[O Krishna! My doubt is removed by Your answer like the darkness is removed by the Sun. Now, I am clear like a fully blossomed lotus flower in the daytime.]

 

[The sages attained God by doing penance. In the coming Kali Yuga, can an ordinary human being entangled in sins, attain God without doing penance?]

 

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān uvāca:-
[God Shri Krishna spoke:-]

[People think that if one leaves the house and sits in the forest repeating the name of God continuously, such process is called penance. For real penance, a specific place is not essential.]

 

[Gopikas did not go to forest and did not chant the name of God continuously. They were engaged in their household duties. Still, they got salvation and reached Goloka, which is higher than the highest abode of God called Brahmaloka.]

 

[The mind is the most important thing in penance. The time and place are not important. If a devotee’s mind is absorbed in God, his/her house itself becomes the greatest forest.]

 

[When the mind is absorbed in an object continuously, such action of mind is called ‘vṛtti’ by scholars. If the object is God, the vrutti absorbed in God is the best type of penance.]

 

[Simply chanting the name of God forever is not the eternal characteristic of penance. In such repeated chanting of the name of God, the mind is not absorbed in God. Such repeated chanting of the name of God without absorption of mind in God will create headache, not only to the devotee, but also to God.]

 

[The only reason for lack of concentrated absorption is the very little attraction towards God. The concentrated mental attraction towards God is very important in penance. Such concentrated absorption comes through hearing the stories of God and through the discussions of spiritual knowledge of God.]

 

[When somebody is taking bath in the river, if you press his head down and make him immersed in the river for some time, then the anxiety and suffering felt by him to come out of the water is called penance when the same anxiety and suffering is for God.]

 

[When the life is ending, the most cruel agony that happens with the aspiration for living, such agony felt every minute for the sake of God is called penance.]

 

[That is penance, which is the climax of devotion (Bhakti Yoga) that is born from the spiritual knowledge of God (Jnaana Yoga) and that which remains unchangeable in the fire test of practice (Karma Yoga).]

 

[The devotee, who is not vibrated even a little by the worldly pleasures that are like the heavenly dancers and whose mind is always doing the work of thinking about God only, such devotee is called the doer of penance (Tapasvii). This is the decision of scholars.]

 

[Some ignorant souls think that sexual union itself is the highest bliss. Such souls are affected by the illusion due to their worldly thoughts (samskaaras) since they are living in this world only. Hence, they imagine that the rāsa dance has a happy ending, which is sexual union with God.]

 

[These souls after death reach the three worlds, which are present above heaven (Maharloka, Janaloka and Tapoloka) and are preached by great sages regarding the ultimate salvation (merge of soul in the energetic form of God through its subtle energetic body in the upper worlds). When these souls are in the energetic bodies, their sexual thoughts belonging to materialized bodies also disappear and such state also helps the souls to understand the preaching of the sages. A soul reaching the worlds beyond heaven means that the soul has reached the state that is beyond the aspiration for heavenly sexual pleasures.]

 

[These souls, who controlled their sex feelings and senses, will be reborn on the earth to be engaged in the spiritual efforts that lead them to merge with the energetic incarnations in the upper worlds permanently. They also preach that such merge with God is the ultimate salvation.]

 

[For the souls, which are limited to this earth or having the worldly thoughts only belonging to Dushpravrutti or illegal sex (it means that they have not visited the three worlds above the heaven), the preacher has to say that there will be rāsakeli in Goloka and there will be heavenly dancers in heaven after their death, to encourage them following their strong state of ignorant mentality in their present life on the earth because materialised bodies will always have the fascination for sexual life.]

 

[Similarly, the atheists, who are in the bottommost level, are encouraged by the Vedic scholars to do the Vedic sacrifices through which they can reach the heaven to get sexual union with heavenly dancers. This is the path of Pūrvamīmāṃsā, which preaches atheism and sexual enjoyment with most beautiful heavenly dancers. This is also arthavāda or white lie, which is used to encourage the atheist to do the worship of God through the Vedic sacrifices (Yajnas).]

 

[In the Vedic sacrifice, the God to be worshipped is god Indra, the king of angels. He shall be understood from the root meaning of the word ‘Indra’. Indra means the ultimate ruler of the creation (Idi-aiśvarye, Īśvarasya bhāvaḥ aiśvaryam, Īśvaraḥ śāsati iti), which means the ultimate God Datta, who is the creator, ruler and destroyer of the creation. When the internal root meaning of the word ‘Indra’ is known, these atheists will become theists due to close association with the ruling God. It means that the atheists will become theists and enter into Nivrutti.]

 

[In this way, the arthavādas are very useful to uplift the soul from bottommost level to the highest level. While using this arthavāda, a white lie, the preacher must follow the ignorant and strong thoughts of the soul so that the ignorant soul will hear the advice of the preacher and climbs the very next step. People should not misunderstand the preacher as an ignorant person because arthavāda is a lie that helps the progress of the soul in right path only and not in wrong path. Arthavāda appears with a false face in the beginning and appears with true face in the end. With the false face, it leads the ignorant disciple upto the end, which is the end of the false illusory face.]