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[This question is part of a Mahā Satsaṅga (grand spiritual discussion) between Swami, Shri Parikshit, Smt. Bindiya and Dr. J. S. R. Prasad.]
Swami replied: The mantra is a sentence that you utter, even though its meaning is not told to you. When the meaning is not known, you cannot develop any feeling upon reciting it. If there is no feeling, there is no devotion. If there is no devotion, God will not be pleased with you and He will not perform any miracle in your favor. The mere utterance of a mantra, without knowing...
[This question is part of a Mahā Satsaṅga (grand spiritual discussion) between Swami and devotees.] Swami replied: Sai Baba was an Incarnation of God Datta and He tried to bring mutual harmony between Hinduism and Islam. A prominent follower of Adi Shankaracharya criticized Sai Baba, some years ago. But I explained to him that the philosophies of Ādi Śaṅkaracārya and Sai Baba are one and the same...
[This question is part of a Mahā Satsaṅga (grand spiritual discussion) between Swami, Shri Parikshit, Smt. Bindiya and Dr. J S. R. Prasad] Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Just as all human beings are similar in nature in that they have both good and bad qualities, all religions too are similar in that they have both merits and defects. The good qualities of a person are the result of associating with good people, while the person’s bad qualities are the result of associatiing with bad people. Similarly, every religion has acquired merits from the original establishers of that religion...
[This question is part of a Mahā Satsaṅga (grand spiritual discussion) between Swami, Shri Parikshit, Smt. Bindiya and Dr. J S. R. Prasad] Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! We need not blindly accept every statement of any scripture. Analyzing any statement...
[This question is part of a Mahā Satsaṅga (grand spiritual discussion) between Swami, Shri Parikshit, Smt. Bindiya and Dr. J S. R. Prasad] Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! It is perfectly correct. The establisher of every religion is God-in-human-form and hence, Kalki and Mohammed can be conveniently compared. At the time of Mohammad, there were several religions, which worshipped several Gods. As a result, there was a lot of quarrelling...
We light a lamp before God. For whom, is this lamp lit? Is it for God? Not at all! God is said to be the source of all lights and He has no need of any light (Na tatra suryo bhāti… tasya bhāsā…—Veda). The light is only helpful for us. With the help of the light, we can read a divine book or we can see the picture of God clearly. The light or oil lamp is useful to us only when there is darkness around. But we light the lamp even during the day, when it is not useful to us in any way. We are burning ghee or oil to produce the light which is not even needed. The oil or ghee is food-material and is created by God for the sake of human beings, so that they can live and grow strong. Thus your lighting the lamp is nothing but the burning of precious food needlessly...
[On the auspicious occasion of Diwali, Dr. Nikhil sent to Shri Swami, a devotional Hindi song dedicated to Him. The song was named “Shri Datta Swami Ārati”. Given below is the conversation that occurred between Swami and Dr. Nikhil, in this context, which will be useful for devotees in the spiritual line.]
Shri Datta Swami: The song is so sweet and palatable that even Guru Datta, the embodiment of spiritual knowledge, got injected with ego!
Dr. Nikhil: Swamiji, You are testing us! It is Your way of saying that we should not develop an ego! While giving knowledge, You (Lord Datta) always give it in a straightforward manner. But while dealing with people like us, who have a contrary attitude, You use reverse psychology. When You say, You developed an ego, we should understand it as, we should be careful of not developing an ego...
धरती पर भक्तों के तुम हो उद्धारक,
भक्तों के कष्टों के तुम हो निवारक,
जीवों के भर्ता तुम ही हो मेरे पालक,
जगत् कण हूँ मैं और तुम जग संचालक॥१॥
Dharatī par bhaktoṁ ke tum ho uddhārak,
Bhaktoṁ ke kaṣṭoṁ ke tum ho nivārak,
Jīvoṁ ke bhartā tum hī ho mere pālak,
Jagat kaṇ hūm̐ maiṁ aur tum jag sancālak ||1||...
O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! God Krishna used to play the flute in Bṛndāvanam and everyone thinks that He only played some musical tunes without any meaning. But it is not so. What He played on the flute were songs containing spiritual knowledge like that in the Bhagavad Gītā. That spiritual knowledge was well-understood by the sages who were reborn as the Gopikās. The Gopikās sang nineteen songs for God Krishna expressing their unimaginable love for Him. But the songs sung by Lord Krishna are not known. Some of them are being revealed here by God Datta...
Shri Durgaprasad asked: Padanamaskaram Swami! You have said that one should keep the Lord in place of one’s child so that one’s love towards the Lord becomes natural. The Gopikās showed exactly this type of love and served the Lord like a family member. On other hand, Lakṣmaṇa and Hanumān served the Lord like slaves, considering Him to be their Master. It means, they were always in the alert mode. These two types of love appear to be quite opposite. How can we understand this difference? Your servant, Durgaprasad
Swami replied: Parents too are slaves to their children as they serve their children. In fact, their service is greater than the service done by a slave. The mother washes the child’s bottom after excretion, whereas a servant would generally hesitate to do it. The master pays a limited salary to his servants as per the quality and quantity of their service. On the other hand, children pay nothing to their parents. Instead, parents transfer their entire property to their children, in addition to serving them, even if the grown-up children...
Shri Durgaprasad asked: A Muslim preacher Zakir Naik claims, Prophet Mohammed was the last Prophet even as per Hinduism, because it is said in Hinduism that the Lord will come as last Incarnation, Kalki. Of course, Zakir Naik picks up quotations from the scriptures of other religions, selectively, to suit his purpose. Swami, can you please tell us, what is the significance of the Incarnation of Lord Kalki, when the Lord has also said that He will come again and again.
Swami replied: We belong to Universal Spirituality and we do not have even the slightest objection in calling Prophet Mohammed as the Human Incarnation of God. Kalki is only the name of one Human Incarnation. Even if Kalki is actually different from the Prophet, it does not make any difference, because both the future Kalki and the past Prophet are equal in the sense that both are Human Incarnations...
Shri Nava Chaitanya asked: Padanamaskaram Swamiji! Thank you Swamiji for granting this life and access to this wonderful knowledge. Swamiji, I have been reading Your discourses for the past few years, in which I have found a lot of wonderful information, different perspectives, underlying meaning and so on. I have a few questions, which I have presented below. My questions are basically related to how one can practically tackle worldly problems...
Swami replied: God has absolutely no objection for canceling the fruits of all the sins of all souls and granting only the fruits of their merits, so that all souls will always be happy. He is not bothered about the systematic arrangement of the fruits of deeds or the good reputation of His administration. In fact, God had kept all souls happy in the kṛta yuga by keeping all souls under His full control...
[Reply to a question by Dr.Nikhil] Swami replied: You are perfectly correct. In fact, in the traditional ritual, the young boy who is to be initiated into the study of the Veda, formally asks his father to give him the Sāvitrī Mantra (Sāvitrīṃ anubrūhi). Sāvitrī Mantra is the hymn in praise of the deity called Savitā, which means the Creator of the world. That hymn is not the actual gāyatrī but is merely a verse written in the gāyatrī meter...
[Reply to a question by Shri Ngherappa] Swami replied: Doubt is most welcome, but the discussion should remove the doubt and create faith. Doubt is the seed, discussion is the grown tree and faith is the final fruit of the tree. The fruit is naturally given the highest importance. Blind faith is the rotten, poisonous fruit lying by the side of the road. The person who wants to avoid the hard work of growing the tree (discussion), is fascinated by the rotten fruit fallen by the roadside. Faith obtained after a long discussion ...
[Reply to a question by Anupam Kumar] Swami replied: The best student of Guru Droṇa was Ekalavya, who never saw or learnt anything directly from Guru Droṇa. His marvelous faith in the teacher made him an excellent warrior. Even this example is too big for our case. The training in martial arts involving a bow and arrow requires the teacher to demonstrate certain things practically. But the subject being discussed by us is theoretical spiritual knowledge, in which there is no such requirement of any practical demonstration. Of course, in the beginning, some practical demonstration...
Shri G Lakshman asked: Swami! Padanamaskarams to You! In one of Your earlier discourses, You had mentioned that the number of souls (quantity) is more or less the same across the different worlds. In the beginning, God was bored and for His entertainment, He created the universe consisting of different worlds, animals, humans and so on. When God initially created souls, I understand that there would have only been a few of them and later on, they might have multiplied over time. Today, perhaps, we can say that the number of souls has reached a constant value. Is this true?
Swami replied: A person asked a villager how many crows were there in his village. The villager replied that there were 400 crows in his village. The person disagreed, claiming that he had already counted the actual number of crows and the number was only 390. The villager calmly explained that 10 crows might have gone to the neighboring village! The person left and returned after some time...
Smt. Bindiya wrote: Shat shat praṇām to Almighty Swamiji! I have full faith and believe that You are the true Human Incarnation of Lord Datta. There is no doubt in my mind and it is a fact for me now. I established this truth after analysing Your preaching and Your miracles which are not possible for any human being to do. Now, I am not keen to know the ifs and buts of life and history. I am not intrigued why what happened in the past, be it in the Mahabharata age or the Ramayana age. I don’t want to know what happens after life or what happened...
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Replying to your letter becomes a very complicated matter because your belief in the Human Incarnation is the most perfect climax-concept. It is the essence of the Gita, in which Krishna repeatedly said that He is the God-in-human-form to be recognized and served. Krishna cannot be misunderstood for saying that because God came as Krishna specifically to explain the nature of God-in-human-form. That is why Krishna is called a Līlā Mānuṣāvatāra...
The intellect (buddhi) is the faculty of logical analysis and decision-making. In that case, why does it not prevent us while committing sins, by giving a sharp decision based on logical analysis?
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! The intellect is responsible for conducting logical analysis and then making the correct decisions based on the analysis. The intellect places these decisions before the person in the context of performing any action, including sinful action. But the intellect is only an advising authority, like the judge in the court. The judgment alone is given by the judge in the court, while it is executed by other departments of the government. The judge is not the implementing authority for the judgement. In fact, we hear that there are several judgments...
Swami replied: Maturity is normally expected in old people because of the physical weakness of the body, which prevents them from practically committing sins. But this idea is not completely correct. The judgment given by the judge might, sometimes, not get implemented due to the inefficiency or incapability of the executing department. But it can get implemented whenever the department becomes capable, such as by recruiting new staff. The intellect is the judge, which, forced by the mind and senses, makes the decision to commit sin. However, the old and weak physical body ...
Swami replied: Usually, I look forward to attending any function where God is worshipped, especially when it is a function dedicated to the worship of God Datta. But I am sorry to say, I will not be able to attend this specific function. The reason is that, in this specific function, you will be repeatedly reciting the name of God Datta for seven days continuously. If I call out your name in your ear continuously for seven minutes, will you not get a headache? Will you be able to bear that headache for seven days? Not only you, but I, the Person repeating your name will also get a terrible headache...
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