Alisa

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

The depart of a good person is truly so heart-wrenching and divine at the same time.
That bundle of love which came to this world only to care for others, the world feels the absence of them. It doesn’t matter if it has been a short time or a long time. Their presence in this world is not forgotten by Bhagavan. Everyone else, even the atma itself may forget that lifetime. But Bhagavan doesn’t forget. He always remembers. Every act of kindness. Every act of love. Every act of positivity and joy that one has spread in the world. Bhagavan remembers it all and keeps each memory in His heart. This is why every moment is important here and time so short. To move Bhagavan’s heart. To make Sri Hari your own. To make Him constantly remember your life here. How few days one has to accomplish so much. The opportunities are constantly given. Don’t forget to enjoy your time here. Life is a great joy. As two very dear atmas have moved entirely to the eternal realm, to Bhagavan’s sacred lotus feet. Madhavadas former swami on Sri Gayatri Jayanti, who was his own ishtadev. And Swamini Harisundari on Devi Dhumavati Jayanti, conquering the most difficult disease by keeping an open heart and surrendered mind. The sweet energy of love is amplified when good people spread their light to all. Don’t be afraid to shine the light within yourself. Open your heart. Let yourself feel the deep emotions you have. Gently work on the parts of your mind or life that scare you. And offer it all to God. Let Him pour His help on you. Don’t hold anything back. Don’t push things to a corner to look at later. Do it now. Work on your life now. Open yourself to Bhagavan’s great love now. Keep remembering Bhagavan all the time.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

Simran's value lies not in its duration, but in the depth of connection it fosters. A single moment of remembering Waheguru with love can offer more peace than hours of routine.

To remember with love is Simran. When the love becomes a meditation, an offering of oneself to the Divine, then the seed of devotion arises. The seed of Bhakti lies dormant in everyone’s consciousness. Simran, remembering Sri Hari with love, awakens that inner land into fertility and allows the dormant seed to arise. When the thoughts of the Divine become so single-pointed that the remembrance becomes continuous, then devotion starts to take root. When all expectation, false distance, and shackles fall away from loving, then devotion starts to burst with leaves and branches. When the self is forgotten entirely and only the most Beloved Bhagavan remains forever, then the single fruit of devotion is born. The fruit of pure divine nectar. The fruit of God’s reciprocation to every action from the surrendered one. The fruit of devotion is Giridhari himself. Manifesting for the surrendered one fully. Revealing the Paramatma’s own complete surrender to the atma since before time itself. One moment of remembering the SatGuru’s lotus feet with complete surrender can burn lifetimes of karma, can give a glimpse of Himself, His love, His home where one has come from. The atma is constantly remembering Sri Hari. It is constantly praying to the SatGuru to come and rescue it from its limited perception of love. The atma longs for love constantly. But not from everyone or everything. It longs for love only and only from God. It sees within the SatGuru the one who can love it unconditionally. This is the experience of Waheguru. This is the experience of Bhagavan. The Paramatma is that highest, unconditional love itself. When you show your willingness to remember Him, Vithala joy is immeasurable. If one tasted but a small drop of that amrit-like joy, all would converge into an eternal vision of my Vithala Giridhari.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

Haumai, or ego, often leads us to believe we are correct, but Sikhi encourages us to pause and reflect. True strength emerges when we can release our ego and embrace truth, even if we stand alone.

Wanting to be right. This sentiment makes people run around in circles constantly. Whether about something big or an insignificant matter, the mind is constantly looking for ways to prove its narrative. This is because the mind is limited and often wrong. Hence, it needs the external validation of being correct in order to remain calm. But like this, one is just like a leaf in the wind. Floating anywhere and anyhow. No direction. No sense. This is not why one comes into the world. And to force existence to be limited to the needs and wanderings of the mind is severely shortchanging oneself. Why would you accept such a lackluster experience of life when such greater things are available. But that is only when one sets down the ego and transcends the control of the mind. To become the master of the mind is not easy but it is crucial to get there. It is only when flowing with the deeper truth of life that true peace and correctness emerge. A truth that doesn’t need proofs yet is easily felt by the world. Why is it so easy for the SatGuru’s presence to calm down the mind from its normal state and make it resonate to a divine rhythm? Because one automatically feels the difference in His presence. One doesn’t need external proofs, one’s own state is the proof, the knowing transcends the external proof. And that deep conviction flows out in waves impacting everyone into a deeper state of being. When you allow the SatGuru’s adesh to release the ego’s control over you, when you allow Him to let the mind calm down and for your true self to take the reins from within. That state is the emergence of divine qualities. Of love, trust, strength, courage, and all others. Then even if the world stands in opposition to oneself, one won’t fight with the world to be right. One will simply allow the Will, the Hukam of the Divine to takeover and lead all where they have to go. Through Simran, constant loving remembrance of the Divine, one reaches the ability to let go of the ego into the SatGuru’s gentle and kind hands.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

Shubh Sri Ramanujacharya Jayanti to everyone.
This day is so important for all bhaktas. It doesn’t matter which tradition you are from, all the Saints should be revered and loved. Take inspiration from their lives, while remaining firm and true to your path with the SatGuru. The saints who have realized God completely in their lives are a beautiful light in this world. Who have lived purely to help others. Sri Ramanuja is one such incredible Saint. He has given the sacred Om Namo Narayanaya 8-syllable mantra to the world. He showed all that dedication to one’s Guru is not bound by space, time, or any outside circumstance. He met his true Guru, Sri Yamunacharya, when the Guru’s other disciples were taking the master’s body to its MahaSamadhi place. But still the Guru moved his fingers to instruct Sri Ramanuja. The Guru and a true disciple are always bound together in love. Their bond, their connection is eternal. And this pair of Guru-Disciple showed the world the beauty of that relationship. But this day is not just to admire the Saints. You need to become a disciple who constantly makes space for the SatGuru’s love and healing light to be poured into your life. So much so that the SatGuru’s heart is moved by the constancy of your love and faith. His heart melts very easily. But it is not so easy to move his heart. Because you have to become someone who repeatedly works on themselves to become kinder, more loving, more entrenched in Sri Hari’s name. May this day inspire all to become a true bhakta and find one’s eternal place at Sri Hari’s lotus feet. Blessings.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

To have constant gratitude without any negative feelings towards self, others, life, or God.
This is one deep secret of true love. The word gratitude often makes people think that they have to become a doormat that only sees others’ or God’s love and nothing good about oneself. This is not true. Genuine gratitude is the expression of deep love. And when love becomes the only focus of one’s life, then gratitude for every moment becomes a natural outpouring. Like ice naturally melts and flows into drops of water when placed in warm weather. The warm weather is God’s constant presence, the ice is one’s own eternal love, and the drops of water are the expression of both God’s constant presence of love as well as one’s own deep inner nature of love. This is why love and gratitude cannot be separated. They are a natural state of the atma and Paramatma meeting each other. When the two truly come together, then only love exists. And that is why, to put love as the only focus for oneself is the absolute highest expression that life can become.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

Narasimha, the one who is fiercely the true self, inside and outside fully aligned into one. To be completely and fearlessly the true self. To be as fierce on the outside as one is towards hypocrisy inside. To stand completely against evil without any personal gain, negative joy, or hatred; only to offer the highest love as a gift to God in all. To completely annihilate darkness by piercing it with the precision of true love. The precision of a love so profound that it does not see good or bad, only what needs to come back to SatChitAnanda and in what way. Narasimha is that love, he is a being untouched by anything other than love. Because he is constantly in fire. Within himself and on the outside. The flames of purity. The flames of transformation. The flames of the end of all things. Which is only love. Within Narasimha you can find the completeness of Sri Hari. The creator who could manifest his true self from within an obscure pillar. The sustainer who protected innocent faith from arrogant self-greatness. The destroyer who set ablaze everything and kept only love alive. The gentlest loving mother who turns into the fiercest warrior to protect complete surrender. And the one who gives himself fully to his true bhakta. The one who cannot wait to serve and adore the one who has offered oneself fully to him. But to find a bhakta like Prahlad, Bhagavan waits and waits endlessly. Never giving up hope and help for all to reach there, but knowing that the path to complete self-forgetting is extraordinarily severe. It is the severity of Narasimha’s own flames that burn the old and constantly birth the new within oneself. A bhakta walking towards Sri Hari, wears the eternal impressions of Narasimha‘s fiery love. Love is an armour of impenetrable sharpness as well as the most vulnerable softness of a newly blossomed flower. To understand Narasimha is to understand life itself. To love Narasimha is to love the very deepest depths of love.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

Every aspect of Narasimha’s incarnation is so meaningful.
He came from such a hidden, ignored place. Showing everyone that the majesty of God is in himself. He gives glory and divinity to every surrounding, because He is present it becomes divine. And his eternal home is within your heart, deep within your true self. He keeps giving glimpses of the absolute beauty of that place, to help you to reach there, to keep loving more and more. He used his nails to pierce evil and dismantle it piece by piece. Still he was giving. Narasimha was giving his utmost love even to the most dreadful being. But the way one lives, one’s inner state determines how His love shows up in one’s life. Through gentle kindness and sweeter than honey feelings, like with Prahlad. Or, through intense purification and ego-destroying transformation like with Hiranyakashipu. Narasimha is pure love. Pure state of manifestation. What frequency you raise yourself to, what purity resonates within you, determines how He pulls you closer to Himself. Because every atma constantly pleads to be closer to Him. If you choose to remain at a low frequency, He still pulls you closer, but the way is very hard because He has to perform constant surgery to remove the poisonous parts within you. Then, His form of a lion; naturally the king, revered by all. He only has to display his power once and that is enough to establish his place of highest glory. But most of the time, he coexists with every being under his protection in the most natural way. Hence, the feeling of awe, reverence, and utmost service that others feel towards Him is balanced by protection, love, and harmony of life with Him. How endless are the ways of Bhagavan Sri Hari. His love, his glory is ever growing.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

Shubh Narasimha Chaturdashi.
No matter how large the ego, Bhagavan always finds a way for true love to win. It doesn’t matter how hidden or how undermined life may make love feel, a truly surrendered person is never hidden from Sri Hari’s eyes. His true bhakta is never undermined in His heart. Bhagavan Narasimha came to show all that He is everywhere. He sees the hearts of all. He sees how much one has turned towards Him. And He responds in the perfect way for each atma. Lifetimes upon lifetimes of karma and bonds get broken by that one instance of true love for Him. Bhagavan Sri Hari has taken innumerable forms and infinite names in this world, but the incarnation of Narasimha is so special. He came as the highest and give His all to the most downtrodden one. The one who was persecuted repeatedly, who had no one on their side, and yet only knew to love. The one whose heart and eyes only saw Sri Hari everywhere. For such a devoted and pure soul, Prahlad, Narasimha appeared and gave him his eternal place. Within Bhagavan’s heart as His own dear one. On this day when we celebrate the appearance of Narasimha Dev, don’t forget that although Bhagavan incarnated for such a short in this form, He is here eternally. As long as this earth exists, Bhagavan will continue to come here. He will never leave anyone alone or behind. He is eternally with everyone. Always in the mudra of Darshan. Make your efforts, give it everything you have to gain His eternal Darshan and always reside in His realm of unconditional love and service. Blessings to all.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

Often one hears that Bhagavan responds in the way that His bhakta calls Him.
This is very true. Sri Hari appeared in such a beautiful way through a small pillar as Narasimha Dev for little Prahlad. Sri Krishna came as Panduranga for Sant Pundalik. Sri Ram went out of his way when looking for Sita Devi, just to find the hut of Shabari Mata and honour her lifelong devotion and love to Himself. These incidents in the lives of the bhaktas are countless, and they continue till today, they will always continue to occur. This is Bhagavan’s deepest heart given to His beloved bhaktas. So the question for all is, how can one truly move His heart that He runs to oneself? It is when all expectations that He will come, that He should come, that He has to come, when all this falls away. Prahlad didn’t expect that Sri Hari should come out from the pillar. Shabari and Pundalik were not expecting Bhagavan to show up on their doorstep. No. They had no expectations. They had no desire to compel Him. They had absolutely no thought that Bhagavan should respond to their love. In any way. At all. Ever. This is the secret. They loved without thinking at all how He will respond, how He will come to them, nothing at all. They loved Him so that He can be glorified. So that His name can be established everywhere. So that whatever service they could do for Him, could be offered without any strings attached to His beautiful lotus feet. They had zero desire that He must come to them, but 100% desire to offer their entire self to Him. Their heart, mind, body, every breath, every atom, was offered to Him unconditionally. Their service was not an act service, because He is fully complete within Himself always. Their service was an act of gratitude. That’s why they were desperate to take on the most humble and menial of existences, just so that their enormous love could be hidden from everyone’s eyes and seen by Him alone. That too not seen by Him in person. But seen by Him within their heart. They captured Him so thoroughly in their heart that He wanted to run to them and become their forever captive. He wanted to live within the cave of their heart as a willing prisoner of their bhakti for Him. As He is without any desire except for love, their heart was the same way. They wished to just love Him. They were not trying to set examples for others, make grand proclamations to the universe, or go down in history as great saints. No. They had no concern for this at all. They were thoroughly consumed by how to continuously express their gratitude to Him, how to see a smile on His face within their heart, how to keep breaking their heart so that the space for Him inside keeps growing bigger, more loving, more warm, and filled with the joy of constant reunion. The secret of everything is love.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

https://t.co/KSpFxWydex

Maa is finally released!

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

Complete loyalty is the only way to truly be with God.
To approach and know Sri Hari, one’s loyalty has to be more than 100% offered to him alone. The mind, heart, body, spirit, and energy kept only for Him. Without any expectations in return. The saints were like this. They didn’t expect Bhagavan to do anything for them, but from their side, they wanted to do everything for Bhagavan. Even if Narasimha Dev hadn’t emerged from the pillar, Prahlad Maharaj would not have been disappointed, angry, or lost faith. He would have continued being completely, happily, in love with his beloved Bhagavan Sri Hari regardless of whether Bhagavan gave him Darshan, came to help him, liberated him; or, left him in this world to continue living in the middle of the asuras with torture and pain. Because he didn’t feel the external torture and pain were reasons to let go of his deep love for Bhagavan. The outside only served to increase his love for Sri Hari. Regardless of whether the outside was happy or sad, the saints used the experience to increase their love for Bhagavan. Their loyalty to Bhagavan was complete. How extraordinary and how limitless is such a love, nothing shakes or reduces it. Such loyalty is grown more and more by the bhakta. And Bhagavan becomes addicted to such devotion. He who is everything willingly becomes nothing in front of such deep loyalty to him. This is true love. Where one only sees the Great Master and offers all only to Him. On the spiritual path, one often hears about love, devotion, purification, transformation of the mind, being positive, and other qualities. But the sweet and radiant quality of loyalty doesn’t get spoken about much. Its importance however is very high. True loyalty is the same as single-pointed, laser-focused devotion. There is no thought left of anything other than the Beloved. Being loyal means that one has kept oneself purely for Bhagavan’s exclusive use; like an empty flute waiting for its one and only Eternal Master to compose the sweetest melody through its existence.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

Truly the one who can understand you fully and till the end, through everything, is only Paramatma.
Everyone longs for this love which can understand one to the core of one’s heart. Who can see beyond the limits of what can be conveyed through words, and love all the way constantly. Who can love beyond all boundaries and not care about the reasons for not loving. Because there are many reasons to pull away, to not love anymore. But God doesn’t think like that. He doesn’t feel that way. He loves all the time. No matter how one chooses to love Him. Whether one loves Him joyfully or treats Him painfully, He always only loves with the tenderest care. If you truly saw how much He cares and loves, it would heal all your longing for love and understanding. You would feel cared for completely. For true love and complete understanding, one can only turn to Bhagavan. The same Antaryami, the same one who is outside as the SatGuru, the same one who is in every atom of this universe. Turn to that unconditional love fully. People, no matter how much they love you, can only do so until a certain limit. It is not possible for it to be completely unconditional. Because they have their limitations and you have yours. So each one can receive love in a limitless way, without any conditions, only from inside from Bhagavan. But that love, His love is so fulfilling that it will satisfy your yearning of all lifetimes for that complete acceptance. Don’t ever think of yourself as alone or friendless. You have a home with Him. You have a friend in Him. You have a constant companion in Him. Turn to that beloved Sri Hari fully.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

Doubts come, judgement lashes out, ego arises, but how much do you go into them?
While walking on the spiritual path, both negative and positive qualities come up. A beautiful saint used to say, “All kinds of feelings may come up, but the intensity and duration of the thoughts and emotions should keep decreasing. Even if the memory of the same situation plays in front of your eyes again, or another similar situation comes up; you should not be as affected as you were before. Until the negative emotional fluctuations regarding that thought, emotion, situation or person, become completely zero. And you can feel complete acceptance, love, and gratitude towards them.” How much you go into your thoughts and emotions and for how long do they affect you? If you are still getting swayed by your negative or positive emotions, you are like a pendulum. Constantly of swinging in duality. But if you can rise above your thoughts and emotions, not let them move you around, then that is progress on the spiritual path. Initially, one identifies with one’s thoughts and emotions almost completely. And when the SatGuru arrives in one’s life, He changes that. He shows that one is something much, much greater than the body, thoughts, and emotions. But that process isn’t so easy. The mind and heart are taken beyond their perceived limits, because He wishes to show that one is that eternal self behind all limitations. We box ourselves in and the SatGuru keeps removing us from all boxes. This process repeats itself endless times, until one stops creating boxes to limit oneself. If you start identifying if any thought or emotion, you cannot love. And to love in every moment you are here in this world, that is your highest dharma for which you have taken human birth. Until you reach unconditional love, the SatGuru will keep polishing away your thoughts and emotions. But what emerges after that polishing is a diamond brighter than any jewel here in the world. And its beauty adorns the lotus feet of Sri Hari, who is one’s true eternal companion.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

A Blessed Ganga Dussehra

Ganga Dussehra is not only about a river coming down to earth. At its heart, it is a festival of gratitude for water itself. Rivers are not just water resources. They are the living presence, sustainers of life and expressions of something sacred.

Among all rivers, Maa Ganga holds the highest place because she represents compassion that flows without asking who deserves it.

Our ancestors understood something we keep forgetting. We survive because we receive. Air, water, soil, sunlight. These were gifts before they were ever resources.
Ganga Dussehra is a yearly reminder to pause and bow to that.

This festival is celebrated as the day Maa Ganga descended from the heavens. The name tells exactly how she serves humanity.
Dush means sin and Hara means a destroyer.

The tradition however points to something subtler than moral accounting. Ganga doesn't only remove sin. She removes the heaviness people carry inside, grief, regret, guilt, the weight of years.

The Puranic story behind this goes back to King Bhagiratha, who spent thousands of years in penance to bring Ganga to earth so his ancestors could be liberated. Her force was too great for the earth to bear, so Shiva received her in his matted locks and released her gently. Her coming to earth was itself the meeting of Bhagiratha's effort, Sriman Narayana’s grace, and Shiva's steadiness. She became Bhagirathi because she was earned through penance and Jahnavi after Sage Jahnu released her once more.

Maa Ganga is the purifier of the fallen (patita paavan). Not the already-pure. The fallen. There is real tenderness in that title.

In Varanasi there is a story devotees tell quietly. An old man had lost his son and had stopped speaking to almost everyone around him. On Ganga Dussehra, he came and sat at the ghat as thousands of small lamps floated out across the dark water. He sat there a long time without doing anything. Then he placed one lamp on the river and said, barely above a whisper, "I carried him when he was small. I cannot carry him anymore."
He watched the little lamp and its flame move into the current. And for the first time in years, he wept.

That is probably what purification actually means. It’s not that the water does something mysterious to the soul. But it’s in the presence of something vast and unhurried, we finally put down what we were never supposed to carry alone.

When people offer flowers on Ganga Dussehra, float lamps and pray, they are not just performing a ritual. They are saying thank you for the life. For the possibility that grace still moves through the world, the way a mother never really asks whether her child deserves to come home.
Amrita dasi

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

The tangible presence of God.
Everyone believes that God is a matter of faith. Or some being far away to meet in some otherworldly realm or beyond death. He is sometimes even thought of as a figment of an overactive imagination. Is that all He is really? Who is God? Where is He? Is He an idea born in our minds?
Sant Janabai used to see the tangible real Vitthala come to help her in her daily tasks. He would help her to grind grains, wash clothes, and make cow dung disks for Yagnas. He would wash her hair and put her to sleep when she was tired. She would cook food for them and sing to Him the abhangas she had written in her love for Him during the day.
He wasn’t a figment of her imagination. He was as real as the other people who walked around her. In fact, in her life He was much more real than the other people who walked around her. Because He was her only reality. She had given us everything, just to be at His Feet. The others couldn’t see His divine form which was shrouded from loveless, cynical, and arrogant eyes. But Sant Namdev would also see Him and knew that He came to be with Janabai every single day. He came to Namdev and Janabai sometimes at the same time. In two places, two bodies, the Lord of the World danced with Namdev and ate with Janabai. Enjoying their love, showering them with His sweetest presence, and sometimes giving the world a glimpse of His beautiful form to show that they spoke the truth when they said He was next to them.
It is true even today. The Lord of the World is here next to us. But our minds are so narrow and darkened that we can’t even accept that possibility. He gives Darshan everyday. Every single day He goes in search of His bhaktas and spends time with them. God is as tangibly real as the food you eat, the people you talk to, the body you call your own. Pray hard and work hard on the Adesh given by the SatGuru to know His presence around you. Once you’ve tasted the sweetest nectar of His love and continuous presence with you, all else will fade away.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

To go with the flow, to flow with God’s plan in one’s life doesn’t mean inaction from one’s side.
Imagine a river. Its natural state is to flow with the way the ground is. Over rocks, through narrow gaps, watering green meadows, becoming frozen over icy plains, and melting once again in warm weather. But it is always flowing. Now imagine someone builds a large wall and prevents the river from flowing. The river’s course faces an obstacle and its movement stops. This is what happens when life throws up situations which one doesn’t know how to handle. Initially, everything looks like it is coming to a standstill. But over time, that external wall starts crumbling because of the pressure of the water building up. Then with grace it finds the exact place to breakthrough. And the water finds a way to break the entire barrier. Now comes the interesting part. What normally people do when this happens is, they start doubting, thinking, hesitating. “What if I face a wall again? What if next time the wall is poisoned? What if my strength is not enough next time? How long will it take me to break another wall? How much effort? I am so tired.” And the mind goes on and on. So instead of doing the most natural thing which is becoming a large waterfall and gushing over the broken wall with full force and joy, one spends much more energy holding oneself back and not flowing. Imagine the river saying “I won’t flow anymore,” and then trying to hold its water back in midair and not let it flow over the broken wall and charting a new beautiful course on the other side. How strange would that situation look if you saw a river just hesitating in midair? This is what flowing with God’s plan means. You are working with your full divine potential and full force in every moment, but the outcome is left to Him. Whether a wall is needed in some place to change the course of action. Whether a well is needed to be filled in some other place. Whether a village has to be relieved of thirst in a third place. And finally, when where and how to meet the great ocean. The fact that the river in some way or another will always meet the ocean is a 100% reality. Whether by joining its waters to the waters of the ocean. Or, by evaporating over dry land and becoming rain clouds that meet the water vapor of the ocean in the air. Or, by feeding the endless beings which are also sustained by the ocean’s waters. One way or another, the river has to meet the ocean. That is a given fact. But how quickly the river surrenders to that fact, surrenders to the flow, and puts its full force into realizing its complete potential makes an enormous difference. By knowing itself as a part of the ocean always, the river can be in complete harmony no matter where life takes it or what life expects from it. Then there will be no doubt, no tiredness, no anger, and no sorrow. Only the flow of life, the flow of unconditional love which is in movement everywhere.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

The SatGuru makes one complete within oneself. So that if one chooses to surrender to Him, it is truly out of pure free will. That is His great and humble eternal love.
He gives the fullness of self- and God-realization. That grace isn’t reserved for just a few people. It is open for all. But very few people truly understand its beauty and yearn for it. Because there is one point that no one can talk about other than the SatGuru. He gives the fullness of SatChitAnanda so easily to all who come to Him. It is His to give and He bestows it so freely. He opens one’s pure free will. The true choice to surrender to Him or not is given in that moment of complete freedom. Surrendering when one needs nothing from Him to be happy, because He has made one fully one with bliss. Would you still only long to place your head at His feet? How many people would still want only to surrender to His lotus feet? How many people would still wish to be small, humble, and hidden, staying exclusively as Bhagavan’s humble servants? Nothing else; just to serve endlessly. Serving in love the one who has given everything, fullness of freedom and endless bliss within one’s self. The one who has even given His own self as the eternal companion to all. But what happens after God-realization is a huge mystery. The ones who have it, never reveal it. The ones who don’t have it, can never understand until reaching it. And that endless experience of eternal companionship is given by the SatGuru only. Nobody else can do it. The personal relationship in the world, the antaryami within the soul, the cosmic infinite Sri Hari, and endless other forms. How can one actually realize God? It is thoroughly impossible. Only God can realize Himself. The ending of all personal identity and yet continued existence. Living with God-realization is a gift only the true SatGuru can give. And it follows so beautifully to all that has come before in this world. What the world can receive from Him is infinite, yet how many are awake?

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

That deep inner wisdom, which removes every obstacle of the inside, is Guru Ganesha.
The SatGuru brings obstacles to create a certain positive change and the SatGuru removes the obstacles when one’s understanding has grown deeper towards love. All is His deepest love for every single atma. He knows each atma more than it knows itself. He is that deep inside awareness which never leaves one. One can suffocate it, drown it in ignorance, but like Ganpati who comes back again and again after Visargan, the SatGuru ignites that flame of love from within again and again. He gives the atma opportunity after opportunity to realize itself, to realize Bhagavan. That inside knowing of Bhagavan. That conscious inner witness who is untouched by anything and knows that the outside is just a temporary play. That is the SatGuru, Guru Ganesha. The father of the ganas, the ignorant ones. The SatGuru plays this part of his role on earth and beyond, perfectly. He is the father to the ignorant. Loving, firm, and focused on His children’s highest wellbeing. If the children learn willingly, He can teach with joy and patience. If the children are unwilling to learn, He teaches with sternness and impatience. All is His play. But the willingness from His children’s side, melts His heart. That sweetest nectar of Bhagavan’s love flows from His heart when the innocent child has melted His heart fully. When one has become as trusting and as joyful in His approach, as a newborn in seeing the beloved mother. Helpless but with full faith in the mother’s care. Unable to reach for anything by oneself, but immensely powerful because the mother provides everything one desires and more. This infinitely loving quality of the wise parent, that is the SatGuru. That deep recognition of Him awakens through His own grace.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

The SatGuru is the presider over time.
One of the gifts from God that we most undervalue is time. Trying to find ways to pass time is probably one of the most common activities that people engage in. But the saints always felt the lack of time to serve their beloved God, the One they knew was manifest everywhere. They felt that time was never enough to love God, to adore Him who is extraordinarily in love with every one of His atmas. St Philip Neri from Italy and Sant Tukaram from Maharashtra, both would say how little time they had to be with God, to spend time in His blessed company. Love always wants more time with its beloved. Kaal, which means both time and death, has many deities associated with it; Mahakal, Mahakali, Dharmaraj, as well as the Sudarshan Chakra which is the movement of time. The SatGuru is the presider over all of them, the one embodying all those deities and their roles for the world. As Mahakal, ending the limitation of time for the bhakta. As Mahakali, freeing one from the fear of death. As Dharmaraj, giving the highest truth of Bhagavan to all. And when one has received the eyes of true perception, one can see His divine energy in flow everywhere. One can see that it is His sudarshan chakra which goes forth and brings about all changes. Finally, beyond all of these; He holds time still for the surrendered atma to come close to Him. The flow of time continues on the outside for creation to flourish, but in the inner consciousness all has changed. There is no more movement, away or towards. There is only the eternal Now, the presence of the Almighty. This existence beyond the catches of time is given by the SatGuru, He is the one who presides over these roles. In His palm, time is just another quality. It is His Shakti which brings time into existence and His Shakti which will stop time from existing. He is the one who comes from the place beyond time. From the pure consciousness of eternal love. But through the passage of time you’ve experienced in your life, have you spent it working towards His grace where everything just stops at the feet of Bhagavan?

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

When the SatGuru arises as Narasimha, he is that great joy for life.
The SatGuru removes every obstacle, every fear from one’s path, making one completely joyful. Unending joy for life arises from within. There is no more time to simply pass, every moment is appreciated and spent in His love. That is Narasimha. The one who transcends from Nara to Narayana. From misery to bliss. From fear to love. This is the secret of Narasimha’s avatar. He looks fearsome and His actions are very fierce, but only on the outside, to remove the ego. Inside, He is great joy. The sweetness of bliss. Taking one deeper and deeper on the path towards Bhagavan. When the SatGuru awakens as the AntarYami after earnest effort from the bhakta and His own even more ardent effort, the first wave which arises from inside is of great relief. The ending of Hiranyakashipu who is constant pain, and the liberation of Prahlad who is the pure mind. The Cosmic Doctor has taken care of the ego, bringing great relief to the atma. And after His long slumber when the Antaryami makes Himself known to the atma, the second wave that arises from within is of great joy. The true Darshan of Narasimhadev as He is on the inside. The fiercest becoming the most mellow. The pure joy of Bhagavan and bhakta’s meeting. Love melting like butter because of the single-pointed joy of His bhakta. Bhakti reaching its final step and finding Prem. The way the SatGuru enacts these multiple roles at once is an eternal mystery. He is the external teacher in the world. He is the cosmic doctor. He is the deepest inner consciousness. He is the devotion of the bhakta. And He is the fully manifest Prem, giving Darshan in infinite forms. Guru Narasimha.