Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – evening – July 29, 2015 – Frisco, TX USA
Jaya Veera Hanuman ki Jai. Louder. Jaya Veer Hanuman ki JAI.
Shabari just now talked about Datta Wings. 20-30 devotees from Switzerland used to visit the Ashrama. They were concerned seeing Swamiji’s travels in India. Swamiji would travel by road to various cities. The roads were bad, had many potholes. The roads would often be crowded, cows, buffaloes would also use those roads. Yet, Swamiji had to get through all this and be at His destination on time. Even though Swamiji would travel in a very good car, He had to stop often on account of traffic conditions. The group was not happy with Swamiji traveling by car to Bombay, Surat etc. Swamiji even went to Kashmir by car, once. They saw all this and felt it would affect Swamiji’s health. But Swamiji cannot stop going on tours.
It’s not like before when Swamiji was young and would travel a lot. It was okay then, we would chant slogans of victory at that time, but now we can’t. Swamiji would get off the car and walk straight into the assembly to address devotees because they were all waiting for Swamiji. The group realized this was very tough on Swamiji. Road travel was very bad. So, anyway, since there’s now the facility of flying from Mysore – either by service flight or private flight – they asked Swamiji if they could arrange for flights. I said that would need money. Who’d give that money? I don’t even ask for gasoline money. They (the Swiss devotees) said that I should not travel in that case. But, I can’t do that. I’ll keep traveling as long as I live. Of course, at some point, it’ll stop. But, they want Swamiji to travel in comfort so that Swamiji would be with them and would be there for their children and grandchildren. They were ready to bear the costs. They didn’t like the idea of Swamiji traveling by road. It was tough. Travel wasn’t good. They wanted Swamiji to live longer. “We have seen Your car travel, it’s very tiring. Travel from Bangalore to Mysore is tough. The road may be good, but the traffic is bad. The rules and regulations are not good. If something happens during your travel, we can’t bear that. We want small flights and service flights. We’ll bear the charges”.
Swamiji advised them not to undertake anything new. People will say Swamiji is asking for money for everything. They said that those who wish to, would give. Maybe the ones that could give $10,000 would give $2000, that’s okay. This year, they already arranged for 2-3 trips. Then Swamiji said to announce this to the world instead of taking it on themselves. I asked them to explain about this program so that others may support this program too. Indian devotees may also support. It wasn’t made public so far. Maybe it would be good to publicize. I told them to ask devotees worldwide for funds. Vijayawada devotees once or twice paid for a charter flight on their own. It cost several lakhs of rupees. If everyone contributes a little, the group’s burden may reduce a little. Swamiji can use this only for the travel programs that are necessary. They pleaded with Swamiji to publicize this program. I hesitated all this time. Now I have given permission to make it known to the public. So now, you can all become members. You can all participate. Besides the one big travel each year, for some shorter travels, this fund will come in handy. It’ll keep Swamiji in good health.
Swamiji calculated. Someone even got a really good car for Swamiji. A devotee gave a very good car right before I came here. It doesn’t matter how good the car is, for those roads and those speeds, we have to catch a flight. So Shabari enquired and undertook the project. Please support Datta Wings. Whoever wants and whoever likes can support this project. I feel it’ll be good for you. Why should only the Europeans do it? You should be stubborn that it is your Swamiji and therefore you should do it also. Ofcourse, they should do it too, but we should also do it.
Whatever little we can, if we send, that’ll be good. Indians can send money too, not just Americans and Europeans. Someone like D.R. Rao, Ramachandran, and Venkat Raman can set aside a small amount for this. No need to ask. There are many others like Hira, Ravi Anupindi, and Jyoti. Instead of spending elsewhere, they can spend on this. What else will they spend on? All those people can set some money aside. If they do, it’ll help Appaji. My entire life is for doing good for the public only.
I must now give some respect to this body. But I can’t avoid some trips. It’s mandatory that I travel to some places. It is compulsory. It’s good to travel safely as much as possible. It’s your duty to protect Swamiji’s body. It’s your Dharma. Raman helped so many times in America and some other places. He helped a lot. But this Datta Wings was undertaken bravely by the group. They helped 2-3 times. Please continue. I told Shabari it was okay to announce publicly. I didn’t want to initially, I thought it may not look good. We thought about it a lot. We were embarrassed. But, how can we not tell people? Many people keep asking Swamiji what they can donate to. How to serve Swamiji. Here is one opportunity. This project is for all such people.
Many people have Facebook accounts, good. But, don’t accept friend requests from those you don’t know. If they are mutual friends of Gss Puttugam account, that’s okay. Swamiji has already filtered that list. In order to be friends with Gss Puttugam, you need to have a profile picture where you are wearing a Datta Vastram. Otherwise Puttu Gam does not accept the friend requests.
There are some vulgar friends you have on Facebook. Girls be careful. Remove people who post obscene photos and unnecessary and dirty news. Movie actors in skimpy attires are shown. Please remove all such material from your face book pages. Only keep Puttu gam as your friend. That’s enough. You don’t need anyone else. Keep only close immediate family members.
Many have asked for Playaway. Now once again they are available. Those who wish to have them may obtain them now.
Sri Guru Datta
Compiled by Archana Penukonda