Speeches of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – Sri Dattatreya Jayanti Festival – December 2, 2025 – Mysore
Panchamruta Abhisheka for Sri Kalagni Shamana Dattatreya Swamy, Punya Smarana, Anagha Vrata
mālā kamanḍalu radhaḥ kara padma yugme
madhyastha pāṇi yugale ḍamaru triśūle
yasyastha ūrdhva karayoḥ śubha śankha cakre
vande tamatri varadaṃ bhuja ṣaṭka yuktaṃ
The Lord has a mala (rosary), kamandalu (water pitcher) damaru (drum) and a trident, as well as discus and conch in His hands.
The four dogs near Datta are not for His security. The dogs represent the Vedas. Vedas are born from Him and they are always with Him. Vedas favor those who worship the Lord. That means they grant knowledge to such people. Those who wish to attain the knowledge of the four vedas must worship Datta. Datta gives the alms of divine knowledge. When you see the four dogs, you will gain the knowledge of the Vedas.
There is a cow near Datta. What is it for? For milk? No. It represents Kamadhenu, the wish-fulfilling cow. In the Bhagavad Gita Dhyana shlokas too we see this analogy that Krishna is milking the cow called Gita for the sake of the calf called Arjuna. The milk of that cow represents Jnana.
Kalpavrksha is the wish fulfilling tree. Kalpavrksha is even more wish-fulfilling than the cow. This may be coconut or banyan or audumbara tree. All these can be called Kalpavrkshas as they are very ancient. The kalpavrksha (coconut tree) is so magical. It takes water from the roots and gives us water in the fruit atop the tree. Look at how wonderful this creation is! The coconut is enough to cause wonder, whether you believe in God or not. Even when salt water is poured at the root of the tree, the fruits yield sweet water.
Mala = rosary. The Lord has a mala, which represents all beings. The Lord is not doing japa, He is protecting the jeevas, each bead passing is the birth and death of the jeeva. The passing of one bead to the next indicates the beings finishing this journey and coming back. As the Lord turns the beads, He is uplifting the countless jeevis. The rate of death is slowing, but the rate of birth is rapid. That is why the population is increasing. We see the digital counter that shows the number of births and deaths each second. There is so much Vedanta in this as well.
Kamandala = pitcher of water. Kamandalu is not for carrying water like we would in a flask. It’s the water of Jnana. The kamandalu has the water of jnana, which the Lord gives to those who seek refuge in Him. He also sprinkles the water on such people.
Damaru = drum. The damaru or drum awakens us from our slumber of ajnana. It alerts us to the demons within.
Trishula= trident. The trident slays the demons that are being driven away from within us.
Chakra = discus. The discus is used to slay the demons that escape the trident. These demons haunt us life after life. That is why when we have darshan of the Lord’s discus, the Lord crushes those demons that plague you. The Lord uses the discus and other weapons only for those who seek refuge with Him.
The conch is cautioning us that time is running out. The conch heralds readiness for battle – not like Kurukshetra, but like the battle of good vs. bad in our body. There is a kurukshetra battle happening in our body.
All the ornaments wielded by God are invoked while doing Prana Prathishta in a temple. Prathista is not merely placing an idol. There are extensive mantras for each part of the form – for right hand, for left hand…for every single part of the Lord. Of course, where the Guru is present, you will not need all these, but mantras are still chanted for the yantra. The Lord’s ornaments and decorative weapons are all for our sake, for our welfare. The Lord stands with all those decorations reminding us He is Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and is the one who will destroy our sins.
What a wonderful vision this is!
That is the Tattva. The Lord is full of Tattva – profound significance. Even His moorti, His form, His parts, His ornaments, His weapons – everything carry profound principles.
Many great souls did not have a Guru. So, they would place a staff near the audumbara tree and receive it as if receiving it from Guru. So, the Lord gives deeksha to yatis who have no Guru.
There is a beautiful bhajan composition that talks about these items and how Datta drives away the thieves (that are in our body). The conch is always making a sound (nada), to indicate we are ready for sadhana, for dharmic battle – this is not like the battle between Pandavas and Kauravas, but is the battle against the vices in our body. They keep coming back into our body when we forget and we have to keep fighting them. When you chant a shloka, all unnecessary thoughts flood to the mind to derail you from the shloka. You remember past insults, debts, etc… things that do not matter. We don’t need them anymore, but they flood the mind. You keep driving them away and slowly fall asleep in the process. The chanting is derailed and then it’s time to get to the office or other chores. So, it completely distracts us from our sadhana. That is why Sadguru has water in His kamandalu – to give us jnana. It is enough to merely see that kamandalu.
Datta is pleased with us merely chanting His name. Chanting ‘Datta’ means that He has given Himself to us and we give ourselves to Him.
Every part of the moorti’s form has mantras for prathishta. The thighs, knees, calves, feet, heels, toes…every part of the body has rituals for invocation. We heard so many stories where God talks to the priest. God does. Kamakhya Devi is a big proof, there is a big story related to the Mother. Mother speaks, She dances every day.
There are extensive and rigorous rituals in doing Prana Prathishta. That is why you may have seen Swamiji does not do arati when he visits some temples because the prana prathishta was not done correctly. A few people may have come together to build that temple. It’s good that they built a temple to protect dharma, but the correct rituals were not followed.
Some even bargain with the Agama pandits (Those doing the rituals for temple installation). Dhvaja Stambham (Flag pole), Gopuram (temple tower) are all very divine and significant. We should very cordially and reverentially invite the pandits for such rituals.
When we build a new temple, we should also renovate an old temple. Temple is a miracle science. You might wonder why Swamiji calls puja a science, temple a science, etc. Someone asked what the importance of pitru smarana (the ritual this morning) was. If you study Hari Vamsham and Garuda Purana you will understand. Pitru Devatas are not just our ancestors. They are Devatas who protect us. The Pitru Devatas come to Datta today, tomorrow, and the day after. Pitru Devatas surround Datta. Our ancestors are Pitru Bhutas. These Pitru Bhutas go to the Pitru Devatas. To understand this, study Garuda Purana. If you want more details, study Hari Vamsham.
I narrated Hari Vamsham for a reason. Datta loves it. It is very confusing, it’s hard to understand. Everyone must study Garuda Purana, it’s not to be studied only when people die or at funerals, although the idea there is to give jnana to the survivors.
You must study Garuda Purana, very few will do a discourse on it.
The rituals today are not for show. They are all based in our scriptures. With these rituals, the Pitru Devatas are satisfied. We will do anagha vratam today and then go to watch the movie (Datta Darshanam).
Those who take Nada Bhavana membership will at the end of the year get Nadi Shuddhi from Swamiji.
When you are in Nada Bhavana in those reclining seats, you will fall asleep.
Divya Nama Sankeertana
We are making an AI website where you will get answers to all your questions. Swamiji wants 1 crore questions from people.
You can ask questions from Mahabharata, Ramayana, Life History, Datta Darshanam, etc.
Lately, due to the growing popularity of Bhagavad Gita, many are criticizing the scripture. It has become fashionable to criticize God, and innocent children are getting influenced. Children do not even know the real history of India. The history of the invaders dominates our text books. People know about Aurangzeb or Tipu Sultan, but our own history is lacking. It’s not that we don’t need history, but the history of those who tried to destroy us is more prevalent than our own. We are hurting because of this. We do not need that. We need children to learn our real history. So, we are creating an AI website, first with responses to 1 lakh questions and then to more. You can ask any question you like.
For example: Was it right for Vishwamitra to eat meat?
Was it fair for Rama to kill Vali?
Did Rama eat meat?
People want to mock history and think it’s fashionable to ask questions. They don’t want to hear the answers. So all of you can send your questions, not personal questions, but questions related to our dharma and our scriptures. We are including some puranas and not including some others. The AI website will clearly mention that some puranas are not being used for responses.
The first round will have answers for 1 lakh questions. Everyone must send their questions. We will not release the website until the questions come in.
Bhagavad Gita is now reverberating around the world. Very good! So, there are opposers and naysayers who say there is nothing in the Gita. We are getting responses lined up for all this too.
Most people consider it fashionable to ask questions, they are not even worthy of listening to answers and understanding them.
Many of you have questions and doubts, which all must come out. Someone has to answer, so I got down to it.
This is a huge project, not a child’s play. All of you send questions first. It will not happen in a day or two. We will not release the app until we get 1 lakh questions. This should become as common as “Hey Siri”, you should be able to ask “Hello Swamiji”. Swamiji should become your Google.
The questions can come from any part of the world, but they should be related to sanatana dharma. Don’t ask questions about what is available at a restaurant. That’s for Google. Swamiji only serves nectar, not poison.
We will only use the 18 puranas for the responses. We will be very clear about what our sources are. If you ask questions wrongly, it will say so. All responses will be in Swamiji’s voice.
The first release may take about one year. Our first source is from the Life History. There may be some questions around it.
Everyone send your questions. You can go to Dattapeetham website and click on ‘Ask Tataji’ to send your questions.
Everyone send your questions as well as your answers through the survey on the website…if the answer is right, we’ll include it, if not we’ll correct it. Your answers will help our website.
AI has become fun for everyone. We will use it for spreading Dharma. We will educate children using the paths they use.
This is a massive project.
Bhajan ID: 200
This morning, after Abhishekam, Swamiji spoke for about 10 minutes about the spiritual tattva of Datta, His ornaments, His weapons, decoration, form, etc. I also said there was a bhajan keertan that spoke about this. This keertan is full of Vedanta and we get the answers to why the Lord has so many adornments.
Bhajan ID: 120
Swamiji spoke about the various weapons and adornments the Lord was wielding – the trident, the discus, conch, etc., etc. We should remember this keertan when we see those adornments. They exist for our benefit.
Doctors give us various combinations of medicines when we are sick. When we see Datta, the disciple who is invaded by sins and vices and problems should remember the various adornments that are in fact medicines. The Lord gives us a dose based on a combination of our vices. The Lord may even give us a burn after first applying butter (not the other way around). Datta’s tattva is such.
Bhajan ID 111
Bhajan ID 74
Bhajan ID 151
Swamiji’s voice is affected by the cold temperatures, but Swamiji sang for the sake of devotees.