Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – Sri Devi Navaratri Festival Mysore – Shashthi – September 28, 2025
Om Ayim Hreem Shreem Shri Lalita Parameshvaryai Namaha
Ayim Hreem Shreem signify the Shakti/energy of Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. They are neither male nor female. God has no gender. All our scriptures teach us that the formless God can assume any form.
He has an expansive form – you can call that Mother, Shiva or Vishnu. That is why in the first mantra itself…yaa devi sarbhuteshu shakti rupena samsthita, namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namo namaha…
yaa devi sarvabhuteshu = Mother, Maha Vishnu, Shiva – is present everywhere as Shakti. That is why we are able to move, eat, and walk. What a wonderful principle ours is! God is all-pervading – He pervades the macrocosm and the microcosm. He pervades particles subtler than atoms.
The newly sprouted tree, the budding water body, the dried up water body – all of these are pervaded by God. In Markandeya Purana, in the Durga Saptashati text, Mother is worshiped as Shakti. Shakti is ever pure and formless. Brahma Tattva is itself Shakti. If you search for these spiritual truths, there are no more stories to be told.
That Shakti when seen as a female form is hailed as Parameshvari or Bhagavati, or Durga, Parashakti. But if we see as male, we see as Ishvara, Bhagavan, Krishna, Jagannatha Swamy. We see miracles even today at the Jagannatha temple. The flag flutters in the direction opposite to the flow of wind. Even science is bewildered. They make a potpourri of all vegetables and pulses and serve that food hot as Prasadam. It is great for those with sugar complaints. This is what madhukara bhiksha is about. There is no taste, it has its own unique taste. So, there is no difference between male and female Shakti. Both are one.
They are just two forms of the same Shakti. It is like a coin with two faces. Advaita is the supreme truth.
We cannot cut a coin and separate its faces. That coin will have no value. It is when mother and father come together that there is a family and children are born. It is when the two faces of the coin come together that it makes one coin. The denomination does not matter. Strangely, the information on each face is different.
A simple coin can teach us Advaita Tattva. Swamiji is teaching you so easily. Advaita Tattva is easy.
The judgment in courts is very slow, but God’s court moves very swiftly.
Advaita is the supreme truth. The shopkeeper only cares about the value of the coin, not about the information on the coin.
The single truth of Parabrahma transforms into male and female to uplift the beings over countless births so they all merge back into it. There are no details or stories here. It is only the supreme truth.
To understand this, there is a historic story related to Jagannatha Puri. 125 years ago, in that region, lived a wealthy landlord. He was very compassionate towards the poor. Charity is the decoration for wealth.
Renunciation is the decoration for a sanyasi. Even better decoration is his serene nature.
Chutney is the decoration for dosa, water for food, and salt for sambar. Chewing is the decoration for digestion. If there is no chewing, there is no proper digestion. That is why God has given us the flour mill called mouth. That is why we should first fully chew and swallow the food fully before we put the next morsel in our mouth.
In 1976, in Guyana, someone asked me why Brahmins pour water around their plate/leaf. They sit on the floor and eat. They felt this was all very unkempt.
When you sit on the floor and eat, you lean forward to eat. That compresses your tummy and you eat moderately. The skeptics do not understand that we have mantras for various deities. So, I said that the water prevents ants from entering the food. I said that the 5 morsels we place around the plate are for the ants and insects. He was very impressed.
But if I said it was part of a mantra, yantra, etc., he would not understand. I cannot explain in a way he would understand.
We must eat very slowly too, but you gulp down the food while talking to each other or speaking on the phone. Why cannot you eat in peace? Even if you have a buffet, you must sit calmly in a place and eat. You must avoid drinking water while eating, it is better to drink after you eat.
That landlord had a lot of money. He would do charities generously, he had detachment toward his possessions. If you are constantly attached to your possessions, you cannot come to see Swamiji. You gave up some of that attachment, that is why you are here.
Some people wish to breathe their last in their own house. Who knows where we will die. This house is never ours anyway, we do not know where we’ll be in the next birth.
This landlord used to do a lot of charities. So, he was called karta (giver/doer) ji.
He would frequently go to the Jagannatha temple and also do charities there. Many saw him as a very fortunate man who generously spent his money. A rare few would be envious of him. Karta ji was happy too.
One day, he suddenly felt: The scholar who worships Lord Jagannatha does not have the wealth or the public appreciation that I have.
Back in those days, the priests would not accept money. These days, they have no choice. If they do not accept money, what will they eat? The priests in those days would have a little land that they would farm for crops.
But the priest had no concerns about not having enough money or the children being unemployed, etc. Because he was utterly grateful for the opportunity to worship Lord Jagannatha. He was able to touch the Lord, do abhishekam, offer naivedya and clothes. It is enough to offer one prostration to such priests. You must also give them some token amount when you do that.
The landlord wondered: The priest had no desires. Why do I have desires? I must also earn some siddhis like the priest has.
Next time he went back to the temple, he asked the priest: I want your happiness.
The priest said: Jnana is not a siddhi. It is not attained with yantra or mantra. It is experience attained with contemplation and analysis. It is not about wearing a raksha. Tantra and japa do not always give siddhi, and if they do give siddhi, you must be able to protect it. You must not misuse it for selfish gains. If you use it to win in court, or to sell your house, or to get your daughter married, that siddhi will disappear. Do not wish for your siddhi to come in handy for your personal gains. There should be no connection between your siddhi and your gains.
But when you attain Jnana, it stays with you forever. Siddhis do not stay with you always.
So, you must collect your siddhis, and not expend them for trivial purposes. The energy you get from Guru you must not use for petty reasons. You must not even nurture that intent.
If you lament about backache and wonder why all that mantra is not helping, your mantra siddhi is gone.
If Jnana is attained, it stays forever. People with jnana are always smiling. It is only attained with the grace of God.
God’s grace is easily obtained when one follows the Guru’s words.
This is what the priest said.
Karta ji held the priest’s feet and pleaded for upadesha. He prayed for the right guidance. Even though he was wealthy, he was not arrogant. He would feed others and only eat after, if there was food left. The priest felt that there were no visible defects in the man.
The priest immediately gave him Vaishnava Deeksha. He could give any deeksha, but he gave one per his tradition. All these traditions are like open books, it is based on truth, there are no secrets. Karta ji was overjoyed. He prayed to Lord Jagannatha and started his sadhana.
The temple priest was known as Shyama Sharma as he prayed to Kali (who is dusky/Shyama). He would do intense Kali Upasana at night. Karta ji took Vishnu deeksha from the priest. This news spread like wildfire soon.
People like us would have wondered who he bequeathed his wealth to. Many then thought it was wonderful he got deeksha. Envy is everywhere. Some wondered if he would give all his wealth to the priest. They said to Karta ji: That priest is not even a Vaishnava. He is Shaakteya (worshiper of Shakti). He is deceiving you.
Karta ji did not pay heed to these words. He had a fierce Guru Bhakti, so no one could shake his faith. He was ready to do whatever Guru said, even follow him to hell.
They wanted to somehow separate him from the priest. They thought they should show him the nightly Devi pujas he does.
During Navaratri, those jealous people got together and forcibly took him to the priest’s house as he worshiped Kali very ardently. The priest had divine vision and knew that his disciple had steadfast devotion. He wanted to teach the envious bunch a lesson.
He immediately prayed to Kali Mata: O Mother, you are Shyama. Please give Darshan as Shyama Sundara (Krishna).
Immediately, the idol assumed lifeforce and gave darshan as Jagannatha. This happened only 200 years ago, so it’s very recent. The envious ones hung their heads, went away and went about their duties.
So, there is no high and low between all those traditions. The traditions are different only in names, but their Shakti and energy remains constant. Sugar is one, but the sweets have different names.
So, what we learn from this is what wealth must be used for others’ benefit.
Our (divine) Mother and Father are one. It does not matter what others say about sadhana, guru’s words alone are our guiding light. Do not get distracted from the truth, and from Guru’s words. May you all understand Mother’s Tattva, may you all be showered with Ishvara’s grace.
O Goddess of the Tripura! O Ishvari who transcends the three gunas. O Three-eyed beauty, O Lordess of all Devatas, please protect me, nurture me, purify me.
Tripura means the three states of existence. Trigunas are the tri-fold aspects of Prakrti. Tridasha is the three worlds – Bhu, Bhuvar and Suvar.
O Tripuramba, You are the only One. All Tattvas together form one Tattva, and that is who You are. We eat various items, but they all become one in our stomach. We understand each item separately, but in the end we understand the whole as a single one, a combination of all.
Musically-inclined people were asking for different ragas and bhajans, so Swamiji is making the bhajans in new tunes. Sanskrit is our first language. It is an international language. It is our birth language, our breath language.
Today, one devotee-couple asked for this bhajan.
35-40 years ago, this bhajan used to play on LP records. The couple heard this then and used to sing this everyday. Now, they are very strong and ardent devotees. After Pada Puja I asked them what they wanted. It was a chance to ask for a big boon. They said they wanted nothing, they only wanted to be with Swamiji all the time in all births. I insisted and they said, they wanted this bhajan – Jaya Jaya Bhagavathi.
They said the Ananda in anything else pales in comparison to the Ananda of being with Swamiji.
After 20 years, Swamiji is singing this bhajan.
Bhajan ID 467