Swami Shivapadananda on congruence

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Selected from Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji.

Day 447

 
 

Sri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that you have the right to work but not to the fruits thereof. That means that if you do bad action God appears as bad action. If you do good action God appears as good action.

When Sri Krishna went to Kamsa, Kamsa saw Sri Krishna as a demon, as Lord Yama. He said, "Don't kill me." Sri Krishna told him, "Look, I don't kill you, your own karma kills you. Your own karma has come in this form to kill you." And when the same Sri Krishna went to the Rishis they found him to be the embodiment of their prayers, their blessings.

God appears to man as man is within. Example: Duryodhana was sent to find "one good man" in the world. He went everywhere but he came back and told Sri Krishna he could not find one good man. The Lord asked Dharamputra to go and find one bad man. He went everywhere but he didn't find one bad man. What this actually means is: what you are within, you will see without. If you are a dharmic [righteous]  person, you'll see dharmic things. If you are an adharmic [unrighteous]  person, you'll see adharmic things.

Sometimes people use God as a partner to do wrong things but when that person gets caught, God doesn't go to jail for him – he himself goes to jail.

Devotee: Why does God allow him to go to jail then, Swamiji?

Swamiji: Because of his actions. Man is given free will to choose what is right and what is wrong and at the same time man has past karmas with him. His past karmas will impel him to do wrong things if he has these bad karmas. But he, as a man, must now stand and say, "No. I won't do the wrong thing, I would rather give up my life for the truthful thing."