Talks Excerpt 401. Swamiji says: If you go to Kailash Ashram, you’re only allowed to say, ‘How is the body today?’
From Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.
Devotee: In the film on Master’s [Sri Ramakrishna’s] life there was this so-called beggar who ate with the dogs. But he was a Paramahamsa, wasn’t he? What did he incarnate [take a body] for?
Swamiji: He did incarnate for something, but we do not know for what. And he is not known as an incarnation because God hides Himself from others so He will not be recognised. It also reveals different types of incarnations. All don’t have to do the same things.
[In the Srimad Bhagavatam, it is said: ‘The Incarnations of the Lord are innumerable.’ Swamiji stressed this to us because people have the idea that there are only 10 Incarnations. But those are incarnations of Lord Vishnu.]
Sri Ramakrishna himself lived in the world for many years as an ordinary sadhaka [spiritual seeker]. He did this just to teach us. He started at the bottom and was an example to us. He showed us how to live in the world as a child. He never cared what anyone said, he only cared about what his Divine Mother said.
Real spirituality lies in practising it, not just talking about it.
You may have the intellectuals behind you, but who have I got behind me? I have Sri Ramakrishna behind me. That is the spiritual attitude.
If you go to Kailash Ashram, you are only allowed to say, ‘How is the body today?’ Not, ‘How are you?’ [It’s an ashram where only the practice of Advaita Vedanta – the non-dual path, is permitted.] Satchidananda is how I feel always. Do not confuse that with the body. But we all do that and so we fall down.
Do not think, ‘I am sad.’ Think, ‘The mind is sad.’ Do not think, ‘I am clever,’ think, ‘The intellect is clever.’
Devotee: After being at the ashram I feel hungry – I know it is not physical hunger but I have to eat. Swamiji: Yes, I know what you mean. So take some fruit, offer it to your guru and then eat it.
Books and intellect will not take you to God. Rather be a fool and know It. I am telling you something; get the message.
‘Be still,’ means listen.
The free-to-read or download, 396-page Flipbook version of Swamiji’s biography is available by clicking HERE. If you’d prefer the PDF version, please click 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.