Daily Reading 128. Swamiji stresses the comparative ease of Bhakti in spirituality.

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

Swamiji speaking on the waking state, dream state and deep sleep state: A bhakta [on the devotional path] does not explain these, he accepts all three. Sattva, rajas, tamas, a bhakta accepts these. He knows that God alone has become the twenty four cosmic principles, the Universe and all living beings. He also knows that God reveals himself to his bhaktas in a tangible form, an embodiment of Spirit.

The bhakta seeks holy company, goes on pilgrimage, practices discrimination and so on. This leads to devotion and renunciation. A bhakta lets the ego remain as God’s servant, or as a devotee of God. The bhakta says, ‘The world is not a dream [Maya – ‘partial truth’ as Swamiji regularly described it], the world is God, God has become everything.’

From meditating constantly on Krishna, Radha saw all as Krishna. She even felt she had become Krishna. By constantly meditating on God, the bhakta loses his ego. He knows God is in him, and he is in God. Then there is instant liberation [moksha]. A sannyasi [monastic renunciate] keeps his body to teach mankind.

Porridge is of three types. You put mealie [maize]-meal into boiling water and leave it – it becomes lumpy and horrible. Or you put mealie-meal into boiling water and stir it occasionally – this is some sort of porridge, but it is still lumpy. If you mix it carefully and stir it carefully, it makes perfect porridge.

Similarly with the three mind states. Tamas is dull and heavy, un-porridge-like, like a pancake. Rajas is sporadic action, like porridge that is made carelessly, like porridge that is not properly cooked. Sattva is a state of equilibrium [balance/harmony]. It comes by mixing the ingredients carefully – as in selfless service; stirring constantly – as in controlling the mind through sadhana [spiritual practice]; cooking gently until perfect – as in purifying the mind every day.

See the guru in all, love the guru as all. If you have no brotherly love, something is wrong in you. You can do nothing for the guru. You can only become an instrument for him to work through. Give your thought, word and deed to him for his service. And when you have done this, you will not know.

Ignorance [which Swamiji regularly described as simply ‘an absence of sufficient understanding or information at a particular stage of development‘] clouds our knowledge of our own perfection. Meditation removes it. How do you get rid of ignorance? By repeating His [God’s] name [in japa]. So he insults me – laugh and say, ‘Yes Ma [Divine Mother], it is you in him hurting me, the ego.’ Do you think you will get God-realisation without hurt? Never! If you say, ‘I am angry,’ the ‘I’ is the narrow ‘I’ all the time. Rather get angry with God. Even smash his photo if you must.

What spoils my remembrance of God? Name, fame, reward. You want the guru to pet you, fuss over you? This is weakness. Strength is when you do not want anything from the guru. Go to God each morning and ask him, ‘What can I do for you today?’ It’s not ‘Give me, give me, give me.’ Rather say, ‘Use these hands, this mouth and so on, for thy works Lord.’

Never mind what your wife, child, husband, mother, father do. See that what you do, is right. Come on. Be a great saint. It hurts to kill the ego. So get on with it. Chop it with the panga [machete] of knowledge.

Three stages of spiritual life were described by Christ. They are: 1. The kingdom of God is within. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. 2.  Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. 3.  Be still and know that I am God.

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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.