Jnaana Saraswathi
Spiritual Discourses by Shri Datta Swami
Explore spiritual discourses covering all aspects of universal spirituality, philosophy, and divine wisdom from Shri Datta Swami.
Showing 15 of 5828 discourses
TEMPLE OF LORD RAMA
There is no village or town in India in which there is no temple of Lord Rama. The statue of Rama preaches two points to you: 1) The Lord will come in human form, 2) Miracles are not the signs of the Lord. As told in the Gita, the Lord comes only in human form (Maanusheem tanum aashritam). Even though Lord Rama did not perform any miracles, Hanuman and the sages identified Rama as the Lord. Hanuman himself exhibited several miracles but he never claimed to be the Lord. Ravana on the other hand, exhibited miracles and claimed to be the Lord, but nobody agreed...
YAJNA AND KARMA
[Krishnashtami Day 6] The Lord in human form receives our sacrifice and enjoys it. His enjoyment is reflected in His face and we recognize it, which gives us immense satisfaction (Bhoktaram Sarvatapasam). This possibility is absent in all the other forms of God and therefore God does not exist in the other forms but those forms can be kept as representatives or models, if you are unable to accept the human form. However, the recognition of the real human incarnation is very important since He will guide you in the correct path as your friend (Suhrudam Sarvabhutanam). If your guide is a false guide...
ESSENCE OF THE GITA AND VEDAS - I
The Bhagavad Gita says that nobody knows God (Maamtu veda na kashchana). The Veda says that words, mind, intelligence, logic and even imagination cannot touch God (Yato vachah…Manasa saha; Na medhaya; Naisha tarkena). The Veda also says that if one knows that God is unknown, he knows at least something about God (Yasyaamatam tasya matam). These three statements declare that God is unknowable and unreachable. Yet the same Veda says that God is present on this earth itself (Yat saakshat aparokshat). Similarly, the Gita also says that God reveals Himself on earth in every human generation as per the necessity (Tadaatmaanam srijaamyaham). These two statements say that God can be seen by humans. How can one reconcile these two contradicting sets of statements? The first set of statements implies that you cannot catch God by your effort. The second statement indicates that whenever the kindest God wants to reveal Himself, He comes down to earth. You can see God on earth...
SERVICE AND PARABRAHMAN
[Krishnashtami Day 4] To please the Lord you have to surrender your words by singing about Him, your mind in His devotion and your intelligence in His discussions. However these three constitute only 1% of the total sacrifice and this is called theoretical sacrifice. The sacrifice of your work and the sacrifice of the fruit of work constitute 99% of sacrifice, which is called practical sacrifice. The practical sacrifice should be done to the most deserving person, who is Lord in human form, when recognised properly. The reason is that all this wealth belongs...
PREACHING ACCORDING TO DISCIPLES'S; LEVEL
Krishna, Buddha, Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhva are the five important preachers in the spiritual knowledge. Krishna gave the original text called as the Bhagavat Gita. He told that God is unimaginable (Mamtuveda nakaschana…) and also told that God is incarnated through the imaginable creation (Prakrutimsvaam…). The incarnation is imaginable part of creation in which unimaginable God exists. The human beings can see, touch, talk and live with the human incarnation from which they can clarify all the doubts and get correct guidance, which is the most important factor. The Gita is the essence of the Vedas and the Vedas also say that God is unimaginable (Namedhaya…) and that God enters a part of the imaginable creation...
GOD'S AWARENESS IS DIFFERENT FROM HUMAN-AWARENESS
[Guru Purnima Day] God wanted to create the universe and based on this reason God is thought to be awareness. Awareness can alone desire to do anything and not an inert entity. Another strong reason is that as the human awareness creates dream-space and the subsequent dream in it, the God-awareness created this real space and the universe in it. Just as the dream and its space are generated by the human awareness, maintained and controlled, and finally dissolved in human awareness, the universe along with the real space is generated, controlled and is dissolved by God-awareness. Another step was that the human awareness itself is God-awareness. As the dream-space and dream are real during the period of dream, the universe and real space are real...
JESUS, THE ONLY PATH
[Jesus said that one can reach His Father only through Him and that He is the only path. Does this not mean that we have to follow only Jesus? In such a case, how can one accept Universal Spirituality? This is a question posed by several devoted Christians from all over the world.] Reply of Swami: My answer to these dear devoted holy Christian souls is as follows: Does Jesus represent a human body, the word or both? If it represents a particular human body, then such a human body does not exist now. Only a particular human generation and that too, in a particular place was favored by the association of the human body of Jesus. Is it not the partiality of God?...
SPIRITUALITY IN TOTAL
[Divine discourse given by Swami via a teleconference, which was relayed in USA and Europe.] My dear devoted souls, A teacher has two students. The first one is good in theory and the second one is good in practical. The teacher wishes both the students to exchange their efficiencies so that both become efficient in both the fields. The teacher is strong in both the fields and is teaching the theory and demonstrating the practical in uniform way to both the students. The variation in the students came due to different psychologies of the two students. Similarly, God is that one teacher. The religious scriptures in all the countries...
SYMBOLISM OF TEMPLES AND RITUALS
A temple represents the body of the human incarnation (Deho devaalaya proktah). The statue in the temple represents the Lord in a human body (Jeevo devah sanatanah). The Gita also says that the Lord enters a human body and comes down to this earth (Manusheem tanum aashritam). The Veda says that the Lord can be seen here on the earth itself (Yat saakshat aparokshaat Brahma). The temple and the statue are only models to teach this concept. Once the concept is understood there is no need of any model. Hanuman recognized the human incarnation (Lord Rama) and sacrificed all his work to the Lord. Hanuman was not a householder and so he did not possess money to sacrifice to the Lord...
GOD IS THE ULTIMATE
You must do your duties without attaching yourself to the fruits. If you attach your mind to the fruit, you will be either excited or depressed. You are excited if the fruit is achieved and depressed if the fruit is not achieved. Both excitement and depression are the ways of fast expenditure of your reserved energy. If the energy is lost, you become weak and will be unable to do your further duties. The work is in your hand and the fruit is in the hand of God. You think that the work must give you the fruit in destined way. Several times you do not get the fruit for your work. What is the message in this? The message from God is that all the fruits are in His hand. You do not give importance to God and depend on the work only and believe that the natural...
VALUE OF ETHICAL SCRIPTURE IS DUE TO GOD ALONE
[Krishna Ashtami Evening Message] Gopikas were the sages born as ladies. The sages propagated the ethics as word of God for the sake of balance of the society. During such propagation, some sages were overcome by the sacredness of ethics and thought that God became sacred by ethics, since He always supported ethics. Such sages born as Gopikas, failed to reach the Lord in the night when His flute was heard. The sages, who always thought that the sacredness of ethics is always due to God only, could run to God, violating the ethical tradition. The reality is that the value of any ethical principle is due to the fact that it is valuable since it is the word of God. It means that every word of God is ethical and it does not mean that God speaks only ethical...
PRACTICAL VALIDITY OF PHILOSOPHY IN THIS WORLD
[Krishnashtami Day 5] The human incarnation is also present in this world. The analysis of this Super Man gives a clear idea of the unimaginable God. Thus a practical experience regarding the unimaginable God also exists here. Hence the philosophy has a practical validity in this world. All this analysis is only from the angle of the soul. Before creation, there was no soul and there was no universe. In such a state, the unimaginability also did not exist because the God was imaginable to Himself. Therefore even the Maya, which is the unimaginability, also disappears and hence even Maya must have birth...
DATTA: TROUBLE-GIVER IN VIEW OF IGNORANT
The Veda says that God is the first preacher and He is called as Kashyapa because He is the pashyaka. Since, the meaning of pashyaka is that He who sees the subtle meaning of the scripture (Kashyapah pashyako bhavati). This first preacher preached the spiritual knowledge regarding the information about absolute God called as Brahmajnana to Sun in the beginning as said in the Gita (Imam vivasvate…). The Sun preached this to his first son, Shanaishchara, who is called as Jnanakaraka or the initiator of knowledge. This knowledge was passed on to his brother called Yama. From Yama, the knowledge was achieved by Nachaketa, who brought it to the earth...
ETERNAL OBJECT CANNOT BE CREATED AGAIN
[Guru Purnima Day Afternoon Message: Some devotees told about their visit to a sacred place called Tripurantakam. Swami gave the following message.] The word Tripurantakam means God, who destroyed the three bodies. The gross body or sthula shariram is made of the inert five elements. The second body is the subtle body or sukshma shariram made of the vibrations of pure awareness. These vibrations are thoughts or feelings, which can be classified into three main categories called as trigunas or the three qualities i.e. sattvam, rajas and tamas. The third body is the causal body or karana shariram, which is made of pure awareness without vibrations. The subtle body is called as jeeva and the causal body is called as atman. The subtle body cannot exist without the causal body...
BOUNDARY OF INFINITE COSMOS IS REALLY UNIMAGINABLE
The scientific atheists say that the cosmic energy is the ultimate God from which this entire creation is generated through big bang, maintained and destroyed. He says that another unimaginable God as generator of cosmic energy is unnecessary. If we say that an agent of intelligence is required to maintain all this creation in such a systematic manner, the atheists disagree saying that randomness with probability based on theory of evolution can be the reason for such systematic administration. We cannot completely rule out this answer of the atheists. In such case, the unimaginable God disappears and the imaginable cosmic energy becomes God. The concept of energy is clearly understood only through intricate scientific analysis...