Today Sri Swami Vishwananda is talking about Sri Ramakrishna and the general longing for seeing the Divine

Sri Ramakrishna- Probably you have heard about him. He was a great Devotee of Ma Kali, the Divine Mother. He would long for the Divine Mother, he would cry for the Divine Mother, he would sit everyday in front of the statue of the Divine Mother. He said “It’s just that .Mother, are you just a statue? I call for You, why do You not come to me? Why You can’t see the longing, the paining of my heart?” So everyday He would go mad. He would roll on the ground, crying for the Divine Mother, just to have a glimpse of the Divine Mother. Such was the intensitivity of this Bhakta, this Devotee. After longing for so much, the Divine Mother came to Him. And that’s how all the great souls really long. Then when He was doing prayer to the Divine Mother, it was not just for the Divine Mother. He would throw everything around. He would throw everything on the utensils and He would throw the flowers on Himself. He said: “Mother, you are everywhere. You are this utensil. You are this flower. You are everything that I see around.”


The same thing: St. Francis could perceive everywhere the Divine. That’s why He said 'Brother' and 'Sister' to everybody.
With such an intensitivity of longing to the Divine, you will have Him. If you just say “Well, I long for the Divine, but it has to be my way” (laughing)....
Of course the Divine will come in your way, but you will encounter certain limitations that He can understand only.