Swami Shivapadananda on asking God for the right things
SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA
DAILY READINGS
From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji
Day 554
[Pictured: Frame on the staircase of the Udbodhan House, featuring various photographs of the Holy Mother, Sri Sarada Devi, taken at the request of devotee Mrs. Sarah Bull]
Once, when his mother and sister were dying of starvation, Swami Vivekananda went to see Sri Ramakrishna. He asked Sri Ramakrishna to pray to the Divine Mother for him so that She would give him work and bless him. But Sri Ramakrishna said, 'No, I will not ask. Why do you want to test my faith? You yourself have to have faith. You must ask Her directly.'
So Swami Vivekananda went into the Kali temple at Dakshineswar. There he saw Mother Kali pulsating, living, breathing. He prostrated to Her and prayed for selfless love, devotion and knowledge. When he came out of the temple Sri Ramakrishna asked him if he had asked the Mother for work. He said, 'No.' So Master said, 'Go to the Temple again, and this time ask Her for work.' On seeing Her, Swami Vivekananda again asked for devotion and knowledge. And for the third time Sri Ramakrishna asked him to go back and ask Mother Kali for work to help his family. But all three times he could only ask for love, devotion and knowledge.
Swami Vivekananda's real nature was selfless, his nature was to love God, so when he went into the shrine it was his real nature which manifested. If you plant a mango seed it will produce mango flowers and mango fruit – not a plant that seems like something else.
After having been unable to ask for work for the third time Sri Ramakrishna said to him, 'I bless you that your family will not starve. They will have food, shelter and cloth to cover themselves.' And so it came to pass.
Pray for anybody, ask anything, but the highest thing to ask for is love and devotion. Start in the heart. God must be everywhere because He is Omnipotent [all powerful].
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.
There are currently available, over 100 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. Click HERE for the second website on Swamiji's life and teachings.