Swamiji says many of us are still seeking – even after finding a Guru. He asks, ‘Why?’
Swamiji is speaking at a satsang somewhere and expresses his joy at being invited to share time with the devotees. He starts by saying that man is seeking. And he goes on seeking. Even after having a Guru. He somehow still feels blind. The question is why?
Are we planting the seed 'off-season', have we ignored the Rishis' call for keen discrimination from one who is ready and the others who are not yet ready? After almost every chapter in our scriptures, you'll find [the equivalent sentiment of] 'Arjuna, do not tell this high secret to anybody but my devotees.' The questions is, God, forgive me for my ignorance, how do I know who's a devotee?
The gardener goes on watering the garden, even if there is only one beautiful flowering tree there. But the result is, you get weeds and grass also growing with it. But his eye is not set on that. It is set only on that most beautiful, flower-giving tree. Is it any wonder that Sri Krishna warns in the [Bhagavad] Gita, 'Hundreds will march the path, some will follow it, but one perchance will reach me.' Swamiji repeats the 'one, perchance…' That chance I take it to be the grace of God. Not blind chance like what we think of. One perchance will reach me.
We all, you know, have book keepers. But our book keepers sometimes put the wrong thing in there to save tax. But this book keeper, who is she? Nature! Mother. My Mother! Ramakrishna's Mother. Your Mother. Mother of the world [the Divine Mother]. She never makes a mistake.
Swamiji speaks about how the Guru knows the inner recesses of a person's heart. And he knows on what foundation you're constructing your castle. Whether the castle [is built] on bricks baked by selflessness, or bricks baked in selfishness. You all know for a fact that the material of the brick and the degree of heat, decides the calibre of brick you have.
A true devotee of God will never blame God. But a devotee that has a lot of misgiving about God's book keeper, is sure to blame him.
Swamiji tells a fascinating story about an instruction given to him by Gurudev [his beloved Guru, Swami Nischalananda Puri]. All related to God and Maya [his/her/Its divine power of delusion or revelation of partial truth.] Swamiji elaborates on the learning.
You may be able to bluff the public. They will worship you, they will give you aarti – they will take your photograph and put it on the altar. Swamiji gives some extreme examples of the extent to which the public will go.
Swamiji says that it seems that we judge by the following that someone has. Or by the size of the crowd at a meeting. But that is not the criterion. That is not the gauge for judging anything. But what you should judge, if you ever have to judge, is how much he loves God, and how much he's given up for God's sake.
It'll be foolish if he hates anything. Did not Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the great Guru in this age, teach us from simple home-truths? The spiritual renaissance began in reality from 1836 [Master 'birth'] and the egg was hatched in 1886 [when Master left the body].
Swamiji draws the threads of the talk together by asking if we've ever thought about Sri Ramakrishna's life. He fleshes out the essence of 'education' in the true sense.
Referring to the supposed illiteracy of Sri Ramakrishna, Swamiji says that literacy is only a child of wisdom – and a crawling child, at that. There is a vast difference between wisdom and literacy, or literature. Ending with the fact that Sri Ramakrishna's aversion to subtraction in arithmetic, was the inside expressing itself externally. Because 'Yoga' means to add or unite – not subtract.
To benefit from these deep thoughts, please click on the link below. Jai Sri Ramakrishna!
Duration: 10:51
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.
However, if you'd prefer a straight-up PDF version, please click HERE. (Depending on the age of your device or the browser you use, you may need to download a a PDF reader.)
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).