07 Jan 2021
[An online spiritual discussion was conducted on December 13, 2020, in which several devotees participated. Some of the questions of devotees answered by Swāmi are given below.]
[Smt. Padmaram asked: Recently, I had a dream in which my husband and I were walking. Suddenly, we saw a snake around the neck of Lord Śiva. It came down and started coming towards us. We got scared and my husband tried to escape from the snake. Lord Śiva saw that and He threw His trisula (trident) on us multiple times. What is the meaning of this dream, Swāmi?
Swāmi spoke about karma yoga while explaining the answer to her question. He also said that a new world will be created for everyone who does it without any aspiration.]
Swāmi replied: A dream can sometimes carry a divine message. But most dreams are only the reflections of our worldly thoughts. The above dream indicates that you both had harmed a divine snake for which God Śiva got angry with you. Pray to God Śiva and God Subrahmaṇya.
I mentioned about the 16th world to be created even above the Goloka. This new world will be called the Datta Sevaka Loka. Brahma Loka indicates the step of spiritual knowledge or jñāna yoga. Above it exists the Goloka indicating devotion or bhakti yoga. Spiritual knowledge, which was emphasized by Śaṅkara, leads to devotion, which was emphasized by Rāmānuja. Both these are theoretical steps. After these two steps, comes the third step called practice or karma yoga, which was emphasized by Madhva. All the devotees, who have done karma yoga in this mission of propagating this true spiritual knowledge will find a place in that 16th topmost world. Sixteen is also the age of God Datta, since He always appears to be a 16-year-old boy. God Kṛṣṇa is said to be the Complete Incarnation (Paripūrṇatamāvatāra) because He exhibited all the 16 types of powers (ṣoḍaśakalāḥ). Thus, sixteen is the divine number indicating completeness.
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