Don’t talk about your spiritual experiences, says Swamiji. Talk Excerpt 201.

From Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.

Do not discuss your spiritual experiences with anybody – including your spouse. Not because they are secret but because if you have experiences and tell someone else, they may not have had that experience, and they may get doubtful and think, ‘But I have done so much sadhana [spiritual practise]…’ This leads to a bad relationship between the husband and wife and leads to jealousy – and later to division. It becomes a block on the path.

There is no instant [God] realisation.

Devotee: Someone [Swami Vivekananda] asked Master [Sri Ramakrishna], Have you seen God? And Sri Ramakrishna said, ‘Yes, I see Him more clearly than I see you.’ What does ‘clearly’ mean here?

Swamiji: What we see is veiled. When you see God, it is One; when you see the world, it is many. ‘Clearly’ also means that there is no doubt that God exists.

When doing sadhana first get the mind into a neutral position – for example concentrate on the Ishta Devata [personal deity or chosen ideal]. From there begins your sadhana. Do japa [repetition of a mantra or one of the many names attributed to God], meditation, read scriptures, study.

If you have one child then he is a king, if two they are princes, if three they are ordinary human beings.

Taking sannyasa [monastic vows] means that you renounce the pleasures of the world.

The free-to-read, 396 page Flipbook version of Swamiji’s biography is available by clicking HERE.

These recordings 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.