July 18, 1915. During the reading of a lecture by Swamiji I was watching Swami Turiyananda. Tears of ecstasy were rolling down his cheeks. After a while he began to talk: “You are all highly educated boys. You have renounced the world. But what are you doing? Days, months, and years pass by, while you are idling away your time. Where is that yearning for God? Don’t you remember how Sri Ramakrishna used to weep, ‘O Mother, another day is gone and still I have not seen you’? You have become dry! You have lost your spirit! ‘Who is dead-while-living? One who does not long for the truth of God.’ Swamiji once said ‘At the age of twenty-nine I finished everything.’”
“But why should I blame you? You follow our example. We are not struggling hard. We say that we have become old and diabetic. Nonsense! These are our excuses. What we have seen in Swamiji! During his last days, when he was hardly able to breathe, he would still roar: “Arise! Awake!’ But we are giving excuses.” “The body will surely die. Let it die while working for the good of mankind. What is the truth? Rousing the divinity within yourselves and in others. Knowing that to be true, wake up, struggle, forget everything else! Struggle now or never! But I can see that you have a desire for name and fame. That won’t do. Because you have university degrees you want to be somebody in the Order. You have not yet learned to be instruments in the hands of the Lord. Do you think everybody can be a Vivekananda?”
July 30, 1915. SWAMI TURIYANANDA: “One day Sri Ramakrishna talked about his disease. He was asked if he felt pain in his throat. The Master answered: ‘What foolishness! The body does not become spiritual. It is the mind that becomes holy!’” “One may have Spartan fortitude, be able to bear physical suffering patiently, and may hide their suffering. That is nothing. But when one knows that the pain is of the body, not of the Atman, ‘then he keeps his mind detached from disease and suffering and he lives immersed in the consciousness of God.’” “Repression of passions is bad. Unless the mind is directed toward a high ideal, they will find expression through other channels. Place your mind in God, then all evil will fall away by itself. That is what is meant by self-control; it arises from devotion to the Lord. Feel that you are a child of God! Why should his child be lustful? Or take the attitude: ‘I am pure! I am awakened! I am free!’” “To stand on your own feet means to stand in union with God, to find your strength in Him—not in the little self who is a university graduate!” “Ishwarakotis or ever-free souls are those who do not merge in nirvana but live as eternal companions of God. Generally, people try to exhibit their good side. They want to made a good impression instead of trying to be good themselves. The first thing we learned from Sri Ramakrishna was to pay no attention to the opinion of others. He used to say: ‘Spit on public opinion! Look toward God and try to please him!’ Swamiji was like that.”
