Swami answers questions of Smt. Chhanda (Part-1)

1. Are the meanings of Vairagya and Samnyaasa more or less same?

[Smt. Chhanda asked:- Paadanamaskaram my Lord Krishna! Please enlighten me by clarifying my following ignorance:

By reading a discourse given by You, I got an understanding that the meanings of Vairagya and Samnyaasa are more or less same? As per my understanding, they are different. Please clarify. The discourse follows: “…Scholars are also confused about the meaning of the word ‘Vairagya’. This word is used in the meaning of special love or broken love. In other words, the word ‘Vairagya’ has two meanings: high affection and perished affection. It should be said that Vairagya is the special affection towards Me, who is God and Vairagya also means the perished affection in these temporary worldly material bonds. Vairagya is not a dull and rocky state lacking any love. Samnyaasa means to keep well. Samnyaasa is to keep the worldly bonds in the world itself. …Therefore, the word ‘samnyaasa’ does not end with the meaning of sacrifice. But that word ends with ‘in bond’. So, forming a bond is the meaning of the word ‘Samnyaasa’. …Therefore, Samnyaasa is about forming a special bond in the form of love, but not a dull state of lovelessness.” At Your divine lotus feet, Chhanda always.]

Swami replied:- Vairāgya means simply detachment from worldly bonds. This word comes from Vi+Rāga. Rāga means the fascination in the worldly bonds. When this fascination is destroyed, the soul is liberated from the worldly bonds. A stone is also claimed to be liberated from worldly bonds because its fascination does not exist at all! This is not liberation. Salvation or liberation means detachment from worldly bonds due to the burnt fascination through penance. Penance means the eternal agony like love on God. Hence, salvation is concluded as the liberation from worldly bonds due to attachment to God. This is the correct meaning for salvation. This meaning stands for the word ‘Saṃnyāsa’ also.

Saṃnyāsa means both attachment and detachment. It means detachment from the worldly bonds due to burning of worldly fascinations, which is caused by the attachment of the soul to God. This attachment to God shall finally result as the blind fascination to God. But, blind fascination shall come after full awareness of the divine personality of God. It is not like born blind fascination. This blindness comes after full concentration on the spiritual knowledge of God. Brahmā means studying the entire Vedic spiritual knowledge (Brahma is the author of Veda). Vishnu means further studying the spiritual knowledge with full logical analysis (study of the Brahma Sutras written by Sage Vyāsa, who was the incarnation of God Vishnu and study of the Gita spoken by Krishna, who was the full incarnation of God Vishnu). Shiva means the final resulting blind fascination to God. Gopikas were with blind fascination towards God Krishna in that birth and they were in the stage of God Shiva. In previous births, they were sages studying all the scriptures and were existing in the stage of God Brahmā. In the further previous births, they did penance for God and were in the stage of God Vishnu. Penance means continuous analysis of the internal divine personality of God and not the penance you see in the cinemas.

In fact, the word ‘Vairāgya’ is also like the word Samnyaasa. Vi+Rāga means both burnt fascination and climax fascination. The prefix ‘Vi’ means both absence and excessive presence. Similarly, saṃ+nyāsa means pushing fascination for worldly bonds from inside (mind) to outside and it also means pushing fascination for God from outside to inside (mind). God and world are opposite to each other like North and South poles. If you are wishing to be near North pole, you have to be away from South pole and vice-versa. If you want to study well, you have to be away from cinemas, novels and unnecessary gossip with friends. But, if you develop real interest in studies, these three unnecessary activities will drop by themselves without any effort. Similarly, if you develop real interest in God, all these worldly bonds will drop by themselves. Hence, one shall try for the development of devotion to God and not at all try to detach from the worldly bonds. There is no use of detaching from worldly bonds without attaching to God, in which case, you will be like an inert stone. Detachment from worldly bonds shall be a spontaneous consequence of devotion to God like a by-product generated in the manufacture of some other important product. Never put efforts for detachment from worldly bonds and always put all the concentrated efforts to develop devotional attachment with God.

2. As per Your above definition of ‘Vairagya’ in Question 1, Your below statement is not in line. Please explain.

[Your knowledge says, “You should never try for Vairagya. Instead, you should always try for bhakti. Due to bhakti, vairagya should come but due to vairagya, bhakti will not come.” But as per Your definition of ‘Vairagya’ in Q1, Your above statement is not going in line. Please explain.]

Swami replied:- The word Vairaagya has both meanings:- i) Excessive love to God and ii) burning love to worldly bonds. Out of these two meanings, we have fixed the meaning of Vairaagya in the second option, which is detachment from worldly bonds. The word ‘Bhakti’ has only one option of meaning, which is excessive love to God. Keeping this context in our view (because generally public takes this context only), I said that you shall try for Bhakti and not for Vairāgya. Of course, the word Vairāgya also means excessive love to God and this meaning is not taken here.

3. Please explain how forgetting leads to birth of many living beings?

[Swami in another discourse of Yours, I came across the following: “In the dresses of those devatas, by identifying one with those dresses, I forget Myself. Because I forget Myself, many living beings are born. Because of this forgetting only, I enjoy the pleasure of this universe-drama. Because of the ignorance of forgetting Myself, even the items of awareness and inert nature are born.” Please explain how forgetting leads to birth of many living beings as well as inert nature items.]

Swami replied:- God is wearing a dress. The dress may be inert item or non-inert living being. For both types of dresses, God is the supporting basis. If God is aware of Himself, there is no ignorance to God. In such state of self-awareness, this creation, which is made of ignorance of God, disappears. If the ignorance disappears, its product, the dream also disappears. If self-awareness appears, self-ignorance disappears. Even in the state of daydream (imagining an imaginary world in awaken state), you can’t enjoy your day dream without your self-ignorance. The aim of the daydream is only the self-entertainment. This is the divine secret of creation of the world by God.

4. Why did the Gopikas dance with brotherly feelings towards Lord Krishna?

[In Shri RadhaKrishna Gita, You said: “These Gopikas are originally sages, who already burnt their lust in their penance fire. They are dancing with My illusory forms feeling themselves as their sisters. They are very pure souls. This is an internal drama in this world-drama.” Here in this context, my question is why are they dancing with brotherly feelings towards Lord Krishna? This brotherly feeling also is a worldly bond only. Then what is the harm if they dance with darling feeling towards their God? Please elaborate. I am not able to absorb this.]

Swami replied:- Gopikas are having miraculous powers from their past penance even though they are born as ignorant cowherds. They know the basic truth of the Raasakeli dance that it is meant for the sake of the souls of the upcoming Kali age. They know that God Krishna is directing this drama for the sake of souls of coming Kali age. Already, they have burnt their lust in the penance done by them in several previous births as sages. Hence, there is no possibility of lust in the case of Gopikas even towards God or to anybody. Gopikas also know that they are dancing with illusory duplicate forms of Krishna. They know that the real Krishna is standing at the centre along with Radha. In such situation, they are beyond the feeling of any worldly bond. They are simply acting the feelings as per the drama directed by God Krishana. Since the sages have already burnt their strong lust by their penance in the context of the dance of heavenly dancers before them, the romantic lust is absent in them. Hence, they were having the brotherly love towards illusory Krishnas since illusory Krishnas are also their co-human beings. As per the worldly manners of justice, one human being calls other human beings as brother or sister, if both souls are approximately of the same age. But, outside audience see Rāsakeli dance as romantic dance only because through illegal romantic attraction (Arthavāda or white lie) only, the soul of Dushpravrutti can be uplifted. Even in a cinema shooting, the hero and heroine are expected to act with internal detachment to real romance. Of course, the present cinema shootings are taken in Kali age and the matter may be quite different!

5. To whom is the Shloka ‘Sarvadharmaan parityajya…’ from the Gita applicable?

[You also revealed that ‘‘Sarvadharmaan parityajya… - Gita” is also a chocolate for the initial stage for a soul, who is in Dushpravrutti. Is it really so? So far, my understanding was that this statement is for devotees, who are in climax stage of Nivrutti like the 12 passed Gopikas. In my view, the soul considered here must not be in Dushpravrutti at least even though God can do any impossible possible being the omnipotent. Please remove this misunderstanding. I am really confused.]

Swami replied:- The sloka in the Bhagavad Gita can be applied to different contexts. This verse is applicable to both Dushpravrutti devotee and climax Nivrutti state devotee. For Dushpravrutti devotee, the applied meaning is “Don’t bother about sins. You surrender to Me completely. I will uplift you and remove all your sins, which are generated due to your illegal sexual affairs”. This means that the Dushpravrutti-devotee is attracted to God based on his/her attitude of illegal lust due to the arthavaada (white lie) that illegal love for God is climax Nivrutti (selfless love for God). Slowly the devotee will understand the importance of justice and will leave injustice or sins. The applied meaning for climax Nivrutti devotee is “Don’t worry about your worldly bonds. You surrender to Me completely. I will uplift you and remove all your sins, which are generated due to not doing your duties for your worldly bonds.” For the statement of God, million meanings can be taken to be applied to million contexts.

6. Please resolve the following contradiction.

[In reply to the question ‘Can a woman approach the incarnation if she suffers from unfulfilled sexual desire leading to multiple sexual partners?’, You said that the human incarnation is not a call-boy (Link is: https://www.universal-spirituality.org/discourses/swami-answers-questions-of-shri-hrushikesh--5664--5655--ENG). But Swami does this reply not go against the knowledge preached by Yourself? You only said that if a soul which is in Dushpravrutti (which is supposed to be the maximum in number in this Kali age) turns towards God by seeing the chocolate in the very beginning, will get reformed in due course of time. This question is very genuine from that direction because this soul knows that it is earning sin only and hence, wants to take help of God. But Your answer seems to be in opposite direction. Please remove this ignorance.]

Swami replied:- God will select only such Dushpravrutti devotees, who have some hope of reformation. Entrance test is conducted even to admit a student into a school. God is omniscient and knows everything about every devotee. This policy of reformation is applicable to such devotees, who are having some scope of reformation in the eyes of God.

7. What is the basis for accepting the soul in Dushpravrutti when it approaches the contemporary human incarnation?

[One more doubt in continuation to my above question: On what basis then the soul in Dushpravrutti with lustful tendency be accepted when it approaches the contemporary human incarnation? Does He see the probability of the soul getting reformed or not? Or does He see the attitude? But if the soul gets rejected, it’s chance of removing not only lustful tendency will worsen but also getting the chance of reformation also almost lost. Moreover, at this stage, the soul will definitely come due to the attraction of the chocolate only and nothing more can be expected. Is it not Swami? I really apologise if this question poses any sense of audacity from any angle. The whole aim is to understand it properly. Please improve my understanding.]

Swami replied:- A soul, which has no scope of reformation, will be punished for its sins so that the soul becomes mentally allergic to the sins. After sometime, the intensity of Dushpravrutti will be gradually reduced and the soul will become eligible for the above said program of reformation.

8. Is it really true that the 12 passed Gopikas knew that they were playing in a divine drama?

[Swami, is it really true that the 12 passed Gopikas were knowing in that birth that they were playing in a divine drama depicting the very nature of the future souls in Kaliyuga? Even if they were knowing it, then also, internally they were at their climax stage of Nivrutti and because of that only they could surrender everything to their contemporary human incarnation and not because they were coming to Pravrutti from Dushpravrutti being attracted by the initial chocolate that You mentioned? It was very natural for them to go even against the justice? Please comment.]

Swami replied:- The miraculous powers attained through penance by the sages reborn as Gopikas are under the control of God. If God wishes that the fact should be known to them, then only, they will get to know the fact. If God wishes that Gopikas should not identify a fact, such fact will not be known by the sages born as Gopikas. Gopikas recognized Krishna as God since Krishna wished for it. Even though Gopikas know that Krishna is God, they were covered by the illusory attraction towards their children and complained to mother Yashoda against God Krishna. Now, sages can’t argue that they were covered by illusion since they could not identify Krishna as God. As per the requirement of drama, God controls everything including the miraculous powers attained by penance. Of course, the sages were great devotees, who can cross justice for God. That doesn’t mean that they will cross justice whenever they like. Only when God tests the devotee by asking to cross the justice for Him, the climax devotee will do it for God. Siriyaala has killed his son and cooked him for the sake of God when God asked for it. When God commanded Abraham to offer his son as a sacrifice, Abraham obeyed it. In both these cases, justice was crossed. But, these cases are appreciated because it is as per the command of God. Therefore, in both cases, God gave back life to the son of the devotee and blessed the devotee with salvation. If a devotee violates justice without any instruction from God, it simply reveals that the act of injustice is done due to devotee’s own self‑interest. Even if God tests a Nivrutti level female devotee by offering sexual union with Him, the test ends when the devotee gets ready for it, crossing the justified spouse-bond for God. God will not even proceed to creating an illusory form for the sake of sexual union with that Nivrutti devotee and commands her to dedicate herself in the propagation of spiritual knowledge, which is the mission of God. Therefore, the words like ‘lust’ or ‘sex’ do not exist in the dictionary of Nivrutti.

9a. In Your below statement, are You talking about preachings of past incarnations?

[Swami, in verse 22 of Chapter 16 of Shri RadhaKrishna Gita, You said, "If the soul is unable to attain the guide or Sadguru, the spiritual knowledge given by the Sadguru can be used as the guide." In this text, following are my doubts:

First of all, will this 'unable' be not 'able' in this explanation? If it is really unable, then how can it use it as the guide? Are You talking about preachings of some past incarnations here?]

Swami replied:- The spiritual knowledge given by the Sadguru through past human incarnations, which got printed can be used as the guide.

b. In Your above statement, is the word ‘unable’ correct?

[Even if it is ‘unable’ how can it be so? My understanding is that if contemporary incarnation is not attained, the preaching/knowledge of past incarnations is always available either in the form of books or some other form or may be in some guru form. If a soul is really interested, it will search for it and will definitely come in touch with it. Since it didn’t search, it did not come in contact with such knowledge. Till the incarnation is seen, we have to go through the earlier scriptures/knowledge only, which is the only alternative. A devotee must search for it. It can't be ‘unable’ then from this point of view also. Is it not? Please clarify.]

Swami replied:- Whenever there is real necessity for the Sadguru, God will come as Sadguru to such devotee. Preachers came to Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa searching for Him. If one is becoming eligible for an advanced spiritual step, the omnipotent God will arrange for it.

(continued…)

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