02 Jul 2025
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QA:48-53
(Some of my friends, who are atheists, have asked these questions on sweet devotion and related topics. I have sent those questions to H.H. Shri Datta Swami, who has answered these questions. - Ms. Thrylokya)
48. Is sweet devotion cheap and fake because it is based on Arthavaada?
[Since the sweet devotion is based on the illusory forms of God and devotees are made to believe them as real forms of God based on Arthavaada, sweet devotion is appearing very cheap and fake to me. Also, God loses His credibility if a devotee learns about the concept of Arthavaada. To whatever God says, there exists a 50:50 probability with the devotee to either believe it as truth or Arthavaada (beneficial sinless lie). Truth may hurt, but it never harms. Lie is a lie no matter even if it is told by God. Please correct my understanding, Swami.]
Swami replied:- If this sweet devotion based on Arthavaada is cheap, then, the statement of a mother told to her child based on Arthavaada that moon will come down if the child completes the food, shall also become cheap. Among worldly bonds, the love of the mother to the child is said to be the greatest in view of which only the Veda gives first place to mother in Pravrutti or worldly life (Mātṛ devo bhava). Even by telling the lie by not caring for hell that is possible for telling a lie, she is interested in the growth of the child without fearing for her personal punishment in hell for speaking a lie because the fundamental order of the Veda is to speak the truth and to do justice (Satyaṃ vada dharmaṃ cara). Hence, Arthavaada gives a special higher status to love and hence, it is practiced by a mother for her child and by a preacher for his disciple or student. No doubt, a lie, which is cheating others is certainly a sin. Here, the basic nature of the sin is to harm others for selfish benefit. But, the mother is not harming the child. Instead, she is helping the child to grow by making the child to eat the food. She is not telling this lie for her own selfish benefit. In such case, ends justify means. Therefore, God Krishna satisfying His devotees with Arthavaada is for the spiritual progress of the devotees and not for any selfish benefit because He is always completely fulfilled. The Gita says that nothing is there, which is not attained by Him and nothing is there, which is to be attained by Him (Nānavāpta mavāptavyam…). Hence, Arthavaada is not sin at all and on the other side, it is shall be treated as the highest merit.
The difference between human incarnation and human being is that the God-component, the bearer of the dress or medium is present in human incarnation, whereas every human being is only just the dress or medium without the bearer (God-component). The difference between the real Krishna standing at the centre of the raasa dance and the unreal forms of Krishna dancing with the unreal Gopikas in circle surrounding the real Krishna is that the real Krishna is having God-component and every unreal created form of Krishna is not having that God-component. But, this absence of the God-component or Parabrahman or the unimaginable God is not to be much thought over since such God-component is anyway unimaginable. In this way, there is no difference between the unreal created form of Krishna and the real Krishna. Even the form of real Krishna, in which the unimaginable God merged, is inherently unreal just like human beings and the world. The unreal Krishna created by the real Krishna is having a gross body, a subtle body and a causal body just like the form of the real Krishna. In both an unreal form and the real form of Krishna, the same individual soul along with four internal instruments (Antahkaranams) exist. The first of these four is mind, which is the basis for feeling. Hence, the unreal form of Krishna also states the same statement with real feeling only and hence, the unreal Gopika, who uttered the same statement with real feeling from her mind is not cheated in anyway in reference to the Gopika.
Even the real Krishna has the same individual soul along with four internal instruments of which the first is mind. Hence, the feeling of the original form of Krishna and an unreal form of Krishna is genuine with equal reality since in both cases, the feeling is born from the mind and the statement expressing the feeling is uttered by the same mouth. In the case of the real Krishna, the feeling and the statement are directed to the other real form of Krishna like Radha or Rukmini. In the created form of Krishna also, the same thing is happening. In what way is the Gopika lesser than Radha? Radha is not experiencing the unimaginable God while enjoying the real form of Krishna like tasting the sweetness of sugar while drinking the coffee because God or sugar is unimaginable and cannot be experienced by both Gopika and Radha due to their inherent and imposed ignorance respectively. Hence, there is no difference between Radha and Gopika as far as anything is concerned. Radha and Krishna are having the same absolute reality of God, whereas the unreal Krishna and unreal Gopika are inherently unreal and both are gifted with the same absolute reality of God. Radha and Gopika are experiencing only the unreal medium of the real Krishna and unreal form of unreal Krishna respectively and the unimaginable God of real Krishna is not experienced by anybody. Both Gopika and Radha are equally ignorant. If you say that the unimaginable God of Krishna is enjoyed by Radha - this is incorrect because Radha need not enjoy the unimaginable God of the real form of Krishna since she can enjoy the unimaginable God of her own form itself. Since she is covered with ignorance for the sake of role, she can neither enjoy the unimaginable God present in herself nor enjoy the unimaginable God present in the real Krishna. When she quits her temporary role to be acted in this world, she becomes the unimaginable God with self-experience like the real Krishna. Here also, there is no difference between Radha and Krishna because both have become the one and the same unimaginable God having self-experience always.
When several illusory Krishnas are dancing with several Gopikas, every Gopika is thinking that the central real Krishna multiplied Himself into real Krishnas only. No Gopika is thinking that the form of Krishna dancing with her is unreal. In this way, the creation of illusory Krishnas by the real Krishna is felt by each Gopika as the multiplication of the real Krishna. This makes every Gopika think that she is in the union of the real Krishna only. After all, experience is the highest authority. If a person sees a rope as serpent and starts fearing with vibration, the fearing and vibration are real even though the serpent is unreal.
You said that “Truth may hurt, but it never harms”. I say that hurting itself is harming in some cases. Truth may be great, but, it cannot be greater than the welfare of a devotee. A sage vowed to tell the truth all the time. He saw some robbers chasing a saint in the forest and the saint hid himself in the bushes. The robbers asked the sage if he saw the saint and the sage said the truth to those robbers. They killed the saint and robbed his earnings stored in his pocket for his livelihood. After death, the sage went to hell and asks Yamadharma Raja “Why did you bring me to hell? I never told even a single lie in my entire life”. Then, Yamadharma Raja replied “Since you did not lie, injustice happened and hence, you are brought to hell”. In some cases, saying the truth is justice and in some cases, saying the truth becomes injustice. Therefore, we must analyse deeply and then pass the comments. If God has said something or if God has done something, it means that it is correct and for the welfare of the devotee only. You must analyse the action of God with the intention that you missed some points in analysis.
You must not analyse the action of God with the intention to find fault in it. If your intention to get answers from Me is just to prove Me wrong, you can never be satisfied by the answers even if they are logical. You should have Tamas or rigidity to believe that every word of God is truth and every action of God is correct (basic faith). Your welfare lies in believing God and doubting Him leads to your destruction only. God is not at loss even if you don’t believe in Him. He is not a politician, who remains in power as long as he has support from the public including yourself having a vote. God is omnipotent and this entire world is created just by His wish. Being a tiny particle of this creation, you can never imagine the greatness and purity of God. God is greater than justice because God is the creator and protector of justice. God doesn’t follow justice and justice follows God. Of course, you can use logic to analyse whether Krishna is God or not. But if you decide Krishna as God, there should not be an iota of doubt on Him. Remember that defect always lies with the soul and not with God. God Krishna taught excellent spiritual knowledge to Arjuna in the form of the Bhagavad Gita because Arjuna completely surrendered to God Krishna as His disciple (Śiṣyaste'haṃ… - Gita). Faith in Krishna as God is the fundamental point in this entire spiritual discussion. If that fundamental faith is absent, you will never be convinced about anything and destroy yourself with doubt on God (Saṃśayātmā vinaśyati - Gita).
49. Does a soul having doubts perish?
[Swami, God Krishna said that the person having doubts will always perish (Samshayaatmaa vinashyati… - Gita). Does it mean that a soul shall not get doubts?]
Swami replied:- The meaning of this verse is that a devotee, who doubts God continuously will perish. Arjuna also doubted God Krishna, but, he got clarifications for all his doubts from God Krishna. Duryodhana always doubted God Krishna even though God Krishna showed cosmic vision. A demon will never agree to the divinity of God. The demon does a lot of penance for God as the greatest devotee. Once the demon gets boons from God, he forgets God completely and he not only wants to become God, but also wants to destroy God as in the case of demon Bhasmaasura. When Jesus appeared after crucifixion, all the devotees believed Him. But, Thomas verified the holes on the hands of Jesus (that were formed because of nailing Him to the cross) by putting his fingers into those holes. Thomas became famous as “Doubting Thomas”. Then, Jesus told “Those, who see the proof and believe Me are not the blessed souls”. But, Duryodhana did not believe even on seeing the cosmic vision of God Krishna! God can uplift any soul provided the basic confidence in God exists. The benevolent God will not destroy any soul because He cannot destroy His issue. Even if the soul is thrown into the liquid fire for its sins, He patiently waits for the reformation of such soul so that He can immediately grant another life to the soul as soon as it is reformed. Hence, it is said in the Bible that neither the fire (liquid fire in hell) gets extinguished nor the insect (soul in hell) dies. Therefore, even the creation of hell shows the highest love of God on souls and not any attitude of revenge on souls.
50. Does God create His illusory forms only for the sake of sweet devotion?
Swami replied:- God can create illusory forms depending on the requirement of the miracle. This miracle is not confined only to sweet devotion. Kamsa in fear was seeing Krishna in every direction and these Krishnas were illusory forms of real Krishna created by the real Krishna. As per the requirement, the illusory form also may be given miraculous powers by the real Krishna.
51. How do You correlate when Your unreal form did satsanga and spiritual knowledge is an identification mark of the real form?
[In the miracle, where You were present at five places simultaneously, You did Satsanga at one of the places. But, You said that Your real form was at home and all other forms were unreal. It means that Your unreal form did Satsanga with devotees and spiritual knowledge is an identification mark of real form. How to correlate this?]
Swami replied:- As per the requirement of situation, God can transfer any power to any illusory form of Himself.
52. Why didn’t God protect Gopikas when they were looted and raped by the hunters?
[When Gopikas are said to be the top devotees having romanced with God, why didn’t God protect them when they were looted and raped by the hunters?]
Swami replied:- These Gopikas were not the devotees of Krishna. They were the women belonging to the general public in the kingdom of Dwaraka. They underwent punishments of their own personal sins. The devoted Gopikas of Krishna could not be raped by hunters, but, some of them were tortured as a part of the test of God (Rudra Pariikshaa) based on their own personal sins.
53. Is there any difference between Krishna and Radha?
[Swami, Krishna is the unimaginable God and Radha is the unimaginable power of the unimaginable God. Therefore, there is difference between Krishna and Radha like there is quantitative difference between sun and sunlight, even though qualitative similarity exists. In such case, how can You say that Krishna and Radha are exactly one and the same God?]
Swami replied:- Krishna is said to represent the unimaginable God and Radha is said to represent the unimaginable power of the unimaginable God. Representation does not mean oneness. The national flag is representing the country and this does not mean that the flag and the country are one and the same. The composition of Krishna has the unimaginable God as the God-component and has gross body, subtle body, causal body and internal instruments as the human being-component. The composition of Radha is just the same as that of Krishna. The only difference is that Krishna is covered by ignorance for entertainment, but, He gets the self-awareness whenever He wishes, which is required for His role as God. In the case of Radha, she is also covered by ignorance for entertainment and also to stand as an ideal devotee without getting self-awareness for the sake of justice of the role. She can get self-awareness whenever the unimaginable God through the real Krishna wishes. Swami Vivekananda was also the incarnation of personified power of God as Sage Nara, who is in association with Sage Narayana. Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa is the incarnation of Sage Narayana. The unimaginable God through Paramahamsa told Swami Vivekananda that He is locking the brain of Swami Vivekananda till the work of his role is completed in this world. He told that the key is kept with Him and that He will open the lock when the work in the world is completed.
Moreover, we said that there is qualitative similarity between sun and sunlight and that there is only quantitative difference. The item gets its identity only by the qualitative nature and not by the quantitative nature. Sugar, salt, oil are three items based on their qualitative natures. We don’t say that one bag of sugar is one item and the other bag of sugar is another item based on quantitative difference. Hence, Radha and Krishna or Anaghaa and Datta are one and the same based on qualitative similarity. Quantitative difference allows modification of the power into world and souls and also allows the impossibility of modification in the possessor of power. Since quantitative difference is not a substantial difference for the identification, this difference is not at all to be considered between the power and the possessor of power represented by Radha and Krishna respectively.
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