Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji during Satsang in Hindu Collage Grounds – February 18, 2003 – Machilipatnam
Many of our Gods have more heads than one. More hands than two and they sport many animals as vehicles. They range from a mouse to the eagle. Why all this confusion? Why do we have Gods like fish, tortoise, horse headed, monkey faced, elephant headed, we are surprised. Some who do not understand its inner meaning are confounded when asked such questions. Some try to answer these questions to their best. MY advise would be – read the Ashrama’s Bhakti Mala. Here Manas never stays in one place. It is the most amazingly complex thing. It can fly from your bank balance to the Martian travel. It needs no passport or visa. It makes the man comical to serious. It makes you look at a person who leaves Bhajans in the middle to the person who is removing something from his bag. That is why meditation requires one to close eyes.
That is why in temples there are animals of that God in front looking at the main idol. They are performing DRUSHYA SAMAADHI. This is quite easy because you can close your eyes. But SHABDA SAMAADHI is difficult. A telephone ring, neighbors chatting, any such small thing can draw your mind to that. Many have the terrible suspicion that others always talk about you. As if you are the beauty queen of this world. This requires mastery over SHABDA SAMAADHI. Many chant Mantras and they can even talk on telephone while chatting those Mantras. You must see those who try to perform MAUNA VRATA (silence vow). They gesticulate in wild and comical manner to convey something. Why this confusion? This MANUA VRATA can be abandoned as well. Silence vow means silencing your thoughts and deeds. There are those who do Shivaratri festival of JAGARANA (whole night vigil). They sleep with their eyes open. It is so funny to see them. They sleep and feel they are in Shiva Loka. There are others who perform this Shivaratri night vigil by going to late night movies or playing game cards and the like. Why such activity? Do you get Punya by this? NO.
This physical body is a ship. It is sailing in the sea called SAMSARA. This is Maaya SAMSARA. To captain this ship you need to master over SHABDA SAMAADHI and DRUSHYA SAMAADHI. SHABDA SAMAADHI means closing your ears without any aid like cotton wool from hearing unwanted noise. Filtering them. You need to practice and train the Indriyas. To tell you to do that, you find animal statues in temple. For e.g., a bull statue in Shiva Temple (Nandi). It reminds you to concentrate on the Shiva Lingam like him (Nandi). Many photos of Gods and their images have great inner and scientific meaning. When you do great deal of Upasaana on that particular God, you understand its inner meaning. For e.g., Narasimha is quite fearsome. It happened so because the demon Hiranya Kashipu demanded such queer boon that Lord Vishnu had to take that special form to circumvent this boon. Hayagreeva’s place is Chandra Mandala.
Sri Swamiji sings”Adhaaram Tvam Vidyanaam Hayagreevasamupaasmahe”
Hayagreeva gives Uttama Jnana. Many misuse their abilities. Hayagreeva gives us this good Jnana. Once earlier, Lakshmi was decorating herself in a mirror. Vishnu remarked sarcastically that her face does not change by looking in the mirror longer time. A vexed Lakshmi said that Vishnu’s face would change and not hers. Poor Vishnu. He had to sport so many faces. He became a fish, a horse and many such faces. But Vishnu made good of this curse for the betterment of the world. Once the irrepressible demon Hayagreevaasura (a demon) asked for a special boon from Brahma that only a exact replica like him could kill him. Then Vishnu had to sport the head of a horse and vanquish the demon.
Chant this Mantra
Jnaanaananda Pradam Devam
Nirmala Sphatikaakrutim
Aadhaaram Sarva Vidyaanaam
Hayagreeva Mupaasmahe
The secret of this Mantra is the little evil in us dies. It gets removed. Even Lord Rama faced so many hurdles to kill Raavana and to help the world. Imagine the story of Vishnu’s incarnations. Each incarnation has special meanings. Upanishads, Puranas, Ramayana, Maha Bharata and Bhagavatha are very special books. Keep them at home and pass them to your children and encourage them to read those books. Ramayana is in vogue in many countries of south East Asia.
It is important that you learn the history of temples you visit. Don’t just go to the shrine directly, pay money and perform Puja and come out with the satisfaction of having done effort to gain Punya. It is equally important to learn more about the history of the temple. Bhakti mixed with Jnana gives great boons. When you start this, your mind automatically asks the questions “Who am I?” this will lead you to learn Vedanta. Bhakti should lead to Jnana. Jnana in turn leads you to Vairaagya. As Ramana Maharshi said – Indriya Nigraha “control of sense organs” is keeping a sugar lump on your out stretched tongue and not salivate. That is Vairaagya. Not just draping your body with Vibhooti.
Courtesy: Avadhoota Dattapeetham