THE DUBIOUS DUPLICATE

THE DUBIOUS DUPLICATE

The speeches making the rounds on YouTube as Swamiji's Chicago Addresses are not the original speeches but are a remake of modern times mimicking his original voice through imagination running sky high. The original speeches could not be recorded thus as recording technology had not in 1893 evolved to that level of sophistication whereby they could be so recorded. The Belur Math authorities have made a plea to the people to be aware of these dubious duplicates of the works of Swamiji while acknowledging the fact that the Chicago speeches have this way, nonetheless, reached a wider audience and benefited, so, a larger number of people. But they have asked devotees and well-wishers of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Movement to be wary of these and other dubious developments where random statements of people are being passed on as having been said by Swamiji so that they receive immediate attention and a wide circulation. This is regrettable as it is a roguish attempt to make commerce out of corruption, that is, using Swamiji's name to gain moment for one's own views on issues. All this is to be resisted and it can be done so only if we en masse take to reading the original works of Swamiji which is available on the internet.

Written by Sugata Bose