Daily Readings 1-3: The first of the Swami Shivapadananda daily ‘readings’ via Brother Tim and Sister Pat.
Here are the first three ‘Daily Readings’ collated by Brother Tim from notes written by his Mother, Elizabeth (Betty) – but better known to all of us as Mother Radha or Radha Ma.
She was a devotee who had the gift of spending much time with her Diksha Guru, Swami Venkatesananda, Head of the Divine Life Society in Mauritius and also, for the last many years of her life, with our Swami Shivapadananda, the second President and Spiritual Head of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa.
A feisty, vocal student of spirituality, she called a spade a spade. She pioneered and compiled the first booklets of Swamiji’s teachings. She recorded many hundreds of hours of Swamiji’s scripture lessons, classes, talks and homilies from satsangs – which will find an outlet via this and potentially other websites, over time.
If you’re a reader of this site and you had the privilege of meeting Swamiji, knowing him, being a disciple or being taught by him, you’re warmly invited to share insights with other readers. Please mail any information or [decent resolution, please] pictures to clive@imbizo.com or Atma@yebo.co.za We’ll make sure there’s always appropriate attribution.
From Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.
Day 1.
A person must never think he is a sinner, he must always think he is pure, that he is the creation of God. God cannot create something impure, something that is against dharma [righteousness]. After that, see the body as a shrine and the heart as an altar.
One God in many Forms.
God’s poses [and forms] are many – He sits this way and that way! He dresses as Sita, Hanuman, Lakshman – or as OM [or AUM – the Pranava]. He may be natural like [Mother] Kali – with no clothes. Because nature is only dressed by nature.
The idea of God must express the highest positivity. This which is Infinite is full, is peace, is bliss. Because you worship God with human form, you must have a relationship with Him and must treat Him as a human being. But He must be mighty and more loving than you are. The relationship may be: He is my beloved and I am His beloved – like Radha and [Lord] Krishna. This relationship makes you stronger each day if you do it with sincerity, with love, bhakti.
Yes, you can pray for someone else. If He is a living God, He must listen to your prayer. Ask God for anything, He will give it if you ask with sincerity and faith, surrender completely to Him, and rely on Him completely. The highest thing to ask for is Divine Knowledge, the Knowledge of the Self, and Divine Love to love Him completely and with sincerity. That is bhakti – that you may love Him in all, because He is the Eternal Being.
In The Shrine: [or Mosque, Temple, Shul or Church] You must have only pure holy thoughts in the shrine. If you are cross [angry], do not go in there, wait until you are calm. The shrine must be too beautiful and clean, so that the mind naturally becomes calm. So that holy thoughts manifest.
You are the Guru, you are Ganesha, the manifestation of the whole universe. All is you.
Day 2.
Suggestions for Meditation: Pray to the deity [Allah, Buddha, Hashem, Jesus, Krishna, Ram or whoever it is that represents your concept of God] to bless the whole universe and feel that blessing penetrate your whole body. Feel that you are shining, that the whole universe is shining.
Pray: May all love me and may I love all. The peace mantras have the power to bring down peace. Ask for your spiritual progress and prosperity; that there is no emptiness anywhere. Then do japa and meditation on the deity.
If you prefer the formless [aspect of God] do not think of any form. Just sit. Then the mantra that the guru gave you will come up automatically. Start with five minutes and gradually increase to three hours.
Do prayers at approximately the same time every day. Do it four times a day, or three times, or at least morning and evening. Have a light [diya] burning and have some clean water and agarbatti [incense]. And do arati using a little oil or ghee [clarified butter] lamp or ‘diya’ at the end of a satsang or prayer service if you like. Each one must do his own sadhana [spiritual practice] and then do the general prayer together.
As you leave the shrine meet the deity in each one, then the house will be full of peace, prosperity, health and happiness. Later you give that happiness to all.
On birthdays and holy days, fast and give charity to the poor, otherwise you will not progress because you always think the money is short; thus there will never be a lot.
Never talk ill of anybody. If you pick on the evil of others God is showing us that we have the evil in us. Only a clean mind reflects purity. To pick on the evil of others is a bad habit. By force praise them. Say something positive about them. This saves heartache later and leads to happiness and peace. Know that your deity is in all you meet.
Keep the mind always at rest, then you are always happy. Happiness is a state of deep rest. It is your natural state. This wisdom alone can change the course of human civilisation and shape it into one where man is in tune with nature.
Love and tyaga [renunciation] take the place of competition and greed. Indulgence is moderated by the rules of sharing, availability, necessity. Man is more eager to share than grab.
Day 3.
Question: If we want to see the Deity’s movement during meditation, what do we do?
Swamiji: There are three things that I have done. One: I gave the body of my guru as the form of Shiva, and the soul in it I know is Shiva. When I see the movement of the guru, even with closed eyes, or movement in a plant or a lake, I feel it is Shiva moving. Two: I used to see films [movies], and I used to picture how my Deity is walking, is moving – playing the part of an actor.
Three: For a few days, practise seeing the Lord seated. Then for a few days practise seeing the Lord standing. Do this for a couple of months. Then practise that the Lord is touching you. As time goes by, the action comes.
Then in meditation try to see the eyes open and close. If you capture even one movement, you will capture the movement of his whole body. I go in the shrine and superimpose on the photo [of the Deity] this opening and closing of the eyes, and I see him smiling. Or I recall a dream and the dream itself becomes a picture for meditation. Always give it a halo. See it as self-effulgent, with sparks. This shows there is life in it.
Sri Ramakrishna’s prayers are mantras. Read them and put them into practice. Do this for three months. Your life will change. I know this. The mantras of Master [Sri Ramakrishna], Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda are power charged, they are not dead things. It is not enough to read them. You must practise them.
Blessed is the home where there is unity. Now the wife says, ‘He can decide.’ But when you were first married, you said that you would decide everything together!
You should carry Master’s [Sri Ramakrishna’s] book [The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna]. Keep reading a few words and practising them. If you do not do his ceremonies, you are not worthy to be his devotee.
Underlined words are hypertext links to clarification, explanation or other sources. Just tap on them.
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.
There’s also a Facebook site for Swamiji’s posts now. They’re the newer readings, published much more recently. Click HERE to view.
Audio 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.