nd Price: ` 10 YEAR OF PUBLICATION 㼀㼔㼑㻌㼂㼑㼐㼍㼚㼠㼍㻌㻷㼑㼟㼍㼞㼕 THE LION OF VEDANTA A Cultural and Spiritual Monthly of the Ramakrishna Order since 1914 Ramakrishna Advaita Ashrama, Kalady, Kerala July 2015 2 India's Timeless Wisdom Knowledge is the (real) wealth of a man while staying in foreign lands. His intelligence is his only wealth in adversities. His righteous behaviour is his wealth in other world (after the death). Good conduct (however) is the wealth every where. —A Traditional saying Sunrise on Periyar River, Kalady, Kerala Editor: SWAMI ATMASHRADDHANANDA Managing Editor: SWAMI GAUTAMANANDA PrintedPri and published by Swami Vimurtananda on behalf of Sri Ramakrishna Math Trustst 2 fromThe No.31, RamakrishnaV edanta KMathesari Road, ~ Mylapore, ~ JULY Chennai 2015 - 4 and Printed at Sri Ramakrishna Printing Press, No.31 Ramakrishna Math Road, Mylapore, Chennai - 4. Ph: 044 - 24621110 㼀㼔㼑㻌㼂㼑㼐㼍㼚㼠㼍㻌㻷㼑㼟㼍㼞㼕 102nd YEAR OF PUBLICATION VOL. 102, No. 7 ISSN 0042-2983 A CULTURAL AND SPIRITUAL MONTHLY OF THE RAMAKRISHNA ORDER Started at the instance of Swami Vivekananda in 1895 as Brahmavâdin, it assumed the name The Vedanta Kesari in 1914. For free edition on the Web, please visit: www.chennaimath.org CONTENTS JULY 2015 Gita Verse for Reflection 245 Editorial The Story of Desire 246 Articles Learning to Contribute: An Approach to Karma Yoga 255 V Srinivas Balaram Mandir and Swami Brahmananda 260 Hiranmoy Mukherjee Dissolving Boundaries 264 Pravrajika Virajaprana Four Encounters with Surdas 272 N. Krishnaswamy Story God Exists And We Can See Him—Two Short Stories 267 Swami Sudarshanananda New Find Unpublished Letters of Swami Saradananda 270 The Order on the March 276 Book Reviews 279 Feature Simhâvalokanam (How Can We Live a Clean Unworried Life?) 250 Cover Story: Page 6 The V edanta K esari 4 JULY 2015 The Vedanta Kesari Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai 600 004 h (044) 2462 1110 (4 lines) Fax : (044) 2493 4589 Email : [email protected] Website : www.chennaimath.org TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS N You can subscribe to The Vedanta reaching us before this or after one Kesari from any month. month (for overseas subscriptions, N On your address slip, the number WZR PRQWKV RI SRVWLQJ RI WKH MRXU RQWKHOHIWRI WKHÀUVWOLQHRI DGG nal are not entertained. UHVV LV \RXU VXEVFULSWLRQQXPEHU N To ensure continuity, please renew your Always PHQWLRQWKLVLQ\RXUFRUUHV subscription well in advance. pondence. N )RUIUHVKVXEVFULSWLRQVUHQHZDOVSODF N If you do not receive your ing advertisements in The Vedanta copy by 2nd week of a month, Kesari, please write to The Manager, please intimate us. Complaints 7KH9HGDQWD.HVDUL2IÀFH Vedanta Kesari Subscription Annual 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years Rates (inclusive of postage) India Rs.100 Rs.290 Rs.475 Rs.1000 Other Countries All overseas dispatch by Air Mail. Rs.1500 Rs.4500 Rs.7500 --- Please send your subscription to The Manager, The Vedanta Kesari by DD/MO drawn in favour of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai. Payments / donations can be made Online using your Master or Visa Cards. For Online subscription rates, please visit our Website. We invite our readers to liberally contribute to the Vedanta Kesari Permanent Fund. This will go a long way in placing this 100 years old magazine on firm financial footing to continue its service to the cause of a holistic and meaning- ful life. Your contributions (minimum of Rs.1000/- or US$ 25) by Cheque/DD/ MO should be sent to Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai, along with a covering note stating that it is meant for Vedanta Kesari Permanent Fund. Every contribution will be gratefully acknowledged and the donor’s name will be pub- lished in the Vedanta Kesari. All donations to Sri Ramakrishna Math are exempt from Income Tax under section 80G of the [Indian] I.T. Act, 1961. We accept online donations also. The V edanta K esari 5 JULY 2015 The V edanta K esari 6 JULY 2015 N Cover Story N Ramakrishna Advaita Ashrama, Kalady, Kerala Well-known as the birthplace of Adi Shankaracharya, Kalady, is a small township on the banks of Periyar river, in the Ernakulam district of Kerala. The place became well known to pilgrims only after its rediscovery and subsequent consecration of a temple for Sri Adi Shankara in 1910. Ramakrishna Advaita Ashrama, situated close to Shankaracharya temple, right on the banks of Periyar river, was started in 1936 and was affiliated to Belur Math in 1941. Besides a high school and a number of educational facilities, the Kalady Ashrama has an aesthetically designed temple of Sri Ramakrishna, consecrated in 1976, with seating capacity for 200. Celebrations of the birthdays of Holy Trio and other saints are conducted besides regular Puja, evening Arati and Ramnam Sankirtan on Ekadashis. Kalady is well-connected by air, railways and road transport. Cochin International Airport, Nedumbassery, the nearest airport, is 5 km away from Kalady. Angamaly (8 km away), or Aluva (16 km away), are the nearest railway stations. THE VEDANTA KESARI PATRONS’ SCHEME We invite our readers to join as patrons of the magazine. They can do so by sending Rs.2000/- or more. Names of the patrons will be announced in the journal under the Patrons' Scheme and they will receive the magazine for 20 years. Please send your contribution to The Manager, The Vedanta Kesari by DD/MO drawn in favour of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai with a note that the enclosed amount is for the Patrons' Scheme. (This scheme is valid in India only). PATRONS DONORS 712. Ms. Krishni Nayak, Mangaluru Mr. A.N. Kagalkar, Mysore Rs. 10001 713. Mr. Jagdeep A. Joshipura, Surat Ms. Krishni Nayak, Mangalore Rs. 1000 Mrs. Kanthamani Iyengar, Bangalore Rs. 4000 The Vedanta Kesari Library Scheme SL.NO. NAMES OF SPONSORS AWARDEE INSTITUTIONS 5862. Mr. D.S. Deshmukh, Nashik J.J. College, Ammapettai Village, Trichy, T.N.- 620 009 5863. Mr. K. Prabakar, Hyderabad Jayaram College, Thuraiyur, Trichy Dist., T.N. - 621 014 5864. -do- M.K. Engineering College, Tiruvallur Dist., T.N. - 601 206 5865. -do- Mahendra Engineering College, Namakkal Dist., T.N. - 637 503 5866. -do- National Engineering College, Tuticorin Dist., T.N. - 628 503 5867. -do- Saraswathi Velu College, Walajah TK., T.N. - 631 102 5868. Mr. Dharam Vir Seth, Dehradun JB Group of Educational Institutions, Hyderabad - 500 001 5869. -do- Shadan Degree College, Hyderabad - 500 004 To be continued . 㼀㼔㼑㻌㼂㼑㼐㼍㼚㼠㼍㻌㻷㼑㼟㼍㼞㼕 VOL. 102, No. 7, JULY 2015 ISSN 0042-2983 EACH SOUL IS POTENTIALLY DIVINE. T HE GOAL IS TO MANIFEST THE DIVINITY WITHIN. 7 Gita Verse for Reflection Tr. by Swami Tapasyananda —Bhagavad Gita, 12-10 If you are not capable of practising systematic concentration, then devote yourself whole heartedly to works of service to Me (consisting in external worship and discharge of duties for My sake). Thus working for Me, man can attain to perfection. B ‘Extreme love to God is Bhakti, and this love is the real immortality, getting which a PDQEHFRPHVSHUIHFWO\VDWLV¿HGVRUURZVIRUQRORVVDQGLVQHYHUMHDORXVNQRZLQJZKLFK man becomes mad.’ 0\0DVWHU>6UL5DPDNULVKQD@XVHGWRVD\µ7KLVZRUOGLVDKXJHOXQDWLFDV\OXPZKHUH all men are mad, some after money, some after women, some after name or fame, and DIHZDIWHU*RG,SUHIHUWREHPDGDIWHU*RG*RGLVWKHSKLORVRSKHUV¶VWRQHWKDWWXUQV XVWRJROGLQDQLQVWDQWWKHIRUPUHPDLQVEXWWKHQDWXUHLVFKDQJHG²WKHKXPDQIRUP UHPDLQVEXWQRPRUHFDQZHKXUWRUVLQ¶ µ7KLQNLQJ RI *RG VRPH ZHHS VRPH VLQJ VRPH ODXJK VRPH GDQFHVRPHVD\ ZRQGHUIXOWKLQJVEXWDOOVSHDNRIQRWKLQJEXW*RG¶ —Swami Vivekananda, CW, 7.8 The V edanta K esari ~ 245 ~ JULY 2015 Editorial The Story of Desire Is ‘desire’ a person whose biography can happiness comes only when I am not present! be written?! The moment me, the desire, is complied, I Not really. disappear for the time being and the happiness But all persons and personalities, with- inherent in man manifests or, as if, oozes out, out distinction, are a manifestation of the and man becomes happy. And people think phenomenon of desire. It sounds well, it is desire that makes them happy. Such is therefore, that one try understanding desire— my magic! Then, does this mean that there its birth, growth, dynamics and its ultimate is something other than myself that makes dissolution—through a biographical angle. As people happy? Yes, and that is the Divine if desire were a person. Putting all this in first Substance, called by Hindus as Atman or person? Making the desire speak for itself? Let Brahman or God by other religions—that really us see. is the source of all happiness. The happiness derived through senses is only a reflected Thus Was I Born happiness, just as the moonlight is a reflected ‘I’, the desire, was born as soon as the light borrowed from sun. Such is the true creation began. The Upanishads, the ancient nature of all forms of happiness. books of Hindus, rightly describe me as the At a personal level, I am the source of all first evolute of the creation itself. The moment restlessness and mental activity. I create life, the Creator desired, the creation began. So make it go on—creating pain and happiness, creation and I are identical. We are born success and failure and all the dual experiences together and live together and even ‘die’ or of life. I am the cause of all misery, pointed out dissolve together. The moment I disappear, Buddha the Great One. Desires are infinite, the creation too disappears. I am at the root of means are limited, say economics thinkers. manifestation called creation. They only give a half-baked solution to it: Ignorance is what I am actually made choose desires as per your means to fulfill of. Desire means a lack, a vacuum, a want. them. But is fulfilling desires itself the source Though I originate from the Whole called God, of happiness? I am actually ignorance manifest, seeking what I am at the root of all actions, physical I already am. The sense of ‘otherness’ is what and mental.