Someeternal questions and answers

April 7, 2008

Some eternal questions answered by Swami Sivananda,the great yogi and a realised master.Question : Why has God created the world?Answer by Sri Swami Sivananda :Ask God why He has created this world! Attain wisdom of the Self. Then you will know why God created the world. You cannot understand it with your intellect.You can understand it only with intuition.For the sake of sport, God created the world. Lokavattu Lila Kaivalyam. Creation of the world has a purpose. Just as we cannot have a sun without rays,similarly, we cannot have God without the world process. The world is like His rays. It is His Svabhava, nature. Just as a juggler produces something andmakes it disappear, so also, God produces this world and makes it disappear. God is omnipotent. To ask why He created the world is an Ati-prasna, a transcendentalquestion. We will be only wasting time by discussing it. Before asking about the world, ask about yourself. Know who you are. Then you will know everything.Question : I would like to know why we are all created and put to this miserable and pitiable plight. You would argue that we are never created and neverwould die. Then why should not we all be in that all-pure, omnipotent state without being entangled by Samskaras and Maya?Answer by Sri Swami Sivananda : Questions like these are Ati-prasnas— transcendental queries— for which you will not get an answer even if you rack your brain for millions of years. Intelligentpeople leave questions such as the ‘why?’ and the ‘how?’ of the universe. If a small son questions his father, "Papa, how did you procreate me?", whatanswer will Papa give? He will simply say, "Wait. When you become a man, you will understand this point". This is exactly the case with you and severalother new aspirants in whom the Light is trying to shine forth. Do not put the cart before the horse. Realize the Atma. Then you will understand thesematters. At the present moment, apply yourself to solid Sadhana in earnestness and remove Mala, Vikshepa and Avarana. Do not enter into vain discussionsand arguments on such matters. You can ask me questions on other points of philosophy. Wherever you go, you will get the same answer. Have you graspedmy point?Question : Why should I—the Brahman, I—the Cosmic Consciousness, the Existence without another, the Infinite, the All-pervading and the Omniscient, atall project Prakriti? Why must I be bound by the laws of Prakriti and be limited by the phenomena of time, space, causation and substance, and above all,why must I get involved in this process of evolution and involution? Answer by Sri Swami Sivananda :The eye cannot perceive itself. A man cannot stand on his own shoulders. Even so, all enquiry into the Ultimate Cause, the causeless Cause of all creation,is first confronted with a formidable wall of primordial ignorance. He who annihilates his ego to nothing at this point, and who thus obtains the graceof Isvara, gets through this wall and enters the Kingdom of the Infinite. Then he knows. But this knowledge cannot be communicated to others, as this greatwall is obstructing others from perceiving the Truth. Therefore the ancient sage termed it an Ati-prasna or transcendental question.Suffice it to know that God has created this world in order to enable you to evolve and realize the Self, in order to serve all and love all as His manifestations.The dacoit of ignorance has kidnapped man from his palace of Self-awareness and brought him to a thick forest; when the man wakes up, he does not broodover how he came there, but tries to get out of the forest. Even so, the earnest Sadhak tries to break the chain of transmigration by attaining Self-realization.Question : Swamiji, how did Maya arise in Brahman?Answer by Sri Swami Sivananda :This is an Ati-prasna or transcendental question. You will find this question coming up to your mind in various forms: When did Karma begin? When and whywas the world created? Why is there evil in the world? Why did the Unmanifest manifest itself? And so on. The same question is asked by Rama in Yoga Vasishthaand Vasishtha says: "You are putting the cart before the horse. You will not be benefited by an enquiry into this question at all. Meditate and realizeBrahman. You Will then know the answer to this question. The problem itself will have dissolved by then". No one can answer this question. When Knowledgedawns, the question itself vanishes. Therefore there is no answer to the question at all.The Brahma Sutra says: Lokavat Tu Lila Kaivalyam. It is only to pacify your doubt. It is really not an answer; for, there can be no answer. Yet, the questionwill arise in the case of every seeker after Truth. You cannot help it. You will have to use your discrimination, pacify the doubt, and then through intenseSadhana and meditation, realize God. Then the doubt will vanish. A great Yogi and Jnani was worried with this doubt for twelve years. Then he told me:"The worry is over now. It troubled me for twelve years. I could not find an answer. So I have given up that pursuit and have taken to meditation, Japaand Kirtan. Now I find peace and progress". Faith in the Guru, in the Grant Sahib, Kirtan, Japa, meditation and practice of righteousness— these will enableyou to progress in the spiritual path and will take you to That where there is no questioning possible.Sivaya Namah

Shailendra Bhatnagar <bhatnagar_shailendra wrote:

block quoteOm Namah SivayaNamaste,It is my understanding that both Hari and Hara havetheir root in hrih which means to rob or take away.

Bhagavan is said to be the one who takes away samsaraor liberates you from samsara (material life).The first thing that strikes you is, why did he createsamsara ? You call Bhagavan Hari or Hara and then allscriptures praise or extol him as the imperishableseed (avyayam beeja) or the very cause ofjagat(world). It is said in the Vedas that the ONEdesired to be many, I don't recall the exact but it isroughly - sokaamayataat bahusyam prajayayeti ...). Thejagat (universe) is said to be the creative power orshakti or prakruti of the Lord. It seems like Bhagavanis playing a game with the poor creatures in variousyonis. Why did he have to create them and make them gothrough all the comforts and discomforts of samsara ?Frankly, I don't think anybody has an answer for this- I have heard many perspectives. The advaitin callsthe jagat mithya, the dvaitin says prakruti isdifferent from purusha and perhaps the Shakta willhave a different opinion (namo jagat pratishtayadevyai krityai namo namah ...).

Best Regards,K.s.Vishwanathan.Tel No: 022-28738192