Swami Shivapadananda on the compassion of Sri Ramakrishna

 

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Selected from Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji.

Day 480

 

Devotee: Did animals and so on come first and then the Rishis? Or were conditions not conducive at the very inception of this evolution for the Rishis to appear? Did the Rishis come after the plants and animals?

Swamiji: God came, then Lord Brahma [the creative force] came, then Rishis came and then plants and other things came. In the Bhagavatam you will find they describe it as waves of creation – how the five pranas and the ego [sense of separateness] came and how the ego manifested itself into other things. But they always start from the highest: the Rishis. So the Rishis came first.

[Swamiji reads from "Sri Ramakrishna and his Disciples" by Sister Devamata, and comments]

Book: The distance of six miles from Calcutta [now re-called Kolkata] to Dakshineswar seemed very long in the scorching heat of the daylight hours and very lonely and dark by night. Yet many disciples and devotees traversed it habitually on foot, some out of humility, some because they had not the money for carriage hire or boat fare. It hurt Sri Ramakrishna to see them arrive at the Dakshineswar Temple hot and weary. He felt as if he himself had walked under the burning sun, as if his own feet were fevered from the long way. To save his chosen ones from such fatigue Master went as often as he could to Calcutta and let them gather around him there.

Swamiji: You can see that Sri Ramakrishna's thoughts were for others. The old idea was that the chela [disciple] must come to the guru, but here it was vice versa. The Master felt pity, he felt love and he went to Calcutta so that those people would not have to walk the six miles. It is not a small thing, it is a thing of the heart.

Book: The house [pictured in this posting] Master frequented most was that of Balaram Bose. It became at once a recognised centre for his work and has remained such ever since. It was in 1882 that Balaram Bose first met the Master. He was already firmly grounded in spiritual living. Although possessed of large estates and great wealth [even] his wife was given wholly to God.

Swamiji: Sri Ramakrishna would visit the pure souls, the pure ones, and Balaram Bose's house became the centre. His wife, instead of being full of pride because she had so much money, gave herself wholly to God.

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