yuva bharati, voice of youth, january 2012 issue

8/2/2019 Yuva Bharati, Voice of Youth, January 2012 Issue

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Vol.39 No.6 Paush-Maqh 5113 January 2012 Rs.15/-


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Mananeeya Eknathji RanadeEditorP.ParameswaranEditorial Consultants:Nivedita Raghunath BhideProf. P.T.SanthaProf. P.RamaniEditorial Team:A.SudarshanP.VasanthS.ShivsankarS.AravindhY.Y.BalasubramanianMarketing:D.KrishnamoorthyH.Gnaneswara RaoDesign & LayoutV .S en th il K uma r

Editorial Office:5, Singarachari Street,Triplicane,Chennai 6 0 0 0 0 5 .Ph: ( 0 4 4 ) 2 8 4 4 0 0 4 2Email: [email protected]: www.vkendra.org

CONTENTSEditorial 03Swami Vivekananda on his return to India-10 (Oneness: The Message of India)04Sparsa Vedi Swami Vivekananda 11Strength, Strength, Strength ...the only solution 20I am neither a politician nor a socialreformer! Myjob is . . . 23Vivekananda's Role In ExpandingThe Moral Imagination Of America 29Swami Vivekananda's ContributionToNational Integration 44
mailto:[email protected]://www.vkendra.org/http://www.vkendra.org/mailto:[email protected]


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Editorial NATION PERSONIFIEDVery few personalities leave a mark that tramples timeunderfoot and even fewer are remembered for theirfecund contribution that straddles political, religiousand physical boundaries to touch the lives of peopleacross many continents. Vivekananda stands head andshoulders above his peers in that very rare category ofpersonalities for he energized our slumberinghundreds of millions to bristling activity with amessage that resurrected the buried and almost-lostidentity of the nation and its mission to be the spiritualbeacon for humanity.His message was not a narrow-minded Indianchauvinism; it was a genuine recognition of the need forIndian spirituality to reach every man as the medicine to heal the wounds that civilizations hadcaused upon themselves and others. Itwas this that Christopher Isherwood referred to when hewrote "Yioekananda' s re vo lu tio n w as a re vo lu tio n fo r e ve ry bo dy ; a re vo lu tio n w hic h w ou ld in th e lo ng

run be of just as m uch use to th e B ritish a s to th e I nd ia n . V iv ek ananda ' s na tio na lism , th e c all to India tor ec ogniz e h er se lf-th is a gain wa s not n a tio nalism in th e smalle r s en se , it w a s a k in d o f s up er -n a tio nalism , ak ina o f i n te rna ti ona li sm subl ima t ed" .Vivekananda broke open the doors of Indian scriptures and democratized our religious texts toallow access to everybody thus ending an uncharacteristic denial of spiritual knowledge to themasses. Through the Ramakrishna Mission, he made sure that our eternal truths are taken toevery nook and cranny in India and beyond. His revolution, though, was not just spiritual. Hisclarion call to social action is probably even more momentous than his revolution in spirituality.Rousing an enslaved nation, he declared "W hat o ther va in gods sha ll we go after ana yet cannotw orsh ip th e G od th at w e see a ll a ro un d u s, th e V ira t? ... T hese a re a 7lo ur G od s - m en a nd a nim als, a nd th efirst G ods we have to w orsh ip a re o ur o wn co un tryme n". This call for reform starting from eachindividual, "root and branch reform" as he called it, jerked our masses into awareness eventuallyleading to political independence.But political independence was only one step, the first step towards his vision. A century andsome years later, Vivekananda's message still applies in just as important a context as spiritualdemocracy - it is democratizing our democracy.For when our livelihoods are robbed, there is noway we as a society can move towards spintuality. Today we are in the midst of a globalawakening of youth. All claims of being driven from the backseat notwithstanding, every singlerevolution, from the ones spawning the Arab spring to the occupy movements in the west to ourown India Against Corruption, each one that has gripped the world in the past year or so isremarkable because youth have been the prime-movers, demanding change and settling fornothing less than a complete makeover. Looking at the tens of thousands of youth protesting onour streets today calling for an end to corruption, we are only reminded of Sri Aurobindo noting"we perceive his(Vivekananda's) influence still working gigantically, we know not well how, weknow not well where, in something that is not yet formed, something leonine, grand, intuitive,upheaving that has entered the soul of India and we say, "Behold, Vivekananda still lives in thesoul of his Mother and in the souls of her children. "". While it is very heartening to see, the youthmust also not be fooled by the power-hungry modern-day daityas into believing that half-stepsor nominal changes signa1 success. The efforts should continue until the aimed end - of bringingaccountability to public life and democratizing social and political power. While SriRamakrishna, Sarada Ma and Swami Vivekananda continue to guide us -let us make sure wefollow in their directions and are not distracted wayward.

P.VasanthYB-ETY uv a b ha ra ti 3 J an ua ry 2 01 2


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Swamijion hisreturn to India-l0~--


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m ile, w e want to cross the ocean likeHanuman! It c an no t b e. E ve ry on e g oin g tobe a Yogi, everyone going to meditate! Itca nn ot b e.... Is it a jo ke ? It is a ll n o ns en se .W hat is needed is Chittashuddhi,p urific atio n o f th e h ea rt. A nd h ow d oe s th atc om e ? T h efirs t o f a ll w o rs hip is th e w o rsh ipo f the V ira t -- o f those a ll around us.Worship It....T hese are a ll o ur g od s -- m enand anim als; and the first gods w e have towo rs hip a re o ur c ou ntrym en . T h ese w e h av eto w orsh ip , in ste ad o f b ein g je alo us o f e ac ho th er a nd fig htin g e ac h o th er . It is th e m ostte rrib le K arm a fo r w hic h w e a re su ffe rin g,a nd y et it d oe s n o t o pe n o ur e ye s!"

Dharma 0Nay of life based on Oneness) hasbeen life center of India. In spite of invasionsafter invasions she held on to her life center.Whenever there were challenges in hernational life, India responded by drawing herstrength and also the validation for thesolution to the problems facing then on thisgrand truth of Oneness. For example duringIslamic invasions when temples were brokenand people were persecuted for going totemples and pilgrimages, came the traditionsof great saints who told to worship God in thehouse, as God is not limited totemples and canbe worshiped anywhere. Thus each house gotits own temple and people could stick to theirGod. The British rule exploited our lands andwealth which led to utter poverty that ourcountry had never known. A country whichhad the share of 33% in the world productionwas brought down to 1.5%by the Britishdue totheir policies of bleeding India white to death.And thus famines became the routine affairs.At times even one third population wouldperish in the famine affected area. At suchtimes the earlier practice of holding on toDharma by pooja, pilgrimages, Japa etc wasimproper. It did not reflect the feeling ofoneness but rather a lackof it. But in a countryobsessed with one's own mukti and withearlier practices for holding on toGod it was adifficult task toconvince people towork for themasses - the living Gods. Tirelessly, SwamiVivekananda worked to explain the concept

and need of Service and to inspire the younggeneration to take to it.Again it was on basis ofOneness of Vedanta that Swami Vivekanandaexplained how 'service to man' is worship ofGod.

Selfless Service is the manifestation of thefeeling ofOnenessSwami Vivekananda explained how theSelfless Service is expression of Oneness inpractice, expression ofGod-realization and alsoa way for God-realization. Swamiji told to do'th e s er vi ce o fJ iv a s in a s pir it c f o n en e ss ', (VolumeVII 198) For all those quoting Vedas andVedanta he asked sternly, "M ust the teaching'looking upon all be ings as your own se lf" -- beconf ined to booksa lone? (VI319)Not even a Sanyasi according to SwamiVivekananda could be permitted to not to taketo service of the needy. He wrote to his brotherdisciple SwamiAkhandananda,

" It i s p r ef er abl e to liv e o n g ra ss f or th e s ak e o fd oin g g oo d to o th ers. T he G eru a ro be is n otfo r e njo ym e nt. It is th e b an ne r o f h er oic w o rk .Y ou m ust g ive your body, m ind , and speechto " th e w e lfa re o f t h e wo rld " . Y ou ha ve r ead - -" look upon your m other as G od, look uponyour fa ther as G od"-- bu t I say "-- the poor,th e illi te ra te , th e ig nor an t, t he a ffli cte d - - l etthese be your G od." K now tha t service toth e se a lo n e i s t he h ig h es t r el ig io n ." (VolVI288)

That One who has manifested as many is ourreal Self.Aim of life is to realize that Self.Thusserving others is for one's good as the other isonly an extended form of oneself. When once adisciple asked that "What is the necessity at allfor doing good toothers?" Swamijireplied,

"W ell, it is n ec es sa ry fo ro ne 's ow n g oo d. W eb eco mefo rge tfu l o f th e e go w hen w e th in k o ft he body as ded ica ted to t he s er v ic e o f o t her s - -the body w ith w hich m ost com placen tly w eiden tify the ego . A nd in the long run com esthe consciousness o f d isem bodiness. TheY uv a b ha ra ti 5 J an ua ry 2 01 2


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mo re in te ntly y ou th in k o f t he w ell- b ein g o fo th e rs , th e mo r e ob liv io u s o f s e lf y o u b e come .In th is w ay , as gradually your heart getspurified b y work, you w ill com e to fee l thetru th tha t your own Self is pervad ing allbeings and all things. Thus it is tha t do ingg oo d to o th ers c on stitu te s a w ay , a m ea ns o frevea ling one's ow n Self or A tm an. K nowth is a ls o to b eon e o f t he s pir itu a l p ra c ti ce s, ad isc ip lin e fo r G o d - re aliza tio n. (VolumeVIIpll1)

To the god-oriented society of ours which hadpassed through many trials and tribulations tokeep its religion alive, the society which hadfound the way to hold on to its religion bychanting names and doing poojas in the homeswhen the temples for pooja and socialregeneration were destroyed, he told,

" Afte r so mu ch a uste rity , I h av e u nd er sto odth is a s th e r ea l tru th -- g o d is p re se nt in e ve ryJ iv a ; t he re is n o o th e r God b e sid e s t ha t. 'Whose rv es J iv a, s erv es Go d in de ed '." (volumeVII247)

The distorting thoughts that keep us awayfrom service

service. The few of the distorting thoughts thateven today keep us away from vibrant anddynamic service ofthe society are asbelow.Ifyou do not feel happy, this is not your way!Sometimes we do start working for the societybut we have to work in an organized way.When we work in an organized way many atimes our ego is hurt, we have to submit toothers, we have even to swallow the hurts andhumiliations that make us unhappy. In such asituation the argument is, 'this must not bemypath as I do not feel happy. One should take toonly that what makes one happy. I am not cutfor this!' But this is again an escape route. It isour Dharma to serve the society - the extendedform of our own self. Dharma is one of thepurushartha. Purushartha means striving.Even if we feel unhappy this Dharma offulfilling our obligations to our family, society,nation, humanity and the whole creationshould not be given up. The manliness is indoing what we are supposed to do even if it isnot giving happiness or fulfillment. Initially, itwould not give happiness ifwe are too muchbound to our strong notion of 'I'. But actuallyto get rid of this binding and blinding 'I' wehave toemploy ourselves in the selfless serviceofthe society.Swami Vivekananda explains,

The Truth of Oneness of existence is ultimatebut it needs to be applied and practiced in lifeas per the needs of the time. When a society isvibrant and free, then it is bold and confidentenough to apply the ultimate truth to the needsof life. But when society degenerates, declines,then it holds on to the old forms which haveceased to reflect the principle. But as in earlierdays those old forms had served the purpose,the society refuses to let go the old forms justlike holding a body of the dear one eventhough the lifeis gone. Not ready to take to thenew ways ofpracticing the grand truth, it giveslot of arguments. The invasions and thecolonial rule had incapacitated Indians for thedynamic application of the grand truth ofoneness of the existence. Swami Vivekanandaworked ceaselessly through his lectures,discourses, dialogues etc to correct thedistorting thoughts that kept us away from the

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"A s b y c on tin uin g o ur r elig io us p ra ctic esw e g ra du ally d ev elo p a c er ta in d ete rm in edtendency for it, so by perform ingd is in te re st ed wo rk o v er and o v er again , e v enunw illing ly , w e gradually find the w illm e rg in g itse lf in it. The in c lin a ti on to wo rkfo r o th ers dev elo ps in th is w ay, d o you se e?Just do some such work even thoughu nw illin gly , a nd th en se e if t he ac tua l f r ui to fT ap asya is realised w ith in o r n ot. A s theo utco me o f w ork fo r th e sa ke o f o th ers, theangu la riti es o f t h e m i nd g e t smooth ed down,a nd me n a re g ra du ally p re pa re d fo r s in ce res e lf -s acr if ic e f or t hegood o f o the rs ."

to be continued ...


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Sparsa C O e d iSwami COi"el(ana~

We do not as yet know how historicalprocesses are influenced orshaped. An event considered notvery significant at a particular time mayassume gigantic proportions of importance inlater centuries. And an event considered earth-shaking by its contemporaries may fizzle outand became aflash in the pan ofhistory.Similarly there have been historicalpersonalities who are given birth by thepressures of the contemporary society andthere are personalities, who leave an abidingimpact on the history after that period. Thepatterns in history which scholars see are oftenas good as their persuasive power and are asgood as their clout and hold on the publicitymachine.Swami Vivekananda had a slow, continuous,solid and steady and continuous impact on hiscontemporaries and on those who livedimmediately after him. He continues toinfluence his readers. Many such personshave recorded in their writings Swamiji'sdirect influences onthem.

the ~d scenario and onspiritual seekers. The Belur Sri RamakrishnaMath's publication 100y ea rs o f C h ic ag o- Swam iVivekananda is monumental in its conceptionand records not only events but also trendswhich were set inmotion by Swamiji. Much ofour understanding of inter-disciplinarysubjects such as science and spirituality,service as a process of restoring socialbonding, and social cohesion as a prelude toeconomic prosperity owe their origin at leastinparts toSwamiji's creative genius.Now it is time to search for the less knowninfluences, less-studied impacts and lessunderstood connections of Swamiji withpeople and processes.1. Subtle thoughts - gross influence: On aSouth Indian tour Jamnalal Bajaj,treasurer ofthe Indian Congress in 1930's, and RajendraPrasad called on Ramana Maharshi atTiruvannamalai. (They stayed in theRamanashram between 18.8.38 and 23.8.38).Their conversation went likethis.Devotee: Why does not the Marharshi harness

Swamiji's influence on the Indian freedom his great energy with that ofMahatma Gandhimovement, our service movements and on the to strike off the fetters of slavery of Mothergreat luminaries such as Mahatma Gandhi, India?Sister Nivedita, Subhas Chandra Bose, ShriAurobindo and Subrahmanya Bharati is well Bhagawan: You want to know how the sagesknown and is well-documented. work and about other such problems ofman. IComprehensive volumes have been written on tell you till you know what you really are, you

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, cannot in the leastunderstand any of

I these. Understandyourself-first, theneverything will beclear to you.After sometime he, added, THERE IS A!t1~t-=:;j~~~ SAYING OF SWAMIVIVEKANANDA

THAT A RISHI'S THOUGHT CONCEIVEDIN A CAVE HAS ITS EFFECT ON THEWHOLE WORLD. ITISLITRALLYTRUE.At the time of their departure, Rajendra Prasadasked Bhagavan: Mahatma Gandhi has sentme to the Maharshi. In there any message thatIcan take to him?Bhagawan: What message is needed whenheart speaks to heart. It is the same Shaktiwhich is working there also.2. SEED THOUGHT-GROWINGINFLUENCE: In 1980-81, The DelhiRamakrishna Mission organized a series oflectures on Enlightened citizenship. Onesession was presided over by Shri S.K.Dey thethen Minister for Community Development ofthe Government of India. Shri Dey describedhow Swami Vivekananda, the 'HumanDynamo' (as he called him) gave him the ideaof Development thought community work.The work has now become 'BlockDevelopment Work' in progress in over 7000Blocks in India, and Panchayati Raj work in 7lakhs of Indian villages. Developmentthrough and by the community was themedear to Swamiji.

Sumtranandan - Pant Suman and Vatsyayan(Ajneya) both Hindi writers translatedSwamiji work into Hindi. They later went onto win Jnanpith awards, so did Nirala. TheKannada writer K.V.Puttappa (Kuvempu)also a Jnanpith awardee acknowledges hisinspiration from the Sri Ramakrishnatradition. Puthezhuttu Raman menon(Malayalam writer) too was influenced bySwamiji.4. A study of Swami Vivekananda's responseto the articifical, man-made, famine of Bengalhas been undertaken by a scholar GWILYMBECKERLEGGE. He w r it es l iT h e e f fe c ts o f s oc ia land econom ic pressures exerted under B ritishA dm in is tr atio n, w e re w id ely fe lt u p on th e e xe rc is eo f ph ilan thropy w ith in Ind ian Socie ty . M anyla n dlo rd s, w h o tr ad itio na lly h ad b ee n e xp ec te d toe xe rc ise a p hila nth ro pic ro le in tim e s o f h ard sh ipand fa mine m oved in to the c ities, som e tak in g u pn ew f o rms o f p h ila n th ro p ic a c tiv it y a pp ro v ed by th eB ritish ru le rs. T he d isru ptio n to c aste , e xte nd edfam ily n etw o rk s, a n d c or po ra te v illa g e life c au se dby the pro found econom ic and soc ia l changesexperienced in rura l Ind ia , a lso deprived thedest it ut e o f a fu r the r t rad it iona l s ource o f s oc ie ty .Steering clear of politics Swami Vivekanandainsisted primarily upon the Internaltransformation of individuals as a way ofchanging external social condition. It isobvious that Swami Vivekananda saw a non-governmental solution to the problems of thesociety, problems such as femine relief.According to Swamiji, spiritually motivatedyoung men and women alone can bring aboutthe coveted salvation, help, social rising upand social equality, believes Beckerlegge.5. In the field of medicine:Dr.G.Venkataswamy, the founder of Aravind

3. A number of men of letters who got eye care system has built up an eye-care-introduced to Swami Vivekananda's writings system that is world class. The honours thatat a young age blossomed into eminence when came to him for securing the eyesight tothey grew old. And they acknowledged their millions of poor people sat lightly on hisindebtedness to Swamiji's inspiration. shoulders. The Harvard University'S Divinity

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6. In the social Sphere: Another heroic figurewho was guided by Swami Vivekananda wasDr.Palpu an Ezhava doctor from SouthernKerala. This brilliant researcher with anintense social consciousness battled casteprejudies and financial problems to graduatefrom the Madras Medical College. But hecould not get a job in his home province. Hemoved to Mysore where he was engaged inanti small pox and anti plague operations andresearch. He met Swami Vivekananda in allprobability in 1892, and asked the saint forspiritual initiation. Swami guided tohim seek

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school invitedDr.G.Venkatasamyto deliver the WITLECTURES. In thatlecture he said: "In1940s-50s SwamiVivekanandaattracted the hearts

lft I of our young.....~ ~ people. HisSri Chetampi Swami emotional, inspiring

and powerful lectures bestirred me too. Theykindled in me a great desire to take up somechallenging task, and fulfillit. I avidly read myfather's collection of Swami Vivekananda'sbooks and tried to understand our ancientreligious and cultural principles. In mycollege days, I have studied Swamiji'sRajayoga. Swamiji's speeches and writingshave attracted millions of learned peopleacross the world. They also have inspiredIndians and took to them the teachings ofJnanis. Swami Vivekananda shines as abuilder ofawakened India. Similarly I studiedSri Ramakrishna's teachings with eagerness".(passage, Translated fromTamil)Suchinfluences among others shaped him andhis philosophy of service. G.Venkataswamy'sfather Sri Govindappa Naicker established atthe enterence of his village-house a majesticportrait ofSwamiVivekananda.

a Saint from Palpu's own community. Dr,Palpu's going to the famous saint NarayanaGuru, not only did open his spiritual doors,but also turned out tobe an eventful turn totheEzhava fortunes. SriNarayana Guru receivedhim and set Dr.Palpu on his spiritual andsocial track. Dr.Palpu was among those whoworked for sending Swamiji to America.Through SwamiVivekananda's disciple SisterNivedita and her friends in the BritishParliament Dr.Palpu arranged to havequestions asked in the parliament regardingthe treatment of Ezhavas in Travancore. Andthis resulted in anenquiry into their problems.Dr.Palpu's work on these linescontributed in alargemeasure inbringing about a favaourablechange in the government's policies towardsEzhavas and other communities. Dr.Palpu'sson Sri Natarajan become Saint NarayanaGuru's successor.Under Sri Narayana Guru's guidanceDr.Palpu and the well-known poet KumaranAsan formed the Shri Narayana DharmaParipalana Yogam (SNDP) in 1903 andKumaran Asan became its first generalsecretary. A monthly magazine calledVIVEKODAYAM was brought out as theorgan of the yogam. The Yogam since hasblossomed into a gigantic service organizationtouching all aspects of life of the peopleespecially the followers ofthe Guru. KumaranAsan wrote a foreword for the bye-laws of theyogam. He started it with a quotation forSwami Vivekananda that religion is the gripforpulling India up or down.The list of people in whom the fire ofspiritually oriented patriotic service waskindled by SwamiVivekananda is long. Ashehimself has said Swami Vivekanandacontinues to work through various people,movements and methods for the uplift of hisbeloved Bharat.


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The rhythm of Swami Vivekananda'slectures, and the music of his messagewas his frequent reference to humanweakness as the cause of all suffering and tostrength as the best remedy. Weaknessaccording to the Swami was at the root of allhuman misery. 'It is not by brooding overweakness that one becomes strong but byremembering strength'. The Swami was,therefore, never tired ofexhorting people toshun weakness: 'weakness is death'. 'Thisworld is not for cowards. Do not try to fly.Looknot forsuccessorfailure'.Cowardice in any form is detestable.Hinduism does not preach cowardice.Whichever makes man weak, it is sin, to beshunned, to be dispensed with. It isweakness at the physical, emotional,intellectual and spiritual levels, that causesone to suffer. A strong body never suffersfrom sickness. One has to be manly. It isonly the strong that can really renounce.Real renunciation is an outcome ofenlightenment. Enlightenment is the fruitof strength at all levels. Tofeed and thriveon others' labour is to be a parasite. Tocompete with others for a piece of bone iscannibalistic. Co-operation is acompromise among the mediocre. Andself-reliance is strength; it is manliness.Giving up one's own personal interest for thewelfare of others is possible only for a man ofreal and benevolent strength, which isdivine.

Prof. Dr. K. Subrahmanyam

suppresses senses to soar in sweet dreams. Itis beastly to indulge indiscriminately insense pleasures. The mediocre make anagreement between the senses and seobjects for fearofillhealth or bad reputatiA man of strength is capable of commanding

both senses and desires. Strength in theemotional plane implies one's ownunfaltering devotion to the ideal.

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At the intellectual level, it is weakness to bedragged by ego while reasoning. It is due tocowardice that one gets caught like a moth inbondage. Enshrouded intellect gives way tosuperstition. Enslaved intellect prepares amask of defence mechanism for failure.Selfishness is, ofcourse, themaking ofintellectunder the direction of ego. Itis strength, it ismanliness that gives freedom to intellect andthereby it checks ego, prejudice, andselfishness. The intellect thus of strength andfreedom sparkles in discrimination toovercome superstition and partiality andpaves theway finally forenlightenment.Thus, it is strength that manifests as self-reliance, sense-control and discriminationleading to self-dedication, sense-sublimationand enlightenment through action, emotionand intellect. If one is spiritually weak, that

weakness has its effect on intellectual,emotional and physical expressions. If thespirituality is strengthened, all evils at alllevels will flyaway. The Swami thereforesays,We h av e w ep t lo ng e no ug h; n o m ore w ee pin g, b utstan d o n your fee t and be m en . It i s man -mak in grelig io n th at w e w an t. It is m a n-m a kin g th eo rie stha t w e want. It is m an -m ak in g e du ca tio n a llroun d th at w e w an t and here is th e test o f t ru th ---any th ing tha t m akes you weak physica lly ,i n te ll ec tua ll y and sp ir it ua l ly , r e je c t a s po is on , t h er eis no life in it, it cannot be true . T ru th isstreng then ing , T ru th is purity , T ru th is a ll-kn ow led ge, T ru th m u st b e s tre ng th en in g, m ust b een li ght en i ng , mus t be i nv igo ra ti ng .Very often we come across a strangeexperience within us and in others. What wethink, we cannot speak; what we speak we

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cannot do. Actions are not faithful to speechand speech is not faithful to thoughts. Thecause for all this, according to the Swami, isweakness. Likeparrots we repeat great wordsand ideas, without putting them into practice.Inability to translate a thought into action hasbeen our habit. It is all due to physicalweakness. And strength is the only remedy tomake the ideals worked out into actions,words into deeds.If the will is weak, it cannot hold on to aresolution or an ideal. If the feelings are weak,they cannot be genuine and pure. If the bodiesare weak, they cannot translate anything goodand worthwhile into action. Therefore the firstand foremost need is to strengthen oneself.The Swami's love for strength was such that hewent to the extent of saying," Yo u w ill b e n ea re r to Heaven th rough fo o tb a ll th a nthrough the study o f the G ita .. .. You w illu nd ersta nd th e G ita b ette r w ith y ou r b ic ep s, y ou rm u sc le s, a little stro ng er. Y ou w ill u nd ersta nd th em ig hty g en iu s a nd th e m ig hty stren gth o f K rish nab etter w ith a little o f s tro ng b lo od in yo u. Y ou w illu nd ersta nd th e U p an ish ad s b ette r a nd th e g lo ry o fthe A tm an w hen your body stands firm upon yourfe et a nd y ou fe el y ou rs elv es a sm e n .The realization of the Atman is not possible fora weak person. The whole of Sri Krishna'smessage in the Gita is tomake people strong atevery level. Strangely, in India, the scripturaland religious injunction that people should be

strong was not cared for and as the Swamisaid, there was a deplorable condition in India.As a nation we have become weak, weakerthan women, fawn.Mere goodness without sufficient strength toexecute it is of no use. 'Even ifyou sin, sin likeaman' says the Swami. He wants men tobe ofindomitable will, invincible courage andstrength. Strangely, he said he had alladmiration for Milton's Satan, for his boldnessand strength. He went to the extreme step ofasking an aspirant to tell a lie, ifhe wanted toprogress. Goodness out ofweakness is uselessas the vow of fasting by a beggar, celibacy ofthe impotent, and a vow of silence by thedumb. In all his speeches and writings andmovements, why, even in his very personality,it is strength, strength that is everflowing. Hewas sostrong right from his childhood that hismother had to engage many nurses to controlhim. Vexed with his abundant and dynamicstrength, his mother used to complain that herprayers were for a son, but Lord Shivahad senther one ofhis 'Bhutaganas'.If Swami Vivekananda's pronouncements onstrength are taken away from his letters,lectures, writings, and conversations, perhapsthere will benothing left in his work worthy ofour appreciation. If he and his message arepopular among people today, it is chieflybecause of his dynamic exhortations onstrength, both personal and national.

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What was the purpose of SwamiVivekananda's life? Though itmay be deemed arrogant toask such a question, for those who want tofollow his path it is very important toaddress this basic query in right spirit. Thepurpose of life is what makes thepersonality what it is.SwamijiasanAvatar?Somedevotees liketobelieve Swamijitobean avatar and they would simply say thepurpose of avatar is to establish Dharmaand that's what Swamiji did. But thefounder of Vivekananda Kendra, MaEknath ji Ranade would consider callingSwamiji an avatar as an escapists'argument. By calling him avatar we areshunning our responsibility to follow hispath. On the other hand it is belittling hisachievements also. "If he was a divineincarnation, I feel, what he did was notvery much. But on the other hand ifI thinkhe was as human as anyone ofus then Ifeelthat he has achieved a great height. At thesame time, I get the inspiration to keep anoble goal before myself and to emulate hispath togreatness." Eknathjiwould argue.

What were Swamiji's thoughts on the matter?He has uttered many a things about himself.He has also written about his life's mission insome of his letters. But never has he called

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himself an avatar. That should be the ultimatetest. Notwithstanding the vision of ShriRamakrishna Paramahamsa reported by somedevotees to back their avatar claim; we will bemore honest if we use Swamiji's method todecide the issue. Narendra was also faced withthe same dilemma about his Guru. Manydevotees called Shri Ramakrishna an avatar.Narendra himself had many miraculousexperiences with the great master. He attainedNirvikalpa Samadhi, had Shaktipat (Transferof Spiritual power by touch) and also theSakara Darshan (Vision in Form) of MotherKali by the grace of the great Guru. Still hecould not come to a definite conclusion as toShri Ramakrishna being a divine incarnationtill the very last days of Thakur. To resolve thedilemma he decides in his mind, "I will accepthim as a divine incarnation, an avatar, only ifhe himself directly tells me so." It isdocumented that he got the answer then andthere. As if the Guru was reading the mind ofthe disciple, Thakur, taking Narendra's handproclaimed very clearly, "One who was Rama,who was Krishna, has now born asRamakrishna"; leaving no ambiguitywhatsoever.Hence we must apply the same test fordeciding whether Swamiji was an Avatar ornot. According to the documented andavailable information he never claimed to beone. He was not shy of speaking about himself.As early as in 1891he is known to have said, "Iwill burst upon the Indian society like a bomb".He fulfilled this self prophecy. Talking to hisdisciple he extolled, "I may leave this mortalbody, but I will continue to work for next 1500years." So he does. But there is no mention ofhis calling himself an Avatar. Thus till any suchnew discoveries are found we are bound totake Swamiji' word for his purpose of life as a

human being rather than an Avatar.References to his mission:He has distinctly made a few comments on hismission which was dawned upon him in theintense meditation at the Shreepad Shila inKanyakumari. He had written in one of hisletters to Shashi Maharaj, SwamiRamakarishnanda, "Sitting on the last bit ofMother Bharat, I hit upon a plan". He hasexplained his plan of campaign in a lecture inMadras after his triumphant return from thewest. But we are after the purpose of his life.The mission and plans are to fulfill thepurpose. What was the purpose of Swamiji'slife? He himself had struggled hard within andwithout to find this. He was convinced thatthere was a noble purpose but most of the timeit was elusive. On Hatharas station he told thestation master Sarat Chandra Chakroborty,who later became his first sanyasi disciple,Swami Sadananda, "I see my purpose of lifelike the hill covered by the morning mist. Mydestiny beckons me. I have to move on."What others say:Many people have given him many loftyattributes and rightly so. Some called him thepatriot monk, warrior monk, the savior ofHinduism, the second Shankarcharya, a socialreformer. Bhagini Nivedita says about hisaddress in the Chicago, "Of the Swami'saddress before the Parliament of Religions, itmay be said that when he began to speak it wasof 'the religious ideas of the Hindus', but whenhe ended, Hinduism had been created." Thusalmost announcing him the father of neo-Hinduism. He has been credited as one of thegreatest pioneers of Indian renaissance in the19th century. His own brother BhupendranathDutt talks about his (failed) plans oforganizing political revolution to free India

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from foreign rule. Likes of Bipin Chandra Paland Brajendranath Seal would agree to callhim a political activist. This may not beauthenticated by available documents butthere is no doubt that his life and messageinspired generations of freedom fighters bothof armed and nonviolent type."He was so great, so profound, so complex. AYogi of the highest spiritual level in directcommunion with the truth who had for thetime being consecrated his whole life to themoral and spiritual uplift of his nation and ofhumanity, that is how I would describe him. Ifhe had been alive, I would have been at hisfeet" Said Subhash Chandra Bose many atimes. On the other hand Rajaji, SriChakravarthi Rajagopalachari calls him asavior of Hinduism, "Swami Vivekanandasaved Hinduism and saved India. But for him,we would have lost our religion and would nothave gained our freedom. We therefore oweeverything to Swami Vivekananda." BalGangadhar Tilak who had hosted Swamiji inPune during his wanderings equates him withAdi Shankaracharya, "It is an undisputed factthat it was Swami Vivekananda who first heldaloft the banner of Hinduism as a challengeagainst the material science of the West. It wasSwami Vivekananda who first took on hisshoulders this stupendous task of establishingthe glory of Hinduism in different countriesacross the borders. And he, with his erudition,oratorical power, enthusiasm, and inner force,laid that work upon a solid foundation. Twelvecenturies ago Shankara was the only greatpersonality who not only spoke of the purity ofour religion... but also brought all this intoaction. Swami Vivekananda is a person of thatstature." Rabindranath Tagore when asked bythe french Historian Roman Rolland, how canhe understand the spirit of India? Said, "If you

want to know India, study Vivekananda."Father of Hindu Nationalism:The accolades he received during his lifetimeand thereafter are countless and the list stillcontinues to grow longer and longer. Even thecritics of Hinduism in the modem times insearch of the roots of Hindu upsurge duringthe Ramjanmbhumi agitation reach back toSwamiji for so called ideological foundations.They try to put the blame on Swamiji amongothers for the revival of Hindu Nationalisticspirit. He is considered to be father of HinduNationalism by those in favor as well as thoseagainst the idea.Preacher of Vedanta:There are many others who are fascinated byhis depth of spiritual knowledge. Thescientific way in which he articulated themysteries of highest spiritual knowledge isunparallel. Hence he was called the foremostpreacher of Vedanta in the west. It is alsoclaimed by some that he conquered the westand converted many to Vedanta.Swamiji's personality and his message wasmultifaceted hence there are many ways ofunderstanding Swami Vivekananda. Each onedoes it from one's own respective point ofview. This has made Swamiji the mostacceptable, non controversial ideal of themodem times. People from opposing campsuse his quotations to prove their side ofargument and blame the other ofmisrepresenting him. The left ideologues whodenigrate religion also accept Swamiji's viewson the regeneration of deprived masses. But inall this process, sometimes, there is adeliberate effort to dilute Swamiji'sNationalism, his in-depth understanding ofthe soul of Bharat. He was the first religiousand spiritual leader to proclaim that the soul of

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Bharat was 'Dharma'. He was the firstproponent of the concept ofHindurashtra, theHindu nation. This should not be forgottenand any effort to prove it otherwise is anattempt to twist his message to suit the presentday vested political interest.Self Prophesy:In this cacophony of diverse and sometimeseven contradictory claims about Swamiji howdo we find the answer toour query? What wasthe purpose of Swamiji's life? Here again wemust rely on the original text rather than theinterpretations which may be within or out ofproper context. Is there any statement of theSwami about his own self?What was his viewabout himself and his work? There are loads ofindirect references in his speeches in India.There are a few direct discussions recorded byhis disciples which give us an insight in to hismind. But the most direct statement on thetopic is, "Iamnot a politician, nor am I a socialreformer. It is my job to fashion man ... Man-making ismy mission oflife."To Fashion Man:What a great statement? To Fashion man!What does it means when one uses the verb tofashion? Rogers's thesaurus gives us a lot ofoptions - to design, to tailor, to style, tomould,to modify etc. When we apply it to humanswhat will be the most consistent meaning. Tofashion man- is to transform. Touse Swamiji'sown words, 'to enable man to manifest theperfection already within.' To fashion is totrain to realize the potential divinity inpractical life. To make one actualize the fullpotential. To make one realize the specialpurpose ofhis lifeand toprogress on that path.Swamijidid that all his life.He transformed thelifeof everyone he touched. The list is long andvaried. Swamiji's man making technology

which Sister Nivedita later on qualified byadding its prime objectiveas "ManMaking forNation Building" was unique for each of itsbeneficiary. To study this transformationbrought about by Swamiji in hundreds ofpeople is an interesting way to understand thescience of human excellence and the variousmethods ofunfolding it.Self Transformation by Efforts:The mission started early in his life. The firstexperiment of his self proclaimed job was onhis own personality. Itis an interesting saga ofself transformation through intense enquiry,struggle within and without,experimentations and in short total andcontinuous efforts. The whole journey is infour distinct stages Biley to Narendra,Narendra to Sachchidananda /vividishananda (his sanyasi names during theinitial wanderings), Kolkata to Kanyakumari-FromWanderer to a determined Vivekanandawith a mission and finally the MissionaryVivekananda Chicago to Belur.This is not theoccasion to examine the whole journey but themethods of Fashioning involved. The primeurge was to realize, to experience. Nopretence, no belief no acceptance withoutthorough logic and questioning. He not onlyquestioned others, but his self questioningcontinued all through his life till the end. Asconfidant as he was of his mission and thesuccess of it, still he kept on asking am I on theright path. His openness to discussions andacceptance to change at any stage is reallyinspiring. Though the process went on all hislife the most important period of intense self-transformation is his encounters with ShriRamakrishna. That fashioned theVivekananda that we know. Itwas not an easyprocess. The struggle went on. Both of themsuffered a lot. Each one sticking to ones own

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ways. Swamiji's adamancy was to be tamedonly by realization. He did many experimentsunder the guidance of his Guru. Thisacceptance of Thakur as Guru also came onlyafter the mystic experience of the onenessthrough touch- Shaktipat. But the finalsurrender and giving up of the rigid ego wasdone by the greatest of the experiences - Visionof Kali as a Chinmayi (living, consciousmother). This was the turning point whichmade him realize that the divine wasomnipotent, omniscient and can be realized inall forms. This made him internalize therevolutionary Gospel of Shri Ramakrishna -Shiv Bhave [eev Seva. Serve the living beingwith the full understanding ofits divinity. Thisbecame his lifemantra, "Servicetohumanity asan offering to the divinity."The self accepted vocation to Fashion mancontinued more vigorously after the Guru leftthe mortal form. The initial period of3-4yearswas very testing. The domestic situation wasworsening. Thakur had given him theresponsibility to keep the Sangh, the monasticorder of young disciples together. The

householder devotees had their own ideas.During this period Narendra kept all hisbrother disciples in constant contact and sawto it that they did not forget the call of themaster as well as their inner fire of Vairagyawas kept alive. It was a daunting task. Thewhole well meaning world of relatives,families and even the householder followersofThakur were against the idea. ButNarendrakept it alive in the tough times and gave it ashape inVarahnagar Math.This man-making mission continuedthroughout his life and even there after. Wesee great examples of total transformations inthis journey. There are examples like SwamiRamtirh, a Professor of Mathematics inLahore, who attended Swamiji's lectures thereon Common Bases of Hinduism and Vedantaand got so inspired that he renounced andbecame a great Sanyasi. But there are fewexample of Man-making that will give us theinsight into the science of the art of HumanFashioning. We will try and study some ofthem indetail in the next part.

SHIBIR CAL END E R - 2012NAME OF THE SHIBIR DATES AGE CAMP DONATION

Years

Spiritual Retreat (Eng) 07 -13 Feb 18 to 70 Rs.1500/-Spiritual Retreat (Hindi) 07 -13 Feb 18 to 70 Rs.1500/-Yoga Shiksha Shibir (Eng) 05 -19 May 18 to 60 Rs.2000/-Yoga Shiksha Shibir (Hindi) 05 - 19 May 18 to 60 Rs.2000/-Spiritual Retreat (Eng) 07 - 13 Aug 18 to 70 Rs.1500/-Spiritual Retreat (Hindi) 07 -13 Aug 18 to 70 Rs.1500/-Yoga Shiksha Shibir (Eng) 01- 15 Dec 18 to 60 Rs.2000/-Yoga Shiksha Shibir (Hindi) 01- 15 Dec 18 to 60 Rs.2000/-

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During his visit to India, fromNovember 6 to 8, 2010, PresidentObama made a significantobservation about the antiquity and nobility ofIndia's culture and the contribution that it hasmade to the advancement of humancivilization. In his address to the IndianParliament on November 8, he said: "Myconfidence in our shared future is grounded inmy respect for India's treasured past - acivilization that has been shaping the world forthousands of years. Indians unlocked theintricacies of human body and the vastness ofour universe ...India not only opened ourminds, sheexpanded our moral imagination".Obama also made a specific reference to thecelebrated visit of 'renowned SwamiVivekananda' to his home town, Chicago,more than a century ago, and recalled whatVivekananda had underlined in his address tothe Parliament ofReligions: "Holiness, purityand charity are not the exclusivepossessions ofany church and every system has producedmen and women of the most exaltedcharacter" .Our media, obsessed as it is, with affairs ofsmall politics and wholly oblivious ofthe needto engender national pride and healthy respectfor the positive aspects of our heritage, took nonotice ofthe abovequoted contents ofObama'sspeech. Itfound no space to reflectupon eitherthe past strength ofthe Indian civilization or itscontribution to the elevation of the Americanmindscape. In this article, I would attempt to

\ _ AJagmo~n

make up for the neglect and highlight thehistoric role which Swami Vivekanandaplayed in placing the jewels of the ancientIndia thought before the American people andthus help them in increasing the dimensionsand depth oftheir moral imagination.What a tremendous impact was created bySwami Vivekananda, during his two visits' tothe United States, can be seen from thefollowing observations made by EleanorStark, a noted American academician of ourtimes:Therewas an advent on the American scene ofa voice from the East which, in a few shortyears, sowed the seeds of a regeneration of agreat people. At the turn of the century, anunheralded and quiet revolution took place



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across the land. A message was given byVivekananda to the American people in wordsof such universal wisdom and power thatthose who heard him at the time found theirlives changed and their spirits freed. Itwas amessage of humanism in depth, a ringingdeclaration of a science of humandevelopment that did not deny but deepenedto new dimensions America's achievements inscience and humanistic philosophy. Itwas nota call to a new religion but to a new way ofthinking about religion; not a call to anemotional revival as a catharsis for fear andinsecurity, but a call to a universal science ofspiritual life that affirmed man as God andasked him to look within, to tum inward inorder to discover the ground of his Being, andthere to discover the same ground in ale.Before Vivekananda's visits to the UnitedStates, hardly any American was aware of theennobling features of the ancient Indianphilosophy and the deep insight it providedinto the ultimate Reality. The only three greatexceptions were Ralph Waldo Emerson, HenryThoreau and Walt Whitman. Itwas Emersonwho had brought home to a limited circle ofAmerican intellectuals the core of the Indianthought - the philosophy of Vedanta. In hisremarkable poem, Brahman, published in1856, he explained, in a simple and succinctidiom, the Vedantic belief in the fundamentalunity of existence, the indestructibility of thehuman soul and the 'individual self' being aninseparable part of the 'Overall Self'. He wrote:Ifthe red slayer thinks the slays,Or ifthe slain think he is slain,They know not well the subtle waysIkeep, and pass, and tum again.Far or forgot to me is near;Shadow and sunlight are the same;The vanish'd gods to me appear,And one to me are shame and fame.

They reckon illwho leave me out;When me they fly, I am the wings;I am the doubter and the doubt,And I the hymn that Brahma sings.Emerson had also noted another uniquefeature of Vedanta, namely the evolutionarycharacter of its thought-processes, itsrelentless search for the Ultimate Reality andits constant endeavor to move from 'lowerlevel of truth' to 'higher level of truth'.Insightfully, he had pointed out: "Hinduismbelieves that our life is an apprenticeship totruth, that around every circle another circlecan be drawn".Thoreau, who was a born believer in non-violence and whose influence on Gandhi iswell-known, was also deeply touched by theIndian spirit. This should be clear from thehighly reverential reference he made to theBhagvad-Gi ta in his write-up, The Pond inWin ter . Hereflected:I bathe my intellect in the stupendous andcosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagvad-Gita,in comparison with which our modem worldand its literature seem puny and trivial. I laydown the book and go to my well for water,and lo! there I meet the servant of theBrahman, priest of Brahma, Vishnu and Indra,who still sits in his temple on the Gangesreading the Vedas, or dwells at the root of atree with his crust and water jug. I meet hisservant come to draw water for his master, andour buckets grate together in the same well.The pure Walden water is mingled with thesacred water of the Ganges.The strands of the Vedantic thoughts are alsofound scattered in Walt Whitman's celebratedworks, Leaves of Grass and Song of Myself.The former has, in fact, been described byquite a few critics as a mixture of the Bhagvad-Gita and the New York Herald. In the song of

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Myself, the Vedantic concepts ofdivinity oflifeand unity ofexistence are easily discemable:TheEast and West are mineAnd the North South are mineIamlarger, better than I thoughtInthe face, ofmen and womenIeeGod, andInmy own facein the glass.Clearly, the basic features of the Vedanticphilosophy were known in the mid-nineteenthcentury America. But this knowledge wasrestricted to a few literary giants" of the period.It was let to Swami Vivekananda to serve, atthe end of the nineteenth century, as 'the greatAmbassador of Atman-Brahman' to theAmerican people at large and disseminate,with 'flaming clarity', the meaning andmessage ofVedanta.Bythe time of Vivekananda's arrival, Americahad become a huge economic power-house.Its society was experiencing unprecedentedaffluence, and its science and technology weremaking rapid strides. It had made a dramaticimprovement in the arena of public health.Huge metropolises were rapidly emerging onits landscape, symbolizing its great prosperityas well as its great skills of management. Theindustrial and business enterprises, too, wereexpanding at a fast pace. Itwas truly the GreatAmerican Age of Enterprise. But it was alsoAmerica's Gilded Age in which worship ofMammon had supplanted all virtues andvalues. Acquisitiveness had seized the societyand the moral law was gasping for its lastbreath.Every sensitive American was feeling thatsomething was going out of his life. Heexperienced a certain 'hollowness of heart',and found himself working like a robot,'stopping when it was red and moving when itwas green'. The outward gleam was causingcorrosion within. The stability of personal life

was being increasingly threatened. Thesociety in general was experiencing a newkind of agony - an agony emanating frombroken families, drug-abuses, love of the gunand insatiable hunger for money and materialgoods. Wide disparities of income had alsocome about. Therewas the 'Other America" aswell - America of the deprived and dis-privileged. In short, the great principles,which had given birth to the American nationand given to it a constitution based upon noblehuman values, were withering away in faceofthe fury ofconscienceless and compassionlessmaterialism. A reliable estimate, made in1896, showed that "90 per cent of the nation'sproperty was owned by one eighth of thepopulation, while increasingly large numberofAmericans were propertyless altogether".The essence of the conditions, then prevailing,found most apt expression in the followingobservations made by Walt Whitman in hisessay, Democ ra tic V is ta s, written in 1871:The depravity of the business classes of ourcountry isnot less than has been supposed, butinfinitely greater. The official services ofAmerica, national, state, and municipal, in alltheir branches and departments, except thejudiciary, are saturated in corruption, bribery,falsehood, mal-administration; and thejudiciary is tainted. The great cities reek withrobbery and scoundrelism.... Inbusiness, theone sole object is, by any means, pecuniarygain ... The best class we show is but a mob offashionably dressed speculators andvulgarians ... Isay that our New Worlddemocracy, however great a success inuplifting the masses out of their sloughs, is, sofar, an almost complete failure in its socialaspects ... It is as if we were somehow beingendowed with a vast and thoroughlyappointed body and then life with little or nosoul.

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Itwas in these environment of rising materialprosperity and collapsing moral values thatSwami Vivekananda arrived at the Americanscene. He had, at home, already acquired acomplete mastery over the ancient Indianscriptures and given a new orientation to thebasic philosophies of India. When he starteddelving deep into the country's religiousliteratures, he had come face to face not onlywith different interpretations of the Vedanticphilosophy, but also with the scatteredtraditions of the Vedantic philosophy and alsowith the scattered traditions of different cults,such as Sivaism, Vaishnavism, Shakti andBhakti. Most of these cults had suffered a steepdecline. The evil practices of the past hadremained unattended, and many more werecreeping in. The overall scenario wasdepressing, diffused and incoherent. Themisery and helplessness of the masses whichVivekananda had seen at the ground level,during his extensive wanderings in thecountry, had provided another dimension tohis thoughtful mind.All this led him to undertake the much neededwork of reinterpreting and reorganizingHinduism. He picked up the healthy strandsof different schools and systems of thoughtand weaved them in the form of a clean andcomprehensive doctrine which may be calledNeo-Vedanta. This doctrine rests firmly on thecomer stone of Upanishadic philosophy whichbelieves in the essential Oneness of man andinextricable unity of human existence. But itfinds fault with the 'life-negating' aspect ofSankara's Advaita which virtually leads to thedestruction of the individual self. It believesthat it is not by life-negation but by positiveand practical action towards improvement ofthe self that life's higher purpose of reachingthe Supreme Self is achieved. The goal shouldbe to lead a life of day to day action, within theoverall frame-work of Advaita morality or'monistic ethics' and realize God through

service toMan-attaining 'Shiva' through '[iva'.It was this well-thought over philosophy ofNeo-Vedanta, culled out of the most profoundand positive traditions of Hinduism, whichSwami Vivekananda took to America. Hisvery first engagement created a greatimpression upon the public mind. When, onSeptember 11, 1893, he rose to speak at theParliament of Religions and addressed hisgathering as simply brothers and sisters, hewas greeted with a thunderous applause. Itwas instantaneously recognised that histhinking was different from others. Everysentence he subsequently uttered thrilled hisaudience. When he said that the Hindusregarded" all religions as so many attempts ofthe human soul to realize the Almighty", orwhen he pleaded that "on the banner of everyreligion should be written 'assimilation' andnot 'destruction", the voice of peace andplurality, love and harmony, was heard for thefirst time. His quotes from Vedic literature -"Whoever comes to Me, through whatsoeverform, I reach him", and "all men are strugglingthrough paths which in the end lead to Me" -were models of both precision and lucidity.They went straight to the heart of the listeners.While the delegates of other faiths spoke abouttheir 'Gods', in terms of do gmas",Vivekananda expounded the Hindu belief inthe Universal Being who embraced all 'Gods'.The crux of his pronouncements was that allitems of life and nature were permeated withthe same Divine Consciousness, and allindividuals and all faiths were united at theirbase with this Consciousness.Vivekananda's various addresses at Chicagowere marked by immense clarity, convictionsand scholarship. His dazzling performancewas extensively publicised in the Americanpress. For example, the N ew Yo rk H erald hailedhim as the greatest figure in the Parliament of

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Religions and observed: "After hearing himwe feel how foolish it is to send missionaries tothe learned Indian nation". The Review ofReviews described his addresses as 'noble andsublime', and the Boston. Evening Transcriptrated him as a great favourite at theParliament.All this made Vivekananda famous andbrought him a number of invitations which heaccepted, hectic schedule notwithstanding.He spoke at the universities, city centres,churches and other public and privategatherings. Byway of his speeches, he lightedup quite a few dark sports in the Americansoul, and made it to look at the larger purposeof life - the purpose of establishing a truekingdom of God on the earth and building afair and just order for the entire human race,drawing strength and sustenance from thegreat spiritual force embedded in man. Let metake you to the arenas, one by one, on which hedirected the search-light of his thought andmade his contribution to the enlargement of amoral vision of the American society.In most of his speeches, Vivekanandaexpounded various aspects of the Vedanticphilosophy and high-lighted the emphasis thatthis philosophy places on self-realisation anddiscovery of Eternal Divine Force' of whichman is a constituent and to which he is also acontributor. The real issue is one of attaining astage of higher spirituality where there is onlyworship of the Spirit by a spirit, and Aone isreached by alone. Such a higher stage ofspirituality" makes Hindu a better Hindu, anda Christian better Christian.

religion or your national religion. There isonly one religion - One Infinite Religionexisting all through eternity and will everexist, expressing itself in various ways indifferent communities, countries and races".Every religion, he elaborated, was true; but itwas perfected within man only through self-realisation and identification with the EternalDivine Force. Vivekananda, thus, provided tothe American people a new perspective onreligion and opened a new vista for them tomove to a higher level of thinking.Another significant contribution ofVivekananda was that he asked the Americansto realize that even their adherence toChristianity was superficial. He told thembluntly: "I am not here to flatter you. Iwant toshow you the way out of self to God bypointing out to you your errors, your defects,your vanities. Where is your Christianity?Where is there a place for the Jesus the Christin this selfish struggle? If he were here today,he would not find a stone whereon to lay Hishead". Time and again, he made it clear thatwithout serving the divinity that is ingrainedin the poor, the sick and the needy, religionwould be meaningless. He underscored: "I donot believe in religion which cannot wipe outthe widow's tears or stop the orphan's wail".Vivekananda also wanted the Americanpublic to understand that, since in thisuniverse every item of life and nature isinterconnected and enmeshed in the web, allactivities, economic or social, must occurwithin the framework of monistic ethics andno other component of unified existenceshould be made to suffer in the process oraccorded any special privilege. Inhis lectureon Vedanta and Privilege, he said: "None canbe Vedantist and at the same time admit ofprivilege, either mental, physical or spiritual".He denounced the disposition to accumulatewealth and ridiculed the mystique of 'trickledown' effect.


Vivekananda argued that what wasconventionally regarded as religion was reallyan ethnic religion, with all its dogmas anddoctrines. The real religion was only one.Unhesitatingly, he told his audience: "Therewas never my religion or yours, my national


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Vivekananda did not find any fault withAmerican spirit of enterprise or search forhigher standards of life. Nor did he fail toappreciate the great organizational skillsof thepeople, their drive and dynamism, and therapid advance they had made in arena ofscienceand technology. But he warned themof the dangers of scienceand technology. Buthe warned them of the dangers of ignoringspiritual growth and thus creating imbalancesat the individual as well as social levels. Heimpressed upon them the need to understandthat for digesting material prosperity, spiritualstrength was necessary. He said: "Machinesnever made men happy and never will.Happiness is always in themind".The mismatch between material boom andspiritual recession in America ledVivekananda toponder over the very nature ofWestern and Eastern civilisations. He came tobelieve that the active spirit of the West andcontemplative spirit of the East, the 'manlinessof the former' and 'saintliness of the latter',needed to be welded. While superficialobserver of the conditions, then prevailing,argued that the Eastwas Eastand the WestwasWest and never the twain would meet,Vivekananda thought a new civilisation mustbe fashioned out by dove-tailing the healthysinews oftheWestern civilizationwith those ofthe Eastern civilization. He advocatedsynthesis" of the positive features, whereverthey existed. This advocacy was the naturaloutcome of Vivekananda's belief in theessential One-ness of man and the entirehuman race being an inextricable unit of theUniversal Self.Many sensitive Americans of the times weredeeply troubled that quite a few dogmas anddoctrines of their faith were at variance withthe findings of modern science. They werefacing an acute moral dilemma. Vivekananda

showed them the way out of theirpredicament. He told them that faith in theVedantic philosophy, that is, in the all-pervasive Divine Consciousness/CosmicIntelligence, which was the Mother of allReligions, would enable true religionists tocome to terms with science. In one of hishighly perceptive lecture, delivered at SanFrancisco, he said: "The Vedantic idea is theinfinite principle of God embodied ineveryone ofus. God is spirit and Heshould beworshipped in spirit and truth. Does spiritliveonlyinheaven? Weare all spirit. Whyisitthat we do not realize it? What makes youdifferent from me? Body and nothing else.Forget the body, and all is spirit" .What it implies is that there is nothing like apersonal God, and everything in this universeis the manifestation of a Great Spirit andDivine Force from which we come, throughwhich we live and inwhich we get absorbed atthe end.If we take out this idea of personal God fromour mind and replace it with an all-pervasiveDivine Force, we would find that apparentdifference between religion and sciencedisappear. The latest and the highestachievement of modern science has been thedematerialisation of the matter. It has beendiscovered that all the elements whichconstitute the universe can be split andreduced one vital item - Energy. What thescientists callEnergy is, in the language of theVedantists, the Divine Force or CosmicIntelligence. In the belief-system of theformer, Energy permeates the universe andsustains it; in the vision of the latter, it is theDivine Force or Cosmic Intelligence. In thebelief-systemof the former, Energy permeatesthe universe and sustains it; in the visionofthelatter, it is theDivineForcewhich pervades theuniverse and maintains it. The difference isonly of terminology and method ofconceptualization. The existence of an all-

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pervasive Force is recognized by both themodern scientists and the Vedantic sages. Thisphenomenon was elucidated by Vivekanandain a highly perceptive address given by him atNew York on January 19, 1896. Hesaid:We now see that all the various forms of cosmicenergy, such as matter, thought, force,intelligence, and so forth, are simplymanifestations of that cosmic Intelligence or,as we shall call it henceforth, the supremeLord. Everything that you see, feel, or hear-andthe whole universe - is His creation, or to bestill more accurate, is the Lord Himself .... HeHimself is both the material and efficient causeof this universe, and He it is that becomesinvolved in the minute cell and evolves at theother end and becomes God again. He it is thatcomes down and becomes the lowest atom,and slowly unfolding His nature, rejoinsHimself .... In one word, we are born of Him,we live in Him, and unto Him we return.Him, here, is the Divine Force/CosmicIntelligence in the vision of the Vedantists andCosmic Energy in the theoretical propositionsof scientists. In their basics, they are one andthe same thing. It is, indeed, amazing that,about 150 years ago when Einstein theory ofRelativity was unknown and Particle sciencesand quantum Physics had not made muchheadway, Vivekananda pinpointed the areawhere science and Vedantic Philosophy"converged to reveal the nature of the GreatSpirit or the Ultimate Reality.It was Vivekananda who, for the first time,opened to the Americans the vast panorama ofthe Indian system of Yoga 10 which had beendesigned to secure all round development ofman. Each component of hispersonality-physical, mental and spiritual -had to be taken care of through four main setsof yoga practices, namely, Yoga of mind, RajaYoga. Vivekananda explained to the people

both the meditative and practical aspects ofthese four sets in a manner that was easilyintelligible to the Western mind, and advisedthem to follow the system of Yoga in itsentirety, if they wanted to create a right kind ofman for the future. He said: "We want to see aman who is harmoniously developed, a manwhose heart feels intensely the miseries andsorrows of the world, a man who can not onlyfeel but also find the meaning of things?",In another lecture, delivered after a few daysof the above lecture, Vivekananda added theattribute of spiritual self-reliance to theattributes of the man he wanted to see in thecoming days. He underlined: "You gainnothing by becoming cowards ...You havecried to all the gods in the world. Has miseryceased? The masses in India cry to sixtymillion gods, and still die like dogs. Thisbending of the knees to superstitions does notbefit you. You are infinite, deathless,birthless ... First have faith in yourself. Youare the proof of God. 'Thou are that'."Vivekananda's emphasis on learning the basictenets of yoga-philosophy and following thepractices envisaged by it was aimed at makingthe right kind of man, a man who wasknowledgeable, active, compassionate,spiritually self-reliant, well-balanced andwell-harmonised. He believed that withoutsuch a man, neither a healthy social order nor ajust state nor universal brotherhood could bebuilt. Man, all said and done, remains thebasic building block on which social andpolitical structures stand, be they in Americaor India or elsewhere.From what Ihave brought out above, it shouldbe clear that Vivekananda took his audience tothe highest level of spirituality, where Motherof all Religions, that is, Eternal Divine Force,could be perceived; where the little 'self' ofman and Great Self of God lost all distinction;



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where man saw God in the service of the poorand the needy; where the ideals of equality,liberty and fraternity were not enshrinedmerely in the Constitution but in the suld ofthesociety and the State; and where science andreligion could recognized as emanating fromthe same Supreme Force;where the best of theEast and the best of the West could mingle tocreate a materially and spiritually balancedcivilization; and where, in brief, alldichotomies ended and unity of existencecould realized.Apart from the vast span of ideas thatVivekananda traversed in his discourses, heinvariably spoke with thepoise of a saintlyphilosopher and thepassion of an inspired poet.The impact wasoverpowering. A socialelite, returning home afterlistening to Vivekananda atOakland, told his wife: "Ihave just heard not a manbu t God speaking".Another enlightenedmember of his audience,Christine Greenshed, afterattending Vivekanandalectures at Detriot, wrote: "The power thatemanated from this mysterious being was sogreat that one all but shrank from it. Was itpossible to hear him and ever be the sameagain? All one's values were changed". MarieLouise Burke of San Francisco, who hadcarried out a detailed research onVivekananda's techings in America, said inconclusions: "As I see it, by its very nature thedeep centre of an illumined mind shines overthe relative world, redeeming it andawakening it; and it was this activity, thisshining forth in its full perfection and powerwhich constituted Swamiji's greatest service toAmerica....Inand through everything he saidand did his profound calm and peace, his

boundless compassion for all humanity andhis ready ability to awaken in others loomedlarge". His lectures on Vedanta were soimpressive that he was immediately offeredthe Chair of Eastern philosophy at HarvardUniversity. His 'many a splendoured' nobilityled one of his disciples to comment: "Somemarvel at his purity, some at his power, someat his intellectuality, some at his serenity,which was like the depth of the ocean,unperturbed by the waves of applause andcontumely" .To what extent Vivekananda's preachingcreated a permanent impact on the attitudes,

ou tlook and ethos of theAmerican people is difficult toascertain with any degree ofprecision. There have been,before and after Vivekananda,other poets, philosophers andleaders who made theircontribution in orienting theAmerican mind towards nobilityand humanism. It is not possibleto separate their impact from thatofVivekananda's. nevertheless,itcouldbe said with confidence thatVivekananda's influence on theAmerican mindscape has been

both distinct and substantial.The subsequent idealism, which some of thetop thinkers, and even some Presidents, ofAmerica displayed, was basically on the samewave length as the message of Vivekanandaand the inspiration that led to the framing ofthe American Constitution. In this regard, Imay give an example. In 1915, PresidentWoodrow Wilson, while addressing a fewAmerican citizens offoreignbirth, said:My urgent advice to you would be, not onlyalways to think first of America, but alwaysalso, to think first ofhumanity ... I amsorry forthe man who seeks to make personal capital



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out of the passions of his fellow-men. He haslost the touch and ideal of America. ForAmerica was created tounite mankind.Here, one can dearly see the same stream ofthought that was presented to the Americansby Vivekananda a few years earlier. There aremany other ways in which Vivekananda'sVedantic philosophy and impassioned plea foraccepting the common ancestry ofman and forhumanizing the societies all over the globefound a permanent abode in their inner layersofAmerican consciousness.At the same time, a tragic fact has to berecognized. And this fact pertains to thecontinued existence ofnegative forces inherentin materialism, marketism and militarismwhich Vivekananda had denounced. With thepassage of time, these forces attainedacceleration and made the twentieth centuryas the bloodiest century in human history. Itwitnessed, besides two most brutal worldwars, the worst act of barbarism-holocaust,Concentration Camps, genocide and bombingofHiroshima and Nagasaki.In social sphere, too, the 'march of the folly'became faster. Today, in America, one violentcrime is committed in every 22.2 seconds, onemurder every 30.9minutes, one rape in every5.7 minutes, one robbery in every 1.2minutesand one aggregated assault in every 36.6seconds. In respect of inequality, theconditions are equally sad. One of every eightAmericans lives in poverty; yet the top one percent of the population accounts for about 22per cent of the total national income. There are250 million privately owned guns. About30,000 people, on an average, die every yearfrom gun wounds.

which Vivekananda and thinkers of his genre,such asEmerson, Thoreau and Walt Whitman,had helped inmaking. Itmust put its state andsociety in a balanced and enlightened orbitand move towards the creation of a truly justand fair global order which treats every man asa unit of a single family emanating from, andmerging in, the same Divine Force. Only thenan America would come up which wouldcommand respect throughout the world notonly for its material or military strength butalso for the nobility ofits civilization.1 Swami Vivekananda undertook two visits to the United States,the first from 1893to 1896and the second from 1899to 1900.2 Eleanor Stark :The Gift Unopened. P.xix to xx.3 Edgar Allan Poe was another prominent literary figure of thetimes who seemed to have been influenced by the ancient Indianhought. His work, Eureka , published in 1848, shows that he wasaware of the contents of Upanishads. Presumably, the Englishtranslations of ancient India's classical literature had startedtraveling from England to America. During the late eighteenthand early nineteenth century, a number of such translations hadappeared. Cole Brooke had translated the Vedas and Wilkins theB h ag va d G it a. About the unique merit of the ideas contained inGita . Warren Hastings had recorded: "These would survive whenthe British Dominion in India shall have long ceased to exist".Such laudatory references to Indian thought were bound to makethem attractive to the American intellectuals.

'The Other America' was the name of famous book, written byMichael Harringhton in 1962. Itshowed that even in the affluentsociety of America, "tens of millions of peoples were maimed inbody and spirit, existing at levels beneath those necessary forhuman decency."5 Representatives of some religious groups were so exclusivist intheir outlook that they even declined to attend the Parliament bysaying that their religion was the only religion and it could notassume equality or parity with other religions.6 In Vedantic literature, the terms Ultimate Reality, UltimateTruth, Great Self, Overall Soul and Eternal Divine Force have, inessence, the same meaning.7 Spirituality has been rightly defined as "something that refers tothe experiential dimension of religion in contrast with formalbeliefs, external practices, and institutions; it deals with the innerdepth of the person that is open to the transcendent; in traditionsthat affirm the divine, itis concerned with the relation ofthe personto the divine, the experience of the divine, and the journey of theperson to a more intimate relationship with the divine". Vivekananda's thought process was basically oriented towardssynthesis. Romain Rolland called him a Great Synthesiser, andnoted: "In the two words, equilibrium and synthesis,Vivekananda's constructive genius may be summed up. Heembraced all the paths of the spirit, the four yogas in their entiretyrenunciation and serive, art and science, religion and action, fromthe most spiritual to the most practical.... He was thepersonification ofthe harmony ofallhuman Engergy." Vedanta, in essence, is the science of the Soul. Itappeals to the


It is time that America realizes that, if furtherdescent to social chaos has tobe arrested, it hasto tap that segment of its moral imagination


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rationalists as much as to the mystics. Nobel Laureate ErwinSchrodinger has pointed out that the fundamental issues thrownup by Quantum Physics could be resolved only through Vedanta,the ancient wisdom of Upanishad. Recent advances in science aremaking it more and more clear that the Universe is more like aGreat Thought than a Great Machine. Albert Einstein's theory ofmatter being a forum of energy, Werner Heisenberge's hypothesisof 'uncertainty principle', splitting of the mucleus of atom into 248sub-particles, the smallest being merely a resonance, and thedisvoerty that the nature of electron is elusive, all go to show that

there is nothing like "materialistic determination", thatrelationship between cause and effect is not always definite andthat 'free-will' has a definite role.10 Yoga literally implies 'yoking' empirical and transcendentalconsciousness. Itisa system of disciplining body and mind with aview to attaining higher level of understanding of the UltimateReality.11 LectureatSanFrancisco;April1899.

~teriaC science can 00[1 give wor[dC1 prosperit1'wftirst spiritucf scien ce is for eternal Hfe .

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Contri&utionQ)O ~tiona(CJntegration

Dr. M. Lakshmi Kumari

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"It is when the national body is weak thatall sorts of disease germs,

in the political state of the race or in itssocial state,

in its educational or intellectual state,crowd into the system and produce disease"

Swami Vivekananda+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

We all know that our national body is weaktoday with all types of disease germsdebilitating it at all fronts. One can't butwonder how could Swami Vivekananda, wayback in 19th century so dearly foresee thisweakness and the consequent onslaught of theterrible disease.The Indian nation is a multifaceted gem withits varied cultural traits, races, religions,languages and soon. Itis only natural that ourproblems are therefore more complicated,more momentous, than the problems in anyother country. But that doesn't mean that thereare no solutions for these. The unfortunatething is that we all know the cure but do nothave the national will to apply the medicine.The vested interests that dominate our

Y uva b ha ra li 4 4 J an ua ry 2 01 2

There is no leader in our country whohas pondered over the health of ournation in all its varied aspects as theillustrious patriot saint Swami Vivekananda.His patriotism had its roots in the depths of ournation's spiritual heritage, but his nationalismgrew like a giant banyan tree propping itselfup on an infinite number of roots, covering theentire fertile area of nation's possibilities andpotentialities. Added to this was his deepconviction that India has a message to theentire humanity and that has to be conveyedthrough the lives of its people. That is whatmade him bring Vedanta from its Himalayanheights to become practical in the lives of thelowest and lowliest in the country.His meditation on the rock at the land's end ofIndia added a universal dimension to hisnationalist ideas, confirming his dreams andaspirations on the role of Mother India as aJAGATGURU. Aswe are celebrating the 150thanniversary of Swamiji's Birth Anniversary itwill do good to remind ourselves of the visionSwamiji has bequeathed to us and his veryvalid observations as towhy we have failed inachieving what we should have.


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national scene today continue to project thediversities but not the unity of our people,further and further fragmenting ournationhood. Recognition of unity in diversityhad been the uniqueness of Indian culture.Instead ofdiscovering the unity and endorsingit through educational,constitutional, politicalformulations, attempts aremade to deliberately keepthe people divided for pettypolitical gains. This is thedouble tragedy afflictingthenation today. At this rateof dispersion anddisruption how long canwehold toour nationhood?The greatest torture towhich our society ispresently subjected to is therevival of casteism in itsmost terrible andendangering form. Theoccasion demands that welook at the situation through the eyes of theMaster Builder Swami Vivekananda whoforesaw this calamity and forewarned us.During his wanderings over the country, afterthe passing away of his Master, Swamijimadevery sincere attempts to discover the strengthand weaknesses of our nation. His aim was tostrengthen further the pillars that have carriedthis magnificent monument ofthis nation fromancient days and thus pull the nation out of itsenfeebling weakness. He understood thatIndia is the crucible of a gigantic spiritualamalgamation and the benefits of this must beshared by the entire mankind. Scatteredthroughout the Vivekananda literature wefind his well-considered observations on both

good education for all of us to recall some ofhis very valid observations in order to facethechallenges which threaten to tear apart ourcenturies' old social fabric. Even if the'maddening' crowd isnot willing to listen to it,at least thosewho have not yet lost their sanitywould certainly gain through

this exercise.Swami Vivekananda'sperceptions take us back tothe very root of our problem.When comparing it with theEuropean civilization he says,inter alia, "The object of thepeoples of Europe is toexterminate all in order to livethemselves. The aim of theAryan is to raise all to theirown level, nay even to ahigher level than themselves.The means of the Europeancivilization is the sword; ofthe Aryans, the division intovarious Varnas (natural

castes). This system of division into varnas isthe stepping stone to civilization, making onerise higher and higher in proportion to one'slearning and culture. In Europe it iseverywhere victory to the strong and death tothe weak. In the land of Bharata every socialrule isfor the protection of the weak."Clarifying further he adds: "The institution ofcaste has always been very flexible to ensure ahealthy uprise of the races very low in theplace of culture. Itput, theoretically at least,the whole of India under the guidance - not ofwealth, nor of the sword - but of intellectchastened and controlled by spirituality."Institutions such as these were necessary toprotect our nationhood in those bygone days.Thosewhich have outlived their purpose musthe positive and negative aspects of casteism

and other national problems. It would be aY uv a b h ar ati 45 J an ua ry 2 01 2


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now die a natural death. Swamiji points outthat it is refusing to give up privileges that hasbeen the ruin of the caste system. This can nowbe hastened in two ways; the 'higher'reiterating the spiritual ONENESS andextending their hands of sympathy and help,the 'lower' putting all-out efforts to suffusethemselves with a new confidence andstrength that modernism can provide andcoming out of the throes of caste stigma. Theymust show a readiness and willingness tobreak open their shackles in the larger interestsof themselves and the nation rather than befooled into accepting backwardness as atreasure tobe perpetuated for ever.Whatever we any do at the social or politicallevels, in the final analysis, it is the individual'sor group's sincere effort alone that will bringstrength and dignity. Without the concertedeffort from both sides, focused on the vision ofthe whole, we would onlybewidening the gulfwith every succeeding generation, plungingour nation deeper and deeper in to the abyss ofperennial class / caste conflicts andconfrontations. Wemust have avery tall leaderlikeSwamijito take us out of this deep abyss.Only when spiritually viewed does life showits totality, wholeness and dynamism.Nurturing the spiritual awareness andaspirations of our people is the only sureremedy that Swami Vivekananda prescribesfor our national malady. "All evils comerelying on differences. All good comes fromfaith in equality, in the underlying samenessand oneness of things." Giving up religion andalong with it spiritual aspirations ofman, isnotthe remedy. Swamiji points out that "religionmust be kept within its proper limits andsociety must begiven the freedom to grow". Hefurther adds, "All the reformers in India madethe serious mistake of holding religionaccountable for all the horrors of priest craft

and degeneration of society and went forth topull down the indestructible structure; andwhat was the result? Failure. Caste is simply acrystallized social institution which afterdoing its service is now filling the atmosphereof India with its stench; and it can only beremoved by giving back to the people their lostsocial identity."This same mistake is being repeated today aswell and the results are for all to see. Tonourish truly secular instincts in one and alland eradicate fanatic sentiments andapproaches, a universal spiritual dimensionmust be stressed upon in every aspect of ournational life. Real secularism is unfortunatelygetting transformed into pseudo-secularismadding its own share tothe stench.Swami Vivekananda was extremely averse tothe idea of caste as a hereditary system whichhe knew hinders man's progress. On the otherhand he could alsofind some intrinsic worth inthe intellectual categorization of the people sothat entire groups of people could be helpedand supported in everyway tomove forward.In this progress Swamiji aimed not only foreconomic or political freedom but also for amoral, cultural, intellectual and spiritualkinship based on true freedom of mind. Hebelieved in leveling up and not in levelingdown.Variations in capacity and occupation can't beruled out or eradicated by any number ofconstitutional means. Theymust remain in thesociety to make it richer, dynamic, evermoving forward. At the same time Swamijireminds us that "our mission is for thedestitute, the poor and the illiterate peasantryand laboring classes and if after everythinghas been done for them first, if there is sparetime then only for the gentry ""One must raise oneself by one's own



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exertion this holds good in all spheres".In that lies the glory ofmankind. Wemust helpthe less fortunate ones to help themselves toregain their vitality. Swamiji adds his warningnote when he says, "But then you must takecare not to set up class strife between the poorpeasants, the laboring people and the wealthyclasses. Make it a point not to abuse themoneyed classes."He was achampion of the cause of the poor, thefallen and the downtrodden and urged hiscountrymen to correct the mistakes of the pastby preaching Vedantic ideals to one and all,irrespective of caste, creed and sex so that theyall candiscover the essential divinity within.

Presently, with questionable intentions, selfishmotivations and wrong methods, we havetried to bridge the gap and the result ispredictably, utter chaos. We have once againproved that even good work when carried outin an improper way creates a backlash whichwill hurt the giver and the receiver.For the regeneration of India his Mahamantrawas 'RENUNCIATION AND SERVICE'. Hecalled upon Indians to intensify them in allspheres of national life to check the erosion ofspiritual values by materialisticencroachments.Who will show the light? For that matter whohas the light anyway?

yuva bharati, voice of youth, january 2012 issue

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