Sri Swamiji’s arrival day speech in Cochin Ashrama
27th September 2002

Concentration is important. A small example. There was a businessman. He wanted to go to Bombay for signing a contract. He would get 20 lakhs rupees. He booked a flight. The flight was at 7 am. He had to go in that plane. He told his driver whose name was Krishna to come at 4 AM to drop him off in the airport. This poor driver got late. This man is waiting in the house for the driver. He did not come till 5 AM. This businessman was very worried about his contract and the money he would lose. This driver finally turned up at 6.30 AM. The driver apologized and they left for the airport. The car had a brake failure on the way to airport. The driver got out to find the repairer. Then a scooter man came and offered to drop him to airport. The businessman thanked god for sending this scooter and finally caught flight. Ten minutes in to the flight, the captain announced that the engines had caught fire and the plane would crash and asked people to prepare for the emergency landing. The businessman then thought of the sequence of events in the morning. He then thought that the driver was the God (because he came late so that this person would miss the plane) and that the scooter man was his evil enemy (because he brought him to this death bed airplane). Then came an announcement again that there was confusion and the fire was a hoax. See how fickle minded people are. One minute you think one thing and the second minute the other thing. You don’t have consistent thinking. Many people in this hall are now thinking how they can go out now. They are confused if to leave or stay. Do whatever your heart says with full mind.

Why do we have small altar in our houses? So that you can sit there and meditate for five minutes. Many think that if they have that, they have to do many elaborate Puja. No. The altar is not there for your Pujas. God gets better Pujas than your Puja. It is there for your personal worship and meditation. Use it regularly.

I came here with a sudden decision. This Chitrabhanu year is Agni Nakshatra (fire star). We don’t know what happens next. We have been getting many bad news. Let us pray God to bless us with happiness and peace of mind. Let us chant Datta Stava.

Jaya Guru Datta