Sacrificing the ego on the altar of spirituality.
Says Swamiji: If you really want to master spiritual life, sincerely, truthfully, then please be prepared to sacrifice. Be prepared to sacrifice…what? You sacrifice either in a fire, or you sacrifice at an altar – you slaughter something. You must be prepared to sacrifice your ego in the fire of love. Love burns – I hope you all know that! Giving examples of how, Swamiji adds, Or sacrifice it with the sword of Gyana, knowledge, cut it.
Anything untruthful can be cut [eliminated] so therefore, the ego is not the truth. Cut it and offer it at the feet of God. Swamiji says: These two you must not forget. First I gave you Guru and now sacrifice. And if you are prepared to sacrifice, then in the beginning you might think you can do it without preserving the body. But you must do those things, either through eating [diet] or exercise, that will give you a healthy body. Not a slim body or a body like a wrestler.
Swamiji emphasises that animals – like elephants – are strong, and says he's talking about just a 'healthy' body. A healthy body will give us a calm mind. The recommendation is to take some form of exercise daily, that will be conducive to the maintenance of a healthy body.
And never forget your prayer and meditation. It must be done for one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening – at least. The word 'least' is stressed. Otherwise you can start doing it in snatches. Five times a day you sit for ten or fifteen minutes. You'll find that easier than trying straightaway to sit for one hour. When you do that, you'll find that in the evening you'll easily sit for longer.
Swamiji uses a school bell analogy, where the nature of the mind is to think towards the next event. So in the initial stages, the breaking up of the [meditation modules] is a wonderful method, and very conducive for meditation.
If you can't sit for meditation, then get into the habit of either continuously imagining that your body is everywhere, and permeates everything – I use the word 'imagine' – because you can't see it in the beginning. Imagination is a wonderful gateway to God-realisation, which is reality. Keep imagining God is there. Swamiji gives examples of how one can see God everywhere and under all circumstances. That, he says, is Gyana [knowledge].
On the other hand, repeat God's name and imagine the form [of your Ishta Devata] permeating everything. 'The kingdom of heaven is within you' [Christian Gospel of Luke 17:21] quotes Swamiji. And the king must be in his palace – that's the heart – in the Bhagavad Gita,[Chapter 10 verse 20 and Chapter 15, verse 15], Lord Krishna makes it very clear – 'I am seated in your heart.' No matter who the deity is – imagine that deity also in the heart of others. When you look at your own heart – see the same thing. Do this for three months says Swamiji, and watch the transformation. The mind will be so high – like a lotus. Living with the roots in this world [mud], but your mind will be above the world, in God.
Swamiji says all of this is how our seriousness should be, if we really want to succeed in reaching God-realisation. There is no other method. What God wants or 'needs' as Swamiji says, is only our love. That's all. And love can only be given without ego. Follow these hints, and you will be blessed. Practise Yama [things to do] and Niyama [things to avoid doing]. God doesn't need anything else from us. Praises? When we praise God our minds becomes pure. The same with happiness. Swamiji speaks about the 'infectiousness' of happiness and uplifting the mind. [Swamiji so often said that the mind in the higher state of vibration will always uplift the mind in the lower or unhappy state of vibration.] So we are uplifting ourselves and others by praising the Lord.
To listen to these special words directly from Swamiji, please click on the link below. Jai Sri Ramakrishna!
Duration: 08:55
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. 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.
The image in today's post is borrowed from here.