Swami Vivekananda

It is indeed amazing to see how people are constantly rushing ahead with their lives. All of them seem to be in such an undue haste. Very few actually stop, take a pause and ask themselves why they are in such a hurry. It seems as though man is engaged in a race all his life. And in order to get a lot of things done, one usually ends up in doing many things at the same time. My life has also been no exception. In order to constantly stay at the top, we are taught from our childhood that doing many things simultaneously is a virtue and something that we need to train ourselves to do. One of the favourite management jargons today is ‘multi-tasking’. People who cannot do this are considered to be incompetent and lacking in the skills that today’s world demands.

Swami Vivekananda was a person who spoke about the virtue of focusing our energies on taking up one task and doing it well. He saw the way to success as something that was born out of a task where one paid attention to not just the end but also the means. For him, quality was not merely a destination to be reached, but a constant process of manifesting one’s inner divinity. His famous words were, “Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, and every part of your body be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success…” This is something that we need to consciously teach ourselves to do. In the name of efficiency, many of us actually fritter away our energies in multiple directions without giving a thought to how effective we are.

Giving our full attention to one idea at a time is also something that the world of leadership is recognizing today. Experts are coming to the conclusion that good leaders are the ones who give their complete attention and energy to undertaking a task and this is achieved by these leaders constantly operating from the realm of the present. They are neither weighed down by the burden of the past or the uncertainty of the future. Living and operating in the present enables them to give every bit of their time and effort to the task on hand and this helps them become successful. These are also the leaders who eventually develop the capacity to undertake diverse activities, but they are always doing one thing at a time. This differentiates them from the world of multi-taskers who have come to believe that one needs to be doing multiple things at the same time. Giving our complete self to whatever we are doing not only helps us in completing the activity successfully, but also is spiritually elevating. It provides us the platform to experience the oneness of existence by becoming one with the task that we are accomplishing. And in this oneness, we can truly understand and relate to the central message of the Bhagawad Gita of not becoming unduly attached to the fruits of our action.

Kannada version in Prajavani (11-Oct-12)

The old saying of ‘Health is Wealth’ is something that we are taught from childhood. The importance of health is understood only when we fall sick. Each one of us knows and has experienced sickness in one way or the other. Even something as simple as a common cold can leave us complaining and irritated. Physical suffering can also leave us intellectually and emotionally drained. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was dying of throat cancer. It had advanced so much that it was difficult for him to even speak or swallow. Yet, he maintained not just his equanimity but continued to mentor and guide his disciples, especially Narendra.

Naren and his brother disciples nursed Sri Ramakrishna throughout the day and night. Naren was at this time torn between service to his Guru and the need to study for his law exams. He was also involved in the lawsuit with some of his relatives and had to be in Calcutta, but tried to spend as much time with his Guru as possible at Cossipore. Naren was a constant source of inspiration to his brother disciples. He would gather them all together and the time would be spent in study, devotional singing, and discussions about the Master. This was also the time that he was intensely hankering for the bliss of Samadhi and was having very deep spiritual experiences. Most of the other disciples had recently undergone an intense spiritual experience on Kalpataru day and Naren was also longing for it. He met the Master and told him, “It is my desire to remain absorbed in Samadhi continually for 3-4 days, only once in a while coming down to the sense plane to eat a little food.” To this Sri Ramakrishna responded, “You are a small-minded person. There is a state even higher than that. Settle your family affairs and then come to me. You will attain a state higher than Samadhi.” Ramakrishna was aware that the mission of Naren went beyond just his own moksha and that he had to be prepared to work for the betterment of entire humanity itself. Naren had to understand that he was not merely a siddha purusha (a perfected soul) but a savior of other souls. He was not only to cross the ocean of maya himself, but had to help others do so too.

Naren could also not see his Master suffering and one day he begged Sri Ramakrishna to pray to the Mother to cure him of his sickness. Ramakrishna replied, “It is easy for you to talk like that, but I can never ask for such things.” Naren said, “That will not do. You must tell the Mother about it, at least for our sake.” Sri Ramakrishna assured him that he would do so and Naren came back after a few hours asking him what had happened. The Master said, “I said to Her, pointing to my throat, ‘I cannot eat anything on account of the sore here. Please see that I am able to eat a little.’ The Mother replied, ‘Why! Are you not eating through so many mouths?’ I was so ashamed that I could not utter a single word.” Naren was startled by these words and by the complete lack of body consciousness of his Master. Naren knew that his Master was unique in his realizations and the days that he spent with him at Cossipore were both special and extraordinary. This was the time that he also practiced intense austerities and spiritual practices and continued to evolve and mature.

Leadership is indeed a great responsibility. To lead is not only to have a vision, but also inspire others to share the same vision. This would be easy if one were to lead and inspire people in the world of business or politics, but leading and inspiring others to share the vision of self-realization by willfully and cheerfully accepting poverty and celibacy will surely require a special person. Sri Ramakrishna was no ordinary soul. He not only had to inspire lay devotees to lead an ethical and religious life, but also had to build a team of young men who could take his message to the world outside. He had to ensure that these young men would work as a collective to achieve the larger intent that he had in mind, even after his death. His terminal sickness and impending death necessitated that he not only train each person individually, but also have a leader who would be fit enough to don the role and be trusted, loved and admired by the others.

Keeping all this in mind, Sri Ramakrishna was quietly preparing Narendra to be the leader of the group of youngsters who would carry out this mission. One day he called Narendra and told him, “I leave them in your care. See that they practice spiritual exercises even after my passing away and that they do not return home.” The relationship between a Guru and a Shishya is something very special. Not everyone is lucky to find a true Guru in one’s life. The love, affection, guidance and source of inner strength that a Guru gives his disciple can only be experienced and not explained. Words indeed would be a very limited way of expressing this special relationship. The relationship between Sri Ramakrishna and Narendra was all this and much more. Narendra saw more than a Guru in his teacher. For him, Ramakrishna was God incarnate and he worshiped him. His words and thoughts formed the basis of Narendra’s inner spiritual growth. The last days of Ramakrishna were days of intense physical suffering for him, yet days of bliss too, for he felt that he had fulfilled his mission on earth and was leaving a number of youthful, all-renouncing, determined disciples, who would carry his message across the world. His great hope was in Narendra and he was determined to use as much time as he could to mould and prepare him. He had already started giving hints of his impending death to his disciples and devotees.

Naren was looked upto by the other disciples because of Sri Ramakrishna’s estimate of his spiritual worth. He was also the most intellectual of them all. He was unique in the sense that he had a very high degree of rational thinking, while being very devotional at the same time. He could explain both his master’s teachings and monastic practices in a way in which both the believer and the layperson could understand and assimilate. He fired up his brother disciples and others around him by the power of his personality. Sri Ramakrishna encouraged this central position of Naren in many ways. He told his disciples that Naren was their leader, and made them feel that the spiritual understanding of his chief disciple should be their guide in the days to come.

A few days before his passing away, the Master called all his disciples except Naren and told them that they were to pay full attention to Naren and to do nothing that could cause any discomfort to him. He then called Naren separately and committed all his other disciples to his charge. Being weighed down by his illness and unable to speak, he wrote on a piece of paper that “Narendra will teach others”. Three or four days before his mahasamadhi, he called Naren and looked steadfastly at him and entered into deep meditation. Naren felt as though a subtle force resembling an electric shock had entered his body and he lost outer consciousness. When Naren awoke, Sri Ramakrishna told him, “Naren, today I have given you my all and have become a fakir, a penniless beggar. By the force of the power transmitted by me, great things will be done by you; only after that will you go where you came from.”

And thus was born a great leader, monk, spiritual teacher and inspirer of men who not only changed the course of India’s destiny but that of the world as well.

Kannada version in Prajavani (25-Oct-12)

Apart from Mysore and Bangalore, Swami Vivekananda had visited Belgaum in Karnataka during his travels. Swamiji reached Belgaum from Kolhapur on 15th October, 1892. For four days, he was a guest of Prof Sadashiv Bhate, a Maharashtrian who found Swamiji a very unusual monk. Bhate wrote in his records, “From the very first day of the Swami’s stay occurred little incidents which led us to revise our ideas about him. In the first place, though he wore clothes of the familiar sannyasi’s colour, he appeared to be dressed somewhat differently from his brother sannyasis. He used to wear a banian (thin vest) and instead of the danda (a monk’s staff), he carried a long stick. His kit consisted of the usual kamandalu, a pocket copy of the Gita and one or two other books. We were not accustomed to a sannyasi using the English language as a medium of conversation, wearing a banian instead of sitting bare bodied, and showing a versatility of intellect and variety of information which would have done credit to an accomplished man of the world.”

For the next nine days, Swamiji lived with Haripada Mitra, a sub-divisional forest officer who was also a Bengali. He wrote these impressions: “It is the late evening of Tuesday, the 18th of October 1892. A stout young sannyasi of cheerful countenance came to see me with a friend of mine, a lawyer. Looking at him, I saw a calm figure, with eyes flashing like lightning, clean-shaven, garbed in a gerua alkhalla (a kind of garment) with an ochre turban on the head, and mahratta sandals on the feet. I was at once attracted to him. At that time I believed every sannyasi to be a cheat, and was a skeptic in matters of religion and God. My first thought was that this man must have come to beg something or to ask me to take him into my house because it did not suit him to live with a Maharashtrian. When I entered into a conversation with him, I was surprised to find that he was thousand times superior to me in every respect, and that he asked for nothing! I begged him to come to live with me, but he said, ‘I am happy with the Maharashtrian; if I should leave after seeing a Bengali, he might be hurt. Besides, the whole family treats me with great love. But I will think about it and let you know later on.’ However he promised to take breakfast with me the next morning.”

After waiting for a long time for Swamiji to come to his house for breakfast, Haripada Mitra went in search of him to Bhate’s residence. He was surprised to find a large gathering of lawyers, pundits and prominent citizens asking the Swami questions. He was amazed at the ready replies which the Swami gave without pausing, in English, Hindi, Bengali and Sanskrit. On seeing Haripada Mitra, Swamiji was very apologetic and asked to be excused for not being able to keep up the appointment. He said, “I could not leave without hurting the feelings of so many people.” On being pressed by Haripada Mitra to come and live in his house, the Swami said, “I shall go if you can make my host agree to your proposal.” After much persuasion Mr Bhate agreed and Swami moved in with his few belongings to Haripada Mitra’s house.

The room where Swami Vivekananda had stayed in Sadashiv Bhate’s house is now being maintained as a shrine and also contains a cot, stick and a standing mirror said to have been used by him. The other house where Swamiji stayed for the remaining nine days as a guest of Haripada Mitra is now being maintained as a monument within the main Ashrama at Belgaum located within the Fort.

Kannada version in Prajavani (01-Nov-12)

Much has been written about Swami Vivekananda’s views on other religions. He was said to have carried two books with him on most of his travels – one was a copy of the Bhagawad Gita and the other was a book titled ‘The Imitation of Christ’ written by the devout Christian, Thomas Kempis. His guru Sri Ramakrishna had tried to understand and practice all religions and had categorically declared that all different paths lead to the same God. In line with this dictum, Swamiji too believed and practiced the oneness of all religions. People around him could not decipher this extraordinary Swami who was not only conversant with the subtleties of Advaita but also with the texts of other religions. He could quote from the Gita, Bible and the Koran at the same time.

Swamiji was very clear on what religious tolerance meant and what it was to accept all religions as one and the same. He writes, “Our watchword then, will be acceptance and not exclusion. Not only toleration, for so-called toleration is often blasphemy, and I do not believe in it. I believe in acceptance. Why should I tolerate? Toleration means that I think that you are wrong and I am just allowing you to live. Is it not a blasphemy to think that you and I are allowing others to live? I accept all religions that were in the past, and worship with them all. I worship God with every one of them, in whatever form they worship him. I shall go to the mosque of the Mohammedan; I shall enter the Christian’s church and kneel before the crucifix; I shall enter the Buddhist temple, where I shall take refuge in Buddha and in his law. I shall go into the forest and sit down in meditation with the Hindu, who is trying to see the light which enlightens the heart of every one. Not only shall I do all these, but I shall keep my heart open for all that may come in the future. Is God’s work finished? Or is it still a continuous revelation going on? It is a marvelous book – these spiritual revelations of the world. The Bible, the Vedas, the Koran, and all other sacred books are but so many pages, and an infinite number of pages remain yet to be unfolded. I would leave it open for all of them. We stand in the present, and open ourselves to the infinite future. We take in all that has been in the past, enjoy the light of the present, and open every window of the heart for all that will come in the future. Salutation to all the prophets of the past, to all the great ones of the present, and to all that are to come in the future!”

This broad and open-minded approach is what our Nation requires today. Our country today is being torn and divided by narrow religious and sectarian beliefs and views. Leaders of all religions are dividing the masses instead of bringing them all together. Each one is trying to prove that his is the most valid religion and his is the only true God. What the nation needs is this approach of Swami Vivekananda which is pragmatic, inclusive, all-embracing and accepting of different views of God and religion. It is this unifying thought which can heal and hold a diverse Nation like India together. As the Nation gets ready to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, we must all try and live upto this ideal of his. That would indeed be a fitting way to celebrate his life and times.

Kannada version in Prajavani (08-Nov-12)

Leadership and leadership outcomes are indeed difficult to define and measure. Though there is a lot of literature on this subject, the fact remains that very little is actually known. Though many yardsticks have been developed to measure leadership outcomes, some of the widely accepted ones are answers to the following questions in the organization that a leader founded or inherited.

• How well the leader could build on and expand the credibility of the organization? Could he get the organization to achieve some level of prominence? Did he grow it in a meaningful way in line with the larger vision and mission of the organization?
• Did the leader finally ‘let-go’ of the organization and leave a positive legacy behind? Did he endow the organization with the strength, skills and resources to survive beyond his existence?
• To what extent could the leader not only sustain the vision but also inspire and motivate others to join him in the realization of this vision? After all organizations are made up of people and unless one finds the right kind of people and moulds them to take on the future leadership roles, one cannot ensure the sustenance of the organization that one has created or nurtured.

Swami Vivekananda as a leader also needs to be measured and assessed from the point of view of these criteria. He not only created an extraordinary institution for growth of spirituality but also made sure that the welfare of the people would be the centerpiece of the organization’s work.  This is clearly evident in the motto that he gave the Ramakrishna Mission and Ramakrishna Math – ‘Athmano Mokshartham, Jagath Hithayacha’  – where the realization of the personal self had to go hand in hand with the betterment of humanity.

Swami Vivekananda as the founder of the organization had to create the larger vision and constantly work towards building not just the organizational processes but also the people to man these organizations. He had to lay down the rules, set value systems and ensure that it was well communicated to his colleagues and team mates. He had to inspire people to not just take on the vows of poverty and chastity but also engage themselves in meaningful social work. He was the trainer, visionary, organizational behavior expert and the charismatic inspirer of men – all rolled in one. One also needs to understand that a leader’s work cannot be measured merely from his immediate contributions. Much of the good work that he has done will be evident years later. The Institution that Swamiji has left behind is proof of the extraordinary leadership that he gave it during the years of its inception and infancy. John Maxwell, a Christian pastor and leadership expert writes, “If you develop yourself, you can experience personal success. If you develop a team, your organization can experience growth. If you develop leaders, your organization can achieve explosive growth.” The fact that the Ramakrishna Math & Mission achieved explosive growth long after Swamiji’s death is testimony to the fact that Swami Vivekananda helped create great leaders too.

Swamiji was conscious of not making the organization too dependent on him or becoming ‘Vivekananda Centric’. He never lost sight of the ‘work at the center’ which was of far greater importance than either himself of his image. He never assumed any formal office for himself and made sure that from the inception, there were others to take on the mantle and lead the organization. His primary role was to mentor, guide and train these leaders. The Ramakrishna Mission is respected for the work that it does not just in India, but all over the world. They spend close to Rs 2 billion in various welfare activities and communities, governments and donors have immense trust and faith in their transparency and fiscal responsibility. Swami Vivekananda undoubtedly has left behind an enormously positive legacy – not just an organization that any nation can be proud of, but also successive generations of positively charged up young people who share and believe in his vision and message. His loudest and greatest legacy is the millions of inspired people who dream of building a better nation and a better world. The fact that the Government of India thought it fit to celebrate his birthday as the National Youth Day stands testimony to this legacy.

Kannada version in Prajavani (15-Nov-12)

Anger is one emotion that all of us have experienced at one time or the other. We get angry at ourselves, at people around us, at circumstances that we cannot control or manage. We would have experienced situations in which we get rightfully angry, but many a time we feel guilty that we lost our temper. We feel that we could have accomplished more if we had not lost ourselves in a display of this emotion. Despite knowing the consequences of uncontrolled anger, we get angry with people we are close with and love. In the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna expounds the dangers and consequences of getting angry. He explains how it clouds our thinking and leaves us ineffective and irrational. As per the Gita, when anger is aroused in a person, it deprives him of his power of discrimination. He is unable to weigh the pros and cons of a question or a situation. He will not heed the consequences of whatever he does in a fit of rage. Such is the nature of the delusion caused by anger. When this delusion grows, man forgets in what relationship he stands with those around him, what he should do and what he should not, how he had planned to do a thing, and what he is actually doing. He is thus unable to carry out his predetermined plans as his memory of the past is torn asunder. When the mind is clouded, man loses his reasoning abilities and he can exhibit acrimony, harshness, violence, vindictiveness and stupidity. All these expressions of emotion could result in very expensive consequences and leave the person regretful later on.

In his early days, Swami Vivekananda was also known for his fits of anger, though he understood later that controlling and managing it was far more useful than displaying it. He not only understood how one can lose oneself and one’s mind in a state of anger, but also had his own experiential way of describing how one needed to subsume it. He had this to say about anger, “When I am angry, my whole mind becomes a huge wave of anger. I feel it, see it, handle it, can easily manipulate it, can fight with it; but I shall not succeed perfectly in the fight until I can get down below to its causes. A man says something very harsh to me, and I begin to feel that I am getting heated, and he goes on till I am perfectly angry and forget myself, identify myself with anger. When he first began to abuse me, I thought, “I am going to be angry”. Anger was one thing, and I was another; but when I became angry, I was anger. These feelings have to be controlled in the germ, the root, in their fine forms, before even we have become conscious that they are acting on us. With the vast majority of mankind the fine states of these passions are not even known – the states in which they emerge from sub consciousness. When a bubble is rising from the bottom of the lake, we do not see it, nor even when it has nearly come to the surface; it is only when it bursts and makes a ripple that we know it is there. 

We shall only be successful in grappling with the waves when we can get hold of them in their fine causes, and until you can get hold of them, and subdue them before they become gross, there is no hope of conquering any passion perfectly. To control our passions we have to control them at their very roots; then alone shall we be able to burn out their very seeds. As fried seeds thrown into the ground will never come up, so these passions will never arise.”

Kannada version in Prajavani (22-Nov-12)

The true greatness of a man is felt and understood years after the person’s death. Whether it is Gandhi or Swami Vivekananda or Ramana Maharshi or Martin Luther King, they leave behind indelible impressions in the minds of thousands of people for generations to come. These are people one not only likes to adore and admire but also to emulate and follow. Swami Vivekananda was such an exceptional and well-rounded personality that his thoughts and works are relevant even today. His ideas and ideals resonate with not just the youth but with people across all age groups. The greatness of such a person is further enhanced when they are idolized and spoken about by other great men and women.

The great statesman and first Governor General of India C. Rajagopalachari said, “Swami Vivekananda saved Hinduism and saved India. But for him we would have lost our religion and would not have gained our freedom. We therefore owe everything to him. May his faith, his courage and his wisdom ever inspire us so that we may keep safe the treasure we have received from him.”

Christopher Ishwerwood, the Anglo-American novelist and playwright had this to say of him. “Vivekananda was, as I said, profoundly moved by the realization of India’s poverty and the state of her oppression under the British colonial rule. And he proposed a revolution. The spirit of this revolution enormously influenced Gandhi and influences Indian political thought to this day. Vivekananda in this sense is a great figure in Indian history, one of the greatest historical figures that India has ever produced. But it must be noted that Vivekananda’s revolution, Vivekananda’s nationalism, were not like the kind of revolution, the kind of nationalism which we associate with other great leaders, admirable and noble as they may be. Vivekananda was far greater than that. In fact, when one sees the full range of his mind, one is astounded. Vivekananda looked to the West, not simply as a mass of tyrants exploiting various parts of Asia, and other undeveloped areas, but as future partners, people who had very, very much to offer. At the same time, without any false humility, he faced the West and said, ‘We have fully as much and more to offer you. We offer you this great tradition of spirituality, which can produce, even now, today, a supremely great figure such as Ramakrishna.’”

Will Durant, the great American historian and author of the famous book ‘The Story of Philosophy’ wrote this of Swami Vivekananda. “He preached to his countrymen a more virile creed than any Hindu had offered them since Vedic Days. He redefined God as ‘the totality of all souls’ and called upon his fellow-men to practice religion not through vain asceticism and meditation, but through absolute devotion to mankind.”

Our former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi wrote, “I had the good fortune to know about the life and teachings of Swami Vivekananda as well as about the activities of the Ramakrishna Mission. And I must say that the teachings of Vivekananda had inspired all the members of the Nehru family both in their political activities and day-to-day lives. Swamiji’s teachings, writings and speeches which appear on every page of his works, are indeed stimulant. Swamiji provides us courage, strength and faith and teaches us how to be self-sufficient. These are the basic tenets of life which India needed most and which would be relevant for all time to come. It was Swami Vivekananda who has given us the ways and means to reconstruct a new India. Swamiji preached the message of universal brotherhood. And a single word which echoed and reached in all his speeches was Abhih, i.e. fearlessness.”

Philosophers, academicians, historians, politicians, authors and people from different walks of life were inspired by Vivekananda and have had words of appreciation and admiration for him. Swamiji was one who has been written about by not just other great Indians, but people from different walks of life from around the world. This reflects his universal appeal and acceptance.

Kannada version in Prajavani (29-Nov-12)

There are so many negative events happening in the country that even a hardcore optimist is likely to lose faith that our country can achieve greatness. The situation over the last 100 years has been a very challenging one for India. From our freedom struggle to getting Independence, giving ourselves a Constitution and becoming a Republic – all have been major events in the life of our country. Recent issues like corruption, political polarization, cultural confusion, lack of leadership at all levels, rapid globalization, privatization and increasing poverty are other challenges that the country is now grappling with. Is there any light visible at the end of the tunnel? Can any country surmount these kinds of problems and grow and thrive and provide a reasonable future for itself and its citizens? One wonders how Swami Vivekananda would have looked at our societal problems of today and thought through solutions for them. In one context talking about the role religion played in a new system of society, he had said “The basis of all systems, social or political, rests upon the goodness of men. No nation is great or good because Parliament enacts this or that, but because its men are great and good. Christ saw that the basis is not law, that morality and purity are the only strength. Your spirituality, in a sense will have to form the basis of the new order of society.”

Swami Vivekananda believed in the essential goodness of the human spirit and he saw this to be the platform on which National reconstruction rested. Whether it is the Lokpal Act to fight corruption or the growing clout of financial forces due to raising consumerism, Swamiji saw a value-based leadership built on spiritual foundations as a means of overcoming these dangers. He had remarked, “In our sight, here in India, there are several dangers. Of these, the two, rank materialism and its opposite arrant superstition, must be avoided.” He often cited Japan as an example where such leadership made the Nation great. He said, “The faith of the Japanese in themselves, and their love for their country is what makes them great. When you have men who are ready to sacrifice their everything for their country, sincere to the backbone – when such men arise, India will become great in every respect. It is the men that make the country! If you catch the social morality and the political morality of the Japanese, you will be as great as they are. They Japanese are ready to sacrifice their everything for their country, and they have become a great people. The Japanese don’t talk, they act. There are noblemen now living in Japan as peasants, having given up their princedoms without a word to create the unity of the empire. There in Japan, you find a fine assimilation of knowledge, and not its indigestion, as we have here. They have taken everything from the Europeans, but they remain Japanese all the same, and have not turned European; while in our country, the terrible mania of becoming westernized has seized upon us like a plague. I wish that every one of our young men could visit Japan once at least in his lifetime.”

While many things have changed since Swamiji’s lifetime both there and in India, it is indeed true that a great Nation can emanate only from the people living in that country. And true greatness is not doing great or heroic acts, but living an ethical, value-based life with faith in oneself and in the goodness of man, coupled with the ability to sacrifice personal interest for the larger National interest.

Kannada version in Prajavani (06-Dec-12)