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Why Does India Suffer With Poverty?

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,

Swami Vivekananda cried loudly facing the sky, “Why India, with such rich spiritual knowledge, is suffering with poverty”. Only Lord Datta can give the answer to this question. Today, the answer is given. Any country means its people and their mentality. Mind decides everything and action follows accordingly. If the mentality is analyzed, the action and its fruit become clear.

Almost all the foreign countries are blessed with wealth except India. So, the mentality of all the people in this universe is different from the mentality of Indians. This difference in the mentalities is responsible for the difference in the attitude towards God to bless all the countries in the world except India.

Let us compare the rituals, which are considered as worship of God. In every ritual, the essence is to praise the Lord and develop devotion. This brings universal equality in the rituals. Otherwise, if you say that God is worshipped by such and such hymns only, God becomes prejudiced since that hymn is restricted only to that part of the country. When the Lord is pleased, He will bless the person performing the ritual. In India, does anyone know that a ritual means worship of God? Let us take the marriage ceremony as an example. Indians think that once the ceremony is performed, the couple is bonded. For such a bond, a registrar’s office will do. Then what is the use of the ritual performed for so many hours? The hymns are uttered in Sanskrit and neither the priest nor the couple, know the meaning of the hymn. The priest does not explain the meaning of the hymns. The meanings have inner meanings, which end in praising the Lord only. It is the foremost duty of the priest to explain the inner meaning of the hymns to the people and make them devotees of the Lord. This is the main aim of the ritual. By the time the marriage ends, the couple should become devotees of the Lord. The devotion not only bonds the couple but also brings the blessings of the Lord to them. For a mere marriage, a registrar’s office will do, which can substitute this ritual. Actually, people are thinking in this way and the youngsters are following them.

In other countries, prayers are sung in their mother tongue. Atleast the people are catching the meaning of the prayers in this case. But, there also, the priest should explain the inner meaning that can alone bring the divine knowledge and devotion in the people. But, the situation in India is worse since the meaning is not known. A priest should be a scholar in Sanskrit and simple recitation is of no use. Shastras say that there is no use of mere recitation of the Vedic hymns (Anarthajñaḥ…). People have started using a tape recorder for the chanting of hymns. The reason is that people think that a ritual is a mere recitation of hymns. The Gita says that knowledge is more important than the action of the ritual (Śreyān…). The aim of the priest is to make the people devotees of the Lord. This main aim is completely lost. This aim is the aim of the work of the Lord in a human incarnation. So, the priests are the real helpers of the Lord in His work. When this aim is lost, the life of the rituals is lost. The aim of the ritual today for a priest is to get some money for the labour of recitation and for the people, the aim is to finish the formality.

For a ritual, several people are invited, so that they also become devotees by that ritual. But now, people are attending the function as a formality only to bless the couple. Can a human being bless another human being? The people should become devotees and get the blessings of the Lord by attending a ritual, if the ritual is done in the right sense. If the priest performs the ritual in the right sense, the Lord will bless him and the people and also the country with the immense wealth. The rituals are the paths of divine knowledge and devotion and not mere formalities or paths of earning some petty money. Today, Lord Datta is advising all the Indians to rectify this mistake and please the Lord so that He will bless India with wealth.

Let us take good from the west not only in science, but also in spiritualism. Let us not be egoistic that we are the masters in spiritualism. Egoism is never liked by the Lord. Good is good and diamond is diamond in any country. All the human beings are one and the same coming under one category called “Creation”. The second category is “Creator” who is also only one. People are putting food, ghee etc., into the fire in the name of sacrifice, which leads to pollution only. Kapila, the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, criticized such practice as mentioned in the Bhagavatam. It is only giving food to a deserving hungry person. The Veda says that such deserving person is a devotee or human incarnation of the Lord, who is considered as fire (Vaiśvānaro brāhmaṇaḥ…). The Gita says that the Lord is in the form of fire in the stomach to receive the food. Lord Krishna with hunger came and asked for the food that was to be offered to the fire and the wives of the sages gave the food to Him. Krishna taught the real sense of sacrifice. He discouraged the sacrifice to a God Indra, for the same reason.

In Sadguru, all Gods live as said in the Veda (Yavatīḥ...), Offering food to the Sadguru is like offering food to all the Gods. The word ‘Agni’ comes from ‘Agri’, which means the Sadguru is to be fed first. Fire is only an aid to cook the food. This incarnation, Sadguru, called ‘Agni’, stands as witness in the marriage and not the inert fire.

Another misinterpretation is about the ‘Gayatri mantra’. Women and some other castes were prohibited to chant this. You also say that no hymn (mantra) is equal to Gayatri. Does this not charge God with injustice? Gayatri does not mean a particular hymn. Gayatri means ‘the sweet style of a song’. Mantra means, that which spontaneously attracts the mind to chant something again and again. Any sweet song on God that attracts the mind to sing it repeatedly and gets the protection of God is called Gayatri (Gāyantam…mananāt). Even a cinema song, slightly modified in the name of God can be a ‘Gayatri mantra’. For e.g., replace the word ‘Sanam’ by ‘Hare’ in the cinema song “Churaliya hai tumne…” and sing it on Lord Vishnu. You are singing spontaneously without any force. This is a mantra. Gayatri means a meter but not a deity as said “Gāyatrī chandaḥ”. This takes you near the Lord, because He likes the Sama Veda (songs) as said in the Gita “Sāmavedo'smi”. Upanayanam, the ritual in which Gayatri is given means taking you near the Lord. (Upa= Near, Nayanam= taking through a song). So, Gayatri is with women and other castes only who sing about God.

Indians are blessed with lot of spiritual knowledge and devotion. Both these are side dishes in a meal. The main item, which is bread or rice, is lost in India. The main item is Karma Phala Tyaaga (as said in the Gita) which means sacrifice of money, which is the Karma phala (fruit of the work). Indian scholars have interpreted the meaning of Karma phala as meditation or chanting songs. So, you meditate or chant some hymns and at the end say, “I have sacrificed the fruit of this work to the Lord!” The Lord blessed you with good intelligence because of your meditation and good pronunciation for your recitation. As the work, so the fruit. Such intellectual interpretation is only due to your greediness. Indians connect their heart to their children from which love flows. These connection tubes are large and very long. These bonds are very strong and extend even to their great grandchildren. Hence, their heart is empty. They connect their intelligence to the Lord which results in such tricks.

The straight test for love is sacrifice of the fruit of your work (money) only. In the west, family bonds are very weak and the love stored in them is diverted to the Lord. How much money they sacrifice for the work of the Lord! They fund even the Indian spiritual centers. Is it not a shame to Indians? The foreigners consider the Lord is same in all the religions and fund Indian centers also. They ask their children to earn and live after a certain age. But in India, people are worried of their heirs in the coming ten generations also, and go on storing the money. When you love your children, you get happiness which is selfishness only and this cannot protect your children. If you love God, God can protect your children and that is your real love on your children. Can your love give longevity to your children? Only God can give longevity. Indians do not want to sacrifice even a rupee for the Lord. But they want to get the blessings of the Lord. They want to please the Lord by mind and words and get money from the Lord! For such purpose, they follow all the intellectual tricks to please the Lord. They eat the food and say that the food is offered to the Lord. For this, the Advaita philosophy is exploited which says that man is God. The aim of that philosophy is to say that a particular man, like Lord Krishna is God. The philosophy is extrapolated to every man.

Showing food to statues is another trick. Offering food and money to a deserving person is the actual Karma Phala Tyaaga in this context. Statues are meant only to see the incarnation of Lord in His absence, just like a photo of your son who is elsewhere.

A Guru criticizes the student not with a negative view. His aim is rectification of the defect and get the subsequent benefit to his student. This criticism of Indians is done by Lord Datta only to rectify their mistake, to make India rich, and to get India blessed with immense wealth and prosperity.

Right approach to Guru Datta

The Veda says that God is true and infinite knowledge (Satyaṃ jñānam anantam…) and Guru Datta is the God. So Datta always speaks the truth whether you like it or not. This is the reason why Datta did not become famous. But now Datta is becoming famous since people are realizing the importance of truth. The effect of truth is permanent and real.

Generally, the approach of people to God is a sort of business. If you get a problem or you want something from the Lord, you approach God and bribe Him with money. Now, people are very alert with God! They pray to God Balaji in Tirupati, “Let this work be done. Then I will do such and such worship or I will offer so much money to you”. This shows that people even doubt God to offer anything prior to the work. This attitude cracks the very foundation, which is the faith in the existence of God. Another approach to God is like a beggar praising the house owner for food. The beggar explains his poverty and pitiable condition. This approach of a beggar is similar to the approach of a devotee of God with prayer and meditation without offering any money. The inner consciousness of this sort of rich devotee will be like this, “God may exist or may not exist. If God exists, let me please Him with prayers. If He does not exist, my work might have succeeded on my own effort. Then I might foolishly attribute the success to God and offer Him money”. A poor man approaches God like a beggar. That is understood. But, a rich man also approaches God like a beggar only through prayers because he doubts the very existence of God in his sub-conscious state. A thought in the sub-conscious state is very subtle and is not perceived by the mind. So, he does not agree to this point. But, Lord Datta knows even the subtlest thought, so He analyses it.

Offering money to Lord Datta as ‘Guru dakshina’ is really appreciable because it is the practical sacrifice, which is the real test for love. You really love your wife and children and so you are giving your money to them. If you really love the Lord, you will give the money to Him. Money is called ‘Karma phala’ in the Gita i.e., the fruit of your work. Sacrifice of that money is called ‘Karma Phala Tyaaga’, which is stressed throughout the Gita.

But offering money to the Lord as a bribe for getting some work is the worst aspect. Eshavasyam Upanishad says in the very first hymn, “All this money belongs to the Lord. Take the minimum required. If you have taken extra, return it to the Lord”. Veda further says, “Return it to the Lord with shyness and fear because you have stolen it, which was extra and not permitted by the Lord”. So, you have to offer Guru Dakshina (money offered to the Lord) without aspiring any result from it. The stolen extra money will bring you all problems.

The Veda also says, “Return it to the Lord with love (Śraddhayā deyam)”. This is the best aspect and a real permanent bond is created with God. In such a case, there is no account. You give your money to your son or daughter and he or she serves you in your old age. Are you maintaining an account for it? You never analyze, whether the money given by you, is equal to the service given to you or not. Nor does your son or daughter analyze it. You have given the money whatever you can give. He or she served you to that extent whatever he or she can serve. Similarly, offer Guru Dakshina to the Lord with love. You will have the real and permanent bond with the Lord. Whenever you need some help from God, He will do it with love to the extent required by you.

When the finger of Lord Krishna was wounded, Draupadi tore the edge of her new sari and bandaged His finger. That was her Guru Dakshina and that was only required by the Lord. She forgot about the incident because she never aspired anything in return. Even when Dussasana dragged her sari, she cried loudly for Lord Krishna but did not mention about her service. Had she mentioned, that small piece of sari might have become a sari at the maximum, even if the interest was compounded. Since her sacrifice was without aspiring anything in return and there was no account in it, Lord Krishna multiplied it infinitely, which was required in that situation. Requirement is the criterion of love.

So, Lord is a wonderful bank! You should offer your extra money as Guru Dakshina with love and forget about it without aspiring anything in return. When the need comes, Lord will multiply it infinitely to the extent of your requirement. One rupee offered by a poor man is equal to one lakh offered by a rich man, because the requirement of your status decides the extra you have taken.

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