In the word Satguru, the prefix ‘Sat’ means truth. A Satguru always preaches the truth. Truth is always harsh and is not liked by several people. Therefore a Satguru will have only very few disciples. A Satguru says that the path with thorns will lead to the Lord. People will not like this. He also says that the path with flowers leads to hell. People will not be happy with this preaching. A Guru preaches which several people like. The Guru says that the nature of the goal will be the nature of the path. Since the Lord is full of bliss the path also must be with flowers giving happiness. Since the hell is giving you lot of pain the path with thorns which also gives lot of pain must lead to the hell. This argument is very attractive.

Several people will like this and will become the followers of Guru. Several people will praise him and give lot of Guru Dakshina because his argument is pleasant. But a Satguru says that the path with thorns alone will lead to the Lord because in this path you have to cut the bonds with your family and with your hard-earned money. Sacrifice gives lot of pain and sacrifice alone will lead to the Lord. The path with flowers strengthens your bonds with your family and money which gives you lot of happiness. Such path leads to the hell.

Several people do not like such argument and so only one or two persons who can realize the truth will become His disciples. A Satguru will never worry about the number of the disciples and about the quantity of Guru Dakshina. Even if a single disciple is available He is happy. Majority always goes to hell. Only one in millions like Sankara, Vivekananda, Meera can reach the Lord. Diamonds are always in minority. Gravel stones are in majority. Therefore a Satguru will be only one in thousands of Gurus and a true disciple will be only one in millions of disciples.

When you are doing prayers you are praising the Lord as a poet praises a king. The foolish king may give some gift to the poet. But the omniscient Lord can never be fooled by such praise. When you sing songs are chant the name of the Lord or express the feelings of devotion by shedding tears or by meditation you are getting the happiness and peace immediately. You have achieved the fruit. The Lord will not give another fruit for these things. When you are pained and loose peace by cutting the family bonds and by sacrificing your work and wealth to the Lord, then only the Lord will give the real gift to you. When you are working in the field for the owner, doing the work pains you. The owner will pay money for your work. Without doing the work, if you are simply chanting the name of the owner or sing songs on the owner, a wise owner will never give any gift.

You have already derived the bliss and peace by eating the sweet in your hand. Why should I pay you when you are eating the sweet? When you sacrifice the sweet to me I shall pay you. A Satguru teaches only the sacrifice which is the path with thorns leading to the Lord. Veda says that sacrifice alone can bring the grace of the Lord (Dhanene Tyagenaike). If you ask the payment by prayers and devotion the Lord will pay you from your pocket only. He will bring the results of good deeds from your future life cycles and present them to you. But when you are sacrificing the sweet to the Lord in spite of your hunger and your heart pain, the Lord rewards you from His pocket. Therefore the true path leading to the Lord can be identified by loss of peace, mental worry, pain etc., The path to the hell is identified by peace, happiness, benefit etc., Satguru leads you to the Lord and Guru leads you to the hell.

Spirituality – Environment

The application of discoveries of scientist for the welfare of humanity resulted in the environmental pollution. The discoveries were successful but the application has not ended in the welfare, but harmed the humanity. It is like saying that the operation was successful but the patient died. The essential reason for such failure is absence of faith and devotion in God. God wants to punish the people through natural calamities and pollution. Scientists cannot control His programme. Therefore, mere social service without the element of spirituality fails. Even if it succeeds, it is only temporary. The service slowly ends in injury. Such a person who serves without touching God also goes to heaven and he will be thrown out of the heaven after some time. It is only temporary happiness, which results finally in misery only. If you associate the propagation of divine knowledge and devotion in such a social service, it gives permanent best results.

The punishment of God is only for a change. Your propagation brings that change. Therefore, God withdraws punishment. Mere social service without spiritual mission is like giving mere boarding and lodging to the hostel students without teaching in the classes. In such case the students get spoiled and finally you have harmed them. The nature of the punishment reveals the nature of the action of that sinner. The above punishments show either slow or sudden killing of human beings. Therefore, the nature of the deed that is responsible for such punishment must be also killing. All the living beings are souls like your soul. You have taken the birth of the plants, birds and animals as a punishment, which infact is spiritual training only. A selfish soul is born as a plant and goes on donating its fruits, which were the hidden treasures in the previous birth. By killing the plant you are interfering with such spiritual training.

The mind of the God is irritated and that leads to the above effects. Thus a green plant should not be cut. A paddy plant is cut when it dies by becoming yellow due to the loss of Chlorophyll. It is equal to cutting the dead body. That is not equal to cutting a living bird or an animal. This is the reason for the propagation of non-violence by human incarnations like Bhuddha and Mahavir Jain. You can refer to the various arguments given by Me, to various questions on this same topic. There is no other alternative than this. Prayers to God cannot stop these things. The propagation of non-voilence (Ahimsa) is the only way. Atleast let it be reduced and slowly let it be completely avoided. The Hindu scriptures (Dharma Sastras) attempt in this line. They ask the fisherman to stop catching the fish at least in Banaras and atleast on Maha Sivarathri. When that is achieved, the scriptures mention some more sacred places and some more festival days. Slowly they control the whole sin by finally saying not to catch the fish on any day at any place.