Q # 1. It is often said that all things happen as willed by God and man is only a puppet in His hands. It is said in the Geeta "Nimithamatram bhava savyasachin". If we are only an instrument in His hands, and God has already decided what is going to happen, then how do we say that we are responsible for our own "karma?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ANSWER: There are three words relating to "karma"that require to be defined distinctly at the outset. 1. Karma means action -- any action, for that matter. 2. Karmayoga means the attitude with which a particular action is undertaken i.e. without ego, without attachment to the fruits, with out worrying about success or failure etc etc. 3. The Doctrine of Karma which is different from both 'karma' and 'karmayoga' The Doctrine of Karma: According to this doctrine what one sows one reaps. According to the action performed one gets the fruits. What one is today is all due to the karmas of one's previous births; similarly what one does now are the seeds that bear fruits later. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction like the Law of Gravitation. If a bad action is done one may escape from its results temporarily. But he is born again to reap those fruits in another life. This is the basis of yet another cardinal principle of Hinduism, known as the Doctrine of Reincarnation . The results of such actions are classified into three groups; 1. Samchita Karma - the accumulated karmas of all the various, countless births we had undergone. . 2. Prarabhda karma - those karmas whose functioning or results have already started to give effect 3. Aagami karma - those karmas you do now or here after which can increase the accumalation or modify or rectify it. We cannot do anything with the effects of the Prarabdha karmas which have already started functioning; No power on earth can change them, e.g. my physical body, my parentage, my environment etc etc.. It is destiny (Prarabdha karma) that takes its own course. In this case one is just 'nimithmatram'. On the other hand one can make his own destiny by his present karmas to reduce the effects of the past karmas or to increase it in any way he likes, or even to completely burn them to ashes by complete 'self realization'. Speaking about the Doctrine of Karma, a picture of a bow man with a number of arrows in his quiver comes to our mind. The bow man takes out an arrow from the quiver and shoots at something. He has a choice or free will to shoot or not to shoot or to shoot at a different place before he shoots. He is the master of the situation; but once he releases the arrow, he has no control over the effects of the arrow - he can not change its course or direction or its velocity nor its target.That is 'fate' or 'Destiny', the Prarabhda Karma that takes its own course. We say it is willed by God and everything takes place as per His Will. You are only an instrument in HIS MAYA. This is the implication of,'Nimithamatram Bhava' But, remember, we have still many more 'arrows' in the quiver i.e.Agami Karma with which we can make or mar our future. This, indeed is Self-effort through which we create our own 'Destiny' that is yet to come..
Q # 2. God is one. Then why do we sing a thousand names in His praise? Does it not amount to flattery? What is the scientific basis / necessity behind it? Is God also susceptible to human flattery? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ANSWER 2: This is a myriad question, with a number of hidden questions in it. Some of them are: A. Why do we pray to God? B. Who is God ? Is God susceptible to flattery ? C. What is the difference between "flattery" and "praise" ? D. What is the necessity of a thousand names ? E. Is it a blind belief or has it any scientific basis ? F. And finally, what do we stand to gain by this exercise ? A. Why do we pray to God? A person is identified by his personality. His personality is an expression of his innermost thoughts. Thoughts are moulded by his past and present experiences which are stored in his intellect. What a person does is influenced by his thoughts. In other words, as a person thinks, so he reacts and as he reacts to the outside world, so he becomes. He may be a saint or a sinner; all his personality is the product of his way of thinking, his attitude, his reactions and his conduct in the world outside. If this is a scientific truth, it means that we can consciously change or mould our personality pattern to our advantage. By and large every one wants to be known as "good", even though our actions may not conform to it. What makes a person act contrary to his own known concepts of goodness? This is because we are helplessly being led on to acts contrary to the norms of goodness and nobility. This,again,is because of the plethora of negative tendencies existing and developed by us, day after day in our daily life. From the morning till we retire at night, we are flooded with negative thoughts - in the house, in the office, in the school, in the market place, in almost all our contacts with the world outside, we meet competition, hatred, jealousy, envy, cruelty, pride, violence - even in our innocent entertainments, movies and the like. Even in a strictly religious movie, we cannot but encounter violence, sex, and a host of negative thoughts slowly, but steadily, entering into our system of thoughts, consciously or unconsciously. Where then do we get positive, good and ennobling thoughts in our daily life ? In short, there is only an input of negative thoughts and ideas, with no entry point whatsoever, for good and noble thoughts which are so necessary for a good personality we all wish to have for us. This input of positive thoughts has to be consciously inducted into our system. This is what prayer attempts to achieve. By praying to God, we consciously invoke good and noble thoughts into our system. We worship a God because He has all good positive qualities only. There is no God whom we worship having negative qualities. That is why we select any God that appeals to us in all respects. Even if you have no belief in any such God, it does not matter. Take an ideology or a concept that appeals to you as a meeting point of all positve, noble and good thoughts. Our idea here is not which God is good or where was he born or even whether such a God really existed or not. What is material to us is, whether a conscious thinking of Him inspires us or instills positive,noble and good inputs in us or not. The more we think of such a God, the more I imbibe positive thoughts, and the more we imbibe such thoughts, the better becomes our personality. The better the personality, the better a person we become in this world and sooner we evolve ourselves towards spiritual growth and Realisation. This means that prayer is not beggary for getting our wishes fulfilled. Through prayer, we fulfil the purpose of having taken a birth. B. Who is God ? Is God susceptible to flattery? What is Electricity for electrical gadgets, so is the Energy, which we call "God". Without that energy, there can be no life in the world or anywhere else. What is cotton to a cotten cloth, or what is heat in fire or light in the Sun is that force in nature that makes what life is. What makes a black cow eat green grass and give white milk is a power in nature which cannot be out done by man with all his scientific innovations. This Supreme power is only one, whatever people may believe or not believe. The way our intellect thinks is made possible only with such a Universal Force and as such, God is a Power beyond our intellect. To equate God to an imperfect, finate human being, with all human weaknesses such as susceptibility to " flattery " is preposterous, to say the least. Such an Infinite power is all "full" and remains as such at all times. Infinity minus Infinity is Infinity alone. As we have already seen, prayer is meant for us to imbibe good, positive thoughts in our otherwise negative hearts, and not to placate God. C. What is the difference between "flattery " and "praise "? To flatter a person is to try to please by complementary speech or attention, to complement insincerely, to praise effusively or excessively, to play upon the vanity or susceptibilities of a person - an excessive and insincere praise. Praise is the act of expressing approval or admiration, the offering of grateful homage in words or song as an act of worship. Prayer is a conscious attempt to imbibe the good and noble qualities associated with the object of worship. It is an act of worship to draw upon the qualities we approve, admire and like to imbibe for our own benefit and is not done out of fear of retribution. The more we dwell upon the qualities of God, the more positve thoughts are imbibed by us. D. What is the necessity of a thousand names ? Let us see what is in a name. A name is a sound by hearing / uttering which, an image or a thought comes to our mind. If I say a word "elephant ", you can close your eyes and still have a vision of an elephant. The vision is real and you do not search for it in your pocket. Similarly, when I chant the name of God, I get a vision of God, whatever that vision may be. Each name has a well of meanings and all those visions splash on the screen of your mental vision. May be a particular name may not be inspiring to you, or you may not record the vision fully and effectively. But atleast, one of the thousand names might inspire and help you to get an insight into the ideal. In fact, there can be more than thousand names, and all are pointers to that Supreme Being. Moreover, the time spent on chanting the thousand names will be spent on positive thoughts instead of wasting it on otherwise flippant and frivolous thoughts. E. Is it a blind faith or has it a scientific basis ? What difference does it make - whether it is a blind faith or it is scientifically proved? In blind faith also there is a scientific basis. One takes a medicine in blind faith in the Doctor who prescribes it on a scientific basis. There is the story of a rich Sethji who had a peculiar problem. One day (read night ), he had an excruciating experience of a live bed bug creeping into his ear without beeing noticed. He consulted many medicals to remove the still live bug from his ear, even as the bug created havoc inside his ear by moving non-stop from one side to another. The resless Sethji invited the biggest of all Doctors. The Specialist prescribed a newly discovered medicine and operation at an exhorbitant cost. The medicine was specially imported and the miracle surgery took place with lot of fanfare. The live bug was caught alive and thus the Sethji was cured fully to his entire satisfaction. Later on, when the medical profession wanted to record the great achievement, the Specialist casually remarked, "My only problem was to get a live bug from somewhere on the eve of the day of surgery so that I could show it alive to the patient ". As you think, so you become. You are what you are , brick by brick, by the thoughts you entertain. It is impossible for the human mind to conceive of an abstract, formless, and subtlest thing that is God.. Therefore, it is necessary to have a form to think about, and also a name to bring forth that thought whenever you want to. Contemplate upon the Supreme.. And so, the names are the scietific devices to think of God and His qualities. So long as they are capable of evoking the required inputs, they are valid. To those who have no such faith, it is blind faith that does not carry conviction. In short, these thousand names may be taken as the catalytic agent that takes you to a flight towards divinity. If that purpose is served, what does it matter whether it is a blind belief or a scientific one. 'The caravan marches on, while the dogs bark from behind.' The one who has a true vision of Ram is saturated within with the qualities of Ram, whereby he is least concerned either with the historicity of Ram or with His place of birth. F. And finally, what do we stand to gain by this exercise ? Yet another Frequently Asked Question comes up at this juncture - whether Ritualism is necessary or not in Spiritualism. I feel that ritualism is a gross manifestation of philosophy. As some one said, Religion without philosophy is superstition, and philosophy without religion is a myth. Ritualism is a part and parcel of any religion. Ritualsm binds us to symbolic actions that philosophy tries to idealise. Moreover it is ritualism that takes a philosophy across time. It keeps alive the philosophy in tact for ages to come. But for the various rituals performed from time to time, we might have forgotten the philosophical significance of our Culture. Water can be carried only in a container. Without a container, a pot, a vessel, or even a pipe for that matter, water cannot be carried from one place to another. So too is Ritualism which carries a philosophy across ages. Chanting the thousand names of the Lord is, indeed a ritual. In the beginning, we may not know all about it; but in due course, we seek to know all about it. We are consciously trying to invoke the good qualities of the Lord. The more one dwells upon the names of the Lord, he becomes God conscious in due course, even if he does not know the symbolic meaning of all the names he chants. It is said in the Bhagavata Purana, that by chanting the name of Narayana at the time of Death, a Brahmin, Ajamila attained Moksha even though he intended to call only his son Narayana. The very name of the Lord is sacred and has greater potencies than the Lord Himself. It is a medicine you can take safely without knowing its meaning or meanings and the "disease " can be cured without a scientific knowledge about its properties, ingredients or its efficacy. This is called SRADDHA or irrevocable faith. Apart from mere faith, we have conclusively proved that scientifically, as we think , so we become. The thought process set in motion by chanting the names of the Lord ensures a complete transformation of a limited egoistic individual to evolve himself into the higher realms of Self-realisation. Above all, it gives instant peace of mind and gives him better understanding of life and his role in it. The thoughts we express depend upon our Vasanas with which we are born with and are developed here and now. Even if we have a good Vasana, there is no chance of seeing the lime light, because it is embedded in the many surrounding bad vasanas -- all together building our personality brick by brick. We all want to become good, but do not know how to achieve it. For this we have to do something; otherwise mere thinking to become good cannot by itself make us good. We have to speak good, think good and imbibe the qualities of goodness whereever we get from. We take a bath to clean our body; but our mind ever remains dirty with many negative tendencies that we are accumulating every day. The only antidote is to positively acquire noble qualities by thinking of the Lord, singing His glories , chanting His names, praying and worshipping Him. WE pray to clean our mind. By praising Him, it only gives us an opportunity to think about good qualities which make us better persons and better seekers in our journey towards God.
Q #3. In life we are forced to adjust with the views of persons near and dear to us, whether we like it or not. Life is too precious to be wasted in such perpetual adjustments that prevent us leading a normal and natuaral life of our own choice. Can you suggest a way out ? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ANSWER: A beggar used to visit a house every day in his usual rounds. The lady of the house would invariably give the same reply to the beggar, i.e." Nothing, you can go." This was the routine almost every day. The beggar did his part of begging and the lady would also stick on to her authority in denying the alms. One day, when the beggar reported at the gate with his usual solicitatins, the lady was not at home. The young daughter-in-law of the lady came out, and following the footsteps of her mother-in-law replied as on other days: "Nothing, You can go." The beggar was used to the same reply and he started to go as on other days. As he was starting to go, the old lady of the house came home and seeing the beggar going out, shouted at him, "Look here, Who told you to go ?" The beggar said, "Your daughter-in-law." The mother-in-law was furious and shouted back, " Come here." The beggar was happy, as he thought that he was to get something and came inside the portico. The older lady sat down on her usual chair, had a deep sigh and said in a loud voice, " Look here, In this house, I am the head of the family, not the daughter-in-law! Understand? Now, as the head of the house, I am telling you, "Nothing, You can go! " Think of the life of that daughter-in-law of that house. She has to adjust to the whims and fancies of the mother-in-law all through. There was no choice for her. Many a person in her place will grumble, express resentment, foment hatred and thus create a very miserable life for oneself and others too for all time to come. In other words, her precious life is wasted in squabbles, tension ,hatred and dejection. But life is too precious to be frittered away. Wastefully in this manner. A whole life is sometimes squandered away by worries, tensions and agonies. How to adjust oneself to such a situation without breaking family bonds with husbands, wives, in-laws, boss or even well meaning friends and relatives ? Many of us merely suppress the feelings of dissent and suffer mentally. This may lead to mental suppression which at times lead to outbursts at an unguarded moment. Instead of suppression, one can sublimate. This requires a certain change in attitudes. What can be changed by me, I can certainly change. I can change my habits, I can change my way of reaction, I can change by working, my way of working and become self dependent, I can avoid friction by keeping a safe distance, I can do a thousand and one things for changing the situation to make it tolerable and favourable. There are lot of things that we can change and adjust in the circumstances. We have to intelligently study the situation and make the necessary changes within ourselves and the situations around us. But there are many things which we cannot change. The character of the mother-in-law in the story given above,for example, is something in which I cannot do anything and which cannot be changed by me, however much I may try. I cannot change my childhood, my parentage, my entire past. What has happened in my life, I cannot change. What has happened has happened. I cannot do anything about it. On the basis of what has happened, I have nothing to regret. I have no reason to be sad,deppressed or angry. I drop my anguish for what has happened in my life. There are a lot of things that I can change, that I can repair. I do not waste my time trying to chang what I cannot change; nor do I waste my time putting up with unhealthy situations that I can change." In this way, we must intelligently analyse our situation instead of becoming objects of sympathy from outsiders. That which is within your scope of remedy, change it to your best advantage and ability. What cannot be cured has to be endured and what has to be endured, accept it as something natuaral to you. If you complain about it, in vain, and is not prepared to accept it as such, then you are in for trouble and then, life becomes a burden. On the other hand, if you accept it as natuaral, you may learn to co-exist with it. Remaining in water, don't complain about the bad nature of the crocodile already living in it. Try to become friendly with it, in spite of its evil tendencies. In this way, you do not waste your precious life in perpetual fear, hatred and antagonism. In spite of this attitude, if the "crocodile"shows its angry fangs, well, face it and you could not have done better and accept it as your" Prarabda Karma." And so, when you face a seemingly difficult situation, analyse it thoroughly dispassionately without becoming emotional about it, and see whether you can alter the situation without hurting anyone who matters. If you can do it in that way, well, go ahead and there is no problem; if it is beyond your realm of repair, accept it as such, without any grumble, even as you would adjust with the cold of the Antartica or the heat of Sahara.
Q# 4. What is the symbolic significance of the ten Avatars of Lord Vishnu? Certain scolars say that the last of the Avatar, Kalki is yet to take place. Others affirm that it is already in existence or was in existence. What is the truth? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ANSWER: The concept of the ten Avatars of Lord Vishnu is nothing but symbolic about the origin and evolution of life on earth. Life in earth grew from a uni-cellular form in water first (Matsya Avatar ). It developed into an amphibian (kurma ). Later it developed into an animal (Varaha ). The transiton of life from the animal to man is indicated by Narasimha, half animal and half man. This also corroborates with Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Then comes the origin/evolution of human life. Vamana represented the short, dwarf man who later evolved into a fully grown-up man, strong, sturdy brute Parasurama who went round the world 21 times destroying Kshatriyas. Then comes the ideal man, refined and dutiful Sri Rama. Man should strive to become God and we are having the complete Avatar of Krishna, with divinity manifested. The purpose of life is to realise that absolute Truth, called Brahman, Paramatma or The Supreme Consciosness. The individual soul, Jivatma has to shed all the Vasanas /tendencies born and developed over a number of births and merge with Brahman. This is the Law of Evolution prescribed in our Scriptures. At the final stage, all that have been developed, acquired and carried forward from birth to birth have to be destroyed. The Vasanas are, as if it were roasted before the final merger or Moksha or liberation from the bondage of the cycle of birth and death. This is symbolically represented as Kalki Avatar. It is only symbolic and not that a person appears as Kalki. There are some people in India who claim to be that Avatar and if I ask them to prove it, they say, it is a matter of Faith. If that is accepted any one can claim to be a Kalki Bhagawan. Scriptures are not History books. They are there to guide us for our higher evolution from man to God. Apart from this, it is futile to waste our precious time in hair-splitting arguments as to the exact location of the birth-place of Rama or whether Kalki Avatar has already taken place or is yet to be awaited. This is my personal opinion and belief. Without going into details, I believe that if Narayana can appear as a fish, tortoise etc., there is nothing wrong if Prophet Mohammed is taken as an Avatar. Some of us have already taken Buddha, founder of yet another religion, also as an Avatar of Lord Vishnu.
Q # 5. We very often hear people advising that one should not be attached to the world. But in real life it is difficult to shed our attachments to people and places. Why is it so, and how can we effectively detach ourselves? Why is one unable to realise and detach oneself from the pangs of the mind. The "I" operation is not successful? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ANSWER: I fully understand your problem. In fact that is the human problem of all of us. Some, like you, are aware of it, while a majority of us are blissfully not aware of it. The same problem confronted King Dhritarashtra with his attachment to his son Duryodhana and the result was a Great War. The Bhagavad Gita has analysed the problem and has prescribed the way out of it. Why are we attached to somebody? What is that thing to which we are attached? Are we attached to the body of a person or his mind, intellect or the soul? We are not the gross body composed of the seven ' dhathus ', nor are we the mind which is only 'a flow of thoughts', nor are we the 'budhi' which changes from time to time. We are also not the "I" thought, which is the primary thought that separates us from each other. In this way, if we enquire within ourselves, as Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi prescribes, we find that we are not any of these inert and lifeless matter envelopments, but that Awareness, which exists for all periods of time, and which, is the source of Bliss Supreme. We say we are attached to somebody. Do we really mean it? There was a film of Satyajit Ray in which the hero was very much attached to his mother and was prepared to do any sacrifice for her. As the mother was drowning in the Ganga, he jumped to save her. As the drowning mother was helplessly trying to get something to hold on to safety, she caught hold of her son's body so tightly that the son could not swim. The hero also fighting for his life was sinking. As a last resort, he used all his might to get out of the grip of his mother to save his own life. This is quite natuaral. So long any one gives happiness we are attached to him or her. The moment he/she gives misery, one avoids him whatever be the relationship or attachment - because, happiness is our nature and we seek it. Why do you want to sleep blissfully, because in that deep sleep, there is neither a body nor a mind to give misery. If we understand our real nature, not theoretically but practically we can avoid the pitfalls of attachments and consequent miseries. In spite of bookish knowledge about our Self, we find it difficult to detach ourselves from our attachments in life. That is because of the strong Vasanas with which we are born with. A conscious effort should be made to purge them. The Vasanas make us desire for something and attachment comes in urging us to act for their fulfilment. The more the actions, the more the Vasanas they further create which in turn generate more desires and attachments. This goes on in a vicious circle. The remedy for this is " Karmayoga". In Karmayoga, as per the Geeta, we do action with all sincerity and dedication, i.e. actions ordained on you as your duty, without worrying about their success or failure, without any consideration other than the performance of the action-- without any strings attached to it. We should accept anything that accrues as the Lord's Prasada without any grumbling. This does not mean that you should be dis-interested in the work. On the other hand work should be done with your full dedication, leaving the results to the Lord, in a spirit of sacrifice. In such work, Vasanas get exhausted and new Vasanas do not get deposited further. That will be conducive to peace of mind, meditation and Self-realisation. If we analyse attachments, we find that it is nothing but a projection of mind. What is Mind? What is called "mind" is a wondrous power residing in the Self. It causes all thoughts to arise. Apart from thoughts, there is no such thing as mind.. Therefore, thought is the nature of mind. Apart from thoughts, there is no independent entity called the world. In deep sleep there are no thoughts, and there is no world. The primary thought in the mind is the "I" thought and the best way to control the mind is to enquire within and ask yourself, "Who am I ? "The more you enquire, the more the mind becomes quiet. Till last week, I was lying in the hospital as an in-patient for 15 days at a stretch. Everyday, new patients came stayed for a day or two and left. They had come from somewhere, stayed and suffered the pangs of critical operations, cried in anguish and pain. They came from all over India, speaking different languages and had a glimpse of the border-line between life and death and they left to unknown places. During their stay, I shared all their agonies, problems their little joys and helped whereever possible and the next day they were off. Life is also like this hospital. We come from some where we do not know, stay in this world for some time and leave to some unknown destination. During this short stay together we have relations like father, mother, child,husband and wife. We should do our alloted duties in respect of all these relations so long as we are here in this world. But that duty should be done with all sincerity and dedication but without getting attached to them or to your actions. All the time keep in mind that these relationship is purely with reference to my body (present birth ) only and I am not this body and I am that Self alone and to realise that is my goal in life. In this way, we should develop consciously a detachment from all attachments.
Q # 6. I have a rather basic doubt. As you have mentioned, Narayana is the Supreme Form or the Para Brahman who is beyond all these 14 worlds. It is being said that Vaikuntam is beyond these 14 worlds and hence beyond Maya itself. My questions are: 1. Is Kailasam part of these 14 worlds or beyond like Vaikuntam? Which means destructible? 2. How is Shiva form equated to Narayana? Is this Shiva Form not a para brahman but form pertaining to this Mayic world like Vishnu and Brahma? Please clarify this to me. K. Rajaram ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ANSWER: The Supreme Being is only one, whatever be the name by which you call IT. It has no form and without a beginning or end. It is imperishable, indestructible, the ancient and the eternal. In order to visualise a formless one, it is necessary to give a form for human comprehension. Just like you give a flag to a nation and salute it without which our limited brain cannot comprehend. Narayana is the name given to that Supreme Being with a form that can be visualised. Siva is another such form. Devi Durga is yet another form. One can take any form that inspires. If Narayana is taken as the Supreme, He is gven an abode that is Vaikunta. If Siva is taken it is Kailash. These abodes are symbolic and not in the 14 worlds. They are beyond Time & space. May be, Kailash also exists as a mountain connected with mythology. The Supreme Being refers to Energy in science. It dynamises Matter for creation of life in motion, just like Electricty as energy dynamises an inert matter like an electrical gadget. This is done by three forces, creation, maintaining and destruction, each being represented by three Gods as Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. These three Gods are different from the original Supreme Being and work under It.
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