Daily Reading 59. Swamiji quoting from the Gospel of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi and sharing pearls of wisdom.
Taken from Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.
Swamiji reads from [Sri Sarada Devi] the Holy Mother’s Gospel: If you have food or money you must distribute it to the poor. If you do not have these things, you must give yourself to repeating God’s name [japa].
Swamiji: This does not mean that before this you do not repeat God’s name. You must repeat God’s name all the time.
Reading: For japa, collectedness of the mind is essential, otherwise it is of no use. If you cannot take God’s name then take refuge in me.
Swamiji: This [taking refuge at the Holy Mother’s feet] is my Varanasi, which is regarded as a very holy place and the abode of Lord Shiva. Those that die there, automatically obtain liberation. The feet of the Guru and the Lord are the same.
Mother Sarada Devi was serving the devotees of Master [Sri Ramakrishna] as Master himself. A God-man does not neglect the world. He serves the world. He sees himself in the world. But his mind is always in the bliss of God.
Reading: The world is a fetter [restraining element] of maya. [‘partial truth’ as Swamiji told us many times].
Swamiji: ‘May the bondage of maya be cut,’ is the greatest miracle that a saint can do for the devotee. If you take one sentence, one name, and put it into practice, your life will be blessed. The most difficult thing is to direct the mind towards God.
Reading: God’s grace is like rain and we are little plants.
Swamiji: Where else do you get such pure advice but from the Holy Mother? She came to uplift thousands by dharma, artha, kama and moksha. The thousands who are steeped in materialism.
Reading: Do at least one, or two, or three japa malas ; read holy books. That is how it must be.
Do not miss sadhana [spiritual practice] even for one day. If you are really busy, say the guru mantra ten times at least. Go in the shrine first and prostrate to Master [Sri Ramakrishna], Mother [Sri Sarada Devi] and the Deity, and ask their permission to carry on your life. If you keep away from the shrine you will be far from the guru.
If people want faith they do certain prayers, and when it comes right, it builds their faith.
Live for others and liberation must come.
The new-fashioned sannyasi [renunciate] serves the world. The old fashioned sannyasis wanted God-realisation for themselves. Swami Vivekananda took service of the world as a path to God-realisation. Ramakrishna sannyasis are simple; we have no mala; we do not wish anyone ill.
The Bhagavad Gita says that lust, anger and greed are the open doors to hell. People must live disciplined lives. If you are a householder [Grihastha] and obey the rules, you are a brahmachari. There are three kinds of brahmacharya: 1) Eternal brahmacharya, like Hanuman and Sukadev – the boy-sage who features in the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavatam ]. 2) Brahmacharya in the student’s life –
you can go back to the householder’s life if you want, or go on to become sannyasi. 3) Stay in the householder life, but live as a brahmachari. In doing this you do not hate your wife because you are increasing your love for God.
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.