PLANNING THE WORK
...Of purity he spoke constantly; but there was a quality which he seldom named, a quality which is not directly associated with womanhood — yet from the stories he told, one knew that to him no type could be complete without it. Again and again he told the story of the Rajput wife who, whilst buckling on her husband's shield said, "Come back with your shield or on it." How graphically he pictured the story of Padmini, the Rajput queen! She stood before us in all her dazzling beauty, radiant, tender, lovely. Rather than permit the lustful gaze of the Mohammedan invader, every woman of that chivalrous race would rush to meet death. Instead of sympathizing with the trembling timid woman, full of fear for the one she loved. he said. "Be like the Rajput wife!"
Had it been merely a question of a college degree, were there not already numbers of women who had achieved that? The young men who came to him, many of them with degrees, needed training. Much that had been learnt must be unlearnt. New values must be substituted for old, new purposes and aims must be brought into focus. When the mind had been purified, then it was ready for the influx of spirituality, which was poured into it by teaching, conversation, and most of all by the living contact with those who could transmit it. In this way a gradual transformation could take place and they would be fitted to give the message and continue the work. Intellectual attainments were but secondary, although he did not underestimate their value. Reading and writing must be the key which would unlock the door to the treasure-house of great ideals and wider outlook. For it was not merely a school which he had in mind. not an institution, but something much larger, something which cannot be easily labelled or defined, something which would make thousands and tens of thousands of institutions possible in the future. In short, it was to be an attempt to create the educators of a new order. The education must not be merely academic, but to meet the requirements of the time, it must be intellectual, national, and spiritual. Unless those who initiated it lighted their own torches at the altar where burns the fire that was brought from above, the work would be of little value. Thai is why discipleship is necessary. All cannot come to the altar, but one torch can light others, until hundreds, thousands are aflame. Spirituality must be transmitted. It cannot be acquired, although regular practices are necessary — meditation, association with those who have realized, the reading of scriptures and other holy books.
To be continued.... (Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda by Sister Christine)
Our Pranam Prarthana & Best Wishes on 47th birth Anniversary! of Vivekananda Rock Memorial.!
May we grow to each District of Bharat establishing Vivekananda Kendra Branches contacting people already reached to through VRM!
A meaningful Process Planning would make it Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Trackable by 2022!
Pranam
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