Swami Shivapadananda on Truth and Tribulations

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Selected from Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji.

Day 444

Yoga retreat camp talk continued:

The purpose is in your own heart, the purpose is in your own mind, the purpose is in your own hands. You have to choose otherwise it [Mother Nature] will choose you. When you choose, you've got your mind under control. When other things choose you, your mind is weak.

This is the time for you to know that God dwells in all and that you should join all. Simultaneously, this is the time to know that you should be detached.

You come to the Camp to make your mind very, very uncomfortable, so that the comfort of the Spirit can manifest.

Devotee: You said that nothing can burn truth, but how is it that a true man or an honest man can be sent to jail or be punished?

Swamiji: You see son, that is not truth. We didn't say that a man who is following a truthful path will not go through trials and tribulations. Sri Rama himself went through trials and tribulations; Sita went through trials and tribulations. That has nothing to do with it. When a man goes to jail that is the time to test him – to know if he is going to leave the truth now and go to untruth. If he can stay in jail and yet take the punishment and in his heart be convinced that, "I am speaking the truth," then he is a blessed man. Christ was crucified yet if Christ wanted he could have told a lie – but he preferred, just like Sri Rama, to give up his life rather than break away from truth or principle.

You should ask the guru those questions which trouble your mind in sadhana. If you don't ask these questions it will delay your sadhana. Ask the guru those questions which pertain to God Himself, and the way of life to live to go towards God. If we've got certain doubts, we must ask about them in order to clear them up.