Talks Excerpt 412. Says Swamiji: You must love a particular aspect of God intensely – not with lukewarm devotion.

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

Don’t compare yourself with anybody else. If you are doing one mala of japa with patience and perseverance, don’t now try to do five malas in the morning and in the evening.

By now you should know that your japa is very little. Others who are doing ten malas, keep it to ten, but do it sincerely. Do not run like a racehorse. After all, your telling a mala does not make you a holy person. But it can purify you, to capture the holiness of God Himself.

Brahman cannot be experienced in thought, word and deed.

As you do sadhana, think only of God and one’s [higher] Self.

You must love a particular aspect of God intensely – not with lukewarm devotion. Then see the Cosmic Being behind that and then see the Absolute behind that. Go step by step.

From a jnana [knowledge] point of view, there is no man, no object or subject. But know that God manifests through all names and forms.

I must train my own mind, But most of us want to train the minds of others.

[During an Upanishad class] Once you identify yourself with the Deity [Ishta Devata], you become the Deity itself.

Upanishad commentary: ‘The devotee’s mind will be stuck on the Lord.’ That is a very good thing. You prostrate to the guru’s feet, not the head. Ishwara becomes the Ishta Devata as taught by Sri Ramakrishna.

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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.