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God is the Lord for both Pravritti and Nivritti. You have to please the Lord even in Pravritti. If the Lord is not pleased in Pravritti you cannot please Him in Nivritti. The fundamental requirement to please the Lord in Pravritti is to have satisfaction at every step. Contentment with whatever you have will always please the Lord. You must be happy with whatever is already given to you by the Lord and you must always thank Him for the past. You should not put your eye on the present or the future and put an application to the Lord [you should not aspire for more]. Even if you have travelled from one place to another, you must thank the Lord for having protected you during the journey. You have reached the destiny...
[Datta Jayanti] A human being cannot do any work just by his will even after long concentration. The same work happens as soon as the Lord wishes just once. This whole universe is created just by His one wish. Faith is will power concentrated for a long time. Will is common in both the Lord and the human being. Will is a characteristic of awareness. This awareness is a common item in both the Lord and the human being. Therefore, will is also a common item in both the Lord and the soul (human being). All these worlds are created just by one wish of the Lord. But even if the soul wishes one crore times [ten million times] in a highly concentrated way called ‘faith, even an atom cannot be created. When both are forms of awareness...
My dear Christians and Hindus, Jesus Christ came to India and He was honoured by Indians. He wandered all over India and several Indians were attracted to His shrewd preaching given with excellent analysis. He lived up to 85 years of age and was buried in Kashmir with all the spiritual honour. Hindus treated Him as their own preacher. Similarly, Christians honoured Swami Vivekananada and His preaching was appreciated. Christians loved Him from the bottom of their hearts. They treated Him as their beloved preacher. No two religions can mix so fast and so homogeneously as Christianity and Hinduism. The reason for this is that the spiritual skeleton of both religions is one and the same. When the skeleton is similar, the flesh and the skin...
For Scholars Posted on: 27/11/2005If a Christian loves another Christian as his brother, there is no greatness in it. Similarly, there is no greatness if a Hindu loves another Hindu as his brother. The greatness comes if a Christian loves the Hindu as his brother and vice-versa. A true Christian must love a true Hindu as his brother and should treat a wrong Christian as an outsider. Similarly a true Hindu must love a true Christian as his brother and must treat a wrong Hindu as an outsider. Suppose you are in a white dress. An outsider is also in a white dress, but your own brother is in a blue dress. Based on the colour of the external dress will you treat the outsider who is in the same colour of the dress as your own brother? Will you treat your own brother...
It is pitiable to depict Lord Ganapati [Ganesha] with the head of the elephant and offer grass and leaves to Him, treating Him as an animal. The story itself is absurd because the story says that Lord Shiva cuts the head of Ganapati, who was prepared by Goddess Parvati. It is said that Lord Shiva was ignorant of Ganapati being the son of Parvati. How ignorant is this fabrication! Lord Shiva is said to be the deity of Knowledge (Jnanam Maheswaraat). He is Sarvajna or omniscient. Is it not insulting Lord Shiva who is the ultimate Lord? Even in the story of Markandeya, people have fabricated a story that Lord Shiva killed Yama due to excessive anger and emotion, and that later on He realized His hasty action. Lord Shiva really gets angry...
[Krishnashtami Day 7] Four types of devotees approach the Lord. The first one approaches due to the pressure of some emergency or difficulty (Arta). The Lord will definitely respond to him once or twice, expecting him to rise above this level. If he does not rise, God’s response disappears slowly. For this type of response from God, there is no need of a human incarnation. The power of the Lord that pervades all over the world is sufficient to respond to such prayers in an emergency. Even this response of God is based on the re-adjustment of the person’s own results. The Lord will rearrange his results temporarily...
[Krishnashtami Day 6] The Lord in human form receives our sacrifice and enjoys it. His enjoyment is reflected in His face and we recognize it, which gives us immense satisfaction (Bhoktaram Sarvatapasam). This possibility is absent in all the other forms of God and therefore God does not exist in the other forms but those forms can be kept as representatives or models, if you are unable to accept the human form. However, the recognition of the real human incarnation is very important since He will guide you in the correct path as your friend (Suhrudam Sarvabhutanam). If your guide is a false guide...
[Krishnashtami Day 5] The human incarnation is also present in this world. The analysis of this Super Man gives a clear idea of the unimaginable God. Thus a practical experience regarding the unimaginable God also exists here. Hence the philosophy has a practical validity in this world. All this analysis is only from the angle of the soul. Before creation, there was no soul and there was no universe. In such a state, the unimaginability also did not exist because the God was imaginable to Himself. Therefore even the Maya, which is the unimaginability, also disappears and hence even Maya must have birth...
[Krishnashtami Day 4] To please the Lord you have to surrender your words by singing about Him, your mind in His devotion and your intelligence in His discussions. However these three constitute only 1% of the total sacrifice and this is called theoretical sacrifice. The sacrifice of your work and the sacrifice of the fruit of work constitute 99% of sacrifice, which is called practical sacrifice. The practical sacrifice should be done to the most deserving person, who is Lord in human form, when recognised properly. The reason is that all this wealth belongs...
For Scholars Posted on: 28/08/2005[Krishnashtami Day 3] What does Parabrahman mean? It means something, which is other than Brahman. This word does not directly tell us anything about the nature of Parabrahman, since it is impossible to know Parabrahman. Sages have indicated Parabrahman by negative analysis, which means, discarding every item of the creation (Neti Neti—Veda) [as not being Parabrahman]. The reason for this is that all the Vedas and the Gita say that Parabrahman is so unimaginable that we cannot use even the sentences like “It exists” or “It does not exist” (Nasattat Naasaduchyate—Gita). In that case, why can’t we say that the Parabrahman...
[Krishnastami Day 2] It is a pitiable situation for the spiritual knowledge because people are giving lot of importance to the word Yoga without understanding its real meaning. People speak about the six wheels (Chakras) and there is no reference of these Chakras in the sacred scriptures like the Vedas, Gita and Brahma Sutras. This is the creation of a middle age scholar, who has introduced the spiritual subject in a symbolic language. The wheels indicate the whirlpools...
[Krishnashtami is the celebration of the birthday of Lord Krishna, the author of the Bhagavad Gita and God in human form. This festival is celebrated throughout India in different ways. Starting on this day, Swami gave seven discourses for seven consequtive days. These discourses are given in this and the following six chapters. ]
The celebration of Krishnashtami by cooking special food items and sweets is like primary level school education. Some celebrate this festival by singing songs and dancing. In this, the personality of Lord Krishna is remembered and temporary pleasure derived by the devotee. This can be compared to college education. The highest and real celebration of this festival...
God alone can preach about Himself: The Veda says that the Lord alone knows about Himself (Brahmavit Brahmaiva). The Gita says that nobody other than the Lord can know the Lord. Some people misinterpret this Vedic statement as “He who knows Brahman becomes Brahman”. But this interpretation contradicts the Gita because the Gita says that nobody other than the Brahman can know Brahman. The conclusion of this is that the Lord alone can preach about the Lord or Himself...
The word Guru means Removal of Ignorance, which is like darkness. The letter ‘Gu’ indicates ‘darkness’ and the letter ‘Ru’ indicates its removal. This darkness is not in a physical sense, which can be removed by sunlight. Some people worship the sun as Guru. But it is not correct because the sun is only an inert globe and can only remove the the physical darkness. Removal of darkness by the sun is the best simile or an example or a representative model of the concept. You should not think that the model itself is the concept. The concept is removal of ignorance by the Lord who comes in the form of a spiritual preacher called as ‘Sadguru’. When you are in a state of unawareness of a concept, such a state is called as ignorance...
The direction from God is always true. But then how to approach the formless God? If you ask something to God, He will not reply from the sky. If you approach God in a form, it must be through the human form only because only a human form can reply. But in which human form is God present? God is present in a particular human form. Even some human beings, in whom God is not present, are claiming that they are God. The actual human incarnation sometimes keeps silent. Sometimes He says that He is God and sometimes says that He is not God. Arjuna asked Krishna for direction. Now from his point of view, Krishna may or may not be God. Therefore, even though Krishna was preaching about the direction, Arjuna did not believe blindly. He asked questions...
[A person claiming to be a true Christian said that he does not believe in human rationality and the introduction of God through the human body]. Let us begin by asking what is meant by denying human rationality? Does it mean:
If you take the first case, since you are a human being, whatever you say should not be accepted...
Shankara is Lord Shiva. Ramanuja is Lord Vishnu. The Veda says that Shiva is Vishnu (Shivascha Narayanah). People misinterpreted the Advaita of...
[Jesus said that one can reach His Father only through Him and that He is the only path. Does this not mean that we have to follow only Jesus? In such a case, how can one accept Universal Spirituality? This is a question posed by several devoted Christians from all over the world.]
Reply of Swami: My answer to these dear devoted holy Christian souls is as follows: Does Jesus represent a human body, the word or both? If it represents a particular human body, then such a human body does not exist now. Only a particular human generation and that too, in a particular place was favored by the association of the human body of Jesus. Is it not the partiality of God?...
[Divine discourse given by Swami via a teleconference, which was relayed in USA and Europe.]
My dear devoted souls, A teacher has two students. The first one is good in theory and the second one is good in practical. The teacher wishes both the students to exchange their efficiencies so that both become efficient in both the fields. The teacher is strong in both the fields and is teaching the theory and demonstrating the practical in uniform way to both the students. The variation in the students came due to different psychologies of the two students. Similarly, God is that one teacher. The religious scriptures in all the countries...
Rohit: Swami! In the Quran, it is stated that Mohammad is not father of any one.
Further it is stated there that He is the last Prophet sent by God.
What is the inner meaning of this, if this verse is genuine statement?
Swami: Oh Rohit! You have picked up very crucial concept of spirituality.
This statement is original and therefore it entered your mind.
The inner meaning of this verse is based on the angle, which you take...
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