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Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! You mean to say that cow-eaters should not be excused, whereas, goat-eaters can be excused! Both cows and goats are soft-natured animals. The real concept is that a soft-natured animal or human being should not be killed. A cow represents all soft-natured animals. When it is said that you should not kill a cow, it means that you should not kill any soft-natured animal or bird. Similarly, when it is said that you should not kill a Brāhmaṇa, it means that you should not kill any soft-natured...
Shri Anil asked: Jesus said that the sins of the devotee will be excused in proportion to the love possessed by the devotee for God. Does this mean that the love for God has such miraculous power to cancel sins?
Swami replied: The love for God does not have any miraculous power. Even if it had any miraculous power, that miraculous power is not used to cancel the sins. Due to the devotee’s love for God, God comes down in human form to preach to the devotee about the path of reformation. It is only upon reformation that sins are cancelled. There are three steps in the reformation of the soul. The first is realization. It means the recognition of the sin. The person should confess that he or she has committed a sin and not try to use false and twisted arguments to defend the sin or prove that it was not a sin but a good deed. The second step is repentance for the committed sin. The third and final step is the practical non-repetition ...
Swami replied: God said in the Gita that He incarnates in human form for only one purpose, which is the establishment of justice and the destruction of injustice (Dharma saṃsthāpanārthāya…—Gita). He never said that He would incarnate for the sake of establishing His existence or for destroying atheism. God is not worried about the spiritual path (nivṛtti). He is not interested in establishing theism, spiritual knowledge, devotion, service to Him or sacrifice to Him. He has no desire...
Shri Balaji asked: What are the five sacrifices (pañca yajñas)? If a person misses the Satguru, who is to be worshipped in the first Brahma yajña? Should he perform it or not? If the real Satguru is not available, will the performance of these five sacrifices take the soul to the highest step?
Swami replied: In fact, there are seven sacrifices (sapta yajñas) in which seven different entities are worshipped by offering food to them. They are as follows: 1) Brahma yajña, in which the contemporary Human Incarnation of God or the Satguru is to be worshipped. 2) Deva yajña, in which devotees...
The answer to this question is a full yes. For every concept in spiritual knowledge, there is an excellent example in the world. This means that from worldly experience itself, the entire spiritual knowledge can be built up. We have seen that issue-devotion (love for one’s children) is the strongest and that one’s devotion to God stands in competition against it. The final success lies in conquering the love for one’s children with the devotion that one has for God...
People say that Sudāmā, who was facing extreme poverty, initially avoided approaching Krishna for help, to maintain his own dignity. But it is totally wrong. Sudāmā was not approaching Krishna because he knew thoroughly that we should never approach God, expecting some benefit in return. This was the main reason why Sudāmā was not approaching Krishna for a long time. When he finally approached Krishna, due to the insistence of his wife...
Shri Balaji asjed: In the spiritual line, a lot of courage is needed, in general. When we debate with a great saint, a lot of courage is needed, isn’t it?
Swami replied: There is no need to have any fear during a spiritual debate because our strength lies in our argument and not in the status of the opponent. It does not matter even if the opponent is the greatest saint. It is the question of a wrong point being defeated...
Smt. Priyanka Seethepalli asked: Is it mandatory to do the muṇḍan ceremony (tonsure) of a baby? Does it have any religious significance? Commonly, after performing the pujā in a temple, a few snippets of the baby’s hair are taken off and later, the parents are supposed to get all of the baby’s birth hair shaved off. Is this necessary?
Swami replied: Removing the hair from the head of a baby may be good from a scientific point...
Smt. Priyanka Seethepalli asked: Is kuṇḍali or horoscope-matching very important for marriages? In some marriages, even though the horoscope has been matched, the couples seem to be having a lot of inter-personal problems and they do not get along well. Should people still match the horoscopes anyway, just to err on the safe side? It is also said that the cutting of hair and nails should only be done on specific days and not at night time. Do such rules apply even today?
Swami replied: The subject of astrology as written by ancient sages is correct. However, the astrologer must interpret the horoscope in the correct way. The astrological planets are not the inert planets, but the deities of the inert planets. They are nothing but the various forces of the unimaginable power of God. They deliver the fruits of the deeds of souls, as per the schedule of life cycles, which are arranged by God. The inert planets, which exist in space, are made of inert matter...
Smt. Priyanka Seethepalli asked: I have read in one of your articles that some souls are born as fish and trees to train those souls regarding sacrifice. Once that birth is over and God feels that the soul has indeed learnt its lesson, are they born as human beings again in order to give them a second chance at having a human birth?
Swami replied: Sinners who have used their qualities greed and anger in the wrong direction...
Smt. Priyanka Seethepalli asked: The fate of some herbivorous animals is decided by birth itself since they will be killed and eaten by some carnivores. A carnivorous animal, by nature, is designed to hunt, kill and eat other animals. So, how is the judgment done for animals? Also, once an animal or any creature dies, do their souls get energetic bodies that are of the form of that same animal? Do they also have wait for their judgment for ten days, like human souls?
Swami replied: Once a soul enters the cycle of births of animals and birds, they generally continue to have the same attitudes...
Smt. Priyanka Seethepalli asked: Why do some souls haunt places on Earth instead of crossing over? We hear stories where some people can even see these ghosts. Some spirits even try to enter living human beings and cause them harm. I heard that some harmless spirits just wander around for years. How come those souls did not face any judgment after 10 days of their death? Also, how does a soul transform into an evil spirit and why do evil spirits harm people? Is having complete faith in God to protect us, the answer to preventing these spirits from approaching us?
Swami replied: There is no difference between ghosts and persons who have extreme attachment or fascination to worldly things. It is only due to their extreme worldly fascination that souls enter invisible energetic bodies called ghosts, after death. They continue to wander in this world until their fascination gets pacified. Such a judgment is given by God to the soul having extreme worldly fascination, on the 10th day after the death of the soul. Such ghosts or spirits occasionally enter us and cause...
Smt. Priyanka Seethepalli asked: Is it considered wrong if someone chooses to donate one’s organs and go through electric cremation after they die? Is it alright in terms of skipping the traditional way of being cremated? What all rituals should their family members follow before and after electric cremation?
Swami replied: Donating organs after death is a meritorious deed...
Smt. Priyanka Seethepalli asked: Nowadays, due to medical technology, transgenders are going through surgery and hormone injections to attain the physical features of the gender they wish to have. Some of them feel trapped in the body of the gender they were born with and they are willing to go through whatever is needed to change their gender.
Swami replied: Gender is, in no way, connected with the soul. It is only related to the external gross body. The change of gender is a subject only related to worldly issues and not to spiritual issues. In view of the souls, there is no difference in gender. All souls belong to only one gender and that is female. God alone is said to be the male (Puruṣa) in the sense...
| Shri Dattaswami | purusha prakruti
[Reply tp a question by Smt. Priyanka Seethepalli] Swami replied: Rape is the sin of the rapist and not the sin of the raped lady. There is no need to have an abortion...
Smt. Priyanka Seethapalli asked: What is your take on legalizing gay marraiges? It is already legal in some states in USA and we see many gay couples who are even raising children together. There are some people who say that all gay people will be condemned to hell and parents disown their own children when they come to know that their children are gay. There is so much social taboo and shame in accepting gay people.
Swami replied: Any inborn defect in this life is only the fruit of some sin done in the past lives. A person who mocks at a eunuch, is born as a eunuch in his next life. If the eunuch is reformed in this birth and becomes a strong devotee of God, God will remove the defect and bless the soul even using His miraculous...
Smt. Priyanka Seethepalli asked: Is euthanasia or mercy killing wrong or a sin, particularly in the following cases:Case 1: Sometimes, a cancer patient at the hospital is told by a doctor that, with a lot of effort, they can prolong their life by 6 more months or a year, at the most. But the patient opts for no more suffering from chemotherapy or any other types of medical interventions and choses to lead the remaining life in doing what he or she likes. The patient chooses not to fight for living a little bit longer and instead, makes peace with his or her upcoming death. Is this wrong? Should patients always...
[Reply to a question by Smt. Priyanka Seethepalli] Swami replied: Plastic surgery might become essential for professional reasons. A beautiful film actress got plastic surgery done to make the tip of her flat nose a little long and lean because she has to act...
Smt. Priyanka Seethepalli asked: One of my Christian friends asked me “Why does Hinduism have so many forms of Gods and Goddesses? We have only Jesus Christ. Muslims have only Allah. Buddhism has only Lord Buddha and so on. How can one keep up with so many forms? Are you supposed to just pick whom you like and focus on that form”? How should I answer such questions?
Swami replied: The above question regarding the multiplicity of Gods in Hinduism itself contains the answer because the questioner asked “Are you supposed to just pick whom you like and focus on that form?” Hinduism is a micro-model of the macro-world. What you see in the world, you also see in the Hindu religion at a micro-level. In the world, you have picked up the form of Jesus since you liked it and you are focusing on it. Did you ask other people in the world, “Why are there so many forms of God existing in the world when Jesus alone is God?” Some other person has picked Allah, who has no form. Some other person picked Buddha...
Smt. Priyanka Seethepalli asked: Nowadays, we are hearing so much about scientists trying to study the planet Mars, as a possible planet to host human life and other life forms. There are many theories where they are predicting that humans will, one day, live on Mars. There is a saying I have heard since childhood, “Without Lord Śiva’s order, even an ant will not move a step...
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