Posted on: 06 Feb 2017
Shri Anil asked: Padanamaskaram Swami,
2) BIBLE: Acts 5:: Ananias and Sapphira Kindly give the message behind the following incident in bible
[5 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.
3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?
4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”
5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.
6 Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.
8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?” “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”
9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”
10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.]
Swami Replied: A father has Rs.100/- with him. He kept some money for his requirements and gave the rest of money to his issue. The issue wanted more money and the father says that he does not possess any more money with him. Since the son is not omniscient, he believed his father and went away with satisfaction. Here, you must remember that the sacrifice of money is done by father himself without any pressure. He told a lie with the son because of his future requirements. When the omniscient God exists in the place of son, the situation is totally different. The devotee must sacrifice what all he had since the omniscient and omnipotent God will take the total care of the devotee for such total sacrifice. In this incident, the devotee forgot that God is omniscient and omnipotent.
Death described here does not mean the actual death of the body. It only means forgetting the real nature of God. In the Sanatsujaatiya of the Mahabharata, it is said that the real death is only to forget God. The young man, who buried the dead bodies represent devotees of even lesser age having full spiritual knowledge.
3) Please give the right interpretation of the vision of Peter as given below.
[Acts 10:9-16 Peter’s Vision
• • 9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four- footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. 13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
Later in the following verse Peter interpret the vision as:
34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism
35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right]
Swami Replied: To eat animals etc., just after killing, is not possible for any non-vegetarian human being. The flesh should be processed well and cooked before eating. Hence, Peter refused it. But, if Peter started eating the animal as ordered by God, it should have turned in to well cooked flesh. This shows that the faith of Peter on God is not full. Peter was tested here and since Peter failed, the sheet was withdrawn back. Peter is not a devotee of highest Nivrutti. He is a devotee in lower Pravrutti only. Hence, killing the animal and eating it like a tiger was rejected by him since it is against the code of non-vegetarian. Pravrutti deals with all established customs as traditions. Nivrutti does not find anything except the wish of God. God consoled Peter by giving a certificate of the plane of Pravrutti for doing justified thing even if God wishes otherwise. Dharma Raja refused to tell a lie even though God Krishna ordered him to tell a lie in the war. Krishna appreciated him on the face, but, Dharma Raja has to go to hell (just for vision only) for disobeying God!
4) Paul gives the following verses. Kindly enlighten on this.
[A. 1Timothy 2:14-15: 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15 But women[a] will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.
Again in following verse Paul comments:
B. “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.” (1 Timothy 2:12)
C. St Paul condemns homosexuality in the opening chapter of the Book of Romans: “In the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.” (Romans 1:27)]
Swami Replied: The scripture is to be understood with reference to the context of the then prevailing conditions of the society. In the ancient times (even till recently) women were considered as managers of administration of houses while the men earned the money. Earning money by doing work was considered as higher status than the work in the house. This is not justified because work is work. But, the above version of male domination prevailed in those times and God has to follow the established atmosphere because His preaching about spiritual knowledge is highest for the sake of which higher and high levels can be neglected. The old atmosphere is now changed totally since women are also doing jobs and earning. Males without jobs are not doing cooking due to their ego of gender! Sometimes, we find a woman is doing job as well as cooking in the house! Hats off to such women! This is the reason why the last birth for getting salvation must be the birth of female only, who does not have the ego of gender at any time. Of course, I appeal to the women not to get ego by this information in which case such women become males in disguise of women!
5) Kindly give Your interpretation of following verses. The Transfiguration [Matthew 17:1-8]
[1 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.
3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified.
7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.”
8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.]
Swami Replied: Jesus is human incarnation of the God and hence could show such miracles, which help the growth of spiritual line. Miracles exhibited by demons are in the line of ego and ignorance. The very nature of the miracle explains the nature of the doer. Ravana lifted Kailasa mountain to shake Lord Shiva. Krishna lifted Govardhana hill to protect the devotees from the chaos of cyclone for seven days. The three shelters mentioned by the devotee indicate that the human incarnation was equated with two divine souls in energetic bodies (angels). An angel is a soul with energetic body doing the service of God. When God enters angel, it becomes energetic incarnation. When God enters human being, it is human incarnation. An evil spirit is also a soul in energetic body in to which God will never enter. Angels have finite powers blessed by God only. The incarnation itself is God having infinite unimaginable powers. Jesus was a human incarnation and was far greater than even the other two angels. A collector in cotton shirt (human body) also is greater than clerks in silk shirts (energetic bodies) working under him in his office. Krishna is God in human body and is greater than Indra, an angel, in the energetic body. The human nature is repulsion to human incarnation due to common medium (human body). Even an angel in the energetic body is considered to be far higher than human incarnation due to difference in the medium (energetic body). Due to this reason the villagers of Brundavanam preferred to worship Indra than Krishna! Miracles are done by God in human form as per the real need, more for the spiritual uplift. Miracles done by demons are always for their self-projection only.
6) The Temple Tax [Matthew 17:24-27]
[24 After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”
25 “Yes, he does,” he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?”
26 “From others,” Peter answered. “Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him.
27 “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”]
Swami Replied: Temple tax indicates the offering of money to God. It is not the tax paid to king to carry on social welfare programmes. Human beings paying tax to a human being, who is expected to serve the human beings is the tax to be paid to king. It should be paid by everybody provided the paid tax is not swallowed by king or ministers or officials. Corruption should be absent in such tax. But, the tax paid to the God, who is the king of kings is totally different. All the souls are created by God and hence become His children. Father never collects tax from his children. If the children offer money with pure love, it is certainly accepted by God. A human father may be in need of money, but, the divine Father, whose wealth is all this creation, does not need any money except it is offered with pure love. Of course, offering money to God is the highest sacrifice called as karmaphalatyaga, which is very much stressed in the Gita as test of real love, but, it is not to be paid as tax on demand. Offering is never demanded like tax. Hence, the word ‘temple tax’ was disliked by Jesus, the human incarnation in whom God exists. This means that the God Himself is not liking the word. Hence, Jesus performed a miracle to pay the tax from the creation itself since creation itself is His wealth! Since all human beings are His children, temple should never collect tax from any human being unless it is offered by a devoted human being. The Government can collect tax for the service of humanity and not to swallow it through corruption. Corruption is one of the three main gates to the horrible hell and every member and official of the Government should not forget this severe warning of God. Corrupt money is like poisoned milk to kill anybody, which is realized by the effect only and not visualized in the beginning as you can’t see poison in poisoned milk. The poisoned milk kill you only where as the corrupt money will kill you and your family forever in this world as well as in the upper world.
7) The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven[Matthew 18:1-5]
[18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them.
3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.]
Swami Replied: A Child is soul returning from hell after maximum reduction of intensity of sinful nature as seed (Rajas and Tamas) not expressing even a sprout. The seed never harms the society. Hence, a child means the soul not harming anybody in the society. Even an adult human being in which the sinful nature is only in the state of seed without any expression is an eternal child. The four greatest devotees of Nivrutti (Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatkumara and Sanatsujaatiya) always appear as children forever. These four have the privilege to see God at any time without the permission of the gate keepers also! Any trace not expressed to affect the society can be treated as almost nothing. The pure Sattvam quality along with traces of Rajas and Tamas can be treated as 100% pure Sattvam since the error is in negligible range. No quality can be absolutely 100% pure. Hence, children are said to be as pure as God.
8) Causing to Stumble[Matthew 18:6-9]
[6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
7 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!
8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.
9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.]
Swami Replied: Suradas, the greatest devotee of Krishna, was totally blind, but, he attained the divine world to see God always with his blessed eyes. A person with defect in limbs or senses is always blessed with extra ordinary intuition called as sixth sense. The mind and intelligence of such defective person become very powerful with the help of which, the soul attains the Lord. A soul having no defect in the body may feel satisfied in this world, but, will be thrown in to liquid fire if he does not care for spiritual knowledge and develop devotion and service to God. What is the use of the absence of any defect in his body? What is the loss for a devotee having some defect in the body, but, attains the Lord? This preaching encourages the physically disabled people in their lives. There will be always a burning vigour for compensation in a defective human being. Similarly, there will be always a satisfaction as drowsy sleep in a human being having no defect. This was preached by Jesus on the first day after finishing long penance (Blessed are those...). The Veda also says that God is real eye of this external eye indicating that a real devotee of God need not worry about any defect in body.