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[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 ...
[Reply to a question by Anupam Kumar] Swami replied: The best student of Guru Droṇa was Ekalavya, who never saw or learnt anything directly from Guru Droṇa. His marvelous faith in the teacher made him an excellent warrior. Even this example is too big for our case. The training in martial arts involving a bow and arrow requires the teacher to demonstrate certain things practically. But the subject being discussed by us is theoretical spiritual knowledge, in which there is no such requirement of any practical demonstration. Of course, in the beginning, some practical demonstration...
Shri G Lakshman asked: Swami! Padanamaskarams to You! In one of Your earlier discourses, You had mentioned that the number of souls (quantity) is more or less the same across the different worlds. In the beginning, God was bored and for His entertainment, He created the universe consisting of different worlds, animals, humans and so on. When God initially created souls, I understand that there would have only been a few of them and later on, they might have multiplied over time. Today, perhaps, we can say that the number of souls has reached a constant value. Is this true?
Swami replied: A person asked a villager how many crows were there in his village. The villager replied that there were 400 crows in his village. The person disagreed, claiming that he had already counted the actual number of crows and the number was only 390. The villager calmly explained that 10 crows might have gone to the neighboring village! The person left and returned after some time...
Smt. Bindiya wrote: Shat shat praṇām to Almighty Swamiji! I have full faith and believe that You are the true Human Incarnation of Lord Datta. There is no doubt in my mind and it is a fact for me now. I established this truth after analysing Your preaching and Your miracles which are not possible for any human being to do. Now, I am not keen to know the ifs and buts of life and history. I am not intrigued why what happened in the past, be it in the Mahabharata age or the Ramayana age. I don’t want to know what happens after life or what happened...
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Replying to your letter becomes a very complicated matter because your belief in the Human Incarnation is the most perfect climax-concept. It is the essence of the Gita, in which Krishna repeatedly said that He is the God-in-human-form to be recognized and served. Krishna cannot be misunderstood for saying that because God came as Krishna specifically to explain the nature of God-in-human-form. That is why Krishna is called a Līlā Mānuṣāvatāra...
The intellect (buddhi) is the faculty of logical analysis and decision-making. In that case, why does it not prevent us while committing sins, by giving a sharp decision based on logical analysis?
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! The intellect is responsible for conducting logical analysis and then making the correct decisions based on the analysis. The intellect places these decisions before the person in the context of performing any action, including sinful action. But the intellect is only an advising authority, like the judge in the court. The judgment alone is given by the judge in the court, while it is executed by other departments of the government. The judge is not the implementing authority for the judgement. In fact, we hear that there are several judgments...
Swami replied: Maturity is normally expected in old people because of the physical weakness of the body, which prevents them from practically committing sins. But this idea is not completely correct. The judgment given by the judge might, sometimes, not get implemented due to the inefficiency or incapability of the executing department. But it can get implemented whenever the department becomes capable, such as by recruiting new staff. The intellect is the judge, which, forced by the mind and senses, makes the decision to commit sin. However, the old and weak physical body ...
Swami replied: Usually, I look forward to attending any function where God is worshipped, especially when it is a function dedicated to the worship of God Datta. But I am sorry to say, I will not be able to attend this specific function. The reason is that, in this specific function, you will be repeatedly reciting the name of God Datta for seven days continuously. If I call out your name in your ear continuously for seven minutes, will you not get a headache? Will you be able to bear that headache for seven days? Not only you, but I, the Person repeating your name will also get a terrible headache...
Swami replied: There are two ways of thinking, which will develop your patience towards your enemy. The first way of thinking is as follows: I do not know whether this is a fresh case, in which the enemy harmed me without any fault on my side or it is a case of retaliation, in which the enemy harmed me since I had harmed him in the previous birth. God is omniscient and knows all the births of every soul and hence, He can alone decide whether this is a fresh case or a case of retaliation. If this is a fresh case and if the person does not get reformed even after the time given to the person by God to reform, then God will certainly punish the person suitably...
If someone slaps us on one cheek and we show them the other cheek, is it a sign of our patience or incapability to retaliate? Also, in responding to people who harm us, which policy should we follow? The ends-justify-means policy or means-justify-ends policy?
Swami replied: There are three stages in the spiritual development of souls. They are nivṛtti, which is the highest stage, pravṛtti, which is the middle stage and duṣpravṛtti, which is the lowest stage. Within each of these three stages or levels, there are two sub-levels. Thus, there are totally six sub-levels of souls namely, the highest, higher, high, low...
[Reply to a question by Dr. Annapurna] Pravṛtti is worldly life, which is related to the behaviour of one soul with other souls in society. It is the social behaviour of the soul, in which the soul is expected to keep society happy, or at least, not cause unhappiness to society. Nivṛtti is purely a personal matter related to the spiritual upliftment of the soul. Pravṛtti aims at the welfare and development of society, whereas nivṛtti aims at the personal welfare and personal development of the soul. Nivṛtti is based on pravṛtti because if society is not happy, the individual cannot be happy and cannot work towards self-development. Pravṛtti is the foundation and nivṛtti is the castle built on it. Yoga means meeting with someone...
Shri PVNM Sharma asked: These days, people perform ritual-sacrifices or yajñas by burning ghee in the physical fire. You have told us that there is not the slightest use of such sacrifices and that instead, they cause pollution. Could You please explain the same in greater detail?
Swami replied: There are three types of fire and they are: (1) Laukikāgni or bhautikāgni, which is the fire produced by burning sticks, (2) Vaidyutāgni, which is the fire produced through electricity and (3) Devatāgni, which is the fire of hunger in the stomach. This hunger-fire has been called Vaiśvānara in the Gita. In any ritual-sacrifice (yajña), the first two types of fire are only instrumental in cooking food and they are known as yajña sādhanam. The instrumental fire is only meant to cook the food and not burn it. The third type of fire, which is the hunger-fire...
[Reply to a question by Shri Phani] Swami replied: There are three items that are part of the process of knowledge and they are called the tripuṭī or the triad of knowledge. (1) The first is jñātā or the knower. It is the soul learning spiritual knowledge from the Divine Preacher or Sadguru. (2) The second is jñānam or the knowledge explained by the Divine Preacher. It is the subject-matter in the process of knowing and it pertains to all the three items in the triad. (3) The third is the jñeyam, which is the item that is to be known. It is ultimate goal and, in the context of spiritual knowledge, it is God or the Divine Preacher Himself. The knowledge can also be classified in to four categories based on the object of the knowledge (jñeyam)...
Shri Phani asked: How can we discuss and convince atheists, who are very adamant in their views?
Swami replied: Such adamant behaviour of atheists is the result of the aversion that they have held in their mind towards spirituality and spiritual people for a long time. The reason for their aversion is the hypocrisy of theists who have been secretly doing sins while pretending to be righteous externally. These atheists are able to identify such hypocrisy and they react emotionally. Unfortunately, their emotion is misguided since they blame God, holding Him responsible for the hypocrisy of the theists. They should blame the sinful theists and not God. The atheists think that if the concept of God itself is removed, the hypocrisy based on God will be eliminated from its root. This conclusion of the atheists is quite foolish. Firstly, by removing the concept of God, the quality of hypocrisy is not removed. Secondly, the problem of sin increases even more since the public loses all fear and starts committing all types of sin...
[Reply to a question by Shri Anil] Swami replied: The ultimate solution, not only for the Kashmir issue, but also for all similar cases, is the propagation of Universal Religion, which is based on Universal Spirituality. The differences between religions are only based on external diversity. We must unite both Hindus and Muslims and in fact, the followers of all religions, through Universal Spirituality. The problem can be solved very easily when spiritual concepts are propagated and are well-established in the minds of people. People should be convinced that following justice brings God’s grace and following injustice brings the anger of God...
Shri Anil asked: Given below is an excerpt from the Quran, Chapter 54, verses 1-8. The Hour has come near, and the moon has split (in two) - And if they see a sign, they turn away and say, “continued magic.”- And they denied and followed their inclinations. But for every matter is a time of settlement- And there has already come to them of information that in which there is deterrence – Extensive wisdom – but warning does not avail them- So leave them, O Muhammad. The Day the Caller calls to something forbidding - Their eyes humbled, they will emerge from the graves as if they were locusts spreading - Racing ahead toward the Caller. The disbelievers will say “This is a difficult Day.”
Swami replied: Here, moon represents the mind and the splitting of the moon means the splitting of the mind resulting in the state of doubt where there are two equally-strong and opposing concepts. A miracle can be done by both God and Satan. We cannot identify God only through a miracle. Only when a miracle is supported by excellent spiritual knowledge, does it indicate God. The atheist considers the miracle to be magic...
Shri Anil asked: When someone asked Prophet Mohammed “Have you seen thy Lord?”, the Prophet replied, “He is a Light, how could I see Him?” There are several other references related to Allah and light in the Quran, such as “His veil is the light”; “You are the Light of the heavens and the earth (wa man feehin) and whoever is in them”; “So believe in Allah and His Messenger and the Noor (light) which we have sent down (i.e. the Quran). And Allah is acquainted with what you do.” But some Muslim devotees say that calling Allah a Noor (Light) is not permissible. It is shirk, which is the sin of worshiping anyone or anything besides God.
Swami replied: Allah is the absolute and unimaginable God, called Parabrahman in Hinduism and Jehovah in Christianity. Allah cannot be any imaginable item in the imaginable creation. Mohammad was a Human Incarnation like Krishna in Hinduism and Jesus in Christianity. The ‘light’ mentioned here is the knowledge with the help of which you can see and distinguish items. Hence, the Quran is the light or divine knowledge...
Swami replied: This is the subject of the evolution of living beings from the inert water and inert earth. The fluid is nothing but the cytoplasm or protoplasm of living cells. This subject can be better-understood...
Swami relied: The words like flesh, blood and bread only mean the personality of the Human Incarnation. Eating and drinking means loving God-in-human-form to the climax. All these words are symbolic...
Shri Anil asked: Given below is an excerpt from the Bible (John 14) for reference. 1 Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe in Me as well. 2 In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going away to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.
Swami replied: Many rooms means many levels of devotion. It means that devotion must be developed step-by-step in the case of ordinary devotees. A blessed devotee, who had attained a high level devotion in the previous birth, may be reborn in this birth and continue from the same high level of devotion in this birth and may rise to higher levels. You cannot compare the high level of devotion attained by that devotee...
This is the second part of the two-part discourse given by Swami to several devotees who visited Him on the auspicious occasion of Krishnāṣṭami. This part is meant for those interested in logical analysis, especially for Prof. J. Prasad, who was among the devotees, who visited Swami.
1) How can God be unimaginable when He can be known through scripture, inference and experience?
When God is known from inference and scripture, God cannot be said to be unknowable or unimaginable. It is also said that God is known by experience alone (Anubhvaikavedyaṃ Brahma). Experience is possible only in the case of known or knowable items. In view of this, how can we say that God is unimaginable?
Swami replied: You have referred to ‘knowing’ God through inference, scripture or experience. But such ‘knowledge’ of God is only confined to knowing the existence of God. It does not mean knowing the nature of God. We experience the shock given by an electrified wire. With the shock, we have only experienced the existence of electricity and not the nature of electricity. Electricity is a stream of flowing electrons, which we have not experienced. From the shock that we experienced, we can infer that electricity must exist in the wire. We have not inferred the nature of the electricity. The testimony or ‘word’ of reliable persons...
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