Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji during bhajan evening – July 18, 2005 – Datta Retreat Center in West Sunbury town, Pennsylvania USA
O’ Ganapathy You are a singer and you are Sat Chit and Ananda. Please bestow me that state. Because that alone is permanent. It is not a temporary state of existence. Eating or counting money is temporary happiness. It is only drama. I want real happiness. Please give me that real happiness. This Bhajan conveys that meaning
Sri Swamiji sings Gana Gana Gana Gana Ganapathy
This Bhajan speaks about the creation of this world. This is a Navaratri Devi Bhajan. O’ mother Goddess, the daughter of the Himalayas, you born in the midst of the flames – in the Chit Agni as mentioned in the Lalitha Sahasra Nama. I know that the entire life is comparable to a burnt out log. But still life sprouts from that. The flames extended themselves as the vines of that plant. With unadulterated love those vines, they hugged that dynamic life force. Such mother Goddess also as the father continued the progeny of the world.
In yellow stone national park, I had beautiful experience of the Snow Mountains of Teton mountain range.
Sri Swamiji sings a recently composed Bhajan in Telugu language. It was composed in Mount Teton in Wyoming State.
“Ananda Ananda Maaye”
This is a Yellow stone park song. The meaning is too complex for a simple English translation. Let me try.
The mind has become enormously happy looking at the creation of Lord Brahma. The trees are swaying in happiness. The breeze is dancing and reaching the skies as if to kiss it. The trees too are trying to reach the clouds. The rhythmic sound of the river flow looks as if they are eager to join the ocean. To explain the rhythm and the expressions from Telugu to English is difficult. Swamiji takes many modern days’ life’s quandaries and writes on them.
Sri Swamiji sings yet another new Telugu Bhajan”Sri Srinivasa
The meaning is devotionally profound. It describes the various decorations that adorn the lord. His Darshan is a great feast to the eyes of the devotee. He encourages the devoted to come to him with great enthusiasm. The Fridays reveal his eyes when the camphor decoration is removed for Abhishekam, which is held only on Fridays. Swamiji wanted to sing this Bhajan for the first time in the Datta Venkateswara temple in Mysore Ashrama on the day the new Sahasra Nama Mala was to be offered to the Lord. But it is your good fortune that Sri Swamiji has sung this for you today. Lord Venkateswara is heavily adorned with jewels and gold. The name Sri Srinivasa means as follows. Goddess mother Lakshmi also called as SRI lives with him. So, all her affluence and auspiciousness are resident in Lord Srinivasa. He is the Lord of Kaliyuga, the age of mechanics. The hand of the lord, which shows the ABHAYA HASTA & KATI HASTA – are the two palms of the lord. One shows the – I AM THERE FOR YOU Mudra called as Abhaya Mudra. The other hand is on the hips. It shows his divine feet. It means if you want protection, you should surrender to me. The lord is very thoroughly and intricately decorated. Each decoration has a special meaning and significance. From the golden crown to the golden feet cover – they all have significance.
Lets go to the next poem. The meaning is – Elder’s words are like cannons but having sugar balls. They are like gooseberries. While eating the gooseberries, at first they taste bitter and difficult to eat but eventually they taste so sweet when you drink water. Elder’s words are like that. Though they seem too stern and harsh in the beginning, the result is good life. So, don’t wait for the tides in an ocean to subside for you to bathe. You should go ahead and bathe.
Don’t fight that you belong to this caste or that caste. O’ Man, think that the entire human race is one. Does Lord’s Blessings have castes?? No.
Let me sing one Bhajan and end today’s Satsang.
Sri Swamiji sings “Amba Bhavani Sharade.