Mahanavagraha Pooja

So I was asked a question: “I had a death in my family. Is it okay to do the prayer?” Yes, its okay to do the prayer because this is your appointment with God. The person who died has gone. He had his appointment already. I was saying to someone earlier this morning, there's a Tamil word called 'tithu' (tee-too). It means 'filth'. So, when the baby is born, the baby and the mother can't go to the temple because its 'tithu'. And then when the same child dies, the mother is not allowed in the temple again because it's tithu. So when you born it's filth; when you die it's filth. When were you clean? You were never clean, according to that principal. There is no such thing. If you made this appointment today with God, keep that appointment.

So, I'm going to tell a quick true story. In 1991, I had an appointment with God and my appointment with God was to carry kavady on a specific Sunday at a place called Glendale Heights in Stanger. On the Tuesday my father passed on. On the Wednesday we cremated my father. Everyone jumped on me, “You can't carry kavady, you don't know what will happen to you. Your whole family will be destroyed”. And I said to them that I still have the appointment with God. I went to Glendale Heights, carried the kavady, took the pins I was supposed to be taking, and twenty years later my family is still together. Please just believe in one thing: if you keep your appointment with God nothing will affect you.

Recently there was a death in the family of one of our devotees. I was in India – the father died – and then the son used to come to the temple for service. We said to the son that he must do the Navagraha and his mother said that the father died so they can't do it. But two weeks after the father died, the son went to the chalets with his wife to have fun. If you can go to the chalets and have fun then you should be able to come to the pooja and have fun too. So don't believe all these things. Many of us do and get into trouble. Your appointment with God must be kept, no matter what the condition. At birth that father made a date with God for his death, so why mustn't you pray? There's nothing wrong, really, nothing wrong; because when you die, when you leave this body, this body is the most useless thing there is. Even the creatures, the worms that live in you, will come out because they know it's useless; they don't want it. So if it's so useless, why are we giving it so much preference in life? The body is only the vehicle. What the vehicle carries is most important and that must be always in the purest state. Atma Sudaleni – it shouldn't be in any other state. And once it is in the purest state, it means we are not contaminating the soul with anger, violence, brutality, lust selfishness – all the faculties that affect us. And if we don't have those faculties, the spiritual university, your body, will funciton without a problem. You need to enjoy that. It is very, very important to enjoy it.

Sri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, “The best union, the best joy, the best happiness, is with Me so come to me”. He says it clearly in the Bhagavad Gita. When Krisna said that, he meant God. Don't get caught up in fanatical behaviour when you come here, and say that Krisnha is more powerful than Shiva, or Shiv is more powerful than Ram. You'll never get anywhere.

Yesterday I said that Shivabalayogi taught that Christ and Shiva are the same, They are just called different names according to our perception - and you need to enjoy this beatitude. Just as taking drugs gives you as taste of ecstasy for, maybe, one hour. Think about being drugged in his name. Your ecstasy will be continuous. And right now the easiest name to attain God is by Ram Nam, God's name. No other way. Whether you are Christian, Moslem, Hindu; a-hundred-and-one gods you've got, hold onto one and recite their name. If you can't do that, your guru's name is equal to God's name. Guru is God and God is Guru. Guruve Shivam, Shivam Guruve. And if you understand that, you won't have a day's problem. Everything will happen the way it should happen.

You know, the Gayathri miracle is unique, and we have seated here some of the miracles of Mother Gayathri. It can make the blind see, the crippled walk and the sick well. Those are Gayathri miracles. But for it to happen, you need to be one hundred percent in tune with Gayathri. Between 1993 and 1999, was the worst period in my life, when I say the worst period, I could not sleep, or take a moment's sleep because this Gayathri Mantra, Gayathri name was flooding me over and over, was drowning me. That's all I could think of. Not the family or food, only Gayathri, Gayathri, Gayathri. And in 1998, She said to me, “This is enough. This is enough. To recite or to mention the name fifteen million times is enough. Now you can do what you want in my name”. And I tried. It worked.

You know, some of you are very young here in the Gayathri Peedam. We've had Poovi here for almost sixteen years. She's come all the way from Johannesburg to do this prayer. She does it every year and why? Because she's found the glory of Gayathri. She'll tell you. Same with her husband. Found the glory and lived in the glory. They have two beautiful children all in Her name. If you believe that the way I believe, Suren believes, Shobha and others of you believe, that the Mother is the only one that will sustain you, hold onto that belief. A single unit of innate desire is all that you need. It must be boiling in you, this name of God, and you will attain. You will receive. It will happen. It has to happen. Nothing in this whole universe is possible, not even the dew on a blade of grass is possible without God's name. The dew on the blade of grass is because of Him, not because of anybody else. No scientist can give you the dew. But He's made the dew on a selected blade of grass. Only the Lord can make that possible. Hang on to that.

Today we're going to do a pooja called a Chandra Meru Pooja. You'll see just now how this will elevate you. You'll feel so good, and the power is going to be experienced by all of you. We're starting with this pooja first … the most beautiful thing in life is His name.

We're going to have Appaji here on the sixteenth. My definition of Appaji is 'God-man'. When you see him you'll understand why. Kumarasen was with me when we visited Appaji and we didn't want to leave. Speak to Kumaresan and he'll tell you what it is to be at the feet at Appaji, to eat at the ashram, sit on the floor, how Appaji just watches over everything. So speak to Kumarasen when you have the chance and he'll really tell you how he felt at Appaji's ashram - and enjoy.

The power of Yoni Mudra, Maha Mudra is very important. For you to know what we have just done – it was because of my disability in my right hand, those mudras are very difficult for me to do, so I got Karl to do the mudras for me, and in the process of doing the mudras, he's absorbed so much energy from the lingam seated on the kalsa, and therefore, without us losing any of the energy, we used a shawl over his head so we could release him from that energy lock he was going through. It is nothing frightening or dangerous, but you need to be mentally strong to go through what Karl went through. Some of you seated here would have had a severe headache. It is called 'the shift'. Some of you would have experienced your eyes burning, and some nothing happens - it's called 'no shift'. So this is the first part of the prayer. When you've finished with that, we'll just do the hawan for this prayer and then carry on with the other part of the Navagraha. If you have any mala or beads that you want blessed, just leave them here by the lingam.

Download an MP3 excerpt from this talk, Keep Your Appointment with God.

Shivabalayogi Mahasamadhi Service

Today is Shivabalayogi's mahasamadhi. Actually it's on Sunday but it's very difficult to get you all here again on Sunday. It's a problem so we do it today. So, something about Shivabalayogi: he was a great saint, a self-taught saint who spent twelve years meditating. During that time every day he took a one-hour break - so for twenty-three hours a day he was meditating. He meditated on Lord Shiva continuously. After twelve years Shiva told him to leave his meditation and start passing on his energy to everyone.

The uniqueness of Shivabalayogi was that he gave God-realisation just by meditation. He did not do any kind of ritual. He just said 'dhynam' - that means meditate. And while meditating people would have an inner feeling of great peace and bliss. 'Shiva' is lord, the inner guru, God. 'Yogi' is the outer guru, that is your physical body. Why he used 'Shivabalayogi' for his name is because you've got to have control of the outer body before you can have control of the inner self. He believed, taught and gave experiences to many just by meditation and they attained the state of unique oneness with Lord Shiva. He's not a very popular guru because most of his work was done in Spain. One of his biggest ashrams was in Spain. Sometimes he is referred to as a direct incarnation of Lord Shiva Himself. And this great guru travelled all the way to Sri Lanka with a piece of loin cloth around his waist to install a lingam at the Gayatrhi Lingeshwara temple in Nuwara Eliya. And this lingam in Sri Lanka is actually growing into the shape of Ganesha.

Shivabalayogi carried it all the way himself. That's a picture of him carrying the lingam to Nuwara Eliya to install. He came out of meditation in 1961 so he's a recent guru for some of you who were around during that time. And when you asked him a question he always gave unique answers like this one question a student asked him: “With all the Hindu pictures of Shiva, do we assume Shiva is a Hindu?” his answer was “Shiva is not Hindu. He is for all the worlds but in each world he is pictured according to their imagination. It depends on their moods and emotions.”

Another question: “In India there are a lot of gods that people can worship if you are of the Hindu faith. In the west, as Swamiji's mission goes on, is it that people in the west sfrom a Christian tradition will begin to worship Jesus more?” And he answers, “Whatever Christ taught and preached, that's exactly what Swamiji teaches and preaches. So automatically people will start believing more in Christ and will follow the path of Christ.”

That is Shivabalayogi and his answers. So we will do the pooja and the hawan now. And we'll take it from there.

CONTINUATION OF DISCOURSE AFTER THE POOJA ...

There's somebody whose travelled to India and had some experiences. Between the two of them they will decide who will tell you about India. It's good for people who come back from India to tell you how they felt, whether they will go back, or whether they love or hate India.

[Kantha gives a talk on her visit to India – not included here]

SWAMI CONTINUES ...

My divine desire is to take each of you by the hand to India. The places we go to other people don't go. It's enlightening. The kavadies are all ready for you. Everything is done so methodically and, yes, Vee was having a problem with his knee and he said to me in the bus, “Do they have a cable car?”I said “Yes,” and he said “I'll take the cable car”. And when we got there he just followed Kantha and the music, and he didn't know how he had reached the top. He had no pain and walked all the way back and couldn't believe that he went up there. This is the divine power that you can get in India, and Palani is very unique because there's a swami there who is three hundred years old. He describes how the temple was being built and knows every detail about the Palani temple. We can barely see fifty years and here is a man of three hundred years. He doesn't eat. I had the opportunity of meeting him just once, but if you're lucky you can have darshan from this great individual.

And then the Shiva temple at Coimbatore is also unique, and where you feel the energy of the lingam when you go into the mercury tank - and you must understand this: once before I said this and everybody understood it wrongly. Women have different times than men. One hour is for women, one is for men and so on, alternating. The women go and change into a gown – take all their clothes off – and it's done separately. They enter the water in the gown. The last time I said this, some people stopped coming to the temple. They thought I took them to a nudist camp in Sandy Bay. It's done separately and you really enjoy the energy. Coimbatore, Palani and Sidambaram will always be on my itinerary. Some of the temples were built three thousand years ago and they're huge. There's a temple that has grounds as big as Verulam, and on that is the temple. So, some day all of you can come with me and enjoy – it's not about going here and going there – it's about enjoying the energies that come past while you do this pilgrimage, and you know some of the things that the Hindus do might look silly.

So I told the two couples that came with, that they should tie a knot on their string and they asked me what for. I told them it was so they could have a baby. Both the couples tied the knot and both the wives are now expecting. This is the unique power of going to India. Many of us will go to India, to our guru, like I go to Sri Lanka, Nuwara Eliya, I have not been to Sri Giri yet. It's the most beautiful place to be in where the Buddhists built a camp up the mountain – but I've never been there because I used to go straight to my guru. Sometimes we think we don't need to do anything else but many things can give you blessings. So sometime I hope all of you have the opportunity of joining me in India and you'll see also many things about me that you don't see here. You'll learn from that as well.

Just to remind you, on Sunday we have a meeting at 10am. It's a very important meeting so if you're available please come. Tomorrow is Maha Navagraha and if you come here at two o'clock – in the afternoon – you can join the Navagraha.

Do you have any questions? Okay if you don't have questions we'll just do aarthi now.
Hari Om.

CONVERSATION CONTINUED AFTER AARTHI

Because of the way the moon was in saturn in many of your houses, astrologically, and when that happens the affects of the moon is the greatest, malefic. Seventy percent of you seated here are affected which means even if something is working out for you at the moment, come the seventh or eighth of April, it will slip out of your hands. That is how bad it is.

If you have people in your family who are not well, it's guaranteed there will be a death. The transition when the moon is so strong in Saturn and moving into your house, is definitely a problem. You may be thinking, 'But theres only twelve houses and we're not all in one house...'. There are also lords, sub-lords and sub-sub-lords in Vedic Astrology. For example, in Cancer you may have a lord, Mars, a sub-lord, Mars and a sub-sub-lord, Mars. Others may have Saturn, Mars, Saturn. That structure is what we worry about and many of us seated here, over sixty percent of you, will see the affect. When it moves into your house it stays there for no less than eighteen years. You don't want to go that route. So that's where the numbers come from. Just now I was looking at where Saturn is in your house. Saturn is Sani. Very interesting when you get to the astrology, but very complicated. Theres an exception to every rule, so that makes it difficult and you don't know whether to use the exception or the rule. Just to be safe, I only use the rule.

So today I had a young man come here with his mother, wife and daughter - Jagadambal's contact – they came all the way from Chatsworth. When anyone is your wife's contact, men now, just drop everything and do that. You'll have peace for the whole week. So his words were, 'so I did this nonsense everywyere. How is your Navagraha different from all the other Navagrahas?'
'Mine is not nonsense,' was my answer. 'Do it if you want.' And he carried on and then I remembered that his aunt, his mother's sister, came here many years ago and I told her that at the age of eighteen, her son would die in an accident. He drowned at the age of eighteen. I asked the boy if he remembered his cousin and told him that I predicted his death. Then I told this young man that he would have cancer of the liver and have no pancreas left. I said, 'You'll be going with ten bags hanging, one for every organ in your body, by the time you're forty-two'. He froze. 'When can I start the prayer?' He said.

I'm a victim of planets, I used to tell people that if God wanted me to pray to Him He would have kept me up there by His feet. I was penniless, I could not buy food for my children. Reality hit me and I we went to a priest in Pietermaritzburg and he said to me, 'I feel very sorry for you. For eighteen years you are stuck.' I asked him the easiest way to get out of it and he told me to change my name. I thought he was stupid. In the rush I dropped the bucket of abishekam water from his pooja all over the back seat of the car while I was swearing at him. I came home and had a bath with the little bit of water left. I was thinking that maybe I should give him a chance so I changed my name to what the guru gave me. Ever since, my life has gone from good to better. I can't complain. I have no complaints. I don't have an abundance of money but I'm not starving. From there I learned, and that is why I do the prayer exactly like that guru. Understand?

If any of you don't believe, it won't work. You must have a single, innate desire to do anything. It mustn't have any confusion, any choices. It must be a single, innate desire to do it and know that it has to work. But if you don't have that single, focused desire, nothing's gonna work. You know if you don't know what chocolate you want you'll stand in front of the Cadbury's counter. Will you make a decision? No. You'll say, 'This is nice, I'll take this one. No, leave this, I'll take this one...' But if you walked into the shop with a sigle desire to buy a Top-deck, you won't look at the other chocolates. You had a single thought, a single desire and you got your Top-deck. You won't go and get Jelly Tots. Prayer is like that and God is like that. You must have that single, innate desire for God. But you can't have that because you have too many choices in life.

Another examle I always find amusing. When Lynne is here, Mellisa is ready to be picked up fromwork and Lynne asks, 'Which car must I use?' Just take the first key. If a car is by the gate why use the one by the fence. We don't have focus. So I always smile because that's where cofusion sets in. So, have the desire for God. Some of us are lucky … I experienced God at the age of fourteen. Not everyone can do that. But when I look at Yastil and Ashveer, I can show them God because they are at the right age. I can't take Jane 'cause she's got too many things in her head: her husband, her children, her dog Lucy. See how many things? This is why some of you seated here you are most fortunate that your children can know God at an early age. You are all past the stage. For you to adjust is virtually impossible. When you have a small argument, you go and sit in Sibaya Casino. I dont know what peace Sibaya can give. Come and sit in the ashram. But you'll go to Sibaya, Suncoast or the Wildcoast. Whatever. Why do we do that when we can come and sit here and enjoy this oneness with God? I find that across the board. There's no excepton here, that we are becoming lazy. We are really becoming lazy. If we sit on the couch or settee we sit put there – its our comfort zone. The reality of life is always you must be able to get up and get your own coffee. The show is over. But if u sit on the couch, the coffee comes to you, 'Ma bring the coffee!' Once we're in that comfort zone we won't want to get up. Settees and lazy-boys make you lazy. So we need to come out of this comfort zone that we are in where everything comes to us - and start living in reality.

And what is reality? Reality is to get up and get your coffee. That is reality because you have an awareness. Do you think you have awareness when you're watching TV and they're bringing the coffee to you. You dont even know you're drinking it. We need a wake up call. We have become extremely lazy. I'm not going to pick on it, I'm tired of going that route. Wen eed to wake up! We are very lazy and we're finding excuses for every little thing – and once we have the excuse and see it's working, we use it all the time because I don't question it. I'm sure many of you have gathered that I don't question much these days. If you want to leave, I nod my head. If you don't want to come to the prayer, I nod my head. Your whole life has become a nod. Very few words come out - it doesn't need thought. And we are losing God in the same manner. We don't know if we are saying yes or no anymore. We don't know what it means anymore.

You know 1969 saw the beginning of a most powerful and great organisation, the Sathya Sai organisation. I remember clearly because I was still in secondary school. There was this bread that was multiplying – roti – like a wrap. It used to multiply on its own. Take a piece and give it to somebody and it used to multiply. Somebody from the University of South Africa by the name of Professor Sony, did a test on this bread and he gave some scientific explanation to why it multiplies. What I'm coming to tell you is – was that needed? The fact that God is there, it has to multiply, no matter how scientific you can get. If god decides it's not going to multiply then it's not going to multiply. Like you buy seed in the shop and some of them don't grow.

So, the message went to Sathya Sai Baba. Do you know what his answer was? 'See God in the bread'. He never answered anything more. Then, many years later in the recent past, Ganesha murthis were drinking milk. The same university professor investigated and said the granite was porous so it was absorbing milk in the heat. I have not seen porous granite yet. And if granite was pourous it wouldn't be so heavy. So, when that story came out I said 'Let's try that in our ashram'. I put one teaspoon of milk to the mouth of the brass Ganesha murthi and the milk disappeared. I told Ashok to try - he's thinking that I'm pourning it and its going into my clothes. So he tried it and the milk disappeared. Why did it work? Because we believe that God is in that brass. The beauty of the Hindu culture is that we can call anything God. No other religion in the world can take anything and call it God. It's the only religion that looks at light and makes it God. A Hindu will draw something and make that something God and thousands will follow.

So, like that, if we have such powerful forms of worship why can't we get one of those into ourselves and call it God? Spirituality is the ultimate simplicity. Theres nothing more simple than that. We complicate it.We complicate our whole life. We don't look like the people we're supposed to be. So we're sitting in a Gayathri hawan, from six in the morning to six in the evening, and this aunty is sitting where there's maximum fire, and I'm sitting watching. There was something wrong with this aunty – in all the heat her foundation was dripping, dripping. Behind that was the reality. We mask reality by our thoughts, by the thousand sons of the blind king. Because we mask the reality we cannot get to the reality. Whenever you mask, you're going to change the way things look. Look at it from within.

Today Roy and Jagadambal accidentally got some secrets of life. Both of them were sitting in a discussion and something came out that shouldn't have come out but they don't even know what I'm talking about. We dont' know God when we meet God. We'll never know God when we meet God. Simple as that. You know why? We're not trained to do that. And if somebody wants to train they'll have to reorganise everything inside their head. Throw some out. And that they can't do. Throwing out is no good, so they want to keep it in.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Okay. Any of you got questions? You must have questions all the time – that is the journey. If you don't have questions you're not on the journey. You can't learn. Theres nobody that knows it all. Nobody.

Question: Gurudev, in death many people will find peace. Why then, when people are very ill and they're on death's bed, prayer or certain rituals are done to prevent the person from dying?

Swami Answers: I think it's the other way around, no? There's no way anyone can prevent anyone from dying. Not even a doctor but there's a ritual they can do so that the soul leaves the body quickly. In the Guruda Puranas there's a story. When death comes, nothing - no doctor, no specialist - will be able to stop it. Let me give you ane xample. The God of death is called Yamaraja. He looks exactly like Lord Shiva, but a very dark form. He's very jovial, not as stern as everybody makes him. And he comes into the room and stands there, waits for the right moment as though there's a signal from upstairs. And when the time is up he just exists your soul and takes it. But you must understand also that, only if you have a strong perception will you be able to see what Yamaraja looks like. Many of you have lost loved ones and when they are critically sick they are talking to someone. That means they've already gone into the level where they can communicate with those gone before them. Tammy has experienced many of these things with me – as we walked out of a home, I would give her a time at which time the soul would go, half an hour or forty-five minutes – but you need to know God, be with God, and understand God to understand all this. So, yes, he comes. These people see him and talk to him before they die. They tell you lots of stories.

Question: Before the person passes on does he or she know they are going to go?

Swami Answers: Yes. Up to fifteen minutes before they will know – even people who are not spiritual. I'll give you an example: Tammys granny got up, not sick. She had a bath, prayed went and laid in the bed and died. They know. Your kundalini becomes very active at that time so everything opens up, your perception and connection with God. Kundalini is very edgy when your soul is leaving yoru body. The people are aware of all these things.

Question: Is there such a thing as accidental death?

Swami Answers: Yes, there is. That's how we get wandering souls – the time was not right so they linger around the area they died, like Highway Sheila, and for many years sometimes. These things also I've seen. Once they were sitting in the car, Tammy and my aunt – I'll tell you where it is. You know Tongaat, the overhead bridge? Right there. We were coming down this way to Verulam, Mountview, to my brother-in-law's house, at about ten or eleven o'clock at night, when we saw a beautiful girl hiking on the road. I was driving and my eye looked down to see if she had any legs. And she didn't have any feet, she was just floating so I carried on driving. My aunt, who was in the back, also saw it and when we arrived at my brother-in-law's house she said it was a ghost and she didn't want to go back that way. There are many like that.

I'll tell u another story. Siva, who used to work in the bank, told us that he had an accident but there was no other car involved. He was the only car. There was a big bang and his car was pushed into the ditch – no dent in the car. At the same spot. But they don't trouble you.

One day, in this house here some years ago, I was lying in bed upstairs, Tammy and them went somewhere – she wasn't there. I was still awake, thinking, and I saw a lady standing by the door. Her hair was long and she was looking at me. I looked away thinking it was my mind playing tricks. Then looked back and she was still there. I knew she wasn't there to harm anyone. If my wife and children see herthey will be terrified. Sometimes, when you're upstairs you'll hear somebody opening the drawers in the kitchen, then come downstairs and there's nobody there. So who's staying here tonight?

Download MP3 file of Swami singing Shivabalayogi Om

Loyalty - Full Moon

Yesterday we had Swami Amitananda here and he touched on a very perfect topic. Your loyalty to your guru. Some members were seated here and listened because it was service. And if you look around here today youll see some very familiar faces missing around you. Some who are here every month are not here. They are doing Pournami with Swami Amitananda. Nothing misses me. Loyalty for eleven months is there, then we need a change, then we have a chance.

Once you break the sequence of your Pournami pooja, whatever you have already done becomes nullified, useless. You can see Mrs Naidoo seated there - she could’ve been in Tongaat with Swami Amitananda right now but she knows where her loyalty lies and she is here. For those that have missed this prayer, good for them. And to those that are seated here, good for you.

As you can see the mahameru is raised here and tonight this pournami is very unique in the sense that the moon is the clsoest it has been to the earth in many years. Today, now. And if you watched the moon this morning you would’ve seen that the moon was just above the trees. Those who were standing with me at 3am would’ve seen this. It means that those who are sick - mentally, physically and emotionally - will get very, very sick.

So on this powerful night, the most important worship is that of the mahameru. So that’s why its raised and that is why you'll see that I went through the Pournami pooja very fast, because we are going to do the mahameru pooja.

On the ninth of april a mahameru pooja will be observed here. It will be the only one of its kind to be perfomed on this continent. It’s a pooja that very few people do, but the significance, the energy and the benefits of the pooja are very, very unique. So, those who are not here they’ll have an excuse - on Monday they’ll tell me why they didn’t come. Loyalty is a continuous thing. Loyalty is not on today and off tomorrow. Loyalty is very, very continuous. And once you have that continuity, you have this connection. And Swami Amitananda said yesterday: “Whatever you see, see it through your guru's eyes, not through your own eyes”.

So we're going to do the Mahameru pooja now.
Om

Download an MP3 file of Swami singing Krishna Mukunda Murare during this service.

The New Beginning

I'm sure that all of you somewhere, somehow, have heard of the disaster in Japan. For some reason, all of us blame God for these natural disasters. I think that what has been happening during this time gives us no room for doubt that a new beginning is inevitable. I can remember in 1997 when my master, Swami Murugesu, said that between 2012 and 2014 there will be a new beginning. Some thought that Swami Murugesu was out of his mind by making such a bold statement. And here we sit with all the technology we have, with all the sensors in place, and still we could not save those tens of thousands of people. We didn't have the facilities and we still want to blame God.

Those who follow the spiritual path intensely already had the foresight of this. They have passed it down from generation to generation, but we have become the big problem in this whole confusion that is happening with the weather, the climate, with everything that we feel threatened by. And what is the reason for this new beginning? Why should there be a new beginning? Where does it stem from? What is our input in making this new beginning inevitable? And one of the things that come up clearly is that we have lost our sensitivity. We really don't care. We have an attitude. As Swami Amitananda just mentioned, trust in your guru. Basically, Swamiji was touching on the many times I've mentioned the aspect of the guru-disciple relationship - not questioning your guru. But society has come to a stage where gurus and masters are ranked far below scientists and science with its technology.

Gurus and masters are people who know nothing. Science, technology and scientists are the greatest. It is rare to find that a guru or a master has received a Nobel prize. But you will find that scientists have, just by discovering what has always been there. Whatever has been discovered or invented has always been there. It's not something new and he gets a Nobel prize. So we've lost respect for and identity with gurus and masters. And God in his wisdom is like a mother who watches her baby play. She will watch and watch and watch, and as soon as the baby gets out of line the mother is the first one to pull that baby out of play. God is like that. He's watched us play and now we are in the danger zone and He's going to pull each one of us away. And that is what we call the new beginning. And we still have time to make those changes.

The second aspect is our indulgence in drugs, and because we're indulging in drugs we have created a new kind of demand, a market which has been destroying nature's values. We have destroyed so much of nature because we cannot meet pdoduction with demand. The other aspect that man has created is our devilish minds. Swamiji spoke about how your mind should be focused and, once your mind is focused, the path is so much easier. It's like catching at train. You don't even see your friend waving at you when youre running for the train because your focus is on the train. We have this mind where we don't want other people to prosper spiritually or materially. We want everything for ourselves and “If I cant get it then he shouldnt get it” is the attitude we have.

Then we come to misconduct with politicians, the army the police - when wrong is made right just for some money. How often have you heard of somebody doing something really bad, spending he a day in jail and the next minute he's out. Why is he out? Because he had some money and there was some misconduct. Our high level of violence in the home - domestic violence - this high level of violence has also created fields of negativity that is affecting everybody in the process. South Africa is the third highest country in the world for rape. New york beats South Africa by only two percent. We have lost that. We see every woman as an object. That mother feature has been lost and rape has also been some aspect that has created this strong negative eneryg. One of the highest countries in the world for murder is South Africa. But the unique thing about South Africa recently is family murders: brothers murdering brothers, sons murdering fathers, daughters murdering mothers - because they want their money. All this energy will surface by 2012 and we'll all be affected somehow. Swamiji has touhed on this. Lack of understanding God and lack of knowing God.

Swamiji says we can only assume that we know God when we read a book - and as a result become very highly qualified to 'know' god. Many of us seated here are victims of that. We buy fairytale books and follow the author and then we become great spiritual beings just by following a book. And I think I told you long before it was mentioned that my guru has never told me one word. He would just sit and look at me and when I was leaving Sri Lanka he would tell me, “You know what to do”. Swami Amitananda has the same relationship with Appaji. We've lost that bond between guru and disciple - it's a non-existent entity nowadays. You go and see the guru because you want to be one of the numbers. We are here for others, not to absorb and accept the prasad that the guru gives you in his speech – and these are the energies that have been lost after 1985.

And then there's nuclear weapons of mass descrutction. We think so highly of science yet it is the master of destruction. Because of science we can destroy ourselves. If we look at science in the spiritual aspect, we'll find that God is a reality and we can experience that God in this lifetime. Somebody asked me a few days ago. “Why is there so much distrust in the ashram?” That is our greatest problem. We don't trust anybody. Because they've hurt us before. And yet the ashram should be the place where purity exists. Everybody should trust everybody but we can't do that and, again, this brings about negative energy. If you read the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, “When the time is right, when there's a decline of righteousness in dharma then I'll descend”. But don't expect to see him descend with his thousand gopis. He's gong to descend as an energy field to change things. And the worhsip of guru and disiciple relationship is the last item on the list. I think many gurus have failed. You know, when I go to Appaji, I don't see hundreds of people but those who I do see there are so devoted, so in tune with Appaji, it's unbelieveable. When I took a group to Appaji in December and January, Appaji was right in front of me but I kept quiet - I didn't say anything. Vishal asked me, “Is Appaji coming now?”I said, “That's Appaji – working in the garden”. Here's a photo. That's exactly how he looks all the time. So you see what Swamiji has said about Appaji, and how true it is.

And I said to you, when I went to Dodheri I met a man who saw God. Really, I'm no fool to go to one place three times - unless it's a tourist attraction - then I have to take all of you. The last time I was there alone and travelled for approximately four-and-a-half-hours from Bangalore in a car in which the aircon stopped working - but that wasn't the problem. The whole idea was, “you're gonna get there, you're going to see Appaji and talk to him”. He was sitting in his kutir there - it's like an open plan office with hip-height partitions and he sits inside so that people don't trouble him. He was sitting there and waiting and I felt as if my guru was there because that's what my guru would do – sit and wait for me. And only after we arrived he'd make sure we ate and then we'd go and sleep. That is the power of masters

So we need to make this change and, because its happening so fast, if you look at your temple calendar you'll see that we have some unique prayers. One that has never been done before is the Maha Meru Nitya Pooja. We want ot do it just so that we can become more aware of what's happening and also so that we're not affected by the negative aspects around us. This is very important. Just His name is enough to save you from any disaster. Whatever you want to call him - but if you focus and believe in that name it'll save you from any kind of disaster. Believe me, life was never easy for me but even in the most difficult time His name stood about everything else and you stick with that.

Tomorrow is Pournami. Sunday is Kavady. We leave here at three in themorning and we walk with our kavadies. Okay. So we're going to all walk, sing bhajans and go to Tongaat. We'll do aarthi now.

Hari Om. God bless you.

Download an excerpt from Swami's Talk - The New Beginning

A saint is never recognised ...

Hari om.

I just hope that all of you participated in the hawan earlier, with agnihotra. This will be the last hawan on the first Friday of the month.

As you can see, we have a guest. This guest is very special. His name is Dr John MacLander and he is all the way from South America. I found it very strange that his guru is Babaji and he is now at the ashram that Yogiar Ramaiah came to and chose as the home for the Babaji murthi. We have a very unique energy here and you will find it attracts people of like mind. Our energy levels are so high that even this hall cannot contain them!

This doctor came here and boosted the energy three times using agnihotra. He did it at six-twenty-two this evening. You may be wondering why we did not invite you. Well, you can’t make it for seven pm, so six-twenty-two will be virtually impossible for you! We only heard of this on Wednesday and could not get hold of Deepak to send out an sms because he was in a meeting. I think the blessings are for all you, not only for those who did the prayer.

Doctor, here, is not a doctor of philosophy. He is a medical doctor. He uses agnihotra as a form of alternative healing. It's sad that when you hear of this in your own country, you have doubts. But when you hear it from somebody overseas, the doubt goes away. Paramahansa Yogananda says that a saint will not be recognised in his own country.

The doctor has a group of people who do the agnihotra and they use it in some of the hospitals every day for the patients - and they heal. There’s your opportunity. Doctor will be here for you to discuss, and he will tell you what to do.

For many years we knew about agnihotra and its importance, but we could not find people to do it… is was like a fallen seed that had rotted. We failed. But now Doctor John is here to show you.

It is very, very important in this time of kali yuga, to pray. With that prayer, we must have desire, interest, dedication and devotion. If you don’t, then don’t do it just to please others. You must have dedication, devotion and love. It will work for you. The Hindu concept is that even if you offer a stone with dedication, you will get the benefit.

Normally when visitors come to the Gayathri Peedam we give them a gift. Krishnee Govender will come and present our gift so that when Doctor John is back in South America he can think about us and pray. For the love of our master and from the astral plane we offer you this gift in thanks. The picture is of Babaji and Yogiar. This picture is very rare; you won’t get it again. It is from Paringapatti, where Babaji was born and lived as a young boy.

If you have any questions, please speak to Dr Johnabout agnihotra, how to do it - and take it from there.

Hari Om.

Shivarathri

Firstly, one has to understand that prayer is direct communication with God. In this way one turns to God and draws closer to God. By doing so, one derives strength and direction from the Supreme Divine Energy. I am sure that on this night, all of you pray with faith that God/ Shiva responds to your prayer.

Prayer to Lord Shiva is a very personal experience, filling ones emotional and spiritual needs. This prayer to Lord Shiva is to acknowledge that on this night He is present and is very active in our lives. Singing of hymns on this night is bhakti source of prayer and contemplation to Lord Shiva.

The effects of this night’s prayer are creative to the mind. The body also feels well. The scriptures make mention that Lord Shiva is a pure and pristine God. Shiva is free from the gunas; all 3 of them; therefore, Shiva can purify anything by the mere utterance of His name. Shiva confers good and auspiciousness on all who sing His name on this night. He destroys sorrow at its root cause.

Who then is Shiva?
Shiva is the great ascetic, the master of knowledge, the medicine for ignorance, disease and worldly troubles. Shiva’s other name is Nilakanta, the one with the blue throat. By taking the poison, he saved the entire creation. His abode is Kailasa. Shiva represents Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram; meaning Truth, Goodness and Beauty. Actually, these are the essences of Lord Shiva. The Lord of Yoga is Shiva. The Lord is worshipped as a Linga in 5 major temples in South India.

Shiva is worshipped as the 5 elements:

1. Space – Akash Linga in Chidambaram
2. Water – Appu Linga in Trichy
3. Fire – Agni Linga in Tiruvannamalai
4. Earth – Prithi Linga in Kanchipuram
5. Air – Vayu Linga in Andhra Pradesh

Let your prayer on this night be:
OM NAMA SHIVAYA NAMAH

I salute Lord Shiva, the liberator of everything, omnipresent embodiment of
Brahmadeva, without birth or death, to that Lord, my humble prostrations.

OM NAMA SHIVAYA NAMAHA