[2nd President and Spiritual Head: the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]
[now a Centre of the international Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission]
DAILY READINGS
Selected from Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji.
Day 840
I always say after meditation, 'open your eyes now and then I say 'Look at this beautiful world. It is the grace of God given to man to reach god through His grace.' And some people laugh at that statement because they say, 'How can this world be the grace of God?' It is the grace of God. If you but recognise it one day. Supposing I'm supposed to come here. And you don't know me and I come here and say 'I'm Swami Premananda.' So you come and meet me, you prostrate and everything. But suddenly someone says, 'But he's Shivapadananda!' How will you feel then? Just like that, with this whole world, we're [erroneously] looking at something foreign. A signpost of God. But the day we come to know what this world is, whose power it is and we really know this world, then we will never hate this world. This very world will become a blessing to us. Not [as] maya [the divine power of illusion/delusion]. Maya is that which for us deludes our mind with a mysterious power. That is what has happened. That we are deluded. We don't know, in reality, what it is.
How to arrive at this [place of understanding]? In the Katha Upanishad, a beautiful Upanishad – in it they say that Nachiketa was sitting down with his father. His father was a great pandit (pundit) - a Brahmin – he was a great pandit and he decided 'I will do Vishwajit. Vishwajit yagna [sacrifice]. He will sacrifice in such a way that the yagna will bestow on him universal happiness. Vishwa – he will win the whole universe.
While the prayer was proceeding you know what he[the father] did? [Swamiji chuckles]….he was giving [sacrificing] all the old cows that could hardly walk. And the son [Nachiketa] all these days he had heard that you must have the faith in the prayer that you do. You must have faith in the words of the scriptures. So this little boy of five years of age had tremendous faith that whatever the scriptures say was right. But when he saw his father offering the almost dead cows, that didn't even have teeth to decently eat grass, he went to his father and said, Pitaji [father], 'Why are you offering these old cows?' At first his father ignored him and then again in the middle of the ceremony, Nachiketa said, 'Pitaji, why are you offering these? There are other [healthier] cows? No answer. The third time, 'Pitaji, but why are you offering these cows that are probably going to die [of natural causes] tomorrow? His father replied angrily, 'You don't understand, why don't you go to Yama, [death or hell]. Go to Yama [Hindu Lord of death]. Get away from here!'
The boy had so much faith in the scriptures because he was taught from an early age that the words of the scriptures can never be wrong. Side by side he was taught that the father and mother's words are [also] never wrong. [Swamiji chuckling] So when his father said, 'Go to Yama [death]', his response was 'Oh, my father is instructing me to do this.' He had so much faith in his father's words. 'Dad, you're saying I must go to hell [Yama]?' 'Yes', replied his irritated father. So Nachiketa said, 'All right, then I'm going to go to hell now.' The father got a shock. Therefore a guru [spiritual preceptor/teacher] never plays [meaninglessly] with the disciple. Whatever the guru says, he means it. [Swamiji chuckling heartily] Make no mistake about this. You [may] treat it one way, [but] it goes another. Whatever he [the guru] says, look [and read] between the lines, it's there. A guru will never joke [say something untrue or without meaning-intention]. If a guru jokes [not as in humour, though] then he can't be a guru. So when our gurus tell us something, we're very careful to read between the lines: what did he mean? There's a lesson hidden there.
Similarly the son had so much faith in the father's words, 'go to hell.' Nachiketa said, 'Now I must go to hell.' The father pleaded with him. In other words, he's virtually committing suicide. 'What? You're going to go to hell – death?' Anyhow, the faith Nachiketa had in him was so great that he had the power to discard his body because [in those days] small children were brought up in a religious [and therefore spiritually powerful] way. He discarded his body, and he went to Yama. He goes to death.
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.
For more about the Holy Trinity, and also the founding Swamis of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, please mouse over their names below:
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
Comments