Paths Of Justice And Pleasing God

Shri Dattaswami

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PATHS OF JUSTICE & PLEASING GOD O Learned And Devoted Servants of God, [Kolkatta] There is no village or town in India in which there is no temple of Lord Rama. The statue of Rama preaches two points to you: 1) The Lord will come in human form. 2) Miracles are not the signs of the Lord. As told in the Gita, the Lord comes only in human form (Maanusheem Tanu Maasritam). Even though Lord Rama did not perform any miracles, Hanuman and the sages identified Rama as the Lord. Hanuman Himself exhibited several miracles but He never claimed to be the Lord. Ravana on the other hand, exhibited miracles and claimed to be the Lord, but nobody agreed.

Preacher of Pravritti Lord Rama came to preach ‘Pravritti’. Pravritti means, the path of worldly justice in which one human being has to interact with other fellow human beings. Nivritti means sacrificing your work and the fruit of your work (money) to the Lord, with full faith and full surrender, when the Lord comes in human form. Nivritti is the way of salvation in which the Lord comes in human form. Lord Krishna came to preach Nivritti. He preached the Bhagavad Gita, which is the knowledge of Nivritti. Lord Rama practiced the knowledge of Pravritti. Pravritti (justice) is only practice. It is just the knowledge of rules of the Lord, which you have to follow in society. There is no discussion in Pravritti. But in Nivritti you have to discuss the truth. World peace is the result of following Pravritti. Only when there is world peace can devotees travel in the path of Nivritti in peace by putting forth spiritual effort. In Pravritti, loving fellow human beings is important. By Pravritti, one can atleast love the human form of Lord as one of his fellow human beings. Otherwise generally people insult Him due to their jealousy as told in the Gita (Avajaananti Maam Mudhaah). In this way, Pravritti helps Nivritti. If you treat the human form of Lord as an ordinary human being, it is not wrong. But if you recognize Him as the Lord you will get salvation.

Shri Dattaswami

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Sita, the Devotee In the temple of Lord Rama, Sita stands by the side of Rama. She was a great devotee. Among human beings the difference between male and female is only in body and not in the soul. Sita served the Lord by Karma Sanyasa (Sacrifice of work). She could not do Karma Phala Tyaga (Sacrifice of the fruit of work). She indicates the firm faith in the Lord. Even though she did not get happiness in the forest, she never left the Lord. This means that one should not leave the Lord even if He does not give boons or even if He gives troubles. One should not aspire for anything in return from the Lord. Ravana showed miracles. But Sita did not mistake him to be the Lord. This means that a true devotee will never recognize the Lord by miracles. Lanka, the kingdom of Ravana was a golden city. Ravana invited Sita to be his queen. But she was not attracted. This means that wealth and money will never attract a true devotee.

Hanuman, the Servant Also in the temple, there is an idol of Hanuman kneeling at the feet of Lord Rama. Hanuman believed in the human incarnation (Lord Rama) and participated in the work of the Lord. He even sacrificed family life in the beginning itself, for the sake of the Lord. He always sacrificed his work because he was a saint (monk). The fame of all his works was dedicated to the Lord only. He never claimed to be the Lord even though he performed miracles. Hanuman was made the future creator of this world. He tore his heart with his own nails and was prepared to give up his life for the sake of the Lord. Hanuman always did the work of the Lord. He grew to a gigantic size when he was praised and he jumped over the sea. But he did so only for the sake of the Lord. He will not grow when you praise him in order to get your work done by him. He is not such a fool. He will not insult the deity of justice by canceling your sins and by giving you the fruits of good deeds, which you have not done. He is not a monkey who will run for your bananas and palm leaves. He is very intelligent. He is the topmost scholar and highest devotee. He is the real servant of the Lord, who never aspires for anything in return. He is the purest person. This knowledge must come to your mind when you see Hanuman. Like him you must also recognize the Lord in human form and participate in the work of the Lord with great concentration.

Shri Dattaswami

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Ideal Brothers Lakshmana was very young but he still left his wife for fourteen years to concentrate on the service of the Lord. He sacrificed the Kama (love towards his wife). Bharata gave back the kingdom to the Lord and sacrificed Artha (wealth) to the Lord and did Karma Phala Tyaga. He kept the two wooden sandals of the Lord on the throne and ruled on the Lord’s behalf without actually taking the powers of a king in his own hands. This means that once you sacrifice anything to the Lord you should not try to manage or control it again. Sathrughna tried to attack and kill Kaikeyi (his own step-mother) with a sword when she unfairly sent Rama into a forest-exile. He sacrificed Dharma (justice) for the sake of the Lord.

God Is Beyond Criticism God’s Ways Are Unimaginable People criticize God due to misunderstanding. God can never be criticized because whatever God does is the perfect justice. You are criticizing God with your limited knowledge. Let us take the case of Lord Rama. People criticized Him mainly in two points. After the battle, Sita was brought to Lord Rama. Rama said to her, “Go and marry Bharata to become the queen of Ayodhya or marry Vibhishana to become the queen of Lanka”. People criticize Rama for such harsh words. If you refer to Valmiki Ramayana (Sundara kanda), Sita said “Piturnidesam...” i.e., “O Rama, after two months you will go to Ayodhya, marry several ladies and enjoy the kingdom. I will die here always thinking about you”. Sita blamed the Lord by such words and therefore the Lord retorted with the same harsh words. Even though Sita was proved to be chaste by entering the fire, a washerman in Rama’s kingdom blamed her. Based on that blame, Rama sent her to the forest (exile). For this point, the answer is as follows: When Rama was chasing the golden deer, Sita asked Lakshmana to go and help Rama but he refused since he wanted to stay and protect her as per the orders of Rama. Angry at his refusal, Sita said to Lakshmana “You have come to forest along with your brother with a motive to enjoy me in the absence of your brother”. This sin is more severe than the previous sin because abusing a devotee (Bhaagavat apachara) will make God more furious, than abusing Himself (Bhagavat

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apachara). So the Lord created an equivalent blame through the washer man and also sent Sita to forest. In the first sin her words were punished by words. But in the second sin, which was more serious, her words were punished by words and action. Now why should Rama punish Sita in her life itself? Sita was the incarnation of Maha Lakshmi. She had to go to Vaikuntha Loka (heaven) directly from earth and was not supposed to go to hell. For this purpose, Lord Rama cleared her file (of karma) containing these two sins here itself. Similarly Lord Krishna was criticized for dancing with the Gopikas in Vrindavanam. There are two points here to be noted before you criticize Lord Krishna. 1) Did He dance like that with other women after leaving Vrindavanam? 2) Did He ever come back to Vrindavanam to dance with them again? Let us go back. Krishna was Rama in the past incarnation. Gopikas were sages in their past births. The sages were attracted by the beauty of Rama and wanted to embrace Him in the form of ladies. Rama promised that their desire would be fulfilled when He came as Lord Krishna in His next incarnation. Let us go back even further. Krishna was Lord Datta. These sages were the sages living with Lord Datta. The sages were men and had families. Yet they said that Lord Datta was their husband. There was no objection from any corner since they were men. Lord Datta wanted to test these sages by changing the situation by making those sages as family women. Lord Datta incarnated as Lord Krishna. Now could the sages as family ladies say that Krishna is their husband? There would be a lot of opposition from all the corners if they said so? Was the attraction of the sages for God so powerful that they still could say that? This was the test of Datta. The Gopikas passed the test. The Lord left Vrindavanam, since there was no need of reexamination. So He never returned back. He did not conduct this same test outside Vrindavanam because there was nobody else who was a devotee of that level. Therefore, Lord Krishna never danced like that, outside Vrindavanam. This test was of a very high level and was limited only to those few sages. If the Lord was of such a nature (flirtatious), then after He left Vrindavanam at the age of eighteen years, He would surely have danced with other girls elsewhere or atleast returned to

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Vrindavanam to dance with the Gopikas. This clearly proves that the Lord was not of such a petty nature as you think. Lord Shiva is blamed for killing Yama Dharma Raja (Angel of Death), who was bound by duty to take the life of Markandeya. People say that Shiva killed His own officer on duty due to hasty anger and then realized His mistake and had to correct His own mistake by bringing Yama back to life. Can the Lord err like this and be forced to rectify His mistake? This allegation damages the divine personality of Lord Shiva. Actually Lord Shiva killed Yama in the case of Markandeya only to teach Yama a lesson. Earlier to this, Yama Dharma Raja gave life to Satyavan when Satyavan’s wife, Savitri, had flattered Yama by praise and begged for her husband’s life. In doing so, Yama had violated his duty. He should not have violated his duty on being praised. Now he was so particular of his duty of taking away the life of Markandeya, although Markandeya was involved in praising and worshipping Lord Shiva at that moment! Therefore, in order to correct Yama, Lord Shiva played all this drama. Infact Markandeya was a radiation of Shiva Himself (Kala Avatara). So, one must be very careful before criticizing God. One should have the patience to analyze and have firm faith in God and believe that whatever God does is justice. These clarifications were not revealed so far to this world. Only today Guru Datta is revealing the truth by giving the correct explanation. Only the Sadguru, who is the incarnation of the Lord Guru Datta can reveal such truth.

Meditation on Spiritual Knowledge In this way, you have to get spiritual knowledge when you see the statues or pictures of Lord Rama in the temple. Such knowledge will help your spiritual effort. You will attain the grace of the Lord by such knowledge as told in the Gita (Jnana Yajnena Tenaaham). When you meditate on the image of Lord Rama, there is no use of your attraction towards the golden crown present on His head, which will only increase your attraction towards wealth. It will harm you in your spiritual effort. The crown indicates that Rama is the Lord of this world. When you see His bow and arrow you must know that Rama punishes evil people. When you see His Abhaya hand (His hand making a gesture indicating, ‘Do not fear’) you must know that He protects good people. This

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knowledge will help you. What is the use of keeping His form and ornaments in the mind? What is the use of merely knowing the story of Rama like a child; it is just like a story in a novel or the story of a movie or the news of your neighbor? Dhyana (meditation) means the decision of knowledge taken by the intelligence after discussing (analyzing) in one’s mind; Sankalpa and Vikalpa. This knowledge is stored in Chittam (memory) and this is called Dharana. The Ahankara (ego) uses this knowledge in practice for its benefit and it is called Samadhi. If you get a doubt in practice, it is called Savikalpa Samadhi. If you have no doubt in practice, it is called Nirvikalpa Samadhi, which was followed by Hanuman. Therefore, He became the future creator by worshipping the Lord in human form in this world.

Shri Dattaswami

http://www.esnips.com/user/dattaswami