Jai Guru Datta

Let us all welcome Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji with a round of applause. I have been welcoming Sri Swamiji for more than 25 years and every time I try to wire up, I realize that it is the most difficult thing to describe, define, elaborate, and understand Sri Swamiji. It is even more difficult to understand Sri Swamiji as Sadguru. He is described as the embodiment of Panchabhutas; thereby it is impossible to comprehend, grasp and perceive his Holiness. In fact, he represents the speed of the wind, the heat of the fire, the force of the water, the strength of the earth, and the limitless horizon of ether.

1. WHO IS SRI GANAPATHY SACHCHIDANANDA SWAMIJI?

As one of the rare living Avataras, Sri Swamiji is the Pontiff of Avadhuta Datta Peetham at Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Ashram in Mysore, India. He is renowned for His Healing and Meditation music and is considered a divine guide who cultivates ancient Vedic traditions. He was born fully realized in command of the eight Mahasiddhis (supreme powers) and is a Guru in the Dattatreya Avadhuta lineage. Sri Swamiji honors all religions and teaches that it is possible to reach God by many paths.

Who is Sri Swamiji?

Some of His devotees describe Him as a teacher, Guru, Sadguru, Parama Guru, guide, musician, composer, Ashta Sidhi, Yogi, a man of miracles, healer, doctor, yoga man, magician, spiritual leader and simply say Swamiji; others say he follows the Vedic way. Still, others say He is a friend or family member; each person has his way of looking at Him. Everybody has his/her way of describing Him depending on their association and experience.

His Holiness Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji of Mysore, one of the greatest spiritual leaders of the present day is an asset to India and the world at large. He is an incarnation of the Great Cosmic Power. The revival of culture, reformation of society and establishment of peace and happiness among mankind, and transformation of them into godly men is His mission. His methods include: establishing Dharma and Bhakti, singing devotional hymns, reciting the names of the Lord Almighty, guiding their devotees to cross the troubled waters in life, teaching love and compassion, inculcating devotion into the masses and instilling into their love of God through chorus singing of Bhajans and listening to his meditation and healing music.

Sri Swamiji travels all over the world to help seekers discover that everything is God. In Him, devotees find compassion, love, and divine wisdom as He guides them on the path of Yoga sadhana – to discover and realize their true Self. Sri Swamiji conveys an important part of His message through His music, being noted for His Namasankeertan. Sri Swamiji's music is devotional and used for spiritual energy transmission. This great master sings self-composed Bhajans in Sanskrit, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, and English and plays Ayurvedic healing ragas on an electronic synthesizer, accompanied by musicians on classical Indian instruments. Devotees around the world claim to have received immense benefits through His concerts, everything from physical healing to spiritual guidance, and great outpourings of divine love.

Who is this rare and extraordinary Avatara and how do you describe Him? Amazing are His ways, wondrous are His deeds, scintillating are His eyes, enchanting is His smile, gripping is His voice, soothing is His music, unfailing are His words, unpredictable is His behavior, peaceful is His presence, stupendous are His lectures, amusing are His examples, hilarious are His imitations, touching is His compassion, astounding is His depth of knowledge, remarkable are His powers, mesmerizing are His gestures, incredible is His Vak Shuddhi, startling are His predictions, comforting is His counsel, incredible is His guidance, majestic is His demeanor, the royal is His walk, ever-flowing is His grace, innumerable are His blessings, mindboggling is His recall of the events, unfailing is His Sankalpa, unimaginable is His globe-trotting, and impossible to comprehend His Avatar.

Who is Guru?

(Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.20.17)

“The guru must be considered to be like the Supreme Lord Himself because he bestows the light of transcendental knowledge upon his disciples. Consequently, for one who maintains the material conception that the guru is an ordinary human being, everything is frustrating. His attempts to make progress in the spiritual life - his Vedic studies and scriptural knowledge, his penances and austerities, and his worship of the deity - are all as useless as the bathing of an elephant who rolls in the mud after his bath.”

A true guru exhibits certain necessary inherent qualities that are a reflection of the fact that he is pre-sensing the Divine in his own life. Again, the Bhagavad Gita gives us several lists of these important transcendental qualities of the true guru, or the liberated sage, including the following important characteristics:

“The Blessed Lord said: Fearlessness, purification of one's existence, cultivation of spiritual knowledge, charity, self-control, the performance of sacrifice, the study of the Vedas, austerity, and simplicity; nonviolence, truthfulness, freedom from anger; renunciation, tranquility, aversion to faultfinding, compassion and freedom from covetousness; gentleness, modesty, and steady determination; vigor, forgiveness, fortitude, cleanliness, freedom from envy and the passion for honor--these transcendental qualities, O son of Bharata, belong to godly men endowed with divine nature.” (Bhagavad Gita 2:56)

According to Hindu tradition, a guru is a remover of darkness, an enlightened master, a perfect being who appears among people, out of unconditional love, to help them return to their source. He is like a bodhisattva, who sets aside his own priorities for the welfare of the world. Those who come into contact with an enlightened master are deemed ripe for salvation because he gives them a unique opportunity to hasten their liberation partly through their efforts and partly through his blessings.

The Hindu ethical system insists that gurus should be treated with the utmost respect, after parents.

A guru’s word is inviolable, unquestionable, uncontested, and unchallengeable. He is the doorkeeper of the secret knowledge, which is hidden in the scriptures. In fact, he is the essence of all the scriptures.  He has the right to choose his students and initiate them into transcendental knowledge according to his discretion. No one can benefit from his teachings without paying him their dues (guru dakshina).

Paying respects to a guru, touching the feet of a guru, serving the guru and taking care of his personal needs, praising and appreciating a guru, seeking the blessings of a guru, and remembering and meditating on the name of a guru is part of Hindu spiritual tradition. Many people question the idea of respecting, appreciating and praising, etc. That means we feel that we are greater than the Gurtu we come into contact with. Our ego prevents us from accepting others' talents, knowledge, and their status. Our ego is our enemy. It prevents us from accepting one as a Guru, prevents us from recognizing the divinity in them, and prevents us from having trust and faith in them.

  Some guru traditions hold that their gurus have the power to wash away sins, neutralize past karma, pass on spiritual energy to chosen disciples, or grant them liberation. Meditating upon a guru's name or guru's image is encouraged in many traditions to seek the guru's blessings.

Why Guru?

Later in the seventieth century C.E., Sant Ramadasa states in his treatise, Dasabodha, that without the guru, real knowledge cannot be attained. Furthermore, the Self cannot be realized through science and its mental and physical powers, or through meditation, devotion, and worship without the grace of the guru. Ramadasa reiterates that even Rama and Krishna and all other Sages and Saints of by-gone times were devoted unconditionally to the service of their Spiritual Master (Mlecko 1982:48). In fact, Ramadasa’s love and admiration for the guru were so intense that he considered the guru greater than God:

He who regards God as superior to the Guru is a fool…Before the greatness of the Guru, the greatness of God is as nothing…God is made God by men by the power of Mantras, but the Guru cannot be made even by God. The power of God is the power of illusion; the power of the Guru carries everything. Dasaboda V, 3, 40-46.

Swami Muktananda:

The Guru is a great and miraculous deity. Don't think that a realized Guru is an ordinary person and abandon him; you will understand his greatness only when his full grace descends on you. The Guru elevates his disciples to a high level, shows them their own true nature, merges them with Shiva, and makes them Shiva. The Guru has the uncommon power to transform man completely. He bestows a new life in which there is no old age and no sorrow. He makes us attain perfection in this very world. Just as an owl cannot see by day nor a crow at night, without the grace of a Guru man does not see the world as heaven, but only as sorrow and suffering.

The Guru should be one who has fully realized the mantra and can charge it with conscious force; he should be a master of Shaktipat, possessing great spiritual power. He may be a householder or a renunciant, but he must be able to transmit Shakti. God's power of divine grace should dwell in him completely.

That  Sadguru is identical to Shiva. That Guru is Shiva, that Guru is Shakti, that Guru is Ganapati, that Guru is your father and mother. He is a descendant of the line of Guruhood that began with Shiva, the primordial Guru. He is worthy of being worshiped by all. He makes the light blaze in the body of his disciple, gives him his blessing and grace, and then remains immersed in his own sport. Through the favor of the Guru, a man takes on the form of God and lives drunk with ecstasy. Such a Guru is great and exalted; he cannot be understood by the ordinary intellect.

How does Guru help?

This is an example of how a Guru can help. He will come and rescue a devotee in an unexpected way. Swami Gnanananda tells a story of how a Guru protects his disciple. He says, suppose you are following a road, going straight ahead beside a river. Suddenly you find yourself face to face with a sheer cliff. No way out. On either side the road is blocked. There is nothing for it but to start climbing. But the cliff is so steep that you are unable to do this. You try and try, but every time you fall back. Then you shout and call for help: appa, amma, appa, amma, Daddy, Mummy! just like children do. That is bhakti the way of devotion when you call upon the Lord who can do everything. Then, while you are crying out and bemoaning your fate, you suddenly realize that something has brushed past you. You look round. It is a rope, which has been let down to you from the top of the cliff.

There is someone up above you, someone who has already reached the top. He is holding one end of the rope. He shouts down: "Hang on to it, hold tight!" He is the guru. All you have to do is take a good grip and, whatever happens, do not let go -sraddha, faith... But the guru must have sturdy arms and a strong back, or else the disciple's weight will drag him down, and both will come a cropper,' he added with a smile.

In his book, Guru Tattva, Swami Sivananda declares, Mere study of books cannot make one a Guru. One who has studied the Vedas, Upanishads, Mahabharata, Ramayana, and other scriptures and who has direct knowledge of Atman through his own experience can only be called a Guru. A Jivanmukta or a liberated sage is the real Guru or spiritual preceptor. He is the Satguru. He is identical to Brahman or the Supreme Self. He is a Knower of Brahman.”

He also states, “Possession of Siddhis is not the test to declare the greatness of a sage or to prove he has attained Self-realisation. Satgurus do not exhibit any miracles or Siddhis. Sometimes they may exhibit them in order to convince the aspirants of the existence of super physical things, give them encouragement, and instill faith in their hearts. A Satguru is endowed with countless Siddhis. He possesses all divine Aisvarya, all the wealth of the Lord.

The Satguru is Brahman Himself. He is an ocean of bliss, knowledge and mercy. He is the captain of your soul. He is the fountain of joy. He removes all your troubles, sorrows, and obstacles. He shows you the right divine path. He tears your veil of ignorance. He makes you immortal and divine. He transmutes your lower, diabolical nature. He gives you the rope of knowledge and saves you when you are drowning in this ocean of Samsara. Do not consider him to be only a man. If you take him as a man, you are a beast. Worship your Guru and bow to him with reverence.”

Faith Shraddha Can Work Miracles (Faith means feeling or conviction that something is real or true) (Bhakti: feeling of strong affection, attachment, dedication, appreciation, veneration)

Faith in God is the most important in achieving self-realization. The Chandogya Upanishad further states:

‘When one serves, then one has Faith; without serving, one has no Faith; it is only when one serves that he has Faith. But service itself should be sought to be understood.’

Service means attending to and being devoted to one’s guru to attain knowledge of Brahman.

Faith is an important qualification for an aspirant on the path of spirituality. Students of all Yogas, whether of Karma, Bhakti, Raja, and Jnana, should possess this fundamental virtue. No faith, no devotion. No faith, no Jnana. The Sanskrit equivalent of faith is "Sraddha" or "Visvas. " The student should have faith in the existence of God, in the teachings of his Guru, in the Vedas, and his own self. The whole world runs on faith only.  The husband has faith in his wife. The shopkeeper has faith in his customers. The patient has faith in his doctor. The client has faith in his lawyer. 

 Even Patanjali in his Yoga Sutra lays much stress on faith. He says: "Sraddha veerya smriti samadhi prajna - purvaka itaresham-to others (this Samadhi) comes through faith, energy, memory, concentration and discrimination of the real. " (I-20. ) He has placed Sraddha (faith) in the very beginning of this Sutra. He has given prominence to this. If a man has faith, then energy, memory, etc., come by themselves. He will collect all his energies and remember the ultimate Tattva and will exert himself to realize the basic Reality. Let me repeat the words of the Gita here. "He who is full of faith obtaineth wisdom, and he also who hath mastery over his senses, and having obtained wisdom he goeth swiftly to the Supreme Peace. But the ignorant, faithless, doubting self goeth to destruction; nor this world, nor that beyond, nor happiness is there for the doubting self. " (IV, 39-40)

"Some by meditation behold the Self in the self by the Self; others by the Sankhya Yoga and others by the Yoga of action. Others are also ignorant of this having heard of it from others, worship; and these also cross beyond death, adhering to what they had heard. " (VIII, 24-25)

Dhruva had faith in the words of his mother. So, he retired into the forest, did severe Tapas, and came face to face with Lord Hari. The milk-maid had faith in the words of the Pandit who said: "Thousands have easily crossed the ocean by a single Name of God. Could you not cross this tiny stream?" and crossed the river by reciting His Name, whereas the faithless Pandit who preached about the power of the Name to the milk-maid was on the point of drowning when he himself tried to cross the river on the strength of the Name after seeing the marvelous spectacle of the girl's crossing the river by repeating RAMA NAM. Prahalada had unswerving faith in Narayana. And so he had His Grace. The fire was transmuted into ice by the Name of Hari. Mira had absolute faith in her Giridhar Gopal. And so poison was changed into nectar. Sita had unwavering faith in Rama. Even though she had an opportunity to go with Hanuman back to Ayodhya, she waited for Rama to come to take her back.

Draupathi was dragged into the royal court and was humiliated and insulted. Then Dushasana started disrobing her. Insulted she vowed never to tie her hair until she washed her hair with the blood of those who abused her. It was her faith in her husbands that they would fulfill her vow.

"Life is faith and illumination. Without faith it is lame, without illumination it is blind. We need today the creative force of faith, the faith that discerns without logic, the faith that electrifies, the faith that removes all barriers and obstacles from its path and is anxious to fill us with divine enthusiasm and to give expression to the divine in man. Be strong in faith and be complete in the light faith enkindles in the heart If the power of intellect can discern the ideals of life, the power of faith retains them and makes them active in us. The delight of life is in the constant striving for actualizing the ideal, and unless we can claim the touch of divine faith in us, we do not see the joy of a new creation, a new realization, a new life, a new dream. "

Vittobha ate the Food

Look at the perfect faith of the boy Nama Dev! His father asked him to place a dish of food before Vittobha (Lord Krishna at Pandharpur). Nama Dev placed the plate before the Murthy and asked the Deity to eat it. He wept bitterly when the Murthy kept quiet. After sometime Lord Krishna came out of the Murthy in the form of a boy and ate the food. The boy brought back the plate empty. The father asked: "Nama Dev, where is the food?" The boy replied: "My Vittobha has eaten it. " Such is the power of real faith.

Faith can work miracles. Faith can work wonders. Faith can move mountains. Faith can reach a realm where reason dare not enter. There is nothing impossible under the sun for the man of faith to accomplish. Have therefore absolute and unshakable faith in God, in the power of RAMA NAM, in the Vedas and the scriptures and in the teachings of your Guru, and, last but not the least, in your own self. This is the master key for success in life and God-realization or attainment of Divine Consciousness.

Let us all have faith in Swamiji. Faith in Him brings us close to Him and the impossible may become possible.

Let us welcome Sri Swamiji with another round of applause.