Click here for Journal of Non Resident Indian (www.jnri.net )
Click here for more essays by Barry Shree Nirmal
It gives me great pleasure that the Temple management has given me this opportunity to explain the teachings of Swami Vivekananda to you. As you know this temple is a great social place where people come and socialize and pray. But it is very important this we use this Temple not only to socialize and to have lunch with friends but also to propagate our religion and culture especially to our youth. Our youth must have a solid understanding of our religion so that they develop great pride in our religion and our values. Our youth should not only defend our religion but they must also propagate it. But this can only happen if we educate them. It is with this purpose in mind that I am here today to talk about the teachings of Swami Vivekananda.
First of all let me tell you who Swami Vivekananda was. He was a spiritual genius of great intellect and power. His life was very short. He lived in this transitory world for only 39 years. But in this short life he did a lot for his country, his religion, and for humanity as a whole. In his youth he wanted to understand the truth so he questioned many holy people in search of a guru. He found such a teacher in Sri Ramakrishna, who became his master, allayed his doubts, gave him God vision, and transformed him into sage and prophet with authority to teach.
After Sri Ramakrishna's death, Vivekananda renounced the world and traveled throughout India as a wandering monk. His mounting compassion for India's people drove him to seek their material help from the West. Accepting an opportunity to represent Hinduism at Chicago's Parliament of Religions in 1893, Vivekananda won instant celebrity in America and a ready forum for his spiritual teaching.
For three years he spread the Vedanta philosophy and religion in America and England and then returned to India to found the Ramakrishna Math and Mission. Exhorting his people to spiritual greatness, he wakened India to a new national consciousness. He died after a second, much shorter journey to the West. His lectures and writings have been gathered into eight volumes.
I have been studying the teachings of Swami ji over the past eighteen months. His teachings have given me much inspiration and strength. Now let me tell you about some of is teachings.
The first teaching of swami ji that I like a lot is that he and his guru, Ramakrishna taught that all religions are valid means of achieving God.
At the world parliament of religions he quoted from our scriptures a hymn that says,
"As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."
He quoted from the Gita, where Lord Krishna says:
"Whosoever comes to me, though whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me."
He blessed America for taking the lead roles in bringing various religions of the world together. In my opinion due to his blessings, America has become stronger and more powerful since Swami Ji's death.
So if anyone says that only his religion is the only true religion or that his or his religion's concept of God is the only true concept of God, then such a view is highly erroneous and full of bigotry and completely devoid of truth.
Now let us see what Swami ji says about the Hindu way of worshipping statues of Gods. As you know some followers of some major religions say that the Hindu faith is false because we worship idols. Recently I read a book by a writer from the Ananda Marga group. This book said that the Hindu nation has become weak because we worship idols. I do not agree with this. As you know we do not worship idols; we worship gods that these idols represent. There is a common saying in India , " mano to bhagwan nahi to pathhar". In other words if you are a non-believer, it is stone, else it is God.
To say that we have become weak because we worship statues is false thinking. The swami ji says, "
Superstition is a great enemy of man, but bigotry is worse. Why does a Christian go to church? Why is cross holy? Why is the face turned towards the sky in prayer? Why are there so many images in the Catholic church? Why are there so many images in the minds of Protestants when they pray? My brothers and sisters, we can no more think about anything without a mental image than we can live without breathing. By the laws of association the material image calls up the mental idea and vice versa. This is why the Hindu uses an external symbol when he worships. He will tell you it helps to keep his mind fixed on the being to whom he prays. He knows as much as you do that the image is not God, is not omnipresent."
Swami ji was a very practical man and a very spiritual one too. He said that if he had young children, he would ask them to repeat at least once each day, " I am Hindu, I am strong and I am pure". This is like a mantra that you too can chant. Its result will surprise you. Just by saying "I am Hindu I am pure and I am strong" you will become pure and strong. This is because believing is becoming. Swami ji said that if you want to be a saint you should start believing that you are one. In the same way if I want to become a rocket scientist, the first thing I must do is to believe that I am one. This belief will inspire me to master the theories of rocket science and it will propel me to the road of becoming one.
So, if you believe that you are strong and pure, you will strive to become strong and pure. Swami ji said that Vedanata does not recognize any sins. If there is a sin, it is to think that you are weak or that others are weak.
So brothers and sisters and children, stop saying that you are weak. Stop thinking that you are a sinner. Even if you have committed a sin, if you have repented for it, i.e. if you have done prayaschit, your sins have been washed away. So caste aside the guilt feelings and start thinking that you are strong and pure. This will help you become strong and pure.
The last teaching of Swamij I that I would like to explain is that he laid a lot of emphasis on renunciation. His master Ramakrishna was a great example of renunciation and asceticism. Ramakrishna had spent early part of his life renouncing the world and the latter part of his life inspiring and guiding his disciples. Swami ji says that the ideal of renunciation is all the more important in the modern age when people keep on increasing their necessities.
You see this in a glaring way in the Western societies where people have a lot of money and are still unhappy. A man who has no car thinks that he will be happy if he has a car. But when he has a car he finds that he is still unhappy. Now he thinks that if he had his own home he will be happy. So he buys a condo. But once he moves into a condo, he finds that he is still unhappy. He now thinks that if he owned a detached house with four bed rooms he would be happy.
So we find that this never ending quest for material possessions and money never ends. True happiness is not obtained by material possessions. Swami ji teaches people to adopt a life of asceticism and to renounce the world.
I find this teaching of swami ji to be of utmost importance. Swami ji says that even a little bit of work done for others awakens the power within.
*** The End ***