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
