Swami Answers Devotees' Questions

[An online spiritual discussion was conducted on March 28, 2021, in which several devotees participated. Some of the questions of devotees answered by Swāmi are given below.]

1. Should we divert to God the time, money and materials that would have gone waste?

[Kum. Laxmi Thrylokya asked: Pādanamaskāraṃ Swāmi! In the Datta Veda, You said that we should divert towards God the time and money which gets wasted on luxuries. But You also gave an example that an insincere and over-intelligent person committed a sin by saying “Ramārpaṇaṃ” (I offer this flour to Rāma) when the wind blew away the flour in his hand. He had thought that since the blown away flour is already wasted and of no use to him anymore, he could at least earn some divine merit by offering it to God. He thus diverted the wasted flour towards God. How is this different from the first statement in which You recommended diverted the time and money wasted on luxuries to God? Kindly enlighten me. -At Your Divine Lotus Feet, Thrylokya]

Swāmi replied: You missed very important link Ms. Laxmi Thrylokya! I told to divert the time, material and money before wasting and not after wasting! You have to surrender the flour to God (means surrendering to deserving receivers) before wind carries it away and not to surrender the flour after the wind carried it away! What I told is a precaution before doing wastage and it is not a post remedial action after doing wastage!!

2. Is betraying oneself, the same as betraying God?

[Śrī Rajasekhara Reddy asked: Jai Guru Datta! Is ātma vañcanā (self-betrayal) and betraying or cheating God, one and the same?]

Swāmi replied: Ātman or self is not God. How then, self-cheating will be cheating God? People say that cheating others is your self-cheating because by cheating others, you are throwing yourself into the hell. In that way, the sin of cheating others gives punishment to the self and hence, cheating others is said to be self-cheating. Cheating others is also cheating God, which is the greatest sin because by cheating others, you are cheating the constitution written by God, which says that cheating others is a sin. You shall not do anything about which God is furious and you shall do about which God is pleased. His likes must be your likes and His dislikes must be your dislikes, if your aim is to please God.

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