I have faith in my country, and especially in the youth of my country. My hope is in you. With an immense amount of feeling and enthusiasm in the blood, will come heroes who will march from one corner of the earth to the other, preaching and teaching the eternal spiritual truths of our forefathers. And this is the great work before you. Each one of you has a glorious future if you dare believe me. Have tremendous faith in yourselves, like the faith I had when I was a child, and which I am working out now. Have that faith, each one of you, in yourself — that eternal power is lodged in every soul — and you will revive the whole of India. Ay, we will then go to every country under the sun, and our ideas will before long be a component of the many forces that are working to make up every nation in the world. We must enter into the life of every race in India and abroad; we shall have to work to bring this about.We must go out, we must conquer the world through our spirituality and philosophy. There is no other alternative, we must do it or die. The only condition of national life, of awakened and vigorous national life, is the conquest of the world by Indian thought.
Now for that, I want young men. “It is the young, the strong, and healthy, of sharp intellect that will reach the Lord”, say the Vedas. This is the time to decide your future — while you possess the energy of youth, not when you are worn out and jaded, but in the freshness and vigour of youth. Work — this is the time; for the freshest, the untouched, and unsmelled flowers alone are to be laid at the feet of the Lord, and such He receives. Rouse yourselves, therefore, for life is short. A far greater work is this sacrifice of yourselves for the benefit of your race, for the welfare of humanity. I will tell you in plain language that you work best when you work for others. The best work that you ever did for yourselves was when you worked for others. This life is short, vanities of the world are transient, but they alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive. Be not afraid of anything. You will do marvelous work. The moment you fear, you are nobody. It is fear that is the great cause of misery in the world. It is fear that is the greatest of all superstitions. It is fear that is the cause of our woes, and it is fearlessness that brings heaven even in a moment. All power is within you; you can do anything and everything. Believe in that, do not believe that you are weak; Stand up and express the divinity within you. Therefore, “Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached.”
Day-4 – 25th Feb 2012
The Day represented respect to all Sampradayas or traditions in our religion and named it as Sarva Sampradaya Samanvaya day. It began with morning vesper service at 5 am followed by Bhajans and Temple pradakshina by Swami Harivratananda . At 8 am holy chanting of Vedic Mantras by Chellagare brthers, Thevaram the great Saivaite Hymns in Tamil by Sivathiru Sargurunathan of Kapaleswarar Temple, and Divyaprabandam,the Vaishanvaite hymns of Alwars of yore , went at three different locations in the Temple complex.
From 8.30 am Monks of different traditions Saivaite,Vaishnavaite along with diverse traditions like Chinmaya Mission, Divine life Society were welcomed with Poorna Kumbha in the Vedic tradition and it was a sight for the Gods to see the respect given to Monasticism .
MONKS MEET
With Swami Gautamanandaji as the president, monks of all traditions ( Sampradaya) were seated on the decorated seats . Swami Atmaghanananda welcomed the sadhus of traditions to the meet. Addressing the meet Dharmapura Adheenam Mouna Kumaraswami Thambiran Swamigal pointed out how Sri Ramakrishna through his simple stories could bring nearness to God Sri Appan Parakaala Embaar Ramanuja Jeer of Embaar Jeer Madam Sriperumbudur underlined how Sri Ramakrishna pointed out the goal of human life as realization of God . He also said that Master had stressed the path of love in our approach to the Divine Lord . Swami the explained the siddhanta of Vaishnavism.
Sri la Sri Sathyagnana Mahadeva Desika Paramacharya Swamigal of Velukkurichi Adheena Thirumadam explained Love of fellow human beings as worship of SIVA and appreciated how Swami Vivekananda`s ideas of education has provided scope for imparting our heritage, dharma and values to children through schools run by Ramakrishna Mission and affiliated centers.
Thiruvavadudurai adheenam`s Kattalaithambiran Swamigal hailed the tradition of India that revolves around GOD and appreciated the efforts of Ramakrishna math in organizing such monks meet thereby underlining the tradition of respecting renunciation and monasticism.
Gnanagureu Saakthasri Sivalingheshwara Swamigal of Kamatchipuri Adheenam pointed out how the efforts to mitigate the sufferings of people had been the aim of Indian culture, He also praised the holiness attached to Prasad ( food offered to God) at Ramakrishna Maths.
Thavathiru Kumaraghurubara Swamigal of Siravai Adheenam explained the glory of such Monks` meet and elaborated on the message of Swami Vivekananda. Stressing the need to follow Swami Vivekananda`s message, the Adheenam pointed out the beauty of the simple spiritual messages of Sri Ramakrishna. Citing a comparison or parallelism between Sri Ramakrishna and Vallalar Ramalinga Adigal, Arulthiru Ooran adigalar of Vallalar Sanmarga Sangam Vadalur, hailed this period of late 19th century as Golden age of Indian spiritual tradition. He underlined the greatness of our Ancient Hindu religion, the brotherhood attitude of Swami Vivekananda, his affinity to the youth of Madras and the stress on Renunciation and service made by Ramakrishna Math and Mission. He called Sri Ramakrishna Math as a punya theertha.
Swamis Guruprakashanandaji of Divine Life Society, Swami Sivayoganandaji of Chinmaya Mission and Sri Gnanaprakasa Desikar of Thulavur Aadheenam spoke on the role of such meets in arising the conscience of our people. Swami of Mayilam Bramhamapura Adeenam and Swami Ananthanandaji of Ramakrishna Ashram ,Ulundurpet also graced the meet with their benedictory addresses. Pontiff of Vanamamalai Madam Nanguneri Srimath Paramahamsa Kaliyana Ramanuja Jeer Swamigal spoke on his long association with Ramakrishna Vijayam,its former editor swami Paramarthananda . He elaborated on the Vaishnava tradition by chanting hymns in Tamil and Devanagari . He hailed the glory of Ramakrishna Incarnation , its message and uniqueness.
With the concluding remarks by Swami Gautamanandaji President of Monk`s Meet who spoke on the great life of renunciation lived by Sri Ramakrishna, the love and admiration he had for youth leading a life in pursuit of realization of self ,the meet was a declaration of the glory of Monasticism.
Swami Budhidananda offered gratitude and pranams to all monks of all different sampradayas for their spiritual presence at the Ramakrishna Math Chennai on the great occasion of Sri Ramakrishna`s 175th Jayanti celebrations
Bajans by sri Ramakrishna Sarada Samithi Trichy in the afternoon was well received
A Poets` symposium on the glory of Sri Ramakrishna was held at 3 pm.Dr V V Subramaniam former Principal of Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College was the President of poets`meet. Kavignar Jonny `s poetical welcome was crisp and lively
Poetical compositions on Sri Ramakrishna were presented by Poets Dr.Tiruppur Krishnan, Ramanan, Dr T.S Prema Satishkumar, Veeraraghavan and Dr Rammohan
Special discourses on Sri Ramakrishna`s guidelines for welfare of women was the highlight of the evening session.Swami Gautamanandaji presided over the session Sri Nalli Kuppuswami Chettiar traced his long association with Ramakrishna math through his studentship at T.Nagar school and later with the swamis of the Order .
Yateeswari Krishnapriya Amba of Tiruvannamalai spoke on the women devotees of Sri Ramakrishna and also stressed on His concern for the welfare of women both in social and spiritual life.
Smt Vani Jairam, the popular playback singer spoke on the life of Sri Ramakrishna , Sarada Devi , the Holy Mother and also on his eagerness to deliver spiritual message to them Smt Vani sang few songs and thrilled the gathering.
Sri S.Pandurngan welcomed the audience and speakers while Sri Palanivelu proposed vote of thanks
Musical discourse by the popular exponent of Kathakalakshepam Smt Vishaka Hari drew huge crowds to the premises of Math in the night . Over 2000 people heard her discourse on`Self surrender according to Sri Ramakrishna. Smt Vishaka Hari traced the birth of Gadhadar, his father`s dream and then moved on to little boy Gadhai . His devotion and saranagati to Divine Mother that led him to come face to face with Divine Mother . She pointed out the saranagati of Holy Mother as well as the that of Narendranath to his Guru Sri Ramakrishna.
175th Birth Anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna & 12th Anniversary of Universal Temple Consecration Celebrations – Feb 22-26, 2012
On the 4th day of the Celebrations Smt. Vishaka Hari, a Harikatha Exponent, gave a Musical Discourse on Sri Ramakrishna in Tamil on the topic ‘Self surrender according to Sri Ramakrishna‘.
This discourse is published below.