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Shri Surya asked some questions sent by some intellectuals, which came into the light through the website.
1) In the scripture God said that which lives and moves around you shall be your food. In such case, how can you say that the non-vegetarian food is a sin? And also the Muslims eat meat. So? - Bruno Berardinone
Shri Swami Replied: There are several angles in giving answer to this question. The first angle is that the point need not be valid because it is mentioned in the scripture. There is no guarantee that the scripture is maintained pure without the insertions by some persons, who have selfish motives...
Shri Surya referred a question asked by a person through website. The questions are: 1) what is the proof for the re-birth of the soul? 2) What is the proof for the existence of hell and if the hell exists what is the reason for not having the memory of the punishments in the hell and also the previous birth? 3) If a soul is born in a criminal family and becomes the criminal, the fault lies with the family and not with the soul. In such case, why should the soul be punished? -Shreyans Kanswa
Shri Swami replied: The topic of deeds and the corresponding fruits is a very complicated cycle involving the three dimensional network of various aspects as said in the Gita (Gahanaa karmano Gatih). You cannot simply give a passing remark based on superficial observation of very limited area of this topic. First, you must understand...
For Scholars Posted on: 07/10/2015[Replies to Dr. Nikhil's Enquiries] Shankara stated that God has no attributes (Nirguna). Ramanuja said that God has all the good attributes (Saguna and Kalyanagunavishishta). Both these statements look contradicting each other. But, if you analyse carefully, both the statements are one and the same. The relationship or association of even a rigid quality with God is always external like the yellow thread of a married lady. The yellow thread is only externally associated and can be separable very easily. But, the yellow thread is never separated...
For Scholars Posted on: 05/10/2015Shri Anil asked: How can you say that God is non-existent (Asat)?
Shri Swami Replied: In the Gita, God Himself said (Sadasat chaahamarjuna) that He is not only existent (Sat) but also non-existent (Asat). I will just give a tautology of Sat and Asat to be applied not only to God but also to the world. The Gita says that God is both existent and non-existent. In the Gita, elsewhere also, same point is stated that God cannot be told as either existent or non-existent (Nasat tat naasaduchyate) Simultaneously, the Veda says that this world is existent...
For Scholars Posted on: 30/09/2015Dr. Nikhil asked: God is completely fulfilled and contented completely as said by the Veda (Purnamadah...). How can there be boredom in His case? It is a superimposition of the concept of this imaginary domain on Him, which cannot fit in the unimaginable domain.
Shri Swami replied: God is fully contented as said by the Veda elsewhere also (Aptakamasya kaa spruhaa?). The Gita also says the same (Na me parthaasti..., Naanavaaptam...) that there is nothing to be obtained or not obtained. Yet, God keeps Himself engaged in work (Varta evacha karmani— Gita). Now, the point is that if somebody is bored due to lack...
For Scholars Posted on: 29/09/2015Shri Ajay asked: Shri Shirdi Sai Baba is not liked by some traditional Hindu priests for His non-vegetarian food and the habit of smoking through the pipe called Hukka. Please explain this point.
Shri Swami Replied: The habit of non-vegetarian food was a created story by non-vegetarians to have the support from Baba for their sin. Of course, the divinity has no link with the food habits and external culture. Shri Rama, the Lord in human form, was also a non-vegetarian. Shri Baba used to supply the non-vegetarian food for the non-vegetarian guests. Even Jesus and Mohammed...
Dr. Nikhil asked: My mother asked that how Rama being God treated Sita in such a way? My student asked that the non-vegetarian food is natural system and how can it be a sin?
Shri Swami Replied: 1) God came to earth in human form called as Rama to establish the ideals of a human being in various roles like king, husband, brother, son, father etc. He left Sita since a washer-man commented on her character. Here, He established Himself as an ideal ruler caring for the criticism of public always as the guideline. The rulers of the public should care for every criticism from public...
Mr. Martin Evind asked: What is the process of death and the fate of the soul in it?
Shri Swami Replied: The human being is made of four components: 1) the ultimate causal body (Maha Kaarana Shariram). This is a drop of ultimate infinite ocean of cosmic energy. Qualitatively, this and the infinite cosmic energy are one and the same even though there is quantitative difference. This ultimate cosmic energy is the second item that appeared on the first wish of God for entertainment...
For Scholars Posted on: 22/09/2015[Back Ground: Dr. Nikhil’s Questions] Shri Anil asked: You said that there are three types of wishes: 1) Zero wish in which the mechanism and material are unimaginable, 2) First wish in which mechanism is unimaginable but the material is imaginable and 3) Subsequent wish in which the material and content are imaginable. Is third type of wish, the wish of God?
Shri Swami Replied: You have asked very sharp question. Your intellectual potential is very high because you hail from the native place of Adi Shankara in Kerala state! I have classified these wishes based on the structure of wish...
Shri Anil asked: What is the responsibility of Sthitaprajna having an ignorant wife and what is her fate? Please explain Maya or illusion also.
Shri Swami Replied: Maya is illusion but is divine in not harming any innocent or good human being. A devotee is absorbed completely in God and such state is called Sthitaprajna, which means that his Prajna (the decision faculty of logical analysis) is Sthita (totally absorbed in God). It means that the absorption in God is the result...
For Scholars Posted on: 14/09/2015[Replies to Questions of Dr. Nikhil] ‘Tat Sat’ is the Vedic statement, which means that ‘that exists’. The word ‘that’ is a pronoun about which no detail is known except its existence (Astityeva... Veda). The pronoun does not give any knowledge of that. For the details to be known, a noun follows it. When we say ‘that horse’, the pronoun ‘that’ indicates only an item existing there and the noun ‘horse’ gives all the details of that. Mere pronoun does not give the knowledge of the item. Therefore, the word ‘that’ only gives the information about the existence...
Shri Balaji asked: 1. What is the meaning of the second verse of Eeshavaasya Upanishat? 2. Should we decide somebody as a Brahmin just by his qualities and actions (Guna Karma)?
Shri Swami Replied: 1) This verse means that you should wish to live long doing the duties, there is no other way, then, you will not be bound by the duty. Every human being does the duties or actions (karma) and there is no need of advising it to do the duty. The Gita says that even the livelihood can be earned by action only. The Gita also says...
Mr. Veena Datta, S/o. Ajay, asked: How to avoid the tension in the interviews even though miracles of God are experienced by me?
Shri Swami replied: Tension starts only when you are attached to the fruit of your effort. You know very well that your effort cannot give the fruit unless God gives it. Even then, the tension comes because you are not sure whether God is going to give the fruit or not. “If God is pleased with me, the fruit is given to me and if God is not pleased, the fruit is not given to me” - like this, you think. You will be worried...
For Scholars Posted on: 04/09/20151. What is the problem for You if I say that the first wish of God to create the world is a ‘zero’ wish (the background and content material are unimaginable)? Then, subsequently, the first creation appeared, which is the inert energy. By this, the first creation need not be first wish.
Shri Swami replied: There is no problem at all in your proposal provided this creation is not the wish of God. If you take the real world, every item in the real world and its production is not the wish of anybody. But, if you take your own imaginary world, every item of the imaginary world is a wish. When this real world...
For Scholars Posted on: 03/09/2015[Replies to Dr. Nikhil’s Questions] You need not separate the unimaginable domain and imaginable domain in the aspect of differentiating the farmer as the property of God and latter as the property of the individual soul. Both domains are the properties of God only. The individual souls being part and parcel of imaginable domain also become the property of God. The unimaginable domain is different from the imaginable domain...
For Scholars Posted on: 03/09/2015[Replies to Dr. Nikhil’s Questions] We are standing in the imaginable domain and we are part and parcel of the imaginable domain only. We can never enter the unimaginable domain. What all we speak is spoken by us standing in the imaginable domain only. We can speak about the unimaginable domain based on the scripture, which is also an authority (Shabda Pramana) of knowledge. Of course, this authority is based on the inference...
Shri Swami Replied: In any field, God’s grace is very important because God alone gives the fruits at the end of your efforts. You should...
[Reply to Rajiv Naik] Dhyana is only concentration on the knowledge. Dhyana is not an independent entity. Through true and intensive knowledge and...
[Reply to Suresh] Datta Swami stands for the true knowledge that results through intensive analysis. Participate in the discussions and go through...
[Reply to Shekhar Parekh] Worship Lord Subrahmanya in the form of serpent. You will get your desire...
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