This is a land where thousands and thousands of saints and seers have lived across all centuries. Hence, this land has always been called as the holy land. Just think of the all the great Rishis who dedicated their lives for the knowledge of the world. In the same manner, think of the saints of the 12th century and even other centuries where there lived people like Basava, Allama, Tukaram and Jnaneshwari among others. Of them, Tukaram was a great devotee. He spent days and nights with no thought but only Vitthala. Even in northern India there were many such saints; Tulasidas, Surdas, Meerabai and so many others have lived such wonderful lives. They never ran after material pleasures and wealth. Their heart was filled with contentment and they never claimed that they were poor. In fact, they never thought even for a single moment that they were poor. For them nobody in this entire world was ever poor.

You have eyes, ears and such rich sense organs; eyes look for so many years and grasp the beauty of this world due to which your whole life is filled with that beauty. Then how can you ever think that you are poor? You are rich if your heart is contented, you can never be poor in that case. If you know that your body, your sense organs and your clean & beautiful mind themselves are wealth, then you can’t be poor. Indian saints never felt they were poor; they were always very rich. Tukaram says, “Is there any one who is as rich as I am? There is nobody in this world who is as rich as I am. I am richer than the richest in the world”. But from material view, he had nothing with him. Not even enough to eat every single day. Despite this he considered himself to be the richest man. But, in what way was he rich? When he felt that God himself was with him, how could he have been poor? He said, “God is the owner of the universe; God is the lord of the world; if He Himself is with me, how can one then say that he is poor?”

Another Rishi says, “The Sun is with me, the moon is with me, the earth is with me, all the stars are with me, in fact, this whole world is with me. Then, how can I be poor?” Even though they lived in very small cottages, their minds were filled with the whole world; their mind was extremely rich. If the persons who lived in small cottages could be rich, then despite living in big buildings, why should we feel poor? They maintained that there is not a single person in this world who is poor. Just look at all the small birds around, a sparrow for e.g. which is so small. Then there is a sunbird which is even smaller and lives amidst the flowers. Its food is the nectar which is present inside the flower. They drink the nectar always and they also eat the fragrant pollen dust. They never think that this world is ugly because their eyes are always filled with the beauty of flowers. Their eyes are filled with all kinds of pleasing colours. Therefore, ask these birds and they will tell you how wonderful, beautiful, fragrant, perfumed and sweet is this whole world! They tell that because they know the richness of their lives very well. However, there is only one living being that is there in this world, who thinks to be poor; that living being is man himself!

Man is very intelligent, but with all that intelligence he has always remained very poor. The saints have always said, think like us, live like us, feel like us and you shall always be rich and you will get to enjoy the full span of your life. If small birds are so full of joy, then why should the man consider himself to be poor? Man is very poor because he thinks, counts and equates his richness with money. But money is not wealth. Food, water, air and sunlight are all in fact, wealth. Without money, one can live but can one live without the sun? For thousands of years, living beings have lived here without any money. In fact, these living beings are still living without money. Man, also did not have money in the ancient days and despite that he lived well. But like the sun, can you live without this earth? Without water or clean air, can you live? Look into the clear sky, can you live without it? We always depend on the nature for our joy, richness and life. Nature is always here and hence nobody can ever be poor.

Go where ever you want to and there will always be the nature which will be with you. The sun doesn’t ever say it will not give you light. It will give you light irrespective of you who are. Whoever you maybe, you can drink water and be satisfied. It is water that makes man rich, it is land that makes man rich and it is your heart that makes you rich and not the house or the money. Therefore, Basava says, “Look at their houses, they are poor. But look at their minds to know that they are rich. They may be poor when it comes to money but their mind is wonderful and hence, they are the owners of the world”.

Just think of it, in order to become rich, one just needs to look around and make their mind go out and move in the world. Let the mind enjoy the vastness of this world. Let it enjoy the beauty of nature, the sunlight, the moonlight, the ocean and the high hills. If you really want to be rich, go outside your house and be one with the nature and what is nature? It is the divine manifest. It is the manifested form of God Himself. It is the visible God and behind it is also the invisible God. Einstein says “God is there; for our eyes to see, for our ears to hear, He has become the world”. With our eyes, we can see God in the form of greenery, in the form of clouds and in the form of all the beings. Just look into these flowers, if it pleases you, then know that it is the beauty of God Himself. If you are able to do so, you will become a saint.

To become a saint, we need not do anything; we just have to change the way we look at the world! We have to be able to look at the world in a different way. This is what the Indian and the western saints did and as a result, they left behind beautiful sayings for us. If we always keep these sayings in our mind, our minds will become rich. Therefore, O Man, please look out, look around you, look away from you and know that there is a wonderful world that is there to be enjoyed. This house may not be mine; these trees may not be mine; but if I go outside my house everything will be mine. If you look at a city, nothing other than your house is yours. But come out of your city and then everything can be yours.

If you want to be rich then come out, say all the saints. The whole ocean is yours and not just the water that you have filled in your small pot. If you are within your house, the cup of water is all that can be truly yours, but when you go out the whole world is yours. Everybody is your relative, who is not your relative? The tree is your relative, the birds are your relatives and whatever creature that is moving in the surface of this world are my relatives. The whole world is mine! This is how the saints thought and therefore their lives were fully divinized and not just beautiful. That is the purpose of all our sadhana.

But how does one attain this divinity? This is the problem. For which Akkamahadevi says, “Ashtadala kamalada batta bayalolage mutta baarada ghanvihudu, adarolu drusthi nettovane mukta” (At the very tip of the eight petalled lotus, there is Ghana which cannot be touched, but one who fixes his sight there will be liberated).

If you want to be free from poverty, do this. If you think you are very poor and you want to really free yourself from this feeling of poverty, what do you have to do? She asks you to look deeply into the heart (she calls the heart, the eight petalled lotus). What is in that heart? Batta bayalu which means empty; which means space; there is nothing there. In that very nothing, you can experience the wonderful divine principle. Forget your body, your senses and everything that is there in your mind.

What is there then? Absolutely nothing! Close your eyes and look into yourself, look into your heart and everything disappears. You are not beautiful or ugly here; you are not this or that. When you forget your body and your mind, how can you be this or that? Then she says ‘muttabaarada ghanvihudu’ which means there is ghana inside your heart which cannot touched though. What kind of ghana is this? It is that which cannot be touched or cannot be seen or cannot be perceived with any of the sense organs. Ghana means that it indivisible as it is not made of any parts. This flower here however, is made of parts and if I remove them one by one, it will not remain to be a flower. Similarly, if it has no colour or shape, it can’t be a flower. However, Ghana is unlike this. It has no form and hence no colour. It is imperceptible and that which is indivisible. For e.g.: In mathematics, there are numbers; take any number and it can be always be divided. Suppose a number can be divided it cannot be ghana.

Every number can be divided, however big it is. One crore i.e. 10 million is there, it can be easily divided into 2 or more parts. Finite numbers are never infinite. Ghana though is boundless, limitless and infinite and this term has been used by many sharanas. What a beautiful word this is! God is Ghana but the world is not. Take any object in this world and it is divisible but infinity is indivisible. Infinity can never be divided by any number. God cannot be divided by saying, this is my God and this is your God. Man always says his God is different and others’ God is different; which actually means your Gods are not really Gods. You can’t say that the indivisible Ghana is here or there; or this God is here and that God is there. But unfortunately, we all think that our Gods are different. Every person thinks his God is different. It is in fact our way of looking at God.

. Therefore, though we believe in God, we are divided; whereas she says, “There is the indivisible divine being or divine principle in your heart; it is in the inner chamber of your heart; it is in the inner recess of your heart; and it is in the emptiness of your heart. The one who concentrates on this will be come liberated.” Just think of that indivisible principle which is in your heart and you shall be freed from the clutches of the desires and emotional bondages. Your mind will be free, your heart will be fragrant and full of joy.

But look into your heart and remove all the contents. Don’t think of anything and remove everything. In that emptiness you have to think of the ‘Infinite Divine Reality’.

For this very reason, Akkamahadevi was greatly honoured and highly respected by all her peers and everyone who belonged to the 12th century. Allama was one such saint, who greatly admired and always praised her profusely. She was very young when she went to Kalyana but everyone there, knew that there was no one as great as her because her mind was always filled with ghana. She was seeing ghana inside, outside and everywhere. Ghana also means complete, whole or indivisibly whole; you can’t make it into two.

God is ghana i.e. complete. Ghana is there inside and ghana is there outside; it was in the past and it will be there in the future; it is here and there; the whole world is filled with Ghana. The world is not Ghana as it is divisible but it is supported by that very Ghana. Ghana is the basis of this world. Look within, enjoy that Ghana and you will be free. This is the Yoga which she recommended for being free!

We are bound emotionally to so many things and that is the cause of our suffering. If I think that I am the owner of this flower and if somebody takes it away, I get angry which means my mind is now disturbed. The flower may be with me sometimes and it may not be with me sometimes. A flower is a flower. I should not be bound to it; as long as it is with me, let me enjoy it. Similarly, as long as the body is with me, let me enjoy it and as long as people are there, let me enjoy their company.

But let me be aware that separation is the law of life. No two objects can be together forever. Separation is the law of life like the gravitation. When two things are united, they will be separated. All things that are united, get separated; all things that go towards the sky, have to come down. Look at the birds, they build nests and lay some eggs and after a few days, from those eggs come the small birds. They live with their parents for a short period and then their parents eventually ask them to go away. The young birds are now free to fly away! This is how nature functions. Hence, the birds ask us humans as to why don’t humans live joyfully like them? We came into this world alone and we have to leave that way. Today I may be with Mr. X, tomorrow I may be with Mr. Y. I should not worry too much about all that. That is the law of nature. Sometimes our pockets are filled i.e. the first day of every month. Isn’t it? That is if you get your salary regularly! But what about the 31st day of the month? Separated! When children are with you, they were small and when they are grown, you will not be with them. You send them to schools when they don’t want to go there. You force them and ask them to live there. They go on to become scholars and then they will stay separated.

We have to accept everything the way it is, then we can be very free. If there is summer, let us live by loving the summer and similarly if there is monsoon or winter, then, let us enjoy them accordingly. The three seasons are there to be enjoyed. In summer, drink cold drinks and ice cream and if it is rainy season, just enjoy the play of clouds and showers. When winter comes, stay at home and drink piping hot coffee, eat as much as possible and live joyfully. So, next time, don’t say when the summer comes, that you don’t enjoy. What can you possibly do? Summer is here to come and it won’t listen to you anyway. The seasons will come and you have to live with them. The sun is always going to be here and you can’t say that you don’t like sun. This is how you have to live in the world knowing that there is ghana inside and there is ghana outside and ghana everywhere. That is what Akkamahadevi was telling through that Vachana. A very simple yoga discipline where she suggested everyone to look into the heart in order to become free. But how should that heart be? Fully empty. Don’t think about anything, don’t entertain any ideas and just forget everything. Remove everything from your heart and immediately you will begin to experience Ghana. This is a most wonderful experience.

Now it is nearing 7 and we have to close here. But keep that vachana of Akkamahadevi in your mind always. Remember that this world is not any different from ghana. Whatever you see is an aspect of God, in fact, a face of God. God appears before us as the trees, as the lands, as the rivers and when you look at these things, just think that you are looking at the face of God. If we do so we become Mukta (liberated) and there is no samsara (cycles of birth and death). If you think you are different from God, then samsara is there. If as Akkamahadevi says everything is Ghana, then we need not worry about anything. Let us enjoy as we are living in the very presence of that divine. That is a very wonderful vision that Akkamahadevi teaches us. Till the next week, keep thinking over Ghana, you will definitely become rich and there shall be no poverty.