Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – yoga program – September 6, 2015 – Mysore
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Maha Ganapataye Namaha
Sri Saraswatyai Namaha
Sripada Vallabha Narasimha Saraswati
Sri Guru Dattatreyaya Namaha
How lucky all you children are! Yoga has been in existence since ancient times. Self-Realization is inherent in every human being. Everyone asks, does God exist? Have you seen God? Have you talked to God? Can you show me God? Will I be able to speak with God? Where is God? These questions arise in the minds of those who know, and also those who do not know. What is God’s form? Where is He?
God is in our form. He is inside us. Whatever we are doing, He is doing. That is what the Bhagavad Gita says. Where is God? God is everywhere. If God had only one form, then we would not show Him respect. God is hiding in every one of us. He is as you. He is as me. But He is not seen by either of us. You appear as yourself to you. I appear as myself to me. I have to know myself. You have to know yourself. See you as yourself. See yourself as if you are He. He is like every one of us. This is God’s principle.
Our speech, our eating, our joy, our sorrow, everything is beyond the scope of our own capacity. We are under the illusion that we are doing or experiencing all of these things. What do you do when you sleep? You breathe. Do you do it consciously, waking up with each breath to make sure that you are inhaling and exhaling? No. Do you inhale and then go to sleep? Do you wake up again to consciously exhale? No. Who is the one who is breathing while you are asleep? We claim that we are doing it. But do you have any awareness while you are in deep sleep? No. Are you aware that you are breathing while you are asleep? You forget yourself and get drowned in deep sleep. But in dreams you experience different things. You see different things. But most of them you forget when you wake up. That is because before waking up, you go back into the sleep state and the dreams get melted into the sleep state. What makes all this happen? Who makes it happen? It is He, who is unseen who is responsible for all of this.
He is seen, but where is He? He is within us. He exists as our breath. He is our God of Life. Once life departs, we lose our existence. The truth of our being is no more. Only the body is left. We wish for a dead body to be disposed of quickly. The person might have been Miss America or Miss Mysuru. But do we safeguard the body inside an almirah? No. We either burn, bury, or discard it. Once the life force leaves the body, we call it a corpse. While life exists, we eat, we converse, and we quarrel. We use the sense organs to do all kinds of bad things. We also do good things. Do we take responsibility for our bad deeds? No. We say, He is making us do these things. No. It is our Karma that makes us do things. This is a big subject. It is difficult to understand.
So far you have done some Pranayama exercises. The teacher has used the system of 1 2 3. There is great significance in those numbers. The three have to become one. When you did the Pranayama just now, as instructed by your teacher, in five minutes, you forgot yourselves. Had you continued for another ten minutes, you would have lost your awareness of being seated also. You might not know if fell also. But when one is seated in a proper Padmasana, one normally does not fall. That is why that asana is recommended. In Uchitasana, a comfortable seated posture, there is danger of falling, unless some support is kept. But one should avoid using artificial support.
Padmasana is the proper posture. When you did the exercise, you forgot the existence of your body, mind, and intellect. Your body was still. Your sense organs were stilled. You were not scratching yourselves. Sounds were not heard.
In the beginning, sounds will be heard, there will be itching and discomfort. All kinds of temptations will be there to make you open your eyes and return to outside awareness.
As students, you need a strong memory. You practice these exercises to develop your memory and to get control over your sense organs. At the seashore, we see a turtle. What does it do? If another creatures approaches it to attack, it withdraws all its limbs inwards and protects itself with its hard shell.
While you are studying, you hear your parents arguing, or you hear the song being played next door, and you hear many other sounds which distract your attention. You feel frustrated and lose your concentration. You accuse others of spoiling your studies. In the next room, a child may be turning a switch on and off. The sound bothers you. Even if all else is quiet, the slight noise will sound to you like a bomb shell. The sounds of a car horn, a bus, a train, or the cooking sounds from the kitchen will all cause you disturbance. But if you practice doing Pranayama, you can control your mind so that it can shut out all these sounds. When you do Pranayama, the five energies of the five elements will move about within you. Tell me what the five elements are. In our bodies, what do we have?
Water, Air, Earth, Space, and Fire. All these five exist within us. They have to remain balanced. When we sweat, what do we do? There is no fan and you use your own hand to fan yourselves. You feel the cool breeze. The same air in the room helps you feel cool. The sweat contains water. It cools you when you wave your own hand.
You are wonderful children. You have learned this valuable Yoga lesson. Do not forget this. You share this knowledge with your brothers, sisters, and friends. You practice this to gain radiance and maintain a bright vision. Sometimes you cannot sleep when there is pain in the body, fear in the mind about exams, or some disturbing emotions due to insults suffered. You lack the strength of mind to overcome these. There is a simple exercise that is now being tried out in America. It is not good to take sleeping pills. You get addicted and dependent on them. This simple exercise of watching your breath steadily, may be practiced by children and adults alike.
To get rid of the fear of exams, practice quietly listening to your own breath. It may take fifteen minutes to calm the mind and to hear the steady sound of your own breathing. Once you succeed in doing it, you will hear it as a pleasing melody. You will hear the Omkara. There are three types of bodies, sensory, mental, and intellectual. They are called Sthoola, Sookshma, and Karana Sareeras. All three will go to sleep peacefully when you focus on your breath.
The sense organs will be active on one hand. The mind will be wandering elsewhere. The intellect seems be steady, and yet, it becomes unsteady. We all carry the three bodies. All three should become stilled. All the disturbances of the mind should be gotten rid of. Such a state is called Samadhi. It is not death. There is someone within us, who is ever blissful and happy. He will keep acting outwardly as if he is unhappy and bothered. But inwardly, he is always joyful.
Someone asked Swamiji: How is it you are always smiling? In all your photographs you look happy. It is not an artificial smile. It is natural happiness. I laugh at your needless worries and anxieties. I am amused that you are not showing interest in learning how to get rid of your troubles. You keep running after this mantra, that mantra, this god, that god, this temple, that temple, this river and that river. In addition to the joy that is welling up from inside me, I also am laughing at your unnecessary discomforts.
You must realize that you yourselves have to set yourselves right, so that you can also enjoy the same type of happiness that I enjoy. The Annual Yoga Day we celebrate now. Swamiji started teaching Datta Kriya Yoga about forty years ago. So far 200,000 to 300,000 persons have been taught. 2000-3000 teachers have been trained. In many different countries schools are run for Yoga classes. Even in hotels training is given, as also in factories. Yoga helps people increase their efficiency.
The Bhagavad Gita describes how Yoga of different types is useful in restraining and harnessing one’s energy so that it does not run away in different directions. Let us all learn Yoga. Let us all learn Sanskrit. The whole world is one family. The entire human family will benefit by the learning and practicing of Yoga. I am happy that you have utilized this Nada Mantapa for this event today. Next time, you should plan to have a longer camp for 3-5 days, including Yoga bath and Yoga food.
The benefits of Yoga are indescribable. It is a shame that we have forgotten and neglected our own Yoga heritage and are now learning it from foreigners. This is our heritage. It is our inheritance. Yet, it is our bad Karma that we do not recognize and appreciate its value. It has become like a plant in our own backyard which we ignore.
I bless all the organizers of this program that they should increase their knowledge. I bless all the students that they should continue and thrive in their practice of Yoga.
Sri Guru Datta
Compiled by Smt Hira Duvvuri