Posted on: 30 Jan 2024
O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,
1. What is the essence of Jesus statement, “I am the bread of life”?
[Shri Anil asked: Padanamaskaram Swami, Please give Your answers to the following questions. At Your Divine Lotus Feet-anil. Jesus said in John 6:35 “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never go hungry and whoever believes in Me never go thirsty”. Swami, what is the essence of this?]
Swami replied:- Bread means spiritual knowledge and hunger means the interest to get spiritual knowledge that clarifies doubts. Thirst means the anxiety for the devotion to God. Jesus is the bread means that He is the embodiment of spiritual knowledge and devotion to God.
2. Why did Jesus say, “My God, My God, why have You left Me?” at the end of the crucifixion?
[At the end of the crucifixion, why did Jesus say “My God, My God, why have You left Me?” (Matthew 27:46). During suffering in crucifixion whether God was present in Jesus? Who suffered the pain?]
Swami replied:- At the time of death, God left Jesus because the incarnation comes to the end after finishing its program. The soul also would leave the body of Jesus shortly. Here, the soul of Jesus is crying for God and this indicates that God existed in Jesus till the end of the life of Jesus. This is almost the end of the life of Jesus.
3. In the Bible, Jesus asked the rich man to donate all his possessions to poor people and then follow Him. Why did Jesus not ask the rich man to donate to Him?
Swami replied:- Even if the rich man donates to Jesus, that will be given to poor people only. Even if Jesus takes that, He will spend for the spiritual program only. The spiritual level of the people at the time of Jesus must be also understood so that they will not misunderstand Jesus. The maturity of the people at that time around Jesus was very low.
4. Can You please compare the testing of Gopikas by Krishna and the testing of Abraham by God spoken from heaven?
[The Gopikas were tested by the then Human form of God; Krishna. But in the Bible, in the case of Abraham, no human incarnation was involved. God spoke directly from heaven to test him to sacrifice his son. Can You please compare these two cases?]
Swami replied:- Even the human incarnation, Jesus tested a devotee while walking on water. A devotee called Siriyaala was tested just like Abraham by the abstract God. God is God whether He is in the abstract state or in the state of the human incarnation.
5. Why did You not want to disclose the name of the child to whom You have given life?
[Swami, You performed a lot of miracles including giving life to a child, in the latter case You told not to disclose the name of the child to anyone. Can You elaborate on this?]
Swami replied:- If I give the name, people will enquire the mother and come to know the truth. Then, the news will spread. Then, the cases of death will approach Me and trouble Me. I have given the name of the mother to Shri Phani and Shri Ajay so that they will enquire with the mother and when devotees enquire about this miracle with them, they will tell that the miracle is true. All this round about arrangement was done because I don’t want that this miracle should be propagated and become famous with all the details. Miracles will attract people in a very fast way and fascination to the world is very much in almost every soul .