Talks Excerpt 553. Swamiji says you must have a special relationship with God. Which is it?

From Mother Radha’s recordings of Swamiji.

There are different ways to worship the same God. If you give him a human form, you must treat Him as a human being, though He is more mighty and more loving than you are. Because you have depicted God and understood Him in a human form, you must have a relationship with Him. You must relate to Him in a particular way. There are nine different relationships that you can have; though this was later condensed into six main ones.

These relationships are:

‘I am the son and He is the Father,’ as was Jesus’ relationship with the Lord.

‘I am the mother and He is my Child,’ as with [Queen] Kaushalya Ma and Sri Rama; or Yashoda Ma and Sri Krishna.

‘He is my Beloved, I love Him and He loves me,’ as with Sri Radha and Sri Krishna.

‘He is my Husband and I am his wife,’ as with Mother Sita and Sri Rama.

‘I am the servant and He is the Master,’ as with Hanumanji and Sri Rama.

‘He is my best friend and I am his friend,’ as with Arjuna and Sri Krishna.

So, you must choose one of these relationships and each day you have to make it stronger. Treat Him with sincerity, with love. Then, it is possible to pray for yourself and for others. Somebody asked me if one can pray for someone else. I said, ‘Yes, it is possible. If He is a living God He must listen to your prayers and therefore you can pray for someone else.’

Sri Ramakrishna prayed for the devotees; Sri Sarada Devi prayed for Her spiritual sons and the whole world; and Jesus the Christ prayed for the universe.

Ask God for anything you like and He will give it to you, provided you ask with faith and sincerity. If you rely on Him completely, if you surrender to Him, He must give it to you; otherwise He is not a living God. But the highest thing to ask God for (and all the scriptures say this) is Divine Knowledge, knowledge of the Self, and Divine Love; to love Him completely and sincerely. This is bhakti. Ask Him for liberation from small finite things; that you may leave all that, and love Him in all, because He is the Eternal Being.

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.