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Traditional Wisdom

SPIRITUAL ASPIRANT

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Success depends entirely on a qualified aspirant. Time, place and other factors are but sec-ondary help. (Vivekacéõámaîi, 14)

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He who discriminates between the the Real and the unreal, whose mind is turned away fromthe unreal, who possesses the sixfold virtue like calmness, and who has longing for libera-tion—such a man alone is considered qualified to inquire after Brahman. (Vivekacéõámaîi,17)

The flint may remain for myriads of years under water and still not lose its inner fire. Strikeit with steel whenever you like, and out flashes the growing spark. So is the true devoteefirm in his faith. Though he may remain surrounded by all the impurities of the world, henever loses faith in, and love of God. He warms up with devout enthusiasm as soon as hehears the ‘name’ of the Lord. (Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna, 92-3)

No great work can be achieved by humbug. It is through Love, a passion for Truth, and tre-mendous energy, that all undertakings are accomplished. … Therefore, manifest your man-hood. (Teachings of Swami Vivekananda, 195)

Sincerely struggle towards the ideal of life, so long as you have strength of body and mind.By no means relax your efforts, saying you will realize the ideal later or that it will be possi-ble only through the Lord’s grace. (Spiritual Teachings of Swami Brahmananda, 211)

9 PB-JANUARY 2003

PRABUDDHA

BHARATAArise! Awake! And stop not till the goal is reached!

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Vol. 108 JANUARY 2003 No. 1

To Our Readers

With this issue Prabuddha Bharata (Awa-kened India) steps into the 108th year of itspublication. On this joyous occasion ourgreetings and best wishes to all our readers,contributors, reviewers, advertisers, friendsand well-wishers.

Swami Vivekananda’s ideal was ‘topreach unto mankind their divinity, andhow to make it manifest in every movement

of life’.Founded by the great Swamiji in 1896,

Prabuddha Bharata has before it Swamiji’sideal, and has been doing what it can in per-petuating the eternal truths of Vedanta withemphasis on their application in everydaylife. We invite you to participate in thisendeavour by popularizing the journalamong your near and dear ones.

� This Month �

How the Bhagavadgita-based threefoldclassification of work can help us convertwork into a tool for spiritual progress is dis-cussed in this month’s editorial MakingWork Work.

Prabuddha Bharata—100 Years Ago fea-tures this month excerpts from an article en-titled ‘Maya’.

Swami Kalyananandaji’s passing, theSevashrama after him, Swami Atulanandaji’svisit—Swami Sarvagatanandaji details allthis and some more interesting incidents inthe fifth part of his reminiscences ‘You WillBe a Paramahamsa!’ The author is a seniormonk of the Ramakrishna Order fromRamakrishna Vedanta Society, Boston.

In his thought-provoking article SwamiVivekananda’s Gospel of Work as Wor-ship, Sri C S Ramakrishnan explains howSelf-realization and service to God in man—the main planks of Ramakrishna monasti-cism—are the mantra for the modern age.Closely associated with the Chennai Rama-krishna Math for decades, the author is a for-mer editor of Vedanta Kesari, an Englishmonthly of the Ramakrishna Order.

Half a Decade in the Enchanting Envi-rons of Along by Swami Kirtidanandaji is agripping account of the inception andgrowth of the Ramakrishna Mission’s educa-tional institution in Along, Arunachal Pra-desh. Secretary of the institution from 1969to 1974, the author describes in the article thedevelopments in Arunachal Pradesh beforethe Ramakrishna Mission stepped in there,the tribals’ attitude towards the monks, howthe Mission’s English medium school cameto be established, and the government’s en-couragement to the work. A former editor ofPrabuddha Bharata, the author is presently re-tired and lives in Vivekananda Ashrama,Ulsoor, Bangalore.

In Personal Development versus SocialWell-being Swami Brahmeshanandaji eluci-dates how in the light of Hindu scripturesand the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda messageboth Self-realization and service to societyare complementary and comprehensiveideals. A former editor of Vedanta Kesari, theauthor is head of Ramakrishna MissionAshrama, Chandigarh.

Swami Vivekananda was a universal per-sonality who could recognize and appreciate

PB-JANUARY 2003 10

greatness wherever he found it. Weaknessand timidness did not escape his censure ei-ther. In his brilliant article Swami Viveka-nanda Loved America Sri Asim Chaudhuriunravels the American traits that charmedSwamiji, including the noble qualities ofAmerican women that impressed Swamiji noend. The author is well known for his workSwami Vivekananda in Chicago: New Findings,published by Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata.Readers are also familiar with his article‘Swami Vivekananda—A Manager Extra-ordinaire’ in the April 2002 issue of this jour-nal. Sri Chaudhuri recently retired as a SixSigma Black Belt professional with Caterpil-lar Inc, a multinational company based inPeoria, Illinois, USA.

In his thought-provoking article Reflec-tions on Truth Swami Nityasthanandajistresses the importance of a philosophical at-titude in life, and the need to pierce throughopinions covering truth and perceive theSpirit, the only truth behind our everydaylife. A monk of the Ramakrishna Order, theauthor is editor of its Kannada organ VivekaPrabha, published from Sri RamakrishnaAshrama, Mysore.

In his learned article Swamiji's Neo-Vedantism Prof Amalendu Chakrabortybrings out the distinctive features of SwamiVivekananda’s Neo-Vedanta vis-à-vis SriShankara’s Advaita Vedanta. The author isa former head of the department of philoso-phy, Presidency College, Kolkata, and has along and close association with several cen-tres of the Ramakrishna Mission.

Pilgrims on the Fourfold Path by SwamiSunirmalanandaji is a unique portrayal ofthe message of harmony and synthesis livedand taught by Sri Ramakrishna and SwamiVivekananda. A former editor of PrabuddhaBharata, the author is now an Acharya at the

Probationers’ Training Centre at the Rama-krishna Order’s headquarters in Belur Math.

In A Brief Overview of Indian Cultureand Spirituality Swami Sandarshananandajirightly observes that to tap India’s spiritualwealth one needs to scratch beneath the sur-face; one will then discover the keynotes ofSanatana Dharma, Religion Eternal: toleranceand harmony of religions. A monk of theRamakrishna Order, the author is fromRamakrishna Mission Vidyapith, Deogarh.

The Páñcarátra Ágamas: A Brief Studyby Swami Harshanandaji is a discussion onthe origin and philosophy of these importantVaishnava scriptures with a brief explana-tion of the presently available literature onthese Agamas. A senior monk of the Rama-krishna Order and accomplished writer andspeaker, the author is President of Rama-krishna Math, Bangalore.

The year 2000 marked the centenary ofdedicated service to God, Narayana, in theform of the sick and the suffering by theRamakrishna Mission Home of Service,Varanasi. The institution had a humble be-ginning in 1900, thanks to some feelinghearts inspired by Swami Vivekananda. Inhis article A Hundred-year Saga of Serviceto God Swami Shuddhavratanandaji, headof the institution, traces its history from in-ception to the present.

Jábála Upaniøad is the fifth instalment ofthe translation of this important SannyasaUpanishad by Swami Atmapriyanandaji,Principal, Ramakrishna Mission Vidyaman-dira, Belur. The elaborate notes are based onUpanishad Brahmayogin’s commentary.

Glimpses of Holy Lives, Reviews andReports will appear from the next issue.

11 PB-JANUARY 2003

This Month 3

Making Work Work

EDITORIAL

Sattva, rajas and tamas are the three build-ing blocks of nature. There is nothing inthe world free from the three guîas, says

the Bhagavadgita.1 Sattva, rajas and tamas mani-fest in the world as calmness, activity and in-ertness, respectively. And world includesboth external—perceivable by the senses—and internal—the mind and its functions.Karma yoga, says Swami Vivekananda, ‘hasspecially to deal with these three factors. Byteaching what they are and how to employthem, it helps us to do our work better.’2

As Is the Mind So Is the Work

What is more significant and more wor-thy of consideration, however, is the innerworld, the world that determines what wemake of life in the external world—heaven orhell. It is our mind and its contents that deter-mine our actions in the external world, includ-ing our interaction with others.

A study of different kinds of work, work-ers and the mind, which influences both, canbe a helpful tool to assess our present condi-tion and adjust our orientation towards per-fection. In the Bhagavadgita Sri Krishna detailsa catalogue of such threefold things. Verses 23to 35 of the eighteenth chapter explain thethreefold guîa-based classification of work,workers, intellect (buddhi) and fortitude (dhì-ti).

Before proceeding further, it will be use-ful to remember that buddhi is the discrimi-native and decision-making faculty of themind. It is also the seat of will power, the abil-ity to control our thoughts and actions in orderto achieve what we want to do. If buddhi can besaid to be the static aspect of the will,dhìti—usually translated as fortitude—is itsdynamic aspect and the driving force behind

our actions, mental and physical.

The Importance of Buddhi and Dhìti

Both buddhi and dhìti come into pictureand become operative only when we start dis-ciplining the mind and try to channel its ener-gies in constructive directions. Till then, ouractions are governed by the mind and thesenses, which, undisciplined as they are,sweep us off our feet and engage us in unde-sirable actions in spite of ourselves. Arjunaasked Sri Krishna what compels man to com-mit sin in spite of himself, driven, as it were, byforce. The Lord said, ‘These are desire and an-ger, born of rajas. Know these two to be the en-emies, all-devouring, and the cause of all sin.’3

In such cases neither buddhi nor dhìti steers hisactions; the two enemies take care of that. Astudy of different kinds of buddhi and dhìti atthe back of our actions can thus be profitablefor those intent on making work work onthemselves, effecting positive transformation.

Three Guîas: Some Salient Points

We attempted a detailed study of sattva,rajas and tamas in the March 2002 editorial‘The Three-stranded Rope’. A couple of im-portant points can be recalled here for our dis-cussion: 1. None of us has in us any one guîa tothe exclusion of the other two. All of them in-here together, but one predominates the othertwo, deciding our nature. 2. Sattva helps us goforward towards our spiritual destiny, rajasmakes us stay put and tamas pulls us down. 3.Though sattva and tamas virtually look alike,the way to sattva is not a straight jump fromtamas, but through rajas. Now, with this back-ground, we shall examine the threefold Gitaclassification of work, workers and the mindbehind both.

PB-JANUARY 2003 12

Inferior Type (Támasic)The inferior type of work is undertaken

through delusion and confused thinking,without heed to the following factors.1. The consequence of the work, in terms of thewelfare and wealth that accrue to the individ-ual and society.2. The loss of wealth and power in the execu-tion of the work.3. Injury to others during and after the work.Every work done, every decision taken, isbound to have both positive and negative ef-fects, benefiting some and displeasing others.According to the Gita, all activities have someblemish in them, even as fire is enveloped bysmoke. That should not, however, make us re-linquish the duty to which we are born,though attended with evil. (18.48) One can, ofcourse, ensure that the merits of work out-weigh its demerits.4. Ability—one’s own as well as of others asso-ciated with the work. This is the all-importanthuman resources factor, lack of attention towhich is a sure recipe for disaster. An inferiorworker embarks on a projectwithout proper analysis of hu-man resources for the job. Hedoes not do the important SWOT(Strength, Weakness, Opportu-nities, Threats) analysis beforetaking up a project.

What causes these defi-ciencies? Evidently, the work-er’s mind. Such a worker’s in-tellect perceives dharma (righ-teousness) as adharma (unrighteousness) andvice versa. He views everything in a pervertedlight. He is endowed with a dhìti (fortitude)that binds him to sleep, fear, grief, despon-dency and overweening conceit. ‘There is nosubstitute for hard work’, ‘No rules for suc-cess will work if you don’t’—such sloganscannot be more relevant in his case.

A támasic worker is unsteady, vulgar, ar-rogant, dishonest, malicious, indolent, de-sponding and procrastinating—adequate

qualifications for slipshodness and failure inany activity. He does not postpone anythingto tomorrow if it can be done on the day after.He has every chance of mistaking the appar-ent calmness of inaction and sloth for thatborn of sattva. Sattva and tamas being extremi-ties, this error proves costly for him, steepinghim more and more in tamas, ignorance.

Mediocre Type (Rájasic)

The mediocre work is prompted by de-sire and performed with self-conceit andmuch effort. A rájasic worker acts passion-ately, desirous of the fruits of actions and iseasily subject to elation or depression by suc-cess or failure in work. He has scant regard forpurity, physical and mental, and could havemalignant motives behind his work.

His attachment to the results of action canhave two implications: 1. The end becomesmore important to him, the means often get-ting relegated to the background; 2. work-in-duced tension and stress, with predictable ad-verse effect on health.

His actions and the results need newspa-per blazoning since he acts out of self-conceit.More important, he is not conscious of the di-vine element that impels him to action. TheGita lists five factors responsible for any work:the body, the doer (kartìtva, the sense of agent-ship in work), the different senses, the differ-ent functions of manifold kind, and the presid-ing deity (the divinity behind the sense or-gans, or God, the inner Controller, antaryámin.(18.14) The mediocre worker is hardly awareof the most important fifth factor, God, since

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Making Work Work 5

A tamasic worker has every chance ofmistaking the apparent calmness ofinaction and sloth for that born of sattva.Sattva and tamas being extremities, thiserror proves costly for him, steeping himmore and more in tamas, ignorance.

he is convinced that he is the doer.There are again other factors deciding the

outcome of an activity, such as others in-volved in it, coordinating agencies, sanction-ing authorities, and so on. Besides doing one’spart by proper study and presentation of thecase, one can do little in influencing the out-come of work. Excessive brooding over resultsmakes the rájasic worker oblivious of such im-portant factors. Or, since the end is more im-portant to him than the means, he takes to un-fair means to influence the outcome in his fa-vour.

Since rájasic work is desire-prompted,such a worker is subject to desire’s inevitableand inseparable companion: anger.

What is the mental make-up of a rájasicworker? His intellect has a distorted appre-hension of what is dharma and what is adhar-ma—this explains his end justifying themeans—and which activities are to be under-taken and which to be avoided. His fortitudemakes him regulate his life according to (hisown understanding of) dharma (righteous-ness), artha (wealth) and kama (desire)—three of the four basic human values. He doesnot trouble himself about the all-importantfourth value, moksha (freedom or liberationfrom samsara (transmigratory existence), thegoal of human life.

Superior Type (Sáttvic)

Sáttvic work is that ordained by one’s na-ture and vocation. It is done without attach-ment or feelings of love or hatred, and without

desire for its results or rewards. A sáttvicworker is not attached to his work, and, in theabsence of self-conceit, does it without blow-ing his own trumpet. He is unmoved by suc-cess or failure and yet is endowed with forti-tude and enthusiasm for work.

Such a worker is endowed with a sharpdiscriminating intellect, buddhi. He knows thedistinction between involvement in and de-tachment from work; activities to be under-taken and activities to be avoided; what is tofeared and what is not to be feared; what isbondage and what is freedom. He is one-pointed in his yoga (attuning himself to hisreal, divine nature) and is endowed with a for-titude (dhìti) that helps him hold in check the

activities of his mind and thesenses.

Calmness in theMidst of Activity

Sattva is not inertness orinaction, but calmness in themidst of intense activity. An in-cident from Swami Vivekanan-da’s life illustrates this impor-tant fact. Swamiji was shownby a friend of his a picture of Sri

Krishna addressing Arjuna in the battlefield.When the friend pressed for his criticism,Swamiji said that he was not happy with theexpression on Sri Krishna’s face or with thechariot, whose shape was not in keeping withSri Krishna’s time. When someone questionedhim on how Sri Krishna should have been de-picted in the picture, Swamiji said:

Shri Krishna ought to be painted as He reallywas, the Gita personified; and the central idea ofthe Gita should radiate from His whole form ashe was teaching the path of Dharma to Arjuna,who had been overcome by infatuation andcowardice.

So saying, Swamiji posed himself in the wayShri Krishna should be portrayed and said,‘Look here, thus does he hold the bridle of thehorses —so tight that they are brought to theirhaunches, with their forelegs fighting the air,

PB-JANUARY 2003 14

6 Prabuddha Bharata

It is the body and the mind that are active;not the Atman, our real nature, which isfree from action. So the root of all work-related misery is our mistaking the body

and the mind for our real Self. … A workerwho discriminates thus, works for work’s

sake.

and their mouths gaping. This will show a tre-mendous play of action in the figure of ShriKrishna. His friend, the world-renowned hero,casting aside his bow and arrows, has sunkdown like a coward on the chariot, in the midstof the two armies. And Shri Krishna, whip inone hand and tightening the reins with theother, has turned Himself towards Arjuna, withhis childlike face beaming with unworldly loveand sympathy, and a calm and serene look—and is delivering the message of the Gita to hisbeloved comrade. Now, tell me what idea thispicture of the Preacher of the Gita conveys toyou.’

The friend: ‘Activity combined with firm-ness and serenity.’

Swamiji: ‘Ay, that’s it! Intense action in thewhole body, and withal a faceexpressing the profound calm-ness and serenity of the bluesky. This is the central idea ofthe Gita—to be calm and stead-fast in all circumstances, withone’s body, mind, and soul cen-tred at His hallowed Feet!4

Tamas to Sattvathrough Rajas

Thus the journey from thecalmness born of inertia to thecalmness amid work is through intense activ-ity. That is, the road from tamas to sattva passesthrough rajas; there is no bypass. It is throughintense rajas, activity that man can rise fromhis tamas, inert nature and become free fromattachment to sleep, sloth and procrastination.Swami Vivekananda narrates an incident thatmakes the point clear:

I once met a man in my country whom I hadknown before as a very stupid, dull person,who knew nothing and had not the desire toknow anything, and was living the life of abrute. He asked me what he should do to knowGod, how he was to get free. ‘Can you tell a lie?’I asked him. ‘No,’ he replied. ‘Then you mustlearn to do so. It is better to tell a lie than to be abrute, or a log of wood. You are inactive; youhave not certainly reached the highest state,which is beyond all actions, calm and serene;

you are too dull even to do something wicked.’That was an extreme case, of course, and I wasjoking with him; but what I meant was that aman must be active in order to pass through ac-tivity to perfect calmness.5

Transformation: Rájasic to Sáttvic

Granted that a person is able to get rid oftamas (inertia and sloth) to a great extent, theproblem boils down to transforming rajas tosattva, restlessness to calmness amid work. Aswe already saw, rajas does not inhere in us tothe exclusion of sattva or tamas. Only it pre-dominates the other two in a rájasic person. Adeeper look at the factors that distinguishsáttvic work from rájasic can help us increase

sattva amid rájasic work.Freedom from self-conceit and attachment to

the fruits of action: Since God is the PrimeMover of all activities,6 it is unwise to appro-priate to oneself one’s activities and results.The devotional way out is to mentally offerour actions and their results to God. An atti-tude of worship towards work can be a greathelp in getting rid of our attachment to itsresults. Over to Swami Vivekananda:

Do you ask anything from your children in re-turn for what you have given them? It is yourduty to work for them, and there the matterends. In whatever you do for a particular per-son, a city, or a state, assume the same attitudetowards it as you have towards your children—expect nothing in return. If you can invari-ably take the position of a giver, in which every-thing given by you is a free offering to theworld, without any thought of return, then will

15 PB-JANUARY 2003

Making Work Work 7

Swamiji sets things in perspective: ‘Do notstand on a high pedestal and take five centsin your hand and say, “Here, my poor man,”but be grateful that the poor man is there,so that by making a gift to him you are ableto help yourself. It is not the receiver thatis blessed, but it is the giver. …’

your work bring you no attachment. Attach-ment comes only where we expect a return.

If working like slaves results in selfishnessand attachment, working as master of our ownmind gives rise to the bliss of non-attachment.… All thought of obtaining return for the workwe do hinders our spiritual progress; nay, in theend it brings misery. There is another way inwhich this idea of mercy and selfless charity canbe put into practice; that is, by looking uponwork as ‘worship’ in case we believe in a Per-sonal God. Here we give up all the fruits of ourwork unto the Lord, and worshipping Himthus, we have no right to expect anything from

mankind for the work we do. The Lord Himselfworks incessantly and is ever without attach-ment. Just as water cannot wet the lotus leaf, sowork cannot bind the unselfish man by givingrise to attachment to results. The selfless andunattached man may live in the very heart of acrowded and sinful city; he will not be touchedby sin.7

From the monistic standpoint, it is thebody and the mind that are active; not the At-man, our real nature, which is free from action.So the root of all work-related misery is ourmistaking the body and the mind for our realSelf, identifying our ‘I’ with the body- mindcomplex. A worker who discriminates thus,works for work’s sake.

Be grateful to the recipient of service: ‘I didso much for him; he didn’t even thank me.’—this is a common grouse against those we

are privileged to help. Swamiji sets things inperspective: ‘Do not stand on a high pedestaland take five cents in your hand and say,“Here, my poor man,” but be grateful that thepoor man is there, so that by making a gift tohim you are able to help yourself. It is not thereceiver that is blessed, but it is the giver. Bethankful that you are allowed to exercise yourpower of benevolence and mercy in the world,and thus become pure and perfect.’8

Freedom from expectation: An incident re-lated to Holy Mother Sarada Devi and a littlegirl illustrates how this single trait can help us

develop same-sightedness to-wards all.

There was a child in Calcutta whogave a great deal of trouble to herfamily and always demanded at-tention. She used to visit HolyMother with her own mother.Whenever she entered theMother’s room she clung to her.The Mother always gave her plentyof sweets to eat. Once Holy Motherwas about to leave for Jayrambatiand said to the little girl: ‘Darling,you have been visiting me a longtime. Do you love me?’

‘Yes, I love you very much.’‘How much?’The girl stretched her arms as wide as she

could and said: ‘That much.’ The Mother asked:‘Will you still love me when I am away at Jay-arambati?’

‘Yes, I will love you just the same. I shall notforget you.’

‘How shall I know it?’‘What should I do to make you know?’‘I shall be sure of your love for me if you can

love everyone at home.’‘All right, I will love all of them. I will not be

naughty any more.’‘That’s very good. But how shall I know that

you will love all equally, and not some moreand some less?’

‘What should I do to love all equally?’‘Let me tell you how to love all equally. Do not

demand anything of those you love. If you makedemands, some will give you more and someless. In that case you will love more those who

PB-JANUARY 2003 16

8 Prabuddha Bharata

Man’s natural tendency is to throw a partyif something good happens, and sit and

brood in a corner in a contrary situation. Alittle even-mindedness can make us saner

in our interaction with people, besidestoning up the quality of work. This even-mindedness, which Sri Krishna defines as

yoga, is an inevitable result of offering thefruits of actions to God.

give you more and less those who give you less.Thus your love will not be the same for all. Youwill not be able to love all impartially.’9 [em-phasis added]

Attention to the means: While for a rájasicworker the end usually justifies the means, thesáttvic worker is careful about the means. Heknows that if he took care of the means, theend would take care of itself. When the endjustifies the means, the questionable meansleaves an impression on our mind, whichforges one more link in the chain that binds usto the world, besides loosening our moral fi-bre. Swamiji’s words need to be etched inmemory by anyone who wants to make workwork: ‘For the world can be good and pure,only if our lives are good and pure. It is an ef-fect, we are the means. Therefore, let us purify our-selves. Let us make ourselves perfect.’10 [empha-sis added] In other words, work itself is ameans to purification of mind and acquiringknowledge. It is not an end in itself.

Desirelessness: Every desire-promptedwork is born in ignorance—ignorance of ourreal nature. Avidyá-káma-karma (ignorance-de-sire-action) is a chain Sri Shankara often refersto in his commentaries. Vedanta does recog-nize the need for gradual sublimation of de-sires and sanctions desires that are not contra-dictory to dharma.11 Dharma underlines theimportance of taking care of the means, notmaking it subservient to the end.

Even-mindedness in success and failure:Man’s natural tendency is to throw a party ifsomething good happens, and sit and brood ina corner in a contrary situation. A little even-mindedness can make us saner in our interac-tion with people, besides toning up the qualityof work. This even-mindedness, which SriKrishna defines as yoga,12 is an inevitable re-sult of offering the fruits of actions to God. Re-peated offering of actions to God makes onegrow more and more discriminative about ‘in-

volvement in and detachment from action; ac-tivities to be undertaken and those to beavoided; what is to feared and what is not tobe feared’—important traits of a sáttvic work-er. Being conscious that his actions should beworthy of being offered to God, he is morequality-conscious about his work besides un-dergoing a qualitative change himself.

��

To summarize. Work should help ustranscend our inert nature and become active;and transcend that too and become calm amidactivity. The journey involves mind disciplineand an alert mind that monitors one’sthoughts and actions. The goal of work is tomake us know that we are spiritual entitiesfree from work, and endow us with a healthymind unperturbed by success and failure,praise and blame, profit and loss—in fact,from all pairs of opposites that characterizelife in the world—and make us free. �

References

1. Bhagavadgita, 18.40.2. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9

vols. (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1-8, 1989; 9,1997), 1.36.

3. Gita, 3.36-7.4. CW, 7.272-3.5. ibid., 1.39-40.6. Gita, 15.4.7. CW, 1.59-60.8. ibid., 1.76.9. Swami Nikhilananda, Holy Mother (New

York: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center,1962), 128-9.

10. CW, 2.9.11. Dharmáviruddho bhéteøu kamo’smi bharatarøa-

bha. —Gita, 7.11.12. Samatvaó yoga ucyate. —ibid., 2.48.

17 PB-JANUARY 2003

Making Work Work 9

PB-JANUARY 2003 18

� Prabuddha Bharata—100 Years Ago �

January 1903

Maya

An eternal endeavour to attain the end and eternal readiness to frustrate it, when attained! This

is Maya. One man has enough to eat and drink; another dies of hunger and cold. Men are with

strong impulses and ideas for enjoyment; there is nothing outside to fill them.

Happiness is direct misery to one or indirect misery to another. Not a breath can be drawn with-

out destroying hundreds of lives. Every morsel the rich man eats can have saved the life of the poor

dying of starvation. The victorious rejoice; the vanquished weep.

Culture is so beautiful! The uncultured man in the forest has his pleasures and pains only in the

senses. His senses are gross; so are his pleasures and pains. The sense of the cultured man is

sharpened. But the very sharpening of the sense which develops in him higher powers of enjoyment,

is fatally attended with a proportional development of his higher powers of suffering too. Culture multi-

plies the sources of pleasure; it multiplies equally, if not more, the sources of misery too. …

Death is the goal of life, of beauty, of wealth, of love, of power, of vice, of virtue too; everything

dies; yet tremendous clinging on to life exists.

Eternal change and unrest is the rule of the universe. The dearest friend of to-day is the deadli-

est enemy of to-morrow. Not one particle of the universe is at rest. Yet this mass of never-ceasing

change is producing appearances of permanence, which everybody thinks will be his and for which

everybody struggles till death. …

At every step Nature proves man is a slave to Her laws; yet, simultaneously, there is the idea

that he is free; an idea without which who can live or enjoy life even for a moment?

The universe is a glaring mixture of contradictions, and the Energy which sustains it and runs

through its manifold changes and manifestations is termed Maha-Maya. …

All beings live, move and have their existence in Her. To work any way is to work in and with

Her. And is it not madness to associate and work with Her? A great work is built up by the sacrifice of

a whole life: at one touch of Her finger the whole thing crumbles down. Where are the great works of

Sri Krishna, Buddha, Sankara or Christ? They worked their whole lifetimes to do good to the world.

The world is as bad as ever. True, by the advent of the great men, a wave of purity and goodness

travels over the earth for some time, but that period, compared with eternity, is nothing.

These are terrible facts for which there is no explanation. To understand them, one has to un-

derstand Maha-Maya. Is it possible to understand Her? To be understood, She has to be made the

object of knowledge. But as long as the knower—the subject of knowledge—is within Maha-Maya, all

his knowledge and objects of knowledge are within Her. Hence She can never be made the object of

knowledge by anyone who is within Her domain. Brahman-State, Vedanta says, is beyond

Maha-Maya and, for those who go beyond Maha-Maya and reach the Brahman-State, She is no

more. Maha-Maya is like darkness and Brahman-State is like light. No sooner light is brought in than

darkness vanishes; even so, no sooner Brahman-State is attained than Maha-Maya vanishes. Any

attempt to know Her by reaching the Brahman-State would be as futile as trying to see darkness by

means of light. Hence the why of Her eternal play remains for ever unanswered by those who are

within Her, because of their inability to bring Her within the limit of their cognizance, while those who

19 PB-JANUARY 2003

Prabuddha Bharata—100 Years Ago 11

�

—Hope

‘You Will Be a Paramahamsa!’

SWAMI SARVAGATANANDA

Part 5: Kalyan Maharaj’s Passing and Other Events

Before he left for his final trip to Mus-soorie in the summer of 1937, KalyanMaharaj gave the safe key to me in the

presence of all the other swamis at the Sevash-rama. He said, ‘In my absence you managethings.’ He could have asked the other seniorswamis to take care. I did not like his handingover charge to me. I returned him the key andsaid, ‘I cannot manage this. I don’t know any-thing. I have never opened your safe.’ ‘No,you take it,’ he persisted. It was almost like anorder. I gave it to Swami Durganandaji, but herefused and returned it to me. Then Maharajtold them, ‘All of you help him.’ Turning to mehe said, ‘Having the key doesn’t make youboss. You are the servant of all. You have to dothe work in consultation with them. Keep thekey with you, manage everything includingthe finances.’ I touched the feet of the seniorswamis and they said, ‘We shall all help you;don’t worry. Your taking charge is perfectlyall right.’ That is why even when a new secre-tary and assistant secretary came to theSevashrama later, Swami Madhavanandajiwrote a letter saying, ‘Narayan will manage asinstructed by Kalyan Swami.’

Kalyan Maharaj’s Passing

Swami Vireswaranandaji, Swami Sriva-sanandaji and his pre-monastic grandson Na-rayan Maharaj (later Swami Vandanananda)came to Kankhal by the end of 1936. SwamiVireswaranandaji had spent one year in Kan-khal after he stepped down as president ofAdvaita Ashrama. He also went to Rishikeshfor tapasya and spent his time in a silent, con-templative mood. Sometimes we carried sup-plies to him. There was a wonderful feeling of

love between Swami Kalyananandaji andSwami Vireswaranandaji. Swami Kalyana-nandaji loved him very much. When KalyanMaharaj passed away in October 1937, Vires-waranandaji came to Kankhal to be with us.He was supervising the whole affair, a verytimely help that was badly needed.

What had happened was this: KalyanMaharaj had gone to Mussoorie because of illhealth. On 20 October he wrote to me askingme to bring him a hot-water bottle and somemedicines. On 23 October I went with thesethings in a car to Dehra Dun and then towardsMussoorie. The roads were so narrow thatthere could be just one-way traffic, either up-ward or downward. But there were junctions.At a junction I heard someone calling out tome, as though in expectation. It was SwamiSrivasanandaji with Narayan Maharaj from abig bus. I went to the bus and asked them,‘Where is Maharaj?’ They pointed to the floorwhere his body was lying. The moment I sawhis body I was shocked and almost fell downunconscious. I managed to sit at his feet, andsomehow we reached Kankhal. By the time wearrived I was running high fever. They ar-ranged for my rest.

The final rites were performed, in whichmany monks from outside participated. Be-fore the cremation they asked me to join for agroup photograph with Maharaj’s body. I saidI did not want to be in any photograph. Thenthey practically dragged me there and said,‘You must sit beside Maharaj.’ I was not inter-ested in the photograph. What good is thephotograph when the man himself has gone?But the photo was taken. However, I tore upthe copy that was given me. I did not like to see

PB-JANUARY 2003 20

‘You Will Be a Paramahamsa!’

it. I do not know what happened to the othercopies. Afterwards they carried the body forcremation, but I was flat on my bed. I was sickfor about a month. I was shell-shocked.

Getting over the Shock

I thought who was going to manage thewhole thing. Before Maharaj died he hadgiven me the key and asked me to take care ofthings. ‘Others will help you,’ he had said. ButI had said, ‘I don’t know anything.’ But duringthat one crucial month Swami Vireswara-nandaji said to me daily in a very gentle way,‘Don’t worry. You will make it. You will be allright. We will manage it.’ A few days later heslowly asked me some questions: What is thisand that? What about such-andsuch medi-cines? I told him whatever I knew. Later on, hebrought the hospital recordsand gradually asked me somemore questions. After sometime I was all right and they allhelped me get on with the job.

A swami was deputedfrom Belur Math to take over assecretary of the Sevashrama,but still they asked me to man-age. With the help of all thosepeople I did the work. Officially they were allthere, but Maharaj had made everythingknown to me, and in that sense had put me incharge. Practically I was a non entity, not evenan ordained brahmacharin. But Kalyan Maha-raj’s trust in me had been total.

Kalyan Maharaj’s Love and Trust

Swami Kalyananandaji was full of love.He was everything to me. That is why hisdeath was a big blow, because all my hopeswere in him. He loved me so much, much be-yond my imagination. And that trust! I hadnever before seen anyone putting so muchtrust in me. Swami Durganandaji once ob-served, ‘After Narayan’s coming, Swami Kal-yananandaji has opened his heart very wide;anybody can get anything.’ They used to push

me to the forefront for everything theywanted; Kalyan Maharaj never said no. Hewas always so nice, so obliging. Really, I feltthat he had given me a new life. I thought thata new light had come into my life.

Sometime after his death, while cleaninghis trunks I came across a big bundle of Kash-miri woollen wrappers called alowans. Theywere chadars to be worn in the shrine. Theywere of light wool and beautiful texture. I donot know when he had procured them. Hehad written our names on slips of paper andhad pinned them onto each wrapper. It wasunbelievable. Possibly he thought of givingthem to us during winter, but he had to go toMussoorie. He passed away but the chadarsremained. I handed them to Swami Vireswa-ranandaji, who distributed them to all of us.

The chadars bore our names, all the brahma-charins and sadhus. We all became emotionaland wept.

His Inheritance from the Post Office

There was a communication from thepost office stating that some money was due toMaharaj. The postmaster thought that I wasMaharaj’s disciple and asked me to sign forthe amount. In India if a sadhu dies, the inheri-tance goes to his disciple or disciples, or theOrder or the brother disciples or the guru.There is some such law about bequest in India.Therefore the postmaster simply said, ‘Youare his disciple. You sign for it and I will giveyou the money.’ ‘I am not his disciple,’ I toldhim. ‘We know that you are his disciple be-cause he never sent anyone else to the post of-

21 PB-JANUARY 2003

‘You Will Be a Paramahamsa!’ 13

Turning to me Kalyan Maharaj said,‘Having the key doesn’t make you boss. Youare the servant of all. You have to do thework in consultation with them. Keep thekey with you, manage everything includingthe finances.’

fice on his behalf. Other swamis were thereand he could have sent them.’ I was alwayswith him wherever he went, which madethem take me to be his disciple. The postmas-ter would have given me the amount if Isigned for it. I was more than his disciple inone sense, but I could not technically claim tobe one. Being a disciple of Swami Akhanda-nandaji Maharaj, I said no, and we had to go tocourt to apply for a succession certificate. Wewrote to all of his brother disciples: SwamisParamanandaji and Bodhanandaji—whowere in America—and Swamis Achalanan-daji, Virajanandaji and Brahmachari Jnan

Maharaj. These five had to sign it. It took morethan a year for the amount to reach us.

New Secretary Introducedto Outside Monks

Outside monks also thought I was Kal-yan Maharaj’s disciple because he always tookme with him to their functions. Since no othersadhu accompanied him and they saw me reg-ularly with him, they concluded that I must behis disciple. When he died they did not acceptas the representative of the Sevashrama themonk who was sent from Belur Math to besecretary. I had to convince them. I was not

even an ordained brahmacharin but theynever cared. They said, ‘Whatever it is, you arehis disciple. We respect you. We have neverseen him, the new secretary. We know you,that’s all—no one else.’ I had to plead withthem and tell them that the secretary was HolyMother’s disciple and a great sadhu. Finallythey accepted him, but said I should also be at-tending their functions. That is how it was:both of us participated in their functions. Theygave me everything that is given to monks onsuch occasions, such as a nice copper vesseland a cloth. Of course, they gave me a whitecloth in place of an ochre one since I was a

brahmacharin.

Swami Atulanandaji’s Visit

Our Sevashrama had aphotograph of Swami Kalyana-nandaji, but not of Nischaya-nandaji. Many people saidthere was no photograph of theswami. When Swami Atula-nandaji visited the Sevashramain 1940, I asked him about it. Hesaid, ‘The Fox sisters came toHardwar and they took a photoof him.’ He wrote to one of thesisters still alive, and we got thephoto.

During Atulanandaji’svisit I did the decorations on

Christmas Eve. I then discovered in a boxsomething special: a big cardboard folder.When you opened it there was a beautiful pic-ture of a manger, Mary and the baby Jesus. Iplaced the picture on the altar and illuminatedit with a light. Atulanandaji went close to thepicture and had a careful look at it. Next morn-ing he said to me, ‘Do you know somethingabout that picture?’ ‘No, I found it packed in abox. I don’t know anything more.’ He askedme to bring it to him. On the back of the picturewas his signature ! In 1916 he had sent it toKalyan Maharaj from America as a Christmascard. His signature had almost faded because

PB-JANUARY 2003 22

14 Prabuddha Bharata

Atulanandaji went close to the picture andhad a careful look at it. Next morning he

said to me, ‘Do you know something aboutthat picture?’ ‘No, I found it packed in a

box. I don’t know anything more.’ He askedme to bring it to him. On the back of the

picture was his signature ! In 1916 he hadsent it to Kalyan Maharaj from America asa Christmas card. His signature had almost

faded because it was 1940, long after hesent the card. Kalyan Maharaj evidently

had never opened it.

it was 1940, long after he sent the card. KalyanMaharaj evidently had never opened it.

More Things Unopened

Not only that; he had not opened severalother things. People had sent him cheques,which were all still intact, unopened. After hisdemise, I found those cheques in his safe andwrote to the donors. They got the cheques vali-dated again and helped us realize the amount;they were very happy that the cheques hadnot been destroyed after all. Kalyan Maharajnever bothered about who donated howmuch. Money did not concern him at all.

Sevashrama after Kalyan Maharaj

Sometime after his passing, I began tofeel his absence as a guiding force. There was asecretary, an assistant secretary, an officialset-up and all that. But I found myself in a verydifficult situation because I wasthe youngest of the lot — noteven an ordained brahma-charin — and was told by theothers, ‘What do you know?’ Ikept quiet. How could I explainto them what I saw and learntfrom Maharaj? The smoothfunctioning of the hospital wasdisturbed. People interfered ineverything, and I had no voicein anything. Thus passed two years.

After that I thought I had reached my en-durance limit, so I went to Swami Virajanan-daji Maharaj at Shyamla Tal and apprised himof the goings on: ‘I find it difficult to functionaccording to Swamiji’s ideals. The others havetheir own ideas and I am puzzled about whatis to be done. I have certain things to do butcan’t, being the junior-most. I am in a fix. Idon’t think I shall be able to continue there anylonger. It would be better if you send me else-where.’ ‘No, you get back,’ he said. ‘Just dowhatever you were doing. Don’t worry aboutanything. Everything will be all right. Be your-self and function as you did during Swami

Kalyanananda’s time. Don’t worry.’I returned to the Sevashrama. All the

swamis and brahmacharins were present atthe railway station—even my dog! ‘What’s thematter?’ I asked. ‘Did you go and tell SwamiVirajanandaji that you were going away fromhere?’ ‘Who told you that?’ ‘We got the feelingthat you wanted to go away from here. Pleasedon’t do it,’ the boys said. ‘We are behind you.Do what you were doing. Let no one disturbyour way of functioning.’ And the senior swa-mis said, ‘Certainly. Why should you go awayfrom here?’ So I stayed and all were very coop-erative. Later on, Belur Math recalled the sec-retary from the Sevashrama.

Others had their rules and regulations.Swami Kalyananandaji had none. He just feltand did things as he felt the need. That was hisspeciality. I discovered then an importanttruth: If your peace and joy depend on some-

one over whom you have no control, you cannever be peaceful. Be detached from every-thing. Do your duty; that is all. It is Thakur’swork and you are dedicated to that. Do it; thatis all, nothing else. Do not worry about otherthings. Many things happened but I neverworried.

Barlowgunj Ashrama

Swami Atulanandaji visited Kankhalfrom 1940 to 1943. The first one or two yearswe rented a house for him during the hot sum-mer months. Later we purchased a house forhim at Barlowgunj—a cool, nice place. Afriend of ours, Mr Gandhi (you find his name

23 PB-JANUARY 2003


I discovered then an important truth: Ifyour peace and joy depend on someone overwhom you have no control, you can neverbe peaceful. Be detached from everything.Do your duty; that is all. It is Thakur’s workand you are dedicated to that. Do it; that isall, nothing else.

mentioned in Atman Alone Abides), accompa-nied me that day. He asked me whether I likedthat house and I said yes. Then he went to theowner of the house and said, ‘I would like tobuy this. How much do you want?’ He paid acheque right away, a few thousand rupees,and then said to me, ‘Here it is, your house.’ Isaid, ‘But why did you do that?’ ‘Every yearyou work hard. You have no time off from thehospital. Now you have got a house.’ ‘But ahouse is a problem, a responsibility,’ I pro-tested. ‘Oh, I will attend to that,’ he replied.That is how that house was purchased. Lateron it was handed over to headquarters andthey called it ‘Sri Sarada Kutir’, the Barlow-gunj Ashrama.1

A Sadhu’s Unique Floral Offering

There was a great monk named Ganga-das, who lived nearby in a small hut on thebank of the Ganges. Quite often when therewas a feast, Kalyan Maharaj sent him somefruits and sweets through me. We did not talkmuch. He would accept them, smile and en-quire about us, and I would return. I did nothave much time to spend there either. When-ever he visited the Sevashrama, Maharaj re-ceived him respectfully and gave him some-thing to eat. He would just eat standing andwalk away. Maharaj told me, ‘Whenever thesadhu comes, pay special attention to him.’After Maharaj’s death, it so happened thatonce during Durga Puja, when people wereoffering flowers after puja, I was walking fromthe hospital to the library hall, where the pujawas being performed. I saw this monk on theway and took him with me to the puja hall.When it was our turn to offer flowers, I sprin-

kled some water in his hand, gave him someflowers, and requested him to offer them. Heasked in Hindi, ‘Where should I offer them?’‘Wherever it pleases you,’ I said. Before I knewwhat was happening, he lifted his hands andplaced the flowers on my head. I tried to pre-vent the flowers from falling on the groundand stood like that for a moment. After sometime I slowly walked towards the DivineMother’s image and let the flowers fall at Herfeet. I stood there speechless. None of thosepresent uttered a word. After some time I real-ized the situation, indicated to them to con-tinue offering flowers, and left the hall withthe sadhu. I felt something very wonderfulthat day when he put the flowers on me, youknow. It was beyond description. The sadhuwas like that. He did not believe in images or

anything like that.

‘Twenty-one days’:A Test Case

There is an interesting inci-dent. A great yogi from Raja-sthan came to Hardwar andwas staying in a shelter for pil-

grims. One day he asked a student of his toread out the almanac to him. When a particu-lar day was read out, the yogi told him to stop.That night, when he was reclining on a smallbed, his students brought him his food. He didnot speak but indicated that he did not want itso they took it away. He did not get up frombed that night. In the morning they cameagain. He did not stir from the bed; neither didhe go out to answer nature’s call, nor did he eatanything. He was absolutely calm and quiet.Two days passed thus and his students be-came disturbed, not knowing what to do.They came to our hospital and said, ‘Ourteacher, a great yogi, is in this condition. Wedon’t understand what has happened to him.Will you please come over and see?’ Whenthey said ‘a great yogi’, I became especially in-terested. (I was always curious to see suchpeople. That inquisitiveness was, so to say, my

PB-JANUARY 2003 24


He asked in Hindi, ‘Where should I offerthem?’ ‘Wherever it pleases you,’ I replied.Before I knew what was happening, helifted his hands and placed the flowers onmy head.

foolishness. Years before, I heard about a manwho had been buried for forty days, and Iwalked eighteen miles just to see him.)

I went with our doctor to see the yogi. Hewas a heavily built person. He did not talk. Hisstudents told us some stories about him, in-cluding his recent reading of the almanac. Thedoctor examined him and said, ‘We have toperform his blood test and other tests. Let ustake him to the hospital.’ So we brought him toour hospital, where after doing all the tests thedoctor found that he was absolutely free fromany ailment; medically he was in perfectcondition. The doctor was also surprised tofind that he did not eat or drink, or answer na-ture’s call, and that his body did not smell bad.Then I asked his students, ‘What was that datein the almanac?’ The date wasSankranti, when the sun movesfrom one constellation to an-other, considered a very sacredday. We asked his students tolet him stay in the hospital andassured them that we wouldtake care of him. They alsostayed with us.

I found that on Sankrantiexactly twenty-one days hadelapsed since his condition be-came peculiar. Therefore I wasalways curious to watch him, rememberingSri Ramakrishna’s pronouncement regardingtwenty-one days.2 Every day I visited him andstayed with him for two to three hours. Believeme, he did not move at all. We moved andlifted him, and gave him a bath without muchdifficulty. There was no resistance from him;he was just like a balloon. We were all sur-prised. We applied on him sandalwood oiland other ointments to prevent bedsores andbody odour. There was no change, no move-ment, no talk from him. I tried to feed him glu-cose and lemon juice with a ‘q-tip’. That is gen-erally what we did. You could not insert aspoon in his mouth because that would irritatehim. Therefore, I would press the ‘q-tip’ gently

and a little food went inside. There was nochange at all in his condition.

Some brothers in the monastery re-marked about me, ‘He has become a mad fel-low. He leaves his work and comes to this pa-tient and sits by his side. What is going on?’They asked me, ‘Do you believe in the predic-tion about twenty-one days?’ ‘I don’t know,’ Ireplied. ‘Until it is proved I can’t say.’ ‘You arewasting so much time,’ they said. ‘It isn’t awaste of time,’ I said. ‘I look upon it as a greattest.’

On the last day I came to see him. It wasnight. I sat by his bed on his right side and ob-served him minutely. I placed my hand on hisleg. Exactly at 11:00 he turned his head to-wards me. With a sweet smile he placed his

hand on my hand, and then his head dropped.He passed away. I knew that was the end of itbecause it is consciousness that holds thehead. With death the head drops because con-sciousness is withdrawn from the body. With-out moving, I asked to bring the doctor. Hecame, examined the monk and pronouncedhim dead.

Now the question is this: I had reallywondered how Sri Ramakrishna could be sodefinite about ‘twenty-one days’. The bodyhas its momentum. You have fed and takencare of it, and that momentum lasts fortwenty-one days. Then it is all over becauseyou are no longer feeding it. The same thingholds good for breathing. His breathing wasvery mild; you could hardly feel it. I placed

25 PB-JANUARY 2003


I had really wondered how Sri Ramakrishnacould be so definite about ‘twenty-onedays’. The body has its momentum. Youhave fed and taken care of it, and thatmomentum lasts for twenty-one days. Thenit is all over because you are no longerfeeding it. The same thing holds good forbreathing.

fibres near his nose to check his breath. In thebeginning I could feel it; not afterwards. Allthese things show clearly what happens withsomeone who becomes one with the ultimateReality, because there is nothing to bring himto the ordinary sense-consciousness, theworldly realm. There is no desire to breathe orinclination for any action. It is desire and am-bition that can make him come back to the or-dinary psyche. When there is nothing to drawhim to the sense world, he merges in that pureConsciousness completely. If he has any de-sire to do good to others, that is a differentquestion; otherwise he is merged into the Re-ality. But the body has its momentum. In hiscase we did not see any weakness, any changein the body, or any evidence of decomposi-tion—nothing of the sort. He was very

healthy. But after twenty-one days the bodyfell. It was a test case.

A Devotee Sri Ramakrishna Touched

A bearded old man used to visit theSevashrama. He was a devotee by name AshuBabu. He would visit the shrine, stay for awhile without talking to anybody, and then goaway. We did not know his whereabouts. Oneday I was walking along the bank of the Gan-ges with two other brothers and saw him com-ing out of a big house. ‘I think he lives here,’ Itold them. ‘Hello, Ashu Babu, you come to theSevashrama often. Do you live here?’ ‘Yes,’ hereplied. We went inside and saw a big shrinewith nothing more than a picture of SriRamakrishna. ‘Ashu Babu, you never told us

anything about this. Tell us your story.’ Hehad not told us anything about himself earlierbecause he was not inclined. When he was alittle boy his grandmother or some relativetook him to Sri Ramakrishna. Sri Ramakrishnatouched him and took him on his lap. He al-ways said, ‘Sri Ramakrishna touched me. Iwant to know more about him. I have readbooks about him and have visited Belur Mathand Dakshineswar. I was working before, butam retired now. I have sold everything andpurchased a house here.’ ‘Why didn’t you tellus all this before?’ I asked. ‘Well, there wasnothing much to say,’ he replied. We werevery happy hearing his story. He visited menow and then at the hospital. He broughtfruits and other things, said hello to me, wentto shrine and then left. He was a very quiet

person and before this hardlyanyone knew who he was. Heled a real good life.

Human Lives More Precious

Once there was a madmonkey around the Sevash-rama that attacked many peo-ple and scratched them badly. Ithad its place at the corner wherea big street and the lane leadingto our hospital met. Many vic-

tims of the monkey received treatment fromour hospital. A person had practically lost aneye. I told the police, ‘There is a mad monkeyaround. You will have to kill it.’ ‘No, Swami, ifI kill it they will kill me.’ ‘Why?’ ‘In this area weare forbidden to kill any animal.’3 There was asteady stream of monkey-bite patients; a littleboy’s body was completely scratched and bit-ten. But none was prepared to do anything.

We owned a gun and I asked my retainer,a schoolteacher, to bring it and shoot the mon-key. ‘No, I won’t,’ he said. ‘Why?’ ‘If I shootthe monkey, people will kill me.’ ‘Give it tome,’ I said. He showed me how to use the gunand I shot it down. It was as simple as that. Myconcern was more for the patients. They

PB-JANUARY 2003 26


Patients were more important to me thanmonkeys or pigeons or snakes. There were

some snakes in a nearby bamboo bush,which had killed two or three boys. Nobody

cared! We burnt all the bushes and killedforty snakes that day. We could not afford

to lose human lives to snakes.

should not suffer because of a monkey.Afterwards some guest monks at the

Sevashrama complained to Swami Virajanan-daji Maharaj: ‘Narayan has killed a monkey.Everybody is cursing him.’ Maharaj wrote abeautiful letter to me: ‘Don’t worry aboutwhat others say. I’m glad you had the guts todo it. They only want to protect the letter of thelaw. Nobody cares for the results.’ Later onwhen I saw Virajanandaji Maharaj he asked,‘Were you hurt at their (brother monks’) com-plaint?’ ‘No, I wasn’t. I knew it was my dutyand I did it.’ ‘And you had the nerve to do it,’he said. ‘I couldn’t help it because I saw pa-tients coming to the hospital, scratched andbitten by the monkey. What should I havedone? Keep quiet? I couldn’t.’ ‘You did theright thing,’ he assured me. ‘Don’t worryabout what others say.’ Even when everyoneelse condemned me, I never worried, becauseI was convinced that what I did was right.

Then there were the pigeons. They werein the hospital building, dropping everythingon the food and the beds. In the process of re-moving them, before putting nets there, somewere killed. I was cursed! They said, ‘Youkilled the pigeons?’ One brahmacharin said,‘Don’t shout before him; he will kill you.’ An-other brother defended it saying, ‘Nobody didanything when the beds were soiled and allwere complaining about that. Why did theylet the pigeons in?’

Patients were more important to me thanmonkeys or pigeons or snakes. There weresome snakes in a nearby bamboo bush, which

had killed two or three boys. Nobody cared!We burnt all the bushes and killed fortysnakes that day. We could not afford to losehuman lives to snakes. We destroyed thebushes completely, dug up the place, got rid ofeverything inside, levelled the area and madeit a lawn. People were afraid of us. I said, ‘Firstcome human lives.’ We had to kill those ani-mals. We had the boldness to do that. Arjunawas asked to kill the people arrayed againsthim. ‘Get up and fight,’ Krishna admonishedhim. Did he not have mercy on them? He did,but he also had his duty; and that lay in killingthem. That was the only way.

(to be continued)

Notes and References1. The property was subsequently disposed of

by the headquarters.2. ‘In the top of the head is the seventh plane.

When the mind rises there, one goes into sam-ádhi. Then the Brahmajnáni directly perceivesBrahman. But in that state his body does notlast many days. He remains unconscious ofthe outer world. If milk is poured into hismouth, it runs out. Dwelling on this plane ofconsciousness, he gives up his body intwenty-one days.’ —M., The Gospel of SriRamakrishna, trans. Swami Nikhilananda (Ma-dras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1985), 151.

3. Hardwar and Rishikesh are considered veryholy. Killing animals is forbidden there; noteven fishing is permitted.

27 PB-JANUARY 2003


When a Man Becomes Free …

It is not that when a man becomes free, he will stop and become a dead lump; but he will be more active

than any other being, because every other being acts only under compulsion, he alone through freedom.

—Swami Vivekananda, CW, 5.286

Swami Vivekananda’s Gospel of Work asWorship

C S RAMAKRISHNAN

Swami Vivekananda has been describedas the cyclonic monk. Like a whirlwindhe swept everything before him. He was

dynamism incarnate. It was as if in him En-ergy had taken a human form. Yet he was aperfect monk. A monk is calm and serene. Hestands for peace and rest. He is shanti personi-fied. How to reconcile these two contradictoryaspects of his personality? More than that,how to interpret his thundering declarationthat work itself can be worship, that intenseactivity can be silent adoration?

Who Was Swamji?

To understand this paradox we must re-member who Swamiji really was. He was thesage Nara, whom Sri Ramakrishna, the sageNarayana, brought down from the saptarshimandala to launch a great mission on earth.The mission, which is today known as theRamakrishna Movement, is a divine one. It is

ennobling activity powered by the Divine.Nara immersed in tapas had to become Naren,the world-mover. His intense worship had tobe expressed in terrific work. And this mould-ing would be done by the master pot-maker,Sri Ramakrishna. The duo, Nara-Narayana,

working in tandem, would set in motion thedharma chakra for the new age.

His First Meeting with Sri Ramakrishna

For an edifice to be stable the foundationmust be solid. The Ramakrishna Movementhad to be raised on the bedrock of divinity. Forthat the architect, Naren, had to make sure ofthe existence of God. Hence it was that Narenmet most of the leaders in Calcutta and askedthem the challenging question ‘Have you seenGod?’ None was able to give him a positive an-swer, till, prompted by his teacher Hastie, hemet the saint of Dakshineswar. Sri Rama-krishna unhesitatingly said, ‘Not only have Iseen God, but I can make you also see Him, ifyou practise the necessary discipline.’ Herewas a scientist speaking. If after performing anexperiment a scientist discovers a truth, anyother scientist in any other part of the worlddoing the same experiment should be able to

arrive at the same truth. IfRamakrishna had seen God,Naren also must be able to seeHim. Naren was bowled overby the Master’s assurance andsat at his feet for the next sixyears. He questioned the Mas-ter at every stage so that finallyhe was sure of every step in thelong trek to the ultimate Real-ity.

In his intimate interaction with his guruthere came an interesting turning point. Oneday the Master was explaining to the disciplesthe gist of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s message:One should show compassion to all creatures.Hardly had he uttered the word ‘compassion’

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Swami Vivekananda’s Gospel ofWork as Worship

Naren prayed only for vairagya, bhakti andjnana, for he felt the Mother’s Presence. She

was no longer charming poetry but athrilling, undeniable Reality. He became

the Mother’s child. Henceforth Sheempowered him.

than he went into samadhi. Coming back to asemi-conscious state of mind, he mused, ‘Talkof compassion for beings! Insignificant crea-tures that you are, how can you show compas-sion to beings? Who are you to show compas-sion? You wretch, who are you to bestow it?No, no; it is not compassion to Jivas but serviceto them as Siva.’1

All present there heard those words, butit was only Naren who realized in a flash therevolutionary import of the Master’s insight.Here was a sweet mingling of jnana andbhakti, dhyana and karma. The Master wasblazing a new trail to the Infinite. Naren de-clared to the others, ‘If the divine Lord evergrants me an opportunity, I’ll proclaim every-where in the world this wonderful truth I haveheard today.’ (940)

Infusion of Mother’s Power

Naren understood that the Master wasdedicating him to a life of service, but beforethe concept of service could take off some hur-dles had to be crossed. Therewas the question of energy. Thetype of service envisaged by theMaster required tremendouspower, shakti. And who couldgift this shakti except the DivineMother, Kali. But at that timeNaren, under the influence ofthe Brahmo Samaj, did not be-lieve in image worship. TheBhavatarini in the Dakshines-war temple meant nothing tohim. The Master was clear thatNaren should acknowledge the Mother toreceive from Her the power needed to executethe mission. So he fabricated a drama. Naren’sfather died, leaving the family on the streets.Naren requested the Master to pray to theMother for relief. The Master asked him tomake the prayer himself; Mother wouldsurely respond. We know the drama that fol-lowed. Three times did Naren stand beforeBhavatarini, but not even once could he pray

for material succour to his family; he prayedonly for vairagya, bhakti and jnana, for he feltthe Mother’s Presence. She was no longercharming poetry but a thrilling, undeniableReality. He became the Mother’s child. Hence-forth She empowered him.

The empowerment was again effectedthrough the Master, who was, in fact, non-dif-ferent from Mother Kali. A few days before hismahasamadhi Sri Ramakrishna transmittedall his immense spiritual powers to Naren.

The Path Becomes Clear

Still Naren was not sure of the structureof the mission the Master wanted him to un-dertake. In what way was he to translate theconcept of service into action? That becameclear to him as he made his parikramana,circumambulation, of the holy land of India.For seven years he walked the length andbreadth of the country, mixing freely withprinces and paupers, scholars and ignora-muses. He was thrilled to gaze at the rich cul-

ture and spiritual heritage of the punya-bhumi,and at the same time saddened to see the ab-ject poverty and weaknesses in the nationalcharacter. His odyssey culminated at land’send, Kanyakumari, where the Mother gavehim a brilliant vision that revealed the natureof the work he had to do. It was this vision thatcatapulted him to the West, made him thehero of the Chicago Parliament of Religionsand enabled him to pour out the message of

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Swami Vivekananda’s Gospel of Work as Worship 21

Sri Ramakrishna is hailed as the prophet ofthe harmony of all religions. His is not anarmchair philosophy. As a true scientist heexperimented with all religions withmeticulous care and discovered that allspiritual paths lead to the same Supreme.Likewise Swamiji is hailed as the integratorof the four yogas.

Vedanta to an eager Western elite. And re-turning to India, he put his plan into practiceby organizing the twin institutions of theRamakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mis-sion, with the slogan ‘Atmano mokshartham,jagad hitaya cha, for the individual’s salvationand society’s welfare.’ ‘The national ideals ofIndia are RENUNCIATION and SERVICE. Inten-sify her in those channels, and the rest willtake care of itself,‘2 he declared.

This revolutionary idea of equating wor-ship with work, tapas with seva, naturally in-vited a lot of opposition from many quarters.Even some of his own brother disciples re-sisted this innovation. They thought Swamijiwas deviating from the path chalked out bytheir Great Master. But soon they found out

that it was not Swamiji’s razor-sharp intellectthat was planning, but his huge heart bleedingfor the poor and the downtrodden. Thebrother disciples also became his ardent co-workers in the new mission of selfless service.

Traditional Misconception Dispelled

We must remember that down the agesthe prevailing idea among both the learnedand the ignorant is that to worship the Su-preme the aspirant must dissociate himselffrom all worldly ties. Vedanta demands an ut-ter ostracism of society and humanity. Thesadhaka must regard the world and his fellowmen as impediments in the spiritual path. Toworship and attain the Divine, worldly workmust be scrupulously discarded. The mumuk-shu, the seeker of the Infinite, must be asocial.

It is this tremendous misconception, aheartless perception of the nature of spiritual-ity, which is swept aside by Sri Ramakrishna’srevelation. ‘Siva jnane jiva seva,’ he declared.

Service to fellow beings is the way in which re-alization of the Supreme should express itself.God-consciousness means one is able to seeGod in all beings and in all circumstances.God is both immanent and transcendent. It isHe alone who has become all these diversecreatures. So how can the earnest seeker cuthimself away from others? To insulate oneselffrom the rest of humanity is sheer arrogance,an insult to the Divine.

Service of God in Man:The Master Shows the Way

Sri Ramakrishna, whose natural ten-dency was to be immersed in samadhi, him-self showed how to see God everywhere.While on a pilgrimage at Deoghar with

Mathur Babu, he saw a group ofpoor people in dire distress. Heasked Mathur to give themfood, clothing and oil for theirheads. When Mathur hesitatedSri Ramakrishna threatened todrop out from the pilgrimage.

How could one worship God and at the sametime neglect His children? Mathur was com-pelled to serve those poor people as part of hisworship of the Divine.

Swamiji’s Practical Vedanta

This is Vedanta in action, what Swamijilater called Practical Vedanta. He used almostthe same words as the Master. Sri Ramakri-shna said that it is the Lord who moves aboutin the guise of men, sometimes a saint, some-times a knave, sometimes a libertine. But all ofthem are God—and nothing but God. Echoingthe Master Swamiji said,

Look upon every man, woman, and everyoneas God. You cannot help anyone, you can onlyserve: serve the children of the Lord, serve theLord Himself, if you have the privilege. … Do itonly as a worship. … The poor and the misera-ble are for our salvation, so that we may servethe Lord, coming in the shape of the diseased,coming in the shape of the lunatic, the leper, and

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The fruits belong to the Lord. When yousurrender your puny will to His almighty

will the result is always auspicious. To erris human, but the Divine makes no mistake.

the sinner! (3.246-7)The only God to worship is the human soul

in the human body. Of course all animals aretemples too, but man is the highest, the TajMahal of temples. If I cannot worship in that, noother temple will be of any advantage. (2.321)

Where should you go to seek for God—arenot all the poor, the miserable, the weak, Gods?Why not worship them first? Why go to dig awell on the shores of the Ganga? (5.51)

Swamiji, the Integrator of the Four Yogas

Sri Ramakrishna is hailed as the prophetof the harmony of all religions. His is not anarmchair philosophy. As a true scientist he ex-perimented with all religions with meticulouscare and discovered that all spiritual pathslead to the same Supreme. Like-wise Swamiji is hailed as the in-tegrator of the four yogas. Heshowed that jnana yoga takesus to the One, without a second,appearing as the many. By con-trol of the wayward mind rajayoga ensures the Peace thatpasseth understanding. Bhaktiyoga leads us to the Bliss of un-ion with the Beloved. And karma yoga conferson us utter Fulfilment. This truth Swamiji en-capsulated in the following mahavakya:

Each soul is potentially divine.The goal is to manifest this Divinity within

by controlling nature, external and internal.Do this either by work, or worship, or psy-

chic control, or philosophy—by one or more orall of these—and be free.

This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, ordogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, orforms, are but secondary details. (1.124)

Swamiji’s ‘Ishtayoga’

Swamiji shows that all the four yogas indifferent ways lead to the same supreme Goal.Each sadhaka may choose the yoga suited tohis aptitude, but should not decry the otheryogas followed by other sadhakas. As a matterof fact, whatever the yoga adopted by an aspi-

rant, he will find that the other yogas too meshwith his yoga. A true bhakta will revere all dei-ties, but will be specially devoted to one par-ticular manifestation of the Divine— hisishta-devata, Chosen Deity. Likewise we seethat for Swamiji too there is an ‘ishta-yoga’among the yogas. It is karma yoga that getshighlighted in his mission. ‘Tasmad yogi bhava,be therefore a yogi’, the Lord exhorts Arjunain the Bhagavadgita.3 Swamiji too wants his fol-lowers to become karma yogis. Why?

Misery—Its Cause and Antidote

Work, karma, is all-pervasive, universal.No one remains without doing work even fora moment, points out the Lord in the Gita. Ev-

erybody has to be working. There is no escap-ing it. To achieve anything or to preserve whathas been achieved, work is indispensable.Yoga-kshema can be had only through karma.But the trouble is, karma binds. It is like a seed.By planting a seed we grow a tree. In turn thetree produces fruits—which carry more seedsthat produce more trees. It is an unending pro-cess, like the story of the demon Raktabija inthe Devi Mahatmya: each drop of blood that fellfrom his body brought forth a new demon.Likewise, each karma performed sprouts aplethora of new karmas.

There is a grimmer aspect to karma. A de-sire prompts us to make a plan and execute it.We expect sweet fruits from that karma, butoften the fruits turn out to be bitter. We getfrustrated. That generates anger and, as theGita points out, losing our self-possession weget deluded and slide into ruin. The desire-

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Work loses its sting when it is offered asservice. Work becomes the medium throughwhich we communicate with God. Itbecomes worship. Instead of trying to avoidwork we take to the work of service withgreat enthusiasm and delight.

prompted karma ends in disaster. Sorrowcrowns our efforts. Why should our well-laidschemes go awry?

Vedanta explains that it is the ego behindthe desire that is the cause of misery. ‘I’ and‘mine’ lead to grief. We are reminded of Ae-sop’s fly which sits on a wheel of the chariotand exclaims ‘What a lot of dust I raise!’ In ouregotism we think that we are the doers and the

result of an action depends on us. This is a my-opic view. The Gita points out that the karma-phala depends on a number of factors. The in-dividual’s effort is only one of them. And su-pervening all is daiva, fate. Everything hap-pens according to God’s will. Our task is to bewilling instruments in the Divine hand. Nimit-ta matram bhava, the Lord tells Arjuna. (11.33)A poet writes a poem. It is literally true that itis the pen that does the actual writing. But onthat score can the pen claim authorship of thepoem? The pen’s role is to write smoothly. Themore it cooperates, the more the poet will usethe pen, and the more the poetry that flows outof it.

That is the secret. Consider all work asworship of the Divine; do the work meticu-lously, but do not bother about the result. ‘Kar-mani eva adhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachana.Only to work you have the right, not to thefruits thereof.’ (2.47) The fruits belong to theLord. When you surrender your puny will toHis almighty will the result is always auspi-cious. To err is human, but the Divine makesno mistake.

Nishkama karma, selfless work dedicatedto God, therefore, is the means of getting out of

the bondage inherent in work. We are pain-fully aware how much tension is created bythe tasks facing us. When one thing generatestension, we try to neutralize it by performinganother. But this is like trying to put out a fireby pouring ghee on it. The tension onlymounts and gets more unmanageable. Vedan-ta says, avoid all tension by dedicating allwork, big and small, to Him. Practise the pres-

ence of God by performing allyour activities as His worship.Then there is no fatigue or frus-tration, discontent or ill-at-ease.Tremendous energy flows intoyou and you are able to take upany formidable task.

Work loses its sting whenit is offered as service. Work be-comes the medium through

which we communicate with God. It becomesworship. Instead of trying to avoid work wetake to the work of service with great enthusi-asm and delight. Then, as the Gita puts it, wesee work in ‘no work’ and ‘no work’ in work.‘Without attachment to the fruits of action,ever content and dependent on none, he verilydoes nothing, even though engaged in actions.Free from desires, with his mind controlledand surrendering all possessions, he incurs nosin through mere bodily activity.’ (4.20-1)

Renunciation Coupled with Service

Swamiji’s genius found a way of makingthis idea of selfless service applicable to con-temporary India. Renunciation has alwaysbeen looked upon with great respect in ourland. By equating renunciation with serviceIndia can be raised. To renounce you need notseek the solitude of a forest. You can renouncein the dust and din of the marketplace.

Devote your whole lives to the cause of the re-demption of these three hundred millions, go-ing down and down every day. (5.17)

Let all other vain gods disappear for thetime from our minds. This is the only god that isawake, our own race—‘everywhere his hands,

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Renunciation has always been looked uponwith great respect in our land. By equating

renunciation with service India can beraised. To renounce you need not seek thesolitude of a forest. You can renounce in

the dust and din of the marketplace.

everywhere his feet, everywhere his ears, hecovers everything.’ All other gods are sleeping.What vain gods shall we go after and yet cannotworship the god that we see all round us, theVirat? When we have worshipped this, we shallbe able to worship all the other gods. (3.300-1)

Go, all of you, wherever there is an outbreakof plague or famine, or wherever the people arein distress, and mitigate theirsufferings. At the most youmay die in the attempt—whatof that? How many like you arebeing born and dying likeworms every day? What differ-ence does that make to theworld at large? Die you must,but have a great ideal to die for,and it is better to die with agreat ideal in life. (5.383-4)

The Gist of All Worship

With trumpet voice he calls:

I bequeath to you, young men, this sympathy,this struggle for the poor, the ignorant, the op-pressed. Go now this minute to the temple ofParthasarathi, and before Him who was friendto the poor and lowly cowherds of Gokula, whonever shrank to embrace the Pariah Guhaka,who accepted the invitation of a prostitute inpreference to that of nobles and saved her in Hisincarnation as Buddha—yea, down on yourfaces before Him, and make a great sacrifice, thesacrifice of a whole life for them, for whom Hecomes from time to time, whom He loves aboveall, the poor, the lowly, the oppressed. (5.16-7)

This is the gist of all worship—to be pureand to do good to others. He who sees Shiva inthe poor, in the weak, and in the diseased, reallyworships Shiva; and if he sees Shiva only in theimage, his worship is but preliminary. He whohas served and helped one poor man seeingShiva in him, without thinking of his caste, orcreed, or race, or anything, with him Shiva ismore pleased than with the man who sees Himonly in temples. (3.141-2)

The Foundation of the Ramakrishna Order

Serving God in man is the foundation onwhich the beautiful edifice of the Ramakri-

shna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission hasbeen raised, and the massive selfless workdone by its workers in the fields of daridra-narayana-seva (service of God the poor) is nowpart of history. At one time, orthodox sadhusof Hardwar used to look down on the monksof the Ramakrishna Mission with contempt,

because they personally attended on the sickand the dying. They called them bhangisadhus, sweeper monks. But with the passageof time the value of the sweeper monks’ self-less service has become apparent—so muchthat today no function of the Hardwar san-nyasins begins before the arrival of the Rama-krishna Mission monks!4

Swamiji’s gospel of work as worship hasmade such irresistible impact that today evenhoary orthodox monasteries undertake someform of social service as part of their religiousdiscipline. Worship through selfless work andbe free, is the mantra for the modern age. �

References1. Swami Saradananda, Sri Ramakrishna the Great

Master, trans. Swami Jagadananda (Madras:Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1978), 939.

2. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9vols. (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1-8, 1989; 9,1997), 5.228.

3. Bhagavadgita, 6.46.4. For more details see ‘You Will Be a Parama-

hamsa!’, Prabuddha Bharata, October 2002,495-7.

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Swamiji’s gospel of work as worship hasmade such irresistible impact that todayeven hoary orthodox monasteriesundertake some form of social service aspart of their religious discipline. Worshipthrough selfless work and be free, is themantra for the modern age.

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Half a Decade in the Enchanting Environs ofAlong

A Wistful Look Back at the Early Days of the Ramakrishna Mission School

SWAMI KIRTIDANANDA

1. The Backdrop

15 April 1946 is, indeed, a memorable dayin my life. That was when I entered theportals of the Ramakrishna Ashrama in

Bangalore with a decision to embrace the mo-nastic life in the Ramakrishna Order. If, again, Iwere to be asked what other day or dates standout in my memory as equally outstanding, ifnot more, I should definitely mention, amongmany, 25 August 1969, the day I landed atAlong; and 6 December 1969, the day wemoved to our new premises atop the hill,where the school stands today, from the tem-porary bamboo structures that housed theschool and hostel quarters down below in thepresent playground. The next five years, exactto date, that I spent at Along were days of greatexpectation and hope, very exciting—excitingbecause we were every moment filled with thethought that we were involved in a work sodear to the heart of Swami Vivekananda. Theywere, indeed, days full of merriment and joy,with all their ups and downs, though not at-tended with unhindered, uniform success atevery step.

The Precursor of Developmentsin Arunachal Pradesh

The preliminary work of the Mission hadactually started three years before I went there,in 1966, and the foundation stone of the build-ings to house the education complex had beenlaid by the then Prime Minister of India, MrsIndira Gandhi, on 25 December 1967. We

could say, however, that the real foundationof the work had been laid long before bySwami Vivekananda himself as far back as1893, months before his triumphal appear-ance at the Chicago Parliament of Religionson 11 September that year. For had he not pre-dicted even then that ‘if and when the Britishshould leave India there would be a greatdanger of India’s being conquered by the Chi-nese’,1 when none, in his wildest of dreams,could have imagined such a thing happening,close as the two countries were to each other?And did his words not come true? Did not theChinese invade India in 1962, maybe with theidea, however bizarre it may look at this dis-tance of time or even then, of conquering it, asSwamiji said? And was not this the precursorof all the developments that have taken placesince then in the north-east region ofArunachal Pradesh (at the time known asNEFA, North-Eastern Frontier Agency),where the invasion took place; and of theRamakrishna Mission (and also the Ramakri-shna Sarada Mission subsequently) comingon to the scene to be the proud participantsthereof?

The Chinese invasion, no doubt, was anunhappy event, a dark chapter in the historyof the good relations between the two coun-tries. Why in the first place the Chinese em-barked upon this misadventure at all, or why,having undertaken the unenviable task, theysuddenly buckled under and withdrew from

Half a Decade in the

Enchanting Environs of Along

it remains even now shrouded in utter mys-tery. For they were in hot pursuit of the Indianjawans, who were fleeing for their life, beatenhollow and square in an unequal battle, andapparently were at the door of victory. The ex-planation is not far to seek. The most fruitfuland plausible of all the attempts to solve themystery is what Mr Mullick, the then Directorof the Border Security Force, rightly pointedout in his three-volume work on the subject.The Himalayas, as Kalidasa has hinted in hisKumarasambhava invocatory verse, even todaystand as an impregnable barrier between In-dia and the enemy hordes who choose to settheir eyes on her. If the Chinese had continuedbrazenly in this, their reckless misadventure,their armies would soon havebeen inextricably caught up in theplains of India in the ensuing win-ter. They would have been cut offand deprived of all logistic sup-port from their mainland. For athick wall of snow would havebuilt up over the Himalayas, andthe Indian army, for all its poorshowing earlier, would havemade mincemeat of them in thefamiliar surroundings of theirown homeland. So they beat ahasty retreat, though putting onoutwardly a brave face, as if theywere doing it out of grace andmercy. Having shown India andthe world at large the strength of their armyand what they were capable of doing, theymight have been satisfied also. Their mainpurpose and intention in launching the attack,most likely, had also been served.

Be that as it may. Whatever it is, it was ablessing in disguise as far as India as a wholewas concerned, and Arunachal in particular.India can now boast of a well-equipped army,capable of taking on anyone in the world, andArunachal of being a forward-looking mod-ern state, having emerged from the primitivecondition in which it was then. Every cloud

has a silver lining, and after the severe wintermust come the spring. How true!

The Ramakrishna Mission Steps in

Interesting stories are told about the situ-ation prevailing in the area at the time. Onesuch, immediately relevant to our subject,speaks of how the whole town of Along wasagog with rumours of the Chinese army land-ing there any moment. Preparations wereafoot by the local administration and the mili-tary to shift the population of the area, for stra-tegic reasons, to safer regions. The local tribalpeople were, however, opposed to the move.They would not understand the subtleties ofmilitary strategy or tactics or manoeuvres and

all that tall talk. For them the military wasthere to fight, and the civil administration toprotect them against all odds, not to run awayfrom the scene of danger in the face of threat totheir safety. It was as simple as that to their un-sophisticated, plain tribal logic. So, endlessdiscussions went on one whole night betweenthe local tribal leaders and the officers of themilitary and the local civil administration. Thelatter were somehow able to convince them ofthe need to evacuate the place in their own in-terest and in the interest of the country. How-ever, as luck would have it, the very next day

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Half a Decade in the Enchanting Environs of Along 27

the Chinese announced suspension of all hos-tilities and the return of their soldiers to theirbarracks. But the faith of the tribals in the ca-pacity of our military and the civil administra-tion to protect their interests and their safety intimes of need, or even in normal times, dippedto the lowest ebb. And the development orburgeoning of a Nagaland-like situation wasvery much in the offing. It was then that thethoughtful among the administrators thoughtof bringing the Ramakrishna Mission into thepicture to smooth things over and approachedthe Government of India for the purpose. The

latter approved the idea immediately. The au-thorities of the Ramakrishna Mission head-quarters at Belur Math also readily agreed,seeing the gravity of the situation and the im-portance of the work. First they deputedSwami Bhavyananda, who was then the headof our centre at Shillong, which was then theheadquarters of the NEFA Administration,too, to assess the situation and report. Subse-quently, they sent another of our swamis,Swami Nageshananda, now no more with us,to actually start the work.

The swami arrived there sometime in1966, maybe in March or April. As he told mebefore my departure from Calcutta—where

he was convalescing from a paralytic stroke,which had necessitated my going to Along inhis place—he went there as if into a wilder-ness—a Robinson Crusoe thrown in on anout-of-the-way island—not knowing what todo there or where to begin. However, after along discussion, or a series of discussions,with the then Deputy Commissioner of Siangdistrict (it was then one single district, as I saidearlier, now divided into two), Mr K K Baner-jee, whose guest he was, and with the localtribal leaders, prominent among them beingMr Boken Ete, it was decided to start the work

in a small way with apartly residential Englishmedium primary schoolon an experimental basis,and proceed slowly, de-pending on the responsefrom the people and thestudents.

The History behind theEnglish Medium School

First, why, of allthings, an English mediumschool? It has a history be-hind. Years before, in orderto infuse the lost confi-dence of the local tribalpeople in the Indian ad-

ministration, a party of local leaders, headedby Sri Boken Ete, was taken on a Bharat Dar-shan tour, to give them an idea of what the realIndia was—the greatness and magnitude of itscultural history. Mr Boken Ete, as he wascalled, was the Political Assistant of the Siangdistrict of Arunachal Pradesh, a post held by aprominent tribal leader in each district to helpthe administration in carrying on its officialduties. In the course of their tour, they werenaturally taken to meet the topmost dignitaryof India, the President, who at that time hap-pened to be Dr Radhakrishnan. There weremany others, too, who had come to meet thePresident. Dr Radhakrishnan spoke to a good

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Ramakrishna Mission, Along: A Panoramic View

many of them. When the time allocated for theinterview was over and the ADC signalled DrRadhakrishnan about it, the latter turnedback, unceremoniously, to return to his cham-bers, without saying a word to these peoplefrom Arunachal Pradesh. Mr Boken Ete, theleader of the party, felt deeply hurt, not to sayoffended, at Dr Radhakrishnan’s behaviour.He took it as a personal affront, if not an insultto the dignity of the entire population ofArunachal. ‘Thahro! (Stop!)’, he shouted in hisbroken, unpolished Hindi, remonstrating thePresident for this act of misdemeanour andlack of ordinary courtesy on his part in hisusual outspoken manner, characteristic of thetribal people in general. ‘Tum kaise admi ho?Ham itni dur se aye hein tumko dekhne ke liye;tumhe hamare rashtrapati, hamare neta, hamare

bhagavan samajhke. Lekin tumne ek bat bhi hamaresath nahi bola, sirph jo angrezi jante hein unke sathbatchit karke aisa hi chale ja rahe ho, kaise admi hotum? (What kind of a person are you? How illbred and ungracious! We have come fromsuch a long distance, all the way from NEFA,to meet you, the Head of our state and ourgreat leader, regarding you as the Lord Him-self, and you are going away not speaking aword with us, but only with people who knewEnglish! How shameful of you!)’ All werestunned, not to speak of the President himself,who surely would have been taken aback bythese blunt words. However, he turned backand muttered an unconvincing apology in afaltering voice: ‘You see, I am from the south, Ido not know Hindi, so I could not speak with

you’, not realizing he had unknowingly madea faux pas thereby. ‘O!’ Boken said unabash-edly, ‘Tum hindi nahi jante ho rashtrapati hokar!Tab hamko kyon assami sikhne ko, assami mepadhne ko, hindi sikhne ko bolte ho? (Oh! You arethe President of India and yet do not knowHindi! Then why do you advise us to learnAssamese and Hindi?)’

Those were days when Assamese was be-ing popularized in those regions as the me-dium of instruction, much to the chagrin andannoyance of the people there. The first greatencounter of these people with India, that isBharat, was, indeed, a tragedy, and the plan ofthe people who organized the tour to give agood impression of India to these people hadmisfired. The second one turned out to bemore disastrous. They were then taken to see

the Prime Minister Mrs IndiraGandhi. Unlike Dr Radhakrish-nan, she was, of course, full ofwarmth and friendly feeling inwelcoming and talking to them.But she got off on the wrongfoot at the very outset by raisingthe topic of Assamese as themedium of instruction, whichwas agitating the minds of thetribals of the area at the time,and by asking them to study

Hindi along with it, it being the national lan-guage. Mr Boken Ete was irritated, and an-grily protested, again in his blunt manner:‘Accha! Hamko hindi sikhne ko bol rahe ho, assamisikhne ko bol rahe ho! Lekin tumhare bacchon kokyon Doon School me bheja? Kyon unko Englandme bheja hai? Unko kitni hindi sikhayi hai? (Well!You are haranguing us to study Assamese, thelanguage of the neighbouring region andHindi, the national language. But what haveyou done with your own children? You sentthem to Doon School, where English is the me-dium of instruction, and now have sent themto England, where English is the prime lan-guage! Why?)’ Mrs Indira Gandhi was aghastat his sharp reaction, but had no answer to

37 PB-JANUARY 2003


‘What kind of a person are you? … We havecome from such a long distance, all the way

from NEFA, to meet you, the Head of ourstate and our great leader, regarding you as

the Lord Himself, and you are going awaynot speaking a word with us, but only withpeople who knew English! How shameful!’

give. Boken’s arguments were, indeed, unas-sailable.

Anyway, immediately on return, BokenEte started telling people, shouting fromhousetops at the top of his voice: ‘Angrezisikho, nahi honese tumko kutte ki maphik dekhengebahar jane se! Hindi bhi sikhna, kyonki vah hamararashtrabhasha hai aur uski bhi zarurat hai. Lekinangrezi us-se bhi zyada zarurat hai. (Learn Eng-lish! Otherwise, you will be treated like a dogeven in India if you happen to go out of yourregion, not to mention elsewhere. Learn Hindialso because it is our national language. Butthere is no salvation for you unless you learnEnglish, which is the international language.)’And in his address on the occasion of the inau-guration of the Ramakrishna Mission, he de-clared publicly: ‘Ham Ramakrishna Mission koidhar hamko angrezi sikhane ke liye le aye hein. Jisdin ve usko bandh kar denge us din ham unko idharse hatayenge! (We have brought the Rama-krishna Mission here to teach English, andshall keep them here as long as they do that.The moment they stop it,we shall drive them awayfrom here!)’ Of course,Ramakrishna Missionthere and elsewhere inArunachal Pradesh hasbeen doing that, and some-thing more.

The Tribals’ Attitudetowards Women

But the tribal peoplewere not to be taken in bypromises, and were waryand suspicious. First, be-cause a celibate monk with a tonsured head!Monks and celibacy! The terms were incom-prehensible to them, to say the least. Not tothem alone, but to many of the enlightened orthe so-called educated too in the other places.Then, what to speak of them, in whose societyhaving more than one wife was the acceptednorm, exceptions only proving the rule? And

then teetotaller monks at that, as both myselfand my predecessor were! We never smokedor drank, and were vegetarians to the core—toadd to their confusion and consterna-tion—who never touched even eggs or meat,leave alone beef and alcohol, which were allpart of their daily menu! Worse still, monkswho bore a close resemblance to their girls,what with their shaven heads, looking, partlyat least, like the dressed-up hair of the girls inone of the two tribes who inhabitated the area,the Minyongs, and their coloured clothes re-minding one of the sarongs worn by theirwomenfolk, particularly of the other maintribe there, the Gallongs, colourwise as muchas in the mode of wearing—girls, who, in theirsocial set-up, were nothing but chattel to beused for different purposes: one for cooking,another for field work, still another for enjoy-ment, and so on. That is all, nothing more,nothing less; a mere cat’s paw in the hands ofmen; unworthy of anything better, below paras compared to themselves in intelligence or

talents or brain power!We can get an inkling of their thinking

vis-à-vis the status of women in their commu-nity from the following small incident thathappened during my tenure as the head of thecentre. Though trivial in itself, it shows theworkings of the tribal culture. Ours was aco-educational institution, and I used to insist

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Unlike Dr Radhakrishnan, Mrs Gandhi was, ofcourse, full of warmth and friendly feeling inwelcoming and talking to them. But she got offon the wrong foot at the very outset by raisingthe topic of Assamese as the medium ofinstruction, which was agitating the minds ofthe tribals of the area at the time, and byasking them to study Hindi along with it, itbeing the national language.

on both boys and girls in our school tucking intheir shirts and blouses in their shorts andskirts respectively, to give them a smart,sprightly look. After a time, however, I ob-served that while the boys obeyed, the girlswere wayward and indifferent. That is, theydid so only when I was in sight, but wouldleave the blouses hanging loose outside whenI was out of sight. I was puzzled by their be-haviour. Maybe, I thought, that was the fash-ion of the day, of which I knew nothing. Butone of the lady devotees, who taught themmusic, drama and dance, told me that it hadnothing to do with the prevailing fashion. Oneevening, I asked them about it. Why were theyso disrespectful and dis-obedient? Their reply wasamusing. ‘No, Swamiji,’they said, ‘it’s not that! Weare not doing this deliber-ately. When you arenearby, the boys are afraid,and keep quiet. But, assoon as you are out ofsight, they are in their ele-ment and forbid us fromwearing the dress as youwant, threatening us withdire consequences if we actcontrarily. Wearing thedress that way, they claim,is their, the boys’, preroga-tive and privilege, towhich we, the girls, are notentitled. So, we have no other go but to act ac-cording to their wishes in your absence.’ I wasastonished at their reply. However, it was in-dicative of the tribal perception of things. Ifthat was the attitude of the boys towards girls,what about the elders? So, no wonder thatthey were distrustful and cautious about ourmotives and intentions, and had their own res-ervations about our capacity to deliver thegoods—we who in appearance were no betterthan their girls, as it seemed to them. They hadseen one or two Christian priests, tiptop in

their Western dress and attire, and theylooked at us and our actions through theireyes. How it all changed within the matter of afew days and they began to see things in a dif-ferent light, and the struggles we had to gothrough to bring about this change; and howwe ourselves in the process underwent anamazing transformation shedding many ofour age-old prejudices, is the fascinating sagaof Arunachal Pradesh on the rise, though stillin the womb, the subject of this unpretentiouswrite-up.

Disabusing Tribal Notions about Monks

In this arduous task of disabusing the

minds of the tribals of the wrong notions theyhad about us and bringing out the said trans-formation in their way of thinking, the partplayed by Mr Boken Ete was, indeed, invalu-able. Nor can the help received from the Gov-ernment initiative and backing be discountedin the least. Boken Ete was the foremost andmost influential leader of the tribals of the dis-trict, and in the running of the administrationhis assistance was a must, an inevitable desid-eratum. Though uneducated and illiterate, hehad a keen intellect and was endowed with a

39 PB-JANUARY 2003


Prime Minister Indira Gandhi laying the foundation stone of

the Ramakrishna Mission School

good deal of common sense and power of un-derstanding. Prior to Indian independence hewas an attendant of the British officers, and,during the course of his service, had acquiredto some extent their efficiency in work and or-ganizing capacity. He was the first to under-stand us in the proper perspective, and hewould put across our ideas and ideals to hispeople in their own language, in his own style.About our celibacy and puritanism in foodand drink or dress, he would say: ‘They areverily Donyi-Polo (the Sun-God and theMoon-God they worshipped), their veritablerepresentatives. So, they neither marry nordrink nor dance nor eat meat.’ They would un-derstand, nod assent, and applaud.

As for the Government, they had broughtus in there for their own purpose, or purposes,and it was incumbent on them to extend theirall-out support to us, and they did it to the ex-tent possible. A section of the tribals, for all thetrouble Boken took to explain things, was stillsuspicious that we were there with some ulte-rior motive, to spread Hinduism and evange-lize. Had not Verrier Elwin, in his book A Phi-losophy for NEFA issued a note of warning tothem by inserting the following subsidiarylines under the main caption of a chapter:‘Mother cow stands between Hinduism andthe tribals (or tribal society)’? Besides, as al-ready stated, the tribals hardly had any idea ofthe renunciate monk, nor any respect or re-gard for the ideal of simple living and highthinking that monkhood signified. They couldunderstand and appreciate grandeur, ostenta-tion, power and position. A deputy commis-sioner they could admire and adore, or an as-sistant commissioner; a district medical or for-est officer; a chief engineer or superintendingengineer. They could comprehend a governoror chief commissioner; a chief minister orprime minister; the President or Vice Presi-dent of a nation. That was well within thegrasp of their intellect. But a man in rags withnowhere to lay his head, and yet one who

claimed to serve and work for their uplift!That was unintelligible.

The Fount of Our InspirationAs far as we were concerned, it hardly

mattered what they thought of us or how theylooked at our work. We were least bothered byit. Our mission was clear-cut and definite. Wehad been assigned a job, and our attention wasfocused on it. And there were the great exhor-tations of Swami Vivekananda to inspire andgoad us on:

The duty of every aristocracy is to dig its owngrave, and the sooner it does so, the better.2

This life is short, the vanities of the worldare transient, but they alone live who live forothers. (4.363)

You, the upper classes of India, do you thinkyou are alive? You are but mummies ten thou-sand years old! … Ay, on your bony fingers aresome priceless rings of jewel, treasured up byyour ancestors, and within the embrace of yourstinking corpses are preserved a good many an-cient treasure-chests … pass them on to yourheirs, ay, do it as quickly as you can. You mergeyourself in the void and disappear, and let newIndia arise in your place … These common peo-ple have suffered oppression for thousands ofyears—suffered it without even a murmur. …Throw those treasure-chests of yours and thosejewelled rings among them, as soon as you can;and you vanish into air, and be seen no more—only keep your ears open. (7.327-8)

And many such! Personally speaking, withthese words on our lips and constantly rever-berating through our minds, we could sur-mount with ease the innumerable difficultiesand hurdles. Driven by these words, we wereas if possessed, possessed with infinite energyand power. The one thought that prevaileduppermost in the mind was this: how to makea success of this work that had been startedwith so much pomp and publicity. Specially,Swamiji’s soul-stirring words: ‘Aristocracy!dig your own grave and work for the back-ward and the unprivileged’ ringing in our earsday in and day out, we could not but ask our-

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selves: Was not here a golden opportunity toredeem the pledge of Swami Vivekananda,made on our behalf to the nation; on behalf ofus, the privileged ones belonging to the upperechelons of society, born with a silver spoon;who have had the best of life, and on whomthe die had been cast by Providence itself, asthough by a divine decree?

How the Government Upheld theGreatness of the Mission

But the Government and the administra-tive machinery were anxious and worried. Itwas they who had invited us, and they couldnot afford the work to fail, nor the Mission orus, the Mission’s representatives, to be belit-tled in any manner. So they went out of theirway to project the image of the Mission, and ofus monks who represented it, in proper lightand perspective: that we monks of the Missionwere men of culture, hailing from well-to-dofamilies, and educated, who had renouncedthe world voluntarily out of apassion for the service of man-kind, and not the vagabondsyou find roaming about thestreets of India for a morsel offood or a piece of cloth, nor thecastaway ragamuffins of soci-ety; that the Mission itself was aworldwide organization with auniversal message of service ofhumanity, irrespective of caste,creed, nationality, race or reli-gion, with its branches spreadover not only the different parts of India butthe other continents, and sub-continents of theearth, too. But the tribals were not to be be-guiled by mere verbiage. So the administra-tion took great pains to show in action thatthey meant what they said. We always hadpride of place at all the functions organizedand dinner parties thrown, either by the civiladministration or the military. The idea wasthat the tribals would automatically be con-vinced that we are somebody worthy of re-

gard and veneration when the officers, whomthe tribals addressed as nigams, and lookedupon with great awe and respect, honouredus. That was the train of their thoughts. So, at afunction, our place of honour would be next towhoever was the highest dignitary: if it wasthe Deputy Commissioner, next to him; if theGovernor, next to him; if the Prime Minister,next to him; and so on. Others would relegatethemselves automatically into lower posi-tions, setting aside all the rules of diplomaticprotocol. So in the case of the military.

Parties Could Not Be Parted with

While the concern of the administrationin this regard was quite legitimate and under-standable, it very often put us monks into anembarrassing position. Particularly so whenwe were invited to attend parties hosted bythem, to which we could not say no and whereserving drinks was the order of the day. Thefirst time I attended such a party, I was quite

ignorant of the procedures and conventionthat drinks would be served. I had thought itwas a simple affair, and everything wouldstart at the right moment announced earlier,and be over within a specified time, say anhour or two. For my part, I arrived there intime, but others were trickling in leisurely oneby one, at their own pace. The chief guestmade his appearance last. That was when thereal fun started. First drinks, to be sippedslowly with some slight snacks to munch with

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How it all changed within the matter of afew days and they began to see things in adifferent light, and the struggles we had togo through to bring about this change; andhow we ourselves in the process underwentan amazing transformation shedding manyof our age-old prejudices, is the fascinatingsaga of Arunachal Pradesh on the rise.

them. When the first serving was over, the sec-ond, then the third, and so on, which went onfor an hour or two, if not more, when all thewhile an intimate tête-à-tête about nothing inparticular was going on. A glass of a cool drinkwas given to me. I did not know how thingswould or should proceed. I downed it in onegulp. Then the host, one Colonel Lal, the Com-mandant of Assam Rifles, in whose premisesthe party was being held, said with a smilingface: ‘Swamiji, if you finish off so quickly,what shall we do? How many glasses couldwe serve or you consume?’ From the next timeI was careful. But then and there decided toavoid such invitations in future. But that waseasier said than done. I could not keep to myresolution because of various compulsions.The following incident should make it clearwhy.

The next time I was invited was to theNew Year dinner at the workshop of the BRTF(Border Road Task Force), who were so help-ful to us throughout (of which later). I was notaware that the dinner would go on till theearly hours of the morning, with music anddance to follow the dinner. This time, after at-tending it, I was more determined than ever toavoid it altogether the next year. The nextyear, however, came in the twinkling of aneye. Again there was an invitation from MajorRawal Singh, the host, over the phone. I triedto escape quoting various reasons: our schoolsession would be ending; the results had to beannounced; the boys would be leaving forhome; I would be dead tired; and so on and soforth, and when all these excuses failed, thatour vehicle had got into trouble. He was not tobe deterred by all these excuses. He said hewould be sending his own vehicle, but I mustcome. Still, I begged to be excused, saying, ‘Letus see next year, this time you leave me out.’On 31st morning, Brigadier Hari Singh, theCommandant of 99 Mountain Brigade sta-tioned there, who was to be the chief guest atthe BRTF function, was at the school to extendhis New Year greetings to me and the other

swamis; also to the staff and the students.While I was chatting with him in came MajorRawal Singh again to press me to accept the in-vitation. Finding Brigadier Hari Singh, his su-perior in the army hierarchy there, he directedhis words to him: ‘I am pressing swamiji tocome to the night function, but he is not agree-ing!’ Brigadier Hari Singh immediately said:‘No, no, swamiji, you should come. At least onesober person must be there to keep things in bal-ance!’ After that, what could I say? I had to sayyes.

‘I Drink No Ordinary Wine!’

Mr B K Nehru, the then Governor ofAssam and Meghalaya and also of ArunachalPradesh (NEFA, which had an administrativeset-up of its own), was one of the foremost,prominent persons who were instrumental inbringing the Ramakrishna Mission on theArunachal scene, if not the foremost and mostprominent. The administrative capital of Aru-nachal was then located in Shillong, the capitalof Assam and Meghalaya (Itanagar had notyet come into existence). So we had to frequentShillong at least once in a year, as our workwas very much intertwined with the Govern-mental machinery because of the circum-stances that gave rise to it, as already related.Whenever I went there, I made it a point to callon Mr Nehru to discuss matters regardingArunachal, particularly our work there, andalso as a matter of courtesy. On one occasion, Iwas invited to have lunch with him and MrsShobha Nehru, who, though of foreign origin,had become so identified with Indian cultureand tradition that she was hardly distinguish-able from our womenfolk, except for the col-our of the skin. Later on, Mrs Nehru rang meup to ask whether I could make it for dinner,instead of lunch, as two American ladies alsowere joining them for dinner and it was hergreat desire that I should meet them. I readilyagreed. Their limousine came to pick me up,and I was at their place at 8 pm sharp. Therewas an early candle-light dinner, with only

PB-JANUARY 2003 42


some two- or three-inch thick candles burningbright and illuminating the place, their mild,mellow glow giving a solemn look to the sur-roundings. Dinner over quickly withoutmuch ado, we retired to the huge lounge, andsettled down to an after-dinner talk in a re-laxed mood. There was a huge jar of alcohol onthe mantelpiece, from which Mr Nehrupoured one glass for himself and offered an-other to me. I said, ‘No thanks.’ ‘Why not,Swamiji? The Vedic seers used to drink soma,the drink of drinks!’ I quoted in reply a Bengalisong Sri Ramakrishna was very fond of, whichin translation reads like this:

I drink no ordinary wine,but Wine of Everlasting Bliss,

As I repeat my Mother Kali’s name;It so intoxicates my mind that

people take me to be drunk!First my guru gives molasses

for the making of the Wine;My longing is the ferment to transform it.Knowledge, the maker of the Wine,

prepares it for me then;And when it is done, my mind imbibes it

from the bottle of the mantra,Taking the Mother’s name to make it pure.Drink of this Wine, says Ramprasad,

and the four fruits of life are yours.3

And I rounded off my reply with the words:‘So, you see, I don’t need your ordinary wine.’He just smiled, and we fell to talking aboutmore serious things.

The talk slowly drifted to one SwamiAgehananda Sarasvati, a renegade monk,German or Austrian by birth, who for sometime had acted as an aide-de-camp to SubhasChandra Bose in Germany before he thoughtof taking to ochre robes; spent some years atour Ashrama at Mayavati; then left andworked for some time at Banaras Hindu Uni-versity; had his misadventures there; and wasdeported. He finally settled in America. A vo-racious reader, and eater, too, he had hisbright and dark sides, as everyone has. I toldMr Nehru all that I knew about him, and then

the talk of renunciation, sannyasa, the monas-tic ideal, cropped up, and we talked about itspros and cons in detail. Then, suddenly, hesaid abruptly, more in fun than seriously:‘Swamiji, I also often think: why not I re-nounce everything and become a monk? Whatdo you think?’ He was obviously having a digat Mrs Nehru when he said ‘everything’, refer-ring to her by the term. She was quick to catchthe drift of his words and retorted with appro-priate riposte: ‘Yes, yes, you can give me up,but that thing in your hand, that you will neverbe able to give up.’ And we all had a goodlaugh.

The Need to Befriend One and All

On another occasion, a new commandanthad taken charge of the BRTF, Colonel Pat-wardhan by name. He was taken aback seeingme, a monk, at the party. He was greatly puz-zled why, of all persons, I was there. Finding asuitable opportunity, he drew me aside andquestioned me about it. Then I explained tohim in detail the whys and wherefores of it.The work we were engaged in needed our be-friending one and all—the tribals on the oneside and the government officials on the other,right from the topmost official down to the or-dinary menial. It was important to keep everyone in good humour, however irksome, irri-tating or inconvenient. For you would notknow whose help you would need and whenin that difficult terrain. These parties providedthe opportunity to mix with one and all freelyand keep in contact with one another, how-ever galling and wearisome it might be for usmonks. We had to put up with this much ofdiscomfort for the sake of a greater good. Ourwork in the area was supposed to bring abouta revolution in the life of the local people. Itwas expected to usher in a new era of peaceand prosperity there. He understood. In thisconnection I narrated to him how his own or-ganization (BRTF and GREF) had been of in-valuable assistance to us in our work. In hispredecessors’ time their guesthouse at

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Likabali (from where the climb started forAlong, 90 miles away) was always available tous in our travel from Along to and fro. Theirworkshops in both the places were at our ser-vice any time of the day or night. It is the BRTFpeople who had reconstructed overnight thebamboo structures housing the boys in ourhostel that were burnt because of a short cir-cuit. This electrical connection itself they hadgone out of their way to fix up, bypassing theusual, tardy bureaucratic procedures. Again,it is they who had arranged for the feeding ofthe boys from their kitchen in the meanwhile.They had rescued us on innumerable occa-sions when we were stranded on the roads be-cause of various causes. As, for example, on

the very first day of my arrival, when the roadto Along was blocked by a big landslide. Theconsequent slush that covered up the road be-cause of incessant rain had made the move-ment of vehicles difficult. It was their menwho had cleared it up in no time.

And there were two occasions when Iwas stuck up on the way for six days continu-ously. The first time was when I was returningfrom Delhi, where I had gone on some urgentwork. I arrived in Dibrugarh by plane withoutmy luggage, which had by mistake beenloaded onto another plane. The Brahmaputra

was in full spate. I was stranded there for sixdays with only one set of clothes, and it wasonly with the help of the BRTF people that Icould cross over and reach Along safely. Onthe second occasion, I had gone to Jorhat tomeet the swami whom I succeeded, andwhom I had invited to Along to see the fru-ition of the work for which he had worked sohard. He was to land there, but did not. Iwaited for two days, and then decided to re-turn to Along. I went to the BRTF guest houseat Likabali on the way, where a phone mes-sage was waiting for me from the swami say-ing that he would be arriving from Dibrugarhthe next day by boat at Sonarighat, 30 kilo-metres away. I went to Sonarighat the next

day but he did not turn up.On my return to the guesthouse there was anothercall from the swami sayingthat he had already reachedAlong by a military sortie.It was evening. Now that hehad already reached Along,I decided to proceedstraightaway to Along,frustrated after a fruitlesssix-day hunt for the swami.I just thought of informingthe BRTF office. While Iwas climbing up, our jeepcaught fire. Luckily thejawans of the BRTF werethere nearby playing vol-

leyball. Immediately they rushed in anddoused the fire. Naturally I had to stay back atthe BRTF guest house for the night. The nextday they repaired the vehicle, and I left forAlong. If the previous evening I had pro-ceeded further and the jeep had caught fire,what would have been my fate? I had a mirac-ulous escape indeed. But for the help of theBRTF people this would have been impossi-ble.

Colonel Patwardhan was amazed andwonderstruck to hear all this. Unbelievable, a

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The hostel building with its kitchen and dormitories

story taken out of a novel! That was his feelingor reaction. However, he then asked me whathe should do: should he invite me to his partiesor not? I told him to follow his predeces-sor—to invite me only to a private, quiet eve-ning tea or dinner, not to the parties. He didthis, but could not avoid prevailing upon meto be present at his parties too. Others weredoing this, and he would be a black sheep if hedid not follow suit. At a subsequent partythrown by the civil administration in honourof the visiting Governor, he was observing mekeenly from a distance, what I was taking andwhat not, and what I was doing. Then he qui-etly came to me and asked: ‘How are you en-joying, Swamiji?’ I replied: ‘What is there forme to enjoy here? The atmosphere here is suf-focating. I come to give joy to others, not to en-joy myself.’

Tribal Feasts and Festivals

The most trying of such experiences waswhen we had to attend the feasts and festivalsof the tribals either in Along or outside in thevillages. As soon as we entered a village, thewomenfolk, in their most attractive attire,would just rush to greet us with great enthusi-asm, and take us to the place of merriment, fullof joy and affection, holding our hands, one oneach side, and on reaching the spot we had todance with them, going round and round in acircle, the so-called ponung dance, to the tuneand rhythm of their folk songs. If Mr BokenEte was there, we would be saved. He wouldsomehow persuade them to leave us to our-selves, and they always heeded his words.Otherwise, woe betide us! We had to complywith their wishes, willy-nilly, and we did sogracefully. We had gone there to serve them,and we could not afford to offend their senti-ments and ignore their expressions of love andaffection, however distasteful they were to us.

Then, there were the two most importantfestivals of theirs in the year, Mopin andSolung, when we would be smeared with ricepowder mixed with apong, their home-made

brew, just like coloured powder during ourHoli. Awfully smelling to our unaccustomednoses! But we had to put up with it for hours inhonour of their custom. And we did it will-ingly, committed as we were to their service,welfare, and uplift.

Then the witnessing of the sacrifice of an-imals, specially their most sacred mithun, hugein size and similar in look to buffaloes, how-ever painful it was to our sensibilities. It wastheir faith and belief that the gods would bepleased with this sacred act, and it would begoing against the grain of our philosophy try-ing to forcibly stop the practice prevalent fromtime immemorial. Had not our own Krishnadeclared in the Bhagavadgita: ‘The wise manshould not unsettle the faith of the ignorantwho are devoted to their own form of worship(literally, attached to work). He should stabi-lize their faith by his own example and takethem slowly to higher forms of worship.’4

And we followed Krishna’s words im-plicitly. Once a foetus was found inside an ani-mal after it was strangled to death, as is theway of sacrifice adopted by the Minyong tribe,and another time the man appointed for thepurpose was a raw hand, belonging to theyounger generation and could not, as is thepractice with the other tribe, Gallongs, landthe axe properly and with the force needed,with the result that the animal escaped withthe axe having pierced only half through itsneck. Heartrending as both these sights were, Ibraved the ordeal with as smiling a face aspossible, with determination, trusting toKrishna’s above dictate.

Encomiums Showered on Our Work

With so much attention paid to us wewere naturally elated. Who wouldn’t be? Suchadoration, such unheard of accolades andwords of praise and appreciation streaming ina continuous flow! Encomiums showered onus unabated! Tributes galore! And paeanssung in our honour! The cynosure of all eyes!It is really a wonder that we did not go mad,

45 PB-JANUARY 2003


puffed up with pride and jubilant as we were.After all, what we had achieved or done tillthen was just a speck compared to what wasyet to come. However, a few of these encour-aging pats on the back we received I may aswell share with the readers, for they make forinteresting reading.

For the dignitaries who came on some er-rand or other to Along, a visit to our schoolwas a must. Otherwise, most of them wouldconsider their coming to Along incompleteand devoid of any true worth and content. Sothey would somehow try to squeeze in sometime out of their busy schedule to pay at least aflying visit to our institution. More often thannot, it would be in the evenings, the attraction

being the evening prayers by the hostel boysin Hindi, Sanskrit and Bengali, besides theirown mother tongue Adi. On one such occa-sion, a Sikh top brass of the army had come.After the fifteen-minute prayer session, he ex-claimed, exulting in surprise: ‘Swamiji, howcould you sit motionless that long with eyesshut, or how could the boys themselves, towhom it must be a new, strange experience, besitting like statues, with only their lips movingin prayer? I was feeling so restless and out ofsorts.’ What could I say in reply? I just smiledand said: ‘You are wondering at our action!On the other hand, we are always wonderinghow you people in the army face the bulletswithout winking your eyes a bit, without a

murmur and without a trace of fear, dreadfulas the sound of guns in the battlefields is for allof us. How do you do it? Everything is a ques-tion of practice, don’t you think so?’ Each isgreat in his own place, as Swami Vivekanandasaid.

Another notable figure who graced theinstitution by calling on us was one GeneralKrishnan (or was he a Brigadier?). Again itwas prayer time. He told us later what waspassing through his mind as he sat there si-lently, meditating. He hailed from South In-dia. A brahmin by birth, he had been broughtup in its hoary tradition of worship and medi-tation right from his childhood, but had prac-tically lost contact with it as he grew up, espe-

cially after joining the army. Inhis ancestral home he had seena photo of Sri Ramakrishnahanging on the wall. He hadnever felt the necessity or curi-osity to know anything abouthim. There were, as is usual inevery Hindu household ofyore, pictures of many saintsand sages, besides of gods andgoddesses, and he had taken itfor granted that this was also ofone such common brood ofsaints and sages. But, now, as

he was listening intently to the prayers withundivided attention, and was looking at thelife- size photo of Sri Ramakrishna in theprayer hall with a fixed gaze, his childhoodmemories revived, and he kept on wondering:‘Is it not the same person whose photo adorn-ed the wall of my house, which I had been see-ing ever since my boyhood, and yet had nevercared to even inquire who he was. But nowlook at this miracle! These tribal boys, whoseancestors were till recently living in primitiveconditions, and perhaps many of their kithand kin even now do, singing songs so melo-diously in Sanskrit, Hindi and Bengali, andchanting the Vedic hymns with such clear ac-cent and pronunciation, which may put to

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We always had pride of place at all thefunctions organized and dinner parties

thrown, either by the civil administrationor the military. The idea was that the

tribals would automatically be convincedthat we are somebody worthy of regard and

veneration when the officers, whom thetribals addressed as nigams, and looked

upon with awe and respect, honoured us.

shame any modern brahmin from South In-dia! And their manners and behaviour worthyof emulation by anybody! So perfect and po-lite! Who are they, living in this remote cornerof India? And who is Ramakrishna born infar-off Kamarpukur? What connection be-tween the two? Yet, is He not the one who hasbrought about this transformation? Hail toThee, Ramakrishna, the Embodiment of Loveand Perfection! Mercy and Kindness Incar-nate! The Saviour of the Fallen and Downtrod-den!’

Next day, I again met him at the partyhosted by the 55 Mountain Brigade stationedthere. Of course, as had become the practice, Iwas made to sit beside him, the chief guest ofthe evening. A barbecue meal was in readi-ness. He was closely observing me, with aglass of a cool drink in my hand and a platefilled with only vegetarian dishes, and thenopened out his heart to me: ‘I am reallywonderstruck at the liberality and broad out-look of you Ramakrishna monks. Two or threedays before I was there at your centre inNarottam Nagar. The swami offered me eggsand some egg preparations. I was astonished. Icouldn’t believe my eyes. The swami assuredme that he himself did not touch them. Butthese boys are accustomed to taking meat andsuch things from their very birth, and accord-ing to Swami Vivekananda’s directive and in-junction, he did not have the least hesitation toserve them these and whatever else they areused to from their very birth. His breadth ofvision really carried me off my feet. And hereit has literally taken my breath away to see youin our midst. It must surely be the most com-promising situation to you, the atmospherethe most unholy and the surroundings mostunhealthy and yet you are sitting here withoutbatting an eyelid! No supercilious look, nordisdainful demeanour! No holier-than-thouattitude either! This is what I like most aboutthe Ramakrishna people: their universal out-look, their broadmindedness and bigness ofheart, and whose spirit of equality and egali-

tarianism I have seen at their best in these twoinstitutions.’

But the best comments on our work werethose by Mrs Shobha Nehru and the wife ofthat tribal leader of Pasighat, the most vener-ated Botuk Mayung. Mrs Nehru had come toinaugurate the new wing of our school. Whatshe said in a spontaneous outburst after goinground the institution and witnessing the vari-ous programmes put up by our boys and girlswas sweet music to our ears. ‘Your school,Swamiji,’ she said, ‘can compare with anypublic school in the country.’ ‘Only see that awastepaper basket is kept ready at hand’, sheadded, seeing none when she wanted to throwsomething.

Mrs Mayung had come with her husbandto attend a kebang, a large gathering of tribalsfrom all parts of Arunachal Pradesh, to dis-cuss and decide on some important matter ofconcern to them. Both of them paid a visit tothe school also, and had tea and snacks withus. When once I had to visit Pasighat subse-quently, I paid a return courtesy visit on them.While we were having snacks and tea withthem, I saw her whispering something to ourDeputy Commissioner, who was with methen, in her own Adi language, as she knew noother. I asked the Commissioner what she wastalking about. I was really taken aback bywhat she had said. ‘She says, Swamiji,’ he said,‘that she is wondering how swamiji is sittingin this “dirty” humble cottage of theirs.“Swamiji’s quarters and the whole surround-ings of the school and hostel, I saw when wehad been to Along, were so spick and span soholy and pure, that I was afraid to step onthem with my dirty feet.”’ I was astounded byher remarks, but I still cherish them the mostin my heart. What better reward can there befor all the efforts we put in to build up the in-stitution and improve the condition of thepeople? It flatters my ego even now, aftermore than three decades, whenever I recall herwords and think of this ingenuous response ofhers for what little we did or had done for her

47 PB-JANUARY 2003


people.No, no, please wait, that is not the end of

the story, the last word on the subject! Hearthis, and you will realize for yourself. One eve-ning a boy, named Bomi Lingi, hardly four orfive, arrived with his father at the portals ofour hostel. They had travelled some threehundred or four hundred miles, the fathertold us, at the insistence of the boy. The boyhad heard from someone that there was aschool run by the Ramakrishna Mission,where boys and girls were getting good edu-cation, and he was eager to join it. He wouldnot let go his father until he took him there. Iwas wonderstruck and dumbfounded. Wehad no alternative but to ask the father to leavethe boy in the hostel. I was reminded of a Ben-gali song on Ramakrishna by Swami Abheda-nanda, in which the following line occurs: ‘Nadekhe nam sune kane man giye lipto holo. OMother, what a marvel it is! I have not seenThee, but have only heard about Thee. But bymerely hearing about Thee, my mind is auto-

matically drawn to Thee and has become com-pletely absorbed in Thee!’ And there is an-other Sanskrit hymn to Sri Ramakrishna com-posed by the same swami: ‘Ùrutvá tu te námabhavanti bhaktáë/ Dìøôvá vayaó na tu bhakti-yuktáë. We have seen you day in and day out,we have been in contact with you day andnight, yet have not developed true devotion toyou in earnest. But these people are throngingto you in hundreds with utmost devotion bymerely hearing about you! How wonderfuland amazing!’

The case of this boy, was it not something

similar? He simply heard about the Rama-krishna Mission School and wanted to join it,just an urchin though he was! I used to call himAtmaram, ‘Self-satisfied’, because the eveninghe came all the boys had gone to see a picturein the town, and none of us swamis knew hislanguage. So he had to fend for himself afterthe father had left. That did not bother him atall. He engaged himself in some game of hisown innovation until the other boys returned.His eagerness to be in our school was so great.‘Was this not a bright feather in our cap?’ Ithought. Within a few days he was a differentpersonality, of which later.

Brickbats Hurled

This is not to say that everything wassmooth sailing—all honey and butter, a bed ofroses always. There were brickbats too; trialsand tribulations in plenty to try our patience tothe utmost. Funds were hard to come by. Earlypromises and the interest and enthusiasm ofthe men at the top notwithstanding, the hands

of the government, for reasonsof its own, were tied in releasingthe needed funds freely andwhen necessary. Food was fru-gal, with not even milk to sparein sufficient quantity. No elec-tricity, no toilet facility, livingconditions barely minimum,Dibrugarh a hundred milesaway, across the turbulentBrahmaputra (a boat ride of

three hours for a ten- minute straight drive, ifit were possible), being the nearest station toget our essentials like furniture. There weremany other constraints, purely social and cul-tural, not to say religious, that obtained in thesocial and religious milieu we had to work in.There were anxious moments when officers,both civil and military, changed. We had aharrowing time if they happened to be hostileto us. Not fully acquainted with the back-ground of our work, they were often very un-sympathetic to us. And there was still a section

PB-JANUARY 2003 48


We had to comply with their wishes,willy-nilly, and we did so gracefully. We

had gone there to serve them, and we couldnot afford to offend their sentiments andignore their expressions of love, however

distasteful they were to us.

of the tribals inclined to Christian missionarieswho were not reconciled to our being there.However much the administration and we as-sured them that our interest was the educationof their children, as Swami Vivekananda him-self had commanded us,5 and that Hinduismwas not at all an evangelizing religion, theywere not fully convinced. There was always alurking suspicion in their minds that we werethere to convert subtly. They were trying toput hurdles on our way.

To mention one incident, there was oncea big kebang, the meeting of the elders of theirsociety, apparently to discuss some urgentmatters affecting them, but mainly to discussthe question, the real mo-tive behind our workthere. A tribal officer of theadministration broughtthe earlier mentionedBatuk Mayung and hiswife to our school to seethings for themselves. Icould easily guess his in-tention: to show them ourshrine and to convincethem that we were there toproselytize. Of course, inour shrine was a picture ofJesus Christ too, alongwith those of Sri Ramakri-shna and the founders ofthree other major reli-gions: Buddhism, Jainism and Zoroastri-anism. No symbol being permissible to repre-sent Mohammedanism, there was none. As Iwas having tea with them in our lounge, athought flitted across my mind: they wouldsurely like to see our shrine, which was gor-geous, a star attraction of the place, and if Iasked them to remove their shoes before en-tering, the said gentleman would immediatelymake an issue of it, if not raise a hue and cry,and tell Mr Batuk: ‘See, I told you they arepropagating Hindu customs and manners’,though in theory at least no Hindu scripture,

as far as my knowledge goes, proscribes tak-ing shoes inside a shrine. It is only the Biblewhich specifically prohibits it: ‘Put off thyshoes from thy feet: for the place where thoustandest is holy ground.’6 Anyway, I had de-cided within myself that I would not object totheir taking the shoes within if they chose todo so. But, strange to say, the gentleman him-self, as also the other two, removed their shoesthemselves before entering the shrine. I wassaved from an embarrassing situation.

But the said officer would not leavethings at that. He admitted his boy in ourschool and hostel and then went on complain-ing every now and then about trivial things.

For example, his son had scabies once. Thatwas enough for him to kick up a row. I toldhim: ‘You see, I cannot promise or guaranteethat the children will not get scabies or other-wise not fall sick. But you ask your boywhether his scabies had been attended to ornot, whether he had been taken to the doctoror not, and whether the prescribed medicineshad been given to him or not.’ The boy said allthese had been done. That would not satisfyhim, however. He still continued objecting tothis or that. Finally I told him: ‘We have comehere only to serve you, and will do whatever

49 PB-JANUARY 2003


The author speaking on the occasion of the school’s inauguration

PB-JANUARY 2003 50


you think is best for your children. But, beforewe do that, you stay here for a few days withus, and then, after closely observing every-thing tell us if anything is wrong with what weare doing in the children’s interests.’ That si-lenced him. Of course, he knew everythingwas going fine, but was objecting only for ob-jection’s sake.

Such pinpricks were innocuous andharmless in themselves, flimsy as they were.But when they came from officers, even juniorones, whether of the civil administration orthe military, they were of much nuisance andgreat hindrance to the smooth working of theinstitution, and in carrying on the normal

day-to-day activity quietly without a hitch. Ifthey were to be from the Deputy Commis-sioner, who was the monarch of the district, orthe Governor and his advisor, who were thesupreme authorities in the administration,matters did really come to a head and madethings difficult to manage. And we had manysuch occasions. Mostly when their objectivesand ways of working were not in consonance,if not directly in conflict, with the ideals of theMission or the monastic ideal. And we hadhad the mortification of facing trumped-upcharges of negligence of our duties towardsthe children and the public; or false accusa-tions of moral decrepitude and not keeping up

the decorum of office or social behaviour; orcarping criticism at every step; worst of all,character assassination.

Swamiji Was Our Real Strength

But we could brave all this because therewere these encouraging words of SwamiVivekananda, ‘There are people who areready to pick holes in everything.’ (6.356) ‘… Inever saw a man who could satisfy everyone.’(8.471) ‘… Be brave and face everything—come good, come evil, both welcome, both ofyou my play. … If the universe tumbles roundmy ears, what is that to me? I am Peace thatpasseth understanding.’ (8.505) And there was

his own personal example tosustain us throughout. Had henot himself faced situations amillion times more challengingand difficult, and character as-sassination of the worst sort,than what we were ever con-fronted with; and that, too, in aforeign country like America,which was not the same a hun-dred years back as it is todayand was specially hostile to for-eigners, particularly religiouspreachers? ‘Fifty years ago,’Ingersoll, the famous atheist,had indeed warned him, ‘youwould have been hanged in this

country if you had come to preach, or youwould have been stoned out of the villages.’7

His words of anguish in this connection were:‘I am sorry for poor Mazoomdar that heshould stoop so low!! He says that I am leadinga bestially unchaste life with Americanwomen!! Lord bless the old boy—women ofAmerica know better of me I hope.’ (2.84) Andthen again: ‘Now I do not care what they evenof my own people say about me—except forone thing. I have an old mother. She has suf-fered much all her life and in the midst of allshe could bear to give me up for the service ofGod and man—but to have given up the most

‘Swamiji’s quarters and the wholesurroundings of the school and hostel, Isaw when we had been to Along, were so

spick and span so holy and pure, that I wasafraid to step on them with my dirty feet.’ I

was astounded by her remarks, but I stillcherish them the most in my heart. What

better reward can there be for all theefforts we put in to build up the institution

and improve the condition of the people?

beloved of her children—her hope—to live abeastly immoral life in a far distant coun-try—as Mazoomdar was telling in Calcuttawould have simply killed her.’ (2.85) ‘Thegreat Hindi poet Tulasidas in the benedictionto his translation of the Ramayan says “I bowdown to both the wicked and the holy, but alasfor me they are both equally torturers—thewicked begin to torture me as soon as theycome in contact with me—the good alas takemy life away when the leave me.” I say amen tothis. … But these things must come—thoumusic of my beloved’s flute—lead on, I am fol-lowing.’ (2.102-3) ‘Every ounce of fame canonly be bought at the cost of a pound of peaceand holiness.’ (2.106) And then these comfort-ing words: ‘”All noble undertakings arefraught with obstacles.” It is quite in the na-ture of things. Keep up the deepest mentalpoise. Take not even the slightest notice ofwhat puerile creatures may be saying againstyou. Indifference, indifference, indifference!’(2.118) ‘Glory unto Jagadamba [Mother of theUniverse]—I have gained beyond expecta-tions—the prophet has been honoured andwith a vengeance. I am weeping like a child atHis mercy—He never leaves his servant, sis-ters … .’ (2.116) ‘But the Lord is great, none caninjure His children.’8 ‘Some would call you asaint, some a candala: some a lunatic, others ademon. Go on then straight to thy work with-out heeding either.’9

With these sterling words ringing in our

ears, we applied ourselves to the task at handwith renewed vigour, not looking this side orthat, notwithstanding innumerable obstacleson the way. Every tree that stands there today,to save which we had to spend sleeplessnights, is a living witness to the drops of bloodshed for the cause by everyone.

(to be continued)

References1. See Marie Louise Burke, Swami Vivekananda in

the West: New Discoveries, 6 vols. (Calcutta:Advaita Ashrama, 1992), vol. 1, His PropheticMission, 35. See also Prabuddha Bharata, May1955, 210.

2. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9vols. (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1-8, 1989; 9,1997), 3.297.

3. M., The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, trans. SwamiNikhilananda (Madras: Sri RamakrishnaMath, 1985), 95.

4. Na buddhibhedaó janayed-ajðánáó karmasaïginám;

Joøayet sarvakarmáîividván yuktaë samácaran.

—Bhagavadgita, 3.26.5. ‘Our work should be mainly educational, both

moral and intellectual.’ —CW, 7.208.6. Acts, 7.33.7. See New Discoveries, vols. 1 and 2.8. CW, 7.462.9. ibid., 7.468.

51 PB-JANUARY 2003


Ayoung business executive phoned his foreign representative one day and tersely announced: ‘I am

calling to give instructions. This call will last no more than three minutes. I shall speak and you are not

to interrupt. Any comments or queries you have are to be cabled to me later.

With that he went on to deliver his message. His delivery was so rapid that he finished a little ahead of

time. ‘We have twenty seconds left,’ he told the man at the other end. ‘Have you anything to say?’

‘Yes,’ came the reply. ‘You spoke so fast I couldn’t understand a word.’

Personal Development versus Social Well-being

SWAMI BRAHMESHANANDA

Which is more important: social wel-fare or personal development, upliftof society or attainment of personal

goals, social interest or self-interest, the benefitof society or personal interest? This is a peren-nial question. Throughout human history andin every country, there have been advocates ofboth the views.

Different Views on the Subject

Protagonists of self-development or indi-vidual welfare over social uplift argue that so-ciety is after all an aggregate of individuals,and it can only advance to the extent its indi-vidual members improve. That society is

better which contains a larger number of indi-viduals with great achievements and noblecharacter. So more stress must be laid on indi-vidual development for society to flourish as awhole, because the very purpose of social or-ganization is the betterment of the individual.

Advocates of the opposite view—that so-ciety is more important than the individual—have their own arguments. They say that manis a social animal, and as long as he does notactively involve himself in social welfare, hecannot even obtain personal happiness. Such aperson gets alienated and becomes abnormal.

Besides, since an individual lives in society, heis constantly subject to the influence of socialforces, which, if favourable, conduce to his de-velopment. No individual progress is possiblein a disharmonious or backward society.Seeking personal gains is selfishness, and noindividual must be allowed to pursue them atthe cost of society. Society must exert suffi-cient control over the individual.

While the individualists insist that the in-dividual must be allowed fullest personalfreedom to pursue his own personal aims,goals and targets, the socialists on the otherhand believe that social goals must be givenpriority over individual gains.

A third group of thinkerstry to strike a balance betweenthe two views by stating thatboth the individual and societyare equally important. That thetwo influence each other cannotbe denied, and the freedomgiven to the individual varies indifferent societies. In some soci-eties there is religious freedombut hardly any social freedom.In others there is enough social

liberty but little scope to express and pursueone’s religious preferences.

The Four Castes and the Four Values

In Hinduism the problem of social versusindividual benefits was resolved in a uniqueway. For individuals, Hindu sages set fourgoals or aims to pursue, which they called thefour purusharthas: dharma (righteousness),artha (wealth), kama (desire) and moksha (lib-eration). Again, they divided society into fourcastes (varnas) and four stations of life(ashramas) , clearly delineating the duties and

PB-JANUARY 2003 52

One is inclined to believe that brahmanaswere more prone to seeking moksha;

kshatriyas, or the warrior class, dharma;vaishyas, or the trader class, artha, or

wealth; and shudras or the labour class,kama, the fulfilment of material, worldly,

sensual desires.

responsibilities of each. This is called varnash-rama dharma. Each one was supposed to fol-low his or her specified code of righteous con-duct, and through it gain wealth, fulfilment ofdesires and even final freedom, or spiritualemancipation. And this code was to be fol-lowed quite rigidly. While dharma, or socialcode of conduct, was the main purushartha, orthe goal aspired after, for the members of allcastes, one is inclined to believe that brahma-nas were more prone to seekingmoksha; kshatriyas, or the war-rior class, dharma; vaishyas, orthe trader class, artha, orwealth; and shudras or the la-bour class, kama, the fulfilmentof material, worldly, sensualdesires. Rama and Krishnawere kshatriyas; so were thefive Pandavas. Their life andexploits are described in detailin the two epics Ramayana andMahabharata, which are the greatest dhar-mashastras of the Hindus. The brahmanaswere supposed to be the most cultured, whilethe shudras, the least. Hence the above generalobservation that the four castes followed thefour purusharthas.

The Pursuit of Dharma

But what about the conflict between indi-vidual dharma and social dharma? There areenough examples of this conflict and theirpossible answers in the Ramayana and theMahabharata. In the Ramayana, for example,Dasharatha observes his personal dharma—of granting the two boons he had promised toKaikeyi—but it was detrimental to social wel-fare, and injustice was meted out to Rama.Rama and Bharata, however, acted so wiselythat they were not only able to make the bestuse of the two boons for the good of society,but also fulfilled their personal dharma.

Let us take an example from the Maha-bharata. Considered one of the most righteouspersonalities, Bhishma decided to fight on the

side of the Kauravas, who were basically un-righteous. When asked about the validity ofhis act, he said that dharma was always per-sonal. A hint of a similar attitude is found alsoin the Bhagavadgita. Sri Krishna virtuallygoads Arjuna to fight, totally disregarding theevil social consequences of war Arjuna de-scribes in the first chapter of the book. Instead,Arjuna was asked to set an example of strictlyfollowing his own svadharma—personal

code of righteousness—for people to emulate.A similar hint is found also in the Katha Upa-nishad, wherein Nachiketa advises his fatherto follow the examples of ancient people andset an example for posterity. Indeed, one feelsthat the stress in the Hindu scriptures is en-tirely on the observance of individual dharmaand the social gains that accrue from it.

The Pursuit of Artha and Kama

What about the pursuit of artha—acqui-sition of wealth as the goal of personalendeavour? Although theoretically one canearn wealth without greed, in practice it ap-pears impossible. One may also argue thattrade and industry, which generate wealth,also indirectly benefit society. In ancient timesthere were merchants called shreshthis, whodid a lot for society as well, like building resthouses, sinking wells and digging ponds.However, with the modern exploitative com-mercialization of the whole society, it is almostcertain that the pursuit of wealth as a personalaim cannot conduce to the welfare of society.

53 PB-JANUARY 2003

Personal Development versus Social Well-being 45

The very concept of yajna is sociological.You must give back what you havereceived—nay, much more than that—andnot only to the person from whom you havereceived, but to all beings—divine, humanand subhuman—who may not have doneany direct service to you.

Nor can seeking fulfilment of one’s de-sires, kama, conduce to social welfare. Butthere is a bright side to this too. Swami Vive-kananda was of the opinion that a certainamount of luxury in society would generateemployment for the masses.

Social Commandments

Before taking up for discussion thefourth and final purushartha, moksha, and itssocial implications, let us study briefly the so-cial commandments of the Hindus. It has al-

ready been mentioned that the division of so-ciety into four varnas was mainly a social one,essentially based on duties and responsibili-ties, and not on rights and privileges. A brah-mana’s duty was to promote learning andcarry out priestly duties. A kshatriya was ex-pected to rule, defend the country and imple-ment law and order. A vaishya was supposedto engage in trade and commerce, agricultureand animal husbandry. And it was the duty ofa shudra to serve others and to do works re-quiring physical labour, including menialwork.

There were also other injunctions calledishta and purta karmas, which, too, were pri-marily social in nature—meant to pay back thedebt one owes to the supreme Spirit, the gods,the ancestors and humanity at large, and evensubhuman creatures. One must attend toguests and take care of domestic cattle, pets

and even birds and insects! These were calledthe five yajnas, sacrifices. The very concept ofyajna is sociological. You must give back whatyou have received—nay, much more thanthat—and not only to the person from whomyou have received, but to all beings—divine,human and subhuman—who may not havedone any direct service to you. You are a partof a cosmic, composite whole made up of hu-man beings, animals, birds, insects, plants,trees and forests—in fact, the whole of nature.You have to contribute to the well-being of

this whole, for the well-being ofthe unit depends on the healthand well-being of the whole.This is the idea behind the con-cept of yajna.

Purta karmas includebuilding of temples, resthouses, digging of ponds, andthe like. A person with re-sources or wealth inadequatefor such undertakings was ex-pected to contribute his mite tosuch projects.

Patanjali’s Yama and Niyama

Patanjali’s system of yoga has eight steps.The first two, yama and niyama, consist of fivemoral virtues each. The five yamas are the uni-versal ethical codes: non-violence, truthful-ness, non-stealing, chastity and non-covetous-ness. The five niyamas are purity, contentment,austerity, study of the scriptures and a spirit ofself-surrender to God. It will be noticed thatwhile the five niyamas are essentially personalvalues, the five yamas are basically social intheir implications. Violence or non- violence ismeaningless in the absence of another being;truthfulness relates to someone who testifiesto it; stealing or non-stealing is concerned withanother’s possession; chastity or sex indul-gence also depends upon two individuals;non-covetousness also means giving up all de-sire to possess more than what one reallyneeds, thus not depriving others who have

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A mere observance of personal purity,contentment, leading an austere life,

studying the scriptures and self-surrenderwill be of no avail if the virtues under yama

are not cultivated. On the contrary, noharm will befall a person if he strictly

follows the five yamas, even if he does notobserve in toto the five niyamas.

less than what they need. It is significant tonote that far greater emphasis has been laidupon the observance of yama than niyama. Amere observance of personal purity, content-ment, leading an austere life, studying thescriptures and self-surrender will be of noavail if the virtues under yama are not culti-vated. On the contrary, no harm will befall aperson if he strictly follows the five yamas,even if he does not observe in toto the fiveniyamas. Indeed, the sincere, selfless fulfilmentof a social commitment is a far greater disci-pline than the practice of austerities or indi-vidual study of the scriptures.

The Pursuit of Moksha, the Ultimate Value

Let us now take up the all-importantquestion of the social implications of the pur-suit of moksha, or spiritual liberation. In San-skrit the pursuit of moksha is called nivrittiand that of all other values, including even so-cial welfare, pravritti. These two—pravritti andnivritti—are thought contraryto each other. One enters thepath of nivritti only after onehas achieved the goal ofpravritti or is disillusioned by it.Typically, such a sincere aspi-rant after moksha withdrawsfrom the world, takes to mo-nastic life and leads a contem-plative life in solitude. He is vir-tually dead to the world andcannot apparently have anyuseful function for society. Thatis the reason why such seekers after mokshahave been dubbed good-for-nothing escap-ists.

Seekers of salvation, too, consider theworld and its botherations a serious distrac-tion. In the words of Swami Vivekananda,they view the world as ‘a dirty hole’ fromwhich one must get out as quickly as possible.To attempt to improve society, they believe, isas futile as to try to straighten a dog’s curlytail. They have enough support for this in the

teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, who on a num-ber of occasions dissuaded spiritual aspirantsfrom taking up philanthropic activities likestarting schools and hospitals. Swami Viveka-nanda himself had to face stiff resistance fromhis own brother disciples when he wanted tostart relief works and such other welfare activ-ities.

Contrary to this attitude are Swami Vive-kananda’s teachings. He was of the firm opin-ion—and this he had learnt from none otherthan Sri Ramakrishna himself—that service toman, looking upon him as God, is the bestform of spiritual practice. It expands the heart,purifies the mind and trains the intellect. Toone of his disciples who wanted to devote histime exclusively to meditation, Swami Vive-kananda had warned: ‘You will go to hell ifyou try for your personal salvation.’ Else-where he said that a time comes when one re-alizes that one cannot have personal emanci-pation without the liberation of others, and

that preparing a chillum (a pipe for smokingtobacco) for others is as noble an act as medita-tion. To try to go ahead of others for salvationis a wrong attitude, he said.

A spiritual aspirant seeking personal sal-vation begins as a self-centred individual. Butreal spiritual unfoldment makes him sponta-neously more and more cosmo-centric. Hisconsciousness gradually expands until he fi-nally realizes his identity with the whole uni-verse. Then he cannot but engage in the wel-fare of the whole world.

55 PB-JANUARY 2003

Personal Development versus Social Well-being 47

A spiritual aspirant seeking personalsalvation begins as a self-centredindividual. But real spiritual unfoldmentmakes him spontaneously more and morecosmo-centric. His consciousness graduallyexpands until he finally realizes hisidentity with the whole universe.

No one can be a mystic without passingthrough rigorous self-discipline. This in itselfis a tremendous gain for society. The seeker af-ter Self-realization invariably sets in motion orgets associated with some socio-spiritualmovement or other, which in the long run ef-fects great good to society. A true mystic be-comes a force for social change. He inspirespeople to be more unselfish and lead re-strained lives. He spreads love and goodwillamong people, and thus indirectly bringsabout social cohesion.

Self-improvement and Social WelfareAre Not Contradictory

Let us conclude with two little tales thattry to reconcile social welfare and personal de-velopment. The first one relates to SwamiPremananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakri-shna and brother disciple of Swami Viveka-nanda. He was one of those few disciples whoin the beginning did not approve of the wel-fare activities introduced by Swami Viveka-nanda. According to him, meditation, prayer,scriptural study, ritualistic worship—in short,activities directly connected with the temple—were sacred or spiritual, whereas those per-taining to the world of men, like helping thehelpless and feeding the hungry, thoughgood, were nonetheless secular. So he wouldoften advise monastics to return to Belur Mathas soon as possible on completion of their wel-

fare projects, so that they spent the least timein the outside world doing secular works. Butonce he fell ill and went to the Varanasi Homeof Service for treatment and to recoup hishealth. There he went through some of the vol-umes of the Complete Works of SwamiVivekananda that had just been published. Anda veil of misunderstanding, as it were, fellfrom his mind. He realized that Swamiji neverspoke of service to ‘man’. To him man wasGod. And indeed he always insisted on serv-ing not man, but the divinity latent in him. Inthat case, there remains nothing secular. Everyact becomes sacred. Nursing the sick and feed-ing the hungry then become acts no less sacredthan meditation on God— nay, even superior.

The second is a Buddhist story. A jugglerhad a disciple and the two used to perform to-gether, one balancing the other. Instructingthe disciple, the juggler once said that duringthe performance the disciple must pay atten-tion to him, the master, so that he may not falldown and get hurt. The disciple, however, dis-agreed and said that if each fully concentratedon his own performance, that would assurethe safety of both.

Indeed, rightly done, there cannot be anydifference between the sacred and the secular,between self-improvement and social welfare.‘Atmano mokshartham jagaddhitaya cha, forone’s own salvation and for the welfare of theworld’ is a most comprehensive ideal. �

PB-JANUARY 2003 56


Happiness

True philosopher that he was, Socrates believed that the wise person would instinctively lead a frugal

life. He himself would not even wear shoes; yet he constantly fell under the spell of the marketplace

and would go there often to look at all the wares on display.

When one of his friends asked why, Socrates said, ‘I love to go there and discover how many things I am

perfectly happy without.’

Swami Vivekananda Loved America

ASIM CHAUDHURI

How do I know that? Because the Swamihimself said so on many occasions. InMay 1896 he wrote to Mary Hale from

England: ‘But it is to Amerique—there wherethe heart is. I love the Yankee land. … InAmerica is the place, the people, the opportu-nity for everything.’1 This was not a statementby an awestruck Hindu monk at his initial ex-posure to the United States; he was expressingthis sentiment after spending close to threeyears in the country. By that time he knewwhat America was all about. He hit the nail onthe head when he mentioned the word ‘op-portunity’. Frederick Turner (1861-1932), anAmerican historian, once said,‘America has been anothername for opportunity.’2

What was so distinctiveabout America or Americansthat they could command suchlove, admiration and respectfrom Swami Vivekananda?What made them stand out?Once we know that, we willalso know why they were able to civilize aStone Age wilderness in just four centuries,when Europeans took sixty,3 or what inspiredthem to build the most productive, wealthyand powerful nation in the world.

For answers, we have to look back atAmerica as Swami Vivekananda saw her. Wehave to study his personal views and percep-tive observations, and try to relate them to theprevailing American beliefs, culture and corevalues.

Cultural Forces in America

The distinctive traits and institutions ofAmericans are due in part to their pioneeringpast. Hammond and Morrison4 conducted a

provocative study of the seven macro-culturalforces that fuel the American way of life, andhave been driving the American people sincethe birth of this country. These are the sevenforces: insistence on choice, pursuit of impos-sible dreams, obsession with big and more,impatience with time, acceptance of mistakes,urge to improvise and, finally, fixation with‘whatsnew’.

Now, what is a cultural force? Culturecan be thought of as knowledge of music, liter-ature, painting or other arts. But it can also bethought of as emanating from a set of simple,fundamental beliefs. Expressed in the behav-

iours of the culture’s elders, these beliefs canbe adopted by successive generations andthus become ingrained as culture. And thatwas what Hammond and Morrison were re-ferring to.

Swami Vivekananda did not specificallymention these cultural forces by name, butmost of what he observed and remarkedabout America and Americans was the resultsof these cultural forces in action. As we exam-ine some fundamental American beliefs, weshall see that cultural forces are the vehiclesthat transform beliefs into action.

Primary Beliefs

Necessity is the mother of invention. It

57 PB-JANUARY 2003

Swami Vivekananda Loved America

These are the seven forces: insistence onchoice, pursuit of impossible dreams,obsession with big and more, impatiencewith time, acceptance of mistakes, urge toimprovise and, finally, fixation with‘whatsnew’.

also moulded the cultural beliefs of the earlyAmerican settlers, which have prevailed eversince. The early settlers faced extreme hard-ship, and the first necessity for survival waswork—hard work, and plenty of it. So, thesewere the primary American beliefs: everyonemust work, people must benefit from theirwork, and manual work is respectable.5

Take the primary belief ‘everyone mustwork’, and work hard. This belief set thewheel in motion for the pursuit of impossibledreams. America’s opulence, derived fromhard work and cooperative effort, probablyimpressed Swami Vivekananda the most; he

felt the presence of tremendous energy every-where. The expectation of deriving benefitfrom work may not follow the tenets of theBhagavadgita, but we are talking about ordi-nary people, not true karma yogis. But ‘work,work, work’ was Swami Vivekananda’s fa-vourite battle cry. He exemplified the propen-sity for hard work in his own life, even jeopar-dizing his own health in the process. He stress-ed its virtue to the extent of saying that it is al-most better to be at work in sin than doingnothing at all. The dignity of labour was alsosomething very near and dear to Swamiji’sheart, and he saw it in action in America andloved it.

Fixation with ‘Whatsnew’

Every culture is interested to some de-gree in ‘whatsnew’, but in America it is an ob-

session.6 Time and time again Swami Viveka-nanda commented on this cultural force. Thisis the last of the seven forces, and closely re-lated to the others. He said: ‘Let anything newcome from some foreign country, and Amer-ica will be the first to accept it.’7 ‘America is thebest field in the world to carry on any idea.’(8.313) ‘Many of the men brought togetherhere from far-off lands have got projects andideas and missions to carry out, and Americais the only place where there is a chance of suc-cess for everything.’ (7.457)

These say it all; America is decidedly theland of ‘whatsnew’ and perpetual renewal.

The intellectual richness andphilosophic profundity ofVedanta provided the Ameri-can people with a new choiceand drew their rapt attention.Swami Vivekananda’s successin America was an endorse-ment of America’s strong at-tachment to this cultural force.His own view in regard to thiswas this: ‘I like to see newthings. I do not care a fig to loafabout old ruins and mope a lifeout about old histories and

keep sighing about the ancients. I have toomuch vigour in my blood for that.’ (7.498)

Immigrant Beliefs

A generation is a span of about twentyyears. For the first nine generations, from 1610to 1790, almost every immigrant to the UnitedStates was from Europe. Only during the sec-ond nine generations (1790-1970) people fromother continents immigrated to the US. Re-gardless of where they came from and when,all these immigrants were acting out threesimple beliefs: improvement is possible, op-portunities must be imagined, and freedom ofmovement is needed for success.8 These threebeliefs can be expressed simply as ‘optimisticabout finding opportunity wherever it is’.

Swami Vivekananda obviously sub-

PB-JANUARY 2003 58


Take the primary belief ‘everyone mustwork’, and work hard. This belief set the

wheel in motion for the pursuit ofimpossible dreams. America’s opulence,derived from hard work and cooperative

effort, probably impressed SwamiVivekananda the most; he felt the presence

of tremendous energy everywhere.

scribed to these beliefs himself. Otherwise,why would a mendicant monk from India,without any invitation, sponsor or reference,take the giant step of going to Chicago to rep-resent Hinduism at the Parliament of Reli-gions?

American Dream

Since everyone in America was to someextent an immigrant, except for the nativeAmerican Indians, these beliefs generatedsuch cultural forces as the pursuit of impossi-ble dreams and an urge to improvise. Al-though Swami Vivekananda talked about var-ious traits in the American character he ad-mired, he never actually mentioned thephrase ‘American dream’. Perhaps the phraseitself was coined in the twenti-eth century, after his time. Butthis American dream was theidea that guided the countrythrough the early days of the re-public, and is guiding it still. Itis one of the most powerfulideas in the history of humanachievement. Everyone in thisworld dreams, but it is in Amer-ica that your dreams have thebest chance of becoming a real-ity. Why? Because of whatSwami Vivekananda mentioned repeatedly:opportunity. Opportunity, combined withhard work, helps people achieve their dreams.The Swami praised the existence of theseforces in America when he said, without actu-ally mentioning the word ‘dream’: ‘There arepossibilities, opportunities, and hope for ev-ery individual in this country. Today he ispoor, tomorrow he may become rich andlearned and respected.’9 ‘No man is prohib-ited [in America] from doing anything hepleases for his livelihood … and thus thou-sands are seeking and finding the highest levelthey were born for.’10

According to Dan Rather, currently aprominent news commentator in the United

States, historian James Truslow Adams firstused this phrase in 1931. For him, the Ameri-can dream was ‘the dream of a land in whichlife should be better and richer and fuller forevery man, with opportunity for each accord-ing to his ability or achievement.’11 Adams’comment, made about thirty-five years later,was very much in line with what Swami Vive-kananda had observed.

Freedom, the Bedrock of America

No discussion of the American dream iscomplete without a mention of freedom. Free-dom, after all, is America’s bedrock. It did nottake Swami Vivekananda very long to noticethat. At the end of his historic speech on Hin-duism at the Parliament of Religions in 1893,

he said: ‘Hail Columbia, motherland of lib-erty! It has been given to thee, who neverdipped her hand in her neighbour’s blood,who never found out that the shortest way ofbecoming rich was by robbing one’s neigh-bours, it has been given to thee to march at thevanguard of civilization with the flag of har-mony.’12

That was his homage to a country whoseunderlying principles are freedom of religion,freedom of conscience, toleration and secular-ism.

‘Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi-ness’ are the inalienable right of Americans asmentioned in their Declaration of Independ-ence. Liberty, or freedom, is very near anddear to the hearts of Americans—freedom to

59 PB-JANUARY 2003

Swami Vivekananda Loved America 51

Everyone in this world dreams, but it is inAmerica that your dreams have the bestchance of becoming a reality. Why? Becauseof what Swami Vivekananda mentionedrepeatedly: opportunity. Opportunity,combined with hard work, helps peopleachieve their dreams.

live life as they see fit. But does this mean theyhave the right to do anything they please?Whether every American realizes it or not,American freedom necessarily containswithin it the seeds of discipline and responsi-bility, and that means respecting others’rights. Swami Vivekananda expressed a simi-lar sentiment:

There cannot be any growth without liberty.Our ancestors freed religious thought, and wehave a wonderful religion. But they put a heavychain on the feet of society, and our society is, ina word, horrid, diabolical. In the West, societyalways had freedom, and look at them. …

Liberty is the first condition of growth. Justas man must have liberty to think and speak, sohe must have liberty in food, dress, and mar-riage and in every other thing, so long as hedoes not injure others. (4.367-8)

Freedom is the only condition of growth;

take that off, the result is degeneration. (5.23)‘Liberty of thought and action is the only

condition of life, of growth, of well-being.’Where it does not exist, the man, the race, thenation must go down.

Caste or no caste, creed or no creed, anyman, or class, or caste, or nation, or institutionwhich bars the power of free thought or actionof an individual—even so long as the power isnot injurious—is devilish, and must go down.(5.29)

The term happiness can be subjective andopen to individual interpretation, and Swa-miji’s concept of it probably would not be thesame as that of most Americans. But ThomasJefferson, one of the Founding Fathers ofAmerica and author of the Declaration of In-dependence, said: ‘It is neither wealth norsplendour, but tranquillity and occupation,which give happiness.’13 Swami Vivekanandawould have wholeheartedly concurred.

Frontier Beliefs

America’s major frontier beliefs were‘progress requires organization’, ‘each personis responsible for his own well-being’, and‘helping others helps yourself’.14 These beliefswere derived from experience as the early set-tlers moved west from the east coast andtransformed rugged wilderness into farmsand towns.

The enthusiasm for forming and belong-ing to organizations is inherent in the Ameri-can character. To a society where individual-ity is highly valued and nurtured, it may seemparadoxical. But the American people learnedvery early that individual efforts were most ef-fective in organizations. This does not contra-dict in any way the model of the ‘self-mademan’.

Americans’ working together with acommon goal without mutualjealousy was something that at-tracted Swami Vivekananda’sattention. He loved America’spredilection for organization;he told Mrs Lyon it was ‘thegreatest temptation of his life in

America’. He was convinced of its tremen-dous power. He saw with his own eyes inAmerica how institutions or formal associa-tions of persons magnified individual abilityand assured fast and enduring progress.15 InNovember 1894 he wrote to Haridas Vihari-das Desai from New York: ‘The secret of suc-cess of the Westerners is the power of organi-sation and combination. That is only possiblewith mutual trust and cooperation andhelp.’16

Citing the contrasting situation in IndiaSwami Vivekananda said:

Never were there people more wretchedly jeal-ous of one another, more envious of one an-other’s fame and name than this wretchedHindu race. And if you ever come out in theWest, the absence of this is the first feelingwhich you will see in the Western nations.

Three men cannot act in concert together in

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America’s major frontier beliefs were‘progress requires organization’, ‘each

person is responsible for his own well-being’, and ‘helping others helps yourself’.

India for five minutes. (8.299-300)He had parallel views regarding the other ma-jor frontier beliefs:

My whole ambition in life is to set in motion amachinery which will bring noble ideas to thedoor of everybody, and then let men andwomen settle their own fate. (5.29)

Every nation, every man, and every womanmust work out their own salvation. Give themideas—that is the only help they require, thenthe rest must follow as the effect. (4.362)

The machinery Swami Vivekananda en-visioned was in full motion in America, churn-ing out all kinds of ideas, and people took ad-vantage of them to mould their own destiny.The ethic of individual responsibility and thespirit of entrepreneurial free enterprise—twoimportant principles that form the heart ofAmerican civilization—are embedded in theabove statements.

Swami Vivekananda admired the Amer-ican spirit of helping others. Americans be-lieve that ‘What goes around, comes around.’The person you help today willhelp someone else tomorrow;so you are likely to receive helpfrom a stranger some day. Nonation in this world raises asmuch money or expends asmuch effort as America doesfor any benevolent cause, domestic or interna-tional. He saw that in Chicago in 1893.17 Hereare his comments related to this American cul-tural behaviour: ‘Here everyone is anxious tohelp the poor.’18 ‘If any man tries to move for-ward here, everybody is ready to help him.’19

Swami Vivekananda actually reiteratedwhat Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-59), a Frenchhistorian and political philosopher, earliersaid in his classic work Democracy in America:‘When an American asks for the cooperationof his fellow citizens, it is seldom refused; andI have often seen it afforded spontaneously,and with great goodwill.’20

American Women

Swami Vivekananda repeatedly ap-

plauded the American women for their cul-ture, education, generosity, spirituality andbroad-mindedness. In his usual enthusiasticway he said in a letter:

Nowhere in the world are women like those ofthis country. How pure, independent, self-rely-ing, and kind-hearted! It is the women who arethe life and soul of this country. All learning andculture are centred in them.21

Their women—they are the most advancedin the world. The average American woman isfar more cultivated than the average Americanman. The men slave all their life for money, andwomen snatch every opportunity to improvethemselves. (5.22)

Probably the best tribute he paid to theAmerican women was in his letter to theMaharaja of Khetri in early 1894, where hesaid:

American women! A hundred lives would notbe sufficient to pay my deep debt of gratitude toyou! I have not words enough to express mygratitude to you. ‘Oriental hyperbole’ alone ex-

presses the depth of Oriental gratitude—‘If theIndian Ocean were an inkstand, the highestmountain of the Himalaya the pen, the earth thescroll and time itself the writer, still it will notexpress my gratitude to you! (6.248)

And this was prior to his meeting Flor-ence Adams, Sara Bull, Betty Leggett, Jose-phine MacLeod and other women who hadhelped his mission in innumerable ways. Heloved America because of her veneration ofwomen, even before society had allowed themto vote. In his letter from Chicago to toAlasinga Perumal, he said, ‘… Asia laid thegerms of civilisation, Europe developed man,and America is developing woman and themasses.’ (5.22)

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Americans’ working together with acommon goal without mutual jealousy wassomething that attracted SwamiVivekananda’s attention.

American Technology

Curiosity, persistence and a constanturge to improvise put America in the forefrontof science and technology, and the country’swealth is largely derived from that. SwamiVivekananda recognized and praised Amer-ica’s penchant for technological development.

There is a curiosity in this nation, such as youmeet with nowhere else. They want to know ev-erything. (5.22)

It is a wonderful country, and this is a won-derful nation in many respects. No other nationapplies so much machinery in their everydaywork as do the people of this country. Every-thing is machine. Then again, they are onlyone-twentieth of the whole population of theworld. Yet they have fully one-sixth of all thewealth of the world. (4.361)

He was introduced to American scienceand technology immediately after his arrivalin Chicago, when he visited the World’s Co-lumbian Exposition. The engineering andtechnology exhibits there impressed him im-mensely, and his own country’s weakness inthat area stung him. He wanted America tosend to India machinery, instead of missionar-ies, and wanted to barter Indian spiritualityfor American technology.

The Other Side

One should not think at this point thatAmerican history has always been one longparade of goodness and success. It would takeanother similar article to cover the down-side—the sufferings of the immigrants in New

York tenements and sweatshops, the heart-breaking abuse and exploitation of native andblack Americans, the denial of political powerto women, savagery and gun violence in theWild West, the scandals of various city, stateand federal administrations, rampant intimi-dation and extortion by organized crime, afailed foreign policy—the list could go on andon. The American river has run from the highRockies of lofty thoughts to the Grand Canyonof lowest actions; and I am not talking aboutthe Colorado River. But that is not the subjectof this article. What nation is without imper-fection? Moreover, to accept one’s mistakesand try to fix them is ‘as American as applepie’.

Swamiji being an extremely keen ob-server of society and the human mind, these

dark aspects of the Americandream could not have eludedhim. As a matter of fact, hemade some telling observationsabout some of them. But he stillsaw a country with infinite op-timism and energy in its blood-stream; he saw a country with adefinite ‘can do’ attitude wherepeople join forces to achieveworthwhile goals. He praisedtheir worldly side: ‘Here you

have a wonderful manifestation of grit andpower—what strength, what practicality, andwhat manhood! … Here is a manifestation oftremendous energy.’ (6.272)

‘Improvement may be called the psycheof American culture, but the culture’s impera-tive has always been practicality,’ says Mc-Elroy.22 Swami Vivekananda obviously hadnoticed that. While giving Americans a highgrade on worldly qualities, he recognizedtheir weakness in the spiritual arena when hesaid, ‘As regards spirituality, the Americansare far inferior to us, but their society is far su-perior to ours. We will teach them our spiritu-ality and assimilate what is best in their soci-ety.’23

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The engineering and technology exhibitsthere impressed him immensely, and his

own country’s weakness in that area stunghim. He wanted America to send to Indiamachinery, instead of missionaries, andwanted to barter Indian spirituality for

American technology.

That was what exactly he was trying toaccomplish in America. He found Americansnot wanting in material needs, but starving forspiritual nourishment. He perceived a cause-and-effect relationship between the two, andsaid: ‘It is this tendency to bring everythingdown to the level of a machine that has giventhe West its wonderful prosperity. And it isthis, which has driven away all religion fromits doors. Even the little that is left, the Westhas reduced to a systematic drill.’24

Swami Vivekananda was absolutely cor-rect in his assessment; material-ism had chased religion awayin America. It was the ultimateparadox that a country, where‘God created nature and hu-man beings’, ‘God created a lawof right and wrong’, and ‘Godgave men the same birthrights’were the main religious beliefs;where the coins had the inscrip-tion ‘In God We Trust’; where the word ‘God’was sprinkled everywhere; and where peoplehonestly believed that God was on their sideand they were the Chosen People25 could bestarving spiritually.

Probably it was for that exact reason thathe chose America to deliver his message—amessage that religion was essentially realiza-tion and experience, not mere acceptance ofdogmas and creeds. He saw in America peo-ple who were alert, inquisitive, receptive, tre-mendously honest, well disciplined, adven-turous and with sparks of spirituality that kin-dled at his words. In his message, perceptiveAmericans found the spiritual basis of free-dom so treasured by them. They gave SwamiVivekananda his first recognition, and he wasgrateful for it.

��

If we consider that everyone has twosides—a spiritual side, and a temporal orearthly side—then Swami Vivekananda wasthat unique individual who reflected the spiri-tuality of India as well as the worldly side of

America. He was the ultimate manifestationof what is good in these two countries. He hadsome of the stuff Americans are made of, andmore.

Referring to an article by Max Muller onimmortality, Swami Vivekananda wrote toMary Hale from Thousand Island Park in1895: ‘… he [Max Muller] thinks that those welove in this life we must have loved in the past,so it seems I must have belonged to the HolyFamily [meaning the Hale family] in somepast life.’26 It is then no wonder he loved

America, and it was not a mere coincidencethat he chose 4 July, the American Independ-ence Day, to leave his body and be free ofworldly bonds. If Chicago was Swami Viveka-nanda’s home away from home,27 then Amer-ica was his homeland away from home. Theyears he spent there were some of the best inhis life.28

�

References1. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9

vols. (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1-8, 1989; 9,1997), 7.498-9.

2. Quoted in Dan Rather, The American Dream(New York: HarperCollins, 2001), 39.

3. John Harmon McElroy, American Beliefs—What Keeps a Big Country and a Diverse PeopleUnited (Chicago: Ivan R Dee, 1999), 221.

4. Josh Hammond and James Morrison, The StuffAmericans Are Made Of (New York: Simon &Schuster, 1996), 5-6.

5. American Beliefs, 37.6. The Stuff Americans Are Made Of, 265.7. CW, 6.256.

63 PB-JANUARY 2003


‘It is this tendency to bring everything downto the level of a machine that has given theWest its wonderful prosperity. And it is this,which has driven away all religion from itsdoors. Even the little that is left, the Westhas reduced to a systematic drill.’

8. American Beliefs, 61.9. CW, 5.26.

10. ibid., 5.23.11. American Dream, Chapter 14.12. CW, 1.20.13. Quoted in American Dream, 71.14. American Beliefs, 93.15. Asim Chaudhuri, ‘Swami Vivekananda—A

Manager Extraordinaire’, Prabuddha Bharata,April 2002, 228.

16. CW, 8.328.17. Asim Chaudhuri, Swami Vivekananda in Chi-

cago—New Findings (Calcutta: Advaita Ashra-

ma, 2000), 167.18. CW, 5.27.19. ibid., 8.329.20. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America,

New York: Vintage Classics, 1990, 2.175.21. CW, 6.252.22. American Beliefs, 222.23. CW, 5.27.24. ibid., 8.302.25. American Beliefs, 108.26. CW, 8.345.27. Swami Vivekananda in Chicago, 25-6.28. CW, 8.377.

PB-JANUARY 2003 64


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Vivekananda-stutië

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grôblT ŒfUtrN;u ;k Ji rJJufUtlà=bt¶gu >>

Rámakìøîasya vágdhárá divyaó ca karma-saïkulam;Yasmin prakáùite taó vai vivekánandam-áùraye.

I take refuge in (Swami) Vivekananda through whom the torrent of the words (of wisdom) and host of

divine actions of (Sri) Ramakrishna got manifested.

;ustu gôg g;urJoÖttu¢g ;hrKÖto™ttgw;tu stg;u,

Ávk gôg bwFôg ath¥ b=ltu =]³TJt Nhehk snti >

JtKé gôg dwhturloNög bÆtwhtk JeKt rJbtunk d;t,

vt=u ;ôg lr;rJoJufUmwrFl& mt lôm=t hG;w >>

Tejo yasya yater-vilokya taraîir-lajjáyuto jáyate,répaó yasya mukhasya cáru madano dìøôvá ùaræraó jahau;

Váîæó yasya guror-niùamya madhuráó væîá vimohaó gatá,páde tasya natir-viveka-sukhinaë sá nas-sadá rakøatu.

Seeing whose brilliance the sun rises abashedly, observing the beauty of whose face Cupid casts off his

body, hearing whose, the great Teacher’s, sweet voice even the vina is spellbound—to the feet of that

Vivekananda we bow down. May this obeisance protect us!

—Swami Harshananda, President, Ramakrishna Math, Bangalore

Reflections on Truth

SWAMI NITYASTHANANDA

What is truth? This is the most funda-mental question, and is perhaps aseternal as truth itself. It dates from

time out of mind. Saints, philosophers, scien-tists and thinkers have given varied answersto this most vexing question. Yet, to this day, itremains as fresh as ever. Grappling with thisriddle raises man from his animal nature, andthe ultimate answer to it will make him Di-vine. Swami Vivekananda says: ‘Man wantstruth, wants to experience truth for himself;when he has grasped it, realized it, felt itwithin his heart of hearts, then alone, declarethe Vedas, would all doubts vanish, all dark-ness be scattered, and all crookedness be madestraight.’1 In fact, this question lies hidden inthe inmost recesses of the human mind, but itswhisper remains inaudible to most peopleamid the humdrum of daily life. Sometimes itraises its head and makes its presence felt, butsoon it relapses into slumber. The majority ofpeople live in such a fashion as to leave notime to consider such questions—the burdenof life looms so large as to make these ques-tions seem trivial, and in some cases even lux-urious.

Life Is Based on Truth

All of us live on the basis of truth. Ourlife, the things around us and our experiencesare all real to us. And life is impossible withoutthis faith. None can live in an unreal world.Even those who live in a world of fantasy, findtheir hallucinations palpably real. When ababy comes out of its mother’s womb, it criesdesperately, puzzled by the newness of theworld around, a world whose reality is yet tobe confirmed. Gradually, the surroundingworld grows true to him, and the child be-comes confident—thereby proving that it is

truth that builds confidence. Suppose a mandreams that he is living in an altogether differ-ent world; it leaves a tremendous impressionon his mind. If he returns to the waking statetoo suddenly, he may find this very empiricalworld illusory. He may even get scared of theentirely different world around, the reality ofwhich he confirms by feeling things around.

We repose confidence in close friendswhose words and actions tally with truth, atleast for us. We are reluctant to be friendlywith those whose words and actions do notcarry conviction; we can only love them froma distance. Thus the basis of all human rela-tionship is truth, and it is truth alone thatmakes our relationships more intense, stableand extensive. One may object to this and saythat it is love that makes for relationship, buteven love rests on truth. The seeds of love cangrow only on the fertile ground of reality.Swami Vivekananda asks: ‘If truth is not there,what is the use of life?’ (2.473) So he declares:‘Everything can be sacrificed for truth, buttruth cannot be sacrificed for anything.’(5.410)

Different Views of Truth

As we said earlier, the question ‘What istruth?’ has been given different answers bydifferent thinkers and philosophers. Nihilistssay that there is nothing called truth and it isall void. Materialists argue that matter alone istrue and consciousness is only an epiphenom-enon of matter. Advaitins counter this by say-ing that God alone is real and the phenomenalworld is unreal. Empiricists hold that what-ever comes within the range of our experienceis the only truth. Idealists insist that there is noreality apart from the perceiving mind. Real-ists, on the other hand, vehemently oppose

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this view saying that there is an objectiveworld independent of the perceiving mind.Some idealists opine that qualities alone aretrue, and there is no need at all to assume anysubstance. This again does not satisfy somethinkers who say that we have to conceive of asubstance in which qualities inhere. Thenthere are some who insist that for truth to betruth it must also be eternal. But there aresome others who are ready to accept evennon-eternal truths. So there are theories andtheories about truth. In this medley of confus-ing theories, the Jain comes out with his novelconcept that nothing definite can be said abouttruth and all our opinions about it can only bepartial (syádváda). Not adding to the confu-sion, Buddha remained silent about the wholething.

Need for a Philosophical Attitude

Yet the human mind cannot rest: reason-ing is in its very nature. There are people whoaver that reasoning about truth is irrelevant,that it has no practical bearing, and that it is

better instead to concentrate our attention onthe present problems. But we need to remem-ber that such problems do not get solved byour thinking about them. We have rather totranscend them. The solution to our predica-ment lies not within it, but beyond it. Todaywe face innumerable problems because wehave sufficiently estranged ourselves fromquestions about fundamental realities related

to our existence. It behoves us to develop ourreasoning faculty to tide over our present psy-chological distress . We may not know whattruth is; still the mental discipline involved inreasoning about truth is imperative. Philo-sophical thinking will help us develop a philo-sophical outlook, which in turn will help usview life’s problems philosophically. Onlythen will cease the debilitating effects vicissi-tudes of life leave on our mind.

Objective Analysis

Suppose there is a wooden table in frontof us. It has a form and some smell; it is hard totouch and produces a sound when struck.Among these qualities the most important isform, which is the basis for the appellation ‘ta-ble’. If the form is removed what remains isjust wood. So the table is unreal in this sense.From the standpoint of wood, the table can beconsidered illusory (mithyá). Now, wood hasits own form, smell and sound, and these qual-ities disappear when it is resolved into the pri-mary elements of which it is made. So wood,

too, does not have a real exis-tence. When we analyse theseprimary elements they are re-duced to atoms, renderingthese elements in turn unreal.Even atoms can be reduced tosub-atomic particles of energy.As the analysis continues, wemove from more differentia-tion to less differentiation, andfinally arrive at a reality freefrom all differentiation. Fromthis basic substance has come

into existence the entire phenomenal world. Itis not that this primary substance has trans-formed itself into different objects; it only ap-pears to be so.

Spirit is the Basic Truth

What is this underlying substance? Is itspirit or matter? Matter is insentient; it cannotthink by itself; it cannot speculate about the

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There are people who aver that reasoningabout truth is irrelevant, that it has no

practical bearing, and that it is betterinstead to concentrate our attention on thepresent problems. But we need to rememberthat such problems do not get solved by our

thinking about them. We have rather totranscend them.

basic reality of the world or be aware of itselfor other things. It is awareness which distin-guishes spirit from matter. Is it that along withmatter there is another reality called spirit? Ifso, what is the relationship between them? Ifthey are entirely different, this question oftruth does not arise at all. Nor can we presumethat they are a compound, for the idea of com-pound refers only to material objects. Neitherof them has come out of the other, for therecannot be any causal relation between the two.So we are left with the alternative that only oneof them can be the basic reality.

If matter alone is true, then we are leftwith an unanswered question: Where doesspirit some from? Suppose, on the other hand,that spirit alone exists. Then what about thephenomenal world with all its mind-bogglingdiversities? This phenomenal world consistsof names and forms. When we subject thesenames and forms to rigorous analysis, they arereduced to one basic substance and stand ex-posed as mere appearances.This we have already seen inthe previous section. So the fun-damental substance has to bespirit, or else we can neither ex-plain nor deny its existence. Wehave to subscribe ourselves tothe view that this phenomenalworld is only an apparent man-ifestation of spirit.

The Nature of Truth

What is the nature of thisreality? What are its character-istics? In fact, nothing can bepredicated about it. All ourideas of truth are only opinionsof it but not the truth itself. According to SriRamakrishna, ‘What Brahman is cannot be de-scribed. All things in the world—the Vedas,the Puranas, the Tantras, the six systems ofphilosophy—have been defiled, like food thathas been touched by the tongue, for they havebeen read or uttered by the tongue. Only one

thing has not been defiled in this way, and thatis Brahman. No one has ever been able to saywhat Brahman is.’2 In other words, this truthis to be experienced, not just expressed. ‘TheTao that can be expressed is not the eternalTao,’ says the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu.Meister Eckhart says: ‘Why dost thou prate ofGod? Whatever thou sayest of Him is untrue.’

The following story effectively corrobo-rates this idea. The mystic was back from thedesert. ‘Tell us,’ they said, ‘what God is like.’But how could he ever tell them what he hadexperienced in his heart? Can God be put intowords? He finally gave them a formula––inac-curate, inadequate––in the hope that somemight be tempted to experience it for them-selves. They seized upon the formula, made ita sacred text, imposed it on others as a holy be-lief and went to a lot of trouble in order tospread it in foreign lands; some even gavetheir lives for it. The mystic was sad. It mighthave been better if he had said nothing.3

In context, it is hard to resist the tempta-tion to quote the beautiful words of the Chi-nese author Lin Yutang: ‘He who talks abouttruth injures it thereby; he who tries to prove itthereby maims and distorts it; he who gives ita label and a school of thought kills it; and hewho declares himself a believer buries it. …The dirge that they all sing at truth’s funeral is

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Reflections on Truth 59

As a temple priest, Sri Ramakrishna did notembark on his spiritual journey with thedefinite conception that God resided in theimage; he began his quest for truth withoutany preconceived notions. If SwamiVivekananda had definite ideas about God,perhaps he would not have shown suchintense spiritual yearning. Buddha toowent in search of truth independently, andso did every mystic.

“I am entirely right and you are entirelywrong.”’4

Truth Is Obscured by Opinion

Our opinion of truth is itself a great bar-rier to its realization. As a Buddhist monkonce said, truth is ready to reveal itself to usprovided we are ready to give up our opinionof it. Every one of us must make an independ-ent approach to reality. If we start with fixedideas of truth, probably we may not realize itat all. As a temple priest, Sri Ramakrishna didnot embark on his spiritual journey with thedefinite conception that God resided in the im-age; he began his quest for truth without anypreconceived notions. If Swami Vivekananda

had definite ideas about God, perhaps hewould not have shown such intense spiritualyearning. Buddha too went in search of truthindependently, and so did every mystic. In theUpanishad, when the disciple enquired aboutthe nature of Brahman, the teacher told him:‘Know it yourself by the dint of your ownself-effort.’5

We perceive the phenomenal worldthrough our senses, and the world appearsreal to us. But what we perceive is only somesense qualities. Apart from these qualities weknow nothing about the world. This is appli-cable not only to our gross perceptions, butalso to scientists’ subtle perceptions. In otherwords, we see only qualities, not substances.

Subjective AnalysisWho is it that sees these qualities: the

senses or the mind? If it is the senses, it is asgood as saying that the camera lens perceivesthe objects. And if you say that the mind sees,it amounts to saying that the film is theperceiver. Who is the real photographerwithin, who sees? It is the witnessing Self. Per-ception is a process, and the senses, mind andthe intellect are active participants in this pro-cess. There must be some subjective elementwhich perceives the whole process, standingoutside it––just like observing the water flowfrom a river bank. Here ‘witnessing’ does notimply any action. It means just being.

This witnessing Self or spirit cannot bedifferent from the spirit alreadyreferred to. For, as we have al-ready observed, the reality un-derlying the universe is one,though it appears to be dividedinto two––subject and object,like water divided by a linedrawn on it. How it happenedis beyond anybody’s guess. Weare seeing the objective worldas though one wave of the sea islooking at another. When the‘perceiver’ wave realizes itselfas water and its own form as an

illusion, it also comes to know that the ‘per-ceived’ wave too is nothing but water and itsform illusory.

Subject-Object Duality Is Due to Ignorance

Now the question is, how are thesewaves formed, how did this subject-object du-ality come about? If this distinction is real, wehave to admit that spirit changes. Spirit, then,is to be categorized as any other object in thisworld. Then there will be no one to ‘perceive’,for as we have already said, the perceivermust be free from action and immutable. Thuswe cannot admit differentiation in spirit.Therefore, the difference must definitely bedue to ignorance. Where did this ignorance

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The reality underlying the universe is one,though it appears to be divided into two—

subject and object. … We are seeing theobjective world as though one wave of the

sea is looking at another. When the‘perceiver’ wave realizes itself as water and

its own form as an illusion, it also comesto know that the ‘perceived’ wave too is

nothing but water and its form illusory.

come from? Ignorance not being a substantialentity, we cannot trace its origin. Since it isnothing, nothing can be said about it. Igno-rance is nothing but forgetfulness of our realnature––self- forgetfulness. How has this hap-pened? Is this self-forgetfulness due to seeingthe phenomenal world, or is it because ofself-forgetfulness that we see the world? Likethe paradox of the seed and the sprout (bæjáï-kura-nyáya), this too is unsolvable.

Even supposing that spirit forgets its realnature, it need not necessarily involve seeingthe world. Spirit could just remain as it is in thedarkness of its own ignorance.Since it sees the world, it fol-lows that the world must neces-sarily exist. If that is true, it canonly mean transformation ofthe spirit—which cannot be! Sowe are left with the only alter-native that the phenomenalworld is nothing but a false su-perimposition on spirit.

Individual Inseparablefrom the Infinite

Clouds in the sky exist intheir own state of being. It is wewho attribute forms to them,like those of various animals.One who has lost self-identity may see thingsor hear sounds that have no empirical reality.He may see non-existent things and not see ex-istent ones. Similarly, perhaps, due to self-for-getfulness the pure spirit divides itself as sub-ject and object. The goal of spiritual life is toeliminate individuality by transcending thissubject-object duality.

If we perceive the indivisible and infinitespirit behind the empirical experiences of ev-eryday life, most of our petty considerationsand selfish motivations would take a backseat.

To the extent we cling to the things of theworld, our sense of duality will also increase,for it is not possible to see indivisibility in theworld of duality. The sense of duality is theroot cause of all selfish motivations. We haveto develop a holistic attitude, since our indi-viduality is only an infinitesimal part of thewhole totality of existence; our individual lifeis an inseparable part of infinite life. Then eachone of us will go beyond the enclaves of indi-viduality, nationality, ethnicity, religion, andso on and become, like Swami Vivekananda,‘a man without frontiers’. �



2. M., The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, trans. SwamiNikhilananda (Madras: Sri RamakrishnaMath, 1985), 102.

3. Anthony de Mello, The Song of the Bird(Anand: Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, 1989), 35.

4. Lin Yutang, Importance of Living (London: Wil-liam Heinemann, 1955), 405.

5. Tapasá brahma vijijñásasva. —Taittiræya Upani-øad, 2.3.

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Reflections on Truth 61

If we perceive the indivisible and infinitespirit behind the empirical experiences ofeveryday life, most of our pettyconsiderations and selfish motivationswould take a backseat. To the extent wecling to the things of the world, our sense ofduality will also increase, for it is notpossible to see indivisibility in the world ofduality. The sense of duality is the rootcause of all selfish motivations.

Purity, patience, and perseverance are the three essentials to success, and above all— love.

—Swami Vivekananda, CW, 281

Swami Vivekananda’s Neo-Vedantism

PROF AMALENDU CHAKRABORTY

William James has rightly remarkedthat Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta isthe paragon of all monistic systems.

As a hard-core monist Shankara posits the re-ality of one category and he termed that Brah-man. ‘Reality is Brahman; It alone was in thebeginning’ remark the Upanishads. In manypassages of the Upanishads it is said that it isimpossible to give any positive determina-tions of the supreme Brahman. The famouspassage ‘neti, neti’ tells us that Brahman is ab-solutely non-empirical. It is pure inwardnessof which no conceptual interpretation is possi-ble. It is indivisible, inalienable. To define It isto transmute It into an object. We cannot evensay that It is one. It is non-dual. For the cate-gory of number is not applicable to Brahman.That is why Shankara calls his philosophyAdvaita.

It is true that in some of the Upanishadictexts Brahman has been defined as sat, chit andananda—existence, consciousness and bliss.But even this description of Brahman cannotdirectly convey the reality of Brahman. Suchdescriptions serve only to divert the mind to-wards Brahman by divesting It of unreality,unconsciousness and blisslessness. Brahmanis really nirguna, free from attributes.

Saguna and Nirguna Brahman

Shankara, however, points out that wemay describe Brahman as the Cause, Creator,Sustainer and Destroyer of the world, andtherefore also as an omnipotent and omni-scient Being, from the lower standpoint of ourpractical life. Brahman in this respect is calledSaguna Brahman or Ishwara, who is also theobject of worship. Saguna Brahman’s value ‘isrestricted to the empirical sphere—a viewwhich is entirely in consonance with the gen-

eral Advaitic position that practical utilityneed not rest on metaphysical validity’. It isthis distinction that has given rise to what arefamiliarly known as the ‘two grades’ of teach-ing in Advaita—the higher one of the NirgunaBrahman and the lower one of the Saguna.

No Two in Shankara’s Philosophy

Shankara further holds that the Atman isabsolutely non-different from Brahman. Weshould bear in mind that identity normallyimplies two that are identical, but there is noplace for two in Shankara’s philosophy. So therelation between Atman and Brahman can beadequately stated only in negative terms asnon-dual, non-different, and so on. Shankaraexplains the relation with the analogy of thespace outside a jar and inside it. The spaceboth outside and inside the jar is the same. Butit is only due to the adjunct of the jar that it ap-pears to be different. In like manner, Atmanand Brahman are same. The individual soul isnot a microcosm in a macrocosm; it is the mac-rocosm itself. It is not merely a true index toReality, but Reality itself. Hence to becomeBrahman is the highest ideal of Vedanta.

Swami Vivekananda’s Neo-Vedanta

Swami Vivekananda took up the threadof Shankara’s philosophy at this stage. Hefound enough convincing thought in AdvaitaVedanta. But he also felt that there was scopein it for intuitive awareness of many aspects oflife which it did not encompass. Deeply im-pressed by the universal heart of Buddha,Vivekananda found sufficient ground andthought to make up for the apparent irrecon-cilables in Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta. Helaid down a clear view of life which, if compre-hended, will lead us to a far deeper under-

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standing and awareness. Though Swamiji gotinspiration from Buddha’s deep universallove for all beings, he could not endorse all ofhis philosophy. For the theoretical justifica-tion of Buddha’s ethical teaching Swamiji hadto fall back upon Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta,which in his hands takes the form of livingVedanta entering our life and conduct.

But Swamiji’s advocacy of Vedanta hassome distinctive features. The Vedantapreached by Swami Vivekananda may berightly called ‘Neo-Vedantism’, as distin-guished from Shankara’s Vedanta, which isknown as Advaita or non-dualism, pure andsimple. Neo-Vedanta is also Advaita insofaras it holds that Brahman, the ultimate Reality,is One without a second. But as distinguishedfrom the traditional Shankara Vedanta, it issaid to be ‘synthetic Vedanta’, insofar as it rec-onciles Dvaita (dualism) and Advaita (non-dualism), and also other theories of Reality. Itmay also be called ‘concrete monism’, insofaras it holds that Brahman is bothqualified and qualityless(saguna and nirguna); It hasforms as It is formless (sakaraand nirakara). Swami Viveka-nanda opines that the variousschools of Vedanta do not con-tradict one another but ‘they allnecessitate each other, all fulfileach other, and one, as it were,is the stepping-stone to theother, until the goal, the Advai-ta, the tat tvam asi, is reached.’1 Since SwamiVivekananda is optimistic that all will reachthe same goal in the long run, he does not wantto deny anyone the right to hold any particularview.

Vedanta from Forest to Everyday Life

Swamiji thinks that the new form of Ve-danta he introduces is so simple that even achild can understand its spirit. He wants tomake Vedanta poetic so that it may be inspir-ing to all. He wants to free Vedanta from meta-

physical and theological dogma so that it maybe acceptable to all. He has not only intro-duced a new meaning of Vedanta, but alsobrought out its undiscovered aspects. This ishis most outstanding contribution to theworld of thought. Never before was it shownthat ‘Aranyaka Vedanta’—a philosophy bornand bred in the forest—had so much to dowith this mundane world. To quote Swamiji:‘These conceptions of the Vedanta must comeout, must remain not only in the forest, notonly in the cave, but they must come out towork at the bar and the bench, in the pulpit,and in the cottage of the poor man, with thefishermen that are catching fish, and with thestudents that are studying. They call to everyman, woman, and child whatever be their oc-cupation, wherever they may be.’ (3.245)

A Doctrine of Social Evolution

Now, the question naturally arises, Whatwould be its impact on society when this is ac-

complished? Vivekananda’s reply is: ‘If youteach Vedanta to the fisherman, he will say, Iam as good a man as you; I am a fisherman,you are a philosopher, but I have the sameGod in me as you have in you. And that iswhat we want, no privilege for any one, equalchances for all; let everyone be taught that thedivine is within, and everyone will work outhis own salvation.’ (3.246) Thus privilegesbreak down when Vedantic doctrines are ac-cepted to form the basis of society.

Considered a doctrine for the liberationof a few spiritual aspirants, Vedanta has got

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Swamiji thinks that the new form ofVedanta he introduces is so simple thateven a child can understand its spirit. Hewants to make Vedanta poetic so that itmay be inspiring to all. He wants to freeVedanta from metaphysical and theologicaldogma so that it may be acceptable to all.

converted into a doctrine of social evolution inthe hands of Vivekananda. Swamiji has indi-cated the significant role of Vedanta in this re-spect in the following manner: ‘We mustprove the truth of pure Advaitism in practicallife. Shankara left this Advaita philosophy inthe hills and forests, while I have come tobring it out of those places and scatter it broad-cast before the workaday world and society.The lion-roar of Advaita must resound in ev-ery hearth and home, in meadows and groves,over hills and plains.’ (7.192)

A Commentary on Sri Ramakrishna

Indeed, the basic concept of Neo-Vedan-tism is to be found in the life and teachings ofSri Ramakrishna. In the words of Dr S C Chat-terjee,

the main outline of this new Vedanta wasdrawn by Sri Ramakrishna and it was SwamiVivekananda who filled it in with elaborate rea-soning so as to work up a philosophy proper. Ithas been very aptly said that Swami Vive-kananda is a commentary on Sri Ramakrishna.But the commentator with his giant intellectand profound understanding made such dis-tinctive contributions that his commentary be-comes itself a philosophy, just as Shankara’scommentary on the Vedanta Sutras is by itself aphilosophy.2

Serving the Divine in Man

According to Swami Vivekananda, Ve-danta is the most practical religion everknown to us; for its ideal is to study man as heis. He says: ‘In one word, the ideal of Vedantais to know man as he really is, and this is itsmessage, that if you cannot worship yourbrother man, the manifested God, how canyou worship a God who is unmanifested?(2.325-6) … Where is there a more practicalGod than He whom I see before me—a Godomnipresent, in every being, more real thanour senses?’ (2.305) Swamiji further says that ifa person serves God manifest in all be-ings—not only in man but also in other crea-tures—without caring for name and fame, or

to go to heaven after death, and expects no re-turn from those whom he serves, such serviceis really the highest and best. It benefits him.Service thus performed in the right spirit ofkarma yoga becomes worship of Shiva in thejiva, and is one of the most effective means ofself-purification and God-realization. Thisidentification is the sole source of love for hu-manity and the mainspring of Swamiji’sthought.

The Newness of Swamiji’s Neo-Vedanta

Swamiji knew better than other socialthinkers of his time that the problems of Indiawere different from those facing Westerncountries. In India more than 70% of the popu-lation was utterly poor. What the hungry mil-lions in India immediately needed was foodand other bare necessities of life. The problemof poverty here was complicated by the factthat the poorest people belonged to the lowestcaste. So India’s problems were predomi-nantly socio-economic. The main problemSwamiji faced was this: Could Neo-Vedantabe applied in life to solve these problems? Hewas confident that by properly putting thelife-giving principles of Vedanta into practice,the individual, social and national problemsof India could be solved in the best way possi-ble. This is an aspect of his Practical Vedanta,and it may be more appropriately called‘Vedanta in practical life’. Neo-Vedanta hasthus a message for all people and has a univer-sal role to play. ‘In no other religion or philoso-phy and in no other period of human historyhas the relation between the soul and Godfound so practical and universal an applica-tion in life as in Neo-Vedanta in modern times.That is precisely what makes it really ‘new’.3

One of the brilliant landmarks of this pro-gressive and creative message of Vedanta isthat it is geared to the all-round happiness ofpeople and thus paves the way for modern-ism. It bridges the gulf between science, reli-gion and philosophy. Besides all theseachievements, it frees Vedanta from lifeless

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scholastic arguments and the narrow grooveof academic discussion in which it lay buriedfor many centuries. The new Vedanta eschewsthe abstract reasoning and discussion of mereintellectual faith. It has become a new gospelof work and creative progress, fertilizing ev-ery aspect of human life. The life-giving ideasof Vedanta have to be practised in life.

Swamiji wanted us first to bring abouttransformation in our own minds, which willthen lead to the awakening of the soul. As atrue reformer, he believed in the enduringbenefit of moral and spiritual awakening ofpeople, which alone can bring forth new hu-mane developments among mankind. Hefound the real source of that true reformationin the philosophy of Advaita. Let human shipsfloat on the bosom of the divine waters of life.The strong conviction of soul-consciousnessalone will motivate people to go forward.

Vedanta as a Tool for Human Growth

We know that even in India the blueprintfor a new culture based on spiritual life wasnever presented on a massive scale. The oldideas of philosophy, leading to lifeless aca-demic discussions, never showed any concernfor the well-being of people. Swamiji wantedto place before mankind the powerful ideal-ism of Advaita, to make it a powerful vehicleof social transformation through spiritualtransformation. From the fullness of his lovingheart, he spoke about its glorious future withthe vigorous enthusiasm of his tremendouspersonality. The music of his illumined soulwas heard in India, entering into the verybloodstream of its life. His entire scheme ofhuman development was based on this centralidea—the divinity of life. He won the hearts ofpeople with his originality, expressingAdvaita in novel language and refreshing itwith new spiritual vigour. Being a spiritualteacher of extraordinary character, he wasable to teach people the same eternal messageof Vedanta for their everyday life. He at-

tempted to project the undivided view of Re-ality that would bridge the gulf between sa-cred and secular, work and worship, jnanaand karma.

Man the Central Pillar of Swamiji’s Edifice

The dearest object of Swamiji’s loving ad-oration is ‘man’. His mission is man-centred;man is the central pillar of his philosophicaledifice. Swamiji naturally raised the dignity,divinity, mystery and worth of man to the pin-nacle of divine excellence. He discovered fromAdvaita Vedanta itself the real source of hu-man happiness. He gave Vedanta a new depthand dimension by asserting its tremendouspotentiality to create a social revolution lead-ing to the well-being of the masses. He was astaunch Advaitist, yet his brilliant analysis, hisrational arguments and his catholic temperare all very fresh in the field of Vedanta.Vivekananda performed the extraordinaryfeat of breathing life into the static monism ofShankara. Really, Swamiji was the inaugu-rator of the Neo-Vedantic movement in India.Indeed, Vedanta whispers the truth of thatgreat formula of the Upanishads into our earsand minds—tat tvam asi—so that the whole oflife becomes a gradual unfoldment of the infi-nite possibilities hidden within all of us.Would it not be a blessed day for us and for therest of the world when we begin to joyfullywork towards that end? �



2. Dr S C Chatterjee, ‘Swami Vivekananda’sNeo-Vedantism’ in Swami Vivekananda Cente-nary Memorial Volume (Calcutta: Swami Vive-kananda Centenary Committee, 1963), 265.

3. Swami Bhajanananda, ‘Swami Vivekanandaand Neo-Vedanta’ in Vedanta Kesari (Madras:Sri Ramakrishna Math), January 1977, 308.

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Pilgrims on the Fourfold Path

SWAMI SUNIRMALANANDA

1. Becoming the Beloved

The Call

It was dark. The muddy road was deserted.Tall trees stood on either side. The fullmoon shone brightly above. Here and there

she could hear a tiger roar or a wild boar snort.The shadow of the trees that fell on the roadcreated shapes strange enough to scare one.Not her. She had heard the call and come.

The walk seemed endless. Soon the roadended and she entered the jungle. Her stepsfaltered. ‘Was it true? Did I hear it clearly?Was it really the call?’

Yes, it was real. She remembered theheavenly sweetness of the call. And so she washere, walking in the dark. But the walkseemed endless.

As she walked through the jungle path,moonlight played hide and seek. She lingered.But why should she wait? She had heard thecall, and she should walk. Then there was thatthought: ‘What if mother-in-law wakes upand misses me? What if my husband gets toknow I’ve come away? How would father-in-law react? Where shall I go if they turn me out?… What am I doing?’

Then she heard it again. That melodioustune, that sweetest of all sweet sounds; distant,yet distinct; soothing, yet seeking. It was lyri-cal, heavenly—sweetness itself. It melted intoher, making her forget everything —her wor-ries, her pain, her misery, her own body. Andit created intense longing. It appeared to as-sure her over and over again: ‘Forget all yourvain cares and concerns.’

All thoughts stilled now; all doubtsvanished. She began to run in the wildernesstowards that melody. He was calling her: He,her beloved lord. Ah, what a call it was! How

sweet!

The Struggle

She had wept for years and waited forages to hear this call. She had suffered andstruggled, pined and panted, and spent sleep-less nights in anticipation, enduring everyhardship. And now the call had come.

How much she had to suffer! What aheavy price the world extracts! How much ithad cost her to maintain her purity! Whatprice one has to pay to be devoted to him! Hercapacity to endure had been tested time andagain. Yet she could bear that all. The call wasdivine. She had won in the end.

She was not advanced in years for all thatshe had endured; just a little girl of ten ortwelve, married when hardly five. She had towork very hard in order to please her husbandand in-laws, but could not. Her secret anguishwas their problem, her secret prayers their dif-ficulty. Her secret tears and sleepless nightswere their suspicion. They strongly disap-proved of her love for someone who was nother husband. But love she did. And now thecall had come.

And there were her friends, all good andhappy—or so her people said. She alone wasdifferent. And that irked her people greatly.Her type was rare. One or two there were inother villages. But they were far off, and shecould not reach them. She was alone. ‘But thatpart of my life is over now,’ she thought.

Suddenly, a startling screech abruptlybroke her reverie.

The Way

Perhaps a wild animal. But the noise had

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Pilgrims on the Fourfold Path

brought her back to her senses. Where was shenow? In which part of the jungle? Was she go-ing along the right path? Was it a path at all,anyway? It was all trees, shrubs and bushes—total wilderness. Something flashed past herand for a moment she shuddered. Then she re-laxed and smiled at herself. Why was she get-ting unnecessarily worried? What life wasnow left for her, after all? She did not havemuch choice: she could either proceed or re-turn. But the second she would not. So she sal-lied forth.

The Hurdle

Thorns raked her, blood trickled downher legs, but she cared not. Through her tearsshe smiled at her predicament. ‘Forward, on-ward,’ she told herself. She had to follow thecall.

Now a pond blocked her way, and herenergy dried up. She could exert no more. Shecried aloud: ‘O lord, You called and I came!Where are you now? Where are you?’

The forest answered—with deafening si-lence. What other option did she have but towalk into the pond. The water was neck-deep,but walk through it she did. When she found itimpossible to continue, she cried again: ‘Mylord! Please save me! Please come to me!’

Again, the same lilting tune; the same di-vine melody. It maddened her. Who worriedabout bodily comfort, who cared for the worldafter such a thrilling experience?

Not this gopika at least. Yes, she was agopika.

The rapturous tune came from the celes-tial flute of her beloved Krishna. She heard itquite distinctly now. Yes, it was coming fromvery near. It had enamoured a few other gopi-kas of nearby villages too. It was this flute thathad captivated them, as it did her.

‘My lord, don’t hide yourself any more.You’re waiting for me, I know!’ she cried andran in the water. When at last she reached theother side, she was wet to her bones, but ex-cited, thrilled. She wanted to run. But where?Where was her Krishna? She looked around.Except for the moonlit jungle she found noth-ing. Was he further inside? Eagerly she ran.She stood on a rock and peered into the night.The night stared back. She climbed down andtried to move on. But the jungle had trappedher!

The Union

That was it. She had had enough. She re-alized that her powers had utterly failed her:she could never reach him by herself. She col-lapsed on the ground, weeping aloud: ‘O myKrishna! Please come to me. Please do come.’But who would hear her in that forest, at thedead of night? The silence terrified her. Whatwould she do now? She closed her eyes insheer fear.

It was then that she felt a cool touch onher arm. Was it a branch? She opened her eyes.No, it was the flute! Krishna was standing be-hind her! The king of her heart, her all in all,was right behind her, with a bewitching smile!She swooned for joy.

2. Becoming the Infinite

The Call

Welcome,’ he said with a smile. It wasthe smile of a world-conqueror. Thestranger came closer and fell on the

ground like a rod. The master lifted him up.‘Get up, my son,’ he said.

The stranger rose to his feet. He gazed atthe smiling face of the elderly master, but did

not apeak. The deer grazing nearby sneakedup on the master to have a closer look at thestranger; the birds stopped chirping, wonder-ing who the stranger might be; the calves ofthe hermitage looked at him curiously.

The visitor bent forward and offered thebundle of firewood he had brought for themaster. The master nodded approvingly.

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Pilgrims on the Fourfold Path 67

‘Master …’ he began in a choked voice; butcould say no more.

‘Who are you, my child? What bringsyou here?’ asked the master with a compas-sionate smile.

‘Master, I’ve come to you with greathopes. Please save me, please show me theway out of all this misery and suffering.’ Themaster remained silent. The visitor knelt be-fore him and pleaded: ‘I’ve struggled a lot,suffered much in search of true happiness. Atlast I’ve come to you. You must save me, Mas-ter, I’m burning, I can’t wait any more!’

The Struggle

He looked as if in great anguish.‘Who are you?’ asked the master again,

patiently.‘Not too long ago I was quite well-to-do,

in the worldly sense of the term. I had every-thing. I thought I was happy. But panic seizedme when I saw death. Then I began my strug-gle. I tried all that my elders advised. Still realpeace eluded me …’

The master walked towards the tree andsat down on his seat. The visitor followed andknelt before him.

‘Tell me what all you did,’ said the mas-ter.

‘Sir, your humble servant doesn’t knowmuch about higher life or spirituality. I onlydid what the elders of my area asked me to do.They told me to study the Vedas, and I learnedmany mantras by heart. They told me to per-form sacrifices, and I did. It was difficult, butdid not bring peace. Then they told me toatone for my sins, to avoid evil. I did all that.They wanted me to practise my daily devo-tions earnestly. I’m doing that now. But stillthe peace my heart craves seems nowhere insight. So I’ve come to you. I’ve heard a lotabout your greatness, Master. Kindly showme the way.’

The Way

‘Go on,’ said the master.

‘I don’t remember to have ever done any-thing bad; I don’t even think an evil thought.Yet why am I so bereft of peace? By your grace,I’ve understood that this world is evanescent.I don’t care about it any more. I always medi-tate on the impermanence of everything. Butstill I’m so unfulfilled. I can’t find peace at all.This misery torments me, Master! I want toknow that by knowing which I shall have truehappiness and peace. Please bestow thatknowledge on me, Master. Please save me!’

His earnest prayers could have melted astone. But the master just smiled and said, ‘Allin good time.’

The man now began to rub his face on theground in desperation. ‘For God’s sake, don’treject me, Master! Please don’t say no! Youknow how much I’ve gone through. I don’twant to live in ignorance any more.’

The Hurdle

The sage nodded, with an understandingsmile. ‘I’m happy you’ve come this far insearch of peace, to get out of maya’s hold. Butyour conclusions about the practices you un-dertook aren’t quite right. You say you per-formed yajnas and rituals but did not getpeace. Maybe, but you’ve indeed attained pu-rity of mind. That’s where you’ve scored.’

‘But what about my suffering?’‘All the practices you mentioned—sacri-

fices, daily devotions, avoidance of evil—aregood. They have all benefited you greatly.Your approach has been correct. In fact, youare where you are because of those disciplines.It’s they that have brought you virtues like dis-crimination, dispassion, and faith in the teach-er. I see you’re fit to tread the arduous path ofliberation. You are pure, you are full of renun-ciation, you are a real mumukshu, a seeker ofliberation! I shall instruct you in the knowl-edge of Brahman … but you still have to waitfor a while.’

The disciple was all eagerness now.‘Master, now that you’ve understood mefully, you know what I’m seeking. Kindly

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shower your grace on me!’‘Yes, you’ll find what you’re seeking,’ the

sage said gravely, ‘but you have to wait. Whydon’t you wait?’

The disciple fell silent.The master continued: ‘If you attain the

highest knowledge, you’re going to lose yourindividuality. You can’t enjoy anything at all!’

‘But I’m tired of my so-called individual-ity, sir! Are you testing me?’ The teachersmiled.

‘Master, I can wait no longer. Kindly in-

struct me. Show me that supreme Truth whichwill free me from bondage and misery!’

The compassionate master was moved.After giving the disciple some preliminary in-structions, he said: ‘Now listen carefully—“You are That!”’

The Union

The disciple went into a deep meditation.

3. Becoming the Real

The Call

I’ve made it, at last! I have attained it!’ ‘Whatmakes you shout like that?’ asked theteacher.

‘Oh, I’ve attained the highest!’ the medi-tator exclaimed again. ‘I’m full! I’m so happy!’

‘But why shout? What have you at-tained?’

The thrilled meditator once again de-clared with joy: ‘Ah, how grand! I’m the great-est! I am verily the Purusha, the Self! I am ev-erything!’

The teacher was a master yogi. He knew.‘Had you really achieved what you claim tohave, you’d be in samadhi now. Obviouslyyou haven’t,’ he thought. ‘Come on! Let’s seewhat you’ve attained,’ he asked the meditator.

‘Teacher, you know what I was when Icame to you; I was dull as that rock. Not anymore. I’ve now discovered that I am all-pow-erful. I can create new bodies; I can even entera corpse. If I want, I can fly like a bird, becomeas big as a mountain and as small as an insect. Ican create anything. I’ve just to concentrate,do a bit of samyama on whatever I wish to be-come—and that I become! Ah, the thrill of it!’

The Struggle

‘Oh really,’ said the teacher casually. Themeditator was a bit disappointed; that was

throwing cold water on his enthusiasm. Theteacher’s reaction aroused suspicion: was heworried to see a rival in him? No doubt theteacher had made a name as an adept, but didit trouble him that his own pupil had over-taken him?

‘Sir, I won’t wait here. What I’ve attainedis for the good of the world. I shall soon beleaving this place.’

The teacher read his mind. He becamesombre. It was time the stupid fellow woke upto reality.

‘You fool!’ he burst out.Ah, there he was! The pupil thought he

had shrewdly assessed the teacher; he wasright in anticipating rivalry. He had to be boldnow. Why should he worry, he was as great ayogi as anyone. He said: ‘But I’m not going tostart a quarrel. I’d rather leave this place anduse my yogic knowledge to help the world.’

His words should have incensed theteacher, but he laughed in his face. ‘Oh, youwant to help the world, don’t you?’ hemocked. ‘Go ahead! Do it by all means … butfirst attain something.’ Becoming serious, hecontinued: ‘Don’t you remember my tellingyou that you might come across these powerson your way to enlightenment? Didn’t I warnthat they too were obstacles—much like thedullness, sleepiness and lack of interest that

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you encountered earlier? These too are obsta-cles. You think you’ve become a master yogijust because you can float in the air! Fool!’

The Way

The disciple hung his head in shame.The yogi continued: ‘There are charlatans

in the world parading as saints by workingmiracles. The world highly reveres them be-cause it only wants such stuff. Cure a sickness,hand out a talisman—and the world is happy.But can such things remove existential suffer-ing? It’s like trying to cure the symptom ratherthan the disease, which resurfaces after a time.I wanted you to become a true yogi—a man ofknowledge of the glorious Purusha within.But I see you’re still busy with this dead mattercalled Prakriti—and you think you have at-tained everything! Shame on you!’

The Hurdle

These words set the disciple thinking: ‘Isall that I’ve accomplished after years of medi-tation just nothing?’ He mustered his courageand said,‘Master, do you mean to say all this isworthless? Maybe it appears so to someonelike you, but imagine the suffering of theworld! See how people are suffering endlesslydue to disease and pain. Surely I could use mypowers to serve them …’

‘Indeed!’ the guru lifted his brows in af-fected sympathy. ‘So you’re going to end themiseries of the world? Grand, may God helpyou! But remember this: if you heal a boil onthe leg, it’ll show on the face—unless theblood is purified. So you risk bringing moresuffering on the very people you wish to save—and you’ll be cursed for that. Anyway, go

ahead, my son; save the world!’The disciple was thoroughly confused.

He returned to his seat under the tree and pon-dered: was his guru right, or was he trying todiscourage him out of jealousy?

Suddenly, he felt something heavy on hislap. He opened his eyes and saw a plateful ofdelicious food. He looked around in surpriseand found his teacher smiling at him. Then heunderstood that his guru had read his mind,that he too had similar powers and could usethem at will.

The yogi walked towards the pupil andsaid, ‘See? Powers are nothing for a yogi. Onceyou attain the highest, all these become yourslaves instead of obstacles. I never use them;but now I had to to make you realize your mis-take. And never doubt the guru; that too is anobstacle.’

The disciple was thoroughly humbled.He sat there crestfallen. The teacher affection-ately patted his back: ‘You will be a great yogi,my child. I see that. And that will help theworld.’

The Union

The disciple fell at his master’s feet. Re-gretting his vanity, he said, ‘Holy One, whatam I to do now? I’ve strayed from the royalpath. All my years of sadhana have come tonaught.’

‘No, my son’ assured the teacher. ‘Noth-ing ever goes waste. Until now you did sam-yama only on certain things of Prakriti. Nowdo it on your own intellect. That is the highestpossible concentration. Then watch the fun ofPrakriti’s dance for the Purusha.’ That the dis-ciple did.

4. Becoming Everything

The Call

You’ve saved me,’ he said, shedding tearsof gratitude. ‘Don’t mention it. Whathave I done for you, after all?’ the karma

yogi replied. ‘It’s our duty to help people indistress. Compassion is a great virtue, and I’monly trying to put into practice what I’ve heardfrom elders.’

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Wiping his tears, the patient whispered,‘You are indeed a god!’

His strange disease was infectious andhis own people had forsaken him. But this un-known karma yogi had taken it upon himselfto restore him to health. He had nursed himunflinchingly when everyone else avoidedhim.

The Struggle

The patient returned home a happy man.But the karma yogi brooded. ‘Maybe I’vemade the patient happy, but what about me?What have I done for my own soul? I continueto remain what I was in spite of all this bring-ing happiness to others. When will my prob-lems end?’ he thought.

Years ago, when questions like these hadbegun to worry him, a guru had suggestedthat he work for others. The karma yogi nowreturned to his guru for more guidance. ‘Sir,you said that my condition would improve if Iserved others. I’ve been doing that, but I’mafraid it hasn’t helped me much. Strange tosay, I make others happy but I’m myself sad!’

‘May I know with what attitude youserve?’ probed the guru.

‘Why,’ replied the karma yogi, ‘I servethem with utmost compassion and love. Iserve them with all my heart. Still, why can’t Ibe happy?’

The Way

‘That’s the trouble. You want to be happy.The rule is to seek nothing, not even happi-ness. Yes, it’s a tall order, but not so difficult.One more thing: you say you serve with ut-most compassion. I’d never think of such athing! Who are we to show compassion? Wecan only serve people with humility, as if wewere worshipping God Himself.’

‘God! Forget God!’ the karma yogi blurt-ed out. ‘Where was God when I drowned inwave after wave of suffering? I don’t want tohave anything to do with such a God.’

‘All right, all right, let’s forget God—that

too is acceptable in karma yoga! You don’tneed to think of Him now. Look upon othersas you look upon yourself and serve them.You don’t think of yourself as just this body,do you? Nor do you think of yourself as onlythe mind. You are something more. Try to re-gard others also as this “something more”.That should do for now.’

The Hurdle

Yes, the guru was right: all the time thekarma yogi had been working with a seriouslyflawed notion. From now on he began to serveothers more meaningfully, in the light of hisguru’s words. Yet doubts lingered.

One day he saw a poor boy lying by theroadside, his body covered with sores. Thekarma yogi immediately picked him up,cleaned him and dressed his wounds, and dideverything he could to serve the boy. Then headmitted him to an orphanage. Nobody couldhave done more, but the karma yogi himselfwas still dissatisfied.

Again he went to his guru.‘All those whom I serve are happy,’ he

complained. ‘Even then I am unable to findlasting happiness.’

‘Do you identify yourself with thosewhom you serve? Or does the idea that yourservice benefits others still persist?’

This had not occurred to the karma yogibefore. Of course he had not thought of identi-fying himself with others. This was somethingnew. He too was diseased, he too waspoor—only in a deeper sense! Did he everthink he was one with those he served? Did heever imagine that he was a mere instrument inthe hands of an unseen Power? Whom was hetrying to help, anyway? The world? or him-self? … Oh, how he’d blundered!

The Union

The karma yogi experienced a newawakening. All living beings were inter-re-lated, strung together, as it were, like a row ofgems on a string. And that string, which held

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everything together, was the Divine itself. Weare all one. One man’s suffering is another’ssuffering too. He was the server, he was alsothe served; he was the consoler and also theconsoled.

It was a revelation. So long the karmayogi had believed that it was he who worked.

Now he realized that he was at best a humbleinstrument in the hands of that divine Power,which inspires and guides all work.

As the karma yogi worked, his little selfbegan to shed its limitations. It went on ex-panding and expanded till it became one withthe Unlimited.

5. The Conference of Free Birds

The Devotee

She was in tears as she narrated her experi-ences: ‘What a joy it is to be one with mylord! He saved me from the terrible world

and made me one with him. It is an endless joyto be with him. I am always with him, sing anddance for him, serve and love him dearly andenjoy supreme indescribable bliss every mo-ment of my life.’

The stranger who became a jnani said:‘What you say is all good, but I don’t like thisweeping and wailing at all. Why should oneweep? Nobody asked you to remain in igno-rance. Nobody said you should suffer for longthe illusion called world. It’s we who werehappy with delusion, and it’s we who over-came ignorance. And about your lord and allthat, you’re just being silly. You were in igno-rance and you must come out of it. Your lordhas nothing to do with all that.’

The gopika replied: ‘Holy sir, you may beright in saying that I was ignorant in bringingsuffering upon myself. But how can a poor lit-tle girl like me know about ignorance and itsremoval? It’s all my dear Krishna who savedme. But for him, I would have known neitherignorance nor being one with him in joy.’

The jnani said caustically, ‘Once againthat ignorant talk of delusion and ignorance.Will you learn at all?

‘Sir,’ replied the gopika, ‘I told you I wasa helpless little gopika. You are right; I may beignorant and foolish. But my Krishna is mylight and knowledge; he is my all in all.’

The Yogi

‘What more shall I say? It’s folly to bewise where ignorance is bliss. Had you had anillumined guru, you would have understoodwhat to do and what not to. Your bondage wasfalse and so is your lord. Brahman is the soleReality. Tears are not enough, O gopika.’

The meditator who became a yogi thenspoke: ‘Lord or no lord, ignorance or no igno-rance, guru or no guru—one can still attain thehighest. O jnani, you are right in saying wewere bound. We know Prakriti bound us, andthrough sadhana we became free. We don’tcall Prakriti false. She who creates this varieduniverse and all of us, is something very true.We are not fools to deny something that existsand causes suffering. But we also knowPrakriti is unconscious and so we reach thetruth leaving it behind. Free I’m now from thehold of Prakriti.’

‘Your Prakriti does everything of itself,eh? What could be more funny! The mountainflies of itself. A stone jumps of itself. What atheory! Dead matter to create the universe andyourself! Anyway, I don’t want to say any-thing. Whoever wants to be bound will bebound. Whoever wants to be liberated will beliberated. Brahman alone is real, and igno-rance makes Brahman appear as many andbound. You too are bound only on account ofthat.’

The meditator retorted: ‘Do you thinkwhat you’ve achieved alone is real, and therest are fools? You haven’t yet known thePurusha. It is hardly a surprise that you arestill bound.’

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The Worker

The karma yogi finally said: ‘Enough ofyour silly, polemical discussions. If only youhad devoted yourselves to the service of theLord in human beings instead of such blah,blah, how much you could have attained! In-stead, you are discussing Brahman, Purusha,and so on. All these are mere words. Theworld is suffering. One who calls himselfbound and one who calls himself liberated,both are bound. He who sees the Lord in thejiva and serves Him alone knows the path.’

The jnani felt it better to ignore such talk.So he remained silent.

The gopika said, ‘What you say may betrue. But where shall a poor and humble girllike me go to serve others? When I was in theworld, I had to serve my family so much. I justheld on to my Krishna and was saved from theworld. But for him …’

The Jnani

The jnani became angry now: ‘Now,enough of your weeping and wailing. We arein a place full of joy and you keep on wailing.Instead of spending your energy in sheddingtears, you could have gone to some illuminedguru who would have shown you the Truth.That would have stopped all your wailing. Towaste this human birth in weeping and wail-ing!’

The yogi said: ‘And you too should stopbeing rude. Just because you saluted yourguru, you think you became illumined. Illumi-nation is not magic. It’s not that easy, sir. Ithink you had done a lot of yogic practices inyour previous lives. You must have meditateda lot. Without disciplines like yama, niyamaone can attain nothing. Illumination is not thateasy. All the past impressions, all your vasa-nas, should be burnt. That needs a lot of medi-tation. Your guru whispered something, andyou attained? Well, …’

The jnani ignored him.The karma yogi said: ‘You have your

problems too, haven’t you, O meditator? It’s

as if you’ve achieved everything by your med-itation alone. Meditation! Easier said thandone! In this age, is it easy to sit in meditation?Moreover, thousands of hours of meditationare needed. I’d have rather kept my eyes openinstead of closing them; I’d have lookedaround to see the Divine in suffering humanbeings. Stop your so-called meditation; go andserve them. It will be far easier to attain illumi-nation through service rather than medita-tion.’

��

Seeing their discussion, the gopika be-came bold. She said: ‘I don’t understand allthat you all are discussing, revered sirs. But Iunderstand only this much. I’m a poor, illiter-ate, ignorant girl. I did not know all those tech-niques you speak of. I just cried, “My lord! Mylord!” and he came. That’s all.’

The jnani said now: ‘I didn’t do even that.I merely said “I am He” and became That. Noweeping at all.’

The meditator said: ‘You are forgettingthe years of your preparation. You didn’t at-tain what you say you did just by repeating “Iam He.” You have struggled a lot before. Betruthful, dear sir. My case is better. I wouldrather say I was meandering in this Prakriti formany births. And the moment I learnt I wasnot this Prakriti but that glorious “I”, I at-tained it. No “I am He”, no tricks. Struggle andattain—that was my philosophy.’

The jnani said: ‘What could you attainthat didn’t exist already? What is born shoulddie. Your knowledge, which is born, will dieone day. But I didn’t attain my knowledge. Itwas there already. I had forgotten it as you allstill have. When my ignorance was removed,that knowledge shone of itself. That’s all. Itwas a revelation. What is created is destroyed.This weeping girl, yourself and that servant ofhuman beings, all have created your knowl-edge. So none of you is perfect yet.’

The karma yogi said: ‘I don’t understandwhat the jnani said. But I didn’t have to do

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even as much as he did. I just did what every-one does. And used my spare time for some-thing good. And there I was, become one withthe Infinite in everything.’

The jnani lost his patience: ‘Can’t there bea limit to foolishness? There can’t be Infiniteand everything at the same time. There’s onlyOne, and that is the Truth. That’s the infiniteBrahman. … What do you say, weeping girl?You were saying something like there’s onlyOne. Convince this karma yogi now.’

‘I can’t, holy sir,’ replied the gopika. ‘Inever said there’s only one. My lord can haveinfinite forms and infinite names. He is infi-nite, yet he is my Krishna. It’s my Krishna whohas created everything. If he wants, he can cre-ate more. I know nothing but him. He de-scends from Vaikuntha whenever he wants tosave his humble servants.’

And so it went.

The Culmination

This mad discussion would have contin-ued no end. But then that divine Voice—soft,deep, thrilling—was heard everywhere: ‘Asmany faiths, so many paths.’ That was not all.It was followed by a thundering echo. Its re-verberations thrilled the whole universe. Itcame from the Beyond, the Supreme, for thebenefit of mankind:

Each soul is potentially divine.The goal is to manifest this divinity within

by controlling nature, external and internal.Do this either by work, or worship, or psy-

chic control, or philosophy—by one, or more,or all of these—and become free.

This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, ordogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, orforms, are but secondary details. �

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Departure Lounge

ASufi of forbidding appearance arrived at the doors of the palace. No one dared to stop him as he made

his way right up to the throne on which the saintly Ibrahim ben Adam sat.

‘What is it you want?’ asked the king.

‘A place to sleep in this caravanserai.’

‘This is no caravanserai. This is my palace.’

‘May I ask who owned this place before you?’

‘My father. He is dead.’

‘And who owned it before him?’

‘My grandfather. He is dead too.’

‘And this place where people lodge for a brief while and move on—did I hear you say it was not a cara-

vanserai?’

Everyone is in the departure lounge!

—Anthony de Mello, The Prayer of the Frog, 2.78-9

A Brief Overview of Indian Culture andSpirituality

SWAMI SANDARSHANANANDA

The higher the culture of a nation, thesublimer is its conception of God.’ Thetruth of this statement is better under-

stood when India is kept in perspective.Highly developed ideas of God have comedown to the people of India from time imme-morial, from generation to generation,through the master-disciple continuity ofcommunication. This is a feature peculiar tothe genius of Indian tradition. In the ancienttimes sages perceived that God was the big-gest as well as the subtlest Reality. He wasall-pervasive, all-powerful and all-knowing.Realizing the fact that His influence was abso-lute and independent of time, space and cau-sation, they established the Religion Eternal,which could be acceptable to all people, cut-ting across colour, clime and creed. As a resultof their exertions evolved a way of life wherereligion and culture became one and insepara-ble from each other. A philosophy of life basedon spiritual endeavour and experience was,therefore, simultaneously available.

The Uniqueness of the Vedas

The Vedas are the most importantachievement of the Indian cultural movement.They are the basis of the Religion Eternal. Butthey were not limited by any books. They wereunderstood to be Knowledge itself, ‘thatwhich is cognizable by the subtle, super- sen-suous power of yoga’ and not ‘that which iscognizable by the five ordinary senses ofman’. It is ever-existent, without beginning orend. Hence, ‘the Vedas are the only exponentof a universal religion’. They ‘being the first,most complete, and the most undistorted col-lection of spiritual truths, deserve to occupy

the highest place among the scriptures, com-mand the respect of all nations of the earth andfurnish the rationale of all their respectivescriptures’. Excluding those portions wherethe Vedas deal with history, tradition andother secular matters, the rest is all spiritualknowledge. The truths contained in them arenot confined to any particular place, time orpeople. That knowledge of the super- sensu-ous power, available in the Vedas, is the realreligion, which also happens to be the drivingforce of Indian culture. Its fullest manifesta-tion in a person transforms him into a seerwho is able to visualize the Reality beyond thetemporal phenomena. So a seer is called a poetpar excellence possessing the vision unlim-ited.

The Power of Tolerance

The unity Indians discovered behindnames and forms endowed them with a senseof tolerance that is the very essence of cohe-sion in a multiracial society. They made ‘unityin diversity’ practical in every sphere of life,making it the hallmark of their civilization. DrS Radhakrishnan remarks in his Hindu View ofLife that ‘Hinduism does not mistake tolerancefor indifference.’ Its practice was spontaneousand complete, for the idea ‘That which exists isOne; sages call It by various names’ was re-peated, says Swami Vivekananda, ‘in the landtill it had entered into the blood of the nation,till it began to tingle with every drop of bloodthat flowed in its veins, till it became one withthe life, part and parcel of the material ofwhich it was composed; and thus the land wastransmuted into the most wonderful land oftoleration, giving the right to welcome the var-

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Indian Culture and Spirituality

ious religions as well as all sects into the oldmother country.’1

The course of Indian history also pointsto the fact that the power of tolerance wasall-absorbing. This significant factor did notescape the attention of foreign observers whovisited the country from time to time and theorientalists who did Indological studies later.G C M Birdwood writes in his Arts of India:

The Persian and Greek invasions, the Afghanand Mongol (Turkoman) conquests exerted nolasting effect on the national mind of India,which has ever in the end subdued to its natureall the conquerors of that glorious land, andtheir social life, their administration, and arts;and the thoughts and feelings, and the habitsand customs of the Hindus will never bechanged except under influences of a purely in-digenous origin, proceeding from the develop-ment of internal consciousness of the race.

Intuition and introspection are consid-ered to be the two principal rewards of spiri-tual exercise. They bring about a silent intrin-sic transformation in an aspirant. What is trueof an individual is also true of a nation tunedto the same ideology. So the Hindus have a na-tional psyche actively disposed to evoke suchtraits of national character as alluded by Bird-wood.

Required: A Different Skill

Cultural factors like these, which wecome across in the Indian context, are not in-telligible to academic discussion alone. India’scultural history is the tale of an intricate, dy-namic spiritual process that becomes tangibleonly to the spiritually inclined mind. In viewof this speciality, Sister Nivedita says, ‘Thecountry is her own record. She is the historythat we must learn to read.’2 Undoubtedly, itrequires a different kind of skill to be knowl-edgeable about India. A casual reading of herexterior reveals almost nothing of her soul.That needs exploration of the spiritual wealthshe has accumulated over millennia and itsdemonstration in the lives of saints born in dif-

ferent periods of her history. Reflections of thenation’s spiritual conviction fall everywhere;and one is likely to be led into blind alleys un-less one is discerning.

For instance, an artistic creation of an im-age of a god or goddess is really evaluatedonly when the subject’s facial expression is ap-preciated properly. That face is generally ablending of earthly and heavenly looks—usu-ally a beatific smile depicting spiritual tran-quillity—which shows an element of pureIndianness. To such a mind, grafting an ani-mal head on to a human body does not look re-pulsive. The figure of Ganesha is a master-piece of perfect congruence of two shapes ofopposing characters. Its classy representationinspires a wonderful aesthetic sense thatdraws artists to create beautiful works. Thecombination of this-worldliness and other-worldliness is a hallmark of the rich synthesisthat is typical of Indian culture.

Buddha’s Spiritual Democracy

In India, obliteration of people’s religiousrights has never passed without reaction fromwithin society. The appearance of Buddhismat a conspicuous moment in her history wasunavoidable, considering the severity ofpriestcraft prevalent then. Selfish priests hadbarred common people from practising theReligion Eternal by coercion and underminedthe spirit of democracy in the realm of reli-gion. Buddha restored it providing equal op-portunity to those who were discriminatedagainst, not excluding the low-born. He gavethe old religion a simple new form and ap-plied it for the annihilation of human suffer-ing. He salvaged the abiding spiritual valuesfrom the shrouds of complex ritualistic prac-tices and used them for the moral progress ofhumanity. His teaching gave a new turn to art,literature and philosophy. Though he wasGod-intoxicated he did not depend on wordsto express himself.

Buddha’s followers later began to wor-ship him as God and led their lives according

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to his teachings for their own salvation, which,of course, was in accord with the national leg-acy left behind by his precursors.

Sri Ramakrishna’s Uniqueness

As Buddha was one of the most spiritu-ally accomplished products of Indian cultureso were many other God-men of his ilk. SriRamakrishna happens to be the latest of them.In the light of his own experiences he sums upthe purport of Indian culture very briefly injust a single sentence: ‘The purpose of humanlife is to realize God.’ Although it sounds sim-plistic, yet it is the most appropriate conclu-sion derivable in regard to the consummationof Indian culture.

Sri Ramakrishna’s life was a ceaseless in-teraction with God. Side by side he also dis-played extraordinary facility in various arts.From his very childhood he was proficient insinging, dancing, acting, storytelling, clay-modelling, and so on. He could enthral his lis-teners with spiritual talks touching on theproblems of life. All these along with his fre-quent spiritual ecstasies set him apart as anoutstanding personality, embodying the fin-est elements of Indianness in his character. Ata time when Indians were losing faith in theirroots due to the absence of an exemplar of cul-tural identity, his advent instilled in them anew confidence in their own cultural great-ness. In fact, Sri Ramakrishna’s contributionssparked off a resurgence of Indian religionand culture. His life was a demonstration, asRomain Rolland said, ‘of two thousand yearsof the spiritual life of three hundred millionpeople’.

Sri Ramakrishna was the living embodi-ment of the Religion Eternal. In his own life he‘infused the universal spirit and character ofthis Dharma’, making himself an object lesson

for modern man. Swami Vivekananda pro-claims the greatness of his life and message:

But strong in the strength of this new spiritualrenaissance, men, after reorganising these scat-tered and disconnected spiritual ideals, will beable to comprehend and practise them in theirlives and also to recover from oblivion thosethat are lost. And as the sure pledge of this glori-ous future, the all-merciful Lord has manifestedin the present age, … an incarnation which inpoint of completeness in revelation, its syn-thetic harmonising of all ideals and its promot-ing of every sphere of spiritual culture, sur-passes the manifestations of all past ages.3

A Sublime Concept of God

Sri Ramakrishna’s practice of all majorreligions of the world was a practical demon-stration of the principle of tolerance that Indiaso earnestly nurtures. His affirmation of theharmony of religions after that practice is aprecious bequest to entire humanity. God isone, though the ways to His realization arevarious. India’s signal contribution to worldculture, this truth is equally valuable to all na-tions. Sri Ramakrishna set an example worthyof emulation by people of all faiths.

A sublimate form of culture has given asublimate concept of God to Indians; and inHim they hope to bring together the wholeglobe as one unified family. �



2. The Complete Works of Sister Nivedita, 5 vols.(Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1982), 4.5.

3. CWSV, 6.185.

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The whole of Nature is worship of God. Wherever there is life, there is this search for freedom and that

freedom is the same as God.


The Páðcarátra Ágamas: A Brief Study

SWAMI HARSHANANDA

Ágamas are a special class of Hindureligio-philosophical literature handeddown through a succession of teachers

from the most ancient days. Whether they rep-resented a system parallel to and separatefrom the Vedic traditions or a continuation ofthe same and rooted in them, has been a sub-ject of discussion among scholars. However,Yámunácárya (918-1038 AD) in his scholarlywork Ágamaprámáîya has conclusively estab-lished their affinity with the Vedas. Of thethree kinds of Ágamas, the Ùaiva, the Ùákta (orthe Tantra) and the Vaiøîava, the PáðcarátraÁgamas belong to the last group. The otherbranch of the Vaiøîava Ágamas is the Vaikhá-nasa Ágama, or the Vaikhánasa Sétras.

Derivation of the Name

The literal meaning of the word Páðca-rátra is ‘that which is connected with fivenights’. Lord Keùava (Viøîu or Náráyaîa) issaid to have taught this esoteric science toAnanta, Garuõa, Viùvaksena, Brahmá andRudra over five nights (paðca = five; rátra =night). The word rátra also means jðána, wis-dom or knowledge. Since it teaches five kindsof knowledge it is called Páðcarátra. These aretattva (cosmology), muktiprada (that whichgives mukti, or liberation), bhaktiprada (thatwhich confers devotion), yaugika (yoga) andvaiøayika (objects of desire). Or, alternatively,since it teaches about the five aspects of God(called Puruøottama)—para (highest), vyéha(emanation), vibhava (incarnation), antaryámin(indweller) and arcá (form of worship)—it iscalled Páðcarátra.

Páðcarátra Literature

Páðcarátra literature is very vast. The to-tal number of works—generally called saóhitá

or tantra—exceeds 200, according to listsgiven in various works, though only a fewhave been printed. Quite a few are in the formof manuscripts preserved in oriental libraries.Many others are not available in any formthough their names are mentioned in otherworks. The following is a brief descriptive listof the works presently available.

1. Ahirbudhnya Saóhitá: This is a fairly vo-luminous work with 3880 verses in 60 chap-ters. The speciality of this work is that it dealswith the four vyéhas, or emanations of theLord, descriptions of several mantras (sacredsyllables) and yantras (magical diagrams) asalso rituals for curing diseases.

2. Aniruddha Saóhitá: Also called Anirud-dhasaóhitá-mahopaniøad, it has 34 chaptersdealing entirely with descriptions of variousrituals, methods of initiation, práyaùcittas, orexpiations for sins, rules for making and in-stalling the images of gods, and other similartopics.

3. Hayaùærøa Saóhitá: A fairly exhaustivework in 144 chapters and distributed among 4káîõas, or sections—‘Pratiøôhákáîõa’, ‘Saï-karøaîakáîõa’, ‘Liïgakáîõa’ and ‘Saurakáî-õa’—it deals primarily with rituals concern-ing the installation of images of various minordeities as also the methods of their prepara-tion.

4. Æùvara Saóhitá: It is a work of 24 chap-ters of which 16 deal with ritualistic worship.Other subjects treated in this work are descrip-tions of images, methods of dækøá, or spiritualinitiation, practice of meditation, details re-garding mantras, methods of self-control andthe greatness of the Yádava Hill (now knownas Melkote, a Vaiøîava pilgrim centre on ahillock near Mysore, Karnataka).

5. Jayákhya Saóhitá: This work is one of

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the three cardinal texts of Páðcarátra litera-ture. It has 33 paôalas, or chapters, and dealswith the following topics: a detailed accountof creation; yogábhyása (practice of yoga) andmantropásaná (spiritual practice through therepetition of mantras, or sacred formulas); var-ious Vaiøîava mantras; péjá (ritualistic wor-ship) and homa (fire ritual); dækøá (initiation);temples and worship there; ácáras (codes ofconduct) for Vaiøîavas; and práyaùcittas, or ex-piations of sins.

6. Káùyapa Saóhitá: This is a compara-tively small work in 12 chapters. It dealsmainly with poisons and methods of remedyby suitable mantras, or incantations.

7. Mahá-sanatkumára Saóhitá: This is a vo-luminous work of 10,000 verses spread over40 sections in 4 chapters. It deals entirely withrituals of worship.

8. Pádma Saóhitá: Dealing mainly withrituals and chanting of mantras, this work is in31 chapters.

9. Parama Saóhitá: A work in 31 chapters,it deals with the process of creation; rituals ofinitiation and worship; and yoga classified asjðána yoga and karma yoga. It declares that jðá-na yoga, which includes práîáyáma and samá-dhi, is superior to karma yoga, which seems tomean ritualistic worship of Viøîu.

10. Parameùvara Saóhitá: A short work of15 chapters, it deals with meditation on man-tras, sacrifices and methods of rituals as alsopráyaùcittas, or expiations.

11. Paráùara Saóhitá: A concise work in 8chapters, it deals with the methods of japa, orthe muttering of the name of God.

12. Pauøkara Saóhitá: Considered one ofthe earliest works of the Páðcarátra system,this consists of 43 chapters. Apart from deal-ing with various kinds of image worship, italso contains certain philosophical views. It isinteresting to note that some funeral sacrificesalso find a place here.

13. Sudarùana Saóhitá: A treatise compris-ing 41 chapters, it deals mainly with medita-tion on mantras and expiations of sins.

14. Vihagendra Saóhitá: It is in 24 chap-ters. Apart from meditation on mantras, itdeals with sacrificial oblations. In the twelfthchapter, the topic of práîáyáma as a part of theprocess of worship is also described exten-sively.

15. Viøîu Saóhitá: A work in 30 chapters,it also deals mainly with ritualistic worship.Its philosophy is akin to that of Sáïkhya withsome variations like the puruøa (the individualsoul) being all-pervading and his activatingprakìti to evolve into the world.

16. Viøîu-tattva Saóhitá: Comprising 39chapters, it deals with image worship, ablu-tions and the wearing of Vaiøîava marks, andsome purificatory rites.

Philosophy of the Páðcarátra Ágamas

The philosophy of this system has beenexpounded in detail in the Jayákhya Saóhitá. Abrief summary follows.

Though yajða (Vedic sacrifices), dána(making gifts), svádhyáya (study of the Vedas)and other similar religious disciplines are use-ful in spiritual life, it is only jðána (knowledge)of the paratattva, or the highest Reality, thatcan give mokøa.

This paratattva (God) is the same as theBrahman of the Vedas and the Upaniøads. Heis of the nature of pure Consciousness (cit) andBliss (ánanda). He is anádi and ananta (withoutbeginning or end). He is the substratum andsupport of the whole universe. Though He isbeyond all guîas, He is also the bhoktì (expe-riencer, enjoyer) of all that is born out of theguîas. He is sarvajða (omniscient) and sarva-ùakta (omnipotent). He is both transcendentand immanent with regard to this created uni-verse. Hence He is too subtle to be perceivedby the senses or the mind. However, He can berealized through the pure mind. This is calledmánasika-pratyakøa.

When they realize this Brahman or God,the jævas appear to have become one with Him,but do maintain a subtle distinction also.Hence this philosophy can be called Bhedá-

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beda or Dvaitádvaita.As regards sìøôi, or creation, three kinds

are recognized: brahmasarga, prakìtisarga andùuddhasarga.

Brahmasarga is the projection of the four-faced Brahmá from Viøîu and the creation ofthe world by Brahmá.

Prakìtisarga is similar to the creation de-scribed in the Sáïkhya philosophy. Prakìti orpradhána comprises the three well-knownguîas—sattva, rajas and tamas. The first prod-uct of the evolution of pradhána, when sattva ispredominant, is buddhi (cosmic intellect). Thesecond product, when rajas has gained the up-per hand, is ahaïkára (egoism). This is of threetypes: prakáùátmá or taijasátmá, vikìtátmá andbhétátmá. The first gives rise to the five jðánen-driyas (organs of knowledge) and the mind.The second produces the five karmendriyas (or-gans of action). From the last evolve the sékø-mabhétas or tanmátras (the five subtle ele-ments). These then create the five gross ele-ments. The whole creation comes out of a com-bination of these basic products. The puruøasor jævas (souls) get associated with bodies in ac-cordance with their karma, due to the will ofGod. Their association with the inert bodiesmake the latter appear as conscious even as aniron piece acts like a magnet in the vicinity of apowerful magnet.

Ùuddhasarga is the third creation. HereGod, called Puruøottama Vásudeva, evolvesfrom out of Himself three subsidiary agents orforms: Acyuta, Satya and Puruøa. These formsin reality are non-different from Him. Thethird form, Puruøa, acts as the antaryámin, orthe Inner Controller. It is He who inspires allthe gods to work. It is He who binds the jævaswith vásanás (residual impressions) and again,it is He who inspires them to undergo sádhanás(spiritual disciplines) to get out of the bondageof vásanás.

The máyá (delusion) power of God makesthe jævas (through vásanás, or past impressions)get identified with the body-mind complex.This association of vásanás is anádi, or

beginningless. However, by the grace of God,the antaryámin, or the Indwelling Power andSpirit, the jæva awakens to true knowledge andgets liberated from all shackles.

The path to this mokøa, or liberation, startswith the inspiration of the jæva by God to seek agreat guru, or spiritual preceptor. This gurugives the disciple mantradækøá (initiation with aholy name or syllable). Regular and steadypractice of the mantrajapa (repetition of the di-vine name) results in samádhi, or total absorp-tion in God.

Upásaná, or meditation on God, has twostages. The first is called kriyákhyá. It is in theform of practice of various virtues like ùauca(cleanliness), yajða (sacrifices), tapas (auster-ity), adhyayana (study of the scriptures), ahiósá(not harming others), satya (truth), karuîá(compassion), dána (giving gifts), and so on.The second is called sattákhyá or jðánákhyá. It ispractically the same as jðána yoga. Purified bythe practice of kriyákhyá, the mind is now ableto meditate on the Atman within, which re-sults in the experience of unitive conscious-ness that jðátì (knower), jðeya (object ofknowledge) and jðána (knowledge) are all oneand the same.

The Páðcarátra Ágamas, especially theJayákhya Saóhitá, describe two types of yogas:mantradhyána and yogábhyása. The former con-sists of meditation on God with form alongwith the repetition of appropriate mantras.The latter is almost the same as the Yoga ofPataðjali (200 BC).

A special contribution of the PáðcarátraÁgamas to the religio-philosophical literatureof Hinduism is the concept of the vyéhas,which are four. (Hence the name caturvyéhas,catur meaning ‘four’.) Vyéha means a projec-tion or emanation.

In this system, Paramátman, Náráyaîa,Viøîu, Bhagaván and Vásudeva are the vari-ous names by which God the Supreme isknown. Bhaga means øaõguîas, or the group ofsix blessed qualities. They are jðána (knowl-edge), aiùvarya (lordship), ùakti (ability, po-

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tency), bala (strength), værya (virility, unaffect-edness) and tejas (splendour). Since God,more commonly known as Vásudeva in thissystem, has all these guîas, or attributes, in thefullest measure, he is called Bhagaván. By thewill of Bhagaván Vásudeva (the first or theoriginal vyéha) the second vyéha, Saïkarøaîa(or Balaráma), emerges. From Saïkarøaîa em-anates Pradyumna and from him Aniruddha.

Though the latter three vyéhas are also inessence equal to Vásudeva, they manifest onlytwo of the six guîas prominently, the otherfour being in a latent condition. If in Saïkar-øaîa jðána and bala are predominant, in Prad-yumna aiùvarya and værya are more prominent.Aniruddha, on the other hand, exhibits ùaktiand tejas to a much greater degree.

Each of the vyéhas is created with two ac-tivities, a creative and a moral one.

Each of the vyéhas, again, gives rise tothree more sub-vyéhas, making a total oftwelve emanations. They are Keùava, Nárá-yaîa, Mádhava, Govinda, Viøîu, Madhusé-dana, Trivikrama, Vámana, Ùrædhara, Hìøæ-keùa, Padmanábha and Dámodara. Thesetwelve are considered the másádhipas or adhi-devatás (tutelary deities) of the twelve lunarmonths. They are also offered arghya (ceremo-

nial water) in ritualistic worship. Iconogra-phically, all of them are identical except for thearrangement of the four emblems of Viøîu—ùaïkha (conch), cakra (discus), gadá (mace) andpadma (lotus)—in the four hands.

Conclusion

The Páðcarátra Ágamas are a continuationof the Vedic tradition. They also expand andexpound concepts about God and devotion.Apart from sìøôi (creation), sthiti (sustenance)and pralaya (dissolution) of the world, Goddischarges two more functions: nigraha (con-trolling and punishing evil-doers) and anu-graha (showering His blessings on those wholead a good life and are devoted to Him). If thedoctrines of bhakti, or devotion, and prapatti,or self-surrender, find an important place inthis system, no less is the attention paid to ritu-als, worship, images of deities, and temples asalso several mantras, the repetition of whichwill confer many a blessing on the votaries.Thus the Páðcarátra Ágamas have contributedconsiderably towards practical Hinduism.Even today, most of the Vaiøîava temples, es-pecially in South India, follow their dictates,thus keeping its traditions alive. �

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Awakening

The story goes that a fire broke out in a house in which a man was fast asleep. They tried to carry him out

through the window. No way. They tried to carry him out through the door. No way. He was just too

huge and heavy.

They were pretty desperate till someone suggested, ‘Wake him up; then he’ll get out by himself.’

Only children need to be taken care of.

Wake up!

Or grow up!

—Anthony de Mello, The Prayer of the Frog, 2.78-9

A Hundred-year Saga of Service to God

SWAMI SHUDDHAVRATANANDA

The history of the Ramakrishna MissionHome of Service, Varanasi, shows howunder Heaven’s guidance men—not

money—make things happen. It is also illus-trative of the way in which other centres of theRamakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mis-sion were built up. Their present structuresmay be imposing; but each brick represents somuch sacrifice on the part of the pioneers whofelt, dreamt, struggled and died. From theirashes sprang up fresh dreams and ideals tocapture other hearts similarly tuned, till fourgenerations of poor, helpless workers havebrought about an achievement any organiza-tion can be proud of.

The InspirationThe story of the Varanasi Home of Ser-

vice is the story of a few inspired souls who,one blessed morning, saw the face of God notexactly in the temple of Lord Vishwanath, butin the face of an old woman.

One summer evening, 12 June 1900, twoyoung men of Varanasi, Charuchandra Dasand Jaminiranjan Majumdar, were intentlydiscussing one of Swami Vivekananda’s poet-ical compositions, ‘To a Friend’, which hadbeen published in the Bengali monthly Udbo-dhan. As they reached the last lines of thepoem, they were overwhelmed with emotion.Those few lines shed new light on the idea ofservice, which was very much after theirhearts:

From highest Brahman to the yonder worm,And to the very minutest atom,Everywhere is the same God, the All-Love;Friend, offer mind, soul, body, at their feet.These are His manifold forms before thee.Rejecting them, where seekest thou for God?Who loves all beings without distinction,He indeed is worshipping best his God.

It struck them that whatever they had beendoing until then had only been for themselves,not for God. Real devotion, the poem implied,means looking upon all living beings as GodHimself and serving them as such; that wasthe best way to approach God.

Charuchandra had been a fortunate stu-dent who had welcomed Swami Vivekanandain Calcutta when he returned in 1897 after histriumphant success in the West. Soon afterthat event, spurred by the spirit of renuncia-tion and service, Charuchandra had given uphis job at an attorney’s office in Calcutta, bun-dled his favourite books and a picture of SriRamakrishna, and accompanied his parents toVaranasi to serve them in their old age.

There he came in contact with Jamini-ranjan, a penniless youth living on charity as aSanskrit student, who introduced him toKedarnath Maulik, another young man in-spired by the life and message of Sri Ramakri-shna. In 1899 this group observed Sri Rama-krishna’s birthday at Kedarnath’s place underthe guidance of Swami Niranjanananda, whoexhorted them to sacrifice their lives for thegood of the many and the welfare of all. Some-time after this, Swami Kalyanananda, a disci-ple of Swamiji, arrived at Varanasi as Kedar-nath’s guest. It was he who introduced the in-spired utterance ‘Atmano mokshartham jagad-dhitaya cha, For the liberation of one’s own selfand for the good of the world’ to this circle ofyoung men at Varanasi, and inspired them toadopt service to humanity as the aim of theirlife.

The Humble Beginning

To return to the main story. The nextmorning, 13 June 1900, Jaminiranjan was go-ing for a bath in the Ganga. As he passed

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A Hundred-year Saga of Service to God

through a lane in Bengalitola near the alms-house of the Maharani of Puntia, he heard apiteous cry: ‘I have not eaten anything in fourdays, my son. Give me something to eat!’ Anold woman was lying sick on the roadside, un-attended and unclaimed. The pathetic scenestruck Jaminiranjan with a strange passion.Moved by the woman’s misery, then and therehe initiated his mission of selfless service byattending to her immediate needs and beg-ging four annas from a passer-by, with whichhe bought her somemilk. He then enlistedthe cooperation of hisfriends Charuchandraand Kedarnath andhad the woman re-moved to the Bhelu-pura hospital. To-gether they collectedsome food and cloth-ing and raised money— one rupee! — bybegging from door todoor. They also took itupon themselves tonurse the old womanback to health. Hername was NrityakaliDasi. Nrityakali re-covered within a cou-ple of weeks and theyoung men arrangedher shelter at the Chowkaghat Poor House.

By this time, these young men had form-ed themselves into a band with the object ofserving suffering pilgrims among those whogather in thousands in that sacred city. Theycalled themselves ‘Poor Men’s Relief Associa-tion’. Charuchandra, their leader, started adispensary and began to serve poor patients inhis own way.

Early Days

Kedarnath soon renounced the world,hired a small house at Khemeshwar Ghat at

three rupees a month and took there the por-trait of Sri Ramakrishna that Charuchandrahad earlier installed in his house. This was re-ally the first Sri Ramakrishna temple inVaranasi. Kedarnath now regularly began togo to Charuchandra’s dispensary to workthere and serve the patients.

Beginning from 13 September 1900, theAssociation was located in a house rented forfive rupees a month at D32/82 Jangambari, inthe Ramapura quarter of Varanasi. Through it

they endeavouredwith their limitedmeans to providefood, shelter and med-ical aid to destitutepilgrims, helplesswidows, and agedpersons lying ill on thestreets and ghats ofthe city.

The group’s im-mediate task was tosurvey the differentlocalities and pick upthe destitute and ex-tend them necessaryrelief, providing themwith food, clothingand shelter, medicalaid and nursing, oreven arranging fortheir hospitalization

when necessary. To meet the necessities,members went from door to door begging forprovisions, clothing and money.

Very soon, their silent service attractedthe notice of the leading citizens of Varanasilike Babu Pramadadas Mitra, Munshi MadhoLal, Mokshadadas Mitra and others, who con-vened a public meeting at the BengalitolaHigh School on 15 September 1900 to registertheir support of the Association and appeal forpublic involvement in its noble work. At thattime, along with Charuchandra, Jaminiranjanand Kedarnath, who had devoted themselves

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A Hundred-year Saga of Service to God 83

Swami Shubhananda

entirely to the Association’s work, HarinathOdhedar, Haridas Chatterjee, Jnanendranath,Nigamachari Bibhutibhushan andJagaddurlabh Ghose were the other activemembers of the Association.

The members did all the work by them-selves; they could not afford to employ even asweeper. A sweeper was engaged much later,when Dr Arthur Richardson, Principal of theCentral Hindu College, promised to pay forhis services. The sympathetic Dr Richardsoncommented in the As-sociation’s visitors’book on 12 January1901: ‘I can only saythat it is a privilege tobe able to help themembers in theirwork. Every Hindushould feel proud ofbeing associated withthem, and the highestworship we can offerto God is to help andsave the sufferingwho have beenthrown across ourpath. May the work beblessed!’

The following il-lustration brings outthe seriousness andcommitment withwhich these pioneersset about their work. In early November 1900,one Panchanan Hazra, a 35-year-old Bengalibrahmin, came to the holy city. He was a leper.Those were days when the disease wasthought incurable. Neglected by his own fam-ily and shunned wherever he went, the poorman finally found shelter under a tree atNarad Ghat. Since leprosy is infectious, nonedared approach him and he faced severe star-vation. The onset of winter made his plighteven worse. On one of their daily surveys ofthe city, some members of the Association

found him in this deplorable condition andimmediately took care of him by getting himnourishing food and clothes. They brought akind-hearted doctor and had him treated onthe spot. Then a separate room was rented forhim at Khemeshwar Ghat. After more than amonth’s treatment and nursing, Hazra was ina position to beg for himself from nearbyalmshouses before he was discharged. The in-cident may not look spectacular now, but ahundred years ago anybody who had any-

thing to do with leperswas thought plainmad and risked be-coming a social anath-ema himself.

The small spaceat the Association’sdisposal could notcope with the increas-ing demand of poorpatients and wasfound too small for ef-fective work. This ne-cessitated shifting theAssociation in quicksuccession to 227 Da-shashwamedh Roadon 20 February and toD38/153 Ramapuraon 2 June 1901. Thesecond house was bigbut old, and thereforecould be hired at a

monthly rent of ten rupees. During the firstyear (July 1900-June 1901), the Associationprovided relief to 261 destitutes, including 38in its own house. Seven doctors helped theeight volunteers with free service.

Swami Vivekananda’s Visit

It was at Ramapura that Swami Viveka-nanda visited the Poor Men’s Relief Associa-tion, when he came to Varanasi in February1902. Inspired so far only by his ideas, thegroup now gathered round their ideal in per-

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Swami Achalananda

son. To them Swamiji said: ‘Devoted service toGod in the form of helpless men is the finalgoal of human life, equally for the pure-hearted brahmacharin, for the man of actionand for man in general. Who are you to renderrelief? Nothing beyond service is within yourpower. The pride of rendering help to othersgoes before a fall.’

However, Swamiji was delighted to seetheir zeal and spirit—which were reminiscentof the days of St Francis of Assisi—and wasproud of them. He blessed them: ‘You havethe true spirit, my boys, andyou will always have my loveand blessings! Go on bravely;never mind your poverty.Money will come. A greatthing will grow of it, surpass-ing your fondest hopes!’

These words left a pro-found impression on theyouths. In line with Swamiji’snew direction and in defer-ence to his wishes, they re-named their Association ‘TheRamakrishna Home of Ser-vice’. Swamiji himself wrotean appeal to accompany theirfirst report. The appealworked like magic, andawakened in the public a de-sire to render help in some form or other tothis cause of self-sacrificing service. Distin-guished people were drawn more and more tothis new temple dedicated to the worship ofliving gods.

Soon the group’s association with theRamakrishna Mission grew and Swamiji him-self began to inspire it with his direct guid-ance. While in Varanasi, Swamiji gave man-tra-diksha to Charuchandra (later Swami Shu-bhananda), Harinath (later Swami Sadashiva-nanda) and Haridas. Being out of station,Kedarnath received sannyasa from Swamiji atBelur Math in May 1902. He became SwamiAchalananda.

Affiliation with the Ramakrishna MissionThe Ramakrishna Home of Service had

sincere and self-sacrificing workers, and wasrapidly expanding its scope of work and gain-ing in popularity. But it required the guidanceof some central body and a permanent homefor its expanding activities. The managementtoo felt the need and suggested to SwamiBrahmananda that it should be amalgamatedwith the Ramakrishna Mission. A publicmeeting called with his concurrence at theCarmichael Library on 28 September 1903 to

confirm this decision of the managing com-mittee, acclaimed it with joy. The Home be-came an integral part of the Ramakrishna Mis-sion on 23 November 1902 and was renamed‘Ramakrishna Mission Home of Service’.Swami Brahmananda paid special attention tothe Home, about which Swami Vivekanandahad said to him, ‘Keep an eye on this institu-tion.’ With this affiliation, the Home’s futurenow became assured, and it launched forthinto a life of diverse and fruitful activity.

The Home Grows

Although the quantum of work in-creased manifold, the Home’s activities still

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Swami Vivekananda temple (Advaita Ashrama behind)

went on with great difficulty from the sameold house rented in June 1901. In 1906 its mem-bers began to plan for their own hospital. AtSwami Brahmananda’s instance, Upendra-narayan Deb of Calcutta, a devotee of SwamiVivekananda, contributed Rs 4000, to whichwas added another Rs 2000—the savings of

his whole life—by Tarinicharan Pal, to form anucleus for the Home’s permanent premises.Then, as if to prove that the unexpected hap-pens when a genuine cause stirs people’simagination, the owner of the property onwhich the Ramakrishna Advaita Ashrama,Varanasi, was located, proposed to SwamiShivananda to sell the property for just Rs6000 if he was interested; but to no one elsewould he give it for such a small amount. Onthe swami’s advice, Charuchandra purchasedthe vacant land for the Home of Service. Thiswas on 31 July 1906.

In August 1906, Swami Brahmanandaand Sister Nivedita appealed to the public forhelp to meet the huge building cost. SisterNivedita often visited the Home. She stayedthere and sometimes accompanied the monksin begging from door to door. Following in thesteps of her master, she too delivered severalpublic lectures for the Home’s improvement.

Her impressive writings gradually helpedmake its ideals and activities known far andwide.

Swami Brahmananda laid the founda-tion stone in April 1908. Construction workcommenced on 8 October under Swami Vijna-nananda’s direction. Swamis Satchidananda

and Achalananda toiled hard,and especially those devoteeswho were closely associatedwith Swami Achalananda madegenerous donations. Within twoyears were completed four largegeneral wards, two smaller ones,three segregation wards, an out-door dispensary, an office, akitchen, a library, a work shedand a morgue. The Home movedout of the Ramapura house to itspermanent abode when SwamiBrahmananda inaugurated thenew establishment on 16 May1910. The 46-bed hospital wasformally opened to the public on6 July 1910 by Mr W Gaskell, Col-

lector of Varanasi. Mr Gaskell took an activeinterest in the Home, for which he securedfrom the municipality an annual subscriptionof Rs 120. This was later increased, and themunicipal tax cancelled, at his instance.

Service and Sacrifice, the Driving Spirit

During these early years, a pervasivespirit of service and sacrifice drove the Homeso powerfully that it influenced everybodywho came within its ambit—some for life.Swami Shivananda describes it in an article hewrote for the Udbodhan: Upendranath was acraftsman who hailed from Bengal. He hadcontracted a particularly virulent type of ma-larial fever when he was about thirty yearsold, and prolonged suffering had utterly ru-ined his health. Having come to Varanasi topray to Lord Vishwanath for relief from hismiserable condition, the man found his way tothe Home of Service. Thanks to the affection-

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A portion of old hospital building

ate care he received there, he was fully re-stored to health within a short time. Deeplytouched by the love he experienced at theHome, Upendra decided to stay back, prefer-ring to serve the destitute as a whole-timesevak. He worked with the same spirit as theothers. Once he nursed a fellow worker whohad caught small pox while attending to a pa-tient. The worker recovered due to Upendra’snursing, but Upendra himself fell prey to thedeadly disease and could not be saved. Heknew the risks, but that did notdeflect him from the path hechose to tread—to serve the sickas God Himself. Having led a lifeworth living, Upendra offeredhis soul at the altar of service.

It was to this brave spirit hewitnessed at the Home thatMahamati Gopal Krishna Go-khale paid homage during hisvisit on 28 December 1905: ‘I sin-cerely admire the work that is be-ing done [here]. Work such asthis is the most fitting tribute tothe memory of one whose heartwas … with the poor and suffer-ing.’

Old Age Homes: Beginning

Many poor old people go to Varanasi tospend their last days in the holy city, and un-foreseen circumstances often drive many ofthem to destitution. To provide temporaryfood and shelter to such people until theycould provide for themselves, and to give per-manent shelter to invalids, old age homeswere felt necessary. So in addition to its indoorand outdoor service to poor patients, theHome added a refuge for invalids in February1912. (About this time, it also experimentedfor a while with educational activities by con-ducting homes for boys and girls, and spin-ning and weaving classes, which were closeddown later as not compatible with the mainline of its work, which was medical service.)

In fact, even in 1910, members of theHome had begun doling out food right on thestreets. The refuge was set up at a rented housein the Jangambari locality two years later, withthe money and property bequeathed by an oldbrahmin lady of Karnataka and an anony-mous monthly contribution of Rs 100. About20 invalid women were accommodated in thebeginning and arrangements were made fortheir food, clothing and other necessaries.

In early 1913, a short time after the estab-

lishment of this branch, an unexpected helpcame from the famous publisher and mer-chant Nibaranchandra Das, who towards theend of his life made over to the Home nearlyall his property plus the rent from his own res-idence near Dashashwamedh Ghat. His giftwas originally and specially intended as char-ity to helpless indigent women and yielded adecent income. The women’s home was nowshifted to the late benefactor’s residence.

Holy Mother’s Visit

8 November 1912 is a red-letter day in thehistory of the Ramakrishna Mission Home ofService, Varanasi. It was on that day that HolyMother Sri Sarada Devi graced it by her visit.Swamis Brahmananda, Shivananda, Turiya-

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Old age home for destitute women (before renovation)

nanda and Master Mahashay were also pres-ent. Holy Mother was taken round the wardsin a palanquin. She also saw the flower andkitchen gardens and the living quarters of themonastics. Greatly pleased with the visit, sheremarked: ‘The Master is ever present in theplace and Mother Lakshmi always casts herbenign glance upon it.’ She was told how thework had started and how quickly it had ex-panded in the course of a few years, drawingthe admiration of the whole country. Motherwas delighted. ‘The place,’ she remarked, ‘isso charming that I feel like living here perma-nently.’ She also visited the women’s old agehome and blessed the residents. After return-ing to her residence Holy Mother sent a ten-rupee note as her donation to the Home,which was accepted as her blessing. TheHome has carefully preserved it to this day asa sacred treasure.

Expansion of the Work

By 1913, the Home’s activities had vastlyincreased and demanded the expansion of thehospital. At the same time it faced an acuteshortage of workers and scarcity of funds.Charuchandra now trained up a band of localworkers. In order to help the few monasticsevaks, who had to do everything by them-selves, some youths, mostly students, began torender part-time service at the Home. Eventhis could not cope with the load of work,since the number of people seeking help andthe consequent pressure were constantlygrowing. However, all difficulties vanishedthrough the untiring zeal of the workers andsympathetic contributions from the public.Swami Brahmananda, who always devotedhis valuable time to the advancement of theHome, again appealed for public participationin its service activities.

Between 1914 and 1915 the Home ac-quired a large piece of adjoining land, onwhich it intended to build some more segrega-tion wards and living quarters for monks andresident doctors. Swami Vijnanananda drew

the plan and prepared the estimates. In the be-ginning of 1915, Swamis Shivananda andPremananda performed the ground-breakingceremony and the construction work began.In about a year five new segregation wardswith 35 beds came up and were dedicated on 7November 1916 by the swamis; they wereopened to the public by Mr G B Lambert, Mag-istrate and Collector, Varanasi, on 10 Novem-ber 1916.

In 1916 the Home also conducted a floodrelief operation in Varanasi and Ballia dis-tricts.

The Trailblazers

The monastic sevaks, who had renouncedall worldly ambitions and devoted themselvesto the service of God in man, had the rare op-portunity of living under the guidance of re-vered Swamis Brahmananda, Turiyanandaand Saradananda. These great souls taughtmore by example than by precept.

It so happened that one winter night in1914, a patient who had gone out to relievehimself accidentally fell into the water reser-voir. Swami Brahmananda—the 51-year-oldPresident of the Ramakrishna Order— heardhis frantic shouts and rushed out in the deadof night and rescued the patient with the helpof another monk. Maharaj’s agonizing silenceall next day taught an unforgettable lesson tothe sevaks who were supposed to be on dutythe previous night.

Swami Turiyananda, who spent the lastfew years of his life in the Home, was anotherstalwart. One of his personal attendants wasonce requested to work in the hospital. But themonk expressed a preference to continue serv-ing Turiyanandaji: he thought that was surelysuperior. Turiyanandaji was visibly dis-pleased with him and said: ‘Remember, whatyou are asked to do is not mere hospitalwork—just taking care of a few patients. It isworship of God Himself. If you can serve thepatients in the right spirit, in a single day youcan attain to the highest spiritual realization!’

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Swami Vishwarupananda was a youngmonk whose post was at the hospital dressingroom. In spite of himself, he found it quite dif-ficult to put up with the putrid smell ofwounds. Swami Saradananda came to knowof the monk’s discomfort and advised him topray fervently to Sri Ramakrishna for greaterendurance. Following this advice the monk in-deed could overcome his weakness.

Charuchandra’s own life was a model.He was the leader of the Home and solely re-sponsible for its entire management. He wasvery strict when it came to principles, but atthe same time it was against his nature to arbi-trarily impose his will on his followers. Hewas extraordinarily kind andhumble in his dealings with peo-ple and behaved as if he was ev-erybody’s servant. Not to speakof the patients, who were hisidols—addressing them asnarayanas and the monks assevaks was, and still is, a cher-ished custom—he would look tothe needs and comforts of thesevaks with motherly solicitude.Everybody in the Home greatlyloved and respected him.

Charuchandra always keptin mind what his master,Swamiji, had once told him: toregard even a small coin of dona-tion as though it were his verylifeblood. He was extremely economical, andduring his tenure it was almost impossible towaste a single pie. Here is an instance ofCharuchandra’s concern for the institution:One day a worker asked for two cloves tochew after meals as a mouth-freshener. ButHome regulations allowed only one andCharuchandra declined to oblige. This was hisexplanation: he was a mere custodian—notowner of the Home— and so could not ignorethe rules!

Speaking at a function during theHome’s centenary celebrations last year, Sri-

mat Swami Gahananandaji Maharaj remi-nisced: A certain monk was very particularabout his early morning bath in the Ganga andhis daily visits to the temples of Lord Vish-wanath and Mother Annapurna. No doubt heattended to his work at the narayan bhandar(the hospital kitchen, where food is preparedfor the patients) with the utmost sincerity. Buthe once complained that he was unable tokeep up with his work with sustained enthusi-asm. Swami Achalananda pointedly askedhim: ‘Have you ever visited and worshippedGod in this temple?’ The hint brought themonk back to his senses.

To Swami Achalananda (affectionately

called Kedar Baba by his guru, Swami Viveka-nanda) patients were verily God Himself, andhe would show displeasure if anybody re-ferred to them as just patients. He would insiston their being called narayans. Kedar Baba de-voted practically his whole life to the perpetu-ation of his master’s ideal of service to human-ity. He would grow eloquent as he spoke ofSwamiji’s new gospel of service. Himself aspiritual luminary, he emphasized unselfishwork as much as he did contemplative life.Service in the true spirit, Kedar Baba believed,was no less than worship in the temple. Work

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Ambika Dham, where Turiyanandaji, Achalanandaji and

Sadashivanandaji stayed

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performed in a spirit of humble service is con-ducive to one’s spiritual welfare, but the samework done with any other motive becomes asource of fresh bondage. Newcomers at theHome were greatly profited by Kedar Baba’sdirection, which helped them maintain a spiri-tual attitude while serving the poor.

The Home on the March

Between 1915 and 1930 the Home under-went a steady expansion. In 1917 a two-storeyed house was erected to accommodateas many as 12 workers. The following year theHome initiated influenza epidemic reliefwork in the city. In 1918 it also started an or-phanage for about 10 boys, who were givenmoral and spiritual education besides mone-tary aid for tuition fees and textbooks. Theseboys were later admitted into the Ramakri-shna Mission Vidyapith, Deoghar. This activ-ity was discontinued in 1925, although theHome still extends financial support to de-serving students. In 1919 the management be-gan to take in paralytic patients. The numberof such cases ranged between 10 and 20 andthe work continued till 1946. A new house forthe resident doctor came into being in 1921and four more rooms were added to the fe-male segregation ward in 1922. From 1923 tillthe 1940s the Home arranged food and shelterfor strangers to the city. During this period thenumber of beneficiaries rose from 200 to 400 ayear. In 1924 an officers’ quarters and an anti-septic operation theatre were built. A surgicalward followed these in 1926. In 1928 the Homeorganized a cholera relief project in Varanasi.A short time later, with the addition of a newaseptic operation theatre and the purchase ofsome more land adjacent to its compound, theHome made further advancement. 28 physi-cians were then giving honorary service.

Work for Women

The women’s home for girls and widowsof respectable families started on a modestscale in 1910 had doubled its strength by 1918.

That year a small house in Luxa was purchasedfor Rs 3000, where the inmates were givenmoral and religious instruction with academiceducation in addition to vocational training insewing and such other crafts. The object was tomake them independent. They could alsonurse female patients at the hospital. Thehome’s management was placed in the handsof Sudhira Devi, who was in charge of SisterNivedita’s girls’ school in Calcutta, recogniz-ing her administrative ability. However, withher sudden death in a train accident in 1920, thehome suffered a setback.

Till this time the hospital could only ad-mit old female patients because of the dearth ofsevikas (female workers). With the eliminationof that constraint, the women’s wing of thehospital was now separated from the men’swing. Between 1915 and 1922 a number ofwards with a total of 50 beds were added to thewomen’s wing. A women workers’ quarterscame up in 1922, and another was added in1930, when the women’s home moved into thehospital complex. More rooms were addedand the capacity increased in 1938. In 1948 a fe-male outdoor dispensary was opened and a fe-male aseptic surgical ward came into being in1957. The number of female patients steadilyincreased through the 1960s and 1980s. 1986saw a new annexe and renovation and up-grade of the old block.

The men’s old age home was started in1923 with a capacity of 25, though the numberof occupants did not increase beyond 10 till the1950s. Renovation and expansion of this hometook place in 1992.

Bereavements

From 1919 until his mahasamadhi threeyears later, Swami Turiyananda lived in theHome, and its workers enjoyed the spiritual at-mosphere created by his presence. Turiyanan-daji showed keen interest in the spiritual wel-fare of each individual monk. He encouragedthem in their work and taught them how toserve with the true spirit. He also gave classes

on the Upanishads, the Gita, the Yoga Vasishthaand Swamiji’s works. A few days before hispassing on 21 July 1922, he inspired the monkswith these words: ‘Dispel all doubts; devotebody, mind and soul wholly to His work;there is no room for doubt; go on with yourwork, which will lead you to the Goal. Swamijionce told me in Darjeeling:“Brother Hari, this time Ihave chalked out a newpath; for so long people be-lieved that salvation ispossible only through con-templation, reasoning andtelling the beads. Youthsof the present age will getsalvation in this life by do-ing His work. It is His in-junction; banish alldoubts.”’ Turiyanandaji’sdemise was an irreparableloss to the RamakrishnaOrder, especially to themonks at the VaranasiHome of Service.

By 1921, Charuchandra had devoted thebest part of his life to the realization of theideal of selfless service. Having worshippednara-narayana, God in human form, with utterdedication for over two decades, he decided toretire from active work for good. Charuchan-dra left for Prayag on Swamiji’s birthday inJanuary 1921 to perform austerities in prepa-ration for monastic life. That very year, on SriRamakrishna’s birthday, Swami Brahmanan-da formally initiated him into sannyasa, andCharuchandra became Swami Shubhananda.Founder of this great institution, he was in-strumental in bringing about much of its pres-ent usefulness. But such was his spirit of de-tachment that in spite of being entreated bySwami Kalikananda, his successor, to live atthe Home, Swami Shubhananda chose to livethe rest of his life as a wandering sadhu! TheHome bore yet another great shock in April1926 when it lost its beloved leader Swami

Shubhananda to an unfortunate accident inKankhal.

However, God’s plan is not drawn onsand. By the late 1920s, the trailblazers had setthe pace and the Home was on a solid footingideologically and materially. An unknownforeign visitor recorded his impressions in an

article he wrote for Prabuddha Bharata’s April1927 issue: ‘The simplicity and perfect orderli-ness of buildings covering extensive area ofthe Home, indicating Hindu charity in a vari-ety of ways, cannot but appeal to anyone whovisits it. … A good number of patients werepicked up from the roadside by the workers ofthe Home, who go daily round the city withthis express object. I was particularly struck bythe happiness in the faces of the unfortunateinmates, which showed that they get full at-tention and utmost care. I could not talk tothem as they did not understand my lan-guage, but their looks seemed to thankfullyacknowledge the benefits they received at theHome. … There were in all about a hundredand twenty patients, and I found the workers,all monastic, attending to their comfort care-fully and lovingly, though some of the pa-tients were suffering from unclean diseases.… A good majority of the workers, I learnt, are

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Swami Vivekananda Centenary Memorial Ward

English educated and some of them have thehighest university qualifications, and all ofthem are cultured gentlemen, their only re-ward lying in their own inward satisfaction.Seeing them one is reminded of the verse: “Ido not covet earthly kingdom or heaven oreven salvation; I desire for the removal of themiseries of the afflicted.”’

Further Expansion and Consolidation

The scope of the Home’s services was notlimited to the city of Varanasi. In 1934 theHome rose to the challenge when a majorearthquake hit Bihar, and within a decade, in1943, it found itself in the vortex of the Bengalfamine relief work.

The addition in 1935 of a pathologicallaboratory with the latest diagnostic facilitieswas an important step forward. In 1946 theoperation theatre acquired a surgical opera-tion table and an electrical sterilizer.

Then came Independence, followingwhich the Home’s activities underwent rapidexpansion. Leading figures who visited theHome during this time, including the gover-nor, central and state ministers, high courtjudges, the mayor, top executives and sociolo-gists, were deeply moved when they saw theactual demonstration of real altruism. Theywere filled with hope to find a great ideal be-

ing realized there. To many others who camein contact with it, the way of life at the Homeshowed the road to peace and blessedness.

The following details give us an idea ofthe Home’s growth profile during the post-In-dependence years. In order to provide awholesome diet to the patients the Home be-gan a small dairy in 1948. During 1950-51,with the modernization of the hospital’s infra-structure, two X-ray machines were installedin a separate building and an electrotherapydepartment was started. From 1955 to 1963 theHome ran a milk canteen from its outdoor dis-pensary; milk was distributed daily to an av-erage of 600 people, including children, pa-tients, invalids and expectant mothers. In 1955

a new wing of outpatient departmentand an extension of monks’ quarterswere built. In 1960 a new 200 mA X-raymachine was commissioned. The 52-bed Swami Vivekananda CentenaryMemorial Ward came into existence in1963. A separate eye ward with 25 bedswas started in 1965. In 1971 a bigger op-eration theatre-cum-surgical block hav-ing 16 cabins and 2 general wards cameup. The number of cows in the dairywas augmented in 1972. In 1975 an elec-trocardiograph was installed, and in1977 a mobile X-ray unit was commis-sioned. 1978 saw a new monks’ quartersand the renovation of the dairy. In 1987a new resident doctors’ quarters was

built. One more ECG machine was added in1988 and a powerful 700 mA X-ray machinewas installed in 1989. The dairy, which under-went extensive improvement during thistime, now has nearly 70 cows, yielding an av-erage of 350 litres of milk daily. A large build-ing was inaugurated in 1988 to accommodatemonks of the Ramakrishna Order who had re-tired from active service.

During the 1990s the hospital was thor-oughly modernized with the acquisition,among other things, of an auto-analyser and acomputer for the pathological laboratory, a

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Operation Theatre-cum-Surgical Block

gastrointestinal-fibrescope, an ultrasonogra-pher and an echocardiographer. In 1992 theX-ray block was extended. The mobile medi-cal unit started in 1997 is doing immense ser-vice to the poor in rural areas.

Statistics at a Glance

Culled from the Home’s annual reportfor 2000-01, the following statistics give us abrief summary of its present status: the hospi-tal had 230 beds and admitted 6185 patients;the outdoor dispensary (offering both allo-pathy and homeopathy services) with eye,ENT, dental, X-ray, electrotherapy and cardi-ology sections treated 1,90,592 cases; the labo-ratory made 63,690 diagnoses, and the X-ray,electrocardiography and ultrasonography de-partments handled 9685, 1531 and 2418 cases,respectively; the mobile dispensary benefited6968 persons; and the two old age homes ac-commodated 30 men and 36 women. In addi-tion to all this, the Home disbursed Rs 4,18,210in regular financial aid and distributed clothesand medicines worth Rs 1,57,579 to indigentpeople.

Ban Bihari Maharaj

No account of the Varanasi Home of Ser-vice is complete without reference to SwamiMuktanandaji Maharaj, better known as BanBihari Maharaj or Ban Baba. Ban Bihari Maha-raj joined the Home sometime in the 1930s andwas closely associated with Swami Achala-nanda, from whom he imbibed the spirit ofworshipful service.

Ban Bihari Maharaj’s day began with abath in the Ganga and a visit at dawn to LordVishwanath and Mother Annapurna. Early inthe morning he would arrive at the hospitaland begin the work of dressing wounds. Hislove for the patients was so great that hewould forget himself completely while serv-ing them! Late in the afternoon he would go tohis room and, after a short rest, return to work.In those days disposable bandages were notyet widely used. Maharaj would wash used

bandages and hang them out to dry in the sun.In the evening he would visit the Kedarnathtemple and sit down by the Ganga for japa.

Nothing extraordinary—except that BanBihari Maharaj did it for sixty years with su-preme devotion. His devotion graduallytransformed his work into wholehearted wor-ship. The humble dressing room took on theaura of a shrine and people could see that hewas worshipping, not just working. As yearspassed it began to appear as though Provi-dence had blessed Ban Bihari Maharaj withthe healing touch. Patients came to have abso-lute faith in him and often demanded that hetreat their wounds! Whenever and whereverthey found him, they would implore BanBihari Maharaj to just touch them once; tothem he was an angel. Even experienced sur-geons would refer to Maharaj cases that didnot to respond to their treatment—a proof oftheir confidence in his unfailing power ofhealing.

There are many stories about Ban BihariMaharaj and his golden touch. One day someswamis of the Home brought in a lunatic whohad a big wound on his back with maggots allover. They locked him up in a room so that hecould not escape and made arrangements forhis meals. Nobody could get near him becauseof the revolting stench of the wound—exceptBan Bihari Maharaj. Under his tender care thewound began to heal soon. Later on, the man’smental condition also received treatment atthe Home and he returned home a normal per-son.

Ban Bihari Maharaj once even went to theextent of giving the impression that a certainpatient was ‘my own father, who has come toVaranasi to spend his last days here’. That wasa plan he hit upon to ensure that the old manreceived the best care! Sure enough, the casegot all the attention it deserved.

The late Srimat Swami BhuteshanandajiMaharaj was yet another person cured by BanBihari Maharaj. When he was head of Rama-krishna Ashrama, Rajkot, he once had a stub-

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born wound on his hand that refused to yieldto any treatment. On somebody’s suggestion,Bhuteshanandaji came to Varanasi to let BanBihari Maharaj have a look at it. To Bhutesh-anandaji’s great surprise, the wound began toshow signs of healing up just after a few daysof treatment by Ban Bihari Maharaj.

A Century of Exemplary DedicationIf today the Ramakrishna Mission Home

of Service has grown into a large hospitalknown across North India, it is because ofHoly Mother Sri Sarada Devi’s grace, SwamiVivekananda’s blessings and the self-sacrificeof its pioneers.

The Home celebrated its hundredth anni-versary in November 2000. It was no ordinarycelebration. The usual ceremonies apart, itsmonks literally worshipped—with flowersand fruits and incense and light to the accom-

paniment of Vedic chanting!—each and everypatient in its wards. They showered gifts onthe destitute right on the pavements, as theyalways do on all important occasions. That issome tradition! On 14 February 2002, SrimatSwami Ranganathanandaji Maharaj, Presi-dent of the Ramakrishna Math and the Rama-krishna Mission, opened the spacious newCentenary Memorial Outpatient Departmentas part of the concluding functions.

What sustains this huge temple of serviceis the spontaneous help coming in differentways, and donations from generous people.But the real power behind the institution is theinspired dedication of a handful of monks,doctors, nurses, sevaks and sevikas, who neverfail to give their best in order to preserve theHome’s glorious culture. The immortal wordsof the great Swami Vivekananda still echo intheir hearts: ‘May I be born again and again,and suffer thousands of miseries so that I mayworship the only God that exists, the only GodI believe in, the sum total of all souls—andabove all … my God the miserable, my Godthe poor of all races … is the special object ofmy worship.’ �

Acknowledgements

1. Udbodhan (Calcutta: Udbodhan Office, Au-gust 1902 and 1904).

2. Swami Narottamananda, Seva (Varanasi:Ramakrishna Mission Home of Service, 1930).

3. Swami Nikhilananda, Holy Mother (NewYork: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center,1962).

4. Swami Narottamananda, Home of Service: ARetrospect (Varanasi: Ramakrishna MissionHome of Service, 1982).

5. Swami Gambhirananda, History of Ramakri-shna Math and Ramakrishna Mission (Calcutta:Advaita Ashrama, 1983).

6. Swami Abjajananda, Swamijir Padaprante(Belur: RamakrishnaMissionSaradapitha,1983).

8. Centenary Souvenir: 1900-2000 (Varanasi:Ramakrishna Mission Home of Service, 2000).

PB-JANUARY 2003 102


Srimat Swami Gahananandaji Maharaj (left) and theauthor in front of

the Centenary Memorial Building

103 PB-JANUARY 2003

Jábála Upaniøad

TRANSLATED BY SWAMI ATMAPRIYANANDA

Section Five

A bráhmaîa’s right to renunciation (sannyása)

c{tÑKôg mkàgtmu~rÆtfUth&

y: nilbrºt& vŒåA gtÒtJÖ¢gbT > v]åAtrb ÀJt gtÒtJÖ¢gtgÒttuvJe;e fU:k c{tÑK Rr; > m ntuJta

gtÒtJÖ¢g& > R=buJtôg gÒttuvJe;k g ytÀbt yv& Œtˆgtaög > ygk rJrÆt& ŒJ{trsltbT >>1>>

1. Then the [sage] Atri asked Yájðavalkya: ‘May I ask you, Yájðavalkya, how is one withoutthe sacred thread1 [considered] a bráhmaîa? Yájðavalkya replied: [The conviction that he is the]Self (Átman) is his sacred thread.2 He shall then sip water [ceremonially three times, technicallycalled ácamana]. This is the procedure enjoined on those who renounce worldly life.3

Determining the duties of those not entitled to sannyása 4

mkàgtmu~lrÆtfU];tltk fU;oÔgrlÁvKbT

JehtÆJtlu JtltNfuU Jtvtk ŒJuNu Jtrd¿ŒJuNu Jt bntŒô:tlu Jt > y: vrhJ{tzTrJJKoJtmt bwãztu~vrhd{n&

NwrahŠtune CiGbtKtu c{ÑCqgtg CJr; > g‘t;wh& ôgtàblmt Jtat mkàgmu;T > YM và:t c{ÑKt ntlwrJútô;ulir;

mkàgtme c{ÑrJr=r; > YJbuJiM CdJrªtr; Ji gtÒtJÖ¢g >>2>>

2. [Those not entitled to formal sannyása, may, however, seek liberation, or mokøa] in thepath of the brave [that is, those who court death in the battlefield];5 or fast [unto death as a spiri-tual discipline]; or enter into the waters [of a holy river, to rise no more]; or enter into [a blazing]fire; or undertake the great journey [to a remote and inaccessible sacred place, from which theymay not return].

[In case a person is entitled to study, contemplation and the like,] then the wanderingmonk, wearing [ochre-] coloured garment, with head shaven, accepting nothing [except per-haps the barest minimum required for bodily sustenance], being pure [both inwardly and out-wardly], injuring none [in thought, word and deed], living on alms [just for the sake of sustain-ing his life], becomes fit to realize Brahman. If a person is sorely afflicted [and therefore incapa-ble of performing any formal rites of sannyása], he may renounce worldly life by a mental re-solve or by uttering [mantras] through speech.6 This path [of renunciation] has been found byBrahmá. By [following] this path as told by Brahmá, a sannyásin (one who has renounced theworldly life) realizes Brahman. [Atri approvingly and appreciatively responded to what wasthus told to him by the sage Yájðavalkya]: ‘Thus indeed it is, surely, Yájðavalkya!’

(to be continued)

Notes1. A sacred thread (yajðopavæta) with which a bráhmaîa boy is invested at a very tender age is what signi-

fies his bráhmaîa-hood.


PB-JANUARY 2003 104

2. This knowledge of Brahman is verily the sacred thread (yajðopavæta) of sannyásins, for it leads them tothe Supreme Being (Viøîu), who is of the form of yajða. (There is a ùruti statement: ‘Yajða is indeedViøîu.’) He thus becomes convinced that he is the self-effulgent Átman. —Upaniøad Brahmayogin’scommentary.

3. The sannyása procedure mentioned here is elaborated as follows in Upaniøad Brahmayogin’s com-mentary: After repeating the praiøa mantra, he shall discard his tuft of hair and the sacred thread in thewaters uttering the mantra ‘May you go to the ocean. Sváhá.’ Then he shall perform the ácamana (cere-monial sipping of water).

4. Traditionally, køatriyas and vaiùyas among the ‘twice-born’ are not supposed to be entitled to sannyása.One possible reason for this inhibition, considering the structure of caste-based society in the oldentimes, could be that the køatriya, a warrior, and the vaiùya, a businessman, are respectively chargedwith the responsibility of protecting society, and of generating and circulating wealth. If they aretaken away from the mainstream of society through sannyása, then the social structure would col-lapse. Some others who are debarred from sannyása are those afflicted with incurable diseases, thosewho for some reason are utterly incapable of study, contemplation and the like.

5. For a køatriya, bravely facing death on the battlefield doing his duty for the society and the country,leads to liberation.

6. Those who are faced with some terrible danger like being overpowered by a tiger or a dacoit, or af-flicted with some incurable disease—the ùruti provides for such people also to take to sannyása justbefore death.

Manifest Your Self in a High Degree

The remedy for weakness is not brooding over weakness, but thinking of strength. Teach men of the

strength that is already within them. Instead of telling them they are sinners, the Vedanta takes the op-

posite position, and says, ‘You are pure and perfect, and what you call sin does not belong to you.’ Sins are

very low degrees of Self-manifestation; manifest your Self in a high degree. That is the one thing to remem-

ber; all of us can do that. Never say, ‘No’, never say, ‘I cannot’, for you are infinite. Even time and space are

as nothing compared with your nature. You can do anything and everything, you are almighty.


Take off that veil of hypnotism which you have cast upon the world, send not out thoughts and words of

weakness unto humanity. Know that all sins and all evils can be summed up in that one word, weak-

ness. It is weakness that is the motive power in all evil doing; it is weakness that is the source of all selfish-

ness; it is weakness that makes men injure others; it is weakness that makes them manifest what they are not

in reality. Let them all know what they are; let them repeat day and night what they are. Soham. Let them

suck it in with their mothers’ milk, this idea of strength—I am He, I am He.

—CW, 3.426

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