Monday, July 22, 2013

Guru Pournami discourse

Guru pournami is a very unique pournami. Of all the thirteen pournamis that God has given us, He's selected just three powerful pournamis: one of those is guru pournami; the next pournami is next month, Agasthiar pournami, in August; then we have Vaikantha pournami which is done in the name of Lord Vishnu. Of all three, guru pournami is the most sacred, the most powerful pournami, and on this day whatever you ask for you will get. This has been confirmed. Whatever your heart's desire on this night, the astral gurus will make that possible for you.

Every one of these gurus here is guiding us from the astral plane. Many of the devotees from the Peedam have encountered these beings. One of the greatest female saints that walked this earth is shown in the photo there right below Paramahansa Yogananda. She was a total manifestation of abundance and unconditional love. Just her eyes used to send people into states of trance. Her name was Ananda – one who can transcend you to states of bliss.
Next to her is the great yogi who can terrorise any individual on this planet just by one sound. Some of you seated here used to run in the opposite direction when you saw him. He is Yogiar Ramaiah who has been with us twice in his lifetime.
This saint here meditated for 12 years and, because he was in the state of meditation for so long, his fingers became permanently deformed. His name is Shivabalayogi. He's the one who introduced those lingams to the world. And you can in see in that one photo over there he was giving a lingam to Swami Murugesu. We have that same lingam here.
Above him is a direct disciple of Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya. He met Babaji and taught Kriya Yoga to the world.
That black and white photo there is my first guru. His name was Gurudev Narainsamy. To this very day I have not met anybody, including my guru, Swami Murugesu, as powerful as Narainsamy. He can cause a storm to start by just saying the word. I had the opportunity of witnessing many of his miracles.
You all know, Jesus Christ in that frame there.
This is Ramana Maharishi, the man who introduced the westerners to India. Paul Brunton wrote about him and everybody went to India to see him and stayed in india.. If you go to Tiruvanamalai you'll see whites riding around on bicycles like it's their home town. They live there.
Shirdi Baba you all know.
This short man here is the most powerful north Indian saint who travelled and lived in Podigamalai in south India and became a south Indian by tradition.
This is my paramguru, my guru's guru – Khanniah Yogi, the direct disciple of Agashtiar.
Shankara Archarya is the man who rewrote the Vedanta into Sidantha - a great south Indian saint from Kanjipuram.
This is Brother Haridas Acharya. If you don't know him, then you're under six years old. You should know him.
That is Nanagiri. He was the spiritual brother of Srila Prabhupada. They had the same guru. One chose Krishna, the other one chose Radha. Radha used to dance in front of him daily, and my guru was invited one day. He could only hear her ankle bells, but when the music and the sound stopped there was a sari on his lap from nowhere.
Our lineage is from Bhogar Maharishi and Agasthiar.
That big picture is no other than Babaji. If you live in the radiance of Babaji, you live in the glory of Christ and the light of your guru. No matter how difficult your problems are they will become very simple and solvable. God in his own way helps you. You have not made that choice yet.

Our material life overpowers our spiritual life. All of these saints have had material lives but they turned to spirituality. There are two things you need to know. You can lose things on this material plane, but you cannot lose anything on the spiritual plane. You need to change the way you are – to find God and look for God within yourself. And here on this Guru Pournami, on the attainment of my 60th year of existence, I ask you, divinely, to forget about this material aspect we're all chasing. Enjoy your life but in equilibrium, in balance with spirituality, and then you'll find that only joy will overflow from you at all times. But if you are going to live a life where material attainment and accumulation is the key factor, then you have lost the essence of living.

Life is about living. Living is about spirituality. Spirituality is about attainment. Attainment is about enlightenment. Enlightenment is about bliss. If you understand it like this then you can remain in a perfect state of bliss and still be on the material plane. God wants you to have a balance, a perfect state of equilibrium. He doesn't say 'don't do that'. He says 'do this and that' so it is equal against your spiritual accumulation. If I asked all of you to write down your material accumulation you would write pages. But for your spiritual accumulation you'd not even write one line.

It is very important that we turn within ourselves, look inside and find the self. Just as I found you in the self, it is time for you to find yourself in the Self. We need that. This journey is about that. As I said to you on Saturday, I turned 60 and I might live another day, or until 90 or 100 at the most. Eventually I will have to leave, and when I leave there should be a desirable legend left behind. That is the idea for each one of you. You should leave behind you a legend, but not of accumulation. One of giving, sharing and caring. And when you can leave that legend behind you, peace will always be with you in living and death.

This is the time, the moment, there's no moment better than this moment for you to make this attunement with yourself. Tune away from material existence into spiritual existence and see how life can be. If you go to the Bhagavad Gita, in the opening verses the blind king asks Sanjaya to tell him what the sons of the Pandavas and the Kuruvas are doing at that moment in Kurushaktra. 'Kuru' means battle. 'Shaktra' means field. Then he calls it 'dharma shaktra' – 'dharma' means righteous. What are you doing in this righteous field? And this righteous field is your body. God has always said to us in various books, “I've given you choices, you make the choices. Whatever the consequences, they are yours, good or bad". Do not blame anybody for your failures or errors. You made the choices, you'll get the consequences of your choices. Remember it like that and you can be a successful individual materially and spiritually. I'm not saying that you shouldn't be materialistic. I'm saying don't let material life control you. Let the spiritual life control you. Be one with God. I'm going to conclude saying what I said on Saturday. Your attitude is the custodian of the past, the spokesman of the present and the architect of your future.

Saturday, July 20, 2013

60th Birthday Speech 2013

In the radiance of Babaji, in the glory of Christ, and the light of our gurus, I stand before you, 60 years later.

This universe is made up of millions of galaxies and our galaxy, the Milky Way, is just one of them. The Milky Way is made up of millions of solar systems and our solar system is just one of them. Compared to the size of the solar system our planet Earth is just a speck of dust. Yet, seen from the place called space, it glows to a perfect blue. Yes, on this planet I am just a speck of dust, yet in this entire universe, there has never been anyone like me and there will never be anyone like me for I am one of a kind, unique, original and rare. I am a masterpiece. The same applies to all of you but the only difference is that I became the master’s piece. I live as the master’s piece. My master, Swami Murugesu, took this speck of dust and polished it until it glittered like a gem – The master’s piece.

To Gurukkol from Cato Manor, Krishnamurthi from Ladysmith, and Balasundran from Manning Road; and to my uncle, Sam Moodley, I offer my salutations to your atma. My salutations and prostrations to Babaji, Shivabalayogi, Murugesu Swami, and Yogiar Ramaiah. A special prem Namaste to Haridas Archarya. I feel both enlightened and elevated to see so many of you here this evening, some 60 years later.

Yes, 60 years! I am just a visitor on this planet, maybe for another day, 90 years or a hundred at most. And during this time, I have tried, and will continue to try, to do something useful and good. My master, Swami Murugesu, taught me to create at least one happy moment for at least one person daily and this is what I do to this very day. Create this attitude to make someone happy. Remember, that your attitude is the historian of your past, the spokesman of the present and, very importantly, the architect of your future. Because of this, I architect a smile every morning when I get up.

My guru, Swami Murugesu, has taught me that life is like a game of chess. In life, you play the game with him. After your move, he makes his. Yours is called choice and his is called consequences. By these consequences, you become. Therefore, to be on the road to spiritual success, you have got to launch now, at this precious moment. What I am saying is: give up and go up – because life is always new.

Boredom in life happens because you think life is repetitive, but please understand that life, in its very design, cannot repeat itself. Life is new every day. The rose that you see today in your garden, is it the same rose that grew on the same plant before? You do not need a new horizon; you need new eyes to see the existing one. Remember, the depth of your character is revealed in the way you respond to situations you dislike.

Here, 60 years later, I make the same speech I made 140 years ago. The only difference is that 140 years ago, the devotees were more receptive to spirituality.

Knowing is not enough, you must apply!
Willing is not enough, you must do!
Om Kriya Babaji Namaha Aum