June 20, 2015
Speeches of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji - Gna Na Bha Yoga Conference - June 20, 2015 - Mysore
Speech in the morning
This morning you have learned about Ishavasya Upanishad. This evening you will listen about Bhakti Yoga. Do not miss. Tomorrow's programs you should not miss. If you do, you will be the most unfortunate persons. Internationally, Yoga Day is being celebrated. Now the Indian is making it compulsory for health reasons.
For decades, I had been urging you to practice Yoga. You have neglected my words. You only have been doing Eating Yoga. Eat, sit, sleep. Now after 40 years of Swamiji giving benefit to foreigners, whereas our Indians have neglected, Datta devotees have neglected, the valuable teachings. Holding the nose and doing regulated breathing was considered useless. Same with Nada. Why listen to two bhajans? What Jnana can be derived from Bhajans? Such has been the attitude.
We must gain knowledge. Bhagavad Gita and Isavasya Upanishad are the easiest to understand. The slokas may be difficult to pronounce and you may make mistakes. But if you persist, gradually you will begin to follow the meaning. Read and slowly understand the nature and glory of God, His all-pervasiveness, the reason for your birth, death, who you are. Learn why people appear and vanish. We also will vanish after some time. What is the purpose of all this? You give birth, perform marriage of children, they have children. Eat, give birth, die. Life seems full of this, disease, quarrel, society, family. Is this all? Hunger, ***, death? Why was this life given to us? Upanishads teach us this. Bhagavad Gita is our foundation. Merely memorizing the slokas is useless. You must follow the teachings, and then the value is understood.
Feeling proud that the children can recite the slokas is worthless. Understand and follow the teachings. Apply them in your lives. Swamiji gives a mantra. He gives guidelines. Follow them. Practice them. Only the knowledge you gain will go with you. This body, the children, what you have given the children, will not follow you. So many assemblies and lectures take place. The audience applauds and leaves. One must learn, understand and put the teachings into practice. Becoming a big officer after completing studies, having children, sending them to America, and dying; what is this meaningless life just like animals and birds?
Guru is there. We listen to the discourses. It is like water poured over water. The rocks in the Ganga river do not absorb even one drop of water. A disciple who drinks one drop will get liberated. The senior devotee who does not absorb the teachings, the essence of Guru's teaching in the ashram, gains no benefit at all. There are hundreds of such devotees who eat, wander, and claim to do seva. Their presence and efforts are useless. Not physical seva, do manasika seva, mental service. Ponder about what Swamiji says. People sit here during speeches. Their attention is elsewhere. No seriousness.
Yoga Vasishtha discourses are being given by Bala Swamiji. Ten people sit, minding their own business, doing other things, their attention is elsewhere. I keep watching. They are waiting only for Swamiji's darshan.
Always, for every program that occurs here, you must record in your minds, the teachings given by Sadguru.
Gna na bha means that. Jnana, Nada, and Bhakti. You must pay attention. What is devotion? Only ritual worship of offering coconut? What is self surrender? Why? Only if you follow, you will succeed. When you go to different worlds in your long journey, I will still be witnessing your subtle lives in the subtle planes of existence, in *** also when you suffer, I will be watching but I will be helpless. I cannot help you then. It is my karma that I have to witness your suffering there. Being fried and poked with sharp tools. One should have the fear of sin and its consequences.
There are three types of body. One is most subtle, the causal body. A subtle body is given to everyone. The subtle body also has birth and death. It experience death and pain. This is not a *** and bull story. In the Bhagavatam it is beautifully explained. It is all scientific. What is ***, and heaven is all proven scientifically. One is the gross body with which you can perform actions.
Because I have taken a human body and have mingled with you closely and got involved with you, it is my karma that I would have to witness your future suffering because you have neglected the teachings given here. I see your torment then. But I cannot make recommendations on your behalf. If I interfere, then I will also be subjected to punishment. There I will have no power to assist you.
This is another Upanishat that I am now teaching. It is Harishchandra Upakhyana. I like this very much. The teacher who fails to convey his teaching successfully, and the disciple who fails to learn properly, both are subject to punishment. Karma details are all taught to Harischandra. Jnana should be given only to those who seek it. A teacher, therefore, should address his teaching to an idol, or a stone, or to a darbha grass. Otherwise, the sin of teaching the undeserving will accrue to the teacher. No matter who the teacher may be, this rule applies.
All health facilities also insist on the benefits of Yoga. Now the government has made it mandatory that everyone should learn and practice.
All these are interview-seeking, selfish people, who want only mantra, yantra, food for their belly, profit, money, jobs, and recommendation from Swamiji; they are all mere bundles of selfishness. I try to transform them into unselfish people. That is why I do not object to their requests. Even in ridicule, if they utter God's name, they earn merit. Even in fun if they say, Hare Krishna, they will get liberated. Even if one ridicules that this Guru always tells us to say, Rama, Rama, still he earns merit.
Guru has to also protect Himself. Mother Sita kept a holy darbha grass before her when she spoke to Ravana. She knew that Ravana did not deserve her Upadesha, spiritual teaching, or to hear the glories of Rama. Therefore, the darbha was placed before her by Sita herself, to protect herself from the sin of teaching one who was undeserving. Ravana was not fit to hear the praises of Rama uttered by Sita. Sita is Mother Goddess Herself. She knew what was right. She told him that Rama would liberate him. But she kept the darbha and spoke to the darbha. That is the real reason for her addressing the darbha when she spoke in the presence of Ravana. Had Ravana heard even on one day, the sacred words spoken by Sita, he would have gone to heaven right away. But Sita prevented that by placing the darbha grass between herself and Ravana. She did not want to take on the sin of speaking good things to a sinner. Ravana heard only the threats spoken by her, that Rama would kill him. All other good words spoken by Sita escaped his hearing.
Upanishad should not be taught to ordinary persons who are not interested. Some mantras Swamiji does not teach in public. Sometimes deliberately he will mispronounce them. Some foolish persons in the audience will jump to the conclusion that Swamiji does not know Sanskrit and that is why he is making mistakes. What actually happens is quite different.
Therefore, if the darbha were to be removed, the rejected upadesha would give dosha, or sin to Sita. Also, if Ravana were to really listen to the upadesha of Sita, he would become transformed at that point. His death would not have occurred at Rama's hands and he would lose his chance of attaining liberation. Ravana had prayed for liberation by dying at the hands of the Lord.
But we are misled by the scholars into believing that Sita placed the darbha because if Ravana were to touch it, to approach her, he would burst into flames. Sita actually gave Upadesha to Ravana, according to the Adhyatma Ramayana.
If the words of Sadguru are not properly received, if not even one per cent of it is absorbed, then the fault reverts to the Guru. The listener must remain fully attentive. He must not get up and leave at will, while Guru is speaking. The audience must not be fidgeting, and getting preoccupied in their minds. They should not be distracted with various other things. It is very wrong. The sin accrues to the speaker if the listener is disinterested.
Guru must not give upadesha to those who are inattentive, who look at the clock, scratch themselves, think of hunger, want to go to the bathroom, adjust their clothes, fidget in their seats, and gossip with their neighbors, while the Upanishad is being taught. The sin is accrued by the speaker for trying to teach those who are undeserving. The Saraswati Peetham is there. All the teachings are absorbed by the wood. One or two listeners only may benefit.
Swamiji's words and the principles He explains, the teachings He gives, must be listened to. Today's topic from Ishavasya Upanishad was very easy and beautifully explained. Nachiketa's story, you cannot easily comprehend. You will scratch your head and leave frustrated. You brand yourselves as sinners, and discouraged, you make it easy for Yama Dharmaraja to grab you. You give yourselves a stamp that you are not worthy. Chitragupta's job, you make easy for him. You may escape here. There, you cannot escape. You must listen attentively and put into practice, the teachings of Sadguru.
The early morning speeches of Sri Bala Swamiji you neglect to listen to. You perhaps plug your ears with cotton. May be I should engage volunteers to remove the cotton from the ears. A dozen deaf people sit here, and they are too old and cannot hear. The youth are not following the lectures, they are following girl friends on Facebook. I am not scolding. I am feeling very sorry for you. Even those in the good path are getting deviated.
We make an effort to go to Ganga and to take a dip to wash our sins. You are immersed rocks in Ganga, being here in Sadguru's presence, in the ashrama. You do not absorb even a drop of water.
Wear white clothes tomorrow. Do not miss the programs. Wear clean white clothes. Participate without fail.
Who is going to speak about Bhakti this evening? Dhruva Charitra will be explained. No Sanskrit slokas. It should be easily comprehensible to the common man. Simple, easy language that everyone can understand.
Hanuman Chalisa recording project has failed. It is an insult to us. Not even 20 per day are happening. It will take 3-4 years at this rate. Only some old persons are going for the recording. Everyone must record.
Sri Guru Datta
Speech in the eveninig after Gna Na Bha Yoga Conference
Today in the Gna Na Bha Yoga Conference, the topics Jnana and Bhakti were covered. Tomorrow Yoga And Nada will be dealt with. Dhruva's story and Prahlada's story from the Bhagavatam are great stories about Jnana and Bhakti.
They, Jnana and Bhakti, always go together. Only some scholars who are only concerned about Jnana, disagree. Some discard, the way people reject curry leaves in Rasam, throwing them away, thinking that they are only added for flavor, reject Bhakti after gaining a little bit of Jnana. Many scholars are guilty of doing that. They become preoccupied with publishing books, receiving titles, becoming famous, and so on. On the other hand, devotees, or those on the path of Bhakti, are always curious about Jnana.
The Narayana Stuti (Prayerful Hymn addressed to Lord Narayana), offered by Dhruva is great. The boons asked by him on his way back from the jungle, are extraordinary.
Prahlada's story has cruelty. Dhruva's story has very gentle tones. Ajamila's story deals with sin mixed with devotion. Here, in Dhruva's story, we learn about pure innocence. Dhruva's devotion is unmixed with karma or Bhakti or Jnana. It is a very strange episode. He was so young and innocent. He knew nothing, this small boy. Sage Narada taught him how to pray and how to praise God.
Without Bhakti (devotion), Jnana (spiritual knowledge) does not come. Concentration itself is penance. At least towards Veda, the scholars have loyalty or devotion. But after attaining a certain stage, they leave off bhakti entirely. It is like the son who forgets the mother who fed him nourishing food, as soon as the wife comes along, giving him ravishing kisses. Mudda giver (one who gave food) is forgotten when the Muddu giver (one who gives kisses) arrives. If such a thing does not happen, then, all the scholars would go to Goloka, the highest spiritual plane.
This conference's purpose is to remind us of our status, to show us where we stand in our spiritual pursuit. Bala Swami gives beautiful lectures on Bhakti.
This morning Swamiji disclosed a divine secret, a deva rahasya. He mentioned the episode about Mother Sita and the use of a blade of darbha grass. God himself gave away the secret.
We heard today about the SGS Vidya Samsthe, the organization which manages the schools established by Sri Swamiji. It has survived. Good teachers have been hired. In 3 years we will be totally responsible for running the school. No more government partnership or subsidy.
During the Birthday celebrations, the volunteers went around amidst the audiences every morning and evening as per Swamiji's directive, with donation boxes, to build awareness about the schools. Hundi collections were minimal. They would not be sufficient to pay for anything. Out of shame people gave, when the children approached them with boxes asking for donations for the schools. The Website inaugurated for the school today is good. Veda School also has a website. Gna Na Bha Yoga also has a website. They have to be maintained. Funding and sponsorship are needed for these organizations. Add this to SGS links. If you go to Google and search for SGS links, all the Swamiji related or ashram related links will come up. If you just type S, it gives Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji. You may go and test at google. Keep a donation system on the websites to receive funding. Accounts department can be contacted to give donations.
Dattapeetham.com is the mother root. Give to it. We will distribute to different trusts as per need. Bala Swamiji does that. Now I am only a servant, a volunteer. Not the president. These are all tricks to get others to serve. We are janitors, washer men, the cleaning crew. Donate one rupee for our service. You will gain ten rupees in return. Not on the spot. Do not demand like that. We have a transaction scheme like that. Swamiji blesses that you will never suffer from lack of funds because you gave a donation to the ashram. There are different ways the devotees benefit. It is not necessary to get money. You may save money by avoiding expenditure. Suddenly one is told that no operation is needed. Right away several lakhs of rupees are saved. So many miracles. Sudden increment or an inheritance is received unexpectedly. There is always more joy in giving than in taking. Mother loves it when children appreciate her cooking and eat with relish and enjoyment. So much she loves, and encouraged, prepares more favorite dishes. On the other hand, if you complain, she will hit you with the ladle. You must praise Guru similarly, if you wish to receive more boons. You first give whatever he gave you in the first place, and then he will give you more and more. Do not promise to give Him a percentage of the lottery money if He makes you win. Fifty per cent for you and half for him, no such deals. Why would He lose fifty per cent to you? He will keep it all.
May your children, grandchildren, and all future generations thrive at their studies because of your support of the SGS schools.
We need three crores in fixed deposits to be able to run the schools successfully. The donation boxes have fetched 74 Lakhs so far. Many senior devotees insist on giving only to the school fund. They already prepare the cheques when they arrive and refuse to give for any other charity. 2.5 years time we have, to raise the rest of the required funds. You may pay only by cheque for this. Cash will not be accepted. If you give cash, it will get spent for something else.
The primary school is now totally run by us. Food and clothing are also given to the students. School supplies are also given. It is a poor locality. The parents cannot afford to pay any tuition fees. Free education is given. Many past students have become officers. Support SGS schools. Spread the news amongst all the people you know.
Dhruva was a small boy, a student. The first teacher is mother always. Second teacher is Guru. The third teacher is Lord Narayana. Only small children in shorts are malleable in nature.
Tomorrow wear white clothes for the International Yoga Day. Come early. At 8:30 AM the program begins. Swamiji will be there by 9 AM. Yoga with Nada are the topics for tomorrow, how one helps the other will be explained. After yoga food, we have a session. Then we return to our regular program here of Tailabhisheksm. Tulabharam program is also there tomorrow.
Go to Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji page on Facebook. Like and comment on today's photo. It speaks to you. If profile photo does not show you wearing a Datta Vastram, your request for Friend for GSS will not be accepted.
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Guru Datta
If you do not mind my saying so, go have dinner now.
Sri Guru Datta
Compiled by Smt Hira Duvvuri