Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – Ratha Saptami Puja – January 25, 2026 – SGS Ashrama, Kurnool
We saw a picture on the roof – the image of Surya Bhagavan with 7 horses. We might wonder if the sun god is traveling on 7 horses now. No, the sun we see in the sky is the celestial body related to Surya. If a merchant has a house, but is not at home, we will call the home by his name. If we set up a Gandhi idol in a market, it is called Gandhi Bazaar, but Gandhi is not there.
Similarly, in that celestial body, Surya is not there, but that celestial body related to him is there. The merchant can go home at any time. But the Sun is very subtle and he is there from the beginning of creation. Surya can be with or without form.
Bhagavan is said to be formless, but he can also appear with a form. God with form also became formless. He also vanished, he appeared, he is also everywhere. We cannot pinpoint to one single place to show his existence, he is omnipresent. He is in the form of Prana. We think Prana is our breath. What we breathe is Vayu.
The fire burns and the goldsmith or blacksmith burns the metal in the fire and bends it into shape. When the piece of iron needs to be shaped, it is bent, pounded etc. The blacksmith may use a hammer to pound on that piece of metal. Why is that called a hammer, it’s also a piece of metal. Someone had burned it and pounded it into that shape. One is the piece of iron, second is the agni/fire, the third is the air that is needed for the fire to burn. Inspite of all this, we need a human to work. Air is pumped into the equipment for fire to burn. Unless the metal is put in fire, it’s hard to bend it into shape.
These days, there is equipment where we don’t need to light a fire, but the machine automatically generates the heat needed to bend the metal. The computer uses software to run the machine.
To run all this a person is needed. Someone has to work on the computer to process what shapes are to be output, how much heat is needed etc. We are all pieces if iron, each in a different shape – man, woman etc. Each shape is different from another. Even our blood is different. The DNA too is unique.
The body can be identified as belonging to a person. When the bone of a person is examined, it can be deduced that his person is the grandfather of a living person. Say several bodies are completely burned in an accident. The ash and bones are extracted by experts and scientists. After much meticulous testing, they realize ther eis the DNA of 100 people there and then identify the people. Then, they talk to the kith and kin of the deceased to test. The bones are examined and tested against the liquid in our bones to deduce that the deceased are related to us. We then observe rituals for the deceased. We imagine and weave stories about the deceased having attained liberation because the priest chanted some mantras and the ash has been offered in a sacred river.
These are all relations with our body. The Atman that is in the body is very subtle. Which Atman can it be related to? The heart beating is not Atman.
(Swamiji is ushering in all the devotees walking into the hall now.)
Some people come in and walk out when they realize there’s no food here. We go to have Darshan in Tirumala, but cannot have good darshan because our mind is elsewhere. Going to Tirupati is a fashion statement, we are not absorbed in devotion. Going to Kasi is a fashion statement. Some people say Ganga is smelly and their body is itchy since the river bath.
This body, bones, blood etc can distinguish one person from another. But God in each body cannot be distinguished from God in another body. We talk about the energy that leaves the body when the person dies. Can we talk about grandmother’s Atman, or grandfather’s Atman? It is not possible. There are many who talk about the spirits coming back and talking. That is different.
Once we leave the body here, where do we go? Do we go to our hometown? No. Where is it? We don’t know. Is the Atman visible? No. Not even in the night. Some say, “I saw a spirit in the night and it asked that I feed it 10 eggs”, “My dead grandmother appeared in my dream and asked that I serve her lamb”. What is all this? It is the drama of the living ones who fancy eating those animals, it is not the deceased who want them. Some pretend a spirit has possessedthem The person who acts possessed already knows some stories about those around him/her and demands that their property be given to him/her. This all just drama. They open their hair and swirl around and act possessed. That is some madness. If you take them to the hospital and whack them, they’ll come back to their senses.
What is the real faith we should have in our life? Now, there is Artificial Intelligence (AI). The videos look like us, talk like us, but it not us. They make videos with people that passed a long time ago. Science has progressed a lot and we have regressed due to our blind beliefs. While progressing, we should learn how to conduct ourselves. Why should we regress? It is like walking back to the starting point to see how many steps you covered today. You can forget about what’s covered and start counting your steps from that point onward. So, you should not go back, it will delay your attainment of the goal.
I am telling you all this to tell you that Paramatman is omnipresent. He is everywhere. I am talking, you are listening. Your karma is listening. Karma is what you created. Who is the ‘I’? You are only talking about the body, not god. You can say ” I am God”. Then, how come you are coming and going. It’s up to me. I have taken a body now and will leave it later.
Where did you come from? Don’t know. Where are you going? Don’t know. Then, how can you say you are God? The I” is karma. God cannot say ‘I’ because God is everywhere, God alone exists.
When you know you are god, you must not be dejected or elated. You must not hanker for family, nor eat, nor go to toilet.
It is true we are Paramatma because God is in us. But the ‘I’ is karma. You love the body, you beautify it, you drape clothes, you make faces in the mirror. You apply lipstick and make faces, you adjust your clothes. No amount of decoration is enough. You pull your bangs or hair to fall on your face for beautification and then flip the hair back by jerking the head. Some people have bangs completely covering their eyes. I told some of the kids in the US that I would cut their hair off if they did not cut it by the next day.
God has given us a good face, but we apply a lot of powder to it. We don’t care about the inner decoration, but we want to look good outwardly.
Bhagavan Datta taught Atma Vidya to Parashurama, can I teach you the same in a day? In a week? A few weeks? You must be prepared. You must forget the ‘I’. As long as you have the I in you, you cannot absorb Atma Vidya. How is God omnipresent, how do we know Him? To know Him, there is Atma Vidya Vilasam that Bhagavan taught to Parashurama, to king Yadu too. Datta gave darshan to Sri Rama as well. He even taught this this supreme wisdom to the rakshasa king Prahlada. Do not think this is a new question, it has been coming down from the time of creation: “Does God exist?” Parashurama asked, King Yadu asked, Prahlada asked this question .Datta gave darshan as if he were in Ajagara (python) vrata. The python stays in place and opens its mouth. It eats if a prey walks in and stays silent if no prey walks in.
We make so much effort to go to Kedarnath, Badarinath, but we dont soak in the beauty, we immediately whip out our cameras. Did you enjoy the sights and the colors? No, you have some shaky photos because people were pushing you from behind.
We should enjoy the sights, don’t keep focusing on just photos. If a person meets with an accident, people start taking photos and videos with their phones, instead of helping the victim. Many take selfies, standing at the end of the cliff, only seconds away from death. Many want to stand right on the edge of a river to take selfies together. That becomes their last photo and then starts the search for their bodies. People blame the police, but whose fault was it?
Learn discipline. Learn where dangers lurk. The sun is the abode of Surya Bhagavan. If the sun departed on a chariot with seven horses, what would be our fate. We now have computer that manage themselves. The sun is like that. Satellites sent into space can turn themselves on, take photos and save them. Man invented such machines. God has give us so much intelligence, lust, hunger, thirst, desire, likes, diseases, yearning for comforts, greed. No one needs to tell us what is right, we are driven by our senses. We want to buy and eat whatever we feel like. This body is such a machine. It can eat, drink and go to toilet. God doesn’t have to do anything. He created us once and it kept going form then on. We take 8 million births. The human birth is the most wonderful. Don’t deceive yourself, don’t get lost in desire and anger. Think about God.
We need to go to God. We keep taking births, but will have fewer and fewer births if we yearn for God. Only 1 person among the tens of millions gets liberated. The one who gets liberation is the one who does upasana without desire.
“You have given me the ability to worship you. You helped me stand in front of you and worship you. Please show me who I am, Prabhu”. This is how you must pray to Guru.
We stand in front of God/Guru and ask for our lost keys or phone. You want the Guru to use his divine vision to find your phone, bag etc. You want the Guru to be your servant or security and find you your lost possessions because the Guru has divine vision.
If you change, I will be here a little longer.
My mind is vexed seeing the behavior of devotees. Everyone is greedy and filled with desire and anger. There is constnat hankering even among those who have been following Swamiji for 40-50 years. Why should I continue being your Guru? You are not learning at all. My honor is gone trying to teach you. Indra is fight with me everyday. He is asking me to show him how many have transformed. He says: You have given them money and wealth and children. Why don’t you bring them closer to God? You cure them with divine music. You have come to uplift people. You think they will be transformed? They will not. They have greed. They have no detachment. They want to live longer and have more comforts.
Indra cajoled me and also criticized me. Indra asked e why I am still fulfilling desires endlessly. Indra says: The more you grant desires, the more they ask for. Did you see atleast 2-3 people who have transformed? “No”. Then, come back to me quickly. They are all humans, they swim in desires. You have taught them so much, bu they will not change. I told them I will show him atleast 20 people who will transform by the Swamiji birthday.
I was going to say something, but said something else. I hurt your feelings. Atleast now, you must change. Do not sin. Eat only sattvik food. You think you do not kill , you only eat meat. That is wrong. The sin will come to you for eating.
I taught Atma Vidya Vilasam in Vijayawada 50 years ago. Dr. Krishnamurthy’s sister, Choudhary’s wife Vasundaramma and one merchant are the only three who were uplifted.
See how I remember them now? They don’t even know what happened to them.
Learn sacrifice, charity and detachment. Do not talk about it, do not reveal your sankalpa. Play along in this samsara with your family members. You are seated in my boat, do not let your mind wander here and there. Once you buy a ticket and sit in my boat, you must be seated steadily.
“Nav chal padi”
You got a good boatman to steer the boat. I want to steer your mind and intellect and take you higher but before sit in the boat you ask for your trivial desires. I am not able to steer your boat because you are stuck here with your desires. You boat is stuck, it’s still where it was, it did not move from there. So, I am speaking in this new way so this enters your heart. God played so many dramas with his incarnation as fish, turtle etc. I am doing the same.