Daily Reading 130. Swamiji says: Live in the present. Attachment must be to God’s feet, not to the past.
Taken from Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.
The Divine Mother has been an image for too long. Make her come alive! We use the guru within us because he is already living, and we have seen him. Electricity has no power unless the switch is on, Mother gives us the strength to switch it on.
Kali destroys ignorance, evil tendencies, animal passions. Lakshmi sustains us in our spiritual seeking, that is, in the power we now have. Saraswati is knowledge, that is, how to use the wealth we already have.
‘I am God.’ Sit for seven days and think, ‘I am God, I am perfect, I am Absolute bliss, I am divine,’ and see the change. As you change your thoughts, so the miracle must happen.
The power of the mantra [sacred sound syllable, word, phrase or one of the many names attributed to God] is so strong that no evil person will come near you. You attract only people of the same vibration.
Do you feel anger, hatred? Your sadhana [spiritual practise] is wrong – you are wrong, not the other person. So sit and say, ‘I am God.’ Repeat the mantra with love. There is no guru, no chela [disciple], all is [the Divine] Mother.
Think: ‘The Earth and I all come from Mother’s womb.’ God’s name is one thing which, when taken sincerely brings about motiveless love. God’s name is always most powerful. Not [just] powerful, but most powerful.
As far as possible be ‘complain-less‘. [Swamiji thoroughly enjoyed playing on words to convey truths. And gave us great merriment in the process.]
Bhakti is pure, unselfish, unmotivated love to God’s lotus feet.
Knowledge of God only comes when you are dissatisfied with the present conditions you are living in, and when you know there is something greater and more eternal than this transitory world.
When you renounce the world, is it easy to walk away from your wife and child and never come back as a householder [grihastha]? Yes, it is easy if you love God with all your heart and soul. If you love something, then for that something, even hell is treated indifferently.
God-realisation may be attained through practise and dispassion. Self-surrender is very difficult.
There is no loss. Repeat, ‘I have never lost anything, I have gained everything.’ See it, know it, realise it.
Pray: ‘You are the door, O Christ.’ Ask Mother to take it all and bury it. Live in the present. Attachment must be to God’s feet, not to the past.
To be an instrument of peace I must be peace first, myself, and be rid of all the other qualities. To become love we must rid ourselves of all qualities that are not love. To become peace we must rid ourselves of all qualities that are not peace and so on.
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.