Speeches of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – November 16, 2014 – Penal, Trinidad
Speech after puja
Jaya Guru Datta
Harihi Om Tatsat
So our own penance is as per our taste. I like Siva. Okay. I like Krishna. Okay. I like Mother Goddess. Ok. I like spices. Ok you can take. I don’t like spices. okay, don’t take. I like sweet. Okay. Take. I like bonda or idli or dosa or roti. I like only water. Okay. Water. No problem. Okay, after one hour you say enough of water. I want to take some food. Okay come on. Take food. Like that your taste. Your penance.
Special blessings to this group. I am very very happy.
Once again I give advice to you Gyan. The singers are very good. Every week you sit and practice. Not only once a month or once in two months. 2-3 groups you can train. If one group is not there, you will have a second group. You are getting to be like an old man. I am getting to be an old man. Give chance to other people also. Assign. Sheetal is also getting old. Give a chance to the young people. You are also young. I am only joking.
Yesterday some people I had not seen; I am seeing them today. Come and sit and sing daily or at least once a week. Again and again correct yourselves. You are singing new bhajans. I am very happy. I wonder at it. One group for Penal, one group for South, one group for Carapichaima, one group for Aripo, one group for singing in other temples. Put a big banner that you are singing for the glory of your Sadguru. It is not a quarrel to have 2-3 groups. Only one group is not good. It is better to have two or three groups. It is not healthy to have only one group. Inside fighting is not good. We are all one Sabha. One tree. All are Hanuman’s children. Prepare a younger group with children also. Otherwise, someday after ten years it will all slowly vanish. You son is also singing. I am very happy.
Yesterday night I saw. I have no words to tell. Good singing. Good singer. But don’t build up ego. You are a small boy. You are not singer.
I am looking for people to support this temple, this project. Our work is not finished. Help for maintenance. Timings you must maintain for puja, for naivedya. Someone is not there, you can find someone to substitute. So many pujaris are there in this country. One by one do service. Do more annadana, human service, and social service. I want this temple to become more powerful like Carapichaima.
Especially for this trip, I have had no time now, at this time. Vishnudev Naraine invited so many times. I have come. So many rituals going on in Mysore Ashrama. Bhagavatam is also going on in different languages. It is very busy there.
We have one thousand children. I want to see them. A big school with 3000 children we are running. We are adopting another orphanage also. Hospital work. Social activities are going on. Free medicines we are giving going from village to village. Similarly, bhajans singing also, we are singing going from village to village. Bala Swamiji is doing a very tough job. I am also doing something. He is also doing something. Manasa Datta is sick. He is not coming out.
Andhra Pradesh has 77 ashrama branches. Big ashramas get only two days; small ashramas half a day; medium size ashramas one day. Traveling, traveling, traveling. We are taking the car. Some places we take aeroplane. Some devotees are giving for a small aeroplane. Very busy time.
Today’s muhurtha is very very powerful. This timing is very powerful. Vishnudev Naraine and Swarup are instrumental. Swarup began with one photograph and one tree. Then slowly, slowly, this big ashrama has developed. Swarup is not sleeping here in this big ashrama. He wants only a small place. This is for our sake. Swamiji is always flying like a bird. He is not staying here. You must use this for a good purpose. I bless you. Now prasadam will be given.
Sri Guru Datta
Speech in the evening
Jaya Guru Datta
All human beings come down to the earth for performing karma. Ancient rishis, the saints, have chosen this earth for performing karma. Without karma you cannot live, you cannot have the human birth or the human form. Our own karma chooses the different families, the different blood relations for us. Some people live for a hundred years.
Some for eighty years with very good health and wealth. Some do not have health or wealth. They face many problems. They are suffering. They earn their own karma. Some people earn merit. They experience this karma on earth. Our breath also is karma. Don’t hesitate. Don’t be irritated. Don’t hate. Happily experience this karma. Performing karma is itself a penance.
What is karma? Again and again taking births. Facing problems again and again. Those with intelligence choose good karma. They are yearning for good jnana/spiritual wisdom. They choose a good Guru. As much as possible they follow their own karma and their own good qualities. Slowly, slowly the human beings get karma promotion. Next birth, automatically they solve their own problems. Slowly, in succeeding births, they attain freedom. If you get irritated in the beginning itself with your karma, then again and again you take births. My advice to you is don’t get irritated with this karma. You must experience happily. Sometimes we are searching for medicines, karma medicines. Different varieties of medicines. We are searching for Gurus, different mantras and medicines. We are searching for pundits who are performing different yajnas. If there are new health problems, you are searching for new medicines.
Life partners sometimes make problems. You cannot trust each other. You cannot believe because your quality and your partner’s quality are different. How can we judge? How can we experience? Ask experienced people for guidance on how to live your daily life. The karma theory is not for escape. It is only experience. If you try to escape, again one day the karma will come back to your life. Once and for all, experience and clear your karma.
Some people escape, try to run away. They tell lies, play tricks, they do miserable works trying to escape karma. Only for the present you may escape, only for a few days, or a few years. Then the karma will return to you. Better to experience karma happily. As much as possible try to turn bad karma into good karma.
(One must think like this). This is my karma. This is my fate. This is my destiny. I must experience this destiny. I should not try to escape this destiny. I do not want to escape.
If you face it strongly, that karma will finish one day and automatically you get freedom. How many days can you escape karma? It is no use. It is only a time-waste. This birth gets wasted. This is prasadam for you. O my God, you are giving this problem and this problem is my prasadam! You have to be happy. I keep asking if you are happy. I want you to be happy. That is only my service. If you are happy, I am also happy. Such an easy method you can take.
You have a good Sadguru. But then after a few days again you get a doubt. Then again your karma is coming out. You must follow with very strong and good faith and experience karma. Then you are a good wise man. Otherwise you are wasting this janma. This is a very precious birth. So many births again and again. This human birth is very rare and precious. Don’t waste this human birth. Each minute, each breath is valuable. God has given in your account only so many millions of breaths, hamsas, inhalations and exhalation. Don’t waste this hamsa prana. With each breath you can chant your Guru-given mantra. Serve your family, your country, and your Sanatana Dharma.
Don’t say you are in depression. Don’t make such statements. It is not good. You are lazy. That is why such hasty statements you are giving. Take courage. Fight this karma happily. Don’t hesitate. Face the challenges. So many different challenges are there in our lives. Not hasty challenges. My statement is very valuable. When I say challenge, I mean experience. You can face your experience as a challenge.
I will experience this problem. This is not my body. This is your body. You have given this human body. If you gave any pain, it is also in your destiny. Body itself is yours, pain also is yours.
If you feel it as ‘my pain’, how can you say that? Body is not yours. Pains also is not yours. It is only temporary. You feel only temporary pain. Sit and slowly think about what Swamiji is talking about pain, body, and karma. In your heart is your Guru. Your Atman is your Guru, your Rama, your Master, your Ganapati, your Sadguru, and your Mother Goddess.
Daily close your eyes and pray. Ask who am I ? What is this pain? What is this body? How many days of this fighting? Is this the last birth? Next birth also some people feel and are afraid of birth. O Swami, please give me good Jnana. I don’t know my address. I don’t know my last address. Next address also I don’t know. How can I find out this address? This address also I don’t know. Simply I live at this address. However many days you give this prana, I will experience. Whichever day you are taking away this prana/life, I am ready. I am not thinking about death. I am not afraid about dying. Death also is my destiny. Death also is my journey. It is the next stop. So many stops we have, as so many births. So many relatives. We don’t know in the last birth who was my mother, father, or partner. Next birth, who will be my mother, my family members, I don’t know. Don’t bother about these things. Don’t think about these things. Don’t waste your time.
My body also will be lost one day. So why should I waste my time? We are believing in our Guru. He says do this, do this, do this mantra, chant this mantra, search for your self. I must follow the Master. Face the devil. Fight and finish this game. This is only my mantra. Finish this game. This is only a game of eighty years or ninety years, forty years, sixty years, seventy eight years, or a hundred years. Then this game is finished. My forefathers also finished this game. One day I too will finish this game. We are in the queue. We are in the line. So we don’t know which place we came from or which place we are going to. There is no return address.
As much as possible I will be with you and follow your words. That is only my destiny, my karma. Today there is a different karma. You are everywhere, omnipresent, omniscient. This is only a play. Small temples. Install murtis, giving naivedya, do decorations, give some incense, like a small children’s play. Swamiji is also playing, gathering people, gathering money, building temples, we are happy, I am following Sanatana Dharma. You follow Sanatana Dharma.
What is this Sanatana Dharma? One day you are destroyed. I am destroyed. Everything is destroyed in Pralaya. Because my Guru says do this, I follow. Put this murthi. I follow. Tell them this is God. Okay I will do it. Do puja. Okay I will do it. Because I believe you and I follow what you say, with silence, no discussion. No arguments with you. If there are arguments, you will get ego. With discussions and arguments, you are wasting time. Keep quiet. Silence. Okay. I follow. You give bhajans. Okay, I will do bhajans. Sit in silence. Okay, I will be silent. Do murti puja. Okay, I will do murti puja. Because I believe you, I will do whatever you say. That is the problem. It is a good problem. Because you are my boatman, I believe you. I don’t know how to swim.
This is a big ocean. I am sitting in this boat. You are my captain. You know the way. I have no direction, no compass. This samsara is a big ocean. You know. It is better you drive. You say, sit in balance. Don’t move. I obey. In a flight also, sometimes they say, don’t move. Fasten seat belts. So you are sitting tight. After half an hour, the captain announces, okay no problem. You can remove seat belts. You can move. Again after a few minutes, there is a problem.
We are puppets in the hands of the boatman. We can’t do anything. This boat has nine holes. Through which hole water is coming in, we don’t know. May be my small boat will rock in the ocean or sink. Yes, I know how to swim but in which direction, I don’t know. I am a gold medalist swimmer but this is a big ocean. I am very afraid of this ocean. You are my boatman. You are the captain. Okay. You say sit down. Keep silence. No ego. Do you know how to perform karma? No. Sit down in silence. What I say, you follow. Sadguru/boatmans says this is a big ocean. You don’t know how to swim. Samsara is a big ocean. We don’t know the direction. But we are talking, I know this, I know that. But you don’t have any experience with reality. You know nothing. Just do what I say. Or else don’t believe. Fall in the ocean and die. Otherwise, sit still and follow directions. What do you say? You don’t like what I say? Try to understand.
Yesterday I told about Ganapati, the beginning deity, Omkara. Ganapati gets different decorations. His arms hold different items. Some Ganapatis have six hands, some two hands, and some have four hands. It does not matter. Each thing he holds has a different meaning. Ganapati Himself is spirituality. Ganapati murti is like Bhagavad Gita, like Brahma, like a Purana. We are human beings. We make some stone images. The photograph is a remembrance of their own face. In reality it is only a paper piece. Oh such a person. Oh our Swami is like this. You remember and you recognize.
Bhajans: Namo namo ganapataye, Durga durgamma, Digambara digambara, Namassivayom, Sri Datta devam (Sunday Kakada Harati), Kayena vacha…
Sri Guru Datta