Posted on: 05 May 2020
[A question by Shri B. N. Sastry]
Swami replied: Even though the three preachers are one and the same God Dattātreya, the difference in their philosophies is due to the difference in the levels of the receivers of their knowledge in their respective times. Śaṅkara incarnated in an atmosphere of atheism. Atheists belonging to the Buddhist or the Pūrva Mīmāmsā philosophies dominated India in His time. Atheists are not even willing to listen to even a single word from you if you say that a God other than themselves exists. So, Śaṅkara told the atheist that the atheist himself is already God and since he exists, God must exist. With this, He made the atheist say with his own mouth that God exists, even though it was under the assumption that the atheist himself was God. It was the first step in the right direction. Then the atheist questioned Śaṅkara, why in spite of being God, he does not possess divine powers. Śaṅkara replied that by knowing that his soul was identical with God, the atheist had only got rid of his theoretical ignorance (ajñāna āvaraṇa), but that the practical influence of his longstanding ignorance (ajñāna vikṣepa) still continued. Śaṅkara told him that the practical influence of the ignorance can be removed only if his mind gets purified by the worship of God. Using this logic, Śaṅkara not only converted the atheist into a theist, but also into a devotee of God! Of course, even after becoming a devotee of God, the follower of Śaṅkara could still not give up the concept that he was God. It was the first and most tempting concept that had attracted him to Śaṅkara and had made him turn to theism. So, sometime later, Rāmānuja came and told the follower, who by now was devoted to God, that the soul is not God, but that it is only a part of God. The follower had already covered a long journey from atheism to theism and even to devotion. It was actually half the distance to the actual goal. Having come so far, he thought that it would be better to walk a little further and become at least a part of God, as promised by Rāmānuja, instead of going back to zero, which was his original starting point of atheism.
The atheist had 100% ego when he met Śaṅkara. This atheist became a theist and then a devotee of God, by which time, his ego reduced to 50%. That is when he met Rāmānuja. The devotee continued with the worship of God as per the guidance of Rāmānuja until his ego reduced to 0%. That is when he met Madhva who told him that he is totally separate from God and that it is necessary to practically worship God to get the full grace of God. Practical worship means service or sevā. Since by then the devotee’s ego had completely vanished, he became a beloved servant of God and served God by propagating God’s spiritual knowledge in society.
Now, at this final third level, God was greatly pleased and He merged with the servant to make the servant a Human Incarnation of God. So the soul who had started as an atheist and was progressively coverted to a theist, a devotee and a servant of God, finally became one with God. With this, the words of Śaṅkara, who had initially told the atheist that he is God, became true. So, it is indeed possible for a soul to become God. But the soul is not already God. The journey to becoming God has the steps of theism, worship of God and practically serving God. Had Śaṅkara, in the very beginning, revealed that the journey was so long and that it had all these steps, the egoistic atheist would never have listened to it. He would have simply refused to pass through all these steps. Hence, God Dattātreya preached in this unique manner of revealing the truth in these three stages, based on the mentality of the followers. The most remarkable thing of God Datta’s preaching is that whatever was said in the beginning was proved to be true in the final stage!
Keywords:
| Shri Dattaswami |When Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhva are the Incarnations of the Same God Dattatreya, Why did they Propagate Different Philosophies? | Buddhists Puurva Miimaamsakaas Ajnaana aavarana Ajnaana vikshepa Raamanuja Seva Sevaa