The Vedanta Kesari – September 2019 issue

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Vedanta Kesari September 2019

The

The Vedanta Kesari

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A Cultural and Spiritual Monthly of the Ramakrishna Order since 1914

S eptember 2019

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PRIVATE LIMITED (Manufacturers of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients and Intermediates)

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Athi Varadar, an image of Vishnu made from the wood of a fig tree, is kept immersed in the temple tank of Devaraja Swami temple, Kanchipuram. A few centuries ago it was the presiding deity; for reasons not clear it was resigned to the temple tank. However, once in 40 years Athi Varadar is taken out and worshipped for 48 days! This worship was held recently from 1 July to 17 August 2019 and over one crore devotees had the darshan of the Lord.

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106

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T he V edanta K esari

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of

Publication

A Cultural and Spiritual Monthly of The Ramakrishna Order

SEPTEMBER 2019

Vol. 106, No. 9 ISSN 0042-2983

CONTENTS

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The Defining Moment in Swami Vivekananda’s Monastic Life Asim Chaudhuri

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FEATURES

An Amazing Maze Swami Satyapriyananda

Reminiscences of Sargachhi Swami Suhitananda

7 Dakäiëàmùrti Stotra 8 Yugavani 9 Editorial 27 Vivekananda Way 40 Book Reviews 46 Pariprasna 48 What is Religion?

50 Topical Musings 52 The Order on the March

Ancient Centre of Learning at Bahur Dr. Chithra Madhavan

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ves a ti rr

The Visual Portrayal of Swami Vivekananda in American Media Diane Marshall

C his

ell e

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Poorva: Magic, Miracles and the Mystical Twelve Lakshmi Devnath

Poc ke t

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le Ta

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The Ghost in the Tree Gitanjali Murari

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Editor: Swami Mahamedhananda

Published by Swami Vimurtananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai - 600 004 and Printed by B. Rajkumar, Chennai - 600 014 on behalf of Sri Ramakrishna Math Trust, Chennai - 600 004 and Printed at M/s. Rasi Graphics Pvt. Limited, No.40, Peters Road, Royapettah, Chennai - 600014.

Website: www.chennaimath.org

E-mail: vk@chennaimath.org

The

Vedanta Kesari

September 2019

Dear Readers,

The Vedanta Kesari

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The Vedanta Kesari is one of the oldest cultural and spiritual magazines in the country. Started under the guidance and support of Swami Vivekananda, the first issue of the magazine, then called Brahmavadin, came out on 14 Sept 1895. Brahmavadin was run by one of Swamiji’s ardent followers Sri Alasinga Perumal. After his death in 1909 the magazine publication became irregular, and stopped in 1914 whereupon the Ramakrishna Order revived it as The Vedanta Kesari.

Swami Vivekananda’s concern for the magazine is seen in his letters to Alasinga Perumal where he writes: ‘Now I am bent upon starting the journal.’ ‘Herewith I send a hundred dollars…. Hope this will go just a little in starting your paper.’ ‘I am determined to see the paper succeed.’ ‘The Song of the Sannyasin is my first contribution for your journal.’

‘I learnt from your letter the bad financial state that Brahmavadin is in.’ ‘It must be supported by the Hindus if they have any sense of virtue or gratitude left in them.’ ‘I pledge myself to maintain the paper anyhow.’ ‘The Brahmavadin is a jewel—it must not perish. Of course, such a paper has to be kept up by private help always, and we will do it.’

For the last 105 years, without missing a single issue, the magazine has been carrying the invigorating message of Vedanta with articles on spirituality, culture, philosophy, youth, personality development, science, holistic living, family and corporate values.

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Dakäiëàmùrti Stotra Sri Shankaracharya Verse 9

Notes:

1) Human beings in general; in particular, the person eligible for performing scriptureordained actions and practising the various upāsanās or meditations as prescribed in the scriptures.

2) The Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (3.9) says:

यस्मात्‌परं नापरमस्ति किंचिद्य-स्मान्नाणीयो न ज्यायोऽस्ति कश्र्चित्‌। वृक्ष इव स्तब्धो दिवि तिष्ठत्येक-स्तेनेदं पूर्णं पुरुषेण सर्वम्‌।।

‘He—superior or inferior to whom nothing exists; smaller or greater than whom none exists—who stands all alone in the effulgent heavens, unmoved like the tree, by that Person all this is pervaded.’

According to the Mahānārāyaṇa Upaniṣad (24) all that exists is Rudra:

विश्र्वं भूतं भुवनं चित्रं बहुधा जातं जायमानं च यत्।‌ सर्वो ह्येष रुद्रस्तस्मै रुद्राय नमो अस्तु।।

‘The material universe, the created beings, and whatever there is manifoldly and profusely created in the past and in the present in the form of the world, all that is indeed Rudra, salutation be to Him.’ 3) Those who have formally approached a competent guru, studied the śāstras and heard the truth from him, and have constantly practised logical thinking.

Dakṣiṇāmūrti Stotra with Mānasollāsa.

Translated and Annotated by Swami Harshananda

September 2019

9. Obeisance to Śrī Dakṣiṇāmūrti, who is the Guru, whose eightfold form is verily this world of the sentient and the insentient, comprising of earth, water, fire, air, sky, sun, moon and human being1, and beyond whom— the greatest and the omnipresent—nothing else exists2 according to the discerning people3.

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PA G E S P O N S O R : C H I . M O K S H I T K O K K U, H Y D E R A B A D

भूरम्भांस्यनलोऽनिलोऽम्बरमहर्नाथो हिमांशुः पुमान् इत्याभाति चराचरात्मकमिदं यस्यैव मूर्त्यष्टकम् । नान्यत्किञ्चन विद्यते विमृशतां यस्मात्परस्माद्विभोः तस्मै श्रीगुरुमूर्तये नम इदं श्रीदक्षिणामूर्तये ॥ ९ ॥

September 2019

Yugavani

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Yearning for God

hey make so many pilgrimages and repeat the name of God so much, but why do they not realize anything? It is because they have no longing for God. God reveals Himself to the devotee if only he calls upon Him with a longing heart.

You may read scriptures by the thousands and recite thousands of texts; but unless you plunge into God with yearning of heart, you will not comprehend Him. By mere scholarship you may fool man, but not God. God can be realized by means of all paths. It is enough to have sincere yearning for God. Infinite are the paths and infinite the opinions.

Nothing whatsoever is achieved in spiritual life without yearning. By constant living in the company of holy men, the soul becomes restless for God. This yearning is like the state of mind of a man who has someone ill in the family. His mind is in a state of perpetual restlessness, thinking how the sick person may be cured. Or again, one should feel a yearning for God like the yearning of a man who has lost his job and is wandering from one office to another in search of work.

A man does not have to suffer any more if God, in His grace, removes his doubts and reveals Himself to him. But this grace descends upon him only after he has prayed to God with intense yearning of heart and practised spiritual discipline. The mother feels compassion for her child when she sees him running about breathlessly.

The point is, to love God even as the mother loves her child, the chaste wife her husband, and the worldly man his wealth. Add together these three forces of love, these three powers of attraction, and give it all to God. Then you will certainly see Him. Cry to the Lord with an intensely yearning heart and you will certainly see Him. People shed a whole jug of tears for wife and children. They swim in tears for money.

But who weeps for God? Cry to Him with a real cry.

Pray to God with a yearning heart that you may take delight in His name. He will certainly fulfil your heart’s desire.

—Sri Ramakrishna

adaapi na, kadaapi na, ‘never’, ‘never’ shouted the pandit in Pondicherry with ‘brutal gestures’.

It was his response to Swami Vivekananda and his Madras admirers discussing Swamiji’s upcoming sea-voyage to America to participate in the World’s Parliament of Religions in 1893.

It was the voice of a decadent, superstitionencrusted India which had stopped interacting with the world outside and was suffocating in a self-created cocoon.

But, Swamiji sailed to America and from the platform of the Parliament of Religions in Chicago, offered India’s eternal spiritual ideals and realisations to the world at large. The joyous applause that he received in America reverberated across India, stirring in her a new life. It initiated the process of breaking the shackles of dry, bigoted ideas and ignorance that had kept India imprisoned for centuries.

In his second address at the Parliament of Religions on 15 Sept 1893, Swamiji narrated the story of a frog in the well, to draw attention to the limitations and dangers of a narrow mind-set. The frog born and brought up in a well, one day had a visitor when another frog from the sea fell into the well. The well-frog then tried to understand the expanse of the sea by leaping across its well! It refused to be disabused of its foolish belief that there was nothing bigger and better outside the well.

It was this well-frog’s mind-set that Swamiji recognised in the pandit’s voice. It was a voice that had built ‘a wall of custom— whose foundation was hatred of others — round the nation’. This wall, Swamiji said was the main

reason for the downfall of India because it had violated the moral law of give and take. Swamiji declared: ‘If India wants to raise herself once more, it is absolutely necessary that she brings out her treasures and throws them broadcast among the nations of the earth, and in return be ready to receive what others have to give her.

Expansion is life, contraction is death.’ India awakened to Swamiji’s voice and countless Indians set forth striding in an unheard of manner towards political, social and spiritual freedom.

The Jump

The Cover Page painting – titled ‘Jump’ by its young artist Abhirup De, a software professional in Kolkata – depicts this idea of modern India jumping onto the stairs created

by Swamiji to climb out of their wells into the open world of universality. Swamiji stands as the connecting bridge between the traditional India of temples, worship, fasts, and vigils, and the modern world of industry, technology, competition.

To give the Indian masses the life-giving ideas of Vedanta, and to improve their material condition with the technology of modern science was Swami Vivekananda’s mission in life. To achieve this, he set in motion the Ramakrishna Movement which, for more than a century has been silently, slowly, and effectively changing the mind-set of India. By the power of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda ideals the movement is able to continuously position itself at the intersection of tradition and modernity and guide people, especially the

September 2019

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The Voice

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PA G E S P O N S O R : S WA M I S U R E S H A N A N D A , B A N K I M N A G A R R A M A K R I S H N A A S H R A M , N A D I A D I S T.

Editorial

youth towards achieving the paradoxical combination that Swamiji demanded of them – immense idealism with immense practicality.

The year-long 125 th Anniversary Celebrations of Swamiji’s Chicago Addresses concludes this month. This is another opportunity for us to self-introspect and see which voice is guiding our path. Bombarded as we are with a cacophony of voices through our

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multi-media, it is important that we regularly read Swamiji’s lectures and letters and keep ourselves aligned to the ideals he presents.

Swamiji is an eternal voice without form which will always guide anyone struggling to evolve.

As we go deeper into his thoughts, there will awaken in us the power to listen to his voice within our heart. When this happens, we are sure not to miss our way, and also our every act will become a blessing to the world.

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September 2019

National Seminar on Hinduism for Youth – 21 Sept 2019

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As part of the 125th Anniversary of Swamiji’s Chicago Addresses, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai is conducting a one-day National Seminar on Hinduism for youth on 21 September 2019. More details are available at https://events.chennaimath.org/ NationalSeminaronHinduismforYouth 2019 Special Issue As our readers know we bring out a Special Issue on a particular topic every December. The topic for the coming Special Issue is ‘Ideals in Family Life’. We invite readers to write about any inspiring episode they may have been part of or even witnessed in their families, both immediate and extended. The write-up should focus on the ideal, and the manner in which it was realised in a relationship. The word limit is 250.

Pocket Tales To help young children connect with heroic ideas, we are beginning from this issue a new feature titled ‘Pocket Tales’. The series begins with a fictional narrative of incidents from Swamiji’s childhood.

Just Ask Swami Vivekananda clearly recognised the pivotal role of the youth in the creation of a New India. Befittingly, his birthday, January 12th is celebrated as National Youth Day by the Government of India. Today’s multitasking youth face multiple challenges. To help them find solutions in the line of Swami Vivekananda’s ideals, we invite youngsters to ask any questions that bother them. The Vedanta Kesari, Swami Vivekananda’s brainchild, will endeavour to answer them in ‘Just Ask’, an upcoming feature dedicated to the youth.

The Defining Moment in Swami Vivekananda’s Monastic Life ASIM CHAUDHURI

The article presents Swami Vivekananda’s meditation at Kanyakumari as his ‘moment of enlightenment’ when his thoughts on the reasons for the downfall of India and the course of its revival took a definite shape.

Introduction t is true that the World’s Parliament of Religions was a big event in Swamiji’s life that acted as the structural catapult launching him into prominence as Swami Vivekananda—the World Teacher. But that was his ‘external’ nature, an outward manifestation of his inner spiritual power—what people saw and heard. His ‘Buddha moment of enlightenment,’ or just his ‘Buddha moment,’ occurred in two places at Kanyakumari—first

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in Mother Kumari’s temple and then on what is now known as the Vivekananda Rock. Treating these events as a two-part continuum, this will go down as the most defining moment in his monastic life that elevated him from the level of self-actualization to self-transcendence. It was a totally ‘internal’ phenomenon, an innermost experience. This article attempts to describe what led to that moment, how Swamiji experienced it, and what happened in the aftermath. We know something about what led

The author, a well known researcher on Swami Vivekananda, lives in U.S.A.

asimphoenix@gmail.com

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PA G E S P O N S O R : A D E V O T E E , H O U S T O N , U S A

September 2019

Article

to it and what happened in the aftermath, but very little about its nature, because Swamiji was rather reticent about what he had experienced over those three days at Kanyakumari; for that, we have to rely on his biographers and our capacity for inductive or deductive imagination.

‘After worshipping the Mother in the temple, it was to this holy rock that the Swami wanted to go for meditation. But how could he go? He had not a single pice for the boatman.

It all started in July of 1890 when Swamiji left the Baranagore Math with Swami Akhandananda and started for the Himalayas.

His final words before he left was: ‘I shall not return until I acquire such realization that my very touch will transform a man.’1 He returned in January 1897, six and a half years later, to the Alambazar Math (to which the brother disciples had shifted in 1892) after fulfilling his promise; no matter how one looks at it, he transformed generations to come.

In the first edition of the Life, published in the mid-1910s, the biographers were uncertain about the location of the rock with respect to the temple, and didn’t realize that they were independent of each other. As a result of a visit to Kanyakumari by Swami Virajananda later, that was all corrected and various eye-witness accounts over the years were added to the narrative to make it complete. The above excerpt is from the most recent edition of the Life, published in 1989.

September 2019

From the Himalayas to Kanyakumari

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He started at the foot of the Himalayas in August 1890, and after going through a myriad of towns, villages, and cities, performing austerities at every chance he got, observing the conditions of people from all walks of life throughout his travels, meeting some with whom he had developed long acquaintances, he finally ended up at Kanyakumari on December 24, 1892.

During those six and a half years that he was outside Calcutta, or even later, he might have had several transcendent moments of deep spiritual experience. But his “Buddha moment” at Kanyakumari tops them all.

What happened at Kanyakumari?

After reaching Kanyakumari, Swamiji went straight to the ‘Mother’s temple’ and fell prostrate in ecstasy before Her image. How long he remained in that position, or how long he sat there in worship, is not known. The Life narrated what happened next as follows:

‘Without more ado he plunged into those shark-infested waters and swam across. About him the ocean tossed, but in his mind was greater turbulence.’2

It is natural for the biographers to assume that Swamiji plunged into the ocean because he could not afford a boat ride, but there could have been a more compelling reason why he took to swimming that stretch of water, which was only about 400 meters (two furlongs) wide and could have been even less during a low tide depending on the bottom topography. He was probably in a liminal state, on the verge of transitioning from the real to the ephemeral, looking for answers through meditation in solitude on the rock. He meant to honor that spiritual journey to the rock, ‘sanctified by the blessed feet of the Divine Mother,’ through the hard slog of self-denial to refresh his soul, sharks or no sharks. (The Batuk Bhairavas would have protected him from any kind of danger.*) He probably felt like the resolute pilgrims who think that the arduous journey on foot to ‘Pilgrimage Hinglaj’ is an integral part of their spiritual fulfilment, as important as reaching the destination and offering prayers.

The journey has its own unique reward,

In the above excerpt, the two significant phrases with a comma in between are: ‘At Cape Comorin sitting in Mother Kumari’s temple, sitting on the last bit of Indian rock.’ These are two separate phrases. Some may think that the second phrase is an appositive for the first, but it is not, because the temple was not built on rock (moreover, the word ‘sitting’ has been used in both).** Swamiji meant that he sat in both places. If he had used a conjunction, and instead written, ‘At Cape Comorin sitting in Mother Kumari’s temple, and sitting on the last bit of Indian rock…,’ that would have made it clearer. But that was not his style; in his Bengali letters, he frequently used commas or other forms of punctuation between phrases—instead of conjunctions.

Swamiji might not have spent a long time at the temple. Of his three days at Kanyakumari, he spent most of the time on the rock. What he did there wasn’t just ‘hit upon a plan,’ it was much more; and we get some impression of that from the reminiscences of Swami Turiyananda, whom Swamiji met in April/May of 1893 in Western India. About that meeting Turiyanandaji had repeatedly said, ‘I saw Swamiji as a different person, not like the old one, but with new thoughts and expressions.’4 The Life’s account of Turiyanandaji’s statement referring to the meeting was as follows:

‘I vividly remember some remarks made

by Swamiji at that time. The exact words and accents, and the deep pathos with which they were uttered, still ring in my ears. He said, “Haribhai, I am still unable to understand anything of your so-called religion.” Then with an expression of deep sorrow on his countenance and intense emotion shaking his body, he placed his hand on his heart and added, “But my heart has expanded very much, and I have learnt to feel. Believe me, I feel intensely indeed.” His voice was choked with feeling; he could say no more. For a time profound silence reigned, and tears rolled down his cheeks.’ In telling of this incident Swami Turiyananda was also overcome. He sat silent for a while, his eyelids heavy with tears.

With a deep sigh he said, ‘Can you imagine what passed through my mind on hearing the Swami speak thus? “Are not these”, I thought, “the very words and feelings of Buddha?” . . . I could clearly perceive that the sufferings of humanity were pulsating in the heart of Swamiji: his heart was a huge cauldron in which the sufferings of mankind were being made into a healing balm.’5 The feelings Swami Turiyananda witnessed and recognized were the result of Swamiji’s highly intense spiritual experience at

September 2019

The only time Swamiji referred to his visit to Kanyakumari, which is on record, was in a Bengali letter to Swami Ramakrishnananda on March 19, 1894, a little over a year later. That ought to tell us something about his restraint in referring to it. The letter was his first to the brother disciples after leaving Calcutta in July 1890. One noticeable fact is that Swamiji never mentioned the word ‘swim’ in that letter, but there was a subtle hint in it that he did go to the rock. A part of the letter said: ‘In view of all this, specially of the poverty and ignorance, I had no sleep. At Cape Comorin sitting in Mother Kumari’s temple, sitting on the last bit of Indian rock, I hit upon a plan: We are so many sannyasins wandering about, and teaching the people metaphysics—it is all madness.

Did not our Gurudeva use to say, “An empty stomach is no good for religion”? That those poor people are leading the life of brutes is simply due to ignorance. We have for all ages been sucking their blood and trampling them underfoot.’3

Meditation at Kanyakumari: transformation to transcendence

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PA G E S P O N S O R : S M T. PA P I A C H A U D H U R Y, K O L K ATA

as it is considered a penance to purify oneself.

September 2019

Kanyakumari, which was characterized by such an enhanced state of consciousness, such a profound depth of feeling that it appeared to stand out as his ‘Buddha moment.’ More about this later.

The Vedanta Kesari

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a ‘peak religious experience,’ or just as a ‘peak experience.’ This type of experience, he said, ‘seems to lift us to greater than normal heights so that we can see and perceive in a higher than usual way. We become larger, greater, stronger, bigger, taller people and tend to perceive Swamiji was always tight-lipped about his accordingly…. To say this in a different way, deep spiritual experiences. He had had one perception in the peak-experiences can be such experience in the summer of 1884, when relatively ego-transcending, self-forgetful, he sank down by the roadside in Calcutta. The egoless, unselfish.’9 Maslow further added, ‘The logic behind God’s disbursement of justice and peak-experiencer becomes more loving and mercy became clear to him through that more accepting, and so he experience, but he never becomes more told anybody about the My heart has expanded very much, spontaneous and honest incident except Swami and I have learnt to feel. and innocent.’

Saradananda; but even

then, he didn’t explain Believe me, I feel intensely indeed.

Maslow was an exactly how it happened. experimentally trained All he said was ‘By a deep psychologist, and had little introspection I found the meaning of it all and formal background in comparative religion was satisfied.’6 His Kanyakumari experience with which he could supplement the results of was much greater than that, the most his examinations of people’s various numinous significant one in his monastic life, because experiences. Swamiji had some discussion there he received enlightenment through that about those experiences, like nirvikalpa long meditation and found the real purpose for samadhi, with his friend Professor William his life on earth. His ‘deep introspection’ James of Harvard. James even quoted Swamiji encompassed three days and three nights. on the subject of ‘union of the individual with the divine’ in his essay on ‘Mysticism,’ The Life summed it up by saying, ‘Here, originally published in 1902.10 Maslow was then, at Kanyakumari was the culmination of well acquainted with James’ work, but his own days and months of thought on the problems of work never mentioned such experiences by the Indian masses; here the longing to find a name. way by which the wrongs inflicted on them could be righted, was fulfilled.’7 His vision of ‘righting the wrongs’ also emerged as a result of his being a self-actualizer. Self-actualizing people are able to see reality (‘what is’) more clearly, and are quick to perceive ‘what ought to be’ and then develop a plan to go from ‘what is’ to ‘what ought to be.’8 We will come to that later.

Some aspects of what happened to Swamiji during those three days at Kanyakumari would have been described by psychologist Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) as

Characteristically, peak experience leads to a rise in personal awareness and understanding and can serve as a turning point in a person’s life; it generates emotions that are positive and intrinsically rewarding, during which people feel at one with the world with love and compassion abound. Meditation could lead to such peak experiences while the aspirants seek communion with the transcendent. Kanyakumari was where Swamiji made a leap from being a selfactualizer to being a self-transcender.11

The ‘peak religious experience’ of Swamiji at the temple and then on the rock at Kanyakumari could have been his combined ‘Buddha moment ,’ a state of unitive consciousness. Call it enlightenment , realization, illumination, inspiration, awakening, or whatever—it is immaterial. From what has been documented in the Life, one can draw a parallel between Buddha’s peak experience and that of Swamiji, because the latter also seemed to have acquired three insights as a result. After his enlightenment in one night, the Buddha spent seven days reviewing and consolidating his experience.12 In the same way, Swamiji could have spent three days on the rock reviewing and consolidating his own revelation at the temple earlier. In other words, his Buddha moment might have been a revelation-reviewconsolidation continuum.

First, sitting on the last rock of India, ‘he passed into a deep meditation on the present and future of his country. He sought for the root of her downfall. With the vision of a seer he understood why India had been thrown from the pinnacle of glory to the depths of degradation….The centuries were laid out

Second, Swamiji ‘saw religion to be the life-blood of India’s millions. “India”, he realized in the silence of his heart, “shall rise only through a renewal and restoration of that highest spiritual consciousness that has made her, at all times, the cradle of the nations and cradle of the Faith”….His soul brooded with tenderness and anguish over India’s poverty.’14 He recalled his Master’s admonition: ‘Religion is not for empty bellies.’ People should first have access to food, shelter, education, healthcare, and the knowledge of science and technology. This he thought was ‘what ought to be.’

Third, to go from ‘what is’ to ‘what ought to be,’ in other words to effect a resolution, he ‘hit upon a plan.’ The nuts and bolts of his plan, at least the essence of it, he first disclosed a little over a year later in the letter to Swami Ramakrishnananda, discussed earlier.

Verbalizing Swamiji’s thoughts, the Life said, ‘But what was the remedy? The clear-eyed Swami saw that renunciation and service must be the twin ideals of India. If the national life could be intensified in these channels, everything else would be taken care of.’15 After his enlightenment, Buddha went ahead and founded a new religion that doesn’t even acknowledge God, let alone worship Him. Swamiji, on the other hand, went ahead and professed a new way to worship God. He equated sadhana with seva and exhorted, ‘If you want any good to come, just throw your ceremonials overboard and worship the Living God, the Man-god—every being that wears a

September 2019

Siddhartha Gautama sat beneath a tree (known as the Bodhi tree) at Bodh Gaya and meditated. According to some traditions, he attained ‘enlightenment’ in one night; others say three days, or seven days, while still others say 45 days. With his mind purified through concentration, he was supposed to have acquired three kinds of supreme knowledge. In a nutshell, without going into much depth, the first kind was knowledge of his past lives for many thousands of eons. The second was that of the rising and falling of beings, seeing how the laws of karma unfold in detail. The third was knowledge that he was free of all obstacles and released from bondage/attachments.

before him…. Everywhere and at all times he saw that the poor had been oppressed by whatever power the changes of fortune had set over them.’ 13 To draw an analogy, this is something like Buddha’s first type of knowledge, only it involves the past of a country, not of a person. This was how Swamiji perceived the reality (‘what is’) and how it had manifested itself.

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The Buddha moment

September 2019

human form—god in His universal as well as individual aspect. The universal aspect of God means this world, and worshipping it means serving it.’16

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‘He gazed over the waters through a mist of tears. His heart went out to the Master and to the Mother in prayer. From this moment his life was consecrated to the service of India, but particularly to the service of her outcast Narayanas, her starving Narayanas, her Aftermath of Kanyakumari millions of oppressed Narayanas. To him, Going back in time, Sri Ramakrishna had in this hour, even the direct experience of given Swamiji a mandate, charged him with a Brahman in the Nirvikalpa Samadhi, and the complicated mission, of which the latter didn’t bliss attending it, became subservient to the have a clear idea, and empowered him to overwhelming desire to give himself utterly for accomplish the work; but the Master provided the good of the Indian people. His soul was very little guidance on how to get it done. caught up in the vision of Narayana Himself, the Swamiji became restless because he wanted to Lord of the Universe, transcendent, yet do something, but did not exactly know what to immanent in all beings—whose boundless love do and how to do it. It probably dawned on him makes no distinction that so far he had been between high and low, travelling to various holy pure and vile, rich and If you want any good to come, places, apparently poor.’18 just throw your ceremonials aimlessly, and meeting It seems that different people from all overboard and worship the Living God, the Man-god — every being Swamiji’s revelation on walks of life, but had done the rock reaffirmed his nothing toward that wears a human form.

Master’s entire mandate accomplishing his Master’s to him more clearly than mission. ever. He then decided to All of that changed after his meditation at go to America and thus, in a manner of Kanyakumari. Swamiji decided that instead of speaking, hit two mangoes with one stone. going into solitude in the Himalayas to First, he would fulfill his Master’s prophecy that commune with God, he would dedicate his life ‘Naren will teach others’ by expounding to the to the service of India’s outcast, downtrodden, receptive Americans the ancient wisdom of and starving people. He was finally convinced Indian sages and the sublime concepts of that the God he had taken a vow to serve as a Vedanta. Second, to carry out his Master’s wish monk, revealed Himself through humanity. His that he serve mankind by alleviating their pain longing for a blissful state of communion with and suffering, he would bring back to India G o d t h e n b e c a m e s e c o n d a r y to h i s from America, in exchange, the knowledge of overwhelming desire to dedicate his life to the Western science and technology, as well as welfare of the Indian people. ‘May I be born some material help, to uplift the condition of again and again,’ he exclaimed, ‘and suffer a the Indian masses. He wanted to weave the best thousand miseries, if only I may worship the elements of Western civilization into the fabric only God in whom I believe, the sum total of all of Indian thought and culture, and let the West souls, and above all, my God the wicked, my benefit from assimilating Eastern introspection God the afflicted, my God the poor of all and meditation. To him it was a win-win races!’17 Here is how the Life recounted his situation. mental state:

Shortly thereafter, Swamiji had a vision as he lay half asleep one night. ‘He saw the figure of his Master, Shri Ramakrishna, walking from the seashore into the waters of the ocean, and beckoning him to follow.’19 He wanted the

benediction from the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi to go to the West—and he received it.

He left for America five months after his “Buddha moment” at Kanyakumari. The rest is history.

* There is a story that once Swami Shivananda woke up in the middle of the night at Baranagore Math and saw the space surrounding Swamiji’s sleeping body being lit up due to the presence of miniature Shiva-like images. He woke Swamiji up and told him what he had seen. Swamiji asked him not to bother about that and go to sleep. When he asked him again about it the next morning, Swamiji said, ‘They were Batuk Bhairavas [a child form of Lord Shiva that people invoke for protection against evil spirits], they have been protecting me since my childhood.’ (Swami Purnatmananda (Editor), Smritir Aloi Swamiji (Udbodhan Karyalaya, Calcutta, 2009), p. 91.) Shivananda was uniquely privileged to see that because both he and Swamiji were born following their mothers’ special prayers to Lord Shiva. ** According to tradition, the temple was built, maybe a couple of thousand years ago or more, on the rock, which was then a part of the mainland, and now known as the Vivekananda Rock (“the last bit of Indian rock”). The temple was rebuilt on the mainland when sea erosion transformed the rock to an islet. A natural footprint-shaped indent found on the rock is believed to be that of the Devi Herself, and is revered as a symbol of the “Sripadam.” (https://indianmandirs.blogspot.com/2013/11/ sri-kanyakumari-amman-temple.html.) If this is true, and if Swamiji was aware of the compelling Puranic history of the rock where the Divine Mother performed intense austerities as Devi Kanya to win the hand of Lord Shiva, then it explains why he wanted to go there to meditate.

My whole ambition in life is to set in motion a machinery which will bring noble ideas to the door of everybody, and then let men and women settle their own fate. Let them know what our forefathers as well as other nations have thought on the most momentous questions of life.

—Swami Vivekananda

September 2019

Notes

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References 1) The Life of Swami Vivekananda. [hereafter Life]. Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 1989, 1:241 2) Life. 1:340-341 3) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. [hereafter CW]. Mayavati Edition. Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 6:254 4) Srimat Vivekananda Swamir Jibaner Ghatanabali. Mahendranath Datta. Kolkata: The Mahendra Publishing Committee, 1998, 3:30 5) Life. 1:388 6) Life. 1:126 7) Life. 1:343 8) Swami Vivekananda: The Ultimate Paradox Manager. [hereafter Manager]. Asim Chaudhuri. Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 2016, p.197 9) Religions, Values, and PeakExperiences. A. H. Maslow. New York: Penguin Compass, 1976, pp. 59-68 10) The Varieties of Religious Experience.

William James. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2004, pp.346-347 11) Manager. pp.194-197 12) Buddhism in Translations. Henry Clarke Warren. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953, pp. 83-85 13) Life. 1:341 14) Life. 1:341 15) Life. 1:342 16) CW. 6:264 17) Vivekananda: A Biography. Swami Nikhilananda, Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 1987, pp.97-98 18) Life. 1:343 19) Life. 1:380

Reminiscences

Reminiscences of Sargachhi SWAMI SUHITANANDA

Swami Premeshananda (1884 – 1967) was a disciple of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi. For over two decades he lived at Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Sargachhi, West Bengal. Under his inspiration countless people lead a life of spirituality and service, and many young men and women entered into monastic life. His conversations – translated from Bengali and presented below – were noted by his attendant novitiate who is now Swami Suhitananda, one of the Vice-Presidents of the Ramakrishna Order.

(Continued from previous issue. . .)

September 2019

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29.10.60 contd. aharaj: After an aspirant engages in work impelled by desires for a long time, there awakens in him the power of discrimination, and he gets an opportunity to hear about Supreme Knowledge.

When this happens, he begins to withdraw from his involvement in work and tries to remain desireless. But the momentum generated by working for a long time cannot end in a day. So the aspirant continually struggles to become desireless, and when शमः कारणमु च् यते (Bhagavad Gita 6:3) ‘inaction becomes the means’, i.e., work falls away, then knowledge awakens in him.

M

However, some people, even after realisation, continue to work for the good of the world. In short, mere work creates bondage, and the aspirant will repeatedly have to experience the fruits of work, go to heaven, and again return to this world.

In Shankara’s time, the priests would elaborately preach the glories of sacrifices. That is why Shankara had to write against ritualistic work.

Question: If we try to work without selfish desires, will it lead to lessening of work?

Maharaj: There is no guarantee. You have to think that you are not doing any work by

yourself, but – like the maid in a rich man’s h o u s e – yo u a re j u s t f u l f i l l i n g t h e responsibilities that come upon you from time to time. Work is not your goal – your goal is to realise the Absolute. The disciple* went to graze the cattle; his purpose was not to graze the cattle but to realise the Absolute.

Question: But I am that Absolute.

Maharaj: No, if you think like that, you will not be able to keep your mind on your Chosen Deity. Think ‘I am only a ray.’

Yesterday I told you the simile of a glass bottle. Can you repeat it?

Attendant: I keep an empty bottle immersed in a tank of water. Then the bottle gets filled with the water in the tank. The water in the bottle assumes an identity separate from the water in the tank. It is like the universal consciousness appearing as an individual consciousness.

Maharaj: As I thought over the matter, it occurred to me that the simile of the bottle is not correct. It can be better put like this: A cowherd boy, by the grace of a king, married the king’s daughter and became a householder. He also received half the kingdom, and after the king’s death became the king. Here the cowherd

*

Satyakama , in the Chandogya Upanishad

The avatara is like the water on the roof which flows down through the lion’s mouth (the design at the end of the drainpipe). The Supreme Brahman preached His message through the form of Sri Ramakrishna, who intimated the tidings of the second floor to those on the ground floor (i.e., Sri Ramakrishna opened the doors of the higher life to ordinary people).

Somebody said, ‘I am convinced that Sri Ramakrishna is the Supreme Brahman.’ But is it possible to have such a conviction without a clear conception of the Supreme Brahman?

Look here, without practising discrimination you can become a devotee, but you cannot become a sannyasi. When a sannyasi without discrimination performs his own shraddha ceremonies (obsequies performed before receiving sannyasa) he will regard it as an ordinary ritual. Unless he is convinced that he is not the body and the mind, how can his sense of belonging to his parents disappear?

Rajoguni people desire to reform the world when they perceive it as full of misery. An intellectual person will engage in the path of discrimination to become a scholar.

1.11.60

Some devotees had arrived from Berhampore. While chatting amongst

Maharaj: They say Wednesday is marked as Sri Ramakrishna’s day. If we assign a particular day of the week to Sri Ramakrishna, then we become a faction, a section of society.

Rather, we should mingle with everyone, without losing our independent identity. This is Sri Ramakrishna’s speciality.

Sri Ramakrishna cannot be called a siddha purusa (perfected person). What a renunciation of lust and greed in body, mind and speech we see in him! This is not possible for a siddha purusha. Again, how can we call him God? All his actions are like those of a human being.

Therefore, he is an avatara – a teacher – God in the form of man.

Tell me how many types of jivas are there?

Jivas are of four types – nitya (ever perfect), mukta (liberated), mumukshu (aspiring after liberation) and baddha (bound). There is another fourfold classification – bubhukshu (hungry), chikirshu (intending to work), jijnasu (intending to know), and mumukshu (desiring to be free). A bubhukshu is satisfied as soon as his physical wants are met; he is an extreme tamoguni and has no enthusiasm for anything else. A chikirshu wants to work. He tires himself to death, driven by the restlessness of his mind; he is a rajoguni. A jijnasu is one with a keen intellect. He desires to develop his intellect and acquire higher degrees like M.A. and D.Litt. But his discrimination is not yet awakened.

Gradually, as his intellect matures, there awakens in him the power to discriminate between the eternal and the ephemeral, and he becomes a mumukshu.

(To be continued. . .)

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In the path of Self-knowledge the aspirant focuses his mind on his own ego, while in the path of pure devotion the aspirant focuses his mind on a particular personality. Then there is Visishtadvaita (qualified monism). Here the aspirant suffers intensely because of the misery of other living beings. Beyond that is Advaita (monism). Those who follow the path of pure devotion do not care about the glories of their most beloved person. They want only him and nothing else. They do not criticise others.

themselves, one of them said, ‘Monday belongs to Shiva, Tuesday to the Divine Mother, and Wednesday to Sri Ramakrishna.’

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is not done away with; he is the same person who only progresses to become the king.

Article

The Visual Portrayal of Swami Vivekananda in American Media DIANE MARSHALL

September 2019

This research article throws new light on the initial photographs of Swami Vivekananda taken in America, including the famous ‘Chicago pose’ photograph, and also his sketches in the media.

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Genesis of the Chicago pose wami Vivekananda’s portrait known as the ‘Chicago pose’ is such an iconic image that it continues to signify not only his career, but also the public image of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission. It is worth pondering how this photograph came to be. I say ponder, because in the absence of direct documentation, the job is to lay out evidence in sequential order and apply reason. Logically, this sequence begins with the understanding that the ‘Chicago pose’ was created after the Parliament of Religions.

S

There are five clearly identifiable photographs taken of Swamiji during the Parliament of Religions in September 1893.1 Some of these were later reproduced in books; they were not seen in the newspapers during the congress. Swamiji was a dark horse coming into the Parliament. The story of how he acquired the necessary credentials to become a last minute delegate is well-known, and the reports of his participation written by journalists are well-known, but his picture was scarcely seen during that event—at least not in the way it was later imagined in India.

For example, there is no reason to believe that Swamiji’s portrait was ever posted on the fairgrounds of the World’s Columbian

Exposition—nor was it displayed publicly during the Parliament of Religions. Consider the social reality. Americans would have had difficulty distinguishing a foreign visitor like Swamiji—who was ‘in costume’—from the Asian performers on the Midway Plaisance. As far as the average visitor to the World’s Columbian Exposition was concerned, the Maharajah of Kapurthala, who was feted at the Fair on 15 August, was merely a wealthier version of the Hindoo juggler on the Midway.2 They were all simply exotic. Swamiji was definitely not a fairground attraction, so the notion that his picture was posted at the World’s Fair—which closed on 30 October—is untenable. The Parliament of Religions, on the other hand, was an assembly of considerable gravitas. If pictures of Swamiji had been placarded around the Art Institute as if it were a political convention, it would not have won him approbation.

Swamiji went to the Exposition on the morning of 20 September with Narasimhacharya, Lakshmi Narayan, H. Anagarika Dharmapala, and Virchand Gandhi to participate in the tolling of the Columbian Liberty Bell by representatives of the world’s religions.3 During this excursion they were stopped and photographed as a group.4 Their

Diane Marshall is a graphic designer and art historian in the Midwest USA. She writes a history blog using vintage postcards to follow the travels of Swami Vivekananda: Vivekananda Abroad: A Postcard Pilgrimage on Blogger. eoline9@gmail.com

September 2019

sketch artist’s job to understand Swamiji’s words. Some of them boldly portrayed Swamiji with racial and cultural bias—scarcely observing his actual features. A black-faced sketch of Swamiji appeared in the 12 September Chicago Record and a hookThe notion that n o s e d , b a g g y- eye d Swamiji’s picture was sketch of him appeared in the 20 September posted at the World’s Chicago Herald. 10 In Fair—which closed The reasons why Swamiji’s image was c o n t r a s t t o l ive ly on 30 October— underrepresented in the newspapers during illustrations in other is untenable. the Parliament were mostly technical. To my newspapers, the knowledge, his named image appeared only Chicago Tribune printed engravings of the three times in the newspaper during that delegates that for the most part had clearly historic event. Why? Because unlike other been drawn from photographs. The artists had delegates, Swamiji had not supplied cabinet different make-ready deadlines than the cards of himself in advance to the Parliament journalists, so they may not have covered the committee, which in turn would have lent them afternoon or evening sessions that Swamiji to the news media, which in turn would have often chaired. Therefore the lack of images of sent them to engraving houses that supplied Swamiji during the Parliament is not a 21 the newspaper trade. Instead, Swamiji was reflection of the impact he had on that event, it sketched ‘live’ by artists attached to local reflects the way that newspapers worked at newspapers. These artists had a different that time. agenda than the journalists. Their job was to In Swamiji’s day the prevailing convey the immediacy and excitement of the typesetting technology was Linotype/ spectacle with loose, lively, line drawings. letterpress. All inkable surfaces were Some popular artists signed their work. On printed in relief, so images had to be 13 September, Swamiji was illustrated in physically converted into wood or the Chicago Inter-Ocean with the metal blocks that locked into the caption ‘Swami Dvivakananda’.7 page forme with the type. By the Swamiji was not drawn as a early 1890s it was fairly common speaker that day; he was to see black and white simply a conspicuous part of photographs reproduced via the pageant: ‘The handsome halftone line screens in books and Inter-Ocean 13 Sep 1893 and learned Brahman monk, magazines that used coated paper. p2 SV line drawing Suami Vivikendi, clothed in his Fo r n ews paper pro d u c t i o n rich orange robes and heavy turban, dropped however, due to the interaction of ink with into a back seat at the right of the chairman.’8 porous wood-pulp paper, halftones appeared On 20 September the Inter-Ocean again too muddy. Hand-cut wood engravings sketched Swamiji ‘live’—but unnamed—sitting dominated newspaper imagery until after the on the left, next to Christophore Jibara as part turn of the century. Great advances had been of ‘A Group on the Platform’.9 It was not the made in photomechanical methods for The Vedanta Kesari

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photograph was sold to a book publisher and it appeared in at least three books.5 In Buel’s The Magic City, Swamiji and his fellow delegates were presented on par with the Midway Plaisance ethnographic subjects shown on subsequent pages. In a Portfolio published by The Werner Company, Virchand Ghandi and a Colombo tea merchant were introduced with the caption: ‘Two East Indian Types . . . who are excellent types of the refined and prosperous East Indian.’6

September 2019

Inter Ocean 20 Sep 1893, p2 SV on left

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engraving and electrotyping, but it was still a labor-intensive process. Fashion was shifting from the tightly detailed wood engravings seen in periodicals like Harper’s to loose, sketchy pen and ink drawings. This style was especially preferred for portraiture. The portraits of the Parliament delegates printed in the newspapers were for the most part hand traced from cabinet cards.11 Although the Parliament committee had no cabinet cards of Swamiji to distribute, they had one of Manilal Dvivedi—even though he did not come to Chicago. Some reporters were confused by the lack of publicity material on Swamiji —and the availability of Dvivedi’s—so Swamiji was referred to in several reports as Swami Dvivakananda or Dvivedi Kananda.

In fact, there is a clear description of Swamiji in one newspaper misidentified as Dvivedi: ‘Manilal Dvivedi, Brahmin from Bombay, wears wide pantalets, dress and folded turban of yellow, and has a round benevolent face which is bright and youthful and breaks into frequent smiles. His countenance so much resembles the images of Buddha that it is hard to believe he is a Brahmin. He is a general favorite and crowds gather to hear him converse during the recesses. Sometimes he changes his costume to scarlet.’12 After the Parliament, Swamiji received numerous invitations to speak. He was also

undoubtedly inundated with requests for his photograph. Someone took him to Thomas Harrison’s photographic studio in the Central Music Hall on the corner of Randolph and State streets. My best guess is that the person who took him to Harrison’s was Ellen Isabelle Hale (Mrs. G.W. Hale), because Swamiji was photographed wearing a starched white collar and cuffs. In later letters he reassured Hale that the collar and cuffs were receiving proper care.13 Swamiji is not wearing a stiff white collar in any of his five Parliament photos, indicating that he had not yet been coached in formal presentation as a ‘man of the cloth.’

Thereafter, collar and cuffs mark his public dress in America. Swamiji wrote several letters to Hale during 1894 regarding re-orders of the Harrison photographs, which further suggests that she was involved in the original sitting.14

Of the seven known Harrison photographs, two were seated, two were portrait vignettes, and three were standing.15 Swamiji crossed his arms in two of the standing poses. Of these two arms-crossed photos, one is full-length and one is waist-length. According to one authority, the familiar waist-length pose is cropped from the full-length exposure.16 This cannot be true because the two images do not match when superimposed. The most obvious difference is the position of his left hand. In the full-length arms-crossed pose, Swamiji’s left hand is tightly tucked into his right arm and his

What led to the arms-crossed stance in the first place? Scholars cite the conventions of nineteenth-century portraiture without shedding much light on this question.18 At Greenacre in 1894 Swamiji was casually photographed standing with his arms crossed.19 Perhaps it was part of his natural body language, since he crosses his arms in five other photographs.20 Perhaps Harrison observed him Minneapolis Star Tribune 10 Dec 1893 & Detroit Free Press 11 Feb 1894

Harrison full-length arms-crossed on left

September 2019

cross his arms in course of conversation with his friends at the photo studio. Perhaps the only artifice of the ‘Chicago pose’ was that Harrison suggested he turn his head while his arms were crossed. Harrison had to be careful setting up each shot before he opened the shutter. In the 1890s dark slides were time-consuming to prepare and develop.21 Exposures were seldom wasted. It seems to me that the full-length pose 23 was the first of the two arms-crossed exposures because Swamiji holds a stiffer, almost resistant position. What we call the ‘Chicago pose’ must have been the second arms-crossed exposure, because the photographer decided to refocus and close in, and as he did that Swamiji relaxed his posture. This time his arms drop slightly and he seems to regain his center of gravity.

Swamiji had a Swamiji had a distinctive bearing, which some distinctive bearing, described as ‘princely,’ which some described but it was simply his as ‘princely,’ but it natural balance.22 In the was simply his ‘Chicago pose’ his left natural balance. hand rests lightly atop the right, ready for action, yet his head turns away from his torso. This opposing angle effectively separates intellect from body. His gaze seems directed toward a distant shore or distant future. Swamiji’s The Vedanta Kesari

PA G E S P O N S O R : S M T. C H A N D R A A I YA N G A R , C H E N N A I

face is sombre. This must have been the photograph he referred to in his 5 August 1894 letter to Ellen Isabelle Hale as the ‘nasty standing’ photo.17 Swamiji wrote the phrase ‘nasty standing’ in quotes as if it were an appellation that the Hales were already familiar with. It might be plausible to speculate that when Swamiji and the Hales were choosing which of Harrison’s proofs to order as cabinet cards, the fulllength arms-crossed pose was the least favorite and someone—possibly Mary B. Hale—dubbed it the ‘nasty standing’ photo.

This leads me to surmise that a misunderstanding arose in the summer of 1894 when more of the ‘arms-crossed’ cabinet cards were ordered, and a person at Harrison’s sent Swamiji the ‘nasty standing’ photo, not realizing that there were two arms-crossed photos.

While this rationale is logical, it remains conjecture in absence of direct documentation.

(Continued on page 37...)

Pocket Tales

The Ghost in the Tree September 2019

GITANJALI MURARI

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A fictional narrative based on incidents from the childhood of Swami Vivekananda.

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aren looked out the window.

It was a perfect day to play outside. The rain drenched street shimmered under the bright sun, a cool breeze bringing relief from the summer heat. He ran down the stairs into the courtyard and just as he opened the main door, his mother called out. ‘Naren, it will rain again… stay inside…’ ‘Ma, I am tired of staying indoors…I am only going till the saptaparni tree…if it rains, its thick leaves will protect me…’

Standing under Shibu’s window, he threw a handful pebbles at the glass.

Shibu’s head peeped out, a smile breaking on his face. ‘Come to the tree,’ Naren told him. ‘And bring the others The author, a media and television professional for over 20 years, is now a fictional writer. She lives in Mumbai. gitanjalimurari@yahoo.com Illustrator: Smt. Lalithaa Thyagarajan. lalithyagu@gmail.com

September 2019

25 The Vedanta Kesari

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too…’ They all gathered soon, the tree’s blooming flowers glittering like gems against the wall of a big house. ‘So what game are we playing today Naren?’

Shibu asked. Naren swung up onto a branch and considered. ‘Hmmm…let’s pretend we are tree dwellers…the ones on the low branches are the subjects and the one to reach the highest, is the…King!’ There was a mad scramble, each boy trying to climb higher than the other, each one wanting to be king.

An old man stepped out of the big house, banging his walking stick on the porch. ‘I wish it hadn’t stopped raining,’ he grumbled. ‘It was nice and quiet for the last few days… now these monkeys have returned to wreck my peace…’ He called out to them, ‘You there!

What do you think you are doing?’ But the band of merry boys did not hear him, laughing and shouting, perched in the saptaparni, their faces beaming like its flowers. ‘Boys,’ he shouted again, banging his stick harder.

‘Sir, what is it?’ Naren jumped off a broad branch. ‘Are you not well? Do you need our help?’ The old man gritted his teeth. ‘Need your help indeed,’ he muttered. ‘He must be the ringleader…the cause of all trouble…wait, I will fix him…’ Aloud, he told Naren, ‘I am worried for you all…don’t you know there is an evil spirit in the tree? It is a ghost of a

September 2019 The Vedanta Kesari

26

wicked man who was murdered many years ago, right under it…and it has been living here since…’

A hush fell over the boys. Shibu darted a glance at Naren, his heart beating very fast.

‘How do you know it lives here?’ Naren scratched his chin, his large eyes puzzled. ‘Have you seen it, sir?’ The old man glowered. ‘Ah, you don’t believe me,’ he said, annoyed. ‘The racket you make will surely wake up the ghost…and do you know what it will do?’

Stretching out his thin arms towards Naren, he continued. ‘It will catch hold of you and break your chubby little neck, like a twig…snap!’ The boys screamed, quickly climbing down the tree, its branches swaying dangerously. ‘Yes, run and play elsewhere,’ the old man nodded satisfied. ‘Stay safe children…go far away from here…’

They ran, not stopping till they reached the corner of the lane, well beyond the saptaparni. ‘Where is Naren?’ someone asked and Shibu quickly looked around. ‘He isn’t here,’ another boy panted. ‘Do you think the ghost has caught him?’ ‘I am going back,’ Shibu announced. ‘We’ll come with you,’ the others chorused, trying to look brave, holding each other’s hands tightly.

They tip-toed back, terrified, certain to find the ghost’s sharp claws gripped around Naren’s neck. Instead they gasped, not from fright but from relief and joy. With his legs hooked around a branch, Naren swung upside down, the rustling leaves keeping him company. Shibu ran to him, crying out, ‘Thank goodness you are fine…we were so worried!’

With one hard swing, Naren somersaulted, landing nimbly on the ground, the boys gathering around him, losing their fear. ‘You are all so silly,’ he remarked, his eyes twinkling.

‘If there really was a ghost in this tree, our necks would have been broken a long time ago…’

The old man sighed. The boys were back, screaming and shrieking. ‘Ah well, I tried… and failed…’ and taking two little cotton balls, he stuffed them in his ears.

Believe not because an old manuscript has been produced, because it has been handed down to you from your forefathers, because your friends want you to -- but think for yourself; search truth for yourself; realise it yourself. Then if you find it beneficial to one and many, give it to people. Soft-brained men, weakminded, chicken-hearted, cannot find the truth. One has to be free, and as broad as the sky. One has to have a mind that is crystal clear; only then can truth shine in it.

— Swami Vivekananda

PULLOUT FOR REFERENCE

IN THIS ISSUE:

Message 9

Issue 21

Develop a gigantic will

[4] tremendous perseverance,

tremendous will. “I will drink the ocean,” says the persevering soul, “at my will mountains will crumble up.”

Have that sort of energy, that sort of will, work hard, and you will reach the goal.

Gigantic will

[4] Be relentless in the

pursuit of your goal Remove all distraction

[3]

Convert your thoughts into action

[2]

CW:I: 178

Clarify and make a commitment to the purpose

[1]

“ Have you got the will to

[1] surmount mountain-high

obstructions? If the whole world stands against you sword in hand, would you still dare to do what you think is right?

CW: III: 226

“ ... saying, “I can”, won’t do.

[2] Show me through action

what you can do, and then only I shall know that your coming to me is turned to some good account. Get up, and put your shoulders to the wheel...

hard; “ Practise whether you

[3]

live or die does not matter.

You have to plunge in and work, without thinking of the result.

CW:I: 178

CW: V: 383 Designed & developed by

ILLUMINE Knowledge Catalysts

®

www.illumine.in

> How to systematically develop such a gigantic will? Explore overleaf...

27 The Vedanta Kesari

PA G E S P O N S O R : S U S H R I A K S H AYA D E E PA A . S . , C H E N N A I

“ To succeed, you must have

DEVELOPING A GIGANTIC WILL - THE BUILDING BLOCKS

September 2019

Swami Vivekananda tells us that 'a pure and strong will is omnipotent'. He wants each one of us to develop such gigantic wills so that we have the capacity to persevere and go on steadily towards our goal...

This is the last issue of the 9-part series Swami Vivekananda's messages to the youth of India.

For previous issues refer Vedanta Kesari January � August 2019

You can use this Illustrated Checklist to systematically build your will

[1]: Clarify & make a commitment to the purpose Do you have a strong aspiration which seeks the goal?

MULTIPLE GOALS

Are you building the self-confidence to overcome obstacles?

SINGLE GOAL

Start-up co.

Start-up co.

September 2019

I can find a way!

I can't

OBSTACLE

Are you willing to let go of comfort & security to realize your aspirations?

Are you willing to overcome known & unknown obstacles?

Oh my God! Too many hurdles!

OBSTACLE

COMFORT ZONE

Let's go!

Life is so meaningless!

Life is an adventure!

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28

[2]: Convert your thoughts into action Are you focusing on how to make your ideas practical?

WOW!

WOW!

WOW!

keeps dreaming

Can you act despite imperfect conditions?

How do I make my dreams come true?

What are my next steps?

Can you "mobilize" yourself?

Definitely tomorrow!

Groan...

Are you willing to work through "starting troubles"?

Week 1

I'll wait till the rain stops

Umbrella & Raincoat unused

2

This is so exciting!

This is so exciting!

3

4

I'm bored.

I'll do it later

ZZZz

Strives to keep up the same pace

5 No action

[3]: Remove all distraction Are you pleasure and comfort seeking?

Oh I envy them so...

The cost of success seems to be too high!

Are you obsessed with immediate and visible results? (rather than continuing to work and do what needs to be done) It's only been 3 days since I started studying.

I've been studying for 3 days. I'm still not able to solve these problems!

y!

I've been working so hard toda ky... #happy@work #lovemyjob #luc

oss...

Dear B write able to I'll be if ly n o ort the rep the e m e you giv rces. g resou followin

*selfie*

Let me start writing the report with what I have After sometime...

I'm already half way through!

[4]: Be relentless in the pursuit of your goal Are you concentrating your energies towards your goal?

Can you stay positive & hopeful?

Exams are only 3 days away! I don't think I'll be able to finish the syllabus.

It's a gone case!

Exams are only 3 days away, but I can still improve my performance dramatically.

I'm working on nurturing one idea.

Are you keeping the goal at the center, and not losing sight of it?

Are you engaging deeply?

For example: Thinking through the problems that one faces...

How can I improve this? Is there a better way?

I'm focusing on so many ideas that I have no time!

How can I become more efficient?

Is there a way to strengthen my approach?

Let me clarify my purpose.

Arjuna's Story

September 2019

Are you constantly seeking for help & resources?

29 The Vedanta Kesari

PA G E S P O N S O R : A D E V O T E E , K O C H A D A I , M A D U R A I

Are you spending too much time showcasing yourself?

If I keep moving like this, I will be able to solve the difficult problems.

Regarded as one of the most venerated rishis or sages of ancient India, Vishwamitra's journey from 'King' to 'Brahmarishi' is one of the legendary stories of self-effort and application of will. Here is a snapshot of his journey...

September 2019 The Vedanta Kesari

30

Leaving everything behind, he decides to become a rishi. He starts his penance with great severity, and eventually becomes a 'Rajarishi'

4

5

2 3

1

6 7

8 After many years of penance, he feels that he has conquered his anger, and so he breaks his fast and is about to eat. At this time, Indra tests him by appearing in the form of a beggar. Vishwamitra unhesitatingly gives his food to the beggar, thereby passing the test. Thus, at long last, he attains the state of 'Brahmarishi'

Resolving to overcome lust, he undertakes great penance and goes through severe austerity to climb to a higher state of 'Maharishi' Again, with his efforts and penance he is able to climb back to the state of 'Rajarishi'

source: newstrend.news

Vishwamitra ďż˝ a role model of a gigantic will in action...

Once more he falls when anger overcomes him - when he sees that the Devas had sent another Apsara to distract him, he burns her down! He realizes that he must conquer his own senses if he seeks to be a great rishi

He loses his power yet again when he lets go of his penance and falls in love with Menaka. After his daughter, Shakuntala, was born, he realizes that he has fallen prey to lust and thus got waylaid from his goal

He loses his power when he tries to create a parallel Swargaloka for Trishanku. Realizing that he has to let go the ego of spiritual power, he puts himself to further penance

With the ego of a king operating, Vishwamitra (then Kaushika) demands Kamadhenu - the cow of plenty, from Sage Vashishta. However, his army is defeated. He is humbled by this and realizes that spiritual power is the greatest power and not material power

work requires great and persistent effort for a “ Great long time. Neither need we trouble ourselves if a few

fail. It is in the nature of things that many should fall, that troubles should come, that tremendous difficulties should arise, that selfishness and all the other devils in the human heart should struggle hard when they are about to be driven out by the fire of spirituality. The road to the Good is the roughest and steepest in the universe. It is a wonder that so many succeed, no wonder that so many fall. Character has to be established through a thousand stumbles. CW:VIII: 383

Share examples of your experiences of trying out these practices, on

www.vivekanandaway.org

Any questions that come up in your mind while doing so, can also be discussed here.

Ma

gic ,M ira cle s

and the

e Mystical Twelv

(Continued from previous issue. . .)

hey also seem to have a common surname–Aazhvaar. Are they one family, like brothers?” asked Poorva.

“No, that’s not their surname,” the Swami appeared amused. “It’s a term that refers exclusively to twelve great saint-poets of South India, who were immersed in devotion to Vishnu. ‘Aazhvaar’ is a Tamil word that means ‘one who is immersed’. Poigai, Bhootham and Pey are the earliest among the Aazhvaars, and for that reason, they are referred to as ‘Mudhal Aazhvaars’. The Tamil word mudhal, as you know, means ‘first’.”

But Poorva had a basic doubt to clear: “What century are we in?”

“Sixth,” replied the Swami cryptically.

Poorva looked at the Aazhvaars again, her mind full of questions.

The Swami continued, “These three were born in the same year, and in the same month too. However, it is said they were not born of human parents. They were found miraculously, in different places. Let me tell you their stories.”

Poorva lifted up her face and asked, “Can I call you ‘Swami Thaatha’?”

“Of course,” said the Swami, softly, “and can I get on with the story? Poigai Aazhvaar was born at Thiruvehka in Kanchipuram. He is believed to be an incarnation of Lord Vishnu’s conch, Paanchajanyam. He was found inside a lotus flower in a poigai – a pond. That’s how he came to be called Poigai Aazhvaar.

Bhootham Aazhvaar was born at Thirukadalmallai, which you know as Mahabalipuram. He was found inside a The author is a researcher and writer with various books and articles on Indian music and culture to her credit. lakshmidevnath@gmail.com Illustrator: Smt. Lalithaa Thyagarajan. lalithyagu@gmail.com

September 2019

“T

An Era Begins

31 The Vedanta Kesari

PA G E S P O N S O R : A D E V O T E E , T E Y N A M P E T, C H E N N A I

LAKSHMI DEVNATH

September 2019 The Vedanta Kesari

32

maadhavi flower. Bhootham, in Tamil, also refers to the five elements – earth, water, fire, air, and ether (or sky). This Aazhvaar saw God in all the elements, hence his name.

He is considered to be the incarnation of Lord Vishnu’s mace, Kaumodhaki.

Pey Aazhvaar was born in Mylapore, now a part of Chennai. He was found inside a red water-lily in a well.” The Swami broke off to say, “On your next trip to Mylapore, make it a point to go and see that well.” He continued with the story: “Pey Aazhvaar is believed to be an incarnation of Lord Vishnu’s sword, Nandhaka. He got his name because he is a man possessed.”

“You mean, possessed by a spirit?” Poorva was puzzled and a little scared too.

“No. He is possessed by thoughts of Lord Vishnu. Now, these three Aazhvaars set out from their homes, each on a different pilgrimage, and have met here by sheer coincidence.”

“Oooh,” said Poorva as it dawned on her that she was in the midst of a historically significant experience.

“Talking about names and their meanings,” the Swami’s lilting voice held Poorva’s attention. “Do you know that your name means ‘the past’?”

She nodded and started saying, “And true to my name…”

Just then, the Swami pointed ahead and said, “Poorva, it looks like something interesting is going to happen there.” They went back to the verandah. Poorva’s eyes crinkled as she strained to watch what was happening in the darkness.

“Swami Thaatha! Looks as if someone is pushing the three Aazhvaars, but I don’t see anyone else.” As she watched with unblinking eyes, she heard Poigai Aazhvaar burst into a melodious song.

“Poorva, observe how his intense devotion finds expression as great Tamil poetry,” the Swami remarked admiringly. He immediately began singing the English translation of the verse: “‘With the earth as my lamp, the ocean the ghee, and the bright sun the flame, I offer this garland of songs at the feet of the radiant, discusbearing Lord, so that we may cross the ocean of misery.’”

“Oh,” said Poorva, not quite sure if she understood what he was saying.

The music continued, but now the voice sounded different. Poorva raised herself on her toes and saw that Bhootham Aazhvaar had taken over.

September 2019

33 The Vedanta Kesari

PA G E S P O N S O R : A D E V O T E E , M Y L A P O R E , C H E N N A I

The Swami again translated: “‘Love is my lamp, eagerness is the ghee, my entire being the wick. Melting self, here I light the lamp of knowledge and offer this chaste garland of Tamil songs to Narayana.’”

Suddenly, a blinding light filled the verandah. Poorva shut her eyes, unable to bear the glare.

The Swami’s voice faded into the distance.

Poorva panicked, “Swami Thaatha! Where are you?” He was silent.

Once again, Poorva heard a new voice singing. She guessed that the singer was the third man, Pey The well in Adikesava Perumal temple, Mylapore, Aazhvaar. This seems like a relay race, where Pey Aazhvaar was found she thought.

Then she heard the Swami sing the translated verse: “‘Today I see the Goddess Mahalakshmi in my ocean-hued Lord, with His golden form dazzling like the effulgent sun.

He bears the fiery discus and the charming conch.’”

The three Aazhvaars, taking turns, continued singing. The atmosphere was charged with emotion. It was the Swami who broke the spell, “Little girl, open your eyes. You missed a wonderful sight. The Aazhvaars have had the good fortune of seeing Lord Vishnu with Goddess Mahalakshmi. He was the invisible fourth person in their midst …”

Before the Swami could complete his sentence, Poorva interrupted excitedly, “Where, Swami Thaatha, where? I too want to see God.” The Swami did not want to disappoint the girl. He gently looked into her eyes and, for a split second, Poorva saw the beautiful form of Lord Vishnu with His conch, discus, mace, crown, earrings, armlets … Even as she held her breath in wonder, the Form disappeared.

Poorva could see only the three Aazhvaars. She was speechless.

She heard the Swami say, “Inspired by the divine vision, they have sung a hundred songs each. The greatness of Vishnu, the power of His name, His various forms – the songs expressed all this and much more. In quite a few songs, they have described the Trivikrama avataar, an incarnation of Vishnu who measured the three worlds.

By the way, Thirukkovalur has a beautiful temple for Trivikrama. The vigraham in there is huge. It is made of wood, and the right leg is lifted high above waist level as if measuring the heavens …”

“Swami Thaatha!” Poorva’s voice had a curious ring to it, as she was still under the spell of the divine occurrence. “The Aazhvaars sang like we do in the anthaakshari programmes.”

September 2019 The Vedanta Kesari

34

For a moment, the Swami was stumped. “You mean the style where the last letter of a song becomes the first letter of the next?”

Poorva nodded her head vigorously.

“These are, in fact, called anthaadhis,” said the Swami. “Antha, in Sanskrit, means ‘end’, and Aadhi, ‘beginning’. Anthaadhi is pronounced an-dhaa-dhi in Tamil.” The Swami slowly enunciated the word to indicate the subtle change in pronunciation.

“How come their Tamil sounds so different from what we speak at home?”

“This is ancient Tamil,” the Swami replied, and quickly added, “Now listen to this: ‘How fell you besides your five wits?’”

“What?” asked Poorva, puzzled. “Come again?”

The Swami laughed. “That is a line from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. ‘How fell you’ means ‘how did you lose’, and ‘five wits’ refers to the five senses of touch, smell, taste, sight and sound. Languages change over the centuries, Poorva.”

What a complicated explanation for a simple question, thought Poorva. After a brief pause, she exclaimed, “Swami Thaatha, did it strike you that while we’re able to see those people and hear them, they seem to be totally unaware of our presence? Wow! This is magic.”

“And just the beginning,” said the Swami gently.

(To be continued. . .)

This story book is available through www.lakshmidevnath.com

Chiselled Narratives

September 2019

Mulanatha Swami temple, Bahur

Ancient Centre of Learning at Bahur DR. CHITHRA MADHAVAN

This section presents less known and enlightening nuggets of information about our ancient culture as revealed in our temples, images, symbols, and inscriptions.

B

ahur, an ancient place of historical importance in Tamil Nadu, is home to an old Shiva temple. The place is about 20 km from Pondicherry enroute to Cuddalore which is a town of religious importance. The ancient name of Bahur as given in the inscriptions was Vagur. Inscriptions found in this temple mention that the Shiva Linga enshrined in the main sanctum, which is

now worshipped as Mulanatha Swami, was once known as Mulasthanam Udaiya Perumanadigal and also as Parameshwara. This temple has undergone many architectural changes over the centuries, but traces of architecture and sculpture of ancient times are still clearly seen. This temple is now a protected monument of national importance under the care of the Archaeological Survey of India.

The author is a historian focussing on temple architecture, iconography and epigraphy. She is a recipient of two post-doctoral fellowships, and author of nine books and several research papers. She lives in Chennai. drchithra@gmail.com

The Vedanta Kesari

PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I R AV I C H A M U T U R I , H Y D E R A B A D

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September 2019

The Bahur temple, in all likelihood, belongs to the era of the early Chola rulers of Tamil Nadu. In the niches of the outer walls of the main sanctum are images of Nritta Ganesha, Dakshinamurti, Vishnu, Brahma, and Durga of the 10th century. Below these are exquisite carvings in a row, of dancers in various poses and musicians playing different instruments.

The Vedanta Kesari

36

Many inscriptions are seen etched on the stone walls of the Mulanatha Swami temple in Bahur even today. A few belong to the reign of the Rashtrakuta king, Krishna III also known as Kannaradeva of the 10th century, one of the last great rulers of this dynasty who ruled from Manyakheta (Gulbarga District, Karnataka). This king invaded the Chola territory and defeated the Chola army decisively in the 10th century and thus his inscriptions are seen in many places in Tamil Nadu. There are some Chola epigraphs too in this temple which mention various donations to this shrine. Vahur was called Azhagiya Chola Chaturvedimangalam in the Chola times of the

Mulanatha Swami temple, Bahur

11 th C.E. The word Chaturvedimangalam indicates that it was a place peopled by Vedic scholars.

An important and historical copper-plate inscription was discovered close to this Siva temple in Bahur amidst a structure of bricks in 1879. It belongs to the 8th year of the reign of Nripatunga Varman, one the last Pallava monarchs who ruled from his capital, Kanchipuram. This bilingual record, dated c.877 A.D., consists of two portions, the first in Sanskrit etched in the Grantha script and the second in the Tamil script of the Pallava times.

This interesting inscription mentions an educational endowment (vidya bhoga) made to a college of learning called a Vidyasthana in Vahur. The donation, made by the king’s minister called Marthandan or Nilaithangi, consisted of three villages, the income from which was `to be enjoyed by the residents of the seat of learning at Vahur’.

The curriculum of this centre of learning, mentioned in these copper-plates consisted of t h e f o u r t e e n b ra n c h e s o f l e a r n i n g (chaturdashavidya) which included the four Vedas, six Vedangas, Mimamsa, Nyaya, Dharma Sastras and Puranas. This very detailed inscription mentions that the poet Nagaya who composed the Sanskrit verses was an employee of the Bahur college and the person who wrote it on the copper-sheets was a goldsmith named Nripatunga after the Pallava emperor.

Photographs by the author.

Inscriptions-Mulanatha Swami temple, Bahur

expression exhibits equipoise, and his posture is regal. Of the seven in the series, it is handily the most dynamic. Swamiji looks like a champion. The National Park Service ‘Stone of Hope’ memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King in Washington D.C. shows King with his arms crossed. It is a posture of power.

It seems that people preferred Swamiji’s waist-length, arms-crossed stance. It may have been the last exposure of the session. It is assumed, due to that image’s proliferation, that more cabinet cards must have been ordered of it.

In time, it became known as the ‘Chicago pose.’

1) See pages 56, 61, 62, 63, 72 in Swami Chetanananda, Swami Vivekananda East Meets West 2nd Edition (St. Louis, Vedanta Society of St. Louis, 2013).

2) ‘There was, on the faces of the Hindoos, an expression of reserved pride, and the celebrated Maharajah of Kapurthala, who was so long at the Fair, bore almost exactly the facial appearance of our juggler.’ The Dream City: a portfolio of photographic views of the World’s Columbian Exposition (St. Louis, Mo.: N. D. Thompson Co., 1893-1894) Section VII. 3) ‘The New Liberty Bell’ The Buffalo Enquirer (Buffalo NY: 21 September 1893) p. 5.

4) Blanche L. Snow was probably the photographer.

5) Walter Houghton, editor, Neely’s History of the World’s Parliament of Religions, (Chicago: 1893) p.

535; John Wesley Hanson, editor, ‘Group of foreign representatives’ The World’s Congress of Religions: The Addresses and Papers, (Stockton, CA Occidental Publishing Company: 1894) p. 367; and James W. Buel, ‘Hindostanee Delegates to the Congress of Religions,’ The Magic City and Midway Plaisance (St. Louis, Historical Publishing Co.: 1894).

6) Portfolio of Photographs of the World’s Fair No. 10, (Chicago, The Werner Company: 1894).

7) ‘Firm in their Faith,’ Chicago Inter Ocean (13 September 1893) p. 2.

8) Ibid. p. 1.

9) Christophore Jibara was Archimandrite of the Orthodox Church of Damascus. John Henry Barrows, The World’s Parliament of Religions (Chicago: Parliament Publishing Company, 1893) p. 137..

10) Asim Chaudhuri, Swami Vivekananda in Chicago, New Findings, (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 2000) pp. 97, 99.

11) There was a method of affixing photos to the wood blocks before engraving. Inter Ocean 17 September 1893 p. 35.

12) Sterling Standard (Sterling, IL 21 September 1893) p.1.

13) 19 September 1894 Swamiji wrote to Mrs. George W. Hale (Ellen I. Hale): ‘I am taking good care of my cuffs and collars, etc.’

14) Swamiji discussed orders of Harrison’s photographs in seven letters to Mrs. G.W. Hale CW V9 (10 March 1894; July, 1894; 5 August 1894; 20 August 1894; 23 August 1894; 5 September 1894; October 27, 1894). If Hale had not been involved in the first sitting, I doubt that he would have thrust that responsibility upon her.

15) Chetanananda, East Meets West 2nd Ed. pp. 58, 59, 60, 68, 69, 71.

16) Pravrajika Virajaprana, ‘The Photographs of Swami Vivekananda Section Two,’ Vedanta Kesari, June 1995, p. 226-227.

17) To Mrs. G. W. Hale, Greenacre Inn, Eliot, Maine, 5 August 1894, [P.S.] The Harrison people sent me two ‘nasty standing’ photos—that is all I have out of them, when they ought to give me 40 minus the 10 or 15 I have got already!!! S. CW V9 XXVI 18) Gwilym Beckerlegge, ‘Swami Vivekananda’s iconic presence and conventions of nineteenth century portraiture,’ International Journal of Hindu Studies, V 12 No. 1, (Springer, April 2008) pp. 1-40.

19) Chetanananda, East Meets West 2nd Ed. p. 74.

20) See other arms-crossed photos: Chetanananda, East Meets West 2nd Ed. pp. 70, 105, 125, 148.

21) Dry plate glass negatives were commercially manufactured by 1881. They were convenient, but they required longer exposure times. Since Harrison was master of processing in his own studio, he may have preferred the older wet collodion method of creating glass negatives.

22) Reminiscence of Josephine McLeod, Vedanta and the West, (November-December 1962): ‘His dignity impressed everyone. Yet, when someone once said to him, “You are so dignified, Swami,” he replied, ‘It isn’t me, it’s my walk.’

(To be continued. . .)

September 2019

References

PA G E S P O N S O R : S M T. R A J A M S U B R A M A N I A M , C H E N N A I

Continued from page 23...

37 The Vedanta Kesari

The Visual Portrayal of Swami Vivekananda in American Media

The Vedanta Kesari

38

September 2019

SRI RAMAKRISHNA MATH, THANJAVUR A NEW SUB-CENTRE OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA MATH, CHENNAI An Appeal Dear Devotees, Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna Mission centres across the world motivate people to come together & serve humanity as a form of worship in the fields of Health Care, Education & Spirituality.

Ramakrishna Vivekananda Educational Trust run by the devotees of Bhagawan Sri Ramakrishna at Mariyamman Kovil (near Thanjavur) is rendering service in the rural areas of Thanjavur District for the past 26 years. This trust is now taken over by the Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna Mission, Belur, Kolkata & is functioning as a sub-centre of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai from July 2019.

To expand the service activities, a new Math of this sub-centre is being started in Thanjavur town.

We seek your generous contribution for these activities:

AN APPEAL TO DEVOTEES AND WELL-WISHERS Dear Friends, Namaste. We pray for you and your family.

Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai has been rendering service for over 120 years to the society in the fields of Health, Education, Publication of Spiritual & Inspirational books and magazines both in English & Tamil, cultural activities, relief work etc. In order to execute the projects on hand, we appeal to you for contribution.

Service activities in brief

Expenses

Maintenance of Vivekananda Centenary Girls Hr. Sec. School for under privileged (900 students) Maintenance of Sri Ramakrishna Math National School for under privileged children (350 students) Rehabilitation Service to Leprosy afflicted persons – 120 beneficiaries

Rs.8000/-

Per student Rs.800/-

For 10 Students

Monthly Rs.2,80,000/-

Rs.8000/-

Per student Rs.800/-

For 10 students

Monthly Rs.1,20,000/-

Rs.10,000/-

Per beneficiary Rs.1000/-

For 10 beneficiaries

Monthly Rs.5,40,000/-

Rs.9,000/-

Per patient Rs.900/-

For 10 patients

Medical Service to 600 - 800 poor patients daily Nursing Assistants Training for poor rural girls

Per batch Rs.7,50,000/-

– 30 students per batch of 1 year Rural development – Education, Women Welfare & Medical Help, Alcohol de-addiction – 100 beneficiaries

Your support needed

Monthly Rs.7,20,000/-

Monthly Rs.1,00,000/Per beneficiary Rs.1000/-

Sri Ramakrishna Daily puja, Neivedyam and Arathi

Rs.25,000/Per student Rs.5000/For 5 people Rs.10,000/- Per day

Daily Annadhanam for 200 devotees

Rs.10,000/-

Sadhu Seva per day for 50 members

Rs.5,000/-

Donations for both Thanjavur & Chennai Math may please be sent by cheque / DD favouring “Sri Ramakrishna Math”. For Online donation please visit https://donations.chennaimath.org Transfer directly & intimate us along with PAN details through email. Donations are exempted from Income Tax under Section 80G. May the blessings of Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna be on you is my earnest prayer to Him.

Sri Ramakrishna Math 31, Sri Ramakrishna Math Road, Mylapore, Chennai-4. & : 24621110. email : mail@chennaimath.org website : www.chennaimath.org For more details : 98409 87307

Yours in the Service of the Humanity, Swami Gautamananda Adhyaksha

September 2019

4. Renovation of the existing Temple Rs. 20 lakh 5. Rural development projects Rs. 1 crore 6. Endowment for Sadhu Seva Rs. 50 lakh

39 The Vedanta Kesari

1. Getting land for the Ashrama Rs.80 lakh 2. Establishing the Ashrama with a new Temple Rs. 3 crore 3. Nitya Pooja of Sri Ramakrishna Rs. 50 lakh

September 2019

Indian Traditions in Search of Unity through Music.

The Vedanta Kesari

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Published by Secretary, RMIC., Gol Park, Kolkata 700 029. 2014, paperback, pp.174 Price not given.

Book Reviews

his publication, is brought out to commemorate the 150 th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.

The book consists of papers presented by eminent speakers at a seminar during the celebrations.

Swami Sarvabhutananda in his Welcome Address explains Swami Vivekananda’s idea that ‘unless one’s artistic sensibilities develop one cannot be truly spiritual.’ Continuing this thought, Sri Abhijit Banerjee explores how music has helped preserve unity in the country.

I n h i s I n a u g u ra l Ad d re s s , Swa m i Bhajanananda elaborates the three divisions of philosophy which can also be applied to music – ontology, epistemology and axiology. The article also elucidates the four stages of speech.

The Keynote Address by Dr Karan Singh emphasises the important role of music in Kashmir. He stresses the need to foster spirituality and service for a harmonious society.

The paper on ‘Swamiji’s Musical Inheritance’

by Swami Kripakarananda discusses Swami Vivekananda’s prowess in music and his opinion that music is the highest art. Swami Sarvagananda in his paper ‘Legacy of Indian Music and Swami Vivekananda’ speaks of Swamiji’s musical legacy and analyses the beautiful arati hymn that he composed. Two other essays study Sufi Music and the work of poets like Kabir, which portray union with the divine.

This is followed by papers on the role of Vaishnava, Shakta, and Baul music in unifying Bengal, and the lives of devotee-poets like Jayadeva and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Then comes a comparative study of the two main styles of Indian classical music, Hindustani and Carnatic.

Dr. Balamuralikrishna talks of the synthesis of Hindustani and Carnatic Music. The role of film,

For review in The Vedanta Kesari, publishers need to send us two copies of their

latest publication.

television, and radio in fostering national unity is also discussed.

The book is a valuable compilation emphasising the vital role of music in our national life.

_______________________________ JAYANTI VARMA, CHENNAI

Concept of Cow in the Rigveda

by Doris Srinivasan.

Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited 41, U.A. Bungalow Road, Jawahar Nagar, Delhi - 110 007.

2017, paperback, pp.161. Rs.295.

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he book under review is a profound academic study of the Rigveda with a special emphasis on the concepts associated with the cow and the passages wherein the terms for ‘cow’ appear. The Bibliography running into seven pages containssources mostly from the Western scholars on the subject.

The author makes an extensive and intensive study of the two myths occurring in the Rigveda – the Indra-Vritra myth and the myth of the Panis (demons) and concludes that the term ‘go’(cow) is employed with a multiplicity of meanings and applications. The author goes into the contexts in which the term ‘cow’ is used – the economic, the ritual, the mythological and the aesthetical. She makes a particular study of the term ‘go’ in its literal and figurative applications.

Yagnas are necessary for maintaining the order and harmony of the universe. Two myths describe how the evil forces intending to undermine the welfare of the world rob the

The book is a thesis on Oriental Studies, and has only academic value and is of not much use for the general readers. The main matter of the book (35 pages of transliteration of Sanskrit text and its 80 page translation) is drowned by a 125 page introduction for research procedure, as well as a lengthy account of referencing and critical apparatus.

The author follows a set pattern: First, the gist of the chapter; then line by line translation; followed by chapter End Notes giving the author’s views. The separate translation gives easy flow to the text. _________________________ DR. RUCHIRA MITRA, HYDERABAD

__________________________K.PANCHAPAGESAN, BENGALURU

The Patityagramanirnaya

by Stephen Hillyer Levitt.

Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt Limited 41, U.A. Bungalow Road, Jawahar Nagar, Delhi-110 007. 2017, hardbound, pp.485 +xxv. Rs.795.

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his book by the famous Indologist Stephen Hillyer Levitt has been published as part of Hindu Tradition Series. This translated edition of the Sanskrit text is a series of eight stories which explains how certain ‘patitya grama’ (villages of polluted or fallen) Brahmins came into existence.

Its topic and stories are intriguing. It treats villages near the Sahyadri range of mountains in Western India that are inhabited by fallen Brahmins who have lost their exalted state on account of transgressions committed in the past. The purpose of the book as stated in the preliminary words spoken by Satanika is – to teach what not to do, how to maintain social stability and perpetuate a status quo. It throws new light on questions like to what extent breaking the caste rules, that define the obligations and restrictions on Brahmins, has consequences in real life.

by N.S.Anantha Rangacharya and others.

Published by Gandhi Centre of Science and Human Values, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 43/1, Race Course Road, Bengaluru-560 001, Email: gandhicentre.bvd@gmail.com Paperback, 2016. pp.210. Rs.200.

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his book has a collection of verses and essays on Human Values in Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavad Gita, Vachana literature, Haridasa literature, Bengali literature and Punjabi literature. Each of these are compiled or written by eminent scholars.

The chapters on Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita are selections of relevant verses rendered in Sanskrit with simple translation. They are comprehensive and representative.

Virasaiva saints of Karnataka like Basava, Prabhudeva, Akka Mahadevi, Allama, and Lakkamma brought about a social and religious revolution in the common people. Their verses are in simple language using common metaphors.

This article gives a good introduction and a selection of 74 verses covering religious, economic and social values.

The Haridasas are a lineage of devotees like Sripadaraja, Vadiraja, Purandaradasa, and

September 2019

Human Values in Indian Literature

41 The Vedanta Kesari

PA G E S P O N S O R : S M T. S H U B H A L A X M I P I T R E , M U M B A I

oblation cow, the Dakshina cow and the riches needed for the yagna. With the help of Indra’s might and the ‘sacred speeches’ (mantras) of the priests, the stolen things are retrieved. The universe which was immersed in darkness was then brightened with the effulgence of the sun. The cow is compared to the light of dawn.

The Indra-Vritra myth shows that the cow is a creative and sustaining principle symbolizing motherhood, fertility and liberality. In short, in the Rigveda the cow is emblematic of ‘maternal, vital energy’.

This is a revised version of the study written as partial fulfilment of the Ph.D requirements of the University of Pennsylvania in 1967.

September 2019

Kanakadasa. They brought the path of Bhakti to the common man through their simple Kannada songs. The article gives a brief introduction and a selection of 36 verses.

Human values in Bengali literature is presented in a chronological order of preTagorean, Tagorean and post-Tagorean literature. Apart from Tagore, a glimpse of the ideas of a number of thinkers like Chandidasa, Sri Chaitanya, Swami Vivekananda, Bankim, Keshab, Sarat Chandra, Tarashankar, Mahashwetadevi, and Bibhutibhushan are presented.

The article on Punjabi literature covers ideas from a wide range of sources like Baba Farid, Guru Granth Sahib and later poets.

This book gives a good bird’s eye view of these traditions. The publisher has published books in this series covering more traditions like Vedas, Manusmriti, Tamil and Telugu literature. _______________________________GOKUL MUTHU, BENGALURU

The Divine Vaishnava Alwars.

Tamil original by Kurinji Gnana Vaidyanathan.

Translated by Kasturirangan Jayaraman

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Published by Aruram India Publishers, 59, Arcot Road, Chennai - 600 024. 2018, paperback, pp.122. Rs.60.

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his small-sized book holds a treasure of information by way of introduction to the Alwars of the Vaishnava tradition. The best comes early in pages 5 and 6 itself where at a glance, we get to know their names, their time, their place, their compositions and their birth star.

The book contains direct translations of selected verses of divine poetry composed by the Alwars. Poetry evokes deep emotions and profound questions in the minds of the readers. What made the poet write this? What was the inspiration? What was the context?

The book answers all such questions with

specific examples. Kulasekara Alwar, a king, composed many verses when he experienced heightened states of Bhakti (page 50). Perialwar’s composition of the very well-known Pallandu (page 62) explains the context.

The book provides information on the history of their time – the rule of the Chozhas, Cheras and Pandyas. The reader’s interest is kept alive by narrations that cover geography and flora of each place. One develops an interest to visit every shrine mentioned in the book to seek the grace of the Lord in each of the Divya Deshams.

An abundance of Bhakti poetry was composed by the twelve Alwars and invariably all of them faced various challenges that questioned their faith in Sriman Narayana. The book provides examples of the life-experiences of the Alwars and puts to rest doubts in the minds of a present day seeker.

Amusing anecdotes are presented and the episode of Vilakku Pichai’s conversations with Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam makes us smile.

The stories reinforce our faith in the Lord. It is indeed hard for a person today to even imagine a conversation with God. But such conversations are presented here in such a simple manner that it makes us believe in them.

The reviewer is reminded of a question put forth to Ramana Maharishi, ‘Do people like Thyagaraja sing glorious songs in praise of Lord Rama in order to experience Lord Rama’s grace?’

Sri Ramana had replied, ‘People like Thyagaraja did not sing to get an experience of grace; on the contrary – they sang about the grace that they had already experienced…..’ This book on the Divine Vaishnava Alwars reiterates this view. One clearly understands that the outpourings of poetry from the Alwars were the result of the immense grace they had already experienced.

The book is a must read for anyone with a desire to know about the Alwars who composed 4000 Divya Prabandhams extolling the virtues of Lord Sriman Narayana and his various forms. _______________________ VARSHA SUNDARARAJAN, CHENNAI

Article

An Amazing Maze SWAMI SATYAPRIYANANDA

If we could imaginatively fly in a helicopter over the maze, then we can identify and colour–mark all blind and circular alleys.

Now having removed all unproductive routes, we can take the uncoloured route to reach the ‘End’. If there are more than one uncoloured route, then we choose the ‘best’, which is relative to our criterion, and move forward.

If we cannot get a helicopter view because the maze structure is too large to fit into the domain of our mind and become

capable of analysis, then we can try considering c i rc u l a r s l i c e s o f t h e m a z e , c a l l e d ‘neighbourhood’ with centre ‘somewhere’ and size being within the capacity of our mind to survey. To begin with, this ‘somewhere’ could be either the ‘Start’ or ‘End’, though preferably ‘Start’ will be ideal. After covering the neighbourhood, we can consider points on the periphery of this circular slice as the centre points. Thus, even with a limited mental capacity, we can move forward studying the ‘neighbourhood’, and in time cover the entire maze pattern.

The Amazing Life Maze

In real life situation, there can be in addition to blind and circular pathways, other pathways which may be termed ‘repulsive pathways’, i.e., we may have certain inhibitions in taking those routes. It could be that on those paths there are wine shops, or nasty smelling drains, or it could involve interaction with corruption, or just about anything else one would wish to avoid.

What is amazing about this maze in real life situation is that from every ‘Start’ several ‘Goals’ can be reached! These multiple goals further complicate the lives of those who face blind, circular and repulsive pathways in their

The author is a senior sannyasi of the Ramakrishna Order and lives in Belur Math.

satyapriyananda@rkmm.org

September 2019

I

n the maze patterns we often come across in Sunday newspapers or in magazines, the challenge is to find the route that goes from a location marked ‘Start’ to a place marked ‘End’. While there is at least one route from ‘Start’ to ‘End’, there are several other pathways which are either ‘blind alleys’ which lead up to a stage and say ‘this far and no farther’, or ‘circulating alleys’ which keep us going round and round the same path. These blind and circular alleys are the real challenges.

If we enter into these alleys, we halt at one stage or we keep journeying without moving an inch towards the goal! This can be a frustrating experience. Then we try to start from the ‘End’ and backtrack to ‘Start’. If the maze construction is ‘balanced’, then this too can be equally challenging and frustrating.

43 The Vedanta Kesari

PA G E S P O N S O R : A D E V O T E E , B E N G A LU R U

Life is a journey through a maze of confusing choices and paths. This article explores how the youth sometimes complicate their journey by choosing wrong paths, and how they can avoid the blind-alleys of the maze.

journey. Again, it is also possible that in some people’s case there are no blind, circular, or repulsive pathways! One advantage in real life, is that we can journey with some ease because the problem-free pathways of the maze are already clearly marked out and traversed by many people.

September 2019

But some of our youth, even after recognising and avoiding problem-laden pathways, find their journey derailed. They become victims of self-created problems. These problems can be of various kinds, like:

The Vedanta Kesari

44

a) Indecisiveness. With no goals, no predetermined purpose in life, some youth simply wander about, either as a happy lot or in depression.

b) Inferiority complex. This deters one from making any move at all! ‘Am I fit to serve such a holy person?’, can inhibit a person from giving even drinking water to a thirsting person!

c) Superiority complex. This is the other extreme. Over-confident of themselves, people have trodden rashly those paths which are too dangerous. As rightly said, ‘Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.’ d) Peer pressure. The news of some people performing better in life makes one jealous and take to unwise

moves. Cold, cruel competition kills all humane elements from the heart.

e) Psychological problems. This can be of most strange kinds. ‘My friend’s mother loves my friend more and talks longer over phone, than my mother loves or spends time with me’, can cause a young mind to even commit suicide; this is a true incident.

f) Repeated failures. Repeated inability to discover the right path and make a mark in life, can lead a youth to join antisocial groups or as in some societies even take to a shooting spree. g) Wrong matching. Unable to find a job suitable to their academic qualification, some youth lose their path in unproductive efforts. h) Insensitivity. Constant criticism from friends or parents has ended many a young journey.

What is the way out?

a) The idea of ‘care and share’, and the concept of ‘simple living and high thinking’ make the passage through life smoother.

PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I R A J U Z . M O R AY, M U M B A I

d) A youth should judge his or her capabilities and the avenues open for progress in the light of a SWOT analysis: i) assessing one’s strengths versus weaknesses; ii) and assessing opportunities versus threats in the attainable avenues. e) Maturity is the sound help. Receiving periodic guidance and counselling relieves the distress level to a large extent.

Without taking life’s journey as a race for number one position, one should learn to enjoy the journey with self-confidence and

At the end of the road and in retrospect we will realize: ‘Thy place in life is seeking after thee; therefore be thou at rest from seeking after it. After all, that is the whole truth. The things after which one may and must seek are so very different.’ Let us try to understand the difference between ‘what we may seek’ and ‘what we must seek’. It will make a sea-change in the quality of our lives.

Do you know how much energy, how many powers, how many forces are still lurking behind that frame of yours? What scientist has known all that is in man?

Millions of years have passed since man first came here, and yet but one infinitesimal part of his powers has been manifested. Therefore, you must not say that you are weak. How do you know what possibilities lie behind that degradation on the surface? You know but little of that which is within you. For behind you is the ocean of infinite power and blessedness.

Look back on yourselves from the state of the amoeba to the human being; who made all that? Your own will. Can you deny then that it is almighty? That which has made you come up so high can make you go higher still. What you want is character, strengthening of the will.

—Swami Vivekananda

September 2019

c) Empathising with others who are in misery will bring solace to them, and peace to oneself.

composure. One should know the fundamental truth: We reap the fruits of our earlier actions and are therefore responsible for what we face in the present life. So, in true wisdom, let us not do such deeds now as will make us suffer in the future! There is always the guiding hand of the all-merciful God: as we swim along the current of our karma, He is there ever eager to help us and guide us. Only, we have to be prayerful, humble and surrender to His will.

45 The Vedanta Kesari

b) Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi often observed that there is no greater virtue than forbearance and no treasure greater than contentment. These two qualities should be studiously practiced by the youth.

Pariprasna

September 2019

Srimat Swami Tapasyananda Ji (1904 – 1991), was one of the Vice-Presidents of the Ramakrishna Order. His deeply convincing answers to devotees’ questions raised in spiritual retreats and in personal letters have been published in book form as Spiritual Quest: Questions & Answers.

Pariprasna is a selection from this book.

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QUESTION: Is Bhakti different from Jnana? Swami Vivekananda seems to make a distinction between these.

MAHARAJ: The path of Bhakti is different from the path of Jnana. However, in their maturity they do not differ, but are to be understood as the obverse and the reverse of the same coin of spiritual realization. At the disciplinary stage there appears to be a difference. For, the Bhakta, to start with, keeps up a sense of real distinction between himself and God, which is essential for his practice. Sri Ramakrishna gives an analogy. A very loyal servant works under a master for a very long time. The master is pleased with him very much and one day puts him on his own seat and says that he is as good as himself (the master). In the same way, the Lord whom the devotee adores, loves and serves, may at the end withdraw the devotee into Himself. The devotee realizes then his unity of stuff with the Supreme Being, feels that he is the Lord’s own, recognizes Him as pervading everything and will not any longer have that sense of separation and distance from Him with which he started his devotional life.

The path of Jnana starts from the very beginning with the teaching that an aspirant’s real ‘I’ is not different from Brahman, and the sense of difference felt with reference to Him is illusory.

To a practising follower of the path of Jnana, as distinguished from mere talkers on it, the denial of all limiting adjuncts as mere appearance, and therefore not actually existent, is the main part of discipline. To a Bhakta this seems quite incompatible with his outlook. But it is said that when the follower of the path of Jnana ultimately intuits Brahman, he comes to recognize that it is Brahman that has become all the Jivas and the Jagat and that Brahman’s power of manifestation—Sakti or personal God, is as real as Brahman. This at least is what we learn from the life of Totapuri who was Sri Ramakrishna’s teacher in the path of non-dualism.

Totapuri did not at first have any respect for devotional discipline, evidently because his knowledge had not become complete. But in association with Sri Ramakrishna, he realized the Divine Mother as a reality and came to recognize that Brahman is both personal and impersonal.

Going at first exclusively along the discipline relating to the Impersonal, he came, in the fullness of his knowledge, to the realization, that Brahman is also Personal. In the case of the Bhakta the personal realization comes first and, in the maturity of his love, he realizes the Impersonal nonduality also.

Thus as Sadhanas, Bhakti and Jnana are different. But in their maturity both reveal the same Personal-Impersonal Being, in whom knowledge and devotion are harmonized as the obverse and the reverse of the same coin. In fact, true love alone can generate true understanding and true understanding alone can generate true love. They are complementary in their maturity, though they may look different at the start. vvv

The point to be borne in mind is that the Upanishads have many strands of teachings and in order to bring what they consider to be consistency into these teachings, the different Vedantic Acharyas have interpreted the text as supporting only their particular philosophical outlook and as carrying only that outlook as their ultimate purport.

Of these many interpretations, the interpretation of Sri Sankara, which maintains that Jiva and Brahman are identical, while all objectivity, including the whole cosmos, is only an appearance, is the most popular among intellectuals and in the interpretation, Bhakti passages are played down, given indirect meanings and made stepping-stones to ultimate non-duality through sublation of all distinctions.

But it must not be forgotten that the whole of the Vedanta Sutras has been interpreted by Ramanuja, Vallabha and others also and all the Upanishads too have been interpreted by the followers of these Acharyas as teaching Bhakti as the end of spiritual life. A reconciliation between these two views cannot be effected by refuting the one or the other by interpretation, or by showing one as a stepping-stone to the other, but can be effected only by recognizing that the great revelation we get through the Upanishads is of two types for equally noble aspirants, one standing for impersonal devotion (Jnana in a technical sense) ending in absorption into the Supreme Being and the other for personal devotion (Bhakti) which stands for love of the Supreme Being as one’s nearest and dearest and service of Him as the highest consummation.

The latter position has been greatly elaborated in the Puranas and has been identified by different cults with their cult-teachings. It is just that the major Upanishads, with the exception of Svetasvatara, have no direct affiliation with any particular cult. Even the identification of the Svetasvatara with the Rudra cult would appear to be very superficial and even this does not vary much from the general spirit of the Upanishads. vvv

September 2019

MAHARAJ: This assumption is not quite correct. The truth is that we do not find therein the cult pattern of devotion, highly coloured by personalistic touches, as in the Puranas. Most of the Upasanas in the Upanishads are devotional meditations. The Antaryami Brahmana of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, where we find the doctrine that the Supreme Spirit is the soul of all things and that these things are related to Him as His body, is pure devotional philosophy and is the very basis of the Bhakti aspect of Ramanuja’s doctrine. The Taittiriya Upanishad’s description of Him as Rasa is the basis of the devotional doctrines of the Vallabha and Chaitanya schools of Vaishnavism. The Kathopanishad definitely states the doctrine of grace. The whole of Svetasvatara Upanishad deals with devotion, and the very term Parabhakti, occurs in it.

47 The Vedanta Kesari

PA G E S P O N S O R : S M T. L A K S H M I D E V N AT H , C H E N N A I

QUESTION: How is it that such a spiritually vital concept as Bhakti finds almost no mention in the fountain-head of spirituality—the Upanishads?

September 2019

What is Religion?

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Realising Spirit as Spirit eligion is the realisation of Spirit as Spirit; not Spirit as matter.1

We already saw in the Jan 2019 issue how Swamiji describes religion as realization. This month, he is specifying it by saying that religion is the ‘realization of Spirit as Spirit’, and not the realization of Spirit as matter.

Why would anyone attempt to realize Spirit as matter? Is it even possible? Ah, but it is! This is a recurrent theme in Swamiji’s lectures – this tendency in man to idealize the real. We saw last month Swamiji saying: ‘There are two tendencies in human nature: one to harmonize the ideal with the life, and the other to elevate the life to the ideal. It is a great thing to understand this, for the former tendency is the temptation of our lives’.2 So, now the idea is clear: We all have the powerful tendency in us to realize the Spirit as matter. We shall overcome this tendency. Then what? Swamiji explains: ‘Religion is a growth. Each one must experience it himself. The Christians believe that Jesus Christ died to save man. With the Christians, it is belief in a doctrine, and this belief constitutes their salvation. With the Hindus, doctrine has nothing whatever to do with salvation. Each one may believe in whatever doctrine he likes; or in no doctrine. What difference does it make to you whether Jesus Christ lived at a certain time or not?

What has it to do with you that Moses saw God in the burning bush? The fact that Moses saw God in the burning bush does not constitute your seeing Him, does it? If it does, then the fact that Moses ate is enough for you; you ought to stop eating.

One is just as sensible as the other. Records of great spiritual men of the past do us no good whatever except that they urge us onward to do the same, to experience religion ourselves.

Whatever Christ or Moses or anybody else did does not help us in the least, except to urge us on.

‘The truly spiritual see Spirit as Spirit, not as matter. Spirit as such can never become matter.

Spirit is always the same, changeless, eternal.3 ‘Have you realized that you are spirit? When you say, ‘I do,’ what is meant by that – this lump of flesh called the body or the spirit, the infinite, ever blessed, effulgent, immortal? You may be the greatest philosopher, but as long as you have the idea that you are the body, you are no better than the little worm crawling under your foot! No excuse for you! So much the worse for you that you know all the philosophies and at the same time think you are the body! Body-gods; that is what you are! Is that religion?

‘Religion is the realization of spirit as spirit.

What are we doing now? Just the opposite, realizing spirit as matter. Out of the immortal God

‘All weakness, all bondage is imagination.

Speak one word to it, it must vanish. Do not weaken! There is no other way out. Stand up and be strong! No fear. No superstition. Face the truth as it is! If death comes – that is the worst of our miseries – let it come! We are determined to die game. That is all the religion I know.’5 ‘The power which works through the formative principles of every religion in every country is manifested in the forms of religion.

Principles and books, certain rules and movements – standing up, sitting down – all these belong to the same category of worship. Spiritual worship becomes materialized in order that the majority of mankind can get hold of it. The vast majority of mankind in every country are never seen to worship spirit as spirit. It is not yet possible. I do not know if there ever will be a time when they can. How many thousands in this city are ready to worship God as spirit? Very few. They cannot;

In this connection, there is an interesting correspondence between Mary Hale and Swamiji.

Mary Hale was one of the four daughters of the Hale Family that first hosted Swamiji when he came to Chicago to attend The World’s Parliament of Religions. This correspondence is interesting because it happened in the form of poems! Among other things, Mary Hale wrote to Swamiji: The lines you sent to your sisters four Be sure they’ll cherish evermore

For you have made them clearly see The one main truth that ‘all is He’

Immediately, Swamiji replied: Remember pray,

That God is true, all else is nothing, This world’s a dream Though true it seem,

And only truth is He the living!

The real me is none but He,

And never, never matter changing!7

References 1) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda.

[hereafter CW] Vol 6: Notes of class Talks & Lectures – Spirit and Nature 2) CW. Vol 2: Practical Vedanta – Part I 3) CW. Vol 6: Spirit and Nature 4) Cf: Shvetashvatara Upanishad: IV: 3

5) CW. Vol 1: Lectures and Discourses: The Gita III 6) CW. Vol 6: Lectures and Discourses: Formal

Worship

7) CW. Vol 8: Writings: Poems: An Interesting

Correspondence

September 2019

PA G E S P O N S O R : S M T. L A K S H M I D E V N AT H , C H E N N A I

‘You believe in God. If you do, believe in the real God. “Thou art the man, thou the woman, thou the young man walking in the strength of youth, thou the old man tottering with his stick.”4 Thou art weakness. Thou art fear. Thou art heaven, and Thou art hell. Thou art the serpent that would sting. Come thou as fear! Come thou as death!

Come thou as misery!

they live in the senses. You have to give them cut and dried ideas. Tell them to do something physical: Stand up twenty times; sit down twenty times. They will understand that. Tell them to breathe in through one nostril and breathe out through the other. They will understand that. All this idealism about spirit they cannot accept at all.

It is not their fault’.6

49 The Vedanta Kesari

we manufacture death and matter, and out of dead dull matter we manufacture spirit. …

September 2019

Topical Musings

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Our Sadhana

wami Vivekananda proposes a new philosophy of work, which has tremendous relevance for the modern man. He says that all aspects of our work cannot be monetized. There will always be some aspects of the work we do that can never be converted into money. In the present day mercenary work environment, aspects of our work, such as loyalty, sincerity, integrity, punctuality, are progressively ignored since they do not translate into money at all. Swamiji says that these aspects of our work can be converted into something amazing in our personality, if we only know the technique of converting it. It converts into character.

And what is that technique?

Swami Vivekananda tells the story of the monk and the chaste housewife in his seminal book Karma-Yoga1. A monk registers some progress after years of strict discipline and meditation, while he meets a lady who is far ahead of him in spiritual life, leading the humdrum life of a housewife. When he asks her about the Yoga (spiritual path) she has followed, she says, ‘I know of no Yoga. I am an ordinary housewife. This much however is true; I have always struggled to perform the duties of my station in life, with a sense of purity2, and in an un-attached manner.’

Work done with these two conditions – a sense of purity, and non-attachment – transforms into Yoga; karma becomes Karma-Yoga. Work becomes worship only when these two conditions are fulfilled.

Who amongst us doesn’t work? Yet, how many of us have become illumined? Where lies the fault? These two conditions have not been fulfilled. Therefore, it is important to understand these two conditions clearly.

Sense of Purity If the advent of science and technology has done any harm to human society, it is undoubtedly this – it has done away with this sense of holiness, this sense of purity, from our lives. Nothing is sacred anymore. It is fashionable to be hedonistic, bohemian, atheistic, even immoral. Therefore, all the finer qualities of human life such as marital fidelity, loyalty to employer, and personal integrity are vanishing from our personality. In other words, all idealism is washed away from our lives as unnecessary and it is usurped by crass utilitarianism and gross materialism. Our education system fosters this perverse attitude in us. Our nuclear family structure engenders it all the more forcefully in us. The knowing ones are at their wits end as to how to bring back this one vital sense into peoples’ lives. Swami Vivekananda says: ‘The life of the practical is in the ideal. It is the ideal that has penetrated the whole of our lives, whether we philosophize, or perform the hard, everyday duties of life. The rays of the ideal, reflected and refracted in various straight or tortuous lines, are pouring in through every aperture and wind-hole, and consciously or unconsciously, every function has to be performed in its light, every object has to be seen transformed, heightened, or deformed by it. It is the ideal that has made us what we are, and will make us what we are going to be. It is the power of the ideal that has enshrouded us, and is felt in our joys or sorrows, in our great acts or mean doings, in our virtues and vices. ‘… truth of the ideal is in the practical. …

That the ideal is there is a proof of the existence of the practical somehow, somewhere. … The power of the ideal is in the practical. Its work on us is in and through the practical. Through the

‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’4 ‘The different stages of growth are absolutely necessary to the attainment of purity and perfection.’5 ‘So long as there is one that breathes throughout the universe, I live in that one. I am not this limited little being, I am the universal. I am the life of all the sons of the past. I am the soul of Buddha, of Jesus, of Mohammed. I am the soul of the teachers, and I am all the robbers that robbed, and all the murderers that were hanged, I am the universal. Stand up then; this is the highest worship. You are one with the universe. That only is humility — not crawling upon all fours and calling yourself a sinner. That is the highest evolution when this veil of differentiation is torn off. The highest creed is Oneness. I am soand-so is a limited idea, not true of the real “I”.

I am the universal; stand upon that and ever worship the Highest through the highest form, for God is Spirit and should be worshipped in spirit and in truth. Through lower forms of worship, man’s material thoughts rise to spiritual worship and the Universal Infinite One 1) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda.

Can we work, keeping in mind this idea of Oneness of all existence? Then the first condition of the sadhana for the modern age is fulfilled.

While purity actually means absolute control over all senses, which is epitomized by complete sexual continence, its root lies in this idea of Oneness. The work we do, no matter how small, is indeed deeply connected with everything that exists. This sense has to be nurtured. We remember a revered sannyasi telling a devotee who was a government employee, ‘Do the work of a clerk, but with the mind of the President of India.’ It may be an insignificant work you are doing, but, can you not see all the ramifications of that insignificant work you are doing? Day after day, year after year, this sense has to be developed and nurtured with care. This method of working develops character in us, which in turn develops self-restraint, which further matures into self-direction, which is nothing but concentration of all our energies. Concentration of all our energies when perfected is called samadhi!

References

[hereafter CW] Vol 1: Karma-Yoga – What is Duty?

It is interesting to note that Swami Ashokananda, who was editor of Prabuddha Bharata and then headed the Vedanta society of Northern California for over 30 years, and an acclaimed authority on Swami Vivekananda’s message, used to say that this book would become the Gospel of mankind in the days to come!

2) Some readers may object that in the original story in the Mahabharata, and in Swamiji’s rendition

3) 4) 5) 6)

of the same, the housewife never really specifies this sense of purity as a requisite. But, when you observe the context in which Swamiji brings in this story in the lecture, it is very clear that he is using this housewife to illustrate the power of a chaste wife. Notice how he begins to explain about chastity and immediately brings in this story.

CW. Vol 4: Sketch of the Life of Pavhari Baba CW. Vol 7: Inspired Talks – 6 August 1895 CW. Vol 1: Soul, God and Religion CW. Vol 1: What is Religion?

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Will it come as a surprise to you if we say that Oneness is purity? Look at the argument given by Swamiji here:

is at last worshipped in and through the spirit.

That which is limited is material. The Spirit alone is infinite. God is Spirit, is infinite; man is Spirit and, therefore, infinite, and the Infinite alone can worship the Infinite. We will worship the Infinite; that is the highest spiritual worship.’6

51 The Vedanta Kesari

practical, the ideal is brought down to our sense-perception, changed into a form fit for our assimilation. Of the practical we make the steps to rise to the ideal. On that we build our hopes; it gives us courage to work.’3

The Order on the March News & Notes from Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission

Headquarters September 2019

Silver Jubilee of Vivekananda Veda Vidyalaya

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It was Swami Vivekananda’s desire to establish a Vedic College in Belur Math. This came true in 1993 with the foundation of Vivekananda Veda Vidyalaya at Belur Math. The institute, functioning under the National Institute of Open Schooling, is a free, fully residential Higher Secondary school for boys. The Veda Vidyalaya, Belur Math students mostly hail from economically backward families and belong to all castes.

The curriculum includes Vedic studies, Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit grammar, Indian philosophy, English, and Computer applications.

The Vidyalaya celebrated its Silver Jubilee with a public meeting and cultural programmes on 30 June and 1 July.

Srimat Swami Smaranananda Ji Maharaj, the President of the Order, presided over the first-day function and Swami Suvirananda, the General Secretary and Swami Balabhadrananda, one of the Asst. Gen. Secretaries of the Order addressed the gathering.

Bronze statue of Sister Nivedita A bronze statue of Sister Nivedita installed at the initiative of the headquarters at her family cemetery in Great Torrington, United Kingdom, was unveiled on 27 July. The Government of West Bengal funded the project, and devotees

and admirers in the UK extended support for this endeavour.

125th Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s Addresses at the World’s Parliament of Religions, Chicago Various programmes were held by the following centres: Almora: (i) A statue of Swami Vivekananda was unveiled at Kakrighat, followed by a public meeting. The programme was jointly held by Almora centre and Vivekananda Seva Samiti, Kakrighat. (ii) A statue of Swami Vivekananda was unveiled at Vivekananda Corner, near Almora centre. The programme was jointly organized by Almora centre and the Nagar Palika Parishad; Baranagar Math: Four lecture programmes (400 students); Coimbatore Mission: Cultural Competitions (1338 students from 8 institutions); Guwahati: Devotees’ Convention (167 people); Lucknow: Public Meeting in which Sri Ram Naik, Governor of Uttar Pradesh, addressed Great Torrington, UK

On the sacred occasion of Ratha Yatra festival on 4 July, Puri Math treated 1103 patients in a medical camp and served lemonade to 13,000 pilgrims and Puri Mission Ashrama gave medical aid to 200 patients and served lemonade to 12,200 pilgrims.

The 14th Foundation Day celebration and the Annual Convocation of RKMVERI (deemed university) were held on the university’s Belur campus on 4 July. The General Secretary, who is also the Chancellor of the university, presided over the programme and conferred the degrees and diplomas to the successful candidates.

The UGC has categorized R K M V E R I as a Grade-1 institution.

RKMVERI Convocation Kamarpukur centre recently purchased a portion of the sacred ‘mango orchard of Manik Raja’ in Kamarpukur, a place frequented

by Sri Ramakrishna in his childhood days. In a programme held on 4 July to mark the acquisition of the land, a number of mango saplings were planted there.

Srimat Swami Gautamananda Ji inaugurated the second floor of the boys’ hostel of Jhargram school. Sri Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Minister of State of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India, visited Bhubaneswar centre.

Srimat Swami Gautamananda Ji inaugurated at Chennai Math: (i) Swami Yatiswarananda Hall attached to the Library, and (ii) Swami Tapasyananda Hall for conducting welfare programmes among leprosy-afflicted persons.

Netherlands centre launched an online monthly magazine named Vedanta Vani. It can be accessed on the website vedantavani.com

The following centres held programmes, workshops, conventions, etc: Barisha centre: Programme for 36 school students; Delhi centre 41 workshops in 18 towns/cities for 2111 teachers and 72 principals; Gadadhar Ashrama: 3 Conventions for 500 students; Haripad Math: 1 Workshop for 118 students; Medinipur centre: Workshop for 370 students / teachers from 12 institutions; Rajkot Ashrama: 22 programmes in the Ashrama, and 28 programmes at various schools for 10,521 students; Vadodara centre: 6 programmes on its campus and 10 programmes at various schools for 2668 students.

Healthcare Services 29 persons donated blood in a blood donation camp inaugurated by Sri Jishnu Dev Varma, Deputy Chief Minister of Tripura at the Agartala centre.

Agartala

Chandipur Math held a medical check-up camp for cleft-lip patients in which 28 patients were examined. Guwahati centre conducted a medical camp at Hajo in Kamrup district of Assam in which 450 patients were treated.

Chennai Math’s Charitable Dispensary & Diagnostic Centre installed a new Digital Mammography System which will offer breast cancer detection. It

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News of Branch Centres

Values Education and Youth Programmes

53 The Vedanta Kesari

the gathering; Mangaluru: Lectures (2560 youth from 4 colleges); Shyamla Tal: Motivational Workshop (46 students); Silchar: Lectures at 10 places (5000 students and 100 teachers from 30 institutions); Taki: Lectures (1029 youths from 7 schools); Tamluk: Cultural Competitions (3000 students from 27 schools); Dhaka, Bangladesh: Public Meeting (1000 people); Durban, South Africa: 6 Devotees’ Conventions (732 devotees).

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was inaugurated

by Preetha Reddy, Vice-Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai.

Rahara Boys’ Home held two multidisciplinary Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai medical camps in North 24 Parganas and East Bardhaman districts in which 1324 patients were treated.

Bankura, Chennai Math, Kamarpukur, Khetri, Lucknow, Madurai, Porbandar, Rajamahendravaram, Rajkot, Ranchi Morabadi, Salem, Seva Pratishthan, Vadodara and New Delhi centres conducted eye camps in which 10332 patients were treated, 666 operated and 557 given spectacles.

Swachha Bharat Abhiyan Mangaluru Ashrama conducted the following activities in June: (i) four cleanliness drives in Mangaluru involving 1850 volunteers, (ii) awareness campaigns for 23 days in which volunteers reached out to 1350 households in Mangaluru city spreading awareness about waste management, (iii) cleanliness drives in 182 villages of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, (iv) magic shows on the cleanliness theme in 42 schools in Udupi district, and (v) cultural competitions on the cleanliness theme in 130 schools in which 13,100 students took part.

Flood Relief / Rehabilitation Guwahati centre distributed food, clothes, and provisions among 861 families in Baksa, Darrang, Goalpara, Karbi Anglong and Morigaon districts.

The centre also conducted a medical camp in Kamrup district and provided assistance to 450.

The Headquarters built, through Kochi centre, eight anganwadis (childcare centres) Alappuzha in Alappuzha district and handed them over to the Government of Kerala. (ii) Thiruvalla centre helped 8 flood-affected families to repair their houses.

Cyclone Relief Rajkot centre distributed 5300 packets of snacks among people who had taken shelter in government-run relief camps

as a precautionary measure against the Cyclone Vayu; Puri Mission continued its relief work in the wake of the Cyclone Fani, which had hit the state in the month of May. The centre distributed 2000 saris and an equal number of lungis, towels and mosquito-nets among 2000 families in Puri district.

Drought Relief / Rehabilitation Continuing its drought relief work, Aurangabad centre distributed 10.20 lakh litres of water in 13 villages of Aurangabad district.

Rahara centre sunk a tube-well in South 24 Parganas district.

Distress Relief / Rehabilitation Through 9 centres in India the Order distributed 4306 shirts, 1141 trousers, 1685 jackets/sweaters, 2748 saris, 478 blankets, 225 school uniforms, 49696 Notebooks, and other stationaries.

Batticaloa subBatticaloa centre in Sri Lanka distributed 11,825 notebooks among 3000 poor students and 11 fans to 3 schools. Lusaka centre in Zambia distributed 100 kg powdered maize.

Rahara centre distributed 5 tricycles, 2 wheelchairs, 5 folding sticks, 1 crutch and 5 hearing aids among 18 differently abled people.

Economic Rehabilitation Following items were distributed to the needy persons: Chandipur (1 sewing machine); Guwahati (2 sewing machines); Ponnampet (64 honey collection boxes and 54 sewing machines); Ramanathapuram: (32 sewing machines).

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Vol.106. No.9 The Vedanta Kesari (English Monthly) September 2019.

Regd. with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under No.1084 / 1957. Postal registration number: TN / CH (C) / 190 / 2018-2020. Licensed to Post without prepayment TN/PMG(CCR)/WPP-259 / 2018-2020.

Date of Publication: 24th of every month; Posted on 26 August 2019

If it is impossible to attain perfection here and now, there is no proof that we can attain perfection in any other life.

— Swami Vivekananda

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