Talks Excerpt 322. Swamiji: Go to sleep thinking of the Divine Mother; climb onto Her lap, pull Her hair…
From Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.
In ritual worship incense represents the living presence of God everywhere.
The waving of the lights [aarti] is to remove darkness.
Tilak (dot on the forehead) indicates: ‘I am non-dual Brahman. I am One. May the eye of intuition open.’
From sandalwood emanates a sweet smell, even when ground into a paste. It teaches us patience, cheerfulness and forbearance.
Offering food reminds us that the wealth of the whole world is the Lord’s only – it is prasad.
Prasad changes a man’s outlook on life. It cures disease, brings the dead to life, destroys pain and sorrow.
Gerua (ochre cloth of the monk) is as pure as fire. It is burnt gold, it purifies. It is purity.
The shaven head removes all beauty. One with a shaven head is one who has renounced all external beauty, one who seeks the internal beauty called God or Brahman.
Change your identity. Know that: ‘I am not the body, not the mind, I am the silent witness.’ Think this all the time.
If I go to a holy man, what can I offer him? Only love and sincerity. A pure heart and a pure mind are your only friends. An impure mind and an impure heart are your only enemies. Watch the mind and train it – then it will become ever quiet, tranquil and pure.
Obedience to the guru slays the ego, and guru’s grace fills your being. So act how your guru likes you to act. Act as your guru would act: humbly. Emulate him. Always do what the guru wants.
Go to sleep thinking of [the Divine] Mother; climb onto Her lap, pull Her hair, let Her slap you. Then repeat your guru mantra and go to sleep. When you awake, call, ‘Ma, Ma.’ Be with Her, waking, dreaming, sleeping. Only then will you cross over this worldly existence, only then will you reach God.
Pray: ‘O Ma, I am tired, I want to touch you, I want to hold you forever.’ Let God make all the plans.
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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.