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Śrī Pavan Kuppa asked: Is there any reference to idol worship in the Vedas?
Swāmi replied: It is true that the unimaginable God is present in human form and that He can be directly worshipped by human beings. But due to ego and jealousy, which is the repulsion between the common human media, direct worship of the Human Incarnation is very very difficult for the majority. Only very few blessed devotees directly worship the Human Incarnation. Diamonds...
Śrī Bharath Krishna asked: I would not like anyone pouring milk on my head. It would not be a very pleasant experience. I feel that even a Human Incarnation of God would also feel...
Śrī Bharath Krishna said: Swāmi, recently Goddess Aṃkāḻamma entered into a boy’s body. One of Your devotees named Amudha was present there. Through him, Aṃkāḻamma told Amuda that the Sadguru she believes and worships (Śrī Datta Swāmi) is none other than God. Is the Goddess’s entry into the boy’s body the same as Āveśa Avatāra, which is known as pūnakaṃ in Telugu? I also read about...
[Reply to a question asked by Kum. Laxmi Thrylokya.] Swāmi replied: Attaining the grace of God is the most important point. If the grace of God is absent, what is the use of such an attainment? Attainment of God just means achieving closeness to God, in a physical sense. Such an attainment is of no use if God is not pleased with the devotee. Rāvaṇa went to Kailāsa and attained God Śiva, in a physical sense. But what was the use of his attainment...
Smt. Padmaram asked: Recently, I had a dream in which my husband and I were walking. Suddenly, we saw a snake around the neck of Lord Śiva. It came down and started coming towards us. We got scared and my husband tried to escape from the snake. Lord Śiva saw...
[Reply to a question asked by Smt. Rekha.] Swāmi replied: Karma yoga is practical devotion and God Datta tests the devotee only in this practical devotion. Karma yoga always follows bhakti yoga or devotion and devotion follows spiritual knowledge or jñāna yoga. As you become more and more informed about God through jñāna yoga, you develop more and more devotion to God. As you develop more and more true devotion...
1. What is the difference between yāga and yajña?
[Reply to a question by Smt Padmaram.] Swāmi replied: There is not much difference between the two. Both are alternative words for each other and they mean the worship of God. Specifically, they refer to the practical service and sacrifice which is called practical...
Śrī Pavan asked: Swāmi, generally I have noticed that a phalaśruti is given at the end of divine bhajans that praise God’s divine qualities. We even find such phalaśrutis at the end of prayers written by Human Incarnations of God like Śaṅkarācārya. By singing such bhajans, we are making a saṅkalpa (specific request) in the form of that phalaśruti. Can such a saṅkalpa please God? I am asking this question remembering one of Your life incidents...
[Reply to a question by Śrī Surya.] Swāmi replied: Do you think that all of you believe Me to be an Incarnation of God Datta, just because I said so? If that were the truth, anybody else could also make that same claim. Would you believe such a claim, just because that person said so? You believed what I said because you found it to be true after perfect analysis through sharp logic. Seeing the excellent unimaginable quality...
Śrī Ganesh asked: There is a ritual known as ‘Kāśī Yātrā’ done in every marriage of Tamil Brāhmins. In this ritual, the bridegroom acts as if he has suddenly developed interest in spiritual knowledge. He pretends to leave on a journey to Kāśī, since Kaśi is among the holiest cities and a place for learning spiritual knowledge. On seeing this, the father or brother of the bride stops him and explains to him the benefits of married life...
Śrī Ganesh asked: Swāmiji, recently I had a discussion with Dr. Nikhil. During the discussion, he said that if we are born in a middle-class family, it is better to take up a good and stable job to meet our basic needs. It is better not to aspire to be rich. Instead, one can focus on spiritual knowledge. The reason given by him is that in order for a middle-class person to get rich, he would have to put in too much effort and take big risks...
Swāmi said: God Datta has been called Jñāna Mohinī in one of the Datta Aṣṭakams composed by Me (Taṃ jñānamohinyavatāramekaṃ…). It means that He is the Mohinī (Divine Enchantress) of spiritual knowledge because He attracts everybody in the world by His wonderful spiritual knowledge. As we all experienced, Smt. Devi, w/o Dr. Nikhil is singing devotional songs at the end of every satsaṅga...
Śrī Anil asked: Pādanamaskāraṃ Swāmi! In Your message on 27th October 2020 regarding the worship of Godess Lalitā, You mentioned that learned people say that poet Kālidāsa described the body of Goddess Pārvatī in his epic, called Kumāra Sambhavam. Due to that, he got the dreaded disease, leprosy. Swāmi, when he merely described the Goddess in words, without any physical...
Śrī Anil asked: A muslim preacher said that every Muslim is required to know at least thirteen attributes of Allāh. However, the attributes of Allāh are not limited by a number. These thirteen attributes are (1) existence (2) oneness (3) eternity (4) everlastingness (5) non-resemblance to creation (6) non-neediness of others (7) power (8) life (9) will (10) knowledge (11) sight (12) hearing and (13) Al-Kalām (speech). He further says that being ignorant of these attributes is an enormous sin, while denying any of them is disbelief (kufr).
Swāmi replied: The ignorance of these attributes of God makes a person misunderstand God to be defective in one way or other way. But all these attributes (even in less potencies) do not have an imaginable and logical basis...
Śrī Anil asked: A Muslim devotee claimed that Prophet Mohammad is the greatest prophet giving the following as proof: When our beloved Prophet went to Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, He led all the prophets in prayer. This shows His superior status among them.
Swāmi replied: The Muslim devotee said that Prophet Mohammed led all the prophets in prayer. Are you sure that all those prophets were Incarnations of God? Among those prophets, Prophet Jesus...
Śrī Anil asked: A Muslim devotee stated that it is blasphemy to say that Allāh loves all the creation. As a proof, he quoted the following from the Qu’ran. “Say, obey Allāh and His Messenger and if you turn away from that then Allāh does not love the kāfireen (non-believers).” Therefore, it is against the Holy Qu’ran to say that Allāh loves all the creation. How could He love someone and also send them to hellfire forever?]
Swāmi replied: The quality of love has both faces of pleasantness and anger. The father is pleased with the good son. The father gets angry with his other bad son. The father’s anger does not mean the absence...
Śrī Anil asked: A Muslim devotee said that Allāh is not Jesus and that Jesus is not God’s son. He gives the following explanation as reasoning: We all know that Jesus had a beginning. He ate food and slept like we do. He even prayed to Allāh. There is no doubt that these are created attributes. The Creator is not like the creation and does not have created attributes. We cannot attribute weakness to God. To say that God...
Swāmi replied: What the Muslim said is correct, but not complete. He has to accept that Mohammad is also not the son of God based on the same reasons given by him in the case of Jesus. He wants to say that both Jesus and Mohammad...
Śrī Anil asked: A Muslim says that bad Muslims will get help from pious Muslims on the day of judgment. He states the following: Shafāh is a special help given to the bad Muslims from the pious Muslims on the Day of Judgment. Shafāh happens by the pious asking Allāh to help those bad Muslims by relieving them of their punishment. Allāh answers the prayers of the pious and lessens...
Swami replied: Atheists following ethics also are not punished by God. God’s minimum and maximum expectation is only that all souls should live peacefully...
Śrī Balaji asked: Namaste Swāmi! Generally, it seems effective when I discuss the divine spiritual knowledge with people who are open-minded and who are interested in rational/logical discussions like my peers, students, professionals etc. These people are willing to discuss for hours on topics in a friendly manner and all the points given by You can be presented in a convincing way. But with certain other types of people, I have found it especially difficult. This includes...
Śrī Amit Ghosh asked: My cousin is a 43-year-old mental patient living in a mental hospital. How can I help him improve his spiritual level in this birth and also help him after his death in the other world? I feel that mental illness is basically a satanic attack. When mental patients die, dark energies immediately control their souls. Generally, nobody including their family members, do not perform any spiritual rituals...
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