Daily Reading 9. Swamiji speaks about universality and the effectiveness of prayer.

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

In a Hindu home, when devotees want to be happy, when the family wants to be happy, it cannot come without unity. The whole universe is made out of unity. ‘United we stand, divided we fall’. Unity starts with unselfish purpose, then with the family, with society, with the nation, and the universe. The idea is to reach the universality of unity. This only comes with practise. We must set a goal.

Swami Vivekananda [then Narendranth] went to the temple of Mother Kali to ask for what would take them out of [financial and unemployment] trouble, because his mother and sisters were dying of starvation. He thought: ‘Let me ask Sri Ramakrishna to pray for me, to give me work and I will be blessed.’ But Master would not do that. He said, ‘You ask the Divine Mother. Why do you want to test my faith? You must have the faith to ask Her directly.’

So Swami Vivekananda went into the temple and saw Mother pulsating, living, breathing. And he prayed for selfless love, devotion and knowledge. When he came out, Sri Ramakrishna asked
him what he had prayed for, and he told Master, ‘love, devotion and knowledge‘. So Master told him to go there again and pray. He went in three times to ask for work – but all he could ask for was selfless love, devotion and knowledge.

Swami Vivekananda’s real nature was selflessness, to love God. And so his real nature manifested when he went into the temple. Just as a mango seed can only show its nature by producing mango flowers, and mango fruit. In the end, Sri Ramakrishna asked him, ‘Did you ask Mother?’  ‘No,’ was
the reply. Then Master said, ‘I bless you that your family will not starve, they will have basic food, shelter and clothing.’ And that came to pass.

So you can pray for anybody. Ask for anything. But the highest is love and devotion. Start in the heart. He must be everywhere, because God is omnipresent.

Underlined words are linked 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.