Also living in Vrindaban at this time was Vijaykrishna Goswami, a Vaishnava saint who had known Brahmananda when he was living with Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar. One day Vijay asked him: “The Master gave you all that is covetable in spiritual life: visions and samadhi. Why then do you still practise so much austerity?” Brahmananda humbly answered: “The experiences and visions I got by his grace, I am now trying to attain as my permanent possession.”
Observing Brahmananda’s hardship, rigorous disciplines, and long meditation and prayer, Subodhananda said to him: “The Master looked upon you as his son. You are the veritable son of the Lord. It does not befit you to sit like a beggar seeking his grace.” Brahmananda replied: “What you say, brother, is true. The Master loved us so dearly that he gave us everything he had to give. Still we have not attained peace. This shows that it now lies with us to do the rest for the fulfillment of life’s objective. Uddhava was Krishna’s dear friend, yet Krishna said to him: ‘If you want to properly realize any spiritual truth, you must go to some solitary place in the Himalayas and practise austerity. I can grant you some miraculous visions, if you like. But that won’t be enough. It is much greater to contemplate and meditate on Him.’ Indeed, without meditation and contemplation none can know anything about God.” (Source: God Lived with Them)
Regarding the importance of spiritual practices, Khoka Maharaj once said: “If you don’t practise spiritual disciplines, it doesn’t matter how great your guru is, because what he has given you will then never bear fruit.” He then narrated the following incident: “I was once practising austerities with Raja Maharaj at Kusum Sarovar in Vrindavan. As you know, from my very childhood I’ve been very fond of drinking tea. That’s why I would go every morning to Vijaykrishna Goswami’s ashrama, have tea there, and then return to Kusum Sarovar. Raja Maharaj noticed that I was absent every morning. One day he said to me: “Khoka, I thought you had come here to practise austerities. Then why are you so eager to go out so early in the morning?”
I said in reply: “Maharaj, the Master has already given us everything. Then what is the need of practising austerities?”
At this Maharaj became grave, and said after a while: “What you have said is true, Khoka, but he also told us to realize what he has given us by doing japa and meditation. That is why I tell you to awaken what you received from your guru at the time of initiation. Merely sitting idle won’t do.”
If any of us said that he didn’t get time for japa and meditation because he was busy with the work of the Order all day long and couldn’t get up early in the morning, Khoka Maharaj would suggest the following remedy: “Eat very little at night and don’t think about any kind of work when you go to bed. This way you will get a good sleep and will get up fresh in the morning.”
— Swami Jnanatmananda (Source: Swami Subodhananda – Life, Teachings, Reminiscences, Letters)
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