09 the vedanta kesari september 2013

The Vedanta Kesari THE LION OF VEDANTA A Cultural and Spiritual Monthly of the Ramakrishna Order since 1914

Ramakrishna Math (Yogodyan) Kankurgachhi, Kolkata

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India’s Timeless Wisdom

Time is cooking all beings in the cauldron of great delusion using the sun as fire and days and nights as fuel, stirring them with the ladles of months and seasons—this is the news.

— Mahabharata, Vanaparva, 313.118

Editor: Swami Atmashraddhananda Managing Editor: Swami Gautamananda Printed and published by Swami Asutoshananda on behalf of Sri Ramakrishna Math Trust from No.31, Ramakrishna Math Road, Mylapore, Chennai - 4 and Printed at B E R 2 0 1 3 T h e V e Printing d a n t a Press, K e s aNo.31 r i ~ II ~ S E P T E MMath Sri Ramakrishna Ramakrishna Road, Mylapore, Chennai - 4. Ph: 044 - 24621110

The Vedanta Kesari VOL. 100, No. 9

ISSN 0042-2983

A CULTURAL AND SPIRITUAL MONTHLY OF THE RAMAKRISHNA ORDER

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

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

CONTENTS SEPTEMBER 2013

Vedic Prayers 325 Editorial  ‘Greatness in Little Things’  Reminiscences of Swami Shivananda—A Direct Disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Swami Tapasyananda  The Art of Listening Pravrajika Virajaprana  Gayatri Mantra—Its Glory and Practice Anna Subramanian New Find  Unpublished Letters of Swami Saradananda Travelogue  His Abiding Presence—A Pilgrimage to Swami Vivekananda’s Room A Monastic Sojourner Glimpses of Swamiji  Swami Vivekananda—The Wandering Monk

326 331 338 350

336 343

353

The Order on the March 356 Book Review 359 Features  Simhâvalokanam (Letters)  Sri Ramakrishna Tells Stories

330 355 Cover Story: Page 4

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The Vedanta Kesari Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai 600 004 h (044) 2462 1110 (4 lines) Fax : (044) 2493 4589 Email : mail@chennaimath.org Website : www.chennaimath.org TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS

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N Cover Story N Ramakrishna Math (Yogodyan), Kolkata Located at about an hour’s drive from Belur Math, Yogodyan in Kankurgachi in south Kolkata is a centre of Ramakrishna Math.

Literally, ‘the garden suitable for the practice of yoga’, Yogodyan was the garden house of Ramchandra Dutta, a devotee of Sri Ramakrishna. In December 1883 Sri Ramakrishna visited this house and said, ‘It is a fine place. You can easily meditate on God here.’

He also visited a room on the southern side of the pond, sat on a seat and exclaimed, ‘Ah! The atmosphere in this room is just like that in a shrine.' Then he partook of some refreshments and drank water from the pond inside the garden. The room where he had refreshments is maintained as Vedi Ghar, or the ‘Altar house’.

During his visit Sri Ramakrishna visited the sacred Tulsi-grove, saluted the Tulsi plant and sat for a while. After Sri Ramakrishna’s passing away, a part of his mortal remains was interred in the Tulsi grove that he had visited and the present temple stands right on the same spot.

The pond in front of the temple is called Ramakrishna Kund. Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda and many other disciples of Sri Ramakrishna visited here several times.

Ramakrishna Math (Yogodyan) conducts various spiritual and welfare activities. o

T he V edanta K esari P atrons ’ S cheme We invite our readers to join as patrons of the magazine. They can do so by sending Rs.2000/- or more. Names of the patrons will be announced in the journal under the Patrons' Scheme and they will receive the magazine for 20 years. Please send your contribution to The Manager, The Vedanta Kesari by DD/MO drawn in favour of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai with a note that the enclosed amount is for the Patrons' Scheme. (This scheme is valid in India only).

DONORS

PATRONS

Mr. Talwar M N, Haliyal, Karnataka Rs. 5000 Mr. Prabhakar R, Bangalore Rs. 1000

667. Mr. Umesh Dalvi, Dombivli East 668. Ramakrishna Sarada Mission, Nagpur

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

5730. Dr. Triveni Shekaraiah, U.K. 5731.

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AWARDEE INSTITUTIONS

Chandigarh Police Headquarters, Chandigarh, Punjab.

Delhi Police Headquarters, New Delhi - 110 002 Goa Police Headquarters, Panjim, Goa - 403 001 Gujarat State Police Bhawan, Gandhinagar, Gujarat - 382 019 Himachal Pradesh Police Headquarters, Shimla - 171 002 Jharkhand Police Headquarters, Ranchi, Jharkhand - 834 004 To be continued . . .

VOL. 100, No. 9, SEPTEMBER 2013 ISSN 0042-2983

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SOUL IS POTENTIALLY DIVINE.

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GOAL IS TO MANIFEST THE DIVINITY WITHIN. 5

Vedic Prayers

Tr. by Swami Sarvananda

If one millionth part of the men and women who live in this world simply sit down and for a few minutes say, 'You are all God, O ye men and O ye animals and living beings, you are all the manifestations of the one living Deity!' the whole world will be changed in half an hour. Instead of throwing tremendous bomb-shells of hatred into every corner, instead of projecting currents of jealousy and evil thought, in every country people will think that it is all He. He is all that you see and feel. How can you see evil until there is evil in you? How can you see the thief, unless he is there, sitting in the heart of your heart? How can you see the murderer until you are yourself the murderer? Be good, and evil will vanish for you. The whole universe will thus be changed. —Swami Vivekananda, CW, 2:287

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Editorial

‘Greatness in Little Things’ Types of Greatness Anyone will be great in a great position! Even the coward will grow brave in the glare of the footlights. The world looks on. Whose heart will not throb? Whose pulse will not quicken till he can do his best? More and more the true greatness seems to me that of the worm doing its duty silently, steadily, from moment to moment and from hour to hour.1

In these simple but forceful words Swami Vivekananda laid out a whole philosophy of excellence and greatness. Few people realize the profound power that lies in ‘little things’.

They remain focused on ‘big’ things, the visible and tangible things, and overlook the little things. Little do they realize the immense power, the real power, that is in little things.

Excellence or greatness is what man aspires for, though what he means or conceptualizes by the word ‘greatness’ differs from person to person. Each one conceives of greatness in his own special way. It is like the idea or concept of God. We all conceive of God in our own ways. Says Swami Vivekananda, If, for instance, the buffaloes want to worship God, they will, in keeping with their own nature, see Him as a huge buffalo; if a fish wants to worship God, it will have to form an idea of Him as a big fish; and man has to think of Him as man. And these various conceptions are not due to morbidly active imagination. Man, the buffalo, and the fish all may be supposed to represent so many different vessels, so to say.

All these vessels go to the sea of God to get filled with water, each according to its own shape and capacity; in the man the water takes the shape of T h e

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man, in the buffalo, the shape of a buffalo, and in the fish, the shape of a fish. In each of these vessels there is the same water of the sea of God. When men see Him, they see Him as man, and the animals, if they have any conception of God at all, must see Him as animal, each according to its own ideal.2

In the same way, we all have our ideas of greatness. Generally people identify greatness with being famous, politically and administratively powerful, wealthy and influential or having similar social, economic, political achievements and success. They think ‘success’, in the above meanings of the term, is what is meant by being great. Of course, this is the most largely, and easily, understood meaning of the term greatness. Having one’s own way in life, in getting and doing what one wants, is taken to be greatness.

But is greatness merely a social event? If one is not famous (which means well known in the society or one’s circle of people) does one not deserve to be called great?! If one’s money, status and power makes one great, then is it not a contradiction in terms? What is great—man or the things that he has! Money, status, power and so on are not intrinsic to a man. Whatever is intrinsic cannot be added or removed. Money, status and power are not intrinsic to man; they are acquired and subject to increase, decrease and loss. They cannot make a man great. If they seem to make someone ‘great’, it is only a borrowed greatness, subject to loss, theft and fall in grace.

‘Some people are born great, some acquire greatness and on some greatness

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is thrust’, says the popular maxim. When greatness is thrust upon, it is not natural to him and such a fake or mock greatness leads to numerous problems. We all know how rivalry, heartlessness and hypocrisy come in when greatness gets identified with fame and power.

It becomes a macabre play of lust, greed, anger and all the evils that reside in the human heart.

Besides, when we fail to practice this mockery, it makes the life empty and meaningless.

Of course there is another side to greatness. Without being famous and recognized, one can be great in one’s field of work.

For instance, one can be a great cricketer, a great scholar, a great writer, a great doctor, a great administrator, a great gardener, a great cook, a great artist and so on—the list is as large as are the areas of human activity. One can be great in his area of talent or assigned work. This type of greatness too requires that one should pay attention to details and ‘little things’. For what is excellence? It lies in taking care of details—of all those small little waves of action and skill that make a thing or person or event truly excellent—or great. Leaving nothing to chance but refining and fine-tuning all those forces and factors, causes and reasons, which make excellence possible—that is the secret of excellence alluded here.

Personal Greatness There is another side to greatness that Swami Vivekananda, the great prophet of man-making, emphasized again and again— greatness in personal character. It is that type of greatness where no public glare or applause awaits one’s action or performance. It is an act which will probably go unnoticed and unrecognized. Says Swamiji, If you really want to judge of the character of a man, look not at his great performances. Every fool may become a hero at one time or another.

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Watch a man do his most common actions; those are indeed the things which will tell you the real character of a great man. Great occasions rouse even the lowest of human beings to some kind of greatness, but he alone is the really great man whose character is great always, the same wherever he be.3

When we are not observed by anyone and are not likely to be rewarded or recognized for what we do or say, that puts to test what we are truly. How much of energy, time and effort is spent in impressing others of what one is not! If only a part of it was spent in doing what one wants to be, it would be truly fruitful.

One can talk about helping others but unless this talk becomes a part of one’s thinking, it is a mere talk. Says Sri Ramakrishna, Worldly persons may perform many pious and charitable acts in the hope of earthly rewards, but at the approach of misfortune, sorrow and poverty, their piety and charity forsake them.

They are like the parrot that repeats, ‘RadhaKrishna, Radha-Krishna’ the live-long day, but cries, ‘Kang, Kang’ when caught by a cat, forgetting the Divine Name.4

Indeed, when the cat of reality catches us by the neck all that we say or do is what is natural to us. Only by hard practice and determination can one make moral and spiritual excellence a habit, a part of one’s thinking and personality. Even the greatest of dangers and threats cannot, then, shake one’s way of living. Swami Vivekananda observed, As I grow older I find that I look more and more for greatness in little things. I want to know what a great man eats and wears, and how he speaks to his servants. I want to find a Sir Philip Sidney greatness! Few men would remember the thirst of others, even in the moment of death.5

Sir Philip Sidney to whom Swamiji refers was an English poet, soldier and politician

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who died at a young age of 32 years (he lived from 1554 to 1586). The story goes that after a promising career in writing and politics, he joined Sir John Norris in the Battle of Zutphen.

During the battle, he was shot in the thigh and died of gangrene 26 days later. According to the story, while lying wounded he gave his water to another wounded soldier, saying, ‘Thy necessity is yet greater than mine’. This became possibly the most famous story about Sir Phillip, illustrating his noble and gallant character.

The Power of Satya This simple, noiseless greatness in everyday life is the hallmark of a true character. Swami Vivekananda himself was a powerful example of this aspect of greatness as the following anecdote shows, Long after Southern magnates in America had apologized to Vivekananda when they learned that he had been mistaken for a Negro and was thus refused admission into hotels, the Swami remarked to himself: ‘What! rise at the expense of another! I didn’t come to earth for that! . . . If I am grateful to my white skinned Aryan ancestor, I am far more so to my yellow skinned Mongolian ancestor and, most so of all, to the black skinned Negritoid!’6

‘What! rise at the expense of another!’— refers to the great sense of personal integrity and absence of selfishness that Swamiji possessed. Such a personal honesty is an expression of satya and aparigraha (truth and non-possessiveness) mentioned in the five Yamas, the first step towards Yoga.

Truthfulness is not only telling truth but also being honest in whatever one says and does, including not making false claims or trespassing on what belongs to others. One needs to be honest and bold in whatever one says and does. Or else, think of the hypocrisy, T h e

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false claims and putting on high airs that it leads to. The well-known incident from Sri Ramakrishna may be recalled here: When Sri Ramakrishna was ill, [the doctor] advised him to drink some lemon juice every day. Jogin [later Swami Yogananda] took the responsibility of supplying fresh lemons from their family garden. The Master took the juice regularly, but one day he could not drink it.

Jogin wondered why. Later after investigation he learned that their lemon grove had been leased to a party on that very day and they had lost ownership. As a result, the Master could not drink the lemon juice that Jogin brought without informing the owner, as that would have been considered theft. The disciples were amazed to see how the Master’s body and mind were established in truth.7

Greatness in little things! Swamiji continues:8 Well, now great things are to be done! Who cares for great things? Why not do small things as well? One is as good as the other. The greatness of little things, that is what the Gita teaches— bless the old book!! . . .

The Bhagavad Gita points out three gunas, fundamental qualities, which make up our personal traits and inclinations. Each of these gunas has characteristics of their own.

Sattva, for instance, is serenity and lack of external display. Rajas is activity and greed, often accompanied by display of power and glamour. Tamas is laziness and confusion.

Taking care of ‘little things’, or seemingly insignificant details of life and personality, means developing a Sattvic approach to life.

Describes Swamiji,

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The Gita says that there are three kinds of charity: the Tamasic, the Rajasic and the Sattvic.

Tamasic charity is performed on an impulse. It is always making mistakes. The doer thinks of nothing but his own impulse to be kind. Rajasic S E P T E M B E R

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charity is what a man does for his own glory.

And Sattvic charity is that which is given to the right person, in the right way, and at the proper time . . . When it comes to the Sattvic, I think more and more of a certain great Western woman in whom I have seen that quiet giving, always to the right person in the right way, at the right time, and never making a mistake.9

Each one should be understood in his own standard of life. ‘A worm is crawling on the ground. It may be great!’ remarks Swamiji. One can find this intrinsic quality of greatness in the personal life of all genuinely great people. Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, the divine consort of Sri Ramakrishna, was one such. Sister Nivedita said of her, ‘She really is, under the simplest, most unassuming guise, one of the strongest and greatest of women.’

Immersed in spiritual thoughts, Holy Mother lived the life of a common housewife and yet, in and through all that commonplace setting, she lived a great life. She brought a sense of grace, simplicity and purity to whatever she did. Nivedita further described in one of her letters: You must try to imagine her always seated on the floor, on a small piece of bamboo matting.

All this does not sound very sensible perhaps, yet this woman, when you know her well, is said to be the very soul of practicality and commonsense, as she certainly gives every token of being, to those who know her slightly. Sri Ramakrishna always consulted her before undertaking anything and her advice is always acted upon by

his disciples. She is the very soul of sweetness— so gentle and loving and as merry as a girl.

Holy Mother’s attention to details was legendary. She would insist that everything be done with care and respectfulness. Whether it is small or big act, everything must be given attention it requires. Once someone, after sweeping the place with a broomstick kept it carelessly in a corner. Seeing this Mother remarked, What is this! You have thrown away the broomstick with disrespect when the work is done. It takes only the same length of time to put it gently in a corner as it does to throw aside.

One should not trifle with a thing though it may be very insignificant. If you respect a thing, the thing also respects you. Will you not again need that broom stick? Besides, it is also a part of the family. From that standpoint also it deserves to be treated with respect. Even a broomstick should be treated with respect. One should perform even an insignificant work with respect.

Conclusion Keen observation, determination for excellence and, above all, absence of all desire for public glare and hype are the hall marks of true greatness. In the words of Swamiji, Even idiots may stand up to hear themselves praised, and cowards assume the attitude of the brave when everything is sure to turn out well, but the true hero works in silence. How many Buddhas die before one finds expression!10 o

References 1. CW 9: 419

Chennai, 72 8. CW, 6.436

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4. Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramakrishna Math, 7. cf. God Lived with Them, Advaita Ashrama, p. 230

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Simhâvalokanam From the Archives of The Vedanta Kesari (September, 1923-24, Pp. 638-639)

Letters Almora, 3rd June 1897 My dear C, You need not be so much afraid about me. My body has been full of all sorts of complaints again and again and phoenix-like I have been reviving. It is the vigorous frame that helps recovery in my case, yet it is that too much vigour that brings on the disease. In everything I am extreme, even in my physical health, either am like an iron bull or I am low down in the valley of death.

This disease brought about by hard work has nearly disappeared with rest. At Darjeeling it entirely disappeared. As you see I am now in Almora. I am all right now except for a bit of dyspepsia for which I am trying hard ‘Christian science’. I got myself round with mental -treatment at Darjeeling taking lot of exercise, climbing up mountains, hard riding, eating and sleeping are about all my occupations now I feel much stronger and better, the next time you see me I would be an athlete. So far so good. As for myself I am quite content.

I have roused a good many of our people and that was all I wanted. Let things have their course and Karma its sway. I have no bonds here below. I have seen life and it is all self.

Life is for self, love for self, honour for self—everything for self. I look back and scarcely find any actions I have done for self—even my wicked deeds were not for self. So C. I am content. Not that I have done anything especially good or great, but the world is so little, life so mean a thing, existence so servile—that I wonder and smile that human beings, rational souls should be running after this self—too mean and detestable a prize.

For this is the truth: we are caught in a trap and sooner one gets out of it, the better for one. I have seen the truth. Let the body float up or down, who cares?

It is a beautiful mountain park I am living in now. On the north extending almost all along the horizon, peak after peak of the snow clad Himalayas forest abounding. It is not cold here, neither very warm. Evenings and mornings are simply delicious. I want to be here this summer and when the rains set in I want to go down to the plains to work.

How are you ? What are you doing ? How things are going on with you and Mrs. F.?

Are you getting your bank account fatted bit by bit? You must do that. Do it for me. If I am much worn out I will strike work for good and come to America and you will have to give me food and shelter. Will you? I was born for the life of a scholar, retired, quiet, pouring over my books, but the Mother dispensed otherwise. But the tendency is there. Knowing this will find you in peace and health, Yours etc., Vivekananda T h e

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Reminiscences of Swami Shivananda —A Direct Disciple of Sri Ramakrishna SWAMI TAPASYANANDA

Swami Tapasyananda (1904-1991) was Vice President (1985-1991) of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. A former editor of the Vedanta Kesari, he was an erudite scholar and thinker who wrote and translated several books in English. The following reminiscences are from 263 May-June 1955 and 264 July-August 1995 issues of Vedanta. The last 4 paragraphs have been translated from Bengali version published in the Bengali book, Shivananda Smritisangraha, p 229230, published by Udbodhan Press, Kolkata. Appearing in the Vedanta Kesari for the first time, this writing forms a part of the book, Swami Tapasyananda As We Knew Him, which was released on 4th August 2013.

It is in an apologetic mood and with a sense of diffidence that I put into writing the following reminiscences of the great disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Mahapurush Maharaj, known also by his monastic name of Swami Shivananda. This feeling is due not only to an apprehension of his greatness and the littleness of my understanding to interpret him, but also due to the paucity of incidents of wide public significance that I have got to record.

I claim to be a disciple of Sri Mahapurush Maharaj in the fullest sense of the term. I received my Mantra-Diksha from him as also my initiation into Brahmacharya and Sannyasa. But yet my association with him was only for brief periods, and I have not got much to write about the incidents of his life and teachings he imparted. To start with, this requires an explanation. According to the Indian tradition, service of the spiritual teacher, and living with him, are considered the most important part of the spiritual discipline. The ‘Gita’ goes to the extent of saying that spiritual teaching is not to be T h e

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imparted to one who has not undergone this discipline of serving the teacher.

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In the tradition of the Ramakrishna Order, there are certain spiritual conceptions that have led to an amendment and extension of this great and wise rule sanctioned by agelong practice in India. Swami Vivekananda gave the idea that the Order he founded represented the physical being of the Great Master, Sri Ramakrishna, who is the real Teacher of the Order irrespective of the personality of the individual teachers through whom he functions. It is the service of the teacher of that wider conception that he primarily expects his followers to perform as a part of their spiritual discipline. In pursuance of this ideology, the monastics of our Order, often getting little opportunity to stay with their individual teachers, are put as workers in the far-flung centres of the Order—there to do all forms of work, physical and mental with a sense of responsibility, detachment and dedication. All the institutions and works of the Math and Mission are the responsibilities of the Head of the Order for the time being, and by sharing that responsibility one is serving the teacher in a literal sense too. But it is the wider conception of guru-sushrusha [service to Guru] explained above that gives a special significance to the training in the Ramakrishna Order.

My first acquaintance with the name and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna was in my early teens when I was reading in the lower secondary classes at Calicut. It came about through some literature in Malayalam that my mother was reading. I had then gathered the idea that Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was one who had seen God and that he had a disciple called Swami Vivekananda who was a great lecturer. I remember a hot boyish controversy I had with a school friend of mine on the question whether God can be seen– he maintaining that this is impossible and I T h e

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advocating the opposite view. I recall how, in support of my contention, I mentioned the example of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, which my friend would not however accept.

My real acquaintance with the traditions of the Great Master began a year or two after when we went to reside in a new house, which by chance happened to be the residence of a great Ramakrishna-Vivekananda devotee, to whom for convenience I may refer here as Sri A. He was also the father of a close classfriend of mine. It was my habit, along with some of the other boys of the house, to go for diving in a tank in the house of this particular class friend. Now Sri A, this friend’s father, was one of the earliest in Kerala to have intimate contact with the monastic Order of Sri Ramakrishna. He had already received initiation from Swami Brahmanandaji Maharaj, had visited Belur Math and probably the birth place of the Master also, and had kept a Shrine in his house where the photos of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and some of his important disciples formed the main objects of worship. I had before that only attended Hindu temples where granite images of Gods and Goddesses were worshipped in a ceremonial manner by Brahmin priests, and this centre of worship, with its photos of human figures, was an entirely new experience for me. It had a great impact on my mind. I remember on most days, after diving for hours in the tank, I used to go with other boys into this Shrine of my friend’s father Sri A, and sometimes witness there a simple waving of lights too. It was there that I learnt that Sri Ramakrishna was looked upon by many as ‘God’, who has to be worshipped like Rama, Krishna, Vishnu, Siva, the Divine Mother and other deities of the Hindu Pantheon familiar to me. Soon after, a similar Shrine of the Master, though on much simpler lines, was arranged

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in my house also. For my mother, who was already devoted to Sri Ramakrishna, became more intensely established in that line of devotion through association with the devoted inmates of my friend’s house.

During this time an important incident, a landmark in my life, took place. That was the contact I had with the late Swami Nirmalanandaji Maharaj, known also as Tulasi Maharaj, while he was staying at the house of my friend’s father, Sri A, during his sojourn in Kerala. Among the pioneers of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda movement in South India, the Swami has a very prominent place. In later times a controversy arose about his discipleship—whether he was a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna himself or of Swami Vivekananda—but at the time I met him, the general understanding all of us in Kerala had was that he was a disciple of the Master.

Though this has been disputed in later times, no one denies that he had contacted the Great Master as a young man, that he received his blessings, and that he had shared his life of the Sannyasin disciples of the Master from the days of the Baranagore monastery.

At the time I am speaking of, the Swami was in charge of the centre at Bangalore, and he, as also Swami Sharvanandaji of Madras, happened to be widely known among the devotees of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda of those days, because of the extensive tours they used to make in different parts of South India.

Though Swami Nirmalanandaji’s centre was Bangalore, he used to spend several months in Kerala almost every year. His method of work was to visit different places where there were devotees known to him, stay in the house of anyone of them who could accommodate him conveniently, and contact interested visitors through personal conversations. He had already established a centre of the Mission’s T h e

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work at Trivandrum, started the magazine ‘Prabuddha Keralam’, and arranged the visit of Swami Brahmanandaji Maharaj for laying the foundation of the monastery building in Trivandrum in 1916. At the time I am speaking of, though Swamiji had an influential circle of devotees at Trivandrum, the only person of some consequence who may be called an ardent devotee at Calicut was my friend’s father, Sri A. Every time he visited Kerala, he used to come to Calicut and spend a few days at Sri A’s house, giving an opportunity for all devotees as well as others to contact him.

The impression that the Swami made on my adolescent mind was tremendous. It may thus be summarized: Till then I had no positive idea of a spiritual personage, beyond that of legendary Rishis and sages of the Puranas.

In daily life one came across only Brahmin Pandits and ritualists who expounded Puranas or officiated at temples and domestic rituals, and in their outlook and activities there was nothing to distinguish them from ordinary worldly men. The other types one associated with religious life were ochre-robed beggars who passed for Sannyasins and wandering ascetics who put on matted locks and weird dress and sat under trees before lighted fire to impress the credulous public with the idea that they were holy men with mysterious powers.

None of these could in any way inspire or even impress one with the idea that the exclusive pursuit of a religion-centred life had anything ennobling in it.

I found a striking and startling contrast in Swami Nirmalanandaji’s personality. He was so unlike the ochre-robed fraternity I had seen. With his athletic frame, his sonorous stentorian voice, his excellent command of simple, clear and well-articulated English and his astonishing capacity to give ready and crushing reply to mischievous questions,

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I found him more than a match for the self-accredited intelligentsia of the locality consisting of lawyers, officers, teachers, etc, who could take only a contemptuous view of a Sannyasin till then. To this inherent worth of the Swami was added the halo of association with Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda. All these put together generated great reverence for him in one’s mind, and the frequent contact I used to have with him from this time had a decided influence on the future development of my mind.

It was at the age of fifteen or sixteen that I began to read the lectures of Swami Vivekananda and the magazine, ‘Prabuddha Bharata’. While all these impressed me very much, there was nothing that could equal, to my mind, the first edition of the Life of Swami Vivekananda by his Eastern and Western Disciples, now unfortunately out of print. The first two volumes of it, written in a simple yet fervent and inspiring English style, evoked a passionate admiration for Sri Ramakrishna and Swamiji in my mind and engulfed all other devotional allegiances I had till then.

It was just at this juncture, that I had my first opportunity of meeting Sri Mahapurush Maharaj. Swami Brahmanandaji Maharaj, the first President of Ramakrishna Math and Mission, the ‘spiritual son’ of Sri Ramakrishna—about whose lofty spiritual personality some information had reached even distant Kerala through the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna—had come down to Madras in 1920-21, chiefly to open the Ramakrishna Mission Students’ Home. His name was then very well-known to devotees in Kerala. He had visited Kerala, including Trivandrum and Kanyakumari, in 1916 when he laid the foundation of the present Sri Ramakrishna Ashram at Trivandrum and gave initiation to several devotees in the state. A few devotees T h e

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from our place, including my mother, who was long aspiring to take initiation, started for Madras to meet Swami Brahmanandaji Maharaj, familiarly known as the Maharaj or Raja Maharaj. Swami Nirmalanandaji, who was intimately known to the devotees, was also expected to have arrived at Madras from Bangalore. As a youngster with some knowledge of English, the devotees considered that I might be useful as an interpreter, if none better was available at Madras. So I too had accompanied them.

When the party of devotees visited Madras Math, they were given a very kind and cordial welcome by Swami Sharvanandaji Maharaj who was the President of Madras Math then. Swami Nirmalanandaji Maharaj had also arrived at the Math, as expected. All of us, including myself, were admitted into the august presence of Maharaj. He sat on an easy chair with a hookah by his side. His face was calm and solemn, and eyes absolutely indrawn, though wide open and awake. He was very communicative but brief in speaking a few words of advice and assurance to the representations of the devotees. All of them were asked to come for initiation. The late Swami Siddheswaranandaji, then Brahmachari Gopal, acted as interpreter.

After the meeting with Maharaj, we were informed that there was present at the Math another venerable Swami, also a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. This was an unexpected announcement, and we were immensely glad to be taken to the presence of this great personage, who was none other than Sri Mahapurush Maharaj, then the Vice-President of the Math and Mission. The Swami was occupying the southern upstairs backroom which is now the Holy Mother’s Shrine. In those days, before the extension and remodelling of the shrine, this was a

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living room. Adjacent to it was a spacious staircase hall where Sri Mahapurush Maharaj was seated on a chair when we met him. The impression that now comes to my mind of him is in some respect one of contrast with the other great one, from whose presence we had just then come out. Unlike Maharaj, whose presence was forbiddingly solemn and elevating, and whose silence was more resonant than the spoken word, one saw in Sri Mahapurush Maharaj a more human yet transcendentally glorious figure, in whom a mighty personality combined harmoniously with an inviting and highly communicative disposition. His face was wreathed in gracious smiles, and his head nodded in an act of kind approval at the introduction of the new devotees. He seemed to be more elderly than Maharaj from the colour of his hair, but age had not made him old in any sense of the term. He was in good health, and his face, with somewhat high cheek bones, and elongated eyes that gave it a slight Mongolian touch, glowed with a reddish tinge and a sense of carefree cheerfulness and universal benevolence which made one feel absolutely relaxed in his otherwise august presence. He made kind enquiries about the devotees and said that uttering God’s name with faith and devotion was in itself a potent means of men’s spiritual development.

After that the party left the Math to see the new building of the Students’ Home. It was to perform the opening function that

Maharaj had come down from Calcutta. After the visit, before returning to their residence, the devotees stopped the car near the Math and sent me to tell Swami Nirmalanandaji Maharaj that they would be coming again next day. As I approached the portico of the Math, I had an opportunity to witness an impressive scene that has so often come to my memory. Being late in the evening, Maharaj [Swami Brahmananda] had come out of his room to air himself. He was just standing in front of the portico with Mahapurush Maharaj and Swami Nirmalanandaji Maharaj on either side. Maharaj, wearing a cap and holding a walking stick, stood in a rather absorbed mood, while Mahapurush Maharaj with his beaming countenance stood close by. On the right at a slight respectful distance was Swami Nirmalanandaji Maharaj. It was an extraordinary sight for me. All were impressive and venerable figures, both for their physical size and the dignity and composure of their deportment. Holy living had endowed their presence with a charming solemnity born of their universal benevolence and their poises in the Inner Self.

I communicated the information.

The party stayed at Madras for about a couple of weeks and I had occasion to go to the Math with them on several days. On most of those occasions, I could pay my respects to both Maharaj and the Mahapurush Maharaj.

We then returned home.

(To be continued. . .)

Kings and emperors rule this world but for a few days. Such is not the case with true Masters. The world is always ruled by such great souls. Instead of being kings and emperors, these people prefer the life of abject poverty, and from that apparently low condition they rule over monarchs and conquerors. Their lives are not limited, their powers are eternal, their friends comprise the whole world, their bliss is perennial, and their energies are always employed for the amelioration of their brother men.

—Swami Ramakrishnananda T h e

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New Find

Unpublished Letters of Swami Saradananda1 Aug. 29th 1901.

Math. Belur. Howrah.

India.

My dear Granny2 Just a line to say I had not had any note from you for a long time and I would have been anxious, had not the Swami had a note from Mrs.Sevier who is your guest at Norway. So you must be busy there with Mr.Dutt & Prof.Bose & all the rest. I hope however you have rested a bit and improved your health. I am looking forward to Dec. next to hail you here. My brother wrote me he had a kind letter from you & he was so glad.

I hope Nivedita & Mrs.Sevier are well. Will you all sail the same date? My kindest regards to them both.

The Swami3 was very poorly some two weeks ago, but is much better & stronger now. The rest of the Math men are well & would like to be kindly remembered.

My father & mother are as before & send kind greetings to you & gratitude. Smt. Sarada Devi is well & at Calcutta still. She desired her love & blessings to you all.

With all love from Your affectionate boy Saradananda

Math. Belur. Howrah.

India. Dec 12. 01.

My dear Granny – I am thankful to have your kind letter of Nov. 22nd. It is so cheering to know you are coming!

Mrs.Sevier has arrived with Miss Bull. Swamis Sadananda & Svarupa & myself met them at the station on Tuesday evening last & brought them directly to the Math. Two tents have been pitched on the Math grounds, where they will stay for a week or so, before leaving for Mayabati.

I am glad to know you feel stronger. I was really anxious for you dear Granny.

Margot will very probably have 16 Bose Para, when she comes. I have not told any one what you wrote about her.

The Holy Mother is well at her native village. She told me to send her love and blessings to you both always when I write to you.

Swamiji is not very strong. One of his eyes (the right one) has been affected. The doctor thinks it due to Albumen. He has been advised to take as much rest as possible.

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My brother wrote me in his last [letter] he will sail in the Mombassa of the B.I.S.N.[?] line on Dec 31st. So he will leave just about the time when you both will take steamer. I am so glad to know of your opinion of him.

I cannot tell you how I felt when I heard of the death of dear Dr.Janes. I always thought of him as an Indian Rishi of old born in the west to fight the growing materialistic tendency of the age. I have already written to Mrs.Janes but think it too late to send in anything for publication as you suggest.

My father continues to be the same & my mother is better. She has suffered much of late.

They both wanted to be kindly remembered & so did my friend.

Joe has written that she will be in India by Xmas.

Kindly present the enclosed card to Nivedita. Sadananda met Dr.Mahony today, who enquired about her & gave it.

I am sorry I could not write you as regularly as before—you will know the reason when you come. With blessings to Margot & dear love to you as ever Yours affecly Saradananda [Printed on the enclosed card:] Dr. H.C.Mahony [Address:] Mrs.Sara C. Bull. c/o Baring Bros. (Bankers) London.

England.

21a High Street Wimbledon S.W.

References 1. A direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna

2. Mrs. Sara Bull

3. Swami Vivekananda

Courtesy: Ramakrishna Museum, Belur Math With every act of love and sympathy, every performance of duty, every observance of morality, man is trying to go beyond himself, by feeling himself one with the universe.

He who lives up to this truth has truly renounced himself. He who knows not this truth, but tries to become a perfectly moral man in thought, word, and deed, is unconsciously living up to that truth.

—Swami Saradananda

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The Art of Listening PRAVRAJIKA VIRAJAPRANA

(Continued from previous Issue . . .)

Connection between Listening (sound) and Thinking There is another aspect of sound which connects us with our inner world of words and thoughts as well as with the thoughts of others; that is the thinking process itself, a most mysterious phenomenon and scientists, even today, openly admit they have no real understanding of how thinking actually happens. We have to admit that thinking is unique, a most incredible faculty that all humans have, and yet we have almost no clue how we do it. If we have brain surgery, what will we find other than a mass of tissue, nerves, and blood vessels? So how does this physical configuration of matter produce or transmit subtle ideas, visual images, words and so on through our nervous system? What is the connection?

This is the unsolved mystery of the mind and its functions. Neuroscientists continue to puzzle over what the mind is, where it is spatially located in the brain, and how electrical impulses convey concrete words and ideas that we all seem to more or less agree upon. And then there is the biggest mystery of allconsciousness. Just recently when the Obama administration sanctioned resources for mapping the human brain, similarly to

the genome project, one prominent scientist admitted that brain research was still in its infancy and that investigating the realm of consciousness was still far off. But in spite of our lack of academic knowledge and the intuitive perception of our sages, we somehow manage to communicate with others what is going on in this mysterious inner world within our minds. But how we do this, we don’t really know. So when we don’t really understand what is going on in our mind, is it any wonder that we don’t know what’s going on in someone else’s mind, that we misunderstand each other, and fail to communicate with one another?

And yet language is the basic mode of connecting with others, of acquiring knowledge. We learn from others by listening to them, by processing the information we receive externally through the complex internal mechanisms of our own mind. We’ve already mentioned that ideas and words are inextricably connected. Whatever idea we have has a corresponding word to express it; the ‘word and the thought are inseparable.’

Words spoken or written are external, whereas the idea or thought is the internal part. These two cannot be separated. Try it.

Can you have ideas or thoughts without words

A nun at the Vedanta Society of Northern California, San Francisco, USA, since 1972, Pravrajika Virajaprana is the editor and compiler of Photographs of Swami Vivekananda. She has contributed many thoughtprovoking articles for Vedanta Kesari and Prabuddha Bharata. This article is based on her talk on the same subject delivered at the Vedanta Society in April 2013. o T h e

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and similarly can you have words without ideas or thoughts? It’s impossible to separate them. Furthermore, we can’t think without a symbol and language which is composed of words constitutes those symbols. When we think we are actually hearing ourselves verbalize thought. We cannot think without sound.

So when we are thinking, we are actually quietly talking and simultaneously listening to ourselves, though external audible sound is absent. As just mentioned, a finer form of sound is involved in forming thoughts and in thinking, which is just putting certain thoughts together. Unless we speak or hear someone else speak, we cannot verbally communicate with them, or have any definite notion of what they are thinking, except of course through what we designate as unspoken language, such as body language.

But even in this case, there is a symbolic representation or communication of the inner thought of the other person through their behaviour. We generalize and interpret this behaviour based on our previous experience—a dubious source of knowledge.

Swamiji makes an important point in Raja Yoga, that though there must always be a word with a thought, ‘it is not necessary that the same thought requires the same word.’ The thought may be the same in so many different countries, yet language varies. So though the word is necessary for the expression of thought, these words ‘need not necessarily T h e

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have the same sound.’ Sri Ramakrishna gives an example of this when he speaks of water.

The content of the word water is the same but it is expressed variously in diverse languages, such as, aqua, pani, jal, etc. For example, with the exception of Swami Vivekananda who spoke English, many of our great spiritual teachers communicated in languages unfamiliar to many of us in the West. We read and study their teachings in translation, in a language that is known to us. However, though the words vary, the content, the idea behind the word, is the same.

In the 6th chapter of the Chandogya Upanisad, Shvetaketu, a young Brahmacharin twelve years old, was sent by his father to a teacher to study the Vedas. Having studied all the relevant texts, he returned to his father’s house when he was twenty-four, conceited, arrogant and considering himself quite learned. His father recognized this and asked him, By the way, Shvetaketu, did you think to ask for that teaching about the Supreme Brahman, ‘through which what is unheard becomes heard, what is unthought of becomes thought of, what is unknown becomes known?’

Obviously, Shvetaketu hadn’t thought of asking about how something which is unheard, can be heard. This is somewhat like the Zen koan, hearing the sound of the clapping of one hand. His father then imparts a profound teaching to him which begins,

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Dear boy, just as through a single clod of clay all that is made of clay would become known, for all modification is but name based upon words and the clay alone is real.

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So the sounds or words may vary but the connection between the thought and the sound, or the symbol and that which it signified exists. Therefore hearing is intimately connected with our thinking.

Hearing is Different from Listening There is a qualitative difference between hearing and listening. Though both are biological processes and involve the same components, hearing is basically mechanical; whereas listening is a conscious effort to direct our attention, to concentrate on what is being heard, whether it is the spoken word or something read. Listening is hearing with attention. When we listen, we are fully engaged, focused, and concentrated.

Artists, musicians, poets, and others who are sensitive to their surroundings describe their experience of listening attentively mostly with regard to nature, such as poetic descriptions given of the gentle sound of the wind in the trees, birdsong deep in the forest at dawn, raindrops splashing in a pool of water, and so on. Henry David Thoreau, the American transcendentalist, remarked: I wish to hear the silence of the night, for the silence is something positive and to be heard. I cannot walk with my ears covered. I must stand still and listen with open ears, far from the noises of the village. . . . A night in which the silence was audible, I heard the unspeakable.

It is their sensitivity to the natural world, the world of ideas and emotions and their creative response that marks them as artists and often lifts them above the senses.

In spiritual life this response is even more true and relevant. And this is exactly the point of cultivating the art of listening. Listening to the great spiritual masters is the first step on our spiritual journey. They are telling us, describing to us, subtle spiritual truths that at T h e

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present we have limited or no access to. Our ordinary experience doesn’t encompass the realm beyond thought and mind. So we have no other recourse except to listen to what they have to say about it. As we’ve seen, listening and thinking are intimately connected.

And through deep thinking, reflection and meditation upon what we have carefully listened to, we are able to gradually experience the subtle realms of spiritual reality, which transcends all sound and thought. So learning the art of listening is extremely important in recovering our true Self.

In the Vedantic scriptures this threefold method of attaining Self-Knowledge, hearing, reflection and meditation, shravana, manana, and nididhyasana, that Yajnavalkya taught to Maitereyi usually translates shravana as hearing, but for the purposes of this discussion, we will focus on the first of this threefold method, shravana, as listening. In the Panchadasi, an important Vedantic text, shravana is defined as ‘listening with faith and reverence to the pertinent passages and trying to understand their meaning.’ Through listening and reflection the seeker’s doubts and misconceptions regarding the existence of Brahman, its nature and means of attainment, can be removed and a firm conviction established.

Adi Shankaracharya’s Atmabodha states that to realize one’s true Self directly and clearly ‘like a fruit on the palm of one’s hand,’ and not just to understand it intellectually, one has to first hear the truth. ‘Hearing means listening to the instruction of a qualified teacher, who explains from the scriptures the oneness of the individual self and Brahman.’

Clearly, listening to an enlightened person is essential.

Now the practical question arises: How to develop the true art of listening? Let’s

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consider three factors that are essential: 1) interest; 2) appreciation for the value of what we are listening to; 3) mindfulness.

1. Interest: Whatever we are interested in, we effortlessly give our attention to that.

Interest stimulates our feelings, holds our attention, engages our entire personality; infuses us with energy. We become alive, as it were, through interest. Our attention follows our interest. If we are not interested in, say, chemistry or biology, we will not respond to what is being said about those subjects, no matter how intriguing the professor may make the material, because our heart isn’t in it.

Generally, our interest is scattered over many things. The more scattered we are, the harder it is to focus our attention on any one thing and hence we drift, become inattentive; the mind closes down instead of listening.

But in spiritual life we have to become one-pointed; our interest has to be directed within. As one of our late senior swamis said, ‘Unless you have withdrawn your mind from outside interests, you will not be able to hold your mind inside.’ This is a very profound statement, which certainly governs our ability to listen attentively. If we are not really interested in something, for all practical purposes, it doesn’t exist for us. As long as we are all wrapped up in this world and are satisfied here, that yearning for spirituality will never come. But the moment genuine yearning dawns, our interest begins to shift from worldly things to the divine.

So having an intense interest in acquiring spiritual knowledge, in Self-realization, is perhaps one of the most salient means of cultivating the actual skill of listening. In Sadananda’s Vedantasara, it is mentioned that one should approach the teacher as if one’s hair has caught fire. If our hair is on fire, we won’t stop to consider how it happened, or T h e

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how to extinguish the flames. We won’t take the time to ask all these questions; we just rush to put out the fire. That’s how urgent it is; that’s how strong our interest should be. And then there is still another factor: feeling, love.

As Swamiji said, ‘Love concentrates the will without effort.’ What we love, we want to hear about it. It is said that Swami Brahmananda used to attend monastic classes just to listen to scriptural discourses or holy readings. The more we listen, the more we want to listen, because we get joy from it.

2. Appreciation for the value of what we are listening to: This is the second factor in cultivating the art of listening. Whatever we value, we have respect for that and want to hear about it. We pay attention to it and find delight in dwelling on it, because it has meaning for us. A spiritual seeker is deeply appreciative of what the teacher and scriptures are imparting. There is no other source for this kind of knowledge other than our own direct experience. In the Viveka-chudamani again and again the Sanskrit word srunu, listen, is mentioned. The teacher keeps reminding the disciple to listen to what is being said. ‘Listen attentively, O learned one, to what I am going to say. By listening to it you will be instantly free from the bondage of samsara.’

As Shankara said the scriptures are like hundreds of mothers and fathers eagerly seeking to instruct, to guide, and to uplift the seeker. So the value in listening to our spiritual teachers is immeasurable, incomparable. It is the means for crossing this terrible ocean of birth and death. That is why it is so important to give our undivided attention to them.

There’s another point to remember here and that is the words of an enlightened person, as well as those of the scriptures, are imbued with tremendous spiritual power; they convey the assurance of the truth and our ability to

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realize it, which strengthens our convictions and impels us to intensify our practices. As we’ve mentioned, our minds, thoughts, words, sound itself all are vibrations. The words of one who has had experience of the Truth has a subtle influence on our own thoughts. We will also begin to vibrate with the same frequency.

The power of holiness purifies us, which is a great gain. The Srimad Bhagavatm says through this contact, we touch the Divine, the presence of God. 3. Mindfulness: Mindfulness is the third factor in mastering the art of listening.

Ordinarily, there is so much noise inside our minds, we are so scattered, that we can’t possibly listen to someone else; we are too busy with what’s going on in our own head. With regard to this, one of our swamis remarked, ‘We cannot listen to the voice of God when our minds are dissipated, given to restless activity and are filled externally and internally with noise.’ So in order to listen properly, we have to learn to filter, to screen our thoughts, to quiet the vibrations within.

To a large extent, through diligent practice we can learn to control our thoughts and thinking. Concentration of the mind is a major player in this. Swami Vivekananda once said that if he had to undergo his education again, he would empty his mind of everything he had learned, and simply focus on developing the power of concentration, so that he could direct his mind at will wherever he wanted it, and similarly he could detach it at will. Even in our daily lives when we

pay attention and listen carefully to others, to ourselves, and to the world around us, it is an excellent training for listening to the subtle truths of the spiritual realm. After all, it is the same mind that receives and processes all information, secular or spiritual.

Likewise we can choose what we hear; we don’t have to be hapless victims. But how can we possibly choose what we want to hear?

Mainly by our response. Learning the skill of listening is also the result of conscious effort and practice, of bringing more self-awareness, more mindfulness. Again, it is a matter of how much attention we give the sound. If we do not infuse emotion or energy into what we hear, our interest wanes; the meaning fades and drops away. The mind simply doesn’t go there.

The law of association operates in how we sort out what we hear. What we hear has to be relevant to us or it has no meaning. Relevance directs our response.

If we deprive sound of it’s meaning, it doesn’t affect us in the same way, either positively or negatively. We remain neutral.

Similarly, if we empower sound with meaning, then what we listen to can have a profound effect on us. That is why the teacher exhorts the disciple: ‘Listen attentively . . . to what I am going to say. By listening to it, you will be instantly free from the bondage of relative existence.’

And what can be more relevant and transforming for a spiritual seeker than listening to such words of an enlightened teacher?

(Concluded.)

O Lord, I do not want any kingdom, nor heavenly pleasure, nor even escape from rebirth. But I do want that the affliction of all beings tormented by the miseries of life may cease.

—Vishnupurana, I. 19. 82 T h e

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Travelogue

His Abiding Presence

A Pilgrimage to Swami Vivekananda’s Room in Belur Math A MONASTIC SOJOURNER

The Location ‘Here I am writing in my room on the Ganga, in the Math’, wrote Swami Vivekananda [CW, 6.440].

It is so quiet and still! The broad river is dancing in the bright sunshine, only now and then an occasional cargo boat breaking the silence with the splashing of the oars. It is the cold season here, but the middle of the day is warm and bright every day. . . Everything is green and gold, and the grass is like velvet; yet the air is cold and crisp and delightful.

This gives an idea as to how Swami Vivekananda viewed his surroundings, the Belur Math and Ganges, from his room— located on the banks of Ganga, near Kolkata.

What many people do not know is that Swamiji’s room is maintained and preserved as if Swamiji is living there and using it. There

is a presence in the ethereal atmosphere of the room, a place filled with Swami Vivekananda.

Swamiji loved his room and was always glad to be back to it after his travels, and even after a short visit to Kolkata. In this room he wrote, gave instructions to his brother-monks and disciples, received his friends, had his meal, rested and communed with God. And in this very room he gave up his body in final meditation.

Swamiji’s room, as it is popularly known, is a part of the sacred precincts of Belur Math.

Located in the Howrah district of West Bengal, some seven kilometres from the Howarh Railway Station, on the GT Road, Belur Math is a well-known place of pilgrimage. Thousands of visitors come to Belur Math every day from all parts of India and, many from beyond the borders, seeking peace and inspiration.

Belur Math from Ganges

The author is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order. He gratefully acknowledges the help he received from various monks in Belur Math and elsewhere in preparing this article. o T h e

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a spiritually elevating ambience. We will, however, describe the room where Swami Vivekananda lived and passed away (in 1902).

Swamiji’s room is situated behind the majestic temple of Sri Ramakrishna. The room is on the first floor of the building which is one of the first structures when the Belur Math was founded. The room is, therefore, located in a building which is more than a century old.

Swamiji’s room is on the corner of the building. One sees Ganga flowing by from the eastern windows.

A view of the building where Swamiji's room is located (corner, upstairs) A veranda in front of the room gives a panoramic view of the Ganga. The ceiling of the room is lined with wooden rafts which hold the tiles. It is an old fashioned construction but strong and sturdy. A well maintained flower garden between the building and the Ghat on the Ganga (called ‘Swamiji’s Ghat’) adds a scenic charm to the place. Two vintage lamp posts on the embankment, on the either side of the Ghat-steps, remind one of its heritage value.

The way to Swamiji’s room is either through the Math Courtyard, through an iron door, or through the Balcony and two windows meant for devotees to have brick-path along the Ganga. One leaves Darshan of Swamiji's room the footwear in the general footwear stand near the main temple or near the steps Belur Math was established in 1898 by leading to the room. There are two staircases Swami Vivekananda. Spread over several [which were built much later to facilitate acres of land, dotted with green lawns, devotees to have darshan of the room] on the gardens, buildings and pathways and so on, southern side of the building through which the Belur Math is an amazing place. There the visitors reach to a landing point or balcony are four temples along the Ganga, as also upstairs from where one looks through two many sacred memories and spots connected large door-like windows to have an idea of with Holy Mother, Swamiji and direct Swamiji’s room. There is another staircase, disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. The place has T h e

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Pakhwaj and Tanpura used by Swamiji

The large cot and the chair (with picture) used by Swamiji

from inside the building, which Swamiji used but now it is part of the monastic residence and hence the entry through that is restricted.

If one enters from the Math Courtyard, passing through the busy Math Office, one sees a large and old mango tree, some of its infirm branches supported by brick pillars. This is one of the trees that has existed from the time the Belur Math land was purchased. Swamiji’s biography records: Another favourite seat [of Swamiji] was under the big mango tree in the courtyard between Sri Ramakrishna’s shrine and the monastery building. Here he would usually be found in the morning hours, seated on a canvas cot and attending to his correspondence, or writing articles, or reading, or engaged in conversation.

exclaimed: ‘And where will you go to seek God? He is immanent in all beings. Here, here is the visible God! Shame on those who, disregarding the visible God, set their minds on other things!

Here is God before you as tangible as a fruit in your hand! Can’t you see! Here- here-here is God!’ He spoke these words in such an inspiring way that peace and insight of deep meditation came over all present there. They stood like statues, so motionless and hushed in silence had they become! Swami Premananda, after his bath in the Ganga, was on his way to the shrine for worship. Hearing the words of Swamiji he fell Swamiji's mango tree (supported by brick pillars) beside his room—a view from the Math courtyard

And, thus this tree is sacred to devotees and is known as ‘Swamiji’s mango tree’. This tree is a witness to many incidents connected with Swamiji’s life. One such incident: Once Swamiji was sitting on the canvas cot, facing west. His eyes were luminous; his whole frame seemed to be animated with some strange spiritual consciousness. Pointing to the sannyasins and brahmacharins about him, he T h e

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Swamiji's portrait on the large cot

Swamiji's slippers, near his bed

into a state of absorption and became motionless.

After a quarter of an hour Swamiji said to him, ‘Now go for worship.’ Only then did Swami Premananda regain normal consciousness. That scene was unforgettable. Everyone in the Math was struck with amazement at the power of Swamiji who, with a word, could raise the minds of all present to the heights of Supreme Insight.

The place has been a witness to many such spiritually inspiring incidents.

Inside the Room As one climbs up from the left staircase, one has the first closer view of Swamiji’s room. Inside, on a large cot and a small cot, and also on a chair, are kept pictures of Swami Vivekananda in glass frames. Near one of the pictures facing the visitors is glass case with a pair of wooden slippers (kharam) that he wore. Fresh flowers kept on the glass top and elsewhere in the room add to a sense of liveliness and brightness to the ambiance.

The room looks somewhat well-furnished and crowded. Keeping in mind that it is the place where one of the greatest monks of modern times lived, one wonders why there T h e

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should be many items of furniture there. The reason is not that Swamiji used them while he lived here but that after his passing away, many pieces of furniture or things that he used when he visited various parts of India, America and England were sent here for preserving their sanctity. Hence, the room looks a bit filled. But this filling in not just physical, there is something more intangible that leaves a lasting impression on one’s mind. One is overawed by a divine presence pervading the place.

During Swamiji’s time the room must have been less cluttered than it appears today. He was a monk par excellence and would have liked to live and move like free air. One can then visualise him in a spacious room with a bare minimum of furniture, sitting quietly or meditating, or being absorbed in the scenic beauty of the Ganga or reading.

Here lived the great sage of whom Sri Ramakrishna said he was a ‘Dhyana Siddha (perfect in meditation) even from the very birth.’

There are many items used by Swamiji neatly and respectfully kept there. Some of

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them are: a mirror with wooden frame, a wooden cupboard, an iron spring-cot with mattress, a pillow and two bolsters, a wooden camp cot, knitted with canvas, a wooden sofa (covered with synthetic leather), a wooden table with drawers and some smaller pieces of furniture. A blotting holder with paper board on the table is a reminder of Swamiji’s writing habits.

Besides, there are many other personal articles used by Swamiji. While most of the items which Swamiji used are now enshrined in the Ramakrishna Museum in Belur Math (along with sacred articles related to Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi and other direct disciples), some are kept in his room. For instance there are the cane sticks that he used, the musical instruments such as Tanpura and Pakhawaj he played, one of his silk turban (in a glass case), a wooden

happily distributed them to people as a kind of ‘visiting card’, as she said. Why crystal?

‘Nothing but crystal can represent Swamiji’, was her answer.

It is indeed ‘living room’, not a place where someone is not physically present.

The ‘Life’ inside the Room ‘The moon is not up yet, but there is a sunless glow upon the river,’ writes Swamiji in one of his letters [CW, 9. 164].

Our mighty Ganges (She is indeed mighty now, during the rains) is splashing against the walls of the house. Numerous tiny boats are flitting up and down in the dark; they have come to fish for our shads, which come up the river this season. . . It is raining outside—pouring. But the moment this downpour ceases, I rain through every pore—it is so hot yet. . . .

I would not take any supper tonight, as I ate rather heartily of the aforesaid shad! Then I have to think, think, think on my theme; and some subjects I think best in bed because the whole is made clear to me in dream. Therefore, I am going to bed , . . . ’

umbrella and a few others.

On the table is a picture of Sri Ramakrishna on a wooden altar. Beside the picture, there is an oval-shaped crystal stand with an image of Swamiji as a wandering monk.

In the crystal, Swamiji is conceived of as the great God Shiva; hence, there is also Nandi, the Bull, the vehicle of Shiva, in front of him. Miss Josephine McLeod, an American associate of Swamiji, got it made most likely in 1917. She got a number of them made and

Swamiji’s room is maintained as if he is still there. At dawn, a little before 4, the doors and windows of the room are opened, Agarbati is lit and Swamiji’s framed

Swamiji's Ghat and garden on Ganga, seen from Swamiji's room

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picture, which had been laid on the bed on the previous night, symbolising rest and sleep, is placed upright against the pillow on the cot. A little later, all furnitures is dusted and the place is cleaned and mopped by a monastic. Around 8 in the morning, fresh flowers are placed before his pictures and Agarbatis are lit. There is always a steady stream of devotees and monks to the room except between 11.30 and 3.30 when the room is closed. Again, in the afternoon, it is open to public till the evening Arati. At night, all flowers are removed, the place is cleaned and Swamiji’s picture is laid on the bed, again, and mosquito curtain is drawn over his bed and a dim green bulb is put on signifying rest and sleep. This has been the routine of the place for the past more than a century.

Only on Swamiji’s birthday a special decoration and offering of food is done. On that day, musicians sing Hindustani classical music, especially the Dhrupad style, in the balcony in front of the room. Swamiji was deeply fond of Dhrupad style and other forms of Indian classical music.

His Abiding Presence There are many places connected with Swamiji that have now been made into monuments such as his ancestral house in Kolkata where he was born and grew up, his Samadhi Mandir in Belur Math, the Vivekanandar Illam in Chennai, the room in Belgaum, and a few more. But Swamiji’s room is a special place. It is special on two counts: he himself liked it and mentioned it in some of his letters and second because he left his body in Mahasamadhi in this room. Hence the room has a special place in the hearts of all devotees and admirers of Swamiji.

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who visit it. Once Mahatma Gandhi came to Belur Math on a visit. He said, I have come here [Belur Math] to pay my homage and respect to the revered memory of Swami Vivekananda, whose birthday is being celebrated today [6 February 1921]. I have gone through his works very thoroughly, and after having gone through them, the love that I had for my country became a thousand fold. I ask you, young men, not to go away empty handed without imbibing something of the spirit of the place where Swami Vivekananda lived and died.

Here is another a tribute by Emma Calvé (1858-1942) one of the famous opera singers of her days. She had met Swamiji and her life underwent a change after she met and interacted with him. She recalled, Years later, when I was travelling in India, I wished to visit the convent where the Swami had spent his last days. His mother took me there. I saw the beautiful marble tomb that one of his American friends, Mrs. Leggett, had erected over his grave. I noticed that there was no name upon it. I asked his brother, who was a monk in the same Order, the reason of this omission. He looked at me in astonishment, and with a noble gesture that I remember to this day. ‘He has passed on,’ he answered. . . . The monks of the Swami’s brotherhood received us with simple, kindly hospitality. They offered us flowers and fruits, spreading a table for us on the lawn beneath a welcome shade.

At our feet the mighty Ganga flowed. Musicians played to us on strange instruments, weird, plaintive chants that touched the very heart. A poet improvised a melancholy recitative in praise of the departed Swami. The afternoon passed in a peaceful, contemplative calm.’

Many brother-disciples of Swamiji have testified to Swamiji’s abiding presence in his room. Here are a few instances: Years after the demise of Swamiji, Swami Vijnanananda was asked:

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‘Do you see Swamiji even now?’ Swami Vijnanananda’s reply was: ‘Won’t I see him when he is here?’

He clarified his statement on another occasion: Swamiji is still here! When I pass by his room, I tiptoe lest he should be disturbed. I don’t generally look into his room lest his eyes should catch mine. He takes his walk along this balcony, moves about on the terrace, sings in his room, and does many other things.

Once, in the early days of Belur Math, for want of a resting place, two young monks slept in the narrow passage in front of Swamiji’s room. Swami Shivananda observed it and asked them to get up and sleep elsewhere. He told them, My boys, Swamiji walks here; it will be inconvenient for him if you people rest here.

He very much lives here. Don’t obstruct his movements.

Another day, Swami Shivananda was seen in front of Swamiji’s room looking intently inside the room and repeatedly saying, ‘Good morning, Swamiji’. Later he told others, ‘Today is a blessed day. I got the vision of Swamiji. Finishing his morning walk he was entering the room; it was just then I saw him. He was overwhelmed in bliss.’ That whole day Swami Shivananda was in Swamijiconsciousness and reminisced about Swamiji.

During the dedication of Swamiji’s temple in January 1924, Swami Shivananda said: ‘Swamiji lives in this Belur Math even now. How many days I have seen him in his room immersed in deep meditation!

Sometimes I saw him pacing in the room.’

As one walks towards the Samadhi Mandir of Swami Vivekananda on the other end of Belur Math campus, some 100 meters from his room, one is reminded of him again.

Here his physical remains were consigned to fire in 1902.

The place was chosen by Swamiji himself. His Life records: Three days before his passing away, as the Swami was walking up and down on the spacious lawn of the monastery in the afternoon with Swami Premananda, he pointed to a particular spot on the bank of the Ganga, and said to his brother-monk gravely, ‘When I give up the body, cremate it there!’ On that very spot stands today a temple in his honour.

Indeed, Swamiji lives on. Did he not himself say it once, It may be that I shall find it good to get outside my body, to cast it off like a worn out garment.

But I shall not cease to work. I shall inspire men everywhere until the whole world shall know that it is one with God.

A pilgrimage to Swamiji’s room in Belur Math convinces one of this.1 o Swamiji's Samadhi Mandir, Belur Math

Reference 1. For more details, please see, A Pilgrimage to Belur Math, by Swami Asutoshananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai, Pp.142 T h e

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Gayatri Mantra—Its Glory and Practice ANNA SUBRAMANIAN

A Revealed Mantra Says Swami Vivekananda1 There is a Mantra called the Gayatri. It is a very holy verse of the Vedas. ‘We meditate on the glory of that Being who has produced this universe; may He enlighten our minds.’

Like all Vedic mantras, the Gayatri too was revealed to a Rishi or a seer of Truth.

It was revealed to Rishi Vishwamitra who became well-known for this.

Vishwamitra was born a Kshatriya and was a mighty ruler. However, early in life he realised that the valour of the Kshatriya was not of much value and that real strength lay in the effulgence of Brahma Vidya, the Knowledge of Brahman, and thus he took to severe penance which finally revealed to him the sacred Gayatri Mantra.

Vishwamitra also appears in the Ramayana. It was he who led Rama and Lakshmana in their first exploit against the demons. He gave them the bala [‘powerful’] and atibala [‘very powerful’], an elaborate and applied form of Gayatri, to keep them free from hunger and thirst and weariness and fear of evil forces. He says to Rama bala and atibala are the Mothers of all knowledge and wisdom which I have obtained by penance; you are the fittest person to receive it.

It is mentioned that he taught Rama how to do daily Gayatri Upasana—worship,

or Upasana, of God through Gayatri. This worship is to be done in morning. When Vishwamitra wakes up Rama in the morning, by saying, ‘O, Prince of valour, rise up, it is time for the worship of the Divine,’2 it is a rousing call to all humanity. This is not a call only to Rama but to all those who have to do Sandhya worship [the worship at the ‘joining times’ of morning, afternoon and evening] and Gayatri Japam.

Such reminders are seen throughout the Ramayana. The Ramayana itself is conceived as a tribute to Gayatri and every letter of Gayatri is glorified by a thousand verses beginning with that letter, making up twenty four thousand for twenty four letters.

Vishwamitra also symbolizes physical strength and spiritual eminence. Gayatri too signifies both. The invocation to Gayatri says: I invoke Gayatri Devi who grants the desired boons, who is revealed in the Vedas, who is the Mother of the Vedas, who is embodiment of all letters and sounds, who is worshipped as Mahadevi, Sandhya, Vidya and Saraswati. He who worship Her is freed from the sins of day time during the day itself and the sins of the night before the night passes away.

Gayatri! You are the vital force, the virility of the senses, the valour which defeats enemies, the light of knowledge, the effulgence of Devas, the embodiment of the world, the time spirit and the

The author, initiated by Swami Shivananda (a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna), was a close devotee of Ramakrishna Math and an authority on this subject. His several books in Tamil on Vedic tradition have been published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai. We are thankful to Sri K.S. Subramaniam, his grandson, for providing us this hitherto unpublished article. o T h e

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promoter of longevity. You are all, you preside over everything. You are Gayatri; you are Savitri, Saraswati, the power behind all divinities.

The Universal Being who creates all of us, who awakens the intelligence of all of us, who shines as the brilliant ray before us, His supreme glory we adore.

All actions, all forms of workship and all Mantras are rooted in Gayatri. Without Gayatri, other Mantras are not fully effective. As all rivers merge in the ocean, all mantras merge in Gayatri. Shaivites or Vaishnavites, northerners or southerners, the one mantra common to all is Gayatri.3

Practice of Gayatri Japa The Gayatri is our common heritage. One who receives Gayatri is called dvija, the twiceborn. The dvija is also compared to a bird, which is also called dvija. A bird is first born as an egg and then breaks the shell and comes out with wings to fly in the infinite space. In the same way, after we are physically born, we have to break our shells of physicality and selfishness and become participants in the universal life of the spirit. This is the meaning and purpose of initiation into Gayatri.

It is believed that those who do the sandhya worship facing the sun, rising and setting sun, overcome the dark evil forces which prevent the rise of the sun of knowledge and attain all that is good. A seeker should realise that the Supreme Being seated in the sun is the same as the being enshrined in his heart.

Gayatri is also called Adyasakti, the Origin of Divine Power. It is called Savita in the Veda. Savita is another name of sun (surya). There is no difference between sun and Gayatri. In divinity there is no male or female.

Again, the sun is the best revelation of Divine Power before our bare eyes. When He rises, T h e

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He awakens all. When He sets, He puts all to sleep. So the sages have chosen the sun as the Supreme symbol for Upasana or worship of the Divine. Those who cannot see the Divine in the Sun are unfortunate.

Gayatri initiation is given to the children before they enter the world. The form is being kept up by tradition but the ‘clear stream of reason has lost its way in the dreary desert sand of dead habit’. Our forefathers wanted that spiritual life should be built up on the foundation of Gayatri. But often a person who gets initiated into Gayatri (Upanayanam) with all paraphernalia forgets its real purpose.

Hence it is seen that after receiving the Gayatri Mantra, he often seeks other Mantras and Upasanas and neglects sandhya worship and Gayatri Japam. Perhaps, they fail to realize the value of Gayatri because they received it without asking for it. Nevertheless, Gayatri holds its first place in religious life. No religious ceremony in the Hindu tradition is valid without reciting Pranava or Om, and, at least, a little of Gayatri Japam.

It is declared that Gayatri grants, apart from its spiritual benefits, the fulfillment of cherished desires, cures diseases, and endow the devotee with long life. If one is bathed in water consecrated by Gayatri repetition, it will free one from all afflictions. The claim is not an exaggeration. Similarly, there is no psychic disorder which is not removed by a devoted and constant repetition of Gayatri. Even if the mind is wandering while repeating the mantra, the Japam will not fail to have its effect as it works on the unconscious mind.

In addition to the daily Japam, what is called Purash-charanam can be taken up once in a way. Purashcharanam is the worship of the Mantra Devata followed by Japam, Homam, Tarpanam, Abhishekam and Brahmanabhojanam.

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The Purashcharanam should be done in a pure and holy place and in a sattvic way. While doing the Purashcharanam, one should control one’s carnal passion and anger.

One should not be lazy nor mix with impure persons. Unnecessary speech and movement should also be avoided. Time should be spent in Puja, Bhajan, reading of holy books and meditation.

After Puja, Japam should be done with repetition of the mantra. One should do Japa with a concentrated mind, visualizing the identity of mantra with the Devata and the Guru. The repetition should be done slowly and clearly, a fixed number of times morning and evening. The number may be a total of one lakh or more or less according to convenience and may extend over a few days. One can use a Japa Mala to keep the count. The Sadhaka should constantly strive to keep, the body pure and the mind unsullied.

Gayatri Mantra is a sacred tradition handed down for countless centuries. It contains the essence of all spiritual disciplines.

To put the spirit and essence of Gayatri in simple words, one may recall the Prayersong of Rabindranath from his famed book, Gitanjali: Life of my life, I shall ever try to keep my body pure, knowing that thy living touch is upon all my limbs.

I shall ever try to keep all untruths out from my thoughts, knowing that thou art that truth which has kindled the light of reason in my mind.

I shall ever try to drive all evils away from my heart and keep my love in flower, knowing that thou hast thy seat in the inmost shrine of my heart.

And it shall be my endeavour to reveal thee in my actions, knowing it is thy power that gives me strength to act.

This indeed should be the attitude of a practitioner of Gayatri Upasana. o

Conclusion

References 1. CW, I: 192

3. Am`mVw daXm Xodr Aja§ ~«÷g§{_V_². . .

Yaurveda-Taittirya-Narayana Valli-Anu, 3435

2. {Y½~b§ j{Ì`~b§ ~«÷VoOmo-~b§ ~b_²&

EHo$Z ~«÷XÊS>oZ gdm©ñÌm{U hVm{Z _o&& Valmiki Ramayana, 1.56.23

The sound Om is Brahman. The rishis and sages practiced austerity to realize that Sound-Brahman. After attaining perfection one hears the sound of this eternal Word rising spontaneously from the navel. ‘What will you gain,’ some sages ask, ‘by merely hearing this sound?’ You hear the roar of the ocean from a distance. By following the trail of Om you attain Brahman, of which the Word is the symbol.

—Sri Ramakrishna, Gospel, p.404

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Glimpses of Swamiji

Swami Vivekananda— The Wandering Monk [During his itinerant days] once it occurred to the Swami [Vivekananda] that going from place to place and begging for food from door to door was after all not the aim for the realization of which he had renounced his home. In a letter written about this time to one of his brother-disciples he says dejectedly, ‘I am going about taking food at others’ houses shamelessly and without the least compunction, like a crow.’

On the occasion in question, the thought came to him: ‘Let me beg no longer! What benefit is it to the poor to feed me? If they can save a handful of rice, they can feed their own children with it. Anyway, what is the use of sustaining this body if I cannot realize God?’ A desperate spiritual dissatisfaction and ascetic mood came upon him, as sometimes happens with great souls. In this moment of despair he determined to plunge into a forest and, like some Rishi of old, let the body drop from starvation and exhaustion. Without more ado he entered a thick forest that stretched for miles before him, and walked the whole day without food. Evening approached. Faint with fatigue, he sank to the ground beneath a tree, fixing his mind on the Lord, and looking vacantly into the distance.

After some time he saw a tiger approaching. Nearer and nearer it came. Then it sat down at some distance from him. The Swami thought, ’Ah! this is right; both of us are hungry. After all, this body has not been the means of the absolute realization. Therefore T h e

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by it no good to the world will possibly be done. It is well and desirable that it should be of service at least to this hungry beast.’

He was reclining there all the while, calm and motionless, waiting for the tiger to pounce on him at any moment; but for some reason or other the animal made off on its own accord.

The Swami thought that it might yet return, and waited; but it did not. He spent the night in the jungle, communing with his own soul.

As dawn approached, a sense of great power came upon him. The content of this experience was known only to himself.

On another occasion also, he became dizzy from exhaustion and could walk no farther. The sun was intolerably hot. Managing to reach a tree near by, he sat down beneath it.

A sense of unutterable fatigue came over his limbs. Then, as a light shines in the darkness, the thought came to him, ‘Is it not true that within the Soul resides all power? How can it be dominated by the senses and the body?

How can I be weak?’ With that there was a surge of energy through his body. His mind was flooded with light; his senses revived. He rose and journeyed on, determined that he would never again yield to weakness. Many times he was in a similar condition during his wandering life; but he asserted his higher nature, and strength flowed back to him. Later, in one of his lectures, the Swami said:

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no farther; I would sink down under a tree, and life would seem to be ebbing away. I could not speak, I could scarcely think, but at last the mind reverted to the idea: ‘I have no fear nor death; never was I born, never did I die; I never hunger or thirst. I am It! I am It! The whole of nature cannot crush me; it is my servant. Assert thy strength, thou Lord of lords and God of gods!

Regain thy lost empire! Arise and walk and stop not!’ And I would rise up, reinvigorated; and here I am today, living! Thus, whenever darkness comes, assert the reality, and everything adverse must vanish. For, after all, it is but a dream.

of rain. Drenched, I felt somewhat refreshed. I arose and, after trudging along some distance, I reached a monastery. My life was saved by the food that I received there.

At another time, while travelling on foot in Kutch, he was passing through a desert. The sun scorched him; his throat was parched; and no human dwelling was to be seen. On and on he went, until he saw a village with inviting pools of water. He was happy at the prospect of finding food, drink and shelter there. He hastened forward, thinking that he would soon be there. After walking on for a long time he found the village as far off as ever. In despair, he sat down on the sands and looked about him. Where was the village? Where had it gone? Then he knew—it had been only a mirage! ‘Such is life!’ he thought: ‘Such is the deceptiveness of Maya!’ He rose and journeyed on; and though he saw the mirage again, he was no more deceived, for he now knew it for what it was. When he gave a series of lectures in the West on Maya, he compared it to a mirage, using this experience for illustration.

Once he said in the presence of a disciple, as if speaking to himself: Oh, the days of suffering I passed through! Once, after eating nothing for three days, I fell down senseless on the road. I do not know how long I was in that state. When I regained consciousness I found my clothing wet through from a shower

t

Many were the times when the Swami faced danger, hardship and want in solitude— with nothing in his possession save perhaps a photograph of Sri Ramakrishna and a copy of the Gita. . . It was in that period that he lived with a family of the sweeper caste and saw the priceless worth and potentialities that could be found among those whom society rejected.

It must have been contacts and experiences like this that made him realize the distressing condition of his country, and turned him into the champion of her depressed millions.

Poverty and misery he saw on every side, and his heart was overwhelmed with compassion.

With all this he was in his heart of hearts the monk. As days went by, he came to see more and more that the fundamental requirements of the modern renaissance were spiritual. So, in his own life, he concentrated all the energies of his personality on following the monastic ideal. It is not surprising, then, that the monks who met him were impressed by him and loved him. How often did he not do them a service, regarding them as bearers of India’s highest ideal! It is told that in the Himalayas he chanced to meet an old monk suffering from the extreme cold. He was one of those monks who wander about like lions, scorning any protection over their heads; but he was ill and miserably cold. The Swami was passing by and saw his plight. At once he took off the only blanket that he had to cover himself with and put it over the monk. The latter looked up, and, with a smile of gratitude, uttered the words, ‘May Narayana bless you!’ o

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Reference: Life of Swami Vivekananda by His Eastern and Western Disciples, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, 1: 352-355 T h e

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Sri Ramakrishna was a master story-teller. While he spoke of profound spiritual truths and mystery of human life, he amply used stories, anecdotes, examples and analogies to drive home his point. At times, while narrating a story, he would even make gestures and change the tone of his voice to bring in a lively element in his narrative. The following stories, mainly culled from The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai) are an attempt to present before the readers Sri Ramakrishna’s rich store-house of stories which are both illuminating and simple.

33 Disciple who Practiced Hathayoga Another disciple said to his teacher: ‘Revered sir, my wife takes great care of me. It is for her sake that I cannot give up the world.’

The disciple practised hathayoga. The teacher taught him, too, a trick to test his wife's love. One day there was a great wailing in his house. The neighbours came running and saw the hathayogi seated in a posture, his limbs paralysed and distorted. They thought he was dead.

His wife fell on the ground, weeping piteously: ‘Oh, what has befallen me? How have you provided for our future? Oh, friends, I never dreamt I should meet such a fate!’

In the mean time the relatives and friends had brought a cot to take the corpse out. But suddenly a difficulty arose as they started to move it. Since the body was twisted and stiff, it could not be taken out through the door. A neighbour quickly brought an axe and began to chop away the door-frame. The wife was crying bitterly, when she heard the sound of the axe.

She ran to the door. ‘What are you doing, friends?’ she asked, still weeping. The neighbour said, 'We can't take the body out; so we are chopping away the door-frame.'

‘Please’, said the wife, ‘don’t do any such thing. I am a widow now; I have no one to

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look after me. I have to bring up these young children. If you destroy this door, I shall not be able to replace it. Friends, death is inevitable for all, and my husband cannot be called back to life. You had better cut his limbs.’

The hathayogi at once stood up. The effect of the medicine had worn off. He said to his wife: ‘You evil one! You want to cut off my hands and feet, do you?’

So saying, he renounced home and followed his teacher. (p.771) Man’s Inordinate Attachment Once Hriday brought a bull-calf here. I saw, one day, that he had tied it with a rope in the garden, so that it might graze there. I asked him, ‘Hriday, why do you tie the calf there every day?’

‘Uncle,’ he said, ‘I am going to send this calf to our village. When it grows strong I shall yoke it to the plough.’

As soon as I heard these words I was stunned to think: ‘How inscrutable is the play of the divine maya! Kamarpukur and Sihore are so far away from Calcutta! This poor calf must go all that way. Then it will grow, and at length it will be yoked to the plough. This is indeed the world! This is indeed maya!’

I fell down unconscious. Only after a long time did I regain consciousness. (p. 270)

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The Order on the March Ramakrishna Math and Mission—News and Notes

Commemoration of the 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda Flood Relief in Uttarakhand Our Kankhal centre continued its relief operations among the victims of the flashfloods in Rudraprayag district, Uttarakhand. The centre distributed 24,100 kg rice, 10,700 kg atta (flour), 5360 kg dal (lentils), 9500 kg potatoes, 4550 kg salt, 4332 kg soybean nuggets, 108 kg assorted spices, 2140 kg milk powder, 758 kg sugar, 500 utensil-sets [each set containing a bucket, a cooking vessel, a ladle, a tawa (griddle), bowl, tumbler, plate, etc], 1665 plates, 2324 bowls, 2324 tumblers, 820 pressure cookers, 1665 tawas (griddles), 1572 solar lanterns, 2159 torches, 25,680 candles, 21,400 matchboxes, 2324 saris, 2983 dhotis, 4648 blankets, 2324 bedsheets and 1500 umbrellas among 5504 families of 57 inaccessible villages in Rudraprayag, Sonprayag, Guptakashi and Ukhi Math areas from our camps in Agastya Muni (1 Climbing through slush and stones to reach relief material to 7 July) and Phata (7 to 30 July).

Besides, 1389 flood-affected patients were treated at our medical camps in Agastya Muni and Guptakashi.

The centre also arranged distribution of 220 kg chira (rice flakes), 120 kg gur (molasses), 100 utensil-sets (each set containing 2 buckets, a ladle, a bowl, a tumbler, a plate, a dish and a polythene sheet) and 100 blankets among 100 families belonging to a sweeper colony at Uttarakashi.

Our Dehradun centre has started a relief Distribution of relief materials camp at Joshi Math in Chamoli district. The centre distributed 8450 kg rice, 8450 kg atta (flour), 2967 kg dal (lentils), 690 kg potatoes, 690 kg onions, 1686 litres edible oil, 1332 kg soybean nuggets, 132 kg assorted spices, 1581 kg salt, 155 kg milk powder, 880 kg sugar, 690 kg gur (molasses), 244 kg tea, 3005 candles, 1302 packets of T h e

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matchboxes, 50 utensil-sets [each set containing a pressure cooker, a cooking vessel, a tawa (griddle), a tumbler and 4 plates], and 1622 blankets among 1674 affected families in Pandukeshwar, Govindghat and Niti blocks from 1 to 28 July. o 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda Celebrations at Gaborone in Botswana Celebrations to mark Swamiji’s 150th Birthday Anniversary were held at Gaborone, Botswana, from 18 to 21 July 2013. Swami Vimokshananda, the Spiritual Head of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, accompanied by some devotees from South Africa, took part in the celebrations. The four-day programme included, among other events, a function at Sri Balaji Temple, a talk on Swami Vivekananda and the

Importance of concentration in education at Lagae Academy—a multicultural private High School (400 students attended the lecture), a lecture at the Sai Centre (200 persons attended the lecture), release of a commemorative souvenir dedicated to Swami Vivekananda, distribution of food and milk to 200 poor children in a community in Nalledi, a public meeting at Botswana Hindu Society Hall in Maru-a-Pula and an interactive session with the youth. Singing of Bhajans, performance of Arati and distribution of Prasada marked celebrations.

The dignitaries who took part in the four-day function included Deputy Minister of Agriculture Mr. Oreeditse Molebatsi and High Commissioner of India, Mr. Madhav Chandra and Minister for Finance and Planning Mr Vincent T Streets. o Celebrations at the Santa Barbara branch of the Vedanta Society of Southern California A monastic panel on the theme of: Vedanta: A Blueprint for Everyday life. The panel of six nuns from the different convents led this retreat—two from Santa Barbara, two from Hollywood, and two from San Francisco. The panel addressed various subjects in spiritual life, ranging from philosophical topics to practical applications of Vedanta to modern-day life. The all-day retreat was an overwhelming success and DVDs of the event were made and are now being sold by Amazon and other retail outlets.

A Presentation by the Vedanta Society's Sunday School children. It portrayed the events at Antpur on Christmas Eve, leading to the formation of the Ramakrishna Order. The Sunday School children ranged in age from 4 years to 15 and the audience for the event, held in the Santa Barbara temple, was standingroom only.

An Interfaith Panel: The local clergy participated: a rabbi from the local synogogue, a Christian T h e

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Interfaith Meet and the presentation by Sunday School Children

minister from a local Protestant church, a Buddhist teacher and Pravrajika Vrajaprana was the Hindu representative. The topic for the day's retreat was ‘What Is the Problem (according to your faith tradition)?’ and ‘What Is the Solution (according to your faith tradition)?’. The programme was extremely well attended and greatly appreciated. o Vivekananda Ratha Yatra In Karnataka Launched early this year, the Vivekananda Ratha Yatra in Karnataka continued to travel various parts of the state. Recently the Ratha covered north Karnataka where it was accorded a rousing welcome.

Lectures, exhibitions and sale of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda marked the event. Some snaps:

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Book Review For review in The Vedanta Kesari, publishers need to send us two copies of their latest publication.

Swami Vivekananda— His Human Bonds

By J B Goyal Published by Book Power, 1595, Sector 38 B, Chandigarh. Third edition, 2012, hardback, pp. xix+204, Rs.335 This wellwritten book brings out the human face of Swami Vivekananda through examining his relationships with the many people who had the good fortune of living in his care. For, with Swamiji, anyone who came under his umbrella, was welcomed as his own. Swamiji had that unique capacity to make every person he came in contact with forget about every extraneous attribute—such as race, religion, gender, age—and only help a person to realise the divinity that lay hidden within.

The book has eleven chapters, followed by the epilogue. The first chapter is a tender account of Swamiji’s— Naren’s—relationship with his mother, Bhuvaneshwari Devi. The author brings out with great pathos the close bond Swamiji shared with her and the deep love, respect and reverence he felt for his mother. The writer makes clear that, despite the hectic schedule which Swamiji had chosen to bring upon himself, thoughts of his mother and her well-being were never far away. His desire of taking her on a pilgrimage was realised through this filial piety.

The next chapter is a description of Swamiji’s coming in contact with the greatest influence in his life—Sri Ramakrishna. The author discusses discipleship and points out the unique quality of this particular one, the fact that Sri Ramakrishna knew, of course, the advent of Naren in his life and his great joy when he did come. Naren became his closest disciple, the chosen one, who would carry T h e

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his legacy forward. In order to give a new reader a sense of background, the author has given a brief description of Sri Ramakrishna’s spiritual journey and life, ending with Sri Ramakrishna giving him all his powers.

At this point, Swamiji’s journey begins, the mission for which he had been trained. Always immensely reverential of Holy Mother, he now began to see in her the Head of his calling. He had no doubt of her place in the Movement that was about to be born. The chapters entitled ‘The Magic Touch and Hands and Hearts’ take us further into the journey towards world fame and his immense achievements both in the Parliament of Religions in Chicago as well as his interminable and untiring efforts towards getting the message of Vedanta to the rest of the world.

The writer brings out Swamiji’s great reverence of the principle of motherhood and his unstinting admiration of women and their abilities of nurturance and love, which, to him, were the bedrocks of spirituality. For one of the qualities he advocated over all others was selflessness which he equated to ‘burning love’. Particularly in ‘Hands and Hearts’, Mr Goyal has been able to bring out vividly the part played by American women in the spread of Swamiji’s message, their pioneering efforts to ensure that the roars of this lion among men would be heard far and wide.

Two chapters have been devoted to his most famous and sincere disciples—Josephine MacLeod and JJ Goodwin. For what would we have done without these two who were his constant support and companions, chronicling for us, the future generations, the boundless work that Swamiji did and is continuing to do? Both of them recognised, as did others who had deep insight, such as the Raja of Ramnad and Alasinga Perumal, the pricelessness of Swamiji’s work and utterances.

Chapters nine and ten show Swamiji’s human side, especially his love for laughter and joviality.

Swamiji disliked the habit of making religion and spirituality a morose and dull affair. His penchant

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for jokes, teasing, mimicry, giving people humorous nicknames has been narrated. The last chapter, ‘The Infinite Blue’, chronicles his end and his remaining and continuing power over the spiritual scenario of the world.

JB Goyal, a retired IAS Officer and the author of the book, has been successful in portraying Swami Vivekananda’s human side, with his love for the people who were fortunate enough to meet and know him. There is a strong personal touch to his writing, as if the author were writing about a person he knew very well. It is this sense of friendship, mingled with reverence and awe, that gives this book its value. The style of writing is at once simple and scholarly and the detailing just right—enough to hold the reader’s interest without becoming repetitive. The only negative observation is: the manuscript could have been edited with greater care. Otherwise, the book is very attractively produced and it is not surprising to learn that it is now in its third edition. __________________________ PREMA RAGHUNATH, CHENNAI

Vivekananda’s Influence on Subhas

By Nanda Mookerjee Published by Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture- 700 029, Gol Park, Kolkata, 2010, paperback, pp.132+xii, Rs.45 Swami Vivekananda wanted a handful of brave and conscientious youth ready to sacrifice everything at the altar of their motherland. Many have heard his clarion call. Among them the man who was glorious in renunciation, indefatigable in efforts, undaunted in courage, and who strived for the full independence of the country was Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, a worthy heir of Swamiji’s ideas and mission.

The book under review commendably shows how deeply Swami Vivekananda’s ideas influenced and shaped Subhas’s life and nationalist ideology.

The author initially narrates Swami Vivekananda’s views on religion, prevailing social conditions, T h e

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democracy, socialism, education, spirit of sacrifice, service of human beings seeing God in them, raising the masses and women, role of youth in socioeconomic regeneration of India, patriotism and his immediate concern for the freedom of the country from the British Empire. Swamiji’s faith in the innate divinity of man is well discussed.

Netaji did not have the privilege of meeting Swamiji, but what was left behind by him was more than enough for Netaji to turn the flakes into fire. He spent his boyhood by delving deep into the works of Vivekananda. Giving a brief background of Subhas’s early life, his spiritual inclination, and mental preparedness to lead a life of contemplation and service, the author then proceeds to show how Swamiji’s ideas were imbibed and manifested in Subhas’s life and his utterances. Swamiji revolutionized not only the mental plane of Subhas, but the spheres of his external activities too.

In the footsteps of Swamiji, Subhas also pinned his hope on youth, exhorting them to channel their energy to nation-building activities. As a true disciple of Swami Vivekananda he declared: ‘I have the deepest faith in the divine in man as well as his basic humanity’. Swamiji wanted the women to exhibit heroism like the Queen of Jhansi; and perhaps as his last tribute to Swamiji, Subhas organized the Indian women living in South-East Asia and formed the Ranee of Jhansi Regiment within Indian national Army to fight the battle of liberation.

The book clearly indicates that Swamiji was the real power behind Subhas. He inherited Swamiji’s courage, his ideology and his uncompromising tenacity of purpose. It becomes clear from the book that the influence of Vivekananda brought about a synthesis of religion and nationalism which attained fruition in Netaji’s political career. For Netaji, Swamiji was the epitome of patriotism as well as spirituality. It was largely due to these spiritual influences that Netaji’s love for the country transcended the narrow differences of caste, colour and creed and he had a deep sense of commitment to serve the downtrodden.

There are Appendices, A to E, consisting of Subhas’s letter to Swami Sundarananda, Editor, Udbodhan, a Bengali monthly of the Ramakrishna Order. In those letters, Subhas expresses his deepest gratitude to Ramakrishna and Vivekananda for shaping his life, reminiscences of Swami

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Vivekananda as narrated by Sri Hemchandra Ghose, extracts of a letter written by Subhas himself eulogizing Swami Vivekananda, an Intelligence Report on Swamiji and excerpts from Sedition Committee Report-1918 to show the British rulers assessment of Swamiji’s contribution towards national awakening in India.

The book has been reprinted with purpose of motivating and inspiring the Indian youth in India. Cannot we expect transformation of youth into heroes like Subhas by responding to Swami Vivekananda’s thundering clarion call for their active participation in the rejuvenation and reconstruction of India as envisaged by him? Both, Swami Vivekananda and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, one a colossal personality of an infinite magnitude and the other a champion nationalist, believed in the power of youth to transform India.

A timely and inspiring publication. _______________________ CHETANA MANDAVIA, JUNAGADH

Universal Temple Dedicated to Sri Ramakrishna

By Venkataramana Reddy Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004. 2013, paperback, Pp.72+viii, Rs.75 The advent of Sri Ramakrishna heralded a new epoch in the religious and cultural history of India. While some of his contributions are already apparent, many others are gradually emerging.

Only a discerning student of history can observe how Sri Ramakrishna’s appearance has opened a new tradition in the Hindu temple architecture.

The principal builder of this new tradition is Swami Vivekananda, who, in conceiving the design of Sri Ramakrishna temple at Belur Math, gave birth to a new ‘synthetic’ school of temple architecture. This new type of architecture symbolises the harmony of religions and universality of cultures as taught and lived by his Master.

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Ramakrishna temples. It also gives an overview of how these concepts have been adapted and, in a few respects, suitably modified to add a local features, in the designing the Universal Temple at Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai.

G. Venkataramana Reddy, the authorcum-architect of the Universal Temple, has a vast experience in the construction and renovation of famed shrines, including Ramakrishna temples in many centres of Ramakrishna Movement in India.

His professional skill, says an expert in this field, reached its zenith in the design of Universal Temple at Chennai. This estimate hardly surprises anyone who cares to go through the present book. Here the author describes diverse features of the Chennai Math temple using exquisite colourful illustrations, often drawing parallels from different historical marvels in architecture.

Ramakrishna temples that now dot the length and breadth of the country, not only mark a departure from the traditional temples in design and architecture, but symbolize the birth of a new consciousness and concern in the Indian psyche for the neglected and deprived masses. This dimension of the Universal Temple is strikingly brought out by the text of an inspiring talk by Swami Ranganathanandaji, given in the appendix. Another appendix, added in the present second edition, presents a brief sketch of the recently dedicated (in July 2012) Mandapam in the honour of Swami Ramakrishnananda, making the book up-to-date.

This elegantly printed slim volume is sure to inspire the readers to make a pilgrimage to the Universal Temple, a landmark in the spiritual and architectural map of Chennai. _____________________ BR. SHANTI CHAITANYA, BELUR MATH

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Daily Satsanga with Swami Krishnananda Published by A.P. Divine Life Society, P.O. Shivananda Nagar - 249 192, Dist. TehriGarhwal, Uttarakhand.

2012, paperback, Pp.252, Rs.100.

‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away’ says a popular adage.

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While ‘an apple a day’ keeps a person healthy, one needs something more to remain spiritually healthy!

All spiritual masters and books say, ‘Satsanga is a must’ to become spiritually ‘healthy’. One might then, rephrase the popular adage to ‘holy company a day keeps ignorance and misery away’. One can have satsanga by being in company of holy people, or in its absence, by reading holy books. Daily Satsanga with Swami Krishnananda is a welcome addition to practice this holy company idea.

Swami Krishnananda Saraswati (1922-2001) was a disciple of Swami Sivananda Saraswati, the founder of the Divine Life Society, Rishikesh. He served as the General Secretary of the Divine Life Society India from 1958 to 2001. Author of several books, he was a well-known teacher on Yoga, and meditation. Apart from being the President of the Sivananda Literature Research Institute and the Sivananda Literature Dissemination Committee, Swami Krishnananda was also the editor of the Society’s monthly, Divine Life, for 20 years.

The book provides a glimpse of Swami Krishnananda’s deep understanding of Vedanta.

A scholar in Hindu scriptures and contemporary philosophy, the revered monk wrote his first book at the young age of 22—in just 14 days. A devoted disciple of Swami Sivananda, he attracted visitors and devotees from all over India and the world to Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh. This book is a compilation of his discourses and writings.

Upon turning the pages of this book, one finds oneself to be with a holy person. His method of teaching in an enchantingly poetic manner touches the heart. His style of expounding lofty ideas in a vastly rich but simple vocabulary leaves a lasting impression on the reader’s mind. Sometimes he seems to touch the aspects of so-called dayto-day worldly life and blend it with divine life or vice-a-versa. He takes up concepts like work, service, success, society, happiness, misery, love, mind, and so on and reveals their candid meaning.

He even enters the realms of science confirming that for a pure heart there is no realm unknown and unholy.

Though the date-wise presentation of the talks does not maintain a flow or pattern of thought, one does not, however, miss the underlying coherence of all the seemingly different topics. The titles given to the discussions in everyday satsanga are quite apt. The back cover description sums up the book: T h e

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‘Revered Sri Swami Hamsanandaji Maharaj has painstakingly and beautifully compiled 365 inspiring and enlightening excerpts from the twelve different books of Worshipful Sri Swami Krishnanandaji Maharaj. Therefore this book can prove a divine boon for the busy aspirants of modern world who sincerely intend to do swadhyaya but due to paucity of time are unable to read complete books.’

The book of daily satsanga, meant for earnest spiritual seekers. ___________________ SWAMI DIVYAKRIPANANDA, VADODRA

Advaita-siddhanta-sarasangraha

Reconstructed and edited

by Prof. Dilip Kumar Mohanta Published by Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University, Belur Math, Howrah 711202, West Bengal. 2012, hardbound, pp.56 + xxvi, Rs.80.

Advaita is the crowning glory of Indian spiritual heritage and practices. Deriving its source in the Upanishads, the Advaita system of thought has numerous major and minor works dealing with its various aspects.

This book is a reconstruction of a rare 16th century text by Narayanasharma. The book is an abridged compilation of the quintessence of Advaita. It is one of the most logically well-knitted philosophical treatises in post-Shankara literature of Vedanta. It has long been out of print. Professor Dilip Kumar Mohanta has undertaken this task of reconstruction.

Apart from containing an authentic version of the correct reading of the text in Devanagari script, the present volume has a lucid Introduction of the main contents of the treatise. Besides, at the end of the text, a list of the sources of citations from Smriti-Shruti used in the main body of the text has been given in alphabetic order for further ready reference.

Though the book has only the Sanskrit original, we hope the English translation would be taken up soon. The book is a right step in preserving the ancient texts. _______________________________________________ VK OFFICE

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Why Me?–An Inward Odyssey

By Krishna Narayanan; Available at Autism Center, 1A, Sivasunder Avenue, Thruvanmyur, Chennai - 41, 2012, Harback, Pp.126, Price: not mentioned.

Autism is a congenital condition that is not fully understood and doctors, scientists, parents, teachers and children—in short, anyone who has to battle the condition—are looking for solutions and answers. The one thing, however, that is now established is that autistic people are unusually brilliant and creative. It is also common knowledge that many world famous musicians and mathematicians have been and are autistic.

Their world, into which others are not admitted without full understanding, can be of great richness springing from deep thought and understanding.

This book Why Me has been written by Krishna Narayanan, who is himself autistic. In it he has dealt with some basic queries regarding his condition, beginning with the title, Why Me? This is an honest acceptance of the first despair that one feels on being in some way different. The subtitle of the book—An Inward Odyssey—gives us the clues to Krishnan’s understanding of life, death, the human predicament, and the conclusions he has arrived at, conclusions which are in some measure answers to why him—in other words, why he has been singled out for hardship by the force we call life. The result of his serious introspection has been this book.

The book consists of twenty seven chapters and one of the good points of this book is that every chapter is very short. This makes for easy reading since the subject matter itself is so weighty.

Krishnan deals with Time as a concept that affects human understanding at several levels: as a marker of birth and death and all that goes on in between which we call life. One interesting concept is the mundane construct of past, present and future. We think of life as being temporal, but according to the author, it is all illusory, as the present moment, which was in the future just a short while earlier, T h e

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becomes the past in an equally short time. ‘The body is in time’ (p 23), and since the mind and brain are housed in the body, they too are prey to the passing of time. Thus, mindfully staying in the present moment makes for peace, because the ego which binds us is, for the moment at least, subjugated.

In the next few chapters, Krishnan deals with the role of the ego in all life experiences. We think we are the doers, various parts of the body and mind are used to accomplish both temporal and spiritual activities. However, the author says, these actions and thoughts are actually from a force deep within, which the ego thoughtlessly denotes by the term ‘I’. In fact, the mind is driven by a greater power which is divine and helps man to carry out actions as well as think thoughts, which precede actions.

To galvanise this divine power, the intervention of spirituality is needed. The author recommends Japa and prayer. Repeating God’s name and praying to him are two methods by which we can understand that the ‘I’ is not so important after all. They make us realise it is God, the powerhouse of spirituality, which allows us to know Him. The author ends on a deeply philosophical note when he says that we can liken our existence to a vast ocean full of waves. The waves may swell and flow, but they have to reach the shore where they break and disperse. This dispersal comes to all of us in the form of death. The physical ocean with its water is a metaphor for consciousness in which we can immerse ourselves and attain total freedom from every mental torment.

That the book is an honest and serious attempt to answer some of life’s fundamental questions and conundrums is apparent in every page. The author is of a highly enquiring disposition and has visited many mysteries and problems of life that have been a natural outcome of his autism and its concomitant isolation. He calls his journey ‘an odyssey fraught with many obstacles’. He has been successful in achieving acceptance and this book should help anyone who is asking similar questions and is seeking answers. ___________________________ PREMA RAGHUNATH, CHENNAI

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Thirumazhisaipiran’s Tiruchanda Viruttam

By Vankeepuram Rajagopalan S E P T E M B E R

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Published by the author, 3 [new no.5], Third Canal Cross Road, Gandhi Nagar, Adyar, Chennai - 600 020, 2012, First edition, paperback, pp, 129, Rs.l50.

Thirumazhisai Alwar is believed to be the incarnation of Mahavishnu’s Sudarsana Chakra. Legend has it that his father was Bhargava.

Tradition says that he lived in the DwaparaYuga but modern scholarship places him between 489 and 630 C.E. He is better known as ‘Bhaktisara’ [Essence of Devotion]. He stands alone among the Alwars [Vaishnava saints in the Tamil tradition] in using numerological constructs for elucidating the esoteric philosophy of Vaishnavism.

The present book under review, is a Prabhandha of 120 verses, is charged with rhythmic cadence and pleasing symphony.

Sri Rajagopalan has beautifully translated the fifth verse supporting it with Swami Vivekananda’s observations. The Alwar marvels at the inscrutability of God’s omnipresence in being the soul of all entities and His cosmic sport of Creation.

‘Thou, Primal Lord stayeth in cosmos, agitate in evolution and involution; yet, lying in a state of quiescent—Guna Samyam. . . .’ the equilibrium, and as Primal Prana becomest virtually motionless; though, ‘vibrate without vibration.’ Swamiji says, The forces permeate all matter, they all dissolve into Akasha from which they again come out: this Akasha is primal matter whether you translate it as ether or anything else, this idea is that this Akasha is primal form of matter. This Akasha vibrates under the action of Prana and the next Shrishti is coming up. As the vibration

becomes quicker, the Akasha is lashed into all these wave forms which we call suns, moons and systems.’

Thirumazhisai is near Chingleput in Tamil Nadu. The place was such a picture of tranquillity that it is believed that Saptarishis came to do Tapas there. There are a few episodes which show that God responded to whatever Bhaktisara asked Him to do. The Pasurams [hymns] reflect the unswerving faith of the Alwar in Narayana, his sense of total self-surrender, his strong revulsion for earthly life and his prayer to God to grace him with undeviating devotion.

Thirumazhisai Alwar is said to have been one of the earliest to adopt the attitude of the beloved towards God the lover. He also stands apart in describing the five-fold aspects of God (verse 17).

Sri Rajagopalan translates: ‘O! Primeval Lord, thou, First Cause of the Cosmos, recumbent on the serpent couch, ‘Ananta’, in the illustrious milky ocean as Supreme Form beauteous ‘Vasudeva’, par excellence; and furthermore, three forms of Sankarshana’, ‘Pradyumna’ and ‘Anirudda’ in ‘Vyuhas’ and Thou art core principles of Pradhana, Purusha, Avyakta and Kala being their affairs and abide severally in icons too; hence, for what avail thou manifest in embodied forms!’

The translator completes with this, the translation of the first thousand of the four thousand Prabhandhas, which he modestly calls ‘an unpretentious yajna’. The book has the usual fare of Select Suggestive Short Notes, Bibliography and beautiful colour plates of all the important deities of different Vaishnavite temples of Tamil Nadu.

This English translation of the Pasurams of one of the first four Alwars is certainly an asset and a valuable addition to the library of Vaishnava literature built by those devotees unfortunately deprived of knowledge of Tamil. _______________________ K.PANCHAPAGESAN, BANGALORE

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Holy company is so effective that it generates love of God. Who is genuinely holy?

Only he in whose heart is installed the Lord. One is blessed with the company and grace of a truly holy man as a result of good deeds performed in many lives. Holy association can change the course of one’s entire life and bring about results that last for a very long time.

—Swami Shivananda

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DONATE FOR UNDERPRIVILEGED CHILDREN 100% INCOME TAX EXEMPTION

Ramakrishna Mission Students’ Home (started in 1905) gives wholesome education to many orphan and destitute students by providing free of charge education, food, accommodation etc. They study in our Residential High School and Residential Polytechnic College.

During the Centenary of our Home in 2004-05, we added two new courses—Diploma in Automobile Engineering and Diploma in Computer Engineering —to help more orphan and destitute students. With the increase of 272 students, the Home now serves around 670 students totally free of charge every year.

To meet the expenditure we have to raise additional Rs.1.33 crore annually. This is to meet the establishment costs on boarding, lodging, clothing and educational expenditure, besides a larger share Ramakrishna Mission Students’ Home of salary to the faculties as per norms. Hence, it is proposed to raise a 'Sponsorship Corpus Fund' of Rs.17 crores.

Government of India has notified 100% Income Tax exemption u/s 35AC of Income Tax, 1961 to the donors of this Sponsorship Fund. Individual Donors who donate to this project can avail this 100% IT exemption u/s 80GGA of IT Act 1961.

We appeal to all generous public and institutions to join us in the noble cause of educating orphan and destitute students.

Yours in the service of the Lord, Secretary Cheque, D.D. may be drawn in favour of ‘Ramakrishna Mission Students’ Home, Chennai - 4’ ‘Doing good to others is virtue (Dharma)’ —Swami Vivekananda

Ramakrishna Mission Students’ Home, 66, P.S. Sivasami Salai, Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004 Phone: 044 - 24990264, 42107550 Fax: 044 - 4231 2830 E-mail: office@rkmshome.org www.rkmshome.org

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Vivekananda by Vivekananda A Film on Swami Vivekananda Available in English, Hindi and Tamil Duration: 125 minutes DVD, Format: PAL A narrative of the extraordinary life of Swami Vivekananda, in his own words

Based on his autobiographical remarks, ‘Vivekananda by Vivekananda’ is a feature film. It begins with the young Swami swimming across the turbulent Indian Ocean, climbing the rock in the middle of the ocean to meditate. In solitude, he realizes his life's mission—‘Upliftment’ of the masses of India. Thus begins one of the most adventurous journeys in Indian history.

Here Swamiji reminisces about his childhood, his youth, poverty at home, his first meeting with his teacher Sri Ramakrishna, his constant disagreements with his Master, his Master's Mahasamadhi, establishment of Ramakrishna Math, his days as a wandering monk in India and finally his journey to America and so on.

Concept, Script, Screenplay and Direction: Karthik Saragur.

Price: Rs. 150/- + Postage: Rs.50/-for single copy.

For more details, contact: Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004, Tamil Nadu Website: www.chennaimath.org Email:mail@chennaimath.org

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Joy of Spirituality Joy is what everyone is searching for.

Irrespective of what one is and does, it is joy that one is seeking. Some succeed in getting joy, some remain unhappy. Real joy, says Sri Ramakrishna, is the joy of the spirituality. Sri Ramakrishna himself was Joy Personified.

This book, comprising the articles published in the 2011 December issue of the Vedanta Kesari, dwells on various aspects of his life and message and how one can become joyful by living the spiritual ideal he embodied.

Pages vi + 329

Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004

Price: Rs. 80/- + Postage: Rs.22/-for single copy. No request for VPP entertained

Holy Trio and Their Mission

by Swami Bhajanananda Based on the short monographs of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda and direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Bhajanananda, one of the Assistant Secretaries of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, originally meant for Belur Math website (www. belurmath.org), these essays place the subject quite contextually. Narrated in a lucid style, the book also has additional matter from other writings of the author.

Pages vi + 170

Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004

Price: Rs. 50/- + Postage: Rs.25/-for single copy. No request for VPP entertained

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Welcome to a Spiritual Feast!

Reminiscences of Three Direct Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna

Swami Brahmananda As We Saw Him Hardbound, Pages xii + 588 Price: Rs. 200/- + Postage: Rs.35/- per copy

Swami Adbhutananda As We Saw Him Hardbound, Pages xvi + 464 Price: Rs. 175/- + Postage: Rs.25/- per copy

Swami Ramakrishnananda As We Saw Him Hardbound, Pages ix + 525 Price: Rs. 180/- + Postage: Rs.30/- per copy

request for vpp will not be entertained

Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004 Email: mail@chennaimath.org

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SRI RAMAKRISHNA ADVAITA ASHRAMA (HQS: Ramakrishna Math & Mission, Belur Math) P.O. Kalady, Ernakulam-683574, Kerala Phone: 0484-2462345, Mob: 9447051231 E-mail: srkaadv@dataone.in The Ashrama has been running a free hostel for the poor & underprivileged children from classes V to X since 1936. They are provided with food, uniforms, accommodation and education up to Xth Std. absolutely free of charge. They are enrolled in the school managed by the Ashrama within its campus.

There is an urgent need for repair and renovation of the old hostel buildings and also creating a ‘Hostel Corpus Fund’ of Rs. 2 Crores for maintaining the hostel with 100 boys.

We appeal to the generous public, friends and well wishers to donate liberally for this most essential educational project.

You are also welcome to donate towards various other regular activities: a) Daily Puja & Seva; b) General Maintenance of the Ashrama; c) Charitable Dispensary; d) Widows’ Welfare.

Donations towards the activities of the Ashrama are exempt from Income Tax under 80G. Cheques or Bank Drafts may be drawn in favour of ‘Sri Ramakrishna Advaita Ashrama, Kalady’ and sent to the above address. Donations also can be sent directly through RTGS/NEFT to our A/c No. 338602010009164 at Union Bank of India, Kalady (IFSC Code: UBIN0533866).

Swami Amaleshananda Adhyaksha

Jai Hanuman

New Release

Swami Raghaveshananda

Hanuman is a popular God worshipped throughout the country. This book covers the well known qualities of Hanuman, namely His valour and humility, strength and knowledge, his service and devotion to Sri Rama and continuous chanting of Rama-nama. A special feature of this book is the extensive coverage of Sundarakandam, an important portion of Ramayana which is reverentially read by devotees.

Especially meant for children and younger readers, the book is graphically illustrated with many pictures and drawings on Hanuman.

Pages viii + 128

Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004

Price: Rs. 150/- + Postage: Rs.25/-for single copy.

Request for VPP will not be entertained

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

An Appeal 34 Years of Service to Humanity 1979 - 2012 1. Navajeevan School & Hostel for Blind Children – Tirupati, Parlekhimundi, Golamunda 2. Navajeevan Free Eye Hospital

– Tirupati

3. Navajeevan Free Home for Aged – Tirupati, Rishikesh, Parlekhimundi and Chennai 4. Navajeevan Harijan Sewa Ashram

– Kothapeta

5. Navajeevan Sharanagati Vridhashram

– Tirupati

6. Navajeevan Rural Medical Centres

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Berhampur [Orissa]

7. Navajeevan Eye Care Centres

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Serango [Orissa]

8. Navajeevan Orphanage Homes – Tirupati, Parlehkimundi, Saluru, Golamunda, Berhampur, Pandukal, Vizag

A Humble Request for Donation 1. Sponsor one day Annadan to Blind Children and aged

– Rs. 5000/-

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

– Rs. 6000/-

2. Sponsor 5 IOL Cataract Eye Operations

4. Sponsor one poor aged person for one year

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

– Rs. 7000/– Rs. 5000/-

– Rs. 50000/– Rs. 2000/-

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

Contributions to NAVAJEEVAN BLIND RELIEF CENTRE, Tirupati are eligible for Tax Relief U/S 80G of Income Tax Act.

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

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Vol.100-9 The Vedanta Kesari (English Monthly) September 2013. Regd. with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under No.1084 / 57. POSTAL REGISTRATION NUMBER:TN / CH (C) / 190 / 12-14. LICENCED TO POST WITHOUT PREPAYMENT TN/PMG(CCR)/WPP-259 / 2012-14 Date of Publication: 24th of every month

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

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Subscription Annual ` 1000 E M B E R 2 10 0 1 years: 3 T h e V e(inclusive d a n t a of K postage) e s a r i ~ IV ~ S E:P`T100 Contact: Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai. Website: www.chennaimath.org