WHERE LEVITY FAILS
Vedanta preachers must not make frequent departures to the citing of passages from popular books for it distracts attention from the central theme under discussion. This, unfortunately, is the general trend and even the youngest preacher in the fray does not seem to desist from this habitual diversion. It draws him popular support but dilutes the class in terms of the solemnity that is called for in a discussion on an abstruse text or a concept thereof. This ought not to be.
Popular culture is hardly ever spiritual and the young preacher who is otherwise doing quite well in the West needs to take stock of this objection as well. There is a certain grandeur in great music, art and literature, and the Vedanta provides just that in matters potently spiritual. It is the grandest discovery of man, this Self within, the grandest of all philosophical systems and needs to be accorded the right respect when its principles are being preached. Else, it becomes a puerile exercise of casual class talk with audiences copiously amused amid scriptural deliberations which thereby lose the concentrated essence of the perennial message they contain. It is here that rectification and adjustment needs to be urgently made but men are men and they go after the manner of the personalities they are endowed with and one has to bear these lighthearted departures with grace. Had it been otherwise, we would have complained, perhaps, of too much gravity and too little relief from the strain of a concentrated discourse. The optimal cross-reference is, therefore, the bargain to be made if the central message has to be driven home into the mind of the audience deep enough for it to gain fruition in the realm of the spirit in due time. Herein Swami Vivekananda remains the reference point for all Vedanta preachers of the Order in the West and they ought to abide by their illustrious predecessor's exemplary disposition as a Vedanta preacher himself.
May the spirit of Swamiji animate this young aspirant in dissemination of the message of the Upanishads and help bring out the best from within him! Om!
Written by Sugata Bose
Vedanta preachers must not make frequent departures to the citing of passages from popular books for it distracts attention from the central theme under discussion. This, unfortunately, is the general trend and even the youngest preacher in the fray does not seem to desist from this habitual diversion. It draws him popular support but dilutes the class in terms of the solemnity that is called for in a discussion on an abstruse text or a concept thereof. This ought not to be.
Popular culture is hardly ever spiritual and the young preacher who is otherwise doing quite well in the West needs to take stock of this objection as well. There is a certain grandeur in great music, art and literature, and the Vedanta provides just that in matters potently spiritual. It is the grandest discovery of man, this Self within, the grandest of all philosophical systems and needs to be accorded the right respect when its principles are being preached. Else, it becomes a puerile exercise of casual class talk with audiences copiously amused amid scriptural deliberations which thereby lose the concentrated essence of the perennial message they contain. It is here that rectification and adjustment needs to be urgently made but men are men and they go after the manner of the personalities they are endowed with and one has to bear these lighthearted departures with grace. Had it been otherwise, we would have complained, perhaps, of too much gravity and too little relief from the strain of a concentrated discourse. The optimal cross-reference is, therefore, the bargain to be made if the central message has to be driven home into the mind of the audience deep enough for it to gain fruition in the realm of the spirit in due time. Herein Swami Vivekananda remains the reference point for all Vedanta preachers of the Order in the West and they ought to abide by their illustrious predecessor's exemplary disposition as a Vedanta preacher himself.
May the spirit of Swamiji animate this young aspirant in dissemination of the message of the Upanishads and help bring out the best from within him! Om!
Written by Sugata Bose
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