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Swami replied: This question is not important for your spiritual development. I have told a lot about this topic in My earlier messages. Briefly, I can say that in the mahāpralaya, the five elements get converted into their root cause, which is called mūla prakṛti. Mūla prakṛti is very subtle inert energy and is the root material-cause of creation. Even this root material-cause was created by the unimaginable God due to His unimaginable power and hence, this root inert energy cannot be claimed to be beginningless (anādi). After its initial creation by God, it will remain in existence forever...
[We often aspire to be successful so that we can show to the world, especially our relatives and friends. Hey Swamiji! Is it ok to think this way? (This question is part of a Mahā Satsaṅga or grand spiritual discussion between Swami, Shri Parikshit, Smt. Bindiya and Dr. J. S. R. Prasad.)]
Swami replied: It is okay as far as worldly life is concerned. Such an aspiration gives rise to the appropriate effort necessary to achieve the goal. But you should not concentrate much on the aspiration, because if you spend too much energy on the aspiration, it will weaken you and reduce your efficiency in achieving the goal. Whenever you feel any such aspiration, you should immediately leave it and concentrate all your energy on the work...
[Suppose I get success in this material world and become famous. Am I allowed to reveal to the world, in interviews and even otherwise, that the true reason for my success is Lord Dattatreya’s blessings, love and guidance through His Incarnation, Shri Datta Swami? Or should I keep it a secret? (This question is part of a Mahā Satsaṅga or grand spiritual discussion between Swami, Shri Parikshit, Smt. Bindiya and Dr. J. S. R. Prasad.)]
Swami replied: When you open any information to any person, you must estimate whether the consequences will be favorable to that person and whether the person will be benefitted by your information or not. It all depends...
[This question is part of a Mahā Satsaṅga (grand spiritual discussion) between Swami, Shri Parikshit, Smt. Bindiya and Dr. J. S. R. Prasad.]
Swami replied: The unimaginable God wished to express Himself to all the devotees in the world that He was going to create. So, He created an energetic form with which He merged perfectly. By way of that first Energetic Incarnation, the unimaginable God gave Himself to the world. This first Energetic Incarnation is called Īśvara. Īśvara is also called Datta, which means ‘given’ since the unimaginable God has given Himself to the world by way of this first energetic form. Īśvara and Datta, thus, are the names of the same first Energetic Incarnation of the unimaginable God. It is this same Īśvara or Datta...
[This question is part of a Mahā Satsaṅga (grand spiritual discussion) between Swami, Shri Parikshit, Smt. Bindiya and Dr. J. S. R. Prasad.]
Swami replied: This is an utter lie! Buddha is the ninth of the ten famous Incarnations of God Viṣṇu. If God Buddha were an atheist, it would mean that He was denying His own existence! He merely kept silent about the ultimate unimaginable God. He never deined God. Since the ultimate God is unimaginable, He cannot be described in words. Śaṅkara too said that God is best-expressed through silence (Maunavyākhyā prakaṭita Parabrahma…). Buddha’s main emphasis was on the followers following the path properly. So, for sometime, He kept silent about God...
[This question is part of a Mahā Satsaṅga (grand spiritual discussion) between Swami, Shri Parikshit, Smt. Bindiya and Dr. J S. R. Prasad.]
Swami replied: Hanumān was a monistic Incarnation of God Śiva and Rāma was a monistic Incarnation of God Viṣṇu. A monistic Incarnation means that God had actually merged with the human medium in that Incarnation. A dualistic Incarnation is when a very close devotee of God is treated to be an Incarnation, even though God has not actually merged with that human medium. But Hanumān and Rāma were both monistic Incarnations of Śiva and Viṣṇu respectively. The Veda says that God Śiva and God Viṣṇu are one and the same God (Śivaśca Nārāyaṇaḥ). Both Śiva and Viṣṇu...
[This question is part of a Mahā Satsaṅga (grand spiritual discussion) between Swami, Shri Parikshit, Smt. Bindiya and Dr. J. S. R. Prasad.]
Swami replied: The mantra is a sentence that you utter, even though its meaning is not told to you. When the meaning is not known, you cannot develop any feeling upon reciting it. If there is no feeling, there is no devotion. If there is no devotion, God will not be pleased with you and He will not perform any miracle in your favor. The mere utterance of a mantra, without knowing...
[This question is part of a Mahā Satsaṅga (grand spiritual discussion) between Swami and devotees.] Swami replied: Sai Baba was an Incarnation of God Datta and He tried to bring mutual harmony between Hinduism and Islam. A prominent follower of Adi Shankaracharya criticized Sai Baba, some years ago. But I explained to him that the philosophies of Ādi Śaṅkaracārya and Sai Baba are one and the same...
[This question is part of a Mahā Satsaṅga (grand spiritual discussion) between Swami, Shri Parikshit, Smt. Bindiya and Dr. J S. R. Prasad] Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Just as all human beings are similar in nature in that they have both good and bad qualities, all religions too are similar in that they have both merits and defects. The good qualities of a person are the result of associating with good people, while the person’s bad qualities are the result of associatiing with bad people. Similarly, every religion has acquired merits from the original establishers of that religion...
[This question is part of a Mahā Satsaṅga (grand spiritual discussion) between Swami, Shri Parikshit, Smt. Bindiya and Dr. J S. R. Prasad] Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! We need not blindly accept every statement of any scripture. Analyzing any statement...
[This question is part of a Mahā Satsaṅga (grand spiritual discussion) between Swami, Shri Parikshit, Smt. Bindiya and Dr. J S. R. Prasad] Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! It is perfectly correct. The establisher of every religion is God-in-human-form and hence, Kalki and Mohammed can be conveniently compared. At the time of Mohammad, there were several religions, which worshipped several Gods. As a result, there was a lot of quarrelling...
We light a lamp before God. For whom, is this lamp lit? Is it for God? Not at all! God is said to be the source of all lights and He has no need of any light (Na tatra suryo bhāti… tasya bhāsā…—Veda). The light is only helpful for us. With the help of the light, we can read a divine book or we can see the picture of God clearly. The light or oil lamp is useful to us only when there is darkness around. But we light the lamp even during the day, when it is not useful to us in any way. We are burning ghee or oil to produce the light which is not even needed. The oil or ghee is food-material and is created by God for the sake of human beings, so that they can live and grow strong. Thus your lighting the lamp is nothing but the burning of precious food needlessly...
[On the auspicious occasion of Diwali, Dr. Nikhil sent to Shri Swami, a devotional Hindi song dedicated to Him. The song was named “Shri Datta Swami Ārati”. Given below is the conversation that occurred between Swami and Dr. Nikhil, in this context, which will be useful for devotees in the spiritual line.]
Shri Datta Swami: The song is so sweet and palatable that even Guru Datta, the embodiment of spiritual knowledge, got injected with ego!
Dr. Nikhil: Swamiji, You are testing us! It is Your way of saying that we should not develop an ego! While giving knowledge, You (Lord Datta) always give it in a straightforward manner. But while dealing with people like us, who have a contrary attitude, You use reverse psychology. When You say, You developed an ego, we should understand it as, we should be careful of not developing an ego...
धरती पर भक्तों के तुम हो उद्धारक,
भक्तों के कष्टों के तुम हो निवारक,
जीवों के भर्ता तुम ही हो मेरे पालक,
जगत् कण हूँ मैं और तुम जग संचालक॥१॥
Dharatī par bhaktoṁ ke tum ho uddhārak,
Bhaktoṁ ke kaṣṭoṁ ke tum ho nivārak,
Jīvoṁ ke bhartā tum hī ho mere pālak,
Jagat kaṇ hūm̐ maiṁ aur tum jag sancālak ||1||...
O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! God Krishna used to play the flute in Bṛndāvanam and everyone thinks that He only played some musical tunes without any meaning. But it is not so. What He played on the flute were songs containing spiritual knowledge like that in the Bhagavad Gītā. That spiritual knowledge was well-understood by the sages who were reborn as the Gopikās. The Gopikās sang nineteen songs for God Krishna expressing their unimaginable love for Him. But the songs sung by Lord Krishna are not known. Some of them are being revealed here by God Datta...
Shri Durgaprasad asked: Padanamaskaram Swami! You have said that one should keep the Lord in place of one’s child so that one’s love towards the Lord becomes natural. The Gopikās showed exactly this type of love and served the Lord like a family member. On other hand, Lakṣmaṇa and Hanumān served the Lord like slaves, considering Him to be their Master. It means, they were always in the alert mode. These two types of love appear to be quite opposite. How can we understand this difference? Your servant, Durgaprasad
Swami replied: Parents too are slaves to their children as they serve their children. In fact, their service is greater than the service done by a slave. The mother washes the child’s bottom after excretion, whereas a servant would generally hesitate to do it. The master pays a limited salary to his servants as per the quality and quantity of their service. On the other hand, children pay nothing to their parents. Instead, parents transfer their entire property to their children, in addition to serving them, even if the grown-up children...
Shri Durgaprasad asked: A Muslim preacher Zakir Naik claims, Prophet Mohammed was the last Prophet even as per Hinduism, because it is said in Hinduism that the Lord will come as last Incarnation, Kalki. Of course, Zakir Naik picks up quotations from the scriptures of other religions, selectively, to suit his purpose. Swami, can you please tell us, what is the significance of the Incarnation of Lord Kalki, when the Lord has also said that He will come again and again.
Swami replied: We belong to Universal Spirituality and we do not have even the slightest objection in calling Prophet Mohammed as the Human Incarnation of God. Kalki is only the name of one Human Incarnation. Even if Kalki is actually different from the Prophet, it does not make any difference, because both the future Kalki and the past Prophet are equal in the sense that both are Human Incarnations...
Shri Nava Chaitanya asked: Padanamaskaram Swamiji! Thank you Swamiji for granting this life and access to this wonderful knowledge. Swamiji, I have been reading Your discourses for the past few years, in which I have found a lot of wonderful information, different perspectives, underlying meaning and so on. I have a few questions, which I have presented below. My questions are basically related to how one can practically tackle worldly problems...
Swami replied: God has absolutely no objection for canceling the fruits of all the sins of all souls and granting only the fruits of their merits, so that all souls will always be happy. He is not bothered about the systematic arrangement of the fruits of deeds or the good reputation of His administration. In fact, God had kept all souls happy in the kṛta yuga by keeping all souls under His full control...
[Reply to a question by Dr.Nikhil] Swami replied: You are perfectly correct. In fact, in the traditional ritual, the young boy who is to be initiated into the study of the Veda, formally asks his father to give him the Sāvitrī Mantra (Sāvitrīṃ anubrūhi). Sāvitrī Mantra is the hymn in praise of the deity called Savitā, which means the Creator of the world. That hymn is not the actual gāyatrī but is merely a verse written in the gāyatrī meter...
[Reply to a question by Shri Ngherappa] Swami replied: Doubt is most welcome, but the discussion should remove the doubt and create faith. Doubt is the seed, discussion is the grown tree and faith is the final fruit of the tree. The fruit is naturally given the highest importance. Blind faith is the rotten, poisonous fruit lying by the side of the road. The person who wants to avoid the hard work of growing the tree (discussion), is fascinated by the rotten fruit fallen by the roadside. Faith obtained after a long discussion ...
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