ॐ वीरेश्वराय विद्महे विवेकानन्दाय धीमहि । तन्नो वीर: प्रचोदयात् ।
Myself: Well,
Swamiji, in your lectures in the West you have frequently and
eloquently dwelt on our characteristic talents and virtues, and
many convincing proofs you have put forward to show our whole -
souled love of religion; but now you say that we have become
full of Tamas; and at the same time you are accrediting us as
the teachers of the eternal religion of the Rishis to the world!
How is that?
Swamiji: Do you mean to say that I should go about from country
to country, expatiating on your failings before the public?
Should I not rather hold up before them the characteristic
virtues that mark you as a nation? It is always good to tell
a man his defects in a direct way and in a friendly spirit to
make him convinced of them, so that he may correct himself --
but you should trumpet forth his virtues before others. Shri
Ramakrishna used to say that if you repeatedly tell a bad man
that he is good, he turns in time to be good; similarly, a
good man becomes bad if he is incessantly called so. There, in
the West, I have said enough to the people of their
shortcomings. Mind, up to my time, all who went over to the
West from our country have sung paeans to them in praise of
their virtues and have trumpeted out only our blemishes to
their ears. Consequently, it is no wonder that they have
learnt to hate us. For this reason I have laid before them
your virtues, and pointed out to them their vices, just as I
am now telling you of your weaknesses and their good points. However
full of Tamas you may have become, something of the nature of
the ancient Rishis, however little it may be, is undoubtedly in
you still -- at least the framework of it. But that does not
show that one should be in a hurry to take up at once the role
of a teacher of religion and go over to the West to preach it. First
of all, one must completely mould one's religious life in
solitude, must be perfect in renunciation and must preserve
Brahmacharya without a break. The Tamas has entered into
you -- what of that? Cannot the Tamas be destroyed? It can be
done in less than no time! It was for the destruction of this
Tamas that Bhagavan Shri Ramakrishna came to us.
Myself: But who can aspire to be like you, Swamiji?
Swamiji: Do you think that there will be no more Vivekanandas after I die! That batch of young men who came and played music before me a little while ago, whom you all despise for being addicted to intoxicating drugs and look upon as worthless fellows, if the Lord wishes, each and everyone of them may become a Vivekananda! There will be no lack of Vivekanandas, if the world needs them -- thousands and millions of Vivekanandas will appear -- from where, who knows!
Know for certain that the work done by me is not the work of Vivekananda, it is His work -- the Lord's own work! If one governor - general retires, another is sure to be sent in his place by the Emperor. Enveloped in Tamas however much you may be, know all that will clear away if you take refuge in Him by being sincere to the core of your heart. The time is opportune now, as the physician of the world - disease has come. Taking His name, if you set yourself to work, He will accomplish everything Himself through you. Tamas itself will be transformed into the highest Sattva!
Swamiji: Do you mean to say that I should go about from country
to country, expatiating on your failings before the public?
Should I not rather hold up before them the characteristic
virtues that mark you as a nation? It is always good to tell
a man his defects in a direct way and in a friendly spirit to
make him convinced of them, so that he may correct himself --
but you should trumpet forth his virtues before others. Shri
Ramakrishna used to say that if you repeatedly tell a bad man
that he is good, he turns in time to be good; similarly, a
good man becomes bad if he is incessantly called so. There, in
the West, I have said enough to the people of their
shortcomings. Mind, up to my time, all who went over to the
West from our country have sung paeans to them in praise of
their virtues and have trumpeted out only our blemishes to
their ears. Consequently, it is no wonder that they have
learnt to hate us. For this reason I have laid before them
your virtues, and pointed out to them their vices, just as I
am now telling you of your weaknesses and their good points. However
full of Tamas you may have become, something of the nature of
the ancient Rishis, however little it may be, is undoubtedly in
you still -- at least the framework of it. But that does not
show that one should be in a hurry to take up at once the role
of a teacher of religion and go over to the West to preach it. First
of all, one must completely mould one's religious life in
solitude, must be perfect in renunciation and must preserve
Brahmacharya without a break. The Tamas has entered into
you -- what of that? Cannot the Tamas be destroyed? It can be
done in less than no time! It was for the destruction of this
Tamas that Bhagavan Shri Ramakrishna came to us.
Myself: But who can aspire to be like you, Swamiji?
Swamiji: Do you think that there will be no more Vivekanandas after I die! That batch of young men who came and played music before me a little while ago, whom you all despise for being addicted to intoxicating drugs and look upon as worthless fellows, if the Lord wishes, each and everyone of them may become a Vivekananda! There will be no lack of Vivekanandas, if the world needs them -- thousands and millions of Vivekanandas will appear -- from where, who knows!
Know for certain that the work done by me is not the work of Vivekananda, it is His work -- the Lord's own work! If one governor - general retires, another is sure to be sent in his place by the Emperor. Enveloped in Tamas however much you may be, know all that will clear away if you take refuge in Him by being sincere to the core of your heart. The time is opportune now, as the physician of the world - disease has come. Taking His name, if you set yourself to work, He will accomplish everything Himself through you. Tamas itself will be transformed into the highest Sattva!
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