Posted on: 18 Dec 2006
Datta is called as Unmatta Datta, which means that Datta is mad. The reason for this is that He gives the absolute divine knowledge from His absolute state, which is the absolute reality. In that state, everything except Him is only relatively real including the souls. In this state, He is called as Nirguna Datta, which means that He is in the state of the absolute reality; free from any relative reality. The entire creation including the souls is only a relative reality. It is just His imagination or quality or feeling (guna). The guna is a property, which is not independent. It always depends on its substratum (Guni). That substratum is God or Parabrahman, who is far beyond our imagination. The knowledge radiating from that state is the absolute truth, which cannot be digested by human beings, who are in the lowest layer called as Maya[1]. Therefore, Datta looks like a mad fellow, whose statements are beyond what can be normally digested. Once Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa[2] was going to Panchavati for meditation and was in that topmost state. A newly married person told Him that his wife was hindering him from participating in the spiritual discussion (Satsanga). Immediately, Paramahamsa told him to just divorce his wife. He was shocked. For the plane of normal human beings, such knowledge looks like the statements of a mad person. In fact, the souls are mad about the plane of the lower relative reality[3]. For mad people, a wise person is mad, relatively.
Can God’s Incarnation Have Ignorance?
[Shri Ramanath, a devotee of Swami asked Swami about the effect of ignorance on the human incarnation. Swami’s response is given below.]
The human incarnation has two components. One is God who is like a radiating sun of knowledge and the other is the soul which is like a black cloud of ignorance. The sun is covered by a cloud and they are very close to each other (Sayuja sakhaya…—Veda). Due to the cloud, the sun becomes dim. Due to the sun, the cloud becomes bright. Now both the sun and the cloud are in an equilibrium state of equal intensity. Both have become one unit since both are equal in brightness or darkness. The total brightness of this single unit is 99% and the total darkness is 1%. Hence, the human incarnation also falls into the grip of this trace of ignorance for a fraction of a second. Krishna became angry and wanted to kill Bhishma, who was His own devotee, but His anger was just for a moment and He did not actually kill Bhishma[4]. Jesus was praying to God for a minute to prevent His crucifixion but immediately afterwards, He was prepared for it. The dimness of the sun or the brightness of the cloud is only relatively real. The absolute reality is that the sun which appears dim is actually 100% bright and the cloud that appears bright is actually 100% dark. Therefore, in reality, God is not affected by ignorance. Only in the plane of relative reality do we see a dim sun. Or it can be said that the sun is relatively dim. Since, the dim sun or the human incarnation (God in a soul) has come into this world, which is a relative plane, only the dim sun is suitable here; not the absolute Sun. The cloud is the human being (soul, subtle body and gross body) and it acts as a cover or Upadhi for God when He enters this world. This human being in which, God exists, was called as the son of God by Jesus and God was called as the Father of heaven. Both are so close that we can treat both as one and the same. The dim sun and the bright cloud are one and the same in the intensity of light as well as in the intensity of darkness. This is the meaning of the statement of Jesus “I and My Father are one and the same”. Thus, only in the relative plane (world), are both identical. But simultaneously in absolute plane, God is God and the soul is a soul. People have taken this statement in absolute plane and mistook Jesus. Fearing a similar fate like Jesus, Mohammad declared that the Father can never become the Son. This is true in the absolute plane, which is simultaneously true even in the relative plane. The absolute plane maintains its reality in both the planes. The relative plane maintains its reality only in the relative plane. Therefore, in the relative plane both the absolute reality (Advaita or monism) and the relative reality (Dvaita or duality) coexist and are true simultaneously. You must be careful to note that Advaita (oneness between the dim sun and bright cloud) is true in the relative plane (Vyavahara Dasha), whereas Dvaita (even in the dim sun, the sun is totally bright and even in the bright cloud, the cloud is totally dark) is true in the absolute plane (Paramartha Dasha). But the confused Advaitin, states that Advaita is true in the absolute plane.
Once a devotee was possessed by God Datta. He saw Me and declared “You are My representative in this world”. Then I asked him for a vision of God Datta. The devotee laughed loudly for a long time and said, “How can you see yourself? If you are fond of seeing yourself, take a mirror and see Yourself in it”. If you analyze this, both Advaita and Dvaita are present here. The representative cannot be the original (Dvaita). When I have to see Datta as Myself in the mirror, I am one and the same with Him (Advaita). Both are simultaneously true in this world as explained above. Another devotee possessed by God Datta said, “I am Dattatreya”. Then I asked him, “Then who am I?” The devotee told thrice “Myself and Yourself are one and the same”. Here Dvaita is seen in the first two statements. Advaita is seen in the third statement.
God’s Incarnation: Renunciant or Householder?
[Shri Ramanath asked about Swami’s Ashrama[5] as a householder (Grihastha) instead of a bachelor (Brahmachari) because generally Datta appears as a bachelor. Given below is Swami’s reply.]
Lord Rama with one wife and Lord Krishna with several wives were both householders and they were incarnations of Lord Datta. Datta means God given to devotees in the same medium as the devotees. For human devotees God comes in human form. Thus Rama and Krishna are Datta (given) alone. The sages asked Datta about the Ashram of Datta because He was wearing a red robe (indicating samnyasa or renunciation) and was also wearing a sacred thread[6] (indicating a Brahmachari or Grihastha due to His wife Anagha). Datta replied that He is beyond all the four Ashramas. i.e., His Ashrama is the Turiya Ashrama. For human beings, the Ashrama is like the color of a person’s skin. The Ashrama for a human incarnation is like the color of the shirt[7]. You cannot be half black and half red in the body but the color of your shirt can be half black and half red. You have no color and you are beyond the color of the shirt. Therefore, the human being has the three qualities and four Ashramas[8]. But the human incarnation is beyond all these in the view of absolute reality. The sun is 100% bright even in the dim sun and there is no increase or decrease in His brightness. The sun is beyond the darkness of the cloud, which is only its external cover. But a human being is like a dark cloud that is far from the sun. It does not have the sun behind it. It might have very little sunlight illuminating it. Based on the various intensities of the sunlight (knowledge), the clouds may be classified into the Ashramas, gunas, castes etc. In the cloud, which is very close to the sun, there is no classification of the intensities of light because such a cloud is the brightest.
Past Human Incarnations of God
[Smt. Padma Ram asked Swami whether one should try to see a past human incarnation like Shri. Sai Baba in Swami or vice-versa. Swami’s response is given below.]
In the state of theoretical devotion any view is right, since there is no difference between drinking two different drinks in a dream. The point is whether your devotion is theoretical (limited to songs, meditation etc.,) or practical (service). Practical devotion is possible only in the case of the present living human incarnation. When you are sprinkling rose water on the shirt of a present alive person, the person receives and enjoys your service. The shirt is the human body and the person is God in the present alive human incarnation. The past human incarnation existing as a statue or photo is like a photo of the non-existing past shirt of the same person. You will not sprinkle the rose water on even the existing shirt if the person is absent in it, not to speak of a non-existing shirt seen in a photo. If you sprinkle rose water on a photo of a person who is away in a foreign country, it is also virtually the same. Similarly the service to a photo of Vishnu existing in the upper world is as good as the service to a photo of Rama who existed in the past. Krishna asked Arjuna to surrender to Him only (Mamekam…Gita). Here Mam (Him) means the human incarnation. The word Ekam (only) means the present alive one existing before the eyes of Arjuna. It means Krishna, who was the contemporary human incarnation. Direct service to God is possible only in the case of present human incarnation.
God sees the useful talent existing in you for His service and selects you. An employer also does the same and is not worried about the other defects. The employer pays the salary for the service done using a particular required talent. Similarly, God rewards you for the service done by using your specific talent. God is not bothered about your other defects and will not interfere in your cycle of deeds. If you are not aspiring for the reward and feel that the service of God itself is a reward, the case is totally different. When you are doing the service with such reward-free attitude, God takes the entire responsibility of yourself and if necessary He may sacrifice Himself for your sake in the cycle of deeds.
[Several devotees asked Swami about the behavior of Swami as an ordinary soul many a time. They asked Swami about the possible interest of God to play in roles of ignorance.]
The interest of God to have entertainment to play a role of ignorance is only a minor point. This point is always associated with a major point of God taking the role of an ignorant soul for guiding the ignorant souls through the practical path. If an ignorant soul sees another ignorant soul reaching the goal through the spiritual path, certainly it will be standing as a practical example of inspiration. God plays such a role and inspires other similar souls in a practical path. This is the actual major aspect of His program to act in different ignorant roles. Incidentally the entertainment is also done so that you cannot blame Him as a bad person, who enjoys a bad role. Rama went after the golden deer just to satisfy His beloved wife, even though Lakshmana was opposing it[9]. He faced a big tragedy due to that mistake of blind love on His wife and not listening to a learned advice. It is a role of total ignorance. But, the Lord gives message to such ignorant souls. When such good purpose is served, what is the harm of His entertainment in such ignorant role, which is inevitable in preaching of practical spiritual knowledge? In the case of a really ignorant soul, only the blind entertainment exists without such noble cause. Similarly, if you analyze the life of this Swami, you can clearly find such noble cause of practical demonstration of the spiritual knowledge emitted from Him. His life is His message of the spiritual knowledge preached by Him. Infact, it is a double role of human incarnation in some scenes and a devotee in some other scenes. Swami is a combined form of Rama and Anjaneya [Hanuman], playing both the roles separately in related scenes of requirement since He is very ambitious to have double remuneration! Perhaps, the external dress is one and the same, causing confusion for both the roles, but you can distinguish both the roles by the corresponding dialogues and actions as in the case of a rehearsal of a drama. In a complete incarnation, this is inevitable.
[1] Maya is the wonderful illusory power of God. In this context it means that people in these world who are deluded by this Maya.
[2] Shri Ramkrishna (1836–1886), was a human incarnation of God, whose religious following is led to the formation of the Ramakrishna Mission by his internationally famous disciple Swami Vivekananda.
[3] People are madly attracted to worldly pleasures and achievements.
[4] This incident is from the epic Mahabharata, when Lord Krishna, the human incarnation of God is assisting the Pandava brothers in battle against the unrighteous Kaurava brothers. Krishna has vowed to merely serve as a charioteer-cum-advisor in the battle and to not fight. The invincible Bhishma, Krishna’s devotee and the common grandfather of the Kauravas and Pandavas, however due to his earlier vow, is unwillingly supporting the unrighteous Kauravas. Krishna is enraged at Bhishma when Bhishma, taking advantage of his immortality and invincibility was fighting valiantly to protect unrighteousness and evil.
[5] The Ashrama in Hinduism is one of four stages in an age-based social system. The stages are Brahmacharya (celibate student life), Grihastha (married family life), Vanaprastha (retired life), Samnyasa (renunciation). It is also possible to choose samnyasa right after Brahmacharya without entering family life. In each of these stages a person is bound by the duties of that stage in life.
[6]The sacred thread is composed of distinct cotton strands, worn by Hindu males, crossways over the shoulder indicating their commitment to the studying and following of the scriptures.
[7] An ordinary human is bound by the stage (Ashrama) he is in. The human incarnation of God is beyond the Ashramas. He can be in any Ashrama, without being bound by any of them.
[8] The entire creation including the soul is made of the three fundamental qualities (Gunas), Satwam (purity, knowledge), Rajas (activity, passion), Tamas (darkness, ignorance, inertia). Hence, the soul is bound by these three gunas and the four stages in life. However, God, who is beyond creation is not bound by any of them.
[9]Incident when during the fourteen year exile in the forest, Sita asks for a golden deer which is actually a demon in guise. When Rama goes after the deer and Lakshmana subsequently goes to Rama’s help, Sita is kidnapped by the demon king Ravana.