Nov 21, 2024
Nov 21, 2024
'I am going to India to see what I can do in that awful mass of conservative
jelly-fish, and start a new thing, entirely new - smple, strong, new, and fresh as the first born baby. The eternal, the infinite, the omnipresent, the omniscient is a principle, not a person. You, I, and everyone are but embodiments of that principle: and the most of this infinite principle is embodied in a person, the greater is he, and all in the end will be the perfect embodiment of that, and thus all will be one, as they are now essentially. This is all there is of religion, and the practice is through this feeling of oneness that is love.'
After he returned to India, Vivekananda set out to do his 'work' in earnest. He had lofty goals of welfare of the poor, and education of women. He hoped to see an army of like-minded men and women 'fired with the zeal of holiness, fortified with eternal faith in the Lord, and nerved to lion's courage by their sympathy'..to travel the length and breadth of India teaching the gospel of salvation, gospel of help and gospel of social raising up 'the gospel of equality.'
He was impressed by the Americans' capacity to organize. If he brought anything from his experience that he wanted to implement in India immediately, it was to organize and push forward his life's goal of working for the poor and the downtrodden. He realized that without organization his goals would take more than his lifetime to achieve (he always said that his greatest 'temptation in America' was organization). For this purpose he formed the Ramakrishna Mission Association. He met with much resistance in the first instance, including from his own brother monks. He had consolidated his ideas during his stay in America and wanted to 'send hundreds of young men rolling like irresistible waves over India bringing comfort, morality, religion, education to the doors of the meanest and the most downtrodden.' He had always thought that this was what his master Ramakrishna had wanted him to do when he said, 'You have work to do.' 'Appreciation or no appreciation, this I will do or die,' he pledged.
To realize his goals he knew he needed money and funds. He had found Americans more generous than Indians in philanthropy and he tapped the altruistic nature of the Americans to fund his various missions he established both in America and in India. One of his first acts when he returned to India was to establish the Ramakrishna Mission Association. He established a Math (ashram) in a place called Belur on the western shores of River Ganga, which was consecrated on December 9, 1898. Belur Math was the final place for the order of the monks of Ramakrishna and was built solely by the generous financial help of the women of America. The Advaita Ashram at Mayavati was established on March 19, 1899, with the help of a British couple he had met in London. Captain and Mrs. Seviers sold their entire property in England and followed Vivekananda and helped him establish the Ashram at Mayavati. This serene Ashram is in the Himalayas at a height of more than 7000 ft. where, according to Vivekananda, it would be 'cool in summer and cold in winter, where the European workers can live.'
His return to India was not always filled with love and joy. He understood that and said the more people showed him love there always would be a number of people who did not like him or his message. Yet huge crowds gathered to meet him at Rameshwar, Ramnad, Madurai, Kumbakonam and Madras. He was aware of the criticism he was receiving from Mazoomdar and the orthodox Brahmanical hierarchy. His association with the Europeans and sharing a meal with them (Mlechchhas) was condemned as sinful. Even the Kali temple of his guru Sri. Ramakrishna closed its doors to his premier disciple because of his association with the Europeans.
Despite his warnings about the prejudices of Indian men, Margaret Noble decided to come to India and was ordained to the life of the Ramakrishna Order. She was given the name Sister Nivedita (one who is dedicated). This acceptance of a woman into the Order was again criticized heavily by his opponents. But Sister Nivedita spent her life in India dedicating her time towards the welfare and education of women of India, a daunting task at the end of nineteenth century India.
Vivekananda took head on the injustice in the religious practice of Hinduism and its discrimination based on caste. 'No religion on earth preaches the dignity of humanity in such a lofty strain as Hinduism, and no religion on earth treads upon the necks of the poor and low in such fashion as Hinduism,' wrote Vivekananda to his devotee Alasinga Perumal.
He agreed that faith could be a wonderful vehicle, which alone can save, but he understood that there was also a danger of fanaticism with faith. Jnana (knowledge) alone can lead to dry intellectualism. Bhakti (love), on the other hand is noble and great, but it can be mired in meaningless sentimentalism. Vivekananda wanted to find a synthesis between these two paths, a kind of harmony that can be enhanced by a like-minded group of people. He understood the limitation of an individual to achieve everything, but collectively, this harmony could be achieved. Whatever retards the onward progress or helps the downward fall is vice; whatever helps in coming up and becoming harmonized is the virtue.
No one was excluded and he would accept anyone to join his mission. From Chicago, he wrote to his followers in Madras, 'We reject none, neither theist, nor pantheist, monist, polytheist, agnostic, nor atheist; the only condition of being a disciple is modeling a character at once the broadest and most intense. Nor do we insist upon particular codes of morality to conduct, or character, or eating or drinking, except so far as it injures others. We leave everybody free to know, select, and follow whatever suits and helps him. Thus, for example, eating meat may help one, eating fruit another. Each is welcome to his own peculiarity; but he has no right to criticize the conduct of others, because that would, if followed by him, injure him, much less insist that others should follow his way.'
The Final Journey - 'Samadhi'
Behold, the dark clouds melt away,
That gathered thick at night, and hung
So like a gloomy pall above the earth!
Before thy magic touch, the world
Awakes. The birds in chorus sing.
The flowers raise their star-like crowns-
Dew-set, and wave thee welcome fair.
The lakes are opening wide in love
Their hundred thousand lotus-eyes
To welcome thee, with all their depth.
All hail to thee, thou Lord of Light!
A welcome new to thee, today,
O sun! today thou sheddest LIBERTY!
Bethink thee how the world did wait,
And search for thee, through time and clime.
Some gave up home and love of friends,
And went in quest of thee, self banished,
Through dreary oceans, through primeval forests,
Each step a struggle for their life or death;
Then came the day when work bore fruit,
And worship, love, and sacrifice,
Fulfilled, accepted, and complete.
Then thou, propitious, rose to shed
The light of FREEDOM on mankind.
Move on, O Lord, on thy resistless path!
Till thy high noon o'erspreads the world.
Till every land reflects thy light,
Till men and women, with uplifted head,
Behold their shackles broken, and
Know, in springing joy, their life renewed!
O'ver hill and dale and mountain range,
In temple, church, and mosque,
In Vedas, Bible, Al Koran
I had searched for Thee in vain.
Like a child in the wildest forest lost
I have cried and cried alone,
"Where art Thou gone, my God, my love?
The echo answered, "gone."
And days and nights and years then passed
A fire was in the brain,
I knew not when day changed in night
The heart seemed rent in twain.
I laid me down on Ganges's shore,
Exposed to sun and rain;
With burning tears I laid the dust
And wailed with waters' roar…..
….Years then passed in bitter cry,
Each moment seemed an age,
Till one day midst my cries and groans
Some one seemed calling me.
A gentle soft and soothing voice
That said 'my son' 'my son',
That seemed to thrill in unison
With all the chords of my soul…..
….And I was searching thee -
From all eternity you were there
Enthroned in majesty!
From that day forth, wherever I roam,
I feel Him standing by
O'er hill and dale, high mount and vale,
Far far away and high.
The moon's soft light, the stars so bright,
The glorious orb of day,
He shines in them; His beauty - might -
Reflected lights are they.
The majestic morn, the melting eve,
The boundless billowing sea,
In nature's beauty, songs of birds,
I see through them - it is He……
…..When holy friendship shakes the hand,
He stands between them too;
He pours the nectar in mother's kiss
And the baby's sweet "mama".
Thou wert my God with prophets old,
All creeds do come from Thee,
The Vedas, Bible, and Koran bold
Sing Thee in Harmony.
"Thou art," Thou art" the Soul of souls
In the rushing stream of life.
"Om tat sat Om." Thou art my God,
My love, I am thine, I am thine.
1863
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January 12
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Birth in Kolkata
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1879
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Enters Presidency College
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1880
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Transfers to General Assembly Institution
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1881
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November
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First meeting with Sri Ramakrishna
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1882-
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1886
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Association with Sri Ramakrishna
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1884
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Passes B. A. Examination
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Father passes away
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1885
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Sri Ramakrishna’s last illness
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1886
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August 16
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Sri Ramakrishna passes away
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Fall
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Establishes Baranagar Math
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December 24
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Informal vow of sannyasa at Antpur
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1887
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January
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Formal vows of sannyasa at Baranagar Monastery
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1890-
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1893
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Travels all over India as itinerant monk
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1892
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December 24
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At Kanyakumari, South India
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1893
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February 13
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First public lecture, Secunderabad, South India
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May 31
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Sails for America from Mumbai
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July 25
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Lands at Vancouver, Canada
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July 30
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Arrives in Chicago
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August
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Meets Professor John Ft. Wright of Harvard University
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September 11
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First address at Parliament of Religions, Chicago
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September 27
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Final address at Parliament of Religions
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November 20
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Begins mid-western lecture tour
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1894
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April 14
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Begins lectures and classes on East Coast
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May 16
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Speaks at Harvard University
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22-Feb-2009
More by : Dr. Neria H. Hebbar
Belur Math foundation by Swami Vivekananda 9th December 1898 |
Swami Vivekananda was very much human who had his faults, but he had the courage & the wisdom to accept it & move forward. He continues to inspire us with his ideals. India will never see another Vivekananda. The greatest tribute we can pay to this great saint is to carry forward the work of serving the downtrodden & always putting the society before self. Long live Swamiji. |
thanks a lot for this essay |
Thank you very much to Dr. Neria H. Hebbar for this excellent article. I also bought the excellent biographical book by Chaturvedi Badrinath, "Swami Vivekananda: The Living Vedanta" from a bookshop at New Delhi Airport. It shows what kind of problems SwamiJi faced in his life and how his strengths grew due to the struggle. We Indians are used to see him as a super-genius superhero, but the book shows how a college boy struggled through financial situations, facing hunger, extreme poverty and all odds in his life. |
I refer you to an excellent biographical book by Chaturvedi Badrinath, "Swami Vivekananda: The Living Vedanta". This well-written book was a major inspiration for my article. |
Please do write detailed books on this,It will benefit future generations. |
Awesome!! |