Speeches of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – January 24, 2016
Compiled by Shruthi Jagadish
Speech at Bangaluru Ashram – 20th Anniversary of SGS Vagdevi School for the Speech and Hearing Impaired – morning
Jai Guru Datta!
Sri Guru Datta!
Sri Mahaganapataye Namaha
Sri Saraswatyai Namaha
Sri Padavallabha Narasimha Saraswati
Sri Guru Dattatreyaya Namaha
Jai Veera Hanuman Ki JAI!
Vagdevi School’s 20th year festival we have been celebrating from Jan 1st. I’m wondering if it is already 20 years! It seems like it was just last year that I gave them permission to run this school. Days fly past. Time does not wait for anyone. We have to run after it. We should do our Sadhana while we run along. Yesterday will not come today. Today will not be available tomorrow. We are not aware of what may happen tomorrow. This is the way of our life. Based on God’s grace, our past karma, karma from our current actions, our parents’ karma – all this put together decides our fate. Some acquire good education, some may remain illiterate. One may be born as a beggar and another may be extremely wealthy. Similarly, some people may be able to run and flaunt their smartness and may perform very well in school, while some others may be born with disabilities. This way, various kinds of creation is seen. This world is very large. A potter is creating a pot. Sometimes, while making a pot, the quantity of mud becomes less and the pot is not thick enough, another one may be a little crooked, another breaks even before it is completely molded. Another pot may not set correctly while it is being burnt. Another one may not burn properly at all. Another pot may be done completely, but while decorating it, it may suffer some damage. This way, even before the pot can be put to use, it can go through various conditions. Similarly we also go through various experiences before taking birth as humans. Then other kinds of situations occur after taking human birth. We are currently in one state thinking that this phase is finally over, only to move into another condition – one after another, we go through grief, incompleteness, or suffer from chronic sorrow! We never say that we were able to accomplish something completely and successfully, there is always some element of discontent in the mind. There is some desire which is not fulfilled. Just yesterday you would have thought that it is okay if some desires do not materialize, but it is all only in words! You are very greedy, always wishing that all your desires came true! A life of dissatisfaction! This is Brahma’s creation. I feel sad looking at these children – some are deaf, some cannot speak.
If you look at the world around, you may not find anyone who is perfectly happy. They look alright, but they all have some sorrow. They may be smiling, but that is still out of distrust of whether their happiness will last. They do not completely enjoy and experience happy moments. The minds are filled with suspicion, sorrow, and lack of enthusiasm, there is always something lacking in their lives. Complete life, complete human, complete creation – even if God blesses us with it, we do not use it correctly. We throw it away! In spite of all this, we cannot blame God for any of this because he has handed over our lives to us. Our hardships, sorrows, and joys are all with us. Our laughter and tears, He has given them to us. He has made us like dolls. But all that we go through is what we have done to ourselves. If we think deeply we realize that most of it is due to our own faults. It is all our Karma, which we choose in a hurry, that we allowed others to dump on us, without escaping. Whom can you scold, which God can you blame? Whom will you complain to? You have no right or eligibility to blame God. You have no eligibility for this exam. You have filled the form wrong! You do not have another chance! The boat has to leave on its journey, it cannot wait for you. There are many other passengers. We don’t know when the boat will arrive again. It may not come at all! This is how we are living our lives – it’s just going on! So many people have come and gone. All will have to go. While we are here, we live like we are puppets.
Once our time is up, we have to leave everything behind – home, family, money, fame – nothing can come along with us. We have to forget everything. We forget sorrows, we forget joys, we forget insults and praises, and we even forget ourselves! We leave the body that we call ours. Where do we go? We do not know. What journey, we don’t know! What a drama! A drama that runs for about 100 years. We close our eyes in 80 years. Sometimes, we live beyond 80 years, but are blind – we shut our eyes. We can’t walk properly, we can’t talk properly – the punishment of old age. This is the status of human life! What is the solution for this?
We have to do our Seva (service), and we must serve this creation of God. We have to help this creation. You may ask, how can I help this creation? You cannot sit still. You have to get busy and protect this creation surrounding you that has been created by God, who is like your great grandfather! This world, this society – you must help, you must have the good intention to serve this society by engaging in social service to whatever extent possible. You should think, “Can I help 10 other people who are suffering? Can I help people who are in hunger? Can I help people who are suffering due to mental distress, by supporting them at least a little?” This thought you should have as long as you are alive. “I should not be a burden on anyone.”
That is why we pray to God always, for a journey without dependence on others, without having to live on others’ mercy – Vinaa Dainyena Jeevanam. You should not have to ask others to support you, to watch over you – such a life you need. And then the death should come easily, without any suffering. You don’t have to pray for this. If you do all that I talked about until now – some social service, this is guaranteed.
One arm of this social service is our SGS Vagdevi School. Shantha, Sharada and Lalitha (the 3 sisters who are running the SGS Vagdevi School) chose this path. They could have been employed in very lucrative jobs earning lakhs in salary. In America, there is a lot of demand for those who are qualified in this field. But somehow, they were not inclined to go there. It could have been due to circumstances. In childhood, Shanta had a very strong desire to stay with Sri Swamiji. She would come running to ashrama and insist that she would stay with me. I would joke around asking, “What would you do in ashrama – cook food?” She said she would complete her education and come back.
I was very happy that she would be away for education and her craze to live in ashrama may reduce. I encouraged her to pursue her education and then return. But she kept that in mind and came back soon after her education was completed. I then asked her to take up some special education with the intention of keeping her away for another year or so. She completed that as well and returned. By then she had to get married due to parental pressure. I had to talk to her and guide (satbodhane) her for 2-3 days and she agreed to get married. She was lucky she had good children. She experienced what family – Samsara is and thought that may be Swamiji wanted her to go through this.
It was a learning period for her. All the 3 sisters had a similar experience. I used to call their mother Doddamma (It means mother’s elder sister). They were very close to me, yet they stayed far. These children maintained a distance from me. I like such families very much. They never caused any sorrow or difficulties to their parents or Guru. They became independent. For the education she had gained, she wanted to do some service. Having listened to so many of my discourses, only social service was on her mind. It was Swamiji’s Upadesha to her. The sisters made that a reality. Accordingly the families they got married into also supported them. That is very important. Their husbands came from different backgrounds. They were not followers of Swamiji. Irrespective of whether it was a noble cause or not, there was no compulsion for them to support. Yet, they stood by them. Thank you Radhakrishnaji (Smt. Shantha’s husband)! I’m very happy. She then came to me and said that she wants to start this service in Sri Swamiji’s name. I did not agree. I asked her to start it first, and go through the experience completely. I was not against it, but I wanted her to understand what it was all about. She had to develop unconditional love towards the children. I kept pushing her until she reached a state where she felt she could not do anything but serve these children. She held on to this Seva so strongly and even I cannot shake her resolve. I was extremely happy then. By then, she had problems with finding the space to run the school. All that is usual. She had financial problems.
Around that time, a small ashrama came up here. One fine day she mustered a lot of courage and came to me and asked for a small room to run the school. Sri Swamiji had tested her to such a great extent by then! Sri Swamiji did not say he will think about it or will tell her later. Her testing period was over and she had got her certificate! I told her I will look into it. Then with everyone’s support, the school came up here.
In our own families, of three children if one is born with disabilities, do we disown that child? If we send such children off to some hostel far away, we are worried that they may not be cared for well. It would be so nice to have a facility close to our home. This problem exists everywhere. In cities many such disabilities are seen. Hence we arranged for a small facility to run this school in the Ashrama. It has completed 20 years and has constantly grown. The school, the children, and the parents are indeed blessed. There are so many children who cannot hear, who cannot see, so many of them are on streets in our society. In India, the conditions for such children have to improve a lot.
God’s compassion is necessary. That’s why Hanuman Chalisa 900 crore Parayana is being done. That is one type of Yagna that I know of. This is my way of Samaja Seva. Today, that Yagna is also victorious. She planned the dates as Jan 2nd and 3rd without asking me. She knows that I’m never available in that period, but somehow she missed. I then said that Sri Bala Swamiji will attend the program, and asked her not to worry. But at that same time, the Prime Minister of India expressed his desire to visit our Mysuru ashrama. I cannot tell him to not come! For security reasons, they expect the owner of the place to be in the center for 3 days prior to the program. If I’m away for a single day, they would report that and the program would get cancelled. I did not want that report to go. So I had to stay back. 50K people were waiting in Vijayawada. I thought I will send Sri Bala Swamiji there then. But the PMO called and conveyed that the PM would come on 2nd Jan. I was then thinking that if the program is over on 2nd, I can attend the school function on 3rd Jan. But then suddenly, the PMO called saying the PM wanted to come even on the morning of the 3rd to see the birds since many of his friends had told him about Shuka Vana. He was with us like a member of our family. He hardly has any time. Finally he came on 2nd and 3rd.
There was a ground-breaking ceremony for the Bhairava temple. Then I had to travel on 4th Jan for the Andhra tour. The programs were very hectic. Like a whirlwind I visited many places in 22 days. The whirlwind probably cannot match my pace! Covered many places that I had not visited in the last 3-4 years, there were thousands of people! They were running along the car. I have seen such crowds for political rallies. It pains me a lot. I had to stop in many places to give darshan, speak with them. I visited only villages this time, lot of dust! There are many people who call themselves Swami and do discourses in airconditioned halls. But who will go to the villages? We have to spread Dharma in these villages. This is my challenge, my determination. In the central part of Andhra, many people are converting to Christianity. They are not able to find an identity for themselves. They are neither with the Hindus nor are they accepted as Christians. They want to come back. Even if they go to Jesus or Mary, they break coconut, light camphor, sing songs, and perform aarati. The original Christians realized that these people cannot be integrated into Christianity! They would not be able to follow Christian practices. They would wear a dot on the forehead and do arati with the candles and even sing arati songs, use turmeric and kumkum! They have even come up with ashttottaram (108 names used for deities in Hindu religion) – Maryyai namaha! Jesusai Namaha, Crossaya Namaha! All –Ya Namaha!! The original Christians felt there was no point in converting these people.
Many such people have come back to Hinduism and have built a temple that I visited. There is a place called Pattiseema – Pattisam – the place where Lord Shiva left his ornaments. There are 2 such places. One is in Tamil Nadu and the other one is here, in Pattiseema – in the middle of river Godavari in Andhra Pradesh. In this island, there are 3 temples – Bhavanarayana, Shiva, and Kalikamba. I went there to consecrate the main temple’s flag pole (Dhwaja Sthamba). To get there, one has to go by boat and then walk in very hot sands for nearly 2 KMS. The sand was so hot that one could roast peanuts in the sands! They had arranged for a Bullock cart there. Bullocks are worshipped here – Basavanna. I did not want to get on the cart. The bulls were very big though. But I got off the cart and told the bulls that I will walk that distance. They cried seeing me. I don’t know if they cried of happiness, or because I asked forgiveness after getting off the cart, only Sadashiva knows that conversation. I cannot explain that. I completed the prathishtha and annadana was arranged for thousands of people. I then visited the villages that had converted back to Hinduism. The programs were very nice – day and night! The day would begin at 4 AM and end at 12 in the night. Journey, interviews, pujas, discourses – but everything was very organized! I think tours are the best. Everything has a set time, including time for rest! But in Mysuru there is no time for rest. I dread going to Mysuru. There are so many people, I cannot go around my own Ashrama freely. They surround me! That’s why I have bridges to move around. And yet people still talk to me from beneath! Swamiji, I’m leaving for my town! What do I do? I still have to respond. They scream! I have put blinds around so they don’t see me! What to do? But even I’m curious to know who has come, what bus they are going in!!
Today we cut cake commemorating 3 events – One for 20 years of the school, another for 1 million likes for Sri Swamiji’s page on Facebook. Those who are not members yet, subscribe immediately. I’m putting only Hanuman’s pictures there. When we started the Hanuman Chalisa Yagna, Hanuman was like this murti (pointing to one Hanuman idol to his right), with Abhaya Hasta, blessing us to start the Yagna and continue chanting. If there are obstacles, I will beat the trouble-makers with my Gada, Hanuman said. Now that it is all completed, Hanuman has become like this murti (pointing to one Hanuman idol to his left Bhakta Hanuman) – Oh my! I will not use my Gada! The first Hanuman is a little thin, with worry whether the chanting will be completed or not. Now after the completion, this Hanuman is very happy and relieved, He has put on a little weight!! He is now folding his hands with the Gada also! He now says He will remain as Bhaktanjaneya! Initially He was wondering and worrying inside, if it would be completed in a year, and tried to be protective. See this murti, He looks worried. Probably Seetha and Rama had taken a break and were not in his heart! They also needed some time for themselves, how they simply keep sitting in the heart always! Don’t they need food breaks! They must have gone away for a while, Hanuman is so worried.
Now look at this Hanuman after the completion! He is well-built! He is happy with the stupendous victory!! We will still continue the chanting. Chant at home and send the counts to sgshanumanchalisa@gmail.com id. Until the Yagna is completed, we will take the counts. In May, we are planning a big Yaga as the conclusion. Before that, we will do another chanting Yaga in Hyderabad. About 1.5L to 2L people are expected for this event on April 10th at Nizam grounds in Hyderabad. All of you should come. After this, the Yaga will be done at Mysuru. Then we will be doing one Yaga at Gandhamadhana Parvata. That you may not be able to come, it will be difficult. Another one will be done at Hampi and one at Ayodhya that you can attend. If you cannot come to these places, you can come to Mysuru and take part in the yaga in Sri Swamiji’s presence. Totally we will be doing 11 big Yagas with Japa and offering to Agni to compensate for all the faults that have been committed in action, in materials used, for the chanting done in menstrual times – for the alleviation of all these doshas (wrongs) – sometimes you would have chanted without taking bath, listened to Hanuman chalisa while going to bed, chanted after eating – so many mistakes would have been committed. These Yagnas will take away these faults. You can all pay about Rs. 10,000 and take part in the Homa personally. I will myself get you to perform these Yagas. You can give your names. Those who have not chanted so far can also participate in the Yaga.
Today is Sunday. I’ve stayed back here only for Vagdevi School. May Hanuman bless all those who have supported this School directly, indirectly, in actions, who have provided materials and may He bless them with the capacity to serve more. Those who can support should come forward. The teachers are doing very good Seva. It requires a lot of sacrifice to teach these children. It is very difficult to control these children, as they cannot hear. At home, you struggle to manage a normal child. This is very difficult! It needs a lot of patience and a true liking for this work. They should take it up as a challenge to teach these children, to make them talk, to train them to hear. Only if one has patience, the determination, and the love for teaching these children, is it possible to do this job. Even if one of those is lacking, it is not possible. My blessings to all the teachers. The child are very lucky.
Jaya Guru Datta
Speech at Mysore – Sankranti celebrations – bhajan session
If you take Ellu (Kannada word for white sesame seeds) from elders on this day, it develops good relationships, bondage, affection and sense of responsibility. It is only given on this Sankranti day. One should not take black sesame, Sesame oil, or iron from others. Sesame especially, should not be given from hand to hand. Salt also should not be given in hand. It can be served in meals. It should be kept down, but not given in hand. Same with Scissors, blade, matchbox, oil – they should not be passed on by hands. Ghee you can give. Sesame you should never give. Only during Sankranti you can take from elders. It grants Lord Surya’s blessings. It should be given to children in particular, as it bestows good health, good knowledge and increases their memory power. They even shower Ellu on children’s heads for good health.
There is a story for this, I’ll narrate that some other time.
Various grains are present in this mixture. This ‘Ellu mixture’ has peanuts, sesame, small pieces of jaggery, roasted Bengal gram, and dry coconut. Each one is said to represent a deity. If you take this from Guru, you get longer life, increased memory power, and your association with Guru improves and a strong bond with Guru develops.
Sankranti festival is celebrated over 3-4 days. This time we are celebrating on Sunday here. In America, there is a practice to celebrate any festival on a Sunday since they do not get a day off for our festivals to gather together at a common venue. It is either the previous or the following Saturday and Sunday. It is a nice practice.
Sri Swamiji started on 4th January and first visited a temple in Nuziveedu. I’m now talking about places where there is a lot of dust. Your Swamiji is allergic to dust, but has been touring only such places in the last 20 days. That’s the reason, my lungs and heart were infected. I kept coughing and remembering all of you. I would cough all night. I was trying to avoid medicines stubbornly. Finally, last five days they forcibly put me on antibiotics. Now the cough has reduced.
From there I visited temples that Swamiji has consecrated. From Nuziveedu, we went to Eluru, Akiveedu, Bhimavaram, Kaikaluru, Kaalla, Manginapudi and then Machilipatnam, where mass Hanuman Chalisa chanting was done with forty thousand devotees. Then I went to Srikakulam, Vizag, Rajahmundry, Peethapuram, and Pattiseema. To reach Pattisam (Pattiseema), one has to travel by boat and then walk a distance of about 2 KM. It was nice. Swamiji was made to sit in a bullock cart. Swamiji was not very happy sitting in the cart. Until then He was touring places with a lot of dust. This one was on the river bank – in the sands. It was dusty there as well. Here Lord Shiva’s ornament is said to have fallen. Another had fallen in Tamil Nadu. This is an island in Godavari. Hence it got the name Patti Sam. When Shiva came looking for it, he could not find Sati (she had fallen into the sacrificial fire in Daksha’s Yaga). There he found Bhadrakali, who is also an aspect of Goddess Parvati. He decided to stay there with her for some time. Sage Agastya is said to have consecrated this temple. The Shiva Linga here is very different, very beautiful to look at. Water is said to have dripped from Lord Shiva’s head (Jata) here, and that Sage Agastya put a knot around it. You can see the Mudi (hair knot) on the Shiva Linga there. There you can also see Bhaava Narayana, Vishnu. It is said that Lord Vishnu also happily descended here to be with Kalika Mata. He is called Bhaava Narayana here. The flag poles for Lord Shiva and Lord Bhaava Narayana had fallen down.
One day these temple trustees came in the queue and had Sri Swamiji’s darshan. At that moment, they asked Swamiji to install the flag pole in their town and I had agreed without knowing anything about that place. The founder trustee of that temple stayed in the Ashrama for 3 days. I had given my consent. Then I came to know that there are no roads, no accommodation facility, and no proper access to reach there. But I was adamant since I had agreed to go. I went there and installed the flag pole. From there I went to Narayanaguda, Guntur, Lalitha Peetham, and then to Vijayawada. I had also visited Gudivada. I visited about 10-20 places. And in all those places, in spite of this cough, Appaji gave discourses everywhere without fail. In Peethapuram, Keerthana Bhavana was inaugurated. How can I remain without singing in Keerthana Bhavana? So many people from the villages had come. I sang bhajans also. There was no cough while singing. Then it came back! Then in Vijayawada, 12th year Kumbhabhisheka was performed for Mother Goddess. I then went to Gannavaram and stayed for a night. Yesterday I came to Bangalore and stayed one night. And this morning we completed the Vagdevi school function and I have come straight here to give Ellu to small kids, and various other kinds of children! Along with this, I have brought about 2 sacks of dust, it is inside my heart! It keeps coming out once in a while, almost every hour. When I was coughing a lot, I would remember the children singing bhajans here. Yesterday morning I called and told that I will come back to Mysuru by Bhajan time. I have reached here in time.
The speciality of this trip was, there was no exercise, no bhajan singing, and no birds – nothing! From dawn to dusk, I worked like a bull and have come back now. This Ramu (video Ramu) was also with me, he has also drunk enough dust. Even Bala Swamiji has had His share of the dust! He had it mixed with some Jaggery!
(To the bhajan group) Sing all new bhajans on Vishnu, Shiva and Mother Goddess.
Has everyone received the ellu? Have you all put it in the mouth? Very good.
All those who live in the ashram must sing bhajans everyday compulsorily. They must sing at least one bhajan. Otherwise you can stay outside in rented houses. Everyday bhajans are done here between 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM. At least come and attend one bhajan. How long does it take to sing one Bhajan? About 5 minutes. Everyone must sing. Sit for at least 10-15 minutes.
Afterwards, you must all learn to converse in Samskrit. For 40 minutes we will all converse in Samskrit. That is how long the lesson will last. I will also sit along with you and learn. All of us must learn to converse in Samskrit. You should try to talk to each other also in Samskrit. You need not learn to write. Sri Subbaiah Deekshitulu has volunteered to teach. He has asked for 40 minutes every day. Once we return from Kolkata, we will start this. Learn the alphabets by then. It would be very nice. He will teach only simple words for conversation – like please be seated, has Swamiji come back? Did you have food? Did you go to school today? Like this simple words and sentences. He will prepare the course for 40 days. Only conversational Samskrit. Then there will be an oral test. You don’t have to write. Everyone in the ashrama must learn to converse in Samskrit. It would be really nice! Put up your hands and promise me that you will learn to converse in Samskrit. I will also promise. I know that Suresh will be the first one to learn. He has a lot of interest in learning anything new. We should have interest.
Any two people who will converse really well, I will take them along with me on all my trips! No matter where we are, we should converse in Samskrit. Be it in the bus stand, or airport. I want to take some children to Ajantha, Ellora and show them those places. But I want them all to converse in Samskrit there. People should ask what language it is. If you learn Samskrit, Hindi will become easier to learn. See, this Rajeshwari, lazy one, could have learnt Samskrit by now. She learnt Kannada. Samskrit is very simple. You don’t have to compose poems and talk like Scholars. Just household phrases you learn. In 40 days all of you can learn. You must learn Samskrit letters by the time I come back. You must learn the Samskrit script. It is very close to Hindi. Almost the same. Only one or two alphabets may be different or additional.
Earlier one person pronounced the lyrics all wrong where the song went: Guru went by horse carriage (Jataka) carrying his rosary, giving a funny, distorted meaning. Similar thing happened with the phrase describing the fragrance of jasmine flowers. Wrong splitting of syllables changed the meaning of the song. Instead of saying, Hanuman spoke with Rama thus, someone broke up the words at the wrong syllables and said, Pivarundu (instead of Kapivarundu/Hanumanta) spoke to Rama’s tail thus. Ramunitoka pivarunditlaniye. It should not be done. Watch out carefully how you split the words.
Not kuntavaasa, but Vaikunthavaasaa …
Bhajan: Vaikuntha Vasa Nama Om
Bhajan: Datta Suguna
Bhajan: Sadashivacha Avatara
This bhajan is not anybody’s composition. It is a statement. It states ‘ Sadaashivaacha Avataara Swaami Nivrutti Daataara’. It means Sadashiva’s incarnation is represented by Nivritti. Mahavishnu’s aspect is in Jnaneshwara. Brahma has taken the avatara as Brahma Sopana. Adishakti took avatara as Muktabhai. We bow down to all the Dasas (sevaks or servants of God). This is a statement for our Bhajana Mala. Like in Bhakti Mala, you have a statement ‘Muktikanyaa vivaahecha….’. Similarly these are statements in Marathi for the incarnations of Jnaneshwara, Muktabhai and others. There is no separate Mukuta for these. In Guru Puja, you chant Sri Bhooyuta.. That is a statement. It is not a composition.
Hanuman Chalisa
Kakadarati
Jaya Guru Datta.