Steps to God-Realisation
[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 883
You must feel bhakti [devotion, divine love] to awaken bhakti in you.
In sattva [balance as opposed to rajas or tamas – the three gunas], one is obliterated: That shines.
When 'I' [the ego, ahamkara] lives, God hides; and when God lives, 'I' [the ego, sense of individual self] dies. To see this we must look at the episodes of the Incarnations [avatars].
There is the perishable: all beings. Then there is the imperishable: the soul [atman]. Then there is the highest Self: the Immortal Lord [Brahman], who pervades and sustains the three worlds [Trailokya].
After many births you will hear the Upanishads [Hindu philosophical treatises], understand them, and know them.
There is only one desire you must have: God-realisation.
You must have a goal. Realisation comes later.
When you meditate on Krishna you become Krishna. That means you have Krishna's qualities. What you think you become. When you meditate on Shiva you become Shiva, you have Shiva's qualities, and so on.
You must gear your life to live in the world doing dharmic [righteous, scripturally ordained] action, which leads to dharmic wealth, which leads to dharmic pleasures. In the end you will be given power, dispassion and detachment – this will lead you to moksha [liberation from the cycle of birth and re-birth, or samsara].
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