Swami Vivekananda : A Profile |
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SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S
inspiring personality was well known both in India and in America during
the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the
twentieth. The unknown monk of India suddenly leapt into fame at the
Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893, at which he represented
Hinduism. His vast knowledge of Eastern and Western culture as well as
his deep spiritual insight, fervid eloquence, brilliant conversation,
broad human sympathy, colourful personality, and handsome figure made an
irresistible appeal to the many types of Americans who came in contact
with him. People who saw or heard Vivekananda even once still cherish
his memory after a lapse of more than half a century.
In America
Vivekananda's mission was the interpretation of India's spiritual
culture, especially in its Vedantic setting. He also tried to enrich the
religious consciousness of the Americans through the rational and
humanistic teachings of the Vedanta philosophy. In America he became
India's spiritual ambassador and pleaded eloquently for better
understanding between India and the New World in order to create a
healthy synthesis of East and West, of religion and science.
In his own motherland
Vivekananda is regarded as the patriot saint of modern India and an
inspirer of her dormant national consciousness, To the Hindus he
preached the ideal of a strength-giving and man-making religion. Service
to man as the visible manifestation of the Godhead was the special form
of worship he advocated for the Indians, devoted as they were to the
rituals and myths of their ancient faith. Many political leaders of
India have publicly acknowledged their indebtedness to Swami
Vivekananda.
The Swami's mission
was both national and international. A lover of mankind, be strove to
promote peace and human brotherhood on the spiritual foundation of the
Vedantic Oneness of existence. A mystic of the highest order,
Vivekananda had a direct and intuitive experience of Reality. He derived
his ideas from that unfailing source of wisdom and often presented them
in the soulstirring language of poetry.
The natural tendency
of Vivekananda's mind, like that of his Master, Ramakrishna, was to soar
above the world and forget itself in contemplation of the Absolute. But
another part of his personality bled at the sight of human suffering in
East and West alike. It might appear that his mind seldom found a point
of rest in its oscillation between contemplation of God and service to
man. Be that as it may, he chose, in obedience to a higher call, service
to man as his mission on earth; and this choice has endeared him to
people in the West, Americans in particular.
In the course of a
short life of thirty-nine years (1863-1902), of which only ten were
devoted to public activities-and those, too, in the midst of acute
physical suffering-he left for posterity his four classics: Jnana-Yoga,
Bhakti-Yoga, Karma-Yoga, and Raja-Yoga, all of which are outstanding
treatises on Hindu philosophy. In addition, he delivered innumerable
lectures, wrote inspired letters in his own hand to his many friends and
disciples, composed numerous poems, and acted as spiritual guide to the
many seekers, who came to him for instruction. He also organized the
Ramakrishna Order of monks, which is the most outstanding religious
organization of modern India. It is devoted to the propagation of the
Hindu spiritual culture not only in the Swami's native land, but also in
America and in other parts of the world.
Swami Vivekananda
once spoke of himself as a "condensed India." His life and teachings are
of inestimable value to the West for an understanding of the mind of
Asia. William James, the Harvard philosopher, called the Swami the
"paragon of Vedantists." Max Muller and Paul Deussen, the famous
Orientalists of the nineteenth century, held him in genuine respect and
affection. "His words," writes Romain Rolland, "are great music, phrases
in the style of Beethoven, stirring rhythms like the march of Handel
choruses. I cannot touch these sayings of his, scattered as they are
through the pages of books, at thirty years' distance, without receiving
a thrill through my body like an electric shock. And what shocks, what
transports, must have been produced when in burning words they issued
from the lips of the hero!''
NIKHILANANDA
Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center
New York
January 5, 1953
Source :
http://www.ramakrishna.org/sv.htm
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Swami Vivekananda's Speeches |
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WELCOME ADDRESS - Chicago, Sept 11, 1893
Sisters and Brothers of America,
It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the
warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the
name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in
the name of the mother of religions, and I thank you in the name of
millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.
My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who,
referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these
men from far-off nations may well claim the honor of bearing to
different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a
religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal
acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we
accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which
has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and
all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have
gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came
to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which
their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am
proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still
fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote
to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have
repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by
millions of human beings: "As the different streams having their
sources in different paths which men take through different
tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all
lead to Thee."
The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies
ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of
the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: "Whosoever comes to Me,
through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through
paths which in the end lead to me." 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 than 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.
CONCLUDING ADDRESS - Chicago, Sept 27, 1893
The World's Parliament of Religions has become an accomplished fact,
and the merciful Father has helped those who laboured to bring it
into existence, and crowned with success their most unselfish labour.
My thanks to those noble souls whose large hearts and love of truth
first dreamed this wonderful dream and then realized it. My thanks
to the shower of liberal sentiments that has overflowed this
platform. My thanks to this enlightened audience for their uniform
kindness to me and for their appreciation of every thought that
tends to smooth the friction of religions. A few jarring notes were
heard from time to time in this harmony. My special thanks to them,
for they have, by their striking contrast, made general harmony the
sweeter.
Much has been said of the common ground of religious unity. I am not
going just now to venture my own theory. But if any one here hopes
that this unity will come by the triumph of any one of the religions
and the destruction of the others, to him I say, "Brother, yours is
an impossible hope." Do I wish that the Christian would become
Hindu? God forbid. Do I wish that the Hindu or Buddhist would become
Christian? God forbid.
The seed is put in the ground, and earth and air and water are
placed around it. Does the seed become the earth, or the air, or the
water? No. It becomes a plant. It develops after the law of its own
growth, assimilates the air, the earth, and the water, converts them
into plant substance, and grows into a plant.
Similar is the case with religion. The Christian is not to become a
Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or a Buddhist to become a
Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet
preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of
growth.
If the Parliament of Religions has shown anything to the world, it
is this: It has proved to the world that holiness, purity and
charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the
world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most
exalted character. In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams
of the exclusive survival of his own religion and the destruction of
the others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to
him that upon the banner of every religion will soon be written in
spite of resistance: "Help and not fight," "Assimilation and not
Destruction," "Harmony and Peace and not Dissension."
source :
http://hinduism.about.com/library/weekly/extra/bl-sv1.htm?once=true&
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The Social Thought of Swami
Vivekananda |
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INTRODUCTION
Swami Vivekananda
once remarked to a disciple in San Francisco, "You know, I may have to
be born again. You see, I have fallen in love with man." (Swami
Vivekananda in San Francisco, p. 13) When we study the life of Swami
Vivekananda and read his lectures and writings, particularly his
letters, we see what a tremendous force this love of mankind was for
him.
From the
time he decided to come to the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in
1893 up until the end of his short life in 1902, his love for mankind,
his sympathy for the poor and downtrodden of all lands, and his great
devotion to his Motherland and her depressed masses were the motivating
power behind all of his actions.
In his social
views, whether on caste, education, women's rights, or the conditions of
the masses, the one common factor was his great sympathy for all who
suffer. It was this sympathy of heart which impelled him to accomplish
as much as he did in such a short period of time; and it was the same
sympathy of heart which brought so much suffering to his life as well.
In considering
the social philosophy of Swami Vivekananda, we should always keep one
thing in mind: Swamiji was not a man to be easily categorized. He
himself had a distinct distaste for any "isms", and it would be a
mistake to try to categorize his beliefs as falling within any
particular school of thought, such as humanism, socialism, or the like.
Undoubtedly,
many of his views are in sympathy with those of different political and
social philosophies, and various proponents of different schools have
rightfully drawn inspiration from his words and deeds. However,
Swamiji's teachings were never based on any sectarian allegiance, but
rather on his own spiritual convictions regarding the divinity of the
soul, the oneness of existence, and the worship of God in man.
In the
following few pages, we will examine the views of Swami Vivekananda on
such questions as privilege, caste, education, uplifting the masses, and
women's rights. We will also look at the various circumstances and
events of his life which helped awaken his latent love for humanity: the
influence of his family; the teachings of his beloved master, Sri
Ramakrishna; his own first-hand experience of poverty; and his years of
wandering through India.
Above all,
we will try to show the perfect consistency between Swamiji's social
views and his spiritual realizations, between his actions and his
beliefs; for rarely has such a blend of head and heart, spiritual genius
and sympathy for mankind, ever been seen in the world.
PRIVILEGE
Convinced as he was of the divinity of each soul and, consequently,
of the dignity of each individual, Swami Vivekananda waged a steady
battle against all types of privilege and exploitation. In his eyes,
all distinctions whereby one might distinguish one person from another,
such as caste, creed, race, or gender, were based, not on the true
nature of the individual, but on external superimpositions. From the
highest point of view, all are pure spirit and, as such, share an
essential identity. Thus, all attempts to exercise exclusive rights
at the expense of others were seen by him to be both an affront to the
human dignity of man and a contradiction of the spiritual fact of unity.
In a lecture
delivered in London, entitled "Vedanta and Privilege", Swamiji spoke out
against the phenomenon of privilege at all levels of society:
. . . the idea of
privilege is the bane of human life. Two forces, as it were, are
constantly at work, one making caste, and the other breaking caste; in
other words, the one making for privilege, and the other breaking down
privilege. And whenever privilege is broken down, more and more light
and progress come to a race. This struggle we see all around us.
Of course,
there is first the brutal idea of privilege, that of the strong over the
weak. There is the privilege of wealth. If a man has more money than
another, he wants a little privilege over those who have less. There is
the still subtler and more powerful privilege of intellect; because one
man knows more than others, he claims more privilege. And last of all,
and the worst, because the most tyrannical, is the privilege of
spirituality.
If some persons
think they know more of spirituality, of God, they claim a superior
privilege over everyone else. They say, "Come down and worship us, ye
common herds; we are the messengers of God, and you have to worship us."
None can be Vedantists, and at the same time admit of privilege for
anyone. The same power is in every man, the one manifesting more, the
other less; the same potentiality is in everyone. Where is the claim to
privilege? (CW, I.423)
THE QUESTION OF
CASTE
The question of
caste and its relation to privilege was one with which Swami Vivekananda
struggled long and hard. We can see from some of his early letters to
Pramadadas Mitra, a learned scholar for whom Swamiji had great respect,
how troubled Swamiji was with certain aspects of caste. One of the
letters which Swamiji wrote to him from the Baranagore Math raised
several questions with regard to caste, specifically concerning
hereditary caste and the rights of Sudas to study the scriptures.
Swamiji's
opinion on caste in general is not always entirely clear.
In some of his
writings and lectures, especially when responding to criticisms of the
caste system from the West, he defends the concept of caste as
representing a sensible and necessary division of labor. However, he was
uncompromising with regard to his hatred of hereditary caste, of the
notion that one's station in life was to be determined by birth alone
rather than by one's ability or natural propensities. Though he
sometimes blamed religion for the modern caste structure, Swamiji's
mature opinion seems to have been that religion was not to blame and
that the earliest references to caste in the Hindu scriptures do not
contain the notion of hereditary caste.
It is
interesting to note that many of the early questions regarding caste
which Swami Vivekananda first raised in his letter to Pramadadas Mitra
in 1889 are answered by Swamiji himself in his final letter to the
scholar and longtime friend, written in 1897. Much time had passed since
Swamiji had last written, and it is clear from the tone of the letter
that their relationship had become somewhat strained. In this particular
letter, Swamiji voiced what may be considered his final opinion on
caste, whether hereditary or not, and on its relation to the scriptures.
He wrote:
. . . the
conviction is daily gaining on my mind that the idea of caste is the
greatest dividing factor and the root of Maya; all caste either on the
principle of birth or of merit is bondage. . . . The Smritis and the
Puranas are productions of men of limited intelligence and are full of
fallacies, errors, the feeling of caste, and malice. . . It is in the
books written by priests that madness like that of caste are to be
found, and not in books revealed from God. (Letters, pp. 337)
Swamiji's quarrel
with the caste system centered around two separate, yet related, issues,
one economic and one religious. He blamed caste, in part at least, for
the social divisiveness which resulted in large disenfranchised segments
of Indian society and for the grinding poverty of the masses.
He held the
higher castes, particularly the Brahmins, responsible for the evils of
priestcraft, for untouchability, and for their exclusive claims on
spirituality and the sacred scriptures.
In his reply to
the address of the Maharaja of Khetri, Swamiji remarked,
This [tyranny of
the upper castes] is the bane of human nature, the curse upon mankind,
the root of all misery -- this inequality. This is the source of all
bondage, physical, mental, and spiritual.(CW,
IV. 329)
Swamiji reiterated
the same theme in even stronger language to his brother disciple, Swami
Ramakrishnananda, in a letter written from Chicago in 1894:
My brother, what
experiences I have had in the South [of India], of the upper classes
torturing the lower! What Bacchanalian orgies within the temples! Is it
a religion that fails to remove the misery of the poor and turn men into
gods! Do you think our religion is worth the name? Ours is only Don't-touchism,
only "Touch me not", "Touch me not". Good heavens! A country, the big
leaders of which have for the last two thousand years been only
discussing whether to take food with the right hand or left, whether to
take water from the right-hand side or from the left. . . if such a
country does not go to ruin, what other will? . . . A country where
millions of people live on flowers of the Mohua plant, and a million or
two of sadhus and a hundred million or so of Brahmins suck the blood out
of these poor people, without the least effort for their amelioration --
is that a country or hell? Is that a religion or the devil's dance? (CW,
VI. 253)
Swami
Vivekananda's quarrel with priestcraft centered around the notion of
adhikaravada, the restriction of the study of the Vedas and other
privileges to the Brahmin caste. Swamiji seemed to have held
Sankarachrya especially responsible for upholding the exclusive
practices of adhikaravada. Time and again, in both his letters
and his utterances, he refers to Shankara's narrowness and lack of
sympathy, even while praising his brilliant intellect.
As early as
1889, in the aforementioned letter to Pramadadas Mitra, Swamiji raised
the question of Shankara's authority for excluding Sudras from studying
the Vedas. In several of his later letters, he also criticized Shankara
for his lack of liberality, contrasting him with the compassionate
Buddha. In a letter to his brother disciple, Swami Akhandananda, he
wrote:
What Buddha did
was to break wide open the gates of that very religion which was
confined in the Upanishads to a particular caste. . . His greatness lies
in his unrivalled sympathy. The high orders of samadhi etc., that lent
gravity to his religion, are almost all there in the Vedas; what are
absent there are his intellect and heart, which have never since been
paralleled throughout the history of the world. . . The religion of
Buddha has reared itself on the Upaniads, and upon that also the
philosophy of Shankara. Only Shankara had not the slightest bit of
Buddha's wonderful heart, dry intellect merely! For fear of the Tantras,
for fear of the mob, in his attempt to cure a boil, he amputated the
very arm itself. (CW, VI. 225-27)
And in the course
of a conversation with his disciple, Sharat Chandra Chakravarty, Swamiji
said:
Shankara's
intellect was sharp like a razor. He was a good arguer and a scholar, no
doubt of that, but he had no great liberality; his heart too seems to
have been like that. Besides, he used to take great pride in his
Brahmanism -- much like a southern Brahmin of the priest class, you may
say. How he has defended in his commentary on the Vedanta Sutras
that the non-Brahmin castes will not attain to a supreme knowledge of
Brahman! . . . But look at Buddha's heart! -- Ever ready to give his own
life to save the life of even a kid -- what to speak of
bahujanahitaya bahujanasukhaya -- For the welfare of the many, for
the happiness of the many"! See what a large-heartedness -- what a
compassion. (CW, VII. 117-18)
RICH VS POOR
Perhaps the
only injustice which troubled Swami Vivekananda more than caste
prejudice was the tyranny of the wealthy over the poor, a tyranny which,
in India, was related to, but not restricted to, the caste system.
Swamiji's sympathy for the poor and downtrodden was one of his most
outstanding traits and was the dominant motivating force behind many of
his activities, including his initial visit to America and his founding
of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission.
His utterances
regarding the plight of the poor, particularly the depressed masses of
India, are some of his most passionate and inspiring. In a letter to his
Madrasi disciples, Swamiji wrote, "Feel, my children, feel; feel for the
poor, the ignorant, the downtrodden; feel till the heart stops and the
brain reels and you think you will go mad --then pour the soul out at
the feet of the Lord, and then will come power, help, and indomitable
energy. . ." (CW, IV. 367)
In this same
letter, Swami Vivekananda pointed out the two crying needs of the poor:
"bread" and education. He wrote:
Material
civilization, nay, even luxury, is necessary to create work for the
poor. Bread! Bread! I do not believe in a God who cannot give me bread
here, giving me eternal bliss in heaven! Pooh! India is to be raised,
the poor are to be fed, education is to be spread, and the evil of
priestcraft is to be removed. . . More bread, more opportunity for
everybody. . . (CW, IV. 368)
And in a
lecture delivered in Lahore, he said:
What we want is
not so much spirituality as a little of the bringing down of the Advaita
into the material world. We stuff them too much with religion, when the
poor fellows have been starving. No dogmas will satisfy the cravings of
hunger. (CW, III. 432)
Swamiji placed
great emphasis on education for the upliftment of the Indian masses. It
was his desire that all aspects of life be covered in this education, so
that it would be conducive to the material, intellectual, and spiritual
development of the individual.
Above all, he wanted a "man-making" education that would build
character, give the masses back their "lost individuality", and restore
their faith in their own divine potential. As in all matters of social
reform, Swamiji's motto was "hands off". As he explained to the Maharaja
of Mysore:
The only service
to be done for our lower classes is to give them education, to develop
their lost individuality. . . They are to be given ideas; their eyes are
to be opened to what is going on in the world around them, and then they
will work out their own salvation.
Every nation,
every man, every woman, must work out one's own salvation. Give them
idea -- that is the only help they require, and then the rest must
follow as the effect. Ours is to put the chemicals together, the
crystallization comes in the law of nature. Our duty is to put ideas in
their heads, they will do the rest. (Letters, pp. 117-18)
Swami Vivekananda
also saw that the regeneration of the Indian masses would necessarily
involve certain sacrifices on the part of the upper classes, whether
voluntarily performed or not. He held the wealthy, educated, and
privileged segments of society particularly responsible for the plight
of the poor and predicted dire consequences for them if they failed to
work towards rectifying conditions.
He wrote:
So long as the
millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold every man a traitor who,
having been educated at their expense, pays not the least heed to them!
I call those men who strut about in their finery, having got all their
money by grinding the poor, wretches, so long as they do not do anything
for those two hundred millions who are now no better than human savages.
(CW, V. 58)
The duty of
every aristocracy is to dig its own grave, and the sooner it does so,
the better. The more it delays, the more it will fester and the worse
death it will
http://www.prosperityplace.com/spirit/atmajana.html
Please note
that when "CW" is mentioned after a quote, it refers to
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. The number after the "CW" is
the volume number.
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Vivekananda in America |
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On the occasion
of America's Bicentennial Celebration in 1976, the National
Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C., mounted a large portrait of
Swami Vivekananda as part of its exhibition "Abroad in America:
Visitors to the New Nation," which paid tribute to the great
personalities who visited America from abroad and made a deep
impression on the American mind. Among those honored in the
exhibition, some influenced art or literature, some science,
education or social reform. But Swami Vivekananda touched the
very soul of American people. The commemorative volume of the
exhibition says: "The Swami charmed the audiences with his
magical oratory, and left an indelible mark on America's
spiritual development." This is no exaggeration. Swami
Vivekananda was the first Hindu monk from India ever to visit
America. Guided solely by the will of Providence, he embarked on
this journey to the new world. The unknown wandering monk, lost
in the streets of Chicago, suddenly became famous after his
first day's brief address before the Parliament. A select
audience of nearly 7,000 enlightened representatives of
different branches of American thought became thrilled to hear
his message and welcomed him with sustained and thunderous
applause. He captured the hearts of the American people. Crowds
gathered in the streets of Chicago to see the picture posters of
Swami Vivekananda placed on billboards around the city, and
lecture bureaus vied with one another to enlist him for lectures
in different cities. Leading newspapers and journals published
his words in bold letters. Some of these newspapers described
him as the "cyclonic Hindu," some as "prince among men" or
"Brahmin monk," while others chose to designate him by such
epithets as "warrior prophet" and "militant mystic."
Contemporary leaders of American thought who met him were
entranced by the radiance of his spiritual personality and his
powerful message. Professor John Henry Wright of Harvard
University told Swami Vivekananda: "To ask you, Swami, for your
credentials is like asking the sun about its right to shine."
After hearing Swami Vivekananda, the correspondent of one
journal wrote: "The impertinence of sending half-educated
theological students to instruct the wise and erudite Orientals
was never brought home to an English-speaking audience more
forcibly." Professor William James referred to Swami Vivekananda
as "the paragon of Vedantists." The Parliament of Religions,
which was an afterthought of the planners of the Columbian
Exposition, became a focus of historic importance because it
served as a pulpit for the presentation of the message of Swami
Vivekananda to the American public. Recalling this event, Romain
Rolland wrote: "His strength and beauty, the grace and dignity
of his bearing, the dark light of his eyes, his imposing
appearance, and from the moment he began to speak, the splendid
music of his rich deep voice enthralled the vast audience....
The thought of this warrior prophet of India left a deep mark
upon the United States." America thus had the blessing of
directly hearing a person of the stature of Buddha, radiating
purity, compassion, and love.
The message of
Swami Vivekananda was the message of Vedanta -- a spiritual
teaching that again and again saved India during periods of
decline and crisis. The keynote of this message is: "Truth is
one: Sages call it by various names." Its four cardinal points
are non-duality of the Godhead, divinity of the soul, oneness of
existence, and harmony of religions. Religion, in the light of
Vedanta, is the manifestation of the divinity already in man.
The central theme of Vedanta is harmony of religions. This
spiritual harmony is to be realized by deepening our spiritual
consciousness. Vedanta asks a Christian to be a true Christian,
a Hindu a true Hindu, a Buddhist a true Buddhist, a Jew a true
Jew, Moslem a true Moslem. The message was timely and powerful.
America had received a rude shock from the Civil War and its
aftermath. Science had already shaken the very roots of
religious beliefs and dogmas, and the ideas of Darwin were
challenging conventional American thought and religion.
Americans were looking for a philosophy that could harmonize
science with humanism and mystical experience, and Swami
Vivekananda's words gave them hope for the fulfillment of their
spiritual aspirations. The message was powerful not because of
its dialectical superiority or philosophical subtlety, but
because of the personality of Swami Vivekananda. The message was
an ancient one, but it bore a fire of conviction that was new.
One familiar with the life of Swami Vivekananda will recall that
his Master, Sri Ramakrishna, saw in him the power and
potentiality of a great world teacher. Before the Master passed
away, he prophesied: "Narendra (Swami Vivekananda) will teach
others ….. Very soon he will shake the world by his intellectual
and spiritual powers."
The news of Swami
Vivekananda’s success in America soon reached the shores of
India and spread like wildfire. The country, lost in the slumber
of inertia, woke up with its new vigor and confidence, and a
spiritual renaissance was set into motion that would propel
India to great intellectual and social development. Today Swami
Vivekananda is regarded as the "patriot prophet" of new India.
His words carry the power of inspiration and transformation.
Swami Vivekananda
indicated Vedanta is the future religion of mankind. With his
prophetic vision, he predicted that modern science and education
would break down the barriers between nations and prepare the
ground for the fulfillment of the age-old dream of one united
world. But one world is possible only when there is one common
Soul that transcends the limitations of race, culture, and
religious denominations. Swami Vivekananda presents before
humanity the World-Soul of Vedanta, the non-dual, nameless and
formless all-pervading Pure Spirit that alone can make the dream
of one world a reality. He foresaw a new world order in which
science and religion would cooperate, mysticism would combine
with humanism and spiritual harmony would replace religious
dissension. His final words at the Chicago Parliament of
Religions were, "Upon the banner of every religion will soon be
written in spite of resistance 'Help and not Fight,'
'Assimilation and not Destruction,' 'Harmony and Peace and not
Dissension.'" At a time when world peace is being maintained by
continuous wars, divisiveness is glorified at the expense of
unity, and the human soul is being buried beneath the debris of
brutality, violence and hatred, the words of Swami Vivekananda
give us assurance -- an assurance that we are not living the
last days of our destiny and that the light of the Divine,
shining in every heart, will triumph over the forces of
darkness.
|
Religion Vs Socialism |
Top |
A
Comparative Study of Vivekananda & Marx
Swami
Vivekananda (1863-1902) and Karl Marx (1818-1883) were two towering
personalities of the 19th century, who redefined our outlook to human
nature and society.
Swamiji's
masterful oratory and Marx's magnum opus Das Capital were a
source of optimism and inspiration for the advance of human prosperity
and emancipation. These two great men in two different parts of the
world, with their distinctive philosophies, were totally committed to
the cause of the oppressed and were ready to sacrifice everything for
that cause. Both were revolutionary thinkers who pioneered a radical
change, in their own unique ways.
On
Socialism & Religion
Vivekananda and Marx viewed socialism through two different prisms with
the ultimate goal of uplifting the downtrodden and the exploited class.
Swami
Vivekananda's attitude towards socialism is summed up in: “I am a
socialist, not because it is a perfect system, but because I believe
that half a loaf is better than no bread.” Swamiji saw socialism as a
ray of hope for the myriad of problems confronting India. He viewed the
course of world history as a change in governance between the four
castes: Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra in conformity to the law
of nature. With the rise of Shudras, the lowest class, Vivekananda
identified democracy and distribution of physical comforts and
education. Swamiji's concept of socialism was in no way averse to
religion. He believed in elevation of masses without injuring the
religious sentiments and that social changes can be brought forward only
on a firm platform of conduct character and spirituality.
Marx
was an ardent socialist who believed in dialectical materialism wherein
there is a dialectical manner of confronting, studying and understanding
natural phenomena; and materialistic by its means of interpreting
phenomena and drawing up its theory. Dialectical materialism is a
scientific approach and is opposed to idealism which offers an
interpretation based on religion. Marx believed in the power of economic
forces rather than the ideological approach. For him, religion was the
opium of the working class by the ruling class. Marxism sees in religion
the exploitation of human ignorance and credulity.
On
Nationalism
Marx was an internationalist and never cared for the sentiments behind
nationalism. The largest gap in his writings in politics was the limited
attention given to the nation-state and nationalism. Marx believed that
nations were a byproduct of the capital age because of the economic
undercurrent bringing about markets for the good produced. Marx
proclaimed that workingmen have no country and championed international
co-operation of the working class.
Vivekananda, on the contrary, was a nationalist to the core and believed
in patriotism and national feeling. He was proud of the Indian legacy
with the cultural approach and was of the view that every nation is born
and not created. According to Swamiji, “Every nation has a national
purpose of its own. Either in obedience to the law of nature, or by
virtue of the superior genius of the great ones, the social manners and
customs of every nation are molded into shape, so as to bring that
purpose with fruition.” Vivekananda wanted each nation to grow to its
full stature and strength, thus contributing to the sum total of world's
growth and human welfare. Swamiji's nationalism had internationalism in
essence and execution.
Conclusion
In Hinduism, the ultimate aim of human life is the attainment of
salvation or Moksha. To attain Moksha, a conducive socio-economic order
wherein an individual can lead a peaceful and undistracted life is
imperative.
Marxism also professes the attainment of a different order, that is, a
classless society. A socialist state has no exploitation and the
individual is freed from the burden of having to work for those who
exploit his labour whereby leading to a classless society.
Source :
http://hinduism.about.com/cs/basics/a/aa071503a.htm
|
The Spiritual Genius of Vivekananda |
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Swami Vivekananda is one of most admired spiritual leaders of India. The
world knows him as an inspiring Hindu monk, his motherland regards him
as the patriot saint of modern India, and Hindus consider him as a
source of spiritual power, mental energy, strength-giving and
open-mindedness.
Vivekananda was born on January 12, 1863, in a middle-class Bengali
family of Calcutta.
Narendranath Dutt, as he was called before sainthood, grew up to be
a youth of great charm and intelligence. In a pre-independent India
hidebound by communal disharmony and sectarianism, this blithe spirit
soared above the rest to become the manifestation of freedom - the
summum bonum of human life.
An avid scholar of Western and Hindu philosophy and ever thirsty for the
mystery of Creation and the law of Nature, Vivekananda found his guru in
Sri Ramkrishna Paramhamsa. He toured across India to know his
country and people, and found his spiritual alma mater at the
Kanyakumari rock in Cape Comorin at the southern most tip of the
Indian peninsula. The
Vivekananda memorial is now a landmark for tourists and pilgrims,
and a tribute to him by his country men.
 |
The
Vivekananda House
This house in South Pasadena where the Swami stayed in 1900 has now
become a shrine. |
Swami Vivekananda rose to worldwide fame in 1893, when he visited
America to attend the first Parliament of World Religions in Chicago.
The uninvited young monk addressed this august assembly and electrified
the audience. His speech made him world famous overnight: "Sisters and
Brothers of America, it fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in
response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I
thank you in the name of the millions and millions of Hindu people …" (Read
complete speech)
Vivekananda's life and teachings are of inestimable value to the West
for an understanding of the mind of Asia, says Swami Nikhilananda of the
Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, New York. On the occasion of
America's Bicentennial Celebration in 1976, the
National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C., mounted a large
portrait of Swami Vivekananda as part of its exhibition
'Abroad in America: Visitors to the New Nation', which paid tribute to
the great personalities who visited America from abroad and made a deep
impression on the American mind.
William James called the Swami the "paragon of Vedantists." Max Muller
and Paul Deussen, the famous Orientalists of the nineteenth century,
held him in genuine respect and affection. "His words," writes Romain
Rolland, "are great music, phrases in the style of Beethoven, stirring
rhythms like the march of Handel choruses. I cannot touch these sayings
of his…without receiving a thrill through my body like an electric
shock. And what shocks…must have been produced when in burning words
they issued from the lips of the hero!''
An inspiring spiritual and social leader, Vivekananda has left an
indelible mark in history with his teachings, which are studied
everywhere in India and abroad. The immortal soul passed away on the 4th
of July, 1902 at the young age of 38.
Source :
http://hinduism.about.com/library/weekly/aa011600.htm
|
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING INDIAN |
Top |
Excerpted from Swami Vivekananda's legendary address to
the World Parliament of Religions at Chicago in 1893
Three
religions now stand in the world which have come down to
us from time prehistoric—Hinduism,
Zoroastrianism and
Judaism. They have all received tremendous shocks
and all of them prove by their survival their internal
strength. But while Judaism failed to absorb
Christianity and was driven out of its place of
birth by its all-conquering daughter, sect after sect
arose in India and seemed to shake the religion of the
Vedas to its very foundations, but like the waters of
the seashore in a tremendous earthquake it receded only
for a while, only to return in an all-absorbing flood, a
thousand times more vigorous; and when the tumult of the
rush was over, these sects were all sucked in, absorbed
and assimilated into the immense body of the mother
faith.
From the high spiritual flights of the Vedanta
philosophy, of which the latest discoveries of science
seem like echoes, to the low ideas of idolatry with its
multifarious mythology, the agnosticism of the
Buddhists and the atheism of the
Jains, each and all have a place in the Hindu
religion.
Where is the common center to which all these widely
diverging radii converge? Where is the common basis upon
which all these contradictions rest? And this is the
question I shall attempt to answer.
The Hindus have received their religion through
revelation, the Vedas. They hold that the Vedas are
without beginning and without end. They mean the
accumulated treasury of spiritual laws discovered by
different persons in different times. Just as the law of
gravitation existed before its discovery, and would
exist if all humanity forgot it, so is it with the laws
that govern the spiritual world. The moral, ethical, and
spiritual relations between soul and soul and between
individual spirits and the Father of all spirits, were
there before their discovery, and would remain even if
we forgot them.
The
Vedas teach us that creation is without beginning or
end. Science is said to have proved that the sum total
of cosmic energy is always the same. Then, if there was
a time when nothing existed, where was all this
manifested energy? Some say it was in a potential form
in god. In that case god is sometimes potential and
sometimes kinetic, which would make him mutable.
Everything mutable is a compound, and everything
compound must undergo that change which is called
destruction. So god would die, which is absurd.
Therefore there never was a time when there was no
creation.
If I may be allowed to use a simile, creation and
creator are two lines, without beginning and without
end, running parallel to each other. God is the
ever-active providence, by whose power systems after
systems are being evolved out of chaos, made to run for
a time and again destroyed. This is what the Brahmin boy
repeats every day: "The sun and the moon, the Lord
created like the suns and moons of previous cycles."
Here I stand and if I shut my eyes, and try to conceive
my existence, "I," "I," "I," what is the idea before me?
The idea of a body. Am I, then, nothing but a
combination of material substances? The Vedas declare
"No." I am a spirit living in a body. The body will die,
but I shall not die. The soul was not created, for
creation means a combination, which means a certain
future dissolution. If then the soul was created, it
must die. Some are born happy, while others are born
miserable. Why, if they are all created, why does a just
and merciful god create one happy and another unhappy,
why is he so partial? Nor would it mend matters in the
least to hold that those who are miserable in this life
will be happy in a future one. Why should a man be
miserable even here in the reign of a just and merciful
god?
In the second place, the idea of a creator god does not
explain the anomaly, but simply expresses the cruel fiat
of an all-powerful being. There must have been causes,
then, before his birth, to make a man miserable or happy
and those were his past actions.
We cannot deny that bodies acquire certain tendencies
from heredity, but those tendencies only mean the
physical configuration through which a peculiar mind
alone can act in a peculiar way. There are other
tendencies peculiar to a soul caused by his past
actions. And a soul with a certain tendency would by the
laws of affinity take birth in a body, which is the
fittest instrument for the display of that tendency.
This is in accord with science, for science wants to
explain everything by habit, and habit has got through
repetitions. So repetitions are necessary to explain the
natural habits of a newborn soul. And since they were
not obtained in this present life, they must have come
down from past lives.
There
is another suggestion. Taking all these for granted, how
is it that I do not remember anything of my past life?
This can be easily explained. I am now speaking English.
It is not my mother tongue, in fact no words of my
mother tongue are now present in my consciousness, but
let me try to bring them up, and they rush in. That
shows that consciousness is only the surface of the
mental ocean, and within its depths are stored up all
our experiences. Try and struggle, they would come up
and you would be conscious even of your past life.
So then the Hindu believes that he is spirit. Him the
sword cannot pierce—him the fire cannot burn—him the
water cannot melt—him the air cannot dry. The Hindu
believes that every soul is a circle whose circumference
is nowhere, but whose center is located in the body, and
that death means the change of this center from body to
body. Nor is the soul bound by the conditions of matter.
In its very essence, it is free, unbounded, holy, pure,
and perfect. But somehow or the other it finds itself
tied down to matter, and thinks of itself as matter.
How can the perfect soul be deluded into the belief that
it is imperfect? We have been told that the Hindus shirk
the question and say that no such question can be there.
Some thinkers want to answer it by positing one or more
quasi-perfect beings, and use big scientific names to
fill up the gap. But naming is not explaining. The
question remains the same. How can the perfect become
the quasi-perfect; how can the pure, the absolute,
change even a microscopic particle of its nature? But
the Hindu is sincere. He does not want to take shelter
under sophistry. His answer is: "I do not know. I do not
know how the perfect being, the soul, came to think of
itself as imperfect, as joined to and conditioned by
matter."
Well, then, the human soul is eternal and immortal,
perfect and infinite, and death means only a change of
center from one body to another. The present is
determined by our past actions, and the future by the
present. The soul will go on evolving up or reverting
back from birth to birth and
death to death. But here is another question: Is man
a tiny boat in a tempest, raised one moment on the foamy
crest of a billow and dashed down into a yawning chasm
the next, rolling to and fro at the mercy of good and
bad actions? Is there no hope? Is there no escape?—was
the cry that went up from the bottom of the heart of
despair. It reached the throne of mercy, and words of
hope and consolation came down and inspired a Vedic
sage, and he stood up before the world and in trumpet
voice proclaimed the glad tidings: "Hear, ye children of
immortal bliss! Even ye that reside in higher spheres! I
have found the Ancient One, who is beyond all darkness,
all delusion: knowing Him alone you shall be saved from
death over again."
"Children of immortal bliss"—what a sweet, what a
hopeful name! Allow me to call you, brethren, by that
sweet name—heirs of immortal bliss—yea, the Hindu
refuses to call you sinners. Ye are the children of god,
the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings.
Ye divinities on earth-sinners! It is a sin to call a
man so; it is a standing libel on human nature. Come up,
O lions, and shake off the delusion that you are sheep;
you are souls immortal, spirits free, blest and eternal;
ye are not matter, ye are not bodies; matter is your
servant, not you the servant of matter."
Thus it is that the Vedas proclaim not a dreadful
combination of unforgiving laws, not an endless prison
of cause and effect, but that at the head of all these
laws, in and through every particle of matter and force,
stands One, "By whose command the wind blows, the fire
burns, the clouds rain, and death stalks upon the
earth."
And what is his nature? He is everywhere, the pure and
formless One, the Almighty and the All merciful. "Thou
art our father, Thou art our mother, Thou art our
beloved friend, Thou art the source of all strength;
give us strength. Thou art he that beareth the burdens
of the universe; help me bear the little burden of this
life." Thus sang the Rishis of the Veda. And how
to worship Him? Through love. "He is to be worshiped as
the one beloved, dearer than everything in this and the
next life."
This is the doctrine of love declared in the Vedas, and
let us see how it is fully developed and taught by
Krishna, whom the Hindus believe to have been god incarnate on
earth.
He taught that 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 the world—his heart
to god and his hands to work.
It is good to love god for hope of reward in this or the
next world, but it is better to love god for love's
sake, and the prayer goes: "Lord, I do not want wealth,
nor children, nor learning. If it be Thy will, I shall
go from birth to birth, but grant me this, that I may
love Thee without the hope of reward-love unselfishly
for love's sake." One of the disciples of Krishna, the
then Emperor of India, was driven from his kingdom by
his enemies and had to take shelter with his queen, in a
forest in the Himalayas, and there one day the queen
asked him how it was that he, the most virtuous of men,
should suffer so much misery. Yudhishthira answered:
"Behold, my queen, the
Himalayas, how grand and beautiful they are: I love
them. They do not give me anything, but my nature is to
love the grand, the beautiful, therefore I love them.
Similarly, I love the Lord. He is the source of all
beauty, of all sublimity. He is the only object to be
loved; my nature is to love Him, and therefore I love. I
do not pray for anything. Let him place me wherever he
likes. I must love him for love's sake. I cannot trade
in love."
The Vedas teach that the soul is divine, only held in
the bondage of matter; perfection will be reached when
this bond will burst, and the word they use for it is
therefore mukti-freedom, freedom from the bonds
of imperfection, freedom from death and misery.
And
this bondage can only fall off through the mercy of god,
and this mercy comes on the pure. So purity is the
condition of his mercy. How does that mercy act? He
reveals him self to the pure heart; the pure and the
stainless see god, yea even in this life. Then and then
only all crookedness of the heart is made straight; then
all doubt ceases. He is no more the freak of a terrible
law of causation. The Hindu does not want to live upon
words and theories. If there are existence beyond the
ordinary sensuous existence, he wants to come face to
face with them. If there is an all-merciful universal
Soul, he will go to him direct. He must see him, and
that alone can destroy all doubts. So the best proof a
Hindu sage gives about the soul, about god, is—"I have
seen the soul; I have seen god."
Thus the whole object of their system is by constant
struggle to become perfect, to become divine, to reach
god and see god, and this reaching god, seeing god,
becoming perfect even as the father in heaven is
perfect, constitutes the religion of the Hindus.
And what becomes of a man when he attains perfection? He
enjoys infinite and perfect bliss, having obtained the
only thing in which man ought to have pleasure, namely
god, and enjoys the bliss with god.
If it is happiness to enjoy the consciousness of this
small body, it must be greater happiness to enjoy the
consciousness of two bodies, the measure of happiness
increasing with the consciousness of an increasing
number of bodies, the aim, the ultimate of happiness
being reached when it would become a universal
consciousness.
Therefore, to gain this infinite universal
individuality, this miserable little
prison-individuality must go. Then alone can death cease
when I am one with life, then alone can misery cease
when I am one with happiness itself, then alone can all
errors cease when I am one with knowledge itself; and
this is the necessary scientific conclusion. Science has
proved to me that physical individuality is a delusion,
that really my body is one little continuously changing
body in an unbroken ocean of matter, and advaita
(unity) is the necessary conclusion with my other
counterpart, soul.
This
brethren, is a short sketch of the religious ideas of
the Hindus. The Hindu may have failed to carry out all
his plans, but if there is ever to be a universal
religion, it must be one which will have no location in
place or time; which will be infinite, like the god it
will preach, and whose sun will shine upon the followers
of Krishna and of Christ, on saints and sinners alike;
which will not be Brahminic or Buddhistic,
Christian or
Mohammedan, but the sum total of all these, and
still have infinite space for development; which in its
catholicity will embrace in its infinite arms, and find
a place for, every human being. It will be a religion
which will have no place for persecution or intolerance
in its polity, which will recognize divinity in every
man and woman, and whose whole scope, whose whole force,
will be centered in aiding humanity to realize its own
true, divine nature.
Offer such a religion and all the nations will follow
you. Ashoka's council was a council of the Buddhist
faith. Akbar's, though more to the purpose, was only a
parlor meeting. It was reserved for America to proclaim
to all the quarters of the globe that the Lord is in
every religion.
May He who is the Brahman of the Hindus, the Ahura-Mazda
of the Zoroastrians, the Buddha of the Buddhists, the
Jehovah of the Jews, the Father in Heaven of the
Christians, give strength to you to carry out your noble
idea! The star arose in the East; it traveled steadily
towards the West, sometimes dimmed and sometimes
effulgent, till it made a circuit of the world, and now
it is again rising on the very horizon of the East, the
borders of the Sanpo, a thousandfold more effulgent than
it ever was before.
Hail,
Columbia, motherland of liberty! It has been given to thee, who
never dipped her hand in her neighbor's blood, who never
found out that the shortest way of becoming rich was by
robbing one's neighbors, it has been given to thee to
march at the vanguard of civilization with the flag of
harmony.
Life Positive,
October 2000
source :
http://lifepositive.com/Spirit/masters/swami-vivekananda/chicago.asp
|
POWER OF THE MIND |
Top |
Swami
Vivekananda, born Narendranath Datta in Calcutta in
1863, became a disciple of
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa in his youth. On a
three-year visit to the
United States
and Europe, he made a profound impression with his
doctrine of combining spiritual consciousness and social
responsibility. Especially significant were his talks at
the World Parliament of Religions in
Chicago
in 1893. During his travels, he brought Vedanta to the
West, and adopted the name Vivekananda, or 'bliss
discernment'. In India, he influenced many political
leaders of the emerging nation. He founded the
Ramakrishna Mission and wrote several books on
Yoga and
Vedanta. He died in 1902, at the age of 39.
Excerpts from his talk delivered at Los Angeles on
January 8, 1900:
All over the world there has been the belief in the
supernatural throughout the ages. All of us have heard
of extraordinary happenings, and many of us have had
some personal experience of them. I would rather
introduce the subject by telling you certain facts,
which have come within my own experience. I once heard
of a man who, if anyone went to him with questions in
his mind, would answer them immediately; and I was also
informed that he foretold events. I was curious, and
went to see him with a few friends. We each had
something in our minds to ask, and, to avoid mistakes,
we wrote down our questions and put them in our pockets.
As soon as the man saw one of us, he repeated our
question and gave answers to them. Them he wrote
something on paper, which he folded up, asked me to sign
on the back, and said, "Don't look at it; put it in your
pocket, and keep it there till I ask for it again." And
so on to each one of us. He next told us about some
events that would happen to us in the future.
Then he said, "Now, think of a word or sentence, from
any language you like." I thought of a long sentence
from Sanskrit, a language of which he was entirely
ignorant. "Now take out the paper from your pocket," he
said. The Sanskrit sentence was written there! He had
written it an hour before with the remark, "In
confirmation of what I have written, this man will think
of this sentence." It was correct. Another of us who had
been given a similar paper, which he had signed and
placed in his pocket, was also asked to think of a
sentence. He thought of a sentence in Arabic, which it
was still less possible for the man to know; it was some
passage from the Koran. And my friend found this written
down on the paper.
Another of us was a physician. He thought of a sentence
from a German medical book. It was written on his paper.
Several days later I went to this man again, thinking
possibly I had been deluded somehow before. I took other
friends, and on this occasion also he came out
wonderfully triumphant. Another time I was in the city
of
Hyderabad
in India, and I was told of a Brahmin there, who could
produce numbers of things from where, nobody knew. This
man was in business there; he was a respectable
gentleman. And I asked him to show me his tricks. It so
happened that this man had a fever; and in India there
is a general belief that if a holy man puts his hand on
a sick man he would be well.
This Brahmin came to me and said, "Sir, put your hand on
my head, so that my fever may be cured." I said, "Very
good; but you show me your tricks." He promised. I put
my hand on his head as desired; and later, he came to
fulfill his promise. He had only a strip of cloth about
his loins, we took off everything else from him. I had a
blanket, which I gave him to wrap round himself, because
it was cold, and made him sit in a corner. Twenty-five
pairs of eyes were looking at him. And he said, "Now,
look, write down anything you want." We all wrote down
names of fruits that never grew in that country, bunches
of grapes, oranges and so on. And we gave him those bits
of paper. And there came from under his blanket, bushels
of grapes, oranges, and so forth, so much that if all
that fruit was weighed, it would have been twice as
heavy as the man. He asked us to eat the fruit. Some of
us objected, thinking it was hypnotism; but the man
began eating himself—so we all ate. It was all right. He
ended by producing a mass of roses. Each flower was
perfect, with dewdrops on the petals, not one crushed,
not one injured. And masses of them! When I asked the
man for an explanation, he said, "It is all sleight of
hand."
Whatever it was, it seemed to be impossible that it
could be sleight of hand merely. From whence could he
have got such large quantities of things? Well, I saw
many things like that. Going about India you find
hundreds of similar things in different places. These
are in every country. Even in this country you will find
some such wonderful things. In very remote times in
India, thousands of years ago, these facts used to
happen even more than they do today. It seems to me that
when a country becomes very thickly populated, psychical
power deteriorates.
Given a vast country thinly inhabited, there will,
perhaps, be more of psychical power there. These facts
the Hindus, being analytically minded, took up and
investigated. And they came to certain remarkable
conclusions; that is, they made a science of it. They
found out that all these, though extraordinary, are also
natural; there is nothing supernatural. They are under
laws just the same as any other physical phenomenon. It
is not a freak of nature that a man is born with such
powers. They can be systematically studied, practiced
and acquired. This science they call the science of
Raja-Yoga.
There are thousands of people who cultivate the study of
this science, and for the whole nation it has become a
part of daily worship. The conclusion they have reached
is that all these extraordinary powers are in the mind
of man. This mind is a part of the universal mind. Each
mind is connected with every other mind. And each mind,
wherever it is located, is in actual communication with
the whole world.
GROWTH OF MAN
Now, I shall tell you a theory, which I will not argue
now, but simply place before you the conclusion. Each
man in his childhood runs through the stages through
which his race has come up; only the race took thousands
of years to do it, while the child takes a few years.
The child is first the old savage man—and he crushes a
butterfly under his feet. The child is at first like the
primitive ancestors of his race. As he grows, he passes
through different stages until he reaches the
development of his race. Only he does it swiftly and
quickly.
Now, take the whole of humanity as a race, or take the
whole of the animal creation, man and the lower animals,
as one whole. There is an end towards which the whole is
moving. Let us call it perfection. Some men and women
are born who anticipate the whole progress of mankind.
Instead of waiting and being reborn over and over again
for ages until the whole human race has attained to that
perfection, they, as it were, rush through them in a few
short years of their life. And we know that we can
hasten these processes, if we be true to ourselves.
If a number of men, without any culture, be left to live
upon an island, and are given barely enough food,
clothing, and shelter, they will gradually go on and on,
evolving higher and higher stages of civilization. We
know also that this growth can be hastened by additional
means. We help the growth of trees, do we not? Left to
nature they would have grown, only they would have taken
a longer time; we help them to grow in a shorter time
than they would otherwise have taken. We are doing all
the time the same thing, hastening the growth of things
by artificial means. Why cannot we hasten the growth of
man?
We can do that as a race. Why are teachers sent to other
countries? Because by these means we can hasten the
growth of races. Now, can we not hasten the growth of
individuals? We can. Can we put a limit to the
hastening? We cannot say how much a man can grow in one
life. You have no reason to say that this much a man can
do and no more. Circumstances can hasten him
wonderfully. Can there be any limit then, till you come
to perfection? So, what comes of it?—That a perfect man,
that is to say, the type that is to come of this race,
perhaps millions of years hence, that man can come
today.
And this is what the Yogis say, that all great
incarnations and prophets are such men; that they
reached perfection in this one life. We have had such
men at all periods of the world's history and at all
times. Even this hastening of the growth must be under
laws. Suppose we can investigate these laws and
understand their secrets and apply them to our own
needs; it follows that we grow. We hasten our growth, we
hasten our development, and we become perfect, even in
this life.
This is the higher part of our life, and the science of
the study of mind and its powers has this perfection as
its real end. The utility of this science is to bring
out the perfect man, and not let him wait and wait for
ages, just a plaything in the hands of the physical
world, like a log of driftwood carried from wave to wave
and tossing about in the ocean. This science wants you
to be strong, to take the work in your own hand, instead
of leaving it in the hands of nature, and get beyond
this little life. It's a great idea.
STUDY OF THE MIND
There is no end to the power a man can obtain. This is
the peculiarity of the Indian mind, that when anything
interests it, it gets absorbed in it and other things
are neglected. You know how many sciences had their
origin in India. Mathematics began there. You are even
today counting 1,2,3 etc. to zero, after Sanskrit
figures, and you all know that algebra also originated
in India, and that gravitation was known to the Indians
thousands of years before Newton was born.
You see the peculiarity. At a certain period of Indian
history, this one subject of man and his mind absorbed
all their interest. And it was so enticing, because it
seemed the easiest way to achieve their ends. Now, the
Indian mind became so thoroughly persuaded that the mind
could do anything and everything according to law, that
its powers became the great object of study. Charms,
magic and other powers, and all that were nothing
extraordinary, but a regularly taught science, just as
the physical sciences they had taught before that. Such
a conviction in these things came upon the race that
physical sciences nearly died out. It was the one thing
that came before them. Different sects of yogis
began to make all sorts of experiments. Some made
experiments with light, trying to find out how lights of
different colors produced changes in the body. They wore
a certain colored cloth, lived under a certain color,
and ate certain colored foods. All sorts of experiments
were made in this way. Others made experiments in sound
by stopping and unstopping their ears. Yet others
experimented in the sense of smell, and so on.
A SCIENCE LIKE NO OTHER
If this is true, it is temptation enough for the mind to
exert its highest. But as with every other science it is
very difficult to make any great achievement, so also
with this, nay much more. Yet most people think that
these powers can be easily gained. How many are the
years you take to make a fortune? Think of that! First,
how many years do you take to learn electrical science
or engineering? And then you have to work all the rest
of your life.
Again, most of the other sciences deal with things that
do not move, that are fixed. You can analyze the chair,
the chair does not fly from you. But this science deals
with the mind, which moves all the time; the moment you
want to study it, it slips. Now the mind is in one mood,
the next moment, perhaps, it is different, changing,
changing all the time. In the midst of all this change
it has to be studied, understood, grasped, and
controlled. How much more difficult, then, is this
science! It requires rigorous training.
People ask me why I do not give them practical lessons.
Why, it is no joke. I stand upon this platform talking
to you and you go home and find no benefit; nor do I.
Then you say, "It is all bosh." It is because you wanted
to make a bosh of if. I know very little of this
science, but the little that I gained I worked for
thirty years of my life, and for six years I have been
telling people the little that I know. It took me thirty
years to learn it; thirty years of hard struggle.
Sometimes I worked at it twenty hours during the
twenty-four; sometimes I slept only one hour in the
night; sometimes I worked whole nights; sometimes I
lived in places where there was hardly a sound, hardly a
breath; sometimes I had to live in caves. Think of that.
And yet I know little or nothing; I have barely touched
the hem of the garment of this science. But I can
understand that it is true and vast and wonderful.
Now, if there is any one amongst you who really wants to
study this science, he will have to start with that sort
of determination, the same as, nay even more than, that
which he puts into any business of life.
And what an amount of attention does business require,
and what a rigorous taskmaster it is! Even if the
father, the mother, the wife, or the child dies,
business cannot stop! Even if the heart is breaking, we
still have to go to our place of business, when every
hour of work is a pang. That is business, and we think
that it is just, that it is right.
This science calls for more application than any
business can ever require. Many men can succeed in
business; very few in this. Because so much depends upon
the particular constitution of the person studying it.
As in business all may not make a fortune, but everyone
can make something, so in the study of this science each
one can get a glimpse, which will convince him of its
truth and of the fact that there have been men who
realized it fully.
This is the outline of the science. It stands upon its
own feet and in its own light, and challenges comparison
with any other science. There have been charlatans,
there have been magicians, there have been cheats, and
more here than in any other field. Why? For the same
reason, that the more profitable the business, the
greater the number of charlatans and cheats. But that is
no reason why the business should not be good. And one
thing more; it may be good intellectual gymnastics to
listen to all the arguments and an intellectual
satisfaction to hear of wonderful things. But, if any
one of you really wants to learn something beyond that,
merely attending lectures will not do. That cannot be
taught in lectures, for it is life; and life can only
convey life.
Life
Positive,
August 2000
Source :
http://lifepositive.com/Spirit/masters/swami-vivekananda/vivekananda.asp
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Sayings of Swami Vivekananda |
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Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do
so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers,
and let them go their own way.
You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself.
When we really begin to live in the world, then we
understand what is meant by brotherhood or mankind, and
not before.
External nature is only internal nature writ large.
The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make
ourselves strong.
Feel like Christ and you will be a Christ; feel like
Buddha and you will be a Buddha. It is feeling that is
the life, the strength, the vitality, without which no
amount of intellectual activity can reach God.
The will is not free - it is a phenomenon bound by cause
and effect - but there is something behind the will
which is free.
The more we come out and do good to others, the more our
hearts will be purified, and God will be in them.
There is nothing beyond God, and the sense enjoyments
are simply something through which we are passing now in
the hope of getting better things.
The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of
every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before
every human being and see God in him -- that moment I am
free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I
am free.
Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to
live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same
time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.
That man has reached immortality who is disturbed by
nothing material.
You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach
you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other
teacher but your own soul.
The goal of mankind is knowledge. . . . Now this
knowledge is inherent in man. No knowledge comes from
outside: it is all inside. What we say a man "knows,"
should, in strict psychological language, be what he
"discovers" or "unveils"; what man "learns" is really
what he discovers by taking the cover off his own soul,
which is a mine of infinite knowledge.
If
money help a man to do good to others, it is of some
value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the
sooner it is got rid of, the better.
All differences in this world are of degree, and not of
kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.
To
devote your life to the good of all and to the happiness
of all is religion. Whatever you do for your own sake is
not religion.
The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature.
Have faith in yourselves!
The spirit is the cause of all our thoughts and
body-action, and everything, but it is untouched by good
or evil, pleasure or pain, heat of cold, and all the
dualism of nature, although it lends its light to
everything.
It
is our own mental attitude which makes the world what it
is for us. Our thought make things beautiful, our
thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own
minds. Learn to see things in the proper light. First,
believe in this world -- that there is meaning behind
everything. Everything in the world is good, is holy and
beautiful. If you see something evil, think that you are
not understanding it in the right light. throw the
burden on yourselves!
In
one word, this ideal is that you are divine.
All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is
we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that
it is dark.
If
faith in ourselves had been more extensively taught and
practiced, I am sure a very large portion of the evils
and miseries that we have would have vanished.
Where can we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our
own hearts and in every living being.
The Vedanta teaches that Nirvana can be attained here
and now, that we do not have to wait for death to reach
it. Nirvana is the realization of the Self; and after
having once known that, if only for an instant, never
again can one be deluded by the mirage of personality.
The Vedanta recognizes no sin it only recognizes error.
And the greatest error, says the Vedanta is to say that
you are weak, that you are a sinner, a miserable
creature, and that you have no power and you cannot do
this and that.
Never think there is anything impossible for the soul.
It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin,
this is the only sin – to say that you are weak, or
others are weak.
Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet
each one can be true.
Source :
http://www.prosperityplace.com/vivequot.html
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