See all in the One
[2nd President and Spiritual Head: the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]
[now a Centre of the international Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission]
DAILY READINGS
Selected from Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji.
Day 866
So when you are singing bhajan and kirtan, no matter how many hundreds of names you take, think of Vishnu Sahasra Naam [the thousand names attributed to Lord Vishnu, the aspect of God representing 'preservation']. The thousand names are His. He [God] looks through a thousand eyes and works through a thousand hands. He has got thousands of forms. Therefore God is the One, that One, only One.
So the Guru and the chela [disciple] are only one.
Three stages are to be taken: First, God with form [dualistic or dvaita]. Second, God the Absolute [monistic or advaita]. Third, is the Self. The I, the Self, is everything to me.
'I bow to thee in the form of my Deity [Ishta Deva or Chosen Ideal]. I bow to thee, who is my Self.'
This sounds very egotistic, but where is the ego [ahamkara]? In reality only one ego exists, only one 'I'. If there are two to compare, then there is ego. But there is only One.
You must think and get joy. This is the pathless path to God.
The mind gets stable when you think of One only. With this attitude you can go to the Mosque, with this attitude you can go to the Church or to the Temple. Reality is One without a second.
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