Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – March 11, 2022 – Karya Siddhi Hanuman Temple – Frisco, TX USA
Compiled by Archana Penukonda
Veera Hanuman ki Jai
Pavan Suta Veera Hanuman ki Jai
Hanuman sameta Sriramachandra Prabhu ki Jai
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Guru Datta
Teach children to speak the mother tongue. Mother tongue should always be the first language. English can be a second language. Telugu speakers should always speak in Telugu at home. Kids learn English in school anyway. You too should speak with your kids in the mother tongue and not in English. You can use English if you need to scold the child. You must learn Telugu language. It is a beautiful and musical language. There is so much knowledge being conveyed in Telugu. You children are missing out if they do not know Telugu. If you can read and write Telugu clearly, the language is like a jewel. Our mother tongue is very important. If children cannot understand Telugu they are missing out on what Swamiji is saying. They will need to wait for the English translation. So, read simple Telugu books. I will test you next time. You all must participate in that exam. Seniors also must participate. Tamil, Kannada, Hindi speaking people should learn your respective languages. Answers to some questions are hard to explain in English. They are best done in Telugu. Sometimes translating from Telugu to English is hard. Some Sanskrit words are also difficult to translate. So, you must learn your mother tongue. If you learn Telugu, which is very easy to learn, it will be straightforward to gather knowledge. You will be able to mingle better with your Telugu-speaking parents, grandparents, relatives etc.
So compulsorily learn Telugu. You learned the Bhagavad Gita, you can certainly learn Telugu.
It has very easy words, it is not difficult at all. Your interest and concentration will help you learn the language easily. Many Hindi, English, and Tamil speaking people say that they are able to understand what Swamiji is saying in Telugu. That is very surprising. They have good concentration, and they keep Swamiji in their hearts. If you tune in with Swamiji, you will catch His vibration.
We come to the temple to pray. Why do we pray here? Why do we have a shrine at home. Our favorite deity in the temple is like a family member and relative to us. He is our savior, He protects us. That is why, we come to Him and pour out our heart. If you pour out your heart to another person, they may spill your secrets to others, but they cannot resolve the confusions in your mind. The confusions may be strong and make you miserable. The only one who can help you is Paramatman. That is why, we come to the Lord here and pray to him mentally whatever our problem is – whether it is about getting a visa or finding relief from difficulties or ailments, etc. Pouring out your heart to God gives you immediate relief. It is like taking the burden off you. That will give you the strength to fight the problems. It is difficult to fight the problems when you do not have an empathetic listener.
The moorti is not a stone. It is Prana Deva. Mother Goddess, Subramanya Swami, Maha Ganapati, Shiva, Datta, Hanuman here are not mere stones. This temple has pillars. They are like the arms and legs in our bodies. The body is the moving temple. Deho devalayah. What are the important parts of a temple? The tower – gāli gopuram at the entrance, the dhvaja stambham – the flagstaff outside the temple. Then, there are the pillars, the shrine, and the sanctum sanctorum. There is a camel here in front of the Hanuman temple. Then, there is an oil lamp in front of it that flickers in the wind. There is a gopuram – tower – atop the temple too.
So, let us begin from the outside: 1) gāli gopuram, 2) dhvaja stambham, 3) pillars, 4) antarālayam, 5) garbhālayam, 6) camel, 7) lamp and finally God. There is only space (where God is). Space has taken a form. Our favorite deity has taken a form. All these parts are in our body. The moment we pray, our vibrations are received by the formless Hanuman. We have given a form to God, but God is not just here where the moorti is, he is everywhere. He is all-pervading. We may not see anything in front of us in a physical form, but there is life energy. The air we breathe is also God because we will die without that important Prana.
Space – daharākaśa – is Paramatman. Can you see space? No, but you can feel it. We run, eat, and live in it. We live in that attributeless space, but bear attributes in the form of the body with physical features. We acquired this body due to our karma. We should get rid of this karma. We think the visible world is real and the invisible is unreal. But what is visible will disappear one day. Is your great-grandmother here? Where is she? Did she leave you a message? Did she share her whereabouts? Those who depart merge into space. Your departed grandparents are here, they did not go anywhere. We cannot see them, they have united with God. Once prana is gone, they have merged with God. Again, they take birth due to karma.
Dhvaja stambham is like the backbone of the body. The head has two parts. One is the main tower at the temple entrance, the other is the tower atop the shrine. The rays of your prayers fall on His feet. The Lord sends those rays up to the temple tower and that goes to Dhwaja stambham and then to the sky. Who is in the sky? God. So, God is listening to all your prayers.
From the cell phone, the signal goes to the antenna, and then to the tower and to the satellite, and then to the recipient. This is man’s creation. But God’s creation is exceedingly wonderful. It can take everyone’s prayer at once to Him. But your phone can only take messages to the one it is targeted for. God’s creation can take all your prayers at once to God. No technology can match God’s creation. You come here and pray to Hanumanta. Hanumanta carries your prayers to the sky. After offering prayers, you feel light and happy. You may pray for success in your exams, or for Darshana of Tataji, or for chocolate from Tataji. Hanumanta sanctions those prayers. You then feel relaxed. We cannot come to Dallas every single time. But you can mentally travel without ticket or visa. Sit in your room in lotus pose, close your eyes and mentally talk to Tataji within. Definitely, Tataji will give you the answer. With devotion, you must talk to Tataji. What is devotion? Surrender yourself, no second thought. Sometimes, you get doubts. That interrupts the signal. If you pray with devotion and concentration, your prayers’ vibrations will without interruption reach Tataji.
Who are you? Not nose, eyes, or ears. You are God. Everything is God. Where is God? Everywhere. How do you see Him? Close your eyes and concentrate, do meditation. You will definitely win. You will see Him in the form you imagine Him in. You must form that image within. You want to see Mother Goddess. Close your eyes and meditate and she will surely appear. That renders good strength to your meditation.
Atleast for 10 minutes, close your eyes and imagine Tataji sitting, speaking, doing Puja, talking, giving prasadam, giving chocolate etc. You will definitely see all this very clearly in your mind. Then, you can invite Tataji mentally. Do not keep telling others about this. You must not say “Mother, I saw Tataji”. That is our personal connection with Tataji. Tataji’s connection and relation is a secret. If you tell someone else about it, that energy diminishes. You must store the energy instead. You must meditate everyday and store that energy. Then, you will be unfazed by any amount of difficulty. You will have no fear.
Meditation makes you strong, no one can do anything to you. Simply close your eyes and think “Tataji, I want teertham today”. Definitely, Swamiji will give you teertham in your meditation and you can drink it. You must not meditate to get rid of your difficulties. You must only mediate to just be with Swamiji. If Swamiji is with you, all difficulties vanish. If difficulties come, fight them. One day, the difficulties will be frustrated and they will stop coming. If someone insults you, disregard it. You are pure and crystal clear. You are Swamiji’s devotee. You are Ganga. What can anyone say to you or label you as? The body is what is getting blamed. But you are blameless and pure. If you experience that, you will be happy and unfazed. That will make the insulter even angry. That’s okay. One day, they will cool off. So, do not worry about other things. Simply sit and meditate at least for ten minutes every day. Slowly increase that little by little over time till you can meditate at least for 40 minutes each day.
Fight your karma that you are carrying over countless births. Karma is hard to fight, but slowly, it will diminish. With devotion strengthen your meditation; serve in the temple, do satsanga, offer all kinds of seva. Then, your mind is purified and your karma goes away. You must do good karma, then bad karma automatically goes away. Turn on light in a dark room and darkness vanishes. Meditation is energy. That is why we have a big hall to meditate. There is often a lot of commotion in the temple – the priest is chanting mantras, a child may be crying. That is okay. This is like a mother’s house. You can plug your ears with cotton and meditate. You will enjoy your meditation here. Start with ten minutes of meditation. Set a timer if you need. You can chant Omkara internally if you wish. That is what helps us in the temple.
We offer Puja with flowers and fruits in the temple because we are members here. The body is a traveling temple. God is within us, around us, everywhere. We only see the physical body and act with desire and anger like animals do. That causes confusions diseases, anxiety and gives rise to more doubts and questions. And one day, you die. You say your Guru taught you nothing. Your receiving station needs cleaning, the Guru is always broadcasting. How do you service the station? Practice meditation daily, that is the servicing.