22 Jul 2023
1. What is the significance of Swami’s suffering, which Lord Jesus underwent on the cross?
[Shri Anil asked: Padanamskaram Swami, Kindly give Your responses to the following questions-at Your Divine Lotus Feet -anil. In the Mahima Yamuna the following incident is mentioned. “On the day of Good Friday, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, Swami suffered the pains, which Lord Jesus underwent on the cross.” What is the significance of this?]
Swami replied:- The significance of this is to say that one God only existed in all divine forms of God. The first energetic incarnation of unimaginable God is called as God Datta or Father of Heaven. This Father of heaven takes all the other energetic and human incarnations. Hence, the same one God is suffering in all incarnations. The unity of Father of heaven present in all the incarnations is just indicated here.
2. What is the inner meaning of the Parable of the Master and the Servant?
[Luke: 17:7-10 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”]
Swami replied:- This shows the complete absence of ego. God is our master and we are His servants. The servant-devotee must always have obedience and gratefulness towards the master-God.
3. Why did Jesus initially object to doing a miracle at the marriage function?
[Jesus and His mother attended a marriage and during the feast the wine got exhausted. Then Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” Then Jesus replied “Woman, why do you involve me?” “My hour has not yet come.” (Mathew 2:4) Even then Jesus did the miracle. Why Jesus initially told the underlined verse? What is the meaning of ‘hour has not come yet?’]
Swami replied:- This is the first miracle done by Jesus. He has some more time to start the program of preaching and doing miracles. Still, He did the miracle because God present in Him wanted to show the miracle to His mother. It is the independence of God not bound by formalities.
4. What is the meaning of raising the temple in 3 days, as said by Jesus?
[Jesus removed the people who are doing business in the temple. The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” (John2: 18-10).]
Swami replied:- Destruction of temple by the people is indicated. That means destruction of Him by the people through crucifixion. Raising the temple means that He will conquer death and become alive again. This is possible for the omnipotent God.
5. What is the meaning of “Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands”?
[The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them. (John 3:35-36)]
Swami replied:- Everything placed in the hands of the incarnation (Son) by God (Father) means that all the unimaginable powers of the unimaginable God exists with God present in the human incarnation.
6. Why did John the Baptist say, “The bride belongs to the bridegroom”?
[I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him. The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less. (John 3:28-30)]
Swami replied:- Bride is the devotee and bridegroom is God. Just like the wife is maintained by the husband, the devotee is also maintained by God. Bhartaa (husband) means maintainer (Bibharti iti bhartā) of the soul and the Bhaaryaa (wife) means the maintained soul by God (Bhriyate iti bhāryā). In this sense these two words are used and not in any vulgar sense.
7. What is the meaning of worship in spirit and truth, as said by Jesus?
[Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am He.” (John 4:23-26)]
Swami replied:- Spirit means energetic form on side of God. Spirit means climax emotion on the side of the devotee. Truth means the true love on God without aspiration for anything or for anybody other than God. The climax emotion indicates the climax beauty of the personality of God. ‘I am He’ means that God (He) perfectly merged with the selected devotee (I) to become one and the same with that devotee resulting in saying that the devotee is God.
8. Why is there a contradiction regarding food habits in the Bible?
[Shri Anil asked: Padanamaskaram Swami, Kindly grace Your answers to the following questions – At Your Lotus Feet-anil.
In the Bible in Genesis initially God gave only plant based food to eat in chapter-1 (Genesis 1 :29-30) , but later in chapter-9 there is a statement allowing to eat non-veg. Why is this contradiction?
Genesis 1 :29-30 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
Genesis 9 : Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.]
Swami replied:- This is a clear contradiction and the latter part must have been introduced by some unethical people. The plants also breath and have respiration. Though this is called loosely life, in strict sense the awareness is the real life. Awareness is associated with life (respiration) in the examples of Zoology. The examples of Botany have only life without awareness. Awareness is related to nervous system and this is absent in Botanical examples. The Veda also says that God instructed to eat Botanical examples (Plants) only (Oṣadhībhyo'nnam). The good logic is that we are also zoological examples like birds and animals and we can imagine the agony experienced by keeping us in their place. We cannot keep ourselves in the place of plants, which have no awareness, but have mechanical inert life called mere respiration in which oxygen is inhaled and carbon-dioxide is exhaled.
9. Why does the Son reveal only to those He chooses?
[Luke 10:22 “All things have been committed to Me by My Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.” What is the inner meaning of this?]
Swami replied:- This means that the divine Father and His incarnation are one and the same since the ultimate unimaginable God exists in both. Two separate words are used because of the difference in the external medium, which is energy in case of Father and matter associated with energy in the case of Son.
10. Why did Jesus tell His disciples that they were blessed?
[Luke 10:23-24: Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”]
Swami replied:- This means that the human being recognizing the human incarnation is blessed even though the seer is a beggar and not king. Beggar and king are the words related to worldly life and not spiritual life. The Gita says that only one in the entire humanity recognizes that the contemporary human incarnation is God (Kaścit māṃ vetti tattvataḥ).
11. Why did Jesus rebuke His disciples?
[Luke 9:52-55: And He sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for Him; but the people there did not welcome Him, because He was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them.]
Swami replied:- Violence has no place in the spiritual field. You have to convince people by your sharp and good logic and not by violence. Only ignorant people try to convince people through violence.
12. Why did Jesus say His devotees are more blessed than His mother?
[Luke 11:27-28 As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”]
Swami replied:- The worldly bonds like mother and son, husband and wife have no place in spiritual life. Only the spiritual knowledge preached by the divine preacher (Sadguru) to devotees has place in spiritual life.
13. Why will sin against the Son of Man be forgiven but not against the Holy Spirit?
[Luke 12:10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who insult against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.]
Swami replied:- Regarding human incarnation, a devotee may slip in identification, but, no slip is possible in the case of the Father of heaven. The Father of heaven is energetic incarnation of the ultimate unimaginable God (Parabrahman), who is invisible in this world and hence, there is no possibility of such slip and hence, the person doing sin against Him cannot be excused for that sin. Souls doing sin against the Father of heaven are atheists.
14. How does humbling oneself lead to exaltation?
[Luke 14:11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”]
Swami replied:- God never likes the ego of any soul. God will react at once to suppress such ego by downing such soul. An egoless devotee will be uplifted by God since God appreciates such a devotee.
15. What is the meaning of carrying our own cross?
[Luke 14:27: And whoever does not carry their cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.]
Swami replied:- Carrying one’s own cross means that the devotee is prepared even to meet death for the sake of God. This is practical devotion. One may follow God in human form and this is theoretical devotion.
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