Posted on: 13 Sep 2006
The Scripture says that among the ten incarnations, Lord Krishna alone is the fullest incarnation (Paripurna Tamah Saakshat). If you compare Krishna with the other incarnations, the special point that lies with Krishna alone is the revelation of divine knowledge about God (Nivrutti) or Brahma Jnana. Buddha also gave divine knowledge. But He kept silent about God indicating that God is unimaginable. All His preaching was concentrated on the behaviour of the human being towards other co-human beings and also towards other living beings. He concentrated on the elimination of desire, which is the basis of the path to please God (Nishkama Karma Yoga). But since the concept of God is absent, the elimination of desire is taken for achieving the happiness of self itself. The followers misunderstood Buddha and took all His knowledge for Pravrutti or social service only. By this, Nivrutti disappeared in His knowledge. Similarly, if you take Rama, He did not give any knowledge about Nivrutti. He followed the Pravrutti to preach the humanity regarding the behaviour of a human being towards other co-human beings. Of course He showed faith and worship of God and thus He cannot be misunderstood as an atheist. If you take Vamana, He also did not give any reference to Nivrutti. He was concentrating on the charity towards a devotee, which is only related to Pravrutti. His mission was to suppress Bali and protect Indra. If you consider other incarnations, all were involved in the war to kill the demons and evil people. Thus, there is no trace of Nivrutti in their actions. All their actions were only to save the balance of the society, which is Pravrutti.
Inherent Characteristics of God
The inherent characteristic of Parabrahman is spiritual knowledge as referred in the Veda (Prajnana…, Satyam Jnanam…). The real knowledge is only the philosophy or spiritual knowledge, which relates to God and regarding the achievement of His grace. Except this all the other branches of knowledge are related only to the achievement of worldly pleasures, which are temporary and unreal. Therefore, the spiritual knowledge is called as Prajnanam. The letter ‘Pra’ means the best. In another Vedic statement the spiritual knowledge is told to be the true knowledge (Satyam Jnanam…). This means that it deals with the ultimate absolute reality i.e., God. All the other branches deal with various levels of creation, which are relatively real with respect to God and become totally unreal if isolated from God. Therefore, based on this scriptural statement, Krishna is considered to be the fullest incarnation. Even in the field of spiritual knowledge, Krishna correlated all the levels and unified as a single ladder to attain the grace of God. Before the revelation of the Gita, some were thinking about knowledge (Jnanam) and some others were thinking about devotion (Bhakti) as the real paths. Some others were thinking that rituals (Karma) happen to be the path. Krishna correlated these three levels. In the knowledge, He fixed Himself as the goal, who is the then human incarnation. This shows that the unimaginable God expressed through a convenient medium like human body for humanity is the real goal. He clearly stated that He will come again and again, which means that every generation will have the opportunity of having the human incarnation. He explained the devotion to be fruitful when it is directed to the then existing human incarnation because such human form alone can feel and respond to your devotion. Finally, He has uplifted the service (Karma) to the top most place. A ritual is worship of God. Worship means the path to please the God. When God is in human form, then only the service can be felt by God. He corrected the old path of the rituals by eliminating the selfish desire in it. Such, ritual or service happens to be the path to please God directly. When Arjuna fought the war as the service to Lord Krishna, Arjuna could see the pleasure in the face of Krishna directly. In other forms such direct evidence is not possible. The proof of real devotion is service only, which is the sacrifice of work or fruit of work. The Knowledge should lead to devotion and finally end with selfless service to God. Thus, Krishna brought out the essence of all the Upanishads and arranged a regular ladder. Thus, Krishna happens to be the fullest human incarnation based on the revelation of the Gita only. Simply doing miracles or destroying the demons is not the criterion, which is common in the other incarnations also. Vamana occupied the entire world and no miracle can be equal to this.
Again the conservative devotees say that Krishna is the only fullest incarnation in the entire creation till today. But the above verse was told with reference to the ten incarnations only because the preceding verse speaks about the ten incarnations. This means that Krishna was the fullest human incarnation among the ten incarnations. Assuming that their argument is only correct, how can they deny the reappearance of God again and again as told by Krishna Himself? (Yada Yadahi – Gita). Thus, you cannot rule out the reappearance of fullest human incarnation in the world after Krishna. Whenever there is a need, the fullest incarnation will appear again and again. In fact, God is always pleased to take the fullest human incarnation as many times as possible because such incarnation deals with the revelation of spiritual guidance to His children. In the other incarnations He has to kill His evil children and He is always reluctant to do this unless the inevitable situation comes.
Each Soul is Independent in Sadhana
[Smt. Uma Ramanath asked that how a household wife depending on the earnings of the husband can sacrifice the fruit of work especially when Swami says that each soul is completely independent in the spiritual field.]
Swami replied like this. Suppose the household wife is living in a joint family having a child. Suppose her husband gives all his money to his father only who is the family head. Suppose the head spends that money on the family in impartial way. Suppose in such set-up the mother wants to do some special favour to her child, which involves some extra finance. In this situation what the mother will do? Will she say to the child that how she can help in that set-up? No. Her strong love on the child starts investigating the paths. When there is a will there is always a way. She will say to her husband that the child belongs to him also and therefore, the special favour should be done. Similarly, the devoted lady can say to her husband that God is not only the creator of herself but also the creator of her husband also. God is the father of all the souls. Thus, she will convince him to do the sacrifice. Let us go to the simile. Suppose the husband refuses to do the special favour to the child in view of the disciplined system of the family set up. Now, the mother will choose even a wrong path like stealing the money by showing some wrong accounts of expenditure and does favour to her child. Therefore, the intensity of love will always reveal a path. The mother will not mind the injustice and the consequent hell for that. The extreme intensity of love (Moha) on the child will not consider the injustice and the hell. In this case since the Moha is on another soul, she will certainly go to hell. But, if God is in the place of the child, there is no trace of sin or hell because in whatever path, God is pleased, such path is justice (Aham tva Sarva Papebhyah – Gita).
But the biggest fun is that the mother will favour child in any path, but when God comes in that place, all the enquiry of the procedure and justice starts. This shows the lack of intensity of love on God. In fact, unlike the child, God will create more and more hurdles to oppose the sacrifice. The devotee is expected to cross even those special hurdles. If the devotee is unable to cross even this natural hurdle, how can you expect her to cross the special hurdles? The elder Gopikas loved Krishna as their son whereas the younger Gopikas loved Him as their boy friend. The elder Gopikas went to Madhura to sell the butter. When they found Krishna in the path, they used to feed Krishna with the butter. When they returned to their homes, they gave wrong accounts. Similarly, the younger Gopikas cheated all the family members to go and dance with Krishna secretly. There was no concept of injustice or hell in their brains. When Narada asked them to give the dust of their feet to be applied to the head of Krishna to remove His head-ache they immediately gave it. Narada told that they will go to the hell for giving such dust. They replied that they are ready to go to the hell for the happiness of Lord Krishna. This is the intensity of their devotion and therefore Lord gave them a specially created highest divine abode.
However, the sacrifice of fruit of work and work are one and the same and can be done according to the convenience. The saints cannot do the sacrifice of fruit of work. They compensate by sacrificing work. In fact they are more quickly blessed by God than the householders are. The requirement of God is the most important point for your sacrifice. When Rama is searching Sita, He needs the sacrifice of work. Hanuman, a saint, sacrificed work only and became God by His grace. Krishna as a boy required butter for growth and the Gopikas (householders) sacrificed the required butter (wealth). The fruit of work (money) is another form of work only. Money is matter and work is energy. Both are inter convertible forms. Therefore, one can participate in the mission of the Lord even by sacrificing the work according to the convenience.
It is true that the soul is independent in the spiritual field (Nivrutti). Only in Pravrutti the wife can share the fruit of good action of her husband. Pravrutti is the stage of drama. The queen in the drama has her share in the wealth of king. But when the drama is over and when the actors receive remuneration from the producer of the drama, the actor of the queen-role cannot have share in the remuneration of the actor played in the king role. The Gita says that in the spiritual field the self must uplift itself (Uddharedaatmanaa…). You must note that the wealth of king in the drama is unreal and the remuneration of the actors outside the drama is real. Similarly, the share in getting heaven etc., is possible because the heaven is within the relative reality. The grace of God is like the real remuneration.
Does Enjoyment Lead to Yoga?
[Smt Gayathri Chandrasekhar asked that people say that Bhoga leads to Yoga and whether such concept is correct.]
Swami replied like this. The word Bhoga [Enjoyment] by its root meaning is taken as the meaning for even the basic enjoyment like eating food. If you do not eat food how can you serve the God? The Veda says that such basic enjoyment should be done (Bhunjeedhah…). This is the Yogic meaning (meaning obtained from the word) of the word Bhoga. But in Rudhi (general usage), the word Bhoga means the over enjoyment of worldly pleasures, which leads to Roga (illness). This is proved by medical science also. If you become ill how can you serve God and please Him? Such Bhoga should be left. Tyaga (leaving) of such Bhoga will make you healthy and enable you to please God (Yoga). The Veda refers to such leaving of over enjoyment (Tena Tyaktena …). Bhoga is based on the concept of intensive love on a co-human being or a worldly item. The process of such intensive love is good because God will be also pleased by such intensive love (Moha) only. The object of such Moha should be replaced by God. A person is running very fast in the opposite direction. Only the direction has to be changed but the fast running is appreciable. By such fast running only he will reach the goal quickly. Therefore, the basis of Bhoga, which is Moha should be retained and by the spiritual knowledge the object only should be changed. Thus, the essence of Bhoga, which is Moha will certainly lead to Yoga or attainment of grace of God. Bilhana was going in a forest immersed in the memory of his darling. He touched a sage by his foot by mistake. The sage was meditating upon God. The sage became angry to curse him. But Bilhana asked, “I am thinking about my darling and I did not know that my foot touched you. But, you are immersed in the memory of God like me and how are you aware of the touch?” The sage realized and directed Bilhana to God. The sage learnt the Moha from Bilhana. Thus both were blessed by God.
The attraction to the worldly bond can be directly transformed into attraction to God. There is no need of achieving the detachment from the worldly attraction. The detached soul cannot have the attachment again because the soul is habituated to the continuous detachment only. Suppose a student is reading novels and not the class books. The reading-habit is good. You have to replace the novels by class books. This can be achieved by proper and talented counseling. Suppose you give sleeping tablets to him so that he will stop reading the novels. By this the student is not reading novels because he is always sleeping. Now after this stage if you ask him to read the textbooks, he will refuse, because he is habituated to sleep only without reading. Similarly, if you bring the soul to complete detachment form the worldly bonds, it is very difficult to development attachment to God. In Advaita philosophy such detachment is achieved by which the soul becomes inert like the tree or a stone. The devotion cannot be generated in such rock. The attraction to the world can be taken as the training of development of the very process of attraction. But the worldly attraction should take a turning point on one day and should be transformed into divine attraction. If the training continues for the whole life, there is no meaning of such training because the re-human birth is very rare and it means almost impossible. Moreover, the attraction to the world is accumulated form millions of births and it is very difficult to bring down the attraction to zero. Instead of this, it will be easy to replace the world by God. Any way, even after bringing the attraction to zero you have to again raise it to the sky. Therefore, conversion of the worldly attraction to God is easy and also desirable. If you ask the mother to cut her bond with her child, it is impossible. It is easy to replace her child by Krishna. In fact, the Moha etc are created only to help you in spiritual path. You have diverted it to the world and misused it. Now you say that Moha is a bad quality. Moha in its original aim of creation is a good quality. You have made it bad by giving wrong direction to it. Shri Ramanuja says that the relationship between God and a real devotee is “Bhogya-Bhoktru Sambandha”, which means that God is the enjoyable item (Bhogya) and the devotee is enjoyer (Bhokta). The enjoyment of God is the real Bhoga.
Meaning of Enlightenment
[Shri Ramnath asked about the meaning of the word “enlightenment”.]
Swami told “The word enlightenment means finding the truth clearly after clarification of all the doubts. This can happen in any branch of knowledge. But this word is generally used in spiritual knowledge. The Gita is the enlightened knowledge of Upanishads. My divine knowledge is the enlightenment of the Gita. The enlightenment means that the torch light is put on and the illusions disappeared. The truth is perfectly reveled and all the doubts are cleared when the soul and the intelligence are simultaneously convinced by the divine knowledge which analysis the spiritual concepts in coherence with the scriptures. The enlightenment comes resulting in the determination that leads into practice. Thus practice is the sign of enlightenment. The enlightenment of the Gita is the realization of the essence of Upanishads which is the concept of the human incarnation. In the Veda, it is mentioned that God entered the world for real enjoyment (Tadevanu Pravasat). This point is clearly elaborated in the Gita because everywhere in the Gita, Krishna has stressed that He is directly Lord. The essence of Upanishads is this point only but it is stressed with full clarity in the Gita and this is the enlightenment of Upanishads through the Gita. In the Gita it is mentioned that the Lord will come again and again whenever there is requirement. This point is stressed with full clarity in My divine knowledge and thus the Gita is enlightened through My divine knowledge.
Can the Soul be Seen?
[Shri Ramanath asked whether the soul can be seen.]
Swami told “the Veda and the Gita say that the soul can be visualized by very careful analysis and vision (Drusyate Tvagrayaa…, Pasyanti Jnana Chakshushah…). After all, the soul is only pure awareness which is the nervous energy flowing in the nerves. Today we have very sophisticated instruments through which we can see this nervous energy flowing in nerves as waves. The soul is essentially the inert energy only. Of course, the chip of the information (Jeeva) existing in the brain is specific for an individual i.e., accumulated from several births. Your body is like computer. The electricity flowing in the computer (Power) is the awareness or the soul. The information fed into the computer (Programme) is specific and is called as the individual soul or Jeeva. Therefore, you can see the soul in its essential form as energy. At the time of death this chip of information (Jeeva) comes out of the body. When the radio station transmits some speech in to the space, it travels in the space with a specific frequency and it is essentially energy only. But when it enters the radio the speech is heard. Similarly the individual soul on entering a new alive body again transmits the information. Therefore, the soul or individual soul can be visualized as the energy only. When it enters another system (another human body), it behaves like the soul or individual soul which is the specific work form of energy. If you take the soul or individual soul as the specific form of energy only, it cannot be isolated like energy. You cannot take the photo of grinding work. The machine, the current, the motion of the rod that grinds the grains (Kinetic energy), grains etc., can be visualized. But none of these is the grinding work. The grinding work depends on all these components and we can see its effect as the flour of grains. The actual specific work cannot be visualized but can be experienced. By this point people have misunderstood that the soul is God because God is also not visible but can be experienced. But the difference is that God is independent, whereas the awareness (Specific form of work) depends on the brain, nervous system, food, oxygen and proper oxidation of food to release energy etc. Awareness is unreal by itself when isolated from all the components. God is the completely independent and ultimate absolute reality. A scientist told that the life energy is like the sound produced form the drum and stick. The sound is essentially mechanical energy and is neither the drum, nor the stick, nor the beat (Kinetic energy) nor the ear-drum that experiences the sound. Every item of the creation is a relative reality (Mithya) like the awareness except God. You can visualize the sound as energy waves but those waves are not sound. Only the effect of those waves is sound. Such effect is not self-existent independent item. Its existence is a compounded effect of all the parts of the system. Therefore, the soul in the form of inert energy can be visualized, which is its original form i.e., remaining in the state of deep sleep”.
Consequences of Suicide
[Shri Ramnath asked about the consequences of the suicide.]
Swami replied “As I told you, the human life is almost impossible. The Christianity and Islam do not agree re-human birth. In Hinduism the re-human birth is admitted but it is said to be very rare. When the same God is the speaker of all the religions, there cannot be contradiction. Therefore, this means the re-human birth is generally impossible. But the omnipotent God can sanction the re-human birth to a soul if there is a hope of its upliftment. The human birth is meant for the human being having interest in spiritual knowledge. It does not mean mere human form. Eating, sleep, emotions related to the environment and sex to produce children are common to both human beings and animals (Ahara Nidra Bhaya Mithunani...). The human birth with spiritual knowledge and coming in contact with the human incarnation happens only once. Such a human birth is called as Brahmana. Here this word is not at all related to the present caste system. The Brahmana means the human being belonging to any caste having full interest in the spiritual field and comes in contact with the human form of the Lord with faith so that he attains the perfect spiritual knowledge (Brahma Jnanam). If such chance is missed, he will be born as Kshatriya who believes only in his effort and efficiency with full egoism. The next birth is Vysya having over attachment to wealth. The next birth is Sudra who is always selfish. The next birth is fisherman (Ganga putra) in which he kills the fish in the water. The next birth is hunter (vyadha) who kills the animals in the forest.
The last birth of human form is Chandala who kills even the animals that served him. Thus, the soul descends by seven births and finally enters the cycle of animals, birds, worms etc. The soul existing as Brahmana will never commit suicide. The souls of other levels only commit suicides due to problems in the world. The Brahmana will never commit suicide because he is well aware of the main divine aim of the human life. Even if the soul of other types is alive there is very little chance of its upliftment. The Veda says that by committing suicide the soul enters the world of permanent darkness which means ignorance (asuryanaamate…). This means that the soul directly enters the cycle of animals etc., on committing suicide. Thus there is only one chance of the birth of Brahmana for a soul, which means that there is only one chance for any soul to have the real fruitful human birth in which it can meet the human incarnation. In the other births the soul has only a very tiny trace of chance to meet and recognize the human form the Lord in true spirit. All ready when the possibility of the upliftment of self is a trace only, if suicide is committed, it looses that trace of chance also. Thus, one in seven persons can only recognize the human form of the God in the right spirit of the upliftment of the self. The other human beings do not recognize at all and even if they recognize, they try to use the Lord for the worldly matters only.
The Real Suicide
The real suicide is that when the soul is not trying for its spiritual upliftment and always is dragged by the worldly affairs only. Such a soul will become a lizard which is always watching for an insect to eat. All its concentration is on the insect only. Gopikas jumped into fire after hearing the death of Krishna. But it is not suicide, because they have realized the main aim of the human life, which is the Lord only. What the use of a soul always immersed in worldly affairs and worldly bonds only? Such a soul has really committed suicide already because the soul killed itself (Naatmaana mavasadayet-Gita) when the sage Sanatsujata came to Dhrutarashtra, Dhrutarashtra asked him about the death. Then the sage told that the real death is that by which the soul forgets God and is completely immersed in the world (Pramadakhyo Mrurtyuh). Thus, the soul which leaves without any contact with God is already a dead soul, which committed suicide. Gopikas are immortal even though the have committed suicide since the sacrificed their lives for the love of God. This gross body is just like a shirt according to the Gita (Vasamsi Jirnani...). Therefore, committing suicide is not a big thing for a realized soul. It is just like changing the cloth. But the purpose for which the suicide is committed is very very important. If the purpose is due to any worldly matter, the soul is thrown in to the permanent hell. The reason for this is that the soul has to detach from the world and attach it self to God. Instead of doing this, the soul is disturbed due to over attachment to the world and is committing suicide. In the memory of Krishna Radha became mad and wandered in the Brindavanam without food and water. She finally died in the madness of Krishna. That is suicide due to over attachment to God, but the consequence of such sacrifice of life is divine and has immortal fruit. Jesus also sacrificed His life for the sake of God. He said that if one does not carry on his own cross for the sake of God, he cannot be the dearest devotee of God. The Gita says that a real devotee will even give up the life for the sake of God (Matgata Pranah...). Therefore, the consequence of suicide for any worldly matter is only the permanent hell. When Meera was given poison, she swallowed it and was saved by the Lord. Hanuman tore His heart with His own nails to show Lord in His heart. All these cases of attempt of suicide but have immense spiritual value. Dhrutarashtra lived hundred and twenty years but he has already committed suicide, even though he was alive, because he did not listen to the advice of Lord Krishna even in the worldly matter.