Therefore, to comply with His Laws of Nature, God has to award souls the just fruits (happiness or suffering) of their actions (good or bad). When sin predominates over virtue in a man, his soul goes into the bodies of animals, birds, insects, and trees but when virtue predominates over sin in a soul, it is born as a good and learned person. When sin and virtue are equal, the soul is born as an ordinary man.

Sins are not forgiven, but the present activity of acquiring true knowledge and putting it into practice (yoga), is the only power to cancel them. Activity is superior to destiny (the past).
"The misery which is not yet come can and is to be avoided." Yoga 2:16

The soul is free to act according to its capacity, but once it has committed a sinful act, it becomes subject to the operation of the laws of God. The soul is free in the performance of its deeds, but it has to submit to Divine laws in the matter of suffering pain and misery for its sins.

The sole purpose of creation is for souls to take birth so that they can reap the fruits of their actions. Thus it is the only reason for God to create the Universe. If all souls were created, then they all, within logic, should be innocent and pure and all should have been born in happiness, but it is not so. Then again, since all things created must perish, then the souls will have to die.

The attributes of souls are the desire for the acquisition of things. Repulsion, activity, feelings of pleasure, feelings of pain, sorrow, displeasure; consciousness, inspiration, and expiration, necessitation ~ the opening and closing of the eyes, organic growth, discernment, memory and individuality, movement, regulation of the senses, internal changes and disorders, such as hunger and thirst, joy or sorrow, are the attributes of the soul which distinguish it from God.

The existence of the soul is known only by these attributes, as it is not material nor perceptible by the senses. These attributes manifest themselves only so long as the soul is present in the body but cease to do so as soon as the soul leaves it.

Those qualities that manifest themselves in the presence of a substance and cease to do so in its absence belong to that substance alone; as for example, light is the property of the sun and of the lamp, because it is absent in their absence and present in their presence. In the same way, God and the soul are known by their attributes. God is one, souls are many. God is infinite, the souls are infinite. God is the source of knowledge and bliss.

The souls depend on God for their knowledge and bliss. God is the maker of this universe for the sake of the souls, who come to this bondage on account of their shortcomings or ignorance. God does not assume corporeal bodies; He does not need the aid of physical organs, like eyes and hands for seeing and doing; the souls function with the aid of these organs through the cycle of birth and death. Reincarnation is for the souls and not for God.

Thereafter, God, the Great Judge embodies that soul according to the nature of its deeds done in the previous life. Guided by God it enters the body of some living creature with air, water, food, drink or through any one of the openings of the body. All men naturally desire to obtain happiness and escape from pain and misery. But as long as they do not practice righteousness and renounce sin, they cannot obtain happiness and be freed from pain and suffering; because the effect cannot perish as long as the cause exists.

Similarly we are cognizant of the existence of God by observing such qualities as law, order, design, and intelligence in this world. Further, when the soul instantly focuses the mind and the latter directs, the senses to the pursuit of a certain object either good ~ the feeling of fearlessness, courage, and satisfaction is experienced or bad ~ the feelings of fear, shame, and distrust arise in the self-consciousness, these feelings come about, not by the human soul, but by the Divine Spirit. Again when the human soul is free of all impurities and devotes itself to the contemplation and realization of God, through the practice of Yoga, it becomes conscious of itself and the Divine Spirit.

All the seers and sages (altruistic teachers) of yore have proven His existence this way and through history and their testimony how can we deny the existence of the All-Pervading God? Again if you are admiring a painting, you perceive the artist, if you are reading a book, you perceive the author. Similarly, how can you look at this incredible and majestic creation and not perceive the Supreme Artist (Creator)?

Certainly, the idea of inflicting punishment, through justice, is to prevent people from committing crimes, that would enable them to be free from pain and misery, later on in life or next birth (reincarnation), which is quite the object of the Merciful. When the punishment does not fit the crime, there can be no mercy for the innocent, as the criminal is allowed in society again to give pains and suffering to many righteous and law-abiding people.

It will be an act of mercy to keep an ominous offender in prison or put him to death and at the same time, Justice would have abounded. By the same method of reasoning, it will be unjust of God to forgive sins no matter how puny or capacious it might be. To condemn me with Hitler (Germany) and Pol Pot (Cambodia) who have committed mass atrocities, to hell for all eternity, for which my only malfeasance is not accepting Christianity or Islam, as my faith is gravely an injustice. Such injustices can never be from a just God.

Also being All-powerful, God does not require the least assistance, Holy Ghost, Son or prophets, etc., in all His works such as Creation, Sustenance, and Dissolution of the Universe. In other words, He does His works with His own infinite power. Many will say that because He is All-powerful, He can do anything or whatever He likes. This is not so, can He kill Himself? Can He make other Gods like Himself, become ignorant, commit sins? Or can He be unhappy? Or can He create the Universe from nothing? All these things will oppose His nature and attributes. His laws are immutable and cannot be changed even by Him.

Positive glorification consists in praising God as positive attributes in the following manner:- "That Supreme Being overspreads all. He is entirely spirit, All-energy, all-powerful, Pure, Perfect, Omniscient, Inward Controller of all, Ruler of all, Eternal and self-existent. He has from all eternity been teaching uncreated immortal human souls, the true knowledge of things through the revelation of the Veda, His eternal knowledge." Yajur Veda, XXXX:8)

Negative glorification consists in praising God as devoid of such ungodly qualities as passion and malice in the following way:- "He is never embodied, is never born, is never liable to division and is fee from nervous or arterial systems, never commits a sin, is never subject to pain, grief and ignorance and the like." Yajur Veda, XXXX:8)

Prayercreates humility, courage, and obtains divine help after strenuous effort has been made. Prayer can also be positive or negative according to as the Deity is looked upon as possessed of good attributes or as free from bad qualities, faults, and imperfections. One should act in accordance with what one prays for. For instance, if one prays for the attainment of highest wisdom, let one do one's utmost to attain it. strenuous effort should be made by the individual always to attain whatever he or she is praying for. One should never pray to destroy one's enemies or any such negativity. He is the Great Judge and only His Justice will prevail.

Communion results in union with the Great Being and indirect cognition of Him which results in acquiring true knowledge by reasoning. All that is required in order to come close to God by the practice of Yoga (physical and mental discipline) and directly see the Omnipresent, Omniscient God should be accomplished. Communion requires a solitary, clean place to get comfortably seated and practice control of breath to restrain the senses from the pursuit of materialism, in fixing the mind to one of the following organs; the navel, the heart, the throat, eyes, the top of the head or the spine.

To discriminate between the human soul and the Divine Spirit one must get absorbed in the contemplation of the latter and commune with God. When such practices are followed with regularity, the soul becomes pure and imbued with righteousness. His knowledge and wisdom advance day by day until he obtains salvation or emancipation. Even if such practice is conducted even for one hour a day, the soul will always continue to advance spiritually.

Communion is positive when God is contemplated as possessed of such attributes as Omniscience, and it is said to be negative when the human soul is deeply absorbed in the Supreme Spirit, who even pervades such a subtle entity as the human soul. Its result is that the soul, by coming close to God, is rid of all its impurities, sorrows, and grieves, its nature, attributes, and character become pure like those of God Himself. Leaving out other results that accrue from Divine Worship the gain in spiritual strength is such that even the approach of pain or sorrow of the greatest magnitude cannot disturb the mental tranquility of the devotee.

On the other hand, it is most ungrateful and foolish for not showing gratitude for the kindness of that Supreme Spirit who has freely given away all things of this world to his creatures to cease to believe in His very existence.

"All parties must be acquainted with the teachings of each other's religion in order to have a mutual discussion and be freed. If not, they are apt to fall into an abyss of superstition and inaccuracies. Divergences arise over doctrines that are false, but should all discuss a subject with the sole aspiration of finding out the truth they can succeed."

1. RIG VEDA
2. YAJUR VEDA
3. SAMA VEDA
4. ATHARVA VEDA

The four Vedas with over 100,000 verses are considered the trunk of the tree. The Rishis were the authors of eleven hundred and twenty-seven expositions (branches of the tree) in dozens of texts contained sub-Vedas known as the UpaVedas and Vedangas which expound profound sciences:-

1. AYUR VEDA - studies the anatomy, physiology, hygiene, sanitary science, surgery, etc.
2. DHANUR VEDA - teaches archery and other Military Science for self-defense from within and outside.
3. GHANDARVA VEDA - teaches the science and art of music
4. STHAPATYA VEDA- teaches engineering, architecture and all branches of mathematics in general.

All these subjects are considered spiritual studies and are inherent parts of the Vedas. The Vedangas contains grammar, (etemology) prosody, astronomy and lexicography which according to the Indian Cultural conceptions are also parts and subjects of the Vedic religious studies. There are many other philosophical branches like the eleven Upanishads (Isha, Kena, Taitreya, Chhandogya, Shwetar, Mundak, etc), the six Shastras or Darshanas and the four Brahmanas. Also, the Manu Smriti deals with the physical, political and social systems of Government all according to Vedic principles.

The most advanced scientific world would have wasted much time, energy and money in solving tough mathematical problems with utmost difficulty. The large number of tedious and combersome steps can now be easily and readily resolved in a few simple steps which can be conscientiously described as mere mental arithmetic. One only needs the help of the ultra easy Vedic Sutras or Mathematical aphorisms contained in the Appendix portion of the Atharva Veda.

A. ~ No, they cannot do that, because there can be no effect without a cause. Look at savages such as the Bhils. Do they ever become enlightened by themselves without being instructed by others? The same is true of men in civilized communities, they need to be taught before they become educated. Similarly, had not God instructed the primitive sages in the knowledge of the Veda and had not they in their turn taught other men, all men would have remained ignorant. If a child were kept in a sequestered place from its very birth with no other company but that of illiterate persons or animals, on attaining maturity he would be no better than one of his company.

Take for example the case of Egypt, Greece, or the Continent of Europe. The people of all these countries were without a trace of learning before the spread of knowledge from India. In the same way before Columbus and other Europeans went to America, the natives had been without any learning for hundreds and thousands of years. Now some of them have become enlightened after receiving education from the Europeans. Similarly, at the beginning of the world men received knowledge from God and since then there have been various learned men in different periods, Says Patanjali in his Yoga Shastra.

"As in the present time, we become enlightened only after being taught by our teachers, so were we at the beginning of the world, Agni and the other three Rishis (sages), taught by the greatest of all teachers - God." YOGA SHASTRA SAMADHI, 26.

Where: In Trivishtap - otherwise called Tibet which was part of Arya Varta.

Note: India and China are the two most populated countries in the world which makes good sense to assume that civilization did begin somewhere between them. Secondly, only South Asians (Indians) and no other race (white or blacks), change in complexion and features according to the regions them moved to, thus supporting the rational concept of Indians being the first race created on this planet.

To whom: Agni, Vayu, A'ditya and Angira, respectively.

Then Brahma was instructed in the knowledge of the Veda through the medium of the four sages , such as Agni. Mark what Manu Says:

"In the beginning after human being had been created, the Supreme Spirit made the Vedas known to Brahma through Agni, etc., i.e., Brahma learnt the four Vedas from Agni, Vayu, A'ditya and Angira." MANU: 23

A.~ Had He revealed the Veda in the language of some particular country, He would have been partial to that country, because it would have been easier for the people of that country to learn and teach the Veda than for the foreigners, therefore, it is that He did it in Sanskrit that belongs to no country, and is the mother of all other languages. Just as He has ordained the material creation such as the earth, etc., which is also the source of all the useful arts, for the equal good of all, so should the language of the Divine revelation be accessible to all countries and nations with the same amount of labor. Hence the revelation of the Veda in Sanskrit does not make God partial to any nation.

The book in which God is described as He is, viz., Holy, Omniscient, Pure in nature, character and attributes, Just, Merciful, etc., and in which nothing is said that is opposed to the laws of nature, reason, the evidence of direct cognizance, etc., the teachings of the highly learned altruistic teachers of humanity (A'ptas), and the intuition of pure souls, and in which the laws, nature, and properties of matter and the soul are propounded as they are to be inferred from the order of nature as fixed by God, is the book of Divine revelation. Now the Vedas alone fulfil all the above conditions, hence they are the revealed books and not books, like the Bible and the Q'uran which we shall discuss fully in the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters (of this book) respectively.

Prayers are much the same. It is a constant reminder for us to act upon the instructions already given by revealed knowledge to better ourselves physically, intellectually and spiritually with the ultimate goal of perpetual happiness. The fact is, it makes no sense for God, who is God of not only the inhabitants of the earth but countless solar systems like ours in the whole universe, to answer prayers because of His All-blissful nature. It is not in His nature to interrupt that constant state of bliss to intervene over and over in our personal lives at any time. However, it is directed towards Him, since He is the epitome of love, mercy and, compassion as being All-wise. In other words, we glorify Him in humility as our nature must conform to His of truth, consciousness, and bliss to experience His state of bliss and without Him, we are completely lost to the world of pain and misery, which no one desires.

Just as how famous people (Tiger Woods - golf, Bill Gates - riches, Abraham Lincoln - politics and Swami Dayanand - spirituality) serve as icons for many who desire fame, so must God be an icon for those who desire emancipation. However, even though millions have the aspirations in their respected fields in spite of their trials and efforts, only a rare few ultimately make it to fame. It shows, only a few are born with the inclination to succeed and the same goes for ascertaining the truth. But it doesn't mean one must abandon the effort to practice virtue, but to continue to strive as hard as one can for a higher birth.

"There is no turpitude in drinking alcohol, eating flesh or even committing adultery, for that is a natural way of created beings, but abstinence brings great rewards." Manu.

When we buy a car or an appliance it comes with a manual, detailing a maintenance schedule, not only for the benefit of trouble-free use of the equipment for our own joy but also less bothersome for the Makers to be bombarded or be fatigued with calls in getting it to work properly. In the same way, the Creator of the Universe gave us a manual (revelation) detailing every aspect of bettering our lives and at the same time to protect our environment. In other words, the answer we are looking for is in this manual and our prayers are the constant reminder for us to look there and put the knowledge into action for the good of self first, society, then the rest of humanity and finally the planet. In other words, prayers only can be of benefit to the individual who prays and it is of no benefit to the immediate situations of others whom he/she sought to pray for.

In fact, be realistic and take a serious look into the mirror, the image you see is the only 'God' who can answer your prayers.

Manu offers greater respect and status to Brahmins the educated ones. Dwijas or twice-born or those who completed their education are provided heightened standing in society so far they conduct noble deeds. But when it comes to crimes, they also have to face more severe punishments. With greater potentials, come greater responsibilities and stricter punishments when one fails to fulfill those responsibilities.

(Here, I would like to emphasize once again that Brahmin or Dwija has nothing to do with birth. It's all about education.)

If such a penal code be adopted in our nation, the bulk of the crimes and corruptions would cease to exist and politics will become a field where any Tom, Dick or Harry does not dare to enter and pollute like it is happening today.

For a more detailed coverage, please refer Chapter 6 of Satyarth Prakash or Light of Truth by Swami Dayanand Saraswati

Also review Chapter 8,9 and 10 of Manu Smriti edited by Dr. Surendra Kumar (Aarsh Sahitya Prachar Trust, Delhi)

We reproduce a few shlokas that are relevant in the current discussion. 8.335: Be it the father, mother, teacher, friend, wife, son or priest, one who conducts a crime is punishable by the ruler.

8.336: When the punishment for an ordinary citizen is 1 cent, the punishment for those in the ruling class should be 1000 cents. In other words, the punishment for those in legislation, executive or judiciary should be 1000 times that for ordinary citizens.

The concept of immunity to MPs and Judges from impeachment and legal framework is shamelessly against Manu Smriti.

Swami Dayanand adds here. Even a peon in any department of the government should have a punishment that is 8 times that for ordinary citizens. And all other office bearers should have a punishment proportionate to their designation till it is 1000 times for the topmost designation. Because unless government officials have a punishment that is significantly harsher compared to ordinary citizens, the government would destroy the public. Just as taming a lion demands harsher control and a goat much lesser control, similarly to ensure the safety of the public, government officials should have extremely harsh punishments.

Deviation from this penal code is the root cause of all these corruption stories. Unless this is rectified, all other efforts to transform the nation would fall flat.

8.337-338: If one conducts a theft willingly and in full senses knowing the implications, he should be penalized 8 times that of an ordinary thief if he is a Shudra. The penalty should be 16 times if he is a Vaishya, 32 times if he is a Kshatriya and 64 times if he is a Brahmin. The punishment can be even 100 times or 128 times if he is a Brahmin. In other words, the punishment should be directly proportional to the knowledge and social status of the criminal. Thus contrary to popular perceptions, when it comes to punishments, Manu Smriti is most lenient on Shudras because of their lack of education, significantly harsher on Brahmins and harshest on the government officials. In the current context, the Prime Minister, Chief Minister, Chief Justice, Leaders of National Political Parties deserve harshest punishments if they do something wrong. The Ministers, MPs, MLAs, Governors, Judges come the next. Then comes the turn of Bureaucrats and Government Officials. And even a peon of a Government Department deserves much harsher punishment compared to ordinary citizens.

Among ordinary citizens, the educated class and those with influential social status who neglect their duties deserve harsher punishments.
As we said, with greater responsibilities come greater punishments. This is the real penal system of Manu Smriti.

And if so-called birth based Brahmins indeed want to claim supremacy over so-called birth-based Shudras, then they should also be ready to accept stricter punishments for themselves. Most birth-based Brahmins do not know about Vedas. Now Manu says that those Brahmins who put efforts in other areas except Vedas are Shudras. Refer 2.168. This is an insult to Brahmins. As per fake verses of Manu Smriti, the minimal repentance for harming a Brahmin even verbally is to remain hungry for a day (11.204 as per fake Manu Smriti). Thus, those who claim birth-right to Brahminism based on fake verses of Manu Smriti should remain hungry for at least 64 days continuously unless they are masters of Vedas and completely free of any vices including harsh language! (Punishment for Brahmins is 64 and 128 times that of ordinary mortals).

You cannot have "Heads I win and Tails you lose". Either be logical and honest, follow the real Manu Smriti and reject birth-based caste-system totally OR be prepared for a minimum of 64 days hunger strike until you master Vedas. And then continue the strike for another 64 days if you still do not master Vedas in 64 days!

The bottom line is the birth-based caste system does not even vaguely fit in Manu's scheme of society. Those who support it or recommend special treatment of birth-based Brahmins in matters of punishments are shamelessly against Manu, Vedas, and humanity in general. And as per Manu, such persons who cause harm to society deserve extremely severe punishments.

The notion of Shudras deserving harsher punishments is simply a hoax. May we all adopt the penal system proposed by Manu Smriti to save the nation from claws of corrupt politicians, judiciary and other pseudo-intellectuals. Manusmriti 7.17-20:

A powerful and rational penal system (Dand) is the true ruler. Dand is the propagator of Justice. Dand is the discipliner. Dand is the administrator. Dand alone protects the 4 Varnas and 4 Phases of life.
Dand protects the public and Dand keeps the nation awakened. That is why wise people proclaim that Dand is the Dharma.

When Dand is used with wisdom and responsibility, it brings prosperity and bliss among the public. And when Dand is used recklessly, it destroys the ruler. It seems that time has come that the corrupt leaders and officials are destroyed because they have misused the Dand a bit too much! Its also time that we use Dand to punish those who support birth-based discrimination in any manner.

This alone can save society, nation, and humanity. There is no other way! References: Works of Dr Surendra Kumar, Pt Gangaprasad Updhyaya, and Swami Dayanand Saraswati