Message of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – Ganapathi Festival – September 5, 2016 – Mysore
Vinayaka Chaturthi Message
Courtesy: Avadhoota Datta Peetham
Vakratunda Mahaakaaya
Vakra Tunda means the curved Trunk of an elephant. It is the symbol of Omkaara. Devi has displayed us the Omkaara. It is the leader of all the streams of knowledge. Hence Ganapati is the leader of wisdom.
Mahaakaaya means the huge gigantic body. He has the entire Universe as his form. I jovially describe my tummy getting larger as I hear the name of Ganapati.
It reminds me a legend from the fables of Tenali Rama. He wa given a arduous task of counting all the stars visible in the sky by the King. He replied in the morning and presented his theorem. He explained that he has kept on grain of sand representing each star and pointed towards the heap of Sands on the shores of the ocean.
Similarly there are innumerable Brahmandas (celestial bodies) and Pindandas (mortal bodies). Ganapati is the leader to lead all these mortals to Immortality.
Ganapati Story narrates the first instance of Transplantation of limbs. Narayana (Lord Vishnu) was the first surgeon. Hence we say Vaidyo Narayano Harih. Doctor is none but Narayana. He fixed the elephant head on the torso of the boy amputated by Shiva.
This story in essence explains the significance of preserving the creations of the Nature. If there are some excesses committed by the creatures, Shiva will never spare those sinners. Superficially it may seem cruel, but the process is inevitable for betterment.
When the body was severed from the head, it was a difficult task to attach it again and resuscitate the life. For the toughest job, we need the best brains and experience. Dhanvantari is the aspect of Narayana for the medical treatment. But the representative was dispensed and the original complete powers of the God was deemed necessary.
Thus God Narayana was requested by the deities to complete the work. Finally, Ganapati was enlivened to bring the equilibrium of nature. (Remember that Devi, the mother Goddess, stands for the aspect of nature.)
The bodily fluids such as blood, oozing from the body of the body, tears from the Goddess has entered the planet giving life to many plants. The blood red colour has since become the favourite of Ganapati. Ever since, Rakta Chandana (Red Sanders) is an important offering made to Ganapati.
To fetch the appropriate head for the deceased boy, the head of the elephant was chosen. Let us observe that an elephant was not killed for its limb. Only the demon who wished that his head should have the place of utmost reverence had departed from this world by the time, the amputants had arrived. The demon was lying with his head to the north. Placing your head towards the north indicates that you are ready for departure from this world. Hence, be careful to avoid that direction while sleeping or casual lying.
It is wrong to kill an animal for its limbs and cause excruciating pain. Don’t be a sinner by hurting other creature and respect their right of freedom and right to life, which equals your own right to life.
As long as you don’t have the discretion, in life the society will never better. Jumping the lines, crossing the road at wrong place, non compliance of traffic rules are some glaring blunders we all do. Some people, remove the barriers, dig roads just for their temporary convenience, which will cause more accidents.
If the rules are followed, life will be good for everyone. Opt for a systematic life which will ensure orderly growth in life. If you have some troubles or ailments, you will have emergency measures and first aid kit. Then, you should not wait for the permanent solution. But never opt emergency measure for permanence.
Remember this message for this occasion. May Ganapati bless you all and his incarnation cause realisation of the concept he represents.
Sri Ganeshaaya Namah
Speech
Compiled by Smt Hira Duvvuri
Vakratunda mahakaya suryakoti samaprabha Avighnam kurume deva satkaryeshu sarvadaa
Let us resolve that all our worthy deeds should be fulfilled without any hindrances. On the day of Ganapathi festival we are offering our adoration to the Lord. On the day of Hasta star, he took birth in the hands of Mother Goddess, who is the Mother of all Creation. She created the Omkara. Ganapati is the manifestation of OM. The curved trunk is Omkara. Sometimes I ask him why he has given me also His big belly. Why am I like that? I asked the doctors why I have a paunch. They said you had one since your childhood, what can we do? I am just joking.
Swami Ganapati has kept in his belly all the worlds as Hiranyagarbha. All the 14 worlds, do not ask are there not more worlds, not 15? According to the Vedas 14 are important. But there are as many worlds as there are stars. Someone asked Tenali Ramakrishna how many stars there are. If he did not give a proper answer, his head was going to get chopped off. He said overnight, he will count all the stars. The king threatened that if he failed, he would die the next day. Tenali Rama said, you are always giving me such challenges and I always overcome them. You cannot live without me and I cannot live without you. Once you said I should not show you my face. I was able to overcome that injunction. We are always at loggerheads. Once, you ordered that I should be whipped. But I avoided it.
Tenali Ramakrishna said, you may verify the number I give, by counting the stars yourself. Tenali Ramakrishna was locked up in a mansion with the sky visible to him. This incident took place near the beach in Mangalore. Swamiji, can you prove that? Yes. You verify. Ramakrishna took many books to refer to. Everyone eagerly waited for the sun to rise. They woke him up and dragged him outside in the morning. He said, I counted them all. To aid me in my calculation, I used the grains of sand on the seashore. You may go and count them all. There are just as many stars in the sky as there are grains of sand on the beach.
God’s Creation is immeasurable. If you want to count, go to any seashore and count the grains of sand, be it in Mangalore or in Andhra. Creation has no beginning or end. These human insects have to gain some wisdom and for that purpose Ganapati has manifested. He was not born from the womb of a mother. He was born from a mother’s touch, from a mother’s glance. He is formless and is unfathomable. He was given life by Siva. The first ever surgeon is Narayana, who replaced Ganapati’s head which was chopped off by Siva. He did head replacement for Ganesha. One American scientist became speechless when I explained this to him.These days they do heart transplants. It was like that. Narayana was the greatest surgeon. Why do they call God a doctor? Dhanvantari came as an aspect of Narayana when the Ocean of Milk was churned. Saligrama water cures all diseases if you sip it with conviction.
There is a story why Siva pierced the head of Ganesha with his trident. It was to protect Nature. If Pralaya Rudra, Siva in His destructive aspect should make his entry, then Nature in the form of Mother Goddess would get destroyed. That is why Ganesha was placed to stand guard at the entry way. Ganesha sacrificed his own head, to save the head of Mother Goddess. Siva was so furious during the killing of the Tripurasuras. Until the fury subsides, He will not calm down. Ganesha was barring His entry and Siva became enraged. He had to quell this injustice of him being stopped. So He chopped off Ganesha’s head. What He did was good. What Mother Goddess did was good. What Ganesha had done was also good. Siva also was distraught when Ganesha’s head got severed. He tried to stick the head back to the body. But it did not stick. Siva failed in His attempt. Mother wept inconsolably. It was impossible to fix the head back on the body. They looked for the best surgeon. Amrita incarnation was Dhanvantari. But who had created Dhanvantari? It was Lord Narayana. So Siva did not go to the nurse or surgeon’s assistant or MRO (medical resident officer) to do the surgery. He went direct to the one who created the physician/surgeon, to Lord Narayana Himself.
Now the government has banned the RMOs from performing surgery. A nurses’ aid also may know how to give an injection, but has no authorization to do so. Such a person does not know how to diagnose the diseases. Even jaggery water may have healing power. I believe in that and in Homeopathy also. Each has a separate power to heal. The servant who wipes medicine bottles may have the experience to extract blood. When the doctor draws blood from a patient, it may hurt. But when a trained nurse draws blood, due to her experience she does it painlessly.
Those who are unaccustomed to house work will not even know how to make coffee. They will spill it all over themselves. High level officers do not employ servants. They struggle to do their own work. After retirement, they live life comfortably. Those who spend their lives with twenty servants during their working careers, become helpless when they retire because they have no training in doing any other work than office work and they cannot help themselves.
Now, Siva did not look for an RMP (registered medical practitioner, or a pharmacist/compounder), but went directly to the main Physician. There are many with the divine aspect, like Dhanvantari, who can heal. Not every time is it necessary to call Narayana. Swamiji himself need not give instructions every time. There are many who are authorized by him to act as his representatives. Some people say, unless Swamiji tells us personally, we will not heed the instructions. How can that be? If others tell you that it is Swamiji’s instruction, you do not want to follow. Do I tell you to go eat every time? Once the bell rings, you run to the dining hall to eat. If you have to go to the bathroom, do you wait for Swamiji to tell you to go to the toilet? Do you wait here waiting for an instruction, suffering acute inconvenience? Do you just pray, God, please understand, and give me permission to go? No. This person has forgotten her toothache with these jokes. Sometimes Bala Swamiji conveys Swamiji’s instruction. You must follow. You do not need to come in a queue and announce that you did what Bala Swamiji has asked you to do. You do not need Swamiji’s direct command.
Let us go back to Ganesha’s story. Now the actual physician came, not the RMP. He said, whoever is lying with the head placed in the northerly direction should have his head severed and the head must be brought here. The command was relayed by Siva who gave His trident to Nandi and dispatched him on this mission. Gajasura (a demon in an Elephant’s form) had earned a boon from Ganesha that at death he should merge into him. That Gajasura had just died and he fell down with his head to the north.
They did not go kill a live elephant for this purpose, as people these days do. These days people cause injury to the elephants’ legs and make them lame or kill them even, to protect their crops. Then all other elephants come and completely destroy the harvest and also cause harm to the people. One should not harm the elephants. One should call the forest people to care for the elephants. Farmers always seek compensation from the government, whether the crop fails, rains fail, or even if someone coughs or sneezes. People have not devotion to God, no spiritual tendency or inclination. They simply eat, wander about, eat again, and sleep. No bath, no meditation, no listening to pious stories, no worship. Just go to the movies, watch movies on Television sitting on the sofa and suffer from backache, headache, and all other aches and pains. They go the doctors. What they see is bad, what they hear is bad, what timings they keep are not good, what they eat is not good, and that is why everyone is so distressed. The place where they spend their time is not good. If people have fear of God and respect for virtue, then both the people and the government will flourish.
These days neither the people nor the government have such dedication to righteous behavior. Spent 20 crores and get an assembly seat. After that no one cares about how to govern the public. We elect such leaders. If they give money that is enough. You vote for them. If the politician sends an auto rickshaw to take you to the polling booth, you are happy and you vote for him by stamping his symbol. Then for five years, the elected official will stomp over your head. It is your own doing. Go ahead and suffer. You then regret. You are fools. Until you learn to think wisely, this country will not improve. There will be a system in place but you do not respect it. If there is a line, you jump the queue and go from underneath and try to sneak in, the way you do for cinema tickets. What system do we follow? Zebra lines are drawn on the road and you do not respect the barricades. Your insurance also will not pay you. You rebel against all rules. Government in the first place, will not build roads. But when they do, they do a good job, as if obsessed. Remember that. But you go and disobey the rules that are laid down. Overnight, you want to destroy the barricades. You want to break the rules. People living inside the Mysuru ashrama have no need to cross the street to drink tea across the road. Why should you drink tea there? If you are insistent on only drinking tea there, why can’t you follow the rules and go around? Or drink tea that is available inside the ashram? No, you cross the street breaking the rules and get into an accident and blame Swamiji for it, that you came to see Swamiji and you got into an accident. Did I tell you to go there? You could have gone into the city for your tea? Why eat those Vadas fried in stale oil 24 days old? They use the same oil for everything, for dosa, for vada, and everything. You relish those vadas and their smell and you get diarrhea and stomach ache at once. Then you go to the hospital and force Dr. Phanishree to immediately cure your ailment. What can he do? Can he stitch up your rear end opening from where the stuff comes out? Can he touch you there? Why do you laugh? I have not said anything wrong. Whichever doctor is on duty is harassed and pressed for an instant cure. If the doctor asks if you ate Vadas outside, you deny the fact. You say your neighbor ate, and you got the stomach ache. You must have some special powers. When you think of these things, you realize that you do not have a proper system. So, here the greatest physician was fetched. Anyway the boy is dead. During an emergency, even a nurse or a paramedic is allowed to discharge first aid. But here the boy Ganesha is dead. If you get injured, at once the first aid box itself is the doctor.
Here all the blood is lost when the trident pierced Ganesha’s body. Two streams are flowing, blood from the body and tears from Mother’s eyes. Rakta chandana is liked by Ganesh, that is why. So now don’t create bleeding and offer your blood to Ganesha in worship, because Swamiji said Ganesha likes red sandal paste. Don’t spit out or vomit blood and offer to him. His blood was offered as protection for Nature. He helped Mother Nature. It is because of Ganesha that all the crops are growing. That is why we offer him worship with leaves. This is a new concept. Is it not? This is the truth. It is not mentioned anywhere. Rakta Chandana (red sandal wood paste) and red robes are favored by Ganesha. He likes the color of blood, not blood itself. When his blood flowed over the earth, everything was washed over with his blood. We wear the mark on the forehead in red color. We offer him red hibiscus flowers. The Sandalwood paste in red color is favored by him. When devotees offer him that, he is pleased. That is why people offer him the forehead mark in a color that is a deep red. Swamiji also wears such a color on his forehead.
That is why we are asked not to sleep with our head to the north. Only Ganesh has the right to do so. Now the main physician has come. What happens when you place the head to the north? Your feet are facing the south, which is the direction of death. You should not do that. You may keep the feet to the north and head to the south. East and west is permitted. If you sleep at an angle, do it as per your whim. Or sleep standing up or standing amidst rocks. Then red sandal paste will flow on its own.
We have the tradition of offering worship to Ganesha with His sacred names and that makes Gowri, His mother also very happy today. With devotion let us all offer worship during the Ganapati Vrata today. Let us listen to the chants as Bala Swamiji performs the Vrata.
Today Hanuman’s photos are available. After another 7-8 days, this program will be concluded of posting these photos on SGS Hanuman page. They are available date-wise and Swamiji himself will give the photos to those who purchase these.
This Ganesha T-Shirt with Ganesha yantra must not be worn casually during day and night. It should be worn only during auspicious occasions. It should be washed regularly and kept carefully because it has the sacred yantra printed on it. The fabric is very soft. The profit from the sales may be given to Shuka Vana. Those who do not have T-Shirts may go and purchase them. He has given the profit in advance.
Correct pronunciation of words and syllables is very important, especially while chanting the Bhagavad Gita. Differentiation between the three types of Sa should be distinctly pronounced. The long and short vowel sounds must be correctly enunciated. Swamiji is also learning now. Where there is no ‘h’ people pronounce it as if it is there.
The Vrata takes place in just forty minutes. Swamiji will commence it with harati. Do not try to speak with Swamiji when you receive the T-shirts. If you try to speak, Swamiji will show an irritable facial expression.
Sri Guru Datta