Swami Shivapadananda

Overcoming sense-pleasures

 

 

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 920

   

An example is given by the gurus [spiritual preceptors/teachers] on how to help a man using [or trapped in] sense pleasure: A man who was lost in sense pleasure went to his guru and said, 'Look, I want that girl. Use your power to make her marry me.' The guru said, 'No. That power is not mine. How can it be?' The man said, 'I must have her, Guruji, you've got the power.' The guru said, 'Alright, use this mantra [sacred word or sound syllable or one of the many names attributed to God]. There's only one condition: don't think about a monkey.'

The man thought this was very good. He took the mantra and went away. Later he was sitting thinking: 'My guru said I mustn't think about monkey.' But he couldn't stop himself from thinking of a monkey, so he couldn't say the mantra either. [laughter]

You see: effortless [thinking about God or letting go of something]. If you actually find it an effort, kick it out.

Fear can take a man to God. Fear is the tail of love, too.

Our Rishis [sage-seer-saints-gurus] are very great. Our Rishis are full of compassion. I laugh when I see how some people criticise our Rishis. And I feel like crying. [Swamiji speaks very emotionally]. The 'curse' of a Rishi is indeed a blessing

Andhi and Andha [the father and mother of Sravan Kumar (scroll down on link)] cursed King Dasaratha [thestory will be found in the Ramayana – a Hindu epic]. If it wasn't for them I don't know how many thousands of souls would still be dangling. At the time King Dasaratha must have thought he had been cursed but in reality he was blessed. An apparent curse brought bliss. You never see an orange-tree bearing potatoes. So if that curse can bring about such great blessings - by bringing Rama, Sita and all of them into our lives - then we can see from the fruit that it wasn't a curse. The fruit itself tells us what the tree is.

 

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

Swami Shivapadananda on management of the senses

 SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

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

Day 366

 

Be loving. Feel love for all. But I can feel love for XYZ without having them on my lap. I feel the love and they feel it too.

Beware of the senses, they can be aroused any time. Even if you control yourself, can you trust another? So do not be too friendly, keep back a little.

Beware of attachment, it is very, very subtle.

There was a guru and a holy woman devotee. One day she was massaging his body and this led to sense pleasure and desire on his part. What could she do? He was the guru and she was a woman from Europe. He fled back to India and she committed suicide. Learn from this, see what happens.

Devotee: How is it that one sees God in X but not in Y?

Swamiji: It is because of attachment - it is not God.

The devil comes as a sadhu [‘holy’ person]. This is my experience - it is not from a book.

Love, love, love. Spread love, His love, everywhere.

The Guru is the Atman [soul]. See him in all. But how can you if you do not see him in yourself?

The Guru scolds you, kicks you, so you run somewhere else. The Guru gives each one what he needs. A God-man acts without knowing, and not because he thinks he is the Atman. He never says, ‘I did it’ or ‘I am doing it.’

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

Swami Shivapadananda on sense-management

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

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

Day 186

[Sw.S] Repeated practice influences your thoughts and actions. Try to be with the Ishta Devata [personal or chosen Ideal or Deity] at the highest centre. The moment anything happens, run to the Ishta Devata. If it is something bad that happens pray: “Save me, I am at your feet, protect me.”

Excerpt from a book by Swami Yatiswarananda:

Connect all the thoughts to the Ishta Devata. If you love the Ishta Devata intensely, you are not troubled by lust. Through japa [repetition of a mantra or God's names], the repetition of holy passages and prayers, one-pointed visualisation of a holy person, rhythmic breathing, the company of holy people, you can counter these thoughts. Use these as the occasion demands.

A change of consciousness is the ultimate solution. Spiritual awakening forces the mind to do what is holy and right. Then it changes to super-sensory awareness.

The heart centre [or chakra] must be awakened. See the super-sensory light of the Self - and all sense cravings disappear. Then the problem of sex, and any other problem, dwindles away.

[Sw.S] Some people have reached old age and have not realized God. Why is that? Because they are clinging to anger. They are very crabby - and lust and greed get there fast.

Lust may leave you but the other traps will not. So start loving.

If the heart beats faster, do not get cross – or [rather] be cross with yourself. For greed, practise charity. If you take more than you need, it is greed, it is theft. Practise slowly.

Early in the morning, at midday and before going to bed, imagine the Ishta Devata. At first it is only imagination. But that is how I reached, others reached and you will reach

 

Swami Shivapadananda on controlling lustful thoughts

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY

READINGS

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

Day 185

Excerpt from a book by Swami Yatiswarananda:

Tackle sex at a mental level - imagination plays a dominant role in our life. There is a connection between sex and the imaginative faculty in man. Tackle imagination in a systematic way.

[Sw.S] The mind must never be allowed to see the wrong pictures. Use counter thoughts. For example: for hate you think love. For passion you think repulsion. Mentally you must like the right thing (God and Guru) so much that you want to do the right things. A diary will show that you think of bad things the whole day, not good things. Think the whole time of good things.

With lust tackle the problem straight away as it arises. The thoughts must be changed. Realise that thinking of God makes you happy. Bring in the positive factor. Think of a holy person and fill your mind with it. Do not let the mind stray. Do not go near lust, physically or mentally.

If someone attracts us on the thought plane, do not communicate with that person, dissociate yourself from them. Raise barriers of feelings of disgust for them. Give all thoughts and feelings to the Divine

alone. If you fail examinations, you must blame yourself and not others – just so with lust.

When you forget God or the higher Self, temptation comes with great frequency. Love your Chosen Ideal intensely. Merge all in the Self shining in you, your real nature. Deprive the destructive images, deprive them of life, bring in good images.

How to deflate the images, must be learned one day or the other. You must practise suggestion, for sex control. Do not let the mind come down. Concentrate on the heart and head. And if the mind goes down? Make it come up. Treat the mind as a friend. We must look on ourselves as the Atman - not as man, woman, body. Think: “I am the limitless self.”

 

Swami Shivapadananda on sense pleasures

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

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

Day 127

In the Upanishads we read: It is vital to observe brahmacharya. All the great ones, to realize the Truth, lived controlled lives, they gave up sense pleasures, and dedicated their lives and minds to God. For example Mahatma Gandhi led a life of brahmacharya. Sri Ramakrishna did not chase his wife away, he worshipped God in Sri Sarada Devi.

Everyone is afraid of death. But when you realise you are immortal there is no death. Then you turn away from earthly pleasures to something far higher.

You cannot come to God without renunciation in thought, word and deed. You may say, “Others have seen God, what about them?” But a vision is relative. The Absolute is beyond seeing. The seer and the seen become one. The knower and the known become one. Others go up slowly. It is most important to ask yourself: How intense is my feeling for God?

We at the Ashram are all renunciates, but in degrees. Mahatma Gandhi failed 4 times in brahmacharya but he did not give up. He went higher and higher.

Master [Sri Ramakrishna] is the ideal for the whole universe.

Be tenacious about wanting knowledge.

 

Swami Shivapadananda on sense-control

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

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

Day 114

In India the sannyasis still follow Shankaracharya’s ideals. They want to realize God for themselves. But Sri Ramakrishna said, “No! If God is seated in my heart He must be seated in every heart, you must serve Him there.” That is very, very beautiful.

It is very important to remain untouched by another person. Sri Sarada Devi said, “How beautiful to offer an un-smelled flower to God.” Un-smelled by anyone. When it is smelled it is joota, polluted.

Jesus Christ was a brahmachari [monastic celibate] his whole life long - body mind and senses - especially one very important organ. You must be kept untouched by anyone. You must be the Eternal bride of the Eternal Christ, meaning of the Lord Himself. For Christians this would be Jesus Christ.

For a Hindu this would be for his Ishta [chosen deity or ideal].

You must control the senses. Direct them towards the Lord Himself by reading holy books, by japa, by fasting and above all by holy company.

Therefore you, as parents, have a very important duty to inform your children, from the beginning, what is good for the Lord and what is not good for the Lord. If you want the Lord, you must make sacrifices.

Most Rishis married but observed brahmacharya. After realizing God they could direct other souls.

If you worship an Ishta Devata you will not get the revelation of the Ishta Devata until and unless you keep brahmacharya. This is very, very important. Practise mind and sense control in ordinary life, as a rider controls a horse. Otherwise the horse runs amok.

Please wake up. Please wake up. Please wake up to the reality of spirituality, you householders. Only through brahmacharya will you live happily on earth. Brahmacharya is the sacrifice of all the pleasures of the world. It is celibacy – meaning complete abstention.

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.

Besides these daily readings Mother Radha recorded many hours of our beloved Swamiji speaking. There are currently 40 different CDs available in sets of 10 for R200 per set. This price includes postage. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order.

Posted by Clive Simpkins

Swami Shivapadanda on mental balance

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

                     DAILY READINGS

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

Day 59

You must put sattvic [pure, balanced] qualities in yourself. Be calm, be serene, be in equilibrium at all times and in all conditions. Have the senses under control. Swami Vivekananda says the whole of creation is symbolized by the ocean. When the water is calm, the sun is reflected. When the mind is calm, the light of the sun - God - is reflected.

The Bhagavad Gita states: Our nature makes us act. Anger and desire are rajasic [overactive, unbalanced]. This is the enemy. It is insatiable. It is the cause of all sin. Swami Vivekananda said: The senses are all delusion. Go forward, caring not for the good or the evil. Tamas [low nature, unthinking sloth, inertia, laziness] makes us destructive and a brute. Rajas binds us to action, to humanity. Sattva [balance, harmony] leads to divinity, to freedom.

How to become sattvic? Swami Vivekananda says: You must reach that state

where your very breathing is God.

Sri Ramakrishna said: Unselfish action leads to sattva. And then one realizes God, through His grace. Swami Vivekananda stated: “When the food is pure, the sattva becomes pure. When sattva becomes pure then smriti [*see below] becomes pure,” [i.e. memory of light, or one’s own perfection]. Then you become truer, steadier, Absolute.

To see and hear things that are pure, your surroundings must be pure - and so you overcome rajas. Sri Sarada Devi [pictured] offered food to God which all later ate. Because of this their blood became pure. And when the blood becomes pure, the mind becomes pure and this leads to God. Thus outside, unselfish action is sattvic; and inward, positive thoughts are sattvic.

* [Smriti (Sanskrit for, "that which is remembered") refers to a specific body of  Hindu scripture. Smriti also denotes non-Shruti texts generally, seen as secondary in authority to Shruti.]

Posted by Clive Simpkins
 

Swami Shivapadananda on focusing the senses on God

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY

READINGS

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

Day 26

An Excerpt from a Book by Swami Yatiswarananda 

Control these desires by willpower and by cultivating the witness attitude. Neither is easy. Every passion must be given a God-ward turn – consciously, knowingly, by willpower.

[Sw.S] The Upanishads [Hindu philosophical treatises] say we must have healthy senses. They are instruments but they must be controlled by the willpower or the Supreme. It is a graded path. Be wide awake, conscious, more reflective. Act less on impulse or on instinct.

Everything is Divine, even the Mother's tiger [In Hindu art, one aspect of the Divine Mother, Durga Devi, is typically depicted riding a tiger - see picture above]. But if you go to prostrate to it and not the Mother, be careful!

Gurudev [Swami Nischalananda] said: If I say, ‘Keep still,’ you must keep still. And when I say, ‘Don't do it’, do not do it. Now it is the opposite sex. Later the time will come of no sex. See the Spirit more than the form.

Book: Dispassion must be cultivated as much as possible. Discover from others as much as possible and connect it with the Divine as much as possible. But we brush God aside.

[Sw.S] How beautiful.

Book: Centre all the emotions on the Ishta Devata [chosen Ideal or Deity]. He will never leave you, never forget you. Learn how to be with Him alone. When we pray we use a mantra for this reason, to make the Deity living to us. Keep repeating the mantra and seeing the luminous form. Do japa [repetition of God's name or a mantra] intensely.

[Sw.S] When you eat think: ‘Make Shiva eat,’ or ‘Make Krishna eat.’ The whole time when I eat I think that too. Try it. You will see it on your face, in your eyes. God has His own shine, His own effulgence.

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Swami Shivapadananda on the Senses

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY

READINGS

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

Day 10

Follow the ethical and moral rules and keep the mind and senses [seeing, hearing, taste, touch & smell] under control.

In prayer you must follow a routine. Do it at the same time every day - in the morning, midday, in the evening and at midnight - or morning, midday, evening - or at least morning and evening.

Always have a light burning, clean water, agarbatti [incense] and do arati [ritual gentle waving of little butter or oil lamps] if you like. Families must do their sadhana [spiritual practice] and general prayer together. Then greet the Deity [divine] in each other. Do this and your house will always be full of peace, prosperity, health, happiness. Then you are able to give this happiness to the whole world.

On birthdays fast and give charity to the poor. But maybe our hearts are so small and therefore we do not progress. And because we always think the money is short there is never a lot.

Give charity. Do not speak ill of anybody. If you do, then God is showing us we have evil in us. How can we pick on the evil in others?

A clean mirror reflects, not otherwise. It is a habit to pick on other's short-comings. With force you must praise them, say something positive about them. This saves heartache later and leads to happiness and peace. Always know that your Deity is seated in your heart.

It is better to have one particular relationship with God.

Spirituality has no restrictions. Some people think it is to kill your self No. It is dharma, artha, kama, moksha [the four fruits - see below].

If a sannyasin [monk/renunciate] follows his dharma, that is dharma, artha, kama, moksha.

If a householder follows his dharma, it is dharma [righteousness], artha [wealth],  kama [fulfillment of desire], moksha [liberation - from the cycle of birth and death. The 4 are collectively known as the four fruits.]

Spirituality calls for moderation. Write it in your heart. If you eat too much, what happens? You overeat and get lazy or ill. So eat in moderation to keep healthy.

Cling to the lotus feet [refers to humility at the holy feet of] of the Deity. Do everything that is good and therefore you will be good. That is godliness.

People think the mantra is only the mantra the guru gives you. This is not true. Every word of the guru is a mantra [sacred word or sound]. If one lived by those words one would be happy.

Guru kripa [grace] - guru's grace. It is the grace that gives you moksha [liberation]. It is not your sadhana [spiritual practice], it is the melting of God's heart.

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