May 2015  

June 2015

This Month Features :

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 Importance of Yoga  in day-to-day life

Discourse Delivered on July 29th 2003

Embodiments of Love, Embodiments of Divinity,

This day this is not in reality a discourse, it is more of talking what you want, and me talking what I want, and sharing what we all like. Let us discuss the importance and need of Yoga in our daily life. What is Yoga? It looks very hard but it is very simple. It looks harder than a diamond, but it is very easy. Do you know why? You can use a diamond to cut another diamond. So to understand Yoga, you should use the intellect and discrimination, which you have got by the blessings and grace of Guru, who has already mastered the art. 

In Shiridi Sai Charitra it has been mentioned, that once when Shiridi Sai was lying down, a deputy collector was sitting by his feet and massaging his feet. There are many of you who do parayana of Sai charitra, so you know who this person was, can you tell who he was? When his daughter was bearing labor pains, Sai Baba sends Vibhuti for her. Nana Chandolkar. While he was massaging his feet, he started reciting a shloka from Bhagwad Gita. You know which shloka too.  It said  “pari prashnena  sevaiya …” Baba asked him, as to what he was murmuring. He replied that he was reciting a sloka from Bhagwad Gita. Then Baba said, let me also hear it. Nana said, “Baba it is in Sanskrit so you wouldn’t understand it.” Then Baba said, first recite it then you can explain it to me. So Nana recited it and gave the meaning, he said that a disciple should go to Guru, and ask him questions and then get the knowledge. Then Baba said, why did Lord Krishna use pari prasna and prasna, what is the difference. Then Nana said, Baba, prasna and pari prasna are the same, there is no difference. Then Baba asked, does this mean that Vyasa just used it as a prefix to the word prasna, without adding any meaning to it. Nana said that he didn’t really know the answer to that. Then Baba explained the meaning of pari prasna, what it means is that the disciple should approach the Guru with all humility, complete surrender and devotion and ask him questions to know the real truth, and get the real knowledge, and not ask questions with intention of mocking the Guru, or show him down in front of others, or for testing the guru. Then Nana said, Baba you know the meaning of Sanskrit slokas so well. Then Baba said, one who really preached Bhagwad Gita, if he doesn’t know the meaning who else will know. In other words Baba told him, that during the Mahabharata war, it was he who had preached the Gita. Due to arrogance and ignorance, we assume that the Guru does not know everything. If we completely surrender to Guru and patiently bear his divine plays, he will really teach us the real truth. Why I am saying this is that there is no Yogiswara or Yogeswara greater than Sai Natha.  Shiridi Sai is actually an embodiment of Yoga. There is difference between Yogiswara and Yogeswara.  Then Shiridi Sai Natha also gave viswa roopa sandarshanaa, just as Lord Krishna had done for Arjuna.  It means Shiridi Sai Natha and Krishna are not different. Shiridi Sai Natha and Datta are not different. Shiridi Sai Natha is the manifestation of the union of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva; he is also Krishna. The proof of Yoga and embodiment of Yoga is Lord Krishna. He is also Datta.  There is one sloka in Bhagwad Gita, by reciting which you get the merit of reciting the whole Gita. It is also  called Eka sloki Gita .

Yatra yogeswara Krishno, Yatra Partho dhanurdhara

Tatra sri vijayo bhutir, dhruva nitir matir mama

 Where Lord of Yoga, Sri Krishna is ready to give orders, and where Arjuna is there ready to execute that order, with Bow and arrow in hand, there victory is  certain.

If you understand this, then you will understand  Yoga.

After listening to the whole of Gita, he didn’t understand what to follow. So he asked Lord Krishna, as to which path he should follow to reach him. He laughed, and said, you follow any path you like, but Arjuna, you should become a Yogi, “Yogivi ka”.  Understand the meaning of this and keep  it in your heart firmly. You don’t really need a long lecture to understand Yoga. The essence is enough. For example, if you get a long sugar cane stick, and start chewing on it, your tongue will start bleeding. If you send it through a crushing machine, in a minute the juice will be extracted, and you can drink it easily wit a straw.  Lord Krishna said to Arjuna, “Have connection between your mind and my mind, if you have that connection you can follow any path you like.” That is the secret. What is meaning of Yoga ? It means Union. That is connecting your mind with the Guru’s mind. You will ask me, Swami, we can’t understand our own mind, how can we understand the Guru’s mind.  Before we connect our mind with Guru’s mind we should know  what is my mind ? What is Guru’s Mind ? What is Mind ? Our mind is nothing but mental vibrations. Similar to the way we record on the tape, our mind also records everything. If you read something scary, you can’t sleep, or if you see a scary scene or hear disturbing news, you will keep thinking about it that in the night, and you won’t get good sleep, till you forget about it.

Embodiments of Love,

The mind keeps wavering. Many people come to me and say, Swami please see that our mind is still. The mind can never be still, it will be still only when we die. It is natural tendency of the mind is to think. The doctors have given names to the waves in the EEG also. So the mind can never be still.

Many people want to get immense knowledge, and they want  to get knowledge of Yoga very quickly. They think they can learn it in thirty days, like learning a language or something. All they will get is that they will be become psychic patients. If it could be achieved in thirty days, why did people have to practice for years or lives together? What  can be achieved in 30 days or in a moment is wealth or property, if  you inherit it from your grandparents or parents or someone else.

Embodiments of Love,

Don’t worry that your mind is jumping around. Let the thoughts go this way and that way, but you don’t go behind the thoughts.  Kabir went to his Guru, and complained that is mind was wandering here and there. His Guru gave him a very good example. A small child is running away from his mother. She pleads and request  him to stop, and keeps going behind him. Seeing his mother behind, he starts running farther and farther away. Then she sat on the stone next to her, and  said that she couldn’t run behind him any more. The child will call out a few times. The mother doesn’t go behind him any more,  as she is tired. Then the child comes running to the mother and sits on her lap. So our mind is like a small child, and we are like the mother. The mind will keep running here and there, if you start chasing it, and if we don’t bother it will come back to us.

Many people come to me and  ask me to make their minds stable and unwavering. First if you discharge your duty as a wife, as a husband or father or mother with love and affection to your satisfaction your mind will be at peace. The primary benefit of Yoga is our mind being peaceful and strong. If everyone’s mind becomes peaceful and strong, then there is  only peace.

Embodiments of Divine Love,

We have a mind, full of thoughts. This universe also has a mind.  That is called cosmic mind or universal mind. Ours is personal mind. Scientists are also accepting this today. Guru means that which is the biggest. There is nothing bigger than the Guru. Suppose you go above the earth, you have the solar system. If you go higher up, you have the infinite universe. That is the Guru. Just as we have vibrations in our mind, the universe too has vibrations in the form of knowledge. The vibrations in the infinite universe constitute the Guru’s mind. Not only that, the vibrations in the form of knowledge existing in the minds of each and every person on the earth, are also there in form of vibrations in the universe.  Even the knowledge that has not been perceived by us is there in the universe in form of vibrations. Physical knowledge, chemical knowledge, astrological knowledge and geological knowledge are all existent in the universe. The combination of all these is spiritual knowledge, which is also the cosmic knowledge is residing in the cosmos in the form of  infinite divine vibrations of knowledge .  

Embodiments of love,

Trying to unite our mind with the universal mind is what is known as Sadhana or practice. It is like tuning your mind. What do you mean when you are in Dhyanam or meditation?  Dhyana or meditation is a continuous flow of thinking. If you think continuously about  something it is Dhyana. I am giving a discourse now. Some one here may be thinking about the dinner that is going to follow. So what dhyana is she doing , she is doing dhyana on dinner. A newly married girl will be thinking 24 hours about her husband, so she is doing dhyanam on her husband. Continuous flow of thinking, without any break at all is dhyana.

Embodiments of Love,

When we are continuously thinking about something or doing dhyana, even without our knowledge, our vibrations get tuned with the vibrations in the universal mind, and we start downloading more information from the universal mind. This is not just spirituality, in day-to-day life, even without our knowledge we are connecting our mind with the cosmic mind and we begin downloading information from the cosmos, thereby getting knowledge, and we are doing our work with that. Whether doctors perform  surgery, or engineers do something great, what is happening is that, the knowledge from the universe is entering us and we are doing something to benefit the society. Even for a poet to compose poetry,  until and unless the vibrations from his mind and the vibrations in the universal mind strike each other, he can’t  compose a poem. For example, consider the famous poet  Jandhyala papaya Sastry, known as  Karunasri. He is a poet of compassion. He was very dear to Sathya Sai Baba,  I too loved him a lot,  and he loved me more than his life. One day he was sitting in his garden, and his wife came to pluck flowers. Until then he was trying to compose poetry, he was throwing away paper after paper, but he was not able to compose a poem. When his wife was plucking flowers, some flowers fell on the ground. It suddenly struck him. Here strike means, that when we are tuning our mind, the vibrations from our mind strike the vibrations from the universal mind, and you immediately get the knowledge. So the same thing happened with Karunasri, and immediately, he could compose poem after poem about flowers, it was  a continuous flow of poetry. I like those poems lot. He couldn’t compose anything a moment ago, how did he do it so spontaneously now. That is because there was union between his mind and the universal mind. Similarly for a surgeon, the minute he is in the operation  theatre, and the doors are closed, his mind gets connected with the universal mind, and he starts performing the operation.  Till then he was doing all other activities, now he is not a husband or a father, he is just a surgeon. Same thing is true for an engineer or for that matter a cook. As soon as you go to cook, you remember how to cook. If you don’t concentrate on cooking and thinking about something else, there will be more salt or spice in the food. Why I am saying all this is that the common notion is that yoga or spirituality is only for old people, and not for young people. A kid was presented Bhagwad Gita book in the school. When he took that book home, and showed to his parents, they said “why do you need this book now?” They said that it was time to concentrate  on getting a seat in engineering or medicine, and not Bhagwad Gita. Later he became an engineer, and never bothered about them. That means what we want is an engineer who cares for, and respects his parents and elders, and not an engineer who is not cultured, or has no respects for parents or elders. People should read Bhagwad Gita,  understand the Sanaatana Dharma and follow its ideals and then become a doctor or an engineer. Everyone wants Bhogam(enjoyments), not yogam. But in reality, only because of yoga we get bhoga (enjoyments). That joy is not definable, you can’t express it, and you can only experience it.

If you can connect your mind with mind of Guru, there is only joy.  Annamayya enjoyed life with both his wives. Towards the end he experienced the joy of devotion, which much greater than what he had, he detached himself from all that he had, and he was  fully immersed in devotion to the Lord. I am not asking you to detach yourselves from anything. We need to have attachment with detachment. If you have your mind attached with the mind of Guru, then any work you do will be with detachment. Then the work you do will not bind you.  I mentioned in the beginning,  about  being ready to take orders from Lord Krishna, obeying Lord Krishna, however many people Arjuna kills, the sin of killing them does not come to him, it goes only to the Lord. When Arjuna was dejected at the thought of killing his relatives, teachers and friends, Krishna told him, that he had already killed every one of them, all Arjuna had to do was complete the formality by lifting his bow. When we see everyone standing in front of us, we may get a doubt, if Lord Krishna was crazy in saying that he has already killed everyone. Inside this physical body, there is an astral body. The causal body exists inside the physical body. This is a three in one body.  Much before that physical body falls, the astral body has to die.  So Lord Krishna says, that he has already killed the astral bodies, so all that Arjuna had to do was to shoot arrows, and drop down the physical bodies. Let me give you one more example. There was a problem somewhere, and police were given orders to Lathi charge, from the higher command. It did not control the situation, so they were asked to use tear gas. That too didn’t  work. They were asked to fire. They fired and ten people died. The people who fired will not be arrested, they will not accrue any sin either, as they are obeying orders.

Embodiments of Love,

Our Guru, who is in human form, is a person who has his mind connected with the universal mind. Since we can’t directly connect our mind with the universal mind, we have to go through proper channel. Suppose Hyderabad doordarshan relays something, and we are not directly able to receive it.  Somewhere in between, there is a repeater, and through that you can receive the signal. In a similar way, you can connect yourselves to the universal mind through the guru, by keeping connection with him. If you keep connection with such a Guru, he will  protect us like a mother, father, friend, and navigator and guide us in life. Just as a mother takes the child from ignorance to knowledge, even without the child realizing it, or a father works hard and provides all comforts to the child. The Guru gives all these together with Love. To keep connection with Guru, the Guru will give us a password, and we should always use that password. That is mantra. They say in Telugu that mantra can even cause a tamarind to fall from a tree. For a tamarind to fall from a tree stones are enough, there is really no need for a mantra. With Mantra, the tamarind in the form  of worries, can fall of from our head, in other words we can be free of sorrows by the power of mantra.

Someone asked me if it was wrong to prostrate to a Guru? I told him that by prostrating to a Guru, it is the Guru who is taking the karmic faults of others, and then he has to get rid of them in that sense, Guru is like a scavenger. That is why some of the Peethadipathis(Heads of Mutts) don’t let anyone touch them. But according to Datta tradition, Yogis incarnate to take the karmic faults of people on themselves, and transmit energy to them, thereby making them strong. The rivers  always welcome you, they never say that you should not go into them, or they will become dirty. Of what use is power that diminishes if some one touches. I pray to the omnipotent and omnipresent God, that I don’t want to be free of birth. I will take birth a thousand times, to do your work. I want to incarnate again and again to make these people strong and reform them into good persons. 

You must have heard of :

Aakashat pathitham thoyam, yatha gatchathi sagaram,

Sarva deva namaskaram, keshavam prathi gatchati.

Which means that just as water from ocean evaporates, goes up comes back in form of rain, and merges into the  river, and then merges back into the ocean, we too who have separated from God, have to become one with him again. Now is there any other goal, other than going up into the sky and merging back into the ocean. There is a purpose behind it, it is helping so many people and benefiting the society. The purpose of incarnation of yogis is also to uplift and reform the society,  and for that they take birth after birth. Someone asked me, “Swami, are you not scared of death?” I said,  I am already dead, why should I be afraid of death. He asked me how is it Swami? So I said that I have become Chiranjeevi-immortal. Then he said, how is it possible, you say you are dead, and then you say you are Chiranjeevi. What happens when you die? You don’t have relationship with your body. To divorce the body is death. A yogi   is physically detaching himself from the physical body. So even though he is alive, he is dead. Though he is dead, he is still having connection wit the all pervading cosmic energy and current, so he is eternal and Chiranjeevi. So being alive he is dead, and also is eternal or Chiranjeevi, that is a yogi. He is not feeling sad that he is dead instead he is jumping with joy. On becoming Chiranjeevi, he doesn’t have to rejoice, as he has merged himself with the cosmic energy. There is a tribe called Banjaras, they cry when a child is born and rejoice when a person dies. We wonder why they are doing that. But it is correct. They cry because that child also has to go through all the suffering they are going through.

Let me quote just one more example. When I was in Delhi for a conference on Universal Integration and Peace a lady named Indira came to me introduced herself and said that she was the General Secretary,  world women federation. She said to me, “Swami, I am a drop and you are a ocean.” I smiled and  said, “Mataji , there is no ocean without drops.” Then I asked her “Suppose the drop wants to become the ocean what is the simplest and easiest way, Mataji?”  The answer is simple and easy. The drop has to jump into the ocean and then it is not a drop any more.

We are all drops, if we want  to become the ocean we have to mix with the ocean of knowledge. That is the secret of Yoga. It is very easy; all we have to do is to keep connection with Guru.

Embodiments of Love,

Just listen to your Guru, and behave the way he likes you to, you will benefit. Wherever you are, it is enough if you have passport you can go anywhere, you might just need visa, or go through security, or check in your baggage. If you don’t have any baggage, it will be much faster. The Guru bears you and your baggage on his head, and will guide you. Any form you worship your Guru, the power in all the Gurus is the same. That is the form of the Universe.

My divine blessings to you all.

 

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Andhra Bhoomi Article, June 17th 2015

(Scroll down for translation )

Translation of Above article

INDIA GUIDES THE WORLD FOR UNIVERSAL PEACE        India has been taking steps for the establishment of Universal peace. For achieving this India has formulated a plan to bring about unity among all the nations of the world so that they can act in concert. The world is aware that India has been engaged for several thousand years in efforts to promote universal welfare. In the past, Sanatana Dharma was recognized widely all over the world. Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mayanmar, Nepal and other countries may be cited in this regard. Due to alien rule, Sanatana Dhrma had to face several ups and downs in India. Despite the conspiracies of many countries to crush Santana Dharma, it emerged with renewed vigor. It is going to thrive gloriously as in the past. All countries are now bestowing great value to Sanatana Dharma and Sanatana yoga sastra (Ancient science of Yoga). Sanatana Dharma will only strive to promote universal brotherhood and friendship and never tries to belittle or suppress other dharmas. Hence when spiritual leaders from India visit other countries, the people there evince a keen desire to know what the spiritual leaders say and to learn from them. From the time of Swami Vivekananda till now, millions of foreigners have been following the teachings of Indian spiritual leaders. To make yoga recognized by the whole world, the United Nations Organization has declared 21 June as International Yoga Day. This is but one example to show that the world is recognizing the greatness of India’s Sanatana Dharma.           Even now yogis, saints and divine personages have been exerting all their efforts with the object of ensuring the welfare of India and to raise India to the level of being a guide to the entire world. Yogis have been using all their spiritual power to make India strong and thereby establish universal peace. Long before developed countries like America and Russia became civilized, India became a guiding example in several spheres. Undoubtedly India with self effort aided by divine influence will become the leader of the world in the near future. It was Sanatana Dharma which gave to humanity the ideals of truth, righteousness, justice, morality and social peace. Sanatana Dharma can be truly regarded as a divine boon to India. Sanatana Dharma today stands as a guide post to the whole world.           The future of India as well as the future of the world rests on the youth of India. Many great persons and yogis have been trying to utilize the youth-power to see that the country progresses. I have been predicting for long that India will be transformed into a very powerful country and that the day when it will occupy the position of the spiritual leader of the world is not far off. Many countries have been looking up to India for guidance to promote universal peace. The visit of many world leaders to India for the last one year can be regarded as being a part of this process. There is no dearth of intellectuals and skilled human resources in India. The world is amazed at seeing highly competent intellectuals in the fields of medicine, engineering and such other fields in India. Developing countries like America, Britain and Russia have been utilizing for their own benefit intellectuals from India. The services of Indian intellectuals are available to all the countries.           The one biggest problem that is facing all the countries of the world is the problem of pollution. For ordinary people this problem may seem insignificant. However, the life of all humanity depends on pollution-free atmosphere. Presently we are witnessing natural calamities in various forms. Earth quakes, cyclones, tornadoes, melting down of glaciers, holes in the ozone layer in the cosmos which cause phenomenal increase in temperatures and other natural calamities cause loss of life and property. For this reason at the end of Hindu worship, the following chanting – Prithvi Santhi (Peace to Earth), Apas Santhi (Peace to Water), Agni Santhi (Peace to Fire), Vayu Santhi (Peace to Air), Akas Santhi (Peace to the Sky) invariably finds a place. The Sanatana Dharma wishes for the peace of all the five elements and through that wish for peace in the whole universe. Such a broad minded concept cannot be found in the teachings of any other religion of the world.           Every one must contribute his share towards the efforts to keep the five elements, namely, the Earth, the Water, the Fire, the Air and the Sky in a state of peace. It is the responsibility of the governments of all the nations of the world to protect the five elements. Natural calamities occur as a result of the balance between the five elements being disturbed. Recognizing this, all the nations of the world must take necessary action. Protecting the five elements does not depend on any single nation. Therefore, I have been urging for a long time that all the countries of the world must awake, become active and fight concertedly (Awake, Arise and Unite). Just as nature is composed of five elements, our body is also composed of the five elements. For this reason the body is referred to as the temple of God and the heart as His altar. Muladhara, Swadhistana, Manipura, Anahata, Visuddhi are the centers in our body for the five elements.  We have to keep this body pure and unpolluted. Loving nature, we have to lead our lives in accordance with the rules of nature. Under no circumstances we must lead lives against the rules of nature. While we keep our body, composed of five elements, clean and pure, we must also keep nature unpolluted. Keeping our minds pure and our tongue under control we must cultivate doing good deeds.            I have been trying for the last two decades to propagate among the countries of the world, the idea of the need to protect the five elements. As a part of this, I have been making a trip to America (USA). America is a small world. Intellectuals and scientists hailing from many countries including India are living in America. In other words, the government of America has been inviting all the intellectuals to USA and has been utilizing their intellectual power. This is a great task. For this reason the voice of America heard in that country has been reaching all the corners of the world. Therefore, I have been touring for five months in a year in different parts of America. As a part of the two decade long program of touring in America, I will be leaving for that country on June 18. While I am there, I will be holding discussions with the heads of governments of different states, the students of different universities, scientists and spiritual leaders. The efforts which I have been making as my contribution to promote universal peace have been yielding good results. The Prime Minister of India has given a call to make India clean, the program being called “Swachha Bharat”. Swach Bharat does not mean only cleaning roads with a broom. Taking action to protect the five elements from being polluted is the real aim of Modi. Understanding the true aim of Modi, all the people of India must act suitably and lead their lives accordingly. Everyone must keep his surroundings, village, and town clean and unpolluted in the same way as he does to keep his house clean and unpolluted. If our surroundings are clean we will all be healthy. This is the chief aim of Modi’s call for Swach Bharat. Everyone must understand this. There is no doubt whatever in saying that if everyone does his part in ensuring that the five elements are unpolluted, good results will follow. It is not enough for us to declare the Hindu Sanatana Dharma which seeks universal peace is great. It is my intense desire to make the people of other countries to recognize this. Foreigners have already begun to recognize the Sanatana Dharma and follow it.           Indians who have settled in foreign countries including America must not forget their Mother Land. They must follow the rules and observe the laws of which ever country they happen to live in, and must glorify the greatness of their mother land. They must strive to strengthen India economically. Mother and mother land must never be ignored. Those who love mother and respect mother land will get social recognition. Food, clothing, house to live in, education and medical facilities, and such other basic needs of everyone must be taken care of. In this regard all the educated, the rich and the intellectuals must extend their cooperation to the government.           There is need for all the countries in the world to ponder deeply over the following three issues – 1.Ensuring that the five elements are not polluted so as to prevent the occurrence of natural calamities; 2. Plans have to be drawn up for the prevention of terrible diseases which occur for various reasons; 3. Ensuring that the youth do not fall prey to evil ways as the country’s future largely depends on them. It has to be ensured that they do not become addicts to liquor and various other intoxicating drugs. If plans are formulated and implemented for providing adequate employment to all, problems can be avoided.                                                                                                                                                                                                       --Viswayogi Viswamjee

 

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Swamiji with Mr. Chandra Babu Naidu during the 2007 TANA Conference

Swamiji has conveyed His divine blessings to Chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu who is all set to present the progress report of his government in the past one year, during the ‘Maha Sankalpam’ programme to be held at Mangalagiri in the new capital region, on Monday. Swamiji has wished that under the leadership of Mr. Chandra Babu Naidu, Andhra Pradesh should emerge as a strong state in all apsects and be recoginsed all over the world. Swamiji added that where there is Will power there is victory and the "Maha Sankalpam is Daiva Sankalpam (the will of the Lord) and Viswa Sankalpam" and with the support of Telugu people living all over the world the new capital city of Andhra Pradesh, Amaravathi will emerge as the most beautiful and amazing city in the world. Swamiji said that it is his desire to see Andhra Pradesh as an ideal state and he conveys His blessings to everyone and especially to chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu.