Marital relationships
DAILY READINGS
From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji
[2nd President and Spiritual Head: the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]
Day 748
Swamiji talks to to a householder [lay devotee]
God has favoured you with a lot of things, my son. Come on. Make haste in sadhana [spiritual practice]. Make haste and make paste [progress] for your wife to follow up.
The husband is the teacher, the wife is the mother. The wife serves the husband – she gives him enough nourishment. The husband, on the other hand, teaches spirituality.
Take Sri Ramakrishna's case: Mother Sarada [Devi] cooked good curry, lovely things; she became the mother of Sri Ramakrishna; Sri Ramakrishna on the other hand became the guru [spiritual preceptor] of Mother Sarada. He always directed her mind towards godly things, not pleasurable things. So the husbands should be like that. Slowly, without hurting it. It's tender.
A householder's [lay devotee's] life, if looked after nicely, if enough compost [fertiliser] in the form of righteousness is provided, becomes a fertile land, the fertile soil for the crowning jewel of seed to grow: saints and sages. No saints were born from parents in the sannyasa [monastic] ashram [state or stage of life* see footnote] – all came from the householder's life. Rama had a mother and father who were householders. So did Sri Ramakrishna. So did Jesus. So did Buddha. So did all the sannyasins [monks].
Till your soil. Apply the fertiliser in such a way that it will bear good fruit. Beautiful. The householder's life can never be dispensed with.
The other day I was thinking of a little joke of the Creator Brahma. Brahma created beings. And then he told his mind-born sons to go and multiply. But they couldn't do it. Lord Brahma said, 'Go and look after the world,' but they couldn't do it. So he created another couple of sets; and they became us today. The meaning of this is that he decided to create householders so that householders can bear, in turn, the sannyasins – like Brahma himself.
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 Swami Shivapadananda
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - read online
Reference websites – please mouse over the name and click to connect:
Ramakrishna Math and Mission Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa Ramakrishna Dham