Shirdi Saibaba

[October 18, 2014] Dr. Nikhil asked: "Swami Sampurnanda says that Sai Baba ate meat and hence, cannot be pious. He also says that Dattatreya is only the second son of sage Atri while the first son was Chandra or Moon and the third son was sage Durvasa. Hence, Saibaba as the incarnation of Dattatreya has no significance and calling Him as God is not correct."

Swami replied: The first point was already answered by Me. Non-vegetarian food is certainly not justified since a co-living being is killed for that purpose. But, God follows the wrong culture also to become friendly with wrong people before diverting them from wrong path. The person, who jumps into the mud pond to uplift the people drowning in it, is also painted with mud. To stop a running bull, you have to catch it and put some steps along with it before controlling it. You should not attribute any intention of such sin to the human incarnation of God entering this human world to save the humanity. There is nobody before us to say that he has seen Sai Baba while eating the meat. Even the audio visual cassette recording such event does not exist. It is only based on the statements of certain people, who often create stories. This story also might have been created by a fan of non-vegetarian food and the psychology in such creation is to establish that there is no sin in the non-vegetarian food, since even Saibaba took it. In fact, there is no sin in the non-vegetarian food because the vegetarian and non-vegetarian foods are one and the same since both contain the same constituents. The actual sin lies in killing a living being for the sake of such food. Even though someone else kills it, you are a share holder of the sin since the killer kills based on the demand of consumer only. The straight question in this topic is that why Saibaba, a non-vegetarian, is not God while Rama, a non-vegetarian is God? Swamiji must answer this simple and straight question.

The second comment is also not correct. It is mentioned in the Bhagavatam that sage Atri did lot of penance to find out the one single God, who alone is doing creation, maintenance and destruction of the world in contrary to the concept that Brahma, the Creator; Vishnu, the Ruler and Shiva, the Destroyer are separate personalities doing these three works independently. Atri did not accept these three separate personalities and hence, all the three were united to appear as the original single God. This single God was born as the three sons of Atri indicating that one single God appeared as the three divine personalities separately. The story says further that the Moon gave His divinity of Brahma and Durvasa gave His divinity of Shiva to Dattatreya and went away. Since then, Dattatreya is treated as the single personality in whom all the three personalities co-exist. Now, the definition of God given by the Veda is fulfilled since one God only is doing all these three works (Yatova imaani bhutaani) and the God is not divided into three but remains as one single God only (Ekamevaadvitiyam...).

This means that same one unimaginable God is appearing as three separate Gods by entering the three different visible energetic forms. Appearance as three does not break the unity as said in the Gita (Avibhaktam Vibhaktheshu). All this is the deep explanation to clarify the doubt of Atri, who represents every Vedic scholar. If you take this as external story only without analysing the inner divine essence, by tomorrow, Swamiji will also say that Adi Shankara is just a young scholar hailing from the family of Nambudri Brahmins staying in Kerala. You can realize Him as the Incarnation of Lord Shiva, only if you view His life and commentaries through inner sense.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami
-Prasad
 

Reply of Shri Datta Swami on bitter comments made by Shri Swami Swarupananda Saraswatiji on Shirdi Saibaba

[July 12, 2014 Guru Purnima] Several devotees asked: “Jagadguru Shri Swami Swarupananda Saraswatiji, the Shankaracharya of Dwaraka peetham, is giving bitter comments about Shri Shirdi Saibaba by which the hearts of several devotees of Saibaba, the human incarnation of Lord Dattatreya are severely wounded. Please give a strong reply to his strong comments.”

Swami replied: Today is Guru purnima, which has become famous only due to Shri Shiridi Saibaba. Thus, today is the fittest day for such topic. Swamiji (Swarupananda Saraswati) has made such comments without sharp and deep analysis. His comments are contradicting not only himself but also his original preacher, the Aadi Shankara. He himself is a follower of the path called Smaarta, which is a mixture of different religious cultures within Hinduism. Let us consider two famous paths. One path is the famous Shaivism and the other path is the famous Vaishnavism. Both these paths are quite different and contradicting each other not only in the philosophies but also in the external cultures. In the first path, a horizontal mark is put and the in the second path, a vertical mark is put on the forehead. The contradiction is so pungent that if you see the history, there were even mutual killings. The goals of both the paths are also different and in any path, the goal of that path is considered as the master of the goal of the other path. The devotee of the first path says that Lord Shiva is the ultimate and Lord Vishnu, the goal of the second path is a servant of Lord Shiva. The devotees of the other path are also of the same vigor with vice-versa policy. Smaarta is the third path which has emerged to compromise first and second paths. Aadi Shankara and the present Swamiji belong to this third path only. The mark on the forehead of Swamiji is horizontal representing the first path and any Shankaracharya ends his message with the name of Narayana, the God of the second path.

This Smaarta path finds not only the unity in the ultimate goals by saying that Shiva and Vishnu are one and the same God with different external forms but also finds unity in the cultures of these two paths since both these paths are essentially the same effort aiming at the same goal. A follower of Smaarta worships Shiva and Vishnu equally in the corresponding festivals. The unity in the cultures of the two paths is because of the same effort to achieve the grace of the same God. When Swamiji is following such Smaarta path, it is ridiculous that Swamiji is criticizing Saibaba, who is following the cultures of two different paths called Hinduism and Islam. Just like the same God exists in Shiva and Vishnu having different external cultures, the same God existing in Shiva and Vishnu exists in Allah with a different culture. Aadi Shankara is the founder of the Smaarta path, which tries to bring unity and harmony in the goals and in the paths also. When the goal is same and the effort of achieving the same goal is also same in different paths, there cannot be difference in the paths also. The different paths to achieve the same city (goal) on the earth may not be one and the same, but the paths in spirituality are one and the same because here the path means only the effort and not a particular direction on the earth. The difference between the horizontal and vertical marks on the forehead is completely meaningless and negligible since Shiva and Vishnu are one and the same God and also the corresponding paths are also one and the same since both the paths are an effort only.

Aadi Shankara tried throughout His life to bring unity in the goals and also in the paths within Hinduism. Hinduism is a mini world representing the big universe. The various sub-religions in Hinduism represent the various religions in the universe. Thus, the various religions in the universe are also sub-religions in the universal religion in which one God is the goal and the different religions are also one and the same since every religion is only a sincere effort made to achieve the grace of the one ultimate goal. The external differences like language, form, dress habits, food habits etc., become negligible in view of the inner essence, which is the ultimate single God and also the same effort. We say that God is unimaginable and Advaita philosophy says that God is awareness. This difference is not at all standing in the way in the present context because whether God is unimaginable or the awareness, God is not touched by the external cultural differences or differences in the forms or differences in names or languages etc. Aadi Shankara has brought the unity in the various sub-religions of Hinduism based on the concept that language or name (naama) and form (rupa) are non-existent (mithya) and the inner God (Bramhan) is one and the same, who is beyond all the names and forms. 

Why Swamiji is not applying the same concept in the case of the different religions like Hinduism, Islam, Christianity etc? You cannot apply one type of logic in the sub-religions of Hinduism and the other type of logic in the religions of universal religion. The same logic should be extended whether it is Hinduism in India or universal religion in the world. Aadi Shankara united the sub-religions of Hinduism by breaking the differences between these sub-religions. It is just like breaking the walls between the rooms of a single house and making the entire house as one big hall. Saibaba broke the walls between the houses and made all the houses to become one biggest hall. In every religion such effort was made. In Islam also, before the arrival of the Prophet Mohammed, there were several sub-religions. The Prophet Mohammed broke all the differences in Islam and established one God called Allah. What Aadi Shankara did in Hinduism, Mohammed did the same in Islam. Hinduism became one big hall and Islam became another big hall by the efforts of both these Divine personalities. Now, Saibaba broke the wall between these two big halls and made a bigger hall. Swami Vivekananda broke the walls between all such big halls (religions) in the world to make one biggest hall. How can you find any difference between Aadi Shankara, Saibaba and Swami Vivekananda? Even the Guru of Swami Vivekananda, Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa practiced the different cultures of various religions like Hinduism, Islam, Christianity etc., and experienced oneness not only in the goals but also in the cultures. The unity in the goals is the same God and the unity in the cultures is the same effort to achieve the grace of that single God. All this analysis stands as the main answer to the main argument given by Swamiji that the cultures of various religions or paths should not be mixed and should be followed independently. If he finds fault with Saibaba in this point, he should find fault with Aadi Shankara also for the same point.

Swami Vivekananda tried to appeal all the citizens of the world to bring unity in the religions of the world. Shri Datta Swami (present Swami) applied powerful logic to bring such unity since every human being gets convinced by the logic, which is the activity of the ultimate faculty called intelligence (Buddhi yoga) existing in the human body. This powerful logic is: Swamiji belongs to Hinduism. India is the place of Hinduism. The God of Hinduism (Bramhan) created this entire universe and hence, all the foreign countries apart from India existing on the earth must have been created by the same Bramhan. Very rich spiritual knowledge was showered in India by various Divine incarnations for the benefit of Hindus in India. But, this rich spiritual knowledge was not extended to foreign countries immediately as soon as it was given to India. India was discovered by foreign countries in 17th century only. Till 17th century, several human generations have passed away in the foreign countries without any touch with such precious spiritual knowledge. All the human beings are the children of the same God (Bramhan). Why God showed such irrational partiality to India only till 17th century? God should have created all the human beings on the earth with one language as their mother tongue like Sanskrit. God should have connected all the countries of the world in the beginning of the creation itself so that the rich spiritual knowledge showered in Sanskrit in India should have been extended to all the countries in the world immediately so that there is no trace of partiality on the side of the universal Father or God. The only answer for this can be that God came in all the foreign countries from the beginning of the creation in various forms and delivered the same spiritual knowledge in different languages in different levels suitable to the grasping level of the receivers. This only answer proves that there is only one God in all the Divine incarnations and there is only one religion, which is the effort to attain the grace of one God. If this is not accepted, Swamiji should give the reply to avoid the irrational partiality of the universal God (Bramhan).

If Swamiji says that Saibaba was a non-vegetarian, Shri Rama was also a non-vegetarian. On this basis, Swamiji cannot say that the devotees worshipping Saibaba should not worship Shri Rama. The food habits belong to the external culture. God follows the line of external culture of a particular sect of people so that He can become friendly to them and slowly introduce the spiritual knowledge to them to bring them out of the sin of violence in the non-vegetarian path. A person standing outside wishing to bring out the drowning person in mud pond can drag him out by jumping into the same mud pond. Mud will stick to his body also. A running bull can be controlled by you after some steps only in which you have to also run along with the bull. Hence, God in human form has to follow the path of ignorance for sometime to become friendly with ignorant people before bringing them out of the ignorance. Thus, the non-vegetarian habit of Jesus can be also viewed as in the case of Shri Rama. However, the remark on Shri Saibaba that He was a non-vegetarian is not correct. He only supplied the non-vegetarian food to the non-vegetarians and slowly preached about the non-violence to stop the habit of non-vegetarian food. The remark that Saibaba killed a goat is also wrong. He ordered a bramhin to kill the goat to test the faith of that devotee in Him. Then, the devotee became ready to kill the goat. He stopped the devotee telling that He Himself will kill the goat. In fact, the goat died immediately without killing from anybody. This shows that God in Saibaba was speaking all this denoting that the death of any living being is on the will of the God only.

The remark that Saibaba tried to bring the Muslim culture is also totally wrong. Saibaba was a bramhin born in Hinduism. He always worshipped Hindu Gods and encouraged the worship of Hindu devotees. When the rain was falling, He sat on the lower step facing the rain because the statue of Hanuman was on the higher step. Devotees asked Him to sit on the higher step to avoid the rain. But, He replied that Hanuman is the master and He is the servant and the servant should not sit along with the master in the same level. When a Muslim got child on His blessing, the Muslim came and thanked Saibaba. He asked the Muslim to go and distribute sweets in the temple of Hanuman saying that once Hanuman won in the fight with Allah. This shows His superior devotion on Hindu gods. He showed the holes on His ears indicating that the thread marriage was performed to Him since He was a bramhin of Hinduism. Just one year before His last day (Dussehra), He came very furious and naked shouting that people should examine Him to confirm the Sunti of Islam in His body to prove whether He was Hindu or Muslim. All these incidents show that He was basically Hindu, but, followed certain cultural habits of Islam only to bring unity between Hinduism and Islam. In His next incarnation as Shri Satya Saibaba, He tried to bring the unity between Hinduism and Christianity. The dress habits of both these incarnations indicate the two different efforts.

The remark that Saibaba has no tradition of preachers (Guru parampara) is also meaningless. He was the disciple of Shri Venkusa, who was disciple of Lord Venkateswara. The same tradition can be seen in the sect of Shankaracharyas also. Swami Chandrasekhara was a disciple of Aadi Shankara, who was disciple of Lord Shiva. Saibaba keept a brick along with Him, which was given by Shri Venkusa as a gift of His grace.

The remark that Saibaba was not mentioned in the 22 incarnations that appear in this age of Kali is also meaningless. Aadi Shankara is considered to be the incarnation of God mentioned even in the Veda. The Veda says that the God will come with shaved head (vyupta keshaya cha). Aadi Shankara is not mentioned in those 22 incarnations as mentioned in the Bhagavatam. The Veda is more superior authority than the Bhagavatam (shrutireva gariyasi). The Gita says that God will incarnate whenever there is a necessity (yadaa yadaa hi). The number cannot be a controlling factor of God. Such number is not mentioned in the Veda. Will Shri Swamiji say that Aadi Shankara is also not a human incarnation of God just like Saibaba based on the number 22?

The remark that the devotees of Saibaba should not take bath in Ganga River shows the extensively solidified ignorance of Swamiji. The nature of any river is to contain the water, which is a chemical compound of Hydrogen and Oxygen in 2:1 ratio. Along with the water, several pollutants and minerals are associated. As far as the water is concerned, there is no difference between any two rivers. At present, the pollutants representing the bad qualities of ignorance are highest in number in the river Ganga. This really represents the polluted mind of Swamiji also. Hence, the meaning of his warning to the devotees of Saibaba indicates that they should not dip in ignorance. However, now, there is a proposal to purify the water of Ganga River just like My present message to clean the remarks of Swamiji. There are other rivers born in Himalayas and end in the ocean. When other rivers are exempted from restriction to bath, why not the Ganga river also? In the Mahimnah Stotram, which is considered to be the best of all prayers (Mahimno naapara stutih), it is said that just like all rivers travelling in straight or curved paths reach the same ocean finally, all the religions with different straight or curved cultures reach the same final goal, the same one God (payasaamarnava iva).

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad

God May Enter Good Person Like Arjuna But Never in Duryodhana

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,

[June 13, 2014] The story of the Mahabharat was running in Star Plus Channel for quite a long time. The scene of the Gita started since two or three days back and this was keenly observed by Swami. Certain concepts delivered through the role of Krishna in preaching the Gita were pointed out and the correct clarification was given by Swami.

The comments passed out through the role of Krishna were:

1) God is creation and creation is God. God is both Duryodhana and Arjuna.

2) The soul is a tiny part of God, which has become impure by the association of the nature. It has to be awakened.

3) I am God and you (Arjuna) are also God. I know this and you do not know this.

4) The first stage is karma yoga or performing action. The second stage is bhakti yoga or devotional inspiration. The third stage is jnana yoga or the knowledge. The previous stage generates the next stage. The knowledge of self or soul leads to the knowledge of God.

Swami gave the following correct version so that the ordinary spiritual aspirants are not misled.

1)          If God is creation, God should have been created by some other creator. Creation is the product, created by some creator. Pot is creation and pot maker is creator. The creator cannot create himself and in such case, the process of creation is impossible and absurd. The Veda says that God created this world since He alone did not have any entertainment. If He is creation also, He should have entertained by Himself. Creation is many and God is one. Hence, God cannot be creation. In the creation, both good and bad co-exist. Therefore, God is neither Arjuna nor Duryodhana. Both these persons are imaginable parts of the imaginable creation. None of these two can be the unimaginable God. The unimaginable God may enter and associate with good person like Arjuna whenever the human incarnation appears. But, Duryodhana can never become God. If both are already God and Krishna is also God, why one God wants clarifications and the other God never listens God Krishna. This means God has multiplicity and each God has different behavior. Therefore, the unimaginable God is always beyond this creation. Every human being is a part and parcel of the creation and not creator. The unimaginable God expresses Himself through a human being called as human incarnation and in such case also a good human being and exceptional devotee of God is selected for such divine purpose.

The people, who do not realize the existence of unimaginable God, ultimately end in the infinite cosmic energy by which all the universe is generated, controlled and destroyed. The soul is also a drop of this infinite cosmic energy and hence, it becomes very convenient to say that soul is a tiny part of God. In spite of all these merits, the cosmic energy is incapable of thinking since cosmic energy is inert. The individual soul or the awareness has the excellent merit of thought but is devoid of all the above merits. One is blind and the other is lame. If you join both, the united system does not achieve all the merits and is not devoid of all the defects. Each partial area of the system carries on its own defect. In the case of unimaginable God, all the defects disappear and all the merits appear since unimaginable means omnipotent. The unimaginable God can think even without inert energy, digestive system, respiratory system, nervous system etc., simply due to His unimaginable omnipotence. The unimaginable God created this cosmic energy. The subsequent creation, control and destruction of the universe are done by God only since such activities cannot be perfectly done by inert entity like cosmic energy.

2)          As already told above, an imaginable soul can never be the part of unimaginable God. The inert energy generated from digestion of food and subsequent oxidation through respiration performs a specific work in a specific system or machine called as nervous system. Work is a specific form of inert energy. The same inert energy performs grinding work in grinding machine and cutting work in cutting machine. The specific nature of the work is due to the specific nature of the machine and the inert energy is one and the same in all machines. Awareness means a specific work of transforming the impression of external objects through neurons from different senses to the brain. You say that you are aware of something. Here, the word ‘aware’ indicates the verbal work, which is neither subject nor object. Here, you are the subject and ‘something’ is object. This specific work called awareness is stopped if the inert energy is not generated or if the machine (nervous system) does not function. All this proves that the basic inert energy called as soul, or, the awareness called as individual soul is an imaginable part of the imaginable creation. If this is the unimaginable God, how the soul can become impure by the association with imaginable nature? Even millions and millions parts of the imaginable nature can never touch the unimaginable God. It is impossible that an imaginable item can awake the unimaginable God and the unimaginable God need not awake Himself.

3)          Such statement is nowhere in the Gita. Of course, Krishna mentioned that He is Arjuna among the five brothers (Paandavanaam Dhanamjayah). This does not mean that every human being is Arjuna. Lord Krishna told that the highest of every category is God. This means that very few human forms can be treated as God due to the exhibited unimaginable power in such human form. The unimaginable power exists always with God. But, God need not exist with the unimaginable power everywhere. God gives the unimaginable power to demons also due to their rigid devotion but no demon is God. Hence, some special human being selected by God can be treated as God. The first address of God is the human incarnation and His second address is the exceptional devotee as per the Bhakti Sutras of Narada (Tanmayaahite). In this second way of address, Arjuna can be treated as God. But, the first address is Lord Krishna only.

In fact this statement was given by Shri Satya Sai Baba, Who is also the human incarnation of God. The reason for such statement is the method of psychological treatment of the student during the time of preaching. The other side is always with ego and cannot surrender so easily to another human form. It will take long time and intensive spiritual effort. Meanwhile, such statements work positively and encourage the human being to take up the difficult path of spirituality as early as possible. A temporary lie is allowed for good practical effect.

4)          Both devotion and knowledge are related to the phase of awareness. The action is always inert. The inert action can never generate the steps of awareness. The reverse is true even in the case of worldly issues. All the details of Mumbai heard by you generate the inspiration to go and see it. Then, the details of journey are acquired. All these details of goal and path constitute the knowledge, which should be the first step (Jnana Yoga). The details of the goal generate desire and emotional inspiration, which is called as the second step (Bhakti Yoga). Then, the third step called karma yoga or action takes place. After this, the fruit of reaching Mumbai and seeing it is achieved. In any issue, this is the sequence. In jnana yoga, the knowledge of goal (Jneya), path (Jnana) and yourself (Jnata) is to be obtained and this triad is called as ‘Triputi’. The knowledge of yourself is also very important because if you are already the Mumbai City, there is no need of inspiration and journey. Similarly, if you are already God, both bhakti yoga and karma yoga are meaningless. In this way, the knowledge of self is important and not in other way. The other way is that the knowledge of self leads to the knowledge of God because self is God. In this correct sequence only, the three Preachers appeared. First, Shankara preached knowledge. Next, Ramanuja preached devotion. Lastly, Madhva preached the service to God stating that the soul is servant (Sevaka) and God is to be served (Sevya).

The centre point of the Gita is that God is unimaginable (Maam tu veda na kaschana) around which only the entire spiritual knowledge is built-up. In the Veda also, this concept is expressed through several statements like ‘yato vaacho…’ etc.

At the lotus feet of Shri Dattaswami

-Prasad

Identification of deserving priests and performing rituals

[18-04-2014] Hindu religion is actually in the top most place among all the religions of the world since it is the only religion that deals with the subject of God (Nivrutti) to the extreme depth. Unfortunately, this religion is now in the bottom most place. The reason is that today the rituals performed in Hindu religion are waste since the essence is lost. The essential packed precious item is neglected and the unnecessary waste packing material is given importance. If you understand this point, you will also appreciate the universality of the rituals with respect to the packed precious item, which is one and the same even though the packing covers are different.

Let us understand this concept with the help of the ritual performed in Hindu religion after departure of the soul. These rituals are done up to 13 days and sometimes 15 days. The essence of this ritual performed in all these days consists of two parts; the major part is doing prayers to God with devotion and minor part is doing donation to the deserving devotees. This essence is universal in all the religions of humanity. This essence alone gives the fruit. Since this fruitful essence is seen everywhere in the world, God is impartial for spreading this essence to all the humanity without any partiality to any religion and region. God has given this precious item to all the human beings, who are His children. The language of the prayer to God and the procedure in respecting the devotees during the process of donation differ from one religion to the other, which are only the packing covers. If a specific packing cover followed in one religion is a real essence and the precious item, God become partial since that is not universal in all the religions. God becomes unjust and criminal for not spreading this to all the humanity. The prayer read in Sanskrit and the materials like dry grass, water, black sesame seeds etc are not universal since the same is not seen in the ritual of every religion. In the place of such, prayers to God in their language (Bible, Quran etc) and other procedures using different materials are seen.

In Hindu religion the language of the prayer to God  is Sanskrit, which is unfortunately not known to any Hindu. In the olden days Sanskrit was mother tongue and hence these prayers were written in Sanskrit in that time. Today, the meaning of the prayer is not known even to the reader (Priest) and not to speak of the doer and other people associated in the ritual. The prayers are generally from Veda and the meaning of the word Veda is knowledge. The devotion comes only after having the knowledge by knowing the meaning of the prayer. Therefore, there is no sense of devotion in any person participating in the ritual. The main aim of the ritual is only to pray God with devotion. Thus the main part is lost. Due to this, the minor part is also lost because in the absence of real devotion nobody in the ritual is a devotee. In such case, your donation to them in terms of food or cloth or money etc becomes waste. In such ritual even a devotee outside is becoming non-devotee and undeserving of the donation. If the ritual is performed in the right spirit, even a non-devotee outside is becoming devotee and deserving in such ritual. Thus in the present rituals of Hinduism both major and minor parts of the essence are totally lost.

          In such a ritual, the doer feels that the main aim is to give food to the departed soul through the dining devotees. This concept is not true in the real sense. This concept is introduced only to force the greedy devotees to perform the ritual. Except this one aim, there is nothing truth in this point. The departed soul has four ways of journey. The first type of souls goes to the abode of God called Brahma Loka and for such person there is no need of this ritual (Nahi tena pathaa tanutyajah tanayaavarjitapindakamkshinah). The second type of souls goes to Heaven and the divine nectar is its food due to which there is no need of this ritual (Ubhe teertvaa ashanaayaapipaase). The divine nectar (Amrutam) is also the immortal energy, which is the basic substratum of all the forms of universe. It is not the form of matter, which is not immortal. The third type of souls goes to the world of moon or Pitru Loka and takes the rays of moon as food and hence there is no need of this ritual for this type also (Nirvishtasaaraam pitrubhih himaamshoh). The fourth types of souls go to hell for which food and water are not allowed due to severe punishment given and hence there is no need of this ritual (Jaayasva mriyasva). 

When the soul leaves this materialistic body, it is enclosed by the energetic body. For energetic body, energy alone can be the food and not this materialistic food. Therefore, feeding the departed soul is not at all the aim since it is not true. The aim of the ritual is only to pray God to protect the departed soul and give food to the devotees assisting the prayer. The departed soul is expected to be protected since the property of the departed soul is spent in such ritual and due to such donation the departed soul can be blessed with good fruit. The scriptures also say that the main aim of this ritual is only to protect the welfare of the doer since by such prayer and donation the doer is always blessed by the fruit of a good deed. The doer and the departed soul are blessed because the money of the doer is spent and the property of the departed soul is gained by the doer. Thus, ultimately it becomes a joint financial transaction and hence the fruit is coming to both. If the doer is not performing such ritual, the scripture says that the doer will get bad effect. 

The aim of the scripture is only to promote the performance of the ritual by the doer controlling the greediness and not any other intention. The doer, who was not giving proper food to the alive parents may also be forced to do these rituals for this fear only, which is the bad effect in not performing the ritual. This point is exploited by the priests for their self benefit of getting money from the doer even though this point is mentioned in the scripture for the sake of the greedy doers.  If the doer is regularly praying God and performing some donation to the deserving devotees, such ritual is not essential. Hence, such ritual is not performed by and not performed for- the realised soul (Samnyaasin).

The present priests in Hindu religion are not deserving for any donation. This is the worst state of Hindu religion because the priest in any religion is considered to be the leader and head in the spiritual path. The deserving qualifications mentioned by Veda for the receiver of the donations are: 1) he should be a Shrotriya meaning that he should know the true meaning of Veda and should propagate it to others. The meaning of the word Brahmana is also the same since the word Brahma here means the meaning of Veda as Veda itself means knowledge (Brahma nayati iti). 2) he should not aspire for the wealth of others (Akaamahatasya). Both these qualifications are absent in the present priests. Donation is a double edged knife. If you perform it to the deserving acceptor, you will receive good result. If you perform it to undeserving acceptor, you will receive bad result. In the place of bad result, if no result exists at least, it is tolerable since it becomes only wastage. But it is not so. Hence you must concentrate on the analysis of identifying the deserving acceptors from the undeserving acceptors as said in Veda (Samvidaa deyam), which says that you should analyse before donation. The first qualification exists only in God. The second qualification exists in few sacred souls and due to the presence of such souls only on this earth, the earth still exists. 

Generally people give importance to place and time and not to the deservingness of the acceptor (Deshe kalecha patrecha- Gita). The place, time and deservingness of the acceptor are in the ascending order of importance, which is unfortunately reversed now. They do hurry donation because of the place and time. They like to finish the donation before the end of the day of Shivaratri and before returning from Benaras. They should do deep analysis and take long time to identify the deserving acceptor. Once the deserving acceptor is attained, you should perform the donation immediately and such place is Benaras and such day is the Shivaratri. You can even postpone this ritual to some other day if the proper acceptor is not available. You are postponing this ritual for small reasons like eclipse etc., and neglecting this important main aspect. 

Lord Krishna donated only once in His life, which is the case of Kuchela. Both the qualifications exist only with Lord Krishna and for a completely perfect donation, He has to donate to Himself! Therefore, He was doing long analysis for the deserving soul having atleast the second qualification perfectly. He was analysing the mind of Kuchela till he reaches his village in the return journey to see whether Kuchela develops any aspiration for His wealth. In fact, Kuchela borrowed a little quantity of parched rice from the neighbour and is expected to return it back after coming from Krishna. His wife instructed him so. But, Krishna did not give anything while Kuchela was returning and more over consumed major portion of the parched rice. In spite of this, Kuchela never aspired anything from Krishna, who is the Lord of Lakshmi, the universal wealth. Such acid tests generally fail any soul.

          The priests of Hindu religion should aim at the state of Kuchela. They should not aspire for anything from anybody. They should conduct the rituals feeling that they are already paid for getting a lucky chance by participating in the ritual, which is a prayer to God, the result of which is not only blessing to the doer from God but also to the priest. The donation comes from anybody by the will of God. The donation is based on the capacity (Shakti) and the faith towards the acceptor (Bhakti). The priest should not fix a rate common to poor and rich like a business man in the market. He should keep the capacity of the donor also in his view. The donor may have full capacity but if the faith towards the acceptor is less, the donation to the acceptor is also less. This also should not be criticised by the acceptor since the less faith to the acceptor is always due to the defects observed in the acceptor. The acceptor-priest should always think that God is giving the donation and the evaluation of acceptors by God is always correct. Therefore, the priests should not aspire for anything from anybody and should have faith in God, the real donor. 

The priest should also learn the meaning of Veda and explain it to all the people. He should not waste his time in practicing the blind recitation of the scripture. There is no need of recitation without seeing book. He can see the book and should explain the meaning properly to develop the devotion. The priests of other religions read from their books only. If the priest is able to recite also without the book, it means he is well experienced in performing the rituals and is remembering the scripture due to frequent participations in the rituals. This is only the aim of the statement that a priest without book is better due to long experience (Tathaa likhitapaathakah). It only denotes the appreciation for the experience, which is not a mandatory. There, the instruction that the priest should know the meaning of Veda is also given (Anarthajnah) and this is mandatory because the very meaning of the word Veda is knowledge and this point is repeatedly mentioned (Adhyetavyo jneyashcha).

          Therefore, one need not be worried about the present looting rates of the priests regarding this ritual. He can perform the prayers to God in his own mother tongue without any priest and can call the best available deserving devotees for the possible donation from his side. In such way, I declare with all guarantee that such a person has performed this ritual in the real way because the basic universal essence of the ritual is performed neglecting the meaningless packing cover. I also declare with all guarantee that a doer performing this ritual neglecting the universal essence and caring for the unnecessary packing material is not performing this ritual at all and also will be punished in the hell for the donation to undeserving acceptors. Shankara alone performed this ritual for His departed mother when every priest boycotted Him denying the co-operation and such ritual performed by Him was really fruitful since He prayed God with full devotion.

          We are not denying the performance of any ritual but only recommending to perform the ritual with full analysis that brings the realization of true essence of the ritual (Jnaatvaa kurveeta karmaani – Gita). If the essence is lost, the total performance of the ritual is not only waste but also a sin.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad

Sri Datta Ashtakam (Telugu)

Sri Dattashtakam in Telugu by Swamiji (Download)

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami
-Durgaprasad

Science and Technology in Ancient India

[April 3, 2014 Abstract for Symposium on Science and Technology in Ancient Scriptures, Mumbai] Science and technology existed in ancient India to very high level in advanced state. Mathematics of Bhaskara, Astronomy of Arya Bhatta and Brahma Gupta, Geometry of Apasthamba, Bodhayana and Kaatyayana, Physics of Kanaada and Gowtama, chemistry of Rasaarnava, Aeronautics of Maya, Ayurveda of Charaka, Surgery of Sushruta, Economics of Chanakya, etc., were several advanced branches of science and technology. Brahmagupta establishes the theory that the earth is moving around its own axis and also around the Sun. The theorems of geometry of Aapastamba etc., were of great surprise, which were followed in the construction of the Vedic altars to perform sacrifice using bricks (Shulba Sutraas). The altar of a square to be converted into a rectangle of the same area so that the diagonal of the square becomes the side of the rectangle is in one Sutra “Samachaturasram deergachaturasram Chikeershuh tadakshnyaa samparichchidya yathaa yogena yojeyet”. This means that you should cut the square via the diagonal and one half is made into two and these three pieces to be added. Sushruta describes several intricate eye operations. Rasaarnava describes thousands of chemical reactions.

The usage of Brahmaastram in the Kurukshethra war was nothing but explosion of nuclear weapon as per the full details in the Mahabharatam and the studies of the soil of Kurukshethra war. The history of the science says that Zinc metal was first extracted in China since the metal sublimed and escaped the furnace during the earlier metallurgical operations in other countries and hence, could not be extracted from its ore. But, Rasaarnava says that the Zinc metal was extracted in ancient India by using a lid that covers the crucible so that the lower part of the lid collects the Zinc metal due to the condensation of the sublimed vapours on the lower part of the lid (Mukamushaagatam Dhmaatam – Rasaarnava). Hence, the Zinc metal was first extracted in ancient India and not in ancient China. The alloy of Zinc metal after mixing with Copper (Riti) was mentioned in the Valmiki Ramayanam (Ritih kanchanarajatih).

We are benefitted by the applications of Science and Technology irrespective of its place of origin in the present time and to do research on the history of Science may not be of great importance. The argument that our ancient Indian scriptures were carried away to the foreign countries may help to restore the pride of our ancient India. This is purely from the point of history and not from the point of advancement in Science. But, a thorough study of these ancient scriptures may open the doors in some areas at least even for the advanced techniques, which may not be known even today. The metallurgy of Ashoka pillar in Delhi, which is made of cast iron, not corroding till today in spite of the extreme climate gives a practical hope for such research.

The place of Science and Technology in ancient India was at lower level before the spiritual knowledge involving miraculous powers exhibited by the sages. If a sage could create a building just by the power of his will, what will be the value of civil engineering before that? Today, we have lost that technology of spiritual powers and hence, the science and technology appear very big. The science and technology were like a small line drawn before the spiritual power standing as a big line. Today, the big line disappeared and the relatively smaller line becomes absolutely big.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad

ANALYSIS OF ALMIGHTY IS FAR SUPERIOR

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,

[February 19, 2014] Shri Ajay asked: “It is very painful to observe the extent of injustice and corruption taking place even in the case of rulers and due to this, the country is going to dogs. A new leader must come to repair this situation. God must do something”. Shri Ajay posed this question in the context of the depression of Shri Phani for the political failure of the issue of the state. In fact, Shri Swami replied that this issue would be settled in this way only as it happened now.

Swami Replied: It is good that you have responded against the injustice and for the justice. If possible, you should also think the best that can be done by you either by taking up some practical step or by taking up some theoretical step through suggestions and propaganda of right concepts. You should always try to support the justice and condemn the injustice whether it is the case of an individual or a community. Such reaction is very important part of your worship to God. God will be highly pleased by such effort from your side involving in the establishment of justice and destruction of injustice since God feels that this is His primary responsibility towards His creation. Your practical participation in trying to help the primary duty of God is highly appreciated always by God. If one fails in this aspect, any quantity of personal worship of God is useless. God says that He incarnates on this earth mainly to protect the justice and suppress the injustice. This is very important divine quality and contributes mainly to your achievement of divine nature. Therefore, you must develop this attitude within the limits of your capacity, knowledge and analysis. You must live always maintaining this divine nature irrespective of the defeat and success of your trials in establishing the justice against the injustice.

All the above concept is one side of the coin only. The other side is regarding the actual mechanism of the system arranged by God that involves the history of the case related to the future birth and previous birth. It is also related to the nature of the judgment of God based on several special and specific points of each individual case. The actual proceedings of the system run by the constitution created by God may sometimes differ from your analysis based on limited knowledge. You are not aware of previous and future births (Natvam vettha… Gita). The actual direction of the running of the case depends on the previous and future births known to God alone. The analysis of the Almighty is also far superior to your limited and inefficient logic. However, you should not be discouraged by the actual proceedings of the case. You are totally justified within your limits. In fact, the proceedings of this entire Universe are beyond your capacity and about which you need not be worried. When the contradiction arises between your effort and the actual direction of a case, do not become emotional to find fault with the proceedings of the Universe, which are based on the direction given by God only. Thus, by criticizing the administration of Universe, you are criticizing only God, Who is the Universal Administrator. In case of the contradiction between your effort and the path of the world, God is not blaming you since you are putting sincere effort within the restricted limits of your knowledge and capacity. On the other hand, God appreciates the behavior of your good psychology as per the divine expectation. In the case of such contradiction, you are only blaming God by condemning the universal direction and you are not realizing that this is the result of your incomplete knowledge. Therefore, your duty is to support the justice and oppose the injustice within the limits of your knowledge and not to blame God directly or indirectly in case of the failure of your effort due to contradiction by the universal tendency directed by God.

The Gita says that the practical nature of the activities in the Universe is very much complicated and every case is highly specific like the thumb impression. If Prakash is beaten by Manohar, the punishment given to Manohar differs in several ways depending on very minute details of the case and the possibility of psychological transformation of the sinner. For this sin, Manohar may be beaten here itself in this very birth by somebody or may be beaten by Prakash here itself in this very birth or may be beaten by the servants of the Hell in the upper world or may not be beaten by any one at any time since it is the reaction-punishment as Manohar was beaten by Prakash in the previous birth. When the fact is the last option, people misunderstand that good Prakash was beaten by bad Manohar and nothing happened to Manohar. Your effort to beat Manohar fails if it is the last option. Now, you will start blaming the universal tendency and thereby blaming God indirectly since the direction of motion of any activity in the Universe is totally under the control of God only. Due to the existence of so many complicated options of the deeds of the souls, Lord said that the analysis of the three dimensional network of the deeds and fruits is very much complicated (Gahanaa Karmano Gatih).

The essence of this message is that you should try to uplift the justice and reject the injustice within the limits of your knowledge and analysis. But at the same time, when your such good wish and effort are repelled by the forcible universal direction controlled by the divine system, you should not be emotional and should not get any pain or depression. You will be appreciated by God for your behavior within the possible limits since the change of the attitude of the soul towards the right direction is the main aim of God since He does not require even a trace of the contribution of your effort as help or assistance in His administration. The Lord said in the court of king of Kauravaas like this “If certain people (like Bhishma, Drona etc.,) here have neglected the justice allowing the injustice to win, this does not mean that justice will be defeated and injustice will win. Anyway, I am always there to protect the justice and destroy the injustice. Moreover, such people shall also be punished by Me”. In fact, Bhishma suffered by lying on the bed of arrows and Drona suffered while his head was cut.

In the above given options, the selection of the choice is mainly based on the nature of the psychology of the human being to be changed. According to the suitability, the option is selected by God since the main aim is only to transform the soul and not to revenge through the punishment. The punishment gives only temporary suppression and the permanent transformation can be brought only by the powerful knowledge. Once the human being is convinced through the logical steps of the analytical knowledge, the practice will be spontaneously affected. For this purpose, God comes down in the human form again and again. Of course, God is engaged always through such activity and this aspect is totally different and should not be linked in the context of the present level. The human incarnation is such Leader as expected by you and such divine program is already going on and you are the best witness of that.

 

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad

 

Knowlede alone can change karma chakra (Jnanaagnih Sarvakarmaani - Gita)

[January 4, 2014] Shri Anil asked: Please explain the Sanchita, Praarabdha and Aagaami in the case of an example so that these can be clearly understood.

Swami Replied: The Samskaras are the qualities only and are responsible for all the activities. Fruit is always associated with the action that is represented by the quality. The fruit may be awarded for certain actions like burning the finger introduced into the fire with or without the intention or quality. But, such fruits do not come under the divine cycle of deeds, which runs with the intention based actions. If an action is done without intention, the fruit is not awarded as in the case of killing an ant without intention while walking. Sometimes, intention may be there and action may not take place due to lack of opportunity. There also the intention is punished. The punishment is always aimed at total destruction of the qualities in absence of which the actions do not take place. But, the punishment can never eliminate the quality except decreasing its intensity. The decreased intensity may not be effective in generating the action due to which the external world is not disturbed.

Let us take a specific soul going to the upper worlds along with the lump of Samskaras or qualities or attitudes. Let us express the power of intensity of this lump as two hundred volts. Samskara or quality is made of mind and since mind is neuron-energy such units are justified. The composition of the qualities in this lump represents the number of qualities (which is a qualitative expression) and the intensities of the qualities (which is a quantitative expression). The soul goes to the upper worlds and receives rewards in the heaven and punishments in the hell. The soul going to upper worlds is only mind or a bundle of qualities called as individual soul or Jeeva, surrounded by the subtle body made of energy in plasma state as said in the Veda (Manomayah Praanashareeranetaa). After this enjoyment of the fruits in the upper worlds, the lump is reduced to the micro level. This micro lump has the same number of qualities and thus, there is no qualitative change. But, after the enjoyment, the intensities are reduced and now the total intensity of the lump is only 10 volts. This means all the efforts in the upper worlds can only reduce the intensity of a quality, but can never eliminate the quality. The only way to eliminate the quality is hearing the true knowledge from Satguru as said in the Gita (Jnanaagnih Sarvakarmaani..., Yasya sarve samaarambhah...). 'The knowledge burns the deeds' means that the knowledge burns the qualities, which are the generators and promoters of the deeds. Now, the soul coming from the upper world has the lump of Samskaras with intensity of ten volts. These ten volts are called as Sanchita associated with the soul just before re-birth.

When the soul comes to the earth, the above said Sanchita is awarded with a fruit in the form of the re-birth and its atmosphere. The composition of Sanchita varies from one soul to the other. Therefore, the conditions of the re-birth and the states of atmosphere also differ from one soul to the other. Some souls are born blind, some are born as dumb and some are perfect. Some are born in rich families, some are born in poor families and some are born in middle class families. We have already seen the policy in the upper world that the enjoyment of fruits can only reduce the intensity of the lump and the qualities are never eliminated. Therefore, the ten volt lump is again reduced in its intensity to one volt after receiving the re-birth as fruit. The nine volts are spent for the re-birth on this earth. These nine volts are called as Praarabdha. Now, the soul is left over with a lump of one volt, which is the balance of Sanchita after enjoying the Praarabdha. Thus, Praarabdha is the spent intensity and hence, cannot be revoked as told by Shankara in the commentary of the verse 'Jnanaagnih Sarva Karmaani...'. The reason is that Praarabdha is not in the form of quality that can be destroyed by the knowledge, but, it is in the form of already converted fruit. The version here that the knowledge burns all the deeds is also correct in the sense that the remaining balance in the form of qualities (lump of one volt) is totally burnt since all the deeds represented as qualities are eliminated by the Knowledge. 

The child with the lump having least voltage (one volt) looks very beautiful and sometimes is compared to pure and pious God. But, in course of time, the intensity of this lump increases with the external atmosphere of the world and the same beautiful child becomes young demon! The increase in the voltage differs from one soul to the other depending on the various possibilities of different environments. This world gives full freedom to the soul in choosing the environment. Such freedom is the characteristic of this world (Karma Loka), which is absent in the upper world (Bhoga Loka). The chosen environment decides the extent of increase of voltage of the lump. Let us take the same specific soul already selected by us as above. Let us say, the increase of the lump is ninety nine volts and the total voltage of the lump is hundred volts after addition to one volt. These ninety nine volts will be associated with the soul in future while going to the upper world and are called as Aagaami. The same cycle repeats again and again. The soul can come out of this cycle of deeds (Karma Chakra) with the help of the true knowledge of Satguru. The quality is a thought, which can be erased by another powerful convincing thought. The knowledge is lump of powerful thoughts, which can alone cut the existing thoughts or qualities. Diamond cannot be cut by any instrument except diamond. Therefore, the qualities can be changed only by the knowledge and not by other methods like meditation, penance, worship, fasting, etc.

 

Dr. Nikhil asked: The intensity of a quality can be increased by the subsequent activity in the presence of proper opportunity. In absence of such opportunity, it may not increase. Hence, the activity and opportunity also affect the quality even without the context of knowledge.

Swami Replied: We never said that other factors cannot change the intensity of the quality. The efforts like rewards and punishments, which are other than knowledge, have changed the intensity of quality. We have mentioned the knowledge only in the context of elimination of quality. Apart from elimination, knowledge also changes the intensity of the quality like other factors. It depends on the nature of the soul in choosing the factor i.e., Knowledge or hell. But, no factor except knowledge can eliminate the quality. The example you have mentioned may work in reverse direction also. The subsequent activity helping the earning may increase the desire for earning or sometimes may also decrease the desire for earning. Again, this depends on the nature of the soul. Satguru Dattatreya uses this reverse method in some souls. He grants excess of worldly pleasures (Bhoga) by which the soul gets detached by developing allergy to Bhoga. Hence, the Lord is called as 'Bhoga Moksha Prada', which means that the Lord sometimes gives salvation by granting excessive enjoyment of luxuries. The final action depends only on the chart of qualities and their intensities irrespective of the factors. The possessor of the quality not doing the action due to lack of opportunity is called as 'Mithyaachaara' in the Gita, which is also punishable. Therefore, the ultimate aim of the reward or punishment is only aimed at the reduction of the intensity of the quality and not at the subsequent inert deed as revenge.

At the lotus feet of Shri Datta Swami

-Prasad