Daily Reading 32. Swamiji talks about sadhaka suffering and says ‘be like a dry leaf in the breeze of God’s grace.’

Taken from Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.

Excerpt from Meditation and Spiritual Life by Swami Yatiswarananda: How does my form arise, my personality arise? Think like this and you will see the ‘I’ beginning to disappear into spirit. We are bubbles. An Incarnation alone is always full of Consciousness of the Divine Nature. Sri Ramakrishna says the personality can be merged into the principle but not vice versa.

Swamiji: It is our feelings that make it come true.

Reading: Cosmic Consciousness always exists. To pray intensely is the stimulus. The Divine Form comes out of the formless. We must have intense love. This is the principal factor in the life of an aspirant.

Swamiji: How much do you need God? We always say we need God, but do we? As long as there is breath we do not want IT.

Reading: The Personal form of God and the Impersonal form of God are two aspects of the same Ultimate Reality. There are no limits to His love. Jealousy arises in you and the mind hypnotises you. You think: My Deity is greater etc.

Reading: God is beyond the formless. He alone knows. We do not know.

Swamiji: Think intensely, serve minutely. Chew those thought forms. You will find the answer to it. Each time I read this, I get more love. We must not give in to the mind. Pull it out of the groove when it goes back there. Why is the world called Maya? Because every time you look at it, you get stuck in it. But the world is such a beautiful place. According to Master [Sri Ramakrishna] it is a place of mirth.

Worship God wherever you are. The public will benefit consciously and unconsciously. Comparison always leads to superiority or inferiority. The most negative way is when you say, ‘I am right,’ or, ‘My religion is right,’ or, ‘I did it.’ The positive way is just to place it there; ‘It is mine and it is good.’

Upanishad means going above darkness and ignorance. Pray to God for a strong intellect to control the senses: O Lord, compel me to remember You – never cease to give me inspiration. You must look at the world and see good. Sri Ramakrishna said that the world is a ‘mansion of mirth’, because he saw God.

We must ask for what great devotees of God ask. They ask for the good of the whole world. Some ask for bhakti [love] and jnana [knowledge]. But no one says: ‘Thy will be done, because I am ignorant of Thy will.’ Instead we think: ‘Why should I ask God? He should give me what He wants.’ But when He gives what He wants, we scream.

Misery is also the will of God. When we have surrendered fully to God, in thought, word and deed, we will not ask God anything. Sri Ramakrishna said: ‘Live like a dry leaf in the world; wherever grace blows you, into clean or dirty water, or into the fire, it is His grace.’ This only happens through great
surrender. It is not that easy.

Swamiji reads from Meditation and Spiritual Life by Swami Yatiswarananda: Spiritual life is for the strong. Surrender to the Divine is the mightiest form of sadhana [spiritual practise]. It is to offer body, mind, soul at the lotus feet of the Deity, repeatedly. Practise intense prayer and the power will come and lift us up. When all external consolations are gone, and it is very painful, turn to God. This is a curative crisis. In spiritual life dry periods are common and are very painful. The most important thing is God’s grace. People forget it and think they are doing everything.

Swamiji: Without grace, jnanis would become dry wood. It is grace that makes them feel that God is living. We wish for something. But God knows what we want.

Reading: The sage took pity…

Swamiji: Notice the word, ‘pity’.

Reading: A spiritual aspirant can begin to think too lightly of attachment and can become careless. If this happens grace withdraws and one faces a terrible void. Less ego leads to greater joy and peace, this leads to better work. Constant discrimination is essential even on the path of devotion. Pray for strength to bear suffering.

Swamiji: This is very beautiful. If suffering makes you forget God, then pray to God to take it away.

Reading: Grace is a calm state of mind. It brings you in touch with the vaster Reality. Suffering indicates that the burden of karma [the life-script that needs to be worked out] is reduced. We must practise self-surrender all the more. Progress comes slowly and steadily.

Underlined words are hypertext links to clarification, explanation or other sources. Just tap on them.

The free-to-read or download, 396-page Flipbook version of Swamiji’s biography, ‘A Life Lived For Others‘, is available by clicking HERE. If you’d prefer the PDF version, please click HERE.

For our gurubhai Atmaprakash Kramer’s beautiful pictorial ‘memoir’ booklet of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, Avoca Ashram, please click HERE.

There’s also a Facebook site for Swamiji’s posts now. They feature newer readings published more recently. Click HERE to view.

These recordings or the excerpts from them, were made from the early 1970s onward, by Mother Radha, a close devotee of Swamiji’s and edited for uploading here by our gurubhai and her son, Brother Tim. Please be mindful that what Swamiji was saying may have been specific to those with him at the time.