Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji, the day before Hanuman Inauguration – Mysore – December 25, 2012
Tomorrow’s program might cause a little confusion. Initial confusion is very good, because it will eventually lead to clarity and successful program. This is not a small temple, this is one of the biggest temples you can see anywhere.
On Dhwaja (flag) Puja:
Tomorrow after Kumbhabhishekam, there will be Dhwaja Puja. It is very important Puja and will continue for 40 days (mandala puja).
This is easy to register for a very small offering so that everyone can participate. You may offer however many Dhwajas as you wish. Lot of people already got their Dhwajas. Participate whenever you can and whenever you visit the temple. Dhwaja puja costs very little, you can keep doing this every time you visit. The procedure is
Register for puja
Pick up the flag
Offer your dakshina (money offering)
Keep Chanting Hanuman mantra Om Namo hanumate namaha
while making a wish, place the dhwaja silently at the designated location
Dhwaja is also called Dharma Dhwaja, (the flag of Dharma). In Dallas Hanuman temple, Dhwaja worship started even before the the temple construction started. Just like you do enroll in Homa, enroll in Dhwaja puja also. If you book in advance then you will get it. Please register 108 in my name. Once all the flag spots are taken, 100 flags will be removed and different flags are kept. You must take bath with clothes on, come with wet clothes and offer the 108 flags, and then go back to change your clothes. Second day Swamiji will remove 108 flags and replace with new ones. 2nd circle Bala Swamiji will do it and 3rd day Prasad will do it. 4th circle Narayana Rao will do it. Dhwaja puja used to happen in olden days on the bank of river Pampa. Lord Rama and Bhima from mahabharata also performed Dhwaja puja.
When you perform Dhwaja puja you will receive either a Toram (thread) or a string with 13 knots.
Sri Swamiji narrates a story from Mahabharat related to Hanuman Vratam. Once Bhima, (the second of the 5 Pandava brothers) and Draupadi performed Hanuman Vratam and tied a toram special string with 13 knots. 13 knots signify the 13 syllables in the mantra “Sri Ra ma Ja ya Ra ma Ja ya Ja ya Ra Ma”. Hanuman likes this vratam and mantra very much. Some people think that 13 is bad omen and related to the ghost. Just like Ghazal Srinivas said yesterday, there is no other ghost other than us (our bad thoughts and actions). Since she is the Maharani (queen), she wore the toram along with her jewelry along with her necklace. Arjuna mocked Draupadi by saying, “Why are you do that Hanuman is the servant and security that resides in our flag. Why are you doing his vratam?” Then Draupadi removed the toram. Dharma raja and other sages felt very bad about this incident. That caused the 5 pandavas and Draupadi to have all kinds of hardships for the next 13 years. Arjuna eventually got his ego broken down by Hanumnan.
Hanuman is the prāna (life force). All sages and other people in Mahabharata, praised Hanuman by saying that He will be future brahma. Hanuman prayer started from Rama avatar. Even when Rama was alive, the first temple was built for Hanuman. Hanuman is the actual embodiment of Lord Siva. He wanted to serve Lord Vishnu and that is why He took the incarnation of Hanuman. Between Lord Śiva and Vishnu, It is like a friendly competition to serve each other. Hanuman story is narrated by Swamiji in the Hanuman lecture series. Don’t make any excuses for listening to the daily speeches by Sri Swamiji online. At least read Bhakti mala. Puttugam.com also has the digital store. It has all the MP3 CDs that you can listen to on your computer. and listen to the DVDs. Don’t miss the speeches. They are available in Kannada, telugu, hindi and little bit english also. Bala Swamiji’s speeches are also available on Puttugam.com digital store.
45-60 thousand people came to visit the Datta venkateswara temple on Vaikuntha ekadashi day. Similarly, tomorrow’s kumbhabhishekam is visible from everywhere since it is done up high in the sky. You can watch the kumbhabhishekam tomorrow once. That is enough. There is no confusion with who will be upstairs on kumbhabhishekam since is a crane on which only Swamiji will be on a crane lift (instead of the regular wooden stairs and platform used before).
Shyamala Pappu is a devotee lawyer that narrated her recent experience. She fell down and could not walk, She got well in less than 2 months by Swamiji’s grace and now can visit the Hanuman inauguration. Sri Swamiji says, “This is similar experience of so many people that had health issues, accidents and other problems and recovered to visit the kumbhabhishekam. They got saved by Swamiji’s grace from Swamiji says, you have “Yogam” – destiny to watch kumbhabhishekam. A devotee came to Swamiji fighting for His time so that she can tell Swamiji how she was saved by Swamiji. The devotee said, “We all go to Swamiji and tell our difficulties, why should n’t we tell him that how Swamiji helped her.”
We can’t say enough about Guru’s glory. Kabir das says ” guru’s glory cannot be described by anyone, even if you make the entire sky as the paper and entire ocean as the writing ink. Even though, Vishnu is the creator of all illusion (Māya) in this world, even Vishnu cannot explain Guru’s maya. When you cannot explain the concept of Guru’s glory, you just say “Aha Oho”. Even a great poet does not have words for the the feeling of amazement. Silence only can best explain the great wondrous amazement we get, since no words are enough to explain. You get carried away to a different world when you experience it. By the time you come back to the world and try to explain in words, you forget the actual feeling in its entirety. Someone wrote great description of himalayas and wrote at the end he declared that he never visited Himlayas. If he visited he would not be able to describe in words.
You can make contributions to Hanuman project during the next 40 days. Enquire in the office if you wish to contribute.
Kumbhabhishekam – holy ablution of the Kumbha or the pinnacle of the temple), performed on the inauguration day)