Swami Vivekanand

A lighthouse for travellers.

Pole star amongst the stars.

The most grand and the best amongst the monks.

A fiery yet balanced orator, a well read reader, a meditator throughout his life, he is none other than Swami Vivekanand.

A stark reminder to all the youth of today, about how to spend ones youthful days and turn ones life to becoming an inspiration for someone else.

A staunch Sanatan Dharmi, yet a knower of the finer nuances of the different thoughts around the world.

Social service can be done even with the saffron coloured clothes without any selfishness nor taking part in politics.

One can learn from every instance of his life.

One can quote a lot from his lectures.

One can learn a lot from his character.

But what is important is that we follow him and live like him.

Be dedicated to ones Guru and cause is what we all need to learn from him.

Even after building the whole mission with his vision, he named it Ramkrishna Mission. Such is the dedication of our Master.

One of the very few who broke the shackles of ritualistic thought / way if leaving and decided to travel abroad to spread the message of Sanatan Dharm. And there too, he not only won the people by the first sentence of his speech, the much famous “My dear Brothers and Sisters” which got him a rousing reception wherever he went, but also his character, his behaviour, his way of conveying in a crystal clear manner, his calling spade a spade, is something people of today’s generation need to understand and imbibe in life.

Am reminded of the instance when a women very much impressed with his lectures comes to him with a proposal of marriage so that she can beget a son like him. He simply calls her Mother, implying that she already has him as a son and does not need to marry and wait for long. Such a magnanimity of character is too less to find in today’s monks and even youth.

Also the way he presented facts in a clear tone. When some person made fun of his clothes, and asked for better clothing, he promptly replied, “In your country, it is the clothes which make a gentleman, but in mine, it is his character.” Its an answer which left the questioner dumbfounded, but he would have learnt his lesson the hard way.

His love for the Motherland is one which should be emulated by everyone, irrespective of which country you are born in or live in. When he was leaving, London, one of his British friends asked him, “Swami how do you like you Motherland, now when you have lived in luxurious, glorious and powerful west for 4 years?” His answer as clear as ever, “India, I loved before i came away. Now the very dust of India has become holy to me, the very air is now to me holy, it is now the holy land, the place of pilgrimage, the Tirth.”

We can go on and on with such instances, such talks and such quotes. But what I feel more important is that we try to live his thoughts. Atleast when we with him, reading him, we be engrossed in it that we forget the world around us. Like him, that whenever he went to Goddess Kali to ask for something, he forgot the materialistic need and just kept looking at Her.

On his birthday, let us pledge to be a “laghu” (small) Vivekanand.

Let us learn from Him.

Let us read Him.

Let us make a character like Him.