God never gives any value for the magnitude of the potentiality

[dattaswami]

God never gives any value for the magnitude of the potentiality

 

Let us take the scene of Ramayana in which the monkeys are trying to jump over the ocean in the service of Rama. The monkeys expressed their abilities to jump in terms of miles of the distance that can be covered by them in jump. Hanuman could jump all the distance and finished the work of Rama. The devotion (Bhakti) is equal in Hanuman and monkeys. Every monkey is ready to sacrifice its total effort. But the monkeys could not do the work only due to inadequate potentiality (Shakti) and not due to inadequate devotion. God sees only the total surrender of your potentiality in His work, which is a practical proof for the total devotion. The magnitude of your potentiality is not a point for God. Here in this case, since every monkey is ready to surrender its total potentiality, each monkey is equal to Hanuman in the eyes of God. There is no difference in the surrender of total effort. Hanuman could do the work only due to the adequate potentiality and is not greater in devotion than any monkey. Therefore, the fruit from God should be equal to Hanuman and also the monkeys. The Lord gave a place for all the monkeys in His Brahma Loka (called as Vaikuntha in the case of Narayana) but He made Hanuman as Brahma Himself, who is the Lord of Brahma Loka. Does this mean that God favors the magnitude of potentiality also as the measure of devotion? (Swami posed this question to all the devotees and there was suspense with lot of anxiety in the devotees for the answer. No devotee could give the answer even after a long time! Finally Swami gave the answer by which devotees felt very happy).

 

The answer for this is that God never gives any value for the magnitude of the potentiality. God gives value only to the surrender of total potentiality possessed by the devotee. Then, what is the answer to the above question? The answer is that though God treated Hanuman and monkeys equal in the above scene due to equal extent of maximum devotion, there is a difference between Hanuman and the monkeys. After the war, Rama rewarded all the monkeys with golden ornaments for their service. All the monkeys took the jewels and wore them. This indicates the aspiration of fruit in return for the service, which is hidden in their sub-consciousness without their knowledge. Rama did not reward Hanuman and Hanuman never felt anything for this. Sita felt for this and rewarded Hanuman with a chain of pearls. Sita could not understand Rama. She should have kept silent because the actions of God are unimaginable. By rewarding Hanuman, Sita insulted the Lord indirectly before all. The drama continued further by the will of the Lord who was silent with a smile.

 

Hanuman took the chain and started cutting the pearls with teeth and threw them away after observing each pearl. Sages and monkeys objected this and asked Hanuman for the reason. Hanuman told that He was searching for Rama in pearls and anything without Rama is useless for Him. By this Hanuman is establishing the fact that God does not exist in the creation (Neti Neti…Veda). Then, the sages told that His body also must be useless since Rama is not in that body. Then Hanuman tore His heart and showed Rama in His heart. This shows that God as Narayana (Rama) is present in Him because Shiva is Narayana and He is the incarnation of Shiva. Hence, devotees should not attempt to do this! This clearly proved that the servant of the Lord should not aspire anything other than the Lord as the fruit of service. By this Hanuman excels all the monkeys and His special fruit is justified.

 

Let us come to Sita who bent her head after this. What is the reason in it? You think that Rama insulted Sita in return. It is not so. The reason is that she joined the list of monkeys since she was also wearing the ornaments, which do not contain Rama. She is lesser than Hanuman. This is also justified because Sita is a liberated soul and Hanuman is God. Therefore, do the service to God without aspiring any fruit in return. Aspiration for fruit gives lesser fruit and service without aspiration for fruit gives the highest fruit in the case of God. This point is valid in the case of God (Nivrutti) only and one should not be foolish to follow this in Pravrutti because people will exploit you! Of course, you can implement this concept in serving the poor people and deserving devotees and such service is a training for you for Nivrutti. But you should not implement this through out the Pravrutti because exploiters are many in this world especially in this Kali Yuga!