Posted on: 19 Mar 2024
1. What are the differences and similarities between Samkhya and Vedanta?
[Shri Anil Antony asked: Padanamaskaram Swami, Please give Your answers to the following questions asked in an internet forum. At Your Divine Lotus Feet-anil]
Swami replied:- Saamkhya has two branches. i) Seshvara Saamkhya of Patanjali and ii) Niriishvara Saamkhya of Kapila. Vedanta is more close to the Saamkhya of Patanjali because both believe in God as the ultimate controller. The Saamkhya of Kapila is close to atheism.
2. What was the reason for Krishna's incarnation on Earth? Was it solely for Radha's love or were there other reasons?
Swami replied:- The incarnation of God will have many reasons. The reason in Pravrutti is to establish justice and destroy injustice. In Nivrutti, God Krishna came mainly to test the sages born as the Gopikas.
3. What are the differences in the descriptions of love between Krishna and Subhadra and Krishna and Satyabhama in the Mahabharata?
Swami replied:- Subhadra is the sister of God Krishna and Satyabhaama is the wife of God Krishna with ego mixed love.
4. How can we differentiate between genuine happiness and fake happiness?
[How can we differentiate between genuine happiness and fake happiness influenced by external factors like having many friends or a lot of money?]
Swami replied:- Genuine happiness is due to Nivrutti (spiritual life) and fake happiness is due to Pravrutti (worldly life). God is the absolute reality and world is relative reality.
5. Is it possible to understand the Bhagavad Gita without prior knowledge of Hinduism or the Vedas?
Swami replied:- The Gita covers the spiritual syllabus from LKG to PG. You can directly study the Gita.
6. Where is the original copy of the Vedas located?
Swami replied:- The original copy of the Vedas was located in the tradition of reciting the Veda from a Vedic teacher generation by generation.
7. Are there any descendants of Krishna today?
Swami replied:- What will you do with those descendants? Even the son of God Krishna, Saamba was a bad fellow and was killed by God Krishna in the end.
8. If Sai Baba of Shirdi was a Muslim, how come His followers are Hindus?
Swami replied:- Sai Baba was originally a Hindu. He tried to correlate Hinduism and Islam.
9. Can being angry at God have any positive effects? Why or why not?
Swami replied:- Anger involves hatred as the basis. Positive effects are due to love towards God.
10. What are the different types of logic in Hinduism?
Swami replied:- Logic is based on the number of authorities to get true knowledge. Some have taken two authorities (Pratyaksha and Anumaana). Some have taken two more authorities (Upamaana and Shabda). Some have taken two more authorities (Arthaapatti and Anupalabdhi).
11. What is the highest or noblest profession in Hinduism?
Swami replied:- The best profession is to work as a priest in the temple by which one can earn his livelihood as well as devotion to God.
12. According to Hinduism scriptures, was there anything before God existed?
Swami replied:- God is the ultimate, who is beyond space and time.
13. Why did Krishna create other religions, which don't know His original form?
[If according to Bhagavad Gita Krishna is the supreme Lord of the universe, then why did He create other religions which don't know His original form of God of Krishna?]
Swami replied:- The religions are created by human beings and not by God. The unity of the religions is preached by God.
14. What is the connection between each Avatara in Hinduism and their previous one?
Swami replied:- Even though perfect homogeneity exists among all the incarnations of God, the heterogeneity comes due to the variation in their programs in this world.
15. If I believe in God, then what will I get?
Swami replied:- You must believe in God to lose everything that is unnecessary for you.
16. Does happiness emerge autonomously from within us?
Swami replied:- Happiness is related to the fruits of our good deeds and bliss (extreme and continuous happiness) is related to the grace of God. How can it emerge from us?
17. In what ways does Lord Shiva show His love for His devotees?
Swami replied:- Lord Shiva or any form of God will respond to the true love of the devotee. The love of God is shown in all the desirable ways here (in this world) and there (in the upper worlds).
18. How can one recognize that God loves them more than anyone else in the world?
Swami replied:- The climax love can be shown by several devotees to God and God also shows the same climax love to all such true devotees. The situation asked by you does not arise.
19. Does the Bhagavad Gita state that all religions are the same?
Swami replied:- The Gita says this (Mama vartmānu vartante, manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ).
20. Is God Shiva affected by sins done by any person?
Swami replied:- The punishments of sins of true devotees are taken by God Datta to relieve the devotees from suffering. God Shiva is God Datta.
21. Does God take any religion seriously?
Swami replied:- He takes all religions seriously except atheism.
22. What is Krishna's perspective on parents?
Swami replied:- In Pravrutti alone, parents are considered to be equal to God. In Nivrutti, the divine incarnations are directly God.
23. Did Buddha ever experience suffering after achieving enlightenment?
[Did the Buddha Himself ever experience suffering again after achieving enlightenment, or did He transcend suffering entirely?]
Swami replied:- The body of God Buddha is the medium related to world and hence, experienced a lot of suffering due to penance.
24. What was the reason for Arjuna taking Krishna to the battlefield?
Swami replied:- Arjuna took God Krishna to the battlefield to win the battle. But, God Krishna followed Arjuna to preach the Gita to him.
25. Where does peace originate and exist?
Swami replied:- Peace originates in correlation of different thoughts and exists in the correlation. God Datta is very famous for any type of correlation.
26. Which day is good for Lord Shiva?
Swami replied:- In the ultimate spiritual angle, everyday is the festival of Shiva Ratri.
27. What is the significance of snakes in Hinduism and Hindu mythology?
[What is the significance of snakes in Hinduism and Hindu mythology? How are they connected to God Shiva and Goddess Parvati?]
Swami replied:- Snakes are used as jewels by God Shiva. But, no soul uses snakes like God Shiva even though the soul says that he is Shiva (Shivo’ham)! Adishesha and God Subrahmanya are in the form of snakes, which does not mean that every snake is Adishesha or Subrahmanya!
28. What is the meaning of being a friend of God? How can one develop a friendship with God?
Swami replied:- In friendship, there is full freedom. Full freedom shows very high maturity of devotion to God. Hence, friendship is the last but one stage in the nine steps of devotion (Sakhyamātmanivedanam).
29. Is it believed that we choose our parents before birth as part of the reincarnation process?
[Is it believed that we choose our parents before birth as part of the reincarnation process? If so, what factors determine who we will be born to, such as parents and siblings?]
Swami replied:- God will attach us to our parents so that we can collect our loans lent to them in the previous births along with the accumulated interest (Ṛāānubandha rūpeṇa…).
30. What are the beliefs in Hinduism about marrying someone from a different religion?
Swami replied:- Generally, people following different religions fight with each other. If universal spirituality is realised, there is no harm in such inter-religious marriage.
31. Is it a common belief in most religions that women are not as important as men? If so, what is the reasoning behind this belief?
Swami replied:- It is a belief that arose from ignorance. The gender is different due to some external modifications in the body. There is no difference in anything other than this one point. Importance comes based on good qualitites and the intensity of devotion to God.
32. Is there evidence to support the belief that the Bhagavad Gita was spoken by Lord Krishna?
Swami replied:- For that matter, there are no audio-video proofs for such facts in many religions. You should worry about the subject spoken and not about the person, who spoke it.
33. Why did Lord Krishna ask for the dust of Radha's feet to be applied on His forehead?
Swami replied:- The climax devotion of the Gopikas made God Krishna to ask for the feet dust of the Gopikas to be applied on His forehead for curing His headache. This is an indication that He will create Goloka above His abode so that the dust of the feet of the Gopikas will continuously fall on His head.
34. How did Lord Vishnu become Narasimha?
[How did Lord Vishnu become Narasimha? Why did He take birth from the earth instead of directly from Devi Lakshmi's womb like Rama or Krishna?]
Swami replied:- Goddess Lakshmi is the wife of God Vishnu. Rama and Krishna, as incarnations of God Vishnu, are not different from God Vishnu. God Vishnu is the deity of the quality of Sattvam, which is famous for knowledge, peace and love. In the incarnation of Lord Narasimha, the embodiment of anger, God Shiva (the deity of tamas quality) entered because all the three divine forms are the same God Datta, who was incarnated as those three divine forms. The trinity in unity must be realised here.
35. Why did Lord Krishna promote non-violence but suggested eating vegetables instead of meat?
Swami replied:- I think, you wanted to use ‘violence’ instead of ‘non-violence’. God Krishna encouraged violence against injustice but not against justice.
36. What is the significance of Lord Shiva's dance Tandava in Hindu mythology?
Swami replied:- The Taandava is named to represent the dance of Sage Tandu. One day, Tandu created a handful of ash accidentally. He became very much emotional and started dancing very violently. Then, God Shiva appeared and created a hill of ash from His thumb. Sage Tandu immediately lost the ego of miraculous power and fell on the feet of God Shiva. God Shiva was very much pleased with Sage Tandu and named His dance after the name of Sage Tandu (Taandava).