This is Q&A interaction with the audience from the previous talk where Acharya Das explores profound spiritual concepts from Vedic philosophy, focusing on meditation, reincarnation, self-realization, and the nature of consciousness. He emphasizes the transformative power of Kirtan meditation as a daily practice that can lead to spiritual awakening.
He addresses questions about the soul's journey between death and rebirth, explaining that the time between lives is subjective and depends on one's consciousness. He discusses how karma (action) and its fruits determine our future experiences and bodies, noting that those who transcend material desires can break the cycle of reincarnation.
Acharya Das elaborates on the three features of the Absolute Truth (Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan) and their relationship to self-realization. He explains that our natural position is as servants of God rather than being self-centered, and that loving service aligns with our spiritual nature. Throughout the session, he stresses the importance of controlling one's mind rather than being controlled by it, and concludes by encouraging attendees to develop a consistent meditation practice, even if just for 10 minutes daily.
The questions which were asked:
Q: You spoke about birth, death and rebirth. I really would like to learn more about the time in between death and rebirth, the life between life there, what happens, where's the soul, what?
Q: What's the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?
Q: I'm a little bit naive, but I would like to hear a little bit more about reincarnation.
Q: Could you say something about the relationship between self-realization and God-realization?
Q: How would you speak to an asleep person, unawakened, who is approaching the end of their life experience and is gripped by the fear of death?
Q: I was interested in what you said about the mantras being from an authentic spiritual master, something to that extent.
Q: On Friday you touched on free will and you said that we're not really doing anything, it's not in our control. What's that last part? It's not in our control, free will. It's not in our control. What is not in our control? Any actions we do is already written. In what way is it not in our control? It's all destiny. You mentioned a bit about the balance between our free will.
Q: What does it mean to be a servant of God and how one can become one?
Q: Yeah, just wondering, just with earthquakes and flooding and stuff like that, is that God sending a message? Or how does that all sort of work?
