[2nd President and Spiritual Head: the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]
DAILY READINGS
From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji
727
Devotee: Did Master [Sri Ramakrishna] initiate any women?
Swamiji: He must have done. First of all he initiated his own wife [the Holy Mother, Sri Sarada Devi].
Devotee: Oh yes, I read about when he was worshipping her . .
Swamiji: No, he initiated her before that. When he surrendered to her that was one of the aspects. He did not do it for [the Holy] Mother's sake, he did it for his sake. By doing this he gave the modern world an idea of how to treat a woman - especially when the woman and the man have complete control over their senses. Gauri Ma is another living example of Master's initiating a woman.
One of the methods that was good for Hindu society was that the wife must become a pati bhakta instead of a deva bhakta. Deva bhakta means the worshipping of God in images, worshipping Lord Shiva in abstract. Pati bhakta means you take your husband as God Himself and use him as a symbol to realise God. By this action it is inferred that the woman is inferior and therefore she is worshipping the man. It is not so. It is one of the symbols. At that time the husbands used to go for tapasya [austerities] and whatever tapasya he did half, naturally, became the wife's.
During the Ramayana period it was necessary to tell certain things in the scriptures because at that time there were more sensual men than sensual women. It was to protect the women.
Maitreyi and Gargi were great teachers. There are many great women in our scriptures - Mother Sita for example. Swami Vivekananda was so influenced by Mother Sita that he said, 'You can find many Ramas but to find one Sita is very difficult.'
Devotee: Master said that the world is a mansion of mirth?
Swamiji: Yes. Make hay while the sun shines; otherwise you have had your chips; you will be looking for blankets.
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.
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
