Why can't a Saint perform any action after God-realization?
This is because firstly, the goal of every action performed is the
attainment of the Divine Bliss, which a Mahapurush has already achieved.
Therefore, there is nothing left to be achieved or accomplished
thereafter. That is why, if nothing is to be achieved then why would a
Saint perform any action? Secondly, if he performs any action i.e. good
or bad, then it will be a cause of bondage. Therefore, having freed
himself from all the bondages, why would a Saint engage in such actions
again? Thirdly, before attainment of God, Maya is the controller of the
soul and after God-realization, God governs and directly controls the
soul. Hence, every action a Mahapurush performs, is governed and inspired
by God. All the actions of the Saint are performed by God.
Therefore, every action of his is respected and honoured, as God becomes the
governor of the Saint and directs his every action. For example, a driver
drives a car. If the car meets with an accident, the car is not to be
blamed as it is a material object. It is the driver that is to be blamed
and punished.
Hence, there is no need for a Mahapurush to perform any good or bad
actions. Yet, why does a Saint appear to perform such actions? What
reason does he have to perform actions thereafter?
All the scriptures and Saints say that a God-realized Saint
does not perform either good or bad actions. This is because, after
God-realization, all the actions of that soul are governed and inspired by God
Himself. The soul becomes eternally absorbed in the Divine Bliss of God,
and God performs all its actions.
sadā paśhyanti soorayaḥ tadviṣhṇoḥ paramaṁ padam
Now, if we assume that a Mahapurush, Saint realizes the presence of his beloved
God in every entity and experiences His Divine Bliss all the time, then souls
under the influence of Maya can raise a question. The question is: if Mahapurushs
realize God everywhere and are beyond Maya, then why did so many Mahapurushs in
history rule kingdoms for thousands of years, fight wars and have children?
Dhruv, Prahalad, Prithu, Vibheeshan, Arjun, Yudhishthir, etc. all did
this. When they were God-realized, how and why did they perform these
worldly actions? Is there anything more left to do after
God-realization? Does any desire arise in their mind? Are there any
desires left after God-realization? Moreover, their actions are so
immense and colossal that a person under Maya does not have the power to make
such desires, or fulfill them.
The answer to this question is:
hari harijan ke karya ko, kāraṇ kachhu na lakhāya |
par upakār svabhāv vaśh, karat kārya jag āya ||
The one and only reason behind any action of God and Mahapurush is the welfare
of humankind, which is their nature.
The Vedas state:
poorṇamadaḥ poorṇamidaṁ poorṇāt poorṇamudachyate |
poorṇasya poorṇamādāya poorṇamevāvaśhiṣhyate ||
God is infinitely complete and fulfilled in Himself. Hence, if you remove
a part out of an infinite entity, what is taken out is complete, and what will
remain is also infinite and complete. So, there is no question of any
selfish motive behind the actions of these God realized Saints, who have
achieved their goal and are completely fulfilled. Since before
God-realization, a Saint had been under the influence of Maya, like us, he is
familiar with our sorrows and pain. That is why he wishes that the
individual soul should also attain God, and experience the same unlimited
Divine Bliss that he is experiencing. Thus, with this praiseworthy desire
of welfare of all living beings, a Mahapurush performs all types of actions,
with the single aim of well being of all souls.
Those actions may not be comprehensible to everyone, and the world could oppose
such actions. But because of the aim behind these actions is solely the
welfare of human kind, those actions become praise worthy. Even the most
intellectual cannot comprehend the actions of a Saint. This is because
these actions are performed by a Divine power called Yogmaya, which is a
special personal power of God.
Just as we cannot listen through the eyes, since hearing is not the subject of
the eyes, similarly, we cannot grasp divine subjects with our material mind,
because God as well as the Saints are not the subject of the material senses,
mind and the intellect. This is the reason why from infinite lifetimes we
have never understood many Saints who descended on this earth. That is
why we have never benefited from them until now, and not attained our
goal. We tried to judge and observe them though our material minds.
In the case of Mother Parvati, who was overcome by Maya, Lord Shankar
clarifies: "O Parvati! You have neither doubts nor ignorance. You
are not under the influence of Maya. Nevertheless, you pretended to be
misled by Maya, as your intention was just to warn people not to apply their
material intellect to the Divine actions and pastimes of God." If
they do so, they will harm themselves. In order to teach this lesson to
us souls, Mother Parvati herself applied her intellect and showed, "Look
what happened to me. You people do not make this mistake."
In the same way, after reading about the examples of Garud and many other
Saints, we will find that all these acts were done just for the welfare of
humankind. Hence, the Vedas say that one should imitate only good actions
of a Saint and nothing else, otherwise it can lead to downfall of a person.
Just like Lord Shankar drank Halahal, the most dreadful poison, and was
designated with the title "Neelkanth," but if we try to imitate this
action and drink even a drop of poison, we will surely die.
Therefore, we have now understood that the actions of a true Saint are Divine,
and hence, beyond the comprehension of the material intellect. We have to
obey his instructions, which will result in the purification of the
heart. Then, he will bestow his Divine grace and power with which we will
be able to know God and relish His Divine Bliss.
Thus, we now have to recognize a true Saint, so that by surrendering to him, we
can achieve our goal of life. Otherwise, we will never be able to attain
Divine love of God. This leads us to question, that when it is impossible
for even Lord Brihaspati and Goddess Saraswati to recognize a true Saint, then
how we will recognize him? If we are not able to recognize him then we will
never attain our goal? Will we always be under the clutches of Maya?
Regarding the definition of a Mahapurush, we have understood
till now that a soul, who has attained God, and whose actions are performed by
God's will, that soul is called a Mahapurush, a true Saint. Also, it was
proved by all the Vedas and Scriptures that there is no difference between God
and Mahapurush, because all the actions of the Mahapurush are performed by
God. In fact, for a devotee, Mahapurush is the most important because it
is only through a Mahapurush one will attain all the spiritual knowledge
related to preliminary stages of sadhana, devotion, and without whose guidance,
the individual cannot even take a step forward towards God.
āchāryavān puruṣho hī veda | (Chhandogyopaniṣhat 6-14-2)
Because all the scriptures as well as Saints have told
various kinds of paths to achieve the supreme entity - God. Finding
solutions to the innumerable Upanishads, Puranas and differences of arguments
of learned scholars, and understanding their correct meaning and selecting the
best path is impossible even for Lord Brihaspati and Goddess Sarasvati.
So how can it be possible for an ordinary person? Only a Mahapurush knows
the correct and most suitable solution for an individual, and can direct the
individual towards the correct path.
We already know that since infinite lifetimes, we are making
a continuous effort for the attainment of the Divine Bliss of God. During
endless lifetimes, we might have walked towards God but surprisingly until now,
we have not attained that eternal bliss. The reason for this is that we
never surrendered ourselves to a true Saint. Whereas, there is rule in
this material world, that only by following the instructions of a teacher, we
attain knowledge about any subject. If we follow half of the instructions
of our worldly teacher and apply our own intellect to the rest of it, then we
will never be able to progress to the next class.
When we are sick, we follow the instructions of a
doctor. Otherwise, we know the consequences of not following the full instructions.
In the same way, since countless lifetimes we applied our material intellect in
the deep and intense subject called God, and because of it, instead of moving
forward in the spiritual realm, we kept on moving backwards. That means our
downfall has been continuous. According to the Vedas and Shastras,
God-realization is the easiest work in this world. There is no hard work
in this. Yet, we have not attained our supreme goal till now. The
reason behind this is that we have not accepted a Mahapurush to be a Mahapurush.
And if we do not realize a true Saint to be a true Saint, we will never
surrender completely. And without complete surrender, we cannot move
forward towards achieving our goal.
Continue reading in part 3
Read part 1
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