Justice and Spiritual Effort

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,

The entire spiritual knowledge exists in the Upanishads (Veda) or Shruti. Smruti is another text, which should be taken as authority if it does not contradict Shruti (Shruti Smruti virodhetu…). Smruti consists of the Gita, the Ramayana, the Bhagavata and the Mahabharata (the three sacred epics). In fact, the Gita is part of the Mahabharata only. The Puranas come after Smruti (Shruti Smruti Purananam…). The sacred epics deal with the secrets of the spiritual effort of Hanuman, Gopikas and Arjuna towards their contemporary human incarnations called Rama and Krishna. Third class people take these three epics as some historical stories and get entertainment. Second class people learn the ethics (Pravrutti) from these epics and practice a good behavior with family and society. The first class people identify the secrets of spiritual effort (Nivrutti) and get the grace of God through practice. Lord Datta now focuses the Nivrutti in these epics for the benefit of the spiritual aspirants.

Let us take the scene of the Ramayana in which the monkeys are trying to jump over the ocean in the service of Rama. The monkeys expressed their abilities to jump in terms of miles of the distance that can be covered by them in jump. Hanuman could jump all the distance and finished the work of Rama. The devotion (bhakti) is equal in Hanuman and monkeys. Every monkey is ready to sacrifice its total effort. But the monkeys could not do the work only due to inadequate potentiality (shakti) and not due to inadequate devotion. God sees only the total surrender of your potentiality in His work, which is a practical proof for the total devotion. The magnitude of your potentiality is not a point for God. Here, in this case, since every monkey is ready to surrender its total potentiality, each monkey is equal to Hanuman in the eyes of God. There is no difference in the surrender of total effort. Hanuman could do the work only due to the adequate potentiality and is not greater in devotion than any monkey. Therefore, the fruit from God should be equal to Hanuman and also the monkeys. The Lord gave a place for all the monkeys in His Brahma Loka (called as Vaikuntha in the case of Narayana) but He made Hanuman as Brahma Himself, who is the Lord of Brahma Loka.

Does this mean that God favors the magnitude of potentiality also as the measure of devotion?

(Swami posed this question to all the devotees and there was suspense with lot of anxiety in the devotees for the answer. No devotee could give the answer even after a long time! Finally, Swami gave the answer by which devotees felt very happy.)

The answer for this is that God never gives any value for the magnitude of the potentiality. God gives value only to the surrender of total potentiality possessed by the devotee. Then, what is the answer to the above question? The answer is that though God treated Hanuman and monkeys equal in the above scene due to equal extent of maximum devotion, there is a difference between Hanuman and the monkeys. After the war, Rama rewarded all the monkeys with golden ornaments for their service. All the monkeys took the jewels and wore them. This indicates the aspiration of fruit in return for the service, which is hidden in their sub-consciousness without their knowledge. Rama did not reward Hanuman and Hanuman never felt anything for this. Sita felt for this and rewarded Hanuman with a chain of pearls. Sita could not understand Rama. She should have kept silent because the actions of God are unimaginable. By rewarding Hanuman, Sita insulted the Lord indirectly before all. The drama continued further by the will of the Lord who was silent with a smile.

Hanuman took the chain and started cutting the pearls with teeth and threw them away after observing each pearl. Sages and monkeys objected this and asked Hanuman for the reason. Hanuman told that He was searching for Rama in pearls and anything without Rama is useless for Him. By this, Hanuman is establishing the fact that God does not exist in the creation (Neti Neti… Veda). Then, the sages told that His body also must be useless since Rama is not in that body. Then, Hanuman tore His heart and showed Rama in His heart. This shows that God as Narayana (Rama) is present in Him because Shiva is Narayana and He is the incarnation of Shiva. Hence, devotees should not attempt to do this! This clearly proved that the servant of the Lord should not aspire anything other than the Lord as the fruit of service. By this, Hanuman excels all the monkeys and His special fruit is justified.

Let us come to Sita who bent her head after this. What is the reason in it? You think that Rama insulted Sita in return. It is not so. The reason is that she joined the list of monkeys since she was also wearing the ornaments, which do not contain Rama. She is lesser than Hanuman. This is also justified because Sita is a liberated soul and Hanuman is God. Therefore, do the service to God without aspiring any fruit in return. Aspiration for fruit gives lesser fruit and service without aspiration for fruit gives the highest fruit in the case of God. This point is valid in the case of God (Nivrutti) only and one should not be foolish to follow this in Pravrutti because people will exploit you! Ofcourse, you can implement this concept in serving the poor people and deserving devotees and such service is a training for you for Nivrutti. But you should not implement this throughout the Pravrutti because exploiters are many in this world especially in this Kali Yuga!

Complete faith, complete devotion proved through practical sacrifice and complete absence of aspiration for fruit in return are the three essential components of the spiritual effort. The faith in the existence of God is the fundamental. Regarding the address of God, the contemporary human incarnation is the convenient path for doing practical service. The practical service cannot be done for the formless God and for statues of energetic forms of the upper worlds like Vishnu and of past human incarnations (In the case of statues, the priests enjoy your service indirectly.). Direct and meaningful practical service is possible only in the case of contemporary human incarnation as done by Hanuman and Gopikas.

Shankara told that one should not aspire the fruit either in this world or in the upper world for divine service done (Ihamutra Phalaviragah…). Today, people have no faith in the existence of the very upper world! There is no point of fruit after death. There is no hell from which God can protect us. There is no heaven to receive any happiness after death. There is no Brahma Loka at all. Hence, people want fruits in this world itself. Some people are not sure of the fruit in this world also after doing the service. Hence, they say that if the fruit is given first, the service will be rendered after receiving the fruit. This shows the lack of confidence in God even in the business. For some, the existence of God itself is doubtful and hence, they require the fruit first and then only do something in return. Some say that if the fruit is given first, then they will favor God by believing Him. They feel that God wants to increase the percentage of believers in this world. They feel that if the percentage of believers is not maintained, God will lose His Supreme post! In spite of such mean and meaningless mentalities, God is responding to every trend because God is the divine Father and is always anxious of the eternal uplift of the souls. Except for this point, God has no other reason to respond to every attitude of such low levels.

Hanuman showed Rama in His heart because God exists in Him always, since He is the incarnation of God. Even otherwise, God could have entered the heart of Hanuman temporarily for the proof to protect such best devotee. In the case of Hanuman, such temporary entry is not required because God already exists in Hanuman, who is the incarnation of God. Hanuman is God as actor and is devotee as the role. After this incident also, Rama did not announce the fruit to be given in the upper world because Hanuman as the best devotee is not aspiring for any fruit in this world as well as in the upper world. From the point of Hanuman, there is no need to announce the fruit of the upper world also. This does not mean that the fruit is absent. When the aspiration is absent, the fruit will be the best. When God is pleased, the fruit is seen here as well as there. If God is pleased with you, you will receive the fruit here as well as there because God is the Lord of both the worlds simultaneously. If His grace exists in the upper world, it must also exist here also.

God’s Anger or Grace Remains Same in All Worlds

Some people say that their welfare in the upper world is protected even though their welfare here is damaged. This concept is meaningless. If God blessed you, you will be blessed here as well as there simultaneously. If you are well here, you will be well there also. God will not show anger on you here and show grace in the upper world. Either grace or anger is shown simultaneously here as well as there. You may be troubled for sometime here for the sake of divine test but that is not permanent. If you are permanently suffering in this world, it means, you are the sinner forever. The anger of God on you is constitutional only. You are punished for your sins only according to the computerized divine constitution and personally God does not favor or does not curse you (Nadatte kasyachit papam… Gita). Therefore, such eternal sinners need very much the spiritual knowledge, so that they get a permanent solution. Hence, while serving them externally for temporary relief, you should preach the spiritual knowledge and turn them into devotees. Today, some are doing the social service to the downtrodden people, but that is not a permanent solution. Social service with divine background is very much required. People who concentrate on the social service only will get temporary heaven, and the people who receive such social service also get a temporary solution only. It is a temporary concept on both sides. Today, the Government is concentrating on social service without touching the element of God in the name of secularism. In the ancient times, kings were also doing social service but they were combining it with divine mission so that both the donor and receiver get permanent solution. The ancient kings went to the permanent abode of God and the served beggars also became devotees and got permanent solution. The present Government of secular policy will go to the temporary heaven and the present poor people served by this Government also get the temporary relief limited to this life and to this earth only.

Entertainment of God is not Cause of Souls’ Troubles

People often blame God stating that they are troubled since God created this world for His entertainment. They say that God is a sadist because He is entertained by their suffering. This is sheer nonsense. God created this entire world consisting of the souls. Souls constitute Para Prakruti, which is a part of the creation. He gave complete freedom to the souls and gave the intelligence (buddhi), which is the powerful faculty of discriminating good and bad. God propagated His constitution, which contains clearly the subjects of good and bad. The prophets propagated this constitution on this earth. Now, if God is deriving entertainment on observing the creation, how can you call Him as sadist? He is not responsible for your desires and selection of good and bad for which you have the full freedom. He is not responsible even for a trace of your desire and even for a trace of your subsequent action. The constitution gives only information and does not encourage you in anyway. A hotel is exhibiting a board listing the various items available for the food. The board is only for your information. According to your taste, capacity of digestion and problems of health, you have to select the suitable item of food. You cannot blame the hotel saying that the hotel is responsible for your indigestion, since it exhibited a particular item by which you are attracted!

A person is standing in the balcony of his residence and is observing the traffic to get entertainment. Suppose an accident took place on the road, you cannot blame the observer to be responsible for the accident. You are well aware of the traffic rules and your overlook of the rules is responsible for the accident. The observation and entertainment of any spectator is not at all connected with the accident. The divine constitution consists of two parts. The first part is the Pravrutti, which is the social behavior to live in this world with peace and harmony. This Pravrutti is based on heaven, earth and hell, which are plus, zero and minus signs respectively. If you do social service helping the poor people, you will get heaven, which is a temporary pleasure proportional to the extent of your sacrifice in the social service. For this, you will receive the result on the earth also either partially or totally. If the result is not seen on the earth, you will receive the total result in the heaven after death. However, the result is not permanent (Kshiinepunye… Gita) because your social service is not blended with divine mission. If you do the service to yourself and your family only, you will be living on this earth with happiness and peace, provided you are not harming others with corruption and torture. For this also, the result is temporary because the result is confined to this temporary human life only. Anyway, in both the cases, the result is temporary only. If you are confined to yourself and your family only, there is no result after death and you will not enter the heaven for serving your family and yourself. You will enter the heaven partially or totally for serving the weaker sections in the society but the stay in heaven is temporary. In doing social service, you may confine to your village, district, state, country, religion and Earth but you should not harm any living being in this service. You must avoid corruption and torture of any living being on this earth in doing the service. If you are indulged in corruption and torture of any living being, the court here will punish you. If you escape the punishment here, God will punish you here partially and in the hell after the death, partially or totally. The punishment of God is based on the transformation of the soul and not the revenge as observed in the terrorism. Terrorism wants revenge without aiming at the transformation of the soul. It does not understand the whole divine system and denies even God due to emotion. Emotion kills the analysis and patience will give happiness and permanent solution. Do not take law and order into your hands. If the court or Government fails in implementing the justice, God will punish even the court and Government because human beings only constitute the court and Government, which can err. All this comes under Pravrutti. If you avoid the hell after death and punishments here by limiting yourself to the service of your family and the society, God is pleased with you.

Nivrutti is the second part of constitution. The sages like Manu etc., propagated the first part on this earth by the order of God. The sages like Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatkumara, Sanatsujata etc., propagated the second part. These names are different in other religions but the basic program is one and the same because God is one and the earth created by God is also one. The second part constitutes the path of attainment of eternal happiness (bliss) by becoming close to God. The basic principle is to become a member of the family (inner circle) of God. Here, you will receive the love of God, which is eternal and the fruit is eternal bliss. But the fruit is achieved only when you are not aspiring for the fruit and serve God in His mission under His direction. For this purpose, you have to finally recognize your contemporary human incarnation and you have to surrender completely yourself to His will. Minority occupies this second part only.

A border between Pravrutti and Nivrutti is also available, which is loving God for the sake of achieving some fruit. This is transition from first to second part. The selfishness of the soul is not lost but God is introduced here as an instrument to achieve the fruit. You love God here as an instrument to satisfy your selfish desire. Majority of the people is confined to this state only. Atheists are also minority, who are confined to Pravrutti without God. God is pleased with them also and will sanction heaven to them also if they are not involved in corruption and torture of any living being. If the atheist is involved in social service in the above line, he will be also be sanctioned heaven here and there. Infact, Purvamimamsankas were atheists, who were constantly indulged in Yajna (sacrifice) without God (Devonakaschit…). They believed in angels but not God. This means they were serving good social workers but not the human incarnation on the earth. Yajna means sacrifice of food and money to the good social workers (angels) without the Sadguru (God in human form like Krishna). They did not give food to Krishna during the sacrifice. But their wives recognized Krishna (contemporary human incarnation) and gave food to the Lord. The real meaning of Yajna was lost only in the beginning of this Kali Yuga due to stupid priests who did not learn the meaning of the Veda and started burning the food in fire!

Therefore, God and His constitution are giving information of the path desired by you and do not compel you to choose any path (Jnapakam natu karakam… Shankara). The Railway authorities prepare the Railway guide. It gives the route to Bombay and other cities. It does not create desire in your mind to go to Bombay. If you desire to go to Bombay, it explains the route and it does not insist you to take up the journey to Bombay. Neither the guide nor the authorities are responsible for your benefit or loss in Bombay. Shankara argued with the Purvamimamsakas, who said that one should perform the sacrifice to reach the heaven. Shankara said that the Veda is like the guide and God is like the authority in the above simile.

The upper worlds contain fully realized souls called angels. The topmost world contains liberated souls in the inner circle of God. The lower worlds contain demons, who are rigid atheists. There is no necessity to teach the realized souls and to teach the rigid, ignorant souls. Liberated souls are far superior than even the realized souls called angels. Indra etc., are realized souls whereas Adishesha, Garuda, Narada etc., are liberated souls. The angels are affected by ignorance very rarely and hence, preaching is almost unnecessary in the upper worlds. Therefore, there is no need of incarnation in the upper world. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are the constant energetic forms of God in the upper worlds. Similarly, there is no need of any incarnation in the lower worlds because there is no use of any preaching to rigid demons. This earth contains human beings, which are neither fully realized nor fully ignorant. These human beings become realized after hearing the preaching and become human beings again, which are mild demons and mild angels integrated together in one form. Therefore, God comes again and again to preach and uplift them. This story of uplift and subsequent fall repeats again and again and hence, earth is a constant stage of continuous engagement for entertainment of God.

The liberated souls always accompany God as the constant troop of actors and receive the entertainment along with God. It is said that angels also request God to give chance for participation in this entertainment. Arjuna is called as Nara, who represents the human being (Nara). Arjuna was always having a mixed feeling towards Krishna to accept Him as God. Even Dharmaraja, a better human being failed to accept Krishna as God in crossing justice on His order. But Bhima is said to be the middle liberated soul in the chain of Madhva cult consisting Hanuman, Bhima and Madhva, the three sons of Vayu as the sincere servants of God. Bhima represents Tamas, which is famous for rigid nature. Tamas diverted to God brings the soul to the stage of liberated souls and the same tamas diverted to world brings the soul to the state of demons.

Brahma represents Sattvam, the state of knowledge, though stands for Rajas, is involved in knowledge, which is Sattvam. The process of analysis is action and action is Rajas. The analysis of knowledge should end in the practical implementation, which is action. Vishnu who stands for Sattvam but is always dynamic indicates this second state of action of knowledge. Rajas is action. Vishnu is the administrator with action but is with knowledge of discrimination in the background. Sattvam and Rajas are integrated in both the cases. Finally, the determination, which is Tamas representing Shiva, is important for constancy in the implementation. Thus, Bhima is a liberated soul, who maintained constancy in implementation. Arjuna and Dharmaraja slipped in the service of Krishna but Bhima never slipped and did whatever Krishna ordered. When Krishna told to kill the elephant by naming it as Asvatthama and order to Bhima to kill it to cheat Drona, Bhima implemented it at once. Madhva is the final preacher who preached the service. Vayu is said to be very strong and the best angel in the Veda (Vatat Vishnoh Balam…, Vayurvai Kshepishtah…). The knowledge (Sattvam) associated with Rajas is analysis and the knowledge associated with Tamas is determination. The determination leads to constancy in practical implementation. The three qualities are always integrated and inseparable in every stage of spiritual effort and similarly you cannot separate the three divine forms of God (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva), who descended as the three spiritual preachers (Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhva), who are integrated in every stage of guidance.

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