Talks Excerpt 705. Swamiji describes how Gopala Ma attained god-realisation by worshipping an image of the baby Krishna.

From Mother Radha’s recordings of Swamiji.

Gopala Ma was a worshipper of [initially, a metal image, murti, of] Baby Krishna. When God takes the form of a child He has to behave like a child. He does not put his powers into operation. Therefore all-powerful was Gopala Ma.

Sometimes when baby Krishna was naughty, she would scold him. Can you imagine when God is hungry you feed Him? What a gifted mother that is. Think about the love. Think how when God is naughty you cry because you become powerless to cope with his naughtiness.

Gopala Ma worshipped baby Krishna, she became the guardian. A mother who is a real mother is full of love, mingled with extreme care. These two things Gopala Ma had. A real mother will give the child everything, but she will take care that the child does not go wrong in any way, or that somebody does not hurt the child. She will protect that child.

If your child, who is crawling, goes out of your sight for one second, where does your mind go? Your mind runs to the child. Thus by that kind of innocent concentration on God you can realise God. After all, what is meditation? Unbroken or continuous thought of God is called meditation and samadhi.

When you do not think, the thinking itself becomes continuous; and in continuous thought is samadhi. Thus Gopala Ma realised God by continuously taking care of God – as baby Krishna – and serving him lovingly. It was not blind love, but it was a caring love, a serving love.

The free-to-read or download, 396-page Flipbook version of Swamiji’s biography, ‘A Life Lived For Others‘, is available by clicking HERE. If you’d prefer the PDF version, please click HERE.

For our gurubhai Atmaprakash Kramer’s beautiful pictorial booklet, ‘Memories of my ashram days‘ at the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, Avoca Ashram, 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 those with him at the time.