Parama Pujya Sri Swamiji's benedictory message in Gnana Bodha Sabha Malaysia
We say Bhagavan Parabrahma, but who is that? We hear about Brahma, Parabrahma, Srishti Karta (creator) Brahma and wonder how many Brahmas are there? There are millions, billions, trillions of Brahmas. It is uncountable. But who is that Parabrahma? It is none other than Bhagavan who is primordial. The creator Brahma, has four heads and even five heads but how many heads does the Parabrahma have? This is also one question that comes to mind. That Parabrahma does not have a form. He is formless. He is invisible but he is capable of being visible. When was this Parabrahma born? Who are His parents is the next question that arises. He does not have parents. Then who is He? He is Svayambhu – that which is self-manifested. When is He created? Which date? There is no date. Where is He? He is within us. What does He see? Whatever we see is what He sees. What does he hear? Whatever we hear is what He hears. What does He eat? Whatever we eat is what He eats. What does He speak? Whatever we speak is what He speaks. How does he look? He is in the form of fire (Agni). How many faces does fire have? It is unexplainable. Does fire have a face or a body? No. We cannot say that fire is present only in one place. Fire can start in any place and at any time. It can start when we rub two stones together. Fire is Svayamprakasham (self-luminous). It is His wish. We cannot say that fire is not present here. There is fire within you in the form of Jatharagni (digestive fire). It is also present in various forms within us. Fire can appear anywhere. If we keep one foot down and rub it on the floor, heat is produced. That is fire. If two people fight, there also heat is produced which is fire. Fire can be formed in any place. That is why we should all have some control. If the fire starts within us, our life gets ruined, children get spoiled, understanding gets spoiled, and business gets spoiled. We must ensure that fire is not started within us. We should ensure that there is no misunderstanding. You should try not to get angry. If you get angry, your blood pressure will rise. The moment you get angry your eyes get red and irritated, that is nothing but fire. Heat is also produced when you grind your teeth to chew food. Fire does so many unimaginable things within our bodies. Parabrahman exists in that form. We are misusing Parabrahma by getting angry, eating unhealthy food, and unnecessarily directing our anger at others. We should not misuse Parabrahma which is in the form of fire within us.
Where else does Parabrahma reside? In water. How is that possible? What will happen to us If we do not drink water? We die if we do not drink water. We exist until there is water content within our bodies. We can exist for at least one month without any water intake but after that, we get dehydrated. That water in our body is Parabrahma. Only if Parabrahma in the form of water exists in our body can we survive. If not, we will die. We also misuse this by drinking beer and various other slow poisons. Many people cannot sleep without sipping a little bit of wine every day. Wine has become like morning coffee nowadays. It is in everybody’s house. (My doctor also told me to drink some as it is good for the heart.) There is no one in the world who does not drink wine. 80% of people drink wine. (Raise your hands in honestly if you drink wine.) Coca-Cola also contains caffeine. So does coffee and tea. (Raise your hands if you drink coffee or tea). We are misusing the water within us in many ways. The world cannot exist without water. Two years ago, Guru Nilayam here got damaged by the floods. I feel bad when I think about it, but the president’s wife happily rebuilt the Guru Nilayam. She always wanted a good Guru Nilayam built for Swamiji. Once when I visited her house, I complimented it, and she used to say that the Guru Nilayam has to be built the same way. She has put so much hard work to rebuild the Guru Nilayam. There was a lot of damage due to the floods in Malaysia, but Lord Hanuman and the other deities were happy to be submerged in the water.
Malaysia devotees faced a lot of difficulties in the form of Swamiji not being able to visit for a few years, the Covid pandemic, business failure due to Covid and other issues. The Corona virus taught us a lot of lessons but that is fine. Bhagavan sometimes does this create balance. We should not question Him. In a house, a father starts a fight and does many things out of his own will because he is the head of the family, and it is his wish. Similarly, it is Parabrahman’s wish to give certain things to some people and take certain things from people. He is the one who has given this life. We can argue that our life was given by our parents but then who gave them their life? Their parents. You can keep tracking each generation back to their parents, but the ultimate parent is Parabrahma. We have all come from Him. It is that Parabrahma’s wish to give birth to a life or merge a life back into him; we cannot question Him.
We cannot survive without fire and water. Next is air which is very important. During Covid, many people suffered without oxygen in India. Everyone needs oxygen to survive. We have to leave this house as soon as we get a call. This is not a permanent house. This earth is a rental house for us and the owner is Parabrahma. If He directs us to leave the place, we must leave. We must leave the house so that the next person will have a place to stay. We can sign an agreement to stay for 100-110 days but eventually, the agreement period will end and we must leave the house. No matter how strongly you make your point to stay in the house, you will have to suddenly leave. To balance this out, Bhagavan does many things. We should not get upset about it. We should be very happy that in this period, in this time, we are sitting next to Swamiji. We are all very lucky. To attain this balance, Bhagavan does many things like creating new diseases. We never know if a thing that exists today will still exist tomorrow. We are merely toys. This is like a 2.5 hour cinema. Once it is over, we cannot stay in the cinema hall. Eventually, the security guard forces us to leave. We live on earth because of the (karmic) bank balance we had maintained. Once the balance is over, we are forced to leave. That is why Swamiji is always instructing us to do good deeds to increase our bank balance.
Can we exist without the earth? Can you sit above the ground? It is impossible. We are all attracted to this earth. The five elements within our body is Parabrahma. Can you see the energy of fire, water, and earth? We simply cannot. The final element is space. Can you see space or air? We can feel the air, but can you see it? The five elements cannot be seen which means that the Bhagavan is invisible. The Vedanta name for that Bhagavan is Parabrahma due to whom all these actions are made possible. We must surrender, pray and give our respects to Parabrahman. We keep forgetting Parabrahma. We keep thinking about our day-to-day lives all the time. Many people constantly think about money. We do not think or ponder over Parabrahma. So daily Swamiji says that we should yearn to know about the invisible god. We should pray, cry, think and talk about Him. You should see this world and feel happy about this creation and how astonishing it is. See the beautiful colors within flowers and their wonderful smell and realize the essence of Parabrahma’s creation. It is not just beautiful, it is wonderful. We should ponder over that. Such a Parabrahma is present as five elements within our bodies which is what we should protect. So, whatever has happened and whatever will happen in the future is all for our good. We should not raise questions or misunderstand them. God is your friend and savior. God is a very close friend who knows everything that is going on in your mind. He knows everything but he seems and acts like he does not know anything. It is very hard to know everything and appear as if you do not. Many people ask Swamiji how he appears as if he does not know things. It comes by birth. That Parabrahma has done this. Whatever is happening is all His Leela. There is nothing in our hands. We are all merely toys in His hands.