Daily Reading 5. Easter Friday thoughts on spiritual despondency, from April 2007.
[By Brother Francis – published then, so repeated here with the same constructive and loving intent, only to share the pearls of wisdom from Swamiji].
In just the last few days [in April 2007], two different people asked the question: ‘How do I find my life-purpose?’ One of them not only wanted to find her own life purpose, but in her words, she wanted ‘to help other people find theirs.’
The best way I could respond – and indeed did – is to quote our beloved Guru Swami Shivapadananda Puri on the topic. Once, when I was in a phase that I guess Saint Theresa of Liseux would have described as a mini ‘dark night of the soul’, Swamiji said to me: ‘This is a pathless path.‘ So if we’re hoping to see a signpost reading, ‘60 kilometres to spirituality’ or something of that sort, it’s not going to happen!
Some fellow aspirants at the ashram thought they weren’t making any spiritual progress, and yet Swamiji privately told me that he was delighted with how well they were doing.
Others expressed the desire ‘to live a spiritual life’. As an example: Swamiji said to me of Mother Henny Schimmel [deeply holy and unassuming – Swamiji told me so] ‘She doesn’t know that all this time, she’s been living a spiritual life.’
Sister Henny was a dearly-loved founder member and stalwart of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa. She was an unstinting benefactor and close disciple of Swami Nischalananda Puri, our ‘Gurudev’ – founder and first President of the Centre.
So spiritual progress is not the sort of journey that can be measured or evaluated in secular terms. As Swamiji said, ‘Only God and the Guru know the devotee’s heart.‘
Another time, when I was again looking for some sort of direction or spiritual ‘purpose’ in my life, Swamiji said, ‘The highest good is to die, doing, for the Unknown.’
The Lord Jesus Christ said that it is a ‘wicked and adulterous generation that looks for sign’. If we’re sincere in our quest, we need only pray for devotion and the resilience to keep on walking the path. As Nelson Mandela said, ‘The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.’
In conclusion, Sri Ramakrishna solved the ‘life purpose’ dilemma for all of us. Master said, ‘The purpose of human birth is to realise God, and sing His praises and glories.’
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.
Underlined words are linked to clarification, explanation or other sources. Just tap on them.
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 much 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.