Great Thinkers On Ramakrishna and Vivekananda (291p)

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Great Thinkers on
Ramakrishna-Vivekananda
Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture
Gol Park, Kolkata - 700 029
e-book from www.belurmath.org
Published by
Swami Sarvabhutananda
Secretary
Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture
Gol Park, Kolkata 700 029
1983 : Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture
Kolkata, India
ISBN : 978-81-87332-58-9
First Published : October 1983 : 6M
Fourth Print : July 2000 : 5M
Revised Edition : December 2007
Revised Second Edition : March 2009
Price : Rupees sixty only
Printed at
Trio Process
Kolkata 700 014
Preface to the Revised Second Edition
The increasing popularity of the book, viz. World Thinkers on
Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, originally published in 1983, has
naturally called for its revision, additions, and alterations through
the passage of time.
In its revised edition the book in fitness of things bears a new
title, viz. Great Thinkers on Ramakrishna-Vivekananda. In the
words of Sri Aurobindo, Of all these souls [avatras] Sri
Ramakrishna was the last and greatest, for while others felt God
in a single or limited aspect, he felt Him in His illimitable unity as
the sum of an illimitable variety. In him the spiritual experiences of
the millions of saints who had gone before were renewed and
united. Sri Ramakrishna gave to India the final message of
Hinduism to the World.
The Ramakrishna-Vivekananda movement has been the most
marvellous contribution of creative India to world civilization. If
Sri Ramakrishna is regarded as the prophet of the new
movement, Swami Vivekananda is certainly its greatest
preacher of protagonist. India is born anew through the
Ramakrishna-Vivekananda movement to work out the salvation
not only of India but of the world at large.
The main inspiring force behind this revised edition is Swami
Prabhananda, (now General Secretary of the Ramakrishna Math
and Ramakrishna Mission) while acting as the Secretary of the
Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, we entrusted Professor
Haridas Mukherjee of the Indological Studies and Research wing
to revise the whole book in the light of certain suggestions and the
new materials presented by the former to the latter.
We hope that the revised edition of the book will receive
proper appreciation from the thinking minds all over the world.
Kolkata Swami Sarvabhutananda
27 February, 2009 Secretary
( v )
Foreword to the First Edition
Ramakrishna and Vivekananda represent one single truth, one
its spirit and other its form. What is the truth they represent? That
man can develop till he feels he is one with God. To develop to
that point is, according to them, the goal of life. Every effort that
man makes should be directed to that end.
Between themselves, they have done much to regenerate
India. They are not just religious and social leaders, they have
given back to India her lost identity by rousing her national pride.
Indian Renaissance can truly be said to have begun with them.
Yet Ramakrishna and Vivekananda are above all barriers of
race and creed. Their concern is for mankind as a whole, for to
them it is one despite its many superficial divisions. If today their
influence is spreading, it is because they address themselves to
entire humanity. No wonder they enjoy universal love and respect,
a fact to which the following pages bear ample testimony. This
small book, with tributes to Sri Ramakrishna and Swami
Vivekananda from savants across the world, has proved
immensely popular in that it has needed a second edition within a
short while.
Calcutta Swami Lokeswarananda
14 November, 1983 Editor
( vii )
Tributes to Sri Ramakrishna by
Aldous Huxley 3
Amaury de Reincourt 4
Amiya Chakravarty 4
Arnold J. Toynbee 5
Ashapurna Devi 7
Sri Aurobindo 7
Benoy Kumar Sarkar 9
Brahmabandhab Upadhyaya 12
Brojendra Nath Seal 14
C. Rajagopalachari 15
Christopher Isherwood 15
Claude Alan Stark 16
D. S. Sarma 17
Dalai Lama 18
Ernest C. Brown 18
Friedrich Max Mller 18
Francis Younghusband 25
George C. Williams 26
Govind Ballabh Pant 26
Harlow Shapley 27
Henry R. Zimmer 27
Hiren Mukherjee 27
Humayun Kabir 28
Huston Smith 29
Jadunath Sarkar 31
Jawaharlal Nehru 32
(ix)
Contents
Page
Joseph Campbell 32
K. M. Munshi 33
Leo Tolstoy 33
Leroy S. Rouner 34
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi 35
Mahendranath Sircar 35
Mohitlal Majumdar 36
Muhammad Daud Rahbar 36
Muhammad Sahidullah 39
Nicholas K. Roerich 39
Paul Brunton 41
Philip Glass 41
Pitirim A. Sorokin 44
Pramathanath Tarkabhusan 44
Protap Chandra Mozoomdar 45
Rabindranath Tagore 48
Radhakamal Mukerjee 48
R. C. Majumdar 51
Richard Schiffman 52
Romain Rolland 53
Sarat Chandra Bose 54
Sarojini Naidu 55
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan 56
Satis Chandra Chattopadhyaya 56
Sayed Mujtaba Ali 57
Sivanath Sastri 58
Subhas Chandra Bose 60
Tarasankar Bandyopadhyaya 61
Thomas Merton 61
Will Durant 62
William Digby 62
References and Notes 62
(x)
Page
Tributes to Swami Vivekananda by
A. D. Pusalker 69
A. L. Basham 69
Annie Besant 70
A. Ramaswami Mudaliar 71
Bal Gangadhar Tilak 71
Benoy Kumar Sarkar 72
Bepin Chandra Pal 75
Brahmabandhab Upadhyaya 81
Brojendranath Seal 84
C. F. Andrews 85
C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar 85
C. Rajagopalachari 86
Christopher Isherwood 86
D. S. Sarma 91
E. P. Chelishev 91
Ella W. Wilcox 94
Federico Mayor 94
Felix Marti- Ibanez 96
Francis Younghusband 96
Gopal Halder 97
Henry Miller 97
Hiren Mukherjee 98
Huang Xin Chuan 99
Huston Smith 101
Indira Gandhi 103
J. C. Bose 103
(xi)
Page
Jadunath Sarkar 104
Jawaharlal Nehru 104
Jay Prakash Narayan 106
Kakasaheb Kalelkar 107
K. M. Munshi 108
K. M. Panikkar 109
Lal Bahadur Shastri 109
Leo Tolstoy 110
Emma Calv 112
M. K. Gandhi 113
Mahendranath Sircar 113
Manabendra Nath Roy 114
Michael Talbot 115
Munshi Premchand 116
Nagendranath Gupta 117
Prafulla Chandra Ray 118
R. C. Dutt 118
Radhakamal Mukerjee 119
Radhakumud Mukerjee 119
R. C. Majumdar 120
R. G. Pradhan 125
R. Rybakov 125
R. Sugathan 128
Rabindranath Tagore 129
Rajendra Prasad 133
Romain Rolland 134
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan 140
Satyendra Nath Bose 141
Shyama Prasad Mookerjee 141
(xii)
Page
Sri Aurobindo 142
Subhas Chandra Bose 143
Subrahmanya Bharati 147
Suniti Kumar Chatterji 148
U Thant 152
Vincent Sheean 153
Vinoba Bhave 154
Will Durant 156
William Ernest Hocking 157
William James 159
References and Notes 161
Biographical sketch of the Great Thinkers 169
(xiii)
Page
1 Great Thinkers on Ramakrishna
Ureat 1hnkers
on
5r Pamakrshna
2
Great Thinkers on Ramakrishna-Vivekananda
SRI RAMAKRISHNA
I
SRI RAMAKRISHNA
ALDOUS HUXLEY
The further you go towards the East, Sri Ramakrishna was
fond of saying, the further you go away from the West. This is
one of those apparently childish remarks, which we meet with so
often among the writings and recorded sayings of religious
teachers. But it is an apparent childishness that masks a real
profundity. Within this absurd little tautology there lies, in a state
of living, seminal latency, a whole metaphysic, a complete
programme of action. It is, of course, the same philosophy and
the same way of life as were referred to by Jesus in those sayings
about the impossibility of serving two masters, and the necessity
of seeking first the kingdom of God and waiting for all the rest to
be added. Egoism and alter-egoism (or the idolatrous service of
individuals, groups, and causes with which we identify ourselves
so that their success flatters our own ego) cut us off from the
knowledge and experience of reality. ...
Egoism and alter-egoism advise us to remain firmly
ensconced in the West, looking after our own human affairs. But
if we do this, our affairs will end by going to pot. ... Whereas if
we ignore the counsels of egoism and alter-egoism, and
resolutely march toward the divine East, we shall create for
ourselves the possibility of receiving the grace of enlightenment
and, at the same time, we shall find that existence in our physical,
Western home is a great deal more satisfactory than it was when
we devoted our attention primarily to the improvement of our
human lot.
1
4
AMAURY DE REINCOURT
Can a connection between the scientific and mystical frames
of reference be established over and beyond a certain
metaphysical parallelism? The answer lies perhaps in the fact
that Indian mysticism, at least as far as its leading representatives
are concerned, has evolved as much in the past hundred years
as the science of physics itself, in a direction that points toward
an inevitable convergence of the two. From its modern
awakening with Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda,
Eastern mysticism has begun to adapt its revelations to the
entirely different cultural framework provided by science and
technology, without in any way sacrificing what is valid in its
traditional understanding of the phenomenon itself. The true
departure occurred with the life and writings of Sri Aurobindo
who began to wield Indias traditional metaphysics to the
concept of a modified and purposeful Evolutionquite a
departure for the offspring of a culture that had consistently
ignored the spiritual significance of time and history.
2
AMIYA CHAKRAVARTY
The Ramakrishna-Vivekananda tradition... was rooted in
Indias perennial philosophy. Truth is One; men call it by
different names : this was the Vedic view and it was carried on
through the Upanishads, the Gt, and the medieval Indian
sages to the nineteenth century saint Ramakrishna. Nearly
illiterate but supremely knowledgeable, he not only absorbed
the great Indian inheritance but accepted the revelations of other
religions, mainly Christianity and Islam. ... [He] discarded
sectarianism, used imagism in a highly symbolical and personal
way, who dramatically moved from dualistic worship to monism
and then to a balance of both, and finally and effortlessly
emerged as a world teacher. ... To many of us, more important
than any incident is the miracle of Ramakrishna himself, the
miracle that he could be what he was and give usfor all time
his lifes truth. ...
The Ramakrishna-Vivekananda movement has proved...
that the finest social service, concerned action and commitment
spring from pure goodness, from the realization of beatitude and
the divinity of life. ... It must be recognized that a saintly person
while not seeming to do anything utilitarian for society is actually
fulfilling the highest social responsibility by igniting a moral
conscience. Through precept and example he is changing
individuals and therefore society. Every act of truth is also an act
of service. Sri Ramakrishna transformed the hearts of men ; he
gave them an exalted view of life, the fruits of which can be seen
in the work done by the Ramakrishna Mission. ... Thus we
trace a continuous history from the Upanishads to Sri
Ramakrishna, from Buddha to Gandhi and Tagore. ...
3
ARNOLD JOSEPH TOYNBEE
Sri Ramakrishnas message was unique in being expressed
in action. The message itself was the perennial message of
Hinduism. ... In the Hindu view, each of the higher religions is a
true vision and a right way, and all of them alike are
indispensable to mankind, because each gives a different
glimpse of the same truth, and each leads by a different route to
the same goal of human endeavours. Each, therefore, has a
special spiritual value of its own which is not to be found in any
of the others.
To know this is good, but it is not enough. Religion is not just
a matter for study ; it is something that has to be experienced and
to be lived, and this is the field in which Sri Ramakrishna
manifested his uniqueness. He practised successively almost
6
every form of Indian religion and philosophy, and he went on to
practise Islam and Christianity as well. His religious activity and
experience were, in fact, comprehensive to a degree that had
perhaps never before been attained by any other religious
genius, in India or elsewhere. His devotion to God in the
personal form of the Great Mother did not prevent him from
attaining the state of contentless consciousness an absolute
union with absolute spiritual Reality.
Sri Ramakrishna made his appearance and delivered his
message at the time and the place at which he and his message
were needed. This message could hardly have been delivered
by anyone who had not been brought up in the Hindu religious
tradition. Sri Ramakrishna was born in Bengal in 1836. He was
born into a world that, in his lifetime, was, for the first time, being
united on a literally world-wide scale. Today we are still living in
this transitional chapter of the worlds history, but it is already
becoming clear that a chapter which had a Western beginning
will have to have an Indian ending if it is not to end in the self-
destruction of the human race. In the present age, the world has
been united on the material plane by Western technology. But
this Western skill has not only annihilated distance ; it has
armed the peoples of the world with weapons of devastating
power at a time when they have been brought to point-blank
range of each other without yet having learnt to know and love
each other. At this supremely dangerous moment in human
history, the only way of salvation for mankind is an Indian way.
The Emperor Ashokas and the Mahatma Gandhis principle of
non-violence and Sri Ramakrishnas testimony to the harmony
of religions ; here we have the attitude and the spirit that can
make it possible for the human race to grow together into a
single familyand, in the Atomic Age, this is the only alternative
to destroying ourselves.
In the Atomic Age the whole human race has a utilitarian
motive for following this Indian way. No utilitarian motive could
be stronger or more respectable in itself. The survival of the
human race is at stake. Yet even the strongest and most
respectable utilitarian motive is only a secondary reason for
taking Ramakrishnas and Gandhis and Ashokas teaching to
heart and acting on it. The primary reason is that this teaching is
rightand is right because it flows from a true vision of spiritual
reality.
4
ASHAPURNA DEVI
My myopic vision cannot fathom the unfathomable Sri
Ramakrishna. He seems to me like an ever enigmatic boundless
sky.
Sri Ramakrishna is meant for both the learned and unlettered
persons. The quintessence of all knowledge is treasured in his
gospel which he has catered to all in his own rural language.
The academic body of the whole world has realized that the
life of Sri Ramakrishna manifests the essential creeds of all
religions.
I see Sri Ramakrishna like an ocean so vast, so profound! I
ask and ask, who is He?
SRI AUROBINDO
When scepticism had reached its height, the time had come
for spirituality to assert itself and establish the reality of the world
as a manifestation of the spirit, the secret of the confusion
created by the senses, the magnificent possibilities of man and
the ineffable beatitude of God. This is the work whose
consummation Sri Ramakrishna came to begin and all the
development of the previous two thousand years and more since
8
Buddha appeared, has been a preparation for the harmonization
of spiritual teaching and experience by the avatra of
Dakshineshwar.
The long ages of discipline which India underwent, are now
drawing to an end. A great light is dawning on the East, a light
whose first heralding glimpses are already seen on the horizon; a
new day is about to break, so glorious that even the last of the
avatras cannot be sufficient to explain it, although without him
it would not have come. The perfect expression of Hindu
spirituality was the signal for the resurgence of the East.
Mankind has long been experimenting with various kinds of
thought, different principles of ethics, strange dreams of a
perfection to be gained by material means, impossible
millenniums and humanitarian hopes. Nowhere has it succeeded
in realizing the ultimate secret of life. Nowhere has society or
politics helped it to escape from the necessity of sorrow,
poverty, strife, dissatisfaction from which it strives for an outlet;
for whoever is trying to find one by material means, must
inevitably fail. The East alone has some knowledge of the truth,
the East alone can teach the West, the East alone can save
mankind. Through all these ages Asia has been seeking for a light
within, and whenever she has been blessed with a glimpse of
what she seeks, a great religion has been born, Buddhism,
Confucianism, Christianity, Mohammedanism with all their
countless sects. But the grand workshop of spiritual experiment,
the laboratory of the soul has been India, where thousands of
great spirits have been born in every generation who were
content to work quietly in their own souls, perfect their
knowledge, hand down the results of their experiments to a few
disciples and leave the rest to others to complete. They did not
hasten to proselytize, were in no way eager to proclaim
themselves, but merely added their quota of experience and
returned to the source from which they had come. The immense
reservoir of spiritual energy stored up by the self-repression was
the condition of this birth of avatras, of men so full of God that
they could not be satisfied with silent bliss, but poured it out on
the world, not with the idea of proselytizing but because they
wished to communicate their own ecstasy of realization to others
who were fit to receive it either by previous tapasy or by the
purity of their desires. Of all these souls Sri Ramakrishna was
the last and greatest, for while others felt God in a single or
limited aspect, he felt Him in His illimitable unity as the sum of an
illimitable variety. In him the spiritual experiences of the millions
of saints who had gone before were renewed and united. Sri
Ramakrishna gave to India the final message of Hinduism to the
world. A new era dates from his birth, an era in which the
peoples of the earth will be lifted for a while into communion
with God and spirituality become the dominant note of spiritual
life. What Christianity failed to do, what Mohammedanism
strove to accomplish in times as yet unripe, what Buddhism half
accomplished for a brief period and among a limited number of
men, Hinduism as summed up in the life of Sri Ramakrishna has
to attempt for all the world. This is the reason of Indias
resurgence, this is why God has breathed life into her once
more, why great souls are at work to bring about her salvation,
why a sudden change is coming over the hearts of her sons. The
movement of which the first outbreak was political, will end in a
spiritual consummation.
6
BENOY KUMAR SARKAR
Ramakrishna cannot be identified with the movement for any
particular Hindu gods, rituals, religions, scriptures or institutions.
Ramakrishna did not promulgate a religion. ... No set of
commandments and duties or virtues and vices can be
10
discovered in Ramakrishnas Kathm;ta (The Nectar of
Words). It would be difficult also to discover in Ramakrishnas
teachings any advocacy or propaganda in regard to caste
reforms, race-uplift and other social questions. And as for the
questions of constitutional progress, nationality, provincial
autonomy, federation, democracy, socialism or the like,
Ramakrishna had no message whatsoever.
Where then, lie Ramakrishnas claims to recognition by East
and West as a world-teacher or as a re-maker of religion? They
are to be found in some very elemental characteristics.
Ramakrishna used to function as guide and friend to all and
sundry in regard to the most fundamental questions of daily life.
He spoke to individual men and women of flesh and blood and
tried to evoke in their personalities just those human qualities
which enable persons to flourish in the world. In the East as well
as the West, human beingsthe richest and the poorest, the
expert and the layman, the businessman, the scholar, the lawyer,
the peasant and the workingmanall are at times subject to
diffidence in the concerns of the day-to-day round of duties.
Ramakrishnas teachings enable the meanest of human beings as
well as the mightiest to combat diffidence and acquire self-
confidence in the pursuit of life. ...
The Gospel of Strength. Ramakrishna has delivered a
gospel of strength with which human beings can overpower the
thousand and one frailties of worldly existence. That is why
Ramakrishna has been accepted as a Teacher by merchants,
industrialists, menial servants, government officials, lawyers,
medical men, scholars, persons belonging to the most varied
professions. Ramakrishna has, therefore, become a prophet for
every corner of the globe. ...
...In his sociology or metaphysics of values jva (man) =
Siva (God). The formulation of this equation by Ramakrishna
enables us to establish an identity between service to man and
service to or worship of God. We are again and again rendered
conscious that he was not constructing a kingdom that is not of
this world. This is the most marked characteristic in the sayings
of Ramakrishna. He was a positivist, a teacher of worldly duties
in the most emphatic sense. On the other hand, Ramakrishnas
perpetual emphasis on the spirit and the soul is epoch-making.
He has taught mankind that with this instrument men and women
can demolish the discouraging conditions of the surrounding
world and transform them in the interest of the expansion of
life. ... The freedom of personality is a concept by which
Ramakrishna has succeeded in electrifying the mentality of the
middle classes, the higher classes, and the lower classes of the
human society. Anti-defeatism and world-conquest have
entered their soul as permanent categories in an unobtrusive
manner.
7
* * *
The diversity of paths in the moral world does not frighten
him (Ramakrishna). It is rather the fundamental ground-work in
his analysis of human behaviour. As a true servant of man he is
profoundly convinced of the dignity of individual manhood and
personality.
...Ramakrishnas faith in the dignity of man enables him thus
to welcome the exponents of every faith as the builders of and
travellers on the most diverse roads to reality, light and
immortality. ...
Every cheminot or wanderer on all these most
heterogeneous roads is to him a colleague and fellow-priest in
the temple of mans struggle towards higher and higher flights of
freedom. ...
Ramakrishna is a believer in the equality of faiths. ... He has
established the democracy of religions. His conceptions of
12
religious democracy and spiritual equality are organically linked
up with his ideals of the fullness of life. ...His mind is bent on
recognizing the claims of the not-self, the other Is or wes and
on establishing a harmony between the self and the not-self.
His philosophy of lifes fullness, based as it is on this
sympathy with the urges and requirements of the not-self, the
others, the duality or the plurality, is not confined to the reactions
and demands of the individual personality alone. ...
Ramakrishna would have applied this maxim of dual, multiple or
complex personality to each and every group of men as well as
to all inter-human forms, inter-group relations, and inter-
communal moralities.
Ramakrishnas religion of life does not consider itself to be
adequate and complete until it has granted a franchise of self-
expression and self-direction to the creative urges, morals and
spiritual experiences of the other groupsnew races, strange
faces, the minds of the great not-self. ... Nobody in the worlds
culture-history and philosophical annals has been a more
pronounced architect of the republic of religions than
Ramakrishna.
8
BRAHMABANDHAB UPADHYAYA
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9
(Crowned with all treasuresthat is what you are. Although
you have appeared in the guise of a penniless, ascetic Brahmin, I
have been able to ascertain from the contented and serene look
of your eyes the truth of your identity. In spite of your pretention
of being an illiterate person, I have realizedyou are that
Custodian of the Vedas! Otherwise, in whose nectar-words the
message of the Vedas and Vedanta could spring in such a
manner ! You are ever playful.You wanted to make fools of us
this time also; but we have seen through your game, O Lord, we
have recognized you. You are Ramakrishna, indeed! Are you
not Rama and Krsna in One ?)
=:='= ,r= + := ...~r= =+:r'-= :-== =+:r~r:-
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'= 'r' =r=r '-r = ~~ '= = = =:= '= = r = ~+
+:= := r:-=r'-|+=: = :r= ~+ !
10
(Do you know who is Ramakrishna? Lord Visnu incarnates
Himself as and when an old age ends yielding place to a new
one. Sr Krsna gave us this eternal truth towards the close of
Dvpara-yuga and the beginning of Kali-yuga :
Paritrnya sdhnm vinsya ca dusk;tm
Dharmasamsthpanrthya sambhavmi yuge yuge
[For the protection of the good, for the destruction of
evildoers, and for the establishment of religion, I am born in
every age.] He who is known as Ramakrishna today is the
fulfilment of that great promise in this age. In His grace He came
to the world to fulfil what we cannot attain through our efforts
and [limited] power. ...Hindu culture with its long history owes
its origin to His sacred feet. And he [Ramakrishna] came to
14
manifest in his own life and thus to rejuvenate the ideal,
knowledge, and culture of the Hindus... . That explains why the
banner of Vedanta has gone up in America. That explains why
Hindu scriptures are looked upon with more and more respect
in England. Do you know with what earnest craving the white
men and women are striving now to toe the line of your society?
Do you know whose grace has brought about this? No, it has
not come about through your educationan education that
goes to turn out mere slaves! [Know it for certain that] behind all
this is the grace of that Brahmin.)
BROJENDRA NATH SEAL
He [Sri Ramakrishna] sought to experience each religion in
its entirety in sdhan or spiritual discipline. ...Here was an
individual soul who would enrich himself all human experience in
religious life and history. And precious elements were thus
added to his Hindu heritage the sense of human brotherhood
and equality from the Muslim faith, and the need of salvation
from sin from Christianity. In the same way, Vaisnava
sankrtana and music were added to his religious exercises.
These became elements (angas) of his sdhan.
What we want is not merely Universal Religion in its
quintessence, as Rammohun sought it in his earlier days not
merely an eclectic religion by compounding the distinctive
essences, theoretical as well as practical, of the different
religions, as Keshub Chandra sought it, but experience as a
whole as it has unfolded itself in the history of man, and this can
be realized by us, Ramakrishna taught, by syncretic practice of
Religion by being a Hindu with the Hindu, a Moslem with the
Moslem, a Christian with the Christian, and a Universalist with
the Universalist, and all this as a stepping stone to the Ultimate
realization of God-in-Man and Man-in-God.
11
C. RAJAGOPALACHARI
It is no exaggeration to call Sri Ramakrishnas teachings an
Upanishad. A sage like the ;sis of old was born in our age. This
was Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.... Learned men with a
command of language can and do write excellent essays and
discourses. But this writings lack true life. Sri Ramakrishna was
a mahtm who saw God in his heart and in all things in the
world outside. He saw Him in all things with the same certainty
and strength of feeling with which we see each other.... There is
a peculiar power in the words of those who lead a godly life.
They have a force which the exhortations of merely learned and
intellectual men do not have. When a maharsi talks, it is his
whole life that speaks through him, not mere intellect.
12
CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD
This is the story of a phenomenon.
I will begin by calling him simply that, rather than holy man,
mystic, saint, or avatra ; all emotive words with mixed
associations which may attract some readers, repel others.
A phenomenon is often something extraordinary and
mysterious. Ramakrishna was extraordinary and mysterious; most
of all to those who were best fitted to understand him. A
phenomenon is always a fact, an object of experience. That is
how I shall try to approach Ramakrishna.
Modern advertising has inflated our value-judgements until
they are nearly worthless. Every product and person is said by
its publicist to be the best. I want to avoid the competitive note
here so I will say only this : Ramakrishnas life, being
comparatively recent history, is well documented. In this
respect, it has the advantage over the lives of other, earlier
phenomena of a like nature. We do not have to rely, here, on
fragmentary or glossed manuscripts, dubious witnesses, pious
16
legends. What Ramakrishna was or was not the reader must
decide for himself ; but at least his decision can be based on
words and deeds Ramakrishna indubitably spoke and did. ...
I myself am a devotee of Ramakrishna ; I believe, or am at
least strongly inclined to believe, that he was what his disciples
declared that he was : an incarnation of God upon earth.
Nevertheless, I am not writing this book primarily for confirmed
believers or unbelievers. The sort of reader I am writing for is the
one who is not afraid to recognize the marvellous, no matter
where he finds it ; the sort of reader who is always on the
lookout for a phenomenon.
I only ask you approach Ramakrishna with the same open-
minded curiosity you might feel about any highly unusual human
being : a Julius Caesar, a Catherine of Siena, a Leonardo da
Vinci, an Arthur Rimbaud. Dismiss from your mind, as far as you
are able, such categories as holy-unholy, sane-insane, wise-
foolish, pure-impure, positive-negative, useful-useless. Just say
to yourself as you read : this, too, is humanly possible. Then
later, if you like, consider the implications of that possibility for
the rest of the human species.
13
CLAUDE ALAN STARK
Sri Ramakrishnas approach to the dilemma of religious
plurality has been documented as an exposition of his
experiences of God-consciousness in different religious
traditions. It is hoped that this exposition, in and of itself,
represents a contribution to inter-religious understanding. ...
Sri Ramakrishnas life and teachings form...an approach
based on the experience of God, which is worthy of closer
examination by sincere adherents of all religious traditions. One
may conclude, by the details of his life, that this approach is a
significant one.
The fact that Sri Ramakrishna experienced God in different
religions is a matter of historical record. The fact also that God
or ultimate Reality has been realized directly and immediately by
many persons of diverse religious backgrounds cannot be
ignored. Whole civilizations have been based on the strength of
their testimony.
Sri Ramakrishna taught that any person who wishes to verify
the authenticity of the experience of God may do so by raising
his or her level of consciousness to a higher plane through prayer
and spiritual practices. Then he or she can affirm with Sri
Ramakrishna, I actually see God, more clearly than I see you,
or declare with Swami Vivekananda, I have touched the feet of
God.
14
D. S. SARMA
Of all the religious movements that have sprung up in India in
recent times, there is none so faithful to our past and so full of
possibilities for the future, so rooted in our national
consciousness and yet so universal in its outlook, and therefore
none so thoroughly representative of the religious spirit of India,
as the movement connected with the name of Sri Ramakrishna
Paramahamsa and his disciple, Swami Vivekananda. In a way,
the true starting point of the present Hindu Renaissance may be
said to be Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. For his life
represents the entire orbit of Hinduism, and not simply a
segment of it. ...In fact, Sri Ramakrishna is a unique figure in the
history of Hinduism, because, without much education and
scholarship, he traversed the entire region of religious
experience by his own tapas and confirmed by his own personal
testimony the truths of the Hindu scriptures.
15
18
DALAI LAMA
Sri Ramakrishna was one of the greatest of Indias spiritual
adepts of recent times, actively embodying Indias profound
tradition of plurality. By assimilating the sdhans, customs, and
practices of different faiths into his own personal practice, he
presented a powerful example of respect for other traditions,
even while maintaining a deep fidelity to his own. His
transparently pure and well-documented life remains a guide
and inspiration to millions on their spiritual path.
16
ERNEST CARY BROWN
What a wonderful thing that a divine Incarnation should have
attained to the highest realization of God as Divine Mother at a
time when women all over the world were struggling for
emancipation ! Is it difficult to believe that the incarnation on
earth of this great advocate of womanhood should have given
their cause a powerful impetus ?
17
FRIEDRICH MAX MLLER
Many times the question has been asked of late, what is a
Mahtman, and what is a Sannysin ? Mahtman is a very
common Sanskrit word, and means literally great-souled, high-
minded, noble. It is used as a complimentary term, much as we
use noble or reverend; but it has been accepted also as technical
term, applied to what are called Sannysins in the ancient
language of India. Sannysin means one who has surrendered
and laid down everythingthat is, who has abandoned all
worldly affections. He is to be known as a Sannysin, we read
in the Bhagavad-Gt, v.3, who does not hate and does not
desire. As the life of a Brahmana was, according to the laws of
Manu, divided into four periods, or sramasthat of a pupil, of
a householder, of a hermit, and of an independent sagethose
who had reached the fourth stage were called Sannysins, a
word difficult to render in English, but perfectly familiar to
everybody in India. ... It has been denied that there are any
Sannysins left in India, and in one sense this is true. If the
scheme of life traced out by Manu was ever a reality, it has long
since ceased to be so. ...[But] we meet at all times, both before
and after the Buddhist reform, with men who had shaken off all
social fetters; who had retired from their families and from
society at large, lived by themselves in forests or in caves,
abstained from all enjoyments, restricted their food and drink to
the very utmost, and often underwent tortures which makes us
creep when we read of them or see them represented in pictures
and photographs. Such men were naturally surrounded by a
halo of holiness, and they received the little they wanted from
those who visited them or who profited by their teachings. Some
of these saintsbut not manywere scholars, and became
teachers of their ancient lore. Some of course, were impostors
and hypocrites, and have brought disgrace on the whole
profession. But that there were Sannysins, and that there are
even now, who have really shaken off the fetters of passion, who
have disciplined their body and subdued their mind to a perfectly
marvellous extent, cannot be doubted. ... It is generally
supposed that these same persons, these so-called Sannysins,
are also very learned and wise persons. ...[But] in the case of
Sannysins of the present generation we look in vain either for
great learning, even learning by heart, or for original thought and
profound wisdom. ... There was, for instance, Dayananda
Sarasvati, who tried to introduce some reforms among the
Brahmanas. He was a scholar in a certain sense. He actually
published a commentary in Sanskrit on the Rig-Veda, and was
able to speak Sanskrit with great fluency. It is supposed that he
20
was poisoned because his reforms threatened to become
dangerous to the Brahmanas. But in all his writings there is
nothing that could be quoted as original beyond his somewhat
strange interpretations of words and whole passages of the
Veda.
The late Ramakrishna Paramahansa was a far more
interesting specimen of a Sannysin. He seems to have been,
not only a high-souled man, a real Mahtman, but a man of
original thought. Indian literature is full of wise saws and sayings,
and by merely quoting them a man may easily gain a reputation
for profound wisdom. But it was not so with Ramakrishna. He
seems to have deeply meditated on the world from his solitary
retreat. Whether he was a man of extensive reading is difficult to
say, but he was certainly thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the
Vedanta philosophy. His utterances which have been published
breathe the spirit of that philosophy; in fact are only intelligible as
products of a Vedantic soil. And yet it is very curious to see how
European thought, nay a certain European style, quite different
from that of native thinkers, has found an entrance into the
oracular sayings of this Indian saint. ...
In the extracts from Ramakrishnas teachings, some of which
have been published by his pupils in their journal, the
Brahmavdin, these ancient metaphors have for the first time
been blended with European thought; and from all that we learn
of his personal influence, this blending had a most powerful
effect on the large audiences that came to listen to him. He has
left a number of pupils behind who after his recent death are
carrying on the work which he began, and who are trying to
secure, not only in India, but in Europe also, a sympathetic
interest in the ancient philosophy of India, which it deserves as
fully as the philosophy of Plato or Kant. ...
It was not easy to obtain any trustworthy information about
the circumstances of the Mahtmans life, a life singularly
uneventful in his relations with the outer world, though full of
stirring events in the inner world of his mind. ...
Protap Chandra Mozoomdar, the leader of the Brahmo
Samaj, and well known to many people in England, tells me of
the extraordinary influence which the Mahtman exercised on
Keshub Chunder Sen, on himself, and on a large number of
highly educated men in Calcutta. A score of young men who
were more closely attached to him have become ascetics after
his death. They follow his teachings by giving up the enjoyment
of wealth and carnal pleasure, living together in a neighbouring
Matha (College), and retiring at times to holy and solitary places
all over India even as far as the Himalayan mountains. Besides
these holy men, we are told that a great number of men with their
families are ardently devoted to his cause. But what is most
interesting is the fact that it was the Mahtman who exercised
the greatest influence on Keshub Chunder Sen during the last
phase of his career. It was a surprise to many of Keshub
Chunders friends and admirers to observe sudden change of
the sober reformer into the mystic and ecstatic saint, that took
place towards the end of his life. But although this later
development of the New Dispensation, and more particularly
the doctrine of the motherhood of God, may have alienated
many of Keshub Chunder Sens European friends, it seems to
have considerably increased his popularity with Hindu Society.
At all events we are now enabled to understand the hidden
influences which caused so sudden a change, and produced so
marked a deviation in the career of the famous founder of the
Brahmo Samaj, which has sometimes been ascribed to the
breakdown of an overexcited brain.
It is different with a man like Ramakrishna. He never moved
in the world, or was a man of the world, even in the sense in
which Keshub Chunder Sen was. He seems from the very first
22
to have practised that very severe kind of asceticism (yoga)
which is intended to produce trances (samdhi) and ecstatic
utterances. We cannot quite understand them, but in the case of
our Mahtman we cannot doubt their reality, and can only
stand by and wonder, particularly when so much that seems to
us the outcome of a broken frame of body and overwrought
state of mind, contains nevertheless so much that is true and wise
and beautiful. ...
The state of [his] religious exaltation...has been witnessed
again and again by serious observers of exceptional psychic
states. It is in its essence some thing like our talking in sleep, only
that with a mind saturated with religious thoughts and with the
sublimest ideas of goodness and purity the result is what we find
in the case of Ramakrishna, no mere senseless hypnotic
jabbering, but a spontaneous outburst of profound wisdom
clothed in beautiful poetical language. His mind seems like a
kaleidoscope of pearls, diamonds, and sapphires shaken
together at random but always producing precious thoughts in
regular, beautiful outlines. To our ears, no doubt, much of his
teaching and preaching sounds strange, but not to Oriental ears,
or to ears accustomed to the perfervid poetry of the East.
Everything seems to become purified in his mind. Nothing, I
believe, is so hideous as the popular worship of Kal in India. To
Ramakrishna all that is repulsive in her character is, as it were,
non-existent, and there remains but the motherhood of the
goddess. Her adoration with him is a childlike, whole-souled,
rapturous self-consecration to the motherhood of God, as
represented by the power and influence of woman. Woman in
her natural material character had long been renounced by the
saint. He had a wife, but never associated with her. Woman,
He said, fascinates and keeps the world from the love of God.
For long years he made the utmost efforts to be delivered from
the influence of woman. His heart-rending supplications and
prayers for such deliverance, sometimes uttered aloud in his
retreat on the riverside, brought crowds of people, who bitterly
cried when he cried, and could not help blessing him and wishing
him success with their whole hearts. And he succeeded, so that
his mother to whom he prayed, that is the goddess Kal, made
him recognize every woman as her incarnation, and honour each
member of the other sex, whether young or old, as his mother. In
one of his prayers he exclaims: O Mother Divine, I want no
honour from man, I want no pleasure of the flesh; only let my
soul flow into Thee as the permanent confluence of the Ganga
and Yamuna. Mother, I am without bhakti (devotion), without
yoga (concentration); I am poor and friendless. I want no ones
praise, only let my mind always dwell in the lotus of Thy feet.
But what is the most extraordinary of all, his religion was not
confined to the worship of Hindu deities and the purification of
Hindu customs. For long days he subjected himself to various
kinds of discipline to realizethe Mohammedan idea of an all-
powerful Allah. He let his beard grow, he fed himself on Moslem
diet, he continually repeated sentences from the Quran. For
Christ his reverence was deep and genuine. He bowed his head
at the name of Jesus, honoured the doctrine of his sonship, and
once or twice attended Christian places of worship. He
declared that each form of worship was to him a living and most
enthusiastic principle of personal religion; he showed, in fact,
how it was possible to unify all the religions of the world by
seeing only what is good in every one of them, and showing
sincere reverence to every one who has suffered for the truth,
for their faith in God, and for their love of men. He seems to have
left nothing in writing, but his sayings live in the memory of his
friends. He would not be a master or the founder of a new set. I
float a frail half-sunk log of wood through the stream of the
24
troublous world. If men come to hold by me to save their lives,
the result will be that they will drown me without being able to
save themselves. Beware of Gurus!
18
* * *
I am quite aware that some of his sayings may sound strange
to our ears, nay even offensive. Thus the conception of the Deity
as the Divine Mother is apt to startle us, but we can understand
what Ramakrishna really meant by it, when we read his saying :
Why does the God-lover find such pleasure in addressing
the Deity as Mother? Because the child is more free with its
mother, and consequently she is dearer to the child than anyone
else.
How deep Ramakrishna has seen into the mysteries of
knowledge and love of God, we see from the next saying :
Knowledge and love of God are ultimately one and the
same. There is no difference between pure knowledge and pure
love.
The following utterances also show the exalted nature of his
faith:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, that he who yearns for God,
finds Him.
He who has faith has all, and he who wants faith wants all.
So long as one does not become simple like a child, one
does not get Divine illumination. Forget all the worldly
knowledge that thou hast acquired and become as ignorant
about it as a child, and then thou wilt get the knowledge of the
True.
Where does the strength of an aspirant lie? It is in his tears.
As a mother gives her consent to fulfil the desire of her
importunately weeping child, so God vouchsafes to His weeping
son whatever he is crying for.
As a lamp does not burn without oil, so a man cannot live
without God.
God is in all men, but all men are not in God : that is the
reason why they suffer.
From such sayings we learn that though the real presence of
the Divine in nature and in the human soul was nowhere felt so
strongly and so universally as in India, and though the fervent
love of God, nay the sense of complete absorption in the
Godhead, has nowhere found a stronger and more eloquent
expression than in the utterances of Ramakrishna, yet he
perfectly knew the barriers that separate divine and human
nature.
If we remember that these utterances of Ramakrishna reveal
to us not only his own thoughts, but the faith and hope of millions
of human beings, we may indeed feel hopeful about the future of
that country. The consciousness of the Divine in man is there,
and is shared by all, even by those who seem to worship idols.
This constant sense of the presence of God is indeed the
common ground on which we may hope that in time not too
distant the great temple of the future will be erected, in which
Hindus and non-Hindus may join hands and hearts in
worshipping the same Supreme Spiritwho is not far from
every one of us, for in Him we live and move and have our
being.
19
FRANCIS YOUNGHUSBAND
Not content with receiving devotees, Ramakrishna would
also go forth to find other seekers after God and ascertain how
far they had progressed towards their goal. Usually devotees
are satisfied if they have experienced God in one aspect.
Ramakrishna yearned to know Him in every aspect. Nothing
26
fully satisfied him. His whole life was spent in seeking God and
experiencing Him in different aspects.
[Ramakrishna] had no urge ... to go all over India
preachingor even to go as far as Calcutta only four miles off.
But there did arise in his mind a tremendous longing to pass on
his experiences to a few devotees. There is no limit to the
yearning I had then, he afterwards said. I looked forward
wistfully to the day when my beloved companions would come.
I hoped to find solace by conversing with them and telling them
of my experiences. A mother has never longed so intensely for
the sight of her child, not a lover for his sweetheart, as I did for
them.
20
GEORGE C. WILLIAMS
On the philosophical level,...in Ramakrishna [we find] a
formula for adapting the philosophy of India, Vedanta, for
expansion beyond the borders of India, and for serious scrutiny
in the centres of philosophy and psychology around the world.
Without the impulse of Ramakrishna, the great treasures of the
Indian philosophical speculation might not have become so
available, in the present flexible and constructive form, to the
Western world.
21
GOVIND BALLABH PANT
Sri Ramakrishna was born about 120 years ago when our
country was entangled in the whirlpool of cultural chaos. The
English culture was taking its root in India and the people were
forgetting the values of Indias ancient tradition and culture. . ..
Sri Ramakrishnas life was simple and . . . full of practical religion
with tremendous spiritual force which influenced the life of those
who were being led astray by Western materialism and were
losing confidence in Indias spiritual tradition and ancient culture.
22
HARLOW SHAPLEY
The mind and heart of Sri Ramakrishna encompasses all
who work and think on the problems of mans place in the
scheme of things.
23
HENRY R. ZIMMER
To speak of Sri Ramakrishnas teaching with regard to our
present world-situation means, as the wicked jester-king in
Hamlet puts it, in equal scale weighing delight and dole. It
means putting the question, what can the spiritual forces of the
enlightened and perfect, of the teacher who embodies the
Divine, effect in the world-wide struggle and suffering caused by
the demoniac forces of mans nature ; or, in Hindu terms, what
can pure Sattva achieve against Rajas, reckless lust for power,
aggressive selfishness, triumphant tyranny, and against Tamas,
beastiality and sloth of mans animal nature ?...
The actual task of the individual of to-day, in so far as he can
perceive this problem at all, could be, to become, in the Hindu
style, a permanent inmate of both spheres, of this phenomenal
world and the supra-phenomenal reality, and render to Caesar
the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are
Gods. ...These two realities bar each other,the phenomenal
tangible, and the supra-phenomenal intangible ; they are as if
two sides of the same and only coin. They preclude each other
logically, but they are meant to be reconciled through life by each
of us. That is Sri Ramakrishnas message on the lines of Indias
perennial wisdom.
24
HIREN MUKHERJEE
It was Ramakrishnas unalloyed, if also apparently
unsophisticated, love for all beings overflowing so beautifully
that its nectarine quality never fades, his humility, that he wore
28
like a natural garment, humility, however, which had not a
tincture of passive piety but gleamed with sheer certitude over
his own intimate realization, and the simple sublimity of his
equation of jva with Siva (that is to say, of every sentient being
with the godhead) all this and so much more beyond the
purview of this talk that places the Paramahamsa on a peerless
pedestal where vying with West or East becomes irrelevant and
petty.
If there has been anybody in modern times who symbolized,
without the least trace of solemnity and scholasticism, the
B;hadranyaka Upanisads definition of religion as the
honeyed essence of all creation (sarvesm bhtnm
madhu), it was Ramakrishna, in his quintessence the beauty of
holiness. ...It was Ramakrishna, unconcerned about
contentions over superiority between East and West and vice
versa, from whom, essentially, Vivekananda had learnt, rather
imbibed, as one does ones mothers milk, that not princes or
prelates and periwigged charioteers but the common, earthly
people, suppressed cruelly for ages but never entirely
vanquished, are the salt of our earth.
25
HUMAYUN KABIR
In remembering the services and the examples of Sri
Ramakrishna, we ...have before us the example of a personality
who tried to live and explain the different aspects of human
functions, of which we have very few equals in our countrys
history.
...In his own life he tried to realize truth in its different
manifestations, to recognize the value of the contribution of
different types of human endeavour to the achievement of
salvation. ...The aspect which has impressed me, is his emphasis
on toleration, on service. ...His emphasis on toleration is only a
development of the aspect of service to humanity. ...Once he
told Swami Vivekananda, ...So long as you Serve people, there
is no question of your trying to show mercy, there is no question
of showing compassion as is ordinarily understood. What is
wanted is compassion in the true and literal sense of the word,
compassion by which you identify yourself with others.... His
emphasis on toleration rests on this emphasis upon compassion
in the sense of identifying oneself with humanity, identifying
oneself with the individual of whatever colour, whatever creed,
whatever religion, whatever race, of whatever nationality. And in
his life he exemplified this sense of identification with all human
beings. ...To my mind that is also the greatest teachings of true
democracy and Sri Ramakrishna in his own way emphasized the
dignity of the individual.
...The greatness of Sri Ramakrishna, the beauty of Sri
Ramakrishna, thus lies in this sense of identification with human
beings, the recognition of the value of the individual.
26
HUSTON SMITH
In my study of the worlds religions I have been fortunate in
coming upon inspiring firsthand accounts of the worlds great
spiritual geniuses, including Sri Ramakrishna, Indias greatest
nineteenth

century saint.
During the summer in the 1950s while I was writing the
chapter on Hinduism in what was to become my book, The
Worlds Religions, I read and meditated on ten pages of The
Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna each day, and I credit those
meditations for the acclaim that has greeted that chapter.
27
On the heels of [the] dispute over whether we are all saved,
there is another. At the end of our journey do we merge with the
godhead or enjoy the beatific vision of God forever?
Monotheists champion the latter, mystics the former.
30
Ramakrishna, who had a genius for embracing both horns of a
dilemma, identifying with both sides, exclaimed in one of his
monotheistic mood, I want to taste sugar; I dont want to be
sugar. The standard metaphor for the mystics alternative is : the
dewdrop slips into the shining sea.
28
As pains intensity is partly due to the fear that accompanies
it, the conquest of fear can reduce pain concomitantly. Pain can
also be accepted when it has a purpose, as a patient welcomes
the return of life and feeling, even painful feeling, to a frozen arm.
Again, pain can be overridden by an urgent purpose, as in a
football game. In extreme cases of useless pain, it may be
possible to anesthetize it through drugs or control of the senses.
Ramakrishna, the greatest Hindu saint of the nineteenth century,
died of cancer of the throat. A doctor who was examining him in
the last stages of the disease probed his degenerating tissue and
Ramakrishna flinched in pain. Wait a minute, he said; then Go
ahead, after which the doctor could probe without resistance.
The patient had focused his attention to the point where nerve
impulses could barely gain access. One way or another it seems
possible to rise to a point where physical pain ceases to be a
major problem.
29
[God conceived as with-attributes is called Saguna
Brahman], as distinct from the philosophers more abstract
Nirguna Brahman, or God-without-attributes. Nirguna
Brahman is the ocean without a ripple; Saguna Brahman the
same ocean alive with swells and waves. In the language of
theology, the distinction is between personal and transpersonal
conceptions of God. Hinduism has included superb champions
of each view, notably Sankara for the transpersonal and
Ramanuja for the personal; but the conclusion that does most
justice to Hinduism as a whole and has its own explicit
champions like Sri Ramakrishna is that both are equally correct.
At first blush this may look like a glaring violation of the law of
the excluded middle. God may be either personal or not, we are
likely to insist, but not both. But is this so? What the disjunction
forgets, India argues, is the distance our rational minds are from
God in the first place. Intrinsically, God may not be capable of
being two contradictory thingswe say may not because logic
itself may melt in the full blaze of the divine incandescence. But
concepts of God contain so much alloy to begin with that two
contradictory ones may be true, each from a different angle, as
both wave and particles may be equally accurate heuristic
devices for describing the nature of light. On the whole, India
has been content to encourage the devotee to conceive of
Brahman as either personal or transpersonal, depending on
which carries the most exalted meaning for the mind in
question.
30
JADUNATH SARKAR
During his [Ramakrishnas] lifetime he had shown the way to
Freedom to thousands of devotees. Everyone had recognized in
him one who had really seen God. Amongst those who had seen
him and recognized the manifestation of the Great Power in him
are to be found not only Hindus but also Brahmos like Keshub
Chandra Sen, and rationalists like Dr Mahendralal Sarkar.
Whether we believe in an avatra or not, all of us recognize that
light can be transmitted through the help of sparks of fire. It is
many years since the earthly life of Paramahansa Deva came to
an end. But the light that he brought to this world is still burning.
Even today millions of people, men and women, rich and poor,
scholars and the illiterate, the happy and the miserable, the high
caste and the low, reading his life and hearing his teachings, have
32
been able to tune their life to a higher key. His life has brought
solace to many a heart afflicted with sorrow and has shown that
the Kingdom of Heaven can be brought to this earth.
31
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa obviously was completely
outside the run of average humanity. He appears to be in the
tradition of the great ;sis of India, who have come from time to time
to draw our attention to the higher things of life and of the spirit. ...
One of the effects of Sri Ramakrishnas life was the peculiar
way in which he influenced other people who came in contact
with him. Men often scoffed from a distance at this man of no
learning, and yet when they came to him, very soon they bowed
their heads before this man of God and ceased to scoff and
remained to pray.
32
JOSEPH CAMPBELL
The Europeans who protested against the empire of
mediocrity, themselves failed to attain to the springs of power.
So their world of ideas went down before the steamroller. But in
Dakshineshwar, only a few miles outside the Victorian
metropolis of Calcutta, practising his sdhan not according to
enlightened, modern methods, but after the most ancient, most
superstitious, most idolatrous traditions of timeless India : now
hanging to a tree, like a monkey ; now posturing and dressing as
a girl ; now weeping before an image : now sitting, night and day,
like a stump ; six years unable to close his eyes, himself terrified
at what was happening to him, swooning in the ocean of the
Mothers love ; stunned by the experience of BrahmanSri
Ramakrishna cut the hinges of the heavens and released the
fountains of divine bliss.
33
K. M. MUNSHI
The ageless vitality of Aryan culture expressed itself in no
nobler form than in Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. In this
materialistic age, he demonstrated the validity of the experiences
which the Gt had taught. He was almost illiterate, but his
training was all drawn from this gospel. Every word and act of
his expressed the teachings of Sr Krsna in a living manner. By
devotion, knowledge, and yoga he surrendered himself to God.
He saw God as reality. It was, as for all mystics, the only
religion. He realized Him in all His aspects.
...His approach to the caste system was the true approach of
the Gt. The only way to destroy social distinctions is the rise to
perfection by individual efforts. ...Sri Ramakrishna gave
experimental vitality to the Gt. The floodgates of a new
inspiration were opened.
34
LEO TOLSTOY
Alexander Shifman, Adviser to the Tolstoy State Museum, in
his book Tolstoy and India writes : During the last decade of
Tolstoys life Ramakrishna Paramahansa and his pupil Swami
Vivekananda occupied his [Tolstoys] thoughts. ...
On 13 February 1903, Tolstoy read the journal
Theosophischer Wegweister sent to him from Germany and in
his copy underlined a number of Ramakrishnas aphorisms.
There is much in common with my conceptionhe noted in
his diary.
35
Later on, in February 1906, Tolstoy received from his
friend and biographer, P.A. Sergeenko, the book Shri
Ramakrishna Paramahamsas Sayings in English published in
1905 in Madras and read it with interest. Wonderful sayings!
Ramakrishna died 50 [20 ?] years ago. A remarkable sage,
said Tolstoy to a circle of his intimates and read aloud to them
some of those sayings by the Indian philosopher.
36
34
From the literature about Ramakrishna, Tolstoy selected
nearly a hundred sayings and parables which he intended to
publish in Russia. However, this publication did not materialise
and the writer after carefully working over them included some
in his collections of ancient wisdom over which he was working
at that time.
37
LEROY S. ROUNER
Sri Ramakrishna, a nineteenth-century Indian saint and
mystic, experienced God directly and immediately in the context
of Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. ...
Sri Ramakrishna was the supreme example of a religious
phenomenologist, and phenomenology is the methodology of
love. It is the practical application of the New Testament
injunction to lose ones life, for the sake of the neighbour and in
Christs name, if one would truly find it. This means that neither
the attack of religious imperialism, nor the defense of religious
exclusivism can be a valid Christian attitude toward inter-
religious relationships. The method of love in relation to the
neighbour who is a religious stranger is to lay aside ones own
perspective, even ones own convictions and beliefs, and to take
on the life and world and beliefs of the neighbour stranger. In this
context, it is possible to discover the continually unfolding truth
to which Christ promised the Holy Spirit would lead us. And
only in this context it is possible to know the full meaning of the
age-old Christian affirmation that God has not left himself
without witnesses in any age or human community. ...
[In] Sri Ramakrishnas story... [our] fellow Christians may
find the authentic Spirit of the one true God at work in their inner
dialogue with this Hindu neighbour/stranger. In the midst of this
meeting and knowing, that Spirit may lead us into some as yet
undiscovered new truth. ...
38
MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI
The story of Ramakrishna Paramahansas life is a story of
religion in practice. His life enables us to see God face to face.
No one can read the story of his life without being convinced
that God alone is real and that all else is an illusion. Ramakrishna
was a living embodiment of godliness. His sayings are not those
of a mere learned man but they are pages from the Book of Life.
They are revelations of his own experiences. They, therefore,
leave on the reader an impression which he cannot resist. In this
age of scepticism Ramakrishna presents an example of a bright
and living faith which gives solace to thousands of men and
women who would otherwise have remained without spiritual
light. Ramakrishnas life was an object-lesson in ahims. His
love knew no limits, geographical or otherwise. May his divine
love be an inspiration to all. ...
39
MAHENDRANATH SIRCAR
One of the most potent forces in the present-day cultural and
spiritual life in India is Ramakrishna-Vivekananda. Ramakrishna
was the silent man of God. ...His character can be summed up
in one word, God-centric. ...Ramakrishna was a super-mystic.
Hence his message and teachings have a unique importance; for
they proceed direct from the divine impress upon his being.
Intellectual fineness cannot always reach this level; unless the
psychic being is transparent, the spiritual aspect of our being
cannot be penetrated and its secrets revealed. ...Without a
catholic, free and elastic mind, there is every chance of
committing mistakes in our attempt to explain and interpret him.
...His being was veritable spiritual laboratory in which he had
experiments with every kind of spiritual experience. ...He was
born at a time when the Hindu religion was attacked by
advanced and liberal thought, and it was no small task for
36
Ramakrishna unconsciously to revive peoples faith in the
ancient religion. ...
...Ramakrishna by his intense spirituality which he had
attained by the time honoured disciplines and methods, showed
the dynamism, power and potentiality of the orthodox faith. He
had the spiritual genius to establish that Hinduism was not
idolatry, that there was a fine scientific discipline in the orthodox
cult to evoke spiritual powers and extensive visions.
40
MOHITLAL MAJUMDAR
Whether we believe in the Divine incarnation or not, a man
of Sri Ramakrishnas stature could be found in the microscopic
numbers. In thousands years, a man like Sri Ramakrishna is
born in the world.
To reach Him one needs to free oneself from all dogmas,
superstitions and sectarian attitudes. And to meet Him would be
a realization that this man unlike others has a distinct identity of
His own. He is the embodiment of perennial truths and a
supreme power.
Now the whole civilization is in utter distress and faces crisis
in all spheres. An incarnation is inevitable to tide over such
situations. Sri Ramakrishna played that role for the humanity.
41
MUHAMMAD DAUD RAHBAR
Jesus is remembered as the Son of Man. In the recorded
history of religion, Sri Ramakrishna shines as a devotee of the
Divine Mother. He should, therefore, be remembered as the
Son of Woman.
Four miles north of Calcutta, in the Garden of Temples at
Dakshineshwar, he began his devotions to Mother Kal and
went into rapture when yet only a child. His life from then on is
an open book filled with a moving story of worship and
adoration. His revelation of the benign Mother of the Universe is
a consummation of the spiritual aspirations of matriarchal India.
Like a magnet, Sri Ramakrishna attracted ardent disciples.
More than thirty of them maintained intimate association with
him. Hundreds of them derived solace and blessing by beholding
him and talking to him.
I have read some delightful portions of the one-thousand-
page Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. This marvellous volume has
extraordinary revelations. Immediately one recognizes a
cherishable friend in Sri Ramakrishna. His open, passionate, and
transparent devotion humbles and chastens us. He is no
common mortal. He is a man of phenomenal gifts. His presence
is a haven. His conversations, recorded abundantly in the
Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna by his disciple M., are charming,
inspiring. Their literary merit is due to the inspired goodness of
Sri Ramakrishna. ...
We turn now to another genuine quality of Sri Ramakrishna :
renunciation. It is perhaps the virtue most vigorously rejected by
the politicized civilization of the emerging world. It is condemned
by political activists as if it were an adoption of the way of
unconcern. The political activists have to go through self-
searching to realize that much of the fever and scramble of
politics is a symptom of sick spirit. The implementation of the
great movement of democratic thought in the world is not simply
a matter of equal opportunity to cultivate ambition. Democratic
freedom must learn to respect the freedom to renounce.
Perhaps it is true to say that in America today, austere forms of
creative renunciation are virtually proclaimed illegal. A
mendicant spiritual would be looked upon as a vagrant and a
parasite. This is tragic. The excessively politicized intelligentsia in
the modern world will hastily detect in Sri Ramakrishna an
escapist quietism. An observation on those lines will be
38
rejected by anyone who reads a substantial part of the Gospel
of Sri Ramakrishna. In him we find a bustling renunciation full
of excitement, but not escapism or quietism. His life is not one of
escape for the soul, rather it is a life busy with fortification of the
spirit. His ascetic exercises lead to his faith-building charisma.
His experiments with psychology of religion are of both spiritual
and scientific value for us. He is not running away from
responsibilities in the world, he is handling them with eminent
creativity. He exercises the privilege of inspired selection of
occupation. He investigates the secrets of spirit and soul by
turning to experienced men and women. He meditates and is an
alert onlooker. He is not bookish but is assiduous in enquiries as
a student of folk religion through listening to recital of sacred
mythology, direct observation, rigorous introspection,
conversation and, most of all, through devotion.
He does all that and does not ask anybody for a salary or a
stipend as a reward. Nobody has a reasonable right to object to
this arrangement.
Any society that bans renunciation and detachment of this
kind is heading for impaired mental health and low level of faith.
For it deprives itself of a needed source of holy contagion and
vibrations of serenity. Every society needs a mixture of infection
of animation and equanimity. Every society needs contagion of
selflessness and meditative inspiration. ...
The soldierly masculine civilization of the West will have to
go through long historical preparation to provide a natural place
for the worship of Divine Mother among believers. Nevertheless
the assertion of the feminine element has begun. The Western
male is not yet effeminate, although perhaps the Western female
has become somewhat masculine. ...
I pay tribute to Sri Ramakrishnas device to attain intimacy
with Buddhist, Muslim, and Christian life. He demonstrated his
own kind of desires and overtures, as against other possible
ways of going about the enrichment and broadening of
experience. He went about it in a certain mystical way. It is valid,
interesting, and meaningful because its motivation was pure. ...
There is a great deal of power politics connected with
religion. The scientists and secularists have no doubt contributed
much to the removal of dishonesty in religious leadership. But
now some of the presumption which used to be the trait of some
priests is manifest among many secularist men of science. The
autonomy of science and intellect has been overdone. The time
has arrived when forces of spirit have to be released. Insight and
wisdom are lacking in the intellectual world of today. The faces
of secularist scientists seldom have a radiance and magnanimity.
Was not the unsophisticated Sri Ramakrishna a gifted
scientist in his own right? In his blissful life we find a happy union
of religion and science. ...
42
MUHAMMAD SAHIDULLAH
Religion creates dissension between people. Truth is one.
Man interprets it in different ways. Real uniqueness lies in
discovering unity in diversity. Sri Ramakrishna alone on earth
practised all religions on himself. Then he arrived at a conclusion
that all religions have a fundamental unified truth. It was Sri
Ramakrishna who pronounced a death knell for all divisions in
religion. Ramakrishna is indeed our saviour. The Hindus
venerate Him as an incarnation of God. Whatever may be our
ways of venerating Him, He ushered in a new epoch for the
whole humanity.
43
NICHOLAS K. ROERICH
We are in the deserts of Mongolia. It was hot and dusty
yesterday. From faraway thunder was approaching. Some of
40
our friends became tired from climbing up the stony holy hills of
Shiret Obo. While already returning to the camp, we noticed in
the distance a huge elm-treekaragatch, lonely towering
amidst the surrounding endless desert. The size of the tree, its
somewhat familiar outlines, attracted us into its shadow.
* * *
Thoughts turned to the radiant giant of IndiaSri
Ramakrishna. Around this glorious name there are so many
respectful definitions. Sr, Bhagavan, Paramahamsaall best
offerings through which the people wish to express their esteem
and reverence. The consciousness of a nation knows how to
bestow names of honour. And after all, above all most venerable
titles, there remains over the whole world the one great name
Ramakrishna. The personal name has already changed into a
great all-national, universal concept.
* * *
Light is especially precious during the hours of darkness.
May the Light be eternally preserved! In his parables about the
Good, Ramakrishna never belittled anyone. And not only in the
Teaching, in parables, but in his own deeds he never tolerated
bemeaning. Let us remember his reverent attitude towards all
religions. Such broad understanding will move even a stony
heart. In his broad outlook, the Blessed Bhagavan of course
possessed a real straight-knowledge. His power of healing he in
turn gave out freely. He never hid anything useful. He exhausted
his strength in innumerable blessed givings. And even his illness
of course was due to such constant self-sacrificing outpouring of
his spiritual energy for the healing of others. And in these
generous gifts Ramakrishna manifested his greatness.
In all parts of the world the name of Ramakrishna is
venerated. Also is revered Swami Vivekananda, who
symbolizes true discipleship. The names of Ramakrishna,
Vivekananda and the glorious host of their followers remain on
the most remarkable pages of the history of the spiritual culture
of India. The astounding depth of thought, which is characteristic
of India, the beautiful manifestation of guru and chelremind
the whole world of basic ideals. Ages pass, whole civilizations
change, but the guru and the chel remain in the same wise
relationship, which was since antiquity established in India.
* * *
Not only the everlasting value of the Teaching of Good
affirmed by Ramakrishna, but precisely the necessity of these
words especially for our time is unquestionable. When
spirituality, as such, is being so often refuted through wrongly
interpreted formulae, then the radiant constructive affirmation as
a beacon becomes especially precious.
44
PAUL BRUNTON
What do you want? asked Ramakrishna, the illustrious
sage who lit up the nineteenth century darkness of India. Replied
his famous disciple Swami Vivekananda : I wish to remain
immersed in mystic trance for three or four days at a stretch
breaking it just to take food. Said Ramakrishna : You are a
fool ! There is a state which is even higher than that.
Our quest of a valid source of knowledge can come to an
end only when it will yield one that is universally and forever
unalterable, which will be the same and hold to the same laws of
verification at allowed times and in all conditions, not during
meditation alone.
45
PHILIP GLASS
Sri Ramakrishna was born on February 18, 1836 in
Kamarpukur, a village in rural Bengal. As a young man he took
up service in the temple dedicated to Kal, The Divine Mother,
42
at Dakshineshwar, a village about ten miles north of Calcutta in
those years. There he remained for the rest of his life, dying in the
early hours of Monday, August 16, 1886. The Kal temple at
Dakshineshwar is still there today, but is now surrounded by an
ever-expanding and bustling Calcutta. By coincidence, it stands
not far from the place established for the work and residence of
the late Mother Teresa. Ramakrishnas home remains there, still
embodying his spirit and worth a visit by anyone interested in
knowing about his life and work.
As a young man, he was largely self-taught, having absorbed
knowledge of the ancient tradition of India through reading and
hearing the religious stories in the Purnas as well as his
association with the holy men, pilgrims and wandering monks
who would stop at Kamarpukur on their way to Pur and other
holy places. In time he became famous throughout India for his
ability to expound and elucidate the most subtle aspects of that
profound and vast tradition. It was not uncommon in the years of
his maturity for pundits from all over India to come and test his
knowledge. Invariably, they were astonished by the ease and
eloquence with which he addressed their questions. It appeared
that his first-hand spiritual experiences were more than adequate
when it came to explaining the scriptures of ancient India. In this
way he was able to remove all doubt about their meaning and,
indeed, his own authority.
By the late nineteenth century India had been governed for
almost four hundred years by two of the great world empires
the Mughals and the British. Each had fostered a foreign religion
and culture in India which, in time, had been absorbed into
Indian civilization. The genius of Ramakrishna was to restore
and reaffirm the ancient Hindu culture from its spiritual source.
It would be hard to overestimate the impact that the life,
presence and teaching of Sri Ramakrishna had on the formation
of the modern India we know today. It was as if the sleeping
giant of Indian culture and spiritualitycertainly one of the
foremost cultures of the ancient worldhad been re-awakened
and empowered to take its rightful place in modern times. Within
a generation of his death, Gandhis quit India movement was in
full bloom. The poetry of Tagore as well as countless
manifestations in theatre, music, philosophy and civil discourse
were becoming known to the world at large. Over one hundred
years ago Swami Vivekananda (the Narendranath of our text)
travelled to the West to take part in the first Parliament of the
Worlds Religions in Chicago in 1893. He established in
America the first Vedanta Centres, which have spread
throughout the world, with major centres in Southern California.
Even today the influence of India (and ultimately, of
Ramakrishna) can be heard in the poetry and music of Allen
Ginsburg and the Beatles, to mention only a few artists. It is hard
to imagine the emergence of India on the world stage without the
spark that was provided by Ramakrishnas brilliance. Perhaps,
some may doubt that Indiathe most populous democracy of
our time, brimming with vitality and creativitycould owe so
much to one saintly man, long gone, who lived a life of such utter
simplicity. Yet I believe that is exactly the case.
It has been said that when a great man dies, it is as if all of
humanityand the whole world, for that matterwere
witnessing a beautiful, timeless sunset. At that moment the great
matter of life and death is revealed, if not explained and
understood. By bearing witness to that event, perhaps we
understand a little better our own mortality, its limits and
possibilities. The Passion of Ramakrishna is meant to recount
in this highly abbreviated work, his suffering, death and
transfiguration as they took place during the last few months of
his life.
44
In this work, the words of Ramakrishna are taken up by the
Chorus. Sarada Devi was his wife and lifelong companion. M.
(his real name was Mahendranath Gupta) was the disciple who
kept a close record of his meetings with Ramakrishna, later
published as The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. Dr Sarkar [Dr
Mahendralal Sarkar] was his attending physician. The two
disciples who sing small solo parts are unidentified in the text.
46
PITIRIM ALEXANDROVITCH SOROKIN
A successful growth of Sri Ramakrishna and of the Vedanta
movements in the West is one of many symptoms of two basic
processes which are going on at the present time in the human
universe. One of these changes is the epochal shift of the
creative centre of mankind from Europe to the larger area of the
Pacific-Atlantic, while the other consists in a double process of
continued decay of sensate culture and society and of the
emergence and growth of the newIntegral or Ideational
socio-cultural order.
47
PRAMATHANATH TARKABHUSAN
( 1 )
Through the earthly body of Sri Ramakrishna Bhagavan Sr
Hari [Narayana] manifested His divinity in Bengal. ...Sri
Ramakrishna appeared in a time full of surprising incidents.
...This period had witnessed the involvement of many talented
personalities in developing and nurturing numerous new thoughts
and the consequential conflicts as well. ...Sri Ramakrishna has
his advent among all such luminaries, and led an apparently easy
worldly life of a priest devoid of wealth or education. And that
exactly was his unique and amazing featignoring all the
limitations he could achieve his revered place among the Indian
spiritual giants. ...
... Sri Ramakrishnas influence on the world could hardly
have the extraordinary and everlasting impact without
Vivekananda. And Narendranath Datta, in obverse, would
never have become Swami Vivekananda without the
compassion and adoration unsolicited but abundant, from Sri
Ramakrishna. ...He gave his mantle to the Swami and through
him inspired all pervading peace, harmony and spirituality
around the civilized nations. It was he who did first realize how
such massive benevolent work could have its fruitful end in the
contemporary time, and awakened the required force within the
enormously powerful and broad heart of the Swami. This in
particular was the greatest aspect of the amazingly eventful life of
Sri Ramakrishna.
48
( 2 )
To know and realize Brahman the tman taught in the
Upanishads of India is the highest goal of human life. This is the
message of India. To teach this message to India in a new form
adopted to the needs of times, and through India to human
beings all over the World, who on account of ignorance have the
misfortune to identify themselves with the body and suffer
torment and worry, and thus lead them to freedom from all kinds
of bondage, God appeared on earth as Paramahamsa Deva.
My countless salutations to the holy feet of Bhagavan Sri
Ramakrishna, the visible symbol of the Lord, ushering in a
synthesis of the religions of the world !
49
PROTAP CHANDRA MOZOOMDAR
My mind is still floating in the luminous atmosphere which
that wonderful man diffuses around him whenever and wherever
he goes. My mind is not yet disenchanted of the mysterious and
indefinable pathos which he pours into it whenever he meets me.
46
What is there in common between him and me? I, a
Europeanized, civilized, self-centred, semi-sceptical, so-called
educated reasoner, and he, a poor, illiterate, shrunken,
unpolished, diseased, half-dressed, half- idolatrous, friendless
Hindu devotee? Why should I sit long hours to attend to him, I
who have listened to Disraeli and Fawcett, Stanley and Max
Mller, and a whole host of European scholars and divines, I
who am an ardent disciple and follower of Christ, a friend and
admirer of liberal-minded Christian missionaries and preachers,
a devoted adherent and worker of the rationalistic Brahmo
Samaj,why should I be spellbound to hear him? And it is not I
only, but dozens like me who do the same. He has been
interviewed and examined by many, crowds pour in to visit and
talk with him. Some of our clever intellectual fools have found
nothing in him, some of the contemptuous Christian missionaries
would call him an imposter, or a self-deluded enthusiast. I have
weighed their objections well, and what I write now, I write
deliberately.
The Hindu saint is a man much under forty. He is a Brahmin
by caste, he is well formed naturally, but the dreadful austerities
through which his character has developed have permanently
disordered his system, inflicted a debility, paleness, and
shrunkenness upon his form and features that excite the deepest
compassion. Yet in the midst of this emaciation, his face retains a
fullness, a child-like tenderness, a profound visible humbleness,
an unspeakable sweetness of expression and smile that I have
seen in no other face that I can remember. A Hindu saint is
always particular about his externals. He wears the geru cloth,
eats according to strict forms and is a rigid observer of caste. He
is always proud and professes secret wisdom. He is always a
guruj, and a dispenser of charms. This man is singularly
indifferent to these matters. His dress and diet dont differ from
those of other men except in the general negligence he shows
towards both, and as to caste, he openly breaks it every day. He
most vehemently repudiates the title of being called a teacher or
guru, he shows impatient displeasure at any exceptional honour
which people try to pay him, and emphatically disclaims the
knowledge of secrets and mysteries. He protests against being
lionized, and openly shows his strong dislike to be visited and
praised by the curious. The society of the worldly-minded and
carnally-inclined he shuns carefully. He has nothing
extraordinary about him. His religion is his only
recommendation. And what is his religion? It is Hinduism, but
Hinduism of a strange type. Ramakrishna Paramahansa, for that
is the saints name, is the worshipper of no particular Hindu god.
He is not a Saiva, he is not a Sakta, he is not a Vaisnava, he is
not a Vedantist. Yet he is all these. He worships Siva, he
worships Kal, he worships Rama, he worships Krsna, and is a
confirmed advocate of Vedantist doctrines. He is an idolater,
and is yet a faithful and most devoted meditator of the
perfections of the one formless, infinite Deity whom he terms
akhanda Saccidnanda. His religion, unlike the religion of
ordinary Hindu sdhus, does not mean the maturity of doctrinal
belief, or controversial proficiency, or the outward worship with
flower and sandal, incense and offering. His religion means
ecstasy, his worship means transcendental perception, his whole
nature burns day and night with the permanent fire and fever of a
strange faith and feeling. His conversation is a ceaseless
breaking forth of this inward fire, and lasts for long hours. While
his interlocutors are weary, he, though outwardly feeble, is as
fresh as ever. He merges into rapturous ecstasy and outward
unconsciousness often during the day, oftenest in conversation
when he speaks of his favourite spiritual experiences, or hears
any striking response to them. But how is it possible that he has
48
such a fervent regard for all the Hindu deities together? What is
the secret of his singular eclecticism? To him each of these
deities is a force, an incarnated principle tending to reveal the
supreme relation of the soul to that eternal and formless Being
Who is unchangeable in His blessedness and the Light of
Wisdom.
50
RABINDRANATH TAGORE
~-c: -|++t--
=:= r==rr
:+:=:= r''-= :+:== r
:= r=:==:r--~:
== == r ~'=-==:= ;
:-':-:r~'=- '=
:=+r~'= '--'=
50a
To the Paramahansa Ramakrishna Deva
Diverse courses of worship
from varied springs of fulfilment
have mingled in your meditation.
The manifold revelation of the joy of the Infinite
has given form to a shrine of unity in your life;
Where from far and near arrive salutations
to which I join mine own.
50b
RADHAKAMAL MUKERJEE
The strangest paradox was that this unsophisticated and
unostentatious man of God, around whom gathered the
nineteenth-century intellectuals of Calcutta, worshipped Christ
and Mohammed.
Sri Ramakrishnas religion was beatific vision, his worship
the perennial realization of the immanence of the Divine in every
object and relation, his whole nature the image of God in all its
50
purity, love and beauty. When he affirmed that he followed the
paths of the different sects and creeds and practised all religions,
Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity, there were a strange passion
and certitude from which there could be no escape even of a
scoffer and an iconoclast.
India needed a tolerant and universal religion like that of Sri
Ramakrishna that might found a new social ethics for our
evolving welfare State on the spiritual intuition of the indwelling
God in the common man, absolutely every common man, and
foster infinite charity and compassion for all. Such an ethics,
equalitarian, buoyant, and dynamic, emerged from every
parable, every imagery, and every song of this God-intoxicated
man who was as powerful in his gentle persuasions as in his
unfathomable silence.
51
RAMESH CHANDRA MAJUMDAR
The truth of the theoretical speculations of Bankim was
demonstrated by Ramakrishna Paramahansa, the greatest saint
of the 19th century. Both by precept and example of his own life
Ramakrishna brought home to an incredulous world, held under
the spell of natural science, the reality of spiritual life and of the
means to attain it as described in ancient Hindu scriptures, both
Vedic and post-Vedic. He held that not only all the different
forms of Hindu religion, including the Puranic and Tantric, but all
religions, such as Islam and Christianity, are true in their essence
and may lead to salvation, if properly pursued. This he
demonstrated by himself practising with success the diverse
modes of sdhan or spiritual discipline prescribed in the
different religious cults mentioned above. ...Ramakrishna
proved in his own life that the worship of Puranic deities through
their images was as good a means of salvation as the worship of
one God without any form. He gave a moral sanction, a
52
philosophical basis and a new spiritual significance to the neo-
Hinduism which laid the foundation of Hindu nationalism on a
secure foundation.
52
RICHARD SCHIFFMAN
If Krsna was enough for Mra, and Jesus sufficient for Saint
Francis, then why did Ramakrishna feel the need to cry out in
turn to Kal, to Krsna, to Rama, to Sta, and even ... to Christ
and the God of Mohammed? The mystics of the past had gone
into the candy shop and made a single selection. Ramakrishna,
on the other hand, had exited with hands and mouth and pockets
overflowing.
In reflecting upon this mystery, Ramakrishnas disciples
would probably say that the Master wanted to demonstrate
through his actions that all embodiments of God are great, and
that devotion to any one of them ultimately reaches the one
IneffableGod beyond all names and forms, God in all names
and forms. This seems reasonable enough. But still, we must
wonder whether Ramakrishna was being an intentional and
premeditated as all that. Or was he simply driven by a hunger
that he would not have tried to rationalize or understand? One
thing is certain : the spirit of creedal narrowness that seeks to
imprison the Infinite within a single approved symbol for worship
was completely alien to his nature. And so was the complacency
that tests content with what it already knows. Even in the future,
when men gathered at his feet, treasuring his every word,
Ramakrishna would ask the newcomer to tell him about God,
and, if he spoke from genuine experience, the Master would
listen rapt with wonder.
Ramakrishna was, by nature, incapable of holding himself
aloof. From the moment a newcomer arrived, the Master would
be chatting with a transparent sincerity. Invariably, after the
briefest civilities, the conversation would turn to God, and
devotion ; everything else seemed insipid to him. It was not
unusual that within minutes Ramakrishna would be taking
perfect stranger into his confidence, speaking of his most
intimate visions and other spiritual experiences in the same easy
manner that others talk about the weather ... but always without
a hint of pride or boasting. Like the child of God he was, the
Master would say, Mother showed me this . ... Mother told me
. ... Mother revealed. ...
Ramakrishnas influence on those who lived within his orbit
was manifested at every level, from the most mundane to the
most metaphysical. His was a flame that burned and enlightened
and that melted down the fixed metal of the whole person, only
to remould it again in a simpler, truer form.
This transformation of character was Ramakrishnas
greatest miracle and his most enduring legacy.
To one and all, Ramakrishna offered a vision of hope. God is
not only for the chosen few who become sannyss, but for
anyone who cries out to Him with sincere longing. Wherein is
the strength of a devotee? he once asked rhetorically. He is a
child of God, and his devotional tears are his mightiest
weapon.
53
ROMAIN ROLLAND
Allowing for differences of country and of time,
Ramakrishna is the younger brother of our Christ....
I am bringing to Europe, as yet unaware of it, the fruit of a
new autumn, a new message of the Soul, the symphony of India,
bearing the name of Ramakrishna. It can be shown (and we shall
not fail to point out) that this symphony, like those of our
classical masters, is built up of a hundred different musical
elements emanating from the past. But the sovereign personality
54
concentrating in himself the diversity of these elements and
fashioning them into a royal harmony, is always the one who
gives his name to the work, though it contains within itself the
labour of generations. And with his victorious sign he marks a
new era.
The man whose image I here evoke was the consummation
of two thousand years of the spiritual life of three hundred million
people. Although he has been dead forty years, his soul animates
modern India. He was no hero of action like Gandhi, no genius
in art or thought like Goethe or Tagore. He was a little village
Brahmin of Bengal, whose outer life was set in a limited frame
without striking incident, outside the political and social activities
of his time. But his inner life embraced the whole multiplicity of
men and Gods. It was a part of the very source of Energy, the
Divine Sakti, of whom Vidyapati, the old poet of Mithila, and
Ramaprasada of Bengal sing.
Very few go back to the source. The little peasant of Bengal
by listening to the message of his heart found his way to the inner
Sea. And there he was wedded to it, thus bearing out the words of
the Upanishads :
I am more ancient than the radiant Gods. I am the first-born
of the Being. I am the artery of Immortality.
It is my desire to bring the sound of the beating of that artery
to the ears of fever-stricken Europe, which has murdered sleep.
I wish to wet its lips with the blood of Immortality.
54
SARAT CHANDRA BOSE
This great teacher [Sri Ramakrishna] was Bengals
contribution to the world in the last century. ...We and the rest of
the world came under the influence of his teachings during his
early pilgrimage and even more so, after he had completed his
journey. ...To my mind, Sri Ramakrishnas mode of approach to
different systems of worship inculcated in the different religions
of the world is his special contribution to the history of the
progress of religions in the present age. ...Sri Ramakrishnas
teachings did not disturb a single religion of the world. ...He left
no new religion as his legacy unto us. He did not ask anybody to
change his religion with a view to realizing God. ...His teachings
prove that each religion gives ample scope and opportunity to
realize God. That was the distinctive peculiarity of his teachings.
Towards the end of his sojourn into this world Swami
Premananda, one of his disciples, heard him pray, Mother, do
not let me become famous by leading those who believe in
beliefs! Do not expound beliefs through my voice.
55
SAROJINI NAIDU
In the garden of Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, there stands an
empty temple made of stone and one day, when I was giving the
Kamala Lectures to the University, the last day it was, I walked
with him in his garden. He said to me, Have you found the text
of todays address? I said, No. Then he said, You will find the
text of your address here. I walked with him and looked at the
birds, trees, statues and at last I stood before that empty temple,
when he said, Poet, have you found your message? I said, I
have. Here is an empty temple in which there is no image
because every worshipper must find in the empty temple the
knowledge that he creates God in the image of his own soul.
That is the message to the world of all great saints and prophets
of the world and that was the message of Sri Ramakrishna. For
him the temple was always empty, because it was always ready.
It was always ready for him to place his deity, no matter whether
for a moment he projected himself into the soul of the
Mussulman or the Christian or the Confucian or the Zoroastrian
or the Sikh or any other faith. He said, Here is a temple of
56
humanity and humanity must have a God. Where shall I find
Him? Shall I produce Him in my limited individual
consciousness? Or God shall be so infinite and so diverse that I
shall seek Him in the image of the Infinite as He appears to his
children in the deserts of Arabia, or on the mountaintops, in the
caves and in the forests of many lands. And Sri Ramakrishna
taught us that the temple remains empty because love alone can
create an image of God and with that love, you are not limited,
you become a part of the great humanity that worship God by
many names.
56
SARVEPALLI RADHAKRISHNAN
While the sayings of Sri Ramakrishna did not penetrate so
much into academic circles, they found their way into lonely
hearts who have been stranded in their pursuit of pleasure and
selfish desires. Under the inspiration of this great teacher there
has been a powerful revival of social compassion. ...He has
helped to raise from the dust the fallen standard of Hinduism, not
in words merely, but in works also.
57
SATIS CHANDRA CHATTOPADHYAYA
Sri Ramakrishna lived a life of manifold spiritual realization.
He approached Reality along numerous paths and had very
varied experiences of it. ...This is a sort of experimental
verification of the truth that while Reality is one and is formless
and nameless in one aspect, it may have many forms and faces in
another. On the strength of such indubitable spiritual experiences
and firm convictions, Sri Ramakrishna taught many truths for the
good of mankind. He lived in an age in which the world was torn
by conflicts of creeds and cultures, dogmas and doctrines,
theologies and philosophies, and the relation between any two
religious sects or communities was embittered by intolerance,
jealousy and contempt of each other. It was the mission of his life
to end these conflicts and bring about a reconciliation.
...In Sri Ramakrishnas teachings we have a solution of the
vexed problem of God and the Absolute, which is more
satisfying than any to be found elsewhere. ...Sri Ramakrishna
not only preached the harmony of all religions, but his life itself
was a harmony of all religions. He taught it and demonstrated it
in his life by following many different religions and realizing the
same God through each of them. ...He taught that all religions
from crude image-worship to contemplation of the pure,
formless Brahman are true and that they are all capable of
leading their followers to the highest end of the religious life,
namely, God.
58
SAYED MUJTABA ALI
Like him [Sri Ramakrishna] none had ever spoke in such a
simple language. His words and the way of talking have their
closest similarity with that of Christ. ...He was determined to
attach greatest value to the folk religion, customs, rituals and
language, and, hence, had continually used peoples language
and the mode of talking with hearts content.
...If for reasons of spiritual, social or political discord
different sects living within the same society refuse to be
cohesive among themselves, it results in an irreparable loss to
that society as a whole, which may, even, lead to its enormous
extinction. How many of the virtuous people in those days [We
doubt] were aware of this truth?
...Paramahamsa Deva decided to do away with such
discords, so he never avoided the pointless and unpopular
discussion centring the Form and the Formless. As a proof of
that we frequently see that he was not satisfied with the company
of his Hindu disciples and followers alone, and has earnestly
58
kept on asking where is Vijay [Vijaykrishna Goswami],
Sivanath [Sivanath Sastri] has assured me that he would come,
Keshub [Keshub Chandra Sen] is very dear to me. But he
hardly was willing to convert his Brahmo disciples to Kal-
worship. With his entire heart he only yearned that the conflict
should disappear. It is my firm belief that for obviating the
conflict, Sri Ramakrishna deserves the unique glory.
The sage who could harmonize Gts doctrine of Karma,
Jna and Bhakti is, as it were, the man absolute the
Supreme man. ...Ever since these three ways were introduced in
the Gt, no fourth method has yet been discovered. He, who
could harmonize these three ways, becomes the companion of
Krsna and his name is Sri Ramakrishna.
59
SIVANATH SASTRI
The impression left in my mind by intercourse with him
[Ramakrishna Paramahansa] was that I had seldom come
across any other man in whom the hunger and thirst for spiritual
life was so great and who had gone through so many privations
and sufferings for the practice of religion. Secondly, I was
convinced that he was no longer a sdhaka or a devotee under
exercise but was a siddha purusa or one who had attained
direct vision of spiritual truth. The truth, of which he had direct
spiritual vision and which had become a fountain of noble
impulses in his soul, was Divine Motherhood. ... Yet this
conception of Motherhood stretched far beyond any idol or
image into a sense of the Infinite. ...He would say, only fools
make distinction between Kal and Krsna, they are the
manifestations of the same Power.
Speaking of the spirituality and catholicity of his conception,
one incident comes to my mind. A Christian preacher of
Bhowanipore, who was my personal friend, once accompanied
me on my visit to Ramakrishna. When I introduced my friend to
him, I saidTo-day I bring a Christian preacher to you, who
having heard of you from me, was very eager to see you,
whereupon the saint bowed his head to the ground and said, I
bow again and again, at the feet of Jesus. Then took place the
following conversation :
My Christian friendHow is it, Sir, that you bow at the feet
of Christ? What do you think of him?
RamakrishnaWhy, I look upon him as an incarnation of
God.
My friendIncarnation of God! Will you kindly explain
what you mean by it?
RamakrishnaAn incarnation like our Rama or Krsna.
Dont you know there is a passage in the Bhgavatam where it
is said that the incarnations of Visnu or the Supreme Being are
innumerable?
My friendPlease explain further ; I do not understand it
quite.
RamakrishnaJust take the case of the ocean. It is a wide
and almost infinite expanse of water. But owing to special
causes, in special parts of this wide sea, the water becomes
congealed into ice. When reduced to ice it can be easily
manipulated and applied to special uses. An incarnation is
something like that. Like that infinite expanse of water, there is
the Infinite Power, immanent in matter and mind, but for some
special purposes, in special regions, a portion of that Infinite
power, as it were, assumes a tangible shape in history, that is
what you call a great man ; but he is properly speaking a local
manifestation of the all-pervading Divine power, in other words,
an incarnation of God. The greatness of great men is essentially
the manifestation of divine Energy. ...
60
During the last few years of the saints life, my visits became
less frequent than they were before. ...
At last when the news of his fast declining health was brought
to me one day, I left all work and went to Dakshineshwar. ...
That was my last interview with him, after which he was
removed from Dakshineshwar, was placed under the treatment of
the most distinguished physicians of the town, and was devotedly
nursed by his disciples ; but nothing could stay the progress of his
disease and he passed away, leaving behind him a memory that is
now spiritually feeding hundreds of earnest souls. My
acquaintance with him, though short, was fruitful by strengthening
many a spiritual thought in me. He was certainly one of the most
remarkable personalities I have come across in life.
60
* * *
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r ~'= r'= r= :r== -r= '==== r= + = += +|=
= 'r:= = r== ' '=-== =-r :~-:r:= [=r~r~:= ''=
=' '=-== :r=]...
r= :+ r='= ''+':r=:= '= = r= ':+r :~= ~-'=
= 'r+'= ...
61
[After coming into contact with Ramakrishna, this one idea
used to come to my mind that religion is one, only its forms are
different. Every word of Ramakrishna gave utterance to this
catholicity and universality of religion. I remember very clearly
one of his illustrations in this connection. (Sastri then narrates the
same incident as stated before)...
It was after mixing with Ramakrishna I have especially
realized the spirit of universality of religion. ...]
SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE
From Vivekananda I turned gradually to his master,
Ramakrishna Paramahansa. Vivekananda had made speeches,
written letters, and published books which were available to the
layman. But Ramakrishna, who was almost an illiterate man, had
done nothing of the kind. He had lived his life and had left it to
others to explain it. Nevertheless, there were books or diaries
published by his disciples which gave the essence of his
teachings. ... There was nothing new in his teaching, which is as
old as Indian civilization itself, the Upanishads having taught
thousands of years ago that through abandonment of worldly
desires alone can immortal life be attained. The effectiveness of
Ramakrishnas appeal lay, however, in the fact that he had
practised what he preached and that...he had reached the acme
of spiritual progress.
65
TARASANKAR BANDYOPADHYAYA
Sri Ramakrishnas teachings propagate the purest and
simplest truths which transcend the bounds of India and become
all time relevant for the whole world.
Never has He recorded any of his teachings, nor has he ever
felt the necessity of it. His teachings echo the spirit of Jesuss
gospel.
Sri Ramakrishna has presented us the true character of
religion and explained it to all to get both the Society and our
minds rid of all vices and impurities. Swami Vivekananda is His
gift to the world. And we owe a world of debt to Him for this.
Our love for Him is boundless. It is spontaneous.
66
THOMAS MERTON
You have to see your will and Gods will dualistically for a
long time. You have to experience duality for a long time until you
see its not there. In this respect I am a Hindu. Ramakrishna has
the solution. Dont consider dualistic prayer on a lower level. ...
There are no levels. Any moment you can break through to the
62
underlying unity which is Gods gift in Christ. In the end, praises.
Thanksgiving gives thanks. Jesus prays. Openness is all.
64
WILL DURANT
[Ramakrishna] taught his followers [that] each [religion] is a
way to God or a stage on the way adapted to the heart of the
seeker. To be converted from one religion to another is
foolishness; one need only continue on his own way, and reach
to the essence of his own faith. [He said,] All rivers flow to the
ocean and let others flow too. He tolerated sympathetically the
polytheism of the people, and accepted humbly the monism of
the philosophers, but in his own living faith, God was a spirit
incarnated in all men, and the only true worship of God was the
loving service of mankind.
Many fine souls, rich and poor, Brahmana and pariah, chose
him as guru and formed an order and mission in his name.
65
WILLIAM DIGBY
During the last century the finest fruit of British intellectual
eminence was, probably, to be found in Robert Browning and
John Ruskin. Yet they are mere gropers in the dark compared
with the uncultured and illiterate Ramakrishna of Bengal, who
knowing naught of what we term learning, spoke as not other
man of his age spoke, and revealed God to weary mortals.
66
References and Notes
1. Huxley and God, Essays (Harper San Francisco, 1992),
pp. 90-91.
2. The Eye of Shiva : Eastern Mysticism and Science (William
Morrow and Co., New York, 1981), p. 190.
3. God of All , by Claude Alan Stark, Claude Stark, Inc.
Massachusstts, 1974, pp. 203-05.
4. Swami Ghanananda, Sri Ramakrishna and His Unique
Message (Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre, London, 1970),
Foreword, vii-ix.
5. Sri Ramakrishna as I see Him, Bhbsamhita Sri
Ramakrishna compiled by Ramendranath Mallick, Udbodhan
Karyalaya, Kolkata, Second Edition, 2005, pp.374-77.
6. Sri Aurobindo and the New Thought in Indian Politics by
Haridas Mukherjee & Uma Mukherjee, Revised Second
Edition, 1997, pp. 276-79.
7. Benoy Kumar Sarkar : Political Philosophies Since 1905,
Vol.II, Part III, Lahore, 1942, pp. 232-35.
8. ibid., pp.237-39
9. Naradevata, Msik Basumat, Phalgun, 1354, p. 505.
10. Janmotsav, Udbodhan, Jaishtha, 1352, pp.143-44.
11. The Religions of the World, Ramakrishna Mission Institute of
Culture, Kolkata, 1992, pp.107-114. Ref. : Vivekananda O
Samakln Bhratavarsa ed. by Sankari Prasad Basu, Mandal
Book House, Kolkata, Vol. 7, p.429.
12. Sri Ramakrishna Upanisad by Rajagopalachari, Ramakrishna
Math, Mylapore, p.2.
13. Ramakrishna and His Disciples (Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta,
1980), pp.1-2.
14. God of All, pp.178-86.
15. Hinduism Through the Ages by D. S. Sarma, Bharatiya Vidya
Bhavan, 1955, pp.121-22. Ref.: Vivekananda O Samakln
Bhratavarsa ed. by Sankari Prasad Basu, Mandal Book
House, Kolkata, 1988, Vol.7, p. 429.
16. Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play by Swami Saradananda;
translated by Swami Chetanananda (Vedanta Society of St
Louis, 2003), jacket.
17. Sri Ramakrishna : Divine Incarnation of this Age, Prabuddha
Bhrata, May, 1923, p.183.
18. A Real Mahatman, The Nineteenth Century, August,1896.
19. Ramakrishna : His Life and Sayings (Advaita Ashrama,
Mayavati, 1951), Preface, vii-ix.
20. Modern Mystics (New York, University Books, Inc., 1970),
pp. 72, 84.
64
21. Harvard and Hinduism, Prabuddha Bhrata, January, 1956,
p. 57.
22. Prabuddha Bhrata, May 1954, p.316.
23. Mankind in a World of Stars, Prabuddha Bhrata, January,
1956, p. 18.
24. Sri Ramakrishna and Our Modern Tortured World,
Prabuddha Bhrata, November, 1942, p. 512.
25. Vivekananda and Indian Freedom by Hiren Mukherjee,
Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Kolkata, 2005,
pp.7-9.
26. Prabuddha Bhrata, May, 1947, pp. 199-200.
27. How to Live with God: In the Company of Ramakrishna by
Swami Chetanananda (Vedanta Society of St Louis, 2007),
jacket.
28. Why Religion Matters (Harper San Francisco, 2001), p. 270.
29. The Worlds Religions ( Harper San Francisco, 1991), pp. 22-
23.
30. ibid., pp. 61-62.
31. Prabuddha Bhrata, February, 1936, pp. 136-37.
32. Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda (Advaita Ashrama,
Calcutta, 1960), pp. 2-4.
33. Sri Ramakrishna, Prabuddha Bhrata, November, 1941,
p. 499.
34. Social Welfare, 21 September, 1945. Ref. : Prabuddha
Bhrata, January, 1946, p. 45.
35. Complete collection of Works of Tolstoy, Vol. 54, p. 155.
36. D. P. Makovitzky, Yasnaya Polyana notes, entry dated 27
February, 1906. The manuscript is preserved in Tolstoys
Archives.
37. Alexander Shifman, Tolstoy and India (Sahitya Akademi, New
Delhi, 1969), pp. 28-31.
38. God of All, pp. xv-xvii.
39. Life of Sri Ramakrishna (Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, 1977),
Foreword, xi.
40. Eastern Lights by Mahendranath Sircar (Arya Publishing
House, Calcutta, 1935), pp. 223-27.
41. Bhbsamhita Sri Ramakrishna, p.339.
42. God of All, pp.190-99.
43. Translated from a speech which, Md. Sahidullah delivered on
17 March, 1929 in Dacca on the occasion of Sri
Ramakrishnas birth anniversary. Ref. : Vivekananda O
Samakln Bhratavarsa, Vol. 7, pp.292-93.
44. Prabuddha Bhrata, February, 1936, pp. 121-24.
45. The Hidden Teaching Beyond Yoga (E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc.,
New York, 1941), p.192.
46. The Passion of Ramakrishna (Musical Work for Orchestra
and Chorus) by Philip Glass
47. Two Great Social Changes of Our Time, Prabuddha
Bhrata, September, 1957, p. 377.
48. Translated from Udbodhan, Falgun 1342(BS), Ref.:
Vivekananda O Samakln Bhratavarsa, Vol.7, pp. 413-14.
49. The Religions of the World, p. 615.
50. The Theistic Quarterly Review, October-December, 1879,
pp. 32-34.
50a. Paramahamsa Ramakrishnadev, Udbodhan, Phalgun 1342,
p.57.
50b. To the ParamahansaRamakrishna Deva, Prabuddha
Bhrata, February 1936, p.53.
52. History of the Freedom Movement in India (Firma K. L.
Mukhopadhyay, Calcutta, 1962), Vol. I, p. 299.
53. Sri Ramakrishna: A Prophet for the New Age (New York,
Paragon House, 1989), pp. 55, 165, 181, 213.
54. The Life of Ramakrishna (Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, 1979),
pp.11-14.
55. The Religions of the World, pp.526-30.
56. ibid., p.149.
57. The Cultural Heritage of India (Ramakrishna Mission
Institute of Culture, 1970), Vol. I, Introduction, p. xxxvi.
58. Classical Indian Philosophies: Their Synthesis in the
Philosophy of Sri Ramakrishna by Satis Chandra Chatterjee
(University of Calcutta, 1963), pp. 104, 107 and 141-42.
66
59. Translated from Udbodhan Centenary Collection ed. by
Swami Purnatmananda (Udbodhan Karyalaya, Kolkata, June,
1999), pp. 857-61.
60. Men I Have Seen (Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, Calcutta, 1966),
pp. 66-77.
61. Atmacarit, Pravasi Karyalaya, Calcutta, 1328 (BS), pp. 216-
17.
62. An Indian Pilgrim (Asia Publishing House, Bombay, etc.,
1965), p. 34.
63. Bhbsamhita Sri Ramakrishna, p.344.
64. David Stenindl-Rast, Man of Prayer, Thomas Merton/Monk
ed. by Brother Patrick Hart (London : Sheed and Ward, 1974),
pp. 88-89.
65. The Story of Civilization : Our Oriental Heritage (Simon &
Schurster : New York, 1954), Vol.1, p.617.
66. Prosperous British India, 1901, p. 99.
67
Great Thinkers on Vivekananda
Ureat 1hnkers
on
5wam vvekananda
68
II
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
A. D. PUSALKER
Universally acclaimed as a pioneer in the field of national
liberation in India, Swami Vivekananda was complex
personality being a lover of humanity, a world teacher of religion,
a great patriot, and a leader of the Indian people. Truly has he
been regarded as a patriot-saint of modern India and an inspirer
of her dormant consciousness, who instilled a freshness and
vigour into it. He presented the rare combination of being patriot
and a saint, in whom patriotism was deified into the highest
saintship and loving service to fellow men into true worship.
1
A. L. BASHAM
Even now a hundred years after the birth of Narendranath
Datta, who later became Swami Vivekananda, it is very difficult
to evaluate his importance in the scale of world history. It is
certainly far greater than any Western historian or most Indian
historians would have suggested at the time of his death. The
passing of the years and the many stupendous and unexpected
events which have occurred since then suggests that in centuries
to come he will be remembered as one of the main moulders of
the modern world, especially as far as Asia is concerned, and as
one of the most significant figures in the whole history of Indian
religion, comparable in importance to such great teachers as
Sankara and Ramanuja, and definitely more important than the
saints of local or regional significance such as Kabr, Caitanya,
and the many Nayanmars and lvars of South India.
69
* * *
I believe also that Vivekananda will always be remembered
in the worlds history because he virtually initiated what the late
Dr C. E. M. Joad once called the counter-attack from the
East. Since the days of the Indian missionaries who travelled in
South-East Asia and China preaching Buddhism and Hinduism
more than a thousand years earlier, he was the first Indian
religious teacher to make an impression outside India.
2
ANNIE BESANT
A striking figure, clad in yellow and orange, shining like the
sun of India in the midst of the heavy atmosphere of Chicago, a
lion head, piercing eyes, mobile lips, movements swift and
abrupt such was my first impression of Swami Vivekananda,
as I met him in one of the rooms set apart for the use of the
delegates to the Parliament of Religions. Off the platform, his
figure was instinct with pride of country, pride of race the
representative of the oldest of living religions, surrounded by
curious gazers of nearly the youngest religion. India was not to
be shamed before the hurrying arrogant West by this her envoy
and her son. He brought her message, he spoke in her name,
and the herald remembered the dignity of the royal land whence
he came. Purposeful, virile, strong, he stood out, a man among
men, able to hold his own.
On the platform another side came out. The dignity and the
inborn sense of worth and power still were there, but all was
subdued to the exquisite beauty of the spiritual message which
he had brought, to the sublimity of that matchless truth of the
East which is the heart and the life of India, the wondrous
teaching of the Self. Enraptured, the huge multitude hung upon
his words; not a syllable must be lost, not a cadence missed!
That man, a heathen! said one, as he came out of the great hall,
70
and we send missionaries to his people! It would be more fitting
that they should send missionaries to us!
3
A. RAMASWAMI MUDALIAR
I have come under no greater influence than the influence of
the life and teachings of Swami Vivekananda. ... I have spoken
of that life and have testified to the great influence that that life
has had on the generation which immediately succeeded the
premature departure of the Swamiji from this world.
After I began to study in the college, there were friends and
elders of mine who used to tell us stories of the days in 1893
when Narendra Datta (Swami Vivekananda)as he then was
often sat on the pials of the houses of Triplicane and began to
discuss with learned pandits in Sanskrit and some of them in
Madras were very learned indeed the great truths of our
religious teaching. The exposition, the dialectic skill he showed,
and the masterly way in which he analysed what even to those
well-educated and learned pandits were unfathomable depths of
Sanskrit literature and law, greatly attracted attention from all
and sundry.
Swami Vivekananda was a fighter himself. He was one who
knew not any kind of physical cowardice or moral cowardice.
...He is a citizen of the world. His contribution will stay on
forever. His immortal soul pervades the whole universe.
4
BAL GANGADHAR TILAK
It is doubtful if there is any Hindu who does not know the
name of Sri Vivekananda Swami. There has been extraordinary
advancement of material science in the nineteenth century.
Under the circumstances, to present the spiritual science
prevailing in India for thousands of years by wonderful
71
exposition and then to kindle admiration and respect among the
Western scholars, and, at the same time, to create a sympathetic
attitude for India, the mother of spiritual science, can only be an
achievement of superhuman power. With English education, the
flood of material science spread so fast that it required
extraordinary courage and extraordinary genius to stand against
that phenomenon and change its direction. Before Swami
Vivekananda the Theosophical society began this work. But it is
an undisputed fact that it was Swami Vivekananda who first held
aloft the banner of Hinduism as a challenge against the material
science of the West. ... It was Swami Vivekananda who took on
his shoulders this stupendous task of establishing the glory of
Hinduism in different countries across the borders. And he, with
his erudition, oratorical power, enthusiasm and inner force, laid
that work upon a solid foundation. ... Twelve centuries ago
Sankaracarya was the only great personality, who not only
spoke of the purity of our religion, not only uttered in words that
this religion was our strength and wealth, not only said that it was
our sacred duty to preach this religion in the length and breadth
of the worldbut also brought all this into action. Swami
Vivekananda is a person of that staturewho appeared
towards the last half of the nineteenth century.
5
BENOY KUMAR SARKAR
If we look upon Ramakrishna as the Buddha of our time,
Vivekananda may pass for one or other of the great apostles of
yore, say, the scholar Rahula, the constitutional authority Upali,
the devoted lieutenant nanda, the sage Sariputta, or that
master of discourses, Mahakachchayana. One can almost say
that Vivekananda was all these great Buddhist preacher-
organizers boiled down into one personality.
...He was much more than a mere exponent of Vedanta, or
Ramakrishna, or Hinduism, or Indian Culture. ...In all his
72
thoughts and activities he was expressing only himself. He
always preached his own experiences. It is the truths discovered
by him in his own life that he propagated through his literature
and institutions. As a modern philosopher he can be properly
evaluated solely if one places him by the side of Dewey, Russell,
Croce, Spranger, and Bergson. It would be doing Vivekananda
injustice and misinterpreting him hopelessly if he were placed in
the perspective of scholars whose chief or sole merit consists in
editing, translating, paraphrasing or popularizing the teachings of
Plato, Asvaghosa, Plotinus, Nagarjuna, Aquinas, Sankaracarya
and others.
6
* * *
With five words he conquered the world when he addressed
men and women as Ye divinities on earth,Sinners? The first
four words thundered into being the gospel of joy, hope, virility,
energy and freedom for the races of men, and yet with the last
word, embodying as it did a sarcastic question, he demolished
the whole structure of soul-degenerating, cowardice-promoting,
negative, pessimistic thoughts. On the astonished world the little
five-word formula fell like a bombshell. The first four words he
brought from the East, and the last word he brought from the
West. All these are oft-repeated expressions, copy-book
phrases both in the East and the West. And yet never in the
annals of human thought was the juxtaposition accomplished
before Vivekananda did it in this dynamic manner and obtained
instantaneous recognition as a worlds champion.
Vivekanandas gospel here is that of energism, of mastery
over the world, of elan vital subduing conditions that surround
life, of creative intelligence and will, of courage trampling down
cowardice, of world-conquest. And those who are acquainted
with the trends of world-thought since the middle of the
nineteenth century are aware that it was just along these lines
73
that the West was groping in the dark to find a solution. A most
formidable exponent of these wants and shortcomings was the
German man of letters and critic, Nietzsche (on whom the
influence of Manu was powerful), whose...works had
awakened mankind to the need of a more positive, humane and
joyous lifes philosophy than that of the New Testament. This
joy of life for which the religious, philosophical and social
thought was anxiously waiting came suddenly from an
unexpected quarter, from this unknown young man of India. And
Vivekananda was acclaimed as a tremendous creative power,
as the pioneer of a revolution,the positive and constructive
counterpart to the destructive criticism of Nietzsche....
The key to Vivekanandas entire life ... is to be found in this
Sakti-yoga, energism, the vigour and strength of freedom. All
his thoughts and activities are expressions of his energism. Like
our Paurnik Visvamitra or the Aeschylean Prometheus he
wanted to create new worlds and distribute the fire of freedom,
happiness, divinity and immortality among men and women.
7
* * *
His [Vivekananda] politics and economics are all to be
found in his social philosophy. And in this domain we encounter
Vivekananda as the messenger of modern materialism. It is
possible to establish here an equation between Vivekananda
and Immanuel Kant. ...What Kant did for Euro-America
towards the end of the eighteenth century was accomplished for
India towards the end of the nineteenth century by Vivekananda.
Kant is the father of modern materialism for the West.
Vivekananda is the father of modern materialism for India. ...It is
to them that the world is indebted for the charters of dignity for
Nature, matter, material science and material welfare. ...India
like Europe was in need of a man who could say with all honesty
74
he could command that Prak;ti was no less sacred than Purusa
and that the pursuit of material sciences and material prosperity
was as godly as that of the sciences and activities bearing on the
soul.
8
* * *
The combined intelligence of the entire world assembled at
Chicago listened to this uninvited and perhaps unwelcome
intruder [Swami Vivekananda] from the banks of the Southern
Ganges and was convinced that a new power had arisen in the
international sphere and that this new power was Young
India. ... Vivekananda was acclaimed as the world-conqueror
for Young India.
... From 1757 down to 1893 for more than a hundred years
for nearly 140 years, the world had known almost nothing
about Indian India, nothing of the creative Hindus and
Mussulmans, nothing of Indian culture, nothing of Indias
constructive energism. In 1893 Vivekananda threw the first
bombshell that announced to mankind in the two hemispheres,
to the men and the women of America, of England, France,
Germany, Russia, Italy, nay, to the yellows of Japan and China
that India was once more to be a power among the powers of
the world. Mankind came to realize 1893 as the year No.1 of a
vast empire and to recognize the founder of that empire as
Vivekananda.
9
BEPIN CHANDRA PAL
I
Vivekananda, however, does not stand alone. He is
indissolubly bound up with his Master, Paramahansa
Ramakrishna. The two stand almost organically bound up, so far
as the modern man, not only in India but in the larger world of
75
our day, is concerned. The modern man can only understand
Paramahansa in and through Vivekananda, even as
Vivekananda can be understood only in the light of the life of his
Master. The Master was a great spiritual force. He was
therefore inevitably a mystery to a generation possessed by the
un-understood slogans of what is called rationalism, which really
means lack of that imagination which is the soul of all spiritual
life. Imagination is not fancy. It is really the power to cognize, if
not to visualize, that which stands above not only the sensuous
but also the intellectual plane. The generation to which
Ramakrishna belonged, lacked this imagination. He was,
therefore, a mystery to it. It was given to Vivekananda to
interpret and present the soul of Paramahansa Ramakrishna and
the message of his life to this generation in such terms as would
be comprehended by them.
Ramakrishna Paramahansa belonged to no sect or
denomination or to put it in another way, he belonged to all sects
and denominations both Indian and non-Indian. He was a true
Universalist, but his Universalism was not the Universalism of
Abstraction. He did not subtract the particularities of different
religions to realize his universal religion. With him the Universal
and the particular always went together like the sun and shadow.
He realized therefore the Reality of the Universal in and through
the infinite particularities of life and thought. Vivekananda
clothed this realization of his Master in the language of modern
Humanism.
Ramakrishna Paramahansas God was not the God of logic
or philosophy, but the God of direct, personal, inner experience.
Ramakrishna believed in his God not on the authority of ancient
scriptures or traditions, nor on the authority of any guru, but on
the testimony of his own direct, personal experiences. He was a
Vedantist ; because, his direct allegiance and early training was
76
in the cult of Sakti. The Sakti cult in Bengal has been built upon
Vedantism. But the Vedantism of Ramakrishna Paramahansa
could hardly be labelled as Sankara-Vedantism, nor could it be
labelled either as any of the different schools of Vaisnava-
Vedanta. These labels are for those who borrow their theology
from speculations of great thinkers. But Ramakrishna
Paramahansa did not belong to this class. He was not a
philosopher; he was not a Pundit, whether modern or ancient ;
he was not a logician ; he was a simple seer. He believed in what
he saw.
The seer is always a mystic. So was Paramahansa
Ramakrishna: so was Jesus; so were all the great spiritual
leaders of men. The crowd cannot understand them; least of all
are they understood by the learned and the philosophers of their
age. Yet they reveal that which all philosophies grope after.
Paramahansa Ramakrishna, like Jesus Christ, needed an
interpreter to explain him and deliver his message to his age.
Jesus found such an interpreter in St. Paul; Ramakrishna found
him in Vivekananda. Vivekananda therefore must be understood
in the light of the realizations of Paramahansa Ramakrishna.
II
The story of Vivekanandas conversion has not as yet been
told. I do not know if anybody knows how this miracle
happened. Vivekananda had been a rationalist and a deist,
though he fancied that he was a theist. His early religious
associations were with the Brahmo Samaj. They were not very
congenial to the development of faith in saints and seers.
Ramakrishna Paramahansa attracted however many members
of the Brahmo Samaj by his great psychic powers and more
particularly by his passionate love of God. But they never were
able to open the secret springs of the life and realizations of the
77
Paramahansa. They saw him through the prism of the intellect.
The Paramahansa never really opened to most of them the
secret chambers of his piety. Vivekananda was favoured by the
Paramahansa in this matter.
Paramahansa Ramakrishna saw into the innermost
composition of Vivekanandas nature and spirit and recognized
in him a fit instrument for delivering the message of his own life.
This is the real story of Vivekanandas conversion. It is the story
of the conversion also of Soul, though it was set in a different
psychological setting. Vivekananda felt drawn to his Master by
what he hardly knew. It was the operation of what is now called
soul-force. When one soul touches another on this deep spiritual
plane, the two are united for ever by unbreakable spiritual
bonds. The two henceforth become practically one; the Master
working in and through the disciple, the disciple not even
knowing that he is dancing to the tune of the Master. People call
it inspiration. Vivekananda worked after his conversion under
the inspiration of his Master.
III
The message of Vivekananda, though delivered in the term
of the popular Vedantic speculation, was really the message of
his Master to the modern man. Vivekanandas message was
really the message of modern humanity. His appeal to his own
people was, Be men. The man of religion in India had been a
mediaeval man. His religion was generally a religion of the other
world. It was a religion that enjoined renunciation of the world
and all the obligations of the physical and the social life. But this
was not the real message of Paramahansa Ramakrishna. He was
as much a Vedntin as a Vaisnava. His ideal of piety was a
synthesis between these two rival schools of Hindu religion. His
cult of the Mother was really the cult of Bhakti, or love of God,
78
realized in the terms of the human motherhood. As with the
Bengal Vaisnavas, so with the Paramahansa, the Ultimate
Reality was not an abstraction. It was not carnal, but therefore it
was not without form. And the real form of the Ultimate Reality
is the Human Formnot the sensuous form of man which we
see with our eyes, but the spiritual form which stands behind it,
invisible to mortal eye. Man and God are generically one.
To help man to realize his essential divinity is the object of all
religious culture. This is what Vivekananda really meant when he
appealed to his people to be men. In the ritual of divine worship
of the Brahmin, is used the following text which says : I am
Divine. I am none other. I am not subject to grief and
bereavement. I am of the form of the True, the Self-conscious
and the Eternally Present. I am by nature eternally free. This
was the message really of his Master as delivered to the modern
world by Vivekananda.
It is the message of freedom, not in a negative sense, but in
its positive and most comprehensive implications. Freedom
means removal of all outside restraint. But constituted as we are,
we cannot cut ourselves off from all outside relations, whether
with our natural environments or our social environments. Such
isolation spells death both physically and spiritually. The law of
life is therefore not isolation, but association, not non-co-
operation but co-operation. And real freedom is achieved not
through war, but through peace only. War or renunciation or
isolation has a place no doubt in the scheme of life, but only a
temporary place as a means to the attainment of the ultimate end
which is not perpetuation of the inevitable conflict of evolution,
but the settlement and cancellation of these conflicts in a closer
and permanent union. Freedom again is one. Freedom from the
domination of our passions and appetites is the first step in the
realization of the ideal. Freedom from the fear of brother-man is
79
the next step. Freedom from the domination of any external
authority must follow next. In this way from personal freedom,
through social freedom including political freedom, man must
attain his real freedom. And when he attains it, he realizes finally
that he and his God are one. This is the message of the Vedanta
as interpreted by Vivekananda. This is really the message of his
Master to the modern world.
10
Some people in India think that very little fruit has come of
the lectures that Swami Vivekananda delivered in England, and
that his friends and admirers exaggerate his work. But on
coming here I see that he has exerted a marked influence
everywhere. In many parts of England I have met with men who
deeply regard and venerate Vivekananda. Though I do not
belong to his sect, and though it is true that I have differences of
opinion with him, I must say that Vivekananda has opened the
eyes of a great many here and broadened their hearts. Owing to
his teaching, most people here now believe firmly that wonderful
spiritual truths lie hidden in the ancient Hindu scriptures. Not
only has he brought about this feeling, but he succeeded in
establishing a golden relation between England and India. From
what I quoted on Vivekanandism from The Dead Pulpit by Mr
Haweis, you have already understood that owing to the spread
of Vivekanandas doctrines, many hundreds of people have
seceded from Christianity. And how deep and extensive his
work has been in this country will readily appear from the
following incident.
Yesterday evening I was going to visit a friend in the
Southern part of London. I lost my way and was looking from
the corner of a street thinking in which direction I should go,
when a lady accompanied by a boy came to me, with the
intention, it seemed, of showing me the way. ... She said to me,
Sir, perhaps you are looking to find your way. May I help
80
you?... She showed me my way and said, From certain papers
I learned that you are coming to London. At the very first sight of
you I was telling my son, Look there is Swami Vivekananda.
As I had to catch the train in a hurry, I had no time to tell her that
I was not Vivekananda, and compelled to go off speedily.
However, I was really surprised to see that the lady possessed
such great veneration for Vivekananda even before she knew
him personally. I felt highly gratified at the agreeable incident,
and thanked my geru turban which had given me so much
honour. Besides the incident, I have seen here many educated
English gentlemen, who have come to revere India and who
listened eagerly to any religious or spiritual truths, if they belong
to India.
11
BRAHMABANDHAB UPADHYAYA
'-= =:+:=r ==| ' :-~r : :=:= '+'=- '='r+
'=+ :+= = [=] '=:= ~ '-- '= := '--=- -
':==- =-- =-r ='r+:==o'== r :=r :+
== =:= = =+'= :+= === ='r '+ :- :-=r =r=
='+ ::- r := -':==:-r == :== ='r+ r'-:
:===r := :== =~+= '= r= :===r r-:=
= :+= == :~r -:=r +== '= := =' === =:=
-':==:-r '='r'=+ = =-+~= ='r:= :rs =:r := :=
'-r ='r- :+, '-= + ' -:~ == =' = :+, '-= :-'
'=- := =r [=] '=:= '-r ='r-'-= '+ :-:-r ~'=r
='r == ' '+-':==- := +r :~r'= - ===:=
=-r =r~:= -+ ++:= = :== =+ =+ =r '=='-= ~:r
==' = -+ '-= +r ==| ='-== =r =| ='r- ::+
'-= '+ =~r (Oxford) =:= (Cambridge) :-:-r ||
='r- = = |~:=r r ||= o'=:-= '- |~= '=+=
='r+ :--'== ' ='r:= '-+ -=r ='r:-= = |~:=r :+
==- 'r' := '-'+:== = ' =~ = =~:- '+:= ~r +:
81
'-:= :-:-r ~= =r~ =r +'=- ' ==| :-= r r
:+ === == == + :-= r =:= '= ==' -:~r :=
= =- ':==:-r :~ r'= r r =-~'-= +:==
'+:=' := ='r = :== =+ ='':==- := ':==-
:+ ~=: == ='-+ '+:== = =':- ':==:-r :,r += =r ++
=
r ==r ':==:-r =: =-==r ::-r :r r :- +
' '--= r~ ='r+ '=+ := :== =:===r ='-==
:r == :--'=:=r :- :=- +== ' = :+== ='r+ '-,
=' ==r =:r '=+ =:':==- ==r -:r '--==
=' r 'r = (=r '=:r=:r '= =+ = ~:r =)
+:= r ' :+ ='r+ =:=r == =:-- ='r+ +:= ~'r
=r ==| |- '=r =r = := '-= =r ==r ==~=
:-'+ '+:= ~'r+'=- :+, :-=r -+ :-=+|+ ~~'== =r
==| :-=, =r ==| | :-:r ==| :-=, :-:r ==| | +==,
+==|= '- '~+- + +:=:==r -:- + =r, + =+
= ==:=, =-r -:=, +=,:= ~r== ='r:=:=r :=r ==
=, | = ':==:-r -:+ r +-+ == ~'=+'=- := ==
== =r :+, =:= '== +:r:~r :r==| +'=- = |r = ='
:-=r = 'r- ='rr '=== ='r':==- :=! :-:r ==| |
== r'r + +'- + := ':==-:= + +:= ~:r
12
(For a few days I had been on a trip to Bolpur. On my return
as I stepped down at the Howrah Station, someone said,
Swami Vivekananda passed away yesterday. At once an acute
pain, sharp like a razornot the least exaggeratedthrust into
my heart. When the intensity of the pain subsided, I wondered,
How will Vivekanandas work go on ? He has, of course, well-
trained and educated brother-disciples. Why, they will do his
work! Yet an inspiration flickered in me: You give your best
with whatever you possess by trying to translate into action
Vivekanandas dream of conquest of the West. That very
moment I vowed I would sail to England. So long I never even
dreamt of visiting England. But on that day at the Howrah
82
Station I decided I must go to England and establish Vedanta
there. Then I understood who Vivekananda was. He whose
inspiration can drive a humble person like me across the seas, is
not, really, an ordinary man. Shortly afterwards I left Calcutta
and sailed for England with a sum of only twenty-seven rupees in
my pocket. Finally, I reached England and delivered lectures at
the Oxford and Cambridge Universities on Vedanta. Celebrated
[British] scholars listened to my expositions and expressed their
desire to learn the science of Vedanta by appointing Hindu
scholars. I did not publish the letters of appreciation which those
scholars wrote to me. How profound was the influence of
Vedanta in England could be understood if I had published those
letters. I am just an ordinary man. It was all like a dream that
such a great work was accomplished by me. All these were
miracles brought about by the inspiration and power of
Vivekananda behind methis is what I believe. That is why
sometimes I think, who is Vivekananda ? The greatness of
Vivekananda surpasses my power of assessment as I think of
the stupendous programme of work he had boldly initiated.
On another occasion, I came across Vivekananda by the
side of Hedua Park in Calcutta. I said to him, Brother, why are
you keeping silent? Come, raise a stir of Vedanta in Calcutta. I
will make all arrangements. You just come and appear before
the public. Vivekanandas voice grew heavy with pathos. He
said, Brother Bhavani, I will not live long (it was just six months
before his death). I am busy now with the construction of my
Math, and making arrangements for its proper upkeep. I have
no leisure now. At the pathetic earnestness of his words I
understood that day that his heart was tormented with a passion
and pain. Passion for whom? Pain for whom? Passion for the
country, pain for the country. The knowledge and culture of the
Aryans were being destroyed and crushed. What was gross and
83
un-Aryan was deflating what was finer and Aryan. And yet there
is no response, no pain in your heart? this [callous indifference
of his countrymen] evoked a painful response in Vivekanandas
heart. The response was so deep that it struck at the root of the
conscience of America and Europe. I think of that pain and
passion in Vivekananda, and ask, who is Vivekananda? Is it
ever possible that passion for the motherland becomes
embodied? If it is, then only one can understand Vivekananda.)
- =! ' :=r :+:=r r :=r ='= == :-~ :-
='r+'==:=== ='r+'=t= ='r+'= == ='== = :+, :=r
~: '=- :=, :=r -:+ =r:=r ==| :~+ ~==r | := =
' r = '= -+ :=r = =-+~= ='r:= =-|= +'=...=
:r =~: += ='= ' - + ~'==- '=+ -+:= =r
=:r== :=r ~-'= -:r '-:= :-':=r '=:-r = ='
:=r =r :-=r = |= ='r'= =- r'-+ ++:= :=
'-|:-= '-|'= '=+ ~=:= =r~r ='r+ :=:-
13
(Swamiji ! a friend of your youthhow much of merry-
making I have made with you ! With you I went on picnics and
spent hours in talks and conversations. But then I never knew
that there was a lions strength in your soul, a volcanic pain and
passion for India in your heart. Today with all my humble
strength I have come to follow your way. ... In the midst of this
fierce struggle, whenever I get torn and tossed, whenever
despondency comes and overwhelms my heart, I look up to the
great ideal you set forth, I recollect your leonine strength,
meditate on the profound depths of your agonythen all at
once my weariness withers away. A divine light and a divine
strength come from somewhere and fulfil my mind and heart.)
BROJENDRA NATH SEAL
When I first met Vivekananda in 1881, we were fellow-
students of Principal William Hastie, scholar, metaphysician, and
84
poet, at the General Assemblys College. ... I saw and
recognized in him a high, ardent and pure nature, vibrant and
resonant with impassioned sensibilities. He was certainly no sour
or cross-grained puritan, no normal hypochondric; in the
recesses of his soul he wrestled with the fierce and fell spirit of
Desire, the subtle and illusive spirit of Fancy.
...He tried diverse teachers, creeds and cults, and it was this
quest that brought him, though at first in a doubting spirit, to the
Paramahamsa of Dakshineshwar, who spoke to him with an
authority that none had spoken before. ...But his rebellious
intellect scarcely yet owned the Master. ...It was only gradually
that the doubts of that keen intellect were vanquished by the
calm in the subsequent life-history of Vivekananda who, after he
had found the firm assurance he sought in the saving Grace and
Power of his Master, went about preaching and teaching the
creed of the Universal Man, and the absolute and inalienable
sovereignty of the Self.
14
C. F. ANDREWS
I would refer in the first place to that greater word
Advaitam. The word Advaitam really means, the occasions of
all spiritual life, to see (as the Upanishads tells us). The Universal
self in all things and all things in the Universal self. I feel that the
greatest of all debts the youths of modern India owe to Swami
Vivekananda is the renewal in practical life of this faith in the
Advaitam.
15
C. P. RAMASWAMI AIYAR
Swami Vivekananda...was a democratic saint. He revived
for us the idea of nationhood. He was the first of those, who
made it possible to think of India as a whole irrespective of the
existing differences of class, creed, colour and custom. He
85
pleaded for the driving away of everything that would prevent
the union of India. He knew that unless India was one spiritually
and intellectually, India could not step into the outer world. A
distracted, quarrelsome, feeble minded India would not be of
any assistance in the world and therefore he said, Unite ... our
ship of religion and of State is now laden full of many cargos,
precious, some by no means precious, some wholly nugatory.
We must throw aside such cargo. The storm is there. The great
winds are blowing and unless the useless cargo is thrown aside,
the ship will sink. The Swami asked us to sink the unnecessary
cargo. And unless we got that lesson India will perish as the
several other nations have perished. ...His gospel was the gospel
of courage, of hope and admiration, of eschewal and
assimilation.
16
CHAKRAVARTI RAJAGOPALACHARI
Swami Vivekananda saved Hinduism and saved India. But
for him we would have lost our religion and would not have
gained our freedom. We therefore owe everything to Swami
Vivekananda. May his faith, his courage and his wisdom ever
inspire us so that we may keep safe the treasure we have
received from him !
17
CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD
Vivekananda was, as I said, profoundly moved by the
realization of Indias poverty and the state of her oppression
under the British colonial rule. And he proposed a revolution.
The spirit of this revolution enormously influenced Gandhi and
influences Indian political thought to this day. Vivekananda in this
sense is a great figure in Indian history, one of the very greatest
historical figures that India has ever produced. But it must
always be noted that Vivekanandas revolution, Vivekanandas
86
87
88
nationalism, were not like the kind of revolution, the kind of
nationalism, which we associate with other great leaders,
admirable and noble as they may be. Vivekananda was far
greater than that. In fact, when one sees the full range of his
mind, one is astounded. Vivekananda looked toward the West,
not simply as a mass of tyrants exploiting various parts of Asia,
and other undeveloped areas, but as future partners, people
who had very, very much to offer. At the same time, without any
false humility, he faced the West and said, we have fully as much
and more to offer you. We offer you this great tradition of
spirituality, which can produce, even now, today, a supremely
great figure such as Ramakrishna. You can offer us medical
services, trains that run on time, hygiene, irrigation, electric light.
These are very important, we want them, and we admire some
of your qualities immensely.
One of the most enchanting things about Vivekananda is the
way he was eternally changing sides when he was speaking to
different people ; he could denounce the British in words of fire,
but again he would turn on the Indians and say, You cannot
manufacture one pin, and you dare to criticize the British ! And
then he would speak of the awful materialism of the United
States, and on the other hand, he would say that no women in
the world were greater, and that the treatment of women in India
was absolutely disgraceful. And so in every way, he was
integrating, he was seeing the forces for good, the constructive
forces, in the different countries, and saying, why dont we
exchange ? So Vivekanandas revolution was a revolution for
everybody, a revolution which would in the long run be of just as
much use to the British as to India. Vivekanandas nationalism,
the call to India to recognize herselfthis again was not
nationalism in the smaller sense, it was a kind of super-
nationalism, a kind of internationalism sublimated. You all know
89
the story that Vivekananda was so fond of, about the lion that
was brought up with a lot of sheep. Now another lion comes out
of the forest and the sheep all run away, and the little lion that had
been brought up thinks its a sheep and runs away too, and now
the pursuing lion grabs it, takes it over to a pool of water and
says, Look at yourself, youre a lion. This is what Vivekananda
was doing to the Indian people. He remarks in one of his letters,
that the marvellous thing about all of the Western nations is that
they know that they are nations. He said jealousy is a curse of
India. Indians cannot learn to co-operate with each other. Why
cant they learn from the co-operation of Western nations with
each other? Im quoting all this because by considering all these
different attitudes that Vivekananda took, one sees the
immense scope and integrity of his good will. He was really on
everybodys side, on the side of the West, and on the side of
India, and he saw far, far into the future ; his political prophecies
are extremely interesting, and he said repeatedly, that the great
force, which would finally have to be reckoned with, was China.
He also remarked on visiting Europe for the last time in 1900
that he smelled war everywhere, which was more than most
professional statesmen did, at that time.
18
* * *
[When I heard message of Vedanta as Vivekananda
preaches it], I heard it with an almost incredulous joy. Here, at
last, was a man who believed in God and yet dared to condemn
the indecent grovelings of the sin-obsessed Puritans I had so
much despised in my youth. I loved him at once, for his bracing
self-reliance, his humour, and his courage. He appealed to me as
the perfect anti-Puritan hero: the enemy of Sunday religion, the
destroyer of Sunday gloom, the shocker of prudes, the breaker
of traditions, the outrager of conventions, the comedian who
taught the deepest truths in idiotic jokes and frightful puns. That
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humour had its place in religion, that it could actually be a mode
of spiritual self-expression, was a revelation to me; for, like
every small boy of Puritan upbringing, I had always longed to
laugh out load and make improper noises in church. I didnt
know, then, that humour has also had its exponents in the
Christian tradition. I knew nothing, for example, about, St. Philip
Neri.
19
D. S. SARMA
He [Vivekananda] raised India in the eyes of the world, gave
Hinduism a new turn and put a new spirit in the hearts of his
countrymen. ...He was destined to be a pioneer. He broke new
ground and led his people across and sighted the Promised
Land. ...
...Three religious movements that immediately preceded the
Ramakrishna Movement were rather poor and inadequate
representations of the great historic religion of the Hindus. The
religion of the Brahmo Samaj was mere eclecticism, more
Christian than Hindu in character. The religion of the rya
Samaj was mere Vedism, which ignored all the later
developments in Hinduism. The religion of the Theosophical
Society, with its Tibetan Masters its occult phenomena and its
esoteric teachings, was looked upon by most Hindus as a kind
of spurious Hinduism. On the other hand, the fourth religious
movement, of which Swami Vivekananda was the great apostle,
was doubtless not only a full, but also authentic manifestation of
Hinduism.
20
E. P. CHELISHEV
Reading and re-reading the works of Vivekananda each
time I find in them something new that helps deeper to
understand India, its philosophy, the way of the life and customs
91
of the people in the past and the present, their dreams of the
future. ... I think that Vivekanandas greatest service is the
development in his teaching of the lofty ideals of humanism
which incorporate the finest features of Indian culture. ...
In my studies of contemporary Indian literature I have more
than once had the opportunity to see what great influence the
humanistic ideals of Vivekananda have exercised on the works
of many writers. ... In my opinion, Vivekanandas humanism has
nothing in common with the Christian ideology which dooms
man to passivity and to begging God for favours. He tried to
place religious ideology at the service of the countrys national
interests, the emancipation of his enslaved compatriots.
Vivekananda wrote that the colonialists were building one
church after another in India, while the Eastern countries needed
bread and not religion. He would sooner see all men turn into
confirmed atheists than into superstitious simpletons. To elevate
man Vivekananda identifies him with God. ...
Though we do not agree with the idealistic basis of
Vivekanandas humanism, we recognize that it possesses many
features of active humanism manifested above all in a fervent
desire to elevate man, to instil in him a sense of his own dignity,
sense of responsibility for his own destiny and the destiny of all
people, to make him strive for the ideals of good, truth and
justice, to foster in man abhorrence for any suffering. The
humanistic ideal of Vivekananda is to a certain degree identical
with Gorkys Man with a capital letter.
Such a humanistic interpretation of the essence of man
largely determines the democratic nature of Vivekanandas
world outlook. ...
Many years will pass, many generations will come and go,
Vivekananda and his time will become the distant past, but never
will there fade the memory of the man who all his life dreamed of
92
a better future for his people, who did so much to awaken his
compatriots and move India forward, to defend his much-
suffering people from injustice and brutality. Like a rocky cliff
protecting a coastal valley from storm and bad weather, from the
blows of ill winds and waves, Vivekananda fought courageously
and selflessly against the enemies of his motherland.
Together with the Indian people, Soviet people who already
know some of the works of Vivekananda published in the
USSR, highly revere the memory of the great Indian patriot,
humanist and democrat, impassioned fighter for a better future
for his people and all mankind.
21
Chelishev further writes :
The name of Swami Vivekananda is very popular in Soviet
Russia and he is held in high esteem by our countrymen. Soviet
people respect him as a great democrat, humanist and patriot
who contributed immensely in the development of national
consciousness and anti-colonial liberation movement in India.
They also consider that his message and the message of Sri
Ramakrishna, which are really one, are absolutely necessary for
the survival of the human civilization which is now in great danger
due to the menace of the devastating nuclear war. We believe
that it is their message which can bring peace, harmony and
understanding to the tormented world of today. They are not
simply religious leaders, they are much more than that. They are
prophets of peace, harmony and brotherhood. Their message
was relevant in the past in India and in the world at large, but it is
still more relevant in the present Indian context and in the context
of the contemporary world. That is why a lot of Soviet research
scholars and thinkers have dedicated to the study of Sri
Ramakrishna and particularly Swami Vivekananda. I am proud
that I happened to be one of the pioneers of this study in our
93
country and contributed an article on Swami Vivekananda to the
Swami Vivekananda Centenary Memorial Volume twenty
years ago, published from Calcutta.
I consider it a great honour for me to be associated with any
programme connected with Sri Ramakrishna and Swami
Vivekananda. I and my colleagues will continue to devote to the
Ramakrishna-Vivekananda studies with close co-operation of
the scholars of India and other countries I will do my best to
contribute to the development of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda
studies in the progressive direction. I consider this as a service to
the humanity at large.
22
ELLA WHEELER WILCOX
...We reached the hall just as Vivekananda was going on the
stage in his robe and turban. We sat in the very last seat of the
hall, clasping each others hands as the impressive orator gave a
never-to-be -forgotten talk on things spiritual. When we went
out my husband said: I feel that man knows more of God than
we do. We must both hear him again.
My husband attended with me not only a number of evening
lectures, but on several occasions came from his business office
during the day to listen to the Swami. I remember him saying, as
we went out on the street one day: This man makes me rise
above every business worry; he makes me feel how trival is the
whole material view of life and how limitless is the life beyond. I
can go back to my troubles at the office now with new
strength.
23
FEDERICO MAYOR
There are many aspects of Swami Vivekanandas thought,
his ideals and his social message which make UNESCO a very
good setting for ... celebration in France of the centenary of his
94
participation in the World Parliament of Religions, held in
Chicago one hundred years ago.
His (Swami Vivekananda) commitment towards
universalism and tolerance, his active identification with
humanity as a whole. He said from the tribune of the Parliament
of Religions, and I quote : I fervently hope that the bell that
tolled this morning in honour of this convention may be the death
knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with
the pen. I am sure all of us...would strongly identify with this
aspiration, since the struggle against exclusiveness is one that
must be perpetually renewed.
The Mission he established in India, and which has now
spread all over the world, is working to reduce poverty and
eliminate discrimination among the different segments of society.
There is no more important challenge for us all than this
striving to overcome these problems at their roots; and it is one
that I believe the United Nations, working with all possible
NGO partners, must take its absolute priority in the years to
come.
His preoccupation with human development and his vision
of education, science and culture as the essential instruments for
such development. The convergence with UNESCOs
concerns will be obvious to all.
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 centre 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.
95
The world today is going through a challenging period of
transition. We see many evils like racism and inter-ethnic and
religious conflict returning among us with renewed force.
Celebrations like this today are a source of renewed strength
and encouragement to fight against these evils.
24
FELIX MARTI-IBANEZ
[Dr Felix Marti-Ibanez was asked what he considered to be
the most valuable thing in his life. He responded:]
Life itself. Health and dreams and love. ...If what is meant by
things, however, is something concrete in physical form, then I
would have to say books. I was actually once put to the test of
what I value most. It was in February 1939, when I had to leave
Spain because of the fall of the Spanish Republic and all I could
take with me was what I could carry. I chose to take one book.
From the thousands of books in the library I have so lovingly
built up with my father, I selected The Universal Gospel and
The Life of Vivekananda by Romain Rolland. That uniquely
magnificent mystical book inspired me through the years to
dedicate my life to the service of others.
25
FRANCIS YOUNGHUSBAND
On the death of Ramakrishna the leadership of the little
group of disciples fell to Vivekananda, still only twenty-three
years of age. Though busy with his own domestic affairs he set
to work to fulfil the sacred task left him by Ramakrishna.
Disregarding their vacillations he would spend hours in
describing the soul-stirring experiences of the Master. And after
a time they set out all over India preaching the message of
Ramakrishna. They left their dearest. They suffered the agonies
that all saints have to endure. And Vivekananda went further still.
He went to Europe and America. He became [famous] all over
96
the world. But always he attributed every good he had or did to
what his Master, Ramakrishna, had imparted to him.
26
GOPAL HALDER
To us the Swami is the person who called India and its
people to establish themselves with courage for acquiring self-
knowledge. He saidfirst of all I was born to this country, and
that in itself has reasons to be proud of. I dont need to feel shy
or ashamed of in declaring my identity. To everyone in this world
I would proclaim my identity and add that I neither am inferior
to anyone, nor having a nondescript antiquity. Such utterance
we first had from Vivekananda. I hardly know of any one in
those days who could speak with such unhesitant bravery.
27
HENRY MILLER
The story of the pilgrimage of this man who electrified the
American people reads like a legend. At first unrecognized,
rejected, reduced to starvation and forced to beg in the streets,
he was finally hailed as the greatest spiritual leader of our time.
Offers of all kinds were showered upon him; the rich took him in
and tried to make a monkey of him. In Detroit, after six weeks of
it, he rebelled. All contracts were cancelled and from that time
on he went alone from town to town at the invitation of such or
such a society.
I had just been reading [Romain] Rollands book on
Vivekananda. I had put it down because I couldnt read
anymore, my emotions were so powerful. The passage which
roused me to such a state of exaltation was the one in which
Rolland describes Vivekanandas triumphal return to India from
America. No monarch ever received such a reception at the
hands of his countrymen : it stands unique in the annals of history.
And what had he done, Vivekananda, to merit such a welcome?
97
He had made India known to America; he had spread the light.
And in doing so he had opened the eyes of his countrymen to
their own weaknesses. All India greeted him with open arms;
millions of people prostrated themselves before him, saluting him
as a saint and saviour, which he was. It was the moment when
India stood nearer to being unified than at any time in her long
history. It was a triumph of love, of gratitude, of devotion. I am
coming back to him later, to his clean, powerful words, spoken
like a fearless champion not of India but of the human race.
28
HIREN MUKHERJEE
It is a blessing that we had only lately in our midst, in the
cruelly inhibited conditions of foreign subjection, a truly great
soul like Vivekananda, never a recluse but always with his
leonine strength of character in the midst of his people . . . the
monk whose heart bled for his people so that he gave his all for
his countrys recovery, self-assertion, and yearning, never
wholly stifled, for fulfilment. This is why one like me, a sceptic
and atheist to whom the ardent assumptions and ecstasies of
belief are alien, salutes this tremendous man of faith and of action
who gave back to his stricken people the long-lost pride in their
manhood. This is why to dive into Vivekanandas life-story is to
discover by no means just an archive but an arsenal of ideas, of
instruments for refashioning the human condition in our ancient
country..
In his wisdom and his wit Vivekananda could be homely, but
he could soar to the heavens even as his feet were planted on
our Indian earth. In his meditations he could reach
transcendental realms, but to him, as to the Atharva-Veda rishi,
Ayam lokah priyatamah (this, our world, is dearest of all)
and to his fellow-humans he could truly say, as some of our finest
old injunctions stress, that his mother was Parvat, his father
98
was Mahesvara, that all men were his brothers, and that the
three worlds were his home. It was, thus, that in his own unique
way Vivekananda could, if any one person did, give a vibrant
unequivocal, people-oriented colour to subject Indias
nationalism and will ever be remembered as one of the supreme
figures in the annals of our freedom struggle. ...He knew too
keenly that subject India had been debilitated and rejuvenation
of her strength was imperative. ... He did say, of course: We
must conquer the world through our spirituality and philosophy.
There is no other alternative, we must do it or die. The only
condition of [Indian] national life, of awakened and vigorous
national life, is the conquest of the world by Indian thought.
It was this man who actively inspired a whole host of national
revolutionaries in the Swades era. ...No wonder the sedition
(Rowlatt) Committee Report (1918) affirmed that Vivekananda
had an important influence on those who created a big, pro-
freedom tumult in the first decade of the century. That influence
continued and pervades whatever is forward-looking in the
national scene even today. ...
Vivekananda pre-eminently was a Prophet who could
ascend, in contemplation, to what he sensed as the highest
human end the saints thought processes must be unique
and yet returns to insert himself in the sweep of time in order to
reshape forces of history and create, if one can, a new world.
Here is the shinning quality distinguishing Vivekananda.
...Vivekananda...will always be with us, as a great and gorgeous
liberator, a man with whom indeed we can match our mountains
and the sea.
29
HUANG XIN CHUAN
Vivekananda stands out as the most renowned philosopher
and social figure of India in modern China. His philosophical and
99
social thought and epic patriotism not only inspired the growth of
nationalist movement in India, but also made a great impact
abroad. In 1893, Vivekananda visited Canton and its
neighbourhood. He noted his impressions of the visit in a letter
addressed to the citizens of Madras. He had some knowledge
and understanding of Chinese history and culture. He often cited
and spoke highly of China in his writings and speeches. He made
a prophecy that the Chinese culture will surely be resurrected
one day like the Phoenix and undertake the responsibility of
the great mission of integrating the Western and the Oriental
cultures. His biographer Romain Rolland has narrated the
evolution of Vivekanandas idea on this aspect. When
Vivekananda went to America for the first time, he hoped that
country would achieve this mission. But during his second visit
abroad, he realized that he was deceived by dollar imperialism.
He, therefore, came to the conclusion that America could not be
an instrument to accomplish this task, but it was China which
could do it.
Vivekananda had infinite sympathy for the Chinese people
living under the oppression of feudalism and imperialism : and he
pinned much hope on them. After his visit to China, he made a
very interesting comment. He said: The Chinese child is quite a
philosopher and calmly goes to work at an age when your Indian
boy can hardly crawl on all fours. He has learnt the philosophy
of necessity too well. This shows Vivekanandas enormous
sympathy towards the miseries of the children of China in the old
society.
While explaining his visionary socialism Vivekananda made
an interesting gospel. He said that the future society would be
ruled by the labouring people and that this would first take place
in China. In Modern India he said : But there is hope. In the
mighty course of time, the Brahmin, and the other higher castes
100
too, are being brought down to the lower status of the Sudras
and the Sudras are being raised to higher ranks. ...Even before
our eyes, powerful China with fast strides, is going down to
Sudrahood,... yet, a time will come when there will be the rising
of the Sudra class, with their Sudrahood, ... a time will come
when the Sudras of every country... will gain absolute
supremacy in every society. ... Socialism, Anarchism, Nihilism,
and other like sects are the vanguard of the social revolution that
is to follow.
From the material cited above and his life and works, we can
see at least that Vivekananda showed very much concern for,
and sympathized with, the people of China who were living
under the rule of feudalism and imperialism and placed great
hopes on them. But we do not agree with B. N. Datta that the
success of the Chinese and the Russian revolutions coming into
being at concrete historical moments should be credited to the
gospel of Vivekananda. This would make him a divine
mystique personality. We have seen that Vivekanandas
approach to the laws of social developments was unscientific.
However, it is not possible for any advanced thinker to make a
correct prediction of the phases and events of the progress of
history in every minute details. We should, therefore, appraise
Vivekananda in the light of seeking truth from facts.
In conclusion, Vivekananda was the most eminent figure
among the democratic patriots in India. He paid high tributes to
our glorious ancient culture and loved the Chinese labouring
people.
We pay homage to him.
30
HUSTON SMITH
Spiritually speaking, Vivekanandas words and presence at
the 1893 World Parliament of Religions brought Asia to the
101
West decisively. For, reading correctly the spiritual hunger of the
West that his words and presence brought to the surface,
Vivekananda went on to found the Ramakrishna Mission whose
centres in almost every major city of Europe and America
launched the influx of Asian spirituality that has changed the
religious complexion of those continents permanently.
Buddhism, Sufism, Sikhism, Bahai and others have followed,
but Vedanta was the pioneer.
The importance of this fact needs no belabouring, but I
should like to expand the notion of East meeting West by
pointing out that it houses a temporal as well as a spatial
dimension. For though we have no time machine to set clocks
back, it is possible (in our Westernized world) to break out of
our modern time frame by venturing abroad. When I find
Vivekananda reporting that when my Master touched me, my
mind underwent a complete revolution; I was aghast to realize
that there really was nothing whatever in the entire universe but
God, and when he proceeds from such reports to conclude that
our seeming self is not our true self, the latter being in actuality
divine I hear his words echoing not only from a different land
(India) but from a different timea past when the human
outlook was less hobbled by the materialistic, reductionistic
styles of thought that the West has fallen into.
I grant that there is danger in stating things this way, for the
cult of novelty has led many people to confuse past with
inferior. Reflective thinkers, though, are coming to recognize
that one of the most important questions of lifewho are we?
Where did we come from? What are we supposed to do, if
anything?modern science has confused us, along with
clarifying things in other respects. For in being able to deal only
with things that are woven of space, time, and matter ... science
has unwittingly led many people to assume that samsra (the
102
relative world) is more important and real than nirvna (the
experience of absolute Reality).
Personally, therefore, I welcome Vivekananda as envoy, not
only from a different land but from a time that was more open to
the breath of the eternal that the Upanishads attest to so
compellingly.
31
INDIRA GANDHI
I had had the good fortune to know about the life and
teachings of Swami Vivekananda as well as about the activities
of the Ramakrishna Mission. My parents and specially my
mother were very close with the Ramakrishna Mission. And I
must say that the teachings of Vivekananda had inspired all the
members of the Nehru family both in their political activities and
day-to-day lives.
Swamijis teachings, writings and speeches which appear on
every page of his works, are indeed stimulant. Swamiji provides
us courage, strength, and faith and teaches us how to be self-
sufficient. These are the basic tenets of life which India needed
most and which would be relevant for all time to come.
Swamiji has taught us that we are the inheritors of a glorious
and sublime culture. He has at the same time shown us and
analysed the root causes of our national malady. It was Swami
Vivekananda who has given us the ways and means how to
reconstruct a new India. Swamiji preached the message of
universal brotherhood. And a single word which echoed and
reached in all his speeches, was abhh i.e. fearlessness.
32
JAGADISH CHANDRA BOSE
What a void this makes! What great things were
accomplished in these few years! How one man could have
done it all! And how all is stilled now. And yet, when one is tired
103
and weary, it is best that he should rest. I seem to see him just as
I saw him in Paris two years ago...the strong man with the large
hope, everything large about him.
* * *
I cannot tell you what a great sadness has come. I wish we
could see beyond it. Our thoughts are in India with those who
are suffering July 9th 1902.
It seems to me that nothing is lost and all the great thoughts
and work and service and hope remain embodied in and about
the place which gave them birth. All our life is but an echo of a
few great moments, an echo which reverberates through all
time. ... That great soul is released; his heroic deeds on this earth
are over. Can we realize what that work has beenhow one
man did all this? When one is tired it is best that he should sleep,
but his deeds and teachings will walk the earth and waken and
strengthen.
33
JADUNATH SARKAR
Ninety-one years ago a boy was born who has turned the
lives of millions of us in India into a new channel, and thousands
in the West to find their own souls amidst the doubts and
distractions of this mechanical civilization. When we calmly
reflect on our social scene, we feel bound to admit that the moral
revolution not merely preached but actually accomplished by his
life and example, is the dominating force of Hindu Society in the
20th century.
34
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU
Rooted in the past and full of pride in Indias prestige,
Vivekananda was yet modern in his approach to lifes problems
and was a kind of bridge between the past of India and her
present. ... He was a fine figure of a man, imposing, full of poise
104
and dignity, sure of himself and his mission, and at the same time
full of a dynamic and fiery energy and a passion to push India
forward. He came as a tonic to the depressed and demoralized
Hindu mind and gave it self-reliance and some roots in the
past.
35
I do not know how many of the younger generation read the
speeches and the writings of Swami Vivekananda. But I can tell
you that many of my generation were very powerfully influenced
by him and I think that it would do a great deal of good to the
present generation if they also went through Swami
Vivekanandas writings and speeches, and they would learn
much from them. That would, perhaps, as some of us did,
enable us to catch a glimpse of that fire that raged in Swami
Vivekanandas mind and heart and which ultimately consumed
him at an early age. Because there was fire in his heartthe fire
of a great personality coming out in eloquent and ennobling
languageit was no empty talk that he was indulging in. He was
putting his heart and soul into the words he uttered. Therefore he
became a great orator, not with the orators flashes and
flourishes but with a deep conviction and earnestness of spirit.
And so he influenced powerfully the minds of many in India and
two or three generations of young men and women have no
doubt been influenced by him. ...
Much has happened which perhaps makes some forget
those who came before and who prepared India and shaped
India in those early and difficult days. If you read Swami
Vivekanandas writings and speeches, the curious thing you will
find is that they are not old. It was told 56
*
years ago, and they
are fresh today because, what he wrote or spoke about dealt
with certain fundamental matters and aspects of our problems or
* Jawaharlal Nehru delivered this speech in 1949.Editor
105
the worlds problems. Therefore they do not become old. They
are fresh even though you read them now.
He gave us something which brings us, if I may use the word,
a certain pride in our inheritance. He did not spare us. He talked
of our weaknesses and our failings too. He did not wish to hide
anything. Indeed he should not. Because we have to correct
those failings, he deals with those failings also. Sometimes he
strikes hard at us, but sometimes points out the great things for
which India stood and which even in the days of Indias downfall
made her, in some measure, continue to be great.
So what Swamiji has written and said is of interest and must
interest us and is likely to influence us for a long time to come.
He was no politician in the ordinary sense of the word and yet he
was, I think, one of the great foundersif you like, you may use
any other wordof the national modern movement of India,
and a great number of people who took more or less an active
part in that movement in a later date drew their inspiration from
Swami Vivekananda. Directly or indirectly he has powerfully
influenced the India of today. And I think that our younger
generation will take advantage of this fountain of wisdom, of
spirit and fire, that flows through Swami Vivekananda.
...Men like Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, men like Swami
Vivekananda and men like Mahatma Gandhi are great unifying
forces, great constructive geniuses of the world not only in
regard to the particular teachings that they taught, but their
approach to the world and their conscious and unconscious
influence on it is of the most vital importance to us. ...
36
JAY PRAKASH NARAYAN
Swami Vivekananda belongs to the class of great seers of
Truth. His intellect was great, but greater still was his heart. He
once told his disciples at the Belur Math that if a conflict were to
106
arise between the intellect and the heart, they should reject the
intellect and follow the heart. Many a Mahtm has appeared in
this land, and some of them understood that to meditate on the
soul in the caves of the Himalayas was the correct path to follow.
Swami Vivekanandas mind also was influenced by this tradition
and there arose a conflict in him early in his career; his intellect
advocating the traditional absorption in self-realization and his
heart bleeding for the miseries of the people around him. In the
end he came to the conclusion that leaving the solitude he would
enter into the soul of every being and worship his God by serving
them.
...What attracts the poor and lowly to him is this
compassionate heart which ever bled for them and exhausted
itself in their incessant service in thirty-nine brief years. ... It was
this measureless feeling for the spiritual and material poverty and
misery of his fellow men, particularly of his fellow countrymen,
that drove him round the world like a tornado of moral energy
and gave him no rest till the end. His lifes campaigns in the East
and West, including the founding of the Ramakrishna Math and
Mission, were in response to this feeling.
His life was all purity and love; his coming to and going from
this world was [were] quick, sudden. But in the short period of
thirty-nine years he accomplished so much by way of stirring up
and infusing new life and new hope into the people that in the
history of our great country we do not find a second to stand
equal to him in this, except, perhaps the great Sankaracarya.
37
KAKASAHEB KALELKAR
To Swami Vivekananda belongs the honour of familiarizing
India with the idea of a Parliament of Religions, and of
proclaiming to the world that a Parliament of Religions would be
107
incomplete without Hinduism being represented there as an
equal partner. Educated India felt in 1893 that Hinduism had
been vindicated and that day Swami Vivekanandas name
became with us a name to conjure with. I remember as a child
the glowing enthusiasm of my elder brothers discussing the news
and giving expression to their wild hopes for the future of
Hinduism. Swami Vivekanandas lectures were soon translated
into Marathi, my mother tongue, and people read the lectures
with avidity. There was nothing new in them for Vedantic India,
at least so far as the substance went; but every word therein was
instinct with life and hope and self-confidence. The novelty
about the Swamijis presentation of Hinduism was its modern
outlook and his application of Vedantic principles to the solution
of modern, social and educational problems. The importance of
his teachings grew on me as I grew in years and I looked up to
the Swami as the high-water mark of Indian culture.
38
K. M. MUNSHI
Swami Vivekananda, a brilliant product of the Gt, trod the
path of yoga. His was not the way of the iconoclast but the
architect. He was not an apologist of the existing evils. At the
same time he had no illusion about Western culture. He saw
Aryan culture in its living greatness, as a spiritual force destined
to revolutionize the world. He brought back self-respect to
Indians. He also demanded and secured the worlds respect for
their culture. Due to him educated India felt a glow of a fresh
pride in its ever living culture which it had been taught to
condemn by Christian missionaries and its social reformers of
the Rationalist school. Vivekananda was sanity itself. He
declined to found sect and thereby segregate the influence of his
Masters teachings. He preferred to emphasize his experiences
rather than dwell on his being an avatra a belief he shared
108
with some of his co-disciples. In this way he became the voice of
Aryan culture itself.
39
K. M. PANIKKAR
What gave Indian nationalism its dynamism and ultimately
enabled it to weld at least the major part of India into one state
was the creation of a sense of community among the Hindus to
which the credit should to a very large extent go to Swami
Vivekananda. This new Sankaracarya may well be claimed to
be a unifier of Hindu ideology. Travelling all over India he not
only aroused a sense of Hindu feeling but taught the doctrine of a
universal Vedanta as the background of the new Hindu
reformation. ... The Hindu religious movements before him were
local, sectarian and without any all India impact. The rya
Samaj, the Brahmo Samaj, the Deva Samaj and other
movements, very valuable in themselves, only tended further to
emphasize the provincial character of the reform movements. It
is Vivekananda who first gave to the Hindu movement its sense
of nationalism and provided most of the movements with a
common all-India outlook.
40
LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI
I remember that in my student days I have read the
speeches of the Swami and was deeply attracted to it. Its impact
on my mind was so great that my perceptions were all changed,
and I started to have a different idea about life.
When the nation was in a deep slumber, he created the stir.
He talked on the Vedanta; nevertheless, this sage-philosopher
aroused the people. India was like an open picture before him.
He wanted that the people of our country should embark on
work and be active. His Advaitism was not a passivity, and he
never directed to await luck or fate. He knew that if the people
of the country were not ready for toil and sacrifice, India would
109
hardly achieve wealth and prosperity. Subjugation of the country
deeply troubled him. ... He called everyone to sacrifice for the
attainment of a noble goal. Aspirants of wealth and power were
deeply despised by him. In a country where millions of people
were living in deprivation, individual enjoyments were
considered unjust by him. ...His message was to awake, arise
and stop not till the goal is reached. He was a seer and a God-
commanded entity.
40a
LEO TOLSTOY
Alexander Shifman writes: Among the Indian philosophers
of the medieval period he [Tolstoy] studied more thoroughly
Sankara and, among the more recent, Ramakrishna
Paramahansa and his pupil Swami Vivekananda. ...
During his last years Tolstoy did not concern himself with
Ramakrishna except selecting from his works passages for
inclusion in his new collections of ancient sayings which he had
compiled previously. At this time he was considerably more
interested in Vivekanandas teachings. ...
Tolstoys acquaintance with Vivekanandas philosophy
dates back to September, 1896, when for the first time he noted
in his diary that he had read a charming book on Indian
wisdom which had been sent to him.
41
This was a series of
lectures on ancient Indian philosophy delivered by Vivekananda
in New York in the winter of 1895-96. A. K. Datt, the Indian
scholar, who sent to Tolstoy this book, wrote to him:
You will be pleased to know that your doctrines are in
complete agreement with the Indian philosophy at the period of
its highest achievement, the most ancient to reach us.
Tolstoy wrote in reply to this letter that he liked the book
and he noted with approval the reasoning on what was mans
self . [Complete collection of Works of Tolstoy, Vol. 69, p.
146]
*
110
In Vivekanandas passionate tirades directed against the
contemporary bourgeois civilization, in his affirmations of the
priority of the spiritual essence of man over his material cover.
Tolstoy heard the echoes of the early teachings of the ancient
Indians and particularly many motifs of the Vedas which were
congenial to him.
The second book by Vivekananda which Tolstoy read was
a collection of Speeches and Articles (in English) sent to him in
1907 by his acquaintance I. F. Nazhivin. When Nazhivin asked
him whether he would like to have this book, Tolstoy replied on
7 July 1907 : Please send me the book by the Brahmin. The
reading of such books is more than a pleasure, it is a broadening
of the soul.
42
In 1908, I. F. Nazhivin published a collection of articles,
Voices of the Peoples, which included Vivekanandas articles
The Hymn of the Peoples and God and Man. The latter
article made a strong impression on Tolstoy. This is unusually
good, he wrote to Nazhivin, after reading it.
43
Once Tolstoy praised Vivekananda for his excellent
polemics with Schopenhauer about God and he noted the
English of the Indian philosopher : What English has
Vivekananda ! He has learnt all its subtleties.
44
In March 1909, preparing a list of new popular books for
the people, Tolstoy also included in the plan of publication the
Sayings of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda, [Works of Tolstoy,
Vol. 57, p. 40] and, in April of the same year, he informed the
Orientalist N.O. Einhorn : We are preparing a publication of
selected thoughts of Vivekananda whom I appreciate very
much.
45
[Works of Tolstoy, Vol. 79, p. 142] But this
publication did not materialize.
111
EMMA CALV
It has been my good fortune and my joy to know a man who
truly walked with God, a noble being, a saint, a philosopher,
and a true friend. His influence upon my spiritual life was
profound. He opened up new horizons before me; enlarging and
vivifying my religious ideas and ideals; teaching me a broader
understanding of truth. My soul will bear him eternal gratitude.
This extraordinary man was a Hindu monk of the order of the
Vedanta. He was called the Swami Vivekananda, and was
widely known in America for his religious teachings.
...With the Swami and some of his friends and followers I
went a most remarkable trip, through Turkey, Egypt, and
Greece. Our party included the Swami; Father Hyacinthe
Loyson; his wife, a Bostonian; Miss MacLeod of Chicago, an
ardent Swamist and charming, enthusiastic woman; and myself,
the song bird of the troupe. What a pilgrimage it was! Science,
philosophy, and history had no secrets from the Swami. I
listened with all my ears to the wise and learned discourse that
went on around me. I did not attempt to join in their arguments,
but I sang on all occasions, as is my custom. The Swami would
discuss all sorts of questions with Father Loyson, who was a
scholar and a theologian of repute. It was interesting to see that
the Swami was able to give the exact text of a document, the
date of a Church Council, when Father Loyson himself was not
certain.
When we were in Greece, we visited Eleusis. He explained
its mysteries to us and led us from altar to altar, from temple to
temple, describing the processions that were held in each place,
intoning the ancient prayers, showing us the priestly rites. Later,
in Egypt, one unforgettable night, he led us again into the past,
speaking to us in mystic, moving world, under the shadow of the
silent sphinx.
112
The Swami was always absorbingly interesting, even under
ordinary conditions. He fascinated his hearers with his magic
tongue. Again and again we would miss our train, sitting calmly in
a station waiting-room, enthralled by his discourse and quite
oblivious of the lapse of time. Even Miss MacLeod, the most
sensible among us, would forget the hour, and we would in
consequence find ourselves stranded far from our destination at
the most inconvenient times and places.
46
MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI
I have come here [Belur Math] to pay my homage and
respect to the revered memory of Swami Vivekananda, whose
birthday is being celebrated today [6 February 1921]. I have
gone through his works very thoroughly, and after having gone
through them, the love that I had for my country became a
thousandfold. I ask you, young men, not to go away empty-
handed without imbibing something of the spirit of the place
where Swami Vivekananda lived and died.
47
MAHENDRANATH SIRCAR
...Originally an intellectual agnostic with a heart endowed
with true seeking and love, Vivekananda saw the living image of
Wisdom and Love in Ramakrishna.
...Vivekananda approached religion and philosophy through
an analysis of life and psychic experience and he welcomed that
as the highest which gave the finest idea of freedom. ...Gods,
angels and helpers had no fascination for him, for he felt that the
bondage was self-created, and should be broken by self-
possession. He maintained the heroic attitude in all concerns of
life even in spiritual life.
Vivekananda was the spirit of selflessness incarnated in
flesh. He could feel that true knowledge originated from it. It
was not an ideal for him. It was his being. He could see that
113
selfless living was better than mere speculative philosophy, and
he accentuated it. This self-giving and self-opening were to him
the ways to wisdom. The Vedanta was to him the gospel of life,
and not mere philosophy.
...Vivekanandas policy was to bring in social reformation
more by the propagation of liberal and humanistic culture rather
than by positive frontal attacks. He was anxious to impart the
touch of love and life to everybody, but he was equally anxious
to see the spirit of self-reformation coming from within. True
reformation was reformation by self-education. He
concentrated his forces thereon.
48
MANABENDRA NATH ROY
Religious nationalism of the orthodox as well as reformed
school had begun to come into evidence in the province of
Bengal since the first years of the twentieth century. Although its
political philosopher and leader were found subsequently in the
persons of Aurobindo Ghosh and Bepin Chandra Pal
respectively, its fundamental ideology was conceived by a young
intellectual. ... Narendra Nath Datta, subsequently known by
the religious nomenclature of Swami Vivekananda. While still a
student in the University of Calcutta, Datta felt the rebellious
spirit affecting the lower middle class intellectuals. It was in the
early nineties. He was moved by the sufferings of the common
people. Declassed socially, possessing a keen intellect, he made
a spectacular plunge into the philosophical depths of Hindu
scripture and discovered in his cult of Vedantism (religious
Monism of the Hindus) a sort of socialistic, humanitarian
religion. He decried scathingly orthodoxy in religion as well as in
social customs. He was the picturesque, and tremendously
vigorous embodiment of the old trying to readjust itself to the
new. Like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Datta was also a prophet of
114
Hindu nationalism. He also was a firm believer in the cultural
superiority of the Indian people, and held that on this cultural
basis should be built the future Indian nation. But he was not a
partisan of orthodoxy in religion : to social conservatism, he was
a veritable iconoclast. He had the courageous foresight, or
perhaps instinct, which convinced him that if religion was to be
saved, it must be given a modern garb; if the priest was still to
hold his sway over the millions of Hindu believers, he must
modify his old crude way; if the intellectual aristocracy of the
fortunate few was to retain its social predominance, spiritual
knowledge must be democratized. The reaction of native culture
against the intrusion of Western education ran wild, so to say, in
the person of Vivekananda and the cult of Universal Religion he
formulated in the name of his preceptor, Ramakrishna
Paramahansa. He preached that Hinduism, not Indian
nationalism, should be aggressive. His nationalism was a spiritual
imperialism. He called on Young India to believe in the spiritual
mission of India. ...
This romantic vision of conquering the world by spiritual
superiority electrified the young intellectuals. ... The British
domination stood in the way as the root of all evils. Thus, an
intelligently rebellious element... had to give in to national
preoccupations, and contribute itself to a movement for the
immediate overthrow of foreign rule. ...
49
MICHAEL TALBOT
There are many parallel concepts between the ancient
philosophies of the East and the emerging philosophies of the
West. Certain concepts are so similar that it becomes impossible
to discern whether some statements were made by the mystic or
the physicist. Esalen Institute Psychologist Lawrence Leshan
gives an example of such an indistinguishable statement : The
115
absolute (is)...everything that exists ...this absolute has become
the universe...(as we perceive it) by coming through time, space
and causation. This is the central idea of (Minkowski) (Advaita).
Time, space and causation are like the glass through which the
absolute is seen and when it is seen it appears as the universe.
Now we at once gather from this that in the universe there is
neither time, space nor causation. ...What we may call causation
begins, after, if we may be permitted to say so, the degeneration
of the absolute into the phenomenal and not before.
The remark was originally made by mystic Swami
Vivekananda in Jna-yoga, but the fact that the names of the
mathematician who first theorized that space and time are a
continuum, Hermann Minkowski, and the greatest of the
historical Brahmin sages, Advaita,
*
are inter-changeable,
demonstrates once again the confluence of mysticism and the
new physics.
Vivekananda further expresses a view that has become the
backbone of quantum theory : There is no such thing as strict
causality. As he states, A stone falls and we ask why. This
question is possible only on the supposition that nothing happens
without a cause. I request you to make this very clear in your
minds, for whenever we ask why anything happens, we are
taking for granted that everything that happened must have a
why, that is to say, it must have been preceded by something else
which acted as the cause. This precedence in succession is what
we call the law of causation.
50
MUNSHI PREMCHAND
Among the great souls who welcomed the Indian
renaissance with sounds of conch shells, Vivekananda deserves
* The author obviously mistakes Advaita to be a person and not a
philosophy.Editor
116
the first place. His divine message has a clear pronouncement
for spiritual progressdirected not for India alone but the world
at large. ...The Swami is no more with us today, but the glow of
spirituality he lighted will always illumine the World.
51
NAGENDRANATH GUPTA
In conversation Vivekananda was brilliant, illuminating,
arresting, while the range of his knowledge was exceptionally
wide. His country occupied a great deal of his thoughts and his
conversation. His deep spiritual experiences were the bedrock
of his faith and his luminations expositions are to be found in his
lectures, but his patriotism was as deep as his religion. Except
those who saw it, few can realize the ascendancy and influence
of Swami Vivekananda over his American and English disciples.
...At the sight of this Indian monk wearing a single robe and a
pair of rough Indian shoes his disciples from the West, among
whom were the Consul General for the United States living in
Calcutta, and his wife, would rise with every mark of respect;
and when he spoke, he was listened to with the closest and most
respectful attention. His slightest wish was a command and was
carried out forthwith. And Vivekananda was always his simple
and great self, unassuming, straightforward, earnest, and grave.
...His thoughts ranged over every phase of the future of India,
and he gave all that was in him to his country and to the world.
The world will rank him among the prophets and princes of
peace, and his message has been heard in reverence in three
continents. For his countrymen he has left priceless heritage of
virility, abounding vitality, and invincible strength of will. Swami
Vivekananda stands on the threshold of the dawn of a new day
for India, an heroic and dauntless figure, the herald and
harbinger of the glorious hour when India shall, once again,
sweep forward to the van of the nations.
52
117
PRAFULLA CHANDRA RAY
It was Swamijis great principle that the service of daridra
Nryana should be the real service of humanity. ...Swami
Vivekanandas great message was that all the low caste people
should be taken as our brethren. Not only the right hand of the
fellowship should be extended to them, but they should be
embraced as a brother embraces his fellow-brother. ...Many
things come out of Swami Vivekanandas life. He said that the
temples should be thrown open to all the Hindus irrespective of
caste distinction. That is a very simple thing. In the eye of God
there is no distinction between one man and another. ... The aim
of Swami Vivekananda was not only to obliterate all distinctions
of caste, but also to uplift the daridra Nryana. ...Another
thing he has done is propounding the principles of Vedanta in
foreign countries. We are all the worshippers of the material
world. We forget that there is anything good in our own
teachings and literature. This is due to our illusion and ignorance.
He expounded the principles of Vedanta and created not only a
profound impression in the New World, but there were also
many converts to it in America. Many of them came out to India,
and devoted their time, energy and money to the cause of India.
That was not a small service that he rendered.
53
ROMESH CHANDRA DUTT
Since then I have heard the sad news of Swami
Vivekanandas death. I never saw the Swami, I never closely
followed his teachings, but you know how sincerely I
appreciated and admired his high patriotism, his genuine belief in
the greatness of his country, his manly faith in the future of his
countrymen if they are true to themselves. That spirit of self-
reliance, that determination to work out our own salvation,
that faith in our country and ourselves,that conviction that our
118
future rests in our own hands,are the noblest lessons that we
learn from the life of him whose loss we all lament today. India is
poorer to-day for the untimely loss of an earnest worker who
had faith in himself ; to us in Bengal the loss is more of a personal
nature ; to you the bereavement is one which will cast a shadow
over all your life. Only the thought of his earnestness and
greatness, only the imperishable lessons which his life teaches,
may afford some consolation to those who have lost in him a
friend, a helper in life, a teacher of the great truths.
54
RADHAKAMAL MUKERJEE
The fruitful movement of the dialectic of the Indian spirit
towards the stress of universality of the human person is
embodied in the thought and vision of Swami Vivekananda, the
beloved disciple of Ramakrishna, one of the greatest saints of
modern India and a living embodiment of the universality and
transcendence of Vedantic humanism. Vivekananda gave to
modern India the conception of the destitute, suffering and
sorrowing God (rta and daridra Nryana) in man
conceived as essentially interpersonal and at the same time
ultimately cosmic-transcendent.
55
RADHAKUMUD MUKERJEE
It was only after his attainment of supreme knowledge that
Sri Ramakrishna allowed his pupil to engage in external activities
in the life of a teacher.
What was this Supreme knowledge which Vivekananda had
lived to achieve? It was the knowledge of the tman, of
Brahman as the soul and supreme reality. He did not care for the
half truths and intermediate truths which make up the body of
knowledge, for which the modern world stands. He boldly
stood for the knowledge of immortality as the only objective to
be aimed at by mortals. ...
119
Vivekananda stood out as an embodiment of a purified
Hinduism, a Hinduism purged of its impurities and abuses, which
are not of its essences. He was an embodiment of the religion
that is founded upon character and not upon mere external
forms, rituals and ceremonies. ...His clarion call still instigates in
us a fight against illiteracy, untouchability, and other social evils
which are eating into the vitals of Hinduism.
We at the modern age are too prone to modernize too much
the message of Vivekananda as if he were a mere political
leader. It is forgotten that his main strength lay in the depths of his
soul. It was his soul force that sustained a life so rich in events
and in external activities. There is hardly a life in which so much
could be packed within its span so restricted. His life was cut
short at the age of 39, but it is a priceless possession for India
and Humanity.
56
RAMESH CHANDRA MAJUMDAR
(1)
Vivekananda championed the cause of Hinduism in the
Parliament of Religions held at Chicago (USA) in 1893 in
connection with the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the
discovery of America by Columbus. There, in the presence of
the representatives of all the religions from almost all the
countries in the world, the young monk from India expounded
the principles of Vedanta and the greatness of Hinduism with
such persuasive eloquence that from the very first he captivated
the hearts of vast audience. It would be hardly an exaggeration
to say that Swami Vivekananda made a place for Hinduism in
the cultural map of the modern world. The civilized nations of the
West had hitherto looked down upon Hinduism as a bundle of
superstitions, evil institutions, and immoral customs, unworthy of
120
serious consideration in the progressive world of today. Now,
for the first time, they not only greeted, with hearty approval, the
lofty principles of Hinduism as expounded by Vivekananda, but
accorded a very high place to it in the cultures and civilizations of
the world. The repercussion of this on the vast Hindu community
can be easily imagined. The Hindu intelligentsia were always
very sensitive to the criticism of the Westerners, particularly the
missionaries, regarding the many evils and shortcomings of the
Hindu society and religion, as with their rational outlook they
could not but admit the force of much of this criticism. They had
always to be on the defensive and their attitude was mostly
apologetic, whenever there was a comparative estimate of the
values of the Hindu and Western culture. They had almost taken
for granted the inferiority of their culture vis--vis that of the
West, which was so confidently asserted by the Western
scholars. Now, all on a sudden, the table was turned and the
representatives of the West joined in a chorus of applause at the
hidden virtues of Hinduism which were hitherto unsuspected
either by friends or foes. It not only restored the self-confidence
of the Hindus in their own culture and civilization, but quickened
their sense of national pride and patriotism. This sentiment was
echoed and re-echoed in the numerous public addresses which
were presented to Swami Vivekananda on his home-coming by
the Hindus all over India, almost literally from Cape Comorin to
the Himalayas. It was a great contribution to the growing Hindu
nationalism.
On his return to India, Swami Vivekananda preached the
spiritual basis of Hindu civilization and pointed out in his writings
and speeches that the spirituality of India was not less valuable,
nor less important for the welfare of humanity, than the much
vaunted material greatness of the West which has dazzled our
eyes. He was never tired of asking the Indians to turn their eyes,
121
dazed by the splendour of the West, to their own ideals and
institutions. By a comparative estimate of the real values of the
Hindu ideals and institutions and those of the West he maintained
the superiority of the former and asked his countrymen never to
exchange gold for tinsels. ...
But Vivekananda was not prejudiced against the West nor
insensible to the value of her achievements. He frankly admitted
that Indian culture was neither spotless nor perfect. It has to
learn many things from the West, but without sacrificing its true
character.
Swami Vivekananda combined in himself the role of a great
saint and fervid nationalist. He placed Indian nationalism on the
high pedestal of past glory, and it embraced the teeming millions
of India both high and low, rich and poor. He devoted his life to
the awakening of national consciousness and many of his
eloquent appeals would stir the national sentiments of India even
today to their very depths. ...
Though an ascetic, Vivekananda was a patriot of patriots.
The thought of restoring the pristine glory of India by
resuscitating among her people the spiritual vitality which was
dormant, but not dead, was always the uppermost thought in his
mind. ...
This great sannysin who had left his hearth and home at the
call of his spiritual guru, Sri Ramakrishna, and delved deeply into
spiritual mysticism, was never tired of preaching that what India
needs today is not so much religion or philosophy, of which she
has enough, but food for her hungry millions, social justice for
the low classes, strength and energy for her emasculated people
and a sense of pride and prestige as a great nation of the world.
He made a trumpet call to all Indians to shed fear of all kinds and
stand forth as men by imbibing sakti (energy and strength), by
reminding them that they were the particles of the Divine
122
according to the eternal truth preached by the Vedanta. The
precepts and example of this great sannysin galvanized the
current of national life, infused new hopes and inspirations, and
placed the service to the motherland on a religious level. ...
Swami Vivekananda thus gave a spiritual basis to Indian
nationalism. The lessons of the Vedanta and Bhagavad-Gt
permeated the lives and activities of many nationalists, and many
a martyr, inspired by his teachings, endured extreme sufferings
and sacrifices with a cheerful heart, fearlessly embraced death,
and calmly bore the inhuman tortures, worse than death, which
were sometimes inflicted upon them. ...
57
(2)
He (Vivekananda) was a product of the nineteenth century
Renaissance in Bengal, in its initial stage, but it was his genius
and personality that moulded it into the shape it finally assumed.
...It was a great achievement on the part of Swamiji to bring
about a synthesis between the thesis and antithesisto use a
Hegelian expression represented by the first two phases of
Indian Renaissance. ...The Ideal he placed before the country
was an all-round development by imbibing both the spirituality
of ancient India and the material culture of the West. Such a
synthesis was not only necessary for India but its scope,
according to Swamiji, extended to the West also. As a matter of
fact Swamiji regarded this synthesis as essential for the whole
humanity. ...It would appear that Swami Vivekananda has laid
before us the final phase of the Renaissance Movement that is
still leading us forward, and India will derive the fullest benefit
from it if she follows the path laid down by him.
58
(3)
His historical knowledge...was both profound and
extensive. Although he wrote only one or two short essays on
123
historical subjects, his penetrating insight into the historical
evolution, not only in India but all over the world from ancient to
modern times, is revealed in numerous passages scattered
throughout his speeches and writings. His comprehensive grasp
of the main currents of the world history and the power to
express it in simple language is illustrated in his description of the
Renaissance [in his book Prcya O Psctya]. He has given an
altogether new interpretation of evolution of Indian history
through ages which, considering the time in which he wrote,
displays an amazing depth of knowledge and critical judgement.
He emphasized the truth that in ancient India the centres of
national life were always the intellectual and spiritual and not
political, and interpreted on that basis the course of evolution in
Indian history right up to the British period. He was also familiar
with the scientific and critical method of historical research and
modern developments in Archaeology and Ethnology.
...It has been very aptly said the Swami Vivekananda is a
commentary on Sri Ramakrishna. But the commentator with his
giant intellect and profound understanding made such distinctive
contributions that his commentary becomes itself a philosophy
just as Sankaras commentary on the Vednta-Stra is by itself
a philosophy.
59
(4)
India has produced numerous saints and religious teachers,
but it would be difficult to select in their message an appreciation
of the present-day problems of life and a heart bleeding for the
suffering millions of India such as we find throughout the writings
and speeches of the Swami. Sometimes, he even goes to the
length of subordinating religion to other interests of life...Like the
most advanced political thinkers, he had no illusion of the past,
but dreamt of a glorious future for his motherland.
124
...Diversity in the personality of the Swami, at first, appears
to be somewhat puzzling. But with the advance of years and a
closer study of his teachings, one slowly realizes that this
apparent plurality is the real key to the proper understanding of
his personality. It becomes increasingly clear that the great
lesson which the Swamis teaching holds out before us is the
indivisibility of a human being, in spite of the multiple
manifestations of his emotion and intellect, and the consequent
unity of the problem which faces society; for society is, after all,
a mere aggregate of individuals and, therefore, partakes of their
essential character.
...To him [the Swami] each individual human being is not a
mere bundle of different intellectual and emotional attributes, but
an organic entity whose diverse component elements are bound
up together by one indivisible force. This constitutes the main
spring which guides his life and actions, so long as this is not
brought under control, all attempts at reform are bound to prove
futile.
60
R. G. PRADHAN
Swami Vivekananda might well be called the father of
modern Indian Nationalism; he largely created it and also
embodied in his own life its highest and noblest elements.
61
R. RYBAKOV
Vivekanandas Ideas Dear to Soviets
The people of the Soviet Union observed the 120th
anniversary of the birth of the great Indian thinker and public
figure Swami Vivekananda, whose fame has twice outlived his
short and dramatic life, entirely devoted to the noble cause of
awakening India. ...
125
I have recently been to... Yasnaya Polyana, the house of Leo
Tolstoy the great writer, whose name is equally dear to the
peoples of the USSR and India. I saw a group of visitors
encircling a large dinner table and my mind conjured up grey-
beared, Tolstoy, reading British newspapers out loud in the light
of a kerosene lamp. The British Press was full of reports about
Vivekanandas brilliant lectures. Sometimes, there was little truth
in them, yet the powerful voice of the Calcutta sannys did
reach the writers mind through the filter of the British
newspapers. It stirred the writer profoundly and for a while he
could not continue reading. He went to the bedroom and read
Vivekanandas books all through the night. He remarked in his
diary : I was reading Vivekananda again. How much there is in
common between the thoughts of his and mine.
New Age
That epoch has long since gone. The people who come to
the Tolstoy museum and listen to the guides story were born in
the age of space flights, cinema and television and they do not
know what colonialism is. The material culture of that time has
disappeared and so have clothes and objects of everyday life.
But the spiritual culture which unites all nations is alive and
continues to exert powerful influence on our contemporaries.
Vivekanandas ideas were dear not only to Tolstoy. They are
just as dear to the Soviet people today, primarily, because his life
was filled with ardent love for India. Vivekananda had always
desired to change the situation in Indiathe powerful and yet
dependent country, fettered by the will of British colonialists,
hard vestiges of the centuries-old history and rigid caste
conventions and also disintegrated, oppressed and not yet
strong to rebel. He had not spared efforts to awaken his
countrymens feeling of national identity, the wish to work for the
126
national benefit and the faith in Indias bright future. Neither had
he spared sarcasm to stir up the Indians feeling of shame for
their dependent and oppressed position, the shame, which, to
quote Marxs apt remark, is already revolution of a kind.
Shame is a kind of anger which is turned inward. And if a whole
nation really experienced a sense of shame, it would be like a
lion, crouching ready to spring. However reluctant,
Vivekananda was to get involved in politics, his entire activities
were aimed against imperialism and colonialism and he had
played an important role in Indias becoming an independent
state and a leading power.
The essence of Vivekanandas religion is the service to
people. I do not believe in God or religion which cannot wipe
the widows tears or bring a piece of bread to the orphans
mouth, he said. His doctrine was focussed on man. Everything
for the good of manhow consonant this idea is with Maxim
Gorkys words spoken at about the same time : The name of
Man rings proud. Centring his attention on the Indian reality,
Vivekananda explained the national degradation by the
indifference of the propertied classes to the peoples needs and
by the poverty and ignorance of the population. Contempt for
the masses is a grave national sin, he said.
Vivekananda had uncovered yet another cause of Indias
decline, namely, the countrys isolated status. It is only natural
that the voice of the man who asserted the idea of equality of all
religions and the international fraternity of liberated peoples
deeply moved the delegates of the world religious council in
Chicago. He was not afraid of reason and relied on it.
National Sin
It is better that mankind should become atheist through
following reason, than blindly believe in 200 million gods on the
127
authority of anybody. The supernatural and miracles did not
bother him and he refused to accept miracles ascribed to his
teacher Ramakrishna. Isnt it a miracle, however that he had
heard the roaring of the coming social and political events of the
20th century in the slow and serene life of 19th century Europe
and had aptly foreseen that the liberation would come from
Russia.
That epoch is unreachably far away. Things and kingdoms
have disappeared and practically the entire colonial system has
collapsed. They say there are old gramophone records of
Vivekanandas ardent voice still to be found in India. His voice
was admired by Ramakrishna and it produced a tremendous
impression on the Chicago religious congress. Those records
have not been played for a long time already, for there are no
gramophones to play them on.
Still, Vivekanandas voice keeps ringing. Celebrating the
120th anniversary of his birth, we recall Rabindranath Tagores
words : If you want to know India, read Vivekananda.
62
RATNAMUTHU SUGATHAN
It was Swami Vivekananda who made us aware of our
subjugation, and inspired for achieving the national freedom.
This all, curiously enough, was done through his speeches and
talks pertaining to religious and spiritual matters. It was he who
first vociferously declared the impossibility of getting freedom
without eradicating casteism, poverty and illiteracy among the
masses.
When in Kerala, Swami Vivekananda had witnessed all and
his expression was This is a lunatic asylum. He added that
here we had only one wise man, and that was the Chattampi
Swami. The stalwarts of untouchability were shaken to their
128
cores by the Swamis reverberating voice. ...The Hindus of
Kerala were fragmented in innumerable castes and tribes, and
on that social ruins comfortably sat were the high caste peoples
who, as a consequence of prolonged observance of local
traditions and practices and its resultant bragging, had their souls
eroding with rusts.
On his way to Kerala Vivekananda met Dr Palpu, who
narrated to the Swami about Keralas inhuman casteism,
perpetual exploitation and insult of the lower class Hindus by
their upper class counterparts. Learning this entire, the Swami
told Dr Palpu, Find out a good sannysin within the country
and community you belong to, and try to unite the lower class
people around him and work for their uplift. Fight against
untouchability, the lower class people has to undertake this task.
None will come out to save the exploited and the suppressed.
They have to do it for themselves. Following this, Dr Palpu went
back to his State Travancore, discovered Sri Narayana Guru,
and the inception of Aruvippuram Ksetra Yogam was
followed.
All the subsequent social, cultural and political movements
[in Kerala] to eradicate the cumulative debris of injustice and
unjustness had in its centre the meeting of Dr. Palpu with Swami
Vivekananda. ...Sri Kumaran Asan, the first editor-director of
Vivekodayam and the spokes-person of Sr Nryana
Dharma Pariplana Yogam (S. N. D. P.) while writing an
obituary on Swami Chaitanya has narrated about Dr Palpus
encounter and discussion with Swami Vivekananda.
63
RABINDRANATH TAGORE
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129
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64
(Some time ago Vivekananda said that there was the power
of Brahman in every man, that Narayana [i.e. God] wanted to
have our service through the poor. This is what I call real gospel.
This gospel showed the path of infinite freedom from mans tiny
egocentric self beyond the limits of all selfishness. This was no
sermon relating to a particular ritual, nor was it a narrow
injunction to be imposed upon ones external life. This naturally
contained in it protest against untouchabilitynot because that
would make for political freedom, but because that would do
away with the humiliation of mana curse which in fact puts to
shame the self of us all.
Vivekanandas gospel marked the awakening of man in his
fullness and that is why it inspired our youth to the diverse
courses of liberation through work and sacrifice.)
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=r :- := ':==:-r := + =:+r =:= :=:=:=, .-:=
=+
65
130
131
132
(In India of modern times, it was Vivekananda alone who
preached a great message which is not tied to any dos and
donts. Addressing one and all in the nation, he said : In every
one of you there is the power of Brahman (God); the God in the
poor desires you to serve Him. This message has roused the
heart of the youths in a most pervasive way. That is why this
message has borne fruit in the service of the nation in diverse
ways and in diverse forms of sacrifice. This message has, at one
and the same time, imparted dignity and respect to man along
with energy and power. The strength that this message has
imparted to man is not confined to a particular point; nor is it
limited to repetitions of some physical movements. It has,
indeed, invested his life with a wonderful dynamism in various
spheres. There at the source of the adventurous activities of
todays youth of Bengal is the message of Vivekanandawhich
calls the soul of man, not his fingers.)
RAJENDRA PRASAD
Men who lead their fellow beings in any sphere of life are
rare and those that lead their leaders are rarer still. These super-
guides come not very often upon this earth to uplift the sinking
section of humanity. Swami Vivekananda was one of these
super souls.
It was he who could set the sceptic mind of the West at the
rest in the spiritual arena. Ambassadors of spiritual missions had
risen before him in the East, but none could speak to the West as
he did with that voice of conviction, keeping audiences
spellbound and enthralled. The worthy disciple of the worthy
Master rose to the pinnacle of spiritual eminence, preaching the
gospel of the innate oneness of the human race, and preaching
universal love and the affinity of all human souls.
133
Not only Indians but Westerners too stand indebted to Swami
Vivekananda for the bequest of viveka (wisdom) to posterity.
66
The ideal he stood for made universal brotherhood of man
an understandable proposition to a world which was wedded to
colour prejudice, having its route in the slavery of man. His
spiritual approach roused the conscience of the thinking section
of the human community all over the world and he succeeded in
bringing home to the West the greatness of the Vedic civilization.
The great disciple of the great Master immortalized the fame
and prestige of the land of his birth in a way which remains
unrivalled even in the annals of Indian spiritualism in modern
times. The sceptical youth with the intrepid spirit rose to be the
ablest and wisest heir to the legacy of spiritual wealth of the great
enlightened one.
67
ROMAIN ROLLAND
He [Vivekananda] was energy personified, and action was
his message to men. For him, as for Beethoven, it was the root
of all the virtues. ...
His pre-eminent characteristic was kingliness. He was a
born king and nobody ever came near him either in India or
America without paying homage to his majesty.
When this quite unknown young man of thirty appeared in
Chicago at the inaugural meeting of the Parliament of Religions,
opened in September 1893, by Cardinal Gibbons, all his fellow
members were forgotten in his commanding presence. His
strength and beauty, the grace and dignity of his bearing, the
dark light of his eyes, his imposing appearance, and from the
moment he began to speak, the splendid music of his rich deep
voice enthralled the vast audience of American Anglo-Saxons,
previously prejudiced against him on account of his colour. The
thought of this warrior prophet of India left a deep mark upon
the United States.
134
It was impossible to imagine him in the second place.
Wherever he went he was the first. ...Everybody recognized in
him at sight the leader, the anointed of God, the man marked
with the stamp of the power to command. A traveller who
crossed his path in the Himalayas without knowing who he was,
stopped in amazement, and cried, Siva !...
It was as if his chosen God had imprinted His name upon his
forehead. ...
He was less than forty years of age when the athlete lay
stretched upon the pyre. ...
But the flame of that pyre is still alight today. From his ashes,
like those of the Phoenix of old, has sprung anew the conscience
of Indiathe magic birdfaith in her unity and in the Great
Message, brooded over from Vedic times by the dreaming spirit
of his ancient racethe message for which it must render
account to the rest of mankind.
* * *
Moving as were his [Vivekanandas] lectures at Colombo,
and the preaching to the people of Rameswaramit was for
Madras that he reserved his greatest efforts. Madras had been
expecting him for weeks in a kind of passionate delirium....
He replied to the frenzied expectancy of the people by his
Message to India, a conch sounding the resurrection of the land
of Rama, of Siva, of Krsna, and calling the heroic Spirit, the
immortal tman, to march to war. He was a general, explaining
his Plan of Campaign, and calling his people to rise en masse :
My India, arise !...
For the next fifty years... let all other vain Gods disappear
for that time from our minds. This is the only God that is awake,
our own raceeverywhere His hands, everywhere His feet,
everywhere His ears, He covers everything. All other Gods are
135
sleeping. What vain Gods shall we go after and yet cannot
worship the God that we see all round us, the Virt ?... The first
of all worship is the worship of the Virtof those all around
us. ... These are all our Godsmen and animals, and the first
Gods we have to worship are our own countrymen. ...
Imagine the thunderous reverberations of these words!...
The storm passed ; it scattered its cataracts of water and fire
over the plain, and its formidable appeal to the Force of the
Soul, to the God sleeping in man and His illimitable possibilities !
I can see the Mage erect, his arm raised, like Jesus above the
tomb of Lazarus in Rembrandts engraving : with energy flowing
from his gesture of command to raise the dead and bring him to
life. ...
Did the dead arise? Did India, thrilling to the sound of his
words, reply to the hope of her herald? Was her noisy
enthusiasm translated into deeds? At the time nearly all this flame
seemed to have been lost in smoke. Two years afterwards
Vivekananda declared bitterly that the harvests of young men
necessary for his army had not come from India. It is impossible
to change in a moment the habits of a people buried in a Dream,
enslaved by prejudice, and allowing themselves to fail under the
weight of the slightest effort. But the Masters rough scourge
made her turn for the first time in her sleep, and for the first time
the heroic trumpet sounded in the midst of her dream the
Forward March of India, conscious of her God. She never
forgot it. From that day the awakening of the torpid Colossus
began. If the generation that followed, saw, three years after
Vivekanandas death, the revolt of Bengal, the prelude to the
great movement of Tilak and Gandhi, if India today has definitely
taken part in the collective action of organized masses, it is due
to the initial shock, to the mighty Lazarus, come forth; of the
message from Madras.
136
This message of energy had a double meaning : a national
and a universal. Although, for the great monk of the Advaita, it
was the universal meaning that predominated, it was the other
that revived the sinews of India.
* * *
His words are great music, phrases in the style of
Beethoven, stirring rhythms like the march of Handel choruses. I
cannot touch these sayings of his, scattered as they are through
the pages of books at thirty years distance, without receiving a
thrill through my body like an electric shock. And what shocks,
what transports must have been produced when in burning
words they issued from the lips of the hero !
* * *
India was hauled out of the shifting sands of barren
speculation wherein she had been engulfed for centuries, by the
hand of one of her own sannysins; and the result was that the
whole reservoir of mysticism, sleeping beneath, broke its
bounds and spread by a series of great ripples into action. The
West ought to be aware of the tremendous energies liberated by
these means.
The world finds itself face to face with an awakening India.
Its huge prostrate body, lying along the whole length of the
immense peninsula, is stretching its limbs and collecting its
scattered forces. Whatever the part played in this reawakening
by the three generations of trumpeters during the previous
century(the greatest of whom we salute, the genial Precursor :
Rammohun Roy), the decisive call was the trumpet blast of the
lectures delivered at Colombo and Madras.
And the magic watchword was Unity. Unity of every Indian
man and woman (and world-unity as well) ; of all the powers of
the spiritdream and action ; reason, love, and work. Unity of
137
the hundred races of India with their hundred different tongues
and hundred thousand gods springing from the same religious
centre, the core of present and future reconstruction. Unity of
the thousand sects of Hinduism. Unity within the vast Ocean of
all religious thought and all rivers past and present, Western and
Eastern. Forand herein lies the difference between the
awakening of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda and that of
Rammohun Roy and the Brahmo Samajin these days lndia
refuses allegiance to the imperious civilization of the West, she
defends her own ideas, she has stepped into her age-long
heritage with the firm intention not to sacrifice any part of it, but
to allow the rest of the world to profit by it, and to receive in
return the intellectual conquests of the West. The time is past for
the pre-eminence of one incomplete and partial civilization. Asia
and Europe, the two giants, are standing face to face as equals
for the first time. If they are wise they will work together, and the
fruit of their labours will be for all.
This greater India, this new Indiawhose growth
politicians and learned men have, ostrich fashion, hidden from us
and whose striking effects are now apparentis impregnated
with the soul of Ramakrishna. The twin star of the Paramahansa
and the hero who translated his thoughts into action, dominates
and guides her present destinies. Its warm radiance is the leaven
working within the soil of India and fertilizing it. The present
leaders of India : the king of thinkers, the king of poets, and the
MahtmAurobindo Ghosh, Tagore, and Gandhihave
grown, flowered, and borne fruit under the double constellation
of the Swan and the Eaglea fact publicly acknowledged by
Aurobindo and Gandhi. ...
As for Tagore, whose Goethe-like genius stands at the
junction of all the rivers of India, it is permissible to presume that
in him are united and harmonized the two currents of the Brahmo
138
Samaj (transmitted to him by his father, the Maharshi) and of the
new Vedantism of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. Rich in both,
free in both, he has serenely wedded the West and the East in his
own spirit. From the social and national point of view his only
public announcement of his ideas was, if I am not mistaken,
about 1906 at the beginning of the Swades movement, four
years after Vivekanandas death. There is no doubt that the
breath of such a Forerunner must have played some part in his
evolution.
* * *
I was glad to hear Gandhis voice quite recentlyin spite of
the fact that his temperament is the antithesis of Ramakrishnas
or Vivekanandasremind his brethren of the International
Fellowships, whose pious zeal disposed them to evangelize, of
the great universal principle of religious Acceptation, the same
preached by Vivekananda. ...
At this stage of human evolution, wherein both blind and
conscious forces are driving all natures to draw together for co-
operation or death, it is absolutely essential that the human
consciousness should be impregnated with it, until this
indispensable principle becomes an axiom : that every faith has
an equal right to live, and that there is an equal duty incumbent
upon every man to respect that which his neighbour respects. In
my opinion Gandhi, when he stated it so frankly, showed himself
to be the heir of Ramakrishna.
There is no single one of us who cannot take this lesson to
heart. The writer of these lineshe has vaguely aspired to this
wide comprehension all through his lifefeels only too deeply at
this moment how many are his shortcomings in spite of his
aspirations; and he is grateful for Gandhis great lessonthe
same lesson that was preached by Vivekananda, and still more
by Ramakrishna to help him to achieve it.
68
139
SARVEPALLI RADHAKRISHNAN
When I was a student in the early years of this century, a
student in high school and college classes, we used to read
Swami Vivekanandas speeches and letters which were then
passing from hand to hand in manuscript form, and they used to
stir us a great deal and make us feel proud of our ancient culture.
Though our externals were broken down, the spirit of our
country is there and is everlastingly realthat was the message
which we gathered from his speeches and writings when I was a
young student.
There is nothing higher than humanity. But so far as we are
concerned, a human individual is a lamp of Spirit on earth, the
most concrete living embodiment of Spirit. ... By standing up for
the great ideals of Hindu religion, the great ideals that alone can
save humanity, by standing up for them, Swami Vivekananda
tried to lead humanity to a nobler and better path than that which
it found itself in. ... If you really believe in the divine spark in
man, do not for a moment hesitate to accept the great tradition
which has come to us, of which Swami Vivekananda was the
greatest exponent.
69
* * *
We are today at a critical period not merely in the history of
our country but in the history of the world. There are many
people who think we are on the edge of an abyss. There is
distortion of values, there is lowering of standards, there is
widespread escapism, a good deal of mass hysteria, and people
think of it and collapse in despair, frustration, hopelessness.
These are the only things which are open to us. Such a kind of
lack of faith in the spirit of man is a treason to the dignity of man.
It is an insult to human nature. It is human nature that has brought
about all the great changes that have taken place in this world.
140
And if there is any call which Vivekananda made to us, it is to
rely on our own spiritual resources. ... Man has inexhaustible
spiritual resources. His spirit is supreme, man is unique. There is
nothing inevitable in this world, and we can ward off the worst
dangers and worst disabilities by which we are faced. Only we
should not lose hope. He gave us fortitude in suffering, he gave
us hope in distress, he gave us courage in despair. He told us :
Do not be led away by the appearances. Deep down there is a
providential will, there is a purpose in this universe. You must try
to co-operate with that purpose and try to achieve it.
70
SATYENDRA NATH BOSE
The immesurable force having its source within him
[Vivekananda], had ceaselessly strived to have emanation.
Throughout his life this irrepressable force had moved him
around the world. And wherever he went, people who had his
contact could experience this life-force and were, consequently,
rejuvenated. There hardly was anyone more capable than him to
arouse the people of our country from their deep illusory
slumber. ...It was our misfortune that like the great Vedantist
Sankaracarya, he had an early demise. But as the Sankaracarya
in his short life had moved around India for umpteen times and
tried to inject a new life force among the Indians, so also was the
Swami during the nineteenth century stormed around India and
the Western countries and preached Sri Ramakrishnas message
of inter-religious harmony.
71
SHYAMA PRASAD MOOKERJEE
Nineteenth century had witnessed the birth of several
spirited men in different corners of India. Swami Vivekananda
was the greatest among them. The message of the Swami still
resonates in the Indian hearts. Only in his chalked out path India
141
can achieve absolute national rejuvenation. As the great ideals of
Divine Buddha has their culmination in Emperor Asokas
proactive stance for his subjects, such were the spiritual tenets
of Divine Sri Ramakrishna manifested through the lifes work of
Swami Vivekananda. Behind Asokas emissaries of peace was
the political enormity of a King, but, on the other hand,
Vivekanandas Karma-yoga had nothing except love and
sacrifice behind its sustenance. ...To build the country and the
nation, it is imperative that we must adopt the ideal of Swami.
...People can never live without an ideal. Within the Swamis life
and message are found such timely element and ideal resorting
to which we can build a strong nation and a great country.
72
SRI AUROBINDO
The awakening soul of India
It was in religion first that the soul of India awoke and
triumphed. There were always indications, always great
forerunners, but it was when the flower of the educated youth of
Calcutta bowed down at the feet of an illiterate Hindu ascetic, a
self-illuminated ecstatic and mystic without a single trace or
touch of the alien thought or education upon him that the battle
was won. The going forth of Vivekananda, marked out by the
Master as the heroic soul destined to take the world between his
two hands and change it, was the first visible sign to the world
that India was awake not only to survive but to conquer. ...
Once the soul of the nation was awake in religion, it was only a
matter of time and opportunity for it to throw itself on all spiritual
and intellectual activities in the national existence and take
possession of them.
73
Vivekananda was a soul of puissance if ever there was one,
a very lion among men, but the definite work he has left behind is
142
quite incommensurate with our impression of his creative might
and energy. We perceive his influence still working gigantically,
we know not well how, we know not well where, in something
that is not yet formed, something leonine, grand, intuitive,
upheaving that has entered the soul of India and we say,
Behold, Vivekananda still lives in the soul of his Mother and in
the souls of her children.
74
The visit of Swami Vivekananda to America and the
subsequent work of those who followed him did more for India
than a hundred London Congresses could effect. That is the true
way of awakening sympathy,by showing ourselves to the
nations as a people with a great past and ancient civilization who
still possess something of the genius and character of our
forefathers, have still something to give the world and therefore
deserve freedom,by proof of our manliness and fitness, not
by mendicancy.
75
SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE
In the eighties of the last century, two prominent religious
personalities appeared before the public who were destined to
have a great influence on the future course of the new
awakening. They were Ramakrishna Paramahansa, the saint,
and his disciple Swami Vivekananda. ... Ramakrishna preached
the gospel of the unity of all religions and urged the cessation of
inter-religious strife. ... Before he died, he charged his disciple
with the task of propagating his religious teachings in India and
abroad and of bringing about and awakening among his
countrymen. Swami Vivekananda therefore founded the
Ramakrishna Mission, an order of monks, to live and preach the
Hindu religion in its purest form in India and abroad, especially in
America, and he took an active part in inspiring every form of
healthy national activity. With him religion was the inspirer of
143
nationalism. He tried to infuse into the new generation a sense of
pride in Indias past, of faith in Indias future and a spirit of self-
confidence and self-respect. Though the Swami never gave any
political message, every one who came into contact with him or
his writings developed a spirit of patriotism and a political
mentality. So far at least as Bengal is concerned, Swami
Vivekananda may be regarded as the spiritual father of the
modern nationalist movement. He died very young in 1902, but
since his death his influence has been even greater.
76
I cannot write about Vivekananda without going into
raptures. Few indeed could comprehend or fathom himeven
among those who had the privilege of becoming intimate with
him. His personality was rich, profound and complex and it was
this personalityas distinct from his teachings and writings
which accounts for the wonderful influence he has exerted on his
countrymen and particularly on Bengalees. This is the type of
manhood which appeals to the Bengalee as probably none
other. Reckless in his sacrifice, unceasing in his activity,
boundless in his love, profound and versatile in his wisdom,
exuberant in his emotions, merciless in his attacks but yet simple
as a childhe was a rare personality in this world of ours. ...
Swamiji was a full-blooded masculine personalityand a
fighter to the core of his being. He was consequently a
worshipper of Sakti and gave a practical interpretation to the
Vedanta for the uplift of his countrymen. ... I can go on for hours
and yet fail to do the slightest justice to that great man. He was
so great, so profound, so complex. A yogi of the highest spiritual
level in direct communion with the truth who had for the time
being consecrated his whole life to the moral and spiritual uplift
of his nation and of humanity, that is how I would describe him. If
he had been alive, I would have been at his feet. Modern Bengal
is his creationif I err not.
77
144
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:== =:= '=r+ ' r~:- r ='r= + ==, +='-=
='= '=, =='-= r=+':==:-r ==- == =r= '=,
== - -|
78
(How shall I express in words my indebtedness to Sri
Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda ? It is under their sacred
influence that my life got first awakened. Like Nivedita I also
regard Ramakrishna and Vivekananda as two aspects of one
indivisible personality. If Swamiji had been alive today, he would
have been my My guru, that is to say, I would have accepted him
as my Master. It is needless to add, however, that as long as I
live, I shall be absolutely loyal and devoted to Ramakrishna-
Vivekananda.)
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==== -=r rr= ==r r :+r~ ~='= +'=-, :=r~ r
=r r + ='='= :+= =-~=: =:-r =:=
|= ='r+'=:-=
~r=:-:r ='= ==:+: = :-':- -=:= +=: 'rr
=r +: = -=r r | '-+ =:=r '=:--:=r '='= '=
+:= =r=+:= +'- -= := +, =: =:= '- =-:r
':+ ==' :- r'-: ==:= ==+=r -: =~'= ''=r
=-<-:+r === ==' := : r=+':==:-r :+
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='= = =~'=rr : -= ='r+:=
79
(It is very difficult to explain the versatile genius of Swami
Vivekananda. The impact Swami Vivekananda made on the
145
students of our time by his works and speeches far outweighed
that made by any other leader of the country. He, as it were,
expressed fully their hopes and aspirations. [But] Swamiji
cannot be appreciated properly if he is not studied along with Sri
Sri Paramahansa Deva. The foundation of the present freedom
movement owes its origin to Swamijis message. If India is to be
free, it cannot be a land specially of Hinduism or of Islamit
must be one united land of different religious communities
inspired by the ideal of nationalism. [And for that] Indians must
accept wholeheartedly the gospel of harmony of religions which
is the gospel of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda. ...
Swamiji harmonized East and West, religion and science,
past and present. And that is why he is great. Our countrymen
have gained unprecedented self-respect, self-confidence and
self-assertion from his teachings.)
r=+ ~r= '=:=r =:=r ==r '==r '-+ =:r :+ =r+
='r:= ~'r+'=:-=, = -=r =:=r -- '=- = = ='+|
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:- :-r = :'r=~ :-: ==+=: '='= := ~'r= =...
r::=r + := ''=r :--:=r '==r '-+ =r:=r '=r
= =: ~='= + '=:=:= ==' ==:= = =
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= =r == =r== ~r==r :'==+ '=~ '=+ :=
= 'r:= '=- :+, r:=r = r= '=+ == :- = Divine
Dispensation ==' ==r :+ '-:= = ' ==r ~r:-
- ==r :r :~r == r= +':==:-r :| ~+ ++
Freedom, freedom is the song of the Soul= += -=r
-:rr r-+r :=- ='r+ '== +, == = =~ :-=:= + =:=
~+ ='r+ :=:- =r ==r '==r '-+, rr:r '==r '-+, =
==r '==r '-+ = ==| 'r +'=-
- ':==- =+:= +=+ r= := = + ' =+ :=
:-= = ~r'-:= = =r:+r ~r:r =r:=r ==+=r '='= -~=
=:r=
80
146
(The harmony of all religions which Ramakrishna
Paramahansa accomplished in his lifes endeavour, was the
keynote of Swamijis life. And this ideal again is the bed-rock of
the nationalism of Future India. Without this concept of harmony
of religions and toleration of all creeds, the spirit of national
consciousness could not have been build up in this country of
ours full of diversities.
The aspiration for freedom manifested itself in various
movements since the time of Rammohun Roy. This aspiration
was witnessed in the realm of thought and in social reforms
during the nineteenth century, but it was never expressed in the
political sphere. This was because the people of India still
remained sunk in the stupor of subjugation and thought that the
conquest of India by the British was an act of Divine
Dispensation. The idea of complete freedom is manifest only in
Ramakrishna-Vivekananda towards the end of the nineteeth
century. Freedom, freedom is the song of the Soulthis was
the message that burst forth from the inner recesses of Swamijis
heart and captivated and almost maddened the entire nation.
This truth was embodied in his works, life, conversations, and
speeches.
Swami Vivekananda, on the one hand, called man to be real
man freed from all fetters and, on the other, laid the foundation
for true nationalism in India by preaching the gospel of the
harmony of religions.)
SUBRAHMANYA BHARATI
To the Bengal politicians Madras was the dark State, yet this
very Madras discovered in Vivekananda the luminous light
which later would throw its brilliance all over the world.
Vivekananda gave birth to radical neo-Hinduism. The Tamils
first accepted Vivekananda; afterwards Bengal and
147
Maharashtra realized his greatness. ...It was Swami
Vivekananda by whom the [Indian] movements for Swaraj
and independence were first had its foundation. ...He was the
great inspirer of patriotism, and the fundamental power behind
rousing love for the country. ...Sri Ramakrishna had shaped
Swami Vivekananda and he was the foremost among the
creators of modern India. ...
The very moment the Swami had reached Japan on his way
to America for preaching the Vedanta religion, the mother power
of India, akin to the Vedic supremacy, blessed him with the
wings of ultimate wisdom. His letters from Japan were the
heralds of new radiance. The fires of neo-Hinduism, as if, were
dancing within his heart. It was the Divine design that at the end
of the nineteenth century the triumphant flag of neo-Hinduism
would be planted in America, the very country which was the
ideal of the European civilization. And Vivekananda was the
man chosen for that task.
81
SUNITI KUMAR CHATTERJI
Vivekananda appeared to me immediately to be a man who
was intensely moved by the sufferings of Humanity, and
particularly of Humanity in India. Some of his tirades against
middle class and upper class societies in this matter moved us to
the depths of our being. He discovered for us the greatness of
Man, and particularly of men in the humbler walks of life who
were the despised and the denied in our Indian society. At the
same time, he brought home to us the value of Indian thought at
its highest and pristine best, as in the Vedanta. He was able to
convince us that what our ancestors had left in the Vedanta
Philosophy was of permanent value, not only for us in India but
also for the rest of Humanity. This put heart in us, and made us
feel a new kind of elation as members of a people who have
148
always had a mission and a sacred task to serve Humanity. The
Hindus as a race were losing their nerve, and it was
Vivekananda who helped us to regain this nerve which we were
losing. There was a lot of unthinking and unsympathetic criticism
of our ways and our life, particularly from among Christian
missionaries of the older type, and this was demolished by
Vivekananda. All this made us hold him very close to our heart,
and to think of him as a great master and as a new kind of
incarnation who came down to earth to lead us into the good life
and the life of the strong man.
Vivekananda, in the first instance, knocked off a lot of
nonsense in our Hindu social life, and drew our attention to the
Eternal Verities and not to the ephemeral accidentalssocial
usages and such likein our life. He was a sworn enemy of
what we now call in India Casteism. Untouchability was
something which he abhorred both as a sannysin and as a lay
Hindu. He coined the word which is very commonly used in our
Indian Englishdont touchism. His heart overflowed with
love and sympathy for the masses, whom he wanted to serve
with religious zealserve as a believer in the Vedanta which
sees God in all life. He coined a new word for our Indian
languagesdaridra-Nryana or a God in the poor and the
lowly. This word has been accepted by the whole of India, and
in a way it brings in a sense of responsibility for the average man.
He has to look upon the poor and the humble, the suffering ones
and the frustrated ones of society, as if they were deities
incarnate or fragments of God, to serve whom was to serve
God. Mahatma Gandhis revival of the old expression which
was used in Gujarati by the Vaisnava poets of Gujarat, namely,
Harijana or the Men of God was a very fine expression ; but
daridra-Nryana implied or brought in an element of a sense
149
of duty which was enjoined upon man to serve the poor if they
wanted to serve God.
Swami Vivekananda is looked upon as a great religious
teacher, and indeed he made a definite contribution to the study
of both Hindu religion and philosophy, and also in spreading a
knowledge and appreciation of this philosophy and religion. His
great works on aspects of Vedanta in theory and practice still
inspire hundreds and thousands of enquirers all over the world.
But it has also been said that he was more a philanthropist, one
who dedicated himself to the service of man, than a religious
theorist or preacher. One need not seek to analyse
Vivekanandas personality in this way. It is best to take the
service of man as a form of serving God, for, from the point of
view of all practical religion, God and Man are the obverse and
reverse of the same medal. Vivekananda may be said to have
been an innovator in two matters. As his great disciple Sister
Nivedita suggestedhe was the first to formulate the basic
character of Hinduism as a system of thought and as a way of life
in the modern age. This is the first great thing we as Indians may
note about Vivekananda. Secondly, Vivekananda may be said
to have brought before the Western World a new point of view
in religious thinkinga new approach to the problems of faith
which they needed very badly. To this also might be added as a
pendant that Vivekananda, as one of the thought-leaders of
modern India, gave the tone to modern Indian culture. He
conceived of an integration of all human religion and culture into
one entity claiming the homage of all and sundry.
I consider, and many agree with me also, that Swami
Vivekanandas participation and his magisterial and at the same
time sweet and reasonable pronouncements at the International
Congress of Religions at Chicago in 1893 form a very important
event in the intellectual history of modern man. There he
150
proclaimed for the first time the necessity for a new and an
enlightened kind of religious understanding and toleration, and
this was particularly necessary in an America which was
advancing so rapidly in science and technology, and in wealth
and power, which were not, however, divorced from altruistic
aspirations and achievements. But apart from a few of the most
outstanding figures, particularly in the New England orbit of the
United States, generally the religious background was crude and
primitive. It had pinned itself down to a literal interpretation of
the Bible, and accepted all the dogmas with a conviction which
was pathetic in its combination of sincerity and fanatic faith, of
credulity and crudity. This very primitive kind of religion was not
satisfying to those who were actuated by the spirit of enquiry in a
higher and more cultured plane, and for them Vivekanandas
message came like rain on a thirsty soil. ...So in this way, we
might say that quite a new type of spiritual conversion has taken
place in the mind of a considerable portion of intelligent men and
women in the West, beginning with America ; and here we see
the leaven of Vedanta working through Vivekananda. In a novel
on Mexican life by D. H. LawrenceThe Plumed Serpent
where we have the picture of a revival of the pre-Catholic Aztec
religion among a section of political workers in Mexico, the
mentality displayed by some of the leaders of this movement is
something astoundingly modern. Many of the views expressed
by one of the characters in this novel, the hero Ramon talking to
the Roman Catholic Bishop, might have been taken over bodily
from the writings of Vivekananda. In this way, although the
ordinary run of people are not conscious of it, the message
which was given out by Vivekananda to America and the
Western World at Chicago in 1893, and subsequently to people
in America, England and India, has been an effective force in the
liberalization of the human spirit in its religious approach.
151
The first point in Vivekananda which I mentioned above,
namely, his giving before the world a definition of Hinduism in its
essence, was a service which was done not only to India but
also in another way to Humanity. ...
Vivekananda was the lover of all those who had suffered
through the injustice of others, and he tried his best to restore
them to a sense of human dignity. ...It is remarkable how in India
in her days of political submission and spiritual inanity, when
everything seemed hopeless, and the people had lost all
confidence in themselves, a spirit calling us to action like Swami
Vivekananda could come into being. That such a person could
come at a time when the prospect was bleak, when we seemed
to have lost all hope, indicated that God in His mercy never
forsakes His people, and this in a way bears out the great idea
behind this oft-quoted verse of the Gt that whenever
righteousness is on the decline and unrighteousness is in the
ascendant, God creates Himself as a great avatra or
Incarnationas a Leader to guide men to the right path of
salvation. And in that sense Vivekananda was an avatra, a
divinely inspired and God-appointed Leader, not only for Man
in India, but also for the whole of Humanity in the present age.
82
U THANT
Swami Vivekananda was the greatest spiritual ambassador
of India, if I may say, in the history of India. And for that matter,
the history of Asia. The main purpose of his historic visit to the
United States ... was to find a synthesis, if I can interpret and
assess his activities in this country. He was very keen to bring
about this synthesis between India and the United States,
between Asia and the West. To understand Swami Vivekananda
it is very important to understand the cultural and spiritual
background of India, and for that matter, the cultural and
spiritual background of Asia.
152
I think if we attempt to analyse the main purpose of Swami
Vivekanandas mission to this countrymy interpretation is he
wanted to find a harmony, a kind of a synthesis between the
Eastern concept of culture and civilization and the Western
concept of culture and civilization. ... What we need today is not
to neglect or ignore the oral and spiritual qualities of mankind left
by centuries of tradition, and which is the key of all religion.
Another aspect of Vivekanandas mission ... is the need of
tolerance in human relations. Not only religious telerance but
also tolerance in all spheres of activity. ... A few centuries ago
there was no such thing as religious tolerance. Religious
tolerance was unthinkable. ... Now in the twentieth century...
there is religious tolerance.
Swami Vivekananda ... had this very significant and very
pertinent message for these tense times. He said : In this country
I do not come to convert you to a new belief. ... I want to make
the Methodist a better Methodist, the Presbyterian a better
Presbyterian, the Unitarian a better Unitarian. These are very
wise words and, friends, on this auspicious occasion when we
are doing honour to one of the greatest men of all times, let us
dedicate ourselves anew to this pledge : to make Christians
better Christians, Hindus better Hindus, Muslims better
Muslims, Buddhists better Buddhists, and Jews better Jews.
83
VINCENT SHEEAN
The most ancient tradition [in India] has been one in which
the good work done for the assistance of the fellow man does
not necessarily have anything to do with metaphysical
contemplation. As far as we know, Vivekananda was the first in
India of any social influence to declare that these two things
should go together. He wanted his fellow monks of the
Ramakrishna Mission, not only to read Sanskrit and
153
contemplate higher reality, but also to work in such things as
famines and floods, and in the eternal poverty of the Indian
cities. If you read Vivekananda you will find some excoriating
remarks about those who devote themselves entirely to their
own spiritual welfare and forget the existence of their fellow
creatures. He introduced into the monastic system of India this
principle of the assistance to those who needed it most, that
principle which was never so expressed before. And so on my
first trip [to India], in 1947, before I had ever been to Belur or
Dakshineshwar, I found monks of the Ramakrishna Mission
taking care of the wounded and the refugees in the tremendous
upheaval which followed the partition of India. Monks of the
Ramakrishna Mission were doing that work in all parts of the
country and on a very considerable scale, as they do in ordinary
times with their schools, hospitals, and refectories.
This principle, which is implict in everything Ramakrishna
said, everything of which we have record, he was not himself
fitted to carry out. It was not his quality, his nature, but it was
eminently the quality of Swami Vivekananda. He was able,
possibly because of his visits to the West, to introduce that the
element into the Mission, of which it has borne the imprint ever
since and from which very great good has resulted for the most
miserable of the peoples of India.
84
VINOBA BHAVE
Vivekananda not only made us conscious of our strength, he
also pointed out our defects and drawbacks. ...India was then
steeped in tamas (ignorance and unwisdom) and mistook
weakness for non-attachment and peace. That is why
Vivekananda went so far as to say that criminality was
preferable to lethargy and indolence. He made people
conscious of the tmasika state they were in, of the need to
154
break out of it and stand erect so that they might realize in their
own lives the power of the Vedanta. Speaking of those who
enjoyed the luxury of studying philosophy and the scriptures in
the smugness of their retired life, he said football-playing was
better than that type of indulgence. Through a series of obiter
dicta, he rehabilitated the prestige of Indias soul force and
pointed out to the tamoguna (unwisdom) that had eclipsed her.
He taught us : The same Soul resides in each and all. If you are
convinced of this, it is your duty to treat all as brothers and serve
mankind. People were inclined to hold that, though all had equal
right to the tattva-jna (knowledge of the Spirit), the
difference of high and low should be maintained in the day-to-
day dealings and relations. Swamiji made us see the truth that
tattva-jna, which had no place in our everyday relationship
with our fellow beings, and in our activities was useless and
inane. He, therefore, advised us to dedicate ourselves to the
service of daridra-Nryana (God manifested in the hungry,
destitute millions) to their uplift and edification. The word
daridra-Nryana was coined by Vivekananda and
popularized by Gandhiji.
85
* * *
... Indians had totally become slaves to the English people
and considered themselves as inferiors. The entire world, as a
result, began to look upon the Indians as substandard in all
parameters. ... At this very juncture Vivekananda had stepped
in, and reminded the Indians of their spiritual power. Influenced
by materialism we had reached such a pit that a sense of overall
degradation prevailed in every sphere of life. India was in a
stupor with thoughts as if our sociology was bad, we knew
nothing of politics, and, even, our religion was imperfect. But
every country has its own speciality, its own power and India
155
was no exception to this. The only thing was we were unaware
of it. ...When India was in such a state, Vivekananda went to
America, and there he preached the message of Vedanta to the
world. He also told everyone about Indias supreme spiritual
power. And his speech over there showered elixir throughout
India. Indian people could find strength to stand with their head
high. It was the consequence of Vivekanandas speech that the
Indians were able to realize that they also had power and,
moreover, their spirit would remain ever free even if the country
were conquered by external force. The peoples of distant lands
could furthermore learn about Indias long historical ancestry
and they realized that the distinctive power of the land is worth
assimilation.
86
WILL DURANT
He [Swami Vivekananda] preached to his countrymen a
more virile creed than any Hindu had offered them since Vedic
days :
It is a man-making religion that we want. ... Give up
these weakening mysticisms, and be strong. ... For the
next fifty years... let all other, vain gods disappear from
our minds. This is the only God that is awake, our own
race, everywhere His hands, everywhere His feet,
everywhere His ears; He covers everything. ... The first
of all worship is the worship of those all around us....
These are all our godsmen and animals; and the first
gods we have to worship are our own countrymen.
It was but a step from this to Gandhi.
87
* * *
The most vivid of [the followers of Ramakrishna] was a
proud young Ksatriya, Narendranath Datta, who full of Spencer
and Darwin, first presented himself to Ramakrishna as an
156
atheist, unhappy in his atheism, but scornful of the myths and
superstitions with which he identified religion. Conquered by
Ramakrishnas patient kindliness, Naren became the young
masters most ardent disciple. He redefined God as the totality
of all souls and called upon his fellow-men to practise religion
not through vain asceticism and meditation, but through absolute
devotion to [mankind].
88
WILLIAM ERNEST HOCKING
... We all carry about with us unsolved problems of
adjustment to this many-angled worldwithout formulating
questions, we are living quests, unless by some rare chance our
philosophy of life is entirely settled. And to meet some person
may resolve a quest wholly without his knowledge; it may be
simply mode of being that brings the release.
This was in some measure the story of my first encounter
with Swami Vivekananda, though I was only one of an immense
audience. ...I was a casual visitor at the [1893 Chicago
Worlds] Fair, just turning twenty, interested in a dozen exhibits
on the Midway. ...But aside from all this, I had a quietly rankling
problem of my own.
I had been reading Herbert Spencer, all I could get of his
works. ...I was convinced by him;...but it was somehow a vital
injury to think of man as of the animalsbirth, growth, mating,
deathand nothing morefinis. I had had my religion
Methodisman experience of conversion with a strange
enlightenment which gave me three days of what felt like a new
vision of things, strangely lifted up; Spencer had explained that
all away as an emotional flurrythe world must be faced with a
steady objective eye. The Christian cosmology was fancy.
But still, Christianity was not the only religion. There were to
be speakers from other traditions [at the Parliament of
Religions]. They might have some insight that would relieve the
157
tension. I would go for an hour and listen. I didnt know the
programme. It happened to be Vivekanandas period.
... He spoke not as arguing from a tradition, or from a book,
but as from an experience and certitude of his own. I do not
recall the steps of his address. But there was a passage toward
the end, in which I can still hear the ring of his voice, and feel the
silence of the crowdalmost as if shocked. The audience was
well-mixed, but could be taken as one in assuming that there had
been a Fall of man resulting in a state of original sin, such that
All men have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But
what is the speaker saying? I hear his emphatic rebuke : Call
men sinners? It is a SIN to call men sinners!
...Through the silence I felt something like a gasp running
through the hall as the audience waited for the affirmation which
must follow this blow. What his following words were I cannot
recall with the same verbal clarity : they carried the message that
in all men there is that divine essence, undivided and eternal
reality is One, and that One, which is Brahman, constitutes the
central being of each one of us.
For me, this doctrine was a startling departure from anything
which my scientific psychology could then recognize. One must
live with these ideas and consider how ones inner experience
could entertain them. But what I could feel and understand was
that this man was speaking from what he knew, not from what
he had been told. He was well aware of the books; but he was
more immediately aware of his own experience and his own
status in the world; and what he said would have to be taken into
account in any final world-view. I began to realize that Spencer
could not be allowed the last word. And furthermore, that this
religious experience of mine, which Spencer would dismiss as a
psychological flurry, was very akin to the grounds of
Vivekanandas own certitude.
89
158
WILLIAM JAMES
The paragon of all monistic systems is the Vedanta
philosophy of Hindusthan, and the paragon of Vedantist
missionaries was the late Swami Vivekananda who visited our
land some years ago. The method of Vedantism is the mystical
method. You do not reason, but after going through a certain
discipline you see, and having seen, you can report the truth.
Vivekananda thus reports the truth in one of his lectures here :
Where is there any more misery for him who sees this
Oneness in the universe, this Oneness of life, Oneness of
everything ?... This separation between man and man, man
and woman, man and child, nation from nation, earth from
moon, moon from sun, this separation between atom and
atom is the cause really of all the misery, and the Vedanta
says this separation does not exist, it is not real. It is merely
apparent, on the surface. In the heart of things there is unity
still. If you go inside you find that unity between man and
man, women and children, races and races, high and low, rich
and poor, the gods and men: all are One, and animals too, if
you go deep enough, and he who has attained to that has no
more delusion. ... Where is there any more delusion for him ?
What can delude him ? He knows the reality of everything,
the secret of everything. Where is there any more misery for
him ? What does he desire ? He has traced the reality of
everything unto the Lord, that centre, that Unity of
everything, and that is Eternal Bliss, Eternal Knowledge,
Eternal Existence. Neither death nor disease nor sorrow nor
misery nor discontent is There. ... In the centre, the reality,
there is no one to be mourned for, no one to be sorry for. He
has penetrated everything, the Pure One, the Formless, the
Bodiless, the Stainless, He the Knower, He the great Poet,
the Self-Existent, He who is giving to everyone what he
deserves.
159
Observe how radical the character of the monism here is.
Separation is not simply overcome by the One, it is denied to
exist. There is no many. We are not parts of the One; It has no
parts; and since in a sense we undeniably are, it must be that
each of us is the One, indivisibly and totally. An Absolute One,
and I that One,surely we have here a religion which,
emotionally considered, has a high pragmatic value; it imparts a
perfect sumptuosity of security. As our Swami says in another
place :
When man has seen himself as One with the Infinite Being of
the universe, when all separateness has ceased, when all
men, all women, all angels, all gods, all animals, all plants, the
whole universe has been melted into that oneness, then all
fear disappears. Whom to fear ? Can I hurt myself ? Can I
kill myself ? Can I injure myself ? Do you fear yourself ?
Then will all sorrow disappear. What can cause me sorrow ?
I am the One Existence of the universe. Then all jealousies
will disappear; of whom to be jealous ? Of myself ? Then all
bad feelings disappear. Against whom shall I have this bad
feeling ? Against myself ? There is none in the universe but
me. ... Kill out this differentiation, kill out this superstition that
there are many. He who, in this world of many, sees that
One; he who, in this mass of insentiency, sees that One
Sentient Being ; he who in this world of shadow, catches that
Reality, unto him belongs eternal peace, unto none else, unto
none else.
90
* * *
He [Vivekananda] ... is a man of genius, even though his
Absolute be not the truth. ... I have been reading some of
Vivekanandas addresses. ... that man is simply a wonder of
oratorical power. As for the doctrine of the One. I began to have
some talk with that most interesting Miss Noble [Sister
160
Nivedita] about it, but it was cut short, and I confess that my
difficulties have never yet been cleared up. But the Swami is an
honour to humanity in any case.
91
References and Notes
1. Swami Vivekananda: The Patriot-Saint of Modern India by
A. D. Pusalker (Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Bombay,
1958), p. 1. Ref.: Vivekananda O Samakln Bhratavarsa,
ed. by Sankari Prasad Basu, 1988, Vol.7, p. 270.
2. Swami Vivekananda in East and West (Ramakrishna Vedanta
Centre, London), pp. 210-14.
3. Brahmavdin, March-April, 1914.
4. Prabuddha Bhrata, June 1940, pp.280-83.
5. Kesar, 8 July, 1902 : Trans. from Marathi.
6. Creative India by Benoy Kumar Sarkar, Lahore, 1937, p. 671.
7. ibid., pp. 671-673. Also see B.K.Sarkars The Might of Man in
the Social Philosophy of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda, Sri
Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Madras, Second Edition, 1945,
pp. 21-22.
8. Vivekananda, Kant and Modern MaterialismPublished in
the Calcutta Review in April 1939, later the same was
reproduced in the Prabuddha Bhrata of July 1939. Ref. :
Vivekananda O Samakln Bhratavarsa,Vol.7, p. 311.
9. What is Ramakrishna by Benoy Kumar Sarkar, Prabuddha
Bhrata, August 1940, p. 251.
10. Ramakrishna and Vivekananda, Prabuddha Bhrata, July,
1932, pp. 323-25.
11. Indian Mirror, 15 February, 1898.
12. Vivekananda Ke?, Swarj, 22nd Vaishakh, 1314 B.S., p. 99.
13. Vivekananda O Samakln Bhratavarsa, Vol. 1, 1982,
p. 351.
14. Prabuddha Bhrata, April, 1907; later reprinted in
Brahmavdin, May, 1907.
15. C. F. Andrews, The Great Mantram, Vednta Kesar,
November, 1923.
161
16. The Message of Swami Vivekananda Vednta Kesar, April,
1929. Ref.: Vivekananda O Samakln Bhratavarsa, Vol.7,
p. 223.
17. Swami Vivekananda Centenary Memorial Volume,
Calcutta,1963, p. xiii.
18. ibid., pp. 535-36.
19. What Vedanta Means to Me (Doubleday and Co., Inc., Garden
City, New York, 1960), p. 55.
20. Hinduism Through the Ages by D. S. Sharma (Bharatiya Vidya
Bhavan, 1955), pp.121-22. Ref.: Vivekananda O Samakln
Bhratavarsa, Vol.7, pp. 429-30.
21. Swami Vivekananda Centenary Memorial Volume,
pp.506-18. E. P. Chelishev was wrongly printed.
22. World Thinkers on Ramakrishna-Vivekananda ed. by Swami
Lokeswarananda, Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture,
Kolkata, 2002, p.67 (footnote).
23. From her book The World and I, George H. Doran Co., New
York,1918.
24. Prabuddha Bhrata, January 1994, p.21.
25. The Mirror of Souls, Clarkson N. Potter Publishers, New
York, 1971, p. 310.
26. Modern Mystics, New York, University Books, Inc., 1970,
p. 96.
27. Translated from Udbodhan Centenary Collection ed. by
Swami Purnatmananda, Udbodhan Karyalaya, Kolkata, June,
1999, p. 870.
28. The Airconditioned Nightmare (New Direction Books, New
York, 1945), Vol. I, pp. 47, 68-69.
29. Vivekananda and Indian Freedom by Hiren Mukherjee,
Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Kolkata, 2005,
pp.4, 6, 19, 21, 24, 32-33.
30. Huang Xin Chuan, a professor of history of Beijing University
and Deputy Director of the Institute of South Asian Studies,
Beijing, delivered a speech on Vivekananda and China at the
Asiatic Society, Calcutta, on 4 January 1980. The matter
reproduced is the cyclostyled summary of that speech
circulated among the audience. A copy of the summary signed
162
by Professor Chuan was presented by him to Swami
Lokeswarananda, the then Secretary of Ramakrishna Mission
Institute of Culture, Gol Park, on 7 January, 1980.
Professor Chuan also wrote a book in Chinese on Swami
Vivekananda, which was published from Beijing in May 1979.
An autographed copy of the book was presented by the author
to the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture on 7 January
1980. Professor Chuan presented a copy of the book to
Mr Nirmal Bose, Minister for Co-operatives, Government of
West Bengal. He observed: We in China do not consider
Swami Vivekananda just a religious leader. We consider him
one of the greatest social reformers of modern India. It is on
record that in India he was the first to speak of socialism. He
remained a source of inspiration for many revolutionaries in
India. (The Statesman, Tuesday, 8 November, 1983, p.9)
Incidentally, this copy of the book has also been presented by
Mr Nirmal Bose to Swami Lokeswarananda, editor of this
book.
The book, entitled The Modern Indian Philosopher
Vivekananda : A Study, contains six chapters dealing with the
conditions in India prevailing at that time, Swamijis life and
works, his religious and philosophical thoughts, his social and
political theories, his views on China, and his contribution to
the Indian liberation movement. There are some extracts from
some of the important writings of Swami Vivekananda. In the
appendix there is one chapter dealing in brief with the life,
philosophy, and social thoughts of Sri Ramakrishna.
31. Vivekananda : East Meets West, Swami Chetanananda
(Vedanta Society of St. Louis, 1995), p. vii.
32. Translated from the Udbodhan Centenary Collection, p.826.
33. Letters of Sister Nivedita, Vol.1, ed. by Sankari Prasad Basu,
Nababharat, Publishers, Calcutta, 1982, p.529.
34. The Footprints of Vivekananda, Hindustan Standard, 7
January, 1953. Ref. : Vivekananda O Samakln
Bhratavarsa, Vol.7, p. 268.
35. The Discovery of India (Meridian Books Limited, London,
1960), p.338.
163
36. Sri Ramakrishna and Vivekananda, Advaita Ashrama,
Calcutta, 1960, pp. 4-13.
37. Prabuddha Bhrata, May, 1952, pp. 204-05.
38. Prabuddha Bhrata, January 1940, p.22.
39. Social Welfare, 21 September, 1945. Ref.: Prabuddha
Bhrata, January, 1946, p. 45.
40. The Determining Periods of Indian History, Bharatiya Vidya
Bhavan, Bombay, 1962, p.53.
40a. Translation of report appearing in the Yugntar Patrik on 21
January, 1964. Ref. : Vivekananda O Samakln
41. Complete collection of Works of Tolstoy, Vol. 53, p. 106.
42. ibid., Vol. 77, p. 151.
43. ibid., Vol. 78, p. 84.
44. D. P. Makovitsky, Yasnaya Polyana Notes, entry of 3 July,
1908.
45. Tolstoy and India, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 1969,
pp. 25-39.
46. Prabuddha Bhrata, November, 1922.
47. ibid., May, 1963, p.170.
48. Eastern Lights by Mahendranath Sircar (Arya Publishing
House, Calcutta, 1955), pp. 240-45 and 253.
49. India in Transition (1922), pp.192-93.
50. Mysticism and the New Physics (Bantom Books, January,
1981), pp. 114-15.
51. Available in Kalam K Sipha biography on Munshi
Premchand by Amrit Roy, his son. Ref.: Translated from
Bengali edition available in Vivekananda O Samakln
52. Prabuddha Bhrata, March & April, 1927.
53. Prabuddha Bhrata, May 1931, pp.243-44.
54. A letter wrote to Sister Nivedita by R. C. Datta (1902). Ref. :
Letters of Sister Nivedita, Vol.1, p.534.
55. The Way of Humanism : East and West by Radhakamal
Mukerjee, Academic Books, Bombay, New Delhi, 1968, p.212
56. Prabuddha Bhrata, April 1940, pp.156-57.
164
57. History of the Freedom Movement in India (Firma K. L.
Mukhopadhyay, Calcutta, 1962),Vol. I, pp. 358-63.
58. Swami Vivekananda and the Indian Renaissance by Ramesh
Chandra Majumdar (Vivekananda Commemorative Volume,
The University of Burdwan, 1966), 1Ref.: Vivekananda O
Samakln Bhratavarsa, Vol. 7, pp. 271-72.
59. Swami Vivekananda : A Historical Study by Ramesh Chandra
Majumdar, pp.95-96, and 108. Ref.: Vivekananda O
Samakln Bhratavarsa, Vol. 7, p. 286.
60. Prabuddha Bhrata, May 1963, pp.197-98.
61. Indias Struggle for Swaraj by R. G. Pradhan, Daya Publishing
House, Delhi, 1930, p.60.
62. Deccan Chronicle (Hyderabad), 11 September, 1983.
63. Kerala Kaumudi, January 22, 1963. Translated from the
Bengali rendition available in Vivekananda O Samakln
Bhratavarsa, Vol.7, pp.437-38.
64. This brief writing of Rabindranath first appeared in Udbodhan
in its Ashwin, 1348 issue. The title was Vivekananda. At the
footnote it is mentioned : At the request of Swami
Ashokananda, formerly Editor of the Prabuddha Bhrata and
the present Minister-in-charge of the Vedanta Society of
Sanfrancisco, Rabindranath gave this short writing to him in
the month of Phalgun, 1335.
The facsimile of Rabindranaths original writing was
available to the Ramakrishna Order by the courtesy of Visva-
Bharati long after its publication in Udbodhan.
65. Pravs, Jaishtha, 1335, pp. 285-86.
67. Bihar News, 1 January, 1963. Ref. : Vivekananda O
Samakln Bhratavarsa, Vol.7, p.196.
68. The Life of Vivekananda and the Universal Gospel (Advaita
Ashrama, Calcutta, 1970), pp. 4-7; 106-14; 146; 286-89;
307-10.
69. Swami Vivekananda and Young India by Sarvepalli
Radhakrishnan, Prabuddha Bhrata, May, 1963, pp. 183-84.
70. Swami Vivekananda Centenary Memorial Volume, pp. x-xi.
165
71. Translated from Vivekananda Centenary Magazine (1963),
Howrah Vivekananda Institution. Ref.: Vivekananda O
Samakln Bhratavarsa, Vol.7, pp. 379-80.
72. Translated from Udbodhan magazine of Agrahayan, 1347
(BS) and Falgun 1357 (BS). Ref.: Vivekananda O Samakln
Bhratavarsa, Vol.7, pp. 252-53.
73. Sri Aurobindo, Vol.2, 1972, p.37.
74. ibid., Vol.17, 1971, p.332.
75. ibid., Vol.2, p.171
76. The Indian Struggle (Asia Publishing House, Bombay etc.,
1964), p. 21
77. Swami Vivekananda, Prabuddha Bhrata, July, 1932,
p.352.
78. Udbodhan, Ashwin, 1354, p.459
79. ibid., Phalgun, 1337
80. Ntaner Sandhn, pp. 24-26
81. Translation from the Bengali rendition available in
Vivekananda O Samakln Bhratavarsa, Vol.7, pp.460, 462
and 464
82. Swami Vivekananda Centenary Memorial Volume, pp. 228-33
83. Vedanta and the West, 162 (July-August, 1963), pp. 11, 13,
14, 15, 16, 17
84. Vedanta and the West, 109 (September-October, 1954), p. 11.
85. Prabuddha Bhrata, May, 1963, pp. 172-73
86. From the speech dated 15 January, 1955. Ref.: Translated
from Bengali edition available in Vivekananda O Samakln
Bhratavarsa, Vol.7, pp. 198-99
87. The Story of Civilization : Our Oriental Heritage (Simon &
Schuster, New York, 1954), Vol. I, p. 618
88. ibid., p. 617
89. Recollections of Vivekananda, Vedanta and the West, 163,
September-October, 1963 (Hollywood: Vedanta Press),
pp. 58-60. Also : Swami Vivekananda in the West : New
Discoveries by Marie Louise Burke (Advaita Ashrama,
Calcutta, 1992), Vol. I, pp. 117-18
166
90. Pragmatism (Longmans, Green & Co., London, etc., 1913),
pp.151-55
91. Marie Louise Burke, Swami Vivekananda in the West : New
Discoveries, Vol.VI (Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, 1986), Vol. II,
pp. 554, 556
169 Biographical sketch of the Great Thinkers
ographca| sketch of the
Ureat 1hnkers
170 Great Thinkers on Ramakrishna-Vivekananda
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF
THE GREAT THINKERS
A. D. Pusalker (1905-1973)
Professor A. D. Pusalker was an Indologist and the Director
and Curator, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona.
He did his MA in Sanskrit and obtained his PhD on Bhs.
He contributed profusely to the field of Indology namely
Purnas and Ancient Indian history and Culture.
He wrote about 100 research papers and edited first two
volumes of Cultural Heritage of India (1957-59) published
from the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Golpark,
Kolkata. He was awarded a silver medal by the Asiatic Society
of Bombay. The President of India awarded him certificate of
Honour in 1971 in recognition of his erudite Scholarship and
enlightening contributions to Indological Studies.
He has authored several books which include Eminent
Indians, Indian Literature etc.
A. L. Basham (1914-1986)
A famous Indologist. As a visiting professor invited by
Britain, United States, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Recipient
of Desikottama Award from Visva-Bharati University in 1985.
Formerly Vivekananda Professor of the Calcutta Asiatic Society
and the President of Ramakrishna Movement. The Wonder
that was India is the most famous of his books.
Arcot Ramaswami Mudaliar (1887-1976)
Sir Arcot Ramaswami Mudaliar was an outstanding
educationist and an eminent physician. He earned the MD,
LLD, DSL, D.Sc., F.R.C.O.G.., F.A.C.S., degrees. Sir
Mudaliar adorned the post of the Vice chancellor of Madras
University since 1942. Since he was an educationist par
excellence, Sir Mudaliar had his associations with almost all the
leading academic centres of learning in India. He was a high
profile Indian delegate in the annual WHOs Conference and
became the chairperson of the Executive Committee of the
WHO. He even headed UNESCOs WHO Board. Between
1948-58, he was a member of the Commonwealth universities.
In 1946, Sir Mudaliar was elected a member of the Legislative
Council of Madras. Besides all these, he had authored several
books on medical science and other subjects.
Mudalier was a recipient of the Padmabhsana in 1954.
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)
Aldous Huxley was an English writer and one of the most
prominent members of the famous Huxley Family. He spent the
latter part of his life in United States, living in Los Angeles from
1937 until his death in 1963. He was the author of The
Perennial Philosophy.
Amaury de Reincourt (1918-n.f.
*
)
Amaury de Reincourt was born in Orleans, France. He
received his BA from the Sorboune and his MA from the
University of Algiers. He has authored several books. Of these
the most remarkable publications are The Soul of India and
The American Empire, The Eye of Shiva : Eastern
Mysticism and Science.
His reading of the Bhagavad-Gt as the most acute,
penetrating depiction of human nature and true morality shows,
how Reincourt has studied the Bhagavad-Gt as a book
* n.f. = not found
whose soaring beauty makes it one of the monuments of world
literature.
Amiya Chakravarty (1901-1986)
Amiya Chakravarty was one of the greatest critics of the
Post Tagorean period, and a well known Poet. He was
Rabindranaths travel companion during his tours to Europe and
America in 1930 and to Iran and Iraq in 1932.
Annie Besant (1847-1933)
Annie Besant was a half-Irish woman of boundless energy.
Mrs Besant began social reform work in London and joined first
the Fabion Society and then the Theosophical Society in 1889.
She was elected President of the Theosophical Society in 1907
and held that position until her death. Her life in India began in
1893 with lecture tours and expressed her views through a
weekly newspaper, New India. She founded the Home Rule
League in 1916 and campaigned in London for constitutional
reform.
She was elected President of the Indian National Congress
in 1871. The Indian Boy Scouts Association, the Womens
Indian Association, the Society for the Promotion of National
Education, and a National University of Adyar near Madras are
all her gifts to India.
Arnold Joseph Toynbee (1852-1883)
Arnold J. Toyenbee was an English economic historian also
noted for his social commitment and desire to improve the living
conditions of the working class. A collection of Toyenbees
lectures was published posthumously in 1884 and soon became
a classic of British economic history. He wrote in 12 vols., A
Study of History, a most memorable work.
Ashapurna Devi (1909 -1995)
Ashapurna Devi was an eminent woman literateur of
Bengal. She had no formal education. She was simply a
housewife. But her passion for literature went a long way in
shaping her literary self. She was born in a very conservative
family but it never was a hindrance to her literary practices in
private. She studied the Bengali Womens plight from her four
walls. But her interior observations were so realistic that she
became indeed a spokeswoman of the whole womenfolk of
Bengal.
Her literary career spanned over seventy years. Naturally
her literary oeuvre was vast. Among her one hundred and
seventy-six novels, her trilogy, Pratham Pratisruti,
Suvarnalat, Bakulkath have won the hearts of Bengal. She
was a recipient of several prestigious literary prizes which
include Rabndra Puraskar, Sahitya Akademi Puraskar and
above all the countrys highest literary award Jnaptha in
recognition of her outstanding literary contributions.
Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950)
Aurobindo Ghosh successfully competed in the ICS
examination but did not join the alien Governments service to
devote himself to the freedom struggle (1902-1910). He retired
from politics and went to Pondicherry where he stayed till the
last day of his life. Amongst his famous writings are The Life
Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga and Svitr.
Kakasaheb Kalelkar [Dattatreya Balkrishna] (1885-1961)
Kakasaheb Kalelkar was born to a Sraswata Brahmin
family at Satara. He began his professional career as a school
teacher and finally he was the Vice chancellor of the National
University of Gujarat.
Kalelkar became an ardent follower of Gandhi for the rest
of his life and made his principal contributions to Gandhis
Constructive Work in the field of education.
He was among those who undertook the task of
popularizing Hindi as the national language, reforming the
Ngar script in which Hindi was written. Kakasaheb Kalelkar
wrote many books in English, Gujarati, Hindi, and Marathi for
advancing Gandhis ideas at home and abroad. Honoured with
the Padmabhsana in 1965, he gradually withdrew to an
increasingly simple and ascetic life.
R. Rybakov (1908-2001)
R. Rybakov was a Russian historian who personified the
Anti-Normanist vision of Russian History. Rybakov held a chair
in Russian History at the Moscow University since 1939, was a
deputy dean of the University in 1952-54 and administered the
Russian History Institute for 40 years.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920)
Born at Ratnagiri, Tilak was a frontline leader of the Indian
Freedom Movement. He was widely acclaimed as The Father
of Indian Unrest. Influenced by Swami Vivekananda and
Swami Dayananda he did a great amount of study on Vedic
Philosophy. He was a scholar in Sanskrit and Mathematics. His
works include books like The Gt Rahasya and The Arctic
Home in the Vedas.
Benoy Kumar Sarkar (1887-1949)
Professor Benoy Kumar Sarkar was a versatile genius with
an original vision of his own. A Bengali by birth, he transcended
the limits of his country and culture, thoroughly became
cosmopolitan in outlook and knew the actualities of Asia and
Europe in their fundamentals as few.
Bepin Chandra Pal (1858-1932)
Renowned leader of Indias Freedom Movement. In
politics, he worked in collaboration with Tilak, Lajpat Rai, and
Sri Aurobindo. In 1906, he started a daily paper, the Bande
Mtaram and in 1913, a monthly journal the Hindu Review. In
his youth, he became a Brahmo; in his later life he was greatly
influenced by Sankaracaryas philosophy and also by the
Vaisnava philosophy. He was a great orator, prolific writer,
leader of thought. Sri Aurobindo described him as one of the
mightiest prophets of nationalism.
Brahmabandhab Upadhyaya (1861-1907)
Formerly known as Bhawani Charan Bandyopadhyaya, he
was a classmate of Narendranath Datta (later Swami
Vivekananda) at the General Assemblys Institution. He later
came in contact with Sri Ramakrishna and Keshub Chandra
Sen. He turned away from Hinduism to first become a
Protestant and later a Catholic, when he started Sophi in 1894.
He also started Swarj and Sandhy, and authored Amr
Bhrat Uddhr, Samj Tattwa, Biltytr Sannysr
Cithi etc.
Brojendra Nath Seal (1864-1938)
Acharya Brojendra Nath Seal was an outstanding teacher
and a philosopher of international renown. Since he was an
emblem of an ideal teacher he was addressed as crya. He
had a brilliant academic career. He stood first with first class in
philosophy from the University of Calcutta in 1883. After
serving different colleges for a few years, he joined the Calcutta
University and headed the department of Philosophy between
1912 and 1921. In 1921, Brojendra Nath became the Vice
chancellor of Mysore University where he remained till 1930.
Rabindranath Tagore invited him to be the President of the
inaugural ceremony of the Visva-Bharati University in 1921. He
knew ten different European and Indian languages. Brojendra
Nath was also adorn with the Knighthood. The highest civilian
honour, Rjaratna Prabn was conferred upon him by the
Mysore dynasty. People admired him as a Moving University.
Few of his remarkable publications are : Neo-Romantic
Movement in Bengali Literature 1890-91, A Comparative
Study of Christianity and Vaisnavism, Introduction to Hindu
Chemistry, Positive Sciences of the Ancient Hindus,
Rammohan : the Universal Man, The Quest Eternal.
C.F. Andrews (1871-1940)
C.F. Andrews was an English Priest who was an ardent
admirer of both Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi.
With Gandhi Andrews worked in the Indian Civil rights struggle
in South Africa and in the Indian Independence Movement. He
spent many a long time at Santiniketan with Rabindranath. His
letters, written to Rabindranath, are priceless documents for
knowing Tagore both as man and poet. He wrote many articles
and authored several books like The Sermon on the Mount,
The Rise and Growth of the Congress in India.
C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar (1889-1966)
C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar was a South Indian Brahmin. He
had his graduation from the Presidency College, Madras.
Initially he joined the Bar. Afterwards, he was much influenced
by Annie Besant. He actively participated in the Home Rule
Movement. Between 1917-18, he was elected the General
Secretary of Congress. In 1920, he became the Advocate
General and in 1931, he was chosen the Law Minister of India.
He was well-versed in both literature and philosophy. For his
academic distinctions and administrative acumen, he was the
Vice chancellor of Tribancore Annamalai and Benaras Hindu
Universities respectively.
Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (1879-1972)
Chakravarti Rajagopalachari was the first Indian to occupy
the position of the Governor-General of India in 1948 and the
last person to hold the position until India became a Republic in
1950.
Rajagopalachari remained in political life as a Minister of
Home affairs in New Delhi in 1951 and the Chief Minister of the
State of Madras from 1952-54. As a result of his differences
with Nehru, he founded the Swatantra Party in the mid 1950s.
He was popularly known as a man of reason and
moderation rather than of ideology and populism. He was a
powerful orator and writer in both Tamil and English, and among
his lasting legacies are his translations of the two epics, the
Rmyana and the Mahbhrata.
Indian Nationalist Leader. Closely associated with Gandhi
(from 1918); served on Working Committee of Indian National
Congress (1922-42); Chief Minister of Madras (1937-39,
1952-54); Governor General of India (1948-50); founder of
conservative Swatantra (Freedom Party, 1959).
Christopher Isherwood (1904-1986)
Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood, the Anglo-
American novelist and playwright, was born in England. He
deliberately failed in his tripos and left Cambridge without a
degree in 1925. For the next few years he lived in the home of
the violinist Andr Mangeot while working as secretary to
Mangeots string quartet. With his first two novels, All the
Conspirators (1928) and The Memorial (1932), Isherwood
gained a measure of recognition. During the 1930s he
collaborated with his friend W.H. Auden, the Anglo-American
poet, on three verse dramas. He immigrated to the United States
in 1939, settled in Southern California and was naturalized in
1946. For several years during the 1950s and early 1960s,
Isherwood taught in a creative writing course at Los Angeles
State College (now California State University, Los Angeles). In
Hollywood he met Gerald Heard, a mystic-historian. Through
Heard he had his first contact with the Vedanta Society of
Southern California, and eventually with the Ramakrishna
Movement through Swami Prabhavananda. With Swami
Prabhavananda he produced a fine translation of the Hindu
religious classic The Bhagavad Gt (1944) and a collection of
the aphorisms of Patajali. He wrote, Sri Ramakrishna and
His disciples and Vedanta for the Western World.
Claude Alan Stark (n.f.)
Claude Alan Stark was once a research scholar in world
religions, and a Chairman of a development company in Africa.
He had his under graduation at the Clark University followed by
graduation in finance at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and the Babson College. He was attached to
finance and government for eight years in Boston and
Washington D. C. Later he took his BD degree from Harvard
University and became ordained into the Christian ministry.
From the Boston University he later got his doctorate in
Christian missions and world religions. His most widely-read
book is God of All.
D. S. Sarma (1883-1970)
D. S. Sarma joined the profession of letters as a lecturer in
English and served several Govt. Colleges of Madras.
Afterwards he became a Principal. He was not a professional
philosopher but philosophy was in his blood. He was well
versed in Vivekananda-Ramakrishna literatures and wrote many
articles on them. He had books in English on the Gt and the
Upanishads. Renascent Hinduism, The Experience of Sri
Ramakrishna-Vivekananda and Western Civilization, The
Ramakrishna Movement, Intellectual Knowledge and
Spiritual Experience etc. are some of his remarkable works.
Dalai Lama (1935)
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama was born to a peasant
family in Northern Tibet on 6th July, 1935. In Tibetan Buddhism,
the Dalai Lama is believed to be an incarnation of
Avalokitesvara, the Buddha of Compassion. When the Dalai
Lama was a teenager, he became the head of the Tibetan Govt.
in their fight against the occupying forces of the Peoples
Republic of China. Since 1959 the Dalai Lama has been the
leader of the Government in exile. His travels in the cause of
peace and a free Tibet have made him an international celebrity
and in 1989 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for peace. The
following books are in his credit : The Good HeartA
Buddhist Perspective on the teachings of Jesus; Kindness,
Clarity and Insight; The Four Noble Truths etc.
Ernest Cary Brown (1916-2007)
In 1916 E. C. Brown was born in Bakersfield, California.
After graduating with honours from the University of California,
Berkley, he pursued studies in Economics at Berkley and latter
at the Harvard University. But the World War II had interrupted
his studies, and Brown served as an economist at the War
Production Board in 1940-41. From 1942 to 1947 he served
as an economist at the Division of Tax Research at the US
Treasury Department. In 1948 he received his PhD in
Economics from Harvard. Cary Brown was a leading expert on
fiscal policy and the economics of taxation. He was a member of
the MIT economics faculty for more than 60 years, and a visiting
professor at Yale and the University of Chicago as well. Brown
was also a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences. After his retirement from MIT in 1986, he served as
an Emeritus Professor until his death.
E. P. Chelishev (1921)
A leading Indologist of Soviet Russia, Professor Chelishev is
a renowned scholar of contemporary Indian, especially Hindi
literature and a recipient of the Jawaharlal Nehru Peace Award.
For the last thirty years, he has been connected with the spread
of culture and research on Vivekananda. He is one of the Vice-
Presidents of the Committee for Comprehensive Study of
Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Movement.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919)
Ella Wheeler Wilcox was known for her keen interests in
theosophy, New Thought and Spirituality.
Poet, Writer, born in Johnstown Centre WIS. She studied
briefly at the University of Wisconsin (1867-68), and later was
largly self-educated. Her sentimental and inspirational verse was
immensely popular in her day. Her poems tended to be on such
subjects as temperance and in later years, on religion and
spiritualism. She wrote a poem daily in a newspaper for some
years. She also wrote fiction and essays.
Friedrich Max Mller (1823-1900)
Friedrich Max Mller was a German by birth. He became
the greatest of the European Indologists in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries. Max Mller was one of the first to
evaluate properly the greatness of Ramakrishna Paramahansa
and give wide publicity of his warm admiration for Ramakrishna
in the West.
Federico Mayor (1934)
He was a Spanish scholar and politician. He served as the
Director General of UNESCO from 1987-1999. Mayor
obtained a doctorate in Pharmacy from the Complutense of
Madrid in 1958. He was a member of the Honorary Board of
the International Coalition for the decade for the Culture of
Peace and Non-violence.
Felix Marti-Ibanez (1911-1972)
Born in Cartagena, Spain, Dr Felix Marti-Ibanez had his
doctorate in medicine, and practised psychiatry from 1931 to
1939. Throughout Spain he lectured on Psychology, medical
history, eugenics, art and literature. At the World Peace
Congresses in Geneva, New York and Mexico City, he officially
represented Spain in 1938.
Went to the US in 1939, and there he held many responsible
positions. Participated in the International Congresses of
History of Medicine, History of Science, Psychology and
Psychiatry, held since 1950 in various countries. The magazine
International Record of Medicine had him as its Editor-in-
Chief, and he was the International Editor of the Journal of
Clinical & Experimental Psychopathology. Besides, Marti-
Ibanez was the co-founder and Associate Editor of two medical
journals Antibiotics & Chemotherapy and Antibiotic
Medicine & Clinical Therapy. His writings on the history of
medicine include Centaur: Essays on the History of Medical
Ideas and Men, Molds, and History etc.
Francis Younghusband (1863-1942)
Sir Francis Younghusband was a British Army officer,
explorer and spiritualist. He is remembered chiefly for his travels
in the Far East and Central Asia and his writings on the subject.
George C. Williams (1926)
George C. Williams is an American evolutionary Biologist.
He received a PhD in Biology from the University of California
at Los Angeles in 1955. He is also an advocate of evolutionary
medicine. He is the author of an outstanding book, Adaptation
and Natural Selection.
Gopal Halder (1902-1993)
Gopal Halder was a distinguished writer of Bengal. Before
he turned to literature, he took part in the revolutionary
movement of Bengal. His professional career began as a law
practitioner in Noakhali. He left the profession and in 1926 he
joined as the sub-editor of the Welfare which had its link with
Prabs. Along with this, his research in linguistics under the
guidance of Acharya Suniti Kumar Chatterji continued till 1928.
Afterwards, he went to Noakhali to join Fenny College as a
teacher. He was there between 1929-30. He returned to
Calcutta and became a research associate in the department of
linguistics of the University of Calcutta. Finally he worked in
Prabs, Hindusthan Standard, Modern Review.
Among his literary contributions, which are many, mentions
could be made of Samsk;tir Rpntar, Bngl Samsk;tir
Rp, Bngl Shitya O Mnavsvk;ti, Rus Shityer
Rparekh, Imrji Shityer Rparekh etc. He was awarded
the D.Litt. degrees (Honoris Causa) by several universities of
Bengal for his outstanding contributions to Bengali literature and
criticism.
Govind Ballabh Pant (1887-1961)
Govind Ballabh Pant had an illustrious political career. He
did his graduation in Law from the Allahabad University and
joined the Bar at Nainital. Subsequently he was involved in
political activities and became the President of the Congress
Party of his province. He was offered the Chief Ministership of
Northern India in 1937 and he resigned in 1939 as protest for
the anti-Indian activities of the British Government in India. He
was imprisoned several times by the ruling British Government
for his anti-British feelings. In 1954, following Indias political
freedom, Govind Ballabh became the Home Minister of India,
the post he held until his death in 1961.
In 1959, the Government of India conferred the highest
civilian award Bhrat Ratna upon Govind Ballabh Pant.
Harlow Shapley (1885-1972)
Harlow Shapley was an American astronomer. He was born
on a firm in Nashville, Missouri, and dropped out of school with
only the equivalent of a fifth grade education. After studying at
home and covering crime stories as a Newspaper Reporter,
Shapley returned to complete a six year high school Programme
in only two years graduating as class Valedictorian.
Henry Miller (1891-1980)
Henry Miller was an American writer and painter. He is
known for breaking with existing literary forms and developing a
new sort of novel that is a mixture of novel, autobiography,
social criticism, philosophical reflection, surrealist free
association and mysticism. He also wrote travel memories and
essays of literary criticism and analysis. He was awarded the
French Legion of the Honour in 1976. His much known works
are Tropic of Cancer, Book of Friends.
Henry R. Zimmer (1890-1943)
Henry R. Zimmer was an Indologist and historian of South-
Asian art. He was born in Greisfield, Germany. Zimmer began
his career studying Sanskrit and linguistic at the University of
Berlin, where he graduated in 1913. Between 1920-24 he
lectured at Ernst-Moritz-Arudt University in Greisfield,
thereafter moving to Heidelberg to fill the chair of Indian
Philosophy.
Hiren Mukherjee (1907-2004)
Professor Hiren Mukherjee was a legendary Communist
Leader, an accomplished Parliamentarian and a Scholar of
eminence. He taught at Rippon College, Presidency College and
at the University of Calcutta before his participation in active
politics.
He was a man of versatile genius. Being a prolific writer he
wrote both in Bengali and English for several magazines.
Among his chief works one can mention the names of the
following : Indian Struggle for Freedom, under Marxist
Banner; Portrait of Marxism; India and Marxism.
He was honoured with the Mujaffar Ahmed Smrti
Puraskar for his book Yuger Yantran O Pratyer Samkat.
He was also the recipient of the Padmabhsana in 1990
and the Padmavibhsana in 1991.
Huang Xin Chuan (n.f.)
Professor of History of Beijing University, China and
Deputy Director of the Institute of Asian Studies at the Academy
of Social Sciences, Beijing, he wrote a book in Chinese on
Swami Vivekananda entitled The Modern Indian Philosopher
Vivekananda : A Study. Also one of the Vice-Presidents of the
Committee for Comprehensive Study of Ramakrishna-
Vivekananda Movement.
Huston Smith (1919 )
Professor Huston Smith was born at Soochaw, China, and
spent the first seventeen years of his life there. Between 1944
and 1947 he first taught at the University of Colorado before
going to the University of Denver. During the next ten years he
was attached to the Washington University in St. Louis,
Missouri. Afterwards he went to the MIT as a Professor of
Philosophy, and stayed there from 1958 to 1973. Finally he
moved to the Syracuse University and became the Thomas J.
Watson Professor of Religion and Distinguished Adjunct
Professor of Philosophy until his retirement in 1983 and
currently is having an Emeritus status. He also served as the
Visiting Professor of Religious Studies at the University of
California, Berkeley. Twelve honorary degrees were awarded
to him and his fourteen books include The Worlds Religions
which was sold over two and a half million copies, and Why
Religion Matters has won the Wilbur Award for the best book
on religion published in 2001.
Jagadish Chandra Bose (1858-1937)
Jagadish Chandra Bose was a Bengali Physicist and
Science fiction writer, who pioneered the investigation of radio
and microwave optics, made extremely significant contributions
to plant science, and laid the foundations of experimental
science in the Indian subcontinent. He is considered the father of
radio science.
Jadunath Sarkar (1870-1958)
Sir Jadunath Sarkar was the founder of modern, scientific,
historical scholarship in India based on archival and primary
sources. He received many honours including the Knighthood in
Britain as well as in India. Sarkar became the most famous
historian of late Mughal India and an acknowledged master of
Maratha history. He authored many volumes on Aurangzeb. He
was the doyen of Indian historians in the 20th century. He
acquired international recognition as a profound scholar and
great writer on historical and other topics of national and
international interest. His researches remind us of the great work
by German historian Ranke.
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964)
Famous Indian politician and the first Prime Minister of
Independent India. An ardent follower of Gandhiji, he was the
architect of Indias foreign policy. He was a prolific writer.
Discovery of India, Glimpses of World History, Letters from
a Father to a Daughter etc. are his famous publications. He
was awarded the Bhrat Ratna in 1955.
Jay Prakash Narayan (1902-1979)
Jay Prakash Narayan was affectionately known as J.P. Jay
Prakash Narayan was born in Bihar and educated in Patna and
Benaras. He was influenced by the Marxist ideas and by the
writings of M. N. Roy. Soon after returning to India from USA
where he was a student in 1929, he joined the Civil
Disobedience Movement of 1930 led by Mahatma Gandhi.
Contact with fellow prisoners Achyut Patwardhan, Ashok
Mehta, and Minoo Masani strengthened J.P.s Socialist leanings
and in 1935 and 1936 they organized the All India Socialist
Congress Party which was connected with the Kisan Sabha
and acted as a left-inclined singer group within the Indian
National Congress and general national movement.
J. P. renounced party politics soon after independence and
joined Vinova Bhave, seeing in his Bhudan Movement the
germ of a total agrarian revolution.
In 1974, he became the symbol of an oppositional, if not
exactly revolutionary movement.
Though considered to be the patriarch and spiritual guide of
the Janata Party Coalition that came to the power after the
elections of March, 1977, Jay Prakash Narayan refrained from
taking up any position of formal leadership.
As man Jay Prakash Narayan commanded respect from all
quarters and people reverentially called him Lokanayak
(Leader of the People).
Joseph Campbell (1904-1987)
Professor Joseph Campbell was a writer and orator, best
known for his work in the fields of comparative mythology and
comparative religion. Campbell was also an accomplished
athelete, receiving rewards in track and field events.
K. M. Munshi [Kannaiyalal Maneklal Munshi] (1887-1971)
K. M. Munshi was born in Broach in South Gujarat in a high
middle class Brahmin family. He was profoundly influenced by
Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, M. K. Gandhi, Sardar Ballabhbhai Patel
and Bulabhai Desai. He drew inspiration from the Vedic culture
and the classic Sanskrit literature.
Munshi founded a number of academic and cultural
institutions. His greatest contribution was the foundation of the
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan which brought out the History and
Culture of the Indian People in eleven volumes.
Munshi was a prolific writer in Gujarati and English. His
major English works are : Gujarat and its literature, The
Changing Shape of Indian Politics, The Pilgrimage of
Freedom. The autobiographical and literary writings of Munshi
deserve an important place in Indian literature. These works
have been translated in a number of Indian languages including
Hindi.
He was elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1946. He
was an important member of the Drafting Committee of the
Constitution of India. Munshi was also the Food Minister of
India and the Governor of Uttar Pradesh. In 1960, he resigned
from the Congress and joined the Swatantra Party founded by
C. Rajagopalachari.
K. M. Panikkar (1894-1963)
K. M. Panikkar was a scholar, journalist, historian,
administrator and diplomat. Educated at the University of
Oxford, Panikkar read for the Bar at the Middle Temple,
London, before returning to India, where he then taught at
Calcutta University. He turned to journalism in 1925 as editor of
the Hindustan Times.
Lal Bahadur Shastri (1904-1966)
Lal Bahadur Shastri was the Prime Minister of India from
1964 until his death in 1966. He had an unimpeachable political
career and served the Central Ministry first as its Railway
Minister. In 1956, he resigned in the wake of a fatal Railway
accident while owing its full responsibility.
In 1958, he became Indias Commerce & Industry Minister.
In 1961, he was the Home Minister of India.
During his tenure as the Prime Minister of India, the Indo-
Pak war broke out. Indias victory in that war owes much to Lal
Bahadur Shastri.
The surname Shastri used after his name, was in fact a title
which was conferred upon him after his graduation in Philosophy
from the Kas (Benaras) Sanskrit University.
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)
Russian novelist who served the Russian army from 1852 to
1854. Authored War and Peace (1865-69) and Anna
Karenina (1875-77). After 1876 he developed a form of
Christian anarchism and devoted himself to social reforms.
Leroy S. Rouner (1930-2006)
Leroy S. Rouner was Assistant Professor of Philosophy at
the United Theological College, Bangalore. He did his
undergraduate work at Harvard before taking his B D at Union
Theological Seminary and PhD at Columbia University. He has
written on the Philosophy of Religion for journals in India and the
United States. He contributed to Madras Christian Colleges
Rethinking Our Role; edited Philosophy, Religion, and the
Coming World Civilization (Essays in honour of William
Ernest Hocking).
Emma Calv (1858-1942)
Emma Calv was one of the legendary singer artists of
Chicago during 1890s. In fact she was equally famous for her
melodious voice on opera performances in other European
countries. During Swami Vivekanandas visit to Chicago, Emma
Calv had had the opportunity to have direct contact with him,
who came upon her life like a messiah. Emma Calv received
Swamijis blessings profusely.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948)
M. K. Gandhi was an Indian nationalist, popularly known as
Bapujthe Father of the Nation. Studied Law in London
(1888-1891), practised in India (1893). Championed the cause
of the blacks in South Africa (1893). Presided over the Indian
National Congress (1925-1934). Author of Hind Swarj
(1909), The Story of My Experiments with Truth, etc.
Mahendranath Sircar (1882-1954)
Dr Mahendranath Sircar first taught is Sanskrit College,
Calcutta and then became the Professor of Philosophy in
Presidency College and the University of Calcutta respectively.
He presided over the Indian Philosophical Congress held in
Kasi Viswavidyalaya (1947). He had a lot of books in his
credit : Upanisader Alo; Tantrer Alo; Yoga Paricaya; System
of Vedantic Thought and Culture; Hindu Mysticism; Eastern
Lights etc.
Manabendra Nath Roy (1887-1954)
Manabendra Nath Roy alias Manabendra Nath
Bhattacharya popularly known as M. N. Roy was a refreshingly
original and creative thinker. He was a great revolutionary from
his early youth and later became the founder and organizer of the
Communist Movement in India. At an advanced stage he
became a Radical Humanist than a professional communist.
Michael Talbot (1953-1992)
Michael Talbot was the author of a number of books
highlighting parallels between ancient mysticism and quantum
mechanics and espousing a theoritical model of reality that
suggests the physical universe is a kin to a giant hologram.
Mohitlal Majumdar (1888-1952)
Mohitlal Majumdar was an eminent poet, critic and teacher.
He was known for his outspokenness. He was a regular
contributor to Sanibrer Cithi. His poems were published in
monthly magazines like Bhrat etc. He even edited and
published Bankim Chandra Chatterjees magazine,
Bangadarsan. His poetical and critical works include viz. :
Vismaran, Swapan Pasr, Kvyamajus, Shitya Vitn,
Adhunik Bngl Shitya, Vividha Pravandha, Srknter
Saratcandra, Bankim Varan, Kavi Sr Madhusdan etc.
Muhammad Daud Rahbar (n.f.)
Professor Muhammad Daud was born in Lahore, Pakistan.
Rahbar, meaning Guide, is a pen-name adopted by him. From
his great-grandfather to his father, all were teachers of Arabic
and Persian literature. Even at the age of 16, he prepared and
read a research paper at an All India Oriental Conference in
Benaras. He had his education at the Government College in
Lahore followed by the Oriental College of the Punjab
University. He then went to Cambridge University in England,
and in 1953 got his PhD in Oriental studies. His teaching
profession took him to many places like the McGill (Canada),
Ankara (Turkey), Hartford Seminary Foundation, the University
of Wisconsin and the Northwestern University. In Boston
University he has been Associate Professor of World Religions
in the School of Theology since 1968. His area of interest and
research are as varied as religion, aesthetics, folk religion,
essential religious phenomena, comparative religions, folk
mysticism and Muslim biography. He has some books to his
credit.
Munshi Premchand (1880-1936)
Munshi Premchand (Dhanpat Roy) was an Indian author
of novels and short stories in both Hindi and Urdu. He
pioneered the adaptation of Indian themes to Western literary
styles. Premchands works depict the social evils of arranged
marriages, the abuses of the British bureaucracy, and
exploitation of the rural peasantry by moneylenders and
officials.
Premchands novels include : Godn, Premsram,
Rangbhmi, Gaban, Nirmal, Kaykalp etc.
Nagendranath Gupta (1861-1940)
Nagendranath Gupta was an eminent journalist and a great
writer. In 1884, he became the Editor of Phoenix which was
published from Lahore. In 1891 and 1905 respectively,
Nagendranath looked after the editorial works of Lahore
Tribune and a weekly paper Indian People which was
published from Allahabad. In 1901 Nagendranath alongwith
Brahmabandhab Upadhyaya published a monthly English paper,
The Twentieth Century. For sometime, he edited Pradp O
Prabht. He wrote many short stories and general novels. He
collected and edited the verse compositions of Vidypati O
Govindads Jh on behalf of the Maharaja of Darbhanga who
financed the whole literary project. A few years before his death,
Nagendranath joined the court of Maharaja Manindra Chandra
Nandi as his private secretary.
Nicholas K. Roerich (1874-1947)
Born in October 1874 in St. Petersburg, Russia, his original
name was Nikolay Konstantinovich Ryorikh. Once a scenic
designer for Sergey Paviovich Diaghilevs Ballets Russes, he
became an archaeologist, landscape painter and popular mystic.
Roerich immigrated to the US in 1920, where he became a
reputed painter, seer, guru and peacenik. His more than seven
thousand paintings have now their places in different museums
and galleries around the globe. As a talented writer he wrote for
many eminent Indian journals like Modern Review, Prabuddha
Bhrata etc. During his time, Roerich was universally revered
as the greatest living Apostle of culture, and became the first
President of the World of Art. In 1929 Roerich proposed to
have a pact among the countries of the world for preservation of
all art and science treasures. The legal form for the pact was
eventually drawn, and was accepted by the League of Nations
in 1930. Later this pact, known as Roerich Pact, was
accepted by various countries. When I think of Nicholas
Roerich, Jawaharlal Nehru once said, I am astounded at the
scope and abundance of his activities and creative genius.
During the last twenty years of his life, Roerich had his residence
in India at the stunning Kulu Valley of the Himachal Pradesh. He
had a wonderful book of paintings The Himalayas.
Paul Brunton (1898-1981)
Paul Brunton was born Raphael Hurst and later changed his
name to Brunton Paul and then Paul Brunton. He was a British
Philosopher, mystic, traveller and guru. He left a journalistic
career to live among yogis, mystics and holymen and studied a
wide variety of Eastern and Western esoteric teachings. His two
important works : In Search of Secret India; Secret Path.
Philip Glass (1973 )
Philip Glass has had an extraordinary and unprecedented
impact upon the musical and intellectual life of his time. The
operasEinstein on the Beach, Satyagraha, Akhnaten and
The Voyage among othersplay throughout the worlds
leading houses, and rarely to an empty seat. Born in Baltimore,
he began his musical studies at the age of eight. Glass has always
gone his own way.
Pitirim Alexandrovitch Sorokin (1889-1968)
Pitirim A. Sorokin was a Russian-American Sociologist.
Academic and Political Activist in Russia, he immigrated from
Russia to the United States in 1923. He founded the
Department of Sociology at Harvard University. He is best
known for his contribution to the social cycle theory.
Prafulla Chandra Ray (1861-1944)
A distinguished Chemist and educationist Acharya (Sir)
Prafulla Chandra Roy was the founder of the Bengal Chemical
& Pharmaceutical Works Ltd. in Calcutta. He was a brilliant
student who was awarded the DSc degree from the university of
Edinbourgh for his outstanding research in Chemistry. He was a
recipient of the prestigious Hope prize from the said university in
recognition of his thesis.
He was an outstanding teacher who chaired the post of Palit
Professor of Chemistry at the Science College of the University
of Calcutta. His love for the students and devotion to his
research, have been proverbial.
He believed in Plain living and high thinking and was
involved in many benevolent services for the welfare of his
country. He was a key figure in introducing the vernacular to
teach science. Prafulla Chandra was adorn with several
honours which were bestowed upon him by several Institutions
and Organizations at home and abroad.
Among his important publications which of course are many,
we need to mention his autobiography, Life and Experiences
of a Bengali Chemist and History of Hindu Chemistry (two
volumes).
Pramathanath Tarkabhusan (1865-1944)
Professor Pramathanath Tarkabhusan was basically a
Sanskrit Scholar. Later on he became a Professor in Indology.
In 1858, he joined the Sanskrit College to teach Sm;ti. When
Sanskrit was introduced in the Postgraduate classes at Calcutta
University, he was associated with the department. After his
retirement from Sanskrit College in 1922 he went to Benaras
Hindu University. He wanted to reform some social codes for
the Hindus and worked with Pandit Madan Mohan Malavya for
the same course. In 1911 he was honoured with the title,
Mahmahopdhyya by the Govt. of India. And the
D.Litt.(Honons Causa) degree was conferred upon him by the
Benaras Hindu University. He authored several books :
Karmayoga, Santan Hindu, Bnglr Vaisnavdharma etc.
Protap Chandra Mozoomdar (1840-1905)
Protap Chandra Mozoomdar was a member of the Hindu
reform movement of the Brahmo Samaj, and a close associate
of Keshub Chandra Sen. He is best known for his research into
the Oriental aspects of the teachings of Jesus. He also wrote a
biography of Sri Ramakrishna of whom he expressed deep
admiration.
Romesh Chandra Dutt (1848-1909)
Romesh Chandra Dutt was a Bengali, civil servant,
economic historian and translator of the Rmyana and the
Mahbhrata. He was the President of Indian National
Congress in 1899. He studied law at Middle Temple, London,
was called to the bar, and qualified for the Indian Civil Service in
the open examination in 1869.
Ramesh Chandra Majumdar (1888-1980)
A noted historian and academic, he was the Vice-President
of the International Committee for publishing History of
Mankind : Cultural and Scientific Development. Hony. D.
Litt. from Calcutta University, Rabindra Bharati University and
Jadavpur University. His publications include the 11 vols.
History and Culture of the Indian People; History of
Freedom Movement in India (3 vols.); Ancient Indian
Colonies in far-East; Swami Vivekananda; History of India
(4 vols.) etc.
R. G. Pradhan (1876-n.f.)
R. G. Pradhan is an ex-administrator and bureaucrat in the
Indian Government. He was the Union Home Secretary in the
Rajib Gandhis Government. He was in service of the
Government of India for 36 years. He later was an Indian
Representative diplomat in International Trade and Commerce
in Geneva for ten years. His remarkable publication is entitled,
Indias Struggle for Swaraj.
Ratnamuthu Sugathan (1902-1970)
He was born in a poor family in Alissery, Alleppy, erstwhile
Travancore States nerve centre of inland water trade and the
coir industry.
Sugathan started his public life through social work and
organized his class, the working class. Hence his pioneering
work in the field of organized labour earned him the name
Father of The Trade Union Movement in Kerala.
For fifteen years Sugathan (Sreedharan) taught in the Asian
Primary Grant School at Kanhiramchira. During this period he
was in great demand at Socio-Cultural gatherings as an effective
speaker.
Sugathan was both powerful writer and a speaker. He was
an equally effective columnist. His collected verses were
published under the Malayalam title Proletarian. A collection of
his essays has also been published under the title Janakya
Shitya Vicram.
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)
Rabindranath Tagore was a renowned literateur,
philosopher and educationist. First Asian to be awarded the
Nobel Prize for literature (1913). He resigned the Knighthood in
protest against military atrocities at Jalianwallabagh (1919).
Radhakamal Mukerjee [Mukhopadhyaya] (1890-1968)
Professor Radhakamal Mukerjee was a recipient of the
Premchand Roychand Scholarship. He taught at Berhampur
Krishnanath College. Later on he joined the University of
Calcutta. Finally he moved to Lucknow for his appointment at
Lucknow University as its Principal (Vice chancellor). As an
eminent economist, he visited several universities both at home
and abroad on invitations to deliver lectures. He wrote a good
number of books which include Democracies of the East : A
study in Comparative Politics, Theory and Art of
Mysticism, The Social Structure of Values, The Culture and
Art of India etc.
Radhakumud Mukerjee [Mukhopadhyaya] (1881 - 1963)
Professor Radhakumud Mukerjee had a very distinguished
academic career. He passed the BA Honours in two subjects in
1901 and he completed even his post graduation in history in the
same year. This was indeed a record in the annals of Calcutta
University. In 1902 he again passed the MA examination in
English. In 1905, he was a recipient of the Premchand
Roychand Scholarship. In 1905 he obtained his PhD degree
too.
He joined the profession of letters in 1903 and began to
teach English literature at Ripon College (present Surendranath
College). Later on he served several educational institutions
outside Bengal. Finally he settled down in Lucknow where he
joined the Lucknow University as the Head of the Dept. of
History.
He received several honours from different organizations for
his indefatigable endeavour to the cause of Indian History and
her civilization. The Government of India conferred the
Padmabhsana Award upon him in 1957. His remarkable
publications include A History of Indian Shipping, Local
Government in Ancient India, Nationalism in Hindu
Culture, Chandragupta Maurya & His Times etc.
Rajendra Prasad (1884-1963)
Rajendra Prasad was the first President of the Republic of
India (1950-62). He was a comrade of Mahatma Gandhi in the
earliest Non-Cooperation Movements for independence and
was also the President of Congress Party (1934, 1939 and
1947). By profession he was a lawyer-turned journalist.
He was a student of Presidency College in Calcutta. He
practised at the Calcutta High Court and in 1916 he moved to
the Patna High Court where he founded the Bihar Law Weekly.
In 1917, he was recruited by Mahatma Gandhi to help in a
Campaign to improve conditions for peasants exploited by the
British indigo planters in Bihar. In September, 1946 he was
sworn in as Minister for Food and Agriculture in the Interim
Government preceding full independence. From 1946 to 1949
he presided over the Indian Constituent Assembly and helped to
shape the Constitution.
Richard Schiffman (n.f.)
Richard Schiffman lived in India for a number of years and
studied Hindu spirituality under several spiritual Masters. He is
the author of Sri RamakrishnaA Prophet for the New Age.
He has an open mind and he is also knowledgeable. He exam-
ines Sri Ramakrishnas mystic experiences.
Romain Rolland (1866-1944)
Romain Rolland was a French man of letters. Received
1915 Nobel Prize for literature. His works included Jean
Christophe (1904-1912) and pacifist manifestos collected in
An-dessus d lamelee (1915), second novel cycle Lme-
enchante (1922-1933); historical and philosophical plays
collected in Le Theatre de la revolution and Les Tragedies de
la foi (1913); biographies Beethoven (1903), Michel-Angelo
(1905), Tolstoi (1911), and Mahatma Gandhi (1924), The
Life of Ramakrishna, The Life of Vivekananda and the
Universal Gospel.
Sarat Chandra Bose (1889-1950)
Sarat Chandra Bose was the elder brother of Subhas
Chandra Bose. He completed both his postgraduation and law
in 1911. Later on he joined the Bar in Cuttack. He did the Bar at
Law from England and returned to India in 1918. Soon after, he
was involved in the Freedom Movement of India and was
imprisoned several times for his anti-British activity. He was
elected the Alderman of Calcutta Corporation.
Between the years 1937-39, Sarat Chandra was a member
of the Congress Working Committee. He was a founder of the
Socialist Republican Party. In 1948, he began to publish a
daily newspaper Nation in English. He was an Honourable
Minister of the Indian Republic, following her independence.
Sarojini Naidu (1879-1949)
Sarojini Naidu was born to a remarkable Brahmin parents in
Hyderabad. She was the daughter of Dr Aghornath
Chattopadhyaya. Sarojini had a brilliant academic career at
home, in London and in Cambridge and was widely acclaimed
for the poetry she published between 1905 and 1917. She was
popularly known as the Nightingale of the East for her poetical
compositions in English. Sarojini was elected President of the
Indian National Congress in 1925 and faced imprisonment after
the 1942 Quit India Movement. She became the first Woman
Governor of a State in Independent India and died in office. Bird
of Time, The Broken Wing, Golden Threshold, The Songs of
India are some of her chief poetical works.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888-1975)
He was philosopher, humanist, educationist and orientalist.
Elected the Vice-President of India (1952); unanimously elected
the President of the Republic of India (1962-67). Amongst his
many works are Indian Philosophy (1923-27), The
Philosophy of the Upanishads (1924), Eastern Religions
and Western Thought (1939), East and West (1955).
Satis Chandra Chattopadhyaya (1873-1938)
Professor Satis Chandra Chattopadhyaya had a brilliant
academic carrier. He first taught at Tangail College. In 1901,
he joined Brajomohan College, Barisal where he came in close
contact with Aswini Datta. In fact, Sri Datta initiated him in
Nationalist Movement. During Barisal famine, Satis Chandra
played a very significant role. He suffered imprisonment in
1908. For his involvement in Indian Nationalist Movement, he
had to quit Brajomohan College. He came to Calcutta where
he served both Surendranath College and City College. In
1924, he again came back to Barisal as the Principal of
Brajomohan College. In 1911, he was converted to a Brahmo.
Of course in the years to come, Satis Chandra was drawn to
Vaisnavism.
Satyendra Nath Bose (1894-1974)
A scientist and teacher of international fame. His numerous
scientific papers (published from 1918 to 1956) contributed to
statistical mechanics, the electromagnetic properties of the
ionosphere, the theories of X-ray crystallography and
thermoluminescence and unified field theory. Boses Plancks
Law and the Hypothesis of Light Quanta (1924) led Einstein
to seek him out for collaboration. This Indian mathematician and
physicist is specifically noted for his collaboration with Albert
Einstein in developing a theory regarding the gas-like qualities of
electromagnetic radiation.
Sayed Mujtaba Ali (1904-1974)
Sayed Mujtaba Ali was an eminent literateur and a
distinguished linguist. At the call of Mahatma Gandhi, he left the
school and joined the Non-violence Movement. Between 1921
and 26, he studied at Santiniketan. After the completion of his
studies at the Visva-Bharati University, he went to Kabul where
he was appointed a Lecturer in English and French in the Kabul
Education Service. He was awarded a scholarship by the
German Govt. Between 1928 and 30, he studied at the
University of Berlin and Bonn and obtained his PhD degree.
Afterwards, he became an itinerant and travelled across the
whole of Europe including Jerusalem and Damascus. After his
return in 1936, he was invited to chair the Comparative Religion
Dept. at Baroda. In 1950, he joined the All India Radio as its
Station Director. He headed the Dept. of Islamic Studies at
Santiniketan for a few years.
Among his notable publications mention may be made of
Dese Bidese, Pacatantra, Cckhini etc. In 1949, he was
awarded the Nara Singha Das Memorial Prize for his
outstanding contributions to Bengali literature.
Shyama Prasad Mookerjee (1901-1953)
Shyama Prasad Mookerjee was the son of an intellectual
giant and a leading jurist Sir Ashutosh Mookerjee. He became
the Vice chancellor of the Calcutta University in 1934 at the age
of 33. He was elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly in
1929 on a Congress ticket. He again returned to the Bengal
Legislature in 1937. Later on he joined the Hindu Mahasabha in
1939 and became its President. He founded the Bharatya
Janasangha in 1951 and returned to the first Lok Sabha in 1952.
He joined the first National Government in August, 1947 as
Minister for Industries and supplies. For his differences with
Nehru in regard to the latters policy towards Pakistan, he
resigned from the Government and organized opposition in
Parliament.
Sivanath Sastri (1847-1919)
Sivanath Sastri was a scholar, religious reformer, educator,
writer and historian. He played an active role in the Brahmo
Samaj of his time and kept a wonderful record of events but for
which it would have been difficult to know and understand his
turbulent age. His views have occasionally been criticized. He
was not merely a detached historian but also an active participant
of the age. His books include History of the Brhmo Samj,
Rmtanu Lhid O Tatkln Banga Samj etc.
Subhas Chandra Bose (1897?)
Indian Politician. Supported Gandhi and joined Swaraj
Party (1923); Chief Executive Officer of Calcutta (1924);
President of Bengal Congress (1927); led Bengal delegation to
National Congress (1928); advocated complete independence
for India; many times imprisoned; wrote The Indian Struggle
(1935) and Taruner Swapna; President of the Indian National
Congress (1938).
Subrahmanya Bharati (1882-1921)
Subrahmanya Bharati was an outstanding Indian writer of
the nationalist period. He was in fact the father of the modern
Tamil style. He received little formal education, still he translated
English writings into Tamil for several magazines and later joined
the Tamil daily newspaper Swadesamitram. This exposure to
political affairs led to his involvement in the extremist wing of the
Indian National Congress, and, as a result, he was forced to flee
to Pondicherry, a French Colony, where he lived in exile from
1910 to 1919. During this period, Subrahmanyas nationalistic
poems and essays were a popular success. His best known
works include Pcli Sabadam (Pclis vow),
Kannanpttu (Songs to Krsna). Many of his English works
were collected in Agni and other Poems and Translations and
Essays and other Prose Fragments.
Suniti Kumar Chatterji (1890-1977)
An internationally renowned educationist, linguist and an
extraordinary luminary in the academic world. Among his
English publications are : Origin and Development of Bengali
Language (ODBL, in several volumes), A Bengali Phonetic
Reader, Indo-Aryan and Hindi, Languages and Literatures
of Modern India, Africanism, Balts and Aryans in their
Indo-European Background, and India and Ethiopia from
the Seventh Century B.C., as well as a large number of papers
and monographs.
Tarasankar Bandyopadhyaya (1898-1971)
Tarasankar Bandyopadhyaya was an outstanding literary
figure of post Rabindranath, post Sarat Chandra of Bengal. In
1921 he was involved in the Non-violence Movement of Bengal
and was imprisoned. He was in jail again in 1930. Afterwards he
resolved to serve his motherland through literary practices. Until
death he served Bengali literature untiringly and wrote several
rewarding novels and short stories which include
Hnsulbnker Upakath, Dhtrdevat, Saptapad,
Ganadevat, Jalsghar, Kavi, Pacagrm. Many of them
have been filmed like his short stories, Beden, Dkharkar.
He was a recipient of Sarat Sm;ti Puraskr, Jagattrin
Sm;ti Padak, Rabndra Puraskr, Shitya Academy
Puraskr. Indias highest literary award Jnaptha was
conferred upon him along with the civilian titles the Padmasr
and Padmabhsana of the Govt. of India. He was the
President of the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad.
Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
Thomas Merton was one of the most influential Catholic
authors of the twentieth century. A Trappist monk of the
Abbey of our lady of Gethsemani, in the American State of
Kentucky.
U Thant (1909-1974)
U Thant was born in a Burmese well-to-do family at
Pantanaw, British India (which later became Burma*) in 1909.
His education at the University of Yangn (Rangoon) remained
incomplete due to his fathers death. U. Thant returned to
Pantanaw and started as a teacher at the National High School.
Later at the age of 25 he became the headmaster of that school.
During this time he grew a close friendship with U Nu, a man
from neighbouring Maubin who was the local superintendent of
schools. U Nu would later become the Prime Minister of
Burma. U Nu as a Prime Minister of the newly independent
Burma took U. Thant to Rangoon in 1948, and appointed him in
an important Government post. From. 1951 to 1957 U Thant
acted as the Secretary to the Prime Minister. From 1957 to
1961 he served as Burmas permanent representative to the
United Nations. In the United Nations he was appointed as an
Acting Secretary-General from November 3, 1961, and later
became Secretary-General on November 30, 1962. He was
reappointed for a second term in the UNO as its Secretary-
General on December 2, 1966 and continued in that chair till his
retirement on December 31, 1971. Following his farewell from
the United Nations, The New York Times wrote: ...the wise
counsel of this dedicated man of peace will still be needed after
his retirement.
* Since June 1989 the name was changed to Myanmar.
Vincent Sheean (1899-1975)
Vincent Sheean was born in Illinois, USA. Even during his
Chicago University days, he worked as a reporter with the
Daily Maroon. Later he took a job with the Chicago Daily
News. In 1922 Vincent became a foreign correspondent of the
Chicago Tribune and travelled to different countries. He had
the repetitive luck of witnessing historys most important events.
He was in Italy when Mussolinis Black Shirts took over the
streets. In the early days of the Communist revolution he was in
China. He witnessed the unfolding of the Bolshevism in the
Soviet Russia. In 1929 he visited Jerusalem and saw the
Palestinian uprising. During the Second World War his
assignment with the New York Herald Tribune took him,
among other places, to China and India. Purely for personal
reason he revisited India in 1947, and within three days could
watch the aftermath of Mahatma Gandhis assassination. He
wrote many books of which some are novels.
Vinoba Bhave [Vinayak Bhave,1895-1982]
Acharya Vinoba Bhave was a national leader and social
reformer. Mahatma Gandhis chief aide during Nationalistic
Movement. He led the life of an ascetic. After Indias
Independence, Bhave started the Bhdn (land-gift)
Movement (1951) after Independence with a view to turning
each village into a model which would be self-sufficient in food
and clothing. He walked thousands of miles, criss-crossing
India, urging landlords and wealthy peasants to give land
voluntarily to poor landless peasants. Also led a nation-wide
campaign against cow slaughter.
He was opposed to the Western system of education and
he developed the Gandhian ideas about basic education.
Will Durant (1855-1981)
Durant, William James, known as Will, American historian,
taught at Habor Temple School, New York city (1914-1927).
After success of his Story of Philosophy (1926), he and his
wife Ariel Durant, collaborated on 11-volume Story of
Civilization series, comprising, Our Oriental Heritage
(1935), The Life of Greece (1939), Caesar and Christ
(1944), Age of Faith (1950), Renaissance (1953),
Reformation (1957), Age of A Voltaire (1965), Rousseau and
Revolution (1967, Pulitzer prize), Age of Napolean (1975);
also wrote Dual Biography (1977).
William Digby (1849-1904)
William Digby was the Editor in the Madras Times, an
Anglo-Indian newspaper. In 1901 he wrote the book
Prosperous India, which became a legend in the days of
Indian Freedom Struggle. He became the Secretary of the
British Committee of the Indian National Congress in England,
and edited the Committees organ India (1890-98). It was
due to Digby that Swami Vivekananda got an astonishing
coverage in the Madras Times.
Sympathetic to the Indian cause, William Digby of England
was a severe critic of British colonialism and bleeding
exploitation of Indian resources. His monumental work
Prosperous British India was a pioneer work on Indians
economic history under British rule.
William Ernest Hocking (1873- 1966)
Professor William Ernest Hocking is one of the most
renowned philosophers of America of the twentieth century.
He was a professor in the Department of Philosophy at
Harvard. He endeavoured to blend idealism with pragmatism.
Among his works are: The Meaning of God in Human
Experience, Man and the State, Types of Philosophy,
Living Religions and a World Faith etc.
William James (1842-1910)
William James is unquestionably one of the most
influential of American thinkers. He became widely known
as a brilliant and original Lecturer, and his already
considerable reputation was greatly enhanced in 1890 when
his Principles of Psychology made his appearance. His
other main works: Varieties of Religious Experience,
Pragmatism etc. He came into the close contact with
Swami Vivekananda, more closely with Swami
Abhedananda, with whom he had hours of fruitful
discussion regarding the Philosophy of Vedantic Monism
and Philosophical Pluralism and Pragmatism.
Indira Gandhi (1917-1984)
Mrs Indira Gandhi was the first woman Prime Minister
of Indian Republic. She was born in an illustrious Nehru
family. She studied at Santiniketan in Bengal and then left
for higher studies abroad. She returned to India after her
studies at Oxford and then was involved in Indian politics.
She toured extensively accompanying her father Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru. Mrs Indira Gandhi became the Prime
Minister of India for three consecutive terms from 1966
onwards. But she could not complete her fourth term from
1980 for her assassination in 1984. She proved her mettle
as an able-bodied stateswoman during the 1965 Indo-Pak
war. Nuclear weapons programme near the desert village
of Pokhran was launched during her tenure in 1974. Mrs
Indira Gandhi was awarded the Bhrat Ratna in 1971.
Muhammad Sahidullah (1885-1969)
Muhammad Sahidullah was an illustrious figure in the
cultural domain of Bengal. Being a Muslim, he wanted to study
Sanskrit in the Postgraduate classes at the University of
Calcutta. But no Muslim student was allowed to study Sanskrit
since the Vedas were included in the syllabi. For a Muslim did
not have any access to the world of the Vedas. Subsequently
Md. Sahidullah studied comparative Linguistics from the said
University and later did his PhD in Linguistics from Paris
University.
Professor Sahidullah knew several languages and had a
boundless love for his own mother language Bengali. He
distinguished himself as a great authority on linguistics. He had
written several books besides a good many highly acclaimed
research papers and essays.
Professor Sahidullah taught at the University of Calcutta.
Humayun Kabir (1906-1969)
Professor Humayun Kabir had an illustrious academic
career. He stood first with first class in his MA examination.
Then he proceeded to Oxford where he earned a rare
distinction for his outstanding academic result. After his return
from Oxford, Professor Kabir joined the University of Calcutta
as a faculty member in the department of Philosophy. He was in
that service till 1940.
Professor Kabir became the Chairman of the University
Grants Commission. Afterwards he switched over to politics
and became a Central Minister of the Indian Republic.
Professor Kabir was the Editor of the reputed literary
journal Caturanga. His poetical and critical works include
Swapnasdh, Sth, Astdas and Bnglr Kvya.

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