February 2021 Words to Inspire "The More Arduously One Practices Spiritual Disciplines, the More Quickly One Will Attain to God
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Vedanta Society of Toronto (Ramakrishna Mission) 120 Emmett Ave. Toronto, ON M6M 2E6 CANADA Tel.: 416-240-7262; Email: [email protected] Website: www.vedantatoronto.ca Newsletter February 2021 Words to Inspire "The more arduously one practices spiritual disciplines, the more quickly one will attain to God. Even if he doesn't practise any spiritual disciplines he will attain to Him at the last moment of his life-he will certainly". ————Holy Mother During the holidays of the month of Paush (February), Sister Mother: That will certainly come about, my dear. You stay in Sudhira wished to be with the Holy-Mother and went to Kasi, such a sacred place. Here Lord Viswanath and Mother taking along a few of us with her. When we met the Holy Annapurna are reigning actually. By Their grace everything Mother, after some talk, she enquired about Yogin-Ma and will come about. said, "Ah, my dear, Yogin could not come. She was quite ill. The Holy Mother asked her to sing another song. She began The Master and the Divine Mother saved her. I was much to sing: worried over Yogin." After a little conversation, Sister Sudhira Mother, may thou be pleased to keep me as a child! and others went to see the house hired for our stay. The Holy Let me not grow, leaving behind the beauty of childhood. Mother fell asleep a little. The house was almost silent with A beautiful simple soul, unaware of honour and infamy; everybody resting. In that silence a song was heard from the It does not know cruelty, nor censure nor shame nor verandah: contempt. Where has my Mother gone? Mother: What a beautiful song! For many days have I not seen you; Mother, take me in Girl: I had a great desire for many days to see you. Hearing the lap. that you are here, I often think of coming but feel afraid that What sort of a Mother art Thou, so stony-hearted towards someone would object. the child! Mother: None will say anything. Come whenever you like. Grant Thy vision, Mother, and make me weep no more. The Holy Mother asked Prasad to be given to her. After The song was sung in such a gentle tone that I felt as though receiving Prasad the girl was taking leave. The Holy Mother some one was weeping at quite a distance. Suddenly the told her, "Come again, my dear." Later she told us, "The girl Holy Mother woke up and said, "Who is singing? Let us go, has great devotion." my dear, to the verandah and see." We went and what I saw One day after dusk Sister Sudhira and I were sitting near the struck me dumb with astonishment. One girl was singing the Holy Mother. The Mother then said, "Anyone who has once song and her chest was bathed in tears as she sang. As the called on the Master, with sincere faith and devotion has Holy Mother sat there, the girl bowed down to her and said, nothing more to fear. As one calls on Him, by His grace one "Mother, my heart's desire of many days is fulfilled today. I gets Prema-bhakti, loving devotion. This love is to be cannot express the joy that is flooding me today, Mother." cherished in utmost privacy, my dear. The Gopis of Vraja had The Holy Mother blessed her and asked her about herself. this Prema-bhakti. They did not know anything except Girl: I am only a beggar girl, Mother. Krishna. It is said in Nilakantha's song: 'This treasure of Mother: Where do you stay? Prema must be preserved with the greatest effort.'" Saying Girl: I stay at the gate of Annapurna, near the Behari Baba's this, the Holy Mother sang the song. In what a sweet voice temple at the Dasasvamedh Ghat. did she sing that day! It is even today resounding in my ears. Mother: You are well off by taking alms, I hope? At the end of the song, she said, "Ah, how excellent is this Girl: By your blessing everything goes on well, Mother. There song of Nilakantha! The Master liked it immensely. While the is no worry about daily needs. By the grace of Annapurna, Master was at Dakshineswar, Nilakantha would come to him no one has to go without food here, Mother. I am worried now and then and sing songs. How blissful it was! How many about how to get a little Bhakti. kinds of people came to him! It was as if a mart of joy was set up at Dakshineswar." ……….(Gospel of Holy Mother) KARMA YOGA ACTIVITIES It is a great opportunity to provide your services to the Vedanta Society of Toronto. Kindly come forward and volunteer time towards maintaining and managing the facilities. If interested in volunteering, kindly contact Abhijit Bhattacharya on 416-569-9401, indicating the Services that you are interested in and days you can be available for volunteering. THANK YOU!! Swamiji's advent A few days after the above experience, Narendra Nath paid ideal forms of gods and goddesses. The mind then reached his third visit to the Master at Dakshineswar, and though he the outer limits of that region, where a luminous barrier was determined not to be influenced, yet he fared no better separated the sphere of relative existence from that of the than the other times. Shri Ramakrishna took him that day to Absolute. Crossing that barrier, the mind entered the the adjacent garden of Jadunath Mallik. After a stroll in the transcendental realm, where no corporeal being was visible. garden they sat down in the parlour. Soon Shri Ramakrishna Even the gods dared not peep into that sublime realm, but fell into a trance and touched Narendra Nath. In spite of all had to be content to keep their seats far below. The next his precautions Naren was totally overwhelmed and moment I found seven venerable sages seated there in immediately lost all outward consciousness. When he came Samadhi. It occurred to me that these sages must have to himself after a while, he found the Master stroking his surpassed not only men, but even the gods, in knowledge chest. and holiness, in renunciation and love. Lost in admiration I Naren had no idea of the happenings of this period, but it was was reflecting on their greatness, when I saw a portion of that then that the Master learned many strange things about him. undifferentiated luminous region condense into the form of a Referring to this incident, he said later on, “I put several divine child. The child came to one of the sages, tenderly questions to him while he was in that state. I asked him about clasped his neck with his lovely little arms, and addressing his antecedents and where he lived, his mission in this world him in a sweet voice attempted to drag his mind down from and the duration of his mortal life. He dived deep into himself the state of Samadhi. The magic touch roused the sage from and gave fitting answers to my questions. They only his superconscious state, and he fixed his unmoving, half- confirmed what I had seen and inferred about him. Those open gaze upon that wonderful child. His beaming things shall be a secret, but I came to know that he was a countenance showed that the child must have been the sage who had attained perfection, a past master in treasure of his heart. In great joy the strange child said to meditation, and that the day he knew his real nature, he him, ‘I am going down. You too must go with me.’ The sage would give up the body, by an act of will, through Yoga.” remained mute, but his tender look expressed his assent. As It is interesting to learn what revelations the Master had of he kept gazing on the child, he was again immersed in his greatest disciple even before his arrival at Dakshineswar. Samadhi. I was surprised to find that a fragment of his body and rnind was descending on earth in the form of an effulgent This is how he described them: light. No sooner had I seen Naren than I recognised him to “One day I found that my mind was soaring high in be that sage.” Samadhi along a luminous path. It soon transcended the stellar universe and entered the subtler region of ideas. As it From the book “Swami Vivekananda by Eastern and ascended higher and higher I found on both sides of the way Western Disciples”. The Master’s Bhavasamadhi and personal beauty It was dusk. Now the Arati of the Mother of the universe would begin. “Father” was then in the inner apartment and had completely forgotten his male body under the influence of a maddening spiritual mood. The only thought that expressed itself through his words and actions was, that he had all his lives and throughout the ages, been a woman companion of the divine Mother. The divine Mother was his life, his mind, his all in all; it was for the service of the Mother alone that he had assumed a body and was living his mode of life. The Master’s face was brightened with spiritual emotion and love of the Mother, and his lips were beautified with a unique smile; his looks, the movements of his hands and feet, and his gestures resembled those of women. The Master was dressed in the beautiful silken cloth given by Mathur Babu and he had put it on in the manner of a sari.