Talks Excerpt 282. Swamiji: Service of the guru is to take his teachings and practise them.

From Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.

Judging is God’s business, not yours.

As is a man’s faith, so is his gain.

Sacrifice without desire for reward is a sattvic (highest) form of sacrifice.

Shiva is a mountain we have to climb. And the guru, God, sits on top, but descends to help us. That is why Ganga flows from Shiva’s head – indicating purity.

Crucify yourself by denying thoughts of sense pleasure. Give it all up and think of God.

If a man insults you, say, ‘O God, this hurts my ego. Cut it out of me.’ Then mentally prostrate to Him and drive another nail in the ego. If you do not do this, you feed the ego.

Deny yourself, cry, weep, learn. Become nothing, and everything. If you want to be something, become nothing first.

If you think: ‘The guru must touch me, praise me, he must do this and that,’ this is all attachment. So be attached to something greater than his body. This is selflessness.

Prostration makes you surrender to the guru. Sri Ramakrishna says that faith and devotion are of no avail in one who sees the guru as a man. God and guru are one. Seek, and the light is sent to you.

Prostration is of no use without the proper mental attitude of the aspirant. So prostrate with the attitude of a spiritual aspirant [sadhaka] (with humility and love). That is, you recognise the deity [Ishta Devata] in him and know that it is the same in you, but in him it is brighter.

Surrender to the guru. If you cannot do that, purify your mind some more through japa.

Service of the guru is to take his teachings and practise them. The greatest service is to become an embodiment of his teachings. Then you become nectar in a world of poison. You become the guru. That is, you do not speak of him, you are him.

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

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.