lectures

Lecture on Water Shortage
Path to Joy - March 2003
Ceiling on Desires- Dec 19 2200
Goals April 2002
Faith - Jan 28 2002
Pongal - Jan 22 2002

Date	Lecture
	Lecture on Water Shortage At a discussion about digging deeper bore wells (1200 ft vs 400ft) on peedam lands in order to address the acute water shortage situation. Below is Narayani Amma's words of wisdom to us . Amma's reaction to this was "How sad .1000 ft and below why does one want the hurt and pain the earth so much. ot is very sad. It is not that there is a shortage of water. This earth is millions of years old and so is the air and water. It is this very same earth that has supported so many billion forms of lives on this earth over this time. When so much was supported over so many millions of years. Does the earth not know how to take care of the present day life forms too??! It's not that there is shortage of water. The only reason is that water has moved back closer to where it comes from! It is getting further away from the reach of man. It is this and nothing else. The pure element water has been created for man for two purposes. 1) To wash and cleanse the physical body. 2) It was also created so that man may drink it and cleanse the inside. So that ones thoughts remain pure and good actions follow . However in this age this is not so. There is impurity in thought /action, the agitations in the mind creates a negative energy and nature responds accordingly. There has been great misuse of this pure element in the form of wastage and pollution and that people now never really respect this nature's divine gift to mankind. When respect is lost and man's thought and actions are not pure, nature has responded by moving the water element further away from man's reach.. There is no shortage it is just not within easy reach. Only when there is harmony ,purity in thought, action and respect for natures gift water will resurface and be within very each reach of man this world is like a giant mirror reflecting and reacting to all of man's thoughts."
	A Pathway to Joy Every human being in this world wants to live a life of joy without any difficulties, However this is not possible by all. How much ever much one tries some difficulty or the other will be encountered resulting in displeasure and unhappiness One may then ask…Is it not at all possible for man to lead a life without encountering difficulties and setbacks? Yes, it’s is certainly possible for man to lead a life without difficulty! How can this be? Only when man has full faith and there is total surrender to god, one is free from worries and difficulties. Difficulties arise from a variety of reasons. One of the main reasons being man’s desire. What the mind desires- when it’s not fulfilled - difficulties start to arise. We desire to have an article when it’s not within reach displeasure starts to set in. We desire to have a positive outcome from our actions, when this is not so, again displeasure descends into our minds. This way every one has a wide variety of desires and an equal variety of reasons as to why difficulties /displeasure set in and all are unhappy. The root cause of all mental disquiet is because of desires. So what then is the way to lead a life without difficulties ? The only way is total devotion and faith in god. When there is unshakable faith, such a person can lead a life in Joy without difficulties. when the outcome does not happen in the expected/anticipated manner, one who has firm belief in god would state that this is what I desire and god knows what’s best for me, so saying man accepts it and is happy with the result. When there is firm belief these desires will also not arise, full faith means total surrender to god when one is in this state one does not need to pray for this desire to be fulfilled or the other. They have totally entrusted their lives in the hands of god, in such a state what should happen - would and what should not happen - would not .The outcome is at the command of god .So for man to lead a life without difficulties it is first necessary to cut down on desires. The less desires the more the joy. Desires leads to expectations and when an outcome falls short there is displeasure. The mind laments on this and more displeasure arises and from this more desires will generate. Entrust everything to god-- totally surrender and pray that you receive what god wishes to gift any outcome in this state will not cause displeasure.One would view all as gods gift and would accept it with joy. This is because we accept that everything that happens must be good. We don’t need to ask for anything. Everything we need is satisfied. When there is so much trust and faith placed on god one need not cultivate desires. In a state of complete faith one can lead a life in total joy. So in order to lead a life without difficulties it’’s necessary to first surrender to god. As long as there is no surrender to god all that happens is experienced as my difficulty, my loss, my pain when there is surrender the word ‘my’ will disappear, it will all be dedicated to god. When everything is gods how can one experience difficulties and suffering ? Everything happening must be good. When this is so there will be no agitations in the mind devotion and faith will become deeper. On this auspicious day each of you should start cultivating this belief in god to become stronger . Amma blesses all living forms on this earth to live a life of peace and joy and to follow the path of devotion through surrender. Back to top
Dec 19 2002	Dec 2002 full moon Pooja discourse Ceiling on Desires Every human being in this world desires to be happy and lead a life without difficulties. However without any proper reason one does encounter difficulties through one's life. Why is this so?? It is because of the actions in one's past life one will need to face these difficulties in the present life. For one not to have difficulties it's necessary that one should not sin in one's life. How then can man live a life without committing sin? The single most important factor to committing sin is driven by selfish desire. When this is so, man lives in a state of constant dissatisfaction. When man exists in this state even if there was abundance one will deem it to be insufficient. In order to satisfy or fulfill one's selfish desires or greed man continues to consume a great deal of energy in search of material pursuits. In this situation in order to try and attain satisfaction one will often need to deviate from performing righteous or dharmic actions. Situations will arise when truth/honesty is placed aside and sin is committed. If man wants to lead a life without sin and live on the path of truth they will at first need to derive satisfaction from what they have and peace will follow with certainty. Each man has a certain capacity; they must put in effort to do this at the fullest. If one's capacity is to be able to earn say Rs 100/- they must work with sincerity to achieve this. If one does this, it does not signify greed. But if one's capacity is for example limited to Rs100/- and their selfish desire is to earn Rs 100000/- this desire will then drive them to do many wrong deeds. It is not incorrect to have desires, but it is greed that will drive man to perform wrong deeds. There are many ways to eliminate sin in one's life .One of the very important ways is to first seek happiness and satisfaction in what one already has. In that case this satisfaction or gratitude will create less agitations in the mind; when this happens they will experience happiness and peace of mind. If one, in order to please the mind just goes on doing actions that the mind generates without control many wrong acts would be performed. In doing so they will neither have happiness and peace in this life but in the next life as well. Hence it's very important for each to have a ceiling on desires. Effort must be there,There is nothing wrong in putting ones effort and energy to completing a tasks on hand. Effort and actions generated out of selfish desire are two different aspects. Effort is what one put's behind one's capability. Without effort one cannot move and progress forward in life . Seek desires based on capacity and put in efforts to achieve this. In pursuit to fulfill all desires rising in the mind one does not let truth govern all the actions, in order to satisfy the mind one will have to deviate from the Dharmic path ( path of truth and right action) by doing so one commits sins with and without one knowledge. In life it is not important to please all of man's desires it's more important to lead a life without sin. If one wants to lead a life without sin one should first derive satisfaction from what they already have. When one leads such a life, discipline will set in and there will be a ceiling on desires. Without discipline desires will continue to constantly grow and take control and rule. It's important for every one to have discipline and ceiling on ones desire in order to lead a life in happiness and peace. On this auspicious day Amma blesses all the life forms that exists on earth live in harmony and peace. Back to top

Jan 28 2002	Faith Jan 28th 2002 full moon pooja given at the Peedam Translated by Raji Murali Hundreds of years ago there were hardly any temples. But people would make an attempt to go to those few temples with great devotion and would be contended and happy. Nowadays we have temples everywhere, almost one for a street, but people hardly go and they are also not experiencing peace and happiness. So what is the reason for this? Earlier people believed that God existed everywhere. Some would believe That Amma existed in a neem tree (margosa tree) and would offer prayers to that. While some would believe that Amma exists in a particular stone in their lands or fields and would pray to that such was the extent of their devotion and this gave them happiness. Nowadays people hardly go to the temples saying that they have no time and they also lack faith and devotion and this leads to lack of peace and happiness. This shows that Amma is where faith is. Faith is a form of God. In the present day there are temples according to caste and religion, but count how many actually go there. People go to temples only on occassions and other times ignore it. Those who believed that God existed everywhere and in everything experienced tremendous amount of peace and happiness. All this is due to their faith. The belief that Amma exists only in big temples is false. Amma exists wherever there is faith. Stone or tree worship, it doesn’t matter. Worshipping with faith and devotion is what matters and it is important to carry on this at all times. If you believe that Amma exists where you think Amma does, then Amma will definitely be there, be it a tree, stone or anything else for that matter. Amma can move from a big temple to a person praying to a tree depending on his faith and devotion. Prestige or grandeur is not important. It is faith and devotion that are of utmost importance. The question as to how many items should I offer for abhishekam, what mantra should I recite, how many times should I do recite are of no value at all if you have no faith and are doing it for the sake of doing it. Offer what you can but only if you are offering it with faith and devotion. Each and everyone have a heart. So develop faith in it. Even offering mere turmeric water combined with faith is more important than those offered without faith. Many would then ask why are so many huge yagas (fire ceremonies) being performed here at the Peedam. These yagas and homas (Havan). And any more are being performed for the benefit of mankind. Amma has so many names and forms. So any form of devotion to any name and form is accepted when offered with faith and devotion. Many of you have some time to spare. Don’t waste it. Cultivate it to develop a habit or service that will be useful for servicing the Mother in turn serving the world. For example, plant a tree, take care of it and when it flowers, offer the flowers to the temple. This itself is sufficient and this paves way for other services which will benefit mankind at large. Amma blesses all to develop faith and devotion and pave the way for the service of mankind. Back to top

Jan 22 2002	Om Sakthi Narayani Siddar Peedam Amma’s Message Pongal (Harvest Festival) Message Message received Jan 22, 2002 With the completion of the Monsoon season and the early part of summer climate making an entry. In South India we celebrate “Festival of Harvest” – “PONGAL” This festive season falls in the Mid January every year. Our Beloved Amma’s Pongal Message for the people is scripted here for the benefit of overseas devotees. Amma’s message “This Pongal is a Holy day when people convey their gratefulness to Mother Nature for her grace in blessing the people with abundant Natural resources. Today, Science and Technology have advanced a great deal. In spite of this, for Peace and Well-being, people have to rely only on Nature and not on Science and Technology. The light & heat from the Sun, the luminous rays of the Moon, the greenery of trees, the fragrance of flowers, the musical chirping of birds, the ceaseless sound of the waves in the Oceans, the beauty of sedate streams – all these are offered by Nature to man. All of Science cannot provide man with such richness and beauty present in Nature. It’s only man who can see, enjoy and derive immense pleasure from these gifts of Nature. If these Natural resources are available in a country, that country will automatically enjoy other resources too. Important essentials like food grains, vegetables, greens, fruits and other resources that make human existence possible are provided to us by Mother Nature. Today, happens to be the first day of our Tamil New year as well: This is very auspicious as we are ready to realize gifts from Mother Nature. Everything is ready for our harvest. While each of you accept these gifts from Mother Nature you should realize how much good nature bestows on each of us. Just as Mother Nature helps us. So should we, in turn HELP others. ‘Helping Others’ should be our Resolve on this auspicious Day. Our lives totally depend on Agriculture. Without the hard work of the poor farmers agriculture cannot thrive. Cattle and other living beings also help cultivation and other processes. For all this to happen Nature is the fundamental contributor. So we should be ever grateful to Mother Nature, farmers, cattle and other living beings that support this life system. Mother Nature is always providing us with all her resources. Take the cue from her. One must also learn to be happy by giving to others, who do not have, what we have. Amma’s Blesses all and wishes all A Happy, Prosperous and joyful life. OM NAMO NARAYANI ! Prof. N. Doraiswamy (in the Service of Amma) Back to top

April 4 2001	BACK TO TOP All of us have the capabilities and skills but how we utilise them for the benefit of mankind is most important. A theif miuses his skills to outdo the law and get what he desires.The police use their skills to protect the society. A knife by itself is not harmful or dangerous. But a knife in the hands of a butcher is dangerous becos he ends life,whereas, a knife in the hands of a doctor is a welcome sign because he saves life. On similar lines there is nothing wrong with this world but the people and circumstances are to be blamed if anything goes wrong.The world is a beautiful place to live in and how we utilise our stay in this world is most important. AMMA blesses each and everyone to fully utilise their capabilities in following the spiritual path with devotion and for the welfare of mankind and society. At a temple in Vellore. Among all living beings, human beings are the most gifted. It is because they are able to set goals and work towards them because of their intellect. But only a few are able to reach their goals,like Mother Teresa. She grew up with a positive attitude and had set her heart, mind and soul to serve mankind. All of us have the capabilities and skills to reach our goals but, the situations,circumstances and environment surrounding us,have tremendous influence on us in fully utilising these skills to good use. A well read person will have a vast vocabulary and will be able to speak and communicate extensively. To add to this, if this individual grows up in a positive atmosphere - ie, always exposed to good people and things, taught to distinguish between right and wrong and taught moral values,- then that individual, will grow up to speak out good words and thoughts for the society's welfare. On the other hand if the individual, be it a writer or speaker grows up in negative atmosphere,- bad company and influences,then the individual will always say or write negative matters which dampen the society. So to avoid these negative influences man should choose spiritual path with devotion as the highest quality. Then all our words,actions and deeds will be of high order in serving mankind. Each individual on this path will be able to see for themselves the right from wrong and rectify themselves and move ahead in serving mankind. Back to top