vedanta kesari -...
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A Cultural and Spiritual Monthly of the Ramakrishna Order since 1914
TheVedanta
Kesari
Cover Story page 11...
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Universal Prayersशैवानामीश्र्वरो ववष्णुववैष्वानां च सममतः।देवीवत शाक्ततन्त्े च बणुद्ो बौद्सणुपूवितः।।अर्हन्तो िैनधम्हस्य क्रैसतानां वक्सत एव च।विरोवश्र्च ्यहूद्ानामल्ा मारममदस्य च।। परैराहूरमासदेवत फारसीकरैश्र्च कथ्यते। एवं ्यज्ज्योवतराभावत तज्ज्योवतशशं करोतणु नः।।
The shining Divine Light which is designated as Siva by the saivites, Vishnu by vaishnavas, the Goddess Sakti by the Tantra literature, Buddha by the buddhists, Arhanta by the jains, Christ by the christians, Jehova by the jews, Allah by the muslims and Ahura Mazda by the parsis, may that Light bring bliss to all of us!
—Swami Harshananda
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Seeing God EverywhereN Gokulmuthu
Editor: Swami mahamedhananda Published by Swami Vimurtananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai - 600 004 and
Printed by B. Rajkumar, Chennai - 600 014 on behalf of Sri Ramakrishna Math Trust, Chennai - 600 004 and Printed at M/s. Rasi Graphics Pvt. Limited, No.40, Peters Road, Royapettah, Chennai - 600014.
Website: www.chennaimath.org E-mail: [email protected]
Universal Prayersशैवानामीश्र्वरो ववष्णुववैष्वानां च सममतः।देवीवत शाक्ततन्त्े च बणुद्ो बौद्सणुपूवितः।।अर्हन्तो िैनधम्हस्य क्रैसतानां वक्सत एव च।विरोवश्र्च ्यहूद्ानामल्ा मारममदस्य च।। परैराहूरमासदेवत फारसीकरैश्र्च कथ्यते। एवं ्यज्ज्योवतराभावत तज्ज्योवतशशं करोतणु नः।।
The shining Divine Light which is designated as Siva by the saivites, Vishnu by vaishnavas, the Goddess Sakti by the Tantra literature, Buddha by the buddhists, Arhanta by the jains, Christ by the christians, Jehova by the jews, Allah by the muslims and Ahura Mazda by the parsis, may that Light bring bliss to all of us!
—Swami Harshananda
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A Cultural and Spiritual Monthly of The Ramakrishna Order
JUNE 2019
The VedanTa Kesari106th
Year of Publication
CONTENTS Vol. 106, No. 6 ISSN 0042-2983
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The Self-Effacing Nature of Sister NiveditaPravrajika Bhavaniprana
Seeds and Indian Ethos of Conservation, Sharing and Freedom
Ramasubramanian
Swami Vivekananda in Sri Lanka: New FindingsDr. Shyamali Chowdhury
Seeing God EverywhereN Gokulmuthu
If Swami Vivekananda Were Here Today
William Page
FEATURES
7 Dakäiëàmùrti Stotra 8 Yugavani
9 Editorial
17 Reminiscences27 Vivekananda Way33 Pariprasna43 Book Reviews46 The Vedas: An Exploration49 What is Religion?51 Topical Musings53 The Order on the March
Poorva: Magic, Miracles and the Mystical TwelveLakshmi Devnath
Editor: Swami mahamedhananda Published by Swami Vimurtananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai - 600 004 and
Printed by B. Rajkumar, Chennai - 600 014 on behalf of Sri Ramakrishna Math Trust, Chennai - 600 004 and Printed at M/s. Rasi Graphics Pvt. Limited, No.40, Peters Road, Royapettah, Chennai - 600014.
Website: www.chennaimath.org E-mail: [email protected]
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SL.NO. NAMES OF SPONSORS AWARDEE INSTITUTIONS
1. Dr. R. Subramaniya Bharathiyar, Sri Ramakrishna Ashram, Falakata, Alipurduar2. -do- Sri Ramakrishna Sevashrama, Kaliaganj, North Dinajpur3. -do- Sri Ramakrishna Seba Sadan, Mathabhanga, Coock Behar4. -do- Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama, Naxalbari, West Bengal5. -do- Ramakrishna Seva Sangha, Raiganj6. -do- Sri Ramakrishna Seva Sangha, Gangarampur7. -do- Sri Ramakrishna Sarada Sangha, Mal, Jalpaiguri8. -do- Sri Ramakrishna Sangha, Mayanaguri9. -do- Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama, Raiganj10. -do- Ramakrishna Vivekananda Ashrama, Sahudangi 11. -do- Sri Ramakrishna Vivekananda Society, Siliguri12. -do- Sri Sri Ramakrishna Samity, Krishna Nagar, Assam
PA G E S P O N S O R : D R . S U B R A M A N I YA B H A R AT H I YA R R . , K A N C H E E P U R A M
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Dakäiëàmùrti StotraSri Shankaracharya
Verse 6राहुग्रसतददवाकरेन्ददुसदृशो मा्यासमाच्ादनात्सन्मात्ः कर्ोपसंरर्तो ्योऽभूतसणुषणुप्ः पणुमान् ।प्ागसवापसवमवत प्बोधसम्ये ्यः प्त्यवभज्ा्यतेतसम ैश्ीगणुरुमूत्ह्ये नम इदं श्ीदवषि्ामूत्ह्ये ॥ ६ ॥
Obeisance to Śrī Dakṣiṇāmūrti, who is the Guru, the Self, who in the deep sleep state
induced by the withdrawal of the senses,1 being covered by māyā—like the sun and the moon devoured by Rāhu2—was ‘existence’ only,3 and who at the time of waking, recognises Himself as, ‘(It is I) who previously slept.’4
1 In the suṣupti or deep sleep state, the senses merge in the mind and the mind merges in its cause, ajñāna or ignorance. Hence, there will be no awareness of the external physical world or the internal mental world.
2 In the Hindu mythological lore, eclipses of the sun and the moon are attributed to their being temporarily devoured by the demon Rāhu, whose head had been cut off by the discus of Lord Viṣṇu. Since the head-part had already consumed amṛta or nectar, it survived, the rest of the body being destroyed. In philosophical and poetical works, it is usually cited as an example to illustrate the covering of the original lustre or form.
3 In an eclipse, the sun and the moon do not shine but continue to exist. Similarly, in the deep sleep state, the Ātman continues to exist though it does not shine. In other words, the ‘bhāti’-part of it is temporarily suppressed and only the ‘asti’-part continues unabated.
4 Remembrance is actually ‘re-cognition’, cognition of something which had already been cognised. If none existed during the deep sleep state, and it was all void, then, who is it that after waking up recognises himself as, ‘It is I who slept’? Devadatta’s previous experiences can be remembered or recognised by Devadatta only and not by Brahmadatta who did not undergo those experiences. So, this proves the existence of a permanent Ātman who endures through all the three states of consciousness.
Dakṣiṇāmūrti Stotra with Mānasollāsa. Translated and Annotated by Swami Harshananda
Yugavani
There are three kinds of ananda, joy: the joy of worldly enjoyment, the joy of worship, and the joy of Brahman. The joy of worldly enjoyment is the joy of
'woman and gold', which people always enjoy. The joy of worship one enjoys while chanting the name and glories of God. And the joy of Brahman is the joy of God-vision. After experiencing the joy of God-vision the rishis of olden times went beyond all rules and conventions.
In order to perform the worship of God you will be preoccupied for a long time with such religious duties as plucking flowers, making sandal-paste, polishing the utensils of worship, and arranging offerings. As you perform these duties your mind will naturally be directed to God. You will get rid of meanness, anger, jealousy, and so forth. Once the mind has become mature, one doesn't have to continue formal worship for long. The mind then always remains united with God; meditation and contemplation become a constant habit of mind.
How long should one practise the sandhya and other forms of ritualistic worship? As long as one does not shed tears of joy at the name of God and feel a thrill in one's body. You will know that your ritualistic worship has come to an end when your eyes become filled with tears as you repeat 'Om Rama'. Then you do not have to continue your sandhya or other rituals. When the fruit appears the blossom drops off. Love of God is the fruit, and rituals are the blossom.
One must propitiate the Divine Mother, the Primal Energy, in order to obtain God's grace. God Himself is Mahamaya, who deludes the world with Her illusion and conjures up the magic of creation, preservation, and destruction. She has spread this veil of ignorance before our eyes. We can go into the inner chamber only when She lets us pass through the door. Living outside, we see only outer objects, but not that Eternal Being, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. Therefore it is stated in the purana that deities like Brahma praised Mahamaya for the destruction of the demons Madhu and Kaitabha.
—Sri Ramakrishna
Worship
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higher vision, and self-restraint. It calls for courage to face the truth and a steadfast determination to pursue the goal. When men and women become responsible in this sense, then they become real men and women. It is such people we need today in our country.
As we write this editorial, our democratic general elections are entering into the final phase. All through the elections, marked by nasty intolerance, every party swore that those in the opposing camps were most unfit to lead the country. If this mutual assessment is true, as it could be for they know each other best, then we probably have none fit enough to be our democratic leaders! Yet, by the time this issue reaches the readers, some of these same parties will be conducting the affairs of the government at the Centre and in some States.
In the face of wide-spread corruption, escapism, mass hysteria, narrow sectarianism, and a general lowering of standards seen in our society, should we surrender to despair and scepticism? Never. To do so would be an insult to Man, his higher nature, his divinity, and a disbelief in the universal moral law.
Faith in God is faith in man. Swami Vivekananda desired India to
strive for the evolution of a Vedantic civilization where politics, science, religion, literature, and everything else would lead man to higher and higher levels of self-expression. This he said was also India’s responsibility towards the world Civilisation.
Tyaga and SevaHow do we become real men and women
and achieve true freedom within and foster real democracy in the world outside? Swamiji gave two tools of action to realise this: Tyaga and
Democracy and Vedanta
Once, Swami Vivekananda told his American audience: ‘There is a chance
of Vedanta becoming the religion of your country because of democracy.’ He then explained it thus: ‘You have a government, but the government is impersonal. Yours is not an autocratic government, and yet it is more powerful than any monarchy in the world. Nobody seems to understand that the real power, the real life, the real strength is in the unseen, the impersonal, the nobody. As a mere person separated from others, you are nothing, but as an impersonal unit of the nation that rules itself, you are tremendous. You are all one in the government — you are a tremendous power. … Each man is the power.’
This is also the message of Vedanta. It does not preach a God sitting in Heaven who plays with our lives. Instead, Vedanta teaches a democratic God; ‘the infinite principle of God embodied in every one of us.’ Exploring and discovering this innate Divinity is what we call spiritual journey. This spiritual discovery in our inner world becomes easy when our outside world has social and political democracy. This is Swamiji’s point.
Real men and women‘But’, Swamiji cautions his audience, ‘it can
become so only if …you become real men and women, not people with vague ideas and superstitions in your brains…’
Indeed, achieving freedom in the two dimensions of our life—in the inner body-mind-ego complex and in the external social life—is possible only when we learn to take responsibility for our actions. Responsibility necessarily involves a sound sense of values, a
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Seva. As he puts it, ‘The national ideals of India are renunciation and service. Intensify her in those channels, and the rest will take care of itself.’
Is Swamiji asking the whole society to renounce the world with an ascetic spirit and remain engaged in the one-pointed pursuit of mukti? That would be an impossibility, a totally impractical idea.
Renunciation can be understood in two senses. It is to renounce or give up our ‘unripe’ ego, our lower self with its selfish desires and intemperate sense hankerings. It is also, more importantly, to give up our wrong perception of the world. Our rishis discovered the truth that the whole universe is one Consciousness, one Existence which we call God. It is a mistake to secularise the world and see it as separate from us. Seeing this separation is what we call Maya. The world is God, is our own true self.
The Isavasyopanishad tells us ‘All this – whatever moves on the earth—should be covered by the Lord. Protect your (Self ) through that detachment.’ It means to give up seeing the world as we have conjectured it to be through our partial experience, poor reasoning, and attachment to senses. Swami Vivekananda calls out: ‘Never approach any thing except as God; for if we do, we see evil, because we throw a veil of delusion over what we look at, and then we see evil. Get free from these illusions; be blessed. Freedom is to lose all illusions.’ He demands of us, ‘Put God behind everything — man, animal, food, work; make this a habit.’
The more we realise this spirit of renunciation, the more naturally will we move
towards serving our fellow living beings and environment with
utter selflessness and love.
Rama RajyaWhen more and more
people in our society engage in such renunciation and service, it will create what we call Rama Rajya.
Rama Rajya is not simply a state where all people worship Lord Rama,
or build a big temple for Him. It is a state where every citizen
strives to realise inner and outer freedom. In this striving
lies Dharma. When every citizen thus struggles to practise Dharma,
then that society will have a raja established in Dharma.
How will such a raja be? The answer is Lord Rama. In his Raghuvamsa, Kalidasa gives a wonderful description of why we cherish and desire Rama Rajya: As Sri Rama was free from avarice, he was incorruptible and therefore his subjects were prosperous. As he protected them from all kinds of fears, they remained peacefully engaged in performing their dharmic duties. By standing up as a role model dharmic leader, he was like a father to his subjects, always guiding them on the right path. Finally, as he stood by them in their hour of grief and helped them to overcome all miseries, he was like a son to his subjects.
Unless a majority of our countrymen and women become dharmic, it is foolish to expect noble and great leaders at the helm of our national affairs. Yatha praja, tatha raja is the reality of our modern world. Until every household, every organisation answers to the call of Tyaga and Seva, we will have to witness many more such elections making a mockery of true democracy.
Seeds and Indian Ethos of Conservation, Sharing and Freedom
RAMASUBRAMANIAN
Mu d h a l t h a n i v i t h t h e y o – Nammazhvaar addresses Lord
Narayana, as ‘The first seed of the world.’1 Swami Vivekananda’s famous statement ‘Each soul is potentially divine’, is literally apt for seeds, because each seed is potentially a full-grown plant or tree or potentially every seed can further nurture life-giving forces such as food, shelter, clothing, housing, etc. It is nature’s tiniest representative of the dormant potential in each living creature, and a continuous reminder of what can be achieved through a l i t t le care-g iv ing . This potent ia l i s acknowledged and celebrated in our country as part of its tradition and ethos. Across the land, the Indian celebration calendar is dotted with the celebration of seeds. Farmers worship seeds
before they are planted, and fresh produce is worshipped before they are consumed. These sentiments reflect a way of life in India.
Colonial disturbanceIt is recorded that more than 3.5 million
people starved to death in the Bengal famine of 1943. The renowned ecologist, Dr. Vandana Shiva states that more than twenty million were directly affected and this was due to the food grains appropriated forcefully from the peasants under a colonial system of rent collection. Exports of food grains continued despite the fact that people were going hungry. She cites the writer Kali Charan Ghosh that, ‘80,000 tonnes of food grain were exported from Bengal in 1943, just before the famine. India at that time was a
The author is a social entrepreneur based in Chennai, and is the Managing Director for Samanvaya Social Ventures, Aalampannai Holistic Initiatives, and Sustainable Livelihood Institute. [email protected]
Recently, we have heard the case of a major multi-national corporate body suing a small farmer with 4 acres of land to the tune of 1.2 crores for using what it claimed as its own variety of Potato for making unhealthy food. As a country that has a very large number of small and marginal farmers who do farming with their families, India is continuously faced with the challenge of having to engage with economies, technologies, policies, practices and knowledge that is created from countries where farming is done by a very small population of farmers each owning very large tracks of land. It is important for India to revisit its ethos on food sovereignty to articulate a position that today in the global space is seen as not merely voicing a fresh approach but also more relevant in the context of the reality of climate change. This article tries to capture the groundswell of seed conservation movements in India and also the Indian ethos that is asserted in the process. The author has been associated with the Organic Farming movement in the State of Tamilnadu for over two decades and also coordinates one of the several farmers’ free exchange of seeds and biodiversity celebration festivals in Tamilnadu.
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supply base for the British military. Huge exports were allowed to feed the people of other lands, while the shadow of famine was hourly lengthening in the Indian horizon.’ In response to this peasants movements were built around slogans such as, Jan debo tabu dhan debo na ‘We will give up lives but not our rice.’
All over India, the colonial disturbance was the struggle for rights of land and cultivation by peasants. But, there was a more fundamental encounter that happened as a subtext, this was the encounter of the ethics around production and sharing of food in India. The famous Gandhian historian Dharampal cites one instance to highlight the shift that happened in the way farming was done. Quoting a British archival document, he narrates about a particularly difficult year, when the colonial ruler found no farmer willing to pay tax. When the British officers who came to investigate asked the local farmers the reason for not paying tax, the farmers replied that as far as their memory went, they had never paid tax during the years when agriculture was difficult; on the other hand it was the responsibility of the raja to provide them with grains and additional support during such years.2 In another of his lectures, Dharampal summarizes the Indian idea of food production and distribution stating that we can ‘imply that every person in this society enjoyed a certain dignity and that his social and economic needs were well provided for. Food and shelter seems to have been a natural right, given India’s fertility, etc. According to a historian of medieval India the only data which was available about the expenditure details of the rulers of Delhi referred to the free feeding of the people who required such a provision.3
Annam bahu kurvitaThe Indian view on food has always been
production and sharing of food in plenty. The famous words of Taittreya Upanisad to produce
and share food in plenty is echoed by the Tamil poet-saint Thiruvalluvar who states that the most virtuous of traditions devised by the elders is the one of producing diverse food in plenty and sharing the abundance with all living beings4. Tiruvalluvar again says, ‘If the farmer were not to do farming, even the wise sages who have relinquished everything will have to go behind him begging.’5
In the Mahabharata, Sri Krishna tells King Yudhishtira, ‘The world, both animate and inanimate, is sustained by food…The giver of food is the giver of life and indeed of everything else. Therefore, one who is desirous of his well-being in this world and beyond should make special endeavour to give food’.6 Indeed, this growing and giving food in plenty was the practice among Indian farmers till the onset of the Colonial era.
‘Many 18th century western observers have specially noted the variety of seeds available to the Indian peasant , the sophistication and simplicity of his tools, and the extreme care and labour he expended in tending to his fields and crops. According to recent historical findings, 41 different crops were cultivated annually in the localities of the province of Agra. The number of crops cultivated in other areas of northern India was equally large. For the south of India, Alexander Walker (he was in Malabar and Gujarat from 1780-1810) notes that in Malabar alone upward of fifty kinds of rice was cultivated. This variety of seeds and crops that the Indian peasant possessed and his ability to vary these according to the needs of the soil and the season, seems to set him apart from most other peasants or cultivators of the world whose knowledge was limited to far fewer crops.’7
Seeds, their diversity and foodModern health care system agrees with the
ancient wisdom that consumption of diverse forms of food does help build immunity and strength.
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India as a fertile land of abundance had several ways to conserve the diversity of food. However, much of this altered with the changing times.
Globally seeds have been conserved and shared across regions; traditionally too seed exchanges among farmers has been going on for centuries. This has resulted in widespread usage of certain crops even while there are certain crops which are unique and limited to certain parts of the world. One of the key findings of modern scientific understanding of seeds is that the more diverse varieties available in a given species, the better are its chances for survival in diverse and adverse conditions.
India is the home of rice varieties and it has been estimated that perhaps even as late as the beginning of the 20th century, India grew perhaps about 2,00,000 varieties of traditional rice.8 The diversity of rice in India was so high that there seems to have been rice for various occasions and various types of soil and water conditions. For instance, mapillai samba, a popular variety of rice was considered prestigious and it was cooked especially for the bridegroom and his family during wedding festivities! There are varieties that are grown in specific regions that lend a flavour, like the basmati rice variety that is grown in the Indo-Gangetic plain. There are of course regional variations, the jeeraga samba, variety grown in several southern Indian parts is a short rice variety that has a similar flavour. The kar varieties of red rice such as the kullakar, and poongar are red rice varieties that are known as ideally suited for preparation of idlis in southern India. The famous mannapaarai murukku, a delicacy snack in Tamilnadu supposedly derives its taste from the variety of rice that is grown in this particular part of the country. Apart from the regional variations, there are also variations of rice that are good for different types of people and health conditions. The variety karunguruvi, is good for lactating mothers and there are other varieties which are beneficial for the elderly and
the infants. There are wild varieties of rice that are used in traditional medicine; the variety kaala jeera is even today used widely as a medicinal variety of rice. Apart from these specialities, there are also varieties that are suitable for alkaline soil, varieties that can be grown in saline conditions, rice that can be grown in flooded condition, and rice that is grown only rainfed, and also in completely dry conditions. Such a vast variation meant that farmers could grow food in spite of any kind of climate-change challenges. Drought, floods and other natural calamities didn’t impact the farmers. In fact, in the post-tsunami period in Tamilnadu, it was noted that there were several locally conserved seeds that were planted by farmers in the saline-water inundated fields; even under those situations the farmers were able to have a good crop.9 So, through conservation methods, the farmers had climate-change resilience, contributed to local tradition and health of the consumers as well, and by providing variety also contributed towards the overall wellbeing of the society. In the last 150 years much of this changed.
One of the significant impacts of modernity has been the propagation of the idea that man is above the animal species, and all plants and animals are to be ‘conquered’ and contained / manipulated / executed by humans. This idea stems primarily from the western world and is contrary to the spirit and thought of the indigenous communities in the East as well as West. With the advent of modern science and its industry, scientists and policy makers took a keen interest in improving farming through selecting, multiplying and enhancing quality of seeds, preserving livestock, understanding and working with soils.
This resulted in development of several varieties of seeds known as ‘high yielding varieties’—varieties of a particular crop that have a better yielding capacity. However, there were flip sides to this. In India, it has been well
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documented10 that the advent of high yielding varieties created paddy of short straw varieties that didn’t leave any hay for the cattle. This impacted the food for the livestock, and inadequate food for the livestock shot up the cost of maintaining livestock. This in turn meant advent of machinery to perform the task of livestock at less cost and more speed. But, the advent of machinery such as tractor instead of livestock meant that there was less manure for the field. This necessitated the fertilizing of the fields with chemicals which again meant more water was required for the fields to digest the chemical inputs. This contaminated water and more chemical infestation also deprived the soil of its health and in turn impacted the health of the plant making it prone to attack by many pests. Pest management thus became a major preoccupation because the plants couldn’t fight by themselves. This created chemical pest killers. Such pest ‘killers’ not only killed unwanton pests, but also wiped out pests that were beneficial to the soil and plant. With the loss of beneficial pests, their functions had to be performed by other chemicals or machinery. These are the unspoken costs of modernistion of agriculture. The entire agricultural economy thus shifts from benefitting the soil, the farmer and the consumer, to the chain of chemical and machinery supply. The vicious cycle that results from the advent of one high yielding variety of seeds into a significant change in the economy of agriculture over a couple of decades is there for all to see today.
Farmer’s conservation of seedsA traditional farmer performs several tasks
that are specialized today. He is able to read the weather, to conserve the seeds, to judge the health of the soil in his farm, to take care of the cattle, to identify pests of several kinds and know how to address them, to know the various herbs that can be utilized in addressing the
different pest management, to know the various stages of plant growth and its needs, to harvest, post-harvest process and store the grains, and eventually to be able to recommend the way in which food has to be consumed!! The multiple domains of knowledge that a traditional farmer has is mind boggling.
The conservation, propagation, recovery, exchanging and sharing of seeds has been traditionally a part of the farmer’s work. This process has taken the shape of local festivals. In Tamilnadu for instance, the molappari festival is celebrated during the Tamil month of aadi, when the agricultural season begins. During this festival, the farmers sow their seeds in smaller pots and allow them to germinate in isolation. After the seeds have germinated and grown for a week, the seeds are taken in procession and placed before the local deity as an offering. The best of the saplings are noted and the seeds of that particular farmer are shared with others with the understanding that in that particular year those seeds have a better yielding potential. With many variations such festivals are held in various parts of our country. These festivals invariably conclude with a prayer for good rains and a bountiful harvest. Farming practices have their own processes of prayer. One of the key factors to note is that much of the seed conservation work has always been carried out by women farmers.
Seeds are conserved and shared by the farmers because it is the ultimate freedom of choice of what to grow in a given season and also what to consume. ‘The seed, for the farmer, is not the source of future plants and food; it is the storage place of culture and history. Seed is the first link in the food chain. Seed is the ultimate symbol of food security.
‘Free exchange of seed among farmers has been the basis of maintaining biodiversity as well as food security. The exchange is based on cooperation and reciprocity. A farmer who
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wants to exchange seed generally gives an equal quantity of seed from his field in return for the seed he gets.
‘Free exchange among the farmers goes beyond mere exchange of seeds, it involves exchanges of ideas and knowledge, of culture and heritage. It is an accumulation of tradition, of knowledge of how to work the seed. Farmers learn about the plants they want to grow in the future by watching them grow in other farmers’ fields.’11
Several initiatives across the countryBeej Bachao Aandolan, a national network
of organizations started to conserve seeds through on-field farmer conservation methods. Today it conserves 800 varieties of rice, 23 varieties of traditional cotton, 80 varieties of traditional maize and more than 50 varieties of vegetables12.
That the traditional role of seed saving is eagerly welcomed by farmers can be easily seen by the growth of the seed varieties that are saved, as well as the number of farmers adapting to traditional seeds even through small initiatives. The ‘Save our Rice’ campaign to save indigenous seed varieties started with 16 varieties and 400 farmers in 2005. In less than 8 years, it grew to more than 60 varieties being conserved in the farms of over 3000 farmers!13 Another farmer producer company today is selling certified indigenous seeds through their own venture14. Other similar efforts are reported individually and collectively from across the country in recent times. Rahibai Soma Popere of Kombhalne village in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra
is highly knowledgeable about agro-biodiversity, conservation of landraces, innovative techniques in paddy cultivation and the like. When she speaks in her Mahadeo Koli tribal dialect, even experts listen intently. The 54-year-old farmer has the distinction of conserving and multiplying 48 indigenous landraces of 17 different crops including paddy, hyacinth bean, millets, pulses and oil seeds.15 Several such initiatives have sprung up in the past few decades. Vanastree in the Malanad region for instance states that their efforts to conserve is to ensure that, ‘the role of women farmers and gardeners is seen as integral to the social, cultural and ecological fabric of the unique Malnad region.’16 People like Dr. Vandana Shiva are seen as not merely articulating the seed saver’s ideas in India, but, for the entire world. Her organization Navadanya for instance has helped set up 122 community seed banks across the country, trained over 9,00,000 farmers in seed sovereignty, food sovereignty and sustainable agriculture over the past two decades, and helped setup the largest direct marketing, fair trade organic network in the country. Navadanya has also set up a learning center, Bija Vidyapeeth (School of the Seed / Earth University) on its biodiversity conservation and organic farm in Doon Valley, Uttarakhand, North India.17 ‘There was never a business model in the multiplication of seeds. If the Seed Keeper shared just a seed with a farmer, that farmer could make any number of seeds from it, and grow the same vegetable season after season. In effect, every farmer was a Seed
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Keeper who preserved seeds for posterity.’ says another seed conserver.18
One of the important factors often not acknowledged adequately is the role of women in agriculture. Women were traditionally the seed savers in the farming community. In the Green Revolution model of agriculture, women lose control over agricultural production. Dr. Vandana Shiva calls this displacement of w o m e n’ s t r a d i t i o n a l k n o w l e d g e a ‘masculinization of agriculture,’ in which agriculture is transformed from a feminine and nurturing activity, to a masculine activity that uses technology and violence to control nature.19
Seeds, diversity, farmer’s freedom and culture
The arrival of the monsoon is the beginning of the agriculture season in India. The farmer prepares the soil for the arrival of the first rains and then starts sowing—a sacred act for him, and an act of deep cultural significance. When he plants a seed free of tax or huge payments, he gets to assert not just his right over
seeds, their diversity and food system overall, but, also a deep cultural heritage that has been passed on to him from time immemorial.
Do participate in any seeds and bio-diversity festival in your area this monsoon season and lend your support to the farmers in asserting this cultural heritage.
You are welcome to join the author in the Seed Festival at Auroville on 27th of July 2019. Reach him at [email protected]
1) Thiruvaimozhi, 9th stanza2) Author’s conversation with late Sri Dharampal3) Dharampal, Pune Lectures, Collected Works of
Dharampal. Other India Books4) Thirukkural, paguthundu palluyir ombudhal melor
vaguthavatrul ellaam thalai5) Thirukkural, …vittem enbarkkum nilay6) Quoted & explored further in Annam Bahu Kurvita,
by Dr. M.D.Srinivas and Jitendra Bajaj, Centre for Policy Studies
7) Lectures of Sri. Dharampal, Agriculture and its recovery in India
8) Dr. Richaria, quoted by CIKS, Dr. Vandana Shiva, etc. 9) The author's study on the post-tsunami traditional
seeds usage has been published by organic farmer’s movement in Tamilnadu. Similar studies have been done by the M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation.
10) Violence of Green Revolution. Vandana Shiva et al11) Vandana Shiva, ‘Stolen Harvest’
12) https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Seed-savers-network-formed-to-fight-intellectual-property-rights-by-corporations/articleshow/31592846.cms
13) Numbers given are only for Tamilnadu according to their website - http://thanal.co.in/article/view/traditional-paddy-seeds-are-our-heritage-and-our-future-85994595
14) https://www.rural21.com/english/news/detail/article/the-seed-savers-from-tamil-nadu-00001828/
15) https://www.villagesquare.in/2017/08/25/maharashtras-tribal-farmers-revive-traditional-crops/
16) http://vanastree.org/17) http://www.navdanya.org/site/18) https://www.thebetterindia.com/129463/seed-
keeper-preserve-ancient-seeds-home-garden/19) https://ourseedsourselves.wordpress.
com/2013/11/20/all-seed-savers-are-women/
References
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Reminiscences
23.9.60 (contd…)
Work keeps the mind in good condition and diverts it away from
physical suffering. This morning, when my eyes felt very painful, I applied oil. Then I applied oil to another part of my body. At that moment, when the mind was diverted away from the eye, I found I did not experience even a trace of the eye pain. This indicates that I am not the body. If my mind is here and my son dies in Kolkata, I won’t sense it at all. However, it is difficult to understand that my mind is not me. Therefore, we have to keep the mind united with something very sacred; then, gradually the mind will be uplifted and become a path to liberation.
Workaholic people are not bad; they are making progress. But this is not a sannyasi’s life. I too have worked a lot – in fact I became madly engrossed in work. But if, within you, you have devotion, knowledge, and deep meditation, then you can detach yourself from work whenever you wish. If you don’t do this, then work will become a bondage and bring about your downfall.
I admit your difficulties—that there is nobody from whom you can seek guidance. But what is the way out? Accept this as a fact of life. Is there any use spending time lamenting your lot? Will you waste time waiting for a favourable
environment? Or will you rather try your utmost with whatever is at hand? I didn’t get help from anybody. But I have learnt at least something; otherwise why would you all come to me?
Throughout your life, if you just study the Gita, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, and Swamiji’s four books on Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Raja Yoga, then you don’t have to worry about your spiritual growth. You will surely proceed towards the goal. Immerse yourself in sadhana, or you will be tossed into the fiery trials and tribulations of the world.
Question: What is the highest yoga according to the Gita?
Maharaj: तपससवभ्योऽवधको ्योगी ज्ावनभ्योऽवप मतोऽवधकः। कवम्हभ्यश्र्चावधको ्योगी तसमाद्ोगी भवािणु्हन ।। 6.46्योवगनामवप सववेषा ंमद्गतेनान्तरातमना। श्द्ावान्भित े्यो मां स मे ्यणुक्ततमो मतः।। 6.47
‘The yogi is regarded as greater than ascetics, greater than even men of knowledge, greater also than performers of action; therefore, be a yogi, O Arjuna. Of all yogis, he who, possessed of faith, worships Me with his mind absorbed in Me, is considered by Me, the greatest.’
The Lord is declaring, ‘My devotee is the greatest.’ Jnana, Karma, Bhakti and Raja yogas are incomplete in themselves; bereft of the others, none of them can achieve union with
Reminiscences of SargachhiSWAMI SUHITANANDA
(Continued from previous issue. . .)
The author, now one of the Vice Presidents of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, noted these conversations while serving Swami Premeshananda (1884 – 1967) at Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Sargachhi, Murshidabad, West Bengal. Premeshananda Maharaj was a disciple of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi. He inspired countless men and women to lead a life of spirituality and service. These reminiscences were originally published in Bengali.
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God. All the four yogas have to be practised together. The proof for the correct practice of Jnana, Karma and Bhakti, is Yoga or the depth of your meditation. Find out if your mind becomes fully blissful in the thought of Sri Ramakrishna.
Theory and its application must run simultaneously. Otherwise, a sadhu may behave in undesirable ways, set a bad example, and become a nuisance to others. Of course, allowing anyone to become a nuisance to us, is our own choice!
24.9.60Premeshananda Maharaj asked the
attendant to read out word by word from Modern India, a book written by Swami Vivekananda. A little later, he remarked: Whenever the priests have dominated, a major part of religion has disappeared from the country. The common people don’t understand anything, and neither do they wish to. They watch the priests practicing various rituals with affectations. So they think, ‘Why bother about religion if it can be practised by giving the priests some money?’ So they prefer to be trouble-free by passing their religious responsibilities on to the priests. And the cunning priests compose verses to introduce various rituals day after day and dupe the stupid masses. As a result, religion becomes so complicated that nobody can understand what it is all about.
The practice of animal sacrifice to the goddess is widespread. The original idea behind this was that man has to slaughter his own beastliness at the feet of the goddess. Now look at the situation – how barbarous the ritual has become! The Rajasuya Yajna or sacrifice has been reduced to the Durga Puja.
When the Vedic rituals were dominant, there was only sacrificial smoke and spilling of animal blood. Appropriated by the priests, religion was about to die. At that time Buddha came. He preached a simple and straightforward
religion: Man’s true religion is within himself; if he meditates on himself, he will attain Buddhahood, attain nirvana . Spiritual contemplation is the closest thing to our true nature; but such contemplation is very difficult because of our past worldly impressions.
Buddha’s compassion and love began to attract hordes of people. Everyone started taking to the path of liberation. But a person becomes eligible to embrace the life of a sannyasi only after striving through many births. This is because he has to be the upholder and carrier of refined culture and subtle perceptions. But now ordinary people become sannyasis because they are tempted by the honour and prestige of the monastic life, as well as by the provision of adequate sustenance. As a Bengali folk couplet sings, ‘All the shaven-headed ones who were there in the forest joined the religious chanting, reshaping their sickles into cymbals.’ Thus the ideal became degraded; horrible failings appeared and caused people’s downfall. This has to be admitted. Buddhism preached nothing but the eternal Hindu concept of Advaita. And all the other religions of the world – Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism, and Confucianism—bear traces of Buddhism.
When degeneration among the Buddhist monks and nuns became excessive, the left-hand religious practices (vamachara) and
(Continued on page 34...)
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Swami Vivekananda said ‘They alone live who live for others, the rest are
more dead than alive’. ‘Sacrifice in the past has been the law. It will be alas for ages to come. The earth’s bravest and the best will have to sacrifice themselves for the good of many, for the welfare of all.’
What do we really understand by spiritual life? It is actually to overcome the little self in us. No spirituality is possible for a selfish man or woman. Our ego is the greatest obstacle in our spiritual life. Shall we really lose by such renunciation and self-effacement? Not at all. The scriptures tell us नालपे सणुखमससत, भूमैव सणुखं. The effacement of the lower self is to gain the infinite self.
We all try to practice unselfish love and serve others. The wife serving her husband, the mother serving her child, the soldier serving his country—these are all various expressions of self-effacement commonly seen around us. But such loving service is limited to an intimate circle of people or for one’s own country. Furthermore, such service is tinged with an expectation to receive something in return. Somehow a little bit of the ‘I’ creeps in. There are people who do wonderful service to others, but again with the desire for name, fame, or money. This selfishness along with desire for comforts negates the possibility of true service.
It is in this background that we have to understand the stunning standard of service exemplified by Sister Nivedita. She shows us to what extent we can erase our little self and to
The Self-Effacing Nature of Sister NiveditaPRAVRAJIKA BHAVANIPRANA
what heights we can reach by such self-effacement. How powerful can an absolutely selfless person become? She declares that such a person becomes a powerful weapon in the hands of gods, an invincible Thunderbolt! Nivedita herself became such a weapon in the hands of her guru, Swami Vivekananda who employed her for the welfare of India in particular and the world in general.
Our natural tendency is to think in utilitarian terms. But Nivedita advises us, ‘Abandon the idea of profit…personal profit is to be renounced in view of the larger interest….restraint is the highest expression of strength. But strength must first be present to be restrained.’
Responding to Swami Vivekananda’s call, Sister Nivedita came to India to help him in his mission of awakening and re-establishing India in her former glory, nay greater than ever before. She perhaps had no idea of the extent of sacrifice and self-effacement that would be required of her. While it is challenging even for an Indian to accustom to the weather, culture, language, food etc., of another part of India, for a foreign lady belonging to the race of the rulers, it was much more challenging:
The self-effacement on Nivedita’s part can be studied under four stages.
1) The inspiration In this stage, Nivedita renounced her own
country, relatives and friends, the school
Article
The author is Secretary, Ramakrishna Sarada Mission, Guntur. [email protected]
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founded and so well established by herself, her own culture, etc. Again to give up her well-acclaimed position in the West as an educationist, speaker, and writer well-recognized in the intellectual circle was equally great. But as is rightly said, only a king can renounce, a Buddha can renounce, what can a beggar having very little for himself renounce! Inspired by the magnetic personality of Swami Vivekananda and impressed by the profound depth of his message—the ancient wisdom of universal religion, Margaret Noble came away to India. Of course, she had for a long time prepared herself for such a noble endeavor, a search for Truth.
2)The training and the preparation
But coming to India in itself was not enough. She had to face a lot of incon- veniences—the unfavorable environment, the tropical heat, and the change in food habits were nothing compared to the doubting and critical attitude of the orthodox Indians, the suspicious eyes of the British following her everywhere, the poverty and the rigid caste restrictions.
Again she had to study and understand India as a whole—its culture, traditions and customs, its scriptures, its history— to be able to identify herself with her new country men and women. Uprooted from the soil of her previous country, she had to take roots deeply in the new soil of India. Of course, Swami Vivekananda helped her to a great extent by accompanying her to many places of pilgrimage, historically and culturally important places, and personally introducing her to his new vision of India. By instructions, suggestions and conversations, he gave a picturesque view of the great happenings in the past, the lives of great kings and queens, who had lived here and also the deep spiritual message of the ancient sages of India.
3)The transformationIn this stage, she was Indianised and
transformed from a proud accomplished Engl ish lady Margaret to a humble Brahmacharini Nivedita. This was a very tough period for her; a terrible war waged within her, for, ‘old habits die hard’. Fighting against the old deep rooted samskaras to give up her admiration, love and faithfulness to England and British flag, which almost equalled to a reverential worship was very difficult for her. But gradually, she was disillusioned by witnessing the harsh treatment meted out to Indians by the English rulers. To love India and Indians with a deep feeling of belonging, to appreciate all that was Indian, a shift from the personal to the impersonal point of view and finally surrendering her will to her Guru—all these were gradual stages of effacement of the old self in her.
4) The final stageAfter her return from the West, we find in
Nivedita a strong sense of convictions, and the spirit of a true disciple. She had become more Indian than any native Indian could possibly be. She spent the remaining part of her life in serving and promoting whatever was good and best for India. When Swamiji attained Mahasamadhi on 4 July 1902, Nivedita had no time to weep or mourn. She jumped into tremendous activity for the good of India. She had a premonition that she too would not live long. But personal salvation was too small a goal for her. Like her guru, Swami Vivekananda, she was to be a shelter and solace to innumerable souls. Her only comfort was in comforting others and lightening to their misery. Every moment of her life, and every bit of her energy was spent in the service of others. Such was her dedication and self-effacement.
When we think of Nivedita’s dynamic and active nature, and rebellious fighting spirit, we
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may wonder how to correlate it with her spirit of self-effacement. To assert one’s self or to efface the self, what was her actual way?
Self-effacement can be of two types: a) The Nagamahasaya type: In this, one’s
selfish ego is reduced to such an extent that it is crushed and destroyed in the end. Such a self-denial results in humility, meekness and surrender. The ego becomes so small that the net of Maya cannot bind one who is smaller than its hole. Resist not evil—that is the way.
b) The Vivekananda type: In this, the little ego is conquered, and it matures and expands till it becomes one with the infinite supreme ego of the universal self. By intense love and service for others, one shifts from one’s lower self to the higher self. Maya cannot catch hold of such a person too, for s/he is very big for her to bind. What fear can be there for such a soul when life and death become the same. So, Swamiji was ready to be born a thousand times to help or liberate a single soul. Such heroic people do not care for personal freedom or liberation. They struggle till the whole world becomes one with God. No rest till then for them.
Nivedita belongs to the second type. Christ asks us to be humble like a lamb; non-resistance is the highest worship. Nivedita says—‘but to the man who is not yet Christ, dumbness of sheep is mere sheepishness, not Christ like-man….only the man who forgets himself, forgets the victory can reach the Christhood.’
Swamiji had asked Nivedita to follow Buddha. Nivedita says, ‘Buddha had died for smaller ends 500 times before it was possible to become Buddha. Each time he forgot himself, forgot life, forgot death, became merged in the struggle without a thought of the beyond. In the end, he earned the empire of the world and had renounced the certainty of that in order to move a step beyond…..not for most of us to
reach the absolute now only….the immediate end (is)……to forget self. Only through action can we rise beyond action. By renunciation alone, by forgetfulness of self does a man rise to supreme goal….we shall live for the good of others. We shall merge ourselves in the struggle…. “Things are not bettered but we are bettered by making changes,” said the Swami Vivekananda…..the world is a school, a gymnasium for the soul. … Renunciation, Renunciation, Renunciation!!’
Nivedita was intensely positive and dynamic. Prosperity or misfortune, success or failure, appreciation or criticism—nothing could make her accept defeat. Womanish weakness or meekness had no place in her. Fight, fight and fight till the last breath was her motto. But her fights were always against some injustice or narrow outlook and selfishness.
Her self-effacement reached such a stage, where she forgot herself—her health, comfort, sleep, and leisure. She never spared herself in her effort to serve and relieve others’ sufferings, whether it was a plague epidemic, a famine or education of children and adults. He motherly love and self-effacement earned her the name ‘Lokamata’.
She often recollected a Christian prayer:O! To be nothing, nothing!Only to be at His FeetA Broken and Empty VesselFor the Master’s use make meet!Empty that, He may fill meAs forth to His service I go!Broken that so more freelyHis life through mine may flow O! To be nothing, nothing!
Thus offering herself in the sacrifice of service, Nivedita passed away at the age of 44. She became not merely the friend, servant, and mother to Indians, but she became united with the soul of India.
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As part of her research work on ‘Chronology of Life of Swami Vivekananda’, from the Centre for Indological Study and Research, Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Golpark, Kolkata, the author visited Sri Lanka for eight days from 24 Feb 2019 to trace Swami Vivekananda’s footprints in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). She was accompanied by Sri Arunoday Kundu, Assistant for audio-video recording, and Sri Sanmukhanathan, a retired officer, Department of Religion, Government of Sri Lanka, presently honourary librarian, Ramakrishna Mission, Colombo as volunteer. [email protected]
Swami Vivekananda in Sri Lanka: New Findings
DR. SHYAMALI CHOWDHURY
Swa m i Vive ka n a n da v is i te d Colombo three times.
First visit On his way to attend the World’s
Pa r l i a m e n t o f Re l i g i o n s , S wa m i Vivekananda visited Colombo on 6/7 June 1893. Starting from Bombay on 31 May 1893, the ship, the ‘Peninsular’ halted at Colombo for the day-time. As an unknown sannyasi, Swamiji joined his fellow passengers in visiting the city. His primary visit was to the Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara, which is around 11 kms from Colombo. The Kelaniya Buddhist Temple is famous for its image of the reclining Gautama Buddha and paintings depicting events from his life.
Second visitOn his return from the West on board
the ship, the Prinz Regent Luitpold, Swamiji arrived at Colombo for the second time in the afternoon of 15 January 1897. He was
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Swamiji in Colombo, January 189722
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now India’s ‘National Hero’ and he was given a jubilant welcome by the citizens of Ceylon. A grand reception was arranged by the representatives of various religious sects and social bodies. Swamiji stayed in a bungalow at 96 Barnes Place, Cinnamon Gardens. This bungalow was later renamed as ‘Vivekananda Lodge’. Swamiji stayed for 4 days in Colombo and proceeded to Kandy by a morning train on 19 January. After visiting Anuradhapuram and Jaffna, he left for main-land India on 26 January 1897.
Third visitOn his way to the West for the second
time on the ship S.S.Golconda, Swamiji along with his brother-disciple Swami Turiyananda, and his disciple Sister Nivedita reached Colombo in the morning of 28 June 1899. Swamiji’s admirers in Colombo had procured a permit for landing. Mr Arunachalam, Hon’ble P. Coomaraswamy, Lady Coomaraswamy – an Englishwoman, their son Ananda Coomara- swamy and other friends came to meet Swamiji. Sister Nivedita in her letter to Miss MacLeod on 5 July 1899 wrote that Swamiji visited Mrs Higgins boarding school for Buddhist girls, and the monastery of Countess of Canovara. Swamiji and his party boarded their ship the same evening. The crowd cheered with the praise of Lord Shiva and ‘Swami Vivekanandaji Ko Namaskar!’
Tracing Swamiji’s FootstepsWe visited Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara
which Swamiji visited on his first trip in 1893. We then went to 96, Barnes Place, Cinnamon Garden where Swamiji stayed on his second visit in 1897. It was then a newly built residence of Sri Ratnasabapathy. Swamiji’s companions—his brother-disciple Swami Niranjananda, who had come from India to greet Swamiji in Colombo, Swamiji’s Western disciples Mr & Mrs Sevier, Mr. J.J.Goodwin, and the English Buddhist T.G.Harrison were also accommodated in this house. As Goodwin writes in his letter to Mrs. Bull on 26 January 1897, Swamiji and his party were the first residents of the house. This house, later renamed as ‘Swami Vivekananda Lodge’, was demolished in 1934. In its place now there stands a modern two-storied building, and the area is an aristocratic, protected area. We were asked not to enquire about or talk to the present owner of the house without prior permission from the Administrative Authority.
On 16 January 1897 evening, Swamiji delivered a talk on ‘Punyabhumi Bharat’ in the Floral hall. At this place there now stands Chalmers Granaries and a car park.
Sri Ponnambalavaneshwarar Kovil, the Shiva temple which Swamiji visited in the evening of 17 January 1897 was our next destination. An inscription which was placed there on 17 January 1997 to commemorate
Old sketch of 96, Barnes Place, Cinnamon Garden & its present house
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hundred years of Swami Vivekananda’s visit to this temple is now not traceable. But on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, to commemorate his visit
nanda, Ramakrishnananda, Abhedananda, Vijnanananda, Turiyananda, and Trigunatita- nanda stayed in Thambyah Mudaliyar Chathiram at different times when they came to Sri Lanka to preach Vedanta. There is now a small shrine in Thambyah Chathiram which wa s i n a u g u ra te d by S r i m a t Swa m i Gautamananda Ji, one of the Vice Presidents of the Ramakrishna Order on 7 August 2017.
There is a plaque in this shrine declaring ‘Swami Vivekananda and other direct disciples stayed here’. The book The Ramakrishna Movement in Sri Lanka by Swami Virupaksha- nanda too says so. But in The Life of Swami Vivekananda: By his Eastern and Western Disciples, it is stated that Swamiji did not stay that night at the Chatiram. He returned the same evening to 96, Barnes Place and conversed with a number of brahmins until half past two the following morning.
On 18 January1897 Swamiji paid a visit to Mr Chelliah’s house where he saw a picture of his own master Sri Ramakrishna. This house has n o t b e e n t r a c e d . T h a t e v e n i n g Swamiji delivered a lecture on Advaita Vedanta at the Public hall of Colombo before a large audience. Today, this Public hall is not traceable.
Mrs Marie Musaeus Higgins’ boarding school for Buddhist girls which Swamiji visited on 28 June 1899 presently functions as the Musaeus College, Colombo.
On 19 January 1897, Swamiji started for Kandy by train in a special railway saloon owned by Tambyah; he was accompanied by Sir P. Arunachalam.
to the temple, the temple authority installed a golden statue of Swamiji in the temple premises.
From this Ponnambalavaneshwarar Kovil, on the request of Thambyah Mudaliyar a Reception Committee Member, Swamiji visited the Thambyah Chatiram which is just two buildings away from the temple. The Chathiram, established in 1880 was the only lodging for local and Indian Hindu pilgrims. Later in time, seven other direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna—Swamis Shivananda, Niranjana-
Sri Ponnambalavaneshwarar Kovil Tambyah Chatiram (Shrine)
Jaffna Hindu College Auditorium
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The present Colombo Fort railway station is a modern building. The old one (used during Swamiji’s journey in 1897) has been replaced by the Secretariat Hall and is under military control. Swamiji reached Kandy around 11:20 am. The Railway station in Kandy still exists; it is modernised and extended.
Swamiji visited The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, the famous Buddhist temple in Kandy before journeying onward to Matale. The head of the Colombo Sarada Mission, and the Matale Sarada Mission and the Secretary, Batticaloa Ramakrishna Mission assume that Swamiji halted for the night at some devotee’s bungalow at Matale.
Our next stop was Jaffna where we visited the Jaffna Hindu College. The present Principal and English teacher took us to the Prayer Hall where Swamiji was given the address of welcome on 24 January, 1897 by the founder advocate Sinathamby Nagalingam. Presently a statue of Swamiji adorns the stage. On 25 January in the college premises, under a large shamiyana Swamiji spoke to over 4000 people on Vedantism. This spot is presently occupied by the College library buildings, offices and a Shiva temple. The then Head-Master (Principal) of the Hindu College was Mr N. Selvadurai (1892-1909).
We visi ted the Distr ict l ibrary, Vennarpannai Shivan temple and the adjoining Kathiresan (Murugan or Kartikeya) temple
where Swamiji offered worship on his way to the Hindu College on 24 January 1897.
We s a w t h e K a n k e s a n t h u r a i h a r b o u r ( K K S Harbour) from a distance, as it is currently under military control. It was probably from here that Swamiji took the steamer to reach Pamban Road, India on 26 January 1897.
It is known from R R a j a h m a h e n d ra s i n g a m o f R a m a - krishnalayam, Adiapatham Road, Jaffna that Swamiji stayed in the residence of Proctor Ponnampalam situated near Central College in the main street of Jaffna. This bungalow was demolished in the Sri Lankan civil war.
From Jaffna we started for Anuradha- puram and on the way stopped at the Elephant Pass Bridge where Swamiji was received by the elites of Jaffna and taken in a procession to the Hindu college. We also stopped at Vavoniya where Swamiji was given a welcome by the local people.
In Anuradhapuram, Swamiji visited the sacred Bo tree, a shoot of the original Bo tree of Buddha Gaya, brought by Princess Sanghamitta, daughter of Emperor Ashoka. Swamiji delivered a lecture on ‘Worship’ under the shade of this Bo tree; it was interpreted in Tamil and Sinhalese. Swamiji also visited the ruins of the old city palaces and Dagobhas (Dhagaba) or Stupas, the dome shaped Buddhist shrines.
From Anuradhapuram we returned to Colombo and visited the Colombo Sarada Mission, and the Colombo Port where Swamiji had landed.
We returned to India with a better understanding of Swami Vivekananda’s association with Sri Lanka.
Jaffna Hindu College Auditorium
Thambyah Mudaliyar
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issue 10Issue 18
IN THIS ISSUE:
Message 6
Be bold and fearless
PULLOUT FOR REFERENCE
ISSUE 18: MESSAGE 6: Be bold and fearless
ISSUE 19: MESSAGE 7: Expand your heart
ISSUE 20: MESSAGE 8: Be open to learning from anyone
ISSUE 21: MESSAGE 9: Develop a gigantic will
This is the sixth issue in the 9-part series on Swami Vivekananda's message to the youth. For previous issues refer Vedanta Kesari: January � May 2019
In this issue we explore Swami Vivekananda's message of fearlessness.
Time and again he tells us that fearlessness is true religion:
> EXPLORE OVERLEAF
However, it is important to recognize what can happen to us if we get trapped by our fears and how we can overcome them to become bold and fearless...
If you read the Vedas, you will find this word always repeated — fearlessness — fear nothing CW:I.47.2
“
®
Designed & developed by
ILLUMINEKnowledge Catalysts
www.illumine.in
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Are you often caged by fear in your education & career?From the examples given below choose whichever is applicable to you:
Fear of discomfort
Priya gets a job offer to work in a company where she always wanted to. But the company wants her to join the team at another city. Priya's thinking...
Even though this offer is extremely good, I don’t want to take up a job so far away from my
hometown.
Going to a new place would mean too many
of adjustments, managing things on my own, leaving behind my friends that I
grew up with.
I'd rather stay where I am.
Fear of loss
Bhargav, a young professional has been given an opportunity to take up a challenging job in an emerging field. This would give him a lot of opportunities to challenge himself and grow rapidly in the new field. But...
Fear of failure
Arun is an executive of an advertising firm.
He has been given a chance to lead a team of his own for the first time...
This is risky!
Right now I have a well-paying stable job
and I'm used to a certain kind of lifestyle.What if something goes wrong and
I lose all this?
Better to let go of this
opportunity!!
When we fear discomfort it prevents us from expanding ourselves or building ourselves in terms of our knowledge, capacities, skills, etc.
Ask
your
self:
Ca
n I c
onsc
ious
ly
step
out
of m
y co
mfo
rt z
one
and
face
new
ch
alle
nges
and
si
tuat
ions
?
Ask
your
self:
Ca
n I l
earn
to le
t go
a li
ttle
and
not
be s
o at
tach
ed to
w
ho I
am o
r wha
t I h
ave
with
me?
Ask
your
self:
Ca
n I l
earn
to
cont
inue
tryi
ng
and
not g
ivin
g up
, des
pite
fa
iling
?
When we fear loss, we shut new possibilities for ourselves, in terms of our career, our personal growth, and may lose out on something great happening to us.
When we fear failure, we don't set the bar high, and don't learn to deal with challenges, and further don't build the confidence to take up larger goals.
What if I mess up???
So much trust is being placed in me... What if I let everyone
down!!!
I think I should refuse to take this up... It's better I continue doing what
I am good at!
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Fear of losing social standingSurya loves history and wants to take up humanities after 10th Std. However...
When we fear losing our social standing, or what others will think, we end up living a life defined by others and eventually find ourselves unfulfilled.
Ask
your
self:
Ca
n I
cons
ciou
sly
try
to b
elie
ve in
m
ysel
f and
act
on
that
bel
ief?
Don't be crazy. If you take up humanities or arts people will think you've
scored less marks in 10th and that you not smart
enough for science.
SURYA'S MOM
Ok! Yeah! That's true...
SURYA
If some of the above fears are applicable to you, then you may be caged by fear and you may not be achieving your full potential as a person.
This quote of Swami Vivekananda might apply to you:
“ He who is over-cautious about himself falls into dangers at every step; he who is afraid of losing honour and respect, gets only disgrace; he who is always afraid of loss always loses. CW:VIII:433
For learning Swamiji’s formula for fearlessness, turn to the next page >
Caged by fear
Fear of the unknown Fear of 'what will become of me'When Kumar
is given a new kind of work that he is not trained in...
Shweta is thinking about what kind of career she would want to pursue...
When we fear the unknown, we let go of a chance to discover anything new in the world and consequently in ourselves. Instead we are stuck in what is familiar and safe, which may lead to stagnation. As
k yo
urse
lf:
Can
I lea
rn to
take
a
'leap
of f
aith
' an
d w
alk
into
the
unkn
own?
When we fear what will become of us it forces us to follow the straight & trodden path, and we try to stick to the flock. We fall prey to herd mentality & do not create our own career paths. As
k yo
urse
lf:
Can
I lea
rn n
ot to
be
depe
nden
t on
anyo
ne
or a
nyth
ing
and
build
m
y ow
n fu
ture
and
ca
reer
suc
cess
?
Engineering is everyone's first choice because it helps in building a successful career. I should take it up too... Otherwise I may not succeed and I'll be left
behind!!!
I have not been trained in all this,
how can I do it then? Nobody has done this
before, there's nobody to take guidance from.
I can't do it!
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Share examples of your experiences of trying out these practices, on www.vivekanandaway.org
Any questions that come up in your mind while doing so, can also be discussed here.
How to be bold and fearless? - A Six Point Formula based on Swami Vivekananda's ideas...
©ILLUMINE KNOWLEDGE RESOURCES PVT. LTD.®
“ All fears will vanish if you begin to assert your own nature. CW:V:286.5
We become fearless when we go on asserting that we are strong, that we are capable, that we are creators of our destiny, and that circumstances cannot bind us down.
“ When he (man) can say, ‘I am in everything. In everybody. I am in all lives, I am the universe, then alone comes the state of fearlessness CW:II:80-81
We become fearless when we stop creating artificial divisions & walls with other people, and learn to see commonalities or own-ness with everyone.
“ Everything is fraught with fear: Renunciation alone is fearless. CW:VIII:279.5
We become fearless when we learn not to become overly attached to things, or accumulate things, and try to measure ourselves through our acquisitions. Rather, we become fearless when we learn to let go the moment we wish to.
We become fearless when we recognize that inside us is an intrinsic significance or an intrinsic value that all of us have, simply by the virtue of being who we are.
We become fearless when we don’t treat failure as the end of the road, but rather see failure as a stepping stone to success.
We become fearless when we learn to become self-reliant, in all possible ways.
“ Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. CW:VII:49.3
“ …the less you think of yourself as an insignificant person, the less fear there will be for you. CW:III:89.1
We have a place for struggle in the Vedanta, but not for fear. C.W. V. 286.5
“
1 2
6 3
Recognize your true nature
Renounce
Affirm your strength Struggle, don't lose heart
Depend on no one
Expand yourself
5 4
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In one of his lectures delivered in New York, Swami Vivekananda referring to Alice in Wonderland commented, ‘It is the most wonderful book for children that has been written in this century. When I read it, I was delighted; it was always in my head to write that sort of a book for children. What pleased me most in it was what you think most incongruous, that there is no connection there. One idea comes and jumps into another, without any connection. When you were children, you thought that the most wonderful connection.’ Again, at Belur Math while conversing with his boyhood friend Priya Nath Sinha, Swami Vivekananda expressed a wish: ‘We must compose some books in … English with short stories from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Upanishads, etc., in very easy and simple language, and these are to be given to our little boys to read.’
Beginning from this month, we are happy to serialise Poorva: Magic, Miracles and the Mystical Twelve which has all the elements that Swamiji wanted – divine life-stories unfolding in a magical wonderland. —Ed.
Eleven-year old Poorva flits through the past centuries and witnesses key moments in the lives of twelve great devotees of Lord Vishnu. These saints of South India are collectively
known as Azhwars. Poorva walks through solid walls, and flies on fluffly clouds and carpets. She talks with animals and birds and receives food from a Wishing Food Tree! She is thrilled, mesmerised, and shaken by fast unfolding events. It is an adventure from which she comes out wiser, nobler, and stronger.
About the author & illustratorSmt Lakshmi Devnath, the author of Poorva: Magic, Miracles and the Mystical Twelve is known
to our readers through the series ‘The Vedas: An Exploration’ which ends with this issue. Smt Lakshmi is a researcher and writer with various books and articles to her credit on Indian music and culture. She wrote Poorva to introduce children to our spirituality and culture. It is with this same concern that she has allowed the book to be serialised even while it is being sold in the market.
Smt. Lalithaa Thyagarajan through her beautiful paintings for this series, has enriched the divine mood of Poorva.
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Poorva: Magic, Miracles and the Mystical TwelveA Curtain Raiser
About the BookThe book received a number of positive reviews when it was released some 10 years ago: This is the need of the day, something original to make our spiritual history come alive. I could
not leave the book until I finished reading it, even amidst all my other engagements. I wish the book a global circulation, which it deserves. – Swami Gautamananda, President, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai
This is the first time I have seen a book cater to the needs of both children and adults – not a dull moment, not a boring event, not a hackneyed expression in the entire narrative. Lakshmi … has breathed life into the lives of all the Azhvars by bringing in historical data
to support her narrative, making it more credible and educative. This book deserves to go global. – Dr. M. Narasimhachary, Founder-Professor and Head (retd.), Dept. of Vaishnavism, University of Madras
Combining the past and the present, the real and the fantastic … great for kids and people of all other ages … recreates the age of the twelve saint-poets … tells a simple yet
engaging story, not losing the reader for a minute. – The New Indian Express
Poorva Invites...
Hi folks, I’ve just returned from a rollicking adventure way
back in the past. Believe it … because I saw the lives of twelve fantastic saint-poets (who once lived in our country) unfold before my very eyes. The journey took me unawares and raced forward till the very end, with its package of suspense and surprises.
But I must not tell you too much. Discover for yourself the thrill of conquering time and space. Bon voyage!
On your return, share with me the experiences of your trip.
Contact me at: [email protected] Magically yours,
Poorva
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PariprasnaQ & A with Srimat Swami Tapasyananda
(1904 to 1991), Vice-President of the Ramakrishna Order.
Approach the wise sages, offer reverential salutations, repeatedly ask proper questions, serve
them and thus know the Truth. — Bhagavad Gita
QUESTION: When we are under the absolute control of the three Gunas of Prakriti how can we ever use our will? Is free will a misnomer?
MAHARAJ: In Sri Ramakrishna’s sayings we get perhaps the best answer to this question. He says man’s condition is like that of a cow which is tied with a string tethered to a post. The cow has got some freedom. It can move about and graze over as wide an area as the length of the rope would permit, but not further. It cannot run away from the post except when the owner comes and releases it from the connection with the post. So also God has given some freedom to man. There may be determinism of Nature, but man being basically the spirit, the freedom of spirit is always there to counteract that determinism, if man would tap his spiritual nature. No doubt it is limited in the embodied state by the tether of the body-mind. If we exercise that freedom in line with the laws of moral and spiritual growth, we will get greater and greater freedom, until we are ultimately released from the tether of the body-mind. Ultimately only God’s will prevails or rather, it is the only Will. When we think of ourselves as separate from the Will, we are like eddies in the current of a flowing river. The eddy moves in its own way, but it is a part of the force working as the whole current. So also if we are identifying ourselves with God’s Will, of which ours is a part, then what we call our will is one with His will and there is absolute freedom. In separation however there can be only limited freedom.
QUESTION: What is meant by ‘giving power of attorney to God’? When is a spiritual aspirant fit for it?
MAHARAJ: This expression ‘giving power of attorney to God’ was used by Sri Ramakrishna with reference to a devotee Girish Chandra Ghosh. Girish was a man of tremendous faith, intelligence and sincerity; but he was an artiste and a bohemian by nature, quite hostile to all routine, rules and regulations. The Master gave him certain disciplines to practise regularly at certain parts of the day, but Girish could not promise to practise any of them, for the simple reason that he had no regular time for anything, even for his meals or sleep. He took life as it came and never planned. Being constitutionally incapable of any fixed discipline, he was asked by Sri Ramakrishna to give him the power of attorney. The idea is, legally when you give the power of attorney to a person, that person will do all things on your behalf and you need not exert or think about those affairs. In this way Sri Ramakrishna offered to take all the responsibility for the spiritual progress of Girish and Girish deposited his trust in him cent per cent. Here there are two or three important facts to be remembered:
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1. Girish was a man of extraordinary faith, sincerity and intelligence. So when he said a thing, he really meant it, although it took him a long time to know the full implications of it.
2. Girish had an attitude of absolute trust in the Master, in his spiritual greatness and in his capacity to save. Such trust, faith and submission naturally opened Girish’s mind, unhindered and uninhibited, to the holy influence of Sri Ramakrishna to work upon and effect a gradual transformation. His faith and intelligence enabled him also to take all success and failure, happiness and misery, with equanimity, as lessons for shaping his life. This attitude of ‘at-one-ment’ with the master had gradually to become his natural mood, for without that he could not eschew all egoistic impulses which is really the ultimate implication of ‘giving the power of attorney’.
3. There was the unique personality of Sri Ramakrishna, whose presence had the potency to elicit the best that was in each aspirant. So Girish got also the active, though unnoticed, help of the Master. All these brought about his gradual spiritual transformation.
If all these conditions are at least partially fulfilled, then one can speak of ‘giving the power of attorney’. Such unwavering faith and sincerity as were found in Girish are however very rare. Where they are not present, it is better that one makes conscious personal efforts, with the conviction that limited power and intelligence are given to one by God for exercising the same, and that such self-exertion, under the sanction of His will, is the path of spiritual progress for man. The test of one having really given the ‘power of attorney’ is that one’s mind will be at peace afterwards. Success and failure, happiness and misery will not agitate or depress one who has done so in all faith and sincerity. If these are not observed to be present, then one must conclude there has been no real resignation.
As for Girish, Sri Ramakrishna the world-teacher was present in flesh and blood before him to take charge of his responsibility. Others have not however got this good fortune. But it is the conviction of the dovotees of Sri Ramakrishna that he, the great Master, is always with those who pray to him in truth and in spirit. If one could, like Girish, throw all one’s burdens on the Master with absolute and unwavering faith, the Master will certainly come to that aspirant’s help.
Selections from Spiritual Quest: Questions & Answers by Swami Tapasyananda
abominable rites became rampant and the entire country was stricken by tantric adultery. Then there appeared Kumarila Bhatta with his Vedic ritualism and Shankara with his Advaitism to protect Hinduism. But neither of them preached religion to the common people – their religion was only for the intelligentsia.
After this, Ramanuja and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, just by the power of the Lord’s name, flooded the entire country with a torrent of devotion. Just as the Muslims were required only to acknowledge Allah, Chaitanya preached that just by uttering the name of Hari, one will become a Vaishnava, a Hindu. This saved
Hinduism. He intoxicated the whole country with love and devotional singing. Many erstwhile Buddhists became yogis and vairagis by accepting parts of Hinduism and Vaishnavism. Some became Tantrics and upheld parts of Vedic ritualism.
Anyway, because of the mass revolution brought in by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Vaishnavas became modest and virtuous in conduct. During those days of Muslim rule, the Hindus would have faced great problems if they had not cultivated humility and avoided open conflict with the rulers.
(To be continued. . .)
(Continued from page 18...)Reminiscences of Sargachhi
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What would Swami Vivekananda say if he were here among us and could
observe the brave new world we’ve created since he passed away in 1902?
This is a presumptuous and highly speculative question. It presumes that we know Swamiji so well that we can predict what he would think about any given subject. And since we don’t know him that well, it’s impossible to do that. But if we’ve studied his life and teachings and observed his thought patterns, it’s possible to hazard a few guesses. I’m going to hazard a few guesses—and they might all be dead wrong.
Those who have read about Swamiji’s life will know that, when he arrived in the United States in 1893, he was greatly impressed by its high level of technology, its efficiency, its dynamism. Later he became more aware of the evils that lurked beneath the surface. He criticised the crass and shallow materialism that pervaded American life.
Both trends have escalated since 1893. American technology is now even more advanced—and so is its shallow materialism. Worse, America has exported both, so that now both its technology and its materialism are found almost everywhere.
In Swamiji’s day, most long-distance travel was by train and steamship. Now we have automobiles (even self-driving ones!), international jetliners, and rockets. Journeys that took weeks and even months in the past by land and by sea now take only one or two days
If Swami Vivekananda Were Here TodayWILLIAM PAGE
by air. We’ve been to the moon. We’ve sent probes to Mars. We have technological marvels that Swamiji could not have dreamed of. We have the computer! The iPad! The smartphone! The Internet! Facebook! Selfies! Twitter! And an app for every purpose.
I think that, in general, Swamiji would applaud all these material advances. They make our lives easier and more comfortable, and thus give us more free time to devote to religious practices and service to humanity.
But they all have a dark side. With the computer come viruses. With the Internet come Internet addiction, cyberbullying, and a thousand online scams. With Facebook comes a quantum leap in narcissism, facilitated by selfies. I’ve heard that some people take photos of what they had for lunch that day, and post them on Facebook. Imagine that! The entire world is dying to see what you had for lunch today! It’s well known that the greatest obstacle to spiritual growth is the ego. Facebook, together with selfies, represents the greatest victory of the ego since the invention of the mirror.
So I think that Swami Vivekananda would applaud our advances in technology, but would laugh at some of the uses we put them to. And it’s for sure that he would wonder what we’re doing with all the free time these modern marvels have given us. Do we indeed devote more time to our religious practices and serving humanity? Not so you’d notice it. Instead we waste it watching television, surfing
William Page has been associated with the Ramakrishna Vedanta Society of Massachusetts since 1960 and is a member of the Ramakrishna Vedanta Association of Thailand. com
Article
Scholarship for the 80 poor students
Free medical camp
Free Coaching class for 75 students
Free Tailoring Classes
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the Internet, texting our friends about trivia, and posting selfies on Facebook.
When it comes to religion, I’m afraid that Swamiji would be dismayed by the current situation. The Pew Research Center has found that in the rich and developed countries, religious commitment, as measured by church attendance, is in decline. It still flourishes in the poor and undeveloped countries. Worldwide, uneducated people tend to embrace religion; educated people turn away from it. This generalisation suggests that, in our brave new world, piety correlates with poverty and unbelief correlates with affluence. But this is nothing new. Ages ago, Jesus Christ declared, ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’ (Luke 18:25)
Given this situation, what are religious aspirants to do? The contemporary world calls us old-fashioned and obsolete; the jet-setters laugh at us. The onrushing avalanche of materialism—of cynicism, superficiality, and greed—is flattening everything in its path. Religious aspirants have no choice but to do what we’ve always done: be strong, stay true, and stand fast. But get out of the path of the avalanche and let it sweep past . Sri Ramakrishna remarked that the world is like the curled tail of a dog—you can’t change it. Try to straighten the tail, and as soon as you let go, it will snap back into its original shape.
We may not be able to change the world, but we can change ourselves; and changing ourselves is what religion is all about. If we are true aspirants, we have no choice but to stick to our guns no matter what follies may engulf the world. That means remaining true to the essentials of religious practice—prayer, japa, meditation, scriptural study, singing of bhajans, keeping holy company if we can find any—and
trying to serve the Shiva in every jiva as best we can.
There remains the question of what Swami Vivekananda would think of present-day India and its people. I’m not an Indian, and I don’t know India or its people well enough to say. Swamiji declared religion to be the very backbone of India, and his great fear was that Indians would forsake religion for politics. But aside from an aggressive nationalism, the real competitor with religion in India today is not politics. It is the lure of technology, and the secular mindset that goes with it. In ages past, Indian boys wanted to be sadhus. Now they all want to be computer geniuses and start up their own companies.
If Swami Vivekananda were to address the Indian nation today, he might say something like this:
‘Children of India, ‘You are heirs to a great religious
tradition. In your veins flows the blood of the Vedic rishis, the sages of the Upanishads: Satyakama and Shvetaketu, Narada and Nachiketa, Gargi, Maitreyi, and Yajnavalkya. You are heirs to the Buddha, Mahavira, Patanjali, and the great acharyas, Shankara, Ramanuja, and Madhva. Yours too is the legacy of later saints: Jnaneswar, Tukaram, Kabir, the Alvars, Chaitanya, Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Aurobindo, Ramana Maharshi, and legions of others whose names are unknown.
‘Be worthy of them! Do not exchange the diamonds they have given you for cheap beads of glass! Do not do, say, or even think anything that would make them ashamed of you. Having inherited such a noble tradition, be noble yourselves. Always act in such a way that Mother India will smile with pride and proclaim to all the world: “These are my children!”’
On returning to India in January 1897 after his triumphant visit to the West where he propagated the ancient religion of our country, Swami Vivekananda had stayed in Maharaja Bhaskara Sethupathy’s Palace Guest House for 3 days from 29th to 31st January, 1897 and delivered speeches that awakened our nation.
A Math centre was started at this spot sanctified by Swamiji’s stay and affiliated to the Ramakrishna Order on 26-6-2016. Those who live at Nagachi, Mandapam, Pamban & Rameswaram are mainly poor fishermen & women whose children, unable to afford higher studies, go for daily labour or fishing. The Math is conducting a number of service activities for these poor people.
You can also create an Endowment for Rs. 10000/- and above for the above activities.
We request you all to give a helping hand to these poor children of God, through your small or big contributions and be the recipients of the Lord’s blessings.
All donations are exempted from 80 G under Income tax act, 1961. The Cheques/ Drafts/ M. O. should be sent in the name of “Ramakrishna Math, Ramanathapuram”. Or it may transferred through RTGS to the following account:
Account name: Ramakrishna Math Bank: Indian Bank Branch: Ramanathapuram A/c No.: 6426034057 IFS Code: IDIB000R051
Please inform us with your address and PAN number after transferring the amount through RTGS.
Educational, Medical and Other Services for the Poor and Afflicted Through Ramakrishna Math, Ramanathapuram
Yours in the service of the Lord,Swami Sutapananda
Adhyaksha
Sl No Activity Expenditure1 Education: Educating 80 poor students in
Nursing, Polytechnic, and Arts & ScienceRs. 30,000/ per student for one year. Total cost = Rs. 24 lakhs
2 Mobile Medical Service: Conducting medical camps
Rs. 6 lakhs per year
3 Free Coaching Classes: Coaching for 75 poor school children besides giving them food, uniform, notebooks, etc.
Rs. 4 lakhs per year.
4 Tailoring Course: 3-month classes for poor women & gifting them One Tailoring Machine to earn their livelihood.
Rs. 6 lakhs per year
5 Free School Uniform: For 500 poor students Rs. 3 lakhs per year6 Construction: Monks’ Quarters &
Community HallRs. 2.15 crores
Scholarship for the 80 poor students
Free medical camp
Free Coaching class for 75 students
Free Tailoring Classes
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There is a nice story in the book ‘Hindu Symbology and Other Essays’ by
Swami Swahananda of the Ramakrishna Order. A devotee of the Divine Mother lived in Ramanathapuram in Tamilnadu in South India. His name was Veerai Kavi Rajendra. Once he decided to go alone on a pilgrimage to Kashi. His daughter was keen to accompany him. But as the journey was long and difficult, Rajendra and his wife persuaded the girl to stay back at home. Bidding adieu to family and friends Rajendra started walking towards Kashi. When he had gone a mile, he saw his daughter running towards him. She told him that on her strong insistence, her mother had finally allowed her to go with her father. Then, Rajendra too agreed to take her along with him.
The father and daughter visited several places of pilgrimage on the way to Kashi. The daughter served her father in various ways like washing clothes, cooking food, fetching water, and preparing the bed. After visiting various pilgrim centres in and around Kashi, they started walking back to their village. Almost one year from the day they had left the town, the father-daughter duo arrived at the outskirts of their town. The girl told her father that she would run ahead and give the family the happy news of their safe return. The father agreed. The girl ran ahead.
When Veerai Kavi Rajendra reached the village, his family and friends received him with great warmth and joy. Rajendra enquired about every one of his family and friends. He naturally
Seeing God EverywhereN GOKULMUTHU
did not ask about his daughter for she had been with him all along. In the evening his wife rebuked him, ‘Have you forgotten that we have a daughter? Having enquired about or talked to everyone you knew, you never even asked about our daughter from whom you were away for so long. The poor girl is feeling left out and is weeping.’ A surprised Rajendra protested that she was with him all the year. This was a shock to the family for the daughter had been at home throughout the year. Veerai Kavi Rajendra was moved to tears when he realised that it was the Divine Mother who had accompanied and served him for a whole year in the form of his daughter.
There are numerous such incidents recorded in the lives of various saints and devotees. We can never ignore the possibility that the stranger travelling with us in a bus, or our mother who has come to serve tea, or the servant maid who has come to work in our house today, or the person making the unsolicited marketing call to our phone, or whoever, is actually God who is playing with us in the form of the actual person. We cannot ignore or despise any person with whom we interact in our day-to-day life. We need to treat eve r yo n e w i t h d i g n i t y a n d b e h ave appropriately.
This does not mean that we should pamper everyone. As Sri Ramakrishna says, ‘Tiger is also God. But that does not mean you should go and hug it.’ Give everyone and everything its due respect. Holy Mother says,
Article
Sri Gokulmuthu N. works as a software engineer in Bengaluru. [email protected]
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‘Even a broom cannot be thrown away carelessly. It has its role in the household. We have used it and we will need it later. It should be given its due respect.’
Going one step further, it is really God who has become everything and everyone. Even the ‘actual’ person with whom we interact, is in reality, God. It is God who appears to our mind and sense organs as the world. There are two ways in which this happens. If we ask a biologist what all living and dead things are made of, he will reply ‘cells’. If we ask a chemist what the world of living and non-living things are made of, he will say ‘atoms and molecules’. If we ask a physicist what the world is made of, he will say ‘quarks and leptons’ or something like that. Science is searching for that ultimate ‘one thing’ out of which everything in the world is made of. Advaita Vedanta says that ‘one thing’ is God, defined as Existence, Consciousness, Bliss. Thus God is the material cause of the world, as gold is the material cause of different ornaments. Also, God is the goldsmith, who is the conscious intelligence behind the world. Thus, we can safely say, ‘God came to my house this morning in the form of my servant maid and cleaned the floor.’ We can say, ‘I drank God in the form of water.’ We can say, ‘I slipped on God in the form of a banana peel and fell down!’
The world is God. God is not limited by the world. God appears as the world. He is infinitely more than the world. God is the only thing that exists, devoid of any features, changeless, eternal, homogeneous, partless, conscious and infinite. The world appears on God, i.e., with God as the substratum, even as a snake appears on a rope in the dark. The apparent snake does not affect the rope, though there would be no appearance of the snake without the rope. As God is both the material and conscious cause, the appearance of world in God has much more role of God than in the case of the rope, where the conscious seer is different.
The first name of the Lord in the Vishnu Sahasranaama is ‘Vishwa’ or world. The first mantra of the Isha Upanisad starts with ईशा वास्यवमदं सववं ‘God resides in everything in the world.’ The second sutra of the Brahma Sutra says िन्मादद अस्य ्यतः ‘From, in and into (also by) whom the world has its origin, existence and dissolution.’ The Bhagavad Gita has innumerable verses where the world is given as an appearance of God. Almost the entire chapters 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 are dedicated to this idea. Several verses in other chapters also convey this idea.
Thus, to the question, ‘Does God exist?’, the scriptures reply, ‘God alone exists.’ To the question, ‘Can I see God?, the reply is, ‘Everything that you see is God only. It is only understanding and recognition that you need.’
Then what about the prophets, saints, incarnations, etc.? Though it is God who appears as everything, the manifestation is different in different objects and people. A saint manifests the divinity within him more than others. Knowing the real nature of God, the saint manifests the divinity by emotional non-dependence on any particular person, object or situation. Peacefulness, righteousness, compassion, humility, selflessness, gratefulness, etc., become his natural traits. All differences are only in the manifestation of the inherent divinity.
Conventional concepts of God as compassionate, omnipotent, etc., help a devotee to start on the spiritual path by forming a personal relationship with God with a ‘personality’. As the devotee develops, his concept of God will evolve to a more impersonal one. Swami Vivekananda says, ‘It is good to be born in a church, but it is the worst possible fate to die in a church. It is good to be born in a sect, and the worst possible thing to die in a sect with sectarian ideas.’ Finally everyone has to come to the idea, ‘God alone exists. Everything is a transient appearance of God in that form.’
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Book Reviews
For review in The VedanTa Kesari,
publishers need to send us two copies oF their
latest publication.
The Upanishads A Study of the Oriental Texts By N.Jayashanmugham
Published by Motilal Banarsi- dass Publishers Pvt. Ltd, 41, UA Bungalow Road, Jawahar Nagar, Delhi - 110 007. 2016, paper- back, pp.412, Rs.700.
The aim of this study is to show that discrimination,
and reliance on the original texts of the Upanishads are a great help in getting the real meaning of the Upanishadic texts. The help gained from the commentaries is acceptable to the extent they are faithful to the original text. The author, who was granted a Senior Fellowship for studying the Upanishads by the Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR), New Delhi, has, to prove his point, selected eight Upanishads: Isa, Kena, Katha, Mundaka, Mandukya, Svetasvatara, Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka. From seven of these, some texts are selected, their traditional commentaries by Shankara, Gaudapada or Vidyaranya are given in short, followed by the author’s views. There are two more sections of General Topics and Allied Topics having eight chapters out of a total of 30. The book is dedicated to Sri Aurobindo.
Isa Upanishad is considered the most important and the ‘greatest’ of the twelve Upanishads and as many as six chapters are devoted to it. This could be because Sri Aurobindo speaks of ‘the epic massiveness of the Isa Upanishad’—and the author is his follower! The anti-ascetic teaching of the second verse, according to the author, is woven into the whole Upanishad from the beginning to the end, and also into all the other Upanishads. Because of his anti-ascetic bias he does not accept the popular notion that Mundak Upanishad is for the shaven headed sannyasins. Instead it means the Head Upanishad. One full chapter is dedicated to derive the meaning of the word ‘Atmahana’. Lesser number of chapters are devoted to other much larger Upanishads! By this one gets the
impression that the book is more a compilation of the articles of the author on some of the selected texts of the Upanishads than a study.
On going through the articles, one is bound to agree with the view of the scholars who had studied this work for extending the scholarship of the ICPR that (i) The textural meaning of the Upanishad is relative to the interpreter and is bound to end as a projection of his own mind; and (ii) The research is coloured by anti-advaitin bias, for the author is out to vanquish his advaitin adversary. He does so by giving his own interpretation and thus commits the same mistake for which the advaitin is held responsible. The author has tried to defend his position in ‘An Answer to the Critics’ claiming that it is more in keeping with the meaning of the original texts. Had the author not used the Advaitic interpretations as purvapaksha and had presented his study with occasional references to the Advaitic view, it would have been more dignified, since the author’s interpretations are rational and noteworthy. Biased or not, an impartial reader will surely enjoy and appreciate this interpretation of the Upanishadic texts.________________ SWAMI BRAHMESHANANDA, CHANDIGARH
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Review of three Pictorial books published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai 600 004 in 2017.
Dashavatar
Ten Incarnations of Lord Mahavishnu; narrated by KV Gayathri. Pictorial. pp.52, Rs.70.
Sri Ramakrishna’s Stories
44 pages; Rs 60/-
Pictorial Ramayana
by Swami Raghaveshananda; 56 pages; Rs 65/-
If the culture of a civilisation lies in its oral and written traditions, then Indian culture
can rightly claim to be one of the richest in the world. We have so many stories from mythology, epics, and history that we can find through this treasure-house, solutions and a guide-map to almost any situations in our life by discovering parallels in the stories. The most reassuring feature is that much of the lessons from these stories are rational, with solid psychological groundings; even the most pragmatic person can find reason to believe and accept them.
Into this category come two of the three books under review: Dashavatar and Sri Ramakrishna’s Stories. The first is an account of the ten incarnations of Vishnu, retold specifically for children. The stories may be disparate accounts of Vishnu’s descent in various forms to relieve the earth of specific burdens. But taken as a whole we find a common thread running through them –that of the earth and its sentient beings suffering exploitation and their turning to the force of good to gain mastery over evil and reestablish the cosmic order.
The second book, Sri Ramakrishna’s Stories, is a selection of Sri Ramakrishna’’s parables –a
story form very dear to him when discussing deep thoughts with his disciples. These parables are a blessing to the world, because explaining fundamental life-truths in their most accessible form they help us to understand the heart of a lesson without pausing to consider details.
The third book, Pictorial Ramayana, is an abridged version of the best-loved epic, the Ramayana. Sadly, children today are not as familiar with the story as they used to be even a generation ago and the need to familiarise children with the concepts of truth, love, sacrifice, integrity, and the importance of familial ties has never been more acutely felt than it is today.
All three books are attractively produced with beautiful illustrations, and they are great gifts for children. Reading as a habit is now bedevilled and we have to do everything in our power to encourage children to take to this medium as a source of information, and if that source also points the way to higher understanding, then it is too valuable to be ignored. These books are strongly recommended to be a part of children’s reading list.____________________________ PREMA RAGHUNATH, CHENNAI
Indian Epigraphy by D.C. Sircar Publisheed by Motilai Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited 41, U.A. Bungalow Road, Jawahar Nagar, Delhi - 110 007. 2017, paperback, pp.475 +v+xxxvi plates. Rs.750.
Epigraphy is the branch of scientific historical study that
deals with inscriptional records. The importance of inscriptions for reconstructing the pre-colonial history of South Asia is well established since in many instances inscriptions form the only reliable historical record that has come down to us. The dynastic chronology and socio-economic history of ancient and medieval India would have been impossible without the discipline of epigraphy in Indian archaeology. The current work under review is a pioneering contribution to outline
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broad aspects of Indian epigraphy by a scholar of repute. When it was first published in 1965 Sircar’s Indian Epigraphy laid the foundation for path breaking studies in the field. With a brilliant academic career and mastery over Sanskrit and Prakrit, Dinesh Chandra Sircar (1907-1985) went on to become the Chief Epigraphist in the Archaeological Survey of India and also served as the Carmichael Professor of Ancient Indian History and Culture at Calcutta University. Based on original sources, Sircar’s studies invariably bore the stamp of reliability, authenticity and definitiveness.
Dedicating his book to illustrious European Indologist-epigraphists such as G. Buhler, F. Kielhorn, J.F. Fleet and E. Hultzsch, Sircar iterates that since ‘ancient India did not produce a Herodotus, Thucidides or Tacitus to leave for posterity a genuine and comprehensive history of the achievements of her sons’ [p.7] epigraphy stands-in to fill the void. In this work the author has made a wide ranging discussion on various aspects of Indian epigraphy, such as inscriptions and their evidence, writing materials, preparation and preservation of records, dating, and the eras.
The first chapter lays out the context on the significance of epigraphy in Indological studies by analysing the merits and demerits of epigraphic evidence. The second chapter deals with the varied languages used in Indian inscriptions in clearly organized sections arranged under Prakrit and Sanskrit, Dravidian and Neo-Indo-Aryan languages. The author wisely leaves out the perennially disputed but still un-deciphered Indus script from his discussion. The third, fourth and eighth chapters survey the enormous variety of the material base of Indian inscriptions ranging from Palmyra, birch, cloth, hide, paper, wood, stone, and metal. These chapters also contain substantial information about the preparation and preservation of records and technical expressions used in Indian inscriptions. It is here that Sircar’s experience in field epigraphy becomes visible to the reader.
An interesting aspect about the book is the section on royal charters or raja-sasana and the appendix titled ‘Stanzas on Bhumi-dana quoted in Raja-Sasanas’ where Sircar engages in the debates on the creation of rent-free holdings. It must be remembered that this has a direct bearing on notions of feudalism in Indian history.
Another significant chapter traces evidences of ancient Indian epigraphy from varied Central and South East Asian countries such as Afghanistan, Ceylon, Burma, Thailand, Malaya peninsula, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Annam (Vietnam) with sections that relate about the region-centric specificities. The seventh chapter tackles the relevant but complicated question of dating and the use of varied eras in Indian inscriptions. Sircar not only provides information about the well-known Vikrama and Saka eras but also currently obsolete reckonings such as the Parthian, Kalachuri, Harsha and other eras.
The only shortcoming of the book is that although it contains an appendix on ‘Indo- Muslim Epigraphy’, Sircar’s assessment of Perso-Arabic inscriptions from the post-twelfth century looks rather scanty as compared to ancient Indian inscriptions in terms of analysis as well as evidence.
Despite the fact that a number of significant contributions have been made in the field of epigraphic studies in the second half of the twentieth century by noted scholars such as V.V. Mirashi, N. Karashima, Ahmad Hasan Dani, G.S. Gai, Frederick M. Asher and Richard Salomon among others, they have built upon the able foundations that were chalked out by academics like D.C. Sircar. Written in a lucid style the book’s strength lie in its judicious and well-documented handling of Indian epigraphic data. Motilal Banarasidass’ second reprint of this pioneering contribution will definitely enable students to understand the evolution of Indian epigraphy in a better light. It will also be a valuable reference work for historians and epigraphists alike. DR. SANTANU DEY, RAMAKRISHNA MISSION VIDYAMANDIRA
A cursory survey of the Vedic literature especially the Rig Veda reveals that,
in those days, India was indeed a land of plenty. There are references to gold ornaments and fine robes. The art scene also seems to have been rather vibrant with music, dance and other arts. There is nothing in the Vedic literature to show that the rishis were pessimistic or considered the world as evil. On the contrary, the sages considered this world as a fit place for virtuous people to lead a good life under the protection of beneficent gods. To them, the world was a stage in the progress of man’s spiritual journey. The Brahmana literature reveals to us the high moral level of the ancient rishis. The literature also talks about relations between the various strata in the social life, relationship between gods and men, the connection between this world and the higher world and so on. Philosophical speculations, theological teachings, fantastic and hair-splitting textual interpretations and various other points gives one a clear view of the intellectual level of the Vedic rishis and no impartial reader can but be impressed by the high intellectual level of the nation at that time.
The Vedic family was of the patriarchal society. However, the position of women was very good in the Vedic society. The birth of a daughter was no doubt not as welcome as the birth of a son, but there is no evidence to show that girls were disposed off as unwanted babies. In intellectual life, they occupied the
same position as men. Like boys, they too received education and went through the brahmacharya discipline; the Atharva Veda observes how a bride had no chance of a good match, if she had not been educated as a brahmacharini. Women were familiar with Vedic literature and some of them, like Lopamudra, Ghosa, Gargi and Sikata-Nivavari, participated in discussions and were the authors of Vedic hymns. They had also right to perform Vedic rituals by the side of their husbands. The Rig Vedic hymn 8.9.1 describes how a maiden could take a soma twig and offer it by herself as a sacrifice to Indra. Apart from women philosophers, there were women warriors who fought bravely in wars. This complete equality between men and women is found in all parts of the Vedic literature from the Samhitas to the Upanishads.
The perusal of the marriage hymn (Rig Veda 10.85) shows that the sanctity of the institution of marriage had already been recognized by the society. The tie of marriage was a binding force all through life. Marriage was regarded, not as an impediment but as an aid in religious progress; in fact there were certain sacrifices that could not be performed by unmarried men. Bride purchase was not known and in the rare cases where it took place the bridegroom was held in low esteem. The term dampati would suggest that the husband and wife were regarded as the joint heads of the household.
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Vedic SocietyLAKSHMI DEVNATH
(Continued from previous issue...)
The Vedas: An Exploration
The author is a researcher and writer with various books and articles to her credit on Indian music and culture. [email protected]
As far as professional occupations go, references are found on spinning, weaving carpentry, pottery and so on. Agriculture and cattle-rearing were the chief productive occupations in Vedic society. An interesting hymn in the Atharva Veda shows that non-possession of cows was regarded as a great misfortune. The professions of the priest and the warrior were particularly held in high esteem. The physician was also greatly respected; antidote for diseases was partly herbal remedies and partly incantations. Atharva Veda refers to the treatment of fevers, jaundice, and dysentery. Surgery also seems to have been practised as the Rig Veda (1.116.15) refers to the Asvins giving an iron leg to Vispala
to replace the one lost by her in a battle. Chariot-building was also regarded as a skilled profession and spoken of as comparable to composing poetry. Chariots had various kinds of carvings, and gold and gems were used for its decoration. The chariots were drawn by horses. By and large, no mention is found in the Vedas of vimanas that find mention in the later literature, though an odd reference to it can be found in some places. Even the gods moved about in chariots drawn by animals. The use of various kinds of metal for different purposes was also known. Many kinds of weapons were made with metals. Gems and other precious stones were used as decorations for the body, both by men and women.
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As far as conveyance went, there are passages that point to the existence of chariots drawn by horses, bullock carts and even some kind of a ship. Road laying must also have been quite advanced for the Atharva Veda refers to three kinds of roads: fit for chariots, apt for carts, and ideal for foot-passengers.
The Vedic Aryans had good brick-built homes. There were villages and also towns. The people were divided into various clans.
Regarding the flora and fauna, the Vedic literature abounds with references to various plants and herbs and the medicinal values of several of them. Mention is made of horses, cows, bullocks, reptiles, wolves, other wild and ferocious animals and domesticated dogs and mules as well as different kinds of birds.
As regards customs and traditions, the picture regarding the existence of child marriage is not very clear. Moral values must have been high for one finds a hymn devoted to condemnation of gambling and its evil effects on man, family, and society. But recreations like horse-racing and chariot-racing were not condemned in those days. On the flip side, there are also certain passages that indicate the occasional practice of human slaughter. The Aitareya Brahmana shows how one Sunahsepa was offered to Varuna and how by prayer to the various gods, his life was saved from slaughter. But generally, the Vedic literature shows only abhorrence to this practice which must have been common among the less civilized sections of the world at that time. No sort of sanction is found for such a practice in the whole of the Vedic literature.
As regards the consumption of alcoholic beverages, apart from Soma used during the Sama Veda sacrifices, there is mention of another drink, Sura which is definitely stated as having evil effects on the minds of men. The killing of animals was not prohibited in those days.
The level of education amongst the Vedic people seems to have been quite high. There is
the famous statement in the Veda that everyone should receive education svadhyayo adhyetavyah. Along with the Vedas, it was recommended that the vedangas also be studied. It was imperative that the students understood the meaning of the verses they learnt. They were required to learn the grammar and recite the verses with proper accent and intonation. In the Chandogya Upanishad, Narada lists to Sanatkumara the subjects he has learnt and this includes a variety of subjects from the scientific to the esoteric. The completion of education was followed by a ceremonial bath which indicated that the phase of brahmacharya was over and the student was ready for grhastasrama. There is a very interesting passage in the Taittiriya Upanishad (1.11) that throws considerable light on the educational policy of those times. After the student has finished his education and is ready to leave for home, the teacher exhorts him to speak the truth and to lead a virtuous life and further advises him as to his duties and obligations as a member of society. This verse makes it amply clear that the student was encouraged to remain in society and contribute to it and not to resort to asceticism before the appropriate time.
Most of the educational institutions were asramas of rishis in the forests. Begging for biksha or alms was a part of a student’s life. Teaching was considered the most honoured profession in those days. The teacher, the man of wisdom, controlled the life of the nation. Both wealth and political power bowed before wisdom. As far as political organization went, monarchy was the order of the day.
In the whole history of India, the Vedic age has been recognized as an ideal period in the history of mankind. Certainly, no one can deny the fact that the Vedas satisfied the needs of the intellect, the imagination and the emotions of a great nation for a long period, extending over at least three thousand years.
(Concluded.)
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What is Religion?
Religion is a Necessity
Religion is a constitutional necessity of the human mind.1
In the previous issues of The Vedanta Kesari, we saw the connection of religion with pleasure, with strength, with meaning, and with self-fulfillment.
This month, Swami Vivekananda shows us yet another facet of religion. We know that even when man has everything, there is still a hollowness he experiences inside. What will fulfil that?
‘Upon the same tree there are two birds, of beautiful plumage, most friendly to each other, one on the top, the other below. The one on the top is calm, silent, and majestic, immersed in his own glory; the one on the lower branches, eating sweet and bitter fruits by turns, hopping from branch to branch, is becoming happy and miserable by turns. After a time the lower bird eats an exceptionally bitter fruit and gets disgustful and looks up and sees the other bird, that wondrous one of golden plumage, who eats neither sweet nor bitter fruit, who is neither happy nor miserable, but calm, Self-centered, and sees nothing beyond his Self. The lower bird longs for this condition but soon forgets it, and again begins to eat the fruits. In a little while, he eats another exceptionally bitter fruit, which makes him feel miserable, and he again looks up, and tries to get nearer to the upper bird. Once more he forgets and after a time he looks up, and so on he goes again and again, until he comes very near to the beautiful bird and sees the
reflection of light from his plumage playing around his own body, and he feels a change and seems to melt away; still nearer he comes, and everything about him melts away, and at last he understands this wonderful change. The lower bird was, as it were, only the substantial-looking shadow, the reflection of the higher; he himself was in essence the upper bird all the time. This eating of fruits, sweet and bitter, this lower, little bird, weeping and happy by turns, was a vain chimera, a dream: all along, the real bird was there above, calm and silent, glorious and majestic, beyond grief, beyond sorrow. The upper bird is God, the Lord of this universe; and the lower bird is the human soul, eating the sweet and bitter fruits of this world. Now and then comes a heavy blow to the soul. For a time, he stops the eating and goes towards the unknown God, and a flood of light comes. He thinks that this world is a vain show. Yet again the senses drag him down, and he begins as before to eat the sweet and bitter fruits of the world. Again an exceptionally hard blow comes. His heart becomes open again to divine light; thus gradually he approaches God, and as he gets nearer and nearer, he finds his old self melting away. This is the picture of the human soul. Man is eating the sweet and bitter fruits of this life, pursuing gold, pursuing his senses, pursuing the vanities of life — hopelessly, madly careering he goes. When he has come near enough, he sees that he is no other than God, and he exclaims, ‘He whom I have described to you as the Life of this universe, as
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present in the atom, and in suns and moons — He is the basis of our own life, the Soul of our soul. Nay, thou art That.’ This is what (religion) teaches. It tells man that he is essentially divine. It shows to mankind the real unity of being, and that each one of us is the Lord God Himself, manifested on earth. All of us, from the lowest worm that crawls under our feet to the highest beings to whom we look up with wonder and awe — all are manifestations of the same Lord.’2
‘Such is the career of men pursuing the vanities of life, children dreaming golden dreams only to find that they are but vain, and old men chewing the cud of their past deeds, and yet not knowing how to get out of this network. This is the world. Yet in the life of every one there come golden moments; in the midst of the deepest sorrows, nay, of the deepest joys, there come moments when a part of the cloud that hides the sunlight moves away as it were, and we catch a glimpse, in spite of ourselves of something beyond — away, away beyond the life of the senses; away, away beyond its vanities, its joys, and its sorrows; away, away beyond nature, or our imaginations of happiness here or hereafter; away beyond all thirst for gold, or for fame, or for name, or for posterity. Man stops for a moment at this glimpse and sees the other bird calm and majestic, eating neither sweet nor bitter fruits, but immersed in his own glory, Self-content, Self-satisfied. As the Gita says, ‘He whose devotion is to the Atman, he who does not want anything beyond Atman, he who has become satisfied in the Atman, what work is there for him to do?’ Why should he drudge? Man catches a glimpse, then again he forgets and goes on eating the sweet and bitter fruits of life; perhaps after a time he catches another glimpse, and the lower bird goes nearer and nearer to the higher bird as blows after blows are received. If he be fortunate to receive hard knocks, then he comes nearer and nearer to his companion, the other bird, his life, his friend;
and as he approaches him, he finds that the light from the higher bird is playing round his own plumage; and as he comes nearer and nearer, lo! The transformation is going on. The nearer and nearer he comes, he finds himself melting away, as it were, until he has entirely disappeared. He did not really exist; it was but the reflection of the other bird who was there calm and majestic amidst the moving leaves. It was all his glory, that upper bird’s. He then becomes fearless, perfectly satisfied, calmly serene.’3
‘It is sometimes said that religions are dying out, that spiritual ideas are dying out of the world. To me it seems that they have just begun to grow. The power of religion, broadened and purified, is going to penetrate every part of human life. So long as religion was in the hands of a chosen few or of a body of priests, it was in temples, churches, books, dogmas, ceremonials, forms, and rituals. But when we come to the real, spiritual, universal concept, then, and then alone religion will become real and living; it will come into our very nature, live in our every movement, penetrate every pore of our society, and be infinitely more a power for good than it has ever been before.’4
‘The one great idea that to me seems to be clear, and comes out through masses of superstition in every country and in every religion, is the one luminous idea that man is divine, that divinity is our nature. This fire of freedom and purity is the nature of every soul, and not a quality, because qualities can be acquired and therefore can be lost. The soul is one with Freedom, and the soul is one with Existence, and the soul is one with Knowledge. The Sat-Chit-Ananda – Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute – is the nature, the birthright of the Soul, and all the manifestations that we see are Its expressions, dimly or brightly manifesting Itself. Even death is but a
(Continued on page 52. . .)
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Topical Musings
What is the Sadhana that Swami Vivekananda prescribed for us?
Contrary to popular belief, he did not prescribe anything new, of his own. He merely amplified the exact method that Sri Ramakrishna had prescribed.
Swami Saradananda has written a wonderful book, Sri Ramakrishna Lilaprasanga, translated into English as Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play. It is an authentic biography of Sri Ramakrishna. It has a very interesting
work. It is just as when a young wife advances in pregnancy. She is given less and less work to do; and when the child is born, she gives up household work altogether and is busied exclusively with the infant. But an ordinary person must try to do his duties with detachment, depending on the Lord, like the maidservant who does everything for her master, knowing in her heart that her home is elsewhere. This is known as karma yoga. As far as possible one should take the name of the
Our Sadhana
passage in this regard. While delineating the divine revelations of Sri Ramakrishna after his six long months of Advaita Siddhi, Swami Saradananda writes about one such revelation showing that ordinary people will progress through Karma Yoga. This is indeed a momentous revelation and Swami Saradananda explains it as follows:
‘The Master indicated the limits of Karma when he said, “The action of a sattvic person drops off automatically. He cannot work even if he tries to; the Lord does not allow him to
Lord and meditate on Him while discharging one’s everyday duties in an unattached way.”’ 1
Now, let us compare this with what Sister Nivedita has to say on the same topic. While explaining the sadhana that Swami Vivekananda delineated for all of us, she writes2:
‘Let us be true to our work. Our task is our swadharma. “Better for each man is his swadharma, however faulty his performance, than the task of another, though he could do it easily.” That thing which faces me and frightens
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me, that very thing that seems the one most difficult, if it is my swadharma, is the path.
‘It is a grand gospel – this doctrine of fearlessness, of courage, of self-conquest. Arise, thou Great Divinity that liest hidden within us! In Thy name, all things are possible to us! Making victory and defeat the same, plunge we into battle!
‘But how are we to fight? Most of us, by work. The world’s work is the great sadhana, wherein we accumulate character, by which, when the time comes, we can rise even into the Nirvikalpa Samadhi itself. Character is self-restraint. Self-restraint is self-direction.
Self-direction is concentration. Concentration when perfect is Samadhi. From perfect work to perfect Mukti. This is the swing of the soul. Let us then be perfect in work!’
So, everyday work that we do, as a function of being a member of this world, is our Sadhana.3 Note that it is not necessarily the work of our liking; it is not even a particular kind of work. It is the work that falls to our lot, consequent to our station and position in life. It is the work we ‘ought’ to do at any particular point of time in our life. That work is technically called Karma. It needs to be done in a particular way, so that it gets converted into Yoga.
References
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1) Sri Ramakrishna & His Divine Play. Swami Saradananda. 2003. Vedanta Society of St. Louis, p.361
2) The Complete Works of Sister Nivedita. Vol-3: Religion & Dharma, Ch-XXVI: Work
3) Some readers may object to the view presented here. They may point out, like Gwilym Beckerlegge has done, that this view is a superimposition by Swami Vivekananda and Saradananda on Sri Ramakrishna, and that Sri Ramakrishna actually preferred
Naradiya Bhakti alone for the common man. In fact, Beckerlegge, a research scholar has published two famous books through Oxford University Press called ‘The Ramakrishna Mission: The Making of a Modern Hindu Movement (2000) and Swami Vivekananda’s Legacy of Service: A Study of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission (2006)’ wherein he presents this argument. The upcoming issues of Topical Musings in The Vedanta Kesari will clarify this topic.
manifestation of that Real Existence. Birth and death, life and decay, degeneration and regeneration – are all manifestations of that Oneness. So, knowledge, however it manifests itself, either as ignorance or as learning, is but the manifestation of that same Chit, the essence of knowledge; the difference is only in degree, and not in kind. The difference in knowledge between the lowest worm that crawls under our feet and the highest genius that the world
may produce is only one of degree, and not of kind. The Vedanta-thinker boldly says that the enjoyments in this life, even the most degraded joys, are but manifestations of that One Divine Bliss, the Essence of the Soul. This idea seems to be the most prominent in Vedanta, and, as I have said, it appears to me that every religion holds it. I have yet to know the religion which does not. It is the one universal idea working through all religions.’5
(Continued from page 50...)
1) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda: Vol-1: Soul, God and Religion
2) Ibid. Vol-2: The Ideal of A Universal Religion3) Ibid.Vol-3: Lectures from Colombo to Almora:
Vedanta in Its Application to Indian Life4) Ibid. Vol-2: The Necessity Of Religion5) Ibid. Vol-2: The Freedom Of The Soul
Religion is a Necessity
References
Kothar centreVrindaban Sevashrama Vivekananda's Ancestral House Cultural Centre
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News & Notes from Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission
The Order on the March
HeadquartersThe ancestral house of Swami Trigunatitanandaji Maharaj in Kolkata was recently acquired
by the Order. After the restoration work, the house has been named Ramakrishna Math Swami Trigunatitananda Memorial. It was inaugurated by Srimat Swami Vagishananda Ji, one of the Vice Presidents of the Order, on 17 April. RKMVERI (our deemed university) will be conducting classes and other activities at the memorial.
Ramakrishna Math (Kathamrita Bhavan), Kolkata, till recently a sub-centre of Ramakrishna Math (Shyampukur Bati), has been made a full-fledged branch of Ramakrishna Math, Belur.
Srimat Swami Smaranananda Ji Maharaj, President of the Order, visited Baranagar Math on 28 April and laid the foundation stone for the proposed dispensary-and-non-formal-school building at the centre’s nearby campus on Ratan Babu Road. Srimat Swami Vagishananda Ji, Swami Suvirananda, the General Secretary, and about 300 monks and 3000 devotees attended the programme.
125th Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s Addresses at the World’s Parliament of ReligionsThe following centres held programmes mentioned below:Antpur: Public meeting (350 devotees); Gadadhar Ashrama: Lecture (200 students and teachers);
Kankurgachhi: Spiritual Retreat ( 446 devotees); Mangaluru: Lectures in 10 colleges in April ( 2150 youths).
Values Education & Youth Programmes2700 students and 100 teachers participated in 14 programmes in Purulia district at
Bagda Math.1745 teachers and 93 principals participated in workshops in 12 cities at Delhi Centre.195 students took part in three programmes, & 56 bank officials participated in a
Human Excellance Workship at Rajkot Ashrama.
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Guest of HonourSri Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, visited
Varanasi Home of Service on 18 April.
News of Branch Centres (in India)Four of our degree colleges have secured good positions in
the ranking list for the year 2019 announced by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, on 8 April. The colleges and their rankings are as follows:
Sl. College National Rank
State Rank
1. Vivekananda Centenary College (Rahara) 8 1
(West Bengal)2. Vidyamandira (Saradapitha) 11 3
3. Residential College (Narendrapur) 15 4
4.Arts and Science College (Coimbatore Mission)
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Medical ReliefOn the occasion of Nath Shashthi Mela Aurangabad centre held
a medical camp at Paithan, the birthplace of the Sant Eknath in Aurangabad district. 4047 patients were treated.
Vadodara centre conducted a free BMD (bone mineral density) test camp for 162 persons.
Vrindaban Sevashrama held a urology-cum-general-surgery camp in which 10 specialist doctors checked 320 patients and performed 63 surgeries.
Through 11 centres in India the Order conducted Eye Camps where 6268 were treated, 486 given spectacles, and 1074 operated.
Swachchha Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Campaign)Mangaluru Ashrama conducted the following activities in April:
(i) four cleanliness drives in Mangaluru involving 1550 volunteers, and (ii) awareness campaigns for 25 days in which volunteers reached out to 1360 households in different parts of Mangaluru
city, spreading awareness about waste management.
Fire Relief:In response to fire accidents
where huts were burnt down N a r o t t a m N a g a r c e n t e r distributed household items to 4 families at Deomali Township in Arunachal Pradesh.
Baranagar Math distributed clothes & utensils to 34 familes.
Cyclone Relief: A cyclonic storm hit Khulna
district in Bangladesh on 9 April. In response to the calamity, Bagerhat centre distributed 1000 kg rice, 100 saris and 100 lungis among 100 families.
Distress Relief: Through 21 centres in India
the Order distributed 25989 sweaters, 2865 jackets, 582 blankets, 29290 shirts, 19787 trousers, 151 saries, 3407 tops, 100 dhotis and 222 school bags.
Flood Rehabilitation: Kerala: In the aftermath of
the floods that had hit Kerala in the month of August, Tiruvalla centre helped victims to rebuild their 3 new houses as well as repair and renovate 11 houses in Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha districts.
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