Daily Reading 62. Swamiji reading from Swami Vivekananda on service to others, jealousy and spiritual living.
Taken from Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.
Reading: An excerpt from the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda [Lectures from Colombo to Almora, ‘Vedantism’, Volume 3]: This message must be thrown broadcast to the world: The more you help others, the more you help yourself. You have one duty if you love your religion, your country and that is to struggle hard to be up and doing. Jealousy? There is always jealousy which leads to a state of slavery. We must avoid it. The crying sin in India now is this slavery: precedence. Everyone wants to command. That is due to the absence of brahmacharya, meaning mind and sense control. First learn to obey your guru, then the command will come from the top. If you cannot obey your guru how can you obey the command of God? First be a servant then you will become fit to be a master.
Swamiji: Avoid jealousy. Avoid jealousy. Avoid jealousy. The present glory you must create, not the past glory. What are you going to leave at the ashram [monastery]? Quarrelling, fighting, jealousy, or a place of peace? If peace, then your grandchildren will want to come and sit here.
An excerpt from Meditation and Spiritual Life, by Swami Yatiswarananda: In the Ramakrishna Gospel you see the past through the eyes of the present, meaning Sri Ramakrishna. The more you read the Sri Ramakrishna Gospel, Holy Mother’s [Sri Sarada Devi’s] Gospel, Vivekananda’s Complete Works, the better. All holy thoughts should make up your body, mind and soul. Who will be protected by God’s name? It is possible for each of us to reach the same state as Hanuman, Rama and others.
Swamiji: When secular knowledge becomes mature, it becomes wisdom. Wisdom does not need any learning. Like the Lord’s innocent guileless child, Sri Ramakrishna. If you cannot tell the truth, keep silent, take God’s name. If you do not keep silent, you think evil things. If you read one page of Sri Ramakrishna’s Gospel a day, you have won. Study is very important.
Spiritual finality is when you become consumed in His [God’s] love. And when you become consumed in His love, that is finality.
Christ is my Lord. I worship him in thought, word and deed. He has thousands of names. Sri Ramakrishna had the vision of all the great Ones. Mother Kali came and was absorbed in him. Christ came and was absorbed in him. Allah came and was absorbed in him. Sri Ramakrishna did twelve years of sadhana [spiritual practice]. He dared the devil and got going. No one [else] dared do it. The devil of ignorance cannot stand in the way of Sri Ramakrishna.
First I loved Shiva. But when I knew who Sri Ramakrishna is, my love for Shiva was increased a thousand times. I swear to you that is the truth. To his closest ones Sri Ramakrishna said, ‘I am all – I am Krishna, Rama, Allah.’ Master’s [Sri Ramakrishna’s] work has not begun yet.
Scriptures say, ‘Give one life to God.’ Saints say, ‘Give one second to God’, because in that one second you can realise God. For God there is no day, no night, no second. A saint lives in the mind, so he says, ‘One second . . .’ Man lives in his body so he says, ‘One life . . . .’ I am analysing it for you but you do not listen.
We are not [Sri Adi] Shankaracharya-ites who are limited, who get stuck in do’s and don’ts. We are ‘Ramakrishna-ites’, we are unlimited.
Someone asked me why I don’t shave my hair like other sadhus. My Divine Mother said, ‘I am born with hair, so do not shave your hair.’ You are born with hands, you do not cut them off.
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.