Daily Reading 44. Swamiji on mental balance.

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

You must put sattvic [pure, balanced] qualities in yourself. Be calm, be serene, be in equilibrium at all times and in all conditions. Have the senses under control. Swami Vivekananda says the whole of creation is symbolised by the ocean. When the water is calm, the sun is reflected. When the mind is calm, the light of the sun – God – is reflected.

The Bhagavad Gita states: Our nature makes us act. Anger and desire are rajasic [overactive, unbalanced]. This is the enemy. It is insatiable. It is the cause of all sin. Swami Vivekananda said: The senses are all delusion. Go forward, caring not for the good or the evil. Tamas [low nature, unthinking sloth, inertia, laziness] makes us destructive and a brute. Rajas binds us to action, to humanity. Sattva [balance, harmony] leads to divinity, to freedom. How to become sattvic? Swami Vivekananda says: You must reach that state where your very breathing is God.

Sri Ramakrishna said: Unselfish action leads to sattva. And then one realises God, through His grace.

Swami Vivekananda stated: ‘When the food is pure, the sattva becomes pure. When sattva becomes pure then smriti becomes pure. Then you become truer, steadier, Absolute.

To see and hear things that are pure, your surroundings must be pure – and so you overcome rajas. Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi offered food to God which all later ate. Because of this their blood became pure. And when the blood becomes pure, the mind becomes pure, and this leads to God. Thus outside, unselfish action is sattvic; and inwardly, positive thoughts are sattvic.

If you leave the world for one day on a spiritual retreat, it is a great thing. Unknown to you a magic will work in you and turn your face towards God. Just be happy. When you get up in the morning just say, ‘I am happy.’

Swamiji reads from Holy Mother’s [Sri Sarada Devi’s] Gospel: Sit up at midnight, on your bed, do japa [repetition of a mantra or one of the many names attributed to God] for ten or twenty minutes.

Swamiji: Just imitate Holy Mother’s life. I used to read Mother’s life and that is where I learned about Master [Sri Ramakrishna].

Question from a devotee: What is the Bija [seed-mantra/syllable] of Master’s [Sri Ramakrishna’s] Name?

Swamiji: You have to be initiated into it. It is Eym – ऐं [The mantra, unless transmitted or given to the chela (disciple) by the Guru (teacher), is not regarded as being fully empowered.] Bija is the seed. A normal seed contains the tree and all the flowers and fruits. See how small is the bija, and yet from it grows a huge tree – like the banyan tree. Bija is the mystic syllable of the Lord’s name. From it
springs forth, in due time, spiritual consciousness, devotion and love, and more.

Reading: After Sri Ramakrishna died, Holy Mother saw him walking with Rakhal [Swami Brahmananda, one of Sri Ramakrishna’s direct monastic disciples] and Naren [Swami Vivekananda]; and from his feet sprang a stream of water which flowed in front of him in waves. Mother said, ‘I see he is everything. The Ganga [river Ganges – a metaphor for spirituality] is springing from his lotus feet  [a reverential term to describe the feet of the Guru. Because a Lotus has its roots in the mud but floats above the water] in this yuga [age], one attains God if one simply sticks to the truth.

Swamiji: Master [Sri Ramakrishna] had said: He who speaks nothing but truth is resting on God’s
lap.

Reading: Someone asked Holy Mother, ‘Are you really my Mother?’ She answered, ‘Who else am I? Yes I am your own Mother. He alone, Sri Ramakrishna, has become our father and mother.‘

Underlined words are hypertext links to clarification, explanation or other sources. Just tap on them.

The free-to-read or download, 396-page Flipbook version of Swamiji’s biography, ‘A Life Lived For Others‘, is available by clicking HERE. If you’d prefer the PDF version, please click HERE.

For our gurubhai Atmaprakash Kramer’s beautiful pictorial ‘memoir’ booklet of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, Avoca Ashram, please click HERE.

There’s also a Facebook site for Swamiji’s posts now. They feature newer readings published more recently. Click HERE to view.

These recordings or the excerpts from them, were made from the early 1970s onward, by Mother Radha, a close devotee of Swamiji’s and edited for uploading here by our gurubhai and her son, Brother Tim. Please be mindful that what Swamiji was saying may have been specific to those with him at the time.