Swamiji says we’re all ‘meditating’ on something external already – now just make it internal.
We are all meditating. On something. I'm only asking you to add one more. We're all meditating outside and concentrating or thinking of something all the time. Just add this thing and go on with it [turn it inside] and have an attitude of a little morality. That's all I'm asking.
And everything, in three months time will happen, and improve you. Even your daily work you'll be doing better. You'll apply your mind so beautifully, that you'll gain more in your own secular world.
If a man can plan and steal a lot of money, surely that man who can plan stealing can plan something good, too? Can he not?
Someone, with a rich deep voice says, 'But there's no sense of desire.' Swamiji says, 'That's what I'm saying.' I'm using 'like'. The person asks, 'How to change that?' Swamiji answers: To change that is to realise the seriousness.
That is why our yogis, our gurus say, 'Try to realise the worthlessness of what you're doing.' That's all you do. Ask yourself this serious question. Don't go outside and discuss it, because there the ego has a chance. I've had a lot of guru bhais [brother disciples] and guru bhens [sister disciples] sit down in front of people and do japa [repetition of a mantra, sacred sound syllable or one of God's many names] and honest to God, I have no respect for these people. Nothing. Because when I look at their daily life, they haven't changed a bit. Not a bit. They must question themselves and look at the seriousness of this. How long is this going to last?
Once you get the seriousness stamped in your mind, then naturally it won't bother you. So please realise the temporary [nature of] the thing and realise also the valuelessness of all of what you are doing and what I'm doing. This is real religion. This is the beginning of something. Trying to get the mind on track. Trying to get the mind attracted.
If you join race course people you get the desire to go to the races, and surely if you join a football match and you start speaking about that, you'll get into it. So why not join some good holy people? That's how your desire will increase. It also depends on what kind of literature you read. You must make up your mind.
Sometimes the householders think I am talking against them. No, I have come out of a household. I only ask a householder to live a controlled life. What life? A controlled life. You moderate it. That's all I ask.
Sometimes we have a wrong concept of religion. One person asked, why do you worship Christ? You know that he cured sicknesses? was the reply. This fellow is worshipping the Lord because he cured sicknesses. So he wants sickness cured. But he knows that the body that Christ cured, today nothing is found. It is perishable. That soul is to be made whole. Not that body. Unless he wants to cure a body. So look at it. You want the Lord because he'll give you some prosperity, some money, some health and wealth.
But at the present moment my whole duty is to find out my rightful father [my Divine caregiver]. Who is really my father? I have the right to know that from you, because he has the rights to look after me. I'll charge him for maintenance. And when I know who my father is, I know who I am.
It's not that difficult. It's easy. Yes, from today start gathering your mind. And you know, the best way of sadhana [spiritual practise] that I've found, a funny kind of sadhana I used to do. Swamiji explains how he use to do just one mala [string of prayer beads] of japa repetition at set times of the day and how 
after a time, it became an automatically entrenched habit.
It's so beautiful the way the mind was gathered. Just that thing of, I wanted to do that one mala [of mantra repetition] because that's the sadhana I must do. And automatically the mind picked it up.
Swamiji draws the threads together by talking about his pre-monastic boyhood and how the male movie stars of the time were his heroes. He reels off their names, to the recognition and delight of the congregation. Swamiji explains how they positively influenced his life – he says it's interesting how dharma [righteousness] will find its way into you, through the most diverse means.
To enjoy the blessing of these teachings, please click on the link below. Jai Sri Ramakrishna!
Duration: 08:20
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.