12/01/2021
Daily Dharshan 12-01-2021
Daily Dharshan 11-01-2021
11/01/2021
Daily Dharshan 10-01-2021
10/01/2021
Daily Dharshan 09-01-2021
09/01/2021
Ekadasi
9 January 2021
Jai Ramakrishna
(Today is the birth-day celebration of Revered Swami Shivanandaji Maharaj. May he bless us all with Bhakti.)
Place : Monastery at Belur Head quarters, Ramakrishna Math and Mission, India.
Time : Thursday, October 28, 1920.
In the morning, according to their custom, the monks of the monastery at Belur gathered upstairs in Swami Shivananda’s room, where he was seated, looking very serious and indrawn.
Presently a monk, who had come from a branch centre a few days previously, unburdened his mind, saying:
Maharaj, though I have been practising meditation to the best of my ability, I find hardly any joy in it. Most often I find I go through my practice as through a routine. That does not satisfy my heart nor does it give me any peace.’ Swami Shivananda said very quietly : ‘Look here, my boy, peace is not such an easy thing to attain. The way to peace is very difficult, full of thorns. “Sharp as the blade of a razor and hard to cross is the way to Self-knowledge? so the sages have described it.” These are the actual words of the illumined seers. The path is indeed extremely difficult, however easy it may seem to those who have not entered it. Great effort is required to make progress in the realm of the Spirit. But if one sincerely wants to realize God, it is certainly true that he will receive His grace. You must have read in the life of Sri Ramakrishna that even he had to go through tremendous spiritual discipline before gaining the vision of the Mother.’Spiritual efforts without sincere love for God are fruitless. Sincere love is what counts. The Master used to say that when the three attachments? that of a devoted wife for her husband, of a mother for her child, and of a miser for his wealth become one, then one realizes God. If anyone feels the same intense longing as would result if these three attachments were united, only then does he have God-vision. Sincere love brings God-realization and in that alone is genuine peace and joy.
Daily Dharshan 08-01-2021
08/01/2021
Jai Ramakrishna
(Teachings of Sri Sarada Devi The Holy Mother)
THE IDEAL OF RENUNCIATION
About a boy who wanted to embrace monastic life and was being encouraged by Swami Shivananda to do so, Mother said, “One needs good fortune, indeed, to accept the ideal of renunciation taught by the Master. Tarak (Swami Shivananda) is right. How few can be rescued from the world once they are entangled in it! The boy has real strength of mind.”
A woman devotee requested Holy Mother to order her daughter to marry. Mother replied, “Is it not misery to remain in lifelong slavery to another and always dance to his tune? Though there is some risk in being a celibate, still, if one is not inclined to lead a married life, one should not be forced into it and subjected to lifelong worldliness. Those girls that are drawn to the ideal of complete renunciation should be encouraged to lead a celibate life.
When someone criticized Holy Mother for giving a disciple the ochre robe, she replied, “Look here, child, they are children of light. They live on this earth as pure as flowers. Can you tell me anything happier than this? You have seen for yourself what kind of happiness worldly life can give. What have you learned from me all these days! Why so much attraction for worldly life? Why so much animal propensity? What sort of happiness do you derive from it? Can you not even conceive in dream a pure ideal of life? Can’t you live with your husband even now as brother and sister? Why this desire to lead a piggish life? This misery of the world has been gnawing into my bones.
“He has done very well to become a Sadhu. What is there in this cage of flesh and bones? What is after all in this body? Why should one become enmeshed in this Maya? It will ultimately come to an end after a few days. Then when it is burnt, there will remain only a seer and a half of ash. Banku has become a Sannyasin, he has taken to the path of God. He has done well, he has done well indeed!
“People find opportunities according to their fate and Karma. The fact is, if one’s time to go beyond the world is ripe, one will break all bonds and come; nobody can stop him. Lack of money, awaiting somebody’s approval, fear of having to go back, these are nothing.
“You see, my dear, many people seek God only after disappointment in other spheres. But he, who from childhood can place at the Master’s feet his heart as pure as a flower, is blessed indeed!”
Daily Dharshan 07-01-2021
07/01/2021
Jai Ramakrishna
(Teachings of Sri Sarada Devi The Holy Mother)
SELF-EFFORT AND DIVINE GRACE
Disciple: “There are devotees who surrender themselves to God but do not practise austerities. Will they attain to this state (of realization)?”
Mother: “That they surrender themselves to God, that they live placing implicit trust in Him, is their spiritual discipline. Naren said, ‘Let me have millions of births, what do I fear?’ It is true. Does a man of knowledge gets ever fear rebirth? He does not commit any sin. It is the ignorant person who is always seized with fear. He alone gets entangled. He becomes polluted by sin. For millions of births he suffers from endless miseries, he undergoes infinite pains, and at last he craves for God.
“People suffer endless miseries on account of their egoism and at last they say, ‘Not I, not I; it is Thou, O God! It is Thou!’
Devotee: “Man cannot do anything by his individual effort. God is doing everything through him.
Mother: “Yes, that is true. But is one conscious of this always? Blinded by egoism, people think themselves to be independent agents in regard to action. They do not depend on God. He protects one who relies on Him.
“As you pray and meditate you will find the Master actually speaking to you, fulfilling all your desires immediately, and your mind will be filled with such deep peace. You will realize that He who is in me, is in you too and in the humblest of men only then humility will be born in your mind.
Is it ever possible for a man to free himself unaided from the clutches of Maya? It was for this that the Master performed spiritual austerities to the utmost extent and gave the results thereof for the redemption of mankind.
“The Master used to say, ‘The way is extremely difficult, like the sharp edges of a razor.’ “Just surrender yourself to Him; you will then feel His grace.
Daily Dharshan 06-01-2021
06/01/2021
Jai Ramakrishna
(Teachings of Sri Sarada Devi The Holy Mother)
SELF-EFFORT AND DIVINE GRACE
Disciple: “Mother, I admit that spiritual exercise, exhaustion of past Karma, and proper time – all these are factors in the attainment of spiritual knowledge. But if God is our own, why should He not show Himself out of His grace?”
Mother: “That is right. But who has this faith that He is his own? All take up religion as a matter of form. How many really want God?
“Be sincere in your practice, words and deeds. You will feel blessed! His blessings are always showered on all creatures on the earth. It is needless to ask for it. Practise meditation sincerely and you will understand His infinite grace. God wants sincerity, truthfulness and love. Outward, verbal effusions do not touch Him.
“How many are there who truly want to realize God? Where is that earnestness? They, no doubt, profess great devotion and longing, but they feel satisfied when they get even a tiny bit of enjoyment. They say, ‘Ah, how kind is God!’
“If you don’t call upon God, indeed, many people never even remember Him, what does it matter to Him? It is your own misfortune. Such is the Maya of God, He keeps them ignorant of Him saying, ‘They are happy enough, let them be so!’
“Whatever you yearn for, that you will get.
“My child, this world is like a deep marshy place. Once a man gets entangled there, it becomes very difficult for him to come out. Repeat the Name of God. If you do so, He will cut away your bondage someday. Can anyone get liberation, my child, unless He Himself removes the shackles? Have deep faith in God. Look upon the Master as your refuge, even as children regard their parents.
“You may say that you have done so much of Japa or so much of work; but nothing will avail. Nobody can achieve anything unless Mahamaya clears the way. Oh, my children, take refuge, just take refuge. Then alone she will clear the way out of Her mercy. Once in summer at Kamarpukur, a heavy shower had filled up the fields, and water overflowed from the ponds. The Master was wading through water when proceeding by the side of the sweeper colony. As the cat-fish came out of the ponds, the people around began to beat and catch them.
One of the fish kept swimming near about the Master’s feet. So he said, ‘Don’t you kill this one. See how it seeks my protection and plays round. It will be so good if one of you carries it to the Haldar’s pond.’ Then he himself took it up and released it in the pond. Returning home he said, ‘Ah, if anyone seeks protection in this way, one is saved.’
“Repeat the Name of God in the innermost core of your heart, and in all sincerity take refuge in the Master. Do not bother to know how your mind is reacting to things around. And do not waste time in calculating and worrying whether or not you are progressing in the path of spirituality. It is Ahamkara to judges progress for oneself. Have faith in the grace of your Guru and Ishta.
Holy Mother Sri Sarada devi Jeyanthy 05-01-2021
Jai Ramakrishna
(Teachings of Sri Sarada Devi The Holy Mother)
SELF-EFFORT AND DIVINE GRACE
Disciple: “Mother, I have practised austerities and Japa so much, but I have not achieved anything.
Mother: “God is not like fish or vegetables that you can buy Him for a price.
“There is no such rule that the grace of God will fall on one simply because one is practising austerities. In olden days the rishis practised austerities for thousands of years with their feet up and head down and a lighted fire burning under them. Even then, only some received the grace of God.
“Do you know, my child, what it is like? It is just like a candy in the hand of a child. Some people beg the child to part with it. But he does not care to give it to them. Still he easily hands it over to another whom he likes. A man performs severe austerity and spiritual practices throughout his life to realize God, but he does not succeed, whereas another man gets his realization practically without any effort. It depends upon the grace of God. He bestows His grace upon anyone He likes. Grace is the important thing.
Mother: “God is like a child, you know. He denies some who seek and of Himself gives to some who do not. Perhaps such people had highly evolved souls from their previous lives. That is why they receive His grace.
Disciple: “Then distinctions are made even in the matter of grace?”
Mother: “Certainly, it is all according to one’s Karma. Once the bonds of Karma are sundered, one realizes God.”
Daily Dharshan 04-01-2021
04/01/2021
Daily Dharshan 03-01-2021
03/01/2021
