Speeches of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – May 2, 2020
Sookti
Compiled by: Parimala Eshwarla
Deepō bhakṣayatē dhvāntaṃ, kajjalaṃ ca prasooyatē
Yadannaṃ bhakṣayēt nityaṃ jāyatē tādŗśī prajā ǁ
Meaning: Just as the oil lamp dispels darkness but leaves behind a black soot, a person begets children according to the type of food he eats.
When food consumed is pure and fresh (sattvik food), the children born to the person will also be filled with traits of sattva (purity). When food consumed is tamasic (impure/ stale food), children born to him will generally be filled with tamas (inertia/ ignorance) and can harm the society.
It is therefore very important that especially during pregnancy women must take great care about food. The story of Prahlada is a great example of how pregnancy can influence the mind of the unborn child.
Coming to know that demon Hiranyakashipu had gone away for penance, the Devatas attacked his kingdom. At that time, Hiranyakashipu’s wife was pregnant. She was petrified seeing the chaos. Maharishi Narada, the celestial sage, came there and took her away to his ashram for protection. The great sage began narrating stories of Vishnu. While Narada was explaining the stories, he could hear some feeble sounds. He turned back and looked at the lady. She was asleep. But the gentle sounds were coming from her womb. It was evident that the unborn child was listening keenly to the glories of the Lord and responding too!
In great elation, Maharishi Narada continued to narrate more stories. He also imparted a mantra to that unborn child.
Although the lady belonged to the demon clan, due to staying in Maharishi Narada’s ashram during her pregnancy, she was consuming pure, fresh food. All this collectively had a great influence on the foetus. The lady subsequently gave birth to Prahlada, who, due to his intense devotion towards the Lord earned a place for himself in the list of the devotees who are noted for their complete, pure, intense devotion.
More importantly, Prahlada brought around a significant change in the way the demons behaved. He could infuse devotion into them. All this was possible due to the right influence and right food during pregnancy by his mother.
It is food that sustains people. It is food that ensures the living being continues to live on earth. It is due to food that the living being takes birth on earth. It is food that triggers thoughts and intellect. This has been emphatically stated by the Upanishads. Even science accepts that food influences the mind. Therefore, understand that it is food that governs our existence.
It is food that determines the type of thoughts, feelings and behaviour. It is food that determines our good and bad deeds.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna has explained about sattvik, rajasic and tamasic foods. The thoughts of the person who consumes sattivik (pure, fresh) food will also be pure. It is for this reason that we are asked to consume sattvik food. Although Bhagavad Gita does not dictate to us the type of food we should consume, those who want to tread the right path, those who want their children to tread the right path must switch to pure food. In it, lies their benefit.
Deepa means lamp. A lamp is that which bestows illumination. Illumination dispels darkness. The truth is that darkness does not exist. Absence of illumination is addressed as darkness. For instance, in this creation there are many objects, but not all objects exist everywhere. When an object does not exist at a place, we can only say ‘it does not exist’. Likewise, we can only say, ‘Illumination exists here’ or ‘Illumination does not exist’. Is it right to address ‘absence of illumination’ as ‘darkness’? This is how tarka shastra (Scripture that deals with reasoning and logical thinking) questions. It says- darkness is not a separate object. Absence of illumination is darkness. To swallow darkness is the task of illumination.
In the darkness of night, a lamp is lit. With this, instantly darkness is dispelled and the place is illumined. In other words, the illumination swallows the darkness.
We develop the vasanas (subtle tendencies) according to that which we consume as food, isn’t it? The poet says that since the oil lamp swallowed (drank) the darkness, it generated darkness in the form of soot (which is left behind when the oil lamp dies down).
Those who are cooking, especially the ladies, need to note this point. This is being said because by and large it is the woman who cooks and feeds the husband, children, elderly in-laws and other members at home. If the woman cooks while listening to or while chanting Lalita Sahasranama, Vishnu sahasranama, Bhagavad Gita or any other such sacred verses, then those good vibrations seep into the food. Those men or women who are cooking and who do not know any prayers can at least chant divine names of the Lord, or entertain noble thoughts while cooking.
Due to this, those who consume that food will develop good thoughts and good intellect, and will slowly and gradually, tread the right path.
If the lady who is cooking has her mind focussed on nerve-chilling serials or stories that show violence and wickedness, then those who consume that food will develop such wicked thoughts. This is why food plays a critical role, says this sookti.
Message in Bhakti TV Program telecast on May 2, 2020
Compiled by: Jaya Akkanapragada
Śrī mahāgańapatayé namaha
Śrī sarasvatyé namaha
Śrī pādavallabha narasimha sarasvati
Śri guru dattātréyāya namaha
Jaya Guru Datta. I pray every day to My Father and My Mother to protect us all from this Corona. Mankind has only flourished because of His grace, and today we must seek His protection. Every planet exists because of its attraction to other planets. We do not know what is going to happen the next moment. Even if a planet changes its speed or direction of rotation by a second, there will be a collision. Even science knows that anything can happen at any time. Science has also finally agreed that the Sun exists only for a limited period of time, and each time creation dissolves, a new Sun is born.
Right now, we are on earth going around the Sun. As the earth has evolved, and the beings on earth have evolved, there have been many natural calamities which have wiped out entire species. There are scriptures which provide detailed accounts of each calamity which have wiped out many species, mountains and trees. Later new mountains rose, different species of trees, birds and animals evolved. Man came after many such calamities and evolutions. Bhāgavatam also mentions this.
Man has evolved to such a great extent that when a rocket is launched into outer space, it is designed to be able to stay in orbit by drawing energy from the sun. Research is being done to make sure rockets can go to different planets. Just the way Gandhi does not live in Gandhi bazaar, we must understand that the Sun god does not reside in the Sun. The location is called Suryaloka. Similarly, the Moon god does not reside on the Moon, it is called candraloka. Out of respect, we are referring to the lokas as the presiding deities, but they do not reside there. Every day we can see Jupiter planet next to the moon. Some day rockets will go to all these lokās.
Planet earth has been through so much to support all of us beings on this earth. Three-fourths of the earth is made up of water, and only one-fourth is land. This means, that at any point, the mud can dissolve in water. It is known as jalapralayam – the great flooding. It can happen at any time. We keep hearing about craters being discovered which means the land there has sunk. We also hear about the sea levels rising by two inches, and certain islands becoming completely submerged. We hear how one day Italy may be completely gone. We do not know how far this is true or not, but we are seeing a lot of changes in front of our eyes. So one day, the great flood will definitely happen. It is inevitable. We may all die and be reborn again before it happens. Therefore, as long as we are alive, till that great flood comes, we must use our intelligence to live properly. Paramātma has given us the intelligence, the resources and tools, as well as the work we must do. Should we not then do the work we are supposed to? Instead, we are doing all the wrong things. We are destroying nature. Instead of using arid land, we are constructing buildings and factories on arable land.
The other day I saw on TV how a man grew a bountiful crop on completely arid land which was filled with stones. This farmer was given 1.5 acres of land when the property was divided between his brothers. The 1.5 acre land was filled with big stones and thorns. Without once protesting about the unfair allotment of land, the farmer spent the next 6 months to a year slowly clearing the land of all the stones. He then sourced good quality soil and spread it over the land, and grew all kinds of vegetables and crops on that soil. I was so happy to see this. Let me tell you what happened in my case.
This is a very old story about a difficulty I faced in Mysore. We had acquired ten acres of very good quality land. But because someone advised that we sell this south-facing plot, we sold it and bought a five acre plot within the city limits. 2 out of the 5 acres which we had newly purchased was filled with huge boulders. When I realized that, I felt very bad knowing we would never be able to sell it. Who would buy such land from us?
With great difficulty, for one year, our devotees spent time removing the stones, going to great depths to blast the stones. Now we are growing so many crops on that land! All the fruits, flowers, coconuts and grains needed for the Venkateswara Swami temple, come from this land now. Everything which Swamiji needs for his personal puja grows on this land only. There is a couple which takes care of this land for us now.
I was so upset when I first saw this land. Many farmers refused to work this land saying dynamite would be needed to blast the stones. Our devotees with their bare hands removed each stone. No dynamite was used. Today, the land is so fertile, everything grows beautifully! Someday I will show you a video of how this land was converted. I have also spent time breaking the stones there. I am telling you all this to say that if we really want to, we can achieve anything. We must set our mind to do it, that’s all.
Nowadays, people have become so lazy they do not do anything on their own. They depend on others for everything. That is the reason for most diseases and problems. If every Indian gives up laziness, there is nothing we cannot achieve. In the olden days, when someone had chickenpox, the entire family would stay away from the infected person. The infected person would be treated with neem leaves. One person who was mentally tough and who had a very strong immune system would take care of feeding and cleaning the infected person. This caretaker would never fall sick, and within 15-20 days the person would be completely cured.
You can see some people with a lot of scars all over their body and face, because back then, there were no medicines to help them so they suffered greatly with chickenpox. Now, even though medicines are available, people in villages do not use them. They create their own remedies. In the olden days, they even performed surgeries in rural places.
The instructions which we hear now about washing hands frequently, covering our mouth and nose – all these were in practice back then itself. Now after Corona breaking out, the entire world is praising and appreciating Indian traditions. Folding hands and greeting with a Namaskāram from a distance seems much better than shaking hands or hugging and kissing people. Clearing up plates and utensils and washing them immediately has so many benefits. Our ancestors carefully followed many rules and practices to stay healthy. Every ārōgya sūtra was carefully followed, and people easily lived to be 100-120 years old without any illnesses.
Till the age of 99 years, my grandfather ploughed the soil. That’s how much energy he had. He never used medicines. In those days, the elders would constantly scold us and tell us how to be. These practices known as madi are very important to follow, and help us lead long healthy lives. Most people who do not know, dismiss them as orthodox and rigid practices.
Let us try to understand what the scriptures say about avoiding infectious diseases which spread by contact. Padma Purāńa talks about rules for bathing. Did you think the Purāńās were only filled with stories? Many important and useful practices for us to lead a meaningful life are mentioned. But we don’t read the Purāńās because we think we do not need them.
na tārayét parasyévam
snāna vastram kadācana
The above line from the Purāńā says that the clothes used for bathing by one person, must not be used by others. When we go to a hotel, we use the towels there. Who knows who used it, what infections and diseases they have, and whether it was washed properly. Towels must be washed in boiling water, wrung out and dried in the sun. Even at home, each family member must have a separate towel. Otherwise if one person has a rash, everyone else will get it, and the entire family will have to spend time together in the hospital. In fact, after you bathe, you take your towel, wash it and put it out to dry. Would you consider these practices rigid and orthodox now? Is this not common sense? If a patient is lying down at home, would you not wash the bedsheet used by them before reusing it? Just because you did not understand Sanskrit you called it orthodoxy, but if you understood what was being said, you would see it is sensible. If someone has Corona now, would you use the bedsheet used by that person? It is the same thing. Should I consider you rigid and orthodox because you refuse to use that bedsheet?
apa mrujyāt na ca snātō
gātrāni ambara pāńibhihi
na cāpi dhūmayét kéśān
vāsasīna ca dhūnayét
The above verse from the Mārkandéya Purāńa says that after taking a bath, do not rub the water off your body using your hands. You must also not wait till all the water completely slides off your body. You must immediately wipe the body with a towel.
There is a rule that a sāligrāmam must not be wiped with a wet cloth, otherwise it will break. These are not rigid practices, they have been given to us because it concerns our health. The cloth that is used for bathing must not be used to wipe the body. You may wonder what bathing cloth I am referring to. One must never bathe completely naked, always use a small cloth to cover yourself and bathe. After bathing, wring that cloth, but do not use it to wipe your body. The towel which is used to wipe the hair and the body should not be repeatedly shaken in the air. This is just as bad as having someone who is sick sneeze in your face. When we vigorously air the cloth in the bathroom, the germs present on it will land on other surfaces, and anyone else who uses the bathroom will pick up the germs.
upānahauca vāsaśca dhrutam anyé na dhārayét
Our ancestors in manu smriti said that clothes and footwear belonging to one person should not be used by others. We do not know what health issues the other person has. If we wear their footwear thinking it looks very nice, within 30 minutes, we will pick up whatever illness they have. Even in case of an emergency, do not use another’s footwear. I would say it is better to go barefoot. Maybe if you have to cross over something very quickly, maybe you can use another person’s footwear, but otherwise completely avoid using others’ clothes and shoes.
We must not unnecessarily keep touching our eyes, ears, nose and mouth. Some people have the bad habit of putting keys in their ears as if there is some lock to turn. You should see the emotions on their face! By unnecessarily touching your nose and ears you are passing on infections and diseases to others.
anāturaha svāni khāmi na spruśyét animittataha
Manu smriti says that those who are healthy should not keep touching their sense organs – eyes, ears, nose, skin and mouth or tongue.
Aśtānga hrudayam which is an Ayurvedic text says nāsikām nā vikuśniyāt. One must not place their finger in the nostril and twist around. Many people have these bad habits. They even put their finger in their mouth.
na cintyāt na khalōmā nidantaihi
na utpātayét nakhān
Suśruta samhita says nails and hair must not be bitten. Many people have the bad habit of biting their nails. This is not good because there are germs and dirt present under the fingernails.
na kārańāt vā niśtīvét – this line from the Kūrma Purāńa says that one must not keep spitting frequently or clearing the throat to get rid of phlegm.
grāńésya vāsasā acchādya
mala mūtra tyajét budhaha
Vādhūla smriti says that when we go to the toilet, we must cover our mouth and nose with a mask-like cloth.
na asamvruta mukhaha sadasi jambā
udgāra kāsasvāsa chavadhu utsrujét
the above line in Suśruta samhita says that when we are present in a large gathering, we must cover our mouth with a cloth while sneezing, coughing or burping. We are now talking about the importance of masks, but all this was already mentioned back then itself. There are many more such examples. We shall discuss them another time.
Jaya Guru Datta. Sri Guru Datta.