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[Reply to a question by Shri J. Prasad, Professor of Sanskrit, Central University, Hyderabad] Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! The first step is the attainment of the Sadguru and the attainment of complete spiritual knowledge from Him, which includes getting all doubts clarified from Him. This first step is the slowest step in the sense that this step takes almost all the time. The second step is the attainment of devotion which is a result of the spiritual knowledge. The third step is the attainment of practice...
[Reply to a question by Shri J. Prasad, Professor of Sanskrit, Central University, Hyderabad.] Swami replied: You wish to know whether this human world only is a place of actions (karma loka) or it is only a place of enjoyment of the fruits of action (bhoga loka) or it is a place for both. The answer is that all the three possibilities are valid depending upon the path selected by the soul in life. If the soul is completely dedicated to spiritual path alone, the world becomes purely a karma loka for him...
Shri PVNM Sharma asked: Swami! Sometimes You say that it is better to leave everything to God and sometimes You say that we should fight against injustice, as a part of God’s work. Can you please clarify our confusion?
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! The ultimate truth, which is the highest understanding of spiritual knowledge, is that God will certainly address every bit of action in this world. He will do it in His own way and not in our hasty way. Before punishing sinners for their sins, God gives them some time, which is an opportunity for reformation. If a sinner gets reformed, all the sinner’s punishments for that particular type of sin are cancelled...
Shri Anil asked: Padanamaskaram Swami! This question is based on the following incident from the Quran:“A woman came to the Prophet ﷺ and complained to him about her husband that he invites too many guests and that she has become weary from preparing food for them and hosting them. The Prophet ﷺ did not answer and the woman left. Sometime later, the Prophet ﷺ called the woman’s husband and said, ‘I am your guest today.’ The man was so happy...
Shri Anil asked: Swami, in the recent message You have mentioned that spiritual knowledge is only for rare diamonds. Also, You have mentioned that rare diamonds really do not require preaching. You have preached spiritual knowledge of various levels, which is similar to the levels of kindergarten to PhD. Are these different levels of spiritual knowledge meant to be preached to receivers at various levels?
Swami replied: There are diamonds at various levels, just as there are devotees...
Shri Anil asked: In Your discourse titled ‘Meaning of Brahman, Ishvara and Atman’ on January 12, 2020, You have mentioned that, in the Gita, when Krishna said “I am the base of Brahman”, the ‘I’ refers to the unimaginable God present in Krishna, while ‘Brahman’ refers to the first Energetic Incarnation called Īśvara (or Datta). So, as per this interpretation, the absolute unimaginable God is said to be the basis of God Datta. Finally, it means that God is the basis of God! Instead, can we take ‘Brahman’ to mean...
How can the ‘Gods’ of different religions be the same when there are so many differences?
[A question from a discussion forum forwarded by Shri Anil: The followers of one God eat meat. The followers of another God do not eat meat. One God tells His followers to kill others. Another God got killed on the cross for the whole of mankind. These different Gods also have different birthdays! Then, how can you say that all these Gods are the same.]
Swami replied: God is like the common sugar present in sugar candy that is moulded into different shapes of swans, parrots etc. Different ‘Gods’ only mean the different media of the same unimaginable God. It refers to different Incarnations of the same God. The same person...
[A question from a discussion forum forwarded by Shri Anil.]
Swami replied: In any religion, there are always some shortcomings. The specific shortcomings may differ from one religion to another. If you point out one defect in Me, I can point out another defect in you. But there are also merits in each religion. The merits in any religion come from concepts and practices established by the Human Incarnations who founded that religion...
[Reply to a question by Shri Ankuj] Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Infinite means an item which has no beginning and no end. In this context, the main question is whether the item is really infinite or not. If the item is really infinite, there is no problem in calling it infinite. But there is another possibility, which is that the item might not really be infinite, but it might just be very large, even though finite. It might be so large that we are unable to find its beginning or end and so, we mistake it to be infinite. Cosmic energy is an imaginable item that has been created by the unimaginable God. The same cosmic energy has got converted into matter and awareness to form the various living and non-living items in creation. After all, cosmic energy being a created item...
[Reply to a question by Tinku K] Swami replied: Women are far cleverer than men. So, they chose to do household duties which involve a lot of physical exercise, throughout the day. As a result, they do not put on weight. They remain beautiful and in perfect health, which is necessary for worldly enjoyment. Men are egoistic and wherever there is ego, the brain becomes incapable of doing sharp analysis. Men may exercise at specific times...
[Reply to a question by Tinku K] Swami replied: The reason behind this age-old practice is that the property of the parents was only given to sons and not to daughters. As a result of this practice, daughters too, only served their in-laws and not their parents. Daughters even change their surnames and gotras to those of their husband. The reason behind all of this is basically money and property. The gotra is the family lineage tracing back to an ancient sage. The funny part...
[Reply to a question by Tinku K] Swami replied: The reason behind this custom, like many others, is money. In the ancient tradition, the husband used to be the earning member of the family and the wife used to be the non-earning member. Since God is said to be in money, the wife calls her husband God, even if it is only lip-service. She also serves him for the same reason. Similarly, a businessman calls his customers as costumer-Gods! But times have changed and now, the wife also earns, in many cases. So, you will see a corresponding change in the attitude of the wife. As per the old system, the husband being the earning member...
Shri Balaji asked: In Your reply to a question on rāja yoga on February 10, 2020, You have said that when king Janaka was deeply absorbed in a spiritual discussion and was told that his city, Mithilā was on fire, he was not disturbed. You have explained that this showed Janaka’s detachment from worldly issues. But You have also said that, in the case of Janaka, his administration of the kingdom was also God’s work, since it involved maintaining justice and controlling sins. Does his detachment from the administration of the kingdom not mean the detachment from God’s work?
Swami replied: Fulfilling his duty as the king of his kingdom was the unavoidable worldly work that he had to do, just as an ordinary person has to perform his professional work as an employee. But Janaka turned even this worldly work into God’s work by ruling the city in accordance with God’s will. He upheld justice and condemned injustice. Being king was not a matter of worldly enjoyment for him. He never enjoyed the kingship...
Shri Bharath Krishna asked: Om Namaḥ Śivaya, Swami! I am trying to understand the divine knowledge given by You. I request You to kindly clarify my queries. In the discourse given by you on August 14, 2016 (2nd Message), you have said the following: Krishna preached a lot to the Kauravas and also invited various sages to preach to them! But Krishna did not do as Jesus did since He had decided to kill all of them. He knew that sympathy could never arise in the hearts of the demons who were born as the Kauravas. In the case of Jesus, there was some scope for repentance...
Swami replied: The cruel people who crucified Jesus went to eternal hell because they did not repent after the crucifixion of Jesus. They were similar to the Kauravas, who were not only punished here, but were also thrown into eternal hell. The crucifixion...
Shri Bharath Krishna asked: I was watching the movie "Shri Datta Darshanam" after learning from my fellow-devotee, Veena Datta, that the story of this movie was given by You. In this movie, the devotee, Vishnu Datta, serves food to a crow which sits on a tree, in front of his home, everyday. One day, the crow, which was actually a rākṣasa (demon), appears in its original form, seeing which Vishnu Datta gets scared. That rākṣasa tells Vishnu Datta that on eating the food served by Vishnu Datta everyday, all his demonic qualities are gone and that he has been relieved from the curse...
Shri Bharath Krishna asked: This question is related to the life of an innovator. An innovator enjoys his thought-process which produces new ideas, which is what motivates him to create or discover something. But discovery or innovation requires an advanced intellect and only a human being has that kind of intellect. I have also learned that the only true purpose of a human being is to use all his abilities in finding God. If a human being spends his entire life in innovating things without ever bothering to learn about God...
Shri Bharath Krishna asked: When I see a particular quality in another human being and like it immensely, that quality attracts me to the person and makes me fall in love with the person. When I express my love, admiration and my willingness to sacrifice for the sake of the person, it pleases the person. Is the case of God being pleased with a climax nivṛtti devotee also the same as the above worldly example?...
Shri Bharath Krishna asked: Swamiji, these days even school kids are falling in love! We humans often find a special quality in someone and fall in love, being totally unaware of their negative qualities. This happened to me too. I thought that my parents will never be able to know me completely. For instance, they don't even know that I am learning this knowledge from you! So, I thought, how will they be able to find the right life-partner for me? I felt that I should search for a life-partner by myself. Before receiving this divine knowledge, I even tried to search for my own life-partner...
Shri J. Prasad (Prof. Sanskrit, Central University) asked: The Veda is the authority for knowing the existence of God. So, it is said that those who do not believe in the Veda are atheists, while those who believe in it are theists. But some Vedic scholars believe that the sound and accents of Vedic recitation are the main soul of the Veda. They say that Indra defeated and killed the demon Vṛtra because sages uttered a certain Vedic accent in a different way. Of course, You have clarified that Vṛtra was killed due to the will of God and not due to the changed accent of recitation. However, the point is that such Vedic scholars do not believe in any God other than the sound of the Veda. Then, how can the belief in the Veda be the basis for differentiating between theists (āstikas) and atheists (nāstikas)?
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! The Veda means the spiritual knowledge by which God is known and attained (Enaṃ vindanti Vedena, Vedaiśca sarvairahameva vedyaḥ, Tametaṃ Vedānuvacanena..., etc.). The greatness of the Veda is in that it is the knowledge of God. In other words, the greatness of the Veda is not independent, but dependent on the greatness of God. The temple is holy because of the presence of God in it. Without God, it is not at all holy. Similarly, the Veda is holy...
Swami replied: The soul is given full freedom in choosing the right path or the wrong path (Svabhāvastu pravartate—Gita). God does not force souls to leave the wrong path and turn to the right path. Using logic, God fully explains to souls about both paths and the results of following each of them. It is the souls who must feel attracted towards the right path preached by God and follow it, using their own free will. Krishna only preached to Arjuna what the right direction in his situation was. After presenting the complete logic before Arjuna, Krishna finally told Arjuna to analyze whatever He had said thoroughly and make his own decision, using his own free will (Yathecchasi tathā kuru). Krishna could have just forced Arjuna...
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