exists in its centre. It is said that Idaa nerve or Moon (departed souls live on moon) is on the left side representing the path of departed ancestors associated with worldly fascinations. The right nerve is Pingalaa or Sun (from Sun heaven starts) representing the path of angels doing good deeds. The central nerve is Sushamnaa representing the divine path to reach God indicating that You should avoid both sides and be involved in the straight path of service to God only. The left side cool moon represents sweet devotion. The right side sun represents intensive hot knowledge. With the help of these two, the central nerve represents practice involving service with sacrifice to God. Such soul goes through the central nerve to the abode of God called as Brahmaloka. This is the essence of Yoga preached by Me. Ignorant disciples can’t catch the central essence and are carried away by the superficial attractions of figures and get confused. One foolish devotee tore the body of his wife to see these wheels with lotus flowers! Wheels mean whirl-pools are attractions of worldly bonds in this world ocean and if the swimmer (spiritual aspirant) is caught by these on the way, he will be constantly rotating in those only. Lotus flowers are also the same attractions, which attract the black bee-soul (black indicating Tamas or ignorance) and bind it by the closer of petals. The Gita mentions both theoretical detachment from the fruit (Tyaktvaa karmaphalaasangam...) and also the practical sacrifice of the fruit (phalam tyaktvaa maneeshinah). Some clever people, who are selfish in enjoying the final fruit without a trace of sacrifice, interpret that the practical sacrifice of the fruit also means the theoretical detachment from the fruit! This is the climax of their greediness and hats off to their intelligence for giving such misinterpretation to cover their greediness! Social service without God leads the soul to temporary heaven. Same social service based mainly on God leads the soul to the abode of God. Heaven is near to the abode of God. The path to heaven is success in Pravrutti, which is the only expectation of God from every soul in order to maintain the balance of this creation. Nivrutti is started only by some climax devotees because Nivrutti gives eternal fruit in which God takes all the responsibilities. In Pravrutti, the devotee is fully responsible for his journey to heaven or hell. Knowledge, devotion, service with sacrifice and preservation of time and energy (Yoga) are equally important in the spiritual journey. These four are the four dogs present near My feet. The main point is that You should leave all unnecessary worldly works other than basic responsibilities and You must concentrate Your rest time and energy in the work of God. Peace comes when all the unnecessary worldly works are leftover. Sometimes, My illusory power drags You from the continuous spiritual effort to give You some gap for a fresh reapproach. Gap is essential in any contentious work. Due to this gap, the soul feels very much pained and rededicates himself/ herself with double vigour. Narada says that the devotee is agitated much due to gap (tat vismarane paramavyaakulataa), which is a test of true devotion. It is just like the culvert stopping the flow of water to double its speed afterwards. Hence, My maayaa always helps the soul in spiritual journey and never becomes hurdle if You understand properly. If I lose the hope about a soul that it will not be reformed, I will cancel the rest longevity and throw it into cycle of births of animals. If I feel that the soul needs some more time to complete the spiritual effort, I extend the longevity. Longevity is not fixed and it is in the hands of God only. Even astrological scripture says this point while describing the 8th house or longevity of a horoscope. The scale of time must be also understood in the proper essence. A devotee developing interest (shraddha which is important in the case of departed souls) on God treats one day wasted as one year (pitrumaanam). A more ripened higher devotee feels one day wasted as one year (Devamaanam). Time is limited even if You are in the spiritual path and there is no time if You are in the path of materialism only. Human beings are recognised by Tamas or ignorance. Departed souls are recognised by ritual work or Rajas. Angels are recognised by knowledge or sattvam. A spiritual aspirant is beyond these three, travelling towards God and helped always by these three directed towards God. A medicine may be bitter, but removes illness and gives good health to the patient. Spiritual association is like this. A sweet is pleasant, but, kills the patient. Worldly association is like this. You must use analysis with Your intelligence to find out which is helpful and which is harmful to You. Money and energy can be earned again, if lost. Time lost can never be earned. Hence, saving Your time is the first step in Yoga. If You are caught by the association of a bad friend or relative, You should act as if You are hearing him and internally think about God. If such talent is absent in You, You must frankly refuse the participation and go away to join good spiritual association. Friendship or relationship is not greater than Your spiritual effort done to get the grace of God. The expenditure of time and energy can be on one form of God or several forms of God. The method of expenditure can be one or many like reading spiritual books, hearing devotional songs, doing service to God etc. Whether You deposit Rs.100(100$) in one bank or in four equal parts in four banks, there is no difference in the final result. The true devotion to God without aspiration for any fruit in return is the correct genuine currency, which is valid. The false devotion to God with aspiration for some fruit in return is invalid like fake currency. With genuine currency, You can go to any shop, it is fruitful. With fake currency, You can go to any shop, it is harmful. Any path to any shop is immaterial and everything depends only on one point that whether Your currency is genuine or fake. Mind is very unstable aspiring for a change in every step. Unity and concentration are against to the nature of mind. If You put spiritual effort, which is not congenial to the nature of mind, the mind-horse rebels against You, which results in Your fall! The more You control it, the more quick is Your fall! Change of form of God or change of method of worship is not going to cause any loss to You. Then, why shall You be rigid in wasting Your time and energy to control the mind. Every soul argues that its deed is not a sin. The crow also kisses its child. The judgement shall be never given by any party. Only the impartial judge gives the final judgement, which alone is true. Hence, the impartial God shall decide whether You have done the sin or not. You may catch a red fire piece of charcoal thinking it as red gem. Based on Your thinking, will it not burn Your hand? God alone knows anything what it is actually. You must know what it is in the view of God and act accordingly. An egoistic soul with Rajas thinks that whatever is done by it is justified. An ignorant soul also with Tamas thinks that whatever is done by it is justified. A soul having no ego and no ignorance is with Sattvam and understands exactly My actual view to become the impartial judge like Me to decide its course of action. In doing the ritual for departed souls, there are two places:- one is the place of God (Vishvedevasthaanam) and the other is the place of the departed soul (Pitrusthaanam). The ritual is nothing but prayer to God to protect the departed soul presented before God. Here, your respect to God is more important than Your respect to the departed soul. You have taken Your diseased father to the doctor. You must concentrate on respecting the doctor so that the pleased doctor will treat Your father with more care. On such occasion, if You neglect the doctor and go on respecting Your father for his property-will, You may be benefited, but not Your father. Hence, the doer shall more concentrate on the place of God than the place of departed soul. In any ritual, concentration of God is the main aspect. Every soul is basically selfish to worship God for its benefit only. Even the soul aspiring for salvation wants to enjoy My bliss. Hence, Shankara told that He is not aspiring for salvation also (Na mokshasyaakaamkshaa...). Unless this basic selfishness is removed, no soul can get My real grace. Selfishness is the root disease like diabetes is the root of several complications. The self can be forgotten when the soul gets attracted to Me. This attraction to God comes only from the knowledge of God. Such attraction resulting in sacrifice and service (practical proof of theoretical devotion) gets My full grace. This concept can be very easily understood by anybody by keeping his/her issues in My place. If one is reciting Gayatri hymn catching the cross belt, he need not be called as Braahmana. If one is wearing saffron cloth and a long stick in hand, he need not be called as saint or samnyaasi. The internal meanings shall be satisfied. Braahmana means that person, who has the true knowledge of God and directs the society towards God. Samnyaasi means that person, who is ripened in the spiritual knowledge of God and dedicates himself in the service of God leaving all the worldly activities. Gayatri means singing sweet songs on God and the cross belt with three threads means that one should catch God in human form and the three threads represent the three components of the medium of God, which are awareness (Sattvam), inert energy (Rajas) and inert matter (Tamas). Saffron colour represents the ripened state of a fruit, which is the ultimate divine state. The stick (Danda or control) indicates the control of senses towards attractions of worldly bonds. Brahmana concentrates on Me, the mediated God, for easy worship indicating the path to the contemporary human incarnation, called as Satguru. Samnyaasi reveals the mechanism of incarnation and explains the importance of the root-source unimaginable God in the absolute plane. If a preacher explains that unimaginable God and incarnation are one and the same due to perfect monism resulting from total merge, such a preacher is called as Braahmana Samnyaasi irrespective of reference of caste or gender or religion in this context. The four castes are made by God based on their qualities and deeds. The caste is not by birth. Braahmana is that person, who preaches spiritual knowledge to the entire society leading them to God. Kshatriya is that person, who travels in the spiritual path with immense courage defeating all the opposing hurdles. Vyshya is that person concentrating on God while attending the worldly responsibilities also. Shudra is that person, who concentrates on materialistic world only without any taste for spiritual knowledge. By such worldly attachments, he is always weeping with tensions. This word comes from the root verb ‘Shuk,’ which means worried. You can’t say that the genes carry on the qualities from father to son and so on. It is wrong because genes carry on some mannerisms only and not the qualities. The qualities depend upon the sub-conscious state of the individual soul, which may enter any womb as directed by God’s constitution. The untouchables are from all the four castes, who are banned for their sinful activities. The issue of untouchable need not be untouchable. Several great scholars and great devotees exist born in untouchables. Untouchable is like debarred student from the college and if he is reformed, he is again admitted in to the college. Shankara fell on the feet of an untouchable, unable to answer his question! Apart from the above mentioned communities, there is one community called as atheists, who are very very rigid to oppose the unimaginable God even though they observe unimaginable miracles with their big big eyes! They are fully occupied by emotion regarding the exploitations of some bad people in the name of God and religion. We agree that the exploitations always exist and are true. Because of some bad students, who copied and passed the examination, You can’t cancel the very system of examination. You have to invent some ways to prevent such crimes. In every system, mistakes take place and You can’t cancel all the systems. Hence, the final order of God Datta is that a caste shall be decided based on qualities and deeds only and not by birth. Brahmachaaree doesn’t mean the person, who is unmarried. It means a person, who is always absorbed in God. Sage Vashishtaa, who got 100 issues through his wife Arundhati claimed himself as Sadaa Brahmachaaree (always bachelor), which was accepted by Ganga river! Upavaasi doesn’t mean the person, who is not eating. It means that person, who is staying very close to God. Sage Durvaasa eating meals every day served by Arundhati claimed himself as Nitya-upavasi (not eating on any day) and it was accepted by Ganga river! When Narada asked God Brahma about the real Brahmachaaree in the entire creation, Brahma showed His finger towards Krishna, who married 16,000 girls! This is correct because the unimaginable God (Brahman) is totally merged in Him. When Narada asked about a chaste lady, his finger pointed Gopika. A chaste lady is that soul (every soul is treated as female prakruti and God alone is treated as the only one male or purusha), which is always interested in God Krishna! Vaanaprastha aashrama doesn’t mean to go to forest along with wife. It only means to go to a lonely place with trees along with a co-devotee for spiritual discussion. Samnyaasa doesn’t mean leaving the house and family, wearing a saffron cloth. It only means the ripened state of a fruit having saffron colour and sweet taste like devotion to God. Vaanaprastha means simple going to garden or forest and this word doesn’t indicate the association of wife. Samnyaasa means total absorption (in God) and this word doesn’t indicate saffron cloth. In Upanayanam, the cross belt with three threads is worn indicating that only the mediated God shall be caught for worship. In marriage, another cross belt is taken with three threads from the hands of father-in-law and second cross belt belongs to the bride. After marriage, the husband worships God while the wife performs all the house hold duties like cooking etc., by which the husband is facilitated in his spiritual effort. Hence, half of the fruit of the spiritual effort done by the husband comes to wife and half of food cooked by wife is taken by husband. This means that the husband shall share the spiritual conclusions with his wife at the end of analysis. Similarly, the wife shall share the food with her husband at end of cooking. Like this, mutual co-operation proceeds even in the final stage of salvation. If the wife becomes a co-devotee, she can follow her husband in Vaanaprastha, otherwise, not. Ubhayabharati followed her husband Mandanamishra even in Samnyaasa. The cross belt containing three threads indicate Me only, the one God seen as three divine forms. The second cross belt having three threads indicates Me only to be worshipped by wife. In some places, a third cross belt with three threads is also taken, which indicates the upper garment. When the inner sense is understood well, there is no need of its representation-symbol in the final respected stage called Samnyaasa. The samnyaasi is respected by all and is not scolded for leaving the cross belt. In the ritual called Upanayanam, the deity to be worshipped is not a female form called as Gayatri since the deity mentioned is God Savita. (Savitaa devataa Gayatree chandah). Gayatri represents only the mode of worship, which is singing. Song (Samaveda) is more attractive then poem (Rugveda) and poem is more attractive than prose (Yajurveda). Samaveda is told to be greatest among all the Vedas and this means that song is the highest attraction of mind. Savita means God, who creates this world of souls (shuunj-praaniprasave). Savita also means sun indicating the removal of ignorance-darkness by the spiritual preacher, who is promoter of intelligence. The cross belt having three threads indicate the contemporary human incarnation called as Sadguru, who shall be approached for the true guidance in the spiritual path. All the essence of this ritual indicates the general spiritual procedure to be followed by any soul in this world irrespective of caste, gender and religion. The sage of this ritual is Vishvaamitra indicating friend, philosopher and guide for the entire world. Universality of this ritual is very clear if its essence is properly understood. Gayatri doesn’t mean a Vedic hymn existing in meter called as Gayatri. Any song in any language towards God is Gayatri (Gaayantam traayate). Mantra means the song which attracts the mind without any force and makes the soul to repeat it again and again (manaanaat traayate). This is the meaning of Gayatri Mantra to be praised as the highest mode of worship (Na Gayatryaah paro mantrah). Devotees take the garland of beads and go on repeating the name of God with counting the beads. In this process, there is no natural attraction because the repetition of same name not only bores the devotee but also bores Me to hear the same word again and again. The force behind such unnatural process is only aspiration for some fruit by doing that. The actual interpretation of the garland of beads is like this — each bead represents a letter and the garland of beads represents a line of song that attracts the mind. The movement of garland in circular way by hand represents natural repetition of such attractive song again and again. This interpretation makes God to be pleased since attraction of mind spontaneously exists without any external force of aspiration for fruit. Experience is said to be the final stage of authority. What will be Your experience if somebody goes on repeating Your name in Your ear? What will be Your experience if somebody sings a sweet song praising Your personality again and again? People criticize that Manu in his ethical scripture told that a female shall not have freedom (Na streeh svaatantryamarhati). This is misunderstood that a lady shall be always kept under house arrest! The human souls immediately take the misinterpretation only in the first step. Female means any soul and not a female by gender. Male or Purusha means God. No soul should have freedom to get spoiled. If the soul is under the control of God, the soul will be uplifted in the spiritual path. Any soul can come out of the attraction of this world due to stronger attraction to God. This can’t be reverse. After tasting divine nectar, all the other drinks are naturally rejected. By rejecting all the drinks in the beginning itself, You can’t attain the divine nectar. Only after tasting the divine nectar, You are rejecting other drinks spontaneously without any external force. Such spontaneous detachment from world comes only after getting attracted to God. Attachment to something through attraction is the nature of mind. The mind can’t exist in detachment to everything for a long time. In order to follow the nature of mind, You must attach it to God in the first stage. Then, without any effort, the mind gets detached spontaneously from the world. This is seen in the world also. A young man attracted by a very beautiful girl becomes spontaneously detached from all the worldly attractions. Hence, detachment from world (Vyraagya) is a spontaneous consequence of attachment to God (Bhakti). Through the former, latter can’t be attained in spite of hectic efforts. Through the latter, the former is spontaneously attained. Justice is the top most priority in My view. Never hurt the justice by following injustice in sinful way. If justice is just hurt, I reach the climax of anger. If You injure justice, imagine the state of My anger towards You! You have to come to Nivrutti(loving and serving Me) after passing in Pravrutti (justice)and not by neglecting Pravrutti. If You fail in Pravrutti and damage justice, You are banned from Nivrutti. A person, who can’t jump and touch the roof of his house, how can You expect him to jump and touch the sky? Don’t imitate Me seeing My stealing butter and dancing with Gopikas in Brundaavanam without understanding the background. They are sages doing severe penance for Me in millions of previous births. I tested them in the three strong worldly bonds before giving salvation to them in their final birth. After leaving Brundaavanam in My 18th year, neither I returned nor I repeated such test anywhere else throughout My life. Human souls are always fond of exploitation of the truth in their interest. The minimum and maximum expectation from You is only that You should follow the path of justice and never do any sin under any circumstances. Damaging any good soul is the climax of injustice. The deity of justice called as ‘Yamadharma Raja’ was with golden colour in the early ages since he was enquiring mostly good people only. After beginning of this Kali age, he is enquiring only bad people. Due to the effect of the sins of these bad people, he became jet black! www.universal-spirituality[.]org Universal Spirituality for World Peace

EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL DETACHMENT Sage Shuka was completely attached to God and was completely detached from the family. He left his family and went away for the sake of God, though his father ran after him. His attachment and detachment were exposed and were not hidden in his heart. The Veda says that one should leave the family as soon as one is attached to God (yadahareva…). King Janaka was also completely attached to God and was completely detached from the family like Shuka. But, his attachment and detachment were not exposed and were hidden in his heart. They were exposed only when the Lord conducted the test (Datta Pariksha). Once, Janaka was immersed in God, while his spiritual preacher (Yajnavalkya) was preaching about the Lord. Then, a servant came and told that his house and family members were burnt in fire a accident. Janaka did not leave the place and told that the fire did not damage anything that belonged to him, because only God belonged to him. This was a test from the Lord. Therefore, Shuka and Janaka were equal in the spiritual path. In fact, Janaka was considered to be greater than Shuka and hence, Janaka was appointed as examiner to judge the stage of Shuka. When Shuka asked his father about his position in the spiritual path, Vyasa asked him to approach Janaka for the test. Since both are equal in attachment and detachment, in what way is Janaka greater than Shuka? Even though, both are equal in spiritual path, Janaka is greater than Shuka because Janaka participated in the service of God by ruling the kingdom that contributes to the peace of the world. The administration of the world (Pravrutti) is the responsibility of God. Spiritual progress is personal. Social service is work of God. Therefore, Janaka does not have any trace of selfishness and hence, he is greater than Shuka. Shuka left the family and proved his detachment. Janaka remained in the family and yet, he was detached. A person away from the fire is not burnt and this is not greatness. A person, who is in the fire but not burnt, is great. Therefore, Janaka is greater than Shuka in all angles. The Gita mentions only the name of Janaka and not Shuka. Exposed detachment is not great. Detachment in the heart, which is exposed during the test only, is great. You can be attached to the world externally and participate in the service of society and your family, which is a part of work of God. You can please your family by exposing artificial love and hide the real love to God in your heart. The truth comes out in the time of test. By this, you please your family and the society, while pleasing the Lord simultaneously. By this, you will set an example for others to follow family life and contribute to the growth of the society. If you do not set family life, others try to follow you and get spoiled by secretly meeting prostitutes, since they are not attached to God so much like yourself. If everybody tries to follow Shuka and goes to forest, several night clubs will be developed in the forests! Root Cause for Failures in Samnyasa Samnyasa is certainly better than family life, but family life is better than failure in samnyasa. Externally family life and internally samnyasa is better than samnyasa, which is both external and internal detachment. The followers always fail in the internal samnyasa and easily catch the external samnyasa. Hence, failures in sanyasa are many in number. Krishna was very much attached to the family life throughout His life. In the end, when everybody killed each other, He just enjoyed looking at the cinema. His attachment to family life was an example to many, who cannot achieve the internal detachment. At the same time, when the time came, He proved His internal detachment. The external attachment was only to save others, which is called as ‘Lokasamgraha’. He was attached to the family like an ordinary person. But, the difference is that the ordinary person is attached to the family both internally and externally. For external outlook, Krishna and ordinary person look similar, since both are attached externally. When the proper time of test comes, the internal detachment of Krishna and the internal attachment of the ordinary person get exposed and proved. The two birds called as Kaka and Kokila look black externally. But, when spring season comes, the sweet voice of Kokila is exposed and the harsh voice of Kaka is distinguished. This is mentioned in the Gita (Saktah karmanyavidvamsah…). Shruti (the Veda) preaches samnyasa, which is exposed detachment to world and exposed attachment to God. The Gita preaches the hidden samnyasa in the heart and external artificial attachment to the world for the sake of social service. Therefore, Janaka is greater than Shuka and the Gita is greater than Shruti. Shruti or the Veda is the preaching of knowledge by sages, who heard from God. The Gita is direct explanation given by God. When somebody carries the message of some other person, clarity may be lost and hence, misunderstanding is possible. In direct preaching, such error will not take place. In fact, the Gita is more valid [as it is] heard from the human incarnation directly and hence, it should be treated as Shruti. The Veda is the knowledge heard from God by sages and then revealed subsequently and therefore, it should be treated as Smruti in real sense, which is indirect scripture. The Gita is the direct scripture recorded by Sanjaya from the mouth of the Lord. Hence, it is told that the Gita is the clarified real essence of all the Upanashads, which are part of the Veda. Human Intelligence Limited by Boundaries of Creation The entire creation is constituted by the spatial co-ordinates. Hence, beyond creation means beyond space and this means finally beyond spatial co-ordinates. Intelligence can never cross the spatial co-ordinates and hence, it can never touch the boundary of this creation from which God starts. The soul, mind, intelligence, ideas and imagination are made of nervous energy only, which is a special work form of inert energy. The human body is made of inert energy and matter. Matter is a form of inert energy. Even the space is a form of very subtle inert energy only. All this creation including the human beings is basically inert energy only. The soul is a part of this creation and therefore, the creation is as true as the soul. The entire creation including the souls is relative reality and God alone is the absolute reality. The creation is not real from the point of God. But, the creation is equally real from the point of the soul. Since God is the absolute reality and soul is the relative reality, neither God is soul nor is soul God. If you say that the creation is real, it contradicts the view of God. If you say that creation is unreal, it contradicts the view of the soul. It is just like the issue of Telangana in Andhra Pradesh. If you support an united State, people in Telangana oppose. If you support separate Telangana, people in the other part of the state oppose. Hence, Shankara told that creation is neither real nor unreal, and is Mithya. When a human being becomes God, the creation becomes unreal for that specific human incarnation. Here also, neither God becomes the soul and human body, nor do the soul and human body become God. Just like a metallic wire treated as current on charging with electricity, the human being charged by God is treated as God and hence, we say that the human being becomes God. Individual salvation is selfishness and therefore, it should not be aspired as told by Shankara (Namokshasyaakaankshaa…). To participate in the service of God continuously without any trace of selfishness is real salvation. You have to work for the salvation of others and not for the salvation of yourself. Once you are involved in such divine work, you are granted the real salvation at once. Liberation from selfishness is the essence of salvation. Total surrender means total participation in the work of God and not simply sitting before God without doing any work. God is pleased only by your participation in His work. Even Shuka participated in the work of God by visiting the sages, who were householders. These sages climbed the second stage of family life from the first stage of bachelorhood. Now, they are to be inspired to climb the third stage of samnyasa through intermediate Vanaprastha. They require the inspiration for detachment from their families. The external exposed detachment, which was also present internally in the case of Shuka, inspired the sages for detachment. Therefore, the external detachment of Shuka was required for the sake of preaching the society of sages. Had Shuka gone in to the forest without working for the society, Shuka could not have been liberated. The external detachment of Shankara was also a requirement of that time. Then, the Purvamimamsakas were fully attached to this world and heavenly pleasures without even recognizing the existence of God. Hence, they required the preaching for detachment and hence, Shankara exposed His internal detachment externally for such requirement. Janaka was confined to the city life and hence, inspired the people to climb the second step from the first step. The citizens fail even in this initial effort. Therefore, the exposure of family attachment was a requirement in the case of Janaka. Initially, Shuka went in to the forest leaving the family for the sake of God and could not get salvation without participating in the work of God. Later on, Shuka was guided by Vyasa to visit Janaka and Shuka learnt after visiting Janaka that participation in the work of God by helping the society in spiritual path is the real salvation. In this work of God, he visited Parikshit to preach the Bhagavatam, which concentrates on the human incarnation as the address of unimaginable God. The unimaginable God is beyond vision [invisible] and beyond imagination (Unimaginable). Some entities are imaginable but invisible like cosmic energy. The cosmic energy was also unimaginable for sometime, when science was not developed. The cosmic energy was temporarily unimaginable and this does not mean that there is no permanently unimaginable entity. The roof of the house is temporarily untouchable, but it can be touched after some practice of high jump. The cloud is permanently untouchable because you can never touch the cloud by high jump in anytime in the future. Hence, the cloud is permanently untouchable. You may argue that by taking an aeroplane even the cloud be touched. Now, you may argue that there is no permanently untouchable item in view of the advanced technology of science. But you can never touch the boundary of the universe with the help of any technology of science in anytime in future. This is a permanently untouchable item. You can never reach the boundary of this universe. Assume a compound wall for the universe. If such compound wall exists, what is present beyond the compound wall? Therefore, the boundary of universe is always unimaginable and stands for the unimaginable God. This means that God is beyond the creation. Islam considers a wall as the representative of God. The significance is, the wall stands for the boundary of this creation, which is unimaginable God. Therefore, you can never see or even imagine the original God. The unimaginable events performed by God, which are called as miracles, also indicate the unimaginable God only. But, even these miracles require imaginable and visible media to establish the concept of unimaginable nature. A boy called Krishna lifted the huge mountain with His tender finger. The boy, the mountain, the tender finger and the process of lifting are imaginable and visible items only. All these established the existence of unimaginable nature of tender boy lifting the mountain. This unimaginable event is a proof for the existence of the very unimaginable nature called as God. The performer of this unimaginable event must be the possessor of God. The human form alone can preach the knowledge and clear all the doubts. The human form is the complete representation of all the items of the nature, which are the five elements, life, mind and intelligence. Therefore, inert items, which are composed of five elements only, cannot be the complete medium. Even the living beings like birds and animals, which have life and mind, are also not the complete medium. Some birds and animals possess intelligence to some extent. The human form alone is the complete medium possessing all these items of nature. It also has the capability of expression through perfect language for preaching the knowledge to human beings. Hence, human form alone is the address of the medium of unimaginable God for the sake of human beings. The Bhagavatam explains the importance of such human form of the Lord and therefore, Shuka was the preacher of human form of unimaginable God. Meaning of Gopika There is no need to expose the detachment from the world and the attachment to God unless the requirement for exposure exists. Both these have to be hidden in the heart and artificial love should be shown on the family to please the family and simultaneously the real internal love should be shown on Lord to please Him. The soul following this path of hiding reality is called as Gopika. Gopikas followed such path. If you cheat others for the sake of your family, you will go to hell. If you cheat your family for the sake of God, you will get salvation. Any human being can become Gopika by following this specific path. The word Gopika is not confined to female. All the souls are females and God alone is male or Purusha. Every soul is a part of creation or Prakruti only and hence, should be treated as female. Therefore, any person can become Gopika irrespective of the gender related to the body. Therefore, Gopika is defined as any soul following the above path. This removes the misnomer that Gopika means female only. Another misunderstanding is that Gopika stands only for sexual relationship with the Lord. This is also not correct. Yashoda was also a Gopika and the Lord is said to be the son of Gopika in the Bhagavatam (Gopikanandano bhavan). The love of Gopikas was in different forms. The weight of love is important and not the form. A kilogram of sugar swans or sugar donkeys costs the same because the cost is related to the weight of sugar and not the form of item. Some Gopikas treated the Lord as son. Some Gopikas treated the Lord as brother. Some other Gopikas treated the Lord as friend. Some Gopikas treated the Lord as darling. The same love in four different forms existed as the water in the four seas. Total Sacrifice of Money to God only leads to Salvation In the preaching of Vasishtha to Shri Rama, it is said that money is the root basis of all worldly bonds (Dhanamulamidam jagat…). The meaning of this statement is that the money is earned due to all the worldly bonds. You earn the money for the sake of happiness of yourself, your wife, your children, your parents etc.. If all these [bonds] disappear, you will not have the bond with money, since in such stage money becomes totally useless. Therefore, the bond with the money is only indirect and not direct. It means, you do not have any direct love on money. The love on money is only due to love on all the worldly bonds. Your bond with the money is based on the roots of your worldly bonds. As long as your bond with the money exists, it means that your worldly bonds exist. The only proof for the destruction of your worldly bonds is the destruction of your bond with money. As long as your bond with money exists, you cannot claim that your worldly bonds are cut. One may leave his family and stay in a foreign country for the sake of earning money. He may claim that his family bonds are cut. After completion of earning, he will go back to his family. To prove this [his bond with the family members], if you catch his earned money, truth comes out. One may stay with his family, but if he sacrifices all his money, it means all his worldly bonds including the bond to his body are already cut. Therefore, money alone stands as the proof for all the worldly bonds including the personal bond with the body. Therefore, the Veda says that the detachment to worldly bonds is only by the sacrifice of money alone (Dhanena tyagenaikena …). When all the money possessed by a person is sacrificed to God, it is a proof for the destruction of all his worldly bonds including the bond with the self. This sacrifice proves the liberation of soul from all the bonds including the bond to itself. This total sacrifice is the total liberation or total salvation, but such sacrifice should be for the sake of God alone and must be due to love on God only and not for the sake of some other cause. Salvation without devotion to God is useless. A mentally retarded person may also do such sacrifice and it cannot be salvation, since the basis here is ignorance due to madness and not God. Some people do such sacrifice for the sake of the welfare of the society and such sacrifice is good, but still it is not salvation. Such people reach heaven for a specific period of time and come back to the earth. Thus, a good sincere politician with patriotism to the society of humanity can reach heaven for sometime but not God forever. Salvation should be based on devotion to God. Mere salvation is meaningless and should not be asked in the prayer. The Gita sharpened this concept of sacrifice of money by introducing karma phala tyaga. If you sacrifice your hard earned money for the sake of God, God will be pleased, because it is very difficult to sacrifice the self-earned money. If it is self-earned money through hard work, its value is deeply realized by you and the sacrifice becomes more difficult. Thus, the Gita always gave the concept with more clarification and more sharpness than the Veda. If your love to God is full, your sacrifice will be also full. The value of sacrifice depends on the extent of your sacrifice and not on the extent of sacrificed money. In the presence of Jesus, several rich people donated huge amounts. A beggar donated just one Deenar and Jesus immediately appreciated the beggar, since the total money with the beggar was only that one Deenar. That beggar was granted salvation and not those rich people, who donated hundreds of Deenars. Therefore, salvation is an item to be sold by God, but the rate depends not on the extent of the money, but depends on the extent of sacrifice of money. When your sacrifice is not full, you are trying to purchase salvation, which can never be purchased. When your sacrifice is full, then salvation is sold. Controlling the Running Bull Almost all the humanity approaches God treating Him as an instrument to achieve happiness for the sake of self and family. This is the initial stage, which is associated with wrong approach. But still, the approach is encouraged by God, since it is the beginning. Every initial effort is defective like the initial stage of fire covered with smoke (Sarvaarambhahi… Gita). This initial stage is good because at least the faith in the God is maintained and this is better than the stage of atheist. Zero is better than negative. You should only criticize atheism and not defective theism, which is the beginning stage. Almost all the human beings are fond of happiness of self and their families. This point is exploited by the Veda and majority of the text is involved in showing the way to happiness and welfare. This part of the Veda is called as karma Kanda or Purvamimaamsa related to discussion about performing the rituals or worshipping God in different names. The next part of the Veda is called as Jnana Kanda related to discussion about spiritual knowledge, which is the realization of truth about God. In between these two, lies the Upaasana Kanda related to prayers to God, which is devotion to God. The middle part is common to first and third parts. In the first part, you are praying God with instrumental love (Sadhana bhakti) to achieve worldly or heavenly pleasures and thus, the first part is related to the middle part. In the third part, you are praying God with objective love (Sadhya bhakti) to please God without any trace of selfishness. Thus, upaasana kanda or devotion (Bhakti) is common to both Karma Kanda or selfish performance of rituals and Jnana Kanda or selfless realization of the ultimate truth. The devotion becomes black in the direction of selfishness and becomes illuminated in the direction of selfless sacrifice to God. In the beginning stage, God favors human beings by granting their selfish boons and God can be compared to the person running along with the running bull for sometime before controlling it. The human being develops love and gratefulness to God in this beginning stage. The human being gradually enters the next stage of Jnana Kanda and in this stage, the controlled bull runs along with the person. In this stage, the person becomes selfless and serves God according to the will of God. Therefore, in the initial stage, God fulfills your will for sometime, so that you will reach the next stage in which you will fulfill the will of God. In the beginning, you think that you have made God as your instrument in your work but you do not know that you, a poor innocent fellow, are going to become His instrument in His work in course of time! The father carries the child but in the old age, the grown-up child will carry the old father. Infact, you require the help of God in your work. But, God does not require your help in His work. Still, this exchange business is carried on by God, only to help you in your spiritual upliftment. Hence, this may look as the usual worldly exchange business, but in reality, it is only the infinite and reasonless kindness of God towards you. Training in the World to Achieve the Goal The human form of God alone is relevant to humanity in the spiritual path. But, ego and jealousy, which are the covering layers of the two eyes obstruct any human being even to recognize the contemporary human incarnation. When the recognition itself is obstructed, there is no trace of hope of further progress in the spiritual path, which is to please God through selfless service. Recognition is to find the correct address of God, which is the initial step. The next step is to please God. If the initial step itself fails, where is the hope of the next step? Ego and jealousy towards the co-human form creates repulsion and thus, the relevant human form of God is lost. The [Spiritual] effort (Sadhana) is nothing but the eradication of ego and jealousy towards the living human forms and this can be achieved by the training in which the humanity is served like God. This is only a training and should not be taken as a reality. You treat the humanity as God and serve it so that you will serve the human form of God after recognition. This training is misunderstood as reality and advaitins assumed every human being as God. Till the eradication of ego and jealousy towards the living human forms is achieved, a training to serve the statues in human form is introduced. The inert statue is associated with initiation of life and the result is the living human body. The human body is inert and when life is initiated in it, it becomes the living human body. When we say x+y=z, you have to take the product ‘z’ as the result and you should not take ‘x’ as ‘z’. You should move towards the right side to achieve ‘z’ and you cannot attain ‘z’ by sitting in the left side. This means that when the inert statue of human form is associated with the process of initiation of life, you should take the result as living human body. You should not take the inert statue becoming living statue, because the inert statue does not show any sign of the life after the initiation. It only means that you should catch the contemporary living human form of God. During the training, you must treat every human being as God and every human being represents God. This is representative worship (Pratika Upasanam). After this, ego and jealousy to human form is destroyed and you will be able to recognize the living human form of God and when you worship It [contemporary human incarnation], it becomes direct worship (Saakshat Upasanam). In both the types of worship, God is not the human form. This is the similarity. The difference is that in the representative worship, God is not in the human form where as in the direct worship, God is in the human form. If you fail in this concept, you can never recognize God even after death because God in the energetic form in the upper world is not recognized by you since you are also in the same energetic form. This is the principle of repulsion between common media. As long as you do not overcome this, God is never recognized by you either in this world or in the upper worlds. =============== -By Shri Datta Swami (Visit our website: www.universal-spirituality.org) Universal Spirituality for World Peace

THE FIRST COUPLE-ADAM AND EVE God created human beings in the beginning of the first phase of creation (Kruta Yuga), in which all the human beings were just following the instructions of God like the robots following the programme fed in to the machine heads. In such stage, there is no freedom of soul. All the instructions from God were always exceptionally good and there is no bad information. There is no need of knowing good and bad when the brain is totally surrendered to God (Tameva sharanam gachcha... Gita). Once you have full faith in God, your idea will be that whatever is said by God must be good. You will not verify the word of God through your analysis and examine whether it is good or bad. God takes the total responsibility of soul in such total surrender (Yogakshemam... Gita). This Adam and Eve represent the males and females of the humanity existing in Kruta yuga, in which total surrender from one side and total responsibility from the other side exists. They must abide to the word of God whatever it may be. The concept of God here is that a totally surrendered soul need not have the knowledge of good and bad when the soul is simply following the word of God without any trace of freedom. When freedom is given to the soul, then, there is a need of exposure of good and bad through exposure of scripture and the soul has freedom to decide to choose good or bad. When this situation comes, the responsibility of God goes away and this is said by God to them. The tree of knowledge of good and bad was created by God since the time has come to give freedom to the soul. Adam and Eve violated the word of God based on the freedom of soul only. Change from continuous trend is inevitable in the nature. The change from the trend of continuous total surrender has already come in the minds of the souls and hence God wants to give freedom to the souls to relieve them from the stress of continuous specific trend. It is the will of the divine Father only to give freedom to His children on one side and on the other side is also warning them to be careful about the bad. Giving freedom is inevitable and at the same time, the warning of God withdrawing His responsibility to protect them is also paining the heart of the divine Father. Do not forget that such tension also gives entertainment to God and do not misunderstand God as the unfortunate victim of the tension! Full freedom and total responsibility of protection do not go hand in hand. Since freedom is decided by God, the warning is given so that human beings read the ethical scripture of God and be careful in selecting good. In the stage of freedom, the additional problem is the pollution of scripture and deep analysis is to be done to isolate the word of God from the insertions done by human beings affected by Satan. Adam and Eve were also affected by Satan. Satan appeared as sweet and good like the insertion in the divine scripture. They followed the advice of Satan as the word of God due to incapability in the analysis. The divine Father is very much concerned for the happiness of souls created by Him. Hence, He gave freedom to souls, which was misused by the souls to get punishments of their sins. Even though the sins were done continuously, the punishments were not arranged continuously following strictly the sequence of deeds. The punishments (tensions) were arranged alternatively with fruits of good deeds (happiness) so that the boredom of continuous happiness disappears. By this, the problem of boredom was removed. But, some people are seen with continuous tensions and so they criticise God for not doing such above said arrangement. The reason for a specific situation like this is that the souls worshipped God to solve their problems and get happiness. God was forced to do this. But, the basic principle of His constitution is that no fruit of good deed can be given without doing good deed and the punishment of a bad deed can never be cancelled unless the soul is reformed. Based on this, God postponed the present punishment to future life cycles with interest added so that the present punishment disappears. He brought the good fruits arranged with increased values from the future life cycles with lesser values to the present birth and gave happiness. The ignorant soul is thinking that the punishment is cancelled and good fruit is given by God even though it did not do any good deed. Due to this, the future life cycles are leftover with punishments only without good fruits in the intervals. Hence, we shall never worship God for getting any benefit and our true love to God must be without aspiration for any fruit like removing the tension or granting benefit. Without understanding this background, we criticize God unnecessarily. Actually, we must criticize ourselves only. While clarifying your doubt, we must carefully understand the comparison of a human being with a robot. If God had not given any freedom to human beings, there would hardly be any difference between a human being and a robot. For some time, let us think that God did not give any freedom to human beings, which was actually the condition during the Kṛta age. In the Kṛta age, human beings were exactly like robots in the sense that both act as per the information available to them. But there is a slight difference between the Kṛta Age-humans and robots. The Kṛta Age-humans got information directly from the external world. Robots, on the other hand, get information only from the information-chip inserted into them by the scientist who designed them. The scientist, after all, draws information only from the external world. So, the information fed to the robot is indirectly from the same external world. Thus, at this point, the difference between Kṛta Age-humans and robots disappears. In the case of the Kṛta Age-humans, no scientist inserted any information-chip into them; they themselves filled it with the information directly grasped by them from the external world. The robot, however, is dependent on the scientist to feed information into its information-chip. Leaving aside this matter of detail, the Kṛta Age-human, who did not possess freedom, is exactly like a robot in the aspect of acting as per the information available. As time passed, the Kṛta Age humans felt bored. Robots, of course, never get bored and can go on working mechanically as per the program in their information-chip. This again is another difference between a human being and a robot. A robot plays a game of chess using the ‘intelligence’ programmed in its chip by the scientist. It merely executes actions based on the various possibilities of moves in the game. The Kṛta Age-human being was also just like the robot playing chess. Based on these similarities, it was stated that human beings in the Kṛta Age were just robots. Considering the large number of similarities, it was stated that human beings in the Kṛta Age were robots in the sense of a metaphor. Saying that a person is like a lion is a simile, while saying that the person is a lion is a metaphor. Both the simile and the metaphor indicate similarity between two items, while also acknowledging their differences. Neither the simile nor the metaphor suggests an identity between the two items compared. But in the case of a simile, the differences between the two items compared are larger than in the case of a metaphor. Once God gave freedom to human beings, after the Kṛta Age, the differences between human beings and a robot increased. The robot continues to play chess based on the program in its information-chip whereas the free human being does not play as per any fixed program or policy. The freedom given, allows the human being to freely choose to follow its information-chip or not follow it. This freedom creates a huge difference between a free human being and a robot which never has any freedom. It is due to this freedom given by God to humans that God can never be blamed for the wrong choices made by human beings. Human beings alone are responsible for their own choices. If human beings had continued to be like robots, which never have any freedom, then God, who is like the scientist, would be held responsible for the behavior of human beings. Also, there is no need to blame this freedom given by God. In spite of giving this freedom, there are some human beings who still continue to follow their information-chips like robots. All human beings have not exercised their freedom. All have not deviated from the policy of behaving as per the information chip. Had all human beings deviated, it would be correct to blame the freedom and its Giver. But after granting this freedom, some human beings deviated from their programmed behavior while others did not. Hence, you cannot file a damage suit against God for granting this freedom. If upon granting freedom to human beings, all human beings had universally deviated from the programmed behavior, your advocate could have argued your case. But due to the absence of any such uniform behavior, you cannot support your case with arguments. In that case, your damage suit will be disposed with no costs! ---------------------------------- - By Shri Datta Swami (Universal Spirituality for World Peace)

Who are the destroyers of the soul mentioned in the Esavasya Upanishad? Shri Balaji asked: Respected Swamiji, Could You kindly clarify the third verse of the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad? The verse, “Asūryā nāma te lokā…ātma hano janāḥ”, is a warning, describing the the fate of the slayers of their own souls (ātman). Who are these destroyers of the soul (ātma hanaḥ)? Is it just people who fail in the path of worldly justice pravṛtti as said in the first verse, “Tena tyaktena buñjīthā ma gṛdaḥ kasyasvit dhanam” or does it also extend to people who do not strive for niṣkāma karma yoga as said in the second verse “Kurvaneha karmāṇi...na karma lipyate nare”? Sincerely, Balaji Swami replied: The people mentioned in the first verse are the same people implied in the second verse. The second verse is the extension of the first. If a person commits suicide (destroyer of the soul), such a person will fall into a dark hell forever. Human life is the most precious life granted by God. It is a chance given to the soul to develop spiritually. The person who ends his own life is rejecting and destroying the gift of human life given by God and is insulting God. The reasons for committing suicide are mainly worldly and are the most stupid reasons. Millions of human generations have passed and millions are yet to come. The stupid soul gives unnecessary and meaningless importance to the petty issues of this illusory world and puts off the life-lamp, which is mainly meant for earning the grace of God. Suppose a person is travelling in a train to a city where he has to face a job-interview for a very high position. In the train, the person gets into a quarrel with a fellow-passenger over a seat. The person gets very emotionally upset and jumps out of the train and kills himself! Does he have even a trace of wisdom? Such a person is the king of bloody fools, who gives the topmost importance to silly issues, forgetting the topmost issue, which is the main aim of human life! Apart from cases of suicide, a person (soul) who spends his entire lifetime on worldly issues, without ever thinking about God, is also committing suicide, in a sense. Such people too can be said to be killing their souls (ātma hanaḥ). These are the kind of people that are mainly referred to in this verse. By merely thinking about worldly issues, they are ruining the main aim of life, which is spiritual development. Thus, the verse is related to both ruining one’s spiritual life as well as committing suicide. =============== -By Shri Datta Swami (Visit our website: www.universal-spirituality.org) Universal Spirituality for World Peace

How can atheistic evolutionary science clarify creation-related matters in scriptures? Dr. Nikhil asked: In a question answered by You on August 27, 2019, about how Allah created living beings as stated in the Quran, You suggested that the devotee should refer to Darwin’s theory of evolution. But Darwin’s theory of evolution and biology in general, does not include God to explain how life evolved. Darwin’s original theory of evolution, which is based on natural selection, later gave way to the ‘modern evolutionary synthesis’, which unified Darwin’s evolution with the genetics of Gregor Mendel. Even this modern evolutionary synthesis is also mainly based on natural selection. Personally, Darwin was most probably a theist. It is said that he lost his faith in traditional Christianity, later in life. But it is claimed that he returned to the Christian faith on deathbed. In any case, he did not explicitly deny God. However, the theory of evolution, be it the original Darwinian evolution or the modern synthesis, is one of the major pieces of evidence that atheists depend on, to claim that life does not need God to evolve. This atheistic view of the origin of life is against the philosophies of all religions including, Islam, Christianity and Hinduism. So, how can the devotee get more clarity about Quranic references related to the creation of life by God from the atheistic evolutionary science?] Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! I am not criticizing the theory of evolution or any other discovery of science because I am also a scientist. I fully believe in the value of science, which is based on experimental validation and not on mere theoretical imagination. Let us understand the respective roles of science and spirituality through the example of making coffee. I agree with the scientific procedure involved in the preparation of a cup of coffee. I am not denying the scientific laws of heat transfer in heating the water and milk. I also agree with the scientific laws related to the solubility of sugar and coffee powder in the hot mixture. I am only giving additional information about why the coffee was prepared in the first place. This is the role of spirituality. I am telling you that a person had a headache and wanted to drink coffee. So, he went to the kitchen, prepared the coffee and drank it. The person is the intellectual cause of the coffee (nimittam). The details about all the inert materials and processes like water, milk, heating, sugar and coffee powder are the material cause of the coffee (upādānam). The scientist only describes the material cause. I am not opposing that part at all. I am only adding the remaining part of the explanation, which makes the scientist’s part meaningful. The scientist cannot say that the milk got a headache and wished to become a cup of coffee! As you (Dr. Nikhil) are well-aware, this example of preparing coffee has been given by a wise western philosopher. There are some philosophies, who treat God only as intellectual cause of creation and the basic inert energy as the material cause. I have completed the story of creation only as per such philosophies. Of course, the main philosophy says that God is omnipotent and so, He acts as both the intellectual cause as well as the material cause (abhinna nimittopādānam). There is no worldly example to explain this main philosophy since there is no omnipotent entity in this imaginable world. The magical creation of an object by a magician can be given as an example, but with certain limitations. The main limitation is the magic is not true, it is a trick. It is just that we, as spectators, are unable to know the hidden techniques used by the magician. But if we assume that the magical creation of the object by the magician is a true creation, it can be treated to be the perfect example of God creating the world. Actually, if you want an exact example, it is also available in this world. It is the case of a genuine miracle performed by the mere will of a God-man (Human Incarnation of God). The God-man Himself is both the intellectual and material cause of the miracle. The point to be noted here is that this example is not different from the original concept. The original concept is the unimaginable God creating the world. The case of the God-man performing the miracle is the mediated God creating an item miraculously. In both cases, God alone is both the intellectual and material cause of the created item. This is an advanced concept in the spiritual knowledge and I am not getting into its details to avoid confusion, at this initial state. So, in this matter, I prefer to stick to the basic philosophy mentioned by Me initially, according to which, God is the intellectual cause and some primary inert material is the material cause of creation (world). As per this philosophy, God is like the potter who creates the pot out of mud. At this stage, the establishment of the existence of God is important and this basic philosophy is sufficient for the purpose. =============== -By Shri Datta Swami (Visit our website: www.universal-spirituality.org) Universal Spirituality for World Peace

Is the resurrection of Jesus false? Shri Ahsan Habib, Dhaka asked: You have said that Jesus did not die on the cross and that, with the help of His disciples, He escaped to India, where he died at the age of 85. So, does it not mean that His resurrection was false? Swami replied: What do you mean by resurrection? If it means rising from the dead, there is no problem in saying that Jesus was resurrected after three days. There are different versions of the life of Jesus. As per one version, Jesus died on being crucified and rose from the dead again. Then, after His resurrection, He travelled to India and lived for many decades, during which He interacted with many Indian philosophers. Finally, at the age of 85 years, the inevitable death of His mortal body took place and the tomb of Jesus exists in the Himalayas, even today. There is no audio-video recording of the life of Jesus which can be treated to be the accurate record of His life. Whatever most people think is true about the life of Jesus is also one of the versions, which is based on someone’s writings. But it is also claimed that the writings of the disciples of Jesus have been modified by the Church. In that case, all the various versions regarding the life of Jesus have an equal probability of being true. We can accept any version that does not conflict the divinity and spiritual knowledge of Jesus. If the version that Jesus lived in India after His resurrection is bringing Hinduism and Christianity closer, why should it not be accepted? There is another version that Jesus did not die on the cross due to His miraculous power. Written records mention that when Jesus was thought to be dead on the cross, a Roman soldier pierced a spear into His side, to confirm that He was dead. Since Jesus did not react in pain, He was believed to be dead, after which He was brought down from the cross and moved to the cave. But it is also mentioned that blood gushed out from the injury made by the spear. Blood does not gush out from a dead body, when it is pierced, as per medical science. Hence, some people believe that He was not dead when He was brought down from the cross. He remained in the cave in an inactive state and rose on the third day as stated by Him before His crucifixion. He had spoken of the church being destroyed and rebuilt in three days. The word ‘church’ in His statement denotes His divine body and the reconstruction of the church in three days meant His rising from the dead. Surviving the crucifixion, remaining in an inactive state for some time and rising on the third day, were all certainly possible for Jesus, who possessed God’s miraculous power. In fact, anything is possible with the miraculous power of the unimaginable God, who had merged with the human body of Jesus. With the miraculous power of God, it is very much possible that Jesus did not die on the cross. It is also possible that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead. It is even possible that Jesus died at the age of 85 years and subsequently, began to appear to devotees in an energetic form to devotees all over the world. There is also no reason to reject the version that Jesus, with His living physical body, ascended to heaven. The unimaginable miraculous power of the unimaginable God who had merged with Jesus, allows any of these possibilities to be true. There is no need to condemn any of the above versions or even any other version, as long as the version does not contradict the divine power and divine knowledge of Jesus. There should be no objection to the claim that Jesus died on the cross and rose on the third day also because prior to His crucifixion, Jesus had already resurrected a devoted follower, Lazarus. It proves that Jesus possessed miraculous powers. If He was capable of raising others from the dead, it is not hard to believe that He was capable of rising from the dead Himself. Whether He died on the cross and rose after three days or He did not die at all, there is no doubt that He was seen by His disciples alive, in physical form, after three days. Thomas even touched the wounds where nails were driven into His hands to confirm that it was indeed Jesus who had risen. There is agreement between all versions, on this point that Jesus was seen alive, in a physical body, on the third day. The next question is whether Jesus exists even today in a living physical body. In the long time from the resurrection to this day, I do not think there has been any case, other than that of Thomas, when the existence of Jesus in a physical body was confirmed. Whenever Jesus has appeared to anybody, He has only appeared in energetic form and not in human form. The soul enters an energetic body after the natural death of the human body and this is the divine law of God’s creation. At the time of the crucifixion, Jesus was about 32 years old. After the resurrection, He probably lived in the physical body upto the age of 85 years. Then, as per the divine law of creation, the mortal body died and He was buried in the tomb, which is seen even today in the Himalayas. Interestingly, there are records of Jesus being with His parents only upto about sixteen years. Then He left home and returned only when He was about thirty years old. In this period of fourteen years, He did a lot of penance in association with several sages in the Himalayas. The Hindu scripture, Bhaviśya Purāṇam, speaks about the arrival of Jesus in India after His resurrection. In this scripture, Jesus says to king Śālivāhana “I am the Son of the Lord and I was born to an unmarried woman. I have propagated spiritual knowledge in a foreign country…”. (Īśa putraṃ ca māṃ viddhi, kumārī garbha sambhavam, mlecchadharmasya vaktāram…). You can find the influence of Hindu philosophies on the spiritual knowledge preached by Jesus, which is in line with His long stay in India. Jesus said that He is the Truth and Light, which means that He is God Himself. This is the philosophy of monism (Advaita). Jesus said that He is Son of God and this concept belongs to the philosophy called qualified monism (Viśiṣṭa Advaita), which is an intermediate stage between monism and dualism. Jesus also said that He is the messenger of God, which indicates perfect dualism (Dvaita). In the philosophy of dualism, the soul is different from God and is said to be a servant of God. But the soul referred to in the philosophy of dualism is not an ordinary worldly human being. The servant or messenger of God stands at a very high level of spiritual progress, far above ordinary souls. These three philosophies existed in the Veda and corresponding statements can be found in the Veda. The philosophy of Jesus, which matches with the three philosophies of the Hindu Vedic religion is reflected in the three famous statements of Jesus: (1) I am in the Light (dualism), (2) The Light is in Me (qualified monism, which is an intermediate stage between dualism and monism) and (3) I am the Light (monism). =============== -By Shri Datta Swami (Visit our website: www.universal-spirituality.org) Universal Spirituality for World Peace

Was Jesus Christ Lord Krishna Himself? Shri Ahsan Habib, Dhaka asked: Hello, I was reading your article about the Incarnation of God. I wonder, what if, Jesus Christ was Lord Krishna Himself! Could you please explain your point of view? Kind regards, Ahsan Habib (Sabuz), Dhaka. Swami replied: All Human Incarnations of God, belonging to all religions, are one and the same, since the unimaginable God present in each of them is one and the same. But it does not mean that Krishna is Jesus Himself. The unimaginable God is like the gold metal from which various ornaments are made. From the standpoint of gold, both the golden chain and the golden bangle are one and the same. But from the standpoint of the design of the ornament, the bangle is different from the chain. Thus, there is an internal unity in the external diversity. The messages given by all Human Incarnations appear to be different because the cultures of the followers to whom they were preaching, were different. But the internal essence of all the messages is one and the same. With that said, there are also certain external similarities between Krishna and Jesus. Both Krishna and Jesus had some connection with domesticated animals in the early parts of their lives. Krishna, right after His birth, was taken to a family of cowherds, where He grew up rearing (bringing up) cows. Jesus was born in a stable (shed), among domesticated animals. In both cases, the devilish kings killed newborn babies in the town, in an attempt to kill Krishna and Jesus respectively. Both Krishna and Jesus performed miracles initially, to attract devotees. Both preached excellent spiritual knowledge. Both met with a cruel death in the end. Krishna was shot dead by a hunter, while Jesus was crucified. But these external similarities are not of much importance. All Human Incarnations of God preach excellent spiritual knowledge, which is essentially one and the same. That knowledge is given by the same absolute unimaginable God who has merged with selected human media, to become the Human Incarnations. The same electric current passes through different devices causing different effects. In the bulb, it causes the bulb to glow and give light. In the television, it shows television programs, which involve a display of moving images as well as sound. In the fan, it causes the rotation of the fan, leading to a circulation of the air. Thus, even though the functions differ, the internal force carrying out these different functions is the same electricity. Similarly, different Incarnations descend on earth to carry out different divine missions, as per the requirements in each time. But the essence of the spiritual knowledge preached by them is the same. It involves common concepts such as the concept that God exists and that He punishes sinners and rewards the doers of good action. The ultimate Preacher, preaching through the various Incarnations is the single unimaginable God. You can have any number of imaginable items, but only one unimaginable item can exist. Even if you try to imagine multiple unimaginable items, they all finally result in a single unimaginable item, which is the unimaginable God. That single ultimate unimaginable God alone exists in the different human media (bodies) of the various Incarnations. The external media follow different cultures, speak different languages and give different examples in their preaching to suit the different cultures. But the essential spiritual knowledge preached by them is common since it comes from the unimaginable God alone. If this main point is realized, all religions are correlated and there will be world peace. Every religion says that their God created this entire earth and humanity on it. If the Gods of each religion were different, there would be several earths containing several different human races. But unfortunately, there is only one earth with only one humanity on it. This proves that all mediated Gods mentioned by different religions are internally, the same unimaginable God, who has created this one earth, having this one humanity on it. =============== -By Shri Datta Swami (Visit our website: www.universal-spirituality.org) Universal Spirituality for World Peace