Should we not ask God for help?

If you are ordinary person you should follow the rules of your deeds and nature. If you are a devotee, even then, you should not ask God for help. Your devotion must not aspire any result. You are asking God for help means that you want God to violate his own natural rules. The impression of millions of angels and sages is disturbed if God violates his own rules. That will give a poor impression on God. You are putting God to inconvenience by forcing him to use his supernatural power. Whether you are a devotee or not, you must always try to solve your problems by putting your best effort.

If you fail, even then, do not ask God to help you. Then, you think that it is your fate and worship God as usual. Arjuna was fighting with his grandfather, Bhishma. Arjuna was not putting up his best effort to kill Bhishma. He was having sympathy to Bhishma, who has brought up Arjuna. Noting this, Krishna took His Sudarshana chakra and ran to kill Bhishma. That means the Lord tried to solve the problem of Arjuna through His divine power. Arjuna did not agree to this and forced Krishna to stop, because Arjuna knew about his inadequate effort. But when Sindhava was to be killed, Arjuna tried his best, because Arjuna took an oath to kill Sindhava before sunset and otherwise he promised that he would enter the fire.

Since the sunset took place apparently due to the Maya of Krishna, Arjuna stopped fighting and wanted to enter the fire. He was just going to jump into the fire but he never asked for help. He thought that was his fate. Therefore, the Lord helped him secretly. Therefore, if you put your best effort, still fail because it is beyond your limits, if you happen to be a real devotee and do not ask for the help from God, then you will be helped by the superpower secretly. The secrecy is due to preservation of the sacredness of his administration in the eyes of others.

41. Can sin be cancelled by prayers or charity?

The sin can never be cancelled by any remedy except the realization and reformation of the soul. Realization comes through knowledge and the determination and subsequent practical implementation of knowledge brings reformation of the soul.
Knowledge is always inherently related to soul. With the help of knowledge you can change the states of matter and energy easily, but with lot of difficulty only you can change the state of soul since knowledge is inherently related to soul. Knowledge with top most intensity only can change the soul. The intensity of knowledge increases as the knowledge is coming closer to the truth. The true knowledge means the knowledge that is totally identified with the truth, which can be given by the human incarnation of God only and hence Veda said that the true knowledge is the real inherent characteristic of God (Satyam Jnanam..). Except the human form of God, no other form can deliver the knowledge and this is the exceptional value of human incarnation. You may say that God can speak even through inert forms or other living beings due to His omnipotence but such exhibition of unimaginable power without real necessity indicates the brainless administration of God. When the human form is naturally available to serve the purpose, there is no meaning to use superpower through other forms for the same purpose. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was crossing the river by a boat paying one rupee to the driver. Another saint crossed the same river by walking on water to show his super power. Paramahamsa told him that the cost of his super power is just one rupee! God is not such foolish saint, but God is such wise Paramahamsa! Realization is the process of effort to change the soul and reformation is the actual change of the soul. If the soul is reformed, the proof for it is that the sin is not practically repeated. If this result is achieved, there is no need of punishment. The punishment is not for the sake of past sin, since past is past. The punishment is only to change the soul so that in future the sin is not repeated. The day you have stopped repeating the sin, you are excused by God for the past sin. This is the only way to stop the punishment of sin, which is in the form of problems of life. If you have stopped all the sins, your life will be the happiest and for this you need not pray even God. Prayer to God will not cancel even the trace of the sin. Ravana prayed Lord Shiva in several ways, but, he could not escape the punishment of his sin. If you are committing sin, you are violating the word of God and going against the will of God. God wants you not to commit any sin. His word is the ethical scripture, which says that you should not commit any sin. The sin will disturb the balance of the society since it hurts the co-living beings. Non-vegetarian food by it self is not a sin since the analysis of it shows that its contents are the same as exist in vegetarian food. The sin comes by killing a co-living being, which does not harm you at all. If you stop taking non-vegetarian food, killing of living beings is proportionally controlled. Do not say that you are not getting sin since you have not killed the living being directly. Killing is the highest sin, which gives highest pain to the living being. In the next birth, the killed living being will be born as human being, you will be born as the living being and you will be killed similarly by the human being so that your soul will realize the pain and get reformed. All the punishments are only for reformation of the soul and not for revenge. The hell is created by God not with vengeance against sinners but due to kindness to reform the souls. God is always kind to reform the souls, which are His children since the souls are created by Him. The father will never have even a trace of vengeance towards his issues. Jesus always addressed God as father and He propagated this concept by saying that all your sins will be excused by God if you are reformed. Practical knowledge, the practical realization, which is the reformation, will cancel all your previous bad deeds or sins as told in Gita (Jnanaagnih….). Except this one way, there is no other way to cancel the sins and escape from all the present problems in the world and future torture in the hell. The results of all your good actions will be separate and will not interfere with the cancellation of sins. God will give you good results for all your prayers and any prayer will not cancel even a trace of your sin. Similarly, your charity. If these good actions can reform you, then, your sins will be canceled.

At the lotus feet of Shri Dattaswami
-Durgaprasad

40. How do you justify the caste system in Hinduism?

The Gita says that the caste is due to qualities and profession (Guna Karma Vibhagasah). Qualities were always respected. Rama and Krishna were non-Brahmins. The Brahmin priests wash the statues of Rama and Krishna and swallow it as sacred water. In Bhagavatam it is written that Bhuri Sravasa, who is a pot maker was made Brahma in the sacrifice. Ravana was a Brahmin but was condemned. Every human being is ‘Sudra’ by birth and can become Brahmin by practicing the true meaning of the Vedas (Janmana Jaayate). Brahmana means he who knows Brahman. Brahman also means the Veda in Sanskrit. Every caste contains good people as well as bad people. Sabari and Kannappa belong to the family of untouchables. Nobody is untouchable by birth. In the Veda only four castes were mentioned. How this fifth caste came into existence? All the bad people in the four castes were expelled from the village just like a bad student is expelled from the school. Thus untouchability is due to the qualities and deeds but not by birth. Brahmins are worshipping the photos of Sabari and Kannappa in their prayer rooms

39. Is Lord responsible to feed all living beings in this world?

[Please protect the job of my son. Is it not the responsibility of the Lord to feed all the living beings in this world?]

Had your statement been correct, there should have been no death due to hunger in this world. This means there is no such responsibility for the Lord. This is explained in the Gita (Na Kartrutvam). Every living being attains anything including food according to its own deeds. Therefore one should not aspire for any fruit from the Lord and thus one should be always selfless. The Lord protects such human beings only who are selfless and serve the Lord. The Lord protects them by transferring all the sins to Him. First you cut your blind bond (Moha) with your son. He was your enemy in the previous birth. You grabbed his property. He is now born as your son to collect his money with interest (Runanubandha Roopena). In the previous birth you prayed the Lord to punish the same fellow. The Lord neither punished him in the previous nor will protect him in this birth. The punishment and protection follow him as per the fruits of his deeds. All the living beings are dearer to the Lord in all the births. For you, one soul becomes dear in this birth and the same soul becomes enemy in another birth. You are recommending him to Me! Suppose a guest comes to your house and recommends your son to you, how do you feel? The Lord punishes anybody only to bring realization in that soul. Did you not punish your son in the childhood? Did I interfere then in your punishment? I have more responsibility than your case. Guru is greater than even the parents. If you recommend anybody to the Lord, you are insulting the Lord. It shows as if you are more concerned about him than Me. Therefore you think about yourself and leave him to Me.

38. Why my son, a devotee is killed in accident? Is lord cruel in not protecting him?

[My son who died in an accident was an excellent devotee of the Lord. The Lord who has to protect him killed him. Is He not cruel?]

Your question shows that you are not the real devotee of the Lord. Your son must have been a real devotee as expressed by your own words. He was born to you by his previous action (Prarabdha). In your association he will be certainly spoiled. Therefore the Lord wanted to change him as a son of another real devotee. He allowed some time to see whether you will change as a real devotee so that your son may continue with you. But you have not changed because you are scolding the Lord for cutting your bond with your son. Actually all the family bonds should be cut for the sake of the bond with the Lord. Just like you change your son from a school containing bad students to a school with good students, the Lord changed your son to the atmosphere of a real devotee. Thus the Lord protected your son. In His view, removing this external body is just like removing the shirt. In your view, such removal of shirt is cruelty. Therefore always be firm that the Lord is always the protector and He is kindest towards all His real devotees.

37. I am very much anxious to get a child and good health?

You are getting everything according to your present deeds and also the past deeds. The Lord has arranged the cycles of your births. In each cycle happiness and misery are alternatively arranged leaving the sequence of good and bad deeds. Even if you have done two sins subsequently the fruits of the two sins are not given to you subsequently. The result of a good deed is penetrated in between these two sins. Like this the Lord has arranged all your life cycles at present and in the future. If you are pestering Him, He will bring the result of good deed from the future cycle to the present cycle as a pre-matured fixed deposit with reduced value. By such interference your future life cycles will be filled with misery. Then you will scold the Lord crying “Oh! Lord you have given me misery from birth to death”. You don’t remember your foolish interference in the past birth. The other way is that the Lord in human form should transfer your sin on Him and should suffer for your sake. This path is possible only when you don’t aspire for this path and worship the Lord in human form by sacrificing all your bonds of the world. This is possible only for a true devotee who never wishes that the Lord should suffer for his or her sake. Such true devotee will be worshipping the Lord without aspiring anything in return. One has to understand the theory of Karma and the devotion towards Lord. The Lord suffers for the sins of His true devotees only who are really serving the Lord in practice by doing Karma Sanyasa (Sacrifice of work) and Karma Phala Tyaga (Sacrifice of the fruit of work) in His mission without aspiring anything in return. In such service even an iota of desire should not be present even in any biological cell of the human being. This is called ‘NISHKAMA KARMA YOGA’ AS EMPHASIZED IN THE GITA.

36. Can we have bond with the Lord along with the family, as duties are inevitable?

[The duties are inevitable due to responsibilities of the family. Then how can one cut the family bonds? One can have a bond with God along with the family bonds.]

The Gita says ‘Eka Bhakthih Vishishyate’ which means that the person having only one bond with the Lord alone is liberated. The liberation itself means destruction of all the bonds in this world. Without full liberation, one cannot have a strong bond with the Lord. Unless one is completely relieved from the world, one cannot join God. The joining report in the new institution is not possible without complete relief from the previous institution. You cannot partially join the new institution. It cannot be a side employment. Ofcourse such partial bond can be treated as the intermediate stage and is better than no bond. But the aim should not be such partial bond. If you aim at 100 marks, you may get 40 marks and pass. But if you aim at 40 marks only, you will fail. Therefore, let the aim be total liberation from the world and single bond with the God. The bond consists of three parts. The service in terms of sacrifice of work and fruit of work comprises ninety-nine paise. Love with mind consists of 2/3rd paise. Remembering through words consists of 1/3rd paise. If you take the case of Shankara, He has donated the whole rupee to the Lord. His love for His mother, words to praise mother and service to mother are diverted towards the Lord. He left His mother for the sake of the Lord. He has donated all the one hundred paise to the Lord. He is the top most beloved of the Lord. He should be our aim. In the beginning stage you cannot divert your work, which is called duty and mental attachment, which is called love to the Lord. Atleast make a humble beginning by donating the words to the Lord. Go on reading spiritual books and go on chanting his songs. By this you have donated 1/3rd paise to the Lord. Remember that you cannot purchase any item from any shop with 1/3rd paise. Therefore, do not aspire anything in return from the Lord, for this 1/3rd paise. In the next stage you try to divert your mind towards the Lord, which is 2/3rd paise. Do your duties to your family members, but without mental attachment. Such mental detachment has several added advantages. If one is mentally detached from the family members, he will not be hurt if they insult him in future. He will not be disturbed when their behaviour is not correct. He will not suffer if death attacks them. Such mental detachment brings full peace and balance of mind. Due to this he will be always energetic with good health. Therefore, such mental detachment is needed even for an atheist. The detached mind cannot keep silent because it is habituated to the attachment. Therefore, attach the mind to the Lord. Such attachment will always give infinite bliss in the life. When you are successful in attaching the mind to the Lord, you are called as devotee. But a devotee can be disturbed. The devotion becomes firm if his intelligence takes a firm decision through knowledge. Therefore, Knowledge gives firm decision to the intelligence (Buddhi) and this makes the devotion of mind (Manas) to be firm. Therefore, the Gita started with Buddhi Yoga or Jnana Yoga in the second chapter. When the mind is fixed on the Lord with the help of the knowledge of the intelligence, the work will naturally change and will follow the mind. The mind is like the king. The words are like his ministers. The intelligence is like his preacher or Guru. The work is like his army. Therefore, with the help of the words the mind should be diverted to the Lord and it is fixed with the help of the intelligence. The words divert the mind, whereas the intelligence fixes the mind. Therefore, when you have donated words and mind to the Lord and when you are strengthened by the spiritual knowledge your duties and responsibilities, which form the work will naturally be diverted towards the Lord. The work is always inert item and is controlled by the mind and intelligence.

35. Is it not the responsibility of son to serve his parents, who are direct God as per the Veda?

[I am Shankara Sastry. My son Nageswar wants to take ‘Sanyasa’. Can you give some advice to stop it? The Veda says that the parents are the direct God. Is he not having the responsibility to serve the direct God?]
Your name indicates that you are a follower of ‘Adi Shankara’ (Smartha tradition). Shankara also left His mother, the direct God for the sake of propagation of knowledge of the God. Why have you not criticized Shankara? In the same aspect you are criticizing your son. Therefore, you are unaware of the truth. Father and mother are the direct God as far as this world is concerned. But once the God competes with the parents, they are to be left for the sake of God. The Veda says ‘Matru Devah Pitru Devah’ which mean that parents are the God as far as the world is concerned and God is the parent when God enters one’s life. Thus the word in the Veda has two meanings accepted by grammar. If your son is leaving you in the love of his wife or his children or some other human being in the world, he should be criticized. In such case the responsibility is broken and he will be punished. But if one leaves his parents in the love of God, it is not a sin and there is no failure of the responsibility. Therefore ‘Adi Shankara’ left his mother for the sake of God. By this His mother got eternal salvation. Had Shankara stayed in that hut, He might have served His mother for this petty lifetime and that is a temporary benefit compared to the eternal salvation. If other worldly things spoil your son, I can advise him to marry and settle to serve his parents. But when he is starting the journey towards God, if anyone pulls him back, that person becomes the greatest sinner. The God will be angry with him because he is not even coming towards God but he is also dragging back somebody who turned towards God. If one is drawn towards the bad attractions of the world and is doing wrong things, you can divert him towards justice. But if one is towards the spiritual path, he should not be diverted to the worldly justice. God is greater than the justice because God protects the justice. If one is falling down you can bring him up. But if one is going towards the sky you should not pull him down to the earth. If one is spending time in spiritual discussions and is not feeling hungry, you should not force him for meals. If he feels hungry, you can advise him to take meals and again participate in the divine discussion. In the one-hour discussion even if half an hour goes for meals, the rest half an hour becomes fruitful in the discussion. The worst is to sit in the discussion with hunger and not applying the mind towards the discussion. In such case he wasted the entire hour. Thus hypocrisy should be avoided. Similarly instead of continuing in Sanyasa with internal worldly desires, it is better to lead a married life and participate in the service of the Lord sincerely atleast for sometime. Thus you can advise your son that he should not take Sanyasa if even a trace of his mind is on the worldly pleasures. Even after taking Sanyasa if his mind is attracted towards the worldly pleasures, he should come back to the household life instead of continuing in Sanyasa with hypocrisy. Thus Sanyasa without any hypocrisy is the best. The next best is the household life. The worst is the Sanyasa with hypocrisy. This is the real essence of all the Vedas. People should not misinterpret the Vedas and state that parents are the God and there is no other God. If that is so ‘Prahlada’ should not have left his father. Shankara should not have left His mother. Infact cutting all these worldly bonds with parents, wife, children and money is the real salvation. The existence of the only bond with the Lord is called ‘Kaivalyam’ or ‘Sayujyam’.

34. We have to discharge our duties to our children. How can we cut the bonds with them?

Duty is different from attachment. Krishna is Narayana. Narayana is Shiva. Manmadha is the only son of Narayana. But when Manmadha committed the mistake, Narayana in the form of Shiva burnt His only son. Dhritharaashtra has one hundred sons. He could not punish even one son (Duryodhana). This is the difference between a scholar and an ignorant person. An ignorant person does his duties with attachment to the bonds. A scholar also does his duties but without attachment to the bonds. All these family bonds are temporary which are confined to this birth only. In the previous birth you were not related and in the future birth you will not be related with them. Shankara told that which is temporary must be unreal (Yat Anityam Tat Kritakamhi Loke). The two actors were not father and son before the drama and will not be father and son after the drama. The bond is temporary during the drama only, but if you analyze during the drama also they are not the father and son. Therefore that which is temporary must be unreal in the past, present and future. That which is permanent is only real always. If you realize this divine knowledge of Shankara you can cut all your worldly bonds. Shankara left His old mother for the sake of the Lord. He practiced whatever He preached.

33. Shall we leave our families or leave the love on the families?

Love is nectar created by the Lord and therefore should not be destroyed. The family is a bottle in which this nectar is present. The Lord is another bottle. You need not destroy the first bottle or you need not throw the nectar. You have to simply transfer the nectar from the first bottle to the second bottle. Therefore you neither leave the family nor destroy the love on your family. You are going in a car towards Madras, which is in the opposite direction to Delhi. Your goal is Delhi. You need not scold the car that takes you to Madras. The car is in your control. You can divert the car towards Delhi. The same car will take you to Delhi with the same speed. Similarly the love is dragging you towards your family. The love is in your control. You divert the love towards the Lord and then it will drag you towards the Lord with the same speed. But this love should not be confined to words and feelings only. You are not showing such love to your children. Therefore do not show such love to the Lord also. As you show your love in action, you can show the same love to the Lord also. Therefore, as you are controlling your words and mind before your children, you can control before the Lord also. Similarly, you are not wearing silk clothes, garlands and applying sacred ash on your forehead for the sake of your children, why should you put all this drama dress before the Lord also?

32. What is the difference between Moha and Prema?

Love is Prema. It is based on truth and knowledge. Blind love is Moha, which is based on falsehood and ignorance. If you teach your son to make him pass the examination, it is love. Inspite of your teaching, if he is dull and if you want to pass him in the examination by false means, it is blind love. Tukaram preached Bhagavatam to his wife everyday. But, his wife was much attached to the household duties. Hence, she did not deserve the salvation. The divine aeroplane came only for Tukaram because he deserved. But, Tukaram offered a place in the aeroplane to his wife who did not deserve. This is Moha. His wife did not reach the aeroplane due to the house hold duties. Tukaram did not wait for his wife. Had he waited for his wife, he would have become undeserving due to his Moha and the aeroplane might have left even without him. By the grace of Lord, Tukaram realised the truth and got into the aeroplane. Tukaram preached Bhagavatam to all the devotees and his wife was also present in those devotees. Had he preached only to his wife, it would have been again Moha. Shankara preached all the people by wandering all over the world. Moha is responsible to bring down anyone from the highest state to the lowest state. Hanuman and Shankaracharya – both are incarnations of Shiva. Then Hanuman was trapped in the Moha of His mother by fighting with Rama for the sake of His mother. So, He fell from the state of Shiva to Jeeva. Therefore, He was always in the state of Jeeva (soul) and always stated ‘Dasoham’ i.e., I am your servant. But Shankaracharya left his mother for the sake of Lord and was not having any Moha. Therefore he was in his original state of Shiva and told ‘Shivoham’. Please remember that Hanuman acted in the role of an ignorant Jeeva to preach us and He was not really trapped by Moha. We should take the message of His role only. Therefore even Shiva becomes Jeeva due to Moha. When Shiva crosses the Moha, he remains as original Shiva. The essence of Saadhana is only to destroy this Moha on the worldly bonds and to have Moha only on the Lord. This should be proved in practice and need not be expressed through words or feelings. If the true knowledge is absent, the practice will never come. If the true knowledge is attained, if not today, you will attain it in the practice after a few days. Therefore, true knowledge and its propagation is the most important program of the Lord. He who participates in such program will become very near and dear to Lord. The only duty of a Sanyasi is propagation of the divine knowledge and therefore the Sanyasi is the nearest and dearest as told in the Gita (Jnani sacha mampriyah, Jnani tva tmaiva). Sanyasa does not mean shaving the head and wearing the saffron clothes. Sanyasa means propagation of divine knowledge to uplift all the people in the world.

31. What are the strong bonds, which hinder the spiritual growth? How to overcome these obstructions?

There are four strong bonds, which hinder the spiritual progress.
1) The bond with the wife; 2) The bond with the money; 3) The bond with the child and 4) The bond with ones body and life.
Avadhuta can only be the soul who has cut all these four bonds. A Sanyasi could cut the first three bonds but not the fourth bond. A Sanyasi takes food, drinks water, sleeps. The Sanyasi avoided the wife but not the desire for the sex. The eating, drinking, sleep and sex are the four biological needs of the body. The Avadhuta lives maintaining his body without these four needs and his body is beyond the rules of the nature. His body is a divine body maintained by the superpower (Maya) of the Lord. The state of Avadhuta is complete liberation and such complete salvation is possible only by the complete grace of the Lord. Avadhuta is just an inert house of the Lord. There is no soul in that body. The soul is also a part of the nature and so the soul becomes a part of the inert house of the Lord. The Avadhuta thinks, talks or does anything only by the will of Lord. He is called as Siddha and not Sadhaka. Even the Sanyasi is a Sadhaka who is still traveling towards that state. However, a stone can be also equated to Avadhuta because it also has complete salvation but the Lord is not dwelling in it. The Salvation must be attained through the devotion of the Lord, which will lead to the state of Avadhuta. If simple salvation is attained without devotion it will lead to the state of a stone.
Among the three bonds the strongest bond is the bond with the children. The wife can help in the spiritual effort (Sadhana) and therefore she is called as ‘Saha Dharma Charini’. The time spend to satisfy the biological need, is a matter of attraction of few minutes or at the maximum few hours. This little time is negligible compared to the long lifetime and the energy dedicated to the Lord. But the bond with the children persists at all the times and requires the expenditure of the energy continuously. The bond with the money also increases due to this bond with children. For the sake of the children people become corrupt and try to rob others. In such process they are doing lot of injustice. The strength of this bond is reduced by realization and with this not only the individual salvation in the upper world is achieved, but also the justice in this world can be easily established. This is the reason why the Lord spoke about the detachment of worldly bonds for the establishment of the justice. He says that He is born to establish the Justice, but He does not speak about the rules of the Justice. The Government, Police and even the courts quote the rules of Justice, which cannot establish the Justice. People are trying to misinterpret these rules and win the case. In the Gita the Lord attempted for the detachment of these bonds, which are responsible for the injustice. He attacked the problem at the basic level. Therefore, the strength of the bond with the children is proportional to the injustice in the world. This bond also hinders the spiritual elevation. Unless the strongest bond is cut, salvation is impossible. Without the salvation, the single bond with the Lord is impossible. You can analyze Vyasa, Arjuna and Dhritaraashtra who are representing the three, above average, average and below average levels. Vyasa is the highest Guru and his birthday is celebrated as Guru Purnima. The divine prostitutes who are of the lowest level mocked such a highest Guru due to this strongest bond. Vyasa was running after his son and was mocked. He was not mocked for his bond with the divine lady called ‘Ghritaachi’ because it was just a temporary bond for few minutes. She gave birth to ‘Suka’ through whom Vyasa had permanent bond for twenty years. For the sake of wife he wasted only few minutes but for the sake of son he wasted twenty years. Arjuna was also bound by this strongest bond. He was killing all his relatives on the order of the Lord. He was prepared to leave the kingdom, but when his son Abhimanyu died, he stopped the war. The war is the work of the Lord to punish the evil people. Therefore, the bond with the Lord is not stronger than the bond with his son. The Lord performed the surgery and broke this strongest bond by killing even the other children (Upa Pandavas). The Lord wanted to lift Arjuna. The Bhagavat Gita was the medicine, which could not work to break the strongest bond. Therefore, the Lord performed the surgery and lifted Arjuna and other Pandavas also as they surrendered to Him. The Lord lifted Vyasa by preaching him through the divine prostitutes. For Vyasa the medicine was sufficient but for Arjuna surgery was required. Since Vyasa and Pandavas are His devotees, the Lord did everything for their upliftment. Dhritarashtra is not a devotee. He knows that Krishna is the Lord. He saw the Vishwarupam. He advised his sons to arrange a feast and attract the Lord to help them. He tried to grab the wealth of his own brother Pandu who only conquered the whole kingdom. When Pandu went to the forest, Dhritaraashtra was made the representative of the king. He became blind with this strongest bond and did not mind to do injustice to the son’s of his own brother. The whole wealth actually belongs to his brother. If he [Dhritaraashtra] passes an order as a king, his son cannot hinder it. He has the support of Bhishma. Bhishma took an oath that he will protect the king. Therefore he need not fear for his son. His wife Gandhari found fault always with her husband and her sons, but at the last when her children were killed she gave the curse to Lord Krishna forgetting that He is the Lord. Such is the strength of this illusory bond! Today Dhritaraashtra represents people. People are trying to earn the money for the sake of their children and they are prepared to do injustice to any extent for this. Like Dhritaraashtra they want to please the Lord by worship to help their children. Therefore, if the Sadhaka can cut this strongest bond all the other two bonds can be easily cut. Gopikas represent the state of a real Avadhuta. In the absence of Krishna, they forgot all the biological needs of the body and they jumped into the fire when they heard that Lord Krishna left the body. They only could cut the bond with their bodies and bond with their lives also. The Lord could cut their bonds by dancing with them, by attracting their children to do mischief and by stealing their butter. By the dance in Brindavanam (Raasakeli), the husband-wife bond was cut. Their own children stole butter on the order of Krishna and due to this the mother-child bond was cut. By giving butter to Krishna, which was their hard-earned wealth, their bond with money was also cut. Like this Gopikas only could cut all the bonds and achieved the highest grace, which is the fifteenth upper most world called Goloka. In the case of Hanuman, He fought with the Lord for the sake of His mother to protect king Yayathi. Therefore Bhagavatam, which contains the story of the Gopikas at the end, is the most sacred scripture, which could give salvation to Pareekshith in seven days. The very first verse of Bhagavatam speaks about this strongest bond of Vyasa. The love in these worldly bonds can be cut only by the love on the Lord. A diamond can be cut only by another diamond. These bonds with human beings can be cut only by the bond with the Lord in the form of human being only. The bond with formless God, or the bond with a form in the upper world like Vishnu and Shiva, or the bond with a statue or a photo cannot cut your family bonds. These are stones, which fail to cut the diamond. Gopikas coud cut these human bonds by their bond with Lord Krishna who was in the human form only. Your question is very important because it deals with the actual journey towards the goal. For us neither the analysis of goal nor the analysis of a soul is as important as the analysis of the path and journey. The goal can be realized even after reaching it and need not be known now itself. Since the soul is traveling towards the goal, the soul is already not the goal. This one point is sufficient regarding the soul. All the concentration is to be put up on the analysis of the real path and the mode of the journey.

30. What is true essence of Yoga? (Part-3)

Kundalini is your mind which is the base of your love and which is called as the serpent going with curves. Generally the mind of the people is curved by nature. Mind is energy and is propagated as waves according to science. These wheels are the family bonds and crossing them in a curved way is cheating those cheating bonds. This justifies that Maya can be crossed by Maya and a thorn can be taken out by another thorn. The first wheel represents earth, which is the bond with mother and is called as Mooladhara. Only from earth living beings like plants etc. (life) are born. The Kundalini sleeps in the Mooladhara wheel. This indicates your sleeping state of mind in the womb of your mother.
The awakening of Kundalini means that you are delivered and came into world and you are trapped in bonds as your mind grows. So, there is no need of awakening the Kundalini, which was already in the awakened state. By closing your eyes, you are encouraging Kundalini (mind) to sleep. First you have to cut your bond/love with mother for the sake of God. The second wheel is ‘Manipura’ of water representing the father. The sky having clouds is said to be the father in Veda. When water falls from the sky and unites with earth, life is produced. The bond with the father should also be cut as Prahlada left his father for the sake of God. Now, you may argue that Veda says mother and father are God (Matru devaha, pitru devaha). These words have two meanings as per the grammar. The first meaning is that mother and father are God. This is correct because in the world among all the people, they should be very highly respected and loved. The second meaning for these words is that God is mother and father. This meaning should be taken, when God comes into your life and competes with mother and father.
The third wheel is Swadhistana (fire) representing the bond between wife and husband. The union of a couple takes place only due to heat (fire). Buddha left his wife and Meera left her husband for the sake of God. The fourth wheel is Anahata, of air, representing the bond with children. Veda says air is the strongest. This wheel is placed in the heart, which means that this is the heart or the essence of all the bonds. Buddha left his one year old son for the sake of God. The fifth wheel is Visuddha of Akasha (space), which is in the throat, representing the bond with false gurus (preachers). A fraud guru preaches only nonsense, which represents nothing like space. To reach the God who is the Sadguru you must leave all the gurus. Prahlada left such teachers.
The final wheel is Aajna, in between the two eyebrows, representing the ‘Jnananetra’ i.e., the sight of knowledge. This is of mind. With the help of knowledge that is Vedas and Sashtras, you must decide the real form of God as Lord Datta and all other forms are only his various dresses. Vedas say that Datta is only the ultimate and real God (Brahman). Veda says that God should be one and that one God creates, rules and destroys the universe. Datta is only one and does these three works through His three divine faces. But, such ultimate God cannot be reached because Vedas say that even words, mind, intelligence, logic and even imagination cannot touch him. But, He comes in the human form and then only you can see, touch, talk and even spend your whole life with Him. Such human form is called DATTA. Datta means the God who is given to devotees, you can meet Him in this world in human form only. Gita says that God comes in human form only (Manusheem……). Gita also says that if one worships formless, he or she gets sorrow only (Avyaktahi…). Gita also says that if you worship a statue, you are born as a stone (Bhutejyah….). A statue has only a limited use of being seen by devotees (Darsanam) and is not meant for worship. A human form only gives full satisfaction to devotees during worship.
Krishna is called Yogeshwara. He is Datta because the unattainable God is given to the world in that attainable human form. Gopikas crossed all the family bonds and reached him. In fact they were sages who were doing lot of Sadhana for the God from several births. Nobody else has reached God except Gopikas or let Me say that those who reached God are called Gopikas. Gopikas mean only human being who stores his or her love for God secretly, so that the relatives are not hurt. A person who is doing job and studying in the evening college is greater than a full time student when both attained the same degree with the same rank. The word Gopi means ‘storing love secretly’ (Gopayati…..).
Yoga means joining the God after cutting all the family bonds through cheating to avoid hurting as explained above. The bonds can be cut only when a new bond with God is formed. Without the new bond, the old bond cannot be cut. First attachment to God (Bhakti) should come and detachment from the relatives (Vyragya) is a natural consequence for which no effort is needed. Once you taste the divine nectar, you will naturally stop drinking coffee. Without tasting the divine nectar it is impossible to leave coffee, because we desire always to drink something. So without Bhakti Vyragya is impossible and meaningless. It is meaningless because a stone having no bond at all is not salvated.
Lord Datta who is called Yogi raja (Master of Yoga) can only bring out the real essence of Yoga and He has given the true explanation today to show the real path to ignorant people. The strength of this discourse is only Truth and hence it will pierce into the heart of anyone having open mind in this world. My aim of this discourse is all foreigners and those Indians who have open mind without blind conservatism.
Dr. Khurana could not get a teacher post in India. But when he got a Nobel Prize in foreign country, Indians become proud of him! Indians appreciated Swami Vivekananda only when foreigners appreciated him. This is historical fact. This means foreigners grasp the truth very easily and quickly.
There are 2 lines. One is line of science in which human effort gets results. The other line is Supernatural line in which powers are attained by God’s grace only. Even demons did penance and got powers by the grace of God only. Now the middle age scholars mixed these 2 lines and developed 3rd line in between i.e., by human effort, you can get powers. People are fooled like this. By human effort, like controlling breath, you can get health only which is not a power and this is completely first line only. People are attracted like this in the name of Yoga. To get powers, Ravana should have joined Yoga centre. Why he did penance for God Brahma? Yoga means achievement of grace of God by which only powers are attained.

29. What is true essence of Yoga (Part-2)

Kundalini represents the life energy. When it is passing through wheels, it is in the state of mind i.e., it doubts whether to do this way or that way (Samkalpa and Vikalpa). For e.g. When it is in Anahata wheel, it thinks whether one should love God in human form more than the children or not? When it reaches “Sahasrara” which is the state of intelligence (Buddhi), it decides that highest love should be on God in human form. Even after taking that decision, the decision is split when that God in human form starts testing by exhibiting negative nature (Maya) and various petals of the ‘Sahasrara’ lotus flower represent this split of decision. When this split disappears, you reach to take the central part of the lotus flower i.e., a single firm decision to believe that human form of God as the ultimate truth. The whole essence of yoga is like this. You pass from mind to intelligence without split. i.e., you leave all the doubts about the human form of God and dedicate all your firm love to Him even if He tests you and finally associate with him. If you never fall from this state, it is called “Nirvikalpa Samadhi” which is the 8th state of yoga. Gopikas, who were real yogis, reached this state and Lord Krishna in human form was Yogeswara. Their association was Yoga.
Sahasrara is the lotus flower with many petals, represents intelligence (Buddhi) and the petals represent various decisions taken by the intelligence. This shows that the Buddhi, which is nothing but the decision, is divided in several ways. At the centre of Sahasrara, the real God i.e., Datta is present. The centre part of the lotus flower is joined with all the petals. That means all the different decisions combine to become a single central decision at this place. Real God exists there at that central point. This means deciding the human form of one God, which is correctly recognised is that single central division. To divide the human form of God, Buddhi splits and takes various decisions at various times which are represented by the various petals. To decide the human incarnation of God, it is very complicated matter, which is called the “knowledge of God” (Brahma Jnana). Therefore, Brahma Jnana (Brahma vidya) is very difficult. If we say that God has no form and is pervading all over the world, like cosmic energy, there is no trace of difficulty to understand. If you say that God is a particular statue, again there is no trace of difficulty to understand it. But, when we say that a particular man is God, there will be various splits in our decisions, because that particular human body also follows the usual laws of nature. That particular human body further complicated the topic by showing some misleading negative actions to test our faith. Hanuman worshipped the Rama, who was in human form present at his time. Radha worshipped Krishna in human form only present at her time. Jesus was also in human form and Mohammad was also in human form. Loves with human beings can be obstacles only, when God in human form competes with them. If the God is formless or a statue, loves with human beings cannot be obstacles, because a formless thing or a statue cannot compete with human beings. Krishna competed with family bonds of Gopikas in human form. This is the true interpretation of Sahasrara.
Yoga means to recognise and reach such a real human form of God. Actually this word means ‘to meet’. If your association with Him is permanent that is called eternal yoga. For this purpose, you should love that God and your love with such God should exceed all your loves in the world. Your love in the world is with non-living things like wealth and living things like your relatives as parents, wife, husband, children etc. This non-living wealth is meant for the living things only. So, if your love with living things is cut naturally love with non-living things is also cut. These loves with your relatives are the obstacles to your pure love with God. This means clearly that you should not love anything or any body except God. These worldly loves are the revolving whirlpools present in the ocean of world. When you are crossing this world (Samsara) by swimming, these whirl pools will attract, revolve and drown you in the way. Hence, you should not swim straightly. You should swim in a curved manner like a serpent. This point has again the inner meaning. This means you should not be straight in the case of your love or bonds with your family members. You should act as if you love them because all your love is only on God. To avoid hurting them such behaviour is not cheating or a sin. Therefore you are called as ‘Anagha’. Anagha means sinless and she alone attained and is seen by the side of Lord. Anagha is the wife of Datta. This means that Anagha is that human being who reaches Datta. Anybody irrespective of male or female is Anagha because God is the husband of all the human beings. Therefore Anagha does not mean a lady. Why cheating the family bonds is not a sin? Instead of such cheating you may say that it is better to cut the family bonds and leave the family for the sake of God. You should not do like that. If you do so, you get the sin by hurting them. Then you cannot be Anagha and you cannot reach Datta. Cheating them is not a sin but hurting them is a sin. Actually, if we analyse, your cheating is not at all a cheating. Actually, such a cheating is justified because the family bonds are temporary for this birth and so unreal. Anything temporary is unreal as proved by Adi Shankara in his commentary. For example, a temporary mother-son bond in the shooting of a cinema is unreal during the shooting time also. Therefore cheating the unreal bond is not a sin.
Cheating the family bonds is not at all a sin, from another angle also. The family bond itself is a cheating bond. The reason is your relative loves you for his or her happiness only and not for your happiness. A wife loves her husband because her husband is giving happiness to her. Similarly the husband loves his wife. Similar is the case in all our loves of the world. When Sage Yajnavalkya was taking Sanyasa, his two wives followed him stating that they love him. But, Yajnavalkya told as said in Vedas ‘one loves anybody for his or her selfish happiness (Atmanaha kamaya sarvam priyam bhavati). He told them that if they leave him, he will be happy and then only their love on him was real. Both the wives who were scholars understood the truth and left him. So, all these worldly loves are cheating bonds. Therefore, cheating of a cheating bond is not a cheating. This is called Raja Yoga, which is greater than Sanyasa yoga in which you leave the family and hurt them. In Raja Yoga you reach the goal and also make the family happy. Therefore, king Janaka a Raja Yogi was greater than Suka who was a Sanyasi and the former was the examiner of the latter.

Contd in Part-3

28. What is true essence of Yoga? (Part-1)

Yoga is the most prestigious field of spiritualism. People think about 6 wheels (Chakras) or lotus flowers present in the spinal card, which are not seen by the eyes. They are imaginary and so they carry some inner meaning. When you say a face as a moon, fools search for moon in that face. But, wise people see similarity in the face and moon. Similarly, wheels and lotus flowers should not be searched in the spinal card. Spinal card is the main nerve, representing mind, which is the base of love. All these wheels or lotus flowers are the bonds of love in the various relatives like parents, wife or husband, children etc. They are compared to wheels or the revolving whirlpools in the ocean, which attract a swimmer and drown him. Similarly, these love wheels are compared to lotus flowers, since the lotus flowers attract the bee by sweet fragrance and bind it. Similarly, these love flowers attract any one and bind them. “Kundalini” is the mind which is the energy travelling as waves like a serpent, should cross all these love wheels connected to 7th lotus flower in the head called “Sahasrara”, which is Buddhi or intelligence that takes the decision, which is the firm love on God.
Bhagavat Gita is called as the main scripture of Yoga (Yoga-Sastra). Why there is not even single reference to these wheels or lotus flowers in anywhere in Gita or even in Upanishats? Since they are not real, they are not even mentioned. The author of the Gita is Krishna, who is called Master of Yoga (Yogeswara). Krishna also says that the real yoga was lost since long (Sa kaleneha mahata….). This means that in the beginning, Sages in India knew the real yoga and loved God only crossing all their family bonds. In due course of time only, this true yoga was lost. Why? The middle age Indians were unable to cross their family bonds and so failed to succeed in Yoga. They wanted to cover their in ability by twisting the very concept of yoga. The family bonds were removed from the concept and only wheels or lotus flowers are left fixed. Now, they close the eyes and say that they have seen the lotus flowers or wheels, which are only imaginary. Now they cross these wheels by their imaginary “Kundalini” and say that they have succeeded in Yoga. These blind teachers are also not to be blamed, because they were trained like that by their blind teachers. This misinterpretation was done long time back and hence, even at the time of Krishna, He told that yoga was lost since a long time. We cannot catch those original culprits, who were the top most twisting masters and so the present tradition also cannot be blamed. Only rectification is the way left over. Some say that they see light, which is only an imagination. After all, the mind is a form of energy and on its concentration imaginary light can be imagined. Instead of such a week light, you better see a strong light with your open eyes. What is the use of these imaginary lights and colours, without achieving the Lord through your love, which excels the various worldly loves.
I pity the foreigners, who are trapped in this false imaginary line of yoga, who are wasting their precious lifetime and energy. In fact, they are the best to succeed in yoga, if the reality of the yoga is exposed. Their family bonds are very weak and their love towards God is real, which is proved by their huge sacrifice of money to God’s work. Money is the fruit of work and its sacrifice for God’s work is “Karma phala tyaga” as mentioned in Gita. Again, the middle age Indians twisted this word “Karma phala tyaga” as sacrifice of the fruit of the work like praying God instead of sacrifice of money. The reason was that these Indians were unable to sacrifice money to God due to their strong love on their children. Foreigners ask their children to earn after certain age. Indians store money even for ten generations and still continue to store only. Since prayers, meditation and knowledge are very much diverted to God, India was blessed by God with good language, good mind and good knowledge. Since foreigners are good in sacrifice, God blessed them with good wealth. Even Indian spiritual centres were strongly funded by foreigners only. Swami Vivekananda cried, “Why my India suffers with poverty in spite of so much spiritual knowledge?” Sacrifice of money (Karma phala tyaga) and sacrifice of work (karma Sanyasa) put together constitute the God’s service, which is the real Yoga (real proof of love) called “Karma yoga” in Gita. Foreigners are the best in this karma yoga and so they easily succeed in yoga. Throughout Gita, this karma yoga was explained as yoga and wheels or lotus flowers are not at all mentioned.

Contd.. in Part-2

27. Order of today's Yoga

Order of today’s Yoga:

Yoga means simply attainment. But attainment of what is important? The Yoga shastra of Patanjali uses this word strictly in the attainment of Eswara (Lord). To render service (practical devotion) to the Lord, mental and physical health is needed. The early five stages (Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama and Pratyahara) concentrate on this attainment of physical and mental health.

Afterwards the other three stages (Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi) deal with the main subject of attainment of the Lord. The preachers are stopping with the early five steps only and limiting their efforts by turning their spiritual workshops in to gymnasiums, hospitals and recreation centers. By this you are preaching the art of peaceful and happy living on this earth. If you stop here, the main goal of Patanjali Yoga is totally lost.

A Boy who is admitted to the school is given fees and good food. He is expected to go to the school and study. But, he goes to the cinema theatre and uses the fees to purchase the ticket for cinema. This is the fate of Yoga today. The Yoga centre teaches all the steps to attain physical health by the first four steps and mental health by the fifth step. The person becomes fully healthy and attains mental peace by the control of thoughts (chittavrutti Nirodhah… Yoga Sutra).


The thought is controlled so that it is diverted from the world to use it in the direction of devotion (Vyavasayatmika… Gita). A horse is controlled by the owner so that it will not have freedom to go as it likes in the wrong directions. Therefore, controlling thoughts to divert the mind to the right path is Pratyahara. It is withdrawal of mind (Kurmonganiva….Gita) but not destruction of mind (Manolaya Yoga).

The preachers are talking about the dissolution of thoughts which is equal to killing the horse. By doing so the horse cannot be used in any direction. The purpose is lost. One medicine to cure the tooth pain was advertised like this: by using this medicine you will never get pain for any tooth because this medicine will remove all the teeth from your mouth! Similarly, if you kill the mind, the problems and all worries have ended once for all. By killing the horse, the problem in controlling it is solved forever!

Such a state in which the thoughts are dissolved and the mind is destroyed results in the state of a stone in human form. You will become the statue of the human being carved in a stone!

Activities at Yoga centres:

In Pravrutti today the dignified statement is that one is working in U.S.A. But, if you go and really see him there, he will be working as a labor! Similarly, in Nivrutti the dignified statement is that one is practicing Yoga. But if you go and really see him in the Yoga centre, he will be doing certain exercises to attain mental and physical health. He has no connection with spiritual field. Yoga is purely spiritual field. Mental and physical health is needed not only for spiritual field but also needed for materialism. It is a general basic requirement of the life of even an atheist.

Hanuman is the top most star in Yoga in all the steps. His physical and mental health is in climax. He did not open a workshop to guide the professional carrier of people on the earth. After attaining the best physical and mental health and after completing the studies of both Pravrutti and Nivrutti from Sun, He realized that meeting the then human incarnation was the real Yoga. He was waiting on the hill of Kishkindha to meet Lord Rama. All His mental and physical health was used completely in the service of Lord Rama. He did not use it in His professional carrier. We will be astonished to see that He dedicated all His vigor in the personal service of Rama to search and get back His wife. He did not use it in His personal service.

Just this is the difference between the present people in Yoga centre who use the results of the preliminary Yoga (Mental and Physical health) for their personal work and Hanuman who used the same results for the personal work of Rama. In this preliminary Yoga, you have to replace yourself and your family by God. Up to the work needed to maintain yourself and your family, which is needed to serve the mission of God there is no sin in using the strength of mental and physical health obtained by preliminary Yoga.

But to use it for unlimited ambition with selfishness is a sin. For such sinners, the only way to enter the spiritual field is to shell down the excess earned by sin in the mission of God on this earth (Karma Phala Tyaga). When a rich man approached Jesus, He suggested such total sacrifice of the sinful money as a pre-requisite to enter the spiritual field.

People want the Yoga up to first five stages only which is just helpful to their materialism. This much is desired even by an atheist. There is no difference between a devotee and an atheist up to this point. If we show the higher three steps related to God, the devotees become certainly interested.

At the lotus feet of Shri Dattaswami
-Durgaprasad

26. How your preaching is contradicting Shri Satya Sai, who is also a Sadguru?

[I am a devotee of Sadguru Shri Bhagavan Sri Satya Sai Baba. He always tells that every human being is God. But you say opposite to this. Then how to reconcile this contradiction because I am treating you also as Sadguru? You have condemned the idol worship. But, Shri Baba says that idol worship should not be condemned also. How [to interpret] this?]

I agree that Shri Baba told that every human being is Brahman. But, did you hear His discourse on 16th June, 2005 (Thursday) in Gemini Television around 6 A.M., His words are "Let the human beings behave like human beings. They are not Brahman and Brahman is also not in them. Brahman is only in one place". Similarly, regarding the idol worship He gave a discourse in T.V. some time back and His words are "Fools criticize idol worship. See this is a flower and this is My index finger. To see the flower My index finger is necessary. But once you saw the flower there is no need of the finger. Similarly, the idol indicates the God. But once you have seen God, idol is not necessary". This is the whole problem. People do not have patience to study completely what the Sadguru says. People censor a portion of the concept, which is convenient for them. When a single sentence is isolated it gives a different meaning. Once, an Indian minister has gone to a foreign country. The press media there wanted to present him badly in the newspapers. They asked him as soon as he got down from the aeroplane "do you want night clubs here"? The minister was astonished and asked them "Are there night clubs here"! Next day the press published the the news in bold letters that "As soon as the minister got down from the aeroplane his first enquiry was, are there night clubs here?” His sentence was ending with an exclamatory mark originally. But in newspapers the same statement ended with a question mark indicating his anxious enquiry. The whole concept is turned 1800 opposite! Therefore, you must study all the concepts patiently given by Sadguru, which are inter-related with each other like a polymer. The entire divine knowledge of Shankara which consists of various inter-linked concepts is like a co-polymer. The polymer consists of several monomers of the same type or of different types inter-linked with each other. If you want to understand Shankara you must read all His commentaries, all the prayers done by Him and all the incidents of His life. You should not simply study what He wrote only. But you should study what He practiced also. You may misunderstand what He wrote. But you will never misunderstand what He practiced. His practice is the correct interpretation of what He wrote. Apart from the commentary you should study the incident in which He swallowed the molten lead and asked His disciples to do the same. You must also study the verse in His prayer in which He stated, "the quantitative difference exists between the Lord and the soul like the difference between the ocean and its wave" (Refer prayer to Lord Jagannatha at Puri by Shankara). You should also understand the significance of the word ‘Kevala’ (only) in the prayer ‘Shivah Kevaloham’. This means that He alone is Shiva and not others. The Advaita scholars are forgetting the word ‘Kevala’ here. Then in His commentary He established that there is no difference between the human being and the Lord. Therefore, the commentary is referring to human incarnations like Himself, Lord Krishna etc., This should not be extended to all the human beings and this point is explained by Him in His prayers and that practical miracle. Therefore, a total observation is necessary to understand the total concept of Shankara.

In the initial stage He [Shankara] might have attracted Buddhists with the theory of monoism i.e., the Lord and human beings are one and the same. After this initial attraction the whole divine knowledge was preached thoroughly. Finally He established the concept of human incarnation and told to a few deserving disciples that He alone is the Lord Shiva. Some disciples who misunderstood extrapolated the concept to them and told ‘Aham Brahma Asmi’. He taught the truth to them through the miracle.
Similarly Sadguru Bhagavan Shri Satya Sai Baba also initially attracted all the people and preached the divine knowledge in depth. Finally He disclosed the truth. This is the tradition of Sadgurus. A doctor hides the injection at his back with one hand and shows chocolate to the boy with other hand. When the boy comes near and is immersed in eating the chocolate, the doctor gives the injection. Therefore, the psychology of teaching is same as you can see in both Shankara and Shri Baba. I am the doctor with the injection in both the hands keeping in front of Me. The boys will never approach Me and only adults will come to Me! I never condemned the idol worship. I only told that the idol worship is a worship of model or representative of God. It is meant for the lower cadre people as said "Pratimahalpa Buddhinaam" and ‘Natasya Pratima’. Since the statue is inert and the inert object is not independent, God who is always independent can never be identified with inert object. If statue is God, God is in your control as the statue. But that is essential for beginners. I cannot condemn the textbook of L.K.G [lower kinder garten] class. I have only advised that you should come to U.K.G. [upper kinder garten] class before this human birth ends. Shri Baba tells the same. The photo of any God is not even a direct photograph. It is only an imaginary picture. If you argue that the pictures of the artists are the results of the divine visions in which the Lord appeared, then there should be uniformity in the faces of atleast one particular God like Lord Krishna. But different artists draw different faces for the same Lord Krishna. When Lord Krishna was alive, all the people saw only one face. Therefore, if all the artists had the real divine vision of Lord Krishna, there must have been the same face in all their visions. But they have drawn different faces for the same Lord Krishna. This clearly proves that they did not have the real visions of Lord Krishna and their pictures are just imaginations. Thus the uniformity of even one form of God like Lord Krishna does not exist in these pictures! Then, not to speak of the uniformity of God in different forms like Lord Krishna, Shiva etc. Thus statues and photos spoil the uniformity of God in different forms. But if you catch the Sadguru, you will treat Him as the single God and you will see all forms of God in Him only. Therefore, the concept of human incarnation is higher divine knowledge and to this higher level one should reach before the end of this human birth.

25. Does the worship of Lord Shiva is inauspicious?

[I was told that worshipping Lord Shiva is inauspicious because He is related to the destruction. Is it true?] The very meaning of the word Shiva is that He is always auspicious. It is stated that Lord Shiva is the first Guru who gives divine knowledge (Jnanam Maheshwaraat). The divine knowledge is said to be very auspicious in the Gita (Nahi Jnanena Sadrusam). He is indicating destruction of the world or the death of a person. One should always remember that this world will be destroyed and is not eternal. By this you must know that death is inevitable for the body and for the body relationships. The old person must be aware of the death that is going to come shortly and must become spiritually alert. Even the young man must think about untimely accidental death and that there is no guarantee of the old age. Thus if one remembers the death constantly, he will be spiritually active. The human being is not turned to spirituality because he thinks that he will live forever. He should constantly remind his mind about the death and thus should become spiritually active. Generally people think that death is inauspicious. But it is the most auspicious Guru that gives knowledge about the temporary existence of the body and makes the human being alert in the spiritual effort. In Mahabharata it is told that one should constantly remember death as if it walks by our side catching hold of our hair. Lord Shiva also appears inauspicious externally. But internally He is the embodiment of the divine knowledge and most auspicious. Lord Shiva represents the quality of Tamas. Any quality turned towards God is always good. Tamas gives rigid firmness in the spiritual path. Prahlada was firm due to Tamas quality only. Kannappa, a hunter who is the embodiment of Tamas attained salvation by donating eyes to Lord Shiva. Even Sattvam when turned towards world is bad. Dhritarashtra was very polite and was a devotee of Lord Krishna. He possesses Sattvam quality. But he never followed the word of Lord Krishna. All his Sattvam quality was diverted towards the world and he was very greedy. The Lord punished him. In Nivritti one has to cross the justice also by using Tamas. Even the Lord crosses the rules of justice to protect His real devotee due to the Tamas quality only. Lord Shiva protected Markandeya in this way. Datta appears as a drunkard and fond of prostitute due to Tamas only. Datta preaches that in Nivritti the devotee shall not leave the Lord even if the Lord harms him. This is like the drunkard, not leaving the harmful wine and the harmful prostitute. At that stage to have such firm desire on the Lord, Tamas is required. Dharmaraja was the embodiment of Sattvam quality. But he was not having firm faith on Lord Krishna. Therefore, even if Lord Krishna forced him to tell a lie he refused. This is due to lack of firmness in the faith and the firmness is always due to Tamas. Thus the importance of Shiva is very much in the spiritual line. Moreover the same Brahman is called Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva based on the association with Sattvam, Rajas and Tamas respectively. The same Lord is in three shirts of different colours. The Lord is not having any colour. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are only the three energetic bodies of the same Lord, which are like three separate coloured shirts. If you scold Shiva, you have scolded Brahma and Vishnu. The Veda says the same (Brahmacha Narayanah, Shivascha Narayanah). The greatest sin is to differentiate Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and to differentiate their corresponding incarnations i.e., Madhva, Ramanuja and Shankara.

24. Scholars say that performing Yajna is important. Can You enlighten on this?

It is correct that Yajna is most important, which is elaborately discussed in first part of the Veda called Karma Kanda. But unfortuntately, the real meaning of Yajna is lost. Foolish people have misinterpreted this. The word Yajna comes from the root word ‘Yaj’ which means worship and to donate. Therefore Yajna means the process of worship with donation. There are three essential Yajnas.
1. Havir Yajna: Any item prepared by ghee should be donated as Tiffin.
2. Soma Yajna: Offering juice of soma, which is nothing but coffee or tea.
3. Paka Yajna: Offering full meals.
Every Yajna must be followed by the offer of guru dakshina without which, the yajna becomes useless (adakshina hato yajnah). The meaning of this is that by offering food, you have donated the primary facility to satisfy the hunger. By offering Dakshina, the other facilities are also donated. Here the context is the occasion to worship the Lord through discussion of divine knowledge and singing devotional songs. It is started in the morning and goes up to noon. Light food must be taken in the beginning so that one remains energetic. One should not fast completely because the body becomes weak and the mind cannot concentrate. At the same time, heavy food must not be taken in the beginning, which gives inactive drowsiness. The Gita says that both extremities should be avoided (natyasna tastu …). At the end the meals must be offered.
Who should be worshipped in the Yajna? God will be first choice, who is called as Brahma. A devotee is the next choice, who is called as Brahmana meaning that he who knows the divine knowledge of Brahma. The last choice is any fellow who is not an atheist and who can be representative of God. This last choice can be a person who simply recited the Vedas without knowing the meaning and who is called as Vipra only and not Brahmana. The human incarnation is directly the God. God pervades all over that human body. The second address of God is the heart of a devotee. Both these are direct worships. The last choice of worship is indirect worship about which also God is pleased. If the representative of the king is honoured, the king is pleased. But, the representative is neither God nor God is present in the representative. The most important point is that the formless God or inert statues cannot be worshipped in Yajna because Yajna is essentially donation of food to a living being. That is the reason why you don’t find any statue near Yajna. God in energetic body also cannot be worshipped because energetic body cannot eat the Tiffin, coffee and the meals. Foolish people, who only recite and do not understand the Veda, have brought the God in energetic body into the Yajna. They thought that Havis means directly ghee, which [actually] means only a food item prepared by ghee. When a doctor says ‘avoid oil’, does it mean avoiding direct drinking of oil? Nobody drinks oil. It means only food prepared by oil. Similarly, a human being with hunger is called as Agni or fire. The Gita calls the hunger as Vaishwanara fire. You have to offer the food to the hunger fire. Fools who do not know Shastras and even the Sanskrit language have misunderstood that fire means the physical fire and ghee means directly ghee. They started pouring ghee in the physical fire (bhowtikagni or loukikagni). Sages used to go to the place of a sage for such worship. Singing devotional songs is recitation of the Saama Veda. Spiritual discussions are the Upanishads, which come under Jnana kanda of the Veda. Yajna is offering food to devotees in such a divine seminar. This is the reason why I condemned the mere recitation of the Vedas without studying Sanskrit and Shastras. Ofcourse My salutations are to ancient scholars who recited the Vedas and protected the pure text without any insertions. But, those scholars studied meanings of the Vedas also. Now the Vedas are recorded in original form and there is no fear of any pollution in the future. Therefore mere recitation of the Vedas is now not necessary.

23. What is the significance of early morning in the worship of God?

Early morning is called Brahma Muhurtham, which means that it is the time to worship God. At that time, all the people are in deep sleep and nobody disturbs you. The atmosphere is sacred because the vibrations of mind involved in worldly matters are not emitted from the people since they are in deep sleep. Mind is also a form of energy. Mind disappears in deep sleep. The atmosphere is not polluted by the radiations of worldly feelings. At that time devotees awake and pray God. Their pure mental rays pervade all over the world and make the time sacred. Thus it becomes congenial and encouraging atmosphere. After sunrise people awake and the materialistic mental radiations are emitted through their physical senses. The atmosphere is polluted. People disturbs you dragging you to materialistic discussions. Even by seeing face, you will be affected. If you see a devotee, you become sacred. The mind and body are inter-related. Since mind is energy and energy is matter, even if you see the body, the mind in that body is emitted out affecting you. Therefore, avoid even the vision of materialistic people, not to say about their touch, conversation and co-living.
After sunrise when you worship God, close your eyes to avoid such people. But, their mental radiations spread all over the cosmos and are inevitable. It is better to walk in the early morning while singing devotional songs. Morning walk is good for health. Apart from this, the mind desires dynamic condition of the body. The body was in static condition all over the night. Mind is always for a change. Satisfy the mind and you should not unnecessarily control the mind when it is not necessary. You can pray God even without bath. The Veda, the Gita and the very first verse of Sandhyavandanam say that God can be worshipped irrespective of physical formalities. After sometime body is tired and the mind needs rest. By that time, sunrise is over. Now you sit at a place and worship God closing your eyes. Thus the time has its own invisible effect on the spiritual effort. Sattvam is prominent in the early morning. Rajas is prominent in the day time. Tamas is prominent in the night. Therefore early morning is the divine time called as Brahma Muhurtham.

22. Are you a saint, since there is cross belt as well as the Saffron clothe in your case?

You know I belong to the tradition of Lord Datta. In the forest of Badari Siddhas put the same question. He told that He belongs to ‘Tureeya Aashrama’ which is beyond all the four Aashramas. Tureeya means the final stage, where there are no rules.

21. Can you explain the ‘Pancha Yajnas’ in view of Sadhana?

The five Yajnas are:
Brahma Yajna: To serve the Lord in Human form who is called Brahma.
Deva Yajna: To serve the devotees of the Lord.
Pitru Yajna: To serve the parents and the family members.
Manushya Yajna: To serve the incapable beggars.
Bhoota Yajna: To serve harmless animals and birds.
The service is called Yajna or sacrifice, which consists of two parts:-
1. To cook the food and donate it and
2. To give Dakshina i.e., money.
The order of deservingness is given in the Veda in the above-mentioned way. The most deserving is Brahma or Sadguru who is the Lord that comes in human form to preach the right knowledge of the scriptures. The Veda describes this sacrifice to a large extent. Sacrifice in practice alone pleases the Lord as said in the Veda (Tyagenaike Amritatvam). Sacrifice or donation is the very meaning of the word Datta. Therefore Yajna is the most sacred, which is the real form of the Lord. The exact opposite enemy to the sacrifice is Moha (Blind love) which is divided into the following:-
1. Dareshana, which is the Moha on the wife and this relates to the gross body (Sthula Shariraa).
2. Putreshana, which is the Moha on the children and this relates to the mind i.e., subtle body (Sukshma Shariraa).
3. Dhaneshana, which is the Moha on money and wealth, which is the root of all the bonds and is the cause body (Karana Shariraa).
Vasishtha told that money is the root of this entire world (Dhanamula Midam Jagat). Unless these three bodies are destroyed, the eligibility to please the Lord is not attained. Sadhana is the constant spiritual effort, which is put up to destroy these three bodies. Unless you do not put up the related effort to achieve the goal, how can you achieve the goal through unrelated efforts? To eat meals, you should procure the materials and cook the food. You cannot eat the meals by singing songs or by collecting flowers. Similarly you cannot please the Lord by praising, meditation, worshipping the idols and statues, which represent Him as models, by going to temples etc. All these efforts are only trying to soap the Lord. Your exercises and gymnastic feats by word and feelings can never please the Lord. All these efforts become waste and will not touch the Lord. Even the logical discussions cannot please the Lord. The Veda says the same (Yato Vacho Nivartante Aprapya Manasasaha, Namethaya). Some are sacrifice money for the sake of the Lord by lighting the lamps and by pouring ghee in fire etc., Such sacrifice is not only a waste but also annoying the Lord due to two reasons.
4. You are burning the money in the inert fire due to your ignorance. The fire should be the hunger present in a living being as told in the above Pancha Yajnas.
5. You are doing this sacrifice with selfish desires for yourself or for your family. But you should not sacrifice anything to the undeserving which is a sin. Instead of doing this sin it is better you enjoy.
Zero is better than Minus. Ofcourse to donate to the deserving is the best which is Plus. Dharma Raja wanted to leave the kingdom to Kauravas who are undeserving. The Lord did not agree to this and encouraged the war. He asked Arjuna to conquer the kingdom and enjoy (Bhokshyase Maheen). Thus He brought them to Zero from Minus. But after conquering the kingdom He advised Dharma Raja to perform Aswametha Sacrifice in which the wealth was donated to the most deserving sages. Thus from Zero He brought them to Plus. Aswametha does not mean killing the horse. It means killing the senses, which are the horses as said in the Veda as well as in the Gita (Indriyani Hayanahuhu). By killing the senses, one gets detached from the self-enjoyment. The Veda says that your desire must be burnt and not the ghee and your ignorance is to be cut and not the animal in a sacrifice (Kama Aajyam, Manyuh Pasuh).

20. Can you explain Sri Chakra clearly?

Sri Chakra means the illusion of money existing in the heart of any human being. Sri means money. Chakra means the whirlpool. This Chakra is considered to be the root of this world. It is true because Vasistha told that money is the root of this world (Dhanamula Midam Jagat). The word Dhanam means money only as per the tradition in the world, which means goddess Lakshmi. You may interpret that word as wealth of knowledge, which is Goddess Saraswati. Health is wealth and health is the power. So you can interpret the word as Goddess Parvati. Therefore this word Dhanam means Shakthi or Prakriti which is also modified as the soul. Goddess Lalitha also means the soul because the word Lalita means the awareness, which is a weak power flowing through the tender nerves. Therefore Sri Chakra represents the Jeeva (Soul). One has to dedicate his wealth (Karma Phala Tyaga), his physical power in doing service (Karma Sanyasa) and his knowledge to the world through propagation (Jnana Prachara). Sri Chakra is of two types. In the first type it is called as Sristhi Chakra-the four triangles of Shiva have their bases turned downward. The Five Shakthi triangles have their bases turned upward. This means the Jnana (Shiva) is based on the material wealth (Shakthi). This is the formation of bond with the wealth. The wealth is controlling his knowledge. The four triangles indicate the four forms of awareness (Manas, Buddhi, Chittam, and Ahankara). The five triangles indicate the five elements in the second type, which is called Samhara Chakra. The two sets of triangles, are reversed which indicate that the wealth is in the control of knowledge. This represents Shiva destroying the world. This second Chakra indicates the destruction of the bond with the wealth. The three circles indicate the three qualities. The four Bhupuras represent Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. The eight petals and the sixteen petals in the first Chakra represent the eight forms of wealth and the sixteen radiations of mind. The same petals in the second Chakra represent the eight super powers and the sixteen incarnations of Datta. Sri Chakra is the most important aspect in the spiritual effort because sacrifice of your wealth for the sake of the Lord proves your real state of spiritual maturity. Your real colour comes out in that aspect only. Therefore the Veda says ‘Dhanena Tyage Naike’ i.e., only by sacrificing the wealth one can attain the grace of the Lord.

19. What is the inner meaning in eclipse and the bath after eclipse?

The Lord distributed the divine nectar in the human form as Mohini. The human incarnation can be male or female. The Sun and Moon are the planets with light, which indicates the knowledge. They gave a hint to the Lord that a demon was taking the divine nectar in disguise. This means that even deities become ignorant. Is there a necessity to give a hint to the Lord who knows everything? When the Lord is in the human form, even the deities think that the Lord does not know everything. This is their ignorance. Such ignorance of knowledge is the eclipse. Rahu and Ketu are called as the planets of Tamas or darkness, which represents the ignorance. Such ignorance is washed away by taking the head bath.

18. Can any one eat the food that is tasted by other?

The Veda says that one should not eat such tasted food (Yaducchistham). But Rama ate the fruits, which were tasted by Sabari. The animals and birds already taste the water and the fruits. The animals and birds are selfless and so such food is pure. Sabari also was selfless. All the human beings are selfish. The money i.e., enjoyed by somebody is also prohibited like the food. In the Vedic practice called ‘Vaiswadeva’ the person should not eat the food of some other person. But today the people who follow that practice take the food grains from another person and cook those grains and eat. This is the misinterpretation of Vaiswadeva, according to which you should not touch the wealth of anyone in this world. Their sins will be transferred to you along with their money. The remains of the food eaten by the Lord are the purest form of food.

17. How can you contradict the age old tradition by your knowledge in a short time?

[From a long time several people have set up this tradition. How can you contradict by your knowledge in such a short time?] Suppose there is a vacant room. Even if hundred people said since one hundred years that the room is filled with pots, it cannot be true. I may be one person and might have told you just ten minutes back that the room is vacant. Which is true? Therefore you analyze what I say and what they said. Then you can know the truth. You must see the room with your own eyes and decide who told the truth. The number of the people and duration of time cannot stand as an authority for truth. Thousand blind people may say that everything is darkness only, even though the Sun is shining. But that cannot be true. The Veda says the same (Andhenaiva). Blind followers lead by blind preachers will fall into the well, which is the hell.

16. Why the sacred water does not remove all sins and diseases of all people?

[Priests say that the sacred water (Teertham) removes all sins and diseases. But all the people are not relieved of their diseases. Why?] The Gita says ‘Nadatte Kasyachit Papam’ which means that the Lord will not take away the sins of any soul. The verse recited by the priests while serving Teertham, says that all the sins will be removed. This contradicts the verse of the Gita. The verse of the Gita is a stronger authority. Another verse says that one has to undergo the results of all his deeds whether good or bad (Avasya manu bhokthavyam). Therefore at the time of taking the sacred water a person might have completed the result of his sin, which is in the form of disease. Others may have to continue with the disease because the sin was not completed. Therefore the theory of the verse of the priests is wrong. We do not doubt the power of the Lord. But we say that the power of the Lord is not in the Theertham. The power of the Lord cannot fail in any case. Even in the cases of Sun and Fire, which are controlled by God, do not fail in their powers. Sun always removes darkness. Fire always removes cold. Ofcourse the incarnations of Lord Datta clearly show the transfer of sins of His devotees on Him and Lord Datta suffers the sins of His real deserving devotees. Therefore neither your worship nor the sacred water is powerful without the will of the Lord. The will of the Lord to undergo the punishment of your sins comes only when you are a real devotee by serving Him practically without aspiring any fruit in return. The Lord gave the judgement and He only gives the results of your deeds. He will not contradict His own judgement. The Dharma deva (Judge) is only His external dress. He is the internal person in all the forms of deities. Therefore He cannot contradict His own judgement in another form of deity. Once in a college a head of the department resigned His headship and the letter was sent to the principal. But the same head was also the principal. The head went to the principal’s office and rejected his own letter!! This incident actually happened in an Engineering College in which I was also serving as a professor. The Lord will not cut such a joke. The present tradition makes the Lord as such a joker.

15. Today some people are doing the rituals with the help of tape recorder. Is it right?

In one angle it is right, because a priest is just like a tape recorder, which utters the hymns without knowing their meaning and without preaching them to the people. Suppose you ask whether you can use a tape recorder in which the hymns are recorded along their meanings also, even then it is not correct in the real angle. The main aim of doing the rituals is not only to know the Vedic knowledge but also to do the sacrifice of the fruit of your work (money) to a deserving person. When you are using a tape recorder the real aim of ritual is not satisfied because the tape recorder cannot take the ‘Gurudakshina’. Whether you use a tape recorder or a priest you must know that burning substances like ghee or oil in the lamp, fume sticks, camphor etc., are not mentioned in the Vedas and are unnecessary. You must also know that the statues or photos worshipped in the rituals indicate the human form of the Lord to which only you have to perform all the sixteen modes of worship called ‘upacharas’, which involve the real sacrifice.

14. How tradition is inheriting the rituals, which are not in the Vedas?

Both sages (rishis) and demons (asuras) existed in humanity and even in the same caste called Brahmins. Ravana and Hiranyakasipu were Brahmins. Atri, Bharadwaja etc. (sages) were also Brahmins. The sages were directed by the knowledge of the Vedas and had sattvam. These sages are called as Devas on the earth (Bhoodeva). In the same caste, demons like Ravana were also present. Both Amrutam and Halahala poison were born from the same Milk Ocean. These demons are with rajas and tamas. By rajas they are very furious and greedy (rajaso lobhayevacha-the Gita) and by tamas they are ignorant. Since they simply recite the Vedas without enquiry of the meaning, there is no question of practice of Vedic knowledge [in their lives]. In every caste such sages and such demons exist. The Gita classified both these in Daiva–Asura sampat vibhaga yoga. The rituals, which are now present in the tradition and which are not mentioned in the Vedas were brought by the demons who were greedy, furious and ignorant. They do not know that such rituals are not connected to the Lord in any way and this is their ignorance. They waste all these materials just for their Gurudakshina due to their greediness. If you tell the true Vedic meaning they become furious. All these three qualities are due to their devil nature. But along with the dynasty of these demons, the dynasty of sages also co-exists. Lord Datta is revealing the true meaning of the Vedas for the dynasty of such sages. Remember that the sage Kasyapa had two wives. The first wife was Aditi, who gave birth to the sages (Devas) and the second wife was Diti, who gave birth to demons (Asuras). Whenever the Lord came and preached the truth, sages followed Him and the demons opposed Him. Kapalikas who were defeated in arguments killed Shankara by black magic. Swami Dayananda was also killed by the food poisoning since He revealed the true meaning of the Vedas. Similarly, Jesus was killed for revealing the real spiritual essence. Wherever there is Krishna, there will be Sisupala. The true knowledge and false ignorance co-exist like day and night.