"I see no way, but His eyes see..."

In Boston everything around Him seemed bleak and uncertain. Anyone in His place would have lost courage but Swamiji was not the one to accept defeat. He wrote a letter to Alasinga Perumal which according to him was a moment’s weakness. But for me it has become very important letter now. I must have read this letter and all that part of the chapter for ‘n’ number of times. Swamiji writes,

“All those rosy ideas we had before starting have melted, and I have now to fight against impossibilities. A hundred times I had a mind to go out of the country and go back to India. But I am determined, and I have a call from Above; I see no way, but His eyes see. And I must stick to my guns, life or death”

As I was preparing for the lecture in Ramakrishna Math and read this letter again, I got goose bumps all over. You know, I have got a habit of getting stuck when I like something. This happens all the time when I read the Volumes of New Discoveries in the West. Then I read it again and again and yet again. As a madwoman I keep reading, and then start repeating as I eat, as I sleep and as I walk to my office. It is as though I get possessed by those words and Swamiji reveals Himself to me in a totally different form.

So folks, it so happened that I was reading this letter and I got stuck as usual..! I felt I have read something different, very powerful and re read it…and then I suddenly realised what had caught me.. “ I see no way, but His eyes see”. O God, I thought, so this is it..!! how come I didn’t notice it till now..!!

If we just start applying this mantra in our life with total faith in HIM who can see, things will surely change.

Folks, please think about these magical words, written by our Swamiji. These are not ordinary words I feel, there is so much conviction, so much power when He says it. Hence, whenever we are in a dilemma or uncertainty of what will happen or whatever is happening, we just have to believe in –“I see no way, but His eyes see”

Facing Challenges in Life

It is a longest gap ever since i started this blog. Was engaged in doing His work only so i know everyone will have a large heart to forgive me. Have completed 30 lectures till now and marching on...

On 6^th May I had to speak at the Youth Forum in Ramakrishna Mission, Pune. The topic given to me was ‘Facing Challenges in Life’. It had to be connected with Swamiji and truly who else other than Swamiji has faced so many challenges in life? Right from losing His father in His Youth till He came back from Italy to India after His second visit to Europe!  Almost 20 years of struggle and hardships without a single moment’s respite.

None of us must have undergone such challenges ever. It is not just about losing His father at a young age but it is about the unexpected turn of events after that. This phase in Swamiji’s life actually is very important as it tested Him on all the levels of physical, psychological, financial and also personal. A phase where His all the capacities were tested to the brim.

We usually ignore this part of Narendranath’s life which can be very inspirational even in today’s time. How he faced all the worldly problems with so much courage is exemplary in itself. I find this one situation very challenging when His mother reprimands Him on praying to God as He wakes up and says, “what has God given us, why do you have to pray’. A mother whom Narendra had seen worshipping Lord all his life, who wouldn’t even have water before her Pooja rituals..!! When she says such words, how difficult this young boy must have felt at heart.  I always try to think of Swamiji as, what He must have felt? I try to reach to Him in all possible ways as we all know that how tender and soft his heart was. How he felt for everyone around Him! And what must be His state of mind seeing His mother and brothers suffering of poverty.

When we read this aspect of His life and when I tell it to the youth, I have seen that they find Him very close. As though he is not some where remote to reach out but is very very close to our heart. As I always feel that if I just stretch my hands I can touch Him.

As we go through all these trials throughout His life, we also see Him facing various challenges in America in different forms. The challenges He faced after reaching Chicago is the culmination of all. Just see, before leaving Mumbai He says to Swami Turiyananda, this parliament is organized for this,  pointing His Finger at Himself. And after saying this when he lands up in America, He finds none of the things in his favour.

Even when he is sitting under the tree till Mrs. Hale comes, everything is uncertain, gloomy. Later too after becoming famous, he is not spared by missionaries and the toughest battle he fought at Detroit.

How much to learn from His life..!! None of us have ever faced problems that Swamiji faced. I am dead sure about it.  When he was in Boston, he had to face one weird situation. Let us know it from him –

                         "I landed in Boston once, a stranger in a strange land. My coat was like this red one and I wore my turban. I was proceeding up a street in the busy part of the town when I became aware that I was followed by a great number of men and boys. I hastened my pace and they did too. Then something struck my shoulder and I began to run, dashing around a corner, and up a dark passage, just before the mob in full pursuit swept past - and I was safe!"


You feel so much pain when as you read this and visualise the above situation. How he faces these challenges let us see tomorrow.

Story of Five Blind Men

On 24th Nov.1893 Swamiji gave His first public lecture in Minneapolis in the evening on 'The Hindoo Religion'. This lecture was organised by the Peripatetics which could be a part of the lecture bureau. But His schedule was very flexible because His lecture on 27th at Unitarian Church was not planned but was on a popular demand.

The Minneapolis Newspaper gives -

                                                               'AN ORIENTAL VIEW

 Livami Vivekananda Addresses a Minneapolis Audience.

 Mercenaries in Religion

 In this Way He Characterizes the Western Nations -

 He Tells About the Religions of India.

 The Unitarian church was crowded yesterday morning by an audience anxious to learn something of eastern religious thought as outlined by Swami Vivekananda, a Brahmin priest, who was prominent in the Parliament of Religions at Chicago last summer. The distinguished representative of the Brahmin faith was brought to Minneapolis by the Peripatetic Club, and he addressed that body last Friday evening. He was induced to remain until this week, in order that he might deliver the address yesterday. Vivekanandi is a typical Uindeu, dark - skinned, well rounded features, and a flashing eye that gives evidence of a quick intellect. He appeared in his picturesque native dress. He occupied the platform with Dr. H. M. Simmons, the pastor, the opening prayer was sung, Vivekanandai following the lines closely, and then Dr. Simmons read from Paul's lesson on faith, hope and charity, and "the greatest of these is charity," supplementing that reading by a selection from the Brahmin scripture which teaches the same lesson, and also a selection from the Moslem faith, and poems from the Hindu literature, all of which are in harmony with                       Paul's utterances.

 After a second hymn Swami Vivekanandi was introduced. He stepped to the edge of the platform and at once had his audience interested by the recital of a Hindu story. He said in excellent English:

 "I will tell you a story of five blind men....."

Without resting Swamiji left on the same day for Des Moines, capital off Iowa city and travelled 260 miiles from Minneapolis.

Rest for tomorrrow....

The Twin Cities - Minneapolis and St. Paul

 Minneapolis and St. Paul are the Twin Cities on the eastern bank of the Mississippi. On 21st Nov.1893 Swamiji reached Minneapolis from Madison after travelling 250 miles. Till 24th He didn't have any lecture in the city. Some friends unknown to us till date showed Him the lake, the river transformed by snow and ice into wonderland and all the beauties of the city. On 23rd He saw the Minnehaha Falls(i love the sound of this name) which is more beautiful in winter as it becomes a 'Solid mass of rugged ice fifty feet high and glistening in the bright sunlight' and also had His first ever sleigh ride behind the steaming horses.

Swamiji thoroughly enjoyed the sub-zero weather in Minneapolis as now He had warm clothes and shoes to face it. His letter to Mrs. Hale is very beautiful and we cannot avoid it ---- 

 Minneapolis

 24th Nov'93

 Dear Mother -

 I am still in Minneapolis. I am to lecture this afternoon and day after tomorrow go to Des Moines

The day I came here they had their first snow and it snowed all through the day and night and I had great use For the arctics.* I went to see the frozen Minihaha falls. They are very beautiful. The temperature today is 21. below zero but I had been out sleighing and enjoyed it immensely though. I am not the least afraid of losing the tips of my ears or nose.

The snow scenery here has pleased me more than any other sight in this country.

I saw people skating on a frozen lake yesterday.

I am doing well hoping this will find you all the same I remain

Yours obediently

Vivekananda

Are you all not visualising Swamiji sleighing behind the horses and then writing with a smile on face about not losing his ears or nose due to snow? I get totally lost in the snow watching Him enjoying it all and feel happy from within for the little happiness He got over there.

I am in Bidasar, Rajasthan and with Swamiji thinking all the while about Khetri. Don't think even this time i can make it to go to Khetri. Well it's His wish after all.

Midwestern Tour - Madison, Minniapolis and then Detroit.

Today for sure Swamiji is in Detroit and i am missing being with with Him. His exact date of leaving Chicago is not known but from one of His letter written to Mrs. Kate Tannat Woods we come to know about His Madison and Minniapolis plans. He must have started for His Midwestern tour on 20th Nov.1893 which continued till almost April 1894. He first went to Madison which is the capital of Wisconsin, then to Minneapolis and also to Des Moines.

He again visited Minniapolis in midst of December and in January 1894 went to Memphis and Tennessee. His first stop was at Madison which is 140 trainmiles from northwest of Chicago. He didn't stay here and then went to Minniapolis frrom where He wrote a beautiful letter to Mrs. Hale.

I love the way Swamiji ends His letters always. This letter of 21st Nov.1893 ends beautifully as -

"May you be blessed for ever my kind friend you and your whole family have made such a heavenly impression on me as I would carry all my life."

In Madison Swamiji gave lecture at the Congregational Church. The Wisconsin State Journal gave a very short report of His lecture but what appealed to me most in that report was -

      " Pagan though he be, Christianity may well follow many of his teachings. His creed is as wide as the universe, taking in all religions, and accepting truth wherever it may be found. Bigotry and superstition and idle ceremony, he declared, have no place in "the religions of India."

But the a newspaper by the students of  'Wisconsin University' of Madison named 'Daily Cardinal' gave a full report of the lecture. I will just write the title of it -

                                  RELIGIONS OF INDIA

Viva Kananda, the Hindoo Orator Delivers an Interesting Lecture

It is vey tempting for me to quote His entire speech but i shall just tell you the last paragraph of it -

" Viva Kananda came to this country from India in the interest of the world's congress of religions, and his lecture last evvening on the " Religions of India" was an inspiration to all who heard him. He has a pleasant , clear-cut, dusky face, and a decidedly impressive manner and bearing. His voice is low and pleasant, with a secret something which rivets your attention at the start."

I sincerely am praying to Swamiji to make me finish this task i have undertaken and to force me to write my blog without a gap.  Amen!!!

We Live in Eternity and They in Time

On 25th as per the earlier given schedule we know that Swamiji was going to speak on 'Shri Khrisna and His Message.' Spelling of Khrisna is as per the Newpaper advertisement. The lecture was to start at 30PM at the Union Square Hall and one Mr. Hugo Hertzer would sing the offertory in the beginning.

Everything before the lecture took place as per announced except the lecture. Mr. Allan memoirs say -

"At 3 p.m.Swami was not there. We waited and wondered what to do, and concluded that we must just wait."

But Mr. Allan was now the head usher of Swami's lectures so instead of waiting he walked from the hall to the corner of Post and Powell streets. He looked up and down the street,  waited but saw no sign of Swamiji and returned to the hall. This he did several times.

It was somethinf after his fourth or fifth trip to the corner that he saw Swamiji walking slowly up the Powell Street in his own composed and majestic rhythm. The time was then 3.30 p.m. But Mr. Allan's difficulties were not over. He further writes -"I met him at the corner of Post Street and walked with him towards the Hall."  Then Mr. Allan said, "Swami, don't you know you're late? The audience has been waiting." To which Swamiji replied -

"Mr. Allan, I am never late. I have all the time in the world. All time is mine."

 "Well, Swami, the audience may not feel the same as you do."   But Swamiji just went on with his same leisurely pace.

 "On the way we had to pass a shoe - shine stand and when Swami saw that, and saw that the shoe - shiner was idle, he decided to have his shoes shined. Did I not silently fidget, remembering the people who had come to hear the lecture! But all my fidgeting did no good. Well, at last, Swami got on the platform and was introduced to that audience, which had more or less patiently waited for him."

Once the similar incidence had taken place with one reporter named Miss Partington. During the interview she said, "I must go, I have to catch a train."  Swamiji smiled and said, " This is like all Americans, you must catch this car or that train always. Is there not another, later?"

and Ms. Partington says, " I had a glimpse of all Eternity in His utter restfulness. But I did not attempt to explain the Occidental conception to this child of Orient. As the Swami says, What have we in exchange? We Live in Eternity and you in Time."

It is most likely that while fidgeting at the shoe - shine stand, Mr. Allan might have had had "a glimpse of all eternity in the Swami's utter restfulness" as Miss Partington had!

But in a few minutes almost he became overpoweringly aware of the vastness of Swamiji's being. He says, "It was when I introduced him at that lecture, that I felt like a pigmy and saw him as an immense giant. After this experience I could not bring myself to stand beside him again, but always thereafter made my introduction from the foot of the platform."

I Extend My Arms to Touch Him and the Grace Flows

To speak on Swamiji makes me understand my limitations. He is a vast ocean and i have just been able to taste a drop of this infinite expansion. Will this one lifetime be sufficient to know His infinite personality? Will i be able to gauge His unconditional love? Will i ever be able to reach Him even if i extend my arms to touch Him? Will i be ever able to forget the unceasing grace i feel all the time?

I feel same like what Mr. Allan felt when he saw the Infinite in Him. I must tell you this incidence word to word. can't wait to reach the 5th Volume.

Mr. Thomas Allan heard Him first in the Unitaranian Hall in Oakland in the year 1900. Swamiji's ringing, musical voice had filled the room and later Mr.Allan came home as though walking in the air. He became an hard core Vedantin and lived so till the age of 89 till 1953.

Swamiji was giving 5 Sunday lecture series in March 1900 in San Francisco on the topic "The Great teachings of the World". These lectures started on March 11 till April 8 which were as follows -

1. March 11 - Christ's Message to the World
2. March 18 - Buddha's Message to the World
3. March 25 - Sri Khrisna's Message to the World (though He spoke extempore on Prophet Mohammed)
4. April 1     - Sri Khrisna's Messagge to the World
5. April 8     - Is Vedanta the Future Religion

For these lectures He would travel from Oakland to San Francisco on Sunday afternoons.

A very interesting incidence happened on 25 March which made Mr. Allan know His Vastness. We shall see that tomorrow.

Chitta ason dao mele, nai jodi darshan pele, andhare milibe taar sparsho, horshe jaagaye dibe pran...

On the evening of 12th Feb. i was at Rabi Baithak in Pune celebrating the combined 150th birth centenary of Gurudeo Rabindranath and Swami Vivekananda. Rabi Bithak is a group of Bengali people in Pune which have Sunday Meetings. I was asked to speak on Swamiji for 25 minutes. Though difficult to cover Swamiji in such a short period, i thought let me make them love Swamiji who is our very own, and not someone in remote space.

I chose flashes of Swamiji in the West from New Discoveries which are very dear to my heart and i can go  on repeating and telling those to anyone and everyone.

• I want to share somehing here - I am a great Rabindranath fan. I have original Geetanjali in bengali and many other books of his. In 1981 i had joined the Bengali learning course conducted by Shantiniketan and before i could give my 4th year exam i went to Vivekananda Kendra at Kanyakumari.

Even today i have Rabindra Sangeet in my mobile and every night i sleep listening to these songs. From one of my favourite songs these are 4 lines which i keep repeating for my Swamiji all the time -

"Chitta ason dao mele, nai jodi darshan pele,

 Andhare milibe taar sparsho, horshe jaagaaye dibe praan......!!

           

-This means in my Chitta i have spread the asan for You to come and take the seat...but even if i won't get Your darshan,  just your touch in the darkness will make my heart come to life of joy...!!!

After witnessing the holy sangam at Prayag, i was again at a sangam of two great personalities. I felt as though the gupt Saraswati was the national thread flowing through the lives of these great sons of India which flowed through the entire event.

On 12th February 1884 Swamiji was in Detroit, 12th to 23rd and from 9th March to 30th March to be precise. At Detroit by the end of his 8th lecture, He emerged as a Warrior Monk, a winner and here the two ladies met Him who later went searching for Him in the rains, bedragggled and shocked at their own boldness at Thousand Island Park. A topic in itself is very very dear to me.

Mandakini and Ganga maiyya, Yamunaji and Saraswati..!!!!!!

Missed my blog on my pilgrimage. I should have taken my laptop so that could have jotted down my experiences immediately. But let me share now ---- Our train reached Allahabad on time but we started late for Chitrakoot. The road was very lonesome and as the area is bit dangerous due to dacoits, but i didn't mention that as the moms would be scared. i wasn't scared at all as had put all the responsibility on Srirama. We stayed in the ashram of Punjabi Bhagwan where the river Mandakini flowed just below our room.

Never in my wildest dream i thought the place would be so beautiful. It is a tapobhumi as Ram, Janaki & Lakshmana stayed there for 11 and half years and as many Rishis have done tapa there and are still doing. First time i dared to bathe in the river as i had 2 inhibitions - one about the water to be icecold and about people around! But i could overcome & win over both the inhibitions this time. I felt as though the Mandakini has taken me in her arms, her touch so warm and full of life.

Then it was easy to have a dip in the holy sangam at Prayag. We can actually see the two colours of Gangaji which is brownish and the dark colour of Yamunaji. I can't yet get over the Gangaji ki Aarti at Benaras and still keep dreaming about the Gangamaiyya. We saw the Ganga Aarti on 1st day at Assi Ghat and then for two days at Dashashwamedh Ghat which is really awesome, splendid and taking us to differrent heights of happiness. Everywhere though the aarti is done witth same reverence.

When i took the darshan of Kashi Vishwanath i was full of awe and happiness. Thinking in my mind about Swamiji and saying to myself, "Oh, this is the Mool Swaroopa of Swamiji"! as He was born of Kashi Vishweshwara's blessings.

Saarnath & Bodhgaya too reminded only of Swamiji but at Gaya i was thinking only of Sri Ramakrishna, the Gadadhar!

On our return journey guess what happened? I got call from Sarada Math asking me to speak on Swamiji in a gathering of Bengali community in Pune. I said yes and was twice happy as they were celebrating Ravindranath and Narendranath's 150th birth centenary together.

So yesterday i was at Pune and being with Bengalis on this occasion made me proud.  

Alibag - 23.01.11 and 23.01.12 With Swamiji and the seagulls

Dear Atmiyas, going away tomorrow for almost 10 days to Chitrakoot, Prayag, Kashi and Bodhgaya with my mother and Sanika's mother. So won't be able to take you all en route with Swamiji.... again Away from Him but always with Him..!!!

Let me share something with all of you. Last year on 23rd i was invited  in Alibag to lecture on Swamiji. While crossing the ocean by jetty i had taken snaps of Seagulls and the date was 23.01.11.

On 20th my Sharyans office staff had been to Alibag for Picnic to hotel Radisson. Others went by jetty where as I and my colleague went by car as we had some work and also returned by car on 22nd so the Jetty journey was missed by me. But here comes the wonderful part of it - On 21st morning i & Sangita (my room partner) went for a walk. While returning i saw a school and just went in. Told the teacher in charge that i would love to tell stories of Swamiji to children, can? It was a Zilla Parishad school at Gondhalpada. She said due to cold weather few students are absent but around 92 students were present and the school would leave half day as it was a Saturday. 

I was very happy and reached the school at 9.25am. What an experience i had while telling these kids of 1st to 7th grades. Their eager & innocent faces still linger in my mind. This happened to be my 11th in the series of 150 lectures. One of the lady officer had come to visit and sat through out the lecture. She said Zilla Parishad had a 2 day workshop at a village near Alibag and can i come to speak? Girls & boys from many Zilla Parishad schools were to come. I accepted the invitation though it was after we returned from picnic.

Folks, guess what? Here i was travelling again on 23rd of January 2012 to speak at Veshvi village in Alibag and while returning was clicking my favourite seagulls! There was no clue absolutely one day before and no reason to travel to Alibag by jetty at all. Isn't this too curious enough to think about?

There were 230 students, majority 170 were girls and i was happy to tell them about Swamiji. How He would have loved to see the girls from remote parts taking eduction! There were many more teachers and the Zilla Parishad officers. They have invited me to many more schools to speak on Swamiji. Then i realised that now it is not only 'my singular mission' to cover 150 schools and colleges but here i could see the Divine Hand working behind.........Swamiji will take care of it!

So friends, see you probably after 8th February now...

It is a Sin to call Men Sinners-The Divine Essence is in all Men, Undivided and Eternal.

 It is very curious! i am not able to move away from the Parliament! As though some magic happens as i read through these pages - as if the Parliament opens new doors and i get stuck again. today i was reading and came accross Sir Hiram Maxim, Bishop Keane, Reverend H.R.Haweis, a critic Lucy Monroe and many more........But now let's see what Mr. Williams Ernest Hocking has to say -

"... We all carry about with us unsolved problems of adjustment to this many - angled world - without formulating questions, we are living quests, unless by some rare chance our philosophy of life is entirely settled. And to meet some person may resolve a quest wholly without his knowledge; it may be simply mode of being that brings the release.

 This was in some measure the story of my first encounter with Swami Vivekananda, though I was only one of an immense audience.... I was a casual visitor at the Fair, just turning twenty, interested in a dozen exhibits on the Midway.... But aside from all this, I had a quietly rankling problem of my own.

I had been reading Herbert Spencer, all I could get of his works.... I was convinced by him;... but it was somehow a vital injury to think of man as of the animals.- birth, growth, mating, death - and nothing more - finis. I had had my religion - methodism - an experience of conversion with a strange enlightenment which gave me three days of what felt like a new vision of things, strangely lifted up; Spencer had explained that all away as an emotional flurry - the world must be faced with a steady objective eye. The Christian cosmology was fancy.

 But still, Christianity was not the only religion. There were to be speakers from other traditions. They might have some insight that would relieve the tension. I would go for an hour and listen. I didn't know the program. It happened to be Vivekananda's period.

... He spoke not as arguing from a tradition, or from a book, but as from an experience and certitude of his own. I do not recall the steps of his address. But there was a passage toward the end, in which I can still hear the ring of his voice, and feel the silence of the crowd - almost as if shocked. The audience was well - mixed, but could be taken as one in assuming that there had been a "Fall of man" resulting in a state of "original sin," such that "All men have sinned and come short of the glory of. " But what is the speaker saying? I hear his emphatic rebuke:

             "Call men sinners??

             It is a SIN to call men sinners!"

 ... Through the silence I felt something like a gasp running through the hall as the audience waited for the affirmation which must follow this blow.* What his following words were, I cannot recall with the same verbal clarity: they carried the message that in all men there is that divine essence, undivided and eternal: reality is One, and that One, which is Brahman, constitutes the central being of each one of us.

 For me, this doctrine was a startling departure from anything which my scientific psychology could then recognize. One must live with these ideas and consider how one's inner experience could entertain them. But what I could feel and understand was that this man was speaking from what he knew, not from what he had been told. He was well aware of the books; but he was more immediately aware of his own experience and his own status in the world; and what he said would have to be taken into account in any final world - view. I began to realize that Spencer could not be allowed the last word. And furthermore, that this religious experience of mine, which Spencer would dismiss as a psychological flurry, was very akin to the grounds of Vivekananda's own certitude."

Prince of Gentlemen in the Orange Garb

I wish to move out of Chicago and travel with Swamiji to the midwest but as i read and re-read i come across certtain facts which hold my attention and does not allow me to move further.

Some of the Newspaper reports and a memoir is a must to read......

Northampton Daily Herald of 11th April, 1894 -

                     "At the Parliament of Religions Vivekananda was not allowed to speak until the close of the programme, the purpose being to make the people stay until the end of the session. On a warm day when some prosy professor talked too long, and people would leave the hall by hundreds, it only needed the announcement that Vivekananda would give a short address before the benediction was pronounced to hold the vast audience intact, and thousands would wait for hours to hear a fifteen minutes talk from this remarkable man."

Just His appearance on the platform would save a dull session. The talks given by Dwivedi and Dharmapala wwere also hair-raising but were dry & not at all to ignite the soul hence were not alarming to the Christian ministry. But the enthusiastic reception which Swamiji was given from the very beginning was a matter of serious concern. This instigated the Christain delegates to attack Hinduism openly on September 19th when Swamiji was to read his paper.

On September 20th, the Chicago Inter Ocean tells us -

                  "Great crowds of people, the most of whom werre women, pressed around the doors leading to the hall of Columbus, an hour before the time stated for opening the afterrnoon session, for it had been announced that Swami Vivekananda, the popular Hindu Monk, who looks so much like McCullough's Othello, was to speak. Ladies, ladies everywhere filled the great auditorium."

There are similar quotes by othe newspapers saying -

                  'From the day the wonderful Professor delivered his speech, which was followed by other addresses, he was followed by a crowd wherever he went. In going in and coming out of tyhe building, he was beset by hundreds of women who almost fought with each other for a chance to get near him, and shake his hand.'

But it was not only women who were responsive to Swamiji's thought and presence. Among many men who remembered His paper on Hinduism was William Ernest Hocking a young student who later beame a well known philosopher. He wrote about his experience a few years later in his "Recollections of Swami Vivekananda".

What he wrote cannot be cut short hence i shall tell tomorrow because it is so so very inspiring.

Away from Swamiji, still with Him all the time.

It is really really late this month. Right from 1st January the Kalpataru day till today haven't been to blog hence away from Swamiji. But is it true, can i ever move away from Him who is my sole life support?

Today i came from Nashik as my one lecture got cancelled but yesterday i completed my 10th lecture on Swamiji in Dindori Taluka in Nashik District. I could reach almost 1100 students yesterday from agegroup 10yrs to 20yrs and their teachers and professors who might be of any agegroup.

Oh, let me tell you my Sankalpa (resolution) my dear Atmiyas. Next year i.e. 2013 is Swamiji's 150th birth centenary year and hence i decided to speak on Him at 150 places. So from 1st i was busy with Mumbai Marathon prepartions, my lectures in Jawhar (Thane district) on 11th & 12th and then Nashik on 17th & 18th.

Speaking about Him on 12th  is always an enthralling experience. This time i purposely chose the interior tribal region of Thane district. I feel happy to speak, to tell Swamiji's life to the innocent boys and girrls who are so receptive, eager and welcoming. They speak through their eyes and ttheir faces lit up when they hear of His greatness. Oh, what a joy!

Let me tell you more about it tomorrow.