न: : Vivekananda Kendra News

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"In the Rigveda, one hardly finds a Rik where anything is prayed and demanded for an individual. It is always "of us" (न:) and not "my". The well-known Gayatri Mantra prays for "the intellects of all of us to be illumined". The sage in the Tenth Mandala says, "You all go together, speak together and let all your minds know things together" etc. (RV X.191.3-5). The great National Anthem of Yajurved speaks for the whole nation and its manifold constituents simultaneously and not individually for one person. The celebrated Shantimantras of the Upanishads pray for the community as a whole and never for any one person"

- Mananeeya Eknathji {SOS - VIV}

News Updates from Vivekananda Kendra :

• स्मारिका : मा. एकनाथजी  :  विस्तृत
   
  
• Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalayas Arunachal Pradesh Trust January - February Month Report : Read More
  
  
• अमृत परिवार मिलन दम्पतियों को जोड़ने की कड़ी : विस्तृत
  

• ईन्दोर में युवा सम्मेलन : विस्तृत
   
  
• Pariksha De Haste Haste at Teju, Arunachal Pradesh : Read More
  
  
• Arohi 2014 - The House Magazine of VKVAPT : Read More
  
  
• Telugu Prant Karyalaya Foundation stone at Hyderabad  :  Read More
  
  
• Updates from Assam : Read More
   
  

• भिण्ड में अमृत परिवार मिलन कार्यक्रम का आयोजन  : विस्तृत
   
  
• New Website Layout of VKV Majuli  : Read More
   
  
  
• Take on  @ :  Participate Now
  
  
• अपने किए हुए सूर्यनमस्कार कृपया सूर्यनमस्कार घड़ी पर अवश्य जोडे ।

Please add your SuryaNamaskar in SuryaNamaskar Clock.

Please register to the SuryaNamaskar clock and daily add how many SuryaNamaskar done by your or your group.

The website has been started on Rashtra Chintan Diwas, a First day of Samartha Bharat Parva, and till now 12,85,325 Suryanamskars have been registered.

The site gives various statistics like how many SuryaNamaskar done Today, This Month, This Year, with details like Total SuryaNamaskar done, by No. of Person & No. of Group.  Please spread the world and regularly add your count in the site.

Upcoming Events :

• 22 March 2015 - Yuva Dampati Samelan Surat, Gujarat : Read More
  
  
• 25 March 2015 - Vimarsha on Rise of Islamism as a direct consequence of the creation of Pakistan by Mr Tarek Fatah ( noted columnist & author) : Read More
  
  
• 25 March 2015 - Safal Yuva - Samrudhdha Bharat Workshop @ Kota, Rajasthan :  Read More
  
  
• 28 March 2015 - Ram-Navami Celebration @  Nagdandi, Jammu & Kashmir :  Read More
  
  

Updates from Prakashan :

विवेकानन्द केन्द्र हिन्दी प्रकाशन विभाग द्वारा नई  पुस्तकें प्रकाशित     योग : एकात्म दर्शन पर आधारित जीवन पद्धति :: सहयोग राशि रु. ३५/-     कहानियाँ एकनाथजी की :: सहयोग राशि रु.२५/-     संगठन के मूलतत्व और गतिशीलता के सिद्धांत ::  सहयोग राशि रु.२०/-       अग्रिम भुगतान करने से ४०% की छूट दी जा सकेगी. और अधिक और स्पष्ट जानकारी के लिए विवेकानन्द केन्द्र हिंदी प्रकाशन विभाग से संपर्क करें  : ०२९१ - २६१२६६६ ई मेल : vkhpv@vkendra.org

Registration open for Yoga Shiksha Shibir at  Kashmir & Kanyakumari Camp Language Duration Age Contribution Yoga Shiksha Shibir - Kanyakumari English 5 - 19 May 2015 18 to 50 Years Rs.2,000/- योग शिक्षा शिविर - कन्याकुमारी हिन्दी ५ - १९ मई २०१५  १८ से ५० साल रु.२,०००/- योग शिक्षा शिविर - कश्मीर हिन्दी १२ - २१ जुन  २०१५ १८ से ५० साल रु.३,०००/- अधिक जानकारी के लिए कृपया http://www.vivekanandakendra.org/camps-kanyakumari एवं http://www.vivekanandakendra.org/camps-kashmir देखे

Yoga योग Surya Namaskar Rousing Call To Hindu Nation Story Of Vivekananda Rock Memorial India's Contribution to World Thought & Culture A Comparehensive Biography of Swami Vivekananda Sadhana Of Service Eknathji - a Biographical Sketch Expression of Chirstianity with a focus on India - SoftCover Expression of Chirstianity with a focus on India - HardCover

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Mananeeya Eknathji Janma Shati Parva

• 9th November 2014 Inaugural Program's Banner, Audio, Video & 1hrs+ presentation materials : https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B_Np4iPVnYiHYW1tbzNpWG53Mms&usp=sharing&tid=0B_Np4iPVnYiHYXNiUmFqcUVlN2s
  
  
• Presentation of 170+ Photographs of Mananeeya Eknathji : https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_Np4iPVnYiHdEZWMTkxRkgzVjg/view?usp=sharing
  
  
• Logo of MEJSP : https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B_Np4iPVnYiHQlNvbHpldVR6LUE&usp=sharing
  
  
• Pamphlets of MEJSP & VK Activities : https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B_Np4iPVnYiHbEd4N2tZY2dMQVE&usp=sharing

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Vivekananda Kendra :  Live Bookmark to get update in your browser : Click Here 
  
VIF India :  Live Bookmark to get update in your browser : Click Here

VKVAPT :  Live Bookmark to get update in your browser : Click Here

Get the "Yuva Bharati" Regular Updates :   Editorial with cover page on the "Yuva Bharati" Blog : http://yb.vkendra.org

Get the "Kendra Bharati" Regular Updates :   Editorial with cover page on the "Kendra Bharati" Blog : http://kb.vkendra.org

Get the "Vivekananda Kendra Patrika" Regular Updates :   Editorial with cover page on the "Vivekananda Kendra Patrika" Blog : http://vkp.vkendra.org

Photo gallery of VKVAPT : Click Here  & Video of VKVAPT : Click Here   

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WebMaster Tips :

Railway Ticket Advance Booking timing is going to increase to 120days from 1st April 2015. : Read More There are always demand for photographs of Swami Vivekananda, Rock Memorial, etc, which you can get anytime by visiting http://w.vkendra.org/photo1 & http://w.vkendra.org/photo2

Click here to view newsletter on website

--   विवेक विजाणु पंडित गण (Vivek WebMaster Team)  विवेकानन्द केन्द्र कन्याकुमारी (Vivekananda Kendra)  http://www.vkendra.org  webmaster@vkendra.org

सूर्यनमस्कार घड़ी : SuryaNamaskar Clock

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सूर्यनमस्कार घड़ी राष्ट्र चिंतन दिन, २५ दिसम्बर २०१४, समर्थ भारत पर्व के  पहले  दिन  शुरु होगी। स्वामी विवेकानन्द ने २५,२६,२७ दिसम्बर १८९२  को कन्याकुमारीमे समुद्र स्थित शिला पर राष्ट्र के लिए भारतमाँ पर चिंतन किया था और अपने इस जीवन का ध्येय प्राप्त किया था।

SuryaNamaskar Clock is going to be launch on Rashtra Chintan Diwas, 25th December 2014, beginning of Samartha Bharat Parv Celebration. Swami Vivekananda meditated on BharatMa at mid-sea roack at Kanyakumari on 25,26,27 Decembere 1892 & find the aim of this life.

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AIM : One can log on to the website http://yog.website and enter the suryaNamskar done by him alone or in group in website.

Site will be live at Sunrise time 6:30am at Vivekanandapuram, Kanyakumari by Ma. Balakrishnanji, Vice President of Vivekananda Rock Memorial & Vivekananda Kendra.

To add SuryaNamaskar, we need to first register ourself.  This is one time process. 

Doing SuryaNamaskars together in a group is preferred.

1) click on top right corner of Sign Up, which will open the registration form, where u need to give your name, email & place selection [country, state, district]


2) If you are registering behalf of group, plz select group other wise select single.
  

3) Once u click, it will display msg -> " Please check your mail "


4) You will get email in your inbox [also plz chk your Bulk/Spam/Junk folder]


5) by clicking it will display the activation link, which you need to click to activate your account.

6) by clicking activation link, it will open the site & ask you to set the password. Plz set your password by entering it two times.
=>        
7) Login to your account


8) At first time, when you enter it will ask for setting the profile. Mobile is mandatory to enter.

9) After, plz click on Surya Namaskar, to feed the data, you can select the appropriate no. and total will be automatically calculated.


10) You can view your own history by clicking My SuryaNamaskar at left bar.

Doing Suryanamaskars together in a group is preferred.

Let's reach out the masses with #suryaNamaskar

विवेक विजाणु पंडित गण (Vivek WebMaster Team)
विवेकानन्द केन्द्र कन्याकुमारी (Vivekananda Kendra Kanyakumari)
Vivekananda Rock Memorial & Vivekananda Kendra : http://www.vivekanandakendra.org
Read n Get Articles, Magazines, Books @ http://prakashan.vivekanandakendra.org


Let's work on "Swamiji's Vision - Eknathji's Mission"

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मुक्तसंग्ङोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वित:।
सिद्ध‌‌यसिद्धयोर्निर्विकार: कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ॥१८.२६॥

Freed from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with courage and enthusiasm and unperturbed by success or failure, the worker is known as a pure (Sattvika) one. Four outstanding and essential qualities of a worker. - Bhagwad Gita : XVIII-26

Develop one idea at the expense of all the rest

ॐ वीरेश्वराय विद्महे विवेकानन्दाय धीमहि । तन्नो वीर: प्रचोदयात् ।

Nishthâ (devotion to one ideal) is the beginning of realisation. "Take the honey out of all flowers; sit and be friendly with all, pay reverence to all, say to all, 'Yes, brother, yes, brother', but keep firm in your own way." A higher stage is actually to take the position of the other. If I am all, why can I not really and actively sympathise with my brother and see with his eyes? While I am weak, I must stick to one course (Nishthâ), but when I am strong, I can feel with every other and perfectly sympathise with his ideas.

The old idea was: "Develop one idea at the expense of all the rest". The modern way is "harmonious development". A third way is to "develop the mind and control it", then put it where you will; the result will come quickly. This is developing yourself in the truest way. Learn concentration and use it in any direction. Thus you lose nothing. He who gets the whole must have the parts too. Dualism is included in Advaitism (monism).

"I first saw him and he saw me. There was a flash of eye from me to him and from him to me."

This went on until the two souls became so closely united that they actually became one. . . .

There are two kinds of Samadhi — I concentrate on myself, then I concentrate and there is a unity of subject and object.

You must be able to sympathise fully with each particular, then at once to jump back to the highest monism. After having perfected yourself, you limit yourself voluntarily. Take the whole power into each action. Be able to become a dualist for the time being and forget Advaita, yet be able to take it up again at will.

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Cause and effect are all Maya, and we shall grow to understand that all we see is as disconnected as the child's fairy tales now seem to us. There is really no such thing as cause and effect and we shall come to know it. Then if you can, lower your intellect to let any allegory pass through your mind without questioning about connection. Develop love of imagery and beautiful poetry and then enjoy all mythologies as poetry. Come not to mythology with ideas of history and reasoning. Let it flow as a current through your mind, let it be whirled as a candle before your eyes, without asking who holds the candle, and you will get the circle; the residuum of truth will remain in your mind.

The writers of all mythologies wrote in symbols of what they saw and heard, they painted flowing pictures. Do not try to pick out the themes and so destroy the pictures; take them as they are and let them act on you. Judge them only by the effect and get the good out of them.

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Your own will is all that answers prayer, only it appears under the guise of different religious conceptions to each mind. We may call it Buddha, Jesus, Krishna, Jehovah, Allah, Agni, but it is only the Self, the "I". . . .

Concepts grow, but there is no historical value in the allegories which present them. Moses' visions are more likely to be wrong than ours are, because we have more knowledge and are less likely to be deceived by illusions.

Books are useless to us until our own book opens; then all other books are good so far as they confirm our book. It is the strong that understand strength, it is the elephant that understands the lion, not the rat. How can we understand Jesus until we are his equals? It is all in the dream to feed five thousand with two loaves, or to feed two with five loaves; neither is real and neither affects the other. Only grandeur appreciates grandeur, only God realises God. The dream is only the dreamer, it has no other basis. It is not one thing and the dreamer another. The keynote running through the music is — "I am He, I am He", all other notes are but variations and do not affect the real theme. We are the living books and books are but the words we have spoken. Everything is the living God, the living Christ; see it as such. Read man, he is the living poem. We are the light that illumines all the Bibles and Christs and Buddhas that ever were. Without that, these would be dead to us, not living.

Stand on your own Self.

The dead body resents nothing; let us make our bodies dead and cease to identify ourselves with them.

(CWSV : 7 Inspired talk, RECORDED BY MISS S. E. WALDO, A DISCIPLE)

Today's-Special : 2-August in Swami Vivekananda Life

August 2, 1895 - Inspired Talks
Nishthâ (devotion to one ideal) is the beginning of realisation. "Take the honey out of all flowers; sit and be friendly with all, pay reverence to all, say to all, 'Yes, brother, yes, brother', but keep firm in your own way." A higher stage is actually to take the position of the other. If I am all, why can I not really and actively sympathise with my brother and see with his eyes? While I am weak, I must stick to one course (Nishthâ), but when I am strong, I can feel with every other and perfectly sympathise with his ideas.

2 August 1895 : Letter to Mr E T Sturdy - Some Theosophists came to my classes in New York, but as soon as human beings perceive the glory of the Vedanta, all abracadabras fall off of themselves. This has been my uniform experience. Whenever mankind attains a higher vision, the lower vision disappears of itself. Multitude counts for nothing. A few heart-whole, sincere, and energetic men can do more in a year than a mob in a century. If there is heat in one body, then those others that come near it must catch it. This is the law. So success is ours, so long as we keep up the heat, the spirit of truth, sincerity, and love. My own life has been a very chequered one, but I have always found the eternal words verified: "Truth alone triumphs, not untruth. Through truth alone lies the way to God."
2 August 1898 : Swami Vivekananda was at Amarnath

Faith

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	विवेकानन्द केन्द्र कन्याकुमारी (Vivekananda Kendra Kanyakumari) Vivekananda Rock Memorial & Vivekananda Kendra : http://www.vivekanandakendra.org Swami Vivekananda's 150th Birth Anniversary : http://www.vivekananda150jayanti.org Read Article, Magazine, Book @ http://eshop.vivekanandakendra.org/e-granthalaya Cell : +91-(0177)-2835995
. . . Are you Strong? Do you feel Strength? — for I know it is Truth alone that gives Strength. Strength is the medicine for the world’s disease . . . This is the great fact: "Strength is LIFE; Weakness is Death."
भारत जागो ! विश्व जगाओ !! :: Wake Up Bharat ! Enlighten The World !!
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non-attachment : Vivekananda Kendra News

ॐ वीरेश्वराय विद्महे विवेकानन्दाय धीमहि । तन्नो वीर: प्रचोदयात् ।

"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."

- - Swami Vivekananda CW-I

Lokmanya Tilak's Smriti Divas

News & Events Updates from VivekanandaKendra.org

Guru Purnima celebrated by VKAJ, Branch : Daporijo
Vivekananda Kendra Arun Jyoti felicitated Prabhu Baja, priest of Donyi Polo Nyedar Namlo ...  Read More

ગુરૂ પૂર્ણિમા મહોત્સવ : સુરત
ગુરુ પૂર્ણિમા નું આયોજન અષાઢ સુદ પૂર્ણિમા 2069 સોમવાર ને તા. 22/07/2013ના રોજ સાંજે 6:30  વિસ્તૃત

Gurupurnima At Nagpur
Various programmes were arranged by Vivekananda Kendra's Nagpur branch to pay reverence to the Guru.  Read More

VK Vedic Vision Foundation June - July 2013 Report
One of the incomparable names of Ma Parasakthi inLalitasahasra Nama is 'Mahapralayasakshini'.  Read More

News & Events Updates from Vivekananda150Jayanti.org

Activity Report March-July 2013 : Poorv Andhra
Activity Report of Poorv Andhra Pradesh from March-July 2013  Read More

स्वामी विवेकानंद प्रश्नोत्तरी प्रतियोगिता : हरियाणा
24.07.2013 को स्वामी विवेकानंद के जीवन पर आधारित जिलास्तरीय प्रश्नोत्तरी प्रतियोगिता ...  विस्तृत

प्रश्नमंच प्रतियोगिता का प्रान्त स्तर का चरण सम्पन्न   विस्तृत

Medical camps at Arunachal Pradesh
The Swami Vivekananda Sardha Shati Samaroh Samiti of Changlang district recently organized medical camps in Kharsang and Miao areas. Read More

Dampati (Couple) Sammelan held at Nirjuli, Arunachal Pradesh
Swami Vivekananda Sardha Shati Samaroh Samitee Arunachal Prant had organized a ' DAMPATI SAMMELAN' under the Samvardhini aayam on 29 June 2013, Saturday.  Read More

Vice President to unveil Swami Vivekananda statue
Vice President Hamid Ansari will unveil the statue of Swami Vivekananda to be installed in the Kowdiar park at Trivendrum on September 11.  Read More

Other updates :

VIF India : Vivek - Issues & Options for August-2013 is Released today  Read More

Diaries & Calendars : 2014 are available  Know More

Website Statistics : July 2013

Sr. No.	Website	Page Loads	Unique Visits	First Time Visits	Returning Visits
1	http://www.vivekanandakendra.org	71,773	36,226	32,693	3,533
2	http://www.vifindia.org	21,441	10,325	8,310	2,015
3	http://www.vivekananda150jayanti.org	7,338	4,905	4,535	370
4	http://prakashan.vivekanandakendra.org	4,139	1,983	1,784	199
5	http://www.vkvapt.org	3,743	1,191	919	272
6	http://gallery.vivekanandakendra.org	2,944	888	815	73

Spread the word by sharing Swami Vivekananda's Quotation & Today's in Swami Vivekananda Life through Social Network

Get the online books published by Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari : http://prakashan.vivekanandakendra.org

Get Daily Quotes of Swami Vivekananda : http://www.vivekananda150jayanti.org/category/vivek-special/daily-vivek-vani

Get Today's Special in Swami Vivekananda's Life : http://www.vivekananda150jayanti.org/category/vivek-special/todays-special

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Please send reports to webmaster@vkendra.org with cc to editor@vkendra.org to include in this Vivekananda Kendra Weekly News Feed.

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विवेक विजाणु पंडित गण (Vivek WebMaster Team) स्वामी विवेकानन्द सार्ध शती समारोह (Swami Vivekananda Sardha Shati Samaroh) Swami Vivekananda's 150th Birth Anniversary : http://www.vivekananda150jayanti.org Vivekananda Rock Memorial & Vivekananda Kendra : http://www.vivekanandakendra.org Read n Get Articles, Magazines, Books @ http://prakashan.vivekanandakendra.org Landline : Himachal:+91-(0)177-2835-995, Kanyakumari:+91-(0)4652-247-012 भारत जागो ! विश्व जगाओ !! :: Wake Up Bharat ! Enlighten The World !!

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Follow Vivekananda Kendra on   blog   twitter   g+   facebook   rss   delicious   youtube   Donate Online Follow year-long Celebration on   blog   twitter   g+   facebook   rss   delicious   youtube   Donate Online

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"They alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive." - Swami Vivekananda

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