![]() Swami Vivekananda the monk who addressed the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago in 1893 with a simple but amazing speech that earned him a standing ovation just after the opening words: “Sisters and Brothers of America…”, continues to inspire millions across the globe, with his message about the oneness of existence, the divinity of the soul, and the harmony of religions. When I was a kid I admired his great oratory skills but it was much later that I realized the remarkable contribution he had made to the world by inspiring a band of missionaries, dedicating their lives to serving the poor and downtrodden, helping eradicate illiteracy among women, giving the rich a life purpose of finding happiness by serving others. The latter was a pursuit of happiness that material pleasures could not provide. I was extremely fortunate to be asked to help out by playing the role of Vivekananda at short notice, in a skit at the Delaware Hindu temple, when a professional actor who was originally invited to play the role, could not make it on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary event. Just after I had valiantly accepted to do the role – I realized that I had less than a week left before the event. All of a sudden I felt a sense of panic looking at the script that I had been given to memorize. When was the last time I had memorized anything? Except maybe login passwords, and I manage to forget even those. Not to mention the nervousness of playing the role of such a strong historic personality that almost everyone respects and has a strong preconceived image of. And the uncertainty of the few virtual rehearsals with the other participants. And of course the unwieldiness of the costume. Slowly it dawned on me that I had made a huge mistake by accepting the role. But as I slept over it, the idea felt less like a mistake and more like a nice and juicy challenge that I was going to enjoy cracking through. It was not so bad after all. I mean if I didn’t remember my lines, I was going to “wing it” anyway. Many years of singing and dancing in front of all kinds of audiences with boring PowerPoint slides, should at least keep me standing on my feet till the end. I told myself if people didn’t like it, it was their problem, not mine. Having convinced myself that this was actually a good situation I was in, I started reading Romain Rolland’s book on Vivekananda’s life and began rehearsing the script in the morning hours during my otherwise boring workouts. As I read about the influence Vivekananda had especially in America and Europe, an impact great enough to inspire some of them to devote their lives to the upliftment of the poor and to enhancing the lives of poor illiterate women, I realized that Vivekananda had diligently followed his own teachings – he had devoted an infinite amount of energy, enthusiasm, daring and patience, to accomplish the great deeds. It is truly amazing how he could inspire so many people towards a common cause. For example he met Ms Greenstidel in New York who was so inspired that later she became Sister Christine and joined the Mission in India. He met Ms Margaret Nobel in London who later became a sincere and staunch disciple, assumed the name of Sister Nivedita and helped run schools for poor women. There were many others such as Mr & Mrs Sevier, Mr Sturdy, Mr Goodwin, Ms Henrietta Muller - all of them followed Vivekananda back to India and devoted their lives and their resources to the Mission. With the support of my family and the encouragement of my friends - the skit was a great success. All the lines were delivered smoothly. The synchronization with the participants was perfect. The costume was a big hit. People walked up to congratulate us. As I changed back into regular clothes, I wondered to myself - All this happened more than a hundred years ago. Is Vivekananda’s message relevant today? Well, the world may have changed and will continue to change, but the teachings of Vivekananda (Vedanta) are relevant even today. His message is simple: - Be strong and steadfast in your journey, be prepared to weather any passing storm - Aim for the highest, and you shall reach the highest - Be a hero, always say ‘I have no fear’ - The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves! As we witness a great deal of violence and unrest in the world, I think back to the immediate relevance today of Vivekananda’s speech 120 years ago at the Parliament of World Religions. Here is how he had ended his great speech: “Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization, and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.”
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AuthorDebashish Chatterjee lives in South Jersey. He is married and has two kids. All copyrights vest with their true owners, no copyright violations or copyright infringements are intended in this blog.
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