Here are just a few (of the many) highlights from the celebration of Ramakrishna’s birthday at Glen Lodge on 5 March 2022. It was a good kirtan with music from Tryambaka, Yogini, Sanjana and Sri Lakshmi. And Shiva Shakti led a programme finishing with waving of lights. Jai Narain read parts of a discourse from February 18 1984 which you can read below.

And Satchitananda’s thoughtful programme included a guided meditation from Swamiji with beautiful flute from RajaRam and sarod from SadaShiva.

Play the audio to listen to the guided meditation:

Yogini led a chant to the Guru which you can enjoy here:

Read parts of Swamiji’s discourse given at a kirtan on 18 February 1984 and shared at Ramakrishna’s Birthday Kirtan at Glen Lodge, March 5, 2022:

‘The Lord of kirtan, the lord of samadhi, the lord of love, was born on this day according to the Gospel of M. Love personified was born as Ramakrishna to show the path once again, the simple ways of bhakti yoga: chanting, contemplating, and devotional singing. And his consort Sarada too is the incarnation of God in body, the mayic manifestation of the Divine Mother, which is no different from Ramakrishna. Ramakrishna and the Divine Mother are one… Vishnu also was born as Ramakrishna, and Rama and Krishna are His incarnations. You must not forget the love of Radha and Krishna as a life of guidance here – Radha is the fierce love of Krishna, which again is invisibly present. If you don’t see God in person you can see Him through the feathery affectionate ways of approach to the subtle influence of love. Love permeates, crosses mountains, crosses oceans, goes deep where the ground is impermeable – love reaches even there…

‘The heart of the true devotee is like a star with many facets – one for his Ishta Dev, one for his Guru Dev, one for his main Dev, one for Maheshvara, the Lord of yogis. He is not monotonous. Where he is, Krishna drops in, Rama drops in, Lord Hanuman drops in, the Mother drops in. This devotee likes to be incognito, no publicity or anything. Yet the devotee’s heart is the microphone to God’s ear, so loud. When he speaks truthfully and doesn’t keep himself in darkness he shares his starlight. You see the stars when there is no cloud manifesting. And the Lord who bears the moon on his forehead is next to you. No doubt the star is beautiful, but when the moon comes out the star recognizes it is Maha Dev (or Maha Devi) who bears the crescent moon on His/Her forehead. ..

‘Don’t you remember how in the book of Mother Sarada Devi (who is blessing you this very minute), she says ”God is subtly hidden in His name”? But first the channel must be de-blocked. Or it may be open but still not receiving. The receiving channel can be cleared as soon as ego is eradicated, and the man becomes a fit vehicle for God. Then his mind will be like a vehicle that has been M.O.T’d . And this This MOT Mother is the blissful accelerator which enables the devotee’s mind to travel without light. Time is immaterial. As you think, so you are, immaterial of day or night. The devotee will eventually acknowledge that God is manifesting energetically, Shaktily, through love’s lightning flash. People can receive God without going in bliss, if God manifests Himself – or Itself; with form or without form is immaterial, light has no particularity. The subtlety of light permeates the body of the devotee. You keep God in your heart in the form of light. And when God has come the devotee is bare, he surrenders to light. …

‘So bliss, ecstasy, is not outside you, for you to seek it. It’s a false knowledge to go and seek ecstasy and bliss outside. Light is within. That inner light takes the garb of darkness, appears as you, or me, or Radha and Krishna, playful, romantic – and eternal. That’s His maya, His play, His lila. He seeks His devotees first. “Give Me a pearl,” He says, “Don’t give Me a sham.” But to get pearls you have to dive deep; just mere floating – what will that do? …Worship the guru, then worship your Ishta, then merge in your Ishta. But don’t be monotonous. All these Gods manifest as these beings, so whatever is the simplest way – step in there. God’s heart is wide open. Shouldn’t you open yours a little bit, for access?

Holy Mother Sarada has said, “The essence is the lotus of the heart.” Everyone has got this essence. In the caterpillar there is butterfly, and the human being is like the caterpillar because this essence is in you, this essence is you. But if you want to have light you have to be in contact with light, not with darkness. To receive light you have to be light yourself. You are the light of Brahman, and Brahman is again the Wish-fulfilling Tree. God has become the nectar fruit, and that fruit has given seed of you, me, and us. But we have been pecked by the birds of desires. So we think we are not worthy to be even offered to these Gods. But when the attitude changes, men become children of the Immortal. Then, “All are my brothers” – God in the form of the holy man, God in the form of the crook, of the rogue, of the yogi.

‘Therefore you have to have discrimination, and discrimination you will get not by keeping yourself in darkness but in light. This light is God, and God is the wisdom in your dark, perturbed, gloomy thought and condition… So many things are lurking in the subconscious of the mind. But you must not be affected by this world. Not being affected by this world is a great step to realization. So simple! But you must not be a hypocrite and say you are not affected when you are… So practise this, yours affectionately.

[Reads:] ’ “The subtlest, purest and most beautiful substance of the jiva’s heart transports itself into the rasa, the blissful sentiment. It is by this rasa that the meagre power of the jiva gets liberated and nurtured… At all levels of life, rasa is the life-giving principle, expressing itself as the joy of living. The complete manifestation of rasa is the Lord himself. To make the devotee taste this rasa the Lord manifests Himself age after age as man. In the present age, to make mankind taste this rasa He appeared as Ramakrishna, the ideal son, the child beyond the three gunas, and as Sri Sarada Devi, the quintessence of the mother’s heart…”
‘ We will end by reading when she left the body: [Reads:] “… Under Reverend Sarat Maharaj’s instructions [Holy Mother’s] clothes were changed and her body was placed on a clean bed. They were all sitting at a distance, steeped in sorrow, when one of them happened to notice that rays of light were emanating from her face and spreading around. At this he shouted out in excitement, “Look, look, the face of the Mother has become luminous!” All eyes were turned towards her face. They were all speechless and looked at one another saying, “What is this? What is this? Whence has this effulgence come? We have never seen it before.” The heart of everyone was filled with joy divine. They started singing a song about the Mother…”

Read Swamiji’s full discourse taken from a kirtan given on Feb 18 1984

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