Talks Excerpt 394. Swamiji says: You touch the guru’s feet and he takes your sins.
From Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.
We do not listen to the words of the guru. As the guru speaks a thought arises in us and we are watching that thought. That is why the scriptures say, ‘Sravana, manana’ – listen, absorb, meditate. We listen but we cannot understand, so we make it into a concept and then we store that away. We shall understand the guru’s teaching only when the mind is utterly quiet.
The birthday cake symbolises the body, cut it, sacrifice it, so that the light of the soul can shine. [Swamiji blessed us by making our bodily birthdays very special. There was always a cake with a lighted diya on it, and Swamiji would lead prayers, and have each of the attending devotees say something to the birthday celebrant.]
As sadhakas you must have work and worship.
If you cannot get the guru’s sandals, get a photo of them and worship them every day. Why? Because by contact with the body of a holy man even the sandals become holy. And by seeing this image your mind becomes holy.
Bharata became a great ruler because he took the guru’s (Sri Rama’s) sandals and worshipped them. How did Hanumanji become such a great bhakta? Because he always worshipped the feet of the guru and got his strength from that.
The guru’s feet are softer than flower petals, they are like baby powder. Imagine it, feel it. That is why he wears sandals, to protect his feet. You touch the guru’s feet and he takes your sins, because he is the giver and he gives blessings – just as Sri Ramakrishna did when he was getting ready to leave the body. The Great Ones [saints and sages] take on as much [bad karma from others] as they can at the end – at the time of death [of the physical body]- to help suffering humanity.
Sri Ramakrishna said that we need the constant company of the holy.
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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.