Posted on: 26 Feb 2021
[An online spiritual discussion was conducted on January 31, 2021, in which several devotees participated. Some of the questions of devotees answered by Swāmi are given below.]
[Śrī Rajashekar asked: As there is God and the devotee, as there is guru and the disciple, this world contains both the positive and the negative. Then why does Swami ask us to focus only on the positive, which is God? Should I just be part of this play of God or should I also enjoy it being Sacchidānanda rūpa?]
Swāmi replied: This world is created by God for His entertainment, as said in the Veda. The entire creation is the object of the entertainment of God, who is the subject. The soul is a part of the object of entertainment. A person’s property consists of movable assets such as cows, horses, sheep etc. and immovable assets such as lands, houses etc. Similarly, God’s property consists of the non-living world (immovable) including the living souls (movable). The soul is an object of God’s entertainment and at the same time, God has granted the status of subject to the soul, by making it the possessor of awareness.
A rich person has produced a movie. The first show of the movie is being watched by the rich person. While watching it, he is accompanied by his employees. While seeing and enjoying the movie, the producer (rich man) gives an equal status to every employee to enjoy the movie as a spectator like himself. This equality in enjoying the movie of creation along with the producer-God is the only possible monism between God and the soul. Apart from this single aspect of monism, the employee is neither the producer nor the director of the movie. The soul neither created this world nor maintains this world and nor does it destroy this world in the end. In these three aspects, God is different from the soul. But in the enjoyment of the world, the servant can have an equal status with the master. God wants the soul to also enjoy this creation as He enjoys it and gets real entertainment. Creation appears to be an absolute reality even to God, just as it appears absolutely real to the soul. In this single angle, the soul becomes equal to God. At the same time, the soul remains different from God, in all other aspects.
God and the soul are cidānanda (cit + ānanda), which means that both have awareness (cit) and bliss (ānanda). But God is the absolute reality (Sat) and the soul is a relative reality (asat). Thus, there is similarity as well as difference between God and the soul. The difference is prominent because there is difference even in the similarity. The awareness of the soul is imaginable, whereas, the awareness of God is unimaginable. Similarly, the bliss attained by God through entertainment is continuous for God, whereas, in the case of the soul, there is every chance of interruptions in its entertainment.
Perfect monism between God and the soul is only possible in the case of the soul, which becomes a Human Incarnation through the perfect merging of the unimaginable God into it. The Incarnation is the unimaginable God Himself. Only in this exceptional monism does the soul become a spectator getting continuous entertainment. Only in the case of the Incarnation, does the soul become the subject or the Creator and does not remain a part of the object of entertainment. In the case of all other souls, the soul actually remains only a part of the object of entertainment, even though it has been granted the status of a subject enjoying creation. Leaving the exceptional case of the Incarnation, it is better for the soul to think that its goal is to please God remaining as a part of the object of entertainment. It is better for the soul to neglect its granted status as a subject that is continuously entertained by creation. The soul can become Saccidānanda rūpa on becoming a Human Incarnation.
A monistic Incarnation can be treated to be single phase alloy of gold (God) and copper (soul). A devoted soul (copper) welded with God (gold) is the case of a dualistic incarnation. The soul is welded to God by its extreme devotion. Such a devoted soul becomes the master of God. In the case of the monistic Incarnation, the soul only becomes God. Both these Incarnations should be distinguished from the point of view of the relation between God and the soul in each of the Incarnations. The climax devotee, who is a dualistic incarnation also becomes Saccidānanda in an effective sense, though not in a direct sense. In the dualistic incarnation, the devoted soul is indirectly God and hence, the devoted soul can also get the status of Saccidānanda indirectly.
The positive merit and the negative sin are equal in the sense that both are relatively real in the view of the absolutely-real God. But both the positive and the negative are equally real with respect to the relatively-real soul. Hence, there is a real difference between these two relatively-real positive and negative items for the relatively-real soul. God can be entertained equally by both positive and negative items. But the relatively-real soul feels happiness only upon receiving the fruit of merit and feels misery upon receiving the fruit of sin.