The way I understand the tsunami (January 2005)
Swami Premananda

I don't think it is correct to say that the tsunami took place only now. Humankind has been living in this world for more than 22 million years. In each and every yuga, (a yuga is a spiritual period of time) humankind has died in disasters and new human beings have been born.

In their beginning stages, humanity suffered very much, even though they could reach a state of ajnanam, which is the worldly, scientific knowledge. Today's scientific knowledge is developing continuously. In those days, it was also developing, although in a different way than it is now. Today, we say that we can travel by flying in the sky. Earlier, they also used flying vehicles called Pushpaka vimanam to travel in the sky. In the Ramayana scripture you can read how Ravana used a kind of flight to kidnap Sita. This was without an airplane and without fuel. Rama did not destroy Ravana's palace. He crowned Ravana's brother, Vibhishnanam as the king, but that palace has now sunk into the sea. Likewise an old city called Mathura, in the North East of India, has sunk into the sea. In this way, land has become sea and sea has become land. However there will always be parts on this earth that remain and will not be destroyed. So people move and start to plant trees and cultivate that place. Once in every thousand years, earthquakes bring big changes.

Once in every thousand years too, events like the tsunami happen. This is because of the gravitational forces and movements of the five shaktis, water, earth, air, fire and ether. In Tamil these the five elements are called Pancha Buthangal. Movements of these great shaktis are so powerful that they cause many changes on the planet.

This destruction will not destroy the planet. From such destructions caused by the great five shaktis, we can learn that life is impermanent. The great five shaktis make us realize that our desires for land, properties, earning money, job and status are not everlasting. Nothing is permanent. When people drowned in the sea they did not take anything with them, but those who were affected by the tsunami have lost their houses, their children and family members. They are suffering a lot. They are hurt because of the loss and are struggling to stabilize their life again. In this situation what is our service to them? Is it correct for us to enjoy all facilities without thinking about them?

On this earth where you were born, your fellow human beings have lost everything. In this situation, help offered to your fellow human beings would be same as offering help to God.

Everybody who is born on this earth must realize the truth. Do not think that only you have to live happily. Think that everyone should live happily. If you act according to that, you are doing great service.

Jai Prema Shanti!

The tsunami that you had is the same as the tsunami that happened in the ancient days of the Mahabharata and Ramayana. The city of Madurai that you see today was not there in those days. In those days Madurai was under the ocean. Why? This happened due to a tsunami.…(2009 Mahashivaratri)

…The world will be here for another million years. However there may be certain areas of this world that will be destroyed and that must be destroyed. For the last million years this has been happening. This has been due to earthquakes and tsunamis; landmasses have been destroyed whilst other have formed. This has been recorded in the religious literature. It has happened on a larger scale than what we witnessed during the last tsunami (in the end of 2004). The reason people didn't know about it is that there was no means of communication in those days. You were unable to gauge the amount of destruction. …If anything happened in those days the people didn't really know what happened even a thousand years later. There were no means of communication.…(2010 Mahashivaratri)

Q:  What will be karmic reaction when spiritually evolved beings are disrespected or ignored by society?

A:  Do you understand the question? Krishna came in to this world as an Avatar. When he was born, it was our duty to welcome him to this world. The problem with the Kings of that time was that they were very egotistical. They wanted to keep a hold on the autocratic government so they didn't want someone to be above them. Their ego did not allow anybody to be recognized as higher than them. So, unfortunately the King at that time, instead of feeling happy that there was an Avatar coming in to the world, felt unhappy. Even though he knew that it was his own sister who was going to give birth to such an Avatar, he was still opposed to that child being born. They would not accept that Krishna was going to come and that he was going to take over the reigns of government. So what did the King do? He incarcerated his sister and brother-in-law and killed every child that was born that day. On that day two children were born at the same time. The boy was born in the prison and the girl was born in a nearby village. These two children were exchanged. Thus the life of baby Krishna was saved. So the autocratic dictator, the King of that time, despite his efforts to stop Krishna ultimately lost the reigns of government.

Similarly when Jesus Christ was alive, Judas pointed him out and he had to undergo punishment. How did he do it? He kissed Jesus and betrayed him. (see 'The Third Category' below) At that time all the heads of the religious organizations and those who had any control over religion were Jews. What happened to them? They went through a lot of suffering. So what can you learn from this? It is not possible to punish saints and sages. What actually happens when you try to punish them is that you destroy yourself. Jesus Christ was able to overcome death. There were two other people who were crucified with Christ. One of those men who was crucified with Jesus asked him, "You say that you are able to overcome death. Will there be a place for me with you when that happens?" Jesus said, "You will definitely be with me." The other person started laughing. In those days, when someone was crucified, it was common to fix tamarind fruit to a stick and hold it close to the tongue. When this was placed close to his tongue, Jesus' life ebbed away. Everyone was surprised at how he was able to die so quickly. Normally a person should struggle for some hours but Jesus died in one hour. Thus some people doubted whether or not he was actually dead. In order to check, they pierced his side with a spear. So even after his death they were torturing him. (Comment; Swamiji was autopsied after his death.) The person by his side said, "He has not died, he has overcome death." When he said that, his life also ended. The other man who had been laughing at them was struggling and going through immense pain and hardship for two days. When a saintly person comes to this world, the people seem to be able to enjoy torturing them.

Jesus died and now forty-five countries follow the teachings of the Bible. His teachings were correct. It had been recorded correctly. That is why his teachings have life, even today. But what do many Christians do? They only think of Jesus Christ at Christmas. Do you think that you are strong Christians? Isn't this a joke? What sort of faith in God do you have?

Buddha was getting ready to have a conference of various religious groups. He wanted to state to them shat his teachings were. Buddha was a Brahmin. He was also the son of a King. When he was young he wanted to find out the truth so he went to the jungle and he meditated for seven years. When he went in to the jungle he met a number of saints and sages. Many of them had been meditating of a long, long time but they had not made much headway and then they had passed away. It was only Buddha who had been able to reach enlightenment after seven years of struggle. This has all been beautifully stated in the Buddhist scriptures. Yet despite him being such a great man, human beings wanted to kill him. They gave him poison in order to kill him because he had granted robes to a person of a low caste.

Similarly, I could talk about Avatar like Rama. Ravana was a great Shiva bhakta. He was not a bad man; he was a good man. He did not touch Sita even though he abducted her. He was not prepared to touch her except with her consent. All these problems started because Rama was sent to the jungles. Are all these troubles, trials and tribulations that these great saints and sages undergo because of their own karma or is it because of our karma that these things have to happen to them? Actually Avatars do not have to undergo anything in terms of karma. They sacrifice themselves for the sake of human beings but human beings don't seem to understand that and they don't appreciate that. It is because Jesus Christ was crucified that people came to know about him. It is the same with regard to Rama, Krishna or Buddha. Their spiritual calibre was the same. That did not change. All the torture that they had to undergo was only to their bodies. This body is the outcome of the joining together of the father and mother. Therefore the owners of this body are the parents. Man is only able to give trouble to that body. You cannot hurt or kill the soul because that was given to you by God to be installed in this body. What is great about the body is that it is able to carry that soul. You must understand that when Jesus Christ was resurrected he did not bring back the body. It is only the Divine aspect of him, the soul, which was resurrected. The body is different from the soul that resides within it. You can't even call it a soul. It is something Divine. It has no name and no form but still it exists. It is only to identify it for you that you call it Krishna or Muruga or any name that is being given to identify that which has no name and no form but still exists.

For example, there are about fifty different varieties of mango. Each one of them has a different taste. Some are sour, some are sweet and some are very, very sweet. But you call them all mangoes. Similarly you may say Krishna, Buddha or Jesus Christ and so on but everything is Divine. It is the Divine, which goes through all this drama. There is a relationship between you and the Divine. Why have you not tried to find about that relationship between you and the Divine? This Ashram resident identifies this lady as her mother. This lady also accepts that she is the mother of this Ashram resident. Even though she has recognized the human mother of her body, she does not recognize that which is within her. What obstructs you from identifying and understanding that which is within you are all these traits of jealousy, ego, and so on. This ego consciousness and all these traits of jealousy have become so much a part of you that you are unable to let go of them. It does not mean that you are bad. You are good. You are all good. But these negative traits have merged in you. It is necessary to remove these negative traits. It cannot be done today or tomorrow; you must allow some time so that these negative traits can be removed from you.

You don't even spend fifteen minutes in a day trying to remove the negative traits from your minds. Instead you give at least one hour a day for the negative traits to take more and more control of you. All these saints and sages are people who are beyond the complications of normal human beings. They are also beyond all the negative traits of jealousy, egoism and so on. They are not selfish and they are not thinking in terms of themselves. They have only come to give that wisdom which they have obtained from the Divine, to you. There cannot be any negative traits in them and they cannot be affected by anything that is done to their detriment. If you think of these saints and sages you can also be sure that none of these negative qualities can harm you if you have your mind connected to them. You need not be worried about it at all. You can live with a lot of self-confidence. So in answer to this question, karma has to be understood as something that affects the body and the body is the outcome of the coming together of the parents. It does not affect those who come to this earth with Divine powers and help, because they do not carry all those negative traits that are an intrinsic part of a normal human being.

Jai Prema Shanti!

The Four Categories of people who come to meet Swamiji
The Third Category

Then we come to the third category. In this category, the devotees do not understand their Guru. When they see their Guru they feel great affection for him. They want to hug their Guru. I am inside the jail now because devotees gave me kisses. When I went to court in 1994, the prosecution showed photos of devotees kissing and hugging me so they put me in prison. These types of photographs may not have been important in Switzerland or Germany but in Tamil Nadu they put me in jail for it. In Tamil Nadu, the courts did not show kisses given by old people --- they were kept away from the court. The kisses given by males were kept away from court. But if a young girl comes and gives me a kiss it is shown in court. Even though she is like a granddaughter to me, these are the types of photographs that are being shown in court. They asked me, "If Swami Premananda is a spiritual person why did he give kisses to such young girls?" Did I give them kisses? Or is it that a devotee came and kissed me? What can I say? If a child comes crying to me and hugs me it is because they are experiencing bhakti (devotion). However, some people do not understand that. I don't bother about these things because I know that I have not done anything wrong. The young devotee's kiss is the third category. The third category of sishyas is made up of those who are devoted.