Swami Shivapadananda on managing ego

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

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

Day 259

Ignorance clouds our knowledge of our own perfection. Meditation removes
it. How do you get rid of ignorance? By repeating His [God’s] name.

So he insults me – laugh and say, ‘Yes Ma [Divine Mother], it is you in
him hurting me the ego.’ Do you think you will get God-realisation without
hurt? Never. If you say, ‘I am angry,’ the ‘I’ is the narrow ‘I’ all the time.
Rather get angry with God. Even smash his photo if you must.

What spoils my remembrance of God? Name, fame, reward.

You want the guru to pet you, fuss over you? This is weakness. Strength
is when you do not want anything from the guru.

Go to God each morning and ask him, ‘What can I do for you today?’ It’s
not ‘Give me, give me, give me.’ Rather say, ‘Use these hands, this mouth and
so on, for thy works Lord.’

Never mind what your wife, child, husband, mother, father do. See that
what you do, is right.

Come on. Be a great saint. It hurts to kill the ego. So get on. Chop it
with the panga [machete] of knowledge.

Three stages of spiritual life were described by Christ. They are:

1. The kingdom of God is within. Seek ye first the kingdom of God.

2.  Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.

3.  Be still and know that I am God.

[Pictured: The Ramakrishna Centre Ashram Temple, Glen Anil, North Coast, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Viewed from the rear.]