Talks Excerpt 707 and 708 combined. Swamiji gives guidelines for travelling the spiritual path.
From Mother Radha’s recordings of Swamiji.
Who is the guru? In the end the guru is your own Self, God within you. The whole world is your ashram. All this, that you see outside, is only part of the world play.
There must be purity in thought, word and deed. Make sure your every word makes the other person strong.
Never think you will not suffer in this life. You will, a thousand times, because challenges are always there. So you need a strong body and mind to face them bravely.
Where love is, there is no fear. Where fear is, there is no love.
I beg you to meditate and to love one another. Whilst you [be]grudge another, you cannot be simple. And you have to be simple. Faith and determination are the secret. Never omit your meditation. If you do, your sadhana is incomplete and you will not get the full benefit of it.
Be a host to God; and take happiness and unhappiness as your guests. Treat them the same. That is progress and devotion. React only with compassion and love. Then you have learnt.
God speaks all the time, but when the mind is active we cannot hear Him. When the mind is still, we hear Him all the time.
A sannyasin knows that everything is God. God is in the form of man, woman, time, space, friend, enemy, and you too. If you keep reminding yourself of this, you are a great renunciate.
Excerpt 708:
Holy company is very, very good; but you yourself must become holy. Accept the Self in you; believe in the Atman within you . . . Ponder over Sri Ramakrishna’s words.
Without patience there is no walking the spiritual path. You cannot get happiness overnight. Grow calm, grow loving, grow serene. Know that God does everything.
Worship your guru – or your Ishta Devata – in everyone. The guru never leaves you.
The Lord in me is the Lord in others. This is worship. You cannot be better than others. You cannot understand until you are enlightened – then you will see His radiance.
Make the guru’s load light; expect nothing; sacrifice all for him, do your sadhana.
The heart has two occupants – the Indweller and the ego. So imitate the guru, then concentrate. Be happy during meditation and try to go deep into meditation, by forgetting the outside world. You will experience such peace that you will not want to come out of it.
(Swamiji prays): O Self-effulgent Lord, the creator of the whole universe, we humbly sit at Thy lotus feet and seek Thy blessings. Direct our minds towards Your lotus feet and accomplish through us the highest good on Earth. O Lord, my prayer is: Lead us from untruth to truth, from darkness to Light and from death into Immortality. Lord, the treasure that we seek is the knowledge of Thyself, devotion to Thy lotus feet and service to the universe and the jivas. Lord, may I have the inspiration to worship Thee in all names and forms. Om. Peace, peace, peace.
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 who were with him at the time.