Posted on: 26 Aug 2021
[Ms. Laxmi Thrylokya asked: Pādanamaskāram Swami, You said that Jnānam (Divine Knowledge) and Prema (Love) are the inherent characteristics of God and we should identify the human incarnation of God using these characters. You also said that miracles are only associated characteristics of God. Lord Krishna can be concluded as God using this criterion because He preached Bhagavad Gita (Knowledge) and showed extreme love towards Gopikas, Sudaama and all people in His kingdom. Similarly, Jesus, Mohammad and Buddha etc. can also be concluded as God. But, when we analyse Lord Rāma with this same criteria, we get 3 conclusions.
1. Rāma didn't preach any divine knowledge
2. Rāma showed extreme love towards His wife Siitaa which can be shown by any other ordinary human being.
3. Rāma did only one miracle i.e. turning a stone into the lady Ahalya. But as concluded, this cannot be considered as the inherent characteristic of God.
With my limited knowledge and analysis, I am failing to conclude that Lord Rāma is human incarnation of God. Kindly enlighten me. -At Your divine lotus feet, Laxmi Thrylokya]
Swami Replied:- God Raama showed all the knowledge of Pravrutti through His practical life, which is far better than mere theoretical preaching. You may say that He did not preach Spiritual knowledge like Krishna. You must remember that God always is limited to the Pravrutti or worldly life only about which alone He is very much concerned. He never bothered about the Spiritual knowledge of Nivrutti because His ultimate aim is only Pravrutti. He is like an industrialist, who established a factory. The ultimate aim of the owner of the factory is only to run the factory without any disturbance and with harmony among the workers. His ultimate aim is that every employee shall follow the rules and regulations so that the factory will run smoothly on the basis of justice. Justice means that the good employee shall be promoted (heaven) and the bad employee shall be punished (hell). Hence, Raama behaved like the perfect God, who has come down to preach the constitution of Pravrutti written by Him. Among these employees, one girl-employee developed love to the owner and the owner has no such idea even in the dream. This love affair is purely from the side of employee (devotee) only and hence, the devotee is only responsible for the discovery, development and dragging the love to climax while the owner is not at all responsible in any angle. But, once the love of the devotee is known, God cannot oppose it from His heart since God is not of such low grade of inert stone. Still, in the interest of the discipline of the entire factory, God opposed it in vehement way. God threatened the employee about the strict punishment for such indiscipline as per the constitution of Pravrutti written by Him. But, the employee did not care for her job and was prepared to take up the punishment and declared that she loves the owner to unimaginable extent, before which job is not a matter at all. We must remember that God is the greatest with divine qualities, which are made by love only. Hence, the owner tested the employee about her love to Him and found out that her love can’t be defeated by any threat. Then, God gave extreme fruit to such devotee, who crossed all other bonds for His sake.
Raama did not show extreme love to Siitaa. If He had shown extreme love to Siitaa, will He abandon Siitaa just for the sake of a foolish comment of a foolish person? When Lakshmana became unconscious and was mistaken as dead, Raama announced to stop the war saying that He does not want Siitaa in the absence of Lakshmana!
Raama did not show miracles because His programme is that He shall stand as an ideal for the human beings in Pravrutti. There is no place for miracle in Pravrutti or worldly life. An ideal human being must be always an ordinary human being only so that divinity is not at all expressed in any human being since every human being has no capacity to exhibit any miracle. Krishna exhibited miracles as per the necessity of the situation because His programme is to establish the divinity of human incarnation. Hence, in view of the programme of Pravrutti, Raama behaved exactly as per His role. He is to be followed by ordinary human beings and Krishna is to be worshipped as human incarnation of God. Krishna showed the difference between God-creator and the created soul while Raama showed the path to the soul to please God while living in this world. What Raama practiced was preached by Krishna in the Giita. Krishna showed that a specific soul chosen by God can become God purely on the will of God and thereby He established that every soul is not already God. Pravrutti (invented by God) was focussed by Raama whereas Nivrutti (invented by devotee) was guided by Krishna.