Posted on: 24 Apr 2023
Shri Anil asked:
1. What is the meaning of “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again”?
[Questions on Bible: John 3:1-6 Jesus Teaches Nicodemus: 2 Nicodemus came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. Swami what is the meaning of “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again”]
Swami replied:- This means that one cannot understand the deep meaning of the preaching of Jesus. To understand His deep meaning, one has to be born again. There is also a saying in us, which is “You have to take another birth to understand this subject”. The kingdom of God means truth, justice, peace, love and non-violence and not an area with specified boundaries.
2. Can You please elaborate on the following verses from the Bible?
[Luke 6:46-49 " Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? (47) "Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: (48) he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. (49) "But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great." Swami can You please elaborate on the above verses?]
Swami replied:- The foundation mentioned above is faith and this statement is mentioned by Me in My book called “Surya Gita”, which was the Gita told by God to Sun as per the Gita verse “Imaṃ vivasvate yogam…” and the statement is
“Viśvāsa eva yogasya, mūlādhāro hyahaskara |
Aviśvāsavato yogaḥ, śūnya saudhavadāpatet ||”.
This means “O sun! faith is the foundation of Yoga, which means the association with God. Without faith, this association with God will collapse entirely like the building, which is built on the ground without foundation”.
3. What is the meaning of “he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die”?
[John 11:23-27 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." (24) Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." (25) Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, (26) and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" (27) She *said to Him, "Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world." Swami, what is the meaning of “he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die”?]
Swami replied:- Here death means to be entangled with the worldly bonds in life. The devotee, who is very much attached to God, will not be entangled in worldly bonds even while living and this is called Jiivanmukti. Such a devotee leaves the body one day or the other following the rules of nature. After leaving this mortal body, such devotee will be born again as the devotee of the human incarnation of God again and again and will never be trapped by the net of the worldly bonds and this is called as Videhamukti. “Will never die” means Jiivan Mukti and “will live even if he dies” means Videhamukti.
4. What is the moral of the following story in the Bible?
[God commands Jonah to travel to the city of Nineveh to preach repentance to its inhabitants because of their wickedness. Jonah instead refuses God’s mission and tries to escape by boarding a ship traveling in the opposite direction. During his sea journey, a great storm appears. Once the other people on the boat figured out that Jonah was the reason for that storm, they threw him in the sea, where a whale swallowed him. He remains in the belly of the fish for three days and nights until he asks God for forgiveness. Jonah is rescued and completes his mission in Nineveh with some reluctance. What is the moral of the above story in the Bible?]
Swami replied:- Here, a very important concept is that repentance means such strong pain in the heart so that the soul will never repeat the sin again in the future life. Repentance does not mean simply feeling pained standing before God and repeating it again next day and again standing before God with deep pain. Such foolish people think that every sin is excused by the subsequent repentance before God so that fresh opportunity is again opened to repeat the sin once again and which will be excused again by repenting before God. The first repentance must be so strong that it shall prevent the second repentance permanently. Unless non-repetition of the sin comes, repentance is useless. First, one shall realize the sin, which is knowledge or Jnaana Yoga. Next, repentance before God shall take place, which is devotion or Bhakti Yoga. Finally, non-repetition of the sin shall appear practically, which is Karma Yoga. Knowledge, devotion and practice are the three subsequent steps representing Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhva gradually and in this sequence only, the three divine preachers visited this earth.
The devotee must have complete faith on God and shall do the commandment of God practically without any place of doubt. The devotee will be crushed in difficulties so that his doubting nature gets reduced only by practical punishments. Some devotees are reformed up to 90% only and for the sake of the rest 10% reformation, a second coating of punishment is necessary. The above devotee is said to have finished the mission with reluctance, which means that he is in need of the second coating of punishment.