[2nd President and Spiritual Head: the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]
[now a Centre of the international Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission]
DAILY READINGS
Transcribed from the recordings made by Mother Radha
Day 1047
You must know that you are the soul. So separate the body from the soul [Atman]. You must know that you are the soul. But you won't know what the soul is – you will be the soul. This is another important thing. How to do it? Keep thinking, "I am not the body. Surely I can't be the body." Do everything. For years I used to think, "ah the tongue is tasting, the eyes are looking…let them look." Straight away there was this separation. There's no ritual about it, no hawan [ritual fire sacrifice], no flowers, nothing. No adoration, no prostration…just separate yourself. Walk like a zombie – separate. Carry on, carry on, daily. This one will disappear.
But there is a danger in the period where you will become fearful. That is the period where you must watch. Because as you start separating your soul from your body there are subtle things [samskaras,impressions] in your past lives which your mind will find difficult to let go. Your mind will find it very difficult to let go. Sheer will – your Self must become the will. You'll say, "uh-uh, that's maya [God power of illusion/delusion], still." Keep doing that
Householders [lay devotees] can't do it. That's why if you tell the householders they look down upon the swamis [Hindu monks, renunciates]. They say, "the swamis look down on the householders". No, we worship them as God manifested. You know what…if he [the householder] starts saying, "I am not the body," how is he going to love [take care of] his wife? How's he going to love his children? How is he going to do it? So the best way for the householder is to say, "well, there's a God manifested, I am his servant." You don't say," I am not the body," in this case, you say, "that is the spirit".
There, the [Christian] Bible principles apply very well. "What you think, you become." If you think that is the spirit, naturally, the spirit level [stage] will be reached here. You see, that's the 'principle' response. Worship God with faith and if you're a householder, follow your dharma [spiritual and life path], worship God with all love, and serve his children. If you are his child, whose children are all the others?
There are three steps. God the person, God the cosmic and then God the Absolute [Brahman]. God the person, take one like Christ, Ramakrishna, Guru Govind [Singh] or any one – give it the highest attributes. Then you will find that no, not only this, it's the whole universe – it's energy – it's him. Above energy what is it? Above that we don't know. Because you melt [merge] into it. You won't know it. You can experience it. 'You won't know', means you won't know with your mind.
To me, it's like a man goes to take a dip [swim]. He starts to drown – he loses consciousness. Somehow someone pulls him out, revives him and he remembers, "hey I went there, I don't know how deep it was - and what depth you pulled me out from, I don't know." But he remembers how he was drowning. In this case, you will remember that consciousness but you can't express it. This is the difference. There that fellow doesn't remember but [back] here, he remembers but he can't express it, no matter what vocabulary he uses – he can't express it. But the only thing he can say about it, is "no, not that…not that." Then other people think you're mad because they don't know why you're saying, "not that". There is nothing to compare it to. What are you going to say? This world is only expressed in terms of comparison. That why we say it is 'relative'. THAT is not related – it's unrelated. I'm going to relate it to what? And in that state, you don't care what man calls you. Whether he calls you ignorant, knowledgeable, he may call you a liar, it doesn't matter. Nothing will trouble you. Because that poor fellow wants to understand it from his level but you can't take this thing to that level. The only way to do it, is that person has to come to this level.
Like when they asked Christ, "do you know what the truth is?" he said, "yes". They said, "what is the truth?" Then they said he was a fool - but he was already in samadhi [spiritual superconsciousness] – what is he going to tell them? It was like the nectar and he had become one.
So the householder must worship a deity. At the same time take it to universal level or meditate on the absolute….but he can't stay there all the time. Because it [his role] will pull him back. Child will pull him, wife will pull him and the husband [if it's the wife doing the practice] will pull her, relatives will pull. It may sound now as if no, it can't be like that. I can't think of him or me as a disciple. Because no sooner you think of disciple, it will pull you down. That's why they say, "Brahman, Brahman, Brahman". Myself, I stop this. When the bhakta [devotee] prostrates, he's prostrating to God. There's no one else to prostrate to. Somehow in dream, you realise you're dreaming. When you're prostrating you know you're not prostrating to that image in front of you, it's to that which is behind the form, which is your [higher] Self. That's the difference – nothing else. You mustn't imitate. One shouldn't think, "oh, that is higher, I must go with the higher". Take it step by?...step.
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, 150 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email [email protected] to order.
For more about the Holy Trinity, and also the founding Swamis of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, please mouse over their names below:
Sri Ramakrishna Sri Sarada Devi Swami Vivekananda
Swami Nischalananda Swami Shivapadananda
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
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