Talk Excerpt 228. Swamiji stresses the ‘updating’ but not negation, that comes with incarnations [avatars] of God.
From Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.
[After a satsang – prayer service talk]:
Our speaker did not say that Sri Rama is now an outdated coin, and Sri Ramakrishna is the updated coin. He did not say that Hanuman is an outdated coin and Swami Vivekananda is the current coin. But he took your love, which flows towards Rama, Hanuman, Krishna etc. and drew parallels. He took that devotion and put it in the present.
The love you felt for Sri Rama was seen in Swami Vivekananda. The love you felt for Hanuman was seen to live in Sri Ramakrishna and [Holy Mother Sri] Sarada Devi and other devotees. So there is no sense of disloyalty or disconnectedness. Rather he showed us the connectedness between them.
This is a wonderful quality of the devotees of God. Do not take away what you have – but add to it. The Bhagavad Gita says, Love Me and I shall look after what you have, I will not take it away. [Chapter 9 vs. 22]
There is a continuous flow from one to the other. The speaker said the incidents are similar but different – but the feelings are the same.
Demons are always embodiments of lust and greed – brought to the present day – shown in a modern way – lust and greed were exported to India. Spirituality, selfless sacrifice, selfless love were exported from India to the West – especially America.
The only superpower today [it was so at the time] is America – and that was conquered by Swami Vivekananda. The heart of the Americans, the politicians, can change, but the heart of India, spirituality, will never change. The love of the West wants to grab. The love of the East wants to give.
If you look at the saints and sages of India, what they worshipped they became. Read their literature, sooner or later you will become like them. When you read about Sri Rama, you become Sri Rama. Remember, when you outgrow all these personalities, you will realise God.
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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.