Swamiji shares more on how to take full advantage of this human birth.
Swamiji says that having the blessing of a human birth, we must take advantage. Like when the tide is high in the sea – then you must sail your boat! If the tide goes low, you get stuck. We don't know when the tide will come again. The tide of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the tide of great saints and sages [Rishis] right now, is high in your heart. The feeling is there. Take advantage of that feeling, and boost your sadhana [spiritual practise]. Go, headlong!
But as human beings, we have fear. Why? Many times in our previous births we were let down – in our ordinary lives we are let down. So that fear gets hold of us. But there should be no fear on the path of spirituality. Because Sri Ramakrishna says, 'Wherever man fails, God takes over.'
Swamiji elaborates on this topic in a profoundly encouraging way. Using Mother Sita, ice on the skin, Gandhi, Mirabai, as examples of how we can transcend fear and suffering. So suffering must and will be there, but suffer in the name of God. Where it becomes tapasya [austerity] and so it becomes sadhana.
Swamiji elaborates on Sri Rama's willingness to embrace being sent into the forest, as an opportunity to meet holy people and do tapasya. Swamiji says 'Dasharatha' means the ten senses. [We commonly refer to five, but follow the link to learn that there are ten and maybe even eleven! 'Das' means ten and 'rath' means a chariot. If you combine these two you get the meaning of the name Dashrath, as the one who rides or rules a chariot drawn by ten horses – the senses.] Genuine, evolved human nature is to be self-sacrificing. Says Swamiji, if we must suffer – and sometimes for the wrong things – then let's also be willing to suffer for the right things.
Swamiji draws the threads of the homily together by saying that if someone can have such resolve, the gates of heaven will collapse. Because there will no longer be a barrier to entry. One will become an 'uninvited guest' – [meaning, no invitation required!] because it will always welcome you – the gates will always be open to you. Otherwise you need someone to take you there.
Says Swamiji, we need to take heed the words of the Rishis and Munis with unflinching faith. Because their words aren't based on theory or reading. They're based on actual experience. Faith will open the gates of all things which are good and 'higher' for you.
To be blessed with this encouragement, please click on the link below. There's no need for an AI audio transcript of this recording. It's clear to hear, as it is.
Duration: 10:49
Click here for the Flipbook version of: → Swamiji's biography
It's the free-to-read, draft 396 page, extended version of 'A Life Lived For Others. No need to install a PDF reader. It'll work in your present browser.
However, if you'd prefer a straight-up PDF version, please click HERE.
Dear Devotee, if we use the term 'He or he', when referring to Swamiji, it's not intended impolitely or disrespectfully. It's to minimise the repetitiveness of writing 'Swamiji' too many times.
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.
Admin tip: Underlined words are links. If you click on them, they'll take you to an explanation of the particular word or term. [In these overviews, Admin comments are typically in a smaller green font, and square bracketed, like this statement.]
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, was often very specific to the needs of people with him at the time. Please bear this in mind.
Links to our Guru Parampara (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 was crafted from prompts to Microsoft Copilot Artificial Intelligence (AI).