Talks Excerpt 293. Swamiji says yearning for God is the only worthwhile desire.

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

What is bhakti? It is yearning for God. It is the feeling that only one thing is worthwhile: and that is striving Godward. The attainment itself must be left to God’s grace. All our devotion is a mere shadow, there is no substance.

Devotion is to fill the heart, mind and intellect with God-thought, with God-love, with God-Consciousness, so that there is no room for anything else.

But the mind is as capricious as a child. One day it cares for japa, the next day only for singing and dancing. So we must play with our minds – just as we try to cajole a child – with a bit of this and a bit of that.

If we but put God-thought in the mind, God-feeling, we will be full of love; and before we know what has happened, love will be our entire being. It will be a flame consuming all the dross that we have accumulated for endless ages. Then the progress will be fast, for the flame burns all, till purity alone remains.

Purity in our hearts and minds is what reflects the light – the nature of God. Then only do we see God, for we are God. Now we see God only through these darkened glasses. But one day, with Master’s [Sri Ramakrishna’s] divine grace, we will take off the glasses and see clearly, truly, full of love and light, and see that which we think was separation, is only union of the Self, with all.

We will become our true nature, we will love all, serve all. We will show by our faces that we know Him. We should show by our fragrance that we share in Him. We should show by our voices that we are praising Him. We should show by our thoughts that we are at peace with Him. We should show by our words that we are pure and true. We should show by our deeds that we are pure love.

Then we shall be integrated, then we shall know the word ‘bhakti.’ Then we shall shine with God’s great light and all will know that: ‘I am God‘; that bhakta is my only name, my only form; that I have merged with 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.