Swami Shivapadananda on ‘God is one’
SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA
DAILY READINGS
From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji
584
Some people try to divide the Supreme Being in their minds. Just like an axiom in maths. For instance they may say, 'I'll go to Lord Vishnu only because he can preserve. I'll go to Lord Brahma only because he can create. And I'll go to Lord Shiva because he can destroy.'
Supposing a piece of iron is full of rust. If I go to Lord Vishnu he will preserve that rust because he is the preserver god. If I go to Lord Brahma he will create more rust because he is the creator god. But when I go to Lord Shiva he will destroy that rust.
That is a way to understand it. But in reality it is One God who has become three, simultaneously not separately. In the body the cells are being created, at the same time the cells are being destroyed, and at the same time the cells are being sustained or preserved. At the same time everything is happening.
God has become the whole creation so He must be in the demons as well.
Devotee: Swamiji, why should God listen to us if we want to ask Him to do negative things, destroying somebody for instance?
Swamiji: Sri Krishna says, 'You have a free will, O Arjuna, if you so desire you can choose now. I gave you the dharmic [righteous] things and the adharmic [unrighteous] things. If you want to do with my power what you want to do, you have the rights to do it. But the fruit of that is yours too, it is not mine.'
Devotee: In the scriptures it says various people asked God to destroy their enemies. Should our prayer ask such things?
Swamiji: It must ask that. It just has to ask for it. But your "enemies" will be according to your evolution. If you are lowly evolved you will think that the man next-door is your enemy. If you are highly evolved you know your senses are your enemy. Sri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, 'The unruly senses are your enemy.'
Devotee: So, if I want to get rid of an enemy like the senses, must I go ahead with it?
Swamiji: Yes, yes. Because it hides God from you.
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
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Reference websites (please mouse-over
the name to connect): Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Ramakrishna Centre of SA, Ramakrishna Centre of Southern Africa,
Ramakrishna Dham, Swami Shivapadananda 2