Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – Bhajan Session in the evening – October 27, 2018 – Mysore
Compiled by Archana Penukonda
Sri Maha Ganapate Namaha
Sri Sarasvatyai Namaha
Sri Padavallabha Narasimha Sarasvati
Sri Guru Dattatreyaya Namaha
mānamasam dhyāna yogādi
svādhyāyāditu vacikam
kāyakam janasevādi
svargadam trividham tapaḥ
Dhyana Yoga (the Yoga of meditation) is mental penance (Manasika Tapas). Reading good books and scriptures is penance of speech or verbal penance (Vacaka Tapas). We need to practice this. Serving mankind is physical penance (Kayaka Tapas). These three kinds of penance lead us to heaven. Heaven is nothing but bliss.
Some people have no work to do, they only care about unnecessary matters and are happy gossiping and creating fights between people. Being such sadists makes them happy. That gives them peace of mind. Some others neither work nor let others work. That is a kind of disease. They enjoy creating obstacles in others’ work. Ruining others’ work is all they do. Then there are some others whose main goal in life is to ruin other people’s life like their own life. Like this, there are many kinds of people in the world.
Without wasting time, one must practice penance at all times. Penance is not about going to the forests, eating grass, holding your nose and sitting in isolation. We can channel our work to be like penance. Whatever work we do can be transformed into penance. No need to go away from home for penance. You can do penance right amidst people and society. Many people feel they have obstacles at home and in society – in the form of relatives, parents and others – and that they need to run away to do penance. Those that do eventually return home because they are not able to live happily even in those far off places. If they cannot be happy at home, they cannot be happy there. Such people waste their lives figuring out where to do penance.
So, we are being prescribed easy ways to do penance. When you live in society, you cannot of course be silent always. No one likes to live that way. There is a small secret here. There is a trick with which our actions and words can be turned into penance. What is that? One must practice speaking the truth and reading only good books. It will keep you away from bad thoughts and will strengthen your good thoughts. This will slowly transform your mind. You will begin to like only good things. That becomes penance. See how easily we can transform our daily actions to be like penance. This is a good practice. But we cannot always sit and read books. We all have a lot of work to do. So, what do we do? Here is something simpler. You must have a rule to only speak the truth. Then, the tendency to deceive will vanish. But there is one caution to observe. You must be careful to not hurt others with your truth. You do not have to recount the past wrong deeds committed by others and publicly humiliate them because you are wedded to truth. That would be equivalent to inflicting violence. That is a kind of mental deception. But just because you should speak pleasingly does not mean you infuse falsehood in your speech. That would be speaking the untruth. One must practice speaking the truth in a pleasing manner. If we are unable to do this, at least speak in a way that your words do not hurt others. Speak minimally. This is Vacaka Tapas. You must speak slowly without causing anxiety to yourselves or to others. This slowly gives way to mental penance. Whatever work you do, you must practice doing it unselfishly. This is physical penance. Everyone has to be engaged in some action. It is not possible to not be engaged in action. All our actions are usually based on selfish interests. If we can do the same actions unselfishly, our actions get transformed and become service. Until then, they are not service. There are thousands of ways to do service. Some serve mankind, but wish for recognition. That is not service. Service should be pure. That is physical penance (Kayaka Tapas). This will also slowly take one towards mental penance.
It is not possible for everyone to act unselfishly. Therefore, you can do the physical penance of serving pious people to the extent possible, worshiping those doing great penance, being clean and hygienic and doing all actions unselfishly. That will slowly take you towards Manasika Tapas – mental penance.
An important aspect of life is procreation. This should always be a reflection of hope and progress with generosity. It is those kinds of families that will be happy. Such societies flourish. Like this, in your daily life, you can easily accomplish mental, verbal and physical penance at the same time. You cannot do one and ignore the other kinds of penance. These three are interdependent. These pave the way for eternal happiness. We should keep hearing this again and again to understand better.
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Guru Datta
Bhajan: vēda nāda nayaka sakala vighna nāśaka
Bhajan: sadākārā sadānandā jayati sā
Bhajan: śambhō। śambhō। nādatanō।
Bhajan: dattadēva cariteya kēḷuva banni