Shakti Reverence

No matter how much you worship Mother Shakti, you will not benefit if you take your wives for granted. It is because of their shakti that their husbands are successful. Today we think marriage is a business partnership. Without that Shakti energy, men are nothing. Some of you think to yourselves, ‘But I have an unmarried friend who prospers’. Yes, because he takes care of his mother. When you were born your mother gave you shakti energy. When you are married your wife takes over. When you are old your daughter-in-law takes over.

You can pray to Shakti or Gayathri for twenty years, but if you raise your hand to your mother or your wife, all your praying will be worthless. As from today, the third day of Navarathri, let's look after our wives. Until you share your future plans with your mother or wife, they will not bear fruit. Even praying to Shakti in the temple is worthless if you don't revere you mother or wife at home. We don't have to be perfect but we must do things correctly. Ashok cleaned the temple yesterday because we're having visitors. Cleanliness is next to godliness. We should be able to eat off these floors.

Soon we're going to have the ladies doing the abishegam. I just need some ladies to volunteer. You'll be the only ladies in the world to do this. No other temple allows ladies to do abishegam. You need to take ownership. I need six ladies.

Sometimes you get angry that I shout and scream at you. It’s because of my blood pressure and things aren't how they should be. I'm an engineer. We didn't put the stop on the chariot. If it doesn't fit we're going to be running all over on Saturday during the procession.

So, I went to Parangapatti Babaji’s birthplace. I got something from there and those of you who get a dot, if you’re staying here tonight for initiation I hope that, like me, you don't sleep.

Gossip and Commitment

You know, success in anything is determined by the power behind what needs to be attained. When I travel alone I have lots of time to think and many thoughts have come to me during my travels. Lately, I have been thinking about absenting myself from Friday service and Pournami pooja. There are many reasons for this, two of which I will explain now.

Firstly, gossip is rife here. I knew what was being discussed in Cowies Hill last week. That, for me, is disastrous. When two people are talking and somebody secretly texts somebody else, and that text comes to me by error – believe me, it's no error. None of you know me beyond the physical body. That is what helps you all – not this physical body. Gossip is like rust in a car and it will spread and destroy the car. So, this is my first problem: that we are still gossiping. We must either take the gossip route and stay out of the temple; or take the divine route and stay in the temple. This is very important.

My second reason is the youth. They have become like their parents: full of excuses. They have too much homework, therefore they can't do this or that at the ashram. But they will be at a family function or a friend's party. Priority is not being given to the spiritual journey and to God. And that means that I have failed in my duty with all of you. There's no exceptions here. I have failed in my duty to lead you, and to take you to another level. And the only reason I've failed is because I am too good to you.

I need to concentrate all my energy in a place called Batticaolo. What I've been telling you for some time has come true now. There are two places: one is called Viyonia and the other Batticcalao. I'm giving you a taste of not having me here for a long time. Until I have commitment from everybody, I won't be in service. When you give me the commitment that this centre will be run like an ashram – that is, everybody – I will come back. I just went away for ten days and you failed miserably in many of the things that needed to be done. Ten days - imagine if it was six months. You didn't only fail me, you failed my Master. And that to me is the biggest burden in failing me. If you failed my Master it means that I failed him too. So, there it is. Because I'm going to Joburg now, I had to tell you this and you need to know this. As of now, on Fridays, until I can get one hundred percent commitment – no deviation – I'll start coming back. I'll just sit in my room. I'll tell you one thing, if I switch off, I switch off. Just ten days ... and the gossip – and the youth not following. The twins never did their ashram homework. Their excuse is that they have school work to do. I think for me excuses are signs of failure. I have never found an excuse in my life not to do something. I've always found a reason to do it. And here we have them full of excuses. Then you'll tell me you're writing exams. The journey is not like that.

When I'm finished with you you should know the Bhagavad Gita but I can't do that because you don't have interest. You should know Patanjali's Yoga Sutra but you are lazy. You sit in front of the TV and watch all those rubbish programmes, and your mind becomes like the programmes: rubbish. You need to take a cue now because I'll be leaving just now, and from there you tell me what you want. I have been really disturbed in these ten days. Very disturbed. Some of the things I heard from Sri Lankan devotees about Verulam, about the ashram – I almost fell on my back. In that time that you gossip, rather do japa. In that time of texting all those people, do japa. You'll be closer to God.

When I went to Batticalo, somebody told me something; I went to Thumbleville two girls told me something else. I couldn't deny it because it happened here. You know one girl said to me: “Swamiji, I don't know how the South African devotees look at you because I have been told in contact over this texting and facebook that you can be a very miserable man.” I am hard, but not miserable. I have never been miserable to anybody. I'll tell you what kind of a man I am. I was driving from Durban the other day, somewhere at the Phoenix turn-off, when I had a strong feeling to call Avesha so I phoned Ashveer. Nobody answered but he phoned me back and I asked how everyone was doing. He said that everything was fine but Avesha had a car accident – and he gave me all the details. I was really tired, but I went and saw her and made sure she was okay. That's how miserable I am. How can I be a miserable individual, tell me? I don't want to tell you all the other stories because you will fall off your chairs, I promise you. I insult you in front of everybody. That is my way of teaching – to reduce your egos. That is how you learn. If I take you over there and insult you, you won't learn anything. That is something I won't change. Please, just give me your commitment. Carry on with your service. If I can get the commitment from every one of you that you'll take this ashram to the next level then I'll come back.

So, I'm always tired. This is not true. Did I ever complain to any one of you that I'm tired, or do I sit here until midnight with you. Maybe I said I was tired once or twice when I've just come back from India on a Friday evening – so you decide what you want.

Karma

So we have karma and we all get entangled in it. What is it and why can't we overcome it? When I was growing up there was an advert for Peter Styvesant cigarettes. It said ‘after action satisfaction’. It’s the same with karma, but the satisfaction belongs to others. We create barriers and become rude to others who want to use our property. Karma comes from ‘kar’, meaning ‘action’.

You have bad and good karma, like cholesterol. You can have good bad cholesterol, and bad good cholesterol. We don't know how to do a good deed anymore. We are very judgemental. This is karmic. The Hindu custom has many practices that result in bad karma, and we get caught because we believe they are correct. We do them over and over again. If we had two karma cards, one good and one bad, our bad card would have more credits.

Today we had a prediction of 10.10.2010. In five year's time this ashram might be under water because we have created negativity for ourselves. Today Babaji selected those who are going to take the teachings from here.

We only know what satisfies us personally. We don’t want to know what satisfies others. There might be two bread rolls left in a dish, and three other people in the queue beside yourself, but you'll take the last two rolls. There's a teaching that you should not take a second helping until everyone has eaten. Being rude to your seniors or elders is karmic, but we think we can tell the teacher what we want because our father is paying fees. Kriyamanakarma is immediate karma. For example, if all the teachers went on strike, when they went back to school, they might find that the students are on strike. It’s a vicious circle. That is why the youth movement has been started here at the ashram, so they don't get caught in your karmic actions. We’ve become delinquent parents. We have no control. You bring your children here and we sort them out. Everything you do, say or think is karmic. Once a month we have a spiritual darling's picture up on the wall. For example, Premananda won't go on the wall this month because he didn't listen. He didn't follow an instruction. He asked me if he must give the dogs food before he left. I said yes, but he didn't do it. We will apply kriyamanakarma here.

Clinton is also very strict. Again even this youth growth is dependent on your, the parents, actions. There are too many excuses to not bring your children. One couple left us but they told some devotees they left because the temple separated their family. Don't blame the temple for your faults. Anyone who uses one vulgar word towards their guru, swami, pandit, master, whatever, will bleed from the mouth before death. This is not a curse. The Book of Manu teaches this.

I'm asking you to give them time, let them come. The youth movement is putting together a magazine called Akhanda Sadhana (continuous devotion) and they can only succeed if you give them your guidance, encouragement and support. We have people from the same family who are divine and well-mannered, and others who are bad mannered and rude. This is the fault of the parents. Failing in your duty as a parent is karmic. Your children should learn the scriptures from a young age. We need to make that change.

You know Raja? As soon as Melissa plays ‘waka-waka’ on the cellphone he stars dancing, wiggling his bum. In six months time his parents are going to be in trouble. When you look at Shanti and Tarryn, they are reading and reciting with the other children, even though it’s not their language. But they do it. Clinton is a good teacher. Clinton, myself and Ashok could go to India, and Ashveer could easily take over the temple prayers while we’re away. Tarryn, Nirvana and Karl could perform a complete Babaji prayer. They were praying here at two o’clock this morning.

I'm sure if I come to your house and visit your children’s bedrooms there will be posters of Shakira and Michael Jackson on the walls. When I first went to Pingala's room that's all I saw. Now she only has my picture. I'm worried now, because Warren wears a t-shirt with the words ‘Shankarananda Rocks’; and Desika buys me a t-shirt with the words ‘hunkarananda’ on the back. Then Melissa, my daughter, calls me ‘the undertaker’ when I'm angry. You’re all laughing at your own errors. So let us get our children in order. Let us not have any karma.

Navarathri

These are the colours required for Navarathri Saris: there must be three red for durga, three yellow for Luxmi, ad three white for Saraswathi. All this smoke is from the synthetic clothes we wear. If we had cotton saris we wouldn't have this problem. We shouldn’t be wearing unnatural fabrics.

By tenth day of Navarathri we should be pure in thought. The reason for the flag is for us. We are saying that from this moment we going to conquer and destroy our negative aspects. On the tenth day we’re supposed to take the flag down, but here we don't because I know you will all go back to being negative. You should come here every day, pure in thought, for the nine days.

We have destruction in our lives. God created natural disasters. Humans in South Africa have created a natural disaster. We are not thinking of God the way we should be. If every muscle, every nadi, vibrated in God, we would never have to worry. My doctor told me that I'm a walking time-bomb and gave me a long shopping list of medication. I'm ready to go when the Mother wants to take me, be it in five years or in fifteen. No, not twenty-two years. That's too long. We can call God whatever we want. Shiva means ‘light from here to there’. Gayathri means ‘light from the sun’. If you don't have love and devotion for God in your rituals, you are wasting your time and your camphor.

One day a worker decided to move his desk from his office to the passage. His associates thought he was losing it. Then he moved his desk to just outside the restroom. And, finally, he moved his desk to the restroom by the toilets. Eventually, someone had the courage to ask him why he had done that. His answer was that the loo was the only place where people actually knew what they are doing. Like that, you must know what you are doing when you pray.

The Bhagavad Gita teaches that we must have evenness of mind. We must come to the ashram in that state. We can offer even a twig with devotion and God will accept it. Are we prepared to give a twig? No. What will other people say? There are two words that Brother Haridas used to use: Atma Sudideni - purity of the soul, the atma, the self. Do not want what others have. Be happy with what you have. We do this navarathri pooja so that, by the tenth day we will all have one single thought: ‘I love God and God alone, unconditionally and universally’.