Vedanta

The

Kesari

June 2019
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The Vedanta Kesari

Cover Story
page 11...

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शैवानामीश्र्वरो विष्णुर्वैष्णवानां च सम्मतः।
देवीति शाक्ततन्त्रे च बुद्धो बौद्धसुपूजितः।।
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एवं यज्जयोतिराभाति तज्जयोतिश्शं करोतु नः।।
The shining Divine Light which is designated as Siva by the
saivites, Vishnu by vaishnavas, the Goddess Sakti by the Tantra
literature, Buddha by the buddhists, Arhanta by the jains, Christ
by the christians, Jehova by the jews, Allah by the muslims and
Ahura Mazda by the parsis, may that Light bring bliss to all of us!
—Swami Harshananda
 3

106
th

T he V edanta K esari Year of Publication

A Cultural and Spiritual Monthly of The Ramakrishna Order

JUNE
CONTENTS
Vol. 106, No. 6
2019 ISSN 0042-2983

y
r S to r
ve
Co
11
Seeds and Indian Ethos of
Conservation, Sharing and Freedom
Ramasubramanian
41 FEATURES 19
7 Dakäiëàmùrti Stotra
Seeing God Everywhere The Self-Effacing Nature of
8 Yugavani
N Gokulmuthu Sister Nivedita
9 Editorial Pravrajika Bhavaniprana
17 Reminiscences
If Swami Vivekananda 27 Vivekananda Way Swami Vivekananda in
Were Here Today Sri Lanka: New Findings
33 Pariprasna
William Page Dr. Shyamali Chowdhury
43 Book Reviews
46 The Vedas: An Exploration
49 What is Religion?
35 51 Topical Musings 22
53 The Order on the March

Poorva: Magic, Miracles and the Mystical Twelve

Lakshmi Devnath

31

Editor: Swami Mahamedhananda

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 The Vedanta Kesari
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death in 1909 the magazine publication became irregular, and
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June 2019

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The Vedanta Kesari

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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

Dakäiëàmùrti Stotra
Sri Shankaracharya

Verse 6
राहुग्रस्तदिवाकरेन्दुसदृशो मायासमाच्छादनात्
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

सन्मात्रः करणोपसंहरणतो योऽभूत्सुषुप्तः पुमान् ।

प्रागस्वाप्समिति प्रबोधसमये यः प्रत्यभिज्ञायते
तस्मै श्रीगुरुमूर्तये नम इदं श्रीदक्षिणामूर्तये ॥ ६ ॥

O beisance to Śrī Dakṣiṇāmūrti, who is the

Guru, the Self, who in the deep sleep state
induced by the withdrawal of the senses,1 being

June 2019
covered by māyā—like the sun and the moon
devoured by Rāhu2—was ‘existence’ only,3 and who
at the time of waking, recognises Himself as, ‘(It is I)
who previously slept.’4 7
1
In the suṣupti or deep sleep state, the senses
merge in the mind and the mind merges in its cause,

The Vedanta Kesari

ajñāna or ignorance. Hence, there will be no awareness of the external physical world or the internal
mental world.
2
In the Hindu mythological lore, eclipses of the sun and the moon are attributed to their being
temporarily devoured by the demon Rāhu, whose head had been cut off by the discus of Lord Viṣṇu.
Since the head-part had already consumed amṛta or nectar, it survived, the rest of the body being
destroyed. In philosophical and poetical works, it is usually cited as an example to illustrate the
covering of the original lustre or form.
3
In an eclipse, the sun and the moon do not shine but continue to exist. Similarly, in the deep
sleep state, the Ātman continues to exist though it does not shine. In other words, the ‘bhāti’-part
of it is temporarily suppressed and only the ‘asti’-part continues unabated.
4
Remembrance is actually ‘re-cognition’, cognition of something which had already been
cognised. If none existed during the deep sleep state, and it was all void, then, who is it that after
waking up recognises himself as, ‘It is I who slept’? Devadatta’s previous experiences can be
remembered or recognised by Devadatta only and not by Brahmadatta who did not undergo those
experiences. So, this proves the existence of a permanent Ātman who endures through all the three
states of consciousness.

Dakṣiṇāmūrti Stotra with Mānasollāsa. Translated and Annotated by Swami Harshananda

 Yugavani

Worship

T here are three kinds of ananda, joy: the joy of worldly enjoyment, the joy of
worship, and the joy of Brahman. The joy of worldly enjoyment is the joy of
'woman and gold', which people always enjoy. The joy of worship one enjoys while chanting
June 2019

the name and glories of God. And the joy of Brahman is the joy of God-vision. After
experiencing the joy of God-vision the rishis of olden times went beyond all rules and
conventions.
In order to perform the worship of God you will be preoccupied for a long time with
8 such religious duties as plucking flowers, making sandal-paste, polishing the utensils of
worship, and arranging offerings. As you perform these duties your mind will naturally be
directed to God. You will get rid of meanness, anger, jealousy, and so forth. Once the mind
The Vedanta Kesari

has become mature, one doesn't have to continue formal worship for long. The mind then
always remains united with God; meditation and contemplation become a constant habit
of mind.
How long should one practise the sandhya and other forms of ritualistic worship? As
long as one does not shed tears of joy at the name of God and feel a thrill in one's body. You
will know that your ritualistic worship has come to an end when your eyes become filled
with tears as you repeat 'Om Rama'. Then you do not have to continue your sandhya or
other rituals. When the fruit appears the blossom drops off. Love of God is the fruit, and
rituals are the blossom.
One must propitiate the Divine Mother, the Primal Energy, in order to obtain God's
grace. God Himself is Mahamaya, who deludes the world with Her illusion and conjures up
the magic of creation, preservation, and destruction. She has spread this veil of ignorance
before our eyes. We can go into the inner chamber only when She lets us pass through the
door. Living outside, we see only outer objects, but not that Eternal Being, Existence-
Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. Therefore it is stated in the purana that deities like Brahma
praised Mahamaya for the destruction of the demons Madhu and Kaitabha.
—Sri Ramakrishna
 Editorial
Rama Rajya
Democracy and Vedanta
O nce, Swami Vivekananda told his
American audience: ‘There is a chance
of Vedanta becoming the religion of your
country because of democracy.’ He then
explained it thus: ‘You have a government, but
the government is impersonal. Yours is not an
autocratic government, and yet it is more
powerful than any monarchy in the world.
Nobody seems to understand that the real
power, the real life, the real strength is in the
PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I V E N K ATA R A M A N A N T. , C H E N N A I
unseen, the impersonal, the nobody. As a mere
person separated from others, you are nothing,
but as an impersonal unit of the nation that
rules itself, you are tremendous. You are all one
in the government — you are a tremendous
power. … Each man is the power.’
This is also the message of Vedanta. It
does not preach a God sitting in Heaven who
plays with our lives. Instead, Vedanta teaches a
democratic God; ‘the infinite principle of God
embodied in every one of us.’ Exploring and
discovering this innate Divinity is what we call
spiritual journey. This spiritual discovery in our
inner world becomes easy when our outside
world has social and political democracy. This
is Swamiji’s point.
Real men and women
‘But’, Swamiji cautions his audience, ‘it can
become so only if …you become real men and
women, not people with vague ideas and
superstitions in your brains…’
Indeed, achieving freedom in the two
dimensions of our life—in the inner body-mind-
ego complex and in the external social life—is
possible only when we learn to take
responsibility for our actions. Responsibility
necessarily involves a sound sense of values, a
higher vision, and self-restraint. It calls for
courage to face the truth and a steadfast
determination to pursue the goal. When men
and women become responsible in this sense,
then they become real men and women. It is
such people we need today in our country.
As we write this editorial, our democratic
general elections are entering into the final
phase. All through the elections, marked by
nasty intolerance, every party swore that those
in the opposing camps were most unfit to lead
the country. If this mutual assessment is true,
June 2019
as it could be for they know each other best,
then we probably have none fit enough to be
our democratic leaders! Yet, by the time this
issue reaches the readers, some of these same
parties will be conducting the affairs of the 9
government at the Centre and in some States.
The Vedanta Kesari
In the face of wide-spread corruption,
escapism, mass hysteria, narrow sectarianism,
and a general lowering of standards seen in our
society, should we surrender to despair and
scepticism? Never. To do so would be an insult
to Man, his higher nature, his divinity, and a
disbelief in the universal moral law.
Faith in God is faith in man.
Swami Vivekananda desired India to
strive for the evolution of a Vedantic civilization
where politics, science, religion, literature, and
everything else would lead man to higher and
higher levels of self-expression. This he said
was also India’s responsibility towards the
world Civilisation.
Tyaga and Seva
How do we become real men and women
and achieve true freedom within and foster real
democracy in the world outside? Swamiji gave
two tools of action to realise this: Tyaga and
 Seva. As he puts it, ‘The national
ideals of India are renunciation
and service. Intensify her in
those channels, and the rest
will take care of itself.’
Is Swamiji asking the
whole society to renounce
the world with an ascetic
spirit and remain engaged
in the one-pointed pursuit
of mukti? That would be an
impossibility, a totally
impractical idea.
Renunciation can be
understood in two senses. It is
to renounce or give up our
‘unripe’ ego, our lower self with
June 2019
its selfish desires and intemperate
sense hankerings. It is also, more
importantly, to give up our wrong
perception of the world. Our rishis discovered
10 the truth that the whole universe is one
Consciousness, one Existence which we call
God. It is a mistake to secularise the world and
The Vedanta Kesari
see it as separate from us. Seeing this
separation is what we call Maya. The world is
God, is our own true self.
The Isavasyopanishad tells us ‘All this –
whatever moves on the earth—should be
covered by the Lord. Protect your (Self )
through that detachment.’ It means to give up
seeing the world as we have conjectured it to
be through our partial experience, poor
reasoning, and attachment to senses. Swami
Vivekananda calls out: ‘Never approach any
thing except as God; for if we do, we see evil,
because we throw a veil of delusion over what
we look at, and then we see evil. Get free from
these illusions; be blessed. Freedom is to lose
all illusions.’ He demands of us, ‘Put God behind
everything — man, animal, food, work; make
this a habit.’
The more we realise this spirit of
renunciation, the more naturally will we move
towards serving our fellow living
beings and environment with
utter selflessness and love.
Rama Rajya
When more and more
people in our society
engage in such renunciation
and service, it will create
what we call Rama Rajya.
Rama Rajya is not
simply a state where all
people worship Lord Rama,
or build a big temple for Him.
It is a state where every citizen
strives to realise inner and
outer freedom. In this striving
lies Dharma. When every citizen
thus struggles to practise Dharma,
then that society will have a raja
established in Dharma.
How will such a raja be? The answer is
Lord Rama. In his Raghuvamsa, Kalidasa gives
a wonderful description of why we cherish and
desire Rama Rajya: As Sri Rama was free from
avarice, he was incorruptible and therefore his
subjects were prosperous. As he protected
them from all kinds of fears, they remained
peacefully engaged in performing their
dharmic duties. By standing up as a role model
dharmic leader, he was like a father to his
subjects, always guiding them on the right path.
Finally, as he stood by them in their hour of
grief and helped them to overcome all miseries,
he was like a son to his subjects.
Unless a majority of our countrymen and
women become dharmic, it is foolish to expect
noble and great leaders at the helm of our
national affairs. Yatha praja, tatha raja is the
reality of our modern world. Until every
household, every organisation answers to the
call of Tyaga and Seva, we will have to witness
many more such elections making a mockery of
true democracy.
 Cover Story

Seeds and Indian Ethos of Conservation,

Sharing and Freedom
RAMASUBRAMANIAN

Recently, we have heard the case of a major multi-national corporate body suing a small
farmer with 4 acres of land to the tune of 1.2 crores for using what it claimed as its own variety
of Potato for making unhealthy food. As a country that has a very large number of small and
PA G E S P O N S O R : S M T. G . K A M E S WA R I D E V I , H Y D E R A B A D

marginal farmers who do farming with their families, India is continuously faced with the
challenge of having to engage with economies, technologies, policies, practices and knowledge

June 2019
that is created from countries where farming is done by a very small population of farmers each
owning very large tracks of land. It is important for India to revisit its ethos on food sovereignty
to articulate a position that today in the global space is seen as not merely voicing a fresh
approach but also more relevant in the context of the reality of climate change. This article tries
to capture the groundswell of seed conservation movements in India and also the Indian ethos 11
that is asserted in the process. The author has been associated with the Organic Farming
movement in the State of Tamilnadu for over two decades and also coordinates one of the several

The Vedanta Kesari

farmers’ free exchange of seeds and biodiversity celebration festivals in Tamilnadu.

M udhal thani viththeyo –

Nammazhvaar addresses Lord
Narayana, as ‘The first seed of the world.’1
Swami Vivekananda’s famous statement ‘Each
soul is potentially divine’, is literally apt for
seeds, because each seed is potentially a full-
grown plant or tree or potentially every seed
can further nurture life-giving forces such as
food, shelter, clothing, housing, etc. It is nature’s
tiniest representative of the dormant potential
in each living creature, and a continuous
reminder of what can be achieved through a
l i t t l e c a re - g iv i n g . T h i s p o te n t i a l i s
acknowledged and celebrated in our country as
part of its tradition and ethos. Across the land,
the Indian celebration calendar is dotted with
the celebration of seeds. Farmers worship seeds
The author is a social entrepreneur based in Chennai, and is the Managing Director for Samanvaya Social
Ventures, Aalampannai Holistic Initiatives, and Sustainable Livelihood Institute. chief@samanvaya.com
before they are planted, and fresh produce is
worshipped before they are consumed. These
sentiments reflect a way of life in India.
Colonial disturbance
It is recorded that more than 3.5 million
people starved to death in the Bengal famine of
1943. The renowned ecologist, Dr. Vandana
Shiva states that more than twenty million were
directly affected and this was due to the food
grains appropriated forcefully from the peasants
under a colonial system of rent collection.
Exports of food grains continued despite the fact
that people were going hungry. She cites the
writer Kali Charan Ghosh that, ‘80,000 tonnes of
food grain were exported from Bengal in 1943,
just before the famine. India at that time was a
 supply base for the British military. Huge exports
were allowed to feed the people of other lands,
while the shadow of famine was hourly
lengthening in the Indian horizon.’ In response
to this peasants movements were built around
slogans such as, Jan debo tabu dhan debo na ‘We
will give up lives but not our rice.’
All over India, the colonial disturbance
was the struggle for rights of land and
cultivation by peasants. But, there was a more
fundamental encounter that happened as a
subtext, this was the encounter of the ethics
around production and sharing of food in India.
The famous Gandhian historian Dharampal
cites one instance to highlight the shift that
happened in the way farming was done.
Quoting a British archival document, he
June 2019
narrates about a particularly difficult year,
when the colonial ruler found no farmer willing
to pay tax. When the British officers who came
to investigate asked the local farmers the
12 reason for not paying tax, the farmers replied
that as far as their memory went, they had
never paid tax during the years when
The Vedanta Kesari
agriculture was difficult; on the other hand it
was the responsibility of the raja to provide
them with grains and additional support during
such years. 2 In another of his lectures,
Dharampal summarizes the Indian idea of food
production and distribution stating that we can
‘imply that every person in this society enjoyed
a certain dignity and that his social and
economic needs were well provided for. Food
and shelter seems to have been a natural right,
given India’s fertility, etc. According to a
historian of medieval India the only data which
was available about the expenditure details of
the rulers of Delhi referred to the free feeding
of the people who required such a provision.3
Annam bahu kurvita
The Indian view on food has always been
production and sharing of food in plenty. The
famous words of Taittreya Upanisad to produce
and share food in plenty is echoed by the Tamil
poet-saint Thiruvalluvar who states that the
most virtuous of traditions devised by the
elders is the one of producing diverse food in
plenty and sharing the abundance with all
living beings4. Tiruvalluvar again says, ‘If the
farmer were not to do farming, even the wise
sages who have relinquished everything will
have to go behind him begging.’5
In the Mahabharata, Sri Krishna tells King
Yudhishtira, ‘The world, both animate and
inanimate, is sustained by food…The giver of
food is the giver of life and indeed of everything
else. Therefore, one who is desirous of his well-
being in this world and beyond should make
special endeavour to give food’.6 Indeed, this
growing and giving food in plenty was the
practice among Indian farmers till the onset of
the Colonial era.
‘Many 18th century western observers
have specially noted the variety of seeds
available to the Indian peasant , the
sophistication and simplicity of his tools, and
the extreme care and labour he expended in
tending to his fields and crops. According to
recent historical findings, 41 different crops
were cultivated annually in the localities of the
province of Agra. The number of crops
cultivated in other areas of northern India was
equally large. For the south of India, Alexander
Walker (he was in Malabar and Gujarat from
1780-1810) notes that in Malabar alone
upward of fifty kinds of rice was cultivated. This
variety of seeds and crops that the Indian
peasant possessed and his ability to vary these
according to the needs of the soil and the
season, seems to set him apart from most other
peasants or cultivators of the world whose
knowledge was limited to far fewer crops.’7
Seeds, their diversity and food
Modern health care system agrees with the
ancient wisdom that consumption of diverse forms
of food does help build immunity and strength.
 India as a fertile land of abundance had several
ways to conserve the diversity of food. However,
much of this altered with the changing times.
Globally seeds have been conserved and
shared across regions; traditionally too seed
exchanges among farmers has been going on for
centuries. This has resulted in widespread usage
of certain crops even while there are certain
crops which are unique and limited to certain
parts of the world. One of the key findings of
modern scientific understanding of seeds is that
the more diverse varieties available in a given
species, the better are its chances for survival in
diverse and adverse conditions.
India is the home of rice varieties and it
has been estimated that perhaps even as late as
the beginning of the 20th century, India grew
perhaps about 2,00,000 varieties of traditional
rice.8 The diversity of rice in India was so high
PA G E S P O N S O R : A D E V O T E E , C H E N N A I
that there seems to have been rice for various
occasions and various types of soil and water
conditions. For instance, mapillai samba, a
popular variety of rice was considered
prestigious and it was cooked especially for the
bridegroom and his family during wedding
festivities! There are varieties that are grown in
specific regions that lend a flavour, like the
basmati rice variety that is grown in the Indo-
Gangetic plain. There are of course regional
variations, the jeeraga samba, variety grown in
several southern Indian parts is a short rice
variety that has a similar flavour. The kar
varieties of red rice such as the kullakar, and
poongar are red rice varieties that are known as
ideally suited for preparation of idlis in southern
India. The famous mannapaarai murukku, a
delicacy snack in Tamilnadu supposedly derives
its taste from the variety of rice that is grown in
this particular part of the country. Apart from
the regional variations, there are also variations
of rice that are good for different types of people
and health conditions. The variety karunguruvi,
is good for lactating mothers and there are other
varieties which are beneficial for the elderly and
the infants. There are wild varieties of rice that
are used in traditional medicine; the variety
kaala jeera is even today used widely as a
medicinal variety of rice. Apart from these
specialities, there are also varieties that are
suitable for alkaline soil, varieties that can be
grown in saline conditions, rice that can be
grown in flooded condition, and rice that is
grown only rainfed, and also in completely dry
conditions. Such a vast variation meant that
farmers could grow food in spite of any kind of
climate-change challenges. Drought, floods and
other natural calamities didn’t impact the
farmers. In fact, in the post-tsunami period in
Tamilnadu, it was noted that there were several
locally conserved seeds that were planted by
farmers in the saline-water inundated fields;
June 2019
even under those situations the farmers were
able to have a good crop. 9 So, through
conservation methods, the farmers had climate-
change resilience, contributed to local tradition
and health of the consumers as well, and by 13
providing variety also contributed towards the
overall wellbeing of the society. In the last 150
The Vedanta Kesari
years much of this changed.
One of the significant impacts of modernity
has been the propagation of the idea that man is
above the animal species, and all plants and
animals are to be ‘conquered’ and contained /
manipulated / executed by humans. This idea
stems primarily from the western world and is
contrary to the spirit and thought of the
indigenous communities in the East as well as
West. With the advent of modern science and its
industry, scientists and policy makers took a
keen interest in improving farming through
selecting, multiplying and enhancing quality of
seeds, preserving livestock, understanding and
working with soils.
This resulted in development of several
varieties of seeds known as ‘high yielding
varieties’—varieties of a particular crop that
have a better yielding capacity. However, there
were flip sides to this. In India, it has been well
 documented10 that the advent of high yielding
varieties created paddy of short straw varieties
that didn’t leave any hay for the cattle. This
impacted the food for the livestock, and
inadequate food for the livestock shot up the
cost of maintaining livestock. This in turn
meant advent of machinery to perform the task
of livestock at less cost and more speed. But,
the advent of machinery such as tractor instead
of livestock meant that there was less manure
for the field. This necessitated the fertilizing of
the fields with chemicals which again meant
more water was required for the fields to digest
the chemical inputs. This contaminated water
and more chemical infestation also deprived
the soil of its health and in turn impacted the
health of the plant making it prone to attack by
June 2019
many pests. Pest management thus became a
major preoccupation because the plants
couldn’t fight by themselves. This created
chemical pest killers. Such pest ‘killers’ not only
14 killed unwanton pests, but also wiped out pests
that were beneficial to the soil and plant. With
the loss of beneficial pests, their functions had
The Vedanta Kesari
to be performed by other chemicals or
machinery. These are the unspoken costs of
modernistion of agriculture. The entire
agricultural economy thus shifts from
benefitting the soil, the farmer and the
consumer, to the chain of chemical and
machinery supply. The vicious cycle that results
from the advent of one high yielding variety of
seeds into a significant change in the economy
of agriculture over a couple of decades is there
for all to see today.
Farmer’s conservation of seeds
A traditional farmer performs several tasks
that are specialized today. He is able to read the
weather, to conserve the seeds, to judge the
health of the soil in his farm, to take care of the
cattle, to identify pests of several kinds and
know how to address them, to know the various
herbs that can be utilized in addressing the
different pest management, to know the various
stages of plant growth and its needs, to harvest,
post-harvest process and store the grains, and
eventually to be able to recommend the way in
which food has to be consumed!! The multiple
domains of knowledge that a traditional farmer
has is mind boggling.
The conservation, propagation, recovery,
exchanging and sharing of seeds has been
traditionally a part of the farmer’s work. This
process has taken the shape of local festivals. In
Tamilnadu for instance, the molappari festival
is celebrated during the Tamil month of aadi,
when the agricultural season begins. During
this festival, the farmers sow their seeds in
smaller pots and allow them to germinate in
isolation. After the seeds have germinated and
grown for a week, the seeds are taken in
procession and placed before the local deity as
an offering. The best of the saplings are noted
and the seeds of that particular farmer are
shared with others with the understanding that
in that particular year those seeds have a better
yielding potential. With many variations such
festivals are held in various parts of our
country. These festivals invariably conclude
with a prayer for good rains and a bountiful
harvest. Farming practices have their own
processes of prayer. One of the key factors to
note is that much of the seed conservation
work has always been carried out by women
farmers.
Seeds are conserved and shared by the
farmers because it is the ultimate freedom of
choice of what to grow in a given season and
also what to consume. ‘The seed, for the farmer,
is not the source of future plants and food; it is
the storage place of culture and history. Seed is
the first link in the food chain. Seed is the
ultimate symbol of food security.
‘Free exchange of seed among farmers has
been the basis of maintaining biodiversity as
well as food security. The exchange is based on
cooperation and reciprocity. A farmer who
 wants to exchange seed generally gives an equal
quantity of seed from his field in return for the
seed he gets.
‘Free exchange among the farmers goes
beyond mere exchange of seeds, it involves
exchanges of ideas and knowledge, of culture and
heritage. It is an accumulation of tradition, of
knowledge of how to work the seed. Farmers learn
about the plants they want to grow in the future by
watching them grow in other farmers’ fields.’11
Several initiatives across the country
Beej Bachao Aandolan, a national network
of organizations started to conserve seeds
through on-field farmer conservation methods.
Today it conserves 800 varieties of rice, 23
varieties of traditional cotton, 80 varieties of
traditional maize and more than 50 varieties of
vegetables12.
PA G E S P O N S O R : A D E V O T E E , C H E N N A I
That the traditional role of seed saving is
eagerly welcomed by farmers can be easily seen
by the growth of the seed varieties that are
saved, as well as the number of farmers
adapting to traditional seeds even through
small initiatives. The ‘Save our Rice’ campaign
to save indigenous seed varieties started with
16 varieties and 400 farmers in 2005. In less
than 8 years, it grew to more than 60 varieties
being conserved in the farms of over 3000
farmers!13 Another farmer producer company
today is selling certified indigenous seeds
through their own venture14. Other similar
efforts are reported individually and
collectively from across the country in recent
times. Rahibai Soma Popere of Kombhalne
village in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra
is highly knowledgeable about agro-
biodiversity, conservation of landraces,
innovative techniques in paddy cultivation and
the like. When she speaks in her Mahadeo Koli
tribal dialect, even experts listen intently. The
54-year-old farmer has the distinction of
conserving and multiplying 48 indigenous
landraces of 17 different crops including paddy,
hyacinth bean, millets, pulses and oil seeds.15
Several such initiatives have sprung up in the
past few decades. Vanastree in the Malanad
region for instance states that their efforts to
conserve is to ensure that, ‘the role of women
farmers and gardeners is seen as integral to the
social, cultural and ecological fabric of the
unique Malnad region.’ 16 People like Dr.
Vandana Shiva are seen as not merely
June 2019
articulating the seed saver’s ideas in India, but,
for the entire world. Her organization
Navadanya for instance has helped set up 122
community seed banks across the country,
trained over 9,00,000 farmers in seed 15
sovereignty, food sovereignty and sustainable
agriculture over the past two decades, and
The Vedanta Kesari
helped setup the largest direct marketing, fair
trade organic network in the country.
Navadanya has also set up a learning center,
Bija Vidyapeeth (School of the Seed / Earth
University) on its biodiversity conservation and
organic farm in Doon Valley, Uttarakhand,
North India.17 ‘There was never a business
model in the multiplication of seeds. If the Seed
Keeper shared just a seed with a farmer, that
farmer could make any number of seeds from
it, and grow the same vegetable season after
season. In effect, every farmer was a Seed
 Keeper who preserved seeds for posterity.’ says
another seed conserver.18
One of the important factors often not
acknowledged adequately is the role of women
in agriculture. Women were traditionally the
seed savers in the farming community. In the
Green Revolution model of agriculture, women
lose control over agricultural production. Dr.
Vandana Shiva calls this displacement of
women’s traditional knowledge a
‘masculinization of agriculture,’ in which
agriculture is transformed from a feminine and
nurturing activity, to a masculine activity that
uses technology and violence to control
nature.19
Seeds, diversity, farmer’s freedom and
June 2019
culture
The arrival of the monsoon is the
beginning of the agriculture season in India. The
farmer prepares the soil for the arrival of the
16 first rains and then starts sowing—a sacred act
for him, and an act of deep cultural significance.
When he plants a seed free of tax or huge
The Vedanta Kesari
payments, he gets to assert not just his right over
References
1) Thiruvaimozhi, 9th stanza
2) Author’s conversation with late Sri Dharampal
3) Dharampal, Pune Lectures, Collected Works of
Dharampal. Other India Books
4) Thirukkural, paguthundu palluyir ombudhal melor
vaguthavatrul ellaam thalai
5) Thirukkural, …vittem enbarkkum nilay
6) Quoted & explored further in Annam Bahu Kurvita,
by Dr. M.D.Srinivas and Jitendra Bajaj, Centre for
Policy Studies
7) Lectures of Sri. Dharampal, Agriculture and its
recovery in India
8) Dr. Richaria, quoted by CIKS, Dr. Vandana Shiva, etc.
9) The author's study on the post-tsunami traditional
seeds usage has been published by organic farmer’s
movement in Tamilnadu. Similar studies have been
done by the M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation.
10) Violence of Green Revolution. Vandana Shiva et al
11) Vandana Shiva, ‘Stolen Harvest’
seeds, their diversity and food system overall,
but, also a deep cultural heritage that has been
passed on to him from time immemorial.
Do participate in any seeds and bio-
diversity festival in your area this monsoon
season and lend your support to the farmers in
asserting this cultural heritage.
You are welcome to join the author in the
Seed Festival at Auroville on 27th of July 2019.
Reach him at chief@samanvaya.com
12) https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/
Seed-savers-network-formed-to-fight-
intellectual-property-rights-by-corporations/
articleshow/31592846.cms
13) Numbers given are only for Tamilnadu according
to their website - http://thanal.co.in/article/view/
traditional-paddy-seeds-are-our-heritage-and-our-
future-85994595
14) https://www.rural21.com/english/news/detail/
article/the-seed-savers-from-tamil-nadu-00001828/
15) https://www.villagesquare.in/2017/08/25/
maharashtras-tribal-farmers-revive-traditional-
crops/
16) http://vanastree.org/
17) http://www.navdanya.org/site/
18) https://www.thebetterindia.com/129463/seed-
keeper-preserve-ancient-seeds-home-garden/
19) https://ourseedsourselves.wordpress.
com/2013/11/20/all-seed-savers-are-women/
 Reminiscences

Reminiscences of Sargachhi
SWAMI SUHITANANDA

(Continued from previous issue. . .)

The author, now one of the Vice Presidents of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission,
noted these conversations while serving Swami Premeshananda (1884 – 1967) at Ramakrishna
Mission Ashrama, Sargachhi, Murshidabad, West Bengal. Premeshananda Maharaj was a disciple
of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi. He inspired countless men and women to lead a life of spirituality
and service. These reminiscences were originally published in Bengali.

39
23.9.60 (contd…) environment? Or will you rather try your utmost

W ork keeps the mind in good

condition and diverts it away from
with whatever is at hand? I didn’t get help from
anybody. But I have learnt at least something;

June 2019
physical suffering. This morning, when my eyes otherwise why would you all come to me?
PA G E S P O N S O R : D R . R A M YA S . , C H E N N A I

felt very painful, I applied oil. Then I applied oil
to another part of my body. At that moment,
when the mind was diverted away from the eye,
I found I did not experience even a trace of the
eye pain. This indicates that I am not the body.
Throughout your life, if you just study the
Gita, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, and
Swamiji’s four books on Karma Yoga, Jnana
Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Raja Yoga, then you don’t 17
have to worry about your spiritual growth.

The Vedanta Kesari

If my mind is here and my son dies in Kolkata, I
won’t sense it at all. However, it is difficult to
understand that my mind is not me. Therefore,
we have to keep the mind united with
something very sacred; then, gradually the
mind will be uplifted and become a path to
liberation.
Workaholic people are not bad; they are
making progress. But this is not a sannyasi’s
life. I too have worked a lot – in fact I became
madly engrossed in work. But if, within you,
you have devotion, knowledge, and deep
meditation, then you can detach yourself from
work whenever you wish. If you don’t do this,
then work will become a bondage and bring
about your downfall.
I admit your difficulties—that there is
nobody from whom you can seek guidance. But
what is the way out? Accept this as a fact of life.
Is there any use spending time lamenting your
lot? Will you waste time waiting for a favourable
You will surely proceed towards the goal.
Immerse yourself in sadhana, or you will be
tossed into the fiery trials and tribulations of
the world.
Question: What is the highest yoga
according to the Gita?
Maharaj:
तपस्विभ्योऽधिको योगी ज्ञानिभ्योऽपि मतोऽधिकः।
कर्मिभ्यश्चाधिको योगी तस्माद्योगी भवार्जुन ।। 6.46
योगिनामपि सर्वेषां मद्गतेनान्तरात्मना।
श्रद्धावान्भजते यो मां स मे युक्ततमो मतः।। 6.47
‘The yogi is regarded as greater than
ascetics, greater than even men of knowledge,
greater also than performers of action; therefore,
be a yogi, O Arjuna. Of all yogis, he who, possessed
of faith, worships Me with his mind absorbed in
Me, is considered by Me, the greatest.’
The Lord is declaring, ‘My devotee is the
greatest.’ Jnana, Karma, Bhakti and Raja yogas
are incomplete in themselves; bereft of the
others, none of them can achieve union with
 God. All the four yogas have to be practised
together. The proof for the correct practice of
Jnana, Karma and Bhakti, is Yoga or the depth of
your meditation. Find out if your mind becomes
fully blissful in the thought of Sri Ramakrishna.
Theory and its application must run
simultaneously. Otherwise, a sadhu may behave
in undesirable ways, set a bad example, and
become a nuisance to others. Of course,
allowing anyone to become a nuisance to us, is
our own choice!
24.9.60
Premeshananda Maharaj asked the
attendant to read out word by word from
Modern India, a book written by Swami
Vivekananda. A little later, he remarked:
June 2019
Whenever the priests have dominated, a major
part of religion has disappeared from the
country. The common people don’t understand
anything, and neither do they wish to. They
18 watch the priests practicing various rituals with
affectations. So they think, ‘Why bother about
religion if it can be practised by giving the
The Vedanta Kesari
priests some money?’ So they prefer to be
trouble-free by passing their religious
responsibilities on to the priests. And the
cunning priests compose verses to introduce
various rituals day after day and dupe the
stupid masses. As a result, religion becomes so
complicated that nobody can understand what
it is all about.
The practice of animal sacrifice to the
goddess is widespread. The original idea
behind this was that man has to slaughter his
own beastliness at the feet of the goddess. Now
look at the situation – how barbarous the ritual
has become! The Rajasuya Yajna or sacrifice has
been reduced to the Durga Puja.
When the Vedic rituals were dominant,
there was only sacrificial smoke and spilling of
animal blood. Appropriated by the priests,
religion was about to die. At that time Buddha
came. He preached a simple and straightforward
religion: Man’s true religion is within himself; if
he meditates on himself, he will attain
Buddhahood, attain nirvana. Spiritual
contemplation is the closest thing to our true
nature; but such contemplation is very difficult
because of our past worldly impressions.
Buddha’s compassion and love began to
attract hordes of people. Everyone started
taking to the path of liberation. But a person
becomes eligible to embrace the life of a
sannyasi only after striving through many
births. This is because he has to be the
upholder and carrier of refined culture and
subtle perceptions. But now ordinary people
become sannyasis because they are tempted by
the honour and prestige of the monastic life, as
well as by the provision of adequate
sustenance. As a Bengali folk couplet sings, ‘All
the shaven-headed ones who were there in the
forest joined the religious chanting, reshaping
their sickles into cymbals.’ Thus the ideal
became degraded; horrible failings appeared
and caused people’s downfall. This has to be
admitted. Buddhism preached nothing but the
eternal Hindu concept of Advaita. And all the
other religions of the world – Christianity,
Islam, Zoroastrianism, and Confucianism—bear
traces of Buddhism.
When degeneration among the Buddhist
monks and nuns became excessive, the left-
hand religious practices (vamachara) and
(Continued on page 34...)
 Article
The Self-Effacing Nature of Sister Nivedita
PRAVRAJIKA BHAVANIPRANA
S wami Vivekananda said ‘They alone
live who live for others, the rest are
more dead than alive’. ‘Sacrifice in the past has
been the law. It will be alas for ages to come.
The earth’s bravest and the best will have to
sacrifice themselves for the good of many, for
the welfare of all.’
What do we really understand by spiritual
life? It is actually to overcome the little self in us.
No spirituality is possible for a selfish man or
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
woman. Our ego is the greatest obstacle in our
spiritual life. Shall we really lose by such
renunciation and self-effacement? Not at all. The
scriptures tell us नाल्पे सु ख मस्ति, भू मै व सु खं . The
effacement of the lower self is to gain the infinite
self.
We all try to practice unselfish love and
serve others. The wife serving her husband, the
mother serving her child, the soldier serving his
country—these are all various expressions of self-
effacement commonly seen around us. But such
loving service is limited to an intimate circle of
people or for one’s own country. Furthermore,
such service is tinged with an expectation to
receive something in return. Somehow a little bit
of the ‘I’ creeps in. There are people who do
wonderful service to others, but again with the
desire for name, fame, or money. This selfishness
along with desire for comforts negates the
possibility of true service.
It is in this background that we have to
understand the stunning standard of service
exemplified by Sister Nivedita. She shows us to
what extent we can erase our little self and to
The author is Secretary, Ramakrishna Sarada Mission, Guntur.
what heights we can reach by such self-
effacement. How powerful can an absolutely
selfless person become? She declares that such
a person becomes a powerful weapon in the
hands of gods, an invincible Thunderbolt!
Nivedita herself became such a weapon in the
hands of her guru, Swami Vivekananda who
employed her for the welfare of India in
particular and the world in general.
June 2019
Our natural tendency is to think in
utilitarian terms. But Nivedita advises us,
‘Abandon the idea of profit…personal profit is
to be renounced in view of the larger interest….
restraint is the highest expression of strength. 19
But strength must first be present to be
restrained.’
The Vedanta Kesari
Responding to Swami Vivekananda’s call,
Sister Nivedita came to India to help him in his
mission of awakening and re-establishing
India in her former glory, nay greater than
ever before. She perhaps had no idea of
the extent of sacrifice and self-effacement
that would be required of her. While it is
challenging even for an Indian to accustom to
the weather, culture, language, food etc., of
another part of India, for a foreign lady
belonging to the race of the rulers, it was much
more challenging:
The self-effacement on Nivedita’s part can
be studied under four stages.
1) The inspiration
In this stage, Nivedita renounced her own
country, relatives and friends, the school
saradamath.office@gmail.com
 founded and so well established by herself, her
own culture, etc. Again to give up her well-
acclaimed position in the West as an
educationist, speaker, and writer well-
recognized in the intellectual circle was equally
great. But as is rightly said, only a king can
renounce, a Buddha can renounce, what can a
beggar having very little for himself renounce!
Inspired by the magnetic personality of Swami
Vivekananda and impressed by the profound
depth of his message—the ancient wisdom of
universal religion, Margaret Noble came away
to India. Of course, she had for a long time
prepared herself for such a noble endeavor, a
search for Truth.
2)The training and the preparation
June 2019
But coming to India in itself was not
enough. She had to face a lot of incon-
veniences—the unfavorable environment, the
tropical heat, and the change in food habits
20 were nothing compared to the doubting and
critical attitude of the orthodox Indians, the
suspicious eyes of the British following her
The Vedanta Kesari
everywhere, the poverty and the rigid caste
restrictions.
Again she had to study and understand
India as a whole—its culture, traditions
and customs, its scriptures, its history—
to be able to identify herself with her new
country men and women. Uprooted from
the soil of her previous country, she had to
take roots deeply in the new soil of India.
Of course, Swami Vivekananda helped her
to a great extent by accompanying her to
many places of pilgrimage, historically and
culturally important places, and personally
introducing her to his new vision of India. By
instructions, suggestions and conversations, he
gave a picturesque view of the great
happenings in the past, the lives of great kings
and queens, who had lived here and also the
deep spiritual message of the ancient sages of
India.
3)The transformation
In this stage, she was Indianised and
transformed from a proud accomplished
E n gl i s h l a dy M a rga re t to a h u m b l e
Brahmacharini Nivedita. This was a very tough
period for her; a terrible war waged within her,
for, ‘old habits die hard’. Fighting against the old
deep rooted samskaras to give up her
admiration, love and faithfulness to England
and British flag, which almost equalled to a
reverential worship was very difficult for her.
But gradually, she was disillusioned by
witnessing the harsh treatment meted out to
Indians by the English rulers. To love India and
Indians with a deep feeling of belonging, to
appreciate all that was Indian, a shift from the
personal to the impersonal point of view and
finally surrendering her will to her Guru—all
these were gradual stages of effacement of the
old self in her.
4) The final stage
After her return from the West, we find in
Nivedita a strong sense of convictions, and the
spirit of a true disciple. She had become more
Indian than any native Indian could possibly be.
She spent the remaining part of her life in
serving and promoting whatever was good and
best for India. When Swamiji attained
Mahasamadhi on 4 July 1902, Nivedita had no
time to weep or mourn. She jumped into
tremendous activity for the good of India.
She had a premonition that she too would
not live long. But personal salvation was
too small a goal for her. Like her guru,
Swami Vivekananda, she was to be a shelter
and solace to innumerable souls. Her only
comfort was in comforting others and
lightening to their misery. Every moment of her
life, and every bit of her energy was spent in the
service of others. Such was her dedication and
self-effacement.
When we think of Nivedita’s dynamic and
active nature, and rebellious fighting spirit, we
 may wonder how to correlate it with her spirit
of self-effacement. To assert one’s self or to
efface the self, what was her actual way?
Self-effacement can be of two types:
a) The Nagamahasaya type: In this, one’s
selfish ego is reduced to such an extent that it
is crushed and destroyed in the end. Such a self-
denial results in humility, meekness and
surrender. The ego becomes so small that the
net of Maya cannot bind one who is smaller
than its hole. Resist not evil—that is the way.
b) The Vivekananda type: In this, the little
ego is conquered, and it matures and expands till
it becomes one with the infinite supreme ego of
the universal self. By intense love and service for
others, one shifts from one’s lower self to the
PA G E S P O N S O R : A D E V O T E E , T E Y N A M P E T, C H E N N A I
higher self. Maya cannot catch hold of such a
person too, for s/he is very big for her to bind.
What fear can be there for such a soul when life
and death become the same. So, Swamiji was
ready to be born a thousand times to help or
liberate a single soul. Such heroic people do not
care for personal freedom or liberation. They
struggle till the whole world becomes one with
God. No rest till then for them.
Nivedita belongs to the second type.
Christ asks us to be humble like a lamb; non-
resistance is the highest worship. Nivedita
says—‘but to the man who is not yet Christ,
dumbness of sheep is mere sheepishness, not
Christ like-man….only the man who forgets
himself, forgets the victory can reach the
Christhood.’
Swamiji had asked Nivedita to follow
Buddha. Nivedita says, ‘Buddha had died for
smaller ends 500 times before it was possible
to become Buddha. Each time he forgot himself,
forgot life, forgot death, became merged in the
struggle without a thought of the beyond. In the
end, he earned the empire of the world and had
renounced the certainty of that in order to
move a step beyond…..not for most of us to
reach the absolute now only….the immediate
end (is)……to forget self. Only through action
can we rise beyond action. By renunciation
alone, by forgetfulness of self does a man rise to
supreme goal….we shall live for the good of
others. We shall merge ourselves in the
struggle…. “Things are not bettered but we are
bettered by making changes,” said the Swami
Vivekananda…..the world is a school, a
gymnasium for the soul. … Renunciation,
Renunciation, Renunciation!!’
Nivedita was intensely positive and
dynamic. Prosperity or misfortune, success or
failure, appreciation or criticism—nothing
could make her accept defeat. Womanish
weakness or meekness had no place in her.
Fight, fight and fight till the last breath was her
June 2019
motto. But her fights were always against some
injustice or narrow outlook and selfishness.
Her self-effacement reached such a stage,
where she forgot herself—her health, comfort,
sleep, and leisure. She never spared herself in 21
her effort to serve and relieve others’
sufferings, whether it was a plague epidemic, a
The Vedanta Kesari
famine or education of children and adults. He
motherly love and self-effacement earned her
the name ‘Lokamata’.
She often recollected a Christian prayer:
O! To be nothing, nothing!
Only to be at His Feet
A Broken and Empty Vessel
For the Master’s use make meet!
Empty that, He may fill me
As forth to His service I go!
Broken that so more freely
His life through mine may flow
O! To be nothing, nothing!
Thus offering herself in the sacrifice of
service, Nivedita passed away at the age of 44.
She became not merely the friend, servant, and
mother to Indians, but she became united with
the soul of India.
 Article

Swami Vivekananda in Sri Lanka:

New Findings
DR. SHYAMALI CHOWDHURY

As part of her research work on ‘Chronology of Life of Swami Vivekananda’, from the Centre
for Indological Study and Research, Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Golpark, Kolkata,
the author visited Sri Lanka for eight days from 24 Feb 2019 to trace Swami Vivekananda’s
footprints in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). She was accompanied by Sri Arunoday Kundu, Assistant for
audio-video recording, and Sri Sanmukhanathan, a retired officer, Department of Religion,
Government of Sri Lanka, presently honourary librarian, Ramakrishna Mission, Colombo as
volunteer. shyam1725@yahoo.com
June 2019

22
S wa m i V ive k a n a n d a v i s i t e d
Colombo three times.
Swamiji in Colombo,
January 1897
First visit
On his way to attend the World’s
The Vedanta Kesari

Parliament of Religions, Swami

Vivekananda visited Colombo on 6/7 June
1893. Starting from Bombay on 31 May
1893, the ship, the ‘Peninsular’ halted at
Colombo for the day-time. As an
unknown sannyasi, Swamiji joined his
fellow passengers in visiting the city. His
primary visit was to the Kelaniya Raja Maha
Vihara, which is around 11 kms from
Colombo. The Kelaniya Buddhist Temple is
famous for its image of the reclining
Gautama Buddha and paintings depicting
events from his life.

Second visit
On his return from the West on board
the ship, the Prinz Regent Luitpold, Swamiji
arrived at Colombo for the second time in
the afternoon of 15 January 1897. He was
 now India’s ‘National Hero’ and he was given a
jubilant welcome by the citizens of Ceylon. A
grand reception was arranged by the
representatives of various religious sects and
social bodies. Swamiji stayed in a bungalow at
96 Barnes Place, Cinnamon Gardens. This
bungalow was later renamed as ‘Vivekananda
Lodge’. Swamiji stayed for 4 days in Colombo
and proceeded to Kandy by a morning train on
19 January. After visiting Anuradhapuram and
Jaffna, he left for main-land India on 26 January
1897.
Third visit
On his way to the West for the second
time on the ship S.S.Golconda, Swamiji along
with his brother-disciple Swami Turiyananda,
and his disciple Sister Nivedita reached
PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I V. S R I N I VA S A N , T R I C H Y
Colombo in the morning of 28 June 1899.
Swamiji’s admirers in Colombo had procured a
permit for landing. Mr Arunachalam, Hon’ble P.
Coomaraswamy, Lady Coomaraswamy – an
Englishwoman, their son Ananda Coomara-
swamy and other friends came to meet Swamiji.
Sister Nivedita in her letter to Miss MacLeod on
5 July 1899 wrote that Swamiji visited Mrs
Higgins boarding school for Buddhist girls, and
the monastery of Countess of Canovara.
Swamiji and his party boarded their ship the
same evening. The crowd cheered with the
praise of Lord Shiva and ‘Swami Vivekanandaji
Ko Namaskar!’
Old sketch of 96, Barnes Place, Cinnamon Garden & its present house
Tracing Swamiji’s Footsteps
We visited Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara
which Swamiji visited on his first trip in 1893.
We then went to 96, Barnes Place, Cinnamon
Garden where Swamiji stayed on his second
visit in 1897. It was then a newly built
residence of Sri Ratnasabapathy. Swamiji’s
companions—his brother-disciple Swami
Niranjananda, who had come from India to
greet Swamiji in Colombo, Swamiji’s Western
disciples Mr & Mrs Sevier, Mr. J.J.Goodwin, and
the English Buddhist T.G.Harrison were also
accommodated in this house. As Goodwin
writes in his letter to Mrs. Bull on 26 January
1897, Swamiji and his party were the first
residents of the house. This house, later
renamed as ‘Swami Vivekananda Lodge’, was
June 2019
demolished in 1934. In its place now there
stands a modern two-storied building, and the
area is an aristocratic, protected area. We were
asked not to enquire about or talk to the
present owner of the house without prior 23
permission from the Administrative Authority.
On 16 January 1897 evening, Swamiji
The Vedanta Kesari
delivered a talk on ‘Punyabhumi Bharat’ in the
Floral hall. At this place there now stands
Chalmers Granaries and a car park.
Sri Ponnambalavaneshwarar Kovil, the
Shiva temple which Swamiji visited in the
evening of 17 January 1897 was our next
destination. An inscription which was placed
there on 17 January 1997 to commemorate
 Sri Ponnambalavaneshwarar Kovil
hundred years of Swami Vivekananda’s visit to
this temple is now not traceable. But on the
occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of
Swami Vivekananda, to commemorate his visit
June 2019
24
The Vedanta Kesari
to the temple, the temple authority installed a
golden statue of Swamiji in the temple
premises.
From this Ponnambalavaneshwarar Kovil,
on the request of Thambyah Mudaliyar a
Reception Committee Member, Swamiji visited
the Thambyah Chatiram which is just two
buildings away from the temple. The
Chathiram, established in 1880 was the only
lodging for local and Indian Hindu pilgrims.
Later in time, seven other direct disciples of Sri
Ramakrishna—Swamis Shivananda, Niranjana-
Tambyah Chatiram (Shrine)
nanda, Ramakrishnananda, Abhedananda,
Vijnanananda, Turiyananda, and Trigunatita-
nanda stayed in Thambyah Mudaliyar
Chathiram at different times when they came to
Sri Lanka to preach Vedanta. There is now a
small shrine in Thambyah Chathiram which
wa s i n a u g u ra t e d b y S r i m a t S wa m i
Gautamananda Ji, one of the Vice Presidents of
the Ramakrishna Order on 7 August 2017.
There is a plaque in this shrine declaring
‘Swami Vivekananda and other direct disciples
stayed here’. The book The Ramakrishna
Movement in Sri Lanka by Swami Virupaksha-
nanda too says so. But in The Life of Swami
Vivekananda: By his Eastern and Western
Disciples, it is stated that Swamiji did not stay
that night at the Chatiram. He returned the
same evening to 96, Barnes Place and
conversed with a number of brahmins until half
past two the following morning.
On 18 January1897 Swamiji paid a visit to
Mr Chelliah’s house where he saw a picture of
his own master Sri Ramakrishna. This house has
not been traced. That evening
Swamiji delivered a lecture on Advaita Vedanta
at the Public hall of Colombo before a large
audience. Today, this Public hall is not traceable.
Mrs Marie Musaeus Higgins’ boarding
school for Buddhist girls which Swamiji visited
on 28 June 1899 presently functions as the
Musaeus College, Colombo.
On 19 January 1897, Swamiji started for
Kandy by train in a special railway saloon
owned by Tambyah; he was accompanied by Sir
P. Arunachalam.
 The present Colombo Fort railway station
is a modern building. The old one (used during
Swamiji’s journey in 1897) has been replaced
by the Secretariat Hall and is under military
control. Swamiji reached Kandy around 11:20
am. The Railway station in Kandy still exists; it
is modernised and extended.
Swamiji visited The Temple of the Sacred
Tooth Relic, the famous Buddhist temple in
Kandy before journeying onward to Matale. The
head of the Colombo Sarada Mission, and the
Matale Sarada Mission and the Secretary,
Batticaloa Ramakrishna Mission assume that
Swamiji halted for the night at some devotee’s
bungalow at Matale.
PA G E S P O N S O R : A D E V O T E E , K I S M AT P U R , H Y D E R A B A D
Our next stop was Jaffna where we visited
the Jaffna Hindu College. The present Principal
and English teacher took us to the Prayer Hall
where Swamiji was given the address of
welcome on 24 January, 1897 by the founder
advocate Sinathamby Nagalingam. Presently a
statue of Swamiji adorns the stage. On 25
January in the college premises, under a large
shamiyana Swamiji spoke to over 4000 people
on Vedantism. This spot is presently occupied
by the College library buildings, offices and a
Shiva temple. The then Head-Master (Principal)
of the Hindu College was Mr N. Selvadurai
(1892-1909).
We v i s i te d t h e D i s t r i c t l i b ra r y,
Vennarpannai Shivan temple and the adjoining
Kathiresan (Murugan or Kartikeya) temple
Jaffna Hindu College Auditorium
where Swamiji offered worship on his way to
the Hindu College on 24
January 1897.
We s a w t h e
Kankesanthurai
harbour (KKS
Harbour) from a
distance, as it is
currently under
military control. It
was probably from
here that Swamiji
took the steamer to
reach Pamban Road, India
on 26 January 1897. Thambyah Mudaliyar
It is known from
R Rajahmahendrasingam of Rama-
June 2019
krishnalayam, Adiapatham Road, Jaffna that
Swamiji stayed in the residence of Proctor
Ponnampalam situated near Central College in
the main street of Jaffna. This bungalow was
demolished in the Sri Lankan civil war. 25
From Jaffna we started for Anuradha-
puram and on the way stopped at the Elephant
The Vedanta Kesari
Pass Bridge where Swamiji was received by the
elites of Jaffna and taken in a procession to the
Hindu college. We also stopped at Vavoniya
where Swamiji was given a welcome by the
local people.
In Anuradhapuram, Swamiji visited the
sacred Bo tree, a shoot of the original Bo tree of
Buddha Gaya, brought by Princess Sanghamitta,
daughter of Emperor Ashoka. Swamiji delivered
a lecture on ‘Worship’ under the shade of this
Bo tree; it was interpreted in Tamil and
Sinhalese. Swamiji also visited the ruins of the
old city palaces and Dagobhas (Dhagaba) or
Stupas, the dome shaped Buddhist shrines.
From Anuradhapuram we returned to
Colombo and visited the Colombo Sarada
Mission, and the Colombo Port where Swamiji
had landed.
We returned to India with a better
understanding of Swami Vivekananda’s
association with Sri Lanka.
The Vedanta Kesari June 2019

26
 PULLOUT FOR REFERENCE

This is the sixth issue in the 9-part series on

Swami Vivekananda's message to the youth.
For previous issues refer Vedanta Kesari:
Issue 18
issue 10 January � May 2019

ISSUE 18: MESSAGE 6: Be bold and fearless

ISSUE 19: MESSAGE 7: Expand your heart

ISSUE 20: MESSAGE 8: Be open to learning from anyone

ISSUE 21: MESSAGE 9: Develop a gigantic will

IN THIS ISSUE:

Message 6

Be bold and fearless

PA G E S P O N S O R : A D E V O T E E , M Y L A P O R E , C H E N N A I

June 2019
In this issue we explore Swami Vivekananda's
message of fearlessness.

Time and again he tells us that fearlessness is

true religion: 27

The Vedanta Kesari

“ If you read the Vedas, you will
find this word always repeated —
fearlessness — fear nothing
CW:I.47.2

However, it is important to recognize

what can happen to us if we get trapped
Designed & developed by
by our fears and how we can overcome
ILLUMINE
Knowledge Catalysts
them to become bold and fearless...
® > EXPLORE OVERLEAF
www.illumine.in
 Are you often caged by fear in your education & career?
From the examples given below choose whichever is applicable to you:

Fear of discomfort When we fear

Going to a new place discomfort it prevents
Priya gets a job offer to would mean too many us from expanding
work in a company where of adjustments, ourselves or building
Even though this managing things on my ourselves in terms
she always wanted to. But
offer is extremely own, leaving behind of our knowledge,
the company wants her to
good, I don’t want my friends that I capacities, skills, etc.
join the team at another
to take up a job so grew up with.
city. Priya's thinking...
far away from my

Can I consciously
hometown.

challenges and
I'd rather stay

step out of my

and face new

comfort zone
Ask yourself:
where I am.

situations?
June 2019

Fear of loss When we fear loss, we

Right now I have a shut new possibilities
Bhargav, a young professional well-paying stable job for ourselves, in
has been given an opportunity terms of our career,
28 and I'm used to a certain
to take up a challenging job in our personal growth,
kind of lifestyle.What if
and may lose out
an emerging field. something goes wrong and on something great
The Vedanta Kesari

This would give him a lot of I lose all this? happening to us.
opportunities to challenge This is risky!
himself and grow rapidly in Better to let

go a little and not

who I am or what
be so attached to
Can I learn to let

I have with me?

the new field. But... go of this Ask yourself:
opportunity!!

Fear of failure When we fear failure,

So much trust is we don't set the bar
Arun is an executive of being placed in high, and don't learn to
an advertising firm. me... What if deal with challenges,
I let everyone and further don't build
He has been given a What if I the confidence to take
down!!!
chance to lead a team mess up??? up larger goals.
of his own for the first I think I should
time... refuse to take this
continue trying
and not giving
Can I learn to
Ask yourself:

up... It's better I

up, despite

continue doing what

failing?

I am good at!
 Fear of losing social standing
When we fear losing
Surya loves history and wants to take up our social standing, or
humanities after 10th Std. However... what others will think,
we end up living a
life defined by others
Don't be crazy. If you and eventually find
Ok! Yeah!
take up humanities or arts ourselves unfulfilled.
That's true...
people will think you've
scored less marks in 10th

consciously try

myself and act

on that belief?
Ask yourself:
and that you not smart

to believe in
enough for science.

Can I
SURYA'S MOM SURYA

Fear of the unknown Fear of 'what will

When Kumar
become of me'
Engineering is
is given a I have not been Shweta is everyone's first
new kind of trained in all this, thinking about
PA G E S P O N S O R : A D E V O T E E , M Y L A P O R E , C H E N N A I

choice because it
work that how can I do it then? what kind of helps in building a

June 2019
he is not Nobody has done this career she successful career.
trained in... before, there's nobody would want to I should take it up
to take guidance from. pursue... too... Otherwise I
I can't do it! may not succeed
and I'll be left
behind!!!
29

The Vedanta Kesari

When we fear the unknown, we When we fear what will

dependent on anyone
or anything and build
Can I learn not to be
let go of a chance to discover become of us it forces us to
Can I learn to take

my own future and

and walk into the

career success?
anything new in the world and follow the straight & trodden
a 'leap of faith'
Ask yourself:

Ask yourself:
consequently in ourselves. path, and we try to stick to
unknown?

Instead we are stuck in what is the flock. We fall prey to herd

familiar and safe, which may mentality & do not create our
lead to stagnation. own career paths.

If some of the above fears are applicable to you,

then you may be caged by fear and you may not be
achieving your full potential as a person.
This quote of Swami Vivekananda might apply to you: Caged by fear

“ He who is over-cautious about himself falls into

dangers at every step; he who is afraid of losing
honour and respect, gets only disgrace; he who is
always afraid of loss always loses. CW:VIII:433
For learning Swamiji’s formula for fearlessness, turn to the next page >
 How to be bold and fearless?
- A Six Point Formula based on Swami Vivekananda's ideas...

Recognize your true nature Expand yourself

“ All fears will vanish if you

begin to assert your own
nature. CW:V:286.5
We become fearless when we go on
asserting that we are strong, that we
are capable, that we are creators of
our destiny, and that circumstances
cannot bind us down.
1 2
“ When he (man) can say, ‘I am in
everything. In everybody. I am in all
lives, I am the universe, then alone
comes the state of fearlessness CW:II:80-81
We become fearless when we stop creating artificial
divisions & walls with other people, and learn to see
commonalities or own-ness with everyone.

Renounce Depend on no one

“ “
Everything is Never fear
June 2019

fraught with fear: what will

Renunciation alone is become of you,
fearless. CW:VIII:279.5 depend on no
We become fearless when 6 3 one. CW:VII:49.3
30 we learn not to become
overly attached to things, or We become fearless
accumulate things, and try to when we learn to
The Vedanta Kesari

measure ourselves through our become self-reliant,

acquisitions. Rather, we become in all possible ways.
fearless when we learn to let go
the moment we wish to.

5 4
Affirm your strength Struggle, don't lose heart

“ …the less you think of

yourself as an insignificant
person, the less fear there
“ We have a place for
struggle in the Vedanta,
but not for fear. C.W. V. 286.5
will be for you. CW:III:89.1
We become fearless when we don’t
We become fearless when we recognize treat failure as the end of the road,
that inside us is an intrinsic significance or but rather see failure as a stepping
an intrinsic value that all of us have, simply stone to success.
by the virtue of being who we are.

® ©ILLUMINE KNOWLEDGE RESOURCES PVT. LTD.

Share examples of your experiences of trying out these practices, on

www.vivekanandaway.org
Any questions that come up in your mind while doing so, can also be discussed here.
 In one of his lectures delivered in New York, Swami Vivekananda referring to Alice in
Wonderland commented, ‘It is the most wonderful book for children that has been written in this
century. When I read it, I was delighted; it was always in my head to write that sort of a book for
children. What pleased me most in it was what you think most incongruous, that there is no
PA G E S P O N S O R : S M T. R A J A M S U B R A M A N I A M , C H E N N A I

connection there. One idea comes and jumps into another, without any connection. When you
were children, you thought that the most wonderful connection.’ Again, at Belur Math while

June 2019
conversing with his boyhood friend Priya Nath Sinha, Swami Vivekananda expressed a wish: ‘We
must compose some books in … English with short stories from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata,
the Upanishads, etc., in very easy and simple language, and these are to be given to our little boys
to read.’
Beginning from this month, we are happy to serialise Poorva: Magic, Miracles and the 31
Mystical Twelve which has all the elements that Swamiji wanted – divine life-stories unfolding
in a magical wonderland. —Ed.

The Vedanta Kesari

Poorva: Magic, Miracles and the Mystical Twelve
A Curtain Raiser

E leven-year old Poorva flits through the past centuries and witnesses key moments in the
lives of twelve great devotees of Lord Vishnu. These saints of South India are collectively
known as Azhwars. Poorva walks through solid walls, and flies on fluffly clouds and carpets. She
talks with animals and birds and receives food from a Wishing Food Tree! She is thrilled,
mesmerised, and shaken by fast unfolding events. It is an adventure from which she comes out
wiser, nobler, and stronger.

About the author & illustrator

Smt Lakshmi Devnath, the author of Poorva: Magic, Miracles and the Mystical Twelve is known
to our readers through the series ‘The Vedas: An Exploration’ which ends with this issue. Smt
Lakshmi is a researcher and writer with various books and articles to her credit on Indian music
and culture. She wrote Poorva to introduce children to our spirituality and culture. It is with this
same concern that she has allowed the book to be serialised even while it is being sold in the
market.
Smt. Lalithaa Thyagarajan through her beautiful paintings for this series, has enriched the
divine mood of Poorva.
 About the Book
The book received a number of positive reviews when it was released some 10 years ago:
This is the need of the day, something original to make our spiritual history come alive. I could
not leave the book until I finished reading it, even amidst all my other engagements. I wish the book
a global circulation, which it deserves. – Swami Gautamananda, President, Sri Ramakrishna Math,
Chennai
This is the first time I have seen a book cater to the needs of both children and adults – not
a dull moment, not a boring event, not a hackneyed expression in the entire narrative.
Lakshmi … has breathed life into the lives of all the Azhvars by bringing in historical data
to support her narrative, making it more credible and educative. This book deserves to
go global. – Dr. M. Narasimhachary, Founder-Professor and Head (retd.), Dept. of
Vaishnavism, University of Madras
Combining the past and the present, the real and the fantastic … great for kids and
people of all other ages … recreates the age of the twelve saint-poets … tells a simple yet
engaging story, not losing the reader for a minute. – The New Indian Express

Poorva Invites...
June 2019

Hi folks,
I’ve just returned from a rollicking adventure way
32
back in the past. Believe it … because I saw the lives of
twelve fantastic saint-poets (who once lived in our
The Vedanta Kesari

country) unfold before my very eyes. The journey took me

unawares and raced forward till the very end, with its
package of suspense and surprises.
But I must not tell you too much. Discover for
yourself the thrill of conquering time and space. Bon
voyage!
On your return, share with me the experiences of
your trip.
Contact me at: poorva.magic@gmail.com
Magically yours,
Poorva
 Pariprasna
Q & A with Srimat Swami Tapasyananda
(1904 to 1991), Vice-President of the
Ramakrishna Order.

Approach the wise sages, offer reverential

salutations, repeatedly ask proper questions, serve
them and thus know the Truth.
— Bhagavad Gita

QUESTION: When we are under the absolute control of the three Gunas of Prakriti how can
we ever use our will? Is free will a misnomer?
PA G E S P O N S O R : S M T. S H U B H A L A X M I P I T R E , M U M B A I

MAHARAJ: In Sri Ramakrishna’s sayings we get perhaps the best answer to this question. He

June 2019
says man’s condition is like that of a cow which is tied with a string tethered to a post. The cow has
got some freedom. It can move about and graze over as wide an area as the length of the rope would
permit, but not further. It cannot run away from the post except when the owner comes and
releases it from the connection with the post. So also God has given some freedom to man. There
may be determinism of Nature, but man being basically the spirit, the freedom of spirit is always 33
there to counteract that determinism, if man would tap his spiritual nature. No doubt it is limited
in the embodied state by the tether of the body-mind. If we exercise that freedom in line with the

The Vedanta Kesari

laws of moral and spiritual growth, we will get greater and greater freedom, until we are ultimately
released from the tether of the body-mind. Ultimately only God’s will prevails or rather, it is the
only Will. When we think of ourselves as separate from the Will, we are like eddies in the current
of a flowing river. The eddy moves in its own way, but it is a part of the force working as the whole
current. So also if we are identifying ourselves with God’s Will, of which ours is a part, then what
we call our will is one with His will and there is absolute freedom. In separation however there can
be only limited freedom.
QUESTION: What is meant by ‘giving power of attorney to God’? When is a spiritual aspirant
fit for it?
MAHARAJ: This expression ‘giving power of attorney to God’ was used by Sri Ramakrishna
with reference to a devotee Girish Chandra Ghosh. Girish was a man of tremendous faith,
intelligence and sincerity; but he was an artiste and a bohemian by nature, quite hostile to all
routine, rules and regulations. The Master gave him certain disciplines to practise regularly at
certain parts of the day, but Girish could not promise to practise any of them, for the simple reason
that he had no regular time for anything, even for his meals or sleep. He took life as it came and
never planned. Being constitutionally incapable of any fixed discipline, he was asked by Sri
Ramakrishna to give him the power of attorney. The idea is, legally when you give the power of
attorney to a person, that person will do all things on your behalf and you need not exert or think
about those affairs. In this way Sri Ramakrishna offered to take all the responsibility for the
spiritual progress of Girish and Girish deposited his trust in him cent per cent. Here there are two
or three important facts to be remembered:
 1. Girish was a man of extraordinary faith, sincerity and intelligence. So when he said a thing,
he really meant it, although it took him a long time to know the full implications of it.
2. Girish had an attitude of absolute trust in the Master, in his spiritual greatness and in his
capacity to save. Such trust, faith and submission naturally opened Girish’s mind, unhindered and
uninhibited, to the holy influence of Sri Ramakrishna to work upon and effect a gradual
transformation. His faith and intelligence enabled him also to take all success and failure, happiness
and misery, with equanimity, as lessons for shaping his life. This attitude of ‘at-one-ment’ with the
master had gradually to become his natural mood, for without that he could not eschew all egoistic
impulses which is really the ultimate implication of ‘giving the power of attorney’.
3. There was the unique personality of Sri Ramakrishna, whose presence had the potency to
elicit the best that was in each aspirant. So Girish got also the active, though unnoticed, help of the
Master. All these brought about his gradual spiritual transformation.
If all these conditions are at least partially fulfilled, then one can speak of ‘giving the power of
attorney’. Such unwavering faith and sincerity as were found in Girish are however very rare. Where
they are not present, it is better that one makes conscious personal efforts, with the conviction that
limited power and intelligence are given to one by God for exercising the same, and that such self-
exertion, under the sanction of His will, is the path of spiritual progress for man. The test of one
having really given the ‘power of attorney’ is that one’s mind will be at peace afterwards. Success
June 2019

and failure, happiness and misery will not agitate or depress one who has done so in all faith and
sincerity. If these are not observed to be present, then one must conclude there has been no real
resignation.
As for Girish, Sri Ramakrishna the world-teacher was present in flesh and blood before him
34 to take charge of his responsibility. Others have not however got this good fortune. But it is the
conviction of the dovotees of Sri Ramakrishna that he, the great Master, is always with those who
pray to him in truth and in spirit. If one could, like Girish, throw all one’s burdens on the Master
The Vedanta Kesari

with absolute and unwavering faith, the Master will certainly come to that aspirant’s help.
Selections from Spiritual Quest: Questions & Answers by Swami Tapasyananda

Reminiscences of Sargachhi (Continued from page 18...)

abominable rites became rampant and the
entire country was stricken by tantric adultery.
Then there appeared Kumarila Bhatta with his
Vedic ritualism and Shankara with his
Advaitism to protect Hinduism. But neither of
them preached religion to the common people
– their religion was only for the intelligentsia.
After this, Ramanuja and Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu, just by the power of the Lord’s
name, flooded the entire country with a torrent
of devotion. Just as the Muslims were required
only to acknowledge Allah, Chaitanya preached
that just by uttering the name of Hari, one will
become a Vaishnava, a Hindu. This saved
Hinduism. He intoxicated the whole country
with love and devotional singing. Many
erstwhile Buddhists became yogis and vairagis
by accepting parts of Hinduism and
Vaishnavism. Some became Tantrics and upheld
parts of Vedic ritualism.
Anyway, because of the mass revolution
brought in by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the
Vaishnavas became modest and virtuous in
conduct. During those days of Muslim rule, the
Hindus would have faced great problems if they
had not cultivated humility and avoided open
conflict with the rulers.
(To be continued. . .)
 Article
If Swami Vivekananda Were Here Today
WILLIAM PAGE
W hat would Swami Vivekananda say
if he were here among us and could
observe the brave new world we’ve created
since he passed away in 1902?
PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I H A R I S H R A N G A N AT H A S H A S T R I , B E N G A LU R U
This is a presumptuous and highly
speculative question. It presumes that we know
Swamiji so well that we can predict what he
would think about any given subject. And since
we don’t know him that well, it’s impossible to
do that. But if we’ve studied his life and
teachings and observed his thought patterns,
it’s possible to hazard a few guesses. I’m going
to hazard a few guesses—and they might all be
dead wrong.
Those who have read about Swamiji’s life
will know that, when he arrived in the United
States in 1893, he was greatly impressed by its
high level of technology, its efficiency, its
dynamism. Later he became more aware of the
evils that lurked beneath the surface. He
criticised the crass and shallow materialism
that pervaded American life.
Both trends have escalated since 1893.
American technology is now even more
advanced—and so is its shallow materialism.
Worse, America has exported both, so that now
both its technology and its materialism are
found almost everywhere.
In Swamiji’s day, most long-distance travel
was by train and steamship. Now we have
automobiles (even self-driving ones!),
international jetliners, and rockets. Journeys
that took weeks and even months in the past by
land and by sea now take only one or two days
William Page has been associated with the Ramakrishna Vedanta Society of Massachusetts since 1960 and
is a member of the Ramakrishna Vedanta Association of Thailand. com
by air. We’ve been to the moon. We’ve sent
probes to Mars. We have technological marvels
that Swamiji could not have dreamed of. We
have the computer! The iPad! The smartphone!
The Internet! Facebook! Selfies! Twitter! And an
app for every purpose.
I think that, in general, Swamiji would
applaud all these material advances. They make
our lives easier and more comfortable, and thus
June 2019
give us more free time to devote to religious
practices and service to humanity.
But they all have a dark side. With the
computer come viruses. With the Internet come
Internet addiction, cyberbullying, and a 35
thousand online scams. With Facebook comes
The Vedanta Kesari
a quantum leap in narcissism, facilitated by
selfies. I’ve heard that some people take photos
of what they had for lunch that day, and post
them on Facebook. Imagine that! The entire
world is dying to see what you had for lunch
today! It’s well known that the greatest obstacle
to spiritual growth is the ego. Facebook,
together with selfies, represents the greatest
victory of the ego since the invention of the
mirror.
So I think that Swami Vivekananda would
applaud our advances in technology, but would
laugh at some of the uses we put them to. And
it’s for sure that he would wonder what we’re
doing with all the free time these modern
marvels have given us. Do we indeed devote
more time to our religious practices and
serving humanity? Not so you’d notice it.
Instead we waste it watching television, surfing
 the Internet, texting our friends about trivia,
and posting selfies on Facebook.
When it comes to religion, I’m afraid that
Swamiji would be dismayed by the current
situation. The Pew Research Center has found
that in the rich and developed countries,
religious commitment, as measured by church
attendance, is in decline. It still flourishes in the
poor and undeveloped countries. Worldwide,
uneducated people tend to embrace religion;
educated people turn away from it. This
generalisation suggests that, in our brave new
world, piety correlates with poverty and
unbelief correlates with affluence. But this is
nothing new. Ages ago, Jesus Christ declared, ‘It
is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom
June 2019
of God.’ (Luke 18:25)
Given this situation, what are religious
aspirants to do? The contemporary world calls
us old-fashioned and obsolete; the jet-setters
36 laugh at us. The onrushing avalanche of
materialism—of cynicism, superficiality, and
greed—is flattening everything in its path.
The Vedanta Kesari
Religious aspirants have no choice but to do
what we’ve always done: be strong, stay true,
and stand fast. But get out of the path of the
avalanche and let it sweep past. Sri
Ramakrishna remarked that the world is like
the curled tail of a dog—you can’t change it. Try
to straighten the tail, and as soon as you let go,
it will snap back into its original shape.
We may not be able to change the world,
but we can change ourselves; and changing
ourselves is what religion is all about. If we are
true aspirants, we have no choice but to stick to
our guns no matter what follies may engulf the
world. That means remaining true to the
essentials of religious practice—prayer, japa,
meditation, scriptural study, singing of bhajans,
keeping holy company if we can find any—and
trying to serve the Shiva in every jiva as best we
can.
There remains the question of what
Swami Vivekananda would think of present-day
India and its people. I’m not an Indian, and I
don’t know India or its people well enough to
say. Swamiji declared religion to be the very
backbone of India, and his great fear was that
Indians would forsake religion for politics. But
aside from an aggressive nationalism, the real
competitor with religion in India today is not
politics. It is the lure of technology, and the
secular mindset that goes with it. In ages past,
Indian boys wanted to be sadhus. Now they all
PA G E S P O N S O R : A D E V O T E E , V I D YA R A N YA P U R A , B E N G A LU R U
want to be computer geniuses and start up
their own companies.
If Swami Vivekananda were to address the
Indian nation today, he might say something
like this:
‘Children of India,
‘You are heirs to a great religious
tradition. In your veins flows the blood of the
Vedic rishis, the sages of the Upanishads:
Satyakama and Shvetaketu, Narada and
Nachiketa, Gargi, Maitreyi, and Yajnavalkya. You
are heirs to the Buddha, Mahavira, Patanjali,
and the great acharyas, Shankara, Ramanuja,
and Madhva. Yours too is the legacy of later
saints: Jnaneswar, Tukaram, Kabir, the Alvars,
Chaitanya, Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Aurobindo,
Ramana Maharshi, and legions of others whose
names are unknown.
‘Be worthy of them! Do not exchange the
diamonds they have given you for cheap beads
of glass! Do not do, say, or even think anything
that would make them ashamed of you. Having
inherited such a noble tradition, be noble
yourselves. Always act in such a way that
Mother India will smile with pride and
proclaim to all the world: “These are my
children!”’
 Educational, Medical and Other Services
for the Poor and Afflicted Through
Ramakrishna Math, Ramanathapuram
Scholarship for the 80 poor students
Free medical camp
Free Coaching class for 75 students
Free Tailoring Classes
On returning to India in January 1897 after his triumphant visit to
the West where he propagated the ancient religion of our country,
Swami Vivekananda had stayed in Maharaja Bhaskara Sethupathy’s
Palace Guest House for 3 days from 29th to 31st January, 1897 and
delivered speeches that awakened our nation.
A Math centre was started at this spot sanctified by Swamiji’s stay
and affiliated to the Ramakrishna Order on 26-6-2016. Those who live
at Nagachi, Mandapam, Pamban & Rameswaram are mainly poor
fishermen & women whose children, unable to afford higher studies,
go for daily labour or fishing. The Math is conducting a number of
service activities for these poor people.
Sl No Activity Expenditure
1 Education: Educating 80 poor students in Rs. 30,000/ per student for one
June 2019
Nursing, Polytechnic, and Arts & Science year. Total cost = Rs. 24 lakhs
2 Mobile Medical Service: Conducting medical Rs. 6 lakhs per year
camps
3 Free Coaching Classes: Coaching for 75 poor Rs. 4 lakhs per year.
school children besides giving them food,
uniform, notebooks, etc. 37
4 Tailoring Course: 3-month classes for poor Rs. 6 lakhs per year
women & gifting them One Tailoring
The Vedanta Kesari
Machine to earn their livelihood.
5 Free School Uniform: For 500 poor students Rs. 3 lakhs per year
6 Construction: Monks’ Quarters & Rs. 2.15 crores
Community Hall
You can also create an Endowment for Rs. 10000/- and above
for the above activities.
We request you all to give a helping hand to these poor children
of God, through your small or big contributions and be the recipients
of the Lord’s blessings.
All donations are exempted from 80 G under Income tax act,
1961. The Cheques/ Drafts/ M. O. should be sent in the name of
“Ramakrishna Math, Ramanathapuram”. Or it may transferred through
RTGS to the following account:
Account name: Ramakrishna Math Bank: Indian Bank
Branch: Ramanathapuram A/c No.: 6426034057
IFS Code: IDIB000R051
Please inform us with your address and PAN number after
transferring the amount through RTGS.
Yours in the service of the Lord,
Swami Sutapananda
Adhyaksha
The Vedanta Kesari June 2019

38
The Vedanta Kesari June 2019
39
The Vedanta Kesari June 2019

40
 Article
Seeing God Everywhere
N GOKULMUTHU
T here is a nice story in the book ‘Hindu
Symbology and Other Essays’ by
Swami Swahananda of the Ramakrishna Order.
A devotee of the Divine Mother lived in
Ramanathapuram in Tamilnadu in South India.
His name was Veerai Kavi Rajendra. Once he
decided to go alone on a pilgrimage to Kashi.
His daughter was keen to accompany him. But
as the journey was long and difficult, Rajendra
PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I A S H O K S A M A N I , M U M B A I
and his wife persuaded the girl to stay back at
home. Bidding adieu to family and friends
Rajendra started walking towards Kashi. When
he had gone a mile, he saw his daughter
running towards him. She told him that on her
strong insistence, her mother had finally
allowed her to go with her father. Then,
Rajendra too agreed to take her along with him.
The father and daughter visited several
places of pilgrimage on the way to Kashi. The
daughter served her father in various ways like
washing clothes, cooking food, fetching water,
and preparing the bed. After visiting various
pilgrim centres in and around Kashi, they
started walking back to their village. Almost
one year from the day they had left the town,
the father-daughter duo arrived at the outskirts
of their town. The girl told her father that she
would run ahead and give the family the happy
news of their safe return. The father agreed.
The girl ran ahead.
When Veerai Kavi Rajendra reached the
village, his family and friends received him with
great warmth and joy. Rajendra enquired about
every one of his family and friends. He naturally
Sri Gokulmuthu N. works as a software engineer in Bengaluru.
did not ask about his daughter for she had been
with him all along. In the evening his wife
rebuked him, ‘Have you forgotten that we have
a daughter? Having enquired about or talked to
everyone you knew, you never even asked
about our daughter from whom you were away
for so long. The poor girl is feeling left out and
is weeping.’ A surprised Rajendra protested
that she was with him all the year. This was a
June 2019
shock to the family for the daughter had been
at home throughout the year. Veerai Kavi
Rajendra was moved to tears when he realised
that it was the Divine Mother who had
accompanied and served him for a whole year 41
in the form of his daughter.
The Vedanta Kesari
There are numerous such incidents
recorded in the lives of various saints and
devotees. We can never ignore the possibility
that the stranger travelling with us in a bus, or
our mother who has come to serve tea, or the
servant maid who has come to work in our
house today, or the person making the
unsolicited marketing call to our phone, or
whoever, is actually God who is playing with us
in the form of the actual person. We cannot
ignore or despise any person with whom we
interact in our day-to-day life. We need to treat
e ve r yo n e w i t h d i g n i t y a n d b e h ave
appropriately.
This does not mean that we should
pamper everyone. As Sri Ramakrishna says,
‘Tiger is also God. But that does not mean you
should go and hug it.’ Give everyone and
everything its due respect. Holy Mother says,
gokulmuthu@gmail.com
 ‘Even a broom cannot be thrown away
carelessly. It has its role in the household. We
have used it and we will need it later. It should
be given its due respect.’
Going one step further, it is really God
who has become everything and everyone. Even
the ‘actual’ person with whom we interact, is in
reality, God. It is God who appears to our mind
and sense organs as the world. There are two
ways in which this happens. If we ask a
biologist what all living and dead things are
made of, he will reply ‘cells’.  If we ask a chemist
what the world of living and non-living things
are made of, he will say ‘atoms and molecules’.
If we ask a physicist what the world is made of,
he will say ‘quarks and leptons’ or something
like that. Science is searching for that ultimate
June 2019
‘one thing’ out of which everything in the world
is made of. Advaita Vedanta says that ‘one thing’
is God, defined as Existence, Consciousness,
Bliss. Thus God is the material cause of the
42 world, as gold is the material cause of different
ornaments. Also, God is the goldsmith, who is
the conscious intelligence behind the world.
The Vedanta Kesari
Thus, we can safely say, ‘God came to my house
this morning in the form of my servant maid
and cleaned the floor.’ We can say, ‘I drank God
in the form of water.’ We can say, ‘I slipped on
God in the form of a banana peel and fell down!’
The world is God. God is not limited by
the world. God appears as the world. He is
infinitely more than the world. God is the only
thing that exists, devoid of any features,
changeless, eternal, homogeneous, partless,
conscious  and infinite. The world appears on
God, i.e., with God as the substratum, even as a
snake appears on a rope in the dark. The
apparent snake does not affect the rope, though
there would be no appearance of the snake
without the rope. As God is both the material
and conscious cause, the appearance of world
in God has much more role of God than in the
case of the rope, where the conscious seer is
different.
The first name of the Lord in the Vishnu
Sahasranaama is ‘Vishwa’ or world. The first
mantra of the Isha Upanisad starts with ईशा
वास्यमिदं सर्वं ‘God resides in everything in the
world.’ The second sutra of the Brahma Sutra
says जन्मादि अस्य यतः ‘From, in and into (also
by) whom the world has its origin, existence
and dissolution.’ The Bhagavad Gita has
innumerable verses where the world is given as
an appearance of God. Almost the entire
chapters 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 are dedicated to this
idea. Several verses in other chapters also
convey this idea.
Thus, to the question, ‘Does God exist?’,
the scriptures reply, ‘God alone exists.’ To the
question, ‘Can I see God?, the reply is,
‘Everything that you see is God only. It is only
understanding and recognition that you need.’
Then what about the prophets, saints,
incarnations, etc.? Though it is God who
appears as everything, the manifestation is
different in different objects and people. A saint
manifests the divinity within him more than
others. Knowing the real nature of God, the
saint manifests the divinity by emotional non-
dependence on any particular person, object or
situation. Peacefulness, righteousness,
compassion, humility, selflessness, gratefulness,
etc., become his natural traits. All differences
are only in the manifestation of the inherent
divinity.
Conventional concepts of God as
compassionate, omnipotent, etc., help a devotee
to start on the spiritual path by forming a
personal relationship with God with a
‘personality’. As the devotee develops, his
concept of God will evolve to a more impersonal
one. Swami Vivekananda says, ‘It is good to be
born in a church, but it is the worst possible fate
to die in a church. It is good to be born in a sect,
and the worst possible thing to die in a sect with
sectarian ideas.’ Finally everyone has to come to
the idea, ‘God alone exists. Everything is a
transient appearance of God in that form.’
 The Upanishads A Study
of the Oriental Texts By
N.Jayashanmugham
Published by Motilal Banarsi-
dass Publishers Pvt. Ltd,
Book
41, UA Bungalow Road,
Jawahar Nagar, Delhi
- 110 007. 2016, paper-
back, pp.412, Rs.700.
T he aim of this study is to
show that discrimination,
and reliance on the original texts of the
Reviews
Upanishads are a great help in getting
the real meaning of the Upanishadic texts.
The help gained from the commentaries is
acceptable to the extent they are faithful to
PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I A D I N A R AYA N A I A H C . , B E N G A LU R U
the original text. The author, who was granted
a Senior Fellowship for studying the Upanishads
by the Indian Council of Philosophical Research
(ICPR), New Delhi, has, to prove his point,
selected eight Upanishads: Isa, Kena, Katha,
Mundaka, Mandukya, Svetasvatara, Chandogya
and Brihadaranyaka. From seven of these, some
texts are selected, their traditional commentaries
by Shankara, Gaudapada or Vidyaranya are given
in short, followed by the author’s views. There
are two more sections of General Topics and Allied
Topics having eight chapters out of a total of 30.
The book is dedicated to Sri Aurobindo.
Isa Upanishad is considered the most
important and the ‘greatest’ of the twelve
Upanishads and as many as six chapters
are devoted to it. This could be because Sri
Aurobindo speaks of ‘the epic massiveness of the
Isa Upanishad’—and the author is his follower!
The anti-ascetic teaching of the second verse,
according to the author, is woven into the whole
Upanishad from the beginning to the end, and
also into all the other Upanishads. Because
of his anti-ascetic bias he does not accept the
popular notion that Mundak Upanishad is for the
shaven headed sannyasins. Instead it means the
Head Upanishad. One full chapter is dedicated
to derive the meaning of the word ‘Atmahana’.
Lesser number of chapters are devoted to other
much larger Upanishads! By this one gets the
For review in
The Vedanta Kesari,
publishers need to send
us two copies of their
latest publication.
June 2019
impression that the book is more a compilation of
the articles of the author on some of the selected
texts of the Upanishads than a study. 43
On going through the articles, one is bound
to agree with the view of the scholars who had
The Vedanta Kesari
studied this work for extending the scholarship
of the ICPR that (i) The textural meaning of
the Upanishad is relative to the interpreter
and is bound to end as a projection of his own
mind; and (ii) The research is coloured by anti-
advaitin bias, for the author is out to vanquish
his advaitin adversary. He does so by giving
his own interpretation and thus commits the
same mistake for which the advaitin is held
responsible. The author has tried to defend his
position in ‘An Answer to the Critics’ claiming
that it is more in keeping with the meaning of
the original texts. Had the author not used the
Advaitic interpretations as purvapaksha and had
presented his study with occasional references
to the Advaitic view, it would have been more
dignified, since the author’s interpretations
are rational and noteworthy. Biased or not, an
impartial reader will surely enjoy and appreciate
this interpretation of the Upanishadic texts.
________________ SWAMI BRAHMESHANANDA, CHANDIGARH

Review of three Pictorial books published by
Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai
600 004 in 2017.
Dashavatar
Ten Incarnations of Lord Mahavishnu; narrated
by KV Gayathri. Pictorial. pp.52, Rs.70.
Sri Ramakrishna’s Stories
44 pages; Rs 60/-
Pictorial Ramayana
June 2019
by Swami Raghaveshananda; 56 pages; Rs 65/-
I f the culture of a civilisation lies in its oral
and written traditions, then Indian culture
can rightly claim to be one of the richest in the
44
world. We have so many stories from mythology,
epics, and history that we can find through this
The Vedanta Kesari
treasure-house, solutions and a guide-map to
almost any situations in our life by discovering
parallels in the stories. The most reassuring
feature is that much of the lessons from these
stories are rational, with solid psychological
groundings; even the most pragmatic person can
find reason to believe and accept them.
Into this category come two of the three
books under review: Dashavatar and Sri
Ramakrishna’s Stories. The first is an account of
the ten incarnations of Vishnu, retold specifically
for children. The stories may be disparate
accounts of Vishnu’s descent in various forms to
relieve the earth of specific burdens. But taken
as a whole we find a common thread running
through them –that of the earth and its sentient
beings suffering exploitation and their turning to
the force of good to gain mastery over evil and
reestablish the cosmic order.
The second book, Sri Ramakrishna’s Stories,
is a selection of Sri Ramakrishna’’s parables –a
story form very dear to him when discussing
deep thoughts with his disciples. These parables
are a blessing to the world, because explaining
fundamental life-truths in their most accessible
form they help us to understand the heart of a
lesson without pausing to consider details.
The third book, Pictorial Ramayana, is
an abridged version of the best-loved epic, the
Ramayana. Sadly, children today are not as
familiar with the story as they used to be even
a generation ago and the need to familiarise
children with the concepts of truth, love,
sacrifice, integrity, and the importance of familial
ties has never been more acutely felt than it is
today.
All three books are attractively produced
with beautiful illustrations, and they are great
gifts for children. Reading as a habit is now
bedevilled and we have to do everything in
our power to encourage children to take to
this medium as a source of information, and
if that source also points the way to higher
understanding, then it is too valuable to be
ignored. These books are strongly recommended
to be a part of children’s reading list.
____________________________ PREMA RAGHUNATH, CHENNAI
Indian Epigraphy by D.C. Sircar
Publisheed by Motilai Banarsidass
Publishers Private Limited 41,
U.A. Bungalow Road, Jawahar
Nagar, Delhi - 110 007. 2017,
paperback, pp.475 +v+xxxvi
plates. Rs.750.
E pigraphy is the branch of
scientific historical study that
deals with inscriptional records. The importance
of inscriptions for reconstructing the pre-colonial
history of South Asia is well established since in
many instances inscriptions form the only reliable
historical record that has come down to us. The
dynastic chronology and socio-economic history
of ancient and medieval India would have been
impossible without the discipline of epigraphy
in Indian archaeology. The current work under
review is a pioneering contribution to outline
 broad aspects of Indian epigraphy by a scholar
of repute. When it was first published in 1965
Sircar’s Indian Epigraphy laid the foundation for
path breaking studies in the field. With a brilliant
academic career and mastery over Sanskrit and
Prakrit, Dinesh Chandra Sircar (1907-1985)
went on to become the Chief Epigraphist in the
Archaeological Survey of India and also served
as the Carmichael Professor of Ancient Indian
History and Culture at Calcutta University. Based
on original sources, Sircar’s studies invariably
bore the stamp of reliability, authenticity and
definitiveness.
Dedicating his book to illustrious European
Indologist-epigraphists such as G. Buhler, F.
Kielhorn, J.F. Fleet and E. Hultzsch, Sircar iterates
that since ‘ancient India did not produce a
Herodotus, Thucidides or Tacitus to leave for
posterity a genuine and comprehensive history
PA G E S P O N S O R : S R I R A J U Z . M O R AY, M U M B A I
of the achievements of her sons’ [p.7] epigraphy
stands-in to fill the void. In this work the author
has made a wide ranging discussion on various
aspects of Indian epigraphy, such as inscriptions
and their evidence, writing materials, preparation
and preservation of records, dating, and the eras.
The first chapter lays out the context on the
significance of epigraphy in Indological studies by
analysing the merits and demerits of epigraphic
evidence. The second chapter deals with the
varied languages used in Indian inscriptions
in clearly organized sections arranged under
Prakrit and Sanskrit, Dravidian and Neo-Indo-
Aryan languages. The author wisely leaves out
the perennially disputed but still un-deciphered
Indus script from his discussion. The third, fourth
and eighth chapters survey the enormous variety
of the material base of Indian inscriptions ranging
from Palmyra, birch, cloth, hide, paper, wood,
stone, and metal. These chapters also contain
substantial information about the preparation
and preservation of records and technical
expressions used in Indian inscriptions. It is
here that Sircar’s experience in field epigraphy
becomes visible to the reader.
An interesting aspect about the book is the
section on royal charters or raja-sasana and the
appendix titled ‘Stanzas on Bhumi-dana quoted in
Raja-Sasanas’ where Sircar engages in the debates
on the creation of rent-free holdings. It must be
remembered that this has a direct bearing on
notions of feudalism in Indian history.
Another significant chapter traces evidences
of ancient Indian epigraphy from varied
Central and South East Asian countries such as
Afghanistan, Ceylon, Burma, Thailand, Malaya
peninsula, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Annam
(Vietnam) with sections that relate about the
region-centric specificities. The seventh chapter
tackles the relevant but complicated question
of dating and the use of varied eras in Indian
inscriptions. Sircar not only provides information
about the well-known Vikrama and Saka eras but
June 2019
also currently obsolete reckonings such as the
Parthian, Kalachuri, Harsha and other eras.
The only shortcoming of the book is that
although it contains an appendix on ‘Indo-
Muslim Epigraphy’, Sircar’s assessment of Perso- 45
Arabic inscriptions from the post-twelfth century
looks rather scanty as compared to ancient
The Vedanta Kesari
Indian inscriptions in terms of analysis as well as
evidence.
Despite the fact that a number of significant
contributions have been made in the field of
epigraphic studies in the second half of the
twentieth century by noted scholars such as V.V.
Mirashi, N. Karashima, Ahmad Hasan Dani, G.S.
Gai, Frederick M. Asher and Richard Salomon
among others, they have built upon the able
foundations that were chalked out by academics
like D.C. Sircar. Written in a lucid style the book’s
strength lie in its judicious and well-documented
handling of Indian epigraphic data. Motilal
Banarasidass’ second reprint of this pioneering
contribution will definitely enable students to
understand the evolution of Indian epigraphy in
a better light. It will also be a valuable reference
work for historians and epigraphists alike.
DR. SANTANU DEY, RAMAKRISHNA MISSION VIDYAMANDIRA
 The Vedas: An Exploration
Vedic Society
LAKSHMI DEVNATH
(Continued from previous issue...)
A cursory survey of the Vedic literature
especially the Rig Veda reveals that,
in those days, India was indeed a land of plenty.
There are references to gold ornaments and
fine robes. The art scene also seems to have
been rather vibrant with music, dance and
other arts. There is nothing in the Vedic
literature to show that the rishis were
June 2019
pessimistic or considered the world as evil. On
the contrary, the sages considered this world as
a fit place for virtuous people to lead a good life
under the protection of beneficent gods. To
46 them, the world was a stage in the progress of
man’s spiritual journey. The Brahmana
literature reveals to us the high moral level of
The Vedanta Kesari
the ancient rishis. The literature also talks
about relations between the various strata in
the social life, relationship between gods and
men, the connection between this world and
the higher world and so on. Philosophical
speculations, theological teachings, fantastic
and hair-splitting textual interpretations and
various other points gives one a clear view of
the intellectual level of the Vedic rishis and no
impartial reader can but be impressed by the
high intellectual level of the nation at that time.
The Vedic family was of the patriarchal
society. However, the position of women was
very good in the Vedic society. The birth of a
daughter was no doubt not as welcome as the
birth of a son, but there is no evidence to show
that girls were disposed off as unwanted
babies. In intellectual life, they occupied the
The author is a researcher and writer with various books and articles to her credit on Indian music and culture.
lakshmidevnath@gmail.com
same position as men. Like boys, they too
received education and went through the
brahmacharya discipline; the Atharva Veda
observes how a bride had no chance of a good
match, if she had not been educated as a
brahmacharini. Women were familiar with
Vedic literature and some of them, like
Lopamudra, Ghosa, Gargi and Sikata-Nivavari,
participated in discussions and were the
authors of Vedic hymns. They had also right to
perform Vedic rituals by the side of their
husbands. The Rig Vedic hymn 8.9.1 describes
how a maiden could take a soma twig and offer
it by herself as a sacrifice to Indra. Apart from
women philosophers, there were women
warriors who fought bravely in wars. This
complete equality between men and women is
found in all parts of the Vedic literature from
the Samhitas to the Upanishads.
The perusal of the marriage hymn (Rig
Veda 10.85) shows that the sanctity of the
institution of marriage had already been
recognized by the society. The tie of marriage
was a binding force all through life. Marriage
was regarded, not as an impediment but as an
aid in religious progress; in fact there were
certain sacrifices that could not be performed
by unmarried men. Bride purchase was not
known and in the rare cases where it took place
the bridegroom was held in low esteem. The
term dampati would suggest that the husband
and wife were regarded as the joint heads of the
household.
PA G E S P O N S O R : S M T. L A K S H M I D E V N AT H , C H E N N A I
As far as professional occupations go,
references are found on spinning, weaving
carpentry, pottery and so on. Agriculture and
cattle-rearing were the chief productive
occupations in Vedic society. An interesting
hymn in the Atharva Veda shows that non­
possession of cows was regarded as a great
misfortune. The professions of the priest and
the warrior were particularly held in high
esteem. The physician was also greatly
respected; antidote for diseases was partly
herbal remedies and partly incantations.
Atharva Veda refers to the treatment of fevers,
jaundice, and dysentery. Surgery also seems to
have been practised as the Rig Veda (1.116.15)
refers to the Asvins giving an iron leg to Vispala
June 2019
47
The Vedanta Kesari
to replace the one lost by her in a battle.
Chariot-building was also regarded as a skilled
profession and spoken of as comparable to
composing poetry. Chariots had various kinds
of carvings, and gold and gems were used for its
decoration. The chariots were drawn by horses.
By and large, no mention is found in the Vedas
of vimanas that find mention in the later
literature, though an odd reference to it can be
found in some places. Even the gods moved
about in chariots drawn by animals. The use of
various kinds of metal for different purposes
was also known. Many kinds of weapons were
made with metals. Gems and other precious
stones were used as decorations for the body,
both by men and women.
 As far as conveyance went, there are
passages that point to the existence of chariots
drawn by horses, bullock carts and even some
kind of a ship. Road laying must also have been
quite advanced for the Atharva Veda refers to
three kinds of roads: fit for chariots, apt for
carts, and ideal for foot-passengers.
The Vedic Aryans had good brick-built
homes. There were villages and also towns. The
people were divided into various clans.
Regarding the flora and fauna, the Vedic
literature abounds with references to various
plants and herbs and the medicinal values of
several of them. Mention is made of horses,
cows, bullocks, reptiles, wolves, other wild and
ferocious animals and domesticated dogs and
mules as well as different kinds of birds.
As regards customs and traditions, the
June 2019
picture regarding the existence of child
marriage is not very clear. Moral values must
have been high for one finds a hymn devoted to
48 condemnation of gambling and its evil effects
on man, family, and society. But recreations like
horse-racing and chariot-racing were not
The Vedanta Kesari
condemned in those days. On the flip side, there
are also certain passages that indicate the
occasional practice of human slaughter. The
Aitareya Brahmana shows how one Sunahsepa
was offered to Varuna and how by prayer to the
various gods, his life was saved from slaughter.
But generally, the Vedic literature shows only
abhorrence to this practice which must have
been common among the less civilized sections
of the world at that time. No sort of sanction is
found for such a practice in the whole of the
Vedic literature.
As regards the consumption of alcoholic
beverages, apart from Soma used during the
Sama Veda sacrifices, there is mention of
another drink, Sura which is definitely stated as
having evil effects on the minds of men. The
killing of animals was not prohibited in those
days.
The level of education amongst the Vedic
people seems to have been quite high. There is
the famous statement in the Veda that everyone
s h o u l d re c e ive e d u c a t i o n s va d hya yo
adhyetavyah. Along with the Vedas, it was
recommended that the vedangas also be
studied. It was imperative that the students
understood the meaning of the verses they
learnt. They were required to learn the
grammar and recite the verses with proper
accent and intonation. In the Chandogya
Upanishad, Narada lists to Sanatkumara the
subjects he has learnt and this includes a
variety of subjects from the scientific to the
esoteric. The completion of education was
followed by a ceremonial bath which indicated
that the phase of brahmacharya was over and
the student was ready for grhastasrama. There
is a very interesting passage in the Taittiriya
Upanishad (1.11) that throws considerable
light on the educational policy of those times.
After the student has finished his education and
is ready to leave for home, the teacher exhorts
him to speak the truth and to lead a virtuous
life and further advises him as to his duties and
obligations as a member of society. This verse
makes it amply clear that the student was
encouraged to remain in society and contribute
to it and not to resort to asceticism before the
appropriate time.
Most of the educational institutions were
asramas of rishis in the forests. Begging for
biksha or alms was a part of a student’s life.
Teaching was considered the most honoured
profession in those days. The teacher, the man
of wisdom, controlled the life of the nation.
Both wealth and political power bowed before
wisdom. As far as political organization went,
monarchy was the order of the day.
In the whole history of India, the Vedic
age has been recognized as an ideal period in
the history of mankind. Certainly, no one can
deny the fact that the Vedas satisfied the needs
of the intellect, the imagination and the
emotions of a great nation for a long period,
extending over at least three thousand years.
(Concluded.)
 What is Religion?
R eligion is a constitutional necessity of
the human mind.1
In the previous issues of The Vedanta
Kesari, we saw the connection of religion with
pleasure, with strength, with meaning, and with
self-fulfillment.
PA G E S P O N S O R : S M T. L A K S H M I D E V N AT H , C H E N N A I
This month, Swami Vivekananda shows us
yet another facet of religion. We know that even
when man has everything, there is still a
hollowness he experiences inside. What will
fulfil that?
‘Upon the same tree there are two birds,
of beautiful plumage, most friendly to each
other, one on the top, the other below. The one
on the top is calm, silent, and majestic,
immersed in his own glory; the one on the
lower branches, eating sweet and bitter fruits
by turns, hopping from branch to branch, is
becoming happy and miserable by turns. After
a time the lower bird eats an exceptionally
bitter fruit and gets disgustful and looks up and
sees the other bird, that wondrous one of
golden plumage, who eats neither sweet nor
bitter fruit, who is neither happy nor miserable,
but calm, Self-centered, and sees nothing
beyond his Self. The lower bird longs for this
condition but soon forgets it, and again begins
to eat the fruits. In a little while, he eats another
exceptionally bitter fruit, which makes him feel
miserable, and he again looks up, and tries to
get nearer to the upper bird. Once more he
forgets and after a time he looks up, and so on
he goes again and again, until he comes very
near to the beautiful bird and sees the
Religion is
a Necessity
reflection of light from his plumage playing
around his own body, and he feels a change and
seems to melt away; still nearer he comes, and
everything about him melts away, and at last he
understands this wonderful change. The lower
bird was, as it were, only the substantial-
looking shadow, the reflection of the higher; he
June 2019
himself was in essence the upper bird all the
time. This eating of fruits, sweet and bitter, this
lower, little bird, weeping and happy by turns,
was a vain chimera, a dream: all along, the real
bird was there above, calm and silent, glorious 49
and majestic, beyond grief, beyond sorrow. The
upper bird is God, the Lord of this universe; and
The Vedanta Kesari
the lower bird is the human soul, eating the
sweet and bitter fruits of this world. Now and
then comes a heavy blow to the soul. For a time,
he stops the eating and goes towards the
unknown God, and a flood of light comes. He
thinks that this world is a vain show. Yet again
the senses drag him down, and he begins as
before to eat the sweet and bitter fruits of the
world. Again an exceptionally hard blow comes.
His heart becomes open again to divine light;
thus gradually he approaches God, and as he
gets nearer and nearer, he finds his old self
melting away. This is the picture of the human
soul. Man is eating the sweet and bitter fruits of
this life, pursuing gold, pursuing his senses,
pursuing the vanities of life — hopelessly,
madly careering he goes. When he has come
near enough, he sees that he is no other than
God, and he exclaims, ‘He whom I have
described to you as the Life of this universe, as
 present in the atom, and in suns and moons —
He is the basis of our own life, the Soul of our
soul. Nay, thou art That.’ This is what (religion)
teaches. It tells man that he is essentially divine.
It shows to mankind the real unity of being, and
that each one of us is the Lord God Himself,
manifested on earth. All of us, from the lowest
worm that crawls under our feet to the highest
beings to whom we look up with wonder and
awe — all are manifestations of the same Lord.’2
‘Such is the career of men pursuing the
vanities of life, children dreaming golden
dreams only to find that they are but vain, and
old men chewing the cud of their past deeds,
and yet not knowing how to get out of this
network. This is the world. Yet in the life of
every one there come golden moments; in the
June 2019
midst of the deepest sorrows, nay, of the
deepest joys, there come moments when a part
of the cloud that hides the sunlight moves away
as it were, and we catch a glimpse, in spite of
50 ourselves of something beyond — away, away
beyond the life of the senses; away, away
beyond its vanities, its joys, and its sorrows;
The Vedanta Kesari
away, away beyond nature, or our imaginations
of happiness here or hereafter; away beyond all
thirst for gold, or for fame, or for name, or for
posterity. Man stops for a moment at this
glimpse and sees the other bird calm and
majestic, eating neither sweet nor bitter fruits,
but immersed in his own glory, Self-content,
Self-satisfied. As the Gita says, ‘He whose
devotion is to the Atman, he who does not want
anything beyond Atman, he who has become
satisfied in the Atman, what work is there for
him to do?’ Why should he drudge? Man
catches a glimpse, then again he forgets and
goes on eating the sweet and bitter fruits of life;
perhaps after a time he catches another
glimpse, and the lower bird goes nearer and
nearer to the higher bird as blows after blows
are received. If he be fortunate to receive hard
knocks, then he comes nearer and nearer to his
companion, the other bird, his life, his friend;
and as he approaches him, he finds that the
light from the higher bird is playing round his
own plumage; and as he comes nearer and
nearer, lo! The transformation is going on. The
nearer and nearer he comes, he finds himself
melting away, as it were, until he has entirely
disappeared. He did not really exist; it was but
the reflection of the other bird who was there
calm and majestic amidst the moving leaves. It
was all his glory, that upper bird’s. He then
becomes fearless, perfectly satisfied, calmly
serene.’3
‘It is sometimes said that religions are
dying out, that spiritual ideas are dying out of
the world. To me it seems that they have just
begun to grow. The power of religion,
broadened and purified, is going to penetrate
every part of human life. So long as religion was
in the hands of a chosen few or of a body of
priests, it was in temples, churches, books,
dogmas, ceremonials, forms, and rituals. But
when we come to the real, spiritual, universal
concept, then, and then alone religion will
become real and living; it will come into our
very nature, live in our every movement,
penetrate every pore of our society, and be
infinitely more a power for good than it has
ever been before.’4
‘The one great idea that to me seems to be
clear, and comes out through masses of
superstition in every country and in every
religion, is the one luminous idea that man is
divine, that divinity is our nature. This fire of
freedom and purity is the nature of every soul,
and not a quality, because qualities can be
acquired and therefore can be lost. The soul is
one with Freedom, and the soul is one with
Existence, and the soul is one with Knowledge.
The Sat-Chit-Ananda – Existence-Knowledge-
Bliss Absolute – is the nature, the birthright of
the Soul, and all the manifestations that we see
are Its expressions, dimly or brightly
manifesting Itself. Even death is but a
(Continued on page 52. . .)
 Topical Musings
Our Sadhana
W hat is the Sadhana that Swami
Vivekananda prescribed for us?
Contrary to popular belief, he did not prescribe
anything new, of his own. He merely amplified
the exact method that Sri Ramakrishna had
prescribed.
Swami Saradananda has written a
wonderful book, Sri Ramakrishna Lilaprasanga,
translated into English as Sri Ramakrishna and
His Divine Play. It is an authentic biography of
PA G E S P O N S O R : A D E V O T E E , K I S M AT P U R , H Y D E R A B A D
Sri Ramakrishna. It has a very interesting
passage in this regard. While delineating the
divine revelations of Sri Ramakrishna after his
six long months of Advaita Siddhi, Swami
Saradananda writes about one such revelation
showing that ordinary people will progress
through Karma Yoga. This is indeed a
momentous revelation and Swami Saradananda
explains it as follows:
‘The Master indicated the limits of Karma
when he said, “The action of a sattvic person
drops off automatically. He cannot work even if
he tries to; the Lord does not allow him to
work. It is just as when a young wife advances
in pregnancy. She is given less and less work to
do; and when the child is born, she gives up
household work altogether and is busied
exclusively with the infant. But an ordinary
person must try to do his duties with
detachment, depending on the Lord, like the
maidservant who does everything for her
master, knowing in her heart that her home is
elsewhere. This is known as karma yoga. As far
as possible one should take the name of the
June 2019
51
The Vedanta Kesari
Lord and meditate on Him while discharging
one’s everyday duties in an unattached way.”’ 1
Now, let us compare this with what Sister
Nivedita has to say on the same topic. While
ex p l a i n i n g t h e s a d h a n a t h a t Swa m i
Vivekananda delineated for all of us, she
writes2:
‘Let us be true to our work. Our task is our
swadharma. “Better for each man is his
swadharma, however faulty his performance,
than the task of another, though he could do it
easily.” That thing which faces me and frightens
 me, that very thing that seems the one most
difficult, if it is my swadharma, is the path.
‘It is a grand gospel – this doctrine of
fearlessness, of courage, of self-conquest. Arise,
thou Great Divinity that liest hidden within us!
In Thy name, all things are possible to us!
Making victory and defeat the same, plunge we
into battle!
‘But how are we to fight? Most of us, by
work. The world’s work is the great sadhana,
wherein we accumulate character, by which,
when the time comes, we can rise even into the
Nirvikalpa Samadhi itself. Character is self-
restraint. Self-restraint is self-direction.
t t
References
June 2019
1) Sri Ramakrishna & His Divine Play. Swami
Saradananda. 2003. Vedanta Society of St. Louis,
p.361
2) The Complete Works of Sister Nivedita. Vol-3:
Religion & Dharma, Ch-XXVI: Work
52
3) Some readers may object to the view presented here.
They may point out, like Gwilym Beckerlegge has
The Vedanta Kesari
done, that this view is a superimposition by Swami
Vivekananda and Saradananda on Sri Ramakrishna,
and that Sri Ramakrishna actually preferred
Religion is a Necessity
manifestation of that Real Existence. Birth and
death, life and decay, degeneration and
regeneration – are all manifestations of that
Oneness. So, knowledge, however it manifests
itself, either as ignorance or as learning, is but
the manifestation of that same Chit, the essence
of knowledge; the difference is only in degree,
and not in kind. The difference in knowledge
between the lowest worm that crawls under
our feet and the highest genius that the world
References
1) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda: Vol-1:
Soul, God and Religion
2) Ibid. Vol-2: The Ideal of A Universal Religion
3) Ibid.Vol-3: Lectures from Colombo to Almora:
Self-direction is concentration. Concentration
when perfect is Samadhi. From perfect work to
perfect Mukti. This is the swing of the soul. Let
us then be perfect in work!’
So, everyday work that we do, as a function
of being a member of this world, is our Sadhana.3
Note that it is not necessarily the work of our
liking; it is not even a particular kind of work. It
is the work that falls to our lot, consequent to
our station and position in life. It is the work we
‘ought’ to do at any particular point of time in
our life. That work is technically called Karma. It
needs to be done in a particular way, so that it
gets converted into Yoga.
Naradiya Bhakti alone for the common man. In
fact, Beckerlegge, a research scholar has published
two famous books through Oxford University Press
called ‘The Ramakrishna Mission: The Making
of a Modern Hindu Movement (2000) and Swami
Vivekananda’s Legacy of Service: A Study of the
Ramakrishna Math and Mission (2006)’ wherein
he presents this argument. The upcoming issues of
Topical Musings in The Vedanta Kesari will clarify
this topic.
(Continued from page 50...)
may produce is only one of degree, and not of
kind. The Vedanta-thinker boldly says that the
enjoyments in this life, even the most degraded
joys, are but manifestations of that One Divine
Bliss, the Essence of the Soul. This idea seems
to be the most prominent in Vedanta, and, as I
have said, it appears to me that every religion
holds it. I have yet to know the religion which
does not. It is the one universal idea working
through all religions.’5
Vedanta in Its Application to Indian Life
4) Ibid. Vol-2: The Necessity Of Religion
5) Ibid. Vol-2: The Freedom Of The Soul
 The Order on the March
News & Notes from Ramakrishna Math and
Ramakrishna Mission

Headquarters
The ancestral house of Swami Trigunatitanandaji Maharaj in Kolkata was recently acquired
by the Order. After the restoration work, the house has been named Ramakrishna Math Swami
Trigunatitananda Memorial. It was inaugurated by Srimat Swami Vagishananda Ji, one of the Vice
Presidents of the Order, on 17 April. RKMVERI (our deemed university) will be conducting classes and

June 2019
PA G E S P O N S O R : D R . V I R A L K A M D A R , N A G P U R

other activities at the memorial.

Ramakrishna Math (Kathamrita Bhavan), Kolkata, till recently a sub-centre of Ramakrishna Math
(Shyampukur Bati), has been made a full-fledged branch of Ramakrishna Math, Belur.
Srimat Swami Smaranananda Ji Maharaj, President of the Order, visited Baranagar Math on 28 April
53
and laid the foundation stone for the proposed dispensary-and-non-formal-school building at the
centre’s nearby campus on Ratan Babu Road. Srimat Swami Vagishananda Ji, Swami Suvirananda, the

The Vedanta Kesari

General Secretary, and about 300 monks and 3000 devotees attended the programme.
125th Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s Addresses at the World’s Parliament of Religions
The following centres held programmes mentioned below:
Antpur: Public meeting (350 devotees); Gadadhar Ashrama: Lecture (200 students and teachers);
Kankurgachhi: Spiritual Retreat ( 446 devotees); Mangaluru: Lectures in 10 colleges in April ( 2150
youths).

Jiva Seva

ti
ak
Bh
Values Education & Youth Programmes
Ah

h a
im

es
sa

D
2700 students and 100 teachers participated in 14 programmes in Purulia district at
Bagda Math. Satya Shraddha

1745 teachers and 93 principals participated in workshops in 12 cities at Delhi Centre. ta Ty

ra ag
195 students took part in three programmes, & 56 bank officials participated in a vit a
Pa
Nirbhaya

Human Excellance Workship at Rajkot Ashrama.

Vrindaban Sevashrama Kothar centre Vivekananda's Ancestral House Cultural Centre

 Guest of Honour city, spreading awareness about
Sri Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, visited waste management.
Varanasi Home of Service on 18 April.
Fire Relief:
News of Branch Centres (in India) In response to fire accidents
Four of our degree colleges have secured good positions in where huts were burnt down
the ranking list for the year 2019 announced by the National Narottam Nagar center
Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), Ministry of Human distributed household items to
Resource Development, Government of India, on 8 April. The 4 families at Deomali Township
colleges and their rankings are as follows: in Arunachal Pradesh.
Baranagar Math distributed
National State
Sl. College clothes & utensils to 34 familes.
Rank Rank
Vivekananda Centenary College
Cyclone Relief:
1. 8 1 A cyclonic storm hit Khulna
(Rahara) (West district in Bangladesh on 9 April.
2. Vidyamandira (Saradapitha) 11 3 Bengal) In response to the calamity,
3. Residential College (Narendrapur) 15 4 Bagerhat centre distributed
1000 kg rice, 100 saris and 100
June 2019

Arts and Science College (Tamil

4. 59 18 lungis among 100 families.
(Coimbatore Mission) Nadu)
Medical Relief Distress Relief:
On the occasion of Nath Shashthi Mela Aurangabad centre held Through 21 centres in India
54 a medical camp at Paithan, the birthplace of the Sant Eknath in the Order distributed 25989
Aurangabad district. 4047 patients were treated. sweaters, 2865 jackets, 582
blankets, 29290 shirts, 19787
The Vedanta Kesari

Vadodara centre conducted a free BMD (bone mineral density)

test camp for 162 persons. trousers, 151 saries, 3407 tops,
Vrindaban Sevashrama held a urology-cum-general-surgery camp 100 dhotis and 222 school bags.
in which 10 specialist doctors checked 320 patients and performed Flood Rehabilitation:
63 surgeries. Kerala: In the aftermath of
Through 11 centres in India the Order conducted Eye Camps the floods that had hit Kerala in
where 6268 were treated, 486 given spectacles, and 1074 operated. the month of August, Tiruvalla
Swachchha Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Campaign) centre helped victims to rebuild
Mangaluru Ashrama conducted the following activities in April: their 3 new houses as well as
(i) four cleanliness drives in Mangaluru involving 1550 volunteers, repair and renovate 11 houses in
and (ii) awareness campaigns for 25 days in which volunteers Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha
reached out to 1360 households in different parts of Mangaluru districts.
Mangaluru Khetri Khetri
55
 Vol.106. No.6 The Vedanta Kesari (English Monthly) June 2019. Regd.
56
with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under No.1084 / 1957.
Postal registration number:TN / CH (C) / 190 / 2018-2020. Licensed to Post
without prepayment TN/PMG(CCR)/WPP-259 / 2018-2020.
Date of Publication: 24th of every month; Posted on 27 May 2019

Each work has to pass through these

stages — ridicule, opposition, and then
acceptance. Each man who thinks ahead
of his time is sure to be misunderstood.
—Swami Vivekananda

Lavino-Kapur Cottons Pvt Ltd

100% Export Oriented Unit * Star Export House
BUREAU VERITAS–ISO 9001:2008 certified
(Manufacturers of Absorbent Cotton Products)

Tarapur Plant: H-1, MIDC, Tarapur Industrial Regd. Office:

Area, Taps Post, Boisar–401 504 121-122, Mittal Chambers,
District–Thane. Maharashtra. Nariman Point, Mumbai–400 021
Tel: 02525-2722 90/91/92 Tel: 91 22 6632 5141 (30 Lines)
Fax: 91 22 6632 4979 / 6632 4421/ 2282 0577

E-mail: info@lavinokapur.com Website: www.lavinokapur.com