Translation of pravachana from Marathi to English by Kale Balkrishna
Date : 12-Aug-2013 / Monday, Shravana Shuddha Sasti.
Camp : Latur – Maharastra
Event : 18th Chaturmasya anusthana of Sri Sri 1008 Sri Satyatma Teertha Swamiji
Link of pravachana : http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/37218097
Sri Digvijaya Ramo Vijayate
Sri Gurubhyonamaha
Srimad Anandateerha Bhagavatpadacharya Gurubhyonamaha
||Dharma vijnana vairagya paramaishwarya shalinaha
Anandateertha bhagavat padanvande nirantaram ||
॥ सत्याभिज्ञकराब्जोत्थान् पञ्चाशद्वर्षपूजकान्।
सत्यप्रमोदतीर्थार्यान् नौमि न्यायसुधारतान्॥
|| satyAbhij~nakarAbjotthAn pa~nchAshadvarShapUjakAn |
satyapramodatIrthAryAn naumi nyAyasudhAratAn ||
Sri Satyatma Teertha Gurubhyo Namaha.
Daily with mandatory rule we should perform deva pooja and partake food after offering naivedya to Lord Sri Hari. This is one of the very important part of the daily ritual and a mandatory rule laid by shastra. Srimad Bhagavata / Mahabharata and all astadasha [18] puranas have very broadly explained the importance of Deva Pooja. By performing Deva Pooja daily we are not doing any favour to Bhagavanta but we should do it for our self uddhara [development and emancipation] / rendering thankfulness and finally maintain our minds purity. For this very reason performing daily DEVA POOJA is very mandatory.
One many ask what is the relation between rendering thankfulness [krutajnata] and performing pooja ? The Deva pooja is divided into different parts viz Abhisheka / Gandha Samrpane / Tulasi Samarpane / Dhoopa deepa / Naivedya and Aarati.
Abhisheka : For performing Abhisheka and preparing Teertha five things are very important and they are
1) Shaligram
2) Sudarshana
3) Idol of Sri Krishna
4) Idol of Shumshumara
5) Chakrankita
Those who does not have all the five don’t tell that we don’t do Deva pooja. Even one shaligrama is also enough to perform Abhisheka. Be it Shaligrama / Chakrankita / Idol of Balaji / Krishna / Rama etc perform daily deva pooja and don’t leave it. Those who have things which are coming through parampara are very fortunate and those who don’t have get it from eligible people and with lot of devotion perform deva pooja without fail. One needs to perform this according to the rules laid by Shastra. If one knows it’s well and good. Those who do not know then learn it through GURU and then perform Deva pooja according to sampradaya.
Swamiji says when I go for padapooja I see that many people have a separate room called DEVGHAR and a proper mantapa with Lords pratimas etc. After seeing all this I get very happy and pray at Lotus feet of Lord Narayana that this should continue at this place for the ages and generations to come in future. But many people do not know where and which place one need to put the Idols while performing DEVA POOJA. Lord Sriman Narayana / Bajali / Krishna / Panduranga are sarvottama and there are parivara devatas also like Maruti / Garuda / Ganapati / Ishware etc which need to be kept below Sriman Narayana. One should also not put all idols into single plate and do the abhisheka. We should maintain Taratamya while performing abhisheka to Lord Sri Hari and all other parivara Devatas.
We should use separate plates for Shaligrama / Pratimas of Sri Hari and separate plate for Shanka / Maruti /Garuda Shesha etc. We should follow proper protocol / taratamya without which the pooja is of no use and not accepted by Bhagavanta. Lord Sri Hari on top and below him its Shanka which is Sri Mahalakshmi’s sannidhana then Mukhyaprana , Garuda Shesha. Only these are allowed to perform main pooja.
After performing pooja to all these gods we can perform pooja of Ganapati / Rudra with nirmalya of Lord Sri Hari, but we should not do pooja of these devatas along with Sri Hari. We should do separate pooja of Ganapati / Rudra etc after completing the main pooja and offer gandha / pushpa /naivedya which we have earlier offered to Bhagavanta. One should do pooja in this manner then only it is accepted by Lord.
The most important thing while performing pooja is to follow the rules and regulations prescribed in shastra and parampara. If anyone do not know how to do this then they can take help from the Vidwans available in math and learn from them. If required we will arrange a separate shibira / coaching class for this to enable people perform Deva pooja in proper manner.
Next comes anusandhana. We should take pure water while performing abhisheka. Water is the most precious gift given by GOD. Without water we cannot live. Whatever we eat is digested with water. If anything becomes impure water is used to purify the same. For maintaining good health we need water. Those who perform SANDHYAVANDA chant this daily and may know the meaning. The mantra says “apsume somoabhravit antara vishwani bheshaja”. All medicinal properties exists in water is what this mantra is telling. The apourusheya Vedas describes this.
If you are infected by any disease and ask the Rushi about this then he tells “apoyachami bheshajam”. He says I will ask Water. Water is a JADA vastu but we ask the Abhimani devatas residing in water to cure our disease. Ashwini devatas reside in water and above them it is VARUNA DEVA who is Arogya dayaka deva. So when we get any disease we ask whom “apoyachami bheshajam” we ask water and the abhimani and antaryami niyamaka VARUNA to cure our diseases. This is one of the meanings for water.
The other thing is why we get so many disease? We get disease because of our sins. Till we keep doing sins we get diseases. If we take only medicines the disease will not go. If we do papa parihara and prayaschitta it will sure reduce otherwise it will remain till we complete the bhoga. Then whom should we ask? Again its “apoyachami bheshajam”. The meaming of APA is KARMA. Apaha means we do wrong karma and we get disease. If we perform satvika karma we can get rid of the disease. Even if we keep this in mind its enough. Whether water really cures disease or not is not important here why because our yogyata is very small to understand the real value of it but we should know that water has many medicinal properties which can cure disease.
Swamiji says this make me remember your and our and everyone’s swarupoddharaka guru Sri Satyapramod Teertha Swamiji. He has three things with him with which he use to get cured himself whenever he had high fever. We were very small and our memory still remembers this. Prahladacharya Diwan who was with Swamiji for almost 50 years is still here and an eye witness for this. Once Swamiji got very high fever and doctors advised him to take medicines. Swamiji use to deny and use to tell I have 3 things in my hand so why should I take medicines. Now what are those three things ? Swamiji use to tell Achyuta / Ananta / Govinda. He use to chant Achyutananta Govinda namocharana bheshaja nashyanti skala peeda satyam satyam vadamyaham.
Again “apsume somoabhravit” is what he use to tell. When I have diseases why should I take medicines? I can get rid of it by doing good KARMA and that is nothing but doing Namasmarana of Achyuta Ananta and Govinda. He never use to miss daily Deva pooja and in fever he use to do perform more pooja so that he engage himself in doing good KARMA and has full belief that he will get cured of any disease by doing so. He use to say I don’t need anybody’s favor for treating my disease and use to do Nirantara Namasmarana/Japa anusthana. He has not only did this but also shown us the right path and proved that only my doing mere Satvika karma one can get rid of any disease. One should have dhruda vishwas / total belief in Vayu deva and swarupoddharaka guru and by doing their Namasmarana one can get rid of any disease. Total belief in Hari Vayu Guru plays an important role in achieving this.
Because of this water has many medicinal values with which trees grows etc. This is the main reason water is used for Abhisheka. To summarise water provides us the power of curing disease / maintaining purity / helps in digestion etc. We should be thankful to LORD for providing us with this precious thing and with this anusandhana if one does abhisheka to LORD then it becomes real abhisheka. As an example we should not think that because the cow is thirsty we are giving water to it. GOD does not require anything but it is for us to thank god in providing us with this precious gift and with this anusandhana if one does abhisheka Lord will become happy.
The pravachan abruptly ends here. Since I don’t have the full recording I am unable to translate the full version.
Dedicating this translation at the lotus feet of Sri Sri 1008 Sri Satyatma Teertha Swamiji. Please forgive me for the mistakes if any and bestow me with your anugraha and ashirwada all the time.
Asmad Guruantargata Bharatiramana Mukhyapranantargata Sri Krishnarpanamastu.
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