Posted on: 07 Oct 2006
[Message on Dasara, Day-6] The continuous entertainment (Ananda) is possible only in the world when God exists in the relative reality. In the state of absolute reality, space also disappears and God alone remains. In this state, there is no question of any entertainment. If you take God into such a state of absolute reality, you are making God bored. There will be no necessity at anytime for God to cross space (Mula Maya) because God need not destroy this world completely and regenerate it. The show of the cinema is withdrawn but the film roll is never destroyed by any producer unless he is extremely mad. The dissolution of the world means only the closure of the show and the world in a subtle state remains protected; it is regenerated as per the Veda (Yathaa Purvamakalpayat…). Therefore, God will never cross the Mula Maya (primary energy or space) at anytime. He is only aware of the absolute reality and such awareness exists in God but is not always remembered.
In the human mind too, there are several concepts that are stored even though they are not remembered always. Similarly, God can attain the awareness of the absolute reality at anytime if He likes and can really become alone. But, such awareness is only stored in God and is never attained since such a lonely state bores God. The next inferior level of ignorance is Maha Maya, which consists of matter, awareness and forms of energy like light, heat etc. God never crosses this Maha Maya also unless there is an emergency requiring the use of His superpower. Thus, the human incarnation of God is under the control of Maha Maya and Mula Maya and therefore, resembles a realized human being, who is just above Maya. Maya consists of forms of matter and energy and the feelings of awareness. The ignorant soul is under the control of Maya. Thus, the human incarnation tries to uplift ignorant human beings above the Maya through the preaching of divine knowledge. The entire drama is confined only to the boundaries of Maya, which is the story, dialogues and actions of the actors. Standing above the Maya, the realized soul can have continuous entertainment like God. Even God in human form enjoys the creation just standing above the Maya. The realized soul need not go beyond Maha Maya and attain superpowers, which will only spoil the soul with egoism, ending in misery.
In fact, the soul can never cross Maha Maya and can never dream of crossing Mula Maya. The Advaitin often tries to run to the state of absolute reality and tries to make God bored for fulfilling his impossible ambition. In such a case, this creation along with the Advaitin does not exist at all and the entertainment of God is completely lost. The dualism of the relative reality must be maintained in order to maintain the entertainment of God. Hence, you should not say that nothing except God exists. Infact, from your angle such a statement is absolutely wrong. In the state of absolute reality, you do not exist because you are a part and parcel of creation (Prakriti). The human being is mixture of Para [superior] and Apara [inferior] Prakriti as per the Gita. Such absolute reality is true only from the angle of God. But, God does not like to even remember that boring state. The Advaitin also says that God is everything [This entire creation is God]. If God is everything, nothing exists apart from God and then, there is no concept of entertainment because that state is nothing but the absolute reality. Some say that God is every living being. If an actor plays every role in the drama simultaneously (it is possible to produce such cinema with the present technology but not a drama), then also there is no entertainment. The entertainment becomes meaningful only when something different (object) from God (Subject) exists and also, when the souls other than God exist like different actors in the drama. The entry of God into the world is only limited to a specific role of His choice. Only then does the entertainment become real and continuous.
Philosophy-Science–Art of Life
A spectator of a drama does not have any bond with any role or with any material present in the drama. He is completely detached from the drama and then alone can he entertain himself in the real sense. The aim of the spectator is only entertainment and not the achievement of anything from the drama. Thus, God is completely detached and also has complete fulfillment (Aptakamasya… Veda). Therefore He derives continuous entertainment. A spectator, who is attached to the drama or to any role emotionally, is always upset. This is the difference between a realized soul and an ignorant soul. The state of a realized soul exactly coincides with the state of God (Matbhavayopapadyate… Gita). Such a state of God is the philosophy of life, which is the highest. This highest level is realized through logical analysis of the scriptures and such analysis is the science of life. Attainment of the self, leading into the state of peace without any entertainment (since interaction with the world is cut) is the art of life. Philosophy is superior to science and science is superior to art. Art is artificial or unreal and involves ignorance while science reveals the state of reality. Unless the grace of God falls on you, you cannot attain the philosophy of life through science. The art of life also involves analysis to attain the self but the result of such analysis based on egoism is not permanent and the soul will fall down bitterly. With God’s grace, the analysis is extended in the right direction to finally reach the philosophy of life.
Practical Service Needs Living Being
[Mr. Anil Antony asked whether the devotees of ISKCON can be considered as the best due to their sincere devotion.]
Swami replied: Those devotees are really the best cream of devotees because they have realized the concept of the human incarnation, which is Krishna. They are not much worried about the energetic forms like Narayana, which are meaningful only with respect to the souls in the upper world. But, they are in the lowest state from another angle. The practical aspect of worship is service, which alone yields divine fruit. Service requires a living being and not an inert object. Only a living being can receive service rendered by you. These devotees serve idols and pictures of Krishna, which are inert. These idols and pictures serve the purpose of development of theoretical devotion in you, which is related to the mind. But, mere theoretical devotion without the practical aspect is useless. The theoretical devotion should result in practical devotion and the fruit is always associated only with the practical devotion. Knowledge and devotion are like the degree and the appointment order achieved by you. But, both these cannot get you the salary unless you work in the job. The salary given at the end of the month is for the work that you have done in that month. The salary is not given for your degree or for the appointment order. The degree and the order help you to procure the work. Water and fertilizer help the plant grow and give fruit. The fruit is directly associated with the plant and not with the water or fertilizer. Thus, knowledge (Jnana Yoga) and devotion (Bhakti Yoga) help the achievement of the state of service (Karma Yoga). Only karma (work) can get the fruit directly.
These [ISKCON] devotees are not serving the present human incarnation and therefore, all their service done to the statues or pictures becomes waste. Some undeserving people behind the statues or pictures are benefited by such service. You can worship the devotees and preachers of this cult and in such a case Krishna will be more pleased. The Advaitin is wrong in extending the concept of the human incarnation to every human being. In this angle, the ISKCON devotee is better than the Advaitin because the ISKCON devotee has confined this concept to a specific human being like Krishna. But, when the concept of service to God comes, the Advaitin looks better than that devotee. The Advaitin serves himself assuming that he is God. At least a living being (Advaitin himself) is served; he really receives the service.
Lord Krishna Himself stated that He will come down whenever it is necessary (Yadayadahi… Gita). In that case, why are these devotees confining only to the past Krishna and why are they not searching for the present human incarnation? Do they accept Rama too as another incarnation of Krishna or not? They accept Rama as another human incarnation. It means more than one human incarnation of Krishna is accepted. Then, why not accept some other human incarnations especially when Krishna said that He will come again and again whenever required? In the Gita, Krishna said that He should be worshipped. Since Krishna preached the Gita to Arjuna, for Arjuna, Krishna was the human incarnation of that time. For other human beings belonging to other generations, Krishna means the human incarnation that is present in each generation. The Bhagavatam says that Krishna died and His body was cremated by Arjuna. If Krishna was God, it means God was cremated. In that case, God cannot come again. Then the statement of Krishna that He will come again and again becomes false. God was in the body of Krishna like electric current in the wire. The wire may perish but the current is eternal. During the time of existence of the current in the wire, such a live wire should be treated as current directly. Similarly, the medium in which God exists has to be treated as God directly because God cannot be contacted directly. Therefore, the body of Krishna at that time had to be treated as God directly (Vasudevah Sarvamiti… Gita).