January 1, 2012
Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji - January 1, 2012 - Dallas TX USA
Jaya Guru Datta
“I have no time for a long speech. Telugu devotees, I am very happy about the ‘Happy New Year!’ Always I am happy.
But now, already half a day is finished in the happy new year. The next day is coming. It is an ancient Telugu proverb, ‘Today will become yesterday. Yesterday will never be today. Today will never return. Tomorrow is an unknown today. Today is there as Yesterday’s memories and Tomorrow’s cautions. Wonderful proverb. I cannot explain the English version. It only talks about Past, present, future. Today is very precious. Today’s experience is based on yesterday’s bad and good experiences. Today’s experience we cannot expect tomorrow. Tomorrow is different. Today is different. Yesterday is also different. Don’t lose a good opportunity, not even a second. Yesterday is a different program; it is now a remembrance only, experience and lessons. Today whatever happened in our life will not be there tomorrow. It was not there yesterday. It is not coming again and again. We have yesterday, today, and tomorrow also; use only for good things. Think only about good things. Keep your thoughts pure; no garbage; no dirty feelings. Some people are always thinking negative, bad feelings, with ego. ‘In all circumstances, we want to see only truth’, they say, but they are not truthful. There is no such thing as truth and untruth. That truth is not realized. Control your ego. The whole world cannot be like you. I am the Reality, you think. What kind of a reality?
Too much of expectation is a big problem for people. I have done a special puja today so that I can get a good job, you think. Otherwise I will not get a big job. That is all a calculation. Such a calculation is wrong. Puja is different. Meditation is different. I am calling Puja as Karma, a simple word. Karma means actions. Your actions are different. Be careful about your actions, what you yourself have created, or you are creating. It is enough if you are careful about what you create in this life. You must understand this carefully. You must learn to be cautious. There is nothing in this whole universe.
Before Swamiji’s birth, his grandfather was an atheist, had no knowledge about God or guru. After the birth of Swamiji he got vairagya, detachment and gave up all his lands to the poor people and came out. Suddenly he got Jnana, spiritual realization. He realized in his last days that there is nothing here in this whole world. At least in the end he realized. My dear children, my dear devotees, my dear followers, my dear students, my dear family members, my dear friends, my dear close circle people, my dear doubtful circle people, my dear business circle people; be careful. Don’t lose your precious time. As much as possible you can calculate and think about your valuable Janma, your birth. We cannot get this again and again.
Be happy. Be open-minded. Don’t be a coward. Don’t hesitate; don’t hate yourself or worldly things.
God is everywhere; He is Omnipresent; God is Omniscient. He is saguna, and nirguna, visible and invisible; so be careful. We cannot explain with our small minds. In this world, in this Creation, our Earth is very small, very tiny, even with a microscope you cannot see. You calculate then your size, your status.
All these different kinds of planets, globes, spheres in this cosmos, only He controls. We cannot explain. He is invisible.
I mentioned to some people and they were upset to hear it that there are two hearts in people; one heart is an organ; it is physical; the other heart on the right side is only space; right side heart is nothing; without a shape; that is the spiritual heart; we must concentrate and realize that heart; that is Atma Jnana; it is not the knowledge about the physical heart that goes lab dab. That is what many think. That knowledge doctors also have. BP machines also know. That is not atma Jnana as many people think.
This spiritual heart is very difficult to understand. To realize that God fills this entire universe, it is necessary to experience this spiritual heart. We must make the effort. Such an experience does not come in one day or seven days or ten days. It takes years together; births together to get Paramatma jnana; next birth, next birth; no disappointment; no depression.
What is this? I have done so much puja; I am following Swamiji for so long. What is this? I can’t get Jnana. I am not getting Jnana. Do not think like that. It is not a market. It is not an advertisement. Quickly! It is not urgent dosa, urgent idli, urgent upma. Good food in two minutes only; just add hot water; within seconds it is ready to eat; with good smell; puliyogare. Aha ahaha!
Atma Jnana depends on your character; your patience; your belief; your strong belief in yourself, not guru; doesn’t matter; don’t worry or bother about guru. If you believe, it benefits you. You will understand yourself as to what your place is and where you stand. If you hold a donkey’s tail, what is the benefit? If you believe in a guru, it is good for you. Belief in Guru means ‘dahara akaasha’; the spiritual heart. What is the reaction of your performing duties? You will know. That is final. Slowly, slowly, slowly, you will understand.
Why Bhagavadgita? Why Bhagavatham? Why Dattatreya? Why Hanuman Chalisa? Why puja? It is discipline; first you develop discipline. Atma Jnana you want? Surrender. First become humble. No questions; no doubts; then it will lead you further; my advice to people is there is a wonderful conversation in Bhagavatham. Krishna was 120 years old. Only four years were left. He wanted to return to Vaikuntha. He says this is not our planet; this is not our land. This is a different land; it is a different stage; I want to go. Uddhava, I am giving advice to you, to give to other people. It is a wonderful conversation. Bhagavatham has a wonderful conversation. It is not story, it not drama, it is not dance; it is not TV, or cinema. We cannot understand this Bhagavatham. Listening once or twice is not enough. If you listen four, five, seven times, then a little bit you understand. That is why we have saptaha (seven day discourse). The seventh day you understand a little bit, not completely. In north India, in Maharashtra, in every house, it was a custom to do Bhagavatham discourses. But now in South India, only television people give a little time, may be one or two hours. That is all. Then questions arise in the mind. Who will answer such questions? No one gives answers. The questions remain in our minds. Then more, more, more and more confusion in our minds. There are so many translations of the Bhagavatham. I am very happy about it. Many books are available. It is not religion. It is not Hindu religion. It is human religion. Bhagavadgita is also not Hinduism. It is full of advice to people. Only humanism. Because many Hindus are practicing, ninety percent are practicing Bhagavadgita, that is why such an impression is created. It is for all human beings. It is not Hinduism. It is Humanism. It has lessons for all human beings.
It is like Swamiji’s Life History. It is a story; praising about Swamiji. Bhagavadgita is not Krishna’s story or Pandavas story. He is the universal teacher. Not God. Best Sadguru is Krishna. Krishnam Vanda Jagadgurum. Mahabharatha is not the story of Pandavas and Kauravas; Rama calls Vasishtha as the best Sadguru because Rama is at the human level. But Krishna is our guru. Krishna avatara is a full avatara. Don’t miss Bhagavatam (discourse in California in August 2012).
I am only a small professor; only a servant of Hanumanta; I am not great. Out of love and respect you call me as Hanuman or Rama, what can I do? Slowly I will correct you, because you say that out of love and respect; I do not want to hurt you. I am very afraid of that. Sometime I am also shy. Why people are calling like this? But people are not listening. We are also calling our mother as Mother Goddess. I call my mother as Mother of the Universe. But mothers also get upset and hurt in their bodies. But I respect my mother. She is my Mata Durga, Jayalakshmi. Nothing wrong in that. Out of love and respect I feel that; I say that. That is why at your level if you call Swamiji as Hanumanta or Ganapati, it is not wrong. But in my level, it is wrong.
Be careful. Be careful. Too much involvement with guru, too close unnecessary involvement with guru, talking irrelevant things about guru, and then criticizing the guru is very wrong. You should be ashamed of yourselves. You have to be cautious. You have to remain within your limits. You be careful. I am also careful. Yes. You are my friend. You are my best disciple. You are my relative. You also think of Swamiji as ‘my best friend, my best guru’; Then you will get a little bit of bliss; a little bit of liberation; if you keep me at a very high level, you will face disappointments. That is the same advice that Krishna gave to Uddhava in the Bhagavatam. These are not my words. These are Krishna’s words to clear Uddhava’s doubts. After 8000 years of being in doubt about Sadguru, Pingala Naga also asked questions. No problem. Human beings have doubts. Anyway, he will give answers.
I am very happy about 2012. Telugu song says, each day is new, each year is new, new days and new years keep coming. But you are at the same place, same doubts, no improvement. You must improve, and then your teacher, your professor will be happy. A real professor is very happy about a successful student who gets a Ph.D. Bad, jealous professors will give wrong direction. Let us be blessed with a good guru. Let us understand our Sadguru with good vibration. Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum. Your Guru is your God. Your Atman is your Guru. Do Manasa puja, mental worship. That is very good. That is recommended. But to cultivate discipline we do these pujas, and rituals, with sankalpam, 108 names, Teertha, and other procedures. We need some discipline. Puja is Karma for good understanding. But quarreling with the priest after coming to attend the puja is not good. ‘Why did you give that person a big fruit and you gave me only a small fruit? Give me, give me, give me prasadam.’
In our temples, it is a joke; you give a small basket to the priest (with fruits and flowers to offer to God). Then you are after him, nagging and pestering to return the basket quickly. You don’t chant the name of ‘Govinda’, you don’t even remember God. All that you are concerned about is your tiny basket and you keep chanting ‘my basket, my basket, basket, basket’. Instead of God you worship and chant the name of ‘basket’. Your mantra will be, ‘’Buttaaya namaha’ - I worship the basket’. They would have paid four thousand rupees for the special puja ritual and the basket would have cost a mere twelve rupees perhaps. It is perhaps even a torn basket. But you are so anxious about getting your basket back. The poor priest is very busy, doing the harati, and offering to the devotees, and attending to the rush of duties. He keeps trying to pacify you that he will give it back to you. But you are very impatient. Unable to withstand your pressure he gives you the basket. Then you argue that he gave you the wrong basket. The lone, overworked priest gets very frustrated. He has no assistants to help him. It is a very tough job for him. He does not remember which specific basket is hers, so he brings the whole collection of baskets and places them before her. She digs through them and finds her basket. Then she opens the basket and complains that the coconut that is in it is not from the coconut that she offered. She starts accusing that she gave a large coconut and he is giving her back a a small one. He must have accidentally got them mixed up. The trustee committee members had not provided him with an assistant. The priest is afraid to ask for an assistant repeatedly because then he is afraid that he may lose his job. He also has to keep the job because he has to still get his green card. So he goes back inside and finds a big coconut and brings it to her. She takes home both the big piece and the small piece.
Puja is over. She goes part way and comes back asking the priest to give her some kumkum. He obliges and gives her some sacred red powder. Then she wants some jasmine flower prasadam from him. Vexed, he goes in and brings a big jasmine garland and gives her. By then, another woman has approached and loudly asserts that the jasmine garland that he is giving away is what she had brought. She wants it for herself, ‘give it to me, give it to me.’
Now we have new rules in place; no baskets are accepted; you break your own coconut; otherwise how to handle so much confusion about baskets and coconuts? You yourself offer the coconut to God, show it to him from a distance, take it home, make nice chutney with it and enjoy. Who cares? Once you have offered to God, you should forget about it. That is why in Mysore at the Datta temple, you only offer the whole coconut. No breaking of coconut. You offer and leave. That is all. That is devotion.
‘My name was not announced; I gave 4 thousand rupees’, complains another devotee. Even the one who gave forty thousand does not demand that the name is announced. This one who gives forty rupees and takes back fifty rupees worth, demands that the name should be read out loud. Strange people in this world. That is why in our temples, we have many temples, as you know, we have now changed the rules. I don’t know what system you have set up here. Only paper confusion here.
Good food has been prepared and served by the volunteers. Good applause for them. We have not applauded for those who have eaten the food. They have worked so hard to eat. Have they not accepted the prasadam graciously? It is not as if they have no food at home. RK (Kalyan) has provided laddoo prasadam. I always have a problem with names. Please adjust between yourselves. In the Bhagavatam I always have a problem with names. Those names are tough to remember. I have them typed and scrolling in front of me on the TV screen so that I don’t get them mixed up.
A pundit was giving a discourse on the Ramayana. Instead of saying that Ravanasura abducted Sita, he said absentmindedly, ‘Ravana kidnapped Draupadi!’ Everyone got confused. Did Sita change her name by some chance? But we have not seen an announcement of the name change in the Gazette. It is like that.
Draupadi was to be disrobed by Dusshaasana. This was in a stage play. Suddenly, the blind man, Dhritarashtra who was seated on the throne blindfolded, tore off the blindfold, and demanded the prerogative for himself. He said, ‘Why should that fellow strip her every time? I want to do it too. I want a chance to remove her clothes.’ The director got alarmed and was going to close the curtains hurriedly. Draupadi, being enacted by a man (as was the custom in the olden days - it was always an all-male cast to avoid all kinds of troubles such as elopements) forgot to wear the saree and ran onto the stage and stood ready in his underwear to be disrobed! That was a strange scene indeed!”
"Once the Ramayana play was being enacted. Hanuman’s tail was wound up in a pile and Hanuman was to jump down from the top of it. But when it was his turn to jump, he could not, because whoever built the platform made it too high for him. He was dismayed and spoke lines that were not in the script, “Hey, who built this platform so high? I need a ladder or a step stool to jump down from up here!”
It is good that you all had some good laughs on this Happy New Year’s Day. When I said New Year, I remembered this episode.
To G.V. Subrahmanyam’s house on the top floor, Swamiji went to have his bhiksha. Our assistant Kumar was with us. Usually when Swamiji visits any new place, it is a custom to remove the evil eye – Dishti, by moving a coconut in front of him in a circle, and then smashing it to pieces on a rock or on the ground. Kumar, who was doing this procedure, saw this smooth rock downstairs and smashed the coconut on it.
Giduthuri Suryam was a very staunch devotee. He was a film director. He loved Swamiji very much. This happened in Chennai a long time ago. It was a hot summer day. They were all tired, and all were sleeping on the floor in the front verandah on the ground floor. It was a bit dark then and one could not see very clearly. Suryam had just returned from Tirupati where he had shaved his head. His head was smooth and round.
His head was mistaken for a smooth round rock by Kumar, who smashed the coconut *** it taking aim from upstairs. With a scream Suryam jumped up!
We laugh now. But Swamiji became very serious then. Everyone got scared. Is it possible for a man to live after that? Suryam got up and said, ‘Jaya Guru Datta, Swamiji! Swamiji ki Jai!’
Everyone sighed with relief that he lived. The headache that troubled him for forty years vanished that instant, Suryam said. Swamiji was not even excited to hear this. He was still only feeling amazed and very relieved that the person survived. Really, will anyone survive such a blow on the head with a hard coconut from high up above? What a miracle!
Not only that, but this Kumar came down running, and I thought he was coming to pacify Suryam; but not realizing what had happened, Kumar was groping in the dark eagerly to collect the pieces of coconut so that he could eat them. What a fool! He was not even concerned for the safety of the man. What was Swamiji supposed to do? Was he to laugh, or cry, or remain serious? I did not know what to do. I just remained still. This happened on a January 1st. So many incidents have occurred in Swamiji’s life. I take them all lightly and laugh about them. I don’t take things seriously. I just wonder and offer them to God. I may appear serious or angry. But only for one second. Then I am normal again.
May everyone be blessed. May those with an unsteady mind be blessed. May those who lack devotion be blessed. May the miserly ones be blessed. May those who solicit services for the temple be blessed. May those who have not yet given their names for service be blessed. May they be blessed with a charitable nature. May everyone be blessed with an inclination to serve. May those who serve now be blessed with the enthusiasm to serve even more. May the students study well. May those who are awaiting their visas obtain them. May bank balances be healthy. Saying ‘Victory to Shatashloki Ramayana!” and chanting Om namo hanumate namaha, I wish for 26 crores of views. Be careful with facebook. Those who are doing the dollar seva, please continue and renew membership and enjoy the emails that you receive from Swamiji. Those who have not joined the program, please join and also enlist others. You will be receiving advice from Swamiji. Don’t despair that you could not talk to Swamiji. Talk to his photograph. Talk to him in your heart. You will receive the answers. I am always with you. 'We don’t get to see Swamiji, only others get close to Swamiji', is a wrong notion. If I call someone close and talk to them, it is only to discuss my business or ashram affairs. It is not anything personal. It is your imagination only if you think so. Even close devotees hesitate to speak of their personal problems with Swamiji. They are shy. They experience the difficulties. They finally succeed. May you all be successful. All those who have acquired new homes, I wish them success. This is our ashrama. All those who live in and around this area are all the near and dear ones in God’s marriage function. Do not feel that you have not been specially invited or honored. Just like the Sun, this temple also is for everyone. Don’t expect daily that someone will offer you a welcome and a seat to sit on. It won’t happen. This is not your mother-in-law’s house. Please remember that. Even the in-laws used to offer respect before, in olden times. Now even they have stopped treating the sons-in-law as special honored guests. People all have their problems. All are devotees. If you treat someone as special, their ego will get bloated. We want Swamiji. You continue to serve without expecting any recognition. You recognize yourself. Happy New Year!
Tvamasmin kaarya niryoge pramaanam harisattama Hanuman yathnamaasthaaya duhkhakshaya karo bhava!
Guru Datta Hanuman ki Jai! Hanuman is Guru. Datta is Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. All in one.”
Sri Guru Datta