1. IF THE CELLS RENEW THEMSELVES, THEN WHY DOES THE BODY GET OLD? WHY DON’T THE SCARS GO AWAY?
Yes, that is what the scientist would like to know, too. They can’t figure it out. They have been trying to make it so the body doesn’t get old since the beginning. They have never been successful. That is built in. Old age is a built-in factor of material life. And the body is not like a car. If you just keep replacing parts on the car, it always stays new. But the body is designed by God to get old and die. You can’t change the arrangement. I can’t exactly answer the question about the scars, you got to ask the scientists. The scientists are the ones who give us this knowledge.
2. ARE YOUR CLASSES FOR PAYMENT?
No, no. I have mentioned they are free. We are teaching the spiritual truth, you can’t charge for the truth. You can’t turn God into a business.
3. WHY HAVE WE LEFT GOD IF NOW WE NEED TO COME BACK?
Yes, that is always the question. Why did I do that? Yeah, we make a lot of mistakes, and that was the biggest one. You see, we are part and parcels of God. So we have the same qualities the God has but in a minor quantity. God has His will so we also have our will, we always have our free will. God is eternally independent. Well, we have a little tiny independence as well. God is the Supreme Enjoyer. We have a little desire to be the supreme enjoyer also. So at some point I decide that I want to be independent, I want to do my will and I want to be the enjoyer. Another words, I want to be God.
That consciousness does not exist in the spiritual world. Another words, there is no place to execute that desire. So God created the material world where we can come and attempt to fulfill that desire to be number one, to be the enjoyer. So that is what the material world is all about. It is our play ground, we are trying to enjoy here. But we can’t reality enjoy here, because enjoyment for the soul only comes in loving union with God.
So sometimes it takes us a long time to realize we have made a mistake. Maybe we don’t even know we have made a mistake, we just recognize something is wrong here. And when we do realize that, we start looking for answers. Where is real happiness? What is life all about? Who am I? God knows that because He is in our heart. He knows our every thought, our every desire. And so then He begins to provide us with the knowledge that we are looking for at that time. And gradually we may evolve and evolve till we really want to go back to the spiritual world. Then we can go back.
So God is giving us all this knowledge and these ways to return when we want. But He doesn’t force it on anybody. It is our freedom to choose that or not.
4. IS THERE AN INNER PERSONAL SPIRITUAL TEACHER WHO BY VISIONS OR BY INNER SPEECH TALKS TO ME OR IT IS JUST THE IMAGINATION?
Yes, that eternal spiritual master is the Lord in the heart, the Paramatma. Everybody has heard His voice to some degree at some time. Sometimes we call it conscience. There is a little voice, it says, “No, you shouldn’t do that.” Or, “You should do this.” God is trying to direct us. But very seldom we do listen. And then we get so covered after a while, we don’t hear it at all. We have become deaf. That is why we need an external source of knowledge, an external direction. So that has been provided in the form of the authorized scriptures and the bona fide spiritual masters.
5. DO CHRISTIANITY AND BHAKTI YOGA HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON?
Let’s just say the teachings of Jesus. The teachings of Jesus are Bhakti yoga. Jesus was a bhakti yogi and he taught Bhakti yoga. He taught love of God. He taught service to God. He taught devotion. His first and foremost commandment is, “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, thy mind, thy entire being.” He also taught that we should chant the Names of God. He says that the Names of God are hallowed, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name.” That is Bhakti yoga. He taught it perfectly and he lived it perfectly.
6. THERE ARE AT LEAST SEVEN BODIES. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT?
You know, people try to make everything very complicated, divide it up into all these different subdivisions and so on. But we follow the Vedas, it is very simple. There is the mental body and there is the physical body. We don’t have to get into all the different ethereal bodies and this body, and that body. It doesn’t serve any purpose. See, our focus is in developing our relationship with Bhagavan. And so if I let my mind go off on all these distractive thoughts about the different bodies and the astral dimensions, and all that, that keeps me away from that relationship. If you just want to entertain the mind by thinking about all of this cosmic stuff, then you can do that. But the Vedas are very, very simple, very clear and plain, and that is what we follow.
7. THE HOMELAND OF YOGA IS INDIA, THE EAST. WESTERN PEOPLE ARE NOT READY TO FOLLOW IT NEITHER PHYSICALLY NOR SPIRITUALLY. SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO?
Actually, this is a misunderstanding. If you are talking about Ashtanga yoga, yes, nobody is ready for that. That is not even recommended for this age. This is for another age when people were more qualified. But for this age there is the easy process of Bhakti yoga centered around this mantra meditation. You just did this. It wasn’t out of anyone’s physical ability. See, how ready do you have to be to do that? It is very, very easy, even children can do that. See, Bhakti yoga is very easy for anyone if they want to do it. Anything that we don’t want to do is hard. We certainly don’t ask anyone to do it if they don’t want to. But if one has a desire and an interest, then yes, this is very easy.
8. THE WORDS IN MEDITATION ARE UNFAMILIAR TO US. WHAT DO THEY MEAN?
Yes, they are unfamiliar to us in the West, for many people. These are different names for God, Bhagavan. GAURANGA means He whose body is more beautiful than molten gold. God’s form is so beautiful and in the form of Gauranga His body was a beautiful golden color. That is what Gauranga means. HARIBOL means Chant God’s Names, Chant the Holy Names. NITAI means eternal, GAUR means golden. GOPALA and GOVINDA are similar in meaning the Giver of pleasure, our Shelter, the Shepherd. RAMA means He who gives transcendental pleasure to those who lovingly serve Him. MADANA-MOHANA means He who is so attractive that He attracts even Cupid, the Attractor of Cupid. All these are names of Bhagavan.
9. IS IT NECESSARY TO TAKE SOME YOGA CLASSES? CAN I RECEIVE THE INFORMATION AND THEN PRACTICE AT HOME?
Yes, you can practice at home. You have got these mantras you just learnt now, you can practice those at home. We teach some very simple classes that give you information of different things you can do at home. So you can practice your Bhakti yoga at home. You can also listen to some recorded mantras.
10. WHY DON’T PEOPLE WANT TO DIE?
That is another experience of our eternality. See, we realize we are eternal, we are not supposed to die. Like death is a contradiction to our experience. I feel I am eternal but yet the body dies. And that is why it is so confusing. See, we don’t feel like we are supposed to die, we don’t feel like we are going to die but we do. And the reason it is so confusing is because we identify with the body, “I am going to die.” But that is not true. So in self-realization we get the full understanding I am not the body. Yes, my body is going to die but I am not, I am not the body. I will leave my body at a certain time but I will still be myself, I will continue to exist. I will leave the body behind, just like leaving behind old clothes and putting on new clothes. So that is what the realized person understands. So death is no longer a mystery and it is no longer fearful. That is what we come to realize in Bhakti yoga.
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