The outside world is full of pain. Its experience is painful because that is its very nature. Our Maharishis of yore enjoyed unalloyed bliss by living in the forest. We can experience the same happiness by performing our duties cheerfully. The work we do on a day to day basis is the real tapas. This means executing our duties and obligations without a sense of individual doer-ship.
The Vishnu Sahasr-anamam symbolizes health and represents the body. The Siva Sahasranamam symbolizes energy and represents the head. Lord Brahma on the other hand symbolizes ether and represents breath. Accordingly, after our birth we pass through stages of becoming children, students, working men and women, parents and grandparents. To effectively discharge our duties in each of these stages, our senses must work as an integrated network. In olden days, our Rishis often had emaciated bodies but they were perfectly enlightened souls. They were self realized. To achieve this state, the senses need to be opened and cleared. What exists is real. What does not exist is not real. Diseases and shortcomings must be borne cheerfully. You cannot be cured of a disease if you keep telling yourself that you are unwell. The more you are aware of your disease and the more you speak of it, the less are your prospects of recovery. Always see yourself as happy and fulfilled and sincerely believe in that truth. Whatever has to happen will happen and rest assured that what must happen will happen. That is the only way in which good things can happen.
Swamiji recently met a couple who came to seek his audience. They were married at the age of 25, but they should have married only after the age of 28 and the right time for them to have a child was 29, but they did not wait and married at 25. This resulted in a lot of problems in their lives.
Know that everything has a time. All events occur within a specified time, space and historical setting. There is a complex arithmetic that underlines the occurrence of these events. Coming to London for example, requires a visa, and it is God who decides when it will be granted. Another couple came and met Swamiji.
The husband belonged to one community while the wife belonged to another community. The parents were miserable. Lord Dakshinamurthy is the Adi Guru. He symbolizes our parents. If you do not have the grace of your parents in the decisions you take in your life, you will experience difficulties. Swamiji told the couple that they married without securing the permission of their parents. He said that their parents were His devotees. They have shed tears at His feet in Shirdi. And these tears were shed for the well-being of their children. He told the couple that even now they weep for you! Why then have you not reciprocated their love and affection? Unless you respond to them, how can you secure their blessings? If you want respect, you must give respect. Only if you give respect, can you respect yourself.
Please your parents by listening to them and respecting them. You have all heard of the story of the mango given by the Sage Narada to Lord Shiva, who then gave it to Devi Parvati. Since the fruit could not be divided into two parts, Devi Parvati, asked both her sons, Lord Ganesha and Lord Karthikeya, to go around the universe, and whoever circumambulated the universe first would be declared the winner. While Lord Karthikeya mounted his peacock and went round the universe, Lord Ganesha circumambulated his parents and won the competition. There is deep meaning in this powerful story. Our parents are our first gurus, because they are the cause of our existence. Their love is irreplaceable. A mother’s love is unique. Parents perform enormous sacrifices for their children, their upbringing and their education. Unless their children are happy, the parents are not happy.