Q & A

What is a Guru?

Whoever teaches Brahma Gyan — Knowledge to reach God, the Supreme Power — is a Guru or Spiritual Master. A Spiritual Guru is the external manifestation of God. He is the personification of the Vedas. He is empowered by the Lord to deliver the conditional souls. Sometimes the Lord Himself becomes the Spiritual Master, like Krishna who showed Arjun his original form.

Are Guru and Parmatma one?

Guru is the form of Parmatma.

What should be the relationship between a true Guru and disciple?

That cannot be explained through language. It can only be expressed through feelings of the heart. Swamiji, the total Person like Krishna failed to satisfy his dearmost friend and devotee Arjun through his words which run through the 18 chapters of the Geeta. Ultimately Krishna succeeded only by unfolding himself, exposing his universal form. You are all my Varat Swaroop. I am there in all of you and all of you are in me. You have only to trust. The moment you develop firm faith, you will see me everywhere.

Can Guru save his disciple from the punishment of irreligious acts?

One cannot escape from Karma-Phal. That is a universal law. Nature never changes its rules. But a Brahma Gyani, Brahma Nistha Guru can help his devotee, if his faith and devotion to the Guru is unshakeable.

Suppose a person has to fall from the 7th floor of a building due to his previous Karmas. No one can save him from falling — this is his Karma’s matured fruit. But a Mahatma, a Satguru, can arrange that he falls onto a cart carrying cotton rather than the hard ground. The person must fall; that is his Karma. But he will be saved from hurt or injury. This is the Guru’s help.

What is the difference between Atma and Parmatma?

Atma and Parmatma are one and the same. The whole modern civilisation operates on the misunderstanding that the body is the Self — but this is the mentality of animals, as they do not have the Buddhi for self-realisation.

By surrendering to Guru, what does one get?

By taking the shelter of a bonafide Spiritual Master and obeying his instructions with firm faith and devotion, one gets knowledge, detachment, and ultimately Liberation (Moksha).

Our Vedant declares “Destiny is irrevocable.” Then why should one bother to labour hard?

It is true that one gets only what is destined. But one must make a clear distinction between where it is appropriate to be resigned to fate and where personal effort is called for. Securing a job is a matter of destiny; having secured one, sustaining it with sincerity is a matter of personal effort. What one receives is destiny — how one uses it is freedom of choice and new Karma.

Is it true that Heaven and Hell are only on this Earth?

Heaven and Hell on Earth are only samples. As per our Holy Scriptures, there are eighteen varieties of each. A grain merchant comes to you with samples only — he does not carry his entire godown. Likewise, nature has created only one sample of Heaven and Hell here on earth.

How can one live without suffering?

By simply observing without reacting — by examining any phenomenon objectively with equanimity and a balanced mind. During meditation, one may feel pain in the knee. If one learns to observe the pain objectively, like a doctor examining someone else’s pain, one sees that pain is itself changing — it does not remain forever. It comes and goes. But you — the observer — remain the same, unchangeable. If one understands this by personal experience, pain can no longer overwhelm. One observes it with detachment.