Why do elders discourage youngsters from following the path of practical spirituality?..

[dattaswami]

Why do elders discourage youngsters from following the path of practical spirituality?

Swami replied: When king Bali was prepared to do the practical sacrifice of donating three feet of land to Vāmana, his preacher Śukrācārya discouraged it. Śukrācārya said that even though Vāmana, the receiver of that donation, was the Human Incarnation of God Viṣṇu, He was deceiving Bali by asking for that donation. Bali neglected the advice and agreed to give the donation to Vāmana after analyzing as follows: “Vāmana is not a fraud Human Incarnation who has come to deceive me by asking for a donation. He is the real Human Incarnation, who has come to deceive me through the donation. We should not get deceived by false incarnations and false devotees, since charity done to such undeserving people is a sin. But in this case, God Himself has come to me in human form and is trying to cheat me by asking me to do this practical sacrifice. I, being the grandson of the great devotee, Prahlāda, like God to the climax. I even like getting cheated, if the cheater is God”. Bali then gave the requested donation to Vāmana and he was cheated by Vāmana, who assumed such an enormous form that in one foot He covered the underworld and Earth. In the second step, He covered the heavens. Nothing remained to place His third step, so Bali offered his own head. Bali’s devotion to God was marvellous! But God cheated Bali so that heaven, which had been conquered by Bali, could be returned to Indra. But God made Bali the future king of heaven or the next Indra. Not only this, but God has now become the permanent gate-keeper of king Bali! Hence, the sacrifice done by the devotee to God is always repaid by God after multiplying it many-fold. A piece of cloth torn by Draupadī from her sari, to tie a bandage to Krishna’s bleeding finger, was multiplied to thousands of saris by Krishna and given back to her when she was in real need. Elders oppose your charity to the human form of God because many so-called Incarnations are not genuine. The fraud Human Incarnation is an undeserving receiver and charity done to him is a sin. Hence, the objection of elders serves as a warning to you to verify whether the receiver is actually deserving or not.