Monday 7th August 2000 Dattatreya Yoga Centre,Trinidad
Morning session.
On this Shravana Ashtami day, Narahari Teertha Aradhana is performed to pay respects to Swami Narahari Teertha, father of our beloved Sadguru. A special crowd has gathered to witness the special abishkhams to Lord Shiva and other rituals. Sri Swamiji explains,“Today is Swami Narahari Teertha Day. (His death anniversary) My father is my guru and my best friend in my lifetime. He was a very learned saint who took sanyasa in his old age. A very powerful saint gave him sannyas. That guru had no eyesight, and was 102 years old. He wrote so many Vedanta books and Narahari Teertha my father asked him, “ Please I want Diksha from that Guru.” That time he was in the forest. My father asked and he refused. Finally I personally requested. Of course, I am Datta, but in this body I am human and so I asked him, “My father wants Diksha from you.” So finally he gave on the banks of the Kaveri River.
My father is detached and I told him in my childhood,” I have never seen you with Krodha,that is upset. He replied “I don’t know what is Krodha.” This was my first lesson from him. He said that if you get angry if you think “This is mine, my children, my house. I am in samsara, I have properties, children, I am learned in the Shastras, but not attached to them. So many temples, so many people give respect, but still I have no attachment, so no anger. If you are attached, then only you get angry. So many small lessons in childhood he gave Swamiji. Always a happy soul, if someone dies, he is laughing. If somebody takes birth he is crying. My mother always wants to know what is this? Why is He always like this?
There is a hidden vedantic meaning. If you take birth we suffering, crying because it means we will have diseases etc, but other people laugh. The baby cries but other people laugh. The baby laughs only for two seconds. “ Why am I here?” The baby thinks. When death comes the soul is laughing, but others are crying. So, lessons like this I learnt from Him.
He had a huge following in the villages, twenty-two villages. They believe he is Narasimha Avatara. After Swamiji took birth he gave away his property to poor people. He is very happy giving Annadana. Now still villages are following him. We are very glad, very happy on this Narahari Teertha day. He was always eating wheat ladoo, always on a strict diet and one glass of curd milk. Today, we pray and give him Naivedyam or prasadam and definitely he will bless us.”
The event ended with Sri Swamiji’s distributing “Rave Unde”, the favourite laddoo of Swami Narahari Teertha to all, in a most uplifting atmosphere.