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Shri Hrushikesh asked: Why do Your photographs on Your website show You mostly as a Hindu even though You preach about Universal Spirituality?
Swami replied: Universal Spirituality or Universal Religion is like the central government of India and the specific religion followed by any person, is like the state government of any one state in India. The citizen belongs to both the central and state governments simultaneously. This means that you can be a follower of Universal Religion while still being a follower of your own religion. Universal Religion pervades all religions in the world...
Shri Hrushikesh asked: Among the various forms of God, why do You only stress on the form of God Datta?
Swami replied: The absolute God, being beyond matter, energy, time, and space, cannot be perceived by us. He cannot even be imagined by us. Datta means the Unimaginable God who has ‘given’ Himself to souls, by entering into a medium and allowing souls to perceive Him. Datta is the first Energetic Incarnation of God in the upper world. Datta is not limited to any one specific religion. Datta, this First Incarnation of God, enters into other energetic...
Shri Hrushikesh asked: When the whole earth belongs to God alone, are the border disputes between countries justified?
Swami replied: The concepts of pravrutti should not be confused with the concepts of nivrutti. Pravrutti is maintaining justice in worldly life while nivrutti is the path of devotion and service to God. Let us assume that the wicked Duryodhana from the Mahaabhaarata is speaking to the good Dharmaraja. He would say “My dear brother! This entire world is the property of God since the Veda says ‘Ishavasyamidam sarvam’. Why then do you bother...
God-preacher Shri Datta spoke:- 22) When I merge with a devoted human being selected by Me to become an Incarnation it is called Saayujyam. The selected devotee never wishes for it and such merging happens only by My force. That human being then becomes Myself or equal to Me. This is monistic salvation or advaita mukti. No devotee aspiring for monism with Me attains it because such an aspiration is a disqualification. The disciples of the Incarnation selected by Me for the propagation of the knowledge generated by the Incarnation, attain a very close association with Me. This closeness with Me is called Saamiipya. I remain very close to such devotees like their bodyguard...
Smt. Bh. Kumari asked: Swami! Can you please explain the significance of the three holy epics of Hinduism, namely, Raamaayanam, Mahaabhaaratam, and Bhaagavatam?
Swami replied: There are three stages in the spiritual development of any human being in this world. They are dushpravrutti, pravrutti, and nivrutti. They are related to a person’s fascination (overattachment or Moha) to worldly bonds. The three main worldly bonds of a soul are the bond with money, the bond with one’s life-partner and the bond with one’s child. A limited attachment to these worldly bonds is acceptable as long as it does not cross the boundaries of justice. Excessive attachment to these bonds causes the soul to commit...
Shri Kishore Ram asked: Padanamaskaram Swamiji! One of my friends requested You to kindly answer the question given below: When angels like Indra consumed alcohol (Surapanam), why is it prohibited for human beings? What is amrutapanam?
Swami replied: Angels have energetic bodies without any trace of matter. Sattvam, rajas, and tamas are the three fundamental qualities or principles that are inherent in every aspect of creation. At the cosmic level, they are expressed as the three constituents of creation namely awareness, energy and matter respectively. In our minds, sattvam appears as knowledge and goodness, rajas appears as dynamism and desire, and tamas represents ignorance and rigidity. The bodies of angels are made of rajas. Rajas actually means dust or particles. It means inert energy since energy is made of quanta or subtle particles. Angels also possess awareness...
Shri Anil asked: Padanamaskaram Swami! Suraj Advaita asked the following doubts in a forum and is seeking their clarification from You. Kindly give Your reply. At Your divine feet, Anil. Why is Islam causing problems everywhere? Why is the Quran so negatively written? Why does Islam allow meat-eating, when Sanatana Dharma does not allow it? If meat eating is sin, why are Muslims allowed to eat meat? Is Islam the Devil’s religion? Also, please let me know what things on your channel I should propagate? I have read most of your articles and I have liked them. Where can I find all your articles?
Swami replied: Sin is sin irrespective of the religion a person follows. No divine scripture allows any human being to follow sin. But when a certain sin is inevitable and when no single person can change it among the people belonging to a certain religion or region, the divine scripture neglects for the time being. The scripture, in its preaching, concentrates on the control of other sins at least. Even in Hinduism, non-vegetarian food...
Shri Kishore Ram asked: Angel Indra made a lot of mistakes as mentioned in the Puranas. On what basis was he made or elected as the king of angels?
Swami replied: Due to the absence of tamas in them, angels do not have ignorance that arises from tamas. But they have some ignorance, which is generated by rajas. Rajas is the source of ego. In the Veda, there is a story that angels became proud upon defeating demons in the war. A king is always having more ego than any citizen and hence, Indra has naturally more ego than any angel. Angels are certainly better than human beings since human beings have double ignorance due to the presence of both rajas and tamas. All three qualities always coexist everywhere. In human beings, all the three qualities exist in significant amounts...
Smt. Bindiya Chaudhary asked: Upon reading a recent discourse, some questions have arisen in my mind and are confusing me. You have said that souls can never have absolute God-like freedom in any of the four ages. Since, in the Kṛta Age, souls were like robots working as programmed by God, God took the total responsibility for their thoughts, words, and deeds. But after a long time, the souls were of living in perfect and total discipline...
Swami replied: While clarifying your doubt, we must carefully understand the comparison of a human being with a robot. If God had not given any freedom to human beings, there would hardly be any difference between a human being and a robot. For some time, let us think that God did not give any freedom to human beings, which was actually the condition during the Kruta age. In the Kruta age, human beings were exactly like robots in the sense that both act as per the information available...
Shri Hrushikesh asked: Dear Swami, I have a question about the Karma phala tyaaga and karma samnyasa. I have heard the statement "Nityam sannihito mrutyhu". Death always faces us and can occur any time.in that case what is the point in saving for retirement? Why can't we donate the saved income to God. Esavashya upanishad also says that even the earned income should be used for the basic needs and rest should be given to God. Saving one's earned income is also considered to be a theft. I request you to kindly enlighten us how to apply this in our lives. Your Servant, Hrushikesh
Swami replied: What you said is correct and noble. This concept is like the sky. Everybody cannot jump and reach it. Only a very few blessed souls can reach this concept preached by the Eshavaasya Upanishad. When our life is not certain, we have to see both possibilities, which are that we might have a long life or a very short life. We have to be prepared for both these possibilities. After preparing for the possibility of our long life...
Shri Guna Darsana asked: Om sai ram. Jay guru datta i have finished translate the books of divine discourse of Swami volume 1 to indonesian. I need blessing of Swami, so i can do more with this translating. I am verry glad if Swami can advice me for propagate it to serve Swami mission. SWAMI, PLEASE BLESS me, thanks you, jau guru datta, omsai ram
Swami replied: You are doing very good work, which is liked by God and God is giving blessings to you through this Datta Swami...
Shri Hrushikesh asked: Dear Swami, One devotee asked the following question. Your servant, Hrushikesh.
[I was born into a Hindu family. But I have been following Islamic mode of prayer. Everyone says I have left my dharma. Have I done something wrong? My husband says a woman should follow her husband’s dharma and that if she can't, she need not pray at all. All she has to do is serve him and he is her God and that she needs no other prayer. My husband insists that following Islamic mode of prayer is wrong when its not his dharma...
Swami replied: Certainly, you are not wrong and certainly, all others who say that you are wrong, are wrong. There is no trace of doubt in this declaration. You have not changed your religion by following certain modes of prayer belonging to another religion. Any mode of prayer belonging to any religion is correct and good. You are not criticizing...
Dr. V Jaganmohan asked: Would you please enlighten us on the following: How is Islam greater than any other religion? By Islam, do you mean the ideology as developed on the teachings of the Koran, Hadis, and Mohammed? Thanking you, Sincerely, DrVJ.
Swami replied: You must be knowing that in Hinduism we do some special rituals called vratams to worship God. Some examples are the Satyanaaraayana Swami Vratam, Varalakshmii Vratam, Nandikeshvara Vratam, Mangala Gauri Vratam and so on. You must have observed that a common verse is read out in each of these rituals. The meaning of the verse is that this ritual is the best of all...
Dr. Nikhil asked: People generally treat astrology to be the subject related to reading horoscopes prepared based on the date and time of a person’s birth. Vāstu Śāstra is treated to be the subject dealing with architecture. Is there a relationship between astrology and Vāstu Śāstra?
Swami replied: Astrology (Jyautisha Shaastra) is the subject dealing with bright planets and stars since jyotiḥ means a bright light. Astrology is said to be a subject consisting of five parts (panchaanga). As per one classification, the five parts of astrology are tithi, vaara, nakṣatra, yoga, karana. Tithi is the date as per the lunar calendar. Vaara is the day of the week. Nakshatra is the constellation (star). Yoga is a calculation related to the positions of the sun and the moon and karana is the duration of half a lunar day. These five aspects can be seen in the astrological calendar called pancchanga...
Dr. Nikhil asked: Padanamaskarams Swamiji! I had a dream about You which was highly symbolic but am unable to understand its meaning. I feel that You were giving me some deep message through it. In the dream, You visited our home in Coimbatore. It was a joyous occasion and surprisingly, You were in Your early fifties! Devi and Arsha took You to the balcony...
Swami replied: There are two types of dreams. The first is when strong feelings of this birth or previous births arising from the subconscious state appear in the form of dreams. Such dreams are worldly matters. The second type is when God sometimes, gives a message useful for a person’s spiritual life in the form of a dream. Such dreams are observed...
Shri Shashi Kopparthi asked: How to connect with and experience you Swami? In this age of Kali, choosing a guru is very difficult. As you said, many gurus like Satya Sai first did miracles to attract people and then imparted spiritual knowledge. I was looking for a living guru who can guide me. Can I get some miraculous experiences from a guru like you so that I can accept you as my guru? Shashi Kopparthi
Swami replied: I am just a human being like you without the slightest capability of doing any miracle. I happen to be the human being-component of the Human Incarnation of God Datta and that is only because He selected me for the purpose. His mission is the welfare...
Shri Kishore Ram asked: Is there authority from the scripture regarding the cancellation of pending punishments by reformation, especially in this Kali Age? Some of my friends are asking for scriptural authority on this point.
Swami replied: This concept is based on logic and hence, it is valid in any age because the logic of the concept is beyond time. The logic is as follows. The meaning of reformation is that the soul passes through realization, repentance and finally non-repetition of the sin in practice. What is the aim of the punishment for sin? It is not revenge or tit for tat! It is only to create fear in the mind of the soul so that the soul does not repeat the sin...
Shri Hrushikesh asked Swami through Shri PVNM Sharma: One of my friends said “We have to do worldly work to support our families, so we cannot dedicate ourselves totally to the work of God”. I request You to please respond to his comment.
Swami Replied: If this point of your friend were valid, the conversation between Krishna and Arjuna in the Gita would have been as follows:
Krishna: O Arjuna! Give up this worldly work of fighting to win back your lost property and kingdom. Become a saint and propagate My spiritual knowledge in this world.
Arjuna: How can I withdraw from this war? I need to get back the property earned by my father in order to support my family. If I completely dedicate myself to Your work, would I not be doing an injustice towards my family?
In fact, the real version of the Gita is the reverse. Arjuna wanted to withdraw from the war. He was fighting the war to regain his lost kingdom, so, fighting the war was his worldly duty. Krishna forced Arjuna to do...
Dr. Nikhil asked: Padanamaskarams Swamiji! I have two questions related to Your discourse given on December 23, 2018. I request Your kind clarifications on the same. Your servant. Nikhil
Question-1: I feel that that only God is completely free; not souls. The freedom of the soul is always restricted by several internal and external factors on earth. So, it cannot be called as total freedom or the freedom to act in all directions. The restrictions by the internal and external factors put tremendous force on the person’s mind and influence the person’s decision. The choices made by a person...
Swami replied: The word freedom used by Me in the earlier discourse does not mean the absolute freedom possessed by God-in-human-form as described in the Veda (Aapnoti svaaraajyam). Such absolute freedom exists only in the case of God and no soul can even imagine it. The freedom enjoyed by a soul presently is limited by several factors as mentioned by you. But the freedom granted by God to the soul in the present age is greater than the freedom...
Shri Kishore Ram remarked to Shri PVNM Sharma: It is very difficult to stay free of the aspiration for any fruit in return from God while doing service to Him.
Swami replied: The point here is not to achieve this state of being free of the aspiration for any fruit in return with effort, but to attain this state in a natural and effortless manner. Take the case of our love for our children. Our love for them is real. We practically serve them and we sacrifice our money for them without expecting anything in return from them. Our practical service and the sacrifice of our money to them proves...
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