[Swami Shivapadananda lovingly watching Shamolia, the apple of his eye]
[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 1027
[Swamiji asks a little girl] Which one you love best? Which one of the deities?
Child: Krishna.
Swamiji: Krishna! Lovely, nice. Why do you love Krishna?
Child: He's colourful and he plays the flute.
Swamiji. Accha. [Hindi for good/OK]. Supposing he forgets to play the flute, what will you do?
Child: I don't know. [Swamiji laughs] You know what the flute is? The flute is man's body. What is the flute?
Child: Man's body.
Swamiji: Just like the flute's got holes, so man must become empty like that, and God will play on him. So you are the flute that God will play on. And where does he place the flute? Either at his waist or at his lips. So that's how near we will be to God. Either we'll be hanging around his waist and never letting him go, or he'll be holding us and keeping us at his lips. That's how close we'll be to God. Hmm? Good.
Swamiji addressing the child: You do morning and evening meditation?
Child: No.
Swamiji: No. From today what you do before eating food you must wash your feet, hmm? Wash your hands, go to your prayer room, where daddy and mommy have their prayer room. Sit nicely, calmly there, alright? Close your eyes. First, say three times…you know 'Guru Brahma?'...the prayer?
Child. No.
Child: No? You must learn that, but meanwhile you say, 'AUM Guru, AUM Guru, AUM Guru,' three times, alright? And after that you close your eyes and say three times, the Gayatri Mantra. Three times you say Gayatri Mantra. After three times saying Gayatri Mantra, say, 'Lord, come. I want to see you'. And you can say it in your mother tongue. Or 'Come, please come.' See him with the flute, blue in colour, standing on one leg, bent, there's a cow there, and he's waiting for you! For whom is he waiting? You. And repeat his mantra. What is his mantra? 'AUM namo bhagavate Vasudevaya'. Right?
Child repeats, 'AUM namo bhagavate Vasudevaya.'
Swamiji: Repeat that, you do that and repeat it 108 times. If you can't repeat it 108 times [a full mala, rosary of prayer beads], then repeat it 27 times [a quarter mala]. Okay? Morning and?... evening.
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
