Daily Reading 112. Swamiji speaks on mind-power and says: Whatever you think intensely, you become that.

Taken from Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.

Whatever you think intensely, you become that. If you perform righteous action, dharma, then by following Cosmic Law, you earn money – artha. If you use it for duty, like helping schools, the SPCA etc., it is kama [fulfillment of desire]. This purifies the mind. You become helpful, blessed, pure. You see God and this is moksha [liberation]. It may not be absolute liberation, it maybe relative moksha.

You cannot be rajasic [over-active mentally or physically] and meditate on God. You may take drugs and hallucinate and think that is God-realisation. It does give you bliss, but it depends or relies on, drugs. You are a slave and not a master. You are a nervous wreck.

[Swamiji told us that using artificial means to awaken the kundalini shakti is like putting very high voltage and amperage electrical power through wires not designed to bear that current. They’ll burn out. And Swamiji’s words were, ‘Then nobody can help you.’]

What your nature is, you are. So set yourself a purpose, the highest goal, God-realisation or bhakti [spiritual love, devotion].

For brahmacharya [sense control, celibacy, constant remembrance of God] all the senses and mind must be under control. The way is through ritual worship [i.e. external: using an image or picture, lamp, flowers, incense, havan, katha and jhanda etc.] together with meditation, then meditation on the Supreme Being, on the goal, Brahman [the One indivisible Consciousness]. Whatever method suits you, take it. All the Upanishads [Hindu philosophical treatises] are from the Vedas [ancient Hindu scriptures].

Swami Vivekananda says we must have a healthy body, a healthy mind and a sharp intellect. And physical exercise is good, as it keeps you healthy.

If I think of Brahman or Atman it leads to brahmacharya, tranquility, truthfulness. ‘May I never deny Brahman,’ this removes the exclusivity of sannyas [monasticism, renunciation].

On sleep: For six months at a stretch Sri Ramakrishna did not sleep at night. We know this because he would awaken his disciples in the middle of the night – especially Naren [later Swami Vivekananda] and tell them, ‘Wake up. We will sit and meditate now.’ The real brahmacharis [celibate monastics and fully committed, dedicated devotees of God] do not sleep, they are sleepless but they are not suffering from insomnia [the medical sleep-deprivation problem].

I only ask you to look at yourselves and not at the faults of others. Become self-critical, analyse your own mind, your own self. To the extent you find fault in yourself, to that extent you should make the effort to become [rise] above those faults. Even if you do not reach perfection, your greatness is in trying. You must try, but never turn tail [give up].

Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita [one of the Hindu scriptures – which Swamiji described as ‘the milk of the Upanishads‘] : ‘O Arjuna [his disciple], in the battlefield, if you fight and lose, you will win glory here and will get heaven hereafter. But if you happen to die on the battlefield, you will go to heaven.’ How beautiful those words are. By ‘glory’ the Lord did not mean you must say how wonderful Arjuna was. His glory would be to leave a perfect path for another man to follow. That is the glory of the whole thing. Glory is not, as we understand it, that someone must praise you and say how good you are, and what wonderful sadhana [spiritual practise] you did, and what a God-realised man you are . . . .

They have a little saying at the Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Math [international headquarters of the Ramakrishna movement], ‘Sri Ramakrishna has finished all the sadhanas and tapasyas [austerities, asceticism and self-denial]. You just set a good example.’ We must set such a good example that we become a fruit dangling in front of the world, so that they will salivate to eat that fruit of sadhana and march that spiritual path.

[Even] If you did not get Christ, how wonderful to project that image of Christ through you, so that others can become followers, and see the example that you lived, to worship the Lord Jesus Christ.

I have said all this to you without any hesitation [openly], I tell it to you joyfully. Follow it if you may, or if you do not want to, then follow the natural impulses of the mind and become a mosquito [i.e. something tiny and insignificant].

Hari Om Tat Sat [ a mantra often repeated to signify the end of some religious talk or process in Hinduism].

Underlined words are hypertext links to clarification, explanation or other sources. Just tap on them.

The free-to-read or download, 396-page Flipbook version of Swamiji’s biography, ‘A Life Lived For Others‘, is available by clicking HERE. If you’d prefer the PDF version, please click HERE.

For our gurubhai Atmaprakash Kramer’s beautiful pictorial ‘memoir’ booklet of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, Avoca Ashram, please click HERE.

There’s also a Facebook site for Swamiji’s posts now. They feature newer readings published more recently. Click HERE to view.

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.