The Vedanta Kesari January 2017 issue

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The Vedanta Kesari THE LION OF VEDANTA

A Cultural and Spiritual Monthly of the Ramakrishna Order since 1914

Chidambaram Nataraja Temple, Tamilnadu

J anuary 2017

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To repeat the Lord’s name and to worship Him no special time and place are necessary. In whatever condition one may be, one can take His name.

—Swami Saradananda

Editor: Swami Mahamedhananda Managing Editor: Swami Gautamananda Printed and published by Swami Vimurtananda on behalf of Sri Ramakrishna Math Trust from No.31, Ramakrishna Math Road, Mylapore, Chennai - 4 and Printed at Sri Ramakrishna Printing Press, No.31 Ramakrishna Math Road, Mylapore, Chennai - 4. Ph: 044 - 24621110

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The Vedanta Kesari

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VOL. 104, No. 1 JANUARY 2017 ISSN 0042-2983 A CULTURAL AND SPIRITUAL MONTHLY OF THE RAMAKRISHNA ORDER

Started at the instance of Swami Vivekananda in 1895 as Brahmavâdin, it assumed the name The Vedanta Kesari in 1914.

For free edition on the Web, please visit: www.chennaimath.org

The Vedanta Kesari wishes all its readers and well-wishers A Happy and Fulfilling 2017

CONTENTS JANUARY 2017

Hastamalakiyam 1 Editorial  Resolve to Evolve Articles  Cosmic Dance on a Celestial Event Ankit Arora  With Swami Brahmananda Swami Tejasananda  Two-Fold Mission of Swami Vivekananda Prof. S. Radhakrishnan  Healing the Hills Swami Dhyanasthananda  Swamiji and Netaji Dr. Saroj Upadhyay, Mrs. Sudeshna Gupta

2 11 17 20 25 30

Reminiscences  Reminiscences of Sargachhi 4 Swami Suhitananda Our Heritage ~ Our Heroes 8 The Order on the March 33 Book Reviews 36 Cover Story: Page 5

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The Vedanta Kesari Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai 600 004 h (044) 2462 1110 (4 lines) Website : www.chennaimath.org For all authors and contributors : thevedantakesari@chennaimath.org For all subscription related enquiries: magazine@chennaimath.org

TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS

The Vedanta Kesari New Subscription Rates (effective from Jan 2017 issue onwards) Increase in production cost and supporting infrastructure has forced us to increase the price of the magazine by ` 5/-. From the January 2017 issue the price of each copy is ` 15/-. Annual subscription is for 11 months of regular magazine and a Special Issue in December.

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JANUARY 2017

The Vedanta Kesari Permanent Fund Help us to make this magazine self-supporting The Vedanta Kesari is one of the oldest cultural and spiritual magazines in the country started under the guidance of Swami Vivekananda. All through these 103 years, every month, the magazine has been carrying the invigorating message of Vedanta with articles on spirituality, culture, philosophy, youth and personality development, holistic living, family values, science and corporate values.

Over the years the production and publication costs have increased manifold, putting a heavy strain on our finances. A noncommercial magazine like this can continue its good work only with the generous financial support and active assistance of well-wishers.

We request our readers to help in making this magazine self-supporting.

Please send your donations to the Vedanta Kesari Permanent Fund by Cheque/ DD/MO/addressed to ‘Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, VKPF’ along with a covering note stating that the contribution is towards the Vedanta Kesari Permanent Fund. For Online donations using your Master or Visa Cards please visit our Website: www. chennaimath.org. Names of donors contributing more than Rs.2,500/- or $50 will be published in the magazine. All donations to Sri Ramakrishna Math are exempt from Income Tax under section 80G of the [Indian] I.T.Act, 1961.

N Cover Story N Chidambaram temple or Thillai Natarajar Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva is located in the town of Chidambaram which is about 235 kms from Chennai. Chidambaram is one of the Panchabootha Sthalas, where Lord Shiva is worshipped in his manifestation as sky. A unique feature of this temple is the bejewelled image of Nataraja. It depicts Lord Shiva as the Lord of the Tandava dance. A detailed article on the temple is presented in this issue.

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Vedanta Kesari Library Fund Scheme

Sponsors can mention the libraries in India which they wish to enroll, or The Vedanta Kesari will select the libraries on their behalf. The name of the sponsors, along with the libraries enrolled, will be published in The Vedanta Kesari.

Do you feel that India’s timeless heritage of spirituality, values and culture needs to reach a wider section of youth?

Come, join us in spreading the message of Vedanta and of RamakrishnaVivekananda

Sponsorship for one library is Rs.2000/Donors can sponsor libraries in high schools, colleges / universities and institutions of learning in India, including public libraries, which would receive The Vedanta Kesari for ten years.

You can send your sponsorship by Cheque / DD in favour of ‘Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai VKLF’ with a covering note / e-mail to The Manager, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai - 04. For Online donations using your Master or Visa Cards please visit our Website: www. chennaimath.org

DONORS Swami Umadhishananda, Chennai Rs.1250 Sri. Ramesh Sundaram, Chennai Rs.2000 Dr. Indira, U.P. Rs.1000

Smt. Girijamma K N, U.P. Sri Sreekar Shenoy A, Kerala

Rs.5000 Rs.2000

The Vedanta Kesari Library Scheme SL.NO. NAMES OF SPONSORS

6168.

6169.

6170.

6171.

6172.

6173.

6174.

AWARDEE INSTITUTIONS

M/s. Merino Panel Products Ltd., Delhi Public Library, Andrews Ganj, New Delhi - 110 049

-do- Delhi Public Library, S.P. Mukherjee Marg, Delhi Railway Station Mr. Nikhil M. Jali, Karnataka BMS College of Engineering, Bull Temple Road, Bangalore - 560 019

-do- Vivekananda Vidyapeeth, Raipur, Chhattisgarh - 492 010 IIMM, Chattisgarh F.N. College, Balasore Dist., Orissa - 756 001

-do- J.S.S. Medical College, Myslore, Karnataka - 570 015

-do- Government College of Indian Medicine, Mysore, Karnataka - 570 021 To be continued . . .

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Hastamalakiyam Awareness is of two types—awareness of the objects and awareness of the subject.

Awareness of objects is created by sense organs when they come into contact with their particular objects. This awareness is perishable because anything that is created, as a rule, dies a natural death in time.

On the other hand, awareness of the subject or contentless awareness is eternal as it is not created. This eternal awareness, the Chaitanyam as it is called in Sanskrit, is the Atman or the Self. Realizing the Atman is the height of Advaitic Realization.

Acharya Sankara, the foremost propounder of Advaitic doctrine, during his triumphal tour was once travelling near the Mookambika Temple in Kollur. Prabhakar, a pious, but worried man prostrated before the Acharya along with his seemingly ailing 13-year-old son. The father lamented that his son was never aware of his surroundings and did not mix with his mates nor read the Vedas. Even when physically harmed he would not react, much less get angry. He had grown up only by the sheer force of karma.

Moved to pity the Acharya tenderly asked the boy,

kastvaṃ kimevaṃ jaḍavatpravṛttaḥ

‘Who are you? Why do you behave as if you are inert?’

Now the grandeur of the boy was revealed to the world. The boy had already attained the pinnacle of the Advaitic realization which is knowing the Self or the contentless awareness.

His realization was as direct as a fruit on the palm. His real name is lost to the world and he is known as, ‘one whose realization is as direct as a the fruit on the palm’, i.e., Hastamalaka.

In response to the Acharya’s question the boy poured out his realization in twelve grand verses. These verses of Hastamalaka are called Hastamalakiyam. The greatness of these verses is testified by the fact that the Acharya himself wrote a commentary on them. With this introduction we shall reflect on the verses from the next issue.

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Editorial

Resolve to Evolve A new year can be a new beginning in two dimensions—in our personal journey through life and in our relationship with the world. What New Year’s approach or resolution can ring in real strength, happiness, and fulfilment in our personal lives and in the world around us?

To Awaken ‘What is the grandest of all the truths in life?’ Swami Vivekananda asked a group of college students sitting around him in Belur Math.

When they could not reply, he answered, ‘We shall all die!’

Can our first resolution for the year be to meditate on this commonplace yet grand truth—Death?

Is that a morbid thought? And why should Swamiji ask young men to think of death!? They have a long life ahead of them.

Why not instead, think of the deathless Atman—our own immortal spiritual nature?

True enough. But bound as we are to body-consciousness, contemplating death is an easier way for many to awaken into the life of the Spirit. Furthermore, some of us may not be around to plan a New Year resolution next year!

Continuing his advice to the students, Swamiji says, ‘We shall all die! Bear this in mind always, and then the spirit within will wake up. Then only meanness will vanish from you, practicality in work will come, you will get new vigour in mind and body, ….’

Constant reflection on death will bring nobility, practicality, and strength!! But yet our T h e

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hearts quake at the thought of death. Swamiji agrees and still insists, ‘At first, the heart will break down, and despondency and gloomy thoughts will occupy your mind. But persist, … then you will see new strength has come into the heart, that the constant thought of death is giving you a new life, and is making you more and more thoughtful and… the spirit within is waking up with the strength of a lion… Think of death always and you will realize the truth of every word I say.’ 1 A new attraction in China is called ‘Xinglai’ which means ‘awaken.’ It is a death simulator machine which takes people through the experience of cremation and rebirth.

Participants play a game where they have to make the right choice in a life-or-death hypothetical situation. The loser is the first to go through the death experience. He lies down on a conveyor belt, and goes through a dark tunnel that simulates cremation. He is then ‘reborn’ out the other side through a latex womb. Participants feel that it gives them a chance to calm down, think deeply and come out with a new perspective on life.

Sri Ramana Maharishi went through such a simulated death experience as a 16 year old lad. Sitting in his room at Madurai, he was suddenly overcome by the thought ‘I am going to die.’ The shock of the fear of death drove his mind inward and he mimicked the experience by lying down stiff and holding his breath.

Almost without any conscious effort on his part, he soon became absorbed forever in his ‘I’ consciousness. He came out a perfect Jnani.

Of course, contemplation on death is not usually such an easy, one-time process.

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Our weak mind has to be repeatedly cajoled to deliberate on the realities of death. Unlike Raja Parikshit, who knew he would die in seven days, we do not know when and how death will approach us. And when it comes, all our possessions and our beloved ones cannot help us. Deep reflection on such simple facts of death can prepare us to live wisely and value every moment of life. It will evoke in us a sense of urgency to achieve our purpose in life. It will empower us to see life afresh not simply on New Year’s Day, but on every day.

Our priorities will become clear and we will find it easier to transform our thinking and let go the piteous clinging to life.

Most of us go through life mechanically by force of habit. As a result we tend to fix labels on ourselves and others and cling to them for years. When the labels are negative like, ‘I’m bound,’, ‘I’m weak,’ ‘I know everything,’ ‘He is cunning,’ ‘She is arrogant,’ and ‘They are uncultured,’ it thwarts our personal growth and adversely affects our relationships with others. We then also obsess about how badly so and so behaved with us and take every opportunity to tell others about it. But if we contemplate death, we can give up the vanities of the world and see the world as it is, unmasked by our assumptions, prejudices and fanciful imaginations.

To Serve And what indeed is the world as it is? How should we approach it? Swamiji advices, ‘Never approach anything 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.’2 But how does one discard old habits of thinking and feeling and develop a new

outlook on life? Sister Nivedita describes how she replaced her Occidental perception of man as a body having a soul, with the Oriental understanding of man as a soul having a body with the mind as the pivot of life. She writes, ‘I began to speak to people, first postulating to myself experimentally, that I was addressing the mind within, not the ear without. The immense increase of response that this evoked, led me from step to step till twelve months later, I suddenly found that I had fallen into the habit of thinking of mind as dominant, and could no longer imagine its beings extinguished by the death of the body! Every new practice deepened this conviction, and I became gradually possessed of a conception of the world about us as mind-born.’3 Indeed, from seeing the world as mindborn to seeing it as God is but a natural step. As Sri Ramakrishna tells us, ‘the superior devotee sees that God alone has become everything; He alone has become the twenty four cosmic principles. He finds that everything, above and below, is filled with God.’4 Can our second resolution for this year be to overcome ‘the separativeness of a selfcentred life,’ and ‘serve all beings with gifts, honour and love, recognising that such service is really being rendered to’ Him ‘who resides in all beings as their innermost soul’?5 The onus is on enlightened citizens to strive continuously to create in their own personal lives and in the society, an atmosphere of noble aspirations and spiritual inclinations that will fulfil our national destiny—to awaken the Spirit, the Lord in the lives of men and women in every society. Let us resolve to evolve together.

References: 1. CW, 5.329-330 2. CW, 7.34 3. The Master As I Saw Him, 296-97 Sri Ramakrishna, 910 5. Srimad Bhagavata, 3.29.27 T h e

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Reminiscences

Reminiscences of Sargachhi SWAMI SUHITANANDA

(Continued from the previous issue. . .)

Swami Premeshananda (1884–1967) was a disciple of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi. For over two decades, he lived at Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Sargachhi, first as its monastic-in-charge and later as a retired sannyasi. He inspired countless people to lead a life of spirituality and service. Influenced by him many young men and women entered into monastic life. His conversations and teachings were noted by his attendant novitiate who is now Swami Suhitananda, General Secretary, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. These spiritual dialogues were serialized in Udbodhan (the Bengali monthly of the Ramakrishna Order) and later published as a book titled Sargachchir Smriti. Sri Shoutir Kishore Chatterjee has translated these reminiscences into English. English words and expressions which appear in the original have been retained and shown within single inverted commas.

14.11.59 There were small boil-like eruptions on Maharaj’s abdomen; perhaps a side-reaction of medication. The attendant was applying a lotion.

Maharaj: See I am suffering after unnecessarily eating something. Just as a householder sets up a family and later suffers for that, we procure a body from somewhere and suffer! Conduct yourself in such a manner that you are spared the sufferings of the body.

The thing is — unless you are able to get out of the body, you will suffer blow after blow.

You people have strength and ability; you will succeed if you strive a little. You are all thousand times better off than us. See, how much suffering this body is causing. When you cremate this body, poke it hard with a stick. I will stand at a distance and see how the rascal burns.

You are saved that you came here renouncing the home. Or else, if you had passed the M.A. examination who could dare to touch your tail! ‘My opinion’ darkens T h e

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everything. The boys who come out of the University, think – ‘I am a big gun.’ They don’t want to easily accept anything new.

5.12.59 Three-four days ago a teacher of fine arts came from the B.T. college at Belur.

He brought two pictures of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu which would be printed in the book written by Swami Saradeshananda.

Maharaj was very pleased to see them and said, ‘Paintings are not valued in our country.

A friend of mine in France got Rs.16,000 for his painting. And in our country nobody knows its value. I don’t think Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s upper cloth would hang down like this; he was very tidy. His legs too were large.’

18.12.59 Attendant: We have left our homes to enjoy spiritual bliss in this very life. If one cannot become jivanmukta (liberated even while living), should one give up this life?

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Maharaj: See, jivanmukta is not for now. Talk about it after ten years. Now study everything. Know about the lives of our swamis, observe the life in the Order – whatever is to happen later will happen. There is a custom in Uttarakhanda – when some sadhaks realize that it is impossible to attain perfection in this life, they voluntarily give up their bodies. They pray to God that in the next life they should have a body and mind conducive to call on Him. Giving up the body like this is a kind of suicide.

Attendant: Will those who will not be born again have to experience the fruits of their present actions in this life itself?

Maharaj: For sure. One must rightly suffer the consequences of what one does in this life – then only one would get release!

That is why I say – do not transgress the laws of nature. At home my mother used to say, ‘One becomes miserable due to the curse of a Candala (an untouchable), and that cannot be undone even by the God of Destiny.’ So don’t trouble anyone.

Those who say ‘we cannot do it’, ‘we are sinners’ are escapists. They don’t want to do anything. Whatever one does, one really wants only that; that is, he doesn’t feel the need for anything more.

Question: Maharaj, if we just remain without doing any spiritual practices, how long will it take for us to be liberated?

Maharaj: Sakrudagami (one who comes back once). In 1934 Swami Sraddhananda was a college student. (He later passed away in San Francisco). He used to come to me and chat. One day in course of conversation I said, ‘The monkeys became liberated by carrying stones for Sri Ramachandra’s mission.’ This statement charmed him so much that he wrote a play on it and got it staged. Similarly, if somebody helps in Sri Ramakrishna’s mission, he too will be liberated.

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Attendant: What is Sri Ramakrishna’s mission?

Maharaj: To love, to think about the good of everybody and work out how to serve them. Shiva Jnane Jiva Seva (to serve all beings knowing them to be Shiva). Also, to know that the four Yogas are really one. Overwork leads to extroversion, continuous meditation makes one half-insane, pursuing only knowledge makes one just a scholar, and only devotion makes one emotional. What is required is a harmonisation of all the four. If there is no knowledge and no yoga one will be attracted towards the body. Then the idea of seeing everyone as God remains far away.

At noon-time Maharaj was sitting and looking at a picture-book. In a picture where Sri Ramakrishna forbids Holy Mother from removing her bangles, his likeness was drawn with a shadow.

Maharaj: This appearance cannot be seen with naked eyes. It is a bhava-tanu (a body created by ideas). It is seen with the eye of devotional love. And it does not throw any shadow. But the artist who sketched this doesn’t know this.

21.12.59 In the morning Maharaj was physically very unwell. The sun was up and he was basking, sitting in a chair in the courtyard.

Srikanta, a devotee from Sylhet came and asked, ‘Maharaj, where shall I meditate on Sri Ramakrishna—in front of the eyes, or in front of the heart?’

Maharaj: I have seen one can meditate better before the eyes. Yes, meditate before the eyes.

A teacher came in the afternoon carrying the Bengali biography of Swami Vivekananda.

He kept the book on the ground and bowed down to Maharaj. When he left Maharaj said,

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‘Did you see the behavior of that fellow! To him this book is just like a physics or chemistry book.’ Later, when Maharaj met the teacher again, he said, ‘Please once touch that book to my head. Bhagavata-Bhakta-Bhagavan (Scripture, Devotee and God) –all three are equal to us.’

The gentleman was very much moved and understood the importance of that book.

Maharaj was retiring to bed at night. He said, ‘When someone dies in a householder’s family they cry in sorrow. But when a sannyasi dies nobody does anything – only the dead body is cremated. The sannyasis have already done their own sraddha (funeral rites); there are no other rites for them. Many think that the bhandara observed after 12 days is sraddha; but actually it is just a feast! If we mix too much with people, slowly we will imbibe their attitudes and mannerisms. A Brahmacharin must certainly perform the sraddha of his parents. Can parents be neglected? Can their debt be repaid?’

25.12.59 Maharaj was physically very unwell. The attendant was sitting with him in the hall.

Maharaj: Practice Yoga to become free from slavery to the gross and the subtle bodies.

Otherwise you will suffer in old age. Even if you do not become liberated, thinking about it every day will strengthen your conviction; and you will also find some solace by trying to see your physical suffering as someone else’s pain.

The attendant was reading the Gita.

Question: Does aham (I) and mama (my) spoken of in the Gita stand for the impersonal ‘I’ or Sri Krishna?

Maharaj: When it is said Avyaktam vyaktimapannam…(7/24) or Avajananti mam mudhah (9/11) it implies the Impersonal God. But Ye yatha mam prapadyante (4/11) – whoever worships Him in whatever manner, will attain T h e

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Him in that very way. If one thinks of Him as Vasudeva Sri Krishna, one will regard Him as Eternal Krishna.

Question: Is there no agony of separation in that?

Maharaj: That pangs of separation is really another state of bliss.

Question: Will those worshipping trees and stones not attain freedom through that?

Maharaj: They will attain liberation provided they conceive an Impersonal God even in the stone. Otherwise — Yanti devavrata devan pitrun yanti pitru vratah … (Gita 9/25) Beyond the gross and subtle bodies is the causal body; in it lies the blissful dimension.

Going beyond the causal body one attains nirvana or liberation.

Question: Did Sri Ramakrishna and Swamiji always stay in the blissful dimension?

Maharaj: No. Not when Swamiji was the son of Biswanath Dutta. And not when Sri Ramakrishna would come down to the level of this world. Not when Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was playing in the company of the devotees.

Attendant: Maharaj, instead of going to the Math on birthday celebrations, will it not do if japa and meditation is done in one’s own room?

Maharaj: No. It is necessary to attend the celebrations. One must go now and then.

Attendant: Why? I do not have any urge!

I do not feel any attraction or kinship with the Chosen Deity.

Maharaj: When you feel kinship, then everything is done.

26.12.59 Maharaj: Look here. One should always be engaged in studies or in discussing something ‘serious’. It pains me to see you

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people indulging in frivolous talk. When I was able to speak out, I would always forcefully stop such activities.

A certain sannyasi was wearing a shirt with golden-coloured buttons. Seeing him Maharaj said, ‘Even as sannyasis should not look at women, they should also not look at gold. These things are written in Paramahamsa Upanishad.’

30.12.59 Attendant: Maharaj, in the Gita it is stated – Prakritim yanti bhutani nigrahah kim karisyati. (3/33) (Beings follow nature; what can restraint do?) What is meant by this nigraha (restraint)?

Maharaj: Restraint of the senses. Nothing comes out of forcible restraint– just as nothing comes out of mere vows and fasts. The more you progress towards God, the lesser will be your attachment to the senses. You won’t then have to restrain them by force. The more you go towards the east the west will be left behind. And if you have deep love for God, the necessary restraint will develop naturally.

When you read a verse from the Gita, you should see how much of it you are able to bring into practice. After grasping the general meaning of the verse if you contemplate on it throughout the day your understanding will become clear.

I stayed in Swargashram at Hrishikesh for three years. One rainy season two birds came and tried to build a nest with mud and failed.

They couldn’t do it the next year too. They came again in the third year. But by then they had become old and they built the nest with great effort–the mud there is not clayey. The chicks were born. I feared to go there, lest seeing me they should flee. One day I saw two chicks lying dead on the ground. What heart-rending grief it was for the two parent birds. They sat once T h e

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here, once there and piteously flew to their nest and came back again and again.

Question: Maharaj, what is meant by seeing God? Maharaj: God does not live in just one place. If He is realized, then man’s body itself becomes suffused with God consciousness. Just to make people understand we say that God resides in the lotus of the heart – because heart is very ‘sensitive’. There are such statements in the Vedas too. Again God is conceived to be in the right eye. Sri Ramakrishna has said, ‘Is man something ordinary? He can think of the Infinite.’ You do not know what power is inside you. The power by which the entire earth functions, and the planets and stars revolve, that very power is inside you. Through spiritual practice man can tap this power.

Question: Maharaj, you have spoken about realizing God. But in the Ashrama there is only work, work and more work. How is it possible to think about Consciousness here?

Maharaj: He is the reality of condensed Consciousness. The same Consciousness is in you too. You will know it if you try. Just like Gopala of Gopal Ma.1 See, how a degree obtained by passing an examination has become so prestigious! How it is admired and respected! But if you want to attain Him, you must detach your mind from such things.

Either seek Him, or remain intoxicated with the world. Just as I love you because you have come here renouncing everything, He too will love you if you hold on to Him giving up everything else. Right in the morning resolve – ‘let not even a small fraction of my ‘energy’ be wasted.’ Create an earnest interest like this—‘I will wake up early in the morning, meditate upon Sri Ramakrishna, and serve him.’

(To be continued . . .)

Note: 1. Aghoramani Devi, a woman disciple of Sri Ramakrishna who saw and played with Balagopala.

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Our Heritage

Our Heroes

Kalpataru Day On 1 January 1886, Sri Ramakrishna showered special blessings on his devotees. At the Cossipore Garden House, profoundly moved by the deep devotion of Girish Chandra Ghosh and other devotees Sri Ramakrishna in a spiritual mood said, ‘What more shall I say? I bless you all. Be illumined!’ Standing as a Kalpataru, the wish-fulfilling tree, he touched the devotees giving them intense spiritual experiences. Every year this day is celebrated as the Kalpataru Day when lakhs of people throng to the Ramakrishna Math, Cossipore and the Kali Temple at Dakshineswar seeking the blessings of Sri Ramakrishna.

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SPECIAL DAYS Kalpataru Day Swami Saradananda Jayanti Swami Turiyananda Jayanti National Youth Day Makara Sankranti Thiruvalluvar Jayanti Swami Vivekananda Jayanti Subhash Chandra Bose Birthday Swami Brahmananda Jayanti Swami Trigunatitananda Jayanti

Makar Sankranti Makar Sankranti is one of the major festivals of Hinduism. It is a 4-day harvest festival that falls in the Magh month of the Hindu Solar Calendar. Makar Sankranti marks the transition of the sun into the zodiacal sign of Makara or Capricorn. It is also known as Uttarayana or the northward journey of the sun. This Uttarayana periods of six months is highly auspicious as it is the daytime of the devatas. Also, this is the only festival that invariably falls on the same date every year.

Sankranti is celebrated all over India with some regional variations. In Tamil Nadu the festival is called Pongal and it is a four-day celebration. The first day is called Bhogi Pongal. On this day people throw away old clothes and things. The second day is the Makar Sankranti called Thai Pongal. Pongal is a sweet preparation made from the newly harvested crops and it is offered to the Sun-god at sunrise, as a prayer and thanksgiving for providing prosperity. The third day is called Maattu Pongal when people offer thanks to cattle which are the farmers’ companions. On this day the cattle are decorated, allowed to roam free and fed sweet rice and sugar cane. In some places Jallikattu or wild bull taming contest is organized. The fourth day of the festival is Kaanum Pongal. On this day people visit their relatives and friends to enjoy the festive season.

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In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana too the festival is celebrated similarly for four days. On the first day called Bhogi big bonfires are lit before the homes in which old clothes are set fire. On the second day of the festival children are showered with ber or Indian Jujube, also known as Regi Pandlu in Telugu, to protect them from evil eye. Also in front of every house people draw a Rangoli or ‘Muggu’. A traditional sport of cock fights are held in the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh.

In Karnataka on the festival day, doors and windows are decorated with green mango leaves and colourful rangolis adorn the entrances. People visit relatives and friends and exchange ellu and bella—a mixture of sesame seeds and jaggery, and sugarcane sticks.

In Maharashtra it is a three-day festival. People exchange Tilgud, Halwa, Puran Poli and greet each other, ‘til-gul ghya, aani god-god bola’, which means ‘accept these sweets, and speak sweet words.’ Married women wear a special black saree called the Chandrakala which is embossed with stars and and small crescent moons. They get together and apply Haldi-Kumkum (turmeric-vermillion) and exchange gifts in the form of clothes and utensils.

In Bengal the festival also known as Poush Sankranti is noted for its Ganga Sagar Mela. The fair is held on the Sagar Island about 100 kms from Kolkata. On this day hundreds of thousands of devotees take a holy dip in the confluence of River Ganga and the Bay of Bengal and then offer worship at the Kapil Muni temple. The special food preparation is Pithe, a sweet prepared with rice, date palm jaggery and coconut.

In North India thousands of people throng pilgrimage places like Haridwar, Banares and Allahabad to take a holy dip in Ganga. In Bihar and Jharkhand it is a two-day festival called Sakraat or Khichdi.

In Gujarat and Rajasthan it is celebrated as Uttarayan and is noted for kite flying. Across the cities competitions are held in kite flying and in Ahmedabad there is an International Kite Event where people from more than 40 countries take part. On the second night illuminated kites are flown creating a grand spectacle in the night sky. The special Gujarati preparation for Sankranti is Undhiyu, a mixed vegetable preparation and jilebis.

Makar Sankranti in short reminds people that our true wealth is the love and friendship of our relatives, friends, and neighbours. And we have to be grateful to the land which grows our food and the livestock that support us.

Thiruvalluvar Thiruvalluvar is a revered Tamil saint, poet and philosopher who composed the famous ‘Thirukkural’, a collection of wise aphorisms. He is thought to have lived sometime between 4 BCE and 1 BCE. Thiruvalluvar is said to have been a weaver and the supposed house he lived in Mylapore in Chennai is now converted into a temple. Thirukkural consists of 1330 grand couplets, classified into 133 chapters and three major sections, Aram (dharma), Porul (artha) and Inbam (kama).

There is a 133 foot tall statue of Thiruvalluvar, close to the Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Kanyakumari. The 133 feet denotes Thirukkural’s 133 chapters and the show of three fingers denotes the three themes Aram, Porul and Inbam T h e

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Swami Saradananda One day at Dakshineswar, in an ecstatic mood Sri Ramakrishna sat upon his young disciple Sharat Chandra Chakrabarty’s lap and later explained to the curious devotees, ‘I was testing how much weight he could bear.’ Later in life Sharat known as Swami Saradananda shouldered the responsibility of the young Ramakrishna Order as its General Secretary for over thirty years. Besides this, he also looked after Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi. Once, when Sri Ramakrishna asked him, ‘How would you like to realize God?’, Sharat replied, ‘I want to see Him in all beings, I do not like visions.’ And the Master blessed him, ‘Yes, you will have it.’ With this vision of equanimity, he was a model for Sthitaprajna, a man of steady wisdom. He could not be provoked to anger. Once while receiving a severe scolding from Swami Vivekananda he sat motionless as a statue and then peacefully had his tea! Swamiji commented, ‘Sharat’s veins carry the blood of fish; it will never warm up!’

Swami Turiyananda A young lad, Harinath Chattopadhya asked Sri Ramakrishna, ‘Sir, how can one become free from lust completely?’ The Master replied, ‘Why should it go? Give it a turn in another direction. What is lust? It is the desire to get. So desire to get God and strengthen this desire greatly.’

Harainath did just that. He evolved as Swami Turiyananda and declared, ‘I have done what one being born a man should do.’ He was a rare combination of asceticism, devotional fervor, scholarship and a modern outlook. He had a strong inclination for austerities and a wandering mendicant life. An unfailing spirit of dependence on God enabled him to face the uncertainties of such a life.

Swami Trigunatitananda Sarada Prasanna, though a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, received his formal initiation from Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi. He had a unique multifaceted and harmonious personality. He had a tender and loving heart which went out in sympathy for the poor and the suffering. At the same time, he had an indomitable will and phenomenal power of endurance. He was utterly fearless and selfless, and put his whole heart into everything he did. In India the most memorable work he did was his service to the Holy Mother, Sri Sarada Devi and his starting of Udbodhan, the official Bengali magazine of the Ramakrishna Mission.

He went to the west in obedience to the request of Swami Vivekananda. Among his major accomplishments in America are the building of the first Hindu Temple, the starting of Voice of Freedom—a monthly journal, and the initiation of an annual retreat at Shanti Ashrama.

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Article

Cosmic Dance on a Celestial Event ANKIT ARORA

The Chidambaram Nataraja temple in Cuddalore district of Tamilnadu (235 km south of Chennai) is one of the major Shaivite temples. Its most important festival Arudra Darshanam is a 10-day celebration in the Tamil month of Margazhi. This time it begins on 2 Jan 2017 and concludes with the final Arudra Darshanam on 11 Jan 2017. An attempt is made here to understand the divine legend behind the festival, its significance, the temple rituals and its structure.

The Divine Dancer When Nature becomes still, and all vibrations cease, Lord Shiva at His will, rises with ecstasy and sets the universe to the rhythm of His cosmic dance the Ananda Tandav. Shiva as Nataraja is depicted as dancing in the space within a ring – symbol of the universe decorated with the flames of 27 constellations. He has four hands and stands with his right leg on a dwarf demon and the left leg lifted and bent. He is adorned with jewels, his dreadlocks whirling, and snakes around his waist swirling. He holds the divine percussion damaru in the back right hand that sets the primal rhythm of the creation; in the back left hand he holds the fire for the dissolution of darkness and fetters of bondage.

His right hand raised as abhaya hasta, assures

protection and preservation for all beings and his left hand stretches across the body and points downward, as gaja hasta, alluding to wisdom. While his lifted left foot grants grace and bliss, his right foot, subduing the demon of ignorance and ego, provides abode for souls seeking salvation. Perpetually performing these five activities, Nataraja with a divine smile on his face, ‘dances a still dance’ of eternal stillness to maintain the order and balance of the cosmos.

This rhythmic play is not only manifested in the balance of cosmos but also forms the very essence of existence. In the experience of our saints, Lord is the Dancer, who, like the heat latent in firewood, diffuses His power in mind and matter, and makes them dance in their turn1

Shiva is dancing in the hearts of his devotees, cremating lust and ego, subduing ignorance, and awakening the self beyond illusion so as to display his blissful dance leading to salvation. As Tirumular, one of the 63 Nayanmars, writes in Tirumantiram,

The author is a graduate researcher in the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras.

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The dancing foot, the sound of the tinkling bells, The songs that are sung and the varying steps, The form assumed by our Dancing Gurupara— Find out these within yourself, Then shall your fetters fall away.

He is omnipresent, and his gracious dance is manifested everywhere. In the motion of celestial bodies, regularity of seasons, cycles of creations, karmic cycle, and from the cosmic web to the core of atoms, it is His divine blissful dance which is being manifested timelessly. In the words of Fritjof Capra, a particle physicist, ‘every subatomic particle not only performs an energy dance, but also is an energy dance; a pulsating process of creation and destruction...For the modern physicists, then Shiva’s dance is the dance of subatomic matter....’2 The manifestation of Shiva as Nataraja depicts that creation is not spontaneous and chaotic. It is a systematic percolation of rhythmic energy through inert matter, a subtle vibration awakening the consciousness, occurring every moment at the Will of our beloved Lord. His divinity is multifarious and manifested in every bit of this universe.

He cannot be understood by the faculty of thinking and can be reached only through ceaseless devotion and the knowledge of Self.

Glory of Thillai Forest Legend says that, once meditating on Shiva’s Ananda Tandava, Vishnu’s body became heavier due to the bliss. When Sri Vishnu came out of meditation, he explained its cause to his consorts Sri Devi and Bhu Devi. Adhisesha, the serpent bed of the Lord, yearned to see and enjoy the Ananda Tandava.

The Lord instructed him to be born as a human being and go to the Thillai forest where Lord Shiva would display the dance in due course.

Accordingly Adhisesha took birth as Patanjali, T h e

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one of the 18 Shaiva siddhars or mystics. He went to Thillai forest and engaged himself in penance along with another great Shiva devotee sage Vyagrapada. The two devotees worshipped the Lord in the form of Shivalinga, as Thirumulataneswarar, the Primordial Lord, while waiting for the Ananda Tandava darshanam.

In course of time there came to reside in the Thillai forests, a group of rishis who believed that God could be controlled by rituals and mantras. In order to remove their delusion and also fulfil the wish of Patanjali, the Lord strolled in the forest as a simple mendicant seeking alms from the rishis’ wives.

Lord Vishnu accompanied him as his consort in the form of Mohini. The rishis and their wives were enamoured by the brilliance and beauty of the handsome mendicant and his consort. But on seeing their wives enchanted, the rishis became enraged and through mystical powers invoked serpents — a symbol of their envy and anger. Lord Shiva lifted those serpents and donned them as ornaments on His matted locks, neck and waist. The rishis then conjured a fierce tiger — a symbol of their power; but the Lord killed it and wrapped its skin around His waist. Then followed a raging elephant — a symbol of the rishis’ ego; the Lord ripped it to death and came to be called Gajasamharamurthy.

Thoroughly frustrated, the rishis gathered all their spiritual strength and invoked a powerful demon Apasmara — a symbol of complete arrogance and ignorance.

But this time in order to preserve the balance of knowledge and ignorance in the world, the Lord did not kill Apasmara. Instead with a gentle smile he stepped on the demon’s back, immobilised him, and performed the Ananda Thandava — the dance of eternal bliss. While dancing so He disclosed His true form. The

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humbled rishis realized that the Lord is the Truth and is beyond mantras and rituals and surrendered at His feet. Patanjali and Vyagrapada along with the whole universe witnessed the Ananda Tandava and bathed in its ecstasy. The Lord remained forever in Thillai forest as Nataraja — the Ananda Tandava murti, suppressing the arrogance and ignorance of all beings for all eternity.

The Divine Temple That Thillai forest is now the town of Chidambaram. Chidambaram literally means ‘Chit’ or Consciousness and ‘Ambaram’ or infinite space. Popularly known as Thillai Nataraja Temple or Chidambaram Temple, it is one of the panchabhoota sthalams — the temples of five primary elements; it represents akasha or space. The temple is also one among the pancha sabhai — the five divine halls where Lord Shiva displayed his cosmic dance; this is the Golden Hall.

The temple, consecrated by Patanjali himself thousands of years ago, has witnessed

several renovations during the time of the Pallava and Chola Kings. Patanjali consecrated this temple with a certain science behind it.

The temple extends over 40 acres in the form of four concentric enclosures or corridors called prakaras. The fourth and outermost prakara consists of nine gateways, representing the nine orifices in the human body. Four of these gateways have magnificent seven storied gopurams facing the four cardinal directions. The positioning of the gopurams is unorthodox, with only the southern gopuram being directly on axis across the Nandi mandapa and Balipeethas. All the four gopurams are ornate with sculptures presenting the complete Shiva pantheon. The lower tier of the gopurams mainly consist of Ashtadikpala mandala, Navagraha mandala, and Rishi mandala images. The upper tier is exclusively dedicated to the major forms of Shiva, including Gajasamharamurti, Kankalamurti, and Ardhanarishwara; there are 104 of these images of which 100 are still intact. The east gopuram displays the complete enumeration of 108

Chidambaram Natarajar Temple

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Karanas — the key transitions in dance forming the basis of Bharathanatyam.

The third prakara is a large area open to the sky housing the Thousand Pillar Hall known as Raja Sabha, where festival rituals are held twice a year. The hall symbolises the thousand-petalled lotus of the Sahasrara chakra, the awakening of which leads to union with the Divine. The western side of the Raja Sabha is Shivaganga, the big temple tank. It centres the northern half of the third courtyard with elegant porches all around.

Facing east towards the tank is the temple of Shivakamasundari, the consort of Nataraja.

There are some other shrines around the corridor.

The second prakara on the western side has the shrine of Thirumulataneswarar – the primordial Shivalingam worshipped

by Patanjali and Vyagrapada; accompanying the Lord is his consort Umaiyammai. In the southern corridor is the Nritya Sabha or dance hall, with the shrine of Shiva and Kali as the Urdhatandava murti. It is a high rectangular platform presented as a twowheeled chariot drawn by gigantic horses from the south towards the inner sanctum. It is the most ornate of all the halls with intricately carved pillars, and an elaborate ceiling and base decorated with figurative panels.

However, some later constructions have made considerable changes and some parts of the structure have been covered-up in cement.

The innermost prakara houses the central sanctum santorum, the Chit Sabha or the Hall of Consciousness. It represents the lotus heart of the Universe, where Lord Shiva along with Shivakami Amman is performing the Ananda Tandava. Set on four feet high stone platform it has a single door on the southern side, slightly off the centre towards east, through which the Nataraja idol can be seen. The front porch T h e

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of the stone platform, known as the Kanaka Sabha, is the place from where the daily rituals are conducted. As in the case of a human heart, it can be reached by two gateways on eastern and western sides. There is a well on the eastern side of the Chit Sabha, known as the Paramananda Koopa, whose water is used for daily rituals. The architecture of central sanctum has philosophical implications. The roof of the Chit Sabha is covered with 21,600 gold petals, with Shivaya Namaha engraved on them, representing the number of breaths in a day. These petals are fixed with 72,000 gold nails which represents the nadis — the nerve nodes in the body. It bears 9 kalashas, representing 9 forms of energy.

The Chit Sabha can be reached from Kanaka Sabha by a flight of 5 stairs called the Panchatchara padi, representing the 5 syllables — Na Ma Si Va Ya. The Kanaka Sabha is held by 28 pillars representing 28 Shaiva agamas or scriptures, 64 beams representing 64 arts, and several cross beams representing blood vessels.

Going up in the Kanaka Sabha, it can be seen that the Chit Sabha displays the three forms of Shiva: Sakal as Nataraja; Nishkal-Sakal as the crystal lingam and Nishkal as the formless empty space. There is also one red Ruby idol of Nataraja, representing Shiva who appeared in Brahmaloka as Ratnasabhapati.

The Nishkal murti is to the west of the Nataraja, behind the silver latticed-screen, covered with the curtain. When the priest removes the curtain, 51 gold bilva leaves hanging over a stone screen can be seen, indicating the presence of the Lord there. It represents the Upanishadic idea that Reality is obscured by the curtain of maya, the illusion.

When by the force of one’s own efforts and the Lord’s compassion, the guru removes this curtain of maya, the manifested and the un-manifested can be known simultaneously.

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Whoever goes beyond maya, can have the vision of Lord Shiva and thus obtain the knowledge of the Absolute. But it remains a secret for the rest of the world. This is known as the Chidambara Rahasyam — The Secret of Chidambaram.

To the south-west of the Kanaka Sabha, at the right-angle conjugation of the Nataraja facing south, there is a Vishnu shrine facing east as Govindaraj Perumal. It is one among 108 Divyadesam. Here, Vishnu gazes on Shiva reclining on Adishesha. This represents the Vedic theme of the creation of the universe in the form of Nataraja, with Narayana reclining on Adhisesha, floating on the water of undifferentiated matter during the period between dissolution and creation. A glimpse of both Shiva and Vishnu can be had from a raised platform, standing on the lotus marked on the floor.

The geographical location of the temple is 79°41’ longitude, which is approximately common for all the Panchabhoota sthalams, the Rameshwaram temple and the Kedarnath temple. Stunningly, exactly below the toe of Nataraja, passes the geomagnetic equator thus placing the temple in zero magnetic dip zone, i.e., nil vertical component of geomag­netic field.

All the rituals and administration of the temple is taken care of by a clan of Vaidika brahmins known as Chidambaram Dikshitars.

Originally 3,000 in number, they were brought from Kailas to Chidambaram by Patanjali. He trained them in some religious disciplines, prepared a code of conduct based on Vedas for temple rituals, and inducted the priests into the worship of Lord Shiva as Nataraja. Today, these dikshitars number around 360 and they still maintain the codes and rituals set forth

by Patanjali. Every married male member can perform the rituals and he is entitled to a share of the temple’s revenue.

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Daily rituals start when the chief priest enters the sanctum reflecting deeply on his oneness with the Lord. Major rituals are performed six times a day and before each of them the crystal lingam is ritually bathed and worshipped to the accompaniment of Vedic hymns in Sanskrit and the Panchapuranam (from the Panniru Thirumurai) in Tamil.

The worship ends with the priest parting the curtains of the sanctum sanctorum to reveal the Chidambara Rahasyam.

The Arudra Darshanam There are six festivals in a year when Lord Nataraja is worshipped with elaborate anointing rituals. The most important is the Thiruvadhirai also known as Arudhra Darshan which is observed in the Tamil month of Marghazhi i.e. Dec-Jan. Known as Margashirsha in Sanskrit, this period is highly auspicious for spiritual practices. In the Bhagavad Gita Sri Krishna says, ‘masanam margashirshoham’, i.e., ‘among months, I am the Margashirsha,’ signifying that there is no month as auspicious as Margashirsha. This month precedes Uttarayana, and marks the pre-dawn of the day for devatas.

During this month, earth is closest to the sun and thus experiences maximum gravitational pull; but the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun which results in winter. Due to this pull and cold weather, the life processes are at their minimum. It is therefore the best time to create a balance and stabilize the life forces within us. Keeping this in mind several spiritual practices have been woven into our culture like waking up before sunrise, visiting temples and singing devotional songs like Andal’s Tiruppavai or Manickavachagars Tiruppalliyezhuchi. All this is done with the intention to create stability and realize the latent spiritual energy within.

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In this month, several festivals are observed throughout India; Vaikuntha Ekadasi dedicated to Lord Narayana and Arudra Darshan dedicated to Shiva are among the most important of them.

Arudhra Darshanam is a celestial event which celebrates the cosmic dance of Lord Shiva. It is observed on the full moon night of Marghazhi with Arudhra as the ruling star. Arudhra called Ardra in Sanskrit, is the sixth lunar mansion astrologically. Literally, Arudhra means absolute, stable with a certain inertia (as opposite to Rudra a roarer, signifying motion), and renewal. With the combination of Rahu and Budh, Arudhra has the aspects of illusion and intellect, chaos and order together. Also known as Betelgeuse in astronomy, Arudhra is a cool red super-giant in the constellation of Orion, a prominent constellation located on the celestial equator.

Arudhra is one of the largest and most luminous stars visible to the naked eye with a distinct golden-red colour. It is best visible in the night sky between September and March.

If human eyes were sensitive to radiation at all wavelengths, Arudhra would appear as the brightest star in the sky. Therefore, with these characteristics, Arudhra represents Shiva performing the cosmic dance with the golden red flame of destruction — destruction of illusion, ego and ignorance — and displaying his Sat-Chit-Ananda aspect to us.

Thus, with the unique combination of maximum gravitational pull from the sun, a

cool and soothing weather, full moon night, and the energy fields of Arudhra star at the spiritual space of Consciousness with the nil vertical geomagnetic field at Chi­dambaram, the Arudhra Darshnam is a grand celestial event, which provides an opportunity to receive the grace of the Lord and become one with the cosmos.

This event is celebrated as a 10-day festival. It begins with Dwajarohanam, Rathotsavam, Ardhra Mahabhishekam and finally the Arudhra Darshnam. After Rathotsavam the Nataraja idol is brought, in moonlight, to the Raja Sabha for sacred ablution with milk, curd, ghee, honey, fruit juices, coconut water, sandal paste, holy ashes, and other sacred offerings.

Thousands of people flock the temple to see the anointing ceremony and the ritualistic dance of Shiva when he is taken back to the sanctum sanctorum. At the end of the rituals, people receive Kali a special kind of sweet dish prasad which indicates bliss. It is believed that eating this removes all afflictions and fills one with divine bliss.

The Chidambaram temple represents the blissful dance of Shiva with eternal stillness.

It symbolizes the rhythm of macro and micro cosmos. The temple is a reservoir of spiritual energy and gives us an opportunity to resonate with the cosmic rhythm.

It is a private temple managed by the Dikshitars and needs to be protected and nurtured for the good of humanity.

References 1. The Dance of Shiva, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Owen, 1958

2. The Tao of Physics, Fritjof Capra, Shambala, Colorado (U.S.A.)

When Siva realizes His own Self, He dances about in joy exclaiming, 'What am I! What am I!' —The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p.393

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Article

With Swami Brahmananda SWAMI TEJASANANDA

Swami Tejasananda (1896 – 1971) came in contact with the Belur Math during his student days and was initiated by Swami Brahmananda in 1917. He joined the order in 1927 and was ordained into sannyasa by Swami Shivananda in 1931. He served as the editor of The Vedanta Kesari and the Prabuddha Bharata, the head of the Patna Ashrama and then for 23 long years as the Principal of Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, a residential college adjacent to Belur Math.

In 1961 he became the Trustee of the Ramakrishna Math and a member of the Governing body of Ramakrishna Mission. This reminiscence is translated from Brahmanander Smriti Katha in Bengali.

The incident I am relating took place in the summer of 1917. After the B.A. examinations, I left for Puri together with my grandmother to participate in the Snan Yatra.

This was the first time I visited that centre of pilgrimage. Even while studying in college, I had read The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and other related books. It had awakened in me the desire to realize the ideals presented in Sri Ramakrishna’s nectarine message. I also experienced an intense desire to meet the companions of Sri Ramakrishna in His divine play.

From the time I started reading those books somehow by the force of an unknown inspiration I felt a deep attraction towards Sri Ramakrishna’s manasaputra, or spiritual son Swami Brahmananda familiarly known to all as Maharaj. Regarding Maharaj, Sri Ramakrishna had said, ‘While listening to the kirtan, I saw that Rakhal was in the group of gopalas of Vrindavan.’ ‘Ah, what a nice character Rakhal has developed. If you look at his face, you will notice his lips moving. He inwardly repeats the name of God, and so his lips move. Youngsters like him belong to the T h e

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class of the ever-perfect. They are born with God-consciousness. No sooner do they grow

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and catch the attention of those a little older than they realize inside would be arrogant. the danger of coming in contact I stood there for some time with the world. There is the in dejection. Then I happened to parable of the Homa bird in the see someone passing along the Vedas. The bird lives high up way. I asked him, ‘Sir, how can in the sky and never descends I enter this house?’ He replied, to earth. … Youngsters like ‘Don’t worry, I’ll arrange it,’ and Rakhal are like that bird. From started shouting, ‘Barada Babu, their very childhood they are Barada Babu!’ Hearing him afraid of the world, and their shout like that, I was surprised one thought is how to reach the and frightened, wondering Mother, how to realize God.’ ‘I how the people in the house told Mother, “Certainly I shall Swami Tejasananda would react. I felt it was very not have any children, Mother. disrespectful to go in and meet Maharaj after But it is my desire that a boy with sincere love shouting like that. Anyhow, a grey-haired for God should always remain with me. Give man in white clothing (he was Barada Babu, me such a boy.” That is the reason Rakhal the caretaker of the house) opened the door came here.’ My mind hungered intensely to and asked me in a friendly manner, ‘Have see this manasaputra of Sri Ramakrishna. If I you come to meet Maharaj?’ I didn’t have the saw any educated Bengali gentleman, I would strength to say anything but a simple ‘yes.’ My enquire, ‘Has revered Rakhal Maharaj of the heart was beating fast, and I started breathing Ramakrishna Mission come to Puri?’ hard. I began to think that it would have Unexpectedly, one day I came to know been better if I had brought someone along from a Bengali gentleman that Rakhal Maharaj with me. was then in fact staying in Puri! I found out When I entered, I saw on the tidy that, together with other sannyasis, he was veranda a calm, dignified, divine personage staying in a house called Sashi Niketan. This sitting in a chair and smoking a hubble-bubble. news filled me with unspeakable joy, and at The place was very pleasant, with the evening the same time threw me into a kind of despair. breeze wafting in the sweet fragrance of I had only one thought: ‘What if he doesn’t flowers from the garden. In the fading evening accept me? What if he doesn’t allow me even light, Maharaj appeared very charming. He to approach him? That would really break my had a healthy body, a soft look in his eyes, heart.’ My mind kept vacillating thus between and a peaceful, noble, and loving face which hope and despair. Then I thought that even if reflected an austere life. On the same veranda he didn’t accept me, I would at least be able to at some distance there sat another sannyasi. see him once.

Not knowing what to say or do, I placed With such a mindset, one evening I went my head on Maharaj’s feet and offered my to the beach by the sea just before sunset and pranams. I remained in that position for a then went to the house where Maharaj was long time. What joy! After a long period of staying. It was locked from inside. I thought, uncertainty and despair, today I was able to ‘I am unfit even to enter such a big house.’ I bring this body to the shores of ambrosial was extremely shy, and thought that to shout T h e

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peace. It is impossible to express what I felt immediately after Snan Yatra to avoid the in words. Before seeking shelter at Maharaj’s huge crowd of pilgrims during Rath Yatra. I feet, I had experienced extreme restlessness am going back with her. and agony in every layer of my personality.

Maharaj: Well, would you like to meet a And today, in his overflowing mercy, Sri sadhu of ruddy complexion?

Ramakrishna had led me into this abode of Myself: When will he come? (I thought, peace.

‘I have just met Maharaj. Why should I meet When I stood up, he asked with great any other sadhu?’) affection, ‘Haven’t I seen you somewhere?’

Maharaj: It is difficult to say. When he I was surprised. When and where could he will come is not definite. If you come here both have seen me? I thought that he might have morning and evening, then you will be able to mistaken me for someone else. I replied, meet him whenever he comes. And anyway, ‘No, Maharaj. This is my first meeting with you have no other work. you. I haven’t seen you earlier anywhere.’

Myself: All right, Maharaj. I will do as But he again said, ‘Yes, yes. I have seen you say. you somewhere. But why didn’t you come It was past evening, and the whole place all these days?’ There was no end to my was illuminated by moonlight. As I bowed amazement. I had never met him before, down to him and was about to leave, he said and now he was asking why I hadn’t come with great affection, ‘Come again.’ for all these days! Hearing him speak so And for the rest of my stay in Puri, I lovingly, I felt all my fears, hesitation, doubts, would visit Maharaj every day, morning and shyness vanish. It was as though I had and evening, and enquire about the ruddyknown him for a long time; it was as if I complexioned sadhu. Maharaj would enquire had shared a deep relationship with him about my welfare. One day I saw a fairfor many past lives. Kalidasa rightly says in complexioned sannyasi sitting in front of his Abhijnanasakuntalam: ‘When a cheerful a room at the end of the veranda. Maharaj man becomes listless on seeing something softly told me, ‘Go and offer your salutation beautiful or listening to something pleasant, to him. He is that sadhu.’ I bowed down at then it is certain that the strong memory of his feet. The sadhu was Sri Ramakrishna’s someone beloved has been unconsciously direct disciple and divine playmate Srimat awakened.’

Swami Turiyananda. As he was unwell, he I sat silent without answering his had come to Puri to recover his health. It was question. After a moment he asked, ‘Where my great good fortune that I could meet these are you staying? Have you made arrangements two great souls. My mind and heart are filled for food?’ I replied, ‘I am staying in a priest’s with reverence and gratitude when I recollect house. For meals, every day I buy Lord how, with the excuse of meeting this ‘sadhu,’ Jagannath’s prasad from Anandabazaar.’

Maharaj gave me his divine company for many Maharaj said, ‘That is good.’ days and thus opened a spring of eternal bliss Maharaj: How long are you staying here? in my barren life; and how by sprinkling his Myself: Until the Snan Yatra. I have love on me he slowly awakened my hidden come with my grandmother. She will leave tender and noble tendencies. vvv (To be continued. . .)

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Article

Two-Fold Mission of Swami Vivekananda PROF. S. RADHAKRISHNAN

‘Just as there is an individuality in everyman, so there is a national individuality . . . each nation has a destiny to fulfil, each nation has a message to deliver and each nation has a mission to accomplish.

Therefore, from the very start, we must have to understand the mission of our own race, the destiny it has to fulfil, the place it has to occupy in the march of nations and the note which it has to contribute to the harmony of races,’1 thus Swami Vivekananda exhorted his countrymen more than a century ago.

His clarion call to India to rediscover herself had been the defining moment in the great Indian Revival of the early 20th century, which culminated in the freedom of the country.

Swamiji, whom Sister Nivedita called, ‘the condensed India’, was the embodiment of all that was positive in Indian religion and culture. It was his firm conviction, borne out of his own realisation that India’s uniqueness and identity lay in its all-inclusive, all-loving, universal religion and culture, which if understood rightly and practised diligently, can empower and transform not only India but the whole world.

His noble mission, which has no precedence in recorded history, according to Sister Nivedita, has a two-fold purpose - ‘world moving and nation building’; the means of achieving both these are the same – the practical application of the ‘Wisdom

of India’, as realized by him at the feet of his Great Master, Sri Ramakrishna and reinforced by his first-hand experiences both in India and abroad. While to the materially advanced, but spiritually starved West he showed the ‘nivritti marga’, the path of contemplation; to his own country men, sunk in poverty, misery and ignorance, he showed the ‘pravritti marga’, the path of manly action and restoration of human dignity and lost glory.

As Mrs. Burke, in her ‘New Discoveries’ points out, Swamiji ‘could not see hunger in any form, spiritual or physical, without filling it.’ The establishment of Sri Ramakrishna Order, with its Maths and Missions, with the motto of ‘atmano mokshartham, jagad hithaya cha’ (for one’s own salvation and for the good of humanity), and its centres all over the world, imparting spiritual illumination and humanitarian activities, is a lasting bond of harmony between the West and the East.

Swamiji’s deep love for India, whom Sister Nivedita calls ‘the Queen of all his affections’ was neither blind nor chauvinistic.

His nationalism was born out of his love of Truth and was the inevitable and natural phase of his love for humanity. As he himself stated, ‘It is love and love alone that I preach and I base my teachings on the great Vedantic truth of the sameness and omnipresence of the Soul of the Universe.’2 In the words of Christopher Isherwood, his ‘nationalism, the

The author is a retired Professor of English and a close devotee of our ashrama in Thrissur.

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‘preaches the dignity of humanity in such a call to India to recognize herself, was a kind 3 of internationalism sublimated.’ He wanted lofty strain as Hinduism, and no religion on India to rise so that she could once again earth treads upon the necks of the poor and become the guiding light for the world at the low in such a fashion as Hinduism.’5 He large. He wanted to end the isolation of India lamented how the sublime man-making which had resulted in her stagnation for tenets of religion were brought down a long time and a loss to the world. His to the level of ‘kitchen religion’ – was an integrating vision. His broad mere outward rituals and meaningless sympathy and love of humanity make ceremonies. He took the ‘educated’ him a global citizen and in his later Indian youth to task, calling them ‘vain utterances, he transcended boundaries of talkers’, ‘a race of dotards’, ‘repeating all kinds and became truly universal. undigested stray bits of European He wrote in 1895, ‘I belong as brainwork’ and urged them to much to India as to the world, come out of their narrow holes no humbug about that. What and struggle for higher and country has any special claim better things and be men, on me? Am I any nation’s ‘and not brutes.’ Although slave?’4 he was critical of the crass He was a true materialism and scepticism of revolutionary. His was the West, he was all praise ‘the root and branch for their organisational reform’, a revolution in skill, work culture, civic the minds and hearts of sense and democratic men, transforming them institutions and wanted from within, as a prelude to his countrymen to follow universal revolution without. their merits. His advice to No wonder, based on the impact Swami Vivekananda both the East and the West was not to of his Chicago Addresses Swamiji live like ‘a frog in a well’ but to come is called ‘one of the main moulders of the together and share the merits of each other modern world’ by A.L. Basham, the renowned for the good of all. As Romain Rolland puts it, historian.

Swamiji’s creative genius can be summed up He had a keen sense of observation and in the two words ‘equilibrium and synthesis.’ went to the heart of every issue. What is more, ‘He is the personification of harmony of without the least trace of fear or favour, he all human energy’6 and his unified vision would point out merits and faults wherever synthesises and integrates all aspects of life he found them. Thus, though he was all praise – material and spiritual; science and religion; for India for her priceless spiritual and cultural idealism and practicality; the East and the heritage, he was a relentless and harsh critic West; past and present; human and nature; when it came to her faults. He could not bear intellect and emotion and meditation and when the noble truths of Indian spirituality action - and he lived them all. were misinterpreted and degraded by vested While the West has to learn from India interests. ‘No religion on earth’, he thundered, the conquest of internal nature, India has to T h e

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learn from the West the conquest of external nature. He wanted a union between Western science and technology and Indian spirituality and morality. ‘Then there will be neither Hindus [Indians] nor Europeans. There will be the ideal humanity which has conquered both the natures – the external and the internal. It is the union of the two that is wanted… The present age needs the union of the two’7 and not one becoming the other, he asserted. In other words, while maintaining their distinct identities, nations should assimilate the best in other cultures so as to contribute to the overall harmony and balance. In these days of globalisation and communication revolution, when the whole world is becoming ‘smaller and borderless’ this policy of ‘give and take’ demands urgent attention if the world is to survive.

What exactly does Swamiji mean by ‘Indian spirituality’ and how is it capable of unifying, energising and pacifying the world at large and India in particular? Incidentally, ‘Hindu’ or ‘Hinduism’, strictly speaking, does not denote any religion. These names were given by foreigners to denote the land and its people. Bharat, the original name by which this land was known, has the longest, unbroken history. It was the sacred and divine Motherland to her inhabitants. The Eternal Dharma was Her soul, which like the golden inner thread joining the pearls of a necklace, gave unity and a sense of national consciousness right from the Vedic times.

This was quite unlike the artificial, open, political and administrative unity of European nations. The best and the noblest expression of the Eternal Dharma was Advaita Vedanta, which is an all comprehensive, all-inclusive and universal way of life, embodying the immutable moral, ethical and spiritual truths governing the lives of all beings and T h e

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the universe they reside in, realised by the Rishis of yore and verified and found true by subsequent earnest seekers down to the present age. It postulates potential divinity of the soul, unity of existence and harmony of all religions. It does not depend on doctrines or dogmas or rituals or books, but is rooted in realisation, in ‘being and becoming’, and as such scientific, universal and all encompassing.

It fulfils the yearnings and aspirations of humanity at large.

According to Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, it is not a religion, but The Religion, the essence and substance underlying all religions and hence acceptable to all. It proposes God or Atman as our own very Self and this Divinity within leads to the realisation of the Divinity in all –‘All are children of Immortality.’

The principles of unity in diversity and secularism in its noblest sense are ingrained in its adherents. By its very nature it admits no privileges or discriminations of any kind.

Vedic hymns like ‘ekam sat, vipra bahuda vadanti ‘(Reality is one, but sages call it by various names), ‘vasudhaiva kutumbakam’ (All the world is one family), ‘As many faiths, so many paths’ etc. are articles of faith in it. It also boldly declares that the aim of spiritual realisation is not merely achieving one’s own salvation, but achieving the good of mankind in general and thus has a positive social and humanitarian implication. No country in the world can boast of such an all-absorbing, all-accommodating and all-inclusive cultural heritage which, surprisingly enough, predates all other living cultures and religions and hence Swamiji calls it the ‘mother of all religions’ in his Chicago Address.

Modern scientific discoveries vindicate the truth of Vedanta that we are all interconnected at a deeper level and that consciousness is the substratum of all. The

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fact that we are all basically the same leads to universal love, from which would come fearlessness and strength. As we move towards the deeper dimensions within, the Soul begins to arise, gaining infinite power, purity and ‘everything that is excellent’, which, when acting on matter brings about material development, acting on intellect results in intellectual expansion and finally acting on itself attains the fulfilment of all human possibilities, making man a veritable God. It thus fulfils the yearning of man to be free. From personal freedom (i.e. freedom from senses and passions), it moves to social or political freedom (freedom from domination by others) and ultimately to freedom total, complete emancipation or Mukti.

In his speech ‘Is Vedanta the Future Religion of the World?’ at San Francisco in 1900, Swamiji asserted that the time had come to cast off ‘the kindergartens of religion and make vivid and powerful the true religion, the Vedanta, the worship of the spirit by the spirit if mankind is to survive.’ It is ‘the religion of strength’, as Swamiji calls it, the most dynamic force and the true and lasting basis of human solidarity.

To accept all religions are equally true and valid is the only way out of the dangers of religious fanaticism, and consequent violence and terror which are now posing a grave threat to the world. His aim was ‘to lead mankind to the place where there is neither the Vedas, nor the Bible, nor the Koran; yet this has to be done by harmonising the Vedas, the Bible and the Koran. Mankind ought to be taught that religions are but the varied expressions of THE RELIGION, which is Oneness, so that each may choose that path that suits him best.’8 As prophesied by Swamiji, Eastern spirituality, especially Vedanta, is gaining T h e

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popularity in America and Europe since his ‘counter conquest’ of the West. According to Philip Goldberg, who wrote the monumental ‘American Veda’, Indian influence ‘has spread wide and penetrated deeper into the American culture and that American society has moved ever closer to a spiritual worldview that resembles the core principles of the Vedic tradition.’ He calls it ‘a positive and enduring historical development.’12 Many intellectuals in Europe and America echo the sentiments expressed by him and Arnold Toynbee that the ‘only way of salvation for mankind is the Indian one’ as it makes men ‘to know and love’ each other; for to know who truly we are is to love all. Thus the seeds of Vedanta Swamiji has sown in America and Europe have sprouted thanks to the continued efforts of Vedanta Societies and other spiritual institutions which followed him.

What about Swamiji’s mission of transforming India through Vedanta? The near millennium of foreign subjugation had engendered inferiority complex and an attitude of self-reproach among our people. It had stagnated the Indian culture, benumbed the Indian psyche and made its people sink into ‘tamas’. Horizontal and vertical divisions in society on all conceivable lines made the lives of common people miserable. The abject poverty, ignorance and the lack of selfconfidence of the people characterised the India of those days. The callousness of the rich and the tyranny of the priest craft and the despotism of the upper castes were evident everywhere.

Swamiji’s heart sank on seeing the pitiable plight of the common masses of men and women. ‘Spirituality has fallen to low ebb and starvation stalks the land’ he lamented. He wanted India to rise again and become dynamic and earn the respect of the

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world through her spiritual power. He knew that religion was not at fault; but the people had never been taught the life-giving, manmaking principles of spirituality and none knew how to apply them in practical life.

The sublime spirituality was reduced to mere scholastic disputations and abstract theories at best and superstitions and vile practices like caste system and untouchability at worst. He made the dry abstract Advaita relevant and practical so as to make it capable of solving social problems like poverty and inequality.

From his Master he knew that it was not mere compassion that was needed, but the attitude of ‘service to the poor as worship of God’ – ‘Shiva Jnane Jiva Seva’. He had also learnt from his Master that sacrificing oneself for the common good of others is higher than personal salvation as it would ensure both outer progress and inner growth.

He revolutionised ‘Sannyasa Dharma’ making it play an effective role in spiritual enlightenment and social progress. His success at the Chicago and later his speeches in America galvanised Indians and made them aware of the glory of their Motherland and, on his return, he through his soul stirring speeches and writings kindled the dormant national consciousness of the people, awakened them from their self-forgetfulness, making them proud of their heritage, thereby paving the way for the great National Revival.

In the words of the historian K.M. Panicker, Swamiji verily is ‘the true father of Indian nationalism.’

Thus Swamiji fulfilled the twin tasks enjoined upon him by his Master – ‘shake the world to its foundations’ by his intellectual and spiritual powers and regenerate his own country by following the twin principles of renunciation and service.

How far have we followed Swamiji after independence is a matter better left to the readers to ponder over. All that can be said is that political freedom, according to Swamiji, is but a phase towards the onward march for allround perfection and not an end itself. Have we faithfully adhered to the ‘life-giving, charactermaking and nation-building’ teachings of Swamiji, which are all derived from the core ethos of our heritage? Have we ever tried to understand and strengthen the spiritual and cultural unity that binds us all together despite the surface differences of race, religion, caste, language, economic conditions or province?

Above all, have we really replaced ‘the negative education’, which Swamiji condemned, with an integrated and balanced system allowing full development of physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual faculties? In the answers to these questions lie the solutions to the manifold problems our country faces now including poverty, misery, degradation of moral values, religious fanaticism and violence.

References 1. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda [hereafter CW],3.369 2. CW, 3.194 3. World Thinkers on Swami Vivekananda, ed. Swami Lokeswarananda 4. CW, 5.95

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5. CW, 5.15 6. The Life of Swami Vivekananda, Romain Rolland, 281 7. CW, 5.216 8. CW, 6.416 9. American Veda, Philip Goldberg

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Article

Healing the Hills SWAMI DHYANASTHANANDA

Nestled in the lap of the mighty Himalayas, Uttarakhand is dotted with several major Hindu and Sikh pilgrimage sites. A massive cloudburst and ensuing flash floods hit a major portion of this ‘Abode of Gods’ on 16 June 2013. In this unprecedented devastation, thousands of people perished and infrastructure was severely damaged. Many villages and settlements were obliterated and hundreds of remote settlements were cut off from supplies and provisions. It affected not just the local people, but the whole country since most of the people who died were pilgrims and tourists hailing from every corner of India.

Ramakrishna Mission immediately took up relief operations. These were conducted by Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama, Kankhal (Haridwar) and Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Dehradun.

This is a personal account of the relief work by Swami Dhyanasthananda who serves in the Dehradun ashrama.

Introduction Every natural event has its consequences.

Calamities such as the Uttarakhand flood surprise us from time to time. Sometimes they change the very course of history. Sometime they also change human beliefs and remind us of the presence of the Almighty. As a modern developing nation, India has many advantages.

We have many great achievements in science, technology, and human development. But unexpected natural calamities, time and again, force us to view things in their proper perspective. The Uttarakhand flood disaster is one of the events that has taught me many lessons.

I have been staying at the Dehradun ashrama since 2009, but have never had the opportunity to visit the higher reaches of the Himalayas—not even Rishikesh, the abode of thousands of sadhus for millennia. I had a long-felt desire to visit the holy, enchanting, and serene places in the upper Himalayas.

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Every year many sadhus from the Order visited the Char Dham1 in Uttarakhand. As a monastic member of the Dehradun ashrama, I personally served them, making arrangements for their journey, arranging their vehicle, and seeing them off at the bus stand regularly.

By Sri Ramakrishna’s will, during the relief work I was able to serve the people of the region. In the process, he showed me every nook and cranny of the Garhwal region. I was able to experience the local culture and the lifestyle, simplicity, courage, steadfastness, shortcomings, and limitations of the hill people. Here are a few experiences that made a deep impression on my mind.

The beginning Eight days after 16 June 2013, the critical day of the disaster, we went to some of the flood-hit areas to make a quick survey of the situation and to prepare the primary relief operations. Besides me, the

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team included Swami Gunamayananda, Brahmachari Abhayesh, Brahmachari Prasanth, Brahmachari Diptanarayan—all monastic members of the Ramakrishna Order; Krishnapad Maharaj, and Madhavachaitanya –private monks; Sri Sen, Sri Danwal, and some other volunteers of our ashram.

The journey to the upper Himalayas was very difficult and strenuous. In some places there was no sign of a road. We, the survey team, covered some distance by a jeep and truck and went the rest of the way on foot.

We saw that the situation was terrible.

A few days earlier, life in these places had been peaceful and merry. But suddenly the catastrophe had changed everything – it showed men their helplessness before the Almighty. The ego of man had been totally shattered. There was not a single ray of hope to relieve their pain and suffering. People had lost their loved ones, relatives, wealth, houses, all their belongings, and were forced to live under the open sky, left to the mercy of God. People were so terrified that they had lost all faith in others and in themselves. At the same time, the disaster had made some people so selfish that they behaved greedily and opportunistically. They forgot the basic

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human value of helping each other in need, and were focused on their own survival without worrying about others. Those who had lost their near and dear ones had been struck utterly dumb with grief.

Sometimes even those who were willing to help were helpless. The area was completely cut off from the outside world, and there was no communication at all. Some benevolent people had arranged some material relief to aid the victims. But it was simply wasted due to the lack of prior proper disaster aid planning. The harsh weather, heavy rains, and landslides also prevented full-scale relief measures. A few places were self-sustaining in terms of food and other materials, but the prices of essentials had skyrocketed and we saw how some people exploit others even in times of great mutual hardship.

Pulana and Bhunder The villages Pulana and Bhunder had been completely swept away and destroyed by the mighty flood. The survivors somehow escaped, abandoned the place, and managed to get to the relief camp. Everyone, including children and old women, was living in chaos and squalor. The relief supplies from the

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government were not being distributed in an organised manner. Everyone was crying – people who had been living in big houses were now forced to live in such camps. Some people had problems adjusting. There was not enough space for all the 500 to 600 survivors due to the hilly terrain. Cooking was a problem due to the absence of electricity or gas, and the rain was making it difficult to get firewood.

For years the villagers had been surviving on income from tourism and the Char Dham yatra. With this calamity they had lost the very source of their livelihood. The villages were in the higher reaches, and there were no roads; supplies had to be carried on ponies, making life difficult. Their houses had also been built with much difficulty – building materials had to be carried five to six kilometres uphill from the main road on ponies.

The victims were highly touched by the concern of our team, and were happy to get help and service from the Ramakrishna Mission. But a few old people hesitated to take aid from sadhus. For ages they had offered food and other requisites to any sadhus who happened to be in their villages. So now they were reluctant to take anything from sannyasis. We had to convince them that the relief supplies were coming from devotees and

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other public sources, and that we monks were only distributors.

Joshimath Joshimath is a hill junction. Many valleys are connected through the central point of this tiny Himalayan town, which is also a place of pilgrimage.

It was here that we set up our first base camp for relief operations. At this time it was a center of activity. Pilgrims from different parts of the country who had come to visit the Char Dham were being brought here and fed by the rescue team of the Indian army. There were announcements over loudspeakers of the names of missing people. The survivors were waiting for their relatives and hoping they would turn up in the next rescue batch.

There were early-morning announcements for free bus service to take the survivors to other safe areas like Dehradun. Hotels had been shut down, and telephone connectivity was also absent, making communication difficult. There was continuous commotion throughout the day. Many NGO’s and other organizations were reaching Joshimath with their relief supplies, but due to bad weather and the inaccessibility of the flood-affected villages they were dumping the food supplies by the roadside. Some local politicians were eagerly waiting to divert some trucks to their

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and bad weather, we kept trying to enter the army area and get to the helipad to request helicopter service. One evening the brigadier was surprised to hear us conversing among ourselves in English.

He asked if he could provide any kind of help. He said that due to bad weather it was difficult to get any sort of helicopter service for the next two or three days, and suggested that we should try to reach the Neeti pass, a few kilometers from the Chinese border where many villages were badly affected by floods and landslides. We immediately agreed, but when we explained the difficulties we would have in getting to such a remote and hilly pass, he arranged our lodging and made arrangements for our visit to Neeti the next day.

Our team of seven started early in the morning, because Neeti is 75 kilometres from Joshimath. We were supposed to reach Bhav Kund, where a military vehicle would pick us up and take us forward. This is because the border roads are very narrow and rough, and only military vehicles can safely drive on them. But we had to stop on the way because of a landslide. We waited till the Border Road Organization (BRO) team came and cleared the road. But when we finally reached Bhav Kund, the military vehicle had come and left after waiting for some time. We were now stuck in the middle of the valley between Bhav Kund and Malhari. It was about two p.m. There RI

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villages, even though those villages had not been affected by the floods. Other miscreants distracted the NGOs and tried to loot the relief supplies for themselves. Instead of helping the suffering people, they were exploiting the situation for their own selfish ends.

Neeti After few days of relief work from our Joshimath base camp, we found ourselves helpless. We were unable to reach the villagers in the higher reaches due to their inaccessibility. The only means of transportation was by helicopter. We tried appealing to the nearby government office and the helicopter companies. Although the government was operating the helicopter service for relief work, there were not enough helicopters to serve our efforts at the moment.

So we were left at God’s mercy.

Fortunately, we met the brigadier of Joshimath, Brig. Arora. It was as if he had been sent by Providence. In spite of rain

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was no way to communicate with the military team. We were stranded.

There was a division of opinion as to whether we should go to a military camp at Malhari, 30 kilometres away, or go back 40 kilometres. In this dilemma we spent an hour, having no food the entire day. Somehow we managed, with some bread and biscuits for our noon meal. Meanwhile, an army jeep came to the spot and enquired about our problem. The soldiers told us that there was a shop down the ridge below the roadside that had a landline.

We could use that to contact the army base camp.

After talking with the military camp, we decided to go to Malhari and spend the night at the army camp. But our two small vehicles could not go further because a bridge had been washed away in the flood. We monastic brothers and volunteers carried the relief supplies consisting of food items, blankets, solar lamps, etc., over a makeshift footbridge to the other side of the river and waited for army assistance. Around 3:30 p.m., an army truck came from the Malhari army camp. We loaded all our supplies onto it and went to the Malhari camp.

At the camp, in accordance with army regulations, we had to empty the truck and keep all the supplies in the camp, even though the same vehicle would go to Neeti the next day. Neeti was around nine to ten kilometres from Malhari. As soon as we reached the Malhari camp of the Sixth Sikh Battalion, we were welcomed by all the soldiers. They were very kind and hospitable. They were very

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surprised to see civilians and monks like us in that remote area. They arranged for our food and we passed that night peacefully.

Early the next morning, the commander came and told us that if the weather was cloudy, we would have to stay for two or three days till the sky was clear. Somehow by God’s grace everything developed in our favour, and we reloaded the truck for distribution at Neeti. Neeti is the name of both the pass and the village. When we arrived, the villagers came out to welcome us. Although the village had not been directly affected by floods, it was isolated from other areas, as bridges and roads had been washed away by heavy rains.

After distributing the supplies in two more villages, Bumppa and Ganshali, which are less than 10 kilometres from Neeti, we returned to the army camp at Malhari. While we had been distributing the supplies, the villagers had been overwhelmed with emotion to see sadhus bringing relief supplies to their village from such a great distance and under such difficult conditions. Out of respect for monks, the villagers sang devotional songs for us.

Ultimately, after finishing our work, we arrived at the junction where the army vehicle had left us. From there somehow we managed to get back to our relief camp at Joshimath.

Since there had been no communication with the Dehradun ashrama for the past two days, everyone there was worried and wondered whether any mishap had occurred. As soon as we reached Joshimath, we informed the Dehradun ashrama that all was well.

(To be continued. . .)

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Article

Swamiji and Netaji DR. SAROJ UPADHYAY, MRS. SUDESHNA GUPTA

confidence, and self-assertion. Towards the The central themes of Swamiji’s approach end of the nineteenth century, it was only to human development were man-making Swami Vivekananda who preached the idea and the upliftment of women and the of complete freedom—inner and external. As masses. He wanted a hundred thousand men Netaji writes: ‘Freedom, freedom is the song and women, fired with the zeal of holiness, of the soul’— this was the message that burst fortified with eternal faith in the Lord, forth from the inner recesses of Swamiji’s and nerved to lion’s courage by heart and captivated … the entire their sympathy for the poor, the nation. This truth was embodied in fallen, and the downtrodden, who Swamiji’s works, life, conversations, would go throughout the length and speeches.’ 2 Truly, Swamiji’s and breadth of the land, preaching multifaceted contribution changed the gospel of salvation, the gospel of the entire nature of nation-building help, the gospel of social upliftment – activities. the gospel of unity.1 This concept of human development strongly influenced Harnessing youth power Youth power is the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, game-changer of a society. the dynamic national leader.

Netaji was an ardent admirer It has the power to change of Swamiji and regarded him as the course of history. Swamiji ‘the maker of modern India.’ Both wanted the youth to build a sterling Swamiji and Netaji recognised the Swami Vivekananda character and participate in nationbuilding. He said, ‘I have faith in my vast potential of youth power and strove hard to awaken the young men and country, and especially in the youth of my country.… My conviction is that from the women of India. An attempt is made here to understand Swamiji’s influence on Netaji youth of Bengal will come the power which and how the latter carried out Swamiji’s manwill raise India once more to her proper making mission. spiritual place. Ay, from the youth of Bengal, According to Netaji, Swamiji’s unique with this immense amount of feeling and greatness was in harmonising East and enthusiasm in the blood, will come heroes West, religion and science, past and present. who will march from one corner of the earth He believed that Swamiji’s teachings gave to the other, preaching and teaching the eternal Indians an unprecedented self-respect, selfspiritual truths of our forefathers. And this is The authors are faculty members of NITMAS, Kolkata T h e

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equal opportunities for education and selfthe great work before you.’ ‘Young men of realisation.’

Madras, my hope is in you. Each one of you has a glorious future if you dare believe me.

Netaji understood that political freedom would not necessarily bring freedom from Have tremendous faith in yourselves, like the faith I had when I was a child, and which I am economic and social oppression for the working out now. Have that faith, each one of impoverished masses. In a letter to the legendary revolutionary Barin Ghosh, he you, in yourself — that eternal power is lodged in every soul — and you will revive the whole wrote, ‘The struggle for independence has as 3 its aim the removal of the triple of India.’

Netaji took up this idea bondage of political, economic and kept the youth in the and social oppression.’ So he vanguard of his struggle for urged the youth to work for the freedom. In his address at the upliftment of women and to third session of the All-India stand against social oppression.

Youth Congress in Calcutta He wanted them to lead an on 25 December 1928, he told all-round socio-economic the assembled youth: ‘Youth development in a socialistic movements are not reformist manner. Impressed by the in outlook, but revolutionary. developments in Soviet Russia A feeling of restlessness, of brought about by socialist impatience with the present ideas, Netaji declared in his order, must come into existence presidential address at the third before any youth movement political conference in 1933: can start….It is characterised ‘Free India will not be a land Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose by a feeling of dissatisfaction of capitalists, landlords, and with the present order of things, and a desire caste. Free India will be a social and political for a better order accompanied by a vision of democracy.’ that order.’

Netaji’s vision for India is encapsulated Emphasis on education in his address at a huge youth rally held at Swami Vivekananda believed that Midnapore in Bengal on 21 December 1929, education was the panacea for individual where he said: ‘I want a society and a state and social ills. Netaji too considered illiteracy which will not only remove all the needs of as the fundamental problem plaguing India. the Indian people but serve as a model to the He agreed with John Stuart Mill’s idea that world at large. The new society will have to be democracy based on universal suffrage must built on the basis of equality. The caste system be preceded by universal education. Therefore, will have to be blown away. The woman as a socialist and a humanist, he wanted mass will have to be freed from all shackles and primary education for all men and women. But endowed with rights and responsibilities equal he was in favour of higher education only for to man. The inequalities of wealth will have to deserving, meritorious students. The massive be swept away, and everyone, irrespective of educational reconstruction effected within creed, caste, or colour, will have to be given a very short time in the U.S.S.R. provided a T h e

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model for him to support a state-controlled educational system. He saw education as a great tool for bringing about national solidarity, and therefore was in favour of a common educational policy with the Roman alphabet as the common script. In regard to the system of primary education, Bose was deeply influenced by the kindergarten system in Germany and Scandinavia, the nursery schools of England, and the ecoles maternelles of France. He was in favour of visual or sensory methods of education. Again, according to him, one of the primary purposes of education is to develop fellow-feeling among people from diverse cultural and social backgrounds.

He was therefore, like Swamiji, eager to spread education among the masses.

Empowerment of women An essential condition in a nation’s development is the upliftment of its women.

As Swamiji pointed out, the ‘uplift of the women, the awakening of the masses, must come first, and then only can any real good come about for the country, for India.’4 Netaji too was deeply concerned about the welfare of women. He pointed out that illiteracy and economic dependency were the main hurdles in the path of women’s emancipation. He therefore formulated an all-round educational system for women that included literacy

and vocational education, or training in light cottage industries. He also supported widow remarriage and the abolition of the purdah system. It was around this time that the Women’s Indian Association, the first women’s organisation in India, was established in Madras in 1917. The National Council of Women in India, formed in 1925, began to coordinate the work of the Provincial Women’s Council and other organisations for women’s advancement and welfare, and thus connected India with the international movement.

Swami Vivekananda regarded women as Shakti. Drawing attention to the prowess of the Queen of Jhansi, he wanted Indian women to ‘acquire the spirit of valour and heroism,’ and ‘also learn self-defense.’ Similarly, Netaji envisaged an important role for women in India’s fight for freedom. He asked them to serve in the hospitals, look after wounded soldiers, and even take up arms to fight the enemy. He created the Rani Jhansi Regiment, and then in the Provisional Government of Azad Hind he appointed one woman as a cabinet minister, giving her a position just after him in the order of succession.

Thus we see that in the field of youth development, women’s upliftment and nation-building, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was strongly inspired by Swami Vivekananda.

References 1. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, [hereafter CW] 5.15 2. Tarun er Swapno, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose

3. CW, 3. 320 & 303 4. CW, 6.490

How shall I express in words my indebtedness to Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda? It is under their sacred influence that my life got first awakened . . . If Swamiji had been alive, I would have been at his feet.

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The Order on the March News & Notes from Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission Celebration of the 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Subodhanandaji Maharaj Ranchi Morabadi Ashrama conducted a devotees’ convention on 13 Nov. which was attended by 175 devotees, and a youths’ convention on 14 Nov. in which about 400 students and teachers participated.

Celebration of the 150th Birth Anniversary of Sister Nivedita Baranagar Math held two programmes comprising talks and cultural programmes on 26 and 27 November which were attended altogether by 310 people.

Chandipur Math held a public meeting on 28 October which was attended by about 150 persons.

Chennai Math has produced a Tamil drama on Sister Nivedita in association with a drama troupe.

First staged on 11 September, the drama was watched by about 500 people.

Dehradun centre conducted cultural competitions from 10 to 13 November in which 850 students from 35 schools of Dehradun participated.

Jaipur centre conducted a spiritual retreat on 27 November which was attended by 75 people.

Jalpaiguri Ashrama held a discourse on Sister Nivedita which was attended by 70 people.

Jamtara Math conducted a special programme comprising procession, speeches and cultural programmes on 28 October in which about 100 students and others participated.

Kadapa centre held a youths’ convention on 18 November which was attended by more than 1000 youths from 16 colleges in and around Kadapa.

Kanpur Ashrama held a doctors’ convention on 6 November in which about 50 doctors took part.

Malliankaranai centre held two programmes at Arpakkam and Kadalmangala villages on 9 and 31 October which were attended altogether by 220 people, mainly students.

Mysuru centre conducted a programme on 28 October which was attended by about 500 people, mainly students and teachers.

Ponnampet centre held a workshop on 21 November on the theme ‘Role of soldiers in maintaining the sovereignty of our country’ which was attended by 380 people.

Puri Mission Ashrama conducted a youths’ convention in which 150 youths took part.

Ranchi Morabadi centre held a farm women empowerment programme on 15 November in which 314 members of self-help groups and 30 farmers took part.

Vijayawada centre held two youths’ conventions on 11 and 12 November in which altogether 1250 youths participated. The centre also held a parents’ and teachers’ convention on 13 November which was attended by 355 people.

Visakhapatnam centre conducted a written quiz contest on Sister Nivedita covering 87,000 students in 575 schools and distributed 2000 prizes worth over 1 lakh.

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News of Branch Centres (in India) The newly installed lift at Varanasi Advaita Ashrama was inaugurated on 28 October.

Dr Raman Singh, Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, declared open the new auditorium-cum-indoor stadium at Narainpur centre on 2 November. The General Secretary presided over the programme and inaugurated the newly built monks’ quarters and a hostel building.

Swami Prabhanandaji inaugurated the new office block at Patna Ashrama on 5 November.

The newly constructed Sri Sharada Bhavana, a multipurpose hall, at Shivanahalli centre was declared open on 7 November.

Swami Prabhanandaji inaugurated the new monks’ quarters building at Medinipur centre on 13 November, the birthday of Swami Vijnananandaji Maharaj.

The refurbished auditorium at Baranagar Math was inaugurated on 26 November.

Ramakrishna Sevamandira, the rural welfare unit of Mysuru Ashrama at Tenkalamole in Chamarajanagar district, was inaugurated on 26 November.

The newly constructed doctors’ quarters at Ponnampet Ashrama was inaugurated on 27 November.

The Middle School of Chennai Sarada Vidyalaya received the Best School Award for the year 201415 from the Government of Tamil Nadu. The award was handed over on 28 June 2016.

Two teachers of Model Higher Secondary School for Girls and Girls’ Higher Secondary School of Chennai Sarada Vidyalaya received Dr Radhakrishnan Best Teacher State Award on 5 September.

Dr Lobsang Tsetim, an ophthalmologist at our Itanagar hospital, received the Eye Health Heroes Award at the 10th General Assembly meeting of the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness held in Durban (South Africa) on 30 October.

Free Eye Camps The following centres conducted free eye camps: 18 centres conducted free eye camps in which patients were tested/given spectacles/operated: Bankura centre treated 355, operated 79 patients; Baranagar Math treated 40, operated 27; Chennai Math treated 75, operated 3; Gourhati treated 310, operated 20; Halasuru treated 455, operated 162; Jamshedpur treated 184, operated 112; Kamarpukur treated 432, operated 199; Khetri 181, operated 53; Lucknow treated 2158, operated 348; Madurai treated 248, operated 70; Porbandar treated 72, operated 29; Rajamahendravaram treated 236, operated 29; Rajkot treated 193, operated 67; Salem treated 307, operated 50, Silachar treated 405, operated 112 patients; Mayavati treated 1185; Ranchi Morabadi treated 5287, operated 19; and Vadodara treated 1146.

Values Education and Youth Programmes Coimbatore Vidyalaya held a three-day residential youths’ convention from 25 to 27 November in which 1159 delegates participated.

Delhi centre conducted nine values education workshops in and around Delhi and Gwalior for school principals, teachers, students and parents from 3.10.2016 to 9.11.2016. 917 people participated.

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Haripad Math held four values education camps in November in which 402 students took part.

Swachchha Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Campaign) Coimbatore Mission centre conducted two cleaning drives in November in which 82 students cleaned a few public places including a temple.

As a part of the third phase of Swachchha Mangaluru, Mangaluru Ashrama conducted 59 cleaning drives in and around Mangaluru on five Sundays between 30 October and 27 November. In all, about 5000 volunteers participated in these drives.

News of Branch Centres (Outside India) The renovated Old Temple of San Francisco (USA) centre was rededicated on 29 October, the Kali Puja day. The two-day programme held on this occasion included special worship, speeches, music, an audio-visual presentation on the Old Temple, and release of a commemorative volume.

Mymensingh (Bangladesh) centre celebrated its centenary by holding a symposium for students and youths on 11 November.

On 15 November, Mr Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, Acting Prime Minister, Govt of Fiji, visited Fiji Ashrama, participated in the annual awards ceremony of Swami Vivekananda College as the chief guest and also inaugurated the new campus of Vivekananda Technical Centre at Nadi.

Relief Work : A Brief Report as on 1 December 2016 1. Flood Relief: Bihar: (i) Katihar centre distributed 150 saris, dhotis, solar lamps and 1000 blankets among 1000 affected families of 15 villages in Katihar district. (ii) Patna centre distributed 52 kg sattu among 52 affected families at Ravidas Tola in Patna district on 21 October.

2. Fire Relief: Narottam Nagar centre distributed, 35 blankets and 35 sweatshirts among 35 families affected by an accidental fire at a slum in Tinkonia, Tinsukia district, Assam.

3. Winter Relief: 2569 blankets were distributed to poor people through the following centres: Ghatshila 250, Indore 400, Khetri 53, Limbdi 426, Malda 805, Manasadwip 200, Rajamahendravaram 135 and Dhaka 300. Winter garments, were distributed to needy people by the following centers: Gurap: 615 sweaters. Guwahati: 1990 sweaters. Lucknow: 20 jackets.

4. Distress Relief: The following centres distributed various items, to needy people: (a) Baranagar Mission: 457 T-shirts. (b) Gurap: 326 saris, 125 dhotis, 374 shirts, 299 T-shirts, 334 tops, 10 frocks and 690 pants. (c) Halasuru: 5238 shirts, 1393 T-shirts and 3889 pants. (d) Itanagar: 500 kg rice, 125 kg dal (lentils), 25 kg edible oil, 12 kg gur (molasses), 25 kg salt, 250 matchboxes, 50 packets of candles, 50 bars of soap, 25 kg detergent powder, 50 mats and 25 sets of utensils (each set containing a plate, a cup and a tumbler). (e) Koyilandy: 930 shirts and 620 pants. (f) Malda: 802 saris and 150 sets of children garments. (g) Mysuru: 170 shirts, 170 pants and 170 saris. (h) Rajkot: 6847 gents garments and 9248 ladies garments. (i) Saradapitha, Belur: 36 notebooks, 10 boxes of crayons, 10 drawing books and 40 pencils. (j) Vrindaban: 420 kg rice, 420 kg atta (flour), 105 kg dal, 105 kg edible oil, 21 kg turmeric powder, 210 kg salt, 105 kg sugar, 21 kg tea leaves, 42 kg milk powder, 210 bars of washing soap and 42 kg washing powder. (a) Dhaka: 300 saris, 1500 kg rice, 300 kg dal, 150 litres of edible oil and 150 kg sugar. (b) Habiganj: 150 dhotis, 150 lungis, 150 kg flour, 150 plates and 150 tumblers. (c) Mymensingh: 200 saris and 108 dhotis.

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Book Reviews

For review in The Vedanta Kesari,

publishers need to send us two copies of their latest publication.

Sri Ramakrishna on Himself

by Mohit Ranjan Das Published by Swami Tattwavidananda, Adhyaksha, Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, Champawat, Uttarakhand, Himalayas, mail@advaitaashrama. org 2014, hardback, pp.288, Rs.110.

There are two reliable sources of information about the life of Sri Ramakrishna. The first one is his biography by one of his own direct disciples, Swami Saradananda, originally written in Bengali, ‘Sri Ramakrishna Lilaprasanga’. The other is a record of his daily activities, recorded by one of his householder disciples, Mahendranath Gupta, called ‘Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrith’, also written in Bengali. Apart from these, there are several others, based on these two original works.

Both these books have been translated into English and most Indian languages. A proper appreciation of Sri Ramakrishna is almost impossible without a serious study of these two books.

It can be observed during a study of these books that they contain several statements made

by Sri Ramakrishna himself on several incidents of his life, which lend an air of authenticity to the books. The book of Dr.Das is a bold attempt to collect these statements and weave a tapestry out of them to represent a chronological description of the life of Sri Ramakrishna. The compiler has added a few comments of his own, to provide a sense of continuity. Whether the author has succeeded in this attempt is a matter of opinion.

There is a negative aspect about books like this. To a reader, who is approaching the subject for the first time, it gives a totally distorted picture of the life of the subject. To appreciate the life of a historical personality one needs to know the details about the period of his life, as well as the state of T h e

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society around him. This is sadly lacking in the current book. It is like observing scenery through a window or aperture. But, if a reader is already familiar with the life of the subject, it serves as just entertainment, since he would already have gone through these quotations during his study of the source books. Hence, such books have only a limited use.

Surprisingly, there is hardly any information about the compiler himself in the book. It is hoped that this will be rectified in the next edition.

In spite of these shortcomings, the attempt made by the compiler is praiseworthy, because it shows how deeply he must have studied the subject. Though the book does not add to the knowledge of the reader, it serves as a refresher. For a devotee of Sri Ramakrishna, any book about him is welcome reading. _______________________________NVC SWAMY, BANGALORE

The Holy Geeta

By Prabha Duneja.

Published by New Age Books, A -44, Naraina Industial Area Phase-I, New Delhi-110 028. Email: nab@ newagebooksindia.com; 2014, paperback, pp.392, Rs.80.

The Bhagavad Geeta is perhaps the most popular scriptural text not only in India, but also in several countries around the world. It was enunciated by Sri Krishna, an Incarnation of the Divine, to Arjuna, a representative of the human race, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Scholars today are of the opinion that this event must have occurred around the year 3012 BCE, i.e., about 5000 years ago. In spite of this antiquity, its glory has not faded even a little bit. Millions of people have benefited by its study so far.

The English translation of the text is supposed to have traveled as far as the United States towards the beginning of the 19th century. It was adopted

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by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who communicated it to his companions of the Transcendentalist Movement.

In recent times, it has influenced the thoughts of several scientists in the United States, like Robert Oppenheim, the father of the Atom Bomb, and Chandrasekhar, the Physics Nobel Prize winner.

Several Yoga practitioners from India migrated to the United States and have helped spread the message of the Geeta.

The American public is not much interested in the various ‘isms’ attributed to the text. It is simply interested in the meaning of the Slokas and their application to daily life. The book under review fills a need in this context. The translator of this book is the founder and president of the Geeta Society in California, United States. The book presents the Slokas in original Samskritam, as well as in the Romanized text, followed by a simple translation into English. Since the letters are big enough, they do not cause any strain on the eyes.

The book has been printed in such a format that it easily fits into a handbag and hence is portable. This is a great service the translator has rendered to lovers of the Geeta, both in India and abroad. It brings the text closer to one’s daily life and will certainly be welcomed by the reading public. ______________________________ NVC SWAMY, BANGALORE

Ecological Spirituality

By G. Nathanathan Published by New Age Books, A-44, Naraina Industrial Area Phase-I, New Delhi - 110028.

E-mail: nab@newagebooksindia. com, 2004, paperback, pp.88, Rs.200.

This interesting book tries to answer the question whether the ancient sages of the Vedic culture were aware of environmental issues.

The general impression is that they were more concerned about spiritual issues like Brahman, Atman etc. The intention of the author is to show through several quotations that they indeed were as aware of the environment as modern scientists.

The arguments are provided in 11 chapters, which are short but pithy. The average length of each chapter is hardly 6 pages. But, each chapter can be extended to become a book by itself.

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The first chapter tries to define what Hinduism is all about. Chapter 2 introduces the Vedic concept of Creation as described in the scripures. The concept of Maya is introduced to illustrate the highest flights of Vedanta, viz., the Advaita. This lays, more or less, the groundwork for what follows in later chapters.

The third chapter, the longest, produces arguments for the Vedic view of Creation through profuse quotations from the scriptures. A common factor of these references is the reverence for Mother Earth. Chapter 4 speaks of the reverence for nature in the daily life of human beings. Every activity of the average Hindu was linked with the recognition of Nature as the moving force behind human life.

The next chapter compares the concept of ‘Progress’ according to Vedanta and Modern Science.

The 6th chapter deals briefly with a concept from the Bhagavad-Gita. It is indeed a pity that a very important concept here has been dismissed in just two pages. In Slokas 9 to 16 of chapter 3, Sri Krishna speaks of Yajna, the interaction between human beings and the forces of nature and the foodchain. This is, perhaps, the most direct application to Ecology.

The next chapter deals with Economics. A concept the modern world is obsessed with is the ‘rate of growth’, at any cost. This implies a large consumption of energy. The lesson we need to learn from ancient cultures is how to live within the means available. Chapter 8 is a plea by the author to human beings to retrace the steps it has taken in the last 100,000 years. Chapter 9 talks of our food habits.

The 10th chapter is about Quantum Physics which showed that the subatomic world follows entirely different laws. This led to startling conclusions. The author, being himself a physicist and telecom engineer, describes these results, showing that what appears to us absurd at the subatomic world is indeed the only Reality.

In the last chapter, the author says that the need of the hour is for man to regain conscious control of the march of civilization. The book is, indeed, very impressive, and can be studied with benefit. The issues raised are of topical importance and deserve the serious attention of every right thinking human being. ______________________________ NVC SWAMY, BANGALORE

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An Appeal for the Underprivileged Girls’ Education ‘Educate your women first and leave them to themselves.’ – Swami Vivekananda From its inception in 1897, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai has been doing selfless service to humanity in the areas of Education, Health, Cultural Services, and Relief Works in addition to regular Spiritual activities. In 1906, Swami Ramakrishnananda, a brother disciple of Swami Vivekananda started a primary school in Mint area of North Chennai. Seeing the need and demand from the very poor local people this school extended its services by starting the Vivekananda Centenary Girls High school in 1962 the Centenary year of Swami Vivekananda’s birth.

Our students come from a very poor socio - economic background and are mostly children of coolies, scavengers, maid servants and rickshaw pullers belonging to all castes and religions.

At present the school has a capacity to serve 900 students per academic year. To meet the growing need of the local people we wish to expand the school to accommodate additional 500 girl students. An adjacent land of 5000 Sq. ft. is available for purchase. We propose to construct a three storey building of about 10,000 sq. ft. which includes 20 classrooms with required furniture, Science Lab., Smart classrooms, Closed auditorium and adequate toilet facilities.

Total Project cost is estimated to be around 9 Crores.

We appeal to all kind-hearted people as well as corporates to come forward and donate generously for giving quality education to the poor and deserving girls. More information is available at http://www.rkmvcs.edu.in/ Yours in the service of Lord Swami Gautamananda Names of Donors who contribute Rs.1 lakh and above will appear in Donors List at School.

Adyaksha, Sri Ramakrishna Math Contributions made to Sri Ramakrishna Math are eligible for tax benefit under section 80-G of [Indian] Income tax Act.

SRKM Vivekananda Centenary Girls’ Hr. Sec. School

View of the Land where new building is proposed

You may also send your contribution by NEFT/RTGS transfer directly and intimate us along with PAN details through email. The following are the details for bank transfer: SRKM Vivekananda Centenary Girls' Higher Secondary School.

Bank and Branch : CB. (Canara Bank, Mandaveli Br., Chennai-600028.)

Account No. : 8636101036893 IFSC : CNRB0000937 Sri Ramakrishna Math, No. 31, Ramakrishna Math Road, Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004.

Ph : 044-24621110. e-mail : mail@chennaimath.org & secretary@rkmvcs.edu.in

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Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama

(A branch centre of Ramakrishna Math & Mission, Belur Math. Howrah, W.B. – 711 202) Swami Vivekananda Path, P.O. Bela, Muzaffarpur–842 002, Ph.: 0621-2272127, 2272963 E-mail: rkm.muzaffarpur@gmail.com Website: www.rkmmuzaffarpur.org

Appeal for Vivekananda Netralaya (Eye, ENT, Dental Clinic cum Diagnostic Centre) Present Infrastructure:

Oldest Eye Infirmary in North Bihar established in 1947, General dispensary, Dental, Homeopathy, X-Ray, Pathology

Service Rendered (2015-16) :

Total OPD – 87,647, Cataract Operation : Full Free – 3,325, (SC/ST-1,089, BC-1,365), Part Free – 1,703, Patho Test – 2,799, Dental-3897, Computer Awareness & Tailoring Training, Value Added Competition for 4,000 Students, National Youth Day Celebrations, Disaster Management, Non-Formal Education and Coaching to 375 Children

Our Vision:

A new Medical Building with Speciality Eye, ENT and Dental care, Various OPD Sections, Well equipped Clinical Lab., R & D, Modern Diagnostic Unit, Para medical Training.

Work in Progress:

Construction of Diagnostic Unit is complete and has been brought in use.

Funds Required:

Rs.35 Lakh for remaining work of Recovery Unit.

Rs.65 Lakh for remaining work of Gr Fl. and1st Fl. of Vivekananda Netralaya.

Rs.6 crore for construction of Ancillary Medical unit, Office and Doctors Qrs. Rs.3 crore for Equipments.

Rs.15 Lakh for Maintenance.

Rs.15 Lakh for Educational Programmes, Puja and Celebration.

Rs.15 Crore for Permanent Fund (corpus)

Dear Devotees and Friends, We appeal to you to contribute towards up-coming Vivekananda Netralaya project (Eye, ENT, Dental Clinic cum Diagnostic Centre) which we took up in 2011 and has made remarkable progress with your help. Health infrastructure in Muzaffarpur in north Bihar is very poor and our Sevashrama needs to have a better set-up for continuing its medical services. Your contribution will be a real worship of Sri Ramakrishna, Ma Sarada and Swami Vivekananda who lived their lives for spiritual growth of devotees and aspirants. I fervently hope by this service to the poor and needy we both shall be nearer to the ideals of Atmano Mokshartham Jagat Hitaya Cha (For liberation of the self and good of the world). It will also serve the purpose of perpetuating memories and sentiments of your near and dear ones.

Kindly send your contribution by Cheque/DD or by NEFT/ RTGS to A/c No. 10877071752 IFS Code: SBIN0006016 (Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama, Muzaffarpur) Donations to Sevashrama are exempted from Income Tax u/s 80G of IT Act 1961.

Details of the Project may be had from our office.

With Prayers to Holy Trinity for you and all yours, Swami Bhavatmananda Secretary

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RAMAKRISHNA MISSION ASHRAMA MALDA - 732101, WEST BENGAL, INDIA Tel: 03512-252479; e-mail: malda@rkmm.org

Appeal for the construction of Kitchen Block for poor boys Dear Devotees, well-wishers & friends, Our Ashrama is a branch centre of Ramakrishna Mission with its Headquarters at Belur Math, Howrah. We have been working for the last 90 years in this small town of North Bengal.

Malda is a backward district and we serve the illiterate, sick people and those affected by natural calamities irrespective of caste, creed and religion, as per the ideas and ideals of RamakrishnaVivekananda.

Our Ashrama runs a Higher Secondary school, a Kindergarten & a Primary school in Malda Town. Three rural free primary schools are being run for tribal children who are first generation learners. In addition to above, five free coaching centres are being run by us in remote village areas.

We also run an allopath and a homeopath dispensary in the ashrama for poor slum dwellers, besides a mobile medical service for the rural poor conducting 10 medical camps every week. T.B. patients are given free medicines & injections. About thirty thousand poor people are served free of cost in our medical units. We regularly distribute school uniform, dhoti-saree(about 800 per year), blankets (about 800 per year) food-packets etc. to needy village people and 20 bicycles every year to poor high school girls.

The Hostel in the Ashrama for poor boys of the High School is run under the able supervision of a monk of our order where 80 students stay. The Kitchen building of the hostel and the ashrama is about 60 years old, - damp, dark, cramped and in a dilapidated condition.

We are demolishing this building to have a new R.C.C. construction. It will also house the kitchen store rooms and a dining hall for monks adjacent to the students’ facility. The estimated cost for the whole project is about Rs. 30 lacs. We appeal to every kind-hearted person to lend a generous hand to make our project a success.

For donations of Rs. 1 lac and above [in memory of any family member, relative etc.] the donor’s name will be displayed in a prominent place in the ashrama in a marble plaque.All donations for this noble cause are exempted from Income Tax u/s 80G of Income Tax Act. 1961. A/c. payee Cheque / Draft may be drawn in favour of Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Malda. On-line donation may be made into any one of our bank account as per the details given below. Please follow through by sending us e mail or letter giving details of your transfer details for us to send receipt. a. State Bank of India, Malda Branch – IFSC Code: SBI000129, Branch Code 129, Account number: 11175363270 b. United Bank of India of Malda - IFSC Code: UTBIOMDA214, Branch Code MDA 214, Account number: 0233010034363 With namaskar, Yours sincerely, Swami Parasharananda Secretary

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150

1200

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Ramakrishna Sarada Ashrama, Devaprayag An Appeal The incessant rain in Uttarakhand has brought about destruction on a large scale this year. However, with the grace of Sri Sri Thakur and Sri Maa the ashrama has been spared from any damage. Meanwhile in this ancient land of pilgrimage this ashrama carved out in Shi Shri Thakur’s name has found a place in the hearts of many devotees. Lovers of pilgrimages, the Himalayan people, have accepted this new place of worship (established in 2014) dedicated to Thakur Maa Swamiji with love, respect and devotion. Therefore, taking the future into consideration the need is to earmark the sliding zones and build strong retaining walls. For this purpose, the estimated cost will be approximately 30 lakh rupees.

We appeal to all devotees to please donate generously towards this venture. May Thakur Maa Swamiji shower their choicest blessings on each one of you. This is my heartfelt prayer.

Yours in the lord Swami Sarvatmananda Secretary

Communication

Ramakrisha Sarada Ashrama, Dak Banglow Road, PO Devaprayag Tehri Garhwal Uttarakhand. Pin- 249301 Phone - 09410520939, 9897452084 E-mail id: rmksarada@gmail.com Cheque / D.D May Please Be Drawn in Favour of Ramakrishna Sarala Ashram.

Devaprayag For online Donation: Our CBS A/C Punjab National Bank, Devaprayag A/C 0625000100098104 (IFS code - PUNB - 0062500) State Bank of India Devaprayag A/C No 30932831669 (IFS code - SBIN 0014135 ) All donations are exempted from Income Tax U/S 80G of the I.T. Act 1961

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NAVAJEEVAN BLIND RELIEF CENTRE (FREE HOME FOR THE BLIND, ORPHAN AND AGED) TIRUCHANOOR, TIRUPATI–517503. Ph : 0877-2239992, 9908537528 [Mob.] E-mail: sreenavajeevan@gmail.com Website: www.navajeevan.org

An Appeal 37 Years of Service to Humanity 1979–2016 1.

Navajeevan School & Hostel for Blind Children

–

Tirupati, Parlekhimundi, Golamunda

2.

Navajeevan Free Eye Hospital

–

Tirupati

3.

Navajeevan Free Home for Aged

–

Tirupati, Rishikesh, Parlekhimundi and Chennai

4.

Navajeevan Dumb & Deaf Home

-

Patapatnam

5.

Navajeevan Sharanagati Vridhashram

–

Tirupati

6.

Navajeevan Rural Medical Centres

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Berhampur [Orissa]

7.

Navajeevan Eye Care Centres

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Serango & Kalahandi [Orissa]

8.

Navajeevan Orphanage Children Homes

–

Tirupati, Parlehkimundi, Saluru, Golamunda, Berhampur, Pandukal, Vizag & Araku, Dundelmal

9.

Navajeevan Atharvana Veda Pathasala

-

Tirupati

A Humble Request for Donation

1. Sponsor one day Annadan to blind children and aged

– Rs. 5000/-

3. Sponsor one blind child or orphan child for one year

– Rs. 6000/-

2. Sponsor 5 IOL Cataract Eye Operations

4. Sponsor one poor aged person for one year

5. Sponsor one free eye camp at Rural/Tribal area 6. Vidyadan—Educational aid for one child

– Rs. 7000/–

Rs. 5000/-

–

Rs. 2000/-

– Rs. 50000/-

Donor devotees can send their contributions by cheque/DD/MO to the above address on the occasion of birthday, wedding day or any other special occasion and receive prasadam of Lord Balaji Venkateswara of Tirupati as blessings.

Contributions to NAVAJEEVAN BLIND RELIEF CENTRE, Tirupati are eligible for Tax Relief U/S 80G of Income Tax Act. Our Bank details for online transfer : Bank Name : Indian Bank , Gandhi Road Branch, Tirupati SB A/c No: 463789382, Account Holder : Navajeevan Blind Relief Centre, Branch Code: T036, IFSC code: IDIB000T036,

‘We can attain salvation through social work’ – Swami Vivekananda K. Sridhar Acharya Founder/ President

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Everyone wants to exhibit his good side and conceal his defects. Whoever can speak out his own faults frankly, will get rid of them. It is not easy to confess one’s weaknesses. If anyone can, know that he has worth in him.

—Swami Turiyananda

We play our parts here—good or bad. When the dream is finished and we have left the stage, we will have a hearty laugh at all this—of this only I am sure.

56

Vol.104-01 The Vedanta Kesari (English Monthly) January 2017. Regd. with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under No.1084 / 1957. POSTAL 56 REGISTRATION NUMBER:TN / CH (C) / 190 / 15-17. LICENSED TO POST WITHOUT PREPAYMENT TN/PMG(CCR)/WPP-259 / 2015-2017.

Date of Publication: 24th of every month

Teach yourselves, teach everyone his/her real nature, call upon the sleeping soul and see how it awakes. Power will come, glory will come, goodness will come, purity will come, and everything that is excellent will come, when this sleeping soul is roused to self-conscious activity.

—Swami Vivekananda

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