11 Dec 2024
O Learned and Devoted Servants of God
1. Why is shedding of blood required for forgiveness?
[Shri Anil asked: Padanamaskaram Swami. I request You to give the essence of the following verses from Bible and Hadith. -At Your Lotus Feet-Anil
Bible: 1. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. [Hebrews 9:22]. In the above, why shedding of blood is required for forgiveness?]
Swami replied:- Here, blood does not mean the actual blood. We say that a quality is present in blood of a person. Blood means the quality that is inherently existing in the individual soul. Shedding blood means leaving a bad quality present inherently.
2. Why is God revealing to those who do not ask for Him?
[I revealed Myself to those who did not ask for Me;
I was found by those who did not seek Me.
To a nation that did not call on My name,
I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’[Isaiah 65:1]
In the above why God is revealing to those who do not ask for Him?]
Swami replied:- A worldly father gives gifts to all his children whether they ask or not. What about the kindest Divine Father?
3. Please give the essence of the following verse?
[What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. [Luke 12:3].]
Swami replied:- The action of the unmediated unimaginable God is always revealed by the mediated imaginable God.
4. Please give the essence of the following verse?
[A thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. [Psalm 90:4]]
Swami replied:- This reveals the time scale varying from earth to the upper divine worlds.
5. Before doing miracles like curing etc., Jesus used to ask “Do you believe that I can do this?” Why did He ask like that?
Swami replied:- Jesus is testing the faith of the devotees in Him, which is essential to do a miracle.
6. Why did Jesus sweat blood?
[Before crucifixion, Jesus become in anguish, He prayed more earnestly and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. Why Jesus sweat blood?]
Swami replied:- His sweat was falling like blood. This does not mean that sweat is blood.
7. Please give the essence of the following verse?
[Hadith: Please convey the essence of the following verses from Hadith. "When a servant of Allah is sick or travels, Allah writes for him the same reward as for what he used to do when he was healthy and at home." (Sahih Bukhari, Book 70, Hadith 578)]
Swami replied:- God protects the devotee in difficulties and make him as happy as when he was with full health.
8. Please give the essence of the following verse?
["If I had not been sent as a Prophet, I would have loved to be a slave of a righteous Muslim." (Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 2372)]
Swami replied:- This shows the lack of ego in the Prophet.
9. Please give the essence of the following verse?
["Do not curse time, for Allah is time." (Sahih Muslim, Book 49, Hadith 43)]
Swami replied:- Cursing the time means cursing the incidents that change along with the time. The incidents are the actions, which are directed by God. Hence, cursing time results in cursing God.
10. Please give the essence of the following verse?
["I have been sent with the shortest expressions with the broadest meanings." (Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 338)]
Swami replied:- This means that the Divine Prophet speaks briefly, which carries on lot of meaning.
11. Please give the essence of the following verse?
["If you knew what I know, you would laugh little and weep much." (Sahih Bukhari, Book 76, Hadith 425)]
Swami replied:- The inner mind of God is always to do justice condemning injustice. If this is known by devotees, they will be more unhappy because every devotee likes to exploit the kindness of God.
12. Please give the essence of the following verse?
[Once Allah's Messenger passed by a dead sheep and said (to the people), "Why don't you use its hide?" They said, "But it is dead," He said, "Only eating it, is prohibited." (Sahih al-Bukhari 5531).]
Swami replied: - A dead body need not be looked down from all angles except the angle of eating its flesh.
13. Please give the essence of the following verse?
[I heard the Prophet forbidding the offering of prayers at the time of sunrise and sunset. (Sahih al-Bukhari 1629)]
Swami replied:- It means that there is nothing specific in actual sunrise and sunset except the freshness of your mind. If your mind is not fresh, don’t bother about sunrise and sunset as the precious times for prayers.
14. Please give the essence of the following verse?
[Allah's Messenger said, "The evil eye is a fact," and he forbade tattooing. (Sahih al-Bukhari 5944).]
Swami replied:- The mind that works through the evil eye is to be controlled. Tattooing is only external and not internal. This means that the internal mind is more important than the external religious actions. Ego and jealousy are the two cataracts of the eye, which makes the eye evil.
15. Please give the essence of the following verse?
[Whenever Ibn `Umar was asked about marrying a Christian lady or a Jewess, Prophet would say: "Allah has made it unlawful for the believers to marry ladies who ascribe partners in worship to Allah, and I do not know of a greater thing, as regards to ascribing partners in worship, etc. to Allah, than that a lady should say that Jesus is her Lord although he is just one of Allah's slaves."(Sahih al-Bukhari 5285).]
Swami replied:- Marriages between religions should be considered provided the Universal Spirituality is accepted. Otherwise, the differences start resulting in serious problems.
16. Please give the essence of the following verse?
[Allah's Messenger said, "Fatima (daughter of Prophet) is a part of me, and whoever makes her angry, makes me angry." (Sahih al-Bukhari 3767).]
Swami replied:- The daughter of the Prophet has more probability of becoming a sincere devotee. But, this should not be blindly generalized taking a specific case. Here, only a specific case is mentioned and not about any generalization.
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