Posted on: 29 May 2021
[A spiritual discussion was conducted on Shivarātri on March 11, 2021, in which several devotees participated. The questions of devotees answered by Swāmi are given below.]
[Swami said that, since He is a scientist, He believed in the existence of God, only after seeing miracles. All the devotees present there, except Nitin, nodded their heads in agreement.
Śrī Nitin asked: Swami, You wrote a hundred books in Sanskrit on spiritual philosophy by the age of 16 years. It means that You believed in God, even from childhood!]
Swami replied: This rowdy has caught Me [laughingly]! A similar incident happened with Śrī Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. He was suffering from throat cancer in His last days. One devotee came to Him and enquired about His health. Paramahamsa told the devotee that He was suffering a lot due to the cancer. The devotee said to Paramahamsa, “But I find infinite divine bliss on Your face”. Paramahamsa told smiling “This rascal has caught Me!” [All the devotees laughed and enjoyed].
Swami continued: God Datta has a unique way of preaching. When He wants to preach to a person having some defect, He shows as if He Himself has that defect and He criticizes Himself. He does this so that the person’s ego is not hurt and the person realizes his defect and tries to rectify it. What Datta said is that scientists always demand the direct perception of unimaginable miracles to believe in the existence of the unimaginable God. They are like doubting Thomas, who believed that Jesus had risen after His crucifixion only after touching the wounds of crucifixion on Jesus’ hands with his own fingers. Then, Jesus said “Devotees who believe in Me without directly perceiving proof are greater than those who believe after directly perceiving the proof”. A queen recognizes the king by his inherent form and not by his jewels. Excellent knowledge (prajñānam) is the form of the Incarnation, whereas, miracles are like the jewels worn by Him. The miracles, like jewels can even be transferred to others. Even demons and black magicians can perform miracles because they have been granted miraculous powers by God. God grants His jewels (miraculous powers) to such people who are stubborn children compelling Him through their strenuous worship. A true devotee of a higher level recognizes the Incarnation through knowledge and not through miracles. Human beings are selfish and only seek the miraculous powers of the Incarnation for solving their worldly problems. They are not bothered about true spiritual knowledge and real devotion. Dr. Nikhil and Devi are devotees of a very high level. Datta did not show any miracle to them. If a miracle is shown to them, it will be an insult to their high level of devotion. Swami told this to them recently. An atheist is of the worst level since even after seeing a genuine miracle, he does not believe in the existence of the unimaginable God. A scientist believes in the existence of God after thoroughly examining the miracle. The scientist is always far far better than the atheist. The scientist keeps silent about God, whereas, the atheist blames God and His devotees.