Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji after puja – January 29, 2017 – Chennai
Compiled by: Archana Penukonda
Sri Maha Ganapataye Namaha
Sri Saraswatyai Namaha
Sripada Vallabha Narasimha Saraswati
Sri Guru Dattatreyaya Namaha
So far you heard the comments in English and in Tamil, and finally our director Jayaram also has spoken about the big event today. It is very nice. Do not come like you are coming to a wedding. You should all be volunteers, only then Hanuman and Swamiji will be satisfied and happy. If you cannot volunteer, just sit quietly. Help with whatever you can.
Do not keep a shoe stand. It will be hard to manage all the shoes. (To volunteers) Give them each a plastic bag to put their shoes in, to take with them. Otherwise, their focus will be on the shoes. If the shoes are with them, they won’t think about the shoes. That way, your (devotees) mind will be calm and not worry about the shoes. Or else, every other line of Hanuman Chalisa will be replaced with ‘my shoes are probably lost’. Everywhere I am instructing the organizers to do this. They have done this in all the places. You should not go home depressed about losing your shoes. You might lose a left or a right shoe. Take good vibrations home. Your focus should not be on the shoes. Shoes are also a kind of protection. This (Hanuman Chalisa) is also a protection.
An umbrella is a protection. The glasses I am wearing protect against harsh light. The videographers turn on bright lights. The wrist watch helps us see the time. Clothes keep our modesty. We eat to get rid of hunger and drink water to get rid of thirst. There is always a purpose. The shoes are our protection, so no need to be disgusted by them. You can keep the shoes with you. If you are sitting on the chair, you can keep the shoes on, but if you are sitting in the front or on the floor, and do not want to wear them, just keep them next to you in the bag. If you protect the shoes, the shoes will protect you. So, you have to give it the due respect. You go to temple and lose shoes. You are upset. It is your responsibility. You curse the temple and the Lord. That is your bad luck. Why blame God for losing your shoes saying, “What kind of a temple is this?” When you leave the shoes, you want the Lord to come sit and guard your shoes. Should Swamiji keep watching over your shoes? There is no energy inside the temple, it is all outside by the shoes because the lord is sitting by the shoes watching them. He feels responsible for protecting your shoes. Only after you leave the temple, he will go back into the temple. Then you are happy. His energy is not inside the temple in the idol. Otherwise, you blame God.
No one gets tokens for shoes (at this event). It will be hard to manage people coming from all directions to enter the venue. How many volunteers to keep for taking care of those shoes? Keep them with you wherever you want. You can put them on your shoulder and keep checking to see you haven’t lost them. Jai hanuman jnana guna sagara jai kapisa tihu loka ujagar. You are the kapi (monkey). You are always thinking of the shoes. You’ve been told there’s coffee. You barely start the chanting and you are looking around for the coffee vendor. The Yajna is over in the meanwhile. Coffee and snacks are only at the counter, yes? It is not delivered to people where they are sitting, yes? Good. People will keep eating as they chant? No. Okay. The Yajna will be lost in coffee, tea, cool drinks and snacks. It will create a huge commotion. Do you give snacks and coffee as they are leaving or as they are entering? If you distribute them at first, they will munch and sing at the time, very contentedly. It won’t be nice. The neighbor will ask and will go to fetch coffee, and water for herself.
Is there water? Yes. There is bottled water. You will be given a bottle of water as you enter the venue. Only water bottle. Just sip some to protect your throat. Don’t gulp it all down. Chant with concentration. Sit with discipline and participate in the program. Yesterday, there was so much discipline at the Madanapalle chanting. There was an ice cream vendor at the back, towards the end, that caused commotion. I shouted and asked them all to sit and they did too. The ice cream vendor ran away wanting to avoid trouble. The kids were so young and they sat with so much discipline and concentration. There were kids from five different schools, 4000 children from each school. If kids can do that, can we not? There were no teachers even to control them. The kids would control themselves. I was very happy to see that. We should learn to be like that. Two years ago, Swamiji did Yajna in Tenali. 250,000 people came. What discipline! I couldn’t see the end of the crowd. I needed binoculars. I could only see with divine vision. They did not care about their shoes. They threw the slippers into a mountain of shoes outside. They didn’t’ care about losing anything. They took whatever fit them on their way out. It was like picking up shoes from a store. All footwear got switched. They did not bother. Everybody came with shoes and everybody left with a different pair of shoes. No one complained. The path was unpaved and full of stones, it was being prepared to lay the road. People walked barefoot; even old people did. They had so much devotion and faith in God. That is what they did in villages. You are all in the city. If you are disciplined, that will be good. Set an example to the new people.
Tell people sitting next to you at the event to get SGS Posts. There will be good messages in the app. We should all spread the word. Do that service instead of wasting time in chatter. Many people do not know about it. There are volunteers, but you should do it too.
The program should go on well. Ganapathy himself will remove all obstacles for our event. I pray to Him, he is our refuge. I pray to Lord Varuna (God of rain) as well. We pray to everyone to forgive any mistakes and let our programs go on smoothly. Our program was postponed twice, it should not be postponed anymore. Hanuman does not want it postponed anymore.
In West Indies, there was a huge Hanuman Chalisa Parayana Yajna. I told everyone to get umbrellas since it was expected to rain. People came at 3 pm – much earlier than the scheduled time. It was sunny and it did not rain. They held the umbrellas up to protect against the sun who came in his glory. After the Parayana was completed, they were all given Prasadam. Within 30 minutes, all Prasadam was distributed. They had several counters 20-30, for distribution. The stock was over. Everybody received Prasadam. Tamarind rice. I asked them to hold up the umbrellas. They thought I was joking. As soon as I said that, it began raining. It poured so much…it was like in the movies. In the movies, there is rain in so many instances, for a song, for a quarrel, or for a festivity. They create artificial rain with water hoses in the movies. It was raining like that. They were all so happy.
Madanapalle too was like that. It rained heavily. There were little kids there. Hanuman Chalisa chanting was done and food distribution was completed with 20 food counters. After everyone was given food, it rained. Everyone was very happy. No one complained about the rain. They went and sat in the buses. It was like a shower of nectar. Madanapalle was like that. It was about to rain in the beginning of the Parayana but I asked Varuna Deva to hold on. I asked the volunteers to place a chair for Varuna Deva. I asked that no one sit on that chair. He did not come. After the event, it rained so much. The village needed rains, there weren’t rains for a long time, for ten years. They were very happy. Same thing at Regidi. It was a historic, miraculous event.
So, we will do Hanuman Chalisa chanting regardless of the rain. I don’t know how many times we will chant, 9 times or 18 times. I will decide when I sit on the Vyasa Peetham. I will look at the calculations and decide. It depends on the size of the crowd. I need a certain total count. You must maintain discipline. Show me now that you can be disciplined, then I’ll believe you.
So, those who sponsored the Pujas alone must come for Prasadam. Only those whose names are called should come. The rest should just sit where you are. They should not come and disturb. If you disturb, I will not give prasadam to anyone. Everyone will lose the chance. Now, call out the names of the sponsors.
Jai Veera hanuman ki…jai.
Sri Guru Datta