Swami Shivapadananda on mind and concentration

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

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

Day 284

In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says, ‘Put your whole mind on Me’.

This is the means
which will take you to the goal. Sense control is the pre-requisite to
intuition and this leads you to God-realisation.

Forget the neighbour’s business, it makes you weaker. Pray for them and
then go on with your sadhana [spiritual practice]. Say, ‘Ma [Divine Mother], I
am tired now, pull me out of the flames.’

There is a knot between the soul and the mind. Cut the knot of the
senses, this frees you. Or repeat God’s name sincerely, repeat the guru’s
mantra sincerely. Be attentive in spiritual life – learn to listen to the
guru’s instruction. You must have faith, this makes you strong. You must be
faithful to your spiritual practice. Go to the guru, come away stronger,
devoted, whole-hearted.

Have faith, devotion and master the senses. Do not calculate or doubt.
Only the guru knows your destiny. Are you strong enough to surrender to the
guru? Doubt is evil. How long can you pretend to be good?

Krishna says to Arjuna [his
disciple], ‘I taught the sun,’ – that is, you must learn from an enlightened
guru, who knows the Self, who can teach you the subtleties.

Krishna [God in whatever form you worship] is as infinite as the sky. There are infinite ways to reach him. The sun
is in the sky but the sky is not touched by it. Similarly, separate yourself
from the body.

Think: The hands work, not me, the feet walk, but not me. Never feel ‘I
am doing it.’ If you do feel this, offer it to God, then He takes the
responsibility.

The yogi controls his mind and offers all his possessions to God. This
is God intoxication. Sacrifice or work for God, this is sadhana. Worldly work
is ego.