This is an auspicious day as, thousands of years ago, on this day Guru Datta manifested. It is a coincidence that you are celebrating my birthday also on this auspicious day.

Although we celebrate birthday once a year, in reality, each one of us is born daily when we come out of the state of deep sleep and into the waking state. Seen from this angle, every day is a birthday for everyone.

The birthday which you are celebrating is for the body and therefore has no significance. The real birthday for any person is the day he/she enters into the sphere of spirituality. The physical body made of the five elements is meant only for the performance of actions. The day the light of knowledge shines in in the person is the real birthday.

You have come here in thousands, with great devotion, for celebrating the birthday of your Guru. Among you there are all sorts of persons- educated, illiterate, selfless, selfish, devotees, disciples, service minded, thieves, flatters and critics. Yet, in all of you I see the one and only God who resides within me.

Your Swamiji is like a big ship. All of you are seated in the ship. To ferry you across the ocean of samsara your Swamiji has become the captain and director of the ship. Swamiji will take you to your respective stations in accordance to your level of devotion.

Among Swamiji’s devotees, not everyone seeks liberation. Swamiji knows it very well. Some seek relief from disease, some want peace, some seek material happiness and very few have a burning desire for liberation. Your Swamiji wants to give to each whatever he wants. This will be possible only when you place yourself entirely under the guidance of your Guru Swamiji and follow the path He shows. Then all your doubts will disappear and your desires will be fulfilled.

All of you have come here to serve Swamiji, but your Swamiji now wants to serve you. When the ignorant gain the real knowledge, they become one who is the Absolute knowledge himself. The distinction of seeker and sought vanishes. When you reach your goal, all of you will become like your Swamiji.

The wise usually give the analogy of the coconut. The coconut looks fresh and tempting, but it cannot be eaten as is. First, one has to remove the external hard covering, and then the fibrous matter. Lastly the hard shell covering the kernel has to be broken. In the same way, the blissful Self is hidden in the core of our personality. The layers of body, mind, intellect and lastly ego need to be discarded. By destroying the ego, one is able to reach the inner core and realize the bliss. It is ego that stands between you and your bliss. The day you eradicate the ego is your real birthday.

(Birthday message May 1982, Bhaktimala June 1982)