SWAMI VIVEKANANDA : THE LIGHT

Posted on by Sushil Rudra
Purity is Strength

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA THE LIGHT

Swami Vivekananda is regarded as the architect of Modern India . He wanted to reshape his motherland, India and called his countrymen : “ Come, be men ! come out of your narrow holes and have a look aboard. See how nations are on the march ! Do you love man ? Do you love your country? Thus come, let us struggle for higher and better things , look not back , no , not even if you see the dearest and nearest cry . Look , not back , but forward ! “

In fact , he felt deeply for the poor and for the distressed . He also noticed the miserable condition of the women of India . A Kuli of western country is more educated than our common people. Most of the American women are educated. Having seen it in America, Vivekananda decided to impart women education in India. He has been profoundly grateful to the Western women who came forward to implement his dream. He took this service as a God’s wish. In a letter he expressed this through his vibrant words. He writes:

” Be of good cheer and believe that we are selected by the Lord to do great things and we will do them. Hold yourself in readiness, ie. be pure and holy , and love for love’s sake . Love the poor, the miserable, the downtrodden and the Lord will bless you.”

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S DREAM     He died at  the age of 39 in 1902 . It’s true that he was then young . If we compare his age with the cricket player Mr. Dhoni who recently retired from the Indian team , former Indian cricket skipper . Dhoni , most probably, has been retired from playing at the age of 39 years old. So his death was very early , but he did a lot for his countrymen within this period . That’s a time when communication , media and modern gadgets were not available. Only a few newspapers were being published as the source of getting information . So we couldn’t able to learn about incidents what used to happen in his time in the world. Despite,  we have come to know about Swamiji’s untiring struggle to fulfill his goals in the West as well as in India. We are now remembering his outstanding activities . But actually we’re lagging behind in progress of our country in all respects . We could not able to attain the dream what he dreamt of for his motherland. 

First of all , Swami Vivekananda wanted to see a vibrant India . During his travel throughout India by walking he noticed the poverty – stricken mass of India. They were ignorant people, the women whose were exploited by the priest and the heads of the community. He looked into this miserable condition of the society , prejudices, fanatism and corruption. Swamiji’s life is connected with his motherland. So his untiring effort was to remove all these barriers drawbacks of India. He wanted to transform this situation with the aid of spiritual ideals of Ancient India. His struggle was to awaken the ignorant and prejudice – affected  people of the society and to be freed from this situation.  That time our people have lost their self respect and inherent power. To awaken self respect and self – power as well as self – confidence he had a plan . He wanted to  make a new India where no man is being unfed and untaught. He emphasized in spreading the true education where the ancient Indian education  and western science and technology oriented curriculum will be imparted to the students. But we couldn’t implement his dream in our education curriculum. Our education neither gives us a suitable job nor we learn to be a honest man. It’s needed to be amalgamation both of the two – Indian spiritual and moral and character building education along with the western science and technology oriented curriculum. Then we could have a total education. Without science and technology we can’t survive and not be able to progress, without spiritual and physical education we can’t be enlightened. 


Secondly, in this connection we remember Swamiji’s famous saying, ” Man – making is my motto . ” To him , True education and true religion is the same. He thus expressed his thoughtful opinion about it. He told in this respect that ” Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man” and again he said about religion that Religion is the manifestation of the innerself already in man. In fact , ultimate goal of the life is same which we can get from education and at the same time from religion. Education can help us to regain our self power, and self – confidence. Still it’s very very important criteria to make us a perfect man. 

Fourthly, Our political party leaders, administrators , even judiciary, the BSF, the Doctors , the teachers are not working according to Swamiji’s teaching. Everywhere is corruption . Police is always heading down to the political party , mainly ruling party. Leaders are running towards powers and honour. They’re mostly opportunists . From big to small , are connected with the scams. Procastination is in judiciary and that’s why they’re not properly punished , or judgement is delayed . Farmers and labourers are being deprived compelled to suiside. Some dishonest Fode are also responsible for that . Swami Vivekananda didn’t want this circumstances . Pure commodities are not available in the market . Doctors are not sympathetic to the patients . They have lost their ethics . Swami ji said: Service to man is service to God. It’s not found in our society. We have given the name of the college, school, hospitals or locality of any place by the name of Swami Vivekananda , but it’s not sufficient to give him respect . We should have to follow his path . We must have to implement his dream .

Thirdly,  Swami Vivekananda noticed the society of other countries and experienced a lot about it. One of his letter to Shankarlal he writes : ” We must see how the engine of the society works in other countries and keep free and open communication with what is going on in the mind of other nations , if we really want to be a nation again.” He noticed during his travel to West in Ship the life and activities of the people of some other countries. China is expert in trades and businesses. He wrote: ” All labour, all trade seemed to be in their hands. Comparetively, his country , India was to some extent lagging behind in this respect . That’s why, he repeatedly told young generation to be engaged in business. Indian government at present is inspiring to the new generation to take initiative in business and trade . MSME is now a central government program for which Bank loan is to be given to the projects. But I think it has gone futile because of Bank’s procastination and goodwill . So Government agency should look after the matter and remove all these barriers so that unemployment problem can be solved . Unemployment is a tremendous problem of our country. It’s the burning need of the time . So , being sympathised , government and other NGOs should come forward to solve this challenge . Every man should be given food and lodging . Government is trying to meet up it through housing project , NGOs are trying to provide foods and clothing. But that’s not sufficient. 

Swami Vivekananda was a Sanyasin but his spirit was like a soldier. His renunciation was to service the mankind. He expressed his thoughts in a lecture:

“The longest night seems to be passing away, the sorest trouble seems to be coming to an end at last, the seeming corpse appears to be awaking and a voice is coming to us — away back where history and even tradition fails to peep into the gloom of the past, coming down from there, reflected as it were from peak to peak of the infinite Himalaya of knowledge, and of love, and of work, India, this motherland of ours — a voice is coming unto us, gentle, firm, and yet unmistakable in its utterances, and is gaining volume as days pass by, and behold, the sleeper is awakening! Like a breeze from the Himalayas, it is bringing life into the almost dead bones and muscles, the lethargy is passing away, and only the blind cannot see, or the perverted will not see, that she is awakening, this motherland of ours, from her deep long sleep. None can desist her anymore; never is she going to sleep anymore; no outward powers can hold her back any more; for the infinite giant is rising to her feet.” These words from Swamiji were like a thunder amidst the prevailing obscurity on this part of the globe and incidentally these were spoken on 25th January, 1897, just a couple of days after the Netaji was born.

We are going to celebrate 125 years birthday of another great son of India on 23 January who was an ardent devotee of Swami Vivekananda. Netaji Subhash followed his path to get free from British rule and upkeeping our country and sacrificed his life , giving up all material aspirations.

Fourthly, Swami Vivekananda preached universal religion throughout the world . He told us not to underrate any other sects, creeds or religious beliefs , but to respect every religion , as the truth is same in every religion. Holiness, purity , kindness and generosity are not the property of any single religion. In this connection, we can excerpt from the lecture of former president of America, Barack Obama . He expressed his admiration here :

” Instead of succumbing to division, you have shown that the strength of India – the very idea of India – is its essence of all colours , castes and creeds . It’s the diversity represented in this chamber today. It’s the richness of faiths celebrated by a visitor to my hometown of Chicago more than a century ago – the renowned Swami Vivekananda. He said that , ” holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character.”

Subhash Chandra Bose considered Vivekananda as his spiritual Guru . He called Vivekananda a ” full blooded masculine personality – and a fighter to the core of being .” I think His call to the nation will not be futile . The light he ignited shall never stop to spread out in the society . Today his birthday , we must take outh that we shall try our best to follow his path and to implement his desires and dreams which are still not fulfilled .















































































































SWAMI VIVEKANANDA : THE LIGHTSwami ji influenced so many people of East and West . Common man to aristocrate, all the people took shelter on his sympathetic lap . In India , he is regarded as a super genius , a godly man . He has inspired massively to the freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for the independence of the country . Vivekananda tought them to love and respect India as Mother. First of all , I am to write about his patriotic heart. He is the only one who has tried his best efforts to change the weak minds into a strong one . He told : Weakness is death and strength is life. Now you only worship of the God who is in distress, your motherland. Keep aside rest God and Goddesses.  Secondly, Swami Vivekananda’s life is deeply concerned with his motherland, India. 

KALPATARU SRI RAMKRISHNA

Posted on by Sushil Rudra
Cassipur Uddan Bari . This the place where Sri Ramakrishna became Kalpataru.
Cassipur Bati
Side view of Cassipur Uddan Bati

Kalpataru Sri Ramakrishna :1st January, 2021

From midnight 12 am , New Year 2021 starts its journey for the next 365 days until it reaches another New Year of 2022. At present all most all the official works and activities are maintained according to English Calendar. But there is another event we also regard it with great respect, that’s Kalpataru Sri Ramakrishna Diwas .

WHY ENGLISH CALENDAR !

From monthly salary to grocery store the accounts and transactions are made following to English Calendar. So we enjoy the new year day as a holiday. British Government ruled out our country more than 2 hundred years.

We used to follow up with their culture and tradition since then . If we try our best to remove all these practices from our lives , it will not be proper as per our own Indian tradition.

Because , we have been made accommodation in our ways to living with all the diversities which we had to face in course of our journey generation after generation.

FOREIGN INVADE : KALPATARU SRI RAMAKRISHNA AND TAGORE

Foreign rulers invaded our country and established here and gradually they’re becoming our own neighborhood. We have been accustomed to their culture and practices.

Aryan came here first , then Shak , Hun ,Pathan, Mughol and lastly English ruled out country. We became united. There’s no other way than mingling with them. Humanist Poet, Rabindranath Tagore wrote in a poem ” Bharattirtha” :

“Eso he Arya , eso anarya , eso he Dravid Chin / Shak Hun Dall Pathan Mughol Aek Dehe Holo Leen.” ( Come Aryan, come non – Aryan , come Dravid Chin , Shak Hun Dall Pathan Mughol United in a one body. )

NEW YEAR FESTIVAL : KALPATARU SRI RAMAKRISHNA

One poet remarks: ” East and West shall never meet.” But in this case, I mean, about New Years Festival , we are not conservative at all. We are celebrating this fest with full of joy and merriment. But it’s not our matter of discourse . Today is a memorable day in the history of Sri Ramakrishna spiritual movement and Ramkrishna Mission .

KALPATARU DIWAS : SRI RAMAKRISHNA

1 st January is regarded as Kalpataru Day by the devotees and followers of Ramkrishna Mission and Math . It’s celebrated in all centers of Math and Mission in India and in the Vedanta centers of out side of India.

What is the significance of Kalpataru Utsav or festival ? Why it’s sacred day?

KALPATARU DIWAS : SRI RAMKRISHNA

1st January, is regarded by millions of his household devotees as Kalpataru Day because it was on this day in 1886 that Sri Ramakrishna showered on a select few who had gathered in the Cassipore Garden House, his wish fulfilling blessings.

From that momentous day onwards the day has come to be observed in Kalpataru Day, the day when the great Guru reappears, as it were, to bliss his disciples year after year.

Now Kalpataru Day has become as sacred as his birthday when devotees throng the Ramkrishna Maths the world over to pay their obeisance and seek his blessings, again and again.

It’s true that His followers believe that Sri Ramakrishna revealed himself to be an Avatar or God Incarnate on earth. It’s classified as one of the “Lords special festivals by the followers of Sri Ramakrishna.

The first January, 1886 Kalpataru Day, was an event of unusual consequence and meaning in the life of Ramkrishna and His followers.

HISTORY BEHIND KALPATARU

Ramkrishna was suffering from throat cancer at that time, and his health was declining. He and His closest followers had moved to garden house in the northern Kolkata neighborhood of Cassipore.

1 st January was relatively good day for Him. He took a walk in the garden. There He asked one of His followers, Girish ( a great drama writer and poet of Bengali literature) , a question He had often asked before, ” Who do you say that I am? “.

Girish replied that he believed that Ramkrishna was ‘God Incarnate’ , come to earth out of mercy for mankind.’

Ramkrishna then replied, ” What more shall I say ? May you be awakened. Ramkrishna then entered an ” ecstatic state ” and began touching all of His followers present there.

THE COSMIC FEELING

Those He touched reported experiencing a variety of new states of consciousness , including vivid visions. For one Vaikuntha, the visions persisted and interfered with daily life, so that he feared that he might be going insane.

Another disciple, Sri Ramchandra Dutta, explained that Ramkrishna had in effect become Kalpataru, the wish fulfilling tree of Sanskrit literature and Hindu mythology. Datta named the commomoration of this mystical event ” Kalpataru Day” as a result.

The event carried meanings and memories of cosmic import for the disciples and also prepared them for Ramkrishna’s death , which occurred only a few months later, on 16 August, 1886 .

So , Our new years celebration is something different from others. We regard this first day of every new year worshipping Bhagawan Sri Ramakrishna.

We pray to Him . This year we, along with the members of Vivekananda Vani Prochar Somity went to visit two interior village of Tribals to distribute blanket and lunches to the poor tribal folks. In Kalpataru Sri Ramakrishna Diwas it is our duty to serve the poor as Shiva. So we did . They’re very poor . We spent some time with them. And after getting Prosad ( lunch), we returned home.

This was a very interesting events which we enjoyed today.

Hope my readers have to spend a pleasant day. Happy new year to you all. Stay healthy and be peaceful. Kalpataru Sri Ramkrishna will bless us with a delightful life.

JAI KALPATARU SRI RAMKRISHNA !!!

Rabi Thakurer Ɡaan ɽoɓi ʈɦakuɽeɽ ɠaɳ The Sonɡ Of Rabindranath Taɡore: Dr. Sushil Rudra #

Posted on by Sushil Rudra
Taɡore

Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore is a versatile writer . He wrote a lot in Bengali language and also in English. In every literary types he was not only great , but pioneer also. In India we find none so great like him as a Poet , or as an author. I am writing this article about this eminent author of Bengali literature . As I am a student and also a teacher of literature, I will try my best to furnish here about Tagore’s song which according to him as the best of his creation.

Kalidas & Rabindranath :

Rabindranath is a poet and his creation in art and literature is enormous . No one is as stupendously talented as Taɡore . It will not be sufficient to praise to him that he is the all time best writer in Indian literature . I am speakinɡ it rememberinɡ Kalidas and other poets. Kalidas undoubtedly the best in Sanskrit literature , but like Rabindranath he was not a fabulous writer . Taɡore wrote a lot in every branch of literature. It is true that Rabindranath was hiɡhly influenced by Kalidas and other Sanskrit writers.

Nineteenth century Bengali literature & Tagore :

Madhusudan and Bankim Chandra Chattopaddhay , was his precedinɡ authors, but Madhusudan wrote epic and some dramas , on the contrary , Bankim was the pioneer of novel. Rabindranath was a multitalented distinɡuished author who wrote 4000 thousands poems , 2500 thousands sonɡs , 200 hundred short stories , 18 novels, 35 dramas, essays and paintinɡs.

According to W. B. Yeats :

The noted British poet, W.B.Yeats remarked in the introduction of Taɡore’s Sonɡ Offerinɡs , :” We have other poets , but none that are his equal ; we call this the epoch of Rabindranath. No poet seems to me as famous in Europe as he is amonɡ us . He is as ɡreat in music as in poetry , and his sonɡs are sunɡ from the west of India into Burmah wherever Benɡali is spoken” . Yeats was then famous in the West . And he collected all the informations about Taɡore. So , he aɡain wrote , ” He was already famous at nineteen when he wrote his first novel ; and plays , written when he was but little older , are still played in Calcutta. I so much admire the completeness of his life ; when he was very younɡ he wrote much of natural objects .” I shall discuss about these poems which are ulmately sonɡs , written in Bengali mostly offering to God .

‘Ɡitanjali’ or Sonɡ Offerinɡs is a collection of 157 poems which was published in 1910 . Rabindranath called it as a sonɡ, not poem. These are all Dhrupad Sanɡit . Toɡore composed so many sonɡs other than Ɡitanjali . He started writinɡ the sonɡs of Ɡitanjali at the aɡe of 45 and it ended after five years when the poet was at the aɡe 49. Rabindranath was a romantic poet. He did not follow the path of Mychael Madhusudan Dutt who wrote epic . He walks in the path of lyrics.

Williom Rothenstain, a British Painter and scholar came India and beinɡ invited by Abanindranath Taɡore visited Jorasanko Thakurbari . There he became aquinted with Toɡore . That time, Taɡore was not famous in India. When Rothenstine came to know that Rabindranath Taɡore is a poet he told Rabindranath if there is any need in future , Taɡore could meet him. In future, this relation turned into ɡreat friendship. When afterwords, Rabindranath visited Enɡland alonɡ with the translation of Ɡitanjali, Rothenstine made all arranɡement to introduce him and his poems with the Western intellectuals. And with their endeavour Taɡore’s poem collection “Ɡitanjali” was forwarded to the Swish Nobel Commitee and Taɡore was selected for the prestiɡious Nobel Prize.

How did Taɡore influence the Europian poet ʔ Yeats confessed it in the introduction of the book -“Ɡitanjali”. He wrote : ” I have carried the manuscript of these translations about with me for days, readinɡ it in railway trains, or on the top of omnibuses and in restaurants, and I have often had to close it lest some stranɡer would see how much it moved me.”

In fact, these lyrics was an oriɡinal in content, full of subtlety of rhythm, of untranslatable delicious of colour, of metrical invention, display a philosophical thouɡht which was need of the time in western mind. These sonɡs are same with the reliɡion , which is our Indian practice.Here poetry and reliɡion are the same thinɡ, has passed throuɡh the centuries, ɡatherinɡ from learned and unlearned mataphor and emotion, and carried back aɡain to the multitude the thouɡht of the scholar and of the noble.

Practically all the aspirations of mankind are in his hymns. In every sphere of life as well as emotions and feelinɡs, his lyrics stand beside, and the companion of joy and woe .

Rabindranath Taɡore , like Chaucer’s forerunners, writes music for his words, and one understands at every moment that he is so abundant, so spontaneous , so darinɡ in his passion, so full of surprise , because he is doinɡ somethinɡ which has never seemed stranɡe,unnatural ,or in need of defence.

Today we are going to celebrate his 159 birth anniversary who thought, who wrote and did various types of activities for the betterment of the people. When everything is under lock down due to Corona pandemic , his birth anniversary can be executed through his motto of life and the service he started for the upliftment of the common people .