Posted on: 17 Jul 2016
Shri Anil asked: Padanamaskaram Swami
[Kindly give Your explanations to following verses/parables taken from New Testaments of Bible written by St. Mathew. Some of the verses are stand alone verses giving enough understanding still Your commentaries on those are requested for the benefit of all devotees.
1. Treasures in Heaven [Matthew 6:19-21] 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.]
Swami replied: Treasures on earth clearly mean the money and wealth only. This money and wealth stored in world for worldly bonds or personal enjoyment is always attacked by theft resulting in destruction. Whenever wealth is stored, the immediate virus that attacks it is ambition to grow it more. Just like the food stored is bacterialized, similarly wealth stored is also bacterialized in so many ways. The wealth in heaven means devotion to God in theoretical and practical senses. If you take the devotion in theoretical sense only, does it mean that you should not earn and store the wealth practically in this world and get immersed in theoretical devotion only? In such case, if you are involved in theoretical devotion like worships, prayers and devotional songs etc., how to earn the livelihood practically? In the absence of food even the life given by God for His worship is ended by force. Hence, food is the fundamental issue for which you have to earn practically the treasure of the wealth of the world with full aspiration for it. But, as per the gospel, you should leave practical earning in the world and spend your life in the worship of God. The above scripture says that if you are earning wealth practically, your interest is on the world. If you are immersed in the devotion of God your interest is on God. How to solve this practical complication in these two statements?
The concept shows that the theoretical aspiration and practical work for wealth fixes you in the goal of worldly bonds like yourself and your family members. Similarly, the theoretical aspiration and practical work for wealth, done for the goal of God fixes you in God. Therefore, theoretical aspiration and practical work for wealth is common in both the goals. Hence, aspiration and work for earning money are sins only if the goal is worldly bond. The same aspiration and work, for money, are not sins and also please God if the goal is God. Here, again, another problem that comes is that once you have made a family and took its responsibility, the aspiration and work, for money, for the family-goal are justified. These two goals along with the related aspirations and works are totally separated into two fields:
1. Pravrutti: Here, justice is voted against injustice. You have to earn for the sake of the family only since it is your responsibility and principle of justice. If you are diverting your funds to some illegal love, it is injustice. If you do justice, you will go to heaven and if you do injustice, you will go to hell.
2. Nivrutti: Here, love (devotion) to God is voted against justice also. In such case, if injustice is done to family by diverting your funds to God, will the person go to hell? This will never happen because voting God against justice takes you to the abode of God. You need not criticize this that the person is confined to selfish salvation. This person or extreme devotee should not be criticized like this. It shows only the climax of the Nivrutti devotion, which is madness to God, in which both justice (heaven) and injustice (hell) get immersed. We find such a state of climax even in Pravrutti when one person is blindly attached to a prostitute and neglects his family. Here also, his love to the prostitute is in climax of madness in which both justice and injustice are immersed. But, you cannot compare this to the state of Nivrutti to God. In the case of the Nivrutti for God, his rejected family is supported by the omnipotent God. If a person in the Pravrutti brings his family to 100 feet height, God in the case of the mad devotee brings his family to a height of million feet! God will not allow by giving a chance to the deity of justice to file a case against such mad devotee in the Divine court.
After presenting the two extreme ends as Pravrutti and Nivrutti, the distance between these two ends happens to be the spiritual journey of a soul from world to God. If the distance is 100 feet, a person travelled one foot towards Nivrutti is far better than the person immersed in Pravrutti. Something is better than nothing. This is the reason for the Gita saying that a soul reaches God after millions of births only, which is the time to travel this 100 feet distance.
Person in Spiritual Journey Won’t Get Sin by Hating Family
The most important point here is that the word ‘treasure’ means only money and wealth earned in this world only. Treasure in heaven or treasure in world is one and the same wealth earned in this world. The wealth earned in this world should be confined to the word treasure only. Treasure in heaven means the wealth earned in this world diverted to God. Treasure in world means the wealth earned in this world diverted to worldly bonds. By this, the earning of wealth in this world is common in both the paths. Both the paths differ only by the goals, which are God and worldly bond. Extremity of the sacrifice as the climax of the spiritual effort is inevitable test on reaching Nivrutti. This extremity is already mentioned by Jesus in advising a rich man asking, “What shall I do to follow God (Yourself)?” Jesus replied that he should donate all his wealth and then only to follow Him. This indicates the extreme Nivrutti as to be kept as goal theoretically at least, so that the rich man will travel at least one foot forward from Pravrutti. If the goal is highest, the progress will be, at least, little. The reason for the failure in the progress is the blind love to worldly bond. Hence, Jesus advised His disciples again the extreme goal by saying, “Unless you hate your family, you cannot be My disciple.” Jesus should not be misunderstood that He is against the family members. The idea here is that unless highest goal is fixed, even little progress can’t be attained. The person in this spiritual journey will not get sin by hating the family since such family will be so much protected by God that even a person having highest blind love on the family can’t protect it so much! If you divert your love to your family, it will not progress so much. If you divert that love to God, the family will progress tremendously. Real love on the family is always the real love on God. Real love on the family is only harming the family and can be considered as the hatred. Diversion of love to God practically (practical devotion) is always proved proportionally by the extent of the practical sacrifice of your wealth to God as said in the Veda (Dhanena tyagena ekena). The Gita also says the same everywhere that work is neither good nor bad. Only the intention of the goal of the sacrifice of the fruit of your work decides whether a work is good or bad. Everywhere, the Gita says that work should not be sacrificed but only the fruit, which is called as Karmaphalatyaaga (Dhyanaat karmaphalatyaagah).
If you spend a little of your stored wealth for the sake of God i.e., in the service of God, your materialistic wealth will be like food stored in fridge and it will not be spoiled. When you store the total wealth for yourself and your worldly bonds only, destruction of it is sure in the absence of its protection. At least some part of the wealth should be spent for God, which gives protection for your total wealth. In the case of wealth, your mind gets totally absorbed in it and up to this stage there is no sin. Only the goal of wealth decides your intention to be good or bad. If the goal is God, it is the best, which is higher than your family. If the goal is family, it is higher than the goal of a prostitute. You must spend something for the propagation of spiritual knowledge and devotion to God so that you are assisting God’s work. It is only the chance given to you to serve God and in fact, there is no need of even trace of your service for the omnipotent God. When the devotion spreads everywhere, the atmosphere itself becomes preservative (like very cold atmosphere in Himalaya mountain) of your wealth without any fridge. The destruction of your wealth is also due to the polluted atmosphere. Spiritual knowledge and devotion propagated by your support will clean the atmosphere and thus your earned wealth is naturally protected without any effort.
In the process of trying for success in nivrutti, which is total dissolution of worldly bonds, certainly, at least, the force of attraction in the worldly bonds gets reduced. By this, sins in pravrutti can be controlled. By this, the society is balanced with peace. Due to this, God is pleased. This pleasure of God will help the soul to get success in the nivrutti. Therefore, pravrutti and nivrutti are inter-related everywhere and complement each other.