Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – evening – September 20, 2018 – KSHT, Dallas TX USA
Compiled by Archana Penukonda
Sri Maha Ganapate Namaha
Sri Sarasvatyai Namaha
Sri Padavallabha Narasimha Sarasvati
Sri Guru Dattatreyaya Namaha
Bhajan: Sreekara dheekara sri ganapati devara
Sing along with Swamiji as much as possible. Divya Nama Sankeertana is where everyone sings together. “Nama Sankeertana” is where one person sings solo. “Sankeerta” is where one renders traditional compositions. But we are here to do Divya Nama Sankeertana. Sing along with Swamiji. Some think this is a Bhajans teaching session. It is not teaching. We are singing together. We are singing along with Swamiji. Singing Bhajans is also powerful penance. You must always join along as much as possible whenever and wherever Divya Nama Sankeertana takes place. Open your heart, open your mouth and sing. Repeating after Swamiji is like getting Mantra Upadesa (initiation). You are lucky that Swamiji is giving these various kinds of mantras through the Bhajans. The Bhajans contain sacred seed letters. We are very fortunate to be singing these bhajans. Swamiji is having us repeat these for our own benefit. It is not all the time that you get such good fortune. Divya Nama Sankeertana (singing the divine names) with Swamiji does not take place all the time, every day. It only happens once in a while. Therefore, shed inhibitions and sing.
People are shy to sing bhajans and prefer to sing film songs instead. But you must sing along when these divine compositions are sung. Sing for 15-30 minutes and see how refreshed you feel. You draw a lot of courage. No one else will need to give you courage then. But this will happen only when you sing these divine songs. That is why many people keep chanting divine names such as “Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram”, or “Gam Ganapati, Gam Ganapati, Gam Ganapati, Gam Ganapati”. You can use the tally counter to keep track of how many times you are chanting. You will find that your mantra count grows a lot. You will find great peace chanting. Continue chanting. It is great support for life and acts like good medicine. You will gain a lot of happiness. Your memory will improve. You will gain better control over your sense organs and vices. Sing Bhajans as much as possible.
Chant any divine name that is dear to you “Sri Rama Jaya Rama Jaya Jaya Rama” or “Om Namo Hanumate Namaha, Om Namo Hanumate Namaha, Om Namo Hanumate Namaha”. Divine names refresh and purify your mind. You can test for yourself and tell me tomorrow. See how much peace you will attain. See how much courage you draw. See how fresh you feel.
Practice Divya Nama Sankeertana today and tomorrow and tell me how you feel tomorrow. Choose any deity’s name that is dear to you. Chant the mantra today and tomorrow – pick up a tally counter and chant any divine name – Om Namaha Shivaya or Sri Rama’s mantra or Ganapati mantra or Hanuman mantra or other such as Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare. Chant constantly. Your intellect gets pure and strong. There is a lot of power in these chants. You will see for yourself. There is no need for anyone else to explain the power in these chants. Calculate for yourself how much energy you get from the mantra. Countless people are constantly chanting mantras millions of times internally. Half a billion people are chanting various Hindu mantras. A scientist has calculated. You must also join the chanting. It is not enough to just applaud their effort. What about you? You must join the chanting too. You must be ashamed. Why are you not doing it? A quarter billion people gave up eating meat. They turned vegetarian in their food habits. All this is based on calculations done by scientists that is posted to the Internet. These quarter billion people gave up alcohol as well. It is unfortunate that our devotees, including Brahmins are refrigerating and eating meat. I do not like that. Vegetables are the best for protein. We should not eat meat. Do you not have any shame? So many people have given up eating meat. They have given up violence on these beings. We should not kill animals or even eggs – regardless of whether they will hatch or not. That is why God gave us vegetables instead. The vegetables/plants will decay soon. They will attain higher life forms. Animals that resist killing should not be killed. This is a statement you must remember. One must not kill animals that plead for life or that resist killing. The vegetables do not plead for life. They are pleading for a better life form. Once we eat them, the vegetables attain the life of an animal or human. But the animals are simply losing their life. You cannot create another cockroach or chicken like the one you killed. We are eating meat and eggs and feeding our children too. We are spoiling our children. There are so many great vegetables. You MUST give up meat and eggs. I know that many devotees consume meat and eggs. That is why Swamiji does not let them touch His feet. Have you no shame? When Swamiji prohibits you from touching his feet, that is the reason. It means we are committing sin. It is a sin to eat meat/eggs. You must not even heed the doctor if he asks you to. You can find plenty of nutrition in plants and vegetables. Does an elephant eat meat? It is so strong. It only eats plant-based food. The moment we feel weak, we resort to eating meat because the doctor said so. But we are inflicting violence on other beings in our quest to consume meat. We are eating sin. You are killing your own poultry or you are buying from someone that has killed them. We go to a restaurant to eat meat because we take pride in not cooking meat at home. Devotees that eat meat should be ashamed. Swamiji does not let them near Him. I do not need them. If you want to come close to Swamiji, you must be strict with yourself. Our ancestors used to live a full hundred years. Did they eat meat and eggs? No. They used to live healthy, up to 120 years even, without any disease. Remember that eating meat and eggs also causes disease. Drinking alcohol at home or setting up a bar at home is a bad practice. That is why I do not enter those homes. You drink on any pretext. You drink alcohol citing cold weather. So many people in Kashmir live in the cold. They do not resort to alcohol just because it is cold. They are not dying because of cold weather. You have cold weather only for 3 months. Are not people in cold climates surviving without meat? It is not fashionable to drink alcohol. We are calculating how many eat meat, how many consume alcohol, how many are believers in God, how many are agnostic and how many are atheists, how many are neutral gender etc. It is wrong to be of neutral gender – one must belong to either of the two genders. If you are making a mistake, fix it.
So, open your mouth and sing.
Bhajan: Jaya ho jaya ho lakshmi ma
Bhajan: Dattamashraye Sadguruttamam
Bhajan: Vande Sivam Gauri Dhavam
Bhagavad Gita 4th batch children please stand up. Do not be afraid. These children chant with so much clarity regardless of caste and creed. It is when the parents have faith and dedication that the children will do well. There are children who have no access to a physical class location and are learning classes online via Skype.
First, the children and parents should have that devotion towards Swamiji (Tataji). That will sow great virtues in them. They will be in possession of this great treasure of morals and virtues. We should encourage children to be devoted to Swamiji. These parents and children have so much devotion towards Swamiji. That is a key motivation in doing this Gita program. California does not have a lot of students yet. It is just starting out with their Bhagavad Gita program. Do not let go of students. You must get new people to join the program even if they are not devotees. See how many new people have joined Batch 3 of the Gita MahaYajna program. They could barely pronounce shlokas in the beginning. They chanted so well, they earned gold medals and have even won scholarships from Sringeri Vidya Peetham. Their memory improves even more. They become even more intelligent. It is futile becoming a great scientist if you don’t have values and morals. We need these morals and culture. Once they grow up, their memory will not be as sharp, so now is the time to put them in the program. Bring new people to the program. It is a miracle that a student by name Samatha learned the entire Gita. She did it purely out of devotion for Swamiji Everyone here must learn the Gita. The elderly can learn to read. It is an amazing experience. Reading is also a great penance. As you continue reading, you will automatically memorize the shlokas.
Bhagavad Gita is so powerful. The ancients revered the Gita as Jagan Mata – the Divine Mother of the worlds.
Mother Goddess has 18 names. Gita, Ganga, Gayathri, Sita, Satya, Sarasvati, Brahma Vidya, Brahma Valli, Trisandhya, Muktigehini, Ardhamatra, Chidananda, Bhavagni, Bhranti nashini, Vedatrayi, Para, Ananta, Tattvartha Jnana Manjari.
It is enough to just think of these names – it is said that it gives the merit of chanting the 18 chapters. Everyone memorize these names.
Bhajan: Gita ganga ca gayatri
gītā gangā ca gayatrī
sītā satyā sarasvatī
brahmavidyā brahmavallī trisandhyā muktigehinī
ardhamātrā cidānandā
bhavagrī bhrānti nāśinī
vedatrayī parānantā
tattvārtha jnāna manjarī
ityetāni japenityam naro niścala mānasāh
jnāna siddhim labhecchīgram
tatānante paramam padam
Those who chant these 18 names daily – you can do this as a shloka or sing like Pujya Appaji did – it gives the merit of chanting the 18 chapters. That is how powerful this is.