Posted on: 29 Jun 2024
1. A Muslim devotee, Zakir Naik, says that even Mother Teresa would go to Hell by virtue of being non-Muslim. Swami, kindly respond.
[Shri Anil Antony asked: Padanamaskaram Swami, Please give responses to the following questions, At Your Lotus Feet-anil. A muslim devotee Zakir Naik says that even Christians such as Mother Teresa would go to Hell by virtue of being non-Muslim. On being asked whether ‘righteous’ and ‘good’ non-Muslims such as Mother Teresa would still go to Hell, he replied, “There are four ways of going to Jannah (paradise).By the token of time, a man is in a state of loss except those who have Faith, those who are righteous, those who do Dawah (the act of inviting people to Islam) and those who exhort people to do patience and perseverance. Minimum four criteria are required to go to Jannah”. Zakir Naik then proceeded to compare the ‘four steps to Jannah’ to the subjects that he studied in 10th Std. He emphasised that even if someone got 99 marks in 3 subjects and managed to secure only 10 marks in just one subject, then, it would imply that the student has failed. He further says that since Mother Theresa did ‘Shirk’ ('idolatry' or 'polytheism’) she will not enter Jannah as per Quran. Swami kindly respond to this argument.]
Swami replied:- A soul doing only meritorious deeds will go to heaven. A soul doing only sins will go to hell. A mixed soul doing both meritorious deeds and sins will go to heaven and hell respectively based on the nature of the deeds. This is the basic divine rule to go to heaven or hell or both. Mother Teresa did a lot of service to helpless people and she is eligible to go to heaven. If there are some sins, which are known to her only, she would go to hell to receive the punishments of those personal sins. We do not know her personal sins. But, she committed one sin openly that is converting people into her religion through helping them in their miseries. Since all religions are basically one only and since God is only one, the conversion of any soul from one religion to another religion is a sin. For this sin, she has to attend in hell for a very short time since the divine rule is impartial to any soul.
2. Swami, kindly elaborate on the essence of this parable.
[“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. One day a man found the treasure, and then he hid it in the field again. He was so happy that he went and sold everything he owned to buy that field.” “Also, the kingdom of heaven is like a man looking for fine pearls. When he found a very valuable pearl, he went and sold everything he had and bought it.” (Matthew 13:44-46). Swami, kindly elaborate on the essence of this parable.]
Swami replied:- The first person is a worldly soul filled with ambition and greediness. He spent the wealth given by God to purchase the land property for personal enjoyment. The land indicates worldly pleasures only. Such a soul will not come close to God. The second person spent all his wealth to own the pearl, which is God. Here, the precious pearl indicates God to be obtained through true and complete precious spiritual knowledge. The second person will become very close to God.
3. Why did Shankara give more importance to the Divine Mother than Brahma, Vishnu or Shiva while composing bhajans?
[Padanamaskaram Swami, Please give Your replies to the following questions. At Your Lotus Feet-anil. God Shankara composes devotional songs on Divine Mother. Why did He give importance to Divine Mother rather than composing devotional songs on either God Brahma, God Vishnu or God Shiva? Kindly clarify.]
Swami replied:- God is unimaginable and becomes mediated God by merging with a selected medium. God will not see the caste or gender or religion or region or language or culture of that medium. Gender belongs only to the medium and not to the person wearing that medium-dress. A male is like terricotton cloth. A female is like terylene cloth. Both are cloths only used for wearing. God also becomes incarnation by merging with a female being. Except some external features of the external physical body, what is the difference between a male and female? Such difference is not seen even in worldly matters and how such difference can exist in the spiritual field?
4. Buying a new house, clearing loans on already purchased house etc., also comes under runanubandha?
Swami replied:- Certainly. Once the runaanubandha with a house is over, the owner sells it and says while leaving that house “From now onwards, the runaanubandha (debt-bond) is finished”. The verse says that the debt-bond is with pet animals (pashu), spouse (patnii), children (suta) and houses (aalayaah) [Ṛṇānubandha rūpeṇa, paśu patnī sutālayāḥ].
5. Please elaborate on the essence of the following verse.
[A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will place it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of enjoyment. It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. [Ecclesiastes 7:1-6]. Please elaborate on the essence of this verse.]
Swami replied:- In the Datta Vedam, it is told that you will receive difficulties by the grace of God and happy situations by the anger of God. The reason is that in difficulties, you make total surrender to God and you are always very alert in analyzing every point. In enjoyment, you become egoistic and lazy to think anything and you forget God since you feel that God is required only in difficulties. Hence, a soul can become a climax soul through difficulties only and not through happy situations. This is the reason why you find several difficulties in the life histories of great devotees.