Swami Shivapadananda

Swami Shivapadananda on letting go of ritual worship

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

589

   

Sri Ramakrishna said that we must not pay too much attention to ritual. He said, 'You must remove the tail and the head.' This does not mean that you should scoff at orthodox worship. He said that if you want to teach it, teach it to a particular person because there are people in this world who will be able to take to it. The majority of people have to practise sadhana [spiritual practise] according to Narada's bhakti yoga, but Master [Sri Ramakrishna] said, 'These days I do not worry about anything I only give the people the Gayatri.'

Now when you check the ritual book you will understand why He said, remove the tail and head. There we find that the Gayatri has a very long ritual where you must hold your nose and hold your toes, face this side and face that side, pour water in the north, pour water in the south, and so on. That is why he said, 'I do not worry about all that, I give them the essential part.'

Master said, 'Ritual worship comes to an end when your eyes are full of tears and when your hair stands on end.' This means you are not doing it with I-consciousness; the 'I' automatically drops off; you cannot do anything further. It itself has brought ritual worship to an end because the fruit of that ritual worship is devotion and love. And on getting the love are you still going to go on doing the ritual worship?

If you are in the habit of reciting the full Gayatri mantra there will come a time when, just by saying Om, you will get the same feeling that you get when you recite the whole Gayatri. When this happens you will not be able to recite the other syllables any longer. The next stage is when, just by thinking about Om, or by uttering Om, you lose all outward consciousness and get into samadhi.

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, over 100 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. Click HERE for the second website on Swamiji's life and teachings.

Reference websites (please mouse-over the name to connect): Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Ramakrishna Centre of SA, Ramakrishna Centre of Southern Africa, Ramakrishna Dham, Swami Shivapadananda 2

 

Swami Shivapadananda on Japa

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

588

   

We Ramakrishna-ites get great happiness by doing the repetition of God's name with our fingers. One of the reasons is that I do not have to carry anything with me. Another is if I forget my [japa] mala somewhere I will not have to worry. I only have to make sure my hands are clean.

When you are using your fingers for japa the fingers must not be apart for then all your prana [life-force] is wasted, your japa comes to naught, your prana is lost and it does not do you good.

Another good reason we like to use our fingers is that there is no showing off with the beads. Swami Adbhutananda [a direct monastic disciple of Sri Ramakrishna] said, 'We do not put on beads. We've got no rudraksha mala. [pictured] We do not make miracles.' Be as simple as possible.

Devotee: Is there anything wrong in using a mala?

Swamiji: There is nothing wrong. But your beads must not be used to glorify your body, like an ornament. They must not be exposed, your beads should be hidden.     

At the time of initiation [into spiritual life], if I said to you, 'Meditate on this as your guru' then that becomes your guru. And what is this outside one [i.e. himself]? A representative of that inner one. Please do not get confused because though you are looking at me as the same, I am not the same at all times.

In The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna we read how Master [Sri Ramakrishna] got in samadhi. Now do not treat this word samadhi just as an ordinary thing. We seem to make light of it. Samadhi is God in union with a particular aspect of God, or God in union with the Self. When you are in union with a particular deity it is savikalpa [with form] samadhi. When you are in union with the Self it is nirvikalpa [formless] samadhi. So when we read his words, it is God speaking through Master, it is someone else speaking from behind him or through him.

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, over 100 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. Click HERE for the second website on Swamiji's life and teachings.

Reference websites (please mouse-over the name to connect): Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Ramakrishna Centre of SA, Ramakrishna Centre of Southern Africa, Ramakrishna Dham, Swami Shivapadananda 2

 

Swami Shivapadananda on how our true nature shows through

 

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

587

[The three Gunas are Rajas at one end of the continuum with Tamas at the other and Sattva at the balance point between them]

   

A rajasic person is a very good person provided that he directs that rajasic temperament towards God, towards sattva. Hanumanji [the great devotee of Lord Rama] for instance has all the qualities but the quality he manifests most is his rajasic quality. He always wants to serve Lord Rama.

Some people are rajasic by nature. Who but a rajasic person would want to play rugby? You can actually identify them by the 'toys' they play with.

If I gave someone a hard clout, [blow] (whether it was his fault or not), who are the people that, on seeing this, would become tearful? Who would feel that sorrowful? Those people who are more sattvic inclined.

There are other people who would say, 'Good, let him have it. Let him get it. He will come right.' They are rajasic people. Others would lazily say, 'You shouldn't hit him, let him do what he feels like.' They are tamasic people.

If your God is Infinite, if your God is Omnipresent, Omniscient and Omnipotent, then He is God. Without these qualities he is a demigod. People have worshipped stone symbols believing them to be Lord Shiva and they have had the highest realisation of God. The thread here is Omnipresence.

Today people worship the same Mother Kali that Sri Ramakrishna worshipped but they only say, 'Cure my sickness, cure my sickness.' They think that Mother Kali can only cure illnesses. So they only get that - even though she could give them God-realisation.

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, over 100 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. Click HERE for the second website on Swamiji's life and teachings.

Reference websites (please mouse-over the name to connect): Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Ramakrishna Centre of SA, Ramakrishna Centre of Southern Africa, Ramakrishna Dham, Swami Shivapadananda 2

 

Swami Shivapadananda on following your own Dharma

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

586

[Pictured: His Holiness Swami Shivapadananda Puri 1938-1994)

Today is the full moon holy day of Guru Purnima 2009

   

Somebody came to the Ashram [monastery] and saw me scolding a person. He said to me, 'So this is how a Swami behaves?' I said, 'Yes, this Swami behaves like this. Go next-door otherwise, he will behave otherwise.' [laughter] It is obvious that what I can see he cannot see; and he will behave from where he is.

Karma is a very complicated matter. It is so intermingled. You are creating new karmas and yet you are paying for old karmas. Only if you are prepared to give up your life will you stick to dharma [your path/righteousness]. If you are not prepared to give up your life then you will behave from a relative point of view.

Let us say a holy man is uplifting somebody and that person kills him. The holy man was behaving from a dharmic point of view and he would say, 'Regardless of what he does, my duty is to give him the help I was giving him.' He will not blame God. But you, as a neighbour, will blame God. You may say, 'What kind of God is this? He was doing a good thing and that man killed him.' You have to behave from where you are.

Devotee: If one does not know if one is a karma yogi, a bhakti yogi or a jnana yogi, what is one to do?

Swamiji: Serve your mother and father with the best of your ability. From there it will manifest.

Devotee: Is there anything wrong with being a jnana yogi?

Swamiji: No. There is nothing wrong in that. The only thing is you may not do it to the perfection that is needed. Sri Krishna said, 'Your dharma, though done imperfectly, is better than doing the dharma of other people.' Why? Because if you do other people's dharma it will cloud your brains and it will throw you into more confusion. Whereas if you are doing your dharma, even if you did not do it perfectly, there will be less confusion.

Devotee: How is one to know what one's own dharma is if one does not really have an affinity for any one of the yogas?

Swamiji: This is what I said: Your first dharma is to your mother and father and from there onwards it will unfold. Therefore, wherever you are, serve them to the best of your ability.

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, over 100 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. Click HERE for the second website on Swamiji's life and teachings.

Reference websites (please mouse-over the name to connect): Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Ramakrishna Centre of SA, Ramakrishna Centre of Southern Africa, Ramakrishna Dham, Swami Shivapadananda 2

Swami Shivapadananda on karma

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

585

   

The Divine Mother and Sri Krishna are not two different things. It is One called by various names. Here She is known as male, there She is known as female.

Devotee: All this depends on the attitude of the mind?

Swamiji: Yes, it is definitely the attitude of the mind. Nothing else. If you see good things, you are happy. If you see bad things you are depressed.

Devotee: Swamiji was talking about God coming in different forms . . .

Swamiji: I am not saying this. The Lord is saying it Himself in the Bhagavad Gita. [laughter]

Devotee: When we look at the situation in this country today . . .

Swamiji: There is individual karma, there is group karma, there is national karma and there is international karma. We are caught in one of these karmas.

Devotee: Somebody came to our house the other day and begged for water. My wife's response, due to a recent incident in the neighbourhood, was to tell that person, 'No. If you do not go away I'll call the police.' How do you respond to a situation where . . . ?

Swamiji: She responded from where she was. They responded from where they were. You must respond from where you are. There is not one straight-forward pattern of response. Each one will respond from where he or she is. Given the same incident each one will respond differently. It may have been dharmic to say to him, 'Go away.'

Devotee: That poor fellow may have only wanted water for his car.

Swamiji: It is all right. She acted from where she was. Do not worry about her. M.Y.O.B. Mind your own business. [laughter]

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, over 100 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. Click HERE for the second website on Swamiji's life and teachings.

Reference websites (please mouse-over the name to connect): Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Ramakrishna Centre of SA, Ramakrishna Centre of Southern Africa, Ramakrishna Dham, Swami Shivapadananda 2

 

Swami Shivapadananda on ‘God is one’

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

584

   

Some people try to divide the Supreme Being in their minds. Just like an axiom in maths. For instance they may say, 'I'll go to Lord Vishnu only because he can preserve. I'll go to Lord Brahma only because he can create. And I'll go to Lord Shiva because he can destroy.'

Supposing a piece of iron is full of rust. If I go to Lord Vishnu he will preserve that rust because he is the preserver god. If I go to Lord Brahma he will create more rust because he is the creator god. But when I go to Lord Shiva he will destroy that rust.

That is a way to understand it. But in reality it is One God who has become three, simultaneously not separately. In the body the cells are being created, at the same time the cells are being destroyed, and at the same time the cells are being sustained or preserved. At the same time everything is happening.

God has become the whole creation so He must be in the demons as well.

Devotee: Swamiji, why should God listen to us if we want to ask Him to do negative things, destroying somebody for instance?

Swamiji: Sri Krishna says, 'You have a free will, O Arjuna, if you so desire you can choose now. I gave you the dharmic [righteous] things and the adharmic [unrighteous] things. If you want to do with my power what you want to do, you have the rights to do it. But the fruit of that is yours too, it is not mine.'

Devotee: In the scriptures it says various people asked God to destroy their enemies. Should our prayer ask such things?

Swamiji: It must ask that. It just has to ask for it. But your "enemies" will be according to your evolution. If you are lowly evolved you will think that the man next-door is your enemy. If you are highly evolved you know your senses are your enemy. Sri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, 'The unruly senses are your enemy.'

Devotee: So, if I want to get rid of an enemy like the senses, must I go ahead with it?

Swamiji: Yes, yes. Because it hides God from 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, over 100 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. Click HERE for the second website on Swamiji's life and teachings.

Reference websites (please mouse-over the name to connect): Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Ramakrishna Centre of SA, Ramakrishna Centre of Southern Africa, Ramakrishna Dham, Swami Shivapadananda 2

 

Swami Shivapadananda on the force of Nature

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

583

   

[Reading from the Bhagavad Gita continued]

Has this been heard by you, O Partha, with an attentive mind? Has your delusion born of ignorance been destroyed?

Arjuna said, 'My delusion is destroyed. I have regained my memory through your grace.'

Swamiji: What is wrong with us? Our memory is weak. Here Arjuna says, 'I have regained my memory.'

Arjuna said, 'I am firm and free from doubt. I will act according to your words.'

Swamiji: Once he has said this he will not deviate. In chapter three of the [Bhagavad] Gita the Lord says, 'Even the wise propelled by their desires will be forced to do this.' A lot of people try to do things against their nature but their nature forces them to act accordingly - even wise men. For example the wise man may say, 'I won't teach these people, I'll keep everything to myself;' but his nature will force him to talk about wisdom.

 

So a sannyasi is a sannyasi not because he is a very good man or a lovely man. No. His nature is forcing him to be a sannyasi. An evil man cannot help himself, because his nature forces him to be evil. Surrender to God and your nature will change.

You may ask, 'Unless nature forces me why should I do sadhana [spiritual practice]?' No. It is not like that. You must take refuge at God's feet.

If I worship Mother Saraswati and if I think she can only give me Vidya [divine knowledge]- not money, not motor cars, nor strength - then she becomes a demigod, because I am putting limitations on her. Sri Krishna said, 'As you desire so I will fulfill. It is I who am seated in the hearts of these deities.'

Question: So we control God, Swamiji?

Swamiji: You control your nature and God Itself will fulfill it. You do not control God you control your nature.

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, over 100 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. Click HERE for the second website on Swamiji's life and teachings.

Reference websites (please mouse-over the name to connect): Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Ramakrishna Centre of SA, Ramakrishna Centre of Southern Africa, Ramakrishna Dham, Swami Shivapadananda 2

 

Swami Shivapadananda on God’s promises

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

582

   

[Reading from the Bhagavad Gita continued]

[Lord Krishna says] Fix your mind on Me. Be devoted to Me. Worship Me. (Swamiji: The Self that is.) Prostrate before Me. So shall you come to Me. This is My pledge to you. For you are dear to Me.

Swamiji: This is his promise. His promise is not like yours. You say, 'This fire is my witness, I am getting married to you,' but after five years you say, 'All right, my pledge is off. I love you but I have to divorce you.' [laughter]

Having abandoned all duty take refuge in Me alone. I shall liberate you from all sins. Grieve not.

Swamiji: He is saying, 'If you take refuge in Me, I'll do everything for you. You do not have to do anything, just take refuge in Me.'

This is never to be spoken by you to one who is devoid of austerities, nor to one who is not devoted, nor to one who does not do service, or desires not to listen, nor to one who speaks ill of Me.

Swamiji: This shows that Hinduism does not force its religion down other people's throats. He says, 'Those people who do not want to listen to it, let them carry on.' Do not try to force it down their throat. The Lord Himself says that. He says, 'If you do not believe in Me, do not talk about Me because it will only agitate your mind.'

He who with supreme devotion to Me would teach this immensely profound philosophy to My devotees shall doubtless come to Me alone.

Swamiji: Yes. If you teach it to those people who are devoted to the Lord, then the teacher himself will come to the Lord as well as those people who practise it.

Nor is there any among men who renders dearer service to Me than he. Nor shall there be another on Earth dearer to Me than he [who teaches this].

Swamiji: See how easy it is. If you want God-realisation then go and preach his word, preach it sincerely and He will give you whatever you need. But He also tells you where you must preach it. He did not say, 'Stand on West Street corner [a street in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa] and shout it out'.

And he who will study this sacred dialogue of ours, by him shall I have been worshipped by the sacrifice of knowledge (jnana yajna). Such is My conviction.

Swamiji: Do you see? There is not one kind of worship - i.e. only, with camphor, coconut and so on. By this teaching it becomes jnana yoga.

And the man who merely hears this full of faith and free from malice, even he, liberated from evil, shall attain the sacred regions of the righteous.

Swamiji: We must hear this scripture with faith. But we are not listening to it with faith and therefore we do not even believe that it could be true.

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, over 100 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. Click HERE for the second website on Swamiji's life and teachings.

Reference websites (please mouse-over the name to connect): Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Ramakrishna Centre of SA, Ramakrishna Centre of Southern Africa, Ramakrishna Dham, Swami Shivapadananda 2

   

 

Swami Shivapadananda on Lord Krishna’s teaching

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

581

   

[Swamiji Reads from the Bhagavad Gita]

Sri Krishna to Arjuna: Bound by your own karma, born of your own nature, that which from delusion you wish not to do, even that you shall do, helplessly, against your will, O son of Kunthi.

Swamiji: 'Against your will' you will have to do it, because your nature will make you do it. Fire will say, 'I do not want to burn,' but fire will be forced to burn.

The Lord dwells in the hearts of all beings, O Arjuna, and by his maya causes all beings to revolve as if mounted on a machine.

Swamiji: In other words: karma itself becomes the Lord's hands and legs. God Himself does not burn you; but if you hold fire, which was made by God, it will burn you.

Seek refuge in Him alone with all your heart. By his grace you will gain supreme peace and the eternal abode. Thus has wisdom, more profound than all profundities, been declared to you by Me. Reflect upon it fully and act as you choose.

Swamiji: In other words what the Lord is saying is, 'Go and reflect on it and if it makes sense then choose whichever course you like and do it.' If you want to bind yourself further to delusion, go ahead. But if you feel that the Lord is right, and that He knows better than you, then do what He says.

Listen again to My supreme word, the profoundest of all. You are beloved of Me therefore I shall tell you what is for your good.

Swamiji: Why is He telling us this? Why has God brought these scriptures to us? Because He loves us. We are his beloved. He did not just give the scripture to us because He wants to be a big shot. He loves us. He is part of it. He does not want us to suffer in ignorance, unknowingly. In reality you are born in joy, you live in joy and you pass on in joy. That is what the Upanishad says. But what is it in between that makes us feel that we are not living in bliss? That is what Sri Krishna is saying here: 'Look, I love you. You are still in bliss. Do it this way and then you will come to know.'

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, over 100 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. Click HERE for the second website on Swamiji's life and teachings.

Reference websites (please mouse-over the name to connect): Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Ramakrishna Centre of SA, Ramakrishna Centre of Southern Africa, Ramakrishna Dham, Swami Shivapadananda 2

 

Swami Shivapadananda on faith in Sri Ramakrishna’s words

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

580

Pictured: Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886)

   

[Swamiji reads from a book on Latu Maharaj – later Swami Adbhutananda, a monastic disciple of Sri Ramakrishna]

In 1893 Latu Maharaj came to know of Swami Vivekananda's departure for America. He said about it later, 'I heard it from the lips of Holy Mother [Sri Sarada Devi] that brother Loren [Latu appeared to have an unusual speech pattern - and this is now he pronouned 'Naren' - which was the short form of Swami Vivekananda's pre-monastic name] had left for America. I felt a great longing to hear about him. After the Master [Sri Ramakrishna] passed away some were saying, 'What nonsense is this about Narendra having such a bright future?' But I never believed in their words. I would tell them to their faces, 'What the Master has said will come true to the last syllable. Loren will one day surpass us all. You will live to see it. How little faith you have in the words of the Master. Can his words be anything but true? '

Swamiji: Do you see how much faith he had in Master's words? You must remember, when you read The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, that whatever is said there, it is his word. You should have the same faith that Latu Maharaj had at that particular time.

[Latu Maharaj goes on] 'Then at long last when Swami Vivekananda's activities in America were published in the newspapers, oh, how can I describe my joy?'

One day Surendra Babu [a disciple of the Master] felt piqued at the Master and said to him, 'Why should you go to beg money of others in order to meet the expenses of this place? I should have been informed.' The Master consoled him saying, 'Are you not giving enough already? You are our reserve stock.' Surendra went downstairs. The Master sent Kedar [another disciple] after him to be sure that he was all right and to pacify him.

Swamiji: Here was a disciple of the Master, who was actually forcing him to take things from him, and who became angry when the Master did not accept those gifts. Usually one of two things happens: A disciple hides a gift and does not give it to the guru out of miserliness, or on the other hand if the guru refuses to take the gift he will get worried. The disciple may say, 'The guru did not accept it. Don't you think sin will come on me? Did I do anything wrong?' But neither of these two attitudes touched the disciple in question. He got angry.

Question: Should a person work for money?

Swamiji: Because money is part of artha [righteous wealth] you must work for it. But do not work as if it is 'my money'. It is God's prasad  [sacramental food or blessing] given to you. But you must make good use of it. Use it to uplift others, not to plunder others.

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, over 100 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. Click HERE for the second website on Swamiji's life and teachings.

Reference websites (please mouse-over the name to connect): Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Ramakrishna Centre of SA, Ramakrishna Centre of Southern Africa, Ramakrishna Dham, Swami Shivapadananda 2