Swamiji speaks on japa and ‘asking God for what you haven’t got.’ Disc 141 track 8.

To listen to Swamiji speaking, please fully open the post and then click below. An accurate as possible transcript of the audio clip is below that.

This is a very short clip from a particularly noisy recording. [from about 55 years ago]. It’s been put through an AI voice isolator so you can hopefully more easily hear what Swamiji’s saying.

Swamiji: One must do [repeat] the mantra 108 times, or more if you can. 108 times minimum. Repeat the mantra and concentrate on the deity’s form. Then after doing the mantra, you meditate on the deity. Look at your deity, repeat the name and think about all his attributes and all his lilas [divine plays] that he did. How full of compassion, how he suffered for the sake of uplifting dharma [righteousness], how he uplifted dharma or truth. What compassion and love he brought to us – and meditate on that.

Prostrate to it [the deity], don’t ask for worldly things. Anything you ask of the deity, don’t ask for money, and if you ask, say ‘God, give me a pure mind, pure heart, make my love increase towards your lotus feet.’ Like that, pray.

When Swami Ranganathananda went to the west, it appears he was having fun talking to the nuns and said, ‘You people are still praying, ‘Our Father, who art in heaven, give us our daily bread.’ He said: That’s a funny kind of prayer. You should get up in the morning and pray for what you haven’t got! They asked Maharaj what they should pray for. He said: ‘Our, Father, who art in heaven, let me have my parking place today.’ Devotees enjoy Swami’s R’s humour.

Swamiji: That’s the thing. Bread you’ll get. But if it’s assured for today, what’s the use of worrying him [God] about that? He’s provided all that. But we’ve got no love for God’s lotus feet. Ask God for love of his lotus feet.

Swamiji: We used to have fun in our [school] class sometimes and say, ‘Our Father who art in heaven, give us our daily bread – and don’t forget the butter.’ [Swamiji was raised in a very disadvantaged, Apartheid-era community. So this was particularly understandable wit.😉]

The free-to-read, 396 page Flipbook version of Swamiji’s biography is available by clicking HERE.

These recordings were made from the 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 an individual or a group of people with him, at the time.