AvadhootaDatta Peetham

śri mahā gaṇapate namaḥ

śri sarasvatyai namaḥ

śri pādavallabha narasimha sarasvati

śri guru dattatreyāya namaḥ

om venkateśāya namaḥ

om namo nārayaṇāya

om vāsudevāya

We witnessed the first Srinivasa Kalyanam in Telangana’s Induru village, that is now renowned as Uttara (Northern) Tirupati. Do not think of this Kalyanam – wedding – as an ordinary event. It is the union of Jeevatma and Paramatman. It is our great fortune that we witnessed this yogic union. We cannot perform this ritual enough number of times. Witnessing or performing this ritual every day is very beneficial. Newlyweds should perform this ritual on the day of their wedding. Perform this ritual on your wedding anniversary, birthday and on the occasion of housewarming. Perform this ritual on behalf of your parents. You can perform this ritual when you land a job or when you get a pay raise. Come here and perform this ritual whenever you feel like it. This subtle ritual bestows great merit. Any occasion and any event is auspicious for performing the Kalyanam. Every day is a festival in worship of the Lord. The more we worship and contemplate on the Lord, the more He takes care of our joys and sorrows.  Surrender everything to him.

Before this place became Telangana, Swamiji had announced this would be Uttara Tirupati. Soon after, the foundation for this place was laid. Many years ago, when Swamiji had determined the auspicious time for consecration of this temple, He instructed that a tent be set up during the event to protect from rain. Devotees laughed and said there was no chance of rains since during that season. I instructed that the tent be set up regardless. I had even instructed them then to arrange food for 35,000 people. We had 35,000 people for Annadanam today. Despite some people suggesting a simple fabric tent, devotees decided to set up the tent per Swamiji’s instructions. You saw what happened today. This is not the season of rains, but Lord Varuna, the God of rain, brought us showers as if he was sprinkling water on this event in blessing.

As Swamiji was performing the consecration he commented on how cool the weather was. There was a cool breeze for the duration of the consecration. Right after, when we began performing Arati, it became very hot and rains followed soon after. This place looks like a spectacular movie set. This is the language you understand. You will not understand if I recited four mantras and told you this looks like a very ancient temple. But if I use words like movie sets and animation, you will understand.  This is a very ancient temple. The Lord has been here from time immemorial. Only, He is visible to us now. The Lord determines beforehand temples, homes, weddings etc. This entire earth is his. Believing that we bought this land, got a temple sanctioned and built it is all an illusion. We have nothing. The Lord chooses some people to restore and protect the holy structures on earth. All this land is Sage Kasyapa's and we are giving it back to him. We are blessed to be on this earth and witness this historic occasion. You are all seeing live, this historic pilgrim place. We will not be here anymore when you great grandchildren are here. We will be born again in three generations and render service to this temple. Serve this temple as a family and let your entire lineage participate.  This Kalyanam - the divine wedding - is for improvement of health, knowledge and prosperity.

The Lord accepts our miniscule worship and offering and in turn showers bountiful blessings. We should offer back to him what he gives us. We can take nothing with us when we leave this body, not even the watch or the glasses or the shirt you are wearing. Can anyone in your town take things with them when they die? I searched in Mysuru and did not find anyone could take anything with them. You cannot take your dear phone either. You cannot call and report the punishments you are receiving in hell, "I did not have real devotion. My devotion was fake and I offered prostrations mechanically. But, son and daughter and grandchildren, be careful and inculcate real devotion. I am getting whipped and fried in hell here by Yama’s attendants." Remember that we have three bodies – gross, subtle and causal. We are experiencing karma with all three bodies. We are letting go of the gross body when we die. We are experiencing with causal body, joys and sorrows and diseases. The subtle body goes to heaven or hell depending on your merit.

A big scholar once went on a pilgrimage with his disciples to Badrika Ashrama. They rested enroute in a village. They were given fruits to eat and a place to sleep outside a house. Suddenly at midnight, chaos erupted. They learned that the village chief had died. The woman of the house that the Guru and disciples were staying in had instructed her daughter to check to see if the dead man had gone to heaven or hell. The Guru was amazed that the people of the village were so evolved as to determine where the man is going in his afterlife. The disciples were all awake by then and were just as amazed. The daughter returned and said the man had gone to hell.  The scholar could not sleep anymore. He waited until the morning to see the woman and prostrating to her said, “You earned such great knowledge. After so much learning, I still do not know if the being goes to heaven or hell.  But your daughter determined within half an hour that whether the man was going to heaven or hell.  Please give me that knowledge”. The woman said, “There is not much knowledge to this, Sir!  If the people around the dead person praise the good deeds and the good nature of the person, the man will go to heaven. But when people curse him and are happy he died, the person goes to hell.  Heaven and hell are right on our tongue.  We determine right then and there whether the person goes to hell or heaven. The scholar was enlightened.

You take nothing - absolutely nothing - with you when you die. Only your good and bad deeds go with you. Your wrist watch, glasses, pen, purse or phone do not go with you. Even the clothes you got stitched will get burned. Your nose ring or ear rings will not go with you. Absolutely nothing except your good and bad deeds go with you. Your body goes back to the five elements of nature. God has given you this human birth as an opportunity to uplift yourself. You are on a long journey of endless rebirths. You have taken eight million births in each life form. You have taken birth in so many wombs and have had different relatives in different lives. Who are your parents? God is the only permanent parent. He alone is our father and mother. That is why we praise the Lord as our Guru, relative, friend, parent etc. in our bhajans. We get closer to the Lord when we sing such praises. Parents in this birth are not parents in our next birth. Only God is our parent in every birth. God has come to us in so many forms. The Lord worked relentlessly to uplift us. He sacrificed his body to help the Gods during the churning of the ocean. The Lord is always with us, granting us knowledge. If you call out to Him from your heart, "Govinda", He will respond. We neither chant nor do we support others that are chanting. People around you are chanting, but you sit mum. I have seen many such sinners here.  You are hearing the divine name around you, why can you not chant? If you chant the divine name, your sins and diseases will fly away. You should not be shy about chanting the divine names or prostrating to the divine.

Govinda hari govinda…

We have consecrated here the Lord Venkataramana Swami who showers prosperity. Mother Goddess is always with Lord Vishnu in his heart. Lord Brahma has the Mother on his tongue, Lord Shiva has the mother on his head. The Mother is given a very important place. Wherever the Lord is, Mother Goddess is too. I'm very happy about the cool showers we had. The local devotee was remembering that 5-6 years ago, Swamiji had instructed that the tent be set up to protect from rains when the consecration takes place. I said then that the 333 crore Gods will be watching and that Lord Varuna would shower rains during consecration. So, I had asked them to make arrangements very carefully. Swamiji also instructed that Annadanam happen early and that people have Darshan of Swamiji after eating. The showers came after people had eaten, so there was no impediment to the program.

This group of priests in the lineage of Ananta Padmanabha has been serving at many Dattapeetham programs wherever Lord Vishnu has been consecrated. They did the rituals at Datta Venkateshwara temple in Myuru as well as in Guntur. I instructed that they always come and serve wherever Swamiji does rituals related to Lord Vishnu. They serve Swamiji with great devotion. The understand the principle of Swamiji and know how to conduct themselves in the presence of Swamiji. New priests may not necessarily understand this. The priests took care of Swamiji with great attention like Swamiji was an infant.

This is a divine marakata (emerald) Ganapati kshetra. Observe Ganapati festival here. Conduct worship to Hanuman and observe Hanuman Jayanti. Tie poornaphala on Saturdays. Conduct worship to the form of trinity, Lord Dattatreya. Lord Datta is everywhere Lord Vishnu or Lord Shiva is. Observe Datta Jayanti here. Sing Datta bhajans and kakada arati. Build a bhajan group here just as there is other Ashramas. Bhajans are as important as mantras and these are as important as Annadana. Observe Shivaratri and Kartika masa rituals. All deities are resplendently situated here. Swamiji has blessed Telangana with the crowning gem of this state. The temple is so spectacular that it seems to be talking to us. Swamiji wants to arrange for a magnificent Vaikuntha Ekadasi here. Everyone participate in all services here. Those who have sorrows, come and serve here the Lord. If your mind is troubled, come and pray here for ten minutes. Your mind will calm down. The Lord himself, not the trustees, is giving you the opportunity to come here and pray. May the government that supported this temple also be blessed. May the state of Telangana flourish.

indūru grāma vāsāya saccidānanda dāyine

sindhujam priya nāthāya venkateśāya vandanam

This is the prayer to chant at this temple. From tomorrow, we continue with Sri Chakra Archana and Divya Nama Sankeertana. Participate on all the rituals here, it will benefit you. Devotees of all deities come together and serve this temple. Use the rare divine opportunity you have. The music band has done an excellent job. I feel like I’m in a studio. You can sit right by the band and it will still not be jarring on the ears. They learned a thousand bhajans of Swamiji and played the right melody for the right time. They patently waited for Swamiji and rendered their music service. I bless all members, trustees, matru mandali members, press, television crews, sculptors, volunteers etc. May even the mosquitoes be blessed; they did not bite. They will attain higher worlds. The ones that rendered really great service are the police people. May God bless them and their families. May God bless the sponsors of Annadana as well as the cooks. This is not a vote of thanks. Swamiji is specially blessing everyone, including those who I left out. May non-devotees be blessed as well.