Editorial
of that Revelation unto men which was the life and gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.’ One such profound idea that Swamiji discovered from an everyday conversation, was Shiva Jnane Jiva Seva. One day, when sitting in his room at Dakshineswar surrounded by Naren (later Swami Vivekananda) and other disciples, Sri Ramakrishna spoke about the Vaishnava religion and explained the three practices enjoined upon its followers – relish for the name of God, compassion for all living creatures, and service to the Vaishnavas. Even as he uttered, ‘compassion for all living creatures’, Sri Ramakrishna entered into Samadhi! After some time as he came out of that deep level of consciousness, he said to himself, ‘… Compassion for creatures! … No, it cannot be. It is not compassion for others, but rather service to man, recognizing him to be the veritable manifestation of God!’ When Naren came out of the room he told the others, ‘What a strange light have I discovered in those wonderful words of the Master! … I have understood that the ideal of Vedanta lived by the recluse outside the pale of society can be practised even from hearth and home and applied to all our daily schemes of life. …’ Later as Swami Vivekananda, he preached this idea across the world as Practical Vedanta. Serving God in man is indeed an ancient spiritual practice. But it had remained confined to a small group of people. It was the genius of Swami Vivekananda that he unveiled the full dimension of serving Jiva as Shiva. He traced it to the positive approach to life which sees the whole creation as divine. This affirmation of life in a spirit of consecration is the basis from which people can discover their fundamental
July 2019
‘He who knows how to serve, knows how to rule,’ wrote Swami Vivekananda. Recently, the Prime Minister of India echoed this idea in his first address to the parliamentarians of the ruling party elected to the 17 th Lok Sabha. He called upon the parliamentarians to remain unattached to power, because power is intoxicating. To be free from its disorienting influence he advised them to cultivate the spirit of Shiva Jnane Jiva Seva—‘to serve man as God’ as taught by Sri Ramakrishna. He asserted that there couldn’t be a greater or better path than this spirit of seva to achieve their own good and the good of the country. To the extent they developed this seva bhav, he assured them, the intoxication of power would decrease and the blessings of people increase. Sometimes, hidden in the folds of everyday events, life presents a profound thought, a subtle insight, or the deepest transcendental truths. Ordinary minds usually fail to perceive these gifts. It requires a disciplined, creative mind to discover them. In the presence of an avatara these revelations of life are grand and world-moving. As the avatara is the embodiment of Life, he presents ideas vital for the evolution of higher life in that age. More than a hundred years ago, Sri Ramakrishna, the avatara of the Age, gave us a flood of such ideas. Those around him, disciples and lay householders, according to their capacity caught some of these ideas and worked them out. But it was given to his chief disciple Swami Vivekananda to recognise, interpret and broadcast the core teachings of the avatara. As The Life of Swami Vivekananda puts it, ‘His soul was most attuned to the spiritual vibrations of the Master’s words. Thus he read volumes where others read but pages
9 The Vedanta Kesari
PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I V E N K ATA R A M A N A N T. , C H E N N A I
Shiva Jnane Jiva Seva
