Posted on: 14 Feb 2024
[Shri Anil asked: Padanamaskaram Swami, Kindly give Your responses to the following questions, at Your Divine Lotus feet-anil.]
1. When some guest comes to the house, will it be better if the system of buffet for food serving is followed. Please kindly elaborate this point.
Swami replied:- The buffet system is the best because the eater will select an appropriate quantity of food items so that food will not be wasted.
2. Kindly explain Guna, Katha, Amredana in case of Japa.
Swami replied:- The repetition of the qualities (guna) of God through stories (katha) is called Japa, which is not mere repetition (Amredana) of the name of God. The repetition of mere name gives a headache to both the devotee and God. If the qualities of God are repeated, such repetition increases the devotion to God.
3. God Shiva (Shankara) stands for prose, Goddess Parvati (Kali Dasa) stands for poetry.
Swami replied:- The prose in the commentary of Shankara is very attractive and the poetry of Kalidasa in his epics is also highly attractive. The husband (Shankara) shines in prose whereas the wife (Kali) shines in poetry. Poetry belongs to the fine arts related to females.
4. The soul is fortunate if it is not able to breathe even for 1 minute. Kindly elaborate.
Swami replied:- This means that the time spent in this world in fascination with worldly bonds is very much unfortunate.
5. Death is an occasion of happiness; birth is an occasion of unhappiness. Why?
Swami replied:- Birth involved in worldly fascinations is unhappy. But, God and liberated souls take birth to help the world in spiritual journey. Liberated souls live without fascination to worldly bonds. Such divine births (of God and liberated souls) are very happy.
6. Did God Krishna go to hell to embrace the hot copper statues of the Gopikas?
[Did God Krishna go to hell to embrace the hot copper statues of the Gopikas? This question is based on the incident that God Krishna went to asuryaloka to repay the suicide of the Gopikas?]
Swami replied:- All the sins committed by the Gopikas are taken by God Krishna because the Gopikas were climax devotees of God Krishna. God Krishna can take several forms as we have seen in the Raasakeli dance. Similarly, some forms of God Krishna went to hell to suffer the punishments of the sins of the Gopikas. While the divine constitution is written by God, there is a legal agreement between God and the deity of justice, due to which God has such facility.
7. You mentioned that God Krishna exists in the upperworld in energetic form but not God Rama. Why?
Swami replied:- It is the decision of God whether to continue in the energetic form in the upper world or not, after leaving the gross body here. The Gopikas pressed Krishna to be with them in Goloka.
8. Even though Parikshit blamed God Krishna, why did God Krishna give him salvation in 7 days?
Swami replied:- Parikshit actually wanted to clarify his genuine doubt, which appeared as blame to ordinary people like us.
9. From inference, the path of Madhura Bhakti is proved to be the truth since Radha is God Shiva and Krishna is God Vishnu. Kindly elaborate on this.
Swami replied:- Madhura Bhakti or sweet devotion is true provided the soul has cut all the other worldly bonds. Hence, the test for bond with spouse (Daareshana) is done in the last female birth of the soul.
10. God Krishna is the incarnation of God Vishnu. In this line, God Jesus is incarnation of which form of God?
Swami replied:- God Krishna is the incarnation of God Vishnu and God Vishnu is the incarnation of God Datta. It means God Krishna is the incarnation of God Brahma, God Vishnu and God Shiva. The same analysis applies to Jesus also.
11. What is the reason that God Hanuman married Suvarchala?
Swami replied:- Suvarchala is the radiation of the Sun. The radiation of the Sun was absorbed by God Hanuman and this is told as God Hanuman married Suvarchala and absorbed Suvarchala in His body.
12. Your knowledge itself is a miracle. Hence, You have to pacify the devotees now and then to bring them into ground state. Kindly elaborate.
Swami replied:- The excitation caused by any miracle, will pacify by itself after sometime. But, the excitation created by the miraculous knowledge of God will always exist throughout the life. Then only, such knowledge leads to permanent practice.
13. Is it not the bond with children who are in front of our eyes very serious compared to not having children?
[The bond with alive children who are in front of our eyes is very serious compared to not having children. Kindly elaborate this point with respect to Radha and the Gopikas in case of Madhura bhakti.]
Swami replied:- The case of Radha is exceptional since she is the incarnation of God Shiva. Regarding the Gopikas, the effort to get salvation from worldly bonds is considered to be strong if worldly bonds exist and are strong.
14. In the Bible, the blind man helped the program of God, by that, the faith of the devotees. How? Kindly elaborate.
Swami replied:- The blind man also has almost finished the duration of his punishment and the blind man helped the miracle of God. God will not cancel the punishment for the sake of exhibition of His miraculous power. This does not mean that God has no miraculous power. Almost at the end of the punishment (while a small trace of duration is leftover), God does the miracle so that the miraculous power is truly proved and since the punishment is almost ending, God did not interfere in the cycle of deeds and fruits. Suppose the blind man is going to get the eyesight after a week according to the rule of deeds and fruits. When God gave the eyesight before one week, it serves both the purposes:- i) Since it is almost the end of the punishment, God is not interfering in the cycle of deeds and ii) Since God cancelled the punishment one week before its ending, the miraculous power of God to cancel the punishment is also proved.