Swami Shivapadananda on mind-management

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

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

Day 275

Question: They say the devil destroys one, is that wrong? Swamiji: It is
right because it refers to unrighteousness, and good can never come out of it.
Man makes his own destiny. Pray.

Question: What is the difference between praying once and often?
Swamiji: It is like this – you come here one day and I am not here so you do
not come here again. If you come every day, what do you get? Mountains high [of
benefits].

Offer every action as a flower at God’s feet. When we worship God we do
not expect anything. Apply this to your daily life. We want no reward. Feel
that it gives you great joy.

Thus service becomes worship. Selfishness disappears and there is great
happiness. Who is the performer of these actions? The energy of God, Shakti.
When worship is directed in and through all, the ego is gone. That is
liberation.

Love is a tender green plant in me but it can only grow because the hate
that was there before has gone. Between hate and love there is the razor-edge
path, the fulcrum [balance point on a see-saw], the balance of life.

Karma comes to an end only when I uproot the roots of karma within
myself. The quality of violence is where? In me. How does energy, comprising my
mind, become violence? Once I see it I begin to throw it away, then there is no
more violence in me.

As fire is to the flame, so God is to God’s nature – that is, light, heat, smoke. Light is clear, divine, illumined. The world is clear, the mind
is clear, my role is clear and I go about it. There are no doubts, [there is] no vacillation.
Heat is passion, dynamism. Smoke blinds. As you sow, so it grows. That is, out
of a certain action, there will be certain fruit.