As we watch India slipping into abysmal depths of lawlessness, immorality and terrorism, the thought that should reverberate in our minds should be Swamiji’s words – “Shall India die? Then from the world all spirituality will be extinct; all moral perfection will be extinct; all sweet-souled sympathy for religion will be extinct; all ideality will be extinct; and in its place will reign the duality of lust and luxury as the male and female deities, with money as its priest, fraud, force and competition its ceremonies and the human soul its sacrifice. Such a thing can never be.” If India dies, not only the ozone layer but also the spiritual fragrance which alone can purify the earth’s polluted atmosphere will disappear in toto.
These thoughts brought into focus the advice of revered Swami Ranganathanandaji Maharaj, way back in 1981. He said that “the present day society is full of raw wounds, oozing with puss and blood with hardly any healthy tissue.” It is the duty of those who adore Swamiji to keep alive these healthy tissues by absorbing unto themselves Swamijis idealism. Youthful dedicated workers can do that service, if not anything else – live and work totally devoid of selfish motivations, with a sense of detachment and love for the country and countrymen. If we do so we would become the living tissues and can transform ourselves into centres of active regeneration of values.
Swamijis 150th Birth anniversary should become an occasion for this regeneration of new, healthy, active live tissues of idealism. Swamijis is not with us any more but his thoughts are very much with us which can be used as our tonic for our own regeneration first. Let us remember Swamiji’s words “Atmano mokshartham jagat hitaya ca—” that each thought, word and deed should lead to our expansion and in turn result in the welfare of the society.
One thought which may arise in our mind is what can I an individual do to change the destiny of the country? When such a thought comes let us remember the little story from Tagore, ‘when the sun was about to set, he called out to the world to find out if anyone could bring some light to remove the darkness.’ No answer came, but a small fire fly shouted back “I with my small little light shall be going round in the darkness bringing a little bit of light where nothing but darkness exists.” Let this small firefly show us the way.
Special Attraction of this month bulletin :
• Inauguration of Vivekananda Yoga Club
• Aghosa Samity meeting at Panchayat level Geeta Jayanthi
• Sankalpa Divasam
• Matrupuja
• VK Jayanthi Competitions
• 12 th January- National Youth Day and Sobha Yatra
• Swami Vivekananda Jayanthi celebration
