Swami Shivapadananda on seeing yourself as Spirit

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

Day 512

 
 

Every second you must think that you are not the body.

There are two ways to do this. One is to think that all these names and forms you are clinging to are not there – neti, neti [not this, not this]. The other way is to think you are Sri Krishna, or Lord Vishnu, or Lord Shiva, and wherever you look, you feel He is permeating that, 'Ah, He is there, He is there.' You see the wall but feel that He is inside that wall permeating it. You see the space and feel He is permeating it. In that way, slowly but surely, you become above body consciousness and know that there is body and there is spirit. Later on you will find that the body is spirit. There is nothing there – only you the Self.

Devotee: What happens if you are angry when you cook food?

Swamiji: Oh, that is the worst kind of food you can give anybody. That is why the Hindus are so particular about this matter. The wife must take the husband as a symbol of God and cook for that God. If you do this then no anger will be there, only devotion and love. If you serve the food that was cooked while you were angry – with your child for instance – then you are sinning because you are feeding other people with that 'anger food'. After all they did not make you angry, did they?

The Bhagavad Gita tells us: 'Lust, anger and greed are open doors to hell.' When you get angry what are you saying? 'Go to hell. [laughter] You must get your mind under control.

If you are repeating God's name you should not have anger. For the anger to subside, sit down in one place and do your sadhana [spiritual practice] and let it subside. Or say to the man with whom you are angry, 'Look, I am sorry I did this,' or 'You shouldn't have done that, you hurt my feelings.' Then if he or she tells you some good words this uplifts your mind.

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.

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