Wami Vivekananda

8/14/2019 Wami Vivekananda

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ami Vivekananda10 0 Y ear s La ter

Swami Vivekananda, the great Hindu Monk of

India, left his mortal coil exactly a century ago,

on July 4 , 1902.Time has proved the truth of the words Swami

Vivekananda uttered before his death: "It may be

that I shall find it good to get outside my body -- to

cast it off like a worn out garment. But I shall notcease to work. I shall inspire men everywhere until

the world shall know that it is one with God." Work

unto death, I am with you, and when I am gone, my

spirit will work with you.


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OVERVIEW

100 Yea rs L ater A G lowi ng Tr ibute Homage An E st ima te ( of the inestimable) A P ro pheti c Vo ice Divi ne Sparks Be a nd Ma ke


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SWA MI VI VEK AN AN DA100 Ye ars Late r


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This is the centenary year of the

maahasamaadhiof Swami Vivekananda, the

patriot-saint and the intrepid Hindu Monk of

India who dazzled the West by his fascinating

personality, scintillating intellect and powerful

oratory. One hundred years ago, on July 4,

1902, completing his divinely ordained

mission, the great Swami left his mortal coiland returned to the Divine Source. In the

words of his illustrious disciple, Sister

Nivedita, .on the wings of meditation, his

spirit soared whence there could be noreturn, and the body was left, like a folded

vesture, on the earth. And the day he

chose of all others was the Fourth of July

the American Independence Day.


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His was a rare personality, a dynamic

and dedicated life in a short span. His

multi-faceted life and work, and the

inspiring message were for the spiritualregeneration of India and the world.

Having given his ideal a firm practical

shape, having inspired millions of people

with the noble ideals of 'Renunciation

and Service', having made India

conscious of her glorious past, and

having awakened her to future tasks,

Vivekananda wound up his earthlycareer at the age of thirty-nine years,

five months and twenty-two days, thus

fulfilling his own prophecy: 'I will not live

to be forty years old.' "


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At the height of his glory and renown, how unassuming and ego-less he

was! Here is the testimony: If there has ever been a word of truth, aword of spirituality, that I have spoken anywhere in the world, I owe it to

my Master; only mistakes are mine They call me the cyclonic Hindu.

Remember, it is His will I am a voice without a form. This is also a

testimony to his fidelity to his Great Master Sri Ramakrishna.


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And, as to his spiritual depth and universality of

outlook, mark his words: What is India or

England or America to us? We are the servantsof that God who by the ignorant is called man.

Renunciation, service and sacrifice were his watchwords. And, an

embodiment of renunciation that he was, he wore himself out in the service

of God in man. Here is his testament: When will that blessed day dawnwhen my life will be a sacrifice at the altar of humanity? Let the body, since

perish it must, wear out in action and not rust in inaction It is better to wear

out than to rust out.


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Time has proved the truth of the words Swami Vivekananda uttered before

his death: "It may be that I shall find it good to get outside my body -- tocast it off like a worn out garment. But I shall not cease to work. I shall

inspire men everywhere until the world shall know that it is one with God."

Work unto death, I am with you, and when I am gone, my spirit will work

with you.


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Swami Vivekananda's influence on societies and individuals can be classified

into: his impact as a teacher of the message of Eternal India, which is in fact

the spiritual message ofSanatana Dharma, popularly known as Hinduisim,or

the rational and universal gospel of the Vedanta; his stress on the practice of

religion of service, based on equality and tyaga; his role as an awakener,builder and organizer of modern India with its patriotic, spiritual and service

movements; his contribution as a cultural and spiritual emissary of India to the

West; his work as an interpreter of Indian values in the universal language of

science and, his influence in taming and unifying science itself.


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Humanity has not yet opened fully the gift it has received from

Sri Ramakrishna, the gift of the advent and work of Swami

Vivekananda. We can only envy the future world, which will be

delighted and blessed with this gift, which it has been ready to

receive but slow to uncover.


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Swami Vivekananda "burst into theworld like a bomb not to lick it into

destruction with tongues of fire, but

to rouse men from their spiritual

stupor by the boom of his powerfulvoice. His words seem to gain

greater force as they roll down the

years. Vivekananda is today a voice

without form.


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The main concern of the world today is peace and harmony.

If peace and harmony are to rise and rein in the hearts and minds of all people

all over the world, they should have an opportunity to be exposed to the

revealing insights of spirituality, which Swami Vivekananda has bequeathed to

humanity.


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Swami Vivekananda is verily a bridge between the East and the West.He is a dynamic spiritual force to shape the future of humanity. His

teachings have set in motion a spiritual force, which can eventually

bring into the western civilization the needed qualitative change .


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The greatest of all benefactions, according to Swami

Vivekananda, is the act of rousing man to the glory of

the divinity within. The awakened man solves for

himself all his problems, secular and sacred."The solution to all human problems is in man's becoming Man (with capital

M) in all his dimensions, by manifesting his divinity. Problems are

understandably many. But the solution is one -- to become the new kind of

man, who being simultaneously scientific and spiritual eventually becomesfree. It is this new man, pure in heart, clear in brain, unselfish in motivation,

who works in a balanced manner with his head, heart and hand, who has

shed all his smallness and illusions, who has experienced unity of existence

in his expanded consciousness -- this selfless, spotless and fearless man of

character, enlightenment and love, is the hope of the world.


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What made Swami Vivekananda stand apart

from others is that in his life there was made

manifest a tremendous force for the moral and

spiritual welfare and upliftment of humanity

irrespective of caste, creed or nationality. This

power of his is what characterizes Swamijiswork even to this day. Though his voice is

without a form today, the vibrations of the same

have been caught up in many a heart and have

surcharged and transformed them.


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As we offer our homage to Swami Vivekananda in the centenary year of hismahasamadhi, let us meditate on his multi-faceted life and work and

inspiring message for the spiritual regeneration of humanity. And, above all,

let us translate his spiritual teachings into our day-to-day life and be

blessed thereby.

All glory to that great Hindu Monk of India!


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A GLOWING TRIBUTEby

Srimat Swami Ranganathanandaji13th President of the Ramakrishna Order


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Swami Vivekananda is the one person who stands as a golden link

between India and the western world, and who promises to be such

a link between India and the rest of the world as well.


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For the first time in our history of the past thousand years, our country

produced a great teacher in Swami Vivekananda who took India out of her

isolation of centuries and brought her into the mainstream of international

life. This is a great work, whose beneficent results are slowly and steadily

becoming evident as decades roll on.


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Swami Vivekananda had a fourfold training, which equipped him for the

world mission. Firstly, his education in modern western science, literature,

and history; secondly, his assimilation of the positive elements in theIndian culture and traditions; thirdly, his discipleship at the feet of Sri

Ramakrishna, the very personification of the Indian spiritual tradition; and

fourthly, his intimate grasp of the realities of contemporary India during his

life as a wandering monk for six years. And this fourfold training made

Vivekananda an embodiment of the East and the West.


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He passed away on 4th July 1902, at

the young age of 39 years, 5 months,

and 22 days. Out of the nine years of

his public ministry, from the Parliamentof Religions in 1893 up to his death in

1902, he gave over four most intense

years to the West. The intensity of his

nine years of work in the West and in

India, the output of spiritual,intellectual, literary, and organizational

work, besides the traveling involved

during the period, is unprecedented.

As a teacher of modern India and asher cultural and spiritual Emissary to

the West, Vivekananda has illumined

the horizon of national and

international life, which has no parallel

in the history


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Buddha had a message to the East, and I have a message to the West.The West will one day learn to feel proud of this Emissary of modern India

and learn from him the philosophy of comprehensive spirituality and total

life-fulfillment and the way to its own redemption from a soul-killing

materialism. When that response comes from the West, the tunnelconnecting East and West would be complete, and a new culture, neither

eastern nor western, but just human, would be evolved, making for the

spiritual growth of man everywhere and tending to develop a mankind-

awareness in all nations, and marking the fulfillment of the purposes of the

advent of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda in the modern age.

He was a man with a message and he delivered it

fearlessly and intensely. He had said of himself:


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Vict ory to tha t I ntr epid Hind u Mon k of

A HOMAGE


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vishwahitaishi mahaamanishi

janasevaataapasi

jayatu vivekananda swami

jayatu veera sannyaasi II

nipeeya sakalam tattwajnaanam

paanchabhautikam nava vijnaanam

jagaditihaasa puraana darshanamparameshwara darshane manaswi

yo nitaraam abhilaashi



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sakaladharama patha parama saadhakamvividha dharma mata marmabodhakam

bhogavaada naastikya rodhakam

jagadgurum tam pranamya sahasaa

jaato dradhataapasi


graame graame nagare nagare

nadi nadaanaam teere teereguha gahware vipine ghore

vilokya jana jivanam vipannam

yo vivhala maanasi



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vishwadharma sammelana pithevividha dharma guru garva garisthe

naanaa dharma dhwaja pratishte

navayuga maanavadharma ghoshanaa

jagarjayo saahasijayatu veera sannyasi II

mahaavera iva parama viraagi

krista-buddhavat karuno tyaagishankara iva digvijayi yogi

udaara charito vishwa kutumbi

janagana hrdaya nivaasi



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Surely, Vivekanandas words do not need introduction

from anybody; they make their own irresistible appeal.

- Mahatma Gandhi

The best introduction to Vivekananda is not to read

about him but to read him.

- Christopher Isherwood

If you want to know India, study Vivekananda. In him

everything is positive and nothing negative.

- Rabindranath Tagore

AN ESTIMATE (of the inestimable)


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Today man requires one moreadjustment on the spiritual plane; today

when material ideas are at the height of

their glory and power, today when man is

likely to forget his divine nature, throughhis growing dependence on matter, and is

likely to be reduced to a mere money-

making machine, an adjustment is

necessary.

A PROPHETIC VOICE


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As I look upon the history of my country, Ido not find in the world another country

which has done quite so much for the

improvement of the human mind and that

India was the homeland of the invisible

powers that ruled the destinies of men and

nations and its ancient scriptures would

make it the teacher of the world.


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Each soul is potentially divine. The goal (of life) is to manifest

this Divinity within by controlling nature, external (through physical science,

technology and socio-political processes), and internal (through the science ofreligion). Do this either by work or worship or psychic control or philosophy

by one or more or all of these and Be Free All power is within you; you are

the reservoir of omnipotent power Awake from this hypnotism of weakness.

None is really weak; the soul is infinite, omnipotent and omniscient. Stand up,

assert yourself, proclaim the God within you Teach yourself, teach everyonehis real nature, call upon the sleeping soul and see how it awakes. Power will

come, glory will come, goodness will come, purity will come and everything

that is excellent will come, when the sleeping soul is roused to self-conscious

activity.

DIVINE SPARKS


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The prayer: tamaso maa jyotirgamaya Lead me from darkness to Light

quoted in the inner orb, is indicative of mans spiritual quest his aspiration to

discover, realize and manifest the innate Divinity.

The meditative posture of man, the brilliant sun behind him, the lotus on which

he is seated and the waves beneath it are symbolic of mystic communion, pursuit of

knowledge, devotional absorption and selfless work, respectively.

The design thus depicts the gospel of Swami Vivekananda, according to which

man can discover, realize and manifest the Divinity enshrined in him, by cultivating anintegrated life, with due emphasis on pursuit of knowledge, devotional absorption,

mystic communion and selfless service.

Be and Make is an epigram of Swamiji exhorting man to unfold his intrinsic

divinity through the cultivation of an integrated life and also to help others march

towards that end

BE AND MAKE

The monosyllable superimposed on the bosom of man symbolizeshis intrinsic Divinity, which is his real nature.

Wami Vivekananda

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