Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji on the eve of Ashta Lakshmi Temple inauguration in Nellore Ashrama – February 4, 2001
Sri Maha Ganapataye Namaha
Sri Saraswatyai Namaha
Sri Swamiji came from Eluru to Nellore. Sri Swamiji has been traveling like a duty. Going place to place to meet people and devotees with previous relations. Is it My Karma or their Karma? I don’t know. Since both Karmas meet, it is like a sprinkling of Karma on me as well as on you all. The tours are continuing. That is all. Is it a garb of a saint or a moving and careless gypsy like ascetic? Well what ever be it. The people are Blessed and hence fortunate. Is it king like or like a renounced? Is it Madhava (God) or Manava (human)? We don’t know. Is it Ram or Rahim? The caravan of Sri Swamiji where the Jeevatma and Paramatma principles are preached, the caravan which moves from place to place, people to people to finish the Runa (Runa in Sanskrit means debt owing from previous relations) of the relations of disciples and relations of relatives. You can never pay off this debt. So, the caravan has reached Nellore town now. The Ashrama here already has a main shrine of Gopala Krishna, Datta and Ganapathy. Now today we are consecrating the temples of Ashta Lakshmi. (Eight forms of Lakshmi and Hanuman. Ashta Lakshmi will be protector of this place. Whose Sankalpam was this temple? We can say it was from Jayalakshmi Mata. Such Ashta Lakshmi temple is being consecrated. It is also the sacred day of Bheeshma Ekadashi. Come and have Darshan of Ashta Lakshmi on every Tuesday and Friday. It will ease your mental blockages, which you construe as hurdles or problems in life. Nellore is fortunate. You all have served and supported in your own unique ways.
Don’t feel uninvited. There are no invitations for a temple. Don’t feel that this temple belongs to a particular group and that you are unwelcome. Never feel so. It belongs to the group of Sadguru and you all have equal share of worship here. In all Ashramas, it is for the first time that a separate Ashta Lakshmi temple is being built. The Yantra under the idol is important. It is very important to be consecrated in an auspicious time. We all should feel fortunate to witness such historic occasions. Poverty of knowledge and wealth bother many. For a small person a thousand rupee loan bothers as much as a million rupee loan for a rich man.
Desires are like loans. Thinking that inspite of all prayers, the God is not giving me is also a loan. To pay off that loan, we have to intensely believe God, perform physical service, pray and help the needy. Many have the feeling of inferiority that they do not have money to do Pujas and help like rich people. This is very wrong. Come to the temple here. Meditate and if you feel, water the plants, clean the place do physical seva. It brings equal Punya like Pujas and Homas. If you have ideas, come and implement them to make this a better place. Physical and Mental Sevas too are important. Results will be seen. Just coming and watching an Arati in the temple will not bring you closeness or involvement here. I do not subscribe to such methods. Since we are beings born to full fill our Karmas, we have to perform Karma (activity). This is the rule. If some groups claim that there is no God, then I have to say that they are incapable people. They are ignorant. They do not know the full spirit of the Vedas, Puranas or spiritual way living. They are like those who read the first pages of a book and jump to read the last pages and claim that they have read the book. When we worship and worship, our mind gets stilled. When the mind gets stilled, it looks for the formless. To reach that formless worshipping stage in our life, we have to have a Dvaita (duality) out look and achieve the Advita (non duality). We have to have the dualistic outlook of “I am, I am eating, I am laughing, I am crying etc, While living in this world of my cows, my wife, my dogs, my children, we have to have a dedicated, sincere and spiritual life as prescribed by the spiritual teacher. This is all Karma. We are performing Karma. Then the question – why temples, why Kumbhabhishekams or why Gurus may arise. All this is only for Chitta Shudhdhi (to purify the intellect). For peace of mind. We should strive for peace of mind. Peace of mind is important for purity of intellect. To achieve this, you need to worship God in form. Once peace of mind and purity of intellect is achieved, then these steps automatically disappear and we come to the conclusion that all the creation is his spark and that we all are Him.
We should not say this before we start in that direction. Here in this field, we can get the certificate only by experience and not by influence. Now a days we can get many fake certificates and we may even get a teaching job. What can you teach there? Many are going to prisons because of fake education certificates. It is a wrong and dangerous thing. If we get the certificate in the proper method, then we are prepared for the challenge ahead. The mind gets maturity to face the new situation. All our striving is for that maturity of mind. A person without hunger finds no food tasty. A true spiritual person finds the teachings of His master like precious gems. It should not be like playing Veena instrument in front of a buffalo. Likewise a person who does not honor his teacher is like that. He has no culture in him. He does not know what and who is a Guru. It needs Samskara (the culture distilled from previous lives). For a very few past experiences help. A bit of support from Sadguru liberates them. To get that Samskara power, we are doing all these. We are exposed here to good vibrations, power, experience and impression. We get strength, purified intellect, body and mind control, calmness, power to withstand difficulties in life, good thoughts to help others, … many many benefits. The greatest gift or merit of a Sadguru’s relation ship is the power to withstand difficulties. Then the Blessing follows. Ego or force does not work here. You cannot demand milk from a cow. You have to follow certain procedures so that the cow can give milk. If you force it, it may not even give you cow dung. A little bit of self-surrender, faith and Love will take you a long way in life and in spiritual life.
May Goddess Ashta Lakshmi Bless you all.
Jaya Guru Datta
Courtesy: Avadhoota Dattapeetham