Girish's Blog

The one vital duty incumbent on you, if you really love your religion, if you really love your country, is that you must struggle hard to be up and doing, with this one great idea of bringing out the treasures from your closed books and delivering them over to their rightful heirs. - Swami Vivekananda, Lectures from Colombo to Almora The occasion of the re-establishment of the Sri Rama temple at the Shri Rama Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya on 22 January 2024 is a time to reflect on and learn from Sri Rama's life as depicted in Valmiki's Ramayana. The source of much of the content below is the two-volume publication of Srimad Valmiki Ramayanam by the Gita Press, Gorakhpur. E thics vs Duty: The slaying of the demoness Tataka One of the first conflicts that Sri Rama faced was when the sage Viswamitra asked him to kill the demoness Tataka. One of the codes of conduct for a Kshatriya was not to kill a woman. Tataka was a Yasksa woman, capable of assuming any form at will and possessing at...

The Vishnu SahasranAmam describes the 1000 names of Lord Vishnu. Some of them describe the Lord, some his attributes and some his powers. As many spiritual masters have said, there is no difference between the name of the Lord and the Lord Himself. Sri Ramakrishna said, “ There is infinite glory in God’s Name. The Name is the seed; the Name is the tree; and the Name is the fruit. God dwells in His own Name. ”  The Srimad Bhagavatam (1:1:14) states, " By resorting to His name, be it even in a mood of distress and helplessness, one entangled in the cycle of births and deaths would at once get release. " There are over a hundred names that describe the Lord in the Vishnu SahasranAmam. His vastness and His subtlety Vishnu is वामनः (152), the One who has a small body and प्रांशुः(153), One whose body is vast. He is ब्रह्म(664), the biggest, the vastest and the all-pervading and अणुः(835), the subtlest and the all-pervading. He is बृहत् (836), the greatest in dimension. He is al...

Swami Vivekananda proceeded to Jaffna from Colombo. He had to shelve his plan of sailing for Madras (Chennai) from Colombo as he was receiving numerous telegrams from various Tamil-inhabited towns of Sri Lanka to visit them. On January 19, he took the train to Kandy — the hill station inhabited by tea plantation workers from Tamil Nadu. He was welcomed at the Kandy railway station by a traditional band and temple insignia amid loud cheers.  After delivering a brief speech, Swami Vivekananda set out for a long, arduous journey to Jaffna by a stagecoach as there were no railway line linking Kandy and Jaffna in those days. It was during this 200-mile journey that an outrageous incident happened. After nearly 50 miles, the coach broke down near Dambulla, known for its famous cave temple complex. This forced him to take a bullock-cart to reach Anuradhapuram, the ancient capital of Sri Lanka and the largest ‘buried city’ of the world.  Anuradhapuram hosts the Bo-tree, offshoot of th...

One hundred and twenty five years ago, to the day, on the evening of the 16th January 1897, Swami Vivekananda gave a public lecture on "India, the Holy Land" in the Floral Hall, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Swami Vivekananda had arrived in Colombo by the German steamer 'Prince Regent Leopold' on 15 January 1897. He was met on board by the reception committee comprising Swami Niranjanananda, Kanakasabai, Sockanathan and T.G. Harrison, a Sinhalese Buddhist. A decorated steam launch took him to the pier where thousands had gathered to cheer him. From the harbour he rode in a carriage to Barnes Street in Cinnamon Gardens accompanied by Ponnambalam Coomaraswamy, Member of the Legislative Council, and a sibling of the better known duo, Ponnambalam Ramanathan and Ponnambalam Arunachalam. The whole street had been lined by festoons and topped by arches made of coconut leaves and palmyrah fronds.  This was his first public lecture in the Indian subcontinent after his return from the We...

Democracy has spread into most aspects in our lives. What I mean by democracy is not just the form of government, but equal rights for all, no special treatment for anybody and equal access to opportunities. While this is not seen throughout the world and in all aspects of life, it is definitely a state towards which people everywhere are aspiring. The first change we have seen is of course in the forms of government. Over the last few centuries, monarchies have toppled everywhere. The American and French Revolutions, the industrial revolution, access to education and news of what was happening in other parts of the world sparked the movement from monarchies to democracies. As Egypt's King Farouk said: “Soon there will be only five Kings left-the King of England, the King of Spades, The King of Clubs, the King of Hearts, and the King of Diamonds.”  The United States Declaration of Independence stated:  We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, th...

The Art of Giving is based on knowledge compiled from the Gita, the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, the Ramayana and the Upanishads. Why give Sri Krishna says : They are verily thieves who enjoy their gifts without giving their share in return. What to give Swami Vivekananda:   In the world take always the position of the giver. Give everything and look for no return. Give love, give help, give service, give any little thing you can, but keep out barter. Let us give out of our own bounty, just as God gives to us.  What is needed in this Yuga is giving, helping others. What is meant by Dana? The highest of gifts is the giving of spiritual knowledge, the next is the giving of secular knowledge, and the next is the saving of life, the last is giving food and drink. He who gives spiritual knowledge, saves the soul from many end many a birth. He who gives secular knowledge opens the eyes of human beings to wards spiritual knowledge, and far below these rank all other gifts, ev...

The Bhagavad Gita, or the Song of the Lord, comprises of 700 verses from the Bhisma Parva section of the Mahabharata, which has around 100,000 verses - 0.7% of the great epic. To choose THE MOST IMPORTANT verses from this is an even tougher task, given that the entire scripture is the advice of Sri Krishna.  The best place to start is Sankara's masterly introduction to the Gita: Having created the cosmos and seeking to ensure its existence, the Lord brought forth in the beginning the Progenitors Marici and the rest. Then he imparted to them the Vedic law of works (pravritti). Later, bringing forth others like Sanaka and Sanandana, He imparted to them the law of cessation of work (nivritti) marked by knowledge and detachment. Indeed, the Vedic law making for the world's stability is two-fold: (i)embracing works )ii) embracing cessation.  This science of the Gita is the quintessence of all that goes under the name of the Vedas, but its sense is difficult to grasp. Many have stri...

The Hindu scriptures abound in lists, starting with the six changes that apply to every living being: 1. Birth 2. Subsistence 3. Growth 4. Maturity 5. Decline 6. Death The six internal enemies of mankind: 1. kāma (unbridled desire) 2. krodha (anger) 3. lobha (greed) 4. moha (delusion) 5. ahankāra   (pride) 6. mātsarya (jealousy) The fourteen qualities of a good character 1. Knowing about time and place 2. Fortitude 3. Endurance 4. Capacity to think of all consequences 5. Skill 6. Self-defence 7. Keeping one's counsel secret 8. Avoidance of pointless debates 9. Courage 10. Capacity to identify strengths and weaknesses 11. Faith 12. Sheltering those who seek refuge 13. Showing anger at the right time 14. Capacity to steadfastly pursue a course of action The  eight virtues characterizing intelligence, according to the Ramayana, are: 1. Attentiveness 2. Capacity to listen 3. Capacity to grasp 4. Capacity to remember 5. Ability to discrimin...