20 Jul 2025
[Shri Anil asked: Padanamaskaram Swami, Swami, can we extend the concept of real Krishna having romance with real Radha and illusory Krishna having romance with Gopikas to the case of Prophet Muhammad also? It is believed that Prophet Muhammad had 11 wives. Following verse from Hadith states how He managed the 11 wives in rotation. Anas bin Malik said: “The Prophet used to visit all his wives in a round, during the day and night and they were eleven in number.” I asked Anas, “Had the Prophet the strength for it?” Anas replied, “We used to say that the Prophet was given the strength of thirty (men).” (Bukhari 268). In the above case, would the concept of real and illusory Muhammad apply? Kindly please give clarification on this. At Your Divine Lotus Feet-anil]
Swami replied:- In the case of Prophet Mohammad, illusory Mohammads were not necessary for all the 11 wives because some of them were the personifications of the power of God and others were not. The strength of the incarnation will be sufficient especially when the divine power is with Him – this statement is told in a simple way without the actual analysis, which may confuse the then devotees. When God incarnates in a region, He follows the culture and the law of that land so that He can mix with the people present in that region and religion. The cultures of different regions in this world are different. Therefore, these different worldly constitutions differ from the divine constitution in certain points. The fundamental ethics of the divine constitution is followed in every religion. The incarnation of God born in a specific religion and region has to follow those customs and culture of the land so that He can mix with all the people to become a friend to them so that He can advise them in a friendly way. If the incarnation differs from the culture of that religion and region, it cannot mix with the surrounding people. For this purpose, some practices may look sinful. God will not touch those sinful practices and simply follows them. There are some other sinful concepts, which are not followed by that religion and region. God will advise against those sinful concepts, which are not followed by the public so that certain spiritual progress is obtained. When a human being dies and goes to the upper sub-world for enquiry, certainly the divine constitution is followed and the soul’s good fruits and bad fruits are given based on the divine constitution only. If God preaches the divine constitution here, people will rebel against the divine incarnation since in certain points, their cultural practices oppose the divine constitution. Instead of preaching the divine constitution and getting total rejection, it is better to preach those points only, which do not oppose their cultural practices. Instead of getting total rejection, it is better to get some progress even if it is little. Something is better than nothing. Hence, we must understand the talented technique of God coming as incarnation to this earth.
Shri Paramahamsa ate fish following the culture of His region so that He can mix with the surrounding people. There are several ethical and spiritual points other than eating fish. Hence, it is better to get progress in all those other points without opposing the eating of fish. Hence, we must take the preaching of the incarnation and we must not criticise the practice of the incarnation, which is based on several deep reasons. You must take what Shirdi Sai Baba preached and we should not criticise His hookah smoking. He exhibited this in order to test the faith of the devotees on Him and simultaneously to attract the people having bad habits so that they will listen to His spiritual knowledge thinking Him as their friend. Similarly, we shall understand what Prophet Mohammad tried to propagate. He fought with several religions maintaining individual Gods. He brought the concept of one God, who is unimaginable and united all the different quarrelling religions. In fact, Mohammad was not just a Prophet, but the incarnation of God Himself. He sacrificed His status of God so that He can uplift the souls of that region without the attack of ego based jealousy from them.
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