Swamiji speaks about the power of prayer.
Swamiji is talking about the role of prayers, and whether or not they get answered. And also about the consequences of answers to those prayers.
He then tells how Draupadi faced a dilemma when she didn't have enough food to feed the sages. In desperation, she prayed to Lord Krishna. Swamiji emphasises that prayer in itself, indicates surrender. Because we're conceding that we can't do something on our own.
Here's the story: In the Hindu epic Mahabharata, Draupadi faces the threat of Sage Durvasa's curse, highlighting her dependence on Lord Krishna and the miraculous Akshaya Patra.
When Draupadi had finished eating for the day, the Akshaya Patra, a divine vessel gifted by Lord Surya [god of the sun], would stop producing food. Durvasa and his disciples arrived unexpectedly, and Draupadi, having already eaten, had no food to offer.
She cried out to Lord Krishna for help. The Lord consumed a single grain of rice from the pot, which miraculously satisfied the hunger of Durvasa and his disciples, saving Draupadi from a potential curse.
Swamiji explains how the prayer process works. He says, 'just think the thought'. Because the individual mind is the universal mind. Nothing happens outside of God.
Swamiji says that when Draupadi asked the Lord for help, and he ate the one grain of rice and said, 'I am satisfied' the impact was immediate. That Universal 'I' means that all others were satisfied and had full bellies.
Swamiji says the big secret is this: By surrendering to God and 'feeding' God first, the whole world will be satisfied. If Mother Draupadi as an individual had attempted to feed the sages, it might have led to her being cursed by the irritable Durvasa. 😉 But when God is satisfied, all are satisfied.
Swamiji wraps up the homily by saying that this story is the perfect example of the power of surrendering to God through prayer.
Swamiji reminds us that meditation occurs in three stages: 1) Contemplation, 2) Concentration and then 3) Meditation. But, says Swamiji, looking at the children there on that day, he's adding one more stage. 'Imitation'.
'They imitate the parents, they imitate the teachers.' A reminder that Swamiji said again and again, 'Imagination is the greatest gift to mankind.' Not 'a' great gift, but THE GREATEST. So, imitation of the right kind, can and will play a powerful role in creating reality.
To share in these divine thoughts, please click on the link below. Jai Sri Ramakrishna!
Duration: 08:41
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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.]
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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 AI – Artificial Intelligence.