Essence of the Gita and Vedas (Part-2)

How to Please God?

To reach and see God is not important. Even demons have seen God very closely but they were destroyed finally because God was not really pleased with them. These demons did penance and got boons by force. Their penance was only chanting the name of the God and meditation. So, they sacrificed only words and mind. They never sacrificed anything practically by participating in the mission of the Lord. Therefore, the people who want to get boons from the Lord by sacrificing just words and mind only are by no means different from the demons. Today people are sacrificing words and mind only and some times even the tears. These words, mind and tears cannot be sold in the market even for a single coin. The people who sacrifice their work and the fruit of their work (money) for the sake of God and do not aspire any thing in return are angels and sages. A man in between these two sacrifices practically but sometimes asks for selfish boons when emergency arises. Sacrifice of the fruit of the work is also sacrifice of the work because the fruit of the work is a different form of the work. Therefore, both these come under sacrifice of work only. In Gita sacrifice of work is called ‘Karma Samnyaasa Yoga’ and sacrifice of fruit of work is called ‘Karma Phala Tyaaga Yoga.’ Since both mean sacrifice of work only, both put together is called ‘Karma Yoga’ or ‘Service to God’. A saint does only Karma Samnyaasa since he does not store the fruit of any work done by him. A rich householder who has earned money by doing work sacrifices the fruit of his work (money) and this is called Karma Phala Tyaaga. Both the saint and the householder are called Yogis and their sacrifice is called Karma Yoga. There is possibility of the rich householder doing Karma Samnyaasa also but there is no possibility for the saint to do Karma Phala Tyaaga. Hanuman is a saint who always did Karma Samnyaasa for the sake of the Lord. Gopikas could not participate in the mission of the Lord because there was no such opportunity. They sacrificed the fruit of all their work i.e., butter to the Lord. Hanuman got the highest position i.e., the post of the future creator. Gopikas entered the sixteenth uppermost world called ‘Goloka’ created by the Lord especially for them. This is the essence of the Ramayana and Bhagavatam from the point of the man who is putting spiritual effort to please the Lord. One should not go by the story like a child. He should understand Hanuman in Ramayana and Gopikas in Bhagavatam. Such understanding will help him in his spiritual effort. In between these two Mahabharatam exists. There Arjuna wanted to use the Lord for gaining kingdom in the battle field. Arjuna is called ‘Nara’ or a human being. Today every man is trying to use the Lord to achieve his selfish ends and nobody has real love (bhakti) to the Lord. Arjuna wanted to go back from the war because he did not like to kill his kith and kin. Again, here his selfishness is completely reflected. The Lord turned him into real devotee like Hanuman and Gopikas by preaching Bhagavadgita. The Lord asked him to become His servant and fight against the injustice because destruction of injustice was His mission. The Lord asked him to fight against the evil people and not for enjoying the kingdom. By participating in the war with this angle Arjuna is doing Karma Samnyaasa to help the Lord in destroying the injustice. Since his aim is only the aim of the Lord, the fruit of the war, which is the kingdom, is also not in his mind, and this is Karma Phala Tyaaga. The fruit of the war i.e., establishing the justice goes to the Lord only, and he did not fight for the kingdom.

Valmiki Ramayanam is the only authority for Hanuman. According to this Hanuman never did any other sacrifice of words (prayers, singing songs etc.) and sacrifice of mind (meditation etc.). He never went to any temple and never worshipped any statue. He participated always in the work of the Lord because that was the necessity of the Lord at that time. Gopikas danced with Lord Krishna and were singing songs because there was no necessity of the work of the Lord at that time. But Gopikas sacrificed the fruit of their work. Therefore, Hanuman sacrificed the work and Gopikas sacrificed the fruit of the work. Hanuman and Gopikas should be the examples for anybody who is putting spiritual effort to please the Lord.

A prostitute sacrifices sweet words and sweet feelings of mind for getting her minimum requirement. This is justified. But today the people who are having already the minimum are trying to please the Lord through sweet words and sweet feelings of mind (devotion) to get extra from the Lord. These devotees are called as divine prostitutes who can never be excused by the Lord. One can please a person who is either ignorant or a person having less knowledge in false way. But no one can please the Lord who has the full knowledge (Sarvajna). If any one tries to please the Lord by the sacrifice of words and mind only, such a person is blind. These people are made blind by the fraud preachers who exploit their ignorance and natural ambition. The people who follow such fraud preachers lose time here and those fraud preachers will be punished there. These fraud teachers encourage these innocent people and make them to do Karma Phala Tyaaga also. These innocent people are advised to spend hundred rupees and get one lakh rupees from God. A part of these hundred rupees is wasted in purchasing some unnecessary materials and these fraud preachers steal another part. Such a sacrifice of the fruit of the work cannot be the Karma Phala Tyaga. It is just like a patient going to a fraud doctor and losing money and time without any reduction in his illness. Sometimes the illness may increase. In such worships the Lord is giving the fruits of your own good works which are present in the future life cycle arrangements. The fruit of good work from your future birth is drawn to this birth as a pre-matured deposit. You are thinking that you have attained the fruit of the good work, which you have not done just by spending hundred rupees. You are getting rid of the present trouble because the Lord is pushing this trouble to the future birth with added interest. By this your future life cycles become miserable with full of troubles only from birth to death. Are you not seeing such people in the world? They blame the Lord for such life cycle but they do not know that they pressed the Lord for this in their previous births. You just see this wonderful world and imagine the intelligence of the Lord. Nobody including your fraud teacher can fool the God. Therefore, the present tradition of blind preachers and blind followers is leading finally to the ever-lasting fire only. Therefore, it is better to know the true path which is established by the Vedas and the Bhagavadgita. It is better to put at least one step in the true path because the distance from the goal is reduced at least by one step. What is the use of putting hundred steps in false path by which you have moved away from the goal by hundred steps? The true path is only Hanuman and Gopikas i.e., Karma Samnyaasa and Karma Phala Tyaaga and both put together called as Karma Yoga as emphasized everywhere in the Gita.

The value of the words and mind are two paise only. The value of practical action is hundred paise. If you do the sacrifice of these three (words, mind and action) without aspiring anything in return you will get the fruit from the God according to the corresponding values. If you praise the Lord without aspiring anything, the Lord will praise you by His sweet voice. If you meditate upon the Lord without aspiring anything the Lord will love you with His sweet heart. If you serve the Lord practically without aspiring anything the Lord also gives the fruit in the same practical way. Hanuman simply participated in the work of the Lord. He was given the highest post, which is the fruit that is practically real. Gita says that He will approach you in the same way as you approach Him (Ye yathā mām). Gopikas sacrificed the fruit of their work and they were given the highest Goloka. In these examples sacrifice is without aspiring anything in return from the Lord. Such sacrifice is called ‘Nishkaama Karma Yoga’. But when you do the same sacrifice aspiring the fruit in return, you will get the results accordingly here also. But here the results are the fruits of your own works, which are arranged in the future cycles.

You are like an inverter with limited energy and limited working time. You can use the current for the essential fan and bulb in your house. The remaining current can be used for the temple (Mission of God). This is the stage of saints. Apart from fan and bulb you may use some current for seeing television also but for a little time only. The remaining current is given to the temple. This is the stage of a householder. If one does not give any current to the temple and uses the inverter for his house only and spends all the current for fan and bulb and also for seeing the television through out the night, this is the state of the demon. Therefore, a saint needs minimum and all the rest of his energy is for God’s work. A householder needs minimum and also little more enjoyment in the world, and spends the rest of the energy for the God. A demon spends all his energy only in the enjoyment in the world and never thinks about the Lord. Gita explains these three types as Angels, Human beings and Devils. When you spend the current for the temple, you must spend only for the required work in the temple. Suppose the temple needs the current for a bulb to be lightened throughout the night, you should not divert the current for moving a fan near the statue, which is unnecessary. Similarly, when you approach God in Human form you must participate in His work which is essential at that time. When Rama was immersed in searching for Sita, Hanuman left Rama in search of Sita. He did not sit near Rama by doing prayers, singing songs, meditation etc. He did not do any personal service to Lord Rama. In fact, Sugriva was near Rama and was doing His personal service. Rama gave the post of the future creator to Hanuman but not to Sugriva. The work for which Rama is concentrating upon is more important than His personal work. Getting back Sita is not His personal work because through that He killed Ravana and gave peace to the world. Therefore, it looks like personal work but it is the work of the world only. Hanuman never misunderstood this as His personal work. If a monkey were in the place of Hanuman the monkey would think like this “without the marriage to get my wife, why should I spend my energy to search His wife?” Hanuman never thought like this because He is a scholar. But an ordinary monkey cannot think like that. Therefore, Rama left Sita after killing Ravana so that such misunderstanding will not come.

Yoga means catching the Lord in Human form on the earth, who comes in every human generation. Karma Yoga means the service done to the Lord in such Human form. Hanuman and Gopikas did service only to the Lord in Human form who came in their generation. Gopikas did not worship the statue of Rama who was the previous Human incarnation. Hanuman did not worship the statue of Parashurama or Vamana who was the previous incarnation. Hanuman and Gopikas also did not worship the statues of Vishnu, Shiva etc., which are the energetic forms of the Lord in the upper worlds. Therefore, you must study Hanuman and Gopikas from all the angles so that your spiritual effort gets benefited. You must observe that who were worshipped by them and how they worshipped Him. Hanuman and Gopikas never worshipped the formless God. They never went to any temple.

You are giving real love to your family, which is like the sacred milk of a cow, which includes a practical sacrifice of your work and fruit of your work. You are showing artificial love to God by sacrificing the words and mind to the Lord to get some practical benefit. Such artificial love is like the impure milk of a donkey. You are insulting the Lord by giving a pot of milk of donkey. Instead of this, you try to give a spoon of milk of the cow and you are having a pot full of it meant for your family. If you cannot give even a spoon of pure love to God at least don’t give the impure love. Even if you cannot respect the Lord, at least don’t insult Him. You never sacrifice your words and your mind in the case of your children. You sacrifice only the work and fruit of the work in their case. Similarly, you never sacrifice work or fruit of work to the God. You sacrifice only the words and mind to the God. In the case of your children, you are doing Karma Samnyaasa (dressing, taking them to school etc.) and Karma Phala Tyaaga (giving food, medicines and the property). Therefore, you are doing Karma Yoga only to your family and not to the Lord.

When the aim of the mission of the Lord is only to serve this world, why not I do the same in my name? This question comes to the mind of any human being. Why should He get the fame from my work and my money? King Satrajit thought like this when Lord Krishna asked for a divine Gem, which He got from the Sun. The divine Gem yields lot of gold on every day. Satrajit was doing charity with that gold. He did not give the Gem to Lord Krishna. He lost the Gem and his brother was killed due to that Gem. Finally, he gave the Gem to Lord Krishna. What is the inner meaning in this? The Gem actually belongs to Lord Krishna. The Veda says that the entire world is the wealth of the Lord. So the Gem belongs to the wealth of Lord Krishna only. Actually Satrajit is getting the fame with the wealth of the Lord. If one understands the truth the case is quite reverse. Here your sacrifice and the service to the world are not important at all. Even without your sacrifice, the Lord can uplift the world just by His will. The important point here is your complete surrender to the Lord, sacrificing completely.

The financial help to poor people is a secondary aspect only. The propagation of divine knowledge and devotion is the primary aspect. In a college both the day-scholars and hostlers are taught in the classes equally. For the students who came from outside are provided with the facility of boarding and lodging. This hostel facility is only a secondary point. Teaching in the classes is the primary aspect. Similarly, the divine knowledge and devotion must be propagated to all the poor and rich people. Apart from that work the poor people may be financially helped. The facility of hostel is only for an outside student and not for every student. Similarly, the financial help to the poor people must be done only during the propagation of knowledge and devotion.

You cannot say that it is impossible to do practical service, which is the sacrifice of work and fruit of work without aspiring anything in return. You are doing the same in the case of your children. You are doing service to them without aspiring anything in return from them. Latter on even if they insult you, you are giving the property to them only. But in the case of God, you are not showing even a drop of such true love to God through practical service. The Lord is not even a fraction of your child! There are three strong bonds.

1) Bond between wife and husband, 2) bond with children and 3) bond with money (fruit of work). The money and the children are inter-mixed because you are earning by doing any sin for the sake of your children. Dhrutarashtra wanted the kingdom for his children only even though it is injustice. Lord broke that bond by killing his children to punish him. Thus, injustice is punished in the world but Lord Krishna broke the bond of children even in the case of justified Pandavas. All the sons of Pandavas were killed by the will of Lord Krishna. One has to break even the justified bond for the sake of Lord. Gopikas did not give the fruit of their work even to their children and gave it (butter) to the Lord only. Pandavas fought in the war for the kingdom to be given to their children but not to the Lord. Even though that is justified Pandavas were attached to their children. Therefore, the Lord broke those bonds so that Pandavas can be diverted to Him completely. In the case of Gopikas the bonds with the children were already broken because they sacrificed the fruit of all their work to the Lord only and not to their children. Unless all the bonds are broken one cannot have the only real bond with the Lord. The bond with the children is the strongest of all the bonds and if that bond is broken, all the other bonds are broken. If the bond with money is broken, it means the bond with the children is really broken because one is doing any sort of sin to give wealth to his children.

In India all the people in the olden ages were sages only. They never did any work to earn extra for the sake of the extra enjoyment or to give it to their children. They were doing Karma only, which is the work necessary to earn the livelihood. Such Karma is not a sin because livelihood is essential. In doing such Karma, an advice called Nishkaama Karma Yoga was given for the mental peace and strength. In this advice one should do the work without attaching himself to the fruit of the work. This attachment to the fruit of the work is called Kaama and if this is avoided, the person becomes peaceful and strong in mind. But in Kaliyuga, doing Karma only does not satisfy people. They are also doing Vikarma (sin) which is the work done for earning more wealth for the sake of their self-enjoyment and for the sake of the enjoyment of their future generations. When people apply this Nishkaama Karma Yoga to Vikarma also, they are able to do more sin with the help of this advice. The knife was given to cut the vegetables but it is now used to kill the human beings.

To avoid such danger in Kaliyuga, the Lord emphasized in Gita about the Karma Phala Tyaaga, which means sacrifice of the fruit of all the Vikarma. It is the sacrifice of all the money, which you have earned beyond your required minimum (Tena tyaktena). In such case only you will be discouraged from doing the Vikarma. Otherwise, if you apply the Nishkaama Karma Yoga to all the types of works you do, it becomes very dangerous.

Hanuman could have killed Ravana just by one stroke even before the coming of Rama. But Hanuman waited for Rama to come and kill Ravana. He participated in the service of Rama to achieve the peace of the world. He did not kill Ravana directly to achieve the same. Similarly, you should not try to uplift the world (social service) directly without the Human incarnation of the Lord and try to get the fame for yourself. In fact, all your power is only the power of the Lord and really the fame should go to Him only for any work you have done in this world.

Shri Rama Krishna Paramahamsa told that one should not enter into the work of serving the world unless the command is obtained from God. Shankara taught the divine knowledge. Next Ramanuja came and taught the devotion. Then Madhva came and taught the service. These are the three gradual steps. Knowledge (Jnana) is the root cause and generates devotion. As knowledge grows devotion also grows. By the devotion Lord is achieved. Therefore, devotion is the cause to attain the Lord (Bhaktyā tvananyayā) as said in Gita. Service is the real proof of the real devotion. Rukmini got knowledge from Narada and developed the devotion by which she obtained the Lord. But her devotion was without any aspiration for the fruit. She loved Krishna not to become the queen of Dwaraka. She sat at the feet of the Lord and pressed the divine feet throughout her life. Thus, her service proved her real devotion. Knowledge is the degree. Devotion is the job obtained due to that degree. Service is the work done in the job. The salary is the grace of God. The salary is given for the work done in the job. Therefore, the direct cause of the salary is only the service done by you. Knowledge and devotion can be viewed as the year wise academic course studied by a student. Service is the annual examination. The study in the whole year indicates the quantity of knowledge studied by you. But the examination will reveal the quantity of knowledge digested by you.

When you sacrifice the fruit of your work to a committee of devotees it will not be properly utilized. The devotee is not the Sarvajna, who knows everything like the Lord. Ten lecturers as a group cannot be treated as one professor. Therefore, any number of devotees cannot become equal to the Lord. Karma Phala Tyaaga is easier than Karma Samnyaasa and Karma Samnyaasa is easier than meditation. This does not mean that meditation is greatest and Karma Phala Tyaaga is the least. The Lord has one divine quality called ‘Saulabhya’ (easy to approach). This divine quality is very much in the Lord. This means that the Lord is available very easily in Human form. Does that mean that the Lord is least? In the twelfth chapter of the Bhagavadgita Karma Phala tyaaga is mentioned as the easiest thing to do. This does not mean that the Karma Phala tyaaga has least importance. Therefore, immediately in the next verse the Lord said that Karma Phala Tyaaga is the highest (Atha cittam, Śreyo hi).

The word Karma means earning the money for livelihood (Śarīra yātrā'pi ca) as said in Gita, in the case of a man. Gita says that Yajna (sacrifice, which is preparing the food and feeding the guest) (Yajñaḥ karma samudbhavaḥ) is the result of Karma because the food that is earned by Karma is offered to the guest. The same word Karma is used in the case of the Lord in different sense. In His case Karma means the creation of the world (Visargaḥ karma). Therefore, Karma Phala Tyaaga means sacrifice of the fruit of the work and the fruit of the work is money in the case of the human beings. The Veda says that the human being should sacrifice the money, which is earned above the minimum (Kasyasvit dhanam). The Veda also says clearly that sacrifice of money alone can bring the grace of the Lord (Dhanena tyāgenaike). Even when Rama approached His Guru Vashishta, the Guru told Rama to sacrifice money because money is the root of the whole world (Dhana mārjaya kākutstha). It is the fire test by which your real color of the love can come out. Without this you are hiding your artificial love in the disguise of real love which means that you are trying to fool the Lord which is impossible. Sacrifice of words and mind is the artificial love. Sacrifice of work and money is the real love. The Gita emphasizes the sacrifice of work (Mat karma Paramaḥ, Madardhamapi) and sacrifice of the fruit of the work at several places. Work and money are the real nerves where the Lord catches you in the examination. All the other exercises of words and mind are futile. If you are unable to sacrifice the work and money for the sake of Lord, at least you sacrifice your words and mind without aspiring anything in return. At least God will be a little bit pleased with you. If you sacrifice work and money God will be immensely pleased with you. If you cut the bond with your children and wife or husband and divert all your love towards the Lord, you need not fear about your family. The Lord loves your family as the family of His real devotee. The family gets real protection from the Lord. Your love cannot give the real protection to your family and yourself. If you divert all your love to the Lord, He will protect you and your family. By this you really love yourself and your family. If you love yourself and your family your love is not real because you cannot protect yourself or your family. For example, who can protect the life and grant longevity except the Lord? Your love on yourself and your family may give some happiness to you in your heart. But it cannot give the real protection. Therefore, Scholars loved only the Lord and served Him by sacrificing all their work and the fruit of all their work. The Lord protected them completely here and there as said in Gita (Sa tyāgītyabhidhīyate, Prāhuḥ tyāgam, Karma yogena yoginām).

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