Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – April 26, 2017 – Malaysia
Compiled by: Smt Hira Duvvuri
Harihi Om Tatsat
Jai Veera Hanuman ki – Jai
In every household Hanuman is being praised, either in the form of Japa, penance, dhyana, devotional singing, or chants. I am very happy. I am surprised that people have come all the way from Canada to see this wonder (upcoming event at Batu Caves). Many have come from India. Many have come from Singapore. Many have come from America. For a single day’s program, people have come from all over the world. This Hanuman has such enormous energy. Wherever Hanuman’s name is chanted, where his praises are sung, one should go there running, even if there is the slightest opportunity to do so. If time permits, the chance should not be missed. To do this type of penance is very difficult. A lot of effort is required. In Kali Yuga, to engage in singing the praises of God, many obstacles present themselves. Mind wavers. Even to chant, some mental disturbance, some inconvenience, some sadness will interfere. The moment one sits down to chant either Lalitha Sahasranama, Vishnu Sahasranama, Guru Gita, or Hanuman Chalisa, some interruption will occur. Till that moment, things would be going smoothly. While you listen to cinema songs, or watch television, no such disturbances come. But the moment you switch off the television and decide to chant the Guru Gita, when you firmly make up your mind to do it, some interruption occurs, like electricity outage, or the child will suddenly cry very loudly, the phone will ring, or some bad news comes. These things don’t happen while you watch TV or while spend an hour eating your meal. It happens only when you sit down to chant God’s glories. Even if you change your schedule for doing the Parayana, still, the impediments occur. At night, while everyone is asleep, you think, at 11 PM, you will be left undisturbed. If you sit with complete determination to do it, current will go off. What can you do? Because the fan shuts off, the sleeping persons wake up, asking, what happened? They feel stuffy. In five minutes, power comes back, but these people will not go back to sleep. They begin quarreling about some minor issues. You get interrupted, whether you try to do the Parayana during the day or during the night. What sin have you committed? What is the punishment for your sin? What is the medicine? What is the solution to this problem? What can you do? You feel so bad.
The solution I suggest is, do your Hanuman Chalisa during your commute, either in the bus, train, or car. Three hours you spend in the bus. Use ear phones and listen. But what happens? Within five minutes, you doze. That is another problem. All types of evil spirits lurk, just waiting to interrupt your good intention. When you attempt to engage in a Satvic activity, the Tamasic demons who are around, will not allow you to do it.
You must fight them. You must be totally committed to your resolve, that you will do it no matter what happens. You require such strong determination and devotion. If you have that, then you can achieve anything. If that is lacking, you cannot succeed. So many problems occur. Once you are stubborn in your resolve, then, if you decide to go Malaysia, you can do it. If you are afraid of problems cropping up, you will never succeed. You should be ready to face anything. Be determined that no matter what happens, you will be with Swamiji. Such strong determination is required. That is how you should come.
Many people have come from Tamil Nadu. Many Tamil people have come. How many Tamil persons have come from Chennai? 14. How many from Andhra? How many from Karnataka? All numbers are balanced. Tomorrow we go for bath in the sea.
Before going to Gokarna, Ravana came first to this sea carrying the Siva Linga, the Atma Linga. But here, he did not place the Siva Linga on the ground, but while still holding it, he bathed in the sea. But in Gokarna, he got tricked by Ganesha, and the Siva Linga was placed on the ground and Ravana lost it. That is why I like it very much to take a dip in the sea here. Many people do not know the reason why Swamiji goes frequently to this sea. Only recently people have found out. I will not reveal to you the exact place. It is in this region, one the coast of Malaysia. From here Ravana went Gokarna on his way to Lanka. The specialty of this sea is that Ravana took bath holding Lord Siva. So, Siva also took a dip here. Exact location is not known. It is in the general region here.
Without a strong resolve and strong devotion, one cannot be successful. In this context, I remember a small incident.
A man was herding cattle. The cows were grazing. There was a big lake. The man sat down on the lake’s edge. A brahmin came and sat near him. He took a dip in the waters, did Pranayama holding his nose, and chanted some prayers, looking up at the sky. He repeated this several times. The cowherd kept watching. He wondered why this person was taking so many dips in the water. No one had done anything to him. Till the evening this routine continued. The cowherd kept watching and wondering. He thought, no matter what, I don’t care about the cows, I must solve the mystery of this man’s actions. So, at five O’clock in the evening, when the brahmin was about to leave, the cowherd went and caught hold of him. He said, ‘O holy man, I have been watching you since this morning. At least five to ten times you have bathed in these waters. What happened to you? You bathe, you chant prayers, you come and sit down, you chant some more prayers, and you go back to the waters and take a dip again. What is the meaning of your actions? You look up and mumble something. What has happened to you? The pundit thought, If I try to explain to this ignorant man, he will not understand my actions, why I chant certain mantras for the first dip, and different mantras for the second dip, and so on. So, the scholar simply said, I was looking at God. The cowherd was surprised. Really? You saw God? There are so many gods. Which God did you see? O I saw Lord Krishna. Oh, the cowherd asked, by taking a dip, holding nose, looking up, and mumbling, can one really see God? The pundit said, Yes. So, the cowherd decided to try it himself. He detained the pundit there. He made him stay and wait.
The cowherd also repeated five times, the same procedure followed by the pundit, take dip, hold nose, look up, mumble, sit down, and take dip again. With strong determination and devotion, he did that. Lord Krishna appeared before him. The cowherd said, Are you really Krishna? I don’t know. How will I know for sure? I don’t know what Krishna looks like. Just wait here please, he said. He tied up Krishna in place, to a big tree, commanding him not to leave the spot, and went to the pundit whom he had kept waiting.
Krishna thought, as a child, I was tied up like this by my mother Yashoda, and today this man has tied me up. What level of devotion he has! Okay, as he wishes, I will remain here.
The cowherd told the pundit, Krishna has come. The pundit was astonished. What? Krishna has come? What madness is this, he thought. The cowherd told him, I have tied him up to a tree. You come take a look and confirm to me that he is indeed Krishna. The pundit thought the man was totally crazy. He went with him to the tree, curious. The cowherd said, look. Is he Krishna? The pundit could only see the tree and the rope. Nothing else was there. The pundit said he could not see Krishna. Surprised, the cowherd asked Krishna, how is it the pundit is not able to see you? Now, I will appear like a liar. That I will not accept. You must make yourself visible to the pundit. He must confirm that you are indeed Krishna. You have to tell the pundit that you are really Krishna. Otherwise, people will call me a madman.
The pundit was a great scholar. Krishna made himself visible to him. The pundit was amazed. How lucky this simple cowherd is! He not only has seen Krishna, he has even tied him up with a rope. I am eighty years old. For fifty years, I have been trying so hard to see Krishna, doing so much penance, and observing so many austerities, calling out, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna. Even in a dream, you did not appear to me, O Lord. This man’s devotion is so pure and firm, that you have appeared before him. This indeed is strong devotion.
I said, chant Hanuman Chalisa here. Hanuman will be present here. That is all. You all have accepted the command and followed my words. That is how, strong devotion should be. If Swamiji said so, it will happen. Only if we have any second thoughts, it will create problems. No second thought should occur. No alternatives should even be mentioned. If Swamiji says, do it, we must do it, that is all. Only if we have such strong faith, we can see God.
It seems one old woman saw Hanuman in her dream, who told her that Hanuman Chalisa is there in the computer, and told her to go show it. She told people about her dream, that she saw Hanuman at Batu Caves. Hanuman gave her the order. Such devotion is true and that is firm devotion. Only with strong devotion, we will succeed. Without it, we cannot succeed. You had the resolve that Swamiji should come to Malaysia and he should listen to the mass chanting of Tamil Hanuman Chalisa.
This should have happened in Madras/Chennai. But it was not meant to be. They were not fortunate enough to do this. It did not happen there. People there sang the Hindi version. I expected that they would practice the Tamil version and would sing it. But they did not do it. They simply discussed at length, and quarreled, and got into so much confusion, they made it Confusion Chalisa. It is true that 25,000 people attended. But they did not sing Tamil Hanuman Chalisa. Had they done it, it would have been so nice. That credit has now come to Malaysia. Chennai did not get it. They missed the chance. Tamil chanting should have happened in Tamil Nadu. Instead, it is happening here. Okay, Chennai devotees, do it again, and next time do it in Tamil. You are not singing the Tamil version. You are ashamed, or shy. Now, having come to Malaysia, you learn Tamil here, from the Malaysians. Yes. That will teach you a lesson. These people come there to learn. You all must come here to learn. Our culture has moved away to a foreign country. You all learn it here and take it back with you. It will benefit you. Will you do it? Okay. Do it. Thanks. You (Malaysians) learn real Tamil from them. Your Tamil is not pure. You speak a different dialect of Tamil. It does not matter which dialect of Tamil, as long as we sing Hanuman Chalisa in Tamil. That is what is important.
All of you should help with this upcoming Hanuman Chalisa Yajna. Help one another and adjust. Respect one another. If there is a communication gap, you will not achieve anything. Work without any communication gap. May you all be blessed by Hanuman with strength, power, and radiance.
Jaya Guru Datta. Sri Guru Datta.
No matter how many times this is repeated, it will be inadequate. Definition of strong devotion is that no matter how much physical suffering there may be, no matter if one is even in the throes of death, or on the death bed, one does not think of it, but only gives importance to Swamiji, and to one’s duty. Sagaran is a true example of such unstinting devotion. I am so surprised to see him. I am very happy and enthusiastic. Anyone else in this situation, would have remained in bed. Yesterday, he was in a serious condition, yet, he has come. I am very happy. I have tears in my eyes. Such devotion everyone else should cultivate. That is true devotion. I pray that he should recover quickly. In this condition, he still wore his uniform and came to the airport and gave his salute to Swamiji, and has brought me here for this great program. I have no words to express my feelings. This is the pinnacle of Volunteer duty. May everyone get such energy. His legs are not functioning. Yesterday he was in a very serious condition. But he just did not care about it.
There is a story in the Puranas. If a man lost his leg, he was grateful to serve with hands. If he lost his hands, he was happy to have the rest of the body to offer service with, and if that is lost, he was happy he still had his mind intact. There is a story like that in Guru Charitra. This is just like that story. King Janaka was administered severe tests like this by his Guru. I am remembering that. Guru removed his hands. He still served. His legs were removed. He still served. He took away his speech. He served with his eyes. He pierced his eyes, and the king served with mental contemplation/dhyana. Such was his conquest. This is the same story here. I am very happy and very sad to see him.
Many people fail to come to see Swamiji for very minor complaints, like backache, headache, small crack in the heel, or some sneezing. Sagaran should inspire us. His wife also is not there to help him. What severe tests he has faced.
One can earn anything in life, but to earn the love of Guru is very difficult. Maha Vishnu Himself is Guru. Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum. It is very tough to earn Guru’s grace, his love, and his strength. One can perform severe penance and obtain Chintamani, which turns things to gold by its very touch. It also yields all superb worldly pleasures. The person owning it will rise to the highest status. I can speak for ten days about the greatness of Chintamani. I am telling you in ten seconds.
Indra will grant the owner of Chintamani, heavenly pleasures. One can do Yajna, Yaga and Annadanam to obtain the status of Indra himself. But one who pleases Guru, will gain Vaikuntha itself. The visible Guru is your Guru, no doubt. But the real Guru is Lord Narayana. Maha Vishnu is our Guru. He is Paramatma. He is the highest. He is higher than Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. Creation emerges out of Him, and merges back into Him. What is within Him, he expresses as if it is outside. Then he withdraws everything back into Himself. He is invisible. The sense organs cannot grasp Him. To earn the grace of that highest Guru, we must first earn the grace of the visible Guru. If this Guru’s grace is won, then that Guru will be pleased. I am very happy. No matter how much I say about Sagaran, it will still be inadequate.
Jaya Guru Datta.
Sri Guru Datta.