Swami Vivekananda - the clarion call of modern times- Subramanian A

7/30/2019 Swami Vivekananda - the clarion call of modern times- Subramanian A

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12th January 2013

Let anyone of our reformers bring out that life, ready to serve even a Pariah,

and then I will sit at his feet and learn, and not before that. One ounce of

practice is worth twenty thousand tons of big talkXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Today is the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. In this context, I wish to share some of my

feelings and experiences of this great son of the world.

I was attracted to the world and philosophy of Swamiji at a very young age. I cant exactly remember

who had introduced me to his world during my school days. Nevertheless, I was already reading his

works while I was thirteen or fourteen. Till this date, over four decades, I have been faithfully going

through his works and have got full confidence and conviction in his views about life and in hisphilosophy about the Intangible.

His very name is an inspiring element. Nobody can sit in an idle manner on hearing his name. This is the

very magic about him. Millions had been inspired by his philosophy in the past and umpteen

generations are waiting in the pipeline to follow his path.


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Within a short span of life, he did stupendous work that one can never imagine about and compelled the

world to wake up from her age old sleep. Till then, the world was living in a hypnotized manner. He

came to this world and dehypnotized. People were really afraid of such a mental change because that

was a new experience for them. They were hearing truth from the very mouth of truth. That was the

difference. People were really thrown out of their old moorings. Even now, the mundane world doesnt

properly understand the teachings of Swami Vivekananda. This means that the world is still in a long

sleep like an opium eater.

As far as his life impresses me, he was a daring personality who never compromised with the pettiness

of the world. He uttered the truth in a bold manner and ever considered fear was death. He had a great

spiritual quest and his spiritual anchorage was deep. He was very basic in his approach. I can

convincingly say that he took up every issue at the grass root level and suggested solutions. All

problems can be finally broken to Man, Mind and Matter. Of this, man and his mind mattered above

all. He tellingly said that all changes were very subjective. He said in conformity to the Vedantic view

that it was the Name and Form that was behind all ideas and differences in the world and hence

stressed on the fact that one should not give undue attribution to names and forms. Put in other words,

one should not carry such ideas to the extremity to make conflicts in the world.

Whatever changes that we see in the external world are the net result of our internal change. This

means that whatever atrocities or goodness that we see around us is the outcome of our thoughts. Man

has always a tendency to blame his material circumstances for his crippling mind and cramming

thoughts but it is actually the other way. It is our limited mind that is making our material situations

very destructive and violent. Man is often behaving as a helpless creature. He is waiting for an

incarnation to save his life. He is expecting his elected Government to solve his problems in every

respect but Swami Vivekananda clearly forewarns that unless we can help ourselves, no government or

any god is going to come for our rescue.

Man has the capacity to alter is plight. Arise, awake and stop not until the goal is reachedwas what

he repeatedly said to the whole mankind. He asked the world to take up one single ideal and die to

realize it. Our common experience is that we run after many ideas and ideals and leave everything mid-

way with the result that we practically reach nowhere. This should not be our approach.

He had a single dose medicine for all the problems of man be unselfish. He stressed on this idea of

unselfishness. He asked the world to work in an unselfish manner. Unselfishness doesnt mean that one

should not work for his survival in this world. He can earn his livelihood in a justifiable manner. By

being unselfish means that one should give space to others to live in this world. The degree of

selfishness actually decided how far you are free with yourself and also with the world. Where there is

selfishness, there also lies slavery. If I want to be free from mental slavery, I have to be unselfish in my

approach. This will not only make me free but also give the world that much freedom because I no

more overpower the world with my selfish approach. If the world gave up selfishness by half the

present value, that much freedom the world would enjoy. Selfishness would always pin a man to his

narrow world. Such pinning down has its own level of agony and frustrations. All the sufferings in this


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world are due to this kind of us being pinned down but we are quite unaware of this. Swami

Vivekananda forewarns man that if he is not ready to give up his selfishness and be ready to share his

life with others, disaster is in the offing that, this Nature will rob off his material and mental wealth.

He will eventually lead an evacuated life.

Sharing is life. If we are selfish, to that degree we wont share our life with others. To that degree, we

will ignore the pain and sufferings of others. We may shut against the flow of life and simply suffer.

Cant we share a loaf of bread with others? We may profess socialism and communism but live in

reclusiveness, within our pupa stage. We train our children to be selfish from their early childhood.

Man can solve many of his problems if he wills to share his life. A man who lies bleeding on the road is a

helpless creature. Most of the passersby have their excuses for not lending a helping hand on grounds

of legal tangles but they forget about one thing. If that bleeding man is your friend or somebody related

to you, would you not rush into the scene forgetting all the legal tangles? What has made such a

difference? Here, you had a selfless feeling or a feeling akin to you. You had no selfish motive at this

instance. You saw your own mirror image in the man and hence rushed to help him. Such a way of

seeing our own mirror image in the streaming world is only possible with a degree of selflessness. This

is the truth. If we begin to see our mirror image in the world around us, we will begin to love help the

whole mankind going beyond all differences. This can really solve many issues that have been

purchasing peace at the moment.

He had a clear vision about the concept of religion. During the lecture that he delivered in the Universal

Church, Pasadena, California on January 29, 1900, he spake thus:-

Are all the religions of the world really contradictory? I do not mean the external forms in which great

thoughts are clad. I do not mean the different buildings, languages, rituals, books etc. employed in

various religions, but I mean the internal soul of every religion. Every religion has a soul behind it, and

that soul may differ from the soul of another religion; but are they contradictory? Do they contradict or

supplement each other?- that is the question. I took up the question when I was quite a boy, and have

been studying it all my life. I believe that they are not contradictory; they are supplementary. Each

religion, as it were, takes up one part of the great universal truth, and spends its whole force in

embodying and typifying that part of the great truth. That is the idea. System after system arises, each

one embodying a great idea, and ideals must be added to ideals. And this is the march of humanity.

Man never progresses from error to truth, but from truth to truth, from lesser truth to higher truth. Take

four photographs of this church from different corners: how different they would look, and yet they

would all represent this church. In the same way, we are all looking at truth from different standpoints,

which vary according to our birth, education, surroundings, and so on. We are viewing truth, getting as

much of it as these circumstances will permit, colouring the truth with our own heart, understanding it

with our own intellect, and grasping it with our own mind. We can only know as much of truth as it

related to us, as much of it as we are able to receive. This makes the difference between man and man,

and occasions sometimes even contradictory ideas; yet we all belong to the same universal truth. My

idea, therefore, is that all these religions are different forces in the economy of God, working for the


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good of mankind. Brotherhood already exists; only there are numbers of persons who fail to see this and

only upset it by crying for new brotherhoods. Universal religion, too, They are disturbing it all the time,

because it is to their interest. already exists. If the priests and other people that have taken upon

themselves the task of preaching different religions simply cease preaching for a few moments, we shall

see it is there.

Do not think that people do not like religion. I do not believe that. The preachers cannot give them what

they need. The same man that may have been branded as an atheist, as a materialist, or what not, may

meet a man who gives him the truth needed by him, and he may turn out the most spiritual man in the

community. We can eat only in our way. Not only the food should be supplied, but it should be taken in

your own particular way. Not only must you have the spiritual ideas, but they must come to you

according to your own method. They must speak your language, the language of your soul, and then

alone they will satisfy you. When the man comes who speaks my language and gives truth in my

language, I at once understand it and receive it for ever. This is a great fact.

If there ever is going to be an ideal religion, it must be broad and large enough to supply food for all

types of mind. It must supply the strength of philosophy to a philosopher, the devotees heart to the

worshipper; to the ritualist, it will give all that the most marvelous symbolism can convey; to the poet, it

will give as much of heart as he can take in, and other things besides. To make such a broad religion, we

shall have to go back to the time when religions began and take them all. Our watchword, then, will be

acceptance, and not exclusion. Is Gods book finished? Or is it still a continuous revelation going on? It

is a marvelous bookthese spiritual revelations of the world.

Now, I wish to ask the reader whether anybody else has given out the outline of universal religion with

such clarity and conviction as Swami Vivekananda. He was very clear about one thing that every

individual bore a unique personal nature that was different from others. Hence, religions cannot be

standardized to the acceptance of everybody. He warns the clergy and the priesthood no to try to cut

the same coat to all sizes. It wont work. It cannot work. Human mind will not accept such

standardization because of its diverse, unique nature. He asks the world to get on with the external

paraphernalia of religion, leaves it to the freedom of individual mind but only ask everybody to feel no

confliction at the core level. However we may try, we cannot standardize any religion at the external

levels because of its demonstrative and traditional aspects. As we can see, these aspects are very much

the needs of human mind. Unfortunately, the present world doesnt properly can understand this and

hence it tries to standardize any religion at the external level too. Thus, the conflict arises among

religions. We often fight in the name of rituals and traditional ways. We often feel that our religion is

far superior to others. Why should it be? If my ritual is not hampering your life, then, why should you

interfere? If my traditional ways are giving me enough of mental peace, even then, why should you

mock at me? Stop fights in the religion. It is only ignorance. It is only fanaticism.

Regarding evil and good, he spake thus:-


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Evil is everywhere, it is like chronic rheumatism. Drive it from the foot, it goes to the head; drive it from

there, it goes somewhere else. It is a question of chasing it from place to place; that is all. Aye, children,

to try to remedy evil are not the true way. Our philosophy teaches that evil and good are eternally

conjoined, the obverse and the reverse of the same coin. If you have one, you must have the other; a

wave in the ocean must be at the cost of a hollow elsewhere. Nay, all life is evil. No breath can be

breathed without killing some one else; not a morsel of food can be eaten without depriving someone of

it. This is the law; this is philosophy. Therefore, the only thing we can do is to understand that all this

work against evil is more subjective than objective. The work against evil is more educational that

actual, however big we may talk. This, first of all, is the idea of work against evil, and it ought to make

us calmer, it ought to take fanaticism out of our blood. The history of the world teaches us that

wherever there have been fanatical reforms, the only result has been that they have defeated their own

ends. Everybody can show what evil is] but he is the friend of mankind who finds a way out of the

difficulty.

Regarding education he had some clear views like this:-

To me the very essence of education is concentration of mind, not collecting of facts. If I had to do my

education over again, and had any voice in the matter, I would not study facts at all. I would develop the

power of concentration and detachment, and then with a perfect instrument I could collect facts at will.

Side by side, in the child, should be developed the power of concentration and detachment. Well, you

consider a man as educated if only he can pass some examinations and deliver good lectures. The

education which does not help the common mass of people to equip themselves for the struggle for life,

which does not bring out strength of character, a spirit of philanthropy, and the courage of a lion-, is it

worth the name? Real education is that which enables one to stand on his own legs. The education that

you are receiving now in schools and colleges is only making you a race of dyspeptics. You are working

like machines merely, and living a jelly fish existence. If you have assimilated five ideas and made them

your life and character, you have more education than any man who has got by heart a whole library. If

education were identical with information, the libraries would be the greatest sages in the world and

encyclopedias the Rishis.

Volumes arent enough to express and explain the works of Swami Vivekananda. We all know about his

life and work. Actually, the Master was waiting for the arrival of his disciple. We all know about the

historic meeting of Swamiji and Sri Ramakrishna. Swamiji did not accept his future Master at the first

instance. He tossed up the idea for a long time but at last was compelled to lead the life of a monk at

the feet of Sri Ramakrishna. The rest is history.

When we hear about 11/9, the first thought that strikes our mind is the twin-tower disaster of America

but few remember about another eventful occurrence related to that date. It was on 11th

September

1893 that Swamiji made his inaugural speech at Worlds Parliament of Religions, Chicago. That was the

clarion call unto the world for unity and peace. This speech turned out to be another milestone in his

life. The essence of that speech was the following:-


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As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so,

O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear,

crooked or straight, all lead to Thee. Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism,

have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often

and often with human blood, destroyed civilization, and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not

been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced that it is now. But their

time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention

may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all

uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.

How should a man live in this world of utter chaos without getting affected by it? Swamijis view was in

concurrence with the ancient view of our Rishis.

A man ought to live in this world like a lotus leaf, which grows in water but is never moistened by

water; so a man ought to live in this worldhis heart to God and his hands to work.

Sri Ramakrishna would give another example a man ought to live in tis world like a man who oils his

hand before he plucks the kernel of a jack-fruit. The oil would take care of the sticky part of the jack-

fruit. Palm will be free from it. This is the technique of leading a life of detachment while getting

involved in the various activities of the world. It is not the quantum of activity that counts, but how

much you do it with non-attachment. Once the activity is over, once a particular work is done, no

thoughts related it will stick on to your mind You will not be bothered about any rewards or anything

related to that work. You will feel that you are only an instrument in the chain of events. Sir Jagadish

Chandra Bose was like this. Faraday, Curie, Edison, Einstein, Rutherford, and Max Plank all were like

this. The list is endless. One has to read enough biographies to understand the meaning and the power

of this non-detachment. That is how they became great more than their inventions, discoveries,

theories and their awards. Unfortunately, we are not encouraging our children to get acquainted with

the life and times of great men. What the scriptures and Holy books show us, these people practiced it

in their whole life. A sense of detachment to fame and money, a sense of dedication to work, a sense of

commitment towards society, a sense of claiming no copyright for their inventions and discoveries, the

very feeling that knowledge is nobodys personal copyright we have to learn a lot from these great

people. For example, the biography of Madam Curie is worth than a hundred Holy books.

See, life is simple and beautiful but we often make it very difficult an complex. Philosophy is not a

forbidden peak to man but he pays less attention. Basic principles of life are very nave. I can give you a

few points:-

1. The world that we see around is purely the mental make-up of man. This means that the worldwould alter according to the tendencies of man, according to the nature of man. With good

tendencies, a better world can really be formed.


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2. Everything is relative in this world good and evil, truth and false and pain and pleasure. Thedifference lies only in the degree and not one in kind. This is to be understood clearly.

3. Clinging on to past is mere useless. Even the present is only like a dream. So, past can never bereal. Emotional attachment to past is the real culprit. It can uproot the present state of mind.One can see his past as a witness. One can look at his past and laugh it out but it requires

enough sense of humor. Let future come or not. Why should we unnecessarily bother?

4. Every living being be it animal or man is in the eternal quest of freedom. All activities are onlymeant to achieve this goal but we are not aware of this. The man who is carrying gun under his

belt also wants to break his bondage and slavery by exterminating the world to achieve this

goal. The difference is that he has chosen a wrong path to attain his freedom. Nevertheless, his

idea is also freedom. This is the important point.

Swamiji is no more amongst us in the physical sense but he is very close to our very heart. He had said

that even after his mortal body was no more, he would continue to serve mankind as he believed that

he was a voice without a form. If the world is still getting inspired by the very utterance of his name, it is

only because of this. He professed only truth. He lived on earth like a true monk whose heart embraced

the whole mankind. He lived amongst us like a fearless man, like a lion whose growl and roar shattered

the age old hypocrisy of man and compelled him to wake up from a long sleep. They listened to a

gushing water fall. But for the seminal work done by Mr Goodwin, this waterfall would not have been

preserved for posterity.


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How did Mr Goodwin come into contact with Vivekananda? When the office-bearers of New York

Vedanta Society decided to engage a stenographer for the purpose of recording Swamijis lectures, they

advertised it in papers like Heraldand the Worldin their classified columns on December 12, 1895. The

advertisement ran like this:-

Wanted A rapid shorthand writer to take down lectures for several hours a week. Apply at 228 West

39th

Street.

Although Goodwin was only twenty five when he applied for the position, he had been working as a

journalist for eleven years. He had learned the profession from his father. When Goodwin answered

the advertisement that appeared in the New York papers, he was seeking more than wages. The virtues

which Goodwin had indeed inherited were lurking beneath the surface, waiting only for a catalyst to find

their expression. Swami Vivekananda was that catalyst, and his impact was immediate and intense.

Goodwin was with Swamiji only for sixteen months before he had a pre-mature death at Ooty. Swamiji

was then at Almorah.

Life is like that. I often think about people and their purposes here on earth. Sri Ramakrishna was

waiting for the arrival of Narendranath. Swami Vivekananda was waiting for both Sri Ramakrishna and

Goodwin. Goodwin was born to preserve the voice of Swamiji for all of us. World Parliament of

Religions came at the right time to present Vivekananda before the world. See, everybody and

everything has a role to play in the destiny of ones life. My clear cut view is that Vivekanandas life was

full of Providence and not a pre-planned one. One incident led to another as if in a chain reaction. We

all have this Providence but we are very much less aware of it. Every move has a pre-destined element

with it.

Swmiji is no more with us in flesh and form but his voice is still there in all force and vitality. Let us try to

understand the kind of man that he was. Let us be familiar with his works. While going through his

literature, I always get the impression that he is speaking to the reader very much alive. That is the

impact. Only a few can make such an impact. He is the true master of English language.

Let us follow that eternal voice to evolve as true men. I can surely say about one thing if you have

closely followed the philosophy of Swami Vivekananda, the philosophy of Adwaita, you will not run

after other systems of philosophy. You cannot. I can swear.

Let Swamiji continue to inspire the entire world. My humble prostrations to this great son of India.

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Swami Vivekananda - the clarion call of modern times- Subramanian A