Swami Shivapadananda

The eight elements of which we’re comprised

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

619

[pictured: Depiction of Lord Krishna with the Gopis]

   

Whatever the guru's desires are, the guru himself will reach where he wants to go. The most powerful thing is the guru's mantra - and he has given it to you.

If I stole five million rand and I gave two million rand to charity, and if you came to know that I am a rogue, do you think the money that I have already given to charity would lose its value? It would never lose its value. Similarly the value of God's name is never lost and the man who recites his name will have love to God's lotus feet. Truth can even come from a person like Valmiki [a highwayman who became a Rishi, or Sage-Seer-Saint]. But it is you who are going to do the striving, not the guru.

In the Bhagavad Gita we read: Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect and egotism this is My nature divided eight-fold.

God's lower nature is divided into eight different divisions. In the Bhagavad Gita it is said: 'That which does not perish is God' - anything that perishes is not God. We see the Earth perish, we see the ego perish. Though these come from God they are not his real nature. It is his superimposition or his power which falls into the three qualities; sattvic, rajasic and tamasic. It is God's power; but it is not God in essence. You do not know Him in essence, you know his gross things.

[Lord Krishna says] This is the inferior prakriti, O mighty Arjuna. Note that thou art different from it, my higher nature, the very life element by which this world is upheld.

Take your body as an example. Why do you look after your body? It is to keep something inside it - life. So life is higher than body. That which gives life to the whole world, that which is the life of the whole world, is higher than the world itself.

This body is made of the five elements that we read about. You have fire in you. Feel your body; it is warm. Water? There is water in the body. Air? The breath is there. Ether or space? You have it. Earth is the excreta or the body itself. It is made of clay. But what is higher than the body? Life.

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.

Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Nischalananda Puri, Swami Shivapadananda

Click Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna to read online...

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