Shivabalayogi Janasthami

Hari Om.

The great saint Sivabalayogi, had a great merger with Lord Shiva. The only thing he lived for, spoke about, listened to, was Shiva, Shiva, Shiva. He was a very great Shiva bhaktan. He went to Sri Lanka with a lingam, the very lingam he is carrying in that photograph taken in Sri Lanka. He installed the lingam at the Sri Lanka Gayathri Peedam, our Head Quarters, when Swami Murugesu was still in his early thirties.

That lingam has now grown, taken form and shape, and when you go to the Gayathri Peedam in Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka, you are given the opportunity to do abishegam for the lingam. It is the only temple in the world that allows women to do abishegam for a lingam. Nowhere else will they allow that. Even here today, you had the opportunity of doing the abishegam.

Shiva was called 'Gengadhara' when he had the Ganges in his hair. And when his hair became matted, he was called 'Jadatharaya' - the same Shiva I tell you to become One with. Become One with Shiva. Let every muscle, every molecule, every nadi, every vessel in your body, vibrate in the name of Shiva. And once you can vibrate in the name of Shiva, if the word 'Shiva' vibrates you, if you feel a change of emotions, then you must know you have a great union with Lord Shiva.

You'll have many people tell you Lord Shiva is demi-god. Whenever your religion is Christian-based, you'll always have a situation when you will bring somebody else down because Christianity is fear-based. Saying Shiva is demi-god is fear-based. Shiva is not a demi-god. The Shiva we are talking about is a being from here to there. We cannot see his beginning nor end. That's how he is. The giver of boons; one who has all treasures; you ask and you will get. He's easy to please. He doesn't ask you to do unnecessary things. He only asks you to pray for him once, at Shivarathri. Nobody does Lord Shiva prayer. He says 'Remember me and you'll be satsified'. You don't go and do a sacrifice prayer for Lord Shiva. You just look at the lingam, do the abishegam and pray. And once a year he says, 'Sit with me in my name, on Shivarathri'. This is the Shiva we're talking about. There's only one night, Shivarathri, that he says we must observe. He has given us twelve nights, but asked us to observe just one – Mahashivarathri.

Here, today we're celebrating Janasthami* for someone who has had that union with Lord Shiva, who meditated on Lord Shiva twenty-three hours a day for twelve years. His meditation was so intense that even his hands became crippled from holding them in his lap. You sit for just two minutes in meditation and it's too much. Even with his disability he carried that lingam.

I'll tell you about a similar lingam we brought back from Sri Lanka. Deepak, and Prathna were with me when Swami Murugesu, my master, gave me the lingam, and the way he was holding it, I thought it was easy to carry. Everyone was sitting and Swami gave it to me and I couldn't hold it. We didn't want to put the lingam in the baggage. We decided to take it in the hand luggage instead, so we bought a bag with wheels. We put the lingam in it, and poor Deepak, even though he was on honeymoon he pulled the lingam all over India. We got it into the plane and had to put it into the hand luggage compartment, but we couldn't lift it. We eventually got it in, and I was praying the whole flight that it wouldn't fall.

We took it to Chennai and just two of us put it in the car with no problem. When we arrived at our friend's shop there, I told him that I wanted to show him a lingam that Swami had given us. Four men couldn't lift it out of the car. We brought it all the way to South Africa in the hand luggage compartment. We went through customs. They don't usually allow funny-looking things on the plane, but no one asked us to open it to see. The lingam has been growing ever since. It was not that size when we brought it here.

So over there is the same lingam. The best thing for you to do, before you leave here tonight, is take a little petal from there, from the offering. Take it home, put it in your purse, in your prayer place, wherever you think necessary. If you think you're sick, put it in your mouth and chew it – it's only a marigold. Believe me, you'll see what kind of power this lingam and Shivabalayogi have. For those people who have businesses, I have some lingams, small ones. Put your donation here. Don't give donation for a small one and take a big one.

Hari Om

*Janasthami: Earthly Birth Date Celebration

Narada Bhakti Sutra

Hari Om.

A very good crowd tonight, lots of people, but sadly I'm giving you nothing.

Think about the devotion, the love, the pure, divine, supreme love that we can attain just by remembering the name of the Lord, by having that one thing in your mind: the name of the Lord; being totally attached to the Lord in every aspect of your life. And once you're attached to the Lord you experience supreme, divine love, extreme happiness, and states of supreme bliss. And that can only be attained by this yoga called bhakti yoga. This is bhakti yoga (Friday service). This is bhakti.

In the Narada Bhakti Sutra it is emphasised in 84 verses: surrender, give up. Only listen to, and say, the name of the Lord. Speak in the name of the Lord only. And whenever you join company it must be divine company. It says, 'Let your company be good company; those divine people that can inspire you. Walk in their fragrance, and let their fragrance linger around you for a long time'. Because once you join evil company you tend to have evil habits and become like the company you join.

Many sages have applauded the Narada Bhakti Sutra, and if you live by this book you'll experience a state of divine bliss. We are continuously doing things we shouldn't, and looking for things that will upset us. We go to the computer and look for the meaning of our names, then we live up to that meaning and we become more miserable. During this week I was called an idiot. At least there's one divine person here who can recognise an idiot. It should not worry you what your name means, but you will go and Google it and it says negative things, so you start living negatively. All names have two sides, like a coin: good and bad. If you're looking for the meaning of your name, you'll get caught in living by the meaning of your name. Names can change your frequency, your personality, but looking for the meaning is not important. What is important is the numerical value of your name. This is called numerology. Take that numerical value and do some numerology. Some of our yoga students are numerologists. Ask them.

So who is Narada Muni? The great storyteller who creates problems between all the devatas. He put the Narada Bhakti Sutra together, and even great sages have applauded it. Go and read it and see how beautifully its written. Try and cultivate divine love, a merger with Siva. Every thought, every breath, every nadi, every muscle in your body must vibrate in love. Then you're experiencing God. Don't just come to service on Fridays and think that's your quota for the week. Think of God all the time. All the scriptures tell us to surrender. We have to do that to attain oneness with God, to experience that divine union with God. When you pray you must always have that feeling of the cosmic nectar, soma, encapsulating your body, holding you together, coming from the pineal gland, the isha lingam, or third eye. Feel that cosmic nectar, then you will be having an experience with Shiva, and it's one of the most beautiful experiences to have. The Narada Bhakti Sutra says that after you've had that experience, you'll become like a dumb person who has just tasted sugar for the first time and can't describe it. In the same way, when you experience this union you won't be able to explain how it feels. That's the state you must aspire to attain. No other state.

Who are you? A single unit of pure consciousness. Nothing more than that. What you are in this body is nothing. We call that the soul. The soul is only one unit in our entire body. It is so small, it is unbelievable, yet without it this body cannot function. The soul cannot be tainted, wet, cut, destroyed or burnt. Who you think you are can be destroyed. That single unit of pure consciousness will always carry on in other bodies, other lives. Divine Love is the most important love. When you serve anybody you must serve them as though you're serving Him. When you're singing, you must sing to Him. When you're talking, you must be talking about Him. When you are listening, you must be hearing about Him.

Hari Om

Let me be your shelter

Life is a turbulence of events that can take us to many points. At the lowest point, even the desire to pray to God might cease to exist. Many of us get caught in these turbulences, and the first thing we do is give up God and find blame with God. We throw the blame on God at all times. During these times I ask you to let me be your shelter, let me cast my shadow over you. In that protection you will be able to go through those turbulences and live in this ocean of maya without even knowing it. That is why we do these poojas for you so that you can overcome these turbulences, and remember your time here.

Understand life differently - that it is more than what you're caught up in. In the Narada Bhakti Sutras, it is stated that only true divine love, intensely true divine love, can pick you up from the ocean of this maya, this world. And that true divine love can only come from God. Therefore, you should always, no matter what the situation is, believe that God will always have his hand out towards you. It's just you who have not reached out towards his hand. No matter the situation, whether in business, divorce, separation or work, just remember one thing: the hand of God is always stretched out to you. You just have to lift up your hand and, without fail, God will hold you. But you have not reached up your hand and asked. You bargained with God. He doesn't like bargaining. He likes you to ask him. Tell him that you need him.

I don't have anything to give you. But what do you do? You buy jalebi and gulabjab and look at it continuously throughout service in case a cockroach comes there. As soon as a cockroach comes towards the food you run to protect the food. We must be able to understand that only God protects, and whatever we give God, we give by our taste not his taste. Some of you believe God only eats saltless food. Really? If he only eats saltless food why did he give us salt? You know, he gave us sugar as well, so if you're diabetic then sugar is poison. If you're not diabetic then you put in four spoons of sugar because to you it's not poison. In the same way, for better or for worse, God is always there. Sugar is sugar whether you are diabetic or not.

Remain as a mirror in your life. A mirror is not a mirror only when it reflects you. It's still a mirror when you leave the room. You're going to merge with God, just how the wave merges with the ocean. Are you ready to merge with paramatma? Not a blade of grass or a drop of dew is possible without God. Have this merger with Shiva. Believe in this universe, and be in love with Shiva. My hands are always stretched out to you, no matter where you are. You are holding your hands behind you and walking. Reach your hand out and you'll see. You'll be safe from the disasters coming towards us in 2012. I believe in God and that God exists. Do you all believe in God and that God exists, or do you believe in temples and that God is in the murthi? Is God in the murthi? He's not in the murthi. But God is. He's within you. But because it's easier than to find the God within, you come to places like this. Or you go to the big shrines, Sibaya and Suncoast, to kill your frustration. That's for big people. We're small people. We don't go there.

When you are frustrated you must sit in one place and meditate, and not put things up on the internet for the guru to see. The guru sees everything, whether I'm your friend on Facebook or not. Some of you write garbage. You have time for garbage. Yet the time I ask you to write likit japa you have no time, but you have time for BBM. It's like someone's degree after their name. Mahen Naidoo BBM. When they're going they say, 'I'll BBM you'. It sounds like they're swearing at each other.

We really get caught up because we forget God, so much so that we've accepted this maya, this illusion, this thing that we think is reality, that we think is real: this building, this car, this grass, this foundation we put on our face. We think it's real. Are we looking beautiful for ourselves, or for society? It's for society. And you like those good comments, 'that dress looks nice on you'. You don't look nice at all. It's the dress!' So we are caught in this maya. It's beautiful. You can sit in your Mercedes, put your foot on the accelerator. Beautiful, but it doesn't last.

You think you have to become a Christian to go to heaven, because the Christian teaching is that on the day of judgment, God will weigh you. He will weigh everyone, Christian and non-Christian. Christian is righteous-living, and non-Christian is non-righteous living. Each one of you will be weighed if there is a day of judgment. But we're afraid so we rather become Christian in case that God is a better God. There's no better God. God is God.

Hari om,God bless you.

Delinquent Parents

We all like to blame other people and make sure the responsibility of failure is not ours. Even in an ashram situation we have the same problem. When the guru tells you and your child to take certain precautions with regards to the future, you ignore him totally. And then when you have a problem, and the problem gets serious, you blame the guru for not stopping it. That's not the guru's job. Because, if that was my job then I'd make all of you vegetarians and stop you from eating meat.

The guru's job is just to show you the direction to find God. Your job is to make the journey. You'll have your failures in the journey, but somehow the guru will pop up there and guide you. But throwing blame and blaming others for mistakes, errors and misunderstanding, is not spiritual at all.

We have children here who go to school, and the guru will tell their parents a hundred times, a thousand times even, at every service, function and festival, 'Do not give your children cellphones'. But the child makes one noise and the cellphone is given. And that is where our problem arises. Many things are done with the cellphone besides what it's made for. The cellphone was invented to use when you are away from your office. But nowadays everybody has a cellphone, and almost everybody has a Blackberry. The word 'black' itself is bad. At school they had a black book – my name was in it, and not for a prize. Every child has a Blackberry, somehow. Why do they have a Blackberry. Because it's got BBM, 'Black Berry Messaging', for free so all the children are busy texting during in class.

There was one child here from the ashram who was texting my daughter in class so I took her phone away. When I took the phone away, her parents did not come and question me, and she had a very good Matric pass. Why did I take the phone away? The message came to me and it said 'physics is a boring class' – while she was sitting in the class! Now you see, they have the attention on the cellphone and not on the lessons - that's why it's boring. I'm telling you all. I know you're going to go out and say, 'Hey, that guru, what does he know?' When I talk to you, it's not me talking. I know nothing. I'm stupid. I'm not talking to you. We're going to have such great chaos in schools in 2012, 2013 and 2014, all because of the cellphone. When it happens you're going to think back to what the guru said on pournami.

Sometimes we become very liberal and we think it's like a profession, a special title, to be 'liberal'. It really means 'you're a delinquent parent and you can't look after your children'. You give in to everything. They jump a little bit and you leave them at the biggest daycare centre in KZN, Gateway, so you can go to the biggest shrine in the world, Suncoast Casino. People will go to Suncoast, but they won't come to a prayer. I know people who used to come to the ashram, but today they are living from hand to mouth because of Suncoast, because of Sibaya. They think the guru won't know. I'm not going to stop them. Why should I? They can carry on.

If Swami Sivananda was living now he would call the cellphone 'the one-eyed guru', because all of you seated here are dictated by the cellphone. We used to have delinquent children but now we have delinquent parents, liberal parents. Change. That's all. You must make the change. And once you make the change you'll get whatever you want in life. I am telling you this from my personal experience and from experience with others seated here.

Hari Om

The Soul is Glorious

As long as we walk with the shadow of no-change, of hate, greed, of no-respect, then we are not going to change. The easiest way to get rid of the shadow is to add light. Ignite the light within.

Each one of you is a light. The only problem is that you don't shine as a light because of the shadow over you. Get rid of that shadow. Once you do that, nothing in this world will create any darkness over you. You'll live a life of purity.

You need to understand one thing. You are one perfect, intelligent, knowledgeable and blissful Being. You are that One. But we are what we are because of what we think... 'I can't do this, I don't have the intelligence', 'I have no knowledge of that'. We think like that. But in God's creation, we are the light of supreme bliss. And in that supreme bliss we shine in the glow of paramatma.

The wave will always dissolve in the water. The mirror will always stand as a mirror whether or not you are in front of it. Even if you're not in front of it, it still reflects. It's the same with the soul. It is there with or without the body. It will always merge with the Super-soul or Paramatma. If you understand that, you won't have any problems in this life.

You introduce ourselves to others by the tasks you perform: 'I'm a pilot', 'I'm a lawyer', I'm a director...', We don't introduce ourselves as who we are, but as what we do. But who are you? A great, vital, energetic Self abiding within. That's who you are. And once you can introduce yourself in that manner, then you have attained.

Slowly I'm going to fade away to nothing - only my words will linger. And when that happens don't be sorry, because you have the opportunity now. My days of correcting you and changing the way you think are over. You do what you do, and I will have to do what I need to do spiritually. Take my words now and let them work for you now, then you'll be a proud person when I fade away.

In 2012, make this change. You have the God-given power to change! In this change, know yourself to be the vital, vibrant energy of beauty and love. Experience and grow in the energy of the Soul. Make the Soul your masterpiece. Know who you are.

Hari Om.