Posted on: 14 Feb 2024
[A poem by Ms. Thrylokya on Shri Datta Swami]
My beloved Lord,
I worshiped God Shiva in the temple of my heart, and imagined that
every raindrop falling on earth was coming from His matted hair.
(matted hair:- thick hair twisted into a dense mass)
I started speaking meaningful sentences even before my first birthday, but
I wanted to know the meaning of God ever since my intellect developed.
The entire village dearly called me Teja, and I made friends with people
from all walks of life. But, I knew that none of them were reliable.
I had recurring dreams in which I kept running and searching for something
most valuable, but always ended up failing to find that unknown thing.
I don't know what I was chasing but I know what it is not. Therefore,
I rejected everything available and I knew that I would attain it for sure.
(chasing:- to run after something in order to catch)
People say that kids are cute, flowers are beautiful, and pets are attractive,
but I utterly failed to see a trace of beauty in anything noticeable.
(pet:- an animal or bird that is kept at home for pleasure)
My friends said that some boys are handsome to look at, but
I couldn't see them as males in the first place and smiled in doubt.
I found the boy-girl love very laughable and never admired anything in this world
from the bottom of my heart. So, you lack the ability to love, is what my mind told.
(admire:- to respect or like)
Although I was full of questions and strange internally, I never let it out in anyway
and followed the crowd for a smooth worldly life without considering it as betray.
(betray:- to hurt somebody who trusts you)
Being a teacher's pet, I scored highest in Biology and least in Mathematics,
but I opted for Engineering to get a job quickly, and this shocked all my teachers.
(teacher's pet:- a person who is treated as a favorite by the teacher)
I wanted to get financial independence in life as soon as possible so that
my spiritual quest for internal questions would start outright.
Although I got an engineering seat in a govt. college in Hyderabad, my hometown,
I chose to join Amrita University in Coimbatore, which is far and unknown.
My parents’ savings could not afford the high fee, but I insisted on them
to sell a piece of land because it was high time, I left the worldly–atmosphere.
Every worldly decision of mine appeared crazy to everyone since
it did not make any sense, but I knew that I was stepping towards solace.
(solace:- a feeling of ease and comfort)
I knew that God Shiva is always with me, and He comes to my rescue
whenever I mess up things. There is not a single time I am not saved.
At college, the library was my favorite spot and spiritual books were my friends.
I loved reading about philosophies of God and biographies of devotees.
I used to spend all my pocket money purchasing books on spiritual knowledge,
and searched for those concepts that I can implement right away in practice.
Finally, I didn't get any satisfaction because authors confuse the readers,
since they are confused by themselves and beat around the bush.
Reading wrong knowledge brings wrong practice. As a result, I tried to get siddhis,
the spiritual powers, assuming that attaining them is the essence of spirituality.
AMMA (Mata Amritanandamayi) of Amrita University enlightened me,
saying that the right essence of spirituality is complete surrender to God.
After reading many books, I decided that I should get salvation as soon as possible,
and my personal goal was to get salvation before I turn 25, with any kind of struggle.
Reading the life journeys of Shri Vivekananda, Yogananda, Chinmayananda, etc.,
I also assumed that my Sadguru would come into my life for sure.
I read that Shri Paramahamsa Yogananda was an average student at school,
scoring up to 70% of marks, but attained his Sadguru Shri Yukteshwar Giri.
I developed confidence that when a 70% student like Shri Yogananda
could get his Sadguru, a 90% student like me will definitely get my Sadguru!
I sometimes woke up at night thinking about how and where my Sadguru would meet me.
Perhaps on the road, or in the forest or maybe in the mountains of Himalayas.
I attended a Bhagavad Gita camp, and the concept of Karma Yoga captured my mind.
Although I was not completely convinced with its meaning, I decided to practice it!
I salute to my spiritual guru, Nikhilji, who introduced me to the true and excellent
spiritual knowledge of His Holiness Shri Datta Swami, with extreme commitment.
In the knowledge of Swami, I found systematic logic with full clarity and stress
on the practical devotion, which alone can give the devotee a permanent bliss.
I used to read Swami's knowledge throughout my stay in Amrita University,
sitting in the hostel even during vacations, and also in the classroom secretly.
I used to prepare for exams just in the preparation holidays only and rest of the time,
my mind was addicted to drinking the nectar of Swami’s discourses, which are beyond sublime.
(addict:- having a great interest or need to do or have something)
(sublime:- causing wonder)
Swami is the incarnation of God Datta, the first energetic incarnation of Parabrahman
or unimaginable God, who is beyond mind, words and intellect for any angel or human.
Swami is that God Datta from whom Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva were incarnated
as subsequent energetic incarnations to create, maintain and destroy the creation.
Swami is Brahma in His spiritual knowledge, that destroys long standing ignorance.
Swami is Vishnu in His love for devotees by suffering their punishments of sins.
Swami is Shiva in doing several wonderful miracles for both atheists and devotees.
I was attracted by seeing the guts of Swami when He revealed the true meaning of Karma Yoga,
which includes both the sacrifice of fruit of work and the sacrifice of work to God.
Swami preaches every concept in a logical way, along with simple examples,
and quotes Sanskrit lines from various scriptures including the mighty Veda.
Swami doesn’t care a pin of what people think or comment on His preachings,
since He is the real rich man, who doesn’t need anything from anybody.
When Nikhilji and his wife, Devi Madam, were urging me to get married to a suitable guy,
I had to reveal to my Guru that I am unable to love any guy, even after sincere trials.
When I used to sit among my classmate guys, I feel as if I am sitting with girls only.
Nikhilji replied, "You are unable to love any soul because you are already loving God."
Nikhilji was encouraging me to learn cooking so that I could serve my future husband and family,
but I could not learn it due to my concentration on God and His wonderful knowledge.
Then, Smt. Devi Madam said that Swami may come to you one day, and to serve Him,
you must learn cooking. This reason developed my concentration, and I learnt cooking.
In many discourses, Swami quoted the Veda, in which it is told that all souls are not only females
but also wives of God. I decided to remain the wife of God directly, and met AMMA, requesting
Her to accept me as Her disciple. I desired to live like ‘Brahmacariṇī’ following only the Brahman.
She laughed and told me to go back home and live with my parents.
The reply broke my heart, and I walked away with tears in my eyes.
After graduation, I returned to Hyderabad, my hometown. Surprisingly, I found that
Swami also stays in Hyderabad, and contacted Him for a permission to visit.
With His permission, I almost reached but lost the exact location. As I was searching
for Swami's place, Swami Himself came out and waved His hand calling me.
I went to join the devotees in a spiritual debate with Swami, and Swami told me that
I was the candidate recommended by AMMA, and He revealed my entire converse!
I was blown away by this because I didn’t tell a single soul about my choice
rejected by AMMA, and I realized that sending me to Swami is the utmost grace.
I got an admission in IIT for M.Tech., but I chose to do a small job since
I wanted to jump into the service of Swami without any postponement.
I used to ask questions in spiritual knowledge along with other devotees,
and Swami pleased with the sharpness of my questions,
honored me with the title of 'Opposition Leader'
One day, Swami wanted to give me a gift and asked me to choose it.
I immediately asked for a dress costing about thousand rupees,
which made Swami burst into laughter.
Then, Swami narrated the story of a scholar,
who goes to a king and pleases the king with his poetry.
The king, being very pleased, tells the scholar to ask anything.
The scholar asked the king for a small towel as a gift.
Swami told me that my case is similar to that scholar!
Swami commented that by asking such an insignificant thing,
I have taken away the prestige of the mighty God Datta!
That was the time when I was working as a coding tutor
in a part-time job and earning very little amount.
(coding:- writing instructions for computer)
In one spiritual debate, Swami told me that He can give me
any number of lakhs of rupees, and asked me how many lakhs I want.
Then, I replied, "Swami, why should I want money?
You are giving food to all the souls in this creation
and I am one among these souls and You are giving food
to me also. What extra shall I need from You?”
Swami repeated that He is God Datta–the omnipotent,
and I should not refuse the boon from God Datta.
Then, I replied that Swami shall give me that much,
which is sufficient to pay for a cab or an auto, to reach
Swami’s place for the spiritual debate with Swami.
Listening to that, I saw Swami very much pleased
and tears were flowing from His eyes as streams.
Then, by Swami's grace, I got a job even without a proper interview,
offering a salary of plenty of lakhs, which has multiplied thrice in three years.
One day, I was suffering with severe stomach pain
as if many needles were piercing my stomach.
Moreover, all the medication I took had no effect.
Even though I learnt that a devotee shall not aspire anything
in return from God, I cried for Swami unable to bear the pain.
Immediately, the pain disappeared and I felt well.
Later, Swami suffered with my stomach pain for a month.
Even when I asked, He denied that it was my pain.
I used to attend several spiritual debates with Swami, and
answers of all my questions asked in the spiritual debates
were composed by Swami in Sanskrit poems,
which is named ‘Trailokya Gita’ putting my name as title.
Swami has come down to set up the true line of spiritual knowledge
in this world, especially in this time when confused spiritual preachers
are confusing spiritual aspirants, resulting in fall of both preachers and aspirants.
My Lord, You are born to establish the universal spirituality
for the sake of peace in this world using very powerful logic.
You announced in the first world parliament on spirituality that
You will establish this concept through logic and not by appeals
since at present, only brains are functioning and not the hearts.
Your father, Shri Veerabhadra Sastry, was a famous astrologer in the state,
for whom even high ranked politicians and officials used to stand at his door.
Dozens of cars were always parked before Your gate every single day, which speaks
volumes about the correctness of Your father’s astrological predictions.
Your father worshipped God Hanuman every day from early morning
at 4 AM itself, with Namakam and Camakam, by standing on one leg.
He often served food to the entire village of Naagulavaram and all the
villagers used to sit on both sides of the road to receive the servings.
Your home always roared with laughter all the day,
since Your father had a great sense of humor.
He cracked a joke every minute, and people loved it.
Whenever anyone enters Your house with a problem,
they will be served with enough laughter that their heart becomes light.
I see that You have taken after Your father in this habit since You add humor
even while preaching very sensitive and serious philosophies about God.
Your father never took money from poor people but helped them
with astrological solutions to their problems and earned a living
by working as a Sanskrit Professor in a college, and neither did he
ask money from any person who reached out to him for predictions.
Your mother, Smt. Hanumaayamma is such a divine lady,
who never forced Your father to earn more money,
nor discouraged any service activity done in the name of God.
Pleased with the selfless service done to God by the pious couple,
You–The God Datta chose to be born to them in this incarnation.
As long as You stayed in the womb of Your mother, every night she saw
temples, churches and mosques in her dreams, remarking which,
You have united all the world religions for world peace
through the divine discourses presented in the website.
(www.universal-spirituality.org)
When You were born, all men and women in Your family started crying,
thinking that this child would also be victimized by the two black magicians,
who were residing close to Your home and have brutally killed
hundreds of children and elders in Your village.
In a few minutes, all Your family stopped crying after hearing loud crying voices
from the house of black magicians and it was found that the two evil sinners
died in a planned accident done by two strangers who came on scooters.
Many people have seen the entire scene of how the strangers hit the evil men
again and again from various directions until both left their lives. But, nobody saw
where they came from and how they left the place after this accident.
Perhaps, they are Your divine servants from the upper worlds!
Swami, You are God Krishna who started killing the evil
from the very birth itself and You are the only Hero in this creation.
Seeing Your fairness and divine glow, Your grandmother started
calling You as ‘White-Guava’ and everyone in the house enjoyed it.
(white-guava:- Ripened Guava fruit is white in colour)
Your divine actions like stealing butter from others’ houses,
storing it in a glass doored-shelf and eating it secretly have immersed
everyone into Brundaavanam and the entire village unanimously named
You as ‘Venu Gopala Krishna Murthy’ marking the beginning of a divine era.
Seeing the horoscope of Your maternal Aunt, You predicted that
she would die on a so-and-so date due to Cholera disease.
It exactly happened as You predicted and all the people in their village
stood on roads to see and welcome You–the sensational astrologer boy!
Actually, You have shown Your divine power in the disguise of astrology.
When You started speaking in Sanskrit at the age of seven,
the jealous scholarly friends of Your father commented that
You were possessed by Brahmaraakshasa, a Sanskrit scholar-ghost!
When Your father started reciting ‘Manyu Sūktam’ to drive away the ghost,
You replied, “How can you drive away God from Me using the verses
of Manyu Sūktam from Veda, which is composed by God Himself.”
You did not study Sanskrit under anybody, but
spontaneously composed poetry in Sanskrit.
You always say that Sanskrit is Your mother tongue
since Sanskrit is the language spoken by gods.
When scholars tested You in Your Sanskrit proficiency,
You spontaneously composed 120 verses on Shrii Rama,
in just 60 minutes in a long meter called Śārdūla vikrīḍitam.
Every boy and girl around was fascinated to be with You,
but You were spending time in houses of very old Sanskrit scholars,
enlightening them about the true meaning of Sanskrit-spiritual commentaries.
In such tender age, You began transforming the
Veda Paathakas into Veda Panditas by explaining that
Veda means knowledge and not blind recitation.
You completed 10th class at the age of 10, M.Sc. at 16 and Ph.D. at 19.
Surprisingly, You never studied any textbook at home.
When You were caught red-handed reading a different book
by keeping it inside a textbook, Your teacher was stunned to see
that You were reading Shankara Bhashyam at a very young age.
(Shankara Bhashyam:- Commentary written by Shri Adi Shankara)
(stunned:- sudden surprise)
You authored more than 100 books in Sanskrit by the age of sixteen,
and all these books were on the correlation among the commentaries
of Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhva to unite Hinduism.
Even while pursuing Ph.D. at Allahabad University,
You spent all Your time at Ganganath Jha Research Institute
studying more than 1 lakh Sanskrit Manuscripts present there.
Any person, who came to visit You at Chemistry department
was directed to this Sanskrit Institute to meet You!
People wondered whether You took admission in Science or Sanskrit!
When a huge Sanskrit debate was happening in Allahabad,
between Arya Samaj and Sanaatana Dharma for the past 3 days,
on the topic of whether God comes in human form or not,
You entered from the side of Sanaatana Dharma and logically proved
in 5 minutes that the omnipotent God, who is unimaginable,
comes in imaginable human form for the sake of His devotees,
who are longing to see Him, touch Him, talk with Him,
live with Him and serve Him practically with true love.
Saint Karapaatra Swamiji hugged You after the debate,
and offered You His seat of ‘Head of Shankara Peetham’.
But, You humbly rejected the offer because Your program
was to establish the universal spirituality for world peace
by correlating all religions and all philosophies including science.
When You sat at the banks of Ganga talking with God Datta,
expressing Your unhappiness in studying science and
Your interest to study only Sanskrit scriptures about God,
God Datta consoled You saying that You have studied Sanskrit
in all Your past births and encouraged to study science in this birth,
since You should correlate both science and spirituality for the world.
When people took five to seven years to complete a Ph.D. thesis,
You took only two weeks, and everyone looked at You in wonderment.
(wonderment:- a state of respect)
Just like You don’t write unnecessary elaborations in spiritual concepts,
You also wrote Your Ph.D. thesis precisely in 31 pages with 7 references.
Generally, a Ph.D. Viva happens in a small room, but Your thesis was so innovative
that they conducted Your viva in a big lecture hall before several scientists.
At the end, the foreign examiner was very impressed and commented that
Your thesis breaks up a new ground in the field of metallurgy.
It became a national record that You completed Ph.D. at the age of 19 itself,
and the Manorama Yearbook published Your name for four years continuously.
When You happened to meet Shri Chandrashekarendra Saraswati,
there was a Satsang happening about ‘Tattvamasi’ and You explained that
it is a loving statement given by a father to his beloved son, which literally means ‘You are God’
but another grammatical meaning is ‘You will soon become an incarnation of God’.
Listening to this logic of ‘Bhaviṣyati laṭ’, He turned to You and saw You
by adjusting His glasses and told that this Professor of Chemistry (Rasaayana Shastra)
also knows the spiritual knowledge (Raso vai saḥ). Both have ‘rasa’ commonly.
He also gifted You with a basket of fruits and two yajnopaviitas.
(Yajnopaviita:- sacred thread of three strings worn in thread marriage function)
When You worked as a Professor of Physical and analytical Chemistry,
Your students achieved high ranks in national and international tests.
When You voluntarily left the University, all Your students boycotted classes,
demanding the college authorities to bring You back into the University.
When Your father advised You not to worship God Datta,
saying that God Datta would break all the family bonds,
You sang and promised to God Datta that You would never leave
the worship of God Datta even if You lose anybody or anything.
When God Datta appeared before You on Srishailam hill and asked You
to prove Your true love towards Him by jumping from the hill, You jumped immediately
and told strictly that You will jump any number of times even if God Datta doesn’t save You.
You proved that Your devotion to God Datta was deeper
than even the love for Your own life. Pleased with You,
God Datta merged with every part of Your body to make You
as the contemporary human incarnation of God.
Shri CBK Murthy Garu and Smt. Bhavani Garu witnessed
the hot fumes emerging out from Your body
during the entire night after the divine merge.
Swami Shivaananda Maharaj at Vijayawada came running to You
crossing all His thousands of followers and fell at Your feet.
His followers were shocked seeing this action and
Maharaj begged You before everyone to give salvation to Him.
Baroda Maharaj, who lives by drinking only one cup of milk every day,
celebrated on seeing You by dancing and singing loudly “Today, I see Datta”!
(The song sung by Maharaj is “Aaj mii Datt ko dekh lii”)
Swami Narendra fell on Your feet, saying that
the divine Mother told him that You are God Datta.
Pandit Vidya Saagar also saw You as God Datta,
and fell on Your feet pouring a basket of flowers.
You appeared as God Datta to several other devotees,
and You also appeared as other divine forms of God.
Whenever You are pleased, Your grace appears to Your devotees
as intensive scents of lotus flowers, sandal paste, sacred ash and camphor.
The numerous miracles You performed, collectively called as ‘Mahima Yamuna’,
gives confidence that Swami, my God is absolutely omnipotent and omniscient.
The divine songs You composed on all divine forms collectively called as ‘Bhakti Ganga’,
highlights the divine personality of God and shows the path to please Him.
At Vijayawada, You started giving spiritual knowledge in English as ‘Jnaana Saraswati’,
in simple sentences that even a 4th standard school student can understand.
You clarified that the duty of a saint is propagation of true spiritual knowledge
and for this, saffron cloth and leaving the home are not necessary today.
In Kaliyuga, a laptop with internet is sufficient to become a saint.
So far, dance with Gopikas and stealing of butter by God Krishna was not explained
properly by anybody in any book from the beginning of the creation.
You have given a wonderful true logical explanation by bringing the concept of
Eshanaatrayam, three strongest worldly bonds with scriptural evidences.
(Eshanaatrayam:- bond with money, bond with wife and bond with issues)
You explained that Gayatri is singing the praise of God in any religion,
and not a specific Vedic Hymn written in the meter of Gayatri.
You convinced that burning ghee in fire is not sacrifice,
but supplying ghee-food to a hungry person is the real sacrifice.
You supported the caste-system based on qualities and deeds,
and condemned the wrongly practiced caste-system based on birth.
You introduced the concept of unmediated-unimaginable God,
which combines all the world religions, establishing world peace.
You told and also performed the unimaginable events called miracles,
which are the scientific proof for the existence of unimaginable God.
When You preached that every soul is not God,
and condemned Advaitins that awareness is not God,
You explained with the concept of science which proved
awareness is produced from inert energy, which is generated
after the digestion of food in the stomach. Hence, awareness
which is dependent on food cannot be the omnipotent God.
(omnipotent:- having unlimited-unimaginable power)
You told that sin is the root cause of all problems of the soul,
and internal resistance towards sin in every person in the world
is the solution for all social problems and this can be achieved
either by fear or by love for God, who is omniscient and omnipotent.
(omniscient:- having infinite or complete knowledge)
You proved that God comes again and again to establish justice.
By establishing justice, peace will be established by which the world
becomes peaceful, which gives happiness to every individual.
You explained how wasteful it is to put more efforts in solving our worldly problems,
and how double fruitful it is to put efforts to learn about God and please God.
You said that the donation of money is a double-edged sword,
which gives good fruit when donated to meritorious person and,
which gives punishment when donated to sinful person, be it beggar or family or friend.
You preach and practice to spend money only when necessary and never go for comforts.
You always travel in general compartments of trains and prefer to walk rather than hire vehicles.
You tell that Goddess Lakshmi will be pleased with us when we respect wealth and
avoid unnecessary expenditure, be it in our personal worldly life or in the service of God.
You condemned the wrong allegations against Shri Shirdi Sai Baba and Shri Satya Sai Baba,
and gave logical clarifications for each and every action performed by them.
You told that any quality, be it good or bad can be diverted to God and
we need not change any quality since all qualities are created by God.
You, the Yogi Raja alone, know the real meaning of Yoga as complete union with God
and saved us from fraud and false imaginary concepts like Chakras, Kundalini, etc.
(Chakras:- several points of spiritual energy in the human body)
(Kundalini:- the life force that is coiled at the base of the spine)
You gave us simple and sequential steps to reach God which are
Jnaana Yoga (Knowledge), Bhakti Yoga (Devotion) and Karma Yoga (Practice).
Only by knowing the details of the personality of God, one can develop love for God.
Once true love is developed, service and sacrifice to the beloved God are spontaneous.
You neither appreciated mere theoretical devotion in which prayers or stotras are chanted
to get practical benefits from God, nor appreciated business devotion in which
small practical sacrifice is offered aspiring bigger practical fruits from God.
(stotra:- hymn of praise of God)
You stressed on aspiration-less love towards God, which alone can create
a true account-less bonding with God, which is permanent and blissful.
You said that this kind of love is seen in parents in the case of their issues,
proving that this kind of love is possible for any soul, but should be directed to God.
I initially misunderstood Bhagavad Gita that we can convert
every worldly action (Karma) into action for God (Karma Yoga)
by imagining in mind that we are doing worldly actions for God.
You enlightened me that Karma is the work done for the sake of self and family.
Karma Yoga is done for the sake of God and not for any self. Each action will get
different fruit from God and our imagination about our action is not of any value.
You gave wonderful examples of Hanuman, Radha, Buddha, Prahlaada and Shabari,
who sacrificed everything for God and did actions for God directly. They did not do
anything for their self and their family, imagining in mind that they are doing for God.
You correlated the actions of Abraham and Bhakta Siriyaala,
who even sacrificed their son for the sake of God,
concluding that true love is proved by practical sacrifice only.
(correlate:- to show a connection between two or more things)
You told that ego and jealousy are the two qualities,
due to which we suffer the most in spiritual life since
we miss the contemporary human incarnation here,
and miss energetic incarnation there in upper worlds,
due to common media repulsion between God and soul.
(contemporary:- living at the same period of present time)
The contemporary human incarnation is the life of spirituality
because any practical service done by human devotees can be received
by the contemporary incarnation only, not by statues or past incarnations.
Devoted Gopikas could not serve butter to God Vishnu,
the energetic incarnation present in the upper world.
But they could nicely serve God Krishna,
the contemporary human incarnation of God Vishnu.
You told that pleasing God is the purpose of this small human life,
and gave the example of Gopikas, who were ready to suffer in Hell,
if they could give relief to God Krishna from His headache, even for a second.
God Krishna, pleased with their devotion, became the servant of Gopikas,
creating a new world called Goloka, so that their feet dust falls on Him.
He took the punishments of all the past sins of all Gopikas and liberated them.
Similarly, we see You suffering our punishments every single day.
When asked, You tell that You take only the punishments of some real devotees.
But Swami, You are not only taking the sins of Your own devotees but also
the sins of real devotees of Your past incarnations, who are huge in number.
I sometimes don’t know what to say, but it feels painful to live like a parasite on You.
(parasite:- a plant or an animal that lives on another plant or animal to get food from it.)
Swami, after You came, my life has become simple and blissful.
The kick I get from reading and listening to Your true spiritual knowledge,
is found nowhere on this planet, and I am unable to enjoy the petty world now,
since I found an unimaginable ocean of permanent bliss in You.
You talk about my imposed merits, hiding my defects, which shows Your divinity.
If there is any merit in me, it is only because of You.
Born under the sign of Capricorn (Makara), You are my true Guardian, who holds me tight
from falling into the world and always protects me from attacks of ego or jealousy.
I intend to do anything that pleases You, but my intention is not enough to please You.
Although I put my best efforts, it is not even 1% of total efforts required to please You.
I put myself into Your service with the aim to have some conversation with You.
I am selfish, wanting to be with You since You are my source of happiness.
Though my defects are controlling me, I seek shelter at Your divine feet.
Although I am utterly undeserving, Your unreasonable kindness is the only reason
for getting Your association. My love is not even a drop before Your love ocean.