Vijayalakshmi: I am very much interested in leading a spiritual life but I am not interested in rituals. I don’t feel comfortable doing puja and other religious activities. I do Ekadsi fasting but without following any rituals. I do not like to pluck flowers so do not even offer flowers to God. But I do offer simple puja mentally. Are rituals necessary to be followed on a spiritual path? Will my mental puja and remembrance be acknowledged by God?
Swami Ram Swarup: I appreciate that you are God fearing lady. My blessings to you, my daughter. Whatever you’ve quoted these all do not relate to worship of formless, almighty, omnipresent God Who creates, nurses, destroys the universe and from whom eternal knowledge of four Vedas emanates. The said eternal knowledge of Vedas only throws spiritual light on all human beings that we all should do practice of ashtang yog philosophy, should do daily name jaap of God and should perform daily hawan even with Gayatri mantra with its meaning. So, if you please try to pay your kind attention towards Vedic path as followed by Sri Krishna Maharaj, Sri Ram, Dashrath, Harishchandra and then public, they got peace and even liberation, then you are advised to make contact with local Arya Samaj Mandir to learn the said path as I’m away and can’t teach you from here. I again would like to clarify that as per Vedas, your worship quoted by you is not authentic.
Sorry, if I’ve hurt your feelings and if you do not like to accept, Vedic path, you may go ahead at your own.
Again my blessings to you, my daughter.
Vijayalakshmi: Isn’t it true that whatever is happening in the world, good or bad is known by God and in fact he is the director of all the events. Both good and bad, must be happening out of his desire only. So why do we human beings interfere in matters of God? Why do we tell people to stop bad and do only good? Isn’t that going against God’s wish?
In kaliyuga, things are supposed to deteriorate, so why are we trying to stop the deterioration. The sooner this yuga ends, isn’t it better. Kaliyuga ends and Satyuga will begin which is a good thing. So why prevent kaliyuga from ending?
Swami Ram Swarup: Yes even what has been happening individually by anyone, that also is known by God because He is omnipresent and sees every action of every living being. That is why, He timely awards the result of every deed of everybody. However, He is not director but He sees every action of humans. Human beings are free to do good or bad deeds, at their own discretion.
God preventing people from doing sins
Creation is eternal. Eternal knowledge of Vedas too, emanates direct from God at the time of beginning of earth. Just like God laws mentioned in the Vedas for the universe are also unchangeable and unchallengable. In Vedas, it is a Fundamental law that God never objects human-beings to do either good deeds or bad deeds but result is awarded by God accordingly. So God never prevents human beings to do sins.
Human beings is always free to do right or wrong. But as far as result of deeds are concerned, the same is not in the hands of human-beings but result of deeds are always awarded by God. Actually, most of the people lack knowledge of Vedas. In Vedas, God never forgives sins of any man or woman. Most of the people are worshipping God by over-sighting the Vedas rule of non-forgiveness. People think that they have pleased the God by their worship against the Vedas and God has forgiven them and thus the sins, corruption, injustice etc., are increasing and people have been suffering accordingly.
Therefore nothing is done in the human life by God’s will. I also paste my articles below:-
Three types of Deeds
There are three types of deeds (karmas) – sanchit, prarabhadh and kriyamann. Suppose one soul has to take birth (body). It means he has to face total number of deeds of his all previous lives and these deeds are called sanchit karmas but sanchit deeds are huge/unlimited and cannot be faced in one life. So the karmas which can be faced in one life are called prarabhadh (luck-destiny). So God has not made our luck at His own but Almighty God has considered the deeds which we have already done.
Yajurved mantra 7/48 clarifies that human being is free to do any deed good or bad but God only awards the result. Now the balance deeds from sanchit deeds will be counted in the next life. Now the deeds which we do in our day today present life are called kriyamann.
If we do pious deeds according to Vedas, shastras and holy books and based on pious preaches of Rishi, Muni/learned saints then our all sanchit deeds are burnt and we can get salvation. Human beings are free in the matter of doing deeds good or bad. But result will be awarded by God. So we must worship and do pious deeds under guidance of a learned Guru. One should go always ahead for hard working, pious deeds, worship to make future bright himself. One should always work hard towards a right path.
Worship does not mean that we are free to discharge only our family duties, education, etc., but rather it is a sin. We have to get progress in both way simultaneously i.e., spiritualism and worldly progress i.e., science, education, duties towards family etc. God creates the universe according to His eternal law framed in Vedas which are always unchangeable and unchallengeable. So we have to follow the law of God always to get long happy life.
Idea of Rigved mantra 10/135/1,2, 3, 4
Rigved mantra 10/135/1,2, 3 we’ve been blessed with the human body to face the result of our previous lives’ deeds – good and bad, in the shape of happiness and sorrows. When we’ve to face bad deeds then naturally everybody says that it is our bad luck but mostly people do not think that God has done justice and the sorrows/problems given by God is the result of our said deeds. Further, the ved mantra 4 state that if a person makes contact with learned acharya of Vedas and yoga philosophy and becomes able to gain knowledge of Vedas and obey preach of Vedas then the effect of bad deeds is automatically destroyed and future becomes bright. Secondly, God helps those who help themselves. So, hardworking, devotion and dedication also makes future bright.
Basic principle made by God in four Vedas has deteriorated in the absence of knowledge. So, peace can’t be maintained.
We will have to revert back to Vedic knowledge as was in previous yugas by which peace, justice, non-violence and other thousands of good qualities were maintained in public. I also paste my articles——
It is kalyug and total time of kalyug is four lakh, thirty two thousand years out of which five thousand and about three hundred years have passed.
About Yugas
Manusmriti gives the proof in its chapter one that present time of the earth is 7th Manvantar. Uptil now 6 manvantar have passed. Those are Swayambhuva, Swarochish, Auttami, Tamas, Raivat and Chaakshush, now it is 7th manvantar, called Vaivasvat.
71 chaturyugi = 1 manvantar.
There are four yug – Satyug, Treta, Dwapur and Kaliyug.
Satyug = 17 lakhs 28 thousands years
Treta = 12 lakhs 96 thousands years
Dwapur = 8 lakhs 64 thousands years
Kaliyug = 4 lakhs 32 thousands years
The total of four Yugas comes to be 43 lakhs and 20 thousands years which is equal to one Chaturyugi. 71 Chaturyugi i.e., 30 crore 67 lakhs and 20 thousands years equal to one Manvantar and 6 Manvantar have yet passed whose calculation comes to one Arab 84 crore 30 lakhs and 20 thousands years. This is 7th Manvantar and 28 Chaturyugi and the present Kaliyug has passed its time of 5002 years. So, uptil now the age of the earth and Vedas is one Arab 96 crore 8 lakhs 53 thousands one hundred and eleven years. Bhagwad Geeta shlok 8/17 also says about this fact.
14 Manvantar= 1 Kalp.
REVERT BACK TO VEDAS
It is the essence of Vedic spiritualism that whenever an aspirant enters into it then learned acharya preaches him that Vedas are the divine voice of God, which by the power of God, are originated in the heart of four Rishis, at the beginning of each creation. Learneds who indulge in deep study of Vedas know that Vedas are alive knowledge which emanate directly from God and hence they have not been written by anyone on the earth, in the shape of a book. Since, the said knowledge is applicable to all humans right from the beginning of earth hence Vedas are not a sect.
Infact, Kapil Muni, after traditionally studying Vedas and realising the truth, after hard practice of Ashtang Yog, also states the said truth in his Sankhya shastra sutra 5/51 that Vedas are alive knowledge hence ved mantras wield the power and self-capability to make such faithful aspirants, who are involved in deep and sincere study of Vedas, to understand the meaning and idea of ved mantras. This is the reason that Kapil Muni states that Vedas are self-proof to justify the truth. To elaborate, knowledge given in ved mantra or any fact stated through ved mantras does not require to be validated/authenticated by other shastras or any other book [but like our Rishi-Munis, Rajrishis and their public used to study Vedas traditionally with faith and sincere efforts, being the Vedic order of Almighty God, for all human-beings, the said practice is not in vogue at present times].God knows when inhabitants of India would be able to adopt the said moral duties, entrusted by God, of studying and following the Vedas, which destroys all the effects of sorrows and makes our future bright with long life and also spreads international brotherhood along with other unlimited benefits.
Secondly, universe has been created about one Arab, ninety six crore, eight lakhs, fifty three thousand and one hundred and thirteen years ago.
So, logically, Vedas have also been created at this time-period. Rishi-Munis acquired Vedas’ knowledge by listening to Vedas traditionally from acharya and did agnihotra/yajyen, name jaap of God and Ashtang yog practice as preached in Vedas. In turn, they realised God and got the knowledge by doing pious deeds while leading the family life, making their future happy and bright, according to Vedas. Then they further educated people about the same because it has been the benevolent nature of every learned person, who gains Vedic knowledge and experiences divine pleasure, to share it with others. About five-six thousand years ago, Rishis wrote six shastras, Upnishads, Mahabharat (including Bhagwad Geeta) and Valmiki Ramayan much before other holy books, based on the knowledge of Vedas. All these great writers – the Rishis, have eulogised Vedas in their literary works and based on their experience have admitted that Vedas are the divine voice of God.
That is why, Kapil Muni in his Sankhya shastra sutra 1/66 and Patanjali Rishi in his Yog shastra sutra 1/7 have shared their experience to educate us that the preach of any Rishi (Mantradrishta Rishi) is also considered as a proof to reach at truth. And also the holy books written by the Rishis based on Vedic culture are also considered as proof called ‘Partah Pramann’, Vedas being Swatah Pramann. Is it not our bad luck that the said secrets of Vedas are now mostly unknown to people and at this juncture, so called preach of any modern saint (sant who is against the Vedas) which does not tally with Vedic culture and which is definitely considered by learned of Vedas as totally false/unauthentic, is being accepted happily by the innocent public? If we consider impartially then we would find that the said matter is definitely harmful to the society, being against the Vedas because it does not come within the parameter of Vedic authenticity. Now, question is that who will bell the cat?
Duly indulged in illusion and mostly intention being after the materialistic articles etc., hardly anybody spares the time to study the literary works of Rishis like Upnishads, Shastras, Nighantu, Ashtadhyayee, Shatpath Brahmin Granth and above quoted holy books which contain abundant proofs of ved mantras.
Hence, when one will fail to study these great literary works of Rishis, under the guidance of learned acharya of Vedas, then naturally anyone will cast doubt over the Vedas which implies non-awareness of Vedic knowledge. Nowadays, people study the so-called spiritual books written by ordinary people but not those written by Rishis. It shall not out of place to mention here that Atharvaved mantra 7/105/1 preaches us to study Vedas or to study the spiritual books written by Rishi-Munis. The mantra strongly stresses not to study such books which are written by ordinary people. This secret has been made unknown to the public by several saints, by stating that Vedas, Yajyen and yogabhyas are difficult and need not to be studied/performed. People do not know that God states to study Vedas and perform daily agnihotra/Yajyen, name jaap of God and practice of Ashtang yog under the expert guidance of learned acharya.
Due to ignorance of the same, people are not able to understand that they are doing sins by not obeying the God’s order of studying Vedas and doing yajyen etc. On the other hand, they are accepting the juicy lecture of saints, who are against the Vedas and who are mostly professional. Moreover, all the present sects along with their pious books have emerged about two thousand to two thousand and five hundred years ago. As compared to this, Vedas have been on this earth since One Arab, ninety six crore, eight lakhs, fifty three thousand and one hundred and thirteen years. As mentioned above, Vedas are not a book. That is why, it has become difficult to repose faith in Vedas, in the absence of deep study under guidance of learned acharya of Vedas and Ashtang Yog.
Yet, it is a well-known fact spread by the tapasvis, Rishis-Munis by their preach and above quoted spiritual books that Vedas are eternal and immortal knowledge which emanate directly from God. This fact is even supported by renowned scientists like Maxmuller and many others who believe in authenticity of Vedas. It is further a well-known fact that Vedas have been preserved in world libraries with respect and honour, accepting Vedas as first and the most ancient literature. I mean to say that Vedas are the first knowledge which came on the earth. It was spread orally through the tradition of acharya and disciple, right from the beginning of the earth, as mentioned above. So, Vedas were remembered by heart by everyone. About five thousand three hundred years ago, for the first time, Vyas Muniji, who himself remembered the Vedas by heart traditionally, wrote them on Bhojpatra for the benefit of mankind. He completed the said pious task on the day of poornnima, about five thousand three hundred years ago. Since, then the poornnima has been named and remembered as Vyas Poornnima. Further, when printing press came into existence in sixteenth century, the Vedas written on Bhoj patra by Vyas Muniji were printed in the form of book which is called “Samhita” and not ved. Samhita means collection of ved mantras which has been printed. Half of the intellectuals of the world believe Vedas to be the divine voice of God and yet half of the intellectuals believe that Vedas have been written by some great scientist who has no parallel to himself in the entire world. But learned of Vedas know that God is the scientist of all scientists and no one is born even equivalent to such God nor shall be born in future. Then what to talk about being above the God.
It is also pertinent to mention here that a part of Bheeshma parv of Mahabharat have been secluded, named and printed as Bhagwad Geeta (eighteen chapters). Infact, Yogeshwar Sri Krishna Maharaj has praised and eulogised Vedas in Bhagwad Geeta. The above stated facts are known only to learned of Vedas. The saints who are ignorant of the knowledge of Vedas are naturally ignorant of the Vedas’ knowledge contained in Bhagwad Geeta and are therefore compelled not to explain the shloka of Bhagwad Geeta, briefly and truly wherein the reference and truth of Ved mantras exists. Why? Because they have not studied Vedas.
However, most of the present literary works and most of the saints are reiterating the fact that Vedas are divine voice of God. In this connection, Almighty, omnipresent, formless God has already stated in Atharvaved mantra 12/5/40 that those who do not study Vedas but take a piecemeal (portion) of Ved mantras, only which suits them, by means of studying other books etc., or listening from anywhere else [not based on traditional study of Vedas] will be punished by me (God).
Isn’t it surprising that yet no one is taking the initiative to study Vedas. On the contrary, those deeds which are against the Vedas and promote blind faith are being done on large scale. To experience the truth, we will have to revert back to Vedas.
