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1. Swami, kindly elaborate the meaning of the underlined portion of the verse.
[Shri Anil asked: Padanamaskaram Swami, kindly give Your responses to the following questions. At Your Lotus Feet-anil. Matthew 6:33-34: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own. Swami kindly elaborate the meaning underlined portion of this verse.]
Swami replied:- Seeking righteousness means sticking to justice and that is Pravrutti. You can reach God only through...
[Questions by Shri Anil]
1. What is action and what is inaction?
[किं कर्म किमकर्मेति कवयोऽप्यत्र मोहिता: |
तत्ते कर्म प्रवक्ष्यामि यज्ज्ञात्वा मोक्ष्यसेऽशुभात् ||16||
What is action and what is inaction? (Gita 4:16)]
Swami replied:- Karma does not mean simply action in the context of the Gita even though fundamentally...
1. Is accepting the contemporary incarnation of God and surrendering to Him easier for a female devotee than a male devotee?
Swami replied:- You have asked this question from the point of sweet devotion that is possible for a female soul and that is not possible for a male soul. This is completely wrong because after detaching from 99 worldly bonds, then only, the last bond, which is with the spouse is tested in the final female birth. This means unless you detach from almost all worldly bonds, you cannot enter the topic of sweet devotion...
[Mr. Waller asked: Guru (Swami): if the receiver is undeserving, not only the doer of the ritual but also the departed soul are harmed by the bad fruits of the sin that is based on wrong charity.
What is the soul of a normal person: It is the Suksma sarira (Pranamaya Kosha, Manomaya Kosha, Vijnanamaya Kosha) and only sometimes a bit of Karana sarira. The soul awakens after some time in the astral world (which has a high sattvic, and a dark tamasic region) and loses soon any remembrances to the prior life: If it has lead a worldly life, then the soul sinks in darkness and perishes. If it has lead a yogic..
[Shri Bharath Krishna asked: Padanamaskaram Swami, What is the difference between faith and devotion (love). Can someone have faith on God or Sadguru without having much of devotion? Your servant, Bharath Krishna.]
Swami replied:- Faith is foolishness and devotion is the best quality. If you have faith in the king that he will do a favor to you, whatever may be the extent of faith, will the king help you? Even if you go to the king and say that you have tremendous faith in the king, will the king help you? Devotion or love is always the best way to attract anybody towards you. But, this devotion must be true love and not false love...
[By Shri Bharath Krishna]
Padanamaskaram Swami, I would like to recount a recent miracle, where Shri Datta Swami saved me from a major bike accident. Last week, I was going to my office on my bike at around 7am. I travel to my office every day on a 2-way road. On that particular day, a car was parked on the left side of the road, and a lorry was coming towards me...
Smt. Chhanda asked: Padanamaskaram Swami! In STATUS OF WOMEN IN HINDUISM discourse, You said that rituals after death are done by a son for his benefit only and not for the benefit of the departed soul. You are also saying if the property of the departed soul is spent in such ritual, the departed soul can also be benefited. How can the departed soul be benefited by such rituals as it is having its own karma chakra...
Smt. Chhanda asked: What all are various types of dukkhas? Somewhere I read three types of dukkha like Aadhibhoutik, Aadhidaivik and Aadhyatmik dukkha? Are the last two not related to spirituality? At Your divine lotus feet, Chhanda.
Swami replied:- Spirituality is not related to good fruits and bad fruits because...
Smt. Chhanda asked: In pravritti life, the path of following justice, how far a soul should sacrifice? This sacrifice too may lead to ego and finally lose its meaning. Where to stop? At Your divine lotus feet, Chhanda.
Swami replied:- Sacrifice is a very high good quality and ego...
[Smt. Chhanda asked: Padanamaskaram Swami. Can there be salvation from a specific point of view only? Does salvation not mean liberation from all the angles? Please clarify this doubt? At Your divine lotus feet always, Chhanda.]
Swami replied:- Temporary liberation from one or many worldly bonds from the angle of time by putting some self-effort is called Vairaagya or liberation. Permanent liberation from all worldly bonds from all angles spontaneously due to attachment to God without putting any self-effort is Moksha or salvation. Vairaagya is necessary in the beginning stage of spiritual effort (sadhana). To develop attachment to God, suppose...
Mr. Waller asked: You said “If God wants to test the devotee to see whether the devotee gets ego or not, such situation as told by You will happen. If the devotee gets ego, such a devotee failed in the test of God.”
That’s a limited view of vishnuism, but in kashmir shaivism: Paramshiva: Prakasha (Pralaya, stillness) and alternating Vimarsha (pure non-self-centred "I" consciousness) Shiva: DivineI (The Being Revealed) Para-Shakti: divine self-consciousnes...
Ms. Bhanu Samykya asked:- You have told that a sincere devotee should concentrate on work of God but not on God. But You also told that ‘Eka-bhakti’ means to concentrate on God more than the mission of God. I'm confused. Please help me come to correct path. - At Your Divine Lotus Feet, Bhanu Samykya
Swami replied:- What God wants to do through you is most important at any point of time. When God Rama...
[A question by Ms. Thrylokya]
Swami replied:- We always keep our body static and allow the mind to move everywhere. We must do the opposite to this general habit of human beings. You must keep your mind as static, concentrating...
Ms Thrylokya asked:- Swami! can You briefly give the steps of spiritual effort (Saadhana) of a human being to be done in the spiritual path to attain the grace of God along with the precautions in those steps so that a devotee can take it as the resume of spiritual constitution in the Nivrutti path?]
Swami replied:-
i) Jnaana yoga or learning the spiritual knowledge:- This aims in knowing all the details of the divine personality of God so that complete attraction to God results. This knowledge shall be complete so that all the details of God are known...
Shri K Gopi Krishna asked:- In the spiritual life or Nivrutti, You told that both Veda and Gita stress on sacrifice of money as a proof for theoretical devotion to God. In the worldly life or Pravrutti also priests say that the sin will be cancelled by doing charity to a deserving person like the priest. Hence, this concept is common in both Pravrutti and Nivrutti. Please comment.
Swami replied:- Pravrutti is business in which you do worship with charity to avoid the fruit of sin. This is certainly wrong and is not liked...
1. Please let us know what else we can do in addition to sacrificing money and having spiritual discussions.
[Smt. Lakshmi Lavanya K asked: Namaste Swami. I have tried to spread knowledge to many people for Your happiness. In the end, I and my two friends were left. After reading Your knowledge we discuss among ourselves, we continue to try to move forward on the spiritual path even though our angles are different. We are helping each other in practice when needed. Asking You our doubts. Some of our salary is offered...
Ms. Bhanu Samykya asked: Padanamaskaram Swami, I have few doubts, please help me clear them.
1. Why should God try to stop devotees from going towards Him when He has no bad intentions?
Swami replied:- God never stops any devotee from coming to Him. It is only the ego and jealousy of the devotee that makes the devotee feel in a wrong line. The devotee reflects his/her defect on God. It is like the devotee...
1. In the case of a human being, the qualities are part and parcel of his awareness, which is himself. How do we relate this to God?
[Shri anil asked: Padanamaskaram Swami, kindly please give Your answers to the following questions. At Your Divine Lotus Feet-anil. God is the substratum and creation is His quality like flower and colour of flower. If we take the case of a human being, the qualities are part and parcel of his awareness which is he himself. In case of God; how to co-relate this. Kindly elaborate.]
Swami replied:- How can I correlate a soul with God? I can correlate different religions. But, I can’t correlate...
1. Is worship of Nirguna Brahman implies worship of Mool Maya mediated by God?
[Shri Jayesh Pandey asked: Padanamaskaram Swami ji!]
Swami replied:- Nirguna Brahman means the unmediated unimaginable God, who can never be meditated. Muula maayaa is the root source of the entire creation, which is inert energy. The energetic incarnation...
1. Is it possible to achieve Brahma Loka without completely overcoming common medium repulsion?
[Surya asked: If a devotee, who is in the service of the incarnation, does not overcome common medium repulsion completely, constant physical association with the incarnation is not given. Such a devotee may...
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