The Vedanta Kesari January 2014

IT h e V e d a n t a K e s a r i J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 4~ ~J anuary 2014

The Vedanta KesariTHE LION OF VEDANTA

A Cultural and Spiritual Monthly of the Ramakrishna Order since 1914

Swami Vivekanandas Samadhi Mandir, Belur Math

101stYear of Publication

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IIT h e V e d a n t a K e s a r i J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 4~ ~

Editor: Swami atmaShraddhananda Managing Editor: Swami GautamanandaPrinted and published by Swami Asutoshananda on behalf of Sri Ramakrishna Math Trust from No.31, Ramakrishna Math Road, Mylapore, Chennai - 4 and Printed at

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The altar in the room in the ancestral house in Kolkata where Swamiji born

JANUARY 2014

A CULTURAL AND SPIRITUAL MONTHLY OF THE RAMAKRISHNA ORDER

Started at the instance of Swami Vivekananda in 1895 as Brahmavdin, it assumed the name The Vedanta Kesari in 1914.

For free edition on the Web, please visit: www.chennaimath.org

VOL. 101, No. 1 ISSN 0042-2983

Cover Story: Page 4

CONTENTS

The Vedanta Kesari

Vedic Prayers 1

Editorial Setting Right the Compass 2

Articles The Spiritual Universe of Sri Ramacharitamanas As Seen through Its Two Invocatory Verses 9

A.P.N. Pankaj

Vedanta: The Root of American Transcendentalism 14Pravrajika Virajaprana

Family Values in Hinduism: Their Role in Promoting Peace and Happiness 22Swami Sthiratmananda

Gist of Vedanta in Two Words 33Gokul Muthu

Compilation Call to the Youth of India 18

Swami Vivekananda

Do not Grieve. . . Truly do I promise to You: Sri Krishnas reassuring words from the Bhagavad Gita 28

New Find Unpublished Letters of Swami Saradananda 31

The Order on the March 35

Book Review 40

Feature Simhvalokanam (Arguments Against Atheism) 6

101stYear of Publication

2T h e V e d a n t a K e s a r i J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 4

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Cover StoryN N

Swami Vivekanandas Samadhi Mandir, Belur Math

Swami Vivekanandas Life records: Three days before his passing away, as the Swami was walking up and down on the spacious lawn of the monastery [Belur Math] in the afternoon with Swami Premananda, he pointed to a particular spot on the bank of the Ganga, and said to his brother-monk gravely, When I give up the body, cremate it there! [He passed away on 4 July 1902.] On that very spot stands today a temple in his honour. In this majestic two-storeyed edifice, there are two shrines: the first floor shrine has a marble image of Om in Bengali and in the ground floor, a marble-relief of Swamiji in meditation. The marble-relief of Swamiji was done through the efforts of Sister Nivedita, a disciple of Swamiji, and with financial contribution from Mrs Leggett, an associate of Swamiji. Through the efforts of Miss MacLeod, the stairs to the first floor were fashioned after the Villa d Este in Italy, famous for its sweeping and curly stairs. On the spot of the original Vilva tree, under which Swamiji used to sit, is located a Vilva tree planted later.

DONORS PATRONSMs. Shanthi N. Kudva, Bangalore Rs. 1000Mr. Nitish Chandra Mitra, Nagpur Rs. 20000Mr. N. Rangappa, Bangalore Rs. 15000

672. Mr. D.K. Gupta, Mumbai673. Ms. G. Prathiba, Chennai

01T h e V e d a n t a K e s a r i J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 4~ ~

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EACH SOUL IS POTENTIALLY DIVINE. T HE GOAL IS TO MANIFEST THE DIVINITY WITHIN.

The Vedanta KesariVOL. 101, No. 1, JANUARY 2014 ISSN 0042-2983

Vedic PrayersTr. by Swami Sarvananda

The Vedanta Kesari wishes all its readers and well-wishers A Happy and Fullfilling 2014


Editorial

Locating the Address Young Ramu ran around the village,

holding a just-arrived letter in his hands. Letter, letter, he screamed as he rushed through the lanes.

I need to deliver the letter, he told his uncle who happened to see him. But to whomwhat is the address? asked his uncle curiously.

Oh, I do not know all those things; postman uncle told me to deliver it and I am going to do it, he replied.

How will you deliver it without knowing to whom it is to be delivered? the uncle asked with a smile.

Ramu felt stumpedlike most of us. With the letter of our life in our hands, we run around, without knowing the address to which it has to be delivered. Have we found out the address?

Indeed, running or rushing around the life is not all about life. What is it that we want? The address towards which our life is heading is more important than just running and rushing in the din and bustle of activities. It is not sufficient to have only road-sense; one should have the destination-sense. Without the destination-sense, road-sense is only a colossal waste of time and effort. But that is what average life is all about.

Elucidating this, Swami Vivekananda says,

In some oil mills in India, bullocks are used that go round and round to grind the oil-seed. There is a yoke on the bullocks neck. They have a piece of wood protruding from the yoke, and

on that is fastened a wisp of straw. The bullock is blindfolded in such a way that it can only look forward, and so it stretches its neck to get at the straw; and in doing so, it pushes the piece of wood out a little further; and it makes another attempt with the same result, and yet another, and so on. It never catches the straw, but goes round and round in the hope of getting it, and in so doing, grinds out the oil. In the same way you and I who are born slaves to nature, money and wealth, wives and children, are always chasing a wisp of straw, a mere chimera, and are going through an innumerable round of lives without obtaining what we seek. The great dream is love; we are all going to love and be loved, we are all going to be happy and never meet with misery, but the more we go towards happiness, the more it goes away from us. Thus the world is going on, society goes on, and we, blinded slaves, have to pay for it without knowing. Study your own lives, and find how little of happiness there is in them, and how little in truth you have gained in the course of this wild-goose chase of the world.1

Not that we do not have a goal in lifewe often have multiple goals. Everyone has something towards which he is rushing. What we lack is the ultimate goal of life. All our goals are transient and are within a relative world.

But, sometimes, blessed by a Higher Power, added to merits earned through several life-times, a man wakes up from this rigmarole and begins his search for something Eternal, Unchanging, and that is the beginning of spiritual life. That is the inner discovery of the address we all have been searching and running around. And what is even more important, that address, or the destination, is

Setting Right the Compass


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right within us. It is not out there, but in here. In Sri Ramakrishnas simple words,

What is knowledge and what is ignorance? A man is ignorant so long as he feels that God is far away. He has knowledge when he knows that God is here and everywhere.2

The Inner CompassGoal setting is one thing, setting our

thoughts to the goal another. This is the one tragedy and irony of lifewe declare something as our goal but keep following some other goal. This is one of the most ironic facts of lifetaking pride in declaring noble ideals as the goal of ones life and following not-so-lofty goals in life. This disconnect is the bane of life. Ideal or the goal and the means should match or be in consonance with each other. In Swami Vivekanandas insightful words,

Our great defect in life is that we are so much drawn to the ideal, the goal is so much more enchanting, so much more alluring, so much bigger in our mental horizon, that we lose sight of the details altogether.3

Yes, the highest goal of Self-realisation or God-realisation is quite alluring, assuming a larger-than-life size, making us lose sight of the details altogether. The details of the means are crucial to reaching the ideal. Mere declaring that I am following the grand ideal of Self-realisation is not sufficient; we have to take care of the means that will reach us to that experience or the state of mind. Means mean a lot and once we take care of them, we attain, what is generally called, goal-orientation. As Swamiji further says,

With the means all right, the end must come. We forget that it is the cause that produces the effect; the effect cannot come of itself; and unless the causes are exact, proper, and powerful, the effect will not be produced. Once the ideal is chosen

and the means determined, we may almost let go the ideal, because we are sure it will be there, when the means are perfected. When the cause is there, there is no more difficulty about the effect, the effect is bound to come. If we take care of the cause, the effect will take care of itself. The realization of the ideal is the effect. The means are the cause: attention to the means, therefore, is the great secret of life.4

So, hard work is important but what is more important is the purpose of our hard work. Sri Ramakrishna spoke of the mind of a man who is oriented to the ideal. He said,

The magnetic needle always points to the North, and hence it is that the sailing vessel does not lose her direction. So long as the heart of man is directed towards God, he cannot be lost in the ocean of worldliness.5

Describing those who lack goal orientation , Sri Ramakrishna says,

Kites and vultures soar very high indeed, but their gaze is fixed only on the charnel-pit. The pundit has no doubt studied many books and scriptures; he may rattle off their texts, or he may have written books. But if he is attached to women, if he thinks of money and honour as the essential things, will you call him a pundit? How can a man be a pundit if his mind does not dwell on God?6

Now what is a compass? A compass is a navigational instrument generally used by sailors. It shows directions in a frame of reference that is stationary relative to the surface of the earth. The frame of reference defines the four cardinal directions (or points)north, south, east, and west.

Fixing the North of our lifes compassthat is what is first wanted. Again and again, either we forget the North or get diverted to other directions, losing our way. We should be wide awake, ever vigilant, monitoring ones thoughts, words and actions.


8

It is now customary in some government departments dealing with industrial production to observe Vigilance Week wherein lectures and workshops are organized to focus on the need to be vigilant in ones working and in the quality of production. While that is important, being vigilant in ones inner life is much more important. Adi Shankaracharya illustrates this,7

If the mind ever so slightly strays from the ideal and becomes outgoing, then it goes down and down, just as a play-ball inadvertently dropped on the staircase bounds down from one step to another.

This often happensa child is playing with a play-ball; in a moment of carelessness, the ball may go out of his control, and fall on the staircase. Then, it jumps from one step to another and unless one catches up in a speed faster than the ball, it goes out of hand. The ball of life too might go out of hand if one is careless. Hence the need to be wide-awake.

Being AwakeOf the most important aids to remain

awake is to practice meditation. We must set apart some time for inner reflection on daily basis. Says Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi,

The mind keeps well when engaged in work. And yet Japa, meditation, prayer also are specially needed. You must at least sit down once in the morning and again in the evening. That acts as a rudder to a boat. When one sits in meditation in the evening, one gets a chance to think of what one has donegood or badduring the whole day. Next one should compare the states of ones mind in the preceding day and the present. . . . Unless you meditate in the mornings and evenings along with work, how can you know what you are actually doing?8

One can draw many valuable lessons from this passage:

1) Mind keeps well when engaged in work. One should always keep ones mind filled with something higher. Inactivity should be avoided by all means, says Swami Vivekananda. Activity always means resistance. Resist all evils, mental and physical; and when you have succeeded in resisting, then will calmness come.9 An idle brain is devils workshop where the devil of our lower nature keeps preparing, sharpening and strengthening the lower impressions (samskaras). One should not allow idleness to take over the mind. This is the first point about being vigilant.

2) And yet Japa, meditation, prayer also are specially needed. Should not being inactive mean that one should be always active? Without any work mind tends to indulge in day-dreaming, building castles in air, which in turn, creates greed, emptiness, fear, anxiety, feeling of being a victim of circumstances and helplessness and so on. One should be busy, but also learn to check ones restlessness through spiritual practices such as Japa, meditation and prayer. About those who get into an endless cycle of unbridled activity, often labelled as duty, Swamiji says,

Duty becomes a disease with us; it drags us ever forward. It catches hold of us and makes our whole life miserable. It is the bane of human life. This duty, this idea of duty is the midday summer sun which scorches the innermost soul of mankind. Look at those poor slaves to duty! Duty leaves them no time to say prayers, no time to bathe. Duty is ever on them. They go out and work. Duty is on them! They come home and think of the work for the next day. Duty is on them! It is living a slaves life, at last dropping down in the street and dying in harness, like a horse. This is duty as it is understood. The only true duty is to be unattached and to work as free beings, to give up all work unto God. All our duties are His. Blessed are we that we are


ordered out here. We serve our time; whether we do it ill or well, who knows? If we do it well, we do not get the fruits. If we do it ill, neither do we get the care. Be at rest, be free, and work.10

3) You must at least sit down once in the morning and again in the evening. That acts as a rudder to a boat. This means that it is vital to find time for ones spiritual practices, in Mothers view, at least twice a daymorning and evening. The impure mind is mischievous and moody. Any discipline you impose on it, it protests. Hence, making regular time for meditation twice a day is hard for such a mind to accept. Yet one should try to make this an immediate goal to achieve and with repeated practice, it is possible to create a taste for daily meditation; developing the taste is the point.

4) Says Mother further, When one sits in meditation in the evening, one gets a chance to think of what one has donegood or badduring the whole day. Next one should compare the states of ones mind in the preceding day and the present. . . . This means making a mental comparison. Comparing ones thoughts, words and actions with ones own set standards of moral and spiritual excellence is what is important. This comparison is the core of viveka, or discernment. It is like becoming ones guard or police. When our inner guards, or self-police, is awake and discharging its duties, one need not have any fear of losing ones direction.

Unexamined life is not worth living, Socrates said. Viveka is the art of inner examination. Only when a person uses Viveka that his life as a human being becomes worth living, bringing rich fruits to him and to others.

5) Unless you meditate in the mornings and evenings along with work, how can you know what you are actually doing? In these words, Holy Mother has sounded a caution: how can you know what you are actually doingwithout meditation? And without knowing our intentions, or the purpose with which we are working, we would remain aimless and ineffective. Subtle is the way of dharma. If you are trying to thread a needle, you will not succeed if the thread has even a slight fibre sticking out, says Sri Ramakrishna11. One has to learn to be one-pointed or goal-pointed and that requires that one should be introspective.

Conclusion Destination-sense must take precedence

over the road-sense. We must not forget the means to the ideal in our rush towards the ideal. While there is no achievement without goals, it is important to stick to them. Goals determine the direction in which we go. This is a vital fact we must not forget.

As someone has said, This one stepchoosing a goal and sticking to itchanges everything.

1. CW, 1:4092. Gospel, 568

3. CW, 2.14. CW, 2.15. Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, p.90, Saying no. 2786. The Gospel, p.669

References

9

7. Viveka-chudamani, verse 325

8. Teachings of Holy Mother, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, p. 389. CW, 1:4010. CW, 1:10311. Gospel, 769

t t


From the Archives of The VedanTa KesariS i m h v a l o k a n a m

(January, 1923-24, Pp. 807-810)

One summer morning I was sitting self-absorbed under a tree on the bank of the beautiful river that threads its silvery way along the eastern skirt of our little town. The place was full of peace, and there was a calm in the atmosphere that led me unconsciously into meditation. I had sat there some time when I was startled by a keen-looking young man asking me whether he could have a conversation with me. I had not seen him approach, but evidently my monastic garb had attracted his notice.

Please excuse me, he said, for encroaching upon your solitude. But certain deep thoughts are tormenting the peace of my soul, I think you can help me a little.

I welcomed him, saying, Please be seated. May I know what is troubling you?I am an atheist, he replied. I could not help laughing at the way he gave out the last

word. It is a very big word for a man to utter, I said, Do you know what all it implies?He said, By what I said, I simply meant that I find no grounds for continuing to believe

in the Divine Existence. Please do not take my words as empty bravadoes. I come from a very devout Vaishnava family, and had been nurtured from my early age in the traditions of Divine Mercy, love and goodness. But as I grew in knowledge, these ideas vanished away like mist before the sun. I even now wish I could get back the unsophisticated days of my childhood. But, sir, what my heart desires, my intellect denies. The vision of sunny boyhood is now lost in the clouds of scepticism. I cannot find solace in a faith which is not upheld by reason, and the more I study and think, the stronger grows the conviction in me that the existence of God is a pure myth, a creation of the befogged intelligence of the uninformed masses.

The confession of the young man touched my soul with its sincerity and pathos. He was indeed suffering. I said, There is God,God does exist.How far have you studied?

He replied, I am a Master of ScienceHow do you prove the existence of God? What is your definition of God?

To which I said, You are a student of Science, do you believe in the reality of an energy working in the world, in gross and subtle ways, and that your body is resisted and controlled by that energy?

Arguments Against Atheism(In imaginary conversation)

By Swami Ramakrishnananda[A direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna]


Yes, I believe in the existence of such energy, but it is dead, unintelligent, was the reply. I asked him, Do you not feel that your mind cannot always act in the way you wish it to act, that there too a power is resisting its free course? He admitted the truth of my question. I continued, I define God as the Power Supreme, working in and through, and sustaining and controlling all that exist, and perceived by man as an insurmountable resisting and driving Power*.

The young man looked a little surprised at my definition.

He said, I confess this is quite an original way of defining God,I mean, God as resisting Power. But I fear I cannot accept it. I admit I feel a power working in and through my mind and body, which undoubtedly is not under my control. But I am resisted by powers not within myself alone; there are powers visible and invisible which, I find, are always obstructing me. Say, my parents and superiors, they do often resist my desires. Are they therefore God ? Are society and government God because they resist? There are many who eclipse me by their superior intelligence and power, are they also God? How absurd! Again, I don't see how this your definition agrees with the popular idea of God that He is all mercy, love and goodness. Your definition posits him only as a force, blind, cruel, mechanical, purposeless and insentient.

My young friend was going on enthusiastically. I calmed him, saying, Peace, my friend! What leads you to think that that Power is purposeless and mechanical?

He burst out: Why, the unnumbered deaths on earth, the untold sufferings of men. Do the miseries of life require to be counted? Is not every life a direct denial of a kind and good God? Blindness, poverty, helplessness, disease, death, these are but few of mans lot, thwarting his happiness at every step. How hideous your God must be, to be a combination of all these! And what purpose does he serve by subjecting man to all these thousand ills?

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* How the latter portion of the definition reminds one of Thompson's Hound of Heaven Ed.

Swami Ramakrishnananda


I replied, From what you said, I understand that you have brought two charges against my definition. First, if whatever resists one is God, then one's parents and superiors, society, government, and death and disease and all sufferings are God. Secondly, that this resisting Power is purposeless and blind and as such to call It God would be misnomer. My friend, in spite of this two-fold accusations, I still stick to my definition, your arguments are vitiated by one miscalculationwhy do you take the resisting Power piecemeal and not in entirety? You remind me of a beautiful parable often told by my Master. Just listen.

Four blind men went out to know an elephant. One touched the leg of the elephant and said, The elephant is like a pillar. The second touched the trunk and said, The elephant is like a thick club. The third touched the belly and said, The elephant is like a big jar. The fourth touched the ears and said, The elephant is like a big winnowing basket. Thus they began to dispute about it amongst themselves. A passer-by, seeing them thus quarrelling, said, What is it you are disputing about?! They told him everything regarding their perception of the elephant, and asked him to arbitrate among them. The man said, None of you has seen the elephant. The elephant is not like a pillar, its legs are like pillars. It is not like a winnowing basket, its ears are like winnowing baskets. It is not like a stout club, its pro-boscis is like a club. The elephant is the combination of all these, of its legs, ears, belly and trunk.

Do you understand the point of the parable? Yes, God is all those hideous and cruel things that you mentioned; but they are cruel and hideous and also meaningless, when you take them separately and piecemeal; taken as a whole they become beautiful, good and meaningful.

It is as absurd to describe God as the combination of blindness, poverty, and helplessness, as it is absurd to describe an elephant as a thick club. Because your parents and superiors resist your desire in many instances, they are therefore not the whole of God, because society and government resist you similarly therefore they are not God in themselves, because another man more powerful, more intelligent, more learned resists you, he is not God on that account. God is the whole resisting Power taken in its entirety.

But, rejoined the other, When we look at an elephant we do not always look upon the whole of its body. We sometimes look at its trunk, sometimes look at its ears, and compare them with other things of similar nature; do we not? Similarly we have full right to look at the different phases of this God of yours and pass our judgments on those phases. This being granted, when we see a widow is deprived of her only child, and cast helplessly into the world to writhe herself in the extreme agony of bereavement, is that not very cruel of that power which you call God, and should we serve such a cruel Master?

(To be continued . . .)

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Two Invocatory VersesGosvami Tulsidass (c.1532-1623) im-

mortal work Ramacharita-manas, dwelling upon the glories of Sri Rama, the God Incarnate, has two invocatory verses (5 and 6):

Udbhavasthiti samhara-karinim kleshharinim| Sarvashreyaskarim sitam natoham rama-vallabham||

I pay obeisance to Sita, Ramas beloved consort, the cause of creation, continuance and dissolution, the destroyer of obstacles/afflictions and dispenser of all good.

Yanmaya-vasavartivisvam-akhilam brahmadidevasurah Yatsattvada-mrishiva bhati sakalam rajjau-yathaherbhramah| Yatpadaplavam-ekameva hi bhvam-bhodheshtitirsh-avatam Vande-ham tamashesha-karanaparam ramakhyam-isham harim||

I pay obeisance to that Hari, Isha, who is known as Rama, the perfect cause, yet beyond all causes, to whose maya, the universe including Brahma, etc., gods and demons, is subordinate; owing to whose reality, there is semblance of this all as is the delusion of a snake in the rope; and whose feet alone are the ferry for those aspiring to cross over the ocean of metempsychosis [the endless cycle of transmigration of soul from birth to death and so on].

The author is a devotee from Chandigarh and is known for his scholarly and insightful writings on spiritual matters.

The Spiritual Universe of Sri Ramacharitamanas

As Seen through Its Two Invocatory Verses A.P.N. PANKAJ

Gosvami Tulasis Lasting Contribution It is believed that blessing Valmiki, the

Adikavi, the first (and the foremost) poet of classical Sanskrit literature, Brahma, the creator, had prophesied that the Ramayana


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Katha [the Story of Rama] shall remain current in the world as long as mountains stand on earth and rivers flow:

Yavatsthasyanti girayah saritascha mahitale| Tavad-ramayana-katha lokeshu pracharishyati||

Although Rama-katha, in the forms of akhyanas (legendary stories) and gathas (religious verses) was well-known and, as some scholars suggest, allusions to it are implicit in some of the Vedic mantras, it was left to Valmiki to compose and hand it down in a manner that brought it such popularity in India and abroad that several millennia later, even today, it remains the basic source book for countless authors, poets and dramatists. According to Father Comille Bulcke, the Belgian missionary and famous author of the Hindi work Ramakatha Utpatti Aur Vikas [The Birth and Growth of the Story of Rama]

Ramakatha commenced its world-wide conquest the day Valmiki composed the Adi Ramayana. . . Valmiki taught his Ramayana to his disciples and instructed them to go about reciting it before the seers, kings and commoners.2

Since Valmiki, then, Ramakatha has been and is being narrated, composed, written, staged and renewed in practically all languages of India and many of those of the world. The story of Rama, told in different versions, is well-known in India and the world at large. Gosvami Tulasidasa, the author of Sri Ramacharitamanasa, says

Rama incarnates himself in myriad ways and there are millionscountlessversions of Ramayana.3

While, without doubt or debate, India remains indebted to Valmiki and the succeeding authors of Ramakatha, it is the Ramacharitamanas of Gosvamiji which, above all other works, is responsible for the fame, popularity and spread of Ramakatha. Swami

Yatiswarananda, the illustrious saint of the Ramakrishna Order, says

In expressing pure devotion and human sentiments, Tulasidasa considered to be Valmkis incarnation, has for excelled the latter.4

Of Tulasis Manasa [as Ramacharitamanas is often abbreviated], J.T.F. Jordans says

It is the favourite book of a hundred million (or even more?) people for many of whom it is their main source of religious inspiration.5

That the Ramakatha, as we know it today, is synonymous with Tulasis Manasa cannot be denied. It is not just its story that evokes our interest, it is Tulasis sentiments,

emotions and resolutions of Shraddha, Bhakti, Prema, Vairagyafaith, devotion, love and renunciationanchored in Ramas feet that capture our imagination and compel us to

Tulasidasa


15

bow before him, as much as his aradhya, personal God, Rama. Even as one marvels at his poetic excellence, one is amazed by the range and depth of learning and scholarship of scriptures as well as classical and contemporary literature.

Astounding as his knowledge of various systems of the Hindu philosophy is, Tulasi is not held a captive of a particular school or system. If we are permitted to borrow Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnas statement made in a different context, Tulasidasa does not look upon different views as unrelated adventures of the human mind into the realm of the unknown or a collection of philosophical curiosities.6 Yet, we cannot say that Tulasidasa is a poet without commitment. He has grasped and synthe- sized various systems and with intense and single-minded devotion of his own, placed them in Ramas feet. Systems, for him, serve only one purposethey must culminate and conclude in Rama-bhakti [devotion to Rama] and refuge in Rama;

He alone is omniscient, a true philosopher, a scholar, abode of virtues and un-vitiated knowledge, he is proficient gifted with all good characteristics, who is devoted to your (Ramas) lotus feet.7

There are seven Kandasbooksof Manasa: Bala Kanda (I), Ayodhya Kanda (II), Aranya Kanda (III), Kishkindha Kanda (IV), Sundara Kanda (V), Lanka Kanda (VI) and Uttara Kanda (VII).

These are, in a way, sopanas, stepssteps to what? Tulasi, concluding his magnum opus, says,

There are beautiful seven steps in it [in Ramacharitmanas]; they are the pathways to Raghupatis bhakti.8

There is no doubt about Tulasi being a poet of deep social conscience. Through the

pages of Manasa, he seeks to re-establish the pristine values of the Hindu Dharma which, when he appeared on the literary scene, were facing ridicule, even erosion. Jordans rightly says

Tulasi proved a great force in strengthening the structures of Sanatana Dharma at a time when both Islam and many iconoclastic sects were threatening it seriously. In this, his stature is no smaller than that of the great [Adi] Shankara himself.9

In our humble opinion, however, social, moral, ethical or any other objectives were only secondary, if not altogether incidental for Tulasi. First, foremost, and possibly, last, he was a supreme devotee of the Supreme Brahman who he called Rama. To every devout Hindu, Rama, in every Kalpa, aeon, descends from His heavenly abode called Saketa Parama-Vyoma, on this earth as the Prince of Ayodhya. Even in his characteristic humility, which compels him to feel that he does not deserve to be called Ramas servitor, Tulasi still takes pride in being called one and as he expresses time and again this is how he would prefer to be remembered as,10

i) Pray, even by default, I may not abandon the ego that I am Raghupatis servant and he, my master.

ii) Everyone addresses me as Ramas slave and I let them say so even as the Lord of Sita bears this insult, that of a Master like him, there is a servant like Tulasidasa.

iii) Tulasis surname/address? Slave of Rama.

Sri Ramakrishna used, time and again, to say, Iservitor/slave etc., i.e., I am Gods slave, I am his devotee; this pride does not incur guilt. On the contrary, one attains to Him, through it.

So complete, unwavering, unquestioned is Tulasis surrender to Ramas feet that even


16

the decision about the nature of their [Ramas and Tulasis] relationship is left by him to Ramas discretion!

In the following writing, it is our modest endeavour to explore some spiritual perspectives of Manasa through two invocation verses cited in the epigraph.

The Name RamacharitamanasaThe name Ramacharitamanasa means

the Manasa Lakethe mind lakeof Ramas Acts. Just as the pristine Manasarovar [Lake Manassarovar in Kailash Mountain] was created by Lord Brahma from his mind12, this Manasaraovara of Ramas acts has originated from Lord Shivas mind. After composing it, Shiva conserved it in his mind for long. When appropriate opportunity presented itself, he narrated it to Parvati. Hence the beautiful name Ramacharitamanasa which he himself gave it after joyful mental deliberation.13

There are four ghats, bathing platforms, Tulasi tells us, on its four sides. On each side there is a narrator-teacher and an inquisitive jijnasus or seekers. These teachers are: Yajnavalkya, Shiva, Kakabhusundi and Tulasi himself. Listeners, shrotas, respectively, are Bharadvaja, Parvati, Garuda and Tulasis devotee, since him, readers of Manasa. The poet promises that those who recite, listen and command it [the Manasa], shall cross over the ocean of metempsychosis as easily as one crosses the hoof-mark of a cow. Unless, however, one experiences Ramas grace, one shall not undertake pilgrimage to this Manasa.14 There is a current of spirituality that flows through the entire workfrom beginning to conclusion.

Then the story proper, after a detailed foreword and introduction, also commences with the incarnation of Brahman in human form. He who is omnipresent unstained

without attributes, indifferent to diversion and beyond birth, is seen in the lap of Kausalya, his mother subjected as he is to love and devotion.

Tulasi has declared that his narrative has the authority of several Puranas, Vedas and Shastra and also of Ramayana (Valmikis as well as others). He says that he has taken his material for the book from some other sources also. He sets three yardsticks15 by which to judge a good composition:

i) It should give joy to the poets heart (svantah sukhaya)the poet says he weaves the warp and woof of Rama-katha in bhasa, the peoples language.

ii) It should earn respect of the learned sages (i.e., the composition that does not earn respect is a wasted infantile labour).

iii) It should, like the sacred river Ganga, be for the benefit of all (the renown, the composition and the property should be beneficent to all.

But Tulasi also warns,Even the most beautiful, incomparable composition authored by a good poet will not look beautiful if it is without Ramanama. A beautiful moon-faced, well-adorned woman does not look good if she is without clothes.16

While, therefore, the poet moves from the individual joy to respect by the literati and finally to beneficence of the large mass of common people, he has no respect for any composition whose subject is not Rama or His name. He sees Rama and Sita in the entire universe and pays obeisance to it:

Siyaramamaya saba jaga jani karahin pranama jori juga pani

Know the whole world as filled with Sita-Rama and offer your respects with folded hands.

This is not a mere statement of Tulasis belief; it is a statement of knowledge or


17

Rama, who is God Himself, was only two and a half cubits ahead of Lakshmana. But Lakshmana couldn't see Him because Sita stood between them. Lakshmana may be compared to the jiva, and Sita to maya. Man cannot see God on account of the barrier of maya. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p.169

1. Valmiki Ramayana (VR) I. 2. 36-72. Bulcke, Comille: RamkathaUtpatti Aur Vikas

(Hindi) Prayag, Prayag Vishvavidyalaya, 1999, p.576

3. Ramacharitamanasa (Manasa) I. 33;34. Dhyana Aur Adhyatmika Jivan (Meditation and

Spiritual Life) [The quotation retranslated, has been cited from the Hindi version of the original English book] (Nagpur, Ramakrishna Math, 2005) p. 542

5. Jordans, J.T.F. Medieval Hindu Devotionalism (A Cultural History of India, Ed. Basham, A.L., New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1975) p. 275

1. Transliteration of Sanskrit / Hindi text into Roman is as per the standard Roman alphabet.

2. All translation into English are, unless otherwise specified, by the author.

3. The text and the numbering of Ramacharitamanasa, Vinaya Patrika and Dohavali of Gosvamiji are in accordance with the recensions of Gita Press, Gorakhpur recensions, those of Kavitavali and Gitavali, with Kashi Nagari Pracharini Sabha, Kashi

4. Texts of Srimad Bhagavata, Adhyatma Ramayana and Vivekachudamani are also as per Gita press Gorakhpur, Ananda Ramayana, Delhi, Chowkhamba Sansrit Pratisthana

5 Dohas or Sorathas (Manasa) have been treated as termination points of stanzas. Where there are more than one Dohas/Sorathas, they are indicated by their number, followed by ka, kha etc. A chanda is indicated as ch.

6. A chaupai consists of four quarters and is, therefore, one whose e.g.

6. Radhakrishnan, S. Indian Philosophy, Vol. II (London, George Allen & Unwin Ltd 1956) p. 769

7. Manasa VII. 49; 48. Ibid VII. 129; 29. Medieval Hindu Devotionalism (A Cultural History

of India) p. 7710. (i) Manasa III. 11; 11 (ii) Dohavali 181

(iii) Kavitavali VII. 10611. V.P. I. 79.412. V.R.I. 24. 8-913. Manasa I. 35; 614. Ibid, VII. 129; 2-3

mangala bhavana amangala hari dravahu so dasarta ajira bihari

karipranama ramahitripurari harasi sudha sama giraucari

is one chaupai. Occasionally, one two quarters may also make a choupai.

7 There are seven Kandas of Manasa, viz (I) Bala Kanda (II) Ayodhya Kanda (III) Aranya Kanda (IV) Kiskindha Kanda (V) Sundara Kanda (VI) Lanka Kanda (VII) Uttara Kanda (some for Kavitavali and Gitavali). So the numbers follow this pattern: Kanda (e.g. I (Chaupai terminating with doha/soratha 135, 2 to 4 (Thus I. 135; 2-4 This 2-4 precedes 135)

8. Couplets dohas or Sorathas occurring at the beginning, immediately after Sanskrit invocation Shlokas have not been numbered and are mentioned as such. Invocation Shlokas are indicated by their number prefixed with word Invocation.

References

experience (jnana) and not mana (conceit). It is a case of the Upanishadic dictumsarvam

khalvidam brahma; All of this is Brahman, the Highest Reality. (To be continued. . .)

Notes


Vedanta: The Root of American Transcendentalism

PRAVRAJIKA VIRAJAPRANA

The Background

Unity in variety is the plan of nature, and the Hindu has recognized it. . . If there is ever to be a universal religion, it must be one which will have no location in place or time; which will be infinite like the God it will preach. . . . In its catholicity will embrace in its infinite arms and find a place for every human being. . . . It will be a religion which will have no place for persecution or intolerance in its polity, which will recognize divinity in every man and woman, and whose whole scope, whose whole force, will be centered in aiding humanity to realize its own true, divine nature.1

With these bold and uncompromising words, Swami Vivekananda galvanized the gathering at the 1893 Chicago World Parliament of Religions during his talk on Hinduism. Swamiji read this paper some fifty years or so after the American Transcendentalist Movement had begun in mid-nineteenth century New Englanda movement that had been finely tuned to these extraordinary ideas. All the great lights of the original transcendental group had been extinguished by the time Swamiji gave this inspiring talk. Henry David Thoreau had passed away some thirty years before and Ralph Waldo Emerson eleven years prior to

the Parliament, to name only two, yet their spirit was alive in America then as it is today.

In one sense it can be said that the transcendentalists prepared the ground for Swamijis coming to this country [USA], for it was they who introduced Americans to the mystical philosophy of Vedanta decades before Swamiji was even born. Though Oriental thought had been around some fifty years or so prior to the New England Movement, it was the transcendentalists who recognized the spiritual genius of Hindu thought and the truth it represented: the oneness of existence and the divinity of man and it was they who tried to circulate these ideas among Americans.

How Vedic Influence Came to the WestLet us take a brief journey to ex-

plore how the Vedic influence reached the West and how this influence gave rise to the American Transcendental Move- ment; raise a few questions along the way, and then attempt to answer them. Who were the transcendentalists? What is Transcendentalism? And finally what shifts did their ideas cause in mainstream American thought which indirectly paved the way for a God-man of the stature of

A nun at the Vedanta Society of Northern California, San Francisco, USA, since 1972, Pravrajika Virajaprana is the editor and compiler of Photographs of Swami Vivekananda. She has contributed many thought-provoking articles for Vedanta Kesari and Prabuddha Bharata. This article is based on her talk on the same subject delivered at the Vedanta Society in March 2009.


Swami Vivekananda? The great swami not only spent some of the best years of his short life in America, but also spread the universal message of Vedanta here by implanting the seed of a powerful spiritual awakening in a country whose people he felt had tremendous potential for spiritual growth.

Whenever I feel disheartened about the current condition of America, our seemingly lost or at the very least deeply buried idealism, I remember what Swamiji, a prophet, a God-realized soul with far-reaching vision, said about us and a reassuring feeling of pride and hope rises once again. In a conversation with one of his disciples Sharatchandra Chakravarty, Swamiji said:

Nowhere in the world is to be found another nation like the Americans, so generous, broad-minded, hospitable, and so sincerely eager to accept new ideas. . . The people of America have accepted the ideas of Vedanta because they are so good-hearted.2 [Again in a letter he wrote] America is the best field in the world to carry on any idea. . . America is a good training ground to bring out all that is in a man.3

What could be more encouraging than to have Swamiji say, America is a good

training ground for the manifestation of divinityfor bringing out all that is in a man. We owe it to Swamiji to honour this great confidence, this trust that he had in America and Americans. Swamiji recognized and had deep appreciation for the idealism and the principles upon which America was founded: democracy, strength, tremendous creative energy, initiative, courage, human dignity, and above all, freedom. Swamiji was a keen observer of people and his surroundings. After being in this country for a year, he wrote a rousing letter from New York to his followers in India in which he told them:

There cannot be any growth without liberty. . . Liberty is the first condition of growth.4

The founding fathers of America drew up the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution with just this in mind: liberty, freedom. According to them, all human beings are endowed with certain inalienable rights: among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And we can add freedom to worship, freedom of speech, freedom to assemble, to have a voice in government, to choose ones work, and to live in peace. So in principle and at heart America is an idealistic country. In such a free environment, we have an unequalled opportunity to actualize our ideal.

Therefore its not surprising that there was a favorable response at least among certain segments of society to the universalism of Oriental thought and philosophy that came our way in the 18th century not long after the ink had dried on the American Constitution. A detailed tracing of the Vedic influence on Western thought is a big subject beyond the scope of this discussion, but in brief this much can be said.

After the American Revolution when America severed trade contacts with the British, new trade routes opened up and for

19

Ralph Waldo Emerson


the first time Americans were introduced directly to India and other Oriental countries. Through trade, humanitarian concerns, missionary work, and cultural curiosity, Americans slowly became aware of distant cultures. From cultural interests grew scholarly pursuits and gradually an introduction to Hindu thought and philosophy, including Sanskrit, which came primarily through Europe and European scholars, especially German and French philosophers. Mention should be made here of Britains Sir William Jones as well.

According to many scholars, including some of the monks of the Ramakrishna Order, Jones was the person who was primarily responsible for introducing Vedic literature in America during the first half of the 19th century, as was Max Muller in the second half. From Jones and his various contacts all else followed and are connected in the most fascinating way. He was a friend of the Americans, sympathized with their struggle for independence, and admired their ideals of liberty and equality. He even went to bat for Americans against the British Crown. Jones was a brilliant scholar, lawyer, and linguista literati who ultimately learned at least eight or nine languages, if not more, including Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Persian, Arabic, in addition to the Romantic languages.

Jones met Sir Charles Wilkins who first translated the Bhagavad Gita into English in 1795; it was Wilkins who encouraged him to study Sanskrit, which, of course, he mastered easily. Jones was the first Westerner to recognize, the common cultural origin of the Indo-European. He had already translated many scholarly works from other cultures and then went on to translate an enormous amount of Oriental literature, including, from the Hindu tradition alone, many Vedic texts,

the Laws of Manu, the Vishnu Purana, Govinda Gita, the Hitopadesha, Kalidasas poems, the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, etc., the list goes on and on.

John Adams, the second President of America, and Thomas Jefferson, the third President, both on the Constitution committee, had an interest in Hindu philosophy, though they kept a lid on it since the Orient was still considered strange and darkly mysterious to most people, except to those within the educated sector. Theres no doubt that they were both influenced by Hindu thought, which is not surprising since they themselves were well-read and idealistic in principle, so it follows that the broadness of Oriental thought would appeal to and resonate with them. Thomas Jefferson had several translations of Joness works, including Kalidasas Shakuntala, in his library, which he loved. Jefferson and Adams would exchange letters in which they shared their common enthusiasm for Hindu philosophy. Benjamin Franklin, another erudite early father, also knew Jones and was familiar with his work. So even in the early days of this country the thread of Hindu thought was being woven, albeit in a subtle way.

So through these various early influences, especially through the academics, translations, European idealistic philosophers, and the English Romantic poets such as Wordsworth and Shelley educated Americans were gradually introduced into the world of Oriental thought. Around 1830, Ralph Waldo Emerson was exposed to Joness translations and other scholarly works of Hindu philosophy, including that of the Brahmo Samaj, the Hindu reform movement, and the thoughts of some its members such as Ram Mohan Roy, Kesab Chandra Sen (the great friend of Sri Ramakrishna), and others. In fact, Emerson

20


met Keshab Chandra Sen in Europe during Sri Ramakrishnas lifetime. We find in Emersons early journal entries an attraction to Oriental thought, though he seems wary. He was drawn, yet simultaneously standoffish in the beginning. Perhaps he was put off by some of the circulating superstitions of the day. But any hesitancy was short lived.

Emersons thought definitely evolved over time, which is apparent in his works. And once he caught the fire, it flared into a

conflagration. He became absorbed in the vast world of Hindu thought and literature, spending long hours reading and reflecting on the ideas. Within a half a century American interest in Vedic literature and ideas had intensified, culminating in Emerson and others forming the Transcendental Movement, which was the first important attempt to formulate an idealistic philosophy in this country [U.S.A.] by combining the best of the East and West.

(To be Continued . . . )

1. CW, 1.19 2. CW, 6:447 3. CW, 8:388 4. CW, 9.367

References

21

Living in the Holy Mother's Divine Presence

One day Holy Mother wanted Devamata to take two choice mangoes which a devotee had offered her. Devamata said that she would feel greater pleasure if Holy Mother kept them. The Mother's response came quickly: Don't you think it will give me greater pleasure to have you take them? Devamata's spontaneous answer seemed to please her: It must give you greater pleasure because you have a larger heart to feel it.

Here was an all-embracing Mother's heart, Devamata wrote in her book, which wrapped itself in love about every child born of woman, and her family was the human race. . . Those who had the rare blessing of living with Holy Mother learned that religion was a sweet, natural, joyous thing; that purity and holiness were tangible realities; that the odour of sanctity was literally a sweet perfume overlaying and destroying the foulness of material selfishness. Compassion, devotion, and God-union were her very nature; one scarcely knew that she possessed them. It was through the sweet benediction of a word or touch that one sensed her presence.

Holy Mother by Swami Nikhilananda, p.302-303

t t


Call to the Youth of IndiaSWAMI VIVEKANANDA

Swami Vivekanandas ideas on India and his call to the youth of India are spread across his various talks, writings, interviews and letters. The core of his ideas for the rejuvenation of India was written in his letters to his disciples and brother-disciples in India, and in the series of talks that he gave when he reached India. Here is a selection from his talks given at Colombo, Kumbhakonam, Madras (Chennai) and Lahore, which covers almost all the important ideas with regard to India, her history, and the task before the Indian youth. The following compilation, made by Gokul Muthu of Bangalore, can be an appetizer to help the youth get an overview of Swamijis ideas and encourage them to probe further. References and pointers for further reading are given at the end.

All excerpts are from the section Lectures from Colombo to Almora, which can be found in the third volume of the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. This section is also available as a separate book by the same title, published by Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata.

Indias HeartbeatIf there is any land on this earth that can

lay claim to be the blessed Punya Bhumi, to be the land to which all souls on this earth must come to account for Karma, the land to which every soul that is wending its way Godward must come to attain its last home, the land where humanity has attained its highest towards gentleness, towards generosity, towards purity, towards calmness, above all, the land of introspection and of spirituality it is India. Hence have started the founders of religions from the most ancient times, deluging the earth again and again with the pure and perennial waters of spiritual truth. Hence have proceeded the tidal waves of philosophy that have covered the earth, East or West, North or South, and hence again must start the wave which is going to spiritualise the material civilisation of the world. Here is the life-giving water with which must be quenched the burning fire of materialism which is burning the core of the hearts of millions in other

Compilation


days duration is not to be made the end and aim of all, is not to be our great goal. This little earthly horizon of a few feet is not that which bounds the view of our religion. Ours is away beyond, and still beyond; beyond the senses, beyond space, and beyond time, away, away beyond, till nothing of this world is left and the universe itself becomes like a drop in the transcendent ocean of the glory of the soul. Ours is the true religion because it teaches that God alone is true, that this world is false and fleeting, that all your gold is but as dust, that all your power is finite, and that life itself is oftentimes an evil; therefore it is, that ours is the true religion. Ours is the true religion because, above all, it teaches renunciation and stands up with the wisdom of ages to tell and to declare to the nations who are mere children of yesterday in comparison with us Hinduswho own the hoary antiquity of the wisdom, discovered by our ancestors here in Indiato tell them in plain words: Children, you are slaves of the senses; there is only finiteness in the senses, there is only ruination in the

senses; the three short days of luxury here bring only ruin at last. Give it all up, renounce the love of the senses and of the world; that

is the way of religion. Through renunciation is the way to the

goal and not through enjoyment. Therefore

ours is the only true religion.3

lands. Believe me, my friends, this is going to be.1

In other countries religion is only one of the many necessities in life. . . Politics, social

improvement, in one word, this world, is the goal of mankind in

the West, and God and religion come in quietly as helpers to attain that

goal. Their God is, so to speak, the Being who helps to cleanse and to furnish this world for

them; that is apparently all the value of God for them. All the arguments they produce against the Indian religion is thisthat our religion does not

conduce to well-being in this world, that it does not bring gold to us, that it does not make us robbers of nations, that it does not make the strong stand upon the bodies of the weak and feed themselves with the life-blood of the weak. Certainly our religion does not do that. It cannot send cohorts, under whose feet the earth trembles, for the purpose of destruction and pillage and the ruination of races. Therefore they saywhat is there in this religion? It does not bring any grist to the grinding mill, any strength to the muscles; what is there in such a religion?2

They little dream that that is the very argument with which we prove our religion, because it does not make for this world. Ours is the only true religion because, according to it, this little sense-world of three

23


We have, as it were, thrown a challenge to the whole world from the most ancient times. In the West, they are trying to solve the problem how much a man can possess, and we are trying here to solve the problem on how little a man can live. This struggle and this difference will still go on for some centuries. But if history has any truth in it and if prognostications ever prove true, it must be that those who train themselves to live on the least and control themselves well will in the end gain the battle, and that those who run after enjoyment and luxury, however vigorous they may seem for the moment, will have to die and become annihilated. There are times in the history of a mans life, nay, in the history of the lives of nations, when a sort of world-weariness becomes painfully predominant. It seems that such a tide of world-weariness has come upon the Western world. There, too, they have their thinkers, great men; and they are already finding out that this race after gold and power is all vanity of vanities; many, nay, most of the cultured men and women there, are already weary of this competition, this struggle, this brutality of their commercial civilisation, and they are looking forward towards something better.4

. . . These races of the West are eager for some new thought, for some new philosophy; the religion they have had, Christianity, although good and glorious in many respects, has been imperfectly understood, and is, as understood hitherto, found to be insufficient. The thoughtful men of the West find in our ancient philosophy, especially in the Vedanta, the new impulse of thought they are seeking, the very spiritual food and drink for which they are hungering and thirsting. And it is no wonder that this is so.5

Indias Mission

Each race has a peculiar mission to fulfil in the life of the world. Each race has to make its own result, to fulfil its own mission. Political greatness or military power is never the mission of our race; it never was, and, mark my words, it never will be. But there has been the other mission given to us, which is to conserve, to preserve, to accumulate, as it were, into a dynamo, all the spiritual energy of the race, and that concentrated energy is to pour forth in a deluge on the world whenever circumstances are propitious.6

But there is another peculiarity.7 . . . We never preached our thoughts with fire and sword. . . Slow and silent, as the gentle dew that falls in the morning, unseen and unheard yet producing a most tremendous result, has been the work of the calm, patient, all-suffering spiritual race upon the world of thought.8

Today, under the blasting light of modern science, when old and apparently strong and invulnerable beliefs have been shattered to their very foundations, . . . when religion in the West is only in the hands of the ignorant and the knowing ones look down with scorn upon anything belonging to religion, here comes to the fore the philosophy of India, which displays the highest religious aspirations of the Indian mind, where the grandest philosophical facts have been the practical spirituality of the people. This naturally is coming to the rescue, the idea of the oneness of all, the Infinite, the idea of the Impersonal, the wonderful idea of the eternal soul of man, of the unbroken continuity in the march of beings, and the infinity of the universe. The old sects looked upon the world as a little mud-puddle and thought that time began but the other day. It was there in our old books, and only there that the grand idea of the infinite range of time, space, and causation, and above all, the infinite glory of the spirit

24


1. CW III-1052. CW III-1793. CW III-1804. CW III-18

5. CW III-1826. CW III-1087. CW III-1098. CW III-110

9. CW III-11010. CW III-11111. CW III-112

References

of man governed all the search for religion. When the modern tremendous theories of evolution and conservation of energy and so forth are dealing death blows to all sorts of crude theologies, what can hold any more the allegiance of cultured humanity but the most wonderful, convincing, broadening, and ennobling ideas that can be found only in that most marvellous product of the soul of man, the wonderful voice of God, the Vedanta?9

At the same time, I must remark that what I mean by our religion working upon the nations outside of India comprises only the principles, the background, the foundation upon which that religion is built. The detailed workings, the minute points which have been worked out through centuries of social necessity, little ratiocinations about manners and customs and social well-being, do not rightly find a place in the category of religion. We know that in our books a clear distinction is made between two sets of truths. The one set is that which abides for ever, being built upon the nature of man, the nature of the

soul, the souls relation to God, the nature of God, perfection, and so on; there are also the principles of cosmology, of the infinitude of creation, or more correctly speaking projection, the wonderful law of cyclical procession, and so onthese are the eternal principles founded upon the universal laws in nature. The other set comprises the minor laws which guided the working of our everyday life.10

The great principles underlying all this wonderful, infinite, ennobling, expansive view of man and God and the world have been produced in India. In India alone man has not stood up to fight for a little tribal God, saying My God is true and yours is not true; let us have a good fight over it. It was only here that such ideas did not occur as fighting for little gods. These great underlying principles, being based upon the eternal nature of man, are as potent today for working for the good of the human race as they were thousands of years ago, and they will remain so.11

(To be continued . . .)

25


Family Values in HinduismTheir Role in Promoting Peace and Happiness

SWAMI STHIRATMANANDA

Two Modes of LifeSanatan Dharma or Hinduism, the oldest

religion in the world, lays down two ways of livingthe Path of Renunciation (nivritti) and the Path of Desire (pravritti).1 All human beingsmonks and householdersnaturally follow either of these paths.

A monk does not marry and does not possess wealth. He has no duties either and is free to pursue the path of realizing the Supreme Reality. He owns nothing and does good to othersbringing the message of fulfillment and spirituality to the doorstep of all. He follows the Path of Renunciation.

On the other hand, a family manfollowing the Path of Desiremarries, earns wealth, and therefore has responsibilities. His life is for the good of others. Following the ideal of a family life, i.e., the Path of Desire, he too reaches the same goal.

The Path of Desire, we all know, is pleasant but not easy. Desires, by their nature, bring misery along with happiness. Further, evil accompanies all desires. Often, in order to fulfill ones desires, one resorts to lying, stealing, cheating and inflicting injury upon others. This brings misery in the long run. Meritorious or good deeds, on the other hand, bring happiness. As to what is good and bad, the Hindu scriptures say that any act that helps us to become unselfish is a meritorious deed. That which makes us selfish is evil.

The author is a monk at the Ramakrishna Mission, Dhaka, Bangladesh

This, then, is the basis of the Hindu valuesa journey from selfishness to unselfishness. It is unselfishness which is the basis of all values. Swami Vivekananda says, the gist of morality is sacrificenot I but thou.2 Practicing values makes the character of the person. Character is nothing but a bundle of habits. Hence values, or what we cherish in our deepest core, make our character. Higher values help us to discipline our mind through gradual self-control, sacrifice, service and devotion to God.

Family Life is a Responsibility Living a family life does not mean getting

a license for personal happiness; it has many responsibilities too. Even to fulfill our desires, the Hindu scriptures say, we need to follow values. The great Rishis of Hindu tradition, who laid down codes for right living, have placed before us the ideal of self-improvement through caring for others. Hence, it is believed that the Rishis feel happy if their teachings are read and practiced regularly. As part of ones family life, one should try to remove the distress of fellow beings. Service to human beings is service to God. Pleased by such service, God grants our wishes. This idea of personal sacrifice is called Yajnaand every householder is asked to perform pancha-maha-yajnas or five great vows. Elaborating on this Swami Vivekananda says,


The memory of God will not come to the selfish man. The more we come out and do good to others, the more our hearts will be purified, and God will be in them. According to our scriptures, there are five sorts of work, called the fivefold sacrifice.

First, study. A man must study every day something holy and good.

Second, worship of God, angels, or saints, as it may be.

Third, our duty to our forefathers.

Fourth, our duty to human beings. Man has no right to live in a house himself, until he builds for the poor also, or for anybody who needs it. The householders house should be open to everybody that is poor and suffering; then he is a real householder. No man has the right to cook food only for himself; it is for others, and he should have what remains. It is a common practice in India that when the seasons produce first comes into the market, such as strawberries or mangoes, a man buys some of them and gives to the poor. Then he eats of them; and it is a very good example to follow in this country. This training will make a man unselfish, and at the same time, be an excellent object-lesson to his wife and children. The Hebrews in olden times used to give the first fruits to God. The first of everything should go to the poor; we have only a right to what remains. The poor are Gods representatives; anyone that suffers is His

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representative. Without giving, he who eats and enjoys eating, enjoys only sin.

Fifth, our duty to the lower animals. It is diabolical to say that all animals are created for men to be killed and used in any way man likes. It is the devils gospel, not Gods. Think how diabolical it is to cut them up to see whether a nerve quivers or not, in a certain part of the body. I am glad that in our country such things are not countenanced by the Hindus, whatever encouragement they may get from the foreign government they are under. One portion of the food cooked in a household belongs to the animals also. They should be given food every day; there ought to be hospitals in every city in this country for poor, lame, or blind horses, cows, dogs, and cats, where they should be fed and taken care of.3

By doing these duties (yajnas), we gradually come nearer to God, the source of all love and light. The Narada Bhakti Sutra says: Sa Isha Parama-premarupahGod is all love and He is in all beings4. In Srimad Bhagavatam God saysI am in all beings, so by all means everybody should be looked upon as friendly and served with gift, honor5, etc. By rightful performance of duties one really worships God.

Again, God fulfils our desires if we pray to Him earnestly after having done all our duties faithfully. Those who do not believe in God, they can also practice unselfish work. That unselfishness ultimately leads them to a state of Bliss which a believer in God also attain. The Gita saysFollowing ones own work according to the scriptural injunctions, one becomes fit to attain the Supreme Goal.6 Svadharma is the core of Hindu family ethics.

God Has Become All According to the Hindu scriptures,

the whole universe is filled with God. Sri Ramakrishna says, I clearly see that God is


everything. He Himself has become all.7 This is the idea of Cosmic Person which the Vedas speak of. Describing it the Vedas state that all the members of human society are parts of the Cosmic Person. The spiritual teachers and law makers are His mouth, the warriors are His arms, the traders are His thigh and the manual workers are the feet of that Cosmic Person. They all are the parts of the same Cosmic Person.8 Hence, all are inter-connected and interdependent. There should not be any hatred among the members of the society. This attitude is one of the most important factors to promote peace.

Seven Principles of Healthy Family LifeSpirituality is the true basis of peace

and prosperity. Spiritualitywhich means manifesting the divinity present in all of uspromotes peace and happiness, both personal and social. Discussed below are seven principles of a healthy family life gleamed from the Hindu scriptures. The term seven is only representative and not exhaustive. There is much more in the Hindu tradition than what is discussed here but this discussion will give a glimpse of the rich moral and spiritual norms that form the fibre of Hindu family ideal.

1. Attitude towards Ones House In Hinduism, the house is a place

for doing ones dharma. It is a shelter for performing duties and practice spiritual disciplines. Sri Ramakrishna said, Suppose you are a householder. It helps in the practice of spiritual discipline. It is like fighting from inside a fort.9 Living in a family and a house gives one an opportunity to practice spiritual discipline. This is the main objective.

In Hinduism, marriage and family life itself is held to be a discipline for participation in and contribution to the larger life of

society. The very act of begetting children endows marriage with social responsibilities. Hinduism does not regard romance as the core of married life. Husband and wife are co-partners (saha-dharmi) in their spiritual progress. Family provides a training ground for the practice of unselfishness. A peaceful family is the foundation of a good society for discharging duties as a teacher, a soldier, a statesman, a merchant, a scientist, or a manual worker and so on. However, a family man should be ambitious to acquire wealth and enjoy pleasures, but not by deviating from righteousness. Where there is security of livelihood, there remains peace. Tension involved in procuring food and shelter brings much restlessness and anxiety. Hence one should earn well but earning should be done with respect and honesty.

2. Peace in Personal DealingsFamily and social life demands that one

should refrain from hating others in any form. Hatred comes from finding faults with others for it leads to anger and unhappiness, anxiety and loss of peace. In order to have peace, one should spiritualize life itself. The Isha Upanishad says: All these should be covered with God.10 In other words, one should see God everywhere. This is an important value in Hindus life. So a Hindu salutes God in all and everythingmeaning: I bow down to God in you, I bow down to God in everything. This is how hatred goes away. Hatred is the main cause of unhappiness. The Rig Veda says: The Reality is One, sages call It by various names.11 The Gita says: After many births a pious being learns that all the creation indeed is Vasudeva or the Supreme Being Himself.12 When this realization comes to ones life, one is enlightened to become friends to all irrespective of caste, creed or nationality. Fear

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comes from seeing duality13. In order to reach the Highest Goal of life, Hinduism teaches seeing God everywhere. This attitude plays a great role in freeing one from hatred. This is the secret of inner and outer peace.

Further, the Hindu scriptures instruct one to practice self-control, charity and compassion (dama, daan and daya)14. These valuesself-control, charity and compassionare to be practiced by allfor their own and for the wellbeing of the society. When all the members of a family practice these values, a good and healthy society is the result. In their absence, life in the world is a pack of misery and pain. One then becomes engrossed in lower passions and immoral tendencies. Hinduism believes that there are three gateways of hell (distress): lust, anger and greed. One must avoid them at all cost.15

3. The Ideal of SvadharmaMuch of our physical and mental energy

is lost in conflicts with others. What is needed is a mature understanding of life which leads to peaceful-coexistence. Hinduism emphasizes lovingly performing ones duties in a family. This is the best way to live in peace and harmony.

Performing ones duties is a crucial quality for maintaining peace at home and in society. If a father performs his duties well, his children will not have any anxiety; all will be in peace. If mother, sons, daughters and others in a family perform their duties well, their right to peace will be automatically protected. With an amiable ambience at home, born of inner harmony, where is the need for fight for rights? The Gita says, Better is ones own Dharma, though imperfect than the Dharma of another well-performed. He who does the duty ordained by his own nature incurs no evil.16

When the members of a family perform their duties properly, there is peace in the family. And when a person from such a peaceful family goes out to society, he reflects this peace; his behavior with others is peaceful too. World peace starts from the peace in family. The Vedas teach us: Let us go forward in unison, let us say all together. With this universal prayer, one brings peace in family and in the world.

4. Cultivating Five Cardinal Values Five cardinal virtues that Hinduism

speaks are: purity, self-control, detachment, truthfulness and non-violence. These are also called universal virtues.17 Also known as yamas, these virtues or values should be practiced by one and all. Based on their experiences, the ancient Rishis pointed out certain universal facts and laws. Thus one finds them declaring: Doing harm to others is sin, and doing good to others is virtue.

Cultivating virtue is the true source of happiness. A true Hindu, hence, if he follows these five cardinal virtues, in body, mind and speech, cannot but be a source of peace to himself and to others. Swami Vivekananda says in Raja Yoga that in the daily prayers devotees are taught praying all kinds of well-being to all in all directions. He says,

Let all beings be happy; let all beings be peaceful; let all beings be blissful. So do to the east, south, north and west. The more you do that the better you will feel yourself. You will find at last that the easiest way to make ourselves healthy is to see that others are healthy, and the easiest way to make ourselves happy is to see that others are happy. After doing that, those who believe in God should praynot for money, not for health, nor for heaven; pray for knowledge and light; every other prayer is selfish.18

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This attitude of seeking good of all should be the guiding principle of all that one does.

5. Practice of UnselfishnessThe Gita says, From dispassion comes

peace (tyagat shantir anantaram,19). Dispassion to worldly desire makes one unselfish. And unselfishness is a value in every aspect of family affairs. Parents sacrifice for their children. When they grow up, children have to think of their parents well-being. They should remember the unselfish love they have received in their childhood and now how to make their parents happy20. A Hindu boy / girl knows that if the father is pleased, all gods and goddesses become pleased. They also know from the tradition that mother and the motherland are higher than heaven. If mother is pleased, then peace prevails in the minds of the children. Manusmriti says: Where women are honoured there all the gods remain pleased.21 Sri Ramakrishna said, If a person deceives his father and mother in order to seek religion, he gets only worthless trash.22

In the Hindu tradition, before starting anything new, children bow down before parents, touching their heads in the ground for blessings. The elders in the family teach the growing children this tradition of respect and love. The grandparents teach the growing ups with love the family value of unselfishness which is practical religion. So the ideal of unselfishness plays a great role in establishing peace in family as well as in society. This is the lasting basis of world peace.

All peace and happiness lie in our minds, not outside. Selfishness may produce temporary peace or satisfaction, but soon we will find that we are alone and helpless in our life struggle and this produces anxiety. The Hindu way of life teaches one to think of

others. Swami Vivekananda says: They alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive. Mahanirvantantra (8th chapter) teaches about duties to practice unselfishness. An individual in a Hindu family knows that the ideal of peace lies not in fighting with others but in helping them. Help and not fight should be the motto.

6. No Fault-findingthe Secret of Good Relationships

One vital value for peace in life is the habit of seeing good qualities in others. Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi said, If you want peace of mind, then give up fault-finding. Every individual has good and bad qualities. If we see only bad in others, our mind becomes defiled with bad impressions and our behaviour too is similarly affected. But if we see good qualities in others, though they may be few, we will have peace of mind. In turn, that results in peaceful behaviour. It is said that if there is a black spot in a white sheet of paper, all our attention goes to the black spot, not to the white space around. This is what we do when we indulge in fault-finding. Seeing good in others is the secret of maintaining peaceful co-existence in the society.

Swami Vivekananda beautifully points out:

If you cannot see God in the human face, how can you see him in the clouds, or in images made of dull, dead matter, or in mere fictitious stories of our brain? I shall call you religious from the day you begin to see God in men and women, and then you will understand what is meant by turning the left cheek to the man who strikes you on the right.23

It is hard to practice but it has no alternative.

7. The Principle of Harmony

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Shiva Mahimna Stotra says; As all rivers coming from different directions all mingle in the sea, so also all the ideals result from different traditions of all the nations of the worldall lead to Ultimate Bliss.24 Indeed the methods adopted by people may be different, but our goal is the sameas all the radii of a circle lead to the centre of the circle. The Gita says:

Whosoever comes to Me through whatsoever form I reach him; all are struggling through paths which in the end lead to Me.25

Hinduism teaches us to develop an attitude of harmony and accommodation. We should be able to say to others: Please go forward, along the path best suited for you; please allow me to go through my own way which is best for me; we all will one day meet at the same goal. Sri Ramakrishna says, As many faiths so many paths leading to the same goal. We then learn to be steadfast in our own ideal, showing proper respect to others. This attitude can make our civilization a peaceful and harmonious one. Comparative study of religions can help us a lot in this regard.

Conclusion To err is human but to forgive is

divine. The Hindu scriptures tell us to live according to the lofty ideal of seeing God in others and train ourselves to live a life of peace, unselfishness and contentment. Swami Vivekananda said,

Everyone can see the sky, even the very worm crawling upon the earth sees the blue sky, but how very far away it is! So it is with our ideal. It is far away, no doubt, but at the same time, we know that we must have it. We must even have the highest ideal. Unfortunately in this life, the vast majority of persons are groping through this dark life without any ideal at all. If a man with an ideal makes a thousand mistakes, I am sure that the man without an ideal makes fifty thousand. Therefore, it is better to have an ideal.26

With this in mind, we should attempt to improve our approach to family values and try to practice them. First of all one should have a proper world-view which determines our approach to life. World peace begins by having a peaceful mind and peaceful home. This is the crux of Hindu value system.

1. Katha Upanishad, 1.2.22. CW, 6:1463. CW, 4.104. Narada Bhakti Sutra, 2 5. Srimad Bhagavata, 3.29.276. Gita, 18.467. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p.7338. Rig Veda 10.90Purushasuktam9. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p. 24410. Isha Upanishad, verse 1

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References

11. Rig Veda, 64.14812. Gita, 7.1913. Brihadaranyaka

Upanishad-1.4.214. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad,

5.2.1-315. Gita, 16.2116. Gita 8.4717. Patanjal Sutra 2.3018. CW, 1.146

19. Gita-12.1220. Mahanirvana Tantra, 8.23-5021. Manusmriti 3.5622. The Gospel of Sri

Ramakrishna, p.82823. CW, 2.32624. Shiva Mahimna Stotra, verse

725. Gita 4.1126. CW, 2.152

If you first smear your palms with oil and then cut open the jackfruit the milky juice of the fruit will not stick to your hands and trouble you. If you first strengthen yourself with the true knowledge of the Universal Self, and then live in the midst of wealth and worldliness, surely they will in no way affect you.

Sri Ramakrishna


Do not Grieve. . . Truly do I promise to YouSri Krishnas reassuring words from the Bhagavad Gita

This compilation from the Bhagavad Gita is an attempt to bring together words of consolation and reassurance that Sri Krishna gives to Arjuna. Containing a great and definite sense of Lord's grace and assurance, these words have provided hope and succour to millions of people over the centuries. Done at the Vedanta Kesari Office, this compilation used the translation made by Barbara Stoler Miller, Bantam Classic, New York.

Compilation


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1. Gita, 6.402. Gita, 9.223. Gita, 4.114. Gita, 8.14

5. Gita, 8.76. Gita, 8.57. Gita, 9.30

8. Gita, 9.319. Gita, 9.2710. Gita, 11.55

11. Gita, 9.3412. Gita, 18.6513. Gita, 18.66

References

Krishna Stands Out. . .

Independent, Krishna stands out. The very boldness of it frightens us. We depend upon everythingupon a few good words, upon circumstances. When the soul wants to depend upon nothing, not even upon life, that is the height of philosophy, the height of manhood. Worship leads to the same goal. Krishna lays great stress upon worship. Worship God!

Krishna saw plainly through the vanity of all the mummeries, mockeries, and ceremonials of the old priests; and yet he saw some good in them. So the ceremonials, worship of gods, and myths, are all right, Krishna says . . . .Why? Because they all lead to the same goal. Ceremonies, books, and formsall these are links in the chain. Get hold! That is the one thing. If you are sincere and have really got hold of one link, do not let go; the rest is bound to come. [But people] do not get hold. They spend the time quarrelling and determining what they should get hold of, and do not get hold of anything. . . .We are always after truth, but never want to get it. We simply want the pleasure to go about and ask. We have a lot of energy and spend it that way. That is why Krishna says: Get hold of any one of these chains that are stretched out from the common centre. No one step is greater than another . . . Blame no view of religion so far as it is sincere. Hold on to one of these links, and it will pull you to the centre. Your heart itself will teach all the rest. The teacher

The Vedanta Kesari January 2014

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Transcript of The Vedanta Kesari January 2014