Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji to Kriya Yoga students – October 16, 2011 – Mysore
Speech addressed to Kriya Yoga students and devotees in the Universal Prayer Hall
“Bliss is not when you give a broad smile showing all your teeth. Bliss is not when you jump up and down and dance with excitement. These joys are not permanent. Permanent bliss is something that you experience within. It is not visibly displayed. To achieve it, it is important to practice Kriya Yoga every day. Pranayama, the breathing exercises are very important for cleansing and steadying the mind. What is Kriya? Kriya is good action, action that is performed for a good pupose and for achieving good results. You must always keep your sense organs busy doing only good things, worthwhile things, the right things. The sense organs are always trying to make you do things the wrong way. They do not know Sat Chit Ananda. They do not give you true bliss. So they always lead you the wrong way. Eighty percent of the people do not know what life is all about. They think that Life is what the television, the radio, and the news media tell them about life, of what they hear from other people, all of which is all wrong; all lies. Most people don’t know the truth about life. Many are surprised when they learn that they really don’t know anything about life. The media and the publicity channels give all misinformation.
How to know the truth about the world then, about Life, if we do not follow the media, or even other people?
There is a story in Kannada literature about how telepathically the thought waves from the guru reached the disciple who was far away in the forest. Also in the story of King Harischandra, when the son got bitten by a snake in the forest, both his parents knew of it intuitively, without anybody carrying the news to them. When Draupadi called out to ‘Krishna!’,Krishnaheard her call although he was not present there and was far away. When we call out to Govinda, he listens and responds.
There are some people and some animals and other creatures that know instinctively when an earthquake or some other calamity is going to happen, especially dogs. If you restrain your sense organs and do dhyana, meditation with discipline, taking only limited food, engaging in only limited speech, and limited recreation, doing the proper exercises, then your mental strength will increase. To increase mental strength, along with Satsang (keeping the company of realized souls) the above disciplines are also required. Like a tortoise that withdraws its limbs, we must go inward. Then the enemy cannot harm us. That is how the tortoise protects itself from outside dangers. We also should withdraw our sense organs. Then mental strength will grow as you also do your regular pranayama and Kriya Yoga. Then you will also begin to know things (like having a sixth sense or clairvoyance). But even if you know of future happenings or things that are happening far away, you need not and should not unnecessarily disclose this information to others. If you begin to show off, then your power and energy will be lost. Conserve your energy and bliss. It is mandatory that you practice Kriya Yoga.
Even the devotees who live in the ashrama don’t practice it the way they should. They come, sit for puja, attend speeches, bhajans, and then go do other things when they go to their homes. They sit in their sofas, watch television, cinemas, gossip about others, drink coffee, eat vadas, and go to sleep. What is the use? They are like the rocks and stones in theGangariver. With all that jnana (they do not absorb any water, they get eroded and gather moss only) that they are in constant touch with, they do not receive any benefit. They are safe here and secure, but they waste their time. Here all facilities like water and electricity and all the comforts are provided. It is like joining a hospital, staying at this ashram. You get food three times a day. But all you do is sit here with discipline for a short time, but go home and scratch your body here and there and be lazy. You should be disciplined at home also, as you are here in the Prayer Hall. You should not limit your discipline only to times when you are in Swamiji’s presence. You should not be complacent about yourselves.
You must not get offended when you are criticized like this by Swamiji. You must instead, correct yourselves. When Swamiji says something about you that you have to correct, you try to argue and justify your behavior. You even write long emails to him that somebody has misinformed him about you and spoke against you. You tell him that he does not know the truth of what exactly happened, or the truth about you.
If he does not know, then how can he be Swamiji? How is he a guru then? Is he just a priest, in your opinion, or just like the manager of any other worldly organization? How can you tell Swamiji that he has been misinformed by others? How can you think of him like that? Suddenly you drop him down from the pedestal. How can you start explaining and justifying things to Swamiji? I feel very bad when you behave like that. You don’t accept your mistakes. You consider and treat Swamiji like an ordinary person.
After doing a little bit of spiritual austerities, like japa, or chanting Lalitha Sahasranama, or Vishnu Sahasranama, and thing like that you also begin to feel certain subtle vibrations. You feel small changes and you feel more things intuitively. With such little sadhana if you feel that you are acquiring knowledge like this, then can you imagine how powerful and limitless Swamiji’s knowledge is? What knowledge has dawned upon you if you begin to provide Swamiji with details, adding some of your own lies to them, to convince him of your own viewpoint? At the end of it all, you say, “Swamiji, you are all-knowing. Please forgive me.” This is the mistake that you all make. When you are in the mood, you tell Swamiji, “O you are Siva, you are Indra! You are this and that.” But in a different mood, you treat him like an ordinary man, or even less.”
Sri Guru Datta
Courtesy: Smt. Hira Duvvuri