Swami Shivapadananda on aspects of God

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Taken from Mother Radha’s
notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.

Day 253

Swamiji to a Hanuman devotee: You must first see Sri Ramakrishna
seated on your head on a lotus, and worship Him. After that you prostrate to
him and carry on with your worship of Hanuman.

Hanuman is the Guru personalised. Hanuman is the bodiless Guru. Other
Gurus may have bodies but he guides you without a body. May the Guru of Gurus
be happy on us.

Swamiji to a devotee: See the Ishta devata [personal Deity] sitting in
the Sun. Devotee: But I do not have a form. Swamiji: Think of it as supreme
intelligence – feel He is in the sun. It [the Sun] is not just a gaseous mass, it is
living intelligence.

What I tell you, you must keep doing. Do not reverse, then my mind will
not answer. I will say, Mother knows best.

Swami Yatiswarananda says, “The seeker seeks the company of God. You and
God together are strongest. Otherwise you are weak.” Speak about God otherwise
it is weakness.

Sri Ramakrishna said: “Some sannyasis [monks, renunciates] do sadhana
[spiritual practice] only for their own moksha [liberation from the cycle of
birth and death]. Sukadeva [said to have told the ‘story’ of the Bhagavatam] etc. did it for the benefit of others.” Sri
Ramakrishna also falls into this category.

[Clearly to a smoker in the midst!] Smoking creates the physical craving
of the cells. Take chewing gum or a sweet when you feel that craving.