Swamiji gives initiation mantra to a little girl.
This is a very brief clip. Shared so you can experience the joyful moment of a little girl, innocently and likely unknowingly, being given Diksha mantra [first spiritual initiation] by Swamiji.
She's being introduced to her Ishta Devata [personal deity] – Lord Krishna. It's all so natural, spontaneous and sweet!
She will hopefully have looked back at some time, at the simple magic of this moment, which took place so subtly and without any ceremony.
In case anyone thinks that initiation into spiritual life always requires significant preparation by the sadhaka, with fasting, fruit, flowers, rituals and the like, the answer is not necessarily so.
In discussing it, Swamiji told us a good number of times that initiation can be in a dream – it happened with many of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi's disciples.
Or it may be a ritualised, more formal process. Even just a look from the Guru, a whisper in the ear – a sacred syllable written on the tongue, placing a japa mala [rosary of prayer beads] around the neck, and many other methods.
[I saw Swamiji trace a mystical syllable on both the tongue and palm of our beloved Pravrajika Atmaprana Mataji – pictured – our first Hindu nun of the South African Ramakrishna Centre, on the beach at a Tongaat Beach Yoga camp, in the early 1970s.]
Swamiji said that in some cases the mantra will [with the Guru's grace] simply arise spontaneously in the mind of the devotee. And wait for this – Swamiji said there are some people who don't even know that they've been initiated. But they will be repeating a mantra internally.
To listen to the less than three minutes of this heart-warming audio clip, please click on the link below. Jai Sri Ramakrishna
Duration: 02:39
The original audio recordings of these posts were made by close Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa and Swami Shivapadananda devotee, Mother Radha. The audio editing and noise reduction of the original 1970s-onwards tapes, has been lovingly engineered, over many years, by her son and our dear gurubhai, Brother Tim. May Sri Ramakrishna and Swamiji bless them both.
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Dear reader, if you spot typos or or other errors, please feel free to email the site admin on info@imbizo.com with your suggested correction/s.
Context: As always, care should be taken to remember that what Swamiji was saying, may have been very specific to the needs of people with him at the time. Please bear this in mind.
Links to our Guruparampara (spiritual lineage) organisations, which will broaden your knowledge base: Ramakrishna Math and Mission and our alma maters, the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa and the Sri Sarada Devi Ashram in Durban.
Today's post image was generated using Microsoft Co-Pilot AI.