Posted on 11 Oct 2003. 
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O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,
Guru Dakshina is the money offered in the service of God. Money is the fruit of work. Therefore, money and work are inter-convertible forms. In the Gita, donating money is called as Karma Phala Tyaaga and donating work is called as Karma Samnyaasa. Both these put together are called as Karma Yoga or Seva (service). One can do the service by doing both or one of these two according to the convenience. Only this proves the real love (bhakti) on God. In front of this, feelings and meditation by mind and prayers by mouth are like pickles in the plate without the central item i.e., bread. One can eat the bread without pickles, but without bread, only pickles cannot be eaten. If pickles only are eaten, that will burn the stomach. We are giving only pickles to God. That is why He is not responding to our chantings of His name. Anybody will respond if he is called by his name once. But you are calling God lakhs of times by His name. He is not responding even once by saying “Hello” at least. This shows the anger of God.
If a prostitute called somebody by name, he will not respond since his prestige will be lost in the respectable society. Similarly, God is not responding to us since if He responds, His prestige will be lost among sages and angels. The devotees are really like prostitutes because their devotion on God is only to get some benefit from God. To get some material benefits, one is spending money for the sake of God. Astrologers, priests etc., are exploiting the people and are earning money in the name of Supernatural powers of planets and deities. The money of the devotees is wasted and stolen. There is only one God in all deities and planets and all the supernatural powers in the creation belong to God only (the Veda says “Bhīṣodeti”). Such God comes down in human form only to this earth as said in the Gita “Mānuṣīm” and not in any other inert form. The Gita condemns the worship of inert forms like statues “Bhūtejyā yānti…” The statues are useful only to have a vision of the past human incarnations (the Veda says “Draṣṭavyaḥ”). Only the present human form of God is to be worshipped. Worship again means not mere words and feelings but by participating in His mission through service. His mission is only to spread the divine knowledge and devotion in this world and to uplift everybody.
This Guru Dakshina is according to one’s capacity and devotion. Of these two, devotion is more important. In construction of bridge on the sea (Varadhi) for Lord Rama, monkeys are putting big stones and a squirrel is putting small sand particles, according to their capacity. Both the stones and sand particles are drowned in the sea. Monkeys stopped the work, but the squirrel did not stop the work. It thought “whether I participate or not, the work of the Lord will not stop. Let me do whatever I can do for the Lord. Lord does not require even the bridge to kill the demon Ravana. He can kill the demon even just by His will. This is only an opportunity given to me to participate in the Lord’s work and get salvation”. Lord Rama patted the squirrel and not the monkeys.
So, while participating in His service, do whatever you can. But do it with full faith in Him.
Some rich people approached Me (Swami) everyone saying that he alone will fund this mission. Swami (Myself) told them “Let all participate and let all get salvation”. The aim of Swami is not the money required for this work. If that alone is My aim, I could have accepted the donations of the rich people. The aim of Swami is that all should participate practically and get the grace of God. My aims are:-
Swami does not need any money for His personal purposes also. I am an expert in coaching the students for IIT Entrance exams (Chemistry) and lakhs will rain on Me if Swami continues in that line. Swami has sacrificed everything for the sake of saving the humanity from the ignorance and misleading paths. Every rupee i.e., donated by the devotees will be used to publish this divine knowledge in all the languages and distribute to all the people in the World.
Today several fraud preachers spoil the spiritual field. They do not know why and what they propagate. They propagate that knowledge which is already there in the books. They have no other work to do. They failed in all lines of business and have taken up this line of spiritual business. They are blind leading the blind followers and all fall in the well. The Veda says the same “Andhenaiva”. Swami is happy even if they earn, if they can show the right path explained in the scriptures. The propagation is needed when there is a new knowledge. Shankara propagated since He discovered Advaita theory. Several disciples of Shankara further propagated it. Those disciples are teachers but not peachers. A preacher should show new true dimensions. Several devotees have participated in this mission of Swami and they are working very sincerely by sacrificing their work and money. Datta blesses all of them.
But let Me tell about one devotee called Ajay. Ajay means ‘undefeatable’. It is true that nobody can defeat him in the devotion. He spends all his leisure time for the God’s work only. He sacrificed all savings (in lakhs) for God’s work. He has two kids and he has still some hand loans to be cleared. His salary is about Rs. 20,000/- per month. He donated about 1/3rd of his salary per month for God’s work. One day he thought “Swami is giving sweet fragrance to several devotees. What about me?” Immediately a whirlpool of sacred ash (Vibhuti) surrounded him for one hour with a sweet fragrance. Datta expressed His grace in this way.
Let Me tell you about Smt. Gayatri and her husband Mr. Chandra Sekhar (Kuwait). They do not have any trace of selfishness in their thoughts. Their two daughters are also of same nature. The entire family is a bunch of four flowers with sweet fragrance of sacrifice. The husband and wife donated Rs. 55,000/- already and they are sending Rs.10,000/- per month as Guru Dakshina. Both of them always press Swami for doing more and more service. Swami is very much pleased with their sacrifice. This family was in Kuwait and at that time Iraq war was imminent. Swami stopped this war by His will. The moment they landed in Indian airport the war started.
Shri V. Sudhakar (USA) met Me three four times at Vijayawada. He was worried with a legal case. Swami told him that he need not worry about his case and he should think about propagation of divine knowledge of Swami. But he was worried constantly. Swami assured him again and again that He will solve the problem. Swami selected him for His Service because his mind is crystal clear and he is a very sincere person. He was connected to Swami in his previous births also. When he was going to USA from India, Swami told him “I am Lord Rama. I will not break My word. I am sending Hanuman with you. Hanuman will solve your problem and will come back”. As soon as he went to USA his problem was solved. He is doing the propagation sincerely. His sister Smt. Gayatri is also doing the propagation sincerely. Swami told her “I know you are very sincere and I am very confident of your service. So, I am giving the certificate of your service now itself”. She is also propagating this divine knowledge in a sincere way.
Smt. G. Pushpa got the photo of Swami (Myself) decorated as Lord Venkateshwara. I told that this photo responds to materialistic problems and the photo in which I was decorated as Lord Dattatreya will respond to the spiritual problems. She prayed the photo of Lord Venkateshwara that a particular problem should be solved on that day. It was solved. On another occasion she locked the door and she returned. She was not having the key. She prayed Swami. Immediately Swami responded and the door was opened through some person. Swami appeared as Lord Panduranga to her in a dream. She talked with Swami on phone and wept mentioning the divine vision. She and her husband are very pious devotees and will do the work of propagation with full devotion. Shri. G. Rama Murthy (USA) is another pious devotee who is interested in this service of Lord Datta.
There are several other devotees who are participating in the mission of Swami in the similar level according to their capacity. Swami has just given two cases as an example. In this mission devotees are participating without aspiring anything in return. This is the main point because such type of participation only results in the formation of true and permanent bond of love with God. In such type of relationship God protects you and gives you whatever you require without asking. God knows everything and one need not ask God for anything.
What is the main aim of temples?
The main aim of the temples is to show the beauty of the past human incarnations to the devotees through statues. Beauty is one of the sixteen divine qualities of God. It is just like seeing the photo of a person who is no more in this world. Just as we maintain the photos of our ancients by wiping out the dust (you will not offer food etc., to the photo). Similarly, the statue in the temple should be washed and maintained by the priest. The statue should be carved in the most beautiful way, so that the eyes of the devotees are fixed on the statue attracted by its beauty. This is the first stage called ‘Vision’ as said in the Veda i.e., “Draṣṭavyaḥ”. The second stage as said in the Vedas is “Śrotavyaḥ” that means the devotees should know about all the other divine qualities from the priest. The priest must quote all the scriptures and explain the divine qualities. Now the devotees enter the third stage as said in the Vedas ‘Mantavyaḥ” i.e., the mind of devotees is absorbed in God. Now they enter the fourth stage “Nididhyāsitavyaḥ” as said in the Vedas i.e., they sit in the temples for some time immersed in devotion.
But what is happening in the temples? The devotees fix their eyes on the statues not due to attraction but due to fear of desires. They think that by such constant vision God will be pleased and grant their boons. If the vision is due to attraction by beauty, God will be certainly pleased. Since God knows everything, He cannot be misled by your misleading vision. The Priest is washing the statue and decorating. But he is not doing the next step properly. He is chanting the hymns in Sanskrit. Neither the priest nor the devotees know their meaning. When the meaning is not known the mind cannot be fixed. The scripture says “Anardhajñaḥ” i.e., there is no use of mere recitation of the Vedic hymns without knowing the meaning. So the priest is doing the unnecessary chanting. Apart from this the priest is doing some more unnecessary works like lighting the lamp and burning perfumes and camphor. In these works, neither God enjoys nor the priest. By these unnecessary works the pollution increases. Only some merchants are benefited. Suppose a devotee is spending about RS. 10/- on this type of worship. The priest gets only half of the coconut who sells it in a hotel and gets just only one rupee. About nine rupees are wasted. The devotee does not get any result out of this wastage.
The very purpose of going to a temple should be to develop devotion on God, so that a true and permanent bond with God is formed. You should not go to the temple with any desire. Prepare yourself to suffer the result of your own sins. If you pester, God will postpone your sins, and you have to suffer in future with interest. Your future life will be miserable. Instead of these, if you develop devotion without selfishness God will be pleased and will get you released from your sins. He will come down in human form and suffer by taking your sins. Except this way there is no other way to avoid the suffering of your sins.
Let the priest take all the ten rupees from the devotee as Guru Dakshina and perform his real duty, which is to explain the divine qualities of God. Let the devotee come to the temple with such aim only. Let all the unnecessary worships like lighting lamp, burning perfumes and camphor, putting flowers and jewels, breaking coconut etc., be stopped.
The statues in the temples are in human form, which indicate that God comes only in human form. The Shivalingam in the temple indicates the shape of the wave. Energy is in the form of waves and best energy is only life energy. The best form of life energy is man. The statues and Shivalingam indicate that God comes in human form. Some people are doing initiation of life in statues (Praanapratishthaa). Such efforts are useless because the statue is not becoming a living being. Before doing the sixteen services (Shodasa upacharas) this initiation of life is done. This means that, the sixteen services can be done only in the case of human form and not to the inert bodies. Therefore, these services need not be done to a statue in which there is no life and the initiation does not bring the life. The sixteen services are like ‘Avahanam’ (invitation), ‘Asanam’ (offering the chair) etc., In fact these services are meaningful in the case of human incarnation and are of no use in case of statues and photos. The human incarnation or the priest or devotees can be worshipped by these sixteen methods of worship. While carving the statue garlands of flowers and jewels can be carved on the statue. This will stop the business of flower merchants and will avoid the robbing of jewels by thieves. The purpose of light is to remove the darkness and there is no need of a light in the daytime. There is no need of keeping the statues in dark rooms. The perfumes are burnt to avoid the mosquitoes etc., in case of human form and not in the case of statues. In Vedas all the sixteen methods of worship are not mentioned. Only the service called ‘Naivedyam’ is elaborately described under the name Ijyaa/Yajna. This consists of preparation of the food and offering it to the human form. The first choice is Sadguru, who is the Lord that came down in human form to uplift the World. The second choice is Guru who is a Scholar of the scriptures and explains all the virtues of the Lord. The third choice is a poor devotee. The last choice is a beggar who is incapable of earning his food. In case of beggar, devotion must be imparted on him after giving food. Donating Dakshina (money) according to once capacity and devotion must follow the Yajna. The Scriptures say “Adakṣiṇo hato yajñaḥ” which means that offering food (Yajna) must be followed by donation of money (Dakshina). Both Yajna and Dakshina are the sacrifice of money (Karma Phala Tyaaga) only because food is also a form of money. This is very important as the Veda says “Dhanena tyāgena” i.e., only by sacrifice of money you earn; you can attain God. By this only the real colour of the love on the God comes out. The Veda says ‘Na karmaṇā’ i.e., without the sacrifice of money and work there is no use of prayers and rituals. The first choice is the best because the Sadguru uses your Dakshina only in uplifting the World. After taking your food also, He spends the energy in preaching.
How to recognise the human incarnation?
All the following characteristics must be present in the Human incarnation. Even if one is absent, it is not the complete incarnation of God Datta. A swan is recognized by white colour, two wings, the red nose and red feet. If any one of these four characteristics is absent, it is not a swan. The divine characteristics of the human incarnation are
Satyaṃ Jñānam Anantam (the Veda) this means that He will be preaching true and infinite knowledge.
Sarvajñaḥ (the Veda) this means that He quotes the Vedas and the Gita at every step of the preaching. The Veda says that He is the author of all the Vedas (Asya mahato). So, He should quote from His own scriptures. He is also the Lord Krishna who told the Bhagavad Gita. So, He quotes from Gita.
Ānando Brahma (Veda) this means that He is the bliss. In His presence itself one gets the bliss. His preaching carries the bliss.
Raso Vai saḥ (Veda) this means that He is the embodiment of Love. He loves all the living beings which include even the birds, animals etc. He loves all the people irrespective of nationality, religion, caste, sex, age etc. As the devotion of the devotee increases, He loves such devotee more and more. This is not partiality.
Sa Satyakāmaḥ (Veda) this means that He is having all the supernatural powers. But He will not exhibit them with egoism, and show. He does not exhibit these also for fame or to increase the devotees or to do the business with devotees. Those who deserve get divine visions. Sometimes He performs those miracles to generate the devotion. Realized people serve Him even without the miracles.
If any one of these five qualities is absent, He is either the incarnation of radiation of God (Kalaavataara) or the partial incarnation (Amshaavataara). The fifth characteristic is present even in demons and so that alone cannot be the characteristic of the incarnation.
Arjuna, Krishna And Hanuman
Before the war starts Arjuna is on the earth falling at the feet of Krishna. Krishna is on the chariot. Hanuman is on the flag above Lord Krishna.
Arjuna represents the below average person who is not doing the duty i.e., war due to the illusion of family bonds. The war is like the job of a person to earn the kingdom (money). Arjuna is avoiding his duty not due to the peak of his devotion but is avoiding the duty due to attraction by family bonds. Had Arjuna left the duty due to devotion, Krishna would have fought the war on behalf of Arjuna. In such case, God does the duties of the devotee. So, the Lord preached the duty (karma) in the first chapter of the Gita.
Krishna represents Jnana Yoga (Knowledge), Bhakti Yoga (Devotion) and Moksha Yoga (Salvation). Krishna represents these three levels. Jnana Yoga means the identification of Lord in human form. Krishna repeatedly told that nobody could recognize Him. The reason is that any man does not recognize God present as another man due to jealously and egoism. One in millions only can get rid of jealousy and egoism and can recognize Him. This was said in the Gita. The present human incarnation is important. Hanuman was firmly fixed on the past human incarnation i.e., Lord Rama and did not agree the present human incarnation i.e., Lord Krishna. Krishna convinced Hanuman and Hanuman became the devotee the Lord Krishna. Similarly, the present people who are firmly fixed on Krishna should realize this point and should become the devotees of present incarnation. This Jnana Yoga is difficult because even the great scholars slip here. The next level is Bhakti Yoga. The love on the Lord should be the only bond. All the other bonds on money and family members should exist without a trace of love. By such love (bhakti) only God is achieved. The Gita says the same as “Bhaktyā tvananyayā labhyaḥ”. The devotion will be naturally followed by the detachment from other bonds. If one tastes the divine nectar, coffee will be not be relished at all. Gopikas and Prahlada are the real devotees. The Bhagavatam shows such devotion. This devotion is born from knowledge and also grows by Knowledge. When Lord Krishna’s existence was known from Narada, devotion was generated in the heart of Rukmini. As the knowledge of Krishna was received more and more the devotion increased and Krishna was achieved due to that intensive devotion. If one again tastes the coffee it means that he has not tasted the real divine nectar. He has tasted some other drinks under the name of divine nectar. The formless and statue forms are such drinks under the name of divine nectar. The next level is Salvation, which means the detachment from other bonds (Saayujya) means reaching the human incarnation. Kaivalya means the existence of bond with God alone. Such kaivalya means living with the human incarnation. Saayujya means only meeting and seeing. Yadavas, Balarama, Lakshmana and Hanuman were blessed with Kaivalya. Sometimes Kaivalya may bring negligence as in the case of Yadavas. Yadavas did not follow the advice of Krishna and swallowed the wine and killed each other. But Lakshmana and Hanuman did not get such negligence even on longstanding association. Krishna and the Bhagavad Gita represent these three levels.
The last and the fifth level is Karma Yoga represented by Hanuman on the flag. Karma Yoga means service, which was done by Hanuman without any selfishness. Such sacrifice is the real beauty and therefore, the Sundara Kanda is the name of the chapter. Sundara means beauty. The sacrifice is the internal beauty and not the external beauty of the monkey. After returning back from Lanka, Hanuman looked very beautiful and Rama embraced Him. Hanuman did the service more than expected by the Lord. The Lord wanted only the news of Sita. Hanuman brought the news of Sita and also killed several demons there and burnt Lanka. The Gita explained the practice of Hanuman. Hanuman is above Lord Krishna which means God becomes the servant of His servants. Radha was also kept in the Goloka above His head. Hanuman and Radha are the two eyes of God. Radha is love and Hanuman is the service. The proof of love is service. Radha is academic year and Hanuman is the public examination. The first level, Karma looks like the fifth level, Karma Yoga. A dumb fellow looks like a silent sage. Both look in the same way, but the first level is the earth and the fifth level is the sky. In the first level work is done for selfish gains and in fifth level work is done for the sake of the Lord. First one is bad smell and the fifth one is sweet fragrance. A monkey jumps when banana fruit is offered. Hanuman jumped the sea for the sake of the Lord and cannot be attracted by the banana fruits, which are offered. The monkeys flattered Hanuman for the sake of work of the Lord. But now the people are flattering Hanuman through the recitation of Sundara kanda for their selfish desires. Hanuman is the God in the form of monkey. Every monkey is not God. Garuda is the God in the form of eagle. Every eagle is not God. God in human form is Rama and Krishna. Every human being is not God. After reciting the Sundara kanda one should be inspired to do the service of the Lord. Without doing the service of the Lord, what is the use of reciting Sundara kanda several times? There is no use of reciting a book everyday which describes the preparation of food items without actually cooking.
Hanuman fought for the Lord. Arjuna fought for his personal victory. Therefore, Hanuman has temples and there is no temple for Arjuna. Lord Krishna advised Arjuna to fight for the sake of the Lord as the war can be treated as the mission of the Lord for destroying injustice. If Arjuna fights with this view, the first level becomes the fifth level and Arjuna appears on the flag. All the work of Hanuman was for the sake of Lord only. He became the future creator (Brahma). At least, you do your work and also participate in the work of God. This is the level of Arjuna who is called Nara i.e., the ordinary man. Arjuna fought with both the views i.e., to attain his kingdom and also as a servant to God in His mission of establishing the justice and destroying the injustice through the war. If all your work is only for yourself, you will be born as demon, bird, animal etc. Such people do the worship of the God, which is also for their selfish ends only.
[Today on 11-10-2003, Swami was talking about the light. A devotee Smt. T. Venkata Lakshmi opened the door and saw the face of Swami as a radiating Sun and she was stunned. Sweet lotus fragrance was emitted from Swami at that time.]
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