Divine Discourse by Swami on 19 April 2014
Shri Anil asked ‘Other religions are mocking Hindus for
worshiping the animals, birds, rats etc’.
Swami replied: Adishesha is in the form of a serpent. That does
not mean that every serpent is Adishesha. Hanuman is in the form of a
monkey. That does not mean that every monkey is Hanuman. The
deity of justice is in the form of a cow. It does not mean that every
cow is deity of justice. The vehicle of Lord Shiva is a bull, which
does not mean that every bull is the vehicle of Lord Shiva. A specific
rat is vehicle of Lord Ganesha, which does not mean that every rat is
the vehicle of Lord Ganesha. Rama and Krishna are the human
incarnations, which mean that God is in a specific human form. This
does not mean that every human being is God. We must remember
that Krishna killed Kamsa, who is a human being. This itself proves
that every human being is not human incarnation. If every human
being is God as said by Advaita Philosophers, Gopikas need not
worship Krishna since they are God by themselves being the human
beings. Therefore, the actual truth is very clear.
However, there are two paths of worship: one is called
‘Saakshaat Upaasanam’ in which Adishesha or Human incarnation is
directly worshiped and this path is not easily available to all the
humanity. The second path is to worship a serpent or a statue of
serpent assuming as Adishesha or worship a human being or statue in
human form assuming as God and this is called as ‘Prateeka
Upaasanam’ or the worship of a representative model. The second
type of worship is easily available to all the human beings for
improving their devotion. This is only a training process of the real
concept. The Hindu traditional practice exists in which an ordinary
human being is invited and worshiped by giving food etc treating him
as God. Such practice is called as ‘Aaposhanam’. Such independent
worship of rat does not exist anywhere. Since such practice is only an
intermediate step in long spiritual journey, one need not mock
because it is not the final stage of final truth. You are saluting the
national flag assuming that you are saluting the mother land of the
entire nation and this is to develop devotion to your mother land. The
flag is representative model of the nation. You need not take a
helicopter and go around the nation to salute it. If people are not
mocking such salutation to the national flag, why should they mock at
these traditional practices of Hinduism? It is only the attitude of
enmity to another religion criticising the form of God of that religion.
In the divine forms of all the religions the same single unimaginable
God exists. If you are mocking at a divine form of other religion, you
are mocking the divine form of your own religion. You respect your
father in white shirt and beat him in the red shirt! Are you not finally
beating your own father? You are recognising your father through
colour of the shirt only and not through his characteristic personality.
This unfortunate ignorance resulting from lack of sharp analysis is
damaging the harmony of religions and peace of this world. Such
behaviour will make God furious and such fools are going to be
punished severely in this world as well as in the upper world (hell).
Shri Anil asked ‘Some devotees serve a human form as human
incarnation of God and after sometime revolt back with criticism that
such human incarnation has given the collected funds to Its relatives’.
Swami replied: You have to identify the human incarnation
from Its excellent true knowledge that gives you the right direction. If
you have selected a false human incarnation, the results are negative.
This happens due to the false basis of identification of the human
incarnation, which is other than knowledge. Thus, there is every
possibility of false human incarnation.
But, on the other hand, there is a possibility of misunderstanding
the true human incarnation also. You should not think that your
conclusion is always final and true. If the human incarnation has
given some money to Its relatives, you need not find fault with it.
Such relatives may also be the true devotees and you should not
condemn them simply based on the relationship. The son of a teacher
may be present in a class as a student and may attain first rank in the
class. You should not blame the teacher for some hidden help. There
is an equal possibility of the student getting first rank based on his
individual merit. This possibility cannot be overthrown. Lord Krishna
stole the wealth (curd, milk and butter) of His devotees, the Gopikas,
even though plenty of such wealth exists in His house. You are
mistaking Krishna for His selfishness under such circumstances.
Krishna stole the wealth of His devotees to cut their bonds with
wealth (Dhaneshna) to give them salvation. Therefore, you should not
come to hasty conclusions through hasty analysis. The actions of God
are not so easily understood. Hence, both the possibilities exist in
such cases and the truth can be found out through sharp analysis to be
done in the investigation of such cases. The conclusion depends on an
individual case and differs from one case to the other. Generally, the
human incarnation also exhibits Its play (Maya) to test the faith of Its
devotees.
Written By
His Holiness Shri Datta Swami
website address: http://www.universal-spirituality.org
e-mail address: swami@universal-spirituality.org
Jai Guru Datta