This inspiring, timeless message about the purpose of Namadwaar was given by Sri Swamiji on the occasion of Houston Namadwaar’s 7th Anniversary in the 10th year since G.O.D.’s inception.
“Good evening to one and all.
I am very happy to see all of you on this fine day, the anniversary of our Namadwaar.
What is the purpose of our Namadwaar? Let us just think about this today, and we will try to keep it in our minds and make sure that we are always proceeding towards it.
I’m very proud of our religion; I’m very proud of my country. I say in my lectures that India is such a holy land, that so many saints have been born in this land, that all the incarnations of the great Lord Vishnu have been only in this land. I’m very proud about all this also.
Whenever I travel in crowded places, either by vehicle or by walk, I see people going to shops, to the movies, to restaurants. I also see a lot of people engaged in mundane jobs like digging, or riding vehicles, etc. When I see all these kinds of people, a question often comes to my mind – what if I go and ask a person, “Do you know what is meant by religion? You may belong to the Hindu religion. Are you doing any daily spiritual practice? Are you aware of any sadhanas? Are you aware of Liberation? Are you aware of any saints who have come into this world?”
If I ask such questions, rather than giving me an answer, the person will laugh at me. Because usually people will not ask such questions. They are not used to such kind of questions. They are always interested only in a worldly life. Let them be. They may not want all these things or they don’t know anything about it.
My question is, if they don’t know anything about it, is it not our duty to inform them? Just to make them understand that there is a way, a path, in every religion, and especially in our religion, to take them near God?
Even though there are many saints, every saint has the same set of people who go to him, talk to him. He is kind of a mentor to those people; he meets and guides the same people again and again. Let it be so. For every Guru, there is a crowd, there is a group. Let it be so. But such people are all introduced to religion before they come to the Guru – either because of their family background, the society they have been brought up in, or any spiritual practices they have been following.
So my question is, what about the fishermen, the men who lift bags, clean the drainage, clean the roads, the people doing simple, neglected work in the society? Is God not for them? What we are going to do for them?
We may gather together with 5 or 10 people, talk of philosophy, appreciate it and then disperse. But what is the meaning in that? Are we not cheating ourselves? When there is a religion, there are also many sects. Some people will say this is the way to dress, this is the way to wear tilak, wear this kind of mala, this kind of namaskaram, etc. They believe that they can see God and get liberated only by following that way.
God is above all the ritual and rites. By mere rituals and rites it is not possible for you to realize God. Then what are those for? It is only to purify your mind and control your mind and its thoughts. To that extent it is useful. But if you want to realize God, what do you need? Unconditional, Selfless and Universal love.
If it’s not possible for you to love your kith and kin, your family, a neighbor… the people around you, and to feel a little concern for them, how it is possible for you to realize God? The simple way of religion is universal love. So love each other. Then love everybody, love everyone.
How to love everyone? How is it possible? It is possible because the entire universe is nothing but Krishna Himself. It is He who has manifested in the form of this universe. Whether it is a scorpion or a snake, a cat or cow or horse… in every heart Krishna is sitting. It is only because of that that the creature has life. So don’t see the body; see the soul inside, see the Lord inside and try to love.
Some may ask, how can I love? You try! Without trying if you keep questioning “How? How? How?”, how can I answer or how can you achieve? First you try! But mere trying is not enough. With that, do you know what you have to do? You have to chant the Mahamantra. Nama (Divine Name) is so sweet, Nama is so simple, Nama is Krishna himself, Nama is the Light. Nama is samadhi, Nama is bliss, Nama is the Infinite, Nama is the name of the Nameless Person.
When you start to repeatedly chant this simple Nama – the Mahamantra – you can feel the transformation within you. When you are transformed in this way, your sight towards the world will be different and you can see a new world, a new approach, a new dimension. How? Because it will not at all be possible for you to hate someone for any reason. That is bliss!
If you hate somebody, you should have hatred in your mind. When you have hatred in your mind, that itself is poison; when it hurts somebody, it will also hurt you at the same time by making you lose your peace. Don’t keep this dust of unwanted things in your heart, like hatred, selfishness, jealousy, greed, etc. Just surrender to Krishna, the beautiful, blissful, lovable God! The merciful one who will never let down those who have surrendered to Him; who are chanting His name!
Just see His face and think of Him, keep Him in your heart and catch hold of His holy feet. Think of Him, surrender to Him, talk to Him, chant His names. Tell Him, “Krishna you are my everything! Please protect me, please forgive me. Teach me how to behave in the world; teach me how to talk to people; teach me how I have to carry on my daily duties; teach me what to do in my sadhanas; be with me and guide me. Don’t blame me after I make mistakes. Before I do anything, just be in my mind, be in my heart, and guide me properly in the way I have to proceed, and see that I am proceeding in the right path. That’s what I want Krishna. For this, I’m surrendering to You and chanting Your holy name. Nothing should happen to me without Your wish. Nothing should happen to me without Your willingness, without Your permission. Please have an eye on me and guide me, put me in the right place, put me in the right path and make me happy.”
So just talk to Krishna. Don’t think that He is in Vaikunta or Goloka; just imagine that He is like your friend, always walking and traveling with you. Talk to Him, because He is omnipresent and can hear your voice from wherever you are calling. Just talk to Him and share whatever is in your mind freely. Even if you cannot talk to Him out loud, talk with your mind.
Always talk to Him, chant His name and make yourself happy; in this way, make everybody happy. So what is our motto, mission or vision for Namadwaar? To make each and every person – of different walks of life, whether he’s a crorepati or whether he is penniless, whether he is beautiful or neglected for any reason – chant His name. Nama does not have any discrimination.
To one and all, this is our new religion! There is no restriction for this at all… by birth, by gender, by money, society, status, looks, education, etc. All those who are interested to chant Nama can enter into this Namadwaar and chant, chant, chant. My place is always open for you. Not only open, we are eagerly waiting to see you inside this place. We are so anxious. Those who come inside Namadwaar are very precious to Krishna. He will never let them down.
So please, come into this Namadwaar. Step into this Namadwaar. Keep your mind here, chant and spread the holy name all over the world and see that in our lifetime, nobody is left without chanting Nama. For that, till our last breath we will work! Let Krishna be with us and fulfill our wish!”
