25 Dec 2020
[Śrī Anil said: Pādanamaskāraṃ Swāmi! Please give Your response to this question asked by a person via the internet.
Awareness means being aware of things of the outer world and of oneself. In that case, is there any gradation in the awareness possessed by animals, ordinary human beings, a scholar, angels and the Human Incarnation of God? As a basic material like gold, all of them are aware of themselves and also of the outer-world. Then what is the basis for the gradation? - At Your Divine Feet –anil]
Swāmi replied: Just like different golden ornaments differ in their designs, the thoughts within the same awareness differ. Apart from this, the power associated with various types of awareness also differs since knowledge itself is power. Knowledge means the process of knowing external things and the self. Knowledge itself means awareness. Awareness is a work-form of inert energy and hence, the units of power apply to awareness also. The power differs in magnitude between different beings, which means that there is difference in the quantity of the power of their awareness. Angels know many things since their awareness consists of more units of power. Human beings know fewer things and animals know even fewer things. Apart from this quantitative aspect of the inert energy, the quality of awareness also differs between different beings. Angels have awareness associated with supernatural powers, whereas, human beings have awareness associated with only natural power. This difference in quality refers to the unimaginable and imaginable domains respectively.
[Śrī Anil said: Pādanamaskāraṃ Swāmi! Please give Your response to this question asked by a person via the internet.
In the Book of Proverbs in the Bible, it is said, “Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.” What is the applicability of this verse in present times? In Your message, You have advised us to adjust and manage to live with even such a partner. How can we manage to live with an adamant person who never cares for others and always stays fixed in his or her opinion.]
Swāmi replied: Through divine qualities like peace, love, kindness etc., any human being can be managed. If one follows the policy of tit-for-tat, managing such a person becomes problematic. The quoted statement from the Bible is aimed at the wife with a view to rectifying her quarrelsome nature. But this advice also equally applies to quarrelsome husbands. The person’s nature depends on the quality of the soul and not on gender.
Swami replied: The body can be also treated to be eternal in a relative sense compared to its dress. Then why does the body need that perishable dress? If the body were to live forever like the soul, the soul would go mad as a result of being in continuous contact with the same atmosphere. The soul needs a fresh body through a fresh birth, without the memory of the previous birth. Thus, the soul is given a fresh chance of a new life for the sake of its divine reformation.
[A devotee’s question brought to Swāmi by Śrī Anil. In John 6, in the Bible, Jesus said: 44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.” 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” Swāmi, from Your preaching, we learn that God-in-human-form gives divine knowledge impartially. Devotees should get attracted to Him based on their interest and receptivity of the mind and He does not use any force or miraculous power to draw people to Him. In this context, how to explain the above-mentioned verses of Jesus?]
Swāmi replied: The attraction of the soul towards God mentioned in the verses of Jesus, only means the natural attraction of the soul to God, which is developed without any force or without the display of miraculous powers by God. Such natural attraction is caused by the divine qualities of the mediated God and not by the soul’s selfish aspiration for any fruit. Raising such souls on the last day, means uplifting them on the day of the death of their gross bodies.
Tulasī attained a miraculous power due to her sincerity and service as she was a pativratā (chaste wife) to her husband who was a demon. How was this miraculous power is granted to her as a result of her worldly relation with her husband? It was only a relation between two souls that too with a demon. It was not like the devotion of the Gopikās to Kṛṣṇa.]
Swāmi replied: Tulasī worshipped God Nārāyaṇa from whom she got the miraculous power to protect her husband. She was also demonic since she was supporting her unjust demonic husband. God Nārāyaṇa, Himself cheated Tulasī and got her husband killed for her sin. For her devotion in her worship, she was given an eternal place in the neck of God Nārāyaṇa as a garland of Tulasī leaves. This means that sin and merit are always dealt with separately and that a person’s sin cannot be cancelled by any amount of meritorious deeds done by the person. This is the most important point that must be noted by the sinners of this Kali age that their sins cannot be cancelled through the worship of God.
Swāmi replied: Even a human father loves his children who are very sinful, even when they do not care for their father. Such is paternal love. If this is the case of ordinary human beings, what to speak of the divine love of the divine Father towards His sinful issues!
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