Swami Shivapadananda on asking God for the right things
SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA
DAILY READINGS
From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji
560
[Pictured: Newly constructed memorial archway leading to the bathing Ghat (steps) where Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi used to take her bath in the river Ganga.]
Swamiji speaking about the great bhaktas [devotees] in the scriptures:
Prahlada, after a hard struggle, met Narasimha Baba the avatar [Incarnation] of Lord Vishnu. Prahlada could have asked for anything in this world but he asked the Lord for bhakti [divine love, devotion] and the Lord happily granted him this boon. The scriptures say that after getting bhakti he ruled the earthly kingdom for many years. He was able to give happiness to his subjects, for he dealt with them as spirit and not as material matter. What I want you to see is that Prahlada did not ask Narasimha Baba to give him his father's kingdom, wealth, or name and fame; he asked the Lord to give him bhakti. After Prahlada had obtained bhakti the Lord found it difficult to keep him out of his sight even for a second. He had found God, and because he had found God he enjoyed worldly happiness too.
Today, the twenty fifth of December, is a great day. A day on which we find that another Incarnation of God manifested himself: Lord Jesus the Christ. He himself said to his people: 'Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and God, then everything else shall be added unto you.' Did not Prahlada do the same thing? He first sought God and loved God. After having loved God the worldly things were nothing to him, they were mere shadows of the spirit. Then he enjoyed ruling the kingdom justly, dharmically [righteously].
A bhakta, a jnani [follower of the knowledge path in Yoga], behaves like Prahlada but a worldly man behaves otherwise. A worldly man would probably go to a king and ask him for puny little things, little favours, thus losing the greatest opportunity of owning the whole kingdom, the whole universe.
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