CONTENTS 1. Satsang with Swamiji - How to Develop Yourself on the Spiritual Path 6. My Turn – A Break in the Ashram by Dhriti, France 8. Swamiji Answers Your Questions 10. News from the Premananda Youth 12. Experiences with Swamiji – by a sannyas disicple 16. The One Without Name or Form – Don’t be a Beggar
“In your life the problems you face are the first tests that help you get closer to God. Don’t think that problems are agonizing and move away from God. The only way in which you can get closer to God is to face difficulties.”
Swami Premananda
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Satsang with Swamiji
How to Develop Yourself on the Spiritual Path
This is part of a satsang that Swamiji gave in the Ashram in February 1993
We have come to this world with various thoughts. We have started a journey but where do we intend to go? You can go anywhere you like. There is no specified route that you should take on this journey to say that this is the path you should tread. Lord Jesus Christ gave people a route to take, why don’t you take that route? After the Old Testament was written they then wrote the New Testament but now they have closed the Bible and have even stopped going to Church. The prophet Mohammed came into this world and stated beautiful thoughts which are in the Quran. Lord Buddha came into this world and taught the path of meditation, yoga and so on and thereafter so many saints and sages came into this world. They all taught good ideas. We have so many books about spirituality and we have read all of them - we don’t leave any out, we read everything. After reading them all we become confused and nothing gets into our heads. The reason is because you are not following the teachings properly but we can’t blame anyone. Today I asked an Ashram resident how the food was and she said she is fed up with iddly. She wants something new such as puri, chapathi or ice-cream and a nice cup of tea. So even when it comes to food it is not possible for us to eat the same thing over and over again because we will get fed up with it. Spirituality is just the same; when I repeat myself, it is like eating idly again and again. In the early days idly was made on a wood fire but now we have become very modern. We have a steamer, electricity and so on. The idly is the same but the equipment used to make the idly is different. I am only going to polish and modernize whatever teachings were there in the ancient stories and then give it to you in a new form - that is all I am going to do. I am not going to teach you anything new. I was
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born to bring you a message but it is the same old message that has been given to me in order to put across to you in a way that would be understood by all of you. That is why I have built this Ashram in an ancient way, to show you that I am not going to teach you something new. The ancient thoughts, ideas and path are presented to you but in a modern way.
What is spirituality? Each of us will have a different idea of what spirituality is. None of them are wrong. All of them are correct. I will not find fault with any of them. The only thing that I expect or want of you is that whatever you do, you try to do it in the correct way, in a perfect way. You can have faith in any number of gurus. You can trust all the saints and sages. There is nothing wrong in that. Even if you think of your own guru, I will still be by your side to help you on your path. I am not expecting you to think of me as your guru, or as an avatar. I prefer to cook and feed you, I like that very much. This Ashram resident asked me why I go and cook in the kitchen. She said, “You are supposed to be a divine incarnation so why do you go to the kitchen to cook?” She said that she is prepared to cook. She wanted to leave the printing work and go to the kitchen and start cooking. I told her that if I allowed her to go to the kitchen to cook then there would still be burial grounds here. She immediately asked me what I meant so I told her that many of the people here have killed a number of animals and eaten them and made their stomachs into burial grounds. They have already eaten chicken and beef biriyani. Even if it is digested the stomach is still a burial ground. After we die we are buried in a cemetery and the dead fish and dead chicken is buried inside our stomachs. So as a first step I thought to change the burial ground into a spiritual ground. That is why I went to the kitchen. When I go and put my hand in the idly mixture I think that a little divinity will enter it and change the burial ground inside your stomachs. The burial ground inside you will change into a spiritual garden. I asked her if she could also do that but she said she would go back to the printing press and went away. There is always a reason behind whatever I do but I can’t give you an explanation for everything I do. Even if you don’t like your idly and dosa, don’t forget there is divinity in it.
Spirituality starts from the moment you take your bath, to your eating habits and the manner in which you behave. Don’t think that if you sit down somewhere and practise a little meditation that you will go straight to enlightenment. There are some people who curse others as they cook and they complain about how many people they have to cook for. But when people come to eat their food they put a smile on their face and then serve it. Don’t think that this type of food is good to eat. This is what you get in restaurants - the cook grumbles and scolds others whilst cooking and then the manager smiles, serves the food and gets the money. It’s much better to eat fruits because fruits will never curse you. You can eat anything you want but what I want to tell you is that the vibration of whatever a person thinks about while they are cooking will enter the food that is served to you.
Next we should consider the place where we live. What would happen to you if you went to live in a place where there is a competitive mentality, jealousy and hatred? You will never be able to spiritually advance if you go and stay in such an environment. There should be a sense of freedom wherever you go. That is why I won’t question you about why you have come here, where you have come from and for what purpose you have come because I allow you to be
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yourself and to live freely here. You are given the freedom to do whatever you like here. I trust you that you will do good things when you are here. When you visit another country you should know the culture of that country. I would like to say that India is a divine country. You may wonder if other countries such as U.K., Germany, Singapore and the Philippines are also divine. The entire world is divine but many divine people are born in India. Why is it? That’s a big question! There is a belief that because so many saints were born here there is a divine vibration in the soil. Lord Jesus Christ was born in another country. It says in the Puranas that he lived in India for twelve years. I thought I would live in Sri Lanka but now I am here in India and have been here for ten years. It seems to be that whoever is born with a spiritual background outside of India must come to India, it’s like a rule. There were riots in Sri Lanka and I had to pack my bags and come here in 1983. I am hoping to go back to Sri Lanka in two years time. After all, Lord Jesus Christ lived in India for twelve years so on that basis I should get back to my country in two years time. I am just thinking. My mind says I should go and stay in Sri Lanka. It’s a good country. Here there are restrictions regarding visas. So I’m saying that this country has divinity in the soil. You could be living anywhere or be following any path but there is divinity in this country.
Now you have come to this divine country and sat on the divine ground so therefore divinity should arise in you. How is that going to be done? Are we going to spend our time cursing the type of food that is being given to us or cursing the mosquitoes that are biting us or reacting to everything that’s happening around us? Is this how we are going to spend our time? Or are we going to complain about the toilets? When you come to this country there are a lot of problems that you have to face but why have you come here? In your country there are good toilet facilities, there are no mosquitoes, and there are air conditioned rooms so why don’t you stay there? Isn’t it because you need a little spirituality that you came all the way here? When you come here you find that the toilets and mosquitoes are disturbing you. Your mind will get agitated over the mosquitoes and the lack of toilet facilities. We come all the way from there to get some spiritual message but once we’re here we’re just thinking about our body. I think if you stay in your own country you will get more spiritual benefits. In your country there won’t be any problems regarding the toilet facilities or mosquitoes so your mind will always think of God, God, God. Here God is very prevalent but you think of everything except God. Where are we going to stay if we really want to be devoted? My advice to you is, come here, see me, see the Ashram and then pack your bags and go back to your country, stay there and develop yourself. If you want to stay here I will give you permission but don’t complain about mosquitoes and toilet facilities.
Have you seen pearls? They are priceless things. Do you know where they are found? They are found inside a shell which has a very bad smell. The person who breaks that shell can obtain the pearl only if they keep their mind on the pearl and not on the bad smell. If they close their eyes and break the shell they can get to the priceless pearl. Do you want the stench or the pearl? There’s a lot of stench around here but there are also pearls here. Take for example the lotus flower. Where do large lotus flowers bloom? They only bloom in dirty mud which is so deep that anyone who steps in it can also drown. The person who picks the lotus should know the correct technique. He has to know that if he puts his foot in the wrong place he will drown. He
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must carefully take the flower whilst fighting for his life. I am not talking about the lotus ponds which are around your houses but about the really deep, large ponds where lotus flowers bloom naturally. There is a technique to pick this flower. It is a very beautiful flower which everyone will say is beautiful when they look at it but no one thinks about the person who had to pick it. If that person doesn’t want to risk his life or if he is afraid of dirty mud, would he be able to get to the lotus flower? His aim was to retrieve the lotus flower and he got it. We have to make up our minds whether we are going to think about this life and try to pick the lotus flower or if we are just going to look after this body, adorn it, beautify it, use cosmetics on it and make it more and more beautiful. There’s no hurry, take your time and think about it. Many people think spirituality is just like going into the jungle, picking a flower and coming back.
Lord Buddha left all the comforts of his palace in order to go into the jungle. Would you say he was a fool or a madman? After all, he was a king and he grew up as a prince. Do you all think that you are also princes? We are not kings, you are not a king, I am not a king. But consider that madman who left his palace and his princely environment and went deep into the jungle to spend seven years there. He went to Bodh Gaya and sat there. Do you know how hot it is there? You would get a headache if you were there. You would have thought he wasn’t right in his head to go there! In fact his father, mother, wife, brothers and children all thought that way about him. But now we know about his greatness. That doesn’t mean that I am asking you all to go to the jungle for seven years. I am asking you all to stay in your own houses or otherwise to come to India and stay here. This is a good country. I am not interested in your money, I won’t lie and I won’t cheat. I don’t expect anything from you but I can assure you that I will put you on the correct spiritual path. Even if you don’t listen to me I will pull you by your ears and take you there, I won’t leave you and walk away.
Don’t compare yourself with others because it will lead to problems. It is far better to just continue on your path. Never go and compare your level of spirituality with other peoples’. Each one is highly developed at their own level. I can see by looking at your faces that none of you is at a low spiritual level. Don’t ever think that you are at a low spiritual level. Have a lot of self-confidence. Each one of you is capable of progressing ahead. You have the spiritual strength in you. You are not inferior in any way. There may be small problems which will arise and upset you from time to time. Who doesn’t have problems? Everyone has problems. I will tell you a secret - even avatars have to face problems! When Krishna came into this world was it necessary for him to go and become the charioteer in the Mahabharata war? After all, once he was involved he got into a lot of problems. Now we will think about our problems. At least you didn’t go to war or take up guns. Therefore you are all spiritually developed. Sometimes small problems come to you and you feel like you are not spiritually developed. Don’t think like that. I am capable of looking at each one of you and telling you your three previous lives. Would I lie to you? I am capable of telling you your past lives and your future lives so why should I come and tell you a lie? Therefore I am telling you, you all are very spiritually developed people. Don’t have the slightest doubt that you are spiritually developed. Having reached such heights why do you want to come down? It’s as if you’ve gone half way up a ladder and now you are thinking about whether or not you will be able to get down if you go any higher. Why do you want to come down? Go up! When you go up you will always be
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afraid. If you climb up a ladder and go higher and higher, when you look down you will be scared in case you fall and break your leg. It is because of this doubt that you will fall. If you keep on thinking, “Will I fall down? Will I fall down?” that thought will make you release your grip on the ladder and that’s why you will fall down. I am telling you that you won’t fall down if you hold on tightly. Go up. After you have climbed up the ladder I will come and take you. I am used to going up and down the ladder. My legs hurt and I am very tired because I’m always climbing up and down the ladder. Either you have to stay up at the top of the ladder or go back down to the bottom and stay there. If you constantly go up and down it is very difficult. I have to take one person up there, come down and then take the next person up and come down. When I take a person up to the top, the person who is already there will ask me if they can come back down with me. I say, “If you come back down you won’t be able to go up again so it’s better if you stay up there.” The reason I am telling you not to come back down is that once you are at the top of the ladder you are spiritually inclined. If I bring you back down you will get involved in material comforts such as having a fridge, a car, a house and air conditioning and you will get interested in money, wealth, maya and sex and they will all take you away from the higher level of spirituality which you were at before. Once you get involved in these I can’t take you back up. I want to push each one of you up to the top of the ladder and you are thinking about whether or not you should go up. Go up quickly.
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My Turn
A break in the Ashram by Dhriti, France
Some months ago, I was experiencing more and more stress symptoms and I started to be afraid that I was heading towards a burnout. I felt the necessity to change things in my life, but just never had the time to profoundly listen to my inner voice… When I talked about this to my husband, he suggested that I give myself a break and to go to the Ashram for a longer period than normal, as I had so often wished.
This sounded so good to me! And so I managed to liberate a four week period at the end of 2015.
Swamiji often told us “This is your Ashram.” When I arrived there in this quiet period of the year, I felt even more than before how true this was. I felt so much that I was HOME. It was as if every single corner of the Ashram welcomed me, and I felt more peaceful and happy right away. The Ashram residents were also all very welcoming. I chose seva activities with regards to what I like to do, and everybody arranged things for me so that I could happily do many abhishekams.
What a great gift Swamiji gave to us by allowing us to do abhishekams. In our Centre we only get together for abhishekams once a month. We always spend special and powerful moments together. But when you do abhishekams almost on a daily basis and when you also participate in other poojas, bhajans and so on, you stay in this high vibration continuously. I felt I became more and more sensitive to sensations of bliss. Sometimes, especially when I spent a lot of time in the temple, I had difficulties to sleep at night. I was actually not tired at all before 2 or 3 a.m. and spent some nights writing, reading, colouring mandalas and so on. I feel enormous gratitude for having had the possibility to do several abhishekams and poojas on Swamiji’s Samadhi lingam. What I felt and received during those special moments was always different but I remember in particular one moment in the mulastanam (shrine) while the tevarams were being sung, where I felt as if the Divine Mother herself was holding me in her arms, showering all her love on me. Wonderful!
When I arrived, sandalwood had already been manifesting on Swamiji’s statue for a week. Some days later vibhuti started to manifest just on top of it and continued to do so for the whole time I stayed in the Ashram. Packing vibhuti and sandalwood as a seva activity gave me the chance to be in close contact with this very “fresh” vibhuti and sandalwood, and its strong vibration again gave me the gift of a night without feeling tired at all.
I also had the chance to participate in a very powerful conch shell abhishekam for Lord Shiva and to celebrate Christmas in the Ashram: very special moments, which I won’t forget. A friend
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of mine came to visit me at the end of the stay, and we decided to go to Auroville for some days and although we had a very good time there, I was so happy to come back to “my Ashram”.
“This is your Ashram!” Yes, this is so true. The Ashram is there for us always, so that we can “recharge our spiritual batteries” as Swami used to say. I can wholeheartedly recommend to everybody to come at least once to the Ashram for a longer break and during a quiet period of the year. It allowed me to create a deeper relationship with the Ashram itself. I am very grateful to the Ashram management and the residents, who with their unlimited energy and devotion run the Ashram throughout the whole year. I feel that I will never really be able to realize all the gifts that Swamiji gave to us, so I just say “Thank you Swamiji for EVERYTHING!”
Jai Prema Shanti!
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Swamiji Answers Your Questions
Awaken the Self
If God is inside me why should I need the guidance of a spiritual master?
You have forgotten your true nature. The knowledge of the truth and about your Self is there within you but you have forgotten it. It is lying in you like a dormant seed. It needs the correct environment and water to sprout and come to life. Who is going to provide this background and water that seed? It needs an expert gardener who knows all about seeds to get the best out of that seed.
When I was a boy in Sri Lanka apples did not grow there. So when my school friends asked me to materialize things for them they always asked me for apples. Apples didn’t grow there because the climate was not suitable for apples. They grew in cool climates with a different kind of soil. Spirituality cannot spring forth and flourish in a person who is worldly, but the spiritual master knows how to change the background and environment of that person to allow spiritual flowers and fruits to blossom and grow. Just like the plant is dormant in the seed, so spirituality lies dormant in everyone. The energy of the guru and the vibrations he or she creates make the seed of spirituality sprout into a tender shoot. The guru’s guidance and advice is like water that makes it green and healthy. This is why an enlightened master is so helpful to you. The presence of the master or the energetic connection between master and disciple brings the disciple closer and closer to liberation.
What you learn in the beginning is different from the teachings later on. When you are a small baby you cannot do anything by yourself. Your mummy has to do everything for you. Later on she and other members of the family teach you how to do things for yourself and they correct you when you make mistakes. As you grow older you can do everything practical by yourself. So when you start in spirituality you need a spiritual mummy. I am spiritual mummy and daddy to many people no matter what their age!
The guru knows the way to the Self and he or she can show you the way there. He has already been there many times so it is second nature to him. Even though the seed of the divine energy is there inside you, it may be that you cannot perceive its light and you are struggling in the darkness. The great light that is the spiritual master will certainly show you the correct path. All this is necessary because you identify yourself so much with the mind and body. Until you lose your attitude of attachment to the mind and body the master is most necessary.
I appeal to your common sense. If you want water you can dig in a hundred places and you may never find water. If you want to make a well it would be clever to dig next to a riverbed. Surely there will be a good supply of water. The master is like a flowing river of spirituality where you can draw water to your heart’s content.
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A true master is in permanent contact with the Supreme Energy. Such a master has the capability of transmitting spiritual power to the pupils. It flows like an electric current. It can be passed on through thought or touch.
Do not think that you are so advanced. This is a major problem with spiritual aspirants. You need to feel you are like little children. If a little child wants to write it must learn. The teacher will guide the child’s hands when writing the first letters of the alphabet. If the child fights the teacher and is disobedient he will not learn to write the letters properly. Be humble, simple and obedient to the guidance of the true spiritual master and you will go far.
Rely on your own experience
I think I learned a lot through spiritual books. There are also books of your teachings. Can’t we learn everything from these books?
Books are full of words and sentences that you can learn. You can learn all the lessons but when it comes to putting it into practice it is much easier to do so with one who has really done it before. You can understand the methods of classical dance or music from a book but how will you truly know how to dance or sing unless you have an experienced teacher? The same principle applies in spirituality. Spirituality is not as simple as music or dance. Spirituality involves the realms of the mind and higher energies. Only with the guidance of an experienced teacher can the aspirant go forward safely and without danger of getting mentally upset. The spiritual path is fraught with obstacles and problems, the effects of past karmas and other negative energies. Only an enlightened soul is qualified to help you to come through all these.
Only the master can understand your past, your future and your mental make-up through his spiritual wisdom. No psychologist could ever have the experience that a spiritual master has and only the master can give the perfect and individual advice that you require. Medicine can cure a disease but if you take too much it becomes an overdose and it can harm you very much. A qualified doctor is necessary to treat a patient properly and at the right times. The master can be compared with such a doctor.
You can learn the theory from books and they can give you a pretty good glimpse into the nature of the soul but just understanding the theory will not let you know the soul. For that you have to perform some kinds of sadhana or activities as prescribed by the master. It is not enough to listen to the master’s advice. You really have to do what is told. Some people like to hear advice from morning until night. That makes them happy, but they will never do what the master has said. They will only listen to the advice. They keep this advice in their minds but they never follow it. This is another kind of bondage. If you want to eat there is no point in storing up recipes. You have to go and buy the food, cook it and eat it.
Don’t always look at the teacher and criticize the teacher. Rely on the teaching. Don’t wonder about the words the teacher uses, think about their meaning. Don’t rely on the knowledge
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written in books – finally you must rely on the highest wisdom of your own experience. That is true knowledge.
News from the …..
Every month we highlight a great quality of the Premananda Youth. This month: Be flexible in doing service
“Service can be done in many different ways. You can help the elderly or the young, you can help people suffering with mental health problems or you can simply listen to the problems of others. You can also do a project that helps the environment by planting trees or something similar. You need to get together from time to time and see what can be done. You can provide food for the poor, education to those who cannot afford it or you can bring spirituality into people’s lives. These are three different levels of service. What service are you going to do?
Above all, whatever small or large service you do in this world, keep your hearts and minds filled with spiritual thoughts. Remember that this earth and sky are your mother and father. The divine energy is in you and in every other being that lives. Divinity is your true nature and the people and creatures are not separate from you. This line of thinking will bring about the spiritual revolution I want to stir up within you. This is the ‘selfless revolution’ and its theme is service. Are you ready to join my revolution?”
Swami Premananda
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Premananda Youth groups around the world are doing service for the benefit of the world. The kind of service that is possible to carry out will differ from group to group and country to country but includes projects such as planting trees or helping poor and destitute children.
Above, first row: Premananda Youth group of the U.K. doing service in a local tree nursery whose aim is to restore the ancient native woodland. Above, second row: Premananda Youth group of Argentina helping out destitute children
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Experiences with Swamiji by a sannyas disciple In 1970, while I was studying at the Hindu Ladies College in Jaffna, I heard that Swami Premananda would be visiting a house in Kandarmadam, Nallur. I wanted to go and see him but because I was only 17 at that time and living in a hostel, I was not allowed to go. Later I heard that he had given a Lingam to all the people who were there. A few years later, in 1974, when I was studying in St. Thomas College in Matale, I had another opportunity to meet him and this time, together with some of the other people from the house where I was staying, I went to see Swamiji on the day of Guru Poornima, in his Ashram in Matale. When I saw him there for the first time he appeared to me only as a bright light, which I could actually see with my physical eyes. Because we had to leave quite early I did not get a chance to speak with him then.
In 1982 I finally had the chance to speak with him when, together with my aunt, I went to visit Swamiji’s Chunnakam Ashram in the north of Sri Lanka. We had traveled to the Ashram during the day and were planning to spend the night there. It was late in the evening when we arrived and we were very hungry but could not find anything to eat. Even the bakery near the Ashram had nothing and so we retired without eating. There were many people staying there at the Ashram but all at once Swamiji called us and asked if we had eaten. We were so surprised; with all the people there how did he know that we had not eaten? He then asked a devotee to serve us porridge of purple yam that she had especially prepared for Swamiji and was keeping in the shrine room. However, Swamiji said that he had kept it for me and asked me to drink it. It felt to me as if he were a mother looking at her child drinking. This is a moment I shall never forget. The next day Swamiji took us to the Durga temple in Tellipalai. My friend from England also went along and Swamiji materialized an exceptionally long tulasi mala for her. Sometime later, when we were in the Puliyankulam Ashram a little farther south, we were able to see how Swamiji gave birth to a Shivaratri Lingam, followed by the vibhutibhava. I remember the way the vibhuti came out of his mouth, it was like water jetting out from a sprinkler with a great force. After it was all over, Swamiji asked everyone to stay and he served us food. Swami then asked my friend what she had done with the mala he had given her and she replied that she had used it to decorate a picture of Swamiji. Swamiji confirmed that this was correct but said that first she had put it around her neck to see how long the mala would be on her. This really surprised her; how could Swami know this? Another time, when I was with Swamiji at Mr. Talagune’s house in Colombo, Swami organized a tour to the Kataragama Muruga temple, a place to which I had never been before. That morning, because there was a shortage of water in the house, I went to the nearby house of a relative of mine in Wellawatte to take a shower. Just as I had left the house a list was made of all those who would be going on the tour. A short time later, when everyone was getting ready to leave, the person organizing came to tell me that because there were not enough seats in the van and since my name was not on the list I would not be able to go along. I was so disappointed that I sat down outside of Swami’s shrine room and cried. The van’s engine was
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already running when Swami called out from the ground floor to enquire if there was anybody left in the house. At that moment a devotee walked by and saw me sitting there alone and asked me to come to the vehicles. There was a place for me in one of three cars that accompanied the organizer’s van.
In Kataragama, we bathed in the sacred river Manika Gangai and had darshan in the Muruga temple. When we had done all this, the organizer’s van finally arrived. Swami asked why they were so late and they explained that the van had broken down and had to be repaired. I could feel Swami’s grace in this situation also, because if I had been in the van then I, too, would have missed the temple visit. Afterwards, when we were eating, I remember Swamiji making little balls of his food and distributing them to everyone. On this same tour, before returning to Colombo, Swamiji also took us to see the lesser known cave temple of Valli Amman.
One time Swamiji was giving dhyana interviews at Mr. Sivagnanasothy’s house. Everyone there was given a coconut and three lemons to offer to Swamiji during the interview. While we were waiting in line Swamiji said that whoever wanted a materialized statue should also bring some flowers. I didn’t ask for a statue at that time but all those who did found that the statue they had wished for materialized from the flowers they were holding in the palms of their hands.
When I was working as a teacher at the Udupiddy Girls’ High School, I had a ten-day break and decided to go to India to visit Swami’s new ashram. While I was there I bought some souvenirs to take back home. Swamiji, however, passing me by in the Puja Hall, insinuated that it was not so sure that I would continue working in Sri Lanka. Indeed, now I can really understand what he meant because I came to live in the Ashram in India and today, twenty-six years later, I am still here in the Ashram!
In 1994, when my family heard the news of Swamiji’s arrest, my brother in Australia wanted to come to take me home. Just before that my brother and his family had celebrated Swamiji’s birthday in their house very beautifully by preparing many different types of food for the occasion. Unfortunately, however, the eggless cake the children had baked did not come out with the proper consistency. This was quite upsetting because they had planned to cut the cake for Swamiji during the celebration. Right at the moment when they were discussing what they could do, another devotee arrived with an eggless cake and the problem was solved!
Swamiji mentioned this incident to my brother and his family when they later visited him in Trichy. They were so amazed because they had not even talked about it to me. Swami explained to them that he was telepathically able to know everything and that it was he who had directed that lady to take an eggless cake along with her and so bring the celebration to a good end.
Once Swamiji asked me to put three packets of vibhuti inside my handbag and keep it closed for two minutes. When I opened it again there was a Ganesh statue inside my handbag! Swamiji said that this statue was not for me but for my sister-in-law. He said he would never give me a statue because he had asked me to pray to him like Pusala Nayanar, the saint who had built a temple for God not from physical stones but from devotion inside of his heart.
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Like this Swamiji performed many miracles but he never gave much importance to them. He used to say that he only did these things in order to show others that anything is possible through the power of God. Those who do such things as magic do it for fame. That will not last. The miracles done through God’s power are more enduring and will not easily disappear. Swami only performed miracles for the benefit of others; he never kept anything for himself. However, this is not what attracted me to Swamiji. Ever since a young age, Swamiji suffered for spirituality. At the beginning he underwent many difficulties because of his family’s objections to his following a spiritual life. Later there was the violence against his mission in Sri Lanka and then a double life sentence in prison even though he was innocent, after the start of his mission in India. Right up until his Samadhi, Swamiji worked very hard to build his mission and to create a beautiful Ashram. This is what attracted me the most.
The Guru is not only the physical form; our contact with the Guru remains even after the form disappears. Our Guruji, Swami Premananda, is always with us, wherever we are, guarding and guiding us. His blessings are there for us forever. We can reach his heart through sacred prayers from the depths of our hearts and laying our problems and worries at his feet. We can sing or listen to songs about our Guru, even during the day-to-day activities of our lives.
Jai Prema Shanti!
15 Prema Ananda Vahini JULY 2016
“You must surrender yourself at God’s feet. Everything else is false.”
16 Prema Ananda Vahini JULY 2016
The One Without Name or Form
Each month we are publishing one chapter from the book, ‘The One Without Name Or Form’, Swami Premananda’s living message on how we can realize the true purpose of our births, how we can approach ever closer to the one and eternal truth that he experienced, lived and saw every moment of his life.
Don’t be a Beggar
In God’s creation living beings have been given everything they need to sustain their lives. Food, water and air are abundantly available in nature. There are even places where you can rest and sleep. Living beings with five senses never expect to have more than what they need, whereas human beings with six senses are always wanting more than what is really necessary. Because of this people are faced with many problems. Why? We have a variety of tastes and live in dreams. When we do not get what we want we begin to ask others for it or we beg it from them. This is a form of laziness.
Is it not worthier to work hard rather than living a lazy existence? In God’s creation there is no poverty, misery, unhappiness and suffering at all. If we waste our precious time and live a lazy life then poverty will overtake us. Remember, poverty is something we inherited from our ancestors. Today, in cities begging has become a job. The beggars hand over what they collected to their boss and, in return, are given a part of it as payment. There are people who have become wealthy by their begging. There are those who go around knocking at people’s doors begging for tasty food and then there are those upscale types of beggars who, instead of eating the food available in their own homes, will go to eat at someone else’s home, at their host’s expense.
There are also people who solicit money from others in the name of alleviating their poverty. This is an indirect way of begging. Depending on others for everything makes a person lazy and prevents him or her from developing into a complete person. Doesn’t depending on things from others make you feel disabled? What will you achieve by trying to get money from others? What good does spending someone else’s money bring you?
17 Prema Ananda Vahini JULY 2016
There are financial fraudsters who collect money from poor families by promising them a double amount in return for their investments. There are those who deceive others by taking money from them in return for the promise that they will take care of them until the end of their lives. Pretending to be good Samaritans they talk sweetly and give false assurances. This is also a type of begging. Why do you beg when there are plenty of God-given opportunities in this world to live a good life?
Living with the expectation of receiving something from others... is this living? Is it right to expect others to help you even though you may have lost your confidence and failed in your efforts? Does this kind of lifestyle make you happy? You should use your body and brain to work and earn your own living until the day you die, doing whatever work that provides you with a permanent income. Even if what you earn only allows you to eat rice gruel, it will give you immense satisfaction.
Doesn’t it go against your conscience to take advantage of generous people by repeatedly asking them for help, well-knowing that because of their goodness they will not refuse you?
There are many different ways of begging. There are people who accept donations in the name of a temple, in the name of feeding the poor or some other type of charity. However, most of the funds they collect in this way will not be spent for the purpose for which they collected it and, instead, they will use the money for their own purposes. Wouldn’t you agree that this is even worse than begging?
Instead of trying to earn an honest living there are people who deceive others for money in many different ways. But there are also people who are selfless. These people never worry about their own comfort; they eat whatever they get and are not particular about taste and quality. They have surrendered themselves to God. Lord Buddha, who came from a royal family, attained the highest wisdom and lived a selfless life without any attachments. The 18 siddhas and the great rishis also lived without attachments. Buddha sought to get his food from others but what he did was not begging, it was a true demonstration of detachment.
Offering money to those who beg will encourage them to be lazy and lose their interest in working. In order to alleviate poverty we should think well on how we can remove our own poverty and guide others to help themselves.