Posted on: 31 Jul 2016
Shri Anil asked: Padanamaskaram Swami
[Kindly give Your explanations to following verses/parables taken from New Testaments of Bible
2. The eye is the lamp of the body [Matthew 6:22-23] 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!]
Swami replied: Here, the eye and sight referred indicate the highest faculty in the body called as intelligence doing analysis discriminating false and truth. The knowledge or awareness is the light. If darkness enters the light (awareness), such darkness must be greater than the light (awareness). Here, darkness means wrong knowledge. The wrong concept entering the awareness is denoted by the darkness entering light. It is said that the whole body will be filled with light. The light here indicates the awareness spreading all over the body through the nervous system that pervades the entire body. The word light also means the basic awareness. The word light is used in two places in two senses. The first word light indicates the awareness charged with correct knowledge. The second word light means the basic awareness. When this basic awareness is charged with wrong knowledge, it becomes darkness and hence the light (awareness) becomes darkness. The health of the eye-sight means sharpness in the analysis. More and more sharp your analytical faculty, deeper and deeper true concepts enter your basic awareness resulting in better and better knowledge. If the analysis is weak, you are misled by the wrong concepts propagated by preachers with little knowledge. In such case, your basic awareness charged with wrong concepts results in wrong knowledge, which exists due to the absence of real knowledge or light. You should not follow anybody blindly including God without sharp analysis. In the absence of sharp analysis, the preacher whom you believe as God may not be really the God. Hence, deep analysis is needed even in the basic stage to identify God. When the analysis of intelligence is weak, the knowledge is partial ignorance or dim light. If the analysis is absent the knowledge is total ignorance or darkness. A black cloud covering the sky in the day also makes the dim darkness enter the world. If the sunlight is very intensive, the shadow of the cloud cannot enter as the darkness. The dullness of light or dim light is the weak analysis, which is ignorance mixed with little knowledge. If the knowledge is not perfectly analyzed, the knowledge will be dim since you don’t have the realization of knowledge due to absence of your analysis. Therefore, even right knowledge should be perfectly analyzed since you cannot conclude it as right without analysis for your self-satisfaction that brings the realization. Hence, Lord Krishna said in the end of the Gita that Arjuna should perfectly analyze what all He said and then only accept to act it (Vimrushyaitadasheshena…). The ignorance of wrong concept easily enters the awareness. Sometimes, even though light exists, darkness of cloud entering that makes it dim. Hence, the wrong knowledge is darkness, half or little knowledge is dim light and right knowledge is bright light. A wrong preacher spreads wrong knowledge. A preacher with little knowledge and lot of ignorance also appears as projecting a type of knowledge which is dim or obscure. The darkness entering the light (awareness) means the wrong knowledge appearing as right knowledge or bright light. The darkness entering the light (little knowledge) means half knowledge or dim light appearing as right knowledge. You can take the second word light in both senses as awareness and little light.
Both total darkness (ignorance) and dim light (half knowledge) appear as bright light (right knowledge) based on the level of receivers. Fully ignorant receivers appreciate the fully ignorant preachers like blind people appreciating another blind man describing the beauty of the moon! Such blind preacher says that the moon is fully black and its light is total darkness. The second type of preacher is a person with mild eye-sight due to fully developed cataracts. He preaches that the moon is very dim and slightly better than the darkness of the night. This is half knowledge and disciples with the same defective eyes appreciate that. In both these cases, the experience of preacher and receiver is one and the same and hence the appreciation. Between these two preachers, who is more dangerous? The second preacher is more dangerous than the first. In the first case, both preacher and receivers can be easily convinced by explaining them that they are totally blind without the eye-sight and hence their experience is totally wrong. In this case, only ignorance is present, which can be realized by them due to the knowledge of their blindness. A totally blind man has only ignorance of blindness and not ego of vision since he knows that he has no vision. The second case with half or little knowledge is very dangerous because of the ignorance as well as ego. A man with defective eyes will not accept the absence of his vision because he is seeing the moon. He knows that he is not blind and hence has ego of vision. Due to this ego, he will not accept any defect in his vision. The most dangerous situation results in the case of mixture of ignorance and ego. The first case is a vacant pot without water sounding. The second case is a pot with little water making terrible sounds while being carried. A poet called Bhartruhari says that even God cannot preach the receiver with little of half knowledge, which is the case of dim light. The third case is clear, which is the pot fully filled with water or a scholar with full right knowledge. You can convince the first case easily and third case more easily. But, you can never convince the second case, which is the case of the misinterpretation of the scripture. The heads of church of second type provoked their followers for crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus and His followers belong to the third case.
[3. Matthew 6:24 24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.]
Swami replied: Money represents world since it is the root of the world (Dhanamoolamidamjagat…). Its status is compared equal to the status of God. Both God and money are controlling the world. Money is the master in the field of imaginable domain. All the worldly bonds are depending on money only. If there is no money, none will marry you to become life partner and for the same reason, no issues also. Even if you want to adopt a child as your son or daughter, it will look at your back to see the money. Even your body leaves your soul in the absence of money since food that maintains the body can be procured by money only. It is the master of all the worldly bonds. If money is sacrificed, one has sacrificed all the worldly bonds since all the worldly bonds fly away from you on hearing your sacrifice of money like birds flying away from the tree on hearing the firing of the gun! Hence, it is said that gold (money) is not only the root of bond but also the root of salvation (Kaanchanam karmamochanam). The Veda says that by sacrifice of money alone, one can reach God (Dhanena tyagena ekena amrutatvam). There is a worldly saying also in Hindi language that God exists in money (Paisa mein Paramatma hai)! This is the reason why Lord Krishna, as soon as born, attacked first, the bond with money (Dhaneshana) in the case of even detached sages born as Gopikas. For them, money was milk, curd and butter, which were sold in Mathura city for their livelihood. This first attack on the bond of money was done because money is the master of all worldly bonds. God competes with money while Krishna was stealing the butter. This proves whether God is the real master or money is the real master. Both stood in the election as candidates and the soul is the voter. A vote can be given only to one candidate and cannot be stamped for both since vote becomes invalid. Master is always only one and there cannot be two masters. You have to leave one candidate, either God or money and vote to the other one candidate only, since, it is context of competition between the two standing to test your real love through real sacrifice. Total sacrifice of total money is the highest goal of the test like the final examination. The monthly tests conducted in the year like sacrifice in small amounts of money are the stepping stones for the final test of total sacrifice of total money for the sake of God. Climbing one step is always better than standing on the ground floor. Something is always better than nothing. For this reason only, a beginning is always said to be humble. Unless you keep the final step as the goal, you can never climb even the first step. This is the reason why Jesus told the rich man to sacrifice his total wealth to become His disciple. He is only fixing the final goal to inspire the person to climb at least the first step. The rich man never returned to Jesus! But, he started climbing the steps gradually so that after at least one million of births he will reach the goal (Bahunaam janmanaam – Gita). He did not return to Jesus since he could not achieve the goal ordered by Jesus in that single life. He will certainly reach Jesus after several births, only after fulfilling the order of Jesus. Don’t think that Jesus was crucified and the rich man expired in the end of his life. Jesus comes again and again as human incarnations and simultaneously that rich man is born again and again continuing his efforts to reach the goal. Jesus told that He will come again, which means again and again only. A family member going outside says to others while going ‘I’ll come back soon’. Does this mean that he will come back and will not again go from the house to outside? It is only a formal and casual saying. It means coming back and going out repeatedly. Jesus also told that in special case of a soul trying to reach the goal with continued spiritual efforts, it has rebirth. Jesus told that a widow beggar sacrificing one coin to God is highest than other rich people sacrificing even few hundreds of coins. The reason is that the beggar made total sacrifice of her total money earned! The Veda also says that God and world (money) are north and south poles (Dooramete…). The sacrifice of money to God is based on your real love to God. Even God also sacrifices His wealth to devotee based on His love to the devotee. The sacrifice of God to devotee will not be visible like the sacrifice of devotee to God. The reason is that God tests the devotee whether he thinks that such huge money came to him by his effort or accidental luck and not from God. Total sacrifice of total money was also done by God to devotee as in the case of Lord Krishna sacrificing all His wealth to Sudama. This sacrifice of wealth by God to Sudama was also not directly visualized as seen in the case of a donor giving money to the receiver by hand. The sacrifice of money shows the intensity of the real love and its extent only and the donor may be devotee or God. Money is the white paper along with question paper given to the soul on which sacrifice is the answer to be written in the examination. Sudama selected God as his Master and never asked God for money. This absence of aspiration for any fruit from God is the perfect deserving qualification of the devotee for which God is prepared not only to sacrifice all His wealth but also Himself to merge with you to make you the human incarnation in this world.
[4. Do Not Worry [Matthew 6:25-34] 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.]
Swami replied: The Gita says that the body itself is the cloth of the soul (Vaasaamsi…). The cloth of the body becomes the cloth of the cloth. All these statements clearly explain that human being does not have full faith in God. When God has sent the soul to this world will He not take care about its barely needed facilities like food, drink and cloth? The farmer sowing the seeds in the field knows the exact time to supply the water and manure. The birds and animals are totally protected by God regarding all these basic facilities since they are totally ignorant and do not even recognize God. It is just like the parents taking special care of their mentally disabled child. When the mind and intelligence exist in the human beings with unlimited aspirations above the basic needs, even though God appears before their eyes in human form, they do not recognize Him due to ego and jealousy. Even if they recognize Him, they have only partial faith in Him. God is always a part time God for many human beings. The human being puts full efforts with full anxiety and tension for fruit, which is generally above the basic needs. This shows lack of full faith in God. It is not wrong to put full effort because the human being has to do its duties as assigned by the ethical scripture constituted by God. But, if there is really full faith in God, the anxiety and tension for fruit should not exist. Lord said in the Gita that you shall do your duties without any anxiety or attachment to fruit that causes tension (Maa phaleshu kadaachana). In fact, this tension is responsible for your failure in your duty to achieve the goal or fruit. This tension consumes lot of your energy and you are leftover with little energy to do the huge work that is needed to achieve the fruit. This is the first law of thermodynamics that if all the energy supplied to the system is consumed by the raise in the internal energy (tension), the work becomes zero.
God never means that you should sit idle having full faith in God since you can never have full faith! Of course, if such full faith on God exists in climax, the fruit will be achieved without even trace of your effort. But, do you have such climax of the faith in God? You have only little faith as referred here by Jesus. Hence, only little help is done by God as per justified logic. The rest should be filled by your effort or work. Ninety nine percent of humanity belongs to this middle stage of partial faith in God and full effort done by self. If there is ten percent faith in God, you should put only ninety percent effort. But, everybody is putting hundred percent efforts. What does this mean? This clearly means that the human being is not having any faith in the existence of God and hence total effort is always put in any work. The ten percent faith is also apparent and not real in the heart. Therefore, every soul should put hundred percent efforts (in fact he is putting hundred percent effort only) and the tension is attacking every human being since the actual faith on God is zero percent. If really, at least, one percent of faith on God comes, the tension will be reduced proportionally by one percent. A person having hundred percent faith on God will really have zero percent tension and God does all the work on his behalf to bring the fruit to the devotee without any effort from his side. God will not use His miraculous power to bring the fruit without work to satisfy the deity of justice following the rule of work and fruit of the nature in this creation. Don’t misunderstand Me that this concept will spoil the human beings to become lazy without doing work because such situation will never happen so that hundred percent faith on God is developed. Only Paramahamsa jumped on the knife to have the vision of Divine mother. He has hundred percent faith on God and was prepared even to be killed in the absence of the Divine vision. It is not only the point of faith but also the point of value given to God’s vision. Therefore, one has to work seriously putting all efforts to achieve the goal. At the same time the tension can be avoided by working without attachment to fruit following the above said scientific law. When you work without tension, you can normally achieve the success. Lord Krishna said this Karmayoga in the Gita to avoid the tension by detaching yourself from the fruit and in this context no faith in God is referred. This is applicable to all human beings including atheists. God told this clue to the entire humanity since atheist is also His child.
However, sometimes, the fruit is not achieved in spite of your full efforts even though you worked by detaching yourself totally from the fruit. Here, the reason is the fruits of intensive sins done in this life hindering the achievement of the fruit. In this special context, Karmayoga based on the above scientific law doesn’t work. The only solution here is the interference of God to set aside those punishments of sins so that you can achieve the fruit. Here, the faith on God is essential, but, here, the word faith has elaborate sense. Here, faith doesn’t mean simply to believe in the existence of God. That is only the first step of the ladder. Here, the faith means the total ladder. The other steps in this ladder are suffering in sacrifice, surrender in service to God etc. Therefore, the word faith in limited sense means only to believe the existence of God and in elaborate sense means theoretical and practical devotion to God. In this context of help from God to achieve the fruit hindered by sins, the other saying of God from the Gita should be referred (Teshaam satatayuktaanaam…).