Posted on: 14 Feb 2024
[Shri Anil asked: Padanamaskaram Swami, Kindly give Your responses to the following questions from internet forum, at Your Divine Lotus feet-anil.]
1. Why is Lord Rama praised more than God Hanuman?
Swami replied:- Both Rama and Hanuman are the incarnations of God Datta. But Rama acted in the role of a master and Hanuman acted in the role of a servant.
2. Can You explain the concept of a yogi's body and how can it be attained according to the Bhagavad Gita?
Swami replied:- Yoga means the union of the soul with the grace of God. Any miraculous power can be attained by the grace of God only and not by any self-effort of the soul. It is a total illusion to think that miraculous powers are attained through self-efforts in the path of Yoga. In the Bhagavad Gita, the misunderstood path of Yoga (like Chakras, Kundalini, etc.) followed by many people today is not mentioned at all.
3. Who are some examples of bad gurus in Hinduism?
Swami replied:- Charvaaka is the only bad Guru in Hinduism, who is the founder of atheism. Charvaaka told that awareness is not God since it is produced from food. A good concept must be accepted even if it is spoken by a child or an atheist.
4. What is the meaning of 'Shama' according to the Vedas or the Upanishads?
Swami replied:- Shama means the control of the mind. Dama is the control of physical senses. If shama exists, dama can be easily achieved.
5. What is the symbolic significance of the story of Shiva and Ganesh?
Swami replied:- Shiva represents Parabrahman and Ganesh represents the power of Parabrahman, called Shakti or Paarvati. The power of Parabrahman is always under the control of Parabrahman. The power may go wrong, but its substratum, called Parabrahman, will control it to bring it into right path. Ganesh represents the power or Shakti, which is under the control of Shiva. He is the son of Paarvati representing Shakti. Ganesh did not recognize God Shiva in the beginning and opposed God Shiva. Later on, He was corrected by God Shiva and Ganesh became a very sincere devotee of God Shiva.
6. Did Goddess Durga create the entire universe by Herself?
Swami replied:- Goddess Durga is also the power of God. Under the direction of God, the power created the world. The power is always under the control of its possessor.
7. When the gods of Hindus consumed non-vegetarian food, then why did Hindus abstain from it?
Swami replied:- No God consumed non-vegetarian food in Hinduism. Non-vegetarian devotees offer non-vegetarian food to some Hindu Gods and this does not mean that those Gods are non-vegetarians.
8. Who are the Yogis mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita? How did they attain their level of spiritual enlightenment?
Swami replied:- Yogi means the devotee united with God throughout his/her lifetime without turning an eye towards the fascinations of worldly bonds. God will certainly enlighten such soul with true spiritual knowledge.
9. Why is it said that Lord Shiva cannot live without Goddess Parvati?
Swami replied:- You cannot separate Sun and sunlight. The possessor of power (Shiva) cannot be isolated from His power (Shakti).
10. Do Devi Durga and Shiva have the same powers?
Swami replied:- God Shiva is the possessor of the destruction power. Devi Durga is the mixture of the three powers of creation, ruling and destruction. God Datta is the possessor of these three powers.
11. Why does Hindu Gods have many children despite being considered beyond reproduction?
Swami replied:- God guides the soul at every stage. When the soul is leading a worldly life as its absolute goal, God guides such soul to have two or three children because one child is always dangerous in the sense that death is unpredictable.
12. What led to Nandi becoming Shiva's charioteer? Was it due to his devotion to Lord Suryanarayana or was there another reason?
Swami replied:- Nandi is actually one of the divine incarnations of God Shiva, acting in the role of a servant, just like Hanuman is the incarnation of the Lord, acting in the role of a servant to Shri Rama.
13. What is Adi Shankara's interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita?
Swami replied:- Adi Shankara was completely surrounded by atheists and He had to turn the atheist into theist with the help of the three holy books of Hinduism. His interpretation is that soul is God and since soul exists, God must exist. This formula will change the atheist into theist. His interpretation was based on the then requirement.
14. What did Shri Adi Shankara teach about Lord Krishna?
Swami replied:- Adi Shankara felt very much convenient in the case of Lord Krishna since He can easily say that Lord Krishna is God. In fact, the entire philosophy of Shankara exactly applies to Lord Krishna.
15. Where is any reference that Buddha is considered an avatar of Vishnu?
Swami replied:- In the Bhagavatam, while describing the ten incarnations of God Vishnu, Buddha was mentioned as the ninth incarnation (Buddhaḥ Kalikireva ca).
16. Why is Vishitadvaita not as famous as Advaita?
Swami replied:- Suppose X (Shankara) tells you that 1 crore lottery is deposited in your account and Y (Ramanuja) tells you that Rs 1/- is deposited in your account. Between X and Y, who will become more famous in your family? Shankara told that you are God himself and Ramanuja told that you are a tiny part of God.
17. Who all lives in Goloka with Krishna? Does only Krishna and His consorts live in Goloka?
Swami replied:- God Krisha and His consorts only live in Goloka.
18. By which name did Radha used to call Shri Krishna?
Swami replied:- Radha used to call God Krishna as Krishna.
19. Is Kaliyuga starting or finishing in 2025?
Swami replied:- Kaliyuga has a lot of time to finish. Kaliyuga has four lakh years and only four thousand years are completed now.
20. What is the full story in which Yamraj came to take the soul of a person, but the wife intelligently asked for a baby and so Yamraj returned the soul?
Swami replied:- You study the story of Sati Savitri and her husband, called Satyavan.
21. Why is Mathura less visited than Vrindavan even though it is the birthplace of Lord Krishna?
Swami replied:- Lord Krishna grew up in Brundaavanam where He performed several miracles.
22. How did Radha react to Krishna marrying 16,108 women at once?
Swami replied:- Radha is the incarnation of God Shiva and Krishna is the incarnation of God Vishnu. One form of God knows the other forms of God as God.
23. What is the relation between Shani Dev and Lord Vishnu?
Swami replied:- Shani Dev is a devotee and Lord Vishnu is God.
24. Can You explain the differences between Shri Ram, Shri Krishna, and Shri Buddha? Is there a hierarchy among them?
Swami replied:- All forms of God have the same possessed power even though the expressed power differs based on the requirement of the program. God Rama and God Buddha came to preach justice and peace respectively in worldly life. God Krishna came to guide the spiritual line of human souls.
25. Why did Goddess Laxmi choose to marry Lord Vishnu instead of Kubera, who was considered the richest and the most powerful being at the time?
Swami replied:- Love doesn’t depend on mere richness. The total personality is responsible for love.
26. Can You provide the details of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati's marriage?
[Can You provide the details of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati's marriage? How did it come about and why did it take a long time for them to get married?]
Swami replied:- Sati was emotional and committed suicide when Her father Daksha scolded God Shiva. God Shiva wanted that such emotional behaviour be controlled. God Shiva tested Goddess Paarvati in the same way by scolding God Shiva in disguise. Paarvati did a lot of penance and controlled emotions. On hearing the criticism of God Shiva, Paarvati tried to quit the place and did not commit suicide. Seeing the controlled emotion, God Shiva was prepared to marry Goddess Paarvati. This took a long time.
27. Did Lord Shiva love sex?
Swami replied:- God loves everything existing in His creation because He is the creator of everything.
28. Who is considered more beautiful, Radha or Lalita?
Swami replied:- Radha is God Shiva and Lalita is the wife of God Shiva. Both are equally beautiful and hence, the marriage took place between God Shiva and Goddess Lalita.
29. Why does the installed idol of Rama in the Ayodhya temple look more like Buddha than Rama?
Swami replied:- The idol installed in Ayodhya was of child Rama and not of the fully grown Rama.
30. Did the people of Satya Yuga have sins like pride, envy, lust, etc.?
Swami replied:- In Satya Yuga, every soul was like a robot guided by God. In that case, how can such qualities exist?
31. Why did Rama marry Sita? Was it out of love or due to societal and traditional expectations?
Swami replied:- The answer is that both exist.
32. Did Krishna have a special fragrance to His body? If so, what was the reason for it?
Swami replied:- The divinity has pleasant scents. The scent of God Brahma is that of lotus flowers. The scent of God Vishnu is that of sandal paste. The scent of God Shiva is that of pure sacred ash.
33. Can anyone become holy like God? How long does it take?
Swami replied:- The holiness of God is climax, which can never be attained by any soul except His own incarnation.
34. Did Shri Rama go back to His spiritual abode Saket Loka after He died?
Swami replied:- Shri Ram was the incarnation of God Vishnu and He went to His divine abode, called Vaikuntha Loka.
35. Does the name of Radha Ji find mention in the Bhagavad Gita or the Mahabharata even in one word?
Swami replied:- Her name is mentioned in several secondary scriptures, called Puraanaas.
36. Is Hinduism good for the world?
Swami replied:- Any religion is good for the world and Hinduism is one among such religions.
37. Do You view Hinduism as a religion or a universal way of life that everyone should follow?
[Do You view Hinduism as a religion? I feel like the term "religion" emerged long after the establishment of Hinduism, and it seems more like a universal way of life that everyone should follow.]
Swami replied:- Why do you bother about the fight among words? All religions are great and good because every religion is established by the ultimate God Himself.
38. Do You believe that Rama, Krishna, and Hanuman exist? What are Your reasons for Your belief?
Swami replied:- I believe in the existence of My great great grandfather even though I have not seen him.
39. What was the importance of baby Jesus being presented to the temple by His parents?
Swami replied:- An incarnation of God spreads His scent of spiritual knowledge even in childhood.
40. How can I become another Jesus?
Swami replied:- By getting crucified! (Crucifixion was the highest sacrifice done by God Jesus. Without doing His highest sacrifice, how can you become Jesus? The concluding message is that you should think of how to practice the preaching of Jesus instead of dreaming to become Jesus.)