Daily Reading 64. Swamiji shares a variety of exquisite insights to deepen our spiritual understanding.

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

Question: How does one believe in the Infinite?
Swamiji: All expressions of nature are the power and the glory of God. What is God? We do not know. That power which does not belong to man, that I call God.

An Excerpt from ‘Children of the Rishis’ about Swami Vivekananda [the ‘lead’ disciple of Sri Ramakrishna]: Reconcile knowledge and the natural world. It is the end of science when it [science] discovers Consciousness in it.

Swamiji: The murti [statue, image, picture, representation] is formless but it appears as form. It is a rope but it appears as a snake. It is Brahman [the undifferentiated reality] but appears as the world. If each of us takes this and practises it . . .

I believe religion cannot be taught, but it can be given. The nature of children is to love. In children, love expresses itself naturally. Then comes thought. Love comes from God, but love is One, not two. We put our weaknesses on children.

Reading: Whatever is not found in the Vedas is not found in the whole world.

Swamiji: I went through God with form, and I love form, to the impersonal [formless] God. Everything It touches becomes It. When the experience is there, you will know. But then you will not say whether you know, or you do not know.

Reading: The highest expression of God is Ishwara [the personal God]; the Father in heaven; Allah. [There’s a short and very simple video explanation of this on Facebook, given by Swami Sarvapriyananda of the Ramakrisha Math and Mission. To view and listen, click HERE.]

For me, pain is another form of God. Many a Truth is spoken in jest. Jesus covered secrets in parables. I cover my secrets in jest.

God-personal is the creator, the preserver, and the destroyer, of everything. God-impersonal is omnipresent, the Eternal Father and Mother of the Universe, eternally separated from us and all souls.

Liberation [moksha] is coming near Him, becoming one with Him. Vedantists [those who practise or follow the philosophy of Vedanta] say, ‘All adjuncts are superfluous.’

Why do you want to think? Because you want to recall something. Not-reasoning is a sign of weakness. The Impersonal form of God is not symbolised by anything but It, That. God with form is a relationship – creator, preserver, destroyer.

The Absolute has no relationship. We are One. Jesus Christ said, ‘I and my Father are One.’ This is a very important relationship. Misery consists of thinking we are different; [that] we are not He. You are separating yourself from Him. Bliss is in knowing our unity with ‘It’, or God.

In every nation Truth has been preached from ancient times. Christ and others said we must love all human beings as ourselves; and they indicated no difference between men and animals. No one knew why it was important to love all. The answer is that in the idea of the Impersonal God, the whole world is One – the oneness of the Universe.

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.