Posted on: 17 Jun 2018
Shri Anil asked: Padanamaskaram Swami:
1) Shri Anil asked:- Kindly elaborate on the following divine knowledge.
["When one approaches Me, I immediately open his file and seriously plan about permanent solutions about his eternal future. I start negotiations with his lenders and enemies to bring a compromise so that he will be freed from all bonds forever." At Your feet, Anil]
Swami replied:- When you become strong devotee of God surrendering to His feet completely with full faith, God becomes serious to examine all your file so that He can find out some compromise between the rigid cycle of theory of deeds (which is based on His own divine constitution) and the possibility of your uplift. This is very critical occasion faced by God so that His actions (which are constantly observed by divine sages) have to be justified as well as have to extend help to you. The compromise brought from the deity of justice is that He suffers a major lot of punishment for your sake and a minor lot is allotted to you (which is proportional to your imperfections). Immediately, you start suffering a little of your punishments, which are magnified by you as full punishments. Immediately you think that your devotion to God brought difficulties whereas a sinner is free of difficulties. The sinner is having a lot of pending punishments as his balance, which is not touched by God (since it will attack the soul in the proper scheduled times). All this background is unknown to the soul and is fully known to God (Taanyaham Veda... Gita).
2) Kindly please answer the following questions:
[1 Alcohol addicts sometimes quotes the following incident in the bible to support their drinking habit. Kindly enlighten on this.
Jesus Changes Water Into Wine
2 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
4 “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.]
Swami replied:- Here, the miracle done by Jesus is important and not the point whether it is wine or coffee or some other drink. The drink suitable to the culture of that time is generated from the conversion of water. This conversion is the unimaginable miracle. Alcohol exists even in vegetarian food. When the flour-paste is kept for some time, it generates alcohol by fermentation. Alcohol taken in excess makes the human being to lose balance and do sins. In this miracle, the unimaginable and impossible conversion of water into wine indicates the unimaginable God existing in the human incarnation, called as Jesus. This establishes existence of unimaginable God, who punishes the sin in unimaginable ways even if the sinner escapes the punishment from the law of land through tricks. This is very essential basis of control of sin at the root level itself because controlling agencies like courts, police etc., fail without this spiritual basis. God came in the form of Jesus for this purpose only.
3) Jesus mentions several times in the bible that He will be killed and will raise again after 3 days. What is the significance of raising again here means? Even an ordinary person when die, his soul will go to upperworld leaving the body here. Kindly enlighten.
Swami replied:- The dead body of Jesus was kept in a closed cave and the people returning after three days could not find the dead body in the cave. Jesus did several miracles since He was possessed by God. Can’t He do this miracle? He raised even a dead body. Having observed so many miracles during the lifetime of Jesus, this doubt has no meaning at all. Even when an ordinary human being died, he was made alive by Jesus. It means that even though his soul left this gross body, entered energetic body and went to the upper world, the omnipotent God called him back giving him further longevity on this earth.
4) Please enlighten on the following parable mentioned in the bible:
[The Parable of the Shrewd Manager
16 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’
3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’
5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
6 “‘Nine hundred gallons[a] of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’
7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’
“‘A thousand bushels[b] of wheat,’ he replied.
“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’
8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
13 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.
16 “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it. 17 It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.
At Your holy feet, Anil, Anil Antony]
Swami replied:- Jesus is talking about Pravrutti (worldly life) and Nivrutti (spiritual life). If one fails in the Pravrutti, there is no entry into Nivrutti. Money is the master in Pravrutti since even God is worshipped for getting money only. God is the master in Nivrutti since even money is sacrificed for the sake of God’s work. The projection of the soul in the eyes of others is not valid since the omniscient God knows everything hidden even in the minute nerve of the human being. In fact, even in Pravrutti, God is the ultimate Boss and not the money. The intelligence shown by the manager is useless since God takes the decision that reflects through the rich man as said above. The manager thinks that he can fool the rich man through his intellectual corruption. The manager thinks that he is dealing with the rich man, but, actually he is dealing with the omniscient and omnipotent God. All the souls are just play dolls in His hand. If one tries to swindle the property of others, his property will be swindled by God. The first hymn of the first Veda says the same “don’t swindle others’ properties (Maa grudhah kasyasvit dhanam)”. This entire world is His property (Iishaavaasyam) and you are swindling the property of God through corruption. The law dealing with the worldly matters is also under the purview of God only. If you are cheating the law of Pravrutti through tricks and corruption, God will become more serious than His seriousness in final dissolution of creation in which this entire earth and heaven disappear. In destruction of the world, there is no cheating except harshness. Cheating is worse than the terrible harshness shown in the final destruction of the world. Cheating your master, who trusts you, is the worst sin whether the cheated amount is small or huge. We do all such sins in the worldly affairs thinking that God is out of the world, who can be pleased by our devotion separately. You can’t please God separately after displeasing Him in the worldly affairs (Pravrutti). The same God is Boss in Pravrutti as well as in Nivrutti. If you fail in Pravrutti, you can forget about Nivrutti. The best example for this is:- A girl joined an office and loved the head of the office aspiring to marry him. Marriage with him is Nivrutti. Working as a clerk in the office following the rules and regulations of the office, which are set-up by the head, is Pravrutti. If the girl is found corrupt in the office, the basic first impression (Pravrutti) itself is lost. Can such girl think of marrying the head (Nivrutti) at any time? This example gives perfect impression about both Pravrutti and Nivrutti.