Swami Answers Shri Anil's Questions

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

1) If I prayed for God to forgive another believer, would He forgive them?

Swāmi replied:- He will forgive that person provided, that person deserves it. In such case, even if you don’t pray or even if that person doesn’t pray He will forgive that person provided he undergoes the reformation. Reformation is the path to get cancellation of sins from God and not prayers and worships. By prayers and worships, the fruit of the sin to be enjoyed now will be postponed to a later period with accumulated interest. God is the Father of all souls and if one prays Father to forgive his brother, is it not insult to the love of Father on His issues? The wise view of the father is always reformation of the issue and not forgiveness that spoils the issue preventing immediate reformation.

2) I always prayed to Śiva but He took my grandmother from me. Why did He do that?

Swāmi replied:- This is the climax of the ignorance. Yourself and your grandmother are the issues of God only. God loves your grandmother as He loves you. There is only one God in different forms having different names like Śiva, Viṣṇu etc.

3) If God is beyond caste, then why is Lord Brahmā said to be a Brāhmin according to the story of Lord Bhikṣāṭanā?

Swāmi replied:- Brahmā is the name of a specific divine form of God. Brāhmin is the name of a specific body having a specific set of qualities associated with the soul. Both these are totally disconnected. Any human being having the specific set of qualities and deeds of the caste of Brāhmin is a Brāhmin irrespective of its birth and the caste of its parents. Brahmā and Brāhmin are related because this specific set of qualities is common in Brahmā and Brāhmin. If you say that caste means a specific set of qualities and deeds, you can say that Brahmā is a Brāhmin. Brahmā has no parents and no birth. The caste of Brahmā is derived from His qualities and deeds. In such case, how can you link the caste with the birth? You must follow the same policy followed in the case of Brahmā in deciding the caste of a soul or human being. Caste system is not wrong as long as you don’t link it with birth.

4) Why does God of the Bible need money when the Bible says money is a sin?

Swāmi replied:- Money is not sin. Aspiration to earn money through sinful ways is sin. Money is very important item because with the help of it only, you can identify the true practical love.

5) If the Christian God is a just God, then why are we all born with "original sin"?

Swāmi replied:- Original sin means inherent sin. The sinful nature of the soul is called as the original sin. The soul is not a sinner inherently, but becomes sinner due to associated sinful qualities. Even the first couple of human race (call it Adam and Eve or Manu and Śatarūpa) exhibited sin even in full freedom. But, the sin of one soul does not come to another soul. There are good and bad souls. Angels are always good and demons are always bad. We, the middle human beings are mixtures of both good and bad. All the souls are given full free will. But, one soul does good deeds and other soul does bad deeds. The same soul does good deeds in one time and does bad deeds in another time. This means that every human soul is a mixture of good and bad. Some souls controlled bad with firm effort and some other souls couldn’t control. Good souls are those which succeeded in controlling bad. Even such good souls have bad, which was controlled by them. Control means existence of controlled item. Good souls or angels always control their bad. Bad souls or demons can never control their bad. Human souls control their bad sometimes and can’t control their bad in other times. Instead of breaking our heads on the original sin, it is better to put effort in controlling our bad so that we can join the category of angels. Pasting already pasted material (Piṣṭa peṣaṇam) is useless.

6) Is the Second coming of Christ an apostated part of the Christian Bible that calls for the deaths of billions of people living on the earth? How is this justifiable by any rational person living on the earth? Is it not the work of Satan?

Swāmi replied:- Who is Sātan? Sātan is the bad present in our souls only. If bad souls are not punished, you will say that it is irrational! If punished, then also, you are saying that it is irrational!!

7) Why do many Christians emphasize Jesus ("Jesus loves you", etc.) as if He is the only makeup of the Godhead? Isn't God Triune (Jesus, Father, Holy Spirit)?

Swāmi replied:- Jesus is a human incarnation and any human incarnation is exactly equal to Jesus. Here, you should take the meaning of the word ‘Jesus’ as any human incarnation in general and not a specific human incarnation. Misunderstandings and quarrels come only due to lack of sharp analysis of background. Even the human incarnation is a Triune since it contains the son of God (human medium), divine Father (first energetic incarnation) and the unimaginable God (You can call unimaginable God as Holy spirit in approximate sense. Actually, unimaginable God is non-mediated and Holy spirit is the unimaginable God mediated with formless energy.).

8) Are God and the devil actually the same person but opposite and in different forms?

Swāmi replied:- God has all the powers whereas the devil (ghost or demon) has limited powers granted by God due to its rigid penance. God is the mediated unimaginable entity. God has energetic form. Ghost is also energetic being whereas a demon may be an energetic being or materialized being.

9) Does John 14:27 explain Christ’s peace and love apart from the world’s peace? What are the main differences?

[John 14:27 Jesus spoke to His disciples “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”]

Swāmi replied:- Peace of God is constant and eternal. Peace of world is always in disturbed condition.

10) Rāmakṛṣṇa Paramahaṃsa was a Hindu saint revered by many. He knew about the message of Islam of pure monotheism. However, He continued to worship goddess Kālī and His fate per Islam is eternal hellfire. Is Islam antithetical to Indian traditions?

Swāmi replied:- All such foolish conclusions come due to lack of perfect analysis. Ignorance is better than half or little knowledge. If you talk such things eternal hellfire is sure for you! Paramahaṃsa experienced universal spirituality by following every religion for sometime. Paramahaṃsa accepted Islam also in par with any other religion. Neither Paramahaṃsa is wrong nor Islam is wrong. Your understanding of both of them is wrong.

11) How does religion attempt to explain the suffering of innocent children like just born baby? The argument that the children carrying the sin of their parents don’t seem to be right or righteous.

Swāmi replied:- Again I am saying that conclusions drawn based on incomplete knowledge are always dangerous. No soul is punished for the sin of another soul even if another soul is its parent. Every soul is punished for its own sin only, which is also meant for reformation of the soul only and not for revenge. Father punishes his child only to reform the child and not to revenge against it.

12) Why did high castes like Rajputs and Brāhmins convert to Islam?

Swāmi replied:- Again and again I am telling you that caste shall be decided by the inherent qualities of the soul and not by birth. Conversion from one religion to other religion is also the biggest foolishness because such conversion means changing the same 10^th class from Hindi medium to English medium without recognizing that the syllabus in both media for the 10^th class is one and the same.

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