Posted on: 30 Jan 2020
Shri Phani asked: In Your discourse on December 02, 2019, You have said that Your spriritual knowledge is not meant for the general public, but only for a few rare diamonds scattered here and there in the world. With reference to it, someone remarked to me that if the spiritual knowledge of Datta Swami is only meant for rare diamonds, let Him confine His preaching to only those few diamonds. What is the necessity to propagate it to the public, all over the world? Could You please respond to this?
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! This point that spiritual knowledge is meant for the rare few was actually told by God Krishna in the Gita. He said that out of millions of devotees, only one tries to reach God and among those rare devotees trying to reach God, only one recognizes God (Manuṣyāṇāṃ…). Such a devotee is the rarest of the rare. Even that rarest-of-the-rare devotee recognizes and reaches God, only after trying to reach Him for several births (Bahūnāṃ...—Gita). Actually, the absolute God is unimaginable. He can never even be understood by anybody since He is beyond imagination (Atarkyaḥ…—Veda). Yet, God Krishna was speaking about recognizing and reaching God, which appears to be contradictory. How can we reconcile this idea of recognizing and reaching God with the fact that God is unimaginable?
It clearly means that God Krishna was speaking about the mediated God (Incarnation) and not about the absolute unimaginable God. The mediated God can be identified since He is visible to our eyes. Of course, mediated God includes both Energetic and Human Incarnations of God. The Energetic Incarnation is relevant to the energetic beings (angels) of the upper worlds. The Human Incarnation is relevant to human beings of this earth. Since Arjuna was a human being and Krishna was directly speaking to him, God, in that context, only meant the Human Incarnation of God.
You might say that Arjuna was directly seeing Krishna, the Human Incarnation of God, so where is the problem? The problem is not in being able to see the Human Incarnation. The problem lies in being able to recognize the Human Incarnation. Krishna said that the rarest-of-the-rare devotee alone can recognize Him essentially (Tattvataḥ...). If it were only a matter of seing the Incarnation, not only Arjuna, but everybody else could also see Krishna. The real problem was, how may could recognize Him? Only the sages who were reborn as the Gopikās recognized Krishna essentially as God and not as a mere human being based on His external appearance. Actually, not even all the Gopikās could recognize Him. Only a few among them could recognize Him.
What was the problem due to which everyone else failed to recognize Krishna essentially as God? The problem is the repulsion between the common human media of God and the souls. When the unimaginable God merges with a human being, He appears like any other human being, externally. So, other human beings experience repulsion towards Him. Due to the repulsion, they fail to recognize the Human Incarnation of God like Krishna. This repulsion of the common medium is nothing but ego and jealousy. Every human being has an ego and also feels jealous of any other fellow-human being. No human being can tolerate the greatness of another human being. This problem is not only limited to human beings on earth, but it equally applies in the case of energetic beings in the upper worlds (Pratyakṣa dviṣaḥ—Veda). Every energetic being (angel) experiences this repulsion of the common medium for other energetic beings, including the Energetic Incarnations of God like Viṣṇu, Śiva etc. Even Indra, an important angel came under the grip of this repulsion for God Śiva, the Energetic Incarnation of God and tried to kill God Śiva with his weapon! The soul in a human body on earth, experiences this repulsion for the Human Incarnation of God due to the common human media of the soul and God. After death and upon acquiring an energetic body in the upper world, the same soul meets the Energetic Incarnation of God. Again, due to the common energetic media of God and the soul, the energetic being fails to recognize the Energetic Incarnation. The Veda says that this is the greatest loss or the greatest tragedy for any soul because the soul misses God, both here and there, forever (Mahatī vinaṣṭiḥ)!
Ego (mada) and jealousy (mātsarya) are the topmost among the six vices (ṣadguṇas) and no soul can be free of these two. They are the real cataracts in the two eyes of the person. Your friend who passed the above comment, is no exception to this. He is experiencing repulsion for the other devotees, whom I praised as rare diamonds. He is unable to tolerate the greatness of those rare devotees and so he passed this comment!
Added to this problem of ego and jealousy, is another wonderful problem! The spiritual path necessarily involves the soul serving and sacrificing to the climax-extent to the mediated God, who is hidden in an ordinary medium of a human being. While serving and sacrificing, the soul must be free of the aspiration for any fruit in return! Who can do such selfless service and sacrifice? Commonly, anyone doing such selfless service and sacrifice is said to be the biggest fool (Prayojanamanuddiṣya...)! When the basic recognition of God-in-human-form itself is a million-dollar question, the service and sacrifice to Him, without aspiring for any fruit in return becomes a billion-dollar question! This is the essence of these verses told by Krishna in the Gita.
Krishna, as the Human Incarnation of God was, not only the Guide, but also the Goal. A guru is only a guide, whereas, the Satguru is the Guide and Goal. Even Arjuna could recognize Krishna just as a guide. It was only the Gopikās, who recognized Krishna as their Guide and Goal. The general repulsion of the common human medium certainly existed in Arjuna’s mind for Krishna. But there was also an additional, more specific repulsion, due to their common gender. Both were men. It made it even more difficult for Arjuna to overcome His ego and jealousy towards Krishna. You might wonder how come Āñjaneya (Hanumān), being male too, could recognize and serve His contemporary Human Incarnation of God, Rāma. Was Āñjaneya not influenced by the double repulsion of the common medium and the common gender? The answer is that Rāma was in a human form, whereas, Āñjaneya was in the form of a monkey (vānara). So, the repulsion of the common (human) medium was absent in His case!
We have been trained from our very childhood by our elders and as part of tradition, that we should pray to God and worship Him, so that God will give us material benefits and protect us from all sorts of problems, here and hereafter. We have absorbed this poison for such a long time that we have become like the pickle that has absorbed salt, through and through, after being stored in a jar for a long time. Can we get rid of this poison by any effort made, for any length of time? It is almost impossible for any soul! Hence, the words like rare and the rarest have been used in the Gita. Of course, in the intitial stage, devotion with an aspiration for some fruit in return from God is inevitable for ordinary human beings. All beginnings are always defective, as said in the Gita (Sarvārambhāhi...). However, in childhood, the expectation for some fruit in return has not yet firmly established in a person’s mind. Hence, it is important to develop devotion for God in the mind of the child by portraying the wonderful divine personality of God. This can be effectively done by telling the stories of divine Energetic and Human Incarnations of God. The child should develop devotion to God, due to an attraction for His divine personality and not because God provides materialistic benefits. If such aspiration-free devotion is well-established in the person’s mind from early childhood, then upon growing into an adult, much aspiration for the fruit will not enter the person’s mind.
The teacher teaches the entire class without any partiality towards any student. Yet, only one student tops the class and gets the gold medal! The gold medal is not given to the topper, to discourage other students, but so that all other students recognize the truth and try to become the gold medallist. Apart from the gold medal for the topper, there are several grades below it, like a distinction, first class, second class and third class. Other students are awarded those grades as per their performance. In any case, students should ensure that they do not fail. Even if a certain student happens to fail, he or she should try again and again, keeping the goal of getting the gold medal, one day. Devotees trying to attain God are like these students in the class. All of them should try to become the gold-medallist, even though only one might actually achieve it. Only atheists are in a pitiable situation. They are like the children who have refused to get admitted to a school.
The Kohinoor diamond is the topmost among all diamonds. It stands for the topmost devotee. Other diamonds are like other top devotees. Beware that apart from real diamonds, there are artificial diamonds too! These are pretenders. But below the real diamonds, there are several grades of stones like granite, marble, gravel and sand particles. All these grades are only devotees at different stages of the spiritual effort. No grade should be looked down upon. Atheists are like carbon particles, which do not shine at all, whereas, all other grades shine at least a little. But there are some atheists, who have become Kohinoor diamonds. These atheists are very sincere and very persistent in their effort. They are like fast runners. When they turn to the right path, they will easily overtake the theists walking slowly along the path. You need not worry how the black carbon is. It can even become the most brightly shining diamond! You must know that diamond is an allotropic form of carbon itself!
Some devotees treat Me as the Incarnation of God Dattātreya and they want to serve Me by propagating My spiritual knowledge. Of course, I do not know whether I am an Incarnation or not. I did have a vision in the holy place named Shrishailam. God Datta appeared in His energetic form before Me and merged into Me. But that might have been an illusion of My eyes. However, after seeing this unimaginable knowledge flowing out of Me, I believed that My vision was true and not an illusion. By telling this to you, I am not boasting about My being an Incarnation. I know the technology of incarnation. An Incarnation is just mediated God. The medium does not get any importance at all. If a diamond is hidden in a cover, what is the value of the cover? All the value lies only in the diamond. God Datta is the one who is speaking this knowledge and I am only the microphone before His mouth. If I do not accept that I am an Incarnation of God Datta, it means that I am claiming to be the author of this excellent spiritual knowledge. That would be the climax of ego! In that case, your jealousy towards Me will increase even more and you will suffer even more! But when I say that I am an Incarnation, it means that I am zero since all the knowledge given by Me is being spoken by God Datta alone. By saying that I am not the Incarnation, I would be taking the credit for giving this excellent spiritual knowledge and indirectly denying that God Datta is its original author.
The Gita says that whenever excellent true spiritual knowledge is seen, God alone is the author of it (Jñātvātmaiva...). It is such knowledge given by God that alone directs souls on the right path. Directing souls on the right path (jñāna) alone has the total importance. Neither the act of travelling (karma) nor the speed of travel (bhakti) is important. This is because, numerous devotees are already serving and sacrificing a lot (karma). They also have excellent devotion in their mind (bhakti). They are travelling (karma) on the path at high speed (bhakti). The only problem is that they are travelling in the wrong direction. They have not recognized the contemporary Human Incarnation to be the Goal of their spiritual effort and they have not realized that devotion should be free of aspiration. Thus, all they are lacking is the right direction (jñāna).
When it comes to performing miracles, God grants that power to others. Even demons have acquired miraculous powers from God! But when it comes to knowledge, God Himself gives it directly. This is because of the highest importance of knowledge in the spiritual path. Since God directly gives the knowledge, one need not form a high opinion about the external medium of the Incarnation. By hearing the word Incarnation, everybody feels jealous of the external human form of the Incarnation. But sharp analysis reveals that such jealousy is based on a false concept because all the greatness lies with God and not with the medium. The greatness lies with the diamond and not its cover; with the person speaking and not with the microphone. A climax-devotee for whom, God has become his or her servant, is greater than even the Incarnation. In the Incarnation, the devotee (human medium) is treated as God i.e., the devotee only becomes equal to God. A non-electrified golden wire (climax-devotee) is more valuable than an electrified copper wire (Human Incarnation)!
In the context of the propagation of My (God Datta’s) spiritual knowledge, I suggested to My (God Datta’s) devotees that, in the local area, I (God Datta) should not be projected as a preacher of spiritual knowledge. This is because, My (God Datta’s) spiritual knowledge is mainly based on knowledge of Śaṅkara, the devotion of Rāmānuja and the service and sacrifice of Madhva. The knowledge and devotion are both theoretical (in the mind). The service and sacrifice are practical and they are the practical proof of the devotion in the mind, as long as there is no aspiration for any fruit in return from God. My devotees had planned some local propaganda with banners etc., and had asked for My guidance. I told them to not do any such localized propaganda, highlighting My spiritual knowledge because those capable of absorbing such spiritual knowledge are rare and they are scattered here and there. They are not localized in any one area. Even if such knowledge were propagated, to the local people, they would only adsorb it and not absorb it. Adsorption is a surface phenomenon, while absorption is a bulk phenomenon. It means that the local people might only understand and appreciate it superficially and not in a deep and thorough manner. On the other hand, if this knowledge is propagated through e-mails or TV channels, all those rare diamonds located in different places, will certainly come face-to-face with it. If devotees want to propagate something about Me only in the local area, I told them that I should be projected as an astrologer or a man of miracles. All temples are flourishing because God in these temples is projected as having miraculous powers to solve people’s worldly problems. Only one Kohinoor diamond appreciates the fact that real devotion (love) is always selfless.
My friend who passed the above comment, has misunderstood that My spiritual knowledge is confined only to diamonds. It is a total misunderstanding! The propagation of knowledge depends on the receivers of the knowledge. The method of propagation chosen, whether it is propagation in the local area or all over the world, should suit the level of the receivers of the knowledge. This is My actual point. My point is not to confine only to the rare diamonds. I have presented the overall picture of the process of propagation and the various levels of the receivers of the knowledge.
The Kohinoor diamond is the devotee who absorbs or appreciates selfless devotion. Such a devotee is at the topmost level and is the goal to be reached by all the devotees. Projecting the gold medallist is only to encourage every student to put in hard work for becoming that rarest gold medallist. If not the Kohinoor diamond, one can at least become a diamond by reducing the aspiration for any fruit from God, as far as possible. Such a stage is very close to the Kohinoor diamond. Spiritual knowledge is mainly meant for the majority of devotees in the lower grades. It is not meant for the Kohinoor diamond, at all! The Kohinoor diamond has already reached the highest level and does not require any preaching from anybody. Even the other diamonds do not require much preaching. They just need to be reminded of the concepts that they have already learnt.
| Shri Dattaswami | Anjaneya Manushyaanaam Bahuunaam Atarkyah Tattvatah Pratyaksha dvishah Mahatii vinashtih Prayojanamanuddishya Hanuman Sarvaarambhaahi Dattatreya Dattaatreya Jnaaniitvaatmaiva Gopikas Gopikaas Gopika