Swami Shivapadananda on focusing the senses on God
SWAMI
SHIVAPADANANDA
DAILY
READINGS
Taken from Mother Radha’s
notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.
Day 26
An Excerpt from a Book by Swami Yatiswarananda
Control these
desires by willpower and by cultivating the witness attitude. Neither is easy.
Every passion must be given a God-ward turn – consciously, knowingly, by
willpower.
[Sw.S] The Upanishads [Hindu
philosophical treatises] say we must have healthy senses. They are instruments
but they must be controlled by the willpower or the Supreme. It is a graded
path. Be wide awake, conscious, more reflective. Act less on impulse or on
instinct.
Everything is Divine, even
the Mother’s tiger [In Hindu art, one aspect of the Divine Mother, Durga Devi,
is typically depicted riding a tiger – see picture above]. But if you go to prostrate to it and not
the Mother, be careful!
Gurudev [Swami Nischalananda] said: If I say, ‘Keep
still,’ you must keep still. And when I say, ‘Don’t do it’, do not do it. Now
it is the opposite sex. Later the time will come of no sex. See the Spirit more than the
form.
Book: Dispassion must be cultivated
as much as possible. Discover from others as much as possible and connect it
with the Divine as much as possible. But we brush God aside.
[Sw.S] How beautiful.
Book:
Centre all the emotions on the Ishta Devata [chosen Ideal or Deity]. He
will never leave you, never forget you. Learn how to be with Him alone. When we
pray we use a mantra for this reason, to make the Deity living to us. Keep
repeating the mantra and seeing the luminous form. Do japa [repetition of God’s name or a mantra] intensely.
[Sw.S] When you eat think: ‘Make
Shiva eat,’ or ‘Make Krishna eat.’ The whole time when I eat I think that too.
Try it. You will see it on your face, in your eyes. God has His own shine, His
own effulgence.