Blog

June 5, 2004

My Experience with the Compassionate Mother

The embodiment of love, compassion, and peace, epitome of motherhood, a guide to the spiritual life of both the monk and the householder through the example of her very life was Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi. It is difficult to find an equivalent to Mother’s life and gospel. Every word of hers was uttered with compassion for the good of generations to come. Her words give solace and sustenance to all her children. As her words have touched and sanctified the life of many, they transformed my life also.
May 5, 2004

Sarada Devi: The Holy Mother

Holy Mother, in a unique way, fulfilled the duties of wife, mother, and nun. There have been before in the world the ideal wife, the ideal mother, and the ideal nun, but a combination of the three in one person is rare indeed. Holy Mother was wedded to Sri Ramakrishna at the age of five, lived with him as long as he lived, and ministered to his physical needs in the best tradition of a Hindu wife. She was his companion in spiritual life. She demonstrated that wifely devotion and love are possible without demanding physical satisfaction from one's mate.
April 5, 2004

The Holy Mother

It is very difficult to speak about the Holy Mother. As a matter of fact, when we were young people in the Order we never spoke publicly about the Holy Mother, nor was even her picture shown to outside world except to those who were very close devotees. We wanted to keep the Mother exclusively within our hearts.
March 5, 2004

Conversations with Swami Turiyananda – Part 5

SWAMI TURIYANANDA: “Swamiji used to say: ‘The mind has to be made malleable like clay. Just as clay sticks wherever you throw it, so the mind must be made to dwell upon whatever object you concentrate it.’”
February 5, 2004

Conversations with Swami Turiyananda – Part 4

There are three steps to spiritual realization: hearing the truth, reasoning upon the truth, and meditation on the truth. What is hearing the truth like? It is like listening to music as the deer does, fascinated by it. He is completely unaware of the hunter aiming at him. To meditate on the truth is to become absorbed—like the legendary cockroach, which gives up its own nature and becomes a caterpillar by constantly thinking of a caterpillar.