LIVE THE LIFE 15 ... WORK, A NEW APPROACH 2 ... A TRIBUTE TO KETAKI MAHARAJ

Indian society is constricted today. Although the sledgehammer blows of globalization are breaking through the citadels of caste-ridden constrictions, Indian society remains immured in age-old customs and social accretions that have stifled the life of her people and thwarted their natural growth into a dynamic race as in days of yore when India rose to the pinnacle of power and glory, culture and civilization. Ours is a predominantly rural population subsisting on agriculture within a feudal set-up although politically we are a democratic republic. The mind-set of our people is still feudal and the result is that in vast areas of the country even today, the rule of the village elders is the governing principle with a patriarchal feudal mind-set with all its concomitant evils. Education and real democracy are yet to penetrate Indian society in a tangible way and economic inequities are so large that it is a permanent state of depression for millions even today with basic amenities of life an unaffordable luxury and beyond the reach of the vast mass of the population that live in the hundreds of thousands of villages across India. Water, sanitation, toilet facilities, electricity, hospitals, schools and colleges---well, none of these fundamental requirements for decent human living are available to the masses who have merely the franchise to elect their representatives periodically to loot the coffers of the nation and perpetuate their misery. Such then is the predicament the Motherland faces, social and cultural incrustation, huge inequities in the living standards of the urban and the rural populations and of the rich and the poor, and the onslaught of western modes and manners of a decadent, immoral type that threaten to widely pollute the culture and character of the urban youth by the millions. Capitalistic inroads are also loosening morals as monetary necessity is being coupled with the greed for gold. Advertisement of commodities is wreaking havoc on mass psychology and creating artificial desires which is destroying the age-old values of contentment and simplicity of living and making life unduly complex and unhappy. The traditional Indian way of living is being affected for the worse and competition, conflict and corruption in corporate and political life is becoming the order of the day.

It is here that we today need a new philosophy of living, a new culture of work and a totally new approach to the building of our nation. A new work ethic is needed, a dynamic and socially beneficial attitude to work whose mainspring of inspiration is the soul within and the soul-mates without whose service is the pre-eminent objective and not individual profit or pleasure. Such a work-culture may only be built on the adamantine foundation of the Vedanta which declares the oneness of existence and therefore the oneness of all of humanity. But for all this, the primary pre-requisite is the building up of character what in modern management parlance is called 'the integrated personality'. Swamiji had in trumpet voice declared,"Men, men these are wanted, everything else will be ready, but strong vigorous, believing young men, sincere to the backbone, are wanted. A hundred such and the world becomes revolutionized." Where are these men my friends? Why do you not give yourself to Swamiji's Cause of nation-building? Your lives will be sanctified and India will rise on your shoulders. What greater joy can there be than in the sacrifice of your blossoming youth for the regeneration of the Motherland? Perfect purity will work wonders and an iron will that will overcome all obstacles, the heart to feel intensely the misery of the masses, the head to comprehend the problems and conceive solutions and the hands to set to the task of executing them, these are the prime necessities today.

Swamiji worked himself to death, so did many a valiant monk of the Ramakrishna Order in the earlier days when resources were scarce, facilities meagre but commitment to the Cause total. One such was Ketaki Maharaj (Swami Prabhananda Senior) who literally laboured to death to build up several Ashramas in the north-east of India, Shella, Cherrapunjee and Shillong. For ten long years he worked among the Khasis in mountainous terrain to set up schools for the education of their children before he was laid to rest with muscular atrophy at the early age of 37. Swamiji had once said to his disciples, "I love you all so much, yet I wish to see you all die labouring for the Cause." Ketaki Maharaj did not let Swamiji down. He bled his way to death to awaken the Khasis to self-consciousness, their children to knowledge of the wide world and the Ramakrishna Order to the divine ideal of all-sacrificing service to the visible God that is Man. Here, my friends, is the new philosophy of work, a way as ancient as the the Himalayas, as sacred as the Vedas and as fluid as the life-transfusion of Swamiji and Ketaki Maharaj into the immobile masses of the Motherland. Jai Swamiji! Jai Ketaki Maharaj!      

LIVE THE LIFE 14 ... WORK, A NEW APPROACH 1

The culture of work in India must change. We vaunt ourselves as the most spiritual nation in the world with a civilization dating back to more than 5000 years and yet in practical terms today we are nowhere in the comity of nations as a leader guiding the world towards higher spiritual living. A great deal of this has to deal with our slavery to alien powers for over seven centuries ever since the onset of Muslim rule in 1192 when free expression of our spiritual culture was largely restricted by widespread fanatical tyranny of the doctrinaire cult of Islam as espoused by barbarian Afghan-Mughal invaders with the notable exception of Akbar and Dara Shukoh. Later, European tyranny of the capital and Christianity and the most inhuman form of colonial exploitation conducted by the corrupt British imperial power systematically transported India's resources to London to build its vaunted empire across the world where the sun never ever set. India in the process was made to bleed, her coffers emptied and her culture offended by aggressive proselytization, the same offence committed for ages by the marauding Muslim invaders who despoiled the ancient culture of the Hindus by desecration of their temples, forced conversion to the Islamic faith, imposition of religious taxes like the Jizya and the creation of an environment of overall antipathy to Hindu religious culture. The Britishers followed suit only in a far more vicious way, the scientific looting of our national wealth which left India a famished country at the time they left us in 1947, a nation partitioned by their Machiavellian designs and its population reduced to a mass of marooned millions mutilating each other across the borders. So much for the weakness of Gandhi and his vaunted non-violence! He literally played himself into the hands of the British and the Muslim League led by Jinnah by his misreading of history and misinterpretation of Hindu philosophy, and by his impractical idealism and often political deceitfulness as evident in his foul play with Subhas Chandra Bose, later Netaji. Had Bose been allowed to function within the ambit of the Indian National Congress as he rightfully ought to have, having been democratically elected the President of the Congress in 1939 at Tripuri, had he then not been forced to resign from his post by the undemocratic, utterly unlawful designs of the Mahatma who forced the Congress Working Committee to resign, the fate of the Motherland would have changed, Partition could have been averted and a glorious chapter in Indian, nay, world history would have begun with the renascence of undivided free India. Gandhi realized his mistake when it was too late. Then none, not even Nehru, was listening to him as Jinnah, Nehru and Mountbatten made common cause to split India along communal lines thereby bringing to historical fruition the old British policy of 'divide and rule' on the grandest scale they could have ever conceived of. Non-violence had paid its debt among the bloodbath and the carnage that stretched from Lahore to Noakhali and the peoples of new India and Pakistan had been born among the terrible labour pains of the Ancient Mother India. Does Great Britain realize the magnitude of her sin? The original sin of Christian theology may be washed off by baptism in the waters of the Jordan but what will wash off this Himalayan sin of dividing Punyabhumi Bharatvarsha (India, the Holy Land) that like the fabled albatross is hanging on the neck of Great Britain? And Mr. Jinnah, where has your myopic vision of fractured politics led your own Muslim brethren beyond the horrors of the dictatorship of the Army and the conjoined mischief of religious clerics and, worst of all, the political slavery to the United States of America? Has it made the life of our millions of erstwhile Indians and their descendants across the border any better? Nay, we all know, it is an emphatic 'no'.

This then is the backdrop of the work-culture prevailing now in India where politicians and industrialists have joined hands to re-loot India whose wealth never seems to get exhausted, such is the grace of Mother Lakshmi and Mother Annapurna on her, but whose children remain enslaved now ever more to the capital and all its concomitant evils. A new approach to work is the urgent need of the hour if we are to save our people from the ravages of all that is the unlawful heir to industrial avarice. Remember, when unscrupulous politicians indulge in scams, it is the industrialist devoid of principles who whets his appetite for money for his own equally unscrupulous business ends. Now you decide who is more culpable. The problems have been set before you with their historical background. The solutions will be laid before as well soon with further analysis of past historical mistakes and future visions of the Rishis of yore whose climactic evolution is the spiritual duo Ramakrishna-Vivekananda in whom we shall seek solutions as well. Jai Hind!

LIVE THE LIFE 13

Dualism at a lower level is terrible weakness. All sense of separation, disintegration of the superstructure of things, break-up of an integrated mass into miniscule units is the handiwork of primeval ignorance quite antithetical to spiritual strength which stands on the bedrock of oneness, the essential basis of existence. All ideas of fragmented individuality, partitioned personality spring from the erroneous reading of the Absolute through the prism of Maya, of the spaceless, timeless, unconditioned Brahman through the filter of space, time and causality, and render magically, as though, the transcendent Being into this panoramic phenomena. And this is the cause of all the mischief which collectively may be dubbed human weakness in this terrestrial drama of existence, this spectacle of life which is and which is not.

Egocentrism is the bane of the world and has its genesis in this fractured view of life which is the product of the misapprehension of Reality. Units of self-centred beings do not make for a totality of social coherence and hence the myriad miseries to which man finds himself heir to. No wonder Swami Vivekananda had warned his followers about this mischief-monger, the ego, and had exhorted them to make a bundle of it and throw it overboard into the sea before they set themselves to the mighty mission of nation-building. The problems of earthly living begin with the false idea of separateness from, so to say, others and will end only when this artificial distinction goes off from the mind of man. Love, service, worship, peace, all have this consciousness of oneness as their basis. Who do you love or serve when you do so to your neighbour? Why, you yourself disguised as your neighbour. And this neighbourhood runs to the ends of the earth encompassing all, excluding none. Such is the perception of oneness that is necessary for doing the work of the Lord, such all-embracing love that can overcome all opposition and by force of character establish that which is good and wholesome, beneficial and blessed, elevating and ethereal.

Character is the basis of all great work and its utter deficiency in public life today is the cause of much of the misery of the masses. And then, of course, the eye-wash of the capitalist progress model which essentially is a life-sucker of the many for the few for you do not profit exorbitantly from your own ones and did I not just say that you and your neighbour are one? Eye-brows will be raised in pockets with vested interests but is it not inhuman to prosper at the expense of others who are your very own, nay, yourselves, and so impoverish them and thwart their very aspirations for a decent human living? And to talk of charity! Raising gallons from the Ganga and spraying faint showers on the river itself by way of magnanimous charity! Whither the good sense of people, whither morality and fairness, whither values O Lord in this age of rampant corruption, in these times of shameless greed? The world will rise on the shoulders of women and men of character and never forsooth on the coffers of the corrupt. Let a handful of young women and men yet come forward and meditate on the life and aspirations of Swamiji and so build character to translate his vision into bold deeds of national achievement. Let schools, hospitals, laboratories and universities spring up in his name who bled his very soul for the redemption of the teeming millions of India and the survival of the entire human race. He is not dead, he is with us, inspiring and invigorating us and inventing real men of lightning strength out of soft unformed matter, in his words, transforming us from our 'jelly-fish existence'.

These are tall proposals and may sound fairly far-fetched, the reactions of a radical mind to the terrible inequities of the times, but friends, just look around to discover that these projects are already afoot, courtesy the RAMAKRISHNA MATH and RAMAKRISHNA MISSION, but are getting derailed or indefinitely delayed by our niggardly status vis-a-vis social charity. Our devotions are selfish in that they cater to our well-being first and then the world but the Lord cannot be fooled. He who is the wisest of souls cannot be hoodwinked by demonstrative devotions or pretentious piety. He must see total self-effacement and complete dispossession of personal property in the light that everything belongs to Him and Him alone. Then friends, why delay? Be up and doing for the multifarious welfare projects of the Ramakrishna Mission and labour out of love for the reconstruction of the Motherland along the lines laid down by the Rishis (seers of truth) of yore who had envisioned the golden future of our beloved country ages ago. Will you not set your home aright? Then why tarry? 'Arise , awake and stop not till the goal is reached.'

LIVE THE LIFE 12 ... HELP RAMAKRISHNA MISSION SEVASHRAMA, MUZAFFARPUR EYE HOSPITAL

The poor of Muzaffarpur, Bihar are suffering from extreme medical neglect owing to lack of medical facilities in much of North Bihar. Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama, Muzaffarpur Eye Hospital has been doing yoeman's service for eradication of blindness in the remote areas of North Bihar but is currently facing an extreme shortage of fund and equipment to successfully carry on medical service of a high order of excellence. At present there is an acute need of 2 MEDICAL MOBILE VANS which will cost a total of INR 102 lakh, a PHACO MACHINE which will cost INR 36 lakh and other equipment which will cost INR 12 lakh, that is, there is an immediate need of INR 150 lakh or 1.5 crore. We earnestly urge all to come forward and help us acquire the funds that we may serve these living goddesses and gods of North Bihar well and try and eradicate uncalled-for blindness in these areas for good.

The Eye Hospital  is also in the process of being built on a bigger scale and needs active support of philanthropists and corporate houses for its successful completion. We invite the corporate houses to come forward with help under the CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY SCHEME that we may quickly raise the necessary funds to arrest the medical decadence here in North Bihar. Kindly follow the instructions given below:

 http://www.rkmmuzaffarpur.org/donations.html

Donors are requested to provide the following along with their donation in a COVERING LETTER or EMAIL or BOTH :

NAME OF DONOR :

ADDRESS OF DONOR :

PERMANENT ACCOUNT NUMBER ( PAN ) IN CASE OF DONATION OF INR 10,000 OR MORE :

EMAIL ID :

MOBILE NO.:

DONATION AMOUNT :

MODE OF SENDING DONATION : ONLINE TRANSFER / CHEQUE (CHECK) PAYMENT / BANK DRAFT

DONATION PURPOSE : PURCHASE OF MEDICAL MOBILE VAN / PHACO / OTHER EQUIPMENT / HOSPITAL CONSTRUCTION

http://www.rkmmuzaffarpur.org/donations.html

All these details sent will help make the entire process of donation giving and donation receiving smooth. Kindly comply with the aforesaid request.

With sincere hopes of garnering support for this noblest of causes,
I remain your humble servant,
Ever in the Holy Trinity of Thakur-Ma-Swamiji,
Sugata Bose

P.S.: Kindly go through the following WEBSITE carefully before sending your donation. All relevant details such as the address of the Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama, Muzaffarpur and their activities are available here.
http://www.rkmmuzaffarpur.org/donations.html

LIVE THE LIFE 11 ... BIRTHDAY AND BEYOND

Birthday of Sri Ramakrishna over, now what do we do? Why, dedicate ourselves to propagating his message and helping in the funding of his many welfare projects conducted by his Order. True it is that Swami Vivekananda had set up the Ramakrishna Math for spreading the divine message of his spiritual Master and the Ramakrishna Mission primarily for rescuing India's teeming millions from the yoke of crushing poverty inflicted on them by the alien British occupiers and the oppressive social machinery run by the upper castes in India. It was a herculean task taken up by the Swami and apparently impossible of achievement in the then socio-political environment obtaining in India but such was the Swami's personality and power, such his charisma and nobility of being that the entire nation was awakened by the clarion call he gave from Colombo to Almora on his return from the West in 1897. Vivekananda had shaken up the western world by his divine oratory and he now shook his Motherland out of her age-old slumber. Thousands of heroes gave up their lives in his name and freely bled to free India from foreign yoke. All our national leaders from Tilak to Gandhi, Nehru to Netaji and Aurobindo to Bagha Jatin were inspired by the message of manhood preached by Swamiji although some of these leaders did let him down by their subsequent cowardice and abject capitulation to the Machiavellian British that led to the devastation of the Partition of the Motherland. The influence of Swamiji, however, drove the British out of India as Gandhiji and Netaji, both supremely inspired, nay, empowered by Swamiji, evicted the occupiers from the Motherland along apparently diametrically opposite ways, that of so-called non-violence and that of so-called violence, both misnomers for they were eminently revolutionary methods and righteous enough to deserve no such limiting epithets. Swamiji's personality loomed over the freedom movement and eventually set India free.

But what sort of freedom have we achieved? Has it made all our citizens happy with the basic amenities of life available to and affordable by all? Now it is the tyranny of the free market economy and capitalistic greed that is consuming the life of millions. What would Swamiji or Thakur say to us if they were to confront us today? Would they praise us for our petty selfishness and total disregard of moral values in our national living? Would they commend us on our utter passivity in redressing the chaotic national condition? Or, would they be effusive at our pretentious piety oblivious of our greater national duties, our devotion devoid of commitment towards raising the lot of our sinking masses? I wonder.

Who was Ramakrishna and who Vivekananda? They were, they are and they will ever remain our spiritual guardians. And who was Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi? Why, we all call her Mother, do we not? And yet, how convenient of us to just forget millions of her children in utter destitution for, after all, we have to first ourselves survive well, do we not? We, Bengalis, have coined a beautiful adage, 'Chacha, aapon pran bnacha' (Uncle, save your own skin) and that is now national property, so infectious is this hollow selfishness of the modern 'free' man. Swamiji used to detest this saying and upbraided it in no uncertain terms. He thought that such sayings were symptomatic of the national disease that was eating into the vitals of our people, the total lack of a sense of charity and mutual help which is the backbone of any civilized society.

Now, Vivekananda is history for most of us, Shiva for many more but a living ideal to be emulated for only a handful. At the very outset I salute these very few people who truly represent the Swami and, as I always say, I make no distinction between the monastic and the laity here but pay my reverence to any who has given his heart to the realization of the dream that was Vivekananda, the rejuvenation of the ancient Motherland. I await the birth of the great ones Swamiji had prophesied who would raise India to the pinnacle of spiritual and cultural glory and I suffer daily the pangs of the millions who mutely suffer their lot too. Poor am I in temporal means to redress the situation and fervently appeal to all who love our beloved Motherland to come forward with the hand of help that we may conjointly do something worthwhile in addressing the poverty situation that persists which is sapping the very vitality of millions who are in the flower of their youth, nipping the lives out of millions of innocent babes and extinguishing the flickering flame of life from millions of our aged people. Tell me, brothers, with what face shall we face Swamiji if we cannot fulfil his fondest dream, that of protecting the poor of India from the ravages of social inflictions.

And yet there is a way out of this predicament and Swamiji himself has shown the way. He has left behind two golden institutions in the form of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission as trustees of the poor of India and spiritual trustees of the wide world beyond. For long the monks of the Ramakrishna Order have inspired us with life-giving messages, exemplary living and life-altering spiritual initiation selflessly out of their unbounded love for all. Time it is that we for a while reverse the roles and start inspiring the monks for a change by readily giving our all for the fruition of the many welfare projects the Order runs in its bid to reconstruct the nation. Let us freely give as we have so far freely received and let us hold such giving merely as service to Ramakrishna's Mission, as worship of his children, as fulfilment of his grand pronouncement 'Shiva jnaney jiva seva' (Service to living beings knowing them to be God-incarnate). I exhort all to join me in this massive movement where the lay devotees will sacrifice their all like brave children of Thakur-Ma and bring to fruition the grand ideal of the Ramakrishna Mission which Swamiji had established with the fond hope that the lay devotees of Ramakrishna would work in unison with the monks to bring about the golden transformation of India followed by her spiritual conquest of the world. So, sisters and brothers, let us LIVE THE LIFE.              

LIVE THE LIFE 10 ... 179TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA AND HIS 180TH BIRTHDAY

Once more we are celebrating Sri Ramakrishna's birth anniversary. Once more festivities are on as we rejoice over the coming of the Master in our midst. He who is birthless has to assume a human form to conduct his terrestrial play with devotees and at a deeper level to set right the lost balance of of forces in this theatre of human action. One wonders how the Master's birthday may have been celebrated by his family in his boyhood but it is a recorded fact, however, that his disciples and devotees did celebrate it with great devotion at Dakshineswar in his final years on Earth and thereafter even after his passage from the terrestrial domain. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna gives vivid description of the joyous celebrations of the Master's birthday, how he used to be clad in new attire and how the Temple Garden of Dakshineswar became a veritable mart of joy as devotees through the day sang and danced centering the Master in ecstatic delight and the Master, brimful with bliss, now in outer conscious, now immersed in samadhi, savoured each moment of it like a bonny child. Thus was set the golden tradition of the celebration of the Master's birthday and it continues even today when the Belur Math and its numerous branch centres throughout the world send cascades of spiritual bliss rolling through the consciousness of the multitude and awakening the spiritual potentiality of man. Such a day is today, the 180th birthday of Sri Ramakrishna. We pray to the Master that millions may be drawn to him today for their eternal good and that thousands of souls may be quickened into spiritual consciousness by the gracious touch of this holy day when the Lord did make his advent on Earth 179 years ago.

The significance of Sri Ramakrishna's birth is gradually dawning on man. Two World Wars and countless confrontations of the global powers for political and ideological supremacy in the world have left humanity mauled and scarred with no peace whatsoever. The world is at the crossroads of its development, civilization is suspended over an abyss by a slender thread and humanity is facing the spectre of an eventual doom too soon for comfort. If the world is to survive, it will have to follow the message of Ramakrishna, his universalism, his catholicity, his all-encompassing compassion, his great civilization of spirit. Herein lies the historical significance of Ramakrishna and the importance of stirring up enthusiasm in his name on his birthday so that millions may be pulled into his ambit amidst the gaiety of the day. Swami Vivekananda was strongly in favour of celebration of the Ramakrishna birthday for this very reason. His idea was that even if people took the name of Ramakrishna and remembered him for this one day of the year, his birthday, and participated in the proceedings, cultural and spiritual, at the Ramakrishna monasteries, it would do them a world of good, so strongly was Swamiji convinced of the efficacy of festivity in the name of his divine Master.

Our own devotion found efflorescence on these delightful days in our youth when we frequented Belur Math from morning 7 till evening 7, savouring every bit of the celebration and filling our hearts and minds brimful with spiritual joy. True it is that, today, as we go down memory lane, the chorus of joyous school children marching with the band and singing songs of praise to Thakur strike distant chords so reminiscent of the brightest days of our lives. And we remember how Bharat Maharaj, then 97, came down to listen to the discourse given by Swami Lokeswarananda in the afternoon at 3, a rare occasion indeed for devotees to witness when the gods assembled to hear the Brahmajnani speak. And what a swirling crowd, a veritable sea of devotees, rushed to gather the dust of Swami Lokeswaranandaji's feet after the then Assistant General Secretary of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, Swami Atmasthananda, had fallen at the Swami's feet. What a wave it was, a swirling mass of humanity coursing through towards the Swami towering over all of them and blessing them with upraised undulating hands even as he pacified their rising enthusiasm! The scene has remained etched in my memory and all this happened in front of the Main Temple of Sri Ramakrishna as Swami Lokeswaranandaji made his way towards the lecture podium on the lawn beside on this very day, the birth anniversary of Thakur in the year 1985.

Such then is the way Thakur's birthday has gripped my memory, that of early morning procession of school children with their bands, worship, homa, devotional songs, the multitude of devotees lined up for sacramental food (prasad), afternoon plays and spiritual discourses, and the riot of the ochre flushing spiritual emotions in devotees like us. And who can forget the unforgettable fervour of the vesper service as Swamiji's composition 'Khandana bhava bandhana' rolled across the Ganga towards Kashipur and Dakshineswar where the Master had sported in his earthly sojourn just the other day?

This is Belur Math for you, home of the sages, the abode of peace, refuge of devotees and the parlour of God for who else is seated on the thousand-petalled lotus of the sanctum sanctorum of the temple therein but the peerless Paramahamsa, the prophet of the times, the incarnation divine, the source of all beatitude.

Come ye brethren and join in the rush for the divine on this hallowed morn and make your lives a pilgrimage on this heaven of Bharatbhumi (the landmass of India) where the spiritual currents of the universe have met their confluence and an inundation of the world has sprung forth with the ethereal vibrations of the Vedas. May ye all bathe in its cleansing current and rise rejuvenated 'children of immortal bliss'!

Pranam Thakur. Jai Sri Ramakrishna! Jai Ma! Jai Swamiji Maharaj! Jai Ganga Mayee!  

LIVE THE LIFE 9

The centre of the Ramakrishna Movement is the Master himself. His unprecedented austerity, matchless renunciation and catholicity of spiritual experience is the cornerstone of the great mission he came to represent whose manifestation is transforming the consciousness of the wide world, uplifting the thought-currents and value-systems of humanity almost imperceptibly but with a slow certitude.

The mission of Ramakrishna was to set aright the lost balance of the world, redirect humanity along the spiritual path from which it had strayed and to fine-tune the terrestrial evolutionary programme at a time when mankind was sinking in the quagmire of materialism that threatened an eventual destruction of civilization. And the beauty of the entire movement is that its initiator did not wait for others to come to his aid before he began the salvage work but rather manfully set himself to the stupendous task of the resuscitation of sinking humanity, alone and single-handedly. It is a tribute to our inertia that we, the inheritors of this divine legacy of the Master, find it so convenient to evade responsibility of the rapid furtherance of his work under the pretext of this or that limitation of ours, man-power or material-power, and yet seek superficial solace in pious prostrations at his hallowed feet oblivious of the hypocrisy so indulged in and reducing piety to an exercise in futility and our manhood to a sham. No wonder the Master ever brings forth from his ethereal abode his entourage to carry forward his mission for he is fully conversant with human sloth and its unwillingness to look beyond the close confines of its conditioned self. Also, how convenient is our escape of duty as a collective anthropic entity towards our own well-being and what an utter sense of irresponsibility towards the furtherance of our own terrestrial evolution when we devise so-called spiritual modes of deification of these seminal beings in the unconscious bid to avoid bearing the cross ourselves in a bold and manful way that befits our claims to pre-eminence in the domain of terrestrial existence. If a Ramakrishna alone can achieve so much, how much more ought we to collectively achieve in his name as his followers and how little space there is for us to cite inadequacies of circumstance or means to defer his mission of the rapid transformation of the human condition indefinitely. Such inertia is unspiritual, such lethargy of approach by no means the steadiness vouched by the Swami Vivekananda who, for all intents and purposes, was, nonetheless, in the then immensely more rigid human environment, the cyclonic monk who shook the world to its foundations and expected his followers to be a hundred times more potent than he ever was. Therefore, no shirking of responsibility please in the holy name of this heroic duo Ramakrishna-Vivekananda unless, of course, it is an open submission by the concerned parties that they have failed them after all. Then cease from citing the scripture and taking cover under the umbrella of these luminous beings when the world goes to pieces and Ramakrishna stirs uneasy in his ethereal abode but his devotees happily do the devotional rounds for the fire as yet does not singe them.

Awake, my friends, awake. It is not yet too late to deluge the land with the Spirit of the Master for he leads us yet out of his infinite mercy and will not tarry awhile any more for his children suffer and the Mother cannot bear their misery. Can you bear the misery of your dear ones my friends? Then delay no longer. Set yourselves to the task of nation-building and carry the Ramakrishna flame to distant lands where our sisters and brothers, children of our Mother, expectantly await us for ages. Slake this great thirst of the world and then proudly proclaim, "We are the children of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, we are the children of our beloved Mother." 

LIVE THE LIFE 8

Swami Vivekananda had once expressed the desire to set up a Ramakrishna Ashrama in every village of India to inundate the country with the spirit of Ramakrishna. Rishi that he was, he was endowed with prophetic vision and had made his famous pronouncement, 'India is already Ramakrishna's.' Since then much water has rolled down the Ganga. India is now politically free. The Britishers have left dividing India and causing untold misery to the migrating mass of humanity across the borders of truncated India. Fallen India has risen like the phoenix from the ashes. Industry is beginning to thrive and so has agriculture been booming for several decades. But the condition of the masses in the hundreds of thousands of villages remains abysmal even today with water, sanitation and toilet facilities barely available and electricity yet to light up the lives of millions. Urban development is a welcome change sweeping across the country but we must remember that the masses even today live in the villages where living conditions are poor. Education, health-care, nutrition and proper residential facilities are a far cry as governmental misspending and rampant corruption steals the lot of the hapless villagers whose only right to existence seems to be founded in a God-given forbearance and a franchise periodically exercised whereby their hopes linger on for a better tomorrow that never shows up. It is thus a spiritual imperative for us devotees of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda to dedicate ourselves towards the fulfilment of Swamiji's dream of a renascent India where every village will be throbbing with the spiritual vibrations of Ramakrishna.

Young people are more enthusiastic than elderly ones for the former pulsate to the vibrancy of their hopes and aspirations which youth is heir to. However, as people age, this idealism gradually wanes in most and cynicism sets in in the wake of the harder realities of material life where hopes are so often dashed, aspirations nipped in the bud and youthful jollity replaced by hardened pragmatism. Dreams die their natural death as 'duty scorches the soul' of man. And this hardening of the soul spares neither monk nor man. It is a sad state of affairs that one witnesses, especially, when such altered status in thinking affects the life of the nation. Surely, Vivekananda is a saddened man to witness this decadent development in his beloved countrymen and must be reconsidering a voyage to planet Earth to redress the situation. What a shame it is that we who are the protagonists of his movement should so let him down that the mighty monk must be compelled to enter this terrestrial dungeon again and so suffer, O God, what miseries for fallen man one dreads to think! We love him, do we not? Then why do we let him down this way, monk and man ponder.

Swami Ranganathananda was so devoted to Swami Vivekananda that each and every exhortation of the latter was a commandment unto him. No wonder he achieved so much for the Ramakrishna Movement in his lifetime and continues to inspire others even beyond it. I wish that every one of us were as committed to Swamiji's Cause of national regeneration as Ranganathanandaji was although I know it is but wishful thinking on my part. Swami Asheshanada had once tearfully lamented before Bharat Maharaj in America that the monks of the Order had failed Thakur which is why he would have to reincarnate himself. I was stunned to read this and literally marvelled at the depth of love Asheshanandaji bore Sri Ramakrishna that he would rather have him not descend on Earth again that he may be spared the pain of bodily existence. Such love is veritably the gateway to freedom and of a spiritual status that transcends freedom as well, that of eternal play with the Master. But the moot point still remains in what Asheshanandaji disclosed that day that we have not done enough for the Cause and the masses continue to lead lives of deprivation despite Swamiji's exhortation that we must establish a Ramakrishna Ashrama in each and every village of India round which the rural reconstruction will take place leading to national regeneration. Worst of all that some of us, again, monk and man here equally culpable, choose to be vain enough to articulate that things will happen in due course of time and that it is not the duty of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission alone to fulfil this mammoth task of establishing Ramakrishna Ashramas in every village. While the magnitude of the task is surely far, far beyond the current capacity of the Mission and it is worthwhile to put things in their proper perspective, it is however expected that none, monk or man, should inadvertently slight Swamiji in rudely bringing home the practical point about activating his radical reforms. 'Bold words and bolder deeds are required' and monks should inspire the lay devotees in attempting to fulfil his national dreams instead of merely positing the limitations of current situations and even denigrating the very wishfulness of these idle dreamers, so to say, by superior attitude, so very unbecoming of the sacred saffron we all revere. Also, such an attitude clearly is a violation of reverence for the great Vivekananda for whom the youth of India performed 'impossibles' at the cost of their lives in the Motherland's protracted struggle for political independence. These heroes who went to the gallows 'laughing full of glee', for whom the spectacle of life and death were set on an even keel so much so that each vied with the other to sacrifice his life earlier for the nation, these were Vivekananda's heroes who, were they alive today, would never have been miffed if anyone sincerely suggested the fulfilment of Swamiji's massive national programmes. Rather, they would have felt exultant that there was someone amongst their countrymen who cared for the country enmasse. Surely, they would not have pooh-poohed such noble sentiment from their assumed spiritual pedestal when the country burns and Swamiji burns with it, oh what horror!

Time it is therefore that lay devotees by the thousands come forward to bear the cross of this, our Motherland, at this critical juncture of her history when she stands at the crossroads of her spiritual evolution. We will never fail Swamiji. We will do it his way, fulfil his dream of spreading the Gospel of his Master in every village of India till her very nerves tingle with the delight that was the peerless Paramahamsa of Dakshineshwar. If Swamiji had given utterance to this dream of his, surely it shall be fulfilled by his saving grace and by our collective effort at no distant an hour, however statistically blasphemous it may seem today, so help me all my sisters and brothers who bleed for our beloved country in her hour of distress. Jai Ramakrishna! Jai Swamiji! Jai Bharatmata!

LIVE THE LIFE 7

It is not easy to serve man. First, we must cultivate a deep respect for life before we can honour brother man. In the absence of reverence for the ones we wish to serve how can we do justice to our mission of service to them? Service is not mere social work well-performed but it is an adoration of the divine in man, a veritable worship of the incarnation of divinity in the human form. Worship of the stone idol is easy, worship of the immanent being in Nature is also not so fraught with difficulty for in these there is no reaction of the worshipped that the worshipper has to absorb but the worshipful service of man is infinitely more cumbersome for one has to deal with all sorts of reactions, quite often adverse, from the served ones. The work may prove to be utterly thankless on the surface and even hostile to the server. In such a situation it is difficult to hold on to high idealism and cling to the concept that man is the visible form of God and ought to be served in the sublimest of spirits.

We all tend to react on the spur of the moment without giving due consideration to the circumstance or situation in which we awkwardly find ourselves. A stone or clay image of God does not react in a hostile manner when we offer it worship. It merely passively accepts our worship, so we feel. There is an advantage here in that we can fashion our fancies of godhead as we choose and thus pander our vanity in matters 'spiritual'. But the real test of spirituality comes when we are confronted with the living god, man. He is unsparing in his denunciation of many a fault in us that we can hardly bear when we have served him with all our devotion and naturally expect some sort of a return in terms of gratitude at least. Although work must be performed in a dispassionate manner without the slightest expectation of any earthly return, it is but natural that the unformed mind will revert to its age-old hankering for an immediate return for whatever service it may have rendered. And herein lies the trouble. So, it is expedient for the average man to reject the service of brother man as sufficient spirituality and to revert to the age-old easier practice of serving the stone god or the clay god from whom he fears no adverse reaction, criticism or comment. The stone image then takes precedence for the vast majority of men over the living human god and the latter is relegated to the background so far as receiving venerable service is concerned. This then is the age-old dilemma we face so far as the initiation of service to man as worship of God is concerned.

Into this scenario stepped Ramakrishna and with his famous pronouncement of service to the living being in the light of its immanent godhead altered the course of the spiritual thinking of man. His protege, the genius of a monk, Vivekananda activated his master's divine spiritual principle through the machinery he set up, the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission which now for over a century has been doing yoeman's service to the cause of national reconstruction and global peace and spiritual understanding for a better state of human affairs throughout the world. Opposition there is much that the Order faces from the vested interests of religious groups of Semitic origin even in India in the North-eastern belt where conversion rates are high and persecution of the Mission's activities pronounced but the spirit of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda and their liberal universal outlook is as yet carrying the day as the Ramakrishna Movement slowly and steadily is making ground and transforming the spiritual consciousness of India. At the world level the influence of the movement is more imperceptible but the discerning eye can detect slow but significant changes that are taking place in the psyche of the modern man although the progress of science must surely be given a large portion of the credit for breaking through the citadels of superstition and ignorance that has really helped the Vedantic cause as espoused by Ramakrishna-Vivekananda.

Anyhow, this then is the situation where liberal spirituality and science are in direct confrontation with retrogressive religious culture and the tension between these two opposing forces is consuming the life of man today. The tussle is on, this tug-of-war between the forces of progress and regress, of light and darkness that is tottering civilization by the edge of an abyss and making a nought of many a noble endeavour towards the spiritualization of the human race. And herein comes the role of the man of character who will struggle to change the order of things for the better, the man of tranquil wisdom, of iron will and indomitable spirit who will live the glorious spiritual life for millions to emulate. Such a band of heroes we need today to douse the flames of fanaticism that is burning the world, tireless, selfless workers steeped in the life of the Spirit where fear is not nor the shadow of low human craving that is the bane of religious movements across the world largely today. A great work, a mighty message, a monumental task awaits these soldiers of the Spirit whose shoulders must bear the burden of our fever-stricken world, our pregnant collective life seeking deliverance from the age-old tyranny of dead habits and mores. Come on my brethren, gird up your loins and lend yourselves to the mighty task of first nation-building and then the promotion of international peace and goodwill for the flourishing of the human race. Ramakrishna-Vivekananda expect no less from us and this is our true worship of them, this the worship of the vast body of man, the Virat. Awake, awake great souls and break the slumber of all with the thunderous roar of the Vedanta. May Mother Mahamaya be your support! May you be endowed with inexhaustible vigour, the fruit of your Brahmacharya (continence) and may your nerves be charged with the fire of purity and all-embracing love! Above all my friends, let your lives be full of the blazing light of realization that the world may find direction from, for after all, it is character alone that leaves its mark on the sands of time. I await in patient expectation for Vivekananda's heroes to emerge from the hills and the vales, from the forests and the seas, from the plateaus and the plains deluging the world with the message of the Atman, 'the fruit of a new autumn, the symphony of the soul'. Jai Ramakrishna! Jai Ma! Jai Swamiji!

LIVE THE LIFE 6 ... A TRIBUTE TO SWAMI SUMEDHANANDA

A devotee once asked Swami Sumedhananda, venerable monk of the Ramakrishna Order to bless him that he might preach the Word of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda. Prompt came the reply, ''If you wish to spread the Word, then LIVE THE LIFE.'' I was witness to this event and it struck me as singular the force with which the Swami spoke these words. Also, there was so much of love and good wishes associated with it that it altogether seemed to the devotee to be quite within his reach to achieve what normally one would have conceived as unachievable. But the condition was there, an imperative---LIVE THE LIFE.

So, what is this 'living the life' after all? Did the Swami mean that the devotee must renounce home and hearth in his forties, wrenching himself free from his settled householder's life to wander about as a mendicant monk spreading the Gospel of the Lord or did he have something else in mind? Well, he did not say anything more but from all intents and purposes it seemed clear that he meant that the aspirant devotee would have to live a life steeped in the values of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, that is, a principled and pure life full of the fire of selfless love and charity, if he were to have any impact on his addressees when he spoke. In short, he would have to cultivate character and thereby acquire the necessary spiritual power to make his words potent enough to carry his audience not merely for the hour with his oratorical flourish but for a protracted period of time and that too at a depth where real spiritual transformation might be effected. He would have to have courage of conviction to be able to carry his audience and that could only be possible through a deepening of his own life spiritually.

The 'silent word' is more eloquent, it is character that speaks. There must be a fire, a zeal without bigotry, an all-consuming peaceful love that will make one's words have a telling effect, lend them such potency that they bore their way through the nerves of the listeners and grip them for good. And all this for a higher, peaceful, noble purpose free of dogmatism and full of reasonableness, though sublime and inspired. For there is already a surfeit of irrational, infra-rational, unscientific, dogmatic, doctrinaire, intolerant stuff doing the rounds in the world at large that is the cause of so much dismay to right-thinking people. Let us not add to the commotion there already is as regards religious babble for the world requires as much a respite from these deliverers of men as from their messiahs. If at all one must serve the world, let one do so in as peaceful and gentlemanly a manner as possible without the histrionics associated with preaching or its malefic intent.

A life must be built, a character formed, a higher inspiration reached, by whom? Why, the preacher himself. He who wishes to transform others, let him first transform himself. He who wishes to spread the Word of a Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, let him first reflect on this fact that these great masters first had dived deep into their selves to acquire real spirituality before they ventured to speak before the world. And what joy when one attains to something worthwhile in this spiritual journey! It is then a 'joy unspeakable' to rise and help raise one's fellow men, one's 'sisters and brothers', a veritable pilgrimage this life then is. So, says the Swami Sumedhananda from the hills of Cherrapunjee, from the vales of this vast land and from his ethereal abode in Ramakrishna Lok now, IF YOU WISH TO SPREAD THE WORD, THEN LIVE THE LIFE.

LIVE THE LIFE 5

We are Mother's children and need to behave as such. Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi is the Divine Mother of the universe. Of this there can be no doubt for Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda have both vouched for it. Scepticism may be one's birthright and one may reject this thesis outright but, pray, tarry awhile brother before you throw overboard Ramakrishna-Vivekananda's spiritual assertions about the identity of Holy Mother. Do read through the works of Swamiji and the life of Holy Mother, then meditate in absolute purity for a few years before you draw your conclusion. Democratically speaking, however, you are at liberty to accept or deny straightaway. My request is that you be scientific in your investigation as to her divinity before rushing to conclusion. Be it as it may, there are millions today who consider themselves to be the children of Sri Sarada Devi and feel proud to do so for what higher parenthood can one expect than that one's mother is Sarada Devi and father Sri Ramakrishna.

However, Holy Mother may not altogether be pleased with the way we, her children, conduct ourselves in our daily lives. She is not only the mother of the privileged but she is the mother of the despoiled and the destitute as well. Her heart used to go out for all during her terrestrial play and there is no reason to believe that she has since changed her compassionate attitude towards all her children, specially, the suffering ones. She has left behind us a legacy of love for humanity which we as her children ought to be the worthy recipients of. She once made this pronouncement which is her divine decree on all her children : HE WHO HAS, LET HIM MEASURE OUT (GIVE AWAY IN CHARITY) ; HE WHO DOES NOT HAVE, LET HIM CHANT (SPREAD WAVES OF SPIRITUALITY). This simple commandment contains within it Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi's divine will and is binding on us, we who proudly proclaim ourselves to be her children. Let us carry out her commandment by helping the RAMAKRISHNA MATH AND RAMAKRISHNA MISSION through abundant donations so that the monks of the Order may have adequate funds to carry out speedily the many welfare projects that are right now lying in wait owing to paucity of funds. Let us earn honestly, scrupulously adhering to national laws and let us spend on ourselves judiciously that we may save for the Mission's work. Millions are daily being pushed to destitution, a fate we can arrest if we pull in our might by contributing our mite for the Cause for which Swamiji stood in his life and for which he built the twin organizations of the RAMAKRISHNA MATH AND RAMAKRISHNA MISSION. Thakur was poor, so was Swamiji and his spiritual brethren, but the poorest of them all was Holy Mother who took upon herself the misery of the masses, so to say, and endured untold hardship in her terrestrial existence. Her plight continues as she keeps on mutely witnessing the myriad miseries of the masses, waiting patiently for a few heroic children of hers to bring to fruition her grand dictum: HE WHO HAS, LET HIM MEASURE OUT ( DONATE) ; HE WHO DOES NOT HAVE, LET HIM CHANT ( SPREAD WAVES OF SPIRITUALITY ).

With these words I welcome you all into the grand mansion that is our common heritage, THE RAMAKRISHNA MOVEMENT.

LIVE THE LIFE 4

Capitalism is making deep inroads into Indian society. Consequently, consumer culture is on the rise. This has capitalist greed as its basis on the one side and artificial desire-generation in the average person through advertising on the other. Material goods are also produced in abundance in its wake and that is a necessary evil, necessary because it fulfils the needs of survival of the ever-growing world population and evil because it creates artificial requirements in the mind of man which he then considers as imperative for his subsistence. This gross material culture in turn impoverishes the masses over a period of time even as it inflates the coffers of the few entrepreneurs who reap the ill-begotten benefits of this evil system. The tyranny of scientifically extorted profit gradually splits up the middle classes into two sharp divisions, the upper middle class that merges in due course with the rich class and the lower middle class that is forced down the economic ladder to be one with the poor class. And this is the classic capitalist scenario which eventually leads to class-conflict. Classically, this is the prelude to socialism.

India is going through this transition phase and life is increasingly becoming difficult for the common man even as industrialists go over the moon praising India's burgeoning economy. When the basic amenities of life are becoming hard to come by on account of ever-rising prices and not proportionate rise in income, the situation is doomed for the average consumer. This is leading to wide-spread unrest in different parts of the country, fissiparous tendencies threatening to disintegrate the nation and an overall decline in human values for humanity cannot subsist on air, however perfumed it may be. Mere propagation of holy talk or patriotic gibberish will not work with empty bellies but the bullied souls will quickly rise in arms against this brutal state of things. The system of capitalism as it persists today is rotten to the core for it is only a pro-rich philosophy and never a pro-people one. If to satiate the monetary craving of one man a million must suffer, then such a system should be thrown overboard and replaced by a more humane system. It is futile attempting to move the youth with pious platitudes when hunger, unemployment and illiteracy rule the roost in this most uneven of economic systems that our current free-market economy is which gives unbridled freedom only to the entrepreneur to charge whatever he feels like for his product irrespective of what its consequence will be for the consumer in the long run. How I wish that every rich man would by law find it mandatory to live a week every month in the city-slums or in ill-equipped villages with no proper sanitation or toilet facilities! Only then, dear brothers, would these mercenaries of men, these currency cannibals realize to what depths of depression they have reduced millions of their brethren without even turning  a hair. And this is the situation we must redress if we are to pride ourselves as a civilized nation with a hoary spiritual heritage for, after all, who suffers in the gutters? Ramakrishna, Ramakrishna, Ramakrishna in a million garbs! Come brothers, let us devote ourselves heart and soul to bringing about a more equitable distribution of the world's resources by dint of our sterling selves, our supreme sacrifice, our universal love for this, the holiest of the holy, this veritable godhead on Earth, our brother man. In it we shall find our highest good, our eternal repose and our sublimest beatitude. May Thakur bless us in our endeavour and receive our service in his million guises! Jai Ramakrishna!

LIVE THE LIFE 3

Swami Vivekananda was born of rich parents but took pleasure in intellectual and cultural pursuits as he grew up. The acute poverty his family faced following the death of his father made him realize the virtue of frugal living. In later years he stressed upon this fact when he pronounced that the youth ought to be encouraged to live frugal lives. The stark poverty of the masses of India, his own harrowing experience of poverty in his familial life and the extreme poverty of his spiritual brotherhood must have been the immediate cause of his being prompted to make this statement. But at a deeper level he must have also felt the sheer necessity of frugal living as the means of restricting the wayward mind from dissipating its forces in diverse directions and so suffering from energy depletion whose final resolution would be the utter loss of mental vigour and ruination of character for extravagance surely would bring in its wake the mirage of multitudinous desires seeking fulfilment through the finite confines of this mortal frame. The consumer culture that is so rampant among the youth today, Swamiji had determined to arrest. And why the youth alone? Consumerism is eating into the vitals of the young and the old today and has reduced masses of the urban population into foppish imbeciles with film frivolity the dominant note in their cultural make-up and slavish pseudo-western orientation the height of their social independence. Fortunately, the masses as yet are uncorrupted owing to their extreme poverty. Nonetheless, this cultural invasion of the decadent West is ruining the very moral fibre of our urban masses, especially the youth and that is a matter of grave national concern. So, it is clear why Swamiji with prophetic vision had forewarned the youth from being foppish as a cardinal point in their development of character. He, in no uncertain terms, had literally launched into a tirade against the then prevalent ways of the affluent in self-indulgence, oblivious of the hapless condition of the masses when he said: 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 no better than hungry savages!

I rest my case here, friends, for after a Vivekananda speaks, none else ought to. Jai Swamiji!

LIVE THE LIFE 2

Character has to be formed. This is the first and foremost duty, the one thing that needs to be established if anything worthwhile is to be achieved in spiritual life. To serve the nation requires a great deal of self-sacrifice which calls for a strong character in the absence of which one's efforts will get tarnished by petty self-interest creeping in and spoiling it all. This is the one reason why most people who begin with a sense of purpose the work of service of the nation end up serving their own interests. Character having not been established, the work flounders and is eventually completely marred. Thus, there should be no hurry in the effort to serve the nation. Rather, one must proceed slowly and painstakingly build one's character by following the instructions of Swami Vivekananda and make oneself spiritually fit to serve others. One must scrupulously adhere to physical and mental purity in order to energize oneself for the undertaking of the great work of national regeneration. Swamiji is there to lead us, to inspire us and to constantly energize us if only we make an effort to read his works, to reflect on his thoughts and to follow him through the thick and thin of life's vicissitudes. We will surely be able to serve his Cause by his grace for we are his chosen soldiers, valorous disciples of the great hero who gave his life to galvanize this nation and break its age-old stupor. It is our turn now to repay the Master and build this beloved Motherland of ours. Jai Hind!

LIVE THE LIFE ... 1

Sri Ramakrishna is God. His whole life bears testimony to this fact. Leave aside the view-points of detractors who cite the impersonal nature of God or point out shortcomings in the Paramahamsa's life. These are idle criticisms and need not be taken seriously. But for once consider --- have you ever come across in the annals of human history such a supremely spiritual person as Sri Ramakrishna? The Paramahamsa remains peerless in his spiritual attainments and outdistances all great prophets of the past by miles.

An illiterate Brahman priest, rustic in habits and somewhat coarse relative to the refinements of urban culture, Ramakrishna yet dominated the elite minds of the then occidental Calcuttans with his sublime purity and innate wisdom matured in the light of his Advaitic realisations. Calcutta, then the capital city of British India, was in the throes of spiritual decay as the urban elite had lost its moorings in the dazzle of occidental culture. Aggressive proselytisation by Christian missionaries attempted to break the very backbone of traditional Hindu culture and, sadly, succeeded in converting a large section of the tribal population in the North-eastern belt to the Semitic cult. It is at this juncture that this illiterate poor Brahman priest of the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple came to the rescue of the Religion of India, the Sanatan Dharma or, the Perennial Philosophy of the Vedas, as Aldous Huxley has termed it. One shudders to think what India's fate would have been were Ramakrishna not to surface at this critical juncture in Indian history to rescue her. We would have lost the religion and the pristine thoughts of our forefathers and would have been rootless vagabonds on the face of this Earth.

Anyhow, such a catastrophe was by providential decree averted and we survive, today, a nation full of proud possibilities of future flourishing. We owe it to Sri Ramakrishna, this, our material independence and our spiritual freedom and ought to make sincere effort to rebuild the nation along the lines laid down by Swami Vivekananda who had himself followed the blue-print of India's destiny as envisaged by the Rishis of yore.

Time it is to take stock of our national heritage and advance with strong strides towards national reconstruction. For this the youth of India must come forward and lend vigour to the movement with selfless service, pure and free. A million young women and men must sacrifice their all for the execution of this stupendous task, that of revitalisation of the Motherland through a comprehensive programme of national education and cultural uplift. The masses must be raised, women must be released from their age-old tyranny at the hands of men and, overall, the population must be given proper spiritual sustenance for a rejuvenated country to emerge.

Vivekananda's dream it was to see his motherland rise and occupy her rightful place in the comity of nations as the spiritual preceptor of the world. Let us shed our life's blood to fulfil his dream and, so, attain to real manhood. I look forward with fond hopes for the heroes to advance in this cause. Step out, brothers, from the rank and file of the polity and take up the responsibility that is rightfully yours, this, the rebuilding of India. Jai Swamiji! Jai Netaji! Jai Hind!

INDIA, O INDIA

'Men, men, these are wanted, everything else will be ready'...these were the inspired words with which Swamiji charged us to take up the cause of national reconstruction. Indeed, a century and more have elapsed since the day the leonine Swami uttered these electrifying words and yet we see that there is an abject deficiency of men of character in our national scene, those who we may admire and emulate and rightfully follow as we tread the path of nation-building. It is an utter hollowness that we find everywhere and this lack of leadership cannot but be a great demotivating factor for the young and the aspiring as they launch their youthful careers rudderless and bereft of direction. A defective system of education is behind all this, a university education replete with cartloads of sterile information without any invigorating life-giving philosophy or principle to enliven the youthful minds who digest it as their curriculum. A sense of national identification at a depth is totally missing from the youth of India for a cowardly representation of national history and gross distortions about the freedom movement to suit the house in power at New Delhi from 1947 cannot but be counter-productive in terms of generation of real patriotism and the spirit of sacrifice for the Motherland. Shallow sentimentality for the nation abounds today masquerading as love of the Motherland but real, genuine, sincere, all-sacrificing spirit for the nation is progressively on the decline as capitalistic inroads further enfeeeble the moral character of a country that is fast losing its traditional moorings in the mire of materialistic mirages fostered by the foul forces of market economy. Whatever be the economic system to which we as Indians choose to subscribe, there can be no compromise on national ideals if we are to survive as a nation and as a people with a hoary spiritual heritage. Our martyrs' deaths must be avenged and what better way to do so than to lay down our lives as well to build Swamiji's fabled national bridge of human bodies lying prostrate over which shall walk India's vast populace enroute to the summit of national glory. Dear brothers, such a spirit of pure love for the nation is called for today if we wish to avert a great national disaster and utter ruin of our people for only love of the Motherland may yet raise a hundred thousand heroes who shall, to quote Swamiji, 'go over the length and breadth of the land, preaching the gospel of salvation, the gospel of help, the gospel of social raising-up---the gospel of equality.' I earnestly hope that my feeble words may enkindle some inspiration in some such recipient soul and usher in brighter days for our benighted Motherland. Jai Hind!

CHANT RAMAKRISHNA

Chant the blissful name RAMAKRISHNA and be full of bliss. It is a beautiful name full of the essence of the highest spiritual truth. It is an unfailing medicine to cure the soul of worldly ills and to help make it return to its primeval moorings. In this world of evanescent dreams where disaster strikes us without warning, where death stalks night and day seeking its victims and snatching our dear ones from us without consulting us, it is meet that we take refuge in the Master and chant his holy name as our sole means of protection from life's maladies. And the Master will never let us down for we are his own ones, dearer than his self. So, friends, with great enthusiasm chant RAMAKRISHNA, RAMAKRISHNA, RAMAKRISHNA...and live lives of purity and blissfulness. Jai Ramakrishna!

AN APPEAL: RAMAKRISHNA MATH, GADADHAR ASHRAMA --- 8 COMPUTER-SETS REQUIRED FOR COMPUTER TRAINING COURSE

Ramakrishna Math, Gadadhar Ashrama is one the few centres of the Ramakrishna Order where the Master is offered 'Anna-bhog' (rice and allied edibles). This is so because here at Gadadhar Ashrama the Master's relics are enshrined. Located in Bhawanipur, this ashrama is indeed a place of pilgrimage for all those who are devoted to Thakur, Ma, Swamiji and their Cause.

Other than the regular spiritual activities typical of a Ramakrishna Math, Gadadhar Ashrama also is conducting welfare activities such as maintenance of a text-book library and free academic coaching classes for children along with providing them with nutritious meal. Besides these, the Ashrama is about to start a computer training course shortly. 8 computer-sets are required to launch the programme. We exhort well-wishers and large-hearted devotees to come forward and help us acquire the computer-sets.

The tentative date has been fixed unofficially as yet for the launch of this programme as 1 April, 2015. Please come forward and help us in this noble cause whereby many a young aspirant will get much-needed computer training to equip her or him for securing a good job and thereby achieve self-establishment.

N.B. 8 COMPUTER-SETS required. Please help.

Contact us here:
Ramakrishna Math (Gadadhar Ashrama), Kolkata

Ramakrishna Math
(Gadadhar Ashrama)
86-A, Harish Chatterjee Street
Kolkata 700 025
Phone: 033-2455 4660
http://rkmgadadharashrama.org/

Appeal written by Sugata Bose

PONDER, O GREAT ONE

When the world hurts, we take refuge in the holy man (the monk) but when the monk hurts, where do we go? Our faith, our ideals, our world-view, all these are shaken, shattered. Tell me O monk, where do we go? You who are the living representative of God, take it upon yourself to ponder once the hapless state of the wronged devotee and show him the way to peace and a re-establishment of his shaken faith in the righteousness of monks and the Order when his practical experience teaches him otherwise. And, remember, the devotees do honour and serve and reverence the monks a lot. So, it is their due to receive a like respect from monks as well.

READ THE GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA

If you truly wish to be spiritual, read THE GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA by M. In it are recorded the words of the great spiritual master Sri Ramakrishna, the sage of Dakshineshwar who is widely regarded as the last incarnation of God. The setting of the narrative is gripping and you cannot leave the book without being transformed in your personality for good. Swami Ranganathananda read it in his boyhood and was captivated by it. The story of his life is the impact the GOSPEL had on him. It is on record that the majority of the monks of the Ramakrishna Order were inspired by the GOSPEL to join the Order.

The language is so lucid, the content so ennobling and the narrative so dramatic and life-like that reading becomes easy and a delightful experience. Not only so, the study of the GOSPEL is truly a meditative exercise, only without the effort required to actually meditate. Ramakrishna brings home his own experiences in his own inimitable manner full of insight and rustic humour. The Vedas come to your door-step as you browse through the pages of this book. You are immersed in an ocean of spiritual inspiration as the book gains in ascendancy over you as you advance through it. Imperceptibly you are drawn into its ambit and silently transformed without any struggle or vigorous effort. Thakur carries you from your habitat to your eternal realm and you are immersed in bliss that will never leave you. What more will I say than to remind you that no less a personality than Swami Brahmananda had said, "If anyone reads THE GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA for 12 years at a stretch, such a one will be blessed with BRAHMAJNAN.''

My only request is that you try it out once and see for yourselves what the magic of the GOSPEL holds for you. Jai Ramakrishna!

ARISE DEVOTEES...1

I exhort the millions of devotees of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda to rise up as a single body in their bid to rebuild India along the blue-print laid down by the Rishis of yore and such modern sages as Vivekananda. A radical transformation of society is needed today to end the inequities that abound and are killing the life-blood of the masses. Capitalistic exploitation has reached gargantuan proportions and has reduced man to destitution in body and in spirit. Free market reigns freely to scientifically rob billions from the masses in the name of unbridled profit-making. A few benefit from this unequal state of affairs and glorify it in the name of freedom but millions are daily crushed under the wheels of this terrible machine that knows no pain nor does it recoil as it inflicts terrible agony to the ones it crushes without a tinge of remorse. When magazines glorify the increasing number of billionaires in our country and news-channels laud them, remember devotees, they make a sham of the significance of TAKA MATI, MATI TAKA (Money is mud, mud money) which our beloved Thakur had uttered as the gospel truth for the age. Mercantile civilization is ugly as it debases the masses by driving them to penury even as it scientifically fuels in man the insatiable thirst for more possession and evermore although it cuts from under his feet his very means of future sustenance thereby. Businessmen do not earn profit from their mothers but relentlessly extract exorbitant profits from others' mothers, not caring once how the poor souls will survive in their grey years. What holy prayers you offer devotees in your temples when you passively acquiesce in this terrible state of affairs? Do you realize that it is your bounden duty to revolve about and carry out the dictum of social transformation as envisaged by Swamiji? Passive piety is good but what we need is something better. We need millions of devotees armed in truth and purity with the firm resolve to carry out Swamiji's action plans without begging for the wherewithal from rich capitalists who are the very cause of this man-made poverty situation. Help will come from within ourselves and Thakur will help, NONE ELSE, NONE ELSE.