Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji on the occasion of 1st anniversary of Hanuman Dwarka Mandir – November 8, 2014 – Delhi
Everyone repeat:
Om Sri Maha Ganapathaye Namah
Om Sri Saraswatyai Namah
Sri Padavallabha
Narasimha Saraswati
Sri Guru Dattatreyay Namah
You all are trapped in the sorrows of the worldly life & the diseases of the body. This is not enjoyment. Attachment to the worldly aspects, is not enjoyment. For a few days, it may provide pleasure. The sorrows attached to the worldly life, are double the happiness it provides. It is 20% Happiness & 80% sorrow. To enjoy the 20% happiness, you do many wrong things. You undergo so much of pain, to enjoy the 20%. But, there is no vision about contemplating on God, understanding His philosophy & form. Such vision will be developed through practice & experience. There is no inclination towards reading about God. No inclination towards speaking about Him. The time you get, utilize it to listen about the Lord, memorize & chant or read about the Lord. (Shravan, Manan & Paath). This is coming from our ancient Vedas.
In Today’s high tech life, in the Kali Yuga, it is very difficult to contemplate & follow the principles of the Lord. The philosophy of Lord is not very easy. It is very complicated. But, we all must see the Real. We must witness, we must be an evidence. This is the dharma of Kaliyuga. Close your eyes & meditate daily. You will learn for yourself. No need for a Guru. No one required to give you assurance. You yourself are the assurance. Your mind & heart must contemplate on the Lord.
Spiritual contemplation, contains only one important question – ‘Who am I?’ What are my friends & relatives? What is all this? How is all this? They look into my eyes. The person who is destined to die, dies. There is both happiness & sorrow. Think about what is all this. Think about what is this happiness, what is this sorrow.
Yesterday if sorrow came, tomorrow joy may arrive. What is the purpose of this journey? Who I am? Who am I? Am I the life, am I the body, am I the sense organs or the bank account, or my husband, or my wife, or my child, or my wealth, Who am I ? Is it the two eyes? Are you any sense organ of the body? We will leave this one day. This is not me. Then, who are you? Why are you sorrowful always? Why are you attached? You know that all this is not yours, but, still you are sad. All this you are going to leave. All that you have created, your beautiful house, everything you will leave one day. You have such a flourishing bank account (balance), but, one day, again, you must leave it. All the beautiful things that you have collected at home, you must leave it one day. But, still, you feel, this is mine, this is mine that is mine. This body is mine. Oh, I am so beautiful! Look at my face, so nice! Like a heroine, hero. But, what is the use? You must leave it. One day or the other, you have to leave it.
“Okay, Swamiji, from today, I will follow the path of self realization. I will leave this all.” No, do not say this. Do not leave. Keep everything. Everything is yours, this house is yours, the bank account is yours, this entire body is yours, but, in all these, you must contemplate & understand what is the truth & what is false.
What is the truth? Nowadays, we have strong faith on all that is false. You contemplate on the false. Now, the false is becoming the truth for you.
The joy in knowing the truth, the contemplation on the truth, the glory of the truth is addressed through a common practice. When someone leaves the mortal body, “Rama Naam Satya Hai,” (the name of Rama is truth), is said. There is lot of Vedanta in this sentence. This is not the end of the journey, but, the beginning of the journey. This is the beginning of moving towards the destination. This contains the secret of the Vedanta, to begin the good journey. Only the name of the Lord is truth, rest all is false.
On their own, everyone says & repeats, ‘Rama Nama Satya Hai.’ That means, you, me, all are false. We all have been shown an easy & simple path, to the truth. Every teaching has so much essence. Since, they are old teachings, they are not heeded to now. Are you immortal? One day, even the T.V gets spoilt.
Let us take the example of Japan. It is so wonderful. Scientifically, it is very strong. But now, Japan is in lot of sorrow & pain. Tsunami & untimely earthquake struck it. In this little time that we have got, we must contemplate on ‘Who am I?’ ‘what should I do?’ ‘What is my true duty?’ ‘On which path should I walk?’ ‘How should I catch it?’ These kind of questions Parakshit Maharaj, asked in the Bhagavata. He had asked Shuka Brahma, “Swami, what should I do? I have been cursed, to live for only seven more days. After seven days, I will die. I am the king of kings, but, I have done wrong, I have sinned. I seek atonement. I have been cursed by the Maharshi. What should I do in these seven days?” Shuka Brahma had replied, “even for a moment, you can work well. Seven days is more than enough.”
There is another story of a Chakravarthy. He was given only a moment. He was do die, after the lapse of the moment. He knew He was dying. He was anxious – what can I do? What should I do? Narada Maharshi instructed Him, in this little time, chant, “Om Namo Narayanaya”, eight times. The Chakravarthy chanted the mantra eight times. He was a sinner & was wicked, but, still He was blessed with a good place & salvation. That is why today, “I am very busy; I don’t have time; I am busy to read the scriptures; I am busy to read the Bhagvad Gita; busy to chant the Hanuman Chalisa; busy, busy, busy, busy.” You are always busy. Aren’t you busy to eat? Aren’t you busy to sleep? Aren’t you busy to talk ill? Aren’t you busy to fight? Aren’t you busy to desire, to perform actions & to be deluded? (kama, karma, avidhya). No, not at all busy, all this has to be done.
But, you do not have the time to contemplate on God & love your Sadguru. “Now, I have had bath, I will pray. I have not eaten my food, so I will pray.” You say – Before chanting the Narayan Mantra, we must have bath. Ganga Snana. But, you all eat without washing your hands! No problem. “Why wash, it is my hand? What is the reason that I wash my hands?” For you, if you wash your hands & eat food, it may be disrespectful towards your own body. “It is an insult towards my body, what kind of a rule is this, to wash hands, before eating. My food, my hand, my mouth. I will eat this way only.” The result of this is not known. A dog also eats like this. There is no problem for you to eat in such a manner. You enjoy it.
So, to perform any good task, there is no time. No time for charity. Is not within the budget. “This month there is tight budget, so next month will see, to donate.” But, when it comes to enjoyment, entertainment & watching a new cinema, there is no restraint. “Lets go, lets go, lets go.” You don’t have money to donate, but, there is enough to eat, drink & watch cinema.
Take the example of your house.
How many clothes you have, how many cupboards? Do you use this? No. You use that? No.
How many times did you use this? Ahh, one, two, three, four, five, only in the fifth month, when the guest arrived.
How many guest came? Three guest came.
How many members at home? Two members.
How many chairs do you have? Maybe, 11.
How many chairs do you sit on then? Oh, 5.
What about the rest? Oh, it is to beautify & to set the room well.
So, much money is wasted.
While eating, you have lots of variety of food, variety of vegetables. Oh, this is good in vitamins & good for the body. This vegetable, that vegetable. You eat little from all & throw the rest. So, you must calculate your budget accordingly. Compute all that you waste. Similarly, the energy of the mind is also wasted. Sitting on the sofa, reading the newspaper, watching the television, “He did this, he did that, that politician, that politician.” Waste of two – three hours. Time waste. TV waste. Paper waste. There is time for all this. But, no time for Hanuman Chalisa.
Is there devotion? “Oh yes! Lot of devotion, my father is very devoted, I am very devoted, “but, Hanuman Chalisa? No time. Lot of time to waste, no time to donate. No budget.
How many sets of clothes do you have? 5 sets.
How many do you use? One for Friday, one for Sunday, one for Saturday, one for the ghost house.
For the poor, for those who work in your house, give a nice sari that you wore. They will be so happy & satisfied. Look at the sparkle in their eyes. Do you have such happiness? No, you don’t. You give, see the joy & take it. Contemplate on the Lord. But, what do you do? Morning – one sari, afternoon – one sari, evening – another sari. Then, you ready yourself, for an hour or two. The Lord has created such a beautiful face, but, what is this? Your hair keeps falling on the face. The Lord has created such an appropriate, well balanced, face to apply powder & makeup.
You are midway using the powder in the box, till then there is a new commercial on TV about a new type of powder. Try out all, experiment it on your body. So, much of waste. Donate the amount equivalent to one pack of powder to the poor. It will be so nice.
Today, while arriving from the airport, a poor lady approached, “Swami, Swami, Swami.” We gave her twenty rupees. “These people, they ask so much of money!” Such a discussion is not necessary. After that, when I saw the poor lady, she had so much of joy in her eyes. That is enough. This is the Lord’s play. Give Rs. 1.50 or Rs. 10 or Rs. 1000, we don’t have to know the story, why they are begging. For you, you have to change for yourself. You have to learn. Those people are hungry, give them food. When they say, ‘hunger, hunger,” give them something. “No, yesterday, I saw, he was eating two idli’s, now you are not hungry, you tell lies.” You fight with them. Don’t fight. Keep all calculations aside.
No time. No time. No time. Time is there. You must run, catch hold of it. Time will not come behind us. You have to run behind time. Plan & utilize time well. The Lord has given you something. Be satisfied in it. Do something with it.
Many people ask, “Swamiji, Swamiji, I want to win a lottery.”
Swamiji: How much amount of lottery?
Devotee: 1 million rupees. Half portion of the prize money will be for You & the rest will be for me.
I must provide energy towards the One Million Rupees lottery, he will win, half million mine & the other half his. The same amount of energy, if I invest on myself, I can too get a million. Why should I give him? Same energy I will use on myself. This give – take of money is business. “Lord, give me Rs. 100, 50 Rs. For you & 50 Rs. For me. Give that energy & blessing. Don’t do business with the Lord. Do not talk like this for your comforts. Do not fight to restrain from giving or donating. There is lot of wastage happening at home. Reduce it.
With pure intention & heart, just listen to recorded Hanuman Chalisa. If you cannot byheart it, no problem. Just listen. If you find it difficult to chant, just listen. This is a simple penance to contemplate. “Parakshit Maharaj, in these seven days you have, listen to the glories of the Lord. Contemplate on the Lord. Listen to the Bhagavata.” Listen to the Bhagavata. An atheist, will also start believing. But, this cannot be known in a day or two. If you spend 10 days or 15 days, you will learn about Bhagavatam. Bhagavata is a very tough subject in the beginning. It contains many short stories.
In this Karthik Month, we must contemplate on the Lord in this easy way. We must take the Lord’s name, “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare; Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare,” repeat. Harih Om Tat Sat. You all are very fortunate. Sri Swamiji’s presence here is a miracle. Yagna’s are happening at Mysore. Everyday there is Purnahuti. It is happening for a good cause.
Tomorrow, there is a very nice conference (sabha). You must all come & see. An intelligent sabha. After the inauguration, will proceed to the flight. In Hyderabad, there is a Koti Deepotsavam (Lighting of thousand lamps), in the Karthika Masa, on Pournima (full moon day). Today, pournima has come. Pournima is a very important day for Lord Hanuman. It is the Karthika month, Saturday & Pournima day. There are thousands of people at Delhi, but, you all are fortunate. So, once again, I bless you. Pray for your partnership, the fulfillment of your work, in your heart. Don’t think that it has to be personally spoken to Sri Swamiji. There is no opportunity & no time to speak. In this little time, we have spoken. Pray in your heart. The prayers will be fulfilled & will bear fruit.
But, there is no time to speak to all individually. Only darshan. Bonus darshan has been given to you. Dwarka is the place of Lord Krishna.
Jai Guru Datta
Sri Guru Datta
Compiled by Y.S. Swarnaprabha