What is death?
[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 973
To start, Swami Vivekananda [spiritual heir to Sri Ramakrishna] says that the secret of Ishta [personal deity] worship is that out of thousands, one form in the whole universe is supremely divine, that is the secret of Ishta worship. That out of millions of forms at least one is supremely divine to you. Supremely positive.
From that it will spread – the whole universe will become the form of God – Vishwaroop [universal form]. You saw Krishna's Vishwaroop form that he showed to Arjuna? Yes, in the eleventh chapter of the Bhagavad Gita the Lord said, 'Look, Arjuna, I'll give you the third eye. With what kind of eye must you see me? The third eye. When you have the love [bhakti], then I'll give you the knowledge [jnana].'
Third eye means the knowledge. But you must have the love first. Intense longing to know 'It' [the divine, one's true nature]. And when you have that intense desire then he gives you the third eye. He gives that knowledge. And that knowledge is the whole Vishwa [universe] – it is Him.
He [God] eats through many mouths, he walks through many feet, he sees through many eyes – all eyes are his. All ears are his. And you come to this Vishwaroop and find that he works in apparently contradictory ways. You'll laugh. That which you are afraid of now has become blissful, has become certain.
Death even, is just a state in the vast ocean of consciousness. It is also just a state. It comes and it goes. It's a natural process. You see – because you saw it but the others will still be afraid of it. That is why a yogi is not afraid to die. What is death? What is it? It is the obverse and reverse of the same coin. One side is heads – birth – and the other is tails – death. But it is still a coin. It always remains a coin – Satcitananda. Existence, Knowledge, Bliss Absolute.
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