Bhaagavata Suutram: Chapter-1 (Suutrams 33-40)

(Aphorisms (Sūtrams) Composed By Shri Datta Swami As Answers To Questions Asked By His Devotees)

33) Jñāna karma yogau vṛddhau samagratas sādhanena |

[Shri. Amudha asked whether the incarnation of God Himself will take care of the soul’s spiritual journey after recognising the incarnation? Or does the soul have a responsibility in such a situation? If so, what should that responsibility be? Shri Datta Swami answers that Sadguru or the Incarnation of God is not a museum or pilgrimage centre, where you go for a picnic and enjoy watching His Satsaṅga for entertainment! After recognising Sadguru, a devotee must learn spiritual knowledge and please the Sadguru through theoretical devotion (Bhakti) expressed as practical devotion in action (Prapatti), which includes sacrifice of fruit of work (Karma Phala Tyāga) and sacrifice of work (Karma Saṃnyāsa). Knowledge, theoretical devotion and practical devotion always go side by side. As the spiritual knowledge develops more and more, the other two will develop in the same proportion. This progress appearing simultaneously in all the three lines is called spiritual effort or sādhanā. The devotee must not postpone practical sacrifice and service, saying that they should be done only after fully learning spiritual knowledge. By the time your knowledge comes to an end, your life also may come to an end. Where is the time for practical devotion, which alone attains the fruit? Progress is like the simultaneous development of all limbs of the body as the age advances. Will you say that your body below your head shall not progress till your head reaches its full size? The progress shall be simultaneous and also shall be step by step in the advancing lifetime. Intensive turning to the spiritual line by leaving the excessive worldly line must also be done step by step in the case of ordinary human beings. A long jump is possible in the case of divine incarnations like Ādi Śaṅkara, Buddha etc. If ordinary devotees take such a long jump, the result is that they fall down in such a way that the place of the fall is behind the starting jumping point itself!! When a devotee puts sincere and consistent efforts to please God through practical devotion in the fullest available capacity, God will increase the capacity through unimaginable ways, like removing health problems, giving financial benefits, etc., for arranging more convenience to that devotee as encouragement. But this encouragement is provided as long as the devotee maintains sincerity in his/her Sādhanā.]

34) Nitya kriyā darśita śraddhayā Daiva sahāyaḥ |

[Shri. Amudha asked if a soul wants to follow God's words perfectly, but is unable to follow them practically, how should the soul train itself so that the same sin of not following Sadguru’s instructions is not repeated? Shri Datta Swami answers that even if you fail a million times, you should not give up in your efforts to please God. This attitude of not giving up in the spiritual path pleases God greatly and He will help you get success in your practice also. When you cannot control your senses, He will control them for you, provided God is confident about your sincerity, which is proved by your consistent efforts. When God says something, it is for the benefit of the souls only. God has no benefit at any time. If you don’t care for your own benefit, who will? Ideally, a devotee must effortlessly follow the words of Sadguru (Incarnation of God) because of the climax of love for God. But, in case a devotee is not mature in devotion due to incomplete spiritual knowledge, even in the absence of devotion to God, constant practice of the concepts preached by the Sadguru can give almost the final success (Abhyāsena tu kaunteya vairāgyeṇa ca gṛhyate - Gītā). You should give up all worries when you are putting forth your effort because success comes only after your effort ends and not during the effort.]

35) Pari praśnena śaṅkānāśaḥ śrutiḥ sarvādhikā |

[Shri. Amudha asked if the instructions or knowledge come from a human incarnation, but I am not convinced from within, how should I shut down my own mind? Sometimes I feel that my own mind is my enemy. How should I deal with this? Shri Datta Swami answers that the mind is also an important instrument to reach God. God comes in human form as Sadguru so that humanity can approach the human incarnation freely, without anxiety and tension and clarify all the doubts until the mind is convinced. Unless all the doubts are clarified, the right direction is impossible. Even in worldly affairs, right direction is the clue to the successful achievement of the goal. The right direction is possible only through right knowledge. The right knowledge is possible only from God because God alone is the absolute truth. All human beings are under the powerful influence of illusion and hence, cannot give the right knowledge. Praśna means question and Pari Praśna means a question that can be posed to your Sadguru or guru or a scholar. ‘Pari’ means a question associated with equal authority, logic and experience. Experience, logic and Smṛti should follow the Veda/Śruti. Any experience, logic or quotations from the Smṛti that contradict the Śruti cannot be taken as valid. If you are asking the Sadguru or guru in order to know the truth, you must salute and serve Him. If you ask a scholar, salutation and service are not necessary. But your question should be only an enquiry, without a tone of mockery or abuse. You can contradict the point of the scholar or guru or Sadguru by quoting from an equal authority in spirituality. You must quote Śruti (Veda) against Śruti or Smṛti (secondary scripture) against Smṛti. Of course, if you quote Śruti against Smṛti, then the Smṛti is rejected (since Śruti is the highest authority in spirituality). While debating and posing questions, you must have equal logic.]

36) Triyogās trividyāśālāḥ krameṇa |

[Shri. JSR Prasad asked whether Ramanuja taught only theoretical devotion? Shri Datta Swami answers that the philosophies of Rāmānuja and Madhva are to be understood as the annexures of the philosophy of Śaṇkara. Śaṇkara started the spiritual journey of theists, who were originally atheists. He had to maintain them on the wrong background that they were already God. There was no other way for Him except to create and maintain this wrong background. The atheists agreed on the existence of God because they were God and they existed. Exploiting their internal ambition for their own upliftment, He told them to worship God so that they would attain a pure mind and ultimately unlock their miraculous powers! This concept of worshipping God was elaborated and supported by Rāmānuja and Madhva. It is a single programme of education conducted in three stages called school (Jñānayoga of Śaṇkara), college (Bhaktiyoga of Rāmānuja) and university (Karmayoga of Madhva). The three institutions representing the three divine preachers present the single program of education in three subsequent steps. Śaṇkara is the incarnation of God Śiva, Rāmānuja is the incarnation of God Viṣṇnu, Madhva is the incarnation of God Brahmā. The single preacher is God Datta, who appears as school teacher in the first step (Śaṇkara in Jñāna Yoga), college lecturer in the second step (Rāmānuja in Bhakti Yoga) and university professor in the third step (Madhva in Karma Yoga) in the required sequence for any spiritual aspirant. The three divine forms of God Datta are called ‘Trimūrti’ and three divine preachers are called as ‘Guru Trayam.’ The preacher is one and the same. The student passing through these three institutions is also one and the same soul as the academic journey of the student progresses.]

37) Taijase bhaktiḥ prāptir mānuṣe |

[Shri. JSR Prasad asked what is the distinction between Bhakti and Prapatti? Shri Datta Swami answers that ‘Bhakti’ is theoretical devotion preached by Rāmānuja and ‘Prapatti’ is the practical devotion taught by Madhva. Practical devotion is the proof of real theoretical devotion. Love to God expressed as mental excitement is Bhakti and the same love to God expressed as service and sacrifice is Prapatti. Mere theoretical devotion without practical devotion is like a fake currency note or like a human body without life. To express Bhakti, which is mental agony (Vedana) to reach God, an energetic incarnation like God Nārāyaṇa is also suitable. But a soul in human body cannot serve the energetic incarnation present in the upper world. The same absolute unimaginable God in energetic body is energetic incarnation and the same unimaginable God in human body is human incarnation. The energetic body is like silk dress and the human body is like the cotton dress. Madhva focused on God Rāma, the human form of God Nārāyaṇa. He stressed on practical service by calling God as ‘Sevya’ (to be served) and soul as ‘Sevaka’ (serving). He said that Prapatti is to be done by the soul as a climax servant, like Hanuman worshipping His contemporary human incarnation, God Rāma. Hence, the contemporary human form of God alone is suitable for Prapatti (practical devotion), but for Bhakti (theoretical devotion), statues, past incarnations and energetic incarnations of God are also suitable. This is the major distinction between Bhakti and Prapatti.]

38) Kṛtajñatā karma bhoge śreyaskarī nivṛttiḥ |

[Shri. Arsha asked how I can learn to genuinely accept situations that are not in my favour, rather than suppressing my feelings. Shri Datta Swami answers that feelings are temporary visitors and ignoring them is the best method to remain unaffected by them. Most of the suffering due to mental tensions, stress, depression etc., are the bad fruits of the past sins done by the soul. Due to the power of God, these punishments are inevitably experienced so that the bad fruits get exhausted. Therefore, after experiencing the punishment, you should feel happy that some burden has been removed and also thank God for not postponing it so that you don’t suffer more with added interest in the future. There are so many parameters interacting with each other as a three-dimensional network in the cycle of deeds or Karma Cakra and God said in the Gītā that the analysis of qualities-deeds-fruits is very very deep and complicated (Gahanā karmaṇo gatiḥ…). The perfect analysis of all these factors is possible only for the omniscient and omnipotent brain of God! Even if God explains to you directly, your brain is not capable of understanding the deep analysis twisting in several directions. Hence, the wisest scholar will simply accept the final judgement of God as the ultimate perfect word without going into the actual process of analysis done by God! Since escaping tensions is inevitable for any life on earth, wise devotees turn towards God and take the same tensions in service of God rather than in their personal or family life. Even if the devotee fails in his/her efforts in the spiritual path and ends up in unfavourable situations, God will not care about the result and gives spiritual benefits for the efforts put by the devotee. Ultimately, God is the giver of the result for any deed. Therefore, wise devotees focus on Nivṛtti (spiritual life) and put minimum effort into Pravṛtti (Justified worldly life) so that even their mental tension yields grace from God, apart from exhausting their bad karma.]

39) Guṇā balavattamā api navodyamair jayati sampratyeva |

[Shri. Arsha asked whether the kind of human birth one receives affects one’s spiritual progress because some have difficulties and external hardships in life, but some have a spiritual atmosphere and a supportive family. Shri Datta Swami answers that every soul is already filled with qualities of past births and its birth does not vacate those qualities to fill it with new qualities in the womb of the mother. Hence, the soul is born with its inherent qualities without the influence of the blood of the parents. The soul can pick up some new qualities during its new life due to the atmosphere of the family, but generally, the inherent qualities of the soul are always predominant. Due to this reason, birth does not have much influence on the qualities of the soul. Prahlāda was a great devotee, but he was born into a demonic family. Devotees like Śabarī and hunter Kannappa were also born in tribal families. Coming to the spiritual progress of a soul, one must remember that Nivṛtti (spiritual life) is always an optional path and not a mandatory path like Pravṛtti (justified worldly life).  The inherent devotional qualities show predominance in the overall life of a devoted soul, although its family atmosphere has some effect. Depending on the interest shown by the soul towards God, God may create a congenial spiritual atmosphere for the devotee to progress in the spiritual path. The reason is that devotion to God is linked to the permanent reformation of the soul. Any bad soul developing devotion to God will have a good future of reformation in due course of time (Api cet sa durācāro…, kṣipraṃ bhavati dharmātmā… - Gītā). Nobody should misunderstand that God wants to increase the number of His followers because God is omnipotent at all times. He does not need any support from petty souls to remain powerful. Also, nobody must have the illusion that devotion will grow only when the family atmosphere is spiritual because some souls may end up developing more fascination for their spiritual family members leaving God. Therefore, it is always best to believe in the plan of God and surrender to Him since God alone knows which kind of family members are suitable for your spiritual progress. In spite of all these complex factors, fresh trials for pleasing God are always powerful and give spiritual success in this birth itself.]

40) Satsaṅgāt satya bhaktiḥ katha mahetū tpattiḥ? |

[Shri. Arsha asked how one can develop genuine interest in God rather than simply following the path of spirituality because of a spiritual upbringing from devoted parents. Shri Datta Swami answers that genuine spiritual development can also take place with the help of parents or Sadguru. Mārkaṇḍeya developed genuine devotion on God Śiva due to the efforts of his parents. Prahlāda developed genuine devotion on God Viṣṇu due to the preaching of Sage Nārada, the Sadguru. The devotion that follows the soul from several previous births is also due to the help of Sadguru or parents or good devotees. The devotion always has some genuine background. Such devotion will not come spontaneously without any reason of background. How can any effect be produced without its cause in the background? Śaṅkara says that the association with Sadguru or devoted parents or devoted friends alone brings detachment from the world and firm attachment to God. Such spiritual association can bring even salvation while alive (Satsaṅgatve nissaṅgatvam…). It is an illusion to think that genuine devotion will be born without spiritual association.]

To be continued...

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