Swamiji encapsulates one simple thought on inclusiveness and egalitarianism.
A single but profound philosophical thought here: Swamiji says people only need to commune with Mother Saraswati [conceptually used example] in their own 'language' [of cultural or religious understanding]. In other words, in the form in which they recognise Mother, you must give them that. And in that form, they will recognise Mother in their own 'language'.
Just give it to them – because you're not concerned about which language [or form or concept] it is. You're only concerned with one thing – and that is the love of God.
And that's one of my things now at the ashram. For a long time I've been stressing that. I don't like this sectionalism [sectarianism or factionalism]. Any sect must come, and we must be able to give love.
That's why great Rishis [sages, seers, saints] just keep quiet. You come there, you don't think Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati, isiZulu, whatever. You hold only one thought: He's a holy man. Above all barriers.
To mull on these profound words, please click on the link below. Jai Sri Ramakrishna!
Duration: 00:50
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 in today's post was crafted using prompts to Microsoft Copilot AI. (Artificial Intelligence).