Talks Excerpt 468. Swamiji indicating: Be careful what you ask for – you may just get it.

From Mother Radha’s recordings of Swamiji.

[Spiritual experiences continued.]

Another devotee named Vaikunthanath Sannyal prayed to Sri Ramakrishna: ‘Lord, please give me the vision of my Chosen Ideal [Ishta Devata], I want to have some spiritual experience.’ On Kalpataru day (Gregorian calendar New year’s day of 1st January) Sri Ramakrishna touched him. He immediately felt blissful and saw God everywhere.

He went back to the office and tried to attend to his work but he could not get going. He wanted to do his books but he couldn’t do them. He could only feel the bliss of God. When he went home he could not see his wife, he could only feel the bliss of God. Then he prayed, ‘O God, please take this away from me. I don’t want it; I can’t attend to my worldly duties.’

This event shows that we value worldly duties more than godly bliss. Afterwards, by Sri Ramakrishna’s grace, that form was withdrawn. But once a week or so, Vaikunthanath Sannyal would still have this experience. This is the greatness of the great gurus.

That is why we say that no guru should give you God-realisation; but rather they should prepare you for God-realisation – because it is your natural state. Who can give you something that is natural? If you are a man, why should I make you a man? The only thing I should do is to try and describe to you how a man looks and then, when you see yourself, you would recognise that you are a man.

So the guru who describes this to you will put more maya on you, a higher maya – to take away the lesser, thicker maya. Thus the revelation will come and you will see the Truth.

It is said that Sri Krishna and Arjuna were born as Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda in this age. They also came as Sri Rama and Hanumanji. For it was Hanumanji who spread the name of Sri Rama – just as Swami Vivekananda spread the name of Sri Ramakrishna.

[When I read this paragraph above, I thought, ‘Oops, conflict of information here, because Sri Ramakrishna said that Yogin – later Swami Yogananda Puri, was Arjuna in his last birth.
But we’re blessed with knowledgeable Guru bhai sannyasis. So I messaged Swami Chandikananda Puri, who kindly provided an answer and gave permission to publish it. Here it is: ‘There are poorna avatars (total incarnations) and amsa avatars (partial avatars). In His omnipotence, Ishwara can manifest as two, existing at the same time, as in the case of Rama and Parasurama. 
In the Ramakrishna Avatara, Yogananda Maharaj was the supporter of Sri Ramakrishna in his role as Secretary of the newly formed Math. While Swamiji (Vivekananda) was the Dootha ( like Hanuman), who carried the message of Sri Ramakrishna to other parts of the world. Swamiji (Vivekananda) himself is reported as saying that while Hanuman leapt over the ocean, he had to cross it by ship.’ So no conflict and great clarification. Thank you, Maharaj!]

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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.