Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji during Swagatha Sabha – Welcome function – January 23, 2015 – Mysore
Jaya Guru Datta
130th foreign tour of Sri Swamiji has been successfully completed
Mantra pramanam .. (Friday Kakada Harati song)
Mantra itself is Datta. Pramana here means something different from taking an oath or making a promise. Established and unquestioned authority is Pramana. Mantra itself is Datta’s form. This form we see here, is not His real form. Those who chant the Datta Stavam or call out the name Datta – that ‘Datta’ sound itself is Datta. I hear it from the parrots and the bees. The sound and the form of the Mantra is determined by Datta Himself. He Himself is Mantra. Mantra is sound. What we speak is also Mantra. What is the proof that God exists? That you are alive, that you breathe, you hear, you speak, you see, you smell, and you touch, that is the proof of Datta’s existence. Those who still cannot grasp the concept after this explanation, require a form.
You just now sang the song.
This entire world is Datta. Nature is Datta. After describing to our best capacity, we finally are left speechless and just end up making some helpless sound like Ooh aah, chchcch tst tst, and so on after marveling at the beauty of nature. It is an expression of absolute wonder.
In Australia there is a huge single rock as big as the Chamundi Hill. No joints anywhere. There is evidence of some water underneath. How did such a huge rock emerge from the earth? Ayer’s Rock it is called. Single rock. People express wonder at it. One cannot put it into words. Some people draw or paint pictures, I do not mean modern art. Sometimes you just splash some paint and call it art. You run a cat, dog, chicken, or have a child to play on some splashed paint and call it art. Look at this from this angle, and you will see the form of divinity. See, it looks like my aunt. From here, it looks like a masala dosa. You should not express your ignorance and say that it does not make sense. You must pretend appreciation because the cost of it is 10 million.
They took me to a church in Europe once, a huge church with great paintings. I could not understand the meaning of even one of the paintings. I felt so ignorant and stupid. They were all extremely valuable and many had written great essays describing the significance of those paintings. I examined one picture from all different angles. Prasadi thought I was lost in admiration of the painting. But he did not realize how I was struggling to find some meaning in it. It appeared to me like mud splashed by a huge buffalo. I felt that our villagers can produce better paintings. Many had posted their notes of appreciation there. Prasad said, I too would have written glorious accolades if only I knew their language. I looked at it from far and near, but failed to see what all those others who praised it to heavens had seen in that painting. This is all representational, symbolic, or illusory, one may say.
In the Bhagavatam they say that what is real is illusory and what is illusory is real. In Kali Yuga, what is true becomes false and what is false becomes true. People always ask for guarantees. Sometimes we even question the validity of our own parentage. The relatives may tell us or the neighbors may tell us. But still, whose word do we trust? People say your features and the resemblances are the proof. Your blood group is the proof. DNA results are the proof. But still, you may not believe. How do we find meaning in things? How do we draw firm conclusions? Whom do we trust? This world is like that, where so many false stories are concocted. Our inner self alone must tell us and convince us of the truth.
When I recently went to New Zealand, I saw the wondrous beauty of Nature in real life. I had seen such scenes before in small videos, documentaries, and magazine pictures and wondered if such things could really be true; if such things really existed. Yes, they do. But we need the eligibility to go and witness such scenes and such landscapes. One needs the capacity to get absorbed in nature. The wonder of Nature’s beauty I personally experienced this time.
When I see a volcano I identify with it because mine is the principle of Agni/Fire. The vision of the blazing flames remains with me in my mind’s eye. The vibrant colors, the scorching heat, the crackling sound of the leaping flames jumping out of the gaping mouth of the mountain are impossible for any artist to depict on canvas. It is impossible to replicate in any medium. It has to be seen and experienced. When I close my eyes, I see the picture vividly and I still hear the sounds. Those hues, and the billowing smoke cannot be represented by anyone or conveyed to others in any manner. One simply has to experience and get immersed in the experience. To this day, the memory of it is so real for me.
You may wonder how a volcano can be beautiful. Its magnificence is indescribable. Fire has the power to consume this entire world. How can Fire, which swallows up all the wondrous beauty of this entire nature, not have beauty in it? It burns down in ten minutes the most beautiful forest with the most beautiful trees and creatures in it. It eats up Nature. But nature gets revived and it comes back looking more beautiful than before. I feel that perhaps Fire is merely cleansing up Nature, removing all the cruel animals and cruel plants from the face of the earth. Perhaps Fire is cleaning up the soil that got contaminated. Perhaps what Fire does is a process of purification.
We sing the bhajan (Jwalalanduna) ‘vatti boodilo mokka molchenu’ – from the lifeless ashes emerged a fresh sprout.
Manmatha/Cupid got burned by third eye of Siva. Manmatha’s wife Rati Devi rolls around in the ashes and cries inconsolably: “Why have you done this to my husband? ”
Siva presents before her eyes the most beautiful Creation visible only to her. Is it possible to create something out of dry ashes? For plants to grow you need soil, water, nutrients, and the proper environment, all in the right proportions.
Even now they say that after an earthquake, no life revives. But even in the strangest places you see small plants, beautiful creatures, and colorful flowers emerging within no time. We read about such wonders in books and magazines. To really go to such places one needs money, resources, and the opportunity. In addition to these, one needs the mindset to experience the beauty.
People go to beautiful places but remain inside their air conditioned rooms getting drunk. They might as well remain in the city. They do not visit the actual landscapes. They merely boast that they had visited so many countries. But they would not have seen or experienced anything. They travel for hours to touch a wall and come back. The listeners also are impatient and do not ask any questions about details of their travel.
I would ask and probe as to where they went, how long they stayed, what they saw, what they experienced, what they ate, what they bought, and so on. Because they would have no proper answers, such people will avoid speaking to me. Some would have gone to Kasi but never would have had the darshan of Lord Vishweshwara. They will visit some random temple on a side street and will return because the actual temple is too crowded. They go to Tirupati and listen to ‘Jaragandi’ and will return without having darshan of the Lord. All that they remember is the crowds, the jostling and pushing by the staff. You cannot go back. You get angry at the volunteers and get into quarrels, and they have no time to quarrel with you. You go buy some laddus and vada prepared by some random, unauthorized persons. You bring them back and distribute to everyone as Tirupati laddu. Both sweet and spicy snacks are given as prasadam. The Vadas are so hard they will break your teeth. Others will praise your luck that you went to Tirupati. All during the trip, your attention would have been on your bags which you left somewhere.
When you go to some place you must spend sufficient time to enjoy the environment. That is why this time I spent ten days in New Zealand. The couple who invited me there took good care of me. They are from Kerala. They are devotees since 15-20 years. They speak Malayalam and Tamil. They would come for Swamiji’s darshan here. They lost their jobs and said they were looking for employment. The father is Rajagopal. They expressed a wish to invite Swamiji over. They have no children. You are our child, they said. They are still young and can have children. Swamiji said, how can I come? How is it possible for you to bear the expenditure? Will you sell dosas to make the money to host Swamiji?
They gave it a serious thought. They believed that without a reason Swamiji will not make a statement. He said sell dosas. So, we must sell dosas. But the girl Sri Vidya said, I do not even know how to eat a dosa properly, leave alone make a dosa. Swamiji must have had some reason for mentioning dosa. So finally, one day they prepared dosas. Now how to sell these? They went near a college and began selling. It worked. Slowly the quantity of dosas increased and the batter grew from a small pot to a huge barrel.
They realized that the rules of hygiene are very strict there and they had to abide by the regulations. It is not like our street vendors selling vadas. So many people eat there and end up in the hospital. In New Zealand the rules are stringent. They purchased a mobile unit and sold dosas for 8 years at different colleges. Their product became so popular that even movie actors throng for a chance to eat their dosas. On some days people fight for their dosas. So great is the demand now. What a great story. They do not even take a day off. From the sale of dosas they saved $250,000 and spent it entirely on Swamiji’s trip. They paid first class airfare, hosted Swamiji in bungalows, and took Him around in good cars, helicopters, and aircraft. This is the first time that Swamiji had enjoyed this kind of a trip where He was accompanied only by a handful of people, and not a huge crowd of devotees.
There were many devotees before who invited Swamiji to their homes. They would take Him straight from the airport to their homes, keep Him there like a prisoner in a cage all for themselves, and then drop Him back at the airport. This has happened several times.
Whereas this time, the couple never even came near me. They fed me dosas to my satisfaction daily. That is why more than the beauty of Nature, I was impressed by the beauty of their devotion. Nature’s beauty has always existed. But such beautiful devotion is indeed very rare. They could not remain in their home, they could not sleep, or stay away from me, and so when I left, they came all the way to Sidney airport just to spend one hour with me there. They said we cannot come to the ashram because we have to earn and spend our earnings on You.
They took me to experience beautiful mountains, rivers flowing between two mountains, a soundless lake despite a lot of water in it, snow capped mountains, beautiful breeze, waterfalls, and many great landscapes. They also took me by helicopter a few times.
One should see landscapes such as these and not paintings which do not make any sense. To paint such landscapes is good. We celebrated Sankranti there and went to visit the Opera House in Sidney. There was no need, but we went inside to the majestic hall. We had to pay to get in, $68 just to see the empty chairs. The building is constructed in the shape of a lotus in the middle of the backwaters of the ocean, at the edge of the city.
On April 6th, Easter Monday, a huge concert is arranged there in Australia for Swamiji. All are welcome. Many have tried to get visas. But it is difficult for Indians. Some will manage to come.
Then we went to Singapore. Had a successful health check-up there and now I have come back.
Do you know how much the Masala Dosa cost there? $50. Equivalent of 3000 rupees. For that amount you can eat dosas here for 3 months. Do you know how big one dosa is? As big as a small blanket that a child can sleep on. Do you know what the thickness of it is? It is as thin as the newspaper Mysore Patrike. Do you know how much was the curry, and the chutney? Okay, you do not want to know.
Sri Guru Datta