Talk Excerpt 215. Swamiji advises on reacting to difficulties.
From Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.
Vedanta says: Everything is maya. Others say: There are different stages in spiritual life.
Question: Sri Sarada Devi says, ‘Troubles are like water under a bridge . . .’ What does this mean?
Swamiji: Do not look at the water i.e. the problem. Repeat the name and look up top. Concentrate on the Deity [Ishta Devata] there, the pain is not so great.
Practise, practise, practise makes perfect. If you think it is difficult, it will be difficult. When you think, ‘I will overcome it,’ the problem is no longer that difficult. Remember my words – it is no longer that difficult. ‘Troubles are like water under a bridge . . .’ means they do not last long; they flow and go.
Get drunk with God’s name. Keep the mind level, all the time – on God and holy things.
Question: Why is it so difficult to control my mind.
Swamiji: Foolish people try to control their minds, wise people try to make the mind fully occupied. That is the difference. Let the mind be on God even when you ask a question – that means give the mind a good direction.
Intense yearning is lacking in us for God-realisation – for knowing who we are. If you want to marry a particular being, you become blind to the advice of your father and mother, so you break through the wall of their resistance. Similarly we need to show this kind of determination in our spiritual life.
Lust must be lust for God. In the Bhagavad Gita it says, ‘Whatever you desire, I fulfil.’ This does not mean shallow desire but intense desire – ‘I fulfil that.’
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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 an individual or a group of people with him, at the time.