Breaking the Chain of Worldly Life Once you are settled in the practical service of the God, there

is no need of any more theoretical devotion (Bhakti Yoga) and there is no need of any more analysis of the subject (Jnana Yoga). Practical service (Karma Yoga) is the endless stage in which one has to continue for births and births till the end of creation. This is the significance of the endless life (Chiranjivi) of Hanuman, who fixed Himself in the service of the human form of God. Knowledge (Jnana) and theoretical love (Bhakti) exist in the soul, as samskaras and the soul need not waste time again and again in acquiring these two. The short lives of Shankara and Meera indicate the brief periods of learning Jnana and getting Bhakti. You must come out of Pravritti as early as possible and enter Nivritti. Shankara and Prahlada entered Nivritti even in their tender childhood. People misunderstand that the subject of Pravritti is made of chapters so that one can turn to Nivritti at the end of at least some chapters [after passing through at least a few stages in your life such as marriage, achieving career goals and getting chidlren]. If you are at the end of a chapter and if the bell rings, you can request the other teacher for five minutes-time to complete your chapter before coming out. But if it is a continuous subject, there is no meaning in such a request. You think that you will come to Nivritti after ensuring that your children are well-settled. But your children are virtually never settled because they are again unsettled when they get children. Hence, your children are never settled since their children are unsettled in your lifetime. Thus, the chain is endless and you have to break the endless chain at some point or the other. In an endless chain any point is equally good to break. The Veda says that you must leave the chain at any point once you are completely attracted to God (Yadahareva Virajet Tadahareva Pravrajet). Shankara, the top most genius realized this truth and broke the chain in the childhood itself. Today people are not breaking this endless chain even on their deathbed. A fellow in Karnataka died and his last word was Kasabari. The word means a broomstick that is used to sweep the dust from the floor. A donkey was trying to eat it. He warned his son to save the broomstick from the donkey. You know, that soul was born in the next birth as a sweeper on the roads with a broomstick in hands. A pickle soaked in a jar for a long time in salt and acidic fluid, cannot give a sweet taste if you put it in a sugar solution. Therefore, it is better to turn towards Nivritti as early as possible. A poor peon today was a greedy fellow in the previous birth, who earned wealth for generations through his business and corruption, without any sacrifice. A beggar begging for money was a person who wasted money in a lavish manner by giving it to undeserving people. A lifelong diseased rich fellow was a rich person in the previous birth, who spent all his earnings for his own selfishness.

The sins and punishments are very systematically implemented by a very powerful computerized system called Chitra Gupta in hell. I am surprised to see many scholars [in spiritual knowledge], even in their old age are involved in the deep analysis of only useless routine family affairs. Even if they were to spend 1/10th of their time, energy and logical talent for the subject of God, they would get salvation. What happened to their spiritual knowledge in which they are very famous preachers? Has it been covered due to the effect of the long association with family life? Darkness may be associated with you for a long time. But the moment, the sun shines, even darkness existing for centuries and centuries should vanish. In that case, what is the reason for the ineffectiveness of their divine knowledge? The power of their knowledge-light is too less and hence the darkness is not much affected. What is the reason for the absence of power in their knowledge? The power of the knowledge is directly proportional to the degree of truth in it. If the knowledge is absolutely true from all angles, it is like the summer sun and the ignorance-darkness of any intensity and length of time, has to vanish in a fraction of second. Therefore, the absence of the absolute truth in their knowledge is responsible for the reduced power in their knowledge to remove ignorance. Even though the moon and stars exist, darkness is not removed in the world. But in the daytime, no trace of darkness can exist before the sun. Written by His Holiness Shri Datta Swami website address: http://www.universal-spirituality.org e-mail address: swami@universal-spirituality.org Jai Guru Datta