The Divine Power of Swami Murugesu

Hari om.

You know that tomorrow is our master, Swami Murugesu's samadhi. Four years ago he took samadhi at four-fifteen in the afternoon. We will be having bhajans and kirtans in memory of Mahagnanavatar Murugesu Maharishi Gayathri Siddhar.

I hope all of you can be here for that. Swami Murugesu was a small man but when you touched his feet, you felt nine thousand volts of electricity go up your spine. To those who didn't know Swami Murugesu, it is very rare to find a being of that simplicity who was also a Maharishi, a really great saint, who taught by inspiration and vibration and hardly a single word. He was a great master and teacher and he has promised me that tomorrow afternoon at four-fifteen, his presence will be very strongly felt here in the shrine. You just need to meditate on the energy of this glorious and beautiful human being, Gayathri Siddhar Swami Murugesu Maharishi. He was a saint who had knowledge of every aspect of life. No question was too difficult for him. Every question asked of him was answered in a very simple and understandable way, so that all devotees whether educated or not, would understand Swami Murugesu.

The beauty about Swami Murugesu was that whenever South African devotees went to Sri Lanka, Swami would give a discourse every evening in English - with all the Sri Lankan devotees sitting there not understanding a word, but they would continuously nod their heads in deep concentration. That really used to make me think: "They are so focused on Swami yet they don't understand..." When the discussion was finished they would ask questions in Tamil related to the discussion. That is the brilliance of this great master. He would talk to you in a language you might think is foreign and yet you ask him a question and he would respond.

Swami's blessing was given with a lot of energy, force and thunder behind it. I remember a Buddhist monk who was visiting South Africa through the South African Sai organisation, and a lady who was there, brought him here because she knew him well. And when I took him to my room he saw the photo of Swami and fell flat on the ground and said, "This is the man who cured me. He is from Sri Lanka. Am I right?" I said, "Yes!" The monk was critically sick and everyone he went to said he was possessed. The normal Indian trend was to throw ashes or something. But when he went to Swami he was asked to buy soap. So he bought the soap and Swami asked him to hold it in his hand for a few minutes. Afterwards Swami took the soap away from him and he never got sick again. This is the power of Swami Murugesu.

Very little is known about him. There are no disciples other than myself in the world. I am his only disciple for he did not want to have disciples. All his life he was looking for a disciple and he found a disciple in South Africa. And he always said that the luckiest people in this whole world are in South Africa. That was his line. There was a bond between us that was something else. At one time he was so frustrated about this bond that he asked me not to come back to Sri Lanka. He sent a very nasty fax telling me that I shouldn't come back to Sri Lanka. But somehow I was notified that Swami was going to India so I went to India and waited at the airport. He was surprised to see me when I met with him there. He realised he could not get rid of this 'fly' so he asked me to come back to Sri Lanka. He was testing me. That is how masters test you.

Hari Om.

Keep Your Appointment with God

Hari om

Friday service is your appointment with God, where you will experience God. And if you don’t experience God during service then there is something wrong with you - because I sit here and experience God and see many others experience God too.

Other places have service on other days but here your appointment with God is on a Friday. My brother's son is getting married this weekend and this appointment with God was made before the wedding date was set. My appointment is here and this appointment will remain. This is a very important aspect of spirituality. This appointment with God is your spiritual sadhana. Your appointment upstairs in the yoga hall on a Saturday and Sunday morning and Monday evening is also your spiritual sadhana. You don’t do any other sadhana. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, 'Whatever you do, do it in my name'. Even when you are cooking, sing His name.

Spiritual sadhana in so important in our lives! But we find the simplest excuses: my child in not well – that is even more reason that you should be here! This is taking a toll on me in the sense that it worries me. I don’t have to sit here, I can sit in the kripa and enjoy myself instead. I know some of you are thinking, ‘But we are here today...’ Yes, today you are here but you won’t be here on another day. I have an appointment with God every night. I die into God every night. Only those who live in my house know I am up until two in the morning, and then up at five again to walk on the beach. To experience God, you have to see God in everything, living or not living.

And then we want to be somebody. If there is another function we want to be that 'somebody'. Become a nobody and you will become a godbody. As long as you want to become a somebody, you cannot be a godbody. We have too much attachment. This attachment is such a problem it is as though we are still stuck to the umbilical cord. As long as you are attached like that, you will go nowhere! The Bhagavad Gita says two things: 'surrender' and 'expect no fruits for your actions'. All eighteen chapters contain the word 'surrender'. Why? After you have finished reading the Bhagavad Gita, you must be hypnotised by the word 'surrender'!

We must make this Friday appointment with God a very important thing in our lives - because it is very important. Know this to be true! One day a miracle will happen and you will say, ‘The one time I didn’t come!’ There are many times when wonderful things have happened here and people come the next day and find out. Then they are disappointed. Why did they miss? What were their excuses? We had an experience in the top temple when Swami from Sri Lanka came and sat in the middle of the prayer - we have witnesses - but Swami was in Sri Lanka. How is that possible? Tammy wanted to give Him food and He said, ‘I don’t need this food where I am going.’ He walked out the gate and disappeared!

Ramona, myself and Dean went to Tiruvanamalai. We walked up Arunachala mountain. Ramona was walking fast up the hill and there she saw a sadhu sitting. She was so moved by him that she wanted to give Him her watch and he said, ‘Where I am going I don’t need a watch'. On the way back down another sadhu says to me me, ‘Hari Om Shankarananda’. I didn’t even know him. It was my first trip to Tiruvanamalai. Then we realised, this is God! Then Saras, Roy and Deepak had the opportunity of meeting Babaji in Badrinath. I will never forget the watch story or the ‘Hari Om Shankarananda’ story as these were the first experiences in India. The people who experienced these miracles are here today.

The most important thing to remember is become a nobody then you will be a godbody. If you are a somebody you have ego. As long as you float on the beautiful horse of ego you are holding the reins. One day those reins will snap and you will land on the ground.

Hari Om

EXCERPT FROM DISCOURSE ON 2 SEPTEMBER 2011.