Sarada Devi and Ramakrishna
[2nd President and Spiritual Head: the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]
DAILY READINGS
From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji
776
Out of truth Ramakrishna was born – and he practised truth and he realised the truth called God. This, all followers of Master [Sri Ramakrishna] must remember; that he was above sensuality. He didn't even taste it in dream. Secondly, he cleared the concept that women are low. To him, women were not low. Some people get married and leave the wife, to go away and practise tapasya [austerity]. Some people don't want to see women but here what [Master] did with Saradamani Devi [Sri Sarada Devi], he made her sit on the altar and on a holy day where you worship the Universal Mother [Divine Mother] he worshipped her, dressed her [a routine part of the ritual] and when he touched her she went into samadhi [spiritual superconsciousness]. And he fed her the prasad [sacramental food]. In the end he took all his malas [prayer beads] and surrendered it at her feet. 'Oh you are the Universal Mother'. You are the mother that gave me birth and gave birth to the whole universe. You are Chandika. And he prostrated to her. And Mother, in that high state, blessed him. Here, soul merged with soul and Ramakrishna also reached the same state of samadhi.
If you go in deep sleep and I go away [into] deep sleep, we are both in the same state of consciousness. So they both went into a high state and merged. So that was soul uniting with soul. Spirit uniting with spirit and when they came down [to a plane of normal consciousness] they both understood each other. That we are one in soul but two in body.
Today we worship Sri Saradamani Devi and Sri Ramakrishna, not because of the miracles, but because of their purity. Because of the realisations that they reached. In the Bhagavad Gita it is said, 'A man who realises God, becomes God.' Take a piece of iron and put it into a stove [fire]. When it gets red hot you take it out, what is it? It is fire, really. Because it was with fire.
So these figures called Ramakrishna and Sarada Devi, were merged in the fire of Brahman [the One, indivisible, universal consciousness] and when they came back [from superconsciousness, samadhi] they still shone as fire of Brahman. And that is Brahman [for us] – the worship of Ramakrishna and Saradamani Devi. We do not worship a man, but we worship that spotless purity, that spotless realisation and through him, manifested all the different gods and goddesses. Therefore we use the mantra, 'AUM, Aim sarva (means all) deva devi (all the gods and goddesses) svaroopaya, Sri Ramakrishnaya namah'. He who is in the form of Sri Ramakrishna. Who? All the gods and goddesses, I worship. So by worshipping Ramakrishna you are not excluding any god or Guru, you are not excluding any Deity, from the highest to the lowest. You will see it is Sri Ramakrishna.
And is it him who we worship as the ocean, and all the different deities are like rivers and tributaries inside him. If you want to touch all the rivers, what you do, ma? [referring to a devotee] – suppose you want to touch all the rivers at once, what do you do? You go and touch the sea. Because all the rivers are in touch with the sea. So by just touching this 'old boy' called Ramakrishna, you are touching all the different deities.
From that point of view we do not ignore any Guru. We do not ignore any deity, because we know by worshipping him [Sri Ramakrishna] we worship we are worshipping all the different aspects at the same time. Hari AUM Tat Sat.
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.
For more about the Holy Trinity, and also the founding Swamis of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, please mouse over their names below:
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