Divine Quest
The queries of spiritual aspirants are answered by the great spiritual teacher of this age in Prashnottari.
How do we redirect our desires from the world to God?
Answer: We have five kinds of desires that relate to our five senses, namely, the desire to hear, see, smell, taste, and touch. If these five desires are directed towards objects of this world, then they will further increase our attachment to the world, which will impede our progress on the path of devotion. However, if these same five desires are redirected towards God, that is, we have the desire to see Him, to touch Him, to hear Him, and so on, then this will purify our mind, because God is divine, possessing the power to purify even the purest! By singing and remembering the glories of the divine names, forms, pastimes, attributes, and devotees of God (Saint), your worldly desires will slowly be converted into desires for God and all that is related to Him.
What is so important about spiritual knowledge?
Answer: If you can remember spiritual knowledge all the time, then you will be less likely to commit ungodly acts. Even if your mind wanders off into the world or dwells in some negative thoughts, that spiritual knowledge will remind you that your beloved Lord is sitting inside you, noting down every one of your thoughts. Many of you hide things from your Guru too, and having done so, you indulge in some wrongful act thinking that no one knows about it. It is this false sense of privacy that is the cause of our ruin, because during these times we fail to believe that God is omnipresent. If we believed this then we would realise God.
Spiritual knowledge is extremely important, and we should never be careless in the acquisition of it. Never consider it to be of less importance. There are many topics within it such as the nature of attachment and detachment, the five material elements, and engrossment in the world, and so on. However, you need only remember three main points: what is my relationship with God? What should I do to establish and complete that relationship, and what is the aim behind everything that I am doing? As your knowledge of this deepens, you will steadily keep moving closer and closer to God.
An English translation of answers originally spoken in Hindi by:
Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj
Prashnottari
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