Swami Shivapadananda on truthfulness and moderation

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Selected from Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji.

Day 491

(Pictured – the Shiva Temples at Dakshineswar)

Sri Rama said: Raghu kula rita sada chali aye . . .

The householder's [lay devotee's] basis – his morals, his character – should be truthfulness in whatever he or she does. Standing on righteousness or sincere intention, discharge your duties. As we start practising this we will find that we become fit instruments to give our all – not to get attached more and more but rather to get detached.

Sri Ramakrishna's father had one great virtue and quality: he never spoke an untruth. It was because of his truthfulness that he was driven out of his own village. Sri Ramakrishna could not, even absent-mindedly, do that which dharma [righteousness] did not permit.

Once, a doctor told Sri Ramakrishna, "Come, I'll give you some medicine." Sri Ramakrishna went to the dispensary but the doctor was absent and so the manager gave him the medicine. He took it and walked away. As he was going along all he could see was a blank, he could not see the road back to Dakshineswar Temple. He thought, "What's happening?" Then a thought came in his mind: He had said he was going to take the medicine from the doctor, not from the manager. So with this guileless thought he threw the medicine back over the wall and when he looked again he saw the road was clear. Even absent-mindedly Sri Ramakrishna could not do or say anything that was adharmic [unrighteous].

Householders must live a life of moderation. In the Bhagavad Gita Sri Krishna said that he who eats a lot cannot be a yogi. You are all trying to be yogis. He who fasts over-limit [excessively] and thinks that the gods will get happy, he will never be a yogi. He who does not sleep at all, cannot be a yogi and he who sleeps a lot also cannot be a yogi. He who indulges in sense pleasures without moderation can never be a yogi – he can never know God. Even the wealth that is accumulated through dharmic action may be wasted if the senses rule you. In the Bhagavad Gita it is said: "Even the wise man, O Arjuna, is carried away by his turbulent senses."

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.