Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – January 19, 2017 – Badampudi
Compiled by: Smt Hira Duvvuri
It is wrong to reject the SGS Posts Free App when it is offered by volunteers going around offering their services to install it, as per Sri Swamiji’s instruction. If you desire Guru’s protection, install SGS Posts Free App. It is foolish to reject Guru’s advice. When the mind is troubled, SGS Posts give you solace. It is disrespectful to ignore Guru’s instructions. Devotees must obey Guru’s commands. You will daily enjoy SGS Posts.
Life does not consist only of Cinemas, sports, restaurants, politics, television serials, eating, quarreling, and sleeping. Shopping is life’s primary activity for many. Operations, building new homes, children, death is all some people’s lives are concerned about. They have no time for temples. No time for Guru. What is of value, you do not wish for. You always chase after enjoyment.
A baby is born. Its joy comes from lying on mother’s lap. Baby’s life is helpless. Mother cleans the baby’s dirty diapers without complaints. After all, it is the mother’s own milk which produces the feces of the child. Baby crawls. Its joy transfers from mother’s lap to toys. The child crawls, falls, toddles, reaches for things and cries for toys. Toys replace mother as joy-giver, as the child grows. Scribbling on walls and furniture give great joy to a small child who finds something to write or draw with.
Child first cries when forced to go to school. But gets used to school and friends. The child enjoys playing on the slide and at the sand box with the jungle gym. Slide and play gym replace its interest in toys. The child looks forward to playing with friends. Mother’s company is not cherished so much anymore.
Running, ball games, and bicycling become a boy’s enjoyable preoccupations. As he grows into his teen years and older, college is happiness for the youth. If he gets into bad company, bad habits, vices, and addictions, he ruins his life. If he gets into good company, he begins to like computers, getting degrees, and landing a good job. If, at this time, love enters, studies are likely to get spoiled. Some break friendships. Some friendships lead to tying the knot. Graduation spurs the crazy fervor to go overseas for a good job in the US. Now with the new President, no visas to go to the US. India has better jobs now. Better pay. Better life.
Parents wish that their children should suffer the same fate as themselves. They force their children to marry. They threaten them about being alone during old age and lacking much needed support and companionship. They give arguments as if they can foresee into the future.
Once the son gets married, the boy’s joy transfers to spending time with the spouse. Park, movies, restaurants, you see the newly wedded couple everywhere, squeezing enjoyment out of life. Lust dominates life. Such joy.
Once a child is born, the joy transfers to the baby. With the birth of the second child, joy shifts to children from spouse. All earnings get spent and sacrificed for children.
Old age comes. Where did joy go? Man is disillusioned. No more joy. Nothing to look forward to. Lust is spent. Verbally he claims to have developed dispassion. But thirsts for pleasure and wants to eat more. Resists old age. Applies cement-like paste to the face to cover dents and wrinkles.
All the above applies to women also. They color hair to pretend youthfulness. Afraid of rain because it washes away makeup and hair color and they will be exposed in their true colors. In old age, they are helpless. Joy recedes. Vanishes. That is life.
Any practice of concentration on God, throughout life? People chant Mantra while speaking to friends on the phone. Cannot imagine life without phone. In earlier decades, to look for a match for a girl, the parents would enquire whether the boy could provide a Frig, geyser, motor cycle for riding for pleasure, small car, grinder because she cannot use the grinding stone, a gas stove, and so on. There were the requirements for marriage alliance to be fixed.
Now, how bad your boy is, where he wanders about, is what the parents of the girl enquire about. The worse his habits, the better his choices of being selected. Parents are enamored of a flashy lifestyle. They ruin the girl’s life.
Busy throughout life. Programs. No time for temple visits, no time to seek Guru.
Bhagavad Gita changes lives. Many westerners, scientists, politicians, and Gandhi also, it changed. Nehru changed his philosophy in life, with the reading of just one chapter. The inventor of Penicillin changed his thinking after studying the Bhagavad Gita. Communist countries filed a case against the book, but the book won the case in court.
War was an excuse for Krishna to teach Arjuna the meaning of life. Paramatma came as Guru to all of us. Not just for Arjuna.
NRIs in USA, their children, they are studying the Bhagavad Gita. Our India children are spoiled. Kids there call Swamiji as Tataji. While in the womb, they were made to listen to Swamiji’s bhajans. 8000 families in the US are true devotees of Swamiji. Their babies cry if Swamiji’s bhajans are not played.
Here, the parents have no devotion. Guru Bhakti must be inculcated. We must have faith first. Our faith is falsely dependent on wish-fulfillment. Pray for strength to endure pain, instead.
Tataji sena, the children’s group is called. Some children in India also are a part of the group. We have a special communication network with them on Telegram, sharing messages.
While in the womb, the babies must listen about Swamiji. Read books about Swamiji to them, play his bhajans, and speak about Swamiji.
You have no time. You have not developed devotion in ten years. You treat Swamiji like a pundit. There are many who are thrilled to see Swamiji. You are the losers. I am not the loser. I am very busy. Your devotion does not count. I asked for devotion, love, and for you to serve at the temple. No one cares. Only one family maintains the temple. Others are uninvolved. They don’t care about pleasing Swamiji. How long will I come here? Only a few more years. What will you gain in this short time of a few more years?
You should rejoice when Swamiji comes to you. When it rains, harvest the rain water. If you neglect, you will suffer from drought. Compassion of Guru is raining upon you. Conserve it. He has nothing to gain. He will not take anything with him. He came to remove your bad karma. Not for money. Do you understand? I don’t need wealth. My grandfather had lands that he freely gave away. We never cared. Never go after those lands. We don’t even know where they are located. Some farmers come and give us returns on the lands, unasked.
Someone came this morning. Man has difficulties. He just gives report and gives some returns from the harvest and goes. I have such devotees in lakhs. If you join, you will benefit. Get trained like that. You think about it and deliberate.
You have phones and you refuse to give them to the volunteers to install SGS App. Only with Guru’s friendship your joy is retained. You have devotion. It is not properly channelized. You love Swamiji, but it is not regularized. You must come to Mysuru, like you go on other pilgrimages. It is a Datta kshetra. It is a pilgrimage center. So many came, 80 thousand devotees came on Vaikuntha Ekadasi. Swamiji kept Tirupati Venkata Ramana Swamiji in Mysuru, as Datta Venkata.
Shuka Vana gets 2-3 thousand visitors daily, as a minimum. On special days, even one lakh visitors come. People of different religions come. Muslims come to listen to the parrots saying, Rama and Datta. They prompt the parrots to repeat the names by chanting them first. When they say those names of Rama and Datta, the parrots repeat. Parrots of Shuka Vana are people. Not birds. 422 species of birds are there, of different vibrant colors, and voices, so joyful.
Rama took a parrot’s form, looking for someone on earth in Kali Yuga chanting his name. Hanuman was doing it. The parrot saw Hanuman and on his shoulder, it landed. Hanuman taught the parrot to chant ‘Rama’. The power of Rama’s name is so great. The name is so sweet. Rama, the parrot was taught to repeat. Paramatma is in parrot. Call Rama, Hanuman commanded. Hanuman asked Rama why he took this form as a parrot. Rama said, I came in Kali Yuga to listen to Rama nama. The parrot chants Rama Rama.
Our parrots sing Rama and Datta. Appaji, Swamiji. Good morning Appaji, they say in the morning. I have to call them by name. Then they are satisfied, and say, Ok bye. They are satisfied. In the afternoon, they ask in different languages, if I have eaten lunch, in Tamil, they ask, ‘Saaptaachaa?’, in Kannada, ‘Oota ayatha?’ and in Telugu, ‘Annam tinnaava?’. They begin pushing food towards me. Offering me. They try to feed me seed in my mouth. Watch youtube videos on SGS Birds channel. The parrots chant, Rama, Govinda. They sing, ‘Om namo Narayana Krishna’, and even ‘Jaya hanuman jnana guna sagara’. They do Hanuman Chalisa Parayana along with me. A parrot chants along with me. Watch youtube video.
You are close to a city. Get the Internet. Great discourses are available on youtube. So many. You will know about Swamiji. Instead of watching television serials and drinking coffee, or reading the newspaper from top to bottom, including all the advertisements, do this. You have no shame. How you waste time. No substance there in the newspaper. Today newspaper. Tomorrow wastepaper. Just see the headings. Enough. Using electricity for television watching is okay for you, but for Internet, it is not ok.
You are always watching serials, with jaw dropping surprise. Story does not move. Only commercials, music, and lengthy interludes. Advertisements add to the suspense. Entire ad is watched, eager for what happens next in the story. Power outage occurs. Call friend, to find out about what happened in the serial. No rest till she finds out. Call another friend. No sleep. Anxiety. Even meal is forgotten. Involved in serials so deeply. True or not?
Food is available after this discourse? Yes.
We follow the same pace, in movements, going to kitchen very slowly, as in the television serials, and picking up the dishes and vessels.
Mind is so troubled. Purana stories shown on television, you don’t care. About Sita, you say you know everything. Ravana came as Yati and took Sita away. You are not interested. From now on, Hanuman serials, you watch. Don’t watch bad serials. Phone is bad if misused. Put it to good use. Use time wisely. Time is God’s gift. You go walking to park, not for health, but for time pass. Time goes, your life is wasted. Minus in your lifespan. This is not for time pass that you sat here. It increases life span. Other activities and quarrels, gossip, politics, they give no benefit. Why bother? Why waste time? It is minus. No benefit at all. Discussions should be of worth. Read, ponder, discuss over plus topics. Scriptures, you read a few lines. You just set aside. No interest or curiosity. No eligibility, no patience to read. Urgent idli, chapati, you want. Life also goes urgently. 80-90 years is not long, when you waste in fighting, picking nose, watching tv, drinking tea for two hours, gossiping in a restaurant. Why? Minus. Yama’s messengers land there and calculate your bad habits.
Here, at Satsang, Vishnu or Siva’s messengers come and calculate. Each keeps an account. If here also you gossip, you lose count. If you think good thoughts, listen to good things, or worship, your good count grows. Guru, Peetham, temple., with a good mind, not comparison, criticism, then you gain.
Analyzing gurus is bad. As if they are maternal uncles. Same like in serials. As if you know everything about them. Idiots do it. Why do you need? You exaggerate. What do you gain by that spreading of false rumors? By impressing the neighbor with your lies, you feel happy. Do not blame others. others will blame you. It also rebounds. Earlier, neighbors were enquired, about the virtue of a boy or girl. Listening to the gossip, the parents give up the marriage alliance.
Where our children go, we don’t know. You think you raised very strictly. But the child will fool you. Deceive you. This is my serial. I hear these stories daily. In every home this happens. You are my television (during personal interviews). Your lives are my serials. I have tons of such stories.
At least from now, eat Satvic food. Eat less, talk less. Sleep less. Don’t waste time. Sleep by ten. Wake by 5 am. Don’t stay awake till 12 or I, watching late night movies. Don’t spoil health. Don’t interfere in others’ business.
Good words I shared with you. I keep talking like this. I don’t stop.
Sri Guru Datta