Speeches of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – September 16, 2023 – Vijayawada
Speech in the morning
The Bhajan group sang very well. Make the group bigger. Swamiji wishes that you sing even more. Get more male voices too, there are many male singers, they will be happy to sing. What greater fortune do we have than to sing Swamiji’s beejakshara bhajans! You sang two new compositions of Swamiji. These are written for folk dancing. One of the songs – ‘Hare Krishna’ contains the entire story of Lord Krishna.
Keyboard and Tabla too provided good support. Practice even more, as these are new tunes and need more practice. You will easily pick them up if you know movie songs, but these compositions are different from movie songs. It is a new style Swamiji founded that flows in between traditional music and light music. So, it can be turned either way, or can be turned toward Nama Sankeertana.
The bhajans are getting swaras (music notes) included now. That will make it easy for the singers and those playing the instruments. Our bhajans usually have one refrain and a number of stanzas. It is easy to learn such bhajans. Learning these songs in the traditional music style may be daunting, but it is easy to sing the way Swamiji has been propagating it. Bhajan Babies is now known the world over. Some children go to bed only when they can listen to Bhajan Babies. Bhajan Babies is being done by children who like bhajans and who are now all grown up. So, subscribe Bhajan Babies on your phone. It becomes easy to sing Swamiji bhajans. We are trying to add meanings to those bhajans as well, in the app. Most bhajans are in Telugu and Sanskrit. About 80% are in Sanskrit. Sanskrit is an international language, everyone can pick it up. Everyone should sing bhajans.
What we are doing is Sankeertana. The term ‘Bhajan’ usually refers only to the divine names being repeated over and over. That is also good, but that refers only to chanting the names. What we do is Sankeertana; we invite all the gods, the lyrics have meanings and rhythm. These lyrics touch our heart and we converse with God. They are mantras. In the past, Swamiji would recommend that patients listen to the music in a certain album to get healed. The doctors, who initially mocked the patients, came running later to Swamiji, seeing the miracle of the music. Our Sankeertana method is like medicine. It is also full of devotion. If you sing a bhajan heart-fully and close your eyes, you will surely see Swamiji in your heart.
This morning, Swamiji wrote a Kshipra Ganapathi bhajan and another on Marakata Raja Rajeshwari. You can hear it tonight or tomorrow. Participate in all the programs. Serve this Ashrama to the extent possible. Do not wait to get invited or be told. We will not TELL you. We will only DO. You must volunteer and get down to serving.
The coconuts are ready for Poornaphala offering. Pray for the well-being of the world. News these days is very aggravating. We do not feel like turning on the TV. There is no peace, it is chaos everywhere. There is famine and natural disasters. Libya has lost entire cities. Mountains are falling apart. There are floods in some other places. All this is due to our own mistakes. You can observe what those mistakes are, I do not have to tell you anymore. I have been telling you for 40 years.
How are we destroying the climate? We are destroying the forests and killing the animals. That makes Nature angry and it tries to adjust. But that is very hard and as it tries to balance itself, human lives are also lost in the process. Now, we can only pray to God to protect us. No scientist can do anything to protect us. No government can help. Finally, only beseeching God is all we can do.
We do not know how this Creation came about, where it is going, what is happening. We are going to the moon, spending crores of rupees – what do we get from it? We get some praise, but the ordinary person gains nothing from it. The person who is truly poor has no benefit from it. The Lord is the only savior. He protects the frog under the rock, he protects everyone. We cannot control desire and anger and therefore suffer and get diseases. We can neither control those vices, nor suffer the diseases. Do not blame others; examine your own faults. All of you come and participate in this festival. Everyone has a right to think about God.
There is more unnecessary stuff on TV. We hear of someone falling off from a bike in some remote country, but we are not aware of our son falling off the bike. We are getting sucked into the news and happenings of the world. We should consume news only as much as needed, whether through paper or TV. There is no need to read every newspaper from the first letter to the last. Just know the headlines – that is enough. We do not need the details, it spoils our mind, we cannot do anything about the bad news. It only makes for your chit-chats and conversations when you meet people. Instead, talk about progress rather than bad news and destruction. Discuss with your family members, budget your life. Then you can be happy.
Speech in the evening
śrī mahā ganapate namaḥ
śrī sarasvatyai namaḥ
śrī padavallabha nrsimha sarasvati
śrī guru dattātreyāya namaḥ
Bhajan ID 54: hē gaṇapā! hē natapā!
Many requested a Keertan on Pujya Jayalakshmi Mata today.
Bhajan ID 8117: śrījayalakṣmī mātā jayati
The Mother here is as real as she was when she was with me. The sculptors made 10-12 moortis, but this came closest. It is not 100%, but Mother was more or less like this. Earlier, they had Mother look very old. But I saw Mother when she was young. Behind Mother I’d always see Annapoorna Mata or Raja Rajeshwari. The sculptor made the moorti with a lot of devotion. Tomorrow, everyone gets Darshana. Be prepared to do the necessary Puja. You may offer Poornaphala to Hanuman in the name of Mother. Mother worshiped Hanuman ardently although she was a Krishna devotee. Mother will grant you a good heart and divine wisdom. This is what we all need.
Bhajan ID 194: datta datta datta datta dattadīpaṁ
The Telugu in this composition is very easy to understand. This Light grew from childhood…what forms it appears in to us…what stages propel our life forward…all those stages are easily explained to us in this composition, for this day and age. This is very close to Atma Jnana. What is the Light? It’s the Prana that we breathe. How was it during childhood, how did it change in adulthood? All this is very easily explained in this bhajan.
The mind and buddhi must be restrained. Children should be taught spirituality right from a young age. That will be possible if we practice spirituality too from then. But if we live carelessly and spend recklessly, speak as we wish, fight in front of the children, speak about money, gossip about mothers, taunt and belittle others in their presence, that will have an adverse impact on their mind. You think they don’t understand, but they can. Their minds are sharp. That is why they pick up Bhagavad Gita so quickly.
If we give a good-being to the society, that is a good service to the world, but it’s a sin to give a wicked-being to the society. That is why we have Bhajan Babies today for children. Whatever we talk about gets imprinted on their minds. A grandmother sat in her house when a friend of the daughter-in-law walked in. The grandson overheard his mother, the daughter-in-law say to her friend that her mother-in-law wouldn’t die.He ran to the grandmother and played with her, but the words got imprinted on his mind even though he did not understand the meaning. That is why, adults in the house must never speak of difficulties in the presence of children. The parents keep fighting in the presence of children. You are destroying your children’s mind. You must carefully bring up your children. You must only speak about the noble and positive in front of your children. Even if you turn on the TV or play music, only tune into what is good and positive influence on the children.
American devotee children have learned this very well. They are singing and dancing to the good and positive stuff. They are doing very well. The children who have learned the Bhagavad Gita are getting scholarships and awards. Last time when I went to the US, a four year old child Kokila chanted the Gita from memory. You ask her for shloka number or shloka, and she’ll tell you. You ask her how she learned the shlokas, she’ll say she learned from Tataji. That is because her mother would always play Gita in Swamiji’s voice when she was in her mother’s womb. When her mother chanted incorrectly, the baby in the womb would kick. That is why, listen to good music and shlokas. I tell experienced Datta devotees to always learn bhajans. If they are new to Datta family, I will only gently suggest the same.
We go to see waterfalls that are very far away. We spend a lot of money to go there, but we take out our phones there and start recording. Why don’t you instead experience the beauty there. You spent so much time and money. Watch the falls, listen to the sound, see the water jump. You whip out the phone at every occasion. I chide the devotees who take a selfie while they come in Darshan line. Why are we coming to Swamiji? We should take a photo in our mind. If you want video/photo, you can get limitless numbers on YouTube and Facebook. These photos and videos you take will not come out well. Everyone with a phone: I caution you, volunteers will confiscate your phones! I ordered them to. So, keep your phones in your bags, do not even take them out. So many are dying while taking selfies. They stand right by the cliff or are driving, while taking selfies. They go straight to Yama Loka. Tell everyone that Swamiji will not permit taking His photos. You can see the photos taken by the photographer from Facebook. But if you take photos with your phone, I will walk away, not just from here, but from everywhere. I was quiet in the beginning, thinking that you’ll learn bhajans while you do that, but the video recordings are only for show. Sadguru’s photo is so utterly reverential, we should be afraid of having Swamiji’s photo. You have the photo of Swamiji in your phone right by the photos of animals. That’s so wrong and sinful.
I have directed the volunteers to confiscate your phones if you record Swamiji. Swamiji orders that no one ever take photos and videos of Swamiji, unless you are a designated photographer. The more photos you take, the more Swamiji’s lifespan diminishes. So, if you keep taking photos, it means you wish for that to be the case. Next time onward, we will require you to switch off the phone before you walk in.
These are the words Subramanya Swamy said to the mouse in the 12th chapter of Skanda Purana (says Swamiji humorously). These bhajans are hot off the oven…they were written just today. That is what I keep doing all the time in Guru Nilayam.
Bhajan ID 8531: gaṇapati dēvuni āśrayamu
This new keertana has been added to our Ganapathi compositions. It’s been made very easy to understand. It flowed spontaneously when it was created.
This keertan was offered to Sri Krishna Paramatma on Krishna Janmashtami. The entire story of Sri Krishna is put into this composition.
Bhajan ID 8516: harē kr̥ṣṇa! harē kr̥ṣṇa!
This is the beautiful praise, offered in praise of Sri Krishna in Hyderabad on Krishna Janmashtami, on the day Bhagavad Gita was chanted in His presence.
Bhajan ID 8428: padmāvatī ramaṇa śrīvēṅkaṭēśā!
The raga in this Bhajan is called Padmavati.
Bhajan ID 1052: an̄janamma muddubiḍḍa! ān̄janēyā!
Hanuman’s name alone is enough to overcome any difficulty. This is the main point in this bhajan. “With devotion, if we worship You and chant Your names, all my difficulties are driven away. O loving son of Anjanamma…I am Your loving child,” it hints at.
After offering crores of Chalisas to Hanuman, this composition came spontaneously for your sake. It’s a very simple keertan. Everyone can sing this. You can pick it up by simply listening to it. Swamiji has inserted beejakasharas in the bhajans. So, if you keep singing with devotion, getting immersed and submerged in the Lord, it will give you the fruit. You must truly become the loving child of the Lord. Don’t do it mechanically because Swamiji asked you to. Every bhajan has embedded in it secret mantras and beejaksharas. Swamiji will not reveal them to you. You can examine it for yourself.
Swamiji just spontaneously writes something, no restrictions of time and place. The grammar and lyrics may not be traditionally perfect; I give them to the scholars to fix it. But they do not want to fix it, because they believe they have to follow grammar, but grammar follows Swamiji and there must be a good reason why the composition is the way it is. They make no corrections even though I ask them to.
Bhajan ID 8104: śrīrāmaṁ.. cittaṁ bhajatu
The name of Rama removes all woes. That epitome of Dharma – Sri Rama – ruled for 11000 years and also led people on the path of Dharma, establishing Rama Rajya. That is why foreigners like to visit India. Even to this day, even after the Yugas changed, foreigners – who are devotees of Rama – roll in the dust in Ayodhya, believing it is the ground that Sri Rama walked on. They prostrate to and kiss that earth. They wipe that ground with the clothes on their body. That means they are seeing Sri Rama.
Even when they bathe in the Sarayu river, they believe Sri Rama is accompanying them. Yugas have changed, even demons have entered the place. Yet, we recollect Sri Rama’s story again and again and pray to him. Merely chanting Rama’s name removes all woes and gives us comfort. It’s the name that removes grief. It’s the name that grants joy. Even Shiva dearly loves the name ‘Rama’ and he chants it incessantly. When someone dies in Kasi, the name of Sri Rama is chanted in their ear. Shiva gives the Rama mantra to the deceased in Kasi.
Sri Rama incarnated as human for our sake and taught us humanity. Even today, we are following some of the practices taught by Sri Rama. When we go to Rama temple, we forget ourselves in the ecstasy of the divine. Tomorrow, we will all offer Poornaphala to Lord Hanuman.
The children will sing Shiva Arati now…all of you learn this composition. This is sung widely in North India, you all must learn to.
Bhajan ID 1280: gāvō āratī viśvēśvar śiv kī
Now is the time to use your phone. You can use the phone for bhajans, but do not take photos.