Speech of HH Sri Datta Vijayananda Teertha Swamiji and few words of Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji joining the livestream – Corona Satsangam – April 25 , 2020 – Mysore
Compiled by Jaya Akkanapragada
Śrī Gańéśāya namaha
Śrī Sarasvatyé namaha
Śrī pādavallabha nrsimha Sarasvati
Śri Guru Dattātréyāya namaha
Śri Gańapati Sacchidānanda Sadgurubhyō namaha
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Guru Datta
Today being Saturday, let us pray to Ānjaneya Swami to remove our difficulties. Hanuman is worshipped as Guru and Guru as Hanuman. From today onwards it is even more important to take care of our health. Start exercising in some form for 30 minutes. Walk around, do some stretching exercises and yoga.
When we exercise, the body’s resistance to diseases improves. Appaji takes care of His health and exercises every day for at least 30-60 minutes. By exercising the body and mind will be fit, and buddhi will also improve. As Datta devotees you all must exercise and tell others also to do so.
Devotees across ashramas are performing annadanam seva. May Appaji’s blessings be upon all of them. Satpātra dāna is providing what is needed at that moment to someone. By providing food for all the hungry people, Swamiji is inculcating tyāga buddhi – the spirit of sacrifice, in all of us.
When we keep the company of Mahātmās, we also develop some of these qualities. Mahātmās are noble souls who have gone on this path of tyāga and led meaningful lives. We spoke briefly yesterday about the noble souls who are immortal and remembered for their tyāga – Karńa, Śibi, Jīmūtavāhana and Dadhīci Maharśi.
During this time of Corona, we must all stay at home. Some people are stepping out to go to the market. When many people gather at the market, we do not know who may be unwell. We will unnecessarily invite difficulties. The authorities – police, doctors and government officials are only enforcing rules for our benefit, so we must listen to them.
Many people are upset that they are unable to visit temples or go to the ashrama. This is why Appaji is spending so much time with us. He is in our homes every day blessing us with puja darshana in the morning and a new sūkti each evening. For these 5 days, He has asked me to speak.
Initially everyone was struggling to stay at home, but now you are all used to it. Appaji was saying this morning that it has become a habit for all of you now to stay at home. Anything we do for a few days becomes a habit. Since we are devotees of Sri Ganapathy Sacchidananda Swamiji, we must recollect the story of Ganapati at this time.
In the test set by Parvati and Śiva to see who would cover all the tirtha yātrās first, Subrahmanya Swami left home immediately on His peacock to visit the tirtha yātrās. Lord Ganapti without leaving home, asked His parents to be seated, and performed pradakshinās – circumambulating them. This story teaches us that we can visit all the tirtha yātrās staying wherever we are.
Our home is now Kāśi, Tirupati and Mysuru ashrama since Appaji comes into our homes every day. Experiencing Gurudeva being with you at every moment, stay brave and happy.
Appaji showed me a picture of a big person with a huge stomach. The caption was “after lockdown, he cannot look down.” We must be careful not to become like this during the lockdown. Eat in moderation and eat only as much as is needed. Eat foods which are nutritious and contain Vitamin C. Avoid oily and fried foods at this time. Eat fresh fruit and vegetables.
svāsthyam sarvārtha sādhanam
To be healthy, we must exercise. If we do not have physical activity, we will become dull. Our Datta Kriya Yoga teachers are teaching Yoga every morning. You can practice yoga with them every morning on Facebook Live. If you have a treadmill at home, use it. A doctor once told a chap to spend an hour on the treadmill every day. To follow the doctor’s advice, that very intelligent chap would go and sleep on the treadmill. We must not become like that.
vyāyāyām labhaté svāsthyam
Place a photo and keep walking around it at home while chanting a mantra. You can even do this without placing a photo. By exercising, not only do we become healthy, but we also develop the strength and resistance needed to fight off diseases. It has come to our notice that many people are not exercising, that is why I wanted to spend time talking about this today.
Āyurvédic scriptures begin with the phrase svastha itya bhidhīyaté.
samadōśaha samāgniśca samadhātu mala kriya ha
dōśa refers to vāta, pitta and kapha present in us. These 3 must be present in the required amount in our body, otherwise we will have health problems.
Samāgniśca – the digestive fire should be able to burn and digest the food we eat. If we keep offering it more and more food, jatharāgni (the digestive fire) will not be able to burn it and will have a lot of difficulty. This is why upavāsa (observing a fast) is recommended on ékādaśi, caturthi, amāvāsya and pourńima so that once a week or once a fortnight at least we observe a fast. If your doctor advices not to fast, then eat fruit that day.
Many people have to take medicines for diabetes, so they should not fast otherwise their blood sugar levels will drop. They can also follow certain rules of upavāsa. Even taking a morsel of food off our plate and offering it to God or another being is upavāsam. Even dāna is known as upavāsa.
dhātu comprises 7 body tissues. rasā (life sap) , raktā (blood), māmsa (muscle), medō (fatty layer), asthi (bones), majja (nervous layer) and śukra (seminal fluids). Only if all these dhātus are present in the right proportion, will we be healthy.
malakriya refers to the act of expelling toxins from the body by sweating and through the excretory organs.
All the above refer to the health of the physical body.
Prasannātméndriya manāha – only when the motor organs and the sensory organs function well is a person considered healthy.
For all this to happen we must be physically and mentally fit. This is why Appaji has taught and blessed us with Kriya Yoga. While you may be doing chores around the house such as sweeping and mopping, these make the heart stronger, but they cannot be considered exercise. Sometimes you will get back pain or some other aches while cleaning. Yoga helps alleviate all this.
On Thursday, we discussed the importance of Satsanga and how it can lead to jīvan mukti. We have discussed the significance of Satsanga with Mahātmās. Mahātmās are tyāgīs who sacrifice their time and everything for the benefit of others. Appaji is sacrificing His time and spending it with us so that we stay indoors. He could have taken rest instead. Today being Saturday, I would like to spend a little time talking about Ānjaneya Swami.
When Ānjaneya Swami was searching for Sītāmata in Lanka, he became very upset and lost hope when he could not find her anywhere. Then in his mind he thought, anirvédaha sarva kārańam and enthusing himself, he sat in dhyāna. While meditating, he saw aśoka vana. When he went to aśoka vana, and sat on the śumśupā tree, he finally saw Sītāmata. He was overcome with joy upon seeing her.
In the third verse of the 16th sarga of Sundarākānda, He says
mānyā guruvinītasya lakśmańasya gurupriyā
yadi sītāpi duhkhārtā kālōhi durati krama ha
The revered Guru – Sri Rama who is worshipped by Lakshmana Swami, to such a Lord Sītāmāta is so dear. If she is in such sorrow and experiencing so much suffering, it means no one can escape the effects of bad times.
kālōsmi lōkakśaya krut pravruddhaha – Bhagavad Gita 11.32
In the above sloka, Bhagavan Sri Krishna says “I am time.”
None of us can escape the effects of time. Those who adapt to changing times will win. Those who are unable to change themselves will perish. We must remember this. Difficulties will keep coming. This Corona should not come back again. Because it has affected all of us, we are all collectively suffering. We must keep practicing good habits even after Corona ends.
Being able to forget is a great quality. It is a blessing and a curse. Personal hygiene should become a habit for all of us. We do not know if this Corona will stay for another 6 months or come back in some other deadly form to scare us. There are reports that severity is differing from country to country. Scientists do not yet know about this virus fully, so we must be very cautious and take care of our health.
Yesterday we briefly discussed the sloka
Karńastvacam śibir māmsam
jīvam jīmūtavāhanaha
Dadau dadhīci rasthīni
nástyadéyam mahātmanām
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna Paramātma describes 3 types of dāna. Sātvika dāna – done with no expectations. Rājasika dāna – done expecting something in return almost like a business transaction and tāmasika dāna – insulting the receiver.
Tyāga and dāna are different. Dāna is giving what we can. But tyāga is giving up everything.
Karńa in Mahābhārata is known for his dāna bhāva. Karńa possesses Sūryadatta kavacam – protection from Sun God in the form of earrings and armour. As long as Karńa has this protection, the Kaurava army cannot be defeated. Krishna did not want Karńa to possess this invaluable armour because Karńa was on the side of adharma.
Karńa and Arjun were both equally adept at archery and were equally matched in warfare. Krishna instigates Lord Indra that Arjuna will lose to Karna. Before the war begins, Indra takes the form of an old brahmin and asks Karńa if he will part with whatever is asked of him. Karńa readily agreed. The brahmin said “your earrings and armour are shining. Will you give these to me? I would like to perform a yagña and these would be very useful to perform the yagña.”
The earrings and armour were stuck to karńā’s body, so he peeled off his skin and gave them away. Karńa did not even think twice about the consequences. He simply tore off his skin and gave away the protection which the Sun God blessed him with. Karńa was a warrior when it came to dāna.
Dānéna viśantō mitram bhavanti
In the védās, it is said that with dāna even enemies become friends. In Mahabharata, as Shelya was coming to join the Pāndavās, Duryodhana bribes him with the promise of gifts and various charities and makes him join the kauravās.
We may do dāna to win over enemies, but tyāga takes us closer to Paramātma.
When there is a wedding or some celebration at home, we invite people and ask them to partake of the food. But in tyāga, we do not even know who is receiving the food. It reaches all the people who are hungry. Even the ingredients offered to the fire god during a hōma are known as tyāga. Tyāga means giving back what has been given to us without any sense of ownership.
tvadīyam vastu gōvinda
tubhyaméva samarpayé
To you who is present everywhere in the Cosmic form, I give you what you have given me.
King Śibi hailed from the Ikshvāku dynasty and was an ancestor of Sri Rama. When Kaikeyi asked Daśaratha for the two boons he had promised her, she reminded him of the great ancestor who sacrificed his flesh for the sake of a bird. She reminds him of this so that he is compelled to keep his promise to her.
When someone is hungry, we should offer them food immediately, and not say I will feed you later on my birthday. Similarly King Daśaratha should have also compelled Queen Kaikeyi to ask for her 2 wishes at that time itself instead of saying she could ask for them at any time she liked.
King Śibi was in udyāna vana when he saw a pigeon flying overhead begging for help. Just the way Appaji understands what the parrots in Śuka vana are saying, Śibi understood the bird’s language, and mentally promised to help the bird. The bird reading his mind, came and sat on his lap. Comforting the bird, King Śibi asked what happened to it? The pigeon pointed to a big eagle in the sky, and said “that eagle is chasing me. It wants to eat me.”
Śibi immediately promised to protect the bird without a second thought.
That is tyāga. dāna on the other hand involves thinking about how to give and how much to give. The eagle swooped down and spoke “O King, you have promised to protect this pigeon. But I am hungry. What is to happen to me now?” The king asked the eagle “what do you need to eat?” The eagle replied “Nature has promised me the flesh of this bird.”
Once an eagle was wounded and found in the ashrama. It was nursed back to health with curd rice. But not all eagles can live on curd rice and sweet milk.
The King asked “is any kind of flesh okay with you?” to which the eagle replied “you cannot bring another bird or another being’s flesh. Since you promised to protect this bird, give me your flesh.” The king said “that is what I was planning to do anyway. How much flesh do you need?”
The eagle replied “let us place the pigeon on one scale, and you give me flesh equal to its weight.”
King Śibi agreed. The pigeon was placed on one scale, and the king proceeded to cut flesh from his right thigh on which the bird had been sitting. He cut a large chunk of flesh and placed. But the weight on the scales did not match. The bird looked very small but appeared to be quite heavy, so the king cut off his leg and placed it on the scale. When that did not work either, he said “here! Take my entire body!” and he sat on the scale himself.
The pigeon and the eagle transformed into their original forms. The pigeon was Agni déva and the eagle was Indra. They blessed King Śibi and said “ O King, Sage Nārada was singing your praises in svargalōka. We had to come see the extent of your tyāga buddhi for ourselves, so we put you to this test.” Saying so the dévatās blessed the King.
When we want to develop such qualities, recounting such stories bring about a lot of changes in us, and also inspires children. This story also stresses the importance of ahimsa.
Jīmūtavāhana to this day is invoked in a kalasa (brass pot) in the jīvati ritual performed every year in Bihar. A very nice Sanskrit play – nāgānandanaha based on his life was written by Harshavardhana. It is even taught in universities. You should be able to find a translation. Do read it, it is a very nice story.
Jīmūtavāhana was born a prince, but he did not want to become a king because there was a condition that he would need to get married and have children. He was very uninterested in getting married and declined the offer to become king. His father, Jīmūtakétu said he need not get married to become king, so he reluctantly accepted even though his heart was not in it.
Feeling very disturbed, he decided to go on a pilgrimage to the Malaya mountain. On the mountain, there was a temple, and he could hear a woman crying inside. When he went and enquired what the matter was, she told of her difficulties and said “You are Vidyādhara born now as Jįmūtavāhana. The dévatās – gods told me you would come here and marry me.” He was very surprised because no one in this kingdom even knew who he was. When this lady recounted all these facts, he thought it must all be true and got married to her.
He is now a married man. One day, while traveling on a leisure trip, he heard a woman crying. Upon enquiring as to why she was crying, she said she was a nāgastri, and in their world of snakes, they have a tradition of offering one snake every day to Garuda. Today, it was the turn of her son – Śankhacūdu to be sacrificed. Being her only child, she did not want to part with him. Jīmūtavāhana consoled her and said “don’t worry. I will go in place of your son. Dress me up in his clothes and take me to Garuda and leave me there.”
Garuda picks him up, and places him on the sacrificial altar. Garuda is very surprised to see that day’s sacrifice being so calm and composed. Usually he was used to seeing the snakes run away in fear, or kick and struggle in fear. Upon closer examination, he realised this was not a snake but a human being. Very surprised, he asked Jīmūtavāhana what he was doing there.
When he recounted the entire story, Garuda said “I have never seen such a great sacrifice. You were ready to give up your life even though you have your own family! From today, I shall no longer ask for serpents to be sacrificed. From this day, I shall protect nāgalōka.”
Since Jīmūtavāhana saved the snakes, he was named nāgānandaha – one who brings happiness to nāgalōka.
Dadhīci Maharśi gave up his bones so that a weapon could be made for Lord Indra from a human body. Vritrāsura had received many boons. He could not be killed with a weapon that had ever been seen or used before. The weapon must be made from material which cannot become wet or dry.
Dadhīci Maharśi with his powers of penance had built up a body which was as strong as a diamond. So the gods came to ask him for his spine so that they could use it to make a weapon for Indra, and win the war against Vritrāsura. The Maharśi just gave it to them. There is a lot more to this story. Appaji has mentioned the story of Dadhīci Maharśi in Kathāsāgaram as well.
There is nothing that a Mahātma will not sacrifice. By remembering their stories, we will also develop a sacrificing nature.
géyam gītā nāmasahasram
dhyéyam śrīpati rūpa mahasram
néyam sajjana sangé cittam
déyam dīna janāya ca vittam – Bhaja Govinda
At this time, chant Bhagavad Gita, Vishnu sahasranama and Lalita sahasranama. Meditating on the form of Lord Vishnu grants mukti. We must always encourage the mind to spend time in the company of good people – sajjana sangé. Donate what you can to those in need – dīna janāya – by participating in the donation drives along with Appaji.
HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji joins the Satsanga. Below is Pujya Sri Swamiji’s message.
I heard the story of King Śibi. In fact across India there are many different versions of this story. When King Śibi kept cutting off his flesh from his right thigh to place in the scales, tears were rolling down from his left eye. Seeing the tears, Agni in the form of the pigeon says “I do not want your sacrifice. You are attached to your body, and are in pain. That is why you are crying. Your body seems riddled with disease. I do not want your sacrifice.”
The king replies “No no, it is not like that. My left eye is crying asking what crime it has committed that only the right part of my body is being offered. It feels only my right side has done merit to deserve to be sacrificed, while the left side is riddled with sin.” Saying this, King Śibi goes and sits on the scale and offers his entire body.
Having offered to sacrifice, one must not claim any rights on what is being sacrificed. There is no ownership. Also, when something is asked of you, do not postpone the act of giving. Immediately give what is asked of you.