Posted on: 20 Apr 2011
A pseudo-scientist will present irrelevant arguments like the inability of Shri Satya Sai Baba to cure His own health, who performed several miracles and cured the illness of several devotees. By this, he wants to establish that all the miracles performed by Baba were not genuine. He wants us to realize the truth about His miracles. Actually, he should realize the truth in the silence of Baba to cure His illness. Baba wants us to understand that the soul is totally different from body and is not connected with the issues and bonds of the body. The soul is energy and is eternal with respect to the body. In the body of Baba, both soul and God are present. God is absolutely eternal and is also totally disconnected with soul and body. In the Gita, Krishna says that He is the third entity other than body and soul (Yesmaat ksharamateetoham…). We are unable to differentiate even soul and body and not to speak of differentiating God from soul and body. Whether you take Baba as God or soul, the points related to the body are disconnected to Him. The body is the shirt of the soul and the soul is the underneath banian for God. The shirt is disconnected from the banian and the banian is disconnected from the human being. Here, the human being is the comparison for God. A human being consists of two items only:
The human incarnation consist of three components:
In this comparison, the soul is inert energy. Even if you take the soul as a specific work form of energy, it is inert only. Inert means the item that is controlled and the Veda says that the soul is controlled by God (Atmeshwaram). Hence, the body and soul are compared to the two inert items, shirt and banian. Infact, the awareness of God alone is eternal, which is generated by His unimaginable power and hence, God is compared to the non-inert living human being here. The body and soul are two different phases of the same component, which are inert matter and inert energy respectively. By understanding that God is disconnected to matter and energy, we should understand that the energy is disconnected to matter. Hence, the soul is not touched by the problems of the body. The Gita differentiates the soul and body in the beginning so that you will slowly differentiate God from body and soul. Even in the human incarnation, the soul is disconnected from the problems of the body as in the case of a realized human being. Since we identify the soul as body and God as the human being, which is understood as both soul and body, we misunderstand the concept. We think that the soul suffers when the body suffers. We think that God suffers when the body suffers and we assume that the soul is also suffering since our souls suffer identifying themselves with our bodies. Neither the soul nor God suffers while the body suffers in the case of human incarnation. Due to lack of this realization, we mistake Baba as His body and soul and therefore, we think that He is suffering. If the shirt is cut by a blade, the underline banian is not cut and not to speak of the innermost human being. If we understand this, we will realize that Jesus did not suffer on the cross and Krishna did not suffer while the bleeding continued on His foot.
We have superimposed the body and the soul with God and talk that Baba is unable to do anything for Himself. The soldiers also mocked at Jesus that He was unable to do anything for Himself on the cross. Even the devotees feel much and their feeling is also based on the ignorance of the realization. But, in the case of devotees, at least their feeling has a positive side, which is their love to Baba. This positive side will be appreciated by God. But, the atheists are not only ignorant but also lack the positive side. Therefore, the message of Baba is that we should identify ourselves with the soul and not with the body. We must maintain this realization even at the time of the death (sthitvasyaamantakaalepi… Gita). The Gita says that the death is a happy occasion, in which the soul leaves the damaged dress and takes up a new dress. The damaged dress is the old body and the new dress is the energetic body, which is entered by the soul. Ignorance is the source of reverse behavior. The atheists always have half knowledge of science but pose as if they have realized the essence of science. The essence of any branch of knowledge is the philosophy. Hence, we find the word philosophy in the highest degree awarded even in science i.e., a doctor of philosophy. Philosophy is only the deep-most analysis of the subject and therefore, there is no opposition between science and philosophy.
You must always differentiate the context of God (Nivrutti) from the context of human beings (Pravrutti). Krishna punished Kauravas for trying to uncloth Draupadi. But, the same Krishna did not return the saris of Gopikas. This appears as a contradiction. The first scene is between two human beings. One human being is trying to see the naked body of the wife of the other human being. In the second scene, God is trying to see the naked body of the human being. In the second scene, the message of God is that He is already aware of every atom of the creation and is testing Gopikas whether they realize this in practice. Theory is different from practice. Only a few Gopikas, who had the realization, lifted their folded hands.
The atheist has no patience to analyze the concept. He concludes with half analysis only and tries to project his version as the conclusion. He always quotes false human incarnations and false devotees only. In that way, he is doing the divine service since you should be aware of such false projections also. He should not reject the genuine concepts by showing the false concepts. Somewhere, copying in the examination may take place and sometimes even mass copying may go on. By showing this, you should not reject the sincere attempt of a genuine student in the examination also and reject the very system of examination itself. The student, who passed the examination through copying, will certainly fail in the interview for a job, which is a sharper examination. Similarly, you should reject the false devotees and false incarnations by sharp analysis and catch the genuine devotees and genuine incarnation to get the benefit. The atheist alarms you about the side of exploitation, which is more in these days of Kali Yuga. Therefore, the atheist is also maintained in this world by God. But, the atheist is unaware of his divine service and is really scolding God and therefore, is not benefitted after death like Ravana or Shishupala. God uses the negative approach of atheists in the spiritual path, which is like the concept of wealth from waste. We should take the positive side of their negative behavior and should not scold them in return. All this clear analysis is given only since the question came from the atheist. Therefore, we should be grateful to him taking the positive side. One will always be benefitted and feel happy throughout the life if he or she takes only the positive side of everything.