Swami Shivapadananda Puri chatting with householder devotees
This is a delightful audio clip of mixed topics. Swamiji is in a give-and-take, to-and-fro discussion with a group of householders. Swamiji once said to me, 'This time (i.e. this birth), I have come for the householders.'
Swamiji was emphatic that the householder 'ashrama' of life is a blessed one. Some are misguidedly given to thinking it's somehow inferior, which it absolutely is not. Swamiji once said to me with a broad smile, 'Who do they think would feed the sadhus?'
Hinduism speaks of four ashramas: Brahmacharya (the student phase), Grihastha (the married stage), Vanaprasth (wandering in the forest, contemplative or retirement phase) and finally Sannyas (the renunciation phase).
Swamiji explains, to much merriment from the devotees, how married couples, who are genuinely close and faithful to each other, will be reborn and reconnect as a couple in birth after birth – but, with a delightful sting in the tail, they will switch genders. (Don't tell Trump! 😊) Listen to Swamiji explaining why.
Part of the discussion is about mind-management and how the restless mind continues to create desires. Desires are what underpin birth and rebirth. Swamiji explains how reducing stimuli will lead to reducing desires.
A devotee referring to maya (the divine power of so-called 'illusion') leads to Swamiji explaining that all substances are comprised of atoms. All are merely differentiated by their state of vibration – so we see them manifest as separate and individual objects. Swamiji emphasises that if we look for the commonalty (the atom) underpinning everything, we'll understand that all is one. Swamiji once said to me, 'Maya is not unreal or lies. It's just partial truth.'
This clip touches on a variety of topics, so is a little difficult to pigeonhole under just one heading. But we've ticked several relevant categories for it.
To listen to the clip, recorded by Mother Radha Hoare and digitally 'cleaned up' by her son and our gurubhai Tim Hoare, click on the link below. Duration 12:11 minutes. Please scroll down for other audio clip posts. The latest one will always be at the top of the blog. Blessed listening. Jai Sri Ramakrishna!
Duration: 12:11
The original audio recordings of these posts, were made by close Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa and Swami Shivapadananda devotee, Mother Radha Hoare. The audio editing and noise reduction of the original 1970s tapes has been lovingly crafted, over many years, by our gurubhai Tim Hoare. We thank them both.