Great Thinkerson

Ramakrishna-Vivekananda

Great Thinkerson

Ramakrishna-Vivekananda

Ramakrishna MissionInstitute of Culture

Gol Park, Kolkata - 700 029

Published by

Swami SarvabhutanandaSecretary

Ramakrishna Mission Institute ofCulture

Gol Park, Kolkata 700 029

© 1983 : Ramakrishna MissionInstitute of Culture

Kolkata, India

ISBN : 978-81-87332-58-9

First Published : October 1983 : 6M

Fourth Print : July 2000 : 5MRevised Edition : December 2007

Revised Second Edition : March2009

Price : Rupees sixty only

Printed at

Sri Ramakrishna MathMylapore, Chennai-600 004

Preface to the RevisedSecond Edition

The increasing popularity of thebook, viz. World Thinkers onRamakrishna-Vivekananda, originallypublished in 1983, has naturallycalled for its revision, additions, andalterations through the passage oftime.

In its revised edition the book infitness of things bears a new title,viz. Great Thinkers on Ramakrishna-Vivekananda. In the words of SriAurobindo, ‘Of all these souls[avatgaras] Sri Ramakrishna was thelast and greatest, for while others

felt God in a single or limited aspect,he felt Him in His illimitable unity asthe sum of an illimitable variety. Inhim the spiritual experiences of themillions of saints who had gonebefore were renewed and united. SriRamakrishna gave to India the finalmessage of Hinduism to the World.’

The Ramakrishna-Vivekanandamovement has been the mostmarvellous contribution of creativeIndia to world civilization. If SriRamakrishna is regarded as the‘prophet’ of the new movement,Swami Vivekananda is certainly itsgreatest ‘preacher’ of protagonist.India is born anew through theRamakrishna-Vivekananda

movement to work out the salvationnot only of India but of the world atlarge.

The main inspiring force behindthis revised edition is SwamiPrabhananda, (now GeneralSecretary of the Ramakrishna Mathand Ramakrishna Mission) whileacting as the Secretary of theRamakrishna Mission Institute ofCulture, we entrusted ProfessorHaridas Mukherjee of the IndologicalStudies and Research wing to revisethe whole book in the light of certainsuggestions and the new materialspresented by the former to the latter.

We hope that the revised edition ofthe book will receive proper

appreciation from the thinking mindsall over the world.

Kolkata SwamiSarvabhutananda

27February,2009

Secretary

Foreword to the FirstEdition

Ramakrishna and Vivekanandarepresent one single truth, one itsspirit and other its form. What is thetruth they represent? That man candevelop till he feels he is one withGod. To develop to that point is,according to them, the goal of life.Every effort that man makes shouldbe directed to that end.

Between themselves, they havedone much to regenerate India. Theyare not just religious and socialleaders, they have given back toIndia her lost identity by rousing her

national pride. Indian Renaissancecan truly be said to have begun withthem.

Yet Ramakrishna and Vivekanandaare above all barriers of race andcreed. Their concern is for mankindas a whole, for to them it is onedespite its many superficial divisions.If today their influence is spreading,it is because they addressthemselves to entire humanity. Nowonder they enjoy universal love andrespect, a fact to which the followingpages bear ample testimony. Thissmall book, with tributes to SriRamakrishna and SwamiVivekananda from savants across theworld, has proved immensely popular

in that it has needed a secondedition within a short while.

Calcutta SwamiLokeswarananda

14November,1983

Editor

Contents

Tributes to SriRamakrishna by

Aldous HuxleyAmaury de ReincourtAmiya ChakravartyArnold J. ToynbeeAshapurna DeviSri AurobindoBenoy Kumar SarkarBrahmabandhab UpadhyayaBrojendra Nath SealC. Rajagopalachari

Christopher IsherwoodClaude Alan StarkD. S. SarmaDalai LamaErnest C. BrownFriedrich Max MüllerFrancis YounghusbandGeorge C. WilliamsGovind Ballabh PantHarlow ShapleyHenry R. ZimmerHiren MukherjeeHumayun KabirHuston SmithJadunath Sarkar

Jawaharlal NehruJoseph CampbellK. M. MunshiLeo TolstoyLeroy S. RounerMohandas Karamchand GandhiMahendranath SircarMohitlal MajumdarMuhammad Daud RahbarMuhammad SahidullahNicholas K. RoerichPaul BruntonPhilip GlassPitirim A. SorokinPramathanath Tarkabhusan

Protap Chandra MozoomdarRabindranath TagoreRadhakamal MukerjeeR. C. MajumdarRichard SchiffmanRomain RollandSarat Chandra BoseSarojini NaiduSarvepalli RadhakrishnanSatis Chandra ChattopadhyayaSayed Mujtaba AliSivanath SastriSubhas Chandra BoseTarasankar BandyopadhyayaThomas Merton

Will DurantWilliam DigbyReferences and Notes

Tributes to SwamiVivekananda by

A. D. PusalkerA. L. BashamAnnie BesantA. Ramaswami MudaliarBal Gangadhar TilakBenoy Kumar SarkarBepin Chandra PalBrahmabandhab Upadhyaya

Brojendranath SealC. F. AndrewsC. P. Ramaswami AiyarC. RajagopalachariChristopher IsherwoodD. S. SarmaE. P. ChelishevElla W. WilcoxFederico MayorFelix Marti- IbanezFrancis YounghusbandGopal HalderHenry MillerHiren MukherjeeHuang Xin Chuan

Huston SmithIndira GandhiJ. C. BoseJadunath SarkarJawaharlal NehruJay Prakash NarayanKakasaheb KalelkarK. M. MunshiK. M. PanikkarLal Bahadur ShastriLeo TolstoyEmma CalvéM. K. GandhiMahendranath SircarManabendra Nath Roy

Michael TalbotMunshi PremchandNagendranath GuptaPrafulla Chandra RayR. C. DuttRadhakamal MukerjeeRadhakumud MukerjeeR. C. MajumdarR. G. PradhanR. RybakovR. SugathanRabindranath TagoreRajendra PrasadRomain RollandSarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Satyendra Nath BoseShyama Prasad MookerjeeSri AurobindoSubhas Chandra BoseSubrahmanya BharatiSuniti Kumar ChatterjiU ThantVincent SheeanVinoba BhaveWill DurantWilliam Ernest HockingWilliam JamesReferences and NotesBiographical sketch of the GreatThinkers

Great Thinkerson

Sri Ramakrishna

ISRI RAMAKRISHNA

ALDOUS HUXLEY

‘The further you go towards theEast,’ Sri Ramakrishna was fond ofsaying, ‘the further you go away fromthe West.’ This is one of thoseapparently childish remarks, whichwe meet with so often among thewritings and recorded sayings ofreligious teachers. But it is anapparent childishness that masks areal profundity. Within this absurdlittle tautology there lies, in a stateof living, seminal latency, a whole

metaphysic, a complete programmeof action. It is, of course, the samephilosophy and the same way of lifeas were referred to by Jesus in thosesayings about the impossibility ofserving two masters, and thenecessity of seeking first the kingdomof God and waiting for all the rest tobe added. Egoism and alter-egoism(or the idolatrous service ofindividuals, groups, and causes withwhich we identify ourselves so thattheir success flatters our own ego)cut us off from the knowledge andexperience of reality. …

Egoism and alter-egoism advise usto remain firmly ensconced in theWest, looking after our own human

affairs. But if we do this, our affairswill end by going to pot.…Whereas ifwe ignore the counsels of egoismand alter-egoism, and resolutelymarch toward the divine East, weshall create for ourselves thepossibility of receiving the grace ofenlightenment and, at the sametime, we shall find that existence inour physical, Western home is agreat deal more satisfactory than itwas when we devoted our attentionprimarily to the improvement of ourhuman lot.1

AMAURY DE REINCOURT

Can a connection between the

scientific and mystical frames ofreference be established over andbeyond a certain metaphysicalparallelism? The answer lies perhapsin the fact that Indian mysticism, atleast as far as its leadingrepresentatives are concerned, hasevolved as much in the past hundredyears as the science of physics itself,in a direction that points toward aninevitable convergence of the two.From its modern awakening with SriRamakrishna and SwamiVivekananda, Eastern mysticism hasbegun to adapt its revelations to theentirely different cultural frameworkprovided by science and technology,without in any way sacrificing what is

valid in its traditional understandingof the phenomenon itself. The truedeparture occurred with the life andwritings of Sri Aurobindo who beganto wield India’s traditionalmetaphysics to the concept of amodified and purposeful Evolution—quite a departure for the offspring ofa culture that had consistentlyignored the spiritual significance oftime and history.2

AMIYA CHAKRAVARTY

The Ramakrishna-Vivekanandatradition…was rooted in India’sperennial philosophy. Truth is One;men call it by different names : this

was the Vedic view and it was carriedon through the Upanishads, the Gita,and the medieval Indian sages to thenineteenth century saintRamakrishna. Nearly illiterate butsupremely knowledgeable, he notonly absorbed the great Indianinheritance but accepted therevelations of other religions, mainlyChristianity and Islam.…[He]discarded sectarianism, usedimagism in a highly symbolical andpersonal way, who dramaticallymoved from dualistic worship tomonism and then to a balance ofboth, and finally and effortlesslyemerged as a world teacher.…Tomany of us, more important than any

incident is the miracle ofRamakrishna himself, the miraclethat he could be what he was andgive us—for all time— his life’s truth.…

The Ramakrishna-Vivekanandamovement has proved…that thefinest social service, concerned actionand commitment spring from puregoodness, from the realization ofbeatitude and the divinity of life.…Itmust be recognized that a saintlyperson while not seeming to doanything utilitarian for society isactually fulfilling the highest socialresponsibility by igniting a moralconscience. Through precept andexample he is changing individuals

and therefore society. Every act oftruth is also an act of service. SriRamakrishna transformed the heartsof men ; he gave them an exaltedview of life, the fruits of which can beseen in the work done by theRamakrishna Mission. … Thus wetrace a continuous history from theUpanishads to Sri Ramakrishna, fromBuddha to Gandhi and Tagore. …3

ARNOLD JOSEPH TOYNBEE

Sri Ramakrishna’s message wasunique in being expressed in action.The message itself was the perennialmessage of Hinduism.…In the Hinduview, each of the higher religions is a

true vision and a right way, and all ofthem alike are indispensable tomankind, because each gives adifferent glimpse of the same truth,and each leads by a different route tothe same goal of human endeavours.Each, therefore, has a specialspiritual value of its own which is notto be found in any of the others.

To know this is good, but it is notenough. Religion is not just a matterfor study ; it is something that has tobe experienced and to be lived, andthis is the field in which SriRamakrishna manifested hisuniqueness. He practisedsuccessively almost every form ofIndian religion and philosophy, and

he went on to practise Islam andChristianity as well. His religiousactivity and experience were, in fact,comprehensive to a degree that hadperhaps never before been attainedby any other religious genius, in Indiaor elsewhere. His devotion to God inthe personal form of the GreatMother did not prevent him fromattaining the state of ‘contentlessconsciousness’— an absolute unionwith absolute spiritual Reality.

Sri Ramakrishna made hisappearance and delivered hismessage at the time and the place atwhich he and his message wereneeded. This message could hardlyhave been delivered by anyone who

had not been brought up in the Hindureligious tradition. Sri Ramakrishnawas born in Bengal in 1836. He wasborn into a world that, in his lifetime,was, for the first time, being unitedon a literally world-wide scale. Todaywe are still living in this transitionalchapter of the world’s history, but itis already becoming clear that achapter which had a Westernbeginning will have to have an Indianending if it is not to end in the self-destruction of the human race. In thepresent age, the world has beenunited on the material plane byWestern technology. But thisWestern skill has not only‘annihilated distance’ ; it has armed

the peoples of the world withweapons of devastating power at atime when they have been broughtto point-blank range of each otherwithout yet having learnt to knowand love each other. At thissupremely dangerous moment inhuman history, the only way ofsalvation for mankind is an Indianway. The Emperor Ashoka’s and theMahatma Gandhi’s principle of non-violence and Sri Ramakrishna’stestimony to the harmony of religions; here we have the attitude and thespirit that can make it possible forthe human race to grow together intoa single family—and, in the AtomicAge, this is the only alternative to

destroying ourselves.In the Atomic Age the whole

human race has a utilitarian motivefor following this Indian way. Noutilitarian motive could be strongeror more respectable in itself. Thesurvival of the human race is atstake. Yet even the strongest andmost respectable utilitarian motive isonly a secondary reason for takingRamakrishna’s and Gandhi’s andAshoka’s teaching to heart and actingon it. The primary reason is that thisteaching is right—and is rightbecause it flows from a true vision ofspiritual reality.4

ASHAPURNA DEVI

My myopic vision cannot fathomthe unfathomable Sri Ramakrishna.He seems to me like an everenigmatic boundless sky.

Sri Ramakrishna is meant for boththe learned and unlettered persons.The quintessence of all knowledge istreasured in his gospel which he hascatered to all in his own rurallanguage.

The academic body of the wholeworld has realized that the life of SriRamakrishna manifests the essentialcreeds of all religions.

I see Sri Ramakrishna like an

ocean so vast, so profound! I ask andask, who is He?

SRI AUROBINDO

When scepticism had reached itsheight, the time had come forspirituality to assert itself andestablish the reality of the world as amanifestation of the spirit, the secretof the confusion created by thesenses, the magnificent possibilitiesof man and the ineffable beatitude ofGod. This is the work whoseconsummation Sri Ramakrishna cameto begin and all the development ofthe previous two thousand years andmore since Buddha appeared, has

been a preparation for theharmonization of spiritual teachingand experience by the avatara ofDakshineshwar.

The long ages of discipline whichIndia underwent, are now drawing toan end. A great light is dawning onthe East, a light whose first heraldingglimpses are already seen on thehorizon; a new day is about to break,so glorious that even the last of theavataras cannot be sufficient toexplain it, although without him itwould not have come. The perfectexpression of Hindu spirituality wasthe signal for the resurgence of theEast. Mankind has long beenexperimenting with various kinds of

thought, different principles of ethics,strange dreams of a perfection to begained by material means,impossible millenniums andhumanitarian hopes. Nowhere has itsucceeded in realizing the ultimatesecret of life. Nowhere has society orpolitics helped it to escape from thenecessity of sorrow, poverty, strife,dissatisfaction from which it strivesfor an outlet; for whoever is trying tofind one by material means, mustinevitably fail. The East alone hassome knowledge of the truth, theEast alone can teach the West, theEast alone can save mankind.Through all these ages Asia has beenseeking for a light within, and

whenever she has been blessed witha glimpse of what she seeks, a greatreligion has been born, Buddhism,Confucianism, Christianity,Mohammedanism with all theircountless sects. But the grandworkshop of spiritual experiment, thelaboratory of the soul has been India,where thousands of great spirits havebeen born in every generation whowere content to work quietly in theirown souls, perfect their knowledge,hand down the results of theirexperiments to a few disciples andleave the rest to others to complete.They did not hasten to proselytize,were in no way eager to proclaimthemselves, but merely added their

quota of experience and returned tothe source from which they hadcome. The immense reservoir ofspiritual energy stored up by the self-repression was the condition of thisbirth of avataras, of men so full ofGod that they could not be satisfiedwith silent bliss, but poured it out onthe world, not with the idea ofproselytizing but because theywished to communicate their ownecstasy of realization to others whowere fit to receive it either byprevious tapasya or by the purity oftheir desires. Of all these souls SriRamakrishna was the last andgreatest, for while others felt God ina single or limited aspect, he felt Him

in His illimitable unity as the sum ofan illimitable variety. In him thespiritual experiences of the millionsof saints who had gone before wererenewed and united. Sri Ramakrishnagave to India the final message ofHinduism to the world. A new eradates from his birth, an era in whichthe peoples of the earth will be liftedfor a while into communion with Godand spirituality become the dominantnote of spiritual life. WhatChristianity failed to do, whatMohammedanism strove toaccomplish in times as yet unripe,what Buddhism half accomplished fora brief period and among a limitednumber of men, Hinduism as

summed up in the life of SriRamakrishna has to attempt for allthe world. This is the reason ofIndia’s resurgence, this is why Godhas breathed life into her once more,why great souls are at work to bringabout her salvation, why a suddenchange is coming over the hearts ofher sons. The movement of whichthe first outbreak was political, willend in a spiritual consummation.6

BENOY KUMAR SARKAR

Ramakrishna cannot be identifiedwith the movement for any particularHindu gods, rituals, religions,scriptures or institutions.

Ramakrishna did not promulgate areligion.…No set of commandmentsand duties or virtues and vices canb e discovered in Ramakrishna’sKathamrta (‘The Nectar of Words’). Itwould be difficult also to discover inRamakrishna’s teachings anyadvocacy or propaganda in regard tocaste reforms, race-uplift and othersocial questions. And as for thequestions of constitutional progress,nationality, provincial autonomy,federation, democracy, socialism orthe like, Ramakrishna had nomessage whatsoever.

Where then, lie Ramakrishna’sclaims to recognition by East andWest as a world-teacher or as a re-

maker of religion? They are to befound in some very elementalcharacteristics.

Ramakrishna used to function asguide and friend to all and sundry inregard to the most fundamentalquestions of daily life. He spoke toindividual men and women of fleshand blood and tried to evoke in theirpersonalities just those humanqualities which enable persons toflourish in the world. In the East aswell as the West, human beings—therichest and the poorest, the expertand the layman, the businessman,the scholar, the lawyer, the peasantand the workingman—all are at timessubject to diffidence in the concerns

of the day-to-day round of duties.Ramakrishna’s teachings enable themeanest of human beings as well asthe mightiest to combat diffidenceand acquire self-confidence in thepursuit of life. …

The Gospel of Strength.Ramakrishna has delivered a gospelof strength with which human beingscan overpower the thousand and onefrailties of worldly existence. That iswhy Ramakrishna has been acceptedas a Teacher by merchants,industrialists, menial servants,government officials, lawyers,medical men, scholars, personsbelonging to the most variedprofessions. Ramakrishna has,

therefore, become a prophet forevery corner of the globe. …

…In his sociology or metaphysics ofvalues jiva (man) = Siva (God). Theformulation of this equation byRamakrishna enables us to establishan identity between service to manand service to or worship of God. Weare again and again renderedconscious that he was notconstructing a ‘kingdom that is not ofthis world’. This is the most markedcharacteristic in the sayings ofRamakrishna. He was a positivist, ateacher of worldly duties in the mostemphatic sense. On the other hand,Ramakrishna’s perpetual emphasison the spirit and the soul is epoch-

making. He has taught mankind thatwith this instrument men and womencan demolish the discouragingconditions of the surrounding worldand transform them in the interest ofthe expansion of life.…The freedomof personality is a concept by whichRamakrishna has succeeded inelectrifying the mentality of themiddle classes, the higher classes,and the lower classes of the humansociety. Anti-defeatism and world-conquest have entered their soul aspermanent categories in anunobtrusive manner.7

* * *

The diversity of paths in the moralworld does not frighten him(Ramakrishna). It is rather thefundamental ground-work in hisanalysis of human behaviour. As atrue servant of man he is profoundlyconvinced of the dignity of individualmanhood and personality.

…Ramakrishna’s faith in the dignityof man enables him thus to welcomethe exponents of every faith as thebuilders of and travellers on the mostdiverse roads to reality, light andimmortality. …

Every cheminot or wanderer on allthese most heterogeneous roads isto him a colleague and fellow-priestin the temple of man’s struggle

towards higher and higher flights offreedom. …

Ramakrishna is a believer in theequality of faiths.…He hasestablished the democracy ofreligions. His conceptions of religiousdemocracy and spiritual equality areorganically linked up with his idealsof the fullness of life. …His mind isbent on recognizing the claims of thenot-self, the other I’s or we’s and onestablishing a harmony between theself and the not-self.

His philosophy of life’s fullness,based as it is on this sympathy withthe urges and requirements of thenot-self, the others, the duality or theplurality, is not confined to the

reactions and demands of theindividual personality alone.…Ramakrishna would have applied thismaxim of dual, multiple or complexpersonality to each and every groupof men as well as to all inter-humanforms, inter-group relations, andintercommunal moralities.

Ramakrishna’s religion of life doesnot consider itself to be adequateand complete until it has granted afranchise of self-expression and self-direction to the creative urges,morals and spiritual experiences ofthe ‘other groups’—new races,strange faces, the minds of the greatnot-self.…Nobody in the world’sculture-history and philosophical

annals has been a more pronouncedarchitect of the republic of religionsthan Ramakrishna.8

BRAHMABANDHABUPADHYAYA

9

(Crowned with all treasures—thatis what you are. Although you haveappeared in the guise of a penniless,ascetic Brahmin, I have been able toascertain from the contented andserene look of your eyes the truth of

your identity. In spite of yourpretention of being an illiterateperson, I have realized—you are thatCustodian of the Vedas! Otherwise,in whose nectar-words the messageof the Vedas and Vedanta couldspring in such a manner ! You areever playful.You wanted to makefools of us this time also; but wehave seen through your game, OLord, we have recognized you. Youare Ramakrishna, indeed! Are younot Rama and Krsna in One ?)

10

(Do you know who isRamakrishna? Lord Visnu incarnatesHimself as and when an old age endsyielding place to a new one. Sri Krsnagave us this eternal truth towardsthe close of Dvapara-yuga and thebeginning of Kali-yuga :

[For the protection of the good, forthe destruction of evildoers, and forthe establishment of religion, I amborn in every age.] He who is knownas Ramakrishna today is thefulfilment of that great promise inthis age. In His grace He came to theworld to fulfil what we cannot attainthrough our efforts and [limited]power. …Hindu culture with its longhistory owes its origin to His sacredfeet. And he [Ramakrishna] came tomanifest in his own life and thus torejuvenate the ideal, knowledge, andculture of the Hindus…. That explains

why the banner of Vedanta has goneup in America. That explains whyHindu scriptures are looked uponwith more and more respect inEngland. Do you know with whatearnest craving the white men andwomen are striving now to toe theline of your society? Do you knowwhose grace has brought about this?No, it has not come about throughyour education—an education thatgoes to turn out mere slaves! [Knowit for certain that] behind all this isthe grace of that Brahmin.)

BROJENDRA NATH SEAL

He [Sri Ramakrishna] sought to

experience each religion in itsentirety in sadhana or spiritualdiscipline. …Here was an individualsoul who would enrich himself allhuman experience in religious lifeand history. And precious elementswere thus added to his Hinduheritage — the sense of humanbrotherhood and equality from theMuslim faith, and the need ofsalvation from sin from Christianity.In the same way, Vaisnavasankirtana and music were added tohis religious exercises. These becameelements (angas) of his sadhana.

What we want is not merelyUniversal Religion in its quintessence,as Rammohun sought it in his earlier

days — not merely an eclecticreligion by compounding thedistinctive essences, theoretical aswell as practical, of the differentreligions, as Keshub Chandra soughtit, but experience as a whole as ithas unfolded itself in the history ofman, and this can be realized by us,Ramakrishna taught, by syncreticpractice of Religion by being a Hinduwith the Hindu, a Moslem with theMoslem, a Christian with theChristian, and a Universalist with theUniversalist, and all this as astepping stone to the Ultimaterealization of God-in-Man and Man-in-God.11

C. RAJAGOPALACHARI

It is no exaggeration to call SriRamakrishna’s teachings anUpanishad. A sage like the rsis of oldwas born in our age. This wasRamakrishna Paramahamsa.…Learned men with a command oflanguage can and do write excellentessays and discourses. But thiswritings lack true life. SriRamakrishna was a mahatma whosaw God in his heart and in all thingsin the world outside. He saw Him inall things with the same certaintyand strength of feeling with which wesee each other.…There is a peculiarpower in the words of those who lead

a godly life. They have a force whichthe exhortations of merely learnedand intellectual men do not have.When a maharsi talks, it is his wholelife that speaks through him, notmere intellect.12

CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD

This is the story of a phenomenon.I will begin by calling him simply

that, rather than ‘holy man’, ‘mystic’,‘saint’, or avatara ; all emotive wordswith mixed associations which mayattract some readers, repel others.

A phenomenon is often somethingextraordinary and mysterious.

Ramakrishna was extraordinary andmysterious; most of all to those whowere best fitted to understand him. Aphenomenon is always a fact, anobject of experience. That is how Ishall try to approach Ramakrishna.

Modern advertising has inflated ourvalue-judgements until they arenearly worthless. Every product andperson is said by its publicist to bethe best. I want to avoid thecompetitive note here so I will sayonly this : Ramakrishna’s life, beingcomparatively recent history, is welldocumented. In this respect, it hasthe advantage over the lives ofother, earlier phenomena of a likenature. We do not have to rely, here,

on fragmentary or glossedmanuscripts, dubious witnesses,p i o us legends. What Ramakrishnawas or was not the reader mustdecide for himself ; but at least hisdecision can be based on words anddeeds Ramakrishna indubitably spokeand did. …

I myself am a devotee ofRamakrishna ; I believe, or am atleast strongly inclined to believe, thathe was what his disciples declaredthat he was : an incarnation of Godupon earth. Nevertheless, I am notwriting this book primarily forconfirmed believers or unbelievers.The sort of reader I am writing for isthe one who is not afraid to

recognize the marvellous, no matterwhere he finds it ; the sort of readerwho is always on the lookout for aphenomenon.

I only ask you approachRamakrishna with the same open-minded curiosity you might feelabout any highly unusual humanbeing : a Julius Caesar, a Catherineof Siena, a Leonardo da Vinci, anArthur Rimbaud. Dismiss from yourmind, as far as you are able, suchcategories as holy-unholy, sane-insane, wise-foolish, pure-impure,positive-negative, useful-useless.Just say to yourself as you read :this, too, is humanly possible. Thenlater, if you like, consider the

implications of that possibility for therest of the human species.13

CLAUDE ALAN STARK

Sri Ramakrishna’s approach to thedilemma of religious plurality hasbeen documented as an exposition ofhis experiences of God-consciousnessin different religious traditions. It ishoped that this exposition, in and ofitself, represents a contribution tointer-religious understanding. …

Sri Ramakrishna’s life andteachings form…an approach basedon the experience of God, which isworthy of closer examination by

sincere adherents of all religioustraditions. One may conclude, by thedetails of his life, that this approachis a significant one.

The fact that Sri Ramakrishnaexperienced God in different religionsis a matter of historical record. Thefact also that God or ultimate Realityhas been realized directly andimmediately by many persons ofdiverse religious backgrounds cannotbe ignored. Whole civilizations havebeen based on the strength of theirtestimony.

Sri Ramakrishna taught that anyperson who wishes to verify theauthenticity of the experience of Godmay do so by raising his or her level

of consciousness to a higher planethrough prayer and spiritualpractices. Then he or she can affirmwith Sri Ramakrishna, ‘I actually seeGod, more clearly than I see you’, ordeclare with Swami Vivekananda, ‘Ihave touched the feet of God.’14

D. S. SARMA

Of all the religious movements thathave sprung up in India in recenttimes, there is none so faithful to ourpast and so full of possibilities for thefuture, so rooted in our nationalconsciousness and yet so universal inits outlook, and therefore none sothoroughly representative of the

religious spirit of India, as themovement connected with the nameof Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsaand his disciple, Swami Vivekananda.In a way, the true starting point ofthe present Hindu Renaissance maybe said to be Sri RamakrishnaParamahamsa. For his life representsthe entire orbit of Hinduism, and notsimply a segment of it. …In fact, SriRamakrishna is a unique figure in thehistory of Hinduism, because, withoutmuch education and scholarship, hetraversed the entire region ofreligious experience by his own tapasand confirmed by his own personaltestimony the truths of the Hinduscriptures.15

DALAI LAMA

Sri Ramakrishna was one of thegreatest of India’s spiritual adepts ofrecent times, actively embodyingIndia’s profound tradition of plurality.By assimilating the sadhanas,customs, and practices of differentfaiths into his own personal practice,he presented a powerful example ofrespect for other traditions, evenwhile maintaining a deep fidelity tohis own. His transparently pure andwell-documented life remains a guideand inspiration to millions on theirspiritual path.16

ERNEST CARY BROWN

What a wonderful thing that adivine Incarnation should haveattained to the highest realization ofGod as Divine Mother at a time whenwomen all over the world werestruggling for emancipation ! Is itdifficult to believe that theincarnation on earth of this greatadvocate of womanhood should havegiven their cause a powerful impetus?17

FRIEDRICH MAX MÜLLER

Many times the question has been

asked of late, what is a Mahatman,and what is a Sannyasin ? Mahatmanis a very common Sanskrit word, andmeans literally great-souled, high-minded, noble. It is used as acomplimentary term, much as we usenoble or reverend; but it has beenaccepted also as technical term,applied to what are calledSannyasins in the ancient languageof India. Sannyasin means one whohas surrendered and laid downeverything—that is, who hasabandoned all worldly affections. ‘Heis to be known as a Sannyasin,’ weread in the Bhagavad-Gita, v.3, ‘whodoes not hate and does not desire.’As the life of a Brahmana was,

according to the laws of Manu,divided into four periods, or asramas—that of a pupil, of a householder, ofa hermit, and of an independent sage—those who had reached the fourthstage were called Sannyasins, a worddifficult to render in English, butperfectly familiar to everybody inIndia.…It has been denied that thereare any Sannyasins left in India, andin one sense this is true. If thescheme of life traced out by Manuwas ever a reality, it has long sinceceased to be so. …[But] we meet atall times, both before and after theBuddhist reform, with men who hadshaken off all social fetters; who hadretired from their families and from

society at large, lived by themselvesin forests or in caves, abstained fromall enjoyments, restricted their foodand drink to the very utmost, andoften underwent tortures whichmakes us creep when we read ofthem or see them represented inpictures and photographs. Such menwere naturally surrounded by a haloof holiness, and they received thelittle they wanted from those whovisited them or who profited by theirteachings. Some of these saints—butnot many—were scholars, andbecame teachers of their ancientlore. Some of course, were impostorsand hypocrites, and have broughtdisgrace on the whole profession. But

that there were Sannyasins, and thatthere are even now, who have reallyshaken off the fetters of passion, whohave disciplined their body andsubdued their mind to a perfectlymarvellous extent, cannot bedoubted.…It is generally supposedthat these same persons, these so-ca l l e d Sannyasins, are also verylearned and wise persons. …[But] inthe case of Sannyasins of the presentgeneration we look in vain either forgreat learning, even learning byheart, or for original thought andprofound wisdom.…There was, forinstance, Dayananda Sarasvati, whotried to introduce some reformsamong the Brahmanas. He was a

scholar in a certain sense. Heactually published a commentary inSanskrit on the Rig-Veda, and wasable to speak Sanskrit with greatfluency. It is supposed that he waspoisoned because his reformsthreatened to become dangerous tothe Brahmanas. But in all his writingsthere is nothing that could be quotedas original beyond his somewhatstrange interpretations of words andwhole passages of the Veda.

The late RamakrishnaParamahansa was a far moreinteresting specimen of a Sannyasin.He seems to have been, not only ahigh-souled man, a real Mahatman,but a man of original thought. Indian

literature is full of wise saws andsayings, and by merely quoting thema man may easily gain a reputationfor profound wisdom. But it was notso with Ramakrishna. He seems tohave deeply meditated on the worldfrom his solitary retreat. Whether hewas a man of extensive reading isdifficult to say, but he was certainlythoroughly imbued with the spirit ofthe Vedanta philosophy. Hisutterances which have beenpublished breathe the spirit of thatphilosophy; in fact are onlyintelligible as products of a Vedanticsoil. And yet it is very curious to seehow European thought, nay a certainEuropean style, quite different from

that of native thinkers, has found anentrance into the oracular sayings ofthis Indian saint. …

In the extracts from Ramakrishna’steachings, some of which have beenpublished by his pupils in theirjournal, the Brahmavadin, theseancient metaphors have for the firsttime been blended with Europeanthought; and from all that we learnof his personal influence, thisblending had a most powerful effecton the large audiences that came tolisten to him. He has left a number ofpupils behind who after his recentdeath are carrying on the work whichhe began, and who are trying tosecure, not only in India, but in

Europe also, a sympathetic interestin the ancient philosophy of India,which it deserves as fully as thephilosophy of Plato or Kant. …

It was not easy to obtain anytrustworthy information about thecircumstances of the Mahatman‘s life,a life singularly uneventful in hisrelations with the outer world,though full of stirring events in theinner world of his mind. …

Protap Chandra Mozoomdar, theleader of the Brahmo Samaj, andwell known to many people inEngland, tells me of theextraordinary influence which theMahatman exercised on KeshubChunder Sen, on himself, and on a

large number of highly educated menin Calcutta. A score of young menwho were more closely attached tohim have become ascetics after hisdeath. They follow his teachings bygiving up the enjoyment of wealthand carnal pleasure, living togetherin a neighbouring Matha (College),and retiring at times to holy andsolitary places all over India even asfar as the Himalayan mountains.Besides these holy men, we are toldthat a great number of men withtheir families are ardently devoted tohis cause. But what is mostinteresting is the fact that it was theMahatman who exercised thegreatest influence on Keshub

Chunder Sen during the last phase ofhis career. It was a surprise to manyof Keshub Chunder’s friends andadmirers to observe sudden changeof the sober reformer into the mysticand ecstatic saint, that took placetowards the end of his life. Butalthough this later development ofthe New Dispensation, and moreparticularly the doctrine of themotherhood of God, may havealienated many of Keshub ChunderSen’s European friends, it seems tohave considerably increased hispopularity with Hindu Society. At allevents we are now enabled tounderstand the hidden influenceswhich caused so sudden a change,

and produced so marked a deviationin the career of the famous founderof the Brahmo Samaj, which hassometimes been ascribed to thebreakdown of an overexcited brain.

It is different with a man likeRamakrishna. He never moved in theworld, or was a man of the world,even in the sense in which KeshubChunder Sen was. He seems from thevery first to have practised that verysevere kind of asceticism (yoga)which is intended to produce trances(samadhi) and ecstatic utterances.We cannot quite understand them,but in the case of our Mahatman wecannot doubt their reality, and canonly stand by and wonder,

particularly when so much thatseems to us the outcome of a brokenframe of body and overwrought stateof mind, contains nevertheless somuch that is true and wise andbeautiful. …

The state of [his] religiousexaltation…has been witnessed againand again by serious observers ofexceptional psychic states. It is in itsessence some thing like our talking insleep, only that with a mindsaturated with religious thoughts andwith the sublimest ideas of goodnessand purity the result is what we findin the case of Ramakrishna, no meresenseless hypnotic jabbering, but aspontaneous outburst of profound

wisdom clothed in beautiful poeticallanguage. His mind seems like akaleidoscope of pearls, diamonds,and sapphires shaken together atrandom but always producingprecious thoughts in regular,beautiful outlines. To our ears, nodoubt, much of his teaching andpreaching sounds strange, but not toOriental ears, or to ears accustomedto the perfervid poetry of the East.Everything seems to become purifiedin his mind. Nothing, I believe, is sohideous as the popular worship ofKali in India. To Ramakrishna all thatis repulsive in her character is, as itwere, non-existent, and thereremains but the motherhood of the

goddess. Her adoration with him is achildlike, whole-souled, rapturousself-consecration to the motherhoodof God, as represented by the powerand influence of woman. Woman inher natural material character hadlong been renounced by the saint. Hehad a wife, but never associated withher. ‘Woman’, He said, ‘fascinatesand keeps the world from the love ofGod.’ For long years he made theutmost efforts to be delivered fromthe influence of woman. His heart-rending supplications and prayers forsuch deliverance, sometimes utteredaloud in his retreat on the riverside,brought crowds of people, whobitterly cried when he cried, and

could not help blessing him andwishing him success with their wholehearts. And he succeeded, so that hismother to whom he prayed, that isthe goddess Kali, made himrecognize every woman as herincarnation, and honour eachmember of the other sex, whetheryoung or old, as his mother. In one ofhis prayers he exclaims: ‘O MotherDivine, I want no honour from man, Iwant no pleasure of the flesh; onlylet my soul flow into Thee as thepermanent confluence of the Gangaand Yamuna. Mother, I am withoutbhakti (devotion), without yoga(concentration); I am poor andfriendless. I want no one’s praise,

only let my mind always dwell in thelotus of Thy feet.’ But what is themost extraordinary of all, his religionwas not confined to the worship ofHindu deities and the purification ofHindu customs. For long days hesubjected himself to various kinds ofdiscipline to realize—theMohammedan idea of an all-powerfulAllah. He let his beard grow, he fedhimself on Moslem diet, hecontinually repeated sentences fromthe Qur’an. For Christ his reverencewas deep and genuine. He bowed hishead at the name of Jesus, honouredthe doctrine of his sonship, and onceor twice attended Christian places ofworship. He declared that each form

of worship was to him a living andmost enthusiastic principle ofpersonal religion; he showed, in fact,how it was possible to unify all thereligions of the world by seeing onlywhat is good in every one of them,and showing sincere reverence toevery one who has suffered for thetruth, for their faith in God, and fortheir love of men. He seems to haveleft nothing in writing, but his sayingslive in the memory of his friends. Hewould not be a master or the founderof a new set. ‘I float a frail half-sunklog of wood through the stream ofthe troublous world. If men come tohold by me to save their lives, theresult will be that they will drown me

without being able to savethemselves. Beware of Gurus!’18

* * *

I am quite aware that some of hissayings may sound strange to ourears, nay even offensive. Thus theconception of the Deity as the DivineMother is apt to startle us, but wecan understand what Ramakrishnareally meant by it, when we read hissaying :

‘Why does the God-lover find suchpleasure in addressing the Deity asMother? Because the child is morefree with its mother, andconsequently she is dearer to the

child than anyone else.’How deep Ramakrishna has seen

into the mysteries of knowledge andlove of God, we see from the nextsaying :

‘Knowledge and love of God areultimately one and the same. Thereis no difference between pureknowledge and pure love.’

The following utterances also showthe exalted nature of his faith:

‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, thathe who yearns for God, finds Him.’

‘He who has faith has all, and hewho wants faith wants all.’ ‘So longas one does not become simple like achild, one does not get Divine

illumination. Forget all the worldlyknowledge that thou hast acquiredand become as ignorant about it as achild, and then thou wilt get theknowledge of the True.’

‘Where does the strength of anaspirant lie? It is in his tears. As amother gives her consent to fulfil thedesire of her importunately weepingchild, so God vouchsafes to Hisweeping son whatever he is cryingfor.’

‘As a lamp does not burn withoutoil, so a man cannot live withoutGod.’

‘God is in all men, but all men arenot in God : that is the reason whythey suffer.’

From such sayings we learn thatthough the real presence of theDivine in nature and in the humansoul was nowhere felt so stronglyand so universally as in India, andthough the fervent love of God, naythe sense of complete absorption inthe Godhead, has nowhere found astronger and more eloquentexpression than in the utterances ofRamakrishna, yet he perfectly knewthe barriers that separate divine andhuman nature.

If we remember that theseutterances of Ramakrishna reveal tous not only his own thoughts, but thefaith and hope of millions of humanbeings, we may indeed feel hopeful

about the future of that country. Theconsciousness of the Divine in man isthere, and is shared by all, even bythose who seem to worship idols.This constant sense of the presenceof God is indeed the common groundon which we may hope that in timenot too distant the great temple ofthe future will be erected, in whichHindus and non-Hindus may joinhands and hearts in worshipping thesame Supreme Spirit—who is not farfrom every one of us, for in Him welive and move and have our being.19

FRANCIS YOUNGHUSBAND

Not content with receiving

devotees, Ramakrishna would alsogo forth to find other seekers afterGod and ascertain how far they hadprogressed towards their goal.Usually devotees are satisfied if theyhave experienced God in one aspect.Ramakrishna yearned to know Him inevery aspect. Nothing fully satisfiedhim. His whole life was spent inseeking God and experiencing Him indifferent aspects.

[Ramakrishna] had no urge…to goall over India preaching—or even togo as far as Calcutta only four milesoff. But there did arise in his mind atremendous longing to pass on hisexperiences to a few devotees.‘There is no limit to the yearning I

had then’, he afterwards said. ‘Ilooked forward wistfully to the daywhen my beloved companions wouldcome. I hoped to find solace byconversing with them and tellingthem of my experiences. A motherhas never longed so intensely for thesight of her child, not a lover for hissweetheart, as I did for them.’20

GEORGE C. WILLIAMS

On the philosophical level,…inRamakrishna [we find] a formula foradapting the philosophy of India,Vedanta, for expansion beyond theborders of India, and for seriousscrutiny in the centres of philosophy

and psychology around the world.Without the impulse of Ramakrishna,the great treasures of the Indianphilosophical speculation might nothave become so available, in thepresent flexible and constructiveform, to the Western world.21

GOVIND BALLABH PANT

Sri Ramakrishna was born about120 years ago when our country wasentangled in the whirlpool of culturalchaos. The English culture was takingits root in India and the people wereforgetting the values of India’sancient tradition and culture…. SriRamakrishna’s life was simple and…

full of practical religion withtremendous spiritual force whichinfluenced the life of those who werebeing led astray by Westernmaterialism and were losingconfidence in India’s spiritualtradition and ancient culture.22

HARLOW SHAPLEY

The mind and heart of SriRamakrishna encompasses all whowork and think on the problems ofman’s place in the scheme ofthings.23

HENRY R. ZIMMER

To speak of Sri Ramakrishna’steaching with regard to our presentworld-situation means, as the wickedjester-king in Hamlet puts it, ‘inequal scale weighing delight anddole’. It means putting the question,what can the spiritual forces of theenlightened and perfect, of theteacher who embodies the Divine,effect in the world-wide struggle andsuffering caused by the demoniacforces of man’s nature ; or, in Hinduterms, what can pure Sattva achievea ga i ns t Rajas, reckless lust forpower, aggressive selfishness,triumphant tyranny, and againstTamas, beastiality and sloth of man’sanimal nature ?…

The actual task of the individual ofto-day, in so far as he can perceivethis problem at all, could be, tobecome, in the Hindu style, apermanent inmate of both spheres,of this phenomenal world and thesupra-phenomenal reality, and‘render to Caesar the things that areCaesar’s and to God the things thatare God’s’. …These two realities bareach other,—the phenomenaltangible, and the supra-phenomenalintangible ; they are as if two sidesof the same and only coin. Theypreclude each other logically, butthey are meant to be reconciledthrough life by each of us. That is SriRamakrishna’s message on the lines

of India’s perennial wisdom.24

HIREN MUKHERJEE

It was Ramakrishna’s unalloyed, ifalso apparently unsophisticated, lovefor all beings overflowing sobeautifully that its nectarine qualitynever fades, his humility, that hew o r e like a natural garment,humility, however, which had not atincture of passive piety but gleamedwith sheer certitude over his ownintimate realization, and the simplesublimity of his equation of jiva withSiva (that is to say, of every sentientbeing with the godhead) — all thisand so much more beyond the

purview of this talk that places theParamahamsa on a peerless pedestalwhere vying with West or Eastbecomes irrelevant and petty.

If there has been anybody inmodern times who symbolized,without the least trace of solemnityand scholasticism, theBrhadaranyaka Upanisad’s definitionof religion as ‘the honeyed essence ofall creation’ (sarvesam bhutanammadhu), it was Ramakrishna, in hisquintessence ‘the beauty of holiness’.…It was Ramakrishna, unconcernedabout contentions over superioritybetween East and West and viceversa, from whom, essentially,Vivekananda had learnt, rather

imbibed, as one does one’s mother’smilk, that ‘not princes or prelates andperiwigged charioteers’ but thecommon, earthly people, suppressedcruelly for ages but never entirelyvanquished, are the salt of ourearth.25

HUMAYUN KABIR

In remembering the services andthe examples of Sri Ramakrishna, we…have before us the example of apersonality who tried to live andexplain the different aspects ofhuman functions, of which we havevery few equals in our country’shistory.

…In his own life he tried to realizetruth in its different manifestations,to recognize the value of thecontribution of different types ofhuman endeavour to theachievement of salvation. …Theaspect which has impressed me, ishis emphasis on toleration, onservice. …His emphasis on tolerationis only a development of the aspectof service to humanity. …Once hetold Swami Vivekananda, ‘…So longas you Serve people, there is noquestion of your trying to showmercy, there is no question ofshowing compassion as is ordinarilyunderstood. What is wanted iscompassion in the true and literal

sense of the word, compassion bywhich you identify yourself withothers.’…His emphasis on tolerationrests on this emphasis uponcompassion in the sense ofidentifying oneself with humanity,identifying oneself with the individualof whatever colour, whatever creed,whatever religion, whatever race, ofwhatever nationality. And in his lifehe exemplified this sense ofidentification with all human beings.…To my mind that is also thegreatest teachings of true democracyand Sri Ramakrishna in his own wayemphasized the dignity of theindividual.

…The greatness of Sri

Ramakrishna, the beauty of SriRamakrishna, thus lies in this senseof identification with human beings,the recognition of the value of theindividual.26

HUSTON SMITH

In my study of the world’s religionsI have been fortunate in coming uponinspiring firsthand accounts of theworld’s great spiritual geniuses,including Sri Ramakrishna, India’sgreatest nineteenth century saint.

During the summer in the 1950swhile I was writing the chapter onHinduism in what was to become my

book, The World’s Religions, I readand meditated on ten pages of TheGospel of Sri Ramakrishna each day,and I credit those meditations for theacclaim that has greeted thatchapter.27

On the heels of [the] dispute overwhether we are all saved, there isanother. At the end of our journey dowe merge with the godhead or enjoythe beatific vision of God forever?Monotheists champion the latter,mystics the former. Ramakrishna,who had a genius for embracing bothhorns of a dilemma, identifying withboth sides, exclaimed in one of hismonotheistic mood, ‘I want to tastesugar; I don’t want to be sugar.’ The

standard metaphor for the mystics’alternative is : the dewdrop slips intothe shining sea.28

As pain’s intensity is partly due tothe fear that accompanies it, theconquest of fear can reduce painconcomitantly. Pain can also beaccepted when it has a purpose, as apatient welcomes the return of lifeand feeling, even painful feeling, to afrozen arm. Again, pain can beoverridden by an urgent purpose, asin a football game. In extreme casesof useless pain, it may be possible toanesthetize it through drugs orcontrol of the senses. Ramakrishna,the greatest Hindu saint of thenineteenth century, died of cancer of

the throat. A doctor who wasexamining him in the last stages ofthe disease probed his degeneratingtissue and Ramakrishna flinched inpain. ‘Wait a minute’, he said; then‘Go ahead’, after which the doctorcould probe without resistance. Thepatient had focused his attention tothe point where nerve impulses couldbarely gain access. One way oranother it seems possible to rise to apoint where physical pain ceases tobe a major problem.29

[God conceived as with-attributesis called Saguna Brahman], asdistinct from the philosophers’ moreabstract Nirguna Brahman, or God-without-attributes. Nirguna Brahman

is the ocean without a ripple; SagunaBrahman the same ocean alive withswells and waves. In the language oftheology, the distinction is betweenpersonal and transpersonalconceptions of God. Hinduism hasincluded superb champions of eachview, notably Sankara for thetranspersonal and Ramanuja for thepersonal; but the conclusion thatdoes most justice to Hinduism as awhole and has its own explicitchampions like Sri Ramakrishna isthat both are equally correct. At firstblush this may look like a glaringviolation of the law of the excludedmiddle. God may be either personalor not, we are likely to insist, but not

both. But is this so? What thedisjunction forgets, India argues, isthe distance our rational minds arefrom God in the first place.Intrinsically, God may not be capableof being two contradictory things—we say may not because logic itselfmay melt in the full blaze of thedivine incandescence. But conceptsof God contain so much alloy to beginwith that two contradictory ones maybe true, each from a different angle,as both wave and particles may beequally accurate heuristic devices fordescribing the nature of light. On thewhole, India has been content toencourage the devotee to conceive ofBrahman as either personal or

transpersonal, depending on whichcarries the most exalted meaning forthe mind in question.30

JADUNATH SARKAR

During his [Ramakrishna’s] lifetimehe had shown the way to Freedom tothousands of devotees. Everyone hadrecognized in him one who had reallyseen God. Amongst those who hadseen him and recognized themanifestation of the Great Power inhim are to be found not only Hindusbut also Brahmos like KeshubChandra Sen, and rationalists like DrMahendralal Sarkar. Whether webelieve in an avatara or not, all of us

recognize that light can betransmitted through the help ofsparks of fire. It is many years sincethe earthly life of Paramahansa Devacame to an end. But the light that hebrought to this world is still burning.Even today millions of people, menand women, rich and poor, scholarsand the illiterate, the happy and themiserable, the high caste and thelow, reading his life and hearing histeachings, have been able to tunetheir life to a higher key. His life hasbrought solace to many a heartafflicted with sorrow and has shownthat the Kingdom of Heaven can bebrought to this earth.31

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansaobviously was completely outside therun of average humanity. He appearsto be in the tradition of the great rsisof India, who have come from timeto time to draw our attention to thehigher things of life and of the spirit.…

One of the effects of SriRamakrishna’s life was the peculiarway in which he influenced otherpeople who came in contact withhim. Men often scoffed from adistance at this man of no learning,and yet when they came to him, verysoon they bowed their heads before

this man of God and ceased to scoffand ‘remained to pray’.32

JOSEPH CAMPBELL

The Europeans who protestedagainst the empire of mediocrity,themselves failed to attain to thesprings of power. So their world ofideas went down before thesteamroller. But in Dakshineshwar,only a few miles outside the Victorianmetropolis of Calcutta, practising hissadhana not according toenlightened, modern methods, butafter the most ancient, mostsuperstitious, most idolatroustraditions of timeless India : now

hanging to a tree, like a monkey ;now posturing and dressing as a girl ;now weeping before an image : nowsitting, night and day, like a stump ;six years unable to close his eyes,himself terrified at what washappening to him, swooning in theocean of the Mother’s love ; stunnedby the experience of Brahman—SriRamakrishna cut the hinges of theheavens and released the fountainsof divine bliss.33

K. M. MUNSHI

The ageless vitality of Aryanculture expressed itself in no noblerform than in Sri Ramakrishna

Paramahamsa. In this materialisticage, he demonstrated the validity ofthe experiences which the Gita hadtaught. He was almost illiterate, buthis training was all drawn from thisgospel. Every word and act of hisexpressed the teachings of Sri Krsnain a living manner. By devotion,knowledge, and yoga he surrenderedhimself to God. He saw God asreality. It was, as for all mystics, theonly religion. He realized Him in allHis aspects.

…His approach to the caste systemwas the true approach of the Gita.The only way to destroy socialdistinctions is the rise to perfectionby individual efforts. …Sri

Ramakrishna gave experimentalvitality to the Gita. The floodgates ofa new inspiration were opened.34

LEO TOLSTOY

Alexander Shifman, Adviser to theTolstoy State Museum, in his bookTolstoy and India writes : ‘During thelast decade of Tolstoy’s lifeRamakrishna Paramahansa and hispupil Swami Vivekananda occupiedhis [Tolstoy’s] thoughts. …

‘On 13 February 1903, Tolstoy readthe journal TheosophischerWegweister sent to him fromGermany and in his copy underlined a

number of Ramakrishna’s aphorisms.“There is much in common with myconception”—he noted in his diary.’35

‘Later on, in February 1906,Tolstoy received from his friend andbiographer, P.A. Sergeenko, the bookShri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’sSayings in English published in 1905in Madras and read it with interest.“Wonderful sayings! Ramakrishnadied 50 [20 ?] years ago. Aremarkable sage,” said Tolstoy to acircle of his intimates and read aloudto them some of those sayings by theIndian philosopher.’36

‘From the literature aboutRamakrishna, Tolstoy selected nearlya hundred sayings and parables

which he intended to publish inRussia. However, this publication didnot materialise and the writer aftercarefully working over them includedsome in his collections of ancientwisdom over which he was workingat that time.’37

LEROY S. ROUNER

Sri Ramakrishna, a nineteenth-century Indian saint and mystic,experienced God directly andimmediately in the context ofHinduism, Buddhism, Christianity,and Islam. …

Sri Ramakrishna was the supreme

example of a religiousphenomenologist, andphenomenology is the methodologyof love. It is the practical applicationof the New Testament injunction tolose one’s life, for the sake of theneighbour and in Christ’s name, ifone would truly find it. This meansthat neither the attack of religiousimperialism, nor the defense ofreligious exclusivism can be a validChristian attitude toward inter-religious relationships. The methodof love in relation to the neighbourwho is a religious stranger is to layaside one’s own perspective, evenone’s own convictions and beliefs,and to take on the life and world and

beliefs of the neighbour stranger. Inthis context, it is possible to discoverthe continually unfolding truth towhich Christ promised the Holy Spiritwould lead us. And only in thiscontext it is possible to know the fullmeaning of the age-old Christianaffirmation that God has not lefthimself without witnesses in any ageor human community. …

[In] Sri Ramakrishna’s story…[our]fellow Christians may find theauthentic Spirit of the one true Godat work in their inner dialogue withthis Hindu neighbour/stranger. In themidst of this meeting and knowing,that Spirit may lead us into some asyet undiscovered new truth. …38

MOHANDAS KARAMCHANDGANDHI

The story of RamakrishnaParamahansa’s life is a story ofreligion in practice. His life enablesus to see God face to face. No onecan read the story of his life withoutbeing convinced that God alone isreal and that all else is an illusion.Ramakrishna was a livingembodiment of godliness. His sayingsare not those of a mere learned manbut they are pages from the Book ofLife. They are revelations of his ownexperiences. They, therefore, leaveon the reader an impression which he

cannot resist. In this age ofscepticism Ramakrishna presents anexample of a bright and living faithwhich gives solace to thousands ofmen and women who wouldotherwise have remained withoutspiritual light. Ramakrishna’s life wasan object-lesson in ahimsa. His loveknew no limits, geographical orotherwise. May his divine love be aninspiration to all. …39

MAHENDRANATH SIRCAR

One of the most potent forces inthe present-day cultural and spirituallife in India is Ramakrishna-Vivekananda. Ramakrishna was the

silent man of God. …His charactercan be summed up in one word, God-centric. …Ramakrishna was a super-mystic. Hence his message andteachings have a unique importance;for they proceed direct from thedivine impress upon his being.Intellectual fineness cannot alwaysreach this level; unless the psychicbeing is transparent, the spiritualaspect of our being cannot bepenetrated and its secrets revealed.…Without a catholic, free and elasticmind, there is every chance ofcommitting mistakes in our attemptto explain and interpret him.

…His being was veritable spirituallaboratory in which he had

experiments with every kind ofspiritual experience. …He was bornat a time when the Hindu religionwas attacked by advanced and liberalthought, and it was no small task forRamakrishna unconsciously to revivepeople’s faith in the ancient religion.…

…Ramakrishna by his intensespirituality which he had attained bythe time honoured disciplines andmethods, showed the dynamism,power and potentiality of theorthodox faith. He had the spiritualgenius to establish that Hinduismwas not idolatry, that there was afine scientific discipline in theorthodox cult to evoke spiritual

powers and extensive visions.40

MOHITLAL MAJUMDAR

Whether we believe in the Divineincarnation or not, a man of SriRamakrishna’s stature could be foundin the microscopic numbers. Inthousands years, a man like SriRamakrishna is born in the world.

To reach Him one needs to freeoneself from all dogmas,superstitions and sectarian attitudes.And to meet Him would be arealization that this man unlikeothers has a distinct identity of Hisown. He is the embodiment of

perennial truths and a supremepower.

Now the whole civilization is inutter distress and faces crisis in allspheres. An incarnation is inevitableto tide over such situations. SriRamakrishna played that role for thehumanity.41

MUHAMMAD DAUD RAHBAR

Jesus is remembered as the Son ofMan. In the recorded history ofreligion, Sri Ramakrishna shines as adevotee of the Divine Mother. Heshould, therefore, be remembered asthe Son of Woman.

Four miles north of Calcutta, in theGarden of Temples atDakshineshwar, he began hisdevotions to Mother Kali and wentinto rapture when yet only a child.His life from then on is an open bookfilled with a moving story of worshipand adoration. His revelation of thebenign Mother of the Universe is aconsummation of the spiritualaspirations of matriarchal India.

Like a magnet, Sri Ramakrishnaattracted ardent disciples. More thanthirty of them maintained intimateassociation with him. Hundreds ofthem derived solace and blessing bybeholding him and talking to him.

I have read some delightful

portions of the one-thousand-pageGospel of Sri Ramakrishna. Thismarvellous volume has extraordinaryrevelations. Immediately onerecognizes a cherishable friend in SriRamakrishna. His open, passionate,and transparent devotion humblesand chastens us. He is no commonmortal. He is a man of phenomenalgifts. His presence is a haven. Hisconversations, recorded abundantlyin the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna byhis disciple M., are charming,inspiring. Their literary merit is dueto the inspired goodness of SriRamakrishna. …

We turn now to another genuinequality of Sri Ramakrishna :

renunciation. It is perhaps the virtuemost vigorously rejected by thepoliticized civilization of the emergingworld. It is condemned by politicalactivists as if it were an adoption ofthe way of unconcern. The politicalactivists have to go through self-searching to realize that much of thefever and scramble of politics is asymptom of sick spirit. Theimplementation of the greatmovement of democratic thought inthe world is not simply a matter ofequal opportunity to cultivateambition. Democratic freedom mustlearn to respect the freedom torenounce. Perhaps it is true to saythat in America today, austere forms

of creative renunciation are virtuallyproclaimed illegal. A mendicantspiritual would be looked upon as avagrant and a parasite. This is tragic.The excessively politicizedintelligentsia in the modern world willhastily detect in Sri Ramakrishna an‘escapist quietism’. An observation onthose lines will be rejected byanyone who reads a substantial partof the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. Inhim we find a bustling renunciationfull of excitement, but not escapismor quietism. His life is not one ofescape for the soul, rather it is a lifebusy with fortification of the spirit.His ascetic exercises lead to his faith-building charisma. His experiments

with psychology of religion are ofboth spiritual and scientific value forus. He is not running away fromresponsibilities in the world, he ishandling them with eminentcreativity. He exercises the privilegeof inspired selection of occupation.He investigates the secrets of spiritand soul by turning to experiencedmen and women. He meditates andis an alert onlooker. He is notbookish but is assiduous in enquiriesas a student of folk religion throughlistening to recital of sacredmythology, direct observation,rigorous introspection, conversationand, most of all, through devotion.

He does all that and does not ask

anybody for a salary or a stipend as areward. Nobody has a reasonableright to object to this arrangement.

Any society that bans renunciationand detachment of this kind isheading for impaired mental healthand low level of faith. For it deprivesitself of a needed source of holycontagion and vibrations of serenity.Every society needs a mixture ofinfection of animation andequanimity. Every society needscontagion of selflessness andmeditative inspiration. …

The soldierly masculine civilizationof the West will have to go throughlong historical preparation to providea natural place for the worship of

Divine Mother among believers.Nevertheless the assertion of thefeminine element has begun. TheWestern male is not yet effeminate,although perhaps the Westernfemale has become somewhatmasculine. …

I pay tribute to Sri Ramakrishna’sdevice to attain intimacy withBuddhist, Muslim, and Christian life.He demonstrated his own kind ofdesires and overtures, as againstother possible ways of going aboutthe enrichment and broadening ofexperience. He went about it in acertain mystical way. It is valid,interesting, and meaningful becauseits motivation was pure. …

There is a great deal of powerpolitics connected with religion. Thescientists and secularists have nodoubt contributed much to theremoval of dishonesty in religiousleadership. But now some of thepresumption which used to be thetrait of some priests is manifestamong many secularist men ofscience. The autonomy of scienceand intellect has been overdone. Thetime has arrived when forces of spirithave to be released. Insight andwisdom are lacking in the intellectualworld of today. The faces ofsecularist scientists seldom have aradiance and magnanimity.

Was not the unsophisticated Sri

Ramakrishna a gifted scientist in hisown right? In his blissful life we find ahappy union of religion and science.…42

MUHAMMAD SAHIDULLAH

Religion creates dissensionbetween people. Truth is one. Maninterprets it in different ways. Realuniqueness lies in discovering unity indiversity. Sri Ramakrishna alone onearth practised all religions onhimself. Then he arrived at aconclusion that all religions have afundamental unified truth. It was SriRamakrishna who pronounced adeath knell for all divisions in

religion. Ramakrishna is indeed oursaviour. The Hindus venerate Him asan incarnation of God. Whatever maybe our ways of venerating Him, Heushered in a new epoch for the wholehumanity.43

NICHOLAS K. ROERICH

We are in the deserts of Mongolia.It was hot and dusty yesterday. Fromfaraway thunder was approaching.Some of our friends became tiredfrom climbing up the stony holy hillsof Shiret Obo. While alreadyreturning to the camp, we noticed inthe distance a huge elm-tree—‘karagatch’, lonely towering amidst

the surrounding endless desert. Thesize of the tree, its somewhatfamiliar outlines, attracted us into itsshadow.

* * *

Thoughts turned to the radiantgiant of India—Sri Ramakrishna.Around this glorious name there areso many respectful definitions. Sri,Bhagavan, Paramahamsa—all bestofferings through which the peoplewish to express their esteem andreverence. The consciousness of anation knows how to bestow namesof honour. And after all, above allmost venerable titles, there remains

over the whole world the one greatname— Ramakrishna. The personalname has already changed into agreat all-national, universal concept.

* * *

Light is especially precious duringthe hours of darkness. May the Lightbe eternally preserved! In hisparables about the Good,Ramakrishna never belittled anyone.And not only in the Teaching, inparables, but in his own deeds henever tolerated bemeaning. Let usremember his reverent attitudetowards all religions. Such broadunderstanding will move even a

stony heart. In his broad outlook, theBlessed Bhagavan of coursepossessed a real straight-knowledge.His power of healing he in turn gaveout freely. He never hid anythinguseful. He exhausted his strength ininnumerable blessed givings. Andeven his illness of course was due tosuch constant self-sacrificingoutpouring of his spiritual energy forthe healing of others. And in thesegenerous gifts Ramakrishnamanifested his greatness.

In all parts of the world the nameof Ramakrishna is venerated. Also isrevered Swami Vivekananda, whosymbolizes true discipleship. Thenames of Ramakrishna, Vivekananda

and the glorious host of theirfollowers remain on the mostremarkable pages of the history ofthe spiritual culture of India. Theastounding depth of thought, which ischaracteristic of India, the beautifulmanifestation of guru and chela—remind the whole world of basicideals. Ages pass, whole civilizationschange, but the guru and the chelaremain in the same wise relationship,which was since antiquity establishedin India.

* * *

Not only the everlasting value ofthe Teaching of Good affirmed by

Ramakrishna, but precisely thenecessity of these words especiallyfor our time is unquestionable. Whenspirituality, as such, is being so oftenrefuted through wrongly interpretedformulae, then the radiantconstructive affirmation as a beaconbecomes especially precious.44

PAUL BRUNTON

‘What do you want?’ askedRamakrishna, the illustrious sagewho lit up the nineteenth centurydarkness of India. Replied his famousdisciple Swami Vivekananda : ‘I wishto remain immersed in mystic trancefor three or four days at a stretch

breaking it just to take food.’ SaidRamakrishna : ‘You are a fool ! Thereis a state which is even higher thanthat.’

Our quest of a valid source ofknowledge can come to an end onlywhen it will yield one that isuniversally and forever unalterable,which will be the same and hold tothe same laws of verification atallowed times and in all conditions,not during meditation alone.45

PHILIP GLASS

Sri Ramakrishna was born onFebruary 18, 1836 in Kamarpukur, a

village in rural Bengal. As a youngman he took up service in the templededicated to Kali, The Divine Mother,at Dakshineshwar, a village aboutten miles north of Calcutta in thoseyears. There he remained for the restof his life, dying in the early hours ofMonday, August 16, 1886. The Kalitemple at Dakshineshwar is stillthere today, but is now surroundedby an ever-expanding and bustlingCalcutta. By coincidence, it standsnot far from the place established forthe work and residence of the lateMother Teresa. Ramakrishna’s homeremains there, still embodying hisspirit and worth a visit by anyoneinterested in knowing about his life

and work.As a young man, he was largely

self-taught, having absorbedknowledge of the ancient tradition ofIndia through reading and hearingthe religious stories in the Puranas aswell as his association with the holymen, pilgrims and wandering monkswho would stop at Kamarpukur ontheir way to Puri and other holyplaces. In time he became famousthroughout India for his ability toexpound and elucidate the mostsubtle aspects of that profound andvast tradition. It was not uncommonin the years of his maturity forpundits from all over India to comeand ‘test’ his knowledge. Invariably,

they were astonished by the easeand eloquence with which headdressed their questions. Itappeared that his first-hand spiritualexperiences were more thanadequate when it came to explainingthe scriptures of ancient India. In thisway he was able to remove all doubtabout their meaning and, indeed, hisown authority.

By the late nineteenth centuryIndia had been governed for almostfour hundred years by two of thegreat world empires— the Mughalsand the British. Each had fostered aforeign religion and culture in Indiawhich, in time, had been absorbedinto Indian civilization. The genius of

Ramakrishna was to restore andreaffirm the ancient Hindu culturefrom its spiritual source.

It would be hard to overestimatethe impact that the life, presence andteaching of Sri Ramakrishna had onthe formation of the modern India weknow today. It was as if the sleepinggiant of Indian culture and spirituality—certainly one of the foremostcultures of the ancient world—hadbeen re-awakened and empoweredto take its rightful place in moderntimes. Within a generation of hisdeath, Gandhi’s ‘quit India’movement was in full bloom. Thepoetry of Tagore as well as countlessmanifestations in theatre, music,

philosophy and civil discourse werebecoming known to the world atlarge. Over one hundred years agoSwami Vivekananda (theNarendranath of our text) travelledto the West to take part in the firstParliament of the World’s Religions inChicago in 1893. He established inAmerica the first Vedanta Centres,which have spread throughout theworld, with major centres in SouthernCalifornia. Even today the influenceof India (and ultimately, ofRamakrishna) can be heard in thepoetry and music of Allen Ginsburgand the Beatles, to mention only afew artists. It is hard to imagine theemergence of India on the world

stage without the spark that wasprovided by Ramakrishna’s brilliance.Perhaps, some may doubt that India—the most populous democracy ofour time, brimming with vitality andcreativity—could owe so much to onesaintly man, long gone, who lived alife of such utter simplicity. Yet Ibelieve that is exactly the case.

It has been said that when a greatman dies, it is as if all of humanity—and the whole world, for that matter—were witnessing a beautiful,timeless sunset. At that moment ‘thegreat matter of life and death’ isrevealed, if not explained andunderstood. By bearing witness tothat event, perhaps we understand a

little better our own mortality, itslimits and possibilities. The Passionof Ramakrishna is meant to recountin this highly abbreviated work, hissuffering, death and transfigurationas they took place during the last fewmonths of his life.

In this work, the words ofRamakrishna are taken up by theChorus. Sarada Devi was his wife andlifelong companion. M. (his real namewas Mahendranath Gupta) was thedisciple who kept a close record ofhis meetings with Ramakrishna, laterpublished as The Gospel of SriRamakrishna. Dr Sarkar [DrMahendralal Sarkar] was hisattending physician. The two

disciples who sing small solo partsare unidentified in the text.46

PITIRIM ALEXANDROVITCHSOROKIN

A successful growth of SriRamakrishna and of the Vedantamovements in the West is one ofmany symptoms of two basicprocesses which are going on at thepresent time in the human universe.One of these changes is the epochalshift of the creative centre ofmankind from Europe to the largerarea of the Pacific-Atlantic, while theother consists in a double process of

continued decay of sensate cultureand society and of the emergenceand growth of the new—Integral orIdeational— socio-cultural order.47

PRAMATHANATHTARKABHUSAN

( 1 )

Through the earthly body of SriRamakrishna Bhagavan Sri Hari[Narayana] manifested His divinity inBengal. …Sri Ramakrishna appearedin a time full of surprising incidents.

…This period had witnessed theinvolvement of many talentedpersonalities in developing and

nurturing numerous new thoughtsand the consequential conflicts aswell. …Sri Ramakrishna has hisadvent among all such luminaries,and led an apparently easy worldlylife of a priest devoid of wealth oreducation. And that exactly was hisunique and amazing feat—ignoringall the limitations he could achievehis revered place among the Indianspiritual giants. …

…Sri Ramakrishna’s influence onthe world could hardly have theextraordinary and everlasting impactwithout Vivekananda. AndNarendranath Datta, in obverse,would never have become SwamiVivekananda without the compassion

and adoration— unsolicited butabundant, from Sri Ramakrishna. …He gave his mantle to the Swami andthrough him inspired all pervadingpeace, harmony and spiritualityaround the civilized nations. It washe who did first realize how suchmassive benevolent work could haveits fruitful end in the contemporarytime, and awakened the requiredforce within the enormously powerfuland broad heart of the Swami. Thisin particular was the greatest aspectof the amazingly eventful life of SriRamakrishna.48

( 2 )

To know and realize Brahman –

the atman taught in the Upanishadsof India – is the highest goal ofhuman life. This is the message ofIndia. To teach this message to Indiain a new form adopted to the needsof times, and through India to humanbeings all over the World, who onaccount of ignorance have themisfortune to identify themselveswith the body and suffer torment andworry, and thus lead them tofreedom from all kinds of bondage,God appeared on earth asParamahamsa Deva. My countlesssalutations to the holy feet ofBhagavan Sri Ramakrishna, thevisible symbol of the Lord, usheringin a synthesis of the religions of the

world !49

PROTAP CHANDRAMOZOOMDAR

My mind is still floating in theluminous atmosphere which thatwonderful man diffuses around himwhenever and wherever he goes. Mymind is not yet disenchanted of themysterious and indefinable pathoswhich he pours into it whenever hemeets me. What is there in commonbetween him and me? I, aEuropeanized, civilized, self-centred,semi-sceptical, so-called educatedreasoner, and he, a poor, illiterate,

shrunken, unpolished, diseased, half-dressed, half- idolatrous, friendlessHindu devotee? Why should I sit longhours to attend to him, I who havelistened to Disraeli and Fawcett,Stanley and Max Müller, and a wholehost of European scholars anddivines, I who am an ardent discipleand follower of Christ, a friend andadmirer of liberal-minded Christianmissionaries and preachers, adevoted adherent and worker of therationalistic Brahmo Samaj,—whyshould I be spellbound to hear him?And it is not I only, but dozens likeme who do the same. He has beeninterviewed and examined by many,crowds pour in to visit and talk with

him. Some of our clever intellectualfools have found nothing in him,some of the contemptuous Christianmissionaries would call him animposter, or a self-deludedenthusiast. I have weighed theirobjections well, and what I writenow, I write deliberately.

The Hindu saint is a man muchunder forty. He is a Brahmin bycaste, he is well formed naturally,but the dreadful austerities throughwhich his character has developedhave permanently disordered hissystem, inflicted a debility, paleness,and shrunkenness upon his form andfeatures that excite the deepestcompassion. Yet in the midst of this

emaciation, his face retains afullness, a child-like tenderness, aprofound visible humbleness, anunspeakable sweetness of expressionand smile that I have seen in noother face that I can remember. AHindu saint is always particular abouthis externals. He wears the geruacloth, eats according to strict formsand is a rigid observer of caste. He isalways proud and professes secretwisdom. He is always a guruji, and adispenser of charms. This man issingularly indifferent to thesematters. His dress and diet don’tdiffer from those of other men exceptin the general negligence he showstowards both, and as to caste, he

openly breaks it every day. He mostvehemently repudiates the title ofbeing called a teacher or guru, heshows impatient displeasure at anyexceptional honour which people tryto pay him, and emphaticallydisclaims the knowledge of secretsand mysteries. He protests againstbeing lionized, and openly shows hisstrong dislike to be visited andpraised by the curious. The society ofthe worldly-minded and carnally-inclined he shuns carefully. He hasnothing extraordinary about him. Hisreligion is his only recommendation.And what is his religion? It isHinduism, but Hinduism of a strangetype. Ramakrishna Paramahansa, for

that is the saint’s name, is theworshipper of no particular Hindugod. He is not a Saiva, he is not aSakta, he is not a Vaisnava, he is nota Vedantist. Yet he is all these. Heworships Siva, he worships Kali, heworships Rama, he worships Krsna,and is a confirmed advocate ofVedantist doctrines. He is an idolater,and is yet a faithful and mostdevoted meditator of the perfectionsof the one formless, infinite Deitywhom he terms akhandaSaccidananda. His religion, unlike thereligion of ordinary Hindu sadhus,does not mean the maturity ofdoctrinal belief, or controversialproficiency, or the outward worship

with flower and sandal, incense andoffering. His religion means ecstasy,his worship means transcendentalperception, his whole nature burnsday and night with the permanentfire and fever of a strange faith andfeeling. His conversation is aceaseless breaking forth of thisinward fire, and lasts for long hours.While his interlocutors are weary, he,though outwardly feeble, is as freshas ever. He merges into rapturousecstasy and outwardunconsciousness often during theday, oftenest in conversation whenhe speaks of his favourite spiritualexperiences, or hears any strikingresponse to them. But how is it

possible that he has such a ferventregard for all the Hindu deitiestogether? What is the secret of hissingular eclecticism? To him each ofthese deities is a force, an incarnatedprinciple tending to reveal thesupreme relation of the soul to thateternal and formless Being Who isunchangeable in His blessedness andthe Light of Wisdom.50

RABINDRANATH TAGORE

50a

To the ParamahansaRamakrishna Deva

Diverse courses ofworshipfrom varied springs offulfilmenthave mingled in yourmeditation.

The manifold revelationof the joy of the Infinitehas given form to ashrine of unity in yourlife;Where from far andnear arrive salutationsto which I join mineown.50b

RADHAKAMAL MUKERJEE

The strangest paradox was thatthis unsophisticated andunostentatious man of God, aroundwhom gathered the nineteenth-century intellectuals of Calcutta,worshipped Christ and Mohammed.

Sri Ramakrishna’s religion wasbeatific vision, his worship theperennial realization of theimmanence of the Divine in everyobject and relation, his whole naturethe image of God in all its purity, loveand beauty. When he affirmed thathe followed the paths of the differentsects and creeds and practised allreligions, Hinduism, Islam, andChristianity, there were a strangepassion and certitude from whichthere could be no escape even of ascoffer and an iconoclast.

India needed a tolerant anduniversal religion like that of SriRamakrishna that might found a new

social ethics for our evolving welfareState on the spiritual intuition of theindwelling God in the common man,absolutely every common man, andfoster infinite charity and compassionfor all. Such an ethics, equalitarian,buoyant, and dynamic, emerged fromevery parable, every imagery, andevery song of this God-intoxicatedman who was as powerful in hisgentle persuasions as in hisunfathomable silence.51

RAMESH CHANDRAMAJUMDAR

The truth of the theoretical

speculations of Bankim wasdemonstrated by RamakrishnaParamahansa, the greatest saint ofthe 19th century. Both by preceptand example of his own lifeRamakrishna brought home to anincredulous world, held under thespell of natural science, the reality ofspiritual life and of the means toattain it as described in ancientHindu scriptures, both Vedic andpost-Vedic. He held that not only allthe different forms of Hindu religion,including the Puranic and Tantric, butall religions, such as Islam andChristianity, are true in their essenceand may lead to salvation, if properlypursued. This he demonstrated by

himself practising with success thediverse modes of sadhana or spiritualdiscipline prescribed in the differentreligious cults mentioned above. …Ramakrishna proved in his own lifethat the worship of Puranic deitiesthrough their images was as good ameans of salvation as the worship ofone God without any form. He gave amoral sanction, a philosophical basisand a new spiritual significance tothe neo-Hinduism which laid thefoundation of Hindu nationalism on asecure foundation.52

RICHARD SCHIFFMAN

If Krsna was enough for Mira, and

Jesus sufficient for Saint Francis, thenwhy did Ramakrishna feel the needto cry out in turn to Kali, to Krsna, toRama, to Sita, and even…to Christand the God of Mohammed? Themystics of the past had gone into thecandy shop and made a singleselection. Ramakrishna, on the otherhand, had exited with hands andmouth and pockets overflowing.

In reflecting upon this mystery,Ramakrishna’s disciples wouldprobably say that the Master wantedto demonstrate through his actionsthat all embodiments of God aregreat, and that devotion to any oneof them ultimately reaches the oneIneffable—God beyond all names and

forms, God in all names and forms.This seems reasonable enough. Butstill, we must wonder whetherRamakrishna was being anintentional and premeditated as allthat. Or was he simply driven by ahunger that he would not have triedto rationalize or understand? Onething is certain : the spirit of creedalnarrowness that seeks to imprisonthe Infinite within a single approvedsymbol for worship was completelyalien to his nature. And so was thecomplacency that tests content withwhat it already knows. Even in thefuture, when men gathered at hisfeet, treasuring his every word,Ramakrishna would ask the

newcomer to tell him about God,and, if he spoke from genuineexperience, the Master would listenrapt with wonder.

Ramakrishna was, by nature,incapable of holding himself aloof.From the moment a newcomerarrived, the Master would be chattingwith a transparent sincerity.Invariably, after the briefest civilities,the conversation would turn to God,and devotion ; everything elseseemed insipid to him. It was notunusual that within minutesRamakrishna would be taking perfectstranger into his confidence,speaking of his most intimate visionsand other spiritual experiences in the

same easy manner that others talkabout the weather…but alwayswithout a hint of pride or boasting.Like the child of God he was, theMaster would say, ‘Mother showedme this .…Mother told me .…Motherrevealed. …’

Ramakrishna’s influence on thosewho lived within his orbit wasmanifested at every level, from themost mundane to the mostmetaphysical. His was a flame thatburned and enlightened and thatmelted down the fixed metal of thewhole person, only to remould itagain in a simpler, truer form.

This transformation of characterwas Ramakrishna’s greatest miracle

and his most enduring legacy.To one and all, Ramakrishna

offered a vision of hope. God is notonly for the chosen few who becomesannyasis, but for anyone who criesout to Him with sincere longing.‘Wherein is the strength of adevotee?’ he once asked rhetorically.‘He is a child of God, and hisdevotional tears are his mightiestweapon.’53

ROMAIN ROLLAND

Allowing for differences of countryand of time, Ramakrishna is theyounger brother of our Christ….

I am bringing to Europe, as yetunaware of it, the fruit of a newautumn, a new message of the Soul,the symphony of India, bearing thename of Ramakrishna. It can beshown (and we shall not fail to pointout) that this symphony, like those ofour classical masters, is built up of ahundred different musical elementsemanating from the past. But thesovereign personality concentratingin himself the diversity of theseelements and fashioning them into aroyal harmony, is always the onewho gives his name to the work,though it contains within itself thelabour of generations. And with hisvictorious sign he marks a new era.

The man whose image I hereevoke was the consummation of twothousand years of the spiritual life ofthree hundred million people.Although he has been dead fortyyears, his soul animates modernIndia. He was no hero of action likeGandhi, no genius in art or thoughtlike Goethe or Tagore. He was a littlevillage Brahmin of Bengal, whoseouter life was set in a limited framewithout striking incident, outside thepolitical and social activities of histime. But his inner life embraced thewhole multiplicity of men and Gods.It was a part of the very source ofEnergy, the Divine Sakti, of whomVidyapati, the old poet of Mithila, and

Ramaprasada of Bengal sing.Very few go back to the source.

The little peasant of Bengal bylistening to the message of his heartfound his way to the inner Sea. Andthere he was wedded to it, thusbearing out the words of theUpanishads :

‘I am more ancient than theradiant Gods. I am the first-born ofthe Being. I am the artery ofImmortality.’

It is my desire to bring the soundof the beating of that artery to theears of fever-stricken Europe, whichhas murdered sleep. I wish to wet itslips with the blood of Immortality.54

SARAT CHANDRA BOSE

This great teacher [SriRamakrishna] was Bengal’scontribution to the world in the lastcentury. …We and the rest of theworld came under the influence of histeachings during his early pilgrimageand even more so, after he hadcompleted his journey. …To mymind, Sri Ramakrishna’s mode ofapproach to different systems ofworship inculcated in the differentreligions of the world is his specialcontribution to the history of theprogress of religions in the presentage. …Sri Ramakrishna’s teachingsdid not disturb a single religion of the

world. …He left no new religion ashis legacy unto us. He did not askanybody to change his religion with aview to realizing God. …His teachingsprove that each religion gives amplescope and opportunity to realize God.That was the distinctive peculiarity ofhis teachings. Towards the end of hissojourn into this world SwamiPremananda, one of his disciples,heard him pray, ‘Mother, do not letme become famous by leading thosewho believe in beliefs! Do notexpound beliefs through my voice.’55

SAROJINI NAIDU

In the garden of Sir Jagadish

Chandra Bose, there stands an emptytemple made of stone and one day,when I was giving the KamalaLectures to the University, the lastday it was, I walked with him in hisgarden. He said to me, ‘Have youfound the text of today’s address?’ Isaid, ‘No.’ Then he said, ‘You will findthe text of your address here.’ Iwalked with him and looked at thebirds, trees, statues and at last Istood before that empty temple,when he said, ‘Poet, have you foundyour message?’ I said, ‘I have.’ Hereis an empty temple in which there isno image because every worshippermust find in the empty temple theknowledge that he creates God in the

image of his own soul. That is themessage to the world of all greatsaints and prophets of the world andthat was the message of SriRamakrishna. For him the templewas always empty, because it wasalways ready. It was always readyfor him to place his deity, no matterwhether for a moment he projectedhimself into the soul of theMussulman or the Christian or theConfucian or the Zoroastrian or theSikh or any other faith. He said, ‘Hereis a temple of humanity andhumanity must have a God. Whereshall I find Him? Shall I produce Himin my limited individualconsciousness? Or God shall be so

infinite and so diverse that I shallseek Him in the image of the Infiniteas He appears to his children in thedeserts of Arabia, or on themountaintops, in the caves and inthe forests of many lands.’ And SriRamakrishna taught us that thetemple remains empty because lovealone can create an image of Godand with that love, you are notlimited, you become a part of thegreat humanity that worship God bymany names.’’56

SARVEPALLIRADHAKRISHNAN

While the sayings of SriRamakrishna did not penetrate somuch into academic circles, theyfound their way into lonely heartswho have been stranded in theirpursuit of pleasure and selfishdesires. Under the inspiration of thisgreat teacher there has been apowerful revival of socialcompassion. …He has helped to raisefrom the dust the fallen standard ofHinduism, not in words merely, but inworks also.57

SATIS CHANDRACHATTOPADHYAYA

Sri Ramakrishna lived a life ofmanifold spiritual realization. Heapproached Reality along numerouspaths and had very variedexperiences of it. …This is a sort ofexperimental verification of the truththat while Reality is one and isformless and nameless in one aspect,it may have many forms and faces inanother. On the strength of suchindubitable spiritual experiences andfirm convictions, Sri Ramakrishnataught many truths for the good ofmankind. He lived in an age in whichthe world was torn by conflicts ofcreeds and cultures, dogmas anddoctrines, theologies andphilosophies, and the relation

between any two religious sects orcommunities was embittered byintolerance, jealousy and contemptof each other. It was the mission ofhis life to end these conflicts andbring about a reconciliation.

…In Sri Ramakrishna’s teachingswe have a solution of the vexedproblem of God and the Absolute,which is more satisfying than any tobe found elsewhere. …SriRamakrishna not only preached theharmony of all religions, but his lifeitself was a harmony of all religions.He taught it and demonstrated it inhis life by following many differentreligions and realizing the same Godthrough each of them. …He taught

that all religions from crude image-worship to contemplation of the pure,formless Brahman are true and thatthey are all capable of leading theirfollowers to the highest end of thereligious life, namely, God.58

SAYED MUJTABA ALI

Like him [Sri Ramakrishna] nonehad ever spoke in such a simplelanguage. His words and the way oftalking have their closest similaritywith that of Christ. …He wasdetermined to attach greatest valueto the folk religion, customs, ritualsand language, and, hence, hadcontinually used peoples’ language

and the mode of talking with heart’scontent.

…If for reasons of spiritual, socialor political discord different sectsliving within the same society refuseto be cohesive among themselves, itresults in an irreparable loss to thatsociety as a whole, which may, even,lead to its enormous extinction. Howmany of the virtuous people in thosedays [We doubt] were aware of thistruth?

…Paramahamsa Deva decided todo away with such discords, so henever avoided the pointless andunpopular discussion centring theForm and the Formless. As a proof ofthat we frequently see that he was

not satisfied with the company of hisHindu disciples and followers alone,and has earnestly kept on asking –where is Vijay [VijaykrishnaGoswami], Sivanath [Sivanath Sastri]has assured me that he would come,Keshub [Keshub Chandra Sen] is verydear to me. But he hardly was willingto convert his Brahmo disciples toKali-worship. With his entire heart heonly yearned that the conflict shoulddisappear. It is my firm belief that forobviating the conflict, SriRamakrishna deserves the uniqueglory.

The sage who could harmonizeGita’s doctrine of Karma, Jñana andBhakti is, as it were, the man

absolute – the Supreme man. …Eversince these three ways wereintroduced in the Gita, no fourthmethod has yet been discovered. He,who could harmonize these threeways, becomes the companion ofKrsna – and his name is SriRamakrishna.59

SIVANATH SASTRI

The impression left in my mind byintercourse with him [RamakrishnaParamahansa] was that I had seldomcome across any other man in whomthe hunger and thirst for spiritual lifewas so great and who had gonethrough so many privations and

sufferings for the practice of religion.Secondly, I was convinced that hewas no longer a sadhaka or adevotee under exercise but was asiddha purusa or one who hadattained direct vision of spiritualtruth. The truth, of which he haddirect spiritual vision and which hadbecome a fountain of noble impulsesin his soul, was Divine Motherhood.…Yet this conception of Motherhoodstretched far beyond any idol orimage into a sense of the Infinite. …He would say, only fools makedistinction between Kali and Krsna,they are the manifestations of thesame Power.

Speaking of the spirituality and

catholicity of his conception, oneincident comes to my mind. AChristian preacher of Bhowanipore,who was my personal friend, onceaccompanied me on my visit toRamakrishna. When I introduced myfriend to him, I said—’To-day I bringa Christian preacher to you, whohaving heard of you from me, wasvery eager to see you’, whereuponthe saint bowed his head to theground and said, ‘I bow again andagain, at the feet of Jesus.’ Thentook place the following conversation:

My Christian friend—How is it, Sir,that you bow at the feet of Christ?What do you think of him?

Ramakrishna—Why, I look uponhim as an incarnation of God.

My friend—Incarnation of God! Willyou kindly explain what you mean byit?

Ramakrishna—An incarnation likeour Rama or Krsna. Don’t you knowthere is a passage in theBhagavatam where it is said that theincarnations of Visnu or the SupremeBeing are innumerable?

My friend—Please explain further ;I do not understand it quite.

Ramakrishna—Just take the caseof the ocean. It is a wide and almostinfinite expanse of water. But owingto special causes, in special parts of

this wide sea, the water becomescongealed into ice. When reduced toice it can be easily manipulated andapplied to special uses. Anincarnation is something like that.Like that infinite expanse of water,there is the Infinite Power, immanentin matter and mind, but for somespecial purposes, in special regions, aportion of that Infinite power, as itwere, assumes a tangible shape inhistory, that is what you call a greatman ; but he is properly speaking alocal manifestation of the all-pervading Divine power, in otherwords, an incarnation of God. Thegreatness of great men is essentiallythe manifestation of divine Energy. …

During the last few years of thesaint’s life, my visits became lessfrequent than they were before. …

At last when the news of his fastdeclining health was brought to meone day, I left all work and went toDakshineshwar. …

That was my last interview withhim, after which he was removedfrom Dakshineshwar, was placedunder the treatment of the mostdistinguished physicians of the town,and was devotedly nursed by hisdisciples ; but nothing could stay theprogress of his disease and hepassed away, leaving behind him amemory that is now spirituallyfeeding hundreds of earnest souls.

My acquaintance with him, thoughshort, was fruitful by strengtheningmany a spiritual thought in me. Hewas certainly one of the mostremarkable personalities I have comeacross in life.60

* * *

61

[After coming into contact withRamakrishna, this one idea used tocome to my mind that religion is one,only its forms are different. Every

word of Ramakrishna gave utteranceto this catholicity and universality ofreligion. I remember very clearly oneof his illustrations in this connection.(Sastri then narrates the sameincident as stated before)…

It was after mixing withRamakrishna I have especiallyrealized the spirit of universality ofreligion. …]

SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE

From Vivekananda I turnedgradually to his master, RamakrishnaParamahansa. Vivekananda hadmade speeches, written letters, andpublished books which were available

to the layman. But Ramakrishna, whowas almost an illiterate man, haddone nothing of the kind. He hadlived his life and had left it to othersto explain it. Nevertheless, therewere books or diaries published byhis disciples which gave the essenceof his teachings.…There was nothingnew in his teaching, which is as oldas Indian civilization itself, theUpanishads having taught thousandsof years ago that throughabandonment of worldly desiresalone can immortal life be attained.The effectiveness of Ramakrishna’sappeal lay, however, in the fact thathe had practised what he preachedand that…he had reached the acme

of spiritual progress.65

TARASANKARBANDYOPADHYAYA

Sri Ramakrishna’s teachingspropagate the purest and simplesttruths which transcend the bounds ofIndia and become all time relevantfor the whole world.

Never has He recorded any of histeachings, nor has he ever felt thenecessity of it. His teachings echothe spirit of Jesus’s gospel.

Sri Ramakrishna has presented usthe true character of religion andexplained it to all to get both the

Society and our minds rid of all vicesand impurities. Swami Vivekanandais His gift to the world. And we owe aworld of debt to Him for this. Ourlove for Him is boundless. It isspontaneous.66

THOMAS MERTON

You have to see your will andGod’s will dualistically for a longtime. You have to experience dualityfor a long time until you see it’s notthere. In this respect I am a Hindu.Ramakrishna has the solution. Don’tconsider dualistic prayer on a lowerlevel. …

There are no levels. Any momentyou can break through to theunderlying unity which is God’s gift inChrist. In the end, praises.Thanksgiving gives thanks. Jesusprays. Openness is all.64

WILL DURANT

[Ramakrishna] taught his followers[that] each [religion] is a way to Godor a stage on the way adapted to theheart of the seeker. To be convertedfrom one religion to another isfoolishness; one need only continueon his own way, and reach to theessence of his own faith. [He said,]‘All rivers flow to the ocean and let

others flow too.’ He toleratedsympathetically the polytheism of thepeople, and accepted humbly themonism of the philosophers, but inhis own living faith, God was a spiritincarnated in all men, and the onlytrue worship of God was the lovingservice of mankind.

Many fine souls, rich and poor,Brahmana and pariah, chose him asguru and formed an order andmission in his name.65

WILLIAM DIGBY

During the last century the finestfruit of British intellectual eminence

was, probably, to be found in RobertBrowning and John Ruskin. Yet theyare mere gropers in the darkcompared with the uncultured andilliterate Ramakrishna of Bengal, whoknowing naught of what we term‘learning’, spoke as not other man ofhis age spoke, and revealed God toweary mortals.66

References and Notes

1. Huxley and God, Essays (HarperSan Francisco, 1992), pp. 90-91.

2. The Eye of Shiva : EasternMysticism and Science (WilliamMorrow and Co., New York,

1981), p. 190. 3. God of All, by Claude Alan Stark,

Claude Stark, Inc.Massachusstts, 1974, pp. 203-05.

4. Swami Ghanananda, SriRamakrishna and His UniqueMessage (Ramakrishna VedantaCentre, London, 1970),Foreword, vii-ix.

5. ‘Sri Ramakrishna as I see Him’,Bhabsamahita Sri Ramakrishnacompiled by RamendranathMallick, Udbodhan Karyalaya,Kolkata, Second Edition, 2005,pp.374-77.

6. Sri Aurobindo and the New

Thought in Indian Politics byHaridas Mukherjee & UmaMukherjee, Revised SecondEdition, 1997, pp. 276-79.

7. Benoy Kumar Sarkar : PoliticalPhilosophies Since 1905, Vol.II,Part III, Lahore, 1942, pp. 232-35.

8. ibid., pp.237-39 9. ‘Naradevata’, Masik Basumati,

Phalgun, 1354, p. 505.10. ‘Janmotsav’, Udbodhan,

Jaishtha, 1352, pp.143-44.11. The Religions of the World,

Ramakrishna Mission Institute ofCulture, Kolkata, 1992, pp.107-114. Ref. : Vivekananda O

Samakalin Bharatavarsa ed. bySankari Prasad Basu, MandalBook House, Kolkata, Vol. 7,p.429.

12. Sri Ramakrishna Upanisad byRajagopalachari, RamakrishnaMath, Mylapore, p.2.

13. Ramakrishna and His Disciples(Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta,1980), pp.1-2.

14. God of All, pp.178-86.15. Hinduism Through the Ages by

D. S. Sarma, Bharatiya VidyaBhavan, 1955, pp.121-22. Ref.:Vivekananda O SamakalinBharatavarsa ed. by SankariPrasad Basu, Mandal Book

House, Kolkata, 1988, Vol.7, p.429.

16. Sri Ramakrishna and His DivinePlay by Swami Saradananda;translated by SwamiChetanananda (Vedanta Societyof St Louis, 2003), jacket.

17. ‘Sri Ramakrishna : DivineIncarnation of this Age’,Prabuddha Bharata, May, 1923,p.183.

18. ‘A Real Mahatman’, TheNineteenth Century,August,1896.

19. Ramakrishna : His Life andSayings (Advaita Ashrama,Mayavati, 1951), Preface, vii-ix.

20. Modern Mystics (New York,University Books, Inc., 1970), pp.72, 84.

21. ‘Harvard and Hinduism’,Prabuddha Bharata, January,1956, p. 57.

22. Prabuddha Bharata, May 1954,p.316.

23. ‘Mankind in a World of Stars’,Prabuddha Bharata, January,1956, p. 18.

24. ‘Sri Ramakrishna and OurModern Tortured World’,Prabuddha Bharata, November,1942, p. 512.

25. Vivekananda and IndianFreedom by Hiren Mukherjee,

Ramakrishna Mission Institute ofCulture, Kolkata, 2005, pp.7-9.

26. Prabuddha Bharata, May, 1947,pp. 199-200.

27. How to Live with God: In theCompany of Ramakrishna bySwami Chetanananda (VedantaSociety of St Louis, 2007),jacket.

28. Why Religion Matters (HarperSan Francisco, 2001), p. 270.

29. The World’s Religions ( HarperSan Francisco, 1991), pp. 22-23.

30. ibid., pp. 61-62.31. Prabuddha Bharata, February,

1936, pp. 136-37.

32. Sri Ramakrishna and SwamiVivekananda (Advaita Ashrama,Calcutta, 1960), pp. 2-4.

33. ‘Sri Ramakrishna’, PrabuddhaBharata, November, 1941, p.499.

34. Social Welfare, 21 September,1945. Ref. : Prabuddha Bharata,January, 1946, p. 45.

35. Complete collection of Works ofTolstoy, Vol. 54, p. 155.

36. D. P. Makovitzky, YasnayaPolyana notes, entry dated 27February, 1906. The manuscriptis preserved in Tolstoy’sArchives.

37. Alexander Shifman, Tolstoy and

India (Sahitya Akademi, NewDelhi, 1969), pp. 28-31.

38. God of All, pp. xv-xvii.39. Life of Sri Ramakrishna (Advaita

Ashrama, Calcutta, 1977),Foreword, xi.

40. Eastern Lights by MahendranathSircar (Arya Publishing House,Calcutta, 1935), pp. 223-27.

41. Bhabsamahita Sri Ramakrishna,p.339.

42. God of All, pp.190-99.43. Translated from a speech which,

Md. Sahidullah delivered on 17March, 1929 in Dacca on theoccasion of Sri Ramakrishna’sbirth anniversary. Ref. :

Vivekananda O SamakalinBharatavarsa, Vol. 7, pp.292-93.

44. Prabuddha Bharata, February,1936, pp. 121-24.

45. The Hidden Teaching BeyondYoga (E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc.,New York, 1941), p.192.

46. The Passion of Ramakrishna(Musical Work for Orchestra andChorus) by Philip Glass

47. ‘Two Great Social Changes ofOur Time’, Prabuddha Bharata,September, 1957, p. 377.

48. Translated from Udbodhan,Falgun 1342(BS), Ref.:Vivekananda O SamakalinBharatavarsa, Vol.7, pp. 413-14.

49. The Religions of the World, p.615.

50. The Theistic Quarterly Review,October-December, 1879, pp.32-34.

50a. ‘ParamahamsaRamakrishnadev’, Udbodhan,Phalgun 1342, p.57.

50b. ‘To the Paramahansa—Ramakrishna Deva’, PrabuddhaBharata, February 1936, p.53.

51. Prabuddha Bharata, May 1954,p.316.

52. History of the FreedomMovement in India (Firma K. L.Mukhopadhyay, Calcutta, 1962),Vol. I, p. 299.

53. Sri Ramakrishna: A Prophet forthe New Age (New York,Paragon House, 1989), pp. 55,165, 181, 213.

54. The Life of Ramakrishna(Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta,1979), pp.11-14.

55. The Religions of the World,pp.526-30.

56. ibid., p.149.57. The Cultural Heritage of India

(Ramakrishna Mission Instituteof Culture, 1970), Vol. I,Introduction, p. xxxvi.

58. Classical Indian Philosophies:Their Synthesis in the Philosophyof Sri Ramakrishna by Satis

Chandra Chatterjee (Universityof Calcutta, 1963), pp. 104, 107and 141-42.

59. Translated from UdbodhanCentenary Collection ed. bySwami Purnatmananda(Udbodhan Karyalaya, Kolkata,June, 1999), pp. 857-61.

60. Men I Have Seen (SadharanBrahmo Samaj, Calcutta, 1966),pp. 66-77.

61. Atmacarit, Pravasi Karyalaya,Calcutta, 1328 (BS), pp. 216-17.

62. An Indian Pilgrim (AsiaPublishing House, Bombay, etc.,1965), p. 34.

63. Bhabsamahita Sri Ramakrishna,

p.344.64. David Stenindl-Rast, ‘Man of

Prayer’, Thomas Merton/Monked. by Brother Patrick Hart(London : Sheed and Ward,1974), pp. 88-89.

65. The Story of Civilization : OurOriental Heritage (Simon &Schurster : New York, 1954),Vol.1, p.617.

66. Prosperous British India, 1901,p. 99.

Great Thinkerson

Swami Vivekananda

IISWAMI VIVEKANANDA

A. D. PUSALKER

Universally acclaimed as a pioneerin the field of national liberation inIndia, Swami Vivekananda wascomplex personality being a lover ofhumanity, a world teacher of religion,a great patriot, and a leader of theIndian people. Truly has he beenregarded as a patriot-saint of modernIndia and an inspirer of her dormantconsciousness, who instilled afreshness and vigour into it. Hepresented the rare combination of

being patriot and a saint, in whompatriotism was deified into thehighest saintship and loving serviceto fellow men into true worship.1

A. L. BASHAM

Even now a hundred years afterthe birth of Narendranath Datta, wholater became Swami Vivekananda, itis very difficult to evaluate hisimportance in the scale of worldhistory. It is certainly far greater thanany Western historian or most Indianhistorians would have suggested atthe time of his death. The passing ofthe years and the many stupendousand unexpected events which have

occurred since then suggests that incenturies to come he will beremembered as one of the mainmoulders of the modern world,especially as far as Asia is concerned,and as one of the most significantfigures in the whole history of Indianreligion, comparable in importance tosuch great teachers as Sankara andRamanuja, and definitely moreimportant than the saints of local orregional significance such as Kabir,Caitanya, and the many Nayanmarsand Alvars of South India.

* * *

I believe also that Vivekananda

will always be remembered in theworld’s history because he virtuallyinitiated what the late Dr C. E. M.Joad once called ‘the counter-attackfrom the East’. Since the days of theIndian missionaries who travelled inSouth-East Asia and China preachingBuddhism and Hinduism more than athousand years earlier, he was thefirst Indian religious teacher to makean impression outside India.2

ANNIE BESANT

A striking figure, clad in yellow andorange, shining like the sun of Indiain the midst of the heavy atmosphereof Chicago, a lion head, piercing

eyes, mobile lips, movements swiftand abrupt — such was my firstimpression of Swami Vivekananda, asI met him in one of the rooms setapart for the use of the delegates tothe Parliament of Religions. Off theplatform, his figure was instinct withpride of country, pride of race — therepresentative of the oldest of livingreligions, surrounded by curiousgazers of nearly the youngestreligion. India was not to be shamedbefore the hurrying arrogant West bythis her envoy and her son. Hebrought her message, he spoke inher name, and the heraldremembered the dignity of the royalland whence he came. Purposeful,

virile, strong, he stood out, a manamong men, able to hold his own.

On the platform another side cameout. The dignity and the inborn senseof worth and power still were there,but all was subdued to the exquisitebeauty of the spiritual messagewhich he had brought, to thesublimity of that matchless truth ofthe East which is the heart and thelife of India, the wondrous teachingof the Self. Enraptured, the hugemultitude hung upon his words; not asyllable must be lost, not a cadencemissed! ‘That man, a heathen!’ saidone, as he came out of the greathall, ‘and we send missionaries to hispeople! It would be more fitting that

they should send missionaries to us!’3

A. RAMASWAMI MUDALIAR

I have come under no greaterinfluence than the influence of thelife and teachings of SwamiVivekananda.…I have spoken of thatlife and have testified to the greatinfluence that that life has had on thegeneration which immediatelysucceeded the premature departureof the Swamiji from this world.

After I began to study in thecollege, there were friends andelders of mine who used to tell usstories of the days in 1893 when

Narendra Datta (SwamiVivekananda)—as he then was —often sat on the pials of the housesof Triplicane and began to discusswith learned pandits in Sanskrit —and some of them in Madras werevery learned indeed — the greattruths of our religious teaching. Theexposition, the dialectic skill heshowed, and the masterly way inwhich he analysed what even tothose well-educated and learnedpandits were unfathomable depths ofSanskrit literature and law, greatlyattracted attention from all andsundry.

Swami Vivekananda was a fighterhimself. He was one who knew not

any kind of physical cowardice ormoral cowardice.

…He is a citizen of the world. Hiscontribution will stay on forever. Hisimmortal soul pervades the wholeuniverse.4

BAL GANGADHAR TILAK

It is doubtful if there is any Hinduwho does not know the name of SriVivekananda Swami. There has beenextraordinary advancement ofmaterial science in the nineteenthcentury. Under the circumstances, topresent the spiritual scienceprevailing in India for thousands of

years by wonderful exposition andthen to kindle admiration and respectamong the Western scholars, and, atthe same time, to create asympathetic attitude for India, themother of spiritual science, can onlybe an achievement of superhumanpower. With English education, theflood of material science spread sofast that it required extraordinarycourage and extraordinary genius tostand against that phenomenon andchange its direction. Before SwamiVivekananda the Theosophicalsociety began this work. But it is anundisputed fact that it was SwamiVivekananda who first held aloft thebanner of Hinduism as a challenge

against the material science of theWest.…It was Swami Vivekanandawho took on his shoulders thisstupendous task of establishing theglory of Hinduism in differentcountries across the borders. And he,with his erudition, oratorical power,enthusiasm and inner force, laid thatwork upon a solid foundation.…Twelve centuries ago Sankaracaryawas the only great personality, whonot only spoke of the purity of ourreligion, not only uttered in wordsthat this religion was our strengthand wealth, not only said that it wasour sacred duty to preach thisreligion in the length and breadth ofthe world—but also brought all this

into action. Swami Vivekananda is aperson of that stature—whoappeared towards the last half of thenineteenth century.5

BENOY KUMAR SARKAR

If we look upon Ramakrishna asthe Buddha of our time, Vivekanandamay pass for one or other of thegreat apostles of yore, say, thescholar Rahula, the constitutionalauthority Upali, the devotedlieutenant Ananda, the sageSariputta, or that master ofdiscourses, Mahakachchayana. Onecan almost say that Vivekananda wasall these great Buddhist preacher-

organizers boiled down into onepersonality.

…He was much more than a mereexponent of Vedanta, orRamakrishna, or Hinduism, or IndianCulture. …In all his thoughts andactivities he was expressing onlyhimself. He always preached his ownexperiences. It is the truthsdiscovered by him in his own life thathe propagated through his literatureand institutions. As a modernphilosopher he can be properlyevaluated solely if one places him bythe side of Dewey, Russell, Croce,Spranger, and Bergson. It would bedoing Vivekananda injustice andmisinterpreting him hopelessly if he

were placed in the perspective ofscholars whose chief or sole meritconsists in editing, translating,paraphrasing or popularizing theteachings of Plato, Asvaghosa,Plotinus, Nagarjuna, Aquinas,Sankaracarya and others.6

* * *

With five words he conquered theworld when he addressed men andwomen as ‘Ye divinities on earth,—Sinners?’ The first four wordsthundered into being the gospel ofjoy, hope, virility, energy andfreedom for the races of men, andyet with the last word, embodying as

it did a sarcastic question, hedemolished the whole structure ofsoul-degenerating, cowardice-promoting, negative, pessimisticthoughts. On the astonished worldthe little five-word formula fell like abombshell. The first four words hebrought from the East, and the lastword he brought from the West. Allthese are oft-repeated expressions,copy-book phrases both in the Eastand the West. And yet never in theannals of human thought was thejuxtaposition accomplished beforeVivekananda did it in this dynamicmanner and obtained instantaneousrecognition as a world’s champion.

Vivekananda’s gospel here is that

of energism, of mastery over theworld, of elan vital subduingconditions that surround life, ofcreative intelligence and will, ofcourage trampling down cowardice,of world-conquest. And those whoare acquainted with the trends ofworld-thought since the middle of thenineteenth century are aware that itwas just along these lines that theWest was groping in the dark to finda solution. A most formidableexponent of these wants andshortcomings was the German manof letters and critic, Nietzsche (onwhom the influence of Manu waspowerful), whose…works hadawakened mankind to the need of a

more positive, humane and joyouslife’s philosophy than that of the NewTestament. This joy of life for whichthe religious, philosophical and socialthought was anxiously waiting camesuddenly from an unexpectedquarter, from this unknown youngman of India. And Vivekananda wasacclaimed as a tremendous creativepower, as the pioneer of a revolution,—the positive and constructivecounterpart to the destructivecriticism of Nietzsche….

The key to Vivekananda’s entirelife…is to be found in this Sakti-yoga,energism, the vigour and strength offreedom. All his thoughts andactivities are expressions of his

energism. Like our PauranikVisvamitra or the AeschyleanPrometheus he wanted to create newworlds and distribute the fire offreedom, happiness, divinity andimmortality among men andwomen.7

* * *

His [Vivekananda] politics andeconomics are all to be found in hissocial philosophy. And in this domainwe encounter Vivekananda as themessenger of modern materialism. Itis possible to establish here anequation between Vivekananda andImmanuel Kant. …What Kant did for

Euro-America towards the end of theeighteenth century was accomplishedfor India towards the end of thenineteenth century by Vivekananda.Kant is the father of modernmaterialism for the West.Vivekananda is the father of modernmaterialism for India. …It is to themthat the world is indebted for thecharters of dignity for Nature, matter,material science and materialwelfare. …India like Europe was inneed of a man who could say with allhonesty he could command thatPrakrti was no less sacred thanPurusa and that the pursuit ofmaterial sciences and materialprosperity was as godly as that of the

sciences and activities bearing on thesoul.8

* * *

The combined intelligence of theentire world assembled at Chicagolistened to this uninvited and perhapsunwelcome intruder [SwamiVivekananda] from the banks of theSouthern Ganges and was convincedthat a new power had arisen in theinternational sphere and that thisnew power was Young India.…Vivekananda was acclaimed as theworld-conqueror for Young India.

…From 1757 down to 1893 formore than a hundred years – for

nearly 140 years, the world hadknown almost nothing about IndianIndia, nothing of the creative Hindusand Mussulmans, nothing of Indianculture, nothing of India’sconstructive energism. In 1893Vivekananda threw the firstbombshell that announced tomankind in the two hemispheres, tothe men and the women of America,of England, France, Germany, Russia,Italy, nay, to the yellows of Japanand China that India was once moreto be a power among the powers ofthe world. Mankind came to realize1893 as the year No.1 of a vastempire and to recognize the founderof that empire as Vivekananda.9

BEPIN CHANDRA PAL

I

Vivekananda, however, does notstand alone. He is indissolubly boundup with his Master, ParamahansaRamakrishna. The two stand almostorganically bound up, so far as themodern man, not only in India but inthe larger world of our day, isconcerned. The modern man can onlyunderstand Paramahansa in andthrough Vivekananda, even asVivekananda can be understood onlyin the light of the life of his Master.The Master was a great spiritual

force. He was therefore inevitably amystery to a generation possessedby the un-understood slogans ofwhat is called rationalism, whichreally means lack of that imaginationwhich is the soul of all spiritual life.Imagination is not fancy. It is reallythe power to cognize, if not tovisualize, that which stands abovenot only the sensuous but also theintellectual plane. The generation towhich Ramakrishna belonged, lackedthis imagination. He was, therefore,a mystery to it. It was given toVivekananda to interpret and presentthe soul of ParamahansaRamakrishna and the message of hislife to this generation in such terms

as would be comprehended by them.Ramakrishna Paramahansa

belonged to no sect or denominationor to put it in another way, hebelonged to all sects anddenominations both Indian and non-Indian. He was a true Universalist,but his Universalism was not theUniversalism of Abstraction. He didnot subtract the particularities ofdifferent religions to realize hisuniversal religion. With him theUniversal and the particular alwayswent together like the sun andshadow. He realized therefore theReality of the Universal in andthrough the infinite particularities oflife and thought. Vivekananda

clothed this realization of his Masterin the language of modernHumanism.

Ramakrishna Paramahansa’s Godwas not the God of logic orphilosophy, but the God of direct,personal, inner experience.Ramakrishna believed in his God noton the authority of ancient scripturesor traditions, nor on the authority ofany guru, but on the testimony of hisown direct, personal experiences. Hewas a Vedantist ; because, his directallegiance and early training was inthe cult of Sakti. The Sakti cult inBengal has been built uponVedantism. But the Vedantism ofRamakrishna Paramahansa could

hardly be labelled as Sankara-Vedantism, nor could it be labelledeither as any of the different schoolsof Vaisnava-Vedanta. These labelsare for those who borrow theirtheology from speculations of greatthinkers. But RamakrishnaParamahansa did not belong to thisclass. He was not a philosopher; hewas not a Pundit, whether modern orancient ; he was not a logician ; hewas a simple seer. He believed inwhat he saw.

The seer is always a mystic. Sowas Paramahansa Ramakrishna: sowas Jesus; so were all the greatspiritual leaders of men. The crowdcannot understand them; least of all

are they understood by the learnedand the philosophers of their age.Yet they reveal that which allphilosophies grope after.Paramahansa Ramakrishna, likeJesus Christ, needed an interpreter toexplain him and deliver his messageto his age. Jesus found such aninterpreter in St. Paul; Ramakrishnafound him in Vivekananda.Vivekananda therefore must beunderstood in the light of therealizations of ParamahansaRamakrishna.

II

The story of Vivekananda’s

conversion has not as yet been told. Ido not know if anybody knows howthis miracle happened. Vivekanandahad been a rationalist and a deist,though he fancied that he was atheist. His early religious associationswere with the Brahmo Samaj. Theywere not very congenial to thedevelopment of faith in saints andseers. Ramakrishna Paramahansaattracted however many members ofthe Brahmo Samaj by his greatpsychic powers and more particularlyby his passionate love of God. Butthey never were able to open thesecret springs of the life andrealizations of the Paramahansa.They saw him through the prism of

the intellect. The Paramahansa neverreally opened to most of them thesecret chambers of his piety.Vivekananda was favoured by theParamahansa in this matter.

Paramahansa Ramakrishna sawinto the innermost composition ofVivekananda’s nature and spirit andrecognized in him a fit instrument fordelivering the message of his ownlife. This is the real story ofVivekananda’s conversion. It is thestory of the conversion also of Soul,though it was set in a differentpsychological setting. Vivekanandafelt drawn to his Master by what hehardly knew. It was the operation ofwhat is now called soul-force. When

one soul touches another on thisdeep spiritual plane, the two areunited for ever by unbreakablespiritual bonds. The two henceforthbecome practically one; the Masterworking in and through the disciple,the disciple not even knowing that heis dancing to the tune of the Master.People call it inspiration.Vivekananda worked after hisconversion under the inspiration ofhis Master.

III

The message of Vivekananda,though delivered in the term of thepopular Vedantic speculation, was

really the message of his Master tothe modern man. Vivekananda’smessage was really the message ofmodern humanity. His appeal to hisown people was, ‘Be men.’ The manof religion in India had been amediaeval man. His religion wasgenerally a religion of the otherworld. It was a religion that enjoinedrenunciation of the world and all theobligations of the physical and thesocial life. But this was not the realmessage of ParamahansaRamakrishna. He was as much aVedantin as a Vaisnava. His ideal ofpiety was a synthesis between thesetwo rival schools of Hindu religion.His cult of the Mother was really the

cult of Bhakti, or love of God, realizedin the terms of the humanmotherhood. As with the BengalVaisnavas, so with the Paramahansa,the Ultimate Reality was not anabstraction. It was not carnal, buttherefore it was not without form.And the real form of the UltimateReality is the Human Form—not thesensuous form of man which we seewith our eyes, but the spiritual formwhich stands behind it, invisible tomortal eye. Man and God aregenerically one.

To help man to realize hisessential divinity is the object of allreligious culture. This is whatVivekananda really meant when he

appealed to his people to be men. Inthe ritual of divine worship of theBrahmin, is used the following textwhich says : ‘I am Divine. I am noneother. I am not subject to grief andbereavement. I am of the form of theTrue, the Self-conscious and theEternally Present. I am by natureeternally free.’ This was the messagereally of his Master as delivered tothe modern world by Vivekananda.

It is the message of freedom, notin a negative sense, but in itspositive and most comprehensiveimplications. Freedom meansremoval of all outside restraint. Butconstituted as we are, we cannot cutourselves off from all outside

relations, whether with our naturalenvironments or our socialenvironments. Such isolation spellsdeath both physically and spiritually.The law of life is therefore notisolation, but association, not non-cooperation but co-operation. Andreal freedom is achieved not throughwar, but through peace only. War orrenunciation or isolation has a placeno doubt in the scheme of life, butonly a temporary place as a meansto the attainment of the ultimate endwhich is not perpetuation of theinevitable conflict of evolution, butthe settlement and cancellation ofthese conflicts in a closer andpermanent union. Freedom again is

one. Freedom from the domination ofour passions and appetites is the firststep in the realization of the ideal.Freedom from the fear of brother-man is the next step. Freedom fromthe domination of any externalauthority must follow next. In thisway from personal freedom, throughsocial freedom including politicalfreedom, man must attain his realfreedom. And when he attains it, herealizes finally that he and his Godare one. This is the message of theVedanta as interpreted byVivekananda. This is really themessage of his Master to the modernworld.10

Some people in India think that

very little fruit has come of thelectures that Swami Vivekanandadelivered in England, and that hisfriends and admirers exaggerate hiswork. But on coming here I see thathe has exerted a marked influenceeverywhere. In many parts ofEngland I have met with men whodeeply regard and venerateVivekananda. Though I do not belongto his sect, and though it is true thatI have differences of opinion withhim, I must say that Vivekanandahas opened the eyes of a great manyhere and broadened their hearts.Owing to his teaching, most peoplehere now believe firmly thatwonderful spiritual truths lie hidden

in the ancient Hindu scriptures. Notonly has he brought about thisfeeling, but he succeeded inestablishing a golden relationbetween England and India. Fromwhat I quoted on ‘Vivekanandism’from The Dead Pulpit by Mr Haweis,you have already understood thatowing to the spread of Vivekananda’sdoctrines, many hundreds of peoplehave seceded from Christianity. Andhow deep and extensive his work hasbeen in this country will readilyappear from the following incident.

Yesterday evening I was going tovisit a friend in the Southern part ofLondon. I lost my way and waslooking from the corner of a street

thinking in which direction I shouldgo, when a lady accompanied by aboy came to me, with the intention,it seemed, of showing me the way.…She said to me, ‘Sir, perhaps you arelooking to find your way. May I helpyou?’…She showed me my way andsaid, ‘From certain papers I learnedthat you are coming to London. Atthe very first sight of you I wastelling my son, Look there is “SwamiVivekananda.” ‘ As I had to catch thetrain in a hurry, I had no time to tellher that I was not Vivekananda, andcompelled to go off speedily.However, I was really surprised tosee that the lady possessed suchgreat veneration for Vivekananda

even before she knew himpersonally. I felt highly gratified atthe agreeable incident, and thankedmy gerua turban which had given meso much honour. Besides theincident, I have seen here manyeducated English gentlemen, whohave come to revere India and wholistened eagerly to any religious orspiritual truths, if they belong toIndia.11

BRAHMABANDHABUPADHYAYA

12

(For a few days I had been on a

trip to Bolpur. On my return as Istepped down at the Howrah Station,someone said, ‘Swami Vivekanandapassed away yesterday.’ At once anacute pain, sharp like a razor—notthe least exaggerated—thrust intomy heart. When the intensity of thepain subsided, I wondered, ‘How willVivekananda’s work go on ? He has,of course, well-trained and educatedbrother-disciples. Why, they will dohis work!’ Yet an inspiration flickeredin me: ‘You give your best withwhatever you possess by trying totranslate into action Vivekananda’sdream of conquest of the West.’ Thatvery moment I vowed I would sail toEngland. So long I never even

dreamt of visiting England. But onthat day at the Howrah Station Idecided I must go to England andestablish Vedanta there. Then Iunderstood who Vivekananda was.He whose inspiration can drive ahumble person like me across theseas, is not, really, an ordinary man.Shortly afterwards I left Calcutta andsailed for England with a sum of onlytwenty-seven rupees in my pocket.Finally, I reached England anddelivered lectures at the Oxford andCambridge Universities on Vedanta.Celebrated [British] scholars listenedto my expositions and expressedtheir desire to learn the science ofVedanta by appointing Hindu

scholars. I did not publish the lettersof appreciation which those scholarswrote to me. How profound was theinfluence of Vedanta in England couldbe understood if I had publishedthose letters. I am just an ordinaryman. It was all like a dream thatsuch a great work was accomplishedby me. All these were miraclesbrought about by the inspiration andpower of Vivekananda behind me—this is what I believe. That is whysometimes I think, who isVivekananda ? The greatness ofVivekananda surpasses my power ofassessment as I think of thestupendous programme of work hehad boldly initiated.

On another occasion, I cameacross Vivekananda by the side ofHedua Park in Calcutta. I said to him,‘Brother, why are you keeping silent?Come, raise a stir of Vedanta inCalcutta. I will make allarrangements. You just come andappear before the public.’Vivekananda’s voice grew heavy withpathos. He said, ‘Brother Bhavani, Iwill not live long (it was just sixmonths before his death). I am busynow with the construction of myMath, and making arrangements forits proper upkeep. I have no leisurenow.’ At the pathetic earnestness ofhis words I understood that day thathis heart was tormented with a

passion and pain. Passion for whom?Pain for whom? Passion for thecountry, pain for the country. Theknowledge and culture of the Aryanswere being destroyed and crushed.What was gross and un-Aryan wasdeflating what was finer and Aryan.And yet there is no response, no painin your heart? —this [callousindifference of his countrymen]evoked a painful response inVivekananda’s heart. The responsewas so deep that it struck at the rootof the conscience of America andEurope. I think of that pain andpassion in Vivekananda, and ask,who is Vivekananda? Is it everpossible that passion for the

motherland becomes embodied? If itis, then only one can understandVivekananda.)

13

(Swamiji ! a friend of your youth—how much of merrymaking I havemade with you ! With you I went onpicnics and spent hours in talks andconversations. But then I never knewthat there was a lion’s strength inyour soul, a volcanic pain andpassion for India in your heart. Today

with all my humble strength I havecome to follow your way.…In themidst of this fierce struggle,whenever I get torn and tossed,whenever despondency comes andoverwhelms my heart, I look up tothe great ideal you set forth, Irecollect your leonine strength,meditate on the profound depths ofyour agony—then all at once myweariness withers away. A divinelight and a divine strength come fromsomewhere and fulfil my mind andheart.)

BROJENDRA NATH SEAL

When I first met Vivekananda in

1881, we were fellow-students ofPrincipal William Hastie, scholar,metaphysician, and poet, at theGeneral Assembly’s College.…I sawand recognized in him a high, ardentand pure nature, vibrant andresonant with impassionedsensibilities. He was certainly no souror cross-grained puritan, no normalhypochondric; in the recesses of hissoul he wrestled with the fierce andfell spirit of Desire, the subtle andillusive spirit of Fancy.

…He tried diverse teachers, creedsand cults, and it was this quest thatbrought him, though at first in adoubting spirit, to the Paramahamsaof Dakshineshwar, who spoke to him

with an authority that none hadspoken before. …But his rebelliousintellect scarcely yet owned theMaster. …It was only gradually thatthe doubts of that keen intellect werevanquished by the calm in thesubsequent life-history ofVivekananda who, after he had foundthe firm assurance he sought in thesaving Grace and Power of hisMaster, went about preaching andteaching the creed of the UniversalMan, and the absolute andinalienable sovereignty of the Self.14

C. F. ANDREWS

I would refer in the first place to

that greater word Advaitam. Thew o r d Advaitam really means, theoccasions of all spiritual life, to see(as the Upanishads tells us). TheUniversal self in all things and allthings in the Universal self. I feel thatthe greatest of all debts the youthsof modern India owe to SwamiVivekananda is the renewal inpractical life of this faith in theAdvaitam.15

C. P. RAMASWAMI AIYAR

Swami Vivekananda…was ademocratic saint. He revived for usthe idea of nationhood. He was thefirst of those, who made it possible

to think of India as a wholeirrespective of the existingdifferences of class, creed, colour andcustom. He pleaded for the drivingaway of everything that wouldprevent the union of India. He knewthat unless India was one spirituallyand intellectually, India could notstep into the outer world. Adistracted, quarrelsome, feebleminded India would not be of anyassistance in the world and thereforehe said, Unite…our ship of religionand of State is now laden full ofmany cargos, precious, some by nomeans precious, some whollynugatory. We must throw aside suchcargo. The storm is there. The great

winds are blowing and unless theuseless cargo is thrown aside, theship will sink. The Swami asked us tosink the unnecessary cargo. Andunless we got that lesson India willperish as the several other nationshave perished. …His gospel was thegospel of courage, of hope andadmiration, of eschewal andassimilation.16

CHAKRAVARTIRAJAGOPALACHARI

Swami Vivekananda savedHinduism and saved India. But forhim we would have lost our religion

and would not have gained ourfreedom. We therefore oweeverything to Swami Vivekananda.May his faith, his courage and hiswisdom ever inspire us so that wemay keep safe the treasure we havereceived from him !17

CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD

Vivekananda was, as I said,profoundly moved by the realizationof India’s poverty and the state ofher oppression under the Britishcolonial rule. And he proposed arevolution. The spirit of thisrevolution enormously influencedGandhi and influences Indian political

thought to this day. Vivekananda inthis sense is a great figure in Indianhistory, one of the very greatesthistorical figures that India has everproduced. But it must always benoted that Vivekananda’s revolution,Vivekananda’s

nationalism, were not like the kind ofrevolution, the kind of nationalism,which we associate with other greatleaders, admirable and noble as theymay be. Vivekananda was far greater

than that. In fact, when one sees thefull range of his mind, one isastounded. Vivekananda lookedtoward the West, not simply as amass of tyrants exploiting variousparts of Asia, and other undevelopedareas, but as future partners, peoplewho had very, very much to offer. Atthe same time, without any falsehumility, he faced the West and said,‘we have fully as much and more tooffer you. We offer you this greattradition of spirituality, which canproduce, even now, today, asupremely great figure such asRamakrishna. You can offer usmedical services, trains that run ontime, hygiene, irrigation, electric

light. These are very important, wewant them, and we admire some ofyour qualities immensely.’

One of the most enchanting thingsabout Vivekananda is the way hewas eternally changing sides whenhe was speaking to different people ;he could denounce the British inwords of fire, but again he would turnon the Indians and say, ‘You cannotmanufacture one pin, and you dareto criticize the British !’ And then hewould speak of the awful materialismof the United States, and on theother hand, he would say that nowomen in the world were greater,and that the treatment of women inIndia was absolutely disgraceful. And

so in every way, he was integrating,he was seeing the forces for good,the constructive forces, in thedifferent countries, and saying, ‘whydon’t we exchange ?’ SoVivekananda’s revolution was arevolution for everybody, a revolutionwhich would in the long run be of justas much use to the British as toIndia. Vivekananda’s nationalism, thecall to India to recognize herself—thisagain was not nationalism in thesmaller sense, it was a kind of super-nationalism, a kind ofinternationalism sublimated. You allknow the story that Vivekananda wasso fond of, about the lion that wasbrought up with a lot of sheep. Now

another lion comes out of the forestand the sheep all run away, and thelittle lion that had been brought upthinks it’s a sheep and runs awaytoo, and now the pursuing lion grabsit, takes it over to a pool of waterand says, ‘Look at yourself, you’re alion.’ This is what Vivekananda wasdoing to the Indian people. Heremarks in one of his letters, that themarvellous thing about all of theWestern nations is that they knowthat they are nations. He saidjealousy is a curse of India. Indianscannot learn to co-operate with eachother. Why can’t they learn from theco-operation of Western nations witheach other? I’m quoting all this

because by considering all thesedifferent attitudes that Vivekanandatook, one sees the immense scopeand integrity of his good will. He wasreally on everybody’s side, on theside of the West, and on the side ofIndia, and he saw far, far into thefuture ; his political prophecies areextremely interesting, and he saidrepeatedly, that the great force,which would finally have to bereckoned with, was China. He alsoremarked on visiting Europe for thelast time in 1900 that he smelled wareverywhere, which was more thanmost professional statesmen did, atthat time.18

* * *

[When I heard message ofVedanta as Vivekananda preachesit], I heard it with an almostincredulous joy. Here, at last, was aman who believed in God and yetdared to condemn the indecentgrovelings of the sin-obsessedPuritans I had so much despised inmy youth. I loved him at once, for hisbracing self-reliance, his humour, andhis courage. He appealed to me asthe perfect anti-Puritan hero: theenemy of Sunday religion, thedestroyer of Sunday gloom, theshocker of prudes, the breaker oftraditions, the outrager of

conventions, the comedian whotaught the deepest truths in idioticjokes and frightful puns. That humourhad its place in religion, that it couldactually be a mode of spiritual self-expression, was a revelation to me;for, like every small boy of Puritanupbringing, I had always longed tolaugh out load and make impropernoises in church. I didn’t know, then,that humour has also had itsexponents in the Christian tradition. Iknew nothing, for example, about,St. Philip Neri.19

D. S. SARMA

He [Vivekananda] raised India in

the eyes of the world, gave Hinduisma new turn and put a new spirit inthe hearts of his countrymen. …Hewas destined to be a pioneer. Hebroke new ground and led his peopleacross and sighted the PromisedLand. …

…Three religious movements thatimmediately preceded theRamakrishna Movement were ratherpoor and inadequate representationsof the great historic religion of theHindus. The religion of the BrahmoSamaj was mere eclecticism, moreChristian than Hindu in character.The religion of the Arya Samaj wasmere Vedism, which ignored all thelater developments in Hinduism. The

religion of the Theosophical Society,with its Tibetan Masters its occultphenomena and its esotericteachings, was looked upon by mostHindus as a kind of spuriousHinduism. On the other hand, thefourth religious movement, of whichSwami Vivekananda was the greatapostle, was doubtless not only afull, but also authentic manifestationof Hinduism.20

E. P. CHELISHEV

Reading and re-reading the worksof Vivekananda each time I find inthem something new that helpsdeeper to understand India, its

philosophy, the way of the life andcustoms of the people in the pastand the present, their dreams of thefuture.…I think that Vivekananda’sgreatest service is the developmentin his teaching of the lofty ideals ofhumanism which incorporate thefinest features of Indian culture. …

In my studies of contemporaryIndian literature I have more thanonce had the opportunity to see whatgreat influence the humanistic idealsof Vivekananda have exercised onthe works of many writers.…In myopinion, Vivekananda’s humanismhas nothing in common with theChristian ideology which dooms manto passivity and to begging God for

favours. He tried to place religiousideology at the service of thecountry’s national interests, theemancipation of his enslavedcompatriots. Vivekananda wrote thatthe colonialists were building onechurch after another in India, whilethe Eastern countries needed breadand not religion. He would soonersee all men turn into confirmedatheists than into superstitioussimpletons. To elevate manVivekananda identifies him with God.…

Though we do not agree with theidealistic basis of Vivekananda’shumanism, we recognize that itpossesses many features of active

humanism manifested above all in afervent desire to elevate man, toinstil in him a sense of his owndignity, sense of responsibility for hisown destiny and the destiny of allpeople, to make him strive for theideals of good, truth and justice, tofoster in man abhorrence for anysuffering. The humanistic ideal ofVivekananda is to a certain degreeidentical with Gorky’s Man with acapital letter.

Such a humanistic interpretation ofthe essence of man largelydetermines the democratic nature ofVivekananda’s world outlook. …

Many years will pass, manygenerations will come and go,

Vivekananda and his time willbecome the distant past, but neverwill there fade the memory of theman who all his life dreamed of abetter future for his people, who didso much to awaken his compatriotsand move India forward, to defendhis much-suffering people frominjustice and brutality. Like a rockycliff protecting a coastal valley fromstorm and bad weather, from theblows of ill winds and waves,Vivekananda fought courageouslyand selflessly against the enemies ofhis motherland.

Together with the Indian people,Soviet people who already knowsome of the works of Vivekananda

published in the USSR, highly reverethe memory of the great Indianpatriot, humanist and democrat,impassioned fighter for a betterfuture for his people and allmankind.21

Chelishev further writes :

The name of Swami Vivekanandais very popular in Soviet Russia andhe is held in high esteem by ourcountrymen. Soviet people respecthim as a great democrat, humanistand patriot who contributedimmensely in the development ofnational consciousness and anti-colonial liberation movement in

India. They also consider that hismessage and the message of SriRamakrishna, which are really one,are absolutely necessary for thesurvival of the human civilizationwhich is now in great danger due tothe menace of the devastatingnuclear war. We believe that it istheir message which can bring peace,harmony and understanding to thetormented world of today. They arenot simply religious leaders, they aremuch more than that. They areprophets of peace, harmony andbrotherhood. Their message wasrelevant in the past in India and inthe world at large, but it is still morerelevant in the present Indian

context and in the context of thecontemporary world. That is why alot of Soviet research scholars andthinkers have dedicated to the studyof Sri Ramakrishna and particularlySwami Vivekananda. I am proud thatI happened to be one of the pioneersof this study in our country andcontributed an article on SwamiVivekananda to the SwamiVivekananda Centenary MemorialVolume twenty years ago, publishedfrom Calcutta.

I consider it a great honour for meto be associated with anyprogramme connected with SriRamakrishna and SwamiVivekananda. I and my colleagues

will continue to devote to theRamakrishna-Vivekananda studieswith close co-operation of thescholars of India and other countriesI will do my best to contribute to thedevelopment of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda studies in theprogressive direction. I consider thisas a service to the humanity atlarge.22

ELLA WHEELER WILCOX

…We reached the hall just asVivekananda was going on the stagein his robe and turban. We sat in thevery last seat of the hall, claspingeach other’s hands as the impressive

orator gave a never-to-be -forgottentalk on things spiritual. When wewent out my husband said: ‘I feelthat man knows more of God thanwe do. We must both hear himagain.’

My husband attended with me notonly a number of evening lectures,but on several occasions came fromhis business office during the day tolisten to the Swami. I remember himsaying, as we went out on the streetone day: ‘This man makes me riseabove every business worry; hemakes me feel how trival is thewhole material view of life and howlimitless is the life beyond. I can goback to my troubles at the office now

with new strength.’23

FEDERICO MAYOR

There are many aspects of SwamiVivekananda’s thought, his ideals andhis social message which makeUNESCO a very good setting for…celebration in France of thecentenary of his participation in theWorld Parliament of Religions, held inChicago one hundred years ago.

His (Swami Vivekananda)commitment towards universalismand tolerance, his activeidentification with humanity as awhole. He said from the tribune of

the Parliament of Religions, and Iquote : ‘I fervently hope that the bellthat tolled this morning in honour ofthis convention may be the deathknell of all fanaticism, of allpersecutions with the sword or withthe pen.’ I am sure all of us…wouldstrongly identify with this aspiration,since the struggle againstexclusiveness is one that must beperpetually renewed.

The Mission he established inIndia, and which has now spread allover the world, is working to reducepoverty and eliminate discriminationamong the different segments ofsociety. There is no more importantchallenge for us all than this—

striving to overcome these problemsat their roots; and it is one that Ibelieve the United Nations, workingwith all possible NGO partners, musttake its absolute priority in the yearsto come.

His preoccupation with humandevelopment and his vision ofeducation, science and culture as theessential instruments for suchdevelopment. The convergence withUNESCO’s concerns will be obvious toall.

I am indeed struck by the similarityof the constitution of theRamakrishna Mission whichVivekananda established as early as1897 with that of UNESCO drawn up

in 1945. Both place the human beingat the centre of their efforts aimed atdevelopment. Both place tolerance atthe top of the agenda for buildingpeace and democracy. Bothrecognize the variety of humancultures and societies as an essentialaspect of the common heritage.

The world today is going through achallenging period of transition. Wesee many evils like racism and inter-ethnic and religious conflict returningamong us with renewed force.Celebrations like this today are asource of renewed strength andencouragement to fight against theseevils.24

FELIX MARTI-IBANEZ

[Dr Felix Marti-Ibanez was askedwhat he considered to be the mostvaluable thing in his life. Heresponded:]

Life itself. Health and dreams andlove. …If what is meant by ‘things’,however, is something concrete inphysical form, then I would have tosay books. I was actually once put tothe test of what I value most. It wasin February 1939, when I had toleave Spain because of the fall of theSpanish Republic and all I could takewith me was what I could carry. Ichose to take one book. From thethousands of books in the library I

have so lovingly built up with myfather, I selected The UniversalGospel and The Life of Vivekanandaby Romain Rolland. That uniquelymagnificent mystical book inspiredme through the years to dedicate mylife to the service of others.25

FRANCIS YOUNGHUSBAND

On the death of Ramakrishna theleadership of the little group ofdisciples fell to Vivekananda, stillonly twenty-three years of age.Though busy with his own domesticaffairs he set to work to fulfil thesacred task left him by Ramakrishna.Disregarding their vacillations he

would spend hours in describing thesoul-stirring experiences of theMaster. And after a time they set outall over India preaching the messageof Ramakrishna. They left theirdearest. They suffered the agoniesthat all saints have to endure. AndVivekananda went further still. Hewent to Europe and America. Hebecame [famous] all over the world.But always he attributed every goodhe had or did to what his Master,Ramakrishna, had imparted to him.26

GOPAL HALDER

To us the Swami is the person whocalled India and its people to

establish themselves with couragefor acquiring self-knowledge. He said—first of all I was born to thiscountry, and that in itself has reasonsto be proud of. I don’t need to feelshy or ashamed of in declaring myidentity. To everyone in this world Iwould proclaim my identity and addthat I neither am inferior to anyone,nor having a nondescript antiquity.Such utterance we first had fromVivekananda. I hardly know of anyone in those days who could speakwith such unhesitant bravery.27

HENRY MILLER

The story of the pilgrimage of this

man who electrified the Americanpeople reads like a legend. At firstunrecognized, rejected, reduced tostarvation and forced to beg in thestreets, he was finally hailed as thegreatest spiritual leader of our time.Offers of all kinds were showeredupon him; the rich took him in andtried to make a monkey of him. InDetroit, after six weeks of it, herebelled. All contracts were cancelledand from that time on he went alonefrom town to town at the invitation ofsuch or such a society.

I had just been reading [Romain]Rolland’s book on Vivekananda. I hadput it down because I couldn’t readanymore, my emotions were so

powerful. The passage which rousedme to such a state of exaltation wasthe one in which Rolland describesVivekananda’s triumphal return toIndia from America. No monarch everreceived such a reception at thehands of his countrymen : it standsunique in the annals of history. Andwhat had he done, Vivekananda, tomerit such a welcome? He had madeIndia known to America; he hadspread the light. And in doing so hehad opened the eyes of hiscountrymen to their ownweaknesses. All India greeted himwith open arms; millions of peopleprostrated themselves before him,saluting him as a saint and saviour,

which he was. It was the momentwhen India stood nearer to beingunified than at any time in her longhistory. It was a triumph of love, ofgratitude, of devotion. I am comingback to him later, to his clean,powerful words, spoken like afearless champion not of India but ofthe human race.28

HIREN MUKHERJEE

It is a blessing that we had onlylately in our midst, in the cruellyinhibited conditions of foreignsubjection, a truly great soul likeVivekananda, never a recluse butalways with his leonine strength of

character in the midst of his people…the monk whose heart bled for hispeople so that he gave his all for hiscountry’s recovery, self-assertion,and yearning, never wholly stifled,for fulfilment. This is why one likeme, a sceptic and atheist to whomthe ardent assumptions and ecstasiesof belief are alien, salutes thistremendous man of faith and ofaction who gave back to his strickenpeople the long-lost pride in theirmanhood. This is why to dive intoVivekananda’s life-story is to discoverby no means just an archive but anarsenal of ideas, of instruments forrefashioning ‘the human condition’ inour ancient country..

In his wisdom and his witVivekananda could be homely, but hecould soar to the heavens even as hisfeet were planted on our Indianearth. In his meditations he couldreach transcendental realms, but tohim, as to the Atharva-Veda rishi,Ayam lokah priyatamah (‘this, ourworld, is dearest of all’) and to hisfellow-humans he could truly say, assome of our finest old injunctionsstress, that ‘his mother was Parvati,his father was Mahesvara, that allmen were his brothers, and that thethree worlds were his home.’ It was,thus, that in his own unique wayVivekananda could, if any one persondid, give a vibrant unequivocal,

people-oriented colour to subjectIndia’s nationalism and will ever beremembered as one of the supremefigures in the annals of our freedomstruggle. …He knew too keenly thatsubject India had been debilitatedand rejuvenation of her strength wasimperative.…He did say, of course:‘We must conquer the world throughour spirituality and philosophy. Thereis no other alternative, we must do itor die. The only condition of [Indian]national life, of awakened andvigorous national life, is the conquestof the world by Indian thought.’

It was this man who activelyinspired a whole host of nationalrevolutionaries in the ‘Swadesi’ era.

…No wonder the sedition (Rowlatt)Committee Report (1918) affirmedthat Vivekananda had an importantinfluence on those who created a big,pro-freedom tumult in the firstdecade of the century. That influencecontinued and pervades whatever isforward-looking in the national sceneeven today. …

Vivekananda pre-eminently was aProphet who could ascend, incontemplation, to what he sensed asthe highest human end — the saint’sthought processes must be unique —and yet returns to insert himself inthe sweep of time in order toreshape forces of history and create,if one can, a new world. Here is the

shinning quality distinguishingVivekananda.

…Vivekananda…will always be withus, as a great and gorgeous liberator,a man with whom indeed we canmatch our mountains and the sea.29

HUANG XIN CHUAN

Vivekananda stands out as themost renowned philosopher andsocial figure of India in modernChina. His philosophical and socialthought and epic patriotism not onlyinspired the growth of nationalistmovement in India, but also made agreat impact abroad. In 1893,

Vivekananda visited Canton and itsneighbourhood. He noted hisimpressions of the visit in a letteraddressed to the citizens of Madras.He had some knowledge andunderstanding of Chinese history andculture. He often cited and spokehighly of China in his writings andspeeches. He made a prophecy thatthe Chinese culture will surely beresurrected one day like the ‘Phoenix’and undertake the responsibility ofthe great mission of integrating theWestern and the Oriental cultures.His biographer Romain Rolland hasnarrated the evolution ofVivekananda’s idea on this aspect.When Vivekananda went to America

for the first time, he hoped thatcountry would achieve this mission.But during his second visit abroad, herealized that he was deceived bydollar imperialism. He, therefore,came to the conclusion that Americacould not be an instrument toaccomplish this task, but it was Chinawhich could do it.

Vivekananda had infinite sympathyfor the Chinese people living underthe oppression of feudalism andimperialism : and he pinned muchhope on them. After his visit toChina, he made a very interestingcomment. He said: ‘The Chinese childis quite a philosopher and calmlygoes to work at an age when your

Indian boy can hardly crawl on allfours. He has learnt the philosophy ofnecessity too well.’ This showsVivekananda’s enormous sympathytowards the miseries of the childrenof China in the old society.

While explaining his visionarysocialism Vivekananda made aninteresting ‘gospel’. He said that thefuture society would be ruled by thelabouring people and that this wouldfirst take place in China. In ModernIndia he said : ‘But there is hope. Inthe mighty course of time, theBrahmin, and the other higher castestoo, are being brought down to thelower status of the Sudras and theSudras are being raised to higher

ranks. …Even before our eyes,powerful China with fast strides, isgoing down to Sudrahood,…yet, atime will come when there will be therising of the Sudra class, with theirSudrahood,…a time will come whenthe Sudras of every country…will gainabsolute supremacy in every society.…Socialism, Anarchism, Nihilism, andother like sects are the vanguard ofthe social revolution that is to follow.’

From the material cited above andhis life and works, we can see atleast that Vivekananda showed verymuch concern for, and sympathizedwith, the people of China who wereliving under the rule of feudalism andimperialism and placed great hopes

on them. But we do not agree with B.N. Datta that the success of theChinese and the Russian revolutionscoming into being at concretehistorical moments should becredited to the ‘gospel’ ofVivekananda. This would make him adivine mystique personality. We haveseen that Vivekananda’s approach tothe laws of social developments wasunscientific. However, it is notpossible for any advanced thinker tomake a correct prediction of thephases and events of the progress ofhistory in every minute details. Weshould, therefore, appraiseVivekananda in the light of seekingtruth from facts.

In conclusion, Vivekananda wasthe most eminent figure among thedemocratic patriots in India. He paidhigh tributes to our glorious ancientculture and loved the Chineselabouring people.

We pay homage to him.30

HUSTON SMITH

Spiritually speaking, Vivekananda’swords and presence at the 1893World Parliament of Religionsbrought Asia to the West decisively.For, reading correctly the spiritualhunger of the West that his wordsand presence brought to the surface,

Vivekananda went on to found theRamakrishna Mission whose centresin almost every major city of Europeand America launched the influx ofAsian spirituality that has changedthe religious complexion of thosecontinents permanently. Buddhism,Sufism, Sikhism, Baha’i and othershave followed, but Vedanta was thepioneer.

The importance of this fact needsno belabouring, but I should like toexpand the notion of East meetingWest by pointing out that it houses atemporal as well as a spatialdimension. For though we have notime machine to set clocks back, it ispossible (in our Westernized world)

to break out of our modern timeframe by venturing abroad. When Ifind Vivekananda reporting that‘when my Master touched me, mymind underwent a completerevolution; I was aghast to realizethat there really was nothingwhatever in the entire universe butGod’, and when he proceeds fromsuch reports to conclude that ourseeming self is not our true self, thelatter being in actuality divine I hearhis words echoing not only from adifferent land (India) but from adifferent time—a past when thehuman outlook was less hobbled bythe materialistic, reductionistic stylesof thought that the West has fallen

into.I grant that there is danger in

stating things this way, for the cult ofnovelty has led many people toconfuse ‘past’ with ‘inferior’.Reflective thinkers, though, arecoming to recognize that one of themost important questions of life—who are we? Where did we comefrom? What are we supposed to do, ifanything?—modern science hasconfused us, along with clarifyingthings in other respects. For in beingable to deal only with things that arewoven of space, time, and matter…science has unwittingly led manypeople to assume that samsara (therelative world) is more important and

real than nirvana (the experience ofabsolute Reality).

Personally, therefore, I welcomeVivekananda as envoy, not only froma different land but from a time thatwas more open to ‘the breath of theeternal’ that the Upanishads attest toso compellingly.31

INDIRA GANDHI

I had had the good fortune toknow about the life and teachings ofSwami Vivekananda as well as aboutthe activities of the RamakrishnaMission. My parents and specially mymother were very close with the

Ramakrishna Mission. And I must saythat the teachings of Vivekanandahad inspired all the members of theNehru family both in their politicalactivities and day-to-day lives.

Swamiji’s teachings, writings andspeeches which appear on everypage of his works, are indeedstimulant. Swamiji provides uscourage, strength, and faith andteaches us how to be self-sufficient.These are the basic tenets of lifewhich India needed most and whichwould be relevant for all time tocome.

Swamiji has taught us that we arethe inheritors of a glorious andsublime culture. He has at the same

time shown us and analysed the rootcauses of our national malady. It wasSwami Vivekananda who has givenus the ways and means how toreconstruct a new India. Swamijipreached the message of universalbrotherhood. And a single wordwhich echoed and reached in all hisspeeches, was abhih i.e.fearlessness.32

JAGADISH CHANDRA BOSE

What a void this makes! Whatgreat things were accomplished inthese few years! How one man couldhave done it all! And how all is stillednow. And yet, when one is tired and

weary, it is best that he should rest. Iseem to see him just as I saw him inParis two years ago…the strong manwith the large hope, everything largeabout him.

* * *

I cannot tell you what a greatsadness has come. I wish we couldsee beyond it. Our thoughts are inIndia with those who are sufferingJuly 9th 1902.

It seems to me that nothing is lostand all the great thoughts and workand service and hope remainembodied in and about the placewhich gave them birth. All our life is

but an echo of a few great moments,an echo which reverberates throughall time.…That great soul is released;his heroic deeds on this earth areover. Can we realize what that workhas been—how one man did all this?When one is tired it is best that heshould sleep, but his deeds andteachings will walk the earth andwaken and strengthen.33

JADUNATH SARKAR

Ninety-one years ago a boy wasborn who has turned the lives ofmillions of us in India into a newchannel, and thousands in the Westto find their own souls amidst the

doubts and distractions of thismechanical civilization. When wecalmly reflect on our social scene, wefeel bound to admit that the moralrevolution not merely preached butactually accomplished by his life andexample, is the dominating force ofHindu Society in the 20th century.34

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU

Rooted in the past and full of pridein India’s prestige, Vivekananda wasyet modern in his approach to life’sproblems and was a kind of bridgebetween the past of India and herpresent.…He was a fine figure of aman, imposing, full of poise and

dignity, sure of himself and hismission, and at the same time full ofa dynamic and fiery energy and apassion to push India forward. Hecame as a tonic to the depressed anddemoralized Hindu mind and gave itself-reliance and some roots in thepast.35

I do not know how many of theyounger generation read thespeeches and the writings of SwamiVivekananda. But I can tell you thatmany of my generation were verypowerfully influenced by him and Ithink that it would do a great deal ofgood to the present generation ifthey also went through SwamiVivekananda’s writings and speeches,

and they would learn much fromthem. That would, perhaps, as someof us did, enable us to catch aglimpse of that fire that raged inSwami Vivekananda’s mind and heartand which ultimately consumed himat an early age. Because there wasfire in his heart—the fire of a greatpersonality coming out in eloquentand ennobling language—it was noempty talk that he was indulging in.He was putting his heart and soulinto the words he uttered. Thereforehe became a great orator, not withthe orators’ flashes and flourishes butwith a deep conviction andearnestness of spirit. And so heinfluenced powerfully the minds of

many in India and two or threegenerations of young men andwomen have no doubt beeninfluenced by him. …

Much has happened which perhapsmakes some forget those who camebefore and who prepared India andshaped India in those early anddifficult days. If you read SwamiVivekananda’s writings and speeches,the curious thing you will find is thatthey are not old. It was told 56*

years ago, and they are fresh todaybecause, what he wrote or spokeabout dealt with certain fundamentalmatters and aspects of our problemso r the world’s problems. Thereforethey do not become old. They are

fresh even though you read themnow.

He gave us something which bringsus, if I may use the word, a certainpride in our inheritance. He did notspare us. He talked of ourweaknesses and our failings too. Hedid not wish to hide anything. Indeedhe should not. Because we have tocorrect those failings, he deals withthose failings also. Sometimes hestrikes hard at us, but sometimespoints out the great things for whichIndia stood and which even in thedays of India’s downfall made her, insome measure, continue to be great.

So what Swamiji has written andsaid is of interest and must interest

us and is likely to influence us for along time to come. He was nopolitician in the ordinary sense of theword and yet he was, I think, one ofthe great founders—if you like, youmay use any other word—of thenational modern movement of India,and a great number of people whotook more or less an active part inthat movement in a later date drewtheir inspiration from SwamiVivekananda. Directly or indirectly hehas powerfully influenced the India oftoday. And I think that our youngergeneration will take advantage ofthis fountain of wisdom, of spirit andfire, that flows through SwamiVivekananda.

…Men like Sri RamakrishnaParamahansa, men like SwamiVivekananda and men like MahatmaGandhi are great unifying forces,great constructive geniuses of theworld not only in regard to theparticular teachings that they taught,but their approach to the world andtheir conscious and unconsciousinfluence on it is of the most vitalimportance to us. …36

JAY PRAKASH NARAYAN

Swami Vivekananda belongs to theclass of great seers of Truth. Hisintellect was great, but greater stillwas his heart. He once told his

disciples at the Belur Math that if aconflict were to arise between theintellect and the heart, they shouldreject the intellect and follow theheart. Many a Mahatma hasappeared in this land, and some ofthem understood that to meditate onthe soul in the caves of theHimalayas was the correct path tofollow. Swami Vivekananda’s mindalso was influenced by this traditionand there arose a conflict in himearly in his career; his intellectadvocating the traditional absorptionin self-realization and his heartbleeding for the miseries of thepeople around him. In the end hecame to the conclusion that leaving

the solitude he would enter into thesoul of every being and worship hisGod by serving them.

…What attracts the poor and lowlyto him is this compassionate heartwhich ever bled for them andexhausted itself in their incessantservice in thirty-nine brief years.…Itwas this measureless feeling for thespiritual and material poverty andmisery of his fellow men, particularlyof his fellow countrymen, that drovehim round the world like a tornado ofmoral energy and gave him no resttill the end. His life’s campaigns inthe East and West, including thefounding of the Ramakrishna Mathand Mission, were in response to this

feeling.His life was all purity and love; his

coming to and going from this worldwas [were] quick, sudden. But in theshort period of thirty-nine years heaccomplished so much by way ofstirring up and infusing new life andnew hope into the people that in thehistory of our great country we donot find a second to stand equal tohim in this, except, perhaps the greatSankaracarya.37

KAKASAHEB KALELKAR

To Swami Vivekananda belongsthe honour of familiarizing India with

the idea of a Parliament of Religions,and of proclaiming to the world thata Parliament of Religions would beincomplete without Hinduism beingrepresented there as an equalpartner. Educated India felt in 1893that Hinduism had been vindicatedand that day Swami Vivekananda’sname became with us a name toconjure with. I remember as a childthe glowing enthusiasm of my elderbrothers discussing the news andgiving expression to their wild hopesfor the future of Hinduism. SwamiVivekananda’s lectures were soontranslated into Marathi, my mothertongue, and people read the lectureswith avidity. There was nothing new

in them for Vedantic India, at leastso far as the substance went; butevery word therein was instinct withlife and hope and self-confidence.The novelty about the Swamiji’spresentation of Hinduism was itsmodern outlook and his application ofVedantic principles to the solution ofmodern, social and educationalproblems. The importance of histeachings grew on me as I grew inyears and I looked up to the Swamias the high-water mark of Indianculture.38

K. M. MUNSHI

Swami Vivekananda, a brilliant

product of the Gita, trod the path ofyoga. His was not the way of theiconoclast but the architect. He wasnot an apologist of the existing evils.At the same time he had no illusionabout Western culture. He saw Aryanculture in its living greatness, as aspiritual force destined torevolutionize the world. He broughtback self-respect to Indians. He alsodemanded and secured the world’srespect for their culture. Due to himeducated India felt a glow of a freshpride in its ever living culture which ithad been taught to condemn byChristian missionaries and its socialreformers of the Rationalist school.Vivekananda was sanity itself. He

declined to found sect and therebysegregate the influence of hisMaster’s teachings. He preferred toemphasize his experiences ratherthan dwell on his being an avatara –a belief he shared with some of hisco-disciples. In this way he becamethe voice of Aryan culture itself.39

K. M. PANIKKAR

What gave Indian nationalism itsdynamism and ultimately enabled itto weld at least the major part ofIndia into one state was the creationof a sense of community among theHindus to which the credit should toa very large extent go to Swami

Vivekananda. This new Sankaracaryamay well be claimed to be a unifierof Hindu ideology. Travelling all overIndia he not only aroused a sense ofHindu feeling but taught the doctrineof a universal Vedanta as thebackground of the new Hindureformation.…The Hindu religiousmovements before him were local,sectarian and without any all Indiaimpact. The Arya Samaj, the BrahmoSamaj, the Deva Samaj and othermovements, very valuable inthemselves, only tended further toemphasize the provincial character ofthe reform movements. It isVivekananda who first gave to theHindu movement its sense of

nationalism and provided most of themovements with a common all-Indiaoutlook.40

LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI

I remember that in my studentdays I have read the speeches of theSwami and was deeply attracted toit. Its impact on my mind was sogreat that my perceptions were allchanged, and I started to have adifferent idea about life.

When the nation was in a deepslumber, he created the stir. Hetalked on the Vedanta; nevertheless,this sage-philosopher aroused the

people. India was like an openpicture before him. He wanted thatthe people of our country shouldembark on work and be active. HisAdvaitism was not a passivity, and henever directed to await luck or fate.He knew that if the people of thecountry were not ready for toil andsacrifice, India would hardly achievewealth and prosperity. Subjugation ofthe country deeply troubled him.…Hecalled everyone to sacrifice for theattainment of a noble goal. Aspirantsof wealth and power were deeplydespised by him. In a country wheremillions of people were living indeprivation, individual enjoymentswere considered unjust by him. …His

message was to awake, arise andstop not till the goal is reached. Hewas a seer and a God-commandedentity.40a

LEO TOLSTOY

Alexander Shifman writes: ‘Amongthe Indian philosophers of themedieval period he [Tolstoy] studiedmore thoroughly Sankara and,among the more recent,Ramakrishna Paramahansa and hispupil Swami Vivekananda. …

‘During his last years Tolstoy didnot concern himself withRamakrishna except selecting from

his works passages for inclusion inhis new collections of ancient sayingswhich he had compiled previously. Atthis time he was considerably moreinterested in Vivekananda’steachings. …

‘Tolstoy’s acquaintance withVivekananda’s philosophy dates backto September, 1896, when for thefirst time he noted in his diary thathe had read “a charming book onIndian wisdom” which had been sentto him.’41 This was a series oflectures on ancient Indian philosophydelivered by Vivekananda in NewYork in the winter of 1895-96. A. K.Datt, the Indian scholar, who sent toTolstoy this book, wrote to him :

‘You will be pleased to know thatyour doctrines are in completeagreement with the Indianphilosophy at the period of itshighest achievement, the mostancient to reach us.’

‘Tolstoy wrote in reply to this letterthat he liked the book and he notedwith approval the reasoning on whatwas man’s “self “.’ [ Completecollection of Works of Tolstoy , Vol.69, p. 146]*

‘In Vivekananda’s passionatetirades directed against thecontemporary bourgeois civilization,in his affirmations of the priority ofthe spiritual essence of man over his“material cover”. Tolstoy heard the

echoes of the early teachings of theancient Indians and particularly manymotifs of the Vedas which werecongenial to him.

‘The second book by Vivekanandawhich Tolstoy read was a collectionof Speeches and Articles (in English)sent to him in 1907 by hisacquaintance I. F. Nazhivin. WhenNazhivin asked him whether hewould like to have this book, Tolstoyreplied on 7 July 1907 : ‘Please sendme the book by the Brahmin. Thereading of such books is more than apleasure, it is a broadening of thesoul.” ‘42

‘In 1908, I. F. Nazhivin published acollection of articles, Voices of the

Peoples, which includedVivekananda’s articles “The Hymn ofthe Peoples” and “God and Man”. Thelatter article made a strongimpression on Tolstoy. “This isunusually good”, he wrote toNazhivin, after reading it.” ‘43

‘Once Tolstoy praised Vivekanandafor his “excellent polemics withSchopenhauer about God” and henoted the English of the Indianphilosopher : “What English hasVivekananda ! He has learnt all itssubtleties.” ‘44

‘In March 1909, preparing a list ofnew popular books for the people,Tolstoy also included in the plan ofpublication the Sayings of

Ramakrishna and Vivekananda,[Works of Tolstoy , Vol. 57, p. 40]and, in April of the same year, heinformed the Orientalist N.O. Einhorn: “We are preparing a publication ofselected thoughts of Vivekanandawhom I appreciate very much.”45

[Works of Tolstoy , Vol. 79, p. 142]But this publication did notmaterialize.’

EMMA CALVÉ

It has been my good fortune andmy joy to know a man who truly‘walked with God’, a noble being, asaint, a philosopher, and a truefriend. His influence upon my

spiritual life was profound. Heopened up new horizons before me;enlarging and vivifying my religiousideas and ideals; teaching me abroader understanding of truth. Mysoul will bear him eternal gratitude.This extraordinary man was a Hindumonk of the order of the Vedanta. Hewas called the Swami Vivekananda,and was widely known in America forhis religious teachings.

…With the Swami and some of hisfriends and followers I went a mostremarkable trip, through Turkey,Egypt, and Greece. Our partyincluded the Swami; FatherHyacinthe Loyson; his wife, aBostonian; Miss MacLeod of Chicago,

an ardent Swamist and charming,enthusiastic woman; and myself, thesong bird of the troupe. What apilgrimage it was! Science,philosophy, and history had nosecrets from the Swami. I listenedwith all my ears to the wise andlearned discourse that went onaround me. I did not attempt to joinin their arguments, but I sang on alloccasions, as is my custom. TheSwami would discuss all sorts ofquestions with Father Loyson, whowas a scholar and a theologian ofrepute. It was interesting to see thatthe Swami was able to give the exacttext of a document, the date of aChurch Council, when Father Loyson

himself was not certain.When we were in Greece, we

visited Eleusis. He explained itsmysteries to us and led us from altarto altar, from temple to temple,describing the processions that wereheld in each place, intoning theancient prayers, showing us thepriestly rites. Later, in Egypt, oneunforgettable night, he led us againinto the past, speaking to us inmystic, moving world, under theshadow of the silent sphinx.

The Swami was always absorbinglyinteresting, even under ordinaryconditions. He fascinated his hearerswith his magic tongue. Again andagain we would miss our train, sitting

calmly in a station waiting-room,enthralled by his discourse and quiteoblivious of the lapse of time. EvenMiss MacLeod, the most sensibleamong us, would forget the hour,and we would in consequence findourselves stranded far from ourdestination at the most inconvenienttimes and places.46

MOHANDAS KARAMCHANDGANDHI

I have come here [Belur Math] topay my homage and respect to therevered memory of SwamiVivekananda, whose birthday is

being celebrated today [6 February1921]. I have gone through his worksvery thoroughly, and after havinggone through them, the love that Ihad for my country became athousandfold. I ask you, young men,not to go away empty-handedwithout imbibing something of thespirit of the place where SwamiVivekananda lived and died.47

MAHENDRANATH SIRCAR

…Originally an intellectual agnosticwith a heart endowed with trueseeking and love, Vivekananda sawthe living image of Wisdom and Lovein Ramakrishna.

…Vivekananda approached religionand philosophy through an analysisof life and psychic experience and hewelcomed that as the highest whichgave the finest idea of freedom. …Gods, angels and helpers had nofascination for him, for he felt thatthe bondage was self-created, andshould be broken by self-possession.He maintained the heroic attitude inall concerns of life – even in spirituallife.

Vivekananda was the spirit ofselflessness incarnated in flesh. Hecould feel that true knowledgeoriginated from it. It was not an idealfor him. It was his being. He couldsee that selfless living was better

than mere speculative philosophy,and he accentuated it. This self-giving and self-opening were to himthe ways to wisdom. The Vedantawas to him the gospel of life, and notmere philosophy.

…Vivekananda’s policy was to bringin social reformation more by thepropagation of liberal and humanisticculture rather than by positive frontalattacks. He was anxious to impartthe touch of love and life toeverybody, but he was equallyanxious to see the spirit of self-reformation coming from within. Truereformation was reformation by self-education. He concentrated his forcesthereon.48

MANABENDRA NATH ROY

Religious nationalism of theorthodox as well as reformed schoolhad begun to come into evidence inthe province of Bengal since the firstyears of the twentieth century.Although its political philosopher andleader were found subsequently inthe persons of Aurobindo Ghosh andBepin Chandra Pal respectively, itsfundamental ideology was conceivedby a young intellectual.…NarendraNath Datta, subsequently known bythe religious nomenclature of SwamiVivekananda. While still a student inthe University of Calcutta, Datta feltthe rebellious spirit affecting the

lower middle class intellectuals. Itwas in the early nineties. He wasmoved by the sufferings of thecommon people. Declassed socially,possessing a keen intellect, he madea spectacular plunge into thephilosophical depths of Hinduscripture and discovered in his cult ofVedantism (religious Monism of theHindus) a sort of socialistic,humanitarian religion. He decriedscathingly orthodoxy in religion aswell as in social customs. He was thepicturesque, and tremendouslyvigorous embodiment of the oldtrying to readjust itself to the new.Like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Datta wasalso a prophet of Hindu nationalism.

He also was a firm believer in thecultural superiority of the Indianpeople, and held that on this culturalbasis should be built the futureIndian nation. But he was not apartisan of orthodoxy in religion : tosocial conservatism, he was averitable iconoclast. He had thecourageous foresight, or perhapsinstinct, which convinced him that ifreligion was to be saved, it must begiven a modern garb; if the priestwas still to hold his sway over themillions of Hindu believers, he mustmodify his old crude way; if theintellectual aristocracy of thefortunate few was to retain its socialpredominance, spiritual knowledge

must be democratized. The reactionof native culture against the intrusionof Western education ran wild, so tosay, in the person of Vivekanandaand the cult of Universal Religion heformulated in the name of hispreceptor, RamakrishnaParamahansa. He preached thatHinduism, not Indian nationalism,should be aggressive. His nationalismwas a spiritual imperialism. He calledon Young India to believe in thespiritual mission of India. …

This romantic vision of conqueringthe world by spiritual superiorityelectrified the young intellectuals.…The British domination stood in theway as the root of all evils. Thus, an

intelligently rebellious element…hadto give in to national preoccupations,and contribute itself to a movementfor the immediate overthrow offoreign rule. …49

MICHAEL TALBOT

There are many parallel conceptsbetween the ancient philosophies ofthe East and the emergingphilosophies of the West. Certainconcepts are so similar that itbecomes impossible to discernwhether some statements weremade by the mystic or the physicist.Esalen Institute PsychologistLawrence Leshan gives an example

of such an indistinguishablestatement : ‘The absolute (is)…everything that exists …this absolutehas become the universe…(as weperceive it) by coming through time,space and causation. This is thecentral idea of (Minkowski) (Advaita).Time, space and causation are likethe glass through which the absoluteis seen and when it is seen it appearsas the universe. Now we at oncegather from this that in the universethere is neither time, space norcausation. …What we may callcausation begins, after, if we may bepermitted to say so, thedegeneration of the absolute into thephenomenal and not before.’

The remark was originally made bymystic Swami Vivekananda in Jñana-yoga, but the fact that the names ofthe mathematician who firsttheorized that space and time are acontinuum, Hermann Minkowski, andthe greatest of the historical Brahminsages, Advaita,* are inter-changeable, demonstrates onceagain the confluence of mysticismand the new physics.

Vivekananda further expresses aview that has become the backboneof quantum theory : There is no suchthing as strict causality. As he states,‘A stone falls and we ask why. Thisquestion is possible only on thesupposition that nothing happens

without a cause. I request you tomake this very clear in your minds,for whenever we ask why anythinghappens, we are taking for grantedthat everything that happened musthave a why, that is to say, it musthave been preceded by somethingelse which acted as the cause. Thisprecedence in succession is what wecall the law of causation.’50

MUNSHI PREMCHAND

Among the great souls whowelcomed the Indian renaissancewith sounds of conch shells,Vivekananda deserves the first place.His divine message has a clear

pronouncement for spiritual progress—directed not for India alone but theworld at large. …The Swami is nomore with us today, but the glow ofspirituality he lighted will alwaysillumine the World.51

NAGENDRANATH GUPTA

In conversation Vivekananda wasbrilliant, illuminating, arresting, whilethe range of his knowledge wasexceptionally wide. His countryoccupied a great deal of his thoughtsand his conversation. His deepspiritual experiences were thebedrock of his faith and hisluminations expositions are to be

found in his lectures, but hispatriotism was as deep as hisreligion. Except those who saw it,few can realize the ascendancy andinfluence of Swami Vivekananda overhis American and English disciples.

…At the sight of this Indian monkwearing a single robe and a pair ofrough Indian shoes his disciples fromthe West, among whom were theConsul General for the United Statesliving in Calcutta, and his wife, wouldrise with every mark of respect; andwhen he spoke, he was listened towith the closest and most respectfulattention. His slightest wish was acommand and was carried outforthwith. And Vivekananda was

always his simple and great self,unassuming, straightforward,earnest, and grave.

…His thoughts ranged over everyphase of the future of India, and hegave all that was in him to hiscountry and to the world. The worldwill rank him among the prophetsand princes of peace, and hismessage has been heard inreverence in three continents. For hiscountrymen he has left pricelessheritage of virility, abounding vitality,and invincible strength of will. SwamiVivekananda stands on the thresholdof the dawn of a new day for India,an heroic and dauntless figure, theherald and harbinger of the glorious

hour when India shall, once again,sweep forward to the van of thenations.52

PRAFULLA CHANDRA RAY

It was Swamiji’s great principlethat the service of daridra Narayanashould be the real service ofhumanity. …Swami Vivekananda’sgreat message was that all the lowcaste people should be taken as ourbrethren. Not only the right hand ofthe fellowship should be extended tothem, but they should be embracedas a brother embraces his fellow-brother. …Many things come out ofSwami Vivekananda’s life. He said

that the temples should be thrownopen to all the Hindus irrespective ofcaste distinction. That is a verysimple thing. In the eye of God thereis no distinction between one manand another.…The aim of SwamiVivekananda was not only toobliterate all distinctions of caste, butalso to uplift the daridra Narayana. …Another thing he has done ispropounding the principles ofVedanta in foreign countries. We areall the worshippers of the materialworld. We forget that there isanything good in our own teachingsand literature. This is due to ourillusion and ignorance. He expoundedthe principles of Vedanta and created

not only a profound impression in theNew World, but there were alsomany converts to it in America. Manyof them came out to India, anddevoted their time, energy andmoney to the cause of India. Thatwas not a small service that herendered.53

ROMESH CHANDRA DUTT

Since then I have heard the sadnews of Swami Vivekananda’s death.I never saw the Swami, I neverclosely followed his teachings, butyou know how sincerely I appreciatedand admired his high patriotism, hisgenuine belief in the greatness of his

country, his manly faith in the futureof his countrymen if they are true tothemselves. That spirit of self-reliance, that determination to workout our own salvation,— that faith inour country and ourselves,—thatconviction that our future rests in ourown hands,—are the noblest lessonsthat we learn from the life of himwhose loss we all lament today.India is poorer to-day for theuntimely loss of an earnest workerwho had faith in himself ; to us inBengal the loss is more of a personalnature ; to you the bereavement isone which will cast a shadow over allyour life. Only the thought of hisearnestness and greatness, only the

imperishable lessons which his lifeteaches, may afford someconsolation to those who have lost inhim a friend, a helper in life, ateacher of the great truths.54

RADHAKAMAL MUKERJEE

The fruitful movement of thedialectic of the Indian spirit towardsthe stress of universality of thehuman person is embodied in thethought and vision of SwamiVivekananda, the beloved disciple ofRamakrishna, one of the greatestsaints of modern India and a livingembodiment of the universality andtranscendence of Vedantic

humanism. Vivekananda gave tomodern India the conception of thedestitute, suffering and sorrowingGod (arta and daridra Narayana) inman conceived as essentiallyinterpersonal and at the same timeultimately cosmic-transcendent.55

RADHAKUMUD MUKERJEE

It was only after his attainment ofsupreme knowledge that SriRamakrishna allowed his pupil toengage in external activities in thelife of a teacher.

What was this Supreme knowledgewhich Vivekananda had lived to

achieve? It was the knowledge of theatman, of Brahman as the soul andsupreme reality. He did not care forthe half truths and intermediatetruths which make up the body ofknowledge, for which the modernworld stands. He boldly stood for theknowledge of immortality as the onlyobjective to be aimed at by mortals.…

Vivekananda stood out as anembodiment of a purified Hinduism,a Hinduism purged of its impuritiesand abuses, which are not of itsessences. He was an embodiment ofthe religion that is founded uponcharacter and not upon mereexternal forms, rituals and

ceremonies. …His clarion call stillinstigates in us a fight againstilliteracy, untouchability, and othersocial evils which are eating into thevitals of Hinduism.

We at the modern age are tooprone to modernize too much themessage of Vivekananda as if hewere a mere political leader. It isforgotten that his main strength layin the depths of his soul. It was hissoul force that sustained a life so richin events and in external activities.There is hardly a life in which somuch could be packed within its spanso restricted. His life was cut short atthe age of 39, but it is a pricelesspossession for India and Humanity.56

RAMESH CHANDRAMAJUMDAR

(1)

Vivekananda championed thecause of Hinduism in the Parliamentof Religions held at Chicago (USA) in1893 in connection with thecelebration of the 400th anniversaryof the discovery of America byColumbus. There, in the presence ofthe representatives of all thereligions from almost all thecountries in the world, the youngmonk from India expounded theprinciples of Vedanta and thegreatness of Hinduism with such

persuasive eloquence that from thevery first he captivated the hearts ofvast audience. It would be hardly anexaggeration to say that SwamiVivekananda made a place forHinduism in the cultural map of themodern world. The civilized nationsof the West had hitherto lookeddown upon Hinduism as a bundle ofsuperstitions, evil institutions, andimmoral customs, unworthy ofserious consideration in theprogressive world of today. Now, forthe first time, they not only greeted,with hearty approval, the loftyprinciples of Hinduism as expoundedby Vivekananda, but accorded a veryhigh place to it in the cultures and

civilizations of the world. Therepercussion of this on the vastHindu community can be easilyimagined. The Hindu intelligentsiawere always very sensitive to thecriticism of the Westerners,particularly the missionaries,regarding the many evils andshortcomings of the Hindu societyand religion, as with their rationaloutlook they could not but admit theforce of much of this criticism. Theyhad always to be on the defensiveand their attitude was mostlyapologetic, whenever there was acomparative estimate of the valuesof the Hindu and Western culture.They had almost taken for granted

the inferiority of their culture vis-à-visthat of the West, which was soconfidently asserted by the Westernscholars. Now, all on a sudden, thetable was turned and therepresentatives of the West joined ina chorus of applause at the hiddenvirtues of Hinduism which werehitherto unsuspected either byfriends or foes. It not only restoredthe self-confidence of the Hindus intheir own culture and civilization, butquickened their sense of nationalpride and patriotism. This sentimentwas echoed and re-echoed in thenumerous public addresses whichwere presented to SwamiVivekananda on his home-coming by

the Hindus all over India, almostliterally from Cape Comorin to theHimalayas. It was a greatcontribution to the growing Hindunationalism.

On his return to India, SwamiVivekananda preached the spiritualbasis of Hindu civilization andpointed out in his writings andspeeches that the spirituality of Indiawas not less valuable, nor lessimportant for the welfare ofhumanity, than the much vauntedmaterial greatness of the West whichhas dazzled our eyes. He was nevertired of asking the Indians to turntheir eyes, dazed by the splendour ofthe West, to their own ideals and

institutions. By a comparativeestimate of the real values of theHindu ideals and institutions andthose of the West he maintained thesuperiority of the former and askedhis countrymen never to exchangegold for tinsels. …

But Vivekananda was notprejudiced against the West norinsensible to the value of herachievements. He frankly admittedthat Indian culture was neitherspotless nor perfect. It has to learnmany things from the West, butwithout sacrificing its true character.

Swami Vivekananda combined inhimself the role of a great saint andfervid nationalist. He placed Indian

nationalism on the high pedestal ofpast glory, and it embraced theteeming millions of India both highand low, rich and poor. He devotedhis life to the awakening of nationalconsciousness and many of hiseloquent appeals would stir thenational sentiments of India eventoday to their very depths. …

Though an ascetic, Vivekanandawas a patriot of patriots. The thoughtof restoring the pristine glory of Indiaby resuscitating among her peoplethe spiritual vitality which wasdormant, but not dead, was alwaysthe uppermost thought in his mind. …

This great sannyasin who had lefthis hearth and home at the call of his

spiritual guru, Sri Ramakrishna, anddelved deeply into spiritualmysticism, was never tired ofpreaching that what India needstoday is not so much religion orphilosophy, of which she has enough,but food for her hungry millions,social justice for the low classes,strength and energy for heremasculated people and a sense ofpride and prestige as a great nationof the world. He made a trumpet callto all Indians to shed fear of all kindsand stand forth as men by imbibingsakti (energy and strength), byreminding them that they were theparticles of the Divine according tothe eternal truth preached by the

Vedanta. The precepts and exampleof this great sannyasin galvanizedthe current of national life, infusednew hopes and inspirations, andplaced the service to the motherlandon a religious level. …

Swami Vivekananda thus gave aspiritual basis to Indian nationalism.The lessons of the Vedanta andBhagavad-Gita permeated the livesand activities of many nationalists,and many a martyr, inspired by histeachings, endured extremesufferings and sacrifices with acheerful heart, fearlessly embraceddeath, and calmly bore the inhumantortures, worse than death, whichwere sometimes inflicted upon them.

…57

(2)

He (Vivekananda) was a product ofthe nineteenth century Renaissancein Bengal, in its initial stage, but itwas his genius and personality thatmoulded it into the shape it finallyassumed.

…It was a great achievement onthe part of Swamiji to bring about asynthesis between the thesis andantithesis—to use a Hegelianexpression— represented by the firsttwo phases of Indian Renaissance. …The Ideal he placed before thecountry was an all-round

development by imbibing both thespirituality of ancient India and thematerial culture of the West. Such asynthesis was not only necessary forIndia but its scope, according toSwamiji, extended to the West also.As a matter of fact Swamiji regardedthis synthesis as essential for thewhole humanity. …It would appearthat Swami Vivekananda has laidbefore us the final phase of theRenaissance Movement that is stillleading us forward, and India willderive the fullest benefit from it ifshe follows the path laid down byhim.58

(3)

His historical knowledge…was bothprofound and extensive. Although hewrote only one or two short essayson historical subjects, his penetratinginsight into the historical evolution,not only in India but all over theworld from ancient to modern times,is revealed in numerous passagesscattered throughout his speechesand writings. His comprehensivegrasp of the main currents of theworld history and the power toexpress it in simple language isillustrated in his description of theRenaissance [in his book Pracya OPascatya]. He has given analtogether new interpretation ofevolution of Indian history through

ages which, considering the time inwhich he wrote, displays an amazingdepth of knowledge and criticaljudgement. He emphasized the truththat ‘in ancient India the centres ofnational life were always theintellectual and spiritual and notpolitical’, and interpreted on thatbasis the course of evolution inIndian history right up to the Britishperiod. He was also familiar with thescientific and critical method ofhistorical research and moderndevelopments in Archaeology andEthnology.

…It has been very aptly said theSwami Vivekananda is a commentaryon Sri Ramakrishna. But the

commentator with his giant intellectand profound understanding madesuch distinctive contributions that hiscommentary becomes itself aphilosophy just as Sankara’scommentary on the Vedanta-Sutra isby itself a philosophy.59

(4)

India has produced numeroussaints and religious teachers, but itwould be difficult to select in theirmessage an appreciation of thepresent-day problems of life and aheart bleeding for the sufferingmillions of India such as we findthroughout the writings and speeches

of the Swami. Sometimes, he evengoes to the length of subordinatingreligion to other interests of life…Likethe most advanced political thinkers,he had no illusion of the past, butdreamt of a glorious future for hismotherland.

…Diversity in the personality of theSwami, at first, appears to besomewhat puzzling. But with theadvance of years and a closer studyof his teachings, one slowly realizesthat this apparent plurality is the realkey to the proper understanding ofhis personality. It becomesincreasingly clear that the greatlesson which the Swami’s teachingholds out before us is the indivisibility

of a human being, in spite of themultiple manifestations of hisemotion and intellect, and theconsequent unity of the problemwhich faces society; for society is,after all, a mere aggregate ofindividuals and, therefore, partakesof their essential character.

…To him [the Swami] eachindividual human being is not a merebundle of different intellectual andemotional attributes, but an organicentity whose diverse componentelements are bound up together byone indivisible force. This constitutesthe main spring which guides his lifeand actions, so long as this is notbrought under control, all attempts at

reform are bound to prove futile.60

R. G. PRADHAN

Swami Vivekananda might well becalled the father of modern IndianNationalism; he largely created it andalso embodied in his own life itshighest and noblest elements.61

R. RYBAKOV

Vivekananda’s Ideas Dear toSoviets

The people of the Soviet Unionobserved the 120th anniversary of

the birth of the great Indian thinkerand public figure SwamiVivekananda, whose fame has twiceoutlived his short and dramatic life,entirely devoted to the noble causeof awakening India. …

I have recently been to…YasnayaPolyana, the house of Leo Tolstoy—the great writer, whose name isequally dear to the peoples of theUSSR and India. I saw a group ofvisitors encircling a large dinner tableand my mind conjured up grey-beared, Tolstoy, reading Britishnewspapers out loud in the light of akerosene lamp. The British Press wasfull of reports about Vivekananda’sbrilliant lectures. Sometimes, there

was little truth in them, yet thepowerful voice of the Calcuttasannyasi did reach the writer’s mindthrough the filter of the Britishnewspapers. It stirred the writerprofoundly and for a while he couldnot continue reading. He went to thebedroom and read Vivekananda’sbooks all through the night. Heremarked in his diary : ‘I was readingVivekananda again. How much thereis in common between the thoughtsof his and mine.’

New Age

That epoch has long since gone.The people who come to the Tolstoy

museum and listen to the guide’sstory were born in the age of spaceflights, cinema and television andthey do not know what colonialism is.The material culture of that time hasdisappeared and so have clothes andobjects of everyday life. But thespiritual culture which unites allnations is alive and continues toexert powerful influence on ourcontemporaries. Vivekananda’s ideaswere dear not only to Tolstoy. Theyare just as dear to the Soviet peopletoday, primarily, because his life wasfilled with ardent love for India.Vivekananda had always desired tochange the situation in India—thepowerful and yet dependent country,

fettered by the will of Britishcolonialists, hard vestiges of thecenturies-old history and rigid casteconventions and also disintegrated,oppressed and not yet strong torebel. He had not spared efforts toawaken his countrymen’s feeling ofnational identity, the wish to work forthe national benefit and the faith inIndia’s bright future. Neither had hespared sarcasm to stir up the Indians’feeling of shame for their dependentand oppressed position, the shame,which, to quote Marx’s apt remark, ‘isalready revolution of a kind. Shameis a kind of anger which is turnedinward. And if a whole nation reallyexperienced a sense of shame, it

would be like a lion, crouching readyto spring’. However reluctant,Vivekananda was to get involved inpolitics, his entire activities wereaimed against imperialism andcolonialism and he had played animportant role in India’s becoming anindependent state and a leadingpower.

The essence of Vivekananda’sreligion is the service to people. ‘I donot believe in God or religion whichcannot wipe the widow’s tears orbring a piece of bread to the orphan’smouth,’ he said. His doctrine wasfocussed on man. Everything for thegood of man—how consonant thisidea is with Maxim Gorky’s words

spoken at about the same time : ‘Thename of Man rings proud.’ Centringhis attention on the Indian reality,Vivekananda explained the nationaldegradation by the indifference ofthe propertied classes to the people’sneeds and by the poverty andignorance of the population.‘Contempt for the masses is a gravenational sin,’ he said.

Vivekananda had uncovered yetanother cause of India’s decline,namely, the country’s isolated status.It is only natural that the voice of theman who asserted the idea ofequality of all religions and theinternational fraternity of liberatedpeoples deeply moved the delegates

of the world religious council inChicago. He was not afraid of reasonand relied on it.

National Sin

‘It is better that mankind shouldbecome atheist through followingreason, than blindly believe in 200million gods on the authority ofanybody.’ The supernatural andmiracles did not bother him and herefused to accept miracles ascribedto his teacher Ramakrishna. Isn’t it amiracle, however that he had heardthe roaring of the coming social andpolitical events of the 20th century inthe slow and serene life of 19th

century Europe and had aptlyforeseen that the liberation wouldcome from Russia.

That epoch is unreachably faraway. Things and kingdoms havedisappeared and practically theentire colonial system has collapsed.They say there are old gramophonerecords of Vivekananda’s ardentvoice still to be found in India. Hisvoice was admired by Ramakrishnaand it produced a tremendousimpression on the Chicago religiouscongress. Those records have notbeen played for a long time already,for there are no gramophones to playthem on.

Still, Vivekananda’s voice keeps

ringing. Celebrating the 120thanniversary of his birth, we recallRabindranath Tagore’s words : ‘If youwant to know India, readVivekananda.’62

RATNAMUTHU SUGATHAN

It was Swami Vivekananda whomade us aware of our subjugation,and inspired for achieving thenational freedom. This all, curiouslyenough, was done through hisspeeches and talks pertaining toreligious and spiritual matters. It washe who first vociferously declared theimpossibility of getting freedomwithout eradicating casteism, poverty

and illiteracy among the masses.When in Kerala, Swami

Vivekananda had witnessed all andhis expression was — ‘This is alunatic asylum.’ He added that herewe had only one wise man, and thatwas the Chattampi Swami. Thestalwarts of untouchability wereshaken to their cores by the Swami’sreverberating voice. …The Hindus ofKerala were fragmented ininnumerable castes and tribes, andon that social ruins comfortably satwere the high caste peoples — who,as a consequence of prolongedobservance of local traditions andpractices and its resultant bragging,had their souls eroding with rusts.

On his way to Kerala Vivekanandamet Dr Palpu, who narrated to theSwami about Kerala’s inhumancasteism, perpetual exploitation andinsult of the lower class Hindus bytheir upper class counterparts.Learning this entire, the Swami toldDr Palpu, ‘Find out a good sannyasinwithin the country and communityyou belong to, and try to unite thelower class people around him andwork for their uplift. Fight againstuntouchability, the lower class peoplehas to undertake this task. None willcome out to save the exploited andthe suppressed. They have to do itfor themselves. Following this, DrPalpu went back to his State

Travancore, discovered Sri NarayanaGuru, and the inception ofAruvippuram Ksetra Yogam wasfollowed.

All the subsequent social, culturaland political movements [in Kerala]to eradicate the cumulative debris ofinjustice and unjustness had in itscentre the meeting of Dr. Palpu withSwami Vivekananda. …Sri KumaranAsan, the first editor-director ofVivekodayam and the spokes-persono f Sri Narayasa Dharma ParipalanaYogam (S. N. D. P.) while writing anobituary on Swami Chaitanya hasnarrated about Dr Palpu’s encounterand discussion with SwamiVivekananda.63

RABINDRANATH TAGORE

64

(Some time ago Vivekananda saidthat there was the power of Brahmanin every man, that Narayana [i.e.God] wanted to have our servicethrough the poor. This is what I callreal gospel. This gospel showed thepath of infinite freedom from man’stiny egocentric self beyond the limits

of all selfishness. This was no sermonrelating to a particular ritual, nor wasit a narrow injunction to be imposedupon one’s external life. Thisnaturally contained in it protestagainst untouchability—not becausethat would make for politicalfreedom, but because that would doaway with the humiliation of man—acurse which in fact puts to shame theself of us all.

Vivekananda’s gospel marked theawakening of man in his fullness andthat is why it inspired our youth tothe diverse courses of liberationthrough work and sacrifice.)

65

(In India of modern times, it wasVivekananda alone who preached agreat message which is not tied toany do’s and don’ts. Addressing oneand all in the nation, he said : Inevery one of you there is the powerof Brahman (God); the God in thepoor desires you to serve Him. Thismessage has roused the heart of theyouths in a most pervasive way. Thatis why this message has borne fruitin the service of the nation in diverseways and in diverse forms ofsacrifice. This message has, at oneand the same time, imparted dignityand respect to man along withenergy and power. The strength thatthis message has imparted to man is

not confined to a particular point; noris it limited to repetitions of somephysical movements. It has, indeed,invested his life with a wonderfuldynamism in various spheres. Thereat the source of the adventurousactivities of today’s youth of Bengalis the message of Vivekananda—which calls the soul of man, not hisfingers.)

RAJENDRA PRASAD

Men who lead their fellow beings inany sphere of life are rare and thosethat lead their leaders are rarer still.These super-guides come not veryoften upon this earth to uplift the

sinking section of humanity. SwamiVivekananda was one of these supersouls.

It was he who could set the scepticmind of the West at the rest in thespiritual arena. Ambassadors ofspiritual missions had risen beforehim in the East, but none could speakto the West as he did with that voiceof conviction, keeping audiencesspellbound and enthralled. Theworthy disciple of the worthy Masterrose to the pinnacle of spiritualeminence, preaching the gospel ofthe innate oneness of the humanrace, and preaching universal loveand the affinity of all human souls.

Not only Indians but Westerners

too stand indebted to SwamiVivekananda for the bequest ofviveka (wisdom) to posterity.66

The ideal he stood for madeuniversal brotherhood of man anunderstandable proposition to aworld which was wedded to colourprejudice, having its route in theslavery of man. His spiritual approachroused the conscience of the thinkingsection of the human community allover the world and he succeeded inbringing home to the West thegreatness of the Vedic civilization.

The great disciple of the greatMaster immortalized the fame andprestige of the land of his birth in away which remains unrivalled even in

the annals of Indian spiritualism inmodern times. The sceptical youthwith the intrepid spirit rose to be theablest and wisest heir to the legacyof spiritual wealth of the greatenlightened one.67

ROMAIN ROLLAND

He [Vivekananda] was energypersonified, and action was hismessage to men. For him, as forBeethoven, it was the root of all thevirtues. …

His pre-eminent characteristic waskingliness. He was a born king andnobody ever came near him either in

India or America without payinghomage to his majesty.

When this quite unknown youngman of thirty appeared in Chicago atthe inaugural meeting of theParliament of Religions, opened inSeptember 1893, by CardinalGibbons, all his fellow members wereforgotten in his commandingpresence. His strength and beauty,the grace and dignity of his bearing,the dark light of his eyes, hisimposing appearance, and from themoment he began to speak, thesplendid music of his rich deep voiceenthralled the vast audience ofAmerican Anglo-Saxons, previouslyprejudiced against him on account of

his colour. The thought of this warriorprophet of India left a deep markupon the United States.

It was impossible to imagine himin the second place. Wherever hewent he was the first. …Everybodyrecognized in him at sight the leader,the anointed of God, the man markedwith the stamp of the power tocommand. A traveller who crossedhis path in the Himalayas withoutknowing who he was, stopped inamazement, and cried, ‘Siva !…’

It was as if his chosen God hadimprinted His name upon hisforehead. …

He was less than forty years of agewhen the athlete lay stretched upon

the pyre. …But the flame of that pyre is still

alight today. From his ashes, likethose of the Phoenix of old, hassprung anew the conscience of India—the magic bird—faith in her unityand in the Great Message, broodedover from Vedic times by thedreaming spirit of his ancient race—the message for which it must renderaccount to the rest of mankind.

* * *

Moving as were his[Vivekananda’s] lectures at Colombo,and the preaching to the people ofRameswaram—it was for Madras that

he reserved his greatest efforts.Madras had been expecting him forweeks in a kind of passionatedelirium….

He replied to the frenziedexpectancy of the people by hisMessage to India, a conch soundingthe resurrection of the land of Rama,of Siva, of Krsna, and calling theheroic Spirit, the immortal atman, tomarch to war. He was a general,explaining his Plan of Campaign, andcalling his people to rise en masse :

‘My India, arise !’…‘For the next fifty years…let all

other vain Gods disappear for thattime from our minds. This is the onlyGod that is awake, our own race—

everywhere His hands, everywhereHis feet, everywhere His ears, Hecovers everything. All other Gods aresleeping. What vain Gods shall we goafter and yet cannot worship the Godthat we see all round us, the Virat ?…The first of all worship is the worshipof the Virat—of those all around us.…These are all our Gods—men andanimals, and the first Gods we haveto worship are our own countrymen.…’

Imagine the thunderousreverberations of these words!…

The storm passed ; it scattered itscataracts of water and fire over theplain, and its formidable appeal tothe Force of the Soul, to the God

sleeping in man and His illimitablepossibilities ! I can see the Mageerect, his arm raised, like Jesusabove the tomb of Lazarus inRembrandt’s engraving : with energyflowing from his gesture of commandto raise the dead and bring him tolife. …

Did the dead arise? Did India,thrilling to the sound of his words,reply to the hope of her herald? Washer noisy enthusiasm translated intodeeds? At the time nearly all thisflame seemed to have been lost insmoke. Two years afterwardsVivekananda declared bitterly thatthe harvests of young men necessaryfor his army had not come from

India. It is impossible to change in amoment the habits of a peopleburied in a Dream, enslaved byprejudice, and allowing themselvesto fail under the weight of theslightest effort. But the Master’srough scourge made her turn for thefirst time in her sleep, and for thefirst time the heroic trumpet soundedin the midst of her dream theForward March of India, conscious ofher God. She never forgot it. Fromthat day the awakening of the torpidColossus began. If the generationthat followed, saw, three years afterVivekananda’s death, the revolt ofBengal, the prelude to the greatmovement of Tilak and Gandhi, if

India today has definitely taken partin the collective action of organizedmasses, it is due to the initial shock,to the mighty ‘Lazarus, come forth;’of the message from Madras.

This message of energy had adouble meaning : a national and auniversal. Although, for the greatmonk of the Advaita, it was theuniversal meaning thatpredominated, it was the other thatrevived the sinews of India.

* * *

His words are great music, phrasesin the style of Beethoven, stirringrhythms like the march of Handel

choruses. I cannot touch thesesayings of his, scattered as they arethrough the pages of books at thirtyyears’ distance, without receiving athrill through my body like an electricshock. And what shocks, whattransports must have been producedwhen in burning words they issuedfrom the lips of the hero !

* * *

India was hauled out of the shiftingsands of barren speculation whereinshe had been engulfed for centuries,by the hand of one of her ownsannyasins; and the result was thatthe whole reservoir of mysticism,

sleeping beneath, broke its boundsand spread by a series of greatripples into action. The West oughtto be aware of the tremendousenergies liberated by these means.

The world finds itself face to facewith an awakening India. Its hugeprostrate body, lying along the wholelength of the immense peninsula, isstretching its limbs and collecting itsscattered forces. Whatever the partplayed in this reawakening by thethree generations of trumpetersduring the previous century—(thegreatest of whom we salute, thegenial Precursor : Rammohun Roy),the decisive call was the trumpetblast of the lectures delivered at

Colombo and Madras.And the magic watchword was

Unity. Unity of every Indian man andwoman (and world-unity as well) ; ofall the powers of the spirit—dreamand action ; reason, love, and work.Unity of the hundred races of Indiawith their hundred different tonguesand hundred thousand gods springingfrom the same religious centre, thecore of present and futurereconstruction. Unity of the thousandsects of Hinduism. Unity within thevast Ocean of all religious thoughtand all rivers past and present,Western and Eastern. For—andherein lies the difference betweenthe awakening of Ramakrishna and

Vivekananda and that of RammohunRoy and the Brahmo Samaj—in thesedays lndia refuses allegiance to theimperious civilization of the West,she defends her own ideas, she hasstepped into her age-long heritagewith the firm intention not to sacrificeany part of it, but to allow the rest ofthe world to profit by it, and toreceive in return the intellectualconquests of the West. The time ispast for the pre-eminence of oneincomplete and partial civilization.Asia and Europe, the two giants, arestanding face to face as equals forthe first time. If they are wise theywill work together, and the fruit oftheir labours will be for all.

This ‘greater India’, this new India—whose growth politicians andlearned men have, ostrich fashion,hidden from us and whose strikingeffects are now apparent—isimpregnated with the soul ofRamakrishna. The twin star of theParamahansa and the hero whotranslated his thoughts into action,dominates and guides her presentdestinies. Its warm radiance is theleaven working within the soil ofIndia and fertilizing it. The presentleaders of India : the king of thinkers,the king of poets, and theMahatma—Aurobindo Ghosh, Tagore,and Gandhi—have grown, flowered,and borne fruit under the double

constellation of the Swan and theEagle—a fact publicly acknowledgedby Aurobindo and Gandhi. …

As for Tagore, whose Goethe-likegenius stands at the junction of allthe rivers of India, it is permissible topresume that in him are united andharmonized the two currents of theBrahmo Samaj (transmitted to himby his father, the Maharshi) and ofthe new Vedantism of Ramakrishnaand Vivekananda. Rich in both, freein both, he has serenely wedded theWest and the East in his own spirit.From the social and national point ofview his only public announcement ofhis ideas was, if I am not mistaken,about 1906 at the beginning of the

Swadesi movement, four years afterVivekananda’s death. There is nodoubt that the breath of such aForerunner must have played somepart in his evolution.

* * *

I was glad to hear Gandhi’s voicequite recently—in spite of the factthat his temperament is theantithesis of Ramakrishna’s orVivekananda’s—remind his brethrenof the International Fellowships,whose pious zeal disposed them toevangelize, of the great universalprinciple of religious ‘Acceptation’,the same preached by Vivekananda.

…At this stage of human evolution,

wherein both blind and consciousforces are driving all natures to drawtogether for ‘cooperation or death’, itis absolutely essential that thehuman consciousness should beimpregnated with it, until thisindispensable principle becomes anaxiom : that every faith has an equalright to live, and that there is anequal duty incumbent upon everyman to respect that which hisneighbour respects. In my opinionGandhi, when he stated it so frankly,showed himself to be the heir ofRamakrishna.

There is no single one of us who

cannot take this lesson to heart. Thewriter of these lines—he has vaguelyaspired to this wide comprehensionall through his life—feels only toodeeply at this moment how many arehis shortcomings in spite of hisaspirations; and he is grateful forGandhi’s great lesson—the samelesson that was preached byVivekananda, and still more byRamakrishna —to help him toachieve it.68

SARVEPALLIRADHAKRISHNAN

When I was a student in the early

years of this century, a student inhigh school and college classes, weused to read Swami Vivekananda’sspeeches and letters which werethen passing from hand to hand inmanuscript form, and they used tostir us a great deal and make us feelproud of our ancient culture. Thoughour externals were broken down, thespirit of our country is there and iseverlastingly real—that was themessage which we gathered from hisspeeches and writings when I was ayoung student.

There is nothing higher thanhumanity. But so far as we areconcerned, a human individual is alamp of Spirit on earth, the most

concrete living embodiment of Spirit.…By standing up for the great idealsof Hindu religion, the great idealsthat alone can save humanity, bystanding up for them, SwamiVivekananda tried to lead humanityto a nobler and better path than thatwhich it found itself in.…If you reallybelieve in the divine spark in man, donot for a moment hesitate to acceptthe great tradition which has come tous, of which Swami Vivekananda wasthe greatest exponent.69

* * *

We are today at a critical periodnot merely in the history of our

country but in the history of theworld. There are many people whothink we are on the edge of anabyss. There is distortion of values,there is lowering of standards, thereis widespread escapism, a good dealof mass hysteria, and people think ofit and collapse in despair, frustration,hopelessness. These are the onlythings which are open to us. Such akind of lack of faith in the spirit ofman is a treason to the dignity ofman. It is an insult to human nature.It is human nature that has broughtabout all the great changes that havetaken place in this world. And if thereis any call which Vivekananda madeto us, it is to rely on our own spiritual

resources.…Man has inexhaustiblespiritual resources. His spirit issupreme, man is unique. There isnothing inevitable in this world, andwe can ward off the worst dangersand worst disabilities by which weare faced. Only we should not losehope. He gave us fortitude insuffering, he gave us hope indistress, he gave us courage indespair. He told us : ‘Do not be ledaway by the appearances. Deepdown there is a providential will,there is a purpose in this universe.You must try to co-operate with thatpurpose and try to achieve it.’70

SATYENDRA NATH BOSE

The immesurable force having itssource within him [Vivekananda],had ceaselessly strived to haveemanation. Throughout his life thisirrepressable force had moved himaround the world. And wherever hewent, people who had his contactcould experience this life-force andwere, consequently, rejuvenated.There hardly was anyone morecapable than him to arouse thepeople of our country from their deepillusory slumber. …It was ourmisfortune that like the greatVedantist Sankaracarya, he had anearly demise. But as theSankaracarya in his short life hadmoved around India for umpteen

times and tried to inject a new lifeforce among the Indians, so also wasthe Swami during the nineteenthcentury stormed around India andthe Western countries and preachedSri Ramakrishna’s message of inter-religious harmony.71

SHYAMA PRASADMOOKERJEE

Nineteenth century had witnessedthe birth of several spirited men indifferent corners of India. SwamiVivekananda was the greatestamong them. The message of theSwami still resonates in the Indian

hearts. Only in his chalked out pathIndia can achieve absolute nationalrejuvenation. As the great ideals ofDivine Buddha has their culminationin Emperor Asoka’s proactive stancefor his subjects, such were thespiritual tenets of Divine SriRamakrishna manifested through thelife’s work of Swami Vivekananda.Behind Asoka’s emissaries of peacewas the political enormity of a King,but, on the other hand,V i ve kananda ’s Karma-yoga hadnothing except love and sacrificebehind its sustenance. …To build thecountry and the nation, it isimperative that we must adopt theideal of Swami. …People can never

live without an ideal. Within theSwami’s life and message are foundsuch timely element and idealresorting to which we can build astrong nation and a great country.72

SRI AUROBINDO

‘The awakening soul of India’

It was in religion first that the soulof India awoke and triumphed. Therewere always indications, alwaysgreat forerunners, but it was whenthe flower of the educated youth ofCalcutta bowed down at the feet ofan illiterate Hindu ascetic, a self-illuminated ecstatic and ‘mystic’

without a single trace or touch of thealien thought or education upon himthat the battle was won. The goingforth of Vivekananda, marked out bythe Master as the heroic souldestined to take the world betweenhis two hands and change it, was thefirst visible sign to the world thatIndia was awake not only to survivebut to conquer.…Once the soul of thenation was awake in religion, it wasonly a matter of time and opportunityfor it to throw itself on all spiritualand intellectual activities in thenational existence and takepossession of them.73

Vivekananda was a soul ofpuissance if ever there was one, a

very lion among men, but thedefinite work he has left behind isquite incommensurate with ourimpression of his creative might andenergy. We perceive his influencestill working gigantically, we knownot well how, we know not wellwhere, in something that is not yetformed, something leonine, grand,intuitive, upheaving that has enteredthe soul of India and we say, ‘Behold,Vivekananda still lives in the soul ofhis Mother and in the souls of herchildren.’74

The visit of Swami Vivekananda toAmerica and the subsequent work ofthose who followed him did more forIndia than a hundred London

Congresses could effect. That is thetrue way of awakening sympathy,—by showing ourselves to the nationsas a people with a great past andancient civilization who still possesssomething of the genius andcharacter of our forefathers, have stillsomething to give the world andtherefore deserve freedom,—by proofof our manliness and fitness, not bymendicancy.75

SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE

In the eighties of the last century,two prominent religious personalitiesappeared before the public who weredestined to have a great influence on

the future course of the newawakening. They were RamakrishnaParamahansa, the saint, and hisdisciple Swami Vivekananda.…Ramakrishna preached the gospel ofthe unity of all religions and urgedthe cessation of inter-religious strife.…Before he died, he charged hisdisciple with the task of propagatinghis religious teachings in India andabroad and of bringing about andawakening among his countrymen.Swami Vivekananda thereforefounded the Ramakrishna Mission, anorder of monks, to live and preachthe Hindu religion in its purest formin India and abroad, especially inAmerica, and he took an active part

in inspiring every form of healthynational activity. With him religionwas the inspirer of nationalism. Hetried to infuse into the newgeneration a sense of pride in India’spast, of faith in India’s future and aspirit of self-confidence and self-respect. Though the Swami nevergave any political message, everyone who came into contact with himor his writings developed a spirit ofpatriotism and a political mentality.So far at least as Bengal isconcerned, Swami Vivekananda maybe regarded as the spiritual father ofthe modern nationalist movement.He died very young in 1902, butsince his death his influence has

been even greater.76

I cannot write about Vivekanandawithout going into raptures. Fewindeed could comprehend or fathomhim—even among those who had theprivilege of becoming intimate withhim. His personality was rich,profound and complex and it was thispersonality—as distinct from histeachings and writings— whichaccounts for the wonderful influencehe has exerted on his countrymenand particularly on Bengalees. This isthe type of manhood which appealsto the Bengalee as probably noneother. Reckless in his sacrifice,unceasing in his activity, boundless inhis love, profound and versatile in his

wisdom, exuberant in his emotions,merciless in his attacks but yetsimple as a child—he was a rarepersonality in this world of ours. …

Swamiji was a full-bloodedmasculine personality—and a fighterto the core of his being. He wasconsequently a worshipper of Saktiand gave a practical interpretation tothe Vedanta for the uplift of hiscountrymen.…I can go on for hoursand yet fail to do the slightest justiceto that great man. He was so great,so profound, so complex. A yogi ofthe highest spiritual level in directcommunion with the truth who hadfor the time being consecrated hiswhole life to the moral and spiritual

uplift of his nation and of humanity,that is how I would describe him. Ifhe had been alive, I would have beenat his feet. Modern Bengal is hiscreation—if I err not.77

78

(How shall I express in words myindebtedness to Sri Ramakrishna andSwami Vivekananda ? It is undertheir sacred influence that my life gotfirst awakened. Like Nivedita I alsoregard Ramakrishna andVivekananda as two aspects of one

indivisible personality. If Swamiji hadbeen alive today, he would havebeen my My guru, that is to say, Iwould have accepted him as myMaster. It is needless to add,however, that as long as I live, I shallbe absolutely loyal and devoted toRamakrishnaVivekananda.)

79

(It is very difficult to explain theversatile genius of SwamiVivekananda. The impact SwamiVivekananda made on the studentsof our time by his works andspeeches far outweighed that madeby any other leader of the country.He, as it were, expressed fully theirhopes and aspirations. [But] Swamijicannot be appreciated properly if heis not studied along with Sri SriParamahansa Deva. The foundationof the present freedom movementowes its origin to Swamiji’s message.If India is to be free, it cannot be aland specially of Hinduism or of Islam—it must be one united land of

different religious communitiesinspired by the ideal of nationalism.[And for that] Indians must acceptwholeheartedly the gospel ofharmony of religions which is thegospel of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda.…

Swamiji harmonized East andWest, religion and science, past andpresent. And that is why he is great.Our countrymen have gainedunprecedented self-respect, self-confidence and self-assertion fromhis teachings.)

80

(The harmony of all religions whichRamakrishna Paramahansaaccomplished in his life’s endeavour,was the keynote of Swamiji’s life.

And this ideal again is the bed-rockof the nationalism of Future India.Without this concept of harmony ofreligions and toleration of all creeds,the spirit of national consciousnesscould not have been build up in thiscountry of ours full of diversities.

The aspiration for freedommanifested itself in variousmovements since the time ofRammohun Roy. This aspiration waswitnessed in the realm of thoughtand in social reforms during thenineteenth century, but it was neverexpressed in the political sphere.This was because the people of Indiastill remained sunk in the stupor ofsubjugation and thought that the

conquest of India by the British wasan act of Divine Dispensation. Theidea of complete freedom is manifestonly in Ramakrishna-Vivekanandatowards the end of the nineteethcentury. ‘Freedom, freedom is thesong of the Soul’—this was themessage that burst forth from theinner recesses of Swamiji’s heart andcaptivated and almost maddened theentire nation. This truth wasembodied in his works, life,conversations, and speeches.

Swami Vivekananda, on the onehand, called man to be real manfreed from all fetters and, on theother, laid the foundation for truenationalism in India by preaching the

gospel of the harmony of religions.)

SUBRAHMANYA BHARATI

To the Bengal politicians Madraswas the dark State, yet this veryMadras discovered in Vivekanandathe luminous light which later wouldthrow its brilliance all over the world.Vivekananda gave birth to radicalneo-Hinduism. The Tamils firstaccepted Vivekananda; afterwardsBengal and Maharashtra realized hisgreatness. …It was SwamiVivekananda by whom the [Indian]movements for ‘Swaraj’ andindependence were first had itsfoundation. …He was the great

inspirer of patriotism, and thefundamental power behind rousinglove for the country. …SriRamakrishna had shaped SwamiVivekananda and he was theforemost among the creators ofmodern India. …

The very moment the Swami hadreached Japan on his way to Americafor preaching the Vedanta religion,the mother power of India, akin tothe Vedic supremacy, blessed himwith the wings of ultimate wisdom.His letters from Japan were theheralds of new radiance. The fires ofneo-Hinduism, as if, were dancingwithin his heart. It was the Divinedesign that at the end of the

nineteenth century the triumphantflag of neo-Hinduism would beplanted in America, the very countrywhich was the ideal of the Europeancivilization. And Vivekananda was theman chosen for that task.81

SUNITI KUMAR CHATTERJI

Vivekananda appeared to meimmediately to be a man who wasintensely moved by the sufferings ofHumanity, and particularly ofHumanity in India. Some of histirades against middle class andupper class societies in this mattermoved us to the depths of our being.He discovered for us the greatness of

Man, and particularly of men in thehumbler walks of life who were thedespised and the denied in ourIndian society. At the same time, hebrought home to us the value ofIndian thought at its highest andpristine best, as in the Vedanta. Hewas able to convince us that whatour ancestors had left in the VedantaPhilosophy was of permanent value,not only for us in India but also forthe rest of Humanity. This put heartin us, and made us feel a new kind ofelation as members of a people whohave always had a mission and asacred task to serve Humanity. TheHindus as a race were losing theirnerve, and it was Vivekananda who

helped us to regain this nerve whichwe were losing. There was a lot ofunthinking and unsympatheticcriticism of our ways and our life,particularly from among Christianmissionaries of the older type, andthis was demolished by Vivekananda.All this made us hold him very closeto our heart, and to think of him as agreat master and as a new kind ofincarnation who came down to earthto lead us into the good life and thelife of the strong man.

Vivekananda, in the first instance,knocked off a lot of nonsense in ourHindu social life, and drew ourattention to the Eternal Verities andnot to the ephemeral accidentals—

social usages and such like—in ourlife. He was a sworn enemy of whatwe now call in India Casteism.Untouchability was something whichhe abhorred both as a sannyasin andas a lay Hindu. He coined the wordwhich is very commonly used in ourIndian English—’don’t touchism’. Hisheart overflowed with love andsympathy for the masses, whom hewanted to serve with religious zeal—serve as a believer in the Vedantawhich sees God in all life. He coineda new word for our Indian languages—daridra-Narayana or a ‘God in thepoor and the lowly’. This word hasbeen accepted by the whole of India,and in a way it brings in a sense of

responsibility for the average man.He has to look upon the poor and thehumble, the suffering ones and thefrustrated ones of society, as if theywere deities incarnate or fragmentsof God, to serve whom was to serveGod. Mahatma Gandhi’s revival of theold expression which was used inGujarati by the Vaisnava poets ofGujarat, namely, Harijana or ‘theMen of God’ was a very fineexpression ; but daridra-Narayanaimplied or brought in an element of asense of duty which was enjoinedupon man to serve the poor if theywanted to serve God.

Swami Vivekananda is looked uponas a great religious teacher, and

indeed he made a definitecontribution to the study of bothHindu religion and philosophy, andalso in spreading a knowledge andappreciation of this philosophy andreligion. His great works on aspectsof Vedanta in theory and practice stillinspire hundreds and thousands ofenquirers all over the world. But ithas also been said that he was morea philanthropist, one who dedicatedhimself to the service of man, than areligious theorist or preacher. Oneneed not seek to analyseVivekananda’s personality in thisway. It is best to take the service ofman as a form of serving God, for,from the point of view of all practical

religion, God and Man are theobverse and reverse of the samemedal. Vivekananda may be said tohave been an innovator in twomatters. As his great disciple SisterNivedita suggested—he was the firstto formulate the basic character ofHinduism as a system of thought andas a way of life in the modern age.This is the first great thing we asIndians may note aboutVivekananda. Secondly, Vivekanandamay be said to have brought beforethe Western World a new point ofview in religious thinking—a newapproach to the problems of faith—which they needed very badly. Tothis also might be added as a

pendant that Vivekananda, as one ofthe thought-leaders of modern India,gave the tone to modern Indianculture. He conceived of anintegration of all human religion andculture into one entity claiming thehomage of all and sundry.

I consider, and many agree withme also, that Swami Vivekananda’sparticipation and his magisterial andat the same time sweet andreasonable pronouncements at theInternational Congress of Religions atChicago in 1893 form a veryimportant event in the intellectualhistory of modern man. There heproclaimed for the first time thenecessity for a new and an

enlightened kind of religiousunderstanding and toleration, andthis was particularly necessary in anAmerica which was advancing sorapidly in science and technology,and in wealth and power, which werenot, however, divorced from altruisticaspirations and achievements. Butapart from a few of the mostoutstanding figures, particularly inthe New England orbit of the UnitedStates, generally the religiousbackground was crude and primitive.It had pinned itself down to a literalinterpretation of the Bible, andaccepted all the dogmas with aconviction which was pathetic in itscombination of sincerity and fanatic

faith, of credulity and crudity. Thisvery primitive kind of religion was notsatisfying to those who wereactuated by the spirit of enquiry in ahigher and more cultured plane, andfor them Vivekananda’s messagecame like rain on a thirsty soil. …Soin this way, we might say that quitea new type of spiritual conversionhas taken place in the mind of aconsiderable portion of intelligentmen and women in the West,beginning with America ; and herewe see the leaven of Vedantaworking through Vivekananda. In anovel on Mexican life by D. H.Lawrence—The Plumed Serpent—where we have the picture of a

revival of the pre-Catholic Aztecreligion among a section of politicalworkers in Mexico, the mentalitydisplayed by some of the leaders ofthis movement is somethingastoundingly modern. Many of theviews expressed by one of thecharacters in this novel, the heroRamon talking to the Roman CatholicBishop, might have been taken overbodily from the writings ofVivekananda. In this way, althoughthe ordinary run of people are notconscious of it, the message whichwas given out by Vivekananda toAmerica and the Western World atChicago in 1893, and subsequently topeople in America, England and

India, has been an effective force inthe liberalization of the human spiritin its religious approach.

The first point in Vivekanandawhich I mentioned above, namely,his giving before the world adefinition of Hinduism in its essence,was a service which was done notonly to India but also in another wayto Humanity. …

Vivekananda was the lover of allthose who had suffered through theinjustice of others, and he tried hisbest to restore them to a sense ofhuman dignity. …It is remarkablehow in India in her days of politicalsubmission and spiritual inanity,when everything seemed hopeless,

and the people had lost allconfidence in themselves, a spiritcalling us to action like SwamiVivekananda could come into being.That such a person could come at atime when the prospect was bleak,when we seemed to have lost allhope, indicated that God in His mercynever forsakes His people, and this ina way bears out the great ideabehind this oft-quoted verse of theGita that whenever righteousness ison the decline and unrighteousness isin the ascendant, God createsHimself as a great avatara orIncarnation—as a Leader to guidemen to the right path of salvation.And in that sense Vivekananda was

a n avatara, a divinely inspired andGod-appointed Leader, not only forMan in India, but also for the wholeof Humanity in the present age.82

U THANT

Swami Vivekananda was thegreatest spiritual ambassador ofIndia, if I may say, in the history ofIndia. And for that matter, the historyof Asia. The main purpose of hishistoric visit to the United States…was to find a synthesis, if I caninterpret and assess his activities inthis country. He was very keen tobring about this synthesis betweenIndia and the United States, between

Asia and the West. To understandSwami Vivekananda it is veryimportant to understand the culturaland spiritual background of India,and for that matter, the cultural andspiritual background of Asia.

I think if we attempt to analyse themain purpose of SwamiVivekananda’s mission to this country—my interpretation is he wanted tofind a harmony, a kind of a synthesisbetween the Eastern concept ofculture and civilization and theWestern concept of culture andcivilization.…What we need today isnot to neglect or ignore the oral andspiritual qualities of mankind left bycenturies of tradition, and which is

the key of all religion.Another aspect of Vivekananda’s

mission…is the need of tolerance inhuman relations. Not only religioustelerance but also tolerance in allspheres of activity.…A few centuriesago there was no such thing asreligious tolerance. Religioustolerance was unthinkable.…Now inthe twentieth century…there isreligious tolerance.

Swami Vivekananda…had this verysignificant and very pertinentmessage for these tense times. Hesaid : ‘In this country I do not cometo convert you to a new belief.…Iwant to make the Methodist a betterMethodist, the Presbyterian a better

Presbyterian, the Unitarian a betterUnitarian.’ These are very wise wordsand, friends, on this auspiciousoccasion when we are doing honourto one of the greatest men of alltimes, let us dedicate ourselves anewto this pledge : to make Christiansbetter Christians, Hindus betterHindus, Muslims better Muslims,Buddhists better Buddhists, and Jewsbetter Jews.83

VINCENT SHEEAN

The most ancient tradition [inIndia] has been one in which thegood work done for the assistance ofthe fellow man does not necessarily

have anything to do withmetaphysical contemplation. As faras we know, Vivekananda was thefirst in India of any social influence todeclare that these two things shouldgo together. He wanted his fellowmonks of the Ramakrishna Mission,not only to read Sanskrit andcontemplate higher reality, but alsoto work in such things as famines andfloods, and in the eternal poverty ofthe Indian cities. If you readVivekananda you will find someexcoriating remarks about those whodevote themselves entirely to theirown spiritual welfare and forget theexistence of their fellow creatures.He introduced into the monastic

system of India this principle of theassistance to those who needed itmost, that principle which was neverso expressed before. And so on myfirst trip [to India], in 1947, before Ihad ever been to Belur orDakshineshwar, I found monks of theRamakrishna Mission taking care ofthe wounded and the refugees in thetremendous upheaval which followedthe partition of India. Monks of theRamakrishna Mission were doing thatwork in all parts of the country andon a very considerable scale, as theydo in ordinary times with theirschools, hospitals, and refectories.

This principle, which is implict ineverything Ramakrishna said,

everything of which we have record,he was not himself fitted to carry out.It was not his quality, his nature, butit was eminently the quality of SwamiVivekananda. He was able, possiblybecause of his visits to the West, tointroduce that the element into theMission, of which it has borne theimprint ever since and from whichvery great good has resulted for themost miserable of the peoples ofIndia.84

VINOBA BHAVE

Vivekananda not only made usconscious of our strength, he alsopointed out our defects and

drawbacks. …India was then steepedi n tamas (ignorance and unwisdom)and mistook weakness for non-attachment and peace. That is whyVivekananda went so far as to saythat criminality was preferable tolethargy and indolence. He madepeople conscious of the tamasikastate they were in, of the need tobreak out of it and stand erect sothat they might realize in their ownlives the power of the Vedanta.Speaking of those who enjoyed theluxury of studying philosophy and thescriptures in the smugness of theirretired life, he said football-playingwas better than that type ofindulgence. Through a series of

obiter dicta, he rehabilitated theprestige of India’s soul force andpointed out to the tamoguna(unwisdom) that had eclipsed her.He taught us : ‘The same Soulresides in each and all. If you areconvinced of this, it is your duty totreat all as brothers and servemankind.’ People were inclined tohold that, though all had equal rightto the tattva-jñana (knowledge ofthe Spirit), the difference of high andlow should be maintained in the day-today dealings and relations. Swamijimade us see the truth that tattva-jñana, which had no place in oureveryday relationship with our fellowbeings, and in our activities was

useless and inane. He, therefore,advised us to dedicate ourselves tothe service of daridra-Narayana (Godmanifested in the hungry, destitutemillions) to their uplift andedification. The word daridra-Narayana was coined byVivekananda and popularized byGandhiji.85

* * *

…Indians had totally becomeslaves to the English people andconsidered themselves as inferiors.The entire world, as a result, beganto look upon the Indians assubstandard in all parameters.…At

this very juncture Vivekananda hadstepped in, and reminded the Indiansof their spiritual power. Influenced bymaterialism we had reached such apit that a sense of overalldegradation prevailed in everysphere of life. India was in a stuporwith thoughts as if our sociology wasbad, we knew nothing of politics,and, even, our religion wasimperfect. But every country has itsown speciality, its own power – andIndia was no exception to this. Theonly thing was we were unaware ofit. …When India was in such a state,Vivekananda went to America, andthere he preached the message ofVedanta to the world. He also told

everyone about India’s supremespiritual power. And his speech overthere showered elixir throughoutIndia. Indian people could findstrength to stand with their headhigh. It was the consequence ofVivekananda’s speech that theIndians were able to realize that theyalso had power and, moreover, theirspirit would remain ever free even ifthe country were conquered byexternal force. The peoples of distantlands could furthermore learn aboutIndia’s long historical ancestry andthey realized that the distinctivepower of the land is worthassimilation.86

WILL DURANT

He [Swami Vivekananda] preachedto his countrymen a more virile creedthan any Hindu had offered themsince Vedic days :

It is a man-makingreligion that we want.…Give up these weakeningmysticisms, and bestrong.…For the next fiftyyears…let all other, vaingods disappear from ourminds. This is the onlyGod that is awake, ourown race, everywhere Hishands, everywhere His

feet, everywhere His ears;He covers everything.…The first of all worship isthe worship of those allaround us.…These are allour gods—men andanimals; and the firstgods we have to worshipare our own countrymen.

It was but a step from this toGandhi.87

* * *

The most vivid of [the followers ofRamakrishna] was a proud youngKsatriya, Narendranath Datta, whofull of Spencer and Darwin, first

presented himself to Ramakrishna asa n atheist, unhappy in his atheism,but scornful of the myths andsuperstitions with which he identifiedreligion. Conquered by Ramakrishna’spatient kindliness, Naren became theyoung master’s most ardent disciple.He redefined God as ‘the totality ofall souls’ and called upon his fellow-men to practise religion not throughvain asceticism and meditation, butthrough absolute devotion to[mankind].88

WILLIAM ERNEST HOCKING

…We all carry about with usunsolved problems of adjustment to

this many-angled world—withoutformulating questions, we are livingquests, unless by some rare chanceour philosophy of life is entirelysettled. And to meet some personmay resolve a quest wholly withouthis knowledge; it may be simplymode of being that brings therelease.

This was in some measure thestory of my first encounter withSwami Vivekananda, though I wasonly one of an immense audience. …Iwas a casual visitor at the [1893Chicago World’s] Fair, just turningtwenty, interested in a dozen exhibitson the Midway. …But aside from allthis, I had a quietly rankling problem

of my own.I had been reading Herbert

Spencer, all I could get of his works.…I was convinced by him;…but it wassomehow a vital injury to think ofman as of the animals—birth,growth, mating, death—and nothingmore—finis. I had had my religion—Methodism—an experience ofconversion with a strangeenlightenment which gave me threedays of what felt like a new vision ofthings, strangely lifted up; Spencerhad explained that all away as anemotional flurry—the world must befaced with a steady objective eye.The Christian cosmology was fancy.

But still, Christianity was not the

only religion. There were to bespeakers from other traditions [at theParliament of Religions]. They mighthave some insight that would relievethe tension. I would go for an hourand listen. I didn’t know theprogramme. It happened to beVivekananda’s period.

…He spoke not as arguing from atradition, or from a book, but as froman experience and certitude of hisown. I do not recall the steps of hisaddress. But there was a passagetoward the end, in which I can stillhear the ring of his voice, and feelthe silence of the crowd—almost as ifshocked. The audience was well-mixed, but could be taken as one in

assuming that there had been a ‘Fallof man’ resulting in a state of‘original sin’, such that ‘All men havesinned and come short of the glory ofGod.’ But what is the speaker saying?I hear his emphatic rebuke : ‘Callmen sinners? It is a SIN to call mensinners!’

…Through the silence I feltsomething like a gasp runningthrough the hall as the audiencewaited for the affirmation which mustfollow this blow. What his followingwords were I cannot recall with thesame verbal clarity : they carried themessage that in all men there is thatdivine essence, undivided and eternalreality is One, and that One, which is

Brahman, constitutes the centralbeing of each one of us.

For me, this doctrine was astartling departure from anythingwhich my scientific psychology couldthen recognize. One must live withthese ideas and consider how one’sinner experience could entertainthem. But what I could feel andunderstand was that this man wasspeaking from what he knew, notfrom what he had been told. He waswell aware of the books; but he wasmore immediately aware of his ownexperience and his own status in theworld; and what he said would haveto be taken into account in any finalworld-view. I began to realize that

Spencer could not be allowed the lastword. And furthermore, that thisreligious experience of mine, whichSpencer would dismiss as apsychological flurry, was very akin tothe grounds of Vivekananda’s owncertitude.89

WILLIAM JAMES

The paragon of all monisticsystems is the Vedanta philosophy ofHindusthan, and the paragon ofVedantist missionaries was the lateSwami Vivekananda who visited ourland some years ago. The method ofVedantism is the mystical method.You do not reason, but after going

through a certain discipline you see,and having seen, you can report thetruth. Vivekananda thus reports thetruth in one of his lectures here :

Where is there any moremisery for him who seesthis Oneness in theuniverse, this Oneness oflife, Oneness ofeverything ?…Thisseparation between manand man, man andwoman, man and child,nation from nation, earthfrom moon, moon fromsun, this separationbetween atom and atomis the cause really of all

the misery, and theVedanta says thisseparation does not exist,it is not real. It is merelyapparent, on the surface.In the heart of thingsthere is unity still. If yougo inside you find thatunity between man andman, women andchildren, races and races,high and low, rich andpoor, the gods and men:all are One, and animalstoo, if you go deepenough, and he who hasattained to that has nomore delusion.…Where is

there any more delusionfor him ? What can deludehim ? He knows thereality of everything, thesecret of everything.Where is there any moremisery for him ? Whatdoes he desire ? He hastraced the reality ofeverything unto the Lord,that centre, that Unity ofeverything, and that isEternal Bliss, EternalKnowledge, EternalExistence. Neither deathnor disease nor sorrownor misery nor discontentis There.…In the centre,

the reality, there is noone to be mourned for, noone to be sorry for. Hehas penetratedeverything, the Pure One,the Formless, theBodiless, the Stainless, Hethe Knower, He the greatPoet, the Self-Existent, Hewho is giving to everyonewhat he deserves.

Observe how radical the characterof the monism here is. Separation isnot simply overcome by the One, it isdenied to exist. There is no many.We are not parts of the One; It hasno parts; and since in a sense we

undeniably are, it must be that eachof us is the One, indivisibly andtotally. An Absolute One, and I thatOne,—surely we have here a religionwhich, emotionally considered, has ahigh pragmatic value; it imparts aperfect sumptuosity of security. Asour Swami says in another place :

When man has seenhimself as One with theInfinite Being of theuniverse, when allseparateness has ceased,when all men, all women,all angels, all gods, allanimals, all plants, thewhole universe has beenmelted into that oneness,

then all fear disappears.Whom to fear ? Can I hurtmyself ? Can I kill myself ?Can I injure myself ? Doyou fear yourself ? Thenwill all sorrow disappear.What can cause mesorrow ? I am the OneExistence of the universe.Then all jealousies willdisappear; of whom to bejealous ? Of myself ? Thenall bad feelings disappear.Against whom shall I havethis bad feeling ? Againstmyself ? There is none inthe universe but me.…Killout this differentiation, kill

out this superstition thatthere are many. ‘He who,in this world of many,sees that One; he who, inthis mass of insentiency,sees that One SentientBeing ; he who in thisworld of shadow, catchesthat Reality, unto himbelongs eternal peace,unto none else, unto noneelse.90

* * *

He [Vivekananda]…is a man ofgenius, even though his Absolute benot the truth.…‘I have been reading

some of Vivekananda’s addresses.…that man is simply a wonder oforatorical power. As for the doctrineof the One. I began to have sometalk with that most interesting MissNoble [Sister Nivedita] about it, but itwas cut short, and I confess that mydifficulties have never yet beencleared up. But the Swami is anhonour to humanity in any case.91

References and Notes

1. Swami Vivekananda: ThePatriot-Saint of Modern India byA. D. Pusalker (RamakrishnaMission Ashrama, Bombay,1958), p. 1. Ref.: Vivekananda O

Samakalin Bharatavarsa, ed. bySankari Prasad Basu, 1988,Vol.7, p. 270.

2. Swami Vivekananda in East andWest (Ramakrishna VedantaCentre, London), pp. 210-14.

3. Brahmavadin, March-April, 1914. 4. Prabuddha Bharata, June 1940,

pp.280-83. 5. Kesari, 8 July, 1902 : Trans.

from Marathi. 6. Creative India by Benoy Kumar

Sarkar, Lahore, 1937, p. 671. 7. ibid., pp. 671-673. Also see

B.K.Sarkar’s The Might of Man inthe Social Philosophy ofRamakrishna and Vivekananda,

Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore,Madras, Second Edition, 1945,pp. 21-22.

8. ‘Vivekananda, Kant and ModernMaterialism’—Published in theCalcutta Review in April 1939,later the same was reproducedin the Prabuddha Bharata of July1939. Ref. : Vivekananda OSamakalin Bharatavarsa,Vol.7, p.311.

9. ‘What is Ramakrishna’ by BenoyKumar Sarkar, PrabuddhaBharata, August 1940, p. 251.

10. ‘Ramakrishna and Vivekananda’,Prabuddha Bharata, July, 1932,pp. 323-25.

11. Indian Mirror, 15 February,1898.

12. Vivekananda Ke?, Swaraj, 22ndVaishakh, 1314 B.S., p. 99.

13. Vivekananda O SamakalinBharatavarsa, Vol. 1, 1982, p.351.

14. Prabuddha Bharata, April, 1907;later reprinted in Brahmavadin,May, 1907.

15. C. F. Andrews, ‘The GreatMantram’, Vedanta Kesari,November, 1923.

16. ‘The Message of SwamiVivekananda’ – Vedanta Kesari,April, 1929. Ref.: Vivekananda OSamakalin Bharatavarsa, Vol.7,

p. 223.17. Swami Vivekananda Centenary

Memorial Volume, Calcutta,1963,p. xiii.

18. ibid., pp. 535-36.19. What Vedanta Means to Me

(Doubleday and Co., Inc.,Garden City, New York, 1960), p.55.

20. Hinduism Through the Ages byD. S. Sharma (Bharatiya VidyaBhavan, 1955), pp.121-22. Ref.:Vivekananda O SamakalinBharatavarsa, Vol.7, pp. 429-30.

21. Swami Vivekananda CentenaryMemorial Volume, pp.506-18. E.P. Chelishev was wrongly

printed.22. World Thinkers on Ramakrishna-

Vivekananda ed. by SwamiLokeswarananda, RamakrishnaMission Institute of Culture,Kolkata, 2002, p.67 (footnote).

23. From her book The World and I,George H. Doran Co., NewYork,1918.

24. Prabuddha Bharata, January1994, p.21.

25. The Mirror of Souls, Clarkson N.Potter Publishers, New York,1971, p. 310.

26. Modern Mystics, New York,University Books, Inc., 1970, p.96.

27. Translated from UdbodhanCentenary Collection ed. bySwami Purnatmananda,Udbodhan Karyalaya, Kolkata,June, 1999, p. 870.

28. The Airconditioned Nightmare(New Direction Books, New York,1945), Vol. I, pp. 47, 68-69.

29. Vivekananda and IndianFreedom by Hiren Mukherjee,Ramakrishna Mission Institute ofCulture, Kolkata, 2005, pp.4, 6,19, 21, 24, 32-33.

30. Huang Xin Chuan, a professor ofhistory of Beijing University andDeputy Director of the Instituteof South Asian Studies, Beijing,

delivered a speech on‘Vivekananda and China’ at theAsiatic Society, Calcutta, on 4January 1980. The matterreproduced is the cyclostyledsummary of that speechcirculated among the audience.A copy of the summary signed byProfessor Chuan was presentedby him to SwamiLokeswarananda, the thenSecretary of RamakrishnaMission Institute of Culture, GolPark, on 7 January, 1980.

Professor Chuan also wrote abook in Chinese on SwamiVivekananda, which waspublished from Beijing in May

1979. An autographed copy ofthe book was presented by theauthor to the RamakrishnaMission Institute of Culture on 7January 1980. Professor Chuanpresented a copy of the book toMr Nirmal Bose, Minister for Co-operatives, Government of WestBengal. He observed: ‘We inChina do not consider SwamiVivekananda just a religiousleader. We consider him one ofthe greatest social reformers ofmodern India. It is on recordthat in India he was the first tospeak of socialism. He remaineda source of inspiration for manyrevolutionaries in India.’ (The

Statesman, Tuesday, 8November, 1983, p.9)Incidentally, this copy of thebook has also been presented byMr Nirmal Bose to SwamiLokeswarananda, editor of thisbook.

The book, entitled The ModernIndian Philosopher Vivekananda: A Study, contains six chaptersdealing with the conditions inIndia prevailing at that time,Swamiji’s life and works, hisreligious and philosophicalthoughts, his social and politicaltheories, his views on China, andhis contribution to the Indianliberation movement. There are

some extracts from some of theimportant writings of SwamiVivekananda. In the appendixthere is one chapter dealing inbrief with the life, philosophy,and social thoughts of SriRamakrishna.

31. Vivekananda : East Meets West,Swami Chetanananda (VedantaSociety of St. Louis, 1995), p. vii.

32. Translated from the UdbodhanCentenary Collection, p.826.

33. Letters of Sister Nivedita, Vol.1,ed. by Sankari Prasad Basu,Nababharat, Publishers,Calcutta, 1982, p.529.

34. ‘The Footprints of Vivekananda’,

Hindustan Standard, 7 January,1953. Ref. : Vivekananda OSamakalin Bharatavarsa, Vol.7,p. 268.

35. The Discovery of India (MeridianBooks Limited, London, 1960),p.338.

36. Sri Ramakrishna andVivekananda, Advaita Ashrama,Calcutta, 1960, pp. 4-13.

37. Prabuddha Bharata, May, 1952,pp. 204-05.

38. Prabuddha Bharata, January1940, p.22.

39. Social Welfare, 21 September,1945. Ref.: Prabuddha Bharata,January, 1946, p. 45.

40. The Determining Periods ofIndian History, Bharatiya VidyaBhavan, Bombay, 1962, p.53.

40a. Translation of report appearingin the Yugantar Patrika on 21January, 1964. Ref. :Vivekananda O SamakalinBharatavarsa, Vol.7, p. 236.

41. Complete collection of Works ofTolstoy, Vol. 53, p. 106.

42. ibid., Vol. 77, p. 151.43. ibid., Vol. 78, p. 84.44. D. P. Makovitsky, Yasnaya

Polyana Notes, entry of 3 July,1908.

45. Tolstoy and India, SahityaAkademi, New Delhi, 1969, pp.

25-39.46. Prabuddha Bharata, November,

1922.47. ibid., May, 1963, p.170.48. Eastern Lights by Mahendranath

Sircar (Arya Publishing House,Calcutta, 1955), pp. 240-45 and253.

49. India in Transition (1922),pp.192-93.

50. Mysticism and the New Physics(Bantom Books, January, 1981),pp. 114-15.

51. Available in Kalam Ka Sipahi—abiography on Munshi Premchandby Amrit Roy, his son. Ref.:Translated from Bengali edition

available in Vivekananda OSamakalin Bharatavarsa, Vol.7,p. 503.

52. Prabuddha Bharata, March &April, 1927.

53. Prabuddha Bharata, May 1931,pp.243-44.

54. A letter wrote to Sister Niveditaby R. C. Datta (1902). Ref. :Letters of Sister Nivedita, Vol.1,p.534.

55. The Way of Humanism : Eastand West by RadhakamalMukerjee, Academic Books,Bombay, New Delhi, 1968, p.212

56. Prabuddha Bharata, April 1940,pp.156-57.

57. History of the FreedomMovement in India (Firma K. L.Mukhopadhyay, Calcutta,1962),Vol. I, pp. 358-63.

58. ‘Swami Vivekananda and theIndian Renaissance’ by RameshChandra Majumdar(Vivekananda CommemorativeVolume, The University ofBurdwan, 1966), 1Ref.:Vivekananda O SamakalinBharatavarsa, Vol. 7, pp. 271-72.

59. Swami Vivekananda : AHistorical Study by RameshChandra Majumdar, pp.95-96,and 108. Ref.: Vivekananda OSamakalin Bharatavarsa, Vol. 7,p. 286.

60. Prabuddha Bharata, May 1963,pp.197-98.

61. India’s Struggle for Swaraj by R.G. Pradhan, Daya PublishingHouse, Delhi, 1930, p.60.

62. Deccan Chronicle (Hyderabad),11 September, 1983.

63. Kerala Kaumudi, January 22,1963. Translated from theBengali rendition available inVivekananda O SamakalinBharatavarsa, Vol.7, pp.437-38.

64. This brief writing ofRabindranath first appeared inUdbodhan in its Ashwin, 1348issue. The title was‘Vivekananda’. At the footnote it

is mentioned : ‘At the request ofSwami Ashokananda, formerlyEditor of the Prabuddha Bharataand the present Minister-in-charge of the Vedanta Society ofSanfrancisco, Rabindranath gavethis short writing to him in themonth of Phalgun, 1335.’

The facsimile ofRabindranath’s original writingwas available to theRamakrishna Order by thecourtesy of VisvaBharati longafter its publication in Udbodhan.

65. Pravasi, Jaishtha, 1335, pp. 285-86.

66. Prabuddha Bharata, May 1963,

p.318.67. Bihar News, 1 January, 1963.

Ref. : Vivekananda O SamakalinBharatavarsa, Vol.7, p.196.

68. The Life of Vivekananda and theUniversal Gospel (AdvaitaAshrama, Calcutta, 1970), pp. 4-7; 106-14; 146; 286-89; 307-10.

69. ‘Swami Vivekananda and YoungIndia’ by SarvepalliRadhakrishnan, PrabuddhaBharata, May, 1963, pp. 183-84.

70. Swami Vivekananda CentenaryMemorial Volume, pp. x-xi.

71. Translated from ‘VivekanandaCentenary Magazine’ (1963),Howrah Vivekananda Institution.

Ref.: Vivekananda O SamakalinBharatavarsa, Vol.7, pp. 379-80.

72. Translated from Udbodhanmagazine of Agrahayan, 1347(BS) and Falgun 1357 (BS). Ref.:Vivekananda O SamakalinBharatavarsa, Vol.7, pp. 252-53.

73. Sri Aurobindo, Vol.2, 1972, p.37.74. ibid., Vol.17, 1971, p.332.75. ibid., Vol.2, p.17176. The Indian Struggle (Asia

Publishing House, Bombay etc.,1964), p. 21

77. ‘Swami Vivekananda’,Prabuddha Bharata, July, 1932,p.352.

78. Udbodhan, Ashwin, 1354, p.45979. ibid., Phalgun, 133780. Nutaner Sandhan, pp. 24-2681. Translation from the Bengali

rendition available inVivekananda O SamakalinBharatavarsa, Vol.7, pp.460, 462and 464

82. Swami Vivekananda CentenaryMemorial Volume, pp. 228-33

83. Vedanta and the West, 162(July-August, 1963), pp. 11, 13,14, 15, 16, 17

84. Vedanta and the West, 109(September-October, 1954), p.11.

85. Prabuddha Bharata, May, 1963,pp. 172-73

86. From the speech dated 15January, 1955. Ref.: Translatedfrom Bengali edition available inVivekananda O SamakalinBharatavarsa, Vol.7, pp. 198-99

87. The Story of Civilization : OurOriental Heritage (Simon &Schuster, New York, 1954), Vol.I, p. 618

88. ibid., p. 61789. ‘Recollections of Vivekananda’,

Vedanta and the West, 163,September-October, 1963(Hollywood: Vedanta Press), pp.58-60. Also : Swami

Vivekananda in the West : NewDiscoveries by Marie LouiseBurke (Advaita Ashrama,Calcutta, 1992), Vol. I, pp. 117-18

90. Pragmatism (Longmans, Green& Co., London, etc., 1913),pp.151-55

91. Marie Louise Burke, SwamiVivekananda in the West : NewDiscoveries, Vol.VI (AdvaitaAshrama, Calcutta, 1986), Vol.II, pp. 554, 556

_________________________*Jawaharlal Nehru delivered this

speech in 1949.—Editor*The author obviously mistakesAdvaita to be a person and not aphilosophy.—Editor

Biographical sketch ofthe

Great Thinkers

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHOF

THE GREAT THINKERS

A. D. Pusalker (1905-1973)

Professor A. D. Pusalker was anIndologist and the Director andCurator, Bhandarkar OrientalResearch Institute, Poona. He did hisMA in Sanskrit and obtained his PhDon Bhasa.

He contributed profusely to thefield of Indology namely Puranas andAncient Indian history and Culture.

He wrote about 100 researchpapers and edited first two volumes

o f Cultural Heritage of India (1957-59) published from the RamakrishnaMission Institute of Culture, Golpark,Kolkata. He was awarded a silvermedal by the Asiatic Society ofBombay. The President of Indiaawarded him certificate of Honour in1971 in recognition of ‘his eruditeScholarship and enlighteningcontributions to Indological Studies’.

He has authored several bookswhich include Eminent Indians,Indian Literature etc.

A. L. Basham (1914-1986)

A famous Indologist. As a visitingprofessor invited by Britain, UnitedStates, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Recipient of Desikottama Award fromVisva-Bharati University in 1985.Formerly Vivekananda Professor ofthe Calcutta Asiatic Society and thePresident of Ramakrishna Movement.The Wonder that was India is themost famous of his books.

Arcot Ramaswami Mudaliar(1887-1976)

Sir Arcot Ramaswami Mudaliar wasan outstanding educationist and aneminent physician. He earned theM D , LLD, DSL, D.Sc., F.R.C.O.G..,F.A.C.S., degrees. Sir Mudaliaradorned the post of the Vicechancellor of Madras University since1942. Since he was an educationist

par excellence, Sir Mudaliar had hisassociations with almost all theleading academic centres of learningin India. He was a high profile Indiandelegate in the annual WHO’sConference and became thechairperson of the ExecutiveCommittee of the WHO. He evenheaded UNESCO’s WHO Board.Between 1948-58, he was a memberof the Commonwealth universities. In1946, Sir Mudaliar was elected amember of the Legislative Council ofMadras. Besides all these, he hadauthored several books on medicalscience and other subjects.

Mudalier was a recipient of thePadmabhusana in 1954.

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)

Aldous Huxley was an Englishwriter and one of the most prominentmembers of the famous HuxleyFamily. He spent the latter part of hislife in United States, living in LosAngeles from 1937 until his death in1963. He was the author of ThePerennial Philosophy.

Amaury de Reincourt (1918-n.f.*)

Amaury de Reincourt was born inOrleans, France. He received his BAfrom the Sorboune and his MA fromthe University of Algiers. He hasauthored several books. Of these themost remarkable publications are

The Soul of India and The AmericanEmpire, The Eye of Shiva : EasternMysticism and Science.

His reading of the Bhagavad-Gitaas ‘the most acute, penetratingdepiction of human nature and truemorality ‘shows, how Reincourt hasstudied the Bhagavad-Gita as a book‘whose soaring beauty makes it oneof the monuments of worldliterature.’

Amiya Chakravarty (1901-1986)

Amiya Chakravarty was one of thegreatest critics of the Post Tagoreanperiod, and a well known Poet. Hewas Rabindranath’s travel companionduring his tours to Europe and

America in 1930 and to Iran and Iraqin 1932.

Annie Besant (1847-1933)

Annie Besant was a half-Irishwoman of boundless energy. MrsBesant began social reform work inLondon and joined first the FabionSociety and then the TheosophicalSociety in 1889. She was electedPresident of the Theosophical Societyin 1907 and held that position untilher death. Her life in India began in1893 with lecture tours andexpressed her views through aweekly newspaper, New India. Shefounded the Home Rule League in1916 and campaigned in London for

constitutional reform.She was elected President of the

Indian National Congress in 1871.The Indian Boy Scouts Association,the Women’s Indian Association, theSociety for the Promotion of NationalEducation, and a National Universityof Adyar near Madras are all her giftsto India.

Arnold Joseph Toynbee (1852-1883)

Arnold J. Toyenbee was an Englisheconomic historian also noted for hissocial commitment and desire toimprove the living conditions of theworking class. A collection ofToyenbee’s lectures was published

posthumously in 1884 and soonbecame a classic of British economichistory. He wrote in 12 vols., A Studyof History, a most memorable work.

Ashapurna Devi (1909 -1995)

Ashapurna Devi was an eminentwoman literateur of Bengal. She hadno formal education. She was simplya housewife. But her passion forliterature went a long way in shapingher literary self. She was born in avery conservative family but it neverwas a hindrance to her literarypractices in private. She studied theBengali Women’s plight from her fourwalls. But her interior observationswere so realistic that she became

indeed a spokeswoman of the wholewomenfolk of Bengal.

Her literary career spanned overseventy years. Naturally her literaryoeuvre was vast. Among her onehundred and seventy-six novels, hert r i l o g y , Pratham Pratisruti,Suvarnalata, Bakulkatha have wonthe hearts of Bengal. She was arecipient of several prestigiousliterary prizes which include ‘RabindraPuraskar’, ‘Sahitya Akademi Puraskar’and above all the country’s highestliterary award Jñanapitha inrecognition of her outstandingliterary contributions.

Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950)

Aurobindo Ghosh successfullycompeted in the ICS examination butdid not join the alien Government’sservice to devote himself to thefreedom struggle (1902-1910). Heretired from politics and went toPondicherry where he stayed till thelast day of his life. Amongst hisfamous writings are The Life Divine,The Synthesis of Yoga and Savitri.

Kakasaheb Kalelkar [DattatreyaBalkrishna] (1885-1961)

Kakasaheb Kalelkar was born to aSaraswata Brahmin family at Satara.He began his professional career as aschool teacher and finally he was theVice chancellor of the National

University of Gujarat.Kalelkar became an ardent

follower of Gandhi for the rest of hislife and made his principalcontributions to Gandhi’s ConstructiveWork in the field of education.

He was among those whoundertook the task of popularizingHindi as the national language,reforming the Nagari script in whichHindi was written. KakasahebKalelkar wrote many books inEnglish, Gujarati, Hindi, and Marathifor advancing Gandhi’s ideas at homeand abroad. Honoured with thePadmabhusana in 1965, he graduallywithdrew to an increasingly simpleand ascetic life.

R. Rybakov (1908-2001)

R. Rybakov was a Russian historianwho personified the Anti-Normanistvision of Russian History. Rybakovheld a chair in Russian History at theMoscow University since 1939, was adeputy dean of the University in1952-54 and administered theRussian History Institute for 40 years.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920)

Born at Ratnagiri, Tilak was afrontline leader of the IndianFreedom Movement. He was widelyacclaimed as ‘The Father of IndianUnrest’. Influenced by SwamiVivekananda and Swami Dayananda

he did a great amount of study onVedic Philosophy. He was a scholar inSanskrit and Mathematics. His worksinclude books like The Gita Rahasyaand The Arctic Home in the Vedas.

Benoy Kumar Sarkar (1887-1949)

Professor Benoy Kumar Sarkar wasa versatile genius with an originalvision of his own. A Bengali by birth,he transcended the limits of hiscountry and culture, thoroughlybecame cosmopolitan in outlook andknew the actualities of Asia andEurope in their fundamentals as few.

Bepin Chandra Pal (1858-1932)

Renowned leader of India’sFreedom Movement. In politics, heworked in collaboration with Tilak,Lajpat Rai, and Sri Aurobindo. In1906, he started a daily paper, theBande Mataram and in 1913, amonthly journal the Hindu Review. Inhis youth, he became a Brahmo; inhis later life he was greatlyinfluenced by Sankaracarya’sphilosophy and also by the Vaisnavaphilosophy. He was a great orator,prolific writer, leader of thought. SriAurobindo described him as one ofthe mightiest prophets ofnationalism.

Brahmabandhab Upadhyaya

(1861-1907)

Formerly known as BhawaniCharan Bandyopadhyaya, he was aclassmate of Narendranath Datta(later Swami Vivekananda) at theGeneral Assembly’s Institution. Helater came in contact with SriRamakrishna and Keshub ChandraSen. He turned away from Hinduismto first become a Protestant and latera Catholic, when he started Sophia in1894. He also started Swaraj andSandhya, and authored Amar BharatUddhar, Samaj Tattwa , BilatyatriSannyasir Cithi etc.

Brojendra Nath Seal (1864-1938)

Acharya Brojendra Nath Seal wasan outstanding teacher and aphilosopher of international renown.Since he was an emblem of an idealteacher he was addressed as acarya.He had a brilliant academic career.He stood first with first class inphilosophy from the University ofCalcutta in 1883. After servingdifferent colleges for a few years, hejoined the Calcutta University andheaded the department of Philosophybetween 1912 and 1921. In 1921,Brojendra Nath became the Vicechancellor of Mysore Universitywhere he remained till 1930.Rabindranath Tagore invited him tobe the President of the inaugural

ceremony of the Visva-BharatiUniversity in 1921. He knew tendifferent European and Indianlanguages. Brojendra Nath was alsoadorn with the Knighthood. Thehighest civilian honour, RajaratnaPrabin was conferred upon him bythe Mysore dynasty. People admiredhim as a ‘Moving University’. Few ofhis remarkable publications are :Neo-Romantic Movement in BengaliLiterature 1890-91, A ComparativeStudy of Christianity and Vaisnavism,Introduction to Hindu Chemistry,Positive Sciences of the AncientHindus, Rammohan : the UniversalMan, The Quest Eternal.

C.F. Andrews (1871-1940)

C.F. Andrews was an English Priestwho was an ardent admirer of bothRabindranath Tagore and MahatmaGandhi. With Gandhi Andrews workedin the Indian Civil rights struggle inSouth Africa and in the IndianIndependence Movement. He spentmany a long time at Santiniketanwith Rabindranath. His letters,written to Rabindranath, are pricelessdocuments for knowing Tagore bothas man and poet. He wrote manyarticles and authored several bookslike The Sermon on the Mount, TheRise and Growth of the Congress inIndia.

C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar (1889-1966)

C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar was aSouth Indian Brahmin. He had hisgraduation from the PresidencyCollege, Madras. Initially he joinedthe Bar. Afterwards, he was muchinfluenced by Annie Besant. Heactively participated in the HomeRul e Movement. Between 1917-18,he was elected the General Secretaryof Congress. In 1920, he became theAdvocate General and in 1931, hewas chosen the Law Minister of India.He was well-versed in both literatureand philosophy. For his academicdistinctions and administrativeacumen, he was the Vice chancellor

of Tribancore Annamalai and BenarasHindu Universities respectively.

Chakravarti Rajagopalachari(1879-1972)

Chakravarti Rajagopalachari wasthe first Indian to occupy the positionof the Governor-General of India in1948 and the last person to hold theposition until India became aRepublic in 1950.

Rajagopalachari remained inpolitical life as a Minister of Homeaffairs in New Delhi in 1951 and theChief Minister of the State of Madrasfrom 1952-54. As a result of hisdifferences with Nehru, he foundedthe ‘Swatantra Party’ in the mid

1950s.He was popularly known as a man

of reason and moderation rather thanof ideology and populism. He was apowerful orator and writer in bothTamil and English, and among hislasting legacies are his translations ofthe two epics, the Ramayana and theMahabharata.

Indian Nationalist Leader. Closelyassociated with Gandhi (from 1918);served on Working Committee ofIndian National Congress (1922-42);Chief Minister of Madras (1937-39,1952-54); Governor General of India(1948-50); founder of conservative‘Swatantra’ (Freedom Party, 1959).

Christopher Isherwood (1904-1986)

Christopher William BradshawIsherwood, the Anglo-Americannovelist and playwright, was born inEngland. He deliberately failed in histripos and left Cambridge without adegree in 1925. For the next fewyears he lived in the home of theviolinist André Mangeot whileworking as secretary to Mangeot’sstring quartet. With his first twonovels, All the Conspirators (1928)and The Memorial (1932), Isherwoodgained a measure of recognition.During the 1930s he collaboratedwith his friend W.H. Auden, theAnglo-American poet, on three verse

dramas. He immigrated to the UnitedStates in 1939, settled in SouthernCalifornia and was naturalized in1946. For several years during the1950s and early 1960s, Isherwoodtaught in a creative writing course atLos Angeles State College (nowCalifornia State University, LosAngeles). In Hollywood he metGerald Heard, a mystic-historian.Through Heard he had his firstcontact with the Vedanta Society ofSouthern California, and eventuallywith the Ramakrishna Movementthrough Swami Prabhavananda. WithSwami Prabhavananda he produced afine translation of the Hindu religiousclassic The Bhagavad Gita (1944)

and a collection of the aphorisms ofPatañjali. He wrote, Sri Ramakrishnaand His disciples and Vedanta for theWestern World.

Claude Alan Stark (n.f.)

Claude Alan Stark was once aresearch scholar in world religions,and a Chairman of a developmentcompany in Africa. He had his undergraduation at the Clark Universityfollowed by graduation in finance atthe Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology and the Babson College.He was attached to finance andgovernment for eight years in Bostonand Washington D. C. Later he tookhis BD degree from Harvard

University and became ordained intothe Christian ministry. From theBoston University he later got hisdoctorate in Christian missions andworld religions. His most widely-readbook is God of All.

D. S. Sarma (1883-1970)

D. S. Sarma joined the professionof letters as a lecturer in English andserved several Govt. Colleges ofMadras. Afterwards he became aPrincipal. He was not a professionalphilosopher but philosophy was in hisblood. He was well versed inVivekananda-Ramakrishna literaturesand wrote many articles on them. Hehad books in English on the Gita and

the Upanishads. Renascent Hinduism,The Experience of Sri Ramakrishna-Vivekananda and WesternCivilization, The RamakrishnaMovement, Intellectual Knowledgeand Spiritual Experience etc. aresome of his remarkable works.

Dalai Lama (1935—)

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lamawas born to a peasant family inNorthern Tibet on 6th July, 1935. InTibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama isbelieved to be an incarnation ofAvalokitesvara, the Buddha ofCompassion. When the Dalai Lamawas a teenager, he became the headof the Tibetan Govt. in their fight

against the occupying forces of thePeople’s Republic of China. Since1959 the Dalai Lama has been theleader of the Government in exile.His travels in the cause of peace anda free Tibet have made him aninternational celebrity and in 1989 hewas awarded the Nobel Prize forpeace. The following books are in hiscredit : The Good Heart—A BuddhistPerspective on the teachings ofJesus; Kindness, Clarity and Insight;The Four Noble Truths etc.

Ernest Cary Brown (1916-2007)

In 1916 E. C. Brown was born inBakersfield, California. Aftergraduating with honours from the

University of California, Berkley, hepursued studies in Economics atBerkley and latter at the HarvardUniversity. But the World War II hadinterrupted his studies, and Brownserved as an economist at the WarProduction Board in 1940-41. From1942 to 1947 he served as aneconomist at the Division of TaxResearch at the US TreasuryDepartment. In 1948 he received hisPhD in Economics from Harvard. CaryBrown was a leading expert on fiscalpolicy and the economics of taxation.He was a member of the MITeconomics faculty for more than 60years, and a visiting professor at Yaleand the University of Chicago as well.

Brown was also a Fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts andSciences. After his retirement fromMIT in 1986, he served as anEmeritus Professor until his death.

E. P. Chelishev (1921—)

A leading Indologist of SovietRussia, Professor Chelishev is arenowned scholar of contemporaryIndian, especially Hindi literature anda recipient of the Jawaharlal NehruPeace Award. For the last thirtyyears, he has been connected withthe spread of culture and research onVivekananda. He is one of the Vice-Presidents of the Committee forComprehensive Study of

Ramakrishna-VivekanandaMovement.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919)

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was known forher keen interests in theosophy, NewThought and Spirituality.

Poet, Writer, born in JohnstownCentre WIS. She studied briefly atthe University of Wisconsin (1867-68), and later was largly self-educated. Her sentimental andinspirational verse was immenselypopular in her day. Her poemstended to be on such subjects astemperance and in later years, onreligion and spiritualism. She wrote apoem daily in a newspaper for some

years. She also wrote fiction andessays.

Friedrich Max Müller (1823-1900)

Friedrich Max Müller was a Germanby birth. He became the greatest ofthe European Indologists in the latenineteenth and early twentiethcenturies. Max Müller was one of thefirst to evaluate properly thegreatness of RamakrishnaParamahansa and give wide publicityof his warm admiration forRamakrishna in the West.

Federico Mayor (1934—)

He was a Spanish scholar and

politician. He served as the DirectorGeneral of UNESCO from 1987-1999.Mayor obtained a doctorate inPharmacy from the Complutense ofMadrid in 1958. He was a member ofthe Honorary Board of theInternational Coalition for the decadefor the Culture of Peace and Non-violence.

Felix Marti-Ibanez (1911-1972)

Born in Cartagena, Spain, Dr FelixMarti-Ibanez had his doctorate inmedicine, and practised psychiatryfrom 1931 to 1939. Throughout Spainhe lectured on Psychology, medicalhistory, eugenics, art and literature.At the World Peace Congresses in

Geneva, New York and Mexico City,he officially represented Spain in1938.

Went to the US in 1939, and therehe held many responsible positions.Participated in the InternationalCongresses of History of Medicine,History of Science, Psychology andPsychiatry, held since 1950 in variouscountries. The magazineInternational Record of Medicine hadhim as its Editor-in-Chief, and he wasthe International Editor of the Journalof Clinical & ExperimentalPsychopathology. Besides,MartiIbanez was the co-founder andAssociate Editor of two medicaljournals — Antibiotics &

Chemotherapy and AntibioticMedicine & Clinical Therapy. Hiswritings on the history of medicinei nc l ude Centaur: Essays on theHistory of Medical Ideas and Men,Molds, and History etc.

Francis Younghusband (1863-1942)

Sir Francis Younghusband was aBritish Army officer, explorer andspiritualist. He is remembered chieflyfor his travels in the Far East andCentral Asia and his writings on thesubject.

George C. Williams (1926—)

George C. Williams is an Americanevolutionary Biologist. He received aPhD in Biology from the University ofCalifornia at Los Angeles in 1955. Heis also an advocate of evolutionarymedicine. He is the author of anoutstanding book, Adaptation andNatural Selection.

Gopal Halder (1902-1993)

Gopal Halder was a distinguishedwriter of Bengal. Before he turned toliterature, he took part in therevolutionary movement of Bengal.His professional career began as alaw practitioner in Noakhali. He leftthe profession and in 1926 he joinedas the sub-editor of the ‘Welfare’

which had its link with Prabasi. Alongwith this, his research in linguisticsunder the guidance of Acharya SunitiKumar Chatterji continued till 1928.Afterwards, he went to Noakhali tojoin Fenny College as a teacher. Hewas there between 1929-30. Hereturned to Calcutta and became aresearch associate in the departmentof linguistics of the University ofCalcutta. Finally he worked inPrabasi, Hindusthan Standard,Modern Review.

Among his literary contributions,which are many, mentions could bemade of Samskrtir Rupantar, BangaliSamskrtir Rup, Bangla Sahitya OManavsvikrti, Rus Sahityer

Ruparekha, Imraji SahityerRuparekha etc. He was awarded theD.Litt. degrees (Honoris Causa) byseveral universities of Bengal for hisoutstanding contributions to Bengaliliterature and criticism.

Govind Ballabh Pant (1887-1961)

Govind Ballabh Pant had anillustrious political career. He did hisgraduation in Law from the AllahabadUniversity and joined the Bar atNainital. Subsequently he wasinvolved in political activities andbecame the President of theCongress Party of his province. Hewas offered the Chief Ministership ofNorthern India in 1937 and he

resigned in 1939 as protest for theanti-Indian activities of the BritishGovernment in India. He wasimprisoned several times by theruling British Government for his anti-British feelings. In 1954, followingIndia’s political freedom, GovindBallabh became the Home Minister ofIndia, the post he held until his deathin 1961.

In 1959, the Government of Indiaconferred the highest civilian awardBharat Ratna upon Govind BallabhPant.

Harlow Shapley (1885-1972)

Harlow Shapley was an Americanastronomer. He was born on a firm in

Nashville, Missouri, and dropped outof school with only the equivalent ofa fifth grade education. Afterstudying at home and covering crimestories as a Newspaper Reporter,Shapley returned to complete a sixyear high school Programme in onlytwo years graduating as classValedictorian.

Henry Miller (1891-1980)

Henry Miller was an Americanwriter and painter. He is known forbreaking with existing literary formsand developing a new sort of ‘novel’that is a mixture of novel,autobiography, social criticism,philosophical reflection, surrealist

free association and mysticism. Healso wrote travel memories andessays of literary criticism andanalysis. He was awarded the FrenchLegion of the Honour in 1976. Hismuch known works are Tropic ofCancer, Book of Friends.

Henry R. Zimmer (1890-1943)

Henry R. Zimmer was an Indologistand historian of South-Asian art. Hewas born in Greisfield, Germany.Zimmer began his career studyingSanskrit and linguistic at theUniversity of Berlin, where hegraduated in 1913. Between 1920-24he lectured at Ernst-Moritz-ArudtUniversity in Greisfield, thereafter

moving to Heidelberg to fill the chairof Indian Philosophy.

Hiren Mukherjee (1907-2004)

Professor Hiren Mukherjee was alegendary Communist Leader, anaccomplished Parliamentarian and aScholar of eminence. He taught atRippon College, Presidency Collegeand at the University of Calcuttabefore his participation in activepolitics.

He was a man of versatile genius.Being a prolific writer he wrote bothin Bengali and English for severalmagazines.

Among his chief works one can

mention the names of the following :Indian Struggle for Freedom, underMarxist Banner; Portrait of Marxism;India and Marxism.

He was honoured with the‘Mujaffar Ahmed Smrti Puraskar’ forhis book Yuger Yantrana O PratyerSamkat.

He was also the recipient of thePadmabhusana in 1990 and thePadmavibhusana in 1991.

Huang Xin Chuan (n.f.)

Professor of History of BeijingUniversity, China and Deputy Directorof the Institute of Asian Studies atthe Academy of Social Sciences,

Beijing, he wrote a book in Chineseon Swami Vivekananda entitled TheModern Indian PhilosopherVivekananda : A Study. Also one ofthe Vice-Presidents of the Committeefor Comprehensive Study ofRamakrishnaVivekananda Movement.

Huston Smith (1919 —)

Professor Huston Smith was bornat Soochaw, China, and spent thefirst seventeen years of his life there.Between 1944 and 1947 he firsttaught at the University of Coloradobefore going to the University ofDenver. During the next ten years hewas attached to the WashingtonUniversity in St. Louis, Missouri.

Afterwards he went to the MIT as aProfessor of Philosophy, and stayedthere from 1958 to 1973. Finally hemoved to the Syracuse Universityand became the Thomas J. WatsonProfessor of Religion andDistinguished Adjunct Professor ofPhilosophy until his retirement in1983 and currently is having anEmeritus status. He also served asthe Visiting Professor of ReligiousStudies at the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley. Twelve honorarydegrees were awarded to him andhis fourteen books include TheWorld’s Religions which was sold overtwo and a half million copies, andWhy Religion Matters has won the

Wilbur Award for the best book onreligion published in 2001.

Jagadish Chandra Bose (1858-1937)

Jagadish Chandra Bose was aBengali Physicist and Science fictionwriter, who pioneered theinvestigation of radio and microwaveoptics, made extremely significantcontributions to plant science, andlaid the foundations of experimentalscience in the Indian subcontinent.He is considered the father of radioscience.

Jadunath Sarkar (1870-1958)

Sir Jadunath Sarkar was thefounder of modern, scientific,historical scholarship in India basedon archival and primary sources. Hereceived many honours including theKnighthood in Britain as well as inIndia. Sarkar became the mostfamous historian of late Mughal Indiaand an acknowledged master ofMaratha history. He authored manyvolumes on Aurangzeb. He was thedoyen of Indian historians in the 20thcentury. He acquired internationalrecognition as a profound scholar andgreat writer on historical and othertopics of national and internationalinterest. His researches remind us ofthe great work by German historian

Ranke.

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964)

Famous Indian politician and thefirst Prime Minister of IndependentIndia. An ardent follower of Gandhiji,he was the architect of India’s foreignpolicy. He was a prolific writer.Discovery of India, Glimpses of WorldHistory, Letters from a Father to aDaughter etc. are his famouspublications. He was awarded theBharat Ratna in 1955.

Jay Prakash Narayan (1902-1979)

Jay Prakash Narayan wasaffectionately known as J.P. Jay

Prakash Narayan was born in Biharand educated in Patna and Benaras.He was influenced by the Marxistideas and by the writings of M. N.Roy. Soon after returning to Indiafrom USA where he was a student in1929, he joined the CivilDisobedience Movement of 1930 ledby Mahatma Gandhi. Contact withfellow prisoners Achyut Patwardhan,Ashok Mehta, and Minoo Masanistrengthened J.P.’s Socialist leaningsand in 1935 and 1936 they organizedthe All India Socialist Congress Partywhich was connected with the ‘KisanSabha’ and acted as a left-inclinedsinger group within the IndianNational Congress and general

national movement.J. P. renounced party politics soon

after independence and joinedVinova Bhave, seeing in his ‘BhudanMovement’ ‘the germ of a totalagrarian revolution’.

In 1974, he became the symbol ofan oppositional, if not exactlyrevolutionary movement.

Though considered to be thepatriarch and spiritual guide of theJanata Party Coalition that came tothe power after the elections ofMarch, 1977, Jay Prakash Narayanrefrained from taking up any positionof formal leadership.

As man Jay Prakash Narayan

commanded respect from all quartersand people reverentially called him‘Lokanayak’ (Leader of the People).

Joseph Campbell (1904-1987)

Professor Joseph Campbell was awriter and orator, best known for hiswork in the fields of comparativemythology and comparative religion.Campbell was also an accomplishedathelete, receiving rewards in trackand field events.

K. M. Munshi [Kannaiyalal ManeklalMunshi] (1887-1971)

K. M. Munshi was born in Broach inSouth Gujarat in a high middle class

Brahmin family. He was profoundlyinfluenced by Sri Aurobindo Ghosh,M. K. Gandhi, Sardar BallabhbhaiPatel and Bulabhai Desai. He drewinspiration from the Vedic culture andthe classic Sanskrit literature.

Munshi founded a number ofacademic and cultural institutions.His greatest contribution was thefoundation of the Bharatiya VidyaBhavan which brought out theHistory and Culture of the IndianPeople in eleven volumes.

Munshi was a prolific writer inGujarati and English. His majorEnglish works are : Gujarat and itsliterature, The Changing Shape ofIndian Politics, The Pilgrimage of

Freedom. The autobiographical andliterary writings of Munshi deserve animportant place in Indian literature.These works have been translated ina number of Indian languagesincluding Hindi.

He was elected to the ConstituentAssembly in 1946. He was animportant member of the DraftingCommittee of the Constitution ofIndia. Munshi was also the FoodMinister of India and the Governor ofUttar Pradesh. In 1960, he resignedfrom the Congress and joined the‘Swatantra Party’ founded by C.Rajagopalachari.

K. M. Panikkar (1894-1963)

K. M. Panikkar was a scholar,journalist, historian, administratorand diplomat. Educated at theUniversity of Oxford, Panikkar readfor the Bar at the Middle Temple,London, before returning to India,where he then taught at CalcuttaUniversity. He turned to journalism in1925 as editor of the HindustanTimes.

Lal Bahadur Shastri (1904-1966)

Lal Bahadur Shastri was the PrimeMinister of India from 1964 until hisdeath in 1966. He had anunimpeachable political career andserved the Central Ministry first as itsRailway Minister. In 1956, he

resigned in the wake of a fatalRailway accident while owing its fullresponsibility.

In 1958, he became India’sCommerce & Industry Minister. In1961, he was the Home Minister ofIndia.

During his tenure as the PrimeMinister of India, the Indo-Pak warbroke out. India’s victory in that warowes much to Lal Bahadur Shastri.

The surname ‘Shastri’ used afterhis name, was in fact a title whichwas conferred upon him after hisgraduation in Philosophy from the‘Kasi’ (Benaras) Sanskrit University.

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)

Russian novelist who served theRussian army from 1852 to 1854.Authored War and Peace (1865-69)and Anna Karenina (1875-77). After1876 he developed a form ofChristian anarchism and devotedhimself to social reforms.

Leroy S. Rouner (1930-2006)

Leroy S. Rouner was AssistantProfessor of Philosophy at the UnitedTheological College, Bangalore. Hedid his undergraduate work atHarvard before taking his B D atUnion Theological Seminary and PhDat Columbia University. He haswritten on the Philosophy of Religionfor journals in India and the United

States. He contributed to MadrasChristian College’s Rethinking OurRole; edited Philosophy, Religion,and the Coming World Civilization(Essays in honour of William ErnestHocking).

Emma Calvé (1858-1942)

Emma Calvé was one of thelegendary singer artists of Chicagoduring 1890s. In fact she was equallyfamous for her melodious voice onopera performances in otherEuropean countries. During SwamiVivekananda’s visit to Chicago,Emma Calvé had had the opportunityto have direct contact with him, whocame upon her life like a messiah.

Emma Calvé received Swamiji’sblessings profusely.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi(1869-1948)

M. K. Gandhi was an Indiannationalist, popularly known as‘Bapuji’—the Father of the Nation.Studied Law in London (1888-1891),practised in India (1893).Championed the cause of the blacksin South Africa (1893). Presided overthe Indian National Congress (1925-1934). Author of Hind Swaraj (1909),The Story of My Experiments withTruth, etc.

Mahendranath Sircar (1882-1954)

Dr Mahendranath Sircar first taughtis Sanskrit College, Calcutta and thenbecame the Professor of Philosophyin Presidency College and theUniversity of Calcutta respectively.He presided over the IndianPhilosophical Congress held in KasiViswavidyalaya (1947). He had a lotof books in his credit : UpanisaderAlo; Tantrer Alo; Yoga Paricaya ;System of Vedantic Thought andCulture; Hindu Mysticism; EasternLights etc.

Manabendra Nath Roy (1887-1954)

Manabendra Nath Roy aliasManabendra Nath Bhattacharya

popularly known as M. N. Roy was arefreshingly original and creativethinker. He was a great revolutionaryfrom his early youth and laterbecame the founder and organizer ofthe Communist Movement in India.At an advanced stage he became aRadical Humanist than a professionalcommunist.

Michael Talbot (1953-1992)

Michael Talbot was the author of anumber of books highlightingparallels between ancient mysticismand quantum mechanics andespousing a theoritical model ofreality that suggests the physicaluniverse is a kin to a giant hologram.

Mohitlal Majumdar (1888-1952)

Mohitlal Majumdar was an eminentpoet, critic and teacher. He wasknown for his outspokenness. He wasa regular contributor to SanibarerCithi. His poems were published inmonthly magazines like Bharati etc.He even edited and publishedBankim Chandra Chatterjee’smagazine, Bangadarsan. His poeticaland critical works include viz. :Vismarani, Swapan Pasari,Kavyamañjusa, Sahitya Vitan,Adhunik Bangala Sahitya, VividhaPravandha, Srikanter Saratcandra,Bankim Varan, Kavi Sri Madhusudanetc.

Muhammad Daud Rahbar (n.f.)

Professor Muhammad Daud wasborn in Lahore, Pakistan. Rahbar,meaning ‘Guide’, is a pen-nameadopted by him. From his great-grandfather to his father, all wereteachers of Arabic and Persianliterature. Even at the age of 16, heprepared and read a research paperat an All India Oriental Conference inBenaras. He had his education at theGovernment College in Lahorefollowed by the Oriental College ofthe Punjab University. He then wentto Cambridge University in England,and in 1953 got his PhD in Orientalstudies. His teaching profession tookhim to many places like the McGill

(Canada), Ankara (Turkey), HartfordSeminary Foundation, the Universityof Wisconsin and the NorthwesternUniversity. In Boston University hehas been Associate Professor ofWorld Religions in the School ofTheology since 1968. His area ofinterest and research are as variedas religion, aesthetics, folk religion,essential religious phenomena,comparative religions, folk mysticismand Muslim biography. He has somebooks to his credit.

Munshi Premchand (1880-1936)

Munshi Premchand (Dhanpat Roy)was an Indian author of novels andshort stories in both Hindi and Urdu.

He pioneered the adaptation ofIndian themes to Western literarystyles. Premchand’s works depict thesocial evils of arranged marriages,the abuses of the Britishbureaucracy, and exploitation of therural peasantry by moneylenders andofficials.

Premchand’s novels include :Godan, Premasram, Rangbhumi,Gaban, Nirmala, Kayakalp etc.

Nagendranath Gupta (1861-1940)

Nagendranath Gupta was aneminent journalist and a great writer.In 1884, he became the Editor ofPhoenix which was published fromLahore. In 1891 and 1905

respectively, Nagendranath lookedafter the editorial works of LahoreTribune and a weekly paper IndianPeople which was published fromAllahabad. In 1901 Nagendranathalongwith BrahmabandhabUpadhyaya published a monthlyEnglish paper, The TwentiethCentury. For sometime, he editedPradip O Prabhat. He wrote manyshort stories and general novels. Hecollected and edited the versecompositions of Vidyapati OGovindadas Jha on behalf of theMaharaja of Darbhanga who financedthe whole literary project. A fewyears before his death,Nagendranath joined the court of

Maharaja Manindra Chandra Nandi ashis private secretary.

Nicholas K. Roerich (1874-1947)

Born in October 1874 in St.Petersburg, Russia, his original namewas Nikolay Konstantinovich Ryorikh.Once a scenic designer for SergeyPaviovich Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes,he became an archaeologist,landscape painter and popularmystic. Roerich immigrated to the USin 1920, where he became a reputedpainter, seer, guru and peacenik. Hismore than seven thousand paintingshave now their places in differentmuseums and galleries around theglobe. As a talented writer he wrote

for many eminent Indian journals likeModern Review, Prabuddha Bharataetc. During his time, Roerich wasuniversally revered as the greatestliving Apostle of culture, and becamethe first President of the World of Art.In 1929 Roerich proposed to have apact among the countries of theworld for preservation of all art andscience treasures. The legal form forthe pact was eventually drawn, andwas accepted by the League ofNations in 1930. Later this pact,known as ‘Roerich Pact’, wasaccepted by various countries. ‘WhenI think of Nicholas Roerich’,Jawaharlal Nehru once said, ‘I amastounded at the scope and

abundance of his activities andcreative genius.’ During the lasttwenty years of his life, Roerich hadhis residence in India at the stunningKulu Valley of the Himachal Pradesh.He had a wonderful book of paintingsThe Himalayas.

Paul Brunton (1898-1981)

Paul Brunton was born RaphaelHurst and later changed his name toBrunton Paul and then Paul Brunton.He was a British Philosopher, mystic,traveller and guru. He left ajournalistic career to live amongyogis, mystics and holymen andstudied a wide variety of Eastern andWestern esoteric teachings. His two

important works : In Search of SecretIndia; Secret Path.

Philip Glass (1973 — )

Philip Glass has had anextraordinary and unprecedentedimpact upon the musical andintellectual life of his time. Theoperas—’Einstein on the Beach’,‘Satyagraha’, ‘Akhnaten’ and ‘TheVoyage’ among others—playthroughout the world’s leadinghouses, and rarely to an empty seat.Born in Baltimore, he began hismusical studies at the age of eight.Glass has always gone his own way.

Pitirim Alexandrovitch Sorokin

(1889-1968)

Pitirim A. Sorokin was a Russian-American Sociologist. Academic andPolitical Activist in Russia, heimmigrated from Russia to the UnitedStates in 1923. He founded theDepartment of Sociology at HarvardUniversity. He is best known for hiscontribution to the social cycletheory.

Prafulla Chandra Ray (1861-1944)

A distinguished Chemist andeducationist Acharya (Sir) PrafullaChandra Roy was the founder of the‘Bengal Chemical & PharmaceuticalWorks Ltd.’ in Calcutta. He was a

brilliant student who was awardedthe DSc degree from the university ofEdinbourgh for his outstandingresearch in Chemistry. He was arecipient of the prestigious Hopeprize from the said university inrecognition of his thesis.

He was an outstanding teacherwho chaired the post of PalitProfessor of Chemistry at the ScienceCollege of the University of Calcutta.His love for the students anddevotion to his research, have beenproverbial.

He believed in ‘Plain living andhigh thinking’ and was involved inmany benevolent services for thewelfare of his country. He was a key

figure in introducing the vernacular toteach science. Prafulla Chandra wasadorn with several honours whichwere bestowed upon him by severalInstitutions and Organizations athome and abroad.

Among his important publicationswhich of course are many, we needto mention his autobiography, Lifeand Experiences of a Bengali Chemistand History of Hindu Chemistry (twovolumes).

Pramathanath Tarkabhusan(1865-1944)

Professor PramathanathTarkabhusan was basically a SanskritScholar. Later on he became a

Professor in Indology. In 1858, hejoined the Sanskrit College to teachSmrti. When Sanskrit was introducedin the Postgraduate classes atCalcutta University, he wasassociated with the department.After his retirement from SanskritCollege in 1922 he went to BenarasHindu University. He wanted toreform some social codes for theHindus and worked with PanditMadan Mohan Malavya for the samecourse. In 1911 he was honouredwith the title, Mahamahopadhyayaby the Govt. of India. And the

D.Litt.(Honon’s Causa) degree wasconferred upon him by the BenarasHindu University. He authored

several books : Karmayoga, SanatanHindu, Bangalar Vaisnavdharma etc.

Protap Chandra Mozoomdar(1840-1905)

Protap Chandra Mozoomdar was amember of the Hindu reformmovement of the Brahmo Samaj, anda close associate of Keshub ChandraSen. He is best known for hisresearch into the Oriental aspects ofthe teachings of Jesus. He also wrotea biography of Sri Ramakrishna ofwhom he expressed deep admiration.

Romesh Chandra Dutt (1848-1909)

Romesh Chandra Dutt was aBengali, civil servant, economichistorian and translator of theRamayana and the Mahabharata. Hewas the President of Indian NationalCongress in 1899. He studied law atMiddle Temple, London, was calledto the bar, and qualified for theIndian Civil Service in the openexamination in 1869.

Ramesh Chandra Majumdar(1888-1980)

A noted historian and academic, hewas the Vice-President of theInternational Committee forpubl ishing History of Mankind :Cultural and Scientific Development.

Hony. D. Litt. from CalcuttaUniversity, Rabindra BharatiUniversity and Jadavpur University.His publications include the 11 vols.History and Culture of the IndianPeople; History of FreedomMovement in India (3 vols.); AncientIndian Colonies in far-East; SwamiVivekananda; History of India (4vols.) etc.

R. G. Pradhan (1876-n.f.)

R. G. Pradhan is an ex-administrator and bureaucrat in theIndian Government. He was theUnion Home Secretary in the RajibGandhi’s Government. He was inservice of the Government of India

for 36 years. He later was an IndianRepresentative diplomat inInternational Trade and Commerce inGeneva for ten years. His remarkablepublication is entitled, India’sStruggle for Swaraj.

Ratnamuthu Sugathan (1902-1970)

He was born in a poor family inAlissery, Alleppy, erstwhileTravancore State’s nerve centre ofinland water trade and the coirindustry.

Sugathan started his public lifethrough social work and organizedhis class, the working class. Hencehis pioneering work in the field of

organized labour earned him thename ‘Father of The Trade UnionMovement in Kerala’.

For fifteen years Sugathan(Sreedharan) taught in the AsianPrimary Grant School atKanhiramchira. During this period hewas in great demand at Socio-Cultural gatherings as an effectivespeaker.

Sugathan was both powerful writerand a speaker. He was an equallyeffective columnist. His collectedverses were published under theMalayalam title Proletarian. Acollection of his essays has also beenpublished under the title JanakiyaSahitya Vicaram.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)

Rabindranath Tagore was arenowned literateur, philosopher andeducationist. First Asian to beawarded the Nobel Prize for literature(1913). He resigned the Knighthoodin protest against military atrocitiesat Jalianwallabagh (1919).

Radhakamal Mukerjee[Mukhopadhyaya] (1890-1968)

Professor Radhakamal Mukerjeewas a recipient of the PremchandRoychand Scholarship. He taught atBerhampur Krishnanath College.Later on he joined the University ofCalcutta. Finally he moved to

Lucknow for his appointment atLucknow University as its Principal(Vice chancellor). As an eminenteconomist, he visited severaluniversities both at home and abroadon invitations to deliver lectures. Hewrote a good number of books whichinclude Democracies of the East : Astudy in Comparative Politics, Theoryand Art of Mysticism, The SocialStructure of Values, The Culture andArt of India etc.

Radhakumud Mukerjee[Mukhopadhyaya] (1881 - 1963)

Professor Radhakumud Mukerjeehad a very distinguished academiccareer. He passed the BA Honours in

two subjects in 1901 and hecompleted even his post graduationin history in the same year. This wasindeed a record in the annals ofCalcutta University. In 1902 he againpassed the MA examination inEnglish. In 1905, he was a recipientof the Premchand RoychandScholarship. In 1905 he obtained hisPhD degree too.

He joined the profession of lettersin 1903 and began to teach Englishliterature at Ripon College (presentSurendranath College). Later on heserved several educationalinstitutions outside Bengal. Finally hesettled down in Lucknow where hejoined the Lucknow University as the

Head of the Dept. of History.He received several honours from

different organizations for hisindefatigable endeavour to the causeof Indian History and her civilization.The Government of India conferredthe Padmabhusana Award upon himin 1957. His remarkable publicationsinclude A History of Indian Shipping,Local Government in Ancient India,Nationalism in Hindu Culture,Chandragupta Maurya & His Timesetc.

Rajendra Prasad (1884-1963)

Rajendra Prasad was the firstPresident of the Republic of India(1950-62). He was a comrade of

Mahatma Gandhi in the earliest Non-Cooperation Movements forindependence and was also thePresident of Congress Party (1934,1939 and 1947). By profession hewas a lawyer-turned journalist.

He was a student of PresidencyCollege in Calcutta. He practised atthe Calcutta High Court and in 1916he moved to the Patna High Courtwhere he founded the Bihar LawWeekly. In 1917, he was recruited byMahatma Gandhi to help in aCampaign to improve conditions forpeasants exploited by the Britishindigo planters in Bihar. InSeptember, 1946 he was sworn in asMinister for Food and Agriculture in

the Interim Government precedingfull independence. From 1946 to1949 he presided over the IndianConstituent Assembly and helped toshape the Constitution.

Richard Schiffman (n.f.)

Richard Schiffman lived in India fora number of years and studied Hinduspirituality under several spiritualMasters. He is the author of SriRamakrishna—A Prophet for the NewAge. He has an open mind and he isalso knowledgeable. He examines SriRamakrishna’s mystic experiences.

Romain Rolland (1866-1944)

Romain Rolland was a French manof letters. Received 1915 Nobel Prizefor literature. His works includedJean Christophe (1904-1912) andpacifist manifestos collected in An-dessus dé lamelee (1915), secondnovel cycle L’ameenchanteé (1922-1933); historical and philosophicalplays collected in Le Theatre de larevolution and Les Tragedies de la foi(1913); biographies Beethoven(1903), Michel-Angelo (1905), Tolstoi(1911), and Mahatma Gandhi (1924),The Life of Ramakrishna, The Life ofVivekananda and the UniversalGospel.

Sarat Chandra Bose (1889-1950)

Sarat Chandra Bose was the elderbrother of Subhas Chandra Bose. Hecompleted both his postgraduationand law in 1911. Later on he joinedthe Bar in Cuttack. He did the Bar atLaw from England and returned toIndia in 1918. Soon after, he wasinvolved in the Freedom Movementof India and was imprisoned severaltimes for his anti-British activity. Hewas elected the Alderman of CalcuttaCorporation.

Between the years 1937-39, SaratChandra was a member of theCongress Working Committee. Hewas a founder of the ‘SocialistRepublican Party’. In 1948, he beganto publish a daily newspaper Nation

in English. He was an HonourableMinister of the Indian Republic,following her independence.

Sarojini Naidu (1879-1949)

Sarojini Naidu was born to aremarkable Brahmin parents inHyderabad. She was the daughter ofDr Aghornath Chattopadhyaya.Sarojini had a brilliant academiccareer at home, in London and inCambridge and was widely acclaimedfor the poetry she published between1905 and 1917. She was popularlyknown as the ‘Nightingale of the East’for her poetical compositions inEnglish. Sarojini was electedPresident of the Indian National

Congress in 1925 and facedimprisonment after the 1942 ‘QuitIndia Movement’. She became thefirst Woman Governor of a State inIndependent India and died in office.Bird of Time, The Broken Wing,Golden Threshold, The Songs of Indiaare some of her chief poetical works.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888-1975)

He was philosopher, humanist,educationist and orientalist. Electedthe Vice-President of India (1952);unanimously elected the President ofthe Republic of India (1962-67).Amongst his many works are IndianPhilosophy (1923-27), The

Philosophy of the Upanishads (1924),Eastern Religions and WesternThought (1939), East and West(1955).

Satis Chandra Chattopadhyaya(1873-1938)

Professor Satis ChandraChattopadhyaya had a brilliantacademic carrier. He first taught atTangail College. In 1901, he joinedBrajomohan College, Barisal wherehe came in close contact with AswiniDatta. In fact, Sri Datta initiated himin Nationalist Movement. DuringBarisal famine, Satis Chandra playeda very significant role. He sufferedimprisonment in 1908. For his

involvement in Indian NationalistMovement, he had to quitBrajomohan College. He came toCalcutta where he served bothSurendranath College and CityCollege. In 1924, he again came backto Barisal as the Principal ofBrajomohan College. In 1911, he wasconverted to a Brahmo. Of course inthe years to come, Satis Chandrawas drawn to Vaisnavism.

Satyendra Nath Bose (1894-1974)

A scientist and teacher ofinternational fame. His numerousscientific papers (published from1918 to 1956) contributed tostatistical mechanics, the

electromagnetic properties of theionosphere, the theories of X-raycrystallography andthermoluminescence and unified fieldtheory. Bose’s Planck’s Law and theHypothesis of Light Quanta (1924)led Einstein to seek him out forcollaboration. This Indianmathematician and physicist isspecifically noted for his collaborationwith Albert Einstein in developing atheory regarding the gas-likequalities of electromagneticradiation.

Sayed Mujtaba Ali (1904-1974)

Sayed Mujtaba Ali was an eminentliterateur and a distinguished

linguist. At the call of MahatmaGandhi, he left the school and joinedthe Non-violence Movement.Between 1921 and 26, he studied atSantiniketan. After the completion ofhis studies at the Visva-BharatiUniversity, he went to Kabul wherehe was appointed a Lecturer inEnglish and French in the KabulEducation Service. He was awarded ascholarship by the German Govt.Between 1928 and 30, he studied atthe University of Berlin and Bonn andobtained his PhD degree. Afterwards,he became an itinerant and travelledacross the whole of Europe includingJerusalem and Damascus. After hisreturn in 1936, he was invited to

chair the Comparative Religion Dept.at Baroda. In 1950, he joined the AllIndia Radio as its Station Director.He headed the Dept. of IslamicStudies at Santiniketan for a fewyears.

Among his notable publicationsmention may be made of DeseBidese, Pañcatantra, Cacakahini etc.In 1949, he was awarded the NaraSingha Das Memorial Prize for hisoutstanding contributions to Bengaliliterature.

Shyama Prasad Mookerjee (1901-1953)

Shyama Prasad Mookerjee was theson of an intellectual giant and a

leading jurist Sir AshutoshMookerjee. He became the Vicechancellor of the Calcutta Universityin 1934 at the age of 33. He waselected to the Bengal LegislativeAssembly in 1929 on a Congressticket. He again returned to theBengal Legislature in 1937. Later onhe joined the Hindu Mahasabha in1939 and became its President. Hefounded the Bharatiya Janasangha in1951 and returned to the first LokSabha in 1952. He joined the firstNational Government in August, 1947as Minister for Industries andsupplies. For his differences withNehru in regard to the latter’s policytowards Pakistan, he resigned from

the Government and organizedopposition in Parliament.

Sivanath Sastri (1847-1919)

Sivanath Sastri was a scholar,religious reformer, educator, writerand historian. He played an activerole in the Brahmo Samaj of his timeand kept a wonderful record ofevents but for which it would havebeen difficult to know andunderstand his turbulent age. Hisviews have occasionally beencriticized. He was not merely adetached historian but also an activeparticipant of the age. His booksinclude History of the Brahmo Samaj,Ramtanu Lahidi O Tatkalin Banga

Samaj etc.

Subhas Chandra Bose (1897—?)

Indian Politician. Supported Gandhiand joined Swaraj Party (1923);Chief Executive Officer of Calcutta(1924); President of Bengal Congress(1927); led Bengal delegation toNational Congress (1928); advocatedcomplete independence for India;many times imprisoned; wrote TheIndian Struggle (1935) and TarunerSwapna; President of the IndianNational Congress (1938).

Subrahmanya Bharati (1882-1921)

Subrahmanya Bharati was anoutstanding Indian writer of thenationalist period. He was in fact thefather of the modern Tamil style. Hereceived little formal education, stillhe translated English writings intoTamil for several magazines andlater joined the Tamil dailyne wspa pe r Swadesamitram. Thisexposure to political affairs led to hisinvolvement in the extremist wing ofthe Indian National Congress, and, asa result, he was forced to flee toPondicherry, a French Colony, wherehe lived in exile from 1910 to 1919.During this period, Subrahmanya’snationalistic poems and essays werea popular success. His best known

works include Pañcali Sabadam(Pañcali’s vow), Kannanpattu (‘Songsto Krsna’). Many of his English workswere collected in Agni and otherPoems and Translations and Essaysand other Prose Fragments.

Suniti Kumar Chatterji (1890-1977)

An internationally renownededucationist, linguist and anextraordinary luminary in theacademic world. Among his Englishpublications are : Origin andDevelopment of Bengali Language(ODBL, in several volumes), ABengali Phonetic Reader, Indo-Aryanand Hindi, Languages and Literatures

of Modern India, Africanism, Baltsand Aryans in their Indo-EuropeanBackground, and India and Ethiopiafrom the Seventh Century B.C., aswell as a large number of papers andmonographs.

Tarasankar Bandyopadhyaya(1898-1971)

Tarasankar Bandyopadhyaya wasan outstanding literary figure of postRabindranath, post Sarat Chandra ofBengal. In 1921 he was involved inthe Non-violence Movement ofBengal and was imprisoned. He wasin jail again in 1930. Afterwards heresolved to serve his motherlandthrough literary practices. Until death

he served Bengali literature untiringlyand wrote several rewarding novelsand short stories which includeHansulibanker Upakatha,Dhatridevata, Saptapadi,Ganadevata, Jalsaghar, Kavi,Pañcagram. Many of them have beenfilmed like his short stories, Bedeni,Dakharkara. He was a recipient ofSarat Smrti Puraskar, JagattariniSmrti Padak, Rabindra Puraskar,Sahitya Academy Puraskar. India’shighest literary award Jñanapithawas conferred upon him along withthe civilian titles the Padmasri andPadmabhusana of the Govt. of India.He was the President of the BangiyaSahitya Parishad.

Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

Thomas Merton was one of themost influential Catholic authors ofthe twentieth century. A Trappistmonk of the Abbey of our lady ofGethsemani, in the American State ofKentucky.

U Thant (1909-1974)

U Thant was born in a Burmesewell-to-do family at Pantanaw, BritishIndia (which later became Burma*) in1909. His education at the Universityof Yangôn (Rangoon) remainedincomplete due to his father’s death.U. Thant returned to Pantanaw andstarted as a teacher at the National

High School. Later at the age of 25he became the headmaster of thatschool. During this time he grew aclose friendship with U Nu, a manfrom neighbouring Maubin who wasthe local superintendent of schools. UNu would later become the PrimeMinister of Burma. U Nu as a PrimeMinister of the newly independentBurma took U. Thant to Rangoon in1948, and appointed him in animportant Government post. From.1951 to 1957 U Thant acted as theSecretary to the Prime Minister. From1957 to 1961 he served as Burma’spermanent representative to theUnited Nations. In the United Nationshe was appointed as an Acting

Secretary-General from November 3,1961, and later became Secretary-General on November 30, 1962. Hewas reappointed for a second term inthe UNO as its Secretary-General onDecember 2, 1966 and continued inthat chair till his retirement onDecember 31, 1971. Following hisfarewell from the United Nations, TheNew York Times wrote: ‘…the wisecounsel of this dedicated man ofpeace will still be needed after hisretirement.’

Vincent Sheean (1899-1975)

Vincent Sheean was born inIllinois, USA. Even during his ChicagoUniversity days, he worked as a

reporter with the Daily Maroon. Laterhe took a job with the Chicago DailyNews. In 1922 Vincent became aforeign correspondent of the ChicagoTribune and travelled to differentcountries. He had the repetitive luckof witnessing history’s mostimportant events. He was in Italywhen Mussolini’s Black Shirts tookover the streets. In the early days ofthe Communist revolution he was inChina. He witnessed the unfolding ofthe Bolshevism in the Soviet Russia.In 1929 he visited Jerusalem and sawthe Palestinian uprising. During theSecond World War his assignmentwith the New York Herald Tribunetook him, among other places, to

China and India. Purely for personalreason he revisited India in 1947,and within three days could watchthe aftermath of Mahatma Gandhi’sassassination. He wrote many booksof which some are novels.

Vinoba Bhave [VinayakBhave,1895-1982]

Acharya Vinoba Bhave was anational leader and social reformer.Mahatma Gandhi’s chief aide duringNationalistic Movement. He led thelife of an ascetic. After India’sIndependence, Bhave started theBhudan (land-gift) Movement (1951)after Independence with a view toturning each village into a model

which would be self-sufficient in foodand clothing. He walked thousands ofmiles, criss-crossing India, urginglandlords and wealthy peasants togive land voluntarily to poor landlesspeasants. Also led a nation-widecampaign against cow slaughter.

He was opposed to the Westernsystem of education and hedeveloped the Gandhian ideas aboutbasic education.

Will Durant (1855-1981)

Durant, William James, known asWill, American historian, taught atHabor Temple School, New York city(1914-1927). After success of hisStory of Philosophy (1926), he and

his wife Ariel Durant, collaborated on11-volume Story of Civilization series,comprising, Our Oriental Heritage(1935), The Life of Greece (1939),Caesar and Christ (1944), Age ofFaith (1950), Renaissance (1953),Reformation (1957), Age of AVoltaire (1965), Rousseau andRevolution (1967, Pulitzer prize), Ageof Napolean (1975); also wrote DualBiography (1977).

William Digby (1849-1904)

William Digby was the Editor in theMadras Times, an Anglo-Indiannewspaper. In 1901 he wrote theb o o k Prosperous India, whichbecame a legend in the days of

Indian Freedom Struggle. He becamethe Secretary of the BritishCommittee of the Indian NationalCongress in England, and edited theCommittee’s organ India (1890-98).It was due to Digby that SwamiVivekananda got an astonishingcoverage in the Madras Times.

Sympathetic to the Indian cause,William Digby of England was asevere critic of British colonialism andbleeding exploitation of Indianresources. His monumental workProsperous British India was apioneer work on Indian’s economichistory under British rule.

William Ernest Hocking (1873-

1966)

Professor William Ernest Hocking isone of the most renownedphilosophers of America of thetwentieth century. He was aprofessor in the Department ofPhilosophy at Harvard. Heendeavoured to blend idealism withpragmatism. Among his works are:The Meaning of God in HumanExperience, Man and the State,Types of Philosophy, Living Religionsand a World Faith etc.

William James (1842-1910)

William James is unquestionablyone of the most influential of

American thinkers. He became widelyknown as a brilliant and originalLecturer, and his alreadyconsiderable reputation was greatlyenhanced in 1890 when his Principlesof Psychology made his appearance.His other main works: Varieties ofReligious Experience, Pragmatismetc. He came into the close contactwith Swami Vivekananda, moreclosely with Swami Abhedananda,with whom he had hours of fruitfuldiscussion regarding the Philosophyof Vedantic Monism and PhilosophicalPluralism and Pragmatism.

Indira Gandhi (1917-1984)

Mrs Indira Gandhi was the first

woman Prime Minister of IndianRepublic. She was born in anillustrious Nehru family. She studiedat Santiniketan in Bengal and thenleft for higher studies abroad. Shereturned to India after her studies atOxford and then was involved inIndian politics. She touredextensively accompanying her fatherPandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Mrs IndiraGandhi became the Prime Minister ofIndia for three consecutive termsfrom 1966 onwards. But she couldnot complete her fourth term from1980 for her assassination in 1984.She proved her mettle as an able-bodied stateswoman during the 1965Indo-Pak war. Nuclear weapons

programme near the desert village ofPokhran was launched during hertenure in 1974. Mrs Indira Gandhiwas awarded the Bharat Ratna in1971.

Muhammad Sahidullah (1885-1969)

Muhammad Sahidullah was anillustrious figure in the culturaldomain of Bengal. Being a Muslim,he wanted to study Sanskrit in thePostgraduate classes at theUniversity of Calcutta. But no Muslimstudent was allowed to studySanskrit since the Vedas wereincluded in the syllabi. For a Muslimdid not have any access to the world

of the Vedas. Subsequently Md.Sahidullah studied comparativeLinguistics from the said Universityand later did his PhD in Linguisticsfrom Paris University.

Professor Sahidullah knew severallanguages and had a boundless lovefor his own mother language Bengali.He distinguished himself as a greatauthority on linguistics. He hadwritten several books besides a goodmany highly acclaimed researchpapers and essays.

Professor Sahidullah taught at theUniversity of Calcutta.

Humayun Kabir (1906-1969)

Professor Humayun Kabir had anillustrious academic career. He stoodfirst with first class in his MAexamination. Then he proceeded toOxford where he earned a raredistinction for his outstandingacademic result. After his return fromOxford, Professor Kabir joined theUniversity of Calcutta as a facultymember in the department ofPhilosophy. He was in that service till1940.

Professor Kabir became theChairman of the University GrantsCommission. Afterwards he switchedover to politics and became a CentralMinister of the Indian Republic.

Professor Kabir was the Editor of

the reputed literary journalCaturanga. His poetical and criticalworks include Swapnasadh, Sathi,Astadasi and Bangalar Kavya.

_________________________*n.f. = not found*Since June 1989 the name waschanged to Myanmar.