Daily Reading 61. Swamiji speaks on a variety of topics and emphasises that Eym ऐं is not just the bija for Mother Saraswati.

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

The thing to know is the Infinite Being.

You cannot be a first class student right away. You must start from where you are. First be truthful and then be a first class student. Humble yourself.

Lord Shiva said to someone, ‘You did not worship your Guru so I will not accept your worship.’

Do not take a child’s part against the teacher. The child must take discipline from the teacher. Out of that discrimination will come the great love for the teacher. No one is too old to learn. You come here as a student, for discipline. You must put it on yourself, and take it home with you. Study the scriptures, read and study holy books. Gurudev [Swami Nischalananda Puri, Swamiji’s beloved Guru] said, ‘You can even learn from a rogue’ [bad person].

If you do not do sadhana [spiritual practice], it is maya [illusion/delusion]. What prevents you from doing sadhana is devilish, not godly. You do not think the Deity is living. But one day something happens and [suddenly] the Deity is living. The Deity must be living.

You who are the children of the Rishis [sage-saints] should at least repeat the Gayatri mantra ten times, or 27 times, or 108 times. Gayatri is the cow that gives the milk of knowledge. It gives purity to the physical, mental and subtle worlds. It gives mind control.

When you say Sri Ramakrishna is an incarnation of all the deities, you must feel this. He is like blotting paper. All are absorbed by him. Before sadhana do the Sri Ramakrishna mantra, Om eym sarva deva devi svaroopaya, Sri Ramakrishnaya namah. [Meaning: ‘OM, Salutations to Sri Ramakrishna, who embodies the consciousness of all the gods and goddesses‘] and think: He is expressing himself as my Ishta Devata [chosen Ideal or Deity]. Sri Ramakrishna has become your guru, your saviour.

Eym –ऐं – [the single-syllable Sanskrit sound or bija] is not just Saraswati, it is the bija of Consciousness. Where there is knowledge there is Consciousness. He embodies all the Consciousness of dharma [righteousness] – Saraswati – flowing and creating. This is very, very important.

Excerpt from Meditation and Spiritual Life, by Swami Yatiswarananda: Give one life to God, whether as a householder [grihastha] or a sannyasi [renunciate]. Your whole life must be given to God. What is one life? You will neither blame the Deity nor the Guru. Choose to travel rightly then you will not blame anyone.

Swamiji: The Shiva Lingam is the subtle body of Shiva. How beautiful is my Shiva. O Shiva you can conquer all in one life. His feet will be the shelter to hundreds. There is no free will till you realise God.

May our swamis be knowledge [jnana]-givers, devotion [bhakti] -givers. May Sri Ramakrishna sit in your hearts and give you knowledge and love of devotees. May you all become inspirers and devotees of God.

Thousands will come to the ashram. You should make immortal souls out of mortal souls. Pray to
God to make the wrong right. Do not find fault. Let me see His glory expressed through you. Commit yourself to the Master [Sri Ramakrishna], to the Institution. Never hear a word against it.

In the scriptures ocean is mind. You churn it with God’s name. Out of it comes all positive things. That is why you do kalsa [or kalash] puja [a worship ritual using a coconut as the representative-of-God, central focus of the oblations].

Remember, when you call Master’s [Sri Ramakrishna’s] name, you are not calling the man, you are
calling the Lord.

The more secret you are about godly things, the greater will be your reward. There will be riches of all sorts.

Charan amrit [or charanamrita, is the water in which a religious image is bathed; it is considered very sacred], is something that has washed the Lord’s feet and we drink it.

Do not ask questions for the sake of argument or to prove yourself right. Anything that builds up ego is ignorance, therefore you cannot get knowledge. What do I want? ‘I want you Lord, not your creation.’

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.