Posted on: 25 Apr 2021
Śrī Anil asked: Pādanamaskāraṃ Swāmi, some questions raised in internet discussion forums is presented below. Please grace Your response to the same. At Your Lotus Divine Feet-anil
1) Swāmi, taking voluntary retirement from the present job and living peacefully with whatever minimum resources available is recommended by You? Kindly guide.
Swāmi replied:- Yes.
2) What is the point of praying to saints? Why not pray directly to God?
[Option of one person: You don't need a mediator between you and the Lord. Those saints and Mary were mortals, so they have no power. Apparently the Lord doesn't have any power Himself if we need other mortals to help us pray.]
Swāmi replied:- The immortal God merges with mortal human being to become monistic human incarnation. Immortal God also is welded with a strong devotee to become dualistic human incarnation. In both the cases, God helps you through the human form only, which is convenient to you for communication with God.
3) The psychology of the soul consisting of the specific combination of good and bad qualities causes the soul to be born in a specific place. Similarly, when God incarnates, His wish decides the place and body of the devotee. What does it mean?
Swāmi replied:- 1) The specific ratio of good and bad qualities of a soul guides the soul to a place having congenial atmosphere for such specific ratio of qualities so that the soul fits to such atmosphere. 2) When God incarnates as human incarnation, He is the best judge to select the human being for His medium and to select the place congenial to His divine activity. God is omniscient and knows everything properly.
4) The thief on the left loved Jesus Christ and the thief on the right complained, so the thief on the left went to heaven, so therefore did the thief on the right go to heaven as well or did he not?
Swāmi replied:- This means that the devotee goes to heaven and this does not mean that a non-devotee does not go to hell. A non-devotee goes to heaven or hell based on his merits and sins. A non-devotee does not go to hell even if he scolds God! God loves every soul since He is the divine Father of all souls. A non-devotee goes to hell only for his sins that affected good people in this world. Hence, the non-devotee is not affected by his non-devotion and therefore, his way based on the non-devotion is not mentioned.
5) Does God face daily problem/s managing the entire universe (that's a big job) and everything inside the universe? Who assist Him- the Angels?
Swāmi replied:- God is omniscient and omnipotent and does not need the assistance of any soul like a soul needing assistance from other souls. He may take the assistance of souls liking to serve God through which the devotion of souls to God is practically proved.
6) Viṣṇu only helps Devatās in war and is against Asuras, how can be the supreme God be against His own creation, on the other hand Lord Śiva grants boon to literally everyone in the universe, doesn't this make a difference? Don't hate me for this.
Swāmi replied:- First, God Viṣṇu and God Śiva are one and the same God. These are the two different aspects of the divine Father. As Śiva, the Father wants to be dear even to a bad child. As Viṣṇu, the Father wants to help a good child opposing bad child. This is a mixture of various talents in the administration of father towards his family. As per the situation, the Father behaves like Śiva or Viṣṇu in order to bring the bad child to the right path.
7) If Lord Kṛṣṇa loved any of His wives more than others, how can we say His love is unconditional?
Swāmi replied:- I did not follow you exactly because your question is very brief. However, I am answering by beating around the bush and let Me see whether any bullet hits the bird. God Kṛṣṇa never loved anybody (His wife or His son or His grandson or His brother or His parents etc.) without justified basis of true love. His limited family is only external pertaining to the external human medium. As the God Datta containing unimaginable God, the entire humanity is His unlimited internal family. His true behaviour is only as God Datta.
8) Why is it important to engage in God-talk (or theology) to come to a deeper understanding of God and not just resign oneself to previous learning in religion classes?
Swāmi replied:- Both study of spiritual knowledge and discussions with devotees are essential to get perfect knowledge of God. This method exists even in higher courses of education. As education reaches climax level of research, apart from studying books and attending classes, seminars and classes play an important role.
9) What is the difference between God and Jehovah?
Swāmi replied:- Jehovah is the name of unimaginable God.
10) God (the Creator) is invisible. What does Islam say regarding the way of having a connection with God? Also, on what basis can a religious person be sure that they are connected with Him?
Swāmi replied:- You are talking with a person on phone even though that person is invisible. God becomes visible to His best devotees and this is not visible to you. Hence, you suspect that best devotee also, who is visualizing God. Your visualization alone is the authority for you. At the same time, you don’t believe the visualization of somebody else, which is authority for him!
11) Is a man saved by his own will or by God's will?
Swāmi replied:- Man is saved if his will is to follow God’s will.