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RELIGIONS
Eternal India
encyclopedia
I have come to America, to earn money myself, and then return to my
country and devote the rest of my days in the realisation of this one aim
in my fife. As our country is poor in social virtues, so this country is
lacking in spirituality. I give them spirituality and they give me money,"
On the eve of his departure for America he took the name of Swami
Vivekananda.
The Parliament of Religions met on September 11, 1893 in the Hall
of Columbus at the Arts Institute in Chicago and was in session for 17
days. When Vivekananda's turn to speak came, he stood up and started
with
, “Sisters and Brothers of America!"
The effect was electrical.
The whole audience stood up to a man, cheering and waving wildly for
minutes. Annie Besant wrote long after "The large multitude hung upon
his words enraptured. Not a cadence missed. 'That man a heathen!” said
one, as he came out of the great hall, and we send missionaries to his
people ! It would be more fitting that they should send missionaries to
us!"
After his triumphant return from the West, Vivekananda founded
the Ramakrishna Mission on the 1st May 1897. His greatest triumph lay
in reorientating the outlook of his brother disciples from ideas of per-
sonal salvation to a sympathetic comprehension of the needs of his
fellowmen. A Ramkrishna Centre was started in Madras. Another
result of Swami Vivekananda's ideology was the starting of famine
relief centres in Murshidabad district. The Ramakrishna Mission is
unique because it play s a spiritual role as well as a social role. It has set
up a large number of schools, orphanages and dispensaries.
Till his death on July 4, 1902, Swami Vivekananda preached the
message of fearlessness and action. According to Romain Rolland, "He
was energy personified and action was his message to men".
SRI NARAYANA GURU (1856-1928)
Christened Narayanan and called Nanu endearingly, Narayana
Guru was bom in 1856 in a depressed Ezhava caste family in Cham-
pazhanti, a village near Trivandrum. He had his Sanskrit primary
lessons at home and at the age of 21 became a student of Raman Pillai
at Karunagapally, some miles away from home, where he studied
Sanskrit literature, drama and other allied branches of knowledge.
Returning home he opened a school to teach Sanskrit. That earned him
the title Asan - master. He became more and more interested in Hindu
. religious lore and more reserved and withdrawn. His relatives decided
that he should be married and he was accordingly married to a grandniece
of his father called Kali.
But he was not destined for family life. He walked away from home
in search of the meaning of life. He met a saint called Chattambi Swami
from whom he received spiritual guidance. He later met Ayyavu of
Taikad who initiated him into yoga. He then repaired to a hill some
miles to the east of Nagercoil called Marutvamalai. He entered a cave
here. After prolonged tapas he emerged an enlightened soul.
Sri Narayanan installed a Sivalinga at Aruvippuram on the river
Neyyar, near Trivandrum. The local people acclaimed him as a man of
God. This irritated the priestly class who questioned his right to instal
an image. Sri Narayanan replied that the Siva he had installed was an
Ezhava Siva.
He set to work to organise the backward Ezhava community (many
of whose members were toddy tappers by profession) and raise it in all
possible ways. His associates in this task were Dr Palpu and Kumaran
who became a well - known poet in Kerala. They started a movement
called the
Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalana Sangh
- SNDP for short
- for the educational, moral and spiritual welfare of the community. The
Guru advised the members of the community to eschew toddy tapping,
take to modern education and enter industry, business and other fields
to improve their economic condition. He established a number of
temples in Kerala. He also founded a monastic organisation. Tagore
and Gandhi met him at his headquarters at Siragiri in Kerala and were
impressed by his spiritual eminence. Narayana Guru visited various
parts of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka carrying the message of the oneness
of God. The SNDP today runs a number of schools, colleges, hospitals
etc.
Narayana Guru was a great poet. His works reveal a deep
spiritual insight and provide an authentic proof of his self -realisa-
tion. In January 1928 he developed urine obstruction. Despite
medical treatment at Madras, Palghat and other places he passed
away on September 20, 1928 at Varkala.
SHIRDI SAI BABA (1918)
Practically nothing is known of the early years of Sai Baba who
came to be known as the Saint of Shirdi. His original name is not
known.
"Sai"
is a Persian word for "Saint" and
"Baba"
means "father".
He came of a middle class Brahmin family in Hyderabad state. He
left home at a young age probably after the death of his parents to follow
a Muslim fakir after whose death he got at-
tached to a Hindu guru whom he called
Venkusa. He stayed with him for 12 years
and then came to Shirdi, a village near
Kopargaon in the Nasik District of Mahar-
ashtra.
He
was
in
many
ways
an
unconventional saint. He lived in the
Shirdi mosque and used the Islamic name
for God
{Allah).
He used Islamic sacred phrases but only seldom said
the Islamic daily prayers (
natnaaz
). He referred frequently to his Hindu
guru and to Hindu scriptures and gods. He had both Muslim and Hindu
followers with the latter preponderating. He was worshipped by his
Hindu followers in Hindu fashion. By and large devotees were drawn
to him and Shirdi became a place of pilgrimage. He gave no formal
initiation nor had he any set teaching. He worked miraculous cures ("I
give people what I want in the hope that they will begin to want what
I want to give them") often giving his devotees sacred ash
(Udi)
from
the fire which he always maintained in the mosque to be given to sick
persons who could not make the journey to Shirdi. Before the end came
he sent word to another Muslim Saint:" The light that Allah lit he is
taking away."
(see Sec. R-15
-
Sathya Sai Baba)
SRI AUROBINDO (1872 - 1950)
Born on 15 August 1872 in Calcutta, of Dr. K.D. Ghosh and
Swarnalata Devi, Sri Aurobindo was sent to Loretto Convent School at
Darjeeling and later, at the age of 7, led to England where he was to
spend the next fourteen years.
He proved himself a brilliant scholar at St. Paul’s in London and
at King’s College at Cambridge. In accordance with his father’s wish,
he appeared for the Indian Civil Service examination but absented
himself at the riding test and got himself disqualified for the service, as
he had no inclination for it. The Gaekwad of Baroda who was in