SHRI RAIVIKRISHN.A.

PARAMAHANSA

A fflodern Saint lVho Saw"' 'The, l}ivine illother'

,r,, Prof. Vaman H .Pandit
homes and temPles we see

Often in our hearths and

a

picture of a small brown man with a short beard and beautiful eyes-Iong dark eYes, full of light, obliquely set and slightly veiled-never very wide open, but seeing halfclosed a great distance both

It is said he did not like to study but he took delight in the rhapsodists who used to go round the vilIage, ln
tics.

fair

school Gadadhar uade a progress except mathema-

outwardly and inwardlY. His Inouth half oPen sYgr his white teeth in a bewitching smile, at once affectionate and mischievous. He is Shri R"amkrishna Paramat\ansa, a most Jamiliar figure everYwhere in
India.

At Kamarpukar, a village in' Borgal, set in the midst of palm trees, pools and rice. fields, lived a pious and poor old Brahmin couPle. TheY, were the deeP devotees of I,ord Shri Ralnchandra, The.

painters he learnt how to paint these figures, Constant study of these subjects made him to concentrate his atten-

art of 'rnoulding images oi gods and goddesses. From the

gical stories from the epics and Puranas. Sometimes he used to enact in the village dramas rvithout any stage-setting. It was his pastime to repeat such roles before his friends .almost verbatim. He had a wonderful power of getting by heart what he heard only once, From the viilage potters he learnt the

those d.ays, reciting mytholu-

perfect health.
heroes

IIis elever fingers {ashioned Gods trom clay; the heroic deeds of the I
i I

know as Ramkrishna was born in this .tamily on Febru-

child whom the world was to

ffiehiml
] I

of Ramayan blossomed *1"J, rr"- sang divinety the Pastoral airs of Lord Shri and .o*"UJ".- he Krishna; and sometimes t " took part in the discussions astonish-' of learned fren and ed them by his wisdom. His soul was like a Proteus Possessed of assuming tJre roles whom he saw or imagined' It was this singular fact which manifested later in his life for espousing all the souls in

i; ;ir

I I

j
I

ary 18r 1836. His cradle name was Gadadhar. As a child he was futl of fun and IiIe, mis-' chievous and charming with a feminine grac,e which he maintaioed to the end of his
Ufe.

forgetful of the world and threw him into deep thinking and later these thoughts threw
non.

the wor1d.

him into frequent trtsnces. This is a psychic phenomeIn addition to this quautY Gadadhar had many good gifts. He had fair clear skin,
tive smile, charming voice and iadependent spirit. IIe always played truant from school and lived as free as air and rernained ]ike a child to the end of his 1ife. He refused to learn anything i:r school' He was adored and Petted bY the women and girls, PerhaPs, they found something of their own in liim. At the age of thirteeq he Piayed the roles of l,ords for Himself-the highest comedY of the universe. It is alwaYs the sYmbol of art and of love.

Stories About Childhood

his
What stories are told about

be,autiful flowing locks, attrae-

ehildhood? Gadadhar of five children. His father died wheu he 'was seven years old. As a child of eight Years old, his biographers tell us stories about his frequent ecstasies
w,as the - fourth

in the village dramas with the boys of his own ,age, his being was Possessed bY the roles of gods and goddesses and he lost himself in the glory of God. He was transported like GanYmede bY the Eagle carrying the thunderbolt-he was thought to be
dead.

when he played different roles

After the death of his father, his eldest brother Ramkumar looked after him. At that trure there was a rich woman, named fi,ani Rasmani. She founded a femple to the Great Goddess Ka1i, at Dakshineshwar, on the eastern bank of Ganges, four miles off frou Calcutta Si:e was on the lookout of a Brahnin to serve jn the temPle as lt's priest. She had considerable difficulty in findlrg a Proper m,an. His eldest brotber resigned himself to it and when he died, Ramkrishna took his place. At that tirne he was twenty years old. LitUe did the young Priest knew that he had elected to serve a terrible mistress, who alwals sat on a ttger and true to say that this Great Goddess PlaYed with him for-teo long enflocked counuess Pilgrims of

chanted Years, And:

there

aI1 qastes and creeds aod

vou"g Fr"r"tilE".-- oE uir ti,i. "o"g".g"tioi" ffif watchful and anxious with a mixture o, ,"nr*"- , "y ""Jl and dqsginafigrx , tence temple is still in exis, Thiswith five domes crown_ I ed with spires and within it I owells the sovereign deity_ 1 the Queen of ttre world and o-f the Gods made of basalt_ the Goddess Kali-the il_ I versal Mother. To the west of ! the there is a beautiful i -temple garden ,and two ponOs oo I north and the east. , Beyond the garden therre are five sa_ cred trees, planted by Ramkrishna called panchvati. On this spot he spent iris livelong day in meditation and prayer to the Mother and beiow the waves of the Ganges sang their intoxicating song. Ramkrishna passed. his days and nights in the continual PrEsence of his Beloved-,,My

^;l

flow

his inner vision became outwardly maniJest, He had. the complete vision of the Mother before him. He ]istened. her. I{e saw her. As she walked the rings of her anJ<lets rang. He saw her with flowing Iocks on the terrace of the temptre, watching the Ganges
through

and graduaily the radiance of

was uninterrupted tike the flow of the river. Eventually he was identified with her

Mother". Their

iatercourse

night down to the Iights of Calcutta.

the

beautiful
distaut,

Love-Madness
of love was a crying scandal. For a short tihe he was sent back to his houe at xamarpukar. His mother wished him to be married, hoping
To most people his
m,adness

mankind. It is a wotoderful of how tbe conjugai, relation between the husband I and the wife, wnen spirrtua-' lized, can be the me.'
instance

dear to the husband not as wiJe but as his own Atman, and the husband is dear to the wife not as husband but as her own Atman. Tbus the uitimate objective of a married life was revealed and demonstrated, in' this twin personality in a lttanner urrprecedented in the annals of

service. This marriage proved the truth of the great Upauishadic dictum that a wife is

of Saradadevi. ft was a of souls and renained unc.onsununated Later in Ufe she. recognised hirn as her Euide and put herself at his
na?ne

that marriage would cure him of his divine achievehent He was married (1859) to a girr of Mukhopadhyaya tamily named Saradamani. Afterwards she was known by
uuion

Shri ,Ramkrishna Pararnahansa

known_as Ehairavi Brahmani wealth of spiritual experience; the inexhaustible store of si--the Brahmin Nun and the other one was Tola puri, mitre and metaphor, tJre unequalled powers of observar<norvn as the Naked

(Contd. From pags B CoI. 4) rrrany words which had the Victory to Bhagwan Shri power of euthralling men krishna carne in contaet with wohen. I{is speech had and Ramkrishna. His sptrit had 1wo persons. One was the departed. to travel along the a lady

tiate hirn iu their o*o *"y. The Nua made him to go back over t}le road to tao#_ ledge which he had atready
mind. She reeognised in him ,an Incarnation of _the Divinitl and irrsisted that ilre theolo_ gists should give recognit^iou to the new Ay4fs1. I4lhile the Naked Moalr hught hirn the cardi:ral virtues of abso_ Iute Non-DuaUsh (the Ad_ vaita), that is, nothiirg but one unique Reality exists to the exclusion of every other. The doctrine of .See ttre SeIf and be the Self,,--Tat tvam asi (Thou art that.) But for both the Gurus in learning process the discipJ.e far opt_ stripped his masters. He fulty stood the trial of various Sa_ I madhis, particularty the Nir- | vikalpa bamadhj.-a state of I
traversed. She enUghteueO Ais

Man_an extraordiaary Vedantic ascetic. Both of rhem tried.to ini_

path of collective tfe in the veins of humanity. He was, indeed, messenger from God arrlved tion; the bright and subUe gave a and hy his own life treaendous impetus humour; the wonderful c,atho- to India's future licity of sympathy and the Prophets like him reEaissance. suppletnent ceaseless flow of wisdom. ?he but they do not su,pplant. By foilowing were and are the their own example they rewords of deliverance he car- vive the forgotten spiritua! ried to tJre masses; truths and again proclaim

ding to the aeeds of time, ('AU retgions are true in '(Devotion to oners own ideal their essence and in the sin_ and sympathy for those of Sere {1ith of their believers',, others," was the hatchless he said, ,(The three great or_ ders of metaphysical thought message delivered by him often and oftea. (qualified, Monisrn -Dualish, and absolute Monism, ane the The Supreme Sage stages on the way to supreme He was tire supreme sage truth, For the ordinary peo_ of his day. Ple, who are attracted thro_ Ramkrishna The name of Sbri paramahansa has ugh the senses, a dualistic been carried as one of the form of religion with ceremo_ nies, music, images and sym_ magnificent beads in the robols is use.tul One is like a sary of saints of India fit to good servant who takes care be ehanted and called for tlte-, of a house alttrough he is ,attaiument of salvation. HLs aware that the house is not name is like a Pole Star to his. Religion is a path which guide all of us lrrespective ot any faith or creed. leads superconsc.iousness. I not a to God, but a path is Right house. By purity and from the dawn of love, step by step, salvatlon history to the present 4anr Fame Spreads inspite of many changes thii Now his fame spread {ar cari tie achieved.,, ancient thread of reUgion and wide, People came to see And above all this wonderful man, who had the world his he iaught to continues to run oa and the word of truth credit succeeded, not only in one containing rhis marall others- The vellousof upholdingin Faith, continuity Sadhana, but in ail. Motks, word was and is ,IJniversal'- from time to time. goes to sages, s,adhus, visionaries-all the Union and Unifur of aII the saints of India' catne to seek his advice. Not the aspects of and Shri God; of a few people spoke of the transports of love and all the Ralnkrishna belongs to that know- glorious galaxy. fascination produced by the ledge; of all forms This of huma- endures today and is the t''aith appearance of the Dlan, who nity. Until basis then had taken birth tvith goldeir sought to realise.nobody had of Indian Unity. This ls our. more radiance of his body burut one aspect of Reing. than divine inheritance. Is it not That wonderful to think and purified in the fires of was and is and in that we the days
ecstasy.

Religious Truths

them before tJre wor1d, accor-

What did Shri Ilamkrlshna teach his disciples? ,Or what was and is his swatr song ? He told people in Bengali of e.-homely kind with a s[ght
Uut*d.elrehtfut stammer

ia

so

.Universal Faith ?r this is not the dut5r of the nuSuch was the great saint of clear age? India whose teachings have Sunday, August 15, 1gg6 becoine immortal. Itre need was the final day of his ecs- | his word today for achleving tasy. He said: "He had passedl the integratioa of our counfrom oae roou to the other.,,[ tE . -.-.. - ri ..-. t

ahead the duty. Who ean deny

Faith-

are the legatees of this

sacred,

1,

,ortn

didn'
<T

.1\,YEDNESDAY JANUARY 16,

1963

j At

-tvtasrrns

i to take up his Master's Mission, iHis mastel had foreseen with prophdtic eye that the young man of '23 had the necessary energy and

nrst. Naren hesitated himself

rvusslo;,1

.onstructive genius. "The day when

'

Swami Vivekananda & EIis

Naren cornes

Divine Message
Prof. Yaman H- Pandit
[f
NEdelivered by a young Indian at thL' Parliament'of ieligion hetd at Chi-r t-ury was the spiritual message,of the Universai Gospel of humanitv,

mood of infinite compassion," Af,ter many mcnths of wandering here iand there he saw with his own eyes
, , nakedness. I What il as his

"with suffering and misery, the pride of his character will melt into a the miserable body of humanity his Mother India in all her rragil mission to be? Who was to dictate it to him? His master was dead without having
defined

in contact", he said,

i
,

i
I

of the most remarkable things achieved during the. ciose of the nineteenth cen-,
I

(USA). "Never forget the glory of human nature" h--e said. I "We are the greatest Gods. Christs I and Buddhas are but waves on the
i

cagc

I am." The young man had no credenti'al with him from any group ci society in India. He was overwheimed when he reached America. He
i boundless ocean which

for his message is Swami VivekaI nand. He was a discipld of Shri

cabled to his friends in lndia for heip and applied to an official religious sociery that it might make to him a grant. The chief of the society replied, "Ler the devil die of cold". But Fate helped him as it has always helped those who know how to heip themselves. The man whom we must thank(

ihis master and he thought of trans; Iating his Master's thought into living action. i Vivekanand was not his name lbut his real name was Narendranath Duft. He belonged to a resp-. ectable family of warrier caste. , His master always called him Nar, endra or more IRemakrishna shortly Naren. Shri

i Ramakrishna Paramhansa-a great i sage and saint of India. He was

and demanding initialron cf him. This torment of soul lasted for , several v.eeks. Naren was torn beI tween the rh o mysric appeals of Shri Ramakrishna and Pavharr Baba. The latter u'ould have satisfred his passion fc.r the Divine Gulf, wherein the inciviCual soui renounces itself and is entireli' absorbed without an!' thought of re-. turn. And,he rvould have appeasedl the remorse, alwal's gnawing at NaI ren's heart. for turn:ng arr'ay from ithe world and social senice: lor he professed the faith that the spirit can help others l.ithout help of; body, and that the most rnrense action is that of the most inrense l concentration What religious spi- i rit has not heard this voice 'w-ith its' deadly attractions? SERYICE OF }L4,\ Naren was for tx'enry-ote ciays, within an ace of yielding. Bur icr'
l i

the period (I888) oi uncenainA. He visited him dail-v and rvas on the verge of becoming his foiiorrer

it for him. rnd among rhe living, there s'as one Pavhari Baba. Naren Y/ent to find him during

ty. whose vicissitudes he alrvays consistently refused to reveal. he

twenty-one nights the vision of Shri Ramkrishna came to draw him back. In the end after an inner struggle of the utmost intensi-

astic names to his ples. . He never initiared any bgdy in the formal ceremony
hand l he said. "He who feels a srrong de-' i tachment from life and an iniense
1

never gave

mond i s ci-

of Sannyasa, On the other

I
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nyasa alone, even without formal initiation. This was doubtless the case with Naren. But he gave Nalotus.eyed. The young man had an aversion for this name and dropped it immediately.

thirst for God, can take the

San-

court, the saffron robed monk rose

sang

Khetri near Jaipur (189I) and a' little charming dancer gave him all unwittingly a lesson inhumiliry. When she appeared to dance iri
to go out. The Maharaja begged him to remain. The little dancer'
I I

made his choice forever. He chose the service of God in man. During his whirlwing tour across; this ancient land, he happened ro I be the guest of the Maharaia of
i

ren a cognomen of 'Kamalaksha'

sionally, but he could never have changed it even if he had wanted , to, for within a {ew months it had ;acquired a world wide celebrity. iThe name given by the Maharaja lhas lived long and it will ever live long. The name has made a histo;
ty.

gested to him, the name Vivekananda. The Maharaja was his grear friend and the choice of rhe name was inspired by an allusion to the 'powe1 of discrimination' possessed by him. It seems Narendra liked I this name. He accepled it provi-

nary travels across this country he appeared under different names in order to conceal his identity. But on the eve of his departure to America, the Maharaja of Khetri sug-

about his name. During his prelimi-

There is an interesting

story

I and another is foul in the ditch I by the roadside. But when they j I fall into the Ganges both alike I become holy. So Lord, do not I look upon my evil qualities! i I Xhy name, O Lord is same sigh-r I tedness." I Naren was completely overwhelI

'O Lord, look not ugrn my evil quatities Thy name, O Lord, is same-sightcdness, One drop of water is in the sacred ]umna

in

sweet melodious

tones.

:
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med. The confident faith, expressed in the humble song was the turning

: I

Many years later he recalled it i with einotion and said to his friends," sinners are potential saints." f llr hrs age I Another event in his young age' ' happened at Cape Comorin which, opened his eyes, he viewed thel tuost enchanting panorirma of Sun-i

point in his life. His mission was, reveaied to him by the dancer..

rise-of infinire mystery.. Soon he saw the vision of his mission and he felt within himself. Therealter

tre ,o*ea to d.aicot.the unhaPPY masses.

r,l, rite

to

ocean to the land beYond the seas' lAn appeal from India to the WestI ern wbrld began to take shaPe in I irii mind. At Porebander. where he i U.eun to learn French a mendicant 'adiised him to go to rhe West r*f't"i" hrs though-t, "the Gaspel, of I Vedanta" rvould be better underI stood than in his own country' He his remark i*it st.uck bY hearing matrer over 'and began to turn the in t ir 6in0. At Khandwa (M.P.) in ttre- earlY autumn of 1892 he heard * ' of a Failirm"nt of Religions to be - r held under the following year at lChi.reo (USA i893) and his nrst thought was how he might take r oarr in it. I ' Asain he went to Khetri, where , tti" fiiend the Maharaia listened to him and approved his view Point' ihe Maharaia arranged everything' 'I for his western tour' He gave him' ihir De*u., to escort him to Bom-

VISION REYEALED But how bould he helP the mass".? H. lifted uP his eYes to ,the

in their seats and aPPlauded. Vivekananda was the' first delegate to cast off the forntality of the Congress and to sPeak -to the masses in the language for . which they were thirsty. He greeted Americans in the. name of the :most ancient monastic 'order in the world the Vedic-order of "San'
sands arose
, i
r

" tarrily had-lie pronouncid the very simple opening world "Sisters aho Brorhers of America" thou-

nyasins". He presented Hinduism as tne mothei ot religions, which

had taught them the double Pre-

| cept? ' "Acceot and

bav. where he embarked the shiP'

on the robe of red silk and ochre l[urban and the name of VivekanI

Af the lime of
anda. ---i"

deParture, he Put

anotherli' He quoted two beaurij fui passages from the s.lired books' i "Whoever comes to me, through whatsoever form, I reach him" and, "A1l men are struggling through. paths which in the end lead t{

understand one

M{i'u.krnrnda

e.merica' he never Passed ilanvwhere unnoticed but fascinati

even ' ed- evervbodv visitedwhile Chicago u"t tto*n. He

he

was

aird

to the^ TWest-the spirituai rnessage ot I Vedanta PhilosoPhi. I Amonssr all the delegates, this loung man. drew the gla' i strange (he assembled thousands. i nce of
qrF.-,grade up his mind l-o give

World's Columbian ExPosition, The exoosition exhibited 'man's mate.'riai progress. His eyes were dazzl! ect aiain. He thought what message i coull he give to thb West? He

Tiemendous ovition he got from the learned delegates and others at the world religious congress. Vivekananda the unknown, became well known al1 over the world overnight. It was a most singular achi-' evement in those daYs of slow communication. He spent tle next across the con-tillent, teaching and preaching and impressing the American crowds with his message ot ln'/e and the history of India. Thus he became the man of the hour.

in Universal Being. .

their Gods and embraced them

alone

,oot" of

^fi-l all I
I I

two years in Ameriea,

ira,veiling

'

c "

was the flrst tiine that he had to i speak before such an assembly of J learned men and women rePresen1 ting each and every faith in the
;

'lurbatr, accentuated the raven black of his hair, his olive comP1 lexion his dark eyes his red UPs I and his noble stature lent colour I to the Pariiament of Religions. It
I

His red robe, drawn in at the waist by an oiange cord, his great Yellow

The Americans called his "the

ghtnrng orator."

'1i-

..,I

sage of Modern India Swami Vivekananda a name. to count with and whose message of Universal Gos-

Thus lived and died a

great

pel "of equality and divinity of man"-is itill reverberating from all the directtoll_

woild. Most of the delegates read 'their .neeches from written text
but, Vivekananda had prepared nor,ilng. .6ut then when he addressp.4 the gatheriilg,- his speech Iike a tongue oI flame.
was