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[Shri Anil asked: Pādanamaskāraṃ Swami! In western religious scriptures like the Quran etc. fearing God is stressed more than loving God. For instance, in the Quran, it is mentioned: “O you who believe! Fear God as He ought to be feared and do not die except as believers.” (Quran 3:102). In the Bible, God is treated as the Father. God is thus treated as the Father who fulfils all the devotees’ needs as they are His children. This concept has gone into our blood and bones from childhood through various preachers, who have preached this concept saying that it is love for God. But concepts such as serving God...
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Based on the psychology of receivers, God gave suitable concepts for their assimilation. Merely delivering the concepts is not important for the divine preacher or the Human Incarnation of God. The proper digestion of the concepts by the receivers is more important. God is the impartial Father and except for the above reason, there is no other reason...
Shri Anil asked: Pādanamaskaraṃ Swami! The New Testament gospel is considered to be written by four authors namely St. Mathew, St. Mark, St. Luke and St. John. However, in the life history of Jesus written by the four, there are few inconsistencies in reporting certain incidents. Also there is no mention of rebirth in any of the four gospels. Some believe that priests in the past might have censored the gospels...
Swami replied: As told by Me already, the fundamental concepts in all religions are exactly one and the same because the same God came in various human forms to preach the spiritual knowledge in different regions. There cannot be any contradiction in the basic concepts of all religions in the world. There may be some superficial differences due to different cultures and traditions that had developed...
Mrs. Anita Renkuntla asked: Swami, I desperately want to have Your darśanam. Am staying in Karnataka as my husband works in a cement company in Lokapur, Karnataka. But COVID is on the rise here. My husband is a sugar patient and has a thyroid problem too. Our visit to Hyderabad has been postponed to the Diwali festival. At this time, can I get Your darśanam? Also, are all the discourses available in the Hindi and Telugu languages?...
Swami replied: The control of sin through fear does not last for a long time, unless the concept of sin is understood through spiritual knowledge. Spiritual knowledge alone can bring permanent reformation in the soul. Your point of bringing the punishments of the sins of previous births to the mind of the soul is valid only as far as the temporary control of sin is concerned. But there is a big issue...
Mrs. Anita Renkuntla asked: I am not able to recollect the dreams which are as if I have experienced some answers from somebody related to scriptures. It happened three times from 2 am to 5 am, a couple of days ago. Also, I saw a ray of light. What is it Swamiji? Looking forward...
[Shri Anil asked: Pādanamaskaraṃ Swami! In the Gītā, God Kṛṣṇa said to Arjuna that He knows all the past births of Arjuna, but that Arjuna did not know any of them. What is the context in which Kṛṣṇa said this? What is the significance of this statement? Did Kṛṣṇa explain all the details and actions of the past births to Arjuna? If that is the case, in what way did knowing all the past births benefit Arjuna? Please grace us...
[Shri Anil asked: It is said in the Gītā that the qualities of a person are influenced by the food they eat. One commentary found on the internet on these verses is as follows: Foods such as milk, fruits, rice, and vegetables are of sattva guṇa, the mode of goodness. Foods such as garlic, onions, chillies and mushrooms are of rajo guṇa, the mode of passion. Foods such as meat, fish, fowl and eggs are of tamo guṇa, the mode...
Shri Anil asked: Swami, as learned from Your knowledge, I understand that the three qualities namely, sattvam, rajas and tamas essentially indicate the three fundamental traits namely; knowledge & analysis, action that results from the analysis, and the firm determination in executing the action in practice. This means that all the qualities are good, without any superiority over the other. Swami, we would like to know the origin...
[Shri Anil asked: In the Quran, Prophet Muhammad allowed men to marry up to four women in those particular times and circumstances. Whereas, regarding divorce, Jesus said: “But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.” After analyzing these two statements...
Swami replied: The word dharma has two meanings: (1) Dharma can mean the natural property or the natural instinct to do some actions, whether it is justified or not and (2) Dharma can also mean justice as established by God in the divine constitution and which is also accepted by various righteous scholars in the world. Burning something is the dharma of fire. Here dharma means the natural property of fire...
[Shri Anil asked: Swami, in Your message on 26 August 2020, You have said, “The individual soul can be known and can even be seen through the latest equipment in the form of pulses of inert energy.” I wanted to know what the meaning of the statement ‘soul can be known’ is. The soul is basically a bundle of thoughts. By knowing the soul, can we say that we have known all these thoughts? Or that we have come to know...
Swami replied: The soul is pure awareness, without any thought. It is very close to the basic inert energy that creates the soul. Due to a lot of similarity between the thoughtless pure awareness and inert energy, the same word Ātman is used for both the pure awareness and the basic causal inert energy. In the second chapter of the Gītā, you find the description of Ātman and that description...
[Shri Hrushikesh asked: In Your recent answer given to Śrī Durgaprasad, You have said the following:“God is omniscient and omnipotent. There is no need of asking God for any type of help since God knows everything at all times, especially regarding His devotees. He is watching all His devotees and is aware of every situation faced by His devotee. We have to report our problems to other human beings so that they may help us in difficult situations. This is because they cannot know unless...
Swami replied: Asking God for advice is quite different from asking help from God. The first point is not seeking any help from God, but seeking the help of God in the form of right advice, when one gets a doubt. Arjuna asked God Kṛṣṇa to advise him about whether to proceed with the war or withdraw from the war. From one angle, Arjuna felt that proceeding with the war was justified because the opposite...
Shri Sabbella Satthireddy asked: Shri Datta Swami, śaraṇaṃ mama Swami! What is the purpose of my life, Swami? Who am I Swami?
Swami replied: Please read the answer given to Mrs. Lavanya on September 14, 2020. Please understand...
[Mohini Unukuru asked: Pādanamaskāram Swamiji! I am Your devotee. My question is about girls getting their monthly periods. During that time, parents tell the girl to not go to the temple, not touch anyone and not touch the pūjā gadi. This happens mostly in villages. What is the reason behind this, Swamiji ? If I have asked anything wrong, please forgive me.]
Swami replied: There is nothing wrong with the menstrual periods of girls from a spiritual point of view. The Veda says that Indra distributed his sin of killing Vṛtra to four items: (1) To the earth, due to which the earth began to give off the smell of soil, (2) To water, due to which it began to froth, (3) To flowers, due to which flowers began to give off pollen grains and (4) To women, due to which they began...
[Shri Hrushikesh asked: Dear Swami! One of my friends asked me if it is justified for a 30-year-old man to marry a 9-year-old girl? Why did the 23-year-old Shri Ramakrishna Paramahaṃsa marry the 5-year-old Śāradā Mātā? What is the ideal age difference that should be maintained between a boy and a girl who are to get married? Can a girl marry a boy who is younger than her? Why is it traditionally considered bad in Hinduism, if a man marries a woman elder to him?]
Swami replied: Marriage is different from the first night function. The norms of age are to be considered for the first night function and not for marriage. Suppose, a boy and girl are very strongly committed to be married in future and when the proper age comes, they are married. This is ok. You are objecting to their early marriage in childhood itself since it becomes child marriage. Suppose the marriage between both...
[Shri Hrushikesh asked: What is wrong with marrying a woman from the same gotra or lineage? Why is it said that a woman and man belonging to the same gotra are considered to be siblings and so, should not be married? In case they have to get married then either of them should be adopted into another family belonging to a different gotra.]
Swami replied: It is scientifically agreed that close blood relations should not get married...
[Shri Hrushikesh asked: What is the essence behind the concept of kanyā dānam performed during the wedding ceremony? Why is it said that seven generations of a family get uplifted, when one performs kanyā dānam, which is giving away one’s daughter in marriage?]
Swami replied: The generation of children through marriage is a sacred activity that pleases God. This is the main reason behind praising this kanyā dānam and associating it with some divine fruit. The reason for doing this particular ritual is that the bride be treated well by her in-laws. The girl is relatively weak and after the wedding, she leaves her parents to go and live with her husband and in-laws. So, her parents want to ensure...
[Shri Hrushikesh asked: A lot of food was wasted during the Kṛṣṇa Janmāṣṭamī celebration this year in one of the temples I visited. When I asked the temple authorities the reason why they cooked so much more food than needed, they said that they had expected many devotees to come on the festival day, but, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the number of people who turned up was less than they had expected. I said to one of my friends in the temple...
Swami replied: The wastage of food is considered to be the highest sin by the Veda and it must be avoided at any cost (Annaṃ na paricakṣīta). The argument of your friend is totally wrong because the microorganisms upon eating the wasted food will grow in number and attack good people causing harm to them in the form of diseases. We do not kill flies because they do not harm us directly...
[Shri Hrushikesh asked: Swami, You have given answers to many of these questions in the past. My apologies for troubling You, asking the same questions again. I should blame my laziness for not searching the answers in the past discourses. Your kindness and patience have no limits. It gives me an immense feeling of gratefulness and love when I think about the way You are guiding me all through my life...
Swami replied: You should not worry about the magnitude of your sacrifice to God. A poor beggar sacrificed just one coin to God and got the highest appreciation from Jesus, the Human Incarnation of God. On the other hand, God did not even mention the names of the rich people, who donated thousands of coins...
Mrs. Lavanya asked: Namaskāram Swami! Is there any significance in the dress code or the colour of the dress of Sadgurus? We see Śrī Satya Sai Bāba wearing orange robes, while Śrī Ramaṇa Maharṣi and Śrī Rāmakriṣṇa Paramahaṃsa wore white. As per the rules of the saṃnyāsa āśrama (sainthood), they should also constantly move from place to place and get their food in the form of bhikṣā (begging). But these Sadgurus were confined to one particular place, even though they visited a few places occasionally. This question was raised by my husband and he told me to ask You, Swami.
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Dress code is not at all important because the dress code is only the code of the body, which itself is the dress for the soul (Vāsāṃsi jīrṇāni...—Gītā). The body contains the brain and the nervous system...
[Reply to a question by Shri Kartik] Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! There is a saying that unless a person’s madness is cured, his marriage will not happen and unless his marriage happens, his madness will not be cured. In such a situation, both should take place simultaneously, so that there is a gradual improvement or a slow, step by step cure. The attraction to the knowledge of the Sadguru, who is the contemporary Human Incarnation, must develop, so that our consciousness...
[Reply to a question by Shri Kartik] Swami replied: If seeing the Sadguru is also associated with conversation, involving the clarification of one’s doubts, then seeing is also important. Merely seeing the Sadguru, without the conversation is not at all effective...
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