English Translation of 4th May afternoon speech - Part I

[Guest guest]

The fellow who has wants, worships, the one who has no wants is

worshipped. That's is all there's to spirituality. Shivashankar Baba

has reached the stage where he has no wants. I have no wants. I am

here from morning to evening, do I take anything from you people? I

don't take any money, I don't take anything from anyone. Out of love

someone brought thayir Vadai (fried lentil balls soaked in yogurt),

someone some chocolates and someone panchamirtham (sweet offering

made to God usually made of bananas, jaggery, honey, cashew nuts and

raisins). I just taste it and distribute it to you all. I don't show

any discrimination in distributing it too. If someone is there on the

spot, I give it to them. I give preference to small children. I call

them and give it to them.

 

So whatever I have, I share with others. In fact I don't even need

the Thayir saadam (yogurt rice) and vadai(fried lentil balls). But I

have to accept the love shown by the people who bring those things.

Thiruvalluvar says

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

Who seek the praise of all-esteemed courtesy

 

Even if someone gives you poison with love, you have to drink it. You

can't say " No. " . Shiva did the same. He became Siva Peruman after He

drank the poison. If He also had been after Mahalakshmi, Oordhvaretas

(a state where seminal energy flows to the brain), Kalpaka Vriksham

(a divine tree that grants any wish) and Kamadhenu (a divine cow that

grants any wish) like the Devas (smaller Gods), then who would have

drunk the poison? It was Shiva who sacrificed.

 

So a person who sacrifices becomes a Gnaani. He becomes divine.

Divinity means a person who does not live for himself. You can say

this in another way. " You are living for yourself. I (too) am living

for yourself. " So when will you live for others? That state will come

only when you leave yourself i.e you reach a state of, " I don't want

anything. " Otherwise you would say, " Lets keep this Thayir Vadai and

sweets in the refrigerator. We can eat them tomorrow. " I don't do

that. This is true with anything. Someone brought three sarees. I

said, " Why don't you yourself wear it? " Meanwhile some other lady

celebrating her birthday came to that place. I asked them to give one

saree to her. This also is spirituality.

 

Let's take this example. One day a poor lady came to Paramaachaaryar

in Kanchi. She complained, " For my daughter's wedding, they (people

on the bridegrooms side) are asking for 11 sovereigns (1 sovereign =

8gms) of gold. I am very poor. I am afraid the marriage may not

materialize. " Paramaacharyar said, " I myself am a beggar, a sanyasi,

what can I do on my own? Just wait for some time. Ambal has heard

whatever you said. She will pave a way for you. " Hearing this, the

lady waited. Within 10 minutes, an affluent person from Andhra (a

state in India) got down from his car. He brought a Thambaalam (a big

shining brass plate) with 11 sovereigns of gold, some sweets and

fruits and offered it to Paramaacharyar. Paramaacharyar immediately

called the concerned people of the Mutt and said, " Take this gentleman

and lady to the sanctum sanctorum of Kamakshiamman (Diety that

presides over Kanchi) temple and perform an archana (offering to

God). " He then looked at the person from Andhra and said, " You give 10

sovereigns to this lady and keep the one sovereign of gold in the

pooja room of your house. Dont use it for any other purpose. "

 

So when a sanyaasi thought of helping someone, Ambal immediately

rushed to his aid. The help would have been of no use even if the

affluent person had come the next day. That's what is divinity. So

Mahaans are witnesses of the glory of God. We are not the performers.

Even the biggest of the Gnaanis is just a spectator of all the doings

of the Supreme.

 

Take the example of Adi Shankara in Kerala. He was an embodiment of

Tiruchur Vadakkatthinaathar. He was a bramhachaari and used to go

around begging for food. He would have a holy bowl and whatever was

given to him was his meal. He chanced to go to a poor lady's house.

She did not have anything to give him. She was feeling bad but did

not want to turn away the small brahmachaari lad. She rummaged the

house and finally got hold of a small nellikai (gooseberry). Ashamed

and without any other go, she gave him the gooseberry. Adi Sankara

wondered at the effort she put in for a small gooseberry and then

wept. He said, " O God, why have you bestowed so much poverty in your

world? " Then a voice from the skies said, " There is no use of feeling

bad for someone's difficulties without practically doing anything

about it. " You have to mitigate the person's suffering. Then Adi

Sankara prayed to Mahalakshmi asking Her to bestow wealth on that

poor lady. The song he sang there is called Kanaka Dhaara (rain of

gold) Stuthi. Mahalakshmi was extremely happy and poured lots of gold.

 

A true mahaan does not ask for gold for himself. Adi Sankara on

seeing the gold did not think, " Ok lets take some of this gold and

establish a mutt. " He gave the gold to whoever was in need and walked

away. He was least bothered about it. This is the state of a true

Gnaani.

" Odum Semponnum okkave Nokkuvaar, veedum venda veruppilar Aayinar "

He sees a begging bowl and gold equally. Even if he gets Moksha he

will say, " What is there in Moksha? " Actually what do you mean by

Moksha? It is just leaving this body and going around the world as

Atma. What is the use of that Moksham? We would be loitering around

eating and drinking through someone else's body. That's a kind of job

without any productivity, its of no use. If we really have acquired

some power through our penance, then we should do some God's work or

other in this world. If everyone said, " I am going to take Moksha and

sit in front of God, " how is this world going to run then?

 

So these Gnaanis brush aside even Moksha and come to earth to do

God's work. For such people gold and begging bowl will appear the

same. Once there was a saint. He and his wife were walking along in a

forest. In fact both were sanyasis. Suddenly the saint bent down,

picked something and threw it aside. Then his wife asked him, " Whats

it that you threw away? " He replied, " It is gold. You are a lady.

Your mind can get tempted, that's why I threw it aside. " Then the

wife looked at him impishly and said, " So you still know the

difference between sand and gold. " There are such people too.

 

Near Kanchipuram, there is a village called Kooram. There was a

person called Koorathaalvar. He was the disciple of Ramanujar. He

wanted to be a dasa (servant) of Varadaraajar (Vishnu) and hence

distributed all his properties and set off with his wife to

Kanchipuram along with Ramanujar. The wife was beset with fear while

she was walking. Koorathalvaar asked, " We have forsaken everything.

What are you still afraid of? " She said, " Swami, don't worry. " You

have to call your husband as " Swami " because he is the wife's only

relative from the wife's point. She continued, " You were such a rich

person. That's why I brought along a golden plate so that you can eat

using that plate. I don't want you to eat on a banana leaf. " He

said, " Throw that away. We have left everything behind. What's the

use of this golden plate? "

 

Such Mahaans have existed on this land of ours. So, why do these

mahaans get that state of mind? Imagine, will a worldly person throw

away a golden or silver plate, he cannot. A mahaan can, because he

knows by experience there's something called God. It will take care

of him and give him succour and daily food. He comes to know this by

experience not from books. So he is not bothered about the next

minute. He knows there is the all-pervading God who is ready to serve

as his errand boy.

 

You would have read Maha Bhakta Vijayam. See what all Panduranga has

done in that. He would come to Sant Jana Bai's house and grind flour

for her. He would come as a servant boy to massage her legs. That's

what you call God. He really exists, exists for those who believe in

him utterly, to help them, feed them and take care of them 24 hours a

day. That's because he is all powerful and all pervading.

 

In Srirangam, there was the same Mahaan Koorathaalvar whom we talked

about just now. He settled down there later. Such a rich person who

left all his belongings, used to go around with the holy begging bowl

and eat whatever he could muster. Once, it rained continuously for 4

days. He could not go on his begging rounds and was starving, as was

his wife. Both of them were lying down resting themselves when the

wife said, " You are always chanting Ranganathar's name all the time.

We have been starving for the last four days. What has your

Ranganathar done? Even an ordinary fellow who has some cattle feeds

them regularly. How come He has made such a devotee as you starve for

four days? " Within an hour of her uttering those words, someone

knocked the door of their house. The person was no other than the one

who worked in the Ranganatha temple's holy Kitchen. He said, " Lord

Ranganatha told me that you were starving for four days. Cook

something for them immediately and take the food to them. That's why

I have come here. " See, this lady is scolding Koorathaalvar in their

house, Ranganatha senses it immediately and see how he sends someone

from His temple with food.

 

All these incidents really happened. Its not even 1000s of years

earlier, its just been 300 years since this happened. Take the

example of Vivekananda. There is no one who has suffered as much as

Vivekananda. It is only now that you people pay your respects to his

photo where he is shown with a coat and turban. He did not have a

even second kowpeenam (small undergarment) to wear. He would wash it,

take bath naked until the kowpeenam dried and then come out and wear

it. Can you believe that Vivekananda, whom you think as a great

person, lived in such dire straits? One day a monkey snatched away

his kowpeenam riddled with holes, that was drying. He got very angry

and thought, " O God, I am bearing all difficulties for You. You have

pushed me to depths where I can't have even a kowpeenam. If that

monkey does not return my Kowpeenam, I will go into the forest naked

and not do any more service for You. " The monkey did come back with

his kowpeenam.

 

Once Vivekananda was travelling in a train to Ayodhya. In those days,

you would not get water in the train. It was Britisher's era. You

would have to pay for water in the train. He had not had food for the

last few days. In the train an Englishman sitting opposite to him was

ridiculing him, " You Indian sanyasis are beggars. " and continued

eating in front of the starving Vivekananda. Suddenly a sweetmeat

hawker came running. He had a small basket on his head full of pooris

(fried soft flour tortillas) and sweets and a jug full of water. He

put the basket down in front of Vivekananda and offered him the

pooris and sweets to eat. Vivekananda out of fear said, " You have

brought this for someone else not for me. " The hawker replied that it

was for him only. Yesterday night Lord Rama had appeared in his dream

and said, " My boy has not eaten for sometime. Take some pooris and

sweets for him. " The hawker continued, " I did not believe it the

first time and went back to sleep. He woke me up again and said the

same thing. In fact he even told me which train coach you are in and

how you would be sitting. " So God provided for Vivekananda too.

 

(To be continued...)