10 Sep 2024
[25-01-2003] Sita Devi went to the forests with Rama at the age of eighteen. She spent three years in Panchavati and ten years in Daṇḍaka forest in the association of Rama. After this, she has lost the association with Swami due to the abduction by Ravana. After the war, though she came to Ayodhya her association with Swami was lost even before a year. Finally, she permanently lost the association of Swami with her entry into the earth. What is the reason for the separation of Sita, who had such devotion and love for Swami? She is a great Pativratā (chaste wife). Here, the meaning of the word ‘pati’ (husband) denotes Swami. Swami and husband are one in her case. In other cases, God and husband can be different. Fruit cannot occur without its prior corresponding deed. She committed some ‘Bhagavad apacāras’ (offence against God). But Swami did not count them. They are:
1) Swami asked Sita to stay in Ayodhya when He was leaving for the forests. Swami gave the same order to Radha when He went to Mathura. Radha obeyed Swami's order and remained in Brindavan. But Sita disobeyed the order of Swami and went behind Him. Also, she blamed Swami in emotion for preventing her. She scolded Swami, "Striyaṃ puruṣa vigraham", which means, “Can't You protect me in the forest? Are You a man? My father, Janaka, had married me to a woman in the disguise of a man.” Swami didn't get angry at all because He derives equal pleasure from both praise and blame. In the Gita, the same is said, "Tulya nindā stutiḥ". When you are eating food, rice with pickles gives happiness, just like Kheer (pāyasam) gives happiness.
So, it is evident that both happiness and sorrow; praise and blame are enjoyable. It is even more remarkable in the case of Swami because He enjoys blame more than the praise. What is the reason? When He is in His abode, Angels and Sages keep on praising Him continuously. So, He was bored with praise and is craving to enjoy blame. That is why He took the human form and rejoices whenever someone blames Him.
But, He does not tolerate any ‘Bhāgavata apacāra’ (offence against devotees).
Bhāgavata means a devoted soul. A soul grieves when insulted. Ādiśeṣa is Parama Bhāgavatottama (one of the greatest devotees). Goddess Lakshmi was constantly blessed by Swami with the touch of His feet. But, He blessed Ādiśeṣa with the touch from head to toe, always. Same Ādiśeṣa incarnated as Lakshmana and stayed with Rama continuously. Other two brothers, Bharata and Shatrughna went to their uncle's house, leaving Rama, but Lakshmana did not leave. Lakshmana was with Rama when Sita was in Lanka also. After sending Sita to the forest also, Lakshmana accompanied Rama only. (Do you understand the greatness of Phani at least now?)
A few hours after Lakshmana jumped into the Sarayū river and ended his life, Rama also followed him by jumping into the Sarayū river. Sita is also a devoted soul. Sita means plough, which is straight without any curvature. Śeṣa means serpent which moves in a curved path. If devotees coming on the straight path criticize devotees coming on the curved path, their downfall will begin, which happened in the case of Sita. Sita Devi blamed Lakshmana very harshly. It is a ‘Bhāgavata apacāra.’ That is why, due to the will of Swami only, the washerman blamed Sita. Blame is the fruit of the deed of blame. Here are some important points in this context:
i) Within a few minutes of her accusing Lakshmana, she lost her association with Rama. The experience of bad fruit did not stop with it.
ii) Again, later, she lost the association with Swami, due to the blame of the washerman. She lost her composure in rage due to the separation from Swami. That is why, at the end, when Swami ordered her to show proof of her chastity to the people of Ayodhya again, she refused Swami's order and entered the earth. Indeed, blaming Lakshmana was also the reason for the generation of such thought in her mind at that time. In this way, she lost her association with Swami forever due to Bhāgavata apacāra. Actually, the fruit of this sinful action followed her in her next birth as well.
iii) When she was born as Rukmini, Shishupala came as bridegroom and was sitting in the in-law’s house waiting for the marriage ceremony. Arrangements are complete for Gaurī Pūjā meant for the bride. Then the kind of agony she underwent was indescribable. She was desperate and underwent as much agony as Lakshmana underwent when she accused him. But, there is still some bad residual karma left.
iv) To exhaust this, one day, after the wedding, Lord Krishna said, "We are not kings. Go and marry Shishupala". Rukmini fainted when Krishna told this to her. However, there is still final residual bad karma left.
v) On the occasion of giving hot milk to Radha, Rukmini was made to look defeated and insulted. Thus, Swami divided the bhāgavata apacāra performed by the body, which is made up of five elements, into five parts.
The sending of Sita to the forests is only one part of this five-part punishment. Seeing this, the ignorant people become angry at how much Rama had insulted Sita. Alternatively, Hanuman mocked that Radha's path of devotion is curved. So, Swami favored Radha. Similarly, Sita mocked Lakshmana. So, Swami favored Lakshmana. If Radha is female, Lakshmana is male. Therefore, Swami does not discriminate between men and women either in merit or sin. One gets corresponding fruit based on the test of devotion but not based on gender. When you choose a divine form and worship it, the full attention you have for that divine form is called interest (Niṣṭhā). As you gradually ascend in spiritual effort, Datta, the internal form in that divine form will gradually reveal Himself.
When Datta is revealed more and more, the intensity of the tests will also increase. As you move closer to the sun, the temperature rises. As you approach the sun gradually, the hotter it becomes. At the time when Datta is fully revealed, you are like in the burning sun sphere. To pass the ‘Datta tests,’ it requires a lot of patience. That is why Shankara has written in Advaita Bhashya that the first quality of the set of qualities required for spiritual effort (sādhana guṇa sampatti) is Śama, meaning patience. Therefore, patience (Sabūri) is necessary, along with interest (Niṣṭhā). Shirdi Sai always taught that Sabūri is needed in spiritual effort. Radha, as per the order of Swami, always stayed in Brindavan restricting her eating and drinking, spent her entire life following the order of Swami without uttering any offensive word against Swami.
Lakshmana also served Swami for fourteen years without food and sleep. Not only that, Swami ordered him to light the fire for Sita to enter into it (agni praveśa) in Lanka and he did it without questioning Rama’s instructions. Swami ordered him to drop Sita in the forest and he obeyed Swami without any protest. In the context of Lakshmana’s complete devotion to Swami, another interesting point is there. The fruit of the sinful deed of insulting Lakshmana was given to Sita through Lakshmana only. Therefore, there will never be any mistake from the side of Swami. We will not understand the inner meaning of His actions and we often misunderstand Swami.
No bond can exist with the formless Swami. Therefore, meditation on a formless God is futile. It is funny to leave money, houses, which are formful and wife and children in human form for the sake of a formless God. Shall we give up the coffee and other drinks that are available to us directly for the sake of nectar, which is not even visible to us? One directly available item can be sacrificed for another directly available item. Why is the directly available item to be sacrificed for the sake of a formless item? If you give nectar (amṛta) in a glass to one and one tastes it, one will give up coffee without you preaching one the value of the nectar. In stead, when you say, there is nectar but I do not know its existential form, nobody will give up coffee for that unknown nectar. Discarding available things is foolishness. Therefore, detachment won’t come in the path of formless meditation. In the formful path of devotion, we are meditating on an idol or on a picture. Either of them is an inert matter without awareness. Even a child also says that awareness is worth more than inert. So, why should one abandon wife and children, having awareness, for the sake of an idol and photo which are inert?
Therefore, detachment is meaningless in the path of formful worship also, where worship of inert idols is done. To teach this, the idol of Rama, worshiped by Tyagaraja, was thrown into the river by the will of Swami. Tyagaraja, in a state of madness, traveled all over the country in search of idols without taking food, while his wife also did not take food and finally lost her life. Swami taught Tyagaraja in the dream that his path is not the correct path. Because, when Swami incarnates in human form, Swami is in the formful path by appearing in human form with awareness.
So, it makes sense to renounce the inert houses etc., non-inert wife, sons and daughters for the sake of Swami. It is correct to renounce inert forms for the sake of forms with awareness. And it is also meaningful to renounce other human beings for the sake of ‘Puruṣottama,’ who is the best among all the human beings with awareness. Purusha also means an individual soul – ‘Puri dehe śete puruṣaḥ’. Individual soul means the awareness pervading the physical body, called ‘Pura’. Therefore, it is meaningful to renounce other human beings, for the sake of Puruṣottama, who is the best of all the human beings. Therefore, renunciation is meaningful in this path only. Swami may exist in one human form or in several human forms at the same time. Akkalkot Maharaj and Shirdi Sai were present at the same time. Since both are incarnations of Lord Datta, anyone who says that he is the only incarnation of Lord Datta, is a fool. He is not actually Datta. Paundraka Vasudeva, wearing a conch shell and Sudarshana wheel, proclaimed that he only was Narayana! We need not test him. He himself is disclosing the result of the test.
The same current flows through two wires and performs two separate tasks at the same time: turning the fan and lighting the light. Therefore, as per the work of Swami, many incarnations may come at the same time. Arjuna saw cosmic form (Viśvarūpa) at the same time. The photo of the cosmic form has many faces and many hands. But it has only two legs and one abdomen. This picture is not correct. Arjuna saw in Vishwarupa many human incarnations, incarnated at the same time. Therefore, he said, “Aneka bāhūdara vaktra netram”. It means many arms, many bellies, many faces and many eyes. The same applies to Sahasrapāt, which is also said to be having many feet in the Purusha Suktam. It means many human incarnations. But it can also be said that it is a lineage of incarnations that have come from the beginning of creation untill now. Therefore, it should not be argued that there cannot be more than one incarnation at the same time. If that is not so, how can Parashurama and Shri Rama incarnations existed at the same time? In Kali Yuga, Shri Swami Samartha (Akkalkot Maharaj) and Shri Shirdi Sai Nātha were present at the same time. In the present time, Shri Satya Sai Nātha (Puttaparthi), Shri Ganapati Sacchidananda Swamiji (Mysore) and Shri Datta Swami (Andhrapradesh) are flourishing at the same time!
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