Special Report

Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna Mission Synopsis of the Governing Body Report for 2017-18

The 109 th Annual General Meeting of the Ramakrishna Mission was held at Belur

Math on Sunday, the 16 th December 2018

at 3.30 p.m.

A synopsis of the report presented in the meeting is given below.

Some of the major awards received by the Ramakrishna Mission together with its twin organization Ramakrishna Math and their branches in the year 2017-

18 are as follows: (i) Divyayan Krishi Vigyan Kendra of Ranchi Morabadi Ashrama

was awarded Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Rashtriya Krishi Vigyan Protsahan Puraskar at

the national level by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, (ii) Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission were listed in the World Book of Records, London, as a spiritual movement working for the harmony of religions, (iii) Kamarpukur school and Narendrapur Vidyalaya received the Best School Awards from the School Education Department, Government of West Bengal, (iv) Vivekananda College of Chennai Vidyapith secured the third position under the colleges category in the all-India Swachchhata rankings.

In commemoration of the 150 th birth anniversary of Swami Abhedananda, four national seminars on Indian Culture and Philosophy, and a number of other programmes were held at different centres of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission.

The 150 th birth anniversary of Sister Nivedita was celebrated by the Headquarters and

a number of branch centres in India and abroad. Nearly 55,000 people attended 115 seminars and conventions held in this connection, and about 50,000 students took part in the cultural competitions. A few new books on Sister Nivedita were also published in different languages.

New branch centres of Ramakrishna Mission were started in: (i) Goa, (ii) Lumdung, Arunachal Pradesh, (iii) Jhargram, West Bengal, (iv) New Town, Kolkata, (v) Davanagere, Karnataka, and (vi) Dibrugarh, Assam. A sub-centre of Lucknow Mission Sevashrama was started at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh.

In the educational field, the following new developments deserve special mention: (i) NAAC awarded A++ grade to the College of Education at Coimbatore Mission centre and A+ grade to the Vivekananda College of Chennai Vidyapith. (ii) UGC conferred autonomous status on Vivekananda Centenary College of Rahara centre for six years, (iii) Visakhapatnam centre started Vivek Institute of Excellence, which conducts life-enhancing courses and programmes mainly for the youth, (iv) Our centres in Coimbatore, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam added smart classroom facility to their schools.

In the medical field, mention may be made of the following new developments: (i) Itanagar hospital started four new departments: Oncology, Plastic Surgery, Cardiology and Ayurveda, (ii) Lucknow hospital was accredited by NABH (National Accreditation Board for Hospitals &

Healthcare Providers) for a period of three years, (iii) A cardiac catheterization laboratory and a cancer centre were set up at Vrindaban hospital, (iv) Varanasi Home of Service started dental and dialysis units and a pharmacy, (v) Many of our hospitals and dispensaries added new medical equipment to their diagnostic laboratories.

In the rural development field, the following new projects deserve special mention: (i) Chennai Students’ Home built a community hall at Poovalambedu village in Tiruvallur district, (ii) Ranchi Morabadi centre developed watersheds covering 6969 hectares of land and started two projects to conserve a variety of scented rice crop. The centre also undertook a Seed Village Programme in which farmers were trained in the production of paddy seeds. Under this programme, farmers from 25 villages produced 1,025 quintals of paddy seeds.

A number of our centres took forward Swachchha Bharat Abhiyan by holding cleanliness drives and awareness campaigns. Special mention may be made of Mangaluru centre which conducted the following: (i) 184 cleanliness drives in and around Mangaluru. (ii) Cleanliness drives in 332 villages of Dakshina Kannada district, (iii) 426 awareness programmes in 110 schools covering nearly 44,000 students.

Under Ramakrishna Math, the following new projects deserve special mention: (i) New dispensary buildings were constructed by Antpur and Nagpur centres, (ii) Cooch Behar and Rajkot centres added extra floors to their medical units, (iii) Nattarampalli centre constructed an annexe to the school building, (iv) Coaching-cum-vocational training centre was started at Bagda Math.

Outside India, the following new developments deserve special mention: (i) The newly built Sri Ramakrishna Temple at Jessore (Bangladesh) centre was consecrated. (ii) Phoenix (South Africa) centre built a kitchen-and-dining-hall building at a home for terminally ill patients in Inanda, South Africa, (iii) Dhaka (Bangladesh) centre celebrated its centenary, and kindergarten of Singapore centre observed its silver jubilee.

The Mission and Math undertook several relief and rehabilitation programmes in different parts of the country involving an expenditure of Rs. 44 crore, benefiting 10.53 lakh people.

During the year, the Mission undertook welfare work in a number of ways, including providing scholarships to poor students and pecuniary help to old, sick and destitute people. Expenditure incurred was Rs. 17 crore.

Medical service was rendered to more than 72.74 lakh people through 10 hospitals, 80 dispensaries, 40 mobile medical units and 928 medical camps run by the Mission. Expenditure incurred was Rs. 227 crore.

Nearly 2.31 lakh students studied in Mission’s educational institutions ranging from kindergarten to university level and also in non-formal education centres, night schools, coaching classes, etc. A sum of Rs. 324 crore was spent on the educational work.

A number of rural and tribal development projects were undertaken by the Mission with a total expenditure of Rs. 71 crore, benefiting about 42.86 lakh people.

We take this opportunity to express our heartfelt thanks to our members and friends for their kind cooperation and help in carrying forward the service programmes of Ramakrishna Mission and Ramakrishna Math. 16 December, 2018 (Swami Suvirananda) General Secretary

Ramakrishna-Vivekananda in ‘The Land of Five Rivers’ An Overview of Ramakrishna Movement in Punjab and Haryana

SWAMI ATMASHRADDHANANDA

(Continued from the previous issue. . .)

In Sialkot

From Jammu, Swamiji and his entourage

reached Sialkot on the morning of Sunday, October 31, 1898. He was warmly received and accommodated in the residence of Lala Mulchand, a pleader. That evening Swamiji spoke in English and after the lecture he gave its summary in Hindi for those who did not understand English. (That was quite novel of Swamiji!) 11

Swamiji’s Sialkot lecture was titled ‘Bhakti’. Here is an excerpt from it:

‘Some persons worship God for the sake of obtaining wealth, others because they want to have a son, and they think themselves Bhagavatas (devotees). This is no Bhakti, and they are not true Bhagavatas. When a sadhu comes who professes that he can make gold, they run to him, and they still consider themselves Bhagavatas. It is not Bhakti if we worship God with the desire for a son; it is not Bhakti if we worship with the desire to be rich; it is not Bhakti even if we have a desire for heaven; it is not Bhakti if a man worships

with the desire of being saved from the tortures of hell. Bhakti is not the outcome of fear or

greediness. He is the true Bhagavata who says, ‘O God, I do not want a beautiful wife, I do not want knowledge or salvation. Let me be

born and die hundreds of times. What I want is

that I should be ever engaged in Thy service.’

It is at this stage—and when a man sees God in everything, and everything in God—that he attains perfect Bhakti. It is then that he sees Vishnu incarnated in everything from the microbe to Brahma, and it is then that he sees God manifesting Himself in everything, it is then that he feels that there is nothing without God, and it is then and then alone that thinking himself to be the most insignificant of all beings he worships God with the true spirit

of a Bhakta. He then leaves Tirthas and external forms of worship far behind him, he sees every man to be the most perfect temple.’ 12

During Swamiji’s Sialkot visit many women also used to come to see Swamiji;

among them were two sannyasinis. On seeing them, Swamiji expressed his wish that a school for girls be started (women’s education was almost absent in those days!); it was gladly taken up and a committee was formed for this purpose. He said that the girls should be trained by women teachers only. Though short, the Sialkot visit of Swamiji was significant.

In Lahore

Lahore was the last and the most

magnificent sojourn of Swamiji’s visit to Punjab. Lahore finds mention in some Greek books and has been ruled by a number of dynasties including Greeks and Mughals. While there are many ways in which the term ‘Lahore’ can be derived, according to Hindu tradition, ‘Lahore’ is derived from Lavapuri or the city of Lava, founded by Lava, one of the twin sons of Sita and Rama. The city is dotted with many historical monuments particularly that of Mughal period. It was an active centre of freedom movement of both India and Pakistan.

Swamiji arrived in Lahore on 5 November 1897. He was welcomed at the station by the residents of Lahore and taken to the palace of Raja Dhyan Singh. Here he conversed with visitors, and after his meals he went to stay at the house of Shri Nagendranath Gupta, editor of the Tribune. The Arya Samajists also gave him a welcome. Lala Hamsaraj, President of

the Dayananda Anglo-Vedic College (DAV College), often had talks with Swamiji. Daily, in the morning for two hours and in the afternoon for an hour and a half, about 200 Bengali and Punjabi residents of Lahore would gather at the palace of Raja Dhyan Singh to meet Swamiji and discuss religious matters.

Swamiji gave three lectures in Lahore.

J. J. Goodwin, the trusted stenographer and English disciple of Swami, described these lectures thus 13 :

‘On Friday evening [on November 5] he [Swamiji] lectured in the large courtyard of the old palace on ‘The Problem Before Us’ [now titled ‘the Common Bases of Hinduism’]. The numbers present were large and the space available was altogether too small to accommodate all who came to hear, and the necessity for disappointing many, at one time threatened to prevent the holding of the meeting at all. After at least two thousand had been refused admission, there still remained fully four thousand who listened to an excellent discourse.

On the following Tuesday [on November 9], another large crowd gathered in the pandal of Prof. Bose’ Bengal Circus to hear the Swami’s lecture on Bhakti in Hindi.

The third lecture on the following Friday [November 12] evening was a triumphant success. The arrangements, this time entirely made by students of the four Lahore Colleges, were exceedingly good, and the audience, without being inconveniently large was in every sense representative. The subject for the evening was Vedanta, and the Swami for over two hours gave, even for him, a masterly exposition of the monistic philosophy and religion of India. The manner in which, at the outset, he traced the psychological and cosmological ideas on which religion in India is founded, was marvellously clear, and his insistence that Advaita is alone able to meet the attacks not only of science but also of Buddhism and agnosticism against religious and transcendental ideas, was conveyed in definite language and was full of convincing power. . . The lecture created great enthusiasm . . .’

Here is an excerpt from this lecture of Swamiji:

‘The time has come when this Advaita is to be worked out practically. Let us bring it down from heaven unto the earth; this is the present dispensation . . . Ay, you may be astonished to hear that as practical Vedantists the Americans are better than we are. I used to stand on the seashore at New York and look at the emigrants coming from different countries—crushed, downtrodden, hopeless,

unable to look a man in the face, with a little bundle of clothes as all their possession, and these all in rags; if they saw a policeman they were afraid and tried to get to the other side of the foot-path. And, mark you, in six months those very men were walking erect, well clothed, looking everybody in the face; and what made this wonderful difference? Say, this man comes from Armenia or somewhere else where he was crushed down beyond all recognition, where everybody told him he was a born slave and born to remain in a low state all his life, and where at the least move on his part he was trodden upon. There everything told him, as it were, ‘Slave! you are a slave, remain so. Hopeless you were born, hopeless you must remain.’ Even the very air murmured round him, as it were, ‘There is no hope for you; hopeless and a slave you must remain’, while the strong man crushed the life out of him. And when he landed in the streets of New York, he found a gentleman, well-dressed, shaking him by the hand; it made no difference that the one was in rags and the other well-clad. He went a step further and saw a restaurant, that there were gentlemen dining at a table, and he was asked to take a seat at the corner of the same table. He went about and found a new life, that there was a place where he was a man among men. Perhaps he went to Washington, shook hands with the President of the United States, and perhaps there he saw men coming from distant villages, peasants, and ill-clad, all shaking hands with the President. Then the veil of Maya slipped away from him. He is Brahman, he who has been hypnotised into slavery and weakness is once more awake, and he rises up and finds himself a man in a world of men.

Ay, in this country of ours, the very birthplace of the Vedanta, our masses have been hypnotised for ages into that state. . . We are to blame. Stand up, be bold, and take the blame on your own shoulders. Do not go about throwing mud at others; for all the faults you suffer from, you are the sole and only cause. Your ancestors gave up the world for doing great things. At the present time there are men who give up the world to help their own salvation. Throw away everything, even your own salvation, and go and help others. Ay you are always talking bold words, but here is practical Vedanta before you. Give up this little life of yours. What matters it if you die of starvation — you and I and thousands like us—so long as this nation lives? . . . What

matters it if this little life goes? Everyone has to die, the saint or the sinner, the rich or the poor. The body never remains for anyone. Arise and

awake and be perfectly sincere. Our insincerity in India is awful; what we want is character, that steadiness and character that make a man cling on to a thing like grim death.’ 14

Incidentally, this was the last lecture Goodwin recorded through his stenographic skills. Goodwin, who had given all his life in the service of Swamiji by way of noting down Swamiji’s lectures, editing them and making them available for publication, passed away soon after at Ooty in Tamil Nadu, where he had gone to recoup his health.

An open-air party was given in honour of Swamiji in the evening of 14 November, Sunday, on the lawns of the Lahore Town Hall. It was attended by many prominent people. Another day Swamiji was invited by the Sikhs of the Shuddhi Sabha (a reform movement preceding Singh Sabha Movement among Sikhs) and Swamiji appreciated their work. At Lahore Swamiji tried hard to bring reconciliation between Arya Samajists, who stood for a reinterpreted Hinduism and the Sanatanis, who represented orthodox Hinduism. How much success attended his efforts is difficult to assess but surely Swamiji’s message impressed everyone who heard it.

Of Swamiji’s Lahore visit, S. Puran Singh, an eminent Punjabi poet and writer, who was an eyewitness to these lectures, wrote in The Story of Swami Rama, ‘One of the causes, which

led him (Swami Rama) to seek the role of a monk, in my opinion, was his meeting with Swami Vivekananda at Lahore.’

‘Swami Vivekananda at Lahore was quite an inspiration to the people of the Punjab; his divine eloquence, his burning renunciation, his strength, his power of personality, his gigantic intellect, all made a deep impression on the people. Perhaps his lecture on “Vedanta” at Lahore was one of the most brilliant pieces of oratory. It was in those days that Swami Vivekananda was made the admiring witness of the Amrita ceremony of Guru Gobind Singh. In his address, Swami Vivekananda spoke of the “Punjab of the lion-hearted Guru Gobind Singh”. The Swami was a great admirer of Guru Gobind Singh, his marvelous courage and strength of character.’

Puran Singh further writes:

‘The Swami was put up at Dhyan Singh’s Haveli, and I distinctly remember to this moment the huge number of turbanned masses of Lahore that had assembled in the large hall to listen to the Swami. I was then a little boy reading in the college for the intermediate examination of the Punjab University. The scene has been impressed indelibly on my memory. The hall was filled and there was an overflow of people in the courtyard. People eager to see the Swami pressed each other shoulder to shoulder, to pass into the hall. The Swami seeing these earnest unmanageable crowds announced that he would lecture in the open air. The enclosure, the courtyard of the Haveli, is a large one, and there is a temple-like structure with a raised platform in the centre. The Swami ascended the platform and there he stood—superb, a giant in his superb physique, robed in orange like a Rishi of old, with his large fiery eyes magnetizing the very air. He had a dopatta [a long piece of cloth generally worn round the neck and shoulders] swung round him and he had a large orange turban in the fashion of a Punjabi. This lion of Vedanta roared and thundered for hours, keeping the Punjabis heights of his mental eminence.

Lahore was struck by one who owed his inspiration to no less a personage than Paramahansa Ramakrishna. One could see the

flame of inspiration burning before him in this

great person.

I did not know Swami Rama then, but it was he who arranged all those lectures, and he was of the opinion that Swami Vivekananda was at his best while speaking on Vedanta, for that was his subject. This visit of Swami Vivekananda, no doubt, strengthened the silent ambitions of the young Swami Rama for leading the life of a monk and to go round the world, preaching Vedanta like Vivekananda.

Swami Vivekananda had already defined Vedanta from a practical point of view, and just as modern educated India, by the contact

of the West, has discovered the greatness of

Bhagavad-Gita in its gospel of duty, so did

Swami Vivekananda interpret Shankaracharya’s Advaita Vedanta philosophy in terms of Bhakti, Karma, and even patriotism and humanity.’ 15

Swami Ram Tirth (known as Tirth Ram before he took to monastic vows), whom Puran Singh refers to, is also known as Swami Ram (1873-1906). He travelled to the United States in 1902 and lectured on ‘Practical Vedanta’. He was a professor in Lahore College and underwent a complete transformation after meeting Swamiji. Swamiji’s Life describes it thus (slightly paraphrased, pp. 291-293):

It was at Lahore that the Swami met Mr. Tirtha Ram Goswami, then a professor of mathematics at one of the Lahore colleges. Sometime later, he took sannyasa and the name Swami Ram Tirtha. He preached Vedanta in India and America and became widely known. It was under his guidance that the college students of Lahore had arranged Swamiji’s lectures. He invited Swamiji and his disciples including Goodwin, to dine at his residence. After the dinner, Swamiji sang a song [composed by Gosvami Tulasidas] which

begins: Jahan Ram Wahan Kam Nahin, Jahan Kam Tahan Nahin Ram. Translated the song runs, “Where God-consciousness is, there no desire is: where desire is, there no God-consciousness is.” Tirtha Ram wrote: “His melodious voice made the meaning of the song thrill through the hearts of those present.” He placed his library at Swamiji’s disposal, but of the numerous volumes in it, the latter chose only Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman—whom he used to call ‘the Sannyasin of America’.

One evening Swamiji, accompanied by his brother-monks, Tirtha Ram, and a number of young men, was walking along the road. The party broke into several groups. “In the last group” Tirtha Ram later wrote in a letter, “in answer to a question, I was explaining: ‘An ideal Mahatma is one who has lost all sense of separate personality and lives as the Self of all. When the air in any region absorbs enough of the solar heat, it becomes rarefied and rises higher. The air from different regions then rushes in to occupy this vacuum, thus setting the whole atmosphere in motion. So does a Mahatma marvelously infuse life and spirit into a nation through self-reform.’ Swamiji’s group happening to be silent at the time, he overheard this part of our conversation and stopped suddenly and emphatically remarked, “Such was my guru, Paramahamsa Ramakrishna.”

As a token of his earnest love and admiration for Swamiji, Tirth Ram presented Swamiji a gold watch before he left. Swamiji took it very kindly, but put it back in Tirth Ram’s pocket, saying, ‘Very well, friend, I shall wear it here in this pocket’.

Another eye-witness account by Dr. Prabhu Dutta Shastri, who had heard Swamiji both in Chicago and Lahore, is contextually important here. He wrote in an article titled ‘Swami Vivekananda in Chicago and Lahore’, in Prabuddha Bharata, 1943 September:

‘I should refer to his [Swamiji’s] visit to Lahore in October 1897 [actually 1898], after his return from America. That was also a unique occasion—for me more memorable than even the address at Chicago, since it was then that I actually saw the Swami and listened in pin-drop silence to his address, which left an abiding mark on my memory and hypnotized me. The spot at which he spoke in the big compound of Raja Dhyan Singh’s Haveli is visited by many admirers of the Swami who happen to visit Lahore. I have a clear picture in my mind of the vast audience that gave him a most enthusiastic ovation— people occupying every inch of ground in the spacious compound, the platform, the opposite stairs, parapets, and even clinging to the large branches of the big tree that stood there. By that one speech alone, Vivekananda had conquered the Punjab, as he had previously conquered America by his one speech alone at Chicago.’

An incident of intimate nature that took place in Lahore reveals the human side of Swamiji very well. A boyhood friend of Swamiji was Moti Bose who had now become the owner of Professor Bose’s Circus. When he heard that Swamiji was in Lahore, Moti Bose went to see him. But he was apprehensive as to how he should address Swamiji; Naren, his playmate, was now a highly revered teacher. Feeling a little embarrassed, he approached Swamiji with a question, ‘How shall I address you now, as Naren or Swamiji?’ Immediately Swamiji responded, ‘Have you gone mad, Moti? Do not you know that I am the same Naren and you are the same Moti!’ Thus the old comrades met with each other. Swamiji’s simplicity and unassuming personality found its expression everywhere, in all situations.

Another incident which speaks volumes of Swamiji’s understanding, generosity and greatness took place while Swamiji was in Lahore. One day he was praising a certain person at length. On hearing it all, one of those with him said, ‘But Swamiji, that gentleman has no respect for you!’ Swamiji at once replied, ‘Is it necessary to respect me in order to become a good man?’ The questioner was

taken aback at these words. This is an instance of unconditional love for all, a trait natural to Swamiji.

After ten days of speaking, discussions and meeting visitors, Swamiji left Lahore and came to Dehradun (now in Uttarakhand). Thus came to a close Swami Vivekananda’s historic visit to the Undivided Punjab, sowing seeds of the future Ramakrishna Movement and inspiring people with his marvelous personality and messages.

As we conclude this discussion, let us look at Swamiji’s impression of Punjab. Of Swamiji’s love of Punjab, Sister Nivedita, his gifted and inspired Irish disciple, wrote in her immortal work, The Master As I Saw Him.Obviously she had accompanied Swamiji to Lahore in 1898 and keenly observed his thoughts and emotions as they travelled in Punjab:

‘It was as we passed into the Punjab, however, that we caught our deepest glimpse of the Master’s [Swami Vivekananda’s] love of his own land [India]. Anyone who had seen him here, would have supposed him to have been born in the province [Punjab], so intensely had he identified himself with it. It would seem that he had been deeply bound to the people there by many ties of love and reverence; had received much and given much; for there were some amongst them who urged that they found in him a rare mixture of ‘Guru Nanak and Guru Govind,’ their first teacher and their last. Even the most suspicious amongst them trusted him. And if they refused to credit his judgment, or endorse his outflowing sympathy, in regard to those Europeans whom he had made his own, he, it may have been, loved the wayward hearts all the more for their inflexible condemnation and incorruptible sternness. His American disciples were already familiar with his picture—that called to his own face a dreamy delight—of the Punjabi maiden at her spinning wheel, listening to its ‘Shivoham! Shivoham! I am He! I am He!’ Yet at the same time, I must not forget to tell that it was here, on entering the to have done again at Benares, that he called to him a Mussalman vendor of sweetmeats, and bought and ate from his hand Mohammedan food [indicating that Swamiji accepted people of all religions and traditions, in contrast with orthodox

sections of Hindu society who adhered to strict rules regarding food and social mixing]. As we went through some village,

he would point out to us those strings of marigolds above the door that distinguished the Hindu homes. Again, he would show us the pure golden tint of skin, so different from the pink and white of the European ideal that constitutes the ‘fairness’ admired by the Indian races. Or as we drove beside him in a tonga, he would forget all, in that tale of which he never wearied, of Shiva, the Great God, silent, remote upon the mountains, asking nothing of men but solitude, and ‘lost in one eternal meditation’. 16

In these poetic words of Sister Nivedita Swami Vivekananda’s admiration and deep identity with Punjab and Punjabi traditions is indeed aptly summarized!

Visits of the Direct Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna:

Besides Swami Vivekananda, a number of direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna visited the Undivided Punjab during their days of travel and wanderings. They visited various pilgrim centres now located in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab Province of Pakistan—and nearby regions. Not many details are available of these visits but here is some information, as far as we could gather (from God Lived with Them, Swami Chetanananda, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata):

Swami Adbhutananda, or Latu Maharaj, accompanied Swami Vivekananda during his travel to Punjab, Rajasthan and other places in north India in 1897. Swami Adbhutananda also visited the Golden Temple at Amritsar and later observed, ‘the top of the Amritsar temple, like that of Vishwanath at Banaras, was covered

with gold and that formerly people had wealth and they knew how to spend it well too.’ 17

Swami Brahmananda, the ‘spiritual son of Sri Ramakrishna’ and later the first wanted Swami Saradananda to take his western disciples around some places in north India.

Swami Abhedananda, or Kali Maharaj, visited, along with other places in north India,

President of the Ramakrishna Order, and Lahore and Rawalpindi in 1922.

Swami Turiyananda, known for his austere Swami Vijnanananda, or Vijnan Maharaj,

life-style and spiritual insights, came to visit holy places in Punjab, Sindh, Pathankot, Multan, Gujaranwala and other places in 1891 later the fourth President of the Ramakrishna Order, visited Lahore and Peshawar in 1931.

Thus, including Swami Vivekananda,

during their days of wandering. In Multan seven disciples of Sri Ramakrishna have blessed

(now in Pakistan), both of them visited Sadhu the historic land of Punjab. In the Ramakrishna

Bela, an acclaimed Hindu temple in Sindh. It is located on an island in the river Sindhu. At the insistence of the abbot of Sadhu Bela and tradition, these direct disciples are held in great respect as, besides being disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, they are believed to have

impressed with the natural beauty of the place, experienced God, a fact richly expressed in their

they spent some months in meditation and hard austerities in Sadhu Bela. 18

Five years after he returned from America, Swami Turiyananda came again to Kurukshetra noble lives and teachings.

We may also mention here that Swami Ambikananda, a disciple of Swami Brahmananda, spent a number of years in austerity in Kapurthala

(in Haryana) to witness the Mela (religious fair) held there to mark the Surya Grahana (solar eclipse). He was joined by Swami Atulananda, a western monk initiated by Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi.

Swami Shivananda, or Mahapurush Maharaj, the second President of the Ramakrishna Order, visited Kurukshetra (now in Haryana) and Jwalamukhi temple (now Himachal Pradesh) in 1892.

Swami Saradananda, or Sharat Maharaj, the first General Secretary of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, came to Rawalpindi in the Undivided Punjab in October 1898. He came by train to Rawalpindi, and then took a tonga to Srinagar. He was called by Swami Vivekananda who fell sick in Srinagar and in the 1950s as also Swami Saradeshananda, a disciple of Holy Mother Sarada Devi, who performed austerities in Punjab. During his extended stay in Punjab, Swami Saradeshananda, or Gopesh Maharaj, developed interest in the Sikh spiritual tradition and learnt to read Punjabi as well. Later he used to often chant Sukhmani Saheb (‘The Treasure of Peace’), a composition of the fifth Sikh Guru, Guru Arjan (1563-1606), which forms a part of the Guru Granth Saheb (it is in 24 Ashtapadis or sections, discussing the nature of meditation, Japa, holy association, characteristics of a man of realization, grace of God, and so on). Gopesh Maharaj kept a copy of Sukhmani Saheb along with Durga Saptashati and Stotra book which he used during his daily devotions. (To be continued. . .) 11) Sialkot was part of the Undivided Punjab. Its earliest mention is Madra kingdom ruled by King Shalya in the Mahabharata. It has been ruled by

Greeks, Huns, Mughals and others. 12) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. [hereafter

CW] 3: 363. 13) Life of Swami Vivekananda by His Eastern and

Western Disciples. [hereafter Life], 288. 14) CW. 3:428-31. 15) Quoted in the article ‘Swami Vivekananda in Punjab’, by Jasbir Kaur Ahuja, Prabuddha Bharata, 1997. 16) The Complete Works of Sister Nivedita. 1: 71-72 17) Swami Adbhutananda As We Saw Him. Ramakrishna

Math, Chennai, p. 283. 18) Swami Brahmananda Charit. (Hindi) Swami

Prabhananda. Nagpur: Ramakrishna Math, p. 102. References vvv

Sister Nivedita and the Hindu Society

(Continued from page 20....)

King Nala felt the pangs of separation from his wife at the time of deserting her, the courteous attitude of Hindu women and the decency of men – all command a place of esteem in her penned pages.

Artistry of the Hindus

Just as the traditional values, the elegant architecture of Hindu temples too had a special appeal for Nivedita. Her close knowledge of Indian artistry is revealed in her book, Notes of Some Wanderings with Swami Vivekananda where she records her observations of the architecture and sculptures of Kashmir temples. In this regard she exchanged ideas with the Tagores. Abanindranath Tagore, in his Bengali book Jorasankor Dhare, compares Nivedita with Mahasweta and writes how he was inspired by her. The Europeans stubbornly believed that no artistry could be compared to that of the Greeks; like her guru, Nivedita too disagreed with this. She had a penchant for Buddhist architecture and sculpture. From the streets to the cities – everything that was of the Buddhist tradition was analysed and elucidated from an artistic outlook. She had directly witnessed it in Ajanta, Ellora, Kanheri and Elephanta Caves. She even visited Udaygiri and Nalanda. While describing the artistic heritage of the Buddhists, she points out how a spiritually inclined mind leaves an indelible impression on the fabric of artistry. She had great attraction for folk-art. Once when she saw a clay-doll in the streets of Baghbazar, she excitedly wrote to the reputed historian Dinesh Chandra Sen how she had seen a similar doll in a British museum. She was well versed with the symbolic language of art and had used this knowledge to design the national flag for independent India. It was a golden coloured thunderbolt on a red cloth; the thunderbolt being the symbol of renunciation. During the last days of her life, she had asked from Dinesh Chandra Sen an idol of Pragya Paramita. When told that keeping such an idol was not considered auspicious, she turned a deaf ear to it. In her school for girls, she had made stitching and tailoring a compulsory item in the course curriculum. She used to buy from weavers clothes dyed in green and yellow hues. A variety of needle-work used to be carried out. She wrote in a letter to Miss Macleod, ‘I am trying to master the design prevalent among Indian women. A highly fascinating thing!’

Practical Vedanta and Aggressive Hinduism On 20 June 1899, Nivedita sailed for

London on the Golconda, along with Swami

Vivekananda and Swami Turiyananda. The party reached London on 31 st July. This period of about one and half months was an invaluable learning session with her Master.

Reminiscing about this period she writes, ‘From the beginning of the voyage to the end, the flow of thought and story went on. One never knew what moment would see the flash of intuition, and hear the ringing utterance of some fresh truth.’ 14

It was in these zealous hours that the entire gamut of the history of the world and that of India especially her religion was unveiled to Nivedita. Along with it continued the story of the great night of Shiva, the story of Prithviraj, the thirty-two stories of Vikramaditya, the story of Lord Buddha and Yashodhara and many more. Based on these conversations Nivedita presents some of Swami Vivekananda’s most significant ideas about Hinduism: ‘In India, the Swami was extremely jealous of any attempt to exclude from Hinduism any of her numerous branches and offshoots. A man was none the less a Hindu, for instance, in his eyes, for being a member of the Brahmo or the Arya Samaj. The great Sikh Khalsa was one of the finest organisations ever created within the Mother-Church, and by her genius. ...There were, he held, three different

stratifications to be recognised in the Faith. One was that of the old historic Orthodoxy. Another consisted of the reforming sects of the Mohammedan period. And third came the reforming sects of the present period. But all these were equally Hindu. 15 Nivedita

considered this classification of Hindu religion from the historical point of view as the pivot of her own idea and analysis of Hinduism.

A spiritual life, in its true sense, enjoins a courageous attitude. One who dares to fight against vice, is capable of establishing virtue. It was for this reason that Lord Krishna commanded Arjuna to fight. Sister Nivedita therefore advocated the fighting spirit and brought forth the concept of aggressive Hinduism. Swami Vivekananda extended Vedanta into Practical Vedanta or Vedanta in action. It was the pragmatic aspect of this Practical Vedanta that Nivedita highlighted as Aggressive Hinduism. Nivedita was a non-Hindu and a westerner, but the extent and precision of her analysis of Hinduism and its tenets is matchless. Outstanding in contemplative power, brilliantly powerful in her spirit, Nivedita was like a beacon light who like Draupadi arose from the sacrificial pyre at the confluences of ages.

1) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. [hereafter CW] Mayavati Edition. Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 1:3 2) Ibid. 1:X 3) The Complete Works of Sister Nivedita. [CWSN] Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 1:141 4) Ibid., 1:141-42 5) Ibid., 1:145 6) Ibid., 1:144-45 7) CW. 1:XV 8) CWSN. 2:331 9) Ibid., p.308-09 10) Ibid., p.312-14 11) Ibid., p.312 12) Ibid., p.312 13) Ibid., p.317-18 14) CWSN. 1:122 15) Ibid., p.164 References

The Story of a Locket

(Continued from page 24 ..)

Society, Hollywood, and passed away on 14 October 1949. 9

The locket was Drinette Verdier’s most then President of the Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre at Gretz) and Swami Vidyatmananda, together with Swami Swahananda (who was

precious possession and to her it was a link visiting France at that time), to her apartment.

with her great hero and a talisman offering There in her gracious manner, almost too ill to

protection to an aged and solitary woman. She was approaching eighty when Swami Vidyatmananda met her. Sensing that her end sit upright, Mme. Drinette Verdier presided over a high tea in their honour. As they finished their tea, she took off her locket and placed it in

was near and wanting that the valuable relic, the hands of Swami Ritajananda. This was on 9

entrusted to her by Joe, should be left in safe

August 1972. She died on October 24. The locket

hands, Drinette invited Swami Ritajananda (the is now preserved in Belur Math. 10 tt

1)

2) 3)

References

Tantine: The Life of Josephine Macleod - Friend of Swami Vivekananda (henceforth Life). Pravrajika Prabuddhaprana. Kolkata: Sri Sarada Math, 1990, 267 Life. 136,267 The Charm of Mayavati Ashrama. Ed. Swami Satyapriyananda. Kolkata: Advaita ashrama (henceforth Ashrama), 2009, 215-216; Life. 135-136 Letters of Sister Nivedita. Vol.2. Kolkata: Nababharat Publishers, 1982, p.653 5) Ashrama. 212-214 6) Shivananda- Smriti Sangraha (Bengali). Vol.2.

Compiled by Swami Apurvananda. Barasat:

Ramakrishna Shivananda Ashrama, 1968, 43-44 7) Life. 238-241 8) The Making of a Devotee. Swami Vidyatmananda.

Ch.6, p.7; Life. 241 9) Life. 295 10. The Making of a Devotee. Ch. 6, p.7