Swami Prakashanand Saraswati, a revered spiritual leader and scholar, dedicated his life to guiding seekers on the path of divine love and devotion. His profound insights into the essence of spirituality illuminate the importance of a clean diet, humility, and the power of chanting meditation. In this Question & Answer session, we will delve into his teachings to explore how these principles shape our spiritual journey and connection with the divine.
Question & Answer are:
1. Question: Should a person become a vegetarian and refrain from intoxicants?
Answer: Any kind of intoxicant is harmful for your mind and body. If you are strong and determined, people accept your opinion, but if you are weak then you accept their opinion. So you have to be firm. I have seen some people in very prominent positions in the society who frequently join business dinners, but they don’t drink alcohol. People know that he does not drink, so they serve him something different. If you are firm, people will not press you. It is your own decision to be firm or not.
As far as being a vegetarian… In the Gita there are three kinds of food described: sattvic, tamas, and rajas. Vegetarian food is sattvic, and non-vegetarian food is non-sattvic. Vegetables, cereals, grains, milk products, beans, etc. are good for your health. Properly cooked vegetarian food is healthy, but spicey and greasy foods are not healthy even if they are vegetarian. They are called rajasi.
Cooked foods that are kept in refrigeration for long periods of time also become tamsi (not healthy). Whatever you eat affects you both physically and mentally. Although it cannot be diagnosed by scientific instruments. Food also affects your subconscious mind. Vegetarian food affects your mind in a pious way, and non- vegetarian food affects your mind in a non- pious way. So, a true devotee naturally becomes vegetarian. A devotee cannot remain non-vegetarian for a long time.
Many of my American and Indian devotees, even without my telling, naturally became vegetarian in a few months, and now they don’t like even to touch non-vegetarian foods.
2. Question: What does it mean to be humble? How could one live in the world by being humble?
Answer: You have to live in the material world and act accordingly to maintain yourself. If you need to be firm with your business associates or family members, you must. But try to be polite in the world and retain humility as a devotional quality. A devotee should be as humble as possible in his devotional field. Humility is a quality of the heart.
A Saint is so compassionate that he rewards a humble devotee with devotional experiences.
3. Question: Please explain why we do silent remembrance as well as vocal chanting of the Divine name; do they have different effects on the mind?
Answer: No, both are literally the same. Whether you chant out loud, listen to chanting or you remember the chanting in your own mind, name is going to effect your mind and your own feelings for that name.
Loudness or quietness doesn’t make much difference but is different for each person. Some devotees like to remember the name quietly, some like chanting loudly, some like chanting softly, listening or chanting loudly…it’s a personal choice. If feelings of love for Krishn are there; they are all correct.
4. Question: Is there a greater benefit in being physically close to a Saint?
Answer: Being close to a master will not help unless you have a receptive mind to receive the blessings of his closeness. Receiving means removing your restrictions; the restrictions are your personal negativities in the form of jealousy, lack of devotion, having worldly feelings, criticizing…these kinds of things bring a devotee down. Whether a devotee is physically close or far does not make a big difference because blessing is a kind of radiance. And, that radiance is there in his presence or when he is not physically present; it is there when you open your heart. You have to be careful not to enter into any kind of criticism or jealousy or such things; just open your heart and receive the grace.
Discover Swami Prakashanand Saraswati’s spiritual insights in his books, guiding seekers on the path of bhakti and divine love.