**Swami Sivananda answers**

[Guest guest]

Qn:- What is your opinion of the Masters of the Himalayas?

 

Ans :-There is a great Master of Masters, the Indweller of your

heart. Turn the gaze inwards, withdraw the Indriyas and seek His

help. Rest in Him. Identify yourself with Him. Search Him in your

heart. Don't talk to me of these Himalayan Masters in future. You

will be deluded.

 

Qn:- What is the difference between Japa and meditation?

 

Ans:-Japa is silent repetition of the Name of the Lord. Meditation is

the constant flow of one idea of God. When you repeat Om Namo

Narayanaya, it is Japa of the Vishnu Mantra. When you think of the

conch, disc, mace and lotus flower in the hands of Vishnu, His ear-

rings, the crown on His head, His yellow silken Pitambar, etc., it is

meditation. When you think of the attributes of God such as

omniscience, omnipotence, etc., it is also meditation.

 

Qn:- The Lord's grace will do everything for me. Why should I do any

Sadhana?

 

Ans:-This is wrong philosophy. God helps those who help themselves.

God's grace will descend only on those persons who exert. The Lord's

grace will descend in proportion to the degree of surrender. The more

the surrender, the more the grace. You cannot expect the Lord to do

self-surrender for you. Be up and doing. Strive. Plod. Persevere. The

Lord will shower His grace upon you.

 

Mira abandoned everything. She renounced kingdom, husband, relatives,

friends and property. She remembered her Lord Krishna whole day and

night. She shed tears of Prem. She sang His praise with single-minded

devotion. She gave up food. Her body got emaciated. Her mind was ever

absorbed in Lord Krishna. Only then did Lord Krishna shower His grace

upon her.

 

Qn:- Give me a very simple, but very impressive proof for the

existence of the soul.

 

Ans:-You say in daily life, "My body", "My Prana", "My mind", "My

Indriya". This clearly denotes that the Self or Atman is entirely

different from the body, the mind, the Prana and the Indriyas. The

mind and the body are your servants or instruments. They are as much

outside of you as these towels, chairs, cups are. You are holding the

body just as you are holding a long walking stick in your hand. You

are the possessor or proprietor of this body. The body is your

property or possession. The body, the senses, the mind, etc., are not

the soul, but belong to it.

 

Qn:- If God is beyond the reach of the senses, He should be a non-

entity, a mere void, a negative concept, a metaphysical abstraction.

Something beyond the senses? How could this be? I cannot believe such

things. I am a scientist. I want accurate laboratory proofs.

 

Ans:-You want laboratory proofs? Very fine indeed! You wish to limit

the illimitable all-pervading God in your test-tube, blowpipe and

chemicals. God is the source for your chemicals. He is the substratum

for your atoms, electrons and molecules. Without Him no atom or

electron will move. He is the Inner Ruler, Antaryamin. He is the

Niyanta. Without Him the fire cannot burn, the sun cannot shine, the

air cannot move. Without Him you cannot see, cannot talk, cannot

hear, cannot think. He is the maker of all scientific laws, the law

of gravitation, the law of cohesion, the law of attraction and

repulsion, etc. He is the law-giver. Bow to Him with faith and

devotion. You will have a thorough knowledge of the Science of

sciences, Brahma Vidya, through His grace and you will attain Moksha.

 

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