Swami Shivapadananda

No giant spiritual leap. Baby steps.

Pictured: Prajapati (Lord of Creation] teaching Indra, king of the gods

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

[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 1041

Devotee asks: It is said that if you are sincerely spiritual the material will look after itself.

Swamiji: No, it won't look after itself. You must treat is as a duty and look after it. Understand what I mean? Only a yogi [God-realised soul] can speak like that. A yogi won't care about anything, because what he desires will happen. But what you desire doesn't happen, so until that state is reached you have to look after it. And then, if you become a yogi and what you desire happens, you'll understand that other people can't do that, so you will do what is dharmic [righteous]. You will do everything according to dharma. You will serve and you will do everything, you will look after material things. And you will tell them, "this is valuable," - only valuable as far as using it goes - not getting attached to it and calling it my own. You see, for instance now, take the ashram [monastery]...if the swami or the sannyasins [Hindu monks] just treat it anyhow and take it for granted, thinking that "I am spiritual," everything will go into chaos. You have a Constitution [for the organisation] and you must see that the dharma embodied in the Constitution must be implemented.

Devotee: Not neglected.

Swamiji: No, you can't neglect it. You can't neglect your body and say you are spiritual, unless you reach the stage as I told you, where what you desire [Swamiji clicks his fingers] happens. And you will always desire for the best because the whole universe becomes your body, then. Apparently you are here but you are all over. You know that. Therefore what is there to look after because your Self you can't look after. There's a stage when you take the Lord, singular and meditate on him. Then he must be in universal form, Vishwaroop. The same with your deity [Ishta Deva] - whether it's Siva, Kali, Durga or Krishna. Because Krishna showed it practically [the vishwaroop aspect, to his disciple Arjuna], some people only go for Krishna as a deity - but it's not so. Any deity will be the same. First you meditate on the form, then that form must be meditated on in the universal form – vishwaroop – and then it must become formless, nameless. Krishna gives you the three stages in the Bhagavad Gita. So that's how you reach the highest, too. First the formless, then the whole universe becomes God, you see it pulsating. Then you find the universe has come out of something which is formless, nameless, all dissolved. It's not extracting anything but it is merging, like a drop of water merges into the river and the river merges with the?...ocean. It's very easy, a wonderful meditation. Read between the lines in the scriptures then you'll see what I'm talking about.

Some people, when you tell them to meditate on a deity, they get so fed up, they think, "this fellow is not taking me higher," – inside here [Swamiji pointing to chest] will know straight away that it needs another step now, so you'll push him away slowly. Until then, just get the intense yearning to know a little more truth and the yearning comes and pushes a little bit. Like Indra came the first time, and Virochana the first time.

[Virochana in Hindu mythology was an asura (demon) king. According to the Chandogya Upanishad (VIII.7.2-8.5) he and Indra (king of the gods) went to Prajapati, the Lord of creation to learn about the Atman [universal soul] and lived there, practising brahmacharya for 32 years. Prajapati told them both that whatever they saw was Brahman. Virochana misunderstood this and seeing his physical reflection in water told the asuras to worship the body as the Atman.]

Swamiji continues: Virochana thought the body was everything. So he told his gang, "eat, drink and make merry". Indra said, "wait a minute, but that's not it, that thing doesn't die when this body dies". So he would come back and ask. An intense yearning to know the truth you see? They came again and he pushed them a little bit more. Like that I don't know how many times he came – three or four times or six times, they pushed him, pushed him. It didn't happen just like that. People make a mistake to think all it takes is a touch and that [God realisation] happens. It almost never happens like that. An Incarnation [avatar] of God, a Christ will say, "behold" and you can see it. Ramakrishna just touched, "wake up Mother," and the person went into samadhi. But it can't happen with everybody.

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 timhoare@webmail.co.za 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

3 levels of obstacles

 

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

[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 1039

Spiritual life is one of the highest ways of living. In this life one learns to live in the imperishable. And when one lives in the imperishable, one is freed from the three kinds of fear. What are the three kinds of fear, one would ask? [Swamiji addresses a question to his first monastic disciple, Swamiji Premananda], why do you say, 'shantih, shantih, shantih' (peace, peace,peace) three times? [Swami Premananda responds] 'To ward off the three types of difficulties.'

[Swamiji] What are the three types of difficulties? The first one is? [Swami Premananda says, 'adhyaatmik']

Swamiji repeats, 'adhyaatmik - and adhyaatmik is difficulties of fear caused by the?...body. Illnesses, because of your past karmas and present karmas most probably, too. Also difficulties from ignorance. Ignorance of living a healthy life. Physically. And mentally. Example: you may eat things that may not be conducive to good health. And things that are not conducive to a calm and sattvic mind. This must cause you some sort of?...illness. It can also be caused by not taking the right type of exercise. The right type of exercise. One may become fascinated by the looks of a muscular man. Thus one may become more physically or sensually conscious. On the other hand he may take exercise which may not be conducive to his heart, lungs and bodily health. Or he may just do it incorrectly. If an old man, who had not previously exercised, suddenly feels like a yogi and he takes up just any kind of exercise, he may get damaged joints, or a broken bone.

Bhastrika [rapid yoga 'bellows' breathing through both nostrils simultaneously – Swamiji demonstrates] done wrongly by the wrong people, may cause heart trouble. Or nerve disturbance. It will overheat the body and thus increase sensuality. That's exercise, then.

As far as food goes, in India, ages ago they experimented on foods that are conducive to not only physical health, but also mental calmness and peace – thus cultivating the sattvic [balanced, harmonious] quality. Which in time grows – it's a growth. Because it is sattvic - and sattvic quality only can give you, if rightly used – mark the words, 'rightly used' – the highest bliss, God. Otherwise even that sattvic quality, if you do not practise detachment from the beginning, you will be attached to it, giving you only worldly happiness. Or just a little mental calmness.

But India, after experimenting so much, somehow loses its vitality. Somehow everything in this world that reaches the highest point, I think because of taking it for granted, or being so familiar with it, we do not care to pay the careful attention that we paid to it when we began. Thus, we slip slowly. So what happens…man pays a lot of attention to the god called 'touch me not'. Touch me?...not. The god called, 'touch me not'. They say the food is cooked by a certain person so don't touch it, don't eat it. Rather than seeing not only who cooked it but what kind of food it is, and what the result of the food will be on the mind and the body, they have only paid attention to this. The easterners - although they have written hundreds of thousands of gloriously-termed books, they have only paid attention to food that is gross [physical] and cooked. But the other part – the subtle food, [Sri Adi] Shankaracharya also included. He said, '"food, bhoga, does not only mean food that you eat through the mouth. But food that you eat through the senses." And the highest food, the subtlest food, is thought, or thoughts. It's?...thought, or our thoughts. There are environments and people that invoke and provoke you to various kind of?...thoughts…thus giving expression in an emotional outburst - a man may just use some vulgar language.

The other point is that there are things which are conducive to awakening the senses - especially the sexual sense. Mother Sarada Devi said the yogi should not even look at a carving of the opposite sex. She didn't say male or female. From each side that would be the opposite. That word should be underlined. Sometimes this is very grossly [physically] misused and it is only imposed on the women. But Mother said very carefully, "opposite". Why? Not because that in itself is bad, but because the thought that it invokes will entangle you in worldly life, or will free you to reach the spiritual state.

Then we find again that you might go and sit near a man or woman, or group of people. They'll be talking something so wonderful, so spiritual, that all the spiritual qualities come up. That is spiritual food. And when you leave that place your mind is permeated with the vibration of vitality and energy of that man's soul-energy. And soul-energy is always divine energy because each soul is potentially divine. To manifest this divinity is the whole of religion. To live a religious life, to live a spiritual life is to manifest this divinity. And how to manifest this divinity is to become first of all, above the first obstacle – bodily obstacles. So if you think and if I think that spirituality and spiritual life is in a haphazard way of living, forget it. Don't touch it.

[Addressing Swami Premananda] The next one is? [Swami Premananda replies] "Adhidaivik". Meaning of that? [Swami Premananda responds] "Divine obstacles". The second one is obstacles caused by subtle forces. What kind of force?...subtle forces. We may not fight the angels because we cannot see the angels but we may displease the angels by doing something which is not right.

To overcome this divine force or 'deva' as they call it – it means the shining ones – you have to please them too. On the human level, you have to please the human level. On the spiritual level you have to please the spiritual beings. Beings that have not yet got absolute freedom, moksha or nirvana - but they are in a certain state. They are not bad beings – they are good, but because we do something wrong they apparently, to us, seem to become displeased and throw obstacles on our path.

If I say to you that there is a task and that task needs a university student or he who has passed his BA or MA, then you somehow through the back door bring a man who has only standard nine [penultimate grade in secondary school] and you want to push it. The person, the manager in the workshop will put an obstacle on your path because he does not want that fellow to come because he is not yet qualified. It is only natural to first make that fellow qualified. Because it would be unfair to those people who are already qualified. Within the natural laws the devas take action. But even the devas can be jealous because they do not make the progress faster – they want to stay there all the time. A good example comes to my mind – Indra [the chief/king of the gods]. So he wants to keep you there. Then you have to manifest perfection and with perfection must come great strength. What must come?...great strength. And you must overcome with perfection and great strength, by rightfully pleasing the devas, so that any obstruction must be taken away.

Now from the physical the deva state is the mental state. What's that?...the mental state. And the last one is [addressing Swami Premananda who answers]? Adhiboutik. What is Adhiboutik? [Swami Premananda answers] The elements. Swamiji continues: Yes, don't go and fight with fire for nothing. Don't fight with wind. They say that these three gods you must prostrate to from a distance. That is water, [Swamiji chuckling] you know Noah's Ark? You know what happened then? Fire, if the sun comes closer by just one inch, what's going to happen? Water restrictions [speaking of KwaZulu Natal at the time] we've already got. And the?...wind or air. You can control them by overcoming them, by meditating on certain chakras [psychic centres in the subtle body] or aspects. Fire will not burn you. Not burn you the soul only, but it will not even burn your body. Haven't you seen a lot of these people fire-walking? Even if you say that they have hypnotised themselves, but there is a way to become above being burnt. I give you that clearing of the doubt. There is a way to overcome the five natural elements. And then only, will you be Lord. What?...Lord. Otherwise you are a servant - subservient to something else.

So spiritual life is a methodical, systematic way to direct the mind, the body and the soul. A few bhajans and kirtans [religious songs or chants] , a few minutes of sitting with somebody and enjoying his company as a worldly man, that won't take you to god-realisation. They may say, 'what a wonderful man, sitting all the time with the Swami – look how nice he is, he must be a very holy man.' But you know yourself that your mind is full of holes because it has not yet patched up any holes. Right, this much; the foundation of the spiritual life is Yama and Niyama [referred to frequently in previous postings]. And Yama and Niyama - you want to go and look them up for me in one of the books. Read that up for me, write it in your own language, don't copy word for word. See what you make of it. And next week I shall talk. I'm sorry – this is my Upanishad. Because it's no use, we're bluffing ourselves. I'm meditating for four hours and yet hating somebody. I'm worshipping the whole day in the shrine and yet looking down on somebody. No…there's something wrong. That is something else but not sadhana [spiritual practice]. A true Christian, a true Hindu, a true Muslim who worships the true God, he has an oceanic heart. He has an oceanic?...heart. He can not only drown one bit - he can drown the whole world and immortalise it through the love of God. Which is the blood, the life-strength of God – love. If I love my ideal and think he's the Supreme Being and yet hate the ideal that you preach, that you love, then my Ideal [deity, Ishta Deva] is useless because it cannot take such a simple thing out of my heart - hate. I should rather take my Ideal, tie it up and drown it in the backyard well.

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 timhoare@webmail.co.za 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

 

God forces us to evolve

Pictured: Lord Shiva with tirisula (trident) and lingam

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

[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 1036

Swamiji speaking on the occasion of someone's birthday

And when you become 'that' light, then, this world worships you as an image of?...God. As an image of?...God. A perfect image of God. That's the last birth, therefore it must be the last death.

Nachiketa's story indirectly tells you the same thing. All bodies die when they meet and discuss the Self with Yama [the Hindu god of death], the great guru [spiritual preceptor/teacher]. The best part of Yama is that when the chela [disciple] realises in Nachiketa, the guru dies too. There is no guru and no chela. There is no guru and no?...chela. You'll find that with Markandeya, the great Rishi [sage, seer, saint]. He was supposed to have died at the age of 16. Through the advice of his mother and father - Narada – he went, the day Yama was supposed to come and take him and started worshipping Lord Shiva in the forest. Yama tried his level best to come and take his life away but when Yama came near him it appears that Nachiketa was holding onto the Shiva lingam, worshipping Lord Shiva. Then Yamraja threw his noose. He had to show duality. The lingam was also caught, along with Markandeya. When Markandeya meditated he became Lord Shiva.

So when Yama threw this noose, who did he actually capture? And how can that which can never be destroyed, be destoyed even by Yama? Even though he is an instrument of God? When Yama tried to pull the noose he was actually choking himself. Yama was choking himself because he was pulling that which was identified with everything in the form of Markandeya – which was Shiva. And he started being strangled. And then Lord Shiva says through his shakti, Parvati, 'what are you doing? I'll destroy you with this tirisula!' [trident, pictured] Tirusula [Swamiji laughs] is nothing else but the three different bodies [gunas] with which God destroys one, again and again. They are rajastic, tamasic and sattvic qualities. He makes you fed up [exhausted, irritated] when tamas lays you low. In rajas he makes you so full of activity, so full of passion, that you get fed up again. You don't want it, you want to run. But this time you don't run down [to a lower level] because you already know that rogue [tamas] is waiting there. You run up to sattvic. And when you get to sattvic, there too, sattva tries to bind you with happiness. Then you realise this happiness is only relative and you want to go beyond it. And when you go beyond it, you become everything - and therefore you reach beyond it.

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 timhoare@webmail.co.za 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

Past births and evolution

[Pictured: Tibetan wheel of life, samsara, artwork]

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

[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 964

Day 963 has reference for continuity

So Mother Ganga [the river Ganges] came to earth after a great, great sacrifice [tapasya]. Watch it. Then again a secret is given – that you may not be able to do it with just one deity. And what are deities? Nothing but one's own inner psychic power, manifest in physical form. Physical...form. And what is the psychic power? Ultimately you'll find where the minds ends, consciousness begins. Or where the mind merges, consciousness is there. So everything is a manifestation of the consciousness called God. The… consciousness called God.

Now we can see that great sacrifice has been done. And how sacred the guru [spiritual preceptor] and chela [disciple] relationship is. It's based on? Sacrifice, self-sacrifice. Not sacrificing material but self-sacrifice. And then again we come and see that whoever did the first cooking was forgotten. We don't know them. So the greatest thing is to be 'self-forgotten', even the world should not remember you. Why? Because your happiness comes by just seeing the whole universe happy. How? Through your own sacrifice. Sacrifice itself is a privilege. It is a privilege to do this.

We come to the sadhaka [spiritual aspirant or practitioner] again. I said the sadhaka's life must be based on certain principles. And broadly speaking, these principles are divided into four different categories. The Brahmacharya [student or celibate] principle, the Grihasti [Grihastha or married state], householder's principle, the Vanaprastha - the recluse, the retired man's principle - and the last one is Sannyasa [renunciate, monk, nun] principle. But you cannot put them into compartments, in tight compartments. One overlaps into the other. Where one ends, it just slowly gets into the other.

Thus spiritual life to the general world, to the general population of the world's people – is a growth. What is it? A growth. You must learn how to grow this plant of spirituality in your own life. It's not just something that comes from heaven. [Swamiji chuckles] It's not just something that will fall on you. Though you must have witnessed thousands of people just 'get' spiritual, we Hindus do not believe that he became spiritual just like that [Swamiji clicks his fingers to emphasise the point]. We believe that last birth, birth after birth [cycle of samsara]he worked very, very hard. He worked very strenuously, sacrificed a lot of things, therefore suddenly Drona [Dronacharya - the royal family guru in the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata] got God-realisation, [Bhakt] Prahlad got God-realisation. You will see that they were divine beings who sacrificed long, long before this birth. There is no short-cut to God. There is no?...[congregation repeats in unison]… short-cut to God. One goat has to be sacrificed. One sheep has to be sacrificed. Nothing less - and the goat and sheep is your ego. That is the goat that has to be sacrificed at the altar of selflessness. No other goat – don't think about the other kind of goat. This goat, called ego or ahamkara [literal meaning: I am the universe] – it must be sacrificed. You must be serious. Otherwise you won't get 'It'. You may get It after learning thousands of lessons.

Now I said there are four groups of principles for a slow growth towards God-realisation. Now you cannot judge it – well this man is born as a child, why should he not become a Grihasti [householder]. Swamiji was born a child and why didn't he become a Grihasti – why did he become a Brahmachari [monastic]? You can't judge like that because I told you we believe in last birth. Other births, who knows, [Swamiji teases and chuckles] I must have got married, got 50 children. I can't support them. [devotees chuckling] Got frustrated. With the wind of God's grace everything blew away. Peaceful. There is no one to fight with because I am the only one existing in the world. There's no one to give opinion to because I am the only opinion left. Opinion becomes opinion-less. You just live in Satchitananda [Existence, Knowledge, Bliss Absolute].

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 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:

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

 

Divine continuity

[Pictured: the yantra - symbol - for the anahata or heart chakra]

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

[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 939

[Swamiji comments on a book by Professor Subramanyan]

Reads: Is cow's milk available everywhere? No. Only from one place does it flow. [referring to the Incarnations, avatars]

Swamiji: There is energy in everything, but it is more available in electricity. Although electricity is in all the wires, electricity is seen as greater in appliances. Similarly in the Bhagavad Gita [a major Hindu scripture] Sri Krishna says, 'Among the trees I am the ashvattha [also called the Bo or Bodhi tree.]'

Reads: Where the Divine is more apparent, we say it is vibhuti [sacred]. The Divine is everywhere, but where it is more perceptible, tangible, brighter, it is called vibhuti.

God descends as an Incarnation and brings two or three disciples with Him.

Swamiji: We become what we worship. What you ponder over, you become. Swami Vivekananda [spiritual heir to Sri Ramakrishna] said in his letters, 'Read these words again and again so you imbibe my spirit.

Reads: Sannyas [renunciation and taking of monastic vows] is absolute self-dedication to humanity. It goes from the personality to the principle. In a temple it is first the idol [murti, image, sculpture] - then this leads to the Ideal [Ishta Deva]. See the personality first. His holiness, his principle, this is what we worship.

Swami Vivekananda said, 'Understand the life of Rama who is the embodiment of principle. Understand the principles of Shiva. [Swamiji nods] Act like Rama, the Soul, Brahman [the One universal consciousness], Sat-chid-ananda, [Existence, Knowledge, Bliss Absolute] the transcendental Reality, the Self.

Sita [the wife of Sri Rama] is the mind constantly thinking of Rama, the Atman; She is constantly attuned to the Atman [the universal soul], the Divine. That is the Hindu mind, the self-controlled, developed mind. Serve them with the body, sing to them with the body. The hands serve God, the eyes see the divine form, the ears hear the divine.

In the Ramayana [a Hindu epic] when we read about the 'deer', it means that for a while Sita is distracted from the divine and attracted to worldly things. Never seek to possess the wealth of others, or even your own body. You are only a trustee. 'Rama went away . .' This means in the absence of God-realisation, of Self-illumination, Sita is caught - the mind is caught - by the three gunas [sattva, rajas and tamas - pairs of opposites].

Swami Vivekananda [the spiritual heir to Sri Ramakrishna] walks in the footsteps of Sri Rama, to bring back national pride.

Swamiji: Professor Subramanyan brings out a beautiful point here. He talks about where principle merges with personality. He does not say that Rama is now an outdated coin and that Sri Ramakrishna is the updated coin. He does not say that Hanuman [the great devotee of Lord Rama] is an outdated coin and Swami Vivekananda is the current coin. He takes your love, which flows towards Rama, Hanuman, Krishna etc. and draws parallels. He takes that devotion and puts it in the present. The love you felt for Rama is seen in Swami Vivekananda. The love you felt for Hanuman is seen to live in Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi [the nun-wife of Sri Ramakrishna] and other devotees. His reasoning shows that there is no sense of disloyalty or disconnectedness. Rather he shows us the connectedness between them.

The holy ones do not take away what you have, but rather they add to it. Sri Krishna says: 'Love Me and I shall look after what you have. I will not take it away.' There is a continuous flow from one to the other.

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:

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

Evolution of thinking

 

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

[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 885

   

Swamiji reads from the Vivekachudamani [a Hindu philosophical treatise on Vedanta and non-dualism - advaita - known also 'the crest-jewel of discrimination']

The guru [spiritual preceptor] is a smouldering fire that burns without fuel - there is no action, it is action-less.

Swamiji: Sri Ramakrishna would see a public woman [prostitute] and he would go into samadhi [spiritual superconsciousness]. But a sensual man sees that and desires her. Think what gives a worldly man a push to enjoy worldly pleasure. What gives a holy man a push to enjoy spirituality?

When you go to the guru you should worship him with devotion. Be humble, besiege [ply] him with questions pertaining to spirituality. Do not ask him about worldly matters. Bhakti [spiritual devotion] is a mental quality. Touch his feet and do his behest [bidding or wishes]. Wait till the appropriate time. Be pure in body and mind. Say to him, 'You are the ocean of compassion, I have fallen into the ocean of samsara [cycle of birth and rebirth]. Please rescue me.'

Swamiji: Sri Ramakrishna's religion is the essence of all the religions under the sun - and even in the heavens. People think we are the followers of Sri [Adi] Shankaracharya [the father of Vedanta, depicted above]. Yes we are; and infinitely more. Because where Sri Shankaracharya left off, Sri Ramakrishna found further things. Sri Shankaracharya was limited [not in himself but] because of people's understanding [capacity] at that time, and by the existing environment and tradition [restrictive conservatism] .

In Sri Shankaracharya's teaching you find that he gave women the second fiddle [inferior role] to play. But Sri Ramakrishna came and said, 'No. Correctly, a woman is the embodiment of the Divine Mother.'

Sri Shankaracharya believed in [the Hindu] caste [system]. But Sri Ramakrishna was beyond caste. Anyone who yearns for God is beyond caste. They believe that God dwells in everyone's heart.

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:

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

   

 

The nature of growing

 

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

[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 876

   

Swamiji speaking at a school

Today we are living in a world that is full of doubt and turmoil. We do not know where to anchor our ship. But anything that we do, no matter what field, it needs devotion, it needs sincerity, it needs faith, whether it be in a school or in a temple – in school, a secular education, or in a temple, a sacred education.

We are all human beings. We all have our limitations. We are like little seeds. Now I want you to imagine a little seed, a very small thing. It is planted in the earth and we give it water and fertilizer. Can you imagine a tender shoot, how it starts growing? And when it starts growing, if someone had to see it at that stage, they would think that this has to die because it is so tender. But yet it grows, it even splits the rocks that are in its way. It opens up the earth and peeps in joy to see the glorious sun.

Thus it enjoys the sunshine, the earth and all the various things that give it life. And it grows into a tree in no time. And having grown into a big tree, what does it do? It gives you, first of all, shade. To the tired traveller it gives a restful place. And it does not only do that. You find it gives the fruits that we enjoy from that tree. Some trees are so wonderful, they give us flowers to add beauty to our table, to make us conscious of the beauty in the flower, and not the food on the table.

Now this is a chart of how we all grow. In the beginning we are so soft, so tender, that we think that the trials and tribulations of this world will crush us. But nay. We grow, equipped with knowledge from our teachers that you see around, with the knowledge that our mother and father give us at home, with the knowledge that the great spiritual giants give us, throughout all ages, whether it be a Muhammad, whether it be a Christ, or a Rama. But these are great trees out of which we draw our inspiration.

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:

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

On old age and exercise

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

630

   

[Swamiji continues speaking on the Bhagavad Gita]

O Bharata, all beings are subject to delusion at birth . . .

Regardless of who it is, all beings are deluded at the time of birth. Only Hanumanji [pictured] asked, 'Tell me what is my future, mother? What must I eat?' Others say, 'Where am I? Where am I?' And that goes on in the mind. So, this world is full of delusion.

Those who strive for liberation from old age and death, taking refuge in Me, realise in full that Brahman, the whole knowledge of the Self, and all action.

I always laugh at this verse of my Lord. Look what He is saying. (Look how your mind works.) Some of these people who love their beautiful or handsome faces will do more hatha [physical postures] yoga so that they will remain young; but the more they do exercises the more they find each day they are getting dried up like a paw paw [papaya]. The Lord is not talking about there being no old age in this body. He is saying that after God-realisation you will not take any birth - and therefore there will be no old age or death. In this body you will just have to go through your prarabdha karma [karma to be worked out in this birth] .Do not think you can avoid it now. The only way you can avoid it is to become indifferent to it by concentrating your mind fully on God and God's glories. When you are fully concentrated on God then old age does not affect you, pain does not affect you. Pain will come but it will just pass away unnoticed. That is what I call 'indifferent'. A lot of bhaktas [devotees] became old and yet bhajan and kirtan was going on - they did not even know that their bodies were old. They were above body consciousness.

God bless you. Hari Om Tat Sat

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.

Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Nischalananda Puri, Swami Shivapadananda

Click Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna to read online...

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

 

Swami Shivapadananda on the importance of happiness

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

594

   

Happiness is the most important thing. You must be happy. Even when you are dying you should smile, it makes others happy.

A devotee asks Swamiji how to tackle a problem.

Swamiji: Give it to God. Do not do it seriously. Do it lightly, throw it off. Otherwise in time you will think you solved the problem and not God.

You must have unflinching faith in the guru and steadfast devotion to the Ideal, then japa [meditative repetition of a mantra or one of God's many names] and meditation become easy.

You must go to the guru to learn how you must act in a given situation.

At these Yoga Camps [retreats] we hope and pray that our minds become pure, that our faith in God becomes stronger. And that out of this faith and purity our life in future may bless us to serve God through all names and forms.

The scriptures are actually the embodiment of certain ideas and energy, and if we do not put these scriptural thoughts into action we are no better than animals. Every word that is uttered in the scriptures, every word that is told to us by the saints and sages, and especially our gurus is a word that reveals to us our path and our goal.

Sri Ramakrishna said that the goal of human life is to know who he or she is. It is God-realisation. When a saint was asked, 'What is the highest duty in this world?' the saint smiled and replied, 'The highest duty of man is to worship God, to glorify God and God alone.'

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.

Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda,

Click Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna to read online...

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

Swami Shivapadananda on the force of Nature

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

583

   

[Reading from the Bhagavad Gita continued]

Has this been heard by you, O Partha, with an attentive mind? Has your delusion born of ignorance been destroyed?

Arjuna said, 'My delusion is destroyed. I have regained my memory through your grace.'

Swamiji: What is wrong with us? Our memory is weak. Here Arjuna says, 'I have regained my memory.'

Arjuna said, 'I am firm and free from doubt. I will act according to your words.'

Swamiji: Once he has said this he will not deviate. In chapter three of the [Bhagavad] Gita the Lord says, 'Even the wise propelled by their desires will be forced to do this.' A lot of people try to do things against their nature but their nature forces them to act accordingly - even wise men. For example the wise man may say, 'I won't teach these people, I'll keep everything to myself;' but his nature will force him to talk about wisdom.

 

So a sannyasi is a sannyasi not because he is a very good man or a lovely man. No. His nature is forcing him to be a sannyasi. An evil man cannot help himself, because his nature forces him to be evil. Surrender to God and your nature will change.

You may ask, 'Unless nature forces me why should I do sadhana [spiritual practice]?' No. It is not like that. You must take refuge at God's feet.

If I worship Mother Saraswati and if I think she can only give me Vidya [divine knowledge]- not money, not motor cars, nor strength - then she becomes a demigod, because I am putting limitations on her. Sri Krishna said, 'As you desire so I will fulfill. It is I who am seated in the hearts of these deities.'

Question: So we control God, Swamiji?

Swamiji: You control your nature and God Itself will fulfill it. You do not control God you control your nature.

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