Talks Excerpt 443. Swamiji explains mantra and form choices in sadhana.

From Mother Radha’s recordings of Swamiji.

We must be truthful. We must try our level best to see God in everything and to serve God. We must know that everything belongs to God and God permeates everything.

In the Isha Upanishad we read:

Isa vasyam idagung sarvam

yat kim ca jagatyam jagat.

By this thought you should live: that it all belongs to God.

Tena tyak tena bhunjithah,

ma gridahah kasyasvid dhanam.

By this way renounce all short-sightedness, all limited things and, with the eye of wisdom, see God permeating everything, covering everything.

Gurudev [Swamiji’s beloved Guru, Swami Nischalananda Puri, and our revered ‘Gurudev’] used to tell us, ‘The fool is he who asks no questions. He doesn’t want to reveal his foolishness, with the result that he remains a fool all his life.’ Just remember that.

Devotee: When doing sadhana, do we have to concentrate on the mantra and the form at the same time?

Swamiji: If your mind can be concentrated just on the mantra itself, knowing that the mantra stands for a particular Deity [Ishta Devata], and with it, if you can think about the attributes of the Deity – like love, compassion, truthfulness – then you don’t have to worry much about the form itself. But meditating on the form also, is very good; because it stops your vision from going on to other different forms.

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.