Scriptures call us sinners! Am I one?
Question
I might have lied for petty things or killed bugs etc but I have not committed any heinous crimes like murder, rape, smuggling drugs, supplying weapons of mass murder, robbing banks, child abuse etc. Then why do scriptures call us sinners? It is derogatory and uncalled for, hence offensive.
Answer:
There are only 3 eternal entities.
We are jeev and are seeking bliss, happiness, peace, contentment etc. Our desire can be fulfilled by one of the other two entities; either by Maya or by God. All the material beings are attracted and and succumb to the attributes of Maya which are vices like anger, passion, avarice, resentment, hatred, etc. Therefore, all material beings have these vices. Unless one turns away from Maya one cannot get rid of these vices.
Yet, in the world only the physical acts like theft, falsehood, dishonesty, murder, robbing banks etc. are considered a crime. Upon close inspection of our actions we might find that, even if we don’t physically engage in many of these acts, we do mentally engage in many such activities. Sometimes we might do so knowingly and at other times unknowingly. For instance, suppose you are traveling in a public transportation. A person is dressed oddly, wearing weird makeup and behaving awkward. You secretly look at the person as long as the person is looking elsewhere. As soon as the person looks towards you, you look elsewhere. Is this not covert stealing?
Likewise, we lie several times a day even for the most insignificant things. For example, isn’t frequent use of the word “sorry”, without feeling apologetic called deception? One might instinctively get angry because of unnecessary and wrong accusations from spouse, parents or boss etc. Still, in an attempt to avoid argument the person might keep quiet, but mentally tell them off. Is that not being two-faced?
I might have lied for petty things or killed bugs etc but I have not committed any heinous crimes like murder, rape, smuggling drugs, supplying weapons of mass murder, robbing banks, child abuse etc. Then why do scriptures call us sinners? It is derogatory and uncalled for, hence offensive.
Answer:
There are only 3 eternal entities.
We are jeev and are seeking bliss, happiness, peace, contentment etc. Our desire can be fulfilled by one of the other two entities; either by Maya or by God. All the material beings are attracted and and succumb to the attributes of Maya which are vices like anger, passion, avarice, resentment, hatred, etc. Therefore, all material beings have these vices. Unless one turns away from Maya one cannot get rid of these vices.
Yet, in the world only the physical acts like theft, falsehood, dishonesty, murder, robbing banks etc. are considered a crime. Upon close inspection of our actions we might find that, even if we don’t physically engage in many of these acts, we do mentally engage in many such activities. Sometimes we might do so knowingly and at other times unknowingly. For instance, suppose you are traveling in a public transportation. A person is dressed oddly, wearing weird makeup and behaving awkward. You secretly look at the person as long as the person is looking elsewhere. As soon as the person looks towards you, you look elsewhere. Is this not covert stealing?
Likewise, we lie several times a day even for the most insignificant things. For example, isn’t frequent use of the word “sorry”, without feeling apologetic called deception? One might instinctively get angry because of unnecessary and wrong accusations from spouse, parents or boss etc. Still, in an attempt to avoid argument the person might keep quiet, but mentally tell them off. Is that not being two-faced?
An individual might feel like killing another person due to hatred, be jealous of the neighbor's wealth, want to steal something precious from the store but he might not physically carry out those actions. Ones thoughts cannot be known by others. That’s why thoughts, which are not accompanied by physical actions, are not considered a crime according to the law of the land. But, Omnipresent God is Omniscient as well. Also, He sits in the heart of every human being and takes note of the ideas and doles out the outcome of those sins accordingly.
People, according to their own definition of good deeds, might disagree with this perspective of sinful actions/thoughts. If that is where you are in your thought process, then here is an alternate perspective. You might consider helping someone, charity, courteous behavior etc as good deeds. Just think how many good deeds have you performed within the past 24 hours?
I think you might be able to count only a handful of good deeds and in pursuing them you might have spent approximately a couple of hours at most. Then count the bad actions (anger, greed, pride, jealousy etc) in one day. What is the ratio of good versus bad deeds for a day? And now extrapolate that ratio for a whole life span of say 100 years. In scriptural language these bad deeds are called sins.
All the living souls are eternal and before the current human form, each soul has been given a human form innumerable times. Ponder, even if we committed just one sin in each past human form, we carry a bundle of innumerable sins.
Further, Lord Krishna says in the Geeta –
People, according to their own definition of good deeds, might disagree with this perspective of sinful actions/thoughts. If that is where you are in your thought process, then here is an alternate perspective. You might consider helping someone, charity, courteous behavior etc as good deeds. Just think how many good deeds have you performed within the past 24 hours?
I think you might be able to count only a handful of good deeds and in pursuing them you might have spent approximately a couple of hours at most. Then count the bad actions (anger, greed, pride, jealousy etc) in one day. What is the ratio of good versus bad deeds for a day? And now extrapolate that ratio for a whole life span of say 100 years. In scriptural language these bad deeds are called sins.
All the living souls are eternal and before the current human form, each soul has been given a human form innumerable times. Ponder, even if we committed just one sin in each past human form, we carry a bundle of innumerable sins.
Further, Lord Krishna says in the Geeta –
मन्निमित्तं कृतं पापं मद्धर्माय च कल्पते ।
मामनादृत्य धर्मोऽपि पापं स्यान्मत्प्रभावतः ॥
mannimittaṃ kṛtaṃ pāpaṃ maddharmāya ca kalpate ।
māmanādṛtya dharmo'pi pāpaṃ syānmatprabhāvataḥ ॥
मामनादृत्य धर्मोऽपि पापं स्यान्मत्प्रभावतः ॥
mannimittaṃ kṛtaṃ pāpaṃ maddharmāya ca kalpate ।
māmanādṛtya dharmo'pi pāpaṃ syānmatprabhāvataḥ ॥
Wives of Brahmins disobeyed their husbands and offered all the food prepared for yagya to Shri Krishna. They were greatly blessed. Not only that their husbands accepted their fault and apologized to them.
“Any action, offered to Me, is dharma (righteous deeds). On the contrary, any action (in spite of it seeming sacred) performed without remembering Me, is adharma (unrighteous deed).”
The reason is apparent. We have one mind. No action can be performed without engaging the mind and mind can do only one thing at a time. Remembering is the work of mind alone. So, when we remember God, we cannot remember worldly matters. And vice versa is also true.
Now reflect, how many moments in a day do we spend in remembrance of Hari and Guru? If one were to live for 100 years and spent 5 minutes per day in loving remembrance of Hari and Guru, one would have spent less than 1 year in righteous actions (remembrance of Hari and Guru). Prior to the current human form, every jeev has been given countless human lives. So, just like in this life, in those countless lives if one had performed unrighteous actions for over 99% of the time, just ponder how big a bundle of sins sits on one’s shoulder?
God is all pure and the embodiment of bliss. When we remember God our mind attains purity and bliss. When we engage our mind in material matters, as the material realm has no trace of bliss, the mind becomes impure. The impure mind produces more sinful thoughts. And God notices all of them.
In a nutshell, if we don't want to be called a sinner or if don’t wish to be a sinner, we have to turn our mind away from this material world and turn it towards God, the ocean of bliss. We have to accept the fact that
The tag of being a sinner is voided upon God-realization since
That is why every soul is called a sinner (patit or papi) before God-realization and after God-realization the soul will become free of sin for eternity.
The reason is apparent. We have one mind. No action can be performed without engaging the mind and mind can do only one thing at a time. Remembering is the work of mind alone. So, when we remember God, we cannot remember worldly matters. And vice versa is also true.
Now reflect, how many moments in a day do we spend in remembrance of Hari and Guru? If one were to live for 100 years and spent 5 minutes per day in loving remembrance of Hari and Guru, one would have spent less than 1 year in righteous actions (remembrance of Hari and Guru). Prior to the current human form, every jeev has been given countless human lives. So, just like in this life, in those countless lives if one had performed unrighteous actions for over 99% of the time, just ponder how big a bundle of sins sits on one’s shoulder?
God is all pure and the embodiment of bliss. When we remember God our mind attains purity and bliss. When we engage our mind in material matters, as the material realm has no trace of bliss, the mind becomes impure. The impure mind produces more sinful thoughts. And God notices all of them.
In a nutshell, if we don't want to be called a sinner or if don’t wish to be a sinner, we have to turn our mind away from this material world and turn it towards God, the ocean of bliss. We have to accept the fact that
- We are a part of God, who is the personified form of divine bliss.
- Being part of bliss, we naturally desire to attain unlimited divine bliss.
- Bliss can be attained simply by remembering God’s names, attributes, pastimes, abodes and forms under the guidance of a God realized soul.
The tag of being a sinner is voided upon God-realization since
- Past sins are burnt leaving not even a trace behind them
- God Himself governs the actions of the God-realized (see Saint or Imposter) individual therefore the soul can sin no more.
That is why every soul is called a sinner (patit or papi) before God-realization and after God-realization the soul will become free of sin for eternity.
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पाप अनंत किये, गोविंद राधे । अब तो हठीलो मन हरि गुरू में लगा दे ॥
pāpa anaṃta kiye, goviṃda rādhe । aba to haṭhīlo mana hari gurū meṃ lagā de ॥ You have committed innumerable sins. At least now attach your obstinate mind to Hari and Guru. - Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj
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