Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – May 24, 2018 – Mysore
Compiled by Parimala Eshwarla
Nitimala states:
Vandeham vighna nētāram.. parārthāya
Ganapati is the Lord of obstacles. It is He who creates obstacles and as such He understands all about obstacles. Since these obstacles created by Him cannot be eliminated by others, He himself eliminates them. Just as only a magician can unentangle the magical knot put by him, Ganapati alone can remove obstacles created by Him including those considered unsolvable.
We may wonder – why does He have to create obstacles in the first place if He plans to ultimately resolve them? There is a reason behind this – if He did not create obstacles, then you will not strive for growth; for reformation. You will not develop dedication. You will continue to be lax. Devotion will not spurt in you. The resolve to abide by disciplines will not arise in you. Faith will not arise in you. As such, it is for your own reformation that He creates obstacles in your life. Difficulties create an awakening in you. Faith, devotion and dedication increase.
There is also a method of praying to Ganapati to not cause any obstacles in the path. Why do we do so? This is because at times the knots He creates turn out to be impassable for us and hence we do not want to be thrown into them. We pray, ‘please do not create such obstacles in our path. Please spare us’. For the prayer to be effective, it must be said with total faith, dedication, devotion and with full awareness. Only when the prayer is filled with these ingredients it yields fruit. Not otherwise.
When the prayer lacks dedication and devotion, obstacles are bound to arise. At that point the person laments, ‘Why did obstacles come in my way when I prayed to Ganapati in the beginning?’.
You then need to analyse – What was the method adopted for your prayers? Was it a heartfelt prayer? When your body is diseased, the type of food consumed determines your recovery. Likewise, what was the percentage of dedication in your prayer? Did your prayer have the required faith? Think for yourself – What could have been the flaws in my prayer? Were there any impurities in me when I offered the prayer?
On Ganapati’s birthday, in many homes people worship Ganapati through a long ritual. They rise from bed at dawn, clean the home, wash their hair, decorate the Puja altar, make elaborate food preparations, conduct elaborate Ganapati Puja, eat plentifully and then conclude the event by going to the theatre. They consider watching movie as a relaxation after a strenuous exercise. To them puja was a stressful exercise.
‘For the past two days I was busy with cleaning the home and making puja arrangements. I did not even have time to talk to anyone in the last two days. I did not even switch on the TV’- it is as if they have completed a stressful task. It is as if they have done a big favour to someone. They then watch a movie to unwind.
To be frank, sitting continuously for 3 hours in the same position is unhealthy. You need to get up and stretch/ walk after every one hour. As such watching movies for 3 hours at a stretch is not good for your body. Smart teachers therefore get up and periodically walk through the class as they teach.
Anyway, coming back to the topic of Puja. In such Puja, devotion and dedication can be said to be missing. It should be rectified.
Since yesterday we are discussing the essence of Nitimala. This is a book with many deep meanings. Every home should have a copy of Nitimala. At some point of time or other in life, it may come to use. The more we dig into its meaning, the more we understand the depth contained in it. It is like Bhagavad Gita.