Posted on: 14 Nov 2022
1. Please give me a small two minute daily prayer.
[Smt. Lakshmi Lavanya K asked: Pada namaskaram Swami, please give me a small two minutes daily prayer which includes a request for a peaceful worldly life which leads to a peaceful spiritual growth which we can recite after waking up in early morning and before going to sleep in night. I am ignorant, if i try to ask for my basic needs, my mind remembers daily a new thing, it becomes an endless prayer, if You give a fixed prayer, then I can recite it daily. I don't have faith in me in this issue but I have faith in You. Whenever I feel it is my basic need, I recite that prayer. Please forgive me if I am asking anything wrong. Pada namaskaram Swami]
Swami replied:- “Dattātreya Bhavāneva, Bhavāneva gatirmama” (O Dattaatreya! You alone, You alone happen to be my ultimate and real goal). Recite this whenever you like to recite. Don’t put any external rules. Whenever your mind is interested in God, wherever it may be, you can recite this as long as your interest continues.
2. Please enlighten me as to whether my thinking is going in the right direction or not.
[Smt. Lakshmi Lavanya K asked: Pada namaskaram Swami, in a previous question, You said "The unimaginable awareness alone is the real awareness whereas the awareness that is generated from the inert energy is false". Shirdi Sai Baba said "there is no difference between Me and My photo", in a village named Bandramutla near to me in a devotee's home, Vibudi is coming continuously from the photo of Satya Sai Baba from so many years, he distributes that to all people, when I was studying MCA , I was in hostel, I used to worship photo of Sai Baba, do daily parayana of Sai Leelamrutham, ( I had no guru in those days), Baba used to talk to me daily from the photo, while all my classmates spent their lives in enjoying worldly matters, I stayed strongly firmly on my path for 3 years because of Baba’s guidance only. Now also by seeing Your photo I can remember Your grace, Your protection, kindness, Your divine qualities, sacrifices You have done for me, I feel happy You are with me, I can share everything which I can't tell You through mail in public, I told to my sister also when she is in depression, "God Datta is the best friend who behaves like an enemy, but all people in this world including me are enemies who behaves like best friends, you try to understand your inner mind"
You are distributing photos of Hanuman, Subrahmanya Swami, but You are saying Your photo is inert , I can't digest this, I never see You or Your photo as human, I want to spend my life only with God, please forgive me for opposing You, You are not available to me in person in daily life, I can get satisfaction of Your presence with Your photo only. If I meet You one day, I have to follow so many conditions, restrictions, otherwise Your prestige will be damaged. Please enlighten me if I am thinking wrongly. Pada namaskaram Swami.]
Swami replied:- You are the best judge of your thinking. Of course, I can say that you are in the correct line of spirituality. I have already said this. Always give importance to knowledge and intelligence than to mind and emotions. This is the reason why I told that the first step is knowledge and the next step is theoretical emotion followed by the practical devotion that stands as a proof for theoretical devotion. Slow and steady progress wins the race. The spiritual progress is always in the hands of the devotee. God will not interfere in the spiritual journey of the devotee. In fact, God will oppose it to test the firmness of the devotion of the devotee. In this context, the external behaviour of God is different from His internal way of thinking. In this context, God behaves as a diplomat. In Pravrutti or worldly life, God is uniform inside as well as outside, trying to help the devotee as much as possible. I have made this point clear in the beginning itself.
3. Why didn't Draupadi ask to punish Duryodhana when she was given boons by the king?
[Pada namaskaram swami, after Draupadi vasthraapaharanam, King Dhrutarashtra offered 3 boons to her, then why didn't she ask to punish Duryodhana and Dussasana for their evil things.]
Swami replied:- She told that as a soul belonging to the Kshtriya dynasty, she can take only two boons. She did not like to punish the evil kauravas with the help of their father because the nature of great warriors is to punish the evil forces with the help of their own strength only.
4. Draupadi is not an ordinary lady. She is Yajna Sambhavi. Then why did she want to take revenge?
Swami replied:- She is born from fire having the qualities of fire. If you put your leg in the fire, it will burn your leg with revenge.
5. How are the Pandavas correct to take an oath to kill Duryodhana, etc.?
[Bhima, Arjuna also took Pratijnas to kill Duryodhana, Dussasana and Karna, then how are they correct and how is Draupadi wrong in taking revenge (You said her 5 sons died because of her wrong thinking.)?]
Swami replied:- Draupadi was punished for her intent of revenge and this is a separate crime. This should not be mixed with the main general crime that Kauravas cheated Pandavas and humiliated Draupadi. Sometimes, somebody harms you and that person is not harmed by God because it is a retort case in which you had harmed him in the previous birth. If it is a fresh case, God will punish him severely. In comparison, your retorting punishment cannot be so severe. Hence, this means that you are reducing the punishment for your enemy! A devotee is said to be the wisest, who leaves the decision to God because the complete background is not known to the soul and the omniscient and omnipotent God will react properly. Otherwise, His administration will be criticised by the divine sages. God is more worried about His administration than any petty soul.
6. Why didn't the other Pandavas advise Dharma Raja to consult Krishna before gambling?
[Why didn't any one of them (Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, Sahadeva, Draupadi) suggest Dharma Raja to take advise from Krishna before gambling?]
Swami replied:- Krishna told to Uddava in the end that had He been invited to gambling by Dharma Raja, He would have played on behalf of Dharma Raja just like Shakuni played on behalf of Duryodhana. God will never interfere unless the soul prays to Him for help. The gambling was fully by the will of Dharma Raja and his brothers alone, due to the ego of the souls. Of course, Dharma Raja did not know that Shakuni will play on behalf of Duryodhana. He did not care for Shakuni due to ego. Even Draupadi tried to argue with the elders of the court and wanted to escape from the problem with the help of her capacity of arguments. Until she totally surrendered and prayed to Krishna for help, Krishna was simply watching the scene from Dvaaraka. Hence, ego is the first hurdle in the spiritual path.
7. How did You punish Dhrutarashtra who practised injustice even after knowing what justice was?
[Dhrutarashtra learned so much of knowledge from great persons, but didn't implement it, he himself said "I know all dharmams, but I don't implement them", he favoured always injustice and made to suffer good people because of blind love, how did You punish him.]
Swami replied:- Dhrutarashtra was punished more severely than Duryodhana because Dhrutarashtra was a villain at the level of intelligence. Duryodhana is a villain at the mental level. Duryodhana suffered the agony for a few hours only whereas Dhrutarashtra suffered agony for many years after the war. God knows the quality and quantity of the punishment as per the nature of the sin.
[If we face people in our lives like Dhrutarashtra, Duryodhana who are rigid, only learn knowledge but don't implement, favour injustice, pressurise family members to support injustice, how do we treat them in daily routine?]
Swami replied:- If a blind man catches another blind man, both will fall in the well. Bhishma stuck to Duryodhana due to his blind promise and got punished severely. Promise is a lower justice whereas fighting against injustice is higher justice. Speaking truth is lower justice whereas saving the life of a good person is higher justice. Lower justice can be sacrificed for the sake of higher justice. Bhishma could not understand this and got punished by God. Krishna sacrificed His promise and tried to fight against Bhishma by taking a wheel in His hand. He sacrificed the lower justice for the sake of higher justice. Krishna wanted to teach all this to us and hence, promised to break it.
8. Gandhari cursed Parabrahman because of her blind love for her sons, isn't that a sin?
Swami replied:- Dhrutarashtra was blind by birth whereas Gandhari became blind with the induced blindness. The fascination to children is the highest blindness that defeats even the bond with God. When God and children compete for money, God will be defeated by parents. All Gopikas know that Krishna is God. Still a very good majority of Gopikas complained to Yashoda about the stealing of butter preserved for their children by Krishna. Very few Gopikas only passed in that test and reached Goloka. Hence, the sacrifice of hard-earned money is taken as the highest test by Krishna as spoken by the Gita. Real colour comes out in this practical test only.
9. Why didn’t Krishna participate in the war?
Swami replied:- Krishna showed that He is the omnipotent God and can win the war even without fighting.
10. I feel some people are doing black magic against us. What do You suggest to us?
[If we doubt that one of our relatives are doing kshudra pujalu to put us in their control, one of our family members are already in their control (because we experienced strange behaviour of us so many times, our mind tells us this behaviour is wrong but we can't control ourselves, they also provoke us wantedly and enjoy the situations. They took videos of us, advertise to all people, sometimes we feel like killing, harming ourselves without any reason. After we become normal because of the motivation of well-wishers, then the same situation repeats again, when we are with our dearest people then these things happen more strongly. We are able to bear this and are still alive because of Your grace only. What do You suggest to us? Forgive me Swami for sending so many so long questions, till now You are the only one who is ready to hear me, bear with me and answer me. If I am doing anything wrong, please let me know, I will try to correct myself. Pada namaskaram Swami.]
Swami replied:- God is omniscient and omnipotent. Catch Him firmly and nothing will happen finally. Sometimes you have to undergo certain difficulties due to the fruits of your past deeds and those people are just a coincidence. By suffering, the bad fruits also get consumed. This is a double benefit scheme of God for real devotees.
11. Swami, thank You for the gift of a good friend.
[Pada namaskaram swami, You are amazing, I have no words to praise You, after I sent You the question about my Telugu teacher, Sri Ganapathi Sachhidanada Swami has started daily satsangam of Ramayanam in Live, she is attending daily without fail, yesterday when she could'nt attend because of her child, Swamiji said in yesterday's satsangam that He will keep record for two days so that busy people can listen later, I gave her a printed book of Datta Vedam, after reading she said now I realised our Swami has transferred me to this village to teach me knowledge, she felt sad for not understanding English, I said don't bother, Swami will take care of it. If He wants He will teach you all knowledge in Telugu, today I opened our website in her phone to show the question I asked about her, using the language translation option that is there, all the material is translated into Telugu. She is very happy, I am also very very very happy for Your grace , I said Swami has given admission to you in our school, don't worry, there will be no chance of falling down from here. We are talking about You in leisure time, only within one week she said "our Swami is great", I am very happy , I have no words to share with You my happiness. With no doubts, no questions, she just accepted You as her Swami heartfully within 10 days, she has no worldly desires, she is happy with You to bring her far from all worldly fascinations and teaching knowledge, she said that she first wanted to resign from her job after seeing this village, but she is coming to learn the knowledge from me, Thank You for giving me such a friend as gift, I am very happy by seeing her superfast growth. Pada namaskaram Swami]
Swami replied:- The plans of God are really wonderful with excellent efficiency. Once, one destroys ego and surrenders to God completely, God will take care of such devotee in all angles.
12. Why did You place a powerful wet grinder in our stomach?
[Pada namaskaram Swami, Why have You put a high power wet grinder in our stomach, why didn't You put a small mixer jar.]
Swami replied:- The ambition of every soul is like the grinder even though a small jar is sufficient for the need. God also takes care about the psychology of the customer.
13. Why did You create a strong fascination for food? Why didn't You create that much fascination for God to all?
Swami replied:- Fascination shall come naturally from the depth of soul and shall not be given from outside by any outsider. God wants natural love to Him, which shall be very strong so that the soul passes all the hurdles put by even God Himself. Such natural and true love alone can please God.
[You said we have to cook 4 items daily, then when would house wives do Sadhana. They have to eat yesterday's items which were kept in fridge, and have to cook new items again.]
Swami replied:- Any item shall be warm while eaten indicating that it was cooked very recently. Gita says that the food loses its original taste after some time (Yāta yāmaṃ gata rasam…) and such stored food develops tamas or ignorance in the soul.
14. When will You give holiday to house wives? When can they enjoy their freedom?
Swami replied:- The house wife is taking four days continuous rest in every month in the context of the menstrual cycle. It is a forced rest in the name of being untouchable. In some traditions, the hidden background is really good.
15. Your climax devotees reached You by avoiding food, water, air naturally with the love on You but You are advising us to eat 4 items. Is it fair?
Swami replied:- Love is also a form of energy and energy requires all the four items. If the energy is lowered, the strength of love also falls down.
[Why does only the stomach grow, when we eat extra food? Why don't things like hair, nails grow for which there is a possibility to cut. Please enlighten us. Pada namaskaram swami]
Swami replied:- Stomach is the direct receiver of the food whereas others are indirect receivers of the ingredients of growth.
16. Please explain the meaning of "I am your work".
[Smt. Lakshmi Lavanya K asked: Pada namaskaram Swami, I had a dream. In that, You have two same chains of marbles, in the locket, they have three white marbles, You have given me one chain and said to me "I am your work, we will meet in next life, this chain is the identification mark". Please explain the meaning of "I am your work". Pada namaskaram Swami.]
Swami replied:- I am in the control of your divine service (work) is the inner meaning. The marble piece denotes the spiritual step with the influence of spiritual knowledge or Sattvam quality. The two chains indicate both the concepts of one God in many forms and different Gods in different forms. The chain given by God to you belongs to the concept of one God in many forms. This concept is the identity mark of God Datta that can be found by any soul in any birth.
17. Please explain about three types of ego and three types of pride?
[Smt. Lakshmi Lavanya K asked: Pada namaskaram Swami, I have read in Your discourse that "Atri and Anasuya adopted Datta. This means that the human form of God (Datta) can be achieved only by a devotee, who gets rid of the three types of ego (Satvika, Rajasa and Tamasa) i.e., Atri and gets rid of jealousy (Asuya) i.e., Anasuya. The pride of knowledge, the pride of the physical force of the body and the pride of the body itself is respectively the three types of ego. You must always try to understand the inner meaning" Please explain about three types of ego and three types of pride in detail Pada namaskaram Swami.]
Swami replied:- Ego of Sattvam is about the ego of awareness, which is ego about scholastic knowledge. Ego of Rajas is the ego of energy or power. Ego of Tamas is the ego of matter or body or materialised wealth. All these three hinder the achievement God Datta.