Swami Golokananda Quotes And Teachings

Quotes and Teachings of Swami Golokananda – is a senior monk of the Ramakrishna Order in India. Swami Golokananda had served as the head of various Sri Ramakrishna Ashrams across Kerala.

We were ruled by the British. Even before that, we were ruled by the Mughals for about seven hundred years. As a result of these two foreign regimes and their administration India had become lifeless. There was no initiative or scope for it. The whole nation sank in poverty and suffered from all kinds of limitations. There was no hope of our coming up. And then dawned the renaissance from all the four corners of India. The Brahmo Samaj in Bengal, the Arya Samaj in the North, the Theosophical Society in the South, and the Prarthana Samaj in the West—all these organizations worked hard to regain the pristine purity of our culture and religion and to remove the superstitious practices, then prevalent in our society.

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Adi Shankaracharya strengthened the Sanatana Dharma by propounding the glory of Vedanta through his commentaries on Prasthana-traya—three pillars of Sanatana Dharma, the Gita, the Upanishads and the Brahma Sutras.

By thus writing these authentic expositions, he brought about a spiritual revolution in India. After his commentaries on prasthana traya, other great Acharyas in the succeeding centuries also wrote separate commentaries on these Vedantic traditions—mostly with their own interpretations as well. Thus came about a revival of Vedantic ideals in the country which proclaim the glory of human being and that work is still going on.

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One can go straight to the study of the Brahma Sutras even without the study of the Vedas. So then, what is its precedence? Yes, there is something prescribed as the prerequisite for the study of this Vedanta. And what is it? It is, by all means, the attainment of character excellence—i.e., cultivating the four fold spiritual disciplines described in our scriptures which are:

1) Discrimination between eternal and ephemeral,

2) Renunciation of the idea of enjoyment of the fruits of actions—here, in this life and hereafter, in heaven.

3) Attainment of the six treasures of virtues—Sama, Dama, Uparathi, Titiksha, Shraddha and Samadhanam.

4) Intense longing for liberation (mumukshutva).

Without these four fold disciplines no one can attain the realization of highest Truth and Splendour. They are also the prerequisites for the study of Brahma Sutras. In the modern times, we can see all these qualities in all its glory in the life of Swami Vivekananda who, as a youngster, as a student, was pining for this realization. 

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On reflection we find that the attainment of prosperity that man gets in this life is short lived. It does not give him the joy of spiritual fulfillment. Scriptures speak about the meritorious deeds (punyakarmas) that would enable him to gain greater joy in the other world - in heaven - after death. But the scriptures proclaim the great truth - ‘Brahma-vidapnotiparam’, ‘one who realizes Brahman gains the highest’ which is the highest gain of human life.

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Life itself is selfless giving.

There is a mango tree in our courtyard that presents us with delicious fruit every year. It is a marvel to watch it in spring, its boughs weighed down with honeyed blossom and tiny green fruit. It spreads its cool shade in the courtyard and dances to our delight in the breeze.

But to us the ripe juicy fruit is what the tree means and we are apt to forget that every part of the tree is equally important to its system and has its function and value.

The fruit nourishes many of the animal kingdom, the leaves breathe for all living beings. The bees and the birds and the many insects crawling on its rough bark, bear witness to the multifarious purposes of the tree.

Which part of the mango tree can be considered nonessential to the tree? Is there any part that can be separated from the basic essence of the tree? No, because the essence dwells in every part of the mango tree. It is in the fruit, it is in the flower, it is in the leaf and the trunk. It exists everywhere, as the form and the body, as its true being or essence. Thus the tree dwells in every part and controls each part from within. It manifests itself as the vital principle of each part to retain and develop its identity. This is true of all living phenomena in nature including human beings.

We possess the senses of action and perception, the mind and the intellect and all external and internal organs of the body. In spite of their varied functions, they are all coordinated into the main function of keeping the living being happy.

This being, that is made happy, is not different from its parts, which work hard to create happiness for it. Thus the doer and enjoyer can be understood as one and the same.