Dhyanagiri Hill & Tapovana:
Dhyanagiri is the name given by Swami Say about 15 years back. Earlier it was called as Mucchala Gudda. Mucchala means a kind of fruit. Earlier the hill was full of wild animals like Lion, Tiger, and Leopard etc. Nobody could go to this hill due to these wild animals. Moreover there were serpents & many kinds of reptiles. The neighboring people say that the tigers were sitting & waiting to catching goats, shelves, ox, etc from the surrounding villages. After 12 days stay, Swami was often going to this hill for Meditation. Swami got a thought of 8 Baniyan trees in the 8 directions of this hill. Swami used to tell that these 8 trees will bring the peace in the 8 directions. Swami told that these 8 Baniyan trees would stand as Astadikapalakas where Indra in the East, Agni in the South-East, Yama in the South, Niruthi in the South-West, Varuna in the West, Vayu in the North-West, Kubera in the North & Ishana in the North-East. The first plant was planted on Sri Krishna Janmastami day at the time of sunrise.
In 1989, the other 7 plants were planted having a gap of one week each. Later the suitable alters was constructed by the Devotees. The Bhajan programme began under these plants up to 1 year for the plantation. These programmes are going on still even today regularly under the shade of every plant. Once in a week after a week in a circular order the Bhajan programme will be conducted. Swami Meditates under them often to these plants and now they have become very big trees. Swami has told that these plants will grow & cover the hill & many Meditators will come here in future.
Ocean of Love by devotees & a Construction of a Bhajan Mandir at Panchavati:
In the year 2000 A.D, Swami totally left Sri Sathya Sai Loka Seva Institution & started to leave under a stone protection in Dhyanagiri Hill where thousands of devotees & general public came together with a number of Police Officers, Assistant Commissioner, District Commissioner of Kolar surrounded Swami. They requested Swami to come down from the hill to conduct Bhajan & give Spiritual discourses.
They selected a place near Panchavati to build a temporary leafy Bhajan Mandir at the bottom of Dhyanagiri Hill. Thousands of them came forward to build a Mandir with a capacity of 500 people.
The wonder is that they built the Mandir in one day’s time. One does not know how they brought big stone pillars, the wooden bars & the leaves. It was really thrilling that Sri V Muniyappa, the Minister for Minor gave a visit to the Ashram. All the eminent persons from the Chickaballapur Taluk and as well as from Kolar District came to this place but in meanwhile Swami was unshaken with His Meditation without any botheration in Dhyanagiri Hill. Then the DC of Kolar came to the spot & waited for Swami for hours together. Swami did not wake up from His meditation and then DC went back. Such was the deep Meditation of Swami.
Panchavati was an atrocious former village of Ghosts, Wild Animals & Reptiles:
Panchavati was a terrible place. There was a village called Naramana Halli (Village of Narama). Once the disease plague attacked the village & daily about 8-10 people began to die in a week.
A wolf came from the hill top to this village & caught a child from the cradle & ran away back to the Hill. A big rock rolled down from the Hill & crushed some of the houses, and then rest of the people ran away to the place which is now called as Byranayakanahalli, which is at a distance of 1Km from Panchavati.
It was a thick forest about 100 years back having Leopards, Serpents & other type of reptiles. There were so many incidents where people could witness the mark of legs of Leopard, Tigers etc. But now the place has become a very Spiritual and Beautiful, because of Swami’s Meditation and Penance.
Seva Dal Conference Message from Swami, dated 31/10/2010:
Selfless Service is the first fruitful Service.
Social Service is the important fruitful Service.
Divine service is the basic fruitful Service.
Religious Service is the original fruitful Service.
Mortal & Immortal world are varieties of living beings, among them main is one.
Swami says, the man has got better mind, Wisdom, Will, Heart etc then the Animals, Birds, Insects etc. Because of these special qualities the man leads a better life. There are three kinds of living beings and they are God’s, Human Beings and Demons. Among them God’s are better living beings. They have got more selfless nature. Demons do not have good qualities. They have selfish nature. Human beings have got some times selfless nature. Every living being (God’s, Human beings, Demons) have got at least selfish nature.
We say that man has got ‘I’ Nature.
He always says “This is my house, my property ’’ etc.
This is called Selfish nature but we can reduce this selfish nature, and we cannot remove this completely. Even the God Shiva says that “This is my Nandi, This is my Thrishulla, and this is my Kailasha” etc.
This shows that Shiva too has got ‘I’ ness. Therefore God’s have got less ‘I’ ness & more selfless nature.
The Sun God gives the heat, the rays, but He never takes the compliments for these services. He never gives bills for His services like Karnataka Electric Board for their supply of Electricity. This is the Selfless Service of Sun God. The people who do selfless Services are called God’s or God-like persons. Therefore the sun is called as Sun-God. Therefore the God’s & Goddesses have got more selfless nature.
Now let us see more details of Selfless Service.
Niswartha means Ni+ Swa + Artha.
Ni means No,
Swa means Selfishness,
Artha means property.
Therefore Niswartha means the one who has got desire for anything. Therefore selfless Service means the service without any desire for self. This is Divine quality.
Now let us see more details of Social Service.
Samaja means Sama + Aja.
Sama means Equal.
Aja means Birth.
Therefore Samaja means equally born or the persons of equality.
Therefore the Social worker means the one who brings the equality but this is very difficult. For this equality the one who has got a big building should help the one who has got a big building, should help the one who has got a poor hut. Finally they should be equal but generally no man is ready for this principal.
We can see such situation in this world. But everyone should try to donate the things for a poor as far as possible.
But in the present world Man keeps the things sufficient for his needs & gives a little to others.
The poor suffers & the rich becomes proud. Therefore both of them do not leave with happiness; therefore the aim of the social workers is to bring the equality.
There was a person called Vinobha bhave. He began the service called “Donation of land”.
What is this?
He advised to the landlords “If you donate a part of your land to the poor then you get the grace of the God”.
Many rich people followed this principal but it failed. But the poor people who got land like this became happy thinking they got the land but they became lazy.
They began to enjoy the life without working properly & many of them fell into the bad habits like Drinking, Smoking etc.
They made the loans & they sold the land to settle their loans. The persons who sold the land became poor again & thus the land donation service failed. This service became successful at the beginning & failed at last.
DIVINE SERVICE: ‘De Ithi Devaha’.
People say ‘De’ means Give, ‘Va’ means etc.
Therefore “Deva” means the One who gives i.e., (GOD).
The one who does not give anything is called “Danava” (Demon).
The one who donates sometime & do not donate at some other time is called “Manava” (Human).
The one who acts according to his mind is called Manava therefore the man who gives up this type of fickleness becomes God. The one who do not give anything is called Demon. Let us see an example of Danava. Anjaneya who did every kind of services to Rama became God. People built up Temples for Him & but nobody built up any temple of Bakasura. “THEREFORE THE SERVICE TO GOD MAKES A MAN GOD”.
Let us see examples for the above Selfless Service, Social Service & Divine Service. Prophet Mohammed Pygumber, who is the founder of Islam Religion, was sitting near His Grandson Hassan & Hussein.
One of His devotees brought 7 Dates (Dry Fruit) & gave to the Prophet to distribute them to the poor. But one of the Grandsons ate the fruit. This is Selfish nature but the Prophet put His finger into the mouth of the child & brought out the Date. He told the child that the Dates were donated for feeding the poor. Therefore He told that they should not eat the Dates. The child understood the advice & agreed for his mistake. He washed the dates & kept the same among the other dates. This is a good example for Selfless Service.
Once, while Jesus was moving and rendering His services to the people. The two girls of age between 14 – 15 years came running from behind. When Jesus asked for their crying, they told that they beg and they live as motherless & fatherless, and the children now lost their single brother Lazarus too. “Now we are helpless” they told. Then they requested to make their brother alive. Jesus went to the burial place after praying then ordered the Lazarus. “Lazarus get up” Lazarus did not get up with the order of Jesus Christ who was doing Selfless service. Then Jesus gave the same order second time & even then Lazarus did not get up when Jesus gave the same order third time with full of Devotion. Jesus told to these 2 girls and to the public to give a hot water bath & milk to others. Lazarus became alive. The girls became very happy. Jesus did not expect any rewards. This is the Selfless Service, Social Service, and Divine Service of Jesus Christ.
Once, Gautam Buddha was wandering in his Kingdom, He saw the sight of carrying a patient, Carrying an old man & also carrying a dead body. He also saw severe difficulties of Human Beings & left his Wife, Child, Father, Mother and Kingdom in the Midnight & went to the forest to find the solution for these problems by Meditation & Penance. At last He got the Knowledge of solving the problems & He advised it to the people. This is the best example of Great Service.
Once, Mahaveer Jain was walking out for Penance by Living His house, a poor man approached Him & asked “Oh Jain Your father was giving me clothes often. Now you please give me the cloth”.
Then Mahaveer Jain took out the single cloth which He was wearing & divided it into 2 parts & gave one of them to the poor man. There is an example for an Ideal Service. This conference is held for knowing the above explained Selfless Service, Social Service, Divine Service. A lot of Knowledge of the Services has been explained by the eminent Scholars in this Conference. All are requested to get the fruit of this Knowledge.
(Thus, Swami concluded the DISCOURSE).
UNIVERSAL EYE SESSION - VIP Persons
During the last 2-3 years, Swami has become a known person in Chickaballapur and surrounding districts, He has got devotees from North Indian as well as some of the foreign countries.
Devotees from USA, Russia, China, Japan, Germany, Nepal, Burma, France, Gibraltar, Canada, West Indies, Australia, SriLanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Himachal Pradesh, England, Korea, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Africa etc use to visit Panchavati every now and then, Also devotees from most of the North Indian states are visiting Panchavati often. The deep spirituality and free public service of Swami have attracted many VIP persons recently. Let us see some of them.
Sarva Sangha Parithyagi: - Sri Sridhar Rao, the Bangalore High Court Senior Judge:
It’s about 5 years back, one day the DYSP (Deputy Superintendent of Police) of Chickaballapur came to Panchavati and said that Sri Sridhar Rao who is one of the Judge of High Court of Karnataka, Bangalore is going to come in the afternoon. The DYSP arranged a number of police in Panchavati. He was Judge, who was dealing the criminal cases.
According to the message he came in the afternoon at about 2PM with some 30 lawyers and Judges. Looking at the atmosphere of the Spiritual place Panchavati, he removed his coat and shoes first as soon as he got down from his car.
He ordered other lawyers to remove their coats and shoes. All of them proceeded towards meeting room to meet Swami, but Swami was not there. He was meditating in the Tapovana, 10 minutes later Swami came down slowly to the meeting room. Sridhar Rao introduced himself and other lawyers to Swami, and then Swami told him “How you have come to know about this place”? Immediately Sridhar Rao replied “I read in the newspaper that there is a Sarva Sangha Parithyagi at Panchavati and He is none other than Swami.
I have come to inaugurate the new court building at Chickaballapur. I asked the Judges and lawyers about this place, then they told me all the details and they accompanied me to come here. Swami spoke to Sridhar Rao and others for about half an hour about the spiritual matters and after sometime all of them returned back.
I saw a Real Saint: - Late Sri D T Jay Kumar, Minister for Tourism, and Government of Karnataka:
Sri Jay Kumar visited Panchavati 2-3 times for his personal problem and Government Calamities. He was getting the suggestions from Swami about the Govt of Karnataka and also about his domestic problems.
Once he attended the function of World Religion Unity Conference which was conducted under the guidelines of Swami. About 3000 people had attended this conference. The representatives of those 10 religions Hindu, Christianity, Islam, Parsism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Taoism, Shintoism, and Jewism gave speeches about these 10 religions and their unity. Sri Jay Kumar came as a chief guest to this conference. He addressed the 3000 audience and explained the ideal way of living with righteousness, and then he told “I saw a real saint here in Panchavati and He is none other than Sri Govinda Theertha Swami. Let us all go under his guidelines”.
I wish Good Success for the Conference: - Sri D Veerendra Hegde, Dharmasthala Dharmadikari:-
Everyone knows that Sri D Veerendra Hegde is the Dharmadikari (Chairman) of Dharmasthala, often pamphlets of Panchavati Programme are sent to D Veerendra Hegde of Dharmasthala. The pamphlet of the unity of all religions was posted to D Veerendra Hegde on many times and also he sent replies, once he wrote “I wish the conference success”. I am glad that eminent experts will participate in the conference and share their knowledge and experience.
Unity of all religions is the foundation of Peace – Prof. Dr Mumtaz Ali Khan who was Minister for Hajj Wakff, Minority Welfare & District in charge Minister of Chickaballapur district:
The Honorable Minister Prof Dr. Mumtaz Ali Khan was the chief guest for the World Religions Unity Conference for Universal Peace which was held in Panchavati on
1st May 2010, in this conference, say about 3000 people were there under the holy presence of Swami and Prof. Dr. Mumtaz Ali Khan declared “Unity of all religions is the foundation of Peace”.
Dr V.S Acharya, the Honorable Home Minister of the Govt of Karnataka sends his message:
The Honorable Home Minister was supposed to be one of the chief guests for the Meditation Conference which was held in Panchavati on 25-07-2010 in the holy presence of Swami, due to his heavy problematic situation of the Govt, he could not attend this conference. He sent the following message “My heartily congratulation to all the participants of the conference”.
Swami Tiru Das from ISKCON Temple, Director of Temple Trust, Bangalore offers flowers to Sri Govinda Theertha Swami:
On 20-02-2010, the 67th Birthday Celebrations of Swami in Panchavati.
Swami Tiru Das of ISKCON Temple visited Panchavati. On the stage he offered the holy flowers to Swami and wished for His Birthday.
Sri Surendranath of Jnana Pragati Ashram, Himalaya visits Panchavati:
Sri Surendranath was a very close associative of meditation of Swami at Bombay in 1978. He built up a very big ashram for meditation in Himalayan Range. He visited Panchavati and offered best wishes to Swami for this place.
The Significance of your thick clothes is to become a Saint:
Swami Osho Tamanandaji of Ramakrishna Ashram – In 1991 Sri Osho Tamanandaji was a great Saintly person who visited Panchavati. He prostrated to the meditation alter of Panchavati and chanted “Avathravaranya Sri Rama Krishnaiya ---”
He touched Swami’s cloth and told “The significance of your thick clothes is to become a Saint”.
God Omen, I pray for the progress of Panchavati – Brother Kuriakose, Great Social Worker and a Christian Brother:
Kuriakose belonging to Christianity in Chickaballapur visited Panchavati on the Christmas day celebration in Panchavati. He announced on the stage of the function having about 2000 people. “God Omen, I pray for the progress of Panchavati”.
Bringing Unity among the people is very difficult, but Swami brings them in all the religions of the whole world which is a wonderful thing – Air Marshal Hanuman Singh of Air Force of India:
Air Marshal Hanuman Singh was one of the speakers in the world Religion Unity Conference which was held in Panchavati on 01-05-2007. He is the chairman of the Sikh Religion Association of South India. He is highly experienced as an Air Marshal of India as well as he has got a profound knowledge of all the religions of the World. In the conference of about 4000 audience he announced. “Bringing unity among the people is difficult, but Swami brings unity among all the religions of the whole world is a wonderful thing”.
Sri Govinda Theertha Swami looks like Mahaveer Jain: Smt. Jayalakshmi Abhaya Kumar:
It was on 01-05-2010, the world religion unity conference was going on in Panchavati. There were about 3000 delegates present for this function. Smt. Jayalakshmi Abhaya Kumar was talking about Jainism she announced “Sri Govinda Theertha Swami looks like Mahaveer Jain”.
Sri Govinda Theertha Swami and Shirdi Sai Baba are same: - Sri Chandra Mohan, High Court Advocate, Bangalore & Chairman of B.I.T College, Hindupur (Andhra Pradesh):
Chairman of Governing Council Body of Sri Govinda Theertha College Panchavati declared that: “For me Swami resembles as Shirdi Sai Baba on many aspects”. He published a photo in his newspaper having Half Shirdi Sai Baba (Upper half) and half Swami (Lower Half).