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ISSN 0032-6178
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HA RATA
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December 2019
Maitrayaniya Upanishad Vol. 124, No. 12
मैत्रायणीयोपनिषत ्
अत्रैक आहुरण गु् ः प्रकृ तिभेदवशादध्यवसायात्मबन्धमपु ागतोऽध्यवसायस्य दोषक्षयाद्धि मोक्षो मनसा ह्येव पश्यति
मनसा श्रृणोति कामः सङ्कल्पो विचिकित्सा श्रद्धाऽश्रद्धा धृतिरधृतिर्ह्रीर्धीर्भीरित्येतत्सर्वं मन एव गुणौघ ैरुह्यमानः
कलुषीकृ तश्चास्थिरश्चलो लुप्यमानः सस्पृहो व्यग्रश्चाभिमानित्वं प्रयात इत्यहं सो ममेदं इत्येव ं मन्यमानो
ु
निबध्नात्यात्मनात्मानं जालेन ेव खेचरः अतः परुषोऽध्यवसायसङ्कल्पाभिमानलिङ्गो बद्धोऽतस्तद्विपरीतो
मक्त ्
ु स्तस्मातनिरध्यवसायो निःसङ्कल्पो निरभिमानस्तिष्ठेदते न्मोक्षलक्षणमेषात्र ब्रह्मपदव्येषोऽत्र
द्वारविवरोऽनेनास्य तमसः पारं गमिष्यत्यत्र हि सर्वे कामाः समाहिता इति । ॥६.३०॥
Some say, it is the quality by which, through the force of the differentiation and from the de-
struction of the fault of determination, moksha comes. It is with the mind, indeed, that one
sees. It is with the mind that one hears. Desire, conception, doubt, faith, and lack of faith,
steadfastness and lack of steadfastness, shame, meditation, fear, all this is truly mind. Borne
along and defiled by the stream of qualities, unsteady, fickle, bewildered, full of desire, dis-
tracted, one gets into the state of self-love. In thinking, ‘I am that person’, ‘this is mine’, one
binds oneself with oneself as a bird in a snare. Hence, a person who has the marks of determin-
ation, conception, and self-love is bound. One who is the opposite of that is free. Therefore,
stand free from determination, free from conception, free from self-love. This is the mark of
moksha. This is the path to Brahman in this world. This is the opening of the door here in this
world. Through it one will go beyond darkness, where all desires are contained. (6.30)
W
e chase happiness and happiness we see how the intuitive power is obstructed and
eludes us. All of our lives we try to our power of discrimination is coloured in our
find contentment in more and more dealing with crucial problems at important junc-
and various kinds of external things, places, tures of life. Gopal Chandra Bhar, honorary pro-
or persons, and yet we remain miserable. An fessor of physics at the Ramakrishna Mission
easy and time-tested path to achieving happi- Vivekananda Educational and Research Insti-
ness is discussed in The Earthquake Model of tute, and former laser scientist at the Burdwan
Happiness. University talks about Viveka, Power of Dis-
K P Uthappa, Kodagu, Karnataka, a retired cernment: Problems in Implementation.
corporate executive, a long-standing devotee of The young have wonderful insights on
the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mis- various issues. In Young Eyes, such insights are
sion, and a great admirer of Swami Vivekananda, brought to the readers every month. This month
recounts A Pilgrimage to Chicago: Following Aruansh Khare, studying in class eight at Father
the Footsteps of Swami Vivekananda. Agnel School, Sector 62, Noida, Uttar Pradesh,
Dr T V Muralivallabhan, director of the de- talks about India’s Biggest Problem: Anger.
partment of economics, Marian College, Kut- Many wonderful nuggets of wisdom con-
tikanam, Kerala; educationist; writer; and a tained in ancient scriptures are difficult to
popular speaker from Kottayam, Kerala, de- understand. In Balabodha, such ancient wis-
scribes Yoga for Universal Personality. dom is made easy. This month’s topic is Murti.
Swami Pavitrananda (d. 1977), a former Understanding this popular word is necessary to
minister-in-charge of the Vedanta Society of understand its meaning.
New York and a former editor of Prabuddha The phenomenon of a human incarnation
Bharata talks about Sri Sarada Devi, The of the Absolute God is inexplicable, sometimes
Holy Mother—A Great Saint of India. This is even to the incarnation. This is shown in the
an edited transcript of a talk he delivered at the story Sri Krishna’s Explanation. This story is
Vedanta Society of New York on 8 January 1956. this month’s Traditional Tales and has been trans-
The broad class ‘human beings’ can have sub- lated from the Tamil book Anmika Kathaigal.
classes and sub-sub-classes. These classes can be Mary-Jane Rubenstein, associate professor
geographical, linguistic, intellectual, or work- of religion at Wesleyan University and author
related. Swami Satyapriyananda, Ramakrishna of Strange Wonder: The Closure of Metaphysics
Math, Belur Math, discusses The Classification and the Opening of Awe has written the book
of Human Beings. Worlds without End: The Many Lives of the
Analysing the deficits of our senses and intel- Multiverse. From this book, we bring you this
lect covered with illusion and inborn tendencies, month’s Manana.
H
appiness can be achieved only if that will make us happy. We seek more things,
we know what makes us happy. Each more relationships, more wealth, more sense
person has a different requirement that pleasures, and more and more of all that can
makes one happy. Also, when a person fulfils that make us happy. We generally try to find out how
requirement, which she or he thought would much more can make us happy. On the other
make one happy, happiness eludes the person hand, Indian sages of the past tried to solve the
and one thinks that there is something else problem of elusive happiness by trying to find
that is needed for happiness. This is essentially
the cause of all human development, material Indian sages of the past found out how
or philosophical. A human being creates, im- much less one could be happy with.
agines, or thinks to become happy. It is in such a
search of happiness that a human being encoun- out how much less could one be happy with.
ters misery or suffering. They discovered that a minimalist approach to
Though human beings have been searching every aspect of life could lead to the path to an
for happiness since they came into existence, everlasting contentment.
they have not been able to pinpoint any material When we think that a particular thing, per-
thing that can bring about complete happiness. son, or place can give us happiness, we immedi-
Sometimes the general populace feels that they ately put the responsibility of our happiness on
have found the one thing that will give them something or someone other than us. In other
the ultimate happiness, a happiness that would words, we give the control of our happiness to
need no other thing to sustain itself, a finality something or someone. And since most of what
that would be the fitting answer to all attempts we do in our lives, we do to get happy, by giv-
to become happy. But, after some time, they real- ing the control of our happiness to something
ise that the thing they thought would give them or someone, we give the control of our lives to
everlasting happiness has stopped giving happi- something or someone. By doing so, we make
ness, or worse, has become the cause of misery. things in our life beyond our control. This is
Then, they try to find out another source of hap- so because we cannot control how a particular
piness. The other source supposed to bring ev- thing or person, which or who is separate from
erlasting happiness also fails to do so. And this us, behaves. Thus, in our search for happiness,
unending cycle of seeking the ultimate happiness we give up our control of that happiness and
and failing in such a pursuit goes on and on. also our control of misery. This paradoxical
Why does this happen? One of the reasons situation happens over and again in our lives
for this elusive search for happiness is our em- though we see the same thing in the lives of
phasis on getting more and more of anything people around us.
This difficult situation arises because of two earthquake model of happiness. But this model
main problems. One, deep down, we think that does not stop only in limiting your attachment
we cannot control our happiness or misery. to things that you would evacuate in the case of
Two, because of such a belief we seek happi- an impending earthquake. It also requires of us
ness outside of ourselves. The solution to this to live every moment of our lives as if we were
is quite simple. We need to remind ourselves about to be struck by an earthquake the next
all the time, in our waking state and also in our second. Not only should we not have any exter-
dreams, that we are the sole creators of our hap- nal attachments that we would not be able to
piness or misery. This can happen only when our remove in a moment’s notice, but we should also
attention to the external conditions is reduced behave in a manner as though we would die the
and we start focusing on our inner selves. That next moment in an earthquake.
is where the title of the present discussion be- For example, suppose we are displeased
comes relevant. with someone and have to communicate our
Since we seek happiness outside of our- displeasure to that person, mainly so that the
selves, we seek an increase in the magnitude of cause of our displeasure is not repeated. Most
all that we experience outside of ourselves—in people just hide their anger and let it grow into
wealth, power, relationships, and sense pleas- resentment without having given the other
ures. However, all these external attainments or person a chance to resolve the issue. Some just
accumulations only distract us from our inner pour out the anger and cause a rift in the rela-
selves. Therefore, our goal should be to reduce tionship. Very few discuss the problem in as
the quantum of these distractions to a mini- impersonal a way as possible and stress that the
mum. So, what do we need externally? Or, do relationship is important to them and they are
we at all need anything external to ourselves? just looking to find a way out of a particular
Since we have to live in this world and interact kind of behaviour.
with our surroundings and maintain our body If we conduct our lives as though an earth-
and mind, we do indeed need some external quake could happen any moment, we would al-
things. However, we can minimise our exter- ways, quite effortlessly, have the third alternative
nal needs. as our behaviour. We would have a healthy psy-
Imagine you have been told that a severe chological life, rootedness, and peace of mind,
earthquake is about to hit your house. You have and would seldom waver from the ultimate aim
to evacuate your house immediately. What is of life, to find ultimate happiness, a happiness
it that you would take out from your house? that is beyond all happiness, a happiness that
Would you not first evacuate your kith and kin? leaves nothing else to be desired for.
If you get any time other than that, you might In other words, we need to embrace the im-
remove some other things that are closer to your permanence of our lives. We need to embrace the
heart, things that cannot be bought in a shop. impermanence of this world and this universe.
These are the essentials you need from the exter- Only with such a welcoming acceptance of our
nal world. And this is enough for you to carry as apparent uncertain realities, can we understand
mental attachments. Gradually, you can reduce our true selves and only then can we understand
and transcend even these minimal attachments. the ultimate Reality, and this understanding
This model of happiness could be called the would put an end to all suffering. P
F
or all those who have read and got For the followers of Swamiji all over the
inspired by Swami Vivekananda’s biog- world, Chicago has become a modern ‘Tirtha’,
raphy, the mention of Chicago conjures up a place of pilgrimage. All the religions known
the grand vision of his famous Chicago address, to us have stressed the importance of pilgrim-
the first five words of which, namely ‘Sisters and age as a religious discipline—beginning histor-
Brothers of America’, had an electrifying effect ically from the great religious sites of India, with
on the entire audience of nearly seven thousand its incomparable Himalayas of which each peak
people and made them to give him a standing can well be considered a deity. Jerusalem in Is-
ovation so spontaneously. The result was that rael is a tirtha for the five major world religions.
an unknown monk carrying the universal mes- Buddhism, from the time of King Ashoka’s mis-
sage of harmony of religions and oneness of God sionaries, have made Lord Buddha’s well-traced
from the ancient civilisation of India became stopping-places like ‘Buddha Gaya’ places of pil-
world-famous overnight. grimage. For Christianity, Jerusalem and Rome
Swamiji was a pilgrim in the best sense of the are the two main pilgrimage spots. In Islam, pil-
word, having come to see the Lord in all beings. grimage to Mecca is one of the five ‘pillars of
He was constantly looking for and finding the Islam’. All agree that what makes a ‘tirtha’ is ba-
Divine in all human beings and his sojourn on sically the accumulated holy thoughts and deeds
earth itself was a pilgrimage. From his years of of sacrifice by and through the pilgrims who visit
wandering through the length and breadth of those sites, especially sanctified by the saints,
India, he acquired a deep insight into India’s who first visited them.
needs and her greatness. This resulted in his ac- As regards Chicago, Swamiji’s visits and sac-
cepting the challenge to travel to Chicago for rifices form the nucleus, along with those of the
the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions, thus other great men and women of America who
extending his pilgrimage beyond India to the conceived the idea of the Parliament and la-
Western world. boured hard to make it a success. It was the first
Swamiji’s unprecedented spectacular suc- historical assemblage of all the major religions
cess at the Parliament of Religions is known of the world. Above all, Chicago will be remem-
to all. Chicago was Swamiji’s major spiritual bered as marking the spectacular introduction to
stronghold in the West ordained by the Divine the West of the highest form of Vedanta by one
to spread Indian Vedantic culture to the West, of India’s greatest sages—Swamiji.
which it needed most to understand the glory Since I had a friend in Chicago, Steve Hobart,
of life beyond materialism and powermongering. I went there after visiting Darien, and spent two
days with him in this Swamiji reached Chicago for the second
famous city. In the time ‘on September 9, probably around mid-
forenoon of the first day’1 after spending more than a month in New
day, he took me to the England. Having lost the address of the Parlia-
famous Sears Tower ment’s General Committee and not finding
or the Willis Tower, any help, he spent the night very uncomfort-
which is the second ably in a railway station, probably the Chicago
tallest building in and North Western station (73). The next day
the US. Its height is morning, he walked along the streets of Chi-
1,450 feet and has 110 cago, tired and hungry. After walking a long
floors. The view from distance, he sat fully exhausted probably ‘on
the top is fantastic, the sidewalk in front of the’ above-mentioned
with tall buildings St Chrysostom Church, which was estab-
stretching for a long lished in the same year (74). It was then that
St Chrysostom’s Episcopal Church, Chicago distance. In the eve- the unseen hand of God played a part and a
ning, I went to the Vivekananda Vedanta So- regal looking lady from the house across the
ciety of Chicago and spent nearly an hour there, street opened the door and invited him inside
interacting with the then minister-in-charge, and took all the trouble to introduce him to
Swami Chidananda, who was the president of the President of the Parliament of Religions.
the Ramakrishna Math, Bull Temple Road, Ben- This blessed lady was Mrs George W Hale. As
galuru from 1983 to 1989. He was doing a won- readers of Swamiji’s life are aware, Mr and Mrs
derful work. The following day, as suggested by Hale were treated with respect and regard by
him, I visited the places made memorable by Swamiji, so much so that Mrs Hale was dearly
Swamiji’s touch, namely, Lincoln’s park, Dear- referred to as ‘Mother Church’ and Mr Hale
born Avenue, and the famous Art Institute. as ‘Father Pope’.
two thousand years ago.2 It was a wonderful and 1. God composed and played through Mozart
peaceful feeling. those musical masterpieces, which are played in
many concert halls the world over.
The Art Institute 2. God painted through Michelangelo those
This is in the Michigan Avenue, a part of which Fresco masterpieces from the Bible on the roof
has been named as the Vivekananda Way, in hon- of Sistine Chapel in the Vatican City.
our of Swamiji. This was where the first World’s Likewise, it can be said that since Swamiji
Parliament of Religions was held in Septem- bowed to ‘Devi Saraswati’ and began his speech,
ber, 1893. It was in the Hall of Columbus that Goddess Saraswati alone spoke those five words
Swamiji delivered his famous first speech at the through him: ‘Sisters and Brothers of America.’
Parliament. This hall has now been named as the Hence, each of those five words had a divine
Fullerton Hall, which was then being renovated. intonation behind them and they had a mes-
On the front wall of this hall a bronze plaque has merising and electrifying effect on the entire
been erected in honour of Swamiji with these assemblage of seven thousand people. In the
words ‘On this site between September 11 and words of Mrs S K Blodgett, an eyewitness of
27, 1893, Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) the this speech: ‘When that young man got up and
IMAGE: HTTPS://WWW.VENUEREPORT.COM/
first Hindu monk from India to teach Vedanta said, “Sisters and Brothers of America” seven
in America, addressed the World’s Parliament of thousand people rose to their feet as a tribute
Religions, held in conjunction with the World’s to something they knew not for what.’4 Dr John
Columbian exposition. His unprecedented suc- Henry Barrows, the chairman of the confer-
cess opened the way for the dialogue between ence, wrote about the incident in his history of
Eastern and Western religions.’3 I stood in front the World’s Parliament of Religions that ‘there
of the hall, closed my eyes, and mentally pic- arose a peal of applause that lasted for several
tured the entire events of that memorable day minutes’ (ibid.).
of 11 September 1893, when the following ideas Through this article, I suggest to every parent,
flashed through my mind: whose children are in the US, to write to their
wards to visit Chicago to follow Swamiji’s foot- to bring life and vigor into the decaying races
steps and get inspired by his words, his messages, of mankind (3.285).
his wisdom, and courage. This will enable them Which Indian’s love for the motherland
not only to become noble citizens of the world will not increase a tenfold after going through
but also to rediscover Chicago in the light of the the above two electrifying and inspirational
historical visit of Swamiji, who has transformed statements?
this city into a holy pilgrimage. Going to US and In a letter from Chicago to the then Maha-
not visiting Chicago does not befit an Indian raja of Mysore, Swamiji wrote: ‘They alone live
admirer of Swamiji. who live for others, the rest are more dead than
Before I end this article, I would like to quote alive’ (4.363).
Swamiji’s words that exemplifies his love for the Swami Vivekananda saved Hinduism and saved
motherland and his philosophy of service and India. But for him we would have lost our re-
also what two eminent personalities have said ligion and would not have gained our free-
about him, which makes us understand the dom. We, therefore, owe everything to Swami
historical role that he played in transforming Vivekananda. May his faith, his courage, and
India by pointing out her true significance to his wisdom ever inspire us so that we may keep
the world. safe the treasure we have received from him.
—C. Rajagopalachari.6
If there is any land on this earth that can lay His words are great music, phrases in the
claim to be the blessed Punya Bhumi, to be style of Beethoven, stirring rhythms like the
the land to which all souls on this earth must march of Handel choruses. I cannot touch these
come to account for Karma, the land to which sayings of his, scattered as they are through the
every soul that is wending its way Godward pages of books at thirty years’ distance, with-
must come to attain its last home, the land out receiving a thrill through my body like an
where humanity has attained its highest to- electric shock. And what shocks, what trans-
wards gentleness, towards generosity, towards ports must have been produced when in burn-
purity, towards calmness, above all, the land of ing words they issued from the lips of the hero!
introspection and of spirituality—it is India. … —Romain Rolland (50). P
Here is the life-giving water with which must be
quenched the burning fire of materialism which References
is burning the core of the hearts of millions in 1. Asim Chaudhuri, Swami Vivekananda in Chi-
other lands.5 cago: New Findings (Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama,
This is the ancient land where wisdom 2012), 70.
made its home before it went into any other 2. Luke, 2:14.
country, … where the eternal Himalayas, ris- 3. Swami Vivekananda in Chicago, 111.
ing tier above tier with their snowcaps, looks 4. His Eastern and Western Disciples, The Life of
as it were into the very mysteries of heaven. Swami Vivekananda, 2 vols (Kolkata: Advaita
Ashrama, 2008), 1.418.
Here is the same India whose soil has been
5. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9
trodden by the feet of the greatest sages that vols (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1–8, 1989; 9,
ever lived. … This is the land from whence, 1997), 3.105.
like tidal waves, spirituality and philosophy 6. World Thinkers on Ramakrishna-Vivekananda,
have again and again rushed out and deluged ed. Swami Lokeswarananda (Calcutta: The
the world, and this is the land from whence Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture,
once more such tides must proceed in order 1983), 54.
as Ashtanga Yoga, since there are eight steps in and we have to ascend this ladder step by step
this yoga. with great care and circumspection. No step
All religions are reflections of the experiences can be ignored or bypassed except at one’s own
of the founders: Christianity is the experience of peril. Progress is assured provided the rules of
the game are adhered to. And violation of the
Jesus Christ, Buddhism is the experience of Lord
rules is bound to cause its own peril. Such is
Buddha, and Hinduism is the experience of a Raja Yoga propounded by that ancient sage Pa-
number of rishis. People try to follow the paths tanjali in the form of Sutras or terse aphorisms
shown by these great spiritual giants. Nowadays, collectively known as Yoga Darshana.5
we blindly believe in what they said. But, we have
the capacity to rise above this average level, and The Eight-fold Path as a Science
share the same experience that these spiritual gi- The science of raja yoga is the science of mind,
ants have left in this world, provided, we are ready its nature, its power, its extent, and its goal.
to practise the steps sincerely and systematically. Mind is the only available instrument to per-
Sincere, devoted, and systematic practice and ceive, contemplate, explore, and introspect the
perception of the teachings, enshrined in the many dimensions of truth. Hence the study of
scriptures raise lay people also to the level of the the mind that encompasses truth will be the
gurus, because as Swami Vivekananda says, ‘each most interesting study.
soul is potentially divine’ and this divinity is uni- This is what Raja Yoga proposes to teach. The
versal. Thus, we too have the right to become goal of all its teaching is how to concentrate the
universal personalities by realising the Truth. minds, then, how to discover the innermost re-
But how many of us are able to strictly observe cesses of our own minds, then, how to generalise
the ten commandments of Bible in our life? The their contents and to form our own conclusions
verses from the Koran or the teachings of the from them. It, therefore, never asks the ques-
Gita have just become scriptures to be quoted tion, what our religion is, whether we are Deists
or Atheists, whether Christians, Jews, or Bud-
and not practised.
dhists. We are human beings; that is sufficient.6
Swamiji points out: ‘Yoga is the science which
teaches us how to get these perceptions. It is not Thus, the personality of a yogi is able to en-
of much use to talk about religion until one has compass the whole humanity. It is beyond caste,
felt it. … If there is a God we must see him, if religion, class, and creed, and becomes a univer-
there is a soul, we must perceive it; otherwise, it sal personality.
is better not to believe. It is better to be an out- A precondition to the achievement of a uni-
spoken atheist than a hypocrite.’4 The yogi says versal personality is the practice of the eight-
that there is nothing supernatural within this fold path of yoga. Firstly, yama and niyama are
world. There are only gross and subtle manifest- the moral training that an individual should get
ations of energy. The subtle are the causes, and to prepare oneself for the progress in yoga. For
the gross, the effects. The gross can be easily per- every endeavour, a person should undergo strict
ceived by the senses, not the subtle. The practice and rigorous training. An astronaut or a soldier
of raja yoga will be helpful to acquaint with more has to undergo rigorous physical and mental
subtle perceptions. training before starting the official duties.
Raja Yoga is the ladder connecting our phe- Yama includes non-killing, truthfulness,
nomenal existence with the Great Noumenon non-stealing, continence, and non-receiving of
any gifts. Niyama includes cleanliness, content- this control of prana power. ‘The gigantic will-
ment, austerity, study of scriptures, and devo- powers of the world, the world-movers can bring
tion and surrender to God. We have to develop their Prana into a high state of vibration, and it
certain qualities, physical and mental, to pre- is so great and powerful that it catches others in
pare ourselves for rigorous practices. The third a moment, and thousands are drawn towards
step is the asana or physical posture. These pos- them, and half the world think as they do’ (1.155).
tures train the body to maintain the best and The wonderful works done by great personal-
adequate physical condition by equipping the ities like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelanjelo,
muscles, blood circulation, and strengthen Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King,
nerves to bear the qualities of a yogi. In various Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van
sports, different exercises and diet are prescribed Beethoven, and Milkha Singh and Usain Bolt
by the coaches to make the person fit to be a in their respective areas have been due to the
good sportsperson. control, regulation, and focus of prana through
Pranayama: Prana is the basic life-force and rigorous practice, though many of them had not
yama implies its control. If we are able to control been aware of this. This principle works in spir-
the basic life-force, we will be able to control itual practice too. That part of pranayama that
the whole body and the whole world. Swamiji attempts to understand and control the physical
explains: ‘Breath is like the fly-wheel of this ma- manifestations of prana is physical science and
chine, the body. In a big engine, you find the fly- that part which tries to control the manifest-
wheel first moving, and that motion is conveyed ations of prana as mental force by mental means
to finer and finer machinery until the most deli- is part of raja yoga.
cate and finest mechanism in the machine is in
motion. The breath is that fly wheel, supplying Yoga as a Therapy
and regulating the motive power to everything Yoga helps to reduce risk factors associated with
in this body’ (1.143). The proof of yoga is the ex- cardiovascular diseases. In a systematic review of
perience gained through regular practice and thirty-seven randomised controlled trials, which
these experiences have a universal dimension. included 2,768 subjects, investigatory results
The effect of pranayama can be extended from Netherlands and the US found ‘promis-
from the body to the external nature. ‘It is Prana ing evidence’ that yoga is beneficial in managing
that is manifesting as gravitation, as magnetism. and improving the risk factors associated with
It is Prana that is manifesting as the actions of cardiovascular diseases and is a potentially ef-
the body, as the nerve currents, as thought force. fective therapy for cardiovascular health.7 It is
From thought down to the lowest force, every- because of the importance of yoga that 21 June
thing is but the manifestation of Prana. The sum has been declared by the UN as the international
total of all forces in the universe, mental or phys- day of yoga.
ical, when resolved back to their original state, is Hence, the Indian yoga, which is an integral
called Prana’ (1.148). This realisation brings the part of Hindu Dharma, is a globally accepted
universalisation of this personality, limited by physical, mental, and spiritual practice for uni-
the body, mind, and intellect, and also by space, versal experience, out of which a universal per-
time, and causation. sonality can emerge. P
The gigantic personalities in this world had (Continued on page 800)
W
hen we speak of the Holy character. If one has a saintly character, we call
Mother, it sounds a bit peculiar, him or her a saint.
and after coming here, I feel it all the Another thing comes into our mind, that of a
more.1 I do not know who first called her by that saint who lived in the remote past. His life comes
English name, the Holy Mother. In India, we call to us through the eyes of history, but it is a mix-
her simply Mother, or to translate accurately, ture of facts and legends, and we have a sense of
the Revered Mother. When we write in Eng- remoteness. Yes, that life gives us inspiration, just
lish, we say the Holy Mother, but it does not like some mythological story, where we know
connote the right sense of the Bengali word. In that these are not all facts. It is the same with
the West, especially, the word ‘Holy Mother’ the life of a saint who lived long ago, in the mid-
will give some other sense, some connotation dle ages or earlier. We find that fact come to us
of Christian theology. But in any case, I think mixed with legend and with many stories, which
the Western disciples coined that expression. I we find hard to believe. Nevertheless, their lives
find in one of Sister Nivedita’s books that she give us valuable spiritual inspiration. But it is
says, ‘Sarada Devi, or “the Holy Mother”, as she hard to believe that there can be a modern saint
is called amongst us’.2 Naturally, the Western dis- as great as those of the past. We suffer from the
ciples coined that expression. In any case, my inferiority complex of the present age; we think
subject is ‘Sri Sarada Devi, The Holy Mother—A that these things were possible in the past, but
Great Saint of India’. not in the present.
Now, what do we mean by the word ‘saint’? I remember that, while very young, I read a
In this modern age, when we say the word lecture given by Swami Vivekananda in India.
‘saint’, what does it mean? Usually we think He said that if ‘there have been sages and Rishis
that he or she was canonised by the Pope, and in the past, be sure that there will be many now.
I read some time ago that there is a compli- … They had hundreds of Rishis in ancient India.
cated process by which one is considered to We will have millions—we are going to have.’4 I
be a saint and canonised. There are incidents remember when I read those lines, I felt a sort
where a person died excommunicated, but af- of thrill. The bridge between the past and the
terwards the mistake was found out, even after present was built; the gulf between the past and
a century, and she was canonised and called a the present was gone. I thought: ‘Yes, it is a great
saint.3 So, when we utter the word ‘saint’, the truth. Why should we think that the saints are
feeling comes that it came through the Vatican; only in the past? Why not in the present? If it was
or, we may think that he or she has a saintly possible in the past, it is possible in the present.’
IMAGE: HTTPS://KARNATAKATRAVEL.BLOGSPOT.COM/
our intelligence, the greater the chance of being will know.’6 Just imagine! In 1894, she was not
duped. I know of several cases where intellectual much known, except to the disciples, who had
snobs, proud of their intellectual power, fell an respect for her. They knew they had great regard
easy victim to charlatans. We cannot even see a for her; there’s no doubt about it, and Swamiji
saint unless she or he reveals herself or himself was chosen the leader of that group by Sri Rama-
to us. Or, if we are fortunate enough to have the krishna himself. He also said: ‘To me, Mother’s
mood, we can just feel a glimpse of their person- grace is a hundred thousand times more valuable
ality. Only a saint can understand and recog- than Father’s. Mother’s grace, Mother’s blessings
nise a saint. Holy Mother once said: ‘How can are all paramount to me. … Brother, before pro-
everybody recognize divinity, daughter? There ceeding to America I wrote to Mother to bless me.
lay a diamond at a bathing place. Taking it as an Her blessings came, and at one bound I cleared the
ordinary stone, people rubbed the soles of their ocean’ (ibid.).
At that time, he was in conflict and did not Swami Saradananda, a disciple of Sri Rama-
know what to do. I think he was in West India, krishna, was the secretary of the Ramakrishna
in Bombay, or at least on that side, and he wrote Mission. He was a great scholarly man, with a
to her in Bengal. What should he do? Holy highly rational outlook, and was a man of few
Mother gave the decision, ‘Yes, you go’. Im- words. He would not say one unnecessary word,
agine the important role she played. How de- as it were, and as such, whatever he uttered was
cisive she was, even in the life of Swamiji. Just significant. There was a hundred percent value
imagine, if she had said, ‘Don’t go’. The whole when he uttered a single word. Quietly, he would
Vedanta movement would not have begun say that the work he was doing could be done by
in America, and we would not be here today anyone else, if Holy Mother wished. She could
speaking about her. pick up any other person from the street and get
When Swamiji returned to India, he went the same work done. That was his feeling.
to Calcutta. When he went to Holy Mother’s Now these were the things that we heard
place to see her, he sprinkled Ganges water on when we joined the Order and naturally our re-
himself as he went. We do such things when we gard for her began to increase more and more. It
go to a sacred place, to a temple for worship. She has always been a delicate problem for us, even
was literally a goddess to him. He would say to now, to say in a short answer what she was. We
his brother disciples: ‘Please pardon me. I am a could at best say that she was the wife of Sri
little bigoted there, as regards Mother’ (ibid.). Ramakrishna, but it would be sacrilegious for
It was not for nothing that Swamiji spoke that us even to unconsciously suggest that it was a
way. Swamiji was aggressive. He could express married life in the ordinary sense. We could not
what he felt and he could express very strongly. express what she was, in a short answer.
There was another brother disciple as great Yes, she was married to Sri Ramakrishna and
as he was. Sri Ramakrishna praised him as much she was married while very young. It would be
as he praised Swamiji. Swami Brahmananda shocking to you to know that she was married
was the first president of the Order and he was at the age of five years and Sri Ramakrishna was
just the opposite of Swamiji. Quiet, gentle, he twenty-four. Sri Ramakrishna at that time was
would not like to speak out religious feelings. constantly in spiritual ecstasy and his mother
He would hardly like to speak about Sri Rama- thought, according to the advice of worldly-wise
krishna. He would say: ‘Who will understand?’ people, that she would get him married and then
His feeling was so deep and his sentiment was he would return to the normal consciousness. It
so sacred that he would not like to say anything is surprising that Sri Ramakrishna agreed. They
even about Sri Ramakrishna. could not find a suitable bride and Sri Rama-
Once he said about the Holy Mother: ‘With krishna himself said that in a certain village,
her is the key of self-illumination.’ And when four miles away, there was a girl who might be
he would go to see the Holy Mother, he would a suitable bride. They were married, although
quake with emotion. While the young brah- it was not marriage, as you say in India; it was
macharis would go to the Holy Mother very a betrothal.
freely, just as one goes to one’s mother, he and After that, Sri Ramakrishna went away to
his brother disciples would quake with emotion Dakshineswar and passed through spiritual
as they went to see her. storms. His experiences came in thunders and
storms, as it were. The whole world was nothing He said: ‘Look at the people of Calcutta; they
to him, what to think of his marriage. He lived are like worms squirming in darkness. You must
in another world and people thought that he had bring light to them. This is not my burden alone.
become crazy. This news reached Sarada Devi You too shall have to share it.’ Another day he
at her home and naturally she was anxious and had told her, ‘Look here, won’t you do anything?
concerned. Opportunity came, and she went to Must “this” do everything?’ (Sri Ramakrishna
Dakshineswar. It is strange that Sri Ramakrishna would not say ‘I’.) She replied, ‘But what can I
received her with great kindness. do? I am a mere woman.’ He said, ‘No, no, you
Afterwards, it was said, some persons would will have to do many things’.7
pity the Holy Mother thinking that her husband As a matter of fact, she did. Sri Ramakrishna
was such. She said: ‘Why should you say that? had not more than two dozen disciples, I believe.
When I am in his presence, I feel a big jar of bliss, The monastic disciples were twelve in number,
as it were, in my heart. My heart is full of bliss and all his lay disciples at best might be twen-
and joy.’ That is interesting. Though his mind ty.8 The disciples, the persons who got spiritual
was always in the highest spiritual state, he was shelter in the Holy Mother, could be counted
extremely kind to her. Never did he utter a word by the hundreds in her lifetime. Now it could be
that would give her even the slightest annoyance. counted by thousands.
She became something like a disciple to him. He But what was the indication of her spiritual
gave her training in spiritual life, but soon she power? How could those who came into con-
outgrew the status of a disciple, and she became tact with her feel that she had so much spir-
his complement, his peer, his helpmate in his itual power? Usually, she lived like an ordinary
spiritual mission. woman in an orthodox Brahmin family. She
Once I had to prepare the manuscript of a lived with her parents, at first, and then with her
book called The Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. brothers, an ordinary life in a poor family, doing
My idea was that I would put the life of Holy hard physical work. But why is it that the people
Mother in that book. But when the manuscript who went to her would feel so much strength?
was almost ready and when I saw the facts of her That is a mystery. When there is power, it ex-
life, then I could not put her life in that book. presses itself.
She was a disciple, but when she grew to her full It is an interesting thing that after coming
stature, she was the complement to Sri Rama- here I know more of the Holy Mother than I
krishna, and Sri Ramakrishna recognised that in knew in India. It is because last year was the cen-
full measure in his lifetime. tenary of the Holy Mother and many persons
Sri Ramakrishna would sometimes send a dis- gave their reminiscences. Usually, they would
ciple to her for spiritual instructions. He sent one not like to give them, but it was an important
of his monastic disciples, who became a monk af- occasion and they felt that these things should
terwards, to Holy Mother, saying that there was be kept for posterity. Now I find that these
one greater than he. ‘Go to her.’ One day before things happened.
Sri Ramakrishna died, when he was on his sick- Here is one instance: A person came to the
bed, Holy Mother came with food for him. His Holy Mother’s place for spiritual help. Holy
eyes were closed. Holy Mother stood there and Sri Mother took him to the shrine, gave him some
Ramakrishna came back, as if from a great distance. instructions, and in the course of that she said:
‘From now on, the effects of all your past deeds, cry and weep. Sometimes I would laugh to see
for many, many lives, are gone. Think that you them doing that. The Holy Mother quietly said:
are pure and free, that you are eternal, blissful, “My boy, you are young. You do not know the
and illumined.’ degree of suffering in the world. In time, you will
That man later said: ‘At once I felt a thrill know.” She was so sympathetic.’
within me. I felt as if I had gotten rid of all my past Towards the end of the book, and that is more
karma, as if I was separate from all my past deeds.’ beautiful, he said: ‘I am not of devotional na-
There is the power and it is not a momentary im- ture. I do not believe in beggarly supplication to
pulse that had been aroused in him. He lived on God for this or that, or even to Holy Mother. I
that idea. Yes, clouds would come, but he would could not do that. But I know she blest me, and
remember in his saner moments what the Holy is that not enough? Why should I ask anything
Mother had said. It was his strength. from her? She blest me; that is enough for me.
I know of another case, a journalist, who later She showered her affection on me. That is my
became the president of the All India Journalists’ strength. That is my solace.’ Just see how lives can
Association. He is now dead. I knew him in my be transformed simply by a touch!
college days and I knew that he was a devotee, He narrates another incident:
but I did not know then, that he was a disciple When I went to Holy Mother’s place, I found
of the Holy Mother. a boy who was not only flippant, but wild. I
In his reminiscences, he writes: ‘By nature, I thought: “How could this man come here?”
am proud and conceited.’ I knew he was. One And that wild young man went to the Holy
day I met him in a park in the evening while I Mother, and she gave him some instruction. He
went out for a walk. He was interested in Ben- was then in great joy, and he went away to his
gali literature and at that time the great poet own place. Now and then I would meet him.
The last time was when he was doing relief work
Rabindranath Tagore was still living. I said:
in times of plague, in another state, Bihar. I find
‘Who do you think is the important Bengali that he died doing that relief work, and he died
writer after Tagore?’ He said, ‘I am!’ There might with the name of Mother on his lips.
be a little humour in it, but I simply did not say
anything; I kept quiet. Just imagine, a wild young man, who after-
And so he said in his book, in beautiful Ben- wards could sacrifice his life. He could be daring
gali: ‘By nature I am turbulent, I am proud, I am enough to go for plague relief work, and he died
conceited, but when I go to the Holy Mother, uttering the name of the Mother.
when I am in the presence of the Holy Mother, It was not just one incident; there were many,
I feel just like a debtor before a creditor, a debtor many incidents. I know of a disciple, an im-
who cannot pay his debts.’ In India, a debtor that portant monk who was the president of the Mis-
cannot pay his debts, looks timid and fearful sion afterwards. At that time, I was in a monas-
when he is in the presence of his creditor. tery at Mayavati. He said that it was private, but
Once, he was very young at the time, he was nowadays, I think these incidents are published
in the presence of the Holy Mother, when de- in books, although the name is not given. He
votees were coming. He said: ‘Many devotees said: ‘I was doing intense spiritual practices at
would come, and in the presence of the Holy home, before I became a monk. I came to Holy
Mother, in an emotional outburst, they would Mother for spiritual instruction. Holy Mother
gave an instruction that was opposed to what I how to hide herself. She knew how to come
was doing, and I said that I had been doing that down to your level. She knew how to make you
thing for a long time.’ Holy Mother quietly said, at ease. Because of that, any person who would
‘No, this is yours’. He said, ‘I followed it, and af- go near her, would find her a mother, and not
terwards I found that it was the right thing for only like an earthly mother, but much more
me’. Imagine the power.9 intense than that. Just imagine, strangers came
He told me of another incident. After the from different places, sometimes coming from
passing away of Swamiji, he felt so much grief other countries. She had several Western dis-
that he thought he would devote all of his time ciples, and they would go to her and at once
intensely to spiritual practices. He did and as a they found her, the Mother.
result there was brain fag. He consulted phys- Sometimes it was dangerous. Sister Nivedita,
icians; he went to Calcutta, but nobody could when she went to India for the first time, met
help him. And then he went to Holy Mother’s Holy Mother, and she said: ‘I lived with the
country house in her village home. Holy Mother, but Holy Mother belonged to an
Holy Mother asked him: ‘In what way are orthodox Brahmin family. If she allowed any
you doing your spiritual practices?’ And he told Westerner to live with her, she could be socially
her what he was doing. Holy Mother shuddered persecuted at home.’ But the motherly feeling
and said, ‘What are you doing!’ She gave him was stronger in her than any consideration. She
instructions, ‘Just do this way’. He was cured, allowed Sister Nivedita to live with her. Sister
not only physically but also spiritually. Just see, Nivedita afterwards said: ‘If I knew what embar-
when you know these incidents, and you com- rassment it was to her, if I knew what a great risk
pare, you can see what a powerful personality she undertook, I would consider thrice before
she was (101–2). making such a request to her.’
One of the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, who Had I deeply understood at the time, the de-
was in charge of the management of Belur Math, gree of social embarrassment which my rash-
said: ‘The poison, which we cannot assimilate, ness might have brought, not only upon my
we send to the Holy Mother.’10 Just imagine, he innocent hostess but also on her kindred in
said these things. But it was not only her spir- their distant village, I could not have acted as I
itual power; it was mixed up with her motherly did. At any cost, I must in that case have with-
feelings. That made her so important. It was not drawn. As it was, however, I imagined caste to
her spiritual grandeur, for in that case it would be be only a foolish personal prejudice—which
must yield to knowledge—against some sup-
awe-inspiring, and one would not be able to go
posed uncleanness of foreign habits, and thus
near her. She knew how to conceal her strength. cheerfully assuming all the ignorance to be on
Sri Ramakrishna said: ‘She is like a cat hid- her side, confidently forced myself upon this
den in ashes. She knows how to hide herself.’ Indian lady’s hospitality.11
‘A cat hidden in ashes’ is a Bengali expression.
Cats in Bengal, in the winter, like to stay near But Holy Mother’s motherly feeling was
the fire. When the fire is out, the ashes are a bit much greater than all this.
warm, and the cat hides in the ashes. And so, It happened even in the time of Sri Rama-
Sri Ramakrishna would give an illustration that krishna. Sri Ramakrishna was strict with his
way: ‘She is like a cat hidden in ashes!’ She knew younger disciples, who afterwards were to be
monks. He would be strict about their diet, and were other cases.
he prescribed that they should eat very little at There was a Mo-
night. Holy Mother served them food and she hammedan, who
would serve them more food than would get was a robber. He
approval from Sri Ramakrishna. Once Sri Rama- would come to her
krishna asked her: ‘You feed them so much. Who place, and the villa-
will take care of their spiritual life? Will you?’ He gers would say: ‘He
said that, not requesting, just as if she were spoil- is a robber and you
ing them, as it were. allow him to come
Holy Mother quietly said, ‘Yes, I will’. Holy here! He is a danger-
Mother was so self-effacing, she would not say ‘I’. ous person.’ But Holy
But imagine, at that trying moment, she said, ‘I Mother tamed him
will’. So, sometimes her motherly feelings would with her kindness
get the better of her spiritual grandeur. And it and affection. He
was very important, for because of that, many was a different person
persons would go, and get spiritual help from her. when he would come
And it was not always that the big Calcutta to the Holy Mother.
people who would go to her. She had the same So, not only big
affection for ordinary, even despised people. I persons but also
heard directly from a person, who belongs to humble persons,
the depressed class, who would not be allowed to everybody had an
enter into the house of any person, much more equal share of affec-
the house of a Brahmin family. tion from her. But the beauty is that that affec-
He went to her place in her village home. tion was spiritually uplifting. It was not simply
Many persons would go to her village home be- human affection, for it was spiritual strength
cause thereby one would easily get access to her. that she transfused that way.
In Calcutta, naturally, there would be persons And in ordinary life, she was self-giving, she
to protect her. She gave spiritual instructions was all patience. Even as a human ideal, she was
to him and after that she said, ‘Come’. He went superb. She did not demand the slightest thing
to her room and she said, ‘Close the door’. And from anyone. When suffering came, she suffered.
she fed him. You see, if you know the situation Nowadays, she is much respected, literally wor-
that such a despised person, a pariah, would not shipped, but she had to pass through her due
ordinarily be allowed to go into the house, but share of trials and tribulations.
Holy Mother fed him and herself served dishes It was not simply because she was the wed-
to him. Not only that, afterwards she herself ded wife of Sri Ramakrishna that she commands
cleaned the spot and washed the dishes. It would respect. By her own right, she does that. After
be considered sacrilegious for a person even to the passing away of Sri Ramakrishna, she was in
allow such things to happen, and I simply shud- his village home. At that time, for a period, she
dered that she could do that. That person, as he passed through dire poverty. As they say in Ben-
was telling me, shed tears that she did that. gal, even if she had rice, she had no salt to eat
She did not do this only for that man, there with it. Literally, she passed through that period,
and she would not utter a single word about her try to understand what she was. At least, let us
sufferings. She was perfectly unselfish. have spiritual inspiration from her life; let us
Sometimes I think; what is meant by perfec- get consolation from the fact that there was
tion? Yes, she had perfect purity, she was per- such a life. That is enough for us, to get spiritual
fectly unselfish, she was perfectly self-giving, and help and transformation. P
she was the embodiment of forgiveness and pa-
tience. If you narrate this, all these things com- Notes and References
bined do not give the true picture of what she 1. This is an edited transcript of the talk given
was. She was much more than the combination by Swami Pavitrananda on 8 January 1956 at
of all these things. When you get her full picture, the Vedanta Society of New York. Pavitrananda
has also written a short biography of the Holy
she was much bigger than that.
Mother. See Swami Pavitrananda, A Short Life
One disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, Latu, had of the Holy Mother (Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama,
no learning, but he had great spiritual experi- 2017). For more discussion on Pavitrananda’s
ence, and he would say things in a much clearer views on the Holy Mother see Pravrajika Gay-
way than one could say with scholarliness. He atriprana, ‘Sarada Devi, A Power that Worked
in Silence: The Testimony of a Ramakrishna
said to a disciple with respect to Holy Mother: Order Monk’, American Vedantist, 10/3 (Fall
‘You cannot know Holy Mother that way. When 2004), 15–20 <https://americanvedantist.org/
you undergo severe spiritual practices, then only wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Vol_10_No_3.
will you know what the Holy Mother is.’ It is pdf> accessed 30 October 2019.
so true. I can give you facts, and I thought that 2. Sister Nivedita, The Master as I Saw Him (Kol-
kata: Udbodhan, 2004), 119.
instead of making any comment of my own, I 3. St Joan of Arc (1412–31), who became a martyr
would simply give you certain facts from her fighting to recover France from English domin-
life. But that would not be enough. Only if one ation, was canonised as a Roman Catholic saint
evolves spiritually does one get a glimpse of her in 1920.
4. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9
personality. Otherwise, it would be hard for us
vols (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1–8, 1989; 9,
to believe that these things could be true. 1997), 3.282–4.
Yes, if there could be saints in the past, there 5. The Gospel of the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi
can be saints in the present age also. But many (Madras: Ramakrishna Math, 2002), 303.
will have to wait for years, when it becomes a 6. Complete Works, 7.484.
7. Swami Chetanananda, Sri Sarada Devi and Her
past event. Then many people will know, and as Divine Play (St Louis: Vedanta Society of St
time passes, a larger and larger number of per- Louis, 2015), 147.
sons will be interested in her, and a larger and 8. The actual number of monastic disciples of Sri
larger number of persons will feel uplifted that a Ramakrishna, including Swami Vivekananda,
is sixteen.
soul like her was born in this world.
9. Swami Pavitrananda is referring to Swami Vi-
Twenty or thirty years before her passing rajananda, who was the sixth president of the
away, it would be difficult to get a picture of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mis-
the Holy Mother, people kept her so guarded. sion. See Swami Shraddhananda, The Story of
They did not like to expose her to people who an Epoch: Swami Virajananda and His Times
(Chennai: Ramakrishna Math, 2001), 39–40.
would not understand her. But in her own 10. Swami Pavitrananda is referring to Swami Pre-
right, she is spreading her message. And those mananda.
will be blessed, if they can understand, or even 11. The Master as I Saw Him, 119.
T
he broad class ‘human beings’ can wealth or holy treasures and those possessed
have sub-classes and sub-sub-classes. of demoniac wealth or evil tendencies. Divine
One common way of the classification of wealth is to be coveted just as demoniac wealth
human beings is based on geographical region: is to be shunned. It is necessary for one keen
American, Indian, African, Pakistani, Chinese, on spiritual advancement to migrate from de-
Japanese, Korean, and so on. We can have fur- moniac wealth regime to divine wealth regime
ther sub-classes as a Bengali, Tamilian, Maha- through personal effort, God’s grace, and bless-
rashtrian, Bihari, Telugu, Malayali, and so on ings of a realised soul.
under the major classification, Indian. This is a Divine Wealth • In the first three verses, Sri
linguistic classification. One can have intellec- Krishna describes the characteristics of one
tual classification such as Nobel laureate, scien- born with divine wealth. These are: ‘Fearless-
tist, artist, chartered accountant, and so on. Or, ness, purity of heart, steadfastness in the yoga of
there can be work-related classification such as knowledge, charity, self-control, sacrifice, study
doctor, engineer, surgeon, and so on. This is the of the scriptures, austerity, uprightness; non-in-
human approach to dividing people into groups jury, truthfulness, absence of anger, self-sacrifice,
and sub-groups. It is seen that there is a greater tranquillity, freedom from slander, kindness to
intimacy and clinging amongst people of the beings, non-covetousness, gentleness, modesty,
same group. Doctors can have a joint confer- absence of fickleness; and, boldness, forgiveness,
ence, for example. However, when a divine being fortitude, purity, absence of hatred, absence of
classifies human beings, it is on the basis of spir- conceit.’2 This divine wealth leads to liberation
itual achievements and latent capabilities. This and that is the reason why it is coveted. Anyone
is a major difference and it is so because a divine can understand that there is great merit in having
being concentrates one’s attention on the div- divine wealth. Sri Krishna tells Arjuna specific-
inity manifest in a human being and the qualities ally not to worry or grieve because he was in pos-
that enable one to transform the latent divinity session of divine wealth.
into patent divinity. The message of such a di- Demoniac Wealth • The demoniac wealth,
vine being, Swami Vivekananda, to humanity is on the other hand, leads one to bondage. The
‘how to make it [this divinity] manifest in every demoniac wealth is stated briefly: ‘Ostentation,
movement of life’.1 arrogance, self-conceit, anger, rudeness, and ig-
norance belong to one who is born of demoniac
Classification: Type 1 wealth’ (16.4), and elaborated later:
Sri Krishna devotes the verses in the sixteenth Persons rich in demoniac wealth do not know
chapter of the Bhagavadgita to classify people what to do and what to refrain from; they have
into two broad types: those possessed of divine neither purity nor good conduct nor truth
(16.7). They describe the world as being with- divine wealth. That is the reason for the poor
out a truth, without a basis, without a God, condition of the world we live in today.
and brought about by mutual union—as noth- Gates to Hell • ‘There are three types of gates
ing but originating in lust (16.8). Holding this to hell, destructive of the self—lust, anger, and
view, these ruined souls of small intellects and
greed; therefore, these three should be shunned’
of fierce deeds are born for the destruction of
the world as its enemies (16.9). Resorting to in- (16.21). ‘The person, who has got rid of these three
satiable desires, full of hypocrisy, pride, and ar- gates to darkness, practises what is good for one-
rogance, they, of impure vows, act holding false self and thus goes to the supreme goal’ (16.22).
views through delusion (16.10). Beset with im- Scriptural Injunctions • The importance of
mense cares ending only with death, regarding scriptural injunctions is highlighted next: ‘One
gratification of sensual enjoyment as their high- who, setting aside the ordinances of the scrip-
est aim, and convinced that this is all (16.11); tures, acts under the impulse of desire, attains
bound by a hundred ties of expectation and neither perfection nor happiness nor the su-
given to lust and anger, they strive to collect by
foul means storehouses of wealth for sense grat- preme goal’ (16.23). The scriptures are the out-
ification (16.12). ‘This has been gained today pourings of God and so they should be treated
by me; this desire I shall obtain; this wealth is as God’s mandate. They have the special power
mine, and this other too will be mine’ (16.13). to mould the character of a person who, set-
‘That enemy has been slain by me, and the ting aside the ordinances of the scriptures, acts
others too I will slay. I am the Lord, I am full under the impulse of desire, merely following
of enjoyments, I am successful, powerful, and family traditions.
happy’ (16.14). ‘I am rich and of noble birth; Whether a person is by nature sattvic or
who else is equal to me? I will sacrifice, I will
rajasic or tamasic, following the scriptures
make gifs, I will rejoice’. Thus, deluded by ignor-
ance (16.15), perplexed by various fanciful ideas, checks the inherent tendency and makes all ac-
entangled in the net of delusion, and addicted tions sattvic. Otherwise, one’s shraddha will be
to the gratification of desires, they fall into foul rajasic or tamasic, and one will not reach the su-
hell (16.16). Self-esteemed, arrogant, filled with preme human goal. ‘So, let the scriptures be your
vanity and haughtiness due to material wealth, authority in ascertaining what ought to be done
they ostentatiously perform sacrifices in name, and what ought not to be done. Having known
disregarding prescribed methods (16.17). Pos- what has been prescribed by the scriptures, you
sessed of self-conceit, power, insolence, lust,
should act in this matter’ (16.24). By differen-
and anger, these cavilling people perform sac-
rifices, hating God residing in their own bodies tiating between the divine and the demoniac
and in those of others (16.18). These cruel hat- wealth, it is shown in the sixteenth chapter of
ers, the most degraded of men, I hurl perpet- the Gita that the pure-souled alone are fit for the
ually among demoniacal species in the trans- knowledge of Truth.
migratory worlds (16.19). Obtaining demoniac
bodies, and deluded birth after birth, far from Classification: Type 2
attaining divine stature, they fall into still lower Sri Krishna states: ‘Four kinds of people who
conditions (16.20). have done virtuous deeds worship God: the dis-
These are definitely poor specimens of hu- tressed person, the aspirant after knowledge, the
manity and in today’s world, sadly, they far out- seeker of wealth, and the person of knowledge’
number the jewels among humanity, who possess (7.16). It is notable that they all believe in divine
intervention that presupposes belief and faith in so do I accept them and grant that wished-for
God. ‘Of these, the person of knowledge who is result; for, in all ways, even the worshippers of
constantly in communion and single-minded minor gods, walk in the path of supreme God
in devotion excels. To the person of knowledge, alone (4.11). When minor gods are worshipped,
I alone am being worshipped. People worship
God is very dear indeed and such a person is
minor deities because in this world of human
dear to God’ (7.17). An important observation beings, the fruit of action comes quickly. People
is made here. The bond of love between the spir- seldom worship the supreme God for attaining
itual person and God is mutual. If God is dear moksha which is the result of knowledge, be-
to me, I too am dear to God. Thus, it is logical cause knowledge is hard to attain (4.12).
that one should act in such a way as pleases God,
who is dear to the aspirant, so that one in turn Classification: Type 3
becomes very dear to God, bhaktiman yah sa me There is another classification based on: a) the
priyah (12.17). religion one subscribes to, b) the language one
Happily one who worships God with the idea speaks, c) the caste to which one belongs, and
of getting a remedy from one’s present state of d) the dollar-caste, as it is called, that is, wealth.
distress, or amassing earthly wealth, or success The religion or language based classification
in one’s spiritual aspirations, is also considered has led to identification of the physical number
by God to be a worshipper. That is so because of the members of each religious or linguistic
they worship God for getting one’s blessings. ‘All group within a geographical boundary as a per-
of these worshippers are indeed noble, but the cent of the total population, and the granting
person of realisation is God’s very Self; for, with of religious or linguistic minority status for the
one’s mind fixed on God, one has taken refuge in groups with a small representation. This has cre-
God alone as the highest goal’ (7.18). ‘At the end ated unpleasant situations as it indirectly means
of innumerable births, the person of realisation more privilege for the minority and less for the
takes refuge in God knowing that all this is God. majority. There is a never-ending battle between
Such a saint is exceedingly rare’ (7.19). various groups, and we return again and again to
Deprived of discrimination by particular desires, that question of how long such privileges ought
some worship other deities observing particular to be entertained and whether such privileges
rites, being swayed by their own nature (7.20). are extended in all nations; if not, why only in
Whatever form a particular devotee wishes to some nations?
worship with faith, concerning that form of The caste-based classification was done by
god and mode of worship alone, the supreme Sri Krishna as stated by him in the Gita: ‘The
God makes one’s faith unflinching (7.21). En-
four castes were created by me according to the
dowed with that faith, one worships that deity,
and from that deity gets one’s desires fulfilled, differences in aptitudes and actions. Though
which are indeed granted by the supreme God the author of them, know me, the immutable,
alone (7.22). But that fruit of these persons of as non-agent (4.13).’ In today’s world, appoint-
little understanding has an end; the worshippers ments for various jobs are made after detailed
of gods go to the gods, but the devotees of the interviews. There is the test for skill in expres-
supreme God come to the supreme God (7.23). sion, to the extent of deciding whether a per-
By whatever way people worship me, be it son is good or trainable, a test for technical skill,
possessed of desires or as free from them, even an aptitude test, an emotional quotient test, an
intellectual quotient test, a general knowledge a person does not have the requisite qualifica-
test, a spiritual quotient test, a test for ability to tion for any other type of work in society—and
work harmoniously with others in a team, and an if such a person attempts any other work, one
interview by the human resources personnel—all will be a failure and become frustrated and de-
this may be called personality tests. During the pressed, eventually becoming a moral wreck—
training period, an assessment is made again of and such a person also being a member of society
how much rigour one can undergo. This process has to have some means for sustenance. It is also
is followed more or less by all corporate com- to be noted that if a person of this type does not
panies to select the most suitable persons for a perform one’s duty, the entire social fabric will
job. No one objects to this system of differenti- fall to pieces and people belonging to other cat-
ating between people interested in a job! egories will have to leave their place of residence
The four castes, varna, are: brahmana, en masse for healthier pastures! So, in spite of
kshatriya, vaishya, and shudra. The four stages, the nature of one’s work, everyone is a very im-
ashrama, of life are: brahmacharya, student life; portant member of society—as important or
garhasthya, householder; vanaprastha, recluse; sometimes even more important than the others.
and sannyasa, monasticism. The idea behind It is easy to understand that a king or a priest will
varna and ashrama is certainly noble. People fare poorly as a cobbler; and a cobbler too will
differ in their psycho-physical apparatus and all fare poorly as a king or a priest.
cannot perform every task equally efficiently. So, Further, it is said that in and through the
sooner than later, there will arise frustration in work one performs, each can attain moksha. ‘De-
those poor performers. Hence, as mentioned in voted to one’s own duty, one attains perfection.
the Gita, the caste-based classification defined Listen how one engaged in one’s own duty at-
four castes with their associated works: tains perfection’ (18.45). ‘From whom proceeds
The duties of the brahmana, kshatriya, and the activity of all beings, and by whom all this is
vaishya as also of the shudra, are clearly div- pervaded, worshipping God through one’s own
ided according to the dispositions born of duty, one attains perfection’ (18.46). This is the
their own nature (combination of sattva, rajas, secret of work and the underlying caste system.
tamas) (18.41). Serenity, self-control, austerity, No one is barred from attaining perfection if the
purity, forbearance, and also uprightness, know-
work is performed with the right spirit. What is
ledge, realisation, and faith, are the duties of a
brahmana born of one’s nature (18.42). Hero- important in the language of Sri Ramakrishna is
ism, boldness, firmness, dexterity, not fleeing to know which lid, category of people, goes with
from the battle, generosity, and lordliness, are which vessel, work.
the duties of a kshatriya born of one’s nature This caste system also had the benefit of
(18.43). Agriculture, cattle-rearing, and trade avoiding from any caste member, competition
are the duties of a vaishya born of one’s nature; to the work assigned to another caste. This will
and work of the nature of service is the duty of avoid such situations as arising from Arjuna’s
a shudra born of one’s nature (18.44). desire to take to sannyasa giving up his duty as
A shudra being endowed with dullness, in- a kshatriya to fight a war against unrighteous-
ertia, laziness, and sleep, is only fit for the work ness. Sri Krishna openly declared: ‘Paradharmo
of the nature of service. This is not to be mis- bhayavahah; the duty of another is fraught with
construed as social discrimination, because such danger’ (3.35). If one performs a work not in
lead them to annihilation. When a man thus devotees form a caste by themselves. This caste
bound to the world is about to die, his wife is ‘those with divine wealth’ and sets them apart
asks, ‘You are about to go; but what have you from those of demoniac wealth. P
done for me?’ Again, such is his attachment
to the things of the world that, when he sees References
the lamp burning brightly, he says: ‘Dim the
1. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9
light. Too much oil is being used.’ And he is
vols (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1–8, 1989; 9,
on his death-bed! 1997), 7.501.
The bound souls never think of God. If 2. Gita, 16.1–3.
they get any leisure they indulge in idle gos- 3. M., The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, trans. Swami
sip and foolish talk, or they engage in fruitless Nikhilananda (Chennai: Ramakrishna Math,
work. If you ask one of them the reason, he an- 2004), 86–7.
swers, ‘Oh, I cannot keep still; so I am making a
hedge’. When time hangs heavy on their hands (Continued from page 785)
they perhaps start playing cards.3
References
Classes of Perfect Souls 1. ‘The Global Religious Landscape’, Religion
and Public Life, Pew Research Center, 18
Some souls realise God without practising any December 2012 <https://www.pewforum.
spiritual discipline. They are called nityasiddha, org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-
eternally perfect. Those who have realised God exec/> accessed 29 October 2019.
through austerity, japa, and the like, are called 2. Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathus-
sadhanasiddha, perfect through spiritual discip- tra, trans. Thomas Wayne (New York: Algora,
line. Again, there are those called kripasiddha, 2003), 67.
perfect through divine grace. These last may 3. Wang Hongyi, ‘China Plans Establishment
of Christian Theology’, China Daily, 7 Au-
be compared to a room kept dark a thousand
gust 2014 <https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/
years, which becomes light the moment a lamp china/2014-08/07/content_18262848.htm>
is brought in. accessed 29 October 2019.
There is also a class of devotees, the hathat- 4. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9
siddha, that is to say, those who have suddenly vols (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1–8, 1989; 9,
attained God-vision. Their case is like that of a 1997), 1.127.
poor boy who has suddenly found favour with 5. Swami Chidananda, The Philosophy, Psychology,
a rich man. The rich man marries his daughter and Practice of Yoga (Tehri Garhwal: Divine
to the boy and along with her gives him land, Life Society, 1999), Publishers’ Preface <http://
www.yoga-age.com/modern/philosophy/phy-
house, carriage, servants, and so forth. There losophy.html> accessed 29 October 2019.
is still another class of devotees, the svapna- 6. Complete Works, 1.131.
siddha, who have had the vision of God in a 7. Paula Chu, Rinske A Gotink, Gloria Y Yeh,
dream (483). Sue J Goldie, and M G Myriam Hunink, ‘The
Effectiveness of Yoga in Modifying Risk Fac-
Time and again Sri Ramakrishna urges de- tors for Cardiovascular Disease and Meta-
votees to give up mundane activities and devote bolic Syndrome: A Systematic Review and
time and energy to cultivate devotion to God. Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Tri-
als’, European Journal of Preventive Cardiology,
The blessings he is eager to shower on human- 23/3 (February 2016), 291–307 <https://doi.
ity is that the divine consciousness in them may org/10.1177%2F2047487314562741> accessed
be awakened. The Holy Mother said that the 29 October 2019.
P
roblems and uncertainties are part
of our life. One wrong decision is enough
to upset a person’s career. The noted psych-
ologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) of the
last century said: ‘I had learned to see that the
greatest and most important problems of life
are all fundamentally insoluble. They must be
so, because they express the necessary polarity
inherent in every self-regulating system. They
can never be solved but only outgrown.’1 Swami
Bhajanananda argues that Jung had understood
the important principle discovered in India:
‘The higher the plane of consciousness we attain,
Carl Gustav Jung
the greater becomes our knowledge and power
to deal with the problems of life.’2 to rule; we are being ruled. We came to work;
Analysing the deficits of our senses and intel- we are being worked. … We are being worked
lect covered with illusion and inborn tenden- upon by other minds, and we are always strug-
cies, an attempt is made to show how our intui- gling to work on other minds. We want to enjoy
the pleasures of life; and they eat into our vitals.
tive power is obstructed and our power of dis-
We want to get everything from nature, but we
cernment is coloured in our dealing with crucial find in the long run that nature takes everything
problems at important junctures of life. It is with
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Living beings do have some kind of discern- of ignorance. So what is the solution? The Maha-
ment all the time. Plants discern between light bharata directs that great persons tread only the
and shade, animals choose what to eat or not. path well-lit by the light of discernment. It is the
But the human being is equipped with a unique power of wisdom and not the power of muscle.
discerning faculty, viveka. Everyone possesses From the philosophical standpoint, this discern-
this faculty in varying degrees, but it is gener- ment is the function of buddhi, intellect, involv-
ally used only in the realm of common objects ing both the faculties of intuition and will. The
or ideas in the relative plane. With the help of former is introspection, while the latter is heav-
viveka, our intellect does all types of differenti- ily determined by one’s attitude and shraddha. A
ation. From childhood onwards, viveka develops person who does not believe in the importance
discerning ideas, emotions, morality, justice, gov- of virtue, cannot practise discernment between
ernance, and so on. virtue and vice.
At every level in daily conduct, we uncon- The Katha Upanishad says that the objective
sciously practise viveka, otherwise, we will suf- of our inner vision is to examine, select, and
fer endlessly. Something that is good in a certain adopt shreya, the long-term beneficial goal,
situation, could be not so good when the cir- rather than preya, the immediate apparent plea-
cumstances change. The human being has special surable goal.5 A person’s natural tendency is to
privilege of judging things, right and wrong. As tread the path of ease and comfort avoiding re-
sub-human animals are devoid of this faculty of straints and responsibilities. The senses are so
discernment, the results of their actions do not powerful that they drag the mind to the imme-
accumulate. While thinking human beings are diate pleasure. Every one aspires for unalloyed
endowed with this power of distinguishing be- joy, uninterrupted peace, absolute freedom, and
tween good and bad actions, there is no way out cessation of misery. The main difficulty in choos-
for them but to reap the consequences of their ing the right type lies in the fact that the higher
actions. But they are not always able to use that forms of happiness are not immediately obvious.
power rightly. Whether this judging is undispu- So naturally one tends to stick to preya leaving
table is determined by the purity of mind of the aside shreya.
judge. An impure mind cannot lead to the Truth. The reason for the tendency to lean towards
There are two categories of discernment, ob- preya has been elaborated in the Katha Upani-
jective dharma-adharma leading to moral values shad, which states that our sense organs are in-
and noble ideals, and subjective dealing with ni- clined to ‘see’ the world outside and not to ‘see’
tya-anitya, permanent-ephemeral. the Self inside, for which one needs long prac-
The basic problems of life cannot be solved tice with patience. The inner Self is realised
through ordinary means, but one has to go to the only by some wise discerning persons, who turn
source of these problems. One might find some inward the focus of the sense organs (2.1.1).
temporary solution through reasoning but the We must see not only the appearance, but also
ultimate solution is through transcending the what lies behind it through spiritual wisdom.
problems. In order to solve the problems of life That is why the Mundaka Upanishad says: ‘The
and find the truth, the human being must rise Self is not comprehended through the eye, nor
to a consciousness level higher than the mind through speech, nor through the other senses;
and reason, which belong to the limited realm nor is it attained through austerity or actions.’6
Curiosity can only lead to increased levels The range of frequencies that can be picked
of knowledge and skill, but not necessarily lead up by the human ear is usually cited as 20–
to wisdom. However, for the spiritual aspirant, 20,000 Hz; however, the upper limit on that
guidance comes from viveka, the light of con- range tends to decrease pretty steadily with age.
science. This viveka or discernment between The sense of taste is arguably the weakest of the
the real and the unreal is an essential requisite human senses. The limits of odour detection
for a spiritual aspirant. One has to discern the have proven difficult to pin down. The sense of
worthwhile from the worthless in the world, touch is remarkably complex and involves the
identifying the eternal from non-eternal objects detection of everything from pressure, to itchi-
through viveka. A non-eternal object is vikari, ness, to temperature. But the receptors in our
changing and is characterised by six steps of skin are not distributed in a uniform way around
change from its birth to its destruction. our bodies. Some parts of our body, such as our
fingers and lips, have more touch receptors than
The Shortcomings of Our Sense Organs the other parts of our body.
Every human is equipped with five sense organs These limitations of human perception have a
but each of them has inherent limitations, direct impact on how we understand the world
though some lower animals have some sense and the beyond. Swamiji said: ‘Identify yourself
organs that are more sensitive than humans. with Atman, not with human limitations. Dis-
However, it is through these sense organs that identify yourself with the body, and all pain will
we perceive and understand the external world. cease.’7 Furthermore, when we observe a pair
Sensual enjoyment is attended with various de- of opposites, we normally compare the differ-
fects. It leads to pain, weakness, severe exertion, ence of kind and not just the difference of de-
craving, and mental restlessness. gree. This is easier for having positive contrasts
The modern technology can extend, modify, like heat and cold, rich and poor. This involves
and improve the capabilities of the senses to a the feeling of consciousness in temperature and
certain extent. The human field of vision is not wealth respectively. But it is difficult to under-
a 360-degree full roundabout, but about 120-de- stand the concepts of negative contrasts like dif-
gree horizontal and 135-degree vertical vision. ferences in the degree of motion without under-
‘Angular resolution’ is one of the terms used to standing the concept of rest. Here, the problem
describe an optical device’s ability to distinguish is in understanding the concept of an unchange-
very small details. The typical set of human eyes able substratum.
have an angular resolution in the order of one Apart from these sense organs, mind is also
arc minute, a unit of angular measurement, give important, which has been categorised as the
or take a few arc seconds. The most well-known sixth sense organ in the Gita.8 Mind is part of
of human sensory limitations is that the typical the subtle body and influences not only the
human eye is only capable of perceiving light at physical brain, but the entire body through the
wavelengths between 390 and 750 nanometres. sense organs. The brain and the mind are intim-
Of course, calling it the ‘visible’ spectrum is a bit ately connected. However, mental activity is not
of a misnomer, as plenty of animals are capable of merely brain activity, but the mind is carried over
perceiving light with frequencies outside this rela- across lifetimes. So the truth that we experience
tively narrow band of electromagnetic radiation. through our senses is but the truth contained
within the narrow boundaries as determined by Further, all our five senses are designed to
the senses. Moreover, the mind is the control- function in order that the relative differences in
ler of all the five sense organs through thinking, stimuli can be perceived. An absolute homoge-
feeling, and willing. neous, changeless entity cannot be perceived by
The mind usually works with the external our senses. If such a perception were possible,
world through the senses that enable us to grasp time, being the index of change, would cease to
the sense objects. Normally the eye is capable of exist in our perception. So, the human being is
capturing eighty-two per cent of the sense ob- incapable of perceiving the timeless, changeless,
jects, ear ten per cent, and the remaining three homogeneous absolute ones.
sense organs of smell, taste, and touch only eight It is therefore impossible to have an objective
per cent of perception. Each sense organ, how- perception of changeless objects. Therefore, it is
ever, is associated with its own individual limita- impossible to perceive the eternal and change-
tions as stated above. These limitations do have less Brahman through the senses. Hence, if one
some constructive purpose. For example, nature could isolate the senses from relative percep-
has provided us eyelids for closing our eyes, while tion and if thoughts could be removed from the
the ears are always open. This could be construed mind, one can perceive the true reality.
as a message of Nature, that we need to restrain
what we see and be always alert of what we hear. Influences on Our Intellect
This limitation of human perception has a The intellect is a weak instrument of knowledge as
direct impact on how we understand the uni- it has to work with the limitations of sense organs,
verse. What comes in the mind is unaffected ir- though it is an important tool for living in the
respective of whether it is channelised into one, marketplace of the world. The ordinary intellect
more, or all the five senses. For instance, the usually works on the surface and is unable to pene-
total amount of water that can flow from a res- trate deep into matter. Patricia Churchland, a re-
ervoir would remain the same, irrespective of nowned neurophilosopher says: ‘Brains are not
the number of outlets. The intensity or depth magical; they are causal machines.’9 So unless the
of perception of the remaining sense organs heart is developed, one cannot live a balanced and
will be far more if one of the sense organs fruitful life. The root cause of most of our prob-
does not function or is wilfully withdrawn. A lems is a lack of emotional management, a lack
golden example is Helen Keller, who overcame of understanding, care, respect, and compassion.
the adversity of being deaf and blind to become Most organisations and institutions face the
one of the leading humanitarians of the twen- problems of malfunctioning such as conflicts
tieth century. and misunderstanding because their leaders lack
the skills to manage themselves emotionally, aris-
Characteristic Features of the Mind ing from the immaturity of the heart. ‘In a high-
When our mind thinks and reasons, it can see IQ job pool, soft skills like discipline, drive and
only a part at a time and so cannot have an inte- empathy mark those who emerge as outstanding’,
gral view of things. And that is why truths that says Daniel Goleman.10 On the other hand, as
have multiple dimensions always escape human said by Aldous Huxley, ‘It is man’s intelligence
thought and reason. This is similar to the concep- that makes him so often behave more stupidly
tualisation of an elephant by blind persons. than the beasts. … Man is so intelligent that he
feels impelled to invent theories to account for It would be relevant to mention some intui-
what happens in the world. Unfortunately, he tive discoveries. Jonas Salk (1914–95), the inven-
is not quite intelligent enough, in most cases, tor of polio vaccine, kept intuition as his ‘clini-
to find correct explanations.’11 Swamiji pointed cal assistant’ and used to say: ‘It’s always with
out: ‘Intellect ends where religion begins.’12 excitement that I wake up in the morning won-
Therefore, the intellect needs a proper container dering what my intuitor will toss up to me like
with high storage capacity, along with proper gifts from the sea.’15 While visiting the baths,
assimilation; otherwise one would not get the Archimedes suddenly awoke to a significant
desired results. principle of buoyancy that would enable him to
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Intellect and Environment: the body-mind complex. The same universe ap-
Nature and Nurture pears variously to different people. This change-
When the human genome was discovered to- able universe cannot be real. The world is ever
wards the end of the last century, it was thought changing in time and space. How can a change-
that the inbuilt genes carry all the tendencies able thing be regarded as truth?
that are unchangeable. But it has since been This illusion does not leave anyone, even the
revealed that the inborn characteristics are not very wise, discerning person. In the Chandi,
the last word. It is subject to change in the en- which is a part of the Markandeya Purana, it is
vironment where one is living. Biology is about said that the Mahamaya forcibly distracts even
nature, while culture is about nurture. Evolu- the wise from the truth.21
tionary biology can explain the genetically de-
termined behaviour but not the behaviour that Supremacy in Discernment
is learnt or is the result of contact with the en- Every perception involves an object that is per-
vironment. Different traits of genes do vary in ceived and a subject who perceives. The objects
how sensitive they are to environmental differ- and the forms of perception change, while the
ences. Differences in environment can cause perceiver is unchangeable. We say we have a
genetically identical individuals to behave dif- body, mind, and sense faculties of perception—
ferently. The environment produces adaptive they are all objects perceived by a subject. The
behaviour. Therefore, one should have a com- subject objectifies the body, sense, mind, and
bination of nature and nurture. Inheritance and feelings as well. The feelings are nothing but ob-
learning are combined in a way that cannot be jects in relation to the subject. There is a subject
passed into genes or environment. who is the perceiver of all these but does not
take part in any of these expressions. The feeling
Intellect and Illusion of pleasure, pain, or anger belongs to the object.
Vedanta asserts that Brahman is truth, being the Change happens only in the object, the body-
Reality, while the manifested universe, jagat, is mind complex. The subject does not change. The
mithya or illusion. It says that the universe is characteristic of the seer is unchangeability. I am
only vyavaharic or relative truth, while the par- separate and distinct from all these. The mind
amarthic or the supreme eternal truth is only is also an object since it undergoes changes ac-
the Brahman. It is the power of maya, avarana cording to desire, feeling, determination, faith,
shakti, that creates such an illusion and as a re- steadfastness, and so on. But unless the mind is
sult, the reality of things is hidden. Then, we attached to objects, there cannot be any percep-
are diverted from the Reality by the power of tion. That which is constant and changeless is
vikshepa shakti. This avarana is the creation of the perceiver.
our inherent tamasic nature, while vikshepa is This is aptly illustrated in Drig-drishya-vi-
our rajasic quality. veka, the discernment of the seer and the seen.
The universe as such is an objective reality. The topic deals with the discernment between
But its perception is subjective. Therefore, it is drik, the observer, the experiencer, seer, illumina-
obvious that its perception would be different tor, or subject, and the drishya, the observed, the
for different persons depending upon one’s com- experienced, seen, illuminated, or object. There
petency, that is the level of one’s attachment to is non-discernment, mixing-up of the seer-seen,
which is the cause of all problems that seriously the world. Reference may be made to Swamiji’s
affect our life. One is required to resolve the statement: ‘Mind is an instrument in the hand
problem for ultimate success in life or moksha of Atman just as body is an instrument in the
for spiritual aspirants. hand of mind.’23
The first verse of the treatise Drig-drishya- The Gita illustrates this by saying: ‘One who
viveka goes as follows: ‘Rupam drishyam locha- is free from the notion of egoism, whose intelli-
nam drik taddrishyam drik-tu manasam, drishya gence is not affected by good or evil, though one
dhi-vrittayah sakshi drigeva na tu drishyate; the kills these people, one kills not, nor is one bound
form is perceived and the eye is its perceiver. by the action.’ 24 Such a person realises the real
The eye is perceived and the mind is its per- witness Self in the form of pure consciousness.
ceiver. The mind with its modifications is per- The problem is that we are strongly attached to
ceived and the Witness, the Self, is indeed the the mind and through the mind to the world.
perceiver. But the Witness is not perceived by Whatever is there in the mind, you are the wit-
any other.’22 ness of the mind, and the witness is ever separate
There are three levels of discernment: from the mind.
Level 1: The sense organs and the sense This discernment should be cultivated step
objects. by step, from the body to the sense-organs and
Level 2: The mind and the sense organs. to the mind, by gradual development of a new
Level 3: The witness Self and the mind. set of values that drig-drishya-viveka signifies.
And finally the qualities of the sakshi, the wit- The transformation is from objective to sub-
ness Self, are discussed. jective, outer to inner, and ultimately to the
The eyes see and the world of forms are seen. completely unattached but fully knowledge-
Eyes cannot see the eyes themselves. The seer able witness Self. We have to learn to get out of
is one, while the seen are many and different. that, which we cannot hold on to. Harder we
The seer is relatively unchanging, the seen keeps hold on to the world, body, or mind, the more
on changing. In the second stage, the mind be- is our bondage and suffering. That is why we
comes the seer, eyes become the seen. In the feel trapped.
third stage, the mind itself is the seen. There are The world, the physical body, the sense
many thoughts, feelings, emotions, and ideas in organs, and the mind are made of insentient
the mind. There is a continuous stream of move- elements. When these inert objects function as
ments in the mind but the knower of the mind is sentient elements, there must be a borrowing
the same. There is a seer of mind called the Wit- of consciousness from somewhere else. Just like
ness, which is unchanging. a fan does not have the capacity of rotation by
This may be understood with the following itself but rotates by borrowing invisible power
example. If you feel your misery, then you cannot from the electricity. In the same way, our insen-
be miserable. You are the knower of the misery tient body, sense organs, and mind are blessed by
of the mind, because the knower and the known the consciousness of the real Self behind.
are different. Misery is a feeling in the mind.
Similarly, you are the knower of the happiness Adhikari and the Power of Being Selfless
of the mind. You are eternally undisturbed re- A human being has the freedom to perform cer-
gardless of the states of the mind or the status of tain actions according to one’s competency, but
one usually follows the way as per one’s tem- enjoy the world. King Bhartrihari describes
perament. Swamiji said: ‘We are heirs to all the the qualities of a viveki, a person adept in dis-
good and bad thoughts of the universe, if we cernment of the Real from the unreal: ‘The
open ourselves to them.’25 He said on other occa- steadfast ones do not deviate from the righ-
sions: ‘If we make ourselves pure and the instru- teous path even if they are praised or insulted
ments of good thoughts, these will enter us. The by ethicists, even if the goddess of wealth comes
good soul will not be receptive to evil thoughts. and goes according to her sweet will, and even
Evil thoughts find the best field in evil people; if their death is impending today itself or after
they are like microbes which germinate and in- an aeon.’27
crease only when they find a suitable soil’ (6.134). But it is only through the purity of mind, that
‘There are hundreds of thousands of microbes is, by removing all attachments and prejudices,
surrounding us, but they cannot harm us unless that one can get the knowledge of Reality. It is
we become weak, until the body is ready and only ethical to follow those who have attained
predisposed to receive them. There may be a mil- this knowledge. The Katha Upanishad says that
lion microbes of misery floating about us. Never the ‘Atman reveals itself only to the spiritual as-
mind! They dare not approach us, they have no pirant who selflessly prays to Atman’.28 It reveals
power to get a hold on us, until the mind is weak- itself only to the wise, the one who is prepared
ened’ (2.3). with appropriate strength.
The essential qualification of a spiritual as- The law of electromagnetic induction applies
pirant for becoming an adhikari, qualified, for to similar class of materials, magnetic or dielec-
spiritual life is to be strongly disinterested in tric as the case may be, not to dissimilar mater-
the fruits of all activity in this world or beyond. ials. Induction will not grow up there if a non-
Acharya Shankara in his Vivekachudamani iden- magnetic material be brought near a magnet.
tifies three kinds of fruits of actions: Anything To increase the effect of attraction, one should
that upgrades name and fame, anything that be nearer and also the medium should be con-
brings happiness of the body, and undue em- ducive and the effect will automatically be in-
phasis on scriptural studies.26 One is required to duced, if it be pure. Once you have attained that
avoid all these three. quality the result is bound to come. Similarly,
That’s why spiritual teachers demand chitta- when all mental resistances cease, one’s person-
shuddhi, the purification of the mind from the ality becomes a fit vehicle for the transmission
objective and the subjective, being material of perfection. In this way, our ancestor-rishis
taints and inbuilt attachments. By purity and saw this world in meditation to be devoid of
unselfishness, one can make the obscuring me- worldly turbulations.
dium less and less dense until as clean as glass.
The more one handles materialistic trans- Conclusion
actions the more impurity as material taint Viveka is neither wisdom nor intellectual jargon
would be induced. The mind, full of desire, is but a state of mind without illusion. It is not
distracted and fluctuates from the Reality, but prejudiced. However, it is not the state of self-
when it is fully freed of distractions, it becomes realisation. To achieve this, one has to make the
a powerful tool for discernment. When desires mind devoid of materialistic impurity. The pur-
vanish and there is no bondage, people truly pose of self-purification is to release one’s higher
nature from the thraldom of the lower self. The 2. Swami Bhajanananda, ‘The Spiritual Solution’,
Gita says that when a person loses one’s discern- Prabuddha Bharata, 87/5 (May 1982), 214.
ing faculty, one is ‘destroyed’.29 The implication 3. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9
of this verse is that a human being can be called vols (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1–8, 1989; 9,
1997), 7.44.
so only as long as one’s mind is able to discern 4. Patanjali, Yoga Sutra, 2.15.
the right from the wrong. When this discerning 5. Katha Upanishad, 1.2.2.
faculty is lost, one ceases to be a human being. 6. Mundaka Upanishad, 3.1.8.
Sri Ramakrishna said: ‘An ordinary jiva is called 7. Complete Works, 7.46.
8. See Gita, 15.7.
manush, human being. Only one who has re-
9. Patricia Churchland, ‘Causal Machines’, Rich-
alised one’s true nature is a man-hunsh. [That is, ard Marshall, Philosophy at 3:AM—Questions
only such a person is conscious of one’s dignified and Answers with 25 Top Philosophers (New
nature.] That is why you are a man-hunsh [true York: Oxford University, 2014), 105.
human being].’30 10. Daniel Goleman, ‘They’ve Taken Emotional
Intelligence Too Far’, Time, 1 November 2011
The Vedanta literature says that we pay
<http://ideas.time.com/2011/11/01/theyve-
more attention to the cleaning of the external taken-emotional-intelligence-too-far/> ac-
surroundings without paying any heed to the cessed 31 October 2019.
cleaning of our internal selves. It is important 11. Aldous Huxley, Texts and Pretexts (New York:
to remove our internal impurities like desires. Harper, 1933), 278.
12. Complete Works, 7.91.
Swamiji said: ‘Does seeing depend upon our own 13. Karl Popper, The Logic of Scientific Discovery
efforts or does it depend upon something out- (London: Routledge, 2002), 8.
side? It depends upon ourselves; our efforts take 14. ‘Death of A Genius: His Fourth Dimension,
off the dust, the mirror does not change.’31 Time, Overtakes Einstein’, Life, 38/18 (2 May
Patanjali in his Yoga Sutra directs one to the 1955) <https://tinyurl.com/y3rwaf5p> ac-
cessed 31 October 2019.
route of self-realisation through his ashtanga 15. Richard Innes, ‘Words of Wisdom’, Weekend
yoga. This path firmly declares that establish- Encounter, 13/4611 (November 2011) <http://
ment in the virtues of yama and niyama, being www.actsweb.org/weekend_encounter.
the preliminary disciplines, is essential for the php?id=50> accessed 29 October 2019.
absolute control of the mind. Intellectually, we 16. Gita, 18.26.
17. Complete Works, 7.68.
take a self-centred view of the world, since such 18. See Gita, 6.44.
a view works well with the limited sense organs. 19. Pandava Gita, 57.
However, on the spiritual plane, we ought to 20. Gita, 3.33.
take a holistic or God-centred view, and strive 21. Chandi, 1.55–6.
22. Drig-drishya-viveka, 1.
for the effacement of the individual self. We
23. Complete Works, 7.95.
need to become a partner in the business of 24. Gita, 18.17.
God, not try to make God a partner in the busi- 25. Complete Works, 7.20.
ness of ego. P 26. See Acharya Shankara, Vivekachudamani, 270.
27. Bhartrihari, Nitishatakam, 74.
References 28. Katha Upanishad, 1.2.23.
1. C G Jung, ‘Introduction’, The Secret of the Golden 29. Gita, 2.63.
Flower: A Chinese Book of Life, trans. Richard 30. M., Shri Shri Ramakrishna Kathamrita (Kol-
Wilhelm (London: Kegan, Paul, Trench and kata: Udbodhan, 2015), 331; 5 October 1884.
Trubner, 1947), 89. 31. Complete Works, 7.47.
E
very nation has its own share of prob- gets angry because one wants the entire world
lems and challenges. India is no exception. to be according to one’s wishes. But, is that a
Generally, Indians feel that the problems desirable thing? Of course not. If the entire
that are upsetting the nation are poverty, un- world were like one person’s wishes, it would
employment, population, and so on. While these not be a good place to live in. Also, it would go
problems are very much real and challenging, against the wishes of the other people in this
there is a deeper issue that is at the core of all world. So, anger comes because of not being
these and other problems that India is facing. I able to accommodate diverse ways of think-
want to discuss that deeper issue here. I believe ing. It comes because of a unidirectional way
that it is because of an individual and collective of thinking.
anger that India and the rest of the world are Let us take an example from school. Suppose,
facing most of their problems. First, let us see the time or period meant for playing games is
how this anger is born. cancelled because of some reason, then the stu-
Anger is born in an individual because of the dents get agitated, start shouting, and create a
lack of inner peace. Inner peace is lost when a ruckus. Why do they do so? Because they think
person does not find things happening accord- that playing a game is an important way to get
ing to one’s wishes. One may wish to have a big happiness. Now, this anger starts with one stu-
house, a big car, and so on. But, it is not possible dent and then infects all the other students like
that one would get all these things. Also, a per- a chain reaction. Even an otherwise calm and
son might not get the kind of behaviour from peaceful student would get agitated in such an
the others that one expects. Then, a person gets environment. So, anger not only creates disturb-
angry. Naturally, this anger is expressed com- ance in the minds of the people who are angry,
pletely where the others would hear the person but also poisons the others and makes a par-
or where the others would be more sympathetic ticular way of thinking as the prominent one
to that person. So, even if a person is angry that for discussion. Thus, anger causes a chain reac-
person would not express it to one’s boss but tion. When one gets angry, that person should
would pour out all that anger to one’s family just expel anger out of their minds. They should
at home. only express peace and peaceful thoughts. Anger
Since we have now understood the origin of has no place in our minds.
anger, it would become clear to us that the root The parents are nowadays neglecting their
of anger lies in the person who is angry. One children and imposing narrow ways of thinking
on them. They should us! All of us are using technology all the time.
understand that children Then, how can we blame technology? It is not
need their guidance to be- the fault of technology that we are unable to use
come their equals or to be- it properly or that we are unable to use it with
come adults. Diverse ways some restraint.
of thinking should be en- The upbringing at home is crucial in manag-
couraged from childhood. ing anger and having a proper understanding
In reality, everyone, every of the world. How are religious fundamental-
being, and everything is ists and terrorists created? Mostly, they are cre-
equal. We need to pray ated because of a lack of proper upbringing. The
as much as possible and anger against their parents, anger for not having
be sensitive to our envir- received love and care, remains in a person and
onment. Here, by envir- it increases, develops, and finally finds a way
onment, I mean both the to explode, sometimes literally, in the form of
geographical or natural environment and the a bomb!
emotional, mental, or ideological environment. An angry person has a one-pointed, unidirec-
All this can be achieved by the regular practice tional mind. When such a mind gets involved
of meditation. in bad and evil activities, that could bring di-
Meditation should be taught to every child saster. When one finds stress accumulating in
from a very young age. The period of a person oneself because of anger, that person explodes.
from one’s birth to six years is the most cru- An angry person usually has a black and white
cial period. This is when the pace of growth is understanding of things. Such a person does not
the maximum and this is when they should be want to understand other people.
taught all the life skills. After some time, human The best method to deal with angry people is
growth becomes limited. However, these days, to ignore them. Ignoring all bad, evil, and angry
parents do not seem to be focussing on this as- people can bring us much peace. We should do
pect of the lives of their children. so because angry people want to infect everyone
For example, when a child, even a baby, cries, with anger. They want everyone to be a part of
the parents immediately hand over to the baby some quarrel or fight. We should learn to not
a smartphone or a tablet, or a similar hand- discriminate any one. Discrimination comes be-
held device for shutting up the baby. However, cause of not having peace inside oneself. Then,
exposure to such electronic devices at such a we discriminate people based on religion, lan-
young age harms a baby’s physical and psycho- guage, style, intelligence, and so on. We should
logical health. However, please do not misun- thus learn to meditate and calm our minds and
derstand me. I am not against technology. I not be angry.
am only saying that we should use technology India is a great country and I am proud to
wisely and in a limited manner. Whenever one be an Indian. And that is why, I want that all
talks of the demerits of technology, one says Indians should tackle their anger and not let it
that technology is completely bad. And ironi- come out of their minds, and not let it be ex-
cally, this is told by people, who earn their in- pressed in words or actions. I hope and pray that
comes by using such technology. See around all Indians would listen to my prayer. P
Murti
T
he word murti is a commonly used Svarochisha epoch. Murti is the name of one of
Sanskrit word. It is used by people, who do the thirteen daughters of Daksha Prajapati, who
not even know Sanskrit, as it is present in was married to Dharma. Nara and Narayana are
almost every Indian language. The widely used the sons of Murti and Dharma.
meaning of the word murti is an image or an idol. The word ‘idol’ cannot be considered the
However, it is necessary to see the other meanings proper translation of the Sanskrit word murti,
and the origins of this Sanskrit word. Sanskrit is a for the simple reason that ‘idol’ has many conno-
classical language like Greek, Latin, and Persian. tations in English, most of which are derogatory.
And in Sanskrit, as in most classical languages, On the other hand, murti is generally considered
most words are derived from a stem or root. to be the embodied representation of the Di-
The word murti is derived by adding the suffix vine principle. Such a representation could take
ktin to the root murchchh, and the gender is femi- any form, most of which are human. However,
nine. Murchchh means to become solid, thicken, it is not uncommon to see many animal forms
congeal, assume shape or substance or consis- or the forms of other living beings as represent-
tency, expand, increase, grow, become or be vehe- ing some divine power. The iconography in the
ment or intense or strong, to fill, pervade, pene- different forms of murti is interesting as most
trate, spread over, to have power or take effect of these forms are visual developments of the
upon, to grow stiff or rigid, faint, swoon, become bodies that we find naturally. For instance, it is
senseless or stupid or unconscious, to deafen, or quite common to see a murti with a human form
to cause to sound aloud. The word murti means having multiple arms or heads. These represent
anything that has a definite shape and limits; ma- the supra-normal powers of the divine beings.
terial element; matter; substance; a form; visible A murti does not merely represent a sym-
shape; body; figure; an embodiment; incarna- bol of the Divine, but the murti itself is made
tion; personification; manifestation; an image; divine by invoking the power of the Divine by
idol; a statue; beauty; solidity; hardness; a limb a ritual called prana-pratishtha or the invoking
of the body; the mind and the four elements of of life. Sri Ramakrishna tested the murti of Kali
earth, air, fire, and water; embodiment; mani- at the temple in Dakshineswar to see if it was a
festation; incarnation; personification; a person; living murti, and found to his great relief, that
an appearance; the name of the first astrologi- the murti was indeed breathing! Thus, a murti
cal house; the name of a daughter of Daksha; in the traditional Indian sense cannot be con-
the name of the wife of Dharma; the name of a sidered as a mere symbol, icon, image, or idol,
rishi under the tenth Manu, the name of a son but has to be seen only as a living manifestation
of Vasishtha, or the name of a Prajapati of the of the Divine. P
O
nce, Sri Krishna with his retinue in- havah chakorah, suryo yathaiko bahavo drishah-
cluding his family, went for bathing in syuh, Srikrishna-chandro bhagavan tathaiva,
the river in the place called Siddhash- bhakta bhaginyo bahavo vayam cha; just as there
rama. As luck would have it, at that time, Radha is only one moon but many partridges that feed
had also gone there with her female friends or on the moonbeam, just as there is only one sun
sakhis. Both the parties were overjoyed at seeing but many eyes, similarly there is only one moon-
one another and started talking amongst them- faced Lord Sri Krishna but there are many of us
selves. Sri Krishna’s anointed queens were hear- devotee-sisters.’
ing Sri Krishna tell about Radha’s glories. Hence, The queens were quite surprised hearing
they met Radha privately in an opportune mo- these words of Radha. They coaxed her to go
ment. Radha heartily welcomed them and at- to their residence. There, Radha was given a
tended on them. During her conversation she grand welcome and a royal treatment. She was
‘Krishna, Radha, and Gopis’, Indian Painting in Gouache, Eighteenth Century, Detroit Institute of Arts
the only thing that the government fears is this on the various ideas propounded in the Gita.
monstrous majority that I appear to command. Skaria attempts to wade his way through
They do not know that I fear it still more than they numerous concepts of the Hindu world view
do themselves.’ Here Skaria comments that ‘even and it is only understandable that this might
satyagraha becomes monstrous when it generates cause some loose ends to remain. For instance,
fear as a response rather than surrender without while discussing Gandhi’s understanding of the
subordination’ (81). message of the Upanishads, Skaria cites Gandhi:
Some important observations of Gandhi have ‘The final word of the Upanishads (Brahmavidya)
been highlighted and critiqued by Skaria. Writing is Not’ (181). However, as any traditional scholar
about Swaraj, independence or freedom, Gandhi or practitioner of Advaita Vedanta would vouch,
remarks: ‘Swaraj is the abandonment of the fear that is anything but the case. The final word of
of death.’ The ‘spirit of fearlessness’ is ‘the first the Upanishads is not ‘Not’ but ‘Is’. Brahman is
thing indispensable before we could achieve the only Reality. The purport of the Upanishads
anything permanent and real’ (92). This spirit can is to bring in the knowledge of the identity of
be cultivated only by self-sacrifice, suffering for a Brahman and Atman. Thus, Skaria errs when he
great cause or for a common good, as propounded says: ‘This insistence on not-ness is taken up in
by satyagraha: ‘Pure sacrifice is the religion that the Advaitic systematization associated with Adi
stays in all religions, it is “one’s own religion”’ (93). Shankaracharya’ (ibid.). Acharya Shankara aimed
In the chapter ‘The Warrior’s Sovereign Gift’, only at teaching the purport of the Upanishads.
Skaria discusses in detail the concepts of an A satyagrahi takes the vows of swadeshi and
ideal warrior as given in the Ramayana and the ahimsa. Gandhi defines a vow: ‘If we resolved
Mahabharata, and compares them with Gandhi’s to do a thing, and are ready even to sacrifice our
ideas. Also, the idea of ahimsa as propounded by lives in the process, we are said to have taken a
Lala Lajpat Rai, in contrast with that of Gandhi, vow’ (223). And to practise such vows, one has
is discussed in detail. It is interesting to note how to give up attachment to the world and various
Gandhi admires Hitler for his single-mindedness. relationships that may take one away from the
Even though deeply involved in politics, Truth. Gandhi declares that it is ‘necessary to
Gandhi was essentially a spiritual aspirant and preserve only one friendship, namely, God’s’ (224).
his ideas strongly mirror the traditional ideas of Gandhi describes ahimsa as ‘the extreme limit
Hindu spiritual life. Regarding brahmacharya or of forgiveness’, but also states that ‘forgiveness is
celibacy, Gandhi asserts ‘how indispensable it was the quality of the brave’ (259). Whether it is the
to self-realization’ and describes it as ‘the royal relation between Indians and British, or Hindus
road to self-realization or attainment of Brahman and Muslims, or upper castes and lower castes,
[God]’ (99). His sincere approach based on both Gandhi remarked: ‘I want, at the end of it, to see
faith and rationality, made him conclude that established not mutual distrust and the law of force,
‘Truth is God, or God is nothing but Truth. We but mutual trust and the law of love’ (260). Love is a
come across this idea in every religon’ (175). Skaria manifestation of God and by the practise of ahimsa,
comments that this idea ‘shifts the infinite and a satyagrahi strives to enforce love in all. ‘The
grounding sovereignty from God to being’ (ibid.). miracle of satyagraha is the love that arrives without
In answer to the question that in the announcement, and conversely the reciprocation
Bhagavadgita, Sri Krishna commands Arjuna to that arrives without the slightest expectation’ (297).
kill the enemy that might appear contradictory Skaria traces the evolution of Gandhi’s ideas
to the practice of ahimsa, Gandhi suggests through the massive corpus of his writings and
that the Gita is concerned with the ‘universally speeches, and gives a fine blend of his philosophy.
acknowledged spiritual war’ between the ‘good He compares some of the translations of Gandhi’s
and evil’, and hence to confuse Arjuna’s war ‘with a writings with the Gujarati original, pointing out
momentary world strife is to call holy unholy’ (192). the differences and provides a better translation
Skaria then goes on to analyse Gandhi’s thoughts in various instances. Skaria has given elaborate
notes and references of the major ideas presented 100 Love Stories: That Will
in each chapter. This book is a milestone in the Touch Your Heart
research of the phenomena that transformed J P Vaswani, Comp. Dr Prabha
Mohandas into a Mahatma. Sampath and Krishna Kumari
Swami Shantachittananda
Gita Publishing House. 2019. 336 pp.
Associate Editor, Prabuddha Bharata
`300. pb. isbn 9789386004062.
remote-control device, the two characters go the book’s central philosophical project, which
traveling through this mash-up multiverse. is to find a way to come to terms conceptually
Again, this sort of madcap fascination with with the multiverse. This project is a challeng-
multiple worlds is neither surprising nor new. ing one because the first question a philosopher
What is remarkable is that the impetus for this tends to ask (What is it?) is in this case remark-
recent bout of popular fascination is coming ably difficult to answer. If, traditionally speaking,
from the heights and depths of contemporary ‘the universe’ has meant ‘all that is’, then what
cosmology and particle physics. What is remark- on earth does it mean to posit more than one of
able, in other words, is that ‘the multiverse’ has them? What is the multiverse?
suddenly and dramatically become scientifically
thinkable. And although most physicists, astron- The One and the Many
omers, and cosmologists still remain highly skep- The term multiverse seems to have been
tical of the idea, its proponents include so many coined by the psychologist-philosopher Wil-
scientific luminaries, including Brian Greene, liam James in 1895. In ‘Is Life Worth Living?’ an
Martin Rees, Alan Guth, and, in his own way, address to the Young Men’s Christian Associ-
Stephen Hawking, that no one at this point can ation at Harvard University, James expressed his
simply ignore it. Even the physicist and historian sense, which he imagined his audience shared,
of science Helge Kragh, a notorious multiverse that ‘visible nature is all plasticity and indiffer-
skeptic, concedes that among a ‘not insignificant’ ence, a multiverse, as one might call it, and not
number of theoretical physicists, ‘what used to a universe’. James therefore recommends that
be a philosophical speculation is now claimed the young men do everything in their powers
to be a new [cosmological] paradigm.’ to make themselves believe—to muster up faith
In order to account for the emergence of the in a ‘truer’, unseen world that might endow this
multiverse as what Lorraine Daston would call visible one with an ounce of sense. ‘Believe that
a ‘scientific object,’ this book looks back to the life is worth living’, he tells them, ‘and your belief
earliest documented sources on multiple worlds, will help create the fact’. Belief will help unify the
beginning with the Greek ‘Atomist’ philoso- disparate and give order to the chaos; belief, in
phers in the fifth century BCE and then grad- short, will make a universe out of the multiverse.
ually working its way through to the present. These days the term multiverse has taken on
The volume’s task is fourfold: first, to give a his- what may or may not be a vastly different mean-
torical account of the ebbs and flows of mul- ing, depending on whom you ask. For James,
tiple-world cosmologies; second, to map con- the many things of our one, visible world con-
temporary models of the multiverse in relation stitute a ‘multiverse’, whereas the coherence
to their philosophical, mythological, and even among those things is the ‘universe’. For con-
theological precedents; third, to ask how, why, temporary physicists, by contrast, our one, vis-
and to whom the multiverse has become a par- ible world constitutes the universe (a sphere 40
ticularly attractive hypothesis at this historical billion light years in radius also called our ‘Hub-
juncture; and fourth, to mark multiverse cos- ble volume’ or ‘observable universe’), whereas
mologies as the site of a constructive reconfig- the greater ensemble of unseen worlds consti-
uration of the boundaries between ‘science’ and tutes the multiverse (sometimes called ‘meta-
‘religion’. Each of these endeavors contributes to verse’ or ‘megaverse’). P
institutions to improve their quality and achieve to 5 October. In these districts, the Ratha visited
NAAC accreditation. These three institutions about 150 educational institutions and other
were selected by virtue of the excellent grade public places where public meetings and pro-
points they had scored in their NAAC assess- cessions were held. Malda: A youths’ convention
ments. In addition to the above, the Govern- on 10 September attended by 289 youths from 18
ment of Jharkhand has nominated RKMVERI educational institutions. Naora: A public meet-
as a Mentor Institute for all the non-accredited ing on 8 September attended by 300 students.
higher education institutions in Jharkhand to Ponnampet: Two public meetings on 11 and 27
help them excel in NAAC accreditation. September. The latter meeting was addressed by
Swami Vivekananda College of Rama- Srimat Swami Gautamanandaji Maharaj, Vice-
krishna Mission, Nadi, Fiji, celebrated its plat- President, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna
inum jubilee from 10 to 13 September through Mission and Adhyaksha, Ramakrishna Math,
seminars and debate competitions. Also, Viveka- Chennai. About 600 people took part in the
nanda Technical Centre of the Ashrama held its programmes in all. Rajkot: (i) A total of 125
annual graduation ceremony on 12 September programmes in different educational institu-
which was graced by Ms Rosy Akbar, Education tions in Rajkot from 11 to 27 September. Each
Minister, Fijian Government. programme consisted of talks, recitation, and
Commemoration of the 125th Anniver- a quiz competition. In all, 23,224 students par-
sary of Swami Vivekananda’s Addresses ticipated in the programmes. (ii) A youths’ con-
at the World’s Parliament of Religions in vention on 15 October attended by 650 youths.
Chicago, USA Salem: A drama at a school auditorium in the
The following centres held programmes men- city on 14 October which was watched by 2,100
tioned against their names: India: Almora: Four students from 17 schools. Sarisha: (i) Meetings
seminars in Almora, Nainital, and Bhimtal from and cultural competitions in 8 institutions on 11
28 to 30 September. In all, about 2,000 school September in which about 3,000 students took
and college students, professors, and teachers part. (ii) A youths’ convention and a spiritual
took part in the seminars. Belagavi (Belgaum): retreat on 22 September in which respectively
A youths’ convention on 27 September in which 127 youths and 120 devotees took part. Silchar:
950 college students took part. Chandipur: A Three conventions for devotees, school students,
youths’ convention on 29 September attended and college students from 29 September to 1 Oc-
by 100 students and teachers. Coimbatore Mis- tober, which were attended by 650 devotees, and
sion: Cultural competitions at 10 schools and 1,000 students and 112 teachers from a number
colleges in and around Coimbatore from 20 of educational institutions. Varanasi Home of
September to 24 October. In all, 1,154 students Service: (i) Cultural competitions in which
took part in the competitions. At all the ven- about 70,000 students took part. (ii) Pub-
ues, the competitions were followed by a talk, lic meetings on 11 and 27 September. Outside
an awards ceremony, and a skit. Jamshedpur: A India: Durban, South Africa: A Vedanta retreat
cultural programme on 27 September which was in Dundee on 18 August, a devotees’ convention
attended by 400 people. Kadapa: Vivekananda at the centre on 24 August, and a special talk at
Ratha, carriage, passed through Kadapa, Anan- Ladysmith sub-centre on 11 September. In all,
tapur, and Kurnool districts from 7 September 270 people attended the programmes. P
Title Index
A
Acharya Shankara and the Idea of India: Peregrination as Pedagogy—Shonaleeka Kaul 539
Acharya Shankara’s Shivanandalahari: The Saint as Devotee—I S Madugula and Sudha
Emany … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 491
America Is a Nation of Yogis—Philip Goldberg … … … … … … … … … … 226
Asparsha Yoga—Swami Sarvapriyananda … … … … … … … … … … … … 125
B
Balabodha: Acharya … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 618
Balabodha: Ahimsa … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 669
Balabodha: Bhagavan … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 331
Balabodha: Brahmana … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 570
Balabodha: Darshana … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 260
Balabodha: Guru … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 716
Balabodha: Moksha … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 474
Balabodha: Murti … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 813
Balabodha: Puja … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 762
Balabodha: Samskriti … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 520
Balabodha: Vairagya … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 428
Balabodha: Viveka … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 378
Becoming–Being, Unmanifest–Manifested—Alberto Martin … … … … … … … 613
Bridging Gaps, Creating Divides: Sanskrit Classics, Europe,
and the Nineteenth-Century Politics of Translation—Shonaleeka Kaul … … … … 510
Buddha’s Teachings and Good Governance—Dilipkumar Mohanta … … … … … 695
C
Cancelled in Kansas—Diane Marshall … … … … … … … … … … … … 443
Classification of Human Beings, The—Swami Satyapriyananda … … … … … … 795
Courage to be Human, The—Swami Kritarthananda … … … … … … … … … 319
Index · 1
60 Prabuddha Bharata
D
Difference in Traditional and Contemporary Meditative Pathways, The—J Shashi Kiran
Reddy and Sisir Roy … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 166
Dublin City Interfaith Forum: A Necessary Journey—Swami Purnananda … … … 606
E
E Stanley Jones at the Round Table: An Early Encounter of Christianity and Hinduism
through Dialogue—Rev. E Neil Gaiser … … … … … … … … … … … … 597
Editorial—Swami Narasimhananda
#moksha … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 297
Don’t Teach Religion to India! … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 393
Earthquake Model of Happiness, The … … … … … … … … … … … 777
From Underperformance to Beyond Performance … … … … … … … … … 537
Need for Multifarious Sports, The … … … … … … … … … … … … … 633
Ride We Seldom Take, The … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 489
Self-Interest Vs Collective Interest … … … … … … … … … … … … … 345
Sun is My Clock, The … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 729
Thinking and Sharing Experience … … … … … … … … … … … … … 441
Transcending Happiness … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 585
Voices Against Monasticism … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 681
Yoga: The Technology of Mind Management … … … … … … … … … … 13
Epistemological Roots of Religious Tolerance in Swami Vivekananda, The—Bharatwaj Iyer
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 358
Existentialism: An Overview—Arun Chatterjee … … … … … … … … … … 501
F
Four Yogas in Swami Vivekananda’s Comprehensive Vision, The—Swami Atmarupananda
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 32
Fruit of Patanjali’s Yoga: Engaging the World in Freedom, The—Ian Whicher … … … 156
Fruits of Meditation, The—Swami Atmajnanananda … … … … … … … … … 101
H
Harmony of Religions from the Perspective of the Bhagavadgita—Kaberi Ghosh … … 417
Healthy-Mindedness in Religion—Swami Pavitrananda … … … … … … … 404
I
India’s Daughter: Sister Nivedita—Vinayak Lohani … … … … … … … … … 411
Integrating Yoga into Our Daily Lives—Swami Atmajnananda … … … … … … 109
Is There Yoga in Bhakti Yoga?—Pravrajika Shuddhatmaprana … … … … … … … 80
K
Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya on Patanjali’s Yoga—Daniel Raveh … … … … … 180
L
Leave God to Serve God—Swami Kritarthananda … … … … … … … … … 741
2 · Index
Title Index 2019 61
M
Maharishi Patanjali’s Ishvara—M A Narasimhan and M A Jayashree … … … … … 252
Manana … … … … … … … 265, 336, 383, 433, 479, 527, 577, 625, 675, 722, 767, 819
Many Paths to One Goal: Swami Vivekananda’s Contributions to the Discourse of Yoga—
Jeffery D Long … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 214
Meditation and Its Importance in Indian Traditional Art Practice—Bhaskar Jyoti Borah 352
Meditation on Sri Ramakrishna’s Mind—Swami Chetanananda … … … … … … 15
Methodology of Comparative Religion—Prof. Amalendu Chakraborty … … … … 363
N
Norms of Foundations—Nilanjan Bhowmick … … … … … … … … … 587, 656
P
Philosophy, Religion, and Peace: A Pluralistic Approach—Dilipkumar Mohanta … … 370
Pilgrimage to Chicago: Following the Footsteps of Swami Vivekananda, A—K P Uthappa
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 779
R
Ramakrishna and the Bodhisattva Ideal, Sri—Swami Kritarthananda … … … … 459
Ramakrishna: Praxis, Perfection, and Culmination of Yoga, Sri—Swami Satyamayananda
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 117
Real Indian in Hiawatha, A—Diane Marshall … … … … … … … … … … … 395
Recontextualising Caste: An Analysis Based on Swami Vivekananda’s Views
and Postcolonial Ideology—Dr R Lekshmi and O Priya … … … … … … … 467
Reflections on the Puranic Maha-yogi—David Gordon White … … … … … … 174
Reports … … … … … … … 267, 338, 385, 435, 481, 529, 579, 627, 677, 724, 769, 821
Reviews … … … … … … … 263, 334, 381, 431, 477, 523, 573, 621, 672, 719, 765, 816
S
Sankhya-Yoga Philosophy and the Mind-Body Problem—Paul Schweizer … … … … 232
Sarada Devi, The Holy Mother: A Great Saint of India, Sri—Swami Pavitrananda … 786
‘Satyam Jnanam Anantam Brahma’: A Study—Swami Vanishananda … … … … … 701
Science and Philosophy of Our Inner Transformation—Gopal Chandra Bhar … … … 543
Self-Existence or Aseity of Brahman-God in Indian
and Western Thought, The—Gopal Stavig … … … … … … … … … … … 690
Shaykh Farid: Prophet of Divine Love—Dr Satish K Kapoor … … … … … … … 347
Simplicity and Non-duality of Brahman-God in Indian and Western Thought, The—Gopal
Stavig … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 553
Sister Nivedita: Her Understanding of Swami Vivekananda—Swami Atmapriyananda 299
Sixty-Four Yoginis—Dr Suruchi Pande … … … … … … … … … … … … 243
Spiritual Quest—Swami Satyapriyananda … … … … … … … … … … … … 311
Spirituality, Yoga, Morality, and Religion: A Perspective from Sri Aurobindo and the
Mother—Dr Bhavesh A Kinkhabwala … … … … … … … … … … … … 757
Srivaishnava and Dvaita Vedanta Polemics and Interpretations of the Ramayana
Index · 3
62 Prabuddha Bharata
4 · Index
Title Index 2019 63
Author Index
A
Atmajnanananda, Swami
The Fruits of Meditation … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 101
Atmajnananda, Swami
Integrating Yoga into Our Daily Lives … … … … … … … … … … … … … 109
Atmapriyananda, Swami
Sister Nivedita—Her Understanding of Swami Vivekananda … … … … … … 299
Atmarupananda, Swami
The Four Yogas in Swami Vivekananda’s Comprehensive Vision … … … … … … 32
B
Basu, Atmaja
Young Eyes: What Should Schools Have? … … … … … … … … … … … … 518
Bhar, Gopal Chandra
Science and Philosophy of Our Inner Transformation … … … … … … … … 543
Viveka, Power of Discernment: Problems in Implementation … … … … … … … 801
Bhitiharananda, Swami
Yoga Philosophy According to Eminent Personalities of Maharashtra … … … … 133
Bhowmick, Nilanjan
Norms of Foundations … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 587, 656
Borah, Bhaskar Jyoti
Meditation and Its Importance in Indian Traditional Art Practice … … … … … 352
Brahmaprana, Pravrajika
Yoga’s Gifts to the Contemporary Western World … … … … … … … … … … 69
C
Chakraborty, Nilanjan Saha
Young Eyes: Facing Bullying … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 472
Chakraborty, Prof. Amalendu
Methodology of Comparative Religion … … … … … … … … … … … … 363
Index · 5
64 Prabuddha Bharata
Chatterjee, Arun
Existentialism: An Overview … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 501
Chattopadhyay, Aadrika
Young Eyes: How I Look at Dogs … … … … … … … … … … … … … 329
Young Eyes: How Parents Should Be … … … … … … … … … … … … 426
Chetanananda, Swami
Meditation on Sri Ramakrishna’s Mind … … … … … … … … … … … … 15
Chowdhury, Dr Shyamali
Swami Vivekananda and Hindu Mela … … … … … … … … … … … … … 635
E
Emany, Sudha and Madugula, I S
Acharya Shankara’s Shivanandalahari—The Saint as Devotee … … … … … … … 491
G
Gaiser, Rev. E Neil
E Stanley Jones at the Round Table—An Early Encounter of Christianity
and Hinduism through Dialogue … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 597
Ghatak, Dipanti
Young Eyes: Educating the Underprivileged … … … … … … … … … … … 616
Ghosh, Kaberi
Harmony of Religions from the Perspective of the Bhagavadgita … … … … … … 417
Goldberg, Philip
America Is a Nation of Yogis … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 226
H
Harris, Ruth
Swami Vivekananda in America—Debates, Miracles, Science, and Transcendence … 731
I
Ishadhyanananda, Swami
Three Types of Yogis … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 150
Iyer, Bharatwaj
The Epistemological Roots of Religious Tolerance in Swami Vivekananda … … … 358
J
Jayashree, M A and Narasimhan, M A
Maharishi Patanjali’s Ishvara … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 252
K
Kapoor, Dr Satish K
Shaykh Farid: Prophet of Divine Love … … … … … … … … … … … … … 347
Kaul, Shonaleeka
Acharya Shankara and the Idea of India: Peregrination as Pedagogy … … … … … 539
Bridging Gaps, Creating Divides—Sanskrit Classics, Europe, and the
Nineteenth-Century Politics of Translation … … … … … … … … … … … 510
6 · Index
Author Index 2019 65
Khare, Aruansh
Young Eyes: India’s Biggest Problem: Anger … … … … … … … … … … … 811
Kinkhabwala, Dr Bhavesh A
Spirituality, Yoga, Morality, and Religion—A Perspective from Sri Aurobindo
and the Mother … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 757
Kritarthananda, Swami
Courage to be Human, The … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 319
Leave God to Serve God … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 741
Sri Ramakrishna and the Bodhisattva Ideal … … … … … … … … … … … 459
Swami Vivekananda’s Catchphrase: ‘Love of Death’ … … … … … … … … … 649
Yoga Philosophy: Its Aim, Scientific Methods, and Artistic Applications in Life … … 57
L
Lekshmi, Dr R and Priya, O
Recontextualising Caste—An Analysis Based on Swami Vivekananda’s Views
and Postcolonial Ideology … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 467
Lohani, Vinayak
India’s Daughter—Sister Nivedita … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 411
Long, Jeffery D
Many Paths to One Goal: Swami Vivekananda’s Contributions
to the Discourse of Yoga … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 214
M
Madugula, I S and Emany, Sudha
Acharya Shankara’s Shivanandalahari—The Saint as Devotee … … … … … … … 491
Marshall, Diane
Cancelled in Kansas … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 443
Real Indian in Hiawatha, A … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 395
Swami, the Artist, and the Poet, The … … … … … … … … … … … … … 683
Martin, Alberto
Becoming–Being, Unmanifest–Manifested … … … … … … … … … … … 613
Mohanta, Dilipkumar
Buddha’s Teachings and Good Governance … … … … … … … … … … … 695
Philosophy, Religion, and Peace—A Pluralistic Approach … … … … … … … 370
Muktidananda, Swami
Understanding the Basic Concepts of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra … … … … … … … 94
Muralivallabhan, Dr T V
Yoga for Universal Personality … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 783
N
Narasimhan, M A and Jayashree, M A
Maharishi Patanjali’s Ishvara … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 252
Narasimhananda, Swami
#moksha … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 297
Don’t Teach Religion to India! … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 393
Index · 7
66 Prabuddha Bharata
8 · Index
Author Index 2019 67
Schweizer, Paul
Sankhya-Yoga Philosophy and the Mind-Body Problem … … … … … … … … 232
Shuddhatmaprana, Pravrajika
Is There Yoga in Bhakti Yoga? … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 80
Stavig, Gopal
Swami Vivekananda and the Modern Yoga Movement … … … … … … … … 202
The Self-Existence or Aseity of Brahman-God in Indian and Western Thought … … 690
The Simplicity and Non-duality of Brahman-God in Indian and Western Thought … 553
U
Uthappa, K P
Pilgrimage to Chicago: Following the Footsteps of Swami Vivekananda, A … … … 779
V
Vanishananda, Swami
‘Satyam Jnanam Anantam Brahma’: A Study … … … … … … … … … … … 701
Vedapurushananda, Swami
Tat Tvam Asi: You Are That … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 709
Vedarthananda, Swami
Yogapranatih … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 10
W
Whicher, Ian
The Fruit of Patanjali’s Yoga: Engaging the World in Freedom … … … … … … 156
White, David Gordon
Reflections on the Puranic Maha-yogi … … … … … … … … … … … … … 174
Wright, Cameron M
Srivaishnava and Dvaita Vedanta Polemics and Interpretations of the Ramayana
as a Bhakti Text … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 749
Book Reviews
Bridging East and West—Trans. and Ed. Chinmoy Guha … … … … … … … … 623
Ethics and Politics in Tagore, Coetzee—Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak … … … … … 523
Evil and the Philosophy of Retribution—Sanjay Palshikar … … … … … … … … 381
How to Win an Argument: An Ancient Guide to the
Art of Persuasion—Marcus Tullius Cicero, Ed. and Trans. James M May … … … … 765
Human Kindness and the Smell of Warm Croissants: An Introduction to Ethics—Ruwen
Ogien, Trans. Martin Thom … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 674
Illuminations—Walter Benjamin … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 576
Laruelle: A Stranger Thought—Anthony Paul Smith … … … … … … … … … 263
Living Karma: The Religious Practices of Ouyi Zhixu—Beverley Foulks McGuire … … 478
‘Looking Within’: Life Lessons from Lal Ded—Ed. Shonaleeka Kaul … … … … … 818
Love and Liberation: Autobiographical Writings of the Tibetan Buddhist Visionary
Index · 9
68 Prabuddha Bharata
List of Reviewers
Chattopadhyay, Subhasis 335, 381, 382, 432, 477, 486, 526, 573, 582, 622, 623, 630, 674, 721
Narasimhananda, Swami … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 674, 818
Prabuddha Bharata, Editor … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 264
Shantachittananda, Swami … … … … … … … … … … … … … 721, 765, 818
Vedapurushananda, Swami … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 526
10 · Index
69
Enlightening
The Bhagavata Purana has for centuries been one of the favourite
religious texts of India, and this is mostly because of itsNcharming and
ew
Stories
attractive stories, like the story of Prahlada, of Dhruva, of KingRBharata,
elea
and many more. What the Bhagavatam is most known for, however, arese!
Compiled
the stories of Krishna’s by all his stories are included in this
life. Almost
Swamis
volume—his Chetanananda & Vimohananda
childhood in Vrindavan, his youth in Mathura, and his later
Translated
years in Dwaraka. & Edited by
Swami Vimohananda
This volume is especially helpful for readers who do not yet know the
“Enlightening Stories”
stories and would like to learnisthem.
a collection
But it is alsoof 74 stories
helpful culled
for readers who from
Pages 198 | Price ` 50 the know the stories already—or at least some of them—as this volume will they
Indian and other religious traditions. Geographically,
Packing & Postage: ` 40 range from the jungles of India to the deserts of the Middle East
refresh their memories and also help them learn many new stories.
and the hills of Italy; historically, from the Vedic period to the 20th
Pages: 392| Price: ` 130 century; culturally, from the Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi, and Christian
Please
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RABUDDHA
HARATA
9 770032 617002
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ISSN 0032-6178
R.N. 2585/57 REGISTERED Postal Registration No. Kol RMS/96/2019–21
Published on 1 December 2019
RABUDDHA
9 770032 617002
HA RATA
The best guide in life is strength. In religion, or AWAKENED INDIA
A monthly journal of the Ramakrishna Order
as in all other matters, discard everything started by Swami Vivekananda in 1896
that weakens you, have nothing to do
with it.
—Swami Vivekananda
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