TECHINGS OF SRI SARADA DEVI

CHAPTER-IV: MEDITATION AND JAPA

Sri Saradadevi

1. "The mind keeps well when engaged in work. And yet Japa, meditation, prayer also are specially needed. You must at least sit down once in the morning and again in the evening. That acts as a rudder to a boat. When one sits in meditation in the evening, one gets a chance to think of what one has done - good or bad -during the whole day. Next one should compare the states of one's mind in the preceding day and the present. ... Unless you meditate in the mornings and evenings along with work, how can you know what you are actually doing?"

2. "It is very necessary to have a fixed time for these things. For it cannot be said when the auspicious moment will come. It arrives so suddenly. No one gets any hint of it beforehand. Therefore one should observe regularity, however busy one may be with duties. ... Even in the midst of the most intense activity, one should at least remember God and salute Him.

3. "May your body and mind become pure by repeating the Name of God!"

4. "The Mantra purifies the body. Man becomes pure by repeating the Mantra of God. ... It is said, 'The human teacher utters the Mantra into the ear; but God breathes the spirit into the soul.'"

5. "As wind removes the cloud, so the Name of God destroys the cloud of worldliness." 6. "Do you know the significance of Japa and other spiritual practices? By these, the power of the sense-organs is subdued.

7. A devotee took a tiny banyan seed and said to Mother, "Look, Mother, it is tinier even than the tiniest seed we know. From this will spring a giant tree! How strange!" "Indeed, it will," Mother replied. "See what a tiny seed is the Name of God. From it in time come divine moods, devotion, love, and spiritual consummation."

8. "Just see the power of habit. By the law of habit man attains realization by continuous practice of Japa."

9. A devotee asked her, "Mother, what is the secret?" She pointed to a small timepiece in a niche and said, "As that timepiece is ticking, so also go on repeating God's Name. That will bring you everything. Nothing more need be done.

10. "One has to suffer the consequences of one's deeds. But by repeating the Name of God, you can lessen its intensity. If you were destined to have a wound as wide as a ploughshare, you will get a pin-prick at least. The effect of Karma can be counteracted to a great extent by Japa and austerities." 

SOURCE: saradadevi.info