Wait for God to reveal Himself
[2nd President and Spiritual Head: the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]
[now a Centre of the international Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission]
DAILY READINGS
Selected from Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji.
Day 978
God can take his seat, in all his glory, on the altar of love [bhakti]. Love is the greatest thing under the sun. Supreme love and supreme knowledge [jnana] are not two different things. They are one and the same thing. They are like two wings meeting on the hamsa [swan] called Paramatman – God. Without the two wings the bird cannot fly. The two wings must be there. How can you love that thing which you don't know about and how can you know without love? Both must go hand in hand. When you study, you study because you love to study. You extract knowledge and make it living in your daily life from 'dead' books, which cannot speak but yet inject the spirit called God. A book itself cannot speak but yet it speaks through pages – and once you have read it and understood it, you put it to practical use in your life. That is the greatest thing – love.
Father and mother meet in love, a beautiful flower is produced in the form of a child. Father and mother get together with knowledge of how to bring the child up, they bring the child up in love. And do you know that when the child dies, they cry together in love as they bury it. All three things happen in love. Nothing happens without love. They meet in love, live in love and die in love. But what do they love? That is the greatest thing. Love what?
The Upanishads [Hindu philosophical treatises] say that God cannot be got through studies, through austerities [tapasya], he cannot be got through karma yoga [the yoga of work as worship] – but the Self [God] reveals Itself to whomsoever It chooses. Whosoever God chooses, God reveals himself to them. I must not think that the 10 000 japa [meditative repetition of a mantra or one of the many names attributed to God] I did today or because I sat [meditating] half the night, that Krishna Bhagawan will be influenced by my love and tomorrow say, 'You're a very good boy my child – the others were bad in the street.' If you can influence God, he must be a very weak worm and we don't want to worship spineless beings. You can never, ever influence God.
Swamiji chants in Hindi: 'Whatsoever you sow, that you will reap'. God is that kind of soil that whatever you plant in it, it grows. It has all kinds of fertiliser in it. It makes a poison tree grow, it makes a nectar tree grow. Both trees grow. Good works flourish, flower, fruit – that works the same. God says to man, 'You have the right to work and not to the fruits thereof,' [Swamiji joking] I'm sure God will be saying, 'I have the right to witness and knock these people's fruits there-off.' [all laugh]
So, it's you again. The Lord will reveal himself to you when he chooses you – and what is the criterion for choosing you? I like to use a wonderful word here. My fellow brother's word – angazi [the South African isiZulu word meaning 'I don't know']. You have heard that Afrikaans word angazi [Swamiji teasing]? 'I don't know'. That's in Zulu – angazi – I don't know. So, what he reveals, how he reveals and why he reveals, I don't know.
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was once asked, 'Thakurji [meaning: Master], why does God make some people so saintly and others are made the opposite? ' Thakurji says, 'Funny, you're saying God made…' The man said, 'But why does God reveal himself to some – he reveals himself to some who don't show any bhakti [devotion] whatsoever, he an evil man, he does bad things. On the other side you find a man sitting in sadhana [spiritual practice] for thousands of years and nothing happens.' Ramakrishna Paramahamsa said, 'Wonderful isn't it? Only God can understand God.' He himself knew the answer. He said, 'God is like a little child. Just because you are the father and you are the mother, you can't go to the child and say, 'right, you've got that nice jewel, you took it from the cupboard, give it to me.' [Swamiji makes baby crying noises to demonstrate the outcome]. 'Give it to me, baba!' 'No!' And yet a stranger will just walk in and say, 'Give it to me' and the child gives it to them. Why? Who can explain that child's action? Who? Only the child itself. Who knows but the child himself? Even the child may not know. If you want to ask God, 'God – but why?,' he'll use that Afrikaans word [Swamiji teasing again, because it's isiZulu] angazi. [all laughing heartily]. He chooses – his will is free. He cannot be bound by your influence.
But one thing happens. Our Rishis [sage-seer-saints] say we know that God cannot be influenced. Not like an ordinary man where you go and tell him a few good words, 'What a nice man, you wrote so many books, see how many institutions have been built in your name.' God can't be influenced like that.
Our Rishis say that you know you cannot force God to do anything but God has made laws. And these laws have a specific nature. These laws called dharma [righteousness], have a specific nature to make you good. They make you?….good. So if you practice dharma, if you do sadhana, if you do japa, you sing God's glory, what happens? You become good – you become purified. And when you become purified, in that pure state – you wait. How must you wait? Just like the bud on a rose. It just waits. It does not force or struggle, it just waits. Pure…pure…it waits. The dew falls, the sun comes out, the wind blows. It waits and slowly matures…into beauty.
Wait, at his door. Whose door? God's door. Where? In your very heart. 'I am seated in the heart of my creation, in the heart of the yogi says Sri Krishna Bhagawan'. Just wait. Don't get frustrated. Do not run about here and there. Just wait. You cannot get God by walking. You cannot get God by talking. You can only get God by waiting patiently in a pure state. And when he reveals himself to you, that too is up to him – but he is sure to reveal himself.
Swamiji chants in Hindi: 'At the door of Sri Rama, God's door – what is kept there?' Bhakti, in the person of Hanuman…in the person of Hanuman [the great devotee of Lord Rama]. Bhakti, love, is the keeper. Hanumanji represents sense-control, mind control, and Ram bhajan [singing the glories of God] – he just waits until Rama reveals himself. So wait at the door, like a beautiful little pure rose – un-smelled by the sensual bees, and it is sure to open. And when it opens, Ramakrishna says, thousands of bees will come to sip the honey. You don't have to go and preach. You don't have to go and print books – Ramakrishna didn't print a book – he didn't write books. But today thousands of books are written on him. Jesus the Christ didn't write one book. He only spoke – yet thousands of things are written about him. The devotees – the bees – will write about that. They will extract honey and they will give it to the world.
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, 150 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order.
For more about the Holy Trinity, and also the founding Swamis of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, please mouse over their names below:
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