INTEGRATED PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT COURSE

The SUNDAY SESSIONS will offer INTEGRATED PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT COURSE to the youth through debate, discussion and dialogue and, in especial, through study of the life and message of Swami Vivekananda. The course aims at generation and mobilization of youth power for the fulfilment of Swamiji's dream of a renascent India that will stand in the comity of nations as the great giver of spirituality to the world. No course fee will be charged but participation will be restricted as per sincerity of the applicant and suitability of the movement. The first chapter begins on 5 April, 2015, the Sixth Sunday Session. The programme will be conducted by Sugata Bose.

FIFTH SUNDAY SESSION, 29 MARCH, 2015, 5-8 P.M.

The fifth Sunday Session was held on 29 March when three of us met.Debipriya Basu, Deepanwita Datta and myself attended the session. There was an initial reading from SRI SRI RAMAKRISHNA KATHAMRITA in Bengali along with elucidations by Sugata Bose. Thereafter, Debipriya Babu at length dwelt on his great interest in devotional music, especially Kali Kirtan and expressed his desire to sing in the different Ashramas of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission. This was followed by general discussion on the Mission's welfare activities and the cause of fund-raising for Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama, Muzaffarpur Eye Hospital and Ramakrishna Math, Haripad Ashrama. Sugata Bose talked of the great necessity of quickly raising the amount of INR 10 crores for RKM Muzaffarpur. He then recounted the history of Haripad Ashrama in brief and its recent state of extreme poverty. There was also a brief reading from and discussion on Swami Vivekananda's "Is Vedanta the future religion?"

Overall, it was a slightly disoriented discussion that took place and the programme in future needs a tighter reign by the moderator so that the Session's activities may be executed more efficaciously. We thank the participants and request their future participation in a more impersonal and effective manner so that our mission to serve the Mission comes to fruition.

FOURTH SUNDAY SESSION, 22 MARCH, 2015, 3-5 P.M. AND 5-8 P.M.

The fourth Sunday Session was held on 22 March when Deepanwita Datta attended it from 3-5 p.m. on special request as she had urgent business thereafter to attend to. It was more of an interaction on an interpersonal plane where we sought out solutions to societal problems at different levels. Most importantly, 5 CARDINAL PRINCIPLES to be maintained by CORE COMMITTEE MEMBERS were enunciated and later ratified by others. These are as follows:

1. Spiritual practice twice a day.
2. Study of THE GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA daily.
3. Observance of discipline for harmonious functioning of group.
4. Attendance of SUNDAY SESSIONS religiously.
5. Saving for service to the RAMAKRISHNA MISSION'S welfare projects.

Thereafter, there was meditation for one hour between 5 and 6 p.m. followed by readings from LIFE IN INDIAN MONASTERIES written by Swami Bhaskarananda. It was so heart-warming to see my mother, Smt. Geeta Bose who is lying paralysed in her Fowler Bed following a cerebral stroke in 2013, gleefully participate in the proceedings as I read out the anecdotes from the aforesaid book. My thanks to Swami Bhaskaranandaji for his delightful rendition of his experiences as a monk of the Ramakrishna Order into such readable text that even an octogenarian prostrate mother finds succour in it.

THIRD SUNDAY SESSION, 15 MARCH, 2015, 5-8 P.M.

The third Sunday Session was held on 15 March when four of us met.Dulal Krishna Basu, Parnika Bubna, Chandana Ghosh and Sugata Bose attended the session. Dulal Babu talked about his teaching experience in Narottam Nagar Ramakrishna Mission and his general experience in the Andaman Ramakrishna Mission. Sugata Bose delivered a talk on the diverse aspects of Swami Vivekananda's personality as manifested during his wandering days between 1890 and 1893. It was heartening to hear Dulal Babu's brief reminiscences about the Mission and its activities. Such participation, full of devotion and so self-effacing, is entirely harmonious for the functioning of SUNDAY SESSIONS. We express our gratitude to Dulal Babu and solicit his support for our Cause.

SECOND SUNDAY SESSION, 8 MARCH, 2015, 5-8 P.M.

The second Sunday Session was held on 8 March when Deepanwita Datta was the sole participant besides me. From 5.00 to 6.30 p.m. We dwelt at length on the various problems facing the construction of the RAMAKRISHNA MISSION SEVASHRAMA, MUZAFFARPUR EYE HOSPITAL and sought measures to resolve the same in our own limited capacity.

Thereafter, Thakur had a surprise for us as Pandit Partha Bose and his wife Esha Bandyopadhyay turned up at our house and gave scintillating sitar and vocal performances privately in honour of my ailing mother who is so very endearing to them. Partha played Raag Tilak Kamod followed by Kafi and Esha sang Thumris in Raag Piloo and Maanj Khamaj. It was a real honour to have Esha and Partha among us to light up the atmosphere of the third Sunday Session although there were oblivious of it all. We eagerly look forward to them performing again.

FIRST SUNDAY SESSION, 1 MARCH, 2015, 5-8 P.M.

The first Sunday Session was on 1 March when three of us met for the first time and began this journey of self-discovery. Sugata Bose delivered a lecture on THE KANKHAL SEVASHRAMA, its genesis, inspiration and the divine lives lived by its founders SWAMI KALYANANANDA and SWAMI NISHCHAYANANDA. Arpita Ghosh, a young post-graduate student was one of the three that attended the session and another was Mrs. Ray, a lady-disciple of Srimat Swami Atmasthanandaji Maharaj. The life-story of Swamiji's leonine disciples gripped us all and freshly inspired us with his message of service to the Motherland.

FORGET NOT THY MOTHERLAND, THE VAST BODY OF HUMANITY

Preparedness is the other name for civilization, wrote Tagore. To be able to serve the Cause of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda we have to be prepared with the due requisites of character and information so that we may not be caught napping when the hour of delivery comes. The national cause is important, far more so when our Motherland is in the formative years of her socio-economic development after a lapse of close to a millennium of servitude to foreign powers when she was robbed of her resources and her culture despoiled till she was reduced to death’s door. But the ancient land of Bharat is indestructible, immortal and once more she has risen like the Phoenix from the ashes, resplendent in her spiritual might, ready to deluge the world once more with the onrush of a spiritual current that will sweep away all the dross of materialism and render humanity pure and conscious of the highest ideals it is heir to. The world today is on the edge of an abyss with a damaged environment, and, damaging ideologies battling for primitive supremacy where dialogue and deliberation are deemed distrustful dissent deserving damnation of death dealt out by demonic clerics masquerading as devout dervishes. Capitalism for all its pretentious claims to resource-utilization for world-welfare is driving the common man the world over to penury and fuelling the fire of revolutionary violence that lies embedded in the womb of future history. Greed for gold has subverted human culture and reduced man to an ‘economic animal’ such that he can without compunction exact inordinate and ruinous profit from brother man oblivious of the latter’s capacity to pay the exorbitant prices that attach themselves to commodities of dire necessity and driven desire. The situation the world over is not at all conducive for harmonious living or peaceful co-existence. When necessity drives man to desperation, he no longer considers what is good for human society in the long run but with his myopic vision stimulated by the exigencies of the times, he dives into dangerous deeps, the treacherous terrain of violent revolution. Such an occurrence is periodic in history and it entails untold damage to civilization even as it ushers in a new age amidst terrible violence, the horrors of which echo through the portals of history for ages.

This then is the world for us as we know it to be and which we are attempting to refashion after our heart in order to make it habitable for us all, not merely the privileged few for whom it may be a veritable heaven but also the vast majority, the teeming millions toiling it out under the scorching sun of the tropics or amidst the icy chill of the poles, men and women everywhere, gods and goddesses living and dying their daily deaths before the very eyes of us who choose to worship not these visible living manifestations of the Divine but vain imaginary beings, the derivatives of our fertile human imagination, products of our quasi-rational selves thinking along mythical lines. The task is onerous and requires the life-sacrifice of thousands of us who vouch to be Vivekananda-devotees. And what a blessed life it will be when we sacrifice it all for the sake of the Motherland!

Come my friends, let us all make a glory of our terrestrial existence and leave a mark indelibly on society for the furtherance of the cause of human evolution. Let us live and die for the Cause of the Master and His children and so attain to immortality in human heart where every throb shall pulsate with the rhythms of love for us, the forgotten heroes of the Motherland, even as our predecessors bled in oblivion for the cause of national liberation from foreign occupiers. How many of them who gave up their lives on the gallows for the sake of freeing India from foreign yoke do we know of or care to remember today? But every breath we inhale as free citizens we owe it to them whom we know not, every pulse of life and love that we feel is bequeathed us by them, our forgotten heroes who lie embedded in those chapters of our national life that never came to historical limelight but whose vibrations keep the flame of our freedom burning even today. Sisters and brothers, ponder once. May we not emulate these valorous souls, these soldiers of the Divine, these self-sacrificing sons and daughters of the soil who died on the Cross of National Liberation that we may live lives of freedom and peace today? Do we not owe it to them to fulfil their vision of a renascent India, the Mother of their dreams, of countless souls who then lay in the womb of posterity but whose life-breath impregnated their beings envisioning their future birth? Are we not the inheritors of this legacy of sacrifice for all that made our nation great in the past and shall make her infinitely greater in the future? Surely, we have not yet come to that degree of callousness where we can let things pass by, unheeding of their present and future import, let millions suffer their daily grind for bare survival or a decent death and ourselves wallow in the lap of luxury bought at their expense. When a violent change comes in the wake of revolution, we wake up to gather ourselves from the dust of the ages. Why wait for such a call O my beloved countrymen? Time it is to live for the cause of nation-building as Swami Vivekananda had envisaged. Let us tarry no more but dive deep into the deluge of tears that have flown for ages from the eyes of our mothers and sisters and brothers who have none save ourselves to care for them, who have prayed to all the gods and goddesses that be and attained to wonderful fortitude but have found no earthly succour in terms of the bread of life. I have determined to help them out in whatsoever meagre way my finite form permits. Be thou my helpmates in this great mission of national regeneration. We may offer our modest means and our heartfelt love for our hapless sisters and brothers who adorn the cottages in our countless villages and light up the India that is and the pathway for the India that will be. Let us serve them, share in their woes and help assuage their grief that they may also feel but perchance fail to articulate,"Yes, we are also the children of the same Mother Bharatvarsha who can never forsake us."

To such a dawn my friends,                            

I send these lines tonight,

They’ll waft through the starry skies

To welcome you with the light.  

       

BEGIN TO MASTER THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TODAY

To be able to write good English you have to think in English. For this you have to read books in the English language which will help build your vocabulary and fill your brain with a rich data-base of English words and phrases which will come in handy when you attempt to speak or write. Also, shed all inhibition and start practising speaking the language by conversing with friends and associates in English. God bless you in your endeavour to master the language. Any help needed is always available here and from me in person.

Above is the portrait of the great English Romantic poet John Keats whose fame outlives his mortal life spanning 25 years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keats

IT IS THE SAME FOR ALL

It is not possible to awaken the sleeping divinity in man by denigrating them on the basis of their supposed inferior spiritual status just because they happen to be ordinary householders and not world-renouncing monks. Monasticism sees divinity in all and same-sightedness is its hallmark. This artificial distinction between householders and monks must go if spiritual integration of the nation and the world is to be achieved. Each person is potentially divine and to judge one on the face of things is arbitrary and uncalled for, especially when the people concerned are so ardent in their desire to serve the Cause of the Master. Vedanta in trumpet voice declares the divinity of the human soul and preaches the grand equality of all when seen from the highest standpoint of spiritual transcendence. The tallest tree and the shortest shrub are equally alike when viewed from Himalayan heights and this indeed is true spirituality. Democracy dictates that none shall dictate and all will conjointly exert their will for national well-being and world-welfare. This is the spirit of the Age when the common man has risen to his rightful status as the inheritor of all that is and the governor of his fate that will be. Gone are the days of feudal force exacting the labour of the masses while ever reducing them to beasts of burden devoid of rights or the mere voice to sound an opinion, a far cry from disagreement or dissent. Imperialism held in its sway the lives of millions as food for the rulers and the priestly class forged fresher chains ever on the form of the hapless millions through the invention of dubious ceremonials masquerading as real religion. These two classes have long ruled the masses, murdering the very meaning of their terrestrial existence till date and now the capitalist rules with his almighty dollar, slowly sucking the life-blood of the masses while amassing the riches that belong to all. And worst of all, as if there can never be a respite from the age-old tyranny of the forces that be, superior snobbishness of spirituality is casting its shadow on the common man in consonance with the principle of inertia that threatens to keep the commoner in spiritual servitude by maintenance of this arbitrary divide of the monastic and the lay devotee of the one God who, however, is the Father of all. Such dubious designs will not work in this age for the Swami Vivekananda has sounded its death-knell and Vedanta with its equalizing mission is afoot. The common man everywhere will now rise for such is the call of the hour and whosoever will aid in ushering the Age shall be the great benefactor of humanity and unto him belongs the bond of friendship of the masses. Whosoever will attempt to thwart the process shall be laid aside as the masses march on to the cherished goal, the regaining of their Promised Land, the awakening of their sleeping selves, the recovery of their inherent freedom. So has it been decreed and so shall it come to pass. This is the law of life.   

A POINT TO PONDER AGAIN

Let us all be as polite to each other as Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi was to all. She hailed from a remote village of erstwhile Bengal but what etiquette she had, what civility, what sweetness of temperament and manner! It is futile preaching that all are the manifestations of Brahman if we cannot put such precept into practice through our day-to-day dealings with people. We may quote the scriptures and rightly proclaim that each human being is the incarnation of the Most High but we must follow it up with real reverence for all even in our outward behaviour. It is grand to preach the sublime truths enshrined in the Upanishads but grander still to realize them and activate them in our demeanour. I am convinced that he who has realized an iota of the spiritual principles enunciated in the Vedanta will have such compassion for fellow humans that his whole personality will have undergone a transformation making his company a delight, conversation with him a heavenly experience and never a disturbing one and prolonged association with him a life-transforming event. Such spiritual personages are indeed rare and it is one's singular fortune if one gets the grace of such a soul. As for the rest, they are all struggling to arrive and will in due course of time attain to a level of spiritual elevation when they also will be beacons of light. But for all our struggles let us not forget that we must be humble in our attainments, respectful towards all, decent in our manners and lovingly patient to all who interact with us, else we will be culpable of offence to divinities disguised as men.

We should always remember that however holy we may be, we are dealing with the incarnations of God in our neighbours and associates and ought to worshipfully treat them. If we fail to do so on grounds of supposed superior spirituality fuelled further by reverence of others towards us who consider us as holy, then we have fallen into the trap of Maya, SPIRITUAL PRIDE, which is the bane of all who are struggling to reach the goal, liberation from primeval ignorance. Let us be humble, respectful and loving towards all, distinguished in our decency and patient above all. Let us not rush to conclusions during deliberations with others for such haste is fraught with the pitfalls of misapprehension of import and therefore liable to induce miscommunication. Above all we should reverentially remember Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's golden utterance: Trinaadapi sunichena, tarorapi sahishnunaa, amaaninaa maanadena, kirtaniyaa sadaaharey (We must be as humble as a low-lying blade of grass, as forbearing as a tree, reverent towards even those are irreverent towards us and ever-engaged in singing the glory of the Lord). Sri Chaitanya is God and his words are binding on all of us. His utterances are LAW and must be adhered to if we are to find peace and fulfilment. Let us remember this beautiful quatrain and permeate our beings with its fragrant freshness. Jai Mahaprabhu! Jai Ramakrishna! Jai Ma! Jai Bhaktabrinda!

RAMAKRISHNA MISSION, KHETRI ... AN APPEAL

It is a unique opportunity for devotees to liberally contribute towards the renovation project of the Khetri Palace sanctified by the visit of Swami Vivekananda. Raja Ajit Singh of Khetri was the disciple of Swamiji and played a pivotal role as patron in the grand world mission of the Swami. Now it is the turn of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda devotees to do something for the same grand cause and help restore this beautiful palace to its original grandeur. The work of renovation is on but shortage of funds could unnecessarily derail the process of its timely completion. Do come forward all those who love Swamiji and help through your donations complete the project within the stipulated time.

FRIEND 21 ... GINAMARIA OPALESCENT

Yes, GinaMaria Opalescent, such love, ethereal, sublime, all-absorbing, all-encompassing, does exist verily in our very hearts but we are denied access to the secret chambers wherein is the seat of such bliss, pulsating, throbbing with the rhythms of the Universal Mother-Heart for we are caught in the snares of primeval ignorance that has robbed us of this vision of our innate divinity. But the Mother never forgets Her children. Periodically She manifests Her love for us through Her messengers, prophets and incarnations, sages and saints whose supernal love for fallen humanity reminds us that we have a Mother in whose lap we ever are and who can never forsake us. When words of mine, weak as they are, produce tearful effect on perceptive souls like you, know for sure, they are fraught with Mother's grace, and, as such, are benedictions showered on you, Her chosen child. Words and images do carry the import of the Divine for all things are manifestations of the Word, the unvibrated sound, the Om. And when they resonate to their subtle counterparts hidden deep within our psyche, they produce the inner harmony, the symphony of the soul which enlivens us to a springtime of love and light and joy abounding. Then we thrill to our very being and reflect the pure light of God.

Dear friend, everybody is searching for that ethereal bliss which beckons all to the Ocean of Love. Galaxies are spiralling in to the core of the cosmos, branes (membranes) are colliding to give birth to baby universes, life-forms myriad are uniting to propagate the species and life evolving unto that eventual goal, freedom from the shackles of phenomenal existence. The seed is in us, the course is set and destiny beckons us on to final freedom. Who can deny its call, who can go against his own nature which is to advance relentlessly unto eventual liberation? Love is that call, that faint almost imperceptible murmur at first, that ever announces its presence through whispering whiffs in the womb of the woman in us, our Mother, our primal source, our final repose. This constancy of love felt by all in the inner recesses of their beings is the abiding presence of the Mother whose every breath is a shower of love directed at us but for which the universe with all its stellar beauty would fall apart. Every pulsation of that Mother-heart is life for us, every throb of that Core Consciousness the pulse we feel as the movement of life in an ever advancing tide towards the final goal, liberation. If these vibrations affect you dear friend, know them to be the fruit of your awakened soul through all your trials and tribulations where you have been left apparently bereft of help or hope save in the succour you can never lose, Mother. Therefore, good friend, cast aside the vanities of life and the dollops of human love and seek refuge in the One that is our source, course and estuary, our friend perennial, our friend final. She, the giver of birth, is the sustainer and the final repose of us all, the eternal abode of peace where all inequities are met and the final justification of the incongruous drama of phenomenal existence. May She who is the Mother of all fulfil your life with love sublime is the prayer of this friend of yours from across the ends of this Earth! Stay well Gina for yours is the season to savour, the blossoms to fragrance your life with and the light of love to shine on your beauteous self. Good day dear friend. May the lengthening rays of the sun cast pleasanter shadows on your life and may the evenshine bring in its wake the soothing grace of Mother's love bathing you in peace perennial! Om Ma!         

THE PEERLESS PARAMAHAMSA --- AN ANALYSIS (1)

Who Ramakrishna was is difficult to ascertain, perhaps impossible to do so. He is the transcendent Reality, the immanent principle in Nature. He was full of divine consciousness right to his very epidermis. These are strange assertions but not untrue for his very life bears testimony to these facts. Ramakrishna passed the bulk of his adult life in samadhi (super-consciousness). He lived the remaining part of the same, being one with nature in the plane of Bhavamukha (the plane which is the interface of immanence and transcendence of Nature, the junction point of the relative and the Absolute, the source and origin of all ideas). Ramakrishna was a human being, yet, he transcended all human limitations and became one with the higher Prakriti (the Cosmic Power). He remained Prakriti-leen (immersed in Nature Supreme). These are spiritual states difficult, perhaps impossible, to comprehend through mere intellectual tools. They may best be apprehended through spiritual realisations. There is no instance of such an exalted state of spirituality in recorded human history. Other Divine Incarnations and Prophets have occasionally risen to such transcendent heights as Ramakrishna but none ever gained access to such a vast spectrum of spiritual realisations and the discovery of their inner harmony as the peerless Paramahamsa of Dakshineshwar. His was a totality of vision supreme, a catholicity of spiritual perception, a fundamental understanding and interpretation of the spiritual basis of all life and living, a massive commentary on the spiritual traditions of the world through the breadth of his spiritual culture and realisation. The great French savant Romain Rolland, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915, wrote of Ramakrishna : "The man whose image I here invoke was the consummation of two thousand years of the spiritual life of three hundred million people." This single statement encapsulates the personality of Ramakrishna better than any other whose elaboration and analysis shall follow in subsequent issues on this page. For now it is merely an affirmation without reasonable support of the unique status of Ramakrishna in the spiritual firmament of the world. Let us ruminate on his glorious life and message whose every breath was inspired for the salvation of the world. Jai Ramakrishna!  

LIVE THE LIFE 20

Much has been achieved and much more remains to be achieved for India to rise to her spiritual preeminence in the world. Now it is the glorious past of India that marks her out in the comity of nations as a once-worthy civilisation that had shown the world light, that had been the cradle of world civilisation in a great measure, although of course, it must be admitted that India's growing economic might has changed perceptions about India greatly of late. However, the past of India is what even today largely sustains foreign appreciation of India and it is this heritage that has given India her considerable prestige as a nation with the recognition of her immense possibilities in the future as well. The culture of India rolling down the ages holds the westerner in awe but all this is either the achievement of a bygone age or its current derivative and not intrinsically original to the age in which we live, which is, of course, quite natural, for culture invariably is a continuum.

But the distinguishing features of the present age broadly defined by Swami Vivekananda are yet to be actualised in terms of radical implementation of programme on a national scale and this is the grand task before us. India, mighty India with her spiritual mission must stand out as the preceptor of the world and lead her towards the fulfilment of her terrestrial evolution. For this a strong India rooted in her ancient culture and proficient in the knowledge of modern science, economically sound and militarily able in self-defence must rise, a premier nation of the world. Knowledge, defence and commerce---these three elements, that of the brahman, the kshatriya and the vaishya must conjointly bring about national welfare with the labourers and the farmers providing the shudra base for national regeneration. The four-fold system of varna---whose erroneous equivalent caste is supposed to be---based on natural division of labour and devoid of hereditary or other privileges must be brought into harmonious operation and allowed their free play for the smooth functioning of our national life. In a like manner the four ashramas of brahmacharya, garhasthya, vanaprastha and sannyas suited to modern times must be the basis for a reorientation of national living for shraddha (an intense aspirational mood seeking perfection) to manifest again among the people of this ancient land of Bharat.

All this is necessary to set up our once-prostrate motherland groaning under the tyranny of foreign occupation for centuries on her feet again, that is, to raise the masses in India to a level of decent human existence with their basic requirements of food, shelter, clothing, education and healthcare taken care of so that they may in turn be instrumental in revitalising the national current of thought and culture. India was great in the past. She shall be infinitely greater in the future, prophesied Swami Vivekananda. And this grand destiny of our beloved motherland can only be actualised by the awakening of the consciousness of the masses and their appropriation of the national culture, and not a brutal, bloody, revolutionary sudden upheaval that will destroy more than it will deliver. Thus, it is of vital importance to India's future that the masses are given culture in the form of an illumined mix of scientific and spiritual knowledge so that along with learning technical skills for improvement of their standard of living, they also remain rooted to their heritage which is in the domain of the Spirit.

Evolution and not revolution---this ought to be the watchword if India's culture is to be saved but hunger of the belly may deem otherwise. If a billion people rise in open rebellion to revolve the system that has exploited them for ages, no police or army can contain their force. Lest such a violent turn of history destroys much of India's traditional culture in the fell sweep of revolutionary madness, Swamiji was very concerned that the upper classes should befriend the masses and help them up in life with education instead of antagonising them further with their age-old tyranny. Destructive revolutionary violence may thus be avoided in India as the nation comes to mass maturity.

The prophet had foreseen the rise of the proletariat everywhere with unerring accuracy of vision as he foretold the rise of the shudras in Russia and China in the exact sequential order as it later unfolded in history. He had further prophesied the rise of the shudras in India next and was much concerned that such an inevitable course of history should not be accompanied by a considerable lowering of culture as mass revolution invariably leads to. A harmonic rise of the proletariat was Swamiji's great dream for India but will it fructify given the class conditions subsisting in society? Much as he was an idealist as he was a visionary, Swamiji was a pragmatist and a realist too. He knew the limitations of concrete conditions for pliability of transformation and, the detached seer that he was, he accepted with a philosophical equanimity the coming upheavals that were to rock 20th century ??????? 

Vivekananda was not a revisionist who was intent on avoiding revolution nor was he an advocate of active revolution. He was simply the towering prophet of the Age whose sympathies encompassed the gamut of terrestrial existence and who in his insight of the subterranean movements of the mass mind knew that the times were pregnant with the seeds of great changes, that the common man was on the rise everywhere and that the mission of India in this great movement was to direct the flow of this change towards God and the Self of man as its ultimate ideal and destiny. India, he felt, had held in her bosom the priceless treasures of the Vedas for ages and the times were ripe for the dissemination of the grand ideas therein worldwide for the spiritual regeneration of humanity, a fact of supreme importance for no political revolution had the sweep of the spiritual revolution Vivekananda envisaged for the 'root and branch reform' of humankind. The seer had determined the transformation of mass psychology, its uplift unto a higher spiritual realm along with the provision of the basic amenities of life for the free flow of this evolutionary transition and this was the 'Vivekananda Way', the path of harmony and light as opposed to the blind fury of a rudderless revolution which so often makes the oppressed a vengeful oppressor and defeats the very purpose of his revolutionary rise.

The scene is now set for the battle of the classes, the resolution of the forces of age-old tyranny and the collective might of the masses, and if such a bloody conflict does take place, it will have put paid to much of the refinements of India's heritage for a sudden violent Shudra rise will inevitably lower culture considerably. It is here that we, the devotees of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda must step in and by a deluge of spirituality cool the sociopolitical atmosphere obtaining in the nation to avert a bloody revolution and preserve culture. This does not mean as aforesaid that we are revisionists but it rather means that we who follow the teachings of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda know it for sure that human good can ultimately be brought about by transformation of human character whose effect will be all-round growth and a more equitable distribution of the earth's resources so that everybody gets to see the light of day and not merely the privileged few.

It is not easy to be a follower of Vivekananda.

He who is brave, idealistic, truthful and honest without deviousness of character, he who never craves for ascent in an organisational hierarchy but is ever content to humbly serve the cause, he who does not speak harshly to devotees or assume a pompous attitude in the name of renunciation which Sister Nivedita had termed 'spiritual pride', he who is grateful for service rendered by devotees to the Order and does not deceive or ill-treat the server thereafter on any count, he who does not hang by the sleeves of the rich and the powerful citing the possible charitable fallout of such association as the justification for it but rather honours all equally without favour or expectation, such a noble one indeed is a follower of Swami Vivekananda. Unto him will be given the charge to carry the Prophet's mission of the regeneration of humanity.

Let us fulfil the Swami's dreams about India by being worthy successors of his Cause and dedicate our lives for national reconstruction. Let us serve the living goddesses and gods, our countrymen and our sisters and brothers beyond our borders to bring about a renaissance of human culture everywhere. That indeed is the mission that Swamiji has entrusted us with and that indeed is what we shall live and die to activate and fulfil. So, live the life.      

LIVE THE LIFE 19

It is indeed a sad turn of events that we, the followers of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, feel content today to serve the nation at a leisurely pace when our beloved leader Swami Vivekananda had constantly urged us to sacrifice our all for the redemption of the Motherland. And this casual attitude towards the enormity of the problems facing the nation which should drive us into feverish activity for national welfare is evident not merely among the lay devotees but among the monastics as well. A billion Ramakrishnas and Sarada Devis are daily living like brutes, yet, this does not awake us into war-time vigilance and effort to redress the situation. Scriptural quotations and philosophical justifications for inaction or feeble action do not befit the hour and tantamount to gross selfishness of those that play hand-in-hand with the powers that be for the status quo so very ruinous to the future of our nation. When a patient is undergoing a serious medical operation, it is heartlessness to delay proceedings by casualness or plain indifference to his fate under whatever pretext and thereby bring about his finality of fate in his physical death. Likewise, when our beloved Motherland is undergoing the severest trial of her developmental operation when masses of her children are daily dying like dogs under the tyranny of the age-old powers that be, caste, capitalism and corruption, it is heartbreaking to witness the apathy of us devotees and monks towards the whole national disaster in the name of Swami Vivekananda who had apparently and rightly stated that all work must proceed slowly and steadily in degrees. But did not the same Swami die so early in the conflagration of the world which he so desperately tried to douse with the water of the Vedanta? Did he also not urge his followers in every flaming letter of his to work constantly for the amelioration of the human condition in India, especially of the masses, and not to indulge in any passive religiosity whatsoever? Did he not say to his beloved brother disciple that there would be time to compliment each other after death and that it was imperative while living on Earth to keep pressing on with the work of national and world regeneration? This is called zeal which the Semitic religions so unfortunately exercise for conversion of the heathen to their fold and which in a diametrically opposite way but with the same intensity Vivekananda had exercised and exhorted his disciples and followers to do as well for the Cause of the awakening of the world and the removal of the great inequities of life in India. And this zeal is missing today among many a monk and devotee, a zeal so pronouncedly evident in that leonine follower of Swamiji, Swami Ranganathananda.

It is a sad day for the Prophet of Dakshineshwar to mutely witness this decadence when he had himself so undergone a cyclonic spiritual upheaval for 12 years for the awakening of the Brahma-kundalini of the world and his protege Swami Vivekananda had raged like a conflagration across the forest of the world, a fire which eventually consumed him in a supreme self-immolation that sanctified the world, deified it and raised it. How is it then that we, their followers, should so feel contented with the slow pace of the propagation of their message and the implementation of their welfare programmes when the fate of the world hangs by a slender thread at this perilous moment in human history and it is an oft-quoted statement that the path shown by the peerless Paramahamsa of Dakshineshwar is the way out of this terrible mess? How can we, monk or man, sit pretty on the services of others, namely, the armed forces, the farmers and the labourers, people who labour so hard for us, without even bothering to activating our hearts, minds and bodies in equal measure towards the rapid execution of Swamiji's great plans of national regeneration? Why sectionally quote Swamiji to defend this passivity? Does it befit the followers of Ramkrishna-Vivekananda to happily ruminate over the laurels of the hour however insignificant they may be? Is it not time for an attitudinal change irrespective of the positional advantages or disadvantages that there be so that a fuller understanding and implementation of Vivekananda's grand schemes for national regeneration may be effected without further suicidal delay?

I urge all to ponder over this issue of immeasurable national significance and start everywhere worthwhile welfare schemes for the uplift of our Motherland. And, above all, remember that each one of you is a prophet in the making and 'upon your shoulders rests the burden of the universe'. So, 'awake, awake, great ones, the world is burning with misery, can you yet sleep?'      

LIVE THE LIFE 18

Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi has said, "HE WHO HAS, LET HIM MEASURE OUT (DONATE) AND HE WHO DOES NOT HAVE, LET HIM CHANT (DO SPIRITUAL PRACTICE)." This simple statement of hers is a grand pronouncement in fact, a decree divine of the Mother of the universe and is absolutely binding on her children. It contains in it the formula for the life divine and the simplest way of spiritual fulfilment for all.

There are such vast inequities abounding today all over the world owing to the ravages of rampant capitalism which has human greed as its motivational basis and the common man's pocket as the exploitative target. As a result, billions are suffering from the ravages of man-made poverty and its concomitant evils. Here indeed are Holy Mother's aforesaid words most pertinent and, if followed, can be the panacea for much of the evils of contemporary capitalist society.

The rich must give away wealth liberally to support welfare schemes in society and help build institutions for public welfare. The poor must chant the name of God and spread holy vibrations all around to purify the polluted environment that is suffocating the spirit of man today. Billions of people chanting the holy name will by their collective vibration stir up the higher consciousness of man and make the world a better place. Harmonic spiritual vibrations will help induce harmony in the chaotic thought-field of the world and slowly establish peace on Earth.

Swami Vivekananda had established the RAMAKRISHNA MISSION for raising the world and India in especial through welfare activities and the Mission has been doing yoeman's service in this field for well over a century. However, given the complexities of the world political scenario and the natural handicap that monastics suffer from in raising funds for the welfare projects owing to their relatively reclusive life-style, it is now an imperative that lay devotees in large numbers should step ahead and shoulder the manifold responsibilities for the successful execution of the Mission's welfare projects.

Men and money are the two primary requisites for the execution of the Mission's welfare schemes. Men are required to organize projects, run institutions and serve the cause of suffering humanity in the light of the Vedanta espoused by Swamiji and money is required to carry out smoothly the transactions involved in the process. Yet, both these elements, essential for the success of the Mission's projects, seem to be ever in deficit thereby significantly slowing down the work of the Mission and thwarting the development of the nation. If we, devotees, carry out Holy Mother's dictum with implicit obedience, the missionary activity of the RAMAKRISHNA MISSION will be much strengthened and its welfare programmes executed to fulfilment much faster. Consequently, the nation will benefit and a stronger India will be much more instrumental in ushering in world peace and international understanding.

Holy Mother's words for us, her children, are an imperative and we must carry them out to perfection in our day-to-day lives from now on. With it new India will rise on the ashes of the dead past and build citadels of the power and glory of the Spirit. My friends, awake to this cause and live golden lives of philanthropy and spirituality so that the nation may live, the world survive and humanity see a brighter day of light and cheer. I exhort you all then to LIVE THE LIFE.

LIVE THE LIFE 17

Life is so precious. A little bit of organized mass with what intricacies of such meanderings called nerves that carry the thought currents! Even a  tiny insect can feel, can sense the pulsations of life. Plants can feel pleasure and pain as Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose had epochally demonstrated by means of his remarkable instruments, the crescograph and the morograph. Aeons of evolution have brought terrestrial life to this level of refinement and to murder it in an instant of barbarous madness, what folly, what a travesty of universal justice! To gaze at life in rapt wonderment ought to be the highest religion and thence to penetrate its myriad mysteries, not to destroy life in fanatical urges masquerading as religious impulse. The sheer magnificence of the universe and its sweeping majesty ought to humble us in pious prostration and invoke in us feelings of reverence for everything that exists in this phenomenal scheme of things. So it was in days of yore when the Arya Rishis realized the immanence of the Divine in Nature and worshipped divinity thus in all its myriad manifestations. They did not build temples all over for they felt the palpable presence of the Divine in the universe all around. European thinkers misinterpreted this as Nature-worship for the hymns of the Vedas apparently so often refer to the elements of Nature as being the objects of adoration for the Aryas. What the European scholars missed out was that the Arya Rishis were deep in their spiritual perceptions and venerated the Power immanent in Nature and not Nature as such and even when they worshipped the elements of Nature apparently, they did so in the full realization of the fact of the oneness of all existence, that is, they perceived Nature as the visible manifestation of the Divine. So, the question of them being Nature-worshippers in the low materialistic sense as ascribed to them is flawed and is a complete misrepresentation of fact owing to the 'superior' ignorance of European thinkers casually dabbling in Indian affairs without the necessary knowledge or even the will to know the real state of things as they were in ancient India.

Anyhow, life was held in great esteem in ancient India for life was seen as the flow of the Divine in the trinity of space-time-causality (desh-kaal-nimitta). The dissemination of the ideas of non-violence (ahimsa) and compassion (karuna) throughout the country had as its basis the concept of the oneness of all existence so unique to Vedantic thinking. However, civilization has its undulations and Indian civilization also underwent a catastrophic metamorphosis for nearly a millenium when it suffered the ravages of barbarous inroads into its domain and eventually capitulated to such politically losing much of its inherent grace. A constricted culture she became as foreign domination reduced her to a servile state devoid of self-glory and oblivious of her grand spiritual heritage rolling down the ages with the torrent of the Ganga. And what a price she has paid for her loss of political independence in 1192 to the barbarous tribes of Afghanistan and Central Asia till she regained freedom in 1947 amidst a carnage unprecedented in human history as Britain-orchestrated Partition of India 'sent a whole nation to despair' and tens of millions lost their lives in the transfer of populations across the newly created borders separating India and Pakistan! What ignorance of the Muslim rulers to convert Hindus to Islam forcibly to propagate their religion! Equally culpable have been European missionaries as they converted millions of Hindus to Christianity through craft, cunning and deceit. Finally, a word on the British. Even after suffering untold misery at the hands of the Germans during the Second World War did the British not learn the lessons of history and could they still in the name of their vaunted civilization stoop so low as to destroy India through Partition? Was it civilized to first conquer another's land, then plunder its wealth, systematically destroy its economic fabric for malicious Manchester ends and eventually to leave the land after having drained its resources for two centuries, depleted, debilitated and devastated through fratricidal feud in a masterful Machiavellian design of measuring out mercy to the Muslim Indian, a ploy which the Mahatma's magnanimity failed to foil? Was it not the worst modern-day barbarism to truncate Indian territory, to partition her along communal lines and so create permanent unrest in the sub-continent? I wonder how Vivekananda would have reacted to see his beloved Motherland so partitioned by British barbarism. He was the one Indian with crystal-clear vision and could see through evil British designs unlike the Mahatma whose political acumen failed him in regard to the occupying British leading to national disaster. The horrors of Partition haunt us even now and will do so for the foreseeable future and Great Britain must hold herself permanently accountable for it. A nation that has inflicted untold misery on its subject nations in the name of 'the Empire' must stand in the High Court of Eternity and plead guilty to the charge of thwarting human civilization and retarding human evolution throughout her erstwhile political domain and then bear out the punishment decreed by divine justice through the ages yet to come. This is not the curse of the suffering nations but the inevitable course of human history, the resolution of karmic forces, the inescapable destiny of the tyrant.

India and much of the world has received a rough deal at the hands of history. Now it is time to rebuild these nations and send a wave of hope and inspiration throughout these lands. Asia, Africa and Latin America have suffered endlessly. Time it is to revive them. So friends, with all our might let us dedicate ourselves to the task of nation-building so that a rejuvenated India stands at the 'vanguard of civilization with the flag of harmony and peace'. We need character to build our Motherland, spirituality to fertilize the world with the message of the Vedas and a vast compassion to serve all of humanity as our very own. Idle words will not do. We must LIVE THE LIFE.        

LIVE THE LIFE 16

The LIFE must be lived. That is all there is to spirituality, all else is gibberish. It is life that quickens life, life that leads to the citadels of the heavens, life that leads to immortality. There is so much noise everywhere, where is religion, the life of the Spirit? Babble and the bubble of frothy materialism, where is the man of the Spirit who can vouch that he is above the mundane considerations that afflict the soul of man? So much religion and so much politics that goes with it. Where is the one that is living the life without resorting to hanging by the sleeve of the rich and the powerful under the pretext of garnering active support for the welfare of the poor and the downtrodden? Where is the one that depends wholly on Providence and not on politicians and the prosperous for carrying on his mission of service? I hold nothing against seeking support from all quarters for the welfare of all but I do have serious reservations about those who hang out with the rich and the powerful to further their worldly interests in the name of living the spiritual life and so fooling millions who have implicit faith in them. I also do hold those monastics who give preferential treatment to the rich and the powerful culpable of the offence of deliberate practice of  social discrimination so very much opposed to their religious vocation, so very contrary to scriptural injunctions. Yet, this is the scene we all encounter in every order worth the count in varying degrees and this is also precisely the reason why religious orders gradually decay. The ideal was to renounce but whither vanished the ideal? Why is it that great prophets are so laid low by their followers in their bid to spread their message? Why is it that their very words are tampered with, their teachings altered, their message interpolated? If this is devotion, then far better to remain outside institutional barriers as individual thinkers and practising piety without intervention of superiors sullying the soul or false followers of freemen feigning to foil the follies and foibles of fettered fellow men. It is far better to think out the solutions of life independently as individuals than selling one's freedom to so-called superior men who mask themselves under the guise of the coloured robe.

It is the pursuit of every spiritual aspirant to seek truth in immanence and in transcendence. Equality in day-to-day dealings with fellow men irrespective of their social standing ought to be a spiritual person's way but, sadly, there is such blatant display of pandering to the vanities of the rich and the powerful in order to elicit their support for the social cause that it seems that these so-called messiahs of men have forgotten that by undermining the basic dignity of the poor and the average devotee through superior talk, a sneering attitude and self-justified so-to-say righteous anger, no great social good can be achieved. There has to be a fundamental shift once more to the path of the peerless Paramahamsa who had cast away coins into the river in his sincere bid to renounce all material cravings for good, who would wince in pain even at the contact of metal and who fundamentally venerated all humanity despite residing on the Himalayan heights of transcendent vision. He who had venerated his wife and earthly mother as embodiments of the Divine Mother, in whose purified vision every woman was an aspect of the Universal Mother, he who could never insult a fellow man on the basis of superior spirituality, whose very demeanour was draped in humility, every fibre of whose being resonated to the truth within and to nothing but the truth, it saddens one to contemplate that some of his followers have strayed from the path traversed by him, not in principle so much as in practice, unfortunate but inevitable though it is, for such is the way of all spiritual movements bound by organization which brings in its wake its own conjoined evils along with the immeasurable good it bestows upon the world. Time it is to take stock of the situation, else, the goodwill of the movement may be tarnished . Public perception has to be kept in mind for a movement that caters to public welfare and this in no way does compromise the high ideals of the movement. A certain laxity that may have crept into the movement must be weeded out and monastics and householders both must be fired up once more by the grand prophetic zeal of Swami Vivekananda. Truth must be unflinchingly adhered to whatever the temporal consequences may be for we are the followers of Ramakrishna who was Truth-incarnate, devotees must be given god-like respect in a like manner as they offer the monastics, equality of treatment must be meted out to all irrespective of social position, economic status or political portfolio and irrespective of the fact whether a person is a householder or a monk.

This world is the play-house of the Divine, the people inhabiting it gods and goddesses under temporary delusion and the universe the great theatre for the enactment of this drama of phenomenal existence. All this is transitory and fundamentally unreal. Yet, knowing the real nature of things, one must arrive at a comprehensive philosophy of life where man is venerated as God and devoted service to him acknowledged and acclaimed as the highest religion. This is the real worship of God that Swamiji introduced through his now famous Practical Vedanta. He had famously given utterance to his prophetic vision about the inherent divinity of man thus: "We are the worshippers of that God whom the ignorant address as man." Throughout his divine life Swamiji exemplified the truth of this statement and his brother disciple, Swami Akhandananda, made this grand principle dynamic when he single-handedly conducted relief operation in famine-stricken Mohula in Murshidabad district. This was a pioneering endeavour in the annals of the Ramakrishna Movement and the grand beginning of its century-old tradition of service to the afflicted, the distressed and the disaster-struck. Soon, Swamis Shubhananda, Achalananda, Kalyanananda,Nishchayananda and several other spirited young men set up the Varanasi Ramakrishna Mission Home of Service and the Kankhal Ramakrishna Mission Sevashsrama.Towards the end of the 19th century Sister Nivedita and Swami Sadananda did heroic service for Calcuta's plague victims risking their own lives. All these selfless acts of service were inspired by Swami Vivekananda's message of the oneness of humanity, nay, all existence, and the spiritual imperative of service to man as worship of God. The youth of the times were inflamed by his power and personality to sacrifice their all for the political, social and spiritual freedom of the Motherland. Great leaders like Gandhi, Nehru, Netaji, Aurobindo Ghose, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bagha Jatin and Hem Chandra Ghosh, to quote but a few, were all inspired by Vivekananda and the combined might of these stalwarts successfully threw off the British yoke to free India. The freedom-fighters lived exemplary lives of purity, sacrifice and service to shake up the citadels of the British empire. The force of their character outdid the brutality of weapons employed by the British to suppress them and in the fullness of time successfully evicted the occupying British from the soil of the Motherland. And at the fountain-head of it all was the life and message of the warrior-monk Vivekananda whose thoughts permeated the atmosphere of the Motherland groaning under the British yoke and so raised an army of workers to shape the destiny of India.

That spirit is active even today. Vivekananda is a living force that is casting men out of clay, young, dynamic, resolute workers of the Spirit who are committed to the cause of bringing in a renaissance in human culture and saving world civilization from extinction. We have also to respond to the clarion call of the Swami that is echoing through the hills and vales of this vast country exhorting us to sacrifice our all for the salvation of the teeming millions of our brethren lying in hunger, ignorance, destitution and dire deprivation of the basic amenities of life. The future of the world is pregnant with the possibilities of a golden spiritual civilization as Vivekananda had envisaged and worked for. Come brothers, let us live golden lives to make this possibility a reality. May the world rise on the ashes of the past! May humanity strike a new path, the royal avenue of the Self (Atman)! May India be the spiritual preceptor of the world as in days of yore! May we, the foot soldiers of the Swami Vivekananda, declare war on the inequities of life, the hunger, misery, squalor and ignorance that abound in the world making it a veritable hell for those that suffer endlessly! May we through our devoted service make their lives bearable and the future of their children brighter with the light of knowledge shining on them as the grace of the heavens!

This then is the task, the gigantic work before us, the spiritual revival of the whole of humanity in the harmonic light of the Vedanta where all is concord and there is no discord. It is a stupendous task given the complexities, social, cultural, religious and political, that abound in the world today. Yet, we must follow the lead given by Vivekananda and march ahead to usher in the civilization that lies in wait in the womb of the future. So, LIVE THE LIFE.