God-realisation
DAILY READINGS
From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji
660
Swamiji reads from: A Primer of Hinduism by Prof. D.S. Sharma
Father: Only those who live a moral life are fit for liberation, my child. Morality is not religion any more than the gateway to a temple is the temple itself.
Swamiji: Morality is only a gateway into the inner world – a gateway to the temple.
No doubt Hinduism insists on a man acquiring moral purity and becoming a dharma atma in his first ascent to God.
Swamiji: The first thing a swami or a brahmachari in an ashram should do is to look at his own character. He must try as far as possible to build his character. Therefore when Swami Vivekananda was asked in America, 'Are you God-realised?' He said, 'It's difficult enough to be a gentlemen, a moral man, and you are talking about God-realisation.'
We may think: 'God-realisation is something kept there; when I go to the swami and prostrate he'll put his hand on me and I'll be God-realised.' Forget it.
Some people may say, 'But Sri Ramakrishna gave Swami Vivekananda God-realisation, didn't He?' No. He never gave him God-realisation; He gave him the taste for God-realisation; and that is why Swami Vivekananda worked hard and became established in the state called God-realisation. Master only gave him a glimpse of God-realisation as a teaser to make him thirsty, to make him yearn. Master touched him, gave him God-consciousness, then brought him down quickly and said, 'Now the door is closed, when you have finished my work then I shall open it. Now go and work hard.'
When people say: 'If you follow this path you will get God-realisation in six months,' please do not think that it is possible. You may get dog-realisation but not God-realisation. [laughter]
1) Care should be taken by the reader to
understand and take Swamiji's words in these postings, in context. Every
teaching or instruction that he gave was specific to the people who were with
Swamiji at the time. 2) Mouse-over the words highlighted in red in the
posting for further explanation or links.
There are currently available, over 100 different CDs or
DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za
to order. Click HERE for the second website on Swamiji's life and
teachings.
Sri
Ramakrishna, Sri
Sarada Devi, Swami
Vivekananda, Swami Nischalananda Puri, Swami Shivapadananda
Click Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna to read
online…
Reference websites (please mouse-over
the name to connect): Ramakrishna Math
and Mission, Ramakrishna
Centre of SA, Ramakrishna
Centre of Southern Africa, Ramakrishna Dham, Swami Shivapadananda 2