A Universal Message

On the Eve of the birthday of one of the greatest persons ever lived and on the eve of the National youth day i.e. on Jan 12th which was declared by Govt. of India (in 1984), I wish your active and useful role in building your country even better than ever.

A few years ago, a young man started with the postulate that if there is a God, it should be possible for him to see Him. Luckily, he met a great visionary and missionary who told him that not only had he seen Him, but he (the young man) can also enjoy this privilege if he followed the necessary discipline. Under the latter's careful tutelage, the former was able to get a glimpse of the Supreme, after which he underwent arduous spiritual exercises. Next he felt that he share with others, the illumination he had received. For this, he travelled, mostly by foot, the length and breadth of his sacred motherland, mixing with aristocrats and peasants, he could understand the rich cultural heritage of India and also the misery and ignorance in which the masses were weltering. His heart throbbed with pity. The youth was none else than Narendra who turned famous as Vivekananda and the former who took him into his fold was Saint Ramakrishna.

Swami Vivekananda was not so much a personality as a phenomenon. He saved Hinduism and India. But for him we would have lost our religion and would not have gained our freedom. He was able to achieve so much in his all-too-brief life of 39 years because his preparation was thorough and his message, crystal clear and powerful. He underlind that each soul is potentially divine, which has to be made dynamic. The divinity should be manifested, which is the main purpose of religion. Neither Vedanta nor Yoga was new but what the Swami did was to make the abstruse philosophy and complicated technique of spiritual discipline readily understandable and easy to practise, said Swami Asutoshananda in a lecture on Vivekananda's birthday.

In the scheme of the Divine, there is no accident. Vivekananda's mission was to enable others to attain the ineffable Bliss. It was not a fortuitous coincidence that the Swami was born on a day of all-round joy and enthusiasm. He regretted that man does not know that he is divine and infinite. Man invariably identified himself with the finite body-mind complexes and thereby suffered. The realisation that everyone is divine enables him to love every creation and feel at home with everyone, and every where. Vivekananda's this message is universal, meeting the needs of all sections. All can attain perfection by practising one of the four ``Yogas'' or a suitable combination of them. Man should make the mind take a U-turn and delve into the ``self'' within. Where the inner self is thus discovered, he will find the same divine in the external world as well, said Swami Gautamananda on the occasion.