The aim of human life
THE AIM OF HUMAN LIFE
The Scripture says that among the ten incarnations, Lord Krishna alone is the fullest incarnation (Paripurna Tamah Saakshat). If you compare Krishna with the other incarnations, the special point that lies with Krishna alone is the revelation of divine knowledge about God (Nivrutti) or Brahma Jnana. Buddha also gave divine knowledge. But He kept silent about God indicating that God is unimaginable. All His preaching was concentrated on the behaviour of the human being towards other co-human beings and also towards other living beings. He concentrated on the elimination of desire, which is the basis of the path to please God (Nishkama Karma Yoga).
But since the concept of God is absent, the elimination of desire is taken for achieving the happiness of self itself. The followers misunderstood Buddha and took all His knowledge for Pravrutti or social service only. By this, Nivrutti disappeared in His knowledge. Similarly, if you take Rama, He did not give any knowledge about Nivrutti. He followed the Pravrutti to preach the humanity regarding the behaviour of a human being towards other co-human beings. Of course He showed faith and worship of God and thus He cannot be misunderstood as an atheist. If you take Vamana, He also did not give any reference to Nivrutti. He was concentrating on the charity towards a devotee, which is only related to Pravrutti. His mission was to suppress Bali and protect Indra. If you consider other incarnations, all were involved in the war to kill the demons and evil people. Thus, there is no trace of Nivrutti in their actions. All their actions were only to save the balance of the society, which is Pravrutti.
Inherent Characteristics of God
The inherent characteristic of Parabrahman is spiritual knowledge as referred in the Veda (Prajnana…, Satyam Jnanam…). The real knowledge is only the philosophy or spiritual knowledge, which relates to God and regarding the achievement of His grace. Except this all the other branches of knowledge are related only to the achievement of worldly pleasures, which are temporary and unreal. Therefore, the spiritual knowledge is called as Prajnanam. The letter ‘Pra’ means the best. In another Vedic statement the spiritual knowledge is told to be the true knowledge (Satyam Jnanam…). This means that it deals with the ultimate absolute reality i.e., God.
All the other branches deal with various levels of creation, which are relatively real with respect to God and become totally unreal if isolated from God. Therefore, based on this scriptural statement, Krishna is considered to be the fullest incarnation. Even in the field of spiritual knowledge, Krishna correlated all the levels and unified as a single ladder to attain the grace of God. Before the revelation of the Gita, some were thinking about knowledge (Jnanam) and some others were thinking about devotion (Bhakti) as the real paths. Some others were thinking that rituals (Karma) happen to be the path. Krishna correlated these three levels. In the knowledge, He fixed Himself as the goal, who is the then human incarnation. This shows that the unimaginable God expressed through a convenient medium like human body for humanity is the real goal. He clearly stated that He will come again and again, which means that every generation will have the opportunity of having the human incarnation. He explained the devotion to be fruitful when it is directed to the then existing human incarnation because such human form alone can feel and respond to your devotion. Finally, He has uplifted the service (Karma) to the top most place.
A ritual is worship of God. Worship means the path to please the God. When God is in human form, then only the service can be felt by God. He corrected the old path of the rituals by eliminating the selfish desire in it. Such, ritual or service happens to be the path to please God directly. When Arjuna fought the war as the service to Lord Krishna, Arjuna could see the pleasure in the face of Krishna directly. In other forms such direct evidence is not possible. The proof of real devotion is service only, which is the sacrifice of work or fruit of work. The Knowledge should lead to devotion and finally end with selfless service to God. Thus, Krishna brought out the essence of all the Upanishads and arranged a regular ladder. Thus, Krishna happens to be the fullest human incarnation based on the revelation of the Gita only. Simply doing miracles or destroying the demons is not the criterion, which is common in the other incarnations also. Vamana occupied the entire world and no miracle can be equal to this.
Again the conservative devotees say that Krishna is the only fullest incarnation in the entire creation till today. But the above verse was told with reference to the ten incarnations only because the preceding verse speaks about the ten incarnations. This means that Krishna was the fullest human incarnation among the ten incarnations. Assuming that their argument is only correct, how can they deny the reappearance of God again and again as told by Krishna Himself? (Yada Yadahi – Gita). Thus, you cannot rule out the reappearance of fullest human incarnation in the world after Krishna. Whenever there is a need, the fullest incarnation will appear again and again. In fact, God is always pleased to take the fullest human incarnation as many times as possible because such incarnation deals with the revelation of spiritual guidance to His children. In the other incarnations He has to kill His evil children and He is always reluctant to do this unless the inevitable situation comes.
Each Soul is Independent in Sadhana
[Smt. Uma Ramanath asked that how a household wife depending on the earnings of the husband can sacrifice the fruit of work especially when Swami says that each soul is completely independent in the spiritual field.]
Swami replied like this. Suppose the household wife is living in a joint family having a child. Suppose her husband gives all his money to his father only who is the family head. Suppose the head spends that money on the family in impartial way. Suppose in such set-up the mother wants to do some special favour to her child, which involves some extra finance. In this situation what the mother will do? Will she say to the child that how she can help in that set-up? No. Her strong love on the child starts investigating the paths. When there is a will there is always a way. She will say to her husband that the child belongs to him also and therefore, the special favour should be done. Similarly, the devoted lady can say to her husband that God is not only the creator of herself but also the creator of her husband also. God is the father of all the souls.
Thus, she will convince him to do the sacrifice. Let us go to the simile. Suppose the husband refuses to do the special favour to the child in view of the disciplined system of the family set up. Now, the mother will choose even a wrong path like stealing the money by showing some wrong accounts of expenditure and does favour to her child. Therefore, the intensity of love will always reveal a path. The mother will not mind the injustice and the consequent hell for that. The extreme intensity of love (Moha) on the child will not consider the injustice and the hell. In this case since the Moha is on another soul, she will certainly go to hell. But, if God is in the place of the child, there is no trace of sin or hell because in whatever path, God is pleased, such path is justice (Aham tva Sarva Papebhyah – Gita).
But the biggest fun is that the mother will favour child in any path, but when God comes in that place, all the enquiry of the procedure and justice starts. This shows the lack of intensity of love on God. In fact, unlike the child, God will create more and more hurdles to oppose the sacrifice. The devotee is expected to cross even those special hurdles. If the devotee is unable to cross even this natural hurdle, how can you expect her to cross the special hurdles? The elder Gopikas loved Krishna as their son whereas the younger Gopikas loved Him as their boy friend. The elder Gopikas went to Madhura to sell the butter.
When they found Krishna in the path, they used to feed Krishna with the butter. When they returned to their homes, they gave wrong accounts. Similarly, the younger Gopikas cheated all the family members to go and dance with Krishna secretly. There was no concept of injustice or hell in their brains. When Narada asked them to give the dust of their feet to be applied to the head of Krishna to remove His head-ache they immediately gave it. Narada told that they will go to the hell for giving such dust. They replied that they are ready to go to the hell for the happiness of Lord Krishna. This is the intensity of their devotion and therefore Lord gave them a specially created highest divine abode.
However, the sacrifice of fruit of work and work are one and the same and can be done according to the convenience. The saints cannot do the sacrifice of fruit of work. They compensate by sacrificing work. In fact they are more quickly blessed by God than the householders are. The requirement of God is the most important point for your sacrifice. When Rama is searching Sita, He needs the sacrifice of work. Hanuman, a saint, sacrificed work only and became God by His grace. Krishna as a boy required butter for growth and the Gopikas (householders) sacrificed the required butter (wealth). The fruit of work (money) is another form of work only. Money is matter and work is energy. Both are inter convertible forms. Therefore, one can participate in the mission of the Lord even by sacrificing the work according to the convenience.
It is true that the soul is independent in the spiritual field (Nivrutti). Only in Pravrutti the wife can share the fruit of good action of her husband. Pravrutti is the stage of drama. The queen in the drama has her share in the wealth of king. But when the drama is over and when the actors receive remuneration from the producer of the drama, the actor of the queen-role cannot have share in the remuneration of the actor played in the king role. The Gita says that in the spiritual field the self must uplift itself (Uddharedaatmanaa…). You must note that the wealth of king in the drama is unreal and the remuneration of the actors outside the drama is real. Similarly, the share in getting heaven etc., is possible because the heaven is within the relative reality. The grace of God is like the real remuneration.
The Scripture says that among the ten incarnations, Lord Krishna alone is the fullest incarnation (Paripurna Tamah Saakshat). If you compare Krishna with the other incarnations, the special point that lies with Krishna alone is the revelation of divine knowledge about God (Nivrutti) or Brahma Jnana. Buddha also gave divine knowledge. But He kept silent about God indicating that God is unimaginable. All His preaching was concentrated on the behaviour of the human being towards other co-human beings and also towards other living beings. He concentrated on the elimination of desire, which is the basis of the path to please God (Nishkama Karma Yoga).
But since the concept of God is absent, the elimination of desire is taken for achieving the happiness of self itself. The followers misunderstood Buddha and took all His knowledge for Pravrutti or social service only. By this, Nivrutti disappeared in His knowledge. Similarly, if you take Rama, He did not give any knowledge about Nivrutti. He followed the Pravrutti to preach the humanity regarding the behaviour of a human being towards other co-human beings. Of course He showed faith and worship of God and thus He cannot be misunderstood as an atheist. If you take Vamana, He also did not give any reference to Nivrutti. He was concentrating on the charity towards a devotee, which is only related to Pravrutti. His mission was to suppress Bali and protect Indra. If you consider other incarnations, all were involved in the war to kill the demons and evil people. Thus, there is no trace of Nivrutti in their actions. All their actions were only to save the balance of the society, which is Pravrutti.
Inherent Characteristics of God
The inherent characteristic of Parabrahman is spiritual knowledge as referred in the Veda (Prajnana…, Satyam Jnanam…). The real knowledge is only the philosophy or spiritual knowledge, which relates to God and regarding the achievement of His grace. Except this all the other branches of knowledge are related only to the achievement of worldly pleasures, which are temporary and unreal. Therefore, the spiritual knowledge is called as Prajnanam. The letter ‘Pra’ means the best. In another Vedic statement the spiritual knowledge is told to be the true knowledge (Satyam Jnanam…). This means that it deals with the ultimate absolute reality i.e., God.
All the other branches deal with various levels of creation, which are relatively real with respect to God and become totally unreal if isolated from God. Therefore, based on this scriptural statement, Krishna is considered to be the fullest incarnation. Even in the field of spiritual knowledge, Krishna correlated all the levels and unified as a single ladder to attain the grace of God. Before the revelation of the Gita, some were thinking about knowledge (Jnanam) and some others were thinking about devotion (Bhakti) as the real paths. Some others were thinking that rituals (Karma) happen to be the path. Krishna correlated these three levels. In the knowledge, He fixed Himself as the goal, who is the then human incarnation. This shows that the unimaginable God expressed through a convenient medium like human body for humanity is the real goal. He clearly stated that He will come again and again, which means that every generation will have the opportunity of having the human incarnation. He explained the devotion to be fruitful when it is directed to the then existing human incarnation because such human form alone can feel and respond to your devotion. Finally, He has uplifted the service (Karma) to the top most place.
A ritual is worship of God. Worship means the path to please the God. When God is in human form, then only the service can be felt by God. He corrected the old path of the rituals by eliminating the selfish desire in it. Such, ritual or service happens to be the path to please God directly. When Arjuna fought the war as the service to Lord Krishna, Arjuna could see the pleasure in the face of Krishna directly. In other forms such direct evidence is not possible. The proof of real devotion is service only, which is the sacrifice of work or fruit of work. The Knowledge should lead to devotion and finally end with selfless service to God. Thus, Krishna brought out the essence of all the Upanishads and arranged a regular ladder. Thus, Krishna happens to be the fullest human incarnation based on the revelation of the Gita only. Simply doing miracles or destroying the demons is not the criterion, which is common in the other incarnations also. Vamana occupied the entire world and no miracle can be equal to this.
Again the conservative devotees say that Krishna is the only fullest incarnation in the entire creation till today. But the above verse was told with reference to the ten incarnations only because the preceding verse speaks about the ten incarnations. This means that Krishna was the fullest human incarnation among the ten incarnations. Assuming that their argument is only correct, how can they deny the reappearance of God again and again as told by Krishna Himself? (Yada Yadahi – Gita). Thus, you cannot rule out the reappearance of fullest human incarnation in the world after Krishna. Whenever there is a need, the fullest incarnation will appear again and again. In fact, God is always pleased to take the fullest human incarnation as many times as possible because such incarnation deals with the revelation of spiritual guidance to His children. In the other incarnations He has to kill His evil children and He is always reluctant to do this unless the inevitable situation comes.
Each Soul is Independent in Sadhana
[Smt. Uma Ramanath asked that how a household wife depending on the earnings of the husband can sacrifice the fruit of work especially when Swami says that each soul is completely independent in the spiritual field.]
Swami replied like this. Suppose the household wife is living in a joint family having a child. Suppose her husband gives all his money to his father only who is the family head. Suppose the head spends that money on the family in impartial way. Suppose in such set-up the mother wants to do some special favour to her child, which involves some extra finance. In this situation what the mother will do? Will she say to the child that how she can help in that set-up? No. Her strong love on the child starts investigating the paths. When there is a will there is always a way. She will say to her husband that the child belongs to him also and therefore, the special favour should be done. Similarly, the devoted lady can say to her husband that God is not only the creator of herself but also the creator of her husband also. God is the father of all the souls.
Thus, she will convince him to do the sacrifice. Let us go to the simile. Suppose the husband refuses to do the special favour to the child in view of the disciplined system of the family set up. Now, the mother will choose even a wrong path like stealing the money by showing some wrong accounts of expenditure and does favour to her child. Therefore, the intensity of love will always reveal a path. The mother will not mind the injustice and the consequent hell for that. The extreme intensity of love (Moha) on the child will not consider the injustice and the hell. In this case since the Moha is on another soul, she will certainly go to hell. But, if God is in the place of the child, there is no trace of sin or hell because in whatever path, God is pleased, such path is justice (Aham tva Sarva Papebhyah – Gita).
But the biggest fun is that the mother will favour child in any path, but when God comes in that place, all the enquiry of the procedure and justice starts. This shows the lack of intensity of love on God. In fact, unlike the child, God will create more and more hurdles to oppose the sacrifice. The devotee is expected to cross even those special hurdles. If the devotee is unable to cross even this natural hurdle, how can you expect her to cross the special hurdles? The elder Gopikas loved Krishna as their son whereas the younger Gopikas loved Him as their boy friend. The elder Gopikas went to Madhura to sell the butter.
When they found Krishna in the path, they used to feed Krishna with the butter. When they returned to their homes, they gave wrong accounts. Similarly, the younger Gopikas cheated all the family members to go and dance with Krishna secretly. There was no concept of injustice or hell in their brains. When Narada asked them to give the dust of their feet to be applied to the head of Krishna to remove His head-ache they immediately gave it. Narada told that they will go to the hell for giving such dust. They replied that they are ready to go to the hell for the happiness of Lord Krishna. This is the intensity of their devotion and therefore Lord gave them a specially created highest divine abode.
However, the sacrifice of fruit of work and work are one and the same and can be done according to the convenience. The saints cannot do the sacrifice of fruit of work. They compensate by sacrificing work. In fact they are more quickly blessed by God than the householders are. The requirement of God is the most important point for your sacrifice. When Rama is searching Sita, He needs the sacrifice of work. Hanuman, a saint, sacrificed work only and became God by His grace. Krishna as a boy required butter for growth and the Gopikas (householders) sacrificed the required butter (wealth). The fruit of work (money) is another form of work only. Money is matter and work is energy. Both are inter convertible forms. Therefore, one can participate in the mission of the Lord even by sacrificing the work according to the convenience.
It is true that the soul is independent in the spiritual field (Nivrutti). Only in Pravrutti the wife can share the fruit of good action of her husband. Pravrutti is the stage of drama. The queen in the drama has her share in the wealth of king. But when the drama is over and when the actors receive remuneration from the producer of the drama, the actor of the queen-role cannot have share in the remuneration of the actor played in the king role. The Gita says that in the spiritual field the self must uplift itself (Uddharedaatmanaa…). You must note that the wealth of king in the drama is unreal and the remuneration of the actors outside the drama is real. Similarly, the share in getting heaven etc., is possible because the heaven is within the relative reality. The grace of God is like the real remuneration.
51-55, M