TEACHINGS OF SWAMI BRAMHANANDA
Practise a little Japa and meditation every day. Never stop for a single day.
The mind is like a restless child, it wants to run away. You must bring it back again and again and apply it to the meditation on the Lord. Go on this way for two or three years, and then an inexpressible joy will fill your mind.
Meditation and Japa appear dry in the beginning. But still you must engage the mind in the contemplation of the Deity, like swallowing a bitter medicine. Slowly spiritual joy will grow in you.
People work so hard to pass an examination! To realise God is even easier than that. Only let them call on Him with a calm, cheerful heart.
Practise a little Japa and meditation every day. Never stop for a single day.
The mind is like a restless child, it wants to run away. You must bring it back again and again and apply it to the meditation on the Lord. Go on this way for two or three years, and then an inexpressible joy will fill your mind.
Meditation and Japa appear dry in the beginning. But still you must engage the mind in the contemplation of the Deity, like swallowing a bitter medicine. Slowly spiritual joy will grow in you.
People work so hard to pass an examination! To realise God is even easier than that. Only let them call on Him with a calm, cheerful heart.
"By constantly meditating on Krishna, Radhika saw everything as Krishna ; moreover, she even felt that she herself had become Krishna. If a piece of lead is kept in a lake of mercury a long time, it turns into mercury.
The cockroach becomes motionless by constantly meditating on the kumira worm; it loses the power to move. At last it is transformed into a Kumira. Similarly, by constantly meditating on God, the bhakta loses his ego, he realizes that God is he and he is God and instantly one obtains liberation. As long as God retains the ego in a man, he should establish a definite relationship with God, calling on him as Master, Mother, Friend or the like."
- Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa Dev.
The cockroach becomes motionless by constantly meditating on the kumira worm; it loses the power to move. At last it is transformed into a Kumira. Similarly, by constantly meditating on God, the bhakta loses his ego, he realizes that God is he and he is God and instantly one obtains liberation. As long as God retains the ego in a man, he should establish a definite relationship with God, calling on him as Master, Mother, Friend or the like."
- Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa Dev.
A few heart-whole, sincere, and energetic men can do more in a year than a mob in a century. If there is heat in one body, then those others that come near it must catch it. This is the law. So success is ours, so long as we keep up the heat, the spirit of truth, sincerity, and love.
-Swami Vivekananda
-Swami Vivekananda
How to attain God ?
Shri Ramakrishna :- Men shed streams of tears because sons are not born to them, others wear away their hearts in sorrow because they cannot get riches. But alas ! How many are there who sorrow and weep for not having seen God ? very few indeed ! Verily, he who seeks Him, who weeps for Him, attains Him.
Shri Ramakrishna :- Men shed streams of tears because sons are not born to them, others wear away their hearts in sorrow because they cannot get riches. But alas ! How many are there who sorrow and weep for not having seen God ? very few indeed ! Verily, he who seeks Him, who weeps for Him, attains Him.
DIVINE ECSTACY WHICH CANNOT BE EXPRESSED IN WORDS : extract from " Life of Ramakrishna "
But the most remarkable experience during this period was that of upward march of the Kundalini Shakti.
Sri Ramakrishna afterwards described it thus in his own inimitable way : " Something rises with a tingling sensation from the feet to the head . So long as it does not reach the brain I remain conscious, but the moment it does so , I am dead to the outside world . Even the functions of the eyes and ears come to a stop , and speech is out of question . Who should speak? The very times I think I shall tell you everything about what I see and feel when that mysterious power rises up through the spinal column . When it has come up to this , or even this( pointing to the heart or throat ) , somebody stops my mouth , as it were, and I am adrift . I make up my mind to relate to you what I feel when the kundalini goes beyond the throat , but as I think over it , up goes the mind at a bound , and there is and end of matter !"
Many a time did the master attempt to describe this state , but failed every time .
One day he was determined to tell and went on until the power reached the throat .
The pointing to the sixth centre , opposite the junction of the eye brows , he said, " When the mind reaches this point , one catches a vision of the Paramatman and falls into Samadhi . Only a thin , transparent veil intervenes between the jiva and the Paramatman. He sees like this _ ," and as he attempted to explain it in detail he fell into Samadhi .
When his mind came down a little , he tried again , and again he was immersed in Samadhi !
After repeated fruitless attempts he said with tears in his eyes ," Well, I sincerely wish to tell you everything , but Mother won't let me do so . She gagged me ! "
But the most remarkable experience during this period was that of upward march of the Kundalini Shakti.
Sri Ramakrishna afterwards described it thus in his own inimitable way : " Something rises with a tingling sensation from the feet to the head . So long as it does not reach the brain I remain conscious, but the moment it does so , I am dead to the outside world . Even the functions of the eyes and ears come to a stop , and speech is out of question . Who should speak? The very times I think I shall tell you everything about what I see and feel when that mysterious power rises up through the spinal column . When it has come up to this , or even this( pointing to the heart or throat ) , somebody stops my mouth , as it were, and I am adrift . I make up my mind to relate to you what I feel when the kundalini goes beyond the throat , but as I think over it , up goes the mind at a bound , and there is and end of matter !"
Many a time did the master attempt to describe this state , but failed every time .
One day he was determined to tell and went on until the power reached the throat .
The pointing to the sixth centre , opposite the junction of the eye brows , he said, " When the mind reaches this point , one catches a vision of the Paramatman and falls into Samadhi . Only a thin , transparent veil intervenes between the jiva and the Paramatman. He sees like this _ ," and as he attempted to explain it in detail he fell into Samadhi .
When his mind came down a little , he tried again , and again he was immersed in Samadhi !
After repeated fruitless attempts he said with tears in his eyes ," Well, I sincerely wish to tell you everything , but Mother won't let me do so . She gagged me ! "
I think the practice of meditation even with some trifling external object leads to mental concentration. But it is true that the mind very easily attains calmness when one practices meditation with anything on which one’s mind is most apt to settle down. This is the reason why we have in this country [India] so much worship of the images of gods and goddesses. The real aim is to make the mind functionless, but this cannot be got at unless one becomes absorbed in some object.
-Swami Vivekananda
-Swami Vivekananda
It is a tremendous error to feel helpless. Do not seek help from anyone. We are our own help. If we cannot help ourselves, there is none to help us. ‘Thou thyself art thy only friend, thou thyself thy only enemy. There is no other enemy but this self of mine, no other friend but myself.’ This is the last and greatest lesson, and oh, what a time it takes to learn it. We seem to get hold of it, and the next moment the old wave comes. The backbone breaks. We weaken and again grasp for that superstition and help. Just think of that huge mass of misery, and all caused by this false idea of going to seek for help! There is only one sin. That is weakness.
When I was a boy I read Milton’s Paradise Lost. The only good man I had any respect for was Satan. The only saint is that soul that never weakens, faces everything, and determines to die game. Stand up and die game! Do not add your weakness to the evil that is going to come. That is all I have to say to the world. Be strong!
You believe in God. If you do, believe in the real God. “Thou art the man, thou the woman, thou the young man walking in the strength of youth, thou the old man tottering with the stick.’ Thou art weakness, thou art fear. Thou art heaven, and thou art hell. Thou art the serpent that would sting. Come thou as fear! Come thou as death! Come thou as misery!
All weakness, all bondage is imagination. Speak one word to it, it must vanish. Do not weaken! There is no other way out. Stand up and be strong! No fear. No superstition. Face the truth as it is! If death come – that is the worst of our miseries – let it come! We are determined to die game. That is all the religion I know, I have not attained to it, but I am struggling to do it. I may not, but you may. Go on!
---------------- Swami Vivekananda, San Francisco, May 1900.
When I was a boy I read Milton’s Paradise Lost. The only good man I had any respect for was Satan. The only saint is that soul that never weakens, faces everything, and determines to die game. Stand up and die game! Do not add your weakness to the evil that is going to come. That is all I have to say to the world. Be strong!
You believe in God. If you do, believe in the real God. “Thou art the man, thou the woman, thou the young man walking in the strength of youth, thou the old man tottering with the stick.’ Thou art weakness, thou art fear. Thou art heaven, and thou art hell. Thou art the serpent that would sting. Come thou as fear! Come thou as death! Come thou as misery!
All weakness, all bondage is imagination. Speak one word to it, it must vanish. Do not weaken! There is no other way out. Stand up and be strong! No fear. No superstition. Face the truth as it is! If death come – that is the worst of our miseries – let it come! We are determined to die game. That is all the religion I know, I have not attained to it, but I am struggling to do it. I may not, but you may. Go on!
---------------- Swami Vivekananda, San Francisco, May 1900.