On 12th
Jan, his birthday - Claiming Swami Vivekananda
(humble tribute at his feet by Ashok Vyas)
Celebrating the lives of great beings means living on the
path shown by them. Interestingly, in the case of Swami Vivekananda, the path
shown by him would remain invisible if you have not made sincere attempts to
see yourself.
Here is a man with total commitment to humanity and at the
same time, living total freedom, which is at the command of human beings,
irrespective of their situations. Here is a man, whose potentials as disciple, teacher,
orator, singer, friend and a quick learner have left their permanent imprints
on the footsteps of time. Swami Vivekananda is compassionate signature of the
eternal.
The tall, towering figure of Vivekananda, still oozes self –confidence
and radiates a subtle command to leave selfishness and craving for comforts. He
shows us the big picture of life that recognizes the presence of all our
differences and shares the glorious vision shown by our sages and seers in
harmonizing these differences. His life is a saga of struggle on various
levels, we relate to him from the sound of applause that was heard in response to his address ‘brothers
and sisters of America’, while he was addressing ‘’world parliament of religion’
at Chicago on Sept 11, 1893.
We should also hear the sound of silence that preceded this
address. We will find ourselves in the company of the compassionate unfolding
of the power of divine mother. We will witness the beauty of surrendering to
the all-pervading presence of the Guru.
The dynamic mystical drama, ready to
enact itself and manifest the greatness hidden within each one of us, demands
being prepared to give up all ‘preparations’ and be an instrument of His will.
Swami Vivekananda lived in the palpable company of Siddhas, which one would
infer through his ability to live with amazing dignity and share the essence of
that dignity through lectures and workshops with foreign audience in a foreign
language.
His command over Sanskrit was brilliant and he also spoke fluent
English with very impressive pronunciation.How much can you do in 39 years? When you look at Swami
Vivekandna’s life, the cribbing about not having resources and contacts and
support systems by us appears ridiculous. If his life is ocean, we shouldn’t be
content by restricting our relationship with him to any one particular quote
that may suit our purpose at a given point of time, this will be disservice to
him and to ourselves too.
He is not suggesting us to cover our limitations with some
philosophical foliage, he dares us to work on the power of our mind. All the
self-help books may be insufficient in comparison to the teachings of Swami
Vivekananda. Kaviguru Tagore said, Íf you want to know Bharat, read Swami Vivekananda,
it is all positive, there is nothing negative about him.”
As we read him, we realize,
it is not about positive and negative of Swamiji, it is the combination of positive
and negative within us which governs our ability to appreciate this great being
but the longer, we stay in the company of Swami Vivekananda’s literature, he
takes away our confusions and empowers us with cheerful clarity. We are rarely
ready to leave our clinging to our limitations, very few of us are willing to
take plunge in the words of Swami Vivekanand without worrying about the
possibility of losing our attachment with the limited identity.
He expects us
to leave our comfort zone, he wants us to participate in the totality of life
by invoking that essence of ‘totality’ in our vision. He was a poet, a dreamer
but a pragmatic being, he clarified, there is so much knowledge in the world,
don’t bother about everything. Take one or two principles and make them a part
of your life. He said, if you look at great lives lived, you will find, they
adopted key principles in their life.
What values are guiding us? Are we looking at Swami
Vivekananda to cut and use his persona to fulfill our petty objectives or we
are willing to make his ‘man making education’ as an integral part of our
lives? Echo of Swamiji’s spirit is still resonating in the political corridor
of India. Whether BJP’s prime ministerial Candidate Narendra Modi like it or
not, Congress PM Rajiv Gandhi took the initiative of observing Swami
Vivekananda’s birthday as national youth day in India. Whether congress
president Sonia Gandhi and PM Dr Manmohan Singh like it or not, Narendra Modi
has worked with Ramkrishna mission and many organizations to embrace the spirit
of Swami Vivekananda in the series of 150th birth anniversary
celebrations of this great saint in more forceful manner than any other
congress leader.
Swami Vivekananda is beyond politics but emergence of his active reference in the political cirucuit also strenghthens our hope, that the spirit of Bharat would remain intact in the policy affairs of India. His gospel is Vedanta.
He has shown the path of oneness. He has shown the pathway to greatness by
making proper arrangement of human mind through concentration.
He questioned those practices, which are bleeding Hindu
society but he did it with full understanding of the light of wisdom ingrained
in the spirit of Bharat.
Saluting this great son of Bharat, who was the chosen one by
His Guru and His words assure us that we all are the chosen ones. ‘”Each one of
us is potentially divine, the goal of life is to manifest the divinity within.”
