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[This question was posed to Swami on the auspicious occasion of Guru Purnima.]
Swami replied: We go to a doctor with immense faith on him that he will certainly cure our illness. The faith was correct and the doctor gave the prescription recommending a very good medicine. Without purchasing and taking that medicine, will our illness be cured by the grace of the doctor, merely due to our immense faith in him? Similarly, when God shows...
[This question was posed to Swami on the auspicious occasion of Guru Purnima.]
Swami replied: A prostitute dances with some person, leaving her legitimate life-partner for the sake of earning money, through the path of injustice. The prostitute may give that money to her issues, parents etc. This means that the prostitute could overcome only one worldly bond, which is the justified bond with her life-partner and all other worldly bonds are intact! The case of the married Gopikā was different in that, she sacrificed...
[Ms. Amudha asked: Dear Lord! Om Shri Datta Swami Namaḥ! Dear Lord, kindly enlighten me by answering my queries. Swami, I am grateful for all Your grace. One of Your discourses mentioned about the “extra money” which people earn and which should be given back to God in the form of donations. How can we define the basic needs in life and what is extra money? Kindly enlighten me on the above questions. Yours obediently, Amudha.]
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Generally, food, clothing, shelter and the medicines required to cure illnesses are treated as the basic needs for the simple living of a person of high thinking. These basic needs differ from the view of one person to another. The length of the list of basic needs depends upon the person’s view of worldly life. If the knowledge of God...
[Shri Yogendra asked: Namaskaram! After my visits to Pithapuram and Kuravpur, 9 months ago; I started chanting “Digambara, Digambara, Śrīpāda Vallabha Digambara” most of the time. But a lot of troubles started in my life over the past 7 months. They included my health issues and my mother’s paralytic attack, 7 months ago. So, the question that rises in my mind is, am I going in the right direction? Please guide me. Yogendra.]
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! You have caught the feet of God Dattātreya, who is famous for testing the devotee. Actually, He already knows where the devotee stands and hence, no tests are necessary for Him. The tests are conducted only for our knowledge; so that we can realize the real level where we stand. Upon realizing where we stand, we can start our spiritual journey...
Shri Bhagat asked: Jai Guru Datta, Gurudeva! Gurudeva, You are Lord Datta. You are omnipresent and omnipotent. Then why is Your māyā imposing disbelief on me? Why am I unable to believe, even though You are the one who is taking care of everyone and everything in the universe. A child strongly believes that his mother and father will do and give anything and everything to him, to the best of their ability. The child develops such faith after several situations...
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Sage Nārada says in the Bhakti Sūtrās, while defining bhakti (devotion), that when a person has devotion, the person will feel extreme mental pain upon deviating from the path of devotion...
Shri Anil asked: Padanamaskaram Swami! By quoting some verses from the Veda, a muslim devotee wants to claim that Prophet Mohammad was mentioned in the Vedas. The verses mentioned by him from the Veda and the corresponding interpretation given by him are given below. I request You to kindly grace us with Your opinion on these interperations. This muslim devotee says that the prophecy mentioned in the Atharva Veda, Book 20, Hymn 21, Verse 6, describes the well-known battle of Ahzab or the Battle of the Allies, during the time of Prophet Mohammad. He also says that the enemies’ defeat in the conquest of Makkah is mentioned in Atharva Veda...
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! By the extreme grace of God, we are blessed to believe in Universal Spirituality. So, we must encourage such interpretations that bring unity among religions. The differences and contradictions between world religions is spoiling the peace of the world...
Shri Anil asked: Swami! Could You please explain the following conversation between Prophet Mohammad and a devotee? Prophet Mohammad asked Abu Dhar Al Gifariy, “What do you love in the world?” Abu Dhar replied, “I love three things in the world (a) hunger (b) sickness and (c) death. The Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, asked Abu why he loved these three. Abu Dhar replied, “I love hunger because it softens my heart. I love sickness because it lessens my sin. And I love death because it makes me meet my Lord.”
Swami replied: The essence of this conversation is that one should not worry about difficulties and problems in life. If one introspects carefully, one finds that difficulties are more beneficial than happy incidents in life. During difficulties, one’s mind is very active. The person gets deeply attached to God and is devoid of the most damaging ego. During happy incidents, one is self-satisfied and gets...
Shri Anil asked: In beginning of creation, there was no free will and everybody obeyed God’s commandments just like robots. In that case, can we assume that there was no caste categorisation based on one’s profession and qualities, in the beginning? Since there was no free will, how could one choose one’s profession among the four professions pertaining to each of the four castes?
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! This question appears due to the basic confusion in understanding the term ‘free will’. Here, free will only means the free will to deviate from the path of good qualities to the path of bad qualities. The free will to deviate from one good quality to another good quality is not the free will referred...
Shri Anil asked: Swami, You have mentioned that the Veda should be translated into regional languages so that devotees can understand the meaning of the recited verses. But, as I understand from Your knowledge, the correct sense of statements requires the interpretation of certain words as per rūḍhi, which is convention alone...
Swami replied: While translating the Veda, both the rūḍhi and yogarūdhi senses of words need to be kept in mind. Translation should be based on proper conclusions drawn regarding the meaning of the statements. It should not merely be based on a word-to-word translation. So, before translating the text, a detailed discussion of the concerned concepts should be done, which will allow...
Shri Anil asked: Swami, You preach that when God comes here in human form, He enjoys even misery, just like happiness. But, in the Bible, it is mentioned that just before the crucifixion, Jesus underwent tremendous mental agony due to the forthcoming crucifixion. It is said that He sweated blood due to that intense tension. Why did Jesus not enjoy that agony and keep a smiling face? However, during His trial in the court and during the actual crucifixion, He kept silent. Why was there this difference in His behavior?
Swami replied: In the Human Incarnation, there are two components: (1) the God-component and (2) the human being-component. Before His arrest, as Jesus was praying to God, it was the human being-component that prayed to God, requesting Him to avoid the crucifixion...
Shri Anil asked: Judas was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus. He was entrusted with financial matters. However, in the end, he betrayed Jesus so that the soldiers could identify Jesus and arrest Him. Even though Judas was associated with Jesus; why did this great sin happen through Judas? Also, why did Jesus not save Judas from his suicide?
Swami replied: The case of Judas reveals the state of a devotee who cannot be reformed through normal devotion. He was acting in the role of a devotee to betray Jesus. His suicide revealed his reformation on seeing the love and kindness of Jesus, as He prayed to God to excuse the sinners for their ignorance. Judas represents the middle state of devotion, which is neither...
Chidi Innocent Ezeokoli asked (through Shri Anil): Dear Lord, thank You very much for Your inspiring messages, that have fed me with divine wisdom. Years back in 1982, l sincerely desired to join the Krishna movement in my country Lagos, to become a devotee of Krishna, but was disappointed at the discrimination. It made me opt for Christianity. But l did continue to chant the mantra, which l have continued till today. l am from Nigeria...
Swami replied: Lord Krishna and Lord Jesus are one and the same universal God. Just because a person comes before you wearing a different dress...
[A question posed on a discussion forum to Shri Anil.] Swami replied: If God did not give death to human beings, after they have lived for some time, human beings would get so vexed with the same continuous worldly life that they would commit suicide! If God were to even cancel their suicidal death, they would go mad and their lives would become useless. That situation would be worse than death!...
Shri Anil asked: Swami in olden times, there was always a Guru associated with the king, so that in important decisions related to the kingdom’s administration or in matters related to defending the kingdom from enemies, the king could get the Guru’s advice...
Shri Yogendra Thakur asked: Pranam! Namaskaram! The feeling that is coming to my mind is that this body is eating, working and sleeping; from dawn to night; day after day. I am feeding this body daily and the body is getting nourished. But, at the same time, it is also also perishing, and heading towards death. The body is said to have ‘caitanya’. How will I realise that caitanya factor when this body-vehicle is headed towards its death? Please let me know. Yogendra
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! The body is made of inert energy and inert matter. Inert matter is the condensed form of inert energy. The soul is made of non-inert awareness and that awareness is also a specific work-form of the same inert energy. Thus, the final essential material of the entire creation including souls is only inert energy. Food is inert matter, which gets converted into inert energy in the body and a part of that inert energy is converted into non-inert...
Shri Yogendra Thakur asked: Pranam! Has God Datta incarnated in Your form, as on today? Does the same God Datta, who had previously resided in Śrīpāda Śrīvallabha and Śrī Nṛsiṃha Sarasvatī, now reside in Shri Datta Swami? –Yogendra.
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! The precise meaning of the Human Incarnation is that whenever there is a need for doing some divine work for the welfare of the world, the unimaginable God, through God Datta, either directly or indirectly enters a devoted human being selected by the unimaginable God Himself to do that work. God Datta is the first energetic Incarnation of God, with whom the unimaginable God first merged, at the beginning of creation. The entry of Datta into any other human or energetic medium, therefore, means the entry of the unimaginable God Himself. The unimaginable God accomplishes the divine work on earth through the selected medium of the human devotee...
Shri Yogendra Thakur asked: Pranam! My question is how can one practically implement spirituality in day to day life? Yogendra.
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! The deity of justice is very very near and dear to God (Dharmasya prabhuracyutaḥ). If any soul tries to harm justice, God becomes very very furious (Vinaśāyaca duṣkṛtām). If a soul tries to support justice, God becomes very very happy. God is always active in the protection of justice and the destruction of injustice. If a soul tries to assist God in this work, the soul is fully blessed by God with His eternal grace. The sole aim of the entire spiritual knowledge and the entire human life is only to please God and get His grace...
Kum. Laxmi Thrylokya asked: Padanamaskaram Swami! After reading Your Divine Discourses, I learnt that every religion is given by the same unimaginable God to establish justice. But I feel very anxious when I see any online web series or a movie which is promoting Hinduphobia. Some popular web series show religious Gurus...
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Every religion in this world has both good and bad points, just as every human being has both good and bad qualities. The good points in every religion are the points that were introduced by the founders of the religions, who were none but Human Incarnations of the unimaginable God, who is the root...
[Shri Nava Chaitanya asked: Padanamaskaram Swamiji! Recently, I had a dream about You and I feel You were giving some important message to me through it. Could You please interpret my dream, Swami? My dream was as follows: I was riding my bike with a friend and we reached a place where there was a masjid, a church and a Durga temple. These places of worship of the different religions were present next to each other in that residential society. Inside that society, there was a house where Phani uncle was living. I went inside that house...
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! The essence of the dream is that you are protected by God for doing good things. In that context, the dream gives the message that age has nothing to do with the mentality...
Shri Durgaprasad asked: Pādanamaskāram Swami! In the Sankranti message on January 15, 2020, You said that Bhīṣma died praying to Krishna with full concentration and got salvation. But throughout his life, his goal was only pravṛtti and, in fact, he only sided with injustice. He did not practically serve the Lord at all. Then, how could he get salvation? At Your divine feet, Durgaprasad.
Swami replied: The day of the salvation of Bhīṣma is considered to be a holy festival for all spiritual aspirants. Bhīṣma led his entire life committed only to the goal of pravṛtti. But pravṛtti and nivṛtti are always interrelated and intermingled. One need not leave worldly life (pravṛtti) and lead a pure spiritual life (nivṛtti) to get salvation. Family life is not a hindrance in the spiritual path. While remaining with the family, one can indeed attain the grace...
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