Guru's 62nd birthday speech

In the radiance of Babaji, the light of my gurus and the glory of Christ, good evening, prem namaskara, vanakam.

Most of you know my feeling on birthdays. Generally, I say, "What's the big deal?" By the time you're over sixty, there should be a cease and desist order against them. Birthdays are not unusual. Everyone has them and at the same rate as everyone else: once a year, except for those born on a leap year. They happen whether you want them to or not. Believe me, I know. I've had quite a few and, looking around this marquee, I can see it's the same for many of you as well.

This evening I have added another score to the scoreboard of life. I have survived another year with all that's happened - its problems, blessing and then, of course, all of you! Today we are gathered here today to celebrate my birthday and, quite honestly, it's a bit like being at the world cup finals. I see all this excitement. In other words, all the supporters are gathered here to cheer me on to the next year of success, joy and experiences.

Speech-making is a bit like prospecting for oil. If you don't strike it in the first few minutes, stop boring. I hope I've struck oil. I am told the best speech-makers follow three simple rules: stand up, speak up, then very quickly shut up. Tonight I'm going to stick to that advice. Remember that I have an amazing brain. It never stops functioning from the time I was born until the moment I stand up to make a speech. Well, today we don't need the brain. We are reliant on artificial intelligence. Actually, it's wonderful. So today I told my computer that it is my birthday and it said that I need an upgrade. So I took the advice, I went to Dischem and bought myself a stack of vitamin tablets.

Yesterday I met an old friend and invited him to the party. He accepted the invite and asked for my address. I gave him the address and advised him to push the bell with his elbow. He gave me a strange look and asked me if I thought he had arthritis. I said, "Well, you won't be empty-handed!".

Really, at this age I don't feel old. To be frank, I don't feel anything. No pain, no joy, no sadness, no happiness, no likes, no dislikes, and no anger (for being wronged), and no excitement. I have never turned older by the years, but newer every year. Keep in mind: the older the fiddle, the sweeter the tune. In youth we learn and in old age we understand. The greatest comfort of my old age, and that which gives me the highest satisfaction, is the pleasing remembrance of the many benefits and friendly advices I have given the ones I love: you, you, you, and all of you.

Just the other day at the airport I met a man. He looked old. We got to talking and I was giving him some spiritual advice. He said, "What do you know about spirituality? You're just a nipper!" So I said, "How old are you?" He said "58". I looked up and said, "Muruga! Thank you!" He said, "Who's that?" I said, "My God". Then he asked me, "Why are you thanking him?" and I replied, "Because he keeps me looking younger than 58". Then he asked me how old I was and I told him, "Never mind!".

At 62 I am at that age when my back goes out more than I do. I understand we are like grapes: some of us turn to vinegar on the way while others improve with age and turn to wine. I have turned to neither because I find the older I get, the more power I seem to have to help all of you. I seem to be more like a snowball: the further I'm rolled, the more I gain and become stronger. I understand that I can't help getting older, but I don't have to be older.

When I was 20 years old my will reigned; when I was 30, my wit; at 40, my judgment; and now, at 60 plus, my experience reigns. Remember, the first 40 years of life give us the text and the next 30 years is only the commentary.

So how do you know you're getting older? When you stoop to tie your shoelaces, you wonder what else you can do while you're down there.

I want to conclude by saying that, firstly, my personality stays with me wherever I am, and my attitude depends on the people in front of me. So, tonight I have a good attitude. And, secondly, life is full of complications - even when you are born there is a string attached to you.

With that I say God bless and thank you. Enjoy this evening!

Hari Om.

Hanuman Chalisa deeper meaning

Hari Om.
I want all of you to recite what’s on the board – it's from the Chalisa. And tell me what it means.

“Yuga sahastra yojan par bhanu deelys taulni madhur phal guru.”

Who knows the meaning? I don’t recite the Hanuman Chalisa so I don’t know the meaning. I’m asking you who recite it all the time... See, no one knows what it means. We just recite it. I’m asking you because in the whole Chalisa this is the most important part. Has it got anything to do with ‘you who jumped from earth to the sun’?

Actually, what is written there is a mathematical formula written by Valmiki some 3500 years ago. And just recently in January NASA confirmed that formula is 100%, it’s perfect. I’m going to show you what that means if you have some patience.

What is a yuga? It's a period of 12000 years.

What’s the meaning of sahastra? It means 1000 (1 thousand petals – chakra)

How far is one yojan? It is equal to 8 miles.

Let us multiply this.

Yug x  sahastra x yojan = par bhanu

12000 x 1000 x 8 = 96 000 000 or 96 million miles.

96 million miles x 1.6 to convert to kilometers

96 000 000 x 1.6 km =  1 536 000 000

1 billion, five hundred and 36 million kilometres (i.e. 150 million km)

That is the exact distance from the earth to the sun. Actually it meant Hanuman could leap from the earth to the sun, but they used the mathematical formula to say that.

I don’t know if I told you, the 27th of July is the full force of Kali Yuga. Rahu, Kethu, the sun, the moon, all will be having a party. So if you go to the Srimat Bhagvatam, cantor 12, chapters 2 and 3, you’ll find all the predictions for this time are there. This book was written originally some 5000 years ago and if you read it you’ll find that most of it has been predicted in the Srimat Bhagvatam, chapter 3, verse 39 to verse 42. This will give you the complete predictions of this kalki. The 27th of July is the day when Rahu (N. Node), Kethu (S. Node), Guru (Jupiter), Chandran (Moon) and Suryan (Sun) will be having a party. They will be stirring it up for us. During this time the only thing that can save you is the Gayathri Mantra. You should be playing the Gayathri Mantra continuously in your car, your house, your kitchen your head, continuously and you’ll find that you won’t be a serious victim of what is going to happen. These planets have never been in that situation ever before – it’s the first time.

So, please, recite the Gayatri Mantra. Recite it and recite it. If you don’t want to recite it – if you think it is too long and too much labour, then ‘Sri Ram Jay Ram Jay Jay Ram’ has the same healing and obstacle-removing power as the Gayathri Mantra. If I were you I would recite Sri Ram Jay Ram Jay Jay Ram in the form of likit japa. Write it and see how you can live a very good life in this time while everybody else is having problems.

There’s also a kavicha – you see it in the Ramayan all the time – it means ‘protection’. I’ll show you what it looks like. I don’t have any so don’t think I’m trying to sell you any. It’s the only protection you can wear other than the mantra. A kavicha has two yantras encapsulated in one plate. It is a shield. It will protect you and give you all the prosperity you want. So please, just be conscious of the Gayathri Mantra continuously and see what it does for you.

Everything that is done by the Hindu maharishi saints and sages has both a cosmic and a material scientific reasoning.

Live life to the fullest but die empty

Hari Om.

This human life is actually a very beautiful life but only if you live it the way it is supposed to be lived. We should live our life to the fullest and die empty. Think about it. The reason we can’t die empty is because we’re thinking about death daily. And, as Jaggiswami said, ‘He who thinks of death continuously, dies many times. He who never thinks of death, dies only once’. We’re continuously thinking of death and our accumulation. We want to live this life to the fullest and die this life in the fullest. And if you travel to places like Sri Lanka, some parts of India, and especially Nepal, you’ll find that the people live their life to the fullest but they die very empty. No worry, no sorry, nothing. It is unbelievable how they can sustain a family with just R400 a month, or less. But they live such a peaceful beautiful life. You go to their homes and there’s absolutely nothing in their homes. They cook on the floor, they have no furniture, you sit on the floor. They sleep on the floor but when they wake up in the morning they are so happy because they live life to the fullest. We don’t do that.

We want to live this life and we don’t want to die. As soon as we get sick we pray, ‘Please extend this life’. Many of us think this life on earth is like a contract. When the lease expires you can renew it. When I say 'enjoy this life' I mean enjoy it on the spiritual journey, not the material journey. Enjoyment on the material plane ends in pain. On the spiritual journey, enjoyment ends in permanent bliss. We need to live that kind of life where we have permanent joy. And the only way we can have permanent joy is by the grace of the guru and God. Nobody else can give you permanent joy. Your children can’t, your spouse can’t. The joy they give you is temporary. It ends after some time. Your daughter might be giving you joy all your life and then she marries and leaves – and your joy ends. That’s on the material plane.

Anything on this material plane ends in pain, no matter what. You buy a new car, you drive it, you park it at Pick ‘n Pay, and somebody pushes a trolley into it and you get upset because your joy has been tampered with. That car has to get a dent sometime. Yet eternal bliss has no dent. In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, he talks about it very nicely in the last chapter. To attain the highest state of bliss, you have to practice samyama. To those who don’t come to yoga or do yoga or read Patanjali, you might not know what samyama is. It is a very high state of this mind. But we are locked in the material state with this mind. When the blind king asks Sanjaya in the Bhagavad Gita to tell him what the 100 sons of the Kuruvas and the 5 sons of the Pandavas were doing in battle. He said that introspection is called sanjaya, and started to give a narration of a complete battle that takes place in our body daily. The 100 sons of the blind king are the 100 faculties attached to the mind: brutality, violence, greed, lust. The 5 sons of the Pandavas are the five senses. There is always a battle between the two. Although that battle is taking place in this body of yours, Kurushaktra, Dharmashaktra, we shouldn’t be having that situation, that battle, continuously. You go to bed, there’s a battle, you’re thinking about something that happened. In the morning there is a battle so you shouldn’t go to the office because your boss is miserable. It carries on and on, the battle with your self.

In samyama you can be out of that state completely, in the height of happiness, of joy, the perfect state of no misery. And we need to find and enjoy that state. For this life, this soul, has taken this body just to fulfill the karmic consequences of this life. And your karmic consequences of this life are what you experience in this life every day. You experience lots of things and the karmic consequences work their way somehow and reduce your karma. And we have many, many karmas. Some of us have up to 33 million lifetimes of karma and we need to work out this karma very closely with the soul. It is very important to understand that as we sit here none of us consult with the soul for anything we do in this life. And in the process of our temporary happiness and joy we walk over everyone in this life including those who are close and dear to us. Why do we do that? It’s because we have a thing called mind. And it only seeks one kind of joy – not the joy that will give you total bliss.

This year in the Gayathri Peedam we have many weddings. Arisha is getting married, and a devotee from Jo’burg, all in this year. And they are looking at this joy that they are going to go into, little realizing that if you forget God and all that comes with God the joy will not last. It can be painless or painful. It is you who can make it happy, you who can think about how you are going to go about it. Let there be the grace of God every day in your life. You should not be a moment with your mid absent of guru and god, then you’ll see what kind of bliss I’m talking about.

We went to Sri Lanka. This time I went with 7 devotees, including Brian and Janice, and Krishnee – she went especially to fall down in a restaurant. They’ll tell you that when they go to Sri Lanka, there’s a different category of human beings there. You must watch them. They can sit for hours and just look at the guru, or crush his leg continuously and don’t even realize what they are doing, they’re so entranced in the grace of Guru and God. They are not short of anything. They don’t go to work for 10 days while I am there. A schoolteacher came for 10 days and didn’t go to school. They know that whatever is outside is material and that it is going to bring pain sometime. The state of bliss from Guru and God is there permanently, even after the time has gone that energy still remains.

So, as I said to you all earlier this year, in April, May and June we’re going to have major problems starting. They have started already, and will last right up to the 15 of March 2015 – the most difficult times in our life. In this time we should be seeking Guru and God. As Jaggiswami says, “Do not say you’re searching for God. God has never been lost”. You’re seeking God but you are supposed to be searching because you are lost. Every time you speak to people they say they’re searching. Don’t search for God, seek God and enjoy the bliss.

We were at the Kriya Babaji shrine in Katrigama. Those who were with me had the experience of Babaji and they enjoyed that moment. And when we went to Babaji’s birthplace, Parangapatti, the rocks moved. Everyone had such beautiful experiences they are still laughing. Let us continue this journey on this day. Enjoy the material plane. I’m not saying you must give up your material plane. Enjoy it but don’t forget that there is an existence greater than that. And that existence is what sustains you in your daily life. The fact that you can go home and have food on the table is not your doing at all, it’s God’s doing. Therefore you should not for a moment forget God’s existence. And that is an existence that will sustain you through all the difficult times you’ll experience until March 2015.

Hari om and God bless you.