Speeches of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – International Yoga Day and World Music Day – June 21, 2015 – Mysore
Speech in morning
What do you do when you eat? Do you shout and make a racket or do you remain silent? Do you remain silent when you drink water and go to the bathroom? Yes. Where have you come? This is an ashram. Why are you making so much noise? I am not happy. This is not the time scheduled for my speech. But I am speaking now because of your unacceptable behavior.
I was the one who insisted that children should be invited for this program, because they need the awareness. I was warned that children will not behave with discipline and that it may be better to invite only adults. I was the one who insisted. I was told also that I may be required to scold if the children misbehave.
Silence is yoga. Yoga is silence. Yoga is not noise. I said: Invite children. Teach them to be quiet. I knew you would make noise. Have you no fear or respect that elders are sitting on the stage? For ten minutes can you not be quiet?
Someone asked. Why not do this event on a mass scale? I said no.
Many people lack discipline in eating. Yoga without control in eating is useless. Whatever bad effects can possibly be avoided, will be avoided by the practice of yoga. Doctors’ advice you hear. But not grandfather’s advice. Grandfather tells you not to eat too many sweets or fatty items. You neglect his words and even go and eat meat.
Food stored in the body (without proper elimination) causes disease. Sin stored in the system gives you punishment in hell. Money stored illegally gets you into trouble with Income tax officials.
Mita bhasha means limited speech. It is required. It protects and preserves the voice. No harsh sounds should be spoken. You are in a yoga Ashrama. Swamiji does not go outside except rarely, just to avoid the noise of the outside world. Have you no fear? No shame? You are being so noisy.
This is not a picnic. Not an excursion (field trip). Learn fear. Learn silence. You are the future citizens and leaders. This is a day to remember. Learn respect. When disease comes, you run to doctors and try all kinds of treatments, Ayurveda, Yoga, Pranic healing – all these you chase after. After healing occurs, you overeat again.
This program is being shown on livestream. Remain calm for the filming for the live webcast. Differently-abled students performed yoga so well. Some of them cannot speak and some cannot hear. Only sign language. What great training they have received. It is something to feel proud and ecstatic about. You are well in all the limbs and organs and are fine in body and mind. But you do not practice Yoga. One should never forget to do Pranayama and Yoga. This is our ancient heritage. Yajna, Veda, the Bhagavad Gita, all of them mention Yoga. Even the Puranas, the Ramayana and the Bhagavatam. Foreigners practice Yoga. Now seeing their interest, we try to learn. Along with sports, you do yoga. Sports and exercises only build muscles. Yoga also helps the mind. Eat only Satvic food. If you follow these guidelines, you children will become great citizens in the future. I am sad to see your naughtiness and lack of discipline. I love children but not rowdy kids.
Today is also World Music Day. We are so happy that all the countries are celebrating these. All the yoga disciples of Swamiji have now became officers. Some have become Ministers.
Yoga is not political. This is our tradition. There is no need for 7-8 hrs. of sleep if you do yoga. Yoga gives you enough energy that with 3-4 hours of sleep a night, you can be quite productive.
At least out of shame that the disabled children and aged persons like Swamiji are able to perform Yoga, you should begin and maintain your practice of Yoga. Memory and grasping power will certainly improve as an effect of Yoga. That is the greatness of yoga. After 50 years, I still remember specific words spoken and the faces of persons I had not seen since then. It is only due to yoga.
I never came here before, one person swore recently. There is no chance that you could have seen me earlier, he said. Some program with 30,000 people in attendance, Swamiji remembered. This person was seen by Swamiji there. The man was surprised when I reminded him of that event.
I tell all of you to look into my eyes. Do your prostrations later. Drishtipata – transmission of spiritual energy occurs when I look into your eyes. Allow me to make eye contact with you. Because of Yoga, I am able to remember you for decades and lifetimes even.
Good hot fresh food has been specially prepared for you. One more short program. After that we proceed to lunch. Music or Nada Yoga session takes place right after lunch. Do not miss it.
2.5 lakh people remained silent. Only the chanting in unison 27 times along with Swamiji, of the Hanuman Chalisa was heard, In Tenali. 65 acre spacious tent was built. There were 3000 cooks to serve the attendees. There were a few thousand police workers to maintain security. There was pin drop silence. No complaints from anyone of thefts of footwear or purses. Barefoot, old people walked on the newly laid roads. All were provided free transportation and food. Ambulance services were provided by Christians. Hospitals were set up. Muslims also gave their assistance. Hanuman showed His Viswarupa, the Universal Form there, the Five-faced Hanuman. Guinness World Record was set for the largest number of persons chanting a prayer for so many times. At the very first I said: Be quiet. That is all. They were quiet till the end of the program.
Listen to me. Remain as much as possible in the presence of Swamiji, with a clean mind that is truthful.
The Second Guinness World Record was set in Australia for Yoga Lesson in Music Therapy. Hanuman Chalisa was chanted at the Sydney opera house on the steps by a large group of Yoga students. Healing Music Yoga Tunes Lesson was a I hour program. Yoga exercises were done with largest number of persons on the steps to the Sydney Opera House. The largest attendance at that venue. We have kept the certificates in the Vishwam Museum.
In Telugu, ‘ginne’ means a vessel. I thought Guinness meant vessels. I did not even receive a tumbler.
Sadguru’s scolding also is always a blessing. It is meant for your improvement. I bless all of you.
Sri Guru Datta
Speech during music session in the afternoon
Today I speak only in Kannada
Today it is both Yoga Day and Nada Day. The two have coincided. I am very happy. Veda also is very important in life. Bhakti, Karma, and Jnana are important.
In the kitchen, mother, like a goddess, stands and cooks. 15 km. she walks daily without realizing. Near Los Angeles in USA, I visited a place between San Jose and Los Angeles. All the people in that town are vegetarians. It was shown on the television news that in that town, by having a television the sugar complaint of the residents goes away. I was puzzled. They do not use a television remote, I was told. That is why. Walking. Getting up frequently for physical exercise. Oh. then I understood.
There is no physical work at all for us. With advancement of science and technology, more diseases are occurring. Automatic doors. Automatic locks. Now keyless entry. No exercise even for the fingers to handle a key bunch and to turn the key. Ravi Renduchintala’s home I visited in Orange County. Big house. One robot vacuum cleaner was going around the house cleaning the floor. Washing machine does the washing and spin drying. Doctors. Huge earnings. No exercise.
Devaraj Urs asked me several decades ago to run a medical college. I refused. He sent his brother also to me to try and persuade me to agree, to just give my name. They would give the money and the site to build the college. They said it would fetch huge profits. I said no. I would only get involved in the education of children in shorts. Kids I teach. Not after they begin wearing pants. After a certain age, children do not allow their personalities to be shaped. Children get donation seats in colleges, with high level recommendations. Fees are paid in lakhs. 1.4 crore total expense to get a child college education in a professional college. One child who grew up in the ashram wanted desperately to become a doctor. Very intelligent. Both parents are doctors. I said: You earn a seat and pay for your own expenses. She did. Finished her medicine and is now doing her House surgeon training.
Four other children in another family were the same way. Others are fickle-minded. They go to donation colleges. Many doctors earn a lot of money. They become fat. Cannot even bend. We must do house work. Wash dishes. Gardening work we should do ourselves. Keep the house clean. That is all also yoga. No bad smell should be there in the house. Our work we must do. That helps us 25 per cent. 75 per cent of our success depends on concentration.
Music and Yoga Sadhana help achieve it. Nada cures. Then it becomes Yoga. Nada upasana is done in Naga Loka. With one breath the musicians count and gauge how long they can hold it and how many notes in the ascending and descending patterns they can render. (Swamiji demonstrated in Darbari Kanada Raga, singing alaap). From the navel, the sound vibration originates. Holding the breath works on the different Nadis, the subtle channels in the body. The effect is based on the count, how long the breath is held and what notes are sung. The Ida and Pingala Nadis join in the Brahma Nadi. Chandra and Surya nadis have in the middle, the Brahma Nadi. The vibration then comes out of the Sahasrara Chakra. The heart beat joins with the breathing pattern.
Spandana, the vibration, the listeners also feel, as the nerves vibrate in them, as if the listeners are also singing. Low and high notes of the sound travels. Finally it descends to sa, the first note in the octave. Sanchara, the melody of the music caused by the meandering notes, removes contamination from the heart. Like bellows, which keep up the fire to purify gold. The pressure of the bellows-like action of the lungs cleans the system. Pranayama has the same benefit as the asanas practiced in Hatha Yoga. Datta Kriya Yoga combines the techniques of asanas with the appropriate Pranayama suited to it.
72,000 Nadis or subtle nerves are there in the body. There are 72 Melakarta Ragas, musical scales. They yield numerous scales with different permutations and combinations. Sage Venkata Makhi is divine, like Bhagavan. He invented this system. He is remembered today. There is a close relationship between Nada and Yoga. Swamiji could use his voice alone during Music Therapy sessions, the way he demonstrated to you today. But to avoid exhaustion, he uses the musical instrument, the synthesizer. Otherwise, there is actually no need for an instrument. The voice is sufficient.
Sri Maha Ganapataye Namaha
Sri Saraswatyai Namaha
Sripada Vallabha
Narasimha Saraswati
Sri Guru Dattatreyaya Namaha
Bhajan: yoga hai sukhamaya – Like a patriotic song. Marching song beat. Hindi bhajan – meaning: Yoga alone grants a happy life. It removes all sorrows. Yoga is a great way to live. It is the best lifestyle. It is the ultimate destination of all paths. How to practice Yoga? Easy methods are suggested in the song. Serve parents. Help troubled ones. Serve your country. Treat the world as one family. Yoga is a wonderful way to live. Live a Satvic life. Be alert. Fulfill life by all means. All good deeds, you should do at once. Never let go of any chance to do something good. Yama, niyama, (discipline and self-restraint), Asana, and Pranayama – these are daily musts, along with Pratyahara etc. (the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga you follow). Yoga keeps the mind still and pure, balanced and strong. Go inward. Leave off turbulence. Give up despair and dejection. Merge eternally in Sachchidananda.
Only one person stayed in the audience when a great speaker was giving a discourse. The speaker was happy that at least one person was impressed with his scholarly speech and was going to reward him. But he was the microphone man, waiting to pickup his equipment.
Very famous raga. Mohana. It is a Yoga raga.
Next it is Keeravani raga. It is traditional and light. Vithala bhajans in Maharashtra are invariably sung in this Raga. Bhajan: Om ayim hreem Sreem sivarama anagha dattaya namaha and Acyuta Ananta
Appaji’s Play away – Healing Music on IPod has only Shruti section. Only in Shruti, Ragas are played. You will not know what tunes. Big scientists are doing research on that. Emergency medicine and cancer doctors. Patient responses are studied over the management of harmful side effects using Swamiji’s healing music. A doctor who is a music lover, and one scientist in America also have done research and it has been proven successful.
International Yoga Day is not a one day festival. Constant breathing is required. We do not just breathe for a day and stop. Pranayama should be daily routine.
A 40 year old disease does not go with one day of listening to music or one day’s practice of yoga. Seven days’ prescription is given by the doctor. It does not work if you swallow all the medicines in one day. Yoga is not just moving the limbs. Slow breathing along with movements of the body removes the toxic air from within, and fills it with good air.
Many lakhs of people have benefited with Music Therapy. Many have left medicines also after Music therapy.
Death is growth. The life force leaves the body. The individual soul in the subtle body desires luxuries. Jeevi is the soul. It has no parents, no Guru or God. Male, female, animal or ghost body, it wants new body and comforts always. Experiences all and then leaves the body. Those around it do the same thing. No one cares for another. Jealousy is always there. I am old. But you are enjoying. I must enjoy also. But does not care. It has Vyamoha or obsessive attachment for what? Soul has no attachment. Only desires for new experiences. As a dog, a mosquito, a buffalo, or even as a pig, selfishly it desires to enjoy. No one has anyone. All the dearly beloved ones have already left you and married someone else after being reborn elsewhere. Death separates people totally. More details if you learn, they will show that each one is absolutely alone. Only try to merge in God.
People discourage others from reading the Bhagavad Gita. They want to prevent you from improving. One has to battle to progress, to get ahead despite discouragement from others. Bad germs have to be killed. But drugs first kill the good cells in the body. A mosquito does not quit. Like the rakshasa called Rakta beeja. Our bad germs are our enemies. We must allow them to eat our insides. We must pay them their dues. Give this charity. Donation of organs. Organs are sometimes rejected. Eyes, heart, etc. or blood also. They are not always accepted. They may be contaminated. Good cells get destroyed sometimes with medicines. Even if you eat medicines as if they were meals, even if you consume that much, sometimes they do not help. Self defense is okay, people say, that is one theory, that it is okay to kill mosquitoes if they are biting you. Telling lies to save one’s life is okay. But do not tell lies afterwards.
The body merges in fire. The earth goes through fire Pralaya. All cells on earth merge in fire. Earth is a ball of fire actually, split from the sun. Under the surface of the earth, at the core, there is great fire. Excavated gems, oil, water, minerals, and ores cause an imbalance. Earthquakes come as a result. This is all geography. The same geography is in our body also. The body is beautifully sound proofed. No leaks of sound here. There is an equivalent of 10,000 bombs’ sound inside.
‘Tak tak’, ‘jag Jag’ sound that you do not hear. The body is decorated with the skin. If you remove it, you will get scared. We would be like walking skeletons. This body is like a nest. We must keep it clean. Do not practice dispassion or Vairagya to avoid work, saying, anyway I will die. No. It is not wrong to follow Guru, to feed the hungry, or to do yoga.
To forget its sorrow, a baby cries. It may have a tummy pain. You sing a lullaby. It gives comfort. The lyrics of the lullaby may be terrible, as many of them are, they are even scary. Your dad is a bad fellow, and so on. Mother tries to give an outlet to her anger and frustration through such lyrics. Bad guy is coming, and so on. Baby thinks mom is sick. It sleeps, not because of her melodious voice and singing.
Nada gives comfort. It is soothing. It is not wrong to listen to good music, or to enjoy Guru sannidhi. One must enjoy Guru’s company as much as possible. Small chances you get, you should not miss.
Now Yoga Day concludes. Now Tulabhara, our Sunday program will take place.
Sri Guru Datta
Compiled by Smt Hira Duvvuri