Saturday 22 November, 2008

Ode to an Icon

If you are an Indian, you ought to know the story of this great man. Please read on.

A young science graduate, who had turned to spiritualism was wilting badly after the demise of his spiritual guru. He alongwith other four other core disciples decided to set foot in different directions and find the condition of our people and ultimately find a solution. During one of his journeys in north india, he felt a strong need to have a fag. an old man was walking from the opposite direction, who was smoking beedi. he stopped the guy and asked if he could share his beedi. The old man readily agreed, but cautioned that he was from the lowest caste, and if it was ok, he could share his beedi. After hearing this, the young disciple didnt take the offer, and started walking again.

No more than a few steps had he taken, he felt the magnitude of the caste crisis, which didnt spare even his spiritually trained mind. he ran back to the old man, and immediately took the beedi from him and had his smoke. This was the first fight against casteism in his life. The person in question is the great Swami Vivekananda.

The swami walked the length and breadth of india, and seeing the miserable condition of the people, he was greatly affected. everyone was poor, daily livelihood was a challenge for the average indian. scores were dying for want of food or proper shelter. he had set out to impress upon the people to practise religion in its true sense, but the ground realities were miserable. He had said once " A religion which cannot put a piece of bread into the mouth of the poor is of no use."

During his journeys throughout india, he impressed upon his hosts with his knowledge, who included the kings and diwans in india. The world parliament of religions was to be organised in chicago in 1893. His friends in madras wanted him to participate in the august meeting of spiritual heads from around the world. This was the first time in the world that such a parliament of religions was being organised. Many people helped the swami in pursuing his journey to the west. Prominent among these were the Maharaja of Khetri (The 'r' is prounounced as 'd' in Khetri). This maharaja was one of the closest friends of swamiji. then there was the maharaja of ramnad, the intellegentsia in madras, the maharaja of mysore. They all contributed so that swami vivekananda could go to the United states and speak about our country.

The swamiji was ready to leave for the united states, but the maharaja of khetri wanted him to have good dressing to impress upon the westerners. he sent specially stitched silk gown for the swamiji. Until then swami vivekananda had never worn a headgear that we all get to see in every picture now. The headgear was the result of the maharaja of khetri's efforts in impressing upon the swamiji to have a unique identity. He wasnt comfortable at first, but then the headgear turned out to be his core identity. The ochre robe along with the headgear and his personality turned to be the greatest combination ever possible.

In the ship that he boarded in mumbai, along with him were the great industrialist jamshedji tata. swamiji became popular among all the travellers on that maiden journey. Once in america, support came in from many quarters, though there were jeers from the common people because of his unconventional dressing.

To participate in the world parliament of religions, one needed to be referred by a prominent and well known person, since no one there knew swamiji or his background or potential. it was a tough call. Swamiji had become very close to a professor working in cambridge university (or was it oxford university? sorry, my memory isnt standing by me). The professor took swamiji to a room consisting distinguished and learned people who were actively involved in organising the world parliament of religions. Swamiji's professor friend introduced him to the others in the room and said the following. "This person has more knowledge than all of us put together. If he cant make it to the parliament of religions, then nobody is worthy enough to participate." This kind of introduction, clearly clinched him an entry to the parliament.

The parliament had begun and many speakers came and went away without as much as creating a ripple. The unusually dressed swamiji's turn came. Till then every speaker had addressed the congregation as "Ladies and Gentlemen". Our swamiji opened his speech with these words "Brothers and sisters of america......." The words which came straight from his heart conquered the hearts of the audience. There was big applause, which continued for a good amount of time. No one before in the history of their country had addressed them that way. What followed next was only of academic interest. His speech had turned the tide against every big speaker who had landed there. He conquered the headlines of every conceivable newspaper in the united states.

(Sorry guys, i couldnt make this story anymore short. Everyone knows swami vivekananda, but dont know many aspects of his life. He was only 30 years when he addressed the parliament of religions held in chicago in september 1993. He passed away at the very young age of 39 years. After Swami vivekananda's passing away, his mother was sent money for her expenses every month by the maharaja of Khetri for the rest of her life.)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Joshi,

The story of Swamiji was quite interesting to read. I do know the about the incident that happened in Chicago, but the story of the old man for beedi was nice to read.. its a small story but had lots of indepth meaning.

even though it was a long story, it was worth reading...

Beena Joshi

Anonymous said...

Joshiji, even I didn't know aboutthe beedi incident. BTW, his speech is available in the Internet, you just need to do a Google. It is deep stuff.