Swami Shivapadananda

Swami Shivapadananda on choosing a relationship with God

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

Day 553

[Pictured: The first floor inside balcony of Udbodhan House, where Sri Sarada Devi the Holy Mother lived, following the mahasamadhi of Sri Ramakrishna]

   

There are different ways to worship the same God. If you give him a human form, you must treat Him as a human being though He is more mighty and more loving than you are. Because you have depicted God and understood Him in a human form, you must have a relationship with Him. You must relate to Him in a particular way. There are nine different relationships that you can have, though this was later condensed into six main ones.

These relationships are:

'I am the son and He is the Father,' as was Jesus' relationship with the Lord. [Or I am the child, She is the Mother]

'I am the mother and He is my Child,' as with Kausalya and Sri Rama.

'He is my Beloved, I love Him and He loves me,' as with Sri Radha and Sri Krishna.

'He is my Husband and I am his wife,' as with Mother Sita and Sri Rama.

'I am the servant and He is the Master,' as with Hanumanji and Sri Rama.

'He is my friend and I am his friend,' as with Arjuna and Sri Krishna.

So, you must choose one of these relationships and each day you have to make it stronger. Treat Him with sincerity, with love. Then, it is possible to pray for yourself and for others. Somebody asked me if one can pray for someone else. I said, 'Yes, it is possible. If He is a living God He must listen to your prayers and therefore you can pray for someone else.' Sri Ramakrishna prayed for the devotees, Sri Sarada Devi prayed for Her spiritual sons and Jesus the Christ prayed for the universe.

Ask God for anything you like and He will give it to you, provided you ask with faith and sincerity. If you rely on Him completely, if you surrender to Him, He must give it to you otherwise He is not a living God. But the highest thing to ask God for (and all the scriptures say this) is Divine Knowledge, knowledge of the Self, and Divine Love, to love Him completely and sincerely, this is bhakti [divine love or devotion]. Ask Him for liberation from small finite things, that you may leave all that, and love Him in all, because He is the Eternal Being.

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.

   

 

 

Swami Shivapadananda on the all-embracing nature of the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

Day 539

   

Swamiji continues speaking on Holy Mother [Sri Sarada Devi]

Early one morning Sri Sarada Devi had had a bath and was combing her hair on the roof of the house where she stayed. The hair was so beautiful. It was long, long, hair and she was untangling it with a comb. It seemed as if this very hair had come to sweep the ground for her bhaktas [devotees]. On a nearby building Girish [Chandra Ghosh, father of Bengali theatre] happened to come up the stairs and caught a glimpse of the blinding beauty of the Holy Mother. His heart and eyes were dazzled and he thought to himself, 'How can I see that beauty? How can I see the Holy Mother? I am not worthy.' So he put his head down and went away. Later the same Holy Mother brought him so near that, after purifying him, he served her personally.

Can you take these qualities and make them your very own? As long as you do not, so long are you guilty of not practising that which is already given and that which is already yours. Remember, any action of the Holy Mother's that you may read about is a 'speaking scripture'. It is speaking to us now, it is not sleeping like other scriptures. It is walking on the face of the Earth in the form of books, in the form of bhaktas.

The people who practise the Holy Mother's teachings forgive everybody. She Herself said, 'I am the Mother of the virtuous and I am the Mother of the sinner.' Go and read the Devi Mahatmyam or any other scripture and find one place where previous avatars[Incarnations] of the Divine Mother have said, 'I am the Mother of the sinners.' It is declared in the scripture: 'Whenever adharma [unrighteousness] comes in the form of evil people I come to destroy them and to uplift dharma.' But here Sri Sarada Devi did not say, 'I have come to destroy them,' she said, 'I will cleanse them and make them my very own. I am the Mother of the pure, I am the Mother of the virtuous and yet I am the Mother of the demon, I am the Mother of the sinner.'

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.

 

Swami Shivapadananda on Ekalavya’s example

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Selected from Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji.

Day 476

   

The story of Ekalavya continued

Imagine if God came to you and asked you, "What do you really want?" You would say, "God I want to realise You." What if, just as God said, "Here you are, take it," your guru came and said, "I want guru dakshina, I want to make you ignorant?" Think about it. You would say, "No, no, no, I want God-realisation that is why I did all this hard work." Do you see the point?

But Ekalavya was blissful that his guru's grace was on him. What is merely shooting an arrow? He had shot Arjuna's heart through [Arjuna was jealous of his archery skill] , he had shot his guru's heart through [with love and obedience]. He still reigns supreme - more supreme even than Arjuna, his gurubhai [fellow-disiciple of the same Guru].

This is why I say that God can teach you even through nature. You do not have to turn to a guru if you have intense yearning for God. But you do not have this intense yearning so you have to learn how to increase it. This is where satsang [company of the holy] comes in and for satsang your guru is the best. You may know five thousand realised souls but the best satsang is still your guru.

Sri Ramakrishna cried and cried to God and had the realisation of the Divine Mother. She Herself became the first guru of Sri Ramakrishna. She taught him many things, even to learning about other religions and proving that they also are paths to God, that all religions are true, that all religions will take you to the Supreme Goal.

However all religions are not the same. That is what Swami Vivekananda learned. When he was in America he said that religions are like rivers that start high up in the mountains and, flowing crooked or straight, sooner or later enter the ocean called God. He said 'rivers', he did not say 'the same river'. Look at the subtlety of that. Here, Swami Vivekananda was the Rishi [Sage-Saint]. If you want to understand Sri Ramakrishna I beg you to study Swami Vivekananda's life and through Swami Vivekananda's eyes, you will see what Sri Ramakrishna is.

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: Ramakrishna Math & Mission, Ramakrishna Centre of Southern Africa, Ramakrishna Dham

Swami Shivapadananda on motiveless love for God

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Selected from Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji.

Day 460

 

Swamiji speaking about Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu:

When God's name is taken sincerely it brings about motiveless love. We read that when Chaitanya sang the Maha Mantra [literally: great mantra] even the most learned, dry intellectuals would cry and weep and roll on the ground.

People asked these learned men why they were crying and rolling about on the ground, they just said, "We don't know. We get caught in a sort of magnetic field. We don't know why we cry, we don't know why we call on God." The motiveless, pure heart of Chaitanya and his disciples caught hold of those who were not even concentrating on God - they did not even believe in Sri Krishna. Even the saivites [Shiva worshippers] and the shaktas [Divine Mother worshippers] became affected by this magnetic, pure, motiveless love for the Supreme Being - God.

Another great thing Chaitanya did was he actually showed the area in which Sri Krishna was born and performed the rasa lila. Now some people, especially the dualists, will argue that Chaitanya was not God. That may be so but God's Spirit was inside him. If the devil can get into you, why can't God get into you? When God gets into a body, that body and God are identical. If you leave a piece of iron in the fire for some time and then take it out, the iron itself will burn you. The iron becomes fire and the fire becomes iron. Incarnations like Chaitanya were in the fire of Brahman, and the knower of Brahman becomes Brahman. In that way, up to this day, Chaitanya's Maha Mantra goes on.

There are many speculations on why he gave the maha mantra as:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare,

While Lord Brahma gave it as:

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare,

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare.

Either way God's name is always most powerful. What does it matter whether you say Krishna first or Rama first so long as you realise It? If Valmiki the great thief, the man with no love or devotion, could realise God by saying Mara Mara Mara [Rama in reverse] then it does not matter if we say Rama first or Krishna first. We must also remember that Chaitanya's Ishta Devata was Sri Krishna and therefore he repeated Hare Krishna first.

 

Swami Shivapadananda on the senses and sadhana

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Selected from Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji.

Day 456

   

Now and then bhakti [devotion] will be weak, and now and then it'll be strong. But when you become like the gopis [Lord Krishna's cowherd devotees] – on hearing just one call of the flute you leave everything and run – that is parama-prema supreme devotion and ecstatic love of god]. It is prema when we hear God's voice calling us.

We have bhakti for God all right, we love God all right, but we don't love Him so intensely that we can leave everything behind and run to Him.

Devotee: Why did Ravana have ten heads?

Swamiji: It has a symbolic meaning - the ten senses. Sri Rama had one head so all the senses were converged in truth, and that truth is one head. Truth always beats that which is untruth.

If one of your senses is out of control, you know how it runs a riot in your life. But can you imagine what your position would be if all ten senses are out of control?

Here it means the ten senses were not under Ravana's control - though sometimes one was active or two were active, sometimes all were active.

Devotee: When we are too tired to do our evening sadhana [spiritual practice], what should we do?

Swamiji: Now this is a very futile question. First of all you say, "when you are too tired." How can you measure tiredness? If you can go to the lobby, if you can go to the table to eat food, if you've got time to have a few glances at the TV, then are you tired? You are not tired. But you want to leave your sadhana and give preference to something else which appears to be more important.

But the most important thing is your sadhana. You must do your sadhana to the fullest.

If you are sick or if a doctor's patient is dying or if somebody is dying on the road then you have the right to prostrate to the Lord and say, "Lord, you are in that person and you would run to his aid if you were here. Lord whatever little sadhana I did may he get the merit of that instead of me."

No compromise. You must adopt the attitude of non-compromise. A real sadhaka [spiritual aspirant, practitioner] is he who has the attitude of non-compromise with anything except God Himself.

 

Swami Shivapadananda on the power of devotion

 

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Taken from Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.

Day 373

 

Practise mouna [mind and speech silence]. Just sit there but do not let evil thoughts come in. Keep repeating God’s name.

 

Devotion is all you need. When Rama was in the forest, the Rishis prepared a great feast for him. But he went to the home of an outcaste woman, who tasted each fruit before she gave it to him. The priests complained and said her love was motivated. But Rama said that she was thinking only of him.

 

After Durga [symbolic form pictured above], the Divine Mother had killed Chand and Mund [two demons] everyone went to worship her. But one outcaste man was not allowed to go near her. So he sang a song:

Yes, yes, go to her, prostrate to her, all you people, go.

But if I were a Brahmin, I would offer sacrifice for you Ma.

Go all you people, go. If I were a gardener, I would offer her a garland. Go all you people, go . . . .

He went on like this and in the end she could not stand to hear her child crying like that. So she got off her tiger and came running to him and embraced him. The heart is captured this way too. It cannot get away. Where Krishna is, Radha is not always there. But where Radha is, Krishna is always there.

 

You mistake the body for That, so you only see That when you see this (i.e. Swamiji’s body). But That is present in every tree, every leaf, every stone, every person, and in the photo too. Use your imagination and see That everywhere.

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Swami Shivapadananda on the power of devotion

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Taken from Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.

Day 325

 

To become sattvic [harmonious, balanced, above pairs of opposites] you must practise meditation and concentration, keep the company of the holy and eat sattvic food. Be humbler than a blade of grass. See God in him, in me, in all.

Kill jealousy with God’s name. All tests are to prove the guru’s grace. When the guru wants to attract you, he will. And when he wants to distract you, he will. We need a guru to teach us humility. Pride leads to suffering and pride is why we are suffering now, today, tomorrow and every day.

God-realisation is a struggle because the ego shuts us in. ‘I do this’ is the barrier. Rather pray: ‘Not I Lord, but Thou, Thou, Thou.’ Think it, feel it, live it. When men revile you, they do you good and hurt themselves only. To him who has nothing, God comes and cuts the bonds of worldly affection.

Go beyond laziness. Never look back. Give all to God, think only of Him.

Learn to feel yourself in others. Give the burden of all deeds to God. When man has tried his hardest and failed, God takes over. Use only God’s strength. Give up desires.

Two mountains will never meet, but one day I will meet you. Ask the question: Who am I? Do not answer. Stop and watch. You will see the ego vanish.

Bhakti [devotion] gives us a human relationship with God. It directs our whole being to God. First worship the guru with utter devotion, and then see the guru in everyone. We have to have purity, sincerity and divine devotion, coming from the heart, mind and senses. Krishna says, ‘At all times think only of Me and fight. Without doubt thou shalt [you will] come to Me.’

 Be hurt by others, but never hurt others yourself.

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Swami Shivapadananda on security of the Divine Mother

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Taken from Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.

Day 295

Near the mother the child feels security, happiness, contentment. So must we feel, near the Divine Mother.

Always imagine you are in her lap. All the time you must be aware.

If I lose this awareness for one second, I cry out, ‘Ma, Ma, Ma.’ Be in Her lap every second, but watch the game she plays. She never tires of all these worldly games. Only when she is tired of the game will she let you sleep.

I like to play games too, whatever game you choose. If you want to go towards God, OK, we will go together.

Do you want to be happy or do you want to make others happy? If you want to make others happy, then you must feel the pain yourself. Say to [the Divine] Mother, ‘Give me the pain.’ Then the heart may be full of suffering; but you must still show the world a happy face. The love of God is joy.

‘Let me only cling to Thy feet Ma, let me worship Thee with songs, stories, glories, worship, rituals, scriptures.’ Then only, comes meditation - especially for householders.

In wanting this only, there is peace.

With the pairs of opposites, for example likes and dislikes, if you are high enough it is easy to see both and to leave both. If you are not high, one or the other will get you.

See Mother in the good and the bad, in every form.

If God is sitting in front of you, how can you sing? Only by forgetting Him outside and remembering Him internally.

If you do not unite in life you will not unite in death.

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Swami Shivapadananda on unfolding divine love

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Taken from Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.

Day 293

What is bhakti [devotion, divine love]? It is yearning for God. It is the feeling that only one thing is worthwhile: striving God-wards. The attainment itself must be left to God’s grace. All our devotion is a mere shadow, there is no substance.

Devotion is to fill the heart and mind and intellect with God thought, with God-love, with God-Consciousness, so that there is no room for anything else.

But the mind is as capricious as a child. One day it cares for japa, the next day only for singing and dancing. So we must play with our minds - just as we try to divert a child - with a bit of this and a bit of that. If we but put God-thought in the mind, God-feeling, we will be full of love; and before we know what has happened, love will be our entire being. It will be a flame consuming all the dross [impurities] that we have accumulated for endless ages. Then the progress will be fast, for the flame burns all, ‘till purity alone remains.

Purity in our hearts and minds is what reflects the light, the nature of God. Then only do we see God, for we are God. Now we see God only through these darkened glasses. But one day, with Master’s [Sri Ramakrishna’s] Divine Grace, we will take off the glasses and see clearly, truly, full of love and light, and see that which we think was separation, is only union of the [higher] Self with all. 

We will become our true nature, we will love all, serve all. We will show by our faces that we know Him. We should show by our fragrance that we share in Him. We should show by our voices that we are praising Him. We should show by out thoughts that we are at peace with Him. We should show by our words that we are pure and true. We should show by our deeds that we are pure love.

Then we shall be integrated, then we shall know the word ‘bhakti.’ Then we shall shine with God’s great light and all will know that: ‘I am God’; that bhakta [devotee] is my only name, my only form; that I have merged with Him.

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Swami Shivapadananda on serving God in others

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Taken from Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.

Day 196

[At Christmas one year Swamiji said:]

Nearly two thousand years ago, a humble person [Jesus Christ] was born in a stable among the sheep. This was a simple birth and a humble beginning, but the soul was, and is, so high - higher than any plane on Earth. What is your name and fame compared to that?

Yet the great ones did not speak of themselves as great, but as the servant of the servant of the servant of God. “Lord, thou traceth thy birth to a humble stable of a donkey that carries the burdens of men.” He carried the karma of those who came to him. He carries the karma and projects it into the future - of dharma.

In the Bible it says God made us in His image - that is love, mercy, sacrifice and truthfulness. That is the message of God. Mould your mind, your thought, into the image of God. Then you can say, “I am perfect even as my Father in heaven is perfect.”

Sri Ramakrishna said he was Mother Kali. The great ones go beyond caste, colour and creed. Even stones and grass yearn for the touch of their feet. What is the message? God dwells right in your heart - that means He is the source of the source of the body - that means the heart.

Jesus Christ said, "The Kingdom of God is within you."He exhorts [urges] us to serve man. Jesus Christ did not sit in one place, not like the selfish yogi who sits in a cave. No. He went from place to place - to save people – he taught them. He said, “Anything that is done to the least of these [mine] is done to me.”Jesus Christ said, “The Kingdom of God  is within you." And Swami Vivekananda said, “Service of man is service [and worship] of God.”

Jesus went out to meet the poor and miserable people. Did not Jesus love children? He said, “’Till you become as little children, ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” A child does not bear a grudge - every impurity is flushed out because of its love for its father and mother.