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Curing Forgetfulness and Seeking Spiritual Treasures
August 7, 2012  |  radhanath-swami

One day walking along the beach at Goa, Richard (now Radhanath Swami) saw a small fish desperately flap in the sand. A wave had washed it ashore. Richard cast the fish back into the ocean but the next wave bought it back again. Finally Richard took the fish in the cup of his palm and hurled it deeper into the ocean. However later he saw fishermen return with their nets filled with hundreds of such tiny fishes. Richard realized that due to our desire to enjoy separately from God, we have been washed to the shore of the material world. And the net of illusion has caught us and has snatched our minds away from our true self-interest. When we try to enjoy separately from God, we are miserable like the fish on the shore.

Radhanath Swami says that material enjoyment only leads to suffering. To seek real happiness, we need to explore the world within. Unfortunately since we do not seek this happiness internally, we become lonely in this world. The more we enjoy our senses, the more we suffer and flap like the fish out of water. Radhanath Swami often explains that we are pure and eternal spiritual entities. True love and true peace is within our hearts and it can be awakened through spiritual practices. Radhanath Swami is emphatic that God consciousness is the original consciousness of all living beings. But we have forgotten. “If you have a disease and you forget you have the disease then the disease gets worse. We should recognize what our disease is and treat it. It will not go away through forgetfulness. Therefore we have to endeavor to seek the love of God which we have unfortunately forgotten.”

Radhanath Swami narrates the story of a famous, bestselling novel. A man was told that his father left as an inheritance a great treasure. The book describes how he travelled the entire world looking for that treasure. He died in the process, after a whole life of searching. They brought his dead body back to his home where he searched originally for, and while digging the grave in his own back yard, they found the treasure. Radhanath Swami draws spiritual parallels and says that this simple story is the story of our own lives. “We are trying to find the treasure of inner happiness; we want to share something wonderful with the world from that treasure, but that treasure is within our own hearts. If we do not find it there, we will find it nowhere else”, says Radhanath Swami.

Radhanath Swami expertly diagnoses the cause of our suffering and our refusal to seek this internal treasure. He says the treasure of our heart is presently covered by dirt. The dirt of ego, anger, greed, lust, envy, and illusion covers our consciousness. “The dirt of so many misconceptions and misdirection plague our hearts. If we simply clean this dirt from our through remembrance of God and by service, we will find the ultimate source of all our aspirations, love, peace, and truth”. The practical method that Radhanath Swami recommends to clean our hearts is the chanting of the names of God.

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17 Comments


  1. Very nice inspiring and valuable story. All glories to HH Radhanatha Swami Maharaja.

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  2. Its truly amazing, how the most valuable, precious and sacred substance that can provide us with full joy and satisfaction lies within us but we keep on searching it all around in some external objects. Thank You for such wonderful writeup…

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  3. Thank you Radhanath Maharaj for reminding us of the treasure we carry within our heart and the means to revive it – the holy names of the Lord.

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  4. Beautiful article…..How a simple act of saving the fish on the shore can bring immense deep realisations of God…..Thanks swamiji for sharing your realisations….

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  5. Kalpana Kulkarni

    Thank you for letting us know that we should search for the treasure in our hearts.

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  6. Amazing analysis and revelations. Thank u for sharing this.

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  7. How can such thoughts come in ones mind… ?? Thanks for sharing these wonderful thoughts

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  8. Arjun K Ramachandra

    Radhanath Swami is a perfect spiritual doctor indeed! He has expertly diagnosed the cause of our suffering as forgetfulness of god and the practical solution is to take the medicine of chanting the holy names of god.

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  9. Thanx for wonderful article.

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  10. very nice teaching by maharaj by his realization on spiritual treasure.

    thank you for sharing with us

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  11. Radhanath Swami is one of those rare souls who has discovered that true love of God within himself & is therefore trying to give this knowledge to anyone & everyone throughout the world. What a wonderful service he is rendering to the whole humanity!

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  12. Padma Lochana Bisoyi

    Thank You for such a nice article

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  13. Kalpana Kulkarni

    Very true! When we are separated from God, we suffer like a fish out of water!

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  14. Beautiful article…..How a simple act of saving the fish on the shore can bring immense deep realisations of God…..Thanks swamiji for sharing your realisations…

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