QUESTIONS & ANSWERS (OCTOBER 2008)

1. When will people understand that there is only one God? Will the different religions be one in the future?
Only when humankind completely understands its true nature, will all religions become one.  That is why I have to give advice in order to uplift human beings.

2. Will any enormous natural disaster happen in 2012 that will affect the whole world?
Some disasters will take place in the world, such as the occurrence of the tsunami, but that is all. The world will not be destroyed.

3. Swamiji, you raised from the dead one of your Canadian devotees and many people witnessed it. How did you do that?
Shivaratri (*) is a time when everyone comes with devotion.  Everyone has to die one day.  However, it was not the day that this particular person was destined to die. I thought of the Divine and blessed him.  It was God alone who did this.  It was not me.

(*) This event took place at Shivaratri – the festival night of Lord Shiva

4. Will oil for cars, planes, ships etc. soon run out completely in the whole world? What will happen then?
By the time oil resources have completely disappeared, cars will run on water.

5. Some people have been cured even from fatal diseases after receiving Lingam blessings but this does not happen to everyone.  What does it depend on?  Why are some people cured and others not?
There are different reasons as to why a blessing with a Shivalingam has no effect.  The Shivalingam has a connection with your devotion for and faith in God.  If they consider it as an ordinary happening, if it is done for money without caring or if they don’t have devotion, the healing will not take place.  Another aspect is that the persons receiving the blessing may have carried very strong karma from a previous birth with them so that they cannot be healed.

6. Will you have any great disciples in the future?
I do not expect that I should have any disciples, but people who are very devoted to God will be around me. Many such people will be with me.

7. When the soul leaves the body how long does it take before it takes another birth? How long is the period between death and another birth on average?
The Itihasa scriptures (holy scriptures) and the powerful holy people known as the Siddhas, have said that it is eight years.

8. In Christianity there are a lot of rites that are similar to Hindu ones but different from Jewish ones. For instance, the worship of the Master’s feet and the removal of sins by ablution in a sacred river. Moreover Jesus, who was a Jew, referred to God as His Father, which is not usual for the Jewish culture and the most important thing for Jesus was love towards God and other beings as it is also in the case of many Hindu saints. Does it mean that Jesus was in India during his lifetime?
You could say that Jesus Christ came to India or that he came and went.  Or, instead, you could say that all religious rites are one and that Jesus Christ taught through his wisdom.  This is my point. We accept that he came as the messenger of God.  We need not think that he necessarily had to come to India to get this knowledge.  In the waters beneath the earth there are many living creatures co-existing in unity.  Similarly, messengers who are born on earth also have the oneness of the world always in mind.

9. In the Hebrew language a word for the Holy Spirit is a feminine word “ruah” and it is symbolized by a dove in the Gospels. Jesus and his disciples bestowed their power of the Holy Spirit on other disciples by putting their hands on disciples’ heads and then they obtained different powers such as the power to heal others. Obtaining the Holy Spirit is often illustrated as flames of fire above the disciples’ heads. In the Hindu tradition the Master also transfers shakti (Divine feminine energy) in the same way as Jesus did and this energy is illustrated as fiery energy that rises from the bottom of the spine to the top of the head. Can we say that Divine Shakti and the Holy Spirit are two words for the same divine feminine energy?
They were teaching about God’s power according to the times and circumstances.  You want to compare the Holy Spirit with the Hindu Sanatana Dharma.  In truth, all dharmas are the same. Finding small differences and wondering if this came from that or that came from this is like asking whether the chicken came from the egg or the egg from the chicken.

10. What are the Akasha Chronicles and who has access to them?
This has all come from the Rishis who were in great meditative states. It is through them that we have science and wisdom.

11. Have any of your disciples achieved enlightenment? Will your other disciples attain enlightenment in their lifetime?
Enlightenment is not in my hands. I guide, advise and teach. If you have complete faith in me and follow these ways, you will definitely attain enlightenment.  However, it cannot be forced into you.  Becoming mature is something one has to do by oneself.

12. You have given a mantra for meditation to some of your devotees. How does it help them in their spiritual development?
Mantra is a name of God. It is a way to pray to God. Even though God is beyond name and form, using name and form to reach Him changes a person into a good human being and makes that person follow a noble path.  It paves the way to live as a fine person with good thoughts. Mantras aid us in making the mind one-pointed and support the mind to go in the correct direction.

13. Can a mantra given by you lead to the awakening of kundalini shakti in your devotees?
Awakening kundalini means to make the mind one-pointed and attain a higher state of meditation.

14. What are the stages of mantras that work inside us?
Mantras are meant to create devotion in human beings.

15. You give personal lingams to some of your devotees. What can they achieve by performing pujas to these lingams?
By doing pujas you can make devotion arise in you.

16. How should we understand the first Commandment given by God to Jewish people and confirmed later by Christ for Christians? What does the phrase "other gods" mean? Does it mean that if we were born as Christians we should not worship Allah, Lord Shiva or Lord Krishna even if we love God in these forms? Most saints say that it is only one God so how we should understand this Commandment?

In the Bible Jesus says that there is one God and that you should pray to Him only. According to his teaching there is a being beyond us, which is God, but Jesus himself is not God. That is his teaching.

Who is following his teachings nowadays? Nobody understands and follows his spiritual ideas. The same situation has arisen with regard to Buddha’s and Mohammed’s teachings; it has happened to all the spiritual teachers. None of these people ever proclaimed themselves to be God. They were all avatars sent by God; they were not God. That is what Jesus says in the Bible. So who is God? The answer is that He is nameless and formless, beyond us, and called ‘The Father’. Some people call that Father Shiva; others call Him Vishnu or Muruga or Vinayakar or Divine Mother… Jesus did not reject any name that was used for Him. He only said that he (Jesus) was not God.

In these spiritual questions we talked about God’s messengers.  Avatars, incarnations of the Divine, are sent by God to the earth.  These are God’s own people and it is rarely that such beings, only one or two, come in this way.   The power of God reveals itself in such beings from their childhood.  They also face much sorrow and opposition.

There are also those who follow the spiritual path, mature through it and then have disciples to teach spirituality to. 

There are still others who have full faith in a spiritual master, accept that Guru’s words, learn spirituality through them and attain a mature state of being.  There are many stages of spirituality. They are taught at different levels and through different methods.  You are asking your questions thinking that all the stages are the same.  I am unable to stay at your level and give replies, but if I reply to your questions from the state of Truth, you cannot understand it.

I know the replies you are expecting. I find the reply in your questions.  If the question is incorrect, the reply will also be wrong. You might expect that I will give this wrong reply, but I cannot do so and my reply that I give for your wrong question will look wrong to you.  What can I do?
In spirituality there are many states.

1. One is that there is a supreme force, which is beyond us, that sends a person to this world and is doing its work through that person.
2. Another is when one is born into this world and receives the power from the Divine at a certain stage.
3. Yet another is when one turns away from worldly pleasures and tries to know that supreme power through spiritual practice, making the mind one-pointed. Then, whatever one has realized through striving and then through experience, is again another state.

There are many such levels with regard to the state of spirituality. Avatars, Siddhas, Rishis, saints, seekers, those enlightened through devotion to Shiva, people full of Divine grace, devotees and so on.   In this way one could put everyone in some category.  However, if you put everyone in the same category and then ask questions, how can I guide you?

Jai Prema Shanti!
Swami Premananda

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