Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, January 8, 2009 ("Snapshots").
Photo courtesy:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sowri/2184307235/
Tamilians all over the world celebrate 'Pongal', the Harvest Festival tomorrow. Also known as the 'Festival of Tamils'. It is more than 1000 years old. It is a thansgiving day - thanking the Sun god, Rain god and the farm animals.
Hanumanji is a great of courage, confidence, concentration, strength, faith, devotion, celibacy and many more sterling virtues, which mould one's character and equip one to face whatever comes in life with courage and confidence. So the inculcation of the worship of Hanumanji in the formative years has special significance.
In ancient India, life was divided into four stages, the first of which being 'BRAHMACHARYA' - the period from childhood to entering adulthood. This is the period one devotes to acquiring knowledge, developing self-discipline and all the other virtues that mould one's character. With the knowledge or the skill acquired, one enters a profession; then only comes the second stage, 'GRUHASTHA' : getting married and raising a family of one's own. So the first stage is a very important one, the foundation on which the remaining three stages are built up. Distractions during this first stage could seriously hamper one's growth and development.
Unfortunately, there is every kindly deadly and dastardly distraction today; they corrupt the young minds and lead them astray. In the movies you see nothing the love of the other sex, right from the nursery school stage. What is meant for the second stage is needlessly and crudely thrust on the young when they are not yet ready for such things. Further, rowdyism and goondaism pass for heroism. Most of the evils in society are due to this. Hence it becomes the duty of the parents, teachers and other elders to introduce and inculcate the worship of Hanumanji, highlighting his sterling qualities and advise them to take Hanumanji as their role-model rather some movie star.
As a devotee of Sri Ramakrishna, to me 'The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna' is the Bible. Sri Ramakrishna greatly admired Hanumanji. He would try the different paths like Christianity, Islam, Tantrik and advaita and realize the Supreme through every one of them. He also practised 'sadhana' dressing and behaving like Hanumanji, identifying himself so completely with Hanumanji that he almost became another 'Hanuman'. Within a few days, he realized the Supreme. After that he said with the authority of one who has tried many paths, "whatever path one chooses, one reaches the same goal."
"...It was through the power of his mind that Hanuman leapt over the sea. 'I am the servant of Rama; I have repeated the holy name of Rama. Is there anything impossible for me?" - that was Hanuman's faith.
"Once a man asked Hanuman which day of the fortnight it was. "Brother," said Hanuman, "I don't know anything about the day of the week or the fortnight, or the position of the stars. I think of Rama alone." (All the three passages are from The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna by Mahendra Nath Gupta - Translated into English by Swami Nikhilananda and published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai).
Swami Vivekananda was born on January 12, 1863. The devotees of Swami Vivekananda world over celebrate it as "Swamiji Jayanthi". Swami Vivekananda's ideas have had a great influence on the Indian youth and still has a lot of relevance to them. Hence, the Govt of India has declared January 12, the birthday of Swami Vivekananda, to be National Youth Day. In schools and colleges all over India, Youth Day is being celebrated today.
"Swamiji" as Swami Vivekananda is fondly referred to by his devotees, was a great teacher of mankind. His address at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago, USA, captivated not only the audience but the entire world and he became well known thenceforth. He restored a sense of pride in the hearts of the people of India. His teachings influenced the thinking of national and international leaders, politicians, men of science and philosophers, like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subash Chandra Bose, Aurobindo Ghosh, Tagore, Rajaji, Radhakrishnan, Nikola Tesla, Jamshedji Tata and many others.
He founded the Sri Ramakrishna Math and Mission on the principle, “for one's own salvation and for the welfare of the World”. He advised his followers to be holy, unselfish and have faith in themselves.
He is the maker of modern India and is widely considered to have inspired India's freedom struggle movement.
During my bachelor days, Dr Janakiraman would convene weekly meetings at his residence under the banner "Vivekananda Study Circle" and we used read a few pages from the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. After that we used to pray/meditate and Dr Janakiraman would distribute "kalkandu" as "prasad". He used to present me Sri Ramakrishna-Vivekananda literature at every opportunity and thus my acquaintance with Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda grew. He took me to the Ramakrishna Tapovan at Tirupparaithurai thrice, which was the nearest Math to us in those days. We used to worship in the shrine there and then seek the blessings of the monks there. Srimat Swami Chidbhavanandaji Maharaj, the founder of the Tapovan, was alive then. We would go and prostrate before him and he would enquire about us and bless us.
When the Madurai branch of the Ramakrishna Math came up, Dr Janakiraman used to frequent it. Once or twice I went there with him. He used to collect donations for the Madurai Math and when he left Karaikudi, he entrusted it to me. Then slowly I started visiting the Madurai Math. After a time, it became a regular monthly visit as the monks there were very kind to me and I caught got in their love, to borrow an adjective from The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, "unreasonable" love i.e. love without any reason.
I read all the nine volumes of The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, The Eternal Companion, Sri Ramakrishna, the Great Master and then everything published by the Ramakrishna Order that I could lay my hands on.
During my FASOHD days, we used to organize seminars to commemorate the National Youth Day at different colleges. We used to distribute a booklet containing the essence of the thoughts of Swami Vivekananda called “Swami Vivekananda: His Call to the Nation” to the students. This booklet was priced at less than Rupees Two.
I shall take up only one fascinating quote of his for this post: "Strength is Life, Weakness is Death; Expansion is Life, Contraction is Death; Love is Life; Hatred is Death." Though there are numerous wonderful and beautiful quotations of Swamiji, this quote has fascinates me. There are numerous quotations on Life and Death which you can find in Books of Quotations. But, to me, nobody has so precisely and comprehensively have described Life and Death like Swamiji. Its positive note, its universal relevance and enormity of its implications are incomparable.
For example, let us take a single word from the above quote, viz., "expansion" and proceed. I started as a dot; as I embrace my parents, the dot grows into a small circle. This circle goes on expanding as I include my brothers and sisters and later on other relatives and friends. Thus this circle should go on expanding, finally becoming all encompassing - encompassing the whole universe - breaking all barriers; ultimately I become one with the universe. That is the fulfillment of life. When I get stuck up in between somewhere, it is a pity. I should keep on striving and get moving. This is what I infer from that word “expansion”. I have taken just only one word from that quote; like this, one could take up every word and focus one's mind on it, try to visualize the great message contained in it.
I shall conclude this post with a quote on Swamiji by Netaji Subash Chandra Bose: “I cannot write about Vivekananda without going into raptures…. His personality was rich, profound and complex... 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 child, he was a rare personality in this world of ours.”
Detailed Wikipedia article on "SWAMI VIVEKANANDA": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami_Vivekananda
Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, January 1, 2009.
Detailed Wikipedia article on "MOOD": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mood_(psychology)
Grateful thanks to PTI, The Hindu and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The New Year always brings hopes and expectations, thus making almost everyone an optimist. Even those who had a turbulent or miserable life look forward to the New Year in the hope that it would bring an end to all their sufferings and things turn out to be all right. That is why we celebrate the New Year's day.
Let us hope the New Year will bring the very best in our personal lives. Let me borrow the prayer of my little nephew Aravind: "Let there be no bomb blast anywhere in the world! Let there be no Tsunami anywhere in the world! Let me live happily! Let all the people live happily!" That was a prayer Aravind offered at the Kollan Kali Amman Temple, Karaikudi, when he was just seven or maybe eight years old. I am slightly modifying the prayer: "Let hatred and violence disappear from the face of the world. Let nature be kind to all of us and let there be no disasters. Let all that happens to me in the New Year be the very best. Let everyone on the globe find peace, harmony and happiness.
Saw a very old cartoon (of 1920s) in the public domain, depicting a child (the New Year) chasing an old man(the old year) into the history book and closing it tight. Yes, the past is for history and let us live in the present and make the most of it; naturally, the future will take care of itself.
Making resolutions on the New Year's day has become almost a ritual with some of us. Whether we follow them through is a different matter. However, it proves that there is still a streak of optimism in us and of course, reveals lack of perseverance. Let us hope that we could add perseverance to our enthusiasm and realize our dreams and fulfill our promises.
Wishing you a Happy, Prosperous and Purposeful New Year!
Grateful thanks to Vinod for providing the photo for this post.
On December 27, 2008, ‘Hanumath Jayanthi’, the birthday of Lord Anjaneya was celebrated by his devotees all over the world. As a devotee of Lord Anjaneya, I went to the 'Sri Veera Sanjeevi Anjaneya Temple' in our office premises and then on reaching home, starting writing this. Due to indifferent health, I had to stop it midway and could continue only now.
