Ask Swamiji

What stops one from complete surrender? Do one’s past negative saṁskārs and vāsanās play a part in determining the level and speed of surrender? How can one overcome one’s inherent negativities and make progress towards self-surrender faster? Answer: Surrender is not a one-time procedure. It is not that we surrender once, and we are done …

Question: You teach us that we should increase our tolerance, but if someone is doing wrong with me, should I practice forgiveness, or should I oppose him and stop the atrocity? Answer: On the spiritual path, we naturally learn to practice tolerance, forgiveness and humility. However, this does not mean that we should knowingly allow …

Question: When anyone criticizes me or gets annoyed with me, it disturbs me to no end; so much so, that sometimes the whole day is spent in brooding. How can I insulate my mood from fluctuations based on the behavior of others? Answer:  The solution is to develop a better understanding of the world, based …

Answer by Swamiji: To answer your question, let me tell you a story.  There was once a very rich man, who had a fifteen-year old son.  One day, the son was alone in his father’s office, when he saw a fifteen-year old newspaper.  It had an article titled, “Billionaire adopts orphan child.”  The boy was …

Question: When God is the actual Doer, why are the souls subjected to the results of their karmas? Answer:  Many people diminish the need for self-effort in their minds by saying, “Nothing is in our hands.  God is seated within us.  He is the doer of all our actions, and we act as He inspires …