Swami Shivapadananda Daily Reading - Day 15
SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA DAILY READINGS Taken from Mother Radha's notes.
An Excerpt from a Book by Swami Yatishwarananda
First of all you must do something to increase the yearning in your heart, to know God.
[Swamiji] That is what Sri Ramakrishna felt. He was restless because he was yearning for God - and that is why he took the sword and was about to slash his throat, when in that restlessness the Mother of rest came to his aid.
Meditation starts with imagination. When I say, 'See your Deity in your heart, see the Lord in your forehead, see the lotus,' whatever I say, you actually imagine first. You imagine: That is the lotus. The Lord looks like this and He is standing there on the lotus. Later on that will disappear and the light of Intelligence will take its place - which is Brahman [the Absolute, the supreme reality of Vedantic philosphy - the non-dual universal consciousness]. This is very, very important.
Many people ask me questions about this. They say, 'I cannot see the Deity,' or 'I cannot do this and I cannot do that.' They do not tell me 'I can,' but only 'I cannot'.
Never say: 'Oh, my mind is so very restless, how is it possible for me to meditate?' Because your mind is so very restless, you must meditate all the more. A perfectly calm mind does not need so much meditation, hmm?
Some people are very fond of saying: 'Oh, I am tired, I must rest.' Yes. But not on the bed, in meditation!
[Back to the book] Meditation and japa are natural ways of resting and filling the mind with new freshness. Through them the mind flows naturally towards the source of all energy, the Self. All strength, all poise, all power comes from the Divine and meditation is the direct means of tapping this source.
[Swamiji] Holy Mother [The Holy Mother, Sri Sarada Devi, 1853-1920. See bottom of posting for further detail] would awake, and straight away she would sit up on her bed and meditate. Then she would have a wash and meditate again. But this was the Holy Mother, who is eternally naistika brahmacharya [having taken final vows of celibacy or as Swamiji described it, constantly aware of and in tune with the Self] - who had a pure mind and thought of the Lord alone.
[Thumbnail on the Holy Mother, by Swami Nikhilananda, a direct monastic disciple of hers]
When Holy Mother came to Dakshineswar [near Calcutta, at the temple of Kali] at the age of sixteen, Sri Ramakrishna asked her whether she had come to pull him down to a worldly life. Without hesitation she said, 'No, I am here to help you realize your Chosen Ideal.'
From then on, Holy Mother lived with Sri Ramakrishna as his spiritual companion, devoted wife, disciple, and always the nun. She was the embodiment of purity. Her mind was never sullied by the faintest breath of worldliness, though she lived with Sri Ramakrishna for the greater part of fourteen years. She never missed communion with God, whom she described as lying in the palm of her hand, though she was engaged day and night in various activities.
An Excerpt from a Book by Swami Yatishwarananda
First of all you must do something to increase the yearning in your heart, to know God.
[Swamiji] That is what Sri Ramakrishna felt. He was restless because he was yearning for God - and that is why he took the sword and was about to slash his throat, when in that restlessness the Mother of rest came to his aid.
Meditation starts with imagination. When I say, 'See your Deity in your heart, see the Lord in your forehead, see the lotus,' whatever I say, you actually imagine first. You imagine: That is the lotus. The Lord looks like this and He is standing there on the lotus. Later on that will disappear and the light of Intelligence will take its place - which is Brahman [the Absolute, the supreme reality of Vedantic philosphy - the non-dual universal consciousness]. This is very, very important.
Many people ask me questions about this. They say, 'I cannot see the Deity,' or 'I cannot do this and I cannot do that.' They do not tell me 'I can,' but only 'I cannot'.
Never say: 'Oh, my mind is so very restless, how is it possible for me to meditate?' Because your mind is so very restless, you must meditate all the more. A perfectly calm mind does not need so much meditation, hmm?
Some people are very fond of saying: 'Oh, I am tired, I must rest.' Yes. But not on the bed, in meditation!
[Back to the book] Meditation and japa are natural ways of resting and filling the mind with new freshness. Through them the mind flows naturally towards the source of all energy, the Self. All strength, all poise, all power comes from the Divine and meditation is the direct means of tapping this source.
[Swamiji] Holy Mother [The Holy Mother, Sri Sarada Devi, 1853-1920. See bottom of posting for further detail] would awake, and straight away she would sit up on her bed and meditate. Then she would have a wash and meditate again. But this was the Holy Mother, who is eternally naistika brahmacharya [having taken final vows of celibacy or as Swamiji described it, constantly aware of and in tune with the Self] - who had a pure mind and thought of the Lord alone.
[Thumbnail on the Holy Mother, by Swami Nikhilananda, a direct monastic disciple of hers]
When Holy Mother came to Dakshineswar [near Calcutta, at the temple of Kali] at the age of sixteen, Sri Ramakrishna asked her whether she had come to pull him down to a worldly life. Without hesitation she said, 'No, I am here to help you realize your Chosen Ideal.'
From then on, Holy Mother lived with Sri Ramakrishna as his spiritual companion, devoted wife, disciple, and always the nun. She was the embodiment of purity. Her mind was never sullied by the faintest breath of worldliness, though she lived with Sri Ramakrishna for the greater part of fourteen years. She never missed communion with God, whom she described as lying in the palm of her hand, though she was engaged day and night in various activities.
Source...