Posted on 16 Oct 2003. 
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Art of Living—Heart of Loving
In the word ‘living’, the letter ‘I’ (while writing) is a semicircle and it becomes full if it is written as ‘O’. Then the word living becomes loving. Add the word ‘He’ in the beginning. Then the word Art becomes Heart. He means God. The Veda says ‘Puruṣo ha vai’ i.e., God is only the male. So, He means only God. Thus, when you add God, the semicircle life becomes full and fruitful. The word living indicates life, which is the consciousness without world. It is only static energy. The word ‘loving’ indicates the thought, which is the consciousness with the world. Without thought, life is only like a stone. Plant is a living being but what is the use of its life without any thought? Life (living) is useful when it is a blissful thought of love.
When a wave in a river dissolves, water results. Such water is the thoughtless life energy like a living plant. The water wave is like a man with thoughts. By uncycling the thought (negative cycles), you are dissolving thoughts. Then simple life energy results which is like an inert electrical energy. This is the state of a stone and scriptures say that sinners are born as stones.
So, invite thoughts of bliss into your mind and shut down your mind when violent bad thoughts enter which disturb your peace. Peace is the absence of both bliss and worry. The dissolution of bad thoughts brings the peace but not the bliss. Peace is better than worry and so this dissolution process can be recommended when the bad thoughts have already entered the mind. But if you can shut down your mind to the very entry of bad thoughts, this dissolution process is unnecessary. Peace should not be the ultimate goal of life. Bliss is the ultimate aim of life. The Veda says that ‘God is Bliss’ and ‘God is Love’ (Ānando Brahma, Raso vai saḥ). Therefore, love is bliss. This means that God is the ultimate of these human lives. The living should not be an art. The living should be heartfelt. Even stealing is an art and is mentioned in the sixty-four arts. Art is acting and heart represents the sincere truth. Both bliss and love mean also life energy because inert things cannot have bliss and love.
Therefore, open your mind only to love i.e., God Who is bliss. The happy moments of this world are also temporary and they give you lot of worry after sometime. Suppose you love your son. That love stays in your heart. Later on when your son insults you, you feel very much worried and the cause of your worry is only your love to your son. Therefore, all the matters concerned to this world will either worry you in the beginning or at the end. So, scholars close their mind to all the matters of the world and open their mind to all the matters of God. This is the real and permanent art of living. In a temporary art of living, the mind is closed to worldly matters, which are worrying in the beginning itself, and the mind is opened to the worldly matters, which give happiness in the beginning. In such a temporary art of living since all the worldly matters end with grief only; the life ends with grief only.
Bliss is plus. Worry is minus. Peace is zero. The matters of God are permanently plus. The joyful matters of the world are temporary plus. For a person in this world the life consists of alternatively arranged plus and minus points. Let all the minus points are converted into zero points. The un-cycling process may dissolve the minus points, which have already entered the mind. Closing the mind may stop the minus points, which are trying to enter the minds. Now the human life consists of plus and zero points alternatively arranged. That means the person lives with bliss and peace alternatively. Peace is a good interval between two blissful moments for a man.
Now take the case of Lord Narayana who is in the upper world. For Him every moment is blissful and so He is with infinite bliss. He gets bored and wants a negative point as an interval. The zero point cannot be an effective interval after a long chain of plus points. Therefore, Lord Narayana came down as Rama and wept for Sita in the forest. He came down purposefully in the search of the minus point, which alone can be a good break in His case. Lakshmana advised Rama not to weep and further says, “weeping (minus point) will not bring Sita. Further it weakens you and He will not have sufficient energy to search Sita”. This is the best advice for any man to stop the minus point entering the brain. But for Lord Narayana who came down in search of the minus point as the interval, this cannot be the advice. Rama appeared as a man to eyes of Lakshmana due to His Maayaa and so Lakshmana gave this advice to Rama thinking that Rama is a man and became ignorant. Lord Rama just nodded His head and smiled to the advice of Lakshmana!
Krishna and Shishupala
Several serpents surround the Divine Nectar and the water is freely available in a well or river around which pleasant flower plants are present. Similarly, several negative points may surround God and the world may be associated with plus points. Anybody will try to taste the Divine Nectar only and not the water in the river. Similarly, one should try to taste God and not the world. If you compare Krishna and Shishupala, Shishupala is a better match. If Rukmini marries Shishupala, Rukmini will become the Queen of Chedi country and Shishupala is a better match because he will not marry any other lady. He is not having any illegal contacts. Krishna was famous in illegal contacts. Such a fellow will marry other ladies and so there is no guarantee that Rukmini will become the Queen of Dwaraka. Chedi is a country and Dwaraka is a city. The parents and brothers of Rukmini discussed deeply and took the decision to give Rukmini to Shishupala in marriage. The fruit of becoming queen is not certain. Rukmini has to face the problems with the other wives of Krishna. In spite of these negative points, Rukmini wanted Krishna only because Sadguru like Narada taught her about the greatness of Krishna than anybody in the world.
Similarly, a devotee must not expect any benefit from God, as Rukmini never aspired the Queen’s post. The devotee must be prepared to suffer the negative points shown by God i.e., God may give troubles even after your worship but still the devotees must Love God. The devotees must be attracted by the divine personality of God. You are attracted by the wonderful taste of the Divine Nectar and should face all the problems like Serpents etc., When a film hero dies, the fan of that hero, commits suicide. Fan is not benefited from the hero in anyway. In fact, the fan spent his money for the sake of the hero. So instead of benefit he is put to loss only due to the hero. The reason for such highest love is his strongest attraction towards his personality of the hero. Similarly, the attraction towards the divine personality of God should be the reason for your worship. It is just like your blind attraction towards your son. You served him in his childhood. When he is grown-up, he does not serve you but insults you. Still you are giving all your property to your son.
Such a treatment towards your son is not shown towards God. This clearly means that God is not equal even to your son. But in the prayers, you are telling that God is dearest to you. This is a lie. Thus, you have committed two sins. The first sin is your highest love is not on God, which in fact should be on God. The second sin is that you are telling a lie that He is dearest to you. Due to this the hatred of God on you is doubled.
Rukmini loved Krishna in spite of His exhibited negative qualities. After marrying Krishna, she became His servant and always pressed His feet. This means that the devotee must continue His service to God irrespective of the benefits or even the troubles. Krishna was pleased by such real love proved by the selfless service. He gave the highest value to Rukmini. When Rukmini placed a small leaf of Tulasi in the pan of the balance, that tiny leaf weighed the Lord. Rukmini purchased the Lord just by that leaf. Similarly, for such a devotee God gives such a highest value.
[Note:- On 16th October, 2003, Swami was singing a divine song composed by Him. The song says that, if the ‘Brahma Jnana-Samadhi’ is given to anybody he will be dipped in the ocean of bliss. One devotee Smt. Padma, immediately asked Swami to give that state to her. Swami warned that if that state is given the devotee will not return to this world for three days. But she insisted Swami to give that state. Then Swami wrote something on her head with finger. Immediately her eyes were closed and she entered into the state of Samadhi. She did not open her eyes, did not take food and water and also did not sleep for three days. She was telling “I am swimming in the ocean of bliss. The waves of bliss are vibrating my body continuously. If I hear the voice of Swami, these waves are tremendously increasing”. Surprisingly she drove the vehicle with closed eyes on the main road. Swami wanted to remove that state but she did not agree. Finally on the third day all the other devotees prayed Swami to remove her from that state. Otherwise it may become dangerous to her life. Then Swami wrote something again on her head with finger. She came back to the normal state. This is a situation which all the devotees at Vijayawada have seen with their eyes. Swami told that Shri Rama Krishna Paramahamsa gave this state to Swami Vivekananda. On the occasion of closing the Samadhi state a very concentrated fragrance of Vibhuti (Sacred Ash) was emitted by Swami which has crossed the house and spread even to the road.
Sant Vishnu Dattananda
Disciple of Swami]
From Vacant Space to the Present Human Form
The atheist says that God does not exist. For him God is nothing i.e., vacant space. This is the first stage. When he sees miracles, he becomes the believer in God. He accepts God as some power or energy. The power or energy is also formless, like vacant space. So the concept of God is near to his previous concept and thus the atheist (Scientist) accepts the formless (Niraakaara) God very easily. The third stage is God with form (Saakaara). In this stage statues in the human form are introduced. The training is given to do the sixteen upachaaras (services) to these statues in human form. This training indicates that they have to worship the God in human form in this way. The sixteen upachaaras are actually related to the human form only. For eg.: the first upachaara ‘Aavaahanam’ means invitation corresponds to the human being only and not to inert statue. The statue in the temple is better than the statue in your house. Why? Because in the temple the ‘Prana pratishthaa’ i.e., initiation of life is done to the statue. This again indicates that you have to worship the statue with life. The concept is the inert statue plus life is equal to human being.
Therefore, in the temple the statue indicates that you have to worship the statue with life i.e., the human form of God only. Like this you are slowly trained to worship the human form of the God by the sixteen upachaaras. In this training when your egoism and jealousy is completely destroyed now the human form of the God is introduced. Unless your egoism and jealousy are completely destroyed you cannot accept the human form directly. So, the worship of the inert statue in the human form introduces the concept of human form, then the initiation of life (Prana pratishthaa) introduces the concept of living human form. Thus, this is a gradual transformation of you by reducing your egoism and jealousy. When your egoism and jealousy are completely removed, the final human form of God is introduced. Only a particular man like Lord Krishna is God. This is Advaita philosophy, which is extended to every man due to the same jealousy and egoism. If every man is God, nobody requires salvation.
Like this when you are travelling from vacant space to formless energy or power then you are accepting the human form but without life which is a statue in your house. In the same stage you are accepting the statue plus life in the temple which means only a living human form. Finally, you are catching the God in the present living human form. Whatever I preached here is having the best practical proof. Hanuman, the greatest of the human beings in this world worshipped Rama only who was a living human being in His time. He did not go down i.e.; He never meditated upon the formless God or the statues. In Valmiki Ramayana such things are not mentioned. He never worshipped even previous human incarnations like Vamana. He worshipped only the human incarnation present in His generation. Similarly, Radha never worshipped ‘Rama’ but worshipped only Krishna who was the human incarnation of her generation.
As per Bhagavatam, Radha also never worshipped the statues or the formless God. Hanuman became Brahma and Radha became the queen of the 15th World Goloka. Nobody in this world will attain a better position than these two. So your spiritual journey must end in recognizing the human incarnation of God present in your generation. God is impartial and so He comes down in human form in every generation. If you say Lord Krishna is only the latest incarnation, then that generation was blessed and God became partial. Therefore, God is coming in human form in every human generation. People are not recognizing Him because after the incarnation of Krishna, the egoism and jealousy are growing continuously in all the human beings. The man did not recognize the God coming in human form after Krishna. After Krishna and before Kalki is Kaliyuga. Due to the influence of the Kali, people are full of egoism and jealousy and so they cannot recognize the human form of God in Kaliyuga.
God comes in different human forms in the same time in various levels for the sake of devotees in various levels. He comes as a school teacher for the school students, as a lecturer for the college students and as a Professor for the postgraduate students. Since the school students and college students are large in number He comes down as a number of school teachers and college lecturers. Such incarnations are called as ‘Amshaavataaras’ which mean the incarnations of a small portion of His power. The incarnation of His radiation is called Kalaavataara which is the formless God like light worshipped by some believers. The light travels as waves and the Shiva Linga in the temple represents this formless God. Since the Postgraduation students are less in number only one professor comes down and He is the ‘Paripuurna tamaavataara’ i.e., the most complete incarnation which reveals the final true knowledge. He is called ‘Sadguru’ or the original Datta in the human form.
Datta exists in two forms. 1) The three headed form. 2) One headed form. The three headed form indicates ‘Parabrahma’ (God) who creates, rules and destroys the Universe by His three faces. The other single headed form is the external human form in which the three-headed form exists as the internal form, which is not seen. This is the essence of the ‘Eka Mukha Datta’ (One headed from) and ‘Trimukha Datta’ (The three headed form). Therefore, the School teacher shows miracles and converts the atheist into theist. The college lecturer trains the theists in the worship of the statues having human form to remove ego and jealousy in the man and make him a devotee. The last university professor gives the final true knowledge that God comes down in human form only and that He (the professor) Himself is God.
God is Beyond Criticism
People criticize God due to misunderstanding. God can never be criticized because whatever God does is the perfect justice. You are criticizing God with your limited knowledge. Let us take the case of Lord Rama. People criticized Him in two points.
After the battle, Sita was brought. Rama says “Go and marry Bharata to become the queen of Ayodhya or marry Vibhishana to become the queen of Lanka”. People criticize Rama for such harsh words. If you refer Valmiki Ramayana (Sundara Kanda). Sita said “Piturnideśam” i.e., “Oh! Rama after two months You will go to Ayodhya and marry several ladies and You will enjoy the kingdom. I will die here always thinking about You”. Sita blamed the Lord by such words and the Lord retorted with the same harsh words.
Even though Sita has proved to be chaste by entering the fire, the washerman blamed her. Based on that blame, Rama sent her to forest. For this, the answer is like this. When Rama was dragged by the golden deer Sita asks Lakshmana to go and help Rama. She says “You have come to forest along with your brother with a motive to enjoy me in the absence of your brother”. This sin is more severe than the previous sin because abusing a devotee (Bhaagavata apachaara) will make God more furious, than abusing Himself (Bhagavat apachaara). So the Lord created an equivalent blame through the washerman and also sent Sita to forest. In the first sin her words are punished by words. But in the second sin which is more serious, her words were punished by words and action. Why Rama should punish Sita in her life itself? Sita is the incarnation of Maha Lakshmi. She has to go to Vaikuntha Loka straightly from the earth and cannot go to the hell. For this purpose, Lord Rama cleared her file containing these two sins here itself.
Lord Krishna is criticized for dancing with Gopikas in Brindavanam. There are two points here to be noted before you criticize Lord Krishna.
Let us go back. Krishna was Rama. Gopikas were sages. The sages were attracted by the beauty of Rama and wanted to embrace Him in the form of ladies. Rama promised that their desire will be fulfilled when He comes as Lord Krishna. Let us still go back. Krishna was Datta. These sages were the sages living with Datta. The sages were having their families. These sages told that Datta was their husband. There was no objection from any corner. Datta wanted to test these sages by reversing those sages as family women. Datta became Krishna. Now can the sages as family ladies tell that Krishna is their husband? There will be a lot of opposition from all the corners if they say so? Is the attraction of the sage on God was so powerful that still the sage can say that? This is the test of Datta. Gopikas passed the test. So, Lord left the Brindavanam since there is no need of re-examination. So, He never returned back. He did not conduct this test outside the Brindavanam because there is nobody of that level. Therefore, Lord Krishna never danced like this, outside the Brindavanam. This test was at very high level limited to those few sages only. If the Lord is of such nature as you think, the Lord who left the Brindavanam at the age of eighteen years must have danced outside also or He must have returned back to Brindavanam to do the same dance. This clearly proves that the Lord is of not that petty nature as you think.
Lord Shiva is blamed for killing Yama Dharma Raja who was on the duty to kill Markandeya as per his duty. People say that Shiva killed the officer on duty due to hasty anger and gave him life again after realization. Will the Lord err and rectify like this? This damages the divine personality of Lord Shiva. Actually, Lord Shiva killed him in the case of Markandeya only to teach him a lesson. Earlier to this, Yama Dharma Raja gave life to Satyavan when Savitri flattered him by praise. He should not have violated his duty even by the personal praise. Now he is particular of his duty when Markandeya is praising Lord Shiva! Therefore, to correct him, Lord Shiva played all this drama. In fact, Markandeya was a radiation of Shiva Himself (Kalaavataara).
So, one must be very careful before criticizing the God. He should have patience to analyze. He should have firm faith on God and believe that whatever God does is the justice.
These clarifications are not revealed so far to this world. Only today Guru Datta is revealing the truth by giving correct explanation. Only Sadguru, Who is the incarnation of the Lord Guru Datta can reveal such truth.
[Note:- After this discourse the fragrance of Sacred Ash (Vibhuti) came in high concentrated form for a long time from Swami. Swami told that since the discourse ended with the case of Lord Shiva in which He ultimately won He was pleased and this fragrance indicates His happiness]
Money and Spirituality
All the scriptures say that the family bonds should be cut or at least reduced and the strongest bond should be with the God. The family bonds in the case of foreigners are very weak by themselves. They ask their children to earn and live after certain age. But the Indians store the money for generations together. Why is this difference between Indians and foreigners? The reason is the Christian religion was thoroughly cleaned by Lord Jesus. As a result, all their impurities of religion were washed away. People have developed the divine love due to the precious preaching of the Holy Bible. They sacrifice lot of their earnings not only for the spiritual missions in their countries but also to the spiritual missions of other countries which proves their infinite love to the God. But in the case of Hinduism such cleaning did not take place. The Scriptures are in Sanskrit and the interpretations of these Scriptures are limited to the hands of a few scholars. Several misinterpretations and twists were given. So, the Hindu public is always misled. Due to this, the worship of God has become just a business to gain the selfish ends. This situation was prevailing even in the foreign countries before the Lord came in human form as Jesus. As a result of this, Hindus did not develop the real divine love and so they do not sacrifice to the God. They concentrate on prayers by words and on meditation by mind. So, God gave strong thinking power of mind and good pronunciation of words of the language to the Indians. But India was not blessed with wealth. In the case of foreign countries there is not so much meditation and not so many prayers, but they have divine love on God to sacrifice most of their earnings to God’s work. So, God blessed the foreign countries with immense wealth. God will continue to bless in future also.
There are three strong bonds.
1) Bond with husband or wife
2) Bond with children
3) Bond with money.
The bond with money is the strongest of all the three bonds because all the relatives are depending on the financial consideration only. Vashishtha says to Rama “Dhana mūlamidaṃ jagat’ which means that money is the root of this entire world. When money and God compete with each other, money only succeeds because people are worshipping God for money only. They want money from the God and give that money to their children. From that money even little is not given to God. Even if it is given, they want several times more than that from that God again. Without aspiring anything in return, if you give some money to God’s work you are viewed very high in the eyes of God. Money proves the real love. You are giving all your money to your children. So, your real love is on your children only. You have served them in their childhood. When they become elders, even if they do not serve you in return and even if they insult you, you are giving all your property to them only. But in the case of God you are not giving even one rupee to God doubting whether He will help you after taking this one rupee in advance. You are treating the God just as an outsider. He is nowhere near your children.
Just think Gopikas who have given all their stored money (butter) to Lord Krishna only, without giving even to their children. Just think about Shabari who has given her meal the fruits to Lord Rama. Just think about Kannappa, who has given his meal, the flesh to Lord Shiva. All these devotees offered even their minimum food to the Lord without satisfying even their hunger. In ‘Shri Kalahasti’ even the serpent gave its hard-earned ‘Gem’ to Lord Shiva and got salvation. The Spider gave its network built by its ‘Saliva’ to Lord Shiva and got salvation. They offered their wealth to the God without aspiring anything in return. Kuchela was suffering with lot of poverty. He did not ask anything from Lord Krishna. Even in that condition he offered a handful of rice to the Lord. He returned back without asking even one rupee from the Lord. Lord gave him the wealth, which is infinite. Because Kuchela developed the real bond with the God, he got infinite wealth.
The scriptures also say that your sacrifice of money is highest.
Shirdi Sai used to ask Guru Dakshina from everybody to teach this important sacrifice. He criticized a merchant who came for Brahma Jnana but was not giving even Rs.5/- from his pocket. Mr. Patil, a farmer used to donate the entire yearly crop to Baba and took back whatever Baba gave back to him.
[This discourse was given by Swami in Bombay (Mumbai)] Once you recognized Lord in human form, follow Him blindly. Hanuman followed Rama and served Him in His personal work of getting Sita. It should not be mistaken. It is clubbed with protection of the world that is killing Ravana. So, you should not analyze God. Whatever is dear to Him is Dharma and whatever is not dear to Him is Adharma. So, do what He orders you. You do it. Shirdi Sai asked a Brahmin on Ekadashi to kill the goat. He was ready to do it. Then Sai stopped him. He tested his faith in Him. Dharma came as a cow and Datta protects Dharma. Protector is greater than the protected. He competes with Dharma to test your love on Him. You must prefer Him and leave Dharma. After all the aim of Dharma is only to please Him. To be grateful to the creator of this entire universe is the highest Dharma. Dharmaraja went to hell for telling truth. He was ordered by Lord to tell a lie. But Dharmaraja voted for Dharma and told truth and so he went to hell for not hearing the Lord. Even very great devotees fall down at this point. You have to give Him topmost priority.
Flashes from the Divine Discourses of Swami
Longevity of Devotion
When you select a bridegroom, his longevity is very important apart from his beauty and good qualities. If the longevity is not there what is the use of his beauty and good qualities? Similarly, excellent devotion on God may exist but how long the devotion continues at that level is the most important point in the eyes of the God. Devotion, which is very high in the beginning, should continue forever.
Worldly Wisdom
Worldly wisdom is good for all worldly matters, but it is not good in spiritual matters. You will win more and more in the world as you become more and more wise, but you are becoming far and far from the God. Old people look less wise in the worldly matters and you are mocking at them. You don’t know how much near they are to God.
Reaction To Violence
When one throws fire on you if you throw fire against him in return, can your fire extinguish the opposite fire? The fire thrown by you cannot pacify the injuries caused by the opposite fire on your body. The injuries caused by your fire on the body of your enemy will increase the strength of your enmity with him. If you throw water against his fire, your water can extinguish the opposite fire. The water fallen on your enemy generates repentance in your enemy and the enmity ends forever. A Scholar shows love as answer to violence. An ignorant fellow shows anger as answer to the anger.
Human Incarnation is God All The Time
When you put on the switch the bulb glows. When there is no necessity, the switch is put off and the current is not flowing in the bulb. Similarly, the human incarnation is associated with power of God whenever it is necessary. In other times He remains as a human being only. But in that stage also He is God because in that time also He sacrifices Himself for the sufferings of His devotees. When He remains as a human being, He attracts the sins of His devotees and undergoes the sufferings. For such sacrifice He is called ‘Datta’. Datta means He who sacrificed Himself for the sake of others. Therefore, the human incarnation continues to be God in all the times. He is either associated with the power of God or He is sacrificing Himself for the sins of His devotees.
Knowledge is The Full Form of God
You think that the human incarnation is with high power when He performs miracles and is with less power when He preaches the knowledge. It is wrong. While preaching the divine knowledge He is full God like a thousand-watt bulb. He is a zero watt bulb while performing the miracles. Therefore, even petty people are getting the powers of miracles. But they cannot attain the divine knowledge. While preaching Kauravas and while preaching Arjuna Lord Krishna was full God (Vishwaruupam State). When scholars preach the bookish knowledge, they are also zero watt bulbs. The divine knowledge preached by the human incarnation is called ‘Prajnanam’ or ‘true knowledge’ as said by the Veda. ‘Prajnanam’ means the knowledge that is not possible for any human being to preach. Scholars are called Gurus. The human incarnation alone is Sadguru. Sat means God. Sadguru means God in the form of Guru.
The Three Tests
Love on God is called devotion (bhakti). Love on worldly things is called love (prema). The meaning is same for both the words love and devotion.
There are three strongest worldly chains.
1) Love between husband and wife.
2) Love on children.
3) Love on money.
These three bonds are called ‘Eshanas’. Datta (God) competes with these three bonds in His tests. One cannot reach even the outer gate of Lord Datta if he fails in these three tests.
Respect And Love
You are respecting your parents because you are receiving some benefit from them at present and also in the future. You love your wife and children because you are giving your earnings to them. Therefore, when you aspire something from God you are respecting God. When you sacrifice something to God without any aspiration in return you love God. God likes love and not the respect. Such a love, which involves sacrifice only and not any aspiration from God, is called as real devotion. Try to convert all your respect into love on God. That means sacrifice for God’s work and don’t aspire anything from God in return.
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