12 Mar 2023
[An an online Satsang took place on the occasion of the birthday of His Holiness Shri Datta Swami on February 24, 2023. Many devotees from different parts of the world participated in that satsang held through MS Teams. Many devotees sent their questions to Shri Swami and Shri Swami answered them on the live satsang. Here, the questions of devotees and answers given by Shri Datta Swami are documented.]
1. What is meant when Muhammad claims to be the Seal of the Prophets?
[Mr. Talin Rowe asked: Hello Blessed Lord Datta Swami, thank You always for Your divine knowledge and willingness to help correct us sinners. I was wondering what is meant within Islam that Muhammad is claimed to be the seal of the prophets? Why are so many followers of Islam claiming that there will be no others? At your feet, Talin Rowe]
Swami replied: Here, the followers of Islam claim that there will be no others. But, Mohammed did not say the same thing. He only sealed the syllabus of spiritual knowledge meant for the Islam religion of that particular time present in specific area only. For suppose, when the teacher says that the syllabus is completed, it doesn't mean that the syllabus for the next year will not be taught. Next year, some new concepts which were discovered in science may be added to the syllabus. Syllabus may be revised. Today, suppose the syllabus committee says that the syllabus is covered, it doesn’t mean that some new concepts in that subject will not be added to the syllabus next year. The syllabus is completed doesn’t mean that there will be no further addition of new concepts. Syllabus is completed in that particular time in that particular religion to that particular extent. It doesn't mean that no more change in this syllabus will occur, no new concepts will be added and this syllabus will stay for thousands and lakhs of years! No, it’s not like that. For that time, for that religion, and for that region, Mohammed told, “the syllabus is completed”. It doesn’t mean that the syllabus will not be repeated again with new explanations and will not be revised again by adding some new concepts. So, it shouldn't be taken in a rigid sense. The statement ‘Syllabus is sealed’ is correct as far as the statement is concerned to a particular religion, to a particular place and to a particular sect of people.
2. What deeds cause a person to undergo extreme suffering due to deadly diseases like cancer, heart disease, etc.?
[A question by Dr. Nikhil Kothurkar]
Swami replied: The intensity of the punishment always depends on the intensity of the sin. If the sin is more intense, the punishment will also be more intense. The Garuda Puranam gives the details of which punishment is prescribed for which sin, according to the divine constitution.
3. Why are some patients cured even from deadly diseases whereas others are not?
[Why do some patients get easily cured even from deadly diseases, whereas others reach a state where all treatments fail and all that can go wrong does go wrong?]
Swami replied: If the soul is reformed, God immediately withdraws the punishments or reduces the intensity of the punishments. Even for a sinner who is jailed in this world, the period of jailing is reduced by authorities based on the character and conduct of that imprisoned sinner. Reformation means realising the sin, repenting about the sin and not repeating the sin again. Non-repetition of the sin again in the future is a very very important step, based on which all the pending punishments for that type of sin get cancelled in advance (Jñānāgniḥ sarvakarmāṇi…- Gita). In the word ‘Jñānāgni’ (realisation), one interpretation of the word agni (fire) means deep repentance and non-repetition of the sin. Another interpretation is devotion to God which is the main goal of human life. Therefore, the cure of the patient is based on the extent of reformation of the soul and ultimate decision of God about the future of the soul.
4. What changes in attitude does God expect from the person, suffering from a deadly disease and his or her family members?
Swami replied: As far as ordinary souls are concerned, punishments are purely related to their sins and these punishments are aimed for the reformation of the soul only. Of course, punishments cannot change the soul permanently. But, the punishment brings some temporary reformation in the soul. Therefore, the punishment ends as soon as the reformation occurs in the soul. Here, your devotion to God has nothing to do with the punishment. You may have a lot of respect towards the judge and towards the jailer but that is a separate issue. The punishment which is already announced for you by the judge will not change due to your respect. Neither the judge nor the jailer can do anything. Here, the judge is just a human being but God is an omnipotent and unimaginable entity beyond creation. Even if God shows partiality towards some souls who worship Him by cancelling their punishments, there is nobody to question God. But still, God follows the procedure of Justice without any partiality. He will never break the divine constitution and cancel punishments.
If a soul is reformed, the pending punishments are kept in cold storage and are not cancelled from the file of the soul. It is because the soul may be reformed today but the reformation may be disturbed after some time and the soul may do the same sin again. A soul is highly unpredictable. If the reformation is disturbed, the pending punishments are withdrawn from cold storage and delivered to the soul. Hence, the pending punishments are kept in cold storage and never get cancelled.
If God finds a hope of reformation in the soul, He may postpone the punishment so that the soul gets some time for repentance and reformation. If there is no reformation even after that, the punishment must be received by the sinner with added interest for that period of postponement. You try to butter God with prayers and worship to cancel your punishments but the omniscient God can never be influenced. You can butter up human beings, but not God. He only postpones the punishment to the next birth or to a later time in the same birth. The punishment will be delivered with added interest due to postponement. Without knowing this background mechanism, we think that God has cancelled our punishments due to our prayers and worship. Unless you undergo the punishment, the sin will not be exhausted (Kalpakoṭi śatairapi…). The postponement of sin by God is misunderstood by us as cancellation of sin.
Wise devotees never pray God for removing their difficulties which are nothing but the punishments of their sins. If you pray with lot of devotion, God may postpone the punishments along with the added interest. But if you are reformed completely and don’t repeat the sin in future, God will put your file in cold storage forever since you are never going to repeat it in future. If you repeat the sin, the file will come out of cold storage and becomes active. Therefore, do not worship God for the sake of cancellation of punishments. Pray to God due to attraction to God which should be the real basis for the prayer and do not aspire for any fruit in return like cancelling punishments, etc.
5. How can young people lead their lives to avoid suffering in the end?
[How can young persons lead their lives so that they do not have to undergo such extreme suffering at the end of their lives?]
Swami replied: The only path to avoid suffering is to reform yourself and not repeat the sin again in future. Once you are reformed, God will keep your punishments-file in cold storage which is misunderstood by you as the cancellation of your sins. Your devotion to God is not linked to cancellation of punishments. It is a completely and fundamentally wrong concept. Only the priests who earn their livelihood say, “You do this worship and your sin will be cancelled”. Yes! you do the worship and the punishment for the sin will be postponed but it will have added interest on it. Therefore, follow the three-step procedure for permanent reformation.
1) Realisation:- You must realise that it is sin. Sometimes, you may be thinking that the sin is merit. You don’t recognize it as a sin and do it. Realisation is called as Jnana Yoga.
2) Repentance:- You must repent for your past sins. Repentance is called as Bhakti Yoga, which is theoretical devotion.
3) Non-repetition:- You must not repeat the sin again in future. The final step is practice or Karma Yoga.
These three things will keep the file of your punishments in cold storage forever. As long as you don’t repeat it, the file will not come out of the cold storage.
There are many types of sins. Suppose you have stolen someone’s money, that is one type of sin. Another type of sin is killing another soul. So, if you stop stealing and never repeat it again, the pending punishments related to only that type of sins of stealing are kept in the cold storage and not all the sins! Every soul has several karma-files and each file contains punishments for one type of sin only. If you are not repeating the first type of sins, the file of punishments of that first type alone is kept in the cold storage. The files of other types of sins that you are doing are still active and the punishments will be coming. Hence, don’t expect that the punishments of all types of sins will be kept in the cold storage if you stop one type of sins.
If you don’t repeat any sin of any type in future, all your suffering will end and devotion to God has nothing to do with it. Of course, devotion has one benefit that God postpones the punishments to the future which God alone can do. Only if you don’t repeat all the sins, you are saved by God like this although the punishments are never cancelled. But there is an advantage here. When God postpones your punishment to future, you can utilize the time to reform permanently so that your file stays in cold storage permanently. Like this, you don’t experience punishment today by worshipping God today and you don’t experience punishment in future also by getting reformed permanently.
This permanent reformation comes only through learning spiritual knowledge. If a thief is subjected to a third degree of torture by police, he will stop stealing for some days, after he comes out of the police station. But after some time, due to the influence of co-thieves, he will repeat the sin again. So, the punishment brings only temporary reformation whereas spiritual knowledge brings permanent reformation. Permanent here means the course of time as long as you don’t repeat that type of sin. Therefore, except the path of reformation of the soul, there is no other way to escape the punishment of sins. Devotion to God only postpones the punishment but does not cancel the punishment.
6. How could the same souls existing in different lokas simultaneously be doing the same activities?
[Smt. Anita R asked: Paramapujya Sri Sri Sri Datta Swamiji Paadapadmaalaku Na Shatakoti Pranamamumlu. Swamiji, Lord Brahma had taken away certain individuals and cows of Lord Krishna from Bhuloka to Brahma Loka. Lord Krishna again created the same individuals and cows on Bhuloka to avoid tension in their families. Actually, Lord Brahma is the creator of all souls. The soul is said to be an eternal object which cannot be created again. But, from this episode, it seems the soul has birth and death. Do enlighten me and forgive me if these questions were asked previously. How could the same souls exist in different lokas simultaneously doing the same activities?]
Swami replied: Here, the Brahma who stole the cows from earth and kept in his world is not God Brahma from the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. The Brahma referred here is Prajaapati who is the assistant of God Brahma and he does the routine actions (duty) of God Brahma. Prajaapati is not God Brahma. God Brahma does some creation and the same will be repeated by Prajaapati as changes occur. For example, that Prajaapati creates new children in every generation and the Prajaapati of God Shiva destroys them. Every soul born gets death. God Brahma, God Vishnu and God Shiva are one only i.e., God Datta only. God Krishna is also an incarnation of God Datta and therefore, God Brahma is not affected by this story.
Another point here is that the soul is not eternal because the soul is created by God, who (God) existed even before creation. God being the creator has no beginning and no end which makes Him truly eternal. The creation, which was manifested by the will of God, exists as long as God wishes. Soul is not the Creator but just a part of creation, which has a beginning and end. Of course, it can become eternal (Chiranjeevi) as long as God wishes. The soul is called as ‘paraa prakriti’ where para means best and prakriti means creation. Soul is called the best part of the creation, which is only a relative reality. If God wishes, the soul can permanently disappear at any time. Since the soul is a part of the creation only, God created the same soul again.
Soul is not the absolute reality but only a relatively reality which means, it is not inherently real. Just like the entire creation, soul also became real due to the reality gifted by God. For example, you had taken mud and created a round shaped pot. That round shaped pot is relative reality. Of course, it is also absolutely real because as long as the mud retains, the shape is permanently real. But, reality is inherent for mud and is not inherent for the round shape, which is called as pot. The pot is only relatively real whose reality is based on the absolute reality of mud. Here, mud is like God and pot (shape of pot) is like creation.
Since the reality of God is gifted to souls along with the entire world, the entire world becomes absolutely real as long as God wishes. Therefore, God can create a duplicate soul because it is fundamentally unreal. After all, a soul is nothing but inert energy modified into awareness in the functioning nervous system. Just like how the matter is a modification of inert energy, soul is also a modification of the inert energy. When we take food, it gets digested and releases inert energy. This inert energy enters the nervous systems including brain and it is modified into a specific work form called awareness. Thus, awareness is a created item. Just like light energy, sound energy, electrical energy and magnetic energy, the soul is also an awareness energy. It is called as nervous energy. Hence, a duplicate of it can be created. The omnipotent God can not only duplicate a soul but also can duplicate Sun which is also a form of energy only. Energy is created by God as said in the Veda (Tat tejo'sṛjata…). Every part in creation is created by God and can be duplicated by God since the entire creation is relatively real for the absolutely real God.
7. Are there parallel Universes that are infinite too?
Swami replied: When you say several universes, it means that each universe must have its fixed boundary. So, each universe is not infinite but finite. Only the number of universes is infinite. But the word infinite is applicable only for the soul and not for God. The boundary of single universe and the boundary of multiple universes are not found by the human being even though they exist. For God, this entire creation containing several universes with its boundaries is absolutely known. If the boundary of these universes is not known to God, then God cannot be called as omniscient. Since God is omniscient, the boundary of the entire creation (a multiple group of universes) is known to God. The boundary is not known to the soul because soul is existing within the universe. Therefore, the creation is infinite for the soul but it is not infinite for God. So, there is no question of using the word infinite for the multiple universes with reference to God.
8. What are multiverses? Does life exist here too?
Swami replied: Life exists in all universes as per our Puranas and the Vedas. It is told in Vishnu Puraanam that unless God’s grace is there, the human beings in this world cannot see the life present in other worlds. Unless life exists, God cannot get entertained. Generally, people go to see forests or hills for entertainment. There are some animals and birds which give entertainment. If there is no animal, no bird, no human being and there is only hill or forest, what type of entertainment comes? God doesn’t relish such entertainment seeing only inert objects without life. Therefore, life is existing in the entire creation but you are not seeing that life by the wish/maaya of God. You can see provided God blesses you to see those worlds.
(To be continuued...)
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