Teachings from Radhanath Swami.

Editor’s note: Over the coming weeks, elephant will have the opportunity to feature teachings and instructions from HH Radhanath Swami. These short pieces are transcribed and collected from his lectures given around the world. Given Maharaja’s travel and speaking schedule, not to mention, his many other obligations, he will not be able to respond to comments. Thank you for reading and please post any suggested topics you may like to see covered in future installments. We will do our best.

What is the highest pleasure which without having we can’t find real fulfillment?

That is the fulfillment of love.

No matter how much we have, if you are not loved by people and you have no one you can express your craving to love toward, will you be happy? In search of that pleasure, according to our particular consciousness, we engage in various activities.

But the love that we are all seeking is within us.

The ultimate fulfillment that everyone longs for in life is within our hearts. Unfortunately, due to misdirection most of the world is searching for what is within, without. But you can never find it out there. You can find temporary substitutes but not the real thing. Therefore, there is no satisfaction.

In the Bible of the Christians, Jesus said, “You should not build your castle on the sand. You should build your castle on the stone.” Because if your build on the sand there is no foundation.When a strong storm comes it blows down. When it is built on stone it can withstand any difficulty. Similarly, when our internal foundation is shallow, hollow, without realization and we build our life on top of that, then our fulfillment, happiness and satisfaction can easily be blown down by any circumstantial storm that comes into our life.

But if our inner fulfillment is built on a strong foundation of spiritual knowledge and love then nothing in this world can disturb that. From that platform when we access the internal love of the heart and express that through whatever we do, that has the ultimate power—that is the power of bhakti.

Radhanath Swami is a Vaishnava sanyassin (a monk in a Krishna-bhakti lineage) and teacher of the devotional path of Bhakti-yoga. He is author of The Journey Home, a memoir of his search for spiritual truth. His teachings draw from the sacred texts of India such as The Bhagavad-Gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, and Ramayana, and aim to reveal the practical application of the sacred traditions, while focusing on the shared essence which unites apparently disparate religious or spiritual paths.

Radhanath Swami travels regularly throughout India, Europe and North America, sharing the teachings of Bhakti-yoga. He resides much of the year at the Radha Gopinath Ashram in Chowpatty, Mumbai. For the past twenty-five years he has guided the community’s development and has directed a number of acclaimed social action projects including Midday Meals, which daily serves more than 260,000 plates of sanctified vegetarian food to the children of the slums of Mumbai. He has also worked to establish missionary hospitals and eye camps, eco-friendly farms, schools and ashrams, an orphanage and a number of emergency relief programs throughout India.

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Editor: Thaddeus Haas

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