[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: 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