Daily Reading 74. Swamiji talks on right desire, gives advice to doctors and highlights absurd use of yogic powers.

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

Power, if it is there, must increase love for God’s lotus feet. At one time there was a householder sadhaka [spiritual aspirant/practitioner] who was very, very poor. He was doing japa on Mother Lakshmi [the Hindu goddess of wealth] to get money, but she did not show herself. After a while he put on the yogic garb and his love for God increased. After some time Mother Lakshmi actually appeared and followed him around. But the yogi said, ‘Why do you follow me? I do not want you to follow me.’ She said to him, ‘Ask for a boon.’ He said, ‘I want God-love and I will get it without you.’ After some time she forced him to ask for something and he said, ‘Bless me that wherever my shadow falls, if people walk there, their dharmic [spiritual, righteous] desires will be fulfilled.’

Japa [repetition of a mantra or one of the many names attributed to God], japa, japa. That is the greatest thing. Every breath should be sacrificed to God. Breath is an expression of prana [the universal life-force]. Breath expresses prana. So give your life to God. Japa, japa, japa. Japa is the easiest way to go to God.

People in the world are so afraid to listen to Truth. It shocks them.

Advice to medical doctors: Don’t forget to smile, to give a kind word, to touch. Doctors should live by this. With these three the patient feels better in body and the Spirit looks after itself. You can only do that when you see the patient as your Ishta Devata [chosen Ideal or Deity]. Then everything becomes worship. Old people die because their children do not want to touch them. When there is no touch it leads to hate, to death.

Yogis get different kinds of powers. After fourteen years of tapasya [austerities] a yogi returned to his village. He was a good man, but he was using his powers to do wrong. God came and asked him, ‘Can you kill an elephant with your power of tapasya?’ ‘Yes,’ said the man. God showed him an elephant and the yogi killed it merely by blowing on it. ‘Can you make it come alive again?’ asked God. ‘Yes’ said the man. And he did so. Then God said, ‘Very good, very good. But what good has it done you?’

[In the Life of Sri Ramakrishna, there was a man who had abused occult powers and had a light shining out of his back. (Had it shone out of the front, it might have been useful in the dark…) While the display fascinated onlookers and created a public sensation, the man had not achieved God-realisation. Recognising that this extraordinary power was fueling the man’s ego and acting as a severe barrier to his spiritual evolution, Sri Ramakrishna took that power away from him. The Master did this out of compassion, removing the distraction so the seeker could focus on authentic, inward spiritual progress rather than outward showmanship.]

We do sadhana to obliterate the ego. If something builds it – we must watch out. Even at the end of prayers, prostrate and offer the fruits to God. Then your desires and God’s desires will not cross. Otherwise . . .

In yoga a certain stage will come when you will seem to be doing everything. But you do not do it. In a state of yoga there is no ‘I’ [ego] to do anything. The greatest miracle is that the sun, moon and stars are there, without support.

Swami Vivekananda says miracles are ignorance. The greatest miracle is when God asks you, ‘What do you want?’ and you say, ‘Love, devotion, knowledge.’ That is, you have refused the world, the kingdom and its powers.

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.