Talks Excerpt 429. Sanctified rivers in India are sacred and represent the Divine Mother Herself.
From Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.
Sri Ramakrishna’s love and compassion for humanity is incomprehensible. He came to make religion simple for us.
Tripurasundari is a name of the Divine Mother. Sundari means beautiful. The Divine Mother’s words are sweet, soothing and comforting; her gentle touch removes all pain and suffering, and her compassionate glance can give one liberation.
The Ganga, the Yamuna and other sanctified rivers are not mere streams or rivers – as you may think them to be. They are sacred, and represent the Divine Mother Herself.
‘The most sacred relationship is the relationship of the guru and the disciple. When the guru and guru’s grace are bestowed on the disciple, nothing can touch him; not even the gods have the power to hinder him from his spiritual endeavour.’ These are not empty words – pay attention to them.
It is said that the disciple may deny the guru billions of times, but the guru never denies the disciple even once. The child will deny its parents, but the parents will never deny the child. If the child – and we are all children – disobeys its parents it hurts the feelings of the parents – and the guru has no power over that. But it is the guru that wins the kingdom of God and gives it to the disciple, like a gift.
What does the disciple give the guru? He is supposed to give selfless service and love and obedience. Obedience is the greatest prize a guru can accept. If the disciple does not give these, he is becoming more indebted to the guru each day.
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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.