Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji after Sri Chakra Puja – July 3, 2024 – Karya Siddhi Hanuman Temple, Frisco, TX, USA
Today’s Bhajans were well practiced and rendered. The Tattvas in Bhagavatam, Mahabharata, Upanishads, Bhakti Yoga are all composed in the form of Keertanas by Swamiji. All these compositions teach Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga. They are Siddha Bhajans. These are the messages for world. In the past, Namadev, Tukaram, Meera Bai, Ramdas, Tyagaraja, Muthuswamy Deekshitar, etc., realized that (spoken) Updeshas will not be heard with attention as people’s minds are always engaged in worldly thoughts and afflictions like money, desire, hospital, anger, children, etc.
Do not always hanker after children. Did your parents or grandparents take anything with them? Are they here? We get rebirths due to these desires. Swamiji always teaches you to be happy. It is easy to say, but we should practice being happy. We get attached, we engage with the world because we are all sinners. To cover the sin and the mistakes, we do various actions. It is easy to give birth to children, but not easy to bring them up right. You must, of course, have children. Hindus must have 3-4 children. Do not be satisfied with 1 or 2 children. Hindu Dharma is getting destroyed, so we should have more children. Hindus have become timid; they are worried about how they can manage children. Did your parents not manage? Not having children and not getting married are not right. Lately, Hindus have been branded violent. This is foolish talk. Ahimsa was introduced to the world by the Hindus.
Sri Sankara and everyone after too propagated Ahimsa. We talk about Ahimsa and then eat meat. We should not kill even mosquitoes. Because we are social beings, we have to sometimes lie. But we have to learn to be peaceful and content. We should not have discontentment and hankering. All these lessons are in the Mahabharata. Dharmaraja was taught all this by Grandsire Bhishma. I am speaking of that great wisdom in a simple language, bringing it to you all. Dharmaraja asked many questions. Bhishma showed us how to respect parents. He had the boon to choose when he would die. I am telling you only things that the great Bhishma said.
Swamiji’s Bhajans are also taken from Ramayana, Mahabharata, Upanishads, etc. You will not read those scriptures; even if you did, it would be hard to understand. But now that you are studying the Bhagavad Gita, you are learning to concentrate and understand the meanings. We should do this out of love, not just as exertion. Do not think of it as mere duty, you must do it out of love, then you will not feel the strain. Otherwise, everything feels like hard work. That is why Swamiji has Bhajan Mala app and the Bhajan Babies YouTube channel. You are all my babies. If you are my baby, you must subscribe to the Bhajan Babies channel.
You are all really my babies, you do not realize it. I see you as my babies. You may be big officers or managers or entrepreneurs, or other prominent people, but I do not see you like that. At the end of the day, you are my children. That is how we should also approach Sadguru. So, never think you are working very hard to come see the Sadguru, you must come out of love. Then, things will get easy too.
Afflictions and grief will surround you when you want to come see Swamiji, but you must overcome those and come to Swamiji. That is why I come for you. I visited many homes today. They have so much devotion. I keep giving them fickleness to purify them. I need to wash your minds and scrub them to remove the dirt. But you must hold on with steadfast devotion.
There are so many morals and lessons taught by Bhishma to Dharmaraja. These are all in the Bhajans. Ramayana, Bhagavatam, etc., are all in the Bhajans. Do not ignore the Bhajans, listen to them. No use just having the Bhajans at home. You must listen to them. You say you have no time. But when you listen, it becomes Upadesha. There is Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Jnana Yoga. All subjects are taught one by one through the Bhajans..
Bhakti Yoga is eternal. We must surrender ourselves completely to God. We are a flower at the Lord’s feet. We must offer the 8 flowers to God with our body. Do not spoil those. That is why at the end (of our rituals or puja) we prostrate to God and say we have nowhere else to seek refuge but with God. God gave us the body. From the body comes form.
Money or Education or Power should not give ego. Such ego destroys us. When money, or education or power comes to a person, they must serve others with it. It is regrettable that Hindus are just being branded violent for no reason. It is unfortunate that we have to listen to such things.
Perhaps we lived during Rama’s time, that is why we have devotion for Rama. Perhaps we lived during Krishna’s time due to which we have devotion for Krishna. That is why we are attracted to certain deities. We are taking births again and again due to our karma. We are all devotees of Hanumanta, of Krishna and Rama. But we take birth again and again due to our karma and kāma (desire/lust). We have to finish our karma. That is why develop Satsanga, Jnana, sing Bhajans, chant prayers. Automatically the karma becomes smaller. There will be no place for karma if you do noble deeds.
Our mind is very fickle, that is why we give so much room to kama and krodha (anger) in our hearts. That is why Devatas who want to enter our hearts cannot, because our hearts are occupied with demons of kama, krodha, etc. Slowly, drive out the vices and the demons – the inner enemies. Then, when there’s space in your heart, Devatas can enter. Fight those renting your heart now – the demons. Then, when they get out, the Devatas will enter. Give Devatas a little space to enter. Give a little room for Bhakti and Jnana to enter.
As an example, when you are on a train, you will see someone ask for a little bit of space to sit. Out of compassion, we give them a little bit of space. They will first only ask for room to place half their bottom on it. Then, they will slowly place their entire bottom there. So too, we have given the entire heart to the demons. Angels/Devatas are all standing outside, waiting. They are like the travelers – hungry and waiting. Good karma is refused entry. So, we should give the Devatas a little bit of space to enter, they will then slowly occupy more space as we keep doing good karma. Do not worry about mantras. Keep practicing and listening to Bhajans. You will automatically find peace.
No afflictions of samsara can faze you.
Tomorrow, there is Sundarakanda chanting. Everyone listen.