1

The Vedanta
Kesari

“Love India”
— Swami Vivekananda

1
`15
A Cultural and Spiritual Monthly
of the Ramakrishna Order since 1914
F ebruary
2021
 2

स्वदेशमन्त्रः
Swami Vivekananda contributed a seminal essay on India, titled Bartaman
Bharat or ‘Modern India’ in the March 1899 issue of the Udbodhan, the Bengali
magazine of the Ramakrishna Order. In the concluding paragraph, Swamiji
gave a powerful call which is popularly known as Swadesha Mantra. Given
below is a Sanskrit translation of this call, done by some devotees:
हे भारत, इमं परानुवादम्, इमां परानुकृतिम्, इमां परमुखापेक्षाम,् इदं दासजनोचितदौर्बल्यम्, इदं च
February 2021

घृण्यं जघन्यं नैष्ठुर्यम्— एतावन्मात्रम् अवलम्ब्य त्वम् उन्नताधिकारं लप्स्यसे किमु? उतैतया लज्जास्पदेन
कापुरुषतया त्वं वीरभोग्यां स्वाधीनताम् अनुभोक्ष्यसे? हे भारत, मा विस्मर— तव नारीजनानाम् आदर्शः
सीता, सावित्री, दमयन्ती। मा विस्मर— तवोपास्य उमानाथः, सर्वत्यागी शङ्करः। मा विस्मर— तव विवाहः,
2 तव धनं, तव जीवनं च नेन्द्रियसुखार्थं, न वा वैयक्तिकसुखार्थम्। मा विस्मर— जन्मनः एव त्वं जनन्यै
बलिभूतः। मा विस्मर— तव समाजः तस्याः विराड्रूपिण्याः महामायायाः छायामात्रम् इति। मा विस्मर—
The Vedanta Kesari

नीचजातीयः, मूर्खः, दरिद्रः, अज्ञः, चर्मकारः, स्वच्छताकरः च सर्वे तव रुधिरं, तव सोदराः। हे वीर, धैर्यम्
अवलम्बस्व, सदर्पं ब्रूहि— अहं भारताभिजनः, प्रत्येकं भारतीयः मम भ्राता। वद— मूर्खभारतीयः,
दरिद्रभारतीयः, ब्राह्मणभारतीयः, चण्डालभारतीयः सर्वे मम सहोदराः। त्वमपि कटिदघ्नवस्त्रावृतः सन् सदर्पं
संघोष— भारतीया मे भ्रातरः, भारतीया मे प्राणाः, भारतस्य देवता ममेश्वराः, भारतस्य समाजः मम
शिशुशय्या, मम यौवनस्योपवनं, मम वार्धक्यस्य वाराणसी। हे भ्रातः वद— भारतस्य मृत्तिका मे स्वर्गः,
भारतस्य कल्याणं मम कल्याणम्। वद च दिवानिशं— “हे गौरीनाथ, हे जगदम्बिके, मह्यं मनुष्यत्वं प्रदेहि,
मातः मम दुर्बलतां, कापुरुषतां च प्रजहि, मां मनुष्यं विधेहि।”
(English translation: The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. 4: 479-80)

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 3

The Vedanta Kesari

A Cultural and Spiritual Monthly of The Ramakrishna Order

CONTENTS Vol. 108, No. 2

ISSN 0042-2983
108
th

Year of Publication

FEBRUARY
11 2021

A Glimpse of Swami Brahmananda

Swami Kailasananda

37 21
FEATURES
Swami Shivananda: International Peace in the
8 Atmarpanastuti
A Living Light Light of Indian Philosophy
9 Yugavani Swami Durgananda
Swami Shraddhananda 10 Editorial
19 Reminiscences of Sargachhi
Ramachandra Dutta 25 Vivekananda Way A Problem in Geography
Dr. Ruchira Mitra 34 Pariprasna Gitanjali Murari
35 Lessons from Swamis
46 The Order on the March
lls Po
Ca ck
et
d

32
Go

23Ta
en

les
Wh

Poorva: Magic, Miracles

and the Mystical Twelve
Lakshmi Devnath

29
Editor: Swami Mahamedhananda
Published by Swami Vimurtananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, No.31, Ramakrishna Math Road,
Chennai - 600 004 and Printed by B. Rajkumar, Chennai - 600 014 on behalf of
Sri Ramakrishna Math Trust, Chennai - 600 004 and Printed at M/s. Rasi Graphics Pvt. Limited,
No.40, Peters Road, Royapettah, Chennai - 600014.
Website: www.chennaimath.org E-mail: vk@chennaimath.org Ph: 6374213070
 The Vedanta
One hundred and seven years
s u e of 1 895
ti s e r and going strong….
Firs mb
S e pte
in,
a vad He was a much-celebrated and much-feted Swami. His
h m
Bra famous address at The World’s Parliament of Religions, Chicago in
1893 had catapulted him to the status of a super star. But Swami
Vivekananda was not one to bask in chaffy glory. A letter to one of his trusted
followers, from the USA, dated 12 Jan 1895, read, ‘I want to preach my ideas for the good of
February 2021

the world. …What work have you done in the way of advancing the ideas and organising in
India? …My life is more precious than spending it in getting the admiration of the world. I
have no time for such foolery.’
Swamiji, as Swami Vivekananda was fondly addressed, loved and revered his
motherland as his own mother. Every breath of his aspired for her well being and every cell
4 in his body yearned that she regain her lost glory. She had been a beacon light for the world
until repeated invasions pillaged her ruthlessly and left her not just poverty-stricken but
The Vedanta Kesari

also psychologically drained. The latter struck at the very core, underlying the urgency for
immediate redressal. Swamiji’s panacea for this lay in India’s very own practical and
ennobling Vedantic wisdom. Vedanta recognises no weakness. It proclaims that in every
individual lies a mine of strength. All that is needed is an effort to draw from it.
Swamiji started looking for the right channel to propagate the powerful message of
Vedanta. He opted for the print medium and decided to bring out a journal, giving it the
name Brahmavadin. In February 1895, he sent from USA $100 and a letter to his trusted
disciple Alasinga Perumal. The letter read: ‘Now I am bent upon starting the journal. Herewith
I send a hundred dollars… Hope this will go just a little in starting
your paper.’
If selflessness and devotion would have a form, it would
have borne the name of Alasinga Perumal. Brahmavadin
became Alasinga’s calling and the first issue rolled out
from a press in Broadway, Chennai on 14 September
1895. The magazine included a poem of Swamiji First iss
The Ved ue of
specially composed for the occasion. It was titled, anta Ke
sari, Ma
‘The Song of the Sannyasin’. One verse ran thus: y 1914
Kesari One hundred and seven
years and going strong….

“Strike off thy fetters! Bonds that bind thee down,

Love, hate — good, bad — and all the dual throng,

February 2021
For fetters, though of gold, are not less strong to bind;

(Handwritten words in Swamiji’s own hand)

5
With this message that marked its mission, Brahmavadin made a determined entry into

The Vedanta Kesari

the strife-ridden climate of pre-independence India. The birth of the magazine was certainly
an occasion for celebration but the struggles were far from over.
One of Swamiji’s letters to Alasinga read: ‘I learnt from your letter the bad financial state
that Brahmavadin is in.’ This was followed by another letter that carried the line, ‘I pledge
myself to maintain the paper anyhow.’
Bolstered by this pledge, Alasinga Perumal braved on, surmounting many an
impediment. Sadly, Swami Vivekananda passed away in 1902, at the age of thirty-nine.
Alasinga’s intense anguish morphed into heightened devotion towards the magazine. But
the next hurdle in Brahmavadin’s journey came in 1909, in the form of Alasinga’s own
demise. In May 1914, the magazine, tottering as it was, floundered and ground to a halt.
It was at this crucial juncture, that the Ramakrishna Mission stepped in to revive it. The
Mission was itself in its nascent stages with many a teething problem but nothing could come
in its way of reviving the Brahmavadin. For, had not their beloved Swamiji repeatedly said,
‘The Brahmavadin is a jewel – it must not perish!” And so, the very same month when
Brahmavadin closed, it was resuscitated with the new name The Vedanta Kesari.
The history of The Vedanta Kesari is much more than just a tale of sweat, toil and a
dream realised. It is a narrative of Swamiji’s passion for India and Alasinga’s devotion to his
master. It is a celebration of love, transcending forms.
 Appeal
For the last 107 years, without missing a single issue, the magazine has
been carrying the invigorating message of Vedanta and alongside, continuously
revamping itself to meet the changing needs of the times.
The relevance of Vedantic wisdom to everyday life is all the more pertinent
today than ever before. ‘Arise, Awake and stop not till the goal is reached,’ is the
thundering motto of Swami Vivekananda. The Ramakrishna Mission, as you all
know, is a unique organisation where sannyasis and lay people come together
and endeavour for the common good. Let’s join hands in taking forward our
revered Swamiji’s vision and mission for The Vedanta Kesari.
February 2021

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February 2021
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 Prayer

Atmarpanastuti
Sri Appayya Dikshitendra

Sloka - 38
काले कण्ठस्फुरदसुकलालेशसत्तावलोक व्यग्रोदग्रव्यसनिसकलस्निग्धरुद्धोपकण्ठे।
अन्तस्तोदैरवधिरहितामार्तिमापद्यमाने ऽप्यङ्घिद्वम्ढे तव निविशतामन्तरात्मन् ममात्मा ॥३८
O Indwelling Self of all! When, at the time of my death, I am suffering countless
internal pangs and the throats of those around me are choked by grief on seeing my
February 2021

breathing becoming faint, let my self be united with your two feet (let me attain
liberation).

Sloka - 39
8 अन्तर्बाष्पाकुलितनयनानन्तरङ्गानपश्यन् अग्रे घोषं रुदितबहुलं कातराणामशृण्वन् ।
अत्युत्क्रान्तिश्रममगणयन्नन्तकाले कपर्दिन् अङ्घिद्वंद्वे तव निविशतामन्तरात्मन् ममात्मा ॥३९
O, One with matted hair! Without seeing those dear to me whose eyes are filled
The Vedanta Kesari

with tears of grief and without hearing the sound of weeping of the frightened ones in
front of me and without feeling the pain caused by departing life, let my self merge in
your two feet at the last moment of my life, O Indwelling Self!
(The poet prays that at the time of his death his mind should be so totally absorbed
in the Lord that he does not see, hear or feel anything else.)

Sloka - 40
चारुस्मेराननसरसिजं चन्द्ररेखावतंसं फुल्लन्मल्लीकुसुमकलिकादामसौभाग्यचोरम् ।
अन्तः पश्याम्यचलसुतया रत्नपीठे निषण्णं लोकातीतं सततशिवदं रूपमप्राकृतं ते ॥४०
I see in my mind your supreme form with your lotus face with a charming smile,
with the crescent moon on Your forehead, that defeats the beauty of a garland of jasmine
buds, sitting on a throne of gems with the Daughter of the Mountain, beyond the worlds,
ever bestowing auspiciousness.

Translated by Sri. S.N. Sastri.

 Yugavani

W
hat is jnanayoga? The
Jnani seeks to realise
Brahman. He discriminates,
saying, ‘Not this, not this.’ He discriminates,
saying, ‘Brahman is real and the universe illusory.’
He discriminates between the Real and the
unreal. As he comes to the end of discrimination,
he goes into samādhi and attains the Knowledge
of Brahman.
Discrimination is the reasoning by which
one knows that God alone is real and all else is
unreal. Real means eternal, and unreal means
i m p e r m a n e n t . H e w h o h a s a c q u i re d

February 2021
discrimination knows that God is the only
Substance and all else is non-existent. With the
Practice of
Discrimination
PA G E S P O N S O R : D R . R A M YA S . , C H E N N A I

awakening of this spirit of discrimination a man

wants to know God. On the contrary, if a man
loves the unreal — such things as creature
9
comforts, name, fame, and wealth, then he doesn’t want to know God, who is of
the very nature of Reality. By turning the mind within oneself one acquires

The Vedanta Kesari

discrimination, and through discrimination one thinks of Truth.
‘I’ and ‘mine’—that is ignorance. By discriminating you will realise that
what you call ‘I’ is really nothing but Atman. Reason it out. Are you the body or the flesh or
something else? At the end you will know that you are none of these. You are free from attributes.
Then you will realise that you have never been the doer of any action, that you have been free from
virtue and faults alike, that you are beyond righteousness and unrighteousness.
Consider—what is there in money or in a beautiful body? Discriminate and you will find that
even the body of a beautiful woman [or man] consists of bones, flesh, fat, and other disagreeable
things. Why should a man [or woman] give up God and direct his [or her] attention to such things?
Take the instance of a bel-fruit. A man wanted to know the weight of the fruit. He separated
the shell, the flesh, and the seeds. But can a man get the weight by weighing only the flesh? He must
weigh flesh, shell, and seeds together. At first it appears that the real thing in the fruit is the flesh,
and not its seeds or shell. Then by reasoning you find that the shell, seeds, and flesh all belong to
the fruit; the shell and seeds belong to the same thing that the flesh belongs to. Likewise, in spiritual
discrimination one must first reason, following the method of ‘Not this, not this’: God is not the
universe; God is not the living beings; Brahman alone is real, and all else is unreal. Then one
realises, as with the bel-fruit, that the Reality from which we derive the notion of Brahman is the
very Reality that evolves the idea of living beings and the universe. The Nitya and the Lila are the
two aspects of one and the same Reality.
 Editorial
Love India
W
hen one of his Western followers
asked Swami Vivekananda,
“How can I best help you?”, he
just replied, “Love India!” Indeed, these two
words are at the core of Swamiji’s message to us.
What does it mean to love someone? From
our mothers we learn that to love is to feel
empathetically; to love is to serve without any
expectations in return; to love is to forgive
faults; to love is to correct with infinite
patience; and to love is to have unfailing faith in
the potentialities of the beloved.
February 2021
What should we love in India? Swami
Vivekananda says — love the poor common
people of India because neglecting them has
been one of the main reasons for the downfall
10 of our country. He declares that “until the
masses in India are once more well educated,
well fed, and well cared for”, no amount of
The Vedanta Kesari
politics or policies can truly uplift India. How
did the land of Sanatana Dharma which teaches
the oneness of creation commit this sin?
Swamiji says it is because of the “want of
practical application, the want of sympathy —
the want of heart”— a heart that feels for
suffering mankind.
Who should feel for these downtrodden
masses? Swamiji says, it is primarily the
responsibility of the youth. In one of his letters
from America addressed to his disciple Alasinga
Perumal, he writes, “I bequeath to you, young
men, this sympathy, this struggle for the poor,
the ignorant, the oppressed.” With this ideal,
Swamiji has directed the spirited energies of the
youth into the dispirited lives of the masses. This
is a bridge that benefits both the groups. In
loving and uplifting the “the poor and the
downtrodden, the sinful and the afflicted.” the
youthful energy becomes positive and socially
productive, and in the process the masses too
regain their self-belief, their lost individuality.
Over a hundred years ago, Sister Nivedita,
a disciple of Swami Vivekananda, called upon
students coming out of colleges to dedicate one
or two years to educate and serve poor villagers
before taking up a job for their own livelihood.
This cannot be enforced by any authority. Only
the patriotic youth can answer this call and go
forward holding aloft the banner: “Sympathy for
the poor, the downtrodden, even unto death—
this is our motto.”
Every year schools, colleges, and other
institutions celebrate the National Youth Day on
12 January, the birth date of Swami
Vivekananda. But it is disappointing to see such
celebrations largely limited to a routine of
lectures and essay and cultural competitions.
Swamiji’s call for the regeneration of the
masses has three definite steps: The first step
is to learn to feel, because “through the heart
comes inspiration” and “Love opens the most
impossible gates.” The next step is to work out
practical solutions to the challenges. And the
last step is to develop the “will to surmount
mountain high obstructions.” Admirers and
followers of Swami Vivekananda would do well
to remember these steps.
According to recent health reports,
millions of Indians are malnourished and lakhs
of children are suffering from stunted growth.
Can we claim to love our country and yet not
feel the sufferings of these hungry millions of
fellow men, women and children?
When we celebrate Swami Vivekananda’s
Janma Tithi this month, let us pledge to take up
one definite act of service to our masses. Young
and old, let us ask ourselves, ‘How am I
actualising my love for India?’
 Article

A Glimpse of Swami Brahmananda

SWAMI KAILASANANDA
This month we are celebrating the Janma Tithi Puja of Swami Brahmananda, the first
President of the Ramakrishna Order. We are presenting from our archive, the Editorial of Feb
1949 which gives an excellent introduction to this special disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. The
author is Swami Kailasananda, the then head of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, who later
became one of the Vice-Presidents of the Ramakrishna Order.

P
eople wondered: who might be this
stately young man in saffron

February 2021
standing at the palace-gate with a
PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I M A N I S H S H U K L A , PA LG H A R

garland in his hands? Presently there arose a

t u m u l t u o u s u p ro a r, ‘ V i c t o r y t o S r i
Ramakrishna!, Victory to Swami Vivekananda!’
With green laurels on his forehead the victor
had just returned to his home-city Calcutta. The 11
seething crowd ran mad in trying to snatch a
glimpse of that wonderful man, Vivekananda.

The Vedanta Kesari

The decorated coach stopped at the gate.
Extricating himself somehow from the heap of
flowers and garlands under which he was
almost buried, Swami Vivekananda alighted
from the coach. The first thing he did after
being garlanded by the young man at the gate
was to prostrate himself at his feet with the
words, “Unto the son of the Guru as to the
Guru!” In his turn the young man prostrated
himself at the feet of Vivekananda with the
words, “Unto the elder brother as to the
Father!” People wondered the more; who could
be this young man at whose feet the great
Swami Vivekananda, at whose feet millions
bow wherever he goes, prostrates? This was
Swami Brahmananda, popularly known as
‘Maharaj’ in the Ramakrishna Order.
We shall understand the profound
significance of this piece of Swami
Vivekananda’s behaviour, as we go back to the
idyllic days of Sri Ramakrishna’s spiritual
ministrations at Dakshineswar. “...no man
knoweth the Son but the Father; neither
knoweth any man the Father save the Son and
he to whom the Son will reveal him.”
Sri Ramakrishna had finished the sadhana
period of his life. The Divine Mother had asked
him to remain in Bhava-mukha, on the border-
line of the Absolute and the Relative with free
access to both, for the good of the world. But
how was he to do that? The mind had become
so vertical in its tendency! There was nothing
 on the earthy plane of this earth on which his
mind, so rarefied that it had become, could
rivet. He felt a tremendous loneliness, a
loneliness which the Absolute alone perhaps
feels! Not that people did not come to him. They
came. They came in numbers. But mostly of the
sort stinking in gross worldliness. In that state
of his being so ethereal in texture, it was an
acute suffering for him to bring himself to mix
and talk with people, antipodal in disposition.
So he supplicated to the Divine Mother, “Mother
my tongue is burnt because of talking to
worldly people.” “Be not afraid, my child,
devotees of pure heart and full of the spirit of
renunciation will be soon coming”, assured the
Mother. But Sri Ramakrishna was impatient. He
February 2021
importuned again, “Mother, get me a
companion—like unto me. Mother, I have not to
have a son but I wish I had a pure-souled
devoted boy always with me as a companion.
Get me a son like this.”
12
Coming of the scion of the Divine
Shortly after this Sri Ramakrishna saw in
The Vedanta Kesari
a trance a little boy standing under the banyan
tree. He wondered, what might be the
significance of it? Again, to quote Sri
Ramakrishna’s own words, “A few days before
Rakhal came to me, Mother placed a little boy
on my lap and said, ‘This is your son.’ At first I
was startled. ‘My son?’ Mother smiled at this
and made me understand that I was not to have
a son in the ordinary sense, but that this boy
would be my spiritual son who would live up to
the highest ideals of renunciation. While
eagerly awaiting the advent of his spiritual son,
one day Sri Ramakrishna had another
wonderful vision. Suddenly he saw a hundred-
petalled lotus blossoming on the waters of the
Ganga, each of the petals of the lotus shining in
exquisite loveliness. On the lotus two boys were
dancing with tinkling anklets tied to their feet.
One of them was the ever young Sri Krishna
himself; the other was the same boy whom he
1
had seen in his previous visions. This divine
dance of theirs was indescribably beautiful;
every movement they made seemed to splash
foam, as it were, in the ocean of sweetness. As
one can only expect, Sri Ramakrishna was lost
in ecstasy. Just at that moment a boat anchored
on the bank of the Ganga and from therein
emerged Rakhal—Sri Ramakrishna’s spiritual
son. This was the coming of the Scion of the
Divine by the currents of the Holy Waters to
join the Father at the Divine play which he had
convoked on the threshold of humanity.
With the coming of Rakhal one of the
sweetest chapters of Sri Ramakrishna’s life
opened. Rakhal did not come to Sri
Ramakrishna as a disciple comes to his guru
समित्पाणिः, but as a long-awaited only little child
to its mother. Viewing Rakhal with eyes soaked
with affection, Sri Ramakrishna would be
transported into the disposition of Mother
Yasoda. He would feed him, fondle him and play
with him just as parents do with their children.
Sometimes holding him on his shoulders Sri
Ramakrishna would dance. Rakhal too
reciprocated the exact feelings of a little baby.
He would sometimes come running and jump
into the lap of Sri Ramakrishna.
It is very difficult to explain what made Sri
Ramakrishna who was established in the
highest Advaitic realisations and would times
without number pass into samadhi, become so
motherly in his disposition to Rakhal, who
again, in his turn would become so baby-like
though by the time he came to Sri Ramakrishna
he was a muscular young athlete and a married
man withal. But the truth of this relationship
made Rakhal one of the sweetest personalities
that ever walked on the surface of this earth. He
is the sweetest facet of Ramakrishna-
incarnation. Through him Sri Ramakrishna
touches the feverish forehead of humanity like
the fragrance of a flower in benign gentleness,
and soothing sweetness. This sweetness in its
fullness found expression in his character in the
form of deep silence and perfect calmness.
“The one characteristic of Indian thought”
said Swami Vivekananda, “is its silence, its
calmness. At the same time the tremendous
power that is behind it is never expressed by
violence. It is always the silent mesmerism of
Indian thought... And whoever had dared to
touch our literature had felt the bondage, and is
there bound for ever.
“Like the gentle dew that falls unseen and
unheard, and yet brings into blossom the fairest
of roses, has been the contribution of India to
the thought of the world. Silent, unperceived,
yet omnipotent in its effect , it has
(From left) Swamis Trigunatitananda, Shivananda, Vivekananda, Turiyananda,
Brahmananda and (seated below) Sadananda
revolutionised the thought of the world, yet
nobody knows when it did so.”
Swami Brahmananda was the very
personification of this characteristic of Indian
thought, so much so, that he is very little known
even in India, outside the orbit of the influence
of Ramakrishna Mission. Perhaps his name will
not be mentioned in the official annals of Indian
history as one of the greatest men that India
ever produced. But all the same the services of
the ‘gentle dew’ is there, one knows it or not,
behind the proud magnificence of ‘the fairest of
the roses.’
Flames that made him golden
As far as spiritual practices were
February 2021
concerned, Sri Ramakrishna was always the
hardest possible task-master. It was but natural
13
The Vedanta Kesari
 that the father should have been only anxious
to hand down all the secrets of his pursuit and
the techniques of his art to one who was
destined to go forth in the world, largely
written on his forehead — Spiritual Son of Sri
Ramakrishna. The result was that Rakhal had to
practise various modes of sadhana under the
watching eyes of Sri Ramakrishna. The
realisations that were to be achieved through
spiritual practices-cum-God’s grace all came to
him as naturally, providentially and lawfully as
a patrimony descends to a son. But as a
cautious son that he was and fully loyal son too,
the severely austere sadhanas that he practised
during the years 1886 to 1897 after the passing
away of Sri Ramakrishna in different parts of
February 2021
India staggers a listener. One of his brother-
disciples actually asked him, “Why do you live
so strictly? You are the spiritual son of God
Incarnate? He has already done everything for
you. Through his grace you have attained
14
samadhi. Then why do you still have to sit like
a beggar, begging for Lord’s grace?”
The Vedanta Kesari
“What you say is true,” Maharaj answered.
“The Master did do everything for us. But still I
find a lack within. This proves that we need
repeated practice in order to make the state of
samadhi natural and habitual to us. You know
Uddhava was a devoted disciple and friend of
Sri Krishna; through His grace he realised God.
And yet Sri Krishna sent him to the Himalayas
to live in solitude and contemplation.”
Vijay Krishna Goswami, the well-known
saint, also asked Maharaj the same question. He
replied simply, “I am only trying to become
established in that vision of God which I
received through my Master’s grace.” And he
did become established in the vision of God so
much so that in his after-life volleyed by the
biting questions of a doubting disciple he could
say, “I do not move or do anything until I know
the will of the Lord...Yes, I wait until I know His
will directly and He tells me what I should do...
Yes, for everything I do have the direct guidance
of God.”
“Raja is the greatest treasure-house of
spirituality”, said Swami Vivekananda. Once a
European devotee came to visit him in the
monastery, wishing to have his spiritual
problems solved. Swamiji sent him to Maharaj,
saying, “There you will find a dynamo working
and we are all under him.” This reveals
Swamiji’s own greatness but none the less it
shows Maharaj also in true perspective.
Aunt Bhanu was a devotee of Sri
Ramakrishna and a highly advanced sadhika.
Her’s was the attitude of the Gopi. Once she
sang a song regarding Sri Krishna before
Maharaj which moved him so much that he
went into ecstasy. Torrents of tears soaked his
garments absolutely. At this the Holy Mother
remarked, “Bhani, one must admit that you are
not an ordinary being—you have been
successful in ruffling even Rakhal, who is
nothing if not a mighty ocean.”
The triple strands
I n t h e t h re e v i s i o n s wh i c h S r i
Ramakrishna had seen concerning Rakhal
before his coming are embedded the three main
strands which formed the mystic texture of the
sweet, lofty, vast and possessing personality
that was Swami Brahmananda’s. Even India,
which is so prolific in producing sages, has
rarely produced a sage of this type. As we
explore deeper into the character of Maharaj,
we shall find that it was mostly the sovereign
blend of these three golden strands that gave
the uniqueness of this magnificent personality.
The first was the childlikeness of his
disposition. ‘Except ye be converted and
become as little children, ye shall not enter into
the Kingdom of Heaven.” The ‘conversion’ of
Maharaj was absolute in this sense and so he
 was truly heavenly. This was the secret how he
was able to enter the very sanctuary of Sri
Ramakrishna’s heart so playfully and could
enthrone himself there as his beloved darling.
His naive simplicity was so surprisingly
consequential that one day Sri Ramakrishna
wept bitterly saying, “Ah me you are so simple.
Who will look after you when I am gone!” By
allowing ourselves to be en rapport with the
profound pathos of these tearful words of Sri
Ramakrishna, we may aspire to have a glimpse
of the nature of that simplicity which was the
very breath of Rakhal’s personality. Even when
he grew grey, had disciples and devotees by the
legion, was the venerated President of the
Ramakrishna Order, he retained the same fresh
PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I V I N AYA K S U TA R , B E L A G AV I
elemental childlikeness in him. His body
suffered change. But he did not change. For he
was one of those who are not fashioned by the
world but fashion the world. When he would be
in the presence of the Holy Mother, he would
even at the age of fifty sometimes dance
innocently while clapping his hands just like
any unreasonable little baby. It is however to be
remembered that behind this simplicity was
always awake that supreme intelligence about
which Sri Ramakrishna remarked,”Rakhal
possesses kingly intelligence and he can rule an
empire.”
The second and the most important
strand of Rakhal’s personality was his Sonship
of the Divine. The Divine Mother had told Sri
Ramakrishna that Rakhal was his spiritual son
who would live upto the highest ideals of
renunciation. Sri Ramakrishna himself not only
accepted Rakhal as his spiritual son but also
gave him to the world with the same
designation appended to him. We do not
pretend to say that we understand all what this
Sonship of the Divine means. There is perhaps
only another example in the religious history of
the world where Sonship of the Divine is
presented before man. Jesus claimed Sonship of
God-head and assured that, ‘I and my Father are
one’. Whatever may be the metaphysical
explanations and implications of this, for all
practical purposes we find that through the
instrument of this Sonship the Divine descends
to man in large sweetness and effective
intimacy and becomes a connecting link, as it
were, with all that is furthest removed from the
Divine. Jesus asserted that he was the
representative of the Most High and so had the
power-of-attorney to administer His Father’s
wishes unto humanity and to mediate and
supplicate before the Father on behalf of
humanity. The son is only the modification of
the Father, a projection of the same entity.
February 2021
This Sonship of the Divine gave Swami
Brahmananda a unique prestige and privilege
among his brother-disciples. In this one respect
he stands always on a higher level (not to be
confused with any misunderstood hierarchy) 15
than all his brother-disciples not excluding
even Swami Vivekananda. All of them cherished
The Vedanta Kesari
the profoundest reverence for him. Every one
of them knew that Sonship of the Divine, unlike
earthly sonship, is always more and greater
than the discipleship of the Divine. ‘I and my
Father are one’ but not the disciple and his
guru.
How his brother-disciples used to look
upon their Raja is patent in the following
incidents. “I am astonished seeing the work of
2
Raja”, said Swamiji once to Girish Ghosh. “How
beautifully he is guiding the work of the Math
and Mission! One has to admire the royal
intelligence of Raja. The Master used to say,
‘Rakhal possesses kingly intelligence and he can
rule an empire.’ Exactly so.” “Why not? The Son
that he is of His!”, replied Girish. Hearing this,
almost melting in joy, said Swamiji,
“Immeasurable is Raja’s spirituality. Could
anyone be comparable to him whom the Master
 used to take on his lap as his son, used to feed
in great fondness and lull him to sleep on his
own bed. He is incomparable. Raja is the very
life of our Math—he is our King!”
After the consecration of the Belur Math
on 2 January 1899, one day Swamiji
ceremonially fed Maharaj with sodasopachara
(sixteen items) and then standing before him
with folded hands said, “Raja! it is only he
(meaning Sri Ramakrishna) who knew your
value—what do we know that we could value
you?”
When Swami Prabhavananda, one of the
disciples of Maharaj was about to leave India
for taking up his duty in U. S. A., Swami
February 2021

Shivananda blessed him with the words,

“Never forget that you have seen the Son of
God. You have seen God.”
The Holy Mother once presented clothes
to her renouncing children (the direct-disciples
16 of Sri Ramakrishna). Everyone was presented
with a cotton-cloth whereas Maharaj was given
a silken one. One, whose sense of democracy
The Vedanta Kesari

was perhaps a little disturbed by this

discrimination of the Holy Mother, ventured the
question, “Mother, everyone is your child, then
why this silken cloth to Rakhal Maharaj?”
Replied the Mother instantly, “Don’t you know,
Rakhal is the Son?” The Holy Mother was the
affectionate mother of all the disciples of Sri
Ramakrishna. Yet this little discrimination she
kept up regarding the ‘spiritual son’.
With this Sonship of the Divine was
associated the idea ‘who would live up to the
highest ideals of renunciation’ as we have seen
in the second vision of Sri Ramakrishna
regarding Rakhal. In point of renunciation
Maharaj very naturally reminds one of the
Prince of Kapilavastu. Like the latter the former
too was to be the inheritor of the vast
properties of his father, had a youthful wife and
a child. When the call of the Divine came he
Swami Brahmananda
renounced them as easily as the Sakya Prince
did. When Sri Ramakrishna said, “Rakhal was
born with very intense love for God”, he
revealed the depth of Rakhal’s spirit of
renunciation, for, such love for God could be
only the resultant of such a spirit.
About the sweetness of his deportment, as
deduced from the third vision which forms the
third strand of his personality, we have referred
to previously. This made of him a centre of
tremendous attraction. Wherever he went he
brought with him peace, music, joy, solace and
silent inspiration. In his presence life received
a fresh cadence, God became the only reality of
life and the daily problems most unreal
 phantoms. One of his disciples vouches that
even his hands and feet had a peculiar charm
and attraction about them, perhaps because
one who would fall at those feet was sure to be
saved, and one who was to be touched by those
hands was sure to conquer. It is perhaps not
even a half-truth to say that ‘Our sweetest
songs are those that tell us of saddest thoughts.’
Why, there was no sadness about Maharaja’s
sweetness. It was only joy become humble,
anandam become inoffensive and mellow. It
was the life-expression of the
Incomprehensible. God is nothing if not also
sweet रसो वै सहः। True, we have also our God,
the terrible, Kali, the Mother. But have we not at
another point our Krishna, the sweet, the
PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I A B H I S H E K G A R G , PA N C H K U L A
beautiful? Maharaj’s sweetness gave all a
profound sense of security in life and death. It
is impossible to remember Maharaj and to be
afraid of anything.
These three main strands of character as
seen above nourished under the ever-watchful
care of Sri Ramakrishna, formed the basis of
Maharaj’s lofty personality. After the passing
away of Sri Ramakrishna, specially during the
time when Swami Vivekananda was delivering
his message in the West, Maharaj was
constantly engaged in very severe sadhanas in
various parts of India. Burnt in the flames of
these tremendous austerities, rich with the
highest treasures of spirituality, Swami
Brahmananda had emerged like the Golden
Purusha at the threshold of humanity by the
time Swami Vivekananda returned from the
West. Before he came to take up active work as
the Head of the Ramakrishna Order at the
behest of Swami Vivekananda, he could say,
“The spiritual life begins after the attainment of
Nirvikalpa Samadhi.”
So widely unlike: So intensely akin
The personality of Brahmananda is best
revealed when seen against the personality of
Vivekananda. The natures of the two brother-
disciples were widely dissimilar, and yet, in a
sense, complementary. In the words of Sri
Ramakrishna, “Naren dwells in the realm of the
absolute, the impersonal. He is like a sharp
drawn sword of discrimination. Rakhal dwells
in the realm of God, the Sweet One, the
repository of all blessed qualities. He is like a
child on the lap of his mother, completely
surrendering himself to her in every way.”
Swamiji was inflamed like an animated
lion, boundless and fathomless like an ocean, a
vast reservoir of jnana, vairagya, vidya and
buddhi, ever-wavy with stormy upsurge of
deluging youth-force. Maharaj was like the
February 2021
i m m e a s u ra b l e s k y, s e re n e , t ra n q u i l ,
imperturbable, infinitely ecstatic, mellow and
sweet with childlike softness. One was the
burning mid-day sun of terrific spiritual energy,
the other was the limpid and cool effulgence, of
the light within. The message of one is but 17
galvanizing electricity, of the other a
subterranean flow of ambrosial Mandakini. One
The Vedanta Kesari
was ‘an Orator by Divine right’; the other was a
man of supreme silence by Divine right.
Vivekananda almost cruelly tears you away
from the moorings of your degrading
complacence and giving you a portion of his
own dynamism sets you alone on the rough
road of perpetual quest to find the truth all by
your own toil; whereas Brahmananda weans
you out for almost a pleasant walk, himself
eager to walk with you the entire path
tirelessly, sometimes giving you a joke to cope
with and at other times pointing out a pitfall on
the way and always inspiring you to go ahead.
One was to work-out the world-mission from
many to one, the other the same mission from
one to many. The one was, so to say, the
centripetal force, the other was the centrifugal
force, as it were. So the path of the one, one
might say, lay across the path of the other on
 which they met at every immediate point
throughout the whole distance and revealed
each other against themselves — for while the
circumference is the consummation of the life-
principle of the centre, the centre is the
self-realisation of the circumference.
These two vast men so different
outwardly were at heart but one. They were
like two flowers of different hue and odour on
the same petiole. They used to hold each other
in invulnerable faith, boundless love and
fathomless sraddha. Sri Ramakrishna and his
mission were their life and soul and all.
Uttara-sadhaka: The divine mason
Swami Brahmananda is the first among
February 2021
those who understood Vivekananda with all his
revolutionary ideas through and through and
never for a moment doubted or questioned his
mission. He could very easily traverse the vast
sweep of Vivekananda’s epic imagination and
18 was always at home with any of his new ideas.
The points of stresses and the programme of
The Vedanta Kesari
work which Vivekananda brought with him
received unanimous assent and support from
Brahmananda. He could at once see the
infallibility of Swamiji’s approach and always
stood behind him as a silent Himalayas of
strength.
Just after his return to Calcutta, Swamiji
placed in Maharaj’s hand all the money which
the American devotees had subscribed towards
the Indian Mission. “All this time,” he said, “I
have been acting as a trustee. It is a relief to
give this back to its real owner—our Raja.”
After delivering his message and handing over
the funds Vivekananda felt himself free, for he
knew that it was now Raja’s part to play. The
References
1) This vision led the Master to identify Rakhal as one
of those pure souls who had been incarnated as
playmates of Sri Krishna.
plan once given, this divine mason began his
work silently and with unerring precision, and
even before the passing away of Vivekananda in
1902 gave him the supreme and perfect
satisfaction of understanding that his work had
fallen on the shoulders of an equal uttara-
sadhaka.
Brahmananda did his great work in
profound silence and with perfect ease. He
made gold out of dust and angels out of worms.
He did not deliver lectures. He simply lived
‘gazing in the Infinite’, as a conduit of the
Divine. When tempests of work, cyclones of
service stormed the seats of meditation, with
silent power he held all fast to the feet of the
Lord. The destination was always before his
open eyes. He held the helm always firmly and
was never daunted by any bad weather.
Forsooth, during the fiercest of storms he sang
most sweetly for on that plea the Lord came the
nearest to him even though He was always
nearer than the nearest.
As the Head of the Order he impressed
indelibly upon the minds of the inmates the
truth, “The success of a religious body depends,
not on its external achievements, its efficient
organisation, its buildings, the size of its
membership or its philanthropic activities —
but upon the inner life of each of its members
and measure of their progress towards
devotion and knowledge of God.”
The portrait we have essayed to reveal
here is of the very heart of the Ramakrishna
Order. The heart can never be fully revealed, for
it is the very seat of the Inscrutable. Therefore,
we could have but given an imperfect glimpse
alone.
2) “Swamiji” always refers to Swami Vivekananda in the
pale of the Ramakrishna Order,
 Reminiscences

Reminiscences of Sargachhi
SWAMI SUHITANANDA
(Continued from previous issue. . .)
Swami Premeshananda (1884 – 1967) was a disciple of
Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi. For over two decades he
lived at Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Sargachhi, West
Bengal. Under his inspiration countless people led a life of
spirituality and service, and many young men and women
entered into monastic life. His conversations – translated from
Bengali and presented below – were noted by his attendant who is
now Srimat Swami Suhitananda Ji, one of the Vice-Presidents of the 57
PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I D E E PA K G O PA L A K R I S H N A N , C H E N N A I

Ramakrishna Order.
3.2.61 (continued…) says, “All right, drink after offering it to the

Maharaj: Sri Ramakrishna is the Lord of
the present age. Each of his instructions has to
be obeyed verbatim – otherwise we will have to
face great danger. In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri
Krishna says –
अथ चित्तं समाधातुं न शक्नोषि मयि स्थिरम्।
अभ्यासयोगेन ततो मामिच्छाप्तुं धनञ्जय।।
February 2021
Divine Mother.” Let him drink! But how long can
he drink? As he continues to remember God, he
will develop a taste in that direction and
automatically he will have the bliss of devotion.
Question: What is devotion?
19
Maharaj: Devotion is not something
external to human beings — it is the first and

The Vedanta Kesari

अभ्यासेऽप्यसमर्थोऽसि मत्कर्मपरमो भव।
मदर्थमपि कर्माणि कुर्वन् सिद्धिमवाप्स्यसि।।
अथैतदप्यशक्तोऽसि कर्तुं मद्योगमाश्रितः।
सर्वकर्मफलत्यागं ततः कुरु यतात्मवान्।।
(Gita. 12: 9-11)
The Lord doesn’t allow us to go astray
under any circumstances. He says: Worship Me
through the yoga of practice. If you are not able
to do that, if you feel an urge to do work, then
take to doing good work, such as grazing cattle
at the command of the guru. If you cannot do
even that, then whatever you do, be it good or
bad, offer its result to God. If you practise like
this, you will rise gradually. The crux of the
matter is, wherever you are, start rising from
right there. Whether you are good or bad, you
have to be up and doing. It won’t do to sit idly.
Get started right now. Suren Babu [a
householder devotee of Sri Ramakrishna] is
unable to give up drinking. So, Sri Ramakrishna
primal instinct of man. The child first learns to
be devoted to its mother. Lying in her lap, it
learns to feel oneness with her. This instinct is
found even among birds and animals. If this
tendency can be sublimated and turned towards
God, then that is called devotion.
Men generally have a liking for women.
That is how worship of the women in various
forms — the left-handed practice, or worship in
accordance with the Tantras, or the cult of
worshipping using human skulls, or worship of
the goddess in young girls (vaamachar,
tantrika, kapaalika, kishori-bhajana) —
originated. The householder is instructed to
continue conjugal intimacy, but for seven days
he has to regard his wife as a goddess. In this
way, physical relationship is sublimated into
the worship of God.
One day Swamiji [as young Narendranath]
railed vehemently against such practices. Then
 Sri Ramakrishna said, “Oh no! This also is a path;
but it is akin to entering a house through the
backdoor [traditional houses had a backdoor for
the scavenger to enter and clean the privy].”
I have witnessed true devotion at my pre-
monastic home — it’s not something artificial or
contrived. We had the tradition of worshipping
Govindaji [Sri Krishna] at home. Right from
daybreak, the womenfolk were busy with the
service of Govindaji. One person would be
plucking flowers, another would be making a
garland, and someone else would be cleaning the
utensils. It seemed Govindaji was living in the
house — exactly like a revered elderly relative
residing at home; everyone was alert to taking
the utmost care of him. This is called worship.
February 2021
Just see what a great scholar Swami
Vishuddhananda Maharaj is! [8th President of the
Ramakrishna Order] And yet he constantly keeps
calling on the Mother. Swami Shantananda too is
experiencing great bliss by calling on the Mother.
20
You will learn many things about jnana
yoga in the Panchadashi. But you will see that
The Vedanta Kesari
finally only three ideas have been discussed —
the five sheaths, the Charioteer or the Atman,
and the three states of being (avastha-traya).
Liberation can be attained by discrimination
about the five sheaths. The sadhaka has to
reject these sheaths intellectually. For example,
he discriminates thus: hunger, pain and injury
belong to the body, strength and weakness are
felt because of the vital force, irritation caused
by abusive words pertains to the mind, and so
on. He has to reject all these as not his real self.
This intellectual exercise is a part of jnana yoga.
(A patriot was conversing with Maharaj.)
Maharaj told him: “You have been angry because
you were humiliated, and you have resorted to
going on a hunger strike. Now you take a
resolution: ‘I will go on a hunger strike against
my own nature. I will mercilessly stamp out
every bit of temptation arising out of lust, anger,
or greed.’” Swami Vivekananda cried himself
hoarse about the need of applying the heart in all
dealings. He travelled throughout India but
couldn’t find a feeling heart anywhere. When the
heart is present, head and hand will come by
themselves. Of course, we sometimes come
across a kind of heart that flares up all of a
sudden, like when love overflows towards a
particular person; this is dangerous, instinctive
love. Perhaps at the very next moment it may
become violent and tear the throat of the
beloved. A true follower of Sri Ramakrishna is
bound to be a patriot. Once, Swami
Abhedanandaji was very ill. But even in that
condition, he sent for Netaji Subhas Chandra
Bose; and when he came, Abhedanandaji got up
to embrace him. If a follower of Sri Ramakrishna
or Swami Vivekananda is not a patriot, then
know for certain that he is not their follower.
6.2.61
Question: Is there any danger if I give up
the process of discrimination and follow just
the path of devotion?
Maharaj: Just as chanting the name of Hari
is compulsory for the Vaishnava mendicants,
you cannot become a sannyasi without
constantly discriminating about the five
sheaths. How is it possible? I am such-and-
such, I am the son of so-and-so, I am this or that
of the university — how will you forget all
these without discrimination? Those who are
brought up with dignity and luxury at home
cannot give up that identification; they
somehow bring up their pre-monastic identity
and revel in their own superiority. You can
succeed by following the path of devotion; but
it takes a long time, and there is a risk of falling
prey to various dangers on the way. Our
monastic life seems to be like swagriha
sannyasa, i.e., rooted in familial background,
unable to overcome its identity. A Bengali has
become a sannyasi and he will mix only with
Bengalis; also he will not learn any other
language. In a speech at Madras, someone
referred to Sri Ramakrishna as a Bengali saint!!
(To be continued. . .)
 Article
International Peace in the Light of
Indian Philosophy
SWAMI DURGANANDA
(continued from the previous issue. . .)
Two types of freedom
A
ccording to Indian philosophy, every
experience leaves a mark in the
PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I P R A B H U K U M A R S WA M I N AT H A N , C H E N N A I
mind. This ‘mark’, called the
samskara (which is like a memory), is in two parts:
1) names and forms (nama-rupa) located in upper
mind, 2) desires in subtle form, called vasanas,
corresponding to the names and forms, located in
lower mind. Vasanas are connected with names
and forms and it is this connection that is
troublesome. For instance, eating a cake or even
seeing it will leave in the mind a ‘mark’ of 1) name
and form of the cake, and, 2) the vasana (desire) to
eat again. When one sees cake again or even hears
the word ‘cake’, formerly deposited name and form
activates the corresponding vasana. The vasana,
which is like a seed, sprouts into the desire or
impulse to eat the cake again. Eating the cake
based on this desire completes the vicious circle.
This cycle keeps life moving. Operational energy to
the sprouting of the impulse of the vasana is
provided by the individual’s life force (which is a
part of the universal life force) and is delivered to
the vital and the mental levels of the individual by
metabolism—this is the reason why a person’s
desires and impulses increase when he is healthy
and diminish when he is sick or lacking in vital
energy.
Pravritti and Nivritti
The sum total of individual samskaras
deposited in this life together with those that
The author is a sannyasi of the Ramakrishna Order and is now serving as Personal Secretary to Srimat
Swami Shivamayanandaji, one of the Vice Presidents of the Order. durganandaswami@gmail.com
are inherited from parents is called the
karmashaya, which may be translated as
‘instincts’. The instincts, roughly the same as
the ego, include good and bad tendencies such
as altruism, love, greed, desire, caprice, jealousy
etc. They constantly drive the mind according
to their own character. Man has very little
February 2021
control over this mechanism. He then seeks
external freedom to vent out these promptings
and drives—the action that may be described
as dancing to their tune (Fig. 4). This external
freedom to act in compulsion to the force of the
21
impulses is called the lower freedom in Indian
philosophy. It is like the freedom given to a
The Vedanta Kesari
drunkard (by the society) allowing him to
drink. It allows you to do what you like or want.
A person then acts to relieve the stress built
from desires and impulses. This gives the
pleasure of gratification which is sometimes
likened to the satisfaction coming from
scratching an itching skin.11 It is this freedom
that almost the entire West has been
preoccupied with and has been their highest
achievement. Such an action is called pravritti
(indulgence, lit., going in the direction of
desires) in the Indian tradition. It must be
noted, however, that in Indian classical
literature, pravritti includes only ‘righteous
behaviour, practice of truth, with cleanliness of
body and mind. Enjoyment with fraud and
deceit or injury or wanton behaviour is not
pravritti, whatever else it may be.’12
 Thus, pravritti is the
freedom ‘for’ the
satisfaction of desires. This
is the freedom most people
are obsessed with almost
all of their time. The higher
freedom, in contrast, is
nivritti (lit., turning away
f ro m d e s i re s , o r t h e
freedom from the
compulsion of desires). It is
the freedom ‘from’ impulses
themselves. It is like the
freedom from addiction. It Fig. 4 Two types of freedom for individual or society (third thesis)
is the freedom from the
February 2021

prison walls and the tyranny of body and mind
itself. It detaches you from your deeply
ingrained likes and dislikes and frees you to do
what is beneficial (called shreyas) as opposed
to what gives satisfaction or pleasure (called
22 preyas). This freedom allows man to be truly
free, releasing him from the grip of instincts
and freeing him to do good to himself and to
The Vedanta Kesari
the other hand, though better, is very difficult to
achieve because one cannot just ‘wish away’
desires and instincts. What then is the way out?
The solution is to purify the karmashaya itself
(the content of which, as mentioned before,
consists of the good and the bad instincts).
Then pravritti (indulgence) will not be harmful.
This purification can be done by any one of

the society. Without this inner freedom too

13
much external freedom can even be harmful. An
unencumbered mind, free of impulses,
misconceptions, perversities, and fears is a
factory of peace and progress. Control of
instincts is thus the answer to the question how
justice, liberty etc., can live together and not
encroach on each other.
Fig. 4 depicts pictorially the two types of
freedom and how the subconscious mind
dictates the conscious mind. The conscious
mind, in its turn, operates the organs. Atman is
the ultimate source of energy and light for mind
as well as for the vital and physical functions.
The purification
Pravritti (acceding to desires or
karmashaya), which is the same as craving,
usually degenerates into uncontrolled and
instinctive behaviour. Nivritti (withdrawal), on
these two ways: 1) removing the bad instincts
or at least keeping their impulse under control
by training and effort, 2) sublimating the bad
instincts. In the first method one acts on the
impulse of the bad samskaras and controls
them. In the second method, their impulse is
kept intact, but this impulse is turned from bad
to good rather than striving to tame it.
It must be noted that in the other, the
Nivritti method, one does not so much toil over
removing or sublimating the bad instincts,
rather, he strives to attain freedom from them
by sheer will. It is for this that detachment
(vairagya), and dispassion are practised.
Society has a Karmashaya
This article offers the view that exactly as
individuals, societies (or nations) too are
(continued on page 40...)
 Pocket Tales

A Problem in Geography
GITANJALI MURARI
A fictional narrative based on incidents from the childhood of Swami Vivekananda.

“A
n estuary is formed by a river or a freshwater body joining the sea or ocean,”
the teacher turned from the blackboard, “can anyone give me an example of
an estuary?”
Hari raised his hand, “Chilika lake, sir.”
“Very good,” nodded Pranab Sen, “it’s the largest estuary in India.”
“Sir,” Naren raised his hand. “Yes?” “Chilika lake is a lagoon, and a lagoon, although
PA G E S P O N S O R : D R . S U B B A R A O K R O V V I D I , K A K I N A D A

similar to an estuary, is still different…the current of water is slower, sluggish and it’s less

February 2021
deep than an estuary.”
“I’m quite certain that Chilika lake is an estuary,” the teacher said coldly.
“But sir,” Naren started to speak again when Pranab Sen snapped at him, “I’m the
teacher…don’t you think I would know better than you? Now keep quiet.”
23

The Vedanta Kesari

The author is a media professional and writer. The Crown of Seven Stars is her first novel. She lives in
Mumbai. gitanjalimurari@yahoo.com Illustrator: Smt. Lalithaa Thyagarajan. lalithyagu@gmail.com
 But Naren wouldn’t give up. “Sir,” he said, holding up a book, “it says so here…should
I read it out?” The teacher snatched the book from Naren and glanced at the cover.
“This is not a textbook from the syllabus,” he said angrily, “how dare you bring it to
class? Hold out your hand, you little show-off,” and he hit Naren’s open palm with a stick
several times. Naren didn’t flinch. He clenched his jaw to stop himself from crying out.
Pranab Sen glared at him, “Admit you’ve made a mistake.” Gritting his teeth, Naren
shook his head, “Please read the book, sir and then tell me if I’m right or wrong.”
“Insolent boy!” Pranab Sen lashed the already bruised palm few more times. But when
Naren still refused to accept his mistake, Pranab shouted, “Get out of my class.”
In the pin-drop silence of the classroom, Naren picked up his bag and left. As soon as
he was out of the school, he began to run, tears trickling down his cheeks. Bursting through
the front door of his house, he called out, “Ma, where are you?” Surprised to hear her son’s
voice, Bhuvaneshwari Devi came out of the kitchen. “You’re home early,” she exclaimed but
noticing his distress, became concerned, “What’s the matter Naren?”
February 2021

A flood of words poured out of him. While his mother applied ghee on his injured
hand, Naren narrated the entire story. When he finished, she asked, “Naren, are you
absolutely certain you haven’t made a mistake?” “Ma, that’s what it says in the book baba
got for me.”
24 “In that case, stick to your word no matter what…when you’re right, nothing matters…
let the teacher do as he pleases.”
That evening, just as the family gathered for prayers, a servant hurried up to
The Vedanta Kesari

Bhuvaneshwari Devi and whispered in her ear. She came out into the courtyard. Pranab
Sen rushed up to her and with hands folded said in a low voice, “I’m sorry to disturb you
at this hour but I couldn’t keep away.” Bhuvaneshwari Devi smiled graciously, “How may I
help you?”
“I’ve come to apologize...you see, I’ve been quite unfair to Naren…today, in class…”
Pranab Sen hesitated. “Naren told me everything,” Bhuvaneshwari Devi said gently, “would
you like to meet him?” The teacher nodded. Naren was sent for and at the sight of Pranab
Sen, he became worried. “Naren,” the teacher began, “you are right about estuaries and
lagoons…I read your book and looked it up elsewhere too…instead of encouraging your
spirit of curiosity, I raised my hand on you...please forgive me.” Without a moment’s
hesitation, Naren ran up to Pranab Sen and hugged him.
Bhuvaneshwari Devi smiled. Leaving the two to chat, she went inside
the worship hall.

Have faith in yourselves,

and stand up on that faith and be strong.
— Swami Vivekananda
 PULLOUT FOR REFERENCE

Series 5: Understanding India

- through Swami Vivekananda's eyes
This series is a presentation of a set of lectures that
Swami Vivekananda gave over three years, as he
ISSUE
ISSUE 36
10 travelled from Colombo to Almora (January 1897-
March 1901). In Issues 22-27 & 29-35, we have
covered his lectures at Colombo, Jaffna, Pamban,
Rameshwaram, Ramnad, Paramakudi, Shivaganga
& Manamadura, Madura and Kumbakonam.

focus in this issue:

My Plan of Campaign - 1
From Kumbakonam, Swami Vivekananda went on to Madras, where he addressed a packed
audience at Victoria Hall. His speech here is a long one, and we will be presenting it in four

February 2021
parts − Part 1: Setting the Record Straight, Part 2: Some principles of reform, Part 3: A survey
PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I R A J A R E D D Y, H Y D E R A B A D

of reform in India, and Part 4: Swami Vivekananda's plan of action. In this issue we will cover
Part 1 and Part 2.

Part 1: Setting the Record Straight

25
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA ON THE EFFORTS OF THE REFORM
1.1

The Vedanta Kesari

GROUPS OF INDIA TO HINDER HIS PROGRESS
“We hear so much
–– Swami Vivekananda faced tremendous difficulties, before,
tall talk in this
during, and after his speech at Chicago in the Parliament of world, of liberal
Religions. ideas and sympathy with
–– While some of the difficulties were due to the fact that he was differences of opinion.
an unknown Indian presenting a radically new vision of life That is very good, but as
to the Western world at the height of its power, many of the a fact, we find that one
difficulties were caused by so called reformers. sympathises with another
only so long as the other
–– In this talk Swami Vivekananda discusses three groups believes in everything he
of reformers – (i) The Theosophists, (ii) The Christian has to say, but as soon as
Missionaries and (iii) The Reform Societies and sets the he dares to differ, that
record straight on the role of these reformer groups in sympathy is gone, that love
hindering his progress. vanishes.”
–– In all these cases, he demonstrates how these reformers help
only when it serves their own interests, and not when it is
actually needed or goes somewhat contrary to their ideas or
agenda.
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 1.2 SWAMI VIVEKANANDA AND THE THEOSOPHISTS
–– Before going to America, Swami Vivekananda approached Theosophists for help.
However, they were willing to help if and only if Swami Vivekananda was willing to
subscribe to their views and join their society.
There is a
–– When Swami Vivekananda was suffering in America due to
report going
want of money and help, the Theosophists wrote: "Now the round that the
devil is going to die; God bless us all." Theosophists helped the
–– At the beginning of the Parliament of Religions, they dealt little achievements of mine
with Swami Vivekananda with looks of scorn on their faces, in America and England. I
as if to say: "What business has the worm to be here in the have to tell you plainly that
midst of the gods?" Even after Swami Vivekananda became every word of it is wrong,
every word of it is untrue.
popular at the Parliament, the Theosophists prevented their
supporters from attending his lectures.

1.3 SWAMI VIVEKANANDA AND THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES; THE BRAHMO SAMAJ
What harm does it –– The Christian missionaries in America blackened Swami
February 2021

do to the Christian
missionary that
the Hindus are trying to
cleanse their own houses? –– One of his own fellow countrymen, who was in the Parliament
What injury will it do to
the Brahmo Samaj and
26
other reform bodies that
the Hindus are trying
The Vedanta Kesari
Vivekananda's character from city to city, even though he was
poor and friendless in a foreign country. They even tried to
starve him out.
of Religions representing the Brahmo Samaj, and whom the
Swami knew since his childhood, became jealous of him after
Swami Vivekananda became popular in Chicago, and in an
underhand way, tried to do everything he could to injure the

their best to reform Swami's interests.

themselves? Why should
–– One magazine of such social reform groups tried to question
they stand in opposition?
Swami Vivekananda's right to become a sannyasin, on the
Why should they be the
grounds that he was from the Shudra caste. To this Swami
greatest enemies of these
Vivekananda points out that they had got the caste wrong -
movements? Why? — I ask.
he was a kshatriya, and moreover, he was not affected in the
It seems to me that their
least by being called a shudra since all people have got equal
hatred and jealousy are so
rights to become a sannyasin.
bitter that no why or how
can be asked there.

1.4 SWAMI VIVEKANANDA AND THE REFORM SOCIETIES OF MADRAS

–– Even some of the reform societies of Madras, who were I have a little
otherwise well-wishers, tried to intimidate Swami Vivekananda will of my own.
to join them. I have my little
experience too; and I
–– To this the Swami points out that, he was a man who had have a message for the
met starvation face to face for 14 years of his life, had lived world which I will deliver
with almost no clothes in temperatures of 30 degrees below without fear and without
zero, and had not known where he will get his next meal from care for the future.
or where he would sleep. And so such a man was not to be
intimated easily in India.
 1.4 THE IDEAL REFORMER ACCORDING TO SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
–– Swami Vivekananda brings out the case of his own Guru − Sri By being
Ramakrishna, who, in order to destroy caste-division in his mind, the servant
chose to clean the toilet of a Pariah's house with his own hair, and of all, a
eradicate thereby the ego of brahminhood. Hindu
seeks to uplift himself.
–– This, Swami Vivekananda says, demonstrates what reform within That is how the
really means - translating noble thoughts into practice and thereby Hindus should uplift
bringing about a change in society. the masses, and not by
–– Swami Vivekananda concludes that Hindu's should uplift themselves looking for any foreign
rather than look for any foreign influence. influence.

Part 2: Some principles of reform

3.1 Reform as growth, not negation

I do not dare to put
–– Swami Vivekananda points out that while he too seeks myself in the position
reform, reform for him is not a process of destruction or of God and dictate

February 2021
negation of all that is from the past. Rather he sees reform to our society, "This way thou
as a process of growth from where individuals or society shouldst move and not that."
PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I . R . K R I S H N A N , C H E N N A I

have reached this far. I simply want to be like the

squirrel in the building of
–– He is clear that his goal is not to dictate or advise society to
Râma's bridge, who was quite
go one way or other; rather his goal is to contribute to the content to put on the bridge his
development of society. little quota of sand-dust.
27

3.2 Reform as enablement of the "National Machine"

The Vedanta Kesari

Ours is only to
work, as the Gita
says, without
looking for results. Feed
the national life with
the fuel it wants, but the
growth is its own; none
can dictate its growth to it.
–– Swami Vivekananda recognizes that Indian national life is like a
wonderful & complex machine or a mighty river that is flowing in
front of us.
–– There are several factors and influencing forces which impact it
making it “dull” at one place/time and “quicker” at another, giving it
a life of its own. It is futile to command and control such a machine.
–– As reformers, we can only work without seeking results, i.e. feed
the national life with fuel it wants and let it find its own way rather
than dictate its growth to it.

3.3 The work against evils in society is primarily educational in nature

–– Every society has several evils. In fact, evil and good are two ...the only thing
we can do is
sides of the same coin. If society makes progress on some
to understand
counts, then new evils are also created by that same progress.
that all this work against
–– Therefore, the only thing we can do is understand that evil cannot evil is more subjective
be eradicated, rather the work against evil is more subjective than than objective. The work
objective – more educational that actual, i.e. rather than hope to against evil is more
destroy evil we can seek to help people grow and evolve, thereby educational than actual,
making them more able to deal with the evil. however big we may talk.
 3.4 Reform means giving concrete assistance, not criticizing or
fanatical reform movements
–– Swami Vivekananda firstly warns against all fanatical reform Everybody can show
what evil is, but he is
movements. Such movements, even if well intentioned,
the friend of mankind
end up defeating their own ends or lead to unforeseen
who finds a way out of the
consequences. Therefore, he is against all “condemning difficulty. Like the drowning
societies” who are continuously haranguing everyone on boy and the philosopher —
the evils of society. Instead, he says, what is needed are when the philosopher was
people who will help in concrete ways. lecturing him, the boy cried,
–– We need a reformer who does not condemn, but instead "Take me out of the water first"
loves and has genuine sympathy for those who he/she — so our people cry: "We have
had lectures enough, societies
seeks to reform.
enough, papers enough; where
–– In the absence of such help, love and sympathy attempts is the man who will lend us a
at reforming others leads to a cycle of condemnation and hand to drag us out? Where
counter condemnation by those accused, all of which can is the man who really loves
be most unpleasant and shameful. It will not lead to genuine us? Where is the man who has
reform. sympathy for us?" Ay, that man
is wanted.
February 2021

3.5 The challenge of reform is also the challenge of creating the

“sanction” or the power of the people to reform themselves
The whole problem –– For ages, India has been ruled by kings. They are gone.
28 of social reform, Governments do not have the power to go against public
therefore, resolves opinion. But developing a healthy and strong public opinion
itself into this: where are (which solves its own problems) takes a long time to develop.
The Vedanta Kesari

those who want reform?

–– At the same time, a small number of people, who think that
Make them first. Where are
certain things are evil or need to be changed, cannot make a
the people?
nation move.
... Why does not the nation
–– The solution is to educate the people, create a legislative body
move? First educate
that has the social sanction of people, and then whatever laws
the nation, create your
legislative body, and then
are needed for social reform will be forthcoming.
the law will be forthcoming. –– Most reforms that have taken place in the 19th century have
First create the power, the been ornamental or superficial impacting a small proportion of
sanction from which the the population.
law will spring. The kings
–– But deep or radical reform requires us to go down to the
are gone; where is the new
fundamentals or roots of the whole problem.
sanction, the new power
of the people? Bring it up. –– This means creating a strong sense of citizenship or
Therefore, even for social nationhood – i.e. creating an Indian Nation.
reform, the first duty is to –– This is what Swami Vivekananda called radical reform – create
educate the people, and you
an Indian nation that can take responsibility, has the maturity
will have to wait till that time
and the legislative mechanisms to address its own problems.
comes.

TO BE CONTINUED...

If you have any questions on this lecture, do post your queries on

www.vivekanandaway.org
You can also access previous issues of Vivekananda Way here.
 Ma
gic
,M
ira
cle
s and e
the Mystical Twelv

LAKSHMI DEVNATH

The Royal Devotee

PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I B H AT R A J U J A G A N M O H A N , G U N T U R

The Story of Kulashekhara Aazhvaar

February 2021
(Continued from the previous issue. . .)

P
oorva admired the king’s kindness and thought that the ministers had
undoubtedly got off very easily. She also wondered what the king had meant
by saying that one should distinguish between ‘truth and falsehood’.
Since the Swami was not around to help her out on this, she decided to find out for 29
herself by meditating on Lord Vishnu, as the king had suggested. She folded her legs and

The Vedanta Kesari

sat down on an exquisitely woven carpet.
Closing her eyes, she wondered what the next step in meditation was, when she
experienced a funny feeling. “Do people levitate when they meditate?” Poorva chuckled
when she found that the words rhymed. Ten seconds later, she told herself, “It’s ages since
I shut my eyes. I wonder what’s happening around me.”
When she opened her eyes, she was horrified to see that she was up in the air, a good
seven feet above the ground! The carpet on which she was sitting was slowly rising. She
looked at the ceiling barely a few feet above and screamed, “Aaaaah! Vishnu, please come
to my rescue.”
The carpet picked up momentum. Poorva buried her face in her hands, sure that her
head would be smashed to smithereens.
Seconds later, a draught of cool air caressed her eyelids. She gingerly opened her
eyes and found herself high up in the skies. Giggling nervously, she remarked, “Thank
God, I’m still alive.”

The author is a researcher and writer with various books and articles on Indian music and culture to her credit.
lakshmidevnath@gmail.com Illustrator: Smt. Lalithaa Thyagarajan. lalithyagu@gmail.com
 Gradually, Poorva regained her composure and, when she turned around, saw the
Swami seated behind her on the carpet. He greeted her in his usual jaunty way, “Hello,
Poorva, nice ride, isn’t it?”
“Great!” laughed Poorva, pushing back the irritating curl that fell on her forehead
every time she got excited or agitated. “I’m never able to guess what you’ll do next, Swami
Thaatha.”
The Swami lightly brushed aside her compliment: “Well, you can expect the
unexpected on this trip.”
“Tell me, where are we off to now? By the way, I think we sort of deserted King
Kulashekhara halfway through – the last I saw was that he had renounced his throne.”
“And if you look down, you’ll see that Kulashekhara Aazhvaar is now at the famous
Thirupathi temple, on a pilgrimage,” replied the Swami.
Poorva looked down. The temple was different from the way she remembered it.
That’s because right now we’re in olden times, she reasoned to herself. The flying carpet
February 2021

dropped height and she heard the Aazhvaar singing. His voice faded into the background
as the Swami took over with the translation: “‘I would rather be a little bird or an insect or
a stream, or even a stone in the abode of the Lord, if it would ensure my being close to
Him.’”
30 The Swami added, “In appreciation of his wish, the step at the entrance of the sanctum
sanctorum in all Vishnu temples will, in the days to come, be called Kulashekharan padi.”
The Vedanta Kesari

“Padi means ‘step’, so that means the ‘Kulashekharan step’,” Poorva mumbled to
herself.
She heard the Aazhvaar sing a few more songs and then saw him come out of the
temple. He was proceeding elsewhere. “I think it’s time we bid goodbye to Kulashekhara
Aazhvaar, Poorva. From now on, his life will be spent in pilgrimages to various temples.
His songs – 105 in all – will be collected and compiled as the Perumaal Thirumozhi –
auspicious words of Perumaal. Through his songs, he conveys the message that one should
serve both God and His devotees. When he turns sixty-seven, he’ll breathe his last at a place
called Brahmadhesam near Aazhvaar Thirunagari.”
“Swami Thaatha, you mentioned Perumaal Thirumozhi. Did you mean Kulashekhara
Thirumozhi?” asked Poorva.
The Swami replied, “No, no. There are different opinions on why his songs are called
Perumaal Thirumozhi. Tradition has it that he has been honoured with the title of
Perumaal, meaning ‘God’, because of his intense devotion to Lord Rama. There are others
who say that ‘Perumaal’ is the king’s family name. People are also not sure whether it is
this Kulashekhara who has authored the famous Sanskrit poem, Mukundhamaala.”
“Jayathu jayathu deva …” Poorva started enthusiastically reciting the verse she had
learned at school and stopped at the end of the line to remark, “This is Kulashekhara’s
composition. My teacher said so. Come on, aren’t you teasing me? I’m sure you know it!”
 February 2021
PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I . R . C H I N T H A I A H , C H E N N A I

31

“Hold on, Chatterbox. I was only saying that there are two opinions on this. Some say

The Vedanta Kesari

the poem was composed by Kulashekhara Aazhvaar, while others say it was by another
person with the same name.”
“If that is your doubt,” replied Poorva brightening up, “let’s ask him straightaway. That
would solve matters, wouldn’t it?”
“It would,” agreed the Swami, “but think a little. Throughout this trip, you’ve been
seeing people, but they can’t see you. You can hear them, but they can’t hear you. So what
you see is what you get to know, in addition to what I tell you, of course,” said the Swami.
“And that in itself is quite a lot,” laughed Poorva, as the carpet gained momentum and
raced past a flock of migrating birds. “Have a good time in Siberia, or wherever else you’re
going …” Poorva waved to them.
A moment later, her face wore a puzzled look. I’m up in the sky, and so are these birds.
Then how come they suddenly look like small specks? At what altitude are they flying? As
she mused, something bit her leg and she winced in pain.
“I didn’t know mosquitoes could fly higher than eagles!” exclaimed Poorva as she tried
to swat the irritating pest. The target escaped and Poorva’s palm landed firmly on soft
grass.
(To be continued. . .)
 When God Calls

Ramachandra Dutta
DR. RUCHIRA MITRA
This is the eighth story in the series on devotees who
had a role in the divine play of Sri Ramakrishna.

यमेवैष वृणुते तेन लभ्यः

It is attained by him alone whom
It chooses (Kathopanishad. 1.2:23)

1
3 November 1879. Three affluent
gentlemen of Kolkata were on their
way to meet Sri Ramakrishna, about
whose pure life they had heard from Keshav
February 2021
modern science had a flip side to it, in that it
made him an atheist.1
When his little daughter died suddenly,
Ram was plunged into immense grief. His

Chandra Sen. On reaching Dakshineswar, they attempts to find solace in the  Brahmo ideas
found his room closed. But as soon as they proved futile. His first visit to Sri Ramakrishna
reached the room, Sri Ramakrishna himself was the turning point in his life and he soon
opened the door and came out to receive them, became a staunch devotee.
as if he was expecting their arrival. Sri
One night, Ram dreamed that he took bath
32 Ramakrishna asked them to sit and looked
in a pond and Sri Ramakrishna initiated him
smilingly at one of them and simply told him,
with a sacred mantra and asked him to repeat
“Hello, you are a doctor. Please check his [his
The Vedanta Kesari

nephew Hriday’s] pulse. He is suffering from
fever.” The man did as he was bid, but was
dumbfounded that Sri Ramakrishna knew he
was a doctor!
Very soon this gentleman became one of
the foremost householder disciples of Sri
Ramakrishna. He was Ram Chandra Dutta, a
doctor with many professional achievements.
H e i nve n te d a n a n t i d o te fo r   b l o o d
dysentery which got the approval from the
British government. He became famous when
leading doctors started prescribing it.
Consequently, he was appointed a member of
the Chemist Association of England. He was
raised to the post of Government Chemical
Examiner and was also appointed as a teacher
at the Calcutta Medical College for the military
medical students. This deep involvement with
The author is a devotee and researcher on Ramakrishna-Vivekananda literature. Her doctoral thesis was on
the life stories of Sri Ramakrishna. ruchiranewid@gmail.com
it one hundred times every day after his bath.
When he woke up from the dream, he felt his
body pulsating with bliss. The next morning, he
rushed to Dakshineswar and related his dream
to Sri Ramakrishna. At this Sri Ramakrishna
joyfully said, “He who receives divine blessings
in a dream is sure to attain liberation.”2
Ram used to carry out Sri Ramakrishna’s
teachings to the letter. Sri Ramakrishna told
him, “Whoever serves the devotees, serves me,”
Ram used to say, “He who calls on Sri
Ramakrishna is my nearest relative.” Sri
Ramakrishna visited Ram’s house for the first
time on Vaisakhi Purnima, and henceforth
every year Ram celebrated this day as a festival.
During Sri Ramakrishna’s lifetime, Ram
organised festivals with Sri Ramakrishna and
the devotees in his home; and later his home
 became a shelter for the devotees practising
austerities. It was Ram who took his cousin
Naren (later Swami Vivekananda) to Sri
Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar for the first time
in his own carriage!
Ram had the firm conviction that Sri
Ramakrishna was an incarnation of God. His
dedication and love for his Guru was so
profound that he passionately asserted that any
place visited by Sri Ramakrishna was holy; and
the coach and the coachman which carried him
around were holy too! Once, someone
sarcastically remarked, “If that is true, so many
men have seen him, so many coachmen have
driven him, will they get liberation?” Ram
vehemently retorted: “Go and take the dust of
the feet of the coachman who drove the Master.
PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I V I S H N U T. A . , C H E N N A I
Go and take the dust of the feet of the sweeper
of Dakshineswar who saw the Master! This will
make your life pure and blessed.”3
On 1 January 1886, Sri Ramakrishna
revealed his divinity to his householder
devotees and bestowed the taste of divine joy
on all. Ram explained that Ramakrishna had, in
effect, become Kalpataru,  the ‘wish-fulfilling
tree’. Henceforth, every year Ram celebrated
January 1 as Kalpataru Day at his Kankurgachi
garden house, called ‘Yogodyan’.
Yogodyan was constructed as per Sri
Ramakrishna’s advice to build a place for
nirjan-vas and sadhana far away from the city.
Therefore, Yogodyan holds a special position as
the centre that was started at the bidding of Sri
Ramakrishna, who visited this site and
commented, ekhane besh dhyan hoy, “This place
is suitable for meditation.”
After Sri Ramakrishna’s mahasamadhi on
16 August 1886, his ashes were collected in an
urn. Ram wished to keep the urn of ashes in
References: 1) They Lived with God, 96-97
Yogodyan. But Sri Ramakrishna’s future
monastic disciples too were eager to keep the
ashes. So, they transferred a major portion of
the ashes to another urn, and handed over the
original urn to Ram. He, in good faith, then
ceremoniously consecrated it in Yogodyan on
Janmashtami day, 23rd August. All the monastic
and householder disciples of Sri Ramakrishna
participated in the grand celebration. Ram soon
established the first Ramakrishna Temple at
Yogodyan, enshrining Sri Ramakrishna’s relics.
He led a frugal life and made it a ritual to offer
worship at Yogodyan every day, commuting
from his residence 6 km away.
Ram became Sri Ramakrishna’s first
February 2021
evangelist and played a big role in spreading his
message. He delivered 18 public lectures
extolling Sri Ramakrishna’s life and teachings.
His first lecture was titled “Is Ramakrishna
Paramahamsa an Avatar?” Ram also wrote Sri
Ramakrishna’s first biography, Sri Sri 33
Ramakrishna Paramhansadever Jivanvrittanta,
and subsequently expanded it by including his
The Vedanta Kesari
teachings and named it Tattva-Prakashika.
Moreover, at Yogodyan, Ram groomed many
youngsters who later became the second
generation sannyasis of the Ramakrishna
Order.
Five days before his passing away, Ram
shifted to Yogodyan, as he had a premonition
that he would die soon. He was just 47. On
arriving there, Ram said, “I have come here to
have my final rest near my Guru Sri
Ramakrishna.” Ram’s relics are kept near the
gate of Yogodyan adjoining Sri Ramakrishna’s
temple, as his last wish was “When I die please
bury a little of the ashes of my body at the
entrance to Yogodyan. Whoever enters this place
will walk over my head, and thus I shall get the
touch of the Master’s devotees’ feet forever.”4
2) Ibid. 99 3) Ibid. 95 4) Ibid. 109
 Questions & Answers

Pariprasna
Srimat Swami Tapasyananda Ji (1904 – 1991) was
one of the Vice-Presidents of the Ramakrishna
Order. His deeply convincing answers to devotees’
questions raised in spiritual retreats and in
personal letters have been published in book form
as Spiritual Quest: Questions & Answers.
Pariprasna is a selection from this book.
February 2021

QUESTION: Finite man’s knowledge is necessarily finite. So what is meant by the term
‘omniscience’ in such Sruti statements as ‘The knower of the Self knows everything’?
MAHARAJ: The above statement in the Upanishads does not mean that an illumined sage
knows every one of the subjects in world like algebra, geometry, anthropology, history etc. It means
only that when the ultimate essence of all is understood, one has a basic knowledge of all the
34 diversities springing from it. Thus if the nature of gold is understood, one has the knowledge of the
basic stuff of all things made of gold. When one has a knowledge of the basic stuff, gold, one will be
evaluating gold, ornaments etc., from the point of view of gold and not from the point of view of the
The Vedanta Kesari

changing modes into which gold can be shaped. Another example often given is that of a grain of
rice from a cauldron of boiling rice being taken and squeezed between the fingers. One can thereby
know whether all the rice in the pot is well boiled or not. The Vedanta holds that Brahman is the
one Substance and all the multiplicity experienced is either an apparent expression of it, or an
evolution of Its inherent powers, or of the attributes organically related to It. This basic nature of
everything is outside the understanding of men in ignorance. Englightenment enables men to
understand that Brahman is the basis of everything. This is the omniscience spoken of in the
Upanishads.
It is also true that a person whose mind has gained the subtlety and concentration required
for attaining this enlightened understanding, can very easily gather any particularized knowledge,
if he but applies his mind to it. A controlled and concentrated mind, the key to all knowledge, is in
his possession, and with it he can open any mansion of knowledge, if he cares to do so. Probably
some of the Rishis were persons of this type, who had the spiritual awakening and at the same time
the mastery of much of the then known arts and science by the application of their concentrated
minds on them. Traditions coming from such personages must have given rise to the current notion
of omniscience held by some persons interested in occult lore.
 Reminiscences

Lessons from Swamis

The Dec 2020 Special Issue of The Vedanta Kesari was on the topic ‘Lessons from Swamis’.
New content on this topic is being serialised this year.

Swami Punyananda

T
he swami joined the Order at the Contai Ashrama in 1922 and received his mantra-
diksha from Swami Shivanandaji and also sannyasa-diksha from him in 1926. As
Secretary of the Rangoon Sevashrama (which no longer exists) for a decade from
1932 and then as the first Secretary of the Rahara Boys’ Home from 1944 he developed the
centres in a remarkable way and he also did outstanding relief work during Burma Evacuee Relief,

February 2021
Bengal Famine Relief and East Bengal Refugee Relief. He attained mahasamadhi on 24 Nov 1971
aged 68.
PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I S R I N I VA S A N S . , C H E N N A I

“I would like to die in harness”

Swami Punyanandaji because of his galvanic personality had a tremendous effect on my life
and in the lives of those who came in contact with him. Perfectly cast in the mould of Sri 35
Ramakrishna, Swami Punyananda Maharaj harmoniously synthesised all the four yogas in his life

The Vedanta Kesari

and we were fortunate to see a living demonstration of this ideal. He was a true soldier of Swami
Vivekananda. Once when Swami Shivanandaji offered to grace him with a boon, Punyanandaji had
immediately asked, “Maharaj, kindly bless me that I may die in harness.” Swami Shivanandaji, time
and again asked him the same question and every time he received the same answer from
Punyanandaji, “I would like to die in harness.” Mahapurush Maharaj granted him the boon saying,
“Let it be so!” Those who know Punyanandaji, know very well that the swami literally died in
harness!
Swami Punyanandaji was an exemplary Karmayogi. But when he was at the dusk of his life,
he was very much troubled by this thought: “I have done Swamiji’s work to the best of my capacity.
But I have not done formal spiritual practices to that extent. Now that I am approaching the end of
this mundane life, I feel concerned and worried about what would happen to me hereafter?”
Swami Punyanandaji one day came to Belur Math and narrated his agony to Swami
Madhavanandaji, the then Sangha-Guru and asked him, “Maharaj! What will happen to me?”
Immediately Madhavanandaji Maharaj in a very affectionate but at the same time stern voice said,
“You have done ‘Shiva Jnane Jiva Seva’ all through your life. Do you think that Swamiji is a traitor
and a liar? Know it for certain that at the end, Swamiji Maharaj will come to take you to
Ramakrishna Loka.” After some years, just on the eve of his last breath, Punyanandaji asked his
attendant, “Make me Get up! Make me Get up! Can’t you see Sri Sri Thakur, Maa and Swamiji have
all come? Give them asanas for sitting.” Saying so, Punyanandaji looked above and breathed his last.
 Thus, he presented an exemplary demonstration of dedicating one’s life for the good of the suffering
masses. Swami Vivekananda, in his famous Sivashuktam wrote, परहितकरणाय प्राणप्रच्छेदप्रीतम्,
नतनयननियुक्तं नीलकण्ठं... “Who joyously sacrifices Himself for the good of others, whose throat is blue
from drinking the poison intended for others, I prostrate before him.” And again, Swamiji said about
Sri Ramakrishna, प्राणार्पण जगत-तारण “He has sacrificed his life to redeem the world and thus cut the
bonds of the Kali Yuga.” In a letter addressed to his brother-disciple Swami Ramakrishnanandaji,
Swamiji wrote in Sanskrit, प्राणात्ययेऽपि परकल्याणचिकीर्षावः, “They alone are Sri Ramakrishna’s children
who render services to the suffering people even at the risk of their own lives.” In the person of
Swami Punyanandaji Maharaj, we saw the living testimony of those blazing words of Swami
Vivekananda.
Whenever I remember Swami Punyanandaji’s life, I feel doubly assured that if we respond to
Swamiji’s call sincerely, he will never let us down, though we may be very insignificant. By his
infinite grace, Swamiji has granted us refuge at his holy feet; Swamiji certainly has seen us, is still
watching us at every moment, protecting us, and leading us onward and onward.
— Swami Suviranandaji, General Secretary, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission
February 2021

Swami Shiveshananda

S
wami Shiveshananda (1894 -1975), was well-known as Dwaraka Maharaj. He joined
the order at Belur Math in 1925 and received his mantra-diksha from Swami
36 Shivanandaji and later also his sannya-diksha from him in 1931. He lived most of his
monastic life at Belur Math. He attained mahasamadhi on 11 Oct 1975.
The Vedanta Kesari

Shabari’s waiting
Swami Shivanandaji lived upstairs in the Old Math building where Swami Vivekananda spent
his last days. In the courtyard below stands the mango tree which was there during Swami
Vivekananda’s time as well. There is also a jackfruit tree and some other plants. Dwaraka Maharaj
had been told by his guru to see that the courtyard was kept clean and that leaves from the tree did
not litter the place. Dwaraka Maharaj knew about Shabari, who lived an ascetic life in the forest.
Shabari had heard that Sri Rama would pass by her hermitage, and she waited and waited for
months and years to have the darshan of Sri Rama. She was waiting earnestly to hear his footsteps.
At last he came and Shabari’s dream was fulfilled.
Similarly, Dwaraka Maharaj was always watchful to see that leaves did not litter the courtyard.
As soon as a leaf fell, he would rush forward to remove it! Thus his whole mind was given to his
guru, Mahapurush Maharaj.
I have seen him reciting those verses that deal with the episode of Shabari from the Ramayana
in Bengali poetry, tears pouring down from his eyes. In his room was a picture of old Shabari, which
someone had got for him. His was a great example of how an ordinary act can also become a
practical spiritual action.
—Srimat Swami Smarananandaji Maharaj, President Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna Mission
 Article

Swami Shivananda:
A Living Light
SWAMI SHRADDHANANDA

In this hitherto unpublished article, Swami

Shraddhananda reminisces about his interactions
with his guru Swami Shivanandaji, one of the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna and the 2nd
President of the Ramakrishna Order. Shraddhanandaji joined the Order in 1930 and was the
head of the Vedanta Society of Sacramento for many years till his mahasamadhi in July 1996. Mrs.
Lali Maly, a devotee of the Sacramento ashrama from Union City, California, has sent this article
to The Vedanta Kesari.

February 2021
PA G E S P O N S O R : A D E V O T E E , K O C H A D A I , M A D U R A I

(Continued from the previous issue...)

S
ome of my friends said, “Well, what
are you doing? Passing so much time
in meditation and japa. While the
guru is living, you should do some personal
service.” I had found that many samskaras arise
when you take such a step as this, and so I
Still, my friends kept after me. “Every
evening,” they insisted, “you come right to
Swami Shivanandaji’s room and do some
personal service.”
37
He was ailing by this time. He was about
seventy-six years old and his health was failing.

The Vedanta Kesari

thought meditation and prayer were more
important. Besides, there were so many other
swamis for personal service. My friends would
not listen to me. Gradually, of course, the idea
began to take root in me.
One day I went with the idea of rendering
personal service to my guru. Swami
Shivanandaji smoked the hubble-bubble. At
home, my father was a veteran tobacco smoker,
and at one time I had prepared his tobacco. So
hopefully I said, “Maharaj, I would like to
prepare your tobacco.” Delighted, he asked, “Do
you know how to prepare tobacco? All right.
Try.”
But it had been a long time since I had
prepared tobacco for my father, and I found
that I had forgotten how to do it. A brother-
disciple rescued me as I was floundering, and I
managed to complete that task.
There was no electric fan and so he had to be
fanned in the summer.
For two or three days I did that service. I
had continued to wear my normal dress.
Wearing the monastic robes would come after
passing the period of the probationer. My
friends had said, “Why should you look like a
student? You are no longer a student. You
should shave your head and leave a tuft of hair
in the back as brahmacharis do.” I had done as
they said. But, I had had no instruction from my
guru to do so, and he stared at me. “Who is this?
That boy. He has become a sadhu.”
Then, after two or three days, he said, “I
see, my boy, that you are not prepared yet to do
this personal service, so I think you had
better spend the time in meditation. That
would be more beneficial for you.” My
vanity was hurt. Many thoughts were racing
 around in my mind, and after some days I went
to him.
“Maharaj, do you think I am not prepared
for this life? Do you think I should go back and
finish my studies?” “My idea,” he answered
gently, “was that you have just come, and that
you should spend more time in meditation.
That will be of more benefit to you. Not that I
want you to go back. You will remain here.” This
was very encouraging to me.
Much later, when I reflected on these
things, I realised how graceful he was. He knew
that I was not ready, but he said, “Let him have
a chance.”
My problems and questions continued. I
February 2021
remember in the early years of my staying at
the Math, I had another problem — it was
about Holy Mother. So, one day I asked him,
“Maharaj, what is the place of Holy Mother?” In
those days, very few knew about Holy Mother.
38 It was the custom of the devotees to keep
Mother in secret, in the heart. He stared at me,
and closed his eyes, and said, “Sri Ramakrishna
The Vedanta Kesari
is identical with Holy Mother.”
There were trials in my studies, too. Of
course, there were many Sanskrit classes and
the Upanishad classes where I had become a
regular student. Naturally many questions
would come, and I thought, “Since I am here, I
must utilise my guru.” Once, being very
confused by some of the things I had read in the
Sanskrit books, I asked Swami Shivanandaji,
“Maharaj, there are two paths. Which is the
better path to follow?”
He replied, “If you want the path of
knowledge, you can have that, and you will have
mukti. And there is also the path of devotion,
and if you want that, you can have that. That is
the path you will take if you want a
combination of love and knowledge. Knowledge
is the harder path to follow. But the best thing
is perfect self-abandonment. Say ‘Lord, Lord, I
am Thine; if it be Thy will that I have mukti, or
that I have devotion, let it be up to Thee.’
Perfect self-abandonment in the Lord. That is
the thing.”
Then one day, after I had asked him many
questions, he said, “You are asking these
questions as if it were a mathematical problem.
Your questions are very superficial, and you
have not the understanding to pose a good
question.” All my vanity was being crushed. He
knew I had that sense of vanity, and so
sometimes he would say, “These university
boys are worthless. They think that they have
passed these exams, but they are quite
impractical and are worthless.” Still, patiently,
he would continue. “You are a mere boy now.
You must just go on and live this life, and if you
can live this life for seven or eight years, then
much will come. This life is quite a different life.
You should not have the same kind of ambition
as getting a college degree. One struggles hard
for years, and has ups and downs, and so you
must have patience, you must have patience.”
Again, one day he asked me, “What are
you studying now?” I answered, “The
Upanishads.” “Upanishads! Does it not conflict
with your devotion?” he asked. I was really
confused and still replied, “No, not much.”
Maharaj then explained, “These ideas of Advaita
must be carefully approached, and a life of
devotion must be lived.”
Then, gradually, what he had expected
came to happen. I began to think, “What is this
personal God?” One day I asked, “I have a
question, Maharaj. Well, I do my japa and
meditation, but sometimes I don’t like the idea
of a personal God. Even the name of God seems
not at all pleasing to me. I want to repeat only
the word Om without the idea of a personal
God.” He was very grave and appeared to be
sad, and kept quiet for some time. “All right, my
boy. There are two ways for the realisation of
 God. One is the path of knowledge, and the
other is the path of devotion. There is no
contradiction between the two. In the
beginning they seem to be different. You need
not repeat the mantra, but don’t think that the
personal God is different from the impersonal
God. Rather, you should first pray to the
personal god and then you go on to Om.” He did
not quite encourage the idea, but he subdued
me that way. After doing that for some time, I
thought it was foolish. But he would say,
PA G E S P O N S O R : D R . S U B R A M A N I YA B H A R AT H I YA R R . , K A N C H E E P U R A M
smiling, “All right. Go on, go on.”
I remember one of the sadhus was
studying the Mandukya Upanishad, which
doesn’t recognise God or anything but the Self.
The position is very rational. One night Swami
Shivanandaji asked him, “What are you
studying? Does it contain my Mother’s name? I
don’t care for the Mandukya Upanishad.
Knowledge has to have devotion, otherwise one
is liable to be led astray any moment.” That was
a revelation to me.
Although he was always loving, kind and
affectionate, he later on decided, ‘This boy
requires some other medicine.’ He scolded me,
and he said, “You are a selfish boy, and you
think you will have spiritual life in the way you
are used to having in the world.”
But though he scolded me severely, I bore
it well, because by that time I knew he was my
well-wisher, and he did it for my good. Some of
the other swamis were very sorry for me. When
they asked, “Why has he scolded you so
severely?”, I could only answer, “I cannot recall
anything I did that would offend him. Of course,
I am all the time asking questions.”
The more you weep for Him, the more will He be revealed in your heart.
Weep with intense love, weep with the utmost longing.
One day he said, “You must sweep this
whole courtyard in addition to your studies.” It
would take more than one hour with a broom
and he would notice me from his room in the
morning. The other sadhus felt very sad for
me.
But matters got worse. When I would go
to offer my pranams to him, he would not
answer, but instead become very grave. He
would be very cheerful until I put in my
appearance, and then he would lapse into
silence. By that time, I had matured a little. I
thought this was my trial and I would not fail. I
would stand it. With all reverence I would stand
it.
February 2021
He would get up at 3.00 A.M. and do his
meditation and by 6 o’clock he was all through
and ready to receive the swamis. The tea bell
would ring at 6.30 A.M. Being in his room in the
morning with all the sadhus was really a place
of pilgrimage. Of course, no devotees from 39
Calcutta would come at that early hour. From
6.00 to 6.30 A.M. would be reserved for the
The Vedanta Kesari
monastic inmates, and he would receive them
with great affection, and that was their food for
the day. “My son, how are you?” “My child, how
are you?”
Just a few words and a kind look; and that
worked on the minds of everyone who used to
come. By that time his illness had aggravated.
He was confined in his room and could not
come down. But he radiated love. It was an
hour of great joy and inspiration. However,
whenever I appeared, he had not a word for me.
I thought, “What is this?”
(To be continued...)
— Swami Shivananda

International Peace in the Light of Indian Philosophy
influenced by their prejudices, memories,
ambitions, desires and fears operating at a
collective level — societies are knowingly or
unknowingly prompted by their instincts and
act on their compulsions. These instincts in the
societies are built over long periods of time and
are deeply engraved in them. Experiences, jolts,
lessons on the winding and excruciatingly long
path of human history, particularly that which
is related to the particular society, lie deeply
buried inside the collective subconscious of the
society and are carried on coded into scripture,
February 2021
legend, literature, music, folk art, conventions,
festivals, traditions, language, mythology,
culture and the like, which affect the external
collective behaviour.
Thus the third thesis of this article is:
40
‘Just as individuals, societies too are
influenced by instincts, desires, memories,
The Vedanta Kesari
ambitions fears etc., that lie in their collective
subconscious.’ (Fig. 4)
Thus, for peace, there is a need to tackle
the mind of a society/nation in preference to
dealing with environment and external activity.
Societies must either 1) seek to remove or deal
with perverse cravings, especially because they
are unseen, or alternatively, 2) sublimate them.
An example of the former would be a removal
of animosity towards the other nation by
education and edification. An example of
sublimation would be turning human energy
from belligerence to research for human
progress. A society which is slave to its
instincts, which has inflated and misplaced
pride, and is a victim of its mean passions, will
surely indulge in atrocities in the name of
nationalism or some such virtue—no matter
how benign the environment and the
neighbours.
(Continued from page 22...)
Mahatma Gandhi’s approach
Satyagraha
The Sanskrit word Sat, one of the three
aspects of the Atman, connotes both ‘Truth’ and
‘Existence’. The universal virtue ‘truth’ (satya)
thus derives directly from the infallible
Existence aspect of the ever incontrovertible
Atman and is thus unfailing. Mahatma Gandhi
te s te d t h e ve ra c i t y o f t h i s fa c t by
‘experimenting’ with truth in his own life since
his childhood.14 Having been convinced that
truth is a force in itself, he used it as a weapon
to tackle injustice and atrocities in society. He
declared, “The sword can kill, but it cannot
compel.” He then invented a principle that is of
the nature of ‘passive resistance’ which is free
from weakness, fear and hatred and gave it the
name satyagraha (which translates as truth-
firmness or truth-insistence).
Non-violence
Similarly, love (or its obverse, non-injury)
derives directly from the Bliss aspect of the
incontrovertible Atman. Hence, it too is a force
by itself. Gandhiji says, “The ‘law of love’ will
work, just as the ‘law of gravitation’ will work,
whether we accept it or not.” He exhorted his
people to extend love even to the enemy.
Gandhi’s aim was to ‘liquidate’ his enemy by
destroying hatred and turning him into a
friend: “Your enemy is your foolish brother.
Minister to him when he is hurt; disobey him
when he tries to hurt you. No enemy can ever
be strong enough or savage enough to
withstand the fire of love.”15
If love should be extended to everyone,
how did he fight evildoers? The answer lies in
the fact that his new kind of warfare was
designed to kill not the man but his meanness,
 not the thief but his desire to thieve, not the
enemy but his enmity. People could see the
“power of his weapon that healed as against the
ineffective weapons that killed.”
Indian understanding of peace
Peace is ‘still’ power
From the above discussion it is clear that
peace is neither a ‘passive’ state nor some sort
of complacency or benumbed silence, rather it
is a calm, dynamic, ‘still’ power. This power is
PA G E S P O N S O R : D R . S U B R A M A N I YA B H A R AT H I YA R R . , K A N C H E E P U R A M
derived from inner strength coupled with
understanding and love. Bravado, display of
strength, war, attack, etc., come from hidden
weakness or fear.16 A really strong person does
not harm anyone.
Further, peace does not come from
compromising differences, as an improvised or
an ill-planned solution may provide; neither
does it come from road-rolling differences as
war intends to do. It may be noted that while
war aims at settling differences, it invariably
ends up creating them.
The symphony of diversity
How then does peace view differences?
The answer is, it knows the principle ‘Variety is
the first principle of life’ and ‘Unity in variety is
the plan of creation’.17 Rather than ‘tolerating’
differences, which is a kind of suppression, it
develops strength to assimilate them or, it may
be said, it broadens the outlook and takes them
within its enlightened stride. The Indian
approach has always been seeking harmony
within diversity. This harmony, however, is not
a fusion, a jumble, or a medley or a muddle of
things that are different in nature, rather, it is a
symphony built from differing things in a
variegated diversity.
Peace is dynamic
‘Peace’ in Indian understanding is not a
static concept. Atman, the deeper, undeniable,
self-existent and causal reality, has not only the
static but also the dynamic aspect.
This is the one reason why Mahatma
Gandhi’s non-violence is not passive, rather, it
has the blazing power in it. His non-violence
has not the strength of a stone that resists its
own destruction, but something entirely ‘alive’
or ‘conscious’ that makes a statement, insists,
faces, and even cares for the offender.
The dynamic aspect of Atman is power
(shakti)—a power that permits and causes
everything to move or change, the Atman itself
remaining beyond the limitations of space, time
and change. The great acharya Shankara calls
Atman pura api nava, “ancient but new.” Owing
February 2021
to this understanding as a foundation, the built-
in capability to change and adapt to different
circumstances and times has percolated into the
Indian concept of peace just as it has seeped
deep into her culture, philosophies and ideas
and even beliefs. The Indian concept of peace is
41
not an ossified, petrified, fossilized, written in
stone, defined-once-for-all concept, but has the
The Vedanta Kesari
capacity to change as social, economic,
technological and cultural changes take place
over time, yet remaining eternal and fresh. This
is because Indian religious beliefs are not based
on God’s commandments or instructions but on
a perennial philosophy called the Vedanta, which
consists of universal principles valid at all places
and all times. Religions of non-Indic origin may
not stand this test of capacity to change.
Afflictions and their causes
The two types of ego
There are two types of ego in Indian
philosophy. The first type of ego is ‘egoity’
which is an individuating principle. The second
type of ego is ‘egoism’ which is some sort of
self-centredness. These two types of egos are
severally referred to in the Bhagavat Gita in
verses 7:4 and 16:18 respectively and both are
expressed by the same word ‘ahamkara’.
 Egoity defines any entity distinguishing
itself from the rest of the world. For example, a
pen is a pen, and not a pencil or a pot, because
of its pen-egoity. Egoity by itself does not cause
any harm, and provides a valid reason for the
existence of individuals or nation-states as
autonomous, independent, and functional units.
No blame of selfishness etc., can be ascribed to
it. On the other hand, egoism struggles
desperately to perpetuate the separation of ‘me’
and ‘mine’ from the rest and also sees
everything else as a threat (to its existence). An
egoist person constantly suffers from an
excessive and morbid need to augment and
protect him/herself and, as a result, falls prey
to attachment, hatred and fear. Attachment is
February 2021
self-centered love. Hatred and fear are self-
centered protection. Now, a nation or a society
also displays almost all the characteristics of an
individual such as greed, fear, desperation, self-
centeredness, aggrandizing, misunderstanding
42
and so forth in its desperate attempts to
preserve, expand, and protect its egoity—this
The Vedanta Kesari
attempt is egoism. Nations amass, covet, brag
about themselves, they act in their own
interests, and they hate, fear, attack, or lobby
with other nations. Further, sacred literature of
many religions mention that, similar to an
individual, a nation as a whole, as an agent
responsible for its acts, must bear the
consequences and ‘pay for its sins’ or ‘reap
what is sown’ just as an individual does.18
This brings us to the fourth thesis of
this article, which is:
‘Just as individuals, societies are
characterised by, 1) egoity, which is an
Fig. 5 Three basic attitudes of individual or society and their causes 19 (fourth thesis)
individuating principle that defines any entity
distinguishing itself from other entities, and, 2)
egoism, or self-centredness, which forms when
egoity falls into the clutches of attachment,
hatred and fear.’ (Fig. 5)
Egoity may expand or contract too. For
example, patriotism is the ripening and
expansion of the individual since it is ‘inclusive’
of others. Nationalism, on the other hand, is
some sort of contraction of the collective ego to
one’s own nation since nationalism is rather
‘exclusive’ in character.
Patriotism and nationalism
Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister
of India, explained that patriotism is love for
one’s countrymen while nationalism is hatred
towards other country’s men. Although
patriotism allows some opportunity for
expansion, it displays some flaws too. This is
because the attribute love, on which it is based,
may sometimes turn into obstinate attachment
(in this case, towards one’s own countrymen),
which results in favouritism, bias, prejudice,
and hatred for other nations. Lobbies of nations
is an example of favouritism among nations.
Unless love is pure, it degenerates into
attachment and brings misery, and patriotism
is no exception. It is for this reason that the
Buddha recommended Metta, friendliness, and
not love (Pali: Metta, from Sanskrit Maitri,
 which means friendliness, kindness or good
will, or love without attachment).
Attachment, hatred, and fear
Attachment, hatred, and fear are thus the
three defects that have come into view in the
discussion above (Fig. 5). Precisely these are
the three dysfunctions identified in the ancient
Indian tradition as the root of all suffering (see,
for example, The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, 2.3-6).
Attachment is the tendency to move towards
the other object with the feeling of liking,
hatred is the tendency to move towards the
other object with the feeling of dislike (as in an
attack), and fear is the tendency to move away
from the other object with the feeling of dislike.
PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I A S H I S H M A J U M D A R , K O L K ATA
Clearly, these three are the only possible
combinations arising from two movements
(towards and away) and two attitudes (like and
dislike). In the context of international peace, at
the collective level, the first dysfunction gives
rise to favouritism (self-centred grouping of
many nations), the second gives rise to an
attack (as in war) and the third gives rise to
taking cover. The yoga psychology identifies
‘egoity’ itself as the primary cause of all three
dysfunctions (i.e., egoism), and its deeper root
as ‘ignorance’.
It must be mentioned here that this
‘ignorance’ is not the ignorance of objects or the
lack of any knowledge or information but is an
existential ignorance—that is, ignorance of the
true nature of one’s own self, which is divine
and full of unconditional love. This matter is
discussed here briefly to highlight the need to
look for the causes of friction among nations at
the deeper inner levels as opposed to only in
the outer interactions.
Trends of human progress
Evil and the evil-doer
One trend apparent in recent times is that
man has noticed the difference between ‘evil’
and the ‘evil doer’. Earlier, when an evil was
detected, the evil doer was punished.
Nowadays, the trend is to remove evil itself
from the society while the evil doer receives a
sympathetic, humanitarian treatment. This is
akin to the elimination of a disease, as opposed
to quarantining or killing the person who has
the disease. Or, to give another example,
removing a possibility of war rather than
capturing, dominating, or even gobbling up the
warring state. Thus humanity is now tackling
the system in which evil takes place believing
that the people themselves are sincere
adherents of the prevailing system and beliefs,
and are therefore innocent. It must be noted
that Indian culture has always been at home
February 2021
with this attitude of recognising a person’s
guiltlessness. This is due to the discovery of
Atman, early in the civilisation’s history, as
one’s real self, which is pure, immaculate and
untouchable by anything external such as evil
or sin. Thus, in Indian culture, evil or sin is 43
looked at as incidental, adventitious, or
The Vedanta Kesari
superimposed on one’s inherent divine self due
to ignorance. This is in sharp contrast to the
other cultures in which man is believed to be
tainted to the core since birth and is inherently
a sinner.
From Exclusivism to Universalism
The other trend that is developing in the
world is that mankind is moving during its
progress from Exclusivism to Inclusivism, then
to Pluralism, and further to Universalism.
Exclusivism, in the present context, is the
exploitation of one nation by the other using
military power for its own benefit.
Inclusivism is a belief that one’s own
country is superior, and therefore the other
country must live as a protectorate and receive
mercy and aid.
Pluralism evolves when an
understanding develops that all nations have
 their rights and dignity; each nation must
tolerate the other nation’s presence. No active
co-operation is expected in Pluralism.
Universalism, is a unique contribution of
Swami Vivekananda. In Universalism, an
underlying substratum is found in the midst of
the externally differing variety. 20 The
substratum covers not only humans but life
itself. It is discovered that life is driven by
love.21 However, self-love is replaced by love-
for-all and societies or nations live as brothers.
This is not an admixture or cross-breading of
cultures or nations, nor is it beating the
differences by force to form one uniform,
homogeneous, amorphous substance without
February 2021
any individuality, rather, it is like weaving
different cultures and nations into one single
beautiful fabric called the mankind.
Man has moved (Fig. 6) from the state of
a barbaric society to an agricultural society, and
44 then to the industrial state. It is now becoming
clear that mankind is advancing towards a state
of ‘Knowledge Society’. Further progress will be
The Vedanta Kesari
towards spirituality that will tackle, at a
collective level, existential problems. Then man
will find himself in an ‘Enlightened Society’.
“The time is to come when prophets will walk
through every street in every city in the world.”
prophesied Swami Vivekananda.22
Man’s future
Man’s essential nature, pure
consciousness23, is not obvious in everyday
experience because of a covering of ignorance.
When the covering is removed, Atman shines
Fig. 6 Human evolution
forth. Newspapers and media usually portray
pessimistic trends such as increasing crime,
violence, corruption and the like. Yet, it should
be understood that darkness is a cover on the
inherent goodness. According to the Indian
philosophy, the cover is incidental and thus will
not prevail over the intrinsic force of light
within man however hard this cover may
appear. Any outer corruption cannot withstand
the shattering force of the goodness within.
Eons of obstinate darkness can be dispelled
instantly by a single ray of light.24
Practical action points for peace
In view of the above perspective, a few
practical action points are listed below for
fostering international peace:
PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I V I N AYA K S U TA R , B E L A G AV I
Each nation must (a) shift its attitude
from passive tolerance to active acceptance of
other nations, (b) break the prison walls of its
own concepts and transcend the limitations set
by its own standards, conventions or history,
(c) free itself from egoism and doubt.
Just as it is foolish for a student sitting in
a class-room to keep praising his/her own
family, similarly, a country that continues to
harp on its own glories forgetting that it is in a
community of nations invites lampoon. Thus
misplaced pride of one’s own country (the
attitude ‘my country, right or wrong’) must be
judiciously avoided.
Any ‘achievement’ by a country should
not be arrogated as an achievement of that
particular country in exclusion to others, but be
recognised as an achievement of the whole of
 humanity. This is an expansion of the collective
ego leading to the dissipation of fragmented
individualistic puny egos.
The patriotic statement ‘I must die for my
nation’ has been much acclaimed because of the
sense of sacrifice involved in it. However, the
statement also means ‘I must kill someone’. The
world must re-think the value of such
patriotic statements. In other words, narrow
nationalism must be replaced by universal
internationalism.
Similarly, the adage ‘A nation must love
peace, but keep its powder dry’ means that the
PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I P R AV E E N K U M A R D A R I S I , B E N G A LU R U
killing mechanism must be kept switched
on. Mankind must find an alternative to this
type of double talk in the name of so-called
‘vigilance’. t unify humanity.
References
11) Interestingly, the Sanskrit word ranakandu
(rana=battle, kandu=itch), refers to a person ‘itching
for war’.
12) Swami Nirvedananda, Hinduism at a Glance, p.59.
13) In the Western thought too there are the two:
‘Positive freedom’—internal freedom to carry out
one’s own free will, and, ‘Negative freedom’—
freedom from external interference in one’s
activity. However, most literature in the West is
undecided about the Positive freedom because it
fails to recognise that one’s ‘free’ will is enslaved
by one’s own deeply engraved instincts and is thus
not truly free. Bertrand Russell came close to the
identification of true Positive freedom, he put it in
the form of a paradox: ‘We can do as we please but
we can’t please as we please.’ Eric Fromm wrote
fittingly in his famous The Fear of Freedom: “…
freedom from instinctual determination of one’s
actions”.
14) M. K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth,
Tr. Mahadev Desai, (Ahmedabad: Navajeevan Press,
1940), p.16, 27, and passim.
15) Thomas H. and Thomas D. L., Great Religious Leaders,
(Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1996), p.242.
16) Tradition has it that St. Paul, prior to his conversion
when he was persecuting the followers of Jesus, the
Human rights ideology allows every
country (or person) to defend itself (or
himself). However, in practice, the tools of
defence are hardly different from those of
offence. Weapons that are designed,
manufactured and deployed to kill cannot bring
about lasting peace, however much these be
labelled as ‘defence related’, although they may
bring about a temporary lull. Thus it is
necessary to redefine ‘defence’.
Lack of knowledge about other countries
breeds xenophobia and hatred for other people.
Information about other countries, their
cultures, heritage, religions, etc., must be
spread and included in formal education. This
February 2021
will foster goodwill among countries and help
t (Concluded.)
Judaic sovereign Dharmaguru asked him: “What
fear hides in your heart that you are committing this 45
bravado?”
17) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. 2:379
The Vedanta Kesari
and 6:114
18) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 3:369;
and also, The Holy Bible, Job 4.8, Proverbs 11.18,
Mark 4.3-8, James 3.18 and passim.
19) Based on and adapted from Swami Bhajananandaji’s
Basic Principles of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras—an
Integral Approach in Swami Sarvabhutananda et al.
(eds.), Some Responses to Classical Yoga in the Modern
Period. Kolkata: Ramakrishna Mission Institute of
Culture, 2010.
20) Harmony of religions. Swami Bhajanananda. Kolkata:
Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, 2009, 26.
21) Killing for food or stealing is also love—love for
your family or yourself. It is love misplaced, but love
indeed.
22) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. 6:10
23) The view of the Chinese philosopher Mencius
(372-289 B.C.E.) came close to this understanding—
Mencius asserted the innate goodness of the
individual.
24) Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna p.26, 616, 703,
Atmabodha 3, 1 John 1:5
 The Order on the March
News & Notes from Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission
A new branch centre of the Ramakrishna Mission has been started at Raiganj in the Uttar Dinajpur
district of West Bengal.
Sri Amit Shah, Home Minister, Government of India, visited Swami Vivekananda’s Ancestral House,
February 2021

PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I M A N I S H S H U K L A , PA LG H A R
Kolkata, on 19 December. Sri Jagdeep Dhankhar, Governor of West Bengal, visited Sarisha Ashrama on
16 December. Sri T S Singh Deo, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Government of Chhattisgarh,
inaugurated the new building for the outpatient department at Narainpur Ashrama on 3 December. A
telemedicine centre was inaugurated at the dispensary of Shillong Ashrama on 5 December.
It is estimated that the COVID-19 lockdown has affected the emotional health of over 40 million
46 children and teens hailing from poor families in India. To monitor their emotional health and create
interventions, the Media Lab of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai developed an experimental WeMindYou
The Vedanta Kesari

App which detects any signs of fear, anxiety, and stress on the children’s face during online classes. This
was experimented at the Meyyur, a village adopted by the Chennai Math. Children identified with such
problems were trained in Yoga and meditation. A few weeks later a non-invasive EEG scan was conducted
to see how the children had benefited from the interventions. Quick Base, an American company which
conducted a virtual hackathon, awarded the first prize for this WeMindYou facial recognition project. The
prize announced on 16 December carries a sum of 35,000 dollars.
In 1906, Swami Ramakrishnanandaji, a direct-disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, started a primary school
in the Mint area of North Chennai for the most backward children living there. 300 children receive free
education, nutritious food, and training in yoga and sports. This school has now been recognized as the
Best School in North Chennai.
Covid-19 Relief: Six ashrama centers in India and two abroad continued Covid-19 relief by distributing
groceries, and homeopathy immunity boosters, digital note books etc.
Cyclone Relief: In response to the cyclones Nivar and Burevi, the Order through Chengalpattu, Chennai
Students’ Home, Thanjavur and Villupuram ashramas distributed about 59623 kg groceries, 16450 bars/
pieces of soap/toothpaste etc., 10,000 biscuit packets, 5000 milk-powder packets, and other items like mats
and tarpaulins to 6665 families in 10 districts in Tamil Nadu.
Winter Relief: 37 ashrama centres in India, distributed 22,286 blankets, sweaters, jackets etc., to the poor.
Distress Relief: 16 centres in India distributed 500 dhotis, 1167 saris, 4672 shirts/trousers, 80 school bags,
1460 stationery items, groceries, snacks, etc.
Rehabilitation: Manasadwip ashrama in Sagar Island rebuilt a primary school building destroyed by
Cyclone Amphan in May 2020.
 Ramakrishna Math
(Shyampukur Bati)
(A Branch Centre of Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math, Howrah)
55, Shyampukur Street, Kolkata – 700 004.
Phone : (033) 2555-8580. E-mail: shyampukurbati@rkmm.org
Preservation and Extension of SHYAMPUKUR BATI, the most important and sacred tirtha
of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission.

AN APPEAL
Dear Friend / devotee / well-wisher,
You all know that Sri Ramakrishna spent the last few months of his life (naralila) in
Shyampukur Bati and Cossipore. In Shyampukur Bati, Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi, Swami
Vivekananda and other brother disciples spent 70 days together. Here Sri Ramakrishna was
worshipped as Mother Kali on Kalipuja night by Girish Ghosh and other devotees. He also
experienced a good number of bhavas, samadhis and various such higher spiritual realizations.
In November 2017 this holy place was recognized as a full-fledged branch centre of

February 2021
Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. Now, as the matter stands, this house is 190 years
old. For the proper preservation of this house, thorough repair work is urgently needed. There
is a severe scarcity of accommodation for the inmate sadhus here. Also, to extend our seva work
we need more space (rooms).
To meet the above urgent needs we have to purchase one or two nearby houses.
For this, we need a minimum sum of Rupees Four Crores. 47
I fervently appeal to all the devotees, donors and well-wishers to donate generously to
make the above project successful.

The Vedanta Kesari

All donations to Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission are exempt from income
tax vide IT act, 80G,1961.
Donation may please be sent through A/C payee CTS cheque, Demand Draft or Bank
Transfer to:- Adhyaksha, Ramakrishna Math, Shyampukur Bati, 55, Shyampukur Street, Kolkata
– 700 004.
Bank Details
United Bank of India, Baghbazar branch. State Bank of India, Baghbazar Branch
A/C no. 0090010362696, A/C no. 32773763307,
IFSC : UTBI0BAZ101, IFSC : SBIN0001652,
MICR Code : 700027005 MICR Code : 700002007
For a donation of Rupees Two Lakhs and above, the name of the donor will be displayed
in marble stone in a suitable place.
Donors are requested to provide their ADDRESS, PAN NUMBER, MOBILE NUMBER,
E-MAIL.
Present Activities::
v Homoeopathic charitable dispensary (40-50 patients weekly two days);
v Distribution of dhotis, sarees, blankets to poor people every year;
v Regular spiritual talks, Devotees conventions, Memorial lectures, Inter-school recitation
& lecture competitions on moral values etc.
With warm love and namaskar,
Swami Parasharananda
Adhyaksha
The Vedanta Kesari February 2021

48
The Vedanta Kesari February 2021
49
 RAMAKRISHNA MATH, UTTARKASHI
Ganganagar, P.O. Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, 249193
Mobile: 9447051231; Email: uttarkashi@rkmm.org

Offering to Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna: An Appeal

Dear Devotees & Friends,
Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Math declared open a Math centre
at Uttarkashi, an ancient holy town in the Garhwal Himalayas on 20 Oct 2017. There was
already an ashrama, named “Ramakrishna Kutir”, on a small piece of land since 1963. It was
maintained directly by the Belur Math, and sadhus of our Order used to stay for intense
tapasya in the traditional monastic way, begging food from outside and living a simple
austere life. The same tradition continues till date.
In view of expanding Swami Vivekananda’s ideal of service and spirituality among the
February 2021

masses we plan to purchase some land measuring at least one acre around Harsil Valley,
near Gangotri. Along with retreat centres for sadhus and devotees, some welfare activities
for the benefit of the poor and underprivileged will be taken up after acquiring and
developing the land.
An estimated cost of Rs. 2 crores is required to set up and develop this additional unit
50 of our Math. We request our friends and devotees, trusts and corporate bodies to contribute
liberally to complete this project of welfare and spirituality at the earliest.
The Vedanta Kesari

Donations can be made by NEFT/RTGS to the account given below:

A/C Name : Ramakrishna Math, Uttarkashi
Bank Name : Union Bank of India
Branch Name : Uttarkashi Branch
A/C No. : 601802010006696
IFSC : UBIN0560189
Foreign contributions may kindly be sent through the headquarters at Belur Math
(Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Math, Howrah-711202; email- accounts@rkmm.org) requesting
it to credit the fund in Uttarkashi Math A/c.
Kindly send us email (to uttarkashi@rkmm.org ) or SMS (to 9447051231) after the
transaction intimating the purpose of your donation as “Donation for purchase of land and
development of the Math.” Please also send your PAN and full postal address.
Donations towards our Math are exempted from IT under 80G Act.
May Sri Ramakrishna, Ma Sarada, Swami Vivekananda bless you all.
Yours in the Lord,
Swami Amaleshananda
Adhyaksha
51
 Vol.108. No.2 The Vedanta Kesari (English Monthly) February 2021.
52 Regd. with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under No.1084 /
1957. Postal registration number: TN / CH (C) / 190 / 2021-2023. Licensed to
Post without prepayment TN/PMG(CCR)/WPP-259 / 2021-2023.
Date of Publication: 24th of every month

We must always remember that

God is Love. Be strong and stand
up and seek the God of Love. This
is the highest strength. What power
is higher than the power of purity?
Love and purity govern the world.
This love of God cannot be reached
by the weak; therefore, be not
weak, either physically, mentally,
morally or spiritually.
— Swami Vivekananda

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