We need a monk who will not water down the truths of the Vedanta to suit it to the tastes of the worldly West and who will represent the pristine traditions of spiritual India as embodied in the personalities of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda, one who will carry the fire of Vivekananda and will not sweeten the message of the Vedanta in his bid to carry home the truths to the laity in as delectable a manner as possible and, in the bargain, land up diluting the very spirit of the highest spiritual truths of the Vedanta even as he delivers the intellectual truths of the same in a worldly manner.
Superficiality must be abjured and the message of the Self must be delivered with the gravity it duly deserves. Else, lofty truths lose their import and become the playthings of insincere aspirants who can scarce appreciate either their significance or their soul-force. The Vedanta must not become the plaything of puerile professors who spend the casual hour listening to lectures and then immerse themselves in the routine acts of mundane living. Worst of all, the Vedanta must not be allowed to rationalise worldly living under the cover of high-flown philosophy superficially taught and superficially understood. Down with worldliness ! Worldly life and the Vedanta do not quite go together.
So, to reiterate the original idea of this brief passage --- we need a monk with fire in his belly who can disseminate the message of the Vedanta in the West with insight and inspiration, spirit and soul-force that will light up his audience with the desire to renounce. Then and then alone will the message of the spiritual masters of India have made its mark among the materialists of the Western world. We await the arrival of the great one whose thunderous call will quicken the pulse of the West and awaken the sense-driven slumbering soul of the Occident.
Om Tat Sat !
Written by Sugata Bose
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