Training the mind
[2nd President and Spiritual Head: the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]
DAILY READINGS
From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji
747
The balance between Meditation and Karma Yoga [work dedicated as worship to God] continued
When I wanted to go to bioscope [movies] my father used to say, 'No.' Then at the end of the year he'd be the one who would give me money and say, 'Go to bioscope.' I have come to know now that that was a kind of training. God trains you from young. But we are not in the habit of taking training – through the parents, through the school teacher. All that is spiritual training. Nothing was out of spirituality.
First: morality. No teacher will teach you to be immoral. Actually, by the time we come to pass our [university] degrees etc. we should be complete in the moral side of the world. The spiritual side should only be left to spirituality. But it is not so. We are still struggling to grow the seed of morality.
But Swami Turiyananda [a monastic disciple of Sri Ramakrishna] says, 'Too much of work [karma yoga] is not good if you have a dry feeling.' Yes, do sadhana [spiritual practice] and do work, but at the same time don't neglect the other things.
Suppose you have to get up at four o'clock in the morning because ten people are waiting in the shrine for you, but instead you are sitting and meditating. You are neglecting God in the form of those ten sadhakas [spiritual aspirants or practitioners]. After all, God is the actor in everything. Isn't it so? He came as a sadhaka but you are neglecting Him.
Sri Ramakrishna's mind was free. He came and went happily. His actions were so simple. But we treat it as something simple and like simpletons we give it up. If you take a resolution you must remember it. A strong will is manliness and when you have not kept your vows it is unmanliness.
Take up the challenge. Strengthen the positive. Root out the weeds in you. Make more positives and weakness will disappear by itself. Whatever action you do, it is not little – it bears fruit. Therefore intensely try not to do adharmic [unrighteous, un-spiritual] things.
1) Care should be taken by the reader to understand and take Swamiji's words in these postings, in context. Every teaching or instruction that he gave was specific to the people who were with Swamiji at the time. 2) Mouse-over the words highlighted in red in the posting for further explanation or links.
There are currently available, over 100 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. Click HERE for the second website on Swamiji's life and teachings.
Sri Ramakrishna Sri Sarada Devi Swami Vivekananda
Swami Nischalananda Swami Shivapadananda
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - read online
Reference websites – please mouse over the name and click to connect:
Ramakrishna Math and Mission Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa Ramakrishna Dham