Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – Sri Narahari Teertha Swamy Aradhana – Datta Retreat Center, West Sunbury, PA, USA – August 1, 2025
Sri Narahari Teertha Swami ki Jai!
Once upon a time, he was a big pundit. After Jayalakshmi Mata passed, he took on the vow of mauna. He would not talk much. His memory power was also lost. Suddenly, it came back after 10 years. He was a big scholar once. Normally, those who study the Vedas (Vedic pundits) do not officiate over pujas, going house to house. They refuse to do weddings and other ceremonies. They will not do pujas in temples because they feel they incur sin. Many people come to do Puja, and the pundits have to do a lot of japa after that. If they do not, the sins of those people go to the priest.
That is why the veda pundits do not do priestly duties such as wedding rituals, pujas in temples, housewarming, etc. It is very rare that vedic pundits do this work. They would have to do a lot of penance after puja. That is why they do not have time to do these rituals and then do chanting afterwards. They are strong believers in Vedanta. They do not even cross the ocean, travel across seas. There are still some pundits like that in India, especially in villages.
Sri Narahari Teertha Swamy belonged to this class of people. Rayalseema region (where Anantapur is) is called a fiery region because it’s very hot and is prone to drought (draft). Rains are a rare occurrence. They cultivate only peanuts there. Some other areas, after a rain, may cultivate paddy. All villages were requesting Sri Narahari Teertha to do pujas before he assumed sanyasa. They would say: We do not know how to perform weddings, house warming, ground breaking ceremonies. We do not have a pujari/priest here. We do not know how to approach God. We are all believers in God, and we strongly believe in Vedanta and the Hindu system, but we do not have a pujari. You are a great Vedanti, but if you do not agree to do pujas, what can we do? Your Uncle was a pujari, but he is very old now and cannot move. So, please save us.
About 20-25 villages would pray to him like this. Sri Narahari Teertha was a horserider, and had a small horse farm. He loved horses. Suddenly, Sri Narahari Teertha agreed to the requests. He took up priestly work. But at that time, Jayalakshmi Mata had one condition: If anyone gives any clothes or grains or dakshina, do not bring it to the house. That is karma. You can distribute to people, bathe and then only enter the house. We do not want to take any gifts, she said. He refused gifts. Gifts means karma.
If you take a gift, you have to pray in their name. But we do not have time. Also, we do not want to touch the different greens and clothes and utensils and money. They would even give silver utensils sometimes. Anyway, Mother did not allow that to be brought into the house. So, Sri Narahari Teertha, who was previously called Narasimha Shastry, would give those away to poor people before coming home.
Then, he would bathe and enter the house. Mother was happy about this. Mother too would give away food along with the utensils to those who would come begging. Some beggars would ask for various kinds of sambar soups and curries. Mother would cook all that and very patiently would give them those special dishes along with their containers. After 10 years, the village had no beggars. The beggars did not want to go anymore because they already had so many vessels. Mother and Narasimha Shastry owned a lot of land and gave away a lot of land to those who came asking. She would also bless them. Such a family is Swamiji’s family.
Narasimha Shastry had so much land, but he did not want it. He gave them to farmers for farming, but he never inquired how much they were reaping. They would give him some bags of produce and would try to give accounts of how much they reaped, but he did not care. He was a very nice man and was very friendly with Swamiji. He was very social. He would greet Swamiji like a friend and Swamiji would do the same. He was always laughing. He would sometimes give the clothes on his body to the beggars and would come home with only a loin cloth. Mother knew what he did. She was very happy. She would encourage him to even give away the loin cloth. They are such a couple!
He liked Namaha Shivaya mantra a lot even though the family deity was Narasimha Swami. He used to chant the mantra millions of times. He would come to Me and called Me Appa (father). I called him the same. He would announce: I will give you 10 lakhs while carrying a big bag with utensils in it. Once Swamiji and Narasimha Shastry went inside, he would reveal he was giving that many mantras. People outside would think he was bringing money in the beginning, but they soon realized the truth. New people would always be fooled. He would chant the mantra lakhs of times and offer all the merit to Swamiji.
He said he did not want any merit. IF he was doing any Puja or japa, he wanted the merit to go to Swamiji. He would bring water and pour all the merit to Swamiji. He would not want to give anything to God. All mantras, all punya, he would give to Swamiji. He would say: I do not need moksha. I do not care if I go to hell, or go negative with my punya. But this is for you, for your merit, for your health. My japa is for you. My penance, my entire chanting, meditation goes to you. All the merit of all my rituals goes to you. I want to always see you in good health. That is my only prayer. I am praying only for your health. You know everything else and have everything else. But I only pray for your health. Such a dear father I lost. But I see Sri Narahari Theertha in your faces.
Ōṃ Śrī Naraharīśvarāya Namaḥ.
Whatever he did, whatever charity he made, all the merit, he gave to Swamiji. If he donated to a beggar, he would give that merit to Swamiji. “I am ready to go to hell, I do not need anything. Whatever disease you get, give it to me!”.
In his final days, he took on the disease of his sister and developed various allergies due to that. He was happy, his sister’s allergies suddenly vanished. We are observing his Aradhana here in DRC. DRC is a very powerful place. This is the third time we are observing this Day here.
Sri Narahari Theertha likes this place, it is like the Himalayas. Our devotees and members at DRC including Ramana, Padma, Rick, Ishwari, Cindy, Tony and the Pernis are maintaining this place well. In the beginning, Joshua too helped maintain this place.
Other people can also join to help out here. Satish Kandarpa helps with priestly duties. Ohio, Pittsburgh, New Jersey devotees are all helping out. They are all good friends. This center needs a little money for maintenance. Think of this as your home and contribute a little bit. New members may also join. Many are contributing to this place, small amounts and big amounts.
(Swamiji shows a massage ring.) This massage ring helps when you cannot sleep, or are upset, or are in a bad mood. Do not share rings. The bad energy gets shared. Keep your own ring. Use it 2-3 times daily. There is no pain.
After this massage, drink some water and sit silently for a few minutes. You will see the difference. People at home get upset or are disappointed or angry. You can do this massage two times on your fingers and drink some water.
Start with the thumb and then proceed towards the little finger.
Do not massage fingers in random order. Go from thumb to little finger. If you have a headache or stomachache, you can leave it on your fingers. The Index finger is for your mood, anger, emotions, intellect, etc.
Yesterday, we sang all the bhajans of Hanuman. It was wonderful. You can plan to do all bhajans of Shiva one day, all Vishnu one day, all Guru one day, all Devi one day, all Ganapati one day.
In the beginning, Swamiji was known as Ganapathi Swamy. Many know Him as Ganapathi Swamy in India even today. You can also say Ganapathi Swamy.
Ganapathi Swamy ki Jai!
Nada Datta Prabhu! is another name.
Which name would you find easier? Ganapathi Swamy ki Jai!? Or Nada Datta Prabhu ki Jai!?
Audience : Ganapati Swamy ki Jai!
They are all part of Saharasnama.
It is hard to always say the entire name (Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji )in large assemblies, so it is easy to say Ganapati Swamy ki Jai.
Swamiji means Father in a respectful manner. Secondly, it also means God. We normally use “Swamiji” when we don’t know the name. But now you know it is Ganapati Swamiji. Those addressing Swamiji as Tataji can also say Ganapathi Tataji or Datta Tataji.