The Vedantha Kesari - October 2020

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Vedanta Kesari Cover Story

The Durga Puja

October 2020

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The Vedanta Kesari

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A Cultural and Spiritual Monthly of the Ramakrishna Order since 1914

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T he V edanta K esari

A Cultural and Spiritual Monthly of The Ramakrishna Order

CONTENTS

107

OCTOBER 2020

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Publication

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The Durga Puja Sister Nivedita

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First Durga Puja at Belur Math Swami Vimalatmananda

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8 Atmarpanastuti 9 Yugavani 10 Editorial 17 Reminiscences 25 Pocket Tales 27 Vivekananda Way 31 Poorva 41 Book Reviews 52 Pariprasna 53 The Order on the March

Creation of the Phenomenal World from Divine Ideas Gopal Stavig

Assimilating the Human Possibilities Vision Srinivas Venkatram Mahendranath Gupta Ruchira Mitra Wh

en

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G

od

Ca lls

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FEATURES

Spiritual Journey N Gokulmuthu

Vol. 107, No. 10 ISSN 0042-2983

Sattvika Shraddha Swami Satyapriyananda

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The Importance of a Daily Schedule in Our Life Swami Medhasananda

Editor: Swami Mahamedhananda

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

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October 2020

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The Vedanta Kesari

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Vedanta

95 e of u s r 18 s i e t b em Firs ept He was a much-celebrated and much-feted Swami.

S , n di a v a His famous address at The World’s Parliament of Religions, hm Bra Chicago in 1893 had catapulted him to the status of a super star. But Swami Vivekananda was not one to bask in chaffy glory. A letter to one of his trusted followers, from the USA, dated 12 Jan 1895, read, ‘I want to preach my ideas for the good of the world. …What work have you done in the way of advancing the ideas and organising in India? …My life is more precious than spending it in getting the admiration of the world. I have no time for such foolery.’

Swamiji, as Swami Vivekananda was fondly addressed, loved and revered his motherland as his own mother. Every breath of his aspired for her well being and every cell in his body yearned that she regain her lost glory. She had been a beacon light for the world until repeated invasions pillaged her ruthlessly and left her not just poverty-stricken but also psychologically drained. The latter struck at the very core, underlying the urgency for immediate redressal.

Swamiji’s panacea for this lay in India’s very own practical and ennobling Vedantic wisdom.

Vedanta recognises no weakness. It proclaims that in every individual lies a mine of strength.

All that is needed is an effort to draw from it.

Swamiji started looking for the right channel to propagate the powerful message of Vedanta. He opted for the print medium and decided to bring out a journal, giving it the name Brahmavadin. In February 1895, he sent from USA $100 and a letter to his trusted disciple Alasinga Perumal. The letter read: ‘Now I am bent upon starting the journal. Herewith I send a hundred dollars… Hope this will go just a little in starting your paper.’

If selflessness and devotion would have a form, it would have borne the name of Alasinga Perumal.

Brahmavadin became Alasinga’s calling and the first issue rolled out from a press in Broadway, Chennai on 14 September 1895. The magazine included a First iss ue of The Ved anta Ke poem of Swamiji specially composed for the sari, Ma y 1914 occasion. It was titled, ‘The Song of the Sannyasin’.

One verse ran thus:

Kesari

One hundred and seven years and going strong….

“Strike off thy fetters! Bonds that bind thee down,

(Handwritten words in Swamiji’s own hand) With this message that marked its mission, Brahmavadin made a determined entry into the strife-ridden climate of pre-independence India. The birth of the magazine was certainly an occasion for celebration but the struggles were far from over.

One of Swamiji’s letters to Alasinga read: ‘I learnt from your letter the bad financial state that Brahmavadin is in.’ This was followed by another letter that carried the line, ‘I pledge myself to maintain the paper anyhow.’

Bolstered by this pledge, Alasinga Perumal braved on, surmounting many an impediment.

Sadly, Swami Vivekananda passed away in 1902, at the age of thirty-nine. Alasinga’s intense anguish morphed into heightened devotion towards the magazine. But the next hurdle in Brahmavadin’s journey came in 1909, in the form of Alasinga’s own demise. In May 1914, the magazine, tottering as it was, floundered and ground to a halt.

It was at this crucial juncture, that the Ramakrishna Mission stepped in to revive it. The Mission was itself in its nascent stages with many a teething problem but nothing could come in its way of reviving the Brahmavadin. For, had not their beloved Swamiji repeatedly said, ‘The Brahmavadin is a jewel – it must not perish!” And so, the very same month when Brahmavadin closed, it was resuscitated with the new name The Vedanta Kesari.

The history of The Vedanta Kesari is much more than just a tale of sweat, toil and a dream realised. It is a narrative of Swamiji’s passion for India and Alasinga’s devotion to his master.

It is a celebration of love, transcending forms.

5 The Vedanta Kesari

For fetters, though of gold, are not less strong to bind;

October 2020

Love, hate — good, bad — and all the dual throng,

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Prayer

Atmarpanastuti

October 2020

Sri Appayya Dikshitendra

The Vedanta Kesari

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Sloka - 29 आलोच्यैवं मयि यदि भवान्नाथ दोषाननन्ता नस्मत्पादाश्रयणपदवीं नार्हतीति क्षिपेन्माम् । अद्यैवेमं शरणविरहाद्विद्धि भीत्यैव नष्टं ग्रामो गृह्णात्यहिततनयं किं नु मात्रा निरस्तम् ॥२९

O Lord, if, considering all these innumerable faults of mine You reject me saying that I do not deserve to be given refuge at Your feet, then know that I am lost now itself out of the fear of lack of a protector. Will the village accept an unfavourable son who has been rejected by his mother herself?

Sloka - 30 क्षन्तव्यं वा निखिलमपि मे भूतभाविव्यलीकं दुर्व्यापारप्रवणमथवा शिक्षणीयं मनो में । न त्वेवार्त्या निरतिशयया त्वत्पदाब्जं प्रपन्नं त्वद्विन्यस्ताखिलभरममुं युक्तमीश प्रहातुम् ॥३०

Either all my past and future sins should be forgiven, or my mind which is inclined towards evil actions should be instructed (by You to proceed in the right way). It is not proper for You, O Lord, to reject one who has surrendered at Your lotus feet in unsurpassed anguish and who has placed all his burden on You.

Sloka - 31 सर्वज्ञस्त्वं निरवधिकृपासागरः पूर्णशक्तिः कस्मादेनं न गणयसि मामापदब्धौ निमग्नम् । एकं पापात्मकमपि रुजा सर्वतोऽत्यन्तदीनं जन्तुं यद्युद्धरसि शिव कस्तावतातिप्रसङ्गः ॥३१

You are omniscient, an ocean of boundless compassion, of infinite power. Why do you not have consideration for me who am immersed in the ocean of suffering? If You uplift one creature, though a sinner, who is intensely miserable because of suffering, how will that be too much, O Shiva?

Translated by Sri. S.N. Sastri.

he jnanis think of God without form. They don’t accept the Divine Incarnation. Praising Sri Krishna, Arjuna said, ‘Thou art Brahman Absolute.’ Sri Krishna replied, ‘Follow Me, and you will know whether or not I am Brahman Absolute.’ So saying, Sri Krishna led Arjuna to a certain place and asked him what he saw there. ‘I see a huge tree,’ said Arjuna, ‘and on it I notice fruits hanging like clusters of blackberries.’ Then Krishna said to Arjuna, ‘Come nearer and you will find that these are not clusters of blackberries, but clusters of innumerable Krishnas like Me, hanging from the tree.’ In other words, Divine Incarnations without number appear and disappear on the tree of the Absolute Brahman.

Do you know why images of Krishna or Kali are three and a half cubits high? Because of distance. Again, on account of distance the sun appears to be small. But if you go near it you will find the sun so big that you won’t be able to comprehend it. Why have images of Krishna and Kali a dark-blue colour? That too is on account of distance, like the water of a lake, which appears green, blue, or black from a distance. Go near, take the water in the palm of your hand, and you will find that it has no colour. The sky also appears blue from a distance. Go near and you will see that it has no colour at all.

Whether you accept Radha and Krishna, or not, please do accept their attraction for each other. Try to create that same yearning in your heart for God. Yearning is all you need in order to realize Him. The gopis cherished escstatic love for Krishna. There are two elements in such love: ‘I-ness’ and ‘my-ness’. ‘I-ness’ is the feeling that Krishna will be ill if ‘I’ do not serve Him. In this attitude the devotee does not look upon his Ideal as God. ‘My-ness’ is to feel that the Beloved is ‘my’ own.

The gopis had such a feeling of ‘my-ness’ toward Krishna that they would place their subtle bodies under His feet lest His soles should get hurt.

I went to Syamakunda and Radhakunda in a palanquin and got out to visit the holy Mount Govardhan. At the very sight of the mount I was overpowered with divine emotion and ran to the top. I lost all consciousness of the world around me. The residents of the place helped me to come down. On my way to the sacred pools of Syamakunda and Radhakunda, when I saw the meadows, the trees, the shrubs, the birds, and the deer, I was overcome with ecstasy. My clothes became wet with tears. I said: ‘O Krishna! Everything here is as it was in the olden days. You alone are absent.’

—Sri Ramakrishna

October 2020

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Sri Krishna

9 The Vedanta Kesari

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

Yugavani

Editorial

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Invite the Mother

October 2020

urga Puja this year will be a different experience. Even if devotees go shopping for the Puja, visit relatives and friends, and hop from one Puja pandal to another, their joy will be tinged with a sense of fear and sadness created by the pandemic conditions. And for many devotees, the only wise option is probably to worship the Mother in their own homes.

The Vedanta Kesari

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After the first Durga Puja in image at Belur Math, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi who participated in it had said, “Mother will come here every year.” Truly, this blessing applies to every branch centre of Belur Math where the Mother is worshipped. So, not being at the Math during the Puja, in the living presence of the Divine Mother and the Holy Trio, is a very painful prospect for our devotees.

But every adverse circumstance has a hidden opportunity. Devotees unable to come to the Math for the Puja, can invite the Divine Mother and Sri Ramakrishna to attend the Puja at their homes!

In 1868, Sri Ramakrishna’s nephew Hridayram decided to worship the Divine Mother at his house in Sihar, near Kamarpukur.

He wanted Sri Ramakrishna to accompany him.

But Mathur Babu held Sri Ramakrishna back because he wanted him at his own residence during the worship. When Hridayram was about to leave with a sad heart, Sri Ramakrishna consoled him saying, “Why are you pained? In my subtle body I shall daily go to see your worship; nobody except you will see me! Have as the Tantradharaka a Brahmin to dictate the mantras to you and perform the worship yourself according to your own devotion. Instead of keeping a complete fast, at midday drink milk, Ganga water, and the syrup of candy. If you perform the worship in this way, the Mother of the universe will certainly accept

your worship.” From Saptami onwards and also at the Sandhi Puja, during the time of arati, Hriday had the blessed vision of Sri Ramakrishna “in a luminous body standing in ecstasy beside the image” of the Mother. When he returned to Dakshineswar, Sri Ramakrishna confirmed the vision stating, “I went along a path of light and was present in your worship hall in a luminous body.”

In October 1885, Sri Ramakrishna was staying in Shyampukur, Kolkata, undergoing treatment for his throat cancer. Surendranath Mitra, a close devotee, was celebrating Durga Puja at his residence; he was very sad because Sri Ramakrishna was unable to join the celebrations at his home. On the Ashtami Day, in the evening, Surendra sat in the courtyard in front of the Mother and wept loudly like a boy crying out ‘Mother’ ‘Mother’ for over an hour. At the same time, Sri Ramakrishna had entered into a deep Samadhi. When he returned to normal consciousness, he told the assembled devotees, “I saw that there opened a luminous path from here to Surendra’s house. I saw, further, that attracted by Surendra’s devotion, the Mother had appeared in the image and that a ray of light was coming out from Her third eye. I also saw that rows of lamps were lighted in the front verandah and Surendra was sitting and weeping piteously in the courtyard in front of the Mother.” Sri Ramakrishna then sent Swami Vivekananda and other devotees to visit Surendra’s house.

This Durga Puja, let us with a childlike faith call the Mother as Sri Ramakrishna often advised us: “Cry to your Mother with a real cry, O mind! / And how can She hold Herself from you?” When She comes along with Sri Ramakrishna, let us pray for strength to overcome all the challenges that She is throwing at us these days.

Cover Story

The Durga Puja

“A

nd there was war in Heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the Dragon; and the Dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in Heaven.” Archaic sentences here and there in the world’s scriptures tell us of the wars that were waged in Heaven before the beginning of time, and of the heritage—dim, prehistoric, supernatural in the natural — that was left from them to men and gods.

What is it that makes this element of mythology so clear, what force has raised it in this one case to the significance when it attains in the Chandi portion of the Markandeya Purana? This is, above all others, the Purana of Bengal. But here the central figure of the drama is no archangel, mighty in power and beauty, but the Mother herself, personification of the creative energy, focus and centre of the visible Universe. Back and forth amidst the applause of Heaven does She pursue the ever-changing demons, and at the moment of her triumph, when, ten-armed, pedestaled on the living lion and sword in hand, She subjugates her foe for ever, She is portrayed as the image of Durga.

Such is the story told by the scripture— halfepic, half-liturgy—from which are taken the

texts that are recited over and over again from one end of Bengal to the other, with worship and fasting, throughout the great nine days, from the new moon of Ashwin, until Dussera or tenth day. Here and there are those—monks in their monasteries, perhaps, or Brahmins in their homes—who recite the whole of the Chandi again and again. But for all alike, whether they do this or not, there is but one object of contemplation—the wars that were in Heaven; one hope, and one alone—the conquest of the demons by the gods.

Everywhere in India the feast that corresponds to the Durga Puja is military in character. Perhaps fundamentally in consequence of the fact that, in the North at least, the rains are just over, the first seven days are spent in the cleaning and display of weapons; and on the tenth occurs the prostration and exhibition of skill in arms. Very curious is it at Nagpur on this day to see the last scion of the Bhonsles set out on the stately promenade that was, to his fathers, the beginning of a freebooting expedition, and long long before that, a hunting party.

But domestically, in Bengal, it is a very different element in the festival that determines the feeling of the home with regard to it. The

October 2020

This article is from Studies from an Eastern Home, a posthumous publication carrying a collection of Sister Nivedita’s writings. Here, Sister Nivedita, one of the foremost disciples of Swami Vivekananda, outlines the different dimensions of Durga Puja and the coupling of the Divine Mother’s worship with the worship of the Motherland.

11 The Vedanta Kesari

PA G E S P O N S O R : I N M E M O R Y O F S W. S H A N K A R A N A N D A , R A M A K R I S H N A V E D A N TA M AT H , K O L K ATA

SISTER NIVEDITA

October 2020 The Vedanta Kesari

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child to whose afterlife each flash of a waterfall is to carry its reminder, more or less vivid, of Durga with crown and sword, does not in its childhood itself conceive of Her as the cosmic energy, appearing from amidst the ten points of the compass. For the Mother of the Universe shines forth in the life of humanity as a woman, as family life, and as country. Here She is the maiden, perfect in beauty, nun-like in holiness, whose past and future are a glorified wifehood, on whose rapture of devotion the eye of the Great God Himself has fallen, and who enters the Indian household, goddess and queen notwithstanding, as, after all, the little wedded daughter, returning for a ten-days’ visit to her father’s house.

True, as the lad draws nearer to manhood, he must realise that the father of the guest is no less than Himalaya, and his daughter, therefore, the spouse of God—according to the legend, Mother India herself. But this only gives continuity and ductility to his idea of the myth.

First Durga, the ten-days’ visitant;’ secondly, India, as Uma Haimavati; and lastly, MahaShakti, the Infinite Force; but always and increasingly as his power of recognition grows, that ceaseless energy which works without and around him towards the due subordination, by the forces of life and nature, of all that is vicious and unjust and out of place.

With what tenderness and intimacy, then, does the Bengali child learn to conceive of his country and of God! It is a tenderness and intimacy which, beginning with the use of images, may become inherent in a language and characteristic of old races. The Mohammedan boatman of Eastern Bengal is not in his own person a worshipper of Durga, and yet the words “With folded hands before the Mother” may carry as much to him as to the Hindu heart.

Beyond a doubt, however, it is its higher theological meaning which lends to the Durga Puja its overwhelming elements of civic

pageantry and national comprehensiveness.

Those who have studied religions as factors in social and political development must be conscious of the great variety of threads that are united in any single religious practice. What was it that made the Semitic races worshippers of God the Father, and India the land of the worship of the Mother? Can these vast tangles of social and geographical conditions ever be completely unravelled? And even so, does India stand alone in her personification, or is it not more or less common to the whole of Eastern Asia? Regarding this last point, it is perhaps the fact that what exists elsewhere in fragments and survivals has been preserved and developed in India as a coherent whole. And within India itself, customs and doctrines bearing on this worship, in more or less of mutual un-relation, in many provinces, are in Bengal gathered together and woven into a single perfect piece. Who shall say how old was the Chandi in this region when it was fitted into and accounted for, by the Markandeya Purana?

And where can we go, outside the province, that some echo of the old-time Mother-worship does not fall upon our ear?

Amman, the Mother, guards every village of the South. It was Bhowani, the terrible Sister Nivedita

It is more than thirty years since Bankim Chandra Chatterji, the great Bengali romancer, sang the vision of the ended Durga Puja as the

October 2020

In Bengal, however, all these elements— social, military, and theological—are combined and rationalised in the characteristic conception of the Divine Mother as Durga-KaliJagadhattri : Durga, the divine energy, making and destroying, defeated and again conquering, impersonal and indifferent to personal desires; Kali, mother of darkness, wielder of destruction, receiver of sacrifice, whose benediction is death; and, finally, Jagadhattri, the tenderness of the heart of God, who shines in good women, and from whom came forth the Madonnas of the world. It is in Bengal, too, when the image of the Mother has left her children for a space, when the nine days of worship and of charity are ended; it is in Bengal that the great tenth day is kept as that of the reknitting of human ties, and the Vijaya greetings of the family reunion go out throughout the length and breadth of the land.

For are not all bonds of kindred indeed sanctified and renewed year by year at the feet of the Divine Visitant? Is not the whole of the country at one in the presence of the Mother?

13 Bharat Mata. Painting by Abanindranath Tagore

hour of the Motherland’s need as he saw the image plunge beneath the waves. That the poet spoke the innermost thought of his countrymen, interpreting the yearly drama that belongs to each one in a national sense, however distant he may be in the sectarian; that he voiced in his poem what each household and each individual had known already in the heart, is proved by the history that has gathered round his song. Every year that goes by, the images of the Mother become more and more deeply, each in its turn, entwined with the thought of India to the Indian heart. Mother and Motherland— where ends the one and where begins the other? Before which does a man stand with folded hands, when he bows his head still lower, and says with a new awe: “My Salutation to the Mother!”

The Vedanta Kesari

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

Mother, who led the Mahrattas to victory. The Mother, again, was worshipped by the Sikh, using his sword as her image. Kali was the patron goddess of Chitore. To this day the great birthday is marked, in the Punjab and throughout the North-West Provinces, by the Ram-Lila, or miracle play of the Ramayana. To this day, in Mysore and all over the Deccan, Dussera Puja is the chief festival of the year. To this day. in every part of India, the nine-days fast is performed by some member of every high-caste household. To this day, in Madras, in Behar, and among families of military tradition everywhere, is Virashtami, the solemn eighth day, the occasion of the worship and the tribute of the sword.

Article

First Durga Puja at Belur Math SWAMI VIMALATMANANDA

October 2020

The Durga Puja, and the associated Kumari Puja of Belur Math and also of the other ashrams of the Ramakrishna Order have become a great cultural and spiritual heritage of our country. Every year lakhs of people come to the Math to witness the worship, pray to the Mother and fill their lives with Her Grace, which gets specially manifested in this worship.

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This article describes how the first Durga Puja in image was celebrated under the guidance of Swami Vivekananda. Originally published in the Oct 1989 issue of The Vedanta Kesari, the article is reproduced here with a little editing and abridgment.

T

hat was in October of 1901. The autumn festival was being held for the first time at the Belur Math which was consecrated only three years before.

That was the first Durga Puja in image at the Math. It was, however, not the first occasion Mother Durga was being worshipped by the Ramakrishna Order. Swami Shivananda, the 2 nd President of the Order, said, “Swami Vivekananda introduced the worship of Mother Durga at the monastery at Baranagore. Of course, the worship used to be performed in a consecrated pitcher (ghata) in those days.” But the worship of 1901 had one distinction— Swamiji had introduced for the first time in Belur Math the worship of Mother Durga in image.

Many orthodox pundits and Brahmins of the neighbouring places used to criticise Swamiji and the other sannyasis of Belur Math for their innovating and liberal ideas, their modes of work, and especially their nonobservance of the customs regarding caste and food. Even these bigoted people who

considered themselves ‘custodians of Hinduism’ gave up their animosity and attended the Puja. They became convinced that the sannyasis of the Ramakrishna Order were truly ‘Sanatani Sannyasins’. According to Sarat Chandra Chakravarty, (a lay disciple of Swamiji), Swamiji’s main purpose in conducting this Durga Puja was to remove all unsavoury doubts and scepticism from the minds of the orthodox.

Swamiji had not seen Durga Puja for a decade. He intended to see it that year. The decision to celebrate Durga Puja in image at the Math in 1901 was his own. He had cherished this idea since several months before. He asked Sarat Babu to bring the book Raghunandana Smriti, which deals in detail with the ceremonial forms of the worship of various gods and goddesses. Swamiji read the book thoroughly. On being questioned, Swamiji said to his disciple, “This time I have a desire to celebrate the Durga Puja. If the expenses are forthcoming, I shall worship the Mahamaya.’

The author is the Adhyaksha of Ramakrishna Math, Yogodyan, and a Trustee of the Ramakrishna Order.

Br. Krishnalal (later Swami Dhirananda) was immediately sent to Kumartuli (a traditional potters’ quarter in northern Kolkata), to see if an image could be procured. Fortunately, one image was available, for the person who had placed the order had not turned up to take the delivery. Swamiji was informed; he and Swami Premananda (a brother-disciple), went to the Holy Mother Sri Invoking the Mother’s presence

The image was brought from Kumartuli a day or two before Shashthi (18 October) and was installed in a temporary pandal erected for the puja in the courtyard between the old shrine-building and the Math building (which has Swamiji’s room); the pandal extended up to the mango tree which still stands there.

Swamiji felt it imperative to have the Holy Mother’s presence at the Math during the Puja days. Along with her lady companions the Mother came and stayed at the near-by Nilambar Babu’s garden-house, which was rented for one month. Every day the presence of the Holy Mother and her lady companions in the puja gave immense joy to everybody. In the presence of the ‘living Durga’— the Holy Mother — the image throbbed with life and the whole atmosphere was surcharged with divine bliss. It is said that Swamiji himself worshipped the Holy Mother in the Durga-mandap. All the devotees enjoyed the holy company of the direct disciples like Swamiji, Swamis Brahmananda, Premananda, Adbhutananda, Saradananda and others.

The arrangements for the whole celebration were personally supervised by Durga Puja in Belur Math

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Sarada Devi’s residence at 16A, Bosepara Lane, Kolkata, and sought her permission to perform the Puja. The Holy Mother gladly consented.

Swamiji at once ordered the image to be brought to the Math. Soon the news spread all over the city and the devotees joined the sannyasis to make the celebration a grand success.

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

But Swamiji did not speak of his intention to anybody till only a few days before the date of worship. Four or five days before the Puja, Swami Brahmananda, (a brother disciple of Swamiji and the 1st President of the Order), was sitting in the Math verandah facing the Ganga. He had a vision of Mother Durga coming over the Ganga from the Dakshineswar side and stopping near the Bilva tree (now, in front of Swamiji’s memorial temple). Just then Swamiji returned to the Math [by boat] from Calcutta [now Kolkata] and asked, “Where is Raja (Swami Brahmananda)?” On meeting him, Swamiji told him: “This time make all arrangements for the Durga Puja by bringing the Pratima (image) to the Math.” Swami Brahmananda hesitated for a while, for there was very little time to make all the necessary arrangements. Then Swamiji disclosed the vision he had had. He had seen Mother Durga being worshipped in image at the Math. Swami Brahmananda too then described his vision.

These visions were greeted with great joy and cheer by the sannyasis and brahmacharins of the Math.

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16

Swami Brahmananda. Br. Krishnalal was the worshipper. Sri Ishwarchandra Chakravarty, father of Swami Ramakrishnananda and a devout brahmin well-versed in worship, was the Tantradharaka, (the director of the worship in strict accordance with scriptural injunctions.) The 5-days Puja lasted from Friday, 18 October 1901 (1 Kartika, 1308 B.S.) Shashthi, to Tuesday, 22 October (5 Kartika Vijaya Dashami).

forehead, he exclaimed, “Ah! Have I hurt the third eye of the Mother?”

On the night of Saptami, Swamiji had an attack of fever. So he could not join the worship the next morning. But he came down to the pandal at the time of Sandhi Puja, the most important and solemn function of the whole Puja at the junction of Ashtami and Navami and offered pushpanjali at the feet of Mother Durga three times. The Sandhi Puja began at 6.17 a m. and ended at 7.05 a m. on 20 October.

A number of orthodox Brahmins and pundits of the nearby Bally, Belur, Uttarpara and Dakshineswar were invited and they all enthusiastically participated in the celebration.

One of the main items in this celebration was the feeding of the poor. The devotees had Prasada in the north-western portion of the courtyard, in the space between the existing jackfruit tree and Sri Ramakrishna’s new temple. Everyone without any discrimination was warmly welcomed and entertained by the sannyasis. The atmosphere of joy could be palpably felt at Belur Math during the Puja days. The total expenditure was Rs. 1,400.

The sankalpa-mantra was uttered in the name of the Holy Mother, for Swamiji declared, “We are all penniless beggars; the worship won’t be done in our name.” Moreover, as sannyasins are debarred from performing Vedic and Pauranika rituals, the worship was performed by a brahmachari of the Order. This custom is still being followed. On Shashthi, the rites connected with Adhivasa, Bodhana and Amantrana were performed under the Bilva tree (the spot in front of the place where Swamiji’s Temple now stands).

On Ashtami, the Kumari Puja was performed. At Swamiji’s request, Gauri Ma, a lady disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, made the necessary arrangements. Swamiji himself worshipped nine little girls as Kumaris. He placed flowers at the feet of the Kumaris and offered sweets and Dakshina in their hands. He then prostrated before them. One of the Kumaris was a very small girl and Swamiji was so absorbed in the thought of the Divine Mother that, when he put red sandal-paste on her

On Navami night, Swamiji sang in the worship pandal a few songs to the Divine Mother — the songs which Sri Ramakrishna loved and himself sang on such occasions. One day there was an open-air drama performance (yatra) named ‘Nala-Damayanti’. The drummers and the flute players played sweet music at intervals.

On Vijaya Dashami, the image of Mother Durga was immersed in the Ganga. At the time of immersion Swami Brahmananda danced like a boy; Swamiji and Swami Premananda watched from upstairs. At the end of the Puja, Swamiji gave Rs. 25 as Dakshina to the Tantradharaka through the Holy Mother. The Holy Mother was highly pleased with the way the Puja was conducted and remarked, “Mother Durga will come here every year.” She returned to her Kolkata residence after blessing the sannyasis and brahmacharins.

From 1902 to 1911 the worship of Mother Durga was conducted not in an image but in a ghata. As a devotee promised to pay the expenses for the Mother’s image, the worship in image was resumed in 1912. The tradition continues.

Reminiscences

Reminiscences of Sargachhi SWAMI SUHITANANDA

(Continued from previous issue. . .)

Question: Is there any harm in following Tota Puri or Trailanga Swami?

Maharaj: Is it enough to know only the nirguna, the Attributeless? He who is nirguna is again seen through Maya as saguna, endowed with attributes, and as the manifest world. He knows rightly who knows both the nirguna aspect of Brahman and His maya.

Otherwise , the real weight will not be known (reference to an analogy given by Sri Ramakrishna).*

The concepts of brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya, and shudra are not limited to any particular time or place — they apply to all situations. Think about it. In every activity all four types are required. One person makes the *

plan, another person implements it, still another person removes the obstacles, and someone else does the calculation.

Skill in dealing with people is of great advantage because it helps to find out the real essence of a man. Not just the common people—one should behave well with even the servants. Holy Mother commented, ‘What!

Servants for sannyasis?’ Baburam Maharaj said, ‘The servants also serve Sri Ramakrishna; because they are poor they take some money.

We should take care of their well-being.’

1.2.61

नै व किं च ित्करोमीति यु क्तो मन्येत तत्त्ववित् । पश्यन् श्रृणवन्स्पृशञ्जिघ्रन्नश्नन्गच्छन्स्वपन् श्वसन् ।। (Gita 5:8) Question: What’s the meaning of

“As long as one has not realized God, one should renounce the world, following the process of ‘Neti, neti.’ But he who has attained God knows that it is God who has become all this. Then he sees that God, maya, living beings, and the universe form one whole. God includes the universe and its living beings. Suppose you have separated the shell, flesh, and seeds of a bel-fruit and someone asks you the weight of the fruit. Will you leave aside the shell and the seeds, and weigh only the flesh? Not at all. To know the real weight of the fruit, you must weigh the whole of it—the shell, the flesh, and the seeds. Only then can you tell its real weight. The shell may be likened to the universe, and the seeds to living beings. While one is engaged in discrimination one says to oneself that the universe and the living beings are non-Self and unsubstantial. At that time one thinks of the flesh alone as the substance, and the shell and seeds as unsubstantial. But after discrimination is over, one feels that all three parts of the fruit together form a unity. Then one further realizes that the stuff that has produced the flesh of the fruit has also produced the shell and seeds. To know the real nature of the bel-fruit one must know all three.”

— The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, pp.327-328

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30.1.61 (contd…)

54

17 The Vedanta Kesari

PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I G . V E N K ATA R A O, H Y D E R A B A D

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

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Maharaj: The meaning of नैव किंचित्करोमीति is ‘I am not the body-mind-intellect.’ Therefore, all the fruits of action belong to this body-mindintellect; I am free from action. Were Sri Ramakrishna and Holy Mother always conscious of their own real nature? Mother said, ‘At times I forget.’ It is just as sometimes, while watching a game, we become identified with it. But Sri Ramakrishna and Holy Mother were free. As Sri Ramakrishna said, the passengers of a train don’t have the key to the compartment with them, but the officials have it; they can get on and off of the train whenever they wish.

The Vedanta Kesari

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Question: What contemplating an avatara?

is

meant

by

Maharaj: Meditate in this method: I am not the body-mind-intellect; I am sitting with Sri Ramakrishna and Holy Mother. I am also Consciousness like them. I behold my gross and subtle body. Work is being done by the gross part and the impressions of those works are being collected in the subtle body.

What are Sri Ramakrishna and Holy Mother, other than God incarnate? That selfsame attributeless Sat-Chit-Ananda, through the hole (reference to an avatara being the hole in the wall through which the infinite is perceived), created a frame, and through that enacted the role of showing the world the path. The One who came as Ramakrishna had come earlier as Gauranga; it is not that Gauranga incarnated as Ramakrishna. Both were born in brahmin families. The brahmins are highly respected in society; therefore, they were born in brahmin families. Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhwa too were brahmins. Rama, Krishna and Buddha, who came in earlier ages, were kshatriyas.

There are no miracles in this world.

Without action there is no effect; the rootcause is bound to be present somewhere or

other. Have you not read in Raja-Yoga that the yogis can do anything? Swamiji gave the name Swami Adbhutananda to Latu Maharaj.

Apparently he was a miracle — his transformation was truly extraordinary (adbhuta). But if you delve deep, you will find that he had the requisite samskaras (past impressions), and that is why he felt the affinity (towards Sri Ramakrishna).

However, if there is any miracle, it is the divine play of avataras. He who is Para-Brahma appears in human form and talks, acts, and roams about like a man. Yet there is no change or diminution in Para-Brahma; He continues to remain Para-Brahma even then.

The love, charm, and grandeur manifested in the divine play of an avatara are indescribable. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu saw from Athara-Nala (an ancient bridge at the entrance of Puri town) that a child of dark complexion was playing the flute. At once he left behind his companions and rushed onwards to embrace Lord Jagannatha. That was because he saw everything as Consciousness. Sarvabhauma (a Vedic scholar and logician who was present in the Jagannath Temple when Sri Chaitanya entered it the first time and, overwhelmed by the love of God, fell unconscious) rescued him from the clutches of the temple priests and kept him in his own residence. Have you heard the song – Aji kokila-kujane (The starting lines of a Bengali song composed by Swami Premeshananda; it celebrates the birth of Sri Ramakrishna and goes like this: ‘Today as the cuckoos sing….’)? It is difficult to control our emotions when we hear such songs; we just burst into tears. This is a song for children to sing while dancing. Kali Kirtan, the hymns to Mother Kali, present devotion mixed with knowledge; the hymns of the Vaishnavas present loving devotion.

(To be continued. . .)

Article

Assimilating the Human Possibilities Vision SRINIVAS VENKATRAM

O

The challenge ahead of us is translating this compelling vision into new models of education, new models of work, new models of living, and new models of institutions and society.

The Science of Human Possibilities is the pathway or means to translate this vision into reality.

II To understand the term ‘science of human possibilities’, let us begin with the core axioms.

Axiom 1

Inside each human being lies infinite potentiality and the more we manifest this potentiality, the more fulfilled we are as human beings.

potentiality to an active possibility. The real challenge therefore is to enable human beings to translate more and more of their dormant potentialities into active possibilities. A second, equally important challenge is to nurture and develop the active possibilities so that they are fully manifest as unique capabilities and contributions associated with the individual.

The axioms, by themselves, are fairly simple and known widely to anyone familiar with Ramakrishna-Vivekananda literature. The real question is: how to translate this vision into millions of transformed human beings across India and the rest of the world?

This means that the real bottleneck is not understanding these axioms, but assimilating them, thereby reshaping our engagement with ourselves, with others, and with society at large.

III

Axiom 2

Why is it so important that a large number of people must assimilate this vision of human possibilities?

When this potentiality (in a seed form) becomes manifest, it translates from a dormant

To answer this question, let us consider the following implications of this vision:

Srinivas Venkatram is the Founder-CEO of Illumine Knowledge Resources, a cognitive sciences and knowledge interventions lab, and he is inspired by Revered Swami Ranganathanandaji Maharaj, 13th President of Ramakrishna Math and Mission. (to learn more: illumine.in) srinivas@illumine.in

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I ve r a c e n t u r y a g o , Swa m i Vivekananda reminded us that each soul is potentially divine and the goal of life is to manifest this divinity within.

19 The Vedanta Kesari

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

The Human Possibilities Vision, gifted to us by Swami Vivekananda calls upon every person to unfold his or her full potential as a person, and thereby be fulfilled. How do we help millions of ’vision-hungry’ people recognise and assimilate this life affirming message of Vedanta?

Implication 1 When we accept ourselves as having infinite possibility, we are investing ourselves with extraordinary self-respect and self-esteem.

This gives us both strength and resilience to deal with life and its challenges in a far more effective manner.

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Implication 2

The Vedanta Kesari

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When we accept others as having infinite possibility, we must necessarily accept that all human beings, at the most fundamental level, have to be treated equally and with the same respect and regard we would reserve for ourselves. This negates all forms of inequality, racism, or superiority based on caste, class, position, or any other basis for human inequality at the social level.

Implication 3

The very act of recognition of both oneself and others as infinite, implies that we must let go of judgment, fault finding, and ‘classification’ or ‘slotting’ of human beings.

This implies a radical change in our interhuman dealings.

Implication 4

This vision challenges our conceptions of organizing education on the basis of comparison of students, and asks us instead to treat each student as pursuing a unique journey of growth, with all comparison limited to the individual’s own past performance, current performance, and future performance.

These are but a few of the implications of this vision of human possibilities. It is a profoundly affirmative vision of humankind and of the whole process of human learning, growth, and development.

In short, the vision of human possibilities, if adopted on a society-wide scale, has the potential to (i) radically transform social

and interpersonal relationships, (ii) change people’s conceptions of themselves, their careers, (iii) enhance their understanding of what constitutes a happy life, (iv) wipe away many of the barriers to human fulfillment that humankind has created for itself due to its present vision of human beings.

IV

If all these benefits await us, what stops us from making the change?

The answer is the challenge of helping people accept and assimilate these ideas on a large scale in our society.

Assimilation Challenges - 1

The first set of assimilation challenges that people face is understanding the very idea of human possibilities. All of us have been conditioned from childhood to think in terms of a c h i e v e m e n t a n d p e r f o r m a n c e . We acknowledge a possibility in a human being only when it has been ‘proven’ through some concrete achievement or visible performance in the world. This means that most possibilities are never visible to people around us (who are conditioned to see success and achievement alone), and to the individuals themselves (since they themselves are trained to respond to expectations and metrics of success in all their actions).

‘Possibilities’ lie in the space of becoming — between dormant potentiality and active a c h i eve m e n t . T h i s m e a n s u n fo l d i n g possibilities needs both internal and external enablers. External enablers include affirmation, respect, space for experimentation and growth, and the absence of judgement, comparison, and evaluation. Internal enablers include helping individuals to develop atmasraddha or ‘faith in oneself’ so that they may experiment with new possibilities and accept/ digest failure and struggle along the way.

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

These ‘models of self ’ shape our responses to life and define how we approach critical life situations and respond to them.

At an aggregate level, these ‘models of self’ shape our basic stance to ourselves and our aspiration for ourselves.

It is by examining our models of self that we can answer questions such as: Who are we?

Are we mere producers/consumers of goods and experiences? Are we achievers relentlessly engaged in a rat race in a constant state of comparison with others? Or are we essentially becomers and contributors – who grow and offer the fruits of our growth to the world around us?

Assimilation Challenges - 3

The third set of assimilation challenges is around our ‘capacity to respond’ to various situations and scenarios we face. The more we develop a wider capacity to respond, the more we are:

( i ) a b l e to b u i l d a p o s i t ive a n d strengthening relationship with people and circumstances and us. For example, do we ‘react’ to events around us or do we digest our experiences and respond accordingly? (ii)transform situations that can inhibit and stop us from unfolding possibilities. For example, how do we deal with both successes and failures? How do we transform obstacles into opportunities? And so on.

Adopting the vision of human possibilities really means helping people deal with these sets of assimilation challenges — (i) reorienting the basic structure of expectations from self and others, (ii) reorienting their ‘models of self’, and (iii) developing their ‘capacity to respond’.

These are deep rooted cognitive challenges which need a systematic and scientific approach if they need to be addressed on a society-wide basis.

V

How do we address such deep-rooted cognitive challenges and that too on a large scale in our society?

It is only by answering this question that we can help people discover and embark on a journey of unfolding their infinite human possibilities, and in that process find greater fulfillment in their lives, and develop greater faith in the vast potentiality that is within their own selves?

To answer the question of how cognitive change can be brought about on a large-scale in society, we need to understand the term ‘assimilation’. How does assimilation take place and how is it different from education as we know it? Our present education system is built around the idea of ‘comprehension’ or ‘knowing’ of ideas and concepts. This includes within its ambit how we remember, connect the concepts to real world, learn to analyze and evaluate situations related to the concepts, and also apply these concepts effectively in the real world.

However, ‘knowing’ ideas does not mean that we ‘become’ the ideas. For example, we

October 2020

The second set of assimilation challenges is around our ‘models of self’ that we have unconsciously or consciously developed over the years. These include how we think about ourselves — our identities, self-descriptions, models of personal growth, our vision of success, and so on. These are deep rooted and often come in the way of opening ourselves to our own possibilities.

(iii)consciously develop higher-order capacities like the ‘capacity to learn’ which helps us develop ourselves not just in terms of skills and capacities, but also in the way we handle various situations we deal with on a day-to-day basis.

21 The Vedanta Kesari

Assimilation Challenges - 2

may understand the concept of trust but not necessarily become trustworthy. Similarly, we may understand, and even write a sophisticated essay on heroism, but not necessarily be heroic when we face a situation that demands such a response.

October 2020

Assimilation refers to the process of ‘becoming’ in contrast to comprehension of ideas which refers to the process of ‘knowing’.

The Vedanta Kesari

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If we say that someone has assimilated the idea of trust, we imply that the person has gone far beyond ‘understanding’ the idea of trust and is able to act/ practice in a trustworthy manner. At the very least, it means that the basic mental models that support trust behavior are in place and have begun reflecting in practice.

A cognitive or knowledge intervention that aims to achieve such an outcome on a scalable basis is called an assimilation intervention.

If we want people to awaken their infinite potential and unfold their hidden possibilities, then we cannot achieve this by asking them to study a textbook or even watch a film on the subject. We will need to do something else — which we call an ‘assimilation intervention’.

An assimilation intervention is one where:

(i)the ideas themselves have to be transformed into living ideals which people must choose to become, (ii)individuals must be given the concrete belief — the sense of ‘I can’ — that the ideal is realizable by them and is within their grasp, provided they can put in the effort, (iii)individuals must be given the enablers — tools, methods, new ways of thinking and working by which they can easily proceed on the journey of becoming — just as an adventurer arms himself or herself with maps, right equipment, tools, guide books, etc.,

(iv)(where organizations are involved), the necessary cultural, performance, and other enablers are put into place (and disablers removed), so that the individual’s journey of becoming is aided rather than impeded by the organization.

Do all people need such support to make the ‘journey of becoming’? the answer is no — there are a few people who, through the strength of their aspiration and yearning for a great ideal are able to awaken and unfold their inner possibilities with little or no outside effort.

But for the vast majority of people, a systematic framework to help them unfold their potential can prove immensely useful.

Even more important, through such interventions, the critical gap in our educational system, in our training and development systems, in the workplace, and in skills and capacity building system can be addressed. They can focus not only on knowledge and skills, but also on the larger task of awakening and unleashing the human potential of schools, colleges and workplaces in a far more effective manner.

VI

The vision of human possibilities, and f o r t h a t m a t t e r, s e ve ra l o f S wa m i Vivekananda’s life transforming ideas can be delivered through systematically designed assimilation interventions. Here are two case examples.

Case Example 1

Enabling school children to accept and assimilate the vision of human possibilities in their lives.

Illumine Knowledge Resources took over four years to design a comprehensive assimilation intervention for students in standard 7, 8 and 9 in schools.

This Framework, comprising 18 key ‘possibility dimensions’ allows a child to explore and grow in multiple ways and at multiple levels of depth. For example, the level of Physical Possibilities includes dimensions such as playing games and sports, expressing oneself, creating value, engaging with culture and society, etc. The possibility of ‘expressing yourself ’ for example, allows a student to discover and explore all forms of creative expression including art, craft, music, film, and several new forms emerging today as the number of media for expressing themselves proliferate.

At a much deeper level, at the level of Universal Possibilities, there are 6 possibilities, such as seeking perfection, being a truth seeker, living in harmony, etc. The universal possibility of ‘being heroic’ for example, allows young children to explore the dimensions of mental, physical and moral courage, the necessity for reconciliation of both obedience and freedom, the heroism involved in being committed to a goal, and so on.

Such an approach allows students to engage with Human Possibilities not as an abstraction but as a buffet of opportunity spaces through which their full potential is unleashed.

At present, this vision of human possibilities is being delivered to more than 5000 schools and several hundred thousand students by Ramakrishna Mission, Delhi who is Illumine’s partner in the intervention.

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

To answer this question, Illumine formulated the Human Possibilities Framework comprising three types of possibilities – possibilities that we engage with at a Physical Plane, possibilities that we engage with at a Knowledge Plane, and possibilities at the Character Plane which we called Universal Possibilities open to all people.

At the next level, the level of Knowledge Possibilities includes dimensions such as realising a creative vision, learning in all parts of my life, extending the limits of human knowledge, etc.

23 The Vedanta Kesari

Designing such an intervention required us to address a basic question: What does ‘human possibilities’ mean to a young student?

Case Example 2 Enabling working professionals to accept and assimilate the vision of contribution — to self, for organization, and to society (based on Swami Ranganathanandaji’s vision of enlightened citizenship).

Designing such an intervention requires us to answer the question: what are the basic models of thinking that can help a working professional discover and embrace the expanded vision of contributorship in his/her life?

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What kind of models of thinking are necessary for working professionals today?

The Vedanta Kesari

24

Here are a few examples of the kind of shifts which working professionals must make:

(i)They need to move from frozen, outside-in identities based on power, position, degrees, etc., to dynamic and agile inside-out identities based on their intrinsic capacities to contribute and purpose/outcome orientation. (ii)They need to stop complaining and ‘waiting’ for the environment to be congenial in order to produce. They need to stop being victims of circumstances and start becoming creators of their destiny. (iii)They need to go beyond seeing their role as a ‘job description’ or a cage of rules, to an opportunity and space to contribute.

(iv)At the same time, they need to operate with high levels of integrity, seeking to create trust surplus instead of trust deficits.

(v)A highly collaborative environment demands that people move from a competitive one-upmanship mode to a mode of enlightened self-interest.

(vi)People need to create value for organizations rather than be trapped in activities for their own sake, or destroy value with an extreme focus on costs and efficiency.

The challenge is not to ‘tell’ working professionals that they must act differently, but

to enable them to discover and assimilate these ideas in the context of their work lives.

It is by transforming these ‘models of self’ and ‘models of work’ that the vast untapped potential of our workforce will be unleashed, and individual workers too will find fulfillment and create impact through their work lives.

This intervention is being delivered in two major state universities in India — Gujarat Technological University and Biju Patnaik University, Odisha. All India Council of Technical Education has also signed an MoU with Illumine to take this, with corporate assistance, to other states in India.

Furthermore, many large organizations — public sector, multi-national, large Indian groups are all recognizing the need to develop contributors in the workplace who can help them deal more effectively with an uncertain world.

These are but two examples. There are several more, including the i-Become Initiative for youth, assimilation interventions for less educated, low-skilled workers, and several others.

Each addresses the challenge of awakening the infinite human possibilities in a manner specific to that audience group.

VII

In conclusion, the vision of human possibilities is both vast and yet specific to every different audience group. Thus, the notion of human possibilities represents a dynamic vision which helps connect an individual to the larger world in which he or she lives.

It is therefore not enough for people to encounter the life-giving ideas of Vedanta Swami Vivekananda in quotations and lectures.

They must now be enabled to assimilate these ideas within the context of their own lives and human concerns.

For Courses in Discovering Human Possibilites see Illumine Advt. in page 51

Pocket Tales

An Unusual Punishment GITANJALI MURARI

October 2020

“N

aren, open the door.” “No,” came the loud answer.

“I want to speak to you,” Bhuvaneshwari Devi’s voice had a firm ring to it. Naren took a deep breath and flung the door open. His mother walked into the room and before she could speak, he burst out, “I don’t want to hear anything about Kaka.”

“He is your uncle, Naren,” Bhuvaneshwari Devi sighed, “and since we all live together, you must learn to adjust to his wishes.”

Naren’s face flushed red with anger, “Ma, you and baba enjoyed the plays my friends and I put up in the worship hall but when Kaka smashed the stage, telling me he didn’t want me to perform at home, I let go of my drama group…but now he has gone too far—” “Don’t talk like that,” his mother frowned.

25 The Vedanta Kesari

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

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

The author is a media professional and writer. The Crown of Seven Stars is her first novel. She lives in Mumbai. gitanjalimurari@yahoo.com Illustrator: Smt. Lalithaa Thyagarajan. lalithyagu@gmail.com

October 2020 The Vedanta Kesari

26

Naren’s hands bunched into fists, “Why did he have to break the bench press and throw away my weights?”

“You know very well it was because Batul got hurt.”

“That is no reason to do what he did! I’m going to tell him what I think of him!”

“You will not be disrespectful,” his mother said, catching his chin and looking at him sternly, “he is your father’s brother.”

“You are always defending Kaka,” he shouted, pushing her, “even when he is in the wrong…go away, I don’t want to talk to you.”

Bhuvaneshwari Devi was about to speak but Naren turned away. She left the room slowly and saw her husband standing outside. Without saying a word to him, she closed the door behind her and went on to her room. Vishwanath Dutta thought for a moment.

Then, taking a pen from his case, he carefully scratched out some words on Naren’s door.

Hearing a whistle, Naren jumped to his feet and ran to the window. Shibu and Hari waved to him, “Is your Kaka still angry?” they asked. “Don’t worry about him,” he replied, “come inside.”

When after a few minutes his friends hadn’t appeared, Naren went to look for them and found them outside the room. “Why are you waiting here?” he demanded. In answer, they silently pointed to the door. Startled, Naren peered at it and recognized his father’s handwriting. As he read the words, he felt his cheeks burn. “Today Naren was very rude to his mother,” his father had written, “he pushed her out of his room and told her he did not wish to speak with her anymore.”

“Did you really say that to your mother?” Shibu stared at him with shocked eyes.

Embarrassed, Naren dropped his gaze to the floor. “Let’s play carrom,” Hari caught his hand, eager to make him smile again. But Naren’s heart was not in the game. After a little while, the two boys exchanged a look and got to their feet. As they left, Naren noticed them steal a glance at the door.

This went on for a few days, till one day Naren could not bear it anymore.

Overwhelmed with shame, he rushed down the corridor and burst into his mother’s room.

“I’m very sorry, ma” he cried, throwing his arms around her, “I’ll never ever say a rude word to you again.”

Bhuvaneshwari Devi hugged him tightly, “I have news for you,” she whispered, “your father has spoken to Shri Mitra, our neighbour…he owns a gym…he says you are welcome to join it.” Naren’s tear-stained face broke into a radiant smile and kissing her on the cheek, he declared, “I have the best parents in the whole wide world!”

The love which my mother gave to me has made me what I am, and I owe a debt to her that I can never repay.

— Swami Vivekananda

PULLOUT FOR REFERENCE

Series 5: Understanding India

- through Swami Vivekananda's eyes This series is a presentation of a set of lectures that Swami Vivekananda gave over three years, as he travelled from Colombo to Almora (January 1897- March 1901).

ISSUE ISSUE 33 10

In Issues 22-27 & 29-32, we have covered his lectures at Colombo, Jaffna, Pamban, Rameshwaram, Ramnad, Paramakudi, and Shivaganga & Manamadura.

focus in this issue:

October 2020

Swami Vivekananda begins his speech in Madura by paying a tribute to the Raja of Ramnad, who was one of the first persons to suggest that the Swami go to Chicago.

In this issue, we explore 6 key messages that Swami Vivekananda presents in this lecture: 1: The Law of Balancing, and India's destiny Time and again, it has been the destiny of India to give spirituality to the world. Swami Vivekananda lists four examples...

Pre 600 BCE

600 BCE onwards

around 500 BCE

1800 CE

Before the rising of the Persian Empire

During the Persian Empire

During the ascendancy of the Greeks

During the ascendancy of the English

27 Wherever there is a thing really needed in one part of the world, the complement will find its way there and supply it with new life. This is true in the physical world as well as in the spiritual.

1. Whenever there has been a kneading together of different peoples into once race, either due to conquest or commercial supremacy, each nation has brought forth its own quota ─ either political, social, or spiritual.

Continue overleaf>>

2. India's contribution to the sum total of human knowledge has been spirituality, philosophy.

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The Vedanta Kesari

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

Talk at Madura

2: Intermingling of ideas will benefit both India and the West It is not

India and the West both are deluging each other with their ideas

that we ought to learn

Materialism

everything from the West, or that

Spirituality & philosophy

they have to learn everything from us, but each will have to supply and hand down to future

October 2020

generations what it

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28

1. Western ideas of organization and external civilization are entering into the mind's of the Indian people. Similarly, Indian philosophy and spirituality is deluging the world. Neither can we resist it, nor can they.

has for the future

2. This inter-mingling of ideas will benefit both. A little spiritualization will be good for the West, and a little materialization will be good for us.

nations, an ideal

accomplishment of that dream of ages — the harmony of world.

Swami Vivekananda muses: Will there ever be an ideal world?

Whether that ideal world will ever come I do not know, whether that social perfection will ever be reached I have my own doubts; whether it comes or not, each one of us will have to work for the idea as if it will come tomorrow, and as if it only depends on his work, and his alone. Each one of us will have to believe that every one else in the world has done his work, and the only work remaining to be done to make the world perfect has to be done by himself. This is the responsibility we have to take upon ourselves.

3: The three big challenges ahead of India due to the revival of religion The first challenge that Swami Vivekananda points out to is that a revival of religion can bring with it, both glory and fanaticism.

1. In fact, he says that sometimes this fanaticism can go to such an extreme that it goes way beyond the power of those who started it.

2. This kind of fanaticism is one of the real dangers which we have to guard against at all times.

... in India there is a tremendous revival of religion. There is danger ahead as well as glory; for revival sometimes breeds fanaticism

We have to find our way between the Scylla of old superstitious orthodoxy and the Charybdis of materialism — of Europeanism, of soullessness, of the socalled reform — which has penetrated to the foundation of Western progress. These two have to

The second challenge that Swami Vivekananda points out is the reconciliation between orthodoxy and materialism.

He shows us how imitating the West is not the answer: 1. Firstly, from a psychological point of view, the impact of becoming pure materialists will be that we won't have any life in us anymore ─ as it will make us lose our faith in ourselves.

2. Secondly, from a historical point of view, even if we were to become Western today, we cannot undo the flow of our history through the ages, which has resulted in a natural growth of our civilization.

3. And, thirdly, from a cultural point of view, even if modifying our history was possible, we would not still be able to become Europeanised.

Just like the west cannot throw away its centuries old culture, we too cannot throw away millennia of our culture overnight.

The third challenge that Swami Vivekananda points out is the existence of infinite variety of religious customs all over India.

He presents 4 key arguments as to why this challenge exists: 1. Many of our local customs are contradictory, i.e. what is considered as within the fold of religion in one part of the country, is considered completely unacceptable in another part.

This you have always to remember that because a little social custom is going to be

2. People are deeply attached to their local customs and unwilling to change.

changed you are

3. A bigger challenge is that each of our Smritis presents a different Aachara of the age (i.e. practices), and hence these often end up conflicting one another.

not going to lose your religion, not at all.

4. The greatest mistake we make is to always think that local customs & practices are the essence of our religion.

4: The Solution: hold on to the essentials and allow customs & laws to evolve THE SHRUTI-SMRITI MODEL

Shruti (core) Smriti

Eternal values of our civilization (to be held on to at all times)

Ideas, rituals, & conduct varying spatially and temporally (to be evolved over time)

There are two sorts of truth.. one that is based upon the eternal nature of man.. the other, with local circumstances, environments of the time, social institutions of the period, and so forth. The first class of truths is chiefly embodied in our Vedas, our scriptures; the second in the Smritis, the Puranas. etc. ...eternal truths, being based upon the nature of man, will never change so long as man lives; they are for all times, omnipresent, universal virtues. But the Smritis speak generally of local circumstances, of duties arising from different environments, and they change in the course of time.

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care of.

29 The Vedanta Kesari

PA G E S P O N S O R : S M T. J YO T S A N A C H O W D H U R Y, B E N G A LU R U

be taken

5. What is the right attitude to religion in the Indian context?

The right attitude is necessary for India, if we are to navigate and reconcile modern materialism and old orthodoxy. Swami Vivekananda outlines such an attitude.

Swami Vivekananda asks us to combine liberal mindedness with the intensity of devotion to what we hold dear.

I want the intensity of the

October 2020

He lays down how to create our own course for this:

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30

fanatic plus the extensity

1. We need to develop the breadth and the depth to become inclusive of all (not follow a path of exclusion).

of the materialist. Deep

2. We need become as progressive as any nation, but at the same time deeply respect the core of our values & philosophy.

infinite skies, that is the

3. We cannot revile any existing customs, as we must remember that they were needed for the survival of our race. So let us remove the older smritis not with a curse, but with a blessing.

we want.

as the ocean, broad as the sort of heart

6: The Rishi Ideal: an ideal for each one of us to become a world mover ...every one of us will be called upon to

Swami Vivekananda then proposes the Rishi Ideal:

become Rishis; and we must have faith in

1. The leaders of our society have been neither kings nor generals ─ but Rishis.

for everything is in us.

2. Who is a Rishi? The Rishi as he is called in the Upanishads is not an ordinary person, but a mantra-drashtâ ─ seer of knowledge.

3. Rishihood means actualisation (not book learning, nor argumentation, not speculation, not talking ─ but actual realization of truths.

4. Rishis do not belong to any caste.

5. Every one of us will be called upon to become rishis. We must have faith in ourselves.

6. When we become rishis, each one of us will be a world-moving giant.

ourselves; we must become world-movers,

We must see Religion face to face, experience it, and thus solve our doubts about it; and then standing up in the glorious light of Rishihood each one of us will be a giant; and every word falling from our lips will carry behind it that infinite sanction of security; and before us evil will vanish by itself without the necessity of cursing any one, without the necessity of abusing any one, without the necessity of fighting any one in the world.

May the Lord help us, each one of us here, to realise the Rishihood for our own salvation and for that of others!

If you have any questions on this lecture, do post your queries on

www.vivekanandaway.org

You can also access previous issues of Vivekananda Way here.

Ma

gic ,M ira cle s

and the

e Mystical Twelv LAKSHMI DEVNATH

ey, Sleeping Beauty! Get up. You’ve been sleeping for years now.”

“And where is Prince Charming?” Poorva, though groggy, responded smartly to the Swami’s banter.

“Prince Charming, Kulashekhara Varman, is on his way back from a successful expedition undertaken to extend the boundaries of his kingdom. In fact, several of the Chola and the Pandya states are under his rule now. For this achievement, history will hail him as the founder of the Second Chera Empire.”

“How can a baby go to war? Isn’t there a limit to your exaggeration, Swami Thaatha?”

Poorva laughed.

When he replied, the Swami’s voice assumed a mock expression of hurt. “Poorva, did you think I was joking when I said you had slept for many years? Hold on, can you hear something?”

Sure enough, Poorva heard a rousing chorus of: “Kollikaavalan, Koodalnaayakan, Kozhikkon Kulashekharan …”

“He is being hailed as the master of Koodal or Madurai, the ruler of Kozhi or Uraiyur, the protector of Kolli …”

“The titles can wait!” Poorva leapt to the scene of action. She watched with fascination the fabulous reception being given to Prince Kulashekhara.

The king ordered: “Let arrangements be made for a grand celebration,” and he proudly escorted his victorious son into their private chambers.

Hesitant to follow them into their rooms, Poorva waited outside. It seemed like an eternity before father and son came out. They were deeply engrossed in conversation. The king appeared to have aged and the son was in the prime of his youth. Poorva had a vague feeling that at least several months, if not years, had passed since the prince had returned from the war. She did not bother to analyse any further.

The old monarch was saying, “I have decided to crown you king, for it is time for me to retire to the forest and spend my remaining days in prayer.”

The author is a researcher and writer with various books and articles on Indian music and culture to her credit. lakshmidevnath@gmail.com Illustrator: Smt. Lalithaa Thyagarajan. lalithyagu@gmail.com

October 2020

“H

The Story of Kulashekhara Aazhvaar

(Continued from previous issue. . .)

31 The Vedanta Kesari

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

The Royal Devotee

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The coronation ceremony took place in great splendour. The lustre of the rubies, emeralds and other precious gems in the crown dazzled Poorva. From a distance, she set about counting the glittering stones. Halfway through, something niggled at the back of her mind and distracted her attention from this task. Hadn’t the Swami said that Kulashekhara would become famous as an Aazhvaar?

Poorva was sure that, for once, her matchless Swami had made a mistake. All said and done, he was old, she thought, generously excusing him. She decided, however, to look for the Swami and clear the confusion. Not finding him in the palace, she meandered into the garden.

One of the paths that she took led her to the stables. Poorva walked in, feeling thrilled, for she loved horses. As soon as it saw her, a horse there went down on its forelegs. It seemed friendly, and Poorva, pleased with her good luck, quickly climbed on to its back.

The horse gently hauled itself up. A few seconds later, it took off at breakneck speed, catching her totally off guard. The horse galloped faster and faster, and she held on for dear life. It was however just a matter of minutes before her fear vanished and she began to enjoy the ride.

They passed through large tracts of forest. Slush, shallow pools of water, and recently uprooted trees suggested that the area had had heavy rains. Poorva watched out, with mixed feelings, for lions, panthers and cheetahs, until they exited the forest. The afternoon sun was pouring forth molten gold, and buffaloes were sunbathing in ditches. *** After what seemed like ages, the horse stopped, and Poorva jumped down briskly.

The animal moved towards a small stream, drank the cool water and began to graze.

Poorva spotted some caves at a distance. She instinctively felt that the horse had decided to break the journey for some time, so she decided to explore the caves. As she stepped into one of them, an involuntary whistle escaped her lips.

Through the rays of sunlight that lit up the caves, she could see a beautiful carving of Lord Vishnu in a reclining position. On the coils of Adhisesha, the huge serpent that formed His bed, were carved Vishnu’s five weapons – discus, conch, sword, mace and bow. On the wall behind were figures of rishis and gods. She could recognise Narada by his customary veena.

As she stood in admiration, the horse’s neigh alerted her. She hurried outside and found the animal all set for another run. For a brief moment, Poorva wondered whether she could pay a quick visit to the neighbouring cave, but decided that it would not be prudent. There was no way she would risk being left behind in this strange land.

Running like an Olympic champion, she mounted the animal. The next moment, the horse was galloping swiftly again, a majestic figure with its mane flying in the wind. Poorva wondered where it would be taking her next.

The journey had left her feeling very tired. Poorva’s head drooped and she dozed off.

(To be continued...)

This story book is available through www.lakshmidevnath.com

When God Calls

Mahendranath Gupta RUCHIRA MITRA

This is the fifth story in the series on devotees who had a role in the divine play of Sri Ramakrishna.

यमेवैष वृणुते तेन लभ्यः

Finding no other choice, he came to his sister’s home at Baranagar, near Dakshineswar.

His nephew Sidhu noticed his mental agony and understood what would assuage his distress. Casually, he took him to Rani Rasmani’s lovely temple garden, as if to stroll in the peaceful surroundings; but his intention was actually to take him to Sri Ramakrishna who lived there. Thus, accompanied by Sidhu, he entered into Sri Ramakrishna’s room and that moment became a defining point in the spiritual history of India.

Later this man confessed: “I was thinking of killing myself, but instead I found my Self. My family troubles led me to God.”

This was Mahendranath Gupta, revered as the saintly Master Mahashay, or M., who reorded Sri Ramakrishna’s everyday life and teachings in his The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.

At the time of this first meeting, M., was the erudite headmaster of a renowned school in Calcutta (now Kolkata). But his domestic life was beset with storm and stress. He was unable to bear the pettiness and selfishness of his relatives and had decided to commit suicide.

At this moment though, Mahendranath was astonished by the peace and spirituality surrounding the atmosphere of that hallowed room. And there he found Sri Ramakrishna seated on a wooden couch. “With a smile on his face he was talking of God. The room was full of people, all seated on the floor, drinking in his words in deep silence.”

Mahendranath stood there speechless and looked on. “It was as if he were standing where all the holy places met; and as if Sukadeva himself were speaking the word of God, or as if Sri Chaitanya were singing the name and glories of the Lord in Puri with Ramananda, Swarup, and the other devotees.” At the first meeting itself he recognised Sri Ramakrishna as the epitome of ultimate knowledge (like Sukadeva) and ultimate devotion (like Sri Chaitanya).

Though absorbed in conversation, Sri Ramakrishna recognised Mahendranath as one of those select few who would help him propagate his message far and wide. By giving him trouble, he brought his apostle to himself.

The author is a devotee and researcher on Ramakrishna-Vivekananda literature. Her doctoral thesis was on the life stories of Sri Ramakrishna. ruchiranewid@gmail.com

October 2020

H

ere was this peace-loving scholar who enjoyed keeping to himself: reading books, writing diary, and teaching in school! But would the world let him live peacefully? No! So he decided to end his life and left home at the dead of night. But God had great plans for him and thwarted his resolution! His wife rightly suspecting his intention, forcibly accompanied him with their small children. And so he was not able to commit suicide immediately.

33 The Vedanta Kesari

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

It is attained by him alone whom It chooses (Kathopanishad. 1.2:23)

Interestingly, Sidhu never came to Sri Ramakrishna again. He was just a divinely appointed instrument in bringing the apostle to his guru.

October 2020

Sri Ramakrishna once told Mahendranath, “Those whom I think of as my own are part and parcel of me. You are my very own, my relative.”

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Mahendranath became the privileged disciple who was God-ordained to preserve to posterity the immortal words of his Guru. All through his association with Sri Ramakrishna, he meticulously noted whatever he saw and heard. Though it appeared that he did this for his own benefit, it is evident from Sri Ramakrishna’s remarks and actions that he was playing his part in His Divine Play. M., finally published these notes as a full length text. This is the Kathamrita in Bengali, translated into English as The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.

When he read the Kathamrita, a delighted Swami Vivekananda wrote to M.,: “It is indeed wonderful. The move is quite original, and never was the life of a great Teacher brought before the public untarnished by the writer’s mind, as you are presenting this one. The language also is beyond all praise, so fresh, so pointed, and withal so plain and easy. … I now understand why none of us attempted his life before. It has been reserved for you, this great work. … The Socratic dialogues are Plato all over; you are entirely hidden.” Swami Vijnanananda, one of the direct-disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, once said that 80 percent of those who had joined the Ramakrishna Order were inspired to do so by reading the Gospel.

One of Sri Ramakrishna’s important advice to householders was: “Do all your duties, but keep your mind on God. Live with all — with wife and children, father and mother — and serve them. Treat them as if they were very dear to you, but know in your heart of hearts that they do not belong to you. A maidservant in the house of a rich man performs all the household duties, but her

thoughts are fixed on her own home in her native village. She brings up her Master’s children as if they were her own. She even speaks of them as ‘my Rama’ or ‘my Hari’. But in her mind she knows very well that they do not belong to her at all.” Mahendranth is one of the best examples for how to put this teaching into practice in day-to-day family life.

Mahendranath was also instrumental in bringing to Sri Ramakrishna a number of teenagers, mostly his own students. Most n o t a b l e a m o n g t h e m w e re S wa m i s Premananda, Trigunatitananda, Subodhananda, and Purna Chandra Ghosh. There were also others like Younger Naren, Narayan, Bankim, Kishori, Kshirode, Tejchandra, Dwija, Paltu, and Binode, — all belonging to well-to-do illustrious families. The Gospel describes numerous occasions where we find Sri Ramakrishna showering his motherly love on these youngsters. No wonder Mahendranath was known as chheledhora master, or ‘teacher who kidnaps boys’!!

After Sri Ramakrishna’s mahasamadhi, Mahendranath took up three positions in schools and colleges and spent his threefold earning on the needs of Sarada Devi and the monastic disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, besides taking care of his own family.

One midnight, just before his passing away, Mahendranath’s attendant found him checking in dim light the proof of the last volume of the Gospel. He told the attendant, “It is inevitable that the body will meet its end, so it is better that it is used for spreading peace to others.” He left his body in full consciousness, uttering, “Maa, Gurudev, take me up in thy arms!” He attained eternal life by dedicating it at the feet of Sri Ramakrishna.

Mahendranath’s contribution to the Ramakrishna Movement is immense, and his impact through his immortal work will continue for generations to come.

References: The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Article

The Importance of a Daily Schedule in Our Life SWAMI MEDHASANANDA (Continued from the previous issue. . .)

S

If we can focus well on the work at hand, we can meditate well. If we are exercising, we should concentrate on the exercises. If we are doing housework, concentration should be on that. If studying, concentration should be on the subject at hand. This will help us to control our mind and thus have better meditation. The emphasis is focusing on today and whatever we are doing at the moment. The past is gone and

we cannot get it back, nor can we replace it.

Tomorrow has not arrived; so focus only on the present. Let our motto be ‘Mind, Here and Now’, reminding ourselves of this constantly and practising it as much as possible.

A popular poem titled ‘Look to This Day’ emphasises this idea very well: Look to this day for it is life, the very life of life.

In its brief course lie all the realities and truths of existence, the joy of growth, the splendour of action, the glory of power.

For yesterday is but a memory, and tomorrow is only a vision.

But today, well lived makes every yesterday a memory of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this day.

There is a beautiful story of Leo Tolstoy titled ‘The Three Questions’. The morale of which is as follows: The most important time for us is right now; the most important person

The author is a senior sannyasi of the Ramakrishna Order and is serving as President of Vedanta Society of Japan (Nippon Vedanta Kyokai), Kamakura, Japan. medhasananda@gmail.com

October 2020

Focus on the Now wami Premanandaji, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna was in charge of training the brahmacharis at Belur Math. Besides training in various spiritual exercises, the brahmacharis had to perform many daily chores, as Math could not afford to hire workers. One thing Premanandaji often insisted upon was that the brahmacharis should give full attention to the work they were doing. Once, while a brahmachari was asked to cut straw to feed the cows, he sliced his finger.

Premanandaji came in and scolded him saying he was not yet ready to become a sannyasi, because if he could not concentrate on the work at hand, how could he concentrate during meditation and build up his monastic life.

35 The Vedanta Kesari

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

One of the powerful tools to have control over our lives is to learn how to control our time, because Time is Life. This article discusses the nature of our mind, the process of getting established in a daily schedule, and thus our self-development.

for us is the one with whom we are dealing right now; again, the most important pursuit for us is to make that person happy.

October 2020

While practising our focus on ‘Now’, two more allied practices are quite important and helpful. One is ‘One work at a time!’, meaning that while attending to one work, we should not leave it half-finished to take up another. The second one is ‘Do not rush! Slow down a little!’ A tendency to rush always reveals our inner restlessness. If we want to remedy this, we should check it at the physical level.

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Focusing on the ‘Now’ has various positive effects. First, by such focusing we can prevent the frittering away of our time and energy which happens by dwelling on the past or the future, and instead utilise that time and energy for better purposes. Secondly, we can do the job at hand with greater perfection. Thirdly, by utilising ‘the present’ time well, we can build for our better future. Fourthly, though it is almost impossible to stop the sudden appearance of undesirable thoughts in our mind, it depends on us whether or not we allow the mind to dwell on them and make us feel miserable. In this regard the aforesaid practice will help us to prevent the mind from dwelling on such thoughts. Finally, another great merit of making a schedule is that by asking the mind to follow one, and by reaffirming whether it has been doing so or not, we are actually commanding the mind and supervising it.

Thus, we can reverse our present position with regard to the mind and can become its master.

Lord Buddha made the following pertinent observation: “The secret of health for both body and mind is not to mourn for the past nor to anticipate

troubles, but to live wisely and earnestly for the present.”

At times we may have nothing particular at hand demanding our full attention, and this is when our mind wanders of its own will. This is detrimental to our control of the mind.

During such times, for example, on morning walks, travelling by bus or train, or even during a drive, we may repeat holy names or our mantra, listen to sacred chanting, soothing music, etc., to prevent the mind from wandering aimlessly.

However, practices to stop worrying about the future and focussing on the Now should not deter us from having some basic ideas and plans of our future, which is indeed necessary.

What should be avoided is to make a blue print of our future with minute details and fancying about it, as more than often they do not tally with actual events.

Just for Today

In his famous book, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living Dale Carnegie quotes a poem, ‘Just for Today’ written in 1856 by Sybil F. Partridge, a Catholic sister also known as Sister Mary Xavier. Since then this poem has been included in the hymns of other Christian

1) Just for today, I will try to follow a timetable from early morning when I wake up till I go to bed. This timetable will include time for my physical as well as intellectual, moral, and spiritual development.

2) Just for today, I shall meditate and repeat God’s name for fifteen minutes twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, and thus get connected to God. I shall repeat God’s name at least ten-times when I am engaged in some work, when I am travelling, and also when I take a bath. I shall mentally offer to God whenever, whatever, I eat and drink.

3) Just for today, I shall reflect on the true nature of myself, of other people, and of the universe.

4) Just for today, I shall reflect on the meaning and purpose of my life, and what I have been doing to achieve the goal of my life.

5) Just for today, I shall study spiritual and thought provoking books, and learn something new, as it is important to learn something new every day.

6) Just for today, I shall breathe, breathe, breathe, stretch, stretch, stretch, and walk, walk, walk.

7) Just for today, whatever happens, I shall not become upset, or perturbed, or dissatisfied.

I shall not complain, grumble or retort, but try to solve every problem calmly.

9) Just for today, I shall focus on this day alone. I shall live today, which is at my disposal, as best and as ideally as possible, as if there were no yesterday and will be no tomorrow.

10) Just for today, I will work with the idea that I am an agent of God, and that I am serving God in others with my work, and I shall dedicate my works to God at the end of the day.

11) Just for today, I shall not talk if not asked, not watch TV, read a newspaper, listen to the news, or a mobile phone, or work on a computer.

12) Just for today, I shall try to feel how much I am indebted to other people and Mother Nature, and how much other people and Mother Nature have been contributing to sustain me. I shall pray for others and Mother Nature’s welfare, as I also try to help others.

This 12-verse ‘Just for Today’ includes all the good practices we should undertake for our all-round development and complete transformation. Though ‘Just for Today’ is repeated several times for as many practices, it does not literally mean that we do each of them just once in our lifetime. Rather it suggests that we at least start such a practice, first for one day, and then try to continue doing so daily thereafter. Some of the practices such as ‘to talk only if asked, or to refrain from speaking on a mobile phone’ may not be altogether possible for some people, but they can restrain themselves from it once a week, for a fortnight, or even for a month. Obviously, to practise ‘Just for Today’ we need to make a schedule, as explained earlier.

October 2020

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

‘Just for Today’

8) Just for today, I shall not criticise anyone, or try to reform another, rather, I shall praise others, encourage others, and see the positive qualities in others.

37 The Vedanta Kesari

denominations, and many editors and w r i t e r s h ave b o r ro we d ve r s e s a n d modernised terminologies to suit their preferences. I too, like the idea that ‘Just for Today’ conveys; so I am borrowing this title, and while including some of the poem’s content, I have also added here and there in the following piece to convey the ideas we have discussed above:

October 2020

Restraining Desires and Leading a Moderate Life

The Vedanta Kesari

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Now-a-days people, especially those belonging to the middle class, are enamoured with aspirations for an ever higher standard of living and sky is their limit. This engenders limitless desires, ambition, competition and selfishness, which results in loss of mental peace. Hence, it is imperative that we practise contentment to become satisfied with a moderate way of living, in addition to practising some measure of altruism and laying greater emphasis on such things as creativity, acquisition of knowledge and quality of character than quality of life style. Without these practises it is hard to achieve full control of the mind and enjoy abiding peace by simply following a schedule alone.

In this context the Bhagavad Gita observes: “One who is temperate in food and recreation, who is detached and self-restrained in work, who is regulated in sleep and in vigil, striving for a higher life (yoga) brings about the cessation of all sufferings.”1 We should also be aware that we wrongly imagine that the chief obstacles for our selft ra n s fo r m a t i o n a re o u t s i d e u s : o u r environment, our work, our relatives or friends etc. In reality, the obstacle is inside us — our own mind which offers stiff resistance to any attempt to curtain the freedom it has been enjoying thus far. Our mind is reluctant to take

up any new positive practice, because it feels quite comfortable with old habits and old ways of life, however negative they might be.

A Life Worth Living

In conclusion, we may repeat that following a daily schedule and focusing on the ‘Now’ has tremendous benefits. It will help us in our hard times arising out of our failures and various types of sufferings, and it will be our support during the ‘dark nights’ of our soul.

When facing adverse conditions, we should just do the practices mechanically, even if our body and mind revolt. Just continuing the practice will help us to overcome difficult situations.

Our ‘enemy’ mind which creates endless troubles for us will then turn into our ‘friend’ mind, and act as the ‘Good Samaritan’ referred to in the Bible. It will guide us in the right direction and even lead us to spiritual illumination, the goal of human life. The Bhagavad Gita therefore declares, “One should uplift oneself through the power of the mind, and not depress or degrade oneself. This mind is both our friend and foe. The mind becomes our friend if we conquer it; if we cannot do so, verily, it becomes our foe.”2

Let us keep a schedule and practise focusing on it, until it becomes a part of our nature. We will then enjoy routine life, and life will become ever more transcendent and worth living.

(Concluded.)

References: 1) Bhagavad Gita. 6:17

2) Ibid. 6:6,7

Life is flowing by like a river. The day that is gone does not return. Blessed is he who uses his time fruitfully. Through many good deeds in many past lives you have been born as a human being. Make this human birth blessed by worshipping the Lord, by meditating on him. Those who complain of lack of time or suitable place can never make any (spiritual) progress in this life.

— Swami Brahmananda

(A Sub-Centre of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai)

SRI R

AMAKR

I S H N A M AT H

A N N E , CH

I

Service activities in brief Maintenance of Vivekananda Centenary Girls Hr. Sec. School for under privileged (900 students) Maintenance of Sri Ramakrishna Math National School for under privileged children (350 students) Rehabilitation Service to Leprosy afflicted persons – 120 beneficiaries Medical Service to 600 - 800 poor patients daily Nursing Assistants Training for poor rural girls – 30 students per batch of 1 year Rural development – Education, Women Welfare & Medical Help, Alcohol de-addiction – 100 beneficiaries Sri Ramakrishna Daily puja, Neivedyam and Arathi

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

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

Yours in the Service of the Humanity, Swami Gautamananda Adhyaksha

39 The Vedanta Kesari

Dear Friends, Namaste. We pray for you and your family.

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

October 2020

AN APPEAL TO DEVOTEES AND WELL-WISHERS

The Vedanta Kesari

40

October 2020

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

Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai 600 004.2016, paperback, pp.127,Rs.60.-

T

he subtitle says it all — ‘A Practical Guide to TroubleFree Living’; there is nobody who could resist such a guide since life today, being more complex and stressful than ever before, requires more guidance than at any other time in human history.

The book consists of eleven chapters with intriguing titles. As a sample: ‘How to Get Along With Your Spouse’, and ‘How to Get Along With Your Family Members’ as well as ‘How to Get Along With Those who are not Members of Your Family’. These three chapters by themselves cover the entire gamut of the people the average human being has to encounter through the course of his/her life.

The book is based on ‘Sage Kapila’s method of interpreting human behaviour with the help of the gunas’ (Contents page).

The initial chapter explains the concept of the three gunas, a part of every human being’s mental and emotional make-up. Subsequent chapters give detailed descriptions of possible behaviours with personal examples, followed by antidotes to conflicts, which lead to peace, understanding and co-operative living with both family members and outsiders.

The book has been written with a great deal of humour, wisdom and a deep understanding of the human predicament and is a real guide to steer us through the difficult and sticky situations all of us find ourselves in, from time to time. The virtues of kindness, non-interference, tolerance, the wisdom of seeing only the good in others while turning a blind eye to the bad, are extolled and made to seem easy to follow. Swami Bhaskarananda has shown how, by using our common sense and fellow-feeling, we can defuse

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

latest publication.

potentially explosive situations and steer our way through turbulent waters to a safe and peaceful haven and emerge relatively unscathed.

This book should be made compulsory reading for college students who are on the brink of starting real life so that they arm themselves against disillusionment and unhappiness. ____________________________ PREMA RAGHUNATH, CHENNAI

In Search of The Lofty Heights of Advaita

October 2020

by Swami Bhaskarananda.

41

by P.K. Sreedharan.

T

Published by Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd, P.O.Box 5715, 54 Rani Jhansi Road, New Delhi 110 005. 2019, Hardbound, pp.237,Rs.795.

his book spans the entire gamut of Hindu religion, philosophy and mysticism from the first verse of the Rig Veda to the life and teachings of Swami Chinmayananda. Along the way, it first covers the Upanishads, the various orthodox and heterodox schools of Indian philosophy, Brahmasutras, Bhagavad Gita, Epics, Yogavashishta and Gaudapada, dedicating an entire chapter for each. Other pre-Sankara teachers like Upavarsha, Bharthruhari, Kumarila and Mandana are touched upon. Then, there is an entire chapter dedicated to the life and works of Sankara. Then, postSankara saints and philosophers like Sureshvara, Bhaskara, Ramanuja, Madhva, Nimbarka, Vallabha,

The Vedanta Kesari

How To Get Along with Others

Nayanmars and Alvars of Tamilnadu and preceptors of Kashmiri Saivism are treated.

The book then deals with the contemporary thoughts starting with Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramana Maharishi, Sri Aurobindo, Chattambi Swamikal, Sri Narayana Guru, Swami Sivananda Saraswati and Swami Chinmayananda.

Thus, this book gives a good summary of the development of Advaita from Rig Veda till modern times. There are references given for readers who want to explore further. This book serves as a good introduction or refresher on Advaita and the lineage of saints and teachers.

October 2020

______________________________GOKULMUTHU N, BENGALURU

The Vedanta Kesari

42

From Delusion to Reality

by Swami Gurudasananda.

Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004.2014, paperback, pp.86, Rs.45.

S

wami Gurudasananda’s book ‘From Delusion to Reality’ is a welcome addition to the many already existing English commentaries on Sri Shankaracharya’s ‘Bhaja Govindam’, one of the most popular hymns in religious literature. Consisting of only 31 verses in all (the first twelve and the last five composed by the Acharya Himself and the remaining fourteen by his disciples), it is simple, direct and exquisitely melodious, containing the distilled wisdom of the Vedantic thoughts.

The book under review is aptly titled ‘From Delusion to Reality’ after its original name ‘Moha Mudgara’ or ‘hammering of delusion’, or striking a deadly blow to our excessive attachment to this ephemeral world in order to awaken us to the Reality.

The book contains the original Sanskrit verses with their English translations and explanatory notes. The Preface gives an account of the genesis, structure, theme, style

and the universal appeal of this magnificent composition, which fosters both ‘a sense of detachment and devotion’ even in a lay man.

The author’s explanatory notes of the verses are lucid, coherent, rational and direct. Besides, these notes are refreshingly free from jargons, circumlocutions and ambiguities, and thus go straight to the minds and hearts of the readers.

The sense of urgency and the ‘plain speaking’ found in the original are maintained in the English explanations too. The seeming harshness of style in both is meant, like a surgeon’s knife, not to hurt but to drastically remove the malady of worldliness ingrained in us. It shakes us out of our self-forgetfulness and makes us aware how foolish we are in wasting our precious time by our vain pursuits of wealth and pleasure —‘kamini kanchana’. The futility and transitory nature of worldly life are vividly and feelingly brought out, making us turn inward to seek eternal bliss and real freedom. There is a genuine sense of compassion, born out of meditation and contemplation, behind many of the explanatory notes of this work, and this cannot but inspire and motivate even a casual reader.

This book is an indispensable practical guide to all seekers of knowledge, especially to the present day youth, who are drifting away, ignorant of life’s purpose and mission and consequently falling an easy prey either to base instincts and sense gratifications or a victim of negative ideologies or of violence, depression and suicide. Books of this type, simple, direct, without embellishments, and appealing to the rational minds and feeling hearts of the youth, will not only interest but also inspire them and drive them to seek the higher purposes of life; and in the process the youth will become good themselves and do good to others. The simple, but suggestive picture on the cover page of the book enhances the beauty and significance of the book I express my sincere gratitude to Swami Gurudasanandaji for his ‘labour of love’. _________________________ PROF. S.RADHAKRISHNAN, KERALA

Article

Sattvika Shraddha

The Bhagavad-Gita states that “the faith of each person is according to his constitution. ‘A person is made up of one’s faith: one verily is what one’s faith is.’”3 This faith can be of three types: sattvika, rajasika, and tamasika. Amongst these three types, people with the sattvika faith are the best: 1) they worship gods alone, 2) they take foods that augment life, energy, strength, health, happiness and joy, and which are savoury, oleaginous, nourishing and agreeable, 3) they perform sacrifice according to scriptural injunctions desiring no fruit and fixing their minds on sacrifice for its own sake, 4) they perform physical, mental and verbal austerity with supreme faith and a concentrated mind desiring no fruit, 5) they offer gifts in a fit place and time, and to a worthy person who will do no service in return.

Such a sattvik person feels very irritated in the presence of one who acts without sattivka faith. His shraddha then flares up and he speaks out without any reservation or fear.

We see this in the life of Nachiketa as narrated in the Katha Upanishad. Both the father and the son were gifted with this quality of faith and it is no wonder that the father decided to perform

the Vishvajit sacrifice in which everything is given away. But somehow the father, despite being the son of one who was famed for giving food to others, gave away all his wealth but acted in a manner contrary to the dictates of Shastras by giving away cows that had drunk water and eaten grass for good, whose milk had been milked for the last time, and which had lost their reproductive capacity. This kind of gift is a burden to the receiver and it was not the proper thing to do. This sight irritated the mind of Nachiketa and his inherent shraddha spoke out daringly these words of caution: “Father dear, he goes to the world of the joyless who offers gifts such as these.” He expected his father to make amends for his wrong gifts.

Seeing his father not responding, Nachiketa thought to himself, “There must be some way of compensation which will make my father escape the suffering in hell.” So he thought that his father should give him away.

Nachiketa therefore asked his father thrice, “To whom will you offer me?” Irritated at his importunity, the father out of anger said, “To Yama, the God of Death, I offer you!”

This is a beautiful situation in which the son and the father reacted differently! The son thought to himself, “When it comes to offering service, I am usually of the foremost type, sometimes I am of the second category, but never of the third type.” The foremost offer service without being asked to do something; the second category offer service when asked

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

satyapriyananda@rkmm.org

October 2020

S

hraddha is a complex term which signifies गुरुपदिष्टवेदान्तवाक्येषु विश्वासः, ‘faith in the words of the guru and scriptures’1 and सद्भिर्यया वस्तूपलभ्यते, ‘by which the Truth is comprehended’. 2 It is simply translated into English as ‘faith’ for want of a better word.

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SWAMI SATYAPRIYANANDA

October 2020

to do so; and the third category do not offer service even when asked to do a favour. That Nachiketa did not feel the need to go to Yama on his own indicated to him that in this case he was not acting like the foremost but of the second category because had to be told by his father to do so. The thought that occupied Nachiketa’s mind was, “What is Yama in need of which I am to fulfil? Maybe my father said so out of anger and yet I must obey him!

Otherwise his words will become untrue.”

Truth cannot be given up for anything. What a wonderful ideal!

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44

On the other hand, the father was regretting, “What have I uttered out of momentary anger? Which father ever sent his own son to the abode of the King of Death?

Alas, what am I to do?”

The son, understanding his father’s dilemma spoke these eye-opening words: “Consider our family tradition which is adherence to truth under all circumstances.

None can escape the jaws of Death, my father, and one is born like corn and dies likewise. Life is but momentary. This is all a matter of the cycle of birth and death, one succeeding the other. There is therefore no purpose served by going back on one’s words for the foolish attempt of trying to postpone my death.”

Saying so, Nachiketa went to the abode of Death, and as Yama was not at home, waited for three days and three nights. The thought, “I must meet Yama and ascertain what his assignment to me is going to be,” kept him waiting without food or drink all this while.

What a tenacity of purpose! Yama came after his sojourn, and coming to know of the visitor’s one-pointed purpose of meeting him, pacified him by offering him three boons for the three days and nights he had been without food and drink. This dimension of Yama must be borne in mind by today’s administrators!

What was Nachiketa to ask by way of three boons? It was an extempore offer! He had three goals before him: 1) to see that his father is pacified and does not fear to see him as if he were a ghost, on his returning from the abode of Death, 2) that he must seek the knowledge of that sacrifice which takes the performer to heaven, thereby doing good to all humanity, and 3) the dearest, profoundest and most beneficial of all pursuits: the knowledge of one’s true nature—what happens to one after death, does he continue to exist or not?

The first of the three boons was easy to fulfil and Yama complied readily. The second was a complicated and elaborate description of a ritual which Nachiketa heard just once and repeated verbatim. What a prodigious memory Nachiketa exhibited! For this he earned a bonus boon as well that the sacrifice would be named after him! The third was a grand secret revealed to none but the competent. Was Nachiketa competent? That was to be ascertained first. He was tempted and tested with 1) outright discouragement, for being but a young boy he would not be able to comprehend this difficult to grasp truth and so it would mean that a boon was just wasted, 2) that there are much nicer things to seek for from one who is capable of giving anything and everything to a sincere seeker, which Nachiketa being just a young lad, Yama proceeded to outline: “Ask for sons and grandsons that will be centenarians, ask for human beings, animals, elephants, horses and wealth, as well as a vast expanse of the earth to rule over. Ask for yourself a long life to enjoy all these. Or, if you have any other better things to ask for, ask all that and I shall give you. Ask for all those desirable things which are difficult to get such as women with chariots and musical instruments such are not to be had by mortals.

They will provide you with amusements.” Like (Continued on page 49...)

Article

Creation of the Phenomenal World from Divine Ideas in Indian and Western Thought

This article presents these ideas supported by quotations from Swami Vivekananda and Swami Abhedananda, and Westerners like Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Bishop George Berkeley.

I

n d i a n a n d We s t e r n re l i g i o u s philosophers agree that the universe is created out of exemplary ideas or forms, the archetypes of all things that exist in the Divine Mind. These ideas are the thoughts of Brahman-God, which are mental forms within the Divine Intelligence, out of which the universe is made. The Divine Intellect generates ideas and has omniscient epistemological understanding (and feeling) of their workings within the universe. The Mind changes into Will and through the mediation and command of the omnipotent Divine Will, these exemplary ideas become operational creating and modifying the creation. Power and knowledge are interrelated since Brahman-God produces everything that exists according to some mental form.

The Indian Religious Philosophers

In support of Sayana’s (1320-87, a renowned Rig Vedic commentator) idea that

creation proceeded out of the Vedas, Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) stated, “Veda is of the nature of Shabda or of idea. It is but the sum total of ideas. Shabda, according to the old Vedic meaning of the term, is the subtle idea, which reveals itself by taking the gross form later on. So owing to the dissolution of the creation, the subtle seeds of the future creation become involved in the Veda. Accordingly, in the Puranas you find that during the first Divine Incarnation, the Minavatara, the Veda is first made manifest. The Vedas having been first revealed in this Incarnation, the other creative manifestations followed. Or in other words, all the created objects began to take concrete shape out of the Shabdas or ideas in the Veda.

For in Shabda or idea, all gross objects have their subtle forms. Creation had proceeded in the same way in all previous cycles or Kalpas....

Supposing this jug breaks into pieces; does the idea of a jug become null and void? No.

The author is a member of Vedanta Society of Southern California, USA.

stavig@earthlink.net

October 2020

There is agreement among Indian and Western religious philosophers that the universe is created out of the thoughts of Brahman-God, which are mental forms within the Divine Mind. Through the command of the omnipotent Divine Will, these ideas become operational creating and modifying the universe. Consequently, the Divine intellect has omniscient epistemological understanding of their workings within the universe. Thoughts in the Divine Mind not only create physical objects, but also the principles of reason, laws of logic and mathematics, and values such as goodness that constitute the intrinsic and extrinsic structure and framework of existence. Divine ideas are both the formal and material cause of the world.

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GOPAL STAVIG

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Because, the jug is the gross effect, while the idea, ‘jug,’ is the subtle state of the Shabda-state of the jug. In the same way, the Shabda-state of every object is its subtle state, and the things we see, hear, touch, or perceive in any manner are the gross manifestations of entities in the subtle or Shabda state. Just as we may speak of the effect and its cause. Even when the whole creation is annihilated, the Shabda, as the consciousness of the universe or the subtle reality of all concrete things, exists in Brahman as the cause. At the point of creative manifestation, this sum total of causal entities vibrates into activity, as it were, and as being the sonant, material substance of it all, the eternal, primal sound of ‘Om’ continues to come out of Itself.

And then from the causal totality comes out first the subtle image or Shabdaform of each particular thing and then its gross manifestation. Now that causal Shabda, or wordconsciousness, is Brahman, and it is the Veda.”1 Following Swami Abhedananda’s (1866-1939) conception, “A painter first idealizes in his mind a design of something, and then projects the mental design in the material form.

Similarly, God thinks of the manifold world in His Cosmic Mind and then gives them the material form…. He projects the images of the manifold world outside from within.”2 Philo Judaeus of Alexandria (c. 20 BCE-50 CE) “meant by the Logos the ideal creation which existed in the Divine Mind before the actual creation. For instance, before the creation of light God said, ‘Let there be light.’ These words, however, were merely an audible expression of the thought or idea of light that existed in the Divine Mind: the creation of the external light was therefore, nothing but the projection or expression of the

idea or thought of light in the Divine Mind.”3 “After the dissolution of the universe, the universe with its objects remains in thoughtform in the Cosmic Mind, or the Divine Energy or Prakriti. Plato calls the thought-forms an Idea or Eternal Type, the Christian theologians call it the Logos or Word, and the Indian grammarians call it Sphota or the immortal Word or Sound.”4 The Western Religious Philosophers

Philo Judaeus of Alexandria (c. 20 BCE 50 CE) the first person to interpret Hebrew Biblical (Old Testament) ideas from the standpoint of Greek philosophy, reasoned out that when the creation process began, God generated the Intelligible (Divine) world of ideal incorporeal patterns or forms from His e t e r n a l i d e a s . The transcendent God does not directly interact with the world as its creator, but through the operation of the Logos. “When he [God] willed to create this visible world, he first formed the Intelligible [Divine] world, so that he might employ a pattern completely Godlike and incorporeal for the production of the corporeal world.... he put together the Intelligible world, and, using that as a model, he also brought to completion the sensible world.

As, then, the city prefigured in the architect’s mind held no place externally but was stamped in the soul of the artisan, so too the Intelligible world could have no other location than the Divine Logos … this entire sensible world since it is greater than the human image, is a copy of the Divine image, it is clear that the archetypal seal, which we declare to be the Intelligible world would be the very Logos [Word] of God.”5 “God’s shadow is his Logos, which he used as an instrument and thus created the world. This

As stated by Thomas Aquinas (1225-74), exemplars (or exemplar forms) are “the likeness of which something is made.” These ideas in the Divine Mind are superior to the determinate forms they exemplify. For example, air participates in the light of the sun, but it does not receive that light with the same brightness that is in the sun. Exemplars produce both the form and the matter of individual things. Although these ideas are eternal, everything that can come to be or perish is formed according to them.

Exemplars as causes are both thought out by the Divine Intellect and ordered by the Divine Will to produce something. Divine Ideas as exemplar is an extrinsic formal cause and not part of the thing that it exemplifies. Yet, they cause the intrinsic form in created things. These formal causes entail both efficient and final causality as well.9 These Divine exemplars are productive of both form and material substance. This is why the Indian thinkers unlike the Westerners consider Brahman-God to be both the formal and material cause of the world.

Aquinas (as did Maximus the Confessor, Johannes Scotus Erigena, and Anselm of Canterbury) taught that we have eternally preexisted in the Mind of God. A “house exists in

October 2020

Frederick Copleston, S.J. (1907-94) the British Jesuit explains Augustine’s (354-430), the Bishop of Hippo in North Africa, religious philosophy this way, “God did indeed create all things together in the beginning … He created invisibly, latently, potentially, in germ, in their rationes seminales [seminal reasons or ideas].

In this way God created in the beginning all the vegetation of the earth before it was actually growing on the earth, and even man himself….

From all eternity God knew all things which he was to make: He does not know them because He has made them, but rather the other way around: God first knew the things of creation though they came into being only in time. The species of created things have their ideas or rationes in God, and God from all eternity saw in Himself, as possible reflections of Himself, the things which he could create and would create. He knew them before creation as they are in Him, as Exemplar, but He made them as they exist, i.e., as external and finite reflections of His Divine Essence [Nature]…. Contemplating His own essence from eternity God sees in Himself all possible limited essences, the finite reflections of His infinite perfection, so that the

essences or rationes of things are present in the Divine Mind from all eternity as the Divine ideas, though, in view of Augustine’s teachings on the Divine simplicity previously mentioned, this should not be taken to mean that they are ‘accidents’ in God, ideas which are ontologically distinct from His essence…. The corollary of this is that creatures have ontological truth in so far as they embody or exemplify the model in the Divine Being, and that God Himself is the standard of truth.” These ideas by which the world was created are contained in the Word of God, the second member of the Trinity. The Word contains the intelligible pattern of all things that are capable of being actualized.8

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shadow and representation, as it were, is in turn the archetype of other things.” “Every man in respect of his mind is intimately related to the Divine Logos, being an imprint or fragment or effulgence of that blessed nature.”6 Philo theorized that the Divine Logos is the firstbegotten Son of the uncreated Father, the shadow of the one Supreme Reality, the second God, the mediator between God and the world.

The Logos encompasses the Word, reason, and power of God. It is the Intelligible world comprising both the objective Divine Mind and Its subjective ideas, the pattern of all creation, the archetype of human reason.7 He believed the two creation stories found in Genesis are not contradictory, since one describes the creation of the Intelligible (Divine) world and the other the corporeal world.

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the understanding of the architect before it was brought into actuality.... the things made by God have pre-existed in the Word of God from e t e r n i t y, i m m a t e r i a l ly, w i t h o u t a ny composition.”10 “Natural things have a truer being, absolutely in the Divine Mind than in themselves, because in that Mind they have an uncreated being, but in themselves a created being.”11 “Although creatures have not existed from eternity, except in God, yet because they have been in Him from eternity, God has known them eternally in their proper natures, and for that reason has loved them.”12 God “is the First Being, and all other beings pre-exist in Him as their First Cause, it follows that they exist intelligibly in Him, after the mode of His own nature.”13 Does this not mean that the idea of “creation out of nothing” (creatio ex nihilo) must be qualified, since the universe eternally pre-existed in the mind of God. On this subject Erigena (c. 810-77) wrote, “I understand the substance of the whole man to be nothing else but the concept of him in the Mind of his Artificer, Who knew all things in Himself before they were made; and that very knowledge is the true and only substance of the things known, since it is in that knowledge that they are most perfectly created and eternally and immutably subsist.”14 The Irish Protestant philosopher Bishop George Berkeley (1685-1753) wrote, “To be is to be perceived.” He suggested that the world exists because it is continually perceived by an incorporeal eternal Spirit (God). Berkeley states, “The real tree existing without his mind is truly known and comprehended by (that is exists in) the infinite mind of God.” “When I deny sensible things an existence out of the mind, I do not mean my mind in particular, but all minds. Now it is plain they have an existence exterior to my mind, since I find them by experience to be independent of it. There is therefore some other mind wherein they exist,

during the intervals between the times of my perceiving them…. it necessarily follows there is an omnipresent eternal Mind.” “The Divine idea, therefore, of a tree I suppose (a tree in the Divine Mind), must be the original or archetype of ours, and ours a copy or image of His (our ideas are images of His, in the same sense as our souls are images of Him) of which there may be several, in several created minds, like several pictures of the same original to which they are all to be referred.”15 Other Considerations

Thoughts in the Divine Mind not only create physical objects, but also abstract entities such as the principles of reason, laws of logic and mathematics, numbers, values such as goodness, etc. Brahman-God is responsible for the very intrinsic and extrinsic structure and framework of existence. This is because according to the Divine attribute of aseity (selfexistent, uncaused), Brahman-God cannot be limited, determined, constrained, or compelled by any entity independent of or apart from It. Physical and abstract entities depend on Brahman-God for their existence, but It does not depend on them.

If the universe proceeds out of the Divine Mind, this implies that metaphysical creation and relations are also logical creation and relations. We find this idea in the Neo-Platonic Realism creation theory of Johannes Scotus Erigena. The universal (the class-concept or logical genus) is the original reality that produces the particulars (the species and ultimately the individual) taking on definite form. The universals of the Divine Mind are determining substances that through logical subordination become production and inclusion of the particular by the general.

Logical partition and determination transform into a causal process by means of which the universal takes on form that unfolds in the

particulars. Deity the most universal Being produces out of Its ideas all things. Following

this system the unfolding process proceeds in the graded scale of logical universality.16

1) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda (hereafter CW) (1962), VI, pp. 496-98: II, p. 239.

2) Thoughts on Yoga, Upanishads and Gita. Swami Abhedananda. 1970, pp. 158-59.

3) Divine Heritage of Man. Swami Abhedananda. 1947, p. 180.

4) Thoughts on Yoga, Upanishads and Gita. p. 145.

5) Philo of Alexandria [hereafter Philo]. Trans. David Winston 1981, pp. 99-100; Philo, ed. F. H. Colson and G. H. Whitaker (1929, 1991), I, pp. 15-21.

6) Philo, pp. 101, 143-44.

7) Philo, pp. 9, 26, 36, 172, 217.

8) A History of Philosophy. Frederick Copleston, S.J., 9 vols, 1985, Vol. II, pp. 76-77, 72-73.

9) Aquinas on the Divine Ideas as Exemplar Causes.

Gregory T. Doolan, 2008, pp. 1-5, 156-61, 195-99.

10) Summa Contra Gentiles [hereafter SCG]. St. Thomas Aquinas. Ed. Vernon Bourke 5 vols, 1975, IV, 13.

11) Basic Writings of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica [hereafter ST], tr. Anton Pegis (2 vols.; New York: Random House, 1945), ST, I, 18:4.

12) ST, I, 20.2.

13) ST, I, 105.3.

14) Periphyseon. Johannes Scotus Erigena. I-IV, Ed. I. P. Sheldon-Williams, 1981, IV, p. 65.

15) Idea and Ontology. Marc Hight, 2008, pp. 181, 186; cf. pp. 180, 205, 209-10.

16) A History of Philosophy. W. Windelband, 1926, pp. 289-91. Windelband presents this idea in a pantheistic form, but it can also be expressed nonpantheistically.

Nachiketa, today’s youth are faced with this mind-boggling scenario and fall a victim because they are unable to differentiate between the preferable and the pleasurable.

Everything that titillates the senses is pleasurable, short-lived, and people madly run after these. Preferable is that which in the long run proves to be beneficial. Nachiketa was different from the common run of youth, for he brushed away all these temptations with just a few simple observations: 1) these are all ephemeral, 2) they waste away the vigour of the senses, 3) life without exception is short indeed.

“So let all these enjoyments be with you! As you, Yama, said, this Atman is not well comprehended unless taught by a knowing instructor like you.

There is no boon equal to this either. So, I want this knowledge of the Atman only.” Why? “This knowledge of the Self is not available for the mere hearing to many, and many do not

understand even while hearing, for it is not textual knowledge like what one gets in classrooms; it is experiential, actual and full of bliss, taking one out of the cycle of repeated births and deaths, to the realisation of Truth.”

References: 1) Vedantasara, 24

(Continued from page 44...)

The expounder, like Yama, is wonderful; the receiver like Nachiketa is equally wonderful; and it is all the more wonderful when one knows experientially the Self by being taught by an adept. So, the message to young men and women is, ‘look before you leap’, for if you ‘leap and then look’ you are likely to regret all your life. The choice is yours to make. Nachiketa, having passed the test creditably was taught the secret knowledge of Truth—the Permanent in the midst of things evanescent, the Consciousness in those endowed with consciousness, the One behind the many. This exposition forms the major part of this excellent Upanishad.

2) Vivekachudamani, 25

3) Bhagavad Gita, 17:3

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References

Article

Spiritual Journey N GOKULMUTHU

October 2020

Spiritual life is a journey of discovering our true nature and our true relationship with the manifest world. Here is a short and simple description of the different stages of this journey.

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I

nitially, you see the world as an and all its living beings. You see the hand of God insentient object. You see the other in every situation in life. There are only two living beings as competitors in your entities in existence – you and God. Whole life pursuit of happiness in life, which you wrongly is a beautiful play between you and God. You believe to come from objects and situations. You collaborate with God. This gives you a new blame other people and situations for your reason to lead a life of integrity, compassion s h o r t c o m i n g s . Yo u and utility. You keep question the merit of asking, “How can I leading a life of integrity contribute to the world Stages in Spiritual Journey and compassion. You keep and the living beings?” You 1) What is in it for me? asking, “What is in it for don’t expect anything in me?” You want all the best return.

2) Give and take in the world with as In the fourth level of 3) How can I contribute to the minimal contribution understanding, you realise world and the living beings? from you. that it is God who plays

4) I am the Witness In the second level, your role too. You are a you understand that mere witness to everything that happens everything that happens. in your life is the result of what you have done The whole world, including your own life, is a in the past. You don’t see anyone as a grand show put up by God for you to see, enjoy, competitor or as the cause of your happiness or learn, develop detachment and realise your sorrow. You understand that your destiny is in eternal intrinsic freedom. your own hands only. No one can change what In the final level, your identity merges you deserve. You compete with yourself. This into pure Consciousness. enables you to lead a life of integrity, Thus, in your path to freedom, God is your compassion and utility to the world. You have a eternal companion.

“Give and take” relationship with the world and You can compare the above description other living beings. with your own faith and conviction to evaluate In the third level of understanding, you at which level you are in. Based on that, you can accept that it is God who has become the world strive to move to the next level.

Sri Gokulmuthu N. works as a software engineer in Bengaluru.

gokulmuthu@gmail.com

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October 2020

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

October 2020

Jnana Yoga

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QUESTION: It is said that we have to transcend the body, the mind and the intellect to realize Brahman, the Absolute Being of the Upanishad. It is also said in Chapter 4 of Kathopanishad that by mind alone the Absolute Brahman is to be realized. How are we to reconcile these views?

MAHARAJ: There is no necessary contradiction between the two ideas. When it is said ‘That from which words together with mind fall back without reaching It’ it means only that a complete comprehension of It by the human mind is impossible. This is so in two or three ways. If the mind is impure and attached to the enjoyment of the objects of senses, it will not have the taste or the capacity to apply itself to the Infinite Brahman. Such a mind is capable of only understanding worldly objects. Next, even if the mind is a refined and trained one, no mental presentation of the Infinite Being can be an exhaustive presentation of It. It can only be a segment of It. In another sense also is this true. A mind that comprehends It fully ceases to be a mind. It is absorbed in It and no report about It becomes possible.

Sri Ramakrishna gives the example of a salt doll going to measure the depth of the ocean.

When the doll proceeds some steps into the ocean it gets dissolved in the ocean. From his own experience Sri Ramakrishna said that he could report his experiences when the mind was centred in the Chakras upto that corresponding to the throat. But when it went to the level of the brow or of the brain, the mind was merged in the experience and a report became impossible. This seems to be the meaning of the first quotation cited in this question.

But then the mind is the only instrument of knowledge that man has got. The mind, as it is constituted in the sense-bound man, may be quite ineffective in the spiritual field and may not grasp the Supreme Being. But it becomes a regenerated power when it is refined through dispassion, concentration, discrimination and devotion. Such a mind becomes capable of giving the aspirant a clearer understanding of the Infinite Being. Without refining the mind in this way and awakeing its latent power of understanding, there is no way for man to progress.

That the Infinite Being is beyond the grasp of the mind and that, therefore, we shall not concern ourselves in any manner with It but live satisfied with the life of the senses, is the attitude of an agnostic and not of a man who seriously accepts the existence of the Infinite Being. The Upanishadic passage quoted first is not meant to encourage such an attitude. The mind being the only power in man to understand things, it is only through the full exercise of its powers by practice of reflection, discrimination, concentration, dispassion and devotion that what was once the animalmind becomes the pure mind. In the pure mind an understanding of the Supreme Spirit dawns.

In devotional language, the grace of God operates and the aspirant gets a direct understanding of His Being. So the meaning of the second quotation in the question is that it is only with the mind that man performs spiritual Sadhanas which take him to a state of perfection in which the grace of God reveals the supreme knowledge to him. It is not agnostic negligence, but earnest spiritual striving, that is advocated.

News & Notes from Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission

The Residential College of Narendrapur Ashrama held the inaugural function of its diamond jubilee.

Srimat Swami Smarananandaji Maharaj, President of the Order, Swami Suviranandaji, the General Secretary, former Secretaries and Principals of the college, teachers and others spoke on the occasion through video conferencing.

The Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Karimganj, presented Chief Minister’s Best Community Action Award for Development to Karimganj centre on 15 August, Independence Day.

Health Mumbai, Rajkot, Manasadwip and Khetri centres conducted eye camps where 1309 patients were checked, and among them 299 operated and 533 given spectacles.

Flood Relief Owing to incessant rains, many areas in the state of Assam, most parts of Muzaffarpur district in Bihar, many areas of Rajkot in Gujarat, and many areas in Kozhikode district in Kerala were flooded.

Ramakrishna Math/Mission centres in Guwahati, Muzaffarpur, Rajkot and Koyilandy provided relief in the form of cooked food to 2500 people and groceries, food grains, and clothes to 320 families.

October 2020

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The Order on the March

Coronavirus Relief Salem centre in Tamil Nadu, Darjeeling and Sarisha centres in West Bengal, Bagerhat, Habiganj, and Narayaganj centres in Bangladesh, Durban, and Phoenix centres in South Africa, Lusaka centre in Zambia, and the centre in Fiji, continued to provide relief by providing cooked food to 21590 people and distributing food grains, groceries, etc., among 3223 families,

Cyclone Relief Belgharia, Gadadhar Ashrama, Manasadwip, and Sarisha centres in West Bengal continued the relief work begun in the wake of the severe Amphan cyclone and provided grocery items to 250 families, 407 solar lights, and building material to rebuild their homes.

Covid Relief, Lusaka

Covid Relief, Rajamahendravaram

Flood Relief, Guwahati

Flood Relief, Koyilandy

October 2020

Sri Ramakrishna Math, Thanjavur, Village Centre

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SRI RAMAKRISHNA MATH THANJAVUR

The city of Thanjavur in the Cauvery delta, the erstwhile capital of the great Chola Empire, especially known for the world famous 1000-year old Brihadeeshwara Temple and the indigenous Thanjavur painting is a glorious example of Indian heritage. The dawn of the Ramakrishna Movement in this historic land began when a large crowd gathered at the Thanjavur railway station on 3 February 1897 to honour Swami Vivekananda who was travelling from Ramanad to Chennai on his triumphant return to India after The Parliament of Religions in Chicago. Two other direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Ramakrishnananda and Swami Abhedananda sanctified the city with their visit in 1906. They arrived on 11 July and left the city on 13 July. On 12 July they visited the Brihadeeshwara temple and the palace library and in the evening Swami Abhedananda delivered a lecture on “Vedanta in the West” in Besant Hall. Again, sometime between 1902 and 1904, Swami Paramananda, a disciple of Swami Vivekananda spent three weeks in this town immersed in spiritual practices. He experienced a special divine realisation and later said that the place was very spiritually awakened.

The Ramakrishna Movement was later fostered in the city by a devotee Sri K. V. Pakkirisamy Munayathiriyar, the owner the Vetrivel Press. He had a small shrine of Sri Ramakrishna in his press and hosted sannyasis of the Order during their pilgrimage. The next wave of awakening came in 1978 when Srimat Swami Vireswarananda Ji Maharaj, the 10th President of the Ramakrishna Order exhorted Dr. T. Indira, a college lecturer, who was newly posted to Thanjavur with these words: “Indira, do something for Sri Sri Thakur in Thanjavur…” Dr. Indira organised satsangs and study-circles in her own residence, houses of other devotees and also in Sri Guru Joliram Goswami Math on Ellaimman Koil Street, Thanjavur Town. With this initial momentum a state level devotee’s conference under the guidance of the sannyasis of the Ramakrishna Order, especially Srimat Swami Smaranananda Ji Maharaj, the then President of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai and the present President of the Ramakrishna Order, was held in December 1993. The success of the conference and revered Maharaj’s inspiration led to the formation of Sri Ramakrishna Vivekananda Samiti on 04 January 1994, the auspicious occasion of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi’s Jayanti. The Samiti conducted satsangs regularly once in a week. Eventually Sri Ramakrishna Vivekananda Educational Trust was formed in 1998. The trust received a donation of a plot of land from a farmer on the idyllic banks of the Vadavar river near the famous Punnainallur Mariamman Kovil, which is some 6-7 Kms away from the city. A small temple dedicated to Sri Ramakrishna was built there and consecrated on 09 January 2002 by Srimat Swami Smaranananda Ji Maharaj, the then General Secretary of the Order.

This trust was affiliated to Belur Math and became a sub-centre of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai on 01 August 2019. To reach out to more people, the Math acquired a plot of land in the Thanjavur city just a kilometer away from the Brihadeeshwara Temple. This city centre with a Prayer Hall and other facilities was inaugurated on 22 August 2020, the sacred Ganesh Chaturthi, with the special worship of Sri Ramakrishna, Ganapati Homam, Bhajans, a traditional paddy seed distribution ceremony to farmers etc.

Srimat Swami Gautamananda Ji, the Adhyaksha of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai and one of the VicePresidents of the Order gave benediction through online video conferencing. Nearly 250 devotees and 15 monastics participated in the programme. Annadanam was given to more than 500 people.

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Vol.107. No.10 The Vedanta Kesari (English Monthly) October 2020.

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Dare to be free, dare to go as far as your thought leads, and dare to carry that out in your life.

— Swami Vivekananda

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