LIVE THE LIFE 7

It is not easy to serve man. First, we must cultivate a deep respect for life before we can honour brother man. In the absence of reverence for the ones we wish to serve how can we do justice to our mission of service to them? Service is not mere social work well-performed but it is an adoration of the divine in man, a veritable worship of the incarnation of divinity in the human form. Worship of the stone idol is easy, worship of the immanent being in Nature is also not so fraught with difficulty for in these there is no reaction of the worshipped that the worshipper has to absorb but the worshipful service of man is infinitely more cumbersome for one has to deal with all sorts of reactions, quite often adverse, from the served ones. The work may prove to be utterly thankless on the surface and even hostile to the server. In such a situation it is difficult to hold on to high idealism and cling to the concept that man is the visible form of God and ought to be served in the sublimest of spirits.

We all tend to react on the spur of the moment without giving due consideration to the circumstance or situation in which we awkwardly find ourselves. A stone or clay image of God does not react in a hostile manner when we offer it worship. It merely passively accepts our worship, so we feel. There is an advantage here in that we can fashion our fancies of godhead as we choose and thus pander our vanity in matters 'spiritual'. But the real test of spirituality comes when we are confronted with the living god, man. He is unsparing in his denunciation of many a fault in us that we can hardly bear when we have served him with all our devotion and naturally expect some sort of a return in terms of gratitude at least. Although work must be performed in a dispassionate manner without the slightest expectation of any earthly return, it is but natural that the unformed mind will revert to its age-old hankering for an immediate return for whatever service it may have rendered. And herein lies the trouble. So, it is expedient for the average man to reject the service of brother man as sufficient spirituality and to revert to the age-old easier practice of serving the stone god or the clay god from whom he fears no adverse reaction, criticism or comment. The stone image then takes precedence for the vast majority of men over the living human god and the latter is relegated to the background so far as receiving venerable service is concerned. This then is the age-old dilemma we face so far as the initiation of service to man as worship of God is concerned.

Into this scenario stepped Ramakrishna and with his famous pronouncement of service to the living being in the light of its immanent godhead altered the course of the spiritual thinking of man. His protege, the genius of a monk, Vivekananda activated his master's divine spiritual principle through the machinery he set up, the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission which now for over a century has been doing yoeman's service to the cause of national reconstruction and global peace and spiritual understanding for a better state of human affairs throughout the world. Opposition there is much that the Order faces from the vested interests of religious groups of Semitic origin even in India in the North-eastern belt where conversion rates are high and persecution of the Mission's activities pronounced but the spirit of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda and their liberal universal outlook is as yet carrying the day as the Ramakrishna Movement slowly and steadily is making ground and transforming the spiritual consciousness of India. At the world level the influence of the movement is more imperceptible but the discerning eye can detect slow but significant changes that are taking place in the psyche of the modern man although the progress of science must surely be given a large portion of the credit for breaking through the citadels of superstition and ignorance that has really helped the Vedantic cause as espoused by Ramakrishna-Vivekananda.

Anyhow, this then is the situation where liberal spirituality and science are in direct confrontation with retrogressive religious culture and the tension between these two opposing forces is consuming the life of man today. The tussle is on, this tug-of-war between the forces of progress and regress, of light and darkness that is tottering civilization by the edge of an abyss and making a nought of many a noble endeavour towards the spiritualization of the human race. And herein comes the role of the man of character who will struggle to change the order of things for the better, the man of tranquil wisdom, of iron will and indomitable spirit who will live the glorious spiritual life for millions to emulate. Such a band of heroes we need today to douse the flames of fanaticism that is burning the world, tireless, selfless workers steeped in the life of the Spirit where fear is not nor the shadow of low human craving that is the bane of religious movements across the world largely today. A great work, a mighty message, a monumental task awaits these soldiers of the Spirit whose shoulders must bear the burden of our fever-stricken world, our pregnant collective life seeking deliverance from the age-old tyranny of dead habits and mores. Come on my brethren, gird up your loins and lend yourselves to the mighty task of first nation-building and then the promotion of international peace and goodwill for the flourishing of the human race. Ramakrishna-Vivekananda expect no less from us and this is our true worship of them, this the worship of the vast body of man, the Virat. Awake, awake great souls and break the slumber of all with the thunderous roar of the Vedanta. May Mother Mahamaya be your support! May you be endowed with inexhaustible vigour, the fruit of your Brahmacharya (continence) and may your nerves be charged with the fire of purity and all-embracing love! Above all my friends, let your lives be full of the blazing light of realization that the world may find direction from, for after all, it is character alone that leaves its mark on the sands of time. I await in patient expectation for Vivekananda's heroes to emerge from the hills and the vales, from the forests and the seas, from the plateaus and the plains deluging the world with the message of the Atman, 'the fruit of a new autumn, the symphony of the soul'. Jai Ramakrishna! Jai Ma! Jai Swamiji!

LIVE THE LIFE 6 ... A TRIBUTE TO SWAMI SUMEDHANANDA

A devotee once asked Swami Sumedhananda, venerable monk of the Ramakrishna Order to bless him that he might preach the Word of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda. Prompt came the reply, ''If you wish to spread the Word, then LIVE THE LIFE.'' I was witness to this event and it struck me as singular the force with which the Swami spoke these words. Also, there was so much of love and good wishes associated with it that it altogether seemed to the devotee to be quite within his reach to achieve what normally one would have conceived as unachievable. But the condition was there, an imperative---LIVE THE LIFE.

So, what is this 'living the life' after all? Did the Swami mean that the devotee must renounce home and hearth in his forties, wrenching himself free from his settled householder's life to wander about as a mendicant monk spreading the Gospel of the Lord or did he have something else in mind? Well, he did not say anything more but from all intents and purposes it seemed clear that he meant that the aspirant devotee would have to live a life steeped in the values of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, that is, a principled and pure life full of the fire of selfless love and charity, if he were to have any impact on his addressees when he spoke. In short, he would have to cultivate character and thereby acquire the necessary spiritual power to make his words potent enough to carry his audience not merely for the hour with his oratorical flourish but for a protracted period of time and that too at a depth where real spiritual transformation might be effected. He would have to have courage of conviction to be able to carry his audience and that could only be possible through a deepening of his own life spiritually.

The 'silent word' is more eloquent, it is character that speaks. There must be a fire, a zeal without bigotry, an all-consuming peaceful love that will make one's words have a telling effect, lend them such potency that they bore their way through the nerves of the listeners and grip them for good. And all this for a higher, peaceful, noble purpose free of dogmatism and full of reasonableness, though sublime and inspired. For there is already a surfeit of irrational, infra-rational, unscientific, dogmatic, doctrinaire, intolerant stuff doing the rounds in the world at large that is the cause of so much dismay to right-thinking people. Let us not add to the commotion there already is as regards religious babble for the world requires as much a respite from these deliverers of men as from their messiahs. If at all one must serve the world, let one do so in as peaceful and gentlemanly a manner as possible without the histrionics associated with preaching or its malefic intent.

A life must be built, a character formed, a higher inspiration reached, by whom? Why, the preacher himself. He who wishes to transform others, let him first transform himself. He who wishes to spread the Word of a Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, let him first reflect on this fact that these great masters first had dived deep into their selves to acquire real spirituality before they ventured to speak before the world. And what joy when one attains to something worthwhile in this spiritual journey! It is then a 'joy unspeakable' to rise and help raise one's fellow men, one's 'sisters and brothers', a veritable pilgrimage this life then is. So, says the Swami Sumedhananda from the hills of Cherrapunjee, from the vales of this vast land and from his ethereal abode in Ramakrishna Lok now, IF YOU WISH TO SPREAD THE WORD, THEN LIVE THE LIFE.

LIVE THE LIFE 5

We are Mother's children and need to behave as such. Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi is the Divine Mother of the universe. Of this there can be no doubt for Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda have both vouched for it. Scepticism may be one's birthright and one may reject this thesis outright but, pray, tarry awhile brother before you throw overboard Ramakrishna-Vivekananda's spiritual assertions about the identity of Holy Mother. Do read through the works of Swamiji and the life of Holy Mother, then meditate in absolute purity for a few years before you draw your conclusion. Democratically speaking, however, you are at liberty to accept or deny straightaway. My request is that you be scientific in your investigation as to her divinity before rushing to conclusion. Be it as it may, there are millions today who consider themselves to be the children of Sri Sarada Devi and feel proud to do so for what higher parenthood can one expect than that one's mother is Sarada Devi and father Sri Ramakrishna.

However, Holy Mother may not altogether be pleased with the way we, her children, conduct ourselves in our daily lives. She is not only the mother of the privileged but she is the mother of the despoiled and the destitute as well. Her heart used to go out for all during her terrestrial play and there is no reason to believe that she has since changed her compassionate attitude towards all her children, specially, the suffering ones. She has left behind us a legacy of love for humanity which we as her children ought to be the worthy recipients of. She once made this pronouncement which is her divine decree on all her children : HE WHO HAS, LET HIM MEASURE OUT (GIVE AWAY IN CHARITY) ; HE WHO DOES NOT HAVE, LET HIM CHANT (SPREAD WAVES OF SPIRITUALITY). This simple commandment contains within it Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi's divine will and is binding on us, we who proudly proclaim ourselves to be her children. Let us carry out her commandment by helping the RAMAKRISHNA MATH AND RAMAKRISHNA MISSION through abundant donations so that the monks of the Order may have adequate funds to carry out speedily the many welfare projects that are right now lying in wait owing to paucity of funds. Let us earn honestly, scrupulously adhering to national laws and let us spend on ourselves judiciously that we may save for the Mission's work. Millions are daily being pushed to destitution, a fate we can arrest if we pull in our might by contributing our mite for the Cause for which Swamiji stood in his life and for which he built the twin organizations of the RAMAKRISHNA MATH AND RAMAKRISHNA MISSION. Thakur was poor, so was Swamiji and his spiritual brethren, but the poorest of them all was Holy Mother who took upon herself the misery of the masses, so to say, and endured untold hardship in her terrestrial existence. Her plight continues as she keeps on mutely witnessing the myriad miseries of the masses, waiting patiently for a few heroic children of hers to bring to fruition her grand dictum: HE WHO HAS, LET HIM MEASURE OUT ( DONATE) ; HE WHO DOES NOT HAVE, LET HIM CHANT ( SPREAD WAVES OF SPIRITUALITY ).

With these words I welcome you all into the grand mansion that is our common heritage, THE RAMAKRISHNA MOVEMENT.

LIVE THE LIFE 4

Capitalism is making deep inroads into Indian society. Consequently, consumer culture is on the rise. This has capitalist greed as its basis on the one side and artificial desire-generation in the average person through advertising on the other. Material goods are also produced in abundance in its wake and that is a necessary evil, necessary because it fulfils the needs of survival of the ever-growing world population and evil because it creates artificial requirements in the mind of man which he then considers as imperative for his subsistence. This gross material culture in turn impoverishes the masses over a period of time even as it inflates the coffers of the few entrepreneurs who reap the ill-begotten benefits of this evil system. The tyranny of scientifically extorted profit gradually splits up the middle classes into two sharp divisions, the upper middle class that merges in due course with the rich class and the lower middle class that is forced down the economic ladder to be one with the poor class. And this is the classic capitalist scenario which eventually leads to class-conflict. Classically, this is the prelude to socialism.

India is going through this transition phase and life is increasingly becoming difficult for the common man even as industrialists go over the moon praising India's burgeoning economy. When the basic amenities of life are becoming hard to come by on account of ever-rising prices and not proportionate rise in income, the situation is doomed for the average consumer. This is leading to wide-spread unrest in different parts of the country, fissiparous tendencies threatening to disintegrate the nation and an overall decline in human values for humanity cannot subsist on air, however perfumed it may be. Mere propagation of holy talk or patriotic gibberish will not work with empty bellies but the bullied souls will quickly rise in arms against this brutal state of things. The system of capitalism as it persists today is rotten to the core for it is only a pro-rich philosophy and never a pro-people one. If to satiate the monetary craving of one man a million must suffer, then such a system should be thrown overboard and replaced by a more humane system. It is futile attempting to move the youth with pious platitudes when hunger, unemployment and illiteracy rule the roost in this most uneven of economic systems that our current free-market economy is which gives unbridled freedom only to the entrepreneur to charge whatever he feels like for his product irrespective of what its consequence will be for the consumer in the long run. How I wish that every rich man would by law find it mandatory to live a week every month in the city-slums or in ill-equipped villages with no proper sanitation or toilet facilities! Only then, dear brothers, would these mercenaries of men, these currency cannibals realize to what depths of depression they have reduced millions of their brethren without even turning  a hair. And this is the situation we must redress if we are to pride ourselves as a civilized nation with a hoary spiritual heritage for, after all, who suffers in the gutters? Ramakrishna, Ramakrishna, Ramakrishna in a million garbs! Come brothers, let us devote ourselves heart and soul to bringing about a more equitable distribution of the world's resources by dint of our sterling selves, our supreme sacrifice, our universal love for this, the holiest of the holy, this veritable godhead on Earth, our brother man. In it we shall find our highest good, our eternal repose and our sublimest beatitude. May Thakur bless us in our endeavour and receive our service in his million guises! Jai Ramakrishna!

LIVE THE LIFE 3

Swami Vivekananda was born of rich parents but took pleasure in intellectual and cultural pursuits as he grew up. The acute poverty his family faced following the death of his father made him realize the virtue of frugal living. In later years he stressed upon this fact when he pronounced that the youth ought to be encouraged to live frugal lives. The stark poverty of the masses of India, his own harrowing experience of poverty in his familial life and the extreme poverty of his spiritual brotherhood must have been the immediate cause of his being prompted to make this statement. But at a deeper level he must have also felt the sheer necessity of frugal living as the means of restricting the wayward mind from dissipating its forces in diverse directions and so suffering from energy depletion whose final resolution would be the utter loss of mental vigour and ruination of character for extravagance surely would bring in its wake the mirage of multitudinous desires seeking fulfilment through the finite confines of this mortal frame. The consumer culture that is so rampant among the youth today, Swamiji had determined to arrest. And why the youth alone? Consumerism is eating into the vitals of the young and the old today and has reduced masses of the urban population into foppish imbeciles with film frivolity the dominant note in their cultural make-up and slavish pseudo-western orientation the height of their social independence. Fortunately, the masses as yet are uncorrupted owing to their extreme poverty. Nonetheless, this cultural invasion of the decadent West is ruining the very moral fibre of our urban masses, especially the youth and that is a matter of grave national concern. So, it is clear why Swamiji with prophetic vision had forewarned the youth from being foppish as a cardinal point in their development of character. He, in no uncertain terms, had literally launched into a tirade against the then prevalent ways of the affluent in self-indulgence, oblivious of the hapless condition of the masses when he said: So long as the millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold every man a traitor who, having been educated at their expense, pays not the least heed to them! I call those men who strut about in their finery, having got all their money by grinding the poor, wretches, so long as they do not do anything for those two hundred millions who are no better than hungry savages!

I rest my case here, friends, for after a Vivekananda speaks, none else ought to. Jai Swamiji!

LIVE THE LIFE 2

Character has to be formed. This is the first and foremost duty, the one thing that needs to be established if anything worthwhile is to be achieved in spiritual life. To serve the nation requires a great deal of self-sacrifice which calls for a strong character in the absence of which one's efforts will get tarnished by petty self-interest creeping in and spoiling it all. This is the one reason why most people who begin with a sense of purpose the work of service of the nation end up serving their own interests. Character having not been established, the work flounders and is eventually completely marred. Thus, there should be no hurry in the effort to serve the nation. Rather, one must proceed slowly and painstakingly build one's character by following the instructions of Swami Vivekananda and make oneself spiritually fit to serve others. One must scrupulously adhere to physical and mental purity in order to energize oneself for the undertaking of the great work of national regeneration. Swamiji is there to lead us, to inspire us and to constantly energize us if only we make an effort to read his works, to reflect on his thoughts and to follow him through the thick and thin of life's vicissitudes. We will surely be able to serve his Cause by his grace for we are his chosen soldiers, valorous disciples of the great hero who gave his life to galvanize this nation and break its age-old stupor. It is our turn now to repay the Master and build this beloved Motherland of ours. Jai Hind!

LIVE THE LIFE ... 1

Sri Ramakrishna is God. His whole life bears testimony to this fact. Leave aside the view-points of detractors who cite the impersonal nature of God or point out shortcomings in the Paramahamsa's life. These are idle criticisms and need not be taken seriously. But for once consider --- have you ever come across in the annals of human history such a supremely spiritual person as Sri Ramakrishna? The Paramahamsa remains peerless in his spiritual attainments and outdistances all great prophets of the past by miles.

An illiterate Brahman priest, rustic in habits and somewhat coarse relative to the refinements of urban culture, Ramakrishna yet dominated the elite minds of the then occidental Calcuttans with his sublime purity and innate wisdom matured in the light of his Advaitic realisations. Calcutta, then the capital city of British India, was in the throes of spiritual decay as the urban elite had lost its moorings in the dazzle of occidental culture. Aggressive proselytisation by Christian missionaries attempted to break the very backbone of traditional Hindu culture and, sadly, succeeded in converting a large section of the tribal population in the North-eastern belt to the Semitic cult. It is at this juncture that this illiterate poor Brahman priest of the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple came to the rescue of the Religion of India, the Sanatan Dharma or, the Perennial Philosophy of the Vedas, as Aldous Huxley has termed it. One shudders to think what India's fate would have been were Ramakrishna not to surface at this critical juncture in Indian history to rescue her. We would have lost the religion and the pristine thoughts of our forefathers and would have been rootless vagabonds on the face of this Earth.

Anyhow, such a catastrophe was by providential decree averted and we survive, today, a nation full of proud possibilities of future flourishing. We owe it to Sri Ramakrishna, this, our material independence and our spiritual freedom and ought to make sincere effort to rebuild the nation along the lines laid down by Swami Vivekananda who had himself followed the blue-print of India's destiny as envisaged by the Rishis of yore.

Time it is to take stock of our national heritage and advance with strong strides towards national reconstruction. For this the youth of India must come forward and lend vigour to the movement with selfless service, pure and free. A million young women and men must sacrifice their all for the execution of this stupendous task, that of revitalisation of the Motherland through a comprehensive programme of national education and cultural uplift. The masses must be raised, women must be released from their age-old tyranny at the hands of men and, overall, the population must be given proper spiritual sustenance for a rejuvenated country to emerge.

Vivekananda's dream it was to see his motherland rise and occupy her rightful place in the comity of nations as the spiritual preceptor of the world. Let us shed our life's blood to fulfil his dream and, so, attain to real manhood. I look forward with fond hopes for the heroes to advance in this cause. Step out, brothers, from the rank and file of the polity and take up the responsibility that is rightfully yours, this, the rebuilding of India. Jai Swamiji! Jai Netaji! Jai Hind!