Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – September 9, 2016 – London
Compiled by: Archana Penukonda
Sri Maha Ganapataye Namaha
Sri Sarasvatyai Namaha
Sri Padavallabha Narasimha Sarasvati
Sri Guru Dattatreyaya Namaha
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Guru Datta
The dream has come true today. For so many days they have had this gigantic dream. But it is very difficult to build a temple in London. 20-25 years ago, they used to give permission to build places of worship. Since then, there is no permission to build new temples. If you wanted to go to a temple, you had to go 200 km away from London. It was very difficult to get a temple in the city. This was a church. It was already a place of worship. But it was not a temple. There were only silent prayers.
But now we have a Hindu temple. This is Swamiji’s dream and Jitu’s dream too. This is the dream of all our devotees. All Telugu devotees and all Gujarati devotees too had this big dream. All my Patel devotees also had this dream. Today, it has come true. Today is a historical day for the London Hanuman Temple.
Now Swamiji is naming this place “Hanuman Temple”. Hanuman means Prana Deva (Prana = life energy). Mukhya Prana. Without Prana, we are nothing. Prana is mukhya – important. Creation in the mother’s womb starts with Prana. It is only later that all organs develop. First, they select Prana. That (Prana) is Hanuman. That Prana is invisible. It does not have a form. Prana is formless. We cannot see it. But with Prana, things move because they come alive. Without Prana, there is no movement. Agni/fire is moving due to Prana. The ocean is also moving due to Prana. All animals are also moving due to Prana. So, without Prana, there are no human beings, no animals, no creation at all.
During Ramayana, Maha Vishnu came as Rama, a human incarnation. Then Lord Siva also made the sankalpa/determination to come to earth. Only during Ramayana did Hanumanta have a form. Otherwise, Hanumanta is formless. There are five faces/mukhas for Hanumanta. He has five heads or Panchamukha. Vanara, Narasimha, Khagarat, Ashva, and Agni Varaha. Hayagreeva is also present. Hayagreeva means Ashva (horse).
Vande vaanara naarasimha khagaraat
krodaashva vaktraancitam
Naanaalankaranam tripancanayanam
dedeepyamaanam ruchaa
Hastaabjairasi kheta pustaka
sudhaa kumbhaankusaadreem halam
Khatvaangam phani bhooruhau ca dadhatam
sarvaari garvaapaham
That describes the five faces of Panchamukha Anjaneya.
If you see Hanuman’s five faces, one of them is Vanara (monkey face). He came in the form of a Vanara to help Sri Ramachandra. Lord Hanuman also came as Narasimha Avatara. Narasimha is half lion, half Narayana, Naarasimha.
Khagarat – khaga is Garuda, eagle. Kroda incarnation is in the form of a boar. Ashva is horse.
Vaktraamcitam – means bhushana – decorated with the five faces as his ornaments. A little bit vakra (irregular).
There was a big story about Panchamukha. There were 3 Ravanas. One is Dasakantha (ten heads) Ravana, second is Shatakantha Ravana, third one is Patala Mairavana. The Patala Mairavana is very small. As Shatakantha (one hundred heads) Ravana, he took on a gigantic form and as Patala Ravana, he took on a very small form. Patala Ravana is the worst of all Ravanas.
Sri Rama killed Dasakantha Ravana. Without Rama – even though Rama was there – Sita and Hanumanta together killed Shatakantha Ravana. Shatakantha is up above in the Akasa (outer space). One is Patala (lower nether worlds), one is in Akasa (outer space), one is on earth. The Ravana on earth is Lanka Ravana. Shatakantha Ravana is Akasa ravana. Patala Ravana is in Patala – another planet. Patala does not mean the inner core of the earth, Patala refers to another planet. That is a Patala planet.
So, at that time, Hanuman took on the form with five faces. Lanka Ravana was killed by then. Hanuman took on only Vanara form during that time. That was the only time Lord Hanuman took on a form. Otherwise, during all Yugas, Hanumanta is invisible. Hanumanta is Vayu/air. He gives life, he takes life. There are so many different forms of Vayu. It is not visible. You cannot see Vayu. You can see fire/Agni, you can see earth, and you can see water. But you cannot see ether/Akasa.
There are only two elements of Nature that are very difficult to see – Vayu and Akasa. Akasa is in our heart. That is the jeeva. We cannot see the Jeeva. Jeeva is neither in the male form, nor the female form. We cannot see. How to find out? No colors, no smell, no form. Our Hanumanta is also such an invisible God.
Today is a very historic day. I do not call this a stone. This Hanumanta is made from emerald, a precious stone. For so many years, I worshiped that form made of emerald gemstone on the golden throne. I ordered 2-3 different forms of Hanuman in stone. They arrived and they looked very fine. But gradually, I kept rejecting each one saying, “this is not good”, “this is not good”. Finally, I said okay to the marble stone. So marble stone moorti (idol) came.
The black marble stone moorti also arrived. I gave them to some other temples. The right time had not come. That is why I gave my worship to this (emerald) Hanumanta. London is very lucky. London Hanuman devotees and Datta devotees are very lucky, they got such an emerald moorti.
There was a big emerald stone. One emerald Hanuman from that stone is in Hyderabad. One is in USA. There were smaller forms of Hanuman from that stone – one piece, a very small stone I selected for London. There was one more small piece that I gave to Malaysia. So many people refer to Swamiji as the Emerald Swamiji. So many temples in India are asking for the Emerald moortis. “Swamiji, we want emerald Hanuman. We will give as much money as necessary. Does not matter. Please give us the moorti.”
I said, it is not my creation. I do not have an emerald quarry. It was historic that I got that big stone. First my sankalpa was to get one for Mother Goddess Raja Rajeshwari. That was all. But I don’t know how they (moortis) came one after another – the first idol came, the second idol came, the third idol came, the fourth idol came and there is still one stone in Mysore Ashrama. That stone is hiding, we do not know. The sculptors are saying, “What is this Swamiji, again one stone came here!” I said, do not tell anyone. Silence. Some miracle is going on. I have not decided what to do with that stone. It is not stone, it is Hanuman Prasadam (blessing), because all these emerald stones will fulfill Swamiji’s sankalpa. It is historic. Finally, I decided I wanted my worship moorti. These people are all wondering how Swamiji decided in the end (on this moorti for this temple). They are surprised. Jitu came 2-3 times, I showed so many different stones. He said this stone is good. He came again and I showed him another stone. He liked that stone too. Finally, it was whatever was in Swamiji’s mind. It is up to this idol, up to this temple. They know Swamiji’s temple, they know his energy and his sankalpa for this London ashrama.
You all know that out of love Swamiji has done all this. Out of his desire, he has taken on this challenge. For this challenge, this was a penance. The temple also looks like a challenge. It was a big challenge to get such a temple. That is enough, we are satisfied with this temple. If Swamiji is going to do a concert, we can go to a bigger hall, no problem, and perform on a bigger scale. But this hall is enough for daily worship and for all the festivals. I am fulfilled. I am very happy. I am extremely happy about this temple. No doubt.
I know it was a big problem in this country. British law is different for every inch of the country. Finally, the government also agreed to this Hindu temple. This is a Yoga center and Hindu temple. We move around freely here, we can freely have our Yoga classes and devotees’ marriages. There is a different hall for devotees’ marriages. There is a meditation hall upstairs. Some people want to meditate, some people want to worship here. We want to perform all festivals here. That is enough for now. This is good, this is enough. I am satisfied. Are you satisfied with this temple? Of course, we are never satisfied even if it is very big. This is enough for us to start with, let it takes its course. Finally, we got a temple, we are all very happy. We want to do a test Bhajan session also. Our students will test. There is a little bit of echo. So, tomorrow, along with the boys, Swamiji will also test. Tomorrow morning 10 am, there will be Puja only for one hour, because Homa and other rituals are going on. Evening, we will have bhajans. Tomorrow is Saturday, it is a holiday.
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Guru Datta