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Smt. Devi: Padanamaskarams Swamiji, I am writing to ask You these questions, which have been bothering me for a long time. However, I am unable to express them properly. I have tried my best below to explain my present state of mind...
Shri Swami: The most difficult part of the spiritual knowledge is the concept of contemporary human incarnation. If this topic is deleted, the spiritual effort becomes very easy from all sides...
[Shri Phani asked: “Some incarnations are said to be lower, which are like incarnations of Kala (a ray of the power), Amsha (partial) compared to higher Poorna (complete) and Paripoorna (perfectly complete) incarnations. Kapila, Vyasa, Rama and Krishna are the respective examples. Does this mean that God is partially present in one incarnation and is completely present in another incarnation?” Given below is Shri Swami’s response.]
In any incarnation, the power of God may enter partly or completely. The power can be understood with quantitative difference. The source of this power is the unimaginable God in...
[Shri Surya asked: “I was told that a great Shankaracharya asked the Government to give permission to enter into Maha Samaadhi. The Government refused and the Acharya dropped from it. Please enlighten us on this”. Given below is Shri Swami’s reply.]
Swami Replied: Maha Samadhi means suicide in which one sits alive and a closed room is built around him. Suicide is equivalent to murdering somebody. The soul of yourself is as good as any other soul existing in a living body. When some living being is killed, the soul in it experiences torture...
The Gita says that the same God exists in different human incarnations and looks like divided (Avibhaktam Vibhakteshu). But, God is not divided because God is not an imaginable item with spatial dimensions. God, being unimaginable, exists totally in each human incarnation and the concept of division, which is applied to imaginable items of the world, cannot apply to God...
Today is the festival of Lord Dattatreya in the name ‘Datta Jayanthi’. Every festival is mainly characterized by preparing extra food items, by following processions in the streets, by arranging heavy music, etc. The actual idea of any festival is to increase your realization of spiritual knowledge. The right knowledge is with high power. You should assimilate it by thinking it again and...
Shri Anil: A person asked why Lord Krishna preached the Gita to Arjuna in the polluted environment of war? He could have preached in a peaceful situation. Could You please clarify this point?
Shri Swami: For preaching knowledge, the primary factor is the appetite for knowledge expressed by the receiver through a question or doubt. The external atmosphere is only a secondary factor. You may be serving food...
[Shri Phani asked: “Many people do not have appetite for knowledge. Only one in millions has the real appetite for spiritual knowledge. In such case, the job of the Preacher becomes very easy to preach those only having appetite”. Given below is Shri Swami’s response.]
Swami Replied: The job of the Preacher is not only to give spiritual knowledge to those having appetite but also to give medicines to create the appetite. The effort should be not only to give food to those having appetite, but also to give the medicine to others...
[Shri Anil asked: “You say that Shankara gave a twist to make the atheists become the theists. But, the same conversion could have been done with the help of true knowledge without any twist”. Given below is Shri Swami’s response.]
A Scholar is always like a guest speaker, who delivers the entire true knowledge without bothering about the level of the students. But, the class teacher is not so. The class teacher delivers...
The infinite power of attraction of My knowledge is the truth in it and not My efficiency in the presentation. One type of false knowledge may be replaced by another type of false knowledge. But, the true knowledge can never be replaced by any type of false knowledge. That is the infinite power of the truth. The first adjective for knowledge is truth as said by the Veda...
[Kartika Purnima Message: Shri Swami attended a function in the house of a devotee, Shri Pavan, since today is the festival of Kartika Purnima. The Shiva Lingam, which is a stone in the form of a wave, is worshipped and behind it, a photo of Lord Shiva is placed. On the other side, there is a big shrine of Shri Satya Sai Baba and Swami also sat facing this shrine.]
Shri Swami: The Shiva Lingam is in the form of a wave indicating the energy since energy propagates as waves. The material of this Shiva Lingam is matter. Thus, Shiva Lingam denotes the medium in two forms 1) Energy and 2) Matter...
There is a famous song ‘Khelati Brahmande Yo Ramah Sa eva Khelati Pindande’. This means that the same Rama, who is playing in this world, is also playing in this human body. The Advaita Philosophers immediately jump often to interpret this to conclude that the same Lord entertained by this world is present in the human body of everybody as soul. This is wrong interpretation based on the ambition to become God without any effort. The only effort they like...
[A devotee raised a peculiar issue stating that some people of backward castes claim Narakasura as their ancestor, who was a good person and was killed by the upward castes in wrong way. They state that he was ‘Asura’ meaning that he does not drink wine. Hence, Deepaavali is a function of the victory of injustice over justice. Given below is Shri Swami’s response.]
You believe that Narakasura was killed by Krishna on the basis of a Scripture that gives the life history of Narakasura. If you believe that Scripture for this point, you must believe the same Scripture for the other points also related...
In the entire spiritual knowledge meant for humanity, the most essential and the most complicated concepts are only two. One is the contemporary human incarnation and the other is the sacrifice of fruit of the work (Karmaphala Tyaga). The Gita gives stress on these two points projecting Krishna as the contemporary human incarnation in that time...
For Scholars Posted on: 26/10/2013Shri Ajay: God is said to be the truth. This does not give any specific information about God. In such case, the statement is useless since the word Truth also does not give any specific information.
Shri Swami: ‘Truth’ or ‘existence’ is a verbal noun that can be projected as subject as per requirement of the statement. If you say ‘he walks’, the word ‘he’ is the subject and the word ‘walks’ is the verb. The verb always needs a subject...
For Scholars Posted on: 21/10/2013Shri Phani: The Gita says that the soul is not different from the living thoughts of awareness and also is beyond the thoughts meaning that the soul is the basic inert energy (Nanyam Gunebhyah Kartaaram…). In such case, the soul is said to be non-inert and inert, which is a self-contradiction. What is Your explanation here?
Shri Swami: The word Atman used for the soul means that which pervades all the items (Atati iti Atmaa). If all the items indicate this entire world, the infinite cosmic inert energy is referred by the word Atman. In such case, the inert cosmic energy is the cause...
There are two phases of a dream. One is that the feelings, which are very strong impressions on mind either in this life or in the previous lives,...
Radha represents Gopikas and is equally worshipped by the side of Krishna. Radha is said to be the incarnation of the sage Durvasa, who is the...
A Scripture preserved by recitation can also have the possibility of the adulteration through insertion of some statements by certain human...
[Mr. Guna Darshana from Indonesia asked “When will God destroy injustice by stopping the people who find entertainment in gambling, cock-fights and so on?” Given below is Shri Swami’s response.]
The creation created by God always consists of pairs of opposite items like day and night, summer and winter, justice and injustice etc. If one of the pair is absent, the other loses its significance and does not...
Shri Swami: The meanings of the words work and worship differ from one context to the other. Some people follow work as worship and such people may...
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