Talks Excerpt 418. Swamiji says: You give the Guru that which the gods spit on.

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

If you read a book on chemistry, you will become a chemist. If you read the [Bhagavad] Gita carefully, you will become a renunciate. You will renounce finite things to receive the Infinite.

The Gita says: Your mind is your friend, your ego is your enemy. You are your own enemy, there is no other enemy. Both the Bhagavad Gita and Master [Sri Ramakrishna] say that that is true.

Master never spoke lies. If something goes wrong, Sri Ramakrishna advises us to ask ourselves if a judgement (about ‘our fault’) is correct. If it is, correct yourself, otherwise it is just another wind blowing. Don’t worry about it.

Saints never defend themselves – who is there to defend? They see God in all.

What do you give to your Guru? What? You give him that which the gods spit on. He takes that ego and gives you the Highest. You bring your ego, your curses, your tribulations to him. But he knows your position, so he takes it. A sannyasin is like a dirt bin and God is the collector. He will collect one day. Think about that. Do not pride yourself about anything.

We must be very, very careful. Do not pride yourself on being learned, or spiritual, or high class. You think you are an honest man but no man is so good that he has no bad qualities in him; and no man is so bad that there is no good in him. You are honest about one particular thing, but on the other side you are not honest about other things. This is book-keeper’s knowledge. Who is the book-keeper? God.

Your mind is your best friend. You know the child inside and out, but you still love it.

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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.