THUS SPAKE SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
The Indian monk Swami Vivekananda was born in Kolkata on 12th
January 1863. He died on 04 July 1902 at
Belur Math, in Howrah. His full name was Narendra Nath Datta. He had the good luck of becoming the chief disciple
of Swami Ramkrishna Paramhans, after whose name he founded Ramakrishna mission in
1897, which is doing selfless socio-spiritual work not only in India but also worldwide.
However, in spite of having very good health and inexhaustible physical energy,
Swami Vivekananda’s life span came to an
end when he was hardly 40 years old.
His birthday is celebrated as National Youth Day since 1984,
and among other programmes, the following quotes are recited at almost every
venue of celebration:
1.Arise awake
and do not stop until the goal is reached. 2.You cannot believe in God until
you believe in yourself. 3. We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care
about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live, they travel. 4. We
have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you; none can make you spiritual.
There is no other teacher but your own soul. 5.All the powers in the universe
are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it
is dark.
It is obvious from these quotes that
this great Indian monk had a perfectly enlightened body, mind and soul. Each word of
these quotes tells us of the inner treasures which we have to utilise ourselves
without any external motivation. The emphasis everywhere is on self-realisation.
What amazes me is the limitation which is attached to Swamiji
by mentioning him as a Hindu monk. I believe he is one of the most inspiring spiritual teachers, for all human beings, young or old, men or women,
of any faith or religion, in any country and at any time. His message of dynamism, inward development, self-reliance
and universality is a common gift for one and all. Shouldn’t to arise, awake,
and not to stop until the goal is reached be the foremost commitment of every
individual all over the globe. There is no condition of being young or old, man
or woman, of this or that nation, ideology or religious dispensation. All of us
whoever we are today and even those who will succeed us in coming times should
not stop until the intended goal is reached.
Swami Vivekananda is a spiritual
leader for the whole world. His sermons and writings show that he was a citizen
of the world, and all the people were his brothers and sisters. In his talk on India’s
message to the World , he rightly said:
“Here and here alone the human heart expanded till it
included not only the human, but birds, beasts, and plants; from the highest
gods to grains of sand, the highest and the lowest, all find a place in the
heart of man, grown great, infinite. And here alone, the human soul studied
the universe as one unbroken unity whose
every pulse was his own pulse.”
And before I conclude, one more quotation which runs like
this:
“It may be that I shall find it good to get outside of my
body --- to cast it off like a disused
garment. But I shall not cease to work!
I shall inspire men everywhere, until, the world shall know that it is one with
God. “
Reference: The
Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Advaita Ashrama, 5 Dehi Entally Road,
Calcutta 700014(January 1989 reprint).
18th
January 2021 G.R.Kanwal
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