Swami answers questions of Smt. Chhanda (Part-2)

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10. Do the Gopikas who complained to mother Yashoda crossed the bond with their children?

[In reply to my Q8, Swami! You said in one place, "Even though Gopikas know that Krishna is God, they were covered by the illusory attraction towards their children and complained to mother Yashoda.". Does this mean then, the Gopikas who complained to mother Yashoda actually crossed the bond with their children? And it was the wish of Lord Krishna only that they will play the role of failed devotees? If it is so, then they are also the most fortunate souls who are in Goloka? Please clarify this doubt also as my ignorance is infinite.]

Swami replied:- God Krishna allowed Gopikas to recognize Him as God so that He wanted to test whether they would cross their bond with children for the sake of God. But, they failed and complained to mother Yashoda. This is not a drama of Krishna, but, it is a real test of Krishna to Gopikas. Only the Raasakeli dance was a drama and all Gopikas (sages) also know that the dance was a drama to preach the souls of Kali Yuga. One must distinguish between the drama and the real test of God Krishna. Almost all Gopikas complained to mother Yashoda against God Krishna because they could not cross their bonds with their children.

11. Can a real devotee feel satisfied in the service of contemporary human incarnation even He appreciates it?

[Can a real devotee ever feel satisfied in the service of contemporary human incarnation even if the incarnation appreciates it? In my view it should never be, of course this dissatisfaction is in a positive direction only. Please enlighten me.]

Swami replied:- Satisfaction gives some mental peace that is necessary to remove the stress created in the service to God. But, long satisfaction makes the devotee to become lazy. When the stress of the service is removed, the devotee must get dissatisfaction. Every devotee shall use each quality (like satisfaction, dissatisfaction, self-confidence etc.) like a proper medicine as treatment whenever the corresponding disease appears.

12. Which of the following cases would be liked more by God?

[Swami, please consider the following two cases: a) A devotee, who is not complaining to its higher ups about the injustice happening with it in its office. It thinks that whatever is happening is the will of God, the contemporary human incarnation and it leaves everything to the hand of God. It is ready to accept any consequence. It is totally detached from the consequence. So, there is no question of its devotion getting affected.

b) Same devotee as in case (a), registers a complaint to its higher ups about the injustice happened to it in the office. In this case the devotee puts its case very gently being totally detached from the result thinking that it must fight within its limit against injustice. At least God, the contemporary human incarnation will be happy to see that it is not supporting the injustice in the worldly life. And in this way also it’s devotion is not affected at all.

Please tell me, which case would be liked more by God? Whether a devotee keeping silent or a devotee who is complaining? Does it show incomplete faith in case (b)? Is it true that the devotee in case (a) shows complete faith in God?]

Swami replied:- God said that the devotee should be of the second (b) type. In the Gita, God advised Arjuna not to be inactive towards injustice. He only advised the soul to be detached from the expected fruit of any effort put in the world. The duty must be done, which is the essential work, but, one should be detached to the fruit of the duty-work. The fruit must be leftover in the hands of God. The reason is that a soul does not know the entire background of the cycle of deeds and fruits. The fruit may not be given if the case is a retort. Somebody slapped you. You don’t know whether you have slapped him in the previous birth and hence, you can’t take this as the retort case. You might not have slapped him in the previous birth and this may not be a retort case and instead it may be a fresh case. Hence, you must give a counter slap provided you feel that his slapping is unjust. But, if it is a retort case, you will somehow fail in giving that counter slap. The fellow, who slapped you, may be stronger than you or may be weaker than you. If the fellow is weaker than you and if you feel that his slapping you is unjust, you must retort the slap. But, if that fellow is stronger than you, you will not slap him back and you pray God to punish him. Here, you have to leave the decision to God. If this case is a fresh case, God will give him ten slaps. If this case is a retort case, God will keep silent. Hence, you have no authority about the fruit of an action, which can be decided by God alone. All this is explained by Me in the spiritual knowledge present in the website.

13. Swami, taking every word of praising from contemporary human incarnation as arthavaada is the best for all devotees. Is it not?

Swami replied:- Sometimes, it may be an arthavaada and sometimes, it may be truth also. If your consciousness says that you deserve the praise given by God, God has told the truth. If your consciousness says that you don’t deserve the praise given by God, God is telling a white lie to encourage you. If you feel underconfident or depressed, remember the praises again and again to boost the confidence. If a confident devotee recalls the praises again and again, ego would enter to destroy the spiritual path. If you are already confident, remember the factual truth that God alone deserves any amount of praises. When God praises a co-devotee for his/her merits, other devotees can get inspired to put efforts in attaining those merits. In case the devotee is suffering from excess of jealousy due to God praising the co-devotee, the devotee must think that every merit in every soul is given by God only and God can take back those merits if the devotee slips down due to ego. Such thinking of the devotee will pacify the jealousy raised in the devotee. As stated earlier, each quality, each praise and each arthavaada must be applied to treat a specific context, which is like a specific disease.

14. Will the crossing deathlike boredom be possible by removing ignorance?

[In reply to Shri Ramakanth’s question, You are telling "...In the context of incarnation only, it is said that God can cross the deathlike boredom by imposing ignorance on Him.” There itself, it is again told that “by self-awareness, the incarnation will get its original bliss...". Will this be imposing or removing Swami? Crossing deathlike boredom will be possible by removing ignorance. Isn't it? Or if it is about the capability of human incarnation, then in that sense it is fine. Please enlighten me.]

Swami replied:- When boredom comes, one will entertain himself/herself by imagining an imaginary world in the mind for entertainment. For real entertainment, the self-ignorance must be imposed by the person on himself/herself so that the imaginary world appears as real leading to real entertainemnt. Hence, by self-ignorance only, one can cross the boredom. If self-awareness exists, the person can’t get full real entertainment from the imagined imaginary world (Avidyayaa mrutyum tiirtvaa…- Veda). In the entertainment, the person may be completely trapped and may be suffering due to a tragic incident that appears in the imaginary world. The self-ignorance may be so strong that the person is unable to get out of the trap of the imaginary world and due to this, the person is unable to cross the imaginary misery. From this powerful trapping misery, the person may be relieved by getting self-awareness, which destroys the trap of imaginary misery because the self-awareness will make the imaginary world to disappear and the person comes to know that the entire imaginary world is completely false and not true at all. Therefore, by the self-awareness the person will become immortal due to the disappearance of death like imaginary misery (Vidyayaa’mruta mashnute…- Veda).

(continued…)

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