Swami answers questions of Prof. JSR. Prasad

1. Is it correct to say the following by different followers?

[Prof. J.S.R. Prasad asked:- The followers of Ramanuja say that Ramanuja is God (Bhagavad Ramanuja) and Shankara is a tiny part or ray of God (Shankara Bhagavatpaada). Is it correct?]

Swami replied:- When Ramanuja is said to be God, they are agreeing that Ramanuja belongs to monism or Advaita in which the soul is said to be God. Actually, monism is established by Shankara and not by Ramanuja. When Shankara is said to be a tiny part or ray of God, it means that they are telling that Shankara belongs to Qualified Monism in which the soul is said to be a tiny part of God. Actually, Qualified Monism is the philosophy of Ramanuja. This means that Shankara is supporting Ramanuja and Ramanuja is supporting Shankara. Shankara is the incarnation of God Shiva and Ramanuja is the incarnation of God Vishnu. The Veda says that God Vishnu and God Shiva are one and the same (Śivaśca Nārāyaṇaḥ). God Brahmā, God Vishnu and God Shiva are one and the same called as ‘God Datta.’ Whatever may be the motive (perhaps, they want to say that Ramanuja, the God, is great and Shankara, a ray of God, is low) of those people, the final ending result of their comments is a wonderful truth!

2. What is the message conveyed by the following parable?

[I heard a parable, which is that after giving the full food to crows and kites, the remaining few food particles are offered to God by us. What is the message conveyed by this parable?]

Swami replied:- ‘Full food’ means that you are spending all your time and energy to earn for your close worldly bonds, which are compared to crows and kites. Crow is related to death rituals. This means that all your worldly bonds are going to be permanently separated by death and hence, blind fascination to your worldly bonds is foolish. The kites may be flying very far from earth, but, their concentration is on the chicken moving on the earth. This means that your worldly bonds are always far from you because they don’t love you for your happiness, but, love you for their happiness. All the time and energy of your young age is wastefully spent for the happiness of your worldly bonds. Finally, when you become old, little energy and little time are only leftover like the few food particles leftover finally, which alone are being dedicating to God by you. Ignorant elders say that you must concentrate on God in the old age and you must concentrate on your worldly bonds in your youth. There are some very great people (mahātmās), who are always young till the death without old age and such great people are always dedicated to their worldly bonds only till their death time by giving even the leftover few food particles also to their worldly bonds only and not to God!!!

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