Swami Vivekananda’s Impact on B. G. Tilak

ॐ वीरेश्वराय विद्महे विवेकानन्दाय धीमहि । तन्नो वीर: प्रचोदयात् ।

Today is 1 August, Punyatithi of Lok Manya Tilak. - Homage to Him

Swami Vivekananda, in pursuit of his plan to travel all over India up to Cape Comorin as a mendicant, passed through many parts of Maharashtra. In April to September 1892 he visited Bombay, Mahabaleswar, Pune, Kolhapur, Belgaum, and Indore. Some of the letters Vivekananda wrote in 1892 provide a sketchy idea of his itinerary. These letters have been collected in The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda vol. VIII. This was at a time when he was not yet famous. Fame came to him next year when he went to the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. In 1892 he was a little known sannyasi, hosted by various local landlords and this picture comes out clearly in the reminiscences Tilak recorded in January 1934 in Vedanta Kesari.

About the year 1892, i.e., before the famous Parliament of Religions in the World's Fair at Chicago, I was once returning from Bombay to Poona. At the Victoria Terminus a Sannyasin entered the carriage I was in. A few Gujarati gentlemen were there to see him off. They made the formal introduction and asked the Sannyasin to reside at my house during his stay at Poona. We reached Poona, and the Sannyasin remained with me for eight or ten days. When asked about his name he only said he was a Sannyasin.

Vivekananda seemed to be keen at that time to be anonymous. Incidentally, at this time Vivekananda sometimes used another name, Sacchidananda. There is at least one document signed by him under that name.written at Margaon, Maharashtra, in 1893. To get back to Tilak's story, he writes

At home he would often talk about Advaita philosophy and Vedanta. The Swami avoided mixing with society. There was absolutely no money with him. A deerskin, one or two clothes and a kamandalu were his only possessions. In his travels some one would provide a railway ticket for the desired station. The swami also believed like me that the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita did not preach renunciation but urged every one to work unattached and without the desire for fruits of the work.

We may specially note this particular statement of Tilak's. The idea of highlighting the concept of Karma Yoga in the Gita figures very prominently in Tilak's commentary Gita Rahasya. Vivekananda like wise emphasized Karma Yoga and often quoted from the Gita the well-known verse, kailebyam ma sma gamah Partha .... He thought that 'in this one shloka lies embedded the whole message of the Gita  As Frank Rhodehamel and Sister Nivedita have recorded in their notes on his 'Gita class', Vivekananda up-held the Gita text as the New Testament for the Hindus.

Tilak also writes in his memoirs: Two or three years thereafter Swami Vivekananda returned to India with world-wide fame owing to his grand success at the Parliament of Religions and also after that both in England and America. He received an address wherever he went and on every one of such occasions he made a thrilling reply. I happened to see his likeness in some of the newspapers, and from the similarity of features I thought that the Swami who had resided at my house must have been the same. I wrote to him accordingly inquiring if my inference was correct and requesting him to kindly pay a visit to Poona on his way to Calcutta. I received a fervent reply in which the Swami frankly admitted that he was the ame Sannyasin and expressed his regret at not being able to visit Poona then.

This lost letter from Vivekananda to Tilak must have been written between 1896 and 1899, the period between his two visits to USA. Tilak says that police search in his home led to the destruction of this letter from Vivekananda. The last contact between Tilak and Vivekananda took place in 1901.

'During one of the Congress sessions at Calcutta', Tilak recalls, 'I had gone with some friends to see the Belur Math of the Ramakrishna Mission. There Swami Vivekananda received us very cordially. In
the course of the conversation Swamiji happened to remark somewhat in a jocular spirit that it would be better if I renounced the world and took up his work in Bengal while he would go and continue the same in Maharashtra. "One does not carry," he said, "the same influence in one's own province as in a distant one."

Tilak's meeting with Vivekananda

Tilak says this meeting with Vivekananda took place during a Congress session in Calcutta without mentioning a date. Now, there were two such sessions in Calcutta, one in 1896 and the other is 1901. My guess is that Tilak met Vivekananda during the 1901 Calcutta session of the Congress because I infer from dates of his letter that during the earlier session of 1896 Vivekananda was out of Calcutta.

To sum it up, from the time when Vivekananda was an unknown itinerant sannyasin in 1892, till 1901, the year before his death, Tilak had fleeting contacts with him. The relationship between these two
thinkers was more in the domain of ideas than its terms of personal contacts and conversation. No letter between them has survived. Tilak's name does appear in Vivekananda's correspondence occasionally, when he recommended to his disciples Tilak's publications. In one such letter Vivekananda mentions Tilak's historical work, Orion, on the origins of the Aryans.But Vivekananda did not accept Tilak's speculations and seems to say that the facts are uncertain and in any event how did it matter in history where Aryans came from?

In many towns which Vivekananda had visited in Maratha country in course of time social groups were formed to study his writings, eventually leading to foundation of ashrams. Swami Saradananda, senior monk in the Mission, visited Bombay Province several times from 1920 to 1930. In 1927 the Vivekananda Society was set up in Pune and in course of time 25 such societies came up all over the province. After Tilak introduced Ganapati worship and Shivaji festival increasingly the political and the cultural elements merged. On the other hand, Vivekananda study remained generally apolitical.  Needless to say, one can see both resemblances and differences between Tilak's approach and Vivekananda's ideas.

At this point let us note the evidence we have about the extremist nationalists who were attracted to Vivekananda. Tilak was, it is well known, one of the leaders of the extremist section of the Congress who rejected the path of constitutional negotiation with the British Indian government.

Initially, in early part of the 20th century mainly the militant nationalists were attracted by the ideology of Vivekananda.

(From Swami Vivekananda's Impact on B. G. Tilak and the Nationalist Movement , SABYASACHI BHATTACHARYA)

Today's-Special : 1-August in Swami Vivekananda Life

Letter To Swami Brahmananda from  SRINAGAR,

 1st August, 1898.
 MY DEAR RAKHAL,

 You are always under a delusion, and it does not leave you because of the strong influence, good or bad, of other brains. It is this: whenever I write to you about accounts, you feel that I have no confidence in you. . . . My great anxiety is this: the work has somehow been started, but it should go on and progress even when we are not here; such thoughts worry me day and night. Any amount of theoretical knowledge one may have; but unless one does the thing actually, nothing is learnt. I refer repeatedly to election, accounts, and discussion so that everybody may be prepared to shoulder the work. If one man dies, another — why another only, ten if necessary — should be ready to take it up. Secondly, if a man's interest in a thing is not roused, he will not work whole-heartedly; all should be made to understand that everyone has a share in the work and property, and a voice in the management. This should be done while there is yet time. Give a responsible position to everyone alternately, but keep a watchful eye so that you can control when necessary; thus only can men be trained for the work. Set up such a machine as will go on automatically, no matter who dies or lives. We Indians suffer from a great defect, viz we cannot make a permanent organisation — and the reason is that we never like to share power with others and never think of what will come after we are gone.

 I have already written everything regarding the plague. Mrs. Bull and Miss Müller and others are of opinion that it is not desirable to spend money uselessly when hospitals have been started in every Ward. We lend our services as nurses and the like. Those that pay the piper must command the tune.

 The Maharaja of Kashmir has agreed to give us a plot of land. I have also visited the site. Now the matter will be finalised in a few days, if the Lord wills. Right now, before leaving, I hope to build a small house here. I shall leave it in the charge of Justice Mukherjee when departing. Why not come here with somebody else and spend the winter? Your health will improve, and a need, too, will be fulfilled. The money I have set apart for the press will be sufficient for the purpose, but all will be as you decide. This time I shall surely get some money from N.W.P., Rajputana, and other places. Well, give as directed . . . money to a few persons. I am borrowing this amount from the Math and will pay it back to you with interest.

 My health is all right in a way. It is good news that the building work has begun. My love to all.

 Yours affectionately,
 VIVEKANANDA

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THURSDAY, August 1, 1895. (RECORDED BY MISS S. E. WALDO, A DISCIPLE)

The real Guru is the one through whom we have our spiritual descent. He is the channel through which the spiritual current flows to us, the link which joins us to the whole spiritual world. Too much faith in personality has a tendency to produce weakness and idolatry, but intense love for the Guru makes rapid growth possible, he connects us with the internal Guru. Adore your Guru if there be real truth in him; that Guru-bhakti (devotion to the teacher) will quickly lead you to the highest.

 Sri Ramakrishna's purity was that of a baby. He never touched money in his life, and lust was absolutely annihilated in him. Do not go to great religious teachers to learn physical science, their whole energy has gone to the spiritual. In Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa the man was all dead and only God remained; he actually could not see sin, he was literally "of purer eyes than to behold iniquity". The purity of these few Paramahamsa (Monks of the highest order) is all that holds the world together. If they should all die out and leave it, the world would go to pieces. They do good by simply being, and they know it not; they just are. . . .

Books suggest the inner light and the method of bringing that out, but we can only understand them when we have earned the knowledge ourselves. When the inner light has flashed for you, let the books go, and look only within. You have in you all and a thousand times more than is in all the books. Never lose faith in yourself, you can do anything in this universe. Never weaken, all power is yours.

 If religion and life depend upon books or upon the existence of any prophet whatsoever, then perish all religion and books! Religion is in us. No books or teachers can do more than help us to find it, and even without them we can get all truth within. You have gratitude for books and teachers without bondage to them; and worship your Guru as God, but do not obey him blindly; love him all you will, but think for yourself. No blind belief can save you, work out your own salvation. Have only one idea of God — that He is an eternal help.

 Freedom and highest love must go together, then neither can become a bondage. We can give nothing to God; He gives all to us. He is the Guru of Gurus. Then we find that He is the "Soul of our souls", our very Self. No wonder we love Him, He is the Soul of our souls; whom or what else can we love? We want to be the "steady flame, burning without heat and without smoke". To whom can you do good, when you see only God? You cannot do good to God! All doubt goes, all is, "sameness". If you do good at all, you do it to yourself; feel that the receiver is the higher one. You serve the other because you are lower than he, not because he is low and you are high. Give as the rose gives perfume, because it is its own nature, utterly unconscious of giving.

 The great Hindu reformer, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, was a wonderful example of this unselfish work. He devoted his whole life to helping India. It was he who stopped the burning of widows. It is usually believed that this reform was due entirely to the English; but it was Raja Ram Mohan Roy who started the agitation against the custom and succeeded in obtaining the support of the Government in suppressing it. Until he began the movement, the English had done nothing. He also founded the important religious Society called the Brahmo-Samaj, and subscribed a hundred thousand dollars to found a university. He then stepped out and told them to go ahead without him. He cared nothing for fame or for results to himself.

THURSDAY AFTERNOON:
 There are endless series of manifestations, like "merry-go-round", in which the souls ride, so to speak. The series are eternal; individual souls get out, but the events repeat themselves eternally; and that is how one's past and future can be read, because all is really present. When the soul is in a certain chain, it has to go through the experiences of that chain. From one series souls go to other series; from some series they escape for ever by realising that they are Brahman. By getting hold of one prominent event in a chain and holding on to it, the whole chain can be dragged in and read. This power is easily acquired, but it is of no real value; and to practise it takes just so much from our spiritual forces. Go not after these things, worship God.

Gita

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31 July : NON-ATTACHMENT IS COMPLETE SELF-ABNEGATION

ॐ वीरेश्वराय विद्महे विवेकानन्दाय धीमहि । तन्नो वीर: प्रचोदयात् ।

To work properly, therefore, you have first to give up the idea of attachment. Secondly, do not mix in the fray, hold yourself as a witness and go on working. My master used to say, "Look upon your children as a nurse does." The nurse will take your baby and fondle it and play with it and behave towards it as gently as if it were her own child; but as soon as you give her notice to quit, she is ready to start off bag and baggage from the house. Everything in the shape of attachment is forgotten; it will not give the ordinary nurse the least pang to leave your children and take up other children. Even so are you to be with all that you consider your own. You are the nurse, and if you believe in God, believe that all these things which you consider yours are really His. The greatest weakness often insinuates itself as the greatest good and strength. It is a weakness to think that any one is dependent on me, and that I can do good to another. This belief is the mother of all our attachment, and through this attachment comes all our pain. We must inform our minds that no one in this universe depends upon us; not one beggar depends on our charity; not one soul on our kindness; not one living thing on our help. All are helped on by nature, and will be so helped even though millions of us were not here. The course of nature will not stop for such as you and me; it is, as already pointed out, only a blessed privilege to you and to me that we are allowed, in the way of helping others, to educate ourselves. This is a great lesson to learn in life, and when we have learned it fully, we shall never be unhappy; we can go and mix without harm in society anywhere and everywhere. You may have wives and husbands, and regiments of servants, and kingdoms to govern; if only you act on the principle that the world is not for you and does not inevitably need you, they can do you no harm. This very year some of your friends may have died. Is the world waiting without going on, for them to come again? Is its current stopped? No, it goes on. So drive out of your mind the idea that you have to do something for the world; the world does not require any help from you. It is sheer nonsense on the part of any man to think that he is born to help the world; it is simply pride, it is selfishness insinuating itself in the form of virtue. When you have trained your mind and your nerves to realise this idea of the world's non-dependence on you or on anybody, there will then be no reaction in the form of pain resulting from work. When you give something to a man and expect nothing — do not even expect the man to be grateful — his ingratitude will not tell upon you, because you never expected anything, never thought you had any right to anything in the way of a return. You gave him what he deserved; his own Karma got it for him; your Karma made you the carrier thereof. Why should you be proud of having given away something? You are the porter that carried the money or other kind of gift, and the world deserved it by its own Karma. Where is then the reason for pride in you? There is nothing very great in what you give to the world. When you have acquired the feeling of non-attachment, there will then be neither good nor evil for you. It is only selfishness that causes the difference between good and evil. It is a very hard thing to understand, but you will come to learn in time that nothing in the universe has power over you until you allow it to exercise such a power. Nothing has power over the Self of man, until the Self becomes a fool and loses independence. So, by non-attachment, you overcome and deny the power of anything to act upon you. It is very easy to say that nothing has the right to act upon you until you allow it to do so; but what is the true sign of the man who really does not allow anything to work upon him, who is neither happy nor unhappy when acted upon by the external world? The sign is that good or ill fortune causes no change in his mind: in all conditions he continues to remain the same.
-Swami Vivekananda
(CWSV VOL : 1)

Today's-Special : 31-July in Swami Vivekananda Life

Letter to Hale Sisters

31 July 1894 : Letter to Hale Sisters : ....... The other night the camp people went to sleep beneath a pine tree under which I sit every morning a la Hindu and talk to them. Of course I went with them, and we had a nice night under the stars, sleeping on the lap of mother earth, and I enjoyed every bit of it. I cannot describe to you that night's glories — after a year of brutal life that I have led, to sleep on the ground, to meditate under the tree in the forest! The inn people are more or less well-to-do, and the camp people are healthy, young, sincere, and holy men and women. I teach them Shivo'ham, Shivo'ham, and they all repeat it, innocent and pure as they are and brave beyond all bounds. And so I am happy and glorified. Thank God for making me poor, thank God for making these children in the tents poor. The Dudes and Dudines are in the Hotel, but iron-bound nerves and souls of triple steel and spirits of fire are in the camp. If you had seen them yesterday, when the rain was falling in torrents and the cyclone was overturning everything, hanging by their tent strings to keep them from being blown down, and standing on the majesty of their souls — these brave ones — it would have done your hearts good. I will go a hundred miles to see the like of them. Lord bless them! I hope you are enjoying your nice village life. Never be anxious for a moment. I will be taken care of, and if not, I will know my time has come and shall pass out.
31 July 1895 : Letter to Francis Leggett and Mrs G W Hale
Inspired Talks - In Bhakti-Yoga the first essential is to want God honestly and intensely. We want everything but God, because our ordinary desires are fulfilled by the external world. So long as our needs are confined within the limits of the physical universe, we do not feel any need for God; it is only when we have had hard blows in our lives and are disappointed with everything here that we feel the need for something higher; then we seek God.

Ego

30 July : To work like an athlete

ॐ वीरेश्वराय विद्महे विवेकानन्दाय धीमहि । तन्नो वीर: प्रचोदयात् ।
ALMORA,
30th July, 1897.
MY DEAR AKHANDANANDA,
According to your instructions, I write a letter to Mr. Levinge, the Dist. Magistrate. Besides, you will write a big letter to the Indian Mirror, describing in detail his method of work (having got the same revised by Dr. Shashi), and send a copy of it to the gentleman named above. Our fools only search for people's shortcomings. Let them see some virtues too.
I am leaving this place next Monday. ...
What do you talk of the difficulty in getting orphans? Better ask for four or five men from the Math, if you like; you can find some orphans in two days, if you seek from village to village.
Of course we must have a permanent centre. And can anything be done in this country unless the —— help? Do not mix in politics etc., nor have any connection with them. At the same time you need not have any quarrel with anybody. You must put your body, mind, and all you have to some one work. Here I gave a lecture to a European audience in English, and another to the Indian residents in Hindi. This was my maiden speech in Hindi, but everyone liked it for all that. Of course the Westerners, as is their wont, were in raptures over it, as coming from a "nigger"! "Oh, how wonderful!" and that sort of thing. Next Saturday there will be another lecture for the Europeans. A big Association has been set on foot here — let us wait and see how far it works in future. The object of the Association is to impart education and religion.
Monday next, trip to Bareilly then to Saharanpur, next to Ambala, thence, most probably, to Mussoorie with Captain Sevier, and as soon as it is a little cool, return to the plains and journey to Rajputana etc. Go on working at top speed. Never fear! I, too, have determined to work. The body must go, no mistake about that. Why then let it go in idleness? It is better to wear out than rust out. Don't be anxious even when I die, my very bones will work miracles. We must spread over the whole of India in ten years, short of this it is no good. To work like an athlete! Victory to the Guru! Money and all will come of themselves, we want men, not money. It is man that makes everything, what can money do? — Men we want, the more you get, the better. ... Here, for instance, was M— who brought together a lot of money, but there was no man, and what good did he achieve?
Yours affly.,
VIVEKANANDA.

Today's-Special : 30-July in Swami Vivekananda Life

Swami Vivekananda arrived in Chicago

30 July 1893 : Swami Vivekananda arrived in Chicago

30 July 1895 : Inspired Talks : Letter to Mrs G W Hale - Oh, Mother, my heart is so, so sad. The letters bring the news of the death of Dewanji. Haridas Viharidas has left the body. He was as a father to me. Poor man, he was the last 5 years seeking the retirement from business life, and at last he got it but could not enjoy it long. I pray that he may never come back again to this dirty hole they call the Earth. Neither may he be born in heaven or any other horrid place. May he never again wear a body — good or bad, thick or thin. What a humbug and illusion this world is, Mother, what a mockery this life. I pray constantly that all mankind will come to know the reality, i.e. God, and this "Shop" here be closed for ever.

30 July 1897 : Letter to Swami Akhandananda - ....Of course we must have a permanent centre. And can anything be done in this country unless the -- help? Do not mix in politics etc., nor have any connection with them. At the same time you need not have any quarrel with anybody. You must put your body, mind, and all you have to some one work. ....Go on working at top speed. Never fear! I, too, have determined to work. The body must go, no mistake about that. Why then let it go in idleness? It is better to wear out than rust out. Don't be anxious even when I die, my very bones will work miracles. We must spread over the whole of India in ten years, short of this it is no good. To work like an athlete! Victory to the Guru! Money and all will come of them selves, we want men, not money. It is mean that makes everything, what can money do? -- Men we want, the more you get, the better. ... Here, for instance, was M -- who brought together a lot of money, but there was no man, and what good did he achieve?

Virtue (Dharma)

29 July : In memory of Swami Turiyananda

ॐ वीरेश्वराय विद्महे विवेकानन्दाय धीमहि । तन्नो वीर: प्रचोदयात् ।
Sri Ramakrishna did not allow everybody to practice the nondual aspect of meditation. What good is it to proclaim that you are one with the Absolute unless the universe has vanished from your consciousness? Sri Ramakrishna used to say: ‘You may say that there is no thorn, but put your hand out—the thorn will prick, and your hand will bleed.’ But with regard to Swamiji, Sri Ramakrishna said, ‘If Naren says that there is no thorn, there is no thorn; and if he puts out his hand no thorn would prick it, because he has experienced his unity with Brahman.” When Swamiji used to say, ‘I am He,’ he said so from his direct perception of the Absolute. His mind was not identified with his physical self.
At the Baranagore Monastery we used to study scriptures and philosophy a lot. Swami Abhedananda particularly engaged himself in much study. Swamiji did too and also meditated many hours. We all practiced great austerities. Sri Ramakrishna made us do it. Then we attained the bliss of liberation while living through the Master’s grace. Free as the air we have lived—depending on none, feeling no lack, without cravings, fearless! Yes, we know the joy of liberation! We used to wander from place to place, depending entirely on the Lord. We would beg for alms when we were very hungry. Wherever it got dark we made our home. What freedom!
Swami Abhedananda used to avoid all types of work. He would shut himself in a room and engage himself in study and meditation. He used to say that he did not wish to work. Sometimes he would observe complete silence and not talk for days on end. Some of us used to be angry with him for that. But Swamiji said: ‘You people are jealous! You can’t bear that somebody is doing something to improve himself. He is not lazily idling his time away. What if he doesn’t work! Never mind, you don’t have to work either! I’ll do everything!’
Swamiji said at one time: ‘As long as you have been born on this earth, leave an impression on it.’ At the Baranagore Math he remarked: ‘Our names will be recorded in history!’ Swami Yogananda and some other brother-disciples made fun of him. Swamiji retorted: ‘You will see if I am right or not! Vedanta is the only religion convincing to all. If you don’t listen to me, I will go to the quarter of the untouchables and teach them Vedanta!’ In one of his letters Swamiji wrote: ‘When I go for alms, I give people something in return.’ Give and take—that is the motto for a monk. Monks who live only for themselves and don’t even practice spiritual disciplines are impostors.
We have seen Swamiji meditate the whole night, then early in the morning he would take his bath; and people did not know anything about his austerities. I never saw Swamiji sitting idly; he either studied or conversed on God or meditated. 

 

Today's-Special : 29-July in Swami Vivekananda Life

Letter to Ms Margaret Noble

Date: 

Mon, 2013-07-29

29 July 1895 : Inspired Talks
Ingersoll once said to me: "I believe in making the most out of this world, in squeezing the orange dry, because this world is all we are sure of." I replied: "I know a better way to squeeze the orange of this world than you do, and I get more out of it. I know I cannot die, so I am not in a hurry; I know there is no fear, so I enjoy the squeezing. I have no duty, no bondage of wife and children and property; I can love all men and women. Everyone is God to me. Think of the joy of loving man as God! Squeeze your orange this way and get ten thousandfold more out of it. Get every single drop."
That which seems to be the will is the Atman behind, it is really free.
29 July 1897 : Letter to Ms Margaret Noble in response to her wish to come to Bharat
....You must think well before you plunge in; and after work, if you fail in this or get disgusted, on my part I promise you, I will stand by you unto death whether you work for India or not, whether you give up Vedanta or remain in it. "The tusks of the elephant come out, but never go back"; so are the words of a man never retracted. I promise you that. Again, I must give you a bit of warning. You must stand on your own feet and not be under the wings of Miss Muller or anybody else. Miss Muller is a good lady in her own way, but unfortunately it got into her head, when she was a girl, that she was a born leader and that no other qualifications were necessary to move world but money! This idea is coming on the surface again and again in spite of herself, and you will find it impossible to pull on with her in a few days. She now intends to take a house in Calcutta for herself and yourself and other European or American friends who may come.(Read fully - very imp letter http://www.vivekananda.net/KnownLetters/1897JulDec%27.html#29july)
29 July 1897 : Letter to Swami Ramakrishnanda in his efforts to establish Math at Madras
Are there any new boys joining the Math? If so, then carry on the work in the same manner as it is being done in Calcutta. At present don't use up your wisdom too much, lest it should become completely exhausted — you can do that later on.
Pay particular attention to your health, but too much coddling of the body will, on the contrary, also spoil the health. If there is not the strength of knowledge, nobody would care twopence for your ringing of the bell — this is certain; and knowing this for certain equip yourself accordingly.

Bravely

28 July : Avadhuta Gita : Song of the Purified

ॐ वीरेश्वराय विद्महे विवेकानन्दाय धीमहि । तन्नो वीर: प्रचोदयात् ।

[Avadhuta Gita or "Song of the Purified" by Dattâtreya (Dattatreya, the son of Atri and Anasuyâ, was an incarnation of Brahmâ, Vishnu and Shiva.)]

"All knowledge depends upon calmness of mind."

"He who has filled the universe, He who is Self in self, how shall I salute Him!"

To know the Atman as my nature is both knowledge and realisation. "I am He, there is not the least doubt of it."

"No thought, no word, no deed, creates a bondage for me. I am beyond the senses, I am knowledge and bliss."

There is neither existence nor non-existence, all is Atman. Shake off all ideas of relativity; shake off all superstitions; let caste and birth and Devas and all else vanish. Why talk of being and becoming? Give up talking of dualism and Advaitism! When were you two, that you talk of two or one? The universe is this Holy One and He alone. Talk not of Yoga to make you pure; you are pure by your very nature. None can teach you.

Men like him who wrote this song are what keep religion alive. They have actually realised; they care for nothing, feel nothing done to the body, care not for heat and cold or danger or anything. They sit still and enjoy the bliss of Atman, while red-hot coals burn their body, and they feel them not.

"When the threefold bondage of knower, knowledge, and known ceases, there is the Atman."

"Where the delusion of bondage and freedom ceases, there the Atman is."

"What if you have controlled the mind, what if you have not? What if you have money, what if you have not? You are the Atman ever pure. Say, 'I am the Atman. No bondage ever came near me. I am the changeless sky; clouds of belief may pass over me, but they do not touch me.'"

"Burn virtue, burn vice. Freedom is baby talk. I am that immortal Knowledge. I am that purity."

"No one was ever bound, none was ever free. There is none but me. I am the Infinite, the Ever-free. Talk not to me! What can change me, the essence of knowledge! Who can teach, who can be taught?"

Throw argument, throw philosophy into the ditch.

"Only a slave sees slaves, the deluded delusion, the impure impurity."

Place, time causation are all delusions. It is your disease that you think you are bound and will be free.  You are the Unchangeable. Talk not. Sit down and let all things melt away, they are but dreams. There is no differentiation, no distinction, it is all superstition; therefore be silent and know what you are.

"I am the essence of bliss." Follow no ideal, you are all there is. Fear naught, you are the essence of existence. Be at peace. Do not disturb yourself. You never were in bondage, you never were virtuous or sinful. Get rid of all these delusions and be at peace. Whom to worship? Who worships? All is the Atman. To speak, to think is superstition. Repeat over and over, "I am Atman", "I am Atman". Let everything else go.

from the Inspired Talks on "Avadhuta Gita" on Sunday, 28 July 1895, Recorded by Miss S. E. Waldo, A Disciple [CW:V7]

Today's-Special : 28-July in Swami Vivekananda Life

28 July 1895 : Inspired Talks
"All knowledge depends upon calmness of mind."
"He who has filled the universe, He who is Self in self, how shall I salute Him!"

To know the Atman as my nature is both knowledge and realisation. "I am He, there is not the least doubt of it."
"No thought, no word, no deed, creates a bondage for me. I am beyond the senses, I am knowledge and bliss."

There is neither existence nor non-existence, all is Atman. Shake off all ideas of relativity; shake off all superstitions; let caste and birth and Devas and all else vanish. Why talk of being and becoming? Give up talking of dualism and Advaitism! When were you two, that you talk of two or one? The universe is this Holy One and He alone. Talk not of Yoga to make you pure; you are pure by your very nature. None can teach you

28 July 1897 : Letter To Bette Leggett
...So Alberta is once more at home in America. I owe her a debt of gratitude for all she did for me in Rome. How is Holli? To both of them my love, and kiss the new baby for me, my youngest sister. ...I have been taking some rest in the Himalayas for nine months. Now I am going down to the plains to be harnessed once more for work.

Knowledge

27 July : Realisation is beyond all the pairs of opposites

ॐ वीरेश्वराय विद्महे विवेकानन्दाय धीमहि । तन्नो वीर: प्रचोदयात् ।

Learn not the truth of the Self save from one who has realised it; in all others it is mere talk. Realisation is beyond virtue and vice, beyond future and past; beyond all the pairs of opposites. "The stainless one sees the Self, and an eternal calm comes in the Soul." Talking, arguing, and reading books, the highest flights of the intellect, the Vedas themselves, all these cannot give knowledge of the Self.

In us are two — The God-soul and the man-soul. The sages know that the latter is but the shadow, that the former is the only real Sun.

Unless we join the mind with the senses, we get no report from eyes, nose, ears, etc. The external organs are used by the power of the mind. Do not let the senses go outside, and then you can get rid of body and the external world.

This very "x" which we see here as an external world, the departed see as heaven or hell according to their own mental states. Here and hereafter are two dreams, the latter modelled on the former; get rid of both, all is omnipresent, all is now. Nature, body, and mind go to death, not we; we never go nor come. The man Swami Vivekananda is in nature, is born, and dies; but the self which we see as Swami Vivekananda is never born and never dies. It is the eternal and unchangeable Reality.

The power of the mind is the same whether we divide it into five senses or whether we see only one. A blind man says, "Everything has a distinct echo, so I clap my hands and get that echo, and then I can tell everything  that is around me." So in a fog the blind man can safely lead the seeing man. Fog or darkness makes no difference to him.

Control the mind, cut off the senses, then you are a Yogi; after that, all the rest will come. Refuse to hear, to see, to smell, to taste; take away the mental power from the external organs. You continually do it unconsciously as when your mind is absorbed; so you can learn to do it consciously. The mind can put the senses where it pleases. Get rid of the fundamental superstition that we are obliged to act through the body. We are not. Go into your own room and get the Upanishads out of your own Self. You are the greatest book that ever was or ever will be, the infinite depository of all that is. Until the inner teacher opens, all outside teaching is in vain. It must lead to the opening of the book of the heart to have any value.

The will is the "still small voice", the real Ruler who says "do" and "do not". It has done all that binds us. The ignorant will leads to bondage, the knowing will can free us. The will can be made strong in thousands of ways; every way is a kind of Yoga, but the systematised Yoga accomplishes the work more quickly. Bhakti, Karma, Raja, and Jnana-Yoga get over the ground more effectively. Put on all powers, philosophy, work, prayer, meditation — crowd all sail, put on all head of steam — reach the goal. The sooner, the better. . . .

Baptism is external purification symbolising the internal. It is of Buddhist origin.

The Eucharist is a survival of a very ancient custom of savage tribes. They sometimes killed their great chiefs and ate their flesh in order to obtain in themselves the qualities that made their leaders great. They believed that in such a way the characteristics that made the chief brave and wise would become theirs and make the whole  tribe brave and wise, instead of only one man. Human sacrifice was also a Jewish idea and one that clung to them despite many chastisements from Jehovah. Jesus was gentle and loving, but to fit him into Jewish beliefs, the idea of human sacrifice, in the form of atonement or as a human scapegoat, had to come in. This cruel idea made Christianity depart from the teachings of Jesus himself and develop a spirit of persecution and bloodshed. . . .

Say, "it is my nature", never say, "It is my duty" — to do anything whatever.

"Truth alone triumphs, not untruth." Stand upon Truth, and you have got God.

from the Inspired Talks on "Kathopanishad" on Saturday, 27 July 1895, Recorded by Miss S. E. Waldo, A Disciple [CW:V7]

Today's-Special : 27-July in Swami Vivekananda Life

27 July 1895 : World Wide Unity - Oakland Island Beach Christian Unity at Fire Island, NY
All religions are, at the bottom, alike. This is so, although the Christian Church, like the Pharisee in the parable, thanks God that it alone is right and thinks that all other religions are wrong and in need of Christian light. Christianity must become tolerant before the world will be willing to unite with the Christian Church in a common charity. God has not left Himself without a witness in any heart, and men, especially men who follow Jesus Christ, should be willing to admit this. In fact, Jesus Christ was willing to admit every good man to the family of God. It is not the man who believes a certain something, but the man who does the will of the Father in heaven, who is right. On this basis — being right and doing right — the whole world can unite.

July 27, 1895- Inspired Talks (Kathopanishad)
Learn not the truth of the Self save from one who has realised it; in all others it is mere talk. Realisation is beyond virtue and vice, beyond future and past; beyond all the pairs of opposites. "The stainless one sees the Self, and an eternal calm comes in the Soul." Talking, arguing, and reading books, the highest flights of the intellect, the Vedas themselves, all these cannot give knowledge of the Self.

In us are two — The God-soul and the man-soul. The sages know that the latter is but the shadow, that the former is the only real Sun.

Realisation

26 July : Two Stories Told By Swami Vivekananda at Ridgely Manor as Recorded by Maud Stumm

ॐ वीरेश्वराय विद्महे विवेकानन्दाय धीमहि । तन्नो वीर: प्रचोदयात् ।

In ancient times a king in India gave up his throne and title and retired with his wife and son to the forest. He was old and blind and hoped to end his days a holy man. The son, whose name was Truth, grew to manhood, though a prophecy had foretold that at twenty - one he would suddenly die. A year before the appointed time a great prince bound on a journey through this forest paused to pay his respects to the aged yogi. With him was his daughter Purity, and she beheld the unknown youth and loved him, and her love was returned. So when the prince, her father, began his preparations to rejoin his company and continue through the forest, his daughter, declaring her choice, said she would stay and take Truth for her husband. At this the prince was very angry, but he could not change her will. So she stayed with the little family, and they were married.
Happy and beloved, these two cared for the old blind king and his wife, gathering the fruits, bringing the water, and preparing fresh garlands for their habitation in the dark forest. Purity accompanied Truth on all his expeditions of hunting and exploration, until one day he denied her this privilege, as he was going into the forest deeper than ever before and could not take her. But she pleaded and prevailed. All day they traveled together until they came to a vast and mysterious tree, which he said he would climb. So Purity waited for him at the foot of the tree till twilight came. Then looking up, she saw her lord, unearthly pale, slipping slowly down the branches, until finally, caught in her arms, she saw he was dying. The prophecy was coming true! In despair she raised her eyes and saw standing in an opening of the woods the gray - shrouded orm of Death, who in Indian myth is also King of Truth, whose word can never fail. As he reached out his arms to take her beloved away, she begged in vain, and as the Shadowy One lifted and bore her treasure swiftly through the forestpath, she followed in despair. And Death hearing her little footsteps paused. "He cannot come back to you, Purity, but ask a boon, and I will grant it" And she thought quickly, "Return the sight of our blind father to him."
     "It is done," said Death, and turned away again, swiftly bearing his burden from her. Still he heard the little footsteps and turning gave her a second boon. "Restore the throne to our father."
     "It is done," said Death, "but ask me no more." And again he sped away. Then far behind him he heard the footsteps of faithful Purity still begging for her dear Truth, and the third and last time Death turned to her and said, "We are almost at my domain, hinder me no more, but ask one last favor, and it shall be granted." So she meekly asked for a hundred sons to be heirs to the throne. And Death saw that Purity had outwitted him and was forced to restore to her her lord.
     __________
     Then [Maud Stumm related] he told us the story of the old man who came to offer his services in the construction of an English cathedral. He wished to carve an ornament in the entrance porch, but the master carver thought him unworthy for such a prominent place and gave him the top of a pillar hidden far up in a dark corner of a side aisle. The old man came every day and labored high on his scaffolding, patiently carving, until one day he did not come down, and going up the dim place, they found him dead before his work - the exquisitely carved head of the love of his youth that he had longed to have in the entrance, but had been denied. So he had made it just as beautiful in that obscure nook, where only by chance it could be seen, dimly.

(These two stories from the reminiscences of Maud Stumm were made available to this book by the kindness of Swami Chetanananda.)

[ Swami Vivekananda in The West - New Discoveries : Vol-V, p:409  Appendix ]

Today's-Special : 26-July in Swami Vivekananda Life

26 July 1894 : Letter to Hale Sisters - I am going to make a Himalayas there and start a monastery as sure as I am living — I am not going to leave this country without throwing one more apple of discord into this already roaring, fighting, kicking, mad whirlpool of American religion. Well, dear old maids, you sometimes have a glimpse of the lake and on every hot noon, think of going down to the bottom of the lake, down, down, down, until it is cool and nice, and then to lie down on the bottom, with that coolness above and around, and lie there still, silent, and just doze — not sleep, but dreamy dozing half unconscious sort of bliss — very much like that which opium brings; that is delicious; and drinking lots of iced water. Lord bless my soul — I had such cramps several times as would have killed an elephant. So I hope to keep myself away from the cold water.
26 July 1895 : Inspired Talks (Brihadâranyakopanishad.)
 Love all things only through and for the Self. Yâjnavalkya said to Maitreyi, his wife, "Through the Atman we know all things." The Atman can never be the object of knowledge, nor can the Knower be known. He who knows he is the Atman, he is law unto himself. He knows he is the universe and its creator. . . .
 Perpetuating old myths in the form of allegories and giving them undue importance fosters superstition and is really weakness. Truth must have no compromise. Teach truth and make no apology for any superstition; neither drag truth to the level of the listener.
26 July 1900 : Swami Vivekananda left New York for Paris

Money

25 July : Guru Nanak and the Mullah

ॐ वीरेश्वराय विद्महे विवेकानन्दाय धीमहि । तन्नो वीर: प्रचोदयात् ।

There was a great prophet in India, Guru Nanak, born 400 years ago. Some of you have heard of the Sikhs, the fighting people. He was a follower of the Sikh religion.
One day he went to the Mohammedans' Mosque. These Mohammedans are feared in their own country, just as in a Christiancountry no one dare say anything against their religion. They think they have liberty to kill and criticise everybody who does not agree with them. So this man went in, and there was a big Mosque, and the Mohammedans were standing in prayer. They stand in lines; they kneel down, stand up, and repeat certain words at the same times, and one fellow leads. So Guru Nana went there, and when the mullah was saying "In the name of the most merciful and kind God, Teacher of all teachers", he began to smile. He says "Look at that hypocrite". The mullah got into a passion.
"Why do you smile?"
"Because you are not praying, my friend, that is why I am smiling".
"Not praying?"
"Certainly not; there is no prayer in you".
The mullah was very angry, and he went and laid a complaint before a magistrate, and said, "This heathen rascal dares to come to our mosque and smiles at us when we are praying; the only punishment is instant death, kill him".
The man was brought before. the magistrate, and asked why he smiled.
"Because he was not praying".
"What was he doing?" the magistrate asked.
"I will tell you what he was doing, if you will bring him before me".
 The magistrate ordered the mullah to be brought, and when he came he said "Here is the mullah, explain why you laughed when he was praying".
He said, "Give the mullah a piece of the Koran [to swear on]. When he was saying Allah, Allah, he was thinking of some chicken he had left at home".
The poor mullah was confounded. He was a little more sincere than the others, and he confessed he was thinking of the chicken, and so they let the Sikh go.
"But", said the Magistrate, "Don't go to the church again. It is better not to go at all than to commit blasphemy there and hypocrisy. Do not go when you do not feel like praying, do not be like a hypocrite, and do not think of the chicken and say the name of the Most Merciful and Blissful God."
-- Let's think where we stand ?

Today's-Special : 25-July in Swami Vivekananda Life

Swami Vivekananda Lands at Vancouver, Canada

25 July 1893 : Swami Vivekananda Lands at Vancouver, Canada
25 July 1895 : Inspired Talks
Continual attention to one object is contemplation.
When a stone is thrown into still water, many circles are made, each distinct but all interacting; so with our minds; only in us the action is unconscious, while with the Yogi it is conscious. We are spiders in a web, and Yoga practice will enable us like the spider to pass along any strand of the web we please. Non-Yogis are bound to the particular spot where they are.
What we need today is to know there is a God and that we can see and feel Him here and now. A Chicago professor says, "Take care of this world, God will take care of the next." What nonsense! If we can take care of this world, what need of a gratuitous Lord to take care of the other!
25 July 1897 : Letter To Marie Halboister
It is bad for a preacher to be young, don't you think so? I do, as I did all my life. People have more confidence in an old man, and it looks more venerable. Yet the old rogues are the worst rogues in the world, isn't it?
The world has its code of judgment which, alas, is very different from that of truth's.
So your "Universal Religion" has been rejected by the Revue de deux Mondes. Never mind, try again some other paper. Once the ice is broken, you get in at a quick rate, I am sure. And I am so glad that you love the work: it will make its way, I have no doubt of it. Our ideas have a future, ma chere Marie — and it will be realised soon.

Religion & Sects

24 July : All strength is in you, have faith in it

ॐ वीरेश्वराय विद्महे विवेकानन्दाय धीमहि । तन्नो वीर: प्रचोदयात् ।

Salutation to Bhagavan Ramakrishna!

ALMORA, 24th July, 1897.

MY DEAR AKHANDANANDA,

I am very glad to receive your letter and go through the contents. Your wishes about the orphanage are very good and Shri Maharaj (Shri Ramakrishna.) will not fail to fulfil them at an early date. Try your best to found a permanent centre. ... Never worry about money. Tomorrow I shall leave Almora for the plains; and wherever there will be made some stir, I shall open a subscription list for famine — set your mind easy on that score. When in every district there  will be a Math on the model of our Math in Calcutta, then will my heart's desire be fulfilled. Let not the work of preaching, too, be at a standstill, and greater even than preaching, is the work of imparting education. By means of lectures and the like, the village people must be taught religion, history, and such other subjects — specially history. To help our educational work there is a Society in England, which, as I find from reports, is doing excellent work. In time we shall get help of this kind from everywhere, don't be frightened. They only do work who think that help will come, directly they are on the field of work.

All strength is in you, have faith in it. It will not go unmanifested. Accept my heartiest love and blessings, and convey them to the Brahmachârin. Write now and then fiery letters to the Math, so that all may take heart and work. Victory to the Guru!

Yours affly., VIVEKANANDA.

Today's-Special : 24-July in Swami Vivekananda Life

Letter to Swami Akhandananda

Date: 

Wed, 2013-07-24

24 July 1895 : Inspired Talks : Paramâtman as ruling Maya is Ishvara; Paramâtman as under Maya is Jivâtman. Maya is the sum total of manifestation and will utterly vanish.
Tree-nature is Maya, it is really God-nature which we see under the veil of Maya. The "why" of anything is in Maya. To ask why Maya came is a useless question, because the answer can never be given in Maya, and beyond Maya who will ask it? Evil creates "why", not "why" the evil, and it is evil that asks "why". Illusion destroys illusion. Reason itself, being based upon contradiction, is a circle and has to kill itself. Sense-perception is an inference, and yet all inference comes from perception. 24 July 1897 : Letter to Swami Akhandananda : .... Your wishes about the orphanage are very good and Shri Maharaj will not fail to fulfil them at an early date. Try your best to found a permanent centre. ... Never worry about money. Tomorrow I shall leave Almora for the plains; and wherever there will be made some stir, I shall open a subscription list for famine -- set your mind easy on that score. When in every district there will be a Math on the method of our Math in Calcutta, then will my heart's desire be fulfilled. Let not the work of preaching, too, be at a standstill, and greater even then preaching, is the work of imparting education. By means of lectures and the like, the village people must be taught religion, history, and such other subjects -- specially history. To help our educational work there is a Society in England, which, as I find from reports, is doing excellent work. In time we shall get help of this kind from everywhere, don't be frightened. They only do work who think that help will come, directly they are on the field of work.All strength is in you, have faith in it. It will not go unmanifested. 24th July, 1900 - Letter to JOE,
The sun = Knowledge. The stormy water = Work. The lotus = Love. The serpent = Yoga. The swan = the Self. The Motto = May the Swan (the Supreme Self) send us that. It is the mind-lake. (This explains the design on the Ramakrishna Math and Mission seal, printed on the title page of this volume — Ed.) How do you like it? May the Swan fill you with all these anyway.
I am to start on Thursday next, by the French steamer La Champagne. The books are in the hands of Waldo and Whitmarsh. They are nearly ready.
I am well, getting better — and all right till I see you next week.

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