Daily Reading 104. Swamiji talks about OM as the very first sound, and Guru-chela relationships.
Taken from Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.
Ganesha is OM. This is because OM is the first sound. It is God Itself. [See footnote]. The elephant is the animal that is nearest to the vibration of OM. The Infinite – the elephant – is all ears and we are all mouth. We do not lend our ears to hear. We are ‘I’ specialists [ego-driven]: ‘I did this,’ ‘I did that,’ ‘I did everything.’ If a man must speak, let him speak the highest. If a man must hear, let him hear the highest.
Ganesha cares about the feeling of devotion, the love. People get angry with someone else – but that anger hurts them, themselves.
In India I asked a holy old man, ‘What is Maya?’ He said with his eyes full of tears, ‘When God fails to do something, Maya is the power which does it for God.’ Maya is the power of God. [Swamiji explained Maya to us as ‘partial truth‘. So it’s concealing or masking the full actuality. Remember the snake and rope analogy?]
Sri Ramakrishna said, ‘So long as I live I learn.’ So long as this ‘I’ [ego] is in you, you are ignorant.[Which, as swamiji always explained, meant not having the necessary insight, or sufficient experience at that point]. So long as you think you are the body, you must learn that you are not the body. When I know I am Spirit, I stop learning – I am One without a second.
Seers [Rishis, saints, sages] always speak the truth. Sri Ramakrishna spoke the truth for twelve years, and whatever he said came true. You may do something spiritual on your own. But there must be a scriptural source of reference to know if it is right or wrong.
[Footnote: In the Christian Bible are the words, ‘In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.’ That’s the same sound – OM.]
In the days when the Upanishads [Hindu philosophical texts] were written, the student had full confidence in the teacher or Guru. That is what is missing in this day and age, from both sides. Students did not look down on the teacher, or run him down. Why? Because they knew the teacher would share his knowledge with them, and they appreciated the knowledge given by the teacher. A compassionate teacher infuses the student with enthusiasm and lets him think for himself.
In those days real love between Guru and Chela [disciple] was a sacrifice itself. We, on the other hand, want name and fame and possessions. The teacher is always full of compassion. We want divine modesty. We must observe and reflect. A real chela always thinks that what the Guru says is for him. We, however, think what he says is for others.
Religion is always subjective and not objective. It is up to you to find a way out of that, by your own effort. If the directions are given, you can find the road.
Swami Gambhirananda [the 11th President of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission] said, ‘When you meditate on the Absolute, in the luminous space within the heart, you are free from time, space and attributes.’ Meditate on the Deity that is luminous, or at least see a halo of light.
True freedom is only experienced by those who depart from this world with the knowledge of Brahman [the one universal consciousness] – then you will be cut from the branch of the world, without any pain whatever.
Everything you want is already inside you. We are all united with Brahman in deep sleep, but we reach there ignorantly. If we go there consciously, we will be knowers of Brahman.
Underlined words are hypertext links to clarification, explanation or other sources. Just tap on them.
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For our gurubhai Atmaprakash Kramer’s beautiful pictorial ‘memoir’ booklet of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, Avoca Ashram, please click HERE.
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These recordings or the excerpts from them, were made from the early 1970s onward, by Mother Radha, a close devotee of Swamiji’s and edited for uploading here by our gurubhai and her son, Brother Tim. Please be mindful that what Swamiji was saying may have been specific to those with him at the time.