Posted on: 24 Jan 2024
O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,
Whatever philosophy presented by Shankara in His commentaries can be exactly found in the case of the contemporary human incarnation and Shankara Himself is a contemporary human incarnation of God. He simply extended this philosophy to every human being, which is highly specific to the contemporary human incarnation only. Such extension was very essential to convert atheists (Purvamiimaamsakas and Buddhists) into theists and this was explained by Me several times. If an atheist is told to be God, since the atheist exists, naturally, God exists. This plot was used in His time so that almost all atheists in India were converted into theists. These converted theists were converted into devotees by Ramanuja and further were converted into servants of God by Madhva.
The concept of a human being to be God is very useful in the case of any human being even today. Let this concept be wrong by itself. We justify the wrong concept also if it is useful and the best example, I gave, was a mother feeding her child. The mother says to the child that if child eats food, the moon will come down from the sky. Even though this is a lie, it makes the child eat the food completely and it is in good welfare of the child. Neither the child files a case against its mother that the mother cheated it by telling lies nor the mother goes to hell for cheating her child. When a human being is told to be God, you can find excellent influence of this concept on the human being. By this concept, the human being behaves with excellent character so that, in course of time, the human being becomes a standard good human being. How does this concept influence the mind of a human being? The human being will be constantly thinking itself as God due to which it tries to behave as God in its everyday life. For example: If a beggar approaches such a human being, the human being will help the beggar in a magnanimous way thinking that not helping the beggar is below the dignity of God. If you keep the human being as a human being only, this human being will show its characteristic greediness and will not help the beggar at all. In this way, since God is the possessor of all the best qualities (Kalyaana Gunaas), the human being will acquire those best qualities in its human life, and this is the greatest reformation of human society. Such a human being will hesitate very much to do a sin because God is always sinless. See how Shankara helped human society to change by this concept! Apart from the help to the society, the individual is also helped. Whenever depression comes, such a human being will think that he is God and hence, he must be beyond any tension. By such thought, he is not affected by the tensions of the world and remains in perfect peace that bestows good health permanently. Since Advaita philosophy says that this creation is inherently unreal, such a human being will not be attracted towards corruption because money is also unreal being a part of the creation. In view of all these types of benefits, even if the concept is wrong, the Advaita philosophy of Shankara is doing tremendous help to the individual and to society.
My advice to every devotee in this situation is like this:- You follow all the above philosophy letter by letter and develop the best qualities avoiding any sin thinking that practice alone is the proof of Godship. But, internally, have a spot of truth that you are only the soul (Paraprakriti, which is a part of Prakriti or creation) and not the Creator. Let this small trace of concept not disappear in your mind. You must frequently remember that you are neither the Creator nor part of the Creator. This one drop of divine nectar in you will save you from your death due to ego. If you don’t have this one drop of divine knowledge, ego will grow tremendously, and you will become just a demon. We see that every demon declared himself as God. This wrong fire is very much promoted by certain miraculous powers also attained from God due to their severe penance. Hiranyakashipu, Ravana, etc., were clear examples. If a boss calls his servant with a good heart to dine along with him, the servant shall not be foolish to put his hand around the shoulder of the boss after finishing the meals! Even demons acquiring miraculous powers cannot become God since they never get the three major powers of creation, ruling and destruction of the world (Jagat vyāpāra varjyam– Brahma Sutra). In the first chapter of the Brahma Sutras, several Sutras refute the soul to be God. I assure you in the name of God Datta that God will not mind at all if you think that you are God for the sake of your welfare and the welfare of the society. By this, you are getting the divine nectar (Amritam) avoiding the horrible poison (Haalaahalam). God Brahma advised angels and demons to churn the ocean to get divine nectar. God Vishnu supported the churning of sea by lying below the Mandara mountain in the form of a tortoise. God Shiva drank the horrible poison. In this way, God Datta, Who is the source of three divine forms helped the whole program to become successful. Hence, you must always take the help of God Datta for your spiritual journey to progress well and to attain God finally.