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 990
If you're doing serious sadhana [spiritual practice] there are obstacles that you come across, which we know about by God's grace. When you don't ask then we know something's wrong – it's not going right. You are contented. And yet the yama [avoid] and niyama [guidelines for things you must do] says you must not be contented...with what kind of life? With a worldly life, you must become discontented. It must become distasteful – why? Then you will start desiring That which will give you eternal contentment [santosha] – God, the Self [through God- or Self-Realisation], Shiva or Krishna. When I say Shiva I don't mean any particular form [of deity, Ishta Deva], I mean Shiva the Atman [universal soul]. When I say Krishna I don't mean any form. I mean Krishna the Atman. When I say Kali I don't mean anyone, any form – I mean Kali the Atman.
The guru [spiritual Preceptor] is a walking stick. Use him to walk. When you get well, good, you can run, start running – give the walking stick to someone else. Don't throw it away.
Devotee asks: 'Swamiji when one meditates one tends to fall asleep at times. How does one correct that?
Swamiji: Do vigorous exercise. Go outside. Breath in, breath out, shake it [the lethargy] out, walk and then come back. That thing is the devil [the lazy or impure mind] – you know the devil appears in the form of lethargy, the devil appears in the form of pain. The devil appears in the form of saying, 'There's important work there.' This is the idea of Maya [the divine power of illusion/delusion]. He takes all forms to see how sincere you are, to reach your beloved [God].
If you are in love with a girl, your father can tell you a thousand times, 'Don't get married.' Your grandfather can tell you not to get married but you'll break through all caste, colour and opposition to get married. [Have this yearning/intensity for God] Are you loving God? No. Then all this sleep comes. There's no other way. I don't want to bluff you.
Have your room well-ventilated. Nice fresh air must come in. Sit straight, in a comfortable posture - don't sit in a bad asana [meditation position]. Then you'll be alright. Before doing sadhana I'll usually open my rooms and... [Swamiji demonstrates bhastrika – a rapidly oxygenating yoga breathing technique] I'll do some yoga exercises, maybe stand on my head [sirsasana]. If I feel a little tired I'll say OK, 'I'll wait a little bit.' While I'm waiting I'm thinking about the glories of God. When that's finished I do my pranayama [yoga breathing] then I sit for meditation. Even if I don't sleep the whole night - in the morning I will still do sadhana. The sadhana is a must. Sadhana is a?...must. Is that answered?
And then another thing – if you eat a lot of food, heavy food, particularly at night-time, in the morning you'll have difficulty. If you eat food and sit for meditation you're doing harm. It's injurious to health, because all the blood rushes down there [to the stomach,to facilitate digestion]. Your brain can't meditate and concentrate. So you should not meditate straight after eating. I used to drink a nice glass of hot water - then sit and meditate. I don't say it's for everyone. You see – you can't put everything in one compartment and say, 'I did this and you must do this.' No, like I say if I drink milk, I may get digest it. But if you drink milk you may get diarrhoea. So adjust yourself, find your own likes and dislikes. Find your own things that will digest.
Find the things that will give you comfort. But all that comfort and other things must be so directed that you must meditate. Have bhajan ananda [blissful singing] – take pride in doing worship. Find happiness in doing ordinary worship. Eighty percent of us are not yet fit for real good sadhana. So at least do one hour of ritual worship – find happiness in that. Over time as you're doing it, that itself will say, 'Why offer all this? I'm going inside [in meditation, mental worship]. The outside process is only suggestive of the inside. What is it? Suggestive - and it's symbolic of the inner world. That's all it is. But as long as that inner world doesn't awaken, try to waken the [concentration] outside.
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