Swami Shivapadananda thoughts for the new year
SWAMI
SHIVAPADANANDA
DAILY READINGS
Taken from Mother
Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.
Day 202
New Year’s Eve:
Lord Krishna said, “I am
Time.” That means the minutes and the seconds and days, the months and the
years. Vishnu [the ‘preserver’ aspect of God, pictured] is worshipped with good words, with good thoughts and with
charity. Because we worship him in this way we reap the good.
Take positive steps and surrender to God – and
see God’s grace in each moment. Thus by the end of the [next] year you will
have less negative and more positive. You will know in your heart: “I tried to
do good and failed – never mind, here is another opportunity.”
Today make a resolution how you will conduct
your life in the new year – so you do not get hurt and others do not get hurt.
If you make and keep that resolution, you are a human being. Animals cannot do
this. Be prepared to give up your life but not your resolution.
Your sadhana [spiritual practice] should improve
in the New Year. Try to speak the truth and be full of love and compassion.
If someone harms you, hiss, do not bite [click on ‘continue reading’ lower down for the full explanation]. Take
these resolutions as far as is humanly possible.
In the shrine you have the company of the
deities, the company of the holy name, the company of bhaktas [devotees].
Maybe there was some sadness – some dear ones
left us. I pray they will have a better life hereafter. If they are sick: may
they have fewer crosses to carry this year. The Lord dwells in everything,
covers everything. May He cover the new year and symbolize ‘It’ in the New
Year.
Always speak positively, not negatively.
The ‘Hiss, don’t bite’ story…
A snake lived in a field, which he guarded fiercely. Local villagers were terrified of
him, since he’d bitten and killed several people and chased many more. People
would detour a great distance around the field, rather than risk walking
through it.
One day, a holy
man came walking through the field. The snake slithered up in his usual
aggressive manner, hood erect and venom sacs on full alert. He looked intimidating,
but the holy man was quite calm and asked, “My goodness, what are you looking
so fierce about?”
The snake
responded, “I’m in charge of this field and nobody dares to come through here
without being attacked by me. This is my space and I’m going to bite you!”
“Absolute nonsense!” scolded the holy man gently, “You’re going to stop this
horrible behaviour right away. In future, I want you to be kind and gentle.
Promise me you’ll never bite anyone, ever again.”
The snake was quite taken aback by the request, but after a
few moments of thought, said, “OK, I’ll give it a try.” “Remember,” said the
holy man, “I’ll be coming past here again some day to check whether or not you’re
keeping your promise.”
Several months passed by and the holy man decided to visit
his reptile friend. Arriving at the field he looked around for the snake but
couldn’t see him. After calling several times he heard a weak, strangled
response. Walking towards the sound, he came across the snake, which was in
awful shape. The emaciated animal had a broken jaw, one eye was damaged, and
scales had been abraded from his body.
“Goodness!”
exclaimed the holy man, “what happened to you?” “Well,” said the snake in a
quavering voice, “You told me never ever to bite anyone again. So the villagers
now take total advantage. They throw stones at me, the boys torture me non-stop,
and I’m in a terrible state. All because you told me to be kind, and to stop
biting.”
There was a pause. Compassionately, the
holy man said, “You poor fellow, I told you to stop biting, but I didn’t
tell you to stop hissing at them!”
1) Care should be taken by the reader to understand and take Swamiji’s
words in these postings, in context. Every teaching or instruction that he gave
was specific to the people who were with Swamiji at the time.
2) Mouse-over the words highlighted in
red in the posting for further explanation
or links.
Besides these daily readings Mother Radha recorded
many hours of our beloved Swamiji speaking. There are currently 40 different
CDs available in sets of 10 for R200 per set. This price includes postage. Please
email timhoare@webmail.co.za to
order.
Reference websites: Ramakrishna Math & Mission, Ramakrishna Centre of Southern Africa, Sri Ramakrishna Dham
Posted by Clive Simpkins