Talks Excerpt 556. Swamiji gives basic home worship advice for householders.

From Mother Radha’s recordings of Swamiji.

To prepare yourself for meditation sit down calmly and start your sadhana with your guru mantra.

Then think of Sri Ganesha and Mother Saraswati. Pray like this: ‘O Lord Ganesha, you are the guru, the manifestation of the whole universe.’ Pray to them to bless the whole universe and feel the blessing penetrate your whole body. Feel that you are shining, that the whole universe is shining.

Then pray again: ‘May all love me and may I love all.’

The greatest mantra is the shanti paath, the peace prayer. So say the shanti paath at the beginning of your sadhana. They are complete mantras and have the power to bring peace.

Now think of the Deity that you love most. See your Deity in the form of Light, of Om. Pray for family unity and love.

As householders [Grihasthas] you may pray as follows: ‘May all my relatives be happy. May I be pure.’ Ask for your spiritual progress, for prosperity. Ask that there may be no emptiness anywhere, that you may have intelligent children and the highest wealth.

After this, sit with your japa mala and do japa. Now meditate on your Deity.

See your Deity from foot to head. Begin with one mala, after three months increase it to two malas and so on up to ten and then twenty malas. Only increase one mala at a time and do the same number of malas for three months before increasing.

Now put the mala to one side, sit calmly and meditate on the deity in your heart. If you prefer the formless aspect – neti, neti (not this; not this) – sit calmly and do this. Or do not think of any form, just sit and the guru mantra will come up automatically. Start with five minutes of this and after three months increase it and so on.

As you get older this should be increased to three hours. In prayers you must follow your routine at approximately the same time every day: in the morning, at midday, in the evening and at midnight. (If you cannot do this then at least do it morning and evening.) Always have a light burning, offer clean water and agarbatti.

When your meditation is complete you may do aarti if you like. Each one must do his or her sadhana and then do a general prayer together. When you leave the shrine, greet your deity in each other. Then the house will always be full of peace, prosperity, health and happiness. Give that happiness to all.

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.

For our Gurubhai Atmaprakash Kramer’s beautiful pictorial ‘memoir’ of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, Avoca Ashram, please click HERE.