Swami Answers Devotees' Questions

Shri Anil asked: Pādanamaskāraṃ Swāmi, some questions raised in internet discussion forum is presented below. Please grace Your response to the same. At Your Divine Lotus Feet-anil

1. What was God referring to when He said "Let there be light."?

[Genesis: 2Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.]

Swāmi replied:- The context is creation of inert world, light means the visible inert energy. The context is creation of awareness, the light means knowledge. The word ‘light’ applies to both inert energy in its visible frequency and knowledge.

2. What needs to be followed by a Brahmacārī after Upanayana?

Swāmi replied:- Upanayanam means becoming close to God in the real sense. The needs after becoming close to God are liking justice and disliking injustice in the worldly life and liking God even against justice in the spiritual life.

3. How do I increase the desire to see Allāh's face?

Swāmi replied:- You can see the face of Allāh or unimaginable God whenever He comes to the earth in human form like Prophet Mohammad.

4. Why is Śiva called the God of destruction?

Swāmi replied:- When lot of people fight against justice, God destroys such evil lot and this is done by God Śiva to establish justice. When an individual is rewarded for merit and an individual is punished for sin, God does this work as God Viṣṇu. The discrimination between justice and injustice is done by God as God Brahmā.

5. Can I ask Hanumān ji to be my Guru or should I ask Śrī Kṛṣṇa to become my Guru?

Swāmi replied:- Both are one and same internally. Only external form and qualities differ as per the taste of qualities of devotees.

6. Why did God create the fruit of knowledge and forbid it later?

[In Bible it was said that God created the fruit of knowledge and forbid Adam and eve to not to eat it.]

Swāmi replied:- God wanted to preach Adam and Eve that He is greater than good or merit or justice. Eating the knowledge fruit is justified and a good merit. But, God wished them not to eat the fruit so that God wanted to see that whether the couple gives more importance to God than even justice.

7. What is theist’s position if there really is no God, no judgment day, and no paradise for them? And what is atheist’s position if there really is a God, judgement day, and hell waiting for them?

Swāmi replied:- The theist will not loose anything, but, the atheist will loose everything. Becoming theist is erring on safe side and becoming atheist is erring on risky side. If hell is absent, the theist, not doing sins, does not suffer at all. But, if hell is present, the atheist doing sins, will suffer a lot. This point is told in a Sanskrit verse “Nāsti cet Nāsti me hāniḥ, Asti cet Nāstiko hataḥ”.

8. Does soul feels physical pain after death?

Swāmi replied:- The pain of the soul after death is due to its sins done and not due to the death.

9. Why did Jesus command that we love God, the Father with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and not Him too (He never told us to love Him that way)? Am I supposed to love God, the Father with all my heart and only love Jesus as I love myself? Why?

Swāmi replied:- If you take Jesus as only the external human being (medium), you have to love Him like yourself because you are also the same medium. If you take Jesus as the unimaginable God present in Him (to be mediated), you must love Him like father. You, the medium is the son or created item and He (non-mediated unimaginable God) is the father or creator. The unimaginable God mediated by human devotee, called Jesus is treated as mediated God.

10. How will I know if a vision of Lord Kṛṣṇa is a hallucination or reality as in general people have visions of things considered a product of imagination?

Swāmi replied:- False visions are possible with regard to worldly matters. But, divine visions can’t be false visions.

11. Why doesn't God give instant punishment for committing a sin? I believe God should punish a man that hurt my family deeply and is living a prosperous life today.

Swāmi replied:- I explained this point several times. God gives some time to the sinner to reform before the punishment is implemented. If you wish punishment of even your enemy, you will be also punished for that. If your enemy punished, what benefit you get? Will your loss get compensated? If you don’t wish the punishment of your enemy, you will be compensated by God. Draupadī always wished the punishment of Kauravas and for such wish she lost all her children. Even without her wish God will punish unjust Kauravas and in fact, He punished them for their injustice not because of the wish of Draupadī. Uttarā (wife of Abhimanyu) never had such wish and hence, her son destroyed by the divine weapon was brought to life by God.

12. Do religious people feel they can commit no wrong because God is on their side?

Swāmi replied:- Feeling is not important since actual action is important.

13. How to react for the fall of God’s photo?

[Ms. Amudha asked: Lord Dattareya Swami Photo. Pādanamaskāraṃ Swāmiji, My marriage date is fixed because of Your grace. Thank You Swāmiji. We kept Lord Dattāreya photo on pooja place, yesterday the photo fell down in some distance which is not even near but it doesn't broken. Mom noticed and it makes her feel uncomfortable in this time. She insisting me to not keep the photo. Swāmi do I ignore this or is there anything should I require to understand from the incidents. On Your divine feet, Amudha.]

Swāmi replied:- Photo of any form of God is the photo of God Datta only. Nobody can become God without the merge of God Datta. You have to learn this concept from this incident. Whether you keep the photo of God Datta or not, it is one and the same. No damage to the photo is due to the will of God Datta only.

14. How to make Swāmi happy?

[Ms. Amudha asked: Śrī Datta Swāmi Jayantī. Pādanamaskāraṃ Swāmiji, Many times I have sent an email with confusion or stress. Everytime, I believe You always helped me to understand the situation and overcome it. Now, I am would like to express my sincere thanks to you Swāmiji.

Also, we would like to celebrate this holy day (Śrī Datta Swāmi Jayantī) as in present and future. How to make You happy and proud of us? Kindly give us permission, help in understanding the do's and don'ts on the same. On Your Lovely Lotus feet, Amudha]

Swāmi replied:- Your gratefulness is a divine quality. Doing justice and not doing injustice in the worldly life and voting for God even against the justice in spiritual life will make you to achieve the divine goal completely.

15. What is consciousness?

[Śrī Hrushikesh Pudipeddi asked: Request for enlightenment. Dear Swāmi, I request You to kindly answer my friend Naresh's question about Consciousness.

What seers say is that one of the key elements of spiritual growth is continuous Consciousness. Somehow I have not got satisfactory understanding of "Consciousness". Some of synonyms for consciousness are said to be 'awareness', "internal thought", "imagination", "volition" etc?

Let's take an example of "eating lunch". What is consciousness for this activity? Thinking of what I am eating? Thinking of how the food is prepared? how they have been grown? how they have been evolved? OK. Let's say... I have thought of all these. Shall I repeat the same as many times as I eat? How this logic applies to all recurring activities. I request You to explain this concept. Please correct my understanding regarding the same.]

Swāmi replied:- Consciousness is the pure awareness without any thought. Consciousness can also be taken as awareness with good thoughts of justice and devotion. Awareness with routine or bad thoughts can’t be said as consciousness.

16. Please enlighten me on attachment?

[Tinku K asked: Jai gurudatta, Pāda namaskāraṃ Atri varada,

a) What do you mean by attachment? Is it mental or physical?

b) how to know whether am I attached to something or person?

Ex: If I have some money in my pocket (physical) to travel or for food, am I attached to the money?]

Swāmi replied:- Physical attachment comes only through mental attachment. If mental attachment is absent, there is no physical attachment even if you possess it in your pocket. When mental attachment is absent, the word “attachment” shall not be used at all. You can use the word “possession”.

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