TV Channel

Sadā Śiva Samarambhāṃ Śaṅkarācārya Madhyamām Asmadācārya Paryantām Vande Guru Paramparām Gurur Brahmā Gurur Viṣṇu Gurur Devo Maheśvaraḥ Guruḥ Sākṣāt Parabrahma Tasmai Śrī Gurave Namaḥ Man Nātha Śrī Jagannātha, Madhguru Śrī Jagatguru Mamatmā Sarvabhūtātmā, Tasmai Śrī Gurave Namaḥa. Salutations to the cosmic Self. Salutations to Śrī Alakhpurījī, Siddha Pīṭha Paramparā. My name is Swāmījī, His Holiness, Viśvaguru, Mahāmaṇḍaleśvarānanda Purī Jī. Oṃ Namaḥ Nārāyaṇ to all the sannyāsīs. Oṃ Namaḥ Nārāyaṇ to all the sannyāsīs. Oṃ Namaḥ Nārāyaṇ to all the sannyāsīs. Oṃ Namaḥ Nārāyaṇ to all the sannyāsīs. Oṃ Namaḥ Nārāyaṇ to all the sannyāsīs. Oṃ Namaḥ Nārāyaṇ to all the sannyāsīs. Oṃ Namaḥ Nārāyaṇ to all the sannyāsīs. Oṃ Namaḥ Nārāyaṇ to all the sannyāsīs. Oṃ Namaḥ Nārāyaṇ to all the sannyāsīs. Oṃ Namaḥ Nārāyaṇ to all the sannyāsīs. In the past few days, we have been talking about the Divine Mother. We talked about Vidyā, about the Goddess of Vidyā, of Knowledge, Sarasvatī Mātā—the aspects of her living and the objects which she has with her, what it symbolizes for us. And then yesterday, we were singing one stotra, which we will sing again once, and then we will translate it. Bhavānī Aṣṭakam is the name of it. na tato na mātā na bandhur na dātā na putro na putrī na vṛtyo na bhartā na jāyā na vidyā na vṛttir na maiva na jānāmi tantraṁ na ca stotra mantraṁ na jānāmi pūjāṁ na cānyāsa yogam Nā jānāmi puṇyaṁ nā jānāmi tīrthaṁ nā jānāmi muktiṁ layaṁ vā kadācin Kukarmī Kusaṅgī Kubuddhi Kudāsa Kulāchāra Hīna Kadāchāra Līna Kudṛṣṭi Kuvākya Prabandha Sadāham Prajeśaṁ Rameśaṁ Maheśaṁ Sureśaṁ Dineśaṁ Niśītheśvaraṁ Vakadachit Vivāde Viṣāde Pramāde Pravāse Jale Cānale Parvate Śatru Madhye Ānātho daridro jarāro gayukto mahākṣī nādīnā sadā jaḍyā vastra Gatestvaṃ Gatestvaṃ Tvameykā Bhavānī. O Bhavānī, Bhavānī is another name of the Supreme Goddess. Pitā, Mātā, Bhāī, Dātā, Putra, Putrī, Bratyā, Swāmī, Śrī, Vidyā or Vṛtti—Mother, Father, Brother, Giver, Daughter, Son, Husband, Wife. These all vṛttis, out of these all vṛttis, none of them are mine. You can see that Bhagavad Gītā Śaṅkarācārya is calling all these worldly materialistic relationships as vṛttis. Śaṅkarācārya Jī, all these material relationships, he calls them vṛtti. What is vṛtti? Thoughts, distractions. Indirectly he is calling our family destruction. And so he says directly that our family is destroying us. O Devī, only you are mine. O Devī, only you are mine. I am stuck in this endless bhavasāgar, in this mṛtyu loka, in this māyā loka. I am stressed, and I am worried, and I am full of all the duḥkhas, all the unhappinesses. I am stuck in the inner enemies: kāma, krodha, mada, lobha, ahaṅkāra. O Bhavānī, only you are the one who gives me the gati. Gati means movement, strength to go forward. Nor do I know the techniques of pūjā and pāṭh. Neither do I know how to do good work, puṇya. Neither do I know how to do the bad, which is pāp. The only thing that I know is how to walk on the path which you show. Oh Mother, you are the one who gives me that movement. I am Kukarmī. Kukarmī means karma, and ku means bad. So I am the one, the doer, who does bad karmas. I am a kusaṅgī, which means I am indulged in kusaṅga. I have durbuddhi. Buddhi means intellect, and durbuddhi means bad intellect. I have bad eyesight, meaning I look bad with my eyes. I am easily indulged in bad activities and pulled into those. I am the one who has no control over my words, and whatever comes out of my mouth is bad. Oh Bhagavanī, you are the one who gives me that movement and who shows me the right path. I don’t know Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva, Indra, Sūrya, Candra, or any other god or goddesses. I only know you, who gives me the movement and who shows me the right path. And the way to go, and I am in your śaraṇāgati, I am in your lotus feet. O Śaraṇye, he Māte, Śaraṇye means the one who gives a boat in her lap, in her lotus feet. Please protect me from any conflicts, disputes. Please protect me from any enemies living under the water, in the sky, between the mountains, between the forests. I am weak, I am deaf and dumb, I am sick. Please, you are the only sahārā, you are the only help. You see, Pārvatī knows more Hindi than me. You are my only help, and please help me cross this. When we think of Bhagavad Gītā Śaṅkarācārya jī, we always think that he creates only stutis and stotras for Lord Śiva. But Bhagavad Gītā Śaṅkarācārya jī created most of his collection on Devī. Govindam, Govindam,... Govinda. And when he was having his classes, he had a few disciples. And one of his disciples, his name was Toṭakācārya. And he was very upset that day. Because whatever Śaṅkarācārya Jī taught him, whatever he used to learn, listen, he did not understand anything. He couldn’t repeat anything, he couldn’t remember anything. So feeling sad and upset, he went to the banks of the river, he sat there and he was crying and asking the Mother Goddess, "What now?" All the other impatient disciples who were there in the class already, they were all telling Bhagavān, "O Gurudev, please start the class." And that’s when true faith, true devotion, true bhakti—when with pure consciousness you pray for something, you’ll get it. That’s how Gurudev learned German. He didn’t go to a German school. There was no Duolingo at that time. But still, overnight, Mahāprabhujī gave him. Same thing in the train with Gurujī. Gurujī also told and had that faith and believed that no matter what, Mahāprabhujī shall provide. And then when he came back to the āśram, to the Gurukul, then he started chanting this beautiful stotra. Vedī tākhila śāstra sudhā jala de, mahito paniṣatkā titartani de. That whole stotra is one of the most complex, hardest pronunciation stotras. And he came and offered that to the lotus feet of Śaṅkarācārya Jī Mahārāj. So that is the power of Guru Bhakti, that is the power of faith and belief and devotion, but devotion with purity of heart and conscious mind. That is the power of devotion, but what kind of devotion? The devotion of a pure heart. Without faith, without devotion, it won’t really work.