AVTAR MOTA
Swami Vivekananda ( 1863 – 1902) was a saint, social reformer, orator , thinker ,teacher and a celebrated spiritual leader of modern India . He was the foremost disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa , the priest of Kali Temple in Kolkata. Among the wandering monks of India ,Swami Vivekananda is the first name that comes to my mind . For 5 years , from 1988 to 1993, Swami Ji travelled the entire length and breadth of India to get a close feel of the people , cultures and spiritual practices as also to spread the gospel of Hindu reforms and social uplift. His sole possessions were a Kamandalu (water pot), staff and his two favourite books: the Bhagavad Gita and The Imitation of Christ. Swami Ji held the Bhagavad Gita in high regard. He considered it a spiritual and philosophical guide, emphasizing the importance of its teachings on duty, righteousness, and devotion.
Swami Vivekananda was responsible for reviving Hindu culture and renewing a spirit of nationalism in the Colonial India . He also worked about to bring Hinduism to the fore and giving it the status of one of the major religions of the world, by the 19th century. The most famed disciple of Saint Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda went on to become the founder of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission as well. Vivekananda is probably best known for his inspiring speech on Hinduism at the Parliament of the World’s Religions, held at Chicago in the year 1893, where he had astounded and impressed the audience by starting with the phrase, “Sisters and Brothers of America”. While Vivekananda came to be regarded as India’s spiritual ambassador in the United States, he is revered as a patriotic saint in modern India.
Living primarily on Bhiksha (alms), Swami Vivekananda travelled on foot and by railway (with tickets bought by admirers). During his travels he met, and stayed with Indians from all religions and walks of life: scholars, Dewans, Rajas, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Paraiyars (low-caste workers) and government officials.During his travels , he visited Nainital, Almora , Kashi, Rishikesh ,Ayodhya , Pune , Dehradun, Goa , Madurai , Pondicherry, Kashmir , Allahabad ,Ahmadabad , Mumbai , Ajmer, Jaipur Kanya-Kumari ,Mathura , Agra , Vrindavan, Bangaluru ,Kutchh , Girinar ,Thiruvananthapuram , Nadiad ,Baroda , Mysore,Dwarka , Rameshwaram and many more places. Finally Swami Ji embarked on his historic journey to America on May 31, 1993. During his voyage to the US, Swami Ji also visited Japan, Canada and China.
During his travels, he was deeply moved to see the terrible poverty and backwardness of the masses. He was the first religious leader in India to understand and openly declare that the real cause of India’s poverty and backwardness was the neglect of the masses .At every place where he visited, Swami Ji tried to utilise his spare time by meeting rulers, saints and sages or reading some ancient scriptures or books about culture and history of the place. In Jaipur, he studied Panini’s Ashtadhyayi under the tutelage of a Sanskrit Scholar. Swami Ji was invited by Mangal Singh, the King of Alwar, who did not believe in the practice of idol worship because of his western outlook. A meeting with Swamiji changed his attitude towards the idol worship by the Hindus. In Ghazipur ( UP ), he got in touch with Pavhari Baba, a great sage. Pavhari Baba was known for his absolute knowledge of Advaita Vedanta. Pavhari baba had done his religious and spiritual study under the tutelage of his uncle who was a follower of Ramanuja or Shri sect . On meeting the sage, he felt blessed and referred to him as a great soul of Bhakti and Yoga . In Varanasi , Swami Ji came across the saints like Trailanga Swami, the authors like Bhudev Mukhopadhyay, and the Vedic scholars like Babu Pramadadas Mitra. He interacted with and took favour from whoever came his way without caring their castes and creeds because he believed in non-duality of the soul. Some of those who were touched by his noble soul became his disciples and got initiated into service to the nation. Among them was Sharat Chandra Gupta, a railway station master in Haridwar, who came to be known as Swami Sadananda. Swami Ji fondly called him Sharat “the child of my spirit”. The Gujarat travel was full of enlightenment for Swami Ji. He studied the Jain scriptures there. He got the idea of preaching Vedanta in the Western World from Thakur Saheb Jaswant Singh who he came across in Limbdi. Haridas Viharidas Desai, the Diwan of Junagadh, welcomed him as a respected guest and became his ardent follower. While traveling by train in Bombay in 1892, Swami Ji happened to meet Bal Gangadhar Tilak, a Nationalist in the Freedom Movement of India. They spent a few days together in Pune. He moved to Panaji in Goa from Maharashtra, and studied the Christian theology at a convent in Goa.
( Swami Ji with monks and some Kashmiri Pandits ….. Kashmir 1897 )
During his travel to Southern India , Swami Ji met Ramnad Bhaskara Sethupathi, the then King of Madurai, who approached him with an urge to participate in the Parliament of Religions in Chicago. Swami Ji won the admiration of whoever came in touch with him during the itinerary across Tamil Nadu. Most of them became his disciples and responded to his call for renunciation in service to the nation. One of his most ardent disciples in South India was Alasinga Perumal who collected funds for Swami Ji’s voyage to Chicago by going from door to door. In Mysore, he met Chamaraja Wodeyar, the then King of Mysore who welcomed him cordially to the Mysore Palace. He also met the Diwan of Cochin. His travel continued till he reached the Southernmost part of India, Kanyakumari, on foot through Trissur, Ernakulam, Trivandrum, and Nagercoil. He did not have any money to pay for a boat ride that would take him across to a rocky island in Kanyakumai . He plunged into the sea and swam across to get there. There he meditated for three days and had a vision. While in the West, Swami Ji spoke about India’s great spiritual heritage; in India, he repeatedly addressed social issues: uplifting the people, eliminating the caste system, promoting science and industrialisation, addressing widespread poverty and ending colonial rule.
The places that Swami Ji visited in the undivided Punjab are: Ambala, Amritsar, Dharamshala, Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Lahore and Murree. In Lahore, Swami Ji spoke before a huge gathering about Vedanta .Gossain Tirtha Ram (later Swami Ram Tirath ), a professor of mathematics in Lahore was in the audience . He was already into spirituality and a great impetus was given to his spiritual life by Swami Vivekananda, whom he saw for the first time at Lahore. The sight of the great Swami as a Sannyasi kindled in him the urge to don the ochre robe. Later, he also visited the US to spread the message of Vedanta . Swami Ji was a great admirer of Sikh Gurus especially Guru Gobind Singh Ji . He described Guru Gobind Singh as a creative genius .Equally strong was his praise for the Marathas, who rebelled against Mughal power keeping them away from gaining a foothold in the Deccan , the Southern part of India.This is what he said in Lahore :-
“Wave after wave of barbarian conquest has rolled over this devoted land of ours. This is the land which, after all its sufferings, has not yet entirely lost its glory and its strength. Here it was that in later times the gentle Nanak preached his marvellous love for the world. Here it was that his broad heart was opened and his arms outstretched to embrace the whole world, not only of Hindus, but of Mohammedans too. Here it was that one of the last and one of the most glorious heroes of our race, Guru Gobind Singh , after shedding his blood and that of his dearest and nearest for the cause of religion, even when deserted by those for whom this blood was shed, retired into the South to die like a wounded lion struck to the heart, without a word against his country, without a single word of murmur .”
SWAMI JI’S FIRST VISIT TO KASHMIR
Enamoured by its natural beauty , abundant spirituality and simplicity of the residents , Swami Ji visited Kashmir twice. The first time he reached Srinagar was on September 10, 1897 accompanied by some monks including Sadananda, Niranjanananda, and Dhirananda . At Srinagar, he was the guest of Justice Rishibar Mukhopadhyaya. Rishibar Mukhopadhyay was the Chief Justice while Nilambar Mukhopadhyay was the Prime Minister of the Kashmir State during Maharaja Partap Singh’s rule. On the third day after his arrival in the Kashmir valley , Swami Ji decided to pay an informal visit to the palace of Maharaja Partap Singh who was in Jammu at that point in time. Swami Ji was received by Raja Rama Singh brother of the Maharaja . During this meeting ,Raja Ram Singh sat on the floor and offered the chair to Swami Ji. Raja Ram Singh was deeply impressed by Swami Ji’s philosophy and zeal to improve the lot of the poor in India . Raja Ram Singh made a commitment to Swami Ji to help him in carrying out his mission . During this brief tour ,Swami Ji remained busy meeting delegations of officials of the Maharaja , groups of Sadhus ,students from schools and colleges and people in general including Kashmirri Pandits. He also addressed many gatherings . During this visit , he also visited a few places of historic interest in the Kashmir Valley .The purpose of his first visit was primarily to find some land for setting up his Math in the Kashmir valley.This proposal was turned down by the British Regent Adelbert Talbot. During this trip to Kashmir , Swami Ji also paid a brief visit to Kheer Bhawani Temple . Swami Ji left Srinagar for Baramulla and reached Murree on October 8 and from there to Rawalpindi on October 16, 1897. This was a brief visit .
SWAMI JI’S SECOND VISIT TO KASHMIR
In the summer of 1898 , Swami Ji visited Kashmir the second time .He came via Rawalpindi, Murree and Baramulla. Sister Nivedita, Mrs. Ole Bull and Miss MacLeod accompanied him. From June 22 to July 15, 1898 Swami Ji and his western guests stayed in houseboats (dungas) on the Jhelum River in Srinagar city .
Visit To Kheer Bhawani Shrine at Tulamula
On June 26, 1898, Swami Ji decided to go to Kheer Bhawani Temple in Tulamula .His disciples also joined him. A Doonga boat was hired . Accompanied by some Kashmiri Pandits and his Western disciples , Swami Ji arrived at Tulamula. Swami Ji was moved by the gesture of the Doonga Hanji ( boatman ), who although being a Muslim, didn’t allow him and his Christian disciples to land with shoes on in Tulamula , “ so thoroughly Hinduistic,” wrote Nivedita, “is the Mohammedanism of Kashmir with its forty Rishis, and pilgrimages made fasting, to their (i.e. the Hindus’) shrines.”
At Tulamula ,Swami Ji would spend his time in praying inside the shrine .One day at Kheer Bhavani ,Swami Ji had been thinking over the vandalism of the temple by the Muslim invaders time and again. Troubled at heart, he thought : “How could the people have permitted such sacrilege without offering tough resistance! If I had been here then, I would never have allowed such a thing. I would have laid down my life to defend the Mother ”. Thereupon, he heard the voice of the Goddess saying: “What if unbelievers should enter My temple and defile My image? What is that to you? Do you protect Me, or do I protect you?” Referring to this experience after his return, he said to his disciples : “All my patriotism is gone. Everything is gone. Now it is only Mother! Mother! I have been very wrong. I am only a little child”.
Another day, during his worship, Swami Ji thought of building a new temple in the place of a present dilapidated one. He had also built a monastery and temple at Belur . He even thought of trying to raise funds from his wealthy American disciples and friends. At once the Mother appeared to him saying : “My child! If I so wish I can have innumerable temples and monastic centres. I can even this moment raise a seven-storied golden temple on this very spot.” “Since I heard that divine voice,” Swami Ji later said, “I have ceased making any more plans. Let these things be as Mother wishes “.
After returning from his Amarnath Yatra , Swami Ji again went to Tulamula on September 30 leaving strict instructions that no one was to follow him. He returned from Kheer Bhawani Temple on October 6 .During this visit , he performed daily Homa (Havan), and worshipped Her with offerings of Kheer (thickened milk) made from one maund of milk, rice, and almonds. He also performed Kanya Pooja . Every morning he worshipped a Brahmin Pandit’s little daughter as Uma Kumari, the Divine Virgin. He practised severe austerities. He became like a child before the Divine Mother. At the Kheer Bhawani Temple , he was no more a reformer , religious leader or orator or great thinker . He had become a monk in pure Sanyasa.
… TO BE CONTINUED
Autar Mota is a noted writer and columnist
