18th May 2003 afternoon speech - English Translation

[Guest guest]

A true Mahaan never partakes food for himself. Many people don't know

this. Since morning many of you have been bringing things for me to

eat. I am healthy, strong and roly-poly, I don't need any food. Then

why is it that I am accepting their offering? You should know the

reason for that. There are so many people bringing food and if a

normal person like you eats all of it, you would go down with health

problems in no time.

 

There are many reasons for this. One of them is, a Mahaan does not

partake food for himself, wear attires or live for himself. Lots of

people may not know this. Even if we drink a little water or tea or

have a chocolate, we mahaans offer it to God, we dont eat it at all.

This must sound Greek and Latin to you, you would not have heard of

this practice so far. We have been trained like that, living with God

morning till night. If you offer me a garland it goes to God, if you

chastise me that also goes to Him.

 

" The food I eat, the water I drink, the betel leaves I chew " , says

Alwar, " is all Yours " .

 

That kind of philosophy does not get imbibed in a day. You should be

thinking about God all the time and then at some point you would get

that practice. Even when you are about to sit or stand you would be

always thinking about Him. With or without our knowledge, whatever we

eat or wear, that should be offered to God. What a big deal this is!

That kind of philosophical living will come to you on its own. If you

try to get it consciously, it won't.

 

A couple of years back I had been to a place called Kullumanali. It

is beyond Simla in North India. There you have a place called

Manikarnam where there is cave with a hot sulphur fountain. It is

associated with Guru Nanak. You can go and medidate there. Whatever

be the kind of chronic skin disease one has, if he goes into the cave

it will be cured because of the sulphur content in the vapour. I went

there because I heard Guru Nanak performed penance there, not because

I have some skin problem. There they have an engraved stone with an

anecdote behind the popularity of that place.

 

Guru Nanak had fled to the forest to avoid the Muslims as they were

terrorizing the people. At a particular time during his flight when

he had crossed Simla, Guru Nanak was very hungry. His disciples had

only wheat flour but did not have water to mix and knead the flour.

It was winter and there was ice all around. When they were pondering

what to do in that situation, Guru Nanak said, " Go to that corner

there and dig a little, you will get some hot water. Knead the flour

with that water and make chapatis (tortillas) for us. " The disciple

went to the corner and to his astonishment found hot water after

digging a little. Still, there was no fire to bake the chapatis.

While the disciple was kneading the floor, Guru Nanak said, " Give the

first chapathi to the hot spring as an offering to God. " The

discipline did as Guru Nanak bade him to. Guru Nanak continued, " Keep

offering all chapatis to the spring. " As advised by his Guru, the

disciple kept offering the chapatis to the spring one after the

other. To his astonishment, except for the first chapathi, all others

returned back baked!

 

So, whenever a person offers first to God before partaking his food,

such a habit will always keep growing. So all of you should also

offer food to God first before eating. Because without Him, you wont

have a stomach that gets hungry and food that satisfies the hunger.

There are millions of people in the world who do not have anything to

eat. There is the Supreme Being who takes care of the smallest of the

living things. There is a proverb in Hindi, " The name of a person who

will eat the grain of rice is written on every grain. " So God has

given you plentiful, think of Him before you eat. You can train your

mind to think of God all the time. Ask me why? (Someone from crowd

asks " Why? " ) Thats because you people eat all the time.

 

A mahaan trains himself to offer everything he eats to God. This is

the first reason. Second reason is , when you reach certain heights

in penance, even God will come to your rescue in times of need. At

that stage even if you sit with your arms and legs crossed, anything

you wish would reach you as if it had come in search of you. There

was a mahaan called Kodi Swami. He would never eat with his hands, he

would raise both his legs and rest it on a chair. Someone would go

near him and put a chocolate in his mouth.

 

Pattinathaar used to say, " If food comes in search of me then I would

eat. I won't do it on my own. "

 

So Kodi Mahaan used to be fed like. The person who used to give him

the offering would stand in front of Kodi Swami as something good

would come his way when Kodi Swami blessed him.

 

Thirumoolar said, " If a true Siddha Purusha partakes food, that is

equivalent to Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva partaking the food. "

 

So Kodi Swami after chewing on the chocolate would say, " Hmmmm "

forcefully and spit it out into someone else's hands, which the

person would have to eat it. How incredible it is! Only a deserving

person would get the chocolate, Kodi Swami knew that there was so

much power in the chocolate. I have seen such Mahaans.

 

When you go to Ulundoorpettai, just before you turn to Perambur,

there is a samadhi of a mahaan in a PWD (Public Works Department)

office. His name was Sankaralinga Siddhar. Most of the mahaans

disappear from the scene disillusioned with the material world, even

before people come to know of them. In fact, compared to the mahaans

you know, the mahaans you don't know are more powerful. They will not

be accessible at all.

 

Coming back to Sankaralinga Siddhar, do you know how he used to

bless? When you go to him, he would say in a gruff voice, " Get me

some idlis (baked rice cakes). " You would have to run to some hotel

nearby and get a few idlis. He would then ask you to sit in front of

him. You would have to hold both your hands together, he would dip

the idli in Chutney (spicy gravy predominantly made of grated

coconut) and Sambar (thin gravy made usually of tamaring paste and

onions) and drop it in your hands and say forcefully, " Now eat it. "

You would have to eat it in a particular manner. After that he would

pour water into your cupped hands for you to drink. He would ask you

to come for a certain number of days and you would have to repeat the

same exercise everyday and partake the food offered by him. All your

difficulties would vanish. Even if you were poor and could not buy

the idlis, in a corner he would have some porridge stewing over a

stove. He would pour the porridge into your hands and you would have

to eat it. All his blessings would reach you through the food he gave

you. You would never need to tell him anything and he won't ask you

anything.

 

Why did the Siddhar do like that? If a person is undergoing

difficulties it is due to his karma. When a mahaans wants to change

it, that karma affects the mahaan too. So when he gave the idli or

porridge to you, he would give it to you as an offering. So the ill

effects of the karma that would have affected the Siddhar got

neutralized by the beneficial effects of his act of offering food to

you. See the wonderful technique here.

 

There was a Swami in Thiruvannamalai called Visiri (Hand fan) Swami

(also called Ram Sarat Kumar Swami). A lady used to bring food for

him everyday. That lady was the wife of a Retired State Bank officer.

The menu used to be just dhal (boiled lentils), poori (fried wheat

tortillas) and some yogurt rice. He used to give some of that to me

also. Over time I had come to know the way mahaans think and work, as

I had been in associated with them for sometime. In fact I come to

know what a person known to me is thinking instantaneously

 

For example, a small child has come from Thirukkoilur today. She

studies in our school. I knew in the morning itself that this child

is going to come and see me. Now you see, her Father has brought her

here. Such things exist when you reach great heights in spirituality.

I don't reveal this to people. I dont want to create myths. I want to

move with people like an ordinary person (Sahaja Bhava).

 

Coming back to Ram Sarat Kumar Swami, I knew what he was thinking. He

was thinking, " This gentleman is already a retired Bank Officer. This

lady is bringing me food and must be costing her money every day.

It's ok that she is performing a Seva (offering to God) by cooking

food. But she should not incur expenditure because of this. "

Immediately, the Swami gave her some money he had, asked her to buy

some vegetables from a vendor who was just then passing by. The lady

went out and bought some vegetables. He asked her, " How much did you

buy? " She said, " Half kilo (1lb nearly) " . He asked, " What did you

buy? " She answered, " Bitter gourd. " Swami's heart sank. He

thought, " How can I give something bitter to a person who is feeding

me? " See how his mind thinks, it was remarkable. I knew what he was

thinking. " Out of gratitude for feeding me, I gave her some money to

buy some vegetable, and of all things she buys bitter gourd! " A

mahaan cannot give a bitter thing with his hands to anyone. Swami

exclaimed, " Hold it, hold it! " He went to the adjacent room and

scrounged for some half a kg of kalkandu (sugar cubes) and gave it to

her. He remarked thrice, " That was bitter, this is sweet. "

 

So you can see how a mahaan shows the right way to his followers. You

can never judge how great a real mahaan is. That's because the people

whom you know are worldly always having a materialistic outlook on

things. You don't know whats nobility. For example, you have flowers

and among them you have Anicha flower. It loses its fragrance after

someone smells it. You also have a tomato flower, which has no smell

by nature. But can you differentiate between the two? Similarly, you

have no idea about the atma inside a noble person. A mahaan lives

with his mind always on God 24 hrs a day. He eats for God, wears for

God, toils for God and finally merges with Him. There is no separate

life for him. Shivashankar Baba is in that state. I don't have any

wants.

 

" The person who has wants worships, the One who has no wants is

worshipped. "

 

You pray to God because you need something from God. What can I ask

from God, I have not asked anything from Him so far, you won't

believe me. All Gods are my Friends but still I don't ask anything.

See how incredible it is when you hear that. When God appears before

you, will you leave Him just like that? You would cling to His arms

and demand Rs 1crore ($200000). I don't have such wants, that's

because I have come to know that this world is false. In this false

world what are we going to achieve by further acquiring other false

things like car, bank balance and bungalow? If you sit without any

wants, God will come running to you to care for you.

 

One day, when Vallalar in Thiruvottiyur, slept on the Thinnai

(concrete bench) outside of the house, to avoid getting scolded by

his sister-in-law, didn't Vadivudai Amman serve food to him. Seeing

Guru Namachivayar starving after having started from his house to get

to Chidambaram, did not Unnamalai Amman of Thiruvannamalai Herself

serve him under the tree where he sat on a golden plate? Didn't God

Himself wait with tamarind rice underneath a pandal (tent made of

thick cloth) thinking that Thirunaavukkarasu may be hungry. Seeing

Sundaramurthy Nayanar hungry, didn't God Himself ask him to wait

inside athe temple and go to a few houses to get some good food?

 

This is a different kind of language. If you truly live for God, It

will bear you and take care for you. Wherever I go, there will be no

difficulties, not only in India but anywhere in the world. Ok, if you

think I am taken care only in cities and towns, that's not even the

case, you leave me in a forest even there I will be well cared for.

See that bespectacled gentleman there, Ramesh, he came with me once

to Mahendragiri. People cannot enter into that forest. I was telling

him, wherever I am there wont be any dearth of food. Within half an

hour, in that dense forest, we were given provided a traditional

sumptuous lunch with Sambar, rasam etc on a plantain leaf. Such a

thing is possible. Gods are there everywhere, they don't have forests

etc in their world.

 

Ramana Maharishi lived in Thiruvannamalai. When he was

circumambulating the mountain, there were devotees who were singing

Arunachala Aksharamala. You know that in tamil " Kaavalane " means

protector. In Telugu " Kaavalane " means " I need something " . " Naaku

coffee Kaavala " means " I want coffee " . " Naaku Bonda Kaavala " means " I

want Bonda " (fried balls of bengal gram flour). I dont really need

it. I am already like one.

 

So when these people were singing Arunagirinaathar's song on Lord

Muruga, the " Kaavalane " word occurred a couple of times. Ramana

mischievously remarked, " Emi Kaavalane, Enthentha Kaavalane? " It

means, " What do you want and how much do you want? " Since he was in a

good mood, his disciples wanted to capitalize on the situation and

said, " Idli Kaavalane, coffee kaavalane. " It means, " I want idli and

coffee. " Within half an hour a person appeared with a basket of

idlis, chutney and drum full of coffee and served it to them. When

you reach certain heights in spirituality all these things happen.

 

So when a devotee out of love brings an offering, a mahaan cannot

refuse. Thiruvalluvar says,

 

They drink with smiling grace, though poison interfused they see,

Who seek the praise of all-esteemed courtesy

 

Did not Shiva drink the poison that you people gave. You gave him the

Alahala poison, didn't you and poor thing, didn't He drink it, while

you took all the good things like Karpaga Tree, Kamadhenu and Goddess

of Wealth when the ocean of milk was churned? That's appropriate

courtesy. There is another type of courtesy. If there is a visitor in

the house, even if we have the ambrosia that gives immortality, you

should not have it without giving to the guest first. So if anyone

brings something to Shivashankar Baba lovingly, he will distribute it

among volunteers or people waiting in the queue. Those who bring

something, don't really mean to distribute it to these people. I

always speak the truth. They think, " Baba will not eat all of it, so

he will distribute the rest to others. " So if I get one Thairu Vadai

(fried donut shaped ball of horse bean flour dipped in yogurt) you

people get the rest nine of them.

 

Why do I allow this then? This is my training to bring that love out

of you. When someone accepts and receives what you give eagerly, you

get great happiness out of it. At that moment, they are mirrors from

which your atma is getting reflected. Say, a mother is feeding her

child. Does the child ever say " I am hungry " ? On the contrary it

refuses to eat. It's the mother that sings beckoning to the moon and

forces the food one morsel after the other into the childs mouth. The

Mother is doing it for her own happiness after having seen all those

roly-poly babies in the advertisements in movie theaters, she wants

to make her own child look like that. She will keep feeding to the

extent that the doctor himself may have to ask her to cut down the

feeding to avoid indigestion. So when a Mother feeds her child, it's

the Mother that gets the happiness not the child. Similarly, when you

feed others you will be happy. The Mother in you manifests itself.

There is no person in this world that does not have that quality.

 

These are all my experiments, I haven't followed anyone. My Guru is

Palani Muruga and the one who has taken over me is Lord

Venkateshwara. I don't have any Gurus at the human level. I have

certainly observed mahaans, taken their blessings, and imbibed their

good qualities. I dont follow anyone. I have set myself certain

principles, and I attribute all the actions and outcomes to Siva.

 

(To be continued...)