Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – evening – September 20, 2017 – Mysore
Compiled by: Archana Penukonda
Sri Maha Ganapataye Namaha
Sri Sarasvatyai Namaha
Sri Padavallabha Narasimha Sarasvati
Sri Guru Dattatreyaya Namaha
Vamsi Ghanapati explained all the programs and rituals during Devi Navaratri festivities in great detail. Those who witness the first Puja/rituals tomorrow are very fortunate. Those who are going to see the rituals tomorrow morning, raise your hand. Tomorrow’s Puja will be the first Navavarana Puja in this fiftieth year of doing these elaborate Navavarana Pujas. Only twice were these Devi Navaratri Pujas conducted outside of Mysore Ashrama – once in Vijayawada and once in Hyderabad. Navavarana Pujas have been going on for 50 years. I am very happy about that.
Before that, I must remind you, there are two children sitting there. There are very poor children in a village in a Kenyan forest that toil in the hot sun to prepare the handmade garlands that these children here are selling. The children that made these garlands and bangles belong to a forest tribe. Swamiji helped the 15-20 people there (in that village) when He personally bought all the garlands from them. He gave away whatever Euros He had in His purse. They made these nice handicrafts. They are so poor, they almost have nothing to eat. They live in a village in the forest. They get no help. God alone is their help. Swamiji has brought their handiwork for you. Do not worry about the price of these articles. A few of the articles these children are selling were made by Mysore children. Since it is Devi Navaratri, Swamiji bought some bangles from there. There are only 50-60 pieces available. You will not get these handicrafts anywhere else in the world. You can keep them at home as a keepsake. They will run out soon, so go collect them. They look very nice.
Today is Mahalaya Amavasya. Today, Mother has descended here. She is of course always here. Now, for receiving special (Devi Navaratri) Pujas, Mother Goddess has descended. The rituals here are very rare. We do not know if we will ever see them again. We are fortunate to see these rituals now. Mysore Ashrama, devotees of Ashrama and devotees of Mother Goddess are very fortunate. By the grace of Mother Goddess, we have been doing these rituals for 50 years. Even when Swamiji’s arm broke in the accident, we were fortunate to do the Pujas. It is in fact Mother Goddess who is fortunate to receive Pujas from a dunderhead like me.
Looking at our future, it feels as if there is going to be a deluge, as the ancients had predicted. There are hurricanes and tsunamis and villages getting flooded everywhere. In the past we suffered from drought. Now, we are suffering from floods. Reservoirs are overflowing and crops are getting destroyed. There are tsunamis in some places. Some towns are disappearing in the floods. So many lives have been lost. So much wealth has been lost. Some other places are experiencing a lot of earthquakes that measure 5, 6 or 7 on the Richter scale. How can we withstand all these calamities? Even today, there was an earthquake in Mexico, we are told. Volcanoes are erupting in some other places. In other places, there is famine. And in the midst of all this, there is fear of war. We do not know what North Korea will do. We do not know what madness will come over him. This is proof that people must choose their leader carefully. The North Korean people chose him. They can neither remove him, nor keep him. He makes a new statement each day. China and Pakistan too make new statements each day. We do not know what the future is. Some scientists said yesterday that there would be an earthquake in Tirupati, there would be an earthquake in Andhra Pradesh and a minor earthquake in Karnataka. Half of what they said has come true. Some worry about what would happen to the deity in Tirupati. Nothing will happen, He is the all-pervading Lord. The earth underneath is constantly under pressure. We are sitting on fire.
Our life is like that of a mosquito’s. When we wave our hand, we kill many mosquitoes. We kill so many cockroaches, mosquitoes and other organisms each day. We kill many living beings each day for our protection. But we are also living beings. The beings on this planet may have to suffer in order to protect another planet. We do not know what God’s will is for protecting some other beings. We do not know what his will is to balance life on other planets.
We live in constant fear. We are just living in ignorance, flooded with desires, anger and hunger. We fight out of envy. According to science, earth is miniscule like a small mustard seed. In that small seed, so many kings have come and gone, so many great people have come and gone. So many statesmen have come and gone. We many wars, so much bloodshed, so much arrogance, so many stories abound. There is so much fight over caste, over religion, over wealth. There are many stories where people fought over women too. We destroyed trust, we let heads roll. We do not know where truth is gone. Untruth and Adharma (unrighteousness) are dancing wildly. We cannot trust anyone around us. We cannot trust ourselves. We cannot trust our own actions. How strange! We have no trust in our own words or in our own lives. We are living such a life. There are untimely deaths. There are fires in greenery, in plush vegetation. There is a deluge of water in fiery places and fire in wetlands. Where there were mountains, there are big valleys now and where there were valleys, there are now mountains. We struggle trying to understand who we can trust and who cannot. We are findings ways to just continue to live. We are unable to find the right way to live. We feel like we will carry on, regardless. We do not know if we will live tomorrow, but we continue to live as if we live for 2000 years.
Instead of turning spiritual, instead of inculcating devotion, we are wallowing in ignorance thinking, “I still do not own a house”, “I am not married”, “I have no kids”, “I have not gone to foreign countries”, “I have not earned money”. We have lost one day already worrying about these things. We will lose one more day tomorrow. What should we think about in this time? How should we grow spiritually? Should we travel towards death, or towards fear or towards God? We should only travel towards God who is truth. We have nobody. We have no kind of memories. We barely remember what happened yesterday. History teaches us lessons. Even the inanimate objects around us teach us lessons. Human history only teaches us fear. It seems like killing each other is Dharma. We should all be careful. We should restrain our sense organs (indriyas) and mind. Wake up from the slumber. We are sleeping. We are drowsy. There is calamity in the neighbor’s house, yet we are fast asleep. There is a storm in our neighbor’s house, still we walk around with an umbrella. Have you no shame? Have you no reasoning? Wake up at least now. Reform yourself now. When you think about reforming yourself, Mother Goddess will show the way. She will really protect us. She will show us the right path and keep us safely in her lap. “We are carrying over our sins since many births. I have learned my mistakes. I have been living with wrong notions about this world, about worldliness (samsara) and about myself. Please take me ashore, please open my eyes and grant me enlightenment”. We are praying to Durga Parameshwari for ten days from tomorrow. Praying to Mother Goddess to protect us, we start our Navaratri rituals tomorrow.
All we can do is pray. People may cry, but we remain silent. When someone runs for their life, or is getting carried away in a tsunami, or dying in volcanic fire, we may not be able to save them. We can only silently pray. Praying to Mother Goddess to protect us helpless beings is the only way.
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Guru Datta