Speech of HH Sri Datta Vijayananda Teertha Swamiji on Guru Purnima, July 22, 2013 – Helapuri Sri Nam Datta Natha Kshetram, Eluru
Guru Brahma Gurur Vishnuhu Gurur devo Maheshwara
Guru Sakshat Parambrahma Tasmai Sri Guruve Namaha
Ajnana Timirandhasya gnananjana Shalakaya,
Chakshurunmilitam Yena Tasmai Shri Gurave Namah.
Akhanda mandalakaram Vyaptam Yena Characharam,
Tatpadam Darshitam Yena Tasmai Shri Gurave Namah.
On this scared ocassion of Guru purnima I bless you all. In your language, Happy Guru Purnima. You have all witnessed the sacred Vyasa Purnima or Guru Purnima worship. It was performed in detail. What is the fruit of witnessing or doing the worship? You all sat and watched attentively. That is the fruit. You are the fruit. It is told in ” Athato Brahma jijnasa “ that Yoga is much needed to experience Vedanta, Brahanubhava- to experience the self and to experience the fruit of Advaita Siddhi. Here Athato means after gaining one of the components of Sadhana Chatushtaya, one should seek the Brahma jnana- the knowledge of Brahman. Sadhana Chatushtaya is four means of practice which includes six virtues called shama, dama, titiksha, uparathi, shraddha, samadhana.
Some people ask what more spiritual practice is left after achieving the about ingredients. Only after getting perfect in Kriya yoga, Hata yoga, Raja yoga or the entire yoga Shastra as told by Patanjali maharishi, one must go for the path of knowledge. It is not possible to enter the path of knowledge without achieving the Yoga Siddhi, asana Siddhi, concentration of mind, and without an unwavering intellect.
The path of knowledge seems easy on one side and very difficult on the other side. We need the full grace of Guru and Ishwara to enter and pursue the path of knowledge. You will need a lot of merit, even to do small seva. A lot of your good predispositions and merit of your previous life’s, merit of your parents’ previous lifes, your merit in the current life is required even to do small seva. You will need merit for social or spiritual service. Shankaracharya commences Soundarya Lahari- a divine poem on mother Goddess, with a question. “Without merit, how can one be eligible to understand your tattva- nature?” The good deeds or merit of your previous life’s and current life are essential to understand the tattva of God. We all belong to the caste which desires to understand and tread on the path shown by the Guru. All the distractions of the material world attract both our mind and intellect. We get stuck in these illusions unwillingly. This makes our walk towards our goal more difficult. Guru’s grace is essential to swim across the ocean of samsara and to have darshan of the Self.
Guru Purnima is essentially the best day for the disciples and devotees to earn Guru’s grace. The true meaning of serving Guru Padas is to tread along the path shown by the Guru. I pray to Guru to make us do the true Guru Seva. Why is such detailed Guru or Vyasa puja needed? Our mind is more ancient than our body. Our body is carrying the luggage of such an old mind. To control such mind, we necessarily need the detailed worship. In the time of three hours we sat patiently to witness the worship. If we can concentrate even for a moment, then our life becomes purposeful and fruitful. This is the secret in long duration worship. It is said and also true, that one should fully concentrate for the entire duration of worship, but when inquired about the possibility, it is difficult. Even concentrating for a moment in the entire duration of worship is beneficial. “Sakrut sevya nitya phalam tvam”- We are praying Sadguru like this. Doing seva with fully concentrated mind even for a moment we will bestowed the fruit of doing the entire seva with concentration.
Sri Swamiji in the Govinda bhajans says “Swalpa samarpana matrat gurutara baadha shamana papa hara”. Neither I nor you should be of the opinion that a very big puja was performed. What have we really done? What is our status and what is the status of our worship? Have we created all the ingredients used in the puja? We are only using them. We don’t know how to use the fragrant flowers. We neither know the value of puja remains nor its value. The tree took years to grow, the flowers or fruits on the tree took months to grow. God doesn’t put any effort in the trees, flowers, and the fruits to grow. He is nishkriyaha- He does nothing. He said that I don’t do anything. Only their respective deeds make them walk. Nature works so hard and gives us all the benefits like trees, fruits, flowers, but maybe we are not deserving enough to use them. Similarly God has created mantas, the worship procedures.
“Janmadhya setaha” why should we meditate on the Self? Why should we worship Paramatma? Why should we do all these worships? Why should we ponder on tattva? What is the benefit of such acts? The reason is, since He is the creator, sustainer, dissolver, and since all happens because of Him, we must ponder over Him. That is Self. It is difficult to understand the meaning of the Brahmasutras. Even though we are leading lives of households and normal lives are being led, we also need Moksha. Who denies Moksha? Moksha means relieving from difficulties or sorrow. Ignorance is the biggest sorrow. To get out of birth and death cycle we need to wipe out ignorance from the mind and intellect, which is not a very easy task to either understand or achieve it. That is the first reason we are inculcated with devotion. Via devotion we are given strategy or reasoning and via reasoning we are given liberation. This is why Sadguru is highly respected and occupies the highest position. No one can be compared with Sadguru.
Parents are the first God to children. They have given you this birth. In Ramayana, Vashistha says, parents give you birth and then send you for education. Next the Acharya- teacher who teaches you the real essence of life is Sadguru. He has a special place. Rama, I am ordering you as Sadguru. Come back to the kingdom and rule it. Rama is equal to Brihaspati in intellect. He says both the truth and righteousness are mutually dependent. It is my vow to practice truth, so I have to keep the word given by me, and I cannot leave my dharma. Hence I cannot come back to the kingdom. Vashistha is highly appreciative of this thought process and decision derived from the yoga Vashistha, which was told by Vashistha to Rama 12 years back. He says that Rama is a true disciple.
The Guru is the first and last one who really enjoys the progress and success of His devotee or disciple. The growth of a devotee or disciple, be it in spiritual, material or social life is really appreciated by Guru. Being a good part of society is itself a social service. Both you and your families treading the good path, inculcating children with devotion and the habit of helping the needy is itself a social service. Sadguru refines His devotees and disciples in such a way. The place of Sadguru is very great. Sri Swamiji is celebrating Guru purnima festivity in US for two days. Sri Swamiji said even though He is in the US, He is subtly present in Eluru and is seeing all of us. May Sri Swamiji bless you all.
Eluru ashram was releasing a souvenir for this chaturmasya deeksha. They prayed me to give a quote which would be included in the souvenir. I did not hurry to write the quote as I thought He will motivate the writing of the quote. Many days passed by. One day again I was reminded of the quote. At that time I was reading the 11th chapter of Bhagavatam. There is a wonderful stuthi of Guru in that chapter. In the Guru worship, we have worshipped Krishna also. He has preached Bhagavat Gita- which is the essence of the Upanishads, to the entire world. Krishna is known as Jagadguru. Lord Krishna is the Guru of Jayalaksmi mata and Sri Swamiji likes Him very much. Lord Krishna does upadesha to His devotee Uddhava. Uddhava asks Krishna to tell him about the varnashrama dharma- the four stages of life ordained by the Vedas. This is prevalent only in India. This is the wonderful theory of God in His creation.
The Varna Dharma, ashrama dharma, varnashrama dharma should be understood in the right sense. The question of who is great or small is futile and irrelevant. The idea of varnashrama dharma helps the society to run smoothly. It is on the analogy that a building standing on four pillars is safe. During this upadesha to Uddhava, Krishna tells the importance and greatness of Sadguru. Meditating upon Guru should be done prior to pondering over Vedanta. There is a procedure prescribed to study Vedanta. We must practice the requirements necessary for pondering over Vedanta. We must know Guru tattva to walk in the path of pondering over Vedanta. Krishna tells Uddhava lots of hidden Vedantic secrets in Guru tattva.
Lord Krishna tells Uddhava whom we should remember and to worship and glorify on a daily basis. Agni – fire God should be worshipped on a daily basis. We don’t do it, so Sri Swamiji is making us do it in the form of Pradhana Homa or any other fire sacrifice. Fire worship is carried on a daily basis in the ashram. Arka means Sun God. It is of vital importance to do worship of the sun. Today all of you take a vow to do Surya namaskaras on a daily basis. While going out for work, all of you have a look at Surya and do namaskara, all your efforts will be successful, and you will be victorious. Worshipping Sun God gives so much energy. Even lord Rama chanted Aditya Hrudayam to gain victory on Ravana.
The third is Acharya. Acharya is the one who tells the unity of Jeevatman and Parmatman. We must worship such Acharya who is making us walk on such spiritual path. We must worship cow. The maintenance and protection of cows here are unbelievable. The cow shed here is not comparable to any ashram branch and thus this is one of the main deciding factor to consider chaturmasya deeksha here.
Long time ago we spoke about the meaning of Datta Stavam on this very stage. Here in this ashram there is an Audumbara tree. It has come on its own. Nobody sown the seed here. Maybe some birds put the seed here. I was doing my Anushtana-daily worship here. I had the view of Shri Vasudevananda Saraswati in meditation. These visions happened 2 or 3 times that day. I did not understand why this was happening. The next day again Shri Vasudevananda Saraswati Swami came into my meditation and asked me to do Chaturmasya deeksha here. I agreed in mind. The same evening an old man came and offered me a book which depicts of all the places where Shri Vasudevananda Saraswati Swami has done the Chaturmasya deekshas. When I opened the book, the page was telling about Shri Vasudevananda Saraswati Swami’s chaturmasya deeksha in Eluru. The old man was nowhere to be seen. Then I confirmed that it is Datta who is ordering the Chaturmasya deeksha to be done here.
After completing the tour I went to Sri Swamiji and informed Him the same. Sri Swamiji happily ordered me to do the Chaturmasya deeksha in Eluru. I wanted to do it then only, but on the occasion of 70th birthday celebrations of Sri Swamiji, the Chaturmasya deeksha was performed in Mysore. It is very special to do Chaturmasya deeksha here in this Vijaya year. The scholars in Vedanta and shastras are very valuable. We must not forget them. The words Acharya and Guru occur in the same sloka. Acharya is the one who shows us and makes us walk on the spiritual path. The Guru is the one who teaches education in school and colleges. We must serve our Guru and do the needful to them. Respecting the old people is a must. We have to get up and offer them a seat. In long queues, we have to give way to them first. We must worship them also. We must remember and worship God on a daily basis.
We must keep our body, mind, intellect clean and with a stable mind worship both in the morning and evening. The aforesaid people “I will bless them fully” says Sri Krishna. In the epics, every sentence has a special meaning. We must catch that special meaning. In Bhagavatam “sarva deva mayo guruhu” is the maha vakyam- a sentence loaded with highest essence of knowledge. Mahavakyam means it is an essential and paramount sentence.
“acharyam maam vijaneyyat” Krishna is saying to see Him in Sadguru who is guiding you spiritually. See your Sadguru as Parambrahma and not in normal vision. “Navamahyeha karhichit” never speak an insulting language in the divine presence of Sadguru, especially in respect of Sadguru, because it would be a major sin. “na marya budhya asuyeta” this is highlighted in Gurugita. All those who see Guru in a human form, is a sinner. All who see Guru in Shiva form, are merited. Just because Sadguru has taken a human form and came down to your level, don’t perceive and treat Him as a human. Such vision is sinful. “Sarva deva mayo guruhu” see all the Gods in Guru.
Now the way of serving Guru is being told. Many devotees ask Sri Swamiji to bless them with good promotion, profits in business, and more money so that they use in Guru seva. This is the reason why I want to earn. This is a very good desire. The earning is a dharmic process and it should be further utilized in dharmic purposes. Lord Krishna said that we must go door to door asking for bhiksha or alms both in the morning and evening and offer it to Guru. However, this is not prevalent nowadays. As told in Guru Gita also, we must take what is given by Guru as His prasadam. Doing Guru seva, walking on the path initated by Sadguru, offering what Guru expects from us, that is true Guru seva. Irrespective of all your achievements, Guru is always one step above the disciple. One must maintain an adequate distance from Guru, stand at an adequate distance with folded hands for His order and blessings. Never degrade yourself saying you are low or weak.
The upanishands have come forward and said that you are God and not that God is in you. No one has done such upadesha in the entire world. See the Atman in agni, Sadguru, yourself and in all others. Atma Darshan can be done in two ways. One sees the Atman in beings and secondly believing only Atman is true. Do not discriminate. Worship without discrimantion. Only then, sins will be washed away and one will shine with the radiance of Brahman, and understand the tattva of brahman. Lets us do the worship the way as told above and take a vow and pray Guru to make us do it. Let with Guru’s grace your worship continue without any obstacles. May you all understand Atma tattva. I pray to sri Swamiji for blessing you.
Compiled by Krishna Vaddadi