Swamiji prays in words [not mantras] for rain.
This is a very brief audio clip in which Swamiji prays in words [as opposed to chanting mantras in a hawan fire ritual] for the safety of all, and also for rain in a specific catchment area.
This brings to mind an incident in Pietermaritzburg at the home of devotees, many years ago, where the community had asked Swamiji to come and pray for rain in their seriously drought-stricken area. All the prayer items were assembled and Swamiji conducted a hawan for the specific purpose of bringing rain to the area.
That afternoon, it began raining the proverbial cats and dogs. The next day it was still raining, and Swamiji received a call from a concerned devotee to say, 'Swamiji, it's still pouring with rain here in the central area, but it's not raining in the catchment area to fill up the dams.' Swamiji's answer [not unkindly intended] cracked us all up, when he answered, 'Well then, you should have told them [the gods] where you wanted the rain!'
It taught us all a very important lesson. When we pray, we need to be specific about what we desire and where it should take place. Lesson learnt!
[In the visual accompanying this post, the same thing happened with two blind men and the Lord Jesus. They cried out for 'mercy' – that was not specific. The Lord (who of course knew what they wanted) asked what their need was. Then they were specific and their prayer was answered.]
To listen to this gentle prayer for safety and rain by Swamiji, please click on the link below. Jai Sri Ramakrishna!
Duration: 01:50
NEW! For a fresh daily reading recorded and transcribed by Team Radha Ma and Brother Tim, Click HERE.
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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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. The Ramakrishna Centre of Johannesburg is also active in Gauteng province in South Africa.
There are various publications [The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna etc.] which you can download at no charge, from the Ramakrishna Centre of SA website page, HERE.