Swami Shivapadananda

God-realisation doesn't just "happen".

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

[2nd President and Spiritual Head: the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]

[now a Centre of the international Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission]

DAILY READINGS

Transcribed from the recordings made by Mother Radha

Day 1049

Devotee asks: If you are sincerely spiritual, will the material look after itself?

Swamiji: No, it won't look after itself. You must treat it as duty and look after it. Understand what I mean? Only a yogi can speak like that. A yogi won't care about anything because what he desires - will happen. But what you desire doesn't happen. So until that [state] is reached, you have to look after it. And then, if you become a yogi, you will understand that other people can't do that. So you will do what is dharmic [righteous]. You will do everything according to dharma. You will serve, you will do everything, you will look after things. You will tell others, "this is valuable," – only valuable as far as using it goes. Not getting attached to it and calling it your own.

You see, if at the ashrama [monastery, spiritual retreat], if the swami or the sannyasins [monks] just treat it anyhow and take it for granted, [thinking] "I am spiritual," everything will go chaotic. But you see, you have a Constitution [for the organisation] and you must see that dharma embodying the Constitution is implemented.

Devotee: Not neglected…

Swamiji: No, you can't neglect your body and say you are spiritual. Unless you reach the stage, where, as I told you, what you desire happens. And [then] you will always desire for the best. Because then the whole universe becomes your body. Apparently you are here, but you are all over. You know that. Therefore what is there to look after? Because your [higher] Self, you [lower self] can't look after.

There's a stage when you take the Lord, singular, and meditate on him. Then it must [also] be in universal form - Vishwaroop. Your deity, whether it is Shiva, Kali, Krishna…because Krisha showed it practically. People only go for Krishna as a deity - but it's not just Krishna. [It's the same with] Any deity. First you meditate on the form. Then that form must be meditated on in universal form - Vishwaroop – and then it must become formless, nameless [Brahman]. Krishna gives you the three stages in the [Bhagavad] Gita. So that's how you reach the highest truth. First the formless, when the whole universe becomes God. You see it pulsating, then you find the universe has come out of something formless, nameless. It's not extracting anything but it's merging. Like a drop of water merges into the river and the river merges with the ocean.

It's a wonderful meditation. Read between the lines in the scriptures and you'll see what I mean. Some people, when you tell them to meditate on the deity, they get so fed up [irritated], they think, "what this – this deity is not taking me any higher." But when you sit, inside here, you will know straight away, "no, it needs another step now, so it will push slowly." Until then, just get the intense yearning to know a little more truth and then the yearning will push you a little bit. Like Indra [king of the Hindu gods] came [to Prajapati] for the first time [see story at footnote]. Vairocana [king of the demons] came the first time. He made a mistake, He thought the body was everything. So he told his gang, "eat, drink and be merry." But Indra said, "wait a minute, that's not it, that doesn't die - this body dies." He came back to ask again. So intense yearning to know the truth [is essential]…and he came again…and each time he came to know a little bit more. Like that. I don't know how many times he came, three or four times or six times. And pushed and pushed until he got it. People make a mistake to think that ordinary people just touch and it happens like that. It won't happen. An Incarnation [avatar] will say, like Christ said, "behold!," and you could see it. Ramakrishna just touched – "wake up, Mother!" and the person got into samadhi [superconsciousness]. It can't happen to everybody. Others must go – pushing gear [working, struggling]

Footnote: Indra and Vairocana story.

This story is found in the last chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad:

Vairocana, kind of the demons, and Indra, king of the gods, approached Prajapati, the creator god, to be taught about the Atman – the Self, which is without disease or death. Prajapati told them that the person seen in the eye was the Atman. He asked them to adorn themselves and look at their reflections in a pot of water and said that what they would see was the Atman.

They then started home. Vairocana followed the advice, saw the reflection of his own body in the waterpot and began to worship himself as the Atman, indulging in all the pleasures of the body. Indra also followed the advice, saw his own perishable body in the waterpot and doubted how his perishable body could be the imperishable Atman. So he returned to Prajapati for further instruction. Prajapati said to him that the person of the dream was the Atman, for when the physical body is hurt in dream the dream body is not hurt.

Even then Indra was not satisfied, for even though the dream person may forget the pains of the physical body and not be touched by them, he suffers from dream experiences as when a man dreams [fearfully] that he is being attacked by a tiger. Then Prajapati said that a person in deep, dreamless sleep was the Atman. But again Indra was not satisfied, for the person in deep sleep knows nothing, is unconscious and is not a master of himself. In addition even deep sleep comes to an end. Then Prajapati revealed to Indra that the Atman, the seer of all, is beyond deep sleep; it is body-less, unfettered and beyond the reach of pains and pleasures.

 

1) Care should be taken by the reader to understand and take Swamiji's words in these postings, in context. Every teaching or instruction that he gave was specific to the people who were with Swamiji at the time. 

2) Mouse-over the words highlighted in red in the posting for further explanation or links.

There are currently available, 150 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. 

For more about the Holy Trinity, and also the founding Swamis of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, please mouse over their names below:

Sri Ramakrishna    Sri Sarada Devi     Swami Vivekananda  

Swami Nischalananda  Swami Shivapadananda 

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - read online

Reference websites - please mouse over the name and click to connect:

Ramakrishna Math and Mission    Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa    Ramakrishna Dham

 

Real and fake trances

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

[2nd President and Spiritual Head: the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]

[now a Centre of the international Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission]

DAILY READINGS

Transcribed from the recordings made by Mother Radha

Day 1048

 

Swamiji responding to a question about people getting into trance states:

Your own mind buried in God is called samadhi [spiritual superconsciousness]. Otherwise with the other states, you are not transcending, you are binding yourself. You may still call that a trance - in this, that others transcend their barriers and enter you, limit you. Like a departed soul – it can enter you and control you. And pretend to be a higher kind of an evolved soul and take you on to the wrong path. It controls your mind. Just as a man hypnotizes someone – he controls them. Like that, if you give it a chance, through that trance, that departed soul or some other departed spirit actually hypnotizes you into its control.

You see, when you hypnotize somebody, part of their brain isn't working. That's what 'hypnotize' means. Like if you take drugs and see visions. Part of your brain is actually dwarfed [not functioning normally].

Devotee: Is it the actual brain or the mind, Papa?

Swamiji: It has an effect on both, son - on the brain and that abstract that you call mind.It will affect both. That's why these drug addicts go haywire.

Devotee: It's blanking out circuits?

Swamiji: Yes, 100%. So therefore one should not play with this trance business. I know of many people where with one look you can tell that this is a departed soul [manifesting] but he's telling you he's Kali or Durga and Bandi. But then you will be laughing to yourself.

Devotee: How can you detect this Swamiji? By their reactions, or…

Swamiji: You see son, when a doctor looks at you he knows exactly what the symptoms mean. So if a spiritual man looks - on a vibration level – he'll know.

Devotee: But a layman can't see it, Swamiji?

Swamiji: Hmm, a layman – sometimes inside of him the doubt comes and that God inside is telling him, "watch it". He can't see but God sees for him. You understand what I mean?

One yogi, very wonderfully he told me in India, he said, "don't think that when these householders [lay devotees] come that they are fools. The may be fools but God inside them is telling them, "look out!" [Swamiji chuckling] So watch it. He said, "you mustn't think that they are lying – there's something true in them saying, "hey, look out". Because they are so sincere to their deity [ishta deva] and the deity somehow makes them aware. But they don't know the deity is letting them know. You understand what I mean?

You see, I believe, in my mind and I know in my heart that if it's a real trance, it'll change your inner nature. If Hanumanji had to come on me, the real Hanuman [the great devotee of Lord Rama], then when that Hanumanji leaves me, I can't be doing evil. So the very fact that I'm still doing evil …surely…you find a man getting into a trance and all that hullabaloo, yet he's stealing, telling lies…that's where your sadhana [spiritual practice] is judged. You must watch. If you're really doing sadhana, your mind will start leaving these vices. Because it's hearing God's voice. So, if a man is getting into trances and still doing evil, it's not the real one, that. If you're doing your sadhana you don't have to worry, because your sadhana will take care of it. It's like saying that one man is darkness and you are light. What must you fear from darkness? Because no sooner it comes to you, it'll disappear. If you ask the sun, "you know what darkness is?" the sun will say, "what are you talking about? It's not in my vocabulary." [Swamiji chuckling merrily] That's one thing the sun is ignorant about. So, is your trance question is answered?

Why some people jump about and so on, that too you see, they're actually concentrating on that kind of a deity. "Come and destroy my enemies," and all that. So if they've got into the mood, they carry on like that. If you're thinking of murdering and smoking ganja [marijuana] – if you smoke it – you'll find you want to murder. If you want to sit peacefully and smoke the same ganja you'll sit down peacefully.

1) Care should be taken by the reader to understand and take Swamiji's words in these postings, in context. Every teaching or instruction that he gave was specific to the people who were with Swamiji at the time. 

2) Mouse-over the words highlighted in red in the posting for further explanation or links.

There are currently available, 150 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. 

For more about the Holy Trinity, and also the founding Swamis of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, please mouse over their names below:

Sri Ramakrishna    Sri Sarada Devi     Swami Vivekananda  

Swami Nischalananda  Swami Shivapadananda 

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - read online

Reference websites - please mouse over the name and click to connect:

Ramakrishna Math and Mission    Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa    Ramakrishna Dham

Different paths for monastic and lay devotees

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

[2nd President and Spiritual Head: the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]

[now a Centre of the international Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission]

DAILY READINGS

Transcribed from the recordings made by Mother Radha

Day 1047

 

You must know that you are the soul. So separate the body from the soul [Atman]. You must know that you are the soul. But you won't know what the soul is – you will be the soul. This is another important thing. How to do it? Keep thinking, "I am not the body. Surely I can't be the body." Do everything. For years I used to think, "ah the tongue is tasting, the eyes are looking…let them look." Straight away there was this separation. There's no ritual about it, no hawan [ritual fire sacrifice], no flowers, nothing. No adoration, no prostration…just separate yourself. Walk like a zombie – separate. Carry on, carry on, daily. This one will disappear.

But there is a danger in the period where you will become fearful. That is the period where you must watch. Because as you start separating your soul from your body there are subtle things [samskaras,impressions] in your past lives which your mind will find difficult to let go. Your mind will find it very difficult to let go. Sheer will – your Self must become the will. You'll say, "uh-uh, that's maya [God power of illusion/delusion], still." Keep doing that

Householders [lay devotees] can't do it. That's why if you tell the householders they look down upon the swamis [Hindu monks, renunciates]. They say, "the swamis look down on the householders". No, we worship them as God manifested. You know what…if he [the householder] starts saying, "I am not the body," how is he going to love [take care of] his wife? How's he going to love his children? How is he going to do it? So the best way for the householder is to say, "well, there's a God manifested, I am his servant." You don't say," I am not the body," in this case, you say, "that is the spirit".

There, the [Christian] Bible principles apply very well. "What you think, you become." If you think that is the spirit, naturally, the spirit level [stage] will be reached here. You see, that's the 'principle' response. Worship God with faith and if you're a householder, follow your dharma [spiritual and life path], worship God with all love, and serve his children. If you are his child, whose children are all the others?

There are three steps. God the person, God the cosmic and then God the Absolute [Brahman]. God the person, take one like Christ, Ramakrishna, Guru Govind [Singh] or any one – give it the highest attributes. Then you will find that no, not only this, it's the whole universe – it's energy – it's him. Above energy what is it? Above that we don't know. Because you melt [merge] into it. You won't know it. You can experience it. 'You won't know', means you won't know with your mind.

To me, it's like a man goes to take a dip [swim]. He starts to drown – he loses consciousness. Somehow someone pulls him out, revives him and he remembers, "hey I went there, I don't know how deep it was - and what depth you pulled me out from, I don't know." But he remembers how he was drowning. In this case, you will remember that consciousness but you can't express it. This is the difference. There that fellow doesn't remember but [back] here, he remembers but he can't express it, no matter what vocabulary he uses – he can't express it. But the only thing he can say about it, is "no, not that…not that." Then other people think you're mad because they don't know why you're saying, "not that". There is nothing to compare it to. What are you going to say? This world is only expressed in terms of comparison. That why we say it is 'relative'. THAT is not related – it's unrelated. I'm going to relate it to what? And in that state, you don't care what man calls you. Whether he calls you ignorant, knowledgeable, he may call you a liar, it doesn't matter. Nothing will trouble you. Because that poor fellow wants to understand it from his level but you can't take this thing to that level. The only way to do it, is that person has to come to this level.

Like when they asked Christ, "do you know what the truth is?" he said, "yes". They said, "what is the truth?" Then they said he was a fool - but he was already in samadhi [spiritual superconsciousness] – what is he going to tell them? It was like the nectar and he had become one.

So the householder must worship a deity. At the same time take it to universal level or meditate on the absolute….but he can't stay there all the time. Because it [his role] will pull him back. Child will pull him, wife will pull him and the husband [if it's the wife doing the practice] will pull her, relatives will pull. It may sound now as if no, it can't be like that. I can't think of him or me as a disciple. Because no sooner you think of disciple, it will pull you down. That's why they say, "Brahman, Brahman, Brahman". Myself, I stop this. When the bhakta [devotee] prostrates, he's prostrating to God. There's no one else to prostrate to. Somehow in dream, you realise you're dreaming. When you're prostrating you know you're not prostrating to that image in front of you, it's to that which is behind the form, which is your [higher] Self. That's the difference – nothing else. You mustn't imitate. One shouldn't think, "oh, that is higher, I must go with the higher". Take it step by?...step.

1) Care should be taken by the reader to understand and take Swamiji's words in these postings, in context. Every teaching or instruction that he gave was specific to the people who were with Swamiji at the time. 

2) Mouse-over the words highlighted in red in the posting for further explanation or links.

There are currently available, 150 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. 

For more about the Holy Trinity, and also the founding Swamis of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, please mouse over their names below:

Sri Ramakrishna    Sri Sarada Devi     Swami Vivekananda  

Swami Nischalananda  Swami Shivapadananda 

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - read online

Reference websites - please mouse over the name and click to connect:

Ramakrishna Math and Mission    Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa    Ramakrishna Dham

Seek within – not without

 

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

[2nd President and Spiritual Head: the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]

[now a Centre of the international Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission]

DAILY READINGS

Transcribed from the recordings made by Mother Radha

Day 1046

[Swamiji speaking softly and very intently] As you said in the Gujarati song, this world looks like a dark well. A well is a confined place. You haven't got the time to waste to walk about this well. If you really get like that (God-conscious) then where's the time for anything else? Can you tell me? Sincerely? Where's the time? Where is the time for something like that? If that spirit of the words gets inside you, you will be mad (for God). Isn't it so?

To create that madness, we're having satsang. That is the madness. And it's very, very…may I use a funny word? Because it is funny. It's 'the thing [God]' itself looking for 'the thing [God]'. [Swamiji chuckling]. The thing itself looking for the thing. If I didn't love you I wouldn't tell you that. You don't have to go out for this. This is just the opposite of going and seeking. It's not going there to Swamiji, to the altar…every time you reach out, you're missing the point. Stop reaching out. Stop?...reaching out. That is the maya [the divine power of illusion/delusion] – you're reaching out. You are so in the habit, it's become your nature [Swamiji laughs] to reach out. Stop reaching out. Just stop.

How can a drunken man – dead drunk – walk somewhere? Where can he go to? He's drunk. It's like this. [Swamiji begins to sing, "Om tat sat, Om tat sat, Om tat sat Om". [Meaning OM, all is that One].

1) Care should be taken by the reader to understand and take Swamiji's words in these postings, in context. Every teaching or instruction that he gave was specific to the people who were with Swamiji at the time. 

2) Mouse-over the words highlighted in red in the posting for further explanation or links.

There are currently available, 150 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. 

For more about the Holy Trinity, and also the founding Swamis of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, please mouse over their names below:

Sri Ramakrishna    Sri Sarada Devi     Swami Vivekananda  

Swami Nischalananda  Swami Shivapadananda 

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - read online

Reference websites - please mouse over the name and click to connect:

Ramakrishna Math and Mission    Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa    Ramakrishna Dham

Faith and grace

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

[2nd President and Spiritual Head: the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]

[now a Centre of the international Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission]

DAILY READINGS

Transcribed from the recordings made by Mother Radha

Day 1045

 

There was a poor and innocent couple. A wife and husband. They were told," If you take a guru, you will realise God". So these poor people asked, "but where can we get a guru? Where must we go? Where can we get enlightenment?" The people said, "go and look". So they did. The man was looking and the woman searched, both of them looking, looking, looking. But they couldn't find a guru. So somebody said, "Well, your sin won't go away unless you get initiated. You must get initiated [into spiritual life] and then only will your sin go." But the poor man said, "How can I? I have no guru?" The person said, "tomorrow morning, the first person you see – take him as a guru."

This man was a simple man. He wanted a guru. So the next morning the wife and husband started walking in the lane. Suddenly, what did they find? A thief. He had a big bundle of goods and he was running. So they grabbed and held onto the thief's feet. [devotees are chucking] The thief shouted, "the police are coming!" They said, "no, we want initiation from you!" He begged them, "you just leave me, the police are coming! – you just leave me!" And there was chaos between this thief and this poor, innocent couple. The thief is now desperate to get away. He asks, "what do you want from me?" The man answers, "we want God". The thief says, "close your eyes and sit here. Just close your eyes and sit here – both of you. You'll get God." "We'll get God? You're sure?," asked the couple. "yes, you will get God." What happened now? Whilst the thief said this and then ran away, the police still caught him and put him in jail.

Meanwhile the couple did not move from there. They said, "we must sit and God will come." And it appears that they went through so much trouble but they did not move from that place. And Vishnu bhagawan, as usual, he was strangled by Mother Lakshmi. Because she's full of love and?...compassion. To strangle a worldly man, take away his material wealth. But to strangle God, display compassion. Display?...compassion. Mother is the personification of compassion. So it goes for all the other female deities. So she says to Vishnu, "Vishnu, please, that man is suffering and you cannot do this. Go and give him your darshan [reveal yourself to him]. So Lord Vishnu appears there and he says, "Look, I am here." The poor man says, "who are you?" The Lord replies, "I am God." The man says, "no, never mind that you say you're God, I want my guru to tell me. Otherwise we're not going to move from here." [devotees laughing merrily] Who must tell me? [devotees answer, 'the guru'] "That's the only one I have faith in – his word is gold - I want my guru to tell me." The Lord says, "look, I am…." "No," said the man, "if you're the Lord, then I am telling you that I want my guru to tell me that." Now the Lord doesn't know what to do. He leaves it for a few days. Then he goes in a dream to the King and says, "a certain man, free him please. He may have stolen something but he has won my grace. If you don't free him then some ill-luck will befall you."

The man is released and Lord Vishnu meets him at the prison door. No sooner he consciously looks at Lord Vishnu, he becomes changed, transformed inside. The Lord takes him to the two people, he wakes them up. "Oh, gurudev, gurudev," they say, "gurudev, a person was here and he says he's God. [Swamiji chuckling] The thief-guru says, "This one here?" "Yes,' they say. "Yes, yes, he's God," he answers. And they prostrate to the Lord. That is the faith where a devotee can even save the guru who is a sinner, as in this case, you see.

But then, what is the criterion for getting the highest bliss? It's faith. What?...faith. It is tremendous faith. And faith is one of the things that is grace - and grace is one of the things that is faith. Now when we look back, forget the gurus, sometime or other we have to see the guru and find fault with him as a man – as a human being. But how many of us really have faith in our deities? How many of us? Think about it. How many? Alright – if you have no deity – you know that some people say, "oh, Krishna is not God and Shiva is not God, Christ is not God…" Alright, even if that man says they're not God, he believes there is a God. Whatever the concept is that he may have of God. But how many of them really believe in that God? And yet they call that God, 'almighty'. They call him almighty and on the other hand they go and do things that show exactly through their actions that they haven't got trust in God. They haven't got that faith in God. They haven't got the trust and faith in God.

Now, faith is acquired. It is a growth. It doesn't just come like that. Some people get it like that [Swamiji makes a noise demonstrating immediacy] and they say, "I've got it." But no, there was hard work put into it – unknown to him or herself. And one of the things I've found a blessing, is that which enquires in your mind and keeps pushing you onwards. It's a blessing. Because it activates you to go?...higher and?...higher.

Like this, we find there are a lot of stories told, to illustrate the faithful disciple. But there are other things that show if the disciple has no faith, the guru will somehow plant the faith. He will plant the faith. Therefore I said, "faith is grace and grace is faith". That's why I put it 'upside-down'.

1) Care should be taken by the reader to understand and take Swamiji's words in these postings, in context. Every teaching or instruction that he gave was specific to the people who were with Swamiji at the time. 

2) Mouse-over the words highlighted in red in the posting for further explanation or links.

There are currently available, 150 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. 

For more about the Holy Trinity, and also the founding Swamis of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, please mouse over their names below:

Sri Ramakrishna    Sri Sarada Devi     Swami Vivekananda  

Swami Nischalananda  Swami Shivapadananda 

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - read online

Reference websites - please mouse over the name and click to connect:

Ramakrishna Math and Mission    Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa    Ramakrishna Dham

Swamiji speaks on Guru Purnima (many years ago)

[Pictured: aerial view of the Ramakrishna Centre of SA ashram complex, Glen Anil, KwaZulu Natal,  South Africa]

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

[2nd President and Spiritual Head: the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]

[now a Centre of the international Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission]

DAILY READINGS

Transcribed from the recordings made by Mother Radha

Day 1044

Today is Guru Purnima….you'll find in India, every ashrama [monastery, religious retreat centre], every ashrama, will be worshipping Ved Vyasa, the great guru, through the symbols of the respective gurus [spiritual preceptors]. In the scriptures the Lord has declared that amongst certain things he manifests or shines out more… in certain instruments you can make him out more. His reflection or his glory is more revealed in certain things. They found that our gurus reveal to individual hearts, and collectively to the universal hearts of all. Example: he says that, "amongst the mountains I am the Himalayas. Amongst the human beings I am the king, amongst the five Pandavas, Arjuna, I am you. Look at me. I have manifested more in you because I take that glory, that glory that you have, is not yours. It is mine, O Arjuna."

Similarly, as Ved Vyasa in the Bhagavatam says that the avataras [incarnations of God] are most popularly known as the 10 avataras – great avataras. But there is, again, another category of avataras, known as the 25 avataras. In the scripture, the Lord says, besides saying I am another 25 avataras, know your avataras are infinite. Your avataras are?...infinite. You cannot limit God's manifestation to 10 avataras or 25 avataras, but his avataras are infinite. Thus you will find, as he says, "amongst the rishis, I am Kapila Rishi". In the same, Ved Vyasa writing, he puts the words so beautifully, he says, "amongst the writers or compilers of the Vedas, know that to be Ved Vyasa." [Swamiji chuckling] It's the Lord himself speaking but how nicely he diverted our mind and says, "Ved Vyasa is the author". Then very lovingly he removes the veil – if a man is not careful, he can't see it – he says, "among the compilers and the writers, know them to be Ved Vyasa". Ved Vyasa himself is saying that.

But supposing I'll say, Swami Nischalananda [Swamiji's guru] said, "know that amongst the devotees I am Nischalananda". Now somebody will look at him egoistically – but you see, when the state of consciousness goes higher and higher, when that [the individual] is identified with That [the higher state of consciousness, God, Brahman], the man no longer speaks. The man no longer?...speaks. That power, through that man, speaks. But ordinary people, who don't know his inner life, will tend to criticize him. Also, you must be very careful – if a man is not [God] realised he doesn't reach the stage where it's the very same thing [identified with God], then what must one do? God, I don't know you, because I am trying to know you. Whatever your form is, I don't know but I know you are omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. I worship you through everything. Therefore in the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna showed to Arjuna, that not only that which he outlines is him, but the whole of creation is his manifestation. So anywhere you touch you are still touching, what?...God.

Now, one would ask, what happens then if the guru is not right [competent]. [Paramahamsa] Ramakrishna answers the question. Where man fails, guru takes over. Man will let you down hundreds of times but the Lord, the guru, will never let you?...down. Provided you have this one, very important thing in you. Unflinching faith to know God. Unflinching faith to serve God. And intense desire to?...get him. Intense desire to get him. If you have that, you have no fear whatsoever. He must reveal himself to you.

In the olden days they say there was no such thing as reincarnation of God and all that. But as time went by [Swamiji chuckling] the Rishis themselves got together and they thought, look, wait a minute. There are great Rishis, these are all Rishis, but all the Rishis are not in the same category. Because as in the ordinary world you find that IQs are?...different. They found that something supreme manifested from certain people and they could explain it. Certain things they could not explain. So those people that we cannot explain their ways and means, their working, he liberates everyone whether he's a saint or a sinner - we call him an incarnation [avatara]. He comes like a?...what do you call that big wave? [devotees answer] Tidal wave. Tidal wave! [Tsunami] He does not select a devotee or a non-devotee. He does not select a sinner or a saint. He realises all is his. His grace comes like that and washes and smashes down all misconceptions and all ignorance. Thus absorbing himself into him?...self. That is called incarnation. Who does not say "my chela [disciple]", who does not say "your chela". Who says, "all are my manifestation and therefore I come to wash myself with my own grace". With my own?...grace.

Then, later on you'll find that others came and they did not reveal, or in them did not manifest the whole of the glory of that unexplainable One. We call them rishis, we call them munis. [sage-saint, seers]. We call them rishis and?...munis. But, one important thing must be remembered while you are doing this….that one flower may repel you and another flower may attract you. So that flower that attracts you in the inner world, is your inspirer, your God in life, it's your saviour in this life. And in the case of we who are initiated by Gurudev [Sri Swami Nischalananda Puri, Swamiji's beloved guru], who are initiated by various rishis, that becomes our saviour and we worship that grace, that consciousness in him, that has come like a barge to take us across a sea of samsara.

How he works, we don't know. Sometimes he's very full of compassion. Sometimes we say that he's not full of compassion – he's full of wrath. [Swamiji chuckles] But that's apparent. That is?... apparent. Since there's a doctor seated here, doctors take a big knife and go and operate on the patient. That patient will say, "what kind of Kali-avatar is this?" But in their heart they know that they are full of?...compassion. They are cutting out that disease that will kill the spirit in that particular person. In reality you can never kill a spirit but which will cover the spirit in that particular person. So our gurus are like that. They work in diverse ways.

While coming here I told [name inaudible] a story in the car. That if I ill-treated somebody most, I told them who I ill-treated. But if you look at it as ill-treatment, or you look at it as kind treatment, all I'm concerned about it that it was a 'treatment'. [Swamiji chuckles]. It must cure some sort of disease. It is a treatment. You can look at it as ill-treatment or good treatment.

With these words I say, that you have all worshipped a supreme consciousness today, here. We call it guru, we call it God, we call it devi or we call it deva. There's nothing else but Satchitananda – eternal spirit. Which ordinarily in this world is known as intelligence, consciousness, knowledge, that we?...worship. That which is not darkness but always?...light. What is darkness? [Swamiji chuckles] What is darkness? Isn't darkness, Swami Vivekananda said, also light? It's also light. Because what may be dark to me, may be light to somebody else. How does he say it? He says that we are not travelling from untruth to truth. We are travelling from lower truth to the Absolute truth.

So all are true, though we find relatively true, but it is part and portion of that particular supreme being. Even the Lord himself, if you read nicely in the Bhagavatam, he says, "the lower part here down is hell. In his own body he says there's hell. So even hell is a part of him. Then he says, AUM, bhur, bwha, swaha and he goes up, to satyam loka, heaven, then he says, "all these are parts in me and heaven is right on top. The different portions of heaven. That's why we repeat, AUM bhur, AUM bwah, AUM Swah etc. to Satyam, the higher loka.

The lower lokas we do not repeat because we don't want to go down. What you think, you become. If you think of London, those people who have been to London, you are already in London in your mind, so you see? You think of the lower world, you already get to the lower world, so we always want to go higher, so we think of the higher lokas [realms]. But the idea is not to go to any lokas. The idea is to go to that which is beyond lokas. And what is beyond lokas? God himself. Everything is in God, nothing is out of God. The bad man says, "God help me to do wrong and the other fellow mustn't catch me" – he's still in God. The other fellow doing dharma, righteousness, he's also still in God.

May that guru of gurus, paramatma, parabrahman, bless us all. We are all disciples of his. Hari AUM Tat Sat.

1) Care should be taken by the reader to understand and take Swamiji's words in these postings, in context. Every teaching or instruction that he gave was specific to the people who were with Swamiji at the time. 

2) Mouse-over the words highlighted in red in the posting for further explanation or links.

There are currently available, 150 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. 

For more about the Holy Trinity, and also the founding Swamis of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, please mouse over their names below:

Sri Ramakrishna    Sri Sarada Devi     Swami Vivekananda  

Swami Nischalananda  Swami Shivapadananda 

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - read online

Reference websites - please mouse over the name and click to connect:

Ramakrishna Math and Mission    Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa    Ramakrishna Dham

The role of the Guru

[Pictured: Sri Swami Shivapadananda Puri. 2nd President and Spiritual head: the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

[2nd President and Spiritual Head: the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]

[now a Centre of the international Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission]

DAILY READINGS

Transcribed from the recordings made by Mother Radha

Day 1043

This is beautiful. I have given you all so many things. Just take any one of them and make that your day in and day out?...exercise. But the idea is to make it regular. And as you just look at it, when he says, look at it and you see nothing – you won't see 'nothing'. You can't see 'nothing'. It means only you exist. Therefore you can't see it. That doesn't mean there's nothing. That's why a yogi may say, "I don't believe in God". That doesn't mean he's an atheist - because he believes in the Self, as I told you today. But it doesn't mean his individual self, it means the Self of everything, the whole world – your self, my self – he believes in that Self. But when you say, "God", you're individualising God – my God and your God. I love Krishna and you love something else.

Now the other part - form. God's form. You must think about it. Always, when your mind forgets that, bring it back. Consciousness, it is Consciousness, it is Bliss and it is?...Existence. [Satchitananda] Right? You bring that back. But then again the scriptures say – you'll find the Bhagavatam describes it very well - they say, see God first. You see God with light – self-effulgent, wearing all the jewellery. What must you see? [devotees answer] "God with jewellery". [Swamiji adds] And all the clothing items. The next one, what you do after a little while, they say, you must remove the clothing, just let him have the jewellery on. He's naked but he's got jewellery on. In the end you take off all the jewellery, he's naked. That's three stages of meditation. 'Naked' means light-only. The light is the only thing that's naked. There's nothing to dress it. Darkness can't dress it. Light, dressed by light, itself. God can only be clothed by God, not by anything else. From this point of view you'll get a lot.

Why do you go to a guru? Everything you'll find in the scriptures. There's nothing that's not in the scriptures. [Swamiji chuckles]. But you don't understand it. You read something but because you're so used to making concepts, you give your own meaning to it. That's why you must have the person there to give you the right meaning. That's why a guru [spiritual preceptor] is necessary. Otherwise the guru is not essential. Like a law – you read a law, you think you know what it is, but when you go to a lawyer, he doesn't think – he knows what it is. That's all it is.

The other part, why you go to the guru [Swamiji chuckling again], it's very simple, gurus are foolish fellows…what are they? [devotees reluctant to repeat the phrase. They laugh] You see, why you go to the guru? There are places where you get stuck in your meditation. The scripture will tell you, "this is how to meditate". But it doesn't tell you where you're going to get stuck. The scriptures tell you, "do it like this," but as you're meditating a lot of obstacles will come. You'll get stuck. Certain doubts will come. Now, that's why you have the guru there. You'll tell him, "this is what happened". The scripture only told you to meditate and you'll realise God. But it doesn't tell you the minute obstacles. It doesn't mean that the guru has experienced all those obstacles – forget it – that I don't believe. That is not true. But…when the guru hears that you have an obstacle, he straight-away knows, "oh, this is the obstacle, this is holding him back." So he'll tell you, "alright, remove the obstacle this way, because if you deal with it this way, your mind will be free." And when your mind is free, naturally it will travel as far it as can go. Because of your karma, it may get stuck again. Then he'll tell you, "just move that obstacle this way [in this manner]. You see that's why the guru is there - only to remove the obstacles. He never can give you God. Because you already are God. No guru can give you God. Forget it. The guru is there as the sweeper. [Paramahamsa] Ramakrishna said the guru is like a broom. That's the guru then. He just sweeps [away the obstacles]. That's all he does. What does he do? [Devotees answer] sweeps. That's what the guru does – just sweeps.

Because the scriptures tell you it's like water flowing. There's an obstacle there. What do you do? You don't bring water there. You will just remove the obstacle and the water will flow again. So these thoughts, doubts and misconceptions are obstacles – just remove them and you'll see the consciousness there. Inside you superimpose 'two' on your consciousness. Outside we've already superimposed it. Inside also we start superimposing it. Just remove that and you'll see again the consciousness.

That's what the guru does - nothing else. That's why the guru gives only a few instructions [Swamiji teasing] and then sits down and enjoys eating and drinking. You go and do the work or tend the kettle [to make tea]. [Swamiji chuckling] You do that duty, I will do mine. I'll only just give you a few instructions. What do you want to be? A guru or a chela? I'll just give you instructions, that is all. You may hear them and just laugh because you'll see it from your point of view. You'll see service and other things. But the guru is right. You have to activate inside. You will do all that. And he will only give you instructions on how to remove obstacles. I said he can't give you?...God. He can never give you God because you already are God. He can't give you God. You are already consciousness. What's he going to make you conscious of? How's he going to give you consciousness?

You know, [Swami] Vivekananda's lion and the sheep [story]…the lion grew up with sheep. The lion thought he was a sheep. The other lion who came along didn't make him a lion - he was already a lion. He only showed him [his reflection in water] - he said, "you have only hypnotised yourself – now de-hypnotise yourself. So you can't make a man God. You can't give him God, because he is already God – because you can't make that lion more lion when it's already a lion. You can only tell it what it really is and bring back its memory.

1) Care should be taken by the reader to understand and take Swamiji's words in these postings, in context. Every teaching or instruction that he gave was specific to the people who were with Swamiji at the time. 

2) Mouse-over the words highlighted in red in the posting for further explanation or links.

There are currently available, 150 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. 

For more about the Holy Trinity, and also the founding Swamis of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, please mouse over their names below:

Sri Ramakrishna    Sri Sarada Devi     Swami Vivekananda  

Swami Nischalananda  Swami Shivapadananda 

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - read online

Reference websites - please mouse over the name and click to connect:

Ramakrishna Math and Mission    Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa    Ramakrishna Dham

Swamiji speaks on Swami Nischalanandaji - his Guru

[Pictured: Sri Swami Nischalananda Puri, first President and Spiritual Head, the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

[2nd President and Spiritual Head: the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]

[now a Centre of the international Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission]

DAILY READINGS

Transcribed from the recordings made by Mother Radha

Day 1042

This was, to me, Swami Nischalananda [Swamiji's beloved Guru]. I thought, can I call him a father? And I personally, in my life, saw the father image in him. Because I have had the love of a mother, but I got the love of a father from him. And then again I would think, can I call him a mother? [Swamiji chuckles] I am sure many of you here will agree with me, that again, the mother quality was in him. Because no one came to this ashram [Hindu monastery, community service centre of spiritual retreat centre] and went, without being comforted. Difficult now…can I call him a teacher? That goes without saying. He was a teacher but what kind of a teacher? A teacher of the first calibre.

Now [Paramahamsa] Ramakrishna described teachers in three ways. The first one is like a doctor who just looks at you, says, "hmm, I think you have a fever. Take two Disprin [headache tablets] three times a day". That's it. He's gone. He's only concerned with the money. That kind of guru is only concerned with gurudakshina.

The second one will come, "two Disprin, three times a day," then after a while he'll ask, "did you take the tablets?" No. "Alright, you better take the tablets, otherwise you know what will happen to you? You'll die". So he puts some sort of fear into you – the fear must take you there [into compliance].

The third one is the doctor who comes and says, "oh, my patient". And do you know if you're a doctor's patient, you're not playing with anything else except your life. They say the doctor's mistakes are all buried. [devotees laugh] A lawyer's mistakes are either hanged or they are behind bars. [devotees laugh heartily] And a spiritual man's mistakes are in hell. [more laughter] This is true. So this last kind of a doctor will say, "my friend, take it now!" No, I'll take it later. "Take it now! You don't want to take it? Alright." He'll push the patient down, makes him a little more sick than he is, open his mouth by force and push that medicine down his throat. [devotees chuckle] Now that is the kind of a teacher, a spiritual teacher and a secular teacher, that I would describe Swami Nischalananda to be.

He did not pull his punches where principle was concerned. With the result that many people misunderstood him. "Oh how can a sannyasi [Hindi Swami or monk] do this and how can a teacher do that?" To him it mattered nothing. What mattered was only principle. If the principle was right, he was just like a bulldozer. And I think that particular aspect was needed then in South Africa, you will agree with me. Being depressed by these so-called 'colour bars' [Apartheid] we were made so weak and limp, like jellyfish. I'm now talking especially about the Indians of South Africa.

They needed someone with guts. They needed someone who could display the strength of a superman. And I tell you this – I found in this particular image [Swami Nischalananda], this tremendous strength to tell what was right and keep to it. He did not care. In two seconds he'd take off his [monastic] garb, respectfully put it in a clean place and put on long pants. And then go and meet the government officials on behalf of his people. He didn't care about putting on long pants and walking into the bushes with his dog, to cut some wood for the fire. He did not care if others criticised him when he had to help a man. And in the end you know, he was accused of theft. About twenty five to fifty Rands was missing. A poor man came to him and he did not even care to ask the committee [of the ashram] – "I'm giving him x amount."

Many doctors and lawyers and teachers today, in the quiet, they come and say [to me], "Swamiji helped me out with a bursary. He actually gave me his money." And when I come to think of a man like this, who could not account for the funds of the [Ramakrishna] Centre, I think of myself. That's why I'm so scared to handle it. I always say to the chairman and the treasurer, "watch it, because you know, no matter what you say, if the money is kept there, make no mistake, if I see someone in need, I'll give it away." The chairman may bring it [the matter] up the next week. "You gave a car away. You have no business giving it away." [Swamiji chuckling] I'll say, "maybe next time I'll give the ashram away, who knows?"

So you see, my guru was like this. If he saw a suffering man, he did not care. Why did he not care? Because he knew fully well his conscience was clear. Very clear. So clear that it made him so brave that he actually traced its root in the Bhagavad Gita. Where Lord Krishna says you have to be fearless, "taking your stand on Me." And all South Africans can never deny this of that great soul, the unshakeable, the immovable, Nischalananda. He had guts – but it was never abusive, physical guts, it was to stand on principle, that's what his strength was.

And you'll find that Gurudev [the devotees' name for Swami Nischalananda] as Swami Madhavananda [one of Swami Shivapadananda's monastic disciples] said, that he did a lot of welfare [community service] work. This welfare work has its root in the sayings of Ramakrishna. Where Ramakrishna, born in 1836, passed away in 1886 said to [Swami] Vivekananda, just one phrase. Look how wonderfully a guru's words can spark and grow in the whole world and make it light: "jiva, Siva. Siva, jiva." Siva he says is God, who is also jiva. And service to the jiva is service to God. The whole of the Ramakrishna Mission was built on that. Gurudev took this lesson directly from there and came to South Africa and saw that other institutions, Christian organisations and others were practising religion side by side with giving full support - physically and materially - to the devotees. After all, if God's love cannot squeeze out compassion from your heart for suffering human beings, then what is the use of that kind of God? He must be a rock [something inert]. Do away with him. This kind of lesson he got directly from the [Ramakrishna] Mission and he came to South Africa.

He established a great museum in South Africa. One of its kind, in the whole of South Africa. He brought items from Pandit Nehru [the Indian Prime Minister]. He brought a whole museum of pieces. He put it here [in the ashram] to give pride and strength to the citizens of South Africa. And to throw light where ignorance was dominant. From there he went on encouraging people to take to the religious life, to sacrifice the children [be willing to give them into the service of God] so they can also take the banner of your culture - which is material progress and spiritual progress.

Our religion never says you must neglect the material side. Because if you see the ancient religion – in [Lord] Rama's time, if you see it in [King] Janaka's time, these were great people. They were saints, [God-]realised and yet ruling kingdoms. They did not give up their wife and children and go into the forest. What they did was to exert self-control. That is all that is needed. Right attitude only is needed. You can be the best sannyasi in long pants, tie and collar - and you can be the worst sannyasi in the [gerrua monastic] garb. It's just your attitude. And this, Swami Nischalananda now and then displayed in front of our eyes. He didn't even get attached to the garb. When he needed to put on long trousers, he put them on. When he had to put on the garb, he put on the garb. Thus, we came to recognise him as God disguised in man's form, but man disguising himself in different uniforms. This was, to me, Swami Nischalananda.

I always thought personally, that I was a vagabond [worthless]. He [Gurudev] went and picked up the vagabond, washed him, cleaned him and then put him on a throne. Now he's [the vagabond] basking in his [Gurudev's] glory. We have no glory of our own. No chela [disciple] can claim to have glory. He only lives in the limelight of his guru. That is all you can say about the chela.

And then each of these people that are here are unique in themselves, because one chela cannot express all the aspects of a guru. So, put together, combined, they will express the aspects of the guru. Like Ramakrishna if you want to know him, you cannot discard his disciples. You must study all his disciples and then you'll come to a conclusion about what Ramakrishna was. Because one big light is so great that it's difficult for one minute mirror to reflect. So, in this light, the chelas bask, the devotees bask.

Now when Swami Madhavananda says, "Put your shoulders together," I want to just pass a little thought on that. Whether you put the shoulder there or not, the wheel will be forced to turn because it is His [God's] will that it turns. When Gurudev left the platform [of this life] we thought, "the Ramakrishna Centre [Swamiji chuckles] is gone, for good". But, how he brought it up, only he knows. What he did, only he knows.

Ego, too, is good. Because ego is needed to inspire you first. And when you are inspired you find the ego has done nothing. God has done something. Like a man riding a bicycle, if he does not know how to ride a bicycle, you hold it at the back. You say, "alright, I'll hold it," and that fellow thinks someone is holding him. And when you leave it, he still thinks you're holding it. That's the first-class disciple, who knows he's [God] still holding on. The other one says, "I will ride it." It's immaturity. But that one at the back of us is so great, He will not let go of the bicycle. He won't let us fall. Provided you ride the bicycle in the rightful place - not the wrong place – then you won't have an accident.

Now, how can I describe this life? I cannot describe it. All that I can say is that each one can speak from their personal experiences. And the thought was going through me…you know Gurudev was a very, very [Swamiji chuckling] unique type of guru in South Africa. I'll tell you why. Because he found the people were not getting up with his loving word, so he got them up with the opposite of the loving word. His only idea was that they must get up. Some got up in opposition to him, with arms and ammunition. Some got up in loving service to join him, others got up because they heard the call. But his idea was, just like a faithful dog of God, bark! The master will recognise my bark. [Swamiji chuckling merrily] The enemies will start running, there will be activity, activity all 'round. And he got the whole of South Africa up.

And therefore, is it any wonder that the spiritual head of the Divine Life Society, said, "that great soul, Swami Nischalananda, I have not seen another like that. Wherever he was, there was only activity." Only activity. And it was again Swami Venkatesananda [Head of the Divine Life Society, Mauritius] who said that "if you look at the hair of Swami Nischalananda [see picture above] , his hair looks to me, like electricity. If the hair looks like electricity, what will the inside be like?" [all chuckling with Swamiji] You'll find that Swami Sahajananda of the Divine Life Society [in Durban at the time] he said, "there is not one aspect of preaching and disseminating knowledge, that Swami Nischalananda has left out."

You heard what Pastor Rowland [a Christian missionary/evangelist] said about him? Pastor Rowland said that if it were not for Swami Nischalananda he would have converted every Hindu. Then, another doctor in Rhodesia [now Zimbabwe], whose name has just slipped out of my mind, said that "Swami Nischalananda is one hundred years ahead of his time." Is it any wonder that we ignorant Hindus misunderstand him? If a doctor can say that…a doctor to me doesn't mean someone very great, but to me it implies he has some intelligence, to?...discriminate….if I may use your language, between a raw deal and a good deal. He said one hundred years ahead of our time, he was. Now this was the kind of a person Swami Nischalananda was.

But I can tell you one thing. If Nischalanandaji Maharaj joined the children, the children thought the biggest child was present there. And when he joined the young people, the young people thought he was far younger than themselves. And when he joined the old people - his age was only 25 when he took sannyas [final monastic vows] - the old people thought, "who is this great Rishi sitting here?" Most probably they have themselves superimposed that great knowledge on him. Or he displayed his super-knowledge so these people were dumbfounded. This is how Swami Nischalanandaji was.

Once it appears, he was walking somewhere and he found a child bitten by an ant. He brushed the ant off her. But instead of picking up the child he was holding on to her and trembling and crying. Someone asked, "what's the matter?" He said, "How did this ant bite the child?" Now you see this is the softness of a…leave him if you don't want to make him a god…don't worry about it…we are not that great yet, to see a god. But even if you say he was a man, let us look at the highest man, manifested through this man. That he felt compassion for his fellow beings. Did we ever feel like that? You know, in our own life when we saw our neighbours we went on criticising. "You know, that fellow is a drunk, therefore he's poor". Rather than say, "let us do something to alleviate his poverty." Watch it. This is Swami Nischalananda. You will see that as time goes, we'll pass away. But our own children will dig up facts that will be amazing to the future world, about his life, in South Africa.

If you speak about his spirituality, I think his spirituality was displayed best in the [yoga retreat] camps. In the yoga camps that we had, his spirituality blossomed to the fullest. Thus giving each child the sunshine to open the lotus of his heart and give honey as nectar to the people they thereafter came into contact with. This was Swami Nischalananda. I sometimes think, was he a god? [Swamiji chuckling] Can't be god. Man? Can't be man. What was he? I was flabbergasted. He mysteriously came and mysteriously left. He mystified us. That was Swami Nischalananda.

And blessed, again I must say, which I should not say, blessed are those children that when the father and mother is criticised to the core, knowing the good of the father and mother, the children take up the father and mother's names and go on doing good. Blessed are those that fall under this miniature-sized India, Ramakrishna Centre. That was not spared the tiniest bit of space to lay its head on. Even the space of a needle point. Today it's a giant tree. It's inspiring, it's growing, it's inspiring other organisations. And other organisations have become so friendly that they are lending help and they see the ideal, Ramakrishna, manifested in it.

Victory be to you in the future. Victory be to your hearts that will get purer. Victory will be in you when you display the glory of Sri Ramakrishna, which was his aim. We preach no persons and we preach no personalities. We preach only that which unifies and immortalises each life on this earth. And when my brother said that we are monuments, a thought went through me, truly. That word monument is a very deceiving word, you know, it deceives my mind. You see for many people, after death, they build a monument - and nobody takes care of it. It breaks down. It's a dead, material, brick and mortar monument. Now you must ask the question, are you one of those? Then there are mobile monuments. When we get inspired by the inner life of the man himself. And something urges us inside, we must sacrifice our lives for his sake. Have you got that enthusiasm? If you haven't, then you are the brick and mortar. But if you have even an iota of that, that I must do something, then remember, you fall into the conscious monument, the mobile monument, the monument which will manifest the grace of all the Rishis and Munis [Sage, Seer-saints], through the channel called Swami Nischalananda.

Thank you. God bless you.

1) Care should be taken by the reader to understand and take Swamiji's words in these postings, in context. Every teaching or instruction that he gave was specific to the people who were with Swamiji at the time. 

2) Mouse-over the words highlighted in red in the posting for further explanation or links.

There are currently available, 150 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. 

For more about the Holy Trinity, and also the founding Swamis of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, please mouse over their names below:

Sri Ramakrishna    Sri Sarada Devi     Swami Vivekananda  

Swami Nischalananda  Swami Shivapadananda 

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - read online

Reference websites - please mouse over the name and click to connect:

Ramakrishna Math and Mission    Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa    Ramakrishna Dham

No giant spiritual leap. Baby steps.

Pictured: Prajapati (Lord of Creation] teaching Indra, king of the gods

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

[2nd President and Spiritual Head: the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]

[now a Centre of the international Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission]

DAILY READINGS

Transcribed from the recordings made by Mother Radha

Day 1041

Devotee asks: It is said that if you are sincerely spiritual the material will look after itself.

Swamiji: No, it won't look after itself. You must treat is as a duty and look after it. Understand what I mean? Only a yogi [God-realised soul] can speak like that. A yogi won't care about anything, because what he desires will happen. But what you desire doesn't happen, so until that state is reached you have to look after it. And then, if you become a yogi and what you desire happens, you'll understand that other people can't do that, so you will do what is dharmic [righteous]. You will do everything according to dharma. You will serve and you will do everything, you will look after material things. And you will tell them, "this is valuable," - only valuable as far as using it goes - not getting attached to it and calling it my own. You see, for instance now, take the ashram [monastery]...if the swami or the sannyasins [Hindu monks] just treat it anyhow and take it for granted, thinking that "I am spiritual," everything will go into chaos. You have a Constitution [for the organisation] and you must see that the dharma embodied in the Constitution must be implemented.

Devotee: Not neglected.

Swamiji: No, you can't neglect it. You can't neglect your body and say you are spiritual, unless you reach the stage as I told you, where what you desire [Swamiji clicks his fingers] happens. And you will always desire for the best because the whole universe becomes your body, then. Apparently you are here but you are all over. You know that. Therefore what is there to look after because your Self you can't look after. There's a stage when you take the Lord, singular and meditate on him. Then he must be in universal form, Vishwaroop. The same with your deity [Ishta Deva] - whether it's Siva, Kali, Durga or Krishna. Because Krishna showed it practically [the vishwaroop aspect, to his disciple Arjuna], some people only go for Krishna as a deity - but it's not so. Any deity will be the same. First you meditate on the form, then that form must be meditated on in the universal form – vishwaroop – and then it must become formless, nameless. Krishna gives you the three stages in the Bhagavad Gita. So that's how you reach the highest, too. First the formless, then the whole universe becomes God, you see it pulsating. Then you find the universe has come out of something which is formless, nameless, all dissolved. It's not extracting anything but it is merging, like a drop of water merges into the river and the river merges with the?...ocean. It's very easy, a wonderful meditation. Read between the lines in the scriptures then you'll see what I'm talking about.

Some people, when you tell them to meditate on a deity, they get so fed up, they think, "this fellow is not taking me higher," – inside here [Swamiji pointing to chest] will know straight away that it needs another step now, so you'll push him away slowly. Until then, just get the intense yearning to know a little more truth and the yearning comes and pushes a little bit. Like Indra came the first time, and Virochana the first time.

[Virochana in Hindu mythology was an asura (demon) king. According to the Chandogya Upanishad (VIII.7.2-8.5) he and Indra (king of the gods) went to Prajapati, the Lord of creation to learn about the Atman [universal soul] and lived there, practising brahmacharya for 32 years. Prajapati told them both that whatever they saw was Brahman. Virochana misunderstood this and seeing his physical reflection in water told the asuras to worship the body as the Atman.]

Swamiji continues: Virochana thought the body was everything. So he told his gang, "eat, drink and make merry". Indra said, "wait a minute, but that's not it, that thing doesn't die when this body dies". So he would come back and ask. An intense yearning to know the truth you see? They came again and he pushed them a little bit more. Like that I don't know how many times he came – three or four times or six times, they pushed him, pushed him. It didn't happen just like that. People make a mistake to think all it takes is a touch and that [God realisation] happens. It almost never happens like that. An Incarnation [avatar] of God, a Christ will say, "behold" and you can see it. Ramakrishna just touched, "wake up Mother," and the person went into samadhi. But it can't happen with everybody.

1) Care should be taken by the reader to understand and take Swamiji's words in these postings, in context. Every teaching or instruction that he gave was specific to the people who were with Swamiji at the time. 

2) Mouse-over the words highlighted in red in the posting for further explanation or links.

There are currently available, 150 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. 

For more about the Holy Trinity, and also the founding Swamis of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, please mouse over their names below:

Sri Ramakrishna    Sri Sarada Devi     Swami Vivekananda  

Swami Nischalananda  Swami Shivapadananda 

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - read online

Reference websites - please mouse over the name and click to connect:

Ramakrishna Math and Mission    Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa    Ramakrishna Dham

Happiness

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

[2nd President and Spiritual Head: the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]

[now a Centre of the international Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission]

DAILY READINGS

Transcribed from the recordings made by Mother Radha

Day 1040

Every stage [of spiritual growth] has happiness. And with almost every stage you have the opposite – which is misery. But only one stage – that is the last one which is bliss in the Spirit or the Self - has no opposites. Because in that state there is no second. It is only One and One alone. And this in turn, the Lord rounded it up very beautifully, Sri Krishna Bhagawan gives us a practical exercise. First of all he says you must try and keep your mind pure. This, when I think of Jesus, is always in my mind, when he said, "blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God". Now the question is, are we following the advice of these great ones to keep ourselves pure? And when you keep yourself pure, it is not just keeping yourself pure but at the same time try to contact the Universal Spirit which we term it as 'God', or 'Nirvana'.

These are terms of the Universal Spirit – and how to contact it? He gives it very openly again. You must, as the Isha Upanishad says, "see This dwelling in every one and permeating everything". One might say, "ah, this is just imagination." But everything is imagination – even if you are to make a clay pot, what do you do? You first imagine. You want to build a house, you imagine, you put it on a plan. Everything is imagination. Are you so clever that you want to condemn imagination, when in the first place, in baby class, imagination came to your assistance? Yes, in the beginning it is like an imagination, like in the beginning a building is an imagination in your mind. Later on, when you do practical things, like follow the ethical and moral laws [yama and niyama], then it will become a reality. It's like asking a builder and then building the house. It stands, it's there. You can see it, you can touch it, you can talk in it, you can play in it. Beautiful.

Today's speaker wonderfully said that many people think that in sex you get happiness. There is definite happiness but supposing the time comes that your partner doesn't agree with you, then you get sadness. What he called this "trifling, crudest form of bliss", is always associated with that which is?...sorrow. Sadness. In one stage only, there is no sadness - that which is One without a second. Therefore it is said, if you want infinite bliss, you must realise the infinite Being. Infinite Being or Spirit. He gives the three kinds of happiness.

["That which in the beginning is like poison but in the end like nectar; that happiness, born from the tranquillity of one's own mind, is declared to be sattvic." (Bhagavad Gita 18:37)

"That which in the beginning, through contact between the senses and their objects, is like nectar, and in the end like poison; that happiness is declared to be rajasic." (Bhagavad Gita 18:38)

"That happiness which both in the beginning and afterwards deludes the self, arising from sleep, indolence, and negligence, is declared to be tamasic." (Bhagavad Gita 18:39)]

In the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna says you get delusion out of sleep and drunkenness. You drug yourself you get it, how true. There is happiness in that isn't there? But I know from personal experience, sometimes sleep gives bliss, but when you continue sleeping your body starts giving the opposite of bliss. You can even get fed up with sleeping in bed. You want to now walk. So that is again a delusion as Krishna calls it.

Then you find there is a passionate type of bliss – which is a rajastic type – where you get sensual bliss. And again many people have 'blissful' eyes. And then they again have 'blind-ful' [deluded] eyes. So you can see, this has also got to come to an end.

The highest form of bliss is sattvic. Again that you find bliss in happiness. We are so hypnotised living on earth and we make earth such a hell that when we land in hell we find that it is even bliss there. And this is true, because great yogis have told different stories. Remember one time a man was told to go and get the lowest of the low things. [Swamiji chuckles] He walked and found a pig but then thought, "well, people eat pork, so it can't be the lowest of the low". He continued looking and saw the untouchables [Dalits] and thought, "the untouchables are cleaning our places, so they can't be the lowest". Then he found excreta. He was about to touch it, when the excreta shouted, "stop! stop! Do not touch me, you low fellow!" He asked what the excreta meant. "Why are you calling me low?" The excreta answered, "you know, you are only a third-class ordinary man and you want to touch me. But do you know why my position is like this? I was once a wonderful cake on the king's table and this is my position today. [devotees laugh] And if you're going to touch me, I don't know what's going to happen." So you see – this is the problem. The problem is that we always think something else is low - but we're getting lower and lower. We don't know how low we ourselves are. I think it's high time that we must take stock.

But then sometimes when my mind goes with a great thought like this, I think "wait a minute, what are the people to do then?" And I'm sure that thought goes through your mind, too. What are the people to do? The people have to make up their minds which kind of bliss they want. They do not say that you must withdraw from the worldly life, that you must withdraw from your wife and children, but make it a spiritual practice. Do it, because you just have to do it. Do it and surrender it to God. Because it is God's. Not yours. Only when you say, "mine" and "my", "I", "yours", it goes bad. But when you say, "God, it is Thine", there's nothing bad.

Then, how to live? The speaker said that if you do good things and you follow the ethical and moral laws you won't suffer. I beg your pardon. You suffer like hell. But when you make hell no suffering - then only do you become blissful. That's how it is. Swami Vivekananda [spiritual heir to Sri Ramakrishna] said that the western world wants to tell us how to stop suffering and get happiness. But he says that we eastern people try to bear the suffering. And when suffering becomes 'no-suffering' to the bearer - like Sita - then it's blissful, isn't it? You don't care. So, when you do good things, sufferings will come but you must be indifferent to them. Happiness will also come – be indifferent to it. When you go above these two, what then? You must feel the happiness of just doing the thing. Why? Because that is the only way to live. And then you'll get the supreme release – God. But what we are trying to do…we are trying to avoid.

You know these homoeopathic people talk sometimes about the allopathic people. They say, "you know Swamiji, if you've got migraine they give you a drug and that headache gets stopped but then a leg-ache starts". [Swamiji chuckling merrily] They say, "they'll give you this kind of medication and your skin starts troubling you. But the original problem is stopped". So that's what happens with happiness. You look for one kind of happiness but the side-effects of that happiness are tremendous. It comes out as something else. Or, say that my body is itching. I used to always make a mistake in the olden days and devotees used to laugh at me. I used to say, "my body is scratching, please scratch it for me". [Swamiji and devotees laugh] So, when your body is itching, the bliss is the scratching, isn't it? But that's going to cause a spreading – and extension – of the scratching. You're not going to spend your life scratching. You may not have any flesh left – you'll reach the bone. So like that you'll find that happiness – worldly happiness – will only add fuel to the?...fire. It will only add desire to the already 'apparent' satisfied desire.

1) Care should be taken by the reader to understand and take Swamiji's words in these postings, in context. Every teaching or instruction that he gave was specific to the people who were with Swamiji at the time. 

2) Mouse-over the words highlighted in red in the posting for further explanation or links.

There are currently available, 150 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. 

For more about the Holy Trinity, and also the founding Swamis of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, please mouse over their names below:

Sri Ramakrishna    Sri Sarada Devi     Swami Vivekananda  

Swami Nischalananda  Swami Shivapadananda 

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - read online

Reference websites - please mouse over the name and click to connect:

Ramakrishna Math and Mission    Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa    Ramakrishna Dham