Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji in the morning – Vaikuntha Ekadasi – January 8, 2017 – Eluru
Courtesy: Archana Penukonda
My advice for fasting: Do it once a week. Eat one fruit. Drink water frequently. Don’t go early next morning and stuff yourself with everything you find in the kitchen, all leftover foods. You will get indigestion. Do not eat any cooked food during fast. Even parched rice has been through a process of cooking. It is not acceptable. Only eat one fruit. Control and tolerate you hunger. Practice like this. Also, practice silence. In Europe, Swamiji has conducted three Mouna sessions. They like it very much. You may not believe it. There were 600 participants in the group. We had the session in the mountains. Each one sat for three days from 6 am to 7 pm daily. At noon, a short silent break, ringing a bell for eating some salad of fresh raw vegetable. No fried snacks. Watching the livestream, people in India thought it was a statue of Swamiji that they were seeing. They showed Swamiji also. Here because of dust, I keep clearing my throat. There was no such problem there. Silence means, sitting still, without any movement.
What are the benefits of silence? How should it be practiced? How should the mind be controlled? The first day in the class, all this was taught. Also, how to control the sense organs. 3-6 hours of class about how to practice silence. The following two days, it is total silence. One will think that no one is present. Huge snow covered mountain. First when they asked, I was hesitant. We tried it. It was a success. It was not a failure. The second time, they called again. We repeated. The third time, it was a smaller group. Now for the fourth time in Switzerland, we will have a session. People take leave and come away, handing over all responsibilities to others. Not a single word or song. Only the first day, Swamiji explains the method and the benefit of practicing silence. They get absorbed in silence thereafter, for two whole days. No temptation to eat or sleep.
Indians, if they close their eyes, they will at once fall asleep and will fall down. No one can hold them. How are those people able to sit like that with closed eyes? Daily they practice silence for 3-4 hours. That is why I tell you always to practice being quiet. You are always chattering. You even come here and talk. When some devotees are telling me of their problems, I cannot hear them, because of the noise your make. You accumulate sin by your action. I distribute their sins to you. That is why Bhaskar keeps announcing that you should maintain silence, and that Swamiji is conducting interviews. Some anxiety, some confusion, some restlessness. Our people do not know the meaning of being quiet. Datta devotees must take a vow that hereafter they will remain silent. You must make a habit. If you maintain pin drop silence, Swamiji will spend any amount of time in your company. He will throw pearls at you, and precious gems, in his words. If you make noise, Swamiji is restless to go back inside. He waits impatiently to leave the area and go to a quiet place. His mind will not feel attracted towards you. He only pretends to like you when you are noisy. I am really angry inside. My smile is not genuine. You are so bothered about your prasadams, and your interviews. You keep asking questions, and demanding answers. You misplace your bags, you lose your footwear, someone steps on you, and you complain. All trivial problems. Europeans have got over those. Now America devotees are asking for a Silence Seminar, Mouna Class.
The radiance in the eyes of those who have practiced silence today, makes them appear as real human beings to me. Now so many of you are sitting here. Only a few are appearing to me like real human beings. Each face appears different and strange. I see crows, pigeons, and owls. Don’t ask me how your face appears to me. You may get offended if I tell you that I see an eagle or a parrot. Only a few are like humans. I see some as donkeys, buffaloes, elephants, and so on. I wonder if there is something wrong with my eyesight. I even remove my glasses and check. I see cows, sheep. Horses, and different beasts. What can I do? There was a time when Swamiji addressed you as, O my deities! How happy you feel to hear such words! If I address you as O my birds and beasts, do you feel happy? No. You must learn to be quiet, if you want to appear as human beings to me. You all raised your hands that you will be quiet hereafter. If you break your promise, you will incur sin again. You should not make people once again shout in the microphone, Silence!
Why am I speaking like this? Are the Europeans not human beings? They also make noise. But to gain spiritual wisdom, one must learn some lessons from Guru. Otherwise, enlightenment does not occur. Only sense organs gain energy. We must aim for spiritual energy. Only when you earn that, you get rid of fear and cowardice. To increase your power of consciousness, you must understand even the small pieces of advice given by Guru. You must put them into practice. Only then you will gain by the lessons taught. For being followers of Swamiji, for benefiting from his association, to profit from his company, you must practice the teachings. What is the use of following Swamiji, if you don’t derive any benefit? You must gain spiritual benefit. On a Sunday, so many good television serials are shown. You have sacrificed them all today. You have totally missed out. Have you not? I am just testing you. Today, Vaikuntha Ekadasi has coincided with Sunday. You are lucky that Swamiji is here with you, instead of in Mysuru.
There the darshan line is still continuing. Normally the curtain is drawn sooner. But today, it is kept open. People keep asking for Swamiji. When Bala Swamiji is shown, they are not satisfied. They want this Swamiji. I keep getting phone calls asking me to return to Mysuru. I tell them that I have Datta devotees here also. Eluru is not an ordinary place. I scolded them for asking me to return. Even here we woke up at 6 for darshan and continued darshan line till 10 O’clock.
Our sense organs must be given exercise. Then the intellect will cooperate. It will make the mind calm. If the mind is calm, then we can achieve our goals. We can lead happy lives. Whatever difficulties may come, we will not mind them at all. There is an elderly devotee, Chandrasekhara Sarma, he is very close to Swamiji. So many experiences he has had. He has withstood them all with the power of his soul. He was brought here by some random devotee.
Otherwise, he would not be here on this day. A devotee was inspired to contact him and bring him here for Swamiji’s darshan. There are many such devotees like that. He is just one example I am giving. Many do not mind their old age. They do not even recognize that they are old. They feel resigned to the problems of old age and accept them in their stride. Such is the strength of their wisdom. The soul has no old age or problems. The body falls away. It suffers from aches and pains. What is the use of scolding the body? It is merely acting as it is supposed to. For so many years we have kept our limbs and senses under our control. We jumped, we ate, we saw, we enjoyed their cooperation. We made them act according to our will. We fell from a tree and yet continued to run. We are still trying to do the same. When old age commences, things go in reverse. Now the limbs and sense organs do not cooperate. They take charge of our lives. Joints are under repair. Knees, and back are out of order. Our time is up. Now it is the turn of the limbs to take us for a ride. We used and abused them in our time. Now, we must endure the pains. Those days, we ran and caught the bus and felt very happy. We pushed our way in the line and got our laddu prasadam.
Now you cannot run. You cannot wait in line to get a ticket. In youth, you pampered the sense organs. You enjoyed the scenes and dances. Now, you are struggling to see, in spite of wearing glasses. You were arrogant about your authority over your sense organs. Now, you have to serve them, give them medicines. Ayurvedic, or surgery, or artificial limbs. Even the artificial limbs will wear out sooner or later. Chemotherapies, and tubes in the body, how long are you going to live?
Many people thank Swamiji for saving their lives. Okay. But since that time, how many times have you come to Swamiji? That is the question I ask. Since the time your life was saved, how many times did you chant the mantra given by Guru? How many times have you heard the Bhagavatam discourses? Since the time, you recovered, how many good deeds have you done? How many people have you fed or clothed? Many who have not done any of the above, were scolded by me. What good is it to me whether you are alive or dead? Don’t give me credit for saving your life. Give credit to God. If you give me credit, then I will demand answers from you like this.
You say, there was this terrible accident, I was in a terrible shape, it is only because of you, that I am now standing on my two feet. You give me credit. You praise me for my protection and raise me to the skies. All empty words. Then I begin my tirade. Your talk was loose. I will now take on your case seriously and ask if you know the Datta Stavam. You don’t know. Have you heard the Hanuman Chalisa any time? No, you have not. Have you ever read it? Only once. Do you chant it internally daily? No. Have you ever donated your used clothes to anyone? So many are shivering in the cold, the destitute. Did you cover anyone with a blanket? No. Did you ever skip a meal and give it away to a hungry person? NO.
GET OUT OF HERE!!!
Are these not your responses? Tell me. The moment you proclaim that it is by Swamiji’s grace that you are alive today, you must resolve to practice spiritual activities. From that day onward, you must say, I now donate to the poor, I help at home, I stopped troubling my mother, I have stopped harassing my wife/husband – How nice it is if you tell me these things! It would make me very happy. If you have not changed in a positive sense, then what is the purpose of your life being saved? What is the use of your living? I will not feel any pity for you. I scold behind the curtain, very severely. Everyone must realize this truth.
The first question I ask is this: How many times have you come to Swamiji since the time he saved you from trouble? I tell them to just go home.
You must change. You must do good things. At least be good to your family members. Be good to the spouse, to the children. Become a good person. If nothing else, at least install SGS POSTS and benefit from it. You won’t even do that. Why? You don’t own a smart phone. Why? You wanted to get one, but didn’t. Why? Go get one quickly. You spend so much on other things. For just 5-6 thousand rupees you can purchase one. Listen to Bhagavatam daily. How long does it take? Only five minutes. Don’t say it is getting late for the meal. If you talk about hunger, I will not forgive you. Sit down. Don’t give them food while Swamiji is giving a discourse. If you want, give them some water. After all, they are my devotees. I am their mother. Everyone is feeling the effect of Vaikuntha Ekadasi in their stomachs.
Why were we born in the first place? I always speak like this. I don’t stick to one subject. I cover all topics. Are we born to eat three times daily, to quarrel, to dress nicely and wander about, to tell lies, to deceive, and to cheat others? No. That is not why we were born. Do you know how many lifetimes we have to go through? 84 lakhs. As aquatic creatures we were born at first, in oceans, rivers, wells, and ponds.
Many people asked me: So many people kill fish and eat them. Some even refer to them as vegetables. How can that be! If I say, I will chop your hand and eat it, considering it also as a part of a chicken. Will you accept? No. Killing fish is violence against creatures. Many fishermen are my devotees. They sell fish and make money and give donations. That is not the question at hand. How many times were we born as aquatic creatures? We are now killing them. Eating them. Okay, let us say you are forgiven. Their lifespan is short. May be a few days only, like a mosquito, ant, or a fly which lives only for a few days. Less than a month is their lifespan. I am now talking science. Why do they die so quickly? It is because that soul has to be reborn 80 lakhs times more. How many species are there among water creatures? The deeper you go into the ocean, you find even more species. Man has not yet reached the deepest depth of an ocean. He is flying into space but not down to the depths of the oceans. Exploration is ongoing. The drowned ships and aircraft are not yet found. The ocean is so vast.
To be continued.
Sri Guru Datta