Posted on: 23 Oct 2014
[Deepavali Day] Swami replied to the questions of some students of Dr. Nikhil Kothurkar, working in Amrita University, Coimbatore as Associate Professor.
1. How can imparting spiritual knowledge to society from childhood control sin in society?
[The Kauravas and a number of Asuras were taught both spiritual and worldly knowledge by very capable teachers in the traditional Gurukula system. Yet, they became enemies of society. It is possible that their Gurus did not give them the most accurate spiritual knowledge since only God knows the highest spiritual knowledge. If a Human Incarnation of God had taught them, they would perhaps not have become sinners. But practically, God does not take millions of incarnations to teach the masses. The masses are always taught by qualified human teachers. So, spiritual knowledge, taught by human teachers cannot lead to control of sin.]
Swami Replied: The possibility of grasping the spiritual knowledge exists in certain souls only based on the intensities of the qualities developed during millions of births. Certain souls become completely adamant without any possibility of the entry of the spiritual knowledge. You can sow the seed in soil but not in a rock. Such condemned souls are called as demons. Kauravas are such demons. It does not matter whether a spiritual preacher or human incarnation preaches the spiritual knowledge. In fact, Lord Krishna tried His level best to preach Kauravas and several sages also tried. All failed in the case of demons. The difference between a preacher and a human incarnation is immaterial as far as the demons are concerned. The hybrid seeds grow faster than the normal seeds in the soil. But, both types of the seeds cannot grow at all in the rock. The difference between the hybrid and normal seeds in the rate of growth is immaterial as far as the rock is concerned. You can appreciate this difference between the seeds only in the soil. Similarly, you can appreciate the difference between human incarnation and normal preacher in the case of the receiving human beings, who are other than demons. Certainly, human incarnation of God will teach in a better way than the human scholars. But, this difference is meaningful in the case of good receivers. Even Hanuman tried His level best to preach Ravana. But, there was no use. Lord Krishna showed even the cosmic vision to Kauravas. Similarly, Hanuman showed His divine power in killing the demons and burning the entire Lanka city. This means the rigid mind of demon will not change by any amount of spiritual knowledge and by any powerful miracle.
2. If a country gives more importance to spirituality instead of worldly development, then other barbaric or materialistic countries might attack and destroy it.
[If we adopt an educational system in which spiritual knowledge is given more importance than worldly education, it will lead to a society which has less interest in worldly development and more interest in a holistic development in which spirituality is given more importance. The country and its people will be less aggressive in various areas such as economy, defense, foreign policy etc. This is a great risk since the country could be invaded by barbaric and aggressive countries. India has historically been highly advanced and cultured. But, we were invaded innumerable times and finally, we became slaves.]
Swami Replied: If you see the previous history, the countries like Islamic and Christian etc., also had very strong spiritual knowledge and very strong divine traditions. Such countries developed more in science and technology not at the cost of their spiritual and religious education. The development of science and technology in our country was in lower level not because of the higher devotion and spiritual knowledge. The development of technology is not affected by the development of spiritual knowledge in any country. In fact, the fear for sin and God is more in the foreign countries even now. Due to this, there was in built ethical conduct in the public and injustice was absent to a great extent. I am stressing on the point that the chaos due to corruption and injustice can be eradicated by developing the ethical values through spiritual knowledge. This concept is true in any country at any time. The growth of technology in foreign countries is also blessing from God, Who was pleased with the sincere practical sacrifice. In India, the devotion is more theoretical and hence, India was not blessed in wealth and technology by God. Science and technology are also practical fields and our masters in theory naturally failed to develop the practical science. The practical approach is absent in our country not only in the spiritual knowledge, but also in the science, which is highly practical by itself. When ethics supported by spiritual knowledge are absent, the applications of technology will not reach all due to corruption and this resulted in lesser strength of the country.
Swami Vivekananda cried asking God “Why my country is so poor in spite of high spiritual knowledge?” If you explain this, concluding that India is poor due to high spiritual knowledge and other countries are wealthy due to lower spiritual knowledge, it is not correct. The ethics and devotion based on spiritual knowledge are strong in other countries also. In such case, why is India poor in spite of higher spiritual knowledge? This is the actual sense of Swami Vivekananda. Answer for this is that practical devotion is more in other countries where as theoretical devotion is more in India. If this mistake is rectified, India also will be rich. The point here is not about the quantum of the spiritual knowledge, but the defect in the spiritual knowledge that spoiled the progress of technology in this country. The quantum of theoretical spiritual knowledge is very much in India. But, the practical implementation is zero. In other countries, the theoretical spiritual knowledge is less but the practical implementation is full. Due to this, the other countries were blessed by God and became strong. Our country remained weak in practical spiritual knowledge due to more selfishness. Such defective spiritual knowledge based on practical selfishness is the reason for strong corruption that weakens the entire country. In the present time, invasions are almost nil and the atomic weapons are ready to destroy the entire world. The concept of world peace is an urgent subject, which can come fully through right spiritual knowledge. In ancient India, Spiritual knowledge could control corruption and the administration of Government was very easy. In the present days, the absence of the spiritual knowledge leads to corruption and benefits of technology are not reaching all and the administration of government is also failing completely in controlling the corruption. Now, wars and invasions are very rare and day to day administration of the government to build up the country with uniform strength is essential, which is possible only in the absence of corruption. In this general context only I stressed on the spiritual knowledge to eradicate corruption for the uniform development of the society.
3. Is God against modern conveniences? Does God expect us to live a simple life without comforts and luxuries? Can we not be spiritual and lead comfortable lives too?
Swami Replied: Your own Science clearly proves that every comfort developed by science and technology is towards harming the health of human beings and also finally leading to disturbance in the ecological balance leading to natural calamities that destroy the world. The comfort provided by God through nature is always proved to be constructive to the welfare of humanity. All the synthetic comforts developed by the human beings competing with the natural comforts given by God are proved to be worst by the environmental science itself. The scientific analysis of this topic with the help of environmental science is necessary than hasty emotional conclusions. This nature is the creation of God and hence, all the natural amenities are the comforts created by God only. The health and longevity of our ancestors compared to health and longevity of the present human beings is a practical proof that can never be denied by anybody. The comforts reduced the power of resistance in the body. I do not say that ancient science is greater than the modern science. I too agree that the modern science is far sharp than the ancient science. You have increased the sharpness of the knife but its misuse can end your life whereas the ancient knife without sharp edge may not end your life even in such case of misuse. Sometimes, over intelligence is harmful.
4. How can propagation of spiritual knowledge lead to control of sin in a country, when history has proved that the association of religion or spirituality with science, law, development or governance has only led to complications and problems?
[Sin or corruption cannot be controlled in religion-dominated countries, even with strict laws. In fact, selfish religious leaders abuse the innocent public in the name of religion. Those in power do the sinful activities openly without fear, and the rest of the public does the sinful activities in secret due to fear. Whenever, religion has been associated with any field such as science, law or development, it has only led to problems. Hence, it is best not to allow religion or spirituality dominates in any country.]
Swami Replied: Do you think that the sin is absent in a non-religious and non-spiritual country? Moreover, such non-religious country does not exist in this world at any time. The percentage of atheists in any country is very small. Your concept is practically impossible. Even then, let Me examine the truth in your concept. Are you sure that the atheists in any country are fully ethical and the theists are non-ethical? In fact, the possibility of the growth of non-ethical path is more in the case of atheists. The atheist does not fear for God and fears only for the police and courts. If he escapes these two systems, he has escaped totally the punishment and there is no need of any fear further. The theist also can escape police and courts in the same way but still fears for God, who is omniscient and punishment is inevitable due to His omnipotence. Such fear never arises in the mind of atheist. Exploiting the society to selfish ends is common in both religious theists and non-religious atheists. But, in the case of theists, the concept of ultimate God and the ultimate punishment can control the sin completely in the case of some theists, which can bring at least the partial control in the other theists. The atheist hides his sin perfectly since that is the ultimate step to escape the punishment forever. In the case of theists, the fear for God and the divine punishment is always burning in his heart and due to this, the theist fails to hide his sin perfectly. Hence, you are seeing the exposed sin of theists and you are not seeing even a trace of the hidden sin of the atheist. Spiritual knowledge is the essence of all the religions and not certain misinterpreted traditions existing in religions. Due to such excellent advantage, the religions are alive in this universe due to the divine will of God.
5. How can social transformation due to the propagation of spiritual knowledge be practically achieved?
[Understanding spiritual knowledge is a slow process. Practically acting according to the spiritual knowledge is even more difficult and takes even longer. How can the propagation of spiritual knowledge lead to social transformation (removal of sin and establishment of justice)? People’s qualities (gunas) have already manifested in a certain way (grown from the seed form into a large tree in this lifetime). They have developed strong habits, tendencies and preferences and are fixed in them. Most people will oppose spiritual knowledge and the consequent social transformation. When such people are in power in various social institutions such as the government, educational institutions and business corporations, they will never allow the propagation of spiritual knowledge or a transformation in society due to it, because it will conflict with their selfish interests. Even if a few of them listen to spiritual knowledge and wish to change, they will be unable to change their strong tendencies (Jaanaami dharmam, nacha me pravrittih… Duryodhana in the Mahabharata or ‘Anicchannapi vaarshneya...niyojitah…’ Gita)].
Swami Replied: You are describing the power of ignorance of a boy before joining the educational institution. Even after joining, some students fail in the examination due to their unchanged ignorance in spite of the academic course faced by them. But, you can always find some students, who got rid of their ignorance due to the academic program. The educational institution is established with a positive outlook. You cannot identify any boy before the admission into the school or college about his un-modifiable ignorance and avoid his admission. Seeing the failures, you are also not recommending the closure of schools and colleges. Opportunity must be given to every boy and naturally some boys fail. Based on this, you cannot say that the education system itself is wrong and not acceptable. Similarly, God propagates the spiritual knowledge in every generation expecting the change in every soul. The change may not be complete but at least the partial change is also appreciable. Even the failed students have some wisdom in the failed subjects also.