Entries Tagged as 'Brahmananda'
October 17th, 2011
The words of Swami Brahmananda, the monastic disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, recorded at a satsang at the Ramakrishna Sevashram in Kankhal, in Northern India where the Ganga emerges from the Himalayas.
Swami Brahmananda: Everyone wants happiness. Who likes to undergo pain and misery? But how to obtain that happiness? Certainly not by running after the fleeting pleasures of the senses and ignoring Him, Who is the abode of all happiness.
He has created many playthings to delude the human mind. Throw away all these and pray to Him, He will then hasten to take you in His arms. I tell you, you have had play enough; it is high time now to give it up and call upon the Mother. When a child is fond of play, the mother gives it toys to while away its time. But the child that does not care for play she carries about with her. Happy is the child that sits in the mother’s lap. It not only enjoys the play but has also the happiness of the mother’s company.
The child that is engaged in play enjoys it no doubt, but also runs the risk of being hurt in its play. It may quarrel with its playmates and get beaten. But the child in the mother’s lap has no such troubles. It is always happy and knows full well that the mother will take care of it and supply all its wants.
The parable of the mango grove told by Sri Ramakrishna is very instructive. “You have come to eat the mangoes. Why do you bother yourself about the number of trees, branches and leaves in the garden? Eat the mangoes and be satisfied.” You have come into this world for the realisation of God. Accomplish this object first of all and fulfil your life’s mission.
Solve your own problem and equip yourself for life’s journey. Struggle hard and become deathless by tasting Immortal Bliss. Pray to Him day and night. Whatever the form in which you think of Him, it will certainly do you good. Whatever form or name appeals to you, take it sincerely and pray to Him. You are sure to get the vision of Him.
Parvati once asked Mahadeva how Satchidananda could be realized. The reply was, “Through faith.” You have been shown the right path. Follow it with faith, patience and perseverance. Waste no more time in discussing the forms and details of your Sadhana. Pray to Him in any way you please, and you are sure to get His blessing.
Sri Ramakrishna used to say, “Sweetened bread will taste sweet in whatever way you begin to eat it.” You are, as it were, sitting under the Kalpataru (wish-yielding tree) and you will get whatever you ask for.
Do not think yourselves too clever. The crow thinks itself very clever, but it lives on filth. Those who are too clever in this world get cheated in the long run. With a faith that knows no wavering, plunge yourselves in deep meditation. Do not get disheartened, if after a little practice you do not realise God. The ocean is full of precious pearls, but you may not get them at the first dive.
My boys, once again I enjoin you, have firm faith in the words of your Guru, and try to get absorbed in deep meditation. Be sure, sooner or later you will have a vision of the Lord. Do not allow your mind to get distracted. Keep steadily and patiently to your Sadhana. His grace will descend on you in due time. Suppose you wish to see a great man. You have first to see and satisfy his attendants. Similarly to obtain the grace of the Lord you have to seek the help of godly men and undergo many spiritual practices.
Knowing Him to be dearer than the dearest, pray to Him with a yearning heart for His grace and vision. Cry unto the Lord like a child. Incessant crying cannot but make the mother run to it. So also with the Lord. He reveals Himself to that one who unceasingly prays for His grace and vision. Shake off your sleep, and seek the grace of the Lord with steadfast devotion.
Make the mind one-pointed like the mariner’s compass. In whatever direction the ship may sail, the compass always points to the north, thus keeping the ship on its course. Even so with the human mind. If it is fixed on God, there will be nothing to fear. If by chance one is thrown into a bad environment, even then his faith and devotion will remain unshaken. The moment he hears any talk about God, he will become mad with Divine Love just as the flint, lying under water for a hundred years, when taken out and struck, emits sparks.
Those who have been favoured with a vision of the Lord have their mind always fixed on Him. They will have no taste for anything except to talk of Him and to seek the company of holy men. Like a fallen leaf tossed to and fro by the wind, be content to remain wherever you are placed by the Lord. Do not have any will or desire of your own. Your mind is now pure and untainted. Try to keep it in this state always.
The spotless mind is like a dry match stick. It ignites the moment you strike it, but it is of no use if it gets wet. You may go on striking it, but it will only break into pieces. Similarly if the mind once becomes soiled, you will find it extremely difficult to restore it to its former purity.
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Tags: Brahmananda · Practical Wisdom
September 30th, 2010
From a discussion at Belur Math by Swami Brahmananda
The mind must be brought under control. Unless this is done, all strivings prove of no avail. Therefore I warn you, my boys, Beware! Your mind has not yet learned to wander. Before it does so, hold fast the reins. Just as the driver first trains a huge elephant and then makes it do whatever he pleases, so also we have to train the mind in such a way that it may act according to our command. It must not be our master. The only way to train the mind is to lead it to relinquish the desire for enjoyment. The moment this is done, it becomes your slave. It is for this reason that the Bhagavad Gita and other Scriptures speak again and again of the glory of renunciation.
What we want is renunciation. That is the only path, and they alone can realize the glory of renunciation whose mind has not been distracted by the things of the world, Sri Ramakrishna used to say, “The parrot learns to repeat the words taught to it when it is young. When it grows beyond a certain age, it cannot learn anything. Then it can only cry ‘caw, caw’”
Divine thoughts leave a deep mark on the tender mind. It is only in youth that one is able to appreciate and grasp the higher ideals of life. But with the advance of age the mind is occupied with manifold things; it becomes restless and always wants to wander; it loses steadiness and the power of sustained thinking. It is very difficult, then, to make any deep impression on it.
How simple and strong is the faith of little boys? They believe what they hear from others and try to act accordingly. They attain success whenever they apply their undistracted mind. But with the advance of age there is a tendency to become skeptical. As people grow older, they begin to doubt everything. At last they reach such a state that it becomes very hard for them to have faith in anything. Therefore I tell you do what you want to do now, when you are young.
We saw in the life of our Master that he used to speak of the life of renunciation particularly to young men. He wanted to impress on their mind the idea that God-realisation is the highest object of life. He knew that the young alone would be able to take up his ideal fully. Fortunately, you are all young and your mind is not tainted by worldly thoughts. Give up all desires and dedicate yourself solely to the Lord. You cannot have Divine bliss and worldly enjoyments at the same time. You cannot get the one without renouncing the other. You cannot give up the lower unless you come to possess a taste for the higher.
This is the proper time for you to fill your mind with the thoughts of the Lord to the fullest extent. Make Him your own. “He is my all” when this idea is firmly fixed in your mind, all your troubles will come to an end. Then no one will be able to do you harm either here or hereafter.
Does he who has tasted the syrup of sugar-candy relish molasses? Worldly joys lose their flavor when one gets a taste of Bliss Divine. All objects of enjoyment appear to be not only insignificant but positively bitter. What I wish to say to you is this offer yourself, heart and soul, to the Lord and let Him do with you as He pleases.
The preceding is taken from his conversations in Spiritual Teachings of Swami Brahmananda.
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Tags: Brahmananda · Practical Wisdom
August 15th, 2010
A conversation of Swami Brahmananda with the young disciples at the Varanasi Ashram of the Ramakrishna Mission during the 1920’s.
SWAMI BRAHMANANDA: Do you know why I ask you seriously, all of you, to devote yourselves heart and soul to the Lord ? When we were of your age, Thakur (Sri Ramakrishna) used to push us and make us do our spiritual practices. In boyhood the mind remains plastic like clay. It receives an indelible impression from whatever it comes in contact with. So long as clay remains soft, you can give it any shape you like. But when the clay is burned, this cannot be done. Your mind now is like unburnt clay. It can be moulded in any way you want. It is still pure and untainted, so it can be directed very easily toward God. If the mind is kept wholly occupied with thoughts of the Lord from this time on, no foreign thought can disturb it. If the mind be now firmly fixed on the Divine,you need have no anxiety about your spiritual progress.
The mind is like a packet of mustard seeds. If the seeds are once scattered, it is very difficult to gather them up. So I ask you to mould your mind before its energy becomes scattered. When you grow old and the energy of your mind has been frittered away, you will have to make very strenuous efforts to concentrate it; you will experience tremendous difficulty when you try to focus it on a particular object. Do you not see how impressionable is the mind of a little boy? You are now like him.
Sixteen to Thirty
If you want to mould yourselves, strive for it earnestly from your sixteenth to your thirtieth year. After that there is less chance of achieving illumination. Up to the thirtieth year the body and the mind remain fresh. That is the time when the mind can be given a definite shape. But you must labour hard and devote yourselves heart and soul to your ideal of life. Whatever impression the mind may receive during youth will last throughout life. If therefore you have determined to lead a holy life in order to realize God, strive your utmost from today. Your health is all right now. The mind also is plastic. This is the time for spiritual practices. Mould your mind through constant struggle. If this period of your life goes by, it will be more difficult to do anything afterwards.
If you can leave a strong stamp on the mind during this period, if you can make God the be-all and end-all of your existence, if you can devote yourselves sincerely to realize Him, you will be free from all sorrow and pain. No misery, no unhappiness will be able to throw you off your balance. You will become the inheritor of everlasting bliss and joy divine.
Seeking happiness from the world
What does man want? He wants happiness. How he runs after it! What plans he makes! What strenuous efforts he puts forth! But does he get it? After many attempts, after many a plan, he is baffled. He plans again and again, but to no purpose. In this way his whole life ebbs away. He has not the good fortune to enjoy peace and happiness at all. He toils hard like an ordinary labourer and in return reaps sorrow and pain. Then he departs from this world. Thus he lives and dies in vain. Nothing better can be expected by one who runs after empty pleasures, forgetting the goal of life.
If you wish to attain real happiness, you must sacrifice all worldly pleasures, all attachment of? fleeting joys, and direct the whole energy of your mind toward God. The more you advance toward Him, the greater the bliss you will realize. The more your mind becomes attached to the world and to sense-enjoyments, the more will you suffer.
Man as camel
Do you know the nature of the ordinary man? He seeks only pleasure, joy and diversion. And he makes this mistake from the very beginning. Ninety-nine per cent of those who seek happiness do not know what it really is. They grasp at whatever they find near at hand and believe they have got the thing they seek. Then when they are disappointed, they take up something else; and when again they fail, they bemoan their lot. But see the folly of it; they are disappointed again and again; still they will not change their course, they will not take up the right path. They pass their lives receiving blow after blow and bewailing their destiny. Thakur (Sri Ramakrishna) used to compare them to a camel. The camel will not take good grass even when close by. It knows well that thorny grass makes the mouth bleed, but still it insists on eating it. In the same way man suffers because of wrong thoughts and wrong desires.
You are boys very young boys. Your mind has not yet received any evil impression from the outside world. If you can struggle hard from now on, you will be able to escape life’s sorrows and miseries.
Whatever the riches you may possess, whatever your chances of living a happy and prosperous life, however wide your circle of friends and well-wishers, you will not have real happiness. All these things last for a few moments, or at the last an hour; they do not last longer. Then comes a reaction of misery. Thus reaction follows action. If one is to attain true and eternal happiness, one must aspire after that joy which brings no reaction in its train. Wherein lies that true and eternal happiness? It lies in realizing God. This divine enjoyment alone brings no reaction; all other kinds of enjoyments you can name are followed by reaction. And you must know that wherever there is reaction, there is sorrow and suffering.
Never forget the ideal of human life. This life is not given us to while away in eating, drinking and sleeping like an animal, in idle gossip and such things. When you have been born as a human being, spurn all worldly enjoyments. Firmly resolve to realize God and attain infinite bliss. Flinch not, even if you die in the attempt.
Why have you come away from your hearth and home in the name of our Thakur (Sri Ramakrishna)? Is it not to realize Him, to get rid of the sorrows and sufferings of the world and attain everlasting peace and happiness ?
Be up and doing
Sincerely struggle then toward the ideal of life, so long as you have strength of body and mind. By no means relax your efforts, saying that you will realize the ideal later or that it will be possible only through the Lord’s grace. It is idlers alone that talk in this way. I do not want you to idle away your time. If you are not in earnest, speak out clearly. Say, “I have a desire to enjoy worldly pleasures. I have not a sincere longing to realize Truth–to attain God.” Let your speech and your thought be one.
When are you going to do spiritual practices? The best part of life, as I told you, is from the sixteenth to the thirtieth year. Do you hope that after wasting these valuable years in useless pursuits, you will be able to take up spiritual practices in old age? Know that is cheating, deceiving oneself. Do not cheat yourselves.
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Tags: Brahmananda · Practical Wisdom
June 23rd, 2010
Swami Brahmananda was one of the most eminent and beloved of the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. The following is taken from his conversations in Spiritual Teachings of Swami Brahmananda.
Q: Maharaj, I am practicing Japam and meditation, but I have not yet acquired any taste for these. Somehow or other I am struggling on. What must I do?
S wami Brahmananda: Is it possible to have that taste in the beginning? No. Struggle hard to attain it. Concentrate all your energies on its achievement,and never for a moment pay heed to other matters. Apply yourself whole-heartedly to it and to it alone. Onward, onward! Never be satisfied with your present state of mind. Try to create within yourself a burning dissatisfaction. Say to yourself “What progress am I making? Not a bit.” Sri Ramakrishna used to say to the Divine Mother “Mother, another day is gone and I have not seen Thee!”
Reflect
Every night before you go to bed, think for awhile how much time you have spent in doing good deeds, how much again in doing useless things; how much time you have utilized in meditation and how much you have wasted in idleness. Make your mind strong through Tapasya (austerity) and Brahmacharya (continence) .
In rich men’s houses they keep a Darwan (porter) whose duty is to prevent thieves, cows, sheep, etc., from entering the compound. The mind is man’s Danwan. The stronger the mind becomes, the better. Mind has also been compared to a restive horse. Such a horse generally takes the rider along the wrong path. Only he who can hold a tight rein and check the horse can go the right way. Struggle, struggle on! What are you doing? Is everything achieved by the mere wearing of the Gerua cloth (ochre-coloured cloth of the Sannyasin) or by renunciation of hearth and home? What have you realized? Time is flying. Do not waste a single moment. You will be able to work hard only another three or four years at the most. Afterwards both body and mind will become weak and infirm and you will not be able to do anything. What can be achieved without diligence?
You are thinking, “Let us first of all have yearning, faith and devotion; then we shall do our Sadhana (spiritual practices).” Is that possible? Can we see the day without the break of dawn? When the Lord comes, love, devotion and faith follow Him as His retinue.
Be up and doing!
Can anything be achieved without Tapasya? Brahma at first heard–“Tapas (meditate), Tapas(meditate), Tapas (meditate)” Do you not see what a severe Tapasya even the Avataras (Incarnations of God) had to perform? Has anybody gained anything without labour? Buddha, Sankara and others what tremendous austerities they practiced in their lives! What burning renunciation they possessed! What severe Sadhana they performed!
Real faith cannot be had in the beginning. First realization, then faith. But at first the Sadhaka (aspirant) has to pin his faith “blind faith” it may be to the precepts of his Guru (spiritual teacher) or of some great soul; then only can he advance toward the goal.
Do you not know the parable of the oyster as told by Sri Ramakrishna? The oyster floats about on the surface of the sea with its shell wide open, just for a little drop of the Swati-rain (rain falling when the star Swati or Arcturus is in the ascendant). As soon as it gets a rain drop, it dives down to the ocean-bed and there forms a fine pearl. Like the oyster, you too should be up and doing and then dive deep into the ocean of meditation.
You have no self-reliance. Personal exertion is an indispensable factor for success in the spiritual life. Do something for a period of at least four years. Then if you do not make any tangible progress,come and take me to task.
Japam and meditation are impossible unless you transcend the limitations of Rajas (excessive activity) and Tamas (inertia or lethargy). Afterwards,you have to rise even above Sattwa (illumination) and attain the high spiritual plane from where there is no return.
How difficult is the attainment of a human birth! Yet it is only in this human birth that God-realization is possible. Strive hard in this life and reach that state from which you will not have to comeback.
Step by step
The mind is to be raised, step by step, from the gross state to the subtle, then to the causal state, still further to the Great Cause (Mahakarana) and finally to Samadhi (highest illumination). Resign yourself fully to the Lord. He is everything. There is nothing besides. “Verily all this is Brahman.” Everything is His and His only. Never be calculating. Is self-surrender possible in a day? When that is achieved, everything is achieved. One must struggle hard for it.
Life is eternal. The span of man’s life is at most a hundred years. Give up the pleasures of these hundred years, if you want to enjoy eternal life and, with it, eternal bliss.
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Tags: Brahmananda · Meditation
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