SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA
DAILY READINGS
From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji
562
Pictured: The commemorative murthi of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi at Mayer Ghat - the bathing steps - where Mother used to take her bath in the river Ganga.]
When the disciple [chela] of the great singer Tansen sang to the king, the king would listen attentively. But he found something lacking in it. The king called the disciple and asked him: 'How is it that when your guru, Tansen, sings I am naturally transported into another world? My mind becomes calm, my inner and outer vision becomes clear, I even see that this whole world is in the palm of my hand. But when you sing, I do not get that feeling. How is that?' Do you know what the chela said? 'The only difference between me and my guru is that I sing to the worldly king, and he sings to the Universal King. He sings to God and I sing to man.'
Do incidents like this not affect your heart and mind? Is it a fable, a story to waste your time? Have we got better things to do? Can we not try this out for ourselves? When you are singing in satsang [spiritual, religious or prayer service] , as long as your mind does not become more subtle with the tune, know that there is something wrong either with the singer or with you. You are not singing to the King of Kings, you are singing to the worldly king.
Spoken by Swamiji at a Yoga Camp which was held away from the Ashram [monastery, hermitage]:
Today we have met on this ground where many people have walked with many thoughts. But there is a challenge: the challenge of dispersing thoughts that bring doubts into our minds; a challenge to bring light where there is darkness and make a shrine of a place that is not normally used for spiritual things.
The idea for these camps was brought from India by Gurudev [Swami Nischalananda Puri - Swamiji's Guru] and it has the authority of Sri Ramakrishna. Master [Sri Ramakrishna] said that a man of the world should not leave his worldly duties but once in a while he should go away in solitude for a month, six months, or at least three days. He said, 'If, for three days and nights you cry for God and God alone, God must reveal Himself to you, for He is not the imagination or the hallucination of a madman.'
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.
