Posted on: 03 Mar 2024
1. Why are we hesitant to restore the temples damaged by the Muslim rulers and invaders?
[Shri Anil asked: Padanamaskaram Swami, Please give Your answers to the following questions asked in an internet forum. At Your Divine Lotus Feet-anil. Why are we hesitant to restore the temples damaged by the Muslim rulers & invaders whereas the Golden Temple & Charar-i-Sharief damaged because of terror acts was repaired with government funds?]
Swami replied:- There are some sensitive issues involved with the Islamic religion. The Government must resolve those sensitive issues through peaceful talks and then, revive the Hindu temples. The past history and the archeological findings play very important key roles.
2. What did Lord Krishna say when He left His body?
Swami replied:- He said about the upcoming Kali Yuga because after Him, the Dwapara Yuga was to end, and the Kali Yuga was to come. Various sins of Kali Yuga were described by Him.
3. Why did Parvati choose to marry Lord Shiva instead of Vishnu or Brahma?
[Why did Parvati choose to marry Lord Shiva instead of Vishnu or Brahma, even though she is considered an incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi who is known for Her beauty and power?]
Swami replied:- Already, Goddess Saraswati married God Brahma and Goddess Lakshmi married God Vishnu. The leftover form of power is Goddess Parvati, who married God Shiva.
4. Is Vedanta present in any other religion besides Hinduism? If so, what is it called and in which religion is it found?
Swami replied:- Even religion is an early part of Vedanta. Anything related to God comes under either initial topics of Vedanta or advanced topics of Vedanta. Hence, every religion contains Vedanta. In Hinduism, advanced Vedanta is very much developed compared to other religions.
5. Is there a "list" in Hinduism of the "worth" of different animals one could get reincarnated as?
Swami replied:- The nature of sin can be attributed to the behaviour of the animal. A cheating soul will be born as a fox since fox also has cheating nature.
6. How did Hanuman assist Arjuna in the Kurukshetra War?
Swami replied:- Hanuman is the incarnation of God Shiva with all miraculous powers. He helped Arjuna in miraculous ways. God Shiva is the deity of destruction. Arjuna was seeing God Shiva killing the opposite enemies everyday.
7. If God can exist without a creator, then why can't this Universe?
Swami replied:- God is unimaginable whereas this creation is imaginable and is visible to us. This universe is running on several systematic mechanisms in a wonderful design. If you say that this wonderfully arranged universe is formed by itself based on randomness, it is not much acceptable because such most surprising and systematic world must have its cause, which must be a very very intellectual entity. Regarding God, you are not seeing Him as effect / product to imagine any type of cause for Him. If you say that God is imaginable, again you must imagine a cause for God and this cause-effect chain becomes infinite. Since God is unimaginable, we can end this cause-effect chain with God as the ultimate cause since God is unimaginable.
8. Why did Lord Shri Krishna hide the clothes of Gopikas?
Swami replied:- He wanted to preach Gopikas that He is the creator of all inert and non-inert items of creation. Since body was also created by God, there is no meaning in hiding the body from the eye sight of God.
9. Can the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita be applied to all religions?
Swami replied:- Any scripture of any religion can apply to any other religion because the same God in different forms wrote the same syllabus as scriptures of all religions in different languages.
10. How would Hinduism be different if Lord Shiva was not married to Parvati?
Swami replied:- God Shiva did not marry Goddess Parvati for a long time after the demise of His wife called Sati Devi. The same Sati Devi was born as Goddess Parvati.
11. Why did Lord Shiva marry Goddess Parvati after already being married to Sati?
Swami replied:- Since Sati burnt herself due to hearing the criticism of God Shiva from the mouth of her father. Moreover, the same Sati Devi was born as Goddess Parvati.
12. Did Pandavas and Kauravas know about the Ramayana and ever worship Lord Rama?
Swami replied:- Rama belonged to Treta Yuga and certainly Rama was worshipped by the good Pandavas. Kauravas were the incarnations of demons and did not worship God Rama, who is the embodiment of justice.
13. What are some ancient religious texts that existed before Hindu scriptures, such as the Vedas and Upanishads?
Swami replied:- The Vedas and the Upanishads are the first scriptures of Hinduism. No texts existed before the Vedas and the Upanishads.
14. Which God is more powerful, Kalabhairava or Hanuman?
Swami replied:- Both are equally powerful because both are incarnations of God Datta.
15. Why did Lord Krishna have a feather of peacock in His crown?
Swami replied:- The ‘eye’ present in the peacock feather indicates the divine eye of God observing everything in the world.
16. Do the Vedas ask women to cover their hair?
Swami replied:- Covering the hair is just a cultural habit, which has nothing to do with spiritual knowledge.
17. Is it possible to be born as Brahma, Vishnu, or Shiva in Hinduism? If so, is there a limit to how many times one can reincarnate as one of Them?
Swami replied:- God Datta is incarnated as God Brahma, God Vishnu and God Shiva. This point doesn’t apply to any ordinary soul.