Speeches of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – May 26, 2018 – Mysore
76th Birthday Message in the morning
Compiled by Archana Penukonda
Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you.
I am very happy today, we had Pratyaksha Pada Puja. The Goa Minster Mauvin Godinho and Kala Nidhi Rajendra Prasad (Telugu film actor) also attended the Puja. The history of Pujya Swamiji has taken the form of the Sahasra Nama Archana rendered by scholar Naga Phani Sarma during the Pratyaksha Pada Puja. If you read the Sahasra Nama Archana, you will understand Swamiji’s life history. The Sahasra Nama Archana has been written very well. It is not my birthday. It is your birthday.
There are so many formalities during Pratyaksha Pada Puja. The ritual takes up to hour and a half. To understand the concepts, one has to study the Guru Gita. You will then understand the various decorations offered to the Guru during the ritual. Are those decorations necessary for Sadguru? Why do we perform all these rituals? This is not for ostentation or show. If you study the Guru Gita, you will understand these formalities. I am reminding you again and again. Guru Gita is available in many languages including Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, Marathi etc. Get the book. It is also available online. Go through the Guru Gita, you will understand the purpose behind the decorations and the mantras chanted for each decoration. Only for an hour each year do we perform this kind of Pratyaksha Pada Puja. It will not be available for 365 days after. It is like having Darshan of the sun or the moon for just a few minutes. After that, all decorations are removed. This is the custom of Guru Puja.
People ask Swamiji, who are you? What is your designation? Are you a magician? Are you a musician? Are you a scholar or a teacher? A social activist? Who are you? I am your best friend, that is all. The Guru Gita says “Sakha”. Sakha means good friend. Guru is also Prana Snehita (best friend). He not only gives things, He also gives His life to you. That is what “Sakha” indicates. Bhagavatam refers to the nine kinds of devotion. Strengthen your friendship and devotion with Swamiji. Slowly observe, study and increase your friendship with Swamiji, not just with the physical body, but through the Atman/soul and Buddhi/intellect. Believe your heart. Feel with the Atman. Then you will understand Swamjii’s actions and movements. Each movement has a meaning. Each word Swamiji speaks has a meaning. Why is Swamiji moving His hand like this? There is a meaning and a miracle to each. Why is Swamiji giving this kind of an order? You all experienced this for so many decades. You are all following Swamiji’s words. Am I right? Some of you have been following for more than 50 years.
Rajendra Prasad and Naga Phani Sarma say there is something that attracts them to Swamiji. They say they do not know what the attraction is in his face. Some talk about Swamiji’s physical features – his beard, mustache, shoulders, nose etc. We can all talk about it and even sing about it. Nothing wrong. That is also like singing praises of the Guru. You are all following Swamiji for decades. There are many new devotees here as well. I asked some people for fun, why they keep coming back so often. They have a job, they have busy lives, but they still keep coming. 99% of the devotees just come to see Swamiji. They do not go to other pilgrim places or Swamis. They just keep coming to see Swamiji. I ask, “You were here just yesterday. How come you are here again?” After repeated questioning, they get irritated. They say, “We will take care of our job and our families. We will not fail them. There will not be any blame on you. Please let me come to the Ashram”. I ask them if they want something from Swamiji and they say that they do not. “Everything is fine.”. They say Swamiji knows everything but is asking on purpose. “This is my Ashrama. I will come” they say. I tell them I will see them the next day during my visit to their Ashram. They say that they will be there, but will come to see me here, regardless.
We have devotees who come on specific days of the week. The devotees admit to it. There are Thursday devotees, Friday devotees and so on. Many of them keep shuttling between Bengaluru and Mysuru. Their address is the road connecting the two cities. I am concerned they will get exhausted. So, I ask them to stay a little longer before they head back home. They cannot. They leave, but come back again the following week. Their love for me and their faith in me is so great.
Those who came for the Pratyaksha Pada Puja today came only to see Swamiji. I am so happy. Many outstanding concerts take place here in Nada Mantapa. Many musicians visit here on many occasions, not just for performing concerts. M.S. Subbalakshmi, the legendary singer, was here with her Guru Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer for three days. She is the Indian nightingale. I called her and asked her to perform here. Can you guess what she asked? She said she would sing if I Swamiji were present. She said, “When you leave, no one sits around. They can listen to my songs at any time, but I want to sing for you. I have lakhs of people in the audience across the world, but Guru Seva is exceptional. This service is not for devotees who do not value anything other than your presence. So, I will sing if you promise to sit”.
Our devotees are crazy. Even if celestials come and perform a concert, no one sits to watch if Swamiji is not there. S. P. Balasubramaniam said the same thing. He said, “there are many who come to see my concert. But your devotees come for you, not to listen to me. But if you are here, You listen and they listen too”. That is why I am sitting here for hours during concerts. That is the promise I made to them. On a lighter vein, every performer is apprehensive that even the microphone operators are waiting for the program to wind up. You all come only for Swamiji. You have been siting for more than 6 hours. You have so much devotion. We need a priest like Vamsi who instructs everyone to stand up during the prayer. That movement helps relieve some joint aches. You did not even leave to drink water. You have so much love for me.
These are tears of joy. I bless everyone from my heart. I bless you and your family. Always. Out of love. I have no words to say. I am not emotional. I am just happy. Happy birthday. There are many who came running here from home just to be here for a short time. Whatever Sri Swamiji has intuited, directed, instructed you, keep that mode or practice. Don’t crave for another pantheon or avenue. All of you get similar blessing on this Birthday. Happy birthday to you!
Be happy. You have forgotten your sorrows. Do not pray to not get any sorrows. Sorrows must come. Pray for the ability to face them bravely. If you pray that difficulties not come to you, those difficulties get angry and they’ll come with greater force. Pray to Swamiji to face difficulties with strength and courage.
We have to experience dualities. We also have two eyes, two ears, two arms, two legs etc. to balance the body. Life can be very difficult if it is not balanced. God has given us two hearts as well. One is the physical heart on the left side, to protect the body. The other – spiritual heart – is on the right side. God’s creation is so wonderful. Can you do that? See the beautiful flower decoration. Can you create those flowers? Man has created robots, but it is very difficult for the robots to fully imitate man. Look at children. See how beautiful this creation is. Only God can create this. Man cannot. Man went to the moon; he wants to go farther. But man is falling spiritually to even lower depths. His intelligence takes him higher. His mind takes him lower. When your elevator takes you higher, you cannot come back down to see the earth if the lift stops working. You are not seeing God’s creation and His Maya/illusion. You must see that maya, then you will understand. Why? This is preparation for dissolution/Pralaya. After four Yugas, there is dissolution, either through fire or through water. God is preparing for dissolution, which is why this is happening. The countdown to dissolution has started since Kaliyuga. Be careful. Wake up, do not sleep and be oblivious to the malice in the family and society. Do not blame anyone. We are slowly moving towards dissolution. It will not happen in your lifetime. Prepare your children to be spiritually strong. I bless all Datta Kriya Yoga and SSY students. I bless you all.
Bhajan session in the evening
Compiled by Parimala Eshwarla
He who drives away spiritual ignorance and fills the person with supreme knowledge is Guru. He doesn’t restrict himself to externally teaching knowledge; He also causes an inner understanding of the knowledge to sprout on its own within the person. If Guru’s padukas (sandals) are kept at home, we are blessed with Yoga- both jnana yoga and aishwarya yoga. Merely by seeing Guru’s pāda (feet) a person is blessed with jnana and yoga.
We water the vineyard and it in turn produces grapes. Although we have watered the creeper, it is our responsibility to walk to it, pluck the grapes and enjoy them. We cannot expect the grapes to drop into our mouth automatically since we have nurtured the plant. You need to put in effort to taste the fruit that has emerged due to your own efforts. It implies that both prayer and effort are equally important. Likewise, do not expect the Guru padukas to yield fruit on their own. Only when you wilfully worship it with faith, only when you determinedly meditate upon it, only when you revere it- it yields fruit. Just as a farmer tills the land, you must determinedly put in effort. It then leads to Yoga.
Concentrating the mind upon a point is defined as Yoga. Patanjali Yogasutras define Yoga as curbing the mind. We need to wilfully train the mind to remain restrained. Without proper training, the mind will continue to wander as it pleases. With firmness and dedication we need to train it. This morning, thousands of you, sat for almost 5 hours at a stretch without drinking water as you were worried you would miss an important event in case you stepped out of the hall for even a minute.
‘If I step out I may miss Appaji wearing the padukas. I may miss seeing Him with the crown. I may miss ashtottara. I could miss the ārati offered to Him or the flowers being offered to Him. I may miss His laugh. He may cast a glance at me, and in case I step out I will miss out on that golden opportunity’- with these thoughts none of you moved from the hall. Through this process, you disciplined your body; taught your body Yoga by abstaining even from water. This itself indicates your mastery in Kriya yoga. You have achieved yoga siddhi. Due to regular practise of sitting continuously for hours listening to bhajans, you have accomplished mastery in seating pose (āsana siddhi). Today, even those who usually sit on comfortable sofas at home could sit on the bare floor for hours without any complaints.
It was your love for your Guru, your determination to see the Puja that made you sit for hours on the bare floor. You were blessed to witness the Pratyaksha pada puja. Your mind did not vacillate and remained focussed. You listened to the entire Sahasranama (1000 names) of Swamiji attentively.
I too was listening to it attentively. I wanted to see if he (the composer) would miss mentioning any incident from Swamiji’s life in that Sahasranama. However he covered most of it. This was possible because it was not he but me who composed it. Using him as a pen, I composed it myself.
All of you witnessed Swamiji ascending the audumbara simhasana (throne). It is no ordinary throne. It is made from the wood of the naturally fallen audumbara (fig) tree- the tree in which Lord Datta resides. It has been gold-plated. This throne will go down in history. Apart from Swamiji none of His successors will ever sit on that throne. Do not assume that my successor will sit on it. Subsequently, my crown and my sandals will be placed on it and worshipped. Barring this incarnation no one has the right to sit on it. My successors will only protect it. That’s it. You were fortunate to see Swamiji seated on such throne. We do not know when Swamiji will decide to stop sitting on it. As long as He sits we will enjoy that fortune.
Without any mental wavering you witnessed the Puja. You were blessed with such Yoga. If, with the same determination, you practice concentration, you will obtain accomplishment. You can attain atma siddhi (Self-realization). May Lord Datta bless you all.
I have not come here to sing. I just came so as to bless you all with my voice. As I have always said- darshana, sparshana and sambhashana are equally important. You had darshan. Do not assume that you were not blessed with Swamiji’s touch (sparsha). You obtained drishti-sparsha i.e. with my gaze I have touched you all. This is drishti-patam. My gaze has fallen upon you all and you too have seen me. More importantly, you are seated in my presence which too classifies as sparsha (touch). Now you are listening to my voice. With this, sambhashana is complete.
Many years ago, I had to visited Trinidad when the country was passing through chaotic times due to Government instability. Murders also took place and there was a coup. At that time Swamiji was in Mouna session in Switzerland. He was requested to visit the land. Agreeing to this, Swamiji went there and conducted a mega yagna. Swamiji entered the Parliament and uttered ‘Sri Maha Ganapataye namah’. It created history. The situation changed instantly. At that moment Swamiji gave a mantra to the entire country and asked one and all to chant it. Homa was conducted in Trinidad ashram with this mantra. People across all religions chanted this mantra during that period. Six radio stations played this mantra for seven consecutive days to celebrate that the stable Government was restored. For this reason, people from West Indies still hold Swamiji in high esteem. Let us now sing that mantra in a bhajan form- om aim hreem sreem shivarāma anagha dattāya namah.
Singing bhajans with eyes closed and eyes open have strikingly different results. When singing with eyes open, our mind travels towards the seen objects. Deep concentration is impossible. When we sing with eyes closed, we can concentrate better. We become one (eka). When we open our eyes we become many (aneka). We see and fix in our mind the images that float before our eyes. We observe people talking, walking and laughing. When we close the eyes, we enjoy your own company. We sing blissfully.
Even in worship the same rule holds good. Worshipping with actual ingredients gives a grossly different experience from worshipping mentally without physical ingredients. During mental worship the mind is totally pure and so are the feelings. When using physical ingredients the mind turns judgemental- this ingredient is sweet; this ingredient is not of good quality; this is bitter; this flower is withered; this water is cold and the like.
Mentally visiting River Ganga and bathing in it is a unique, wonderful experience. It is easier too. Early morning sit with your eyes closed and mentally believe that you are travelling to Kashi or Haridwar to bathe in Ganga. With full faith believe that you are bathing in it. But this does not excuse you from the mandatory daily bath at home. Bathing at home gives external purity while mentally travelling to Ganga and bathing there gives mental purity.
Likewise, for the mental puja, one can mentally travel to any garden and pluck the flowers for one’s worship. Worship the Lord mentally with these flowers – of any colour or fragrance lovingly picked by you. Mentally climb up the coconut tree and pluck coconut to be offered to the Lord.
The joy experienced in singing bhajans is vastly different from the joy experienced upon listening to them. Singing along with others showers a different experience while remining silent and merging into it with concentration is another experience. Each of these experiences yield a different result.
Chanting the Lord’s name loudly, chanting by mere movement of lips and chanting mentally are three different experiences. Among them, mental chanting is the richest experience.
This year many students have participated in Bhagavad Gita exams which is truly heartening. In every home Bhagavad Gita is being practised continuously. Devotees are also stepping out and teaching others. Many who have never seen Bhagavad Gita books in their life before have now become addicted to it. It has turned into a mega unbelievable revolution. Those who haven’t memorized Bhagavad Gita must at least learn to read with the book.
Many are unhappy at the strict manner in which the Bhagavad Gita exams are being conducted. A set of four experienced teachers are examiners. Do not criticize the examination method. It is my idea. Why should the exam not be strict? What about those who sat night and day and memorized perfectly? Just because others have learnt with mistakes, should their effort go down the drain? Also, each gold medal costs 20,000 with its laser print. Then should your efforts not match its worth? Should I simply distribute the medals even to those who make mistakes? If every participant was dim-witted, then I would reward the best among the dim-witted with a gold medal. However, when there are students who are willing to work to perfection, then why should their hard work be side-lined? Why should they not be honoured? During this examination an 8-year-old girl participated who has perfectly mastered all the 18 chapters. Aha! Not one mistake she makes during chanting. She has amazing memory power. If her parents encourage her, she will excel in academics. She will rise to a very high position in her career. She may not become the prime minister because, by and large, politicians do not refer to Bhagavad Gita, but definitely will scale to great heights.
Bhagavad Gita has the capacity to cause a spurt in memory power. A person who chants Bhagavad Gita even moves into the Devata cadre. If the politicians had learnt Bhagavad Gita or even listened to it, our country would see a significant prosperity. All these atrocities which we see in society today will come to a standstill. People will begin to tread the noble path. If people who have mastered the Bhagavad Gita took up the leadership role in governing the country, then we will live as subjects lived during the rule of Rama. We will be blessed with timely rains. Fear of diseases will no longer exist. There will be no fear of thieves. The land will prosper in every way. But for this to happen, it is mandatory for all those who govern the country to learn Bhagavad Gita. As of now a few ministers are there who know the Bhagavad Gita. I salute them all. But to reach this state many more should learn it.
Increased memory power is not the only outcome of chanting Bhagavad Gita. As we regularly chant it, all our sins will get destroyed. All of you must make a pledge to teach your children Bhagavad Gita. If you can’t even make such resolve, then how will you ever succeed in teaching them? Every one must make this promise. As you learn Bhagavad Gita and as you try to understand its essence, automatically you will begin to follow Sanskrit, the language of the Gods. These are the actual words of the Supreme Lord Himself. They are His own words. Even if all the citizens, the leaders and the governing authorities keep a copy of Bhagavad Gita respectfully in their homes and try to read one verse a day, the country will see tremendous prosperity. In addition to your memory power, your health will improve and more importantly, good noble thoughts will sprout in you. The entire society will consist of noble, virtuous people. You will live among good people. The fear of scarcity will be dissipated. Tensions, agitations, quarrels will cease among family members. Ill-health and tensions due to court-cases will see a significant drop. To obtain these benefits, it is imperative to listen to Bhagavad Gita on a regular basis. In the house that listens to Bhagavad Gita, the environment undergoes a sea change. You will be amazed at the positive transformation undergone by you just after six months of regular listening/ chanting of Bhagavad Gita. Such is the energy contained in it.
You should in fact thank Swamiji for the strict examination process. It is for your benefit only. Remember that condemning the examiners is equivalent of condemning me. It is a grave sin. I receive the video recording of every student who gives the exam. I monitor it closely and then issue corrections/ suggestion to the examiners. Thus it can be said that along with the four examiners seated there, I am the fifth.