Thursday, December 27, 2012

Swami Vivekananda and Gora of Rabindraqnath


Gora (1909) is the fifth in order of writing and the largest of Tagore’s twelve novels. It was serialised in a literary magazine Probasi from 1907 to 1909. Being a complex novel, it can be studied and interpreted at different levels. The various themes like friendship, motherhood, love, caste discrimination, woman-emancipation, the play of destiny, nation and nationalism, religion, spirituality, time and space provide a panoramic view of Tagore’s vision. It is rightly said by Krishna Kriplani, “Gora is more than a mere novel; it is an epic of India in transition at a crucial period of modern history, when the social conscience and intellectual awareness of the new intelligentsia were in the throes of a great churning. No other book gives so masterly an analysis of the complex of Indian social life with its teeming contradictions, or of the character of Indian nationalism which draws its roots from renascent Hinduism and stretches out its arms towards universal humanism” (Kriplani, A Life 118)
Prof Jagadish Bhattacharya discussed in his article about the points of similarity in the character of Gora  as portrayed by Rabindramath in his famous novel Gora with that of Vivekananda. he mentioned the comments of the biographer of Rabindranath, Pravat Kumar Mukhopadhyay saying;
" In the message given by Swami Vivekananda, the Hinduism and Nationalism were referred to. He didn't have any chance to review, due his untimely death, the over-emphasis given by him to Indian-Hindus greatness. His ideal Hindu society would not be able to give  a proper place to the Irish lady. Miss Margaret Nobel, to become popular as "Bhagini Nivedita". It was not even possible to have lunch on the same table by any person  of  Brahmmin  without removing its old traditional orthodox tendency.I hope , none will be hurt if I say that I find a combination of characters of Swami Vivekananda and Nivedita with that of Gora as portrayed by Rabindranath. imagining the impossibility of the Irish Lady to become a Hindu, Rabindranath  made Gora a Irish born hero.. Miss Nobel was also an Irish lady."
The above statement may have some different views but in the creation of the character of Gora there are three views  amongst the readers is evident;
1. The character of Gora is the reflection of  the combination of characters of Vivekananda and Nivedita,
2. Gora is portrayed to have the maximum traits of character of Nivedita,
3. To paint the character of Gora, Vivekananda's life and thought plays most important role.
Jagadish Babu submitted that he belongs to the third group.  

Swami Vivekananda and Rabindranath Tagore (contd-2)

Prof. Jasgadish Bhattacharya discussed the relation between Vivekananda and Rabindranath in three phases;  1. Relation developed in the line of love of Music, 2. Relation  in the line of  downtrodden people, and 3. Relation in the light of spirited human being.
The first one has already been discussed.
Secondly, the phrase "God in disguise of poor person" was coined by Swami Vivekananda. The meaning of this word was deep rooted in the inner part of his heart.. 'Service to mankind is service to god' was his motto.To analyse  his concept of peoples awareness, Jagadish Babu cited three examples from the first part of the 'series  of Letters' (Patrabali)-Page left/ written by him in India and abroad.
The quotations from "apamanita' written by Rabindranath also reveals the same idea with that of Vivekananda. ( page -rt).
Thirdly, Swami Vivekananda, the great soul loved and revered in East and West alike as the rejuvenator of Hinduism in India and the preacher of its truth abroad, he wrote poem,  (Pic -below)



The poem "Pagal" written by Rabindranath also depicts the same meaning given here. 

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Vivekananda and Rabindranath (contd-1)

 Prof. Jagadish  Bhattacharya, formerly professor , dept. of Bengali,  Bangabasi College, discussed at length the relation between Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda in his article, " Vivekananda O Rabindranath" published recently in his centenary issue edited by Tapabrata Ghosh and published by Bharbi. Jagadish Bhattacharya mentioned that  to know the relation between Vivekananda and Rabindranath one has to see it in the perspective of the relations of Rabindranath with Sri Ramakrishna, Vivekananda and Nivedita.
Rabindranath called Vivekananda as a great man. His  attitude was also similar to Vivekananda about the means of attaining the goal by India. Both of them thought that the welfare of India was dependent on the  union of the ideas of East and West. He mentioned in his article " Purba O Pashchim" of the book Samaj written in 1315, similar idea as vivekananda did.
When Rabindranath was in Geneva in Aug.,1930, he met the French Nobel Laureate Romain Rolland, the biographer of Vivekananda,  and discussed with him about the two greatmen Ramakrishna and Vivekananda at the perspective of Christianity as depicted in the Bible. Romain Rolland asked in relation to the controversy of Old Testament and New Tstament developed in their discussion;
" Do you think that Vivekananda In india tried to check the abuses in this line ?" rabindranath replied;
" So far as I can make out Vivekananda's idea was that, we must accept the facts of life...we must rise higher in our spiritual experience in the domain where neither good nor evil exists. It was because Vivekananda tried to go beyond good and evil that he could tolerate many religious habits and customs which have nothing spiritual in them"
All these utterances of Rabindranath showed how deep regard he had on Vivekananda.
The novelist Sourendramohan Mukhopadhyay narrated that after the demise of Swami Vivekananda, they had a condolence meeting   in 1902 in South Subarban School where Rabindranath mentioned so far as he remembered ;
" The notions of Vivekananda towards the fallen, deprived and exploited human being are unerring.We have to accept those ideals."[ desh 29Bhadra, 1369].
To both of them Budhadev is the ideal person.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Vivekananda and Rabindranth

Narendranath was fond of Rabindrasangeet specially Brahmasangeet. When he used to go to Brahmo Samaj he frequently sung Rabindrasangeet. In this context Acharya Kshitimohan Sen in his article, "Vivekanander Kanthe Rabindrasangeet" published in Anandabazar Puja issue in 1365 (vide page 141 of " Vivekananda O Rabindranath" by Prof.Jagadish Bhattacharya,  Agranthita Grantha, Centenary issue). He wrote, I was lucky to listen Rabindrasangeet sung by Vivekananda in Banaras. The song was, "Eki e sundara sova, kee mukho heri e " [ available in Puja section of Gitabitan ]. Kshitimohan also said, " At that time he was seen with his associates of   in the evening in the house of Jangeswar Teli.. I too visited there everyday, we were young at that time.".Kshitimohan also heard  other songs sung by him, amongst them were, 1. Mari lo Mari, amay banshite deekeche ke", 2. "Sakhi, , amari duare keno asilo nishi bhore yogi Bhikhari". Both of them are in the section "Prem" of Getabitan.Vivekananda liked to sing songs of Premparjay of Rabindranath.
Vivekananda was also fond of singing Brahmasangeet of Rabindranath, which is known to every body, such as, 1. " Satya Mangala premamaya Tumi Dhrubajyoti tumi Andhakare", 2. Maha singhasane basi sunicho he Bishwapati". These songs he used sing frequently.He did much like  the song, 'Tomarei kariachi jibaner dhrubatara,"
The songs written by  Rabindranath during his younger age  were sung many times by Vivekananda. Sri Ramakrishna used to be in trance listenning songs of Vivekananda.
Rabindranath  not  only moved in the same vehicle as Vivekananda did, to attain his goal, his poetic mind also counted  Vivekananda as a great worshipper.In his poem "Ratri" of Kalpana Kabya grantha Vivekananda was one among the 'worshippers ' mentioned in his poem,
" More karo Sabhakabi Dhyanamauna tomar Sabhay
He sarbari, he abagunthita."

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Last 5 years of Swami Vivekananda


MESSAGE TO HIS COUNTRYMEN 

Enthusiasm reached its height at Madras. The city erected for him seventeen triumphal arches, presented him with twenty-four addresses in various languages, and suspended her whole public life at his arrival. Here he gave an eloquent utterance to his message to India in a series of magnificent lectures comprising ‘My Plan of Campaign”, “The Mission of Vedanta”, and “The Future of India.” “Each nation, like each individual”, he said, “has one theme in this life, which is its centre, the principal note with which every other note mingles to form the harmony. If any nation attempts to throw off its national vitality, the direction which has become its own through the transmission of centuries, that nation dies. In India religious life forms the centre, the keynote of the whole music of national life. Social reform has to be preached in India by showing how much more spiritual a life the new system will bring, and politics has to be preached by showing how much it will improve the one thing that the nation wants. its spirituality. Therefore before flooding India with socialistic or political ideas the land should first be deluged with spiritual ideas. The first work that demands our attention is that the most wonderful truths confined in our Upanishads, in our scriptures and Puranas, must be brought out from the books, the monasteries, and the forests and scattered broadcast over the land so that these truths many run like fire all over the country, from north to south, and east to west, from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin, from the Indus to the Brahmaputra.” 

“Ay, let every man and woman and child without respect of caste or birth, weakness or strength, hear and learn that behind the strong and the weak, behind the high and the low, behind everyone, there is that Infinite Soul, assuring the infinite possibility and the infinite capacity of all to become great and good. Let us proclaim to every soul: Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached. Arise, awake! Awake from this hypnotism of weakness. None is really weak; the soul is infinite, omnipotent, and omniscient. Stand up, assert yourself, proclaim the God within you, do not deny Him.” “It is a man-making religion that we want. It is man-making education all round that we want. It is man-making theories that we want. And here is the test of Truth: Anything that makes you weak physically, intellectually, and spiritually, reject as poison; there is no life in it, it cannot be true. Truth is strengthening. Truth is purity, truth is all knowledge.” Give up weakening mysticisms, and be strong - the greatest truths are the simplest things in the world, simple as your own existence.” 

While delivering this inspiring message to his countrymen the Swami was not oblivious of his duty to emphasize the need of uplifting the sunken millions from the slough of torpor and degradation. He struck a sharp note of warning to his compatriots and gave vent to his own ideal of patriotism in the following stirring words: “It is we who are responsible for all our degradation. Our aristocratic ancestors went on treading the common masses of our country underfoot, till they became helpless, till under this torment the poor people nearly forgot that they were human beings. They have been compelled to be merely hewers of wood and drawers of water for centuries. Feel, therefore, my would-be reformers, my would-be patriots! Do you feel? Do you feel that millions and millions of the descendants of gods and of sages have become next door neighbours to brutes? Do you feel that millions are starving today, and millions have been starving for ages? Do you feel that ignorance has come over the land as a dark cloud? Does it make you restless? Does it make you sleepless? Have you forgotten all about your name, your fame, your wives, your children, your property, even your own bodies? Have you done that? That is the first step to become a patriot - the very first step. Instead of spending your energies in frothy talk, have you found any way out, any practical solution, some help instead of condemnation, some sweet words to soothe their miseries, to bring them out of this living death? Yet, that is no all. Have you got the will to surmount mountain-high obstructions? If the whole world stands against you, sword in hand, would you still dare to do what you think right??If you have these three things, each one of you will work miracles.” 

“For the next fifty years, let all other vain gods disappear from our minds. This is the only God that is awake, our own race: everywhere His hands, everywhere His feet, everywhere His ears, He covers everything. All other gods are sleeping. What vain gods shall we go after and yet cannot worship the God that we see all round us - the Virat. The first of all worship is the worship of the Virat - of those all around us. These are our Gods - men and animals - and the first gods we have to worship are our own countrymen.” 

Bengal did not lag behind. She also vied with other provinces in giving a fitting reception to her favourite and distinguished son. Hardly had the Swami reached Calcutta when hundreds of people came to pay their personal respects to him and to hear his exposition of Vedanta. In the day-time he made his headquarters generally in the palatial building of Gopal Lal Seal at Baranagore and at night he stayed at the Math which was then at Alambazar. The City’s Address of Welcome took place on 28 February 1897, at the magnificent residence of Raja Sir Radhakanta Dev Bahadur at Shobhabazar. The meeting was presided over by Raja Binoy Krishna Dev Bahadur, who introduced the Swami as the foremost national figure in the life of India. There were present Rajas and Maharajas, Sannyasins, a group of distinguished Europeans, many well-known Pandits, illustrious citizens, and hundreds of college students. The speech which the Swami gave in reply to the address of welcome has become famous as a masterpiece of oratory and of fervent patriotism. During the Swami’s stay in Calcutta he was constantly visiting one devotee of Sri Ramakrishna or another. Many distinguished people, persons of various professions and callings as well as hundreds of enthusiastic youths used to come daily to the Seal garden. The questioners were invariably charmed with his knowledge and interpretation of the Shastras, and even great masters of philosophy and university professors were amazed at his genius. But his heart was with the educated, unmarried youths, with whom he was never tired of speaking. He was consumed with the desire of infusing his own spirit into them and to train some of the more energetic and religious among them, so that they might devote their lives to the salvation of their own souls and to the good of the world. He deplored their physical weakness, denounced early marriage, admonished them for their lack of faith in themselves and in their national culture and ideals. But all this was done with such unmistakable love and kindness that they became his staunchest disciples and followers. 

It goes without saying that the main interest of the Swami’s stay in Calcutta centred round the Alambazar monastery. No words can describe the joy of the monks when their beloved leader was with them again. Memories of the olden days were revived, the days with the Master (Sri Ramakrishna) and the innumerable experiences of the wandering life of everyone were recalled, and the Swami entertained his Gurubhais (brother-disciples) and the devotees of the Master with hundreds of tales and episodes of his life and work in the distant West. 

Of the Swami’s numerous achievements one of the greatest was the conversion of his Gurubhais from the individualistic to the universal idea of religious life in which public spirit and service to fellow-men occupied a prominent place. Up to this time the ideal of the monks of the Math was to strive for personal Mukti (liberation) and realization of the Supreme Atman by severe penance and meditation, remaining as much as possible aloof from the world, its cares and sorrows, in consonance with the old conception of monastic life. But with the appearance of the Swami among them a new order of things was inaugurated. He railed at them for their lack of faith in themselves and in the great mission of the Master, for their failure to organize themselves into an active body, and for their neglect in preaching the gospel of liberation to others. The age demanded, he said, that they should carry the new light unto others, that they themselves should show by their example how to serve the poor, the helpless, and the diseased, seeing God in them, and that they should inspire others to do the same. The mission of his life, he declared, was to create a new order of Sannyasins in India who would dedicate their lives to help and serve others. Thus the Swami interpreted his Master .s message in a new light, showing them that their supreme duty lay in the carrying on of the Master’s mission, the bringing about of a religious rejuvenation by raising the condition of the masses through loving service, and spreading the life-giving ideas of the Master over the entire world. Even while in the West he had conveyed to his Gurubhais this message again and again through his inspiring letters. Now, his personal presence and passionate appeals as also his brilliant exposition of his Master’s mission completely bore down all opposition and he electrified their imagination with the synthetic ideal which combined in it a life of renunciation and service .a course of strict moral discipline, contemplation, and study as also of self-dedication at the altar of humanity for the attainment of the highest goal of human existence. 

Out of their profound faith in their leader, his brother-disciples bowed their heads in acquiescence, knowing his voice to be the voice of their Master; all girded up their loins to do anything and to go anywhere, for the good of their fellow-beings at the bidding of the Swami. Swami Ramakrishnananda, who had never left the precincts of the Math for twelve years, went to Madras at the behest of Swami Vivekananda to open a centre there to propagate the teachings of the Vedanta in Southern India. Swamis Saradananda and Abhedananda had already gone to the West at the call of the Swami to help him in the work there. And full of the same spirit, Swami Akhandananda went to the district of Murshidabad to start famine relief work for the people dying from starvation in the villages. The other Gurubhais of the Swami were also ready to take up, as occasion demanded, any work of religious and philanthropic utility launched by him, or to further his ideas and plans of work in India and abroad. A brilliant group of young men inspired by the Swami’s life and teachings soon joined the Order and now gallantly stood by his side to sacrifice their lives for others, to provide the ignorant and the depressed masses with the ways and means for the struggle for existence and make them stand on their own feet, to preach the highest message of the scriptures to one and all. Gradually there came into existence the various monastic centres, Homes of Service, and the relief centres in times of plague, famine, and flood, under the charge and with the co-operation of his Gurubhais and his disciples. The Swami had long thought of bringing about a co-operative effort among the monastic and the lay disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, and of organizing in a systematic way the activities, both spiritual and philanthropic, of his Gurubhais. In response to the Swami’s intimation of his desire to hold a meeting for the purpose of founding an association, a representative gathering of all the monastic and lay disciples of Sri Ramakrishna took place at the house of a devotee.Balaram Bose.in the afternoon of 1 May 1897. With the unanimous consent of the assembled devotees an organization was formed under the name of the Ramakrishna Mission Association. 

The duty of the Mission would be to conduct in the right spirit the activities of the movement inaugurated by Sri Ramakrishna for the establishment of fellowship among the followers of different religions, knowing them all to be so many forms only of one underlying Eternal Religion. Its methods of action would be (1) to train men so as to make them competent to teach such knowledge or sciences as are conducive to the material and spiritual welfare of the masses; (2) to promote and encourage arts and industries; (3) to introduce and spread among the people in general Vedantic and other religious ideas in the way in which they were elucidated in the life of Sri Ramakrishna. It was further resolved that the activities of this Mission should be directed to the establishment of Maths and Ashramas in different parts of India for the training of Sannyasins and such of the householders as may be willing to devote their lives to educate others. Its work in the foreign department should be to send trained members of the Order to countries outside India to start centres there for the preaching of Vedanta in order to bring about a close relation and better understanding between India and foreign countries. 

A practical Vedantist, Swami Vivekananda wanted one and all to translate the Upanishadic doctrines into action in everyday life. The Swami himself practised the ideal in his own life; he flung himself whole-heartedly into the whirlpool of activity and thus inspired others to follow in his footsteps and render service to the suffering humanity even under the most trying circumstances. 

From May 1897 to January 1898, he went like a whirlwind through the historic cities of Northern India, sowing the seed with his characteristic boldness and zeal. Whether at Almora, Kashmir, and the Punjab, or at Khetri, Alwar, Ajmer, and other principal states of Rajputana . in every place the Swami was the recipient of spontaneous homage of his countrymen from the highest to the lowest. He mixed and talked as freely and intimately with the Rajas and Maharajas as with other sections of the Indian people - always placing before them the vital needs of their motherland. 

He was never tired of showing to his countrymen the value and significance of the culture they had inherited from their ancestors - a culture in comparison with which any other civilization, past or present, paled into insignificance - till their hearts throbbed at the very name of India. He clearly pointed out that Indian nationalism was to be based on the greatness of the past though various new ideas also had to be assimilated in the process of growth. If we have to be true to the genius of the race, if we have to appeal to the soul of the nation, we have to drink deep of the fountain of the past and then proceed to build the future. This heritage from the past, he pointed out, was essentially a religious heritage. The fundamental problem in India, therefore, was to organize the whole country round the spiritual ideal. By religion he meant the eternal life-giving principles as taught by the Shrutis and not the mass of superstitions and local customs, which are mere accretions requiring a weeding out with a strong hand. Above all, he showed that the nation depended upon the character and qualities of its individual members. On the strength of the individuals lay the strength of the whole nation. So each individual, he urged, if he desired the good of the country as a whole, should try, whatever might be his walk of life, to build character and acquire such virtues as courage, strength, and self-respect, and practice the national ideals of renunciation and service. 


IN THE COMPANY OF WESTERN AND EASTERN DISCIPLES

Having finished his lecture tour Swami Vivekananda returned to Calcutta about the middle of January 1898. The Math was transferred in February from Alambazar to Nilambar Mukherjee.s garden-house on the western bank of the Ganga in the village of Belur. For some time the Swami devoted himself to certain important aspects of his Mission - notably the training of his own disciples, both Eastern and Western, so as to enable them to carry into practice his plans for the regeneration of his motherland. His Western disciples had come to India at his call: Miss Margaret Noble at the end of January, to found in conjunction with Miss Henrietta F. Müller model institutions for the education of Indian women; Mrs. Ole Bull and Miss Josephine MacLeod in February. In March, Margaret Noble took the vow of Brahmacharya and the name of Nivedita, the Consecrated One. Vivekananda introduced her in warm terms to the Calcutta public as a gift of England to India. The training of these Western disciples was of momentous concern to the Swami as a spiritual teacher. Among the Western disciples he particularly chose Nivedita in whom he had great hope and trust; and as such, his illuminating discourses were mainly directed to her. The Swami was anxious that his Western disciples should make an impartial study of Indian problems. They were not only to see the glories, but also to have special and clear understanding of the problems of the land and to bring the ideals and methods of Western scientific culture to bear upon the task of finding a solution. 

The Swami then set out on a journey through India with a select group of his disciples. After a stay at Almora, were the Seviers were already established, and then after a journey to Kashmir up the river Jhelum through the Vale of Srinagar, the Swami undertook, at the end of July 1898, the great pilgrimage to the cave of Amarnath in the glacial gorge of the Western Himalayas. Only Sister Nivedita was permitted to accompany him to that holy place. On August 2, the day of the annual festival, they arrived at the sacred cave where there was the famous ice-Shiva. Behind the other pilgrims, Swami Vivekananda, trembling with emotion, entered the sanctuary in an almost semiconscious condition. A great mystical experience came to him. So saturated became his personality with the Presence of the Lord that for days afterwards he could speak of nothing but Shiva. the Eternal One, the Great Monk, rapt in meditation, aloof from all worldliness. Following the pilgrimage to Amarnath the Swami’s devotion concentrated itself on the Mother, and he was soon blessed with a wonderful vision of Kali the Divine Mother. While his vision was most intense he wrote “Kali the Mother” - a poem, where he is seen at his best. After this experience he retired alone abruptly on September 30 to the Coloured Springs of Kshir Bhavani where he practised severe austerities. He was found completely transfigured when he returned to his disciples after a few days. All thought of leader, worker, or teacher was gone. He was now only the Monk - in all nakedness of pure Sannyasa. So, he feelingly said to them, “It is all “Mother” now! All my patriotism is gone. Everything is gone. Now it is only “Mother, Mother”!” The party then came back to Lahore. The Swami’s health was so much undermined that he had to be brought back to Bengal by Swami Sadananda, who had hurried down from Almora after learning of the Swami.s poor health. 

They arrived at Belur, where the new monastery was under construction, in the month of October. The Swami, in spite of his failing health, resumed his old life with the monks and performed the consecrating ceremony of the monastery on December 9. From January 2, 1899, this place, now known as Belur Math, became the permanent headquarters of the monks of the Ramakrishna Order. Gathering together his disciples, the Swami began from now to impress on them the duties and responsibilities of their monastic life. Hours were spent in religious conversation; scriptures were read and commented upon; and strict regulations and monastic discipline were instituted along with spiritual and intellectual work for certain hours of the day. Addressing the disciples, the Swami would point out, “The history of the world is the history of a few men who had faith in themselves. That faith calls out the divinity within. You fail only when you do not strive sufficiently to manifest infinite power. As soon as a man loses faith in himself, death comes. Believe first in yourself, and then in God. A handful of strong men will move the world. It is the salvation of others that you must seek; and even if you have to go to hell in working for others, that is worth more than to gain heaven by seeking your own salvation.” 

In spite of illness, the Swami continued with the organization of the Ramakrishna Mission with Swami Saradananda who had been called back from America for this work. He soon built up a strong band of .the sappers and miners in the army of religion. for the reconstruction of Indian life, as also for the diffusion of Vedantic ideas throughout the length and breadth of the world. Very soon, his dream of starting a monastery in a cool, secluded region of the Himalayas, where the East and the West could meet on an equal footing of love and unity, exchange the highest ideals of each, and practise the Advaita philosophy, was also realized. Mr. and Mrs. Sevier with the help of Swami Swarupananda, founded the Advaita Ashrama in March 1899, under the guidance of Swami Vivekananda at Mayavati from where one can command a magnificent view of the charming ranges of perpetual snow. Other service institutions also sprang into existence under his directions in different parts of India, and the Swami had the satisfaction of seeing his lofty ideal rooted deep in the soil of his birth. 


SECOND VISIT TO THE WEST

The Swami announced his intention of going to the West in order to see the work he had founded as well as to give fresh impetus to them. He was urged also by his friends and physicians to do so at once as his health was very poor. This time he took with him Sister Nivedita and a brother monk, Swami Turiyananda, and boarded the steamer on June 20, 1899. In regard to taking Swami Turiyananda to America, the Swami said, “They have seen the Kshatriya power- now I want to show them the Brahmin!” He meant that in himself the West had seen the combative spirit and energy in the defence of the Eternal Religion, Sanatana Dharma; and now the time had come when the people should have before them the example of a man of meditation in his Gurubhai, born and bred in the best traditions and rigorous discipline of Brahminhood. After having broken his journey in London, he went to the United States and stayed for almost a year. There he found Abhedananda actively engaged in the Vedantic work. Turiyananda settled down at Mont Clair near New York, and he himself went to California, where he founded the Vedanta Society at San Francisco. Besides, he received the gift of a property of one hundred and sixty acres of forest land in the district of Santa Clara, where an Ashrama was established by Swami Turiyananda to train a select band of students in the monastic life. Thus the work prospered and the ideas spread. But though the Swami was full of merriment even while busy consolidating his work in America, there was always in him the undertone of serious states of mind. Throughout his Western experience this time one notices in him a deep yearning for the Absolute. In one of his letters he definitely says, “Pray for me -  that my works may stop for ever, and my whole soul be absorbed in the Mother. The battles are lost and won. I have bundled my things, and am waiting for the Great Deliverer. I am only the boy who used to listen with rapt wonderment to the wonderful words of Ramakrishna under the banyan of Dakshineswar. That is my true nature; works and activities, doing good and so forth are all superimpositions. Now, I again hear his voice; the same old voice thrilling my soul. Bonds are breaking, love dying, work becoming tasteless; the glamour is off life. Now only the voice of the Master calling. Let the dead bury the dead, follow thou Me.’  “I come, my Beloved Lord, I come” “Nirvana is before me. I feel it at times, the same infinite ocean of peace, without a ripple, a breath.” 

Towards the end of July 1900, the Swami started for Paris, where he had been invited to the Congress of the History of Religions. He stayed in Paris for about three months and left for Egypt via Vienna, Constantinople, and Athens. The meditative habit, which had revealed itself ever since his second visit to the West in intense forms, now reached a veritable climax. In Paris, oftentimes his mind had been far aloof from his environment; and here in Egypt it seemed as if he were turning the last pages in the Book of Experience. He seemed world-weary. 

Suddenly he felt a strong desire to return to India. There in the far-off Himalayan Ashrama, Mr. Sevier, his great friend and disciple, had given up his body - a martyr to his cause. The Swami had, as it were, a presentiment of this. He became restless to return to India. So without waiting a single day he took the first steamer and came back alone to his motherland at the beginning of December 1900. The joy of his brother-monks knew no bounds when they unexpectedly found their leader present in their midst. 

About his impression of this visit to the West the Swami said that during his first journey he had been caught by the power, the organization, and the apparent democracy of America and Europe. But now he had discovered the spirit of lucre, of greed, of Mammon, with its enormous combinations and ferocious struggle for supremacy. Material brilliance no longer deceived him. He saw the hidden tragedy, the weariness under the forced expenditure of energy - the deep sorrow under the frivolous mask. “Social life in the West,” he said to Nivedita, “is like a peal of laughter: but underneath it is a wail. It ends in a sob. The fun and frivolity are all on the surface; really it is full of tragic intensity. Here (in India) it is sad and gloomy on the surface, but underneath are carelessness and merriment.” 


PARTING GLIMPSES 

Before taking up the work that awaited him on his return to India, the Swami’s first object was to visit Mrs. Sevier at the Advaita Ashrama, in Mayavati. On his arrival at the Belur Math, he had the confirmation of his premonition of the passing away of his beloved disciple, Mr. Sevier, which had occurred on October 28, 1900. Without stopping to rest at Belur, he telegraphed to Mayavati that he was coming to the Ashrama. He arrived on January 3, 1901, and despite the mingled joy and emotion he felt at meeting Mrs. Sevier again, in seeing the work finished, and in contemplating the beauty of the Ashrama perched on the mountain-slope he could stay there only for a fortnight; asthma suffocated him. The Swami had to come back to the Belur Math on January 24. Apart from a last pilgrimage that he made with his mother to the holy places of Eastern Bengal and Assam, to Dacca and Shillong, which left him exhausted, he left Belur only for a short stay at Varanasi at the beginning of 1902. The great journey of his life was soon to end. 

After his return from the tour in East Bengal and Assam, which was the last public tour undertaken by the Swami, his health was much worse. The monks were greatly concerned. They now urged him to have complete rest; they begged him to give up all thought of appearing before the public until he should be perfectly well. But as was his wont, he gave frequent interviews to all who flocked to the Belur Math in these days from all parts of India to receive his blessings and instructions. 

At the monastery he lived a simple life, free from the monotony of society and its tiresome conventionalities. He was a .Sannyasin free.. He would freely walk about barefooted or with plain slippers on and sometimes with a staff in hand. full of mirth like a boy. Here he was free of the necessity to dress according to the dictates of society. With a kaupin or a piece of Gerua (ochre) cloth on, he could live in a world of his own in monastic silence and seclusion. At times he would be found taking interest in the garden or experimenting in cooking or finding delight in the company of his pet animals. “Bagha” the dog, ‘Hansi” the she-goat, “Matru” the kid, an antelope, a stork, cows, and so on. At this time who could recognize in him the world-renowned Swami Vivekananda! At other times he would instruct or help the members of the Math in their difficulties, always manifesting the greatest tenderness. Almost daily until his passing, he held Vedantic classes to teach the novices the methods of meditation, inspired the workers with a spirit of virile confidence in themselves, paid strict attention to discipline and cleanliness, drew up a weekly timetable and kept a watchful eye over the regularity of all the daily activities. No negligence escaped the vigilance of the Swami. He always maintained an atmosphere of serene peace and holiness. He was the irresistible magnet and the inmates of the Ashrama were as so many iron filings drawn towards him, often without understanding why, but always loving him. Every word of this great teacher was instinct with life and vigour and acted with telling effect on all who listened. 

Once when he saw some monks and Brahmacharins going for worship to the temple, he said to them, “Where shall you go to seek Brahman? He is immanent in all beings. Here, here is the visible Brahman! Shame on those who, neglecting the visible Brahman, set their minds on other things. Here is the Brahman before you as tangible as a fruit in one’s hand!” So forceful was his utterance that everyone felt an ineffable peace and remained for nearly a quarter of an hour rooted to the spot. The scene was unforgettable. Everyone in the monastery was struck with amazement at the wonderful power of the beloved Leader who with but one word could raise the minds of all to the heights of Supreme Insight. 

About the latter part of the year 1901, a number of Santal labourers used to work in the Math grounds. One day he served a beautiful feast for them at which he said, “You are Narayanas; today I have entertained Narayana Himself.” Then turning towards his disciples, he said to them, “See how simple-hearted these poor illiterate people are. Will you be able to relieve their miseries to some extent at least? Otherwise, of what use is our wearing the Gerua (the ochre robe of the Sannyasin)? How can we have the heart to put a morsel into our mouths when our countrymen have not enough wherewith to feed or clothe themselves? Let us throw away all pride of learning and study of the Shastras and all Sadhanas for the attainment of personal Mukti - and going from village to village devote our lives to the service of the poor, and by convincing the rich men about their duties to the masses, through the force of our character and spirituality and austere living, get money and the means wherewith to serve the poor and the distressed. Alas! Nobody in our country thinks for the low, the poor, and the miserable! Those that are the backbone of the nation, whose labour produces food, those whose one day’s strike from work raises a cry of general distress in the city - where is the man in our country who sympathizes with them, who shares in their joys and sorrows? Unless they are elevated, the great Mother (India) will never awake! What I see clear as daylight is that the same Brahman, the same Shakti is in them as in me! Only there is a difference in the degree of manifestation. that is all. In the whole history of the world have you ever seen a country rise unless there was a uniform circulation of the national blood all over its body? Know this for certain, that no great work can be done by that body, one limb of which is paralysed. After so much Tapasya (asceticism) I have known that the highest truth is this: He is present in every being! These are all the manifold forms of Him. There is no other God to seek for! He alone is worshipping God who serves all beings!” 

The days glided by in the Math as if they were hours. Whatever the mood in which the Swami might be, for his Gurubhais and disciples his presence was in itself a constant source of joy and inspiration. Whether he was impatient, whether he reprimanded, whether he was the teacher or the meditating sage, whether he was full of mirth or grave - to his Gurubhais he was always the beloved .Naren., and to his disciples the blessed and incomparable Guru. The joy of the Swami was great when meditation and austerities were in full swing in the Math. Whenever his health permitted, he joined in the morning meditation in the chapel. His presence in the meditation room invariably lent an added power and intensity to the meditations of those who sat with him. 

In spite of his physical ailment, the Swami was eager till the end to receive friends and visitors and instruct his disciples. Everything must be sacrificed, even the body itself. Sometimes hearing of the plight of earnest seekers who were refused admission to his presence by the monks, he would be so deeply moved with pity that he would say, “Look here! Did not the Master preach unto the very end? And shall I not do the same? I do not care a straw if the body goes! You cannot imagine how happy I am when I find earnest seekers after truth to talk to. In the work of waking up the Atman in my fellow-men I shall gladly die again and again!” But on some other occasions, in the midst of his talks his face would assume a dreamy far-away look and then all would leave him, knowing that he wished to be left alone with his thoughts. 


THE PASSING

The last two months which the Swami passed on earth were full of events foreshadowing the approaching end, though at times these events passed by unsuspected by those around him. As days passed the Swami felt more and more the necessity of withdrawing himself from the task of directing the affairs of the Math. “How often,” he said, “does a man ruin his disciples by remaining always with them? When men are once trained, it is essential that their leader leaves them, for without his absence they cannot develop themselves!” Work and all other bonds were dropping off; more than ever did he withdraw himself from all outer concerns. Meditation became his one great occupation. His Gurubhais and disciples were alarmed at seeing him retire into such an atmosphere of austerity and meditation. The prophecy of Sri Ramakrishna that Naren would merge in Nirvikalpa Samadhi at the end of his works constantly haunted their memory. It seemed he was looking forward to a certain day on which to throw off the bondage of the body. It was Friday, the fourth of July 1902. On that day he went to the chapel in the morning, and after closing the windows and bolting the doors, spent three hours in meditation. Then he broke forth in a touching song of the Divine Mother. The monks below were charmed to hear the sweet strains of it coming from the shrine-room. 

Descending the stairs of the shrine, he paced up and down in the courtyard of the monastery, his mind withdrawn. He was heard muttering to himself: “If there were another Vivekananda, he would have understood what Vivekananda has done! And yet, how many Vivekanandas shall be born in time!” The Gurubhai who, unnoticed, heard these words was startled, for never did the Swami speak in this manner. 

At noon he took his food along with all in the refectory - contrary to his practice during these days. After the meal he took a Sanskrit class with his disciples for about three hours. Then in the afternoon he took a walk with one of his Gurubhais and expressed his particular desire to establish a Vedic College in the Math. In the evening, as the service bell in the shrine rang, he went to his room and remained absorbed in meditation for nearly an hour. Then he laid himself down on his bed. He had his rosary still in his hand. About an hour later, he changed sides and took a deep breath. Another long deep breath like the preceding one, and then all was calm and still. The tired child slept in the lap of the Mother, whence there was no awakening to this world of Maya. 

 The Swami was thirty-nine years and a few months, thus fulfilling a prophecy which was frequently on his lips, “I shall never live to see forty.” But with the passing of days, as one observes how the number of his disciples, devotees, and admirers in the two hemispheres is rapidly increasing, how he is silently influencing thousands of lives all over the world, how his fiery message is supplying direct and indirect inspiration to hundreds of movements in his own motherland and throughout the world for the uplift of which he thought so much and worked so hard - one remembers the words he spoke long before his death: “It may be that I shall find it good to get outside my body - to cast it off like a worn-out garment. But I shall not cease to work! I shall inspire men everywhere, until the world shall know that it is one with God!”
(the article taken from http://rkgfiji.org)

Monday, December 17, 2012

Vivekananda Speech At chicago in Sept 11, 1893


Swami Vivekananda in India (contd-2)

During the Parliament, Swami Vivekananda became a national figure, After the Parliament , he toured America and England, teaching extensively and attracting numerous followers. He told American audiences , "I have a message for the West as Budha had a message for the east."  He took the ancient teachings of Vedanta, the philosophy of the Vedas and Upanishads and made them Yoga in the West, Karma Yoga was published in America, in 1896, and Raja Yoga was published in later in England. Both are Yoga classics. In 1896, he was offered the Chair of Eastern Philosophy at Harvard University but declined. 
when h returned to India in 1897, he was greeted with a hero's welcomeThousands thronged to see him wherever he went. Madras held a nine day public festival in his honour. When he returned to Calcutta, 20,000 people met him at the station. When he spoke to the  crowds, he inspired them to renew India's past glory and urged them to help tose in need. 
In Madras he said, " Do you feel that miillions are starving today, and millions had been starving for ages ? Do you feel that ignorance has come over the land like a dark cloud ? Does it make you 
restless ? Does it make you sleepless ? Has it gone into your blood, coursing through your veins, becoming consonant with your heart beats ? Hasit made you almost mad ? Are you seized with that one idea of the misery of ruin, and have you forgotten all about your name, your fame, your wives, your children, your property, even your own bodies ? Have you done that ? That is the first step to become a patriot, the very first step."
He soon established the Ramakrishna Math, a monastic order named after his teacher, Sri Ramakrishna, and the Ramakrishna Mission - a social services organisation  in India,. It runs hospitals, schools, and orphanages, and it provides help in times of natural disaster. The Ramakrishna Math  and Ramakrishna Mission now have over 135 centers world wide, with mor than a dozen in United States.
Years of ascetic practices non-stop work has undermined his health, and he went to Darjeeling to rest.  However, in 1898, there was an outbreak of Plague in Calcutta, and he returned to the heart of the plague districts, where he organised efforts to clean out the sewers in the slums where the contagion had organised. Within days the plague subsided.
                    

Swami Vivekananda in India (contd-1)

MESSAGE TO HIS COUNTRYMEN  

Enthusiasm reached its height at Madras. The city erected for him seventeen triumphal arches, presented him with twenty-four addresses in various languages, and suspended her whole public life at his arrival. Here he gave an eloquent utterance to his message to India in a series of magnificent lectures comprising ‘My Plan of Campaign”, “The Mission of Vedanta”, and “The Future of India.” “Each nation, like each individual”, he said, “has one theme in this life, which is its centre, the principal note with which every other note mingles to form the harmony. If any nation attempts to throw off its national vitality, the direction which has become its own through the transmission of centuries, that nation dies. In India religious life forms the centre, the keynote of the whole music of national life. Social reform has to be preached in India by showing how much more spiritual a life the new system will bring, and politics has to be preached by showing how much it will improve the one thing that the nation wants. its spirituality. Therefore before flooding India with socialistic or political ideas the land should first be deluged with spiritual ideas. The first work that demands our attention is that the most wonderful truths confined in our Upanishads, in our scriptures and Puranas, must be brought out from the books, the monasteries, and the forests and scattered broadcast over the land so that these truths many run like fire all over the country, from north to south, and east to west, from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin, from the Indus to the Brahmaputra.”

“Ay, let every man and woman and child without respect of caste or birth, weakness or strength, hear and learn that behind the strong and the weak, behind the high and the low, behind everyone, there is that Infinite Soul, assuring the infinite possibility and the infinite capacity of all to become great and good. Let us proclaim to every soul: Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached. Arise, awake! Awake from this hypnotism of weakness. None is really weak; the soul is infinite, omnipotent, and omniscient. Stand up, assert yourself, proclaim the God within you, do not deny Him.” “It is a man-making religion that we want. It is man-making education all round that we want. It is man-making theories that we want. And here is the test of Truth: Anything that makes you weak physically, intellectually, and spiritually, reject as poison; there is no life in it, it cannot be true. Truth is strengthening. Truth is purity, truth is all knowledge.” Give up weakening mysticisms, and be strong - the greatest truths are the simplest things in the world, simple as your own existence.”

While delivering this inspiring message to his countrymen the Swami was not oblivious of his duty to emphasize the need of uplifting the sunken millions from the slough of torpor and degradation. He struck a sharp note of warning to his compatriots and gave vent to his own ideal of patriotism in the following stirring words: “It is we who are responsible for all our degradation. Our aristocratic ancestors went on treading the common masses of our country underfoot, till they became helpless, till under this torment the poor people nearly forgot that they were human beings. They have been compelled to be merely hewers of wood and drawers of water for centuries. Feel, therefore, my would-be reformers, my would-be patriots! Do you feel? Do you feel that millions and millions of the descendants of gods and of sages have become next door neighbours to brutes? Do you feel that millions are starving today, and millions have been starving for ages? Do you feel that ignorance has come over the land as a dark cloud? Does it make you restless? Does it make you sleepless? Have you forgotten all about your name, your fame, your wives, your children, your property, even your own bodies? Have you done that? That is the first step to become a patriot - the very first step. Instead of spending your energies in frothy talk, have you found any way out, any practical solution, some help instead of condemnation, some sweet words to soothe their miseries, to bring them out of this living death? Yet, that is no all. Have you got the will to surmount mountain-high obstructions? If the whole world stands against you, sword in hand, would you still dare to do what you think right??If you have these three things, each one of you will work miracles.”

“For the next fifty years, let all other vain gods disappear from our minds. This is the only God that is awake, our own race: everywhere His hands, everywhere His feet, everywhere His ears, He covers everything. All other gods are sleeping. What vain gods shall we go after and yet cannot worship the God that we see all round us - the Virat. The first of all worship is the worship of the Virat - of those all around us. These are our Gods - men and animals - and the first gods we have to worship are our own countrymen.”

Bengal did not lag behind. She also vied with other provinces in giving a fitting reception to her favourite and distinguished son. Hardly had the Swami reached Calcutta when hundreds of people came to pay their personal respects to him and to hear his exposition of Vedanta. In the day-time he made his headquarters generally in the palatial building of Gopal Lal Seal at Baranagore and at night he stayed at the Math which was then at Alambazar. The City’s Address of Welcome took place on 28 February 1897, at the magnificent residence of Raja Sir Radhakanta Dev Bahadur at Shobhabazar. The meeting was presided over by Raja Binoy Krishna Dev Bahadur, who introduced the Swami as the foremost national figure in the life of India. There were present Rajas and Maharajas, Sannyasins, a group of distinguished Europeans, many well-known Pandits, illustrious citizens, and hundreds of college students. The speech which the Swami gave in reply to the address of welcome has become famous as a masterpiece of oratory and of fervent patriotism. During the Swami’s stay in Calcutta he was constantly visiting one devotee of Sri Ramakrishna or another. Many distinguished people, persons of various professions and callings as well as hundreds of enthusiastic youths used to come daily to the Seal garden. The questioners were invariably charmed with his knowledge and interpretation of the Shastras, and even great masters of philosophy and university professors were amazed at his genius. But his heart was with the educated, unmarried youths, with whom he was never tired of speaking. He was consumed with the desire of infusing his own spirit into them and to train some of the more energetic and religious among them, so that they might devote their lives to the salvation of their own souls and to the good of the world. He deplored their physical weakness, denounced early marriage, admonished them for their lack of faith in themselves and in their national culture and ideals. But all this was done with such unmistakable love and kindness that they became his staunchest disciples and followers.

It goes without saying that the main interest of the Swami’s stay in Calcutta centred round the Alambazar monastery. No words can describe the joy of the monks when their beloved leader was with them again. Memories of the olden days were revived, the days with the Master (Sri Ramakrishna) and the innumerable experiences of the wandering life of everyone were recalled, and the Swami entertained his Gurubhais (brother-disciples) and the devotees of the Master with hundreds of tales and episodes of his life and work in the distant West.

Of the Swami’s numerous achievements one of the greatest was the conversion of his Gurubhais from the individualistic to the universal idea of religious life in which public spirit and service to fellow-men occupied a prominent place. Up to this time the ideal of the monks of the Math was to strive for personal Mukti (liberation) and realization of the Supreme Atman by severe penance and meditation, remaining as much as possible aloof from the world, its cares and sorrows, in consonance with the old conception of monastic life. But with the appearance of the Swami among them a new order of things was inaugurated. He railed at them for their lack of faith in themselves and in the great mission of the Master, for their failure to organize themselves into an active body, and for their neglect in preaching the gospel of liberation to others. The age demanded, he said, that they should carry the new light unto others, that they themselves should show by their example how to serve the poor, the helpless, and the diseased, seeing God in them, and that they should inspire others to do the same. The mission of his life, he declared, was to create a new order of Sannyasins in India who would dedicate their lives to help and serve others. Thus the Swami interpreted his Master .s message in a new light, showing them that their supreme duty lay in the carrying on of the Master’s mission, the bringing about of a religious rejuvenation by raising the condition of the masses through loving service, and spreading the life-giving ideas of the Master over the entire world. Even while in the West he had conveyed to his Gurubhais this message again and again through his inspiring letters. Now, his personal presence and passionate appeals as also his brilliant exposition of his Master’s mission completely bore down all opposition and he electrified their imagination with the synthetic ideal which combined in it a life of renunciation and service .a course of strict moral discipline, contemplation, and study as also of self-dedication at the altar of humanity for the attainment of the highest goal of human existence.

Out of their profound faith in their leader, his brother-disciples bowed their heads in acquiescence, knowing his voice to be the voice of their Master; all girded up their loins to do anything and to go anywhere, for the good of their fellow-beings at the bidding of the Swami. Swami Ramakrishnananda, who had never left the precincts of the Math for twelve years, went to Madras at the behest of Swami Vivekananda to open a centre there to propagate the teachings of the Vedanta in Southern India. Swamis Saradananda and Abhedananda had already gone to the West at the call of the Swami to help him in the work there. And full of the same spirit, Swami Akhandananda went to the district of Murshidabad to start famine relief work for the people dying from starvation in the villages. The other Gurubhais of the Swami were also ready to take up, as occasion demanded, any work of religious and philanthropic utility launched by him, or to further his ideas and plans of work in India and abroad. A brilliant group of young men inspired by the Swami’s life and teachings soon joined the Order and now gallantly stood by his side to sacrifice their lives for others, to provide the ignorant and the depressed masses with the ways and means for the struggle for existence and make them stand on their own feet, to preach the highest message of the scriptures to one and all. Gradually there came into existence the various monastic centres, Homes of Service, and the relief centres in times of plague, famine, and flood, under the charge and with the co-operation of his Gurubhais and his disciples. The Swami had long thought of bringing about a co-operative effort among the monastic and the lay disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, and of organizing in a systematic way the activities, both spiritual and philanthropic, of his Gurubhais. In response to the Swami’s intimation of his desire to hold a meeting for the purpose of founding an association, a representative gathering of all the monastic and lay disciples of Sri Ramakrishna took place at the house of a devotee.Balaram Bose.in the afternoon of 1 May 1897. With the unanimous consent of the assembled devotees an organization was formed under the name of the Ramakrishna Mission Association.

The duty of the Mission would be to conduct in the right spirit the activities of the movement inaugurated by Sri Ramakrishna for the establishment of fellowship among the followers of different religions, knowing them all to be so many forms only of one underlying Eternal Religion. Its methods of action would be (1) to train men so as to make them competent to teach such knowledge or sciences as are conducive to the material and spiritual welfare of the masses; (2) to promote and encourage arts and industries; (3) to introduce and spread among the people in general Vedantic and other religious ideas in the way in which they were elucidated in the life of Sri Ramakrishna. It was further resolved that the activities of this Mission should be directed to the establishment of Maths and Ashramas in different parts of India for the training of Sannyasins and such of the householders as may be willing to devote their lives to educate others. Its work in the foreign department should be to send trained members of the Order to countries outside India to start centres there for the preaching of Vedanta in order to bring about a close relation and better understanding between India and foreign countries.

A practical Vedantist, Swami Vivekananda wanted one and all to translate the Upanishadic doctrines into action in everyday life. The Swami himself practised the ideal in his own life; he flung himself whole-heartedly into the whirlpool of activity and thus inspired others to follow in his footsteps and render service to the suffering humanity even under the most trying circumstances.

From May 1897 to January 1898, he went like a whirlwind through the historic cities of Northern India, sowing the seed with his characteristic boldness and zeal. Whether at Almora, Kashmir, and the Punjab, or at Khetri, Alwar, Ajmer, and other principal states of Rajputana . in every place the Swami was the recipient of spontaneous homage of his countrymen from the highest to the lowest. He mixed and talked as freely and intimately with the Rajas and Maharajas as with other sections of the Indian people - always placing before them the vital needs of their motherland.

He was never tired of showing to his countrymen the value and significance of the culture they had inherited from their ancestors - a culture in comparison with which any other civilization, past or present, paled into insignificance - till their hearts throbbed at the very name of India. He clearly pointed out that Indian nationalism was to be based on the greatness of the past though various new ideas also had to be assimilated in the process of growth. If we have to be true to the genius of the race, if we have to appeal to the soul of the nation, we have to drink deep of the fountain of the past and then proceed to build the future. This heritage from the past, he pointed out, was essentially a religious heritage. The fundamental problem in India, therefore, was to organize the whole country round the spiritual ideal. By religion he meant the eternal life-giving principles as taught by the Shrutis and not the mass of superstitions and local customs, which are mere accretions requiring a weeding out with a strong hand. Above all, he showed that the nation depended upon the character and qualities of its individual members. On the strength of the individuals lay the strength of the whole nation. So each individual, he urged, if he desired the good of the country as a whole, should try, whatever might be his walk of life, to build character and acquire such virtues as courage, strength, and self-respect, and practice the national ideals of renunciation and service. 
 

(the above articles are taken from A short life of Swami Vivekananda)-http://www.rkmfiji.org/)

Swami Vivekananda back to India


BELOVED INDIA 

On December 16, 1896, the Swami with Mr. and Mrs. Sevier left London for the Continent. It was also arranged that Mr. Goodwin sailing from Southampton would meet them at Naples. The Swami rejoiced that he was free again. He said to Mr. and Mrs. Sevier, “Now I have but one thought and that is India. I am looking forward to India!” On the eve of his departure an English friend asked, “Swami, how do you like your motherland now after four years. experience of the luxurious, glorious, powerful West?” His significant reply was: “India I loved before I came away. Now the very dust of India has become holy to me; it is now the holy land - the place of pilgrimage, the Tirtha.” The party travelled to Milan via Dover, Calais, and the Mont Cenis, and had a short tour through Italy. As the train left Florence for Rome, the Swami was full of emotion, for of all cities in Europe he was most desirous to see Rome. One week was spent in this imperial city. At Rome the Swami was exceedingly delighted to witness the various places of historic importance - its magnificent seats of learning, arts, and religion. When the party left Rome, however, the Swami was not sad, for he realized that each day was bringing him nearer to the desired event - the departure for India. From Rome the next move was to Naples, where they were to embark. The ship arrived at last from Southampton, bringing Mr. Goodwin as one of its passengers, and left Naples for Colombo on December 30, 1896, with the Swami and his disciples among others, on board.  

The home-coming of the Swami was a great event in the history of modern India, for a united India rose to do him honour. For about four years the Indian public had been made aware that the Swami was doing the great work of presenting and interpreting Hinduism to the Western nations with signal success. All India looked to him as to some mighty Acharya of old, born again to revivify the fading glories of the Eternal Religion and to carry her banner throughout the whole civilized world. New forces had been at play in India ever since his triumph at the Parliament of Religions. Through the study of the Swami’s lectures and utterances, the eyes of the educated Indians were opened to the hidden beauties and treasures of their religion and they came more and more to see how Vedanta alone could claim the supreme position of being a universal religion.   

In the early morning, on January 15, 1897, the coast of Ceylon could be seen in the distance. It was a beautiful sight in the roseate hues of the rising sun. This was India, and the Swami was beside himself with excitement. But he was totally unaware that he was going to meet representatives of all religious sects and social bodies who had come to welcome him. One of his brother-disciples had come to Ceylon to meet him; others were on the way. In Madras and in Calcutta there was great excitement over his impending arrival. He was to find that he had become the .man of the hour . in India.  

When he arrived at Colombo, jubilant shouts arose from the seething mass of humanity covering the quays. A multitude flung itself upon him to touch his feet. A huge procession was formed with flags at its head. Religious hymns were intoned and flowers strewn before his path. Hundreds of visitors, rich and poor, brought him offerings. The cynosure of all eyes, the Swami appeared in the midst of that procession like a conqueror returning from his victory, crowned with glory - not a conqueror of earthly dominions, but a conqueror of hearts, both Eastern and Western.  

In Ceylon he had to address several meetings in response to the welcome from the public. He stayed in the island for about ten days. As he crossed the sea and proceeded towards the north, everywhere he was received with most enthusiastic greetings. Triumphal processions were organized. bands played, cannons boomed, rockets shot forth as a mark of welcome, Rajas drew his carriage, and people vied with one another to show him honour and respect.  

What a great difference now from the events of five years back! Then the Swami passed through these places footsore and weary .an unknown wanderer with a begging bowl in his hand. But the Swami knew that the extraordinary reception given to him was but a spontaneous expression of love of the people for the Ideal which he represented. He was now all the more convinced that religion represented the very heart of Indian national life, and all along the way he broadcasted his ideas about the regeneration of India in a series of brilliant speeches. 

Swami Vivekananda in USA (contd-1)


IN ENGLAND 

We have already seen that Swami Vivekananda, after closing his teaching work in Thousand Island Park, visited England in the latter part of 1895. As a matter of fact, he made three visits there; from September to the end of November 1895; from April to the end of July 1896; and from October to December 16, 1896. From the moment he set foot in England he breathed a quite different atmosphere of culture and tradition. He discovered here a nation of heroes, brave and steady. But while he admired the English people, he never lost sight of his Indian mission. He once wrote to Mr. Leggett in America, "The British Empire with all its drawbacks is the greatest machine that ever existed for the dissemination of ideas. I mean to put my ideas in the centre of this machine, and they will spread all over the world." On the way the Swami visited Paris, the centre of European culture, and was delighted to see the museums, churches, cathedrals, art galleries, and other artistic wealth of the nation. He was introduced in Paris to some of the enlightened friends of his host, with whom he discoursed on subjects which ranged from the most learned studies to the highest spiritual thoughts. On his arrival in England, Swami Vivekananda was warmly received by friends, among them being Miss Henrietta Müller, who had already met him in America, and Mr. E.T. Sturdy. After a few days rest he commenced work in a quiet way. During the day he paid visits to every place of historic or artistic interest; in the mornings, and often in the late evenings, he held classes and gave interviews. His reputation spread at once, and within three weeks of his arrival he found himself engaged in strenuous activity. The Press welcomed and heralded his ideas, and some of the most select clubs of the city of London and even some leaders of its prominent clerical institutions invited him and received him with marked admiration. He was moving in the best circles of English society, and even members of the nobility were glad to recognize him as their friend. This completely revolutionized the Swami’s idea of Englishmen and women. In America he found that the public was most enthusiastic and responsive in taking up new ideas; but in England he discovered that, though his hearers were more conservative in their praise and declaration of acceptance, they were all the more fervent and staunch, once they had convinced themselves of the worth of a teacher and his ideas. Though his stay in London was very short this time, he had the joyous satisfaction of being able to count many as his sincere friends and earnest supporters. Among these was Miss Margaret Noble (afterwards Sister Nivedita) who was the headmistress of an educational institution and a conspicuous member of the Sesame Club, founded for the furtherance of educational purposes. She moved in quiet but distinguished intellectual circles and was deeply interested in all modern influences and thought. She was struck with the novelty and the breadth of the Swami’s religious culture and the intellectual freshness of his philosophical outlook.  

Swami Vivekananda visited England for the second time in April 1896. A pleasant surprise awaited him there. Swami Saradananda, one of his brother-disciples, who had been asked by the Swami to come to England to continue the work started during his first visit, had arrived from Calcutta and was the guest of Mr. E.T. Sturdy. This time the Swami opened regular classes on Vedantic thought; his illuminating lectures on Jnana-Yoga. the Path of Wisdom - which were as brilliant as impressive, made a direct appeal to the most intellectually gifted people of England and created a very good atmosphere for the spread of Hindu thought and culture in their purest form. He also gave several courses of lectures in public as well as to private circles.  

One of the memorable events during the Swami’s stay in London was his meeting with the great Orientalist, Professor Max Müller of Oxford University, at his residence, by special invitation, on May 28, 1896. To quote the Swami’s own words: “The visit was really a revelation to me. The nice little house, in its setting of a beautiful garden, the silver-headed sage, with a face calm and benign, and forehead smooth as a child’s in spite of seventy winters, and every line in that face speaking of a deep-seated mine of spirituality somewhere behind?”  

Max Müller was anxious to know from the Swami more than what he had already gathered about Sri Ramakrishna, and told him that he would be glad to write a larger and fuller account of his Master’s life and teachings. The facts, as far as available, were placed very soon by the Swami at the disposal of this venerable Professor, who set to work at once and embodied them in an instructive volume which was soon published under the title Ramakrishna: His Life and Sayings. The book, aided materially in giving the Swami and his mission a firmer hold on the English-speaking world.  

The Swami in his previous visit had made acquaintances, which ripened into friendship, with such talented souls as Miss Henrietta Müller, Miss Margaret Nobel, Mr. E.T. Sturdy and others. Now they became his disciples and were ready to sacrifice everything for him and his cause. To this group were soon added two of his most faithful disciples, Mr. and Mrs. Sevier. Indeed the Swami held Sister Nivedita, J.J. Goodwin, and Mr. and Mrs. Sevier as the finest fruits of his work in England. Exhausted with the strenuous exertions of his London work, the Swami accepted the invitation of three of more intimate friends for a tour and a holiday on the Continent. He spent most of the summer of 1896 in the midst of the snowy ranges of Switzerland. It was there in a village at the foot of the Alps, between Mount Blanc and the Little St. Bernard, that he first conceived the plan of founding in the silent retreat of the Himalayas a monastery where his Western and Eastern disciples might be united. And the Seviers, who were with him, never let the idea lapse; it became their lifework. While enjoying the stillness and freshness of the mountain retreat in Switzerland, there came a letter from Professor Paul Deussen, the celebrated Indologist of Germany, inviting him to visit him at Kiel. To see him the Swami shortened his stay at Switzerland. He, however, managed to visit Heidelberg, Coblenz, Cologne, and Berlin: for he wished to have a glimpse at least of Germany, and he was impressed by her material power and great learning. His reception at Kiel was as cordial and their relations as animated as might have been expected from such an ardent Vedantist as Paul Deussen.  

After the continental tour the Swami again came to London, and Professor Paul Deussen joined him there. The Swami spent another two months here seeing Max Müller again, meeting Edward Carpenter, Frederick Meyers, Canon Wilberforce, and other celebrities, and delivering another series of lectures on the Vedanta, on the Hindu theory of Maya, and on the Advaita. This heavy strain seriously affected his health, and his friends suggested complete rest. But the voice of India was now calling him back. He began to feel that his part of the work in the West had been done, and it was time for him to fling himself passionately into the treadmill of action in India for the service of his motherland. For the management of his works in America in his absence, he soon sent Swami Saradananda to New York in response to the repeated requests of his disciples and students of Vedanta there; and he brought from India Swami Abhedananda, another of his brother-disciples, for the work in London. The Swami did all in his power to impress the newcomer with the responsibilities of his new life. Day after day he trained him so that he would be able to carry on the work alone. He was eager to leave behind a worker fitted both spiritually and intellectually to take his place, and the Swami was delighted to find in him a very able exponent of the Vedanta and a capable substitute for doing the Master .s work even after his departure. Thus relieved, the mind of the Swami now pointed like the needle of a compass to India, the home of poor and sunken millions for whom he had crossed the Atlantic.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Swami Vivekananda in USA


The Swami, finding that the lecture bureau was exploiting

 and defrauding him, soon shook himself free from American

lecturing organizations. At the beginning of the winter of

 1894, he returned to New York after a whirlwind tour

 through various centres of learning and culture in America.

 His previous visits to this noted city had been only casual.

 He had given only a few public lectures but was not in a

 position to begin any constructive work. With a view to

starting regular work the Swami now readily accepted

the invitation of the Brooklyn Ethical Association to deliver a

 series of lectures. These lectures produced the desired

 effect and opened a new avenue for organizing the work in

 America. He soon found a group of earnest souls who were

 seriously bent on following the guidance of the Swami for

 spiritual enlightenment. The Swami gave his whole time to

 teaching by means of talks and lectures, and every day

instructed this band of chosen followers in the exercise of

 the double method of Raja-Yoga and Jnana-Yoga. His

lectures at this time were replete with the deepest

philosophical insight and with extraordinary outbursts of

devotion, revealing his nature as essentially a combination of

the Jnani and Bhakta - the illumined saint and true mystic in

one. Prominent among those who became his ardent

followers at this time were Mrs. Ole Bull, Dr. Day, Miss S.E.

Waldo, Professors Wyman and Wright, Dr. Street, and many

clergymen and laymen of note. Mr. and Mrs. Francis Leggett

and Miss MacLeod, well-known society people of New York,

became his most intimate friends. By the month of June

1895, the Swami had placed his real constructive work on a

solid foundation, and also finished writing his famous treatise

on Raja-Yoga, dictated to Miss S.E.

Waldo, [Those who attended Swami Vivekananda's classes and lectures in New York soon grew familiar with a tall, very portly figure who moved about doing everything. We learnt before long that it was Miss Ellen Waldo, a distant connection of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and a person of wide philosophic and general culture. The Swami had given her the Sanskrit name "Haridasi". and it was well chosen. She was truly a "Servant of the Lord" — her service was continuous and untiring. She cooked, edited, cleaned and took dictation, taught and managed, read proof and saw visitors ], which soon attracted the attention of American

psychologists like William James. The Swami also had

support from wealthy and influential followers, and whatever

he could save from the financial returns he received went

towards further consolidation of his work. All through the

year the Swami’s work was enormous; he was working

intensely; lecturing both privately and publicly, he began to

feel himself wearing out. But the Swami was satisfied that

the ideals of the Sanatana Dharma, the Eternal Religion,

were spreading and percolating through the whole thought-

world of America, and that they were very often echoed in

pulpits and in rostrums, though it might be that he received

no credit for them. Having almost exhausted himself by this

uninterrupted work of class and public lecturing, the Swami

now eagerly sought a place of retreat where he could give a

modicum of rest to his shattered nerves and train up a

group of students for future action. One of the students,

Miss Dutcher, owned a handsome cottage at Thousand

Island Park, the largest island in the St. Lawrence River and

she offered the use of it to the Swami and as many of the

students as it would accommodate. The place was ideally

situated, overlooking a wide sweep of the beautiful river

with many of its far-famed Thousand Islands. Not a human

sound penetrated the seclusion of the house. The inmates

heard but the murmur of the insects, the sweet songs of the

birds, or the gentle sighing of the wind through the leaves.

Part of the time the scene was illumined by the soft rays of

the moon and her face was mirrored in the shining waters

beneath. In this scene of enchantment, the devoted

students spent seven blessed weeks with their beloved

teacher, listening to his words of inspiration. This group of

twelve included, Miss S.E. Waldo and Miss Greenstidel who

later became Sister Christine and ably assisted Sister

Nivedita in her educational work in India. During the Swami’s

stay in this island he threw light upon all manner of subjects,

historical and philosophical, spiritual and temporal. It was as

if the contents of his nature were pouring themselves forth

as a grand revelation of the many-sidedness of the Eternal

Truth. Certainly the seven weeks lived at Thousand Island

Park were one of the freest and the greatest periods in the

Swami’s life. Surrounded by ardent disciples he was there in

the uninterrupted stillness of the island retreat, in an

atmosphere reminiscent of that in which his Master had lived

and taught in the Dakshineswar days of old. The whirlwind

of spiritual rhapsody and ecstasy that had swept the souls of

devotees in Dakshineswar on the bank of the Ganga, swept

here anew the souls of other devotees in this lonely region.

Some glimpses of his ecstatic utterances of this period can

be had in Inspired Talks, a book which owes not a little to

the sedulous care and industry of Miss Waldo, one of this

enthusiastic group of students on the island. It was in the

silence of this retreat that the Swami wrote also the

immortal Song of the Sannyasin, which has now become one

of the most precious legacies to spiritually-minded souls.  

Having fulfilled his great work of training and initiatindisciples

into Brahmacharya and Sannyasa at Thousand Island Park,

the Swami returned to New York, from where he soon sailed


to England to carry to the British people the same message

which he had preached in America. During his absence the

work of spreading Vedanta was carried on uninterrupted by

the group of his trained disciples. But the Swami’s presence

was greatly needed in the New World for the consolidation

of the various work started there. So he soon returned.  

With a view to giving a concrete shape to his Vedantic work

on the American soil, the Swami after the close of his public

lectures in the latter part of February 1896, organized the

Vedanta movement into a definite society and began to

issue his teachings in book form. Thus came into existence

The Vedanta Society of New York, a non-sectarian body with

the aim of preaching and practising Vedanta and applying its

principles to all faiths. Its members met regularly at

appointed times for the purpose of carrying on co-operative

and organized work, and for the study and propaganda of

Vedanta literature. Some of the great works like Raja-Yoga,

Bhakti-Yoga, and Karma-Yoga had already been published

and aroused a interest among some of the great savants

and thinkers of America.  



One of the principal purposes of the Swami in organizing his

classes into this Society was particularly to bring about an

interchange of ideas and ideals between the East and the

West. Already he had in his mind the plan of bringing from

India some of his brother-disciples to teach and preach in

America, and also of having some of his American, and

English disciples in India to teach and preach there. In

America it would be religious teaching, and in India it would

be practical training - a message of science, industry,

economics, applied sociology, organization, and co-operation.

The Indian needed that energy, that dexterity in action, that

thirst for improvement which characterized the freedom-

loving people of the active West. In the opinion of the

Swami, the Orient would be benefited by greater activity and

energy like that of the West, as the latter would profit by a

mixture of Eastern introspection and the meditative habit.

The Swami made Mr. Francis H. Leggett, one of the wealthy

and influential residents of the city of New York, the

President of this newly formed Vedanta Society.  

The universal teachings and profound learning of the Swami

made a deep impression upon the minds of the American

intelligentsia. He was even offered the Chair of Oriental

Philosophy at Harvard university and at Columbia the Chair

of Sanskrit. Besides the distinguished psychologists and

philosophers, influential persons of other fields of thought

also were charmed with his erudition and knowledge of

science and arts. The fearless outspokenness of the Swami

often alienated that general approval for which so many

public workers slave and sacrifice their true views and their

principles. But, after all, he found that the American public,

though at first it might appear to resent, would afterwards

regard with great admiration one who dared to speak openly

of what he felt were the drawbacks of its civilization. At the

end of his American work the Swami was thoroughly tired.

Everything he did, said, or wrote was at the white heat of

intensity; and this undoubtedly undermined even his strong

constitution. His friends knew that he had given himself

wholly and unstintedly for the good of those who made his

message the gospel of their lives.