Swamiji places HUGE emphasis on the need for faith in spiritual life.
Swamiji continues a thought from audio post 122-3, in which he explained that Vibhishana was able to walk on water because of his faith in Sri Rama's name.
When Vibhishana gave another man a charm tied in his cloth, assuring him that he too, would be able to walk on water, the man did – until, in a moment of doubt he opened the knot in the cloth and thought, 'Oh, only this?' and immediately sank. Click HERE for the story.
Swamiji explains how, following the giving of Diksha mantra by the Guru [Spiritual Preceptor], the Chela [disciple], if they're faithfully doing japa [repetition of a mantra or sacred sound syllable], will usually discern some sort of improvement in their spiritual practise. But then suddenly they may also experience a deterioration. And what happens asks Swamiji? You will drown, there and then. Because of a loss of faith.
Faith is the barge that carries one across the sea of existence [samsara] – of birth and death. Without faith, there's nothing.
The same story comes about with [Bhakta] Kabir Das, when he said, 'I must get initiated by the great Guru Ramanuja.' But because Bhakta Kabir was of a low [weaver] caste – and Ramanuja was a Vaishnavite – and he would not/could not break the prevailing religious laws of the time, Kabir couldn't be initiated. But Kabir was determined, and thought, 'I'll get initiation from him. I'll get it!' Listen to Swamiji telling the delightful story of how Kabir got his initiation after all.
Says Swamiji – today Kabir is the greatest Bhakta – we worship him, because of the faith he had in the name of God – Lord Rama. By repeating it, Kabir – although only a weaver – became a saint.
So FAITH in the words, is the philosopher's stone that will turn one into God. Without faith, nothing will happen. What will happen if you repeat your mantra without faith? First it will instil faith, and then later on do its work. Swamiji says if we can have faith from the beginning, then the doors are open to the inner world.
Swamiji tells another story illustrating the role of faith. With a very comical ending! 😂 Swamiji asks, 'Have we got the faith? That is the big question.' If you haven't says Swamiji, you must come to satsang and slowly acquire it. The word is 'acquire' faith. And it's bound to come, sooner or later. Rub two sticks. Don't stop rubbing them together. One day it's bound to catch fire. And when that fire [of faith] in you arises, all karmas will be burnt.
We Hindus do not believe that Destiny must take us along a fixed, pre-determined path. We are children of God. We shape our own destiny. Destiny is only past deeds. What we sowed in previous births, we reap [prarabdha karma]. Similarly, what we now sow, we shall reap in the future.
Swamiji wraps up the homily with a deeply ironic and amusing story about Death visiting in Baghdad. A great lesson and conclusion to the discussion.
To benefit from these lessons, please click on the link below. Jai Sri Ramakrishna!
Duration: 08:54
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 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 on this post was generated using prompts to Microsoft Copilot Artificial Intelligence (AI).