Om Poornamadah Poornamidam Poornaat Poornamudachyate
Poornasya Poornamaadaaya Poornamevaavashishyate
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti

Teacher’s Day Blessings

-Swamiji

Vasudevasutam Devam
Kamsa Chanura Mardanam
Devaki Paramanandam
Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum!

-Sri Swamiji (1.9.10)

Vasudevasutam Devam
Kamsa Chanura Mardanam
Devaki Paramanandam
Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum

వాసుదేవసుతం దేవం
కంస చాణూర మర్దనం
దేవకీ మరమానందం
కృష్ణం వందే జగద్గురుమ్

HAPPY JANMASHTAMI

-SWAMIJI

Varamahalakshmi Vratha

Chimidhimi dhindhimi dhindhimi dhindhimi
dundubhi nada supurnamaye
Ghumaghuma ghunghuma ghunghuma ghunghuma
sankhaninada suvadhyanute.

Vedapuranetihasa supujita
Vaidikamarga pradarsayute
jaya jaya hemadhusudana kamini
dhanalkshmi rupena palayamam….

May Sri Varamahalakshmi bless you and your family.

Happy Independence Day to all the Indians.
Lets us all pray for the Peace and Harmony of the World.

-Sri Swamiji

May Lord Datta Venkateshwara bless you and your family with Health, Wealth and Prosperity.

Happy Shravana Shanivara

-Swamiji

Jaya Guru Datta

Friendship doubles our joy and divides our grief

Happy Friendship Day

The Mission and Activities of Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Swamiji

Jaya Guru Datta

I have been asked to speak for 30 minutes about Sri Swamiji’s Mission and Sri Swamiji’s work.

As Sri Swamiji mentioned last night, many people think that they can describe Sri Swamiji and his activities, but what they are able to talk about are only the physical aspects. They can describe his physical body, his white beard, his radiant smile, and the actions that are visible and obvious like performing Sri Chakra Puja and giving Healing Music concerts.

But why he does what he does, is impossible for anyone to know. I consider it a great honor that I have been asked to speak about my Sadguru who to me is God Himself. From those among the audience who share my love for Sri Swamiji, and my belief and my sentiment, I pray for inspiration.

If my speech sounds subjective, it is because I can only speak from my experience, and my understanding. I pray to Sri Swamiji to guide my thoughts, and my words and to forgive me for anything I might say that is irrelevant or untrue.

Sri Swamiji has said that only God can adequately describe Himself. I pray to Him to sit on my tongue and speak.

Sri Swamiji’s mission is to help us to realize that this world, and everything in it, is all only an illusion. His mission is to make us understand why and how it is an illusion. It is impossible without help from a sadguru to believe that what is perceived by our senses, does not really exist. Swamiji’s mission is to elevate our thinking, to remove our ignorance, to make us clearly understand the purpose of our human birth, and what our goal in life truly is.

Sri Swamiji’s mission is global, yet it is very very individual. Just like Lord Krishna is said to have appeared as so many separate enchanting Krishnas, one for each gopika to dance with, as if he were all her own, our Sri Swamiji also is a separate Swamiji for each one of us, developing a unique relationship that is best suited to each one of us, at each situation, which is most intimate, and most comfortable.

Sri Swamiji sees his mother in every woman. However he is Mother, Father, and a Friend to all. I can speak about Sri Swamiji’s charm, his power, his knowledge, his wisdom, his miracles, his mischief, his beauty, and his limitless variety for days on end. 30 minutes will not be sufficient. But to truly describe him, words are absolutely ineffective and useless. He needs to be only understood and experienced in the deepest profound silence. Once he is understood, He stands alone. There is no separate creation outside of himself. You and I do not exist as separate from him to speak about him. That is His Maya. As it is said in the Guru Gita, He is in all creation. The entire creation is within Him. It is what mother Yashoda experienced when inside her child Krishna’s open mouth she saw the fourteen worlds, including the earth and she saw herself and her child Krishna on that earth inside his mouth.

To speak about Sri Swamiji on a mundane level, I would say that he employs Healing, Teaching, and Inspiration to crack, gradually break and eventually completely destroy our ego. Ego is a result of ignorance that has built up within us over many lifetimes. Ignorance is the wrong understanding of the meaning of the real “I”. Sri Swamiji performs His most difficult and in fact almost impossible mission with infinite compassion and love and hence he succeeds.

Healing: What Sri Swamiji does first of all is, that he helps those who surrender to him in humility. He makes their lives comfortable, by removing or reducing difficulties, like a mother. He helps heal pain, both physical and mental, so that troubled minds and bodies are freed from preoccupations and are fit to pursue a spiritual path. he helps us to think clearly and understand the complex spiritual truths.

Teaching by example: Sri Swamiji’s method is, as the mind of the disciple begins to open up, he gives new insights, silently, by speaking to our hearts. We hear His voice in our hearts, speaking to us, telling us what is right, and what is not. He mostly communicates through silence or through music. He also teaches us the most difficult lessons by his example. His rigorous disicpline, his diligence in doing his duty, his tireless efforts to help humanity, his humility, his all-inclusive love for all beings, and his ever cheerful and enthusiastic, childlike attitude are an inspiration to us all. We feel the urge to be like him, to love like he does, to work incessantly as he does out of love for fellow beings, without any prejudice or feeling of difference.

Swamiji Teaches through effective communication: He gives speeches, discourses, simple verbal messages, and he gives explanation to song lyrics that he has composed. All these he does with a wonderful touch of humor. He puts his audience at ease. He speaks to each person as if he or she is his most beloved child, friend, or parent. He approaches life from different angles, from a variety of perspectives to suit different temperaments, through intellectual analysis, through emotional appeal, and through an instinctive understanding from within that he miraculously makes happen by his grace. He appears on television every single day, reaching people in all different countries. He sends personal emails. He makes telephone calls. He gives interviews. He records DVDs and CDs with spiritual messages, songs, and healing music. He publishes a monthly magazine in 6 languages. He travels to every part of the world, meeting individuals, families, and huge
gatherings.

The purpose of human life as we understand it out of our ignorance, gets completely reversed with Sri Swamiji’s teaching and example. All of us who were taught that wealth, worldly knowledge, smartness, pleasure, relationships, fame and power were the most important things in life, are jolted into a shocking revelation, that these are in fact the least important. In fact, these we begin to understand, by Sri Swamiji’s teaching, are really hindrances to our spiritual progress. If the world goes one way, Sri Swamiji’s followers go just the opposite way. As a result of this they give up their attachment to physical enjoyments, position in society, and their possessive involvement with friends and family members. When this change occurs in them, the people around them change also, and this way Sri Swamiji brings harmony into relationships, and promotes an individual’s peace of mind and a sense of tranquility. The sense organs get controlled,
discipline is gained, and life is spent blissfully in service to the Guru, who is God Himself. Life then becomes divine.

The methods to achieve this as prescribed by Sri Swamiji are, performance of rituals like daily worship, regular homas, austerities like deekshas, mantra japa, writing mantras, practice of Kriya yoga, doing pranayama, asanas, consuming only vegetarian food, observing celibacy and other disciplines that purify the mind, and cleanse us both physically and mentally. Sri Swamiji encourages going on pilgrimages, giving to charitable projects, such as anna dana, feeding the hungry, and giving to the poor and disabled in society without any selfish motive for fame and recognition. By doing all these himself, he demonstrates to us these can be done, and that these give positive results. Sri Swamiji promotes Jnana yoga by how he encourages his followers to read and understand the inner meaning of scriptures, and Bhakti yoga by urging followers to develop an intense devotion to God.

Sri Swamiji who Himself is Nada knows that Music is appealing to all, universally. Melody and rhythm are built into everything in creation. There is melody in human speech, in bird song, in the sound of the breeze, in the falling rain, and in the animal calls. Sri Swamiji had observed since infancy the power of sound and its universality of appeal and uses it to reach into the depths of the human heart with his healing harmonics and resonance. Our breath is rhythmic. Our movements inside our body, such as heartbeat, and blood circulation are rhythmic. Our walk is rhythmic, our speech is rhythmic. All of our movements are rhythmic. Everything in nature is rhythmic; the waves in the ocean, the leaves swaying in the breeze, the flight of birds, sunrise and sunset are rhythmic. Everything, without exception follows some type of rhythm, including even our thought patterns.

Sri Swamiji massages the human nervous system with sound syllables and musical notes and the rhythmic drums to soothe, cleanse, balance, and heal. He brings about a positive change in the physical, mental, and spiritual lives of his audiences. The positive spiritual vibrations that emanate from his personality and from his musical notes spread for miles around, causing an enormous change in the mental climate. A certain climate of peace, tranquility, and serenity pervade wherever Sri Swamiji travels.

Nama Sankeertana: Sri Swamiji employs the power of seed syllables in his healing process. It is the syllables that give the mantras their enormous power. Sri Swamiji knows how to use mathematical calculations to bring about cleansing. There is science and mathematics in Astrology, in Mantra shastra, and in yoga. The yantras that Sri Swamiji uses have enormous potential based on the sound syllables and their geometrical patterns. It all comes back to name and form, the two features common to all creation. Sri Swamiji uses them both to the fullest to help man return to his state of divinity.

Ego: Sri Swamiji teaches that ego should be removed before man can rise to a divine status. Ego is identification with one’s body. The body, its beauty, skills, talents, powers are all transient. They are all gifts from God, and ought to be used for the common welfare of all. When one begins to use them for one’s own selfish purposes, and when one begins to take credit for these, the person’s ego builds up. Normally a person takes credit for all achievements and accomplishments. Sri Swamiji teaches us from the very beginning with a prayer that concludes all activities,

“Kayena vacha manasendriyairva
Buddhyatmanava prakrite svabhavat
Karomi yadyat sakalam parasmai
Narayanayeti samarpayami” -

which says that all one’s thoughts, words, and actions should be surrendered to God. They should all be offered up to God, with no personal credit taken for either for the thoughts, words or one’s actions or their consequences. Even performance of good deeds carries with it the danger of boosting one’s ego if one claims it as his or her own noble nature and begins to feel superior to others.

Me and Mine: from Ego, the false sense of I, as a being separate from the world, interacting with the world, comes the next worst enemy, Possessiveness. Sri Swamiji teaches that there is no “I”, there is no such thing as “mine”. There is also no “you”, nor “yours”, as separate from “me” and “mine”. Yesterday he sang the bhajan, “Nanu nannadu illa,
neenu ninnadu illa”. This is an extremely difficult concept to understand and digest. How can there be no me, when I am constantly aware that “I” am. It is Sri Swamiji’s mission to make us realize that the true “I” that is, is not the limited “I” that we experience, limited to this one body, with the one name and features, careers, qualifications, parents and siblings. Sri Swamiji has made it his life’s mission to make as many of us as possible recognize the real “I” as nothing other than “Sakshaat Paramatman”, the Supreme Reality, which is who Sri Swamiji is. He wants me and every one of us to realize and experience that He and I are one and the same. He, who in truth is formless and nameless, and is all pervading, has become all the “I”s in existence through eternity. He is I, you, you, you, and you, and every single being in creation that ever was, ever is, and ever will be. Sri Swamiji lives in that experience, which
explains His limitless, unconditional love for all of us. He wants us all to enjoy that same realization and the resulting bliss and permanent joy.

“Live in the present”, Sri Swamiji says. Sri Swamiji says God is Time. God and Guru are one and the same. He is Time. He is eternity. There is no such thing as not having enough time. Time is always there. It is endless. Our bodies that are made up of the five elements come and go, as do all other bodies in creation. But Time, like space, is endless. Our spiritual journey continues through many many lifetimes. It is not completed in one lifetime. Our sadguru remains with us through each and every lifetime, holding our hand and leading us forward.

Who Created this world, who controls and who sustains it? We neglect to keep reminding ourselves that this world is not our creation. We wonder at nature’s beauty and majesty. We acknowledge at such times the existence of a Creator. Ye we forget that we are not responsible for the ills of the world. We do not have the power or the knowledge to change the world, or clean it up. Misfortunes occur for a purpose. God knows how to deal with them. That is His job.

Sri Swamiji’s life history shows us that even Sri Swamiji suffered agony as a youngster when overcome with compassion for the suffering humanity he wanted to change the pattern of life itself. He wanted to instantaneously destroy the sins of everyone, and instantaneously give salvation to all. But his mother Sri Jayalakshmi Mata had told him to wait till he was 24 before commencing His mission of establishing Dharma. So Sri Swamiji waited.

Later Sri Swamiji realized the wisdom of his mother’s words. Creation follows a distinct predetermined order where dualities such as day and night, happiness and sorrow necessarily have to co-exist. It is not possible to remove one of them alone. Those who expect instant results from Sri Swamiji are disappointed because they do not accept this reality.

Sri Swamiji reminds us that it is God who is taking care of his creation. We assume that we are responsible for our welfare, and for all of our successes and failures. With every success, we add to the size of our ego, and with every failure we add to our burden of guilt. Both are unnecessary. Our circumstances are the result of our past karma. Our successes and failures are a result of our past karma. Our happiness and sorrow are a result of our past karma. In our ignorance we take responsibility for our actions.

We forget that we are simply puppets in God’s hands. Yesterday Sri Swamiji sang the bhajan, “amma memu nee chetilo bommalamma”. We forget that we are led by him to dance and jump and do cartwheels, and make fools of ourselves as per his whim. It is He who makes us do wrong things, so that we learn from our mistakes. It is He who tests our faith constantly to see how well we love Him, and how truly we follow Him. Sri Swamiji has clearly gone through these stages of misunderstanding, frustration, doubt, and impatience in his life for our benefit. By giving us a chance to study his experiences, and his analyses, and his conclusions, he is blessing us immensely. Only a sadguru would open a window into his life as he does. We are able to take a leisurely peek at what went on in his life and we are clearly able to understand and grasp this karma philosophy as well as the guru/disciple relationship in addition to learning the meaning of karma yoga, jnana
yoga, bhakti yoga, and nada yoga.

Sri Swamiji tells us that human relationships are ephemeral. They are not permanent. My husband in this lifetime was perhaps not my husband in previous lifetimes. He perhaps will not be my husband in future lifetimes. We are partners in this life because of some unresolved issues that we have carried forward from some previous lifetime. The same applies to children, all other relatives, and friends, and acquaintances. We have to do our duty as child, spouse, relative, and friend, following our dharma to the best of our ability. There our duty ends. Developing attachments, entertaining expectations, exerting control and authority are all pitfalls we have to watch for. They will create a setback in our spiritual journey, Sri Swamiji warns us, gently but firmly.

No one except oneself is responsible for one’s karma. Sri Swamiji explains through a narration of his own experiences in his biography that blaming another for one’s insult or injury is foolishness that adds to one’s own bad karma. One’s arrogance that one is noble and forgiving is nothing but a bloated ego. Sri Swamiji exhorts us to control our anger and greed. By giving us a true picture of why situations occur, that are unpleasant or challenging, Sri Swamiji gives us the strength to deal with difficult situation. He holds our hand and leads us away gently and wisely from temptations and bad responses. He helps us to be grateful for every situation that is presented to us because each event brings with it a great spiritual gift. It is a lesson given to us at no cost. Yet we are benefiting constantly by these precious lessons. Sri Swamiji trains us in adaptability, resilience, and equanimity. All these are steps one has to climb to reach the
spiritual goal.

Sri Swamiji by His example shows us what our attitude should be towards the body. The body is precious. It is a temple. It should be kept clean and fit. It should be kept healthy. It is a vehicle that takes us places. It is an instrument that helps us see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. It has a mind that can think. Our responsibility does not end with keeping the physical body clean and fit. Our mind also should be kept clean and fit. The sense organs have to be under the control of the mind, and not vice verse. Discretion should be constantly exercised to maintain this level of control by the mind over the senses.

Sri Swamiji teaches and propagates Kriya Yoga which helps us to become good drivers of this body/mind vehicle. That is what Patanjali Yoga sutras aim to achieve.

Sri Swamiji teaches us Karma Yoga. Just watch him. How he travels. How patiently he listens to our troubles, either expressed in his presence, or silently from anywhere in the world. How readily he helps. How eagerly he searches for good souls. How clean and perfect he maintains his body and mind. How rigorous his discipline is. How selfless his attitude is. How wise and compassionate his words and actions are. Look at his enthusiasm. His jovial nature. He never complains. His simple lifestyle. His humility. His love for God and His creation. His freedom from demands of the senses. His intense love and reverence to his mother and guru Sri Jayalakshmi Mata. It is a wonder. Yet he is in a human body, just like us. We should at least try to be like him. We should treat our parents with love and reverence. We should place implicit faith in our Guru as He did, and obey without question or whimper.

Sri Swamiji teaches all of us by simply being what he is. He is simply doing his duty. He is following his Guru, Mother Jayalakshmi’s instructions. He is a model disciple. He is setting us an example of how to follow the master.

He is showing that we can be like that, if we just put in the necessary effort. We do not need to perform miracles. Can we at least try to speak and behave like him at the human level? How free from desires he is! How unperturbed he is in difficult situations. How kind and forgiving he is! His presence itself is highly inspirational.

In the worldly sense, what are Sri Swamiji’s activities?

He builds temples, places of worship. He encourages devotion and discipline in worship. He encourages and promotes everything that is beautiful. All the different art forms, music, dance, handicrafts, gardening, horticulture, bonsai, drama, humor, charity, cleanliness, respect for trees, animals, reptiles, everything in creation. He hugs rocks, trees, snakes, and anyone and everyone that does anything good. He is full of love.

He shows his love for the arts by building the Nada Mantapam. He shows his love for plants by having the most beautiful garden at the ashram. He builds Birthday Stupas so that every single person in the world is blessed. One thing that every individual in the world has in common is a birthday. He has energized each pillar for each day of the year to bestow blessings on each and every person that is ever born on earth. How much more universal can love be!

For the souls that have died an unnatural death and are in agony, he has built the Akala Mrityu Stupa, to deliver them from their captivity and to set them free.

To free the beings who are prisoners to their addictions, he has built the moolikeswara stupa to rid them of their addictions. He has built the 85 foot Hanuman in Trinidad to protect the world. He has built the Dharma Dhwaja in the Mysore Ashram to explain simply and beautifully the basic of Universal Dharma, the principles of eternal and universal Truth and Righteousness.

To protect and preserve the Vedas, which are revelations of truth from celestial seers, including secrets about Creation itself, Sri Swamiji has built Veda pathasalas or schools for instruction in the Vedas, for all four Vedas.

To protect the environment of not only the earth, but layers high above, Sri Swamiji regularly performs homas, mixing with powerful potency the elements of fire, sound, smoke, and herbs. He performs the Sri Chakra Puja everyday for universal welfare.

To remove religious misunderstandings and misconceptions and to broaden our view, Sri Swamiji constantly engages people of different faiths in a friendly dialogue to resolve conflicts. Not only the different sects of Hinduism, but Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jews, and others all feel welcome at Sri Swamiji’s ashram. He loves them all, and worships with them all, recognizing that in truth all are worshipping the one same God although they may use different names and forms to describe Him.

Sri Swamiji wants to share his understanding and his reality with us that God is formless, nameless, all pervading, all powerful, and all knowing. His mission is to make us one with Him so that we share with him his universal and unconditional love. Sri Swamiji’s mission is to make us experience that the one becomes the many; that he himself is everything that is, including everyone of us, and everything that exists. It is his play. His leela. His entertainment. He is the ocean that also becomes the waves that rise and fall, in different heights, colors, and sizes. He is the invisible all. He becomes the visible universe of which we all are a part.

We are extremely fortunate that we have come to Sri Swamiji. If we allow him to help us, he will. The less we resist change and simply follow his instruction, the less will be our pain. We face difficulties in following the master, only when we doubt, only when we are lazy, only when we begin to outguess him, or we try to outreason him, and attempt to justify our own logic.

Sri Swamiji’s mission is make us be centered in God, as He is, to be unattached to the transient worldly joys, and to be constantly focused on the enduring, eternal supreme consciousness. His work is to gather all his relatives back into Himself, to make us merge in Him, not to lose ourselves, but to raise ourselves to be Him in His eternal divinity, supreme bliss, and heightened consciousness.

Sri Guru Datta

Sri Bhuyuta Sri Hari Cihnitabhyam
Agastya Rekhadhibhi Rancitabhyam
Nigudha Bijaksara Mudritabhyam
Namo Namaha Sadguru Padukabhyam

Wish you all a Very Happy Guru Purnima day!

Celebrate the day with prayers to your Guru for all the guidance, knowledge and best wishes!!!

Om Sri Gurubhyonamaha!

Jaya Guru Datta

Visited Meenakshi temple, had holy bath in Dandakoti Kshetra.

You can see the view of the holy bath in the photo.

Remembered you a lot. Going back to Mysore today.

- Appaji

Happy Father’s Day

My Blessings to All Children

-Appaji

NADA YOGA RAGA SAGARA

Music for Meditation & Healing Concert

At

Sri Ramachandra Hospital Grounds

Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai – 600 041

Watch Live on Samskar TV
on
27 . Feb . 2010

From 6:55PM to 9:05 PM (India Time)

Om Jai Datta!

Wish you all a very happy Maha Shivaratri!

Mahashivaratri (the great night of Shiva) falls on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight of Phalguna (February- March), and is dedicated to the worship of Lord Shiva.

This festival is purely religious in nature and universally observed by all Hindus. On this day devotees sing bhajans in honor of Shiva, recite Sanskrit shlokas (verses) from scriptures, offer prayers in the morning and evening, and some observe fasting throughout the day. People visit nearby temples of Shiva and offer prayers in large crowds. The prayers and worship continue late into the night when the devotees offer coconut, Bilva leaves, fruits, and specially prepared sacred food to Shiva and his divine consort Parvati. Offering Bilva leaves to Shiva on Shivaratri is considered very auspicious by his devotees.

The origin of Shivaratri is attributed to several stories in Hindu mythology. One very popular story traces the origin of this festival to the churning of the Ocean of Milk by devas (gods) and asuras (demons). It is said that when both gods and demons were churning the Ocean of Milk to obtain amrita (water of immortal life), they came across many unusual substances, including the deadly poison Kalakuta. As soon as they touched the poison, it exploded into poisonous fumes that threatened to envelope the entire universe by darkness. When the destruction of the universe seemed inevitable, the gods ran for assistance from Brahma and Vishnu, but neither was able to help. At last they ran to Lord Shiva, who raised his trident and condensed the fumes. In order to save the creation, Shiva swallowed the poison without spilling a single drop. The poison left a dark blue mark on Shiva’s throat.

The gods praised and worshipped Shiva for saving the universe.

Learn more at:  http://www.hindukids.org/festivals/mahashivaratri_mm/index.html

Through music, mind gets nourishment, inspiration, enthusiasm & power to sore high into the realms of the Divine.

Bhishma Ekadashi blessings to you and your family.

-Swamiji

Ratha Saptami Celebrations at Mysore Ashram.

22nd Jan 2010

Sapta satpa vahaprita, saptaloka pradipana
Saptami sahito deva! Grihanarghyam divakara!

-Swamiji