Daily Reading 55. Swamiji emphasises that serving others is serving God – often in disguise.
Taken from Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.
Spiritual growth will be easy to attain if you only try more and more, and never give up. Gradually a habit will be formed and will become part of your own nature. Happiness and misery are in the mind, not outside.
In the scriptures it is said that you must give up your wife, your wealth, for the sake of God. But Sri Ramakrishna never did that. He took Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi with him, to the same heights, the dizzying heights of spirituality.
At one time Sri Ramakrishna wanted to build a fence around a small hut [in the panchavati area of the Dakshineswar Kali temple] and the poles, knife, cord all appeared [washed up on the bank]. The river Ganga robbed someone else and brought them to him. Try it if you want it. Pray. It must come. I am convinced, and Master is my witness, if you pray sincerely, it must come.
If a beggar comes and asks for food you give it. Slowly the beggar takes off the veil and you see it is actually Swamiji. Will you still give him that ‘beggar food’? No. You know that he is a king himself. So you say, ‘Sorry Swami. Please come in and sit down,’ and you serve the best food you have.
Similarly, now you are serving man. But when God is revealed in man you say, ‘Sorry Lord, I thought I was serving, but now I am worshipping.’ Sri Ramakrishna said: ‘When you can close your eyes and see God, why not open the eyes and see God?’
God wants you to attain intense devotion, intense yearning for Him. You must study anything that gives you mind and sense control. That is yama [what you should do] and niyama [what you should not do]. In addition you must have regular sadhana [spiritual practice] and become humbler than a blade of grass. How? By knowing God is almighty. So I am humble before God’s might, God’s
truthfulness. You must have the simplicity of a child with the maturity of a grown man. This is very important.
In times of trouble, turn to the Ishta [your chosen Ideal]. If you have no one to turn to, turn to the Ishta.
Be a gentle man or a gentle woman. If you are always finding fault you are not gentle at all – you can never realise God. All have attitude problems.
Sri Ramakrishna said to M [Mahendranath Gupta, the ‘scribe’ for Master’s Gospel], ‘Do not discriminate [intellectualise] too much, not over limit.’
If you read that someone presses Master’s [Sri Ramakrishna’s] leg [not everyone is permitted to touch a spiritual master’s body, so the service of doing so is a privilege], it is not because of Master’s pain; it is] because in a past birth that person did many worthy actions. [Or, as we discovered with Swamiji, the Holy Ones are showering their grace on us, the unworthy.]
Sri Ramakrishna had no secrets whatsoever. The only secret he had was that he had no secret!
Ignore people’s faults. Look at their good points. If you can do this at the time of insult, hate, jealousy, injury, then you are making yourself fit to have the darshan [vision] of the Lord at least. Follow the advice of Sri Ramakrishna – do not find fault.
If anyone comes to the ashram [monastery or religious institution] give them comfort; and have a loving, smiling face. These are attitudes to improve oneself. Above all become the servant of Sri Ramakrishna. Always talk softly, sweetly, lovingly. Speak encouraging words, uplifting words.
Te Lord Jesus Christ said, First seek ye the kingdom of heaven and all else shall be added. How is it that the Rishis [sage-saints], who do not go to work or labour hard, get their electric light account paid? How do they sit in a cave and yet get their food? A Rishi just desires. He just projects the thought and somebody comes along. After knowing ‘That’ [being God-realised], even worldly things are abundantly provided.
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.