Posted on: 23 Feb 2024
Continuation of Smt. Chhanda's questions on Bhagavatam (Click here)
[17. Smt. Chhanda asked: Why is the Bhagavatam said to be very highly critical and the most holy scripture so that it is said that the spiritual knowledge of a scholar must be tested in understanding the Bhagavatam? Please explain in elaborated manner.]
Swami replied:- As far as all other Skandhas are concerned, the normal devotion-paths are explained and the whole complexity comes in 10th Skandha only because of the incarnation of God Krishna. We must see the just precedent situation before the birth of Krishna. Sages approached God Rama and wanted to hug Him becoming females through their superpower. Such thought came in their minds from their realization of the Vedas. The Veda says that all the souls irrespective of gender are females and wives of God (Striyaḥ satīḥ…puṃsaḥ). Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa stayed in Brundaavanam dressing Himself as a lady feeling that He is a Gopika! Due to this realization, the male sages wanted to become females and hug God Rama feeling themselves as His wives. Rama refused their hugging and asked them to be born as real females in the next birth so that their inherent male ego disappears in such real female birth. After this, God was born as Krishna and sages were born as Gopikas. The sages in their previous birth were asking God to test about their Daareshanaa (bond with spouse), but, Krishna conducted the joint-test for the bond with money (Dhaneshanaa) and the bond with children (Putreshanaa) since the final annual test always includes the total syllabus of all the three bonds (Eshanaatrayam). Krishna started His activity of testing the sages born as the Gopikas from His childhood itself indicating that the main work of His incarnation is only testing the sages born as the Gopikas. He performed several miracles in the childhood itself before conducting these three tests emphasizing His Godhood strongly in order to warn the public not to imitate Him since He is God and the case is highly special since the Gopikas were sages doing penance for God for millions of births. He took all the precautions to prevent an ordinary human being claiming itself as God. The sages are not wrong in selecting these three bonds as Eshanaatrayam because even today, you can find these three bonds (with child, wife and money) only in any house. Hence, you should not argue that the bond with spouse (Daareshanaa) could have been replaced by the bond with life (Praaneshanaa) in order to avoid all this headache with Daareshana. Bond means fascination with another item and not self with self. This test for Praaneshanaa is certainly the highest, which is done with a devotee before forming the human incarnation. This Praaneshanaa is common with every living being and cannot be confined and be significant with human beings only in the case of which only devotion is discussed. God also dislikes to test Praaneshanaa so that human beings will not commit suicide, which is the highest sin so that ordinary devotees will not try to commit suicide for the sake of God like Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.
Krishna is the highest form of incarnation of God (Paripūrṇatamaḥ sākṣāt). Gopikas are also the divine sages searching for the best path from several births to merge with God. In fact, Krishna is God Vishnu and Radha is God Shiva (Radha is incarnation of Sage Durvaasa and Sage Durvaasa is the incarnation of God Shiva). This means that the path established between Radha and Krishna was the discovery of God Shiva and God Vishnu together, who are the highest forms of God Datta. In such a case, how can the path not be the best? If you analyze the path, it involves the total dedication of body, word and mind to God. Nothing is leftover in this total dedication. All the other paths before the discovery of this path were involving theoretical Jnaana Yoga (intellect and words) and theoretical Bhakti Yoga (mind and words). Hence, in these paths, dedication of body was not involved even though dedication of service using the body was present and such dedication was called as Karma Samnyaasa and this alone can be done by males whereas in the case of females, in certain relationship (wife and husband) only, the body is also directly dedicated. For example, the devotee Sita dedicated her body to God Rama in this relationship of husband and wife. The word ‘Karma Phala’ in Karma Phala Tyaaga can be taken to mean the body also because body is given to the soul to enjoy the fruits of deeds. Based on this, the body can be the meaning of the word ‘Karma Phala’. The dedication of this body to the husband is justified in Pravrutti and this justice is crossed for the sake of God in Nivrutti. Radha taken in Nivrutti is justified to dedicate her body to God Krishna. Radha was also married to Ayanaghosha, who is the maternal uncle of Krishna. Radha became devotee of God Krishna. She dedicated her body, mind and words to God Krishna only. There is a conflict between devotion and justice in this case, but, devotion is in Nivrutti whereas justice is in Pravrutti which is lower than Nivrutti. Radha is the leader of the Gopikas. Hence, King Parikshit asked Sage Shuka about this state of illegal relationship between Krishna and Radha. Is it not a sin?¬ This is the argument of Parikshit. But, as per the knowledge of Pravrutti (worldly life) and Nivrutti (Spiritual life), in Pravrutti, one shall vote for justice against injustice. In Nivrutti, one shall vote for God even against the justice if necessary (Sarva dharmān parityajya… Gita) since the aim of justice is to get the grace of God and God is the protector of justice also. God is greater than even justice. All this background is not touched by the question of Parikshit.
The joint test of money and issues was conducted by God Krishna by stealing the butter preserved for their children. In this test, almost all Gopikas failed and complained against Krishna to His mother Yashoda even though every Gopika was thoroughly knowing that Krishna was God! This failure is expected because the bond for issues is topmost as observed in the cases of even great sages like Vyaasa also, who ran after His son leaving the house for the sake of God. All the Gopikas passed in the test of spouse because generally it is not a very strong worldly bond. We find very easy separation through divorce in this bond only and such thing is not found in any other worldly bond. This means that all the souls fail in the bond with children and will easily pass in the test of bond with spouse. It is unfortunate that King Parikshit criticized Krishna in the test of bond with spouse in which all Gopikas passed neglecting their failure in the test of their bond with children. This is because Parikshit is also a soul and is protecting the souls while blaming God. Being a soul, if he had a chance to face the test for bond with children, he would have also failed. Hence, as a soul, he cannot touch the test in which the souls failed because it will indirectly hit him also. He blamed God in the test with spouse in which all souls including himself can pass.
When Parikshit questioned about the test of the bond with spouse, it has some gravity of social inconvenience. If the soul fails in other two tests (test of bond with money and test of bond with child), no social inconvenience is found even though they are really very difficult tests. Even though the test of the bond with spouse is easy for souls to pass, the social inconvenience is more. Moreover, the setup of entire Pravrutti may get spoiled if this concept is preached. A soul not caring for God will treat God also in par with human beings and shouts for justice. Moreover, every Tom, Dick and Harry may claim himself as Krishna and herself as Radha. Even though the two devotees are not God Vishnu and God Shiva, they may claim so and involve in the injustice (illegal relationship) that spoils the balance of the justice in the society. As founder of this world, God also likes justice in the world.
The main point in this case is that the theistic devotees treat God as the highest, who is even higher than justice. Hence, the ‘law of the land’ forms the main basis of this case. Hence, the reference of the people occupying the land will form the basis since the constitution of the land composed was also based on the same. You can note that the recent judgement of the Supreme court was also based on the ‘faith’ (Aastha) of the people of this land. Based on such constitution only, the judicial analysis proceeds. You cannot deal this case in the angle of atheists, who do not even accept the existence of God. But, since the existence of God is perfectly established to atheists also through unimaginable events called miracles, the atheistic view is totally rejected. In such a case, we have to deal with this topic in the view of theistic devotees only. The only point in this topic is that this type of path, which is purely confined to God and a climax devotee showing the highest fruit, Goloka (which is higher than the highest abode of God), cannot be found faulty through any angle, but, such path reserved to God and a rare climax devotee only shall not be exploited by ordinary human beings because it will become sin to them and those ordinary human beings will be thrown into hell. The ultimate aim of the scripture is to protect all souls from falling into hell. Hence, this path shall not be publicized. Even if it is publicized as a part of spiritual knowledge, this strict warning must be associated with it. Therefore, Sage Shuka simply gave the strict warning and closed the topic because if the topic is opened, lot of spiritual analysis must be done from A to Z. Sage Shuka thought that even if such intricate analysis is given, people may not understand it and easily slip to the wrong side.
Therefore, this path is the highest among all the existing paths and there is no doubt in this. But, the only point that shall be stressed again and again is that this path is totally limited to God and the rare climax devotee only and not between God and an ordinary human devotee. For this reason only, even Krishna threatened the climax devotees (Gopikas) also about hell so that other ordinary devotees become careful about this topic. After testing the Gopikas, Krishna left Brundavanam and never returned back since the tests were completed and the sages were given salvation. He never repeated this test outside Brundavanam since such climax devotees were not available. Even though sixteen-thousand daughters of kings loved Him, He married them and did not test them as the Gopikas.
When Parikshit questioned about Krishna, the question is directed to Radha, who is God Shiva. Hence, he is finding fault with God Vishnu and God Shiva together. The reason is that Parikshit questioned about Krishna asking that how Krishna touched a married lady? This question applies straight to Radha (married to Ayanaghosha) and Krishna also. God Vishnu and God Shiva are the incarnations of God Datta. In this way, finally this question is shot at God Datta. Hence, all the concepts from all the angles are mentioned in this topic and a comprehensive logical analysis is done. The main point here is that the inert action cannot give any fruit and only the intention belonging to non-inert awareness alone can give the fruit. When a brother hugs and kisses his sister, no punishment is given because the intention is only brotherly love. If an illegal person does the same sin with a lady having romantic intention, punishment is given because the intention is wrong. Gopikas hugged and kissed Krishna with an intention of pure devotion to God and not with lust because they were sages doing penance undisturbed by even heavenly dancers. They know very well that Krishna is God (Na tatrāpi māhātmyajñāna vismṛtyapavādaḥ – Narada Bhakti Sutram). Had hormonal lust been the reason, it would have resulted in the punishment in hell (Tadvihīnaṃ jārāṇāmiva – Narada Bhakti Sutram). The sages wrote several ethical scriptures to distinguish merit from sin. After taking birth as Gopikas, they defined the sin and merit in one sentence -“That which makes God to become furious is sin and that which pleases God is merit”. This is the definition of sin and merit in the field of Nivrutti. Therefore, all this story does not apply to Pravrutti at all in which always justice must be voted against injustice. The reason for this is that Pravrutti involves only human beings. If some human being exists in the place of Krishna, this topic will become Dushpravrutti, which is the lowest sinful level. Since God exists in that place, this topic crosses Pravrutti and goes into the highest Nivrutti level. It is said that Nivrutti gives the highest fruit even though Pravrutti gives high fruits like temporary heaven (Pravṛttireṣā bhūtānām, Nivṛttistu mahāphalā). Some people try to save Krishna by telling lies like that Krishna was only a 11-year-old boy, who cannot do this test for Daareshanaa. They must face the question to answer, which is that how the same boy could lift the huge mountain on His finger when He was 7 years old?
The detachment from worldly bonds shall come spontaneously even without your awareness of them. You should not leave the bonds and bonds shall leave you. When the boil heals, the medicinal tape drops by itself. Such full detachment is possible only when your absorption in God is fullest. When you are absorbed completely in God, your worldly bonds are dropped by themselves by neglecting and avoiding you due to your lack of interest in the world. Your detachment to worldly bonds shall indicate your attachment to God. The Gopikas must be recognized in their attachment to God and not in their effortless spontaneous detachment from worldly bonds. Hence, you must always try for attachment to God and not at all for detachment from worldly bonds. Every day, Gopikas cheated their families to reach Krishna, which is not a sin at all since Krishna is the highest God. This path of Yoga (union with God) is represented by the curved path of the mind (Kundalini) in crossing various whirlpools or chakras to avoid direct conflict with the bonds. The absorption of Gopikas in God can be best understood in this incident:- When Krishna threatened Gopikas that they will go to hell to embrace the red hot copper statue of Krishna, they replied, “Doesn’t matter at all because after all it is the statue of Krishna”! They threatened back Krishna by saying that if He refuses them, they will jump into the Yamuna River!!
23 Feb 2024
Final action of God Krishna in this matter:
The path to get salvation through sweet devotion is perfectly correct due to the following logical points:
i) God Krishna is said to be the most most most greatest form of God (Paripūrṇa tamaḥ sākṣāt Śrī Kṛṣṇo nānya eva hi – Bhagavatam).
ii) The devotees are the Gopikas, who were sages for the past millions of births doing serious penance for God. Sages were considered to be the most pious category of souls respected even by angels.
iii) The fruit given to the sages was the ultimate Goloka, which is higher than the highest abode of God, called Brahma Loka.
iv) Krishna is God Vishnu and Radha is God Shiva. This path is developed by the two highest forms of God (God Vishnu and God Shiva).
v) This path is complete since there is total surrender of body, word and mind (Trikaranams). The surrender of body comes under Karma Phala Tyaaga because body is given to the soul to undergo the enjoyment or suffering of its deeds and hence, body can be called as the fruit of deeds (Karma Phalam). Hence, sacrifice of body to God results as Karma Phala Tyaaga.
Based on the above five powerful points, the path in this subject must also be most holy compared to any other path. Therefore, the subject of the system is perfectly correct and there is no single defect in the system. But there is one serious defect, which is not in the system, but, in the atmosphere surrounding the system. The atmosphere surrounding the system is this world. Imitation of the greatest person is always the inherent human tendency. Every male thinks that he is Krishna. Every female thinks that she is Radha. Imitating the above system, illegal contact between two genders may develop in society, which is called as Dushpravrutti, promoting injustice resulting in severe hell. In such a case, almost all the souls will go to hell because no soul is God except the contemporary human incarnation of God like Krishna. Therefore, this defect in the surrounding atmosphere must be rectified by God. So, Krishna told the Gopikas that He will cancel all their sins by violating the justice in Pravrutti (Sarva dharmān…-Gita). Here, God Krishna did not say that He will cancel their sins using His special power of God. He only told that He will cancel the sins but did not say about the path through which a sin can be cancelled. If He cancelled the sins by using His special inherent unimaginable power, He will clearly violate justice supporting the climax love of the Gopikas. Just like a coin has two sides (obverse and reverse), God has two sides, which are exactly equal to each other. He loves justice as equally as He loves climax love. Both shall be simultaneously protected. But, both are opposite contradicting each other. For this purpose, since God knows the future also, while writing the constitution of justice in the beginning of creation, God has made an arrangement with the deity of justice that He will have a special facility to transfer the fruits of deeds of souls onto Himself whenever He feels that it is necessary. In fact, this facility is seen even among human beings also. Half of the fruits of good deeds goes to the wife since she is engaged in cooking the food while the husband is praying to God. Similarly, if a person falls ill, he will ask another person to do the ritual called Sandhyaavandanam so that the patient will not get the sin of not doing the daily ritual. Based on this special arrangement in His constitution, God has the facility to suffer for the sins of His real devotees to relieve them from any punishment. Due to this, God Krishna transferred the punishments of the sin of the Gopikas onto Him and suffered in hell by embracing red-hot copper statues twice (Krishna embraced red-hot copper statues of the Gopikas for His assumed fault. Krishna then took the form of the Gopikas and embraced a red-hot copper statue of Krishna since He took the assumed punishment on behalf of the Gopikas). By this, Krishna accepted that the above path was a sin even though it was not a sin in a strict sense. Killing of Vaali from behind a tree, as Rama, was not a sin because Vaali was a sinner by marrying his brothers’ wife (Ruma) while his brother was alive. Killing such Vaali is not a sin at all (Vaali misunderstood that his brother, Sugriiva, abandoned him from the kingdom and forcibly married his wife while his brother was alive. Tara, the wife of Vaali married Sugriiva only after the death of Vaali, following the rule of Devara Nyaaya and hence, there was no sin from the side of Sugriiva). But, people may exploit this and kill anybody from behind, whom they don’t like, stamping him as a sinner. In order to protect society from such exploitation, Rama underwent the punishment of this sin, though it was not a sin in reality. Similarly, God Krishna underwent the punishment for this sin, even though it was actually not a sin at all. By this, He threatened all souls not to misinterpret His actions and exploit any innocent devotee. In this way, there is no place for anybody to point out at God Krishna like king Parikshit because God Krishna underwent the punishment and gave a message that whoever does this sin must undergo the punishment in hell. In this way, He balanced both justice and climax love without disturbing society in anyway.