Black Spirituality Religion : Existence of God

[dattaswami1]

Whether fasting to be done?

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,

Shri G Lakshman asked about the significance of fasting on the days of rituals and for the sake of God.]


Swami replied: Pravrutti is the subject that is related to the human beings with respect to other living beings in this world. The rules of Pravrutti are called as dharma. The basic rule is that you should not hurt any living being including yourself. As long as this basic rule is not violated, the rules can be changed in any manner you like as per the need. God becomes angry and will grant you the hell provided you violate the basic rule. But, some ignorant people apply this punishment in hell to every change of rule even though the basic rule is not violated. It is their foolishness and rigidity of ignorance. They quote the rules and insist that such rules must be strictly followed without any violation, even though the violation of such rules does not damage the basic rule. It is the climax of the ignorance that sometimes some foolish rules are insisted in spite of the violation of the basic rule by such rules! Such climax of foolishness is due to lack of knowledge of scriptures and lack of right analysis.

Let Me illustrate this with an example. On the day of the ritual related to the anniversary of the departed parents, the foolish rule is that the doer of the ritual should not drink even water till the priests eat the food. It is said that the departed parents eat food through these priests. It is also said that if the doer does not fast on that day, the departed souls become angry and curse. The doer of the ritual is really tortured because while the priests enjoy the food on one side, on the other side, the doer has to prepare the balls of food (pinda). The doer is burning with hunger and before him, the priests enjoy the food. At the same time, he has to prepare the pinda by mixing the food with ghee and dal resisting himself from eating.

Really, the departed parents are pained since their issue is suffering with hunger and curse the priests for doing such sin in ignorance. The first point is that the departed soul will not eat the food through the priest. By giving food to the deserving priests, a good action (punyam) is done, the fruit of which is protection of the departed souls. But, remember that if the priests are undeserving, the donation of food becomes a sin and the departed souls will undergo more punishments in hell. A departed soul is always in the energetic body and the energetic body takes energy only as food. The departed soul in hell is actually punished with hunger since the supply of energy is stopped. Since energy is nervous energy, the soul will have hunger and thirst (manomayah pranashariraneta… Veda). In the heaven, there is no hunger and thirst due to continuous supply of energy (ubhetirtvaa… Veda). In between heaven and hell, the soul may go to pitruloka and the supply of energy is from moon.
(nirvishtasaram…)

These three ways are for a non devoted soul.

The fourth path for departed devotee is the abode of God and such ritual is not at all necessary (nahitenapathaa tanutyajah…). Therefore, the departed soul never requires the materialized food. But, giving food to a deserving priest is recommended to help the departed soul. The departed soul is said to enjoy the food through the priest, but this is said to make everybody to perform this good action atleast by fear. Therefore, such a fabricated trick is not applicable to a person, who does the good action even without the necessity of such fear. Such a fabricated trick is meant for a miser, who does not donate food to anybody. Such a trick is also necessary, which is called as arthavada. Therefore, the entire ritual is based on a single point that whether the priest is deserving or non-deserving.

In these days, the deserving priests are almost nil. Assuming that we have achieved the deserving priest, the doer should not fast and become weak. He cannot perform the ritual in the absence of energy in his body. If he suffers with hunger, the departed parents will be pained and will curse the priest. Even the scripture says that the doer of a ritual should take limited food on the day of a ritual. The scripture says that a Brahmin should take milk and other castes can take some solids also, on a ritual day (payo brahamanasyavratam… Veda). You should not fast without food leading to weakness and you should not over eat resulting in sleep. Fasting means taking limited food. Brahmacharya means confining to one wife and does not mean not marrying at all. The Veda and the Gita say that limited food is always good (yuktaahaara…, adyatetticha…). According to the constitution, you can take liquid or solid food in limited quantities on that day. Here, Brahmin means delicate constitution with weak digestion and hence, milk is recommended. Therefore, if you recommend fasting without water, it is against the scripture also. But, these ignorant priests recite only the scripture without knowing its meaning.

Do not hurt your soul by fasting

When the mother of Shankara died, He became ready to do the rituals. Ignorant priests resisted that and He was not allowed to go to the burial ground because a saint should not perform the rituals. Therefore, He cremated His mother in the backyard of her home. When priests opposed it saying that it is inauspicious, Shankara replied that such rules of ignorant people succeed to exploit the other ignorant people and not to a scholar like Him, who knows the entire truth. Nivrutti is the subject of God and Pravrutti is the subject of this creation. As long as you do not hurt any other living being including yourself, God is not bothered about the rules of Pravrutti. By fasting, you hurt your own soul and the Gita criticizes it (karshayantah…). Your self is also one of the souls in the universe. According to medical science, on the day of fast, the digestive system starts digesting the remains of excretory matter left over in the rectum, which means that the fasting person eats his own excretion on that day leaving the pure food from outside. This point is stated in a book ‘Vemana Shatakam’, written by the famous saint Yogi Vemana.



Forcible fasting can be detected by the feeling of hunger.

Shankara told a simile supporting His reply. A knife can cut the vegetables but not a stone. The stone is not at all cut and on the other hand the edge of the knife is spoiled (shilaaprayukta kshuraadivat…). The knife is the ignorant rules of the ignorant priests. The vegetables are the general ignorant public. The stone is the scholar knowing the whole truth. If you think that burning a dead body in the backyard of the house is inauspicious, burning the dried grass present in the husk in the backyard of the house is equally inauspicious. The green grass has life and hence, the dried grass is a dead body. The chemical combination of a human body reveals that it contains some inert elements and inert compounds, which are generally found in the materials of the world. Science is the authority as far as Pravrutti is concerned. Shankara is a true scientist in Pravrutti and hence, burnt the dead body like dried grass in the backyard of the home. Science is not related to God and hence, God is irrelevant to Pravrutti as long as none hurts none. The difference between the scientist and Shankara is that the scientist keeps silent about God, whereas the Shankara stressed on the existence of God. Therefore, Nivrutti should not be dragged into Pravrutti as long as the basic principle is not violated.

Universal Spirituality for World Peace

 

[dattaswami1]

Fear of God will control sin

It is true that a few people exploited the concept of God for personal benefits. But, based on the few exceptions, you should not remove the basic system itself. A few railway accidents happen and due to such accidents, you should not cancel all the trains. You should concentrate to avoid the accidents. Similarly, some students might have copied in the examinations. Try to catch, such students. But, do not remove the system of examination itself. The system serves majority, doing lot of good. You forget the vast positive side of the system based on the minor negative side. The concept of God controls the sin in the society. If the concept of God is removed, lot of people will do lot of sins since already the ways to escape the punishment in courts are already available. The society will be crushed into pieces in the absence of the fear for sin. If God disappears, the hell disappears subsequently.

The concept of sin will drown and destroy the society like a Tsunami. However, this does not mean that the concept of God is again a created view only to save the society. Such conclusions are not correct. The concept of God is basically true and we have explained the positive side of such concept. It is a real concept and hence, the positive side is also real. Of course, the minor negative side is also real and control should be implemented to check-up such negative exploitations.


In developing the children to lead justified life in future, the concept of God and spiritual knowledge is the basic foundation. Unless you preach about the omnipotent God, who punishes anybody for the sin in the hell or even here itself, even if one escapes the law here, the foundation will never be strong. The question “what will happen if I do sin and escape the judicial system here by tricks?” will certainly rise in the mind on one day or other. The inbuilt-resistance to sin by the concept of God is the only solution for your program. You are seeing the injustice ruling everywhere and the only reason for this is negligence of spiritual knowledge from the beginning in the education-system. In the olden days the situation was reverse and hence justice ruled everywhere. Education of children and social service to poor (who are easily diverted to vices) without spiritual knowledge become just dead bodies without life.

If the existence of unimaginable God is not established at the outset, atheism comes up, which says that there is no God at all. In such case, there is no aspect of unimaginable nature. The beginning and end of everything is only imaginable domain. Atheists claim that even in the absence of God, one can follow ethics in the society. This is only hypocrisy of an atheist to cheat society. If one can escape the punishment here by cheating law of court, what is the harm if ethics are violated? This million dollar question comes up to the mind of any human being, which is genuine. This statement of atheist is useful for cheating the society by atheists. If unimaginable God, unimaginable hell and unimaginable procedure of punishment from God are absent, there is no fear at all to do any sin provided one can escape punishment by cheating courts here

You can lead a peaceful and logical life if the society is disciplined without sin. For this discipline, the concept of existence of unimaginable God is very essential because everybody should be cautious about the unimaginable ways of unimaginable God to punish every sin even if one escapes the law of land through corruption and tricks. If the concept of God is deleted, the society will end in chaos and in such state, you will not be so peaceful to ask Me this question leisurely.


Universal Spirituality for World Peace

 

[dattaswami1]

God can be seen after crossing the boundary of universe
The only information about God is that He exists (Astityeva…).


God is said to be beyond this universe. It means that God can be seen after crossing the boundary of universe. You will reach the land after crossing the boundary of the ocean since the land is beyond ocean. You can never reach the boundary of the universe by any amount of even intensive imagination. This means that you can never imagine God and God is always unimaginable. Beyond the boundary of space, space should not exist just like beyond the boundary of ocean, water (ocean) should not exist. Since God is beyond space, space or spatial dimensions cannot exist in God. You can never imagine anything which has no spatial dimensions.

Therefore, God’s existence is proved by the unimaginable miracles and God is unimaginable due to absence of spatial dimensions. The Veda clearly says that God is beyond words, beyond mind, beyond intelligence and beyond the logic. It also says that anything in the space or universe is not God since everything in the universe has some spatial dimensions (Neti...Neti...). It also says that God is the generator of space (Atmana Akashah…). The generator should not have the product in itself since the product should not exist before its generation. Therefore, God has no space or spatial dimensions and hence, is unimaginable. The Veda finally concludes that the only imagination about God is that He is unimaginable (Yasyaamatam…) and the only information about God is that He exists (Astityeva…).


Universal Spirituality for World Peace

 

[dattaswami1]

World Religions

If anyone says that his/her religion is the only path to God and that other paths lead to hell, I have one humble question. The question is for every religion without any trace of partiality. The simple question is: Today I have heard your Religion and if I follow that, I reach God and if I refuse I will go to the hell for my own fault. This is very much reasonable. But before your ancestors discovered our country, the literature or even the name of your religion was not known to our ancestor and he could not reach God for no fault of him. But your ancestor reached God through your religion at that time.

Even if I assume that my ancestor will take rebirth now and will follow your religion to reach God, such possibility is ruled out because you say that there is no rebirth for the soul. Thus my ancestor suffered forever for no fault of him and the responsibility for this falls on the partiality of God. Had the God been impartial, He could have revealed your religion to all the countries at a time. Had that happened, my ancestor might have also reached God as your ancestor. Therefore your statement proves your own God partial.

The only way left over to you to make your God impartial is that you must accept that your God appeared in all the countries at a time in various forms and preached your path in various languages. The same form did not appear everywhere and the same language does not exist everywhere. The syllabus and explanation are one and the same, though the media and teachers are different. Can you give any alternative reasonable answer to my question other than this? Certainly not! Any person of any religion to any other religion can pose this question.

Moreover every religion states that their God only created this world. Unfortunately this world is one only and every God cannot create the same world. There are no many worlds to justify that each God created His own world. Therefore any human being with an iota of commonsense has to agree that there is only one impartial God who created this one world and He came in different forms to different countries and preached the same path in all the languages simultaneously at one time.

Let this logic sword of the divine knowledge cut the rigid conservatism of the religious fans in this world to establish the Universal Peace. I need not beg all these religious followers to be united and harmonious to each other for the sake of world peace. Such begging appeals are made enough in the past. The religious fans feel that there is no unity really in the religions but they have to be united since their kind hearts melted by these appeals. Thus a temporary change was only brought. At the maximum one generation of the followers got united. The next generation fights with each other because they feel that there is no real unity in them due to lack of the real unity in their religious scriptures.

A permanent solution for this does not lie in the begging appeals, which may or may not unite the followers. Even if the appeals unite such unity is not permanent. If the real unity in all the religious scriptures is exposed through the logical divine knowledge, the followers have to be united for generations together. Therefore, My attack is not on the hearts of the followers through love and kindness. My attack is on all the religious scriptures through intellectual logical analysis of divine knowledge. The unity of hearts through love can be only temporary. The unity of brains through intellectual analytical divine knowledge will be permanent. Hearts agree but brains realize. Agreement is temporary, but realization is permanent. Thus this is My first blow of My divine Conch shell for the permanent unity of all the religions aiming at eternal Universal Peace.


The unimaginable God and His unimaginable power (māyā) are one and the same, whereas God’s imaginable power is different from Him. It has undergone modification to become creation (prakṛti) or it appears to be creation. How the unimaginable God possesses an imaginable power, which is different from Him, is unimaginable. Such a wonder is possible only due to His unimaginable power! Our logical analysis and entire knowledge are limited only to this creation, which is the imaginable domain. Hence, it is a waste of time to think about any aspect of the unimaginable domain.

This world, which is the imaginable domain, has plurality. The plurality supplies different media for the unimaginable God for His expression. It enables Him to enter into various selected human devotees in order to become Human Incarnations of God. The human devotee becomes a medium for the entry of the unimaginable God. Thus, God has incarnated in this world in different regions in different times to establish the different religions in the world. Of course, the unimaginable God does not directly enter any medium.

At the very beginning of creation, the unimaginable God first created subtle energy or space. He created the first form or body out of that subtle energy and entered into it to become the first Energetic Incarnation. This first energetic form became the first medium of God. This first mediated form of God or the first Energetic Incarnation is called as Datta or Īśvara in Hinduism and Father of heaven in other religions. There is no trace of difference between the unimaginable God and the first Energetic Incarnation, except that the former is unimaginable while the latter is imaginable. The energetic form of Datta is visible to energetic beings in the upper worlds.

For humans on earth, Datta is invisible but still imaginable. The first Energetic Incarnation, Datta, is also eternal like the unimaginable God; i.e. both have no end. The only difference is that Datta had a beginning from the point of view of His energetic medium, while the unimaginable God has no beginning. It is this Datta that enters a selected human devotee to become a Human Incarnation. The unimaginable God is permanently present in the energetic medium of Datta. That Datta, containing the unimaginable God, enters into the physical medium of a human devotee. Thus, the unimaginable God is equally present in the Human Incarnation.

God incarnates in human form on earth in every human generation. The human media into which God Datta enters each time is different as a result of the plurality that is inherent in the imaginable domain. In other words, one Incarnation looks different from another Incarnation. One Incarnation may appear in a place where people follow say Hinduism, while another Incarnation may appear in a place where people follow a different religion. The Incarnation’s external dress, language, and manners will naturally be according to the culture of the place where He has appeared. This enables Him to mix freely with the people He has come to preach and uplift. But these differences are only external.

From the point of view of the first Energetic Incarnation, Datta or Father of heaven, present in each of them, all Incarnations are one and same. From the point of view of the unimaginable God present in all the Incarnations too, they are one and the same. Thus, all these different mediated Gods are actually one in essence. If you look at the medium, which is part of the imaginable domain, there is plurality. If you look at the internal God Datta or the unimaginable God present in all of them, then there is only one. This truth applies equally to the sub-religions within Hinduism or the different world religions. This analysis is the fundamental basis for bringing unity among the sub-religions of Hinduism and among the various religions in the world.

Universal spirituality is the solution for these problems.. The Universal Spirituality is the basic universal knowledge or philosophy. The one God, who created this entire creation and who is the kind Father of all humanity, preached the same common universal knowledge to people in different places and times. The Universal Religion is the universal practical path of worshipping that one God and maintaining justice and peace in the world. The mode of worship is a part of culture and the variations in it are a matter of personal choice. The spirituality and religion are thus the theoretical and practical parts of the spiritual path and both are universal.
Universal Spirituality and Universal Religion have been established by God Datta now through this Datta Swami. Earlier, Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa had experienced the unity of all religions by practicing every religion for some time. Śaṅkara had similarly, established the unity of all the sub-religions within Hinduism. Shri Shirdi Sai Baba and Shri Satya Sai Baba too had established the unity of world religions. Every religion will lead a person to the same God. So, conversion to another religion is the biggest foolishness that any devotee can do. When all roads lead to the same center, is it not the height of foolishness to leave your road and laterally cross over to another road that leads to the same center? Good times for this entire world are very near. This Universal Spirituality and Religion will bring tremendous unity among all religions. You said that you are following the philosophy of Hinduism. In the spiritual knowledge or philosophy there is no name of any religion since knowledge is always universal.

Parents take complete care of their children during their childhood. The efforts taken by the parents for their children is service, which is also known as the sacrifice of work. Finally, the parents also transfer all their wealth to their children through their will. This transferring of the wealth is called the sacrifice of the fruit of their work since wealth is the fruit of work. So, the sacrifice of the parents for the sake of their children in terms of the sacrifice of work and the fruit of work is complete. Yet most parents save some wealth for their own old age believing that they will live until they become old. They feel there is a risk in sacrificing their entire wealth to their issues while they are still alive. There is a possibility that if their children are not good, they might not take care of the parents in the future when the parents become old. Sometimes, even if the children are good they could be incapable of serving their parents due to some unfortunate circumstances.
The case of God is different from one’s children. God is not bad; He is extremely good. He is also never incapable.

In fact, He is omnipotent. Another important difference is that while one’s children are seen with one’s eyes, God is not seen. There is insecurity for those who depend on the children who are seen by their eyes. But there is complete security for those who depend on the unseen God. Ignorant souls only believe in perception. Giving more importance to their unreliable children who are seen, they shower their real love upon the children. The proof of real love is karma yoga. The sacrifice of work and the fruit of work together are called karma yoga. It is the proof of real love since we practically serve and sacrifice our money only for those whom we truly love. Ignorant people truly love only their children and so they do this karma yoga only for their children who are unreliable. They do not truly love God and they do not do karma yoga for Him even though He is supremely reliable, just because He is unseen. Real devotees are the ones who believe in God through inference. They believe in the unseen, unimaginable God by observing His miracles which are visible but unimaginable. Inference, of course, includes perception since the miracles are perceived. This mentality of the majority of human beings is the climax of blind ignorance. Such blind ignorance is actually not based on either perception or inference but is based only on solidified worldly fascination!

Not only can one adopt any mode of worship, but one can also pray to any form of God belonging to any religion, based on one’s personal liking. The different forms of God of various religions are not different since the one and only God exists in every one of them. When this is the truth of even the forms of God in different religions, then what to speak of the different modes of prayer in religions?

One can adopt any mode of prayer of any religion if you like it. This is the basic right of every person in the Universal Religion, which is based on Universal Spirituality.



Universal Spirituality for World Peace

 

[dattaswami1]

Unintentional Sins


Sins done unintentionally, like accidentally stepping on and killing ants while walking on the road, do not yield punishments. When the intention is absent, the person is not directing the work towards sin, and so the fruit of sin also does not arise (Jñānāgni dagdha karmāṇam, padma patramivāmbhasā—Gita). The inert energy needed for doing any work is supplied by God and it is never linked with the fruit since it is inert. It cannot have any intention which gives direction to the work. Intention is part of awareness and awareness has two sides:

i)
The soul or ātman is the basic inert energy that produces awareness

ii) The individual soul or jīva is the produced awareness and is a bundle of thoughts.

Ātman is inert energy (Sthāṇurachalo’yam—Gītā). It is not touched by the fruits of deeds since it cannot have any intention. This Ātman is the limited amount of energy present in the finite human body and is like a drop of water. The same inert energy or ātman is also qualitatively the material of the entire cosmos, which is like the ocean. The difference between the ātman present in a body and the entire inert energy in the cosmos, is only quantitative (Nityaḥ sarvagataḥ—Gītā). Jīva or the individual soul is the awareness in the form of a bundle of thoughts.

It is responsible for the intention, and giving direction to the work. Unintentional sins are excused because in case of such actions even the jīva, which is responsible for the intention, remains silent. Since the jīva is not involved in the deed, it can also be considered as inert like the ātman. Hence, in unintentional deeds no fruit is given to the jīva. When a sin is done with intention, the jīva gets the fruit since intention always belongs to the jīva. When ants get crushed under the feet of a human being, the fruit of sin does not arise and reach the human being, since the case is similar to ants getting crushed under a car on the road. There is no difference between an inert car and the human being in this case since the intention to kill is absent in both.
On the other hand, the case of intentional sin leads to punishment. Further, a person, who plans to kill somebody, is a worse criminal than the person whom he employs to kill another. Of course, the employed person is not like an inert car since he takes money to kill and commits the sin of killing. But he is a criminal of a lesser grade. He too will be equally punished due to his intention of earning money through sinful means.

Your husband, being a lawyer, can explain this point with more clarity. In the case of sins done with intention, the direct doer of the sin, the employer of the direct doer, the promoter and the supporter; all share the fruit of the sin equally (kartā kārayitā caiva, prerakaścānumodakaḥ...). According to the divine constitution, the lawyer who supports the sin through his arguments for the sake of earning money, and a corrupt judge who supports the sin through his biased judgement, also share the sin equally. Even if there is a total failure of justice in courts run by human beings, the judgement of God does complete justice.
Four Types of Work

Let us consider the four types of work mentioned in the Gītā.

i) Karma yoga is God’s work done by a devotee on the path of nivṛtti to attain the abode of God or Brahma Loka.
ii) Karma is good social work done by the devotee on the path of pravṛtti to attain temporary good fruits in heaven or in this world. Both karma and karma yoga are often used in the same sense, but they differ tremendously.
iii) Vikarma is sinful action. It is the deeds that should not be done, and if done, the fruit of such sin is punishment in hell or sometimes punishment in this world itself.
iv) Akarma is inaction. Inaction or the avoidance of action should be applied only to the case of sinful action. In other words, only sinful action should be avoided. Avoiding good worldly action or avoiding the work done for God, is not recommended (Karmaṇohyapi boddhavyam—Gītā).
Karma, which is doing good deeds for the sake of selfish enjoyment, and vikarma, which is sin, are related to each other and they constitute the phase of pravṛtti. Both are done for selfish enjoyment. As long as the desire for selfish enjoyment is limited, the person performs karma or good deeds, whereas when the desire reaches its climax, it leads to sins. It is for this reason that Śaṅkara opposed Maṇḍana Miśra, the Pūrva Mīmāṁsāka, for following the path of doing deeds (yajña) to attain temporary heavenly enjoyments. During that time, the philosophy of Pūrva Mīmāṁsā had fallen to such a low level that the followers had begun to say God does not exist (Devo na kaścit...).

Meaning of Inaction in the Gītā

In the Gītā, total inaction (akarma) is mentioned in a verse (Sarvārambha parityāgī), which is misunderstood by people. They feel that the verse recommends that we should avoid doing any worldly work. In another verse, Lord Krishna also says to Arjuna that he should only do God’s work (Matkarmaparamo bhava—Gītā). This is correct only in the case of an exceptional nivṛtti devotee. In the case of ordinary human devotees, it is not possible to stop all worldly work and only work for God. Of course, the devotee of nivṛtti indeed follows this line of thinking, and he lives as a renounced saint, begging for his food. But in the case of pravṛtti devotees, who are not saints, the practical worldly problems make them perform some worldly work. They have to do some professional work for their livelihood and maintaining their family (Śarīrayātrāpica te—Gītā).

They also do some social service for the welfare of the world (Lokasaṅgrahamevāpi—Gītā) but they do it for selfish reasons. Of course, social work also forms a part of nivṛtti, which is God’s work. Helping people through the propagation of the spiritual knowledge of pravṛtti and nivṛtti is a necessary aspect of God’s work. But social service, which is done for selfish fame without devotion to God, or which is done for the sake of enjoyment of worldly or heavenly pleasures, is quite different. It cannot be treated as perfectly good action, although it is not sin. In any case, the maintenance of one’s body and one’s family are basic responsibilities. Social service in the form of the propagation of spiritual knowledge is also an important part of God’s work. The Gītā does not recommend giving up such necessary and good actions (Niyatasya tu saṁnyāsaḥ...—Gītā).

The Gītā says that one should give up all intentions (Yasya sarve samārambhāḥ—Gītā) so that all actions get dropped (Naivakurvan na kārayan—Gītā). These verses must also be taken in the sense of giving up the intention of doing sinful deeds, which will naturally lead to the stopping of the sinful deeds. It certainly does not mean giving up good deeds or God’s work. The same authority, the Gītā, which says that one should give up the intentions that cause the deeds, also recommends doing certain actions. So, one should clearly understand that it only recommends giving up sins and not good deeds or God’s work.
A person who gives up sin and performs good deeds for the welfare of the world in order to get fame or to reach heaven for selfish enjoyment, is in the middle-state between sin and nivṛtti. The person doing sins is far from nivṛtti, while the person doing good deeds for selfish reasons is relatively closer to nivṛtti. Earth is better than hell and heaven is better than earth. But the abode of God is far higher than even heaven. If the devotee does social service due to his devotion to God and not due to the desire for heaven, then that devotee reaches God. A person doing good deeds only for the enjoyment of heavenly pleasures, returns to earth and continues to rotate in the cycle of repeated births (Kāmātmānaḥ…, Kṣīṇe puṇye…—Gītā). Whenever the Gītā preaches inaction, it always applies only to the three main types of sins, which are known as the three main gates to hell. They are illegal sex, violence and greediness. These sins are always to be avoided (Tasmādetat trayam tyajet—Gītā).

Sin (pāpam) and merit (puṇyam) are decided based on a deep analysis of various factors. Lust (kāma) is a sin. But lust in a justified worldly bond is not a sin (Dharmāviruddhaḥ kāmo’smi—Gītā).

In an unjust and illegal worldly bond, even a trace of mental love or lust is sin. Violence or hurting is a sin. But killing demons is not a sin. Similarly, when a preacher hurts a person in order to lead him or her on the right path of justice, it is not a sin. The sin lies only in hurting good people or in the violence done towards them. Greediness is a sin. But when due to the greed, one avoids unnecessary and wasteful expenditure, it is not a sin. It is a sin if due to one’s greed, one avoids making necessary and justified expenditures. Similarly, greed which causes a person to earn money through corrupt means is sin. Hence, deep analysis is very important (Buddhiyukto jahātīha—Gītā) in deciding what is sin and what is not sin.

Reformation and Salvation

Reformation is a golden opportunity given by God to us. It consists of three steps. The first step is related to knowledge. It is realization or jñāna yoga, which is identifying the sin through analysis. The second step is related to emotions and it involves sincere repentance before God with deep devotion to Him, which is bhakti yoga. The third and final step, is the practical step of karma yoga in which you should not repeat the same sin in your life. Many fail in the third step. It is of no use because the third step is practical and the first two steps are merely theoretical. A person can be said to be reformed only when he does not repeat the sin practically. Some clever people try to exploit this concept thinking that they will reform their souls, just before death! Such over-intelligence brings double punishment as no one can cheat God since He is omniscient!
It is perfectly correct to say that a soul cannot remain idle; simply keeping silent without doing any action. This is clearly told in the Gītā “Nahi kaścit kṣaṇamapi”. Even the Veda recommends action “Kurvanneveha karmāṇi…”. God never asks you to become inactive like an inert stone. Such inactivity is not only impossible but is also useless in the spiritual path. You have to learn both activity and inactivity in life. Inactivity should be applied in the context of doing or even desiring to do a sin.
In other words, one should avoid doing or even desiring to do a sin. Activity should be applied by ordinary human beings following pravṛtti in doing good deeds that help society. Activity should be applied by exceptional devotees following nivṛtti in doing God’s work. The Gītā stresses on both activity and inactivity in the context of these two separate paths respectively. In both these paths, you should do the work without getting attached to the fruit due to selfishness. When you are detached from the fruit of the work, you can do the work perfectly by concentrating your entire energy on the work (Karmaṇyevādhikāraste—Gītā).
Devotees like Śaṅkara, Meera etc. jumped straight to God’s work, avoiding all worldly work from their very childhood. It is a direct jump to salvation from the worldly bonds which is called as sākṣānmukti and is attained by forming a very strong bond with God. Devotees like Rāmānuja, Janaka etc., walked towards the same goal of salvation from worldly bonds passing through all the four states of life, which are known as the āśramas. This gradual walking towards the goal is called kramamukti and is applicable to the majority of human beings.

Severe Punishment Without a Serious Sin

Sometimes, we are punished here severely, even though we have not committed a sin, which is deserving of such a severe punishment. We get confused in such a situation thinking that God is cruel and a sadist. Such thinking is only due to our ignorance. In fact, the punishments for our sins are usually given only in the upper sub-world called hell. The reason is that we should not be disturbed in this sub-world called earth or Martya Loka while performing our worldly and divine duties. The upper worlds and sub-worlds are called bhoga lokas, which are places for enjoying the good and bad fruits of our deeds.
Earth, on the other hand is called a karma loka, which is a place for doing deeds. This is the general rule, but there are some exceptions to the rule. One exception is that intensive sins done here are punished here itself immediately. Another exception is that sometimes, the punishment for a sin committed in the previous birth is received here on earth. This happens in the case of killing animals for food. The killed animal thinks while dying that it too will kill the killer in the same way. So the animal of the previous birth is reborn as a butcher while the butcher and the consumers of the meat in the previous birth are born as animals and are killed by the butcher. In both these exceptions, the soul receives severe punishments here due to intensive sins committed previously in this birth or in the past birth respectively.
The case mentioned above, in which the soul is severely punished here in spite of not having done an equally severe sin in this birth, is different from the above two exceptions. In this case, since no severe sin has been done in this birth, as per the general rule, the soul should not be punished here for any sin done by it in the past birth. Why then is the soul punished here severely? This case is covered under another exceptional rule. Note that God is all-in-all. He is the Maker of the rules, and is beyond all the rules. Whenever He breaks any rule, it is only for some good purpose.

All these rules regarding a soul’s deeds and the rewards and punishments for the deeds are only for the soul’s reformation. God does not give any punishment to a soul out of revenge. He is the Doctor who is treating the patient. The soul is the patient, who is to be cured. Sometimes, God feels that a person will be benefited and his or her reformation will progress better if some punishment is given at a certain time. So, He brings to the present life, a punishment which the soul was supposed to face in a future lifetime. It is like the premature withdrawal of a deposit from a bank, which leads to a loss in the value of the deposit. So the punishment, when preponed to the present, reduces in value.
This is a benefit to the soul. Additionally, it accelerates the reformation of the soul. So, the soul gets a double benefit! This exception is made in the best interest of the soul. It is like the Supreme Doctor, God, deciding to increase the dosage of antibiotics for a patient, deviating from the regular treatment plan, to speed up the recovery of the patient. This exceptional rule, like all other rules related to the administration of the deeds of souls, clearly shows the loving kindness of God, the Divine Father for the souls, who are His children.

God gave freedom to all souls so that they could do whatever they felt was good. God helped the souls in determining what is good and what is bad by preaching to them through holy scriptures, holy devotees and holy Incarnations. Freedom means the complete freedom for all souls in this creation to act in any direction, without the slightest force on the mind, either here or in the upper worlds. God always preaches to every soul to bring the realization of the truth to the soul and to reform the soul. The soul is expected to realize and get reformed only through this knowledge introduced into the mind of the soul. It is the only way the soul can be saved. The only force used by God on the mind of a sinner is imparting knowledge. He does not use any physical force or miraculous power to reform the sinner. The king tries to reform the sinner through physical force in the form of punishment, but such reformation is only temporary. Even the horrible punishments in hell cannot reform the soul permanently. Eternal reformation can never be attained through punishment. In spite of this defect of punishment, it is still used to reform the soul temporarily. Only the spiritual knowledge given by God-in-human-form can bring an eternal reformation in a soul.

Generally, the cloud rains everywhere and the rain makes the seed present in fertile soil to grow up into a plant. But a seed fallen on rocky soil cannot give rise to a plant immediately in spite of a lot of rain. Devilish or demonic souls are like the rocks present here and there on earth. The God-cloud does not use His miraculous power to change the rocky soil into fertile soil since God never interferes with souls using any type of force. Judas was like rocky soil. But due to his association with Jesus and continuously listening to His preaching, he realized, confessed his sin, and punished himself at the end. The priests of the temple never listened to the preaching of Jesus at all and so they never got reformed. They were like solid rocks. Judas was like soil having some rocky nature. So, the seed of reformation at least germinated in him, even though it germinated late.

For a person’s reformation, apart from the divine force of spiritual knowledge, the receptivity of the person’s mind is also important. There are some good souls with high receptivity for the knowledge. They are like good soil and they get reformed immediately on listening to the spiritual knowledge preached by the Human Incarnation of God. Then there are some average souls, who are like rocky soil. They take some time to get reformed like Judas. Both these types of souls are reformed and saved. But there are some other souls like the priests who crucified Jesus, who have no hope of reformation at all. They are like solid rocks and they are condemned forever. This worst type of souls is punished in the liquid fire of hell forever. Their punishment is forever because such souls will never get reformed. They are kept aloof from mankind in the lives of wild animals, worms and so on (Tānahaṁ dviṣataḥ...—Gita). God’s attempts to reform are confined only to the first and second types of souls who are like good soil and rocky soil respectively. The moment a soul is reformed, it is saved forever.