Talks Excerpt 583. Swamiji speaks on how we’re forced to act out our innate nature.

From Mother Radha’s recordings of Swamiji.

[Reading from the Bhagavad Gita continued].

[Sri Krishna speaking to Arjuna]: Has this been heard by you, O Partha [Arjuna], with an attentive mind? Has your delusion born of ignorance been destroyed?

Arjuna said, ‘My delusion is destroyed. I have regained my memory through your grace.’

What is wrong with us? Our memory is weak. Here Arjuna says, ‘I have regained my memory.’

Arjuna said, ‘I am firm and free from doubt. I will act according to your words.’

Once he has said this he will not deviate. In chapter 3 of the Bhagavad Gita the Lord says, ‘Even the wise, propelled by their desires will be forced to do this.’ A lot of people try to do things against their nature, but their nature forces them to act accordingly – even wise men. For example, the wise man may say, ‘I won’t teach these people, I’ll keep everything to myself.’ But his nature will force him to talk about wisdom.

So a sannyasi [monk, renunciate] is a sannyasi, not because he is a very good man or a lovely man. No. His nature is forcing him to be a sannyasi. An evil man cannot help himself because his nature forces him to be evil. Surrender to God and your nature will change.

You may ask, ‘Unless nature forces me, why should I do sadhana?’ No. It is not like that. You must take refuge at God’s feet.

If I worship Mother Saraswati and if I think she can only give me Vidya – not money, not motor cars, nor strength – then she becomes a demigod, because I am putting limitations on her.

Sri Krishna said, ‘As you desire so I will fulfil. It is I who am seated in the hearts of these deities.’

Question: So we control God, Swamiji? Swamiji: You control your nature and God Itself will fulfil it. You do not control God; you control your nature.

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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.