Talks Excerpt 477. Swamiji says, believe it when you say, ‘I am divine.’
From Mother Radha’s recordings of Swamiji.
Every Incarnation [Avatar] has a Rishi; and Sri Ramakrishna’s Rishi is Swami Vivekananda.
Sri Ramakrishna gave the greatest mantra when he said, ‘Service to man is worship of God.’ Serve man as you serve God – just as you do when you go into the temple. When you serve the murti [sculpture, image or other representation of a deity] do you say to yourself, ‘I am serving the murti? No. You say, ‘ am serving God.’
Similarly when you meet another person, be he a miserable man, a downtrodden man, a rich man or a poor man, serve him. Feel the same thing that you feel in the shrine for the murti – that he is God and I am serving God in him.
What do I want from God? I do not want anything from God, but let Him increase the love, the bhakti, in my heart so that I will love Him more each second of my life in this world. I do not pray to God for material prosperity, I do not pray to God to cure my diseases, rather to increase my love for His Lotus Feet.
You will find that sick people have realised God, healthy people have realised God, and even mad people have realised God. The most important thing is to realise God.
Swami Vivekananda broadcast Master’s words of, ‘Service to man is worship of God.’ This is the instruction of the modern times. He also said, ‘Each soul is potentially divine.’ You must believe that you are divine. But how many of you really believe that you are divine? If one of you seated here believes it, then tomorrow you will perform miracles. You surely do not believe it.
No doubt here at the Yoga Camp (Spiritual Retreat) we can all say, ‘Each soul is potentially divine,’ but later on, when you go home and have a fight with your wife, let us see what you say then. Or let your child make mischief and then see what you say. You will find your thoughts changing.
You have not believed it yet, therefore it is not happening. Believe it when you say, ‘I am divine.’
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.