Daily Reading 49. Swamiji speaks on forced evolution and Japa.

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

In other stages of life – plant and animal – nature controls the speed of growth. If you plant a seed where there is no water, no fertiliser and no sun, it will not grow. But human beings take a plant and give it water, fertiliser, sun, and it grows better than when left to nature.

Just like this human beings can evolve forcefully. They can go upward or backward. Similarly we can make ourselves God-men if we follow the right things. Our nature may force us to go down even though we do not want to go down. By force I try to evolve into the Divine plane. When it happens
dharmically [righteously] you go towards God.

There are different paths – Karma Yoga [the yoga of offering work and the fruits of work as worship to the Divine], Raja Yoga [the yoga of meditation and concentration], Jnana/Gyana Yoga – the yoga of knowledge or philosophy] and Bhakti Yoga [the yoga of devotion as the approach].

A jnana yogi, no matter how you make him do Karma Yoga, he still uses philosophy. If you take a karma yogi and try to make him do arti [ritual offering of lamp-light], he will do it for two days and then go back to karma yoga again.

The path going towards God cannot be changed. If you do not try hard, you will fall back. If you try hard you must dedicate every work to Him. And naturally you will become peaceful. A man can become master of his own destiny if he follows the dharmic [righteous] path. You must choose to become a God-man, otherwise you become an evil man.

Grace is there. You cannot say how it will come but it will come. In the scriptures when the bird tried to empty the ocean, Varuna [the god of the sea] himself came and saved the eggs. [For the touching story of the seabird and Lord Varuna rescuing her eggs, click HERE.]

If you try to go on the dharmic path, the time will come and you will get the Grace, as the bird did. It depends on your effort. Only when God feels, ‘Now I must save him,’ will He come. You must try to do something – not sit like a rock. Do the dharmic thing.

Advice on Japa: When doing japa [repetition of one of the man names attributed to God] or a mantra] one hand is at the heart the other above that. If the fingers are open your japa comes to naught because the prana [universal life-force] escapes, and it does not do you good.

When doing sadhana [spiritual practice] first worship the guru, then worship the Deity. First repeat the guru mantras, then the pranam mantras. Master [Sri Ramakrishna] is your guru so do that first.

If you meditate in the heart or on top of the head the guru faces outwards. If you meditate on the throat or the third eye [above and between the eyebrows on the forehead] the Deity faces inward – i.e. the Deity faces you.

You must make the Deity living, or you must get drunk with the mood of your Deity. This external murti [picture, sculpture, image] is representative of that guru – Sri Ramakrishna.

You make yourself tired by thinking you are tired.

Samadhi [superconsciousness] in union with the Self is nirvikalpa [without form] samadhi. Samadhi in union with the Deity is savikalpa [with form] samadhi.

When you say ‘Ramakrishna’ say it with respect; feel the personality. There must be devotion. Real devotees get gooseberries [goose bumps – Swamiji’s humourous term for them] when they
take the Master’s name like that. Their whole face changes.

Learn the shanti mantras. You can reach great heights just by repeating them. Spiritual obstacles are only to test your strength – then you go higher and higher. Feel your lineage of the great Rishis [teachers, masters, seers]. They realised God and so will you. Feel this.

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.