Posted on: 14 Jul 2011
Guru Purnima indicates the divine guide, who guides not only the spiritual life but also the materialistic life. In fact, the spiritual life is always mixed with the materialistic life. Pleasing God is spiritual life. The materialistic life is not to annoy God by not going against His commands (Dharma) given in the divine scripture (Veda). First, you must not annoy God. Then only, you can please God. Following justice and opposing injustice will satisfy God. Unless you satisfy God through dharma or pravrutti, you cannot please God by nivrutti. The Gita is the scripture of nivrutti, but it is related to pravrutti also in getting the justified share of kingdom to Pandavas from Dhrutarashtra, who is also internally blind by the love to his son. In fact, Dhrutarashtra criticized Krishna not to poke His [Krishna’s] nose in the affair of property of his family. But, Krishna is God and God gives the punishment for every sinful action of every human being. There can be no private affair, which can be avoided from God. Krishna preached Gopikas by stealing their clothes that there is no private part even in the body that avoids God. Any amount of devotion is waste, if dharma preached by God is not followed. Ravana was the greatest devotee but was not blessed by God, since he did not follow justice. Therefore, pravrutti and nivrutti are inseparable. Hence, the human incarnation of God, which is the complete guide in pravrutti and nivrutti, should be understood on this occasion of Guru Purnima. You cannot please anyone by any means after disobeying Him. If you disobey justice (pravrutti) preached by God through the divine scripture in this materialistic world, you cannot please God in the spiritual world through any path like meditation, worship, knowledge, service etc. Obedience to God in pravrutti is the first step through which only, you can reach the second step, which is pleasing God in nivrutti. If you have real love to God, you will not disobey Him in any subject.
Supression of Women in Indian Society
Everywhere, the looting of money exists, which is not only in business and politics. The economic looting takes place either openly or silently. The father-in-law and husband loot the share of the property of the girl in the form of dowry. The father and brother loot the share of the property of the same girl silently. We have brought Section 498 to control the open looting. Even though the acts of 1950s established the right of the property of the girl, the implementation exists nowhere. The wonderful thing is that the father and brother of the girl charge the father-in-law and the husband as looters. When you point out somebody with your finger, the fatty thumb points out at you. Both sides of the girl loot her property in the pretext that the female is always a dependant and cannot protect her share of property. The Veda says that Manu has given his property to his children (manuh putrebhyah…). The word ‘putra’ here means children irrespective of sex. The words ‘putra’, ‘bhrata’ and ‘pita’ mean children, brothers and sisters and parents respectively. Unfortunately, these three words are often misinterpreted in the sense of males only. Suppose the share of the girl in her paternal property is Rs 3. Re 1 is looted by father-in-law and husband in the name of dowry. The second rupee is spent in her marriage to satisfy the ego of father and father-in-law to perform the function in the grand way to please their friends and relatives. Thus, the second rupee is jointly looted by both father and father-in-law. The third rupee is swallowed by the father to divert it to his son. The girl is thus economically looted in total by the entire society. She is made to have a psychological feeling that she is always economically dependent either on her father or on her father-in-law and husband. The dowry system is a joint corruption of the father and father-in-law. The father is giving Re 1 to father-in-law in order to save Re 1 for his son. The scripture says that the father-in-law and the husband should not touch the money of the bride (stri vitta madhamaadham…). In the same verse, the scripture also warns the father and brother by saying that the money of the sister should not be touched (adhamam bhraatru vittamcha…). The scripture is a double edged knife warning both sides to protect the share of the property of the girl. The father of the girl should adopt justice in the case of his daughter and also should preach this concept to the father of his daughter-in-law. He should not think that he is the loser in the case of his daughter and gainer in the case of his daughter-in-law because the share is important and not the magnitude of the share. There is no question of profit and loss, when you do not look in the angle of the magnitude of the share. You must think that you are just following the justice, which is the command of God through the scripture. If this concept is followed by every individual in the society, the present crimes on the girl will naturally subside.
Traditional practice is also built up in a special way to feel that daughter is an outsider and the son belongs to the family. In order to accomplish this, the surname and gotram of the girl are changed after the marriage. The surname and gotram give the address of genetic characteristics of an individual, which can never change. If you keep the mango fruit in the basket of bananas, the mango will not become banana fruit. This change is only apparent (gauna) and not real (mukhya). When you keep your child in the house of your friend, you say that the child is their child. Really, the child never becomes their child. Similarly, when the daughter is sent to other’s house, you change her surname and gotram so that they feel that the girl belongs to their line of dynasty. Thus, this change is only apparent and not real. Therefore, the child born to a couple gets both surnames and both gotras. Hence, the child should not marry in future in both gotras. You may be called by one surname and gotram. The other surname and the other gotram remains silent. Suppose you have a long name. People call you by a part of your name only for convenience. It does not mean that the other part of the name is vanished. Therefore, the daughter of maternal uncle is sister and the daughter of the sister is also daughter. Marrying both is against the sanction of ethical scriptures. This aspect is exploited to feel that the girl is an outsider.
The parents are also threatened by the son that if entire property is not given to him, he will not perform the rituals after death. This is again exploitation of misunderstanding only. Actually, the soul after death enters energetic body and has no connection with the food fed to the priest after death. The soul after death goes in two paths as said in the Gita (shukla Krishna gatee…). In the first path, the soul goes to the abode of God and in this path, the soul does not require the food given to priest in the annual ceremony (nahi tena pathaa tanutyajah tanayaavarjita panda kaamshinah…). In the second path, the soul either goes to heaven or Pitru Loka or hell. In heaven, there is no need of food and water (ubheteertvaa…). In Pitru Loka, the food is the light of moon (nirvishta saaraam pitrubhih…). In hell, the soul is tortured suffering with hunger and thirst and no food and drink are allowed (jaayaswa mriyaswa...). In all these four paths, the soul is covered by energetic body, which does not require any matter as food. Energetic body requires energy only as food. This does not mean that you should not give food to a deserving priest. If you give food to any deserving person in the name of the departed soul, the soul is certainly blessed. Giving food to a deserving person need not be done with specific tradition only. In such case, such specific tradition does not exist in all the countries of the world. There cannot be universality of a specific tradition, which does not exist everywhere in the universe. If you stress on the specific tradition, the universality is disturbed and God becomes partial for giving such tradition to a limited part of the world only. The essence of the ritual is giving food to any deserving person. This essence is universal and is being practiced everywhere in the world. Therefore, even the daughter can give food, clothes and subscription (dakshina) to a deserving person in the name of her departed parents. Such act becomes equal to the ceremony conducted by the son in a specific tradition. The essence of the ritual is important and the tradition has no significance. The doubt comes about the ancient saying that if you do not perform the ceremony, the departed parents suffer with hunger. This is called as artha vaada, which means a lie proposed to achieve some good purpose. A greedy person may not sacrifice food to a deserving person unless the fear (that his departed parents suffer with hunger) does not exist. This is created for a good purpose, which is exploited by the son, to demand the entire property. A lie is not wrong if it serves good purpose. The mother feeds her child saying that the moon comes down if the child eats the food. The mother has told a lie for good purpose only and hence, it is not wrong. Charvaaka criticized that how the departed soul can get the food if the priest is fed? He told that in such case, the father sitting in the upstairs should get his food that is given to somebody else in the down stairs. This criticism of Charvaaka is not completely correct. The departed soul does not get the food since it is in the energetic body. But, the fact is twisted to inculcate the sacrifice in a greedy person. Charvaaka has not understood the whole background. Of course, we should condemn the exploitation of this by somebody. The economic suppression of women is the reason for the poverty of the country because the deity of wealth, Shree Maha Lakshmi is also a woman. This is the reason for the revolt of women against the males. Similarly, when the poor people are exploited and are looted by the rich business people and politicians due to their blind love to their families, the poor people revolt. This is the background of naxalism, which is the cause for the birth of naxalists, who want to transform the society through riffles. But, such transformation is not real and permanent. Knowledge is the most powerful rifle and the preacher of the knowledge is the most powerful naxalite.
The Problem of Terrorism
Now, we shall examine the problem of terrorism. There can be many religions on the earth, based on the difference in the culture and the civilization existing in the various parts of the world. In the above topic, we have seen that the traditions are different, but the essence of the traditions is one and the same. Similarly, religions may differ, but the essence of the religions, which is the spiritual knowledge, is one and the same. The spiritual knowledge says that there is only one God for this entire earth or even for the entire creation. This point is agreed by all religions. The names and forms of the absolute unimaginable God are different in different languages and different dresses of culture. Krishna and Jesus are one and the same, dressed differently as per the difference in the culture of the regions of this earth. If you say that Krishna alone is God and the Gita alone is the scripture, several generations passed away without the knowledge of Krishna and the Gita in the past, when there was no communication between the countries, till the discovery of India by other countries. In such case, those generations have gone to hell since they did not worship Krishna and did not hear the Gita. This is not their fault due to lack of inter-continental contact. In such case, God becomes partial without reason. It means, God should have been mad. God is the Father of every human being and He cannot be partial to some children only without reason. If God is impartial, He should have appeared as Krishna in all countries and delivered the Gita simultaneously. Had it been done, it becomes justified to say that those, who worshipped Krishna, went to God and those, who refused Krishna, went to hell. This argument applies to the conservative followers of every religion. The solution for this is that the same God appeared in different forms and delivered the same knowledge in various parts of the world simultaneously. The forms may be different but God is one and the same. The languages of the scriptures may differ but the essential knowledge is one and the same. Thus, there is simultaneous delivery of knowledge to everybody in the creation. Hence, God, the Father, is impartial to His children, who are all the human beings. If this single truth is realized, there will be no violent terrorism in the name of God. The terrorists always kill the followers of other religions. They do not know that they are killing the devotees of their own form of God. Suppose there is a police officer. He sits in his office in the uniform and another police officer is his best friend. The police officer sits in his house in civil dress. He has another friend in civil dress. The son of the police officer is always exposed to him in the civil dress. Hence, the son praises the friend of the father in civil dress and scolds the other friend in uniform. The ignorant son does not know that his father in the civil dress is the same person in the uniform. He mistakes his father in the uniform as an outsider and even scolds him.
Both naxalism and terrorism should be removed to bring the peace in society, which is the main essence of pravrutti. Unless you follow the ethics, which is the commandment of God, how can you please Him in nivrutti or spiritual path? If you disobey God in pravrutti, you cannot please Him in nivrutti because God is one and the same in both the subjects.