Swami Vivekananda: The Charm of His Personality and Message

By Swami Atmashraddhananda

This volume is the book form of the special edition of the Vedanta Kesari brought out in December 2013 to commemorate the 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. The volume contains inspiring and learned articles from people from various walks of life perceiving Swami Vivekananda as a great saint, thinker, scholar, educationist, organizer, nationalist, traveler, writer, poet, musician, cultural ambassador of India etc.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9781312959422

Book preview

Vivekananda

Chapter One

‘There is Not one Like Him’

Swami Vivekananda [Narendra] in the

Eyes of Sri Ramakrishna

Narendra’s Divine Origin

Narendra belongs to a very high plane—the realm of the Absolute. He has a manly nature. So many devotees come here, but there is not one like him.¹

One day I saw that, through Samadhi, my mind was going up by a luminous path. Going beyond the gross world studded with the sun, the moon and the stars, it entered first of all into the subtle world of ideas. The more it began to ascend to subtler and subtler strata of that realm, the more did I see beautiful ideal forms of deities existing on both sides of the path. It came gradually to the last extremity of that region. I saw a barrier of light there separating the realm of the divisible from that of the indivisible.

Leaping over it, the mind entered by degrees the realm of the indivisible. I saw that there was no more any person or thing there having a form. As if afraid to enter there, even the gods and goddesses possessing heavenly bodies exercised their authority only over realms far below.

But the very next moment I saw seven wise Rishis having bodies consisting of divine Light only, seated there in Samadhi. I felt that in virtue and knowledge, love and renunciation, they had excelled even the gods and goddesses, not to speak of human beings. Astonished, I was pondering over their greatness when I saw before me that a part of the homogeneous mass of Light of the ‘Abode of the Indivisible’, devoid of the slightest tinge of difference, became solidified and converted into the form of a Divine Child.

Coming down to one of those Rishis, and throwing its soft and delicate arms round his neck, the Divine Child embraced him, and afterwards calling him with its ambrosial words, sweeter than the music of the Vina, made great efforts to wake him up from his Samadhi. The Rishi woke up at the delicate and loving touch and looked on at that wonderful Child with half-shut eyes, free from winking. Seeing his bright face, full of delight at the sight of the Child, I thought that the Child was the treasure of his heart, and that their familiarity was a matter of eternity. The extraordinary Divine Child then expressed infinite joy and said to him, ‘I am going, you must come with me!’ The Rishi said nothing at that request, but his loving eyes expressed his hearty assent. Afterwards, looking on the Child with loving eyes, he entered again into Samadhi. Astonished, I then saw that a part of the mind and body of that Rishi, converted into the form of a bright light, came down to the earth along the reverse path. Hardly had I seen Narendra for the first time than I knew that he was the Rishi.²

First Meeting with Narendra

Naren entered this room on the first day through the western door (facing the Ganga). I noticed that he took no care of his body. The hair of his head and his dress were not at all trim. Unlike others, he had no desire at all for any external object. He was, as it were, unattached to anything. His eyes indicated that a major part of his mind was perforce drawn ever inward. When I saw all these, I wondered, ‘Is it ever possible that such a great spiritual aspirant possessing a superabun-dance of Sattva, should live in Calcutta, the home of worldly people?’³

There was a mattress spread on the floor. I asked him to sit down on it. He sat down near the jar of Ganga water. A few acquaintances of his also came with him that day. I felt that their nature was just like that of ordinary worldly people and was quite opposite to his. Their attention was directed to enjoyment only.⁴

On inquiry, I came to know that he had learnt two or three Bengali songs only. I asked him to sing them. He began singing the Brahmo song.⁵

When Narendra had lost his normal consciousness, I asked him that day many questions, such as who he was, where he came from, why he came (was born), how long he would be here (inthis world) and so on. Entering into the depths of his being, he gave proper answers to all these questions. These answers of his confirmed what I thought and saw and knew about him in my visions. It is forbidden to reveal those things. But I have known from all these that on the day when he will know who he is, he will no more remain in this world; he will immediately give up his body through Yoga, with the strong power of will. Narendra is a great soul perfect in meditation.⁶

At my first meeting with Narendra I found him completely indifferent to his body. When I touched his chest with my hand, he lost consciousness of the outer world. Regaining consciousness, Narendra said: ‘Oh, what have you done to me? I have my father and mother at home!’ The same thing happened at Jadu Mallick’s house. As the days passed I longed more and more to see him. My heart yearned for him. . . On coming down to the plane of ordinary consciousness, a man established in Samadhi enjoys himself in the company of sattvic people. He feels peace of mind at the sight of such men.’ When I heard this my mind was set at ease. Now and then I would sit alone and weep for the sight of Narendra.⁷

There are certain signs of a Jnani [seeker or knower of Absolute Reality]. Narendra has big protruding eyes.⁸

Look at Narendra. He doesn’t care about anyone. One day he was going with me in Captain’s carriage. Captain wanted him to take a good seat, but Narendra didn’t even look at him. He is independent even of me. He doesn’t tell me all he knows, lest I should praise his scholarship before others. He is free from ignorance and delusion. He has no bonds. He is a great soul.

He has many good qualities. He is expert in music, both as a singer and player, and is also a versatile scholar. Again, he keeps his passions under control and says that he will never marry. . . . Narendra doesn’t come here very often. That is good, for I am overwhelmed by his presence.⁹

I forget everything when I see Narendra. Never, even unwittingly, have I asked him where he lived, what his father’s profession was, or the number of his brothers.¹⁰

Narendra is Special

Every now and then I take stock of the devotees. I find that some are like lotuses with ten petals, some like lotuses with sixteen petals, some like lotuses with a hundred petals. But among lotuses Narendra is a thousand-petalled one.¹¹

I have not seen another boy like Narendra. He is as efficient in music vocal and instrumental, as in the acquisition of knowledge, in conversation as well as in religious matters. He loses normal consciousness in meditation during whole nights. My Narendra is a coin with no alloy whatsoever—toss it up, and you hear the truest sound. I see other boys somehow pass two or three examinations with the utmost strain. There it ends—they are spent-up forces. But Narendra is not like that. He does everything with the greatest ease, and passing an examination is but a trifle with him. He goes to the Brahmo Samaj also and sings devotional songs there; but he is not like other Brahmos. He is a true knower of Brahman. He sees Light when he sits for meditation. Is it for nothing that I love Narendra so much?¹²

Other devotees may be like pots or pitchers; but Narendra is a huge water-barrel.

Others may be like pools or tanks; but Narendra is a huge reservoir like the Haldarpukur [a large water tank in Kamarpukur].

Among fish, Narendra is a huge red-eyed carp; others are like minnows or smelts or sardines.

Narendra is a ‘very big receptacle’, one that can hold many things. He is like a bamboo with a big hollow space inside.¹³

Narendra is not under the control of anything. He is not under the control of attachment or sense pleasures. He is like a male pigeon. If you hold a male pigeon by its beak, it breaks away from you; but the female pigeon keeps still. Narendra has the nature of a man; so he sits on the right side in a carriage. . . I feel great strength when Narendra is with me in a gathering.¹⁴

Sri Ramakrishna

He has the sword of knowledge ever unsheathed with him. He will not be harmed if he takes these things. His spiritual insight will remain unimpaired.¹⁵

Narendra and people of his type belong to the class of the ever-free. They are never entangled in the world. When they grow a little older they feel the awakening of inner consciousness and go directly toward God. They come to the world only to teach others. They never care for anything of the world. They are never attached to ‘woman and gold.’¹⁶

Narendra is eternally perfect . . . he is perfect in meditation. The fire of knowledge, ever ablaze in him, would reduce to ashes all blemishes pertaining to food. His mind, therefore, will not be tarnished or distracted even if he takes whatever he likes at any place and from any person. He daily cuts to pieces Maya’s bondages with the sword of knowledge; Mahamaya, therefore, fails to bring him under Her control.¹⁷

Haven’t you observed his [Naren’s] many virtues? He is not only well versed in music, vocal and instrumental, but he is also very learned. Besides, he has controlled his passions and declares he will lead a celibate life. He has been devoted to God since his very boyhood.¹⁸

When peasants go to market to buy bullocks for their ploughs, they can easily tell the good from the bad by touching their tails. On being touched there, some meekly lie down on the ground. The peasants recognize that these are without mettle and so reject them. They select only those bullocks that frisk about and show spirit when their tails are touched. Narendra is like a bullock of this latter class. He is full of spirit within.¹⁹

I saw Keshav [Keshav Chandra Sen, the famous Brahmo leader and orator] has become world famous on account of the abundance of one power, but Narendra has in him eighteen such powers in the fullest measure. The hearts of Keshav and Vijay, I saw again, are brightened by a light of knowledge like a flame of a lamp; but looking at Narendra, I found that the very sun of knowledge had risen in his heart and removed from there even the slightest tinge of Maya and delusion.²⁰

References

1. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, p.810

2. Sri Ramakrishna, the Great Master, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, p.846

3. Great Master, p.823

4. ibid.

5. ibid.

6. Great Master, p.845

7. Gospel, p.231

8. Gospel, p.249

9. Gospel, p.279

10. Gospel, p.152

11. Gospel, p.810

12. Great Master, pp.862-863

13. Gospel, p.812

14. Gospel, p.810

15. Great Master, 754

16. Gospel, p.88

17. Great Master, p.871

18. Gospel, p.127

19. Gospel, p.91

20. Great Master, 866

Swami Vivekananda

Chapter Two

Swami Vivekananda

—the Man and His Message

SWAMI ATMASHRADDHANANDA

His Amazing Size!

The thing that held me in Swamiji was his unlimitedness. I never could touch the bottom—or top—or sides. The amazing size of him! . . .¹

In these few words, Josephine Macleod, a western ‘friend’ of Swami Vivekananda, says it all about Swamiji’s personality and message. It was his unlimitedness, boudlessness, vastness—in every way—that astounds anyone who reads his life and descriptions of his personality, and goes through his nine-volume Complete Works. He, his life and his message, are truly amazing. What is even more, how could he accomplish so much in such a short life-span of less than 40 years?!

One hundred and fifty years have passed by since the great Swami was born. Much water has flowed through the river of history since then, yet his message continues to shine like sun—ever-resplendant and ever fresh. We might as well join Professor John Henry Wright of Harvard University who told Swami Vivekananda: ‘To ask you, Swami, for your credentials is like asking the sun about its right to shine,’ and say, ‘To ask if Swami Vivekananda’s message is relevant today is to ask the sun of its relevance today!’

Voices of Silence

But, then, who was Swami Vivekananda? Though the toughest question to answer, the introduction to the life of Swami Vivekananda published by the Advaita Ashrama answers it befittingly and vividly thus:

Coming from afar are the voices of the Silence. Rarely are they heard, save by mystics and sages. And when one of these voices becomes embodied as sound audible to mortal hearing, blessed is the time and blessed are those who hear. Formless is the Spirit and subjective is the vision thereof; dense is the illusion that hangs as the cosmic veil before Reality! How divine, therefore, must be the personality that makes objective the vision of the Spirit! How priceless the history of one who has lifted even a fringe of the veil! The illusion becomes transparent in the effulgence of such a spiritual personality. Verily, the Spirit Itself becomes revealed; and those who see are brought face to face with Reality!

To introduce the life of Swami Vivekananda is to introduce the subject of spiritual life itself. All the intellectual struggle, all the doubts, all the burning faith, all the unfolding process of spiritual illumination were revealed in him. As a man and as a Vedantist he manifested the manliness that is sanctity, and the sanctity that is manliness; he manifested the patriotism that proceeds from the vision of the Dharma and the universality that comes when God is seen in everything; and through the true insight of divine wisdom, he lived a life of both intense activity and Supreme Realization. Indeed, his life revealed throughout, the glory of the supersensuous life.²

Indeed, what more can be said of Swamiji’s great and multifaceted personality and message—a perfect blend of inner and outer greatness!

Yet, let us look at another description. On the occasion of America’s Bicentennial Celebration in 1976, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C., mounted a large portrait of Swami Vivekananda as part of its exhibition ‘Abroad in America: Visitors to the New Nation,’ which paid tribute to the great personalities who visited America from abroad and made a deep impression on the American mind. Among those honored in the exhibition, some influenced art or literature, some science, education or social reform. But Swami Vivekananda touched the very soul of American people. The commemorative volume of the exhibition says:

The Swami charmed the audiences with his magical oratory, and left an indelible mark on America’s spiritual development.

Says one of the monks of the Ramakrishna Order, This is no exaggeration. Swami Vivekananda was the first Hindu monk from India ever to visit America. Guided solely by the will of Providence, he embarked on this journey to the new world. The unknown wandering monk, lost in the streets of Chicago, suddenly became famous after his first day’s brief address before the Parliament. A select audience of nearly 7,000 enlightened representatives of different branches of American thought became thrilled to hear his message and welcomed him with sustained and thunderous applause. He captured the hearts of the American people. Crowds gathered in the streets of Chicago to see the picture posters of Swami Vivekananda placed on billboards around the city, and lecture bureaus vied with one another to enlist him for lectures in different cities.

Leading newspapers and journals published his words in bold letters. Some of these newspapers described him as the ‘cyclonic Hindu,’ some as ‘prince among men’ or ‘Brahmin monk’, while others chose to designate him by such epithets as ‘warrior prophet’ and ‘militant mystic.’³

His Multifaceted-ness

Like a multifaceted gem of shining lustre, Swami Vivekananda remains one of the brightest jewels in the galaxy of saints, thinkers and reformers that India has been blessed with. It is, however, difficult, if not impossible, to classify Swamiji as a traditional saint. He was of course a man of God, a knower of the deepest reality of creation called God, yet his was not a life of only inner contemplation and reflection; he was deeply moved by the socio-economic conditions of people among whom he was born. He was for an all-round growth—physical, mental, spiritual. He spoke of man-making as the aim of religion. And man-making included all aspects of living:

What we want is to see the man who is harmoniously developed . . . great in heart, great in mind, [great in deed]. . . . We want the man whose heart feels intensely the miseries and sorrows of the world. . . . And [we want] the man who not only can feel but can find the meaning of things, who delves deeply into the heart of nature and understanding. [We want] the man who will not even stop there, [but] who wants to work out [the feeling and meaning by actual deeds]. Such a combination of head, heart, and hand is what we want.⁴

Swamiji has varied facets of personality, each one skillfully embellished like a polished diamond. For instance, he was a nationalist whose love for India was truly remarkable. When someone asked him what can he do for him, he immediate reply was, ‘Love India’. Though unattached to the world, he said, ‘I am sincere to the backbone, and my greatest fault is that I love my country only too, too well.’⁵ He further said,

I am grateful to the lands of the West for the many warm hearts that received me with all the love that pure and disinterested souls alone could give; but my life’s allegiance is to this my motherland; and if I had a thousand lives, every moment of the whole series would be consecrated to your service, my countrymen, my friends.⁶

If his love for his motherland was deep and undiminishing, his love for mankind knew no bounds either. He wrote in one of his letters,

I stand at nobody’s dictation. I know my mission in life, and no chauvinism about me; I belong as much to India as to the world, no humbug about that. I have helped you all I could. You must now help yourselves. What country has any special claim on me?⁷

He was an internationalist in the truest sense of the term. More than half a century before UNO was founded, he had said,

Even in politics and sociology, problems that were only national twenty years ago can no more be solved on national grounds only. They are assuming huge proportions, gigantic shapes. They can only be solved when looked at in the broader light of international grounds. International organisations, international combinations, international laws are the cry of the day.⁸

No wonder, in a speech made in 1993, Federico Mayor, Director-General of UNESCO, stated:

I am indeed struck by the similarity of the constitution of the Ramakrishna Mission which Vivekananda established as early as 1897 with that of UNESCO drawn up in 1945. Both place the human being at the center of their efforts aimed at development. Both place tolerance at the top of the agenda for building peace and democracy. Both recognize the variety of human cultures and societies as an essential aspect of the common heritage.⁹

The scope of Swamiji’s thinking and action was unfathomable. He was truly, ‘a man without frontiers.’ He was, par excellence, a patriot, a musician, a scientific thinker, a poet, a social reformer, a world traveler, a historian, a leader, a yogi, a devotee, a philosopher, an organizer, an eternal source of inspiration . . . the list goes on. He had some startlingly original ideas in every field. However we may try, to exhaust the list of qualities of his multifaceted-ness seems unending. Fathomless, new aspects of his personality continue to be unravelled as the days pass by.

More than his extraordinary qualities of head, which indeed leave people wondering, his extraordinary qualities of the heart must not be forgotten. He was a man of feeling, so deep a feeling that anyone who had known him once was struck by his intense goodness and sensitivity. Not that he was great; he made everyone in his presence great. His very presence elevated those who came in touch with him.

A Spiritual Master

He was, however, eminently a spiritual giant. It was his profound spirituality and direct experience of the Ultimate Reality that outshone every other aspect. Like his master, Sri Ramakrishna, he had had the highest spiritual experience. Recalled one of his disciples,

Once in Kashmir, after an attack of illness, I had seen him lift a couple of pebbles, saying, ‘Whenever death approaches me, all weakness vanishes. I have neither fear, nor doubt, nor thought of the external. I simply busy myself making ready to die. I am as hard as that’—and the stones struck one another in his hand—’for I have touched the Feet of God!’¹⁰

It was not just a casual statement. Many others have recorded similar words in different ways. Says one of them who had gone to meet him:

Within a few minutes, Swamiji entered into deep Samadhi—his body erect and stiff, all his limbs motionless, eyes half-closed and very bright; his face indicated divine emotion, power, and love. He was the very personification of ananda; but his austere calmness had subdued all emotions which remained there frozen and fixed, without a ripple or wave. It was one person who had beckoned me inside the room, with the charm of love and smiles; it was now another personality that sat before me, who had transcended love or any other emotion. He sat thus motionless and time remained barred outside us. He seemed to fight against this manifestation and the emanation of divine Presence, and it was slowly subdued and remained controlled within his body.¹¹

Sri Ramakrishna had long called Naren an ever perfect in meditation. Someone who was witness to Swamiji’s meditation in later years, said,

Seated cross-legged on the divan, clothed in his sannyasin garb, with hands held one within the other on his lap, and with his eyes apparently closed, he might have been a statue in bronze, so immovable was he. A yogi, indeed! Awake only to transcendental thought, he was the ideal, compelling veneration, love, and devotion.¹²

He was Vedanta Personified. His masterly expo-sitions of all Yogas—Jnana, Bhakti, Karma and Raja—are the bedrock of modern Hinduism. He infused a new vigour in the ancient faith —the Sanatana Dharma—by restating it in new perspective and present-day language. As Sister Nivedita wrote:

Like the Krishna of the Gita, like Buddha, like Shankaracharya, like every great teacher that Indian thought has known, his sentences are laden with quotations from, the Vedas and Upanishads. He stands merely as the Revealer, the Interpreter to India of the treasures that she herself possesses in herself. The truths he preaches would have been as true, had he never been born. Nay more, they would have been equally authentic. The difference would have lain in their difficulty of access, in their want of modern clearness and incisiveness of statement, and in their loss of mutual coherence and unity. Had he not lived, texts that today will carry the bread of life to thousands might have remained the obscure disputes of scholars. He taught with authority, and not as one of the Pandits. For he himself had plunged to the depths of the realisation which he preached, and he came back like Ramanuja only to tell its secrets to the pariah, the outcast, and the foreigner.¹³

Conclusion

An extraordinary exponent of religious ideas of mankind, a penetrating and profound thinker sensitive to the needs of the modern mind, a true messenger of his Guru, Sri Ramakrishna—’the consummation of two thousand years of the spiritual life of three hundred million people’—, and a lover and worshiper of India in the truest sense of the term, Swami Vivekananda indeed remains a phenomenon and a ‘gift unopened’. A century and half—though quite a time—cannot exhaust the profoundness and greatness that is Vivekananda!

In summary, we cite what Sister Nivedita wrote more than a hundred years ago, putting in a nutshell the core substance of Swamiji’s message:

These, then—the Shastras, the Guru, and the Motherland-are the three notes that mingle themselves to form the music of the works of Vivekananda. These are the treasure which it is his to offer. These furnish him with the ingredients whereof he compounds the world’s heal-all of his spiritual bounty. These are the three lights burning within that single lamp which India by his hand lighted and set up, for the guidance of her own children and of the world in the few years of work between September 19, 1893 and July 4, 1902. And some of us there are, who, for the sake of that lighting, and of this record that he has left behind him, bless the land that bore him and the hands of those who sent him forth, and believe that not even yet has it been given to us to understand the vastness and significance of the message that he spoke.¹⁴

A multifaceted gem called Swami Vivekananda needs to be admired, understood and followed from various angles. This volume attempts to explore different aspects of his personality and message. It is a journey in rediscovering Swamiji in a contemporary perspective. Bon Voyage!

References

1. Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, p.224

2. Life of Swami Vivekananda by His Eastern and Western Disciples, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, 1.1, (hereafter, Life)

3. Essay by Swami Adiswarananda, http://www.ramakrishna.org/sv_sa.htm

4. Complete Works, 6.49

5. CW.8.309

6. CW, 4:312

7. CW, 5.95

8. CW, 3:241

9. Profiles of famous educators—Swami Vivekananda. Prospects. XXXIII (2). June 2003

10. Life, 2.65

11. Reminiscences, p.395

12. Reminiscences, p.436

13. Introduction, CW, 1:xv

14. CW, 1: xvii

Chapter Three

Swami Vivekananda

—A Spokesman of the Divine Logos

SARVEPALLI RADHAKRISHNAN

In any living culture, you will always find a perpetual process of renewal. What happens to be heresy today becomes heritage tomorrow. What is adventure for us today, becomes legacy tomorrow. In other words, if a culture is to perpetuate itself, it is reaffirming its fundamentals and trying to readjust them to the requirements of each generation. If we lose this quality of self-renewal, the culture itself becomes decadent. It has been our good fortune that