Swami Shivapadananda

Hawan rituals

 

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 829

   

Devotee: Why do they throw rice into the ceremonial fire [hawan]?

Swamiji: Rice is a symbol of prosperity for the world and for yourself. You must remember this: never worship God with broken rice - always use the grain which is whole. Never worship the gods and goddesses with flowers that are offered upside down. (You only worship Lord Shiva with upside down flowers - because it is involution. For other gods you have to put the flowers straight - so it is evolution.)

They say [that according to Hindu tradition] on Sundays you must not pluck the Tulsi [Basil] leaf - on Mondays Vilwa leaf you must not pick. But I tell you the fact: Whenever I feel like offering I take it. [laughter] Yes, that's all right - God understands even if you do not.

Devotee: If a man performs worship are future karmas [spiritual debts, mandatory life-scripts] taken away?

Swamiji: If he is continuously performing it, then yes, it will be taken away. But not if he performs it for one day only. Because if he performs worship for one day only then he'll still be performing other karmas. He must continuously perform worship, every day, so then they will be taken away or minimised. By doing that, we are actually planting dharma [righteousness]. Instead of saying, 'take away our bad karmas,' you are planting dharma. So when the tree of dharma grows big, the tree of sin perishes automatically.

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

 

Behaviour when worshipping

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

638

   

Our scriptures say that when you are praying and when you sneeze you must again do achamanam (the purification rite).

So I ask you to treat the Deity in your own shrine and in this shrine with love. Either you use psychology on God or God will use it on you. You had better be the first one.

Do the arati, feed the Deity and slowly take its blessing and then say, 'Lord you are Omnipresent, I am feeding you.' And then, if you like, get one fruit and place it there. Say, 'Lord you too are here now.'

But first learn to do it in your mind at home. You gave It a form, you gave It a figure, you gave It a life, it is your duty to supply It with food too. If It came to life Itself, then it is Its own duty to look for food. You made the pranapratishta [awakening of the Deity], you did the prayers, so it is your duty to give the food. You must sit there and give It everything.

They say that mental worship [manasika puja] is the most beautiful worship. Every day Arjuna would take vilva leaves and put them on the Shiva linga while his elder brother Bheema appeared to do nothing One day Sri Krishna wanted to humble Arjuna so they went to Lord Shiva's abode. Arjuna noticed that one Shiva linga was covered with great big trees of vilva leaves, while another had only a few leaves scattered around it. Arjuna looked at the trees that had been offered and said, 'But who did this worship?' Sri Krishna replied, 'Bheema performed this worship.' 'But he was just sitting there,' remarked Arjuna. Then Sri Krishna said, 'No he did manasika puja [mental worship].'

External worship too is important because it makes an inner impression. It brings about inner transformation.

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.

Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Nischalananda Puri, Swami Shivapadananda

Click Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna to read online...

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 letting go of ritual worship

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

589

   

Sri Ramakrishna said that we must not pay too much attention to ritual. He said, 'You must remove the tail and the head.' This does not mean that you should scoff at orthodox worship. He said that if you want to teach it, teach it to a particular person because there are people in this world who will be able to take to it. The majority of people have to practise sadhana [spiritual practise] according to Narada's bhakti yoga, but Master [Sri Ramakrishna] said, 'These days I do not worry about anything I only give the people the Gayatri.'

Now when you check the ritual book you will understand why He said, remove the tail and head. There we find that the Gayatri has a very long ritual where you must hold your nose and hold your toes, face this side and face that side, pour water in the north, pour water in the south, and so on. That is why he said, 'I do not worry about all that, I give them the essential part.'

Master said, 'Ritual worship comes to an end when your eyes are full of tears and when your hair stands on end.' This means you are not doing it with I-consciousness; the 'I' automatically drops off; you cannot do anything further. It itself has brought ritual worship to an end because the fruit of that ritual worship is devotion and love. And on getting the love are you still going to go on doing the ritual worship?

If you are in the habit of reciting the full Gayatri mantra there will come a time when, just by saying Om, you will get the same feeling that you get when you recite the whole Gayatri. When this happens you will not be able to recite the other syllables any longer. The next stage is when, just by thinking about Om, or by uttering Om, you lose all outward consciousness and get into samadhi.

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