Swami Shivapadananda

Swami Shivapadananda on following your own Dharma

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

586

[Pictured: His Holiness Swami Shivapadananda Puri 1938-1994)

Today is the full moon holy day of Guru Purnima 2009

   

Somebody came to the Ashram [monastery] and saw me scolding a person. He said to me, 'So this is how a Swami behaves?' I said, 'Yes, this Swami behaves like this. Go next-door otherwise, he will behave otherwise.' [laughter] It is obvious that what I can see he cannot see; and he will behave from where he is.

Karma is a very complicated matter. It is so intermingled. You are creating new karmas and yet you are paying for old karmas. Only if you are prepared to give up your life will you stick to dharma [your path/righteousness]. If you are not prepared to give up your life then you will behave from a relative point of view.

Let us say a holy man is uplifting somebody and that person kills him. The holy man was behaving from a dharmic point of view and he would say, 'Regardless of what he does, my duty is to give him the help I was giving him.' He will not blame God. But you, as a neighbour, will blame God. You may say, 'What kind of God is this? He was doing a good thing and that man killed him.' You have to behave from where you are.

Devotee: If one does not know if one is a karma yogi, a bhakti yogi or a jnana yogi, what is one to do?

Swamiji: Serve your mother and father with the best of your ability. From there it will manifest.

Devotee: Is there anything wrong with being a jnana yogi?

Swamiji: No. There is nothing wrong in that. The only thing is you may not do it to the perfection that is needed. Sri Krishna said, 'Your dharma, though done imperfectly, is better than doing the dharma of other people.' Why? Because if you do other people's dharma it will cloud your brains and it will throw you into more confusion. Whereas if you are doing your dharma, even if you did not do it perfectly, there will be less confusion.

Devotee: How is one to know what one's own dharma is if one does not really have an affinity for any one of the yogas?

Swamiji: This is what I said: Your first dharma is to your mother and father and from there onwards it will unfold. Therefore, wherever you are, serve them to the best of your ability.

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

Swami Shivapadananda on how to find happiness

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

559

[Pictured: The route the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi used to walk from the Udbodhan House, when going to take her bath in the river Ganges]

   

It is a rare privilege indeed for one in this world to sit quietly and contemplate his life's journey on Earth. The questions we must ask are: 'Who are we? Whence have we come? What are our duties?'

Though we deal with many different subjects the most important question seems to be lost. That question is: 'Who is the sub-stratum of these things that we see and see not?' There is no doubt that all beings, from the tiniest worm to the highest angel, are trying to find happiness and spontaneously express this in their daily lives.

If I have a prescription it is logical that I should go to a chemist for the medicine and not to a vegetable market. Similarly, we are looking for this happiness; and our prescription is the scriptures. But we go looking for happiness in mundane things.

The scriptures say that anything that is finite must bring unhappiness; and anything that is infinite will give you that bliss, that happiness, that immortality, that we are knowingly or unknowingly looking for. But then it seems that we are not in a hurry. We do not realise that in finding That Thing we find everything.

In the scriptures, when the great bhaktas [devotees] were offered a boon, it is said that some asked their deities to cure their diseases, or for wealth, or name and fame. Only a rare few asked for bhakti and jnana [spiritual knowledge and wisdom]. Only when we have that bhakti and that jnana will we find the Eternal Thing.

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.

 

Swami Shivapadananda on the four disciplines

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Selected from Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji.

Day 490

(Pictured - the western porch off Sri Ramakrishna's room- overlooking the Ganges)

Now take all five Maha Yajnas [great sacrifices or duties] and see the completeness of the householder's [lay devotee or person's] life. This service to the different deities is projected as karma yoga [yoga of offering the fruits of one's labour to God] in the Bhagavad Gita.

What we have learned is that we must observe the five Maha Yajnas in conjunction with dharma [righteousness or religious duty]. We have to serve the gods in conjunction with dharma. My dharma and your dharma will differ from second to second. Then there is a general dharma and a universal dharma. As a teacher in class your duty is one thing, as a husband at home it will be another, and as a friend it will be another. So dharma has to be known from all sides. Our scriptures, like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, spell this out for us completely.

The four disciplines of righteous life are dharma, artha, kama, moksha. When a householder practices dharma, which is performing righteous deeds, he gets artha, which means wealth. Whether this artha implies money, knowledge, physical health or strength, it leads to kama. Kama means 'getting pleasure' in performing our duties righteously. Wealth earned righteously encourages you to be 'dharmic'. One, who gets pleasure in performing duties righteously, attains liberation or moksha. You are sure to attain moksha if you lead a dharmic life. One has to perform all these disciplines to get the last one, namely, moksha or liberation.

In Hinduism the whole quality or life-style of a sadhaka [spiritual aspirant or practitioner] is so geared, so oriented, that it ultimately leads to liberation. Life is not to be lead haphazardly. One should not indulge in animal-like behaviour. Our actions (thoughts, words, and deeds) must be well thought out and specifically directed to attain a chosen goal called moksha. Righteous duty gives us a certain moral standing and this encompasses truth.

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.

 

Swami Shivapadananda on Swami Vivekananda’s yearning to know God

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Selected from Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji.

Day 473

   

Swamiji speaking on the early pre-monastic life of Swami Vivekananda    

When Swami Vivekananda grew up he passed his degree. Around this time he went to Devendranath Tagore, the Brahmo Samaj leader, and asked him, "Have you seen God?" He looked at Swami Vivekananda and said, "I can see you have the eyes of a yogi." Now some people say he evaded the question by not saying if he had seen God or not, but I do not think so. He only saw in the other man a greater yogi and instead of saying what is not, he said what is.

When Naren [Swami Vivekananda's pre-monastic name] went to Sri Ramakrishna he asked very direct questions. He asked Master, "Sir, have you seen God?" Sri Ramakrishna in his childlike way said, "Yes, yes, I see God, but I see God more intensely than I see you." In other words, I see God all the time but I only see you now and then, you come and go. Then before Swami Vivekananda could ask the next question Master said, "And you can see Him too." He did not say, I can show Him to you, he said, you can see Him too. He said this because it is the birthright of every individual to see God, to know God, to realise God.

Do you have the yearning restlessness that Swami Vivekananda had? Both the Master and the disciple were restless to know God. For twelve years Sri Ramakrishna had rubbed his face on the ground. He had neglected his body and blood even oozed out of his pores in his desire to see God. Swami Vivekananda too was restless because he wanted to know the truth. What do I mean by restless? I mean wanting. I know we are not supposed to want worldly things, but we are supposed to want God and God alone. Are you restless to see God?

Sri Ramakrishna did not have a guru in the beginning. He was so restless for God that he could not wait. He even wanted to put an end to his life - that was the kind of restlessness he had. One day, in the [Divine] Mother's Temple, he took the sword in his hand and was about to slash his throat. How could God, who is all love and compassion, bear to see his own child committing suicide for his sake? Then the Master saw, in a flood of light, that which was later on transformed into Mother Kali.

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: Ramakrishna Math & Mission, Ramakrishna Centre of Southern Africa, Ramakrishna Dham

 

Swami Shivapadananda on the childhood of Swami Vivekananda

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Selected from Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji.

Day 470

   

The young Swami Vivekananda learned the Mahabharata and the Ramayana on his mother's lap. Is it any wonder that he grew to love the poor and the miserable at that young age? Above all he grew to love the sannyasis. His mother said that he was a very naughty child. She used to exclaim, "I prayed to Lord Shiva to give me a child but he sent one of his demons." He proved her right when one day, at her wits end, she put him under a tap and turned on the water. In desperation, whilst the boy was still screaming, she started repeating "Om Namah Shivaaya, Om Namah Shivaaya, Om Namah Shivaaya" - because that was her Deity - and found to her amazement that he stopped crying. The water was poured on his head, which was the linga personified and Om Namah Shivaaya completed it. That is how she learned the trick. Whenever he was naughty she put him under the tap and repeated Om Namah Shivaaya, Om Namah Shivaaya.

It is a joke to us but every time she repeated Om Namah Shivaaya, Lord Shiva's name penetrated him and awakened the good and divine samskaras in him. Lord Shiva's name manifest itself inside this little child. Even if a mother playfully takes God's name and whacks the child, the child is bound to be transformed, sooner or later. Some mothers say ungodly words when they hit their children; but this mother said Lord Shiva's name.

As the young Swami Vivekananda grew he would take all the best things in the house and give them to the poor people - especially to the sadhus and the sannyasis. Though his mother and father were very charitable, they eventually became fed up. Whenever they saw a sadhu coming along the street they would call the boy and say, "Come here Naren, come inside and see this." Then they would lock the door. It happened many times that when they opened the door they found that the father's new shoes, his hat or his jersey was gone. When they asked him where a particular thing was, he would say, "I put it down there for the sadhus to take home." Well, this was too much for his parents.

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: Ramakrishna Math & Mission, Ramakrishna Centre of Southern Africa, Sri Ramakrishna Dham

 

Swami Shivapadananda on making choices

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Taken from Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.

Day 319

 

If there is jealousy and hate among the chelas [disciples, followers], if the guru’s [spiritual preceptor's] love does this, there is something wrong. All the guru wants is for you to serve each other, this will make you a master, not a slave. It must not make you dependent on the guru.

See evil in good and good in evil. Thus get above both.

If self-surrender is not complete, not continuous, the ego pops up again and again. ‘I am suffering,’ is ego. ‘I am not suffering,’ is ego. It is like a cat and a rat.

You feel weak? Increase your sadhana [spiritual practice].

There are two roads open to man - to do good and to do bad. Always choose the former and become sattvic. As you overcome this struggle you overcome destiny, you become immortal.

Self is a subtle essence. It is the source of semen and ovarian production. Both are sustained by the Self.

The body is the mould of the mind. The Spirit is the enjoyer, is the source of body and mind.

Make others happy.

Listen to bhajan and kirtan [spiritual music and songs] for three hours a day and see how your whole life is changed.

Renew your vows. Grow to be like Holy Mother [Sri Sarada Devi]. You have years of sadhana ahead, to serve thousands, to reach the goal, God-realisation.

Click on 'Continue reading' below to find out about CDs of Swamiji speaking.

Swami Shivapadananda on understanding one's true nature

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY

READINGS

Taken from Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.

Day 276

A candle brings light to others. Hanuman is a perfect bhakta, jnani, raja yogi, and karma yogi. In the lowest form, the body, he thinks of himself as the servant of God. In Jnana Yoga you give the mind to God. In Bhakti Yoga you give the emotions to God. Hanuman is the gateway to Sri Rama. Hanuman is a perfect brahmachari [controller of his senses, celibate]. To give yourself in thought, word and deed to God is the only way. All power, all faith, all devotion removes obstacles and gives purity.

Sri Rama asked Hanuman, ‘How do you think of me?’ Hanuman replied, “If I think of you as my master, then I am your servant. If I think of you as the Jivatman [individual soul], then I am a spark of That. If I think of you as the atman [universal soul], I see you as myself.” Hanuman is karma which is good and bad. If you do bad, he lets you have it. If you do good he helps you.

The world is within me, a cylinder with holes for the eyes and so on, and the jiva just looks out, not the Self.

Devotee: I feel like I want to stop the clock. Swamiji: It’s all a dream, wake up. There is no clock, so wake up. Obey the guru. Never rest till the Master’s [Sri Ramakrishna's] work is done.

Vishnu stands with chakra [discus or spinning wheel], gada, padam [flower] and shanku. Shanku [conch shell] is OM or Omkara, the sound of Brahman. This indicates:
Out of this I created the whole world, liberation. Padam is a flower. This indicates: I am love. Chakra [spinning wheel/discus], with this I cut your karma asunder. Gada [the club] indicates: But to make you pay for your karma I use Shiva, the gada. So watch out.

Control the mind and it will be a blessing.

 

Swami Shivapadananda on experiencing God

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Taken from Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.

Day 234

God is One - but He acts out of His grace, out of His free will. He is not bound by anything. He becomes the Creator, the Preserver and the Destroyer. We use this free will and are bound again - we start creating, preserving and destroying. We are bound again because we do not know the seer of creation, preservation and destruction. When you do know Him the lila [divine play] is over. God created this lila, this maya [illusion/delusion]. Avidya [ignorance] and maya hide the divine from man.

They say there are only three facets of God - creator, preserver and destroyer - but Shiva is known as five - creator, preserver, destroyer, veiler and revealer. And therefore you use the five sounds [of the Shiva mantra] - na ma shi vaa ya. Avidya hides the soul from you but vidya [knowledge] reveals it to you.

Sri Ramakrishna said, “Who cares to be sugar? We all say we want to taste sugar.” And we feel: “I do not want to be God, I want to taste God.” So you become a bhakta [devotee]. If you want to become God you are a jnani [a seeker on the path of knowledge].

Shiva is the complete revealer. All five functions work through the elements, the earth etc., the visible forms of Lord Shiva. Worship him in any of the functions. Then he is Dakshinamurthi - the Guru of Gurus - he silently reveals himself. Other Gurus instruct you but Dakshinamurthi does not speak, he sits like a mirror that reflects your real Self. That which you think is poison, in reality, is nectar. If you take the nectar of Shiva bhakti [devotion to Lord Shiva], then you will be full of knowledge and you can impart that knowledge. It is Dakshinamurthi that imparts knowledge.

The five functions, the five elements, are the murthi [image or representation] of Shiva himself. Nowhere will you find all the elements not present – thus God is omnipresent. May the Knowledge that came to the gods and goddesses, when Shiva drank the poison, be your Knowledge. So that which is poison may become nectar - and may you be immortalised. Go with the love of God, the love of the Ishta Devata [personal or chosen Deity or Ideal].

 

Swami Shivapadananda with more thoughts for the new year

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Taken from Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.

Day 203

New Year discussion continued:
May the new year come with happy tidings - on health and wealth, prosperity and enlightenment. May the Ramakrishna Centre [of Southern Africa, founded in 1942 by Swami Nischalananda Puri] be in the Light of God and not in darkness.

May your faith in God increase. May you become the helpmates of God - to serve Him and help Him in thought, word and deed.

Get up before sunrise. Do more sadhana [spiritual practice]. Get up earlier. Increase your sadhana but do not rush it.

Don’t worry - be happy. You can only not worry when you surrender to God. Only then you get happy.

This ‘don’t care’ attitude does not get you anywhere.

I do not know whether I am good or not - but I try to do good. Man is good but only when he does good is it seen.

Guru [the spiritual Preceptor] disciplines the chela [disciple or devotee] as part of himself.

God has as many forms as there are minds in this world - and one form is death [see footnote] - Bhagavad Gita [a major Hindu scripture] Chapter 10 verse 34.

We are so used to choosing the pleasant and not the unpleasant. We must go above the pairs of opposites [like and dislike etc.] and we need a very important instrument to do that - detachment.

Grace is not cheap. That it comes to all is amazing. What is the qualification for grace? One requirement is your speech must be sweet.

How many of you practise one of Gurudev’s [Swami Nischalananda’s - Swamiji's own Guru] Spiritual Precepts? There is no realisation without these qualities. Take constancy for example. Women must practise this and the men too must be more soft and tender.

Sri Ramakrishna, the Cosmic Mother, reveals Brahman - that means the tender qualities of the Mother. And this leads to brotherhood, not to arrogance and pride, because there is no tenderness or grace in them.

Footnote:
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 10:34

"And I am the all-devouring Death. I am the prosperity of those who are to be prosperous; and of female qualities I am Fame, Fortune, Speech, Memory, Intelligence, Constancy and Forbearance."

 

Swami Shivapadananda instructing householders

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Taken from Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.

Day 142

[Swamiji addressing householders, i.e non-monastics]: You can renounce [give up the world] while living in your house. Happiness is the most important thing. Be happy. Even when you die, if you can smile it will make everyone feel happy.

Think like this: In whatever place I am I was put here by the Lord. It is His Grace. I am always in the right place. Do everything well. Do japa [repetition of a mantra or God's names] and offer it at my [i.e. the Guru’s, the Lord’s] feet. Every second you must think of God. Think: God or my Ishta [chosen Ideal or Deity] has taken that form: tree, animal, men.

Strengthen the positive in you - and wilfully root out weakness in you. Make yourself more positive and the weakness will disappear by itself. We need japa, recollected-ness, meditation. This leads to one-pointed-ness. Then we will see the true Self.

If you have thoughts of lust or anger - just think of a holy man. “Hreem” [a sacred mantra-syllable] attracts unity within and without. It is Durga’s bija [seed syllable] mantra. Can we give up all desires? Yes, when we seek the Self.

For years I walked around as a sadhaka [spiritual aspirant/seeker], thinking: All this is unreal. I’d look at myself - unreal. Then the experience would come for a second - something would happen.

Attach the mind to the Atman [universal consciousness], God. See 'It' everywhere - know It is Eternal.