Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – April 1, 2017 – Hyderabad
Compiled by: Archana Penukonda
(Note compiler: No audio on Livestream at the beginning)
It is called Udbhava linga (Shiva Linga that appeared on its own). The name of the great saint or ardent devotee who saw it first is usually associated with it. Many miraculous stories surround that Shiva Linga afterwards. But the greatness of the consecration is done in a few words.
The next type of consecration is Rishi Pratishtha (one done by a saint. Rishi=saint, Pratishtha=consecration). There are many stories about great saints consecrating temples in various situations and at various times. It is often said that the deity appeared to the saint and the saint then consecrated a temple there.
The third is Manava Pratishtha (consecration done by humans. Manava=human). People form a committee, buy some land and build a temple. So, like this, there are different kinds of consecrations. Temples have a lot of history. Even though tomorrow’s consecration here is arranged by humans (devotees), there is a history behind it. People remember this as Swamiji’s temple. So it gradually will be known as Rishi Pratishtha, consecrated by a sage. That is why people work very hard to get a temple consecrated by great souls. They will form a committee, build a temple and undertake a lot of effort and austerity to have Swamiji consecrate the temple. Some pious souls are successful and some are not. This is part of Manava Pratishtha. In Kaliyuga, every town, every street and every house should have a temple so we can remind ourselves of Dharma. That is why we should not prevent people from building new temples.
There are people who argue and quarrel to prevent people from building a temple (Vitanda Vaada, Vichaara Vaada: people who argue and squabble just to defend their thesis/position). Rahu and Ketu who impersonated gods, had to be removed from the midst of the celestials because they were imposters. These people who speak ill are also devotees, born as Hindus into good families, yet they decry these efforts to build temples. They have no faith. They take some unfortunate incidents from their personal lives and impose it on society. You took a wrong path, made wrong decisions and subsequently lost respect for elders and for Guru. That is your personal issue. But rubbing that on society is a big crime. You must not create such propaganda in society. There are others who have had no bad experience of any kind. It is a great sin for these people to keep rubbing their opinion on others. It is a big sin. These unfortunate experiences you have earned are limited to your personal life. The good and the bad is what you earned. It is not right for others to listen to these people. We should recognize such negative talk and remember to hold on to our own path.
The unseen Lord is protecting us all. Who protects us when we are fast asleep? It is not the watchman. He is asleep too. The alarm that you think protects you, can also stop working. Nothing else, but God alone protects us when we are fast sleep. If someone drops a big boulder on us when we are fast sleep what happens to us? May be those who have had such a thing happen to them did not have protection from God. It is important for every being who wants protection from God, to pray. Many go through life happily without ever thinking of God. They do not go to temples, they have no devotion to Guru, no devotion to God and have nothing good to say. They eat, burp and go through all of life’s activities. Everything seems to be fine and they have no devotion to Guru. That is wrong. We should always remember that the unseen Paramatman/Supreme Soul is protecting us at all times. He is giving us fulfillment and protecting our being. When we realize that, we will learn to be Dharmic (righteous). When we do not have that realization, we are Adharmic. You take birth, you live and you die. What is the use? That should not happen. We should learn to earn something of value in between. We do not. We only earn money, build a home, give birth to kids and so on. Entire lives are spend just doing this. That should not be. We should strive for liberation. For having taken birth, we should learn about this supreme secret – the secret of human birth. “Why was I born?” “What is my path?” “What am I doing?” “Is this permanent?” We are only going after impermanent things. We are only thinking about impermanent things that will eventually slip away from us. Yet, those are the kinds of things we spend our entire lives acquiring and thinking about. We seldom think about what is permanent. We keep losing (the impermanent acquisitions) and we grieve over it. And again, we try to earn them back. This is not nice. This path is not good. That is why, we should earn what we can have forever. We should contemplate on those things. All of us should have real devotion. It is not enough to be called devotees. We may not even be eligible to be called devotees. We should be embarrassed to be called “devotees” or “great devotees”. Are we really great devotees? No. We are hypocrites (Ashaadhabhuti). We have fake devotion. We pretend to have some devotion, but our mind is elsewhere. That is fake devotion. We should evolve from fake devotion to real, permanent devotion. We are prostrating because someone else is doing it, but only mechanically, as if it were an exercise. You are not doing it wholeheartedly, surrendering your soul. Atmarpana is forgetting yourself and giving your mind and body to God. That is real devotion. You should forget everyone around you. Some people are too shy to prostrate because there are people around them. Many people do not even bend to offer respects. How can they get devotion? What is wrong in making offerings to God? It is what God has given you that you are offering back to Him. When we offer everything back to God, that is when our life is fulfilled. Otherwise, it will not be.
In this world we see many people. Some earned fame and reputation and left the world. Some people took birth, ate to their fill all life and died. They earned no name or fame. No one thinks of them. We forget everyone – the good, the bad, the lazy. Who remembers the names of all those who are dead? No one does. Who talks about them? How long will they keep talking about them? May be one in a million that has done something good will be remembered. They cannot talk about everyone that is dead.
To do something good, first learn to be good. Make your speech, actions and thoughts good. Every action and every activity should be good. Those actions should first be useful to yourself. No use trying to do good to others first. You should be fulfilled and satisfied first with yourself. Your actions should be pure and truthful. They should be useful to you and to your family. Only then should they be useful to others. It is people who do this – the one a million – that we remember.
There are many temples. There are many consecrations. How much devotion are we offering? We go to Tirupati or some other pilgrim place each year. How much devotion have we earned? We just go like it’s a checklist item. “I went to Kasi“. “I went to Amarnath“. “I went to Badrinath“. “I went to Char Dham“. You say, “I went to Vaishno Devi” like it’s a great accomplishment. You did. But what did you bring back with you? You brought some Prasadam and trinkets from there. What is the transformation that has occurred in you? I do not see any transformation. You spent time and money, you got exhausted. You gathered a group of friends or family and went to those places like it was a picnic. It was fun. Those whose mind is really transformed will not even talk about it. Only when the mind is not changed, they will talk about it often. When someone talks about visiting these places, the neighbor laments that she did not go. After three years, she is able to go and she also starts talking about it, boasting about it to show off. You all went to those places. It is all mechanical.
It is like this: A wife and husband were talking in the night. They wanted to send their son to a town called Mailara. During that conversation, they did not go into the details of what they wanted him to do there. The son overheard their conversation and before the day broke, he went to that place and returned. In the morning, when the parents asked him to go to that place to take care of some work, the overly-smart boy said he already went there and got back. “Because I am a good son, I already did so before you asked me to”. The parents asked, “Why did you go?”. “You were talking about it last night, so I went”. “We talked about taking care of some work there”. “But I am a good son and I wanted to do it before you asked me to”. The parents chided him. What was the use of the son making that trip? Only when the purpose is fulfilled is that trip worth something. Otherwise, it’s just an expenditure of money and effort.
You go to some good places and see a nice temple tower and start taking pictures. Everyone has phones these days. Each person has two phones even, one for the bag and one for the pocket. Sometimes both phones ring and drive away the people around them. You have phones, so you do not experience what you are seeing. You just take out the phones and take pictures right away. When someone asks you how your trip was, you can only see that in the photos. They ask you, “You went to that place, did you not see?” You were busy taking photos. “I did not see properly with my own eyes”. Everyone knows you did not take the time to see the place. Your focus was completely on taking pictures. You want to take photos while there is still light. Once the light is gone, you cannot experience the magic of the place. You did not see with your own two eyes. You saw everything through the lens – the phone’s photo lens. We do not even have time to see the temple tower.
We go on pilgrimages, look back at the photos and become happy. Did you experience the joy and vibrations of that place? When pressured, those people will confess they did not. They were busy taking photos. If you are traveling in groups, you are busy corralling the group together. Your time is spent in looking for the person who strayed from the group. Or your time is spent looking for the phone. The temple gives Prasadam in the meanwhile. You take out the bottle of pickle from your bag and serve yourself some. If you do not eat pickle even during these two days, you cannot survive. We carry pickles all the way from home. What kind of pilgrimage is that? You must go with a mind absorbed in God, not with a bag full of pickles and spicy powders to eat your food with. Some people take many varieties of powder and pickles with them. These people eat rice with all these pickles and powders and ruin their stomach. They cannot even have Darshan of God. They have a bad stomach and emit odorous gas. Everybody does that. Do you not? Even if you do not carry the pickles, someone in the group brings the pickle and you serve yourself some. These people who bring these pickles and powders are very generous in sharing their pickles. They will not share the Prasadam, but they will share this. They will bring snacks and chili as well on the pilgrimage. Even if you lose your phone, you have to have your pickles.
Why can you not just have the Prasadam they serve? You do not even care what people around you think. You have to eat your pickles. Can you not survive without those pickles for two days? We act like we cannot. That is how our pilgrimage is. Too much chaos and grief. While you are there, you are also calling people back home, making sure they are keeping the house safe. Your mind is at home. “Did you count all the sarees?” “Did you close the back door?” “Have you given fodder to the buffaloes?”
The neighbor asks, Where are you? “In Kasi” you reply. We are ready to leave this body. But we talk on the phone and ask about all the household activities and make sure everything is in order at home. The temple is right in front of you, but your mind is somewhere else. If you do not have telecom signal, you curse the government. It is good that you have no reception. And then you claim that you went on a pilgrimage. Is this really a pilgrimage? You only spent time and money. The bus driver keeps rushing you to get on the bus. As soon as you get on the bus, you fall asleep. You do not even enjoy the sights outside. If someone sings a bhajan, you shush them. “Why can you not pray silently in your mind? Is God not in your heart? We are trying to sleep.” The driver then pulls to a (tourist) spot and gives you 10 minutes to see the place. You have no idea what you are seeing. You are half asleep. He will say something in Hindi and you will not understand half of it. You will go see something, buy something, talk, eat and come rushing back into the bus. And you claim you did the pilgrimage. And while you are there, you are so cold that you cannot bear it. You come back and complain about the uncomfortable climate on the trip.
When you go with your mind fully absorbed in God, then it is a pilgrimage. This is not a pilgrimage. We are not doing this kind of pilgrimage here tomorrow. You already saw Kalasha Sthapana. You have come to a holy place (Punya Kshetra). Without wasting a single second, see and experience it tomorrow with a full heart. Pray to Mother Goddess or to Vishnu or whichever deity you please. Panchayatana (five of any of the following deities: Shiva, Vishnu, Mother Goddess, Ganapathy, Surya and Subramanya Swamy) is established here. You can pray to the deity you choose. Goddess Raja Rajeshwari will be consecrated here tomorrow. Ganapathy is also beautiful. The form of Ganapathy is made from beautiful precious stone.
It is our duty to protect the temple. If we support the temple, that merit will always be in our account. It is our duty to do whatever little we can, to protect the temple. Participate in the daily worship. Everyone should join, whether you are members, host committee members or non-members. Donate according to your means. The Lord may give you opportunity to donate for 1 year or for 2 years or for 10 or for a lifetime. Let us use all the good fortune to contribute. We will gather again tomorrow (for the consecration).
Jaya Guru Datta. Sri Guru Datta.