Willpower and Love
Author: Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
Description: Today Gurudeva talks again about willpower, how you must use it properly, "have love in the will," least negative karma is created. He conducts the first online conversion to Hinduism, giving a new devotee the name of "Gunavati." Sadhaka Thondunatha of Sri Lanka then translates Gurudeva's talk into Tamil, and address the Jaffna Tamil youth now living all over the world, exhorting them, at Gurudeva's request, to hold firmly to their roots, learning their Saiva Samayam, Saiva religion, and be good religious people in their new homes.
Transcription:
Today at Kauai Aadheenam. April 4th. Greetings, everyone!
Today, we talked to all the devotees of Lord Muruga and Satguru Yogaswami at the Murugan Temple in Canada. They were having a festival in honor of the great guru of Sri Lanka and we have here today Sadhaka Thondunatha to give my talk in the Tamil language for the youth of Jaffna, who have spread out all over the world now, absorbing new knowledge, having new experiences. Their prarabdha karmas, karmas of their birth, have taken them on a diaspora into many, many countries.
Also, we want to give Ms. Rodriguez, a new name. Gunavati. This is a very beautiful name. I am going to spell it for you. G-u-n-a-v-a-t-i. Gunavati, welcome into Hinduism. This is the first acceptance into the Hindu religion through the Internet. Welcome, Gunavati! We are very, very happy that you have found solace and contentment in the study of 'Dancing with Siva', and also listening to me talk everyday.
Yesterday we talked about willpower. We need very strong willpower to exist in the world these days. This kind of willpower will bring to you many good things in life. But, once you have the willpower, we must use it properly. It is one thing to have will but it is another thing totally to have love in the will. There are many people in the world who have great determination. They build up their willpower from past lives and they are very determined people, they get things done. But, unfortunately, the abusive power. Without love in the will, we can abuse the power and cause more karma in this life to be worked out in other lives, than what one could ever think would happen. People without much willpower cause very little karma in this life to be worked out in the next life. They just glide along through life. But, as the soul advances itself and as we get more control of our instinct, more control of our intellect, we have more possibilities of failure on the spiritual path. That is why, ahimsa - nonhurtfulness physically, mentally, emotionally - is one of the strong cornerstones of Sanatana Dharma or Hinduism.
Keep this in mind when we have built up a strong willpower, as we talked about yesterday by doing just a little bit extra. Walk that extra mile. Climb another mountain. Do more than you think you can do. Putting out that extra effort stores up what we call, willpower, which looks like in the inner worlds, a great mass of energy like a mass of prana, and that willpower stays with you, life after life because that is growing within each and everyone. It helps us through the right use of the willpower. With love in the will, the spirit is free of resentment and hatred and the willpower sits there, is bound and held down. That is the message for today.
Now, we are going to hear this beautiful message in the sweet Tamil language.