Monday, October 12, 2009

7. You say that the present Gayathri Mantra is not Gayathri at all?

[In your childhood did you not perform the Gayathri Mantra? Did you not worship statues and photos? Did you not perform the Sacrifices? Why have you changed like this in the last part of your life?] I performed Gayathri Mantra in My childhood. But I never recited the present Gayathri Mantra, which is not at all the Gayathri because the present Mantra is not a song. While doing Gayathri I used to recite several devotional songs in My mind and people thought that I did the Japa of the present Gayathri Mantra. I used to tell the people that I have chanted Gayathri, but I never told them that I chanted the so-called present Gayathri Mantra. I worshipped statues and photos. I also performed sacrifices because I could not open My knowledge in the beginning itself. Had I opened this knowledge in the beginning itself people could not have digested it? When a bull runs with high speed, I have to follow the bull for some distance and then control the bull. Similarly to become close with the people I ran along with their tradition for sometime and became close to them. Then slowly I opened the true knowledge step by step. Shankara followed Buddhism and was called as ‘Pracchanna Bouddha’, which means “A Buddhist in disguise”. He was called so because His Maya Vada was similar to Sunya Vada. He followed the Sunya Vada of Buddhists but slowly brought them under His control and made them accept the Brahman. Due to Him only the Buddhism which was born in India does not exist in India. He saw that Buddhism crossed the borders of India. How can you call Him a Buddhist in disguise? Therefore the Gita says ‘Sarvarambhahi Doshena’, which means that in the beginning ignorance is inevitable. When you jump into the mud pond to lift the people you will be also covered by mud. It is inevitable even to the human incarnation. I never condemned the Gayathri Mantra. I only told what Gayathri Mantra is. I never condemned temples, statues and photos. I advised to preserve these models of knowledge for the future ignorant devotees. They have limited purpose of vision and meditation. I only condemned the service to the statues (Ijya) as per the Gita. The statues and photos are good but have limited use. In the name of statues and photos, people try to fool the ignorant public and do business and cheating. They say that the statue has life, which is absurd and is not scientific and logical. I condemned the aim of the rituals but not the rituals. I condemned burning the food in the name of sacrifice but sacrifice in its real sense, i.e., to feed the guest should be performed. I never condemned the school and college but I asked the people to come out of school to college and to university in course of time. One must come out of all these rituals as a Grihastha and come to the Sanyasa at the end. One should become the Sanyasi and reach the Brahmaloka without dying as a householder. When a person dies as a Sanyasi, the rituals are not done, which means that he does not go to the hell. But when a householder dies, the rituals including the donation of cow clearly prove that he goes to the hell. I never condemned the lower steps but I advised to come to the highest step before one dies. I climbed all the steps in My life to be an example to others. Even the very tradition itself proves this, which is supported by the scriptures. You have no argument in this matter because I proved with the help of both the scriptures and the ancient tradition. Lord Shiva came as Hanuman to show how to serve the God. Therefore He acted as a servant to God. That does not mean that He is really the servant. To set an example for others He acted like that.

6. What is the specialty of Gayathri Mantra?

The meaning of Gayathri is a divine song, which protects the singer. Mantra means that divine sentence which attracts the mind and protects the person who utters it. If you join these two words, Gayathri Mantra means a divine song, which attracts the mind without any force by virtue of its sweetness and protects the singer. Poetry is better than the prose but song is better than poetry. The Gita says that the song is the best (Vedaanaam Saamavedosmi). Therefore any divine song that attracts your mind is Gayathri Mantra which will please the Lord and will protect you. The sage for Gayathri Mantra is Vishwamitra. The word Vishwamitra means the sage who is interested in the welfare of the entire humanity. Therefore any human being can sing any devotional song to please the Lord. This is the real essence of Gayathri Mantra. Gayathri also is the name of a Vedic meter. The present verse (Tat Savituh…), which is in Gayathri meter is not a song and therefore is not Gayathri at all. The real Gayathri is with women and Sudaras who sing devotional songs. The people who were denied possess the real Gayathri. The people who denied them with jealousy do not have the real Gayathri. Gayathri is the super power of the Lord called ‘Maya’. The modification of Maya is this world as said in the Veda (Gayatriva Idagum Sarvam). The goddess described in the Sandhya Vandanam by the verse “Muktha Vidruma….” is not a Vedic deity because the meter of the verse is ‘Sardula Vikreditam’ which is not a Vedic meter. Some scholar wrote that verse imagining such form and introduced in Sandhya Vandanam. The word Sandhya Vandanam means to sing any prayer at the time of the sunrise and sunset. There is no particular text called Sandhya Vandanam.

5. Archanam is one of the nine stages of devotion. How can you object the Archanam of statue?

Archanam means worship. But in all the nine stages of devotion the word Archanam is mentioned. It does not mean the Archanam of Pratima (worship of statue). It can be the worship of a human form of Lord. Infact examples given in the nine stages of devotion relate only to the human form of the Lord. For ex: Arjuna was told as an example from friendship (Sakhyam). But Arjuna was a friend to Lord Krishna and not a friend of any statue.

4. Is it necessary to go to temples, worship statues and do sacrifice (Yajna)?

Temple and statue are necessary for low level people as said in Shastra (Pratima Swalpa Buddhinaam). It is a teaching model for a school student. But for a college or university student it is not necessary. It is called as Pratika (Model). The Veda says to meditate upon the Sun assuming Sun as the Lord. The Sun is not the Lord. The Lord is not in the Sun. Sun is only a servant of the Lord. All these points are told in the Veda (Adityam Brahmeti, Nedam tat, Bheeshodeti Suryah). The Veda says that the Lord is not in the statues (Natasya Pratima). The Veda also says that no inert object and no human being is the Lord because the object or human being is an item in the creation (Neti, Neti). The Gita says that the Lord comes only in human form (Manusheem Tanumaasritam). The statue, which is in the human form is a model to teach you the concept that the Lord comes only in human form to preach the divine knowledge in every human generation, to avoid the partiality to a particular human generation as said in the Gita (Yada Yadaahi). Once you understood this concept the temple and statue are not necessary for you but they should be protected and respected as the models of divine knowledge for the future ignorant devotees. Some people tell that ‘Kulluka Bhatt’ said about worship of statues. Kulluka Bhatt is a ‘Purva Mimaamsaka’ who is an atheist (Devo Na Kaschit). How can he contradict the Veda, which says that the Lord does not exist in statues? The Gita condemns severely that a person-worshipping statue will be born as a stone. Here the meditation upon the statue is not condemned. Only worship like offering the food is condemned because the statue does not eat the food. Some fellow behind the statue eats the food. In the Gita the word ‘Bhutejyah’ means to worship the inert object by offering food. Ijya means to offer the food. Bhuta means inert substance, which is one of the five inert elements (Pancha Bhutas). Some people say that the word Bhuta means ghost and those who worship ghosts become ghosts. We do not object such meaning. But the word Bhuta also means the five inert elements. Our meaning is in the same line of your meaning. If a person worships ghosts becomes ghost. Similarly, if a person worships inert objects becomes inert object. We do not contradict your meaning. Our meaning is in the same line of your meaning and therefore you cannot contradict. Moreover the verse says that those who worship deities become deities etc., Therefore our meaning is in the line of the meaning of the verse. Yajna means to feed the guest after cooking the food and not burning the food in the fire. The guest is treated like fire. The hunger in his stomach is treated as ‘Vaishwanara fire’. Krishna stopped burning the food in fire and ate the food stating that He was hungry. Kapila condemned such burning of food in Bhagavatam. The Yajna is only to cook the food and feed the guest. In this true sense Yajna is essential and must be performed.

3. Why the statues are made of five metals (Pancha Loha)?

A statue is a model representing a concept. It is actually a teaching aid of the spiritual preacher who alone can be Lord Datta. Datta means the Lord given to the world in human form. The human body of the Lord is made of the five elements (Pancha Bhutas). The statue is in human form which represents the human body of the Lord. The five metals represent the five elements. This means that the body of the Lord is also the same Prakriti. Therefore the body of the Lord will be having the nature of Prakriti only like hunger, thirst etc. Prakriti is the shirt of the soul or the Lord. A blade can cut the shirt of any human being. Similarly the blade can cut the shirt of even a king. This represents that you should concentrate on the inner form of the Lord which pervades all over the human body of the incarnation just like the current pervades all over the metallic wire. The wire gives you electric shock, which is the property of the current. But the wire is also maintaining its own property like leanness etc.; similarly the human body of human incarnation has the property of the inner form and also its own natural property. Therefore you should recognize this truth and worship the Lord in human form by offering food etc.; you should not think that since He is the Lord He would not have hunger. Ofcourse the Lord can use His divine power to remove His hunger. The Lord does not use such divine power for the sake of His Human body. The very purpose of the human body of the Lord is to suffer the results of sins of His devotees. In such suffering the human body must follow the nature of Prakriti and must suffer like any other human being. If the Lord uses the superpower in suffering, the deity of justice is cheated. The statue that represents the human body, which consists of five elements represented by the five metals of the statue, indicates all these concepts.

2. Do you appreciate or condemn the life initiation in statues?

If you take the life initiation as a model of knowledge, it is appreciated the inert statue + life initiation (Prana Pratistha) indicates the living human being because the Lord comes in living human form. But if you say that the life initiation brings life in the statue, it should be condemned because the statue does not move even an inch. You cannot bring life in a dead body by this life initiation.

1. What is the necessity of worshiping the statues in temples?

The statue or photo is the inert object. The form carved in a stone or painted on a paper is also an imaginary form and not even a direct photo. The statues and photos are only models representing the concept, which is knowledge. The form of statues and photos is mainly human form, which represents the concept that the Lord always comes to this world in human form as said in the Gita (Manusheem Tanu Masritam…). Please remember that the Gita did not tell that the Lord would come in any other form. The forms of fish, tortoise etc., were only temporarily to kill the demons and nobody worshipped such forms during their time. But Rama, Krishna etc. were the human forms worshipped by several devotees like Hanuman and Gopikas. The Lord will come in every human generation, otherwise He becomes partial to a particular generation. If necessary the Lord can come whenever there is necessity as said in the Gita (Yedaa yedaahi…). Once this concept is realized, there is no need of temple and statue for you. You should go from school to college and then to university. This does not mean that when you leave the school, the school should be destroyed. The school must exist for the future batches. Therefore for you, the statue and the photo are not necessary and this does not mean that the statues, photos and temples should be broken. They should be protected and must be respected as the models of divine knowledge for the future ignorant devotees. Some devotees cannot accept the human form, which is before their eyes as said in the Veda (Pratyaksha dvishah). For such devotees the statues and photos are necessary for meditation since they are at the school level. The statues and photos are useful for the meditation of such limited minds as said in Shastra (Pratima svalpa buddhinam). The Veda says that the Lord does not exist in the inert objects (Natasya pratima, Nedamtat), but says that the inert objects can stand as models representing the Lord (Adityam brahmeti). Therefore seeing and meditation upon the statues and photos are correct in the case of the ignorant devotees. But the other rituals like offering food, burning camphor, fume sticks, oil lamps and breaking coconuts, offering flowers etc. are not mentioned in the Vedas. They are unnecessary and cause air pollution harming the humanity. All these unnecessary rituals should be avoided. Offering food should also be done to the human form of the Lord only but not to the inert statues. Ijya or Yajna is cooking and offering of the food. The Gita says that such Ijya should not be done to the inert objects. In the name of the statues, people steal the food and money. The statue and photo do not take the food or Gurudakshina. The people behind the statue take those things and most of them either cheat or waste the money with ignorance. Whatever Gurudakshina is given, should go only to the priest and not the managing devotees. The business of the merchants to sell such materials in the temples should be stopped, because such materials are not even heard in the Veda. Ofcourse, the priest should be a Sadguru and preach the divine knowledge to the devotees and the devotees should give Gurudakshina to such Sadguru only. Thus, the temple should become a center of learning selfless devotion and divine knowledge and the priest must do only ‘Janna Yajna’ in the temple and not the ‘dravya Yajna’ as said in the Gita (Sreyaan dravyamayat). The Gita condemned such Ijya before inert objects because such Ijya is only cheating and business. Such a devotee will born as inert object (Bhutejya yanti). This business is connected to removal of the fruits of sins and to get the fruits of good deeds, which are not done. All this is false, because the ‘theory of karma’ says that one has to suffer for all his bad deeds and can never get the result of any good deed without doing it (Avasyamanubhoktavyam…kalpakotisatairapi). The spiritual path should be preached in the temple, which must be ‘nishkama karma yoga’ i.e., sacrifice of work and sacrifice of the fruit (money) of work to the Lord without aspiring any fruit in return. Remember, that only the Ijya is condemned and not the temples or statues, which are the models of the divine knowledge.