Swamiji's Q & A session - Part 3.

[Guest guest]

Dear devotees,

 

Here is the third part of the Q & A session. Here we have good

disussion about 'family life'. Please pardon me, for improper

translation, if any.

 

Shri Hari priyatham.

B.Gopalakrishna.

===================================================

Q.1) It is said that for all our good and bad of present janma are due

to 'Punya' and sin accumulated in the previous birth? This may be

guesswork.! How can we believe this? .

 

SWAMIJI: There are only two possibilities. Either to believe " Cause

and Effect " theory or not. If you don't believe in this, then no

'vedantha' or 'philosophy' can help you further. There is nothing like

" randomly " , " accidentally " in this world for anything to happen. Every

action is governed by " cause and effect " rule. For no apparent reason,

sometimes something good happens to us. Though two people do similar

kind of activities, with similar efforts they get different results.

These are all due to results of our previous 'karma'. Suddenly some

people become rich. This is due to their own 'punya'. Many a times we

keep money secretly in some place and forget that. Later on some day we

get back that money suddenly and feel happy. Like that if we see the

activities done in several previous births, then we can correlate each

and every results. There is nothing like 'luck'. For that, in Sanskrit

it is called as " Adhrasta " , meaning not visible. The reason is not

visible to us. It does not mean that there is no reason at all. For

e.g. many a times we don't realize how we get sickness or disease, but

doctors can tell us how we got that, from where and due to what.

Similarly only 'Jnani' can see the reasons and attribute the cause for

things happening now.

 

Q 2) Nowadays we see hundreds of people dying in many accidents and

natural disasters. Does it mean that all of them had the same sin?

 

SWAMIJI: There are two types in this. One is all those people had

committed similar types of sin, which as a result ended in this type of

death. It need not be the same sin, but similar degree of sin,

resulting in the similar degree of effect. So those people died because

of the effect of sin of previous birth and by suffering like this they

get rid of their pervious sins.

Another reason could be that someone is doing a new sin now by

killing all those people. For e.g. if a disaster occurs due to

negligence of one person or team of person, then they are responsible

for this sin of killing so many people and they have created a room for

them to suffer later in this birth or next birth. Whenever man made

disaster occurs, that person commits new sins and he will suffer later.

Sometimes it is difficult for us to decide, whether it is man made or

not. But 'jnanis' can tell what is the reason for such tragedies.

 

Q. 3) In India we can see so many beggars and handicaps, sick people

around the temple and many other places. They don't seem to have

committed any crime or sin. What is the reason for their sufferings?

What is our duty towards them?

 

SWAMIJI: Those people are suffering because of their sins committed in

the previous birth. They are all millionaires in the previous birth but

did not spend even a penny for good cause and never helped any one. Or

they have helped wrong people and promoted wrong causes. So they are

suffering in this birth. If they don’t commit any new sins in this

birth, then in the next birth, they will be all right but if they again

commit sin in this life, they will get still worse life in the next

birth.

Though they are getting punished due to their own bad actions of

previous birth, we should not neglect them. We should serve them.

Though God is punishing them, we should try to help them. It is our

duty. It is not against God's will or their 'karma phala'. For e.g.: in

the house, father will punish the son for his mistakes. But then mother

has to show love to him, console him and feed him. Mother also should

not punish the son again. Similarly though they are getting punished

due to their own sins, we need to serve them and help them. It is our

duty and we must do this. By serving poor and suffering people we will

be accumulating 'punya' and will be pleasing God.

 

Q. 4) There are some people who are not interested in any religious

activities or philosophy. But they are good citizens, sincere and

harmless people. What happens to them according to 'sasthra'?

 

SWAMIJI: They are failure both here and there i.e. in this world and

also in the after-death world. In Sanskrit " itho bhrasta, thatho

bhrasta: " . According to 'sastra', if some one does not believe in God,

then he is not a good man at all. According to 'sastra', the root cause

or fundamental reason for good character and conduct is the faith and

belief in " Dharma " , and for the " Dharma " , the root cause or foundation

is " God " . So if you don't believe in God, then there is no strong

conviction for your good character and conduct. It can change at any

time. Secondly we should have some aim and meaning for this life.

Without that there is no meaning for character and conduct. It is just

like driving on a road without any specific destination, just going on

where the road goes. Sometimes we also do like this, for e.g.: going

for walking. Without having any specific thing in mind, just for time

pass we roam around and when got tired, we come back to home. Similarly

those people waste their life and when they got tired, at the old age,

come back to 'sastra' and start believing God.

 

Q 5) We see some good people becoming bad and bad people becoming good.

Also we see some poor people become very bad once they are rich. What

is the reason for these things?

 

SWAMIJI: In everyone's life, for every action, there are four deciding

factor: " svabhava " - Intrinsic nature, " prabhava " - external influence,

" yoghyatha " - capacity or qualification, " sadhana " - efforts or

achievements. Many a times, " intrinsic nature " will not be revealed

immediately. It will be covered by external influences. It gets

revealed later when the time is ripe for that. For e.g.: there are some

handicap people who are very mild, but there are others also who are

short tempered. This is not due to physical disability or any other

reason. It is their intrinsic nature. There are many poor people who

are very arrogant and cruel. It is their nature not due to poverty.

 

Q 6) We are all now born here in this 'Kaliyuga'. Does it mean that we

have all done sin in previous birth?

 

SWAMIJI: It need not be. It only indicates that we are not yet

qualified for 'moksha' and we still need to do 'sadhana'. It need not

mean anything negative. Each and every soul has to take one or other

form of birth till its 'sadhana' is completed. We need to have some or

other form of body to do 'sadhana'. Human body is the best one to do

'sadhana' and so we are all here to do our best 'sadhana'. Actually

‘Kaliyuga’ does not mean 'bad days'. This is the best 'yuga' for

'sadhana'. In this yuga, we get lot of 'punya' for doing small good

things. In 'kratha Yuga', one has to do lots of 'tapas' and yajna to

get good result, but in this Yuga, with little good actions we will get

lot of 'punya' or 'good results'. For e.g.; in this kaliyuga we need

not do any Tapas or Yajna. We can get the same results by simple

chanting the God's name with devotion. So this is the best time for

doing 'sadhana'.

 

Q 7) What is the 'result' of telling lies according to 'sasthra'?

 

SWAMIJI: There are different types in lies; namely 'satvic', 'rajasic'

and 'tamasic'. It depends on the result what happened with that lie.

We should not lie to do great damage to other person or property. We

should not lie to trouble others. But we may tell lie to get some good

results. Many a times we tell lies to kids to keep them under control.

Another good example is consider a case of some guest coming to house

without informing, at midnight. Then though he hasn't finished his

dinner, he may lie that he doesn’t feel hungry just to avoid troubling

the housewife starting cooking at midnight. There is no harm in that

and no sin for telling that lie. It is 'satvik' lie. It is a lie for

good cause, not to trouble others or to do any damage to others. So we

should always see the circumstances and the effects, before deciding it

as good or bad. Similarly 'dharma' and 'adharma' also depends on the

situation and the result. For e.g. consider a group of thieves chasing

a rich man. We should not tell truth and reveal the place where the

rich man was hiding. We need to see what is good for that situation.

So it is said that " dharmasya gahana gathi:” meaning the path of

‘dharma’ is very complicated or very illusive.

 

Q. 8) In this modern age, ladies feel like working outside in offices.

Is it acceptable according to sastra or she has to limit herself as

housewife?

 

SWAMIJI: There is no harm in ladies working outside. She only has to

decide what is required for her. Basically someone has to take care of

kids and they should be looked after properly and they should be given

proper love, care, discipline and education. Father or mother or grand

parents can do this. As long as this responsibility is fulfilled and

future generation is taken care, then any housewife can work and do any

other activities. If you avoid this and do any social service outside,

there is no 'punya' for that. It is not acceptable to 'sasthra'. We

have seen in few families where the kids are completely taken care by

maidservants. The kid calls the servant as mother and loves her more.

This is not good. Normally the baby caring is mother's responsibility.

Father does not have that patience and calmness to do that. It is born

gift to ladies.

Another important aspect is that in any successful management,

there should be 60% love and affection and 40% fear. Mother is symbol

of love and affection and father is symbol of fear. There should not be

100% love or 100% fear. Both are dangerous. Both father and mother

should show these things properly. One more important point is that

the kids should not know about the difference of opinion within

parents. For kids they should look like equal minded and made for each

other. This is very important responsibility of parents. Father should

advise kid to do namaskara to mother. Mother in turn should tell kid to

do namaskara to father. In previous days, earning was main

responsibility of father and household was main responsibility of

mother. It need not be same nowadays as long as both responsibilities

are handled properly.

 

Q. 9) Can we have only love and respect and no fear? Is it good?

 

SWAMIJI: No. Love and respect with fear is only good. Fear is the

controlling element. We can not replace that. We can not keep kids

under control with love alone. They need fear too. Love is good for

happy mind and mental growth. But it can not control them. Since kids

are not capable of thinking pros and cons, they cannot take good

decision by themselves. So we need to keep them under control till

they develop self-control. It is also difficult to convince them in

many times, because they are not grown enough to understand those

things. So we need to control them with fear.

 

Q 10) Here in this country, they say that we should not threaten kids?

Here the kids get up at right time and go to school. But in India we

need to plead kids to send them to school? So why controlling is

required?

 

SWAMIJI: Responsibility is of two types. One is dependent

responsibility and another one is respectful responsibility. If you ask

the boy to get out of the house, somehow he will find a way to live.

Basically to be alive is everyone's main urge and for that he will find

out some or the other way. It is a forced responsibility. Here kids

know that no body supports them later and if they don't study they have

to be on roads later. So they try to be independent from the

beginning.

We should have fear not because of money or power, but of not

getting love or affection. We should have strong human relationship

inside the family and in the society also. We should have this kind of

fear among husband and wife too. They should respect each other for

love. Love itself is a human value. That can not be questioned. We

can not ask for the advantage and disadvantages of love. It is a noble

quality and a good value for a cultured family.

 

Q 11) What is the main difference in western and eastern culture in

terms of human value?

 

SWAMIJI: In western countries, they give more weightage to individual

'feeling'. All behaviors are justified because the mind likes it. Mind

is prime for them and they behave and live as dictated by mind. That

is dangerous. Mind does not have any self-control. It behaves very

arbitrarily and very randomly. Mind does not have self-wisdom. It

becomes mad in anger and becomes soft when praised. So we should not

be dictated by mind. The mind should be controlled by 'atma'. Atma with

the help of 'prajna' or 'wisdom' should control the mind. Even

though mind does not agree with the 'wisdom', we should force mind to

accept that and keep it under control. If we can keep mind under our

control, then we don't loose peace of mind. If we run behind the mind,

then we loose not only peace of mind, but whole life. Mind is very

imbalanced. It flies between two sides and makes it difficulty to take

any decision. In angry or sorrow, it forgets what is right and what is

wrong. The whole eastern philosophy is to achieve control of mind and

then develop concentration of mind. ‘Atma’ should be having always

upper hand in deciding what is right and what is wrong.

 

Q 12) What kind of relationship we have between 'atma' and 'mind'?

 

SWAMIJI: It is like a bullock cart with two bulls. If they start

fighting among each other, then no body can do anything. They have to

solve by them selves. It is like family dispute between husband and

wife. They have to solve by themselves. It can not be solved by third

person. Others can help but can not solve. So the 'mind' and 'atma'

has to find a solution among themselves. That's why it is said that

'our mind is the only cause for our freedom or suffering'. In

Bhagavadgeetha Shri Krishna says that " We have get liberated though our

mind only. Our mind alone is our friend and mind alone is our enemy " .

 

(To be continued ..)

 

 

 

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