Q  If good begets good, does evil beget evil?

    Yes.

Donating a cow at Varanasi results from good intentions. Slaughtering a cow stems from evil intentions. If donating a cow at Varanasi fetches you better rewards than donating it at other places, then harbouring an evil thought when you are in a good place will fetch you multiple bad effects.

What you sow, you reap. If the soil is fertile, you will get good harvest. A barren land does not yield any produce. A Mahaan’s abode is a fertile land. If you sow good there, you will reap good. If you sow your evil thoughts there, you will reap evil consequences.

Duryodhana prostrated in front of Krishna, with the thought, ‘I will be relieved of my sins thus. Krishna, I surrender all my sins to you’. He did not mention it, though. Krishna laughed and declared, ‘Duryodhana, whatever anyone gives me, I will return it to them ten-fold’.

It is up to those who sin to make amends. If you have taken a loan of 10 rupees, you must earn 11 rupees to be able to return the amount. If you have accumulated the consequences of vices across several earlier births, it is you who must counterbalance them with virtue. Is it not brazen impudence that makes one think of submitting one’s evil acts to the Lord? One must offer to Him the best one has.

So many persons offer me something to eat. Very few do it out of love. For most others, it is an act of pride. Many persons bring me garlands, some of them faded. I don’t ask for anything, do I? You are offering garlands to the Lord, so must you not give the best available? You must offer the best delicacies to the Lord. That is Sabari’s path to salvation; she tasted every fruit to choose the best for Rama.

Take the instance of Kannappa Nayanar. All he had was love for the Lord, which prompted him to offer meat, the food that he was acquainted with. What is the use of buying six rotten plantains to the Lord, just because a single pomegranate costs Rs. Six?

Yogi Ram Surat Kumar was very particular about what was offered to him. If someone brought him a sweet box, he would ask where it was purchased. Think this over: if you really wanted to offer a Mahaan anything, you would have purchased the best ghee, prepared the sweet in a clean vessel and brought it to him in a clean dish. Only this is proof of your love for him. A Mahaan, because of his love for the Almighty, renounces the world and is serving you. Must you not reciprocate this with the best that you have? If your wife does not prepare a dish of your taste, you fling the plate at her; so why do you expect a Mahaan to accept whatever you give him?

Most persons wallow in this mental poverty. The day you offer the best you have to the Lord who has given you the senses to perceive the world, you will become wealthy.

( baba's answers to other questions continues next week)