June 1, 2014

Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji in the evening during Sunday Bhajan session – June 1, 2014 – Nada Mantapam, Mysore

Jaya Guru Datta

Finally one day Appaji is given a chance to occupy the stage. I wish to sing a couple of bhajans.

Lots of people are taking photos using their small cameras. Do not post your photos on Facebook as you please. They are not nice. You may share Datta Peetham photos with friends. It is a bad habit to keep taking pictures with your mobile phones. First you see the good pictures which we have posted. At your home you may take pictures with your cameras when Appaji comes to visit. It cheapens when you post badly taken photographs for public viewing on Facebook.

Many angels come without taking permission via email before arriving at the ashram. Telephone permission from unauthorized persons is not acceptable. You must pay maintenance charges for your rooms, just as you pay for hotel rooms. If you have donated for room then it is ashram property. You have to take care of small repairs. Daily rates you must pay. Even those staying in dormitories must pay. What you pay for homa and puja does not cover the costs for your stay. Those are for your personal benefit that you participate.

Donors must inform via email if you are coming to occupy your cottages. All angels and NRIs must obey rules. You are all human beings. Only Datta and Jayalakshmi Mata are angels. Foreigners and NRIs are not good terms. That is why I call them angels. You must not misuse this title.

You must dress decently when you come to the ashram. Do not expose yourselves indecently. Male lustful demons will take your photos. People keep taking pictures. You have no permission for it. Official photographers have been appointed.

In pens also there are cameras these days. You will suffer otherwise. I will not speak with you if you dress indecently. You will not be admitted here. It is okay if you feel stuffy. Wear cotton clothes if it is too hot.

I give good advice for the girls wearing sleeveless clothes. It is not acceptable in the ashram. Letting the saree drop off the chest is also not acceptable. Seeing such bad traits displayed here, I suffer. Mosquitoes will bite if you expose your skin.

Have I said anything wrong? I have to take permission from you even before scolding.

These huge screens are depriving me of privacy. Every detail is clearly visible to everyone now.
While I waited for the sound adjustments to be done, I had no other subject for filler. So I spoke on these topics.

Bhajans:
Agajanana padmarkam…
Srikara Dheekara

Ya Devi sarva bhooteshu saktirupena…
Devi Vande Sri Lalite

Datta Tu hi vidhi tuhi vidhan
Har mushkil ko kar aasaan

Datta dhyava Datta gava

Govinda Jai Jai Gopala Jai Jai

Hari Hari Hari Hari anaraa

Nama japan kyom chod Diya

Dasachi sampatti

Hara Hara bhava bhava

Sri Hanuman Jaya Hanuman

I sing unfamiliar songs and I sing differently so that you will allow me to sing. Otherwise you sing ahead of me and take away my chance to sing.

Koti surya teja maruti – harati song

Kayena vacha

People are wearing Datta Vastram and smoking cigarettes and beedis on ashrama premises. 40 Photos were taken and shown to me today. You are anyway burning yourselves inside. Leave the Datta Vastram when you do such things, when you smoke. Earlier, devotees were giving up bad habits with a vow on SGS birthday. Now that tradition is not followed. You die one day no doubt. You will get cancer, throat cancer, or kidney stones. Earlier you were giving up your bad habits to Swamiji. Why do you wish to die early? Do not wear the Datta Vastram when you smoke. Earlier I was trying to reform you. It is useless. For 10 years you have not changed. Hereafter do not enter the ashram if you have to smoke. Why not die peacefully? Live comfortably. That is what the Sastras say. In cinemas also they post warnings of health hazards of smoking. Your wife and children depend on you. No one will help you. Remember that everyone will blame you. They will ask Swamiji to make the man die earlier. Distract yourself when you feel the urge. Eat chocolate or have some big nut to chew. There are placebos available.

I will demonstrate to devotees that I too can smoke. Sri Ramakrishana Paramahamsa had a brother who drank alcohol. His mother tried her best to make him stop. She failed. She approached and begged him to please reform his brother. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa also began drinking. In shame, seeing his saintly brother drinking because of him, the brother left his habit. You are all beneficial for me. Control sugar intake. Diabetes is bad. Limbs get amputated. They eat excessive number of mangos sometimes. Don’t do it. Stay healthy. You should live longer. Those with addictions hurt others besides themselves. Tobacco chewing is also bad. Observe diet control. Do some regular walking. Do exercise. Be careful. Control all your different actions, all bad habits, and evil feelings.

Every Tuesday feed a hungry person. Or else keep two fistfuls of rice aside and give the rice in an ashram. It is SGS birthday on Tuesday. Do this special favor for me. I eat and share food with a parrot named Sadhu. Share with a puppy. Or feed grass to a cow. Feed a crow. Throw some rice grains. May be monkeys will eat, it does not matter. They will develop attachment towards you. Kindness towards creatures is good to develop. There is no harm in that. It is not bad. Or keep a bird feeder. The birds will eat so happily. How would you know? You do not even feed your husband or children properly.

When I enter the Annapurna Mandiram I feel so happy to see Mother Goddess feeding Herself with so many hands. Four hands and four mouths getting fed in a family is a great sight. When food is given to the hungry, God is being fed. When Brahma is fed, you get Jnana. All difficulties will vanish. Swamiji is forcing you to do good deeds. You do out of love for me. It is as if you are satisfying my hunger. Feed others. See me in them. Sometimes my mouth smells of coffee because someone somewhere offered me coffee as Naivedyam (food offering as part of puja ritual). You cannot explain to the children around me. Sometimes what others do in their homes affects me. When they call me in agony, it wakes me up here. When I am about to sleep, Americans tell me Good Morning. How can I sleep? It is all strange. I have no address, no mother, no country, and no town.

You are confused. Who is friend? What are these relationships? Who is this Guru? Are you man, musician, or God? We cannot understand. What we do, we do not know. We think we are doing something good, and it turns out to be wrong sometimes. You teach us who we are. Tell us what we should do. You, we cannot understand. We do not even ask you to tell us. Tell me about myself, you may ask Guru that. Fix, repair my mind. How you appear to us is up to us. We cannot leave you even if we wish to. We cling to you. You are our refuge. We surrender. That is all.

Now, this lady will share her recent experiences with you. Something funny she will tell you. Comedy talk. Woman lost her husband and wants me to show him to her now.

The woman narrated:
8000 Burra Kathas about Swamiji and Datta (Folk style rendering of stories and legends) we have told in 40 years. My husband is very lucky. He died on Guru Purnima Day near Sri Swamiji in a sacred Datta temple in Andhra Pradesh. Now he sits on Swamiji’s lap as a parrot.

This year I went to 72 villages along with a few others to sing to the villagers about Swamiji and Dattatreya. We also visited tribal villages. On Sri Jayalakshmi Mata Jayanti day we did Annadana (offering of free food) for 200 people. The cook’s daughter, who was 5 years old, fell in a 50 foot well the following day. The mother was wailing. She also jumped into the well when she felt someone tap her shoulder. But she landed slowly as if she fell deliberately, and grabbed the daughter. The villagers lowered a basket and rescued both mother and child. Both Sri Jayalakshmi Mata who tapped the shoulder to make the woman jump and Sri Swamiji came to their rescue and saved them both.

Then we were at another village. There were no toilets. People go into the shrubs and then take a dip in the village pond. I went to the pond to bathe. As I was walking back along with another woman, I fell. Vomit came from mouth, ears, and nose. They thought I had died. The other woman screamed. Everyone got scared. A woman came. Got 4 pots of water and poured on me. I revived. I died and came back to life. The news spread everywhere. Everybody knew that Appaji had saved me. They kept singing the glories of Datta, Sri Jayalakshmi Mata, and Swamiji. They kept talking about these miracles.

Sri Guru Datta

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