Swami answers questions of Shri Anil Antony

1. What is the meaning of ‘curved path’ in the following context?

[Shri Anil Antony asked:- Padanamaskaram Swami, I request You to kindly give answer to the following questions. At Your Divine Lotus Feet-Anil Antony.

"Everybody will reach the central point through any path provided he/she is not an atheist. But, one will reach God quickly by straight path and the other will reach God after a long time through curved path. The curved line in each religion is created and supported by bad followers”.

Referring the above what is the meaning of ‘curved path’? If it is a bad path, how it can take one to central God?]

Swami replied:- Straight path means reaching God from your own religion in which you are born. You are easily accustomed to the culture of your religion in which you are already born. The culture of any other religion doesn’t suit to your natural tendency. It will take lot of time to modify yourself to the new culture of another religion. This will take a lot of time to start the spiritual journey to reach God. Therefore, changing your religion to another religion increases the total time of your spiritual journey. Even if you take this longer journey, you are going to reach the same God. There is no extra benefit for your extra strain you have taken in the spiritual journey. Therefore, reaching God by changing your religion is called curved path.

2. What was the necessity or purpose of St. Thomas’s mission to India?

[It is widely believed that St. Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ, came to India and spread Christian teachings, particularly in the southern regions such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Given that India already possessed a profound spiritual knowledge through the Vedas, the Bhagavad Gita and numerous human incarnations, what was the necessity or purpose of St. Thomas’s mission to India? What spiritual need was being addressed by his coming?]

Swami replied:- As I have told above, other religion is only a curved path. This should be realized not only by the devotees but also by the preachers. People are giving a lot of importance to the language, the external culture etc., instead of having full concentration on the main subject. What is the use of changing your dress and the medium of learning without understanding and improving your standards in the subject? You have to follow the core subject of every religion, which is one and the same. Subject is the most important part of your education and not the buildings of your college and not the uniform dress code that is specific to a specific institution.

3. Why did Hanuman absorb His wife Suvarchala into His own body?

[Shri Anil Antony asked: Padanamaskaram Swami, Please give Your replies to the following questions, at Your Divine Lotus Feet-Anil Antony. Why did Hanuman absorb His wife Suvarchala into His own body? Does this mean that Suvarchala is also an incarnation of Hanuman Himself?]

Swami replied:- Suvarcalā is the daughter of the Sun god and is the incarnation of cosmic energy. Hanuman is the purest celibate and perfect celibacy is the scientific secrecy of preservation of energy in the body. Even if you are entertained by the stories of personifications of concepts, you must understand the basic hidden background concepts.

4. How is it possible that Hanuman, who is a celibate (Brahmachari), is said to be married?

Swami replied:- In marriage, no bridegroom absorbs the bride into his body. Can you call this concept as marriage?

5. Why did Shiva grant Draupadi five husbands when her intention was to get Shiva Himself?

[Why did God Shiva grant Draupadi five husbands? When her original intention was to obtain God Shiva Himself as her single husband, why was she instead married to the five Pandavas?]

Swami replied:- God Shiva has five faces and Goddess Pārvatī was having the approximate experience of enjoying five Shivas at a time due to this unimaginable physical structure of God Shiva. Draupadī was the incarnation of Goddess Pārvatī and five Pāṇḍavas are the incarnations of God Shiva. God Krishna is God Vishnu and God Vishnu is always associated with God Shiva in destroying the evil forces. In the Ramayanam also, God Vishnu as God Rama took the help of God Hanuman, who is the incarnation of God Shiva. God Shiva is meant for destruction and without His association openly or secretly, the destruction of evil forces can’t take place.

6. Is divorce the only solution if incompatibility exists between spouses?

Swami replied:- In the present Kali Age, peaceful separation is better than co-living with daily disputes. Dharma changes from one Yuga to another. Love is better than peace and peace is better than quarrel.

7. How can one attain the state of being a detached spectator of the world, viewing it as a form of entertainment?

Swami replied:- Everything depends on practice. For a person of practice, anything is possible and others without practice feel the same as impossible.

8. Why is it not possible for an ordinary soul to enjoy miseries in the same way that a Human Incarnation of God can?

Swami replied:- You have already distinguished human incarnation of God from an ordinary soul. It is just like asking “Why a scholar can teach and not an ignorant person?”

9. What is the meaning of the following statement?

[Padanamaskaram Swami, Please provide Your responses to the following questions, At Your Lotus Feet-Anil. “Unless you worship some form of God and unless that form of God recommends you to God Datta, you cannot approach God Datta”. Swami, what is the meaning of this statement?]

Swami replied:- This means that the status of God Datta is ultimate, which says that God Datta is creator, ruler and destroyer of this creation. All other forms are His divine incarnations only. Of course, this should not be taken in wrong sense because God Datta is present in every divine incarnation seen in this entire creation. Datta means the ultimate unimaginable God given to this world mediated in several media. He is understood by very little number of deserving devotees only, because majority of humanity is bound by inherent powerful ignorance in the devotional path.

10. How did a petty mantra work against You, the human incarnation of God?

[Swami, You said that at one point You were momentarily made still by a tribal black magician. Swami You are Human incarnation of God Datta, in such case how that petty mantra worked against You?]

Swami replied:- It worked on Me by My will only. I wanted to maintain the faith of the tribal black magician on his mantra. But, I wanted to educate him that God Datta, the ultimate God is the source of power for any mantra. He was also a devotee of God Datta. I wanted to tell him that taking the name of God Datta is the most powerful action.

11. Swami, I tried to use the Sthambana Mantra of that tribal black magician, but I was unable to make anyone still. Why is this so?

Swami replied:- It requires a lot of penance to achieve the power of a mantra. Simply reciting that mantra doesn’t work. The power is in God that flows through the mantra.

12. Is the sincere spiritual effort done on the earth insignificant?

[The time spent in spiritual effort in this world is nothing compared to the time of God Brahma, does it mean that sincere spiritual effort done on the earth is insignificant?]

Swami replied:- It is not the question of the place. The sincerity and devotion in the spiritual effort are very much significant.

13. Is it not possible for Shankara to possess the knowledge of sex?

[Padanamaskaram Swami, Kindly give Your replies to the following questions. At Your Divine Lotus Feet-anil. Shankara entered the body of king Amaruka and enjoyed the ladies in order to get the knowledge of sex (Kama Shastra) for the sake of debate and here there is no sin since the body involved was not of Shankara. Shankara being a human incarnation of God, is it not possible for Him to possess knowledge of sexual matters even without undergoing the incident described above?]

Swami replied:- If God shows omnipotence everywhere, there is no possibility for God to preach the spiritual concept through practical phase. Here, Shankara is preaching to us that any action is burnt if there is no intention. Preaching practically gives a lot of impression in the minds of seekers of knowledge.

14. What is the appropriate way to settle moral or emotional debts like cheating of a boy/girl?

[If a person (boy/girl) cheated someone in a previous birth in love matters and in the present life the same person (girl/boy) returns to “settle the account” how can one identify that such a situation is indeed a retort case? In such cases, how can the account be settled? Unlike financial debts that can be repaid directly, what is the appropriate way to settle this type of moral or emotional debt? Additionally, how do the principles of realization, repentance, and non-repetition operate in resolving such situations?]

Swami replied:- Any sin gets smashed provided the three steps of reformation are followed. Except this one way, there is no alternative way to get any sin permanently cancelled. The alternative way of punishment also can’t bring such effective reformation. Whatever may be the nature of sin, the rules applied in punishment are based on uniform code only.

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