| |
because you have no idea of what it is. One moment's glimpse and the longing will begin. You can understand it this way: you are standing in the dark with pebbles in your hands, thinking they are a treasure of precious stones. You are very happy. Then a flash of lightning comes and you find out that there are mines of diamonds ahead of you while you are holding pebbles in your hand. Then the lightning is gone, but it leaves a message behind that you have to inform others who stand holding pebbles in their hands that a priceless treasure awaits them. So the lightning will not flash for you, and you have to carry out the task of telling people about the treasure lying ahead. Thus Vivekananda was made to accomplish a particular task which was complementary to Rama-krishna and a necessity for him; what was missing in Ramakrishna he had to complement through another person.
It happens like this many times. If a single person is unable to perform a particular task, three or four other people are required. Sometimes even five to ten people are required to help spread the message of a single person. So Ramakrishna did it out of compassion, but it created some difficulty for Vivekananda.
So I say avoid shaktipat as much as possible. As far as possible, strive for grace. Only that shaktipat is useful which is as good as grace, which has no strings attached, which has no conditions along with it, which is absolutely unconditional, for which nobody says, "I am keeping the key for a certain period."
Shaktipat should take place without the medium even inquiring what happened. If you want to thank him you should not even know where to find him; then it will be easy for you. But at times, when someone like Ramakrishna needs the help of another, there is no other way of obtaining it than this; otherwise, Ramakrishna's experiences would have been lost, unexpressed. He needed a medium for expressing it and Vivekananda fulfilled it.
This is why Vivekananda always said that whatever he was saying did not belong to him. When he was honored in America he said that he was very pained because the honor belonged to one of whom they had no idea. And when someone
|
|
|