Swamiji continues the discussion on avatars, and Lord Buddha in particular.
Swamiji says that at the time of Lord Buddha's arrival, there was a lot of animal sacrifice. Brahmins [the priestly caste] made it very 'famous' – four of them would finish off one cow. 😔 Lord Buddha put an end to those excessive modes of worship.
When Kalki, the last of the 10 Vishnu avatars [incarnations], comes to earth, it is said that he will come on a horse, with sword in hand, says Swamiji. The horse represents purity, and with the sword of knowledge in his hand, he will cut all ignorance asunder – especially attachment.
Darwin and his theory of evolution about life starting in water, enters the discussion. [This evolutionary information was only made public by Darwin in his book 'The Origin of Species' in November, 1859. And the book was belatedly published twenty years after he first arrived at his theory.]
But, says Swamiji, Hindu scriptures had, thousands of years before, already recorded that the first 'Incarnation' was a fish in water.
Our bodies are made out of five elements: earth, water, air, ether, fire. Any living body must have these elements. And the element most conducive to the body, is water. Take a leaf as an example – there's more water in a leaf, than any other element. [The average adult human body comprises about 60% water and the human brain approximately 73% water.]
There is philosophical significance to all of this. We find that God initially took form in water. Vedanta means the end of the Vedas or the end of all Vidya [knowledge]. But the beginning of Vidya must be God himself.
When God comes – and you must remember this – he doesn't come to destroy, but he comes to construct… what? Dharma itself.
In this age [in which Lord Buddha manifested], what was needed? Unity was needed. All the old methods of worship were dying. People spoke about God, but they had no faith.
Swamiji tells a story about a man worshipping Surya Bhagavan [the Sun god] and the sequence of rituals he went through. And how his son, in later life, having no knowledge of the significance, simply repeated the same rituals because he'd seen his father doing them. He had no understanding of the reason behind them. So, a meaningless and mindless exercise. The congregation enjoy this story and the amusing conclusion. Please listen to Swamiji sharing this important insight.
When we do many prayers, we often do so automatically. Certain things must drop off. Prayer is not necessarily a set of hard and fast rules. What prayer does, is to manifest devotion and love for God.
That's why Sri Krishna Bhagavan says in the [Bhagavad] Gita, 'I accept even a leaf, a flower or water, offered with love.' Devotion, love and faith. And if we don't have those physical objects to offer, then we can mentally offer love. That's why the Hindu scriptures prescribe mental worship [manasic puja].
Swamiji explains how, if you're away on holiday, and you routinely light a diya [oil lamp] on your shrine at home, whilst away you can physically light a lamp where you are, or mentally do all of that. The external rituals create a samskara [impression] inside [in the mind].
To be blessed with these wise words, please click on the link below. Jai Sri Ramakrishna!
Duration: 08:02
Click here for the Flipbook version of: → Swamiji's biography
It's a 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 impolite or disrespectful. It's to minimise the repetitiveness of saying or 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 visual in today's post was crafted using prompts to Microsoft Copilot Artificial Intelligence (AI).