Disc 134 track 5. Be prepared to commit sacrilege for God, like Mother Radha was, for Lord Krishna.

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Swamiji says that when [genuine] love for God manifests, people will offer you all sorts of things. But that’s not what we should be wanting. We should want shraddha – faith. And how do you get that? Swamiji quotes Swami Vivekananda saying that we get it through seva – selfless service to others. ‘The miserable, the rogue, the thief is my brother, is my God. Go and serve them.’ –  Swami Vivekananda. He did not differentiate between the thief and the saint. So when you pray to God, pray for shraddha and bhakti – faith and devotion. We think we have a lot of faith. But who here has faith? 

We may have a lot of love. But love for who? Faith in what? Faith in the words of the scriptures. Faith in the words of the saints and sages. And when you follow those things, what will happen? Shraddha [faith] and devotion to God will automatically come. 

We appear as beggars before the throne of the almighty. That’s what I was thinking. Vedantists don’t like that. They say I am silly and stupid. You are full of desires and saying [to God]  please shower your grace on me. But once you recognise that you are God’s calf – you are God’s cow [ie. God’s very own to care for], you must realise that God himself is maintaining you. And you can never be the opposite of that, the opposite of Divine. Realise that.

Swamiji then tells the story of a beggar who approached the king for alms. At that point the king was starting his prayers, and as the beggar listened, the king was asking God for more wealth, power and a greater kingdom. The beggar got up to leave, and the King asked him why. The beggar’s reply was, ‘I do not beg of beggars. I do not beg from my own kind.’

Some people find it difficult to understand the frenzy of religious fervour which moved the heart of Master. He would grovel in the dust and writhe in agony. Only someone who has experienced these extreme emotions and has been called a ‘madman’ can understand. The absence of the Self itself, is the essential characteristic of love for God.

Swamiji then relates a very telling story of Lord Krishna feigning illness. When asked what the cure was, he said that one of the devotees must wash their feet and pour the water on his head [a major act of sacrilege at any time]. Of course nobody was prepared to do that. They went to Radha and told her the story and what was needed to restore the Lord to health. Radha immediately said, ‘Bring the dish [of water].’ They said, ‘But you know what will happen to you? – you’ll go to hell. She said, ’Who cares if I go to hell, as long as he’s well.’ So the idea is that the devotee must always give – not do or take things for ourselves.

Swamiji reading: Religion these days has become a mere hobby or fashion. People go to church like a flock of sheep. They do not embrace God because they need him. Most people are unconscious atheists who self-complacently think that they are devoted. So you have to give love. How? Selflessly. If a husband loves the wife selflessly and the wife loves the husband selflessly, that house will be Rama’s house. That house is Krishna’s house.

Swamiji shares the story of Lord Rama telling Lakshmana to go and leave Sita in the forest. He refused. He knew that Mother Sita was as Swamiji puts it, ‘in the family way’ [expecting a child] and Lakshmana began crying. Sita asked what happened. Lakshmana said, ‘The Lord asked me to leave you in the forest.’ Why? asked Mother. I don’t know the reason, but he asked me to leave you there. Her response was, ‘As long as he’s happy. There must be some good reason. His happiness is mine.’ 

So the husband should give selflessly to please the wife in all dharmic [righteous/spiritual] actions. That is the crux of the matter. The wife should also please the husband in all [dharmic] actions and that home becomes a blessed place.

So what is the best thing to get to God? Repeating God’s name [japa] with love and going to the people who already have love for God’s lotus feet. You can stay [home] and pray – you’ll get the love alright. But it may take a long time. It makes it easier if you go with the people who already love God [in satsang]. It’s what kind of ‘disease’ would you call it? Infectious.

That’s why when they came to Ramakrishna, people went away and found the mind automatically repeating God’s name. What happened? And yet they had visited so many other people before. They used to sit, but when they came home they forget. But when they went to a [truly] holy man, automatically it was working. 

You see, a man is depressed and when you go to him, automatically you become depressed. But if you go to people who are consciously repeating God’s name, and they are consciously happy in God’s name, automatically that impression comes on you. Just like depression comes, this thing comes. And you don’t know the secret. What’s happening? I’m repeating God’s name now. No! Because somebody else worked on it. 

You can repeat God’s name, thinking ‘I have to do it.’ But what happens? ‘I have to do it’ means so much effort. But when I go to or with these people who love God [satsang] it will become effortless. 

Take a child and make him go and sit where a foreign language is spoken, and see how quickly your child will pick it up. But the same child, sitting at home with a book, see how long it takes him to learn? In the group [satsang] it will be easier, because many people are speaking about it. So many minds are concentrated. Thus, you start repeating God’s name. 

Don’t take drugs, because you’re already drug addicts. You’re a bioscope [movie house] or TV addict, you’re a park [visit] addict, you’re a company addict. Now you must become ‘addictless’ [one of Swamiji’s unique and delightful originals]. Just repeat God’s name. God’s name will give you everything. It is so powerful that it’ll reveal God and push you forward. It’s like a loving Mother that shows you and doesn’t stop there, but pushes you forward. So, repeating the name reveals God and pushes you forward. That is the kind of name Sri Ramakrishna has left behind. Great saints and sages like Mahatma Gandhi [famous for his Rama Nama] and others have left behind for us. As Sri Ramakrishna said, ‘The breeze of God’s grace is already blowing. Just unfurl the sail’ – and your boat will go in the right direction. It just means a little effort on your side. Unfurl the mind. Start repeating God’s name. You will automatically be pushed. You understand that? 

Don’t go into the fish market [the worldly life] for one whole day and then come here with some scent [perfume] that smells very nice. But you got to go and spend the whole day in the fish market. Even if you have the perfume smell in the market, the people will still be smelling the fish. Meaning that this world is so full of these things other than God, so if you’re going to the fish market, you’ll be smelling of that [contaminated]. You come here and repeat God’s name once and think you’ll get transformation? You’ll get enough information [devotees chuckle] to make you egoistic, but you’ll never be transformed. Do you understand?

The free-to-read or download, 396 page Flipbook version of Swamiji’s biography is available by clicking HERE. If you’d prefer the PDF version, please click HERE.

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 an individual or a group of people with him, at the time.