Swami Shivapadananda on the privilege of spiritual practice

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

Day 545

[Pictured: The sign pointing towards Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother's residence at Udbodhan House in Kolkata]

Swamiji continues speaking at an easter-time Yoga Camp

Gurudev [Swami Nischalananda Puri, Swamiji's Guru] used to say that when you attend Yoga Camp you must not become proud and think that you are a 'chosen one'. You should feel humble that God has chosen you out of so many thousands of people. What good has He seen in us that He has brought us here? What are we worth that He has brought us here? We must reflect on these things.

Gurudev used to say that there are thousands of people that are not here at Yoga Camp. Some are not here because the pleasures of the world are too strong for them. Others are not here because they do not value spiritual life at all. Then there are some who value spiritual life only because they get the things that they love best through God's Grace, things like worldly comforts, curing sickness, motor cars and money. Then there are others who feel that their relatives can go to places like this. They say, 'That's okay for them because they are such great sinners.'

Master [Sri Ramakrishna] said we are like a clean sheet of cloth, and we dye this cloth with our desires. He said that it is the duty of the laundry man to clean that cloth, to make it white and then colour it according to the desires of the owner. And God is so great that he leaves us to choose the colour – the desire. We may choose colours that attract worldly things and destroy spiritual things or we may choose colours that attract spiritual things and destroy worldly things.

Knowing this, we should attract that colour which will give all things the rightful value in our life. All things are very valuable, whether they are of the world or of God Himself. God is not so foolish that He would make dirt if dirt did not have a place in this world. I want you to understand that the dirt that you and I don't like must be supporting life in another form which also loves God. We just have to put them in their rightful places.

Then you find others who have treated spirituality in such a way that it has become too familiar to them. Familiarity breeds contempt. They have contempt for spiritual life because they are so familiar with it, they get so much of it.

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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