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The subject of todays discourse is: Who is the Liberating Entity of the Human Society? Some people say that human beings attain salvation by their occult powers. This may or may not be the fact. What is occult power? It is the power that people acquire by their occult practices, by their “cult”. But they require inspiration, and that inspiration comes from a personal entity, and not from any impersonal entity or entities. Furthermore, while moving along the path of spirituality, certainly the desideratum, the culminating point is salvation. And so there must be a Lord, a controlling Entity of that culminating point. When anyone becomes one with the culminating point, one attains salvation. So the Lord of the culminating point is the liberating personality – without his Grace, without His help, no one can attain salvation.
Now who is that liberating personality? You must remember that each and every entity wants liberation. And they do not only want liberation, they want liberation of permanent nature, which is salvation – not mukti, but vimukti or mokśa. Who is that muktidátá, that giver of liberation? Some people of passive nature say that it is the time factor. “A time is sure to come when we will attain salvation.” Such a statement shows that these people have developed a psychology of lethargy: they do not want to do anything and that is why they depend upon the temporal factor. But this temporal factor, you must remember, is a relative factor: it functions within the realm of relativity, within the realm of so many animate and inanimate entities. When the temporal factor is itself under bondage, how can it be the cause for salvation?
Now what is time? Time is the mental measurement of the mobility of action. If there is mental measurement, there must be many unit minds to measure it, and there must also be movement – there must be at least three entities. So kála or kála shakti or Time cannot be the liberator. Even Mahákála will play with you but it cannot grant you liberation – it is not within its scope.
Then is fate or accident the liberator? Actually fate is a misnomer. Whatever you do, for that you will have to undergo a reaction; and when the original action is unknown to you, that reaction is called “fate”. Suppose your finger comes in contact with fire: while experiencing the reaction, while undergoing the pain, you know the cause, and in that case you will not say that it is fate. But when the original action is not known to you, you call it fate. So fate cannot be the muktidátá either.
Some other people say that mukti is accidental, but there is nothing accidental in this world – everything is an incident. Only when the cause of the incident is not known to us, or when the cause is translated into action within a short span of time, we call it an accident. So we cannot get liberation accidentally: it is a foolish idea.
Then should this universe of the quinquelemental factors be regarded as the muktidátá or liberator? No, certainly not. They are the causes of more and more bondages, more and more troubles. And if you worship these paiṋcabhútas, these five fundamental factors, your very existence will be converted into them: a glorious living being like a human being will be converted into stone or gold. (The pain of bondage is equal in the case of stone or gold). So these quinquelemental factors are not the muktidátá either.
Then is the causal matrix the liberator? No, certainly not. The causal matrix can function only with the definite permission of the Causal Consciousness, the Causal Cognition. Without His approval, the causal matrix cannot do anything. So not even the causal matrix is the cause of creation.
Then is Saguńa Brahma, the creator of the universe, the muktidátá? No, Saguńa Brahma is also not the liberator because He Himself is under the bondage of Prakrti, and in fact that is why we see this universe of varieties. So Saguńa Brahma is also not the liberator,
Then who is the liberator? The muktidátá should not be within the bondages of Prakrti, but He should maintain a close link with the expressed universe. That consciousness which maintains a close link with the expressed world is the muktidátá – who knows all the pains, all the sorrows, all the happiness, all the glories of he expressed universe. He should be one with the universe, otherwise He will not be in a position to realize the sorrows and pains of the suffering humanity. That muktidátá is known as Táraka Brahma in Saḿskrta (táraka = trae + ńak, the liberating faculty). The word táraka is prefixed only to His name and not to the name of Saguńa Brahma or Nirguńa Brahma or any other entity or entities. Lord Krśńa has said:
Paritráńáya sádhúnáḿ vinásháya ca duśkrtám
Dharmasaḿsthápanártháya sambhavámi yuge yuge.
And again:
Api cet sudurácáro bhajate mámananyabhák
Sopi pápavinirmukto mucyate bhavabandhanát.
Paritráńáya sádhúnám: The Lord comes for the paritráńa of sádhus. What is the meaning of paritráńa? Trae + lyut́ = tráńa. Tráńa means to grant relief, but He does not come merely for granting relief. He comes for paritráńa, that is, for tráńa of permanent nature. Paritránáya sadhúnám: who are the sádhus? Simply wearing white or saffron robe does not make a person a sádhu.
Játasyahi jagati jantavah sádhújiivitáh
Ye punarneha jáyante sheśáh jat́haragardhavá
Práńáh yathátmanobhiiśt́áh bhútánámapite tathá
Átmaopanyena bhútánáḿ dayáḿkurvanti sádhavah.
Those who are completely pure, whose inner and outer lives are pure, are sádhus; others are, as the shloka says, simply donkeys in human bodies; gardabha means “donkey.”
Práńáha yathátmanobhiiśt́áh bhútáńamapi te tathá: the life of each and every entity is very dear to them; all love their lives very much. Those who share this same sentiment of love for other living beings – that is, they feel that “just as my life is very dear, very beloved to me, so other lives are also very dear to me” – such people are called sádhus. So the Lord says, Paritránáya sádhúnám, for the permanent relief of these sádhus; vinásháya caduśkrtám (vi – nash + ghaiṋ = vinásha). Vinásha means viśheśa násha, “complete destruction”, after which there is no chance for life again.
Vinásháya ca duśkrtám. Duśkrtám means those who are engaged in undesirable activities. But what are the undesirable activities? Those which are not liked by Parama Puruśa are undesirable activities. Stealing may not be undesirable for a thief but it is undesirable for Parama Puruśa; hence those who are engaged in theft are duśkrtám. Dharmasaḿsthápanártháya sambhavámi yuge yuge. Saḿsthápana means “placing an entity in its proper place.” Merely placing an entity is sthápana, and placing it in its proper place is saḿsthápana. Dharmasaḿsthápanártháya sambhavámi yuge yuge: “To place dharma in its proper place.” Here Lord Krśńa does not say bhavámi yuge yuge; bhavámi means to come into being, to be expressed in the realm of physicality. But He does not say bhavámi. He says sambhavámi. Sambhavámi means samyak rúpeńa bhavámi. Each and every entity and particle is His expression, and so He is born daily in thousands and millions of lives – He is bhavámi each day. So he does not say bhavámi, He says sambhavámi. “I express myself in a special form with special faculties.”
And who is He? He is the Lord of the culminating point for each and every spiritual aspirant. The Lord that controls and inspires the march towards liberation, comes here in a special form. And when does He come? Yuge yuge. Yuge means at a critical juncture when the worlds problems cannot be solved by ordinary humans, not even by sadvipras. At such critical junctures, which are known as yugasandhi in Saḿskrta, He has to come. Sambhavámi yuge yuge: He says, “I come during each and every yuga.” Yuga means the time when one phase of movement of the human society comes to an end and another phase begins: that juncture is called yuga.
So one must remember that one may or may not attain salvation by dint of ones own spiritual practices: one will have to depend on His Grace. And because He is one with each and every expressed entity through His ota and prota yoga, He is your nearest and dearest one. You may depend on Him completely, and your dependence on Him is called sharańágati. This sharańágati is the only reply to all spiritual questions. Thus He clearly says,
Api cet sudurácáro bhajate mámananyabhák
Sopi pápavinirmukto mucyate bhavabandhanát.
Daevii hyeśá guńamayii mama Máyá duratyayá;
Mámeva ye prapadyante Máyámetáḿ taranti te.(1)
“This Máyá is a dangerous force. The dexterous hands of Máyá create so many problems, and these problems are dangerous: Aghat́ana ghatana pat́iiyasii Máyá. It is very difficult for human beings to surmount the effect of Máyá. But I am there. Those who have resorted to sharańágati, who have taken shelter in me, will easily surmount these waves of difficulties, of worries and anxieties in life. Even sinners should depend upon me – I am here to help them.”
Útámrtasyesháno: He is not only the Lord of heaven, He is the Lord of hell also. Útá means hell. So even a sinner of hell should not become mentally disturbed because the Lord of hell is with him. Api cet sudurácáro bhajate mámananyabhák. “Even if the sinner of sinners resorts to sharańágati, to complete surrender, then sopi pápavinirmukta – they will be freed from all kinds of sins”: mucyate bhavabandhanát. “They must attain salvation, for I am the granter of salvation.”
Footnotes
(1) Bhagavad Giitá. –Trans.