CONTEXT FOR THE CONTEST

BY SWAMI SHITIKHANTANANDA, Ramakrishna Math, Hyderabad

Swami Vivekananda, the foremost disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, had undertaken a Bharath Parikrama in 1892 just to have a firsthand understanding of the state of affairs of his motherland. He had been a great patriot throughout his school and college days. He journeyed across the length and breadth of the nation. He travelled on foot for most part of his journey, and had journeyed in trains only when there was an urgency. As part of his itinerary he had met kings, zamindars, scholars and common people and saw personally the condition of people in the contemporary Indian society. He was the guest of kings, zamindars, dewans, rich aristocrats; at times slept under the trees, and sometimes stayed in the huts of poor people. What did his eyes see? How were his fellow human beings faring? He saw people who were ridden in poverty, sunk in ignorance and holding on to superstitions. There was fear and despair on their faces. Exploitation of the weak by the strong, the poor by the rich, the subjects by the rulers was the order of the day. The population was totally diffident, the race had lost its self-confidence as it were, because of prolonged subjugation. His heart felt for his countrymen. He had made some unsuccessful attempts to influence the kings and the well-to-do to motivate them to come forward to serve their fellow citizens. He didn’t get the anticipated response. The indifference and apathy of the aristocratic Indian society pained Swamiji.

The wandering monk at last reached the last rock of his country near Kanyakumari and meditated on it for three nights seeking guidance from the Divine for the means to rejuvenate his motherland. There he obtained clarity, as it were, as to his mission in life and as to the plan of action that he had to adopt to make Mother India sit on her throne in all her glory again. He made up his mind to go to the West to raise money for doing constructive work for the uplift of his countrymen. His friends in Madras encouraged him to go to the Parliament of Religions being held at Chicago as a epresentative of Sanatana Dharma. After obtaining the blessings and permission of Holy Mother Sarada Devi, he set sail for the USA. He won the hearts of the people of the USA with his brief but touching lecture at the Parliament of Religions. His addressing of the audience at the parliament of religions on that historic day 11 the September, 1893 as ‘Sisters and brothers of America’ struck a deep chord with them and stirred a fraternal feeling among all who read the address later. Swamiji became a celebrity overnight. He was given an effusive welcome thereafter at every place he went in America and people thronged to his lectures in large numbers. For nearly two and a half years he preached the glorious message of the sages of India viz,. the Vedanta. Then he came back to India and had set his foot on Indian soil in Colombo on 15 the January, 1897. Swamiji was greeted with a hero’s welcome at every place he stopped. Welcome addresses were presented to him by the prominent and learned people of society at all the places where he chose to stop. People gathered in large numbers to see and hear him. As a response to their warm and affectionate welcome, Swamiji would give them a talk speaking mostly on the glory of India’s civilization. In fact, he poured his heart out in these lectures. Subsequently, all these lectures were compiled in a book form under the title ‘Lectures from Colombo to Almora.’ This is the 125th year of that lecture series of the patriot par excellence. To help the youth of the nation understand the wonderful message of Swamiji this contest is being organized. There are a total of 18 lectures, but out of them only four are selected as the content for the contest, as we want to expose the students, busy as they are with myriad things, to the gist of his teachings in as less number of pages as possible.

These lectures provided great inspiration to a galaxy of national leaders during the freedom movement to fight against the British rule. As we are celebrating this year the 75 year of India’s Independence, we thought it fitting to introduce the youth of the nation to some of the thoughts of Swami Vivekananda that had inspired big names in the freedom movement like Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sri Aurobindo etc. Incidentally, this year also happens to be the 125 th anniversary year of the founding of the Ramakrishna Mission. So the contest is a way of our celebrating the three momentous occasions.

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