Discourse on Sivananda Lahari
Day 16, August 13
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Ganesaya Namaha
Sri Saraswatyai Namaha
Sripada Vallabha
Narasimha Saraswati
Sri Guru Dattatreyaya Namaha
Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Sadgurubhyo Namaha
We have performed worship of Vinayaka. Today is the auspicious Sankashtahara Chaturthi. Pray that the Lord should remove all hurdles from our path. After singing the praises of Ganapati we will commence our study of Sivananda Lahari.
Bhajan: Ganapati devudu maaku
Beautiful Nata raga, one of the five Ghanaragas. Since today is Ganapati worship day, we will have to learn the meaning of this bhajan.
Lord Ganapati, who is none other than the Omkara, is established firmly in our hearts. He has occupied the altar that is our heart. He is of the form of sound syllables, the alphabets. Like our writing the letters in air, the moving trunk writes the Omkara that covers all letters of the alphabet. Observe His curved trunk. Gam is His seed syllable. He has an elephant’s head. In the Anahata Chakra His Omkara vibrates. His trumpeting of Gheem, the elephant’s call, vibrates in our hearts as Omkara. He is holding a treat in His hand; it is not a sweet laddu, believe me. It is the essence of all spiritual knowledge. It is pure, supreme bliss. We do Sahasra Modaka Homa because we are offering to Him all the different thousands of types of knowledge that we gather throughout our lives. We surrender all our limited Knowledge to Him praying that He should bless us with the highest knowledge. We must pray to Ganapati first thing in the morning every day. His large ears blow away all our troubles. He listens to all our prayers. We must listen extensively to learn properly. We must also observe very keenly. He exists beyond the three types of sleep, transcending the three types of body- gross, subtle, and causal, sthoola, sookshma, and karana, and surpassing the three types of Time – past, present and future. Ganapati teaches the secret of Creation.
Verse 30:
Vasthrōd dhoota Vidhou sahasrakaratā pushpārchane Vishnuta,
Gandhe gandha vahāt -mathānna pachane bahirmukhā dyakshata,
Pathre kānchana garbhatasti mayi Ched bālendu chudāmaṇe,
Sushrūshām karavaṇi the pasupate swāmin trilokī guro
Sri Bhagavatpada says in this verse: I have the desire to offer you proper worship. But how do I do it? I am not satisfied with offering you small favors. I wish to wash your clothes in the Ganga, dry them, iron them, and clothe you in clean and fresh, and fine clothes. Surya, the sun removes all odors from the world.
When it rains those who wash clothes have a problem drying the clothes.
By clothing you, all the odors from me get removed.
Is it possible to clothe God? We cannot even successfully clothe our mega Murti of Hanuman. Siva is all pervasive and is in all directions. Digambara does not mean naked. It means that wherever you look, He is there. Only the Sun can clothe you in glowing, clean, beautiful and brilliant rays. I will become the Sun, by your blessing and grace, and then I will dress you properly, O Lord Siva.
It means that for us to derive the best benefit, we must imagine that we are the Sun covering the Lord with our brilliant rays as His clothing.
I wish to worship you with flowers. How is it possible for me to collect the most beautiful and rarest flowers from all over the Universe to offer you in worship? Vishnu is all pervasive. Wherever the sky is there, Vishnu is there. I will turn into Vishnu by your grace, so that I can gather flowers from everywhere to worship you with.
On Ekadasi days Siva worships Vishnu and on special days for Siva, Vishnu worships Siva.
Once, Vishnu wanted to worship Siva. From 108 countries Vishnu brought 108 lotuses to worship Siva, with 108 names of Siva. He was in meditation with closed eyes and on the 108th name, noticed that one flower was less. He is Padma Netra/lotus-eyed. He was ready to pluck out His own eye to offer it as the last flower. Siva at once stopped Him from doing such a great sacrifice and granted Him the Sudarshana Chakra to protect the world.
Imagine that each of your body parts is a flower and offer them to God, concluding with the mind.
I wish to offer you sandal paste, O Lord Siva.
Our sandal wood is not sufficient here even though we are in Karnataka. How many people can extract the paste that will be sufficient for you. Only Air has the capacity to bring the fragrance of all existing sandal wood fragrance to worship you with. Air is not contaminated by anything. I wish to be also untouched by contamination when I worship you. I wish to be like Air, pure and fresh. Please turn me into Vayu, the Wind God.
I wish to offer Naivedyam to you. Do I have the capacity?
I can make Bobbatlu, Payasam, Chitra Anna and offer to you. We offer because he does not actually eat. We made only 4. We are 5 people at home. God has consumed 3, now what to do? We will be in a fix if God actually ate our offerings of food. He only receives the essence. We offer to you because you do not touch the physical items. If you were to stretch out your hand and take, we will stop offering to you.
We surrender to you what you have given us, should be our attitude. Many people do not have the space for a separate puja room. Only a small picture of God is kept in the kitchen. Even while it is being cooked, the food gets offered to you. Is it possible for us to make proper food good enough to offer you?
I have to become Indra, the God of rains and grains. He presides over the strength we derive from eating food. I wish to become Fire God who is the conveyer of our offerings to God.
We send by courier, or email for instant transport of messages.
In the olden days, a little bit of food would be offered to fire first and then to some creatures outside, before the family ate. If we feed the other beings before eating, such as some seeds for the birds, they will return the next day, expecting that you will feed them again. If you get sick and are unable to feed them one day, the birds will wonder if you are sick and will wish for your speedy recovery. Cows and birds have that sense and power. We must encourage that.
Like Indra, I wish to feed you. Please bless me to be Indra, the one who presides over food.
Indra has many names. Paakasaasana. Paka is cooking. Is he a great chef? Paka is a demon. He was destroyed.
Cooking should be done with proper attention till the food is well cooked.
A suitable container for offering the food to you, is required, O Siva.
In the same vessel where it is cooked, you must not offer Naivedyam. You must transfer the food into a clean dish. In the olden days there would be black soot stuck to the pans. Now non-stick pans are there. Still, transfer the food into a clean dish before offering it to God. I should become Brahma to be able to offer you in a dish as big as the huge egg/Brahmanda inside which all Creation exists.
Siva only has a Crescent Moon, the 16th phase of the Moon as a decoration on His head. On New Moon, Moon is not visible. There is a stain on the Moon, everyone says. Siva said, do not blame the Moon. I will keep him on my head to remove any stain or flaw form the Moon. Siva knows of all our flaws. We must surrender all our flaws to God. He will then cleanse us.
Yesterday Sri Bhagavatpada said, you have even the moon on your head. What can I give you? O Pasupati, we are all like beasts who imagine that we have knowledge. Please protect us.
How did the prayer begin? I wish to be the Sun, Vishnu, Vayu/Air, Indra, and Brahma. Only if I become all of these deities, I will be qualified to worship you properly. Indirectly Sri Bhagavatpada is praying to attain divinity.
Sushroosha also means to listen. Do service to elders and listen to their instructions and follow. Pada Seva is not pressing Guru’s feet, but following in His footprints.
That is what I pray for. You are our leader, our Lord.
Please grant me the eligibility to worship you the best way. I have nothing to offer you. As the Sun I can clothe you. As Agni, I can feed you. As Air I can apply fragrance to you. As Indra and Brahma I will offer you good food in a suitable container.
You are the Guru to the 3 worlds. You give knowledge. You reveal the Truth.
Daily everyone must pray to God. What is the duration? What is the procedure? Scriptures say 64 types of services are to be offered; bringing Mother Goddess in a procession, washing the feet, placing on the altar, giving a ritual bath with different substances, doing her hair, dressing and decorating and then placing on the throne to offer the rest of the services. It takes 3 hours if done hastily. With pity on us, the scriptures have also reduced the procefure to 16 services named as the most important. Dhyanam, Avahanam, etc. till conclusion with Mantra Pushpa it takes half an hour. We have no time. That time I would spend on the computer, you will say. My boss will not wait for me. Okay. Just do 5 services. Gandha, Pushpa, Dhoopa, Deepa, and Naivedya. That is enough. It will cover all. Just takes 10 minutes. No, too long. All five are in your own five fingers. You can offer these five substances with your five fingers. That is enough.
Simply touch the five fingers. If even this is too difficult for you, if you say, no one can help you. We do Namaskaram when we wake up to offer God symbolic worship. 10 organs – five senses and five organs of actions we surrender to God, with the prayer, you are responsible for all my actions, O God. We must do worship. And we must teach our children to do it. If we fail to do it, we feel some void, something lacking in our day. The five divinities are named, that is why. End with Brahmatva. Give me Brahmatva. That is the ultimate. It is easy to pray with the five services – one minute in a day is all that is required to do this. This wonderful prayer teaches us how to pray.
Bhajan: Sambho Mahadeva
Now the incident of Siva swallowing the poison is described. We feel sympathy for Siva that for protecting us he has swallowed the poison. He is our friend. He is stuck to us out of love like grease, either ghee or oil. Without His friendship we cannot survive. We have friendship or affection for our near and ear. That is why we are alive. Those in a coma have love for life and that is why they are surviving.
No one came forward to accept the poison, although everyone else fought for Amrita. When you recognize Siva’s sacrifice for our sake, out of love, our love for Him grows. Neelakantha/Blue throat, also the peacock has that name. In Srisailam there are lots of peacocks.
It is a great verse.
Verse 31:
Nālam vā paramōpakāraka-midam tvekam pasoonām pate
Pasyan kukshigatān charāchara gaṇān bāhyastithān rakshitum
Sarvāmarthya palāyanouśadha matijwālākaram bheekaram
Nikshiptam garalam gale na galitam nodgeerna meva tvayā
What can I say about your dedication to help others? The whole world follows that rule, except man. Man alone is most selfish and wishes ill upon others. Rivers, trees, and everything in nature is committed to helping others. Except human beings, all other things in nature, and all other beings are noble.
O Lord, Pasoonaam Pate, the Lord of all living creatures, I will tell you why I call you the one who benefits others. All the created beings are sheltered in your womb.
Where are we most comfortable? Inside a mother’s womb. We have nothing to do. We keep eyes closed and keep floating in the waters. Whatever mother eats nourishes the fetus. Mother’s breath gives the fetus air. We are all like Krishna, in His description in the Sanskrit verse: Karaaravindena … where lying in a leaf the infant Krishna is joyfully and peacefully floatin upon the waters. That is how we are in our mother’s womb. That state we all enjoy. Happily Krishna hold with his finger his big toe and keeps it in his mouth, floating on the waters.
We are all in the womb called Brahmanda. This body is Pindanda. We are all infants. Your air we breathe. Your food we consume. We must imagine this as we go to sleep. The rest and relaxation we feel there, we must again try to experience.
At birth, the baby cries. Inside he is calm and relaxed. But it gives much discomfort to the mother. Just hold this piece of wood for an hour in your hand. You get tired. It will feel heavy. A mother carries so much weight in the womb. So many changes happen in her body. Her food is unappetizing to her. She feels nausea. So many discomforts and carrying the weight inside her own body, all she does with love. The moment that new baby comes, the older sibling feels neglected and frustrated. Parents have to protect both the older and the younger child.
You are our mother, Lord Siva.
The poison emerged. Why not leave it aside? The Haaalaahala has the nature of burning everything. It spreads everywhere very quickly. It could not be contained in a vessel to be buried or dumped somewhere.
Even the celestial ran away from the poison. The Amrita had not been extracted yet from the churning of the ocean. Some remedy had to be come up with. O Siva, you alone thought of a solution when you heard the heart-rending prayers of everyone fleeing for their lives. This Halahal poison was most venomous. Sometimes with food poisoning, some discomfort occurs and goes away. Blood poisoning is dangerous.
This Halahala was like a black Cobra, a frightening serpent spitting venom.
Practice till you conquer a subject. At first it appears like poison.
Like placing it in a bank, Siva, you have kept it safe in your throat. If you swallow, the worlds inside will perish. If you leave it alone, it would have destroyed everyone outside. Your compassion is beyond limit.
Appayya Dikshitar described: so much mercy and kindness, O Lord Siva. The deities are all screaming and running away from the Halahala that was chasing them rapidly and relentlessly. Without entertaining any doubt or even a second thought, when you heard their prayers, you received the poison into yourself. They said, this came first, we offer this to you. What kind of worship was this? At once, you swallowed, gobbled it up, to protect the weeping deities and demons.
When there are severe problems at home, contemplate on Siva as Neelakantha to get rid of the troubles.
Siva is Guru. He takes our poison and grants us Amrita.
Mrityunjayaya … Amritesaya is His description. Had He not swallowed the poison, we would not have the Amrita.
Did you think it was the fruit Java Plum/Jamun/Neredu pandu or the blue gem Neelamani/Sapphire? Why do you wear this strange blue decoration on your neck?
There are devotees who wholeheartedly pray to God to come and rest inside their hearts. If you pray like that, instead of asking for promotion, lottery win, or a passing grade in exams without studying, then you will also feel rest and repose. We must show our affection and love for God. You must develop that caring affection for God.
Lalita Sahasranama Parayana is in progress. What is the count? 75 lakhs only completed. We must complete 100 lakhs/10 million. Please participate in the chanting.
Aug. 15th is also a Friday. Please keep chanting, all of you.
Bhajan: Rajeswareem sambhaavaye ..
Victory to Mother Goddess.
Manjunath and Nagaraj will be offering Sangeeta Seva here on Ganapati Festival Day. I request them to play this Raga. I just got this desire to listen to it from them. They play very beautifully. I will be very happy if they do.
Sri Guru Datta