Posted on: 09 Nov 2006
Devotion is of two types, conditional and unconditional. The former is bound by area and time. Within the limits of certain area only God is honored. If God crosses those limits, God is rejected. Therefore, for the devotee the limits of the area happen to be God, since those limits are ultimate for the devotee. God also follows the same rule and cannot help the devotee beyond those limits. In such case God follows the strict rules of the cycle of deeds (karma chakra) and acts according to justice and injustice. At the maximum, God may do some rearrangements like pre-poning of good fruits with reduced value and post-poning bad fruits with increased interest. In this case, God will not transfer your sins on to Him because the conditional devotion is basically unreal. In the conditional devotion, since the boundary of the area is ultimate God, God is no more God. Therefore, the approach to God is false devotion. It is time bound since the devotion comes only in difficult times. The unconditional devotion is not limited by area and time. The devotion is real crossing all the limits of areas and time. The devotees in Mahabharatam like Bhishma, Arjuna, Vidura, Draupadi etc., are conditioned devotees. The devotees in Bhagavatam like Prahlada and Gopikas are unconditional devotees.
Bhishma gave importance to duty, which was not atleast supporting justice. He was supporting the side of injustice and in such unjust duty, he neglected God and wounded Him with arrows. The result was that he was laid down on the bed of arrows with agony. In that time of great difficulty, he worshipped Lord by composing Vishnu Sahasranama prayer. Arjuna gave importance to the protection of innocent Gaya from the punishment to be given by the Lord. The Lord is the writer of the constitution and He knows whom to punish. Sometimes you see punishment of innocent person. You think that the injustice is ruling. In the kingdom of God, only the justice is the ruler by the grace of God. When the innocent is punished, the punishment was of some bad deed done by him previously and the date of the punishment coincided with the present incident accidentally. Arjuna should have given Gaya to the Lord. The sons of Arjuna were killed in the war. Arjuna was born as a hunter in the next birth. Draupadi also treated the Lord as the ultimate but she conditioned the Lord to ruin Kauravas. The decision should have been left to the Lord. Draupadi lost all her sons in the war. The Lord will react in the same way as we act (Ye Yatha Mam…Gita). If our devotion is one kg of Gold, He will pay us its cost. If our devotion is hundred grams gold, He will pay us one tenth of the cost of the gold. But if our devotion is only bronze, even if it is one kg the cost of gold cannot be paid. Bronze glitters like gold and it will have its own payment. The time bound devotion is totally unreal. We are using God only in difficulties as we use the fan in summer. In the winter fan is not needed. Of course, we use the fan in winter also for few minutes so that it will not corrode. Similarly, we pray God for a little time in the days of happiness also so that the touch with God is maintained. The intensity of the devotion in the times of happiness is definitely different from that in bad times. The devotion of Prahlada and Gopikas was having the same intensity in all the times. In such case only God suffers for the sake of devotee. All the suffering of Prahlada was taken by Lord Vishnu and therefore, Prahlada always smiled during the torture.
God is Above Justice
Vidura was a spark of Yama. Yama always analyzes the injustice very carefully to award punishments. The injustice is often in disguise appearing as justice. We do injustice thinking it as justice. The deep knowledge of injustice is required and Yama is an expert in this. Dhrutarashtra was doing injustice and was always trying to color it as justice. Vidura as his minister was always analyzing the injustice. Vidura treated Krishna as God, but all his concentration was on the rules of justice (Pravrutti) and not on God. He tried to achieve God by following justice, which was conditional devotion. Justice is a way to please God but is not the ultimate God. God always supports justice and certainly justice is the normal best way to please God. But some people make justice as God. Rama shows that God is pleased by justice. But Krishna shows that God is above the justice also. The deity of justice is not God, which is protected by God. The protected cannot be the protector. Vidura gave the outer skin of banana fruit to God. This indicates that Vidura wants to please God through justice only which is like the outer skin. The unconditional devotion is the inner sweet banana fruit which was thrown away. Prahlada and Gopikas threw away the outer skin and gave the inner sweet fruit to Lord. In the old age, Vidura became a realized soul of self (Atma Yoga). He was wandering like the Avadhuta thinking that self is God. But, he could not get the full satisfaction and approached Krishna in the last few days. The Lord explained about the superself (God) which is different from self. Vidura went away and could not perfectly digest the divine knowledge.
Nivrutti is Ultimate
The present devotees and the present spiritual preachers are in the path of Vidura and not Lord Krishna. They are following the outer skin of the fruit only. They are concentrating on happiness in this life which is heaven on the earth. They are concentrating on avoiding the misery (disturbance-causing factors) which is the hell on the earth. The justice gives temporary happiness and injustice gives temporary misery. Thus, this cycle is between hell, earth and heaven only (Pravrutti) and the abode of God (Nivrutti) is above this cycle. The self-realization is only a sedative drug which leads to the birth of inert stones in the future, provided one stops there only. The happiness in the present life and avoiding disturbance to protect the peace of the life is only a temporary goal. The soul cannot protect itself in the upper world as the savior from the hell. Only God can protect you after this life and not your soul which is your self only. The technique of peaceful living on this earth is certainly desirable. But it should be only an intermediate step and should not be the final goal of the life. The path of self-realization gives utmost importance to the intermediate step only but is not stressing on the final goal. The comforts during the train journey are certainly important for the candidate who is attending the interview in the next station. The peaceful journey gives mental freshness which is supposed to help the performance of the candidate in the interview. But the comforts in the journey should not be the final goal. He should concentrate on the material concerned to the subject of interview while traveling in the train. He should allot a little time for looking to the comforts in the journey. But he should not spend all the time of journey in looking for the comforts only. He should not sit leisurely or sleep in the train after getting the comforts. He should concentrate on the material. Similarly after getting the peace by self-realization, one should concentrate on God.
You cannot do anything in the upper world to avoid the disturbance from the hell. The upper world is strictly meant for enjoying the results only (Bhoga Loka). The present human life is only chance on this earth (karma loka). The effort you put on this earth in this human life gives the peace here and protection in the upper world. The effort is limited only to this earth. If you follow Nivrutti directly without the self-realization, it gives peace in this life and also protection in the upper world. Instead, you can follow the self-realization and get peace in this life and the subsequent Nivrutti followed here will give the protection in the upper world. Whatever may be the way, the effort is limited to this life on this earth only and therefore, this earth is called as karma loka. If you limit to self-realization only, the peace in this life is certainly achieved. But what about the fruit of protection in the upper world, since no effort for it can be done in the upper world? The present preachers are drowning you in the upper world.