Swami Shivapadananda on just ‘being’

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Selected from Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji.

Day 441

Yoga retreat camp talk continued:

The word 'becoming' is a very, very elusive word. In reality that becoming is not becoming – that becoming is only being.

Your purpose here is to stop this 'becoming', and when you stop all this becoming then naturally you become. You begin living in your real Being – which is called by various names: Self, Atman, Paramatman and so forth.

It is very, very necessary to gauge your own progress in terms of your own sadhana [spiritual pratice]. Enquire deep within yourself as to how sincerely you are looking for these impurities. You must enquire within yourself to find those things that will help you perceive the purity – and also the impurity. Remove the impurities and never co-operate with your mind when it seeks to do anything else – otherwise you will do violence to your spiritual life.

Whilst doing this, you must be very, very careful not to force your ideas on someone else or even mistakenly tell somebody how holy you are or how many experiences you have had. For we do not want the tree to tell us how much fruit it has, we will see that fruit ourselves and we will know the tree. The whole purpose is to be pure and humble. The humbler you are, the more pure you will be, and the purer you are the more selfless you will be.

Search within and ask yourself just how much you think about others. How considerate are you of others' pains and miseries, of others' discomfort? Look at this rather than living the old life of making yourself comfortable.