SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA
DAILY READINGS
From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji
578
Latu Maharaj one of Master's direct disciples - also known as Swami Adbhutananda - has a wonderful history. And he had a wonderful association with Sri Ramakrishna. He was a man that was illiterate, he was a man that was only a cook. Nobody knew what caste or creed he belonged to.
While Latu Maharaj was serving Master [Sri Ramakrishna] at the Dakshineswar Temple, Master decided to teach him Sanskrit. Master gave him a couple of lessons but then, realizing it was hopeless, they both started laughing. Both had failed.
Master took him from where he was and thus proved to us that learning is no criterion for spirituality. Latu Maharaj later became a great saint and catered for his type of people. You can see how wonderful Master was, he even thought of those people who were illiterate and who may not have come in contact with saints and sages. These people had been left in the lurch as far as spirituality was concerned. Sri Ramakrishna manifested himself through Latu and gave the world a person who stunned even Swami Vivekananda [Sri Ramakrishna's leading disciple].
When Swami Vivekananda came back to India from the West he brought a group of Western disciples with him. He was showing these disciples some ancient ruins and explaining to them how they came to be and what their history was. Latu Maharaj was standing in the background listening to this and asked Swami Vivekananda, 'But how is that? How can that happen?' Swamiji tried to make him understand but, like a little child, Latu butted in every time. Now Swami Vivekananda was trying to impress the Western disciples and here was this fellow butting in. Of course Swami Vivekananda got very agitated and told him, 'Go from here. What does an illiterate man like you know?' To Swami Vivekananda's surprise Latu started rolling about with laughter. Swamiji became most concerned about this and asked him what was wrong with him. He said, 'No, I'm just laughing. I'm laughing at your education. If you, with your education, cannot make an illiterate man like me understand, then what is the use of your education?' This struck him like a thunderbolt and Swami Vivekananda, the tornado of spirituality, was humbled.
Do you see what greatness Master had? He compared the apparently low to the high and made that so called low even higher than the one who was considered to be high.
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