11 the vedanta kesari november 2013

The Vedanta Kesari THE LION OF VEDANTA

A Cultural and Spiritual Monthly of the Ramakrishna Order since 1914

Swami Vivekananda’s Statue, Nagpur

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

N

e s a r i

~ I ~

N O V E M B E R

ovember 2013

2 0 1 3

India’s Timeless Wisdom

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 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 ~ N O V E M BMath Sri Ramakrishna Ramakrishna Road, Mylapore, Chennai - 4. Ph: 044 - 24621110

The Vedanta Kesari VOL. 100, No. 11

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 NOVEMBER 2013

Vedic Prayers

405

Editorial  ‘Unselfishness is God’ 406  Rediscovering Swami Vivekananda through the Lens of Social Justice 412 Rhyddhi Chakraborty  Blessed By Their Sacred Touch: An Account of the Visits of Swami Vivekananda

and Direct Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna to the City of Delhi 417 A Monastic Sojourner  Maya and Computer Programs: Some Parallels 434 K Srikanth New Find  Unpublished Letters of Swami Saradananda

432

The Order on the March 437 Book Review

441

Features  Simhâvalokanam (Notes of the Month)

410

Cover Story: Page 4

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

N O V E M B E R

2

2 0 1 3

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

 You can subscribe to The Vedanta Kesari from any month.  On your address slip, the number on the left of the first line of address is your subscription-number.

Always mention this in your correspondence.  If you do not receive your copy by 2nd week of a month, please intimate us. Complaints Vedanta Kesari Subscription Rates (inclusive of postage)  India  Other Countries

All overseas dispatch by Air Mail.

reaching us before this or after one month (for overseas subscriptions, two months) of posting of the journal are not entertained.  To ensure continuity, please renew your subscription well in advance.  For fresh subscriptions, renewals, plac ing advertisements in The Vedanta Kesari, please write to The Manager, The Vedanta Kesari Office. 

Annual

3 Years

5 Years

10 Years

Rs.100 Rs.290 Rs.475 Rs.1000 Rs.1500

Rs.4500

Rs.7500

---

Please send your subscription to The Manager, The Vedanta Kesari by DD/MO drawn in favour of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai. Payments / donations can be made Online using your Master or Visa Cards. For Online subscription rates, please visit our Website.

We invite our readers to liberally contribute to the Vedanta Kesari Permanent Fund. This will go a long way in placing this nearly 100 years old magazine on firm financial footing to continue its service to the cause of a holistic and meaningful life. Your contributions (minimum of Rs.1000/- or US$ 25) by Cheque/ DD/MO should be sent to Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai, along with a covering note stating that it is meant for Vedanta Kesari Permanent Fund.

Every contribution will be gratefully acknowledged and the donor’s name will be published in the Vedanta Kesari. All donations to Sri Ramakrishna Math are exempt from Income Tax under section 80G of the [Indian] I.T. Act, 1961.

We accept online donations also.

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

3

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

N O V E M B E R

4

2 0 1 3

N Cover Story N Swamiji’s Statue, Ramakrishna Math, Nagpur Vivekananda Vidyarthi Bhavan, a boys’ hostel run by Ramakrishna Math, Nagpur, Maharashtra, was started in 1932 and caters to the needs of very poor but deserving college students. Dedicated to the all-round development of students through its multifarious activities and amenities, the institution has 30 students most of whom receive all facilities free or at nominal fee. In January 2009, a marble statue of Swami Vivekananda was installed in the recently built new building of the hostel. Placed on a two and half feet high marble pedestal, the three-foot tall statue is situated right at the entrance of the courtyard inside the building—inspiring and elevating the serene atmosphere of the Vivekananda Vidyarthi Bhavan. 

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).

DONOR

PATRONS

Mr. Sukanta Biswas, Baguiati

Rs. 1000

669. Mr.Shubham Wali Ganju, Ranchi 670. Mr. Chandan Das, Cuttack

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

5743. Dr. Triveni Shekaraiah, U.K. 5744.

-do- 5745.

-do- 5746.

-do- 5747.

-do- 5748.

-do- 5749.

-do- 5750.

-do- 5751.

-do- 5752.

-do- 5753.

-do- 5754.

-do-

AWARDEE INSTITUTIONS

Mizoram Police Headquarters, Aizwal, Mizoram - 796 001 Puducherry Police Headquarters, Puducherry - 605 001 Punjab Police Headquarters, Chandigarh - 160 009 Rajasthan Police Headquarters, Jaipur, Rajasthan - 303 002 Sikkim Police Headquarters, Gangtok, Sikkim - 737 101 Tamil Nadu Police Headquarters, Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004 Tripura Police Headquarters, Agartala, Tripura - 799 001 Uttar Pradesh Police Headquarters, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh - 226 001 Uttarakhand Police Headquarters, Dehradun, Uttarakhand - 248 001 West Bengal Police Headquarters, Kolkata, West Bengal - 700 001 Indian Council of Medical Research, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi - 110 029 Regional Medicine Research Centre, Dibrugarh - 786 001 To be continued . . .

VOL. 100, No. 11, NOVEMBER 2013 ISSN 0042-2983

E ACH

SOUL IS POTENTIALLY DIVINE.

T HE

GOAL IS TO MANIFEST THE DIVINITY WITHIN.

5

Vedic Prayers

Tr. by Swami Sarvananda

The Lord of all cannot be any particular individual. He must be the sum total. . . . He is perceivable by all as the sum total. This being so, as Jiva and Ishvara are in essence the same, serving the Jivas and loving God must mean one and the same thing. Here is a peculiarity: when you serve a Jiva with the idea that he is a Jiva, it is Daya (compassion) and not Prema (love); but when you serve him with the idea that he is the Self, that is Prema. That the Atman is the one objective of love is known from Shruti, Smriti, and direct perception. . . . this notion of Jiva as distinct from God is the cause of bondage. Our principle, therefore, should be love, and not compassion. . . . For us, it is not to pity but to serve. Ours is not the feeling of compassion but of love, and the feeling of Self in all. —Swami Vivekananda, CW, 5:133

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i 

~ 405 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

Editorial

‘Unselfishness is God’ Measuring Spiritual Progress ‘How to measure spiritual progress?’

‘Is there any way to know how much one has developed in one’s spiritual endeavours? Any indicators?’

Anyone who has tried living a spiritual life seems to ask this question. While there are many time-tested answers (such as one becoming more peaceful, less disturbed by passions and things of the world, feeling the Divine Presence, among others), Swami Vivekananda gives a refreshingly comprehensive indicator of spiritual progress.

He says, There is one thing which is the world and another which is God; and this distinction is very true. What they mean by world is selfishness.

Unselfishness is God. One may live on a throne, in a golden palace, and be perfectly unselfish; and then he is in God. Another may live in a hut and wear rags, and have nothing in the world; yet, if he is selfish, he is intensely merged in the world.1

Being unselfish, thus, is what determines how much spiritual one is. This is the best way to know one’s spiritual progress—progressively unselfish.

On the other hand, to be selfish is, generally speaking, ‘natural’ to man. By rule, selfishness rules the roost. Each unto himself.

Everyone loves his ‘self’ and is ever ready to discover new ways, or hold on to the old ones, to please his ‘self.’ But what is self? Vedanta speaks of two selves: the lower self and higher self. The lower self is what we call ‘myself’— body and mind. We think we are what our T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

physical self is—its facial and other features such as height, weight, agility, age and so on.

Plus, we also think of ourselves in terms of our psychological or mental self—our intelligence, emotions, thoughts, desires, good and bad experiences, and so on. And what comes first— body or mind? Is there anything beyond these two? Answers Swamiji, The mind has a fine body and through this it works on the gross body. Vedanta says that behind the mind is the real Self. It accepts the other two, but posits a third, the Eternal, the Ultimate, the last analysis, the unit, where there is no further compound. Birth is re-composition, death is de-composition, and the final analysis is where Atman is found; there being no further division possible, the perdurable is reached.2

This ’third’ is what is called the higher self or Atman. This Atman is, again, one with the Brahaman or the Highest Reality. Atman is Brahman. Temporary self is transitory; Atman alone is. Hence, when we say that we are growing spiritually, what we are saying is that we are becoming nearer to the reality behind Reality, the underlying Truth behind all truths. And this is what makes one grow from selfishness to unselfishness. We struggle to come out of the narrow cocoon of the little self and that is called unselfishness.

Pravritti versus Nivritti But why are we selfish, in the first place? And, again, what goads us towards unselfishness? In Swamiji’s words,

~ 406 ~

Here are two Sanskrit words. The one is Pravritti, which means revolving towards, and the other N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

7

is Nivritti, which means revolving away. The ‘revolving towards’ is what we call the world, the ‘I and mine’; it includes all those things which are always enriching that ‘me’ by wealth and money and power, and name and fame, and which are of a grasping nature, always tending to accumulate everything in one centre, that centre being ‘myself’. That is the Pravritti, the natural tendency of every human being; taking everything from everywhere and heaping it around one centre, that centre being man’s own sweet self. When this tendency begins to break, when it is Nivritti or ‘going away from,’ then begin morality and religion. Both Pravritti and Nivritti are of the nature of work: the former is evil work, and the latter is good work. This Nivritti is the fundamental basis of all morality and all religion, and the very perfection of it is entire self-abnegation, readiness to sacrifice mind and body and everything for another being.3

Hence what is generally called worldliness, in this sense, is pravritti (‘revolving towards’ the lower self) and all attempts to go nearer to God or grow in spirituality is nivritti (‘revolving away’ from the lower self).

The focal point of both pravritti and nivritti is the self, the lower self. The farther one moves away from the lower self, the nearer one is to the higher Self. Hence, while being ready to sacrifice everything for the sake of lower self may be ‘natural’, willingness to sacrifice everything for the higher Self is much more ‘natural’ for ultimately lower self is a misnomer; it is the higher Self alone that survives all changes.

The Only Secret of Greatness To those who hold the idea that selfishness is the most ‘practical’ ideal of life, this idea of unselfishness sounds too idealistic and naive. Do not we see that a man of selfishness is successful and happy? One who elbows out others in one’s struggle? Hence we speak of T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

the law of survival of the fittest as the right law in today’s world of stiff competition and glamorous success. Contradicting this opinion, Swami Vivekananda says, In the animal kingdom we really see such laws as struggle for existence, survival of the fittest, etc., evidently at work. . . . In the animal kingdom instinct prevails; but the more a man advances, the more he manifests rationality. For this reason, progress in the rational human kingdom cannot be achieved, like that in the animal kingdom, by the destruction of others! The highest evolution of man is effected through sacrifice alone. A man is great among his fellows in proportion as he can sacrifice for the sake of others, while in the lower strata of the animal kingdom, that animal is the strongest which can kill the greatest number of animals. Hence the struggle theory is not equally applicable to both kingdoms.

Man’s struggle is in the mental sphere. A man is greater in proportion as he can control his mind. When the mind’s activities are perfectly at rest, the Atman manifests Itself. The struggle which we observe in the animal kingdom for the preservation of the gross body obtains in the human plane of existence for gaining mastery over the mind or for attaining the state of balance. Like a living tree and its reflection in the water of a tank, we find opposite kinds of struggle in the animal and human kingdoms.4

From animal kingdom to human kingdom—that is spiritual progress. Man is an animal in so far as many of his functions regarding physical living are concerned. But he is a superior animal and when this progress from lower to higher level of being takes place, this is what happens:

~ 407 ~

We see a man doing good work, helping others, it means that he cannot be confined within the limited circle of ‘me and mine’. . . He is no more the little Mr. So-and-so; he has acquired infinite expansion. The little personality which he had before is now lost to him for ever; he has become N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

8

infinite, and the attainment of this infinite expansion is indeed the goal of all religions and of all moral and philosophical teachings. . . . Every selfish action, therefore, retards our reaching the goal, and every unselfish action takes us towards the goal; that is why the only definition that can be given of morality is this: That which is selfish is immoral, and that which is unselfish is moral.5 When a man has no more self in him, no possession, nothing to call ‘me’ or ‘mine’, has given himself up entirely, destroyed himself as it were—in that man is God Himself; for in him self-will is gone, crushed out, annihilated.

That is the ideal man. We cannot reach that state yet; yet, let us worship the ideal, and slowly struggle to reach the ideal, though, maybe, with faltering steps. It may be tomorrow, or it may be a thousand years hence; but that ideal has to be reached. For it is not only the end, but also the means. To be unselfish, perfectly selfless, is salvation itself; for the man within dies, and God alone remains.6 Whether men understand it or not, they are impelled by that power behind to become unselfish. That is the foundation of all morality.

It is the quintessence of all ethics, preached in any language, or in any religion, or by any prophet in the world. ‘Be thou unselfish’, ‘Not ‘I’, but ‘thou’—that is the background of all ethical codes. And what is meant by this is the recognition of non-individuality—that you are a part of me, and I of you; the recognition that in hurting you I hurt myself, and in helping you I help myself; the recognition that there cannot possibly be death for me when you live. When one worm lives in this universe, how can I die?

For my life is in the life of that worm. At the same time it will teach us that we cannot leave one of our fellow-beings without helping him, that in his good consists my good.7

Not only spiritual growth, all moral and ethical living is based on unselfishness in its T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

widest meaning. Unselfishness is morality and the basis of it is the fact that this little ‘I’ by which we mean our body-mind-ego complex, attains its fulfillment only when it begins to dissolve and become one with the infinite ocean called the Self or God. This oneness is the true rationale behind unselfishness.

Is Unselfishness Practical?

‘Is it practical?’ People ask when the ideal of unselfishness is kept before them as the highest ideal. Of course, by the term practical they mean whether it will pander to their desires and selfishness. In Swamiji’s view, unselfishness is practical even in this context.

He says, If a man works without any selfish motive in view, does he not gain anything? Yes, he gains the highest. Unselfishness is more paying, only people have not the patience to practise it. It is more paying from the point of view of health also. Love, truth and unselfishness are not merely moral figures of speech, but they form our highest ideal, because in them lies such a manifestation of power.8

Indeed, unselfishness makes for a truly healthy and ‘enjoyable’ life. Unselfishness does not take away our challenges and difficulties of life which others cause us but it gives us enough strength and determination to solve them. In the above statement (‘Unselfishness is more paying, only people have not the patience to practise it.’), Swamiji points how practice of unselfishness brings excellence in whatever we do. When applied in our day-today life, it becomes a source of high quality and excellence. Suppose a businessman is to follow it, it will bring greater quality in his business which in turn brings trust and dependability. Similarly if this is applied in other fields of life, it brings other divine virtues such as patience, courage, purity and

~ 408 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

9

so on. Unselfishness is the true basis of life as we know it. And what is called tyaga, or renunciation, is nothing but unselfishness.

While it is the goal of life, sometimes this unselfishness also becomes a source of misery to others. All men claim to be ‘unselfish’—in their own way or definition. But it is the lack of understanding of the dynamics of the power of unselfishness that leads to it and not the unselfishness per se. As Swamiji points out,

The degree of selfishness determines the goodness and wickedness of a person. It all depends on that, as Swamiji says,

The real genesis of evil is in unselfishness. The creator of evil is good, and the end is also good.

It is only misdirection of the power of good. A man who murders another is, perhaps, moved to do so by the love of his own child. His love has become limited to that one little baby, to the exclusion of the millions of other human beings in the universe. Yet, limited or unlimited, it is the same love.

The moment you isolate yourself, everything hurts you. The moment you expand and feel for others, you gain help. The selfish man is the most miserable in the world. The happiest is the man who is not at all selfish. He has become the whole creation, the whole race, and God [is] within him . . . So in dualism—Christian, Hindu, and all religions—the code of ethics . . . is: Do not be selfish. . . Be unselfish. Do things for others!

Expand!12

The difference between God and the devil is in nothing except in unselfishness and selfishness.

The devil knows as much as God, is as powerful as God; only he has no holiness—that makes him a devil. Apply the same idea to the modern world: excess of knowledge and power, without holiness, makes human beings devils.11

Thus the motive power of the whole universe, in whatever way it manifests itself, is that one wonderful thing, unselfishness, renunciation, love, the real, the only living force in existence . . . the cause of all that is apparently evil is the limitation of the unlimited. The love which gets limited into little channels and seems to be evil eventually comes out at the other end and manifests itself as God. The Vedanta also says that the cause of all this apparent evil is in ourselves.9

Conclusion Finally, this unselfishness itself can be the goal of all human living. Nothing else needs to be striven for—except becoming unselfish. It is the core of all religions and spiritual traditions.

In Swamiji’s words,

Help whenever you can, but mind what your motive is. If it is selfish, it will neither benefit those you help, nor yourself. If it is unselfish, it will bring blessings upon them to whom it is given, and infinite blessings upon you, sure as you are living.10

Further, selfishness makes a brute of a man. Unselfishness is identical with holiness.

t

Whether one is Christian, or Jew, or Gentile, it does not matter. Are you unselfish? That is the question. If you are, you will be perfect without reading a single religious book, without going into a single church or temple. Each one of our Yogas is fitted to make man perfect even without the help of the others, because they have all the same goal in view. The Yogas of work, of wisdom, and of devotion are all capable of serving as direct and independent means for the attainment of Moksha.13 o

t

References 1. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda (hereafter CW), 1:87 2. CW, 7: 61 3. CW, 1:87 4. CW, 7:154 5. CW, 1:110 6. CW, 4:150 7. CW, 6:6 8. CW, 1:32 9. CW, 2:354 10. CW, 8:88 11. CW, 1:425 12. CW, 2:465 13. CW, 1:93 T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 409 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

Simhâvalokanam From the Archives of The Vedanta Kesari (November, 1923-24, Pp. 719-721)

Notes of the Month It is a privilege to help others. The man who helps others raises himself; he who receives help loses the privilege of owning himself. Thus it follows that man should receive as little help from others and give as much as he can. He who has put himself under an obligation to others loses a part of his personal independence. The man who hangs on to others cannot give full play to his own self expression. ‘When I wished to claim my independence and to express myself according to the latest lights of my age, it was disheartening to be told that I could not expect to be clothed, fed, taught, amused and comforted—not to say, preached at—by others, and at the same time practise towards them a savage and thorny independence.’

These words of the rector of St. Andrew's may appear to mean that complete selfexpression is incompatible with the interdependence which society imposes upon its members. But in truth, there is no incompatibility, for such interdependence being of the nature of a contract which expects certain privileges on the performance of certain duties does not stand in the way of true personal independence.

Addressing his young hearers the rector went on to say, ‘I imagine that you, perhaps, may have assisted at domestic conferences on these lines; but I maintain that we are not the unthinking asses that our elders called us. Our self-expression may have been a trifle crude, but the instinct that prompted it was that primal instinct of independence which antedates the social one, and makes the young at times a little difficult. It comes down from the dumb and dreadful epoch when all that Man knew was that he was himself, and not another; and therefore the loneliest of created beings; and you know that there is no loneliness to equal the loneliness of youth at war with its surroundings in a world that does not care.’ We take Mr. Kipling to mean, that the dawn of self-consciousness was the distinct step which man took in becoming man. The Vedanta recognises this and goes a step further in saying that man has the potentiality to transcend his self-consciousness and consequently rise above himself.

Self-expression of the aggressive type found in young people and young nations provides them with the spiritual sustenance necessary for them to build up a healthy individuality. In mature life there comes the recognition of a higher individuality which aims at a harmonious self-expression, different from the narrow individual self-expression of younger years. The divinity in man shines forth when self-consciousness gives place to allT h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 410 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

11

consciousness. But, let us bear in mind that man has to own himself before he acquires his divine heritage of owning all. The curbing influence of society crushes the young individual and consequently puts an end to his full development to manhood. On the other hand, the absence of the curbing influence of society on the grown-up man might tend to develop in him the wrong sort of selfishness of living for himself regardless of the interest of others.

Thus it is clear that in youth, the individual should be given the opportunities of owning himself. After the attainment of self-expression the next step of self-effacement is taken up with the purpose of attaining to the higher individuality which rests in the Universal. The slave who wipes himself off, because he must, is treated with contempt but the free man who willingly sacrifices himself at the altar of humanity attains godliness. First be a free man, then sacrifice yourself.

Consequently in youth a man makes all the sacrifices to own himself and to acquire those talents which he may later on spend in the service of others. He knows that he cannot own himself, if he has naught to give society in return to the rations which society provides him with. No act of self-denial is considered too high by the man who has set about to own himself.

We shall quote Mr. Kipling again; addressing the students he says, ‘among the generations that have preceded you at this university were men of your own blood—many and many—who did their work on the traditional sack of peasemeal or oatmeal behind the door—weighed out and measured with their own hands against the cravings of their natural appetites. These were men who intended to own themselves, in obedience to some dream, teaching or word which had come to them. They knew that it would be a hard-and-long task, so they set about it with their own iron rations on their backs, and they walked along the sands to pick up drift-wood to keep the fire going in their lodgings. Now what in this world or the next, can the world, or any tribe in it, do with or to people of this temper? Bribe them by good dinners to take larger views on life? They would probably see their hosts under the table first and argue their heads off afterwards. Offer them money to shed a conviction or two? A man does not lightly sell what he has paid for with his hide. Stampede them or coax them or threaten them into countenancing the issue of false weights and measures? It is a little hard to liberalize persons who have done their own weighing and measuring with broken tea-cups by the light of tallow candles. No! Those thrifty souls must have been a narrow and an infractum breed to handle; but, by their God, in Whose world they walked, they owned themselves. And their ownership was based upon the truth, if you have not your own rations you must feed out of your tribe's hands, with all that implies. Should any of you care to own yourselves on these lines, your insurances ought to be effected in those first ten years of a young man's life, when he is neither seen nor heard.’ o

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 411 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

Rediscovering Swami Vivekananda through the Lens of Social Justice RHYDDHI CHAKRABORTY

(Continued from the previous issue. . .)

Women The word ‘woman’ is derived from two original English words,’wif’ meaning ‘a wife’ and ‘mann’ meaning ‘a human being’. Thus within the concept of women underlies the concept of a human bonding. According to Swamiji, in the west, the idea of womanhood is concentrated there as the wife and so in the western homes, he says, the wife rules.

But in India, the whole of womanhood, is concentrated in motherhood and so in Indian homes, the mother rules. Here lies the basic difference. He affirmed that all women, to the Hindu, represent the mother element. The mother is reverenced. She is the giver of life, the founder of the race, the very pillar of each and every Hindu home. Swamiji mentions that it is this fact of holding Hindu women in high esteem that had kept them in seclusion.

Men and women in any society, according to their own standards, differ in mind, capacity, capability, ideals, but this does not signify that the distinction existed at the societal level. In spite of the physical and other differences, women have proved themselves equal to men, if not superior, in statesmanship, managing territories, governing countries, even making war. He cites that there is a caste

in India called the shop class, the traders. They are very intelligent but the Hindus think they are rather sharp. But it is a peculiar fact that the women of that caste are not as intelligent as the men.

On the other hand, the Rajput man is not half as intelligent as the Rajput woman.

The common proverb in Rajputana is, ‘The intelligent woman begets the dull son, and the dull woman begets the sharp son’. The fact is, whenever any state or kingdom in Rajputana has been managed by a woman, it has been managed wonderfully well.

The ignorance of this capability of women has hindered their individual development and progress. Therefore, he suggested that women must have freedom to read, to receive as good an education as men. He mentions that prejudice against women capabilities in general and widow remarriage in particular, inflicted some hardships upon widows in India but it is education which would render them self-supporting and alleviate their condition.

Swamiji said that in ancient times, when religion first began, women were distinguished for spiritual genius and great strength of mind.

In spite of this, as he seemed to acknowledge, women of the present day had degenerated

The author is a doctoral student, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal o T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 412 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

13

because of the narrow societal vision and also because of women themselves who thought of nothing but eating and drinking, gossiping and to make scandal. He mentions that when women come to rescue another, quarrel begins but when men come to rescue she listens and thus being obliged she gives away the power to dominate her.

The solution for this evil in society, Swamiji thinks, is educating the women first, providing them their entitlements, developing their intellect, making them capable, and then leaving to themselves to decide what reforms are necessary for them. He mentions that religion, arts, science, housekeeping, cooking, sewing, hygiene—the simple essential points in these subjects ought to be taught to our women. He further mentions that women students must be trained in both ethical and spiritual life. Ethically they should be trained to grow up as ideal matrons of home in time.

Only then, the children of such mothers will make further progress in the virtues that distinguish the mothers. It is only in the homes of educated and pious mothers that great men are born. Most importantly he mentions that as to education and culture, it all depends upon the man. That is to say, where the men are highly cultured, there the women are; where the men are not, women are not.

In order to get rid of these evils of sex distinctions based on body and other related deprivations in Indian society, he exhorted to realise the Sexless Self—Atman, the Reality, over and above the sex and body. And for the knowledge of this sexless Self, he suggests the knowledge of Vedanta philosophy as well as man-making education. Therefore, the next section discusses the nature of ideal education as propounded by Swamiji.

Education T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

Education, the noun, signifies the development and training of one’s mind, character, skills, etc., by instruction, study, or example.

Swamiji mentions that during the reign of Aryans in ancient India, every child had the right to be educated. This right was also equally extended for the daughters at that time but the custom of preventing girls from receiving education and remarriage got rigid day by day through societal changes.

Thereby, the customs against prohibition of women reading Veda, becoming priest, came about, hindered individual, as well as, societal progress. He suggests that individuals and society have to work themselves up from ‘brute through man, into divine’. This evolution to a higher spiritual state is possible only through discipline and education. So he mentions that every institution, caste, early marriage, etc., that stands in the way of education, ought to be at once knocked on the head.

The ideal of all education, all training, Swamiji propounded, should be man-making.

The end and aim of all training is to make the man grow as education is the manifestation of the perfection already hidden in man. The ideal of education is perfecting the instrument and getting complete mastery of one’s own mind. And the secret of all education is the science of Yoga that has discovered the laws which develop and manifest the innate divine personality in man, and by proper attention to those laws and methods, each one can grow and strengthen his personality.

This has a universal application also in the life of the householder, in the life of the poor, the rich, the man of business, the spiritual man, and in every one’s life. With that personality one can manufacture a little clay nonsense or invent a machine that is to be

~ 413 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

14

admired beyond the greatest possessions. The point to ponder is that man-making education is yet to be in this civilized world while it is this man-making education all round that can bring light to the poor, ignorant and others.

This man-making, all-round education can strengthen the mass and the elements of that life-building, man-making, charactermaking, above all culture-making education are; conveying the ideas in the language of the common people, propagating Sanskrit education which gives prestige, power and strength to the race, helping in assimilation of ideas, informational as well as practical, presenting the noble examples of the Ideal characters of Sita, Savitri, Damayanti, Lilavati, Khana, and Mira to inspire to mould their own lives in the light of these.

When, with the spread of education, the masses in our country grow more sympathetic and liberal, when they learn to have their thoughts expanded beyond the limits of sect or party, then it will be possible to work on the democratic basis of organization. But know for certain that absolutely nothing can be done to improve the state of things, unless there is spread of education first among the women and the masses.

Part of the duty lies in imparting true education to all men and women in society. As an outcome of that, they will by themselves be able to know what is good and what is bad for them and will spontaneously eschew the latter.

It will not be then necessary to pull down or set up anything in society by coercion. In other words, liberty will prevail but that liberty does not certainly mean the absence of obstacles in the path of misappropriation of wealth, etc. It is our natural right to be allowed to use our own body, intelligence, or wealth according to our will, without doing any harm to others; and all the members of a society ought to T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i 

have the same opportunity for obtaining wealth, education, or knowledge. The secret of life, Swamiji mentions, is not enjoyment but education through experience. In any society, if man is first to be saved; he must be given food, education, and spirituality. If any money is left after doing all these, then only something would be given to society. Education should be there at every door, if poor cannot come then education should be at the door of the poor.

Conclusion It is beyond the scope of this writing to investigate on a) what does Swamiji mean by caste readjustment and how exactly caste can be readjusted? b) if Guna and Karma are the basis of caste, then how can the caste concept be readjusted when with the concept of karma comes the concept of rebirth? c) if ideal characters are set as ideal for the women to learn something, then in the patriarchal society what if the great sacrifices of the those characters only get popularized and set as ideal? d) how exactly education should be at the door of the poor, is it only through the faith based organizations?

It is to be mentioned that Swamiji wanted to portray the underlying human to human relation which the deep aspect of social justice also wants to project. He has tried to show that the distinctions are all in the superficial level but behind the veil of ignorance lies the underlying unity of selves, in the form of Existence, Knowledge and Bliss, which are the essences of the Absolute.

Swamiji not only has mentioned this concept, not only pointed out the barriers but has also tried to show its relevance for social justice, and the particular action to be taken for social justice to concretize. Thus he has mentioned not the abolition of the caste system but the need for readjustment

~ 414 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

15

of the caste system, making provision for the upliftment of the women and thereby making them capable to decide their own way of development, enriching both men and women by education but with special attention to the women, providing the basic needs of food and education. Along with it, he presupposes that there is a necessity of the purification of mind from the evil thoughts, bias and ignorance, so he suggests that there should be provision for spiritual education following the Indian literary heritage of Advaita Vedanta and Upanishad.

Again, for the overall cultural development of the society, he has mentioned that there is a need of the spread of education among the masses, among the male members of the society. By proclaiming the message of the right to education for all, Swamiji has conveyed some ethical insights; Freedom of will, Right to survival, Right to protection, Right to participate, Right of development, and above all Right to freedom of thought and action. A society would have a just societal arrangement when the members of the society participate in the decision making out of their own free will along with the freedom of their thoughts and actions. Only then a society can seek for the avoidance of any form of coercion and seek for social justice at all layers of the society.

In depicting the modern scenario of these barriers of the deep social justice it can be mentioned that two of the Eight Millennium Development Goals 4 [MDGs] include promoting gender equality and empowerment of women. Though only these two are explicitly gender specific, gender equality is at the core of achievement of MDGs—from improving health and fighting disease, to reducing poverty and mitigating hunger, to expanding education and lowering T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i 

child mortality, to increasing access to safe water, and to ensuring environmental sustainability.

In the Indian context, it can be said that in Indian constitution, there are number of entitlements assured; for example, equal rights and opportunities in the political, economic and social spheres, prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex etc. With these entitlements, the Indian picture has improved incrementally but not changed through the centuries.

Discrimination based on caste still exists in case of providing job opportunities, access to healthcare, education, liveable environment, and access of resources.5 Women face double discrimination being members of specific caste, class or ethnic group apart from experiencing gendered vulnerabilities. They face the discrimination from the very initial stage of life process; as a fetus, as an infant, as a girl child, as a girl, and even as a married woman.6 These discriminations are the picture of the prevailing social inequities in the Indian society. Uprooting these inequities requires a noble vision, mission, and far-sightedness of equality, rather equity. And it is this vision of Indian value (for example, duty, solidarity, unity, respect, etc.) guided equitable social structure, that Swamiji has proposed for social uplift and social justice in Indian society.

In order to show that all beings are equal, he has propounded the concept of hidden Absolute in all beings and has shown the interconnectedness of all in that fundamental plane of existence. It is this concept of equality that India needs to focus on, not in paper but in actions, through the different awareness programmes and also through the different policy level implementations.

In this 150 th year of Swamiji’s birth anniversary, therefore, there is a need to look

~ 415 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

16

back at the messages of Swamiji, to dig out the values he asserts and to incorporate it into the vision and mission of each and every social

policy to achieve bigger goal of social justice in Indian society. o (Concluded.)

References 4.

These are the are eight international development goals which 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015 5. Center for Human Rights and Global Justice and Human Rights Watch.2007. Caste Discrimination against Dalits or so called untouchables in India, Information for the consideration of the committee

on the elimination of racial discrimination in reviewing India’s fifteenth to nineteenth periodic reports. Available at http://www2.ohchr.org/ english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/chrgj-hrw.pdf (Accessed on 5 May 5, 2012) 6. Kishor Sunita, Kamla Gupta, GOI, MoHFW. 2009.

Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in India National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) India 2005-06. MoHFW, GOI: IIPS.

Bibliography 1. Alexander, John M. 2008. Capabilities and Social Justice, The Political Philosophy of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum. England: Ashgate Publishing Limited.

2. Barry, Brian. 2005. Why Social Justice Matters.

Cambridge: Polity Press.

3. Beauchamp, Tom L. and Terry P.Pinkard. 1983.

Ethics and Public Policy, An Introduction to Ethics.

New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 4. Dasgupta, Santwana.2009. Social Philosophy of Swami Vivekananda. Kolkata: The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture.

5. Landau, Sydney I. (ed.). 2000. The New International Webster’s Student Dictionary of the English Language. New Delhi: CBS Publishers and Distributors.

6. Marmot, Michael.2004.The Status Syndrome. New York: Holt Paper Back Company.

7. Maciver, R.M. and Charles C.Page. 1974. Society, A Introductory Analysis. New Delhi: Macmillan & Co. 8. Miller, David.1999. Principles of Social Justice.

Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

9. Rawls, John. 2008 (1971). A Theory of Justice. Delhi: Universal Law Publishing Co.Pvt. Ltd. 10. Reich, Warren Thomas. ed.1978, 1995.

Encyclopaedia of Bioethics. Revised edn. Vol.1.

New York: Simon &Schusto and Prentice Hall International.

11. Sen, Amartya. 2009. The Idea of Justice. Cambridge: The Belknap Press.

12. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda.

Available at http://www.rkmkamarpukur.org/ Download.aspx (Last Accessed on 6 May 2012).

13. Swami Vivekananda. 2011. Lectures From Colombo to Almora. Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama.

All women, in a sense, function as the Divine Energy. But Her fullest manifestation is seen through the body and the mind of a woman of unblemished character. Holy Mother was such a woman. Hence she is regarded as the Supreme Goddess or Great Power, a special manifestation of the Divine Energy. Once a devotee said to her that after her no one would worship the minor goddesses of the Hindu religion. She replied: 'Why, they too are parts of me.' Conscious of her divine nature, she kindled the sparks of spirituality in her disciples, accepted their worship, and gave them assurance of liberation.

—Swami Nikhilananda T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 416 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

Blessed By Their Sacred Touch An Account of the Visits of Swami Vivekananda and Direct Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna to the City of Delhi A MONASTIC SOJOURNER

Journeying Towards Delhi The young sannyasin stepped into the streets of what is now called ‘old Delhi’—‘the City of cities’. As he walked through this ancient city, his exceptionally sharp and clear mind observed in minute details the historic monuments, remnants of old forts and palaces strewn all over. The 27 year young sannyasin, fired with deep spirituality and boundless love for humanity, had been going around his beloved motherland, ‘the blessed punya bhumi’, as he was to call her years later. In his travels he had found out the nerve centre of the real India—spirituality—and was astonished at the undying tenacity and devotion with which the nation held to it.

Despite abject poverty, squalor and political subjugation, it was a living

nation—throbbing and pulsating with indomitable energy and uninterrupted culture of thousands of years.

Swami Vivekananda, the young sannyasin, arrived in Delhi in January 1891. He came there from Meerut, another historic city located some 70 km from Delhi.

Wandering as an unknown sannyasin he came to Meerut, and, by an act of providence, met some of his brotherdisciples, and they together stayed in Meerut for sometime. Says his Life,1 After staying at the doctor’s house for about a fortnight, the Swami and Akhandananda went to stay at a Shethji’s garden-house [in Meerut], where the other brother-disciples also joined them. The Shethji . . . gave them everything they needed.

The monks cooked their own food, and spent their time in spiritual practices. . . . The austere life he had led during his wanderings, and the haphazard eating, had weakened him

A monk of the Ramakrishna Order, the author wishes to thank two of his monastic brothers whose unpublished work is the basis of this article and for their help in preparation of the article, and also to Siddhartha Mitra, a devotee from Delhi, for his two sketches of Swamiji in Delhi and some old pictures of Delhi. o T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 417 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

18

greatly; but here he was growing stronger. . .

They passed their time in meditation, prayer, singing devotional songs, and study of the scriptures and other literature in Sanskrit and English. In the evening they used to go for a walk, and watch the sports and games of the troops on the parade ground.

Hearing of this the Swami himself went to the librarian and said, ‘Sir, I have mastered all those volumes: if you have any doubt, you may put any question to me about them.’ The librarian then examined the monk, and by doing so became fully satisfied. Great was his astonishment.

While at Meerut, an interesting incident revealed Swamiji's extraordinary power to grasp a subject. States Swamiji's Life further,

Later Akhandananda asked Swamiji, how he could do it. The Swami replied, 'I never read a book word by word. I read sentence by sentence, sometimes even paragraph by paragraph, in a sort of kaleidoscopic form.'

At the Swami's bidding, Akhandananda used to bring books for him from the local library.

Once the Swami asked him to bring the works of Sir John Lubbock. Accordingly Akhandananda brought them, one volume each day. The Swami would finish a volume in a day and return it the next day, saying that he had read it. The librarian argued with Akhandananda that the Swami had surely returned the volume without reading it, and remarked that the latter was only making a show of reading.

The local library referred to is now called Tilak Pustakalaya Avam Vachanalaya (founded in 1886) and still continues to operate, though now in a dilapidated condition.

Other disciples who lived with Swamiji included Swamis Brahmananda, Saradananda, Turiyananda, Akhandananda, Advaitananda and Kripananda. The later biographers called

A recent picture of the historic library (now called Tilak Pustakalaya Avam Vachanalaya) in Meerut which Swamiji used during his stay in 1891

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 418 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

19

it the ‘second Baranagore Math’—a reference to the austere lives they led at the Ramakrishna Movement’s first monastery in a place called Baranagore in north Calcutta.

After spending about two months at Meerut, Swamiji decided to continue his wanderings, alone. He told his brother disciples that he had received the command of God regarding his future, and was going to leave them in order to become a solitary monk.

An Ancient City One of the most ancient cities in the world, Delhi has been constantly inhabited since the 6th century BC. Historically, Delhi has been the capital of various kingdoms and empires that ruled India. It has been captured, ransacked and rebuilt several times, particularly during the medieval period, and the modern Delhi is a cluster of a number of cities spread across the metropolitan region.

According to most historians, Delhi was rebuilt nine times.

These ‘Delhi-s’, named by their rulers, are called by different nomenclatures such as Khandava Forest, or Indraprastha (by

The Purana Qila in Delhi

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

Pandavas), Lal Kot (by Tomars) and Qila Rai Pithora (by Prithvi Raj Chauhan), Siri (by Alauddin Khilji), Tughlaqabad (by Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq), Jahanpanah (by M u h a mma d- b i n - Tu g h l a q ) , F e r o z a b a d (by Firuz Shah Tughlaq), Deenpanah (by Humayun) and Dilli Sher Shahi or Shergarh (by Sher Shah Suri), Shahjahanabad (by Shah Jahan) and Lutyen’s Delhi by the British.

Sometimes the modern city of New Delhi is also called Raisina Delhi—after the hill called Raisina where the Rashtrapati Bhavan is located. This is why Delhi is sometimes called as ‘City of cities.’

Delhi has been a major political, cultural and commercial city along the trade routes between northwest India and the Gangetic plains. In AD 1639, the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan built a new walled city in Delhi, which served as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1649 until the Rebellion of 1857.

The British captured Delhi in 1857 and the city replaced Kolkata as the seat of British government in India in 1911. A new capital city, New Delhi, was built to the south of the old city during the 1920s. When the British left India in 1947, New Delhi became its national capital and seat of government.

As to the origin of the name ‘Delhi’, there are a number of legends. One is that it is derived from Dhillu or Dilu, a king who built a city at this location in 50 BC and named it after himself. Another legend holds that the name ‘Delhi’ is based on the Hindi/ Prakrit word dhili (loose) used by the Tomaras to refer to the city because the Iron Pillar of Delhi had a weak foundation and had to be moved.

The coins in circulation

~ 419 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

20

in the region under the Tomaras were called dehliwal. According to the Bhavishya Purana, King Prithiviraja of Indraprastha built a new fort in the modern-day Purana Qila area for the convenience of all four castes in his kingdom. He ordered the construction of a gateway to the fort and named the fort dehali. Some historians believe that the name is derived from Dilli, a corruption of dehleez or dehali—both terms meaning ‘threshold’ or ‘gateway’—and symbolic of the city as a gateway to the Gangetic Plains.

Both by legend and history, Delhi has been the capital of India. The Delhi that Swamiji visited, however, was not the sprawling New Delhi of modern-day planning and constructions, bearing visible signs of history and unbridled urbanisation. The city was under the British who administered Delhi as part of Punjab Province (till it was declared the capital of colonial India in 1911). Although there were people speaking Punjabi, it was ‘a time when Banias, Bengalis, Jains, Mathurs and Muslims—to name them in alphabetical order—seemed to be, at least from some perspective, Delhi’s dominant communities.’2 The demographic landscape of Delhi underwent significant change in 1947 when, in the aftermath of Partition, a large number of Punjabi populace migrated from Pakistan and settled down in Delhi.

Post-independent India has brought people speaking different languages from all parts of India to Delhi, making the city a truly multi-cultural, multilinguistic and multi-religious crucible.

Now called National Capital Region (NCR), the Union Territory of Delhi comprises several T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

nearby towns and is called the world’s second most populous city. Besides the seat of political power in India, Delhi has hundreds of old monuments dotting the whole area (according to Archaeological Survey of India, there are some 174 enlisted monuments in NCR).3 Swamiji’s First Visit Swamiji came to Delhi twice.

First in 1891, from Meerut, as mentioned above, and the second when he returned from the West in 1897.

In the latter part of January 1891, Swamiji left his devoted brethren in Meerut and journeyed on to Delhi all alone. The rest of the narrative of his Delhi visit may be well said through his Life4:

~ 420 ~

The Swami, with his scanty belongings and regal bearing, came to Delhi, for ages the capital of India under Hindu and Mogul dynasties, and the scene of numerous historic events.

The royal sepulchres and palaces, the sites of deserted capitals, the ruins of imperial greatness, make Delhi the ancient Rome of India. Its very atmosphere is imperial. The crisp winter air, the grandeur of the place, its noble history, filled him with physical and spiritual elation. He put up at the residence of Seth Shyamaldas*, where he was received with open arms.

An archival picture of the Iron Pillar of the Delhi

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

21

Here in Delhi** he went everywhere and saw everything. The ruins of royal and imperial greatness impressed on the young monk the ephemeral nature of all human glory and the permanence of the spirit, which neither comes nor goes. At the same time, the historian in him found in Delhi the symbol of the immortal glory of the Indian people, with its grand, composite culture.

After about ten days, the other brother-disciples at Meerut left for Delhi, where they inadvertently met the Swami again. The brethren were no doubt happy to meet him, but the Swami was not pleased. He said to them, ‘Brothers, I told you that I wanted to be left alone. I said that I had work to do. I asked you not to follow me.

Now I insist that you obey me. I do not want to be followed. With this I leave Delhi. And he, who follows me, does so at his peril; for I

am going to lose myself to all old associations.

Where the Spirit leads, there I shall wander, no matter whether it is a forest or a desert waste, a mountain region or a densely populated city.

I am off.’ The brother-disciples, stunned by his resolve, said, ‘We did not know that you were staying here. We have come to Delhi to see the old imperial capital. Here we heard of a Swami Vividishananda, an English-speaking monk, and we were curious to see him. It is by accident that we have met you.’

It appears that the Swami had introduced himself in Delhi as Swami Vividishananda, which, as we have seen, was the name taken at the time of his formal initiation into Sannyasa. But his brother-disciples seem to have almost forgotten the name. To them he was always their beloved ‘Naren’. Nor, to their knowledge, had the Swami used the name openly before. Thus it was that when they went to meet Vividishananda, they found to their surprise that he was none other than the Swami. Even after this parting from his brothers, the Swami lingered on in Delhi for a few days more. Though they lived apart, they gathered at the Sethji’s house to take their food.

One day Dr. Hemchandra Sen, a well-known Bengali physician of Delhi, spoke slightingly

A picture of Seth Shymaldas' Haveli or residence (picture taken in 1990s) where Swamiji stayed in Delhi T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 421 ~

A close up of the Haveli entrance

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

22

Archival pictures of interiors of the house where Swamiji stayed about the Swami to Akhandananda [who happened to come to Delhi by then]. A few days earlier, when the Swami had consulted him about his tonsils, the doctor’s attitude had been distinctly antagonistic. The doctor now, however, expressed to Akhandananda a desire to meet the Swami again. One evening many professors of the local college assembled at the doctor’s house, where the Swami and his two brother-disciples had also been invited. A great discussion ensued.

Many questions were asked, and the Swami with his erudition impressed them all. As a result, Dr.

Sen was attracted to the small group of monks.

The following day he invited them to a feast at his house.

From Delhi, Swamiji journeyed on to Alwar in Rajaputana or Rajasthan—which of course is a glorious episode in itself.

The ancient city of Delhi left an indelible impression on Swamiji. Sister Nivedita, in her celebrated work, The Master As I Saw Him, writes:

An archival photo of the Red Fort

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 422 ~

In these talks of his, the heroism of the Rajput, the faith of the Sikh, the courage of the Mahratta, the devotion of the saints and the purity and steadfastness of the noble women, all lived again. Nor would he permit that the Mohammedan should be passed over.

Humayoon, Sher Shah, Akbar, Shah Jehan, each of these and a hundred more found a day and a place in his bead-roll of glistening names. Now it was that coronation song of Akbar which is still sung about the streets of Delhi, that he would give us in the very tone and rhythm of Tanasen.5 N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

23

The antiquity of Delhi left a lasting impression on Swamiji. While travelling in foreign lands he could find parallel landscapes

the middle of the day it is hot. Must be [illegible] I presume, in summer.6

While visiting Paris, he also could feel the spirit of Delhi. Swamiji writes, It seems to me that the Chandni Chauk of Delhi might have been at one time somewhat like this Place de la Concorde. Here and there columns of victory, triumphal arches and sculptural art in the form of huge statues of men and women, lions, etc., adorn the square.7

Swamiji’s Second Visit Swamiji visited Delhi for the second time after his triumphant return from the West in 1897. He had been visiting many parts of India speaking to and interacting with various people. Swamiji’s biography narrates8:

An artist’s view of Swamiji walking through the Chandni Chauk in Delhi

with Delhi. He wrote about the Santa Fe Route in California to Sister Nivedita: The scenery today I am passing through is much like the neighborhood of Delhi, the beginning of a big desert, bleak hills, scanty, thorny shrubs, very little water.

The little streams are frozen, but during An archival picture of Chandni Chawk in Delhi

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 423 ~

On Friday, November 26, the Swami and his party left Dehra Dun for Saharanpur, on the way to Rajputana [now Rajasthan]. Here he stayed with Bankubihari Babu, a pleader, who welcomed him and put him up at his house.

The people of the town pressed the Swami to give a lecture, but he, being in a hurry to go to Rajputana, declined. . .

From Saharanpur the Swami went to Delhi, where he was the guest of Natakrishna, a man of humble position, whom he had met at Hathras during his wandering days. Wealthy people pressed him to be their guest, but he preferred to remain with his old friend. Natakrishna once asked the Swami: ‘I am practising Gayatri Japam and Sandhya for the last five or six months, but not getting any light.’ The Swami said, ‘Call on the Lord in your own language, instead of chanting the hymns in Sanskrit, which you don’t understand.’ Then he explained the meaning of the Gayatri Mantra. A professor of a nearby college visited the Swami often, and through him a small meeting was arranged, where N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

24

the Swami answered questions. In addition, he held religious discussions, at which many distinguished people were present.

Together with Mr. and Mrs. Sevier, his brothermonks, and disciples, he visited all the monuments and ruins associated with the past glory of the Mogul emperors, which are scattered round Delhi within a few miles’ radius. One who accompanied him says: ‘He vivified the past before us. Indeed, we forgot the present in the past and lived with dead emperors and mighty kings of old.

Delhi continued to fascinate Swamiji. A great student of history, he could see through the march of events and happenings. His biography says, To his clear vision the Mogul supremacy was but an interregnum in the continuity of Indian

From Delhi Swamiji went to Khetri. In a letter dated 30th November 1897, written (in Bengali) from Delhi, Swamiji informs Swami Brahmananda9, My Dear Rakhal, . . . Tomorrow I am going to Khetri via Alwar.

My health is good, even though I have caught a cold. Send all letters to Khetri. My love to all.

During his earlier visit to Delhi, Swamiji struggled with his intense desire to live the life of a solitary, wandering monk and his love for his brother-disciples. But when he came to Delhi for the second time, he had none of it. He came as a world teacher, a prophet. He had now felt that that without seeing Delhi one cannot fully understand the spirit of India.

He painted the picture of India in glittering colours. Sister Nivedita wrote later, Again it would be an eager røsumø of the history of India or of the Moguls, whose greatness never wearied him. Every now and then throughout the summer he would break out into descriptions of Delhi and Agra. Once he described the Taj as ‘a dimness, and again a dimness, and there—a grave!’ Another time he spoke of Shah Jehan, and then, with a burst of enthusiasm: ‘Ah! He was the glory of his line! A feeling for and discrimination of beauty that are unparalleled in history. And an artist himself! I have seen a manuscript illuminated by him which is one of the art treasures of India. What a genius!’10 T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 424 ~

An artist’s view of Swamiji seeing Red Fort in Delhi national life. Akbar was Hindu in breadth of vision and boldness of synthesis. Was not the Taj, to his mind, a Shakuntala in marble? The songs of Guru Nanak alternated with those of Mirabai and Tansen on his lips. The stories of Prithvi Raj and Delhi jostled against those of Chitore and Pratap Singh, Shiva and Uma, Radha and Krishna, Sita-Ram and Buddha. Each mighty drama lived in a marvellous actuality, when he was the player. His whole heart and soul was the burning epic of the country, touched to an N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

25

overflow of mystic passion by her very name.

He held in his hands all that was fundamental, organic, vital; he knew the secret springs of life.11

References to Delhi keep appearing in Swamiji’s talks, lectures and conversations in various ways. He would give his disciples vivid picture of the Mughal court in all its splendour. Sister Nivedita writes12, Today the Swami passed on to the talk of Akbar and sang us a song of Tânsen, the poet laureate of the emperor: Seated on the throne, a god amongst men, Thou, the Emperor of Delhi.

Blessed was the hour, the minute, the second, When thou ascendest the throne, O God amongst men, Thou, the Lord of Delhi.

Not only a World Teacher, Swamiji was also a world-traveller. He had visited numerous places in India and abroad. In one letter to Sara Bull, JJ Goodwin (who had accompanied Swamiji) writes, giving a peep into his impressions of Delhi:

Visits of Other Direct Disciples Besides Swami Vivekananda, the ancient city of Delhi (the New Delhi came into existence in 1920s) has been blessed with the visits of many direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna on different occasions. Most of them passed through the city on their way to Haridwar and other places in northern and western India. Almost nothing is known about the details of where and how long they stayed in the city. Let us enumerate whatever sketchy details are available in this regard:

Swami Akhandananda Swami Akhandananda came to Delhi in the same year as Swami Vivekananda. In his well-known book From Holy Wanderings to Service of God in Man, 15 Swami Akhandananda recalls his meeting Swamiji in Delhi,

You will be pleased to hear that the Swami joined me at Naples in the best of health & spirits, & completely charmed with his tour.

He was full of Rome. Rome & Delhi are the two cities in the world he says.13

Twice blessed by Swami Vivekananda’s visit, Delhi now has an active and well known centre of the worldwide Ramakrishna Mission—the organization that Swamiji started. The Ramakrishna Mission at New Delhi was started in 1927. It is located close to Panchkuiya Road and is now a wellknown landmark, thanks to Delhi Metro which has named its station as Ramakrishna Ashrama Marg Station. With a majestic temple of Sri Ramakrishna at its centre, the Delhi Ashrama is a hub of spiritual, cultural and social welfare activities.14 T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 425 ~

Swamiji left alone for Delhi.

Ten days after, the others in the company also left the place. When Swamiji left for Delhi, I said, ‘It was at your bidding that I gave up the idea of a journey to Central Asia and went back to Baranagar and you now leave me!’

‘The company of Gurubhais’, said Swamiji, ‘is a great obstacle to the practice of Tapasya. Don’t you see, you fell ill at Tihiri [in Uttarakhand] and I could not undertake spiritual practices. I cannot undertake them unless I sever the tie of brothers-in-faith. Whenever I think of Tapasya, the Master sends an obstacle. This time N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

26

I shall move alone. Nobody will know my whereabouts.’

‘Go you to the nether word!’ said I, ‘but none the less I shall find you out, or my name is not Gangadhar!’

From Delhi, Sarat Maharaj and Sanyal went to Etawah, Rakhal Maharaj and Hari Maharaj to the Punjab, and I to Brindavan-Vrajadham. During my stay of three or four months there, I had an attack of bronchitis. Tulsi Maharaj now came to Brindavan. I accompanied him to Etawha via Agra.

While Swami Akhandananda stayed in Delhi for ‘three or four month’, it is not known where he stayed and who was his host. There is an interesting anecdote, however, which throws some light on his stay in Delhi. His biography by Swami Annadananda16 says, At Delhi, Swami Akhandananda sat on a bench in a park and thought to himself, ‘If, by chance, I meet a devotee of the Master, I shall go with him; otherwise, I shall spend the night on this bench’. At the other end of the bench sat a Marwari. Seeing the Bengali monk, he moved over towards him to pay his respects. He offered him money also, which the Swami refused. At this, the Marwari remarked, ‘At Dakshineswar, I met Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, and now I meet another saint who refused to accept money’.

Swami Akhandananda asked him who he was. ‘I am Lakshminarayan Marwari,’ the man replied. ‘Once I offered ten thousand rupees to the Master, and I learned a fine lesson on renunciation from him.’ Swami Akhandananda was extremely happy to meet a devotee of the Master in such an unexpected manner, and went with him to his house to spend some hours in conversation about Sri Ramakrishna.

Swami Akhandananda came to Delhi again, while returning from Rajasthan in 1895.

He spent some days before leaving for Kolkata via Varanasi.17 T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

Swami Abhedananda During his stay in Rishikesh, Swami Abhedananda became ill with bronchitis and a high fever. Fortunately, at that time Swami Turiyananda and Saradananda were there; they took care of their brother disciple and later in March 1890, sent him back to Varanasi for further treatment.

Abhedananda gradually recovered and returned to the Baranagore monastery.

This time he did not stay in the monastery long, as he wanted to travel to other holy places in India.

He first went to Gaya and then Varanasi, Prayag, Agra, Delhi, Jaipur, Udaipur, Khetri, Mount Abu and Girnar.18 Swami Niranjanananda He travelled extensively between 1889 and 1891. It is difficult to say for sure that he visited Delhi during this time.

But he came to Delhi in 1897 along with Swamiji.19 We find him at Delhi again, as guide to Mr Okakura, the Japanese artist and a guest of Swamiji. This was in the first half of 1902.20

~ 426 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

27

Swami Turiyananda Apart from his first visit in 1891 (when he came with other disciples and happened

devoted householder in his garden-house on the bank of Yamuna in the outskirts of the city.

Chandulal later recalled: People used to be respectful of Swami Turiyananda due to his brilliant countenance. Everyday, he used to visit the nearby library after finishing his morning bath and breakfast. A little before noon, he used to go to Chandulal’s house to beg for food. After the food, he used to spend some time in religious discourse with Chandulal and then again return to the library. He used to be immersed in studies till evening and then return to his abode for meditation. He ate very little at night and meditated upto late in the morning beginning from 3 am. His daily routine used to run like a clock.22

According to some, however, Swami Turiyananda stayed with Seth Shyamaldas at his residence.

Swami Brahmananda

A picture (taken in 1990s) of the side wing (mostly used as residence for their staff) of Shymaldas' Haveli where Swami Turiyananda stayed during his Delhi visit

to meet Swamiji), Swami Turiyananda came to Delhi at least once. In 1896, Swami Turiyananda travelled to Uttarkashi via Delhi, Hardwar and Rishikesh.21 When he was in Delhi on his way to the Uttarakhand, he stayed with Chandulal, a T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

As noted earlier, he came to Delhi in January 1891 from Meerut and met Swamiji. During his stay, Swami Brahmananda and others would take food either at Seth Shyamaldas’s, Swamiji’s host or at Garibdasi Sadhu Sevak’s.23 Swami Saradananda

~ 427 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

28

Swami Saradananda

Swami Vijnanananda

As in case of others, Swami Saradananda came to Delhi and met Swamiji in Delhi in 1891. Then, after visiting Etawah, Mathura, Vrindaban, and Prayag, he along with Vaikuntha, reached Varanasi in April 1891.24 Swami Saradananda visited Delhi for the second time when, at Swamiji’s behest, he showed Sister Nivedita and other western disciples of Swamiji around Delhi.25

Swami Adbhutananda He visited Delhi in 1897 accompanying Swamiji.27

Swami Vijnanananda Swami Vivekananda wrote to Swami Brahmananda28 asking him to send Swami Vijnanananda (then Brahmachari Hariprasanna) to join him and his group at Dehradun. By implication, since he joined Swami Advaitananda Swamiji’s travels, Swami Vijnanananda must As noted earlier, he came to Delhi in have come to Delhi along with Swamiji in 26 January 1891 from Meerut and met Swamiji.

1897. (During these travels, Swamiji also discussed with him the plan of the proposed temple of Sri Ramakrishna at Belur Math.

As they visited Delhi and Rajputana together, they keenly observed the architecture popular in those parts.)

According to one of his biographies, some thirty years later, on 20 December 1932, Swami Vijnanananda came to Delhi on his way to Dwaraka.

He reached Delhi at about 11.30 p.m. He was ‘welcomed at the Swami Advaitananda Swami Adbhutananda railway station by the Secretary T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 428 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

29

Delhi and some other places in North West India.30 Possibly it was during this last visit to Delhi that he gave two discourses at the Delhi Ashrama as the Combined Annual Report of 1932-35 (p.8) of the Delhi Ashrama records: The Delhi Centre had the privilege of twice welcoming His Holiness Sreemat Swami Vijnananandaji Maharaj, the present Vice President of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission during the period under A picture of the old report Office building at Delhi Ashram

of Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi’ (which had been started in 1927). Swami Vijnanananda stayed at Delhi Ashrama for two days and then left for his destination.

While returning, he again came to Delhi on 6 January 1933 from Rajkot by Gujarat Mail and left Delhi the following day for Allahabad by Parcel Express.29 In 1933 / 34, Swami Vijnanananda went to Sri Lanka. In the same year he went to

Ramakrishna Temple at Delhi Ashram

review. During his second visit, the Swami gave two very illuminating and impressive discourses at the Ashrama on the 30th April and 1 May 1934, on his personal reminiscences of Sri Ramakrishna.

The present office building at Ramakrishna Mission,*** New Delhi, was the first and only building at Delhi Ashrama then.

Obviously, Swami Vijnanananda must have stayed and spoken at the same building. The old shrine of the Mission was also located in the same building till 1959 when the present temple was consecrated.

Conclusion Thus, the historic city of Delhi, the city of monuments and history, has had the blessing of visits by several disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. It is no less a historic event that Swami Vivekananda and nine other direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna visited Delhi, leaving behind holy memories and sacred

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i 

~ 429 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

30

associations. While the historic city of Delhi is largely unaware of Swami Vivekananda’s and direct disciples’ visits to Delhi that took place more than hundred years ago, their message

of Self realization and service to mankind continues to inspire and guide countless men and women there. Delhi—a city blessed by visits of saints! o

References 1. Life of Swami Vivekananda by His Eastern and Western Disciples, in two volumes, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, 1.259-260 2. Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten,

by Rajmohan Gandhi, Aleph Book Company, Dariyaganj, New Delhi, p.10 3. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi and some Internet sites on Delhi’s history.

4. Life of Swami Vivekananda by His Eastern and Western Disciples, in two volumes, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, 2.268 5. The Master As I Saw Him, Udbodhan Office, Kolkata, p. 42 6. CW, 9.129 7. CW, 5.516 8. Life, 2.295 9. CW, 8.438 10. CW, 9.345 11. Life, 1.392 12. CW, 9.394 13. Swami Vivekananda in the West—New Discoveries, Marie Louise Burke, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, 4. 526 14. For details, please visit http://www.rkmdelhi. org

15. Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, p.27 16. Swami Akhandananda by Swami Annadananda, Advaita Ashrama, p.77 17. ibid, p. 111 18. God Lived with Them, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata p.460-461 19. Life, 2.258 20. CW, 5.175 21. God Lived with Them, P. 367 22. Swami Turiyananda (Bengali), Swami Jagadishwarananda, Kolkata, 2004, p. 36 23. Swami Turiyananda, in Bengali, Swami Jagadishwarananda, Udbodhan, Kolkata, 2004, p. 26.

24. God Lived with Them, p. 323 25. Life, 2.385 26. Life, 1.259 27. Life, 2.258 28. From Srinagar in Uttarakhand, letter dated 30 September 1897, CW, 8:427 29. Swami Vijnanananda (Bengali), by Swami Jagadishwarananda, Allahabad, 1354 BE, p. 27172 30. God Lived with Them, P. 610

Endnotes *

Seth Shymaldas’ house was located in Roshanara Road. Called Seth Shyamaldas Ki Haveli in Roshanara Bagh near Pul Bangash, the building, altered over the years, is now a governmentrun Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya. It is situated right across the road, to the east of Mughal gateways called Punjabi Gate. The gateways lead straight to a baradari which has the tomb of Roshanara, daughter of Mughal king Shah Jahan, all structures protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). In 2002, the then Central Minister, Sri Jagmohan had declared the building T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 430 ~

a national heritage because of its association with Vivekananda. ‘Such buildings should be preserved as they can continue to be an inspiration for one of the greatest stalwarts of our times,’ Jagmohan had said. One clear remnant of the past is a huge Mughal-style arched entrance leading to a square courtyard, characteristic of Old Delhi havelis.

‘After the 1857 Uprising, Britishers took over most of the area. Along with them came several Bengalis, who too stayed in the area,’ said RV Smith, chronicler of Delhi’s popular history.

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

31

During his almost three-week stay, Vivekananda, along with his English disciple couple Seviers and his brother monks, visited all the monuments and ruins associated with the past glory of the Mughal emperors. He also walked down to the Yamuna regularly.

Recalled Smith, ‘In 1962, I met this elderly Muslim man in Fatehpuri, who told me he remembered Vivekananda. When the Swami walked in long strides from Chandni Chowk to the Yamuna, several youngsters followed him. He also recalled Swami’s thick neck and pehelwan-like personality.’

—Edited from Source: Nivedita Khandekar, Hindustan Times New Delhi, January 12, 2013 http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/ NewDelhi/School-building-s-forgotten-link-withVivekananda/Article1-988533.aspx

[The house was located in the premises of the Senior Secondary School for Girls run by the Government of Delhi. On 25 March 2002, a public meeting (called Vivekananda Rally) organised at the house by Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi, as part of its Platinum Jubilee Celebrations. It was largely attended by students, devotees and general public. Besides many monks, Shri Jagmohan, the then Minister of Urban Development, Government of India, addressed the gathering. According to authentic sources, Seth Shyamaldas' Haveli was recently pulled down and a new structure has been built in its place.]

** Another version: Chandni Chowk has also been the hub and centre of the social, cultural and religious life of the Capital . . . Swami Vivekananda and Swami Shraddhanand were among the prominent

preachers seen here. Vivekananda stayed with his friend Dr.H.K. Sen. One can visualise Swamiji walking down the chowk with his disciples, pausing at the church and sometimes listening to the debates and perhaps joining them. His visit in February 1891 was a landmark and those who came to know him were duly impressed.

During most of his three-week visit, he stayed in Roshanara Garden at the house of Shyamaladas Seth. But he kept coming to Chandni Chowk and sometimes visited the Yamuna Bank. As there was no New Delhi then, life in Delhi was confined to the Walled City. The Capital was of course at Calcutta, still Delhi's importance as the former seat of the Moghuls was no less.

—Source: Delhi's links... .Old and New by R.V. Smith; The Hindu, Monday, Aug 05, 2002 http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/ mp/2002/08/05/stories/2002080500810200.htm *** Started in 1927, Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi, was shifted to its present premises in 1935. Earlier, in 1934, the foundation of the first building (now called Office Building) of Mission was laid by laying a brick consecrated by Swami Shivananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna and the second President of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. The brick was carried from Belur Math to Delhi and the foundation ceremony was held in February 1934. In December same year, the building was ceremonially opened. The Report quoted in the article suggests that Swami Vijnanananda is likely to have stayed and spoken at this Office Building which, possibly, was yet not complete (since the building was commissioned next year).

With the same wholesouled devotion with which a devotee worships the Lord in the shrine he must serve the Lord in the poor, in the sick, in the lowly. Who are you to help another? It is only when the Lord gives you the power that you can really serve. One must have faith that the one Brahman is in man, woman, in all creatures; and with that faith one must learn to serve Shiva in the form of jiva. As you practice this, suddenly one day the veil will be lifted and you will see that it is He who has become everything—man and universe. It is He who pervades the universe in so many forms. You are that all-pervading Shiva; and thus can serve Shiva in the form of jiva.

—Swami Brahmananda

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 431 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

New Find

Unpublished Letters of Swami Saradananda1 Math. Belur. Howrah. India.

March 29. 02.

My dear Mrs.Janes2 Your kind letter of Jan 16th was such a comfort. The memory of the dear Doctor will ever be to me a living fountain to draw in inspiration in life’s dark and frowning days. The path has not been always of roses since I left you and my dear departed friend, and even now it has improved but little, and often have I thought of him and his steadfast love of duty and truth to keep my flagging heart from utter despondency. The world has been blessed and raised higher by his living. Would that there were many like him!

My brother has returned after finishing his studies in England. I am glad to know he has made such favourable impression in you all and especially the loving tribute of dear Marcia. I am sure he would like to send in his cordial regards to you all had he known I am writing. He is trying to take up his practice in Calcutta & is well.

I have no objection indeed in your printing my letter. How can I have any, feeling what I do, for our dear friend? I wish only it were not such a poor tribute to the memory of the dear one.

Mrs.Bull3 is with us for a short visit and has kindly lent all her letters to me to read, giving an account of the service at the studio. I am thankful to have all the details.

The Swami Vivekananda has felt deeply of the loss of your husband. I do not know as he has written you but he has been seriously ill for a long time and is still under treatment.

He feels a little better now but we do not know as he will ever regain his former health. He is suffering from the Bright’s disease.

My love to Edith and Marcia please. I am so pleased to hear how the little girl comforted you at Greenacre. May God bless them both!

It is so kind of you to send me the little volume of the Doctor. It will ever be precious to me for the love, which prompted its sending. My thanks to you for the book & the magazine.

It is hard to think you are going back to teaching again. Might be some good will come to you in this even, as the dear doctor used to think of such things, though it seems none the less hard for it to me. My constant prayer therefore is that your path might be made a little smoother & that the dear memory of old days being such daily comfort and thankfulness in you that you might not feel the thorns in the way. With kindest regards & best wishes, as ever I am, Most truly yours, Saradananda

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i 

~ 432 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

33

The 3rd April 1902.

My dear Mrs.Brown It seems a pretty long time since I addressed you, and I believe I have not send you a line in answer to your two last letters. I am sorry for this, but times come in one’s life when it takes all one’s forces to meet the daily demands and there is nothing more left for anything else. It seems best not to worry one’s self out because one cannot do more but to keep quiet in perfect faith, waiting for the way to open up again. I had fallen in one of those moments.

I received your little books in time and thought I had acknowledged these before. They are very good in their way and I have read them with much pleasure.

I have watched your inner experiences with much concern & am glad to say you are progressing well. It is such a delight to know the Mother4 has got hold of you at last. Submit to Her guidance with an unquestioning faith & give up all to Her. She is the life, the light, the source of all energy, the power that brings good and evil, that frees or binds for ages in darkness & ignorance. She is the horror of all horrors and the beautiful surpassing all that is beautiful. May she lead you safe through all the complications of life, into the safe haven, where time there is not nor death, nor aught that makes one happy or miserable. She gives one empire above Herself, the empire that never decays for it is founded in the innate freedom of one’s own soul—May She lead us to see & find that! Nothing more to ask or fear or control or regret when one has given up all to Her & may that be ours for all our days.

I am glad to learn the children are doing well. My blessings on them all.

Remember me kindly to all friends. With kind regards to you & blessings Most truly yours Saradananda.

[Address on the envelope:] To Mrs.B.Brown.

109 Mountain Ave. North.

Montclair N.J. U.S.America.

References 1. A direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna 3. Mrs. Sara Bull

2. Wife of Dr. Lewis G. Janes, an American friend of Swami Vivekananda 4. A reference to the Divine Mother

Courtesy: Ramakrishna Museum, Belur Math

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 433 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

Maya and Computer Programs: Some Parallels K SRIKANTH

This theory of Maya has been the most difficult thing to understand in all ages. Let me tell you in a few words that it is surely no theory, it is the combination of the three ideas Desha-KalaNimitta—space, time, and causation—and this time and space and cause have been further reduced into Nama-rupa. Suppose there is a wave in the ocean. The wave is distinct from the ocean only in its form and name, and this form and this name cannot have any separate existence from the wave; they exist only with the wave. The wave may subside, but the same amount of water remains, even if the name and form that were on the wave vanish for ever. So this Maya is what makes the difference between me and you, between all animals and man, between gods and men.

space shuttles and what not, computers or digital technology is an inseparable part of life.

All computers consist of hardware and software. The hardware refers to the physical parts or components of a computer such as monitor, keyboard, computer data storage, hard disk drive, mouse, CPU (graphic cards, sound cards, memory, motherboard and chips) and so on. The software is technically called a ‘program’. In a layman’s language, a computer program (or software) is ‘a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program’s instructions in a central processor.

A collection of computer programs and related data is referred to as the software.’

If today there are millions of computerusers, there are also millions of software engineers or experts who write these computer programs. There is whole industry writing software. Suppose we were to look at the computer programs from the definition of maya we gave above—space, time and causation? Here is an attempt to show how we could understand it by juxtaposing maya (time-space-causation) and computer program-writing. The idea is to understand the un-understandable concept of maya!

Now, we live in the age of computers and they are part of our daily life. Right from the tiny chips in our wrist watch to ticket-vending machines to medical equipment to

The Computer-space (desha) By definition, ‘space is the boundless multi-dimensional (usually three), in which

Maya is Time-Space-Causation Swami Vivekananda has spoken about Maya as ‘statement of facts’. He also refers to maya as ‘Space, Time and Causation’ (desha, kala, nimitta). The world that we live in is indeed a combination of these three forces or factors. We live ‘somewhere’ (desha), at ‘sometime’ (kala), through a set of circumstances or ‘causes’ (nimitta). No one lives or can live beyond this trinity of maya.

Everything happens in space, it happens in time and there are some causes for it to happen. In this sense, the world is maya.

Says Swami Vivekananda (CW, 3:420),

o The author is a devotee of Sri Ramakrishna from Chennai.

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 434 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

35

objects and events have relative position and direction.’ Computer programs represent space through the following:

Time (kala), thus, is the second component of programming—and of maya.

Storage of data in computer memory v Storage of data in computer disk space v Movement of data from one location to another within computer v Input of data to computer v Output of data from computer

The Computer-causation (nimitta) The third component of maya is causation or causality. By definition, ‘causality is the relation between an event (the cause) and a second event (the effect), where the second event is understood as a consequence of the first.’ In common usage, causality is also the relation between a set of factors (causes) and a phenomenon (the effect).

To represent causation, computer programs work on data available in space. To elaborate it further, let us take the case of a software-writing. Causation is represented by the program ‘IF’ statement. That is, we can ask the program to do something ‘IF’ the data is like this or that, etc. For instance, ‘IF’ Hydrogen and Oxygen is available, then form water.

To sum up this section, every computer program consists of the above three, and nothing else more than the above three! A program is, thus, a perfect model of what ‘maya’ is.

One more aspect of mayaprogram connection is the fact that the basic computer is called a ‘Turing Machine’. What is this machine? A Turing machine is a hypothetical device that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. Despite its simplicity, a Turing Machine can be adapted to simulate the logic of any computer algorithm, and is particularly useful in explaining the functions of a CPU inside a computer. It was invented in 1936 by Alan Turing.

It is a widely held, though little spoken, inference that no computer is any better than this basic Turing Machine (even if it has additional commands like multiple-tasking,

v

Space (desha) therefore is first component of program-writing—and of maya. The program happens in and uses ‘space’. Here space is basically used with regard to data which a computer processes. Maya’s one component is space and so also of a software.

The Computer-time (kala) Time is more than what the watch shows.

It is one of the dimensions of our everyday life.

In scientific language, ‘time is a dimension in which events can be ordered from the past through the present into the future, and also the measure of durations of events and the intervals between them.’

In computer programming, time is used as a factor for writing a set of instructions that a computer has to carry out. In this sense, computer programs ‘represent’ (or ‘imitate’ or ‘model’) time through the following: v v

the program ‘FOR’ statement the program ‘WHILE’ statement

This means that, for example, we can ask a computer to work ‘FOR’ the first 100 students, or we ask a computer to work ‘WHILE’ it is not yet 5:00 PM. In other words, there has to be ‘time’ in terms of ‘first 100 students’ and leave out the remaining. Time refers to the instructions one writes to carry on a certain function.

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 435 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

36

and even if it is a ‘super-computer’.) And this ‘Turing Machine’ consists of the above three factors only. All computers, therefore, are space-time-cause put in a mechanical and mathematical form.

Man and Computer Sri Ramakrishna said that if you add digit one before zeros successively you get figures whose values increases proportionately—a hundred, a thousand, a million and so on.

Likewise, however efficient and good may be a machine, it is man behind that matters. Man represents the ‘conscious principle’ whereas the computers are only matter. It is the man who makes or formats or turns the machine that is most important.

In writing a program, if a man has only a working knowledge of any situation, then this ‘workable situation’ directly gets translated into a program. Thus, computer programs can model any and all ‘instance’ of Maya (i.e., all instances of ‘Space, Time and Causation’).

But this is only after the ‘intuition’ or higher intelligence by a man.

What is intuition? Intuition is the ability to acquire knowledge about things, apparently without reasoning or usage of reason in general. The word intuition comes from Latin verb intueri is translated as to look inside or to contemplate. Intuition is thus often conceived as a kind of inner perception, sometimes regarded as real lucidity or understanding.

In this sense, intuition is above maya.

And computer programs can represent things only within maya. Intuition is beyond ordinary thinking and so is maya!

Let us not forget that computer programs cannot model objects that do not exist. For example, 200 years ago, there was no electric engine. Therefore, 200 years ago, the program could not have represented the electric engine.

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

A computer (i.e., a basic ‘Turing Machine’) cannot ‘create’ a new symbol or law (i.e., a new ‘rule’ or a new ‘IF’ statement, or an ‘evolution’ of ‘Newton’s Laws’ to ‘Einstein’s Relativity’) without human intervention. We do not say that a new ‘symbol’ or a new ‘law’ or a new ‘situation’ cannot be modeled by a computer program, but we only say that human intervention is required for a computer to re-model or update a situation. And human beings encounter new and newer objects and newer situations all the time, like the electric engine now, which was not there 200-300 years ago. In this way, men are superior to computer programs. There are new and infinite possibilities in nature which men shall find as time progresses (but a computer cannot). Man or the conscious principle is what matters most.

Conclusion Computers are machines, however advanced, and man is the operator. So also maya is a machine in the hands of Brahman.

While there are many parallels in maya and programming, man is different from both. He is unique for he is conscious which a computer is not.

About man’s primacy and the supremacy of freedom that he enjoys, Swami Vivekananda says (CW, 2:400),

~ 436 ~

The rushing engine speeds along the railway track; the little worm crawls out of its way.

We at once say, ‘The engine is dead matter, a machine; and the worm is alive,’ because the worm attempted to break the law. The engine, with all its power and might, can never break the law. It is made to go in any direction man wants, and it cannot do otherwise; but the worm, small and little though it was, attempted to break the law and avoid the danger. It tried to assert itself against law, assert its freedom; and there was the sign of the future God in it. o N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

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

Commemoration of the 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda Doctors’ Convention Held at Chennai Math The main focus of the one-day convention of doctors drawn from different parts of Chennai city was the significance of Swami Vivekananda’s teachings in dealing with issues related to work and stress. The role of doctors in nurturing higher values in the area of medical services and also the need to equip them with a holistic philosophy to face the stress involved in their medical practice was discussed at length. Swami Brahmeshananda, a senior monk of the Ramakrishna Math, BK Krishnaraj Vanavaraya, President, Doctors’ Convention Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Coimbatore, Dr. K.K. Palaniswamy, a leading physician from Chennai and Swami Gautamananda, Adhyaksha, Ramakrishna Math, Chennai and many others addressed the gathering. More than 200 doctors took part in the convention which was held in the Math auditorium. All the doctors were given booklets on the life and teachings of Swami Vivekananda.

Celebrations in Mangalore Mangalore Ramakrishna Math organized a series of programmes christened 'Viveka Samsmarana' from 16th to 21st September 2013. The six day event included personality development camp for post-graduate students, workshop on self-confidence for degree students, workshop for development of self-esteem for pre-university girls, workshop on value education for B. Ed. students, value inculcation programme for high school teachers and value-based education programme for college lecturers and professors.

Around 2500 students and 1200 teachers/ lecturers took part in the event. All the delegates were served tea, snacks, lunch and were given complimentary booklets and attractive posters of Swami Vivekananda.

Inauguration of the Viveka Samsmarana Several eminent speakers and representatives of T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 437 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

38

the Government of Karnataka addressed the gathering.

The following centres of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission organized various programmes to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. (Main programmes conducted by them are mentioned against their names.)

Antpur: A youth convention on 1 September which was attended by 222 youths.

Bhubaneswar: A state-level seminar on Swamiji on 1 September which was inaugurated by Sri Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Odisha. About 500 delegates from different parts of Odisha participated.

Chandigarh: A symposium on Swami Vivekananda and Women Power on 22 September in which six women, who had topped in the essay-writing contest conducted earlier, presented their papers.

Chengalpattu: Processions, devotional music and film shows on Swamiji at Sirunavalur, Kalpattu, Kaliyapettai, Sathanur, Seethapuram, Keel Maruvathur, Polampakkam, Pulipaakkam, Kallabiranpuram, Thenpakkam and Venpakkam on 22, 24, 25 & 31 August and 1, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15 & 17 September respectively.

A film show in a school at Maduranthakam on 30 August.

Chennai Students’ Home: Exhibition, cultural competitions and lectures at thirteen polytechnic colleges in Chennai and Kanchipuram districts in August in which altogether 6500 students participated.

Cooch Behar: A spiritual retreat on 28 August in which 400 devotees took part.

Delhi: 27 puppet shows on Swamiji in different parts of Gujarat with the help of Rajkot Ashrama from 6 to 27 September which were watched altogether by nearly 20,000 persons.

Deoghar: A two-day state-level seminar on Unity in Diversity on 20 and 21 September which was attended by 713 people, mostly student delegates.

Gadadhar Ashrama, Kolkata: Three special lectures in August and September which were attended altogether by 500 students and teachers.

Hyderabad: A youth convention on 11 September and a teachers’ convention on 12 September which were attended by 1400 youths and 700 teachers respectively.

Institute of Culture, Kolkata: A national seminar on Swami Vivekananda’s Relevance in Meeting the Challenges of the 21st Century on 10 and 11 September. The General Secretary delivered the keynote address and nine papers were presented in the four academic sessions. The seminar was attended by 569 persons, mostly youths.

Kanpur: A district-level youth convention on 31 August which was attended by 250 youths.

A special meeting at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, on 12 September in which the General Secretary addressed a gathering of about 70 students and faculty members.

A teachers’ orientation programme on 13 September in which 50 teachers took part. The General Secretary and a few others addressed the participants.

Madurai: Value education programme for parents on 7 September in which 116 parents took part.

A youth convention and a public meeting on 11 September which were attended by 815 college students and 550 people respectively.

Malda: An elocution competition on 11 August in which students from 12 colleges in 3 districts of West Bengal took part.

A public meeting on 6 September which was presided over by the General Secretary and attended by about 800 people.

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 438 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

39

Mumbai: A national youth convention on 28 and 29 September in which 350 youths took part. Eminent professionals and industrialists addressed the convention, and students of reputed management institutes presented their papers on topics related to socio-economic issues confronting our society.

Muzaffarpur: A meeting and a cultural programme on 11 September which were attended by about 500 people, mostly students.

Narendrapur: A regional inter-faith conference on 10 and 11 September which was addressed by 10 eminent scholars and attended by about 900 people.

An inter-school football cup tournament from 9 to 13 September in which 8 schools participated.

Palai: Youth conventions on 2 and 13 August in which altogether 570 students took part.

Pune: A youth convention on 14 September which was attended by 250 youths.

Teachers’ workshop and devotees’ convention on 15 September in which 180 teachers and 80 devotees took part.

Puri Mission: A spiritual retreat on 26 September in which 160 devotees took part.

Ramharipur: A special programme comprising lectures and a musical performance on 22 September which was attended by 1150 people.

Ranchi Morabadi: An inter-faith meet on 11 September which was attended by a good number of people.

Salem: Four value education programmes for parents in Namakkal district and Salem on 10, 17, 18 and 24 August. In all, 246 parents attended the programmes.

Inter-school cultural competitions from 16 to 23 August in which nearly 2000 students from 35 schools participated.

Value education programmes at four colleges from 10 August to 20 September in which altogether 1100 students participated.

A parliament of religions on 29 September which was attended by 450 people.

Swamiji’s Ancestral House: Special lectures on 24, 29 and 30 August which were attended altogether by about 1350 persons.

A musical narration on Swamiji on 26 August which was attended by 300 people.

On the centre’s initiative, four institutions in and around Kolkata organized special programmes on 5, 7, 16 and 17 September which were attended altogether by 1500 people.

Vijayawada: A two-day state-level seminar on Unity in Diversity on 16 and 17 September which was attended by about 650 people from 15 districts of Andhra Pradesh.

Outside India Dhaka and Narayanganj centres in Bangladesh jointly celebrated from 26 to 28 September 2013, in collaboration with Sadhu Nag Mahashay Ashrama (Deobhog, Narayanganj), Swamiji’s visit to Nag Mahashay’s house on 25 March 1901 and to Langalband (a holy place on the bank of Brahmaputra River at Narayanganj) on 27 March 1901. Processions, speeches and a music concert formed a part of the threeday celebration. Besides, the newly installed statue of Swamiji at the Deobhog Ashrama was unveiled on this occasion.

Fiji: An Inter-faith conference, lectures and cultural programmes from 2 to 4 September.

Mauritius: A programme comprising lectures and a cultural programme in a school on 11 September which was attended by about 800 students, teachers and parents.

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 439 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

40

New York Vedanta Society (USA): Release of a booklet, Fear Not, Be Strong, authored by Swami Tathagatananda, on 15 September.

Sydney (Australia): An international seminar on Swami Vivekananda and His Quest for Sustained Human Development in both East and West on 16 September in collaboration with the University of Sydney and a few other organizations.

A play on Swamiji at the famous Opera House, Sydney, on 17 and 18 September, and at Brisbane on 22 September.

Seminars and talks in different parts of Australia (Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Townsville) and New Zealand (Auckland and Wellington) in August-September. o Relief Work Flood Relief (a) Gujarat: Following the recent flash floods caused by heavy rainfall in Rajkot, our Rajkot centre served cooked food (khichri) to 1000 flood-affected people and distributed 2500 food packets (containing gathiya, biscuits and sweets) among the victims in 8 areas of Rajkot city on 26 September. (b) West Bengal: (i) Our Narendrapur centre distributed 2600 kg rice and 310 kg dal (lentils) as well as 710 bamboos (under ‘build your own house scheme’) among 229 flood-affected families in Salpukur and Nepalganj areas under Panakua Gram Panchayat in South 24 Parganas district from 5 to 18 September. (ii) Our Saradapitha centre distributed 118 blankets, 101 saris and 59 dhotis among 278 flood-affected families of Narit village, Amta-2 block, Howrah district, on 18 September. (iii) In the wake of the flooding of Padma river in Raninagar-2 block of Murshidabad district, our Sargachhi centre served cooked food (khichri) to 550 and 2000 persons in Borderpara village on 7 and 8 September respectively. (iv) Our Tamluk centre distributed 40,000 kg chira (rice flakes), 2000 kg sugar and 2,50,000 halogen tablets among 9524 flood-affected families belonging to 32 villages of Nandakumar and Tamluk-1 blocks in Purba Medinipur district.

Drought Relief Our Shivanahalli centre continued its drought relief work by supplying 9,28,000 litres of drinking water to 9950 affected families in 8 villages of Kolar district from 26 August to 6 September.

Distress Relief The following centres distributed various items, shown against their names, to needy people: (a) Baghbazar: 1000 saris to the slum-dwellers adjacent to the Ashrama, and 200 saris to poor people through Naora Ashrama. (b) Karimganj: 300 saris and 300 steel plates among poor and needy people. (c) Khetri: 1980 notebooks among 357 poor students of 10 schools in and around Khetri. o T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ 440 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

Book Review For review in The Vedanta Kesari,

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

Ancient Sages

The Universal Mother

By Swami Satyamayananda Published by Advaita Ashrama, 5, Dehi Entally Road, Kolkata - 700 014.

2012, paperback, Pp.223, Rs.60.

This small book is a mine of information for a general reader and also for a serious researcher. It gives the genealogy and some life incidents of more than 30 sages mentioned in the Vedas and Puranas. In the process of giving details of the sages, many stories from the Vedas and Puranas are covered in brief. Simple, elegant and beautiful illustrations in the book add to the reader’s vivid mental pictures of the life and times of these ancient sages. The book starts with the four Kumaras— Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana and Sanatkumara.

Then it describes the Sapta Rishis. Brief sketches about other well-known Rishis like Narada, Kapila, Valmiki, Vishwamitra, Markandeya, etc., have been given. Almost all the sages whom a typical Hindu would have heard about have been covered in detail.

This is a well-researched book. An exhaustive glossary running to more than 40 pages gives a huge list of people and concepts of Hinduism. It also has an elaborate genealogy tree of the different Manus and Prajapatis, spouses, children, children’s spouses, grandchildren, etc. This gives a very good and authentic picture of how the various personalities in the Vedas and Puranas are related to each other. The genealogy tree is a good starting point to do research on the historical basis of the Puranas.

This book is a refreshing read and a handy reference to everyone who is interested in the stories in the Vedas, Puranas and Itihasas. ___________________________ N.GOKULMUTHU, BANGALORE

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

Published by Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture - 700 029, Gol Park, Kolkata, paperback,pp.140, Rs.12.

Full of feminine grace, extreme compassion and unmotivated love to all forms of life, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi or Sri Ma Sarada Devi zealously guarded her Divinity, the Divine Shakti. The reverence that Sri Ramakrishna had for her is now ‘spiritual history’.

Recognising her divinity, he worshipped her as the Divine Mother. The ‘few events’ from her life that form this small book are carefully chosen to give a bird’s eye view of her extraordinary personality.

The hallmarks of an ideal woman, her rights, duties and responsibilities are revealed in the austere, self-effacing, simple life led by Sri Ma. The wife is expected to obey her husband but obedience is not inviolable as demonstrated by her reaction to Sri Ramakrishna’s resentment when meal was delivered by a devotee of questionable morals.

Again, Holy Mother shows a high level of intellect explaining to Mrs Ole Bull the real meaning of obedience to the guru.

Her support enabled Swami Vivekananda to go overseas. After return Swamiji wrote to Swami Ramakrishnananda, ‘. . .Sri Mother is here and the European and American ladies went the other day to see her, and what do you think, the Mother ate with them even there. . .’

Women’s empowerment is not a twenty first century phenomenon; Mother knew the value of education and declared open Nivedita’s school. Her intervention with mature wisdom enabled niece Radhu to attend school. She knew women had to perform their role in society and not pine away in domestic chores.

~ 441 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

42

The book offers inspiring reminiscences of past Presidents of the Ramakrishna Order, Swami Virajananda and Swami Vishuddhananda, and eminent devotees such as Girish Ghosh. When two monks of the Order and some householder devotees were served dinner by Ma, with deep concern and forethought she preserved some milk for the monks telling them that unlike householders, the monks needed special attention. We can conceive of none other than the large-hearted Holy Mother to entertain Amjad, shunned by society as historysheeter. She felt the sufferings of others as her own.

Mother had an exalted level of patriotic spirit but disliked ‘frivolous emotionality in the name of patriotism’.

The Universal Mother is a book small in size but loaded with wisdom and will serve as a guide to men and women. _______________________________ P. S. SUNDARAM, MUMBAI.

The Secret of Happiness

By Swami Brahmeshananda Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore Chennai - 600 004, 2013, Paperback, pp.230+x, Rs.40.

Each and every one of us would like to be as happy as possible and spend much thought, effort, money and other resources in order to achieve this enviable state. Unfortunately, though, our lives are often not as happy as we would like. Is there any other way by following which we will become, and remain, happy?

According to this thought-provoking and incisive book by Swami Brahmeshananda, a senior monk of the Ramakrishna Order, yes, there is. But like all treasures, it is not immediately apparent and has to be worked for, which is why the title is the ‘secret’ of happiness.

The book consists of twenty two chapters in which the writer analyses and synthesises what happiness means and how to get on to the path of achieving it. He begins with the basic definition of how man can achieve this elusive state by referring to Swami Vivekananda’s famous words ‘To preach T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

unto mankind their divinity and how to make it manifest in every movement of life’. Easier said than done, of course, as Swami Brahmeshananda points out. He first analyses the various definitions of human life as put forth by western thinkers and contrasts these with Indian wisdom regarding the human state. In order to face life and its many ups and downs, man therefore needs a higher power to whom he can turn when in sorrow. That higher power can be called God. There is also another need—the need to feed the spirit, to understand a higher power, the ideal of which we carry in our minds and hearts and to whom we aspire.

The author states a self-evident fact (though this is something we forget) that ‘religion is a constitutional necessity of man’. Thus, as he points out, service is the highest form of worship. The third and fourth chapters deal with the goal of life and the different facets of life. Sri Ramakrishna said over and over again that the sole aim of human life is to ‘see God’.

In these two chapters, the author very scientifically and, therefore, persuasively expands this theme. We all, he points out, want to live the right life in a world which globalisation has made almost one, in the sense that most of the old divisions have been broken down. However, other divisions have been created to take their place. This is where we have to turn to ‘newer models like Sri Ramakrishna and his disciples and the Holy Mother, Sri Sarada Devi’ (p. 34). The essence of this lies in the word Faith. As the author says, not everyone can lead a life of renunciation. For some, life is a struggle from start to finish with absolutely no respite. For them and for all those who cannot forego the pressures of life, faith provides the key to spirituality.

The next two chapters are devoted to the personalities of Sri Krishna as portrayed in the Bhagavad Gita, and the Buddha. Sri Krishna is the Ever-Perfect, the calm, serene Lord who is simple and approachable and yet as vast and deep as the ocean. And how can we know this? From the fact that the ‘first characteristic of the sane mind, according to the author, is absence of emotionalism’ (p. 54, ibid).

From this point, the author defines the secret of happiness in the next chapters. Western philosophers think that Hinduism and Buddhism are negative and pessimistic because they

~ 442 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

43

characterise life as suffering. Western thinking celebrates the pleasure principle and hedonism, though some thinkers have said it must be accompanied by right conduct and self-restraint. So is happiness, bliss, taboo? Here the author outlines some kinds of bliss: those of a child, of the monarch, of sleep, of intellectual pursuits, of Samadhi. But we are looking for everlasting bliss. In this context, the Holy Mother is a source of inspiration and wisdom. To all appearances, she was a simple village woman, but she was not that. She was the fount of dedication and unselfishness and, above all, contentment. She displayed true happiness. Sri Ramakrishna, too, showed this path—through love, kindness and compassion to anyone who came to him. He lived and moved among us like an ordinary human being, so that he may be easily approached.’ (p. 99, ibid). So here the reader has it: Real happiness is not pleasure. Real happiness lies in living for others, and contentment, in unselfishness, and in being rational rather than emotional.

Chapters 11 and 12 deal with the anatomy of suffering, which we take to be loosely the antonym of happiness. Most of us are under the impression that the absence of suffering is happiness. We are also under the erroneous impression that our unhappiness or suffering is caused by an outside agency. There is suffering beginning with the smallest creature. With the development of the brain, these sufferings increase, and we feel both physical and mental agony. There are, on the one hand, physical aches and pains. Added to these are the miseries of anxiety, fear and the insecurities of life, of life itself through the spectre of death which is in any case shadowing us. So how to conquer that fear? The author says that a seeker after truth is unafraid of death and looks on it as a reminder of the impermanence of life. This then turns his thoughts inwards and he realises that he is responsible for his own well-being and happiness.

This feeling of bhakti is not easy to acquire and requires much self-examination. While secular knowledge is necessary for life, we do not need vast learning in order to understand God. The last chapters of the book talks about handling stress, which is one of the commonest causes of physical and mental illness today, and of the strength required to handle it. Of course we need physical strength, for which a balanced diet and exercise are necessary, but we also require T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

mental strength, self-confidence and forbearance and non-violence. The last three qualities are born out of self-confidence: not caring for public opinion in our journey towards true happiness is a function of being convinced that we are on the right path.

The book is a brilliant exposition of the true nature of happiness which is far from being just immediate gratification of impulses. The pursuit of happiness, according to the author, is inseparable from the pursuit of virtue and the pursuit of truth, though the media, especially advertising, would have us believe the exact opposite. The book is completely in tune with the 21st century at several levels of existence. Firstly, the title itself makes us stop and consider. Secondly, we realise that the word secret is used not to convey something that is to be kept from others, but as something waiting to be discovered. Thirdly, the recipe for lasting happiness lies not in frequenting malls and other such enticing but ephemeral occupations, but in inner work and reflection. Fourthly, the onus for this journey is on ourselves. Fifthly, the journey towards uncovering that secret is as exciting as the final attainment of the goal.

Written in a very readable style, a part of the strength of the book lies, at least for this reviewer, in the scientific background of the author. The greater part of its value lies in his own convictions which he is able to transfer to his reader. It is no exaggeration to say that everyone must read this book, not least because all of us want to be happy. It is for reasons of personal courage and growth that this book is so highly recommended. ___________________________ PREMA RAGHUNATH, CHENNAI

The Four Indian Philosophers on Education

By C. Thriveni Published by Ramya Compugraphics, Mysore, Available with author #907, 3rd Cross, Agnihamsa Road, Kuvempunagar, Mysore.

2012, paperback, Pp.28, Rs.30.

The purpose of this booklet is to ‘revive the thoughts on Indian education by four great

~ 443 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

44

nineteenth century philosophers’ on the occasion of Swami Vivekananda’s 150th birth anniversary.

They are, apart from Swamiji, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo.

While education ‘took a back seat’ during British rule and was deprived of Indian values, ironically the system triggered the spirit of freedom, says the author. The essential features of education policy visualized by the philosophers have been identified some of which are the following.

Tagore’s concept of education are four fold; ‘naturalism, humanism, internationalism and idealism’. These are adopted in Shantiniketan and Viswa Bharati. ‘The epoch-making mind of Swami Vivekananda’ wanted education through mother tongue, knowledge of Vedanta, Sanskrit, education of women, among others. ‘Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man’ said Swamiji. Gandhian philosophy included truth, nonviolence, development of the integrated personality, etc. Sri Aurobindo’s vision also favoured ‘integral development of personalities. . .’ Swamiji called education ‘the training by which the current and expression of will are brought under control and become fruitful.’

The philosophers were keen on inculcation of moral and ethical values and character building. A patriotic spirit was also considered important.

The author has obviously left it to policymakers to provide the infrastructure for implementation. We need dedicated teachers capable of implementing the policies who are well-trained by designated institutes. In today’s context teachers must be sensitized about dealing with the sensibilities of students. The role of parents is significant; they should be equally sensitive about the pressures children face. Swami Vivekananda had extensively dealt with all these aspects.

Children teach themselves, he said, all they need is an environment conducive to their aspirations.

Teachers and parents owe this to them.

The author’s recommendation to introduce a five year course on Vedic system is good though it has to pass through the present sociopolitical currents which is quite complicated and challenging to convince of this. However, Thriveni’s presentation will be useful to kick start a wider debate. _______________________________ P. S. SUNDARAM, MUMBAI.

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

Shake Hands with Life

By J.P. Vaswani Publis he d by St e r ling Paperbacks, Available from Gita Publishing House, 10, Sadhu Vaswani Path, Pune 411 001. 2011, Paperback, Pp.80, Rs.125.

Nothing is more mysterious than the act of living. But what is life?

Men of wisdom of diverse traditions have defined life in various ways.

Each of them focuses some aspects of life, trying to bring out their understanding of it. The book under review is no exception. The author calls life ‘a gift’, the greatest gift—to be treasured and cherished and not misused or abused. Indeed this says much about what life is, and leaves scope for more.

The book is written keeping in mind youth.

Today’s youth are confronted with such basic and significant questions as to the meaning and purpose of life. The way the chapters in the book are titled points to it. ‘Life is Rocking!’, ‘Overcoming Depression’, ‘Suicide is not a Solution’ draws the attention of the young readers instantly and succeed in driving home essential points. The author provides an incisive analysis of the youth psyche, current scenario and its influence on the present generation. He also delineates how the youth can make the most of their lives by changing their attitudes and perspectives. The ‘8 Practical Suggestions’ that form a chapter in the book give down-to-earth tips to improve one’s personality.

‘A Simple Meditation to Build Positive Thinking and Self-esteem’, which forms the last chapter, helps one focus on youth’s inherent strengths and how to sublimate the negative emotions. An added advantage of this chapter is that it gives instructions in the language modern youth understand, making it easier for them to imbibe and practice the message of self-change and improvement.

The book could be an eye-opener to many.

The author’s distinctive writing style makes the subject lively and thought-provoking. Thanks to its catchy title, content and style, the book certainly shakes hands with its readers. ______________ SWAMI CHIDAMBARANANDA, MANGALORE

~ 444 ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

N O V E M B E R

45

2 0 1 3

Upanishads for Students

New Release

Upanishads are a source of enduring strength and wisdom for living a noble and great life. What the modern students need most is a guide to self-knowledge, concentration, strength to face challenges of life and discovering the true purpose of life.

The Upanishads, though abstruse in their contents, have answer to all these and are the best way to help a growing young mind to gain insights of how to be a better and good student. This is a compilation from students’ perspective.

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

No request for VPP entertained

Pages. xvii + 62

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

New Release

Yoga in Day-to-Day Life

Swami Brahmeshananda How many really know that Yoga is much more than mere bodily postures and breathcontrol? According to Patanjali, Yoga has eight limbs aimed at total extinction of all suffering.

The book has chapters on the common theme of yoga as well as on basis of Yoga—five Yamas, universal moral values, and Niyama, the specific disciplines a true Yoga seeker must practice.

There are sections on Asana and Pranayama.

Pratyahara, Dharana, Japa and meditation. The book introduces the reader to the various limbs of Yoga in order to live a healthy and fulfilling life.

Pages xiv + 250

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

Price: Rs. 50/- + Postage: Rs.25/-for single copy.

Request for VPP will not be entertained

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i 

46

N O V E M B E R

The Vedanta Kesari

Some of the recent Annual Issues of The Vedanta Kesari now available in book form: (1999) Globalization (2002) How to Organise Life (2004) Sri Ramakrishna in Todays Violent World (2005) Channelling Youth Power (2006) No One is a Stranger (2007) Upanishads in Daily Life (2008) Gita for Everyday Living (2009) How to Shape the Personality (2010) Facets of Freedom (2011) Joy of Spirituality

: : : : : : : : : :

Rs.60/Rs.45/Rs.45/Rs.45/Rs.45/Rs.70/Rs.70/Rs.70/Rs.60/Rs.80/-

Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004 Plus postage Rs.25/- for single copy. No request for VPP entertained

2 0 1 3

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

47

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

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.

Rs. 250/-

Rs. 150/-

Rs. 150/-

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 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

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i 

48

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

Universal Temple

Dedicated to Sri Ramakrishna G. Venkataramana Reddy Universal Temple of Sri Ramakrishna at Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai, is a landmark, incorporating features of many architectural traditions. Dedicated to Sri Ramakrishna, the temple draws hundreds of devotees and visitors daily. This book in multi-colours gives details of the origin and significance of the architectural designs of the temple. It has 40 pictures and also texts of the talks given by Swami Bhuteshananda and Swami Ranganathananda on the significance of Ramakrishna temples. The author, is well-known for his designs of several Ramakrishna temples in different parts of India.

Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004 Pages viii + 72. Price: Rs. 75/- + Postage: Rs.25/-for single copy.

No request for VPP entertained

A Pilgrimage to Western Ghats Temples in Karnataka Swami Atmashraddhananda

IN KARNATAKA

Pages vi + 130

The Western Ghats, a mountain range in the western India, are famous for their rich green cover, spectacular valleys and rushing rivers. They enshrine several reputed and ancient temples where millions of devotees offer their worship every year. Based on a travelogue, this book focuses on some of these temples in Karnataka, describing their spiritual, cultural and architectural features and introduces the readers to India’s living spiritual tradition in these parts.

Richly illustrated with many pictures.

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

Price: Rs. 35/- + Postage: Rs.23/-for single copy.

Request for VPP will not be entertained

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

N O V E M B E R

49

2 0 1 3

Swami Tapasyananda As We Knew Him

New Release

Reminiscences of Monastic and Lay Devotees

Pages. xx + 780

Initiated by Swami Shivananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Tapasyananda was the Vice-President of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission from 1985 until his passing in 1991. A prolific writer, he translated many important books from Sanskrit to English such as Srimad Bhagavatam, Saundaryalahari, Adhyatma Ramayana, Sundarakandam, among others. A monk known for his sterling qualities of head and heart—he was respected by anyone whom came in touch with him.

The book contains 56 reminiscences by monks and devotees who knew him and 14 appendices, interspersed with numerous black and white pictures.

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

No request for VPP entertained Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004

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

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

50

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

N O V E M B E R

51

2 0 1 3

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

-

Berhampur [Orissa]

7. Navajeevan Eye Care Centres

-

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

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

52

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

T h e

V

e d a n t a

K

e s a r i

~ III ~

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 3

Vol.100-11 The Vedanta Kesari (English Monthly) November 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

LAVINO-KAPUR COTTONS PRIVATE LIMITED 100% Export Oriented Unit * Star Export House BUREAU VERITAS - ISO 9001:2008 certified

(Manufacturers of Absorbent Cotton Products) REGD. OFFICE:

121-122, Mittal Chambers, Nariman Point, Mumbai - 400 021 Tel: 91 22 6632 5141 (30 Lines) Fax: 91 22 6632 4979 / 6632 4421 / 2282 0577 E-mail: info@lavinokapur.com Website: www.lavinokapur.com TARAPUR PLANT: H-1, MIDC, Tarapur Industrial Area Taps Post, Boisar - 401 504 District - Thane.

Maharashtra Tel: 02525-2722 90/91/92

v

Subscription Annual M B E R 2 0 10 1 3 years: ` 1000 T h e V e(inclusive d a n t a of K postage) e s a r i ~ IV ~ N O: V` E100 Contact: Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai. Website: www.chennaimath.org