Swami Shivapadananda on the Universality of Sri Ramakrishna
SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA
DAILY READINGS
From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji
Day 546
[Pictured:Udbodhan House street front. The Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi lived on the first floor of this building following the mahasamadhi of Sri Ramakrishna]
Swamiji continues talking at an Easter Yoga camp
All the different things that you see are nothing other than a manifestation of maya [the illusion/delusion creating power], which is God's power. Maya dishes out your food for you to eat, according to your past samskaras [impressions from past births].
He is the best who, in humility, asks God to extend his hand, and tries to extend his own hand towards God. He is the best because God can then take him up from where he is and make use of him in the best possible way. That is why Sri Ramakrishna said, 'O Mother, may Thy will be done.' Whilst other Rishis and munis [sage-saints] said that this world is maya, this world is full of dirt and filth, Sri Ramakrishna was able to love everything in this world.
Even a great sage like Adi Shankaracharya wrote such defiling words about the body to bring about dispassion. But Sri Ramakrishna did not do this at all. He wanted to bring that same dispassion by positive means. He said that this world is full of mirth, this world is full of happiness.
Was it not lust that brought Tulsidas to God? It was. And yet it was lust that destroyed other sadhakas. Even theft can be turned into a positive thing; yet we think it can only be used to bring about negative things. This is why Sri Ramakrishna was so against the word 'sin'. He said, 'You must not call a man a sinner because if he took birth from that Birthless One he too must be birthless – and therefore divine.'
You are born in the new school of thought, the Ramakrishna way, the [Swami] Vivekananda way. This way is now being preached by different institutions around the world although they do not mention that it is the Ramakrishna way and to that extent they are thieves. Let us not be that kind of a thief too. Let us fully acknowledge: 'Lord, it is because of you that I have got this grace, it is because of you that these Yoga Camps have been arranged, it is because of you that I have a little love for your lotus feet and for our fellow brothers and sisters.'
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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.
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