Swami Shivapadananda with advice on getting close to God
SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA
DAILY READINGS
Taken from Mother Radha's notes, written at Swamiji's feet.
Day 380
Do not look at the colour of this beard [i.e. Swamiji's beard], it gets old like a wrinkled paw paw [papaya]. See that which is beyond it.
If you limit your guru to the body, it is a sin. You are limiting your guru.
See the guru [spiritual Preceptor] in all, otherwise you will say, 'My guru is the only guru.'
No one can do your practice for you, not even the guru. Do it yourself. You want to Be, not to become.
That 'peace which passeth all understanding.' The moment you think you know this peace, you do not, you are only thinking.
Peace, love and joy come uninvited, if you cling to them, they are gone.
As Sri Krishna says: 'There are three gates to hell' – lust, anger and greed. All people have these but they control them. If I say, 'Control your eyes, I do not mean poke them out, I mean do not look at what you are not supposed to look at. This is what 'control of the senses' is.
Simplicity and purity lead to guru bhakti [love, devotion].
The mind really loves God. As it goes nearer to God, to something it loves, it loses all fear, it stops running and becomes still. Watch. As you go inside you will see this, then when you go inside there is no inside and no outside, it is One.
If you can just laugh and joke and never be sad – no matter what happens – this will change your life in three months.
Make sadhana [spiritual practice] your whole life.
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was specific to the people who were with Swamiji at the time.
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Reference websites: Ramakrishna Math & Mission, Ramakrishna Centre of Southern Africa, Sri Ramakrishna Dham