Rakesh Kumar Pandit
July 4 is the day to remember and pay tribute to Prophet of Modern India ‘Swami Vivekananda’, as on this day of July 4, 1902, Swami Vivekananda at the age of 39 years, 5 months and 22 days left his mortal cage, to reunite with the Supreme Energy of this Cosmos, thereby fulfilling his own prophecy, “I shall not live to be forty years old.” But his words remained with us to reassure everyone of his immortality, ‘It may be that I shall find it good to get outside my body to cast it off like a worn-out garment. But I shall not cease to work. I shall inspire men everywhere, until the world shall know that it is one with the God.” His words and works are inspiring generations after generations. His whole life was a practical demonstration of great principles like unselfishness, truth and purity. His early life days at home; as a philosophy student and a leader in college days; at the feet of Sri Rama Krishna (His Gurudeva) and attaining spiritual bliss; as a wondering monk and gaining firsthand knowledge of India; on the world stage and compelled the western scientific world to admire Vedantic and Indian thought; starting of Ramakrishna Mission for the service of humanity are all source of great lessons and principles.
About service to humanity, Swami ji emphasized that we need to shun the idea of help, because we cannot help anyone, we can only serve. Serve by any means but serve. All the work we do is for our own salvation. One should be thankful and feel blessed that he/she is in a position to serve and thus allowed to become pure and perfect. Swami ji said, ‘Serve the children of God, Serve the God Himself ‘. He advised us to be calm and silent and do steady work, but not for namesake and no newspaper humbug.
About service of our Motherland, Swami Ji said, ‘India wants the sacrifice of at least a thousand of her young men and not brutes.’ This is the only way to regain our past glory. India will be raised not with the power of flesh, but with the power of spirit, not with the flag of destruction but with the flag of peace and love. He stressed that essential thing is renunciation. The man of renunciation sees all with an equal eye. His words are, ‘Let us give out of our own bounty, just as God gives to us’. One should take the position of giver rather than receiver because the national ideals of India are renunciation and service. Only then, we can remove poverty, illiteracy, superstition, and misery of the Indians.
About the welfare of women, he used to say that there is no chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. It is not possible for a bird to fly on with only one wing. He stressed that women must be put in a position to solve their problems in their own way. The Indian women are capable of doing it as any in the world because ideal of womanhood in India is Sita. Sita is the name in India for everything that is good, pure and holy.
Last but not the least, about religious harmony Swami Ji pointed out that we should never quarrel about religion. All quarrels and disputes concerning religion simply show that spirituality is not present. When purity, spirituality goes leaving the soul dry, quarrels begin, and not before. The end of all religions is the realization of God in the soul. That is the ideal of a universal religion, he remarked. He advised us to show by our lives that religion does not mean words or names, or sects but it means spiritual realization.
All this, and no any other worthwhile work can be done or no great feat can be achieved in the absence of faith. Swami ji said, “Faith-faith-faith in ourselves, faith-faith in God, this is the secret of greatness.” So cultivation of faith in oneself, faith in Divine existence and grace, faith in one’s capacities gives a new fruitful direction to the life. With full of emotions and reverence, I quote Swami Ji once again, “May I be born again and again and suffer thousands of miseries, so that I may worship the only God that exists, the only God I believe in, the sum total of all souls.”
( The author is a teacher of Physics at GDC-Bhaderwah)
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