Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – Sri Devi Navaratri Festival Mysore – Caturthi – September 26, 2025
Om Ayim Hreem Shreem Shri Lalita Parameshvaryai Namaha.
Pujya Datta Tataji spoke about each of the artist sitting on the stage accompanying the Divya Nama Sankeertana session. Here’s some excerpts:
Mridangam Ramesh has been trained since age 5 and who has dedicated his entire artistry to Swamiji alone. He is a third generation devotee. Due to constant training with Swamiji, all of them get to play with Swamiji. While managing his bank job, he does mridangam seva for Swamiji. He does not play anywhere else.
Pujya Swamiji is talking about some other percussionists who are completely dedicated to serving and playing for Swamiji alone.
All of them, despite ups and downs, despite honors and dishonors have stuck with Swamiji. Same with Dr. Phanishree as well who plays the flute. Sheetal Prasad from Trinidad has been devoted for so long, traveling with Swamiji for 30-35 years on his own dime. Mani has also been playing for Swamiji for 25 years. Whether there is someone else or not, he does bhajans everyday.
(Swamiji earlier spoke about Vidwan Jaitra as well.) It is due to their intense practice that they have gained eligibility to play with Swamiji. Everyone here has been doing seva in their own way. All the children on stage who are like my grandchildren are 3rd or 4th generation devotees. They are very devoted to Swamiji. Mic Bhaskar has been serving Swamiji for 40 years. His parents and grandparents are devotees of Swamiji.
He tunes the sound system in accordance with Swamiji needs as Swamiji cannot hear in one of the ears. He has a van with the set up that can travel where Swamiji goes. He can work outside if he wishes, but he does not. I do not know how he makes a living, I do not pay him. I want to make sure we are paying for the van charges, but he never asks for money and never takes money for his service. That is why they are worthy of sitting on stage.
Everyone on stage has a unique history with Swamiji. Swamiji is recognizing each person on stage for the service they have been rendering. The yoga teacher – Dr. Shiva – who is a naturopathy doctor has left everything to come serve Swamiji and teach Yoga here. He travels with Swamiji to various places teaching Yoga.
This is my samsara…they serve very consistently. One should serve humbly, there’s no room for rowdyism here. All of the people on stage are senior bhajan singers. They each have a history. You may wonder why you are not on stage. You should not think along those lines, you must in fact think about how you can earn a spot, and not be envious of the people on stage.
Every person on stage has a history, everyone has innumerable miracles. They will not simply be on stage for no reason. They always follow Swamiji. Swamiji has shown them a lot of love. That is why they run after Swamiji. I showered love on them with faith in them, that is why they never leave Swamiji. You must be fortunate to be around Swamiji.
Someone asked about Devi Bhagavatam. One of the grandchildren asked me for a seva opportunity and I asked him to write this story, so he did.
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O Mother, You are attained only by devotees, You are Maha Maya. Your lotus feet, Mother, are the boat that prevent us from drowning in this ocean of samsara.
The biggest difficulty in this world is the cycle of birth and death. Of course there are diseases, loans etc, but they are not real difficulties. These come and go. Serving the Lotus Feet of Mother is the only refuge and solution to cross this ocean of samsara. The Trinity earned the authority for creation, sustenance and dissolution. But they did not get this energy on their own. They held the feet of Mother and thus earned this power. That is why, no one can gain any energy without You. We cannot even move without Her grace.
O Devi, the four goals of human life are granted by You. No one is capable of praising you fully; we can only humbly bow our head in surrender in front of Mother. In this Devi Navaratri, let us learn about Devi who is the cause of creation, sustenance and dissolution. This was taught by Sage Suta to other sages.
As the energies behind the three processes, She as Parakashakti effortlessly conducts these actions. She manifests as Para Pashyanti, Madhyama Vaikhari – the four levels of sound. May such a Mother decorate my speech.
nārāyaṇaṁ namaskr̥tya naraṁ caiva narōttamam
dēvīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ tatō jayamudīrayēt॥
We first start with this hymn whatever scripture we study. Only then will the speech move forward successfully.
We first offer obeisance to Narayana who is the cause of this creation, Nara who is the great sage, Saraswati the Goddess of Speech and the great Sage Vyasa. We first worship them and seek victory in our endeavor.
The sages asked: O Sage Suta, you are immortal. You always regale us with beautiful stories. We heard God’s stories, Shiva’s stories, rudrakhsa’s greatness etc form you. Now, we wish to hear a sanctifying story from you. (They had heard so many great stories, but were not fully satisfied). We want a story that will be easy for the humans to listen and get uplifted. We are all children of those sages. We are their progeny. Do not think only brahmins are maharshis. They have no caste. They are all mind-born sons of Brahma. We follow Sanatana Dharma and therefore we have a path to know God.
The sages prayed: Kaliyuga is going to be difficult. (We are only in the end of the first quarter now. We cannot imagine how the rest of the quarters will be. We need to do sadhana now so we can live well later. This strength from the sadhana will help us in future births). Please tell us a story that the future humans can benefit from.
Sage Suta: You asked a very good question.
(The sages would have children with just glances, they did not need to go to corn fields and sing duets to have children.)
For your sake, I will tell you the essence of all the scriptures. All vratas, teerthas, puranas keep roaring about their own greatness. But after listening to Devi Bhagavatm with faith, all those fall silent.
Of course, we should continue doing pilgrimages. There are so many devotees of Swamiji who could not come here for Devi Navaratri. But there are many who did. There are devotees from Trinidad even. It takes 30 hours and a lot of money. They are not even wealthy, but they came running for Devi Navaratri.
We are doing these pujas to uplift people in all corners. Swamiji is bringing people from various corners to help them. Some had the facility and time and means to come, but they could not come. Shani comes in the way. Shani and some ghosts come int the way to impede our progress. The mind will not turn to Devi Navaratri, but when they feel like coming to see Swamiji at some point, Swamiji will be elsewhere.
What is the process to do Devi Puja, who heard this in the past, what desires got fulfilled, the sages asked.
Sage Suta said: Veda Vyasa, an aspect of Vishnu was born to Satyavati and Parashara. He divided the Vedas into four and taught them to his disciples. The inferior ones in this context are those who have no devotion. There is no barrier of caste for knowledge. If you start your path to Brahman today, you are also eligible.
The term ‘Stree’ does not merely mean woman. It is those with pure mind and a truthful demeanor. They have eligibility to learn the scriptures. Gargi Devi was a scholar. Anasuya Mata was able to summon the Sun God to her home. She could even order the sun to not rise. They are the real “stree”. The ones with impure mind are not stree.
The day we hear this truth is the day we should let go of all our impurities. The sages had so much consideration for us in Kaliyuga and pleaded with the sage to give upadesha even for the impure minds. The sages wanted a way out for their future generations who might become impure.
For their benefit, the Puranas and Mahabharata were composed. Among these Puranas, Srimad Devi Bhagavatam grants worldly and other worldly comforts and liberation. Parikshit died due to a snake bite. HIs son Janamejaya worshiped Devi with faith, and listened to Devi Bhagavatam for 9 days, for his father’s liberation. That is why you must listen to the puranas and vedas being recited here in the afternoon. But you are busy eating and napping, what can I do?
After Devi Bhagavatam was recited, Janamejaya had the vision of Mother. This is the best of all Puranas and grants the four fold goals of human life – Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. It takes us close to God. That is why, you must listen to this for nine days, or atleast one day, or half a day or alteast one second. The merit of Pilgrimages, rituals, charities etc is all attained by listening to Devi Bhagavatam once. In Kaliyuga, there isn’t an easier path than listening to Puranas, to attain a higher state.
For our benefit, Sage Vyasa composed this nectar of Devi Bhagavatam. Consuming nectar benefits the person consuming, but listening to Devi Bhagavatam grants nectar to the entire lineage of the person listening. This scripture must be studied. Study Tripura Rahasyam. It will do you good. Devi Navaham is very meritorious.
Those with impure hearts, fools, betrayers, blamers of Vedas, violent people and non-believers become pure by listening to Devi Bhagavatam. It grants merit that even charities and pilgrimages cannot. Ganga, Gaya, Kasi, Mathura, Naimisharanaya cannot grant the immediate purity that Devi Bhagavatam grants.
In this lunar month, one who worships Devi Bhagavatam on a golden throne and then donates the scriptures to the scholars will gain great merit. One who chants even one or half shloka everyday will attain Devi’s grace. Big natural tragedies can be averted with Devi Bhagavatam. Devi Bhagavatam can exorcise evil spirits. Listening to Devi Bhagavatam, Vasudeva regained this son Krishna.
Those who listen to Devi Bhagavatam get comforts and liberation. The childless get children, the poor become prosperous, the diseased become healthy.
Every place Devi Bhagavatam is studied, it transforms into a teertha. Ashtami, Navami and Chaturdasi are specially felicitous for such study. People who study on these days attain great blessings.
Of all Puranas, Devi Bhagavatam is the greatest. Listening to this grants the four fold goals of Dharma, Wealth, Desires and Liberation.