Talks Excerpt 595. Swamiji says: Think about that duty which, if not done, leaves you a brute.

From Mother Radha’s recordings of Swamiji.

You may be treating many other duties as important; you may think that if you do not do those other duties it will bring disgrace to you or that you may be scolded. Perhaps you feel that if you do not do those other duties, you will not get a ‘piece of bread’ or shelter. But you must rather think about that duty which, if not done, leaves you a brute; and sadhana is that duty. Do sadhana to keep inspiration and divine revelation in you.

But we cannot realise God just by sitting here in a Yoga Camp (Spiritual Retreat) for four days. Of course it is possible for the rarest ones that may already be God-mad. But can we sincerely say that we are God-mad?

The first step in spiritual life is to look for satsang. And having found it, you have to prepare yourself – be seated there in the satsang. And after preparing for it, you have to take it in. Taking it in means you seriously have to believe that that which is said to you in the scriptures, by the gurus, is true. Take it in and put it into practice, then the task is already done. You will become God-mad. And when you are mad, It Itself will accomplish Its own task.

You will be like a mad Sri Ramakrishna who cried day and night for God, and God alone.

But we must remember that for many years Master had associated with sadhus. He had learned everything through his ears. He had prepared himself. He had looked for the satsangis (fellow devotees). And when he was mad, nobody was there to encourage him further; the madness itself made him restless. And when he became restless, utterly mentally restless, he found That which was restful, nay, rest itself: God! Mother!

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

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.