Sri Swamiji conducted the concluding rituals for the worship of the
`mother done in the earlier days by Him. Thereafter He performed Shami
puja at SapthaRishi Theertham , a holy pond in the Peetham. During the
musical discourse all the devotees were highly ecstatic with rapturous
joy listening to the nectartian flow of divine music of Sri Swamiji. The
series of Sri Swamiji's songs on Trishathi Namas of Lalitha was concluded
today. This is very significant. The following is the message of Sri
Swamiji given today.
Dischantment- Essence of Vijayadasami message
Sri Swamiji spoke thus -
The six innner enemies Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada, Matsarya (desire, anger, greed, enchantment, pride, jealousy ) are the unseen demons pestering the people. The festival of Vijayadasami is meant to celebrate our success over these enemies-caused by the kindness of Parasakthi.
How do these six inner enemies attack us? We are entangled in enchantment and allurement due to the power of illusion. Thus we become victims of six inner enemies. Vedas,Vedangas,Yagas ,Penance modes of worship-all these are meant to enable us to get over the illusion. Inspite of all these noble practices only deep devotion can make us defeat Maya(illusion). If the path of devotion is left out,one cannot get liberation from the clutches of enchantment , inspite of scholarship or prolonged penance. It is likely that such people are engulfed more and more in the lure of Maya.
What of others ? Even the great Sage Narada had such a bitter experinece once while he was in Swethadweepa, a strong sense of self compliance and ego sprouted in him, while thinking of his knowledge of Vedas and power of penance.
In no time a very brilliant and beautiful maiden appeared on the bank of a nearby lake. Her eyes were royal; and dignified and her smile was highly pleasant. Narada felt very glad seeing her.
Narada approached her and soflty enquired "Who are you?" Though the words were decent his feelings were not pure.
She did not reply, but smiled more pleasantly. All the wealth of his knowledge vanished in a moment. His intellect was so much benumbed that he doubted why he was holding the divine Veena. Let alone Veda, not even a single verse could he recollect. Narada felt very miserable.
Even a little of allurement for a while, drove away all knowledge of Narada. What was the serious sin committed by Narada? Lack of the subtle nature of Dharma righteous cause such doubts in us.
Dharma (righteousness) is very subtle and is too tough to comprehend. To enjoy the right of the beauty of nature is good. Worship of nature is great. However the worship of nature must be selfless. Otherwise it is very sinful.. If saliva oozes in one 's mouth seeing a fine fruit in the market, such a fruit is deemed to be unfit to be offered to God.
Even the thought "I want this "arising in one's mind on seeing anything is equivalent to enjoyment of the same. This is the fine subtle aspect of Dharma.
Hence we should not compare the beauty as one's wife with his mother's beauty. So also the husband's handsomeness should not be compared with that of one's father. However, one can say one 's wife is as kind, generous and skilful as one's mother. But beauty should not be compared.
Suppose one feels thus while selecting a sari for purchase to be offered to Goddess, "How fine I look if I wear this saree after offering to the Goddess? Is this sari suitable for me". Such a sari is not fit to be offered to deity. So also the husband should not feel that the sari is suitable to his wife after offering to the deity. However it is very noble to feel that the sari will be suitable to one 's mother after the offering to the deity is done.
Similarly if one felt that the worship he performed for all the nine days, should result in Punya (merit) for himself only, such puja is polluted. The worship will be meaningful and purposeful if the result of the good deed is offered to Parashakti. though such selfless offer is difficult even to think of, actually this idea is the delicate subtle aspect of Dharma.
However one may doubt whether one can worship at all with such tough and difficult rules. The only thing is that one must control one's mind to the maximum extent possible and perform puja with a pure and pious attitude.
The upsurge of the feeling " I and mine" lessen righteousness from the mind, allowing allurement and attachment to overpower one's thinking. This is the power of illusion. Only due to this power, Narada lost his memory. initially he was not even aware of the loss of memory. By grace of Divine mother, Narada realised that he forgot his spiritualism and felt miserable.
It is only due to the boundless mercy of Parasakti that we could recognise our own mistakes or that we are going astray from the right path. Aided by the divine grace, Narada - a sage of cultured spiritual mentality - could intuitively guess properly that the young lady he saw was unique and sought refuge at Her feet.
In the meantime, the Divine Mother magnified Her celestial form. Narada visualised a man as red as fire- in heart of the Goddess. While the sage was gazing he saw another strong man in the heart of the first man. Narada was confused. Soon a third man-white in complexion was seen in the heart of the second man.
Narada could not understand anything. All the men's forms disappeared and the deity appeared in her usual form.
Then Narada could realise that the Divine Mother is standing there. He prostrated to her and asked" Mother! Pray, reveal your significance. Kindly let me know why all my knowledge vanished?"
She clarified thus-
"Narada! knowers call me SAVITRI. (the word Savitri means Mother) The men you saw just are my sons. They are Rig, Yajur Sama Vedas. They symbolise A, U and M. Only from me emnates OM " (combination of A ,U and M ). One must feel that all the females forms are like one's mother. Only for such persons can bear fruit. Such persons only can retain the knowledge and wisdom. Now you bathe in this lake".
By the time he finished his bath all his knowledge was restored to him. Also he had splendid cosmic vision`(Visvaroopa) of Parasakti in the form of Savitri.
Thus we can learn from this story that a foul thought can allure even a great sage like Narada and only that total surrender to Parasakti can restore our knowledge, which is truly beneficial.
We are fortunate on the contemplate on the celestial sage Narada -the personification of divine knowledge on this auspicious day of Vijayadasami. This is good for us. May all of you be blessed truly with the real knowledge with the grace of Parasakti. May you all be able to conquer allurement caused by illusion. May the celebration of Vijayadasami benefit you all.
JAYA GURU DATTA
In the morning Sri Sairigapu Ramamurthy gave a good vocal concert of the Sundarakanda( a chapter of (Ramayana) narrating the super human deeds of Hanuman.
In the afternoon assembly ,Sri Swamiji released the book Chants on `Kriya `yoga-containing a transliteration and translation of the various hymns on Kriya Yoga. Sri Swamiji joyous and wonderful discourse for three hours in the evening was highlymemorable.