The Gayathri manthra without the first line, ‘Om Bhur Bhuva Swaha’ is actually called the Savathri Mantra. And with the ‘Om Bhur Bhuva Swaha’ added it’s the Gayathri Mantra. ‘Shankara’ is derived from the story of Lord Shiva when he was meditating in a sea shell. That’s why we use the word ‘shank’. It comes from the word ‘sank’ and means ‘shell’.
This is the last Mahanavagraha for this year and, really, if you missed this one you have a long wait for the next one. This may create problems for you in the new year. As I said to some people this morning, I have received the predictions for 2011 in my meditation and they are not looking good at all. The financial graph will be on a downward scale for the whole of 2011. That is why we need these prayers. When you find excuses not to do them, you’re digging your own grave and covering yourself. This is an important prayer. 2011 is not looking good. This will be the trend right up to 2012. By that time we hope to have a new generation, a new beginning. If we do have, we’re lucky; if we don’t we’ll have a problem. Those people who have done all these poojas and have remembered God continuously, you have a chance of a new world, a new beginning. Some of you think I sit here and do this to earn money. I do this for you. Those that were with me last night will realise that I’ve been sitting in this chair since seven o’clock last night and I didn’t sleep a wink. I was here, getting instructions and setting up the kalsas. All is done for you, so I expect you to regard this prayer as your own and really be sincere within yourself and, once you are, you’ll be able to reach God and receive what God gives. So that is why we’re doing this the way we - are and I’m giving everyone a chance. I didn’t call the children up because it won’t affect them financially. We’ll do the hawan that concludes this part, then the nine kalsas, wash the murthi, dress the murthi, do the offering then we’ll come back and do this pooja.
You know, Deepak is here at the gate, just to tell you all, when I look at you all, so many of you here, I feel inside me a sense of disappointment. I’ll tell you why. Daily, I have a maximum of four hours sleep. You can call any time. At five o’clock in the morning you’ll get me on my phone. If you call me any time in the night, even at 12 o’clock, I’ll answer. I’ll never tell you that I’m sleepy. I may say that I’m tired, but not sleepy. The maximum amount of sleep we should have is four hours. Forget that the teacher told you eight hours, that’s for them. They rest at school then they rest at home for another eight hours. Really, you must start to train your body. We have twenty-four hours. In twenty-four hours we need to do three things equally: worship God, maintain the household and do our normal duties. If you take three divided by twenty-four, it will give you eight hours. So for eight hours we should be remembering God alone. For eight hours we should be earning money, with eight hours left for sleep and family. I’ve got yogis here, real yogis. I think I have to call them spitting-bug yogis. If you are doing yoga, the maximum amount of sleep is four hours. Your basic sleep should be two hours. Just the word ‘sleep’ makes some of you sleep. That is why we are having so many health conditions. We are sleeping too much. The Bhagavad Gita tells us that he who eats too much or too little, or who sleeps too much or too little, is not a yogi - he’s a boghi. He who sleeps all the time is a roghi. The rule is to have breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, at supper like a beggar. You follow the rule eat like a king, eat like a king, eat like a king, and sleep like a king's dog, one way. You need to adjust yourselves, especially these young ones. Look at Alexei. I thought he was making Kali trance, one swing, nodding off. He’s fifteen, and already he has a sleep problem. Ashok is awake, he didn’t sleep the whole night. Oh yes, he fell off the bench. He only yawned five times. Steven is laughing. Steven saw us working and went to sleep in the van. When he realised it was uncomfortable, he rushed his wife home and had a nice sleep.
Vanakam everyone. That brings us to the conclusion of the mahanavagraha pooja and the Shankara pooja. One thing I can tell you, when you go home you’re not going to sleep. When you go now, except for some people from Ottawa, you’re going to be wide awake. I know why you’re hungry, too. You didn’t have breakfast. We’re providing you with lunch. Nothing extravagant: about four pickles, dahl, brinjal, broccoli, vegetable fried rice, panneer butter masala… why are you laughing? Because you’re hoping it’s true. We have goddess, Annapoorna, here all the time in the form of Angi, always ready to cook for you with love, devotion and divine dedication. So please partake of the meal before you go.
Tomorrow we’re going to Ladysmith for sacred mantra chants. I don’t know how many of you are coming with us. We’re going in a group. We'll have a fun day, chant mantras, dance and sing. So if you want to come with us and enjoy being merry before Christmas, please join us. But let me know so that we can make sure we either leave at the same time or meet at a certain point.
You can go anywhere, to any temple, they won’t give you the opportunity of washing the murthis the way we do. They believe that only the priest is allowed to wash the murthi, and only married people. Sometimes they go further and say only married men can perform the ritual. At the Gayathri Peedam, we don’t have those rules. If you have divinity within you, if you love God and are here sincerely with devotion and dedication then you can do it. We have three or four females doing the abishegam at the temple here for Babaji, for the Shiva Lingam, for the Mother’s shrine, and for this shrine; and they are all fine. Nothing happened to them yet and Shiva didn’t marry them yet. That’s the story. If you are female and you wash the lingam, then you are married to Shiva; and Shiva grabs you. He’s a funny god, that one, if he does that. There’s no such thing. If you are destined to get married, if your karma is such that pain is part of it, then you’ll get married; really. And if your karma is such that you shouldn’t have that kind of pain then you won’t get married. And some of us get married, and then we get unmarried after a couple of years. Why? Because we can’t handle the pain. There’s no rule in any book that teaches ladies cannot wash the lingam. Some of the greatest saints in India were female. Aveya and Mira were female. They were great and their devotion to their worship was greater than that of males. So don’t let people tell you stories – all those who washed the lingam last night between eleven and midnight, you are the fortunate ones. Most of them were female. And they were here early this morning. They were nicely energised when they got home. If you washed and your husband didn’t wash, then you fall off to sleep in the prayer.
So enjoy the meal, thank you very much for being part of this prayer. It means more to you than to me. It means more to me that you did it. Those who missed it - you missed out a big portion of 2010. As it comes you’ll see why I’m saying this; and as you progress you’ll see why I said this. God bless you . Enjoy your meal. Vanakam, Hari Om. Namaskar.
