Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – Sri Krishna Janmashtami – September 5, 2015 – Mysore
Sri Maha Gapapataye Namaha
Sri Saraswatyai Namaha
Sripada Vallabha Narasimha Saraswati
Sri Guru Dattatreyaya Namaha
Those who are in a hurry may leave. Those who wish to see the offer of worship to the Gold image of Krishna may stay and witness it. Those who wish to remain and receive the butter prasadam may do so. We will complete the program by about 10:30 PM.
Till now we witnessed the Rasa Kreeda of Lord Krishna. Many call it the Raasa Kreeda. That is not correct. The reason is that all those who took birth as Gopikas were Gosais (holy men) in their previous birth. Nobody there was female. By the boon they received in their previous births that they would receive Krishna’s touch and closeness, in this birth they were born as cowgirls. They had performed penance over many lifetimes yearning to get close to God. That is why they are called Gosais. They had renounced everything and were totally dispassionate. Thousands of such saints received the reward they desired during the incarnation of Lord Krishna. 18,000 or 16,000 persons, it is said. Why there is a discrepancy in the numbers is unknown.
Out of spiritual penance by Yoga sadhana, they attained this level where they could achieve union with God, in this Rasa Kreeda. People speak lightly that Rama wept when he lost Sita and then Sita was found. Some feel that there was no need for Rama to feel bad; being a prince, he could easily have obtained another wife. This type of analysis is wrong. The relationship between Rama and Sita was also one of Rasa Kreeda, a merging of Mind and Intellect.
Rama led life purely as a human being. He demonstrated how man should live. He showed what rules of behavior man should practice. He followed of the vow of monogamy. He established Dharma in his kingdom. He destroyed Ravana who represented Adharma.
Rama and Sita also demonstrated the union of Mind and Intellect, and the pain of separation that is suffered when the two become separated. That is also Rasa Kreeda. Only when Mind and Intellect are controlled and in harmony together, the spiritual union called Yoga can occur. Chitta or the flow of thoughts has to be under control or suspended. When this principle is properly understood, the purpose of all divine incarnations will become clear.
God is free from all human attributes such as eating, drinking, bearing children, engaging in lust, and so on. God is Parabrahman. He shows us how man should conduct himself, and also how man can raise himself to the level of God. Becoming God does not mean putting on a costume and pretending to be God as in a play enacted on stage. One must become completely Satvic and live a life of Truth. Krishna was born on Ashtami day, in the midst of all types of difficulties. He faced many difficulties and dangers as he grew up. He lost his life also in the end with the piercing of his toe by a sharp arrow released by a hunter. Why did it happen? He had given a boon to someone in his previous incarnation.
Adi Shankara also had given a similar boon to a Kaapaalika, when Adi Shankara was in meditation during the early hours of dawn, when asked that he should give up his life to be offered as a human sacrifice for the purpose of the Kaapaalika to attain supreme powers. Adi Shankara agreed and told him to come back the following day when all the disciples are still asleep. If they are awake, they will prevent you from taking me, he said. Padmapada, a close disciple of Adi Shankara somehow learned of this promise and stopped the Kaapaalika the following day from taking away his guru with him.
Great souls and gods have the tendency to give such boons. In this day and age, no Swamis will give such boons. Even a person who asks such a boon should be extremely powerful. In Kali Yuga such people are not there, to either ask or receive such boons. Krishna himself gave such a boon that he could be killed by an arrow.
Bhagavad Gita teaches us how union with God may be achieved. It is essential that Mind and Intellect should get merged. Thoughts should be stilled. In all divine incarnations this principle is demonstrated. In the incarnation as Turtle, the process of withdrawing all the sense organs inward has been demonstrated. In another incarnation, the skill of holding the breath for a long duration of time has been demonstrated. It is also a yoga practice. In the Narasimha incarnation also Yoga was displayed.
In Krishna’s life, one thinks that it is all a divine play. That is one type of Yoga. Today, we dress up children as Krishna and enjoy the sight of enacting all the childhood pranks of Krishna with the gopikas. The children were obstructed by rain tonight. There was a torrential rain right after Krishna was born. As he was being carried away to Gokula, the serpent Adi Sesha opened his hood and protected Krishna from the rain like an umbrella. We read that story. Today the rain started too early, even before Krishna’s birth.
We have now witnessed the dance of the Gopikas and Krishna, showing us their Rasa Kreeda. In every incarnation of God, we must remember to see the display of the Yoga principles.
For 48 days in America, we had a Yoga event. There, hundreds of children performed dances. Many small children and also some college students. For welcoming Swamiji, there is a dance. For Puja there is a dance. For Mangala Harati there is a dance. For sitting down there is a dance. For standing up there is a dance. I felt that even during mealtimes they should have had dances. The Ghantasala family organized these programs.
The first seven days I missed the parrots and all of you. On the eighth day I forgot all of you. There is a saying, when you are here, this is your town. When you travel, your destination is your town. For Swamiji it is all the same. Wherever I am, it is my home. In that huge temple, 5000 people can sit at one time. Here it is small, and so many pillars block the view. All you see is the back of the priest or his sacred thread slipping down, or his marks on the forehead. You cannot get a satisfactory view of the Lord in the temple. The priest comes out with the harati plate looking at your pockets. His is one kind of profession. We follow another kind of profession. We should forget the priest and see God.
People go to Tirupati, all the while chanting Govinda. Once they approach the inner sanctum, the mind is distracted by the attendants shouting Jaragandi that you forget to see God (Lord Venkateswara) in the sanctum sanctorum. So many people return from Tirupati without having had a darshan of God, in spite of spending several hours remaining in the long queue. All you hear is Jaragandi. They post Silence signs, so you cannot speak.
The first time I visited Tirupati, as a youngster, I thought Jaragandi was another name for the place itself. I had heard the names Tirupati and Saptagiri. But in this inner temple, they keep chanting Jaragandi. I wondered if it was another name for Jarkhand. Many devotees get so annoyed with the Jaragandi people they pick a quarrel with them and forget the purpose of their visit to the temple. By the time the mind settles down, they would have been pushed out of the temple by the crowds, like an escalator. They then search for God. The chance is lost. You cannot go back again in that tremendous crowd. Without actually seeing the Lord, from far away they offer namaskara in frustration and return home. All you see in a temple only the fat priest and his attire. We must go to the temple with the strong determination that no matter what happens, we will only focus on having darshan of God. We should not quarrel with the attendants and volunteers. You should simply ignore them and follow your purpose of the visit. It is useless fighting with them. They are hired personnel. Your purpose is to see God. That is why Swamiji has built such a huge temple where from any angle you can get a good darshan of God. Everyone commented on the size of the temple. The Indianization is not completed yet. Once that is done, it will be literally heaven on earth. Even now, it is as if Lord Hanuman has literally descended from Mount Gandhamadana and is standing there.
For 24 hours without a break, 600 persons chanted the Hanuman Chalisa there. Every four hours they were given a break for five minutes for food and so on. Most people remained where they were. Only some got up to either get coffee or to ease themselves after drinking too much coffee.
The event was recorded on video. The Guinness World Book people gave another certificate. Soon they might get fed up with giving so many certificates to Swamiji. They might just give once and for all, one huge bronze vessel as a permanent certificate. The second time, it was truly a surprise. The first time I had some suspicion. This is not important. These certificates are for you. Not for me. Usually the Guinness records are for events like the highest consumption of idlis in a specific duration, and such. For all kinds of insignificant and unimportant feats, certificates are earned. Show me in all those Record books, a certificate earned for something spiritual. This is the first time that a spiritual event has won recognition. Thousands of awards were won for musical events, but not for any spiritual activity. In Kali Yuga this is a rare event. That is what makes me happy. Nothing else. Had we done this type of Hanuman Chalisa chanting in India, we would have won a hundred Guinness records. Just for Hanuman Chalisa. One day let us do it here, with one thousand devotees.
I do not wish to extend my speech. The puja needs to be performed for the main deity. The children who have performed should receive their prasadam first.
Sri Guru Datta
Compiled by Smt Hira Duvvuri