Today is the 147th Jayanthi of Swami Vivekananda

January 12, 2009

According to English calendar, the 147th Jayanti of Swami Vivekananda falls today - Monday, January 12th. According to Hindu (Vedic) calendar it falls on Saturday, January 17th on that day all Sri RamaKrishna Maths celebrate throughout the world, which varies every year.

The ideal way to remember or honour a saint is by understanding his/her teachings. Swami Vivekananda has given his valuable opinion on several topics. It is for us to pick up these pearls of wisdom and apply it in our daily life. This can be done not just on his birthday but on all days of the year. He has been an inspiration to millions of people of all religions of the world especially youth.

Some of His Wonderful sayings are :

1. No one should be judged by their defects. But their errors are the common weakness of humanity and should never be counted in estimating a person's character.

2. Work and worship are necessary to take away the veil, to lift off the bondage and illusion.

3. A tremendous stream is flowing toward the ocean, carrying us all along with it; and though like straws and scraps of paper we may at times float aimlessly about, in the long run we are sure to join the Ocean of Life and Bliss.

4. The philosophy of Ramayana is wonderfully summarised by Swami Vivekananda as follows :

Sri Rama was the Parmatman (Supreme Reality) and that Sita was the Jivatman (embodied individual soul). Each man's or woman's body was the Lanka. The Jivatman which was enclosed in the body, or captured in the island of Lanka , always desired to be in affinity with the Parmatman, or Sri Rama. But the Rakshasas would not allow it, and the Rakshasas represented certain traits of character.

For instance, Vibhishana represented Sattwa Guna, Ravana represented Rajas Guna and Kumbhakarana represented Tamas Guna. Sattwa Guna means goodness, Rajas means lust and passion and Tamas means darkness, stupor, avarice, malice, and its concomitants.

These Gunas keep back Sita, or Jivatman, which is in the body (Lanka) from joining Paramatman (Rama). Sita, thus imprisoned and trying to unite with her Lord, receives a visit from Hanuman, the Guru or divine teacher, who shows her the Lord's ring, which is Brahma-Jnana, the supreme wisdom that destroys all illusions.

To know more of Swami Vivekananda's sayings, please click the link below

http://www.hindu-blog.com/search/label/Swami%20Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda's complete 9 volumes of his writings including unpublished ones are available free of charge on the net. Please click the link below to know more about this invaluable source of treasure :

http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/complete_works.htm

Let us all try just one of his great sayings to put it in practice is :

NEVER LOOSE SELF CONFIDENCE.

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