RAMAKRISHNA-VIVEKANANDA FORGOTTEN ... 1

RAMAKRISHNA-VIVEKANANDA FORGOTTEN ... 1

It is so strange that the life and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna are not universally known in India even 135 years after his disappearance. And the world is more or less oblivious of it, too. Rapid dissemination of his life and message is the surviving call of the hour. Else, humanity seems doomed to death en masse.

Swamiji had said that he had a message for the West just as Buddha had a message for the East.

The West is sitting on its seat of self-destruction today and have long forgotten Vivekananda. 9/11 has brought the West to its hour of reckoning. 37,000 jihadist attacks have reportedly taken place throughout the world post September 11, 2001. The West is unsure how to deal with it.

There was another 9/11 in 1893 when a young monk from India had stormed the stage in the Chicago Parliament of Religions and brought in tidings from the East that would potentially harmonise the conflicting elements of life but have overtime gone into hibernation as the West has buried his memory and message in the melee of its pursuit of transitory life. As Eleanor Stark has written in his book ' The Gift Unopened -- The New American Revolution', America has indeed a gift from Vivekananda which she is yet to unpack and see. There lies the solution to her problems and to that of the problems that beset humanity, too. Ramakrishna-Vivekananda is the way ahead for the world. But will the world get to know that they ever existed? And will it heed the message of the masters from India while yet there is time to salvage things and save humanity? Will India listen, to begin with? Or, will passive piety continue?

Written by Sugata Bose