Swami Shivapadananda Puri shares the key to God-realisation.
Swamiji: You must have such a relationship with God that you reach him.
Swamiji then chants and breaks down the meaning of the devotional song Ragupathi Raghava Raja Ram. Swamiji explains the different prayer approaches required between Lord Rama and Sri Hanumanji. He says that only Sri Rama will take the good and the bad.
Swamiji says that in the Kali Yuga you just have to repeat Lord Rama's name. You don't have to be perfect. Repeating it will make you perfect.
Admin comment: If you've long been struggling with a wayward mind or entrenched habits, what Swamiji says next is pure gold. It's the secret that Sri Ramakrishna and Holy Mother Sarada Devi said is the pathway to God-realisation in this current yuga (age). 👇
Swamiji: If a rogue and a thief like Valmiki can just repeat God's name, and become a great saint, and today I worship him, then, when you repeat God's name, what happens? Even if you don't try to leave evil, evil will fall off on its own as love for God increases. So what one should do in the Kali Yuga, is just try and increase bhakti (love) for God. Don't worry about leaving anything, it automatically gets left. Just do japa (repetition of God's name) continuously. All evil will go away. You don't have to (try to) leave evil.
Swamiji then demonstrates to the devotees how, if the mind is occupied with even one word, or a specific thought or object, it will automatically leave anything else. 'You don't have to leave bad habits. Bad habits will fall off on their own.'
Swamiji goes on to explain how restlessness becomes a creative force, a blessing – and when it turns out to be a blessing, it will be for all. You will get moksha (liberation from the cycle of birth and rebirth). You will get God. You will either become his eternal companion or become one with him.
If you worship God without sincerity, without love, would you have faith? That road towards God is going to be very, very difficult. You will have powers, you can cure others, you can bless others, like Ravana and others. They had powers, but what happened is that they didn't de-throne the ego. Swamiji repeats this to emphasise the importance: They didn't de-throne the ego. Whilst they had these powers, the ego was using the powers for the wrong thing. And in the end you find they were destroyed. In any kind of sadhana (spiritual practice) you do, you'll get certain kinds of powers. But because you haven't got the purity, you will use it wrongly.
Swamiji illustrates the point further by explaining how if you give a child, who has no sense of the value of money, a great deal of money, it will typically be squandered on the wrong things. It will be used for pleasure, for all the things that give sensual happiness. But the person who is more mature and knows the value of money, will use it for good work, for the benefit of others. He will do charity, he will save enough for a rainy day.
In a similar way, worship acts on human beings. Even if you worship incorrectly, you'll go towards God. But that kind of worship will bring a lot of difficulties, then only later on it will give you God. It will not only bring difficulties on you, it will bring difficulties on others.
Do you know that Ravana was the most learned pandit in his time? But being a pandit, what do you think he did? He did the worst thing you can think of. He took Mother Sita away. So you have to get these various emotions in you under control. Then God's power will be rightly used.
Click on the link to listen. Jai Sri Ramakrishna!
Duration 07:43
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.