Swami Shivapadananda on mind focus
SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA
DAILY READINGS
From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji
Day 507
Gauri, Shankar, Sitaram, Sarada Ma, Sri Ramakrishna, Radheshyam: These names give us bhakti [devotion, divine love], these names give us jnana [knowledge]. Anything or anyone that gives you bhakti and jnana is a manifestation of God's power of dispelling darkness. That which disperses darkness and takes away maya [delusion, illusion] is a special manifestation of God's power.
We must create seriousness in the minds of students so that they become Self-enquiring people. You will find that if you are dull you will become duller after a Yoga Camp – you will only remember patches here and there and most probably you will find that your mind only remembers those things which were jovial. The serious part of it, to which you really should give thought, you forget. This is one of the ways to find out what kind of mind you have – a sattvic [balanced, harmonious] mind, or a tamasic [slothful, lazy] mixed with a rajasic [over-active] mind.
I feel that these are very serious studies but when we gather like this the seriousness is lost. What I say to you is: You are born ignorant, do not die more ignorant. In the previous birth you may have improved, so in this birth try to improve more.
I gave you an interpretation of [Holy Mother Sarada Devi] Mother's teaching: Do not find fault with others. I gave it to you from three different levels just to give you an inkling of how – when you think seriously – you can draw so much from those simple words and improve your life. You can only improve it from where you are.
The idea is that every stage of life must be harmonised. The householder's [lay devotee's] stage of worldly life must be harmonised so that you get to the next stage of harmony: dualism i.e. devotees and gods. Then you go on to the next stage which is being united in the Self. Wherever you are, if you can get that stage harmonised, the next stage will come, and the next stage, and then you will be able to see the horizon – you will become the horizon and that which is beyond the horizon.
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