Posted on: 27 Nov 2016
1) Isn't this statement by Prophet Mohammed proof that Islam like Dharmic Tradition believes in the concept of rebirth?
The Prophet said: …I would love to be martyred in Allah's Cause and then get resurrected and then get martyred, and then get resurrected again and then get martyred and then get resurrected again and then get martyred… [Bukhari 4.54]
Swami replied: Hinduism believes in rebirth of the soul. Christianity and Islam do not believe in rebirth. Thus, both these are extreme contradicting concepts without the Aristotle’s middle golden path. This means that there are three possibilities: 1) Every soul has rebirth, 2) Every soul has no rebirth, 3) Some souls have rebirth and some souls do no have rebirth. The third possibility is the actual fact that correlates all the three religions. Everything depends upon the judgment of God regarding any soul to sanction human rebirth. This judgment depends upon the merits and defects of a soul that decide the probability in favor of uplift of the soul. A soul may have the possibility of spiritual uplift if one more or even some more rebirths are allotted. Such soul will be given the chance of rebirth for doing further spiritual effort. Some soul may be full of defects and there may be no chance of spiritual uplift even if one more rebirth is sanctioned. Such condemned soul will not have rebirth and will be thrown into hell forever. Sometimes, depending upon the case of the soul, it may be given rebirth to be born in the birds and animals or even trees or even inert stones. Birds and animals are engaged in the activities of securing food for that specific time only. Such births are given to the human souls having unlimited ambition of earning and storing wealth. Such rebirth as bird or animal brings limitation to the ambition in the case of the soul. After some births as birds and animal, the ambition may be reduced in earning and storing the wealth. Such soul will be brought to the human birth again in which the soul is born with least ambition for earning and storing. Some soul may have the defect of not donating the stored wealth for the sake of God. Such defect is removed when the soul is born as a tree. The stored food as fruits by the tree is in the service of human beings only. By the long period of life of a tree, the soul will develop the quality of charity of stored wealth and thus, it can be brought to human rebirth. Some soul may have very intensive ambition and such soul is given the birth of an inert stone so that the intensive negative quality comes to zero during the long deep sleep of the life of stone. Then, again the soul may be brought to the human birth from the birth of a stone. Let us take the example of Ahalya, the wife of Sage Gautama. She was raped by Indra, the King of Heaven, who came in disguise appearing as Sage Gautama. Several people think that Ahalya was cheated by Indra and the curse given by Sage Gautama to her to become a stone is not justified. This version is not correct. Ahalya identified Indra before meeting with him (Devarajam tu vijnaaya… Ramayana). She was not cheated since she identified Indra, who came in disguise. Such intensive negative quality of passion for illegal sex was punished by Sage Gautama. For a long time she remained as a stone, which is equal to deep sleep. During such long period, the negative quality is subsided. Then God as Rama gave her the rebirth as human being. Since the soul became pure, she was accepted by Sage Gautama again.
Jesus also accepted the concept of rebirth in some special cases and this point was suppressed! (The Father of heaven or Lord Datta present in Jesus is also existing in this Datta Swami and hence, Lord Datta knows the fact. There may be defect in recording or this point might have been suppressed in the revised scripture.) If you see the above statement of Prophet Mohammed, infinite number of rebirths for the pure soul in the service of God (in the service of Allah) are stated. This means that the soul involved in the divine service will be taking rebirths forever in order to assist God in propagating the divine knowledge. For this purpose, even God is taking rebirths again and again. The servant of God involved in the divine service always accompanies the God through several human births as long as God wishes. Some people think that cancellation of the rebirth in this world is salvation! This is climax of ignorance. When God Himself is taking rebirths for the benefit of humanity (Sambhavaami yuge yuge, janma karmacha Me divyam… Gita), is the soul greater than God to avoid rebirth? Cancellation of rebirth means only avoiding the rebirth as worldly bonded soul again without involving in the divine service. It does not mean cancellation of rebirth as servant of God to assist Him in the divine service. All this explanation reveals the hidden truth in the background clearly in elaborated way so that we can understand the truth and avoid inter-religious conflicts regarding the spiritual truth, which is the same in every religion. If you say that even God can’t sanction rebirth to a soul, God’s omnipotence becomes false!
Telling that there is no rebirth and this birth alone is final shows a practical merit. If you say that if a student fails in the year end March-examination, such student will not have opportunity to appear for the examination again in September, the student will be very careful in studies to pass the examination in March itself. Similarly, if rebirth is denied, the soul will be very careful for the spiritual path since there is no chance of rebirth to continue the spiritual effort. The concept of rebirth has the main defect that the soul feels relaxed and is not serious about spiritual progress in this birth since there are continuous opportunities in future to finish the effort. The decision of rebirth is in the hands of God and hence the soul should better think that there is no chance of rebirth (at least human birth) again to continue the effort. Based on this concept of absence of rebirth, if the soul puts hectic efforts in spiritual path and by chance (which is beyond the capacity of human being) the spiritual progress is not completed, God will certainly consider the soul for human rebirth. The soul sleeping leisurely thinking that human rebirth is a continuous facility, God will not grant the human rebirth to such a lazy soul.
In fact, God says in the Gita (nitya jaatam…) that every day is a rebirth after the deep sleep (death). The soul should not postpone the spiritual effort to the old age because any day untimely death may swallow the soul. Hence, every soul should think that the present day is the last birth for spiritual effort to please God.
[Questions on the Quran by Shri Anil]
2) Padanamaskaram Swami, Few questions on Quran is enclosed. Kindly give Your responses to them. at Your Lotus Feet, anil
Quran uses strong verses against idol worship as given below. It mentions types of idols also. Kindly enlighten us on the real meaning of these verses.
[31:13] Recall that Luqmaan said to his son, as he enlightened him, "O my son, do not set up any idols beside GOD; idolatry is a gross injustice."
[12:106] The majority of those who believe in GOD do not do so without committing idol worship.
[4:48] GOD does not forgive idolatry, but He forgives lesser offenses for whomever He wills. Anyone who sets up idols beside GOD, has forged a horrendous offense.
[4:116] GOD does not forgive idol worship (if maintained until death), and He forgives lesser offenses for whomever He wills. Anyone who idolizes any idol beside GOD has strayed far astray.
[39:65] It has been revealed to you, and to those before you that if you ever commit idol worship, all your works will be nullified, and you will be with the losers.
[72:18] The places of worship belong to GOD; do not call on anyone else beside GOD.
Types of Idols
a. Calf, statues as idols. [2:51] Yet, when we summoned Moses for forty nights, you worshiped the calf in his absence, and turned wicked.
[21:51-53] Before that, we granted Abraham his guidance and understanding, for we were fully aware of him. He said to his father and his people, "What are these statues to which you are devoting yourselves?" They said, "We found our parents worshiping them."
b. Worshipping other gods (is worshipping the devil). [4:117] They even worship female gods besides Him; as a matter of fact, they only worship a rebellious devil.
c. Jesus as idol. [5:72] Pagans indeed are those who say that GOD is the Messiah, son of Mary. The Messiah himself said, "O Children of Israel, you shall worship GOD; my Lord and your Lord." Anyone who sets up any idol beside GOD, GOD has forbidden Paradise for him, and his destiny is Hell. The wicked have no helpers.
d. Jinns as idols. [6:100] Yet, they set up beside GOD idols from among the jinns, though He is the One who created them. They even attribute to Him sons and daughters, without any knowledge. Be He glorified. He is the Most High, far above their claims.
e. Children as idols. [7:190] But when He gives them a good baby, they turn His gift into an idol that rivals Him. GOD be exalted, far above any partnership.
f. Humans as idols. [7:194] The idols you invoke besides GOD are creatures like you. Go ahead and call upon them; let them respond to you, if you are right.
g. "Intercessors" as Idols. From the Quran, it is obvious - there is no intercession by anyone on the Day of Judgment.
[10:18] They worship beside GOD idols that possess no power to harm them or benefit them, and they say, "These are our intercessors at GOD!" Say, "Are you informing GOD of something He does not know in the heavens or the earth?" Be He glorified. He is the Most High; far above needing partners.
h. Satan as an idol. [14:22] And the devil will say, after the judgment had been issued, "GOD has promised you the truthful promise, and I promised you, but I broke my promise. I had no power over you; I simply invited you, and you accepted my invitation. Therefore, do not blame me, and blame only yourselves. My complaining cannot help you, nor can your complaining help me. I have disbelieved in your idolizing me. The transgressors have incurred a painful retribution."
i. Property as an idol. [18:32-36] Cite for them the example of two men: we gave one of them two gardens of grapes, surrounded by date palms, and placed other crops between them. Both gardens produced their crops on time, and generously, for we caused a river to run through them. Once, after harvesting, he boastfully told his friend: "I am far more prosperous than you, and I command more respect from the people." When he entered his garden, he wronged his soul by saying, "I do not think that this will ever end. "Moreover, I think this is it; I do not think that the Hour (the Hereafter) will ever come to pass. Even if I am returned to my Lord, I will (be clever enough to) possess an even better one over there."
[18:42] Indeed, his crops were wiped out, and he ended up sorrowful, lamenting what he had spent on it in vain, as his property lay barren. He finally said, "I wish I never set up my property as a god beside my Lord."
j. The dead prophets, messengers and saints as idols. [16:20-21] As for the idols they set up beside GOD, they do not create anything; they themselves were created. They are dead, not alive, and they have no idea how or when they will be resurrected.
[3:79] Never would a human being whom GOD blessed with the scripture and prophethood say to the people, "Idolize me beside GOD." Instead, (he would say), "Devote yourselves absolutely to your Lord alone," according to the scripture you preach and the teachings you learn.
k. God's servants as idols. [18:102] Do those who disbelieve think that they can get away with setting up My servants as gods beside Me? We have prepared for the disbelievers Hell as an eternal abode.
Swami replied: Worship of God represented by idol in the shape of a human form and worship of God in actual human form directly (as in the case of Jesus) are inter-linked with each other. Through worship of idol in the shape of human form, you are proceeding to worship God in human form in the advanced stage. The idol worship is a training before the actual worship of human form of God. Both these stages were seriously condemned by Prophet Mohammad because the advanced stage became very serious due to crucifixion of Jesus. The application of training is the employment. Training (idol worship) and employment (worship of God in human form) are abandoned to avoid such cruel crucifixions of divine personalities. Training is learning the shooting with the help of inert targets. Afterwards, employment is participation in the war to shoot alive enemies. A mother objects her son from both training and subsequent employment since she heard that some person was killed by the alive enemies in the war. Allowing training (idol worship) as first stage leads to allowing the subsequent employment (worship of human incarnation). The kind mother loving her son very much does not allow her son even to participate in the training since the subsequent employment may kill her son in course of time. The Prophet decided to avoid the cruel crucifixions of human incarnations even though He Himself is the human incarnation of God. He reduced the human incarnation to the stage of a Messenger. If somebody writes a letter to you scolding you, you cannot punish the messenger (postman) for that letter. Hence, messenger will never be crucified. Even the energetic incarnation of God called as Father of Heaven (Divine Father) is negated because such form also is in the shape of human form only since Jesus told that He will sit on the lap of the divine Father. However, mere lump of energy (not having human form) was allowed by the Prophet as the medium of God for visualization. This is the ultimate aim of the Prophet to negate human form for the unimaginable God and He thought that it is better to negate even any form. Once the form is allowed, the best form (human form) will come into picture resulting in the human incarnation, which may be attacked by crucifixion by ignorant devotees. In this angle, you have to understand the concepts of the Prophet or Messenger of Islam. Avoiding practical effect (like crucifixion) is very important than establishing a theoretical concept even if it is truth. Truth is not climax of justice. Non-violence (ahimsa) is the climax of justice. To avoid killing of a good divine personality, you can suppress even a true theoretical concept in view of the stage of psychology of the followers in a specific region and in a specific period of time. The preacher should be practical also and should not be a mere theorist.
If you go back to the time of Jesus, the idol worship was discarded and not the worship of human form of God (Himself). The stage of His followers was different. The followers were involved in the idol worship (training) only and not entering the worship of human form of God (employment). In this time and in this region, the practical necessity is to divert the devotees of idols to the devotion of final human incarnation. A person is sitting in the training only throughout his life wasting a large number of bullets in shooting the inert targets only without entering the actual war. He never enters the war to use the bullets to kill the alive enemies. For such followers, Jesus objected the training and stressed on the employment, which is the participation in the war (serving the human incarnation). The real Christianity objects only the idol worship and not the worship of human incarnation since Jesus, the human incarnation declared that He is the truth and light. Jesus also told that He is the path, which means that one can worship the Father of Heaven (energetic incarnation of God that dissolved in Jesus) through Him. By worshiping Jesus, you are worshiping the invisible-imaginable Father of Heaven since Father (energetic form) merged with Son (materialized imaginable and visible form). By worshiping human form, you are worshiping the invisible-unimaginable God also, who merged with the Divine Father. The unimaginable-invisible God can’t be even thought and hence, can never be worshiped directly. The Father of Heaven is imaginable but invisible energetic form and also can’t be worshiped directly since He is invisible to all the ordinary human beings. Hence, by serving Jesus, you are serving the Divine Father in Jesus and also the unimaginable God present in the Father of Heaven. Hence, Jesus told that He is the path to worship both unimaginable-invisible God and imaginable-invisible Father of Heaven.
Christianity is like the mother advising her son to finish the training quickly and enter the actual war to kill the alive enemies. Islam is like the mother, who is very much shocked on hearing the death of her son in the war and not allowing her son to participate either in the training or in the subsequent war.
If you come to Hinduism, it is like the mother advising her son to spend any amount of time in the training period so that shooting the target is perfectly learnt before participating in the war. Somebody may learn the shooting in very less time and some other person may learn the shooting after a long time only. Hence, you cannot stipulate uniform period of time for training to all persons. This is the philosophy of Hinduism-mother. Once the shooting was learnt perfectly, the Christianity-mother appears saying that one should not waste bullets in shooting the inert targets for any more time and that the person should participate in the war immediately. Continuity of the person in the training (idol worship) is condemned by the Christianity-mother. Unfortunately, the person who participated in the war was caught by enemies and was crucified! Now, the Islam-mother appears saying that both training and participation in the war should be avoided in view of the cruel killing of her son. If you understand the sequence of practical effects, the modification of theoretical concepts by these three religions can be perfectly understood. If you are limiting yourself as an observer of a specific period of time only in this sequence, you will become a conservative Hindu or a conservative Christian or a conservative Muslim. If you become the observer of the total sequence of different periods and the necessity of modification of theoretical truths to avoid dangerous practical effects in the corresponding times of human incarnations, you will join the universal spirituality finding the uniform theoretical truth, which was sometimes exposed and sometimes hidden to suit the different psychologies of different times.
3) Kindly enlighten us regarding the use of the word ‘partnership’ with Allah used in the following Quranic verses:
[Say: "O People of the Book! come to common terms as between us and you: That we worship none but Allah that we associate no partners with him; that we erect not, from among ourselves, Lords and patrons other than Allah." If then they turn back, say ye: "Bear witness that we (at least) are Muslims (bowing to Allah.s Will). (Surah Al-Imran, 64)
Serve Allah, and join not any partners with Him; and do good- to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbours who are near, neighbours who are strangers, the companion by your side, the wayfarer (ye meet), and what your right hands possess: For Allah loveth not the arrogant, the vainglorious;- (Surah An-Nisa’, 36)
Allah forgiveth not that partners should be set up with Him; but He forgiveth anything else, to whom He pleaseth; to set up partners with Allah is to devise a sin Most heinous indeed. (Surah An-Nisa’, 48)
"How should I fear (the beings) ye associate with Allah, when ye fear not to give partners to Allah without any warrant having been given to you? Which of (us) two parties hath more right to security? (tell me) if ye know. (Surah Al-An‘am, 81)
This is the Guidance of Allah: He gives that guidance to whom He pleases, of His worshippers. If they were to join other gods with Him, all that they did would be vain for them. [6: Anam-88]
Follow what you are taught by inspiration from your Lord: there is no god but He: and turn aside from those who join gods with Allah. [6: Anam-106]]
Swami replied: If the human incarnation claims that It is God (monism of Shankara), it is objected by the persons crucifying Jesus. Suppose Jesus says that He is minor partner (special monism of Ramanuja) of God, then also, Jesus will be punished because the message coming from one partner involves the contribution of the second partner also. Both partners discuss and arrive at final conclusion. By this, the second partner is having contribution in the message and hence, becomes punishable as per the view of those cruel devotees. The Prophet wants to avoid the cruel punishment given by ignorant devotees in both ways (monism and special monism). The third possibility leftover is that Jesus (Son of Mary) remains as a separate human being becoming the servant of God to carry on the message like a postman (dualism of Madhva). This third possibility is emphasized by the Prophet in order to avoid the brutal reaction of ignorant devotees on divine personalities forever in the future.
4) What is the meaning of ‘Has he made the gods [only] one God?’ in the following verses.
And they wonder that there has come to them a warner from among themselves. And the disbelievers say, "This is a magician and a liar. [38-4] Has he made the gods [only] one God? Indeed, this is a curious thing." [Surah Sad 38-5]
Swami replied: Even if Jesus is reduced to the lowest stage of Messenger, the ego and jealousy of brutal ignorant devotees may still punish the Messenger doubting the authority of the Messenger. A messenger himself may write a hot message in the name of somebody and may deliver it to you as a postman. What is the authority that the messenger is a postman? The messenger might be wearing a duplicate uniform dress of the postal department! This means that the miracles performed by the messenger (due to will of God) may be fraud like the magic, which appears as a miracle. This is the climax of ego and jealousy and for such devotees, nothing can be explained as the message of God. Such devotees are considered as demons, who will never agree with the greatness of others. Such souls are totally condemned and thrown into the liquid fire of hell forever. At least, they can examine the message and decide whether it is from God or the manipulation of the messenger. Sharp analysis will reveal the truth and if it is truth, it must be certainly from God.
5) Abrogation: Kindly enlighten on the following
Nothing of our revelation (even a single verse) do we abrogate or cause be forgotten, but we bring (in place) one better or the like thereof. Knowest thou not that Allah is Able to do all things? [2.106 Al Baqara]
[One scholar interpreted the above verse of quran as follows:
The Ahl-ul-Kitab (People of the Book) also question the need for a new revelation (Qur'an) when previous revelations from Allah exist. They further ask why the Qur'an contains injunctions contrary to the earlier Revelation (the Torah) if it is from Allah? Tell them that Our way of sending Revelation to successive anbiya (prophets) is that: Injunctions given in earlier revelations, which were meant only for a particular time, are replaced by other injunctions, and injunctions which were to remain in force permanently but were abandoned, forgotten or adulterated by the followers of previous anbiya are given again in their original form (22:52). And all this happens in accordance with Our laid down standards, over which We have complete control. Now this last code of life which contains the truth of all previous revelations (5:48), is complete in every respect (6:116), and will always be preserved (15:9), has been given [to mankind].
Swami replied: The Prophet wants to avoid any further revelation in the theoretical concepts based on monism and special monism that may lead to cruel punishments in future. The Prophet wants that the concept of the Messenger, totally disconnected to the message of God (dualism), shall stand forever so that such cruel ignorant reactions like crucifixion shall be avoided once for all. As long as the totally disconnected dualism of a postman-messenger remains in this world forever, such brutal reactions on divine personalities will be avoided. The Prophet feels that dualism is the actual truth (in view of avoiding cruel punishments of divine people) and special monism (partnership) and monism (human incarnation is God) are only the misinterpretations of the dualism that adulterated the actual truth (dualism).
6) Praying 5 Times Towards Mecca
Pagans prior to Islam would pray five times per day towards Mecca. Muhammad retained for Islam, this pre-Islamic practice, sanctioning it with a story of a night trip to heaven on a mythical beast called al-Buraq. In heaven, the Hadith tells us that Allah demanded 50 prayers per day per Muslim. Upon advice from Moses, Muhammed bargains with Allah and successfully reduces it to five prayers per day. Kindly enlighten us on this bargain.
Swami replied: 50 prayers per day indicates the stage of highest devotee who is continuously in the spiritual path, in which both the legs of the devotee are in spiritual boat only since the other leg in the worldly boat is withdrawn. Before reaching this highest stage, a higher stage exists, which is 5 prayers per day. In this higher stage, both the legs of the devotee are in the two boats traveling side by side (spiritual boat and worldly boat). The basic high stage is to keep both legs in the worldly boat only following the justice of pravrutti due to fear from God. The lowest stage is indicating a pure materialistic atheist keeping both legs on the shore of the sea only. The indicated meaning should be understood through the literal meaning.
Preacher Should Be Scholar in Both Subject & Psychology
7) Prophet was influenced by satan?
THE CONTEXT OF THE SATANIC VERSES
When Muhammad first began preaching in Mecca his desire was that the people of Mecca, the Quraysh, would accept him as a prophet and the religion he was teaching. They were not receptive to him and made life difficult for him and his followers, and many of his followers fled to Christian Abyssinia for protection. This was until Muhammad recited Surah 53 (Suraht-an-Najm) with the following verses:
[Have you thought of al-Lat and al-Uzza and Manat, the third ... these are the exalted Gharaniq (a high flying bird) whose intercession is approved. (Ibn Ishaq, pp. 165-166)
Al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat were some of the local idols worshiped in Mecca. Previously Muhammad had spoken against them in his monotheist preaching but now he recited that their "intercession is approved".
When Quraysh heard that, they were delighted and greatly pleased at the way in which he spoke of their gods and they listened to him ... Then the people dispersed and Quraysh went out, delighted at what had been said about their gods, saying, " Muhammad has spoken of our gods in splendid fashion". (Ibn Ishaq, p. 166)
The Apostle of Allah, may Allah bless him, repeated them (the verses), and he went on reciting the whole of Surah (53) and then fell in prostration, and the people (the Quraysh) fell in prostration with him. (Ibn Sa'd, vol. 1, p. 237)
The Islamic accounts then say that the angel Gabriel rebuked Muhammad for what he had said:
Then Gabriel came to the apostle and said , "What have you done, Muhammad? You have read to these people something I did not bring you from God and you have said what He did not say to you." (Ibn Ishaq, p. 166)
Then Muhammad confessed: I ascribed to Allah, what He had not said. (Ibn Sa'd, vol. 1, p. 237)
I have fabricated things against God and have imputed to Him words which He has not spoken. (Al-Tabari, vol. 6, p. 111)
Muhammad then announced that Gabriel had now told him to speak against the idols and so what he recited changed. Previously it had been:
Have you thought of al-Lat and al-Uzza and Manat, the third ... these are the exalted Gharaniq whose intercession is approved. (Ibn Ishaq, pp. 165-166)
Now the verse became (in place of the above verse Prophet told the following verse after Gabriel warned him):
Have you considered El-Lat and El-'Uzza and Manat the third, the other? What, have you males, and He females? That were indeed an unjust division. They are naught but names yourselves have named, and your fathers; God has sent down no authority touching them. (Qur'an 53:19-23, Arberry).
By this some people say that Prophet also are influenced by satan. In support they say the following verse also .
Never did We send a messenger or a prophet before thee, but, when he framed a desire, Satan threw some (vanity) into his desire: but Allah will cancel anything (vain) that Satan throws in, and Allah will confirm (and establish) His Signs: for Allah is full of Knowledge and Wisdom:
That He may make the suggestions thrown in by Satan, but a trial for those in whose hearts is a disease and who are hardened of heart: verily the wrong-doers are in a schism far (from the Truth): Hajj (Pilgrimage) 22:52-53. Yusuf 'Ali's translation
Kindly explain the significance of the above.]
Swami replied: When God in human form comes down to this earth filled with ignorant devotees, which is like a mud pond having some fallen children, God is also painted with mud in the process of lifting up the ignorant children. When a powerful bull is running fast, a wise person stops it after following it for some steps even though he caught the nasal rope of the bull in the first step itself. God follows the ignorance of the people for some time to become friendly with them before advising them against ignorance. Even the bird flying at the highest height in the sky has to come down to pick up the low level birds. If you warn them against their ignorance in the first step itself, they will rebel and revolt against you. First you have to accept their ignorant concepts and mix with them as a friend. Slowly, you have to show the defects in their concepts and divert them towards the truth with the lowest speed as far as possible. Teaching the subject and the methodology of teaching in accordance with the psychology of the students are different. The preacher should be a scholar in both the subject and psychology. Different idols represent different media of God. The different inert idols are representing the different alive human forms of God. When this point is understood, the devotee will leave the idols and comes to the different human forms of God. Then, the oneness of unimaginable God present in all these different human incarnations should be preached so that the unnecessary splits between different human incarnations like Krishna, Buddha, Mahavir Jain, Jesus, Mohammad, etc., disappear and this second stage is the universal spirituality. The only argument for establishing the oneness of God is that He is unimaginable, being beyond the space as the generator of the space. Though there is difference in the different human forms, since the same unimaginable God merged with all these different human forms to be treated as that unimaginable God Himself, all the human incarnations are one and the same from the angle of this one God. From the idol worship to the worship of contemporary human incarnation to the worship of the single unimaginable God through different human media are the different heights (one after the other) of different flying birds (spiritual aspirants).
8) Kindly give right meaning of the following verse:
God says to the angels in the Qur'an (2:30 - 33): “‘Verily, I am going to place mankind generations after generations on earth.’ They (the angels) said: ‘Will You place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood, while we (the angels) glorify You with praises and thanks and sanctify You.’ God said: ‘I know that which you do not know.’
Swami replied: The point of angels is to praise the unimaginable (or even invisible Father of Heaven) God through theoretical devotion instead of the practical devotion in the form of service to human incarnation that results in shedding blood by crucifixion. God replied that He knows more than the angels. The angels are energetic forms and can’t crucify the energetic incarnation of God since energy can’t be destroyed like matter (in the sense of a layman and not in the sense of conservation of mass of a scientist). But, the program of God is for the sake of humanity having materialized bodies in the case of which crucifixion is possible. The theoretical truth of human incarnation is to be expressed to the humanity in spite of its violent reaction. After all, in sometime, the truth has to be revealed and this point is not in the minds of angels as indicated by God through the last statement.
9) Regarding black stone at Kaaba:
It was narrated that Ibn ‘Abbaas said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said concerning the Stone: “By Allaah, Allaah will bring it forth on the Day of Resurrection, and it will have two eyes with which it will see and a tongue with which it will speak, and it will testify in favour of those who touched it in sincerity.” Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 961; Ibn Maajah, 2944
Swami replied: Even though messenger is neither God nor partner of God, the messenger is still a favored soul of God having inert human body externally and awareness internally. When the messenger leaves the inert body, the awareness (individual soul) with inert energetic body leaves this earth. Ignorant people may think that this inert dead body of the messenger is finished once for all. It is not so because the inner energetic form having eyes, tongue, etc. will come and speak the final judgment. Though the divinity of the messenger was totally avoided for the fear of crucifixion, the divinity of the messenger is slowly projected in course of time by the Prophet. This is the slow introduction of truth.
10) Burning houses: Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet added, "Certainly I decided to order the Mu'adh-dhin to pronounce Iqama and order a man to lead the prayer and then take a fire flame to burn all those who had not left their houses so far for the prayer along with their houses." Sahih Bukhari [1.11.626]
Swami replied: Human beings attached to the worldly bonds (houses) are to be burnt along with their worldly bonds in case the spiritual path is totally discarded. The worldly bonds are destroyed with the death in the case of every soul (along with their houses). The souls are burnt in the liquid fire of hell for the sins. Both these are indicated for the souls, which are totally materialistic without even a trace of scent of spirituality.
11) Mark 2: 18-22 FASTING
[18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”
19 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.
21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”
at Your divine feet, anil]
Swami replied: Fasting means not simply avoiding the food by force even though the fire of hunger is burning in the stomach. Real fasting means to be immersed in the thoughts and love of God (theoretical devotion) so that you are not feeling the sense of hunger as your attention is totally diverted to God. We observe this fact even when we see a cinema with totally absorbed concentration. Fasting becomes spontaneous and natural when the interest on God is in the climax. This fasting should not be misunderstood with the present style of fasting in which hunger is forcibly resisted. The theoretical devotion appears in the absence of the human incarnation that was served by practical devotion (real sacrifice and practical service) only during its life period. In the absence of human incarnation in this world, only theoretical devotion is possible by which fasting (absorption in the love of God) can take place. When the human incarnation exists, there is no need of theoretical devotion (fasting) since only practical devotion exists.
The old weak cloth is not sewed by a patch of new strong cloth. By this, the old cloth is spoiled more. This means that the people of old generation are already rigid by their long following of ignorant concepts and traditions. Such rigid people can’t be modified through revolutionary concepts that result as the fruits of sharp analysis with various branches of logic. They cannot digest any change in their blind rigid concepts. Only people with scientific analysis and open mind can accept the change of a concept through the fire test of intensive analysis. The closed mind with rigid ignorance represents the old cloth and the patch of new cloth represents a revolutionary concept that is concluded by long, sharp and deep logical analysis.
[Questions on the Bible by Shri Anil]
12) Padanamaskaram Swami
Kindly give the inner meaning of following verse in the bible:
Paying Taxes to Caesar (Mark 12:13-17; Luke 20:19-26)
[15 Then the Pharisees went out and plotted to trap Jesus in His words. 16 They sent their disciples to Him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that You are honest and that You teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You defer to no one, because You pay no attention to external appearance. 17 So tell us what You think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
18 But Jesus was aware of their evil motives. “You hypocrites!” He said. “Why are you testing Me? 19 Show Me the coin used for the tax.”
And they brought Him a denarius.a
20 “Whose likeness is this,” He asked, “and whose inscription?”
21 “Caesar’s,” they answered.
So Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
22 And when they heard this, they were amazed. So they left Him and went away.
at Your feet, anil]
Swami replied: The cunning people tried to divert Jesus against Cesar in such a way that Jesus will recommend the payment of tax to God and not to the King since God is the highest King to whom the tax should be paid as spiritual charity. They wanted to mix pravrutti (worldly life) with nivrutti (spiritual life) and confuse Jesus to become a criminal against the worldly rules. Jesus separated both pravrutti and nivrutti so that there is no clash between them. When the tax is paid to the king, who uses it in justified way, even such worldly king is a representative servant of God. If the worldly king misuses it, he will be punished by God. God is above Cesar to protect or punish as per the justice and injustice done by him respectively. You cannot decide justice or injustice without paying the tax. Payment of tax to Government is not injustice. If the tax is swallowed by the Governing persons through corruption, they cannot escape the punishment from God. Payment of tax to Government itself cannot be a sin since the Government may use it in justified way due to fear from God.