13. Thought Provoking Questions and its Answers

1. What does not bring sorrow to man even if it is lost?

2. What makes people rich when they lose it?

3. Who is scholar?

4. What does in the world has greater glory than religion?

5. Which creation in the universe is seen by all life on earth?

6. Which has more power than that obtained from fire?

7. What is heavier than the universe?

8. What is more subtle than water?

9. What is the first symptom of ignorance?

10. What is the purpose of life?

11. Does God exist? Who is He? Is God a man or women?

12. What are the important emotions which has to be kept under control by humans?

13. What is the difference between desire and love?

14. Can physical objects make you more and more happier?

Answers:
1. Anger

2. Greed

3. A person who understands the greatness of compassion and mercy even if he is scholar

4. Mercy

5. The moon during the night and the sun during the day

6. Anger

7.  Guilty Feeling

8. Generosity

9. The feeling of having wisdom

10. There is no purpose of life. This is the beauty of human creation. We can live according to our interests and wishes. But still living in harmony with our fellow creatures can be considered as the purpose of life. We can find some opinions on this topic from the late Paulose Mar Gregorious in the following link.
https://youtu.be/yf5dgM-Dj_Q

11. There cannot be a single thing in this universe without reason. For example, matter exist in the universe because of bigbang. Our house is located in a position just because we constructed it there. Similarly we can realize about the invisible God while we see this visible universe. You do exist. And so God is also existing. God is neither a woman nor man. The whole universe exists in God. That is, we are part of the Supreme Being and this whole creation exist in supreme being itself.

12. There are mainly 6 emotions for man that has to be kept under his control. They are
        1. Lust
        2. Anger
        3. Greed
        4. Selfish desires
        5. Pride
        6. Unwanted competitiveness
If we cannot keep these emotions under control, there will be problems in our family and society. Let us see some examples to understand this.

Lust and selfish desires:
Attraction between the opposite sex is a gift given by nature to living beings. This is a key point in maintaining their progeny. But as a human being, we need to control our lust within a limit. When David, the mere shepherd, became king of a great empire, he fell in love with Bethsheba and killed Uriah. Thus he failed in becoming a good model before the people of his empire.

Anger:
Jesus Christ vehemently opposed the views of the lawyers, Pharisees, and Sadducees. We can see that they have nurtured  their wrath to the crucify Jesus without recognizing their flaws. We also see that Cain killed Abel because of his rage. Therefore, it is essential to control anger.

Greed:
During the time of Jesus christ, the land of Judea was under the Roman Empire. Roman soldiers travelled around the land and exploited the common people and acquired much wealth. Jesus Christ came up with the Gospel at a time when there was heavy unrest in his place along with sickness, trouble and murders. It can be seen that greed for the wealth of the Roman Empire had put the whole society into darkness. Therefore, excessive greed is a danger. An in-depth look at the evils of the Roman Empire can be found in the link below.
https://johnkunnathu.blogspot.com/2019/06/jesus-good-news.html?m=1

https://youtu.be/wrQroxp5Q70

Pride:
Goliath was a very powerful giant. He was proud of his power. He thought that no one could overcome him. David, on the other hand, was a poor shepherd. His hallmark was humility and trust in God. We can see that David's humility and trust in God overpowered Goliath's pride. If we look at ourselves with respect to the building we sit,  we are very tiny. With respect to a big tree,  we are small. With respect to the entire cosmos,  we are nothing. Not at all having any significance. Then what is the significance of each one of us in front of our Almighty??.  Then pride will have no role within us.

Unwanted competitiveness :
Esau liked to work with his father outside his home. But Jacob preferred to work at home with his mother. Jacob was rebellious against his brother, because he suspected that Esau would love and bless Esau more. It is this unwanted competitiveness that has led Jacob to betray his brother. We can see that Jacob later regretted about it.

13. Love is derived from mercy. Desire is derived from pride. Love tells us that God offers all the comforts of the world. But selfish desires tells us that we will gain all the comforts of the world. Love frees you. But selfish desires gives bond. Love is Dharma. But selfish desire is lawlessness.

14. Physical objects can create only comforts and not happiness. You think that new smart phone makes you happy. You think that new dresses makes you happy. You think that new house makes you happy. Lets take an example, from your new smart phone you just received a message showing that your lover would like to brake up with you. So the same smart phone which brought happiness within you can create great distress with in you. So we need to understand that physical objects can create only comfort not happiness. Happiness is an emotion which is created within ourselves. So we need to train our mind to stay always in blissful state

12. What is the main difference between humans and other animals on this earth?

First let us try to look at the similarities between humans and animals. Animals sleep. We sleep. Animals reproduce. We reproduce. Animals eat food. We eat food. Animals try to survive. We try to survive. Animals become angry and ferocious. We also become angry for many reasons and sometimes for no reasons also. Animals die. We die. Animals suffer. We also suffer( probably more than that of animals).
           Now let us look at the differences between humans and animals. In the evolutionary order, we the human beings are the most evolved creature on this planet and hence we have the most advanced neurological and advanced cerebral capabilities. Is there any other key difference? To understand this, we need to first understand the different types of actions that are performed by human beings. They are
           1. Physical actions
           2. Mental actions
           3. Emotional actions
           4. Energy actions
To understand these four actions, I am giving a little explanations on these four actions.

Physical actions:
Consider a person sitting on a chair. While sitting on the chair, he can slowly move his hands, he can slowly move his toe finger. He can do many other physical activities. These are all physical actions.

Mental actions:
While sitting, he can think about many things. These are mental actions.

Emotional actions:
Emotional actions are also coming under mental actions but it is separated because emotional actions have longer effects on human body when compared to mental actions like thoughts. For example, when you get angry, the effects upon your body will be more when compared to your simple thought process.

Energy actions:
It is about the energy transactions between your body and surroundings.

For animals, these four actions are controlled by their chemical behaviour within their body. But for humans, even though these are triggered by chemical changes in our body, nature has provided us with the freedom to choose. That means we have given freedom to choose our actions. To choose our actions means to choose our actions consciously. That means what should happens within ourselves can be 100 percent determined by ourselves. So we need to now think that whether our four types of actions are controlled by ourselves or just triggered by chemical actions and external situations. 

          Let us look at some extreme situations how Jesus christ has handled these four types of actions. If we carefully study the life of Jesus christ, we can understand that he has mastered all these four types of actions.
         
Let us see a situation where Jesus christ has mastered his physical actions. Jesus is the son of God. He is the power who hold this entire universe. He has the ability to do miracles. But still when he was caught by the roman soldiers, he did not do any miracles to escape from them. Instead he was willingly given himself to death. Many people spit upon him. He neither spit back nor cursed them. Even at the time of his last breath, he was ready to forgive them. These responses clearly shows that Jesus christ has mastered his physical actions.

Now let us see a situation where Jesus christ had mastered his mental actions. After 40 days of fasting, Jesus christ was tempted by the evil force since he was very hungry and tired. But Jesus christ just witnessed this temptation and did not respond to this situation. This clearly shows that he has mastered mental as well as his physical actions.( Luke 4:1-14)

Now let us see a situation which shows Jesus has mastered his emotional actions. During the time when was carrying his cross towards golgotha, women were weeping for him. Jesus told them not to cry for him. This clearly shows that he was at a state of high emotional stability even at the time of his physical suffering.(Luke 23:27-29)

Now let us see a situation which shows Jesus christ has mastered his energy actions. Jesus is the son of God. He is the power who hold this entire universe. He did miracles only for the upliftment of the others. For doing miracles, essentially he might have somehow accessed the inner energy within himself or  some external outer energy from God. He did not do any miracles to save his life from crucifixion. This shows Jesus christ has well mastered his energy actions.

Now the question is whether we mastered our physical, mental, emotional and energy actions or not. Inorder to master all these, we  need to strive for mastering our mind and body which is the actual purpose of the entire spiritual development.

So the main difference between a human and an animal is that we have the ability to control our physical, mental, emotional and energy actions. Atleast we can strive for that.

          

11. What is the difference between mental alertness and consciousness?

      It is actually difficult to find the main difference between mental alertness and consciousness since they are very much overlapped. But still we will try to analyze the difference through some examples from our day to day life. When we sleep, we are not aware of things happening outside and within us. During this time, we have a very little mental awareness. When we are awake, we have comparitively good mental awareness so that we are aware of many things which is happening within us and outside. So mental awareness is mainly goal oriented or it is for survival process. But when we say about consciousness, it is present when we are awake or even during the time when we sleep . This means consciousness is referring to something which is present within us all the time. Let us look at one example to understand this. Consider we have made a wound in our hand. What happens to it after some days. Day by day it will gradually heal up. Why is it healing up gradually? This is because, there is some kind of intelligence that works within us which helps us in the better coordination and wellbeing of our body. Thus consciousness is actually referring to the source of intelligence within us which is the creator of this body. This consciousness is present in each and every cell of our body. Or in otherwords it is our self. This is separate from our body, thoughts, emotions, knowledge, ignorance, good qualities and and bad qualities that are present within us. Through meditation, the possibility of attaining this experience is more. You can get to know more about this from 1st and 2nd articles.
            

10. What is fear? How can we overcome it?

           We first need to understand what are the possibilities of fear in our mind. Let us look at some facts.  Human beings have five senses. Our eyes can see only light which ranges in between 380-740 nanometer in wavelength. Our ears can hear sounds only within the limit of 20-20KHz. Our nose cannot detect more than 1 trillion odors. Our skin cannot detect objects beyond 50mm without touching it. That means from this infinite universe, only a limited knowledge is entering our body through our senses. Hence from the above facts we can clearly say that a our ignorance is boundless when compared to our knowledge. Hence to become fearful is natural. But excessive fear is not at all good. Let us look at one example. Consider a student preparing for exams. If the student is a little feared of exams thinking that his parents will scold him on low marks, then there is a chance for him to study better. But if he study well with an intention of acquiring more knowledge, it is well and good. So in some situations, fear has positive effects upon us. But fearing more and more is not at all good.
         Now let us see what is fear. Fear is excessive imaginations. It is about something which may happen in future. Most of the time it will not happen. If we carefully look into it, we can understand that fear is about something which does not exist. We need to understand that it is worthless to fear about something which does not exist. The fact is that our mind is creating horror scenes. Nobody else is able to see. We should try preventing it from becoming the pattern of our mind since our mind has the property of repeating a pattern. Now let us try to see what we can do if we face excessive fear.

1. Surrender yourself. This means we need to think that God is our father. He is our creator. Creator means the source of intelligence that works within us which helps in the better coordination and wellbeing of our body. He has unconditional love towards us. He has super power. He is always ready to help us. He has absolute peace with him. He is ready to come even within us to save. Surrender to this great father. Tell him that you have failed. Then a great peace overflows your cells like an unstopable river.

2. Understand that your self is separate from your body, thoughts and emotions. Once there happens atleast a little seperation within you, fear will have no power on you. Please read 1st and 2nd articles for more understanding on this topic.

3. Consider a friend of yours who is facing a similar situation as that of you. What will you do to save him? Do the same to yourself.

4. Try to understand what triggers you fear in your mind and avoid those things till you reach a stable state.

5. Talk with God whatever you feel to say. You can spit at him. You can beat him. You can blame him. But still He will listen you. He will still unconditionally love you.

Let us see how jesus christ reacted in some extreme situations. When Jesus christ was travelling with his disciples on boat, due to bad weather, big waves and terrifying wind came up. Disciples became afraid of the situation and started screaming. But Jesus christ was able to keep his mind calm during this terrible situation. Even at the time of his cruxification also, we cannot find any fear on Jesus christ. He willingfully given himself for death.

Let us see some verses from Bible which says not to fear.

Isaiah 41:10
So do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you woth my righteous right hand.

Psalm 56: 3
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.

Philippians 4: 6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

John 14:27
Peace is what I leave with you. it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid.

2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Here are some food items which can be included in our diet to reduce our anxiety to a certain extend.
1. Brazil nuts
2. Eggs
3. Vitamin D rich foods
4. Fatty Fish
5. Pumpkin seeds
6. Dark chocolate
7. Turmeric
8. Green tea
9. Yogurt

I agree that there are certain factors which are not under our control. But still believe that there is super consciousness who is the witness of everything in this universe. He is ready to help us in any situations. Slowly we can grow to another level of awareness. May God bless us all.

9. What happens in life after death?

        To understand life after death, I have taken the beliefs of christians as well as the beliefs of hindus in this context.

Christian vision on life after death:
         To understand christian vision, three topics are considered here.
         a) 1 Peter 3: 19
"And in his spiritual existence, he went and preached to the imprisoned spirits. These were the spirits of those who had not obeyed God when he waited patiently during the days that Noah was building his boat"
         b) During the crucifixion of Jesus, he tells the thief on his right side that "From now on you will be with me in paradise".
         c) After the death of the rich man and Lazarus, we can see that the rich man in mourning and Lazarus in a state of happiness.
 From the above three examples, we can assume the following conclusions.
 1. The experience of spirits in Noah's days remind us that we can make spiritual progress even after death. Therefore it is proper to pray for the dead.
 2. The thief on the right side of Jesus recognized the unconditional love of God just before his death. So as Jesus told, we can assume that he might have reached the state of happiness after his death.
 3. The story of the rich man and Lazarus reminds us that based on our good and bad actions which were performed during the life on earth will lead us to a state of happiness or state of sorrow on life after death.

Hindu vision on life after death:
    Based on the good and bad actions we performed during the life on earth, state of happiness or state of sorrow will follow us after death. Also at the time of death, if we can completely surrender ourselves to God by abandoning all our selfish desires, then such people will be able to make union with God or in othercase, will reborn in another form.

        From the above mentioned christian and hindu beliefs, to say which one is correct, the author of this article has not acquired that much knowledge. But still we will try to find a conclusion for our question below. To find a conclusion for our question, we need to find answers for another two questions.
        1. Where is heaven located?
        2. Where is hell located?
                   Heaven is a place where we accept and apologize our own mistakes which has been done to our fellow creatures. To understand this, let us look at some examples. When the prophet Isaiah lived, King Uzziah was the most beloved among all the people. During that time, people thought that leprosy is a disease caused when God is angry. King Uzziah fell ill because of leprosy and died. All the people thought that God was unfair to the king and started blaming God. There is a possibility that prophet Isaiah might also have blamed God in his mind. Once while Isaiah was meditating in church, he saw a peculiar vision. In his vision, angels were prasing God by telling that He is Holy! By seeing this, Isaiah understood that God is alone holy and immediately he accepted his mistake. He also recognized that people are blaming God for no reason. At the moment he accepted his mistake, Isaiah was given permission to praise God with great joy.
                   Let us look at another example. In the garden of Eden, if Adam and Eve did accept their mistakes without blaming each other, God would have given permission to stay in heaven itself.
                   Let us look at one more example. In the story of prodigal son, when he came back to his father's unconditional love after accepting his mistakes, the house became more and more joyful like heaven.
                   Now let us see where is hell located. Where there is no mutual acceptance, where there is no forgiveness of one another, wherever blame one another, a hell is created.
                   If heaven and hell above mentioned are true, then how are they related to life after death?
                   The main summary of the above can be summarized as follows: Heaven and hell are created in our hearts. It is not required to consider heaven and hell as geographical places. That is why Jesus christ said in Luke 5:17 " The kingdom of heaven is within you". When the kingdom of heaven is established in our hearts, it is certain that bliss will follow us even after death. Therefore there is no need for such people to fear what will happen after death. If we are in union with God right now, we don't have to worry about what happens after death.
                   On the contrary, if hell is created in our hearts, life after death also will be terrible for us.

Suggested Related Links:
1. https://johnkunnathu.blogspot.com/2019/04/my-eureka-discovery-of-meaning-of.html?m=1

2. https://johnkunnathu.blogspot.com/2019/03/jesus-view-of-god.html?m=1

3. https://johnkunnathu.blogspot.com/?m=1

8. Why did God create suffering in the universe if He has unconditional love towards us?

      In this universe, suffering exists in two different forms.
1. Mental suffering
2. Physical suffering
      Mental suffering is created in our minds. For example, the behaviour of some people provokes anger and distress in our mind in day to day life. When we pay close attention to these situations, we can realize that many outside situations can control the state of our mind. This is a kind of slavery of our mind towards outside situations. Let us see how Jesus christ reacted to such kind of provoking situations. In Mark 4:35-41, we can see that he was able to sleep peacefully despite of the terrible winds and big waves created in the ocean at the time when he was travelling along with disciples. Similarly at the time of his death, Jesus was able to forgive despite being beaten, spit upon and denounced by those wicked people. From the above mentioned two scenarios, we can come to a conclusion that outside situations are not affecting the state of happiness of his mind. Similarly if we try to imitate this character of Jesus christ, we can control our mental suffering to an extent. In other words, we can say that if we master to control our own minds, mental suffering can be brought to our control.
        Physical suffering is mainly caused by the existing laws of our iniverse. To understand this, let's take an example. If we hit our hands forcefully on a wall, we feel pain.  This is according to the Newton's third law of motion ( To every action, there is equal and opposite reaction). If this is the case, we should try to understand why God created these kind of laws for our universe. Let's take an example to find the answer for this. For a train to run at its proper speed, in addition to the fuel, it also requires a deeply rooted rails to withstand the thrust exerted by the train. Similarly a well defined fixed laws are essentially required for the smooth running of our universe.
          If the above mentioned points are true and also for God, if nothing is impossible, why He did not create those laws which would not cause any kind of suffering to the creation?
           God could have created laws which does not cause suffering to the creation. But the creation of such an universe may not be possible. To understand this let's take an example. Science now claims that the universe would not have been existed if there is a slight variation in the charge of an electron (1.6*10^-19 coulombs). Let's take another example. We believe that there is no evil and no kinds of suffering in heaven. So if we bring a child who has been brought up in heaven to this evil earth, it would be very difficult for the child to survive on this earth. Let's look at one more example. If God would not have given thorns to the rose plant, it would have extincted from earth long ago. Similarly God have made this creation in such a way that good and bad are necessary for the ultimate survival and mental growth of all living creatures.