Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – Welcome Function – June 27, 2019 – Houston
Compiled by Archana Penukonda
śrī mahāganapate namaha
śrī sarasvtyai namaha
śrī pādavallabha narasimha sarasvati
śrī guru dattātreyāya namaha
Parents must compulsorily speak to their kids in their mother tongue. This is very important. Language is communication from heart to heart. It is like the relationship between buddhi (intellect) and atman (soul). It is very difficult to control atman. Atman is everywhere. Buddhi is following the indriyas (sense organs). That is why it commits a lot of wicked deeds. Indriyas hanker after excessive food, sleep, lies etc. That is why, we need to control the buddhi with atman. Otherwise, controlling buddhi will be very difficult.
Our Vedanta says Atman is all pervasive like Paramatman. Practically speaking, we sometimes follow atman and other times follow the sense organs. That is why our actions result in a complete mess. Our mind is filled with confusions, our body with disease and we have no peace. We are fickle. We follow different books, Gurus, mantras and yantras, because we are so selfish. We flock to wherever our selfishness draws us. We want everything to ourselves. Desires are at the root of this. We have different desires every day. We have no satisfaction despite fulfillment of desires, because new desires keep cropping up all the time. If you have a million dollars, you want two or three million dollars. If you have one house, you want two or three houses. There is no end to our desires. We want everything. Finally, it gets very difficult to maintain all the possessions we accumulate. We surrender to lies and cheating because otherwise, it is difficult to maintain these daily desires. You are cheating yourself.
As new desires spring up every day, we forget old desires. We keep wanting more. God is very kind, and he sanctions all desires. One birth is not enough to satisfy all desires. Therefore, you are taking birth again and again to satisfy those countless desires. Vedanta teaches us to practice having no desires. When you bow to Sadguru or God, have no desires. He knows everything. He gives everything. He is a massive super computer. He sanctions everything. We are all small computers. He knows when and how much to give. We should not ask. We should practice without desires. Gita always talks about niṣkāma karma (acting without expectations/desires). Pray to God without desires and with the belief, “It is my duty to pray. It is my duty to offer respects and prostrations”. That is real prayer.
There are many different services we can offer physically and mentally. Offer these services without desires. Do not accept money for your service. If you have good health, serve in a temple or a non-profit organization. Spend your time productively. If you have a good intellect, compose poems or write nāma japa (repeatedly chanting or writing the names of God) and develop good habits. But remember this – whether or not you offer service at the organization you go to, never speak negatively. Be careful. Do not be a chatterbox. You can chant divine names instead. If you have any fears or confusion or health issues, sit and chant the names of God. Chant “hare rāma hare rāma, rāma rāma hare hare; hare kr̥ṣṇa hare kr̥ṣṇa, kr̥ṣṇa kr̥ṣṇa hare hare”. Your mind will be peaceful. You will find your answers. Your mind is always beset with questions and confusions. We have so many questions about ourselves. The nagging question “Why?” always persists. Despite getting answers, your questions continue. “Why?” is like a disease. Learn to be satisfied. Close your eyes and look within. You will find good answers. When you ask someone else for answers, you are not satisfied with what they tell you. You are even more confused after listening to their perspective. I suggest you ask yourself. You will find the answer.
Paramatman is everywhere. Paramatman is everything. The five elements are Paramatman. Ask yourself. You have the knowledge within you. I told you about ātman and buddhi in the beginning. Ask your own buddhi and you will definitely get a good answer and find mental peace. Otherwise, just chant divine names like I said. Chant the Rama Taraka mantra (śrī rāma jaya rāma jaya jaya rāma). Close your eyes and chant Omkara. Practice Sahaja Pranayama – natural breathing exercise. The doctors also recommend that you breathe deeply and calm down when you are agitated. Pranayama is very good medicine. If you do this, you will find the answers yourself. There will be no need to travel to meet various gurus, read various books etc.
To gain knowledge, study the scriptures and if you want to go further than that, befriend saints. You must only take good knowledge, not confusions from all these experiences. You take confusions because you are filled with expectations. Expectations only lead to more problems. You are carrying your own garbage that is in your buddhi. When you seek answers from someone else, their confusion will add to your confusion. Your pile of garbage becomes bigger. Whose responsibility is this? You keep going to different Gurus. There are so many different Swamis. Only focus on knowledge, not on personal questions. Only follow Datta Guru. That is enough. Hanuman is your Guru and God. kr̥ṣṇam vande jagadgurum. Follow Lord Lord Krishna. If you follow multiple Gurus, they will give you their perspective. It is not their fault. It is our fault because we are collecting so much garbage. You sit in this hall and wonder how much this hall cost to construct. Some devotees come to the Hanuman temple in Frisco and wonder how much the temple cost. They miss out on seeing the deity. That is why, we decorated only the outside, not the inside of the temple. Inside the temple, there is only the form of Lord Hanuman. If you decorate the inside, visitors to the temple give importance to the decorations and the sculptures. They forget looking at God. The emerald Hanuman in the temple is so beautiful. If you carve all the walls and pillars, the buddhi will be drawn to those decorations, “How many millions did this cost? What marble did they use?” Finally, before leaving the temple, they’ll cursorily offer respects to the deity.
Your mind by then is already exhausted from running after the decorations. But if you find no decorations, you will only look at the deity. That is why, in old temples, they used to have carvings and decoration only outside, but the inside was made of very simple stones. You see the same in Tirupati as well. You must decorate the most important entity in the temple. That is the deity. You will not find your answers by being drawn to the decorations.
That is why Swamiji chose music. It is the best. It is not bound by religion. In the years 1966-67, Swamiji spoke a lot about Vedanta, Ramayana, Mahabharata etc. Swamiji stood up and delivered innumerable lectures in many different languages. Some people were happy, but some others were confused. Therefore, I chose bhajans. Music is good. It needs neither talking nor religion. Otherwise, if you talk Vedanta, there is no satisfaction. It gives rise to many more questions. My lecture used to be only for two hours and that was not enough time to answer the questions. That is why Swamiji took to nava bhakti sāmrājyam (the kingdom of nine types of devotion). The Lord loves music among the navabhakti tattva (nine principles of devotion). The final one of the nine is gāna bhakti or arpaṇa bhakti. That is the real kingdom of devotion. We surrender our buddhi, atman and indriyas to the Lord. That is when we get the real answer. Otherwise, we are riddled with confusions.
When you prostrate, do not even ask for blessings. People ask for strong blessings. I don’t know what strong blessings are. Does it mean, I should push their head down strongly? I do not know how those are strong blessings. I do not know strong blessings vs loose blessings or big blessings vs small blessings.
There was once a Guru who would bless those that prostrated to him by tapping on their head with a flower. When these devotees had good things come to them, more people flocked to get blessed. When hitting with a flower alone wasn’t doing anything, the Swami began hitting with a stone. Gradually, people began bringing bigger and bigger stones themselves in hopes of getting “strong” blessings by the Guru. As that eventually fell short, the Guru brought a donkey. Anyone that wanted to get blessed had to touch the donkey’s rear and get a strong kick. That was considered strong blessing. I must also get a donkey so it can kick those want strong blessings.