Swami Vivekananda 8

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Swami Vivekananda: The Universal Man (Part 8)

 

Through the talks and stories, parables and devotional music and singing

(bhajana and kirtana) concerning Sri Krishna, Radha, Gopis of Vrindavan,

and Mother Kali and Chaitannya, Narendra came to know the essence of

religion as 'Realization of the highest Truth' in our lives. As he was

opposed/reluctant to idol/image worship, and believed in non-dual form

of God, Thakur explained him the subtle points about Brahma, Atman, and

Unified Consciousness - the one without the second. Thus, the Master

persuaded Narendra to read to him Ashtavakra Gita and similar texts on

Advaita Vedanta, explaining finer points, which were difficult to

comprehend. Sri Ramakrishna preferred to tell these nuances in total

privacy, when no one other than themselves would be present in the room.

It was all Jnana and Yoga to begin with. Later Bhakti and Karma Yoga

were added, so to so, which we shall subsequently touch upon. The Master

also instructed his disciples about the importance, ways, methods, and

means about mediation and spiritual disciplines.

 

Thus, between 1881 and 1886, for five years, Narendra was groomed to

become a great yogi with unparalleled sharpness of intellect, reason,

and logic. No one could stand his incisive power of critical analysis

based on scientific reason and rationality in the matters of Vedanta.

Added to this was the gracious gift of the Master to his beloved Naren,

the gift of Nirvikalpa Samadhi -highest non-dual consciousness- through

which Swami Vivekananda realized the Truths of superconscious states. He

was face to face with Atman, the God of the Master. Therefore, as is

said, 'nothing else remained for Swami Vivekananda to realize now'. He

had realized the highest Truth!

 

But was that the case, indeed!

 

No! For, he still had to realize the truth of Mother, that impersonal

and personal aspects of God are one and the same like Shiva and Shakti,

the two sides of the same coin. God with attributes and form and God

without attributes and form had relationship like that of fire and its

power to burn, sun and its rays, milk and its whiteness, or diamond and

its luster. One can't be separated from the other. This unity in duality

(which likewise can be extended to unity in universal diversity) is in

fact the successive stages in realization of the ultimate Single Truth,

which Swami Vivekananda later elaborated in one of lectures in the USA

as, " It is like taking photographs of the sun from different locations

and stations in orbit; all the photographs would appear different, but

the essence would be the one, SUN! "

 

Continued next part... 9

 

C S Shah

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