www.telugubhakti.com To The Fourth Of July

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Dear Gopi Garu.

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Wish You A Happy And A Prosperous New Year.

 

" Though one may conquer a thousand times a thousand men in

battle, the person who conquers himself is the greatest

warrior. " Budha

 

" Before flooding India with socialistic or political ideas, first deluge the

land with spiritual ideas. "

....... Swami Vivekananda

 

 

 

Paritala Gopi Krishna <p_gopi_krishna

 

Wednesday, July 4, 2007 5:49:55 AM

www.telugubhakti.com To The Fourth Of July

 

 

Posted by: " Uttishthata " uttishthata

Tue Jul 3, 2007 8:20 pm (PST)

To The Fourth Of July

 

Behold, the dark clouds melt away,

That gathered thick at night, and hung

So like a gloomy pall above the earth!

 

Before thy magic touch, the world

Awakes. The birds in chorus sing.

The flowers raise their star-like crowns-

Dew-set, and wave thee welcome fair.

 

The lakes are opening wide in love

Their hundred thousand lotus-eyes

To welcome thee, with all their depth.

 

All hail to thee, thou Lord of Light!

A welcome new to thee, today,

O sun! today thou sheddest LIBERTY!

Bethink thee how the world did wait,

And search for thee, through time and clime.

 

Some gave up home and love of friends,

And went in quest of thee, self banished,

Through dreary oceans, through primeval forests,

Each step a struggle for their life or death;

 

Then came the day when work bore fruit,

And worship, love, and sacrifice,

Fulfilled, accepted, and complete.

Then thou, propitious, rose to shed

The light of FREEDOM on mankind.

 

Move on, O Lord, on thy resistless path!

Till thy high noon o'erspreads the world.

Till every land reflects thy light,

Till men and women, with uplifted head,

Behold their shackles broken, and

Know, in springing joy, their life renewed!

 

- Swami Vivekananda

 

REGARDING THE SWAMI'S DEATH, JULY 4, 1902, AND HIS 1898 POEM " TO THE

FOURTH OF JULY. "

 

The cause of Swami Vivekananda' s death on the 4th of July, 1902, has

been long debated as whether it was a deliberate act of will --

through the Swami's powers of yoga, or took place because of his

illness, aggravated by over-exertion.

 

One fact that might favor the former view is that the Swami wrote a

poem in praise of the 4th of July, on that date in 1898.

 

Written when he was travelling in Kashmir with some disciples,

including some American and English disciples - it was read aloud at

breakfast that early morning.

 

The poem was preserved by one of his American disciples, Mrs Ole Bull.

 

While it may have been a coincidence and possibly not unique that

someone wrote a poem in praise of the day/holiday on which he

happened later to die, it may be singular that it was written by

someone whose death has been much debated as to its cause (and for

reasons other than this poem).

Moreover, the Swami's meaning in the poem, while clearly referencing

the ideal of Amercan freedom celebrated on this holiday, possibly

alludes to a greater more eternal freedom...

 

The Swami passed away at the age of thirty-nine years, five months

and twenty-four days, thus fulfilling a prophecy which was frequently

on his lips, " I shall never live to see forty. "

 

Three days before his passing away, as the Swami was walking up and

down on the spacious lawn of the monastery in the afternoon with

Swami Premananda, he pointed to a particular spot on the bank of the

Ganga, and said to his brother-monk gravely, " When I give up the

body, cremate it there! " On that very spot stands today a temple in

his honour.

 

Sister Nivedita, introducing many significant facts in connection

with the Swami's passing away and his foreknowledge of it, writes:

 

When June closed, however, he knew well enough that the end was

near. " I am making ready for death! " he said to one who was with him,

on the Wednesday before he died. " A great Tapasya and meditation has

come upon me, and I am making ready for death! "

 

Once in Kashmir, after an attack of illness, I had seen him lift a

couple of pebbles, saying, " Whenever death approaches me, all

weakness vanishes. I have neither fear, nor doubt, nor thought of the

external. I simply busy myself making ready to die. I am as hard as

that " -- and the stones struck one another in his hand -- " for I have

touched the Feet of God! "

 

Personal revelation was so rare with him, that these words could

never be forgotten. Again, on returning from the cave of Amarnath, in

that same summer of 1898, had he not said, laughingly, that he had

there received the grace of Amarnath -- not to die till he himself

should will to do so? Now this, seeming to promise that death would

never take him by surprise, had corresponded so well with the

prophecy of Shri Ramakrishna -- that when he should know who and what

he was, he would refuse to remain a moment longer in the body -- that

one had banished from one's mind all anxiety on this score, and even

his own grave and significant words at the present time did not

suffice to revive it.

 

Did we not remember, moreover, the story of the great Nirvikalpa

Samadhi of his youth, and how, when it was over, his Master had

said, " This is your mango. Look! I lock it in my box. You shall taste

it once more, when your work is finished! " " ...And we may wait for

that, " said the monk who told me the tale. " We shall know when the

time is near. For he will tell us that, again he has tasted his

mango. "

 

How strange it seems now, looking back on that time, to realize in

how many ways the expected hint was given, only to fall on ears that

did not hear, to reach minds that could not understand!

 

It would seem, indeed, that, in his withdrawal from all weakness and

attachment, there was one exception. That, which had ever been dearer

to him than life, kept still its power to move him. It was on the

last Sunday before the end that he said to one of his disciples, " You

know, the work is always my weak point! When I think that might come

to an end, I am all undone! "

 

On Wednesday [July 2] of the same week, the day being Ekadashi, and

himself keeping the fast in all strictness, he insisted on serving

the morning meal to the same disciple [Nivedita]. Each dish as it was

offered--boiled seeds of the jackfruit, boiled potatoes, plain rice,

and ice-cold milk--formed the subject of playful chat; and finally,

to end the meal, he himself poured the water over the hands, and

dried them with a towel.

 

" It is I who should do these things for you, Swamiji! Not you for

me! " was the protest naturally offered. But his answer was startling

in its solemnity -- " Jesus washed the feet of His disciples! "

 

Something checked the answer -- " But that was the last time! " -- as

it rose to the lips, and the words remained unuttered. This was well.

For here also, the last time had come.

 

There was nothing sad or grave about the Swami during these days. In

the midst of anxiety about over-fatiguing him, in spite of

conversation deliberately kept as light as possible, touching only

upon the animals that surrounded him, his garden experiments, books,

and absent friends, over and beyond all this, one was conscious the

while of a luminous presence, of which his bodily form seemed only as

a shadow or symbol. Never had one felt so strongly as now, before

him, that one stood on the threshold of an infinite light. Yet none

was prepared, least of all on that last happy Friday, July the 4th,

on which he appeared so much stronger and better than he had been for

years, to see the end so soon.

 

On the day of the Mahasamadhi itself, whether consciously or

intuitively, his actions were most deliberate and full of meaning.

His solitary meditation for three hours in the morning from eight to

eleven was the most striking. He rose rather early that day and,

after partaking of his tea, entered the chapel of the monastery.

After some time it was noticed that he had closed all the windows and

bolted all the doors. What transpired there, no one will ever know.

In his meditation his own Master and the Divine Mother -- to his own

realization One and the Same Personality -- must have been present,

for, when he had finished, he broke forth in a touching song in which

the highest Jnana mingled with the highest Bhakti.

 

Descending the stairs of the shrine, he walked back and forth in the

courtyard of the monastery, his mind withdrawn. Suddenly the

tenseness of his thought expressed itself in a whisper loud enough to

be heard by Swami Premananda who was nearby. The Swami was saying to

himself, " If there were another Vivekananda, he would have understood

what Vivekananda has done! And yet, how many Vivekanandas shall be

born in time!! " This remark startled his brother-disciple, for never

did the Swami speak thus, save when the flood-gates of his soul were

thrown open and the living waters of the highest Consciousness rushed

forth.

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

The important thing is: how much less you think of the body, of

yourself as matter-as dead, dull, insentient matter; how much more

you think of yourself as shining immortal being.

- Swami Vivekananda

 

 

 

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