Swami answers questions of Smt. Chhanda (Part-3)

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15. Swami, please correct my thinking if I am wrong.

[One day, Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa ordered one of His very close disciples, Swami Yogananda to kill a cockroach. But due to His extreme soft nature, the disciple could not kill it and left it. Then he regretted for this and confessed before Paramahamsa and He forgave him by saying that it is due to his soft nature only. My doubt is that the disciple earned more sin by not following his Sadguru’s order rather than earning merit by leaving it, following ahimsa. Please correct my thinking Swami if I am wrong.]

Swami replied:- Not following Sadguru’s order blindly is not a sin. It only shows that the devotee has not reached the final spiritual state in which blind faith on Sadguru is fully developed and maintained. The devotee is in the state of Dharma Raja, who gave more importance to justice than God. In fact, the cockroach died even though the devotee left it without harming it. Sadguru, the human incarnation of God, knows this and used its time of death in testing the faith of the devotee.

16. Is the meaning of ‘aatmanivedanam’ same as ‘madness’ Swami? ? If different, then in what way?

Swami replied:- Ātmanivedanam means total surrender to God in which there is nothing that can’t be surrendered to God, if God wishes for it. This is the last step of the nine types of devotion. There are also ten stages of devotion in which the ninth stage is madness and the tenth stage is death. In both classifications, the total surrender and madness stand as ninth step. This does not mean that both are one and the same. In the total surrender, mental balance exists, whereas in madness, mental balance does not exist.

17. If the same cinema repeats in each Maha Yuga, how can it give entertainment to God?

[Paadanamaskaram O Lord Datta! Please clarify my following doubts: You told that we are in the 28^th Mahayuga now and the creation has repeated 27 times already. Souls cannot realize this as they do not remember anything. My question is that God does not forget anything. After seeing the same cinema, how can it give entertainment to Him? And more importantly, why is the repetition of the same cinema required?]

Swami replied:- God also forgets the story of world-cinema by imposing ignorance on Himself through a simple wish. If God can’t forget, He can’t be omnipotent since He is unable to forget. The entertainment also can be fully enjoyed by God due to self-ignorance only and not due to self-awareness. When He forgets Himself, He forgets His memory also. Memory and ignorance are generated by just His wish only (Mattas smṛtir jñāna mapohanaṃ ca— Gita).

18. What is the meaning of Turīya?

[Paadanamaskaram my Lord Krishna! Please remove the following ignorance of this very ordinary soul on the state of ‘Turīya’. The below questions are based on Your discourse ‘Avidyaa and States of Consciousness’ (Link:- https://www.universal-spirituality.org/discourses/avidyaa-and-the-states-of-consciousness-(part-1)--5787--5777--ENG). In all my questions, my concentration is only on human incarnation of God and I am totally ignoring our cases as You already have explained that the four states of consciousness are not at all related to us as per the Veda.

a) First of all, I am very interested in knowing the meaning of Turīya?]

Swami replied:- ‘Turiiya’ means the final state, in which God is in His original unimaginable state. Of course, He is imaginable to Himself. He is unimaginable to any type of awareness other than Himself. Since He is beyond space and time, nobody other than Him can imagine Him.

b. Is Turiya related to ashrama or the four states of consciousness?

[Is it related to the aashrama (apart from four aashramas) of God in the form of human incarnation in some context? And in some other context, is it related to the last state of the four states of consciousness only? Please explain.]

Swami replied:- The word ‘Turīya’ stands for the unimaginable nature. When God Datta was asked by sages about the Āśrama to which He belonged, God Datta replied that He belongs to Turīya Āśrama. This means that His Āśrama is unimaginable like Himself! He is married to Goddess Anaghā and hence, He belongs to Gṛhastha Āśrama (house holder). He wears saffron cloth and hence, He belongs to Saṃnyāsa Āśrama (saint). Since He roams in the forests and hence, He belongs to Vānaprastha Āśrama (forest dweller). Since Goddess Anaghā is also incarnation of Himself, the Parabrahman, He is the perfect celibate, belonging to Brahmacarya Āśrama. Since all the four Āśramas are different from each other, He can’t be in all the Āśramas at the same time. This brings the unimaginable nature to His Āśrama, which was called by Him as Turīya Āśrama.

c. In the deep sleep state itself when the unimaginability is coming then what is the extra in Turiiya?

[In the deep sleep state when the unimaginability is already coming then what is extra in Turiiya? Can we not say that the third state (the deep sleep) itself is Turiiya as this step is valid for human incarnation only where the unimaginable awareness exists? I know I will never understand this state even if You explain, but my main confusion at least will be removed. I am really not able to differentiate between these two states of Deep sleep and Turiiya state in the case of human incarnation. What is the necessity of bringing one more 4th state when in the third state itself God comes in the form of human incarnation.]

Swami replied:- In the Turīya state, even though God is unimaginable, God is aware of Himself. The deep sleep state is for human beings. In this state, the awareness disappears and hence, the individual soul (Jīva) is not aware of itself. But, the impressions of already existing thoughts exist in cittam or power of memory. Since there is no awareness in the deep sleep state, the thoughts in the memory cannot become active to cause dreams. In the case of human incarnation, the God-component always exists in the Turīya state only. While the incarnation is in deep sleep, the God-component exists in the Turīya state and the human being-component exists in the deep sleep state. Even in the alloy, gold exists as gold and copper exists as copper. In Turīya state, the awareness itself is unimaginable because the omnipotence of God performs the functions of relative awareness and the awareness based on brain-nervous system doesn’t exist at all. In the deep sleep state, the materialized nervous system exists along with inert energy released from digestion of food, but, the transformation of inert energy into awareness does not take place in the resting brain-nervous system.

d. Please enlighten me again?

[You said that this ‘Turīya’ is the state of the absolute unimaginable God, who has merged into the relative awareness of the first Energetic Incarnation. I am unable to understand this also as the unimaginable God having unimaginable awareness is not at all different from the first energetic incarnation. Then, why is this relative awareness coming? Even if we term it as relative awareness, it is fundamentally unimaginable only. Then two unimaginable items have to be treated as one only. Is it not? Please throw Your light on me and enlighten me. May You always bless me to be at Your divine lotus feet. – Chhanda]

Swami replied:- The unimaginable God merges with the energetic or human form totally (Antar bahiś ca…- Veda) and not with mere relative awareness of the form, which is based on the brain-nervous system. This merge takes place due to omnipotence of unimaginable God. There is difference between unimaginable God and the incarnation because unimaginable God is without medium and the incarnation is with medium. The same unimaginable God in unmediated state is called unimaginable God or Parabrahman or Nirguṇa Brahman. The same unimaginable God in mediated state is called imaginable and visible God or Incarnation or Saguṇa Brahman. From the point of the existence of medium, there is difference between the two. From the point of the unimaginable God, there is no difference between these two. The relative awareness belongs to medium, whereas the unimaginable awareness, which is nothing but the unimaginable omnipotence that functions like awareness, belongs to the unmediated unimaginable omnipotence of God.

(Continued…)

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