Swami Shivapadananda

Swami Shivapadananda Puri on self-sacrifice

 

‘Sacrifice’ is the word that you must highlight in your life. Are you prepared to sacrifice your feelings? If you are, then that’s all right.

Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, ‘O Arjuna you say it is very difficult to control the mind; you say it is easier to control an elephant. Yes, I agree with you. It is very difficult but it becomes easy through practice and vairagya [dispassion].’ You must not get attached. Dispassion.

Visitor: What happens if in the past one has become attached to lust and one wants to break that old habit? It is very difficult...

Swamiji: Yes, it is difficult. We don’t deny that it is difficult. That is why sacrifice comes into it. In spiritual life our gurus tell us: ‘Adopt the attitude of non-cooperation with your mind.’ Just adopt that idea. You are going to suffer in any case, right? You are going to do something wrong and you are going to suffer. You are a slave. Rather suffer trying to be a master than suffer being a slave.

Swami Vivekananda told his brother disciples a similar thing when his brother disciples said, ‘Look, there is no place to stay. Let’s think about a way out. We are suffering.’ Swami Vivekananda, with firm spiritual strength said, ‘Do you think that if I can’t get milk to drink I will drink filth and eat dirt? Rather I die.’

That’s the phrase: ‘Rather I die.’ For what? For the right thing.

Mind control and independence

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

Day 1020

Swamiji commenting on a talk just given and then elaborating:

Our speaker said that Hatha Yoga is practiced so that one can use Hatha Yoga as a step to reach Raja Yoga. Raja Yoga is a very wonderful name. Someone says, 'what is that?' and you say, 'I'm a Raja yogi!' [Swamiji chuckles] But Raja Yoga only means this, given another name – mind control. That's all Raja Yoga means - absolutely nothing else. Raja Yoga just means mind control. So whatever physical exercise you do - that physical exercise is meant to be performed in such a way to ultimately be conducive to mind and sense control. Mind and sense?...control. Why mind and sense control? So you can use it to realise the highest aim of human life. That is God-Realisation.

Then for a sadhaka [spiritual aspirant or practitioner] it is said you must be independent. You must not depend on anyone. Meaning that you must not be obligated to anyone. When you're supposed to be independent, then you will do everything in your power to keep the independence of your mind - to use it to reach God. Now because the sadhaka has to practise this, he wants to be on the same ground. He does not care whether the man is giving to him out of love or he's giving out of some ulterior motive. That's not his business. He should not even dream things like that.

But what he does is subjective. He thinks, 'no – if I take it from him, then greediness or accumulation [acquisitiveness] may make its place in my mind. I may start asking for more things. Tomorrow someone gives me a pen. I look at the pen and say, 'Oh, beautiful pen – aah, lovely. How nice if I had a nice scented writing pad.' Then somebody will give me a writing pad. How good to write on that. And someone will tell me how to do Hatha yoga and I'll write the instruction. Now see…a pen came along, a scented writing pad came, now instructions have started. Once instruction started, the ego took its place – you think, 'I am a guru'.

So, by me [the sadhaka] taking that gift [pen. paper etc.], it brought about my down?...fall. I am not even supposed to see whether that is an impure gift or a pure gift. I must do everything in my power so that my mind is not brought down. From that point of view I do not accept any gift with any feeling of pride or ego [ahamkara]. But I beg you to help me to achieve the highest purity and avoid giving me any gift which will drag my mind down. You can give me the highest gift when you come near me - and speak about God - because that is what I want. After all, what the person likes – that you'll give to him. If that person does not like something, you will not give it to him. So, you should know what his aims are and in giving a gift to that particular person, you should give him that, which will bring about his highest manifestation. So you should speak pure thoughts to him, you should silently, without him knowing, send out prayers for his spiritual progress.

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 doors to hell

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

Day 1003

Swamiji speaking at a Yoga spiritual retreat camp.

There are three doors that need to be closed. They lead to one place only and that is?...hell. Haven't you heard people all tired and fed-up saying, 'I had a hell of a time!'? Hell of a time is located in hell. You can't get a hell of a time in heaven. Like Greenwich mean time. So a hell of a time must be in hell. So, we must close the doors to?...hell. And what are the three doors to hell?

The Bhagavad Gita [16:21] says Anger is the first one. So, control yourself with anything that makes you angry, if someone does the wrong thing. If he tramples on your clothing or tells you the wrong thing by mistake, he's actually holding you and leading you by the nose [i.e. he's in control of your moods and emotions].

Anger…next one? Greed. You must learn to share in the yoga camp. Don't say that only the Swami must have every comfortable thing. Others can go, where? To hell. Because you're already in hell. Share it. Greed. Greed of the body, greed of the mind and greed of the intellect.

Next is?...lust! If you have to feel lust, feel lust for God - let's lust after him. Because anything that is lustful can never go near him. Take the darkness to light. Catch hold of some darkness and take it to the light. [Swamiji chuckling] See what happens to the darkness the moment it gets to the light. It disappears. So catch hold of lust, don't be deluded - because you are all spirits. You are all?...spirits. What are the three doors? [devotees repeat, 'anger, greed and lust.']

Now remember I am telling you this because in the first thing that I opened and read today was that Gurudev [Swamiji's beloved Guru, Sri Swami Nischalananda Puri]  put this into practice and therefore we are here. Now remember that – thank God I am telling it to you here, after reading it. Anger….greed…lust. I remember some time when I was in the yoga camp, when Gurudev said, 'Hey, you must get all of this under control.' Somebody else was doing something and I turned around and said, 'He got angry!' Gurudev gave me a slap on the back and said, 'that is just another expression of anger!' [all laugh] You think you're telling someone very nicely, 'you're getting angry.' What do you think you see inside you? It's anger making you tell that. Otherwise you will bring about calmness. You won't aggravate the situation.

Gurudev taught me in a very different way – all his disciples [chelas] were special to him. And each one felt that he was special to us. He was like that Krishna that was multiplying himself into thousands of likes and at the same time, dislikes, too. So remember this. I said, 'Oh, you're getting angry, huh?' He gave me a slap. 'What do you think - isn't that anger?' I thought he was going to scold the other fellow – but he scolded me instead. Remember this, the ego is a very slippery thing. Worse than an eel. Worse than that, even. It will slip out, you don't know how.

Hatred, close the door. Jealousy, close the door, you have no judgments to pass O mind. You have no right to pass any judgment on others. Close it. Just remember, this is what we are here for. This is what we are here for. Don't, even in a dream, find fault with anyone. Be like Mother Sarada Devi [nun-wife of Sri Ramakrishna, who said that if we want to be happy we should not find fault with others]. Try it! I'm not saying we haven't got it, we've got it, therefore we say it. Try 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

Turn hope into action

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

Day 995

The mind gets hold of us in the form of postponement [procrastination] – putting it off for tomorrow. Some people say, 'Well, I am young, let me enjoy myself. Let's make merry'. Perhaps some middle aged or old people are also thinking that after five or six children they will get into spirituality. Their teeth start loosening and their nose starts bleeding, their back starts aching and the mind goes haywire….then they run to spirituality. It's hopeless – nothing will happen. Just like you had hope before, you are still living with hope. Hope is that hope that kills you slowly. Hope is an evil thing when wrongly adapted.

Even when you are old you say, 'one day something will happen and I'll do japa [meditative repetition of a mantra or one of the many names attributed to God], I'll run to temple, I'll run to churches,'- nothing will happen. Forget it. That's hope again. All these days you lived on hope that one day you'll be a rich man. That fellow is still poor. He lives on hope now. 'One day my body will be alright.' And then death, the great teacher comes, the great Lord comes and snatches you by force, because he gave you so many opportunities to learn – and you have not learnt yet.

The old people, when they say now say, 'I will become very spiritual,' [Swamiji chuckles], 'now', because all the trouble is coming around me…they are like the man who sat quietly and his company asked him to dig a well. He said, 'Don't worry. What is the use of a well? I have tap water – that is enough.' Then one day he finds the house is on fire and he runs to dig a well. By the time he's finished digging the well, he's injured himself plus the house has burned down.

Now this is something for the older people...there is still time for you. There's breath in you. Make haste while the evil worries of the world still have not got hold of you. You think sometimes you do people a favour by worrying about your wife, your children, your husband - you're doing nobody a favour. That's hope, that's hope, that's hope! Hope is a disease that will eat you up. Forget this hope.

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

Body, exercise, food and thought

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

Day 994

One should take someone from the rung of the spiritual ladder from where that particular being is presently. Therefore 99% of us are still at body level – we are body-conscious. What level?...body – we think that we are the body. Very few think that we are the spirit. That being the case, then you must think of this body as being the temple of God. Temple of?...God. And it is my duty as a devotee of God to keep the temple clean, and the altar clean and decorated with beautiful flowers. Beautiful flowers will be beautiful thought. Keep it clean with God's glories and thinking good about the whole world.

With it you must try to keep sickness away. If sickness is like holes in the temple, the rain of pain and misery will leak into it. So, you have to exercise the body. Keep it healthy – close up all the holes with putty. And when you exercise the body with different kinds of exercises, then you feel nice and healthy and comfortable. Then to concentrate, meditate and sing God's glory becomes easy. But besides being kept just clean and healthy what you put into the body is two things – food and thought. Food and thought.

Swami Nishreyasananda [then head of the Ramakrishna Mission in Zimbabwe, pictured] used
to say, 'The banana I ate yesterday, is today my body.' The banana is converted into body. The body is not just body, brains, nerves, eyes, nose – see, the banana [food] also transformed it. You must eat sattvic [balanced, wholesome, pure] food. Sattvic food that does not increase your passion [rajas], does not excessively activate your senses so that they become out of control. What you eat must make you calm and it must be food that is easily digested, so it will not become the womb of germs – to breed there.

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

Seize the moment!

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 989

If your mind becomes more worried than what it is now, if the mind gets more involved in sickness and other people's troubles, in wives and children and friend's husband and friends children – finished, forget it. You won't get God. Take it from me. Now is the time. Now is the time, when the body can take it. I haven't seen a woman who lives for a hundred years and then has children. When they are young they have children. So when you are young you must give birth to God-realisation. When you're old you'll get a lot of worries. A lot of cares. Now, does that mean old people have no chance? They've got it! Because their senses at this time are bow dead [dulled]. So at least they are free from that [passions etc.]. Come on – make haste to God! But what do they do instead? Now they take the grand-children to look after.

Love them but see them as God. Krishna playing, Radha playing, Shiva playing, Parvati playing, Ganesha playing. Do you do that? No - take my darling Shamolia [one of the very close Ashram children]. What Shamolia is to me you must imagine is the personification of Kali, Durga, Sitala. That's why I love her. When Narendra, later Swami Vivekananda came to Sri Ramakrishna, he said, 'I don't love you because you are Loren [Sri Ramakrishna used to call him Loren instead of Naren], I know you are Narayan. To ordinary people he loved the boy Naren, but he knew it was Narayan, the Rishi [sage-seer saint]. He looked through the mind and the body and saw what it is, in essence. In?...essence.

In the Upanishad it is said very plainly, 'the husband loves the wife not for the wife's sake, but for the sake of the Self.' The wife loves the husband not for the husband's sake, but for the sake of the Self. Proof? When that soul leaves the body, does the wife take it and say, 'This is my husband'? For one or two days she'll cry and say that, but when the body starts decaying she'll say, 'Please, cremate this fellow or bury him. Bury this body.' So you don't love that body for the body's sake. There is a soul – you love that. You don't believe me? Sometimes when you go and buy a diamond you start loving the box, but if the diamond is stolen you'll see how the value decreases in your mind. You'll see. The body is the box, the diamond is the soul.

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

Sloth and experience

[Pictured: Lord Rama (Avatar and Satguru) embracing Sri Hanumanji, disciple]

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 932

 

Swamiji to an elderly devotee: What are you busy with?

Devotee: I'm very busy with many publications and…

Swamiji: For your own sake just write down what you are doing on one piece of paper. If you do this you will see my point. Because it is bad for the age one is at to just let his or her mind relax like that. It's bad. For the sake of medicine and for the sake of keeping the mind alive do what I am saying. It is very easy to stretch the work to five hours. But you will see if you pay attention, that that particular work may only require one and a half hours to complete. Yet you are quite happy to do it for five hours. [Swamiji had clearly discerned that the devotee, regardless of senior age group, was slipping into a state of tamas or laziness. See three gunas.]

*

The story goes that one time a guru's [spiritual preceptor's] fire was left to go out. So he became very angry with the chela [disciple or sishya]. He asks the chela, 'Where's the fire?' The chela says, 'There's no fire.' The guru says, 'Go to hell and get it.' So the chela went to hell and he sees burning fire everywhere. As he's entering there the gatekeeper says.' Hey, where are you going? You don't belong in this place.' The chela says, 'My guru sent me to get fire from here.' The gatekeeper says, 'Fire? Go and tell your guru those people who come here come with their own fire. [laughter]

People hearing this will criticise the guru. But they are stupid people. Wasn't that a blessing? It was a blessing for the chela to learn and know [have that experience]. He did not know that before.

But people will only look at the guru's [seeming*] anger and criticise it. The guru's anger was actually a blessing. A holy man's curse is different from an ordinary man's curse. And if there's so much we can learn through the anger of that guru, even seated here - then blessed be that anger.

*Sri Ramakrishna used to say that the 'anger' of a holy man is like a stick lying in water. It appears to divide the water but in fact does not. i.e. it's not real or human anger, but a behaviour designed to produce a result in the disciple's mind.

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

Training the mind

 

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 918

   

Sri Ramakrishna said that a salt doll [i.e.a doll make from salt] went to measure the [size of the] ocean. Now the question is asked: 'Is there any effort on the part of the salt doll to melt or dissolve in the sea?' The answer is, 'No. No effort. It just melts.' Even if you try to preserve it, it will still melt. That is proper meditation. But if you do sadhana [spiritual practice] and you get up from your asana [seat] tired, that means you are on the wrong path [doing it incorrectly].

I'll give you two examples to show there is no effort. One: if you put R200 [money] on a horse, is there any effort to think what time the race is running? No. Even before time you'll put the radio on to listen to the race. Your mind is always on the race. Is there any effort to do this? No. Two: If you are in love with somebody is there any effort to think about that somebody? No. It's effortless. In fact it has the opposite effect; it is actually difficult for your mind to get out of those thoughts. So, no effort is needed. It just happens.

But that doesn't mean: if you don't love God, forget Him. What you should do, instead of pushing your mind, is to try to find methods to love God. No sooner you get to love God and there won't be any effort. The first thing to do is hear and read as much as possible about God.

For example: Some time ago you did not know about Swami Vivekananda, so you did not care about him. Suddenly you started finding out about him, then your mind said, 'Yes, Swami Vivekananda is great.' Now no effort is required to think of him.

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

 

Omnipresence, Saints and temptation

 

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 890

   

Swamiji continues speaking on Lord Shiva at the Shivaratri celebration:

The five functions, the five elements, are the murthi [form] of Shiva himself. Nowhere will you find all elements not present [i.e. absent]. This shows God is omnipresent.

A saint does not know he is a saint, but a rogue knows he is a rogue. A saint always thinks of himself only as a servant of God. Shiva is a servant of God. He never thinks he is God (though he swallowed all the poison where others failed).

[After the Maha Shivaratri service]

Swamiji: Did you sleep?

Devotee: Yes Swamiji, I nodded off.

Swamiji: You must be aware of those moments - they are the moments of temptation.

It is not 'becoming' but 'being' that is important. Remove the impurities. Never co-operate with your mind when it seeks to do something else. Otherwise you are doing violence to your spiritual life. The whole purpose is to be pure and humble. The humbler you are, the more pure you will be; and the more pure you are, the more selfless you will be.

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

 

Managing the mind

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 849

   

Devotee: When Jesus the Christ died on the cross, did he take all the karmas [various birth debts and obligations for fulfillment]  of all the people for all time, or for just that time?

Swamiji: If you call, if you repeat his name now, he takes on all your karmas. Sri Ramakrishna does this too, for that matter.

   

Swamiji to devotee: You must speak at the branches [of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa] on Master.

Devotee: But what if they ask questions?

Swamiji: Ah, you think like that because you think you are doing it - but Master [Sri Ramakrishna] is doing it. You will find that the answers come from him.

   

No questions will be un-answered if you read 'Meditation and Spiritual Life' by Swami Yatiswarananda [pictured above]. He followed the Master's teachings to the T [precisely, exactly, faithfully].

   

Your mind is on worldly things, that is why you do not have a good memory.

   

Devotee: I can't meditate in the evening, Swamiji.

Swamiji: Never mind the time. It is the quality of meditation that is important. All I ask of you is sadhana [spiritual practice] - not for money or even for love. I just say, 'Do your sadhana'.

   

Devotee: The mind just won't do it, Swamiji.

Swamiji: My mind argues in the evening about having a bath. I say, 'You must have a bath' but the mind says, 'Not now, I am cosy and warm.' Make the mind do what you want it to do then you can make it not do what you do not want it to do.

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