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Swami replied: The original unimaginable God is the absolute Reality, which is beyond even the imagination of our brain. The Energetic Incarnations of God are imaginable, but invisible. One can only get a vision of an Energetic Incarnation for a few minutes after doing long penance because Energetic Incarnations are not relevant to humanity. One can worship them indirectly through representative images or statues. Past Human Incarnations are relevant to human beings since they too possess the common human medium, but they are not available in the present. They too, like Energetic Incarnations, can only be worshipped indirectly through images and statues...
What is the difference between religion and philosophy? Why are there quarrels between the sub-religions in Hinduism? [This is part of a mahā satsaṅga or a great spiritual discussion between Swami and several devotees who had come from various places, seeking the clarification of their doubts.]
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Religion is a collection of traditions related to the external culture. They have been formulated by certain devotees for the sake of their followers. Philosophy is the spiritual knowledge, which is completely related to the personality of God. Religions differ much, but in philosophies, there is unity to a large extent. Whether it is religion or philosophy, sharp and deep logical analysis is necessary. The reason is that there are some good traditions established by good followers...
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! You need not control or eliminate any quality since all qualities are created by God. Every quality has been created by God only for a good purpose. They become bad only when they are used for bad purposes by souls. You cannot say that some qualities are good and other qualities are bad. Every quality has both good and bad sides. The good side of any quality means using it for the purpose intended by God, while the bad side is using it for the opposite purpose, as is often done by souls. Hence, every quality is like a coin having two sides—good and bad—which are determined by the direction in which the quality is used. Trying to eliminate any quality completely is indeed foolish! It shows the lack of complete knowledge...
King Bali is said to be the future Indra and Hanumān is said to be the future Brahmā. Does this mean that Indra and Brahmā are only posts and not persons? Does it also apply to the cases of Viṣṇu and Śiva?
Swami replied: Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva, represented by Hiraṇyagarbha, Nārāyaṇa and Śiva, respectively constitute Īśvara or Datta. After the main creation of the world by God Brahmā, secondary creation in the world continues and it includes creating issues and so on. To carry out these secondary tasks of creation, God created the post of Prajāpati. The word Prajāpati (secondary creator) is therefore, loosely identified with the word Brahmā (Creator) and is often used as an alternative name of Brahmā. Dakṣa is a Prajāpati and not Brahmā. Indra is the name of the post of the ruling angel in heaven. Hence, there is no objection in saying that King...
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Yoga means the first meeting with God. Yoga ends after meeting God in human form once. After that, continuously staying close to the Human Incarnation will bring negligence to any human devotee because the properties of external human medium are common to both the human devotee and God-in-human-form. The devoted soul observes that the Human Incarnation of God also possesses a human body similar to his own and that the Incarnation’s body too, exhibits all the usual properties of a human body such as birth, hunger, thirst, sleep, illness and death. Observing the commonality in the external medium of God, the devotee begins to think that God is also a human being...
Swami replied: Compared to all other worldly bonds, the bonds with money, one’s chidren and one’s life-partner, are the strongest. But among these three, each of them could be said to be the strongest. The nature of the bond with one’s life-partner is like a wave, in that it rises and falls. Usually, it is somewhat low, but just before and during union, the strength of this bond jumps to the sky. The nature of the bonds with one’s issues (children) and wealth are approximately constant at all times, like a straight line. If all three bonds are represented on a graph, the bond with one’s life-partner appears as a peak (wave-form), whereas the bonds with one’s wealth and issues appear to be horizontal lines at about half the height of the peak. Thus, on an average, the strengths of all three can be said to be...
If God is unimaginable, He should be beyond awareness and beyond our experience. Then why is it traditionally said that God is awareness and that, as awareness, He is always being experienced by us? [This question is part of a mahā satsaṅga or a great spiritual discussion between Swami and several devotees who had come from various places, seeking the clarification of their doubts.]
Swami replied: If you see the definition of God in the scriptures and apply some logical analysis to it, you will inevitably conclude that the ultimate Absolute Reality, called God, is unimaginable. Simple logic is sufficient to arrive at this conclusion. The scripture says that God is the Creator of space (Ātmanaḥ ākaśaḥ sambhūtaḥ). Space can obviously not exist in God before its creation. If no space exists in God, it means that God has no spatial dimensions. God has no volume and is even beyond the concept of space and spatial dimensions. It means that God is unimaginable since our imagination can never cross the concept...
Even sage Vyāsa says that the soul itself is God (Brahmātmaikatva lakṣaṇam). Then why do You say that the soul is different from God? [This question is part of a mahā satsaṅga or a great spiritual discussion between Swami and several devotees who had come from various places, seeking the clarification of their doubts.]
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! The same sage Vyāsa also wrote several sutras, one after the other, in the very first pāda of the first adhyāya of the Brahma Sūtras proving that the soul is not God (Netaronupapatteḥ etc.,). A soul, along with its external body, can become God when God merges with it to become an Energetic or Human Incarnation. Souls possessing energetic bodies...
Can we conclude that theoretical devotion is a waste as compared to practical devotion involving service and sacrifice? [This question is part of a mahā satsaṅga or a great spiritual discussion between Swami and several devotees who had come from various places, seeking the clarification of their doubts.]
Swami replied: Certainly not! Unless you completely know the personality of God through theoretical knowledge, devotion will not be born at all. Had Rukmiṇī not heard about Krishna from Nārada, she would have not developed any attraction (theoretical) for Krishna. Without the attraction to Krishna, she would not have sent the messenger to Krishna requesting Him to marry her, which is practical devotion. Mere service...
In the Tretā Yuga, Rāma told the sages that they would be reborn as the Gopikās to face His tests. But the Gopikās were reborn only at the end of the Dvāpara Yuga. Why was there such a long delay? [This question is part of a mahā satsaṅga or a great spiritual discussion between Swami and several devotees who had come from various places, seeking the clarification of their doubts.]
Swami replied: By the end of Dvāpara Yuga, Kali Yuga had almost entered. Kali Yuga is characterized by an atmosphere of all bad qualities like theft, illegitimate sex and so on. The tests conducted by God for the Gopikās externally appeared to involve such bad qualities. Krishna’s stealing of the butter of the Gopikās was a test of whether their bond with God (Krishna) was stronger...
Vedānta philosophers say that Brahman is the goal whereas, the Śākteyas say that Śakti is the goal. How can both these views be correlated? [This question is part of a mahā satsaṅga or a great spiritual discussion between Swami and several devotees who had come from various places, seeking the clarification of their doubts.]
Swami replied: There is only one ultimate absolute reality. It is the unimaginable God, who is called Parabrahman or Brahman. This ultimate God, being unimaginable, is neither masculine nor feminine nor neuter in gender. God is referred to as masculine, only as per convention. The concept of gender exists only in the imaginable creation. Brahman does not mean male and Śakti does not mean female. Brahman refers...
Does salvation mean relief from this cycle of births and deaths? Why are we unable to develop real love for God, without the aspiration for any fruit in return? [This question is part of a mahā satsaṅga or a great spiritual discussion between Swami and several devotees who had come from various places, seeking the clarification of their doubts.]
Swami replied: Salvation (mokṣa) means the relief from worldly bonds. It happens only by yoga, which means attachment to God. The root-word of yoga is ‘yuj’ and it means attachment. The root word of mokṣa is ‘muñc’ and it means detachment. When you are strongly attached to one item, other items naturally drop off. Salvation cannot be attained by any forced...
Can we say that from the body point of view, we are servants of God, from the point of view of our individual soul, we are part of God and from the point of view of our soul, we are identical with God? [This question is part of a mahā satsaṅga or a great spiritual discussion between Swami and several devotees who had come from various places, seeking the clarification of their doubts.]
Swami replied: This statement was said by Hanumān to Rāma (Dehabuddhyātu dāso’ham, Jīvabuddhyā tvadaṃśakaḥ, Ātma buddhyā tvamevāham, iti me niścitā matiḥ.). But every soul is not Hanumān. Rāma was the Human Incarnation of God Nārāyaṇa and Hanumān is the Human Incarnation of God Sadāśiva. Both Nārāyaṇa and Sadāśiva are alternative names of the same God, known as Īśvara or Datta. Hence, both Rāma and Hanumān were the Incarnations...
Why did God Datta choose to merge with You in order to propagate the final true spiritual knowledge to this world. At that time, there were several saints available in the world, who had already sacrificed everything for the sake of God. Whereas, You were a married person with children, struggling for Your livelihood. Besides, You were a teacher of chemistry, which is not connected to spiritual knowledge at all!
Swami replied: When God Datta appeared before Me, asking Me to propagate this final spiritual knowledge, I had asked Him this exact same question, which you are asking Me now. In fact, I had prayed to Him to help Me in a job interview since I needed the job very much for My livelihood. But He did not respond to My request. Instead, as soon as He appeared, His first statement was “I have selected You for the full-time propagation of the final spiritual knowledge...
Pravṛtti means attachment to legitimate worldly bonds. Nivṛtti means detachment from the same legitimate worldly bonds. Both are opposite to each other. Then how can You bring both together saying that pravṛtti is the primary part of the same spiritual path and nivṛtti is the advanced part? This question is part of a mahā satsaṅga or a great spiritual discussion between Swami and several devotees who had come from various places, seeking the clarification of their doubts.
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! In pravṛtti there is forced detachment from unjust and illegitimate worldly bonds and a forced attachment to just and legitimate worldly bonds. Since pravṛtti is mandatory, the human being is forced to follow it. If the soul refuses to reject illegitimate bonds, the soul will be sent to hell. If the soul favors legitimate bonds...
[This question is part of a mahā satsaṅga or a great spiritual discussion between Swami and several devotees who had come from various places, seeking the clarification of their doubts.]
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! The atheist is also a citizen of his country. He, like any other citizen, wants the government of his country to run a good and just administration. But governments run by human beings are prone to error, injustice and partiality. Even the courts of law have human judges, who are not omniscient. In a court of law, we find a statue of the deity of justice with a black blindfold covering her eyes. It means that the judge passes the judgment based on hearing the testimony of the witnesses and not based on actually witnessing or seeing the incident...
Following is a mahā satsaṅga (grand spiritual discussion) between Swami and Shri J.S.R. Prasad, Professor of Sanskrit, who specializes in tarka śāstra (logic), at the Hyderabad Central University, Hyderabad.
Shri J.S.R. Prasad: What is the relationship between logic (tarka śāstra) and science?
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Both are one and the same. In both, the items of creation are discussed thoroughly (Tarkyante padārthāḥ asmin iti tarkaḥ). Logic was well-developed in ancient India by the intellectual exercises of various ancient Sanskrit scholars. Today, science is doing the same analysis of the items of creation. The merit of science over logic is that science practically verifies every concept through experimentation with the help of scientific equipment in a laboratory. Due to this advantage of science, certain concepts in ancient Indian logic were proved to be incorrect by modern science. Although such concepts...
Swami replied: Mere charity done to poor people is social service, which is not much related to God. The basis of social service is one’s love towards fellow-human beings. If you love and serve humanity, without any connection to God, God will grant you a place in heaven, because charity is a meritorious action (puṇya karma). But heaven is temporary and once the merit (puṇyam) is exhausted, you have to return to Earth (Kṣīṇe puṇye martya lokaṃ viśanti—Gita). Sage Bharata was highly spiritual. But he loved a baby-deer and his entire attention was concentrated only on that deer...
Swami replied: There is a fundamental mistake in your approach towards the devoted public. First of all, without mentioning any names, you should establish the importance of the contemporary Human Incarnation of God, which is more relevant to humanity than Energetic Incarnations. Energetic Incarnations are relevant to the upper world which consists of energetic beings. You should say that Hanumān reached the highest goal by worshipping Rāma and that Rādhā reached highest goal by worshipping Krishna. Both Rāma and Krishna were neither Energetic Incarnations, like God Viṣṇu...
Swami replied: The biggest sin is to deny the contemporary Human Incarnation due to ego-based...
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